1/ In the Before Times, there were boundaries. There were spoken and unspoken rules of behavior. I'm not the first to observe that the Ginny Thomas story is being greeted by utter silence -- if not outright approval -- on the right.
"So what?" is the reaction.
"So what?" is the reaction.
2/ And others have posed the counterfactual I will add below, but it's important to think this one through given the New Rules.
Imagine for a moment what the Republicans would say if the spouse of a Supreme Court Justice nominated by a Democrat joined in a conspiracy.
Imagine for a moment what the Republicans would say if the spouse of a Supreme Court Justice nominated by a Democrat joined in a conspiracy.
3/ ...to overthrow a free and fair American election. Imagine she or he was part of a conspiracy to launch a violent, shock-and-awe attack on the Capitol in its furtherance.
An attack that led to lives lost, our Capitol desecrated.
An attack that led to lives lost, our Capitol desecrated.
4/ Imagine their response as she was discovered in the days leading up to the attack to be texting and emailing a Democratic White House Chief of Staff, encouraging him to illegally overturn the election and promote lurid conspiracy nonsense.
5/ Imagine she promoted the idea Republicans were "being arrested & detained for ballot fraud right now & over coming days, & will be living in barges off GITMO to face military tribunals for sedition.”
6/ Now imagine her husband was the sole vote to protect the losing President from scrutiny.
7/ I'll tell you what they'd do.
They'd burn Washington to the damn ground.
They'd salt the earth.
They'd call for sanctions, impeachment, removal.
They'd burn Washington to the damn ground.
They'd salt the earth.
They'd call for sanctions, impeachment, removal.
8/ Their powerful media apparatus would turn it into a 24/7 scandal story that would never ever disappear. Facebook would amplify (and monetize!) a million pages calling for the removal of said Justice.
They'd hold hearings and drag every person involved before them...
They'd hold hearings and drag every person involved before them...
9/ ...in a televised Great Spectacle. It would become a centerpiece of their messaging for ages. It would be a drumbeat about the corruption of the opposing party.
It would motivate no end of earnest op-eds from the gentry media.
It would motivate no end of earnest op-eds from the gentry media.
10/ The GOP silence now is telling. They've become masters are working the media refs. This isn't a trivial little scandal. It's real, it stinks, and it's outrageous.
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