Category: Impeachment

Poll: Republican Voters Are Siding With Trump Over Mitch McConnell

Posted on by Rusty Weiss

A new poll from Axios-Ipsos shows Republicans are siding with President Trump over Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who signaled support of a second impeachment.

The numbers are actually quite astounding.

The poll was conducted during the early part of this week – when impeachment discussions were in full swing, and Democrats and the mainstream media were assailing the President for allegedly having incited an insurrection involving white supremacists at the Capitol.

“Republicans across the U.S. are siding with President Trump over Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell — big time,” Axios writes.

The results show a vast majority of Republicans do not hold Trump responsible for the Capitol riots, believe he has a right to challenge the election, and still support him, with Trump supporters even sticking with him as their preferred nominee in 2024.

RELATED: Report: Mitch McConnell Signals Support For Impeachment, Says It Will Help Rid GOP Of Trump

The GOP Is Still Trump’s Party, Not Mitch McConnell’s – Poll

The Axios report is remarkable considering the fact that President Trump was a victim of character assassination by the usual suspects  – the Democrat media – over the last several days, but also by Republican lawmakers.

Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) accused the President of having “summoned this mob, assembled the mob, and lit the flame of this attack” in describing his actions leading up to the Capitol riots.

“There has never been a greater betrayal by a President of the United States of his office and his oath to the Constitution,” she dramatized.

Mitch McConnell (R-KY) meanwhile, reportedly viewed the Democrats’ effort to impeach the president as a means to “help rid the Republican Party of Trump and his movement.”

And yet, 64 percent of Republicans said they support Trump’s recent behavior, 57 percent of Republicans said he should be the 2024 GOP candidate, and just 17 percent think he should be removed from office.

RELATED: Trump Organization Fires Back After De Blasio Terminates All Contracts With New York City

Traditional Republicans Are in Trouble

Cowardice by some Republicans in siding with Democrats appears to be backfiring as the poll clearly shows support for Trump and not squishy lawmakers like Mitch McConnell.

McConnell, despite his reported support for ridding the party of the President and his supporters, has yet to commit to a vote on conviction in the Senate.

But he’s clearly got a voter problem.

“The survey shows why Trump could run again in 2024 (and possibly win) if he isn’t convicted — or banned from holding federal office — by the Senate,” Axios reports.

“It also shows the peril and opportunity for institutionalists like McConnell trying to reclaim the GOP.”

Fox News personality Tucker Carlson recently commented on what impeachment would mean for the President.

“By impeaching the president during his final week in office, Congress will not succeed in discrediting Trump among Republican voters,” he cautioned. “In fact, it will enhance Donald Trump among Republican voters. Obviously!”

Axios’ report and polling seem to confirm Carlson’s assessment.

The post Poll: Republican Voters Are Siding With Trump Over Mitch McConnell appeared first on The Political Insider.

If Republicans Put America First, They’ll Remove Liz Cheney, Not Donald Trump

Posted on by John Hanson

As the House voted to impeach President Donald Trump on Wednesday, much praise was given to Congresswoman Liz Cheney for being one of the ten Republicans who voted to impeach.

Cheney is the #3 Republican in the House, which added weight to her stance. 

But it was her father Dick Cheney and his legacy – a legacy she clearly plans to continue – that is arguably the most impeachable offense in American history.

RELATED: Jim Jordan Calls Out Dems’ ‘Double Standards’ – They ‘Objected To More States In 2017 Than Republicans Did Last Week’

President Trump: Iraq War Was The ‘Worst Single Mistake Ever Made’

President Trump has been at war with the Bush faction of the GOP since he announced his campaign for President in 2015.

Trump was right when he called President George W. Bush and Dick Cheney’s war in Iraq the “worst single mistake” in U.S. history.

“The worst single mistake ever made in the history of our country: going into the Middle East, by President Bush,” Trump told The Hill in 2018. 

Trump added, “Obama may have gotten (U.S. soldiers) out wrong, but going in is, to me, the biggest single mistake made in the history of our country.”

