Patterico's Pontifications

2/3/2021

Rep. Liz Cheney Refuses To ‘Cry Uncle’ (ADDED)

Filed under: General — Dana @ 7:08 pm



[guest post by Dana]

The bottom line: House Republicans voted 145-61 in favor of keeping Rep. Liz Cheney in her leadership position. While that’s good news, certainly, I was more impressed by her steadfast refusal to show contrition for… voting her conscience:

Earlier in the evening, Cheney defended her vote to impeach. “I won’t apologize for the vote,” she told the House Republican conference, a source with knowledge of the process told CNN.

Cheney told CNN on Wednesday evening that she does not regret her impeachment vote. “Absolutely not,” she said when asked…Cheney delivered an eight-minute speech near the beginning of the meeting, two people in the room said, offering what was described as a calm yet firm defense of the Constitution.

She also told members that she wanted a vote to be called on her leadership status, which was interpreted by some in the room as an act of confidence in her standing with a broader cross-section of Republicans, the majority of which did not air their grievances toward her.

Cheney issued a scathing statement ahead of the House impeachment vote condemning Trump’s conduct, saying that he “summoned this mob, assembled the mob, and lit the flame of this attack,” and “there has never been a greater betrayal by a President of the United States of his office and his oath to the Constitution.”

Instead of applauding Cheney’s defense of the Constitution and showing them what moral fiber and backbone look like, some members revealed what weenies they really are when push comes to shove:

Cheney also fielded several contentious questions and comments from Trump loyalists, a person in the room said, including Rep. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania, who bluntly said she “aided and comforted the enemy.” Rep. Darrell Issa of California asked Cheney if they kept her in leadership, whether she would do it again. Rep. Matt Rosendale of Montana engaged in a fiery exchange with her, a person in the room said, speaking loudly and angrily at Cheney.

Both Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy came out in support of Cheney. Hoping to move toward ending the internal warring of the party, McCarthy defended Cheney at today’s meeting:

“People can have differences of opinion. … Liz has a right to vote her conscience. And at the end of the day we’ll be united,” McCarthy said during a break in the midst of the meeting.

Good on Liz Cheney. I applaud her for standing her ground, as well as showing that she was willing to risk her leadership role because of her commitment to the Constitution. It was a risky, but ultimately smart move on her part. She is exactly what the Republican party needs if it has any hope of restoring credibility and worth.

Now, about that other Republican woman, who either causes members to grimace every time she opens her mouth or to look at her in kinship and admiration: Marjorie Taylor Greene lucked out today when McCarthy punted on stripping her of her committee assignments. Instead, he will let the Democrats do it for him tomorrow when they take a vote to remove her:

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, a Maryland Democrat, made the first move toward stripping Greene of her roles on two important House committees after speaking with McCarthy on Wednesday.

“I spoke to Leader McCarthy this morning, and it is clear there is no alternative to holding a Floor vote on the resolution to remove Rep. Greene from her committee assignments,” Hoyer said in a statement. “The Rules Committee will meet this afternoon, and the House will vote on the resolution tomorrow.”

Hours later, McCarthy answered Hoyer’s action by announcing no new repercussions for Greene with a statement that amounted to a slap on the wrist for the first-term Republican and spent more time criticizing Democrats than her past comments questioning if the Pentagon was struck by a plane in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, advocating for the assassination of top Democrats or calling a high-profile school shooting a “false flag” operation.

Greene apologized for her incendiary comments and support for Q’Anon at today’s meeting:

She told Republican colleagues she believes school shootings are real and called them “awful,” and apologized for her past support for QAnon conspiracy theories, according to two sources familiar with the meeting.

Greene’s apology followed a statement from House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy, in which he declined to commit to any sort of punishment for Greene over her history of incendiary comments. Instead, he blasted Democrats for “choosing to raise the temperature” by moving toward kicking her off her committee assignments.

Anyway, Greene has been cheerfully fund-raising off the drama surrounding her because, as she said in an interview today about Democrats voting to strip her of her committee slots:

They don’t even realize they’re helping me. I’m pretty amazed at how dumb they are.

ADDED: This morning, Greene summed up her politics (and fundraising strategy) in one fell swoop:

Stay tuned…

–Dana

How Donald Trump Won in 2020: Appealing to the Forgotten QAnon Voter

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 8:29 am



As all patriots know, Donald Trump won in a landslide in 2020. He won by a lot, and it wasn’t even close. Even though the Fake News stole the election and handed it to Joe Biden, it’s worth a look back to think about how Mr. The Donald won such a compelling victory. I believe the answer can be found in this article, which shows how President Trump appealed to the forgotten QAnon voter:

She believed that even though Biden was declared the winner of the election, his inauguration would be thwarted.

First, Trump would declare martial law, then the Democrats (and some Republicans) and the Hollywood celebrities in Washington, DC for the inauguration would be rounded up and arrested. Trump had “opened back up Guantanamo Bay” (it never closed) and “increased the capacity to 200,000.”

. . . .

But on the morning of January 20th, 2021, Trump flew out of Washington to his new home in Florida and Biden became the 46th President of the United States.

“I was devastated,” Vanderbilt recalls. “Instantly, I went into panic mode.”

She called her mom who was at work. “I just told her it’s like we’re all going to die. We’re going to be owned by China. And I was like, I might have to pull my daughter out of school because they’re going to take her.”

. . . .

Vanderbilt reflects that she could perhaps have been pulled out of QAnon before inauguration day if Trump himself condemned it. Instead, he flirted with it and tacitly embraced it by retweeting prominent QAnon accounts and saying positive things about QAnon followers.

In 2016, Hillary Clinton failed to appeal to the voters who believe that she and Huma Abedin filleted a child’s face and took turns wearing it as a mask, capturing the moment on a video later found on Anthony Weiner’s laptop. Hillary just couldn’t find a way to connect with voters who say she drinks the blood of children in Satanic rituals of gory pedophilia.

With Mr. The Donald’s glorious victory in 2020, we can see that this failure to reach out to the Forgotten QAnon Voter was repeated by Joe Biden. When President Trump is re-inaugurated on March 4th as the 19th President, it will be a triumph of his ability to speak to these patriotic citizens.


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