Social Media Fueled 1/8

Social media stoked Sunday’s attack by supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro on Brazil’s Congressional building, federal court and presidential palace, NPR reports. The riot was organized on such outlets as Telegram and Whatsapp, often using coded language, and was livestreamed by Bolsonaro supporters on YouTube, and could be found on Facebook, TikTok and Twitter, according to a report on NPR’s Morning Edition.

Bolsonaro supporters were also cheered on January 8 by Donald J. Trump confidant and supporter Steve Bannon, as “freedom fighters.” NPR notes that Facebook is expected to announce soon whether ex-President Trump will be allowed to return to the platform. Trump’s two-year Facebook ban was up on Sunday, January 8.

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Debt Ceiling Showdown to Come?

TUESDAY 1/11/23

With a thin majority in the 118th Congress, House Republicans have no chance of getting such controversial legislation as rescinding IRS funding (see right column) through the Democratic-majority Senate and back to President Biden’s desk. But the 221 Republican members of the House can deny an increase in the federal debt ceiling necessary to pay for an already-passed budget and potentially shut the government down. After House Republicans voted to approve Speaker Kevin McCarthy's (R-CA) rules package Monday, ex-President Trump called on them to "play tough" on the debt ceiling, stoking "fears of a chaotic Congress," according to The Guardian.

That’s the sort of disruption House Democrats, as expressed by minority whip Katherine Clark of Massachusetts, fear of the concessions Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) made to secure the votes to become speaker.

“Kevin McCarthy hasn’t held the speaker’s gavel for a whole week,” Clark said, “and already he’s handed over the keys to MAGA extremists and special interests for the next two years.” 

•••

Feinstein Gets a Push – Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) turns 90 this coming June, and already she is the oldest member of Congress. Feinstein has filed paperwork for re-election for 2024, though she has not declared her candidacy for a sixth full term (she won a special election in 1992).

But on Monday, Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA) announced Monday she is running for U.S. Senate in 2024. California’s other U.S. senator, fellow Democrat Alex Padilla, won re-election in 2022 (California Gov. Gavin Newsom appointed him to replace Kamala Harris when she became vice president in 2021) and therefore is not up for re-election until 2028. 

--TL

Enter your Comments below or in the right column, as appropriate for your leanings, or email editors@thehustings.news.

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Rove: Penn Biden Docs No Mar-a-Lagogate

Karl Rove, the Republican political consultant and deputy chief of staff to President George W. Bush, pushed back against Fox News butwhataboutism in an interview Tuesday about classified documents returned to the National Archives by the Biden administration. 

“Well, there are differences,” Rove said in comparing the Biden documents with ex-President Trump’s apparent hoarding of classified and top-secret documents at Mar-a-Lago in Florida, (per Mediaite) “but you can’t make this stuff up.

“For example, how many documents in Biden’s case, there appear to be about 10. In the case of President Trump, hundreds.

“How did they get there? We didn’t yet know how the documents got to the Biden office connected with his activities on behalf of the University of Pennsylvania. We know that President Trump ordered the removal of documents to Mar-a-Lago.”

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House GOP Votes to Rescind IRS Funds

Tuesday 1/10/23

In the 118th Congress’ first bill, the House with its new Republican majority voted along party lines, 221-210, to rescind about $71 billion of $80 billion in additional funding for the Internal Revenue Service included in the Inflation Reduction Act signed late last year by President Biden. If not for the Senate’s Democratic majority that will assure the bill will go nowhere, it would reduce an estimated $186 billion in federal tax revenues, and add $114 billion to the federal deficit over the next decade, according to The Hill.

New Rules – The House also passed Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s (R-CA) rules package, Roll Call reports, which includes concessions made to far-right members of his caucus in order to secure the speaker’s gavel in an historic 15th ballot early last Saturday. The rules package vote was 220-213, with Rep. Tony Gonzales of Texas the only Republican voting with Democrats, and includes:

•Return of a controversial rule to allow a single House member to introduce a motion to vacate the speaker. 

•Limitation of bills to a single subject, preventing the attachment of amendments that are not germane to the bill.

•A rule to prevent McCarthy from waiving an existing rule to release bill language at least 72 hours before a floor vote.

•A rule setting up a separate vote on a resolution that would create a select Judiciary Committee to centralize investigations into the executive branch (let’s call this the “Hunter Biden” rule). 

