Category: Opinion

Are Democrats Really Going To Cross The Rubicon?

Posted on by RealClearWire

By J. Peder Zane for RealClearPolitics

While the world focused on Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine last week, little attention was paid to the ineffably consequential decision by Democrats to go all-out in their assault on American democracy.

Just as Julius Caesar invited civil war by crossing the Rubicon, the partisan House committee investigating the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol let it be known that it will recommend bringing two sets of criminal charges against former President Donald Trump regarding the 2020 election.

One allegation is that that he tried to obstruct the lawful counting of votes. The other is that he engaged in a conspiracy to defraud the United States through his false claims of a stolen election.

RELATED: Former AG Bill Barr Wants Republicans To ‘Move On’ From Trump, Blames Him For Capitol Riot

Given how divided our country is, and the wide support Trump still enjoys, his indictment would be an incalculably reckless act. It would be tantamount to the first round of live fire across the bow. Even if the left honestly believes its claims that conservatives are itching to take up arms against the Republic – that Jan. 6 was just a dress rehearsal for a second civil war – why would they consider striking this match?

If Democrats had a slam dunk case against Trump, one could argue that they might have some justification for putting the nation at such risk. They do not. The New York Times tersely noted that it is “far easier for the committee to claim that Mr. Trump had committed a crime … than it would be for prosecutors to win a criminal conviction over the same facts.”

It underscored this point by noting, “In publicly sharing its work, the committee has only escalated expectations that Mr. Trump will be prosecuted, regardless of whether its evidence meets the standard that a federal prosecutor must clear to secure a unanimous guilty verdict.”

To prove the conspiracy charge, for example, prosecutors would have to show that Trump knew he had lost the election but recklessly argued otherwise. The existing evidence so far suggests that Trump truly believes the delusion that he won more votes. The committee, which is a finely tuned machine designed to leak cherry-picked damaging information about the former president, has provided no evidence to support that claim. Nor has it shown that he directed the mob to attack the Capitol to obstruct the vote count.

So far, their argument – which echoes the larger left-wing push to punish and erase all narratives that do not support their preferred version of reality – appears to be that there is a single truth, their truth, and that Trump’s unwillingness to embrace it is a crime.

It is impossible to overstate the danger of this mindset, which is a profound assault on free speech and a dramatic escalation of the effort to criminalize political differences. It is, as Democrats like to say, a page torn straight from Putin’s playbook.

Politics in free nations is necessarily rough and tumble. It is a contest of ideas that often lack scientific precision. It makes room for debatable claims that may contain falsity as well as kernels of truth. The best evidence shows that Trump did not win as many votes as Biden in 2020, but also that it was a highly unusual contest filled with troubling irregularities. Prohibiting people from making that case is un-American.

If Trump can be charged with a crime, what about Joe Biden, who repeatedly claimed that Trump was not legitimately elected in 2016? What about Rep. Jamie Raskin, a leading member of the Jan. 6 committee who objected to the certification of Florida’s electors by making the bogus argument that they were not qualified to serve under state law?

RELATED: Members of Congress Received 8,000+ Free Trips—Including Hundreds Paid for by Non-Profits Who Pocketed $100+ Million in Federal Funding

Once a precedent is set, it becomes the norm. Do we really want to go down this road of indicting – rather than just challenging and debunking – those whose only crime is holding problematic opinions?

Why would Democrats place our republic in such peril? The answer is that they want this conflict. As polls show their effort to transform America meeting ever wider resistance, they seem eager for a final battle that will allow them to vanquish the right once and for all. Unable to achieve their ends through democratic channels, they are intent on blowing up the system.

I know that sounds crazy. It’s impossible to imagine how this battle would unfold and how victory could even be achieved. But Democrats are convinced that only they possess the truth and that those who disagree with them are beneath contempt. They see their venomous tactics as virtuous.

If you have ever confronted hard-core Democrats about these issues, you know there is no talking to them. All they have is their certainty.

Truth be told, Democrats have paid little price so far for their war on American norms. Unwilling to accept Trump’s victory in 2016, they advanced the sulfurous claim that the president was an agent of Russia. We now know that false narrative was concocted by Hillary Clinton’s campaign and embraced without evidence by the Obama White House, much of the media, the FBI, and other aspects of the Deep State.

In its size and scope Russiagate is the worst scandal in American history. And yet Hillary Clinton and President Obama remain party heroes who are never pressed on the issue. Former Clinton staffers who spread the scurrilous Trump/Russia rumors, including Biden’s National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, have only been rewarded for their perfidy. The New York Times, Washington Post and other news outlets who won prizes for pushing the conspiracy theory refuse to correct many clear errors in their coverage.

The incendiary path Democrats are heading down is unimaginably destructive, not just to the United States but to the world. As Putin continues his war in Ukraine and      intensifies, united American leadership is indispensable. Instead of bringing us together, criminal charges against Trump would burn down our house.

Syndicated with permission from Real Clear Wire.

