If there was a brief moment after January 6 in which congressional Republicans were willing to seriously examine the attack on the Capitol and demand accountability for Trump’s behavior, it’s pretty clear that moment has passed.
uphill.thedispatch.com/p/uphill-senat…
Some of this can be attributed to the echo chamber: Every day that has passed between January 6 and the beginning of the trial has been another day Republican senators have been absorbing talking points against impeachment from conservative media sources and their constituents.
Dems say the delay will also give impeachment managers time to gather evidence and make a stronger case. But we’ve also watched Republicans rally around the “impeaching a former president is unconstitutional/a waste of time” talking point in the past few days
If a whole swath of Republicans have largely decided to complain about the process instead of addressing the substance, is any new evidence going to matter for their decision? uphill.thedispatch.com/p/uphill-senat…
The delay has also allowed Republican senators to observe, in real time, the backlash the 10 House Republicans who voted for impeachment are now facing. None of it looks particularly appealing. uphill.thedispatch.com/p/uphill-senat…
Anyway the decision to agree to McConnell’s request to delay the trial is looking pretty dumb. Especially after Pelosi emphasized that the impeachment managers are ready to present their arguments now. Image
This is the kind of stuff we’ll be hearing for the next two weeks.
(And of course I’m not trying to excuse GOP behavior here. Just pointing out reality of how they make decisions. In a better world, they’d look at this impeachment on the merits instead of complaining about how it’s ~divisive~ or arguing unconvincingly that it’s unconstitutional)

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More from @byrdinator

31 Jan
can someone in the candy industry tell me if this is impossible: small chunks of real strawberries coated in chocolate that won’t melt like an M&M or something

I feel like it would be a nice lil movie theater snack
(and yes I’m tweeting this because we made chocolate-covered strawberries tonight)
maybe you can’t mass produce it but small candy shops could pull it off? The whole strawberries are too big and the chocolate always cracks and makes a mess. But little chunks would 1) allow for more chocolate surface area and 2) be easier to eat
Read 4 tweets
7 Jan
elected Republicans and conservative media already trying to convince each other the attackers were not Trump supporters Image
what’s annoying is it’s going to work for a lot of folks. and people I know personally are going to be repeating these talking points as soon as today
(and that’s the point. it gives people cover—no matter how evidence-free—to say “what about antifa!” instead of addressing what happened yesterday in any substantive way. it’s exhausting and it sucks that so many people are completely unwilling to grapple with reality)
Read 4 tweets
4 Dec 19
JUST NOW: The House of Representatives overwhelmingly passes the UIGHUR Act, a bill to condemn the Chinese government for its mass internment of Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang, with a vote of 406-1.
The bill would also enable Global Magnitsky Act sanctions on Chinese officials deemed responsible for the concentration camps and require the State Department to assemble a report on human rights abuses in Xinjiang.
The lone no vote was Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie.
Read 6 tweets
9 Oct 19
Bipartisan group of lawmakers to send letter to NBA commissioner on China, from Reps. Tom Malinowksi, Mike Gallagher, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Jim Banks, and Sens. Ben Sasse, Ron Wyden, Tom Cotton, and Ted Cruz
“It is outrageous that the Chinese Communist Party is using its economic power to suppress the speech of Americans inside the United States,” they'll say, per a draft obtained by CNN. “It is also outrageous that the NBA has caved to Chinese government demands for contrition.”
They write the NBA “should have anticipated the challenges of doing business in a country run by a repressive single party government—including by being prepared to stand in strong defense of the freedom of expression of its employees, players, and affiliates across the globe.”
Read 7 tweets
4 Jun 18
I ask Ted Cruz if he agrees with Trump that the president can pardon himself. Cruz is silent for eighteen (18!) seconds before telling reporters it’s not a constitutional area he’s studied.
Alright, folks. Here's the audio
Big thanks to @rking_19 for prodding Cruz for an answer after we walked in silence waiting for him to respond for 15 seconds
Read 4 tweets

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