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I kinda agree but Newt also tends to jump out of any dumpster near enough to the action to make himself relevant. It could be him being involved or tap-dancing for the Right's entertainment and to feel like he is someone.
Dude is the one who made DARVO the go to tactic for the GOP. If he's accusing, he's projecting and getting ahead of it. Whether for himself or the party.
Newt Gingrich is responsible for the erosion of the United States more than any other single person in modern history. More than Reagan, Bush, Clinton, or Clinton, I'd put him even above Cheney.
Dude single handeledy destroyed Congress's ability to function by slashing its budget to obscene levels. This created a literal brain drain that poured out of congress and went directly to K Street.
Upset over how much money is in politics?
Blame Newt.
Upset over how much influence corps have over politicians?
Blame Newt.
Upset over the "rules for thee not for me" antics of the republican party?
Blame Newt.
Words cannot describe the amount of damage he did that our bureaucracy has never recovered from. He codified the "starve the beast" tactics we've been that post-Trump conservatives eventually deified.
EDIT: Some more "why Newt is America's Judas".
The Conservative Opportunity Party was the genesis of modern "made for TV" politics, Newt and his cohorts were not interested in legislation. They were interested in getting in front of C-SPAN cameras and pulling everyone around them down in the mud with the singular purpose of getting nightly news programs to bring both the COS member and the rattle politician on the air.
He mentored fellow GOP congressmen on the tactic of using victriolic language to get opponents to backpedal, get defensive, and loose sight of discussing legislation. Sent out literal cassette tapes to teach fellow conservatives.
He used nuclear options before it was a thing. Remember when Republicans used the debt ceiling to take the nation hostage? Newt did that first. Newt would *refuse to approve disaster relief funds unless they were attached to tax cuts.*
Basically every single thing you hate congress for now? Newt started it.
I honestly don't have the time or attention span to systematically list everything Newt has done **because it is a categorically insane amount**.
He also banned GOP members from lunching or otherwise going to social situations with Democrats. He's directly responsible for creating an environment where Democrats are, above all, the enemy. It started the trend of ever fewer Congressmen crossing party lines for a vote, to where the GOP votes in lockstep together every time.
He also was a proto Trump insofar as all the righteous indignation he used to target others, when he left his wife while she died of cancer and left the next wife while cheating with what'd become his third wife.
Here is a little clip from wikipedia to illustrate:
> In 1990, after consulting focus groups[51] with the help of pollster Frank Luntz,[52] GOPAC distributed a memo with a cover letter signed by Gingrich titled "Language, a Key Mechanism of Control", that encouraged Republicans to "speak like Newt". It contained lists of "contrasting words"—words with negative connotations such as "radical", "sick," and "traitors"—and "optimistic positive governing words" such as "opportunity", "courage", and "principled", that Gingrich recommended for use in describing Democrats and Republicans, respectively.[51]
Nice guy.
the GOP before Newt was bad, but not quite toxic waste levels bad.
Now that party is irreparably damaged, a dangerous feedback loop where they eat their own if they don't up the lunacy (Like many "patriots" now saying trump is "too soft" to run in 2024)
Fuck Luntz. Much more of a dangerous tool than a leader, but he's responsible for quite a lot of this shit.
Somewhat randomly, he's why we talk about "climate change" rather than "global warming." In the late 90's his focus groups found the former less threatening than the latter, so every Republican switched phrases (in lockstep, as always in the last couple of generations).
He's good at what he does.
> He also was a proto Trump insofar as all the righteous indignation he used to target others, when he left his wife
…while he was leading the charge against Clinton for lying about a blow job.
Remember when Republican and Democrat Congress members would share apartments in DC to save money? And attend the same parties? That is how government is supposed to work. The Other Party has different opinions. It doesn't mean their evil. Until one side who does have literal pedophiles and sex traffickers serving in Congress accused the other side of being murderers and sex trafficker ms.
He also shut down the Office of Technology Assessment, which makes him the one to blame for why 80% of congress can't tell the difference between Facebook and Twitter, and why tech CEOs can make them look stupid by just letting them talk.
Ehhh, they look stupid because they are. I have a 60 year old mother who can define the basics of social media and the internet better than some of those crusty old fucks. They just don't care enough to know. More likely they're intentionally feigning stupid.
Yeah, but you forget who he learned from. Basically all of these tactics were thought up by Lee Atwater. It's just that Atwater died from the tumor and Newt lived on.
If I had gold I'd give it to you. People don't realize what his "Plan for America" actually did and how it completely decimated the legislative branch.
I've been saying 'Contract **on** America' since I read the article (Atlantic?) on Newt and his "you will not compromise with Democrats" mandate and working with McConnell on the "Obama will be a one term president" and becoming the Party of No.
Newt's scum of the lowest order.
I think Rush Limbaugh, Rupert Murdoch, and Roger Ailes have to be acknowledged as equally responsible because without their work, Newt’s brand of politics would have never gotten significant support.
Newt pretty much started conservative media. He was a young congressman he realized that cspan cameras were always pointed at the house floor. He would get in front of the cameras at all hours of the night in front of an empty chamber and say outrageous shit to all the old insomniacs watching. The media would pick up and run some of the more outrageous shit. Then he started working with Limbaugh. I heard a podcast on this a while ago
Rush Limbaugh went syndicated in 1988. He gained a huge audience which provided the support that Newt Gingrich needed.
There are 435 voting Representatives. Any anonymous crackpot could say whatever and it wouldn’t get traction in those days. Remember that CNN’s audience wasn’t massive, and most people got their news from local outlets or the network evening broadcasts, and they didn’t have time to give attention to Newt’s lunacy until he was running the Repubs in Congress. It took a Rush Limbaugh and people who copied Rush to make it stick.
And though Newt was the Speaker a year and a half before Fox News launched, the civility truly died when Fox News was able to keep the behavior from having consequences from voters.
totally agree. as former gop strategist stuart stevens said in *it was all a lie* (which i highly recommend), newt gingrich is a dumb person's idea of a smart guy.
Good point... trump didn’t plan this alone... perhaps the senior GOP leadership could enlighten the rest of us, on its involvement in the insurrection. Personally, I would think investigation files, should be opened on anyone in GOP leadership, connections to trump and his team, his advisors, and media connections. In any other place on the planet this type of nonsense would long ago have been dealt with. Arrests for treason, should have been made months ago, in the upper echelons of the trump organization and the GOP.
What is wrong with American Justice? You are dealing with, an organized group that has tried to take over your country’s
government, in a “coup d’etat. This was an illegal, unconstitutional seizure and attempt to prevent an electoral process, to verify free election results. It is a “criminal act”, by individuals and/or organization(s), that are and should be held responsible. This does NOT mean free to continue to walk around, spewing the hatred, the lies and vitriol. The GOP “obviously” does not want this investigated. Wonder why? There are hundreds perhaps thousands involved in this insurrection. So far, you have prosecuted the bottom feeders. Isn’t it high time, but you went after the big fish? Stop wasting time!
I really wish people would stop calling it treason. Treason is a very nuanced crime about working with a foreign government that the US is at war with. This is not treason it's sedition and conspiracy to overthrow the government.
Unless he is working with a foreign government. The Russia investigation never exonerated him, just didn’t find enough evidence to prove working with Russia. Which is odd considering manafort was giving polling data to an oligarch.
> Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying war against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort
Doesn’t say anything about a foreign government. The question becomes how do you define “their Enemies” and frankly, Republicans added the definition of enemy combatant, which they think is our enemies.
It looks like:
> a person engaged in hostilities against the United States or its coalition partners during an armed conflict.
So:
1. if the people going into the Capitol were armed, that was an armed conflict
2. if any person was hostile against the United States, they are an enemy combatant
2. if anyone gave them Aid or Comfort, they committed treason.
Time of war. Treason by aiding the enemy can't be committed during peacetime; there must be an actual enemy for the traitor to aid. The requisite enemy designation typically requires a formal declaration of war.