Why was it such a colossal mistake? President Trump had an answer for that too.

Cheney Unapologetic About Iraq War, Bush Foreign Policy

“Because we spent $7 trillion in the Middle East,” Trump said. “Now if you wanna fix a window some place they say, ‘oh gee, let’s not do it.’ Seven trillion, and millions of lives — you know, ‘cause I like to count both sides. Millions of lives,” Trump explained.

“To me, it’s the worst single mistake made in the history of our country,” Trump reiterated. 

This is a charge President Trump would repeat throughout both presidential campaigns and during his time in the White House.

Today, a majority of Americans agree with Trump on the wrongness of the Iraq War, including military veterans.

But what does Liz Cheney think? She agrees with her father who still says “I was right about Iraq.”

Unbelievable.

But Trump’s radical break with the Establishment’s foreign policy isn’t limited to Iraq. 

Just weeks ago, Cheney and the Democrats worked hand-in-hand to block President Trump from removing troops from Afghanistan, where we have been mired for 20 years. 

In October of 2019, Democrats (and many Republicans) voted overwhelmingly to condemn President Trump’s effort to withdraw troops from Barack Obama’s war in Syria. 

Remember when Democrats at least pretended to be anti-war, when Bush was President?

RELATED: Ben Sasse And The GOP Aim To Purge Trumpism, Return To Bush-Era

‘America First’ vs. Neoconservative Ideology

But despite all the establishment praise being given to Cheney and a handful of anti-Trump Republicans this week, it is the “America First” foreign policy of Donald Trump that has completely flipped the script on this front in the GOP.

Republican members of Congress like Rand Paul, Matt Gaetz, Thomas Massie, and many others are staunchly opposed to needlessly starting another war like Iraq, and Trump’s position on this issue has largely helped solidify this sentiment among Republican voters.

Donald Trump Jr. has helped too.

RELATED: AOC Goes Wild On Instagram Live Video: Republicans Only Care About ‘White Supremacy,’ Trump Cabinet Has ‘Blood’ On Their Hands

Liz Cheney Deserves To Be Removed More Than President Trump

Congresswoman Cheney will continue to pursue a foreign policy agenda like her father’s – one that puts America and our soldiers last.

She will find a more willing partner in a President Biden than she did with President Trump.

If there was an administration that deserved impeachment, it was Bush-Cheney for the disastrous foreign policy they foisted upon America – one that was continued by Barack Obama.

We are still dealing with the repercussions of Obama (and Hillary Clinton’s) disasters in Libya and Syria. 

President Trump set a new course for America. Along the way, he secured four Middle East peace deals. 

The Republican Party and Congress would do well to remove those who would take us back to the disastrous foreign policy of the past, and continue to build upon the Trump path to peace.

The post If Republicans Put America First, They’ll Remove Liz Cheney, Not Donald Trump appeared first on The Political Insider.

Combat Veteran And Double Amputee Rep Brian Mast Shreds Jake Tapper After CNN Anchor Questions His Patriotism

Posted on by Rusty Weiss

Rep. Brian Mast, an Afghanistan war veteran and double amputee, fired back at Jake Tapper after the CNN anchor questioned his patriotism.

Tapper, during a segment covering impeachment proceedings in the House, went low and questioned Mast’s commitment to Democracy as the congressman spoke in opposition to the impeachment of President Trump.

“Congressman Brian Mast, a Republican from Florida – who lost his legs, by the way, fighting for democracy abroad, although I don’t know … about his commitment to it here in the United States,” Tapper told a panel.

Mast repeatedly condemned the Capitol protests that led to Trump’s second impeachment but stated, “I do not believe this conduct rises to the standard necessary for invoking the 25th Amendment or impeachment.”

Tapper’s unprovoked attack drew a response from Mast himself.