J. Peder Zane is an editor for RealClearInvestigations and a columnist for RealClearPolitics.

The post Are Democrats Really Going To Cross The Rubicon? appeared first on The Political Insider.

CNN Analyst And Former Obama DHS Official Demands Police Slash Tires, Arrest Canadian Truckers

Posted on by Rusty Weiss

CNN national security analyst Juliette Kayyem, responding to the ongoing trucker protest at the Ambassador Bridge, demanded police officers take drastic actions including slashing their tires and making arrests.

Kayyem, a lecturer at Harvard University and former member of Barack Obama’s Homeland Security Advisory Council, made her comments in a social media posting about the ‘Freedom Convoy.’

The Canadian ‘Freedom Convoy’ has been a massive and peaceful demonstration against the US-Canada cross-border vaccine mandate.

For roughly five days, truckers have blocked the Ambassador Bridge connecting Windsor, Ontario, to Detroit, the largest bridge link between the U.S. and Canada.

Kayyem called for drastic measures to be taken by law enforcement.

“The convoy protest, applauded by right-wing media as a ‘freedom protest,’ is an economic and security issue now,” she tweeted. “The Ambassador Bridge link constitutes 28% of annual trade movement between US and Canada.”

“Slash the tires, empty gas tanks, arrest the drivers, and move the trucks,” Kayyem added.

RELATED: DHS Sends Memo Warning Police About US Trucker Protest Hours After Issuing Terrorism Threat Focused On ‘Misinformation’

CNN Analyst Wants Police To Slash Truck Tires

It’s difficult to understand how a former DHS official would think it a good idea to slash the tires and siphon gas from vehicles if the goal is to clear the blockade.

Kayyem probably didn’t think the tweet through very carefully. But she wasn’t prepared to walk away from her ridiculous ideas. In fact, she expanded on them in a follow-up tweet.

“Trust me, I will not run out of ways to make this hurt: cancel their insurance; suspend their drivers licenses; prohibit any future regulatory certification for truckers, etc.,” she continued.

“Have we learned nothing? These things fester when there are no consequences.”

Needless to say, there was some outrage over her suggestions.

Political commentator Stephen Miller asked, “You think you’re the good guy here?”

“Yes,” she replied. “This isn’t about vaccines. Stay unvaccinated. Your choice. Bad choice. Deadly one. Just don’t close an international border with your whining. So many emotions with you guys. It’s not personal.”

Sure thing. Kayyem is calling on police to respond like a scorned girlfriend in a Carrie Underwood song … but it’s everybody else who is emotional.

RELATED: CNN Personality Claims Trump Is ‘Leader Of A Terrorist Organization’

Unhinged

Juliette Kayyem is yet another example of the type of unhinged extremists CNN has hired as analysts for their programming for years, and at least partially a reason they can’t get intelligent people to watch their shows.

This isn’t the first time she’s engaged in extreme rhetoric and hyperbole to get attention.

Kayyem, days after the Capitol riot, referred to then-President Trump as the “leader of a terrorist organization.”

“Trump is the spiritual, but I will also say operational leader of this domestic terrorism effort,” she ranted. “He tells them where to go. He tells them what to do. He tells them why they’re angry.”

CNN’s Juliette Kayyem calling on law enforcement to slash the tires of truckers isn’t the only one calling for a muscular response to the ‘Freedom Convoy.’

POLL: Would you support an American trucker convoy?

By voting, you agree to receive email communication from The Political Insider. Click HERE for more information.

The Biden administration has urged Canada to use its “federal powers” to end the protest.

“(DHS) Secretary Mayorkas and (DOT Secretary Pete) Buttigieg each spoke with their Canadian counterparts, urging them to use Federal powers to resolve this situation at our joint border,” a White House official said in a statement.

Can you even imagine the outrage if Trump had told a foreign nation to put down a leftist protest?

The post CNN Analyst And Former Obama DHS Official Demands Police Slash Tires, Arrest Canadian Truckers appeared first on The Political Insider.

House GOP Demands Release Of Biden-Ukraine Transcript Following Reports Call ‘Did Not Go Well’

Posted on by Rusty Weiss

House Republicans are demanding transcripts of a call between President Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky about a possible Russian invasion of the country be released after disputed reports over the substance of the conversation.

CNN initially reported that a senior Ukrainian official described the talk between Biden and Zelensky as “long and frank” but that it “did not go well.”

CNN reporter Alexander Marquardt, late Thursday, tweeted alarming quotes provided by the Ukrainian official.

“A Russian invasion is now virtually certain once the ground freezes, Biden said to Zelensky, a senior Ukrainian official told [CNN reporter Matthew Chance],” he wrote.

“Kyiv could be ‘sacked,’ Russian forces may attempt to occupy it, ‘prepare for impact’, Biden said, according to this official.”

