"Loyal". Let us take a moment to consider the use of the word "loyal". Trump chooses cabinet members based on a twisted interpretation of the term "loyal". What he really means is obsequious. Those purportedly "loyal" people are merely serfs who will do his bidding. Craven slaves might be a more appropriate description of his cabinet nominees and the members of Congress who support him. It is time for the media to abandon Trump's terminology which implies integrity and honor. Loyalty implies integrity and honor. Trump possesses neither attribute. Nor do any of his appointees possess integrity and honor. This is like a gang leader waving a gun in a man's face and asking "Do you respect me now?" The gang leader has confused respect with another human reaction. Fear. Respect and Fear are not the same. Nor are loyalty and obsequience. Language as power was a tactic that Postmodernist philosophers considered some decades ago and used to gain political leverage through "political correctness". PC speech (and thinking) took over much of academia, corporate America, and the population at large. Now, Trumpists have utilized language manipulation to persuade a large portion of the voting community to react adversely to the PC message. Pronouns are a problem. However, we in the middle should not allow the distortion of language to rule the direction of the country. Let's stop calling Matt Gaetz "loyal". He's not. Nor is Tulsi Gabbard, RFK Jr, or any of the rest . . . loyal. They are neither Honorable nor persons of integrity. Their goal is to destroy the rule of law and replace it with supplication to the overlord. It's time we use the English language correctly to describe Trump's nominees as what they are - Dishonorable performance artists.
You also really need to look beneath the nominated head of the department. There are much smarter people than Gaetz getting put into the department of justice. Todd Blanche, deputy attorney general; Emil Bove, principal associate deputy attorney general and would serve as acting deputy attorney while Blanche being approved. gaetz is a false flag so no one reacts to the #2 and #3 who smart and very adept attorneys. D. John Sauer is being nominated for the Solicitor General, who argued the immunity case to the US Supreme Court and won. Gaetz is the least of our worries. Always look below the head of the dept in trump world.
I've been wondering: Is Matt Gaetz a sociopath? Since I'm not a psychologist, I cannot answer definitively, but the question lingers in my mind. His 19 speeding tickets, a wrecked BMW, dismissed DUI. Wandering the House floor showing off nude pics of women (girls?) he banged and claims of all-night banging with the use of ED drugs. Assumes alternate personality with senators to present bona fides for top Justice Dept job. Close association with sex trafficking convict, and allegations of same towards him. Alleged testimony of woman claiming she had paid sex with him while she was underage. Venmo records. Close association with D Trump. Grandiose personality traits.
Cornyn is pissed because he didn't get Majority Leader. This from HCR this morning
"When Texas senator John Cornyn said he would like to see the Gaetz report, Trump loyalist Steve Bannon said: “You either get with the program, brother, or you're going to finish third in your primary.” A member of Trump’s transition team said that Trump wants to bend Republican senators to his will “until they snap in half.”
Point here being are there enough senators who take their oath to the constitution seriously or not, but most especially John Thune. If he will recess the senate there will be no confirmation hearings, with the exception of Rubio who will be confirmed and probably with some democrat votes. t***p has one test and one test only, complete unconditional loyalty to him. Obviously they all pass this test so his next criteria must be sleaziest, then incompetence.
As a former senator I would think there'd be multiple employment opportunities open to Cornyn. I mean, it's not like he'd go hungry or homeless or bored. Maybe not with quite the prestige of senator, but can sitting -senator really be worth the price soul-wise, clear conscience-wise, pride in doing right, self-respect, knowing where to draw the line.? How come most of the ordinary people I know understand that living by basic do-what's-right values understand this, but lawmakers do not?
As usual, American prescience about the Gaetz nomination is always not further than their nose - the media included. Gaetz wanted a pardon at the end of the Trump 1.0, but even Trump knew that was a bridge too far. For Trump 2.0, he decides to nominate Gaetz as AG, knowing full well that the House Ethics Committee report is due literally the week he submits the nomination. Note, too, how Gaetz resigned - abrupty and that was deliberate. Trump knew full well that this nomination was likely to be rejected, but it accomplishes two things - he does not have to give Gaetz a pardon, and the report is going to be buried. It would not surprise me if it were to come out that among the many conversations that Trump and Speaker Johnson at Mar-A-Lago before the election was the management of Gaetz damage control. It would also not surprise me that the report will be leaked. But the act of the leakage and the GOP claiming partisan falsification of its contents becomes yet another point-the-finger blame game rallying mechanism to pin on Democrats. Yawn. Standard Trump playbook method of operation. Bad guys win yet again.
