as usual, ⁦@petridishes⁩ captures the absurdity of GOP denialism best:

“Ultimately, aren’t both sides at fault here?

“We can certainly agree that if you had not come to the Senate today, no one would have been stabbed.”

/1 washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/…
“I’m just saying this to show we all bear some responsibility.

“I am frankly appalled when I think of all the things that have been said on both sides, like, ‘Death to Caesar!’ and ‘Ouch!’ “

/2
“Everyone bears a share of the blame, although mostly Caesar.

“They say that we cannot move forward without accountability.

“But I argue that, in fact, we can.”

/3
“Because how are the people of Rome served by this fixation on consequences?

“if we’re going to be applying consequences, I think the real villains here are the people who have used their bodies to steal other people’s daggers!

“Not naming names, obviously. “

/4
“The point, again, is that we’ve got to heal, heal and move on!

“Stop clutching at my arm and trying to speak and point.

“This is the kind of petty vindictiveness I had so hoped we were beyond.”

/5

• • •

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More from @JohnJHarwood

17 Jan
“As President Trump prepares to leave office in days, a lucrative market for pardons is coming to a head, with some of his allies collecting fees from wealthy felons or their associates to push the White House for clemency.” nytimes.com/2021/01/17/us/…
“One of the lobbyists closest to Trump and his administration, Matt Schlapp, who was tapped by Trump last month to sit on the trust fund board for the Library of Congress, has been lobbying for a pardon for a major Republican donor convicted of securities fraud in November.”

/2
“After stepping down as the president’s lawyer, Dowd marketed himself as a potential conduit for pardons because of his access to Trump and aides like Kushner, saying the president was likely to look favorably on petitioners investigated by federal prosecutors in Manhattan”

/3
Read 7 tweets
14 Jan
“Trump has instructed aides not to pay Giuliani’s legal fees, and has demanded that he personally approve any reimbursements for the expenses Giuliani incurred while traveling on the president’s behalf to challenge election results in key states.”

/1 washingtonpost.com/politics/trump…
“Trump was upset generally that virtually nobody is defending him — including press secretary McEnany, senior adviser and son-in-law Kushner, economic adviser Kudlow, national security adviser O’Brien and Chief of Staff Meadows, according to a senior administration official.”

/2
“One of Trump’s few confidants these days is Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.)

“Trump asked Graham to lobby fellow senators to acquit him in his eventual impeachment trial, which Graham did from Air Force One”

/3
Read 4 tweets
12 Jan
AL GOP Rep Mo Brooks is facing consequences for having exhorted Jan 6 insurrectionist audience to “start taking down names and kicking ass”

He has issued a statement to rebut what he calls “vicious and scurrilous fake news media and socialist Democrat attacks”

/1
from the statement:

“I have never smoked tobacco

I don’t consume alcohol

I have never taken illegal drugs

I have never been accused or convicted of any felonies or misdemeanors

My parents raised me to be a good, self-supporting citizen and I have strived to be just that”
/2
“on Jan 5, I had a telephone call with Brian Jack, WH Political Director. He asked me to speak at the Trump rally the next day

“Due to lack of time, I did not draft my speech from scratch

“The bulk of my January 6 speech comes from my often-used ‘America is Great’ speeches”
/3
Read 5 tweets
12 Jan
“From the beginning the danger presented by Trump was obvious: an unfit leader driven by contempt for democratic norms.

“One of the confounding things of this era is how many otherwise intelligent people have been unable or unwilling to grasp the obvious” nymag.com/intelligencer/…
“Even after four years of Trump abusing power, fomenting violence, and actively attempting to rig the vote while claiming any prospect defeat must be fraudulent, his supporters denied any danger”

/2
“ ‘I have a lot more concern about Democrats accepting the results of a Trump reelection than Trump accepting results of a loss,’ argued Republican adviser Josh Holmes, ignoring the fact that the only candidate who had questioned the 2016 election result was Trump himself.”

/3
Read 4 tweets
4 Jan
“The GOP attempt to overturn the election doesn’t pose an imminent threat to the Republic - Biden will be sworn in Jan 20 regardless - but it’s hardly meaningless. We’re watching another iterative stage in the party’s long evolution into authoritarianism” nymag.com/intelligencer/…
“Trump’s authoritarianism is a combination of his unique sociopathy and worship for authoritarians, and a tendency to accept it in his party. The Democratic Party as it currently exists could not produce a Trump. Nor could have the old Republican Party until perhaps the 1990s”
“Conservatives inclined to lay the blame on a lone madman president, should mull over the fact that their two most respected leaders from a quarter-century ago, Newt Gingrich and Kenneth Starr, have both thrown themselves enthusiastically behind Trump’s abuses of power.”
Read 6 tweets
8 Dec 20
“Republican rejection of reality didn’t start in 2020, or w/Trump.

“Climate change denial has been a badge of partisan identity for many years.

“Crazy conspiracy theories about the Clintons were mainstream on the right through much of the 1990s.”

/1


nytimes.com/2020/12/07/opi…
“One episode foreshadowed much of what we’re seeing: Republican reactions to the mostly successful introduction of Obamacare.

“The act, Republicans claimed, would drive premiums sky-high, fail to reduce the number of uninsured and have a devastating effect on employment.”

/2
“None of it happened. Millions gained health coverage. Job creation continued, w/3-M jobs added the following year. Obamacare may have fallen somewhat short of its sponsors’ hopes, but from the beginning it helped many Americans. Nothing like the disaster opponents predicted.”
/3
Read 4 tweets

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