RELATED: Biden’s Deputy National Security Advisor: Border Should Be ‘Inviolate’ … Ukraine’s Border That Is

Release The Biden Transcript

The characterization of the phone call was immediately disputed by the White House and the Ukrainian government, according to Newsweek.

National Security Council spokesperson Emily Horne described the CNN report based on a Ukrainian official’s comments as “completely false.”

Horne would later tell CNN that “anonymous sources are ‘leaking’ falsehoods.”

A spokesman for Zelensky also posted to Facebook that the accounts were “completely false.”

A readout of the call on the White House website makes no mention of any dire warnings to Ukraine, instead indicating that Biden “reaffirmed” to Zelensky that the United States would “respond decisively if Russia further invades Ukraine.”

House Republicans though, challenged the White House to clear the air by demanding they release the actual transcript of the call.

The official Twitter account of the Republican conference wrote, “Now it’s your turn @JoeBiden. #ReleaseTheTranscript.”

They added a video of Biden in 2019 calling on then-President Trump to “release the transcript of the call” between him and Zelensky, a call that led to the former president’s first impeachment in 2019.

RELATED: House Democrats Want Biden To Relinquish Sole Authority To Launch Nuclear Weapons

Experts Warn Of Nuclear War

The hashtag ‘#ReleaseTheTranscript’ began trending and was the number one leading topic on Twitter Friday morning.

Releasing the transcript of Biden’s call with Zelensky seems like a logical step. The last thing all parties involved need is reckless and possibly false comments by the President escalating tensions with nuclear-armed Russia.

The controversy comes as experts are warning of a nuclear exchange should Russia and the U.S. come to blows.

“As Russian troops bear down on Ukraine and the United States prepares its own military buildup in Eastern Europe, concerns are growing across the ideological spectrum that the standoff could inadvertently escalate into the unthinkable: nuclear war,” Politico reports.

The column cites “current and former officials and experts on both sides of the Atlantic” who worry about ‘miscalculations’ and ‘stumbling into nuclear confrontation.’

Is there anything at stake here that could justify even the remote chance of nuclear war? 

Shortly after Biden was sworn into office, dozens of House Democrats quietly called on President Biden to relinquish sole control over the country’s nuclear arsenal and the ability to launch a strike using those weapons.

The movement stalled.

General Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, assured House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that in the waning days of the Trump presidency, a President couldn’t launch a nuclear attack alone.

The State Department in November said “all options are on the table and there’s a toolkit that includes a whole range of options” in how to respond to Russia’s troop buildup near Ukraine’s border.

The post House GOP Demands Release Of Biden-Ukraine Transcript Following Reports Call ‘Did Not Go Well’ appeared first on The Political Insider.

Report: Democrats Seeking To Use 14th Amendment To Bar Trump From Office

Posted on by Rusty Weiss

A new report indicates congressional Democrats are seeking to invoke an obscure section of the 14th Amendment to bar Donald Trump from ever holding office again.

An analysis by The Hill demonstrates that roughly a dozen Democrat lawmakers have openly or privately speculated about invoking the section to ban Trump from running for elected office.

In other words, they want to stop Trump 2024 before it even happens.

The Hill report specifically names three House Democrats – Representatives Jamie Raskin (D-MD), Jerry Nadler (D-NY), and Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) – as having discussed the possibility with leftist Harvard lawyer Laurence Tribe. 

“I hear it being raised with considerable frequency these days both by media commentators and by members of Congress and their staffs, some of whom have sought my advice on how to implement Section 3,” Tribe told the outlet.

RELATED: Biden Calls Trump And Supporters ‘Twisted’ And ‘Un-American,’ Then Says He’ll Unite America

Barring Trump From Office

The Political Insider reported back in February that Congressional Democrats were considering utilizing the 14th Amendment to bar Trump from office.

The idea first surfaced as a result of Democrats fearing their second impeachment of the former President would not lead to conviction.

Section 3 of the 14th Amendment is a rarely cited Civil War-era provision that bars people from holding office if they “have engaged in insurrection or rebellion” or “given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.”

From there, it’s easy to tie what Democrats are attempting to do with the January 6 Committee and their insistence that the Capitol riot was an “insurrection” plotted by Trump.

  1. Have the media continually refer to the Capitol riot as an “insurrection” even as nobody has been charged with such a crime.
  2. Conduct an investigation through the select committee to link Trump in some small manner to said “insurrection.”
  3. Invoke a little-known provision involving Civil War terminology for an “insurrection.”

RELATED: Democrats Have A Back-Up Plan That Might Still Bar Trump From Running Again If Impeachment Fails

Democrats Abusing Power

Jamie Raskin pursuing an effort to ban Donald Trump using the 14th Amendment through a legally weak argument of inciting an insurrection is rich.

Raskin objected to the certification of Florida’s electoral votes in 2017. In fact, House Democrats tried objecting to the certification of electoral votes for Donald Trump that year 11 times.

It’s only an “attack on Democracy” if the other guy does it.

Such arguments against the legitimacy of the 2016 election led to marches, sometimes violent, in Washington, D.C. that year.