RELATED: Eric Swalwell Named As One Of Pelosi’s Impeachment Managers

Brian Mast Hits Back at Jake Tapper Over His Vile Comments

Jake Tapper, whose closest brush with combat of any kind involved a date with Monica Lewinsky, got an earful for his shameful comments, not the least of which came from Brian Mast himself.

“I lost two legs for [Jake Tapper’s] right to say whatever the hell he wants, but that free speech also protects the Republicans he is so eager to condemn for asking Constitutional questions about the election,” Mast tweeted.

Rather than manning up, Tapper took the cowardly route and doubled down on his comments from behind a keyboard.

“You’re a hero for your service and I’m grateful, as I’ve said before,” Tapper tweeted in reply.

“And yes, I question the commitment to democracy of anyone who spread election lies, signed onto that deranged TX AG lawsuit, and voted to commit sedition,” he added. “You were not just asking questions.”

The only sedition – conduct or speech inciting people to rebel against the authority of a state – over the past four years took place at the behest of the media, CNN in particular.

RELATED: Hillary Clinton Calls Capitol Riots ‘Result Of White-Supremacist Grievances,’ Wants Trump Impeached

Tapper Gets Blasted

Others on social media came to Mast’s defense as well, hammering Tapper for his ill-advised comments.

“This is DISGUSTING,” former Trump campaign social media director Mike Hahn responded. “Is [Tapper] planning on apologizing for this egregious comment?”

Rep. Rick Crawford (R-AR) called the CNN anchor’s comments “repulsive” and “disgusting.”

“Representative Mast, along with myself and many others in Congress and across the country, served in the military so Americans can have freedom of speech, regardless of how repulsive or disgusting it may be,” replied Crawford.

Tapper was on the receiving end of further scorn.

Mast went on Fox & Friends Thursday morning to respond to Tapper’s comments.

“My commitment to democracy and to my country is unwavering, I love this place so much it literally breaks my heart to see the divide that exists in it,” Mast said.

“I love our democracy. For all of our problems there is no government that I would rather be a part of anywhere in this world, and to strengthen that and keep it strong, we have to ask those questions,” he continued.

Mast went on to suggest that anger in this country is rising because certain entities aren’t listening or even debating the concerns of those who question the integrity of the 2020 presidential election – they are simply dismissed out of hand.

“We’ve got to get to the point that we’re saying, ‘This is why I think something,’ now I can say, ‘This is why I think you’re wrong,’ and we can have a real debate and hopefully you end up learning something about each other instead of just coming away with two people that are pissed off.”

It should be noted that Tapper’s concerns regarding interference in the democratic process only apply to President Trump.

He was, after all, caught interjecting in a House race in Pennsylvania’s 17th congressional district, where he tried to convince Republican Sean Parnell not to run against Democrat incumbent Connor Lamb in 2019, and instead find a different district to run in.

It seems the only person whose commitment to Democracy needs questioning is Tapper.

The post Combat Veteran And Double Amputee Rep Brian Mast Shreds Jake Tapper After CNN Anchor Questions His Patriotism appeared first on The Political Insider.

GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger: Impeachment ‘Was Not A Hard Decision,’ Didn’t Need To Look For Evidence

Posted on by John Hanson

Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger voted to impeach President Donald Trump on Wednesday for allegedly inciting the attack on the Capitol last week.

During an interview on “PBS NewsHour,” Kinzinger said that the decision to impeach President Trump wasn’t a particularly difficult decision given that “the evidence was not something we had to go discover. It was brought right to us on the 6th.”

Watch the video below.

RELATED: AOC Goes Wild On Instagram Live Video: Republicans Only Care About ‘White Supremacy,’ Trump Cabinet Has ‘Blood’ On Their Hands

Rep. Kinzinger Claims ‘It Was Hard To Go Through With It’

Kinzinger said, “Truthfully, it was not a hard decision. I mean, it was hard to go through with it.”

“Because, bottom line is, you’re impeaching a president a second time,” Kinzinger said. “It’s never something that should be easily done.”

But the evidence was no problem for Kinzinger.