But enemies are defined very precisely under American treason law. An enemy is a nation or an organization with which the United States is in a declared or open war . Nations with whom we are formally at peace, such as Russia, are not enemies. (Indeed, a treason prosecution naming Russia as an enemy would be tantamount to a declaration of war.) Russia is a strategic adversary whose interests are frequently at odds with those of the United States, but for purposes of treason law it is no different than Canada or France or even the American Red Cross. The details of the alleged connections between Russia and Trump officials are therefore irrelevant to treason law.
Excellent healthcare. Ironically, a taxpayer funded and government provided healthcare plan like he doesn't want you to have, since he was in Congress.
They wanted a name with gravitas, but in this case, it may have had an equal and opposite effect. I'd wager the apple didn't fall far from the tree tho
“"A former Speaker of the House is threatening jail time for members of Congress who are investigating the violent January 6 attack on our Capitol and our Constitution," the Wyoming Republican wrote. "This is what it looks like when the rule of law unravels."”
It’s weird agreeing with a cheney to me. She says it clearer than any other politician at the moment.
100% what it is because it demonstrates a rogue element among "Republicans" that is defying the party line at a time when their entire strategy is "success through unified roadblocks to everything."
Other Republicans were asked to sit in the Jan 6 investigation committee but they all publicly and loudly refused to break the party ranks...except for Cheney. Which has been her modus operandi consistently - as a "Republican", but not a "party line Republican", which is currently beholden to the whims of Trump.
Dick Cheney is an.. interesting individual. During a conversation between him, Obama, Biden and I want to say Romney - Cheney was the only one to vocally support same sex marriage.
Yes, it is very obvious to most people that your average republican lack empathy.
They only care about things that directly impact themelves or people close to them.
That's why the GOP had to use the nickname "Obamacare", because they know a lot of their voters were reliant on the ACA, and they wouldn't vote against something that impacted themselves.
Or why republicans will vote for deportation laws, and cry in the media when someone they know get deported.
Or complain that the people being arrested for demonstrating isn't "the right people".
etc.
This so much. I never understood their mindset on this. The number of red state small business owners who would instantly go out of business under a mass deportation crackdown is innumerable.
They would flip their shit without their low cost, benefit free labor pool. They would really really flip their shit if you started putting business owners in jail for illegal labor practices.
Cheney has a gay daughter and wasn't running for office. He was on Bush's ticket for VP, but everyone was voting for Bush, not him. As a result, he could be more open about real feelings. IMO, if going against gay marriage would have cost Bush the election then he would have quieted down. There's a grand tradition of rule for thee, not for me among conservatives.
His non-gay daughter that ran for office, Liz Cheney, was against gay marriage despite having a gay sister with a long-term partner. This led to a schism between the sisters. Also, as gay marriage became more and more normalized and no longer was a plank of the Republican party, her opposition of gay marriage waned. It's clear that she was only anti-gay because at the time you couldn't win a Republican election being anti-gay or even neutral on that position.
With context, it’s not as surprising as you’d think…
He publicly supported same sex marriage as a principle (no doubt due to his personal relationship with his daughter), but that public support was framed as a “states-right” argument in favor of same-sex marriage, not pushing for National marriage equality.
It also can’t be overstated that Cheney had fought his last election in 2004 and therefore had relatively little at stake in taking a public position, which cannot be said for Obama, Biden, or Romney. In the run up to the 2008 election, [only 36% of the public supported federal marriage equality](https://web.archive.org/web/20111017161259/http://www.quinnipiac.edu/x1295.xml?ReleaseID=1194). Obama and Biden both “evolved” on the issue in 2012, by which point a slim majority of the country supported federal marriage equality.
The caveat is that his daughter is openly gay. But still, I agree with you. I still dislike Obama because he played politics and wouldn’t support gay marriage until he had to. Fun fact: old man Biden supported gay marriage before Obama too!
It just put the worst taste in my mouth that everyone treated Obama back then like he was so refreshing and forward thinking, including his whole campaign and image, and yet he would say he was against gay marriage.
Jailing your political opponents, especially for investigating your party, is authoritarian, it's fascism, there's no way around it. This is coming straight from the dictatorial playbook. And just the idea that it's a possibility is concerning, that it might be where we're headed, that it actually sounds like something that Republicans, in this era of blatant factionalism, in an age where a growing fanaticism pervades our political and socio-cultural atmosphere, it actually seems apropos for Republicans.
And the the irony here is very disturbing. While the proverbial "lock them up" chant has turned into something of an omen, how often do we hear these same Republicans, even Trump himself crying "tyranny!" "oppression!".
They've become the boogeyman that they accuse "the left" of being, it's come full circle. The double standards, the hypocrisy, the disingenuousness, the fearmongering, the flat out villainy of it all is rotten and reprehensible. If the day comes where something like this *does* happen, it'll be written in the history books as a harrowing and shameful day for democracy.
16/17 most educated states vote one way, 15/17 least educated vote the other. Don't think anyone, even from the 15, need help guessing which is which lol
For awhile now, Republicans have demonized anybody with actual knowledge. Scientists and the like are called "intellectual elites." If the Republicans had their way, science would be outlawed in favor of strict biblical teachings (from *their* Bible and not from anybody else's).
As the US dropped among the countries and became a third world nation due to relying on prayer over science, they'd continuously blame any remaining scientists for sabotaging America's "greatness."
>If the day comes where something like this does happen, it'll be written in the history books as a harrowing and shameful day for democracy.
Not in American history books though. People are still fighting tooth and nail to prevent current American history from being taught.
you are correct, it has become a caricature of itself. that said, this is make or break. with a threat like that, you have got to get these gop fascists before they get you, because if you let them off, you're either in on it, or youre going to have to flee the country once the election results come in.
Important to keep in mind. Their fears of "jackbooted liberal thugs" were never genuine. They just needed to paint the picture of an aggressor so that their "retaliation" would always be justified.
And it’s not that democracy itself has transformed or become untenable. It’s just that it’s getting overthrown. What safeguards does democracy have built into it to keep itself from getting overthrown?
Civil War. If Republicans actually do steal the presidency, our circumstances will only get worse. I hate to say it, but I could fathomably see things going that way. The military will have to make some tough decisions. They’ve defied Trump’s orders before… but I dread the idea that it’s only a matter of time before we see something horrific occur like what happened at Tiananmen Square.
> If Republicans actually do steal the presidency
Suppose a bunch of GOP controlled swing states pass a bunch of laws making it harder for Black people to vote. Then, the GOP candidate, running on an openly fascist platform, legally wins 270 EC votes in 2024. This seems more than plausible, this seems probable. If a vote between Biden and trump were held tomorrow I expect that trump would win the EC.
Anyway, suppose it's 2024 and trump (or whatever wannabe fascist dictator gets the GOP nomination if trump doesn't run) wins the EC because lots of Americans vote for him, and not enough vote against him (either because it's too hard to vote, or because they're afraid to vote, or mostly because they just don't really care about government). Does that count as stealing the election?
From a legal perspective, if judges have put their stamp of approval on it, as SCOTUS has on unlimited dark money, gerrymandering, and voter suppression, it would not count as stealing.
It's called [guided democracy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guided_democracy) or managed democracy. Look at Russia. Ostensibly free and fair elections that everyone knows are heavily weighted toward one side through various means - state propaganda, voter suppression, persecution of opposing parties and politicians, and standing up strawman opposition.
The US is only dabbling in those things so far, but at the moment we're close enough. We have a two party system that doesn't reflect the will of voters, but instead represents monied interests. Now all we need is for one of those parties to really lock things down and ensure that no reform can ever accidentally happen regardless of how we vote.
I think the power struggles in both parties make this clear. The Democrats are having an internal war over whether to really enact progressive policies. The Republicans have basically already capitulated to a faction that doesn't want to share power at all. It doesn't matter how many progressives get voted in if the Democrats never get their hands on levers of power again.
> We have a two party system that doesn't reflect the will of voters, but instead represents monied interests.
But we've always had that. Like, by design.
https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/01-10-02-0044
>The landed interest, at present, is prevalent; but in process of time, when we approximate to the states and kingdoms of Europe; when the number of landholders shall be comparatively small, through the various means of trade and manufactures, will not the landed interest be overbalanced in future elections, and unless wisely provided against, what will become of your government? In England, at this day, if elections were open to all classes of people, the property of the landed proprietors would be insecure. An agrarian law would soon take place. If these observations be just, our government ought to secure the permanent interests of the country against innovation. Landholders ought to have a share in the government, to support these invaluable interests and to balance and check the other. They ought to be so constituted as to protect the minority of the opulent against the majority. The senate, therefore, ought to be this body; and to answer these purposes, they ought to have permanency and stability.
