Impeachment Day 7: A Scared President Plays the Fear Card
Individual #1 is freaking out on Twitter. He’s quoted a far right preacher saying impeachment will lead to civil war. He’s called for Congressman Adam Schiff to be charged with treason. He’s (falsely) claiming the rules on whistleblower complaints were changed.
The fear card is being played. And it’s time to look past all the distractions and proceed to right what’s wrong.
https://twitter.com/MSignorile/status/1178513916017741825?s=20
There was much posturing over the weekend. Let’s start with the broadcast networks.
In the name of equivalency, Trump defenders made the rounds of talk TV. They accomplished their goal of muddying the waters, even as they looked dishonest while doing so.
Rudy Giuliani, promoted a debunked conspiracy theory, insisting that Ukraine had spread disinformation during the 2016 election.
The Biden campaign issued a letter asking TV executives not to book Trump’s freelance lawyer. That’s like asking people not to look at a car wreck.
Of course they’re gonna book Giuliani, even though he wouldn’t know the truth if it bit him in the ass. It’s theater. And besides, even the president’s defenders know the former New York mayor isn’t doing his client any favors with those appearances.
Stephen Miller, the president’s senior racism adviser, called the whole inquiry a “partisan hit job” orchestrated by “a deep state operative” who is also “a saboteur.” He was left speechless when Fox News Chris Wallace asked him to explain how the Bidens broke the law in Ukraine.
Congressman Jim Jordan got schooled on CNN by Jake Tapper, who pointed out that the Ohio Republican --who’s been accused of abetting the cover up of a sex scandal-- ought to know better than to spread wild claims about people.
All all these sycophants ought to be reading their history books. Scholar Kevin Kruse sought to refresh people's memories about Nixon's most ardent defender.
https://twitter.com/KevinMKruse/status/1178408897897467904?s=20
But before you celebrate the boob tube interviews, check out the not-so-subtle manipulation of the truth by CNN.
Is it great that these women beat the odds to get elected? Yes.
https://twitter.com/CNNnewsroom/status/1177968132188774400?s=20
What’s not-so-great is that the story gives these women credit for leading impeachment when in fact they were late in the game followers. If not for the work of women of color, there would have been no impeachment movement. Yet CNN portrays their story as “reasonable” people standing up against radicals.
It was another example of how the mainstream media diminishes the accomplishments of black and brown women in this country. Congresswomen Maxine Waters, Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, Ihan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, Ayanna Pressley all took huge risks and were publicly denounced for their advocacy.
Meanwhile, the Washington Post reports on the Trump campaign’s social media pushback:
President Trump’s reelection campaign responded to the opening of a formal impeachment inquiry in Congress by launching a massive Facebook ad blitz, spending as much as $1.4 million on thousands of ads designed to reach voters in every state.
The online battery included misleading messages about the “socialist squad,” Trump’s epithet for the four congresswomen of color whom he previously directed to “go back” to their home countries, even though they are all American citizens.
Some of the ads accused the freshman lawmakers of making “pro-terrorist remarks,” which they have not done, and pressed supporters to join Trump’s “official impeachment defense fund,” which he has also promoted in fundraising appeals sent by email and text message. The “squad” refers to Democratic Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.), Ilhan Omar (Minn.), Ayanna Pressley (Mass.) and Rashida Tlaib (Mich.), none of whom was mentioned by name.
Facebook is, once again, allowing its platform to be used in insidious ways. None of these ads were found to be unacceptable by the social media giant.
The Facebook ads, which traffic in claims found to be false by The Washington Post Fact Checker, also provided a new test for the technology giant after it reaffirmed this week it would exempt speech by politicians from fact checking. That exemption, company executives said, also applies to ads, though sponsored posts are required to meet community standards that proscribe threats as well as “content aimed at deliberately deceiving people to gain an unfair advantage or deprive another of money, property, or legal right.”
Then there’s the Trump wins because Democrats are overplaying their hand with impeachment line of thought By Very Serious People making the rounds of the interwebs. Please write their names down so you don't have to bother reading their bs in the future.
If you haven’t read Stonekettle Station on a regular basis, you should. There’s commentary there worthy of being considered alongside the significance of Thomas Paine applied to our current crisis.
Here’s the conclusion of Sunday’s post:
Your government, the wealthy, the powerful, they aren’t just afraid of you, they’re terrified.
And they damned well should be.
But that makes them very, very dangerous – as are all cornered animals.
Now, right now, is the time to hold these sons of bitches to account and show them who and what America is supposed to be.
Yes, this is a dangerous moment in history.
But then it always is.
The GOP wants its supporters to think we're in a battle between socialism and capitalism. We're not. We're in a battle between democracy and authoritarian theocracy.
https://twitter.com/SpeakerPelosi/status/1178686740070055936?s=20
**Psst! I'm covering impeachment seven days a week so you can keep up**
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Lead image via Jason Train at Flickr