...but the threat to our republic has not'

[link removed]
The GOP playbook has become, in a word, played. Ahead of an expected loss or the potential for accountability, Republicans begin laying the groundwork for mitigating it. That would be normal and acceptable if the groundwork were the typical preemptive spin we've seen in Washington ad infinitum. Instead, it's conspiracies and partisan lies designed to undermine the facts. This playbook was used with the Mueller report two years ago and with the presidential election last year. Now, it's happening again with the Jan. 6 committee. Republicans had an opportunity to work with Democrats to build an independent commission to investigate the Capitol riot. But that would have reduced their ability to dismiss the findings, which may not reflect so well on them, as partisan theater. They're using this strategy again because, unfortunately, it has worked. We know that significant numbers of Republicans believe the Mueller report exonerated the former president, and that the 2020 election was "stolen."
Once again, you can expect congressional Republicans to use every tool at their disposal to delegitimize the select committee's important work. Indeed, they've already begun. —Melissa Amour, Managing Editor

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** Two good Republicans
------------------------------------------------------------

That was all. Just two House Republicans, Reps. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, voted with all Democrats yesterday to create a select committee to investigate the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. At her Thursday news conference this morning, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced that Rep. Bennie Thompson will chair the committee. Thompson had previously negotiated the bill that would have established a bipartisan commission to investigate the insurrection. Other Democratic members of the panel include Reps. Adam Schiff, Zoe Lofgren, Pete Aguilar, Stephanie Murphy, Jamie Raskin, and Elaine Luria. —NBC News ([link removed])
* — "We are very honored and proud she has agreed to serve on the committee." Pelosi also announced that Cheney is one of eight members she has selected to serve on the committee, and Cheney has accepted the assignment. The remaining five Republican members will be picked in consultation with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, though he has not yet indicated whether any other Republicans intend to participate. —Axios ([link removed])
*
* — "It seems pretty political to me." By joining the select committee, Cheney defied a threat from McCarthy that he would strip any Republican member of their other committee assignments if they accepted an offer from Pelosi to sit on the panel. McCarthy and other Republicans are attempting to frame the committee as merely a partisan exercise—rather than the last option left after Republicans in the Senate blocked an independent commission. —CNN ([link removed])
*
* — "Who gives a sh*t?" That was Kinzinger's frank reaction to McCarthy's threat. "I do think the threat of removing committees is ironic, because you won't go after the space lasers and white supremacist people but those who tell the truth," he said. McCarthy has refused to remove Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Paul Gosar from their committee assignments despite their respective histories of making conspiratorial and racist comments. Greene was removed from her assignments earlier this year via House vote. —Politico ([link removed])

MORE: 'Band-aid on a gunshot wound': Officer Fanone on prior investigations about Jan. 6 —The Reporter ([link removed])


** Hohmann: The good news and bad news on voting
------------------------------------------------------------

"Restrictive voting laws receive the most attention, but the news is not all bad. In fact, Virginia is among a majority of states that have quietly made the ballot box more accessible this year. The nonpartisan Voting Rights Lab tabulates that 28 states have passed 71 laws since last November's election to make voting easier, which will benefit 63 million eligible voters, while 18 states have passed 31 laws during that time to erect barriers, affecting 36 million eligible voters. The group calls this 'a tale of two democracies' and warns in a new report: 'Increasingly, one's zip code determines a citizen's ability to exercise their constitutional right to vote.'" —James Hohmann in ([link removed]) The Washington Post ([link removed])

James Hohmann is a columnist at
The Washington Post, covering politics, policy, and law.

MORE: Supreme Court upholds Arizona voting restrictions in major voting rights case —The Boston Globe ([link removed])


** A 'sweeping and audacious' tax fraud scheme
------------------------------------------------------------

The Trump Organization and its longtime finance chief, Allen Weisselberg, were charged today in the first criminal case yielded by New York authorities' two-year investigation into Donald Trump. According to the indictment, from 2005 through this year, Weisselberg and the company cheated the state and city out of taxes by conspiring to pay senior executives off the books. In Weisselberg's case, he allegedly received more than $1.7 million in off-the-books compensation, including apartment rent, car payments, and school tuition. Both Weisselberg and lawyers for the Trump Organization pleaded not guilty. The former guy was not charged at this stage of the investigation, jointly pursued by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. and New York Attorney General Letitia James. —Associated Press ([link removed])

MORE: Trump's longtime financial chief, confidant indicted. Who is Allen Weisselberg? —USA Today ([link removed])


** Wemple: Carlson uses the 'deep state' playbook
------------------------------------------------------------

"It's not every day that the National Security Agency issues statements about whom it may or may not be targeting. But on Monday, Fox News host Tucker Carlson claimed that the agency was 'monitoring our electronic communications and is planning to leak them in an attempt to take this show off the air.' At 8 p.m. Tuesday, right at the start of 'Tucker Carlson Tonight,' the NSA issued a statement [denying the allegations]... Carlson has presented no proof whatsoever...other than his stern-faced assurances to his audience that the NSA's snooping is 'confirmed.'" —Erik Wemple in ([link removed]) The Washington Post ([link removed])

Erik Wemple is
The Washington Post's media critic, focusing on the cable-news industry.

