The Traitor Party

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said the federal indictment of former President Trump will “disrupt the nation,” arguing that it violates the principle of equal justice under the law.

“This is going to disrupt this nation because it goes to the core of equal justice for all, which is not being seen today. And we’re not going to stand for it,” he said.

Speaker of the House.  

We know MAGA tools like Rep. Biggs will say things like "We Have Now Reached A War Phase." [Talking Points Memo] This should not be just handwaved. And, President Biden on down has called out the danger of this brand of Republican.  

The point is that the tail wags the dog.  You have people like Sen. Murkowski granting this is a serious charge. After all, she voted to convict him of insurrection along with six other Republicans. She will go along [see my Supreme Court wrap-up] blocking Dale Ho and other such partisan stuff.  So, you know, she enables. But, she has some filters.

I covered a lot of ground so did not break down the specifics in the indictment.  We had various accounts that spelled out the combination of clusterf and seriousness.  To cite a piece from TPM:

[Trump] remarked that the U.S. was doing poorly in a foreign military operation, before unfurling what prosecutors describe as a “classified map of Country B.” Trump then beckoned, telling the PAC person that he shouldn’t show him the map, warning him not to “get too close.”

At other points, prosecutors say that the records were haphazardly thrown around, and stayed at multiple locations around Mar-a-Lago, including a shower, a ballroom, and a storage unit.

And, then there is the conspiracy part, which we had a taste of in the Mueller Report too:

Trump allegedly used his valet, Nauta, to then play what prosecutors depict as a shell game with the records. Nauta allegedly moved 64 documents from storage into Trump’s residence, at one point texting with a member of Trump’s family who he addressed as “ma’am” that Trump “wanted to pick from” the documents. 

The pictures of the documents in the bathroom and so on should not erase the seriousness of this thing.  So, Tracy Walder (former CIA/FBI) cited her passionate feelings about the whole thing. Those who care about our national security realize the stakes.

He disseminated it. I shouldn’t be surprised, why else willingly hold on to it and refuse to turn it over multiple time. As a former member of the nat sec community, I’m enraged. This puts the lives of our troops, allies, and assets at risk. https://t.co/RKcWT9Jh3J

— Tracy Walder (@tracy_walder) June 9, 2023

The Speaker of the House, the leader of the Republicans in one half of Congress, goes another way.  Simple as that. He's supporting a traitor to our values. Someone who is not in a constitutional sense committing treason, but it is a form of traitor.  

The dictionary definition of the word is "one who betrays another's trust or is false to an obligation or duty." McCarthy swore an oath, to God, to uphold the Constitution:

I, AB, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.

We should not let trolls defame things deemed "conservative" such as family values, religion, or patriotism. These things in various respects (I define "religion" broadly as I have discussed in the past) are worthy of our respect. And, people like Kevin McCarthy trash them.  Watching a good repeat of Colbert, the journalist Audie Cornish spoke of the lack of shame (the discussion was about George Santos).  This is an example.  

Equal justice of the law.  Fucking asshole. The problem is that lies and bullshit are made because people buy into it. "Both sides" blah blah. The indictment spells the details here. It is not like Mike Pence or Joe Biden (both sides!) having some documents that get lost in the shuffle and (of course!) dealing with it when they find out.  It isn't damn hard. 

Oh yes.  Of course, we still have the Clinton stuff.  That too is a matter of lack of intent and blatant obstruction of justice. Basic difference. It isn't hard, even if Trump bootlickers like DeSantis fail to admit to it.  I surely know giving Chris Christie too much credit is dubious but a nod at least to him and more of one to the John Kasich of the crowd too:

Former Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey called the indictment “devastating,” telling CNN that “the facts that are laid out here are damning.” And in an interview with The New York Times, former Gov. Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas pushed back against claims that Mr. Trump was being treated unfairly and reiterated his belief that he should drop out of the race.

(Pence just tries to have it both ways, saying he didn't want an indictment, and bad-mouthing the Biden Justice Department, but mixing in Trump is bad.  This "smoke" approach is worthy of disdain though the presumptive alternative DeSantis is so bad that it almost makes it seem halfway credible.)  

The indictment here shows what is involved. The blatantly shoddy handling of secret documents and the level that is taken. Multiple cases of sharing the information with third parties. And so on. The fact she lost in part based on bullshit there is not enough. Somehow she "got away with it."  

And, him actually winning is not enough.  Trump cannot be given a smidgen of more responsibility arising from the office.  It's so blatant.  Logical, surely, since even a smidgen would force -- to the degree logic is actually used -- them to be at least embarrassed at the lack of consequences. 

Sheesh. Even mega-tool Jonathan Turley (at least now; he is too into the con to be too slavish here) said on Fox News that this is a validly tough indictment.  But, this is what we are up against, even if Kevin McCarthy might not want to "shoot the hostage" in a budget deal.  His not being totally "crazy" is a low bar.

It's part of why the "we shouldn't prosecute" group is so asinine.  What? He gets a bunch of free passes but you know if he commits crimes at some point they matter? We can't even prosecute him for "presidency-adjacent" stuff apparently.  The civil suits show even that rule is not applicable to many people.  

McCarthy et. al. are defaming basic values again. Equal justice does matter.  That is why Trump should not be above the law. If one party cannot handle that, maybe we need a new one.   

ETA: Inciting violence.  Republicans? You either fully show you are not supportive of this, that you find it dangerous and immoral, or you are enabling it.