You can watch the resulting violence below …

Raskin discussed using the 14th Amendment shortly after Trump was acquitted by the Senate.

“The point is that the constitutional purpose is clear, to keep people exactly like Donald Trump and other traitors to the union from holding public office,” he said.

Some legal scholars have claimed Democrats could get the ball rolling on this plan by voting on a censure resolution to declare Trump engaged in “insurrection.”

Bitter and obsessed Democrats could conceivably coalesce behind such a censure resolution and they wouldn’t need any help from the Republicans.

A resolution to censure Trump would require a simple majority vote to pass in the House and Senate.

The Hill though, reports that some legal experts such as Tribe believe they have to go further by “by establishing a neutral fact-finding body to determine whether Trump engaged in insurrection under Section 3, or assigning that fact-finding role to a federal court.”

Again, part of the carefully calculated political game.

Democrats rejected pro-Trump Republicans from being included on the select committee investigating the Capitol riot. Instead, they placed committed ‘Never Trump’ Republicans Liz Cheney (R-WY) and Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) on the panel.

They then promoted Cheney to co-chair in an attempt to portray the group as a ‘neutral fact-finding body.’

Trump has repeatedly hinted about another run in 2024, but has yet to officially declare.

The post Report: Democrats Seeking To Use 14th Amendment To Bar Trump From Office appeared first on The Political Insider.

‘America First’ Has Answers for U.S. Crisis Of Confidence

Posted on by RealClearWire

By Steve Cortes for RealClearPolitics

A majority Americans begin 2022 full of worry and dread. During President Biden’s first year in the White House, societal anxiety surged, including among voters who identify as independents and Democrats. In the newest Axios/Momentive year-end survey, 2021 saw a 50% increase in fear about what 2022 will bring among independents. Democrats weren’t much more sanguine. They began last year with refreshing optimism as their party took control of the White House and Congress, with only 19% of Democratic voters declaring themselves fearful about 2021. By year’s end, that number had surged to 45%.

Reflecting this dour assessment, the RealClearPolitics polling average of Joe Biden’s approve/disapprove ratio also receded sharply for the last year, from a stellar 20-percentage-point surplus in his favor on Inauguration Day, to a minus- 10-point rating.

RELATED: Biden’s Job Approval Has Entered Dangerous Territory

Given this environment, Republicans naturally grow more confident about the midterm elections. But taking nominal control of Capitol Hill won’t be enough. Will Mitch McConnell and Kevin McCarthy and their lieutenants be content with stopping the woke and socialist-inspired agenda of progressives? Or will they boldly implement a full-throttle populist nationalist “America First” agenda?

Doing so requires focus, not a scattershot approach. The next Republican-majority Congress must concentrate intensely on a short list of the most pressing issues, where only the populists can rescue everyday Americans from the abuses of oligarchs and their handmaidens in both major political parties.

The first issue is inflation. This is the factor that explains the 30-point approval swing that has buried Biden’s White House in a matter of months. Inflation is, essentially, a tax — and a highly regressive one at that. After decades of restrained inflation, Americans understandably fear the continued loss of prosperity as their standard of living erodes by the day. For eight straight months, real wages have declined under Biden.

The ravages of inflation, predictably, hit the working classes the hardest. For example, a recent Gallup poll found that among modest earners making $40,000 or less per year, 71% report that inflation is a severe or moderate hardship. In contrast, among workers earning $100,000 per year or more, only 2% cited inflation as a severe hardship. A November Quinnipiac survey found that Biden still enjoyed a slight positive approval rating on the economy among those with college degrees, 50%-49%. But among non-degree holders, Biden languishes 54 percentage points underwater, with only 20% approval and 74% disapproval. Inflation helps explain this huge chasm.

What solutions should be offered? For starters, stop unfair labor competition so that workers have a chance to keep pace with the soaring prices of Biden’s inflation surge. Stop allowing millions of largely unvetted, illegal migrants to simply waltz into America under the bogus pretense of seeking asylum.

For our citizens, end obstacles to work, including the administration’s capricious and unscientific workplace vaccine mandates.

RELATED: Trends Show More And More Hispanics Are Moving To GOP: ‘Biden Turned Me Into A Republican’

Return to the pro-energy policies of the previous administration: oil pipeline construction, rejuvenated drilling, and aggressive exploration on government lands so that Americans can benefit from cheap, abundant, domestic fuel.

Longer term, continue the process that President Trump began of demanding fairness and reciprocity in trade deals, especially with China. Once an America First president is elected in 2024, change tax and tariff policies permanently to compel the on-shoring of production back to the United States, especially in critical industries like semiconductors and medicines.

But healing the economy alone is not enough.

Our society suffers a sickness of the soul as well, and legions of everyday Americans feel silenced and intimidated by ruling class elites who insist that we pretend to believe fundamental myths, like the existence of dozens of genders. It’s high time for politicians to speak publicly the way the vast majority of Americans speak privately regarding hot-button cultural issues.