MORE: Kevin McCarthy calls for investigation of NSA after Tucker Carlson says he's being spied on —Newsweek ([link removed])
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** Not so fast, Florida
------------------------------------------------------------

A controversial Florida internet law is on hold while a lawsuit contesting it continues. Judge Robert Hinkle has issued a preliminary injunction blocking nearly all of SB 7072, which limits when web services can kick off users and bans the suspension or annotation of posts from political candidates, among other requirements. Interestingly, the rules don't apply to "a company that owns and operates a theme park or entertainment complex," placating media conglomerates like Disney, which has a large footprint in Florida. "Balancing the exchange of ideas among private speakers is not a legitimate governmental interest," Hinkle wrote in his order. Moreover, he suggests the law may violate the 1st Amendment, because it "discriminates on its face among otherwise identical speakers." —The Verge ([link removed])

MORE: Iranian disinformation effort went small to stay under Big Tech's radar —The New York Times ([link removed])


** Global roundup
------------------------------------------------------------

Apparently, reports of a ceasefire between Tigray forces and Ethiopian soldiers backed by Eritrea were greatly exaggerated. Getachew Reda, spokesperson for the Tigrayan fighters, said yesterday that "we'll stop at nothing to liberate every square inch" of the Tigray region of Ethiopia, home to 6 million people. He rejected the unilateral ceasefire declared by Ethiopia on Monday as a "sick joke" and accused the country of long denying humanitarian aid to the Tigrayans. The fierce conflict began eight months ago and has killed thousands of civilians. —Associated Press ([link removed])
* — Eswatini. Pro-democracy protesters in Eswatini defied an overnight curfew to call for constitutional reforms as tensions increase in the tiny, landlocked kingdom previously known as Swaziland. With unfettered political power over his 1.3 million people and ruling by decree, King Mswati III, crowned in 1986, is Africa's only absolute monarch and one of the few remaining in the world. —Al Jazeera ([link removed])
*
* — Philippines. Left-wing activists and relatives of people killed in Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's anti-drug campaign marked the start of his last year in office yesterday with a protest and a 365-day "countdown toward achieving justice." Thousands of mostly petty drug suspects have died since Duterte took office in June 2016, alarming human rights groups and prompting several complaints to the International Criminal Court. —Yahoo! News ([link removed])
*
* — Sweden. Sweden's caretaker Prime Minister Stefan Lofven was handed the task of forming a new government today after the country's right-wing opposition leader, Ulf Kristersson, failed to secure enough votes to become premier himself. Lofven's fragile center-left government collapsed earlier this week after the Left Party withdrew its support, ushering in a no-confidence vote in parliament. —Reuters ([link removed])

MORE: Daniel Ortega tears up all pretense of democracy in Nicaragua —The Economist ([link removed])


** DeLong: The parallel between Mao and MAGA
------------------------------------------------------------

"There is a disturbingly strong historical analogy to the Republican Party's transformation into a cult of personality: the Communist Party of China under Mao Zedong. ... The most sycophantic and impotent Republicans are duly selected by Trump for promotion, while those with any modicum of power or self-respect are cut off at the knees. Trump knows that the latter cohort would seek to sideline him as soon as it gained power or forged its own links to the base. The purges are carried out from Mar-a-Lago, where Trump denounces his former appointees and aides as losers and RINOs." —J. Bradford DeLong on ([link removed]) Project Syndicate ([link removed])

J. Bradford DeLong is a professor of economics at the University of California at Berkeley and a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research.

MORE: The Chinese Communist Party is about to turn 100 but Xi will be the real star —CNN ([link removed])

I have heard it said that imitation is the most sincere form of flattery. If that is true, the RV that I saw driving down a Pennsylvania highway proved the point. It was covered with "Stop the steal" and other noted quotes from the former 45th president. "They are coming for your guns." Every Trump supporter knows that President Biden can repeal the 2nd Amendment, just as they knew that Hillary Clinton could in 2016.

"Drain the swamp" read another sign that I passed by. The founder of Trump University, and The Trump Foundation, is apparently the most trustworthy person in the country. The president who diverted federal dollars that were allocated by Congress for military base infrastructure, so it could be used for building the border wall that Mexico was going to pay for, was far more believable than the "fake news" who reported on the story. They also know that China and Mexico pay for U.S. tariffs.

The RV reminded me of the uniform that a banana republic military dictator might typically wear, with what must be five pounds of medals covering every square inch of it. The arrogant denial of failure is not a sign of courage. The absoluteness of believing yourself to be right about everything is not proof of wisdom. Repeating fabricated claims devoid of any evidence, and ignoring evidence to the contrary, is not intellectualism.

Bragging about imaginary heroic deeds, instead of facing the difficult reality of a deadly pandemic that required galvanizing the country behind mask wearing and social distancing—because those were the only tools that were available to us prior to mass vaccinations—was not leadership. Following the rest of the sheep down the path to divisiveness, behind the debunked former conspiracy theorist-in-chief, is not a portrait in courage. All of the above are proof that imitation really is the most sincere form of flattery for the bulk of today's Republican Party. —Bill M., Pennsylvania
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** The views expressed in "What's Your Take?" are submitted by readers and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff or the Stand Up Republic Foundation.
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Got feedback about THE TOPLINE? Send it to Melissa Amour, Managing Editor, at [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) .
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