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The Republican Party appears to have resolved its momentary (sneeze-like, really) post-Trump identity crisis, running headlong into a full embrace of political violence, the darkest conspiracy theories the internet has to offer, and the disgraced twice-impeached big guy himself.
- Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO) said Friday that she will move to a new office further away from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-WTF) for her team’s safety, after a maskless Greene “berated” her in the halls of the Capitol, and targeted her on social media. Capping off a week of harrowing revelations about how Greene is, against all odds, worse than we thought, a newly surfaced pre-election video shows her wholeheartedly endorsing political violence: “The only way you get your freedoms back is it’s earned with the price of blood.” Wherever Cori Bush’s new office is, let’s maybe scoot it down 100 yards further?
- Here’s where everyone stands on the rapidly deteriorating Greene situation: The same week we learned that Greene had spread conspiracy theories about school shootings and bullied a Parkland survivor, Republican leaders put her on the education committee, then took a reaaally big bite of a sandwich, so they can’t comment right now. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi lambasted them for it, and noted that Congress would need to adopt heightened security measures to address the reality that “the enemy is within the House of Representatives.” The parents of children killed in school shootings have called for Greene’s removal from Congress, and a major Jewish nonprofit group has demanded accountability. White House press secretary Jen Psaki declined to weigh in, while making the White House’s position perfectly clear: “We don’t want to elevate conspiracy theories further in the briefing room, so I’m going to leave it at that.” Greene, naturally, has declared herself a victim for fundraising purposes.
- Republicans’ refusal to condemn the antisemitic, teen-harassing, violence-espousing conspiracy theorist in their midst reflects the fact that Greene isn’t some outlier in the Republican Party, but its godawful new face. She’s not even the lone GOP House member with extremist ties: Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) has hung out with the Oath Keepers militia (whose members later attacked the Capitol), and told the group, “We’re in [a civil war]. We just haven’t started shooting at each other yet.” Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) was linked to the “Stop the Steal” campaign, Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) has close connections to a number of self-styled militia groups, and Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) appeared at an event attended by the Proud Boys (who were there to provide security, Gaetz stressed, as if that….helps).
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This week made clear that the MAGA wing of the GOP (which is to say, the whole party minus 5 or 6 people) will remain in control.
- House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, who after the January 6 insurrection said that Donald Trump bore responsibility for the violence, flew down to Florida on Thursday to kiss and make up ahead of the midterms. At the same time, Gaetz traveled to Wyoming to taunt Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) at a rally, attacking her over her vote to impeach Trump. Trump loyalist Gov. Kristi Noem (R-SD), in her first public comments addressing the election results since a murderous mob stormed the Capitol, refused to acknowledge that Joe Biden had won in a free and fair election.
- If anything, elected MAGA Republicans around the country have been emboldened over the last few weeks. Amid the wave of predictable (and outrageous) voter-suppression legislation, one Arizona GOP lawmaker said, “fuck it, election-stealing bill.” Rep. Shawnna Bolick introduced legislation that rewrites sections of the state’s election law, including a section that would give the legislature authority to revoke the secretary of state’s certification of election results “by majority vote at any time before the presidential inauguration.” That is: exactly what Trump demanded they do after losing. Why let everything hang on preventing certain people from voting when you could also grant yourself the power to stomp their votes into the trash? Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) has pledged to work to have the bill defeated by public referendum, if it passes.
Republican leaders have abdicated their responsibility to hold their radicalized caucus members to account, for the simple reason that they haven’t broken any of the Republican Party’s rules. These are Republicans in good standing. Any political consequences will have to be leveled from the outside, and based on how quickly the party is abandoning democracy and embracing violence, those consequences should probably come soon.
