Just an afternoon’s glance at a small angle of our daily news cycle.
First, Joe Biden’s team has a way with a red-hot poker burn as news the Dow Jones Industrial Average stock index touched 40,000 briefly for the first time today and Fox news hounds went to babbling positive:
Sorry this is happening to you, @FoxNews pic.twitter.com/m516wYhd0t
— Biden-Harris HQ (@BidenHQ) May 16, 2024
Next: Beyond wingnuts’ joy misplaced through enthusiasm about the economy, the T-Rump’s hush money trial continued today with plenty of accounts spread across the InterWebs, though, for some reason the shit spewed outside the courtroom is delving even deeper into the cult-like strangle intelligence hold now making up the MAGA Republican party.
Gag a maggot with all the clowns: ‘The split-screen scene between New York and D.C. provided one of the more vivid examples yet of how Republicans have tossed aside the de rigueur tasks of governing in favor of the engineered spectacle of grievance, performance and outrage that powers Trump-era American politics.‘
And the ‘bootlickers‘ played out:
i don't even know what was happening here but just sitting here watching with no sound it's intrinsically hilarious https://t.co/Lx1sA4QmSQ
— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) May 16, 2024
Ron Filipowski summarized the absurd ‘bootlicking‘ this afternoon at The Daily Beast:
Since the trial began, Trump has typically had a small group of Republican elected officials accompany him to court, where they follow a similar script.
They stand behind him while he rants to the press—just before court starts for the day—about how cold the courtroom is, how he is unable to campaign, and how nobody (supposedly) is allowed to protest outside. Then, during the morning break, they go outside to perform the task for Trump that he can’t do because of his gag order—attacking Judge Juan Merchan’s daughter, Stormy Daniels, and Michael Cohen.
And they all typically leave the courthouse, declining to stay for the rest of the proceedings. When Speaker Mike Johnson showed up on Tuesday, he just read his prepared script outside and left, never even entering the courthouse.
With Michael Cohen on the stand today, Trump showed up with a much larger entourage than usual—with GOP Reps. Lauren Boebert, Matt Gaetz, Andy Ogles, Anna Paulina Luna, Eli Crane, Andy Biggs, Ralph Norman, Diana Harshbarger, Michael Cloud, and Bob Good in attendance.
Several of them made posts on X showing they were there to specifically say things that Trump cannot. Lauren Boebert—who did not appear with her son at either of his most recent criminal court dates in Colorado, where he told the judge he could not afford an attorney—was able to find time to attend Trump’s hearing though.
At the morning recess Thursday, all of the Members of Congress left the trial to make their statements outside. With hecklers yelling and jeering, each one gave separate speeches repeating the same talking points for which Trump was sanctioned—attacking Cohen, Daniels, and Judge Merchan’s daughter.
Meanwhile, back in DC, a further consequence of projection:
Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) torched Republican members of the House Judiciary Committee for skipping the day’s hearing and vote in order to attend Donald Trump’s criminal trial in New York.
“Nice to see some of my colleagues on the other side could make it today,” Swalwell said. “I don’t know if that means there weren’t enough seats in the courtroom in New York, but I know that the Oversight Committee canceled the hearing that was supposed to happen right now on this matter so they could be at the president’s trial.”
The Judiciary Committee was meeting to discuss holding Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress due to the Biden Administration asserting executive privilege over recordings of Biden’s interview with Department of Justice Special Counsel Robert Hur.
“I don’t think that anything could animate the phrase ‘do-nothing Congress’ more than missing votes and canceling hearings to go up and be spectator at your cult leader’s trial,” Swalwell continued. “That is the definition of do-nothing Congress.”
Despite the truth behind the burn, it won’t change anything. Lack of shame is a most worthy defense mechanism.
Let’s let The Offspring close out this twit of a post:
‘Bootlickers,’ or not, yet once again here we are…
(Illustration out front is of a New York state high-school student exhibit: ‘The piece was displayed during student-driven art show at Shenendehowa High School. It consisted of at least 12 identical black-and-white pictures of Donald Trump. There was also a sign above the pictures that read, “Draw on Me.” Using markers from the art classroom, Isome students opted to scribble critical messages and profanities on the pictures‘ — and found here.)