As a recent Rasmussen poll revealed, 75% of Americans agree that only two human sexes exist. Only 18% believe in multiple genders, and yet that small minority drives education policy and makes nearly every important cultural decision for our society, declaring the massive supermajority of Americans to be hopeless bigots for accepting the reality of humanity as male and female.

From a policy standpoint, the America First agenda must embrace this issue for elections, from school boards all the way to the U.S. Senate. Stop radical teachers and their unions from sexualizing young children and indoctrinating them with unscientific gender-fluid psychobabble. Forbid any public buildings or funds for such atrocities as drag-queen story times for children. Make illegal the infiltration of girls’ and women’s sports by biological males.

RELATED: Ted Cruz: Biden Impeachment Likely If Republicans Win Back The House

The common theme with these two issues is protection. Right now, powerful forces collude to oppress the masses, via financial and cultural repression. Only the emerging populist nationalist movement can protect citizens in both realms. Restoring wages and restoring gender sanity represent an agenda worthy of a great movement in this new year.

Syndicated with permission from RealClearWire.

The post ‘America First’ Has Answers for U.S. Crisis Of Confidence appeared first on The Political Insider.

Liz Cheney Releases ‘Stunning’ Text Messages During January 6 Riot, It Appears To Have Backfired

Posted on by Rusty Weiss

Representative Liz Cheney released text messages provided by former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows showing several people close to Donald Trump during the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021, urging the then-President to issue a statement condemning the protesters.

The texts have been alternately referred to by The Hill as “stunning,” the Daily Beast as a “bombshell,” and Twitter as “damning.”

They are none of these.

The panel, upon which Cheney serves as token Republican and Vice-Chair, has been trying to create a narrative that the January 6 riot was an “insurrection” and planned by Trump and those in his inner circle beforehand.

The text messages, however, paint a different picture – one of Fox News personalities, Trump’s own son, and his Chief of Staff being caught off guard by events that day and strongly advising the former President to try to stop it.

Which he attempted to do.

RELATED: Former Trump Chief Of Staff Mark Meadows Sues January 6 Committee, Nancy Pelosi

Liz Cheney’s ‘Bombshell’ Text Messages

Liz Cheney read the text messages aloud during a hearing of the United States House Select Committee on the January 6 riot.

The panel voted to recommend a full House vote on whether or not to hold Meadows in contempt of Congress and refer him for prosecution to the Department of Justice for not cooperating with their investigation.

Meadows initially cooperated with the anti-Trump panel but reversed course with the committee due in part to subpoenas over private phone records from Verizon.

He subsequently announced a lawsuit against the panel and Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

The text messages read by Cheney show Meadows and Trump Jr. were caught off guard by the events of January 6 – which defeats their entire theory; that is, that it was pre-planned.

“He’s got to condemn this shit ASAP,” Trump Jr. texted.

Meadows replied, “I’m pushing it hard. I agree.”

“We need an Oval Office address. He has to lead now. It has gone too far and gotten out of hand,” Trump Jr. added.

President Trump did, in fact, deliver a statement, though he was criticized for creating an air of sympathy for the protesters and for taking a long time to tell them to go home, something he requested they do peacefully.

RELATED: Top Pence Aide Marc Short Cooperating With January 6 Committee

Did Cheney’s Stunt Backfire?

The text messages read by Liz Cheney also show Fox News anchor Sean Hannity urging President Trump to issue a statement.

“Can he make a statement? Ask people to leave the Capitol,” Hannity wrote.

Other Fox News personalities joined in.

“Mark, president needs to tell people in the Capitol to go home. This is hurting all of us. He is destroying his legacy,” texted host Laura Ingraham.

“Please get him on TV. Destroying everything you have accomplished,” added Brian Kilmeade.

But the text messages indicate both Trump’s Chief of Staff and his own son weren’t initially expecting the mostly peaceful protest to turn into a breach of the Capitol. Instead, they reacted as they saw events unfold.

“Please support our Capitol Police and Law Enforcement,” the President would tweet at 2:38 p.m.

“The Capitol Police tweet is not enough,” Trump Jr. would say to Meadows.

Trump seemed to concur tweeting, “I am asking for everyone at the U.S. Capitol to remain peaceful” at 3:13 p.m.

Roughly an hour later he released a video urging people to go home.

Ironically, for those who claimed Trump didn’t “do enough,” he was suspended from Twitter shortly after his video imploring people to go home.

A few days later, he was permanently banned merely for stating he would not attend Biden’s inauguration.

Everything Liz Cheney and the panel have asserted about a conspiracy theory regarding the Capitol riot went up in smoke with those text messages.

The House will vote whether to hold Meadows in contempt on Tuesday.

Former Trump White House adviser Steve Bannon was indicted by a federal grand jury on two contempt-of-Congress charges related to his refusal to testify and provide documents to the committee.

