Maybe if they had expelled him over the child sex trafficking thing he wouldn't have been able to do this.
Hell of it is, they basically had nothing on him. He's my Congressman, so I was drooling at the prospect of seeing him in a concrete and steel box.
His buddy that got convicted, and was expected to flip, didn't. Nada.
The girl (now a woman) involved now has an OnlyFans site. She refused to testify and the prosecution didn't really want her because of what defense would do to her credibility on the stand. Ain't fair, but it's reality.
Sorry folks, he skated. Kills me to say it, but he deserved to when we couldn't bring solid evidence. And unlike Trump, Gaetz was smart enough to STFU while the heat was on. Rest of the country probably missed it, but I didn't. The man was real fucking quiet there for a minute. Now that he's free and clear, the mouth is back in action.
The trafficked child grew up to do sex work and this somehow makes the Congressman who bought her look better.
Yep. Exactly how it worked out. Still doesn't get us a legal foothold on this asshole.
(Wish you hadn't said this. Now I'm even more, if possible, disgusted with Gaetz.)
Yes and no. There wasn’t enough to file a legal case against him, but Republicans certainly had enough via texts and Venmo to remove him from their ranks.
Expulsion from the House doesn't require a criminal conviction.
FFS they won't kick George Santos, and he's guilty as original sin. 😂
I'm an old guy, what do I know. "Grab 'em by the pussy", would have ended a man's political aspirations.
Then there was drama over that one guy who misspelled potatoe. "Not fit to be second in line to the Presidency!" And THAT guy had a hand in preserving our democracy! Matt Groenig and The Onion couldn't write this shit.
Hell, guy before last had the temerity to wear a tan suit and enjoy Grey Poupon.
Scum.
Remember when "If it’s legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut the whole thing down," literally ended a then-winning senatorial campaign in Missouri? That was only 11yrs ago!
For those who don't know, that was Todd Akin (R) who said that. And before he said that, he was the favorite to win against the incumbent, Senator Claire McCaskill (D), when MO was turning from purple to red. It was a landslide loss for him. Just 11 years ago, a comment like that would've ended a campaign and career completely.
Nowadays, that'd barely register.
Oh it'd register today.
In today's world, that'd lead to a widely held belief among the Republican base that it was fucking true, and any disagreement with it would mean you're a part of the vast liberal conspiracy.
“You know how you make America great again?” Graham asked in 2015. “Tell Donald Trump to go to hell.” Then, on the same day Trump essentially clinched the GOP nomination, the senator predicted, “If we nominate Trump, we will get destroyed.......and we will deserve it.”
And he was right. Trump has completely destroyed the Republican Party. The house that Reagan and his 11th commandment built is now a structure fire.
I just want to take this time to say fuck Reagan.
I second that fuck. Can we get a burn in hell?
If the Christian god exists, Reagan is almost certainly in hell.
He's literally the devil.
Trump has completely destroyed the Republican Party.
Not only has he destroyed the Republican Party, he has inflicted significant damage to the very fabric of the United States. He has sown ~~discourse~~ discord, conflict, and division that could take decades to undo. How sad.
Fox News destroyed the republican party. Trump is a result, not the cause.
The very same Lindsay Graham perpetually fighting to be first in line to lick Trump’s boot like the simpering, unctuous worm he is?
Sorry Kev, but no, the problem is not the crazy right, it's endemic. You spend the last several decades assembling the most craven, ignornant, zealous voter base and now you're acting all surprised that the loonies are running the asylum. Even your most moderate members know they can't be seen working with Democrats or they face retribution from Trump and The Base.
I've been saying this for a long time, the only thing that will ever get the GOP back on a small-d democratic path again is a long, long walk in the wilderness. They need a decades-long time out to think about all the harm they've done to this country under the guise of 'patriotism' and 'christianity'.
who could have predicted that radicalising the party to the far right and fully immersing it's members in a bubble of right wing twitter, blogs, and media would lead to this
I would say it was all republicans for the last 50 years that's got us to this very bad place.
yep. Institutionalized racism, misogyny, homophobia, and white Christian separatism as party platform. No matter how "conservative" Republicans claimed to be, The Southern Strategy was the core value and singular driving force for the past 60 years. MAGA isn't a symptom, it's result
Why else was/is GOP leadership shitting themselves over immigration? The "other" is always an easy target to get the morons onboard, but even more so, they didn't want to see demographic change. Their whole platform relied on it.
Only going back to the 70s? Shit, I'd place it at the feet of the OG McCarthy from the 50s
McCarthy is selling himself short here. He deserves at least a little credit for this clusterfuck as well. All of these cowards deserve credit. After January 6 they all had the chance to stand up and do the right thing and wrest control of the GOP from Trump and the crazies, but no, they were all too scared.
While I hate her politics, I have nothing but respect for Liz Cheney.
I hate that we have to give props to Cheney for not doing a fascism. Talk about low fucking bars. And assuming the country doesn't fall apart and we somehow survive the infestation of christo fascist scum, we're still gonna have begin the arduous process of clawing the Overton window back from the position where pieces of shit like her look somewhat normal.
Louder, for the centrists in the back.
This was incredibly predictable. The second the GOP didn't smash the "break glass to deprogram fascists" button after the insurrection, this was always their likely path. These people are in open rebellion against democracy and we should really start treating them more like traitors.
Dear "traditional" Conservatives:
First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me. (<---YOU ARE HERE)
protip: "traditional" Conservatism hasn't existed since 1964
"Traditional conservatism" has always been explicitly racist.
"Traditional" conservatism was always the veneer to hide behind.
The entire party is literally rotten, the attempts to exclude oneself from it are laughable.
Oh, so not because of Democrats? I thought it was because of Democrats.
No it’s because of the very core of the GOP… which by their logic means it’s the Democrats’ fault…
If they can't get their shit together, will the 2 party system finally collapse?
No, just the government. If no new spending bill passes it will be pretty not great.
The two party system is the natural result of FPTP voting. We desperately need to switch to STAR or approval.
No, the two party 'system' is a natural byproduct of how our current election process works. If we saw the rise of a third party, it would eventually supplant one of the existing major parties, just like we've seen in the past.
No,
If there is a legit schism in the Republican party a new party will be created. Either the new party or the current Republican party will die.
It's unlikely that 3 parties can exist with the campaign financing and ballot access laws that were designed to hamstring all minor parties.
Neither of the post schism parties would ever compete with the Democrats on elected numbers. A schism would be a huge gift to the Democrats.
The house is being led by Gaetz. Republicans made government a bad place.
One of the head leopards is shocked the leopards would in fact eat his face too
Lmao eat each other
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