Trump has deliberately chosen particularly horrible people for the most important positions in government. Granted, he has little to no understanding of what these agencies do, and he doesn't care. However, Republicans in the Senate do know how important these jobs are. This story says: "The succession of nominations and reporting left Republican senators in an uncomfortable spot." No it didn't. They are presumably getting paid to be Senators. If so, they ought to do the jobs their constituents sent them to Congress to do. That includes holding hearings so that they can advise and consent on nominations. They took an oath to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution, not to cower before the likes of Donald Trump. Had they done their jobs when Trump was impeached by the House, twice!, they could have rid themselves and us of Trump for ever. The least they can do now, for all of us who will have to live with the decisions these horrible people would make if they are confirmed, is to refuse to confirm them.
Hi Lynn, Thanks for writing. You're right. I should have said "Most Republicans in the Senate do know how important these jobs are." Unfortunately, I am sure Coach Tommy is not the only woefully uninformed member of the Senate. I suspect there are others as well. I just hope there are enough Republican Senators who remember what their jobs are, do some homework if they lack understanding of what major federal agencies actually do, and have located their spines. What's your guess?
My guess is Gabbard doesn't make it , enough of them know she is a person of divided loyalties , but the rest do. Lots of horse trading will happen . Not sure about Gaetz - maybe releasing the ethics report will make him withdraw , but probably not
You may be right, RAISSA. Perhaps Gaetz knows and has proof of something incriminating about Trump, although nothing we already know seems to have hurt Trump so far. I have always wondered, along with a lot of other people, what Putin has on Trump. I had heard rumors about a particularly ugly videotape, but it has never surfaced. Perhaps Trump's fawning adulation of Putin has so far been enough to keep it hidden for now. What I am most worried about is what will happen to all of us if these horrible people are confirmed. People in cabinet level positions need to know what they are doing. If they don't, they are dangerous.
Rachel Levine tried to remove age restrictions on giving children too young to understand the consequences powerful drugs and synthetic hormones as well as surgery to remove healthy body parts in the name of the so-innocent-sounding “gender-affirming healthcare.” This “care” renders them sterile and unable to experience sexual pleasure. Many of these kids are gay. Dems need to wake up to the fact that this is evil, anti-women and homophobic. If Dems don’t wake up, Republicans will keep using this issue to win elections
It's all "baked in" as they say. Why should Gaetz be held to a higher standard than Trump? Does anybody in the Banana Republican Party care anymore. Sure Susan Collins will be "concerned" as always but will it really make a difference in the end? Resistance is futile and Democrats should just get out of the way unless they can actually stop him. Let the Krazy Klown Kar pull into the station and let the circus begin.
What do you think Lindsey Graham thinks about when he lies alone in his bed at night? Does she think about what the party he belongs to used to be? Does he wonder how much farther he is going to have to slide down the ladder of moral decrepitude till he hits the bottom? Does he wonder how he can ever get back to some level of self respect? Or does he just take another Qualude and drift off into Happyland?
The only bright spot in the Gaetz nomination is that although others say he is bright, he is in waaayyyyy over his head and so incompetent he won’t get much done as he doesn’t know how to do it. A lawyer for like 2 years with a couple civil cases? Pffft.
The Horrible is on his way to make all of us the Miserable
Ahhhhhh there's a Gaetz/Vance axis. That should help.