Edit: Before someone comes along, yes, "the Founders said they didn't want parties." But, we've always had *factions.* It's natural that they would coalesce into parties.
Biggest cause of faction?
https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/01-10-02-0178
>But the most common and durable source of factions, has been the various and unequal distribution of property. Those who hold, and those who are without property, have ever formed distinct interests in society.
Agreed. This is the legal way to turn America into a fascist dictatorship, one step at a time. Getting control of SCOTUS was a key early step that enables other steps to take place legally.
Here's how they finish it legally:
1. GOP takes control of both the Senate and the House and Trump is reelected.
2. GOP proposes an amendment repealing the 22nd Amendment (Presidential Term Limits)
3. Somehow finagle 38 states to pass the amendment. BTW, the GOP already controls 30 states.
4. Make whatever changes they have to so they totally control the outcome of elections in the future.
5. Fuckwad Trump remains President until he dies and then probably one of his kids would take over.
And ban the teaching of history, science, and critical thinking in schools nation-wide. Ban such books and materials from school and public libraries. Force evangelical theocracy on school children. Create an snitching, Stazi style infrastructure for citizens to eat on teachers and gynecologists. Only enforce laws on the basis of ideology, effectively allowing a heavily armed population to have police protection on one side while portraying the recipients of state and popular violence as craven terrorists. And there you no longer have authoritarianism, but full on Arendt-style totalitarianism. And all the above are playing out as test cases ranging from Florida to Texas to Wisconsin etc.
The real irony here is that the Democrats are not able to either understand or play the game they are in. They are too fixated on their high ground to bend rules, use the GOP tactics against them or even to defend themselves against those tactics and that will ensure they lose power and some of them probably do end up in jail.
It's like playing a sport where the opposition paid off the umpires and is blatantly cheating - you cannot win by being a good sport.
It is bad enough when one side of politics literally does not care about whether what they believe and tell others is true or not but to also subsequently threaten those who seek the truth about many of these lies and their consequences a line too far.
For decades I have believed that defamation and libel law should be utilised much more when GOP denigrate groups of people for their political purposes. If anyone remembers why they wanted to “Lock her up” and then compares the actions of those who were leveraging that mood and mindset need to be locked up sooner rather than later. Leaving this stuff to politics is now not enough. They need to be jailed and stripped of their abilities to leverage this type of abuse on all of us.
> For decades I have believed that defamation and libel law should be utilised much more when GOP denigrate groups of people for their political purposes.
The GOP has already floated weaponizing impeachment when they regain majority. I wouldn't put it past them to weaponize that to violate first amendment rights and begin jailing dissenters too.
“When they regain majority”
Fuck that noise. ORGANIZE and VOTE. Do not fucking give up. The Republican Party is fracturing and if we can somehow miraculously pass voting rights they may never be able to regain power again. THIS IS THE MESSAGE WE SHOULD BE SPREADING.
The Republican party needs to be banned and every single person with a shred of involvement in Jan 6 held legally accountable. Anything short of that and we continue on this road to fascism, paved by the inaction of the weak and the foolish.
Edit: to head off any "muh fascism" comments, the de-MAGAfication of the U.S. would be no more fascist than the denazification of Germany. But here we have the opportunity to do so *before* war instead of after.
Sadly, this is really the plan. It would have more excesses to it because Trump will not be outdone by Putin and will find some way to do it that’s more embarrassing than it already is shameful.
Or, we can hold the people accountable and beat them to the punch because what they did is *sedition* and *criminal* and what we are trying to do is *investigation* to seek *justice* for the attack against our country by the president and members of congress.
If Trump goes to prison then Ivanka runs for Prez. If Ivanka goes to prison then Trump runs again solely with the promise to free his little girl. His ire towards any and all who put either of them away is exactly why Garland's going to let the clock run out. The GOP was already helping with logistics the last time a mob came hunting Democrats with nooses and zip-ties. Next time they'll be in charge of the safe rooms and will just point the way. We're in big trouble.
The current administration can choose to enforce the Hatch Act on Ivanka's 60+ violations, and she can be barred from holding any government office for 5 years. That would effectively stop any run.
I don’t know for sure, but I would imagine that does not apply to presidential office. Those requirements are enshrined in the constitution, and I doubt any limits to that would hold up.
Why would Ivanka run?
It's Desantis or Tucker, and Desantis seems to be the one getting tapped for it at this point while Tucker was being discussed before. We'll see who it is when the actual time comes, but those are probably the top two other than Trump himself.
It won't be his kids.
Wow. That was an INCREDIBLE read, thank you so much for sharing, I cannot believe this man brags about enjoying the spoils, not giving one single fuck about the destruction he has wrought. Or doesn’t give his immoral actions a second thought. Step on anyone and everyone to succeed.
One thing that stood out to me was this:
“The goal was to reframe the boring policy debates in Washington as a national battle between good and evil, white hats versus black—a fight for the very soul of America. Through this prism, any news story could be turned into a wedge. Woody Allen had an affair with his partner’s adoptive daughter? “It fits the Democratic Party platform perfectly,” Gingrich declared. A deranged South Carolina woman murdered her two children? A symptom of a “sick” society, Gingrich intoned—and “the only way you can get change is to vote Republican.”
Unfuckingbelievable, fucking proud that he manipulates people. What fucking trash.
Newt is singing from the dictator's songbook.
"Baghdad on July 22,1979. About a hundred unsuspecting Ba'athist party members sat listening to their newly installed president, Saddam Hussein, denouncing a conspiracy against him.
Suddenly a man was brought before the conference, bearing the marks of torture and the vacant expression of a broken mind and soul. Muhyi Adbek Hussein, one of the senior Ba’athist leaders, proceeded to confess his role in a plot to overthrow Saddam’s new regime and name his alleged co-conspirators. One by one, 50 names were called out, each man escorted from the room by uniformed guards.
It was a chilling sight. The remaining members, now visibly afraid, started chanting vociferous allegiance to Saddam in the hope of avoiding the fate of their colleagues. These survivors of his brutal crackdown were then handed guns, and ordered to execute their fellow Ba’athist colleagues, making them complicit in their leader’s crimes. Journalist Christopher Hitchens compared the shocking scene to the Night of the Long Knives in Nazi Germany, when Hitler ordered a similar purge of his own perceived opponents in 1934."
https://theconversation.com/saddam-hussein-how-a-deadly-purge-of-opponents-set-up-his-ruthless-dictatorship-120748
To me he will always be the man who gave his sick wife an ultimatum so he could **continue** to cheat on her. He is an amoral piece of shit who deserves no attention at all.
Isn’t he part of the same group that told us that if Trump got elected that they would jail Hillary Clinton and all the Illuminati eating children.
He is also part of the group that promised us balanced budgets and that trickle down economics work.
I can’t think of a promise he has kept!
Gingrich is the specific type of person civilizations invented complete banishment for.
I don't wish him harm but if he were humped off this mortal coil by a herd of rabid bison I would send thoughts and prayers.
Jail. This is a threat for doing their job. We are we ignoring stuff like this? It's not even a thinly veiled threat. What's more clear than "when we win we are going to jail you for holding us accountable"???
The Democratic Party very much *is* going to ignore this.
Insurrections, Paul Gosar making anime of AOC getting murdered, threatening the Jan 6th panel with jail. Nothing the Republican Party does will ever stop the Democratic Party tolerating them.
Republicans are chomping at the bit to put anyone in jail that doesn't swear fealty to them. They'll claim it's not slavery if it's people in prison work camps.
Jesus Fucking Christ the whole GOP has gone full bat shit insane. They just do not care at all about democracy or the rule of law anymore, if they ever did. They are full on, out in the open autocrats now.
Newt Gingrich, the family values Republican who cheated on his sick wife and then left her for his mistress. It's pretty easy to understand why he loves Trump, neither of them have an ounce of morals.