•Term limits for the Office of Congressional Ethics board members and requiring the office to make hiring decisions within 30 days. These provisions would effectively gut the office, Roll Call says.

--TL

Enter your Comments below or in the right column, as appropriate for your leanings, or email editors@thehustings.news.

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On the Left

(The government of leftist president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, pictured, has survived a January 6th-like attack on Brazil’s Congressional building, federal court and presidential palace by supporters of right-wing ex-President Jair Bolsonaro.)

Let us know your thoughts in the Comment section of this column or the one on the right, as appropriate, or email us at editors@thehustings.news.

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…meanwhile…

Brazil’s 1/6 on 1/8 -- Inspired by the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol in support of Donald J. Trump’s Big Lie, thousands of supporters of Brazil’s far-right populist ex-President Jair Bolsonaro stormed the Congressional building, federal supreme court and presidential Panalto Palace in Brasilia (Semafor, NPR and AP) Sunday, demanding military intervention to return the government to the ex-president. Security forces have since regained control, says NPR’s Morning Editon. Leftist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva beat Bolsonaro for the presidency in a close runoff last October. 

He’s Gone to Disney World!: Bolsonaro, who has long made claims of “election fraud,” much like ex-President Trump begun well prior to the 2020 U.S. election, did not attend da Silva’s inauguration, and has been in Orlando, Florida, since at least last December, Morning Edition reports. 

•••

McCarthy’s Next Fight – Newly elected House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s (R-CA) next battle was set to begin Monday night, as he faces potential opposition – this time from moderate Republicans -- against his rules package for the 118th Congress. Reps. Tony Gonzales (R-TX) and Nancy Mace (R-SC) are concerned over the concessions McCarthy had to make to hard-right MAGA House Republicans in order to get the majority vote for the speakership, including gutting the Office of Congressional Ethics, NPR’s Morning Edition says.

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

On the Right

(Supporters of Jair Bolsonaro, pictured, violently stormed Brazil’s Congressional building, federal court and presidential palace Sunday in an attack that very much resembled the January 6th attempted siege of the U.S. Capitol.)

WSJ Op-Ed on House Rules – Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), the House Freedom Caucus’ “spiritual leader” confirmed to Fox News that defense spending is on the chopping block as a component of the deal House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) reached with the hard-right in order to secure his gavel after 15 roll calls late last week, according to the reliably hard-right op-ed section of The Wall Street Journal. But the op-ed section is not behind Freedom Caucus rhetoric on this one.

Jordan told Fox News Sunday host Shannon Bream that House Republicans will look at cutting excessive defense general officers and public relations jobs, “and maybe focus on getting rid of all the woke policies in our military…” WSJ says.

The op-ed counters that “woke training is a matter of culture, not money,” and warns “If the GOP rebels honor their demand for ‘regular order,’ defense hawks may have more votes. But it’s worrisome that some Republicans are joining the progressive calls to shrink the military when the world grows more dangerous.”

Left Unsaid: This is really about warnings by some House Republicans that U.S. military aid to Ukraine for its defense against Russian aggression will not be a “blank check” under its thin majority.

•••

Let us know your thoughts in the Comment section of this column or the one on the left, as appropriate, or email us at editors@thehustings.news.

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Two Years

Pictured: Parents of U.S. Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, who died after suffering two strokes the day after he helped defend the Capitol from insurrectionists following then-President Trump on January 6, 2021. Sicknick’s partner has filed suit against Trump for wrongful death. 

Click The Gray Area to read the report by the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol by clicking The Gray Area.

To voice your opinion, please go to the Comment form in this or the right column, or email editors@thehustings.news.

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After 15 Rounds, McCarthy, Finally, is House Speaker

Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) was elected House speaker early Saturday morning on the 15th roll call for the leadership position as five Republicans voted “present” to lower the majority threshold to the 216 he received. Six Republicans voted “present” and all 212 Democrats voted for their leader, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries. Never-Keveners Matt Gaetz (R-FL) and Lauren Boebert (R-CO) had switched to “present” votes on the previous ballot. 

The 15th round immediately followed a rollicking 14th roll call, in which Boebert and Gaetz voted “present” to lower McCarthy’s threshold. But it wasn’t enough with Gaetz and Boebert the only “presents” on that round, making McCarthy’s 216 votes one short of a majority. Two votes going to Rep. Jim Jeffords (R-OH) and two to Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ). When Gaetz refused McCarthy’s apparent plea to change his vote, Rep. Mike Rogers (R-AL) confronted Gaetz – as briefly shown on camera before an unidentified interloper subdued Rogers. After McCarthy lost his 14th round, a motion to adjourn until noon Monday was about to pass until a number of Republicans reversed their votes just as the vote clock wound down, to push for the 15th roll call ‘round midnight.