"Loyal". Let us take a moment to consider the use of the word "loyal". Trump chooses cabinet members based on a twisted interpretation of the term "loyal". What he really means is obsequious. Those purportedly "loyal" people are merely serfs who will do his bidding. Craven slaves might be a more appropriate description of his cabinet nominees and the members of Congress who support him. It is time for the media to abandon Trump's terminology which implies integrity and honor. Loyalty implies integrity and honor. Trump possesses neither attribute. Nor do any of his appointees possess integrity and honor. This is like a gang leader waving a gun in a man's face and asking "Do you respect me now?" The gang leader has confused respect with another human reaction. Fear. Respect and Fear are not the same. Nor are loyalty and obsequience. Language as power was a tactic that Postmodernist philosophers considered some decades ago and used to gain political leverage through "political correctness". PC speech (and thinking) took over much of academia, corporate America, and the population at large. Now, Trumpists have utilized language manipulation to persuade a large portion of the voting community to react adversely to the PC message. Pronouns are a problem. However, we in the middle should not allow the distortion of language to rule the direction of the country. Let's stop calling Matt Gaetz "loyal". He's not. Nor is Tulsi Gabbard, RFK Jr, or any of the rest . . . loyal. They are neither Honorable nor persons of integrity. Their goal is to destroy the rule of law and replace it with supplication to the overlord. It's time we use the English language correctly to describe Trump's nominees as what they are - Dishonorable performance artists.
Greed is good. As an adjective to describe these sorts.
Once again, Agreed. Too bad that President Biden didn't release the ATACMs long ago. Would have made a big difference.
You also really need to look beneath the nominated head of the department. There are much smarter people than Gaetz getting put into the department of justice. Todd Blanche, deputy attorney general; Emil Bove, principal associate deputy attorney general and would serve as acting deputy attorney while Blanche being approved. gaetz is a false flag so no one reacts to the #2 and #3 who smart and very adept attorneys. D. John Sauer is being nominated for the Solicitor General, who argued the immunity case to the US Supreme Court and won. Gaetz is the least of our worries. Always look below the head of the dept in trump world.
I've been wondering: Is Matt Gaetz a sociopath? Since I'm not a psychologist, I cannot answer definitively, but the question lingers in my mind. His 19 speeding tickets, a wrecked BMW, dismissed DUI. Wandering the House floor showing off nude pics of women (girls?) he banged and claims of all-night banging with the use of ED drugs. Assumes alternate personality with senators to present bona fides for top Justice Dept job. Close association with sex trafficking convict, and allegations of same towards him. Alleged testimony of woman claiming she had paid sex with him while she was underage. Venmo records. Close association with D Trump. Grandiose personality traits.
I don't know, just asking questions.
I'd have to check with the junior dipstick from Oklahoma, the Honorable Markwayne Mullin.
Cornyn is pissed because he didn't get Majority Leader. This from HCR this morning
"When Texas senator John Cornyn said he would like to see the Gaetz report, Trump loyalist Steve Bannon said: “You either get with the program, brother, or you're going to finish third in your primary.” A member of Trump’s transition team said that Trump wants to bend Republican senators to his will “until they snap in half.”
Point here being are there enough senators who take their oath to the constitution seriously or not, but most especially John Thune. If he will recess the senate there will be no confirmation hearings, with the exception of Rubio who will be confirmed and probably with some democrat votes. t***p has one test and one test only, complete unconditional loyalty to him. Obviously they all pass this test so his next criteria must be sleaziest, then incompetence.
As a former senator I would think there'd be multiple employment opportunities open to Cornyn. I mean, it's not like he'd go hungry or homeless or bored. Maybe not with quite the prestige of senator, but can sitting -senator really be worth the price soul-wise, clear conscience-wise, pride in doing right, self-respect, knowing where to draw the line.? How come most of the ordinary people I know understand that living by basic do-what's-right values understand this, but lawmakers do not?
In his own perverse way Cornyn is proving Trump's point about "the swamp". Inadverdantly.
As usual, American prescience about the Gaetz nomination is always not further than their nose - the media included. Gaetz wanted a pardon at the end of the Trump 1.0, but even Trump knew that was a bridge too far. For Trump 2.0, he decides to nominate Gaetz as AG, knowing full well that the House Ethics Committee report is due literally the week he submits the nomination. Note, too, how Gaetz resigned - abrupty and that was deliberate. Trump knew full well that this nomination was likely to be rejected, but it accomplishes two things - he does not have to give Gaetz a pardon, and the report is going to be buried. It would not surprise me if it were to come out that among the many conversations that Trump and Speaker Johnson at Mar-A-Lago before the election was the management of Gaetz damage control. It would also not surprise me that the report will be leaked. But the act of the leakage and the GOP claiming partisan falsification of its contents becomes yet another point-the-finger blame game rallying mechanism to pin on Democrats. Yawn. Standard Trump playbook method of operation. Bad guys win yet again.