“But I think the evidence was not something we had to go discover,” the Republican said. “It was brought right to us on the 6th.”

Kinzinger also claimed he had predicted the violence.

“Of course, I had predicted violence for weeks leading up to the 6th, but the 6th was the culmination, hopefully the culmination, of that violence coming to here,” Kinzinger said, referring to Washington, DC.

RELATED: ABC Quietly Edits Story That Claims Republican Movement Should Be ‘Cleansed’ Of Trump Supporters

Kinzinger: ‘If That Is Not Impeachable, I Don’t Know What Is’

The GOP congressman then cited the Constitution as justification for his vote.

“And, look, when you have the president of the United States, the Article 2 part of the Constitution, incite and send and ignite a mob to attack the Article 1 branch, that is nothing short of an insurrection,” he said.

The Congressman didn’t provide any evidence of how President Trump incited the mob.

Kinzinger added, “I think most people can look at that and know that the president has both built the foundation and executed the command to do it.”

“And if that is not impeachable, I don’t know what is,” Rep. Kinzinger added. 

Kinzinger Is A Longtime Trump Critic

Kinzinger has long been a Trump critic. He was also one of the early recipients of the Steele Dossier, the now-discredited document that supposedly showed President colluded with Russia to win the 2016 presidential election.

Kinzinger and the chief of staff to House Speaker Paul Ryan both received the Steele dossier, according to a court memo.

The Political Insider reported in December 2018, “The judge handling the case filed a document that stated that Christopher Steele, the dossier author, provided at least one memo from the dossier to Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger and Jonathan Burks, a longtime Ryan aide.”

“Steele gave Report 166 to Kramer, an unnamed senior British security official, Ms. Wallender [sic] at the NSC, Representative Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.), and House Speaker Paul Ryan’s Chief of Staff, John Burks,’ wrote Judge Ursula Ungaro, who ruled in favor of BuzzFeed in a defamation lawsuit filed by a Russian businessmen identified in Report 166, which Steele produced on Dec. 13, 2016.”

Kinzinger also considered running as an independent against Trump in 2016, when it became clear Trump would be the Republican nominee for President. 

Watch Kinzinger’s interview below:

The post GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger: Impeachment ‘Was Not A Hard Decision,’ Didn’t Need To Look For Evidence appeared first on The Political Insider.

CNN’s Jake Tapper: GOP Needs ‘Political Exorcist,’ Republicans ‘Clearly Have Lost Their Minds’

Posted on by John Hanson

After the House voted to impeach President Donald Trump for a second time on Wednesday, CNN anchor Jake Tapper said that Republicans “are in a state of denial about the fact that he incited this riot” and believes the GOP needs a political ‘exorcism.’

Of the impeachment, Tapper said, “It is the most bipartisan impeachment in American history, far exceeding the number of people in the opposing party who voted to impeach Clinton or Johnson. So I do think it is significant.”

Tapper has been very outspoken about his views lately.

Tapper Blasts Republicans Who ‘Believe All Of His Lies’

“On the other hand, it is still a vast minority of the House Republican Caucus, most of whom are still devoted to President Trump,” Tapper continued.

Tapper added, “Most of whom are in a state of denial about the fact that he incited this riot, this terrorist attack on the Capitol that put their own lives at risk, which is stunning in and of itself.”

RELATED: ABC Quietly Edits Story That Claims Republican Movement Should Be ‘Cleansed’ Of Trump Supporters

He continued, “You know, I know a number of people, and I know there are a lot of Americans out there who have seen, are friends with or married to or related to people who have drunk the Trump Kool-aid, who have become radicalized by this president, who believe all of his lies, despite the evidence in front of their faces.”

Then Tapper told CNN Chief Political Correspondent Dana Bash that Republicans are losing their minds.

“Dana, it’s just —it’s a shocking thing to behold when you know people like this. And it’s also shocking, like I don’t know about you, but there are Republican members of Congress I know who clearly have lost their minds, who just will not accept reality when it comes to the facts about Donald Trump.”