Nine Republicans joined Democrats in voting to hold Bannon in contempt.

 

Now is the time to support and share the sources you trust.
The Political Insider ranks #15 on Feedspot’s “Top 70 Conservative Political Blogs, Websites & Influencers in 2021.”

 

 

 

The post Liz Cheney Releases ‘Stunning’ Text Messages During January 6 Riot, It Appears To Have Backfired appeared first on The Political Insider.

Cryin’ Adams: Anti-Trump Republican Adam Kinzinger, Dem Adam Schiff Nearly Cry During Capitol Riot Hearing

Posted on by Rusty Weiss

Representatives Adam Kinzinger and Adam Schiff became emotional during yesterday’s hearing for the House select committee’s investigation into the January 6 riot at the Capitol.

Call them the Cryin’ Adams.

The committee held their first hearing since House Speaker Nancy Pelosi declined to allow two supporters of former President Trump on the panel.

The hearing involved opening statements from the exclusively anti-Trump group, as well as compelling testimony from four police officers who defended the Capitol that day.

The officers themselves were surprisingly emotional and demanded lawmakers address the possibility that Republicans inspired the protest and subsequent riot.

U.S. Capitol Police (USCP) Private First Class Harry Dunn placed blame squarely at the feet of the former President.

“This wasn’t the first time that … the MAGA people came up here to the Capitol,” Dunn said. “There were some skirmishes but it was never an attempt to overthrow democracy.”

“The only difference that I see in [Jan. 6] is that they had marching orders so to say,” he claimed.

RELATED: GOP Rep. Defends Capitol Police Officer Who Shot Ashli Babbitt: ‘You Did What You Had To Do’

Kinzinger Gets Emotional

Adam Kinzinger (R-IL), recently named as an acceptable replacement for people with opposing viewpoints on this one-sided panel, kicked off the melodrama.

The aggressively anti-Trump congressman fought back tears at several points as he described his view of the events.

“Democracies are not defined by our bad days,” Kinzinger waxed poetic. “We’re defined by how we come back from bad days. How we take accountability for that.”

“We may have our deep differences on other policy issues, but we are all Americans today,” he said, eyes puffy, biting his lip. “And we thank you for holding that line.”

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy has referred to Kinzinger and fellow Trump-hater Representative Liz Cheney (R-WY) as “Pelosi Republicans” and is considering punishment for their role on the select committee.

Rep. Bob Good (R-VA), in particular, would like to see McCarthy give the pair the boot.

“I think they’ve left the Republican Party, based on their actions,” said Good. “I think that they should be removed from their committees as Republicans.”

Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) accused the two of “effectively working for Pelosi” and suggested they be banned from private GOP conference meetings.

RELATED: McCarthy Considering Punishment For ‘Pelosi Republicans’ Cheney And Kinzinger

Schiff Gets Emotional

Adam Schiff (D-CA), the man who cried wolf so many times on RussiaGate and the impeachment trials that it’s hard to take him seriously, followed Kinzinger’s shtick with a little drama of his own.

“If we’re so driven by bigotry and hate that we attack our fellow citizens as traitors if they’re born in another country, or they don’t look like us, then God help us,” Schiff said, visibly emotional.

“But I have faith because of folks like you,” he continued, addressing the officers. “I didn’t expect this could be quite so emotional either but it must be an ‘Adam’ thing today.”

If anything, the common denominator here isn’t the name ‘Adam,’ it’s the name ‘Trump.’

A name so powerful it reduced two grown men to near tears. It was a ‘Trump thing’ yesterday.

We hope Kinzinger and Schiff were able to recover from their emotional breakdown, perhaps drawing a warm bath as the evening was winding down, enjoying a few chapters of The Bridges of Madison County, kicking back in their little ‘No Insurrections Allowed’ swim caps.

Make no mistake, this soap opera will be going on for months before the select committee comes to their predetermined conclusion that Trump is a traitor.

 

 

Now is the time to support and share the sources you trust.
The Political Insider ranks #16 on Feedspot’s “Top 70 Conservative Political Blogs, Websites & Influencers in 2021.”

 

 

The post Cryin’ Adams: Anti-Trump Republican Adam Kinzinger, Dem Adam Schiff Nearly Cry During Capitol Riot Hearing appeared first on The Political Insider.

CNN Political Commentator, Watergate Reporter Carl Bernstein Calls Trump A ‘War Criminal’

Posted on by Rusty Weiss

Carl Bernstein, a political commentator for CNN and famed Watergate journalist, claims former President Donald Trump is an “American war criminal.”

Bernstein made the comments on perhaps the only show – ‘Reliable Sources’ with Brian Stelter – on perhaps the only network that would let him make such a radical accusation without questioning his assertion.

“I think we need to calmly step back and maybe look at Trump in a different context,” he said without a hint of calm. “He is our own American war criminal of a kind we’ve never experienced before.”