•••

UPDATE VIII – Kevin McCarthy finally flipped the erosion of votes for his House speakership with roll call XII Friday afternoon, adding 13 votes for 213 – after having slipped from 202 to 200 supporters earlier in the week -- but still short of taking the gavel. In roll call XIII, McCarthy added one more vote as Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-IN), who had voted “present” in several previous ballots, backed the California Republican. Democratic support for Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) remains unwavered at 212 votes. Rep. David Trone (D-MD) even showed up after undergoing surgery Friday morning in order to maintain the unanimity. The House was to return 10 p.m. Friday to take up a 14th ballot.

•••

Two Years -- Congress members memorialized the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol on its second anniversary Friday (above), led by House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries (NY) and his predecessor, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA). 

•••

Good Jobs Report, But – The economy added 233,000 new jobs in December, the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday. The unemployment rate fell by 0.2 points to 3.5%, and the news spurred the stock market to a rally. However, the unnaturally low unemployment rate indicates that the Federal Reserve’s aggressive interest rate hikes have not cooled the economy sufficiently to curb high inflation.

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

McCarthy’s Concessions

Would-be House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) has agreed to concessions he previously rejected in his effort to garner the 218 votes needed to take the gavel, The Washington Post reports. McCarthy reportedly has agreed to reduce from five members to a single member required to sponsor a resolution to force a vote to remove the speaker and will appoint members of the hard-right House Freedom Caucus to the all-important House Rules Committee. McCarthy also agreed to provisions on certain term limits and to push border policy legislation.

Will it work? The House finds out Friday afternoon with the 12th ballot to elect its speaker. Since voting began Tuesday, McCarthy’s support has gone from 202 members down to 200.

To voice your opinion, please go to the Comment form in this or the left column, or email editors@thehustings.news.

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Meanwhile, in Kentucky …

It’s as if the Senate GOP and House GOP were two different political parties. Wednesday, President Biden travels to Kentucky and Ohio with Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) – yes, the Senate minority leader – to tout the bipartisan infrastructure plan. Biden and McConnell are to be joined by another mixed couple; Republican Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine and Democratic Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, according to The Hill

They will tout Biden’s bipartisan infrastructure bill and its $1 billion earmarked for replacement of the Brent Spencer bridge connecting Cincinnati with Covington, Kentucky.

Nikki Haley, the former Republican governor of South Carolina, and ambassador to the United Nations under President Trump has derided all this bipartisan comity as a “publicity stunt.” (Perhaps she might consider dropping her likely bid for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination for a House seat for South Carolina?)

Those in the barely-kicking “traditional” branch of the Republican Party will recall the relationship between President Reagan and House Speaker Tip O’Neill.

--TL

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

This Vote Goes to XI

UPDATE VII: We'll skip the old news about the 10th ballot for House speaker for the 118th Congress (we had to walk the dogs) and go straight to Ballot XI, where Republican leader Kevin McCarthy continues to lose support, however slowly. His count in the 11th ballot was 200, with all 212 Democrats maintaining their support -- and not giving in to any schemes to vote "present" and reduce the threshold -- for Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York. Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) received 12 votes, Rep. Kevin Hearn (R-OK) got seven and Donald J. Trump received one vote. Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-IN) continues to vote "present."

XII tomorrow: The House voted along party lines (Democrats want to stay until someone is elected speaker) to adjourn Thursday evening. Ballot XII will have to wait until Friday.

UPDATE VI: Same as it ever was. McCarthy at 201, and yet the would-be speaker insists he will eventually win over another 17 Republican congress members. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) at 212, Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) with 17, and three votes for Rep. Kevin Hearn (R-OK), from Reps. Lauren Boebert (R-CO), Josh Brecheen (R-OK) and Matt Gaetz (R-FL), who switched his vote from Donald J. Trump.

UPDATE V: On the eighth ballot, Rep. Kevin McCarthy held steady at 201 votes while Rep. Byron Donalds fell to 17 votes. Reps. Laurent Boebert (R-CO) and Josh Brecheen voted for Brecheen's fellow Oklahoma Republican, Rep. Kevin Hearn (R-OK) while Rep. Matt Gaetz again voted for Trump. Rep. Victoria Spartz voted "present" again, and all 212 Democrats held steady to vote for Rep. Hakeem Jeffries. So, on to number nine.