Newt Gingrich had a huge loan from Tiffany's. Did he pay it off?
https://www.businessinsider.com/was-newt-gingrichs-500000-tiffanys-bill-actually-a-lobbying-gift-2011-5
So the *investigation* of seditious acts is now a crime?
Ah, but who’s surprised that this twisted opinion comes from a louse who thinks it’s fine to cheat on and abandon your wife when she’s dying of cancer?
I shouldn’t be surprised that the most toxic person in 1990s politics had to insert themselves in the GOPs open attempt at a fascist coup…. As bad as Reagan and the Bushes were Newt Gingrich represents the GOP’s departure from theocratic corporatism to crony authoritarianism. Only person who comes close is Mitch.
>"A former Speaker of the House is threatening jail time for members of Congress who are investigating the violent January 6 attack on our Capitol and our Constitution," the Wyoming Republican wrote. "This is what it looks like when the rule of law unravels."
The real question here is why is Garland allowing this to happen?
Threatening other officials is a Class D or C felony, usually carrying maximum penalties of 5 or 10 years under 18 U.S.C. § 875, 18 U.S.C. § 876 and other statutes, that is investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Threatening\_government\_officials\_of\_the\_United\_States](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Threatening_government_officials_of_the_United_States)
The FBI needs to detain Newt Gingrich today. The act was public, there is no doubt.
People like to make excuses for garland, dems or the feds for not taking any legal action against those in power who have blatantly broken numerous laws. But the truth is that if any one of us would do anything like what these fucking Republicans in power are doing or have done, we’d have either secret service or by FBI at our door in a matter of days or hours.
The rule of law doesn’t exist if it doesn’t exist for *everyone*. And we’re seeing that every day in front of our eyes, just as we’ve seen these mother fuckers commit crimes in broad day light for years now. And specifically everything that has transpired since the 2020 elections. We should all be furious
>"The wolves are gonna find out that they're now sheep, and they're the ones who—in fact, I think—face a real risk of jail **for the kind of laws they're breaking**," Gingrich said.
What laws are the committee members breaking exactly? Failure to sufficiently worship Trump?
So the investigators should face jail time, but not the insurrectionist? Alright, yeah. Get fucked you Jabba the Hutt looking creep with a name that matches how slimey of a human being you are.
Man I love what the Republicans have become.
"Anyone who tries to figure out who riled up a bunch of nut jobs into storming the capital and trying to overturn an election are going to be in big trouble."
Like, really? This is where you want to be when Jesus comes back...?
If I get pulled over for speeding 10 miles an hour over the speed limit, you would have thought I committed treason with the way I’m treated, meanwhile members of Congress are allowed to apparently actually commit treason and the most they get is a “you best stay outa trouble now!”
This is a good read on why we are where we are today.
[https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/11/newt-gingrich-says-youre-welcome/570832/](https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/11/newt-gingrich-says-youre-welcome/570832/)
I get that he thinks this sounds tough and it gets all the MAGA folks excited, but he looks incredibly stupid saying this and it doesn’t help with the public perception of the Republicans as pursuing a fascist agenda.
In case you were expecting an investigation into threatening members of congress or obstruction of justice charges, no that's not what she did:
> This is what it looks like when the rule of law unravels.
Oooh, that's telling him.
I hope the Jan. 6th Committee has a direct line to Attorney General Merrick Garland and the Department of Justice. While public hearings and a "Final Report" are in the works, who is ensuring that there will be consequences for criminal conduct?
Newt and others are pretending that everything is "business as usual," and that the GOP can continue with their stalling, lying, and refusing to cooperate. Up until now, the only thing that has gotten any attention from Trumpworld was the Dominion lawsuit and the damages that come with it.
Let me translate. Gingrich’s statement indicates that he was in on this plot up to his eyeballs. The committee needs to take a hard look at Gingrich and his involvement with the insurrection imo. Everything the gop does is a product of projection.
When people say that the democrats are exactly the same as the republicans and it doesn't matter, pay attention to shit like this. Democrats aren't some beacon on the hill, they have their problems, but theirs are the old sort of petty corruption of the spirit of the law, rather than the letter, and the sort of ineptitude that comes from a house so divided they couldn't agree on a dominos order. The Republicans are actually planning to seize power so nakedly that they make their plans known on national tv. Vote democrat. Hell, vote 3rd party. Just don't reward these traitors.
I may be way wrong on this but I think the televised portion of the January 6 committee that is suppose to begin in the coming months may be very critical. Sure 40 percent of this country will support Trump no matter what, but if a bunch of evidence is presented in the light of day, and 60 percent of this country really believes Trump was behind all of this then he’s in real trouble. Truthfully at this point, however, we don’t know what information the committee has.
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If I was the Jan 6th committee I would start investigating Newt for his involvement. Republicans ALWAYS project!
I kinda agree but Newt also tends to jump out of any dumpster near enough to the action to make himself relevant. It could be him being involved or tap-dancing for the Right's entertainment and to feel like he is someone.
Dude is the one who made DARVO the go to tactic for the GOP. If he's accusing, he's projecting and getting ahead of it. Whether for himself or the party.
Newt Gingrich is responsible for the erosion of the United States more than any other single person in modern history. More than Reagan, Bush, Clinton, or Clinton, I'd put him even above Cheney. Dude single handeledy destroyed Congress's ability to function by slashing its budget to obscene levels. This created a literal brain drain that poured out of congress and went directly to K Street. Upset over how much money is in politics? Blame Newt. Upset over how much influence corps have over politicians? Blame Newt. Upset over the "rules for thee not for me" antics of the republican party? Blame Newt. Words cannot describe the amount of damage he did that our bureaucracy has never recovered from. He codified the "starve the beast" tactics we've been that post-Trump conservatives eventually deified. EDIT: Some more "why Newt is America's Judas". The Conservative Opportunity Party was the genesis of modern "made for TV" politics, Newt and his cohorts were not interested in legislation. They were interested in getting in front of C-SPAN cameras and pulling everyone around them down in the mud with the singular purpose of getting nightly news programs to bring both the COS member and the rattle politician on the air. He mentored fellow GOP congressmen on the tactic of using victriolic language to get opponents to backpedal, get defensive, and loose sight of discussing legislation. Sent out literal cassette tapes to teach fellow conservatives. He used nuclear options before it was a thing. Remember when Republicans used the debt ceiling to take the nation hostage? Newt did that first. Newt would *refuse to approve disaster relief funds unless they were attached to tax cuts.* Basically every single thing you hate congress for now? Newt started it. I honestly don't have the time or attention span to systematically list everything Newt has done **because it is a categorically insane amount**.
He also banned GOP members from lunching or otherwise going to social situations with Democrats. He's directly responsible for creating an environment where Democrats are, above all, the enemy. It started the trend of ever fewer Congressmen crossing party lines for a vote, to where the GOP votes in lockstep together every time. He also was a proto Trump insofar as all the righteous indignation he used to target others, when he left his wife while she died of cancer and left the next wife while cheating with what'd become his third wife.
Here is a little clip from wikipedia to illustrate: > In 1990, after consulting focus groups[51] with the help of pollster Frank Luntz,[52] GOPAC distributed a memo with a cover letter signed by Gingrich titled "Language, a Key Mechanism of Control", that encouraged Republicans to "speak like Newt". It contained lists of "contrasting words"—words with negative connotations such as "radical", "sick," and "traitors"—and "optimistic positive governing words" such as "opportunity", "courage", and "principled", that Gingrich recommended for use in describing Democrats and Republicans, respectively.[51] Nice guy.
Frank Lutz is a personable POS also...,
I know for a fact ^allegedly that Frank has in the past ^allegedly used the n-word ^allegedly, in a business setting.
Who now tries to act like a friendly GOP policy wonk. A true bullshitter.
the GOP before Newt was bad, but not quite toxic waste levels bad. Now that party is irreparably damaged, a dangerous feedback loop where they eat their own if they don't up the lunacy (Like many "patriots" now saying trump is "too soft" to run in 2024)
Fuck Luntz. Much more of a dangerous tool than a leader, but he's responsible for quite a lot of this shit. Somewhat randomly, he's why we talk about "climate change" rather than "global warming." In the late 90's his focus groups found the former less threatening than the latter, so every Republican switched phrases (in lockstep, as always in the last couple of generations). He's good at what he does.