Bash replied, “We have seen people like Liz Cheney and Mitch McConnell try to show the people who respect them where to go and lead them there.”

It’s interesting to note who CNN thinks the “good” Republicans are – Establishment neoconservatives Liz Cheney and Mitch McConnell. 

“Then there are so many others who are following the pack,” Bash said. “Even though the pack is going in the wrong direction. The pack is following the lies.”

Tapper chimed in, “Like Kevin McCarthy.”

Tapper continued, “Marjorie Taylor Greene, the crazy congresswoman from Georgia, who is anti-Semitic and supports QAnon and said a plane didn’t hit the Pentagon on 9/11, she actually tweeted during this, a week after the terrorist attack, that Democrats are the enemy of the people.”

RELATED: Boston Marathon Bomber Sues For $250k, Claims Prison Guards Took His Hat And Bandana

Tapper: GOP Needs ‘Political Exorcist’

That’s when Tapper said maybe an “exorcist” needed to intervene.

“I don’t know if there’s such a job as a political exorcist but they need to do something to fix the Republican Party to get this demon out,” Tapper said.

It is doubtful that Republican voters are going to take CNN’s advice on who to support going forward.

It’s also interesting to note that anti-Trump journalists haven’t figured out that the more they hysterically demonize Donald Trump, the more Republicans are going to support him. 

Conservatives view how the media treats different Republicans as a test. If CNN loves Liz Cheney, for example, chances are, she’s not someone who conservatives can trust to fight for their interests.

The post CNN’s Jake Tapper: GOP Needs ‘Political Exorcist,’ Republicans ‘Clearly Have Lost Their Minds’ appeared first on The Political Insider.

McConnell might vote to convict Trump, but only if it includes a giant GOP payday

Posted on by Kerry Eleveld

Soon-to-be Minority Leader Mitch McConnell got the headline he wanted on Tuesday when he unleashed anonymous sources to tell reporters he believed Donald Trump may have committed impeachable offenses. In other words, he just might vote to convict.

The next day, McConnell got the other headline he wanted when he declined the invitation of soon-to-be Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to reconvene the Senate for an emergency session to take up an impeachment trial. That means any Senate movement on impeachment won't happen until Jan. 19—which importantly buys McConnell at least another week or more to see which way the political winds are blowing before making a final decision on his vote.

McConnell, the perennial craven opportunist, has chosen to leave the nuclear codes at the finger tips of a mad man for another seven days for no other reason than to find the least painful political path to placing Trump in the GOP's rear view mirror. And he has conveniently planted himself right in between the two House Republican leaders who have taken polar opposite positions on impeachment: Reps. Kevin McCarthy of California and Liz Cheney of Wyoming. 

Cheney voted to impeach Trump on Wednesday, stating he had "summoned this mob, assembled the mob, and lit the flame of this attack." McCarthy, who eagerly backed Trump's sedition efforts and voted against certifying the election, offered among the most disingenuous and repulsive of justifications for his traitorous vote against impeachment. "We solve our disputes at the ballot box," he said, despite the fact that he worked diligently to overturn what happened at the ballot box in November. 

But in these two House GOP leaders, McConnell gets to spend a week surveying the upsides and potential wreckage of their approaches. Key to all of it will be money—because McConnell has built his entire career on wielding the power he gains from selling his soul to Corporate America and, more recently, dark money interests. He will almost surely be burning up the phone lines trying to figure out what he has to do to keep from becoming a political pariah to the corporate donor class. If there's a way for McConnell to thread that needle without fully convicting Trump, he will surely take it. But if he concludes that the only way to escape McCarthy's fate is to take a stronger stand, then that's where he will come down.

To date, 10 major companies have paused donations to Republicans who voted to object to certification of the election results. More have suspended their contributions to the Republican Attorneys General Association after it was implicated in organizing the rally-turned-riot. And still more corporations have paused all donations while they reevaluate their donations going forward. 

