My first school had two classrooms, which accommodated our town's first and second grade. I lived about a block from the school and, just like the other kids, I walked. Every morning before the school day began, we kids gathered in the playground and played. Every morning, one boy or another would claim, "I was the first one here today!" That claim was always followed by a chorus of other boys, all swearing that they had arrived first. I was puzzled by this. Not having gotten to the playground first, I could never know the true answer. But I had a solution.
One day, I resolved to be the first arrival; then I could settle the question once and for all. I set off very early to make sure I'd be the winner. After a few other kids had arrived, I announced, "I was the first one here this morning!" The usual chorus of other boys followed. Truth, apparently, was not the point. It was the boast that was important. Perhaps the loudest voice set the narrative, but of course, the narrative was useless where the truth was concerned. The only kids who knew the truth would be the first and second kids to arrive.
Maybe a lot of those other kids are now members of the Republican Party. I don't know, but I'm betting.
Anyhow, that prologue is my lead-in to Republican reactions to Donald Trump's third indictment, the big one: Trump's alleged efforts to hold onto power after he lost the 2020 election.
Now, much of the 2020 election drama took place in full view of everyone, but that doesn't seem to keep politicians from lying about it, or members of the Republican "base" from believing the lies.
Representative Elise Stefanik has hitched her wagon to Trump and the MAGA cause in a big way.
"Today is yet another dark day in America as Joe Biden continues to weaponize his corrupt Department of Justice against his leading political opponent."
Anyone paying attention is aware that the House Republicans are really trying to make something out of the Hunter Biden scandal. A scandal it is, but it's nowhere near big enough to provide a counter-narrative to Trump's attempts to nullify a free and fair election. And that's before you mention his other two indictments (so far). But, as with Hillary Clinton's emails, they're trying their best to make the scandal look bigger than it is, and bigger than Trump's. It's like comparing a spilled garbage can to a toxic waste dump. But they still attempt to present the two scandals as of equal importance. Elise Stefanik again:
"It's no coincidence that the day after a federal judge throws out Hunter Biden's corrupt, sweetheart plea bargain, Biden's weaponized [Department of Justice] continues its witch hunt against President Trump."
Yes, turn your attention to the real danger to our republic. Let's not be distracted by this trivial indictment. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy hammers home the same two pieces of the narrative: the indictment's timing was deliberately to distract us from the real Scandal of the Century, Hunter Biden's business deals; and Joe Biden's supposed use of the Department of Justice to neutralize his nearest political opponent.
"And just yesterday a new poll showed President Trump is without a doubt Biden's leading political opponent. Everybody in America could see what was going to come next: DOJ's attempt to distract from the news and attack the frontrunner for the Republican nomination, President Trump."
Well, you guys can continue to call him President Trump if you like. I prefer "the former guy."
And speaking of the former guy, he had things to say about the latest indictment after he had pleaded not guilty. Some of them were doozies. Nobody can out-lie TFG.
"This is a very sad day for America. And it was also very sad driving through Washington, DC, seeing the filth and the decay and all of the broken buildings and walls and the graffiti."
I hadn't known that there was no graffiti in Washington, DC, while Trump was in office. You learn something new every day. I had noticed that the Capitol building sustained some damage on January 6, 2021.
"This is not the place that I left. It's a very sad thing to see it."
And it's an amazement to us all just how fast a city can disintegrate. But, Donnie, DC is already a better place since your departure. Your rioters damaged the Capitol building, so the damaged DC is, arguably, the place that you left. And to the extent that the Capitol has been repaired, and the feces scrubbed from the walls, DC is a better place than the place you left. And closing your tacky hotel improved the neighborhood, too.
Speaking of that hotel, there was graffiti on it while you were in office. It said, "No justice, no peace," and "Black lives matter." I'll admit that it was our side who made those particular graffiti, but I'm not ashamed of it.
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