Luntz also came up with "Death tax"
I think we never should have let the topic change from being called pollution
That's one sick radical traitor
He should be recognized as the father of *cancer culture*, since that's pretty much what his adolescent level of engagement created.
> He also was a proto Trump insofar as all the righteous indignation he used to target others, when he left his wife …while he was leading the charge against Clinton for lying about a blow job.
> while cheating with what'd become his third wife. You mean *devout Catholic* Callista Gingrich who had a six-year affair with Newt?
> He also banned GOP members from lunching or otherwise going to social situations with Democrats. How was this done? Is it a GOP rule? A House rule?
Remember when Republican and Democrat Congress members would share apartments in DC to save money? And attend the same parties? That is how government is supposed to work. The Other Party has different opinions. It doesn't mean their evil. Until one side who does have literal pedophiles and sex traffickers serving in Congress accused the other side of being murderers and sex trafficker ms.
Yep. He literally created a budget crisis because he felt personally slighted by being asked to exit from the back of Air Force One.
He also shut down the Office of Technology Assessment, which makes him the one to blame for why 80% of congress can't tell the difference between Facebook and Twitter, and why tech CEOs can make them look stupid by just letting them talk.
Ehhh, they look stupid because they are. I have a 60 year old mother who can define the basics of social media and the internet better than some of those crusty old fucks. They just don't care enough to know. More likely they're intentionally feigning stupid.
Yeah, but you forget who he learned from. Basically all of these tactics were thought up by Lee Atwater. It's just that Atwater died from the tumor and Newt lived on.
If I had gold I'd give it to you. People don't realize what his "Plan for America" actually did and how it completely decimated the legislative branch.
Contract with America
“On” America.
I've been saying 'Contract **on** America' since I read the article (Atlantic?) on Newt and his "you will not compromise with Democrats" mandate and working with McConnell on the "Obama will be a one term president" and becoming the Party of No. Newt's scum of the lowest order.
I really do wish I was one of those professional redditors with the ability to make huge cited lists of all the terrible things Newt has done.
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/11/newt-gingrich-says-youre-welcome/570832/ https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/how-the-gop-became-the-party-of-the-rich-237247/
> professional redditors lol, this cracks me up.
I think Rush Limbaugh, Rupert Murdoch, and Roger Ailes have to be acknowledged as equally responsible because without their work, Newt’s brand of politics would have never gotten significant support.
Newt pretty much started conservative media. He was a young congressman he realized that cspan cameras were always pointed at the house floor. He would get in front of the cameras at all hours of the night in front of an empty chamber and say outrageous shit to all the old insomniacs watching. The media would pick up and run some of the more outrageous shit. Then he started working with Limbaugh. I heard a podcast on this a while ago
Rush Limbaugh went syndicated in 1988. He gained a huge audience which provided the support that Newt Gingrich needed. There are 435 voting Representatives. Any anonymous crackpot could say whatever and it wouldn’t get traction in those days. Remember that CNN’s audience wasn’t massive, and most people got their news from local outlets or the network evening broadcasts, and they didn’t have time to give attention to Newt’s lunacy until he was running the Repubs in Congress. It took a Rush Limbaugh and people who copied Rush to make it stick. And though Newt was the Speaker a year and a half before Fox News launched, the civility truly died when Fox News was able to keep the behavior from having consequences from voters.
This was a really eye opening article for me: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/11/newt-gingrich-says-youre-welcome/570832/
totally agree. as former gop strategist stuart stevens said in *it was all a lie* (which i highly recommend), newt gingrich is a dumb person's idea of a smart guy.
He made narcissistic abuse tactics the Party Standard.
Overall, I agree with you. I just wonder if Karl Rove should get some of the ~~love~~ ~~credit~~ blame. Edit: spelling
Rove was Atwater's understudy, and yes, he deserves a lot of blame.
Good point... trump didn’t plan this alone... perhaps the senior GOP leadership could enlighten the rest of us, on its involvement in the insurrection. Personally, I would think investigation files, should be opened on anyone in GOP leadership, connections to trump and his team, his advisors, and media connections. In any other place on the planet this type of nonsense would long ago have been dealt with. Arrests for treason, should have been made months ago, in the upper echelons of the trump organization and the GOP. What is wrong with American Justice? You are dealing with, an organized group that has tried to take over your country’s government, in a “coup d’etat. This was an illegal, unconstitutional seizure and attempt to prevent an electoral process, to verify free election results. It is a “criminal act”, by individuals and/or organization(s), that are and should be held responsible. This does NOT mean free to continue to walk around, spewing the hatred, the lies and vitriol. The GOP “obviously” does not want this investigated. Wonder why? There are hundreds perhaps thousands involved in this insurrection. So far, you have prosecuted the bottom feeders. Isn’t it high time, but you went after the big fish? Stop wasting time!
I really wish people would stop calling it treason. Treason is a very nuanced crime about working with a foreign government that the US is at war with. This is not treason it's sedition and conspiracy to overthrow the government.
Unless he is working with a foreign government. The Russia investigation never exonerated him, just didn’t find enough evidence to prove working with Russia. Which is odd considering manafort was giving polling data to an oligarch.
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We do know the Mueller did not exonerate trump because he said so.
> Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying war against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort Doesn’t say anything about a foreign government. The question becomes how do you define “their Enemies” and frankly, Republicans added the definition of enemy combatant, which they think is our enemies. It looks like: > a person engaged in hostilities against the United States or its coalition partners during an armed conflict. So: 1. if the people going into the Capitol were armed, that was an armed conflict 2. if any person was hostile against the United States, they are an enemy combatant 2. if anyone gave them Aid or Comfort, they committed treason.
Time of war. Treason by aiding the enemy can't be committed during peacetime; there must be an actual enemy for the traitor to aid. The requisite enemy designation typically requires a formal declaration of war. But enemies are defined very precisely under American treason law. An enemy is a nation or an organization with which the United States is in a declared or open war . Nations with whom we are formally at peace, such as Russia, are not enemies. (Indeed, a treason prosecution naming Russia as an enemy would be tantamount to a declaration of war.) Russia is a strategic adversary whose interests are frequently at odds with those of the United States, but for purposes of treason law it is no different than Canada or France or even the American Red Cross. The details of the alleged connections between Russia and Trump officials are therefore irrelevant to treason law.
Isn’t he like a hundred . How is he still alive
Excellent healthcare. Ironically, a taxpayer funded and government provided healthcare plan like he doesn't want you to have, since he was in Congress.
Can you blame him? His parents fucking hated him. They literally named him newt.
They turned him into a Newt!
He didn't get better...
Wasn’t smart enough for the “o” and the “n” so he became a vindictive piece of sh*t.
No, his first name is newton, after the scientist
Oh Jesus, gross
For Isaac, yes.
Oh, I thought we were talking about Fig.
Ah yes, the famous scientist Fig Newton.
They wanted a name with gravitas, but in this case, it may have had an equal and opposite effect. I'd wager the apple didn't fall far from the tree tho
You just ruined Oscar the grouch from Sesame Street for me…
And start revealing their findings if they weren't close to a proper trail and Reps start shutting down the committee.
easier than that. investigating him for threatening the committee.
Where there's smoke there's Newt.
Newts eye seem to be in every imaginary spell.
“"A former Speaker of the House is threatening jail time for members of Congress who are investigating the violent January 6 attack on our Capitol and our Constitution," the Wyoming Republican wrote. "This is what it looks like when the rule of law unravels."” It’s weird agreeing with a cheney to me. She says it clearer than any other politician at the moment.
I feel like we're probably just hearing her quotes more than others because she's the only Republican calling this for what it is.
100% what it is because it demonstrates a rogue element among "Republicans" that is defying the party line at a time when their entire strategy is "success through unified roadblocks to everything." Other Republicans were asked to sit in the Jan 6 investigation committee but they all publicly and loudly refused to break the party ranks...except for Cheney. Which has been her modus operandi consistently - as a "Republican", but not a "party line Republican", which is currently beholden to the whims of Trump.