All of that puts McCarthy in a great deal of jeopardy since his No. 1 charge as GOP Minority Leader is raising money to dole out in order to win back the majority. On MSNBC Wednesday, former GOP strategist and Lincoln Project Co-Founder Steve Schmidt predicted, "Corporate America is never coming back to Kevin McCarthy." Cheney, on the other hand, now has to fight off members of the House sedition caucus, which is already calling for her removal from leadership.

Where that leaves the prospects for conviction of Trump in a Senate trial is somewhere between possible and unlikely. McConnell could go either way and will likely sit back and watch the trial play out at the direction of Schumer and Senate Democrats while he collects data points on the fallout. 

On the bright side, the more we learn about the planning and execution of the violent Capitol siege and the role some Republican lawmakers played, the more horrific the entire picture will get for the party. In the end, the GOP might be such a toxic waste dump that McConnell's hand is forced.

Following the impeachment vote, historian Michael Beschloss was moderately optimistic about Senate conviction, which will require 17 GOP votes in the Senate by the time Democrats take control of the chamber. "I think there's a real chance that this guy could get convicted," Beschloss told MSNBC.

But it will really all come down to the calculation of McConnell. If he votes to convict, enough members of the GOP caucus will likely follow his lead to prevent Trump from ever abusing the power of the American government again.

Dem Rep. Swalwell Compares President Trump To Osama bin Laden

Posted on by LifeZette

Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA), who has had his own fair share of problems lately in the wake of the scandal involving him allegedly associating with a suspected Chinese spy, spoke out on Tuesday night to compare President Donald Trump to the late 9/11 terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden.

Swalwell Compares Trump To Osama bin Laden

“Well, Osama bin Laden did not enter US soil on September 11, but it was widely acknowledged that he was responsible for inspiring the attack on our country,” Swalwell said on “PBS NewsHour.”

“And the president, with his words — using the word ‘fight,’ with the speakers that he assembled that day, who called for trial by combat and said we have to take names and kick ass — that is hate speech that inspired and radicalized people to storm the Capitol,” he continued.

A visibly surprised host Judy Woodruff asked of Swalwell was really comparing Trump to bin Laden, at which time the Democrat doubled down.

“I’m comparing the words of a [sic] individual who would incite and radicalize somebody, as Osama bin Laden did, to what President Trump did,” Swalwell said. “You don’t actually have to commit the violence yourself, but if you call others to violence, that itself is a crime.”

Related: Top Congressional Leader Calls For Eric Swalwell’s Removal From Congress After Report Links Him To Chinese Spy

Republicans Demand Swalwell Be Removed From House Intelligence Committee

This comes one month after seventeen Republicans sent a letter to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) demanding that Swalwell be immediately removed from the House Intelligence Committee after his relationship with a suspected Chinese spy was revealed.

“We write to you today out of concern with Congressman Eric Swalwell’s reported, close contacts with a Chinese Communist Party spy recently reported by Axios. Because of Rep. Swalwell’s position on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, his close interactions with Chinese intelligence services, however unintentional they may be, are an unacceptable national security risk,” they said in the letter.

“HPSCI handles some of the most sensitive information our government possesses — information critical to our national defense,” they added. “As such, we urge you to immediately remove Rep. Swalwell from his position on the House Intelligence Committee.”

Not only did Pelosi not remove Swalwell from the intelligence committee, she has also just made him one of her impeachment managers in her effort to remove President Donald Trump from office.

Full Story: Eric Swalwell Named As One Of Pelosi’s Impeachment Managers

This piece was written by James Samson on January 13, 2021. It originally appeared in LifeZette and is used by permission.

Read more at LifeZette:
Trump Takes Blame For Assault On The Capitol
Man Arrested After He Allegedly Discussed ‘Putting A Bullet’ In Pelosi Via Text
Top GOP Senator Claims Trump Impeachment ‘Clearly Is Not Going To Happen’

The post Dem Rep. Swalwell Compares President Trump To Osama bin Laden appeared first on The Political Insider.