House Republicans Lash Out Because They Can't Defend Trump's Conduct
To the extent Donald Trump has reordered the power structure of the Republican Party, Devin Nunes has emerged as the main beneficiary of the era. Nunes has coordinated an intricate counter-narrative in Trump’s defense, one that presents Trump as a wholly innocent figure preyed upon by a vast conspiracy of deep state bureaucrats operating throughout the government and using the national media to further their agenda. Nunes’s often hysterical theories have gained increasing prominence in the conservative media, many of whose members operate as his passive conduits.
As the state-of-the-art Trumpist of the party’s congressional wing, Nunes’s opening statement reveals the best case they have been able to muster for his defense. As a matter of substance, it is almost nonexistent.
Nunes’s statement is a pastiche of hoary fulminations against the enemies of the president. It begins with an extensive recap of the “Russia hoax,” which, even if Nunes’s account was wholly accurate, is totally irrelevant to Trump’s culpability in the Ukraine scandal. Nunes proceeds to denounce the process of witness depositions (“a closed-door audition process in a cultlike atmosphere in the basement of the Capitol” — a ludicrous description of hearings in which both parties participated.)
Here is one small example of the fever-dream quality of Nunes’s remarks: In one passage, Nunes claims the whistle-blower’s lawyer “touted a ‘coup’ against the president and called for his impeachment just weeks after his election.”
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/opinion/house-republicans-lash-out-because-they-can-t-defend-trump-s-conduct/ar-BBWHE7C?li=BBnbfcN
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