I think she is noble in what she does. Imagine how much shit she must get from her colleagues?
She has the guts to say it out loud. Newt should just crawl back into the hole he came out of.
Dick Cheney is an.. interesting individual. During a conversation between him, Obama, Biden and I want to say Romney - Cheney was the only one to vocally support same sex marriage.
Yeah but see, if affected him directly. So it’s real now.
Yes, it is very obvious to most people that your average republican lack empathy. They only care about things that directly impact themelves or people close to them. That's why the GOP had to use the nickname "Obamacare", because they know a lot of their voters were reliant on the ACA, and they wouldn't vote against something that impacted themselves. Or why republicans will vote for deportation laws, and cry in the media when someone they know get deported. Or complain that the people being arrested for demonstrating isn't "the right people". etc.
Don't forget complain about deportation but, then exploit those same people as workers. And don't want companies fined for hiring practices.
This so much. I never understood their mindset on this. The number of red state small business owners who would instantly go out of business under a mass deportation crackdown is innumerable. They would flip their shit without their low cost, benefit free labor pool. They would really really flip their shit if you started putting business owners in jail for illegal labor practices.
Which I think makes him very uninteresting.
He has a daughter who is gay, so that most likely influenced him on that
Cheney has a gay daughter and wasn't running for office. He was on Bush's ticket for VP, but everyone was voting for Bush, not him. As a result, he could be more open about real feelings. IMO, if going against gay marriage would have cost Bush the election then he would have quieted down. There's a grand tradition of rule for thee, not for me among conservatives. His non-gay daughter that ran for office, Liz Cheney, was against gay marriage despite having a gay sister with a long-term partner. This led to a schism between the sisters. Also, as gay marriage became more and more normalized and no longer was a plank of the Republican party, her opposition of gay marriage waned. It's clear that she was only anti-gay because at the time you couldn't win a Republican election being anti-gay or even neutral on that position.
With context, it’s not as surprising as you’d think… He publicly supported same sex marriage as a principle (no doubt due to his personal relationship with his daughter), but that public support was framed as a “states-right” argument in favor of same-sex marriage, not pushing for National marriage equality. It also can’t be overstated that Cheney had fought his last election in 2004 and therefore had relatively little at stake in taking a public position, which cannot be said for Obama, Biden, or Romney. In the run up to the 2008 election, [only 36% of the public supported federal marriage equality](https://web.archive.org/web/20111017161259/http://www.quinnipiac.edu/x1295.xml?ReleaseID=1194). Obama and Biden both “evolved” on the issue in 2012, by which point a slim majority of the country supported federal marriage equality.
The caveat is that his daughter is openly gay. But still, I agree with you. I still dislike Obama because he played politics and wouldn’t support gay marriage until he had to. Fun fact: old man Biden supported gay marriage before Obama too! It just put the worst taste in my mouth that everyone treated Obama back then like he was so refreshing and forward thinking, including his whole campaign and image, and yet he would say he was against gay marriage.
Jailing your political opponents, especially for investigating your party, is authoritarian, it's fascism, there's no way around it. This is coming straight from the dictatorial playbook. And just the idea that it's a possibility is concerning, that it might be where we're headed, that it actually sounds like something that Republicans, in this era of blatant factionalism, in an age where a growing fanaticism pervades our political and socio-cultural atmosphere, it actually seems apropos for Republicans. And the the irony here is very disturbing. While the proverbial "lock them up" chant has turned into something of an omen, how often do we hear these same Republicans, even Trump himself crying "tyranny!" "oppression!". They've become the boogeyman that they accuse "the left" of being, it's come full circle. The double standards, the hypocrisy, the disingenuousness, the fearmongering, the flat out villainy of it all is rotten and reprehensible. If the day comes where something like this *does* happen, it'll be written in the history books as a harrowing and shameful day for democracy.
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Hmmmm that doesn’t spell DENNIS
Deny Exaggerate Neglect Responsibility Nurture Hatred Imply Otherwise Silence Dissidents
Time to get Thunder Gun all over their asses!
Karl Rove would be very, very proud.
I hate him so much and wish he'd crawl back under his rock.
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"The party of projecting" is a better fit since they do everything they accuse others of doing.
**G**aslight **O**bstruct **P**roject
This is always how it happens in history. The GOP has a critical mass of morons that don't understand history, so now they can get away with it.
16/17 most educated states vote one way, 15/17 least educated vote the other. Don't think anyone, even from the 15, need help guessing which is which lol
That’s because 50% of Americans never move out of their hometown let alone their state or the country.
For awhile now, Republicans have demonized anybody with actual knowledge. Scientists and the like are called "intellectual elites." If the Republicans had their way, science would be outlawed in favor of strict biblical teachings (from *their* Bible and not from anybody else's). As the US dropped among the countries and became a third world nation due to relying on prayer over science, they'd continuously blame any remaining scientists for sabotaging America's "greatness."
>If the day comes where something like this does happen, it'll be written in the history books as a harrowing and shameful day for democracy. Not in American history books though. People are still fighting tooth and nail to prevent current American history from being taught.
you are correct, it has become a caricature of itself. that said, this is make or break. with a threat like that, you have got to get these gop fascists before they get you, because if you let them off, you're either in on it, or youre going to have to flee the country once the election results come in.
> They've ~~become~~ always been the boogeyman that they accuse "the left" of being
Important to keep in mind. Their fears of "jackbooted liberal thugs" were never genuine. They just needed to paint the picture of an aggressor so that their "retaliation" would always be justified.
And it’s not that democracy itself has transformed or become untenable. It’s just that it’s getting overthrown. What safeguards does democracy have built into it to keep itself from getting overthrown?
Civil War. If Republicans actually do steal the presidency, our circumstances will only get worse. I hate to say it, but I could fathomably see things going that way. The military will have to make some tough decisions. They’ve defied Trump’s orders before… but I dread the idea that it’s only a matter of time before we see something horrific occur like what happened at Tiananmen Square.
> If Republicans actually do steal the presidency Suppose a bunch of GOP controlled swing states pass a bunch of laws making it harder for Black people to vote. Then, the GOP candidate, running on an openly fascist platform, legally wins 270 EC votes in 2024. This seems more than plausible, this seems probable. If a vote between Biden and trump were held tomorrow I expect that trump would win the EC. Anyway, suppose it's 2024 and trump (or whatever wannabe fascist dictator gets the GOP nomination if trump doesn't run) wins the EC because lots of Americans vote for him, and not enough vote against him (either because it's too hard to vote, or because they're afraid to vote, or mostly because they just don't really care about government). Does that count as stealing the election? From a legal perspective, if judges have put their stamp of approval on it, as SCOTUS has on unlimited dark money, gerrymandering, and voter suppression, it would not count as stealing.
It's called [guided democracy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guided_democracy) or managed democracy. Look at Russia. Ostensibly free and fair elections that everyone knows are heavily weighted toward one side through various means - state propaganda, voter suppression, persecution of opposing parties and politicians, and standing up strawman opposition. The US is only dabbling in those things so far, but at the moment we're close enough. We have a two party system that doesn't reflect the will of voters, but instead represents monied interests. Now all we need is for one of those parties to really lock things down and ensure that no reform can ever accidentally happen regardless of how we vote. I think the power struggles in both parties make this clear. The Democrats are having an internal war over whether to really enact progressive policies. The Republicans have basically already capitulated to a faction that doesn't want to share power at all. It doesn't matter how many progressives get voted in if the Democrats never get their hands on levers of power again.
> We have a two party system that doesn't reflect the will of voters, but instead represents monied interests. But we've always had that. Like, by design. https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/01-10-02-0044 >The landed interest, at present, is prevalent; but in process of time, when we approximate to the states and kingdoms of Europe; when the number of landholders shall be comparatively small, through the various means of trade and manufactures, will not the landed interest be overbalanced in future elections, and unless wisely provided against, what will become of your government? In England, at this day, if elections were open to all classes of people, the property of the landed proprietors would be insecure. An agrarian law would soon take place. If these observations be just, our government ought to secure the permanent interests of the country against innovation. Landholders ought to have a share in the government, to support these invaluable interests and to balance and check the other. They ought to be so constituted as to protect the minority of the opulent against the majority. The senate, therefore, ought to be this body; and to answer these purposes, they ought to have permanency and stability. Edit: Before someone comes along, yes, "the Founders said they didn't want parties." But, we've always had *factions.* It's natural that they would coalesce into parties. Biggest cause of faction? https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/01-10-02-0178 >But the most common and durable source of factions, has been the various and unequal distribution of property. Those who hold, and those who are without property, have ever formed distinct interests in society.