UPDATE IV: ...Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) voted for his fellow Florida Man for House Speaker; Ex-President Donald J. Trump. Kevin McCarthy again received 201 votes, despite having made concessions in a late night meeting with GOP holdouts. One major concession McCarthy made is he would reinstate a rule that would allow a single House member to force a vote to remove the speaker. Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) received 19 votes, one Republican voted "present" and all 212 Democrats voting for their party's House leader, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, of New York. An eighth ballot was immediately underway.

UPDATE III: House Speaker Ballot VI results were no different from Ballot V or Ballot IV, with 201 votes for Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), 212 for Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), 20 votes for Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) and one "present." At least McCarthy isn't continuing to lose votes. Ballot VII will be necessary.

UPDATE II: House Speaker Ballot V (yes, it's time to begin to use Super Bowl-style Roman numerals for this count) ended just as House Speaker Ballot IV, with Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) receiving 201 votes, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) at 212, Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) at 20, and Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-IN) recording as "present." In nominating Donalds, Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) concluded by saying McCarthy "does not have the votes. It's time to withdraw." Ballot VI is possible later Wednesday.

UPDATE: Would be House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) lost another vote in his bid for the gavel Wednesday afternoon, with Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-IN) casting a vote of “present.” Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL), who won his second term last November stood steady at 20 votes as McCarthy fell to 201, or 16 short of a majority of the lower chamber. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) again won all 212 Democratic votes. A fifth vote is expected, according to C-Span.

Meanwhile: Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) tells The Hill that McCarthy has begun talks with Democrats to support a consensus candidate -- either by voting for McCarthy or by voting "present" in sufficient numbers to lower the Republican's threshold for securing a majority. That would take at least 12 Democrats to agree to the plan, based on the speakership's first four ballots.

•••

Because roll call in the House of Representatives is alphabetical, Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) falls short of the number of votes needed to win the speaker’s gavel little more than a quarter-way into the vote.

“REP MCCARTHY DOES NOT HAVE THE VOTES … FOURTH SPEAKER VOTE EXPECTED” reads the C-Span Chiron. 

But the House must continue with the roll call of all 434 representatives-elect (they have to wait for a speaker to swear them in for the 118th Congress) before going on to the next ballot. If a sufficient number of Republican Congress members vote “present,” the winner could theoretically be Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, the new Democratic Party leader replacing Rep. Nancy Pelosi, of California. [There are only 434 House members, because Democratic Rep. Donald A. McEachin died in November, and his Virginia district has yet to hold a special election to replace him.]

It is as tedious as it sounds, and yet the House’s slim Republican majority has been trending oh so slightly away from McCarthy, even though he has physically moved into the speaker’s office already. 

In Round One, 202 Republicans voted for McCarthy, to 10 votes for Rep. Andy Biggs, who was nominated by fellow Arizona Rep. Paul Gosar. Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) received six votes, and Reps. Jim Banks (R-IN), Lee Zeldin (R-NY) and Byron Donalds (R-FL) each received one vote. 

All 211 Democrats backed Jeffries in all three rounds. 

Despite 10 votes backing Jordan in the first round, Jordan went on to nominate McCarthy in the second round. And yet, 19 Republicans voted for Jordan even as he backed McCarthy. By the third round, 20 Republicans rejected McCarthy as the House speaker. 

A fourth ballot is scheduled to begin noon Wednesday.

-- Todd Lassa

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

House Republicans Divided

Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) long had been gunning to be the replacement for outgoing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), and to that end he pivoted suddenly, in late January 2021 as a critic of former President Trump’s call-to-insurrection on the 6thto making a “pilgrimage to the holy shrine of the golden commode in Florida,” as Esquire’s Charlie Pierce described it.

McCarthy’s deference to Donald J. Trump over the last 23 months should have placed him in sufficiently good standing with MAGA House Republicans to easily win the House speaker’s gavel in time to stand alongside Vice President Kamala Harris for President Biden’s next State of the Union Address.

And it did, kind of, with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) joining Rep. Elise Stefanik [whom McCarthy, as House minority leader in ’21 appointed to replace then-Rep. Liz Cheney as chairwoman of the House Republican Conference] as staunch MAGA-leaning supporters of the representative of California’s 20th.