Sadly, you are so completely correct......
Gaetz can be a great guy? Why is that hard to believe?
Trump has deliberately chosen particularly horrible people for the most important positions in government. Granted, he has little to no understanding of what these agencies do, and he doesn't care. However, Republicans in the Senate do know how important these jobs are. This story says: "The succession of nominations and reporting left Republican senators in an uncomfortable spot." No it didn't. They are presumably getting paid to be Senators. If so, they ought to do the jobs their constituents sent them to Congress to do. That includes holding hearings so that they can advise and consent on nominations. They took an oath to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution, not to cower before the likes of Donald Trump. Had they done their jobs when Trump was impeached by the House, twice!, they could have rid themselves and us of Trump for ever. The least they can do now, for all of us who will have to live with the decisions these horrible people would make if they are confirmed, is to refuse to confirm them.
Do you think Coach Tommy knows whatt the departments do? He is not the only uninformed Senator .
Hi Lynn, Thanks for writing. You're right. I should have said "Most Republicans in the Senate do know how important these jobs are." Unfortunately, I am sure Coach Tommy is not the only woefully uninformed member of the Senate. I suspect there are others as well. I just hope there are enough Republican Senators who remember what their jobs are, do some homework if they lack understanding of what major federal agencies actually do, and have located their spines. What's your guess?
My guess is Gabbard doesn't make it , enough of them know she is a person of divided loyalties , but the rest do. Lots of horse trading will happen . Not sure about Gaetz - maybe releasing the ethics report will make him withdraw , but probably not
You may be right, RAISSA. Perhaps Gaetz knows and has proof of something incriminating about Trump, although nothing we already know seems to have hurt Trump so far. I have always wondered, along with a lot of other people, what Putin has on Trump. I had heard rumors about a particularly ugly videotape, but it has never surfaced. Perhaps Trump's fawning adulation of Putin has so far been enough to keep it hidden for now. What I am most worried about is what will happen to all of us if these horrible people are confirmed. People in cabinet level positions need to know what they are doing. If they don't, they are dangerous.
I like the response of the Dems. Let the Republicans own this.
Rachel Levine tried to remove age restrictions on giving children too young to understand the consequences powerful drugs and synthetic hormones as well as surgery to remove healthy body parts in the name of the so-innocent-sounding “gender-affirming healthcare.” This “care” renders them sterile and unable to experience sexual pleasure. Many of these kids are gay. Dems need to wake up to the fact that this is evil, anti-women and homophobic. If Dems don’t wake up, Republicans will keep using this issue to win elections
It's all "baked in" as they say. Why should Gaetz be held to a higher standard than Trump? Does anybody in the Banana Republican Party care anymore. Sure Susan Collins will be "concerned" as always but will it really make a difference in the end? Resistance is futile and Democrats should just get out of the way unless they can actually stop him. Let the Krazy Klown Kar pull into the station and let the circus begin.
What do you think Lindsey Graham thinks about when he lies alone in his bed at night? Does she think about what the party he belongs to used to be? Does he wonder how much farther he is going to have to slide down the ladder of moral decrepitude till he hits the bottom? Does he wonder how he can ever get back to some level of self respect? Or does he just take another Qualude and drift off into Happyland?
The only bright spot in the Gaetz nomination is that although others say he is bright, he is in waaayyyyy over his head and so incompetent he won’t get much done as he doesn’t know how to do it. A lawyer for like 2 years with a couple civil cases? Pffft.
I think the only question that remains is how wide the GOP senators will spread their legs, and will they be taking it with out without lube.
Horribly put - but, sad to say, true.
Now we’ll find out how many vertebrate Republican senators there are. History is not promising.