"There is a growing sense of two competing political universes in America. President Biden and the Democrats are doing the hard work of governing the country while Trump and MAGA extremists are play-acting in the pretend world of performative politics.
Governing is hard. Stoking outrage with lies is easy."
"Pushing the idea that there is a 'Biden crime family' is a transparent effort to create confusion by suggesting that the Bidens are simply the Democratic version of the Trumps, whose family business, the Trump Organization, was found guilty of tax fraud in January 2023."
"As we discussed when MAGA got impeachment fever in September, [the GOP's Biden impeachment charade is] baseless. It is not grounded in even a scintilla of fact. There is nothing Joe Biden is credibly alleged to have done that qualifies as a high crime and misdemeanor, the constitutional standard for impeaching a president. It is disproven rumor and innuendo, smoke and mirrors."
The fact that ALL Republicans would rather fight over Scalise (who attended a neo-Nazi event) or Jordan (who allegedly covered up rampant sexual abuse) rather than simply work with Democrats to elect a Speaker says it all.'”
~ Brian Tyler Cohen as cited by Heather Cox Richardson
"They can’t run their caucus. How can Republicans run a country?
It would be tempting to compare the House GOP caucus to the Mickey Mouse Club. But at least the Mickey Mouse Club had a leader. House Republicans are nowhere close to being able to say the same."
"In a refreshing turn of events, House Republicans are putting on such a dazzling display of self-immolation that many mainstream media outlets have been forced to accurately portray the level of pandemonium these so-called lawmakers have unleashed on the institution they supposedly govern and the country they purportedly serve."
"We wake up today to a Republican Party in disarray, bitterly divided, at war with itself, and seemingly shocked that nurturing and appeasing its lunatic fringe could end this badly.
"McCarthy is, personally, an incompetent doofus. But his incompetence, and his doofusness, are also structural. The GOP these days — led by Trump, cocooned in right-wing media disinformation — elevates only the irresponsible and the ineffectual. McCarthy is done. But one thing seems certain; as bad as McCarthy was, the next GOP House speaker is likely to be worse."
“It’s hard to grasp the complete derangement of this moment. Three days before they’re set to shut down the United States government, Republicans launch a baseless impeachment drive against President Biden. No one can figure out the logic of either course of action. Why shut down the U.S. government, something no enemy nation has ever succeeded in doing?"
"Republicans’ own witness in their impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden completely destroyed their claims multiple times on Thursday. … 'In fact, I do not believe that the current evidence would support articles of an impeachment,' [Jonathan Turley] told the hearing."
"If you vote for Sanders to run your state, then your punishment could very well become Sanders running your state. Now Arkansas has a governor who’s world-famous not for her keen mind or nuanced policy stances, but for her dedication to being the most prolific bullshit factory in politics."
"Republicans have openly admitted that their efforts to impeach President Joe Biden — which will begin in earnest this week as House members return to DC from summer break — are in bad faith. They don’t just want to tarnish Biden. They want to tarnish the impeachment process itself."
"Trump not only needs the impeachment as a weapon of mass distraction, but also as an instrument of moral flattening. If everyone is a crook, no one is a crook. If everyone is impeached, then impeachment is no longer a badge of shame.
His own legal nightmare? Four indictments? Ninety-one felony charges? Whatabout Hunter’s laptop?"
"Over the last few days, the Right melted down over the 'Barbie Movie,' with no discernible impact at all at the box office. We embroiled ourselves in a fiery debate over whether slavery (and the Holocaust) actually taught valuable life skills; the NY Post ran a cover story about dog bites in the White House; Kevin McCarthy floated a performative impeachment of Joe Biden; Elon Musk murdered Twitter;"
"Mayor Rudy admitted that he lied about Georgia election workers; and the GOP is trying mightily not to notice that its front-runner is losing his mind as he awaits the next tranche of indictments. Meanwhile, a funnel cloud appeared over the Capitol, and the seas may be setting new temperature records."