From the MAGA-right, McCarthy also can count on Rep. Jim Jordan (OH) (see center column) and incoming New York Rep. George Santos, who traded a vote for the would-be-speaker in exchange for being sworn in despite potential legal trouble over lies he allegedly told during his campaign.

But three other staunch MAGA Republicans, Reps. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania, Lauren Boebert of Colorado and Matt Gaetz of Florida led a never-McCarthy coalition Tuesday, following an 11th hour meeting in which they demanded the speaker-in-waiting make House priorities a balanced budget, a Texas-delegation developed U.S. Border plan and term limits for House members. Oh, and they also wanted to reinstate the “motion to vacate,” the House rule that a single member could move to replace the House speaker at any time, which Pelosi had rescinded when she took the gavel.

Gaetz told reporters Tuesday, “I don’t care” if Jeffries wins the speakership, referring to House Minority Leader Hakim Jeffries and unanimous support from his party’s members. 

Regarding MTG’s split from the MAGA group, “As a result of her alliance with McCarthy, Greene has found herself at odds with her former soulmates,” Charlie Sykes writes in The Bulwark. The takeaway from this jagged split is that the GOP is in disarray far more than the perennially disorganized “big tent” Democratic Party … possibly a sign of an improved GOP to come for never-Trump conservatives like Sykes.

--TL

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

Return to ‘Normal’ Politics

By Ken Zino

As the Department of Justice weighs whether to indict Donald J. Trump for his role in the January 6th Capitol insurrection, it is moving ahead by bringing others to account for domestic terrorism. A Michigan man was sentenced this week to 16 years in prison, followed by five years of supervised release, for conspiracy to kidnap the governor of Michigan, and conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction against persons or property. A jury in an earlier trial was unable to reach a verdict. In my view, things have changed significantly in many people’s minds about the Big Lie and the associated, often violent, assaults against institutions and people as the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol presented its devastating case of what went on and who was part of it. National security also is a critical issue in Trump’s case.

Adam Fox, 39, of Wyoming, Michigan, and co-conspirator Barry Croft Jr., 47, of Bear, Delaware, were convicted by a federal jury last August after an 11-day retrial. Based on court documents and evidence presented at trial, Fox and Croft intended to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer from her vacation cottage in Northern Michigan and use the destructive devices to facilitate their plot by harming and hindering the governor’s security detail and any responding law enforcement officers. 

“They specifically explored placing a bomb under an interstate overpass near a pedestrian boardwalk. Croft was also convicted of possessing an improvised explosive device, which was a commercial firework refashioned with shrapnel to serve as a hand-grenade,” the U.S. Department of Justice said. 

“Mr. Fox, and his confederate Mr. Croft, were convicted by a jury of masterminding a plot to kidnap the governor of Michigan and to use weapons of mass destruction against responding law enforcement,” said Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division. “Today’s sentence reflects the Department of Justice’s unwavering commitment to protecting our elected officials, law enforcement officers, and dedicated public servants from criminal threats and violence -- and to holding the perpetrators of such acts fully accountable under the law.”

Fox is the third to be sentenced of four conspirators convicted in the plot. Croft was sentenced to more than 19 years. Co-defendant Ty Garbin, 27, of Hartland, Michigan, pleaded guilty in January 2021 and initially received a sentence of 75 months in prison. The district court later reduced to a term of 30 months, or two and a half years in prison, after fully considering his cooperation at both trials. Kaleb Franks, 28, of Waterford, Michigan, received a term of four years in prison after pleading guilty and testifying at both trials. Co-defendants Daniel Harris and Brandon Caserta were acquitted at the first trial in August 2022.

DOJ noted that the FBI’s Detroit Field Office investigated the case with “valuable assistance” provided by the FBI’s Baltimore Field Office and the Joint Terrorism Task Force, including Michigan State Police and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Michigan charged the case and conducted the trials, with “valuable assistance provided by the National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section.”

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

Trump Tax Returns and More 1/6 Transcripts

By Todd Lassa

Coming up on two years after the January 6th attack on the United States Capitol and just in time for the Republican Party to take a slim majority in the House, the former president, Donald J. Trump, may finally have lost control of the GOP. 

The House Ways and Means Committee Friday released Trump tax returns for 2015-20, some six years after the then-presidential candidate promised to release them after “routine” audits were completed. After he was sworn in as president, Trump claimed that Americans – meaning his MAGA supporters – were not interested in his returns. That is unlikely, even for the red-hatted who will be more interested in whether Trump is as wealthy as he has claimed than which deductions he used to pay the lowest possible taxes.