Bernstein, in beefing up his Trump derangement bonafides, also accused Trump of “homicidal negligence” for his handling of the pandemic, and claimed continued allegations of election fraud amount to ‘war crimes’ against the American people.

Stelter, the perpetually befuddled host, didn’t question Bernstein but rather, worried that he was “going to get heat” for his incendiary comments.

“All I’m doing is saying, ‘Whoa, let’s look at Trump’s crimes in a different context,'” Bernstein replied. “Yes, war crimes. These were crimes against our people.”

RELATED: Video: Arizona Republican Who Killed Election Integrity Bills Booed Off Stage At Trump Rally

Carl Bernstein: Trump Is A ‘War Criminal’

Carl Bernstein’s accusations that Trump is a “war criminal” for questioning election integrity, even as it is missing one of the defining characteristics (the ‘war’ part), would be an embarrassment to his credibility in a sane world.

Instead, you’ll see Bernstein propped up as a hero of the left for fomenting what they truly believe in their own minds.

The famed author suggested that Trump placed his own election prospects ahead of the health and safety of the American people and by doing so committed “crimes against humanity.”

Aside from being bat guano crazy, two points:

  1. There are mountains of evidence as to what the former President did to navigate the American people through the pandemic.
  2. If focusing on other matters concurrently is a ‘war crime,’ then every Democrat who focused the entire system of government on impeachment would be brought up on charges.

RELATED: Texas Democrats Mocked As ‘Pathetic’ After Group Solicits Care Package Items For Fleeing Lawmakers

Carl Bernstein cited another drama queen in making his accusation of war crimes, General Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Milley had compared Trump’s complaints of election fraud and the protests that resulted at the Capitol to the rise of Adolf Hitler.

“This is a Reichstag moment,” Milley allegedly told aides at the time. “The gospel of the Führer.”

Bernstein, whatever he once was in the field of journalism, is nothing but a caricature of a man he thinks CNN viewers want to see.

Following the Capitol protest, the reporter said he considered the ex-president to be the “first seditious president in our history.”

And with riveting commentary like that, Stelter, who is desperate for anything involving Trump due to his limp ratings, decided to get further opinion on the matter.

Bernstein was the subject of intense scrutiny regarding a story he helped author for CNN in 2018 about a ‘bombshell’ meeting at Trump Tower during the 2016 presidential campaign.

One of the anonymous sources for the story later claimed it was false.

 

 

Now is the time to support and share the sources you trust.
The Political Insider ranks #16 on Feedspot’s “Top 70 Conservative Political Blogs, Websites & Influencers in 2021.”

 

 

The post CNN Political Commentator, Watergate Reporter Carl Bernstein Calls Trump A ‘War Criminal’ appeared first on The Political Insider.

Democrat Congressman Donates Suit He Wore During Capitol Riot To Smithsonian

Posted on by Rusty Weiss

Democrat New Jersey congressman Andy Kim announced that he is donating the suit he wore during the Capitol riot on January 6th to the Smithsonian Museum, saying it is a symbol of “resilience and hope” for some people.

The move was accompanied by several melodramatic statements on social media.

Representative Kim had been photographed picking up litter left behind during the riot.

“It really broke my heart and I just felt compelled to do something … What else could I do?” Kim told the media at the time.

The Democrat congressman explained his actions during a lengthy Twitter thread where he claimed he was donating the blue suit to the Smithsonian because the events of the one-time protest “must never be forgotten.”

RELATED: Boos Rain Down As Jim Acosta Shouts At Trump, Asking If He’ll Apologize For January 6

Democrat Donates Suit To Smithsonian

While Democrat congressman Andy Kim said his actions that day in cleaning up the Capitol were “unremarkable,” it is clear he finds his donation to the Smithsonian to be extraordinarily remarkable.

“The suit still had dust on the knees from Jan 6,” he tweeted, indicating he had worn it again to cast a vote for impeachment. “I wore it so I would have no doubt about the truth of what happened.”

Kim went on to tell followers that he “hid” the suit in his closet because it only brought back “terrible memories” of that day.

“People wrote saying the blue suit gave them a sense of resilience and hope,” Kim claimed.

The Democrat went on to claim he suffered from the incident well after the fact, even being forced to pull his car over later in January to sob uncontrollably.

“The Smithsonian called later in January,” he said. “Honestly, I wasn’t thinking about how the day would be remembered as I was still living it.”

“In fact, after the call, I had to pull over on the side of I-95 as I started to tear up uncontrollably while driving home,” he claimed in an AOC-esque recollection of the protest.

“I was still not ok,” he said.

RELATED: Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger Only GOP To Vote For Committee To Investigate Capitol Riot

Kim Likes To Embellish

The Democrat’s story of wearing his suit during the Capitol protest isn’t the first time he’s shown a flair for the dramatic.

In 2018, he was caught embellishing his resume by claiming he worked under a Republican president as a national security officer while he worked at an entry-level position.

Kim, in a campaign ad, claimed that he “worked under both Democratic and Republican Administrations” in an effort to claim bipartisanship.

