The Hall of Shame is getting clogged with fascist coup enablers, but a special plaque should be carved for Chuck Grassley.
On the Senate floor yesterday, the very senior Iowa Republican senator harrumphed about the new evidence that Trump actively plotted to overthrow the 2020 election. Grassley said it was unfair to publicize these revelations:
“The president has every right to discuss ideas and strategies with his closest advisers. The president, whether that president is Democrat or Republican, should feel unrestrained to bring ideas to his closest staff for robust discussion…And that is my major concern about the recent public comments coming out of these interviews relating to this new Trump investigation.”
Well, bust my britches! I had no idea that a president has the “unrestrained” “right” to plot a coup against democracy, and that the “ideas and strategies” of such a coup fall into the general category of “robust discussion” with his or her “closest advisers.”
I was always under the impression – thanks to my college political science courses and all the subsequent decades covering politics – that when a president robustly discusses “ideas and strategies,” the subject matter is generally about policy legislation or legitimate campaigning. But now, thanks to chuckleheaded Grassley, I come to find out that a president has the unrestrained right to plot treason and rebellion, to conspire to destroy the foundation of our democracy. Who knew!
This is a very flexible philosophy, if you think about it. Like, maybe the FBI shouldn’t be able to bring a RICO case against mobsters because maybe they have the right to robustly discuss the ideas and strategies of an extortion conspiracy. Like, maybe a murderer has every right to robustly discuss ideas and strategies with his accomplices. Maybe drug lords should be able to tell a judge, “Hey, we weren’t colluding. We were just discussing ideas and strategies.”
Instead of pathetically covering for the coup plotter, perhaps Grassley would be better off saying something like this:
“We are here because the president did wrongful acts…The president’s actions are having a profound effect in our society. His misdeeds have caused many to distrust elected officials. Cynicism is swelling among the grassroots. His breach of trust has eroded the public’s faith in the office of the presidency. The president’s wrongdoing has painted all of us in Washington with a rather broad brush…(His) actions were not just outrageous and morally wrong. They were also illegal. They were a direct assault on the integrity of the judicial process.”
So said Grassley back in 1999 – when he voted to oust President Clinton for lying about sex.
Perhaps Grassley is too dotty to fathom the difference between 1999 and 2021, but I don’t want to be ageist. Let’s just chalk it up to the usual MAGA psychosis, and the propensity of so many Republicans to soil themselves in perpetuity. On that, we don’t need a robust discussion.
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I’ll probably kick back the rest of this week, returning Sunday. You’re good with that, right?
And this from a guy who will
probably not seek re-election. He is 87 and his seventh term expires this year.
I wrote about him in the 1960s, when he was in the Iowa legislature and I was in my first reporting job at the Des Moines Register.
There was never robust discussion with Trump. He barked out some insanity and his toadies shook their heads in agreement.
Not for publication – of purely local interest.
As a suburban Philadelphia resident and fellow-traveler, I thought this email that I recently sent the DELCO GOP might interest you. Still waiting for a response. (BTW – You might be amused to know that the DELCO GOP website features as a banner “Our Mission: Keep Delaware County Great”, despite the county being controlled by Democrats. Grand Old habits die hard.)
To: info@delawarecountygop.com
Subject: June Morris
A June Morris campaign flyer was left on my doorstep. I have a question for the candidate.
Why is she campaigning for office? As a Republican, she should skip the campaign. If she happens to win, fine; if not, the election was clearly stolen, and so she should either go to court to throw out my vote among others, or otherwise “get” the votes she needs to win. That is the GOP idea of democracy.
A suggestion: Stop calling yourselves the GOP, as your grand days are long gone. Instead, I recommend the SLP: The Sore Losers Party.