The returns released by Ways and Means include more than 2,700 pages of personal returns from Trump and the ex-first lady, Melania, and more than 3,000 pages related to Trump’s business entities, the Associated Press reports.

More January 6th Transcripts: Meanwhile, the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the Unites States Capitol has released additional transcripts of witness testimony.

Read Them Here: https://january6th.house.gov/news/press-releases/release-select-committee-materials-4

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

The Question

By Stephen Macaulay

“LIBERATE MICHIGAN!”

That was one of the tweets then-president Donald Trump put out on April 19, 2020. The so-called liberation was his response to the actions that had been taken by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to mitigate the spread of COVID-19.

You remember, the thing that was just going to “disappear.” That’s what many people said. Many, many people. Not as many as the more than one-million people who died in the U.S. from COVID. But many. That’s what they say.

On April 30 armed protestors entered the state capitol in Michigan.

Which leads one to wonder: What did they plan to shoot? Even if there happened to be some deer wandering through the halls of the building, the firearm hunting season doesn’t start in Michigan until mid-November. And one would imagine that assault weapons aren’t the sort of thing that would be particularly good for the subsequent venison even if there was some poaching going on.

(Oddly enough, the carrying of firearms in the state capitol is legal.)

There had been nearly 4,000 deaths from COVID by that time in Michigan. So presumably the governor along with medical experts figured that this wasn’t a cold and flu season on steroids and something needed to be done to try to reduce the number of deaths.

And some Michiganders became angry.

And the president of the United States — let me repeat that: The president of the United States — put out a tweet that declared that the state needed to be liberated from the person he referred to as “that woman from Michigan.”

He was downplaying COVID. He made it seem, while speaking in public (Bob Woodward was to let us know what Trump thought in private), that COVID was not a problem. For governors like Whitmer who were taking action (think about this: there were 1,083 traffic fatalities in Michigan in 2020 — for the whole year — and there were nearly 4,000 deaths by the end of April), that wasn’t a good thing.

So a group of people who banded together under the title the “Wolverine Watchmen” put together a plan in June that included kidnapping Whitmer from her vacation home in northern Michigan. And they trained to do it.

Oh, and the plan included things like execution and blowing things and people up.

As my colleague Ken Zino over on the left side of this page explains, members of the Watchmen have been arrested, tried and convicted. One of the men got 16 years. The prosecutors wanted life. The judge said of that penalty, “It’s too much. Something less than life gets the job done in this case.”

According to the Michigan Dept. of Corrections, the recidivism rate in the state is 23.6%.

Militia groups in Michigan and other states are not a new phenomenon. They are not something that was created by Trump. But they certainly did get support from the man, something that should be absolutely unthinkable, but he did it in public, for all to read or hear (“Stand back and stand by”).

It is all too easy to blame Trump for this sort of behavior. But perhaps even more culpable are Republican leaders who neither then nor now have made a full-throated support of law and order, something that the party once thought was important. 

More than 140 law enforcement personnel were injured — some very seriously — on January 6. Officer Brian Sicknick died on January 7. Four officers committed suicide subsequent to the attack from the people Trump described as “very special.”

Where is the outrage from Republicans? 

That is the question that needs to be considered.

Children learn the difference between right and wrong. Did Republican leaders forget 

that lesson or is it simply inconvenient for them?

Conservatives Ready to Take Back the GOP?

Are traditional conservatives ready to take back the GOP? 

Do the stiff prison sentences of two men convicted of federal charges for the attempted kidnapping of Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) indicate that both parties are about to come together and fight domestic terrorism? [Read contributing pundit Ken Zino’s left-column on the news story.]

The House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol has released additional transcripts of witness testimony. While some House Republicans, including would-be Speaker Kevin McCarthy, have threatened to investigate the investigators of the 1/6 committee as the GOP takes its thin majority in the 118th Congress, it would be convenient for the party to move on and let the Justice Department do its thing.

Speaking of the would-be speaker, how badly does he need to seat the veracity-challenged incoming Rep. George Santos (R-NY) in order to clinch the 218 votes necessary to become Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) replacement? 

All these questions and more are open for your comments, whether you lean right (please check the comment box this column) or left (please go to the left column to add comments). Alternatively, you may email your comments to editors@thehustings.newsand please indicate your political leaning in the subject box.

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