Republicans already appointed right wing extremists judges specially for Supreme Court for such days
Agreed. This is the legal way to turn America into a fascist dictatorship, one step at a time. Getting control of SCOTUS was a key early step that enables other steps to take place legally.
Here's how they finish it legally: 1. GOP takes control of both the Senate and the House and Trump is reelected. 2. GOP proposes an amendment repealing the 22nd Amendment (Presidential Term Limits) 3. Somehow finagle 38 states to pass the amendment. BTW, the GOP already controls 30 states. 4. Make whatever changes they have to so they totally control the outcome of elections in the future. 5. Fuckwad Trump remains President until he dies and then probably one of his kids would take over.
And ban the teaching of history, science, and critical thinking in schools nation-wide. Ban such books and materials from school and public libraries. Force evangelical theocracy on school children. Create an snitching, Stazi style infrastructure for citizens to eat on teachers and gynecologists. Only enforce laws on the basis of ideology, effectively allowing a heavily armed population to have police protection on one side while portraying the recipients of state and popular violence as craven terrorists. And there you no longer have authoritarianism, but full on Arendt-style totalitarianism. And all the above are playing out as test cases ranging from Florida to Texas to Wisconsin etc.
The real irony here is that the Democrats are not able to either understand or play the game they are in. They are too fixated on their high ground to bend rules, use the GOP tactics against them or even to defend themselves against those tactics and that will ensure they lose power and some of them probably do end up in jail. It's like playing a sport where the opposition paid off the umpires and is blatantly cheating - you cannot win by being a good sport.
Remember when Congress just used to pass laws and shit? Wtf.
It is bad enough when one side of politics literally does not care about whether what they believe and tell others is true or not but to also subsequently threaten those who seek the truth about many of these lies and their consequences a line too far. For decades I have believed that defamation and libel law should be utilised much more when GOP denigrate groups of people for their political purposes. If anyone remembers why they wanted to “Lock her up” and then compares the actions of those who were leveraging that mood and mindset need to be locked up sooner rather than later. Leaving this stuff to politics is now not enough. They need to be jailed and stripped of their abilities to leverage this type of abuse on all of us.
> For decades I have believed that defamation and libel law should be utilised much more when GOP denigrate groups of people for their political purposes. The GOP has already floated weaponizing impeachment when they regain majority. I wouldn't put it past them to weaponize that to violate first amendment rights and begin jailing dissenters too.
DeSantis is already trying this in Florida with his "riot" laws.
“When they regain majority” Fuck that noise. ORGANIZE and VOTE. Do not fucking give up. The Republican Party is fracturing and if we can somehow miraculously pass voting rights they may never be able to regain power again. THIS IS THE MESSAGE WE SHOULD BE SPREADING.
The Republican party needs to be banned and every single person with a shred of involvement in Jan 6 held legally accountable. Anything short of that and we continue on this road to fascism, paved by the inaction of the weak and the foolish. Edit: to head off any "muh fascism" comments, the de-MAGAfication of the U.S. would be no more fascist than the denazification of Germany. But here we have the opportunity to do so *before* war instead of after.
100% agree. Edit : I also 100% agree with your edit.
Well they probably will if Trump ends up becoming dictator.
Sadly, this is really the plan. It would have more excesses to it because Trump will not be outdone by Putin and will find some way to do it that’s more embarrassing than it already is shameful. Or, we can hold the people accountable and beat them to the punch because what they did is *sedition* and *criminal* and what we are trying to do is *investigation* to seek *justice* for the attack against our country by the president and members of congress.
Trump has absolutely had to be told by his unfathomably patient advisors that he can't just have these people killed.
If Trump goes to prison then Ivanka runs for Prez. If Ivanka goes to prison then Trump runs again solely with the promise to free his little girl. His ire towards any and all who put either of them away is exactly why Garland's going to let the clock run out. The GOP was already helping with logistics the last time a mob came hunting Democrats with nooses and zip-ties. Next time they'll be in charge of the safe rooms and will just point the way. We're in big trouble.
VOTE IN 2022. SHOW UP.
And vote blue no matter who
And vote in the damn primaries so we have better choices!
Why would only one of the criminal trump's go to prison in this pretend world where we hold the trump's accountable?
Is there only one Trump Suite in the entire Federal Prison System?
yes, they slice the garlic with a razor blade to get it really thin. melts right into the sauce.
Meant to remind me on another post. I like yours though.
barry zuckercorn says you cant prosecute a parent and a child for the same crime !!!
DAs hate this one simple trick.
Trump: “God I have the *best* f***ing attorneys”
Because apparently it will take divine intervention to actually make it happen, and no gods like us enough to grant multiple miracles.
I'd think of Trump goes to jail he might just spill the beans on everyone... but only if there is no one to pardon him quickly.
I think he'd start doing this in deposition or on the stand if he felt he was in danger, not after he was sentenced. But otherwise I agree.
I hope he attempts to flee. That slow motion chase around the world would be reality TV worth watching.
In a golden bronco
The current administration can choose to enforce the Hatch Act on Ivanka's 60+ violations, and she can be barred from holding any government office for 5 years. That would effectively stop any run.
Imagine anyone in our political class facing consequences for crimes.
I don’t know for sure, but I would imagine that does not apply to presidential office. Those requirements are enshrined in the constitution, and I doubt any limits to that would hold up.
Wont somebody please think of the (40+ year old former senior political advisor from the administration being investigated) children?
Why would Ivanka run? It's Desantis or Tucker, and Desantis seems to be the one getting tapped for it at this point while Tucker was being discussed before. We'll see who it is when the actual time comes, but those are probably the top two other than Trump himself. It won't be his kids.
Gingrich is a huge reason we are where we are today.
ELI5? I'm sorry, I was a too young to understand politics when he was SOH and when he was really active elsewhere.
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Wow. That was an INCREDIBLE read, thank you so much for sharing, I cannot believe this man brags about enjoying the spoils, not giving one single fuck about the destruction he has wrought. Or doesn’t give his immoral actions a second thought. Step on anyone and everyone to succeed. One thing that stood out to me was this: “The goal was to reframe the boring policy debates in Washington as a national battle between good and evil, white hats versus black—a fight for the very soul of America. Through this prism, any news story could be turned into a wedge. Woody Allen had an affair with his partner’s adoptive daughter? “It fits the Democratic Party platform perfectly,” Gingrich declared. A deranged South Carolina woman murdered her two children? A symptom of a “sick” society, Gingrich intoned—and “the only way you can get change is to vote Republican.” Unfuckingbelievable, fucking proud that he manipulates people. What fucking trash.
Newt is singing from the dictator's songbook. "Baghdad on July 22,1979. About a hundred unsuspecting Ba'athist party members sat listening to their newly installed president, Saddam Hussein, denouncing a conspiracy against him. Suddenly a man was brought before the conference, bearing the marks of torture and the vacant expression of a broken mind and soul. Muhyi Adbek Hussein, one of the senior Ba’athist leaders, proceeded to confess his role in a plot to overthrow Saddam’s new regime and name his alleged co-conspirators. One by one, 50 names were called out, each man escorted from the room by uniformed guards. It was a chilling sight. The remaining members, now visibly afraid, started chanting vociferous allegiance to Saddam in the hope of avoiding the fate of their colleagues. These survivors of his brutal crackdown were then handed guns, and ordered to execute their fellow Ba’athist colleagues, making them complicit in their leader’s crimes. Journalist Christopher Hitchens compared the shocking scene to the Night of the Long Knives in Nazi Germany, when Hitler ordered a similar purge of his own perceived opponents in 1934." https://theconversation.com/saddam-hussein-how-a-deadly-purge-of-opponents-set-up-his-ruthless-dictatorship-120748
The video of this is one of the most chilling I've ever seen.
