From Rick Wilson, a conservative. He is right - the Dems are utterly terrified of I don't know, mussing the doilies on the tea table. The Dems want to play by the rules and assume the Rs do too. But the Rs don't want to play by the rules because there is no R party if they play by the rules. Tell the people the truth that the R plan is simply to take money from the country and give it to rich people, to take away health care...and they will lose. Stop the gerrymandering and they lose.
I could go on. The Dems absolutely need a tough guy to get up there and start arresting Trumpists for obstruction and worse.
Rick Wilson now:
How is it that Democrats don’t understand that’s why Jim Jordan, Matt Gaetz, et al. tear their hair out, spit, and caper on the stage? It’s because the Republicans understand these hearings are a reality show. Democrats are trying to win a point of parliamentary privilege; Trump’s minions are trying for the tribal immunity idol, or a rose from the bachelor.
They’re not bound by law or norms. Lewandowski’s behavior today proved, once again, that Republicans are full participants in the Trump reality show. His audience-of-one performance was for the President and the President’s political agitprop network, not to meet his obligations under oath to testify before Congress.
It wasn’t simply that the creepy Lewandowski spent four hours slapping the committee with lies, insults, and smarmy evasions. The real issue is that Lewandowski doesn’t fear Congress. Not even a little. Hell, Lewandowski even announced his Senate campaign in the middle of it all.
That was why they fumbled and flailed over his insult and contempt. Watching it, I kept wondering how much malfeasance they needed to act. How much obstruction and evasion would be enough to make them take action?
I kept wondering, “How is it you guys can just let this go? How is it you can just take this overt contempt and lying?” He has no privilege or immunity from testifying. He was always a private citizen. The White House letter ordering his omerta isn’t worth a damn.
And yet, there it was, for hours on end. First, taking the contempt, abuse, and lying showed how weak the Democrats were. More importantly, the egos of the Democratic committee members came before an effective investigatory function; they should have used professional legal staffers who know what they’re doing to hammer Lewandowski. Instead, it was the usual herd of cats.
It’s not about Corey. It’s about the total inability of the House majority to get down to nut-cutting. It’s about the only line of defense in a threatened democracy being manned by a group of people who don’t understand that until you cause Trump’s minions actual pain, with penalties and consequences, they will act with impunity. They know the rules of the show, and Democrats don’t.
Team Trump won the day because Democrats failed to provide a comparable show.