He was trying to show he could work with Republicans because he was running in a district that voted for Donald Trump in 2016.

The Washington Post called Kim out for his exaggeration.

The House of Representatives voted last week to create a select committee to probe the January 6 Capitol protest by a vote of 220-190.

The committee will be under the control of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and will feature a 13-member panel, eight of whom will be chosen by Pelosi, five of whom will be selected by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA).

Aside from Andy Kim and his Capitol protest suit, several Democrats have played up the severity of the events of January 6th.

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) claims she was almost murdered that day and admits she is in therapy because of it.

President Biden declared the events to be “the greatest assault since the Civil War on the Capitol.”

 

 

Now is the time to support and share the sources you trust.
The Political Insider ranks #16 on Feedspot’s “Top 70 Conservative Political Blogs, Websites & Influencers in 2021.”

 

 

The post Democrat Congressman Donates Suit He Wore During Capitol Riot To Smithsonian appeared first on The Political Insider.

Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger Only GOP To Vote For Committee To Investigate Capitol Riot

Posted on by Rusty Weiss

The House of Representatives voted Wednesday to create a select committee to probe the January 6 Capitol protest, with Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger being the only two Republicans to back the effort.

The predominantly Democrat effort to keep the one-time incident in the news cycle passed by a vote of 220-190.

The committee will be under the control of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and will feature a 13-member panel, eight of whom will be chosen by Pelosi, five of whom will be selected by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA).

“We cannot wait,” Pelosi said Wednesday.

“We believe that Congress must in the spirit of bipartisanship and patriotism establish this commission,” she added.

“It will be conducted with dignity, with patriotism, with respect for the American people, so that they can know the truth.”

RELATED: Lindsey Graham Warns Anti-Trump Republicans They’re Going To Wind Up ‘Getting Erased’

Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger Vote In Favor Of Select Committee

Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger’s vote in favor of the select committee is further indication that they, like their Democrat colleagues, have little interest in moving the country forward.

Instead, they actively seek out the liberal media for attention and enjoy being brought to heel by Pelosi.

“Since January 6th, the courage of my party’s leaders has faded. But the threat to our Republic has not,” Cheney (R-WY) said.

“On an almost daily basis, Donald Trump repeats the same statements that provoked violence before,” she claims. “His attacks on our Constitution are accelerating. Our responsibility is to confront these threats, not appease and deflect.”

What words were those, Liz – his statement to supporters that they “peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard” on that day?

Is that what you consider an attack on the Constitution?

An enterprising reporter may want to ask Cheney how she feels about voting with and supporting a select committee alongside some Democrats who tried objecting to the certification of electoral votes for Donald Trump in 2017 on 11 separate occasions.

RELATED: Liz Cheney Calls For Criminal Investigation Into Trump

NeverTrump Republicans

Adam Kinzinger joined Cheney in bending the knee to Pelosi, saying the January protest at the Capitol was a “most egregious attack.”

“We need a full accounting of what happened on January 6, 2021—we need answers on who was involved in the insurrection and who played a role in orchestrating it,” Kinzinger (R-IL) said. “We need transparency and truth.”

Kinzinger and Cheney’s vote was so completely in line with the Democrats that the other 8 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump in January, and the other 33 who voted in favor of creating an independent bipartisan commission, weren’t so easily duped.

An additional 19 Republicans did not vote on the resolution to create a select committee, though several of them were joining Trump on a visit to the southern border.

McCarthy slammed the committee as a partisan political ploy.

“Nancy Pelosi has spent all the time and all these months playing politics with this, and now we’re finding [the] select committee will be more politics of what she wants to do,” he said.

Liz Cheney was ousted from her leadership role earlier this year for consistently attacking Trump and his supporters and refusing to move the Republican Party forward.

She has called for a criminal investigation into the former President.

“I think the American people have to know (what happened on January 6th),” Cheney insisted. “And certainly any president who did what we know this former president did has got to be investigated criminally.”

Adam Kinzinger, meanwhile, has also allowed Trump to live rent-free in his head, recently claiming supporters of the former President were supporting “a loser president.”

“It was a rally of a loser president. I mean, he’s the first president to lose reelection in decades,” Kinzinger told his friends at CNN following an event in Ohio last weekend.

“I don’t know why these people would go there and in essence ogle at and in many cases just sort of worship a loser.”

Cheney and Kinzinger are now facing primary challenges for their congressional seats.

Fox News reported that some of the Republicans who voted to impeach Trump “may have a very hard time holding on to their seats.”

Imagine choosing to ruin your career just so you can get fawning media coverage from outlets like CNN and MSNBC.

 

 

Now is the time to support and share the sources you trust.
The Political Insider ranks #16 on Feedspot’s “Top 70 Conservative Political Blogs, Websites & Influencers in 2021.”

 

 

The post Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger Only GOP To Vote For Committee To Investigate Capitol Riot appeared first on The Political Insider.