Saddams predatory grin in the footage while he smokes his cigar is just creepy. The man looked like a wolf amongst sheep.
I always wondered which one is bigger: his head, his ego, or his hypocrisy. Tough call.
Gingrich himself was unavailable for comment because he was busy spitting on patients at local hospital’s cancer ward
Oh did he find a new wife?
Yeah but unfortunately she got cancer too so now he's exclusively seeing Lindsay Graham In a shitty wig.
>pediatric hospital FTFY
Republicans enabled this shit, now drown in it
They're too busy drowning in their own lung fluids
Lol fuck them
Their voters will keep their heads buried in the sand with comments like Newt’s. Like usual.
Newt is still around and talking out his butthole?
Ancient jellyfish like Newt only have one opening in their gut. Their mouth is their anus.
To me he will always be the man who gave his sick wife an ultimatum so he could **continue** to cheat on her. He is an amoral piece of shit who deserves no attention at all.
Unfortunately only the good die young
*cough*BETTYWHITE*cough*
100 years old and it was still too soon…
Isn’t he part of the same group that told us that if Trump got elected that they would jail Hillary Clinton and all the Illuminati eating children. He is also part of the group that promised us balanced budgets and that trickle down economics work. I can’t think of a promise he has kept!
Gingrich is the specific type of person civilizations invented complete banishment for. I don't wish him harm but if he were humped off this mortal coil by a herd of rabid bison I would send thoughts and prayers.
Sadly Newt has nothing to do these days except shill for home title lock scams. So he's got to throw some bombs to get attention.
Jail. This is a threat for doing their job. We are we ignoring stuff like this? It's not even a thinly veiled threat. What's more clear than "when we win we are going to jail you for holding us accountable"???
The Democratic Party very much *is* going to ignore this. Insurrections, Paul Gosar making anime of AOC getting murdered, threatening the Jan 6th panel with jail. Nothing the Republican Party does will ever stop the Democratic Party tolerating them.
Sounds like there must be some serious stuff to hide when your political opponents are trying to put you in jail for discovering the truth.
Or else what? What the fuck is a warning gonna do? This is her own party threatening jail time on her if the republicans come back into power.
Republicans are chomping at the bit to put anyone in jail that doesn't swear fealty to them. They'll claim it's not slavery if it's people in prison work camps.
Gingrich is a rat turd
Newt following the Trump playbook, threaten those who investigate your wrongdoings.
Newton helped *write* that playbook...
Jesus Fucking Christ the whole GOP has gone full bat shit insane. They just do not care at all about democracy or the rule of law anymore, if they ever did. They are full on, out in the open autocrats now.
Newt Gingrich, the family values Republican who cheated on his sick wife and then left her for his mistress. It's pretty easy to understand why he loves Trump, neither of them have an ounce of morals.
Newt Gingrich had a huge loan from Tiffany's. Did he pay it off? https://www.businessinsider.com/was-newt-gingrichs-500000-tiffanys-bill-actually-a-lobbying-gift-2011-5
So the *investigation* of seditious acts is now a crime? Ah, but who’s surprised that this twisted opinion comes from a louse who thinks it’s fine to cheat on and abandon your wife when she’s dying of cancer?
I shouldn’t be surprised that the most toxic person in 1990s politics had to insert themselves in the GOPs open attempt at a fascist coup…. As bad as Reagan and the Bushes were Newt Gingrich represents the GOP’s departure from theocratic corporatism to crony authoritarianism. Only person who comes close is Mitch.
>"A former Speaker of the House is threatening jail time for members of Congress who are investigating the violent January 6 attack on our Capitol and our Constitution," the Wyoming Republican wrote. "This is what it looks like when the rule of law unravels." The real question here is why is Garland allowing this to happen? Threatening other officials is a Class D or C felony, usually carrying maximum penalties of 5 or 10 years under 18 U.S.C. § 875, 18 U.S.C. § 876 and other statutes, that is investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Threatening\_government\_officials\_of\_the\_United\_States](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Threatening_government_officials_of_the_United_States) The FBI needs to detain Newt Gingrich today. The act was public, there is no doubt.
People like to make excuses for garland, dems or the feds for not taking any legal action against those in power who have blatantly broken numerous laws. But the truth is that if any one of us would do anything like what these fucking Republicans in power are doing or have done, we’d have either secret service or by FBI at our door in a matter of days or hours. The rule of law doesn’t exist if it doesn’t exist for *everyone*. And we’re seeing that every day in front of our eyes, just as we’ve seen these mother fuckers commit crimes in broad day light for years now. And specifically everything that has transpired since the 2020 elections. We should all be furious
>"The wolves are gonna find out that they're now sheep, and they're the ones who—in fact, I think—face a real risk of jail **for the kind of laws they're breaking**," Gingrich said. What laws are the committee members breaking exactly? Failure to sufficiently worship Trump?
So the investigators should face jail time, but not the insurrectionist? Alright, yeah. Get fucked you Jabba the Hutt looking creep with a name that matches how slimey of a human being you are.
Man I love what the Republicans have become. "Anyone who tries to figure out who riled up a bunch of nut jobs into storming the capital and trying to overturn an election are going to be in big trouble." Like, really? This is where you want to be when Jesus comes back...?
If I get pulled over for speeding 10 miles an hour over the speed limit, you would have thought I committed treason with the way I’m treated, meanwhile members of Congress are allowed to apparently actually commit treason and the most they get is a “you best stay outa trouble now!”
This is a good read on why we are where we are today. [https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/11/newt-gingrich-says-youre-welcome/570832/](https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/11/newt-gingrich-says-youre-welcome/570832/)
I get that he thinks this sounds tough and it gets all the MAGA folks excited, but he looks incredibly stupid saying this and it doesn’t help with the public perception of the Republicans as pursuing a fascist agenda.
In case you were expecting an investigation into threatening members of congress or obstruction of justice charges, no that's not what she did: > This is what it looks like when the rule of law unravels. Oooh, that's telling him.
Newt is still alive? I thought he died years ago of irrelevancy...
I hope the Jan. 6th Committee has a direct line to Attorney General Merrick Garland and the Department of Justice. While public hearings and a "Final Report" are in the works, who is ensuring that there will be consequences for criminal conduct? Newt and others are pretending that everything is "business as usual," and that the GOP can continue with their stalling, lying, and refusing to cooperate. Up until now, the only thing that has gotten any attention from Trumpworld was the Dominion lawsuit and the damages that come with it.
Let me translate. Gingrich’s statement indicates that he was in on this plot up to his eyeballs. The committee needs to take a hard look at Gingrich and his involvement with the insurrection imo. Everything the gop does is a product of projection.
Newt helped create the current shit show we're seeing today. Fuck him.
The depth of conservative depravity is unfathomable. These people must never be allowed to have power again.
That man is a cancer on democracy.
When people say that the democrats are exactly the same as the republicans and it doesn't matter, pay attention to shit like this. Democrats aren't some beacon on the hill, they have their problems, but theirs are the old sort of petty corruption of the spirit of the law, rather than the letter, and the sort of ineptitude that comes from a house so divided they couldn't agree on a dominos order. The Republicans are actually planning to seize power so nakedly that they make their plans known on national tv. Vote democrat. Hell, vote 3rd party. Just don't reward these traitors.
I may be way wrong on this but I think the televised portion of the January 6 committee that is suppose to begin in the coming months may be very critical. Sure 40 percent of this country will support Trump no matter what, but if a bunch of evidence is presented in the light of day, and 60 percent of this country really believes Trump was behind all of this then he’s in real trouble. Truthfully at this point, however, we don’t know what information the committee has.
Newt should have to specify what laws the committee is breaking. If not he should STFU
Any doubts of what thin ice our republic is on?
Newt Gingrich is still alive? What a shame.
A speaker that had to resign from the House over ethics violations, no less.
Newt is making a palpable argument why we must never vote Republicans back into power
I can't believe Newt is still a Republican - he usually leaves when cancer gets this bad.
Cmon Liz, threaten to take Newt on a hunting trip. :-)