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The first 100 days, when his mandate is strongest, will be integral to shaping the course of President Joe Biden’s administration. In Season 2 of Rubicon, Crooked Media Editor in Chief Brian Beutler will be walking listeners through this crucial time in the new White House
This week, Brian talks to MSNBC’s Chris Hayes about Biden’s COVID plan, the parts of the plan that will be hardest to execute, and how to recalibrate our criticism for a president who finally takes the pandemic seriously. Check it out and subscribe to Rubicon wherever you get your pods, new episodes drop every Friday →
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A sign language interpreter at the White House turned out to be a Trump supporter with a history of interpreting videos rife with far-right disinformation. Heather Mewshaw appeared in the White House coronavirus briefing alongside Jen Psaki and was quickly identified online as having worked as a volunteer for the right-wing interpreters group Hands of Liberty—the far-right conspiracy hub of the deaf and hard of hearing community. In one video, Mewshaw interprets an OAN commentator calling the 2020 election a “military-grade sting operation;” in another, posted three days before her White House debut, Mewshaw provided sign-language interpretation for pro-Trump comedian Terrence Williams, who said, “Joe Biden, you will never be my president.” Like any interpreter, a sign language interpreter has the power to shift or color a message with word choice, informed (consciously or unconsciously) by their own bias, so this lady interpreting for the Biden administration is...not ideal! (It also seems to be a violation of the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf’s code of professional conduct.) A very weird start to a well-intentioned effort to expand press briefing accessibility.
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- The pipe bombs discovered outside DNC and RNC headquarters on January 6 appear to have been placed there the night before the Capitol riot. The FBI has raised its reward for information about the bombs or the suspect seen in security footage to $100,000.
- Newly released body-camera footage shows the Capitol mob trampling 34-year-old Rosanne Boyland, one of the four rioters who died. This is what 45 out of 50 GOP senators would like to move on from without another word.
- President Biden confirmed that Democrats will pass the coronavirus relief package through reconciliation if need be, though Republicans are of course welcome to hop on board first.
- Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D-NY) announced that New York City restaurants may open for indoor dining on Valentine’s Day. What more romantic way to tell your significant other, “I do not care whether you live or die?”
- “QAnon Shaman” Jacob Chansley wants to testify at Trump’s impeachment trial, after Trump failed to offer him a pardon. Probably a bad idea, but we would be interested to see his Business Horns.
- Protests broke out across Poland this week in response to the government’s announcement that a near-total abortion ban had suddenly gone into effect.
- The Republican Accountability Project has kicked off a $1 million billboard campaign calling on 12 GOP lawmakers, including Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX), Josh Hawley (R-MO), and Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), to resign. A billboard is worth a thousand “resign, bitch” tweets, as they say.
- Hahaha look how empty the Trump International Hotel is. Oh man it’s so empty.
- We had to watch the trailer for Louise Linton’s terrible new movie, so now you must watch the trailer for Louise Linton’s terrible new movie.
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Hey remember a year ago when the Trump administration evacuated Americans from Wuhan, and flew them to a California military base to be met by health officials who had no idea what they were doing? That was bad, it turns out. Two federal reports obtained by the Washington Post supported a whistleblower’s account of the chaos, during which officials with no virus-prevention plan were told to remove their protective gear when meeting with the evacuees to avoid “bad optics.” Days later, those officials hopped on commercial flights out of California. Special Counsel Henry Kerner wrote in a letter to President Biden that the report’s most troubling finding was that HHS’s botched handling of the Wuhan evacuees “increased the risk of infection transmission not only to deployed [government] personnel, but also to the American public as a whole.” The special counsel also criticized the HHS general counsel’s office for using its investigation as an attempt to shame the whistleblower.
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Take Action with the ACLU to Demand the End of the Federal Death Penalty
The Trump administration has carried out an unprecedented number of federal executions this year. In its rush to kill people during a pandemic, the government has sidestepped due process, public health recommendations, and legal precedent. But the death penalty is always cruel and inhumane — it’s time we end it once and for all.
Just like the death penalty in the states, the federal death penalty is racist, arbitrary, and error-prone in its application. The ACLU is demanding that the Biden-Harris administration honor its pledge to end the federal death penalty. Add your name to join us.
We’re demanding that the new administration commute all federal death sentences while it works to end the federal death penalty once and for all. If you agree, click here to add your name and make your voice heard with the ACLU.
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Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose coronavirus vaccine was found to be 66 percent effective overall in preventing moderate and severe disease, and 85 percent effective in preventing hospitalization and death.
Austin, TX, will use some of the funds redirected from the city’s police budget to buy a hotel that will be turned into permanent housing for people experiencing homelessness.
GM announced that it would sell only vehicles that have zero tailpipe emissions by 2035.
1.6 million shots made it into arms today!
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