Meeting in Salt Lake City, the Republican National Committee censured Representatives Liz Cheney and Adam Kinziger for participating in the investigation of the events of January 6 and declared that the insurrectionists of January 6 were engaged in “legitimate political discourse.
Salt Lake City (CNN) – In a resolution formally censuring GOP Reps. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, the Republican National Committee on Friday called the events surrounding the January 6, 2021, insurrection at the US Capitol “legitimate political discourse.”
A copy of the resolution obtained by CNN claimed that the two lawmakers were “participating in a Democrat-led persecution of ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse” from their perches on the House select committee, which has conducted interviews with close to 400 individuals — from members of former President Donald Trump’s inner circle to organizers who helped plan the “Stop the Steal” rally on the morning of January 6.
If violently breaking and entering the Capitol and assaulting law officers is “legitimate political discourse,” the Republican Party has truly drowned in Trump’s swamp of lies.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
My only response to the Republican National Committee’s tinfoil-hat radiation poisoning (though a friend of mine substitutes the name “Rethuglican”) is…Gahhh…!
Repugnican, or Pugs, for short
The GOP now calls Jan 6th “legitimate political discourse” ! Proof the GOP is no longer a Grand Old Party. Are you still a Republican after this? If so you support a Party that thinks a violent attack on Congress that leaves Police Officers maimed, injured and DEAD is legitimate too. Shame on them and shame on anyone who continues to be a member of this digusting political movement.
The Greying Old [white person’s] Party
The Republican party has deteriorated into a rogue band of liars and thugs that will stop at nothing to win. There was nothing remotely “normal” about January 6th, and they had the audacity to censure their colleagues for speaking the truth and standing up for the rule of law.
The media has been lousy and is completely legitimizing this Republican lie.
Even the so-called NYT presents this as a “partisan” issue, where one side says that violent insurrection to install a losing candidate is “legitimate political discourse” and the other side does not.
Sure it is fine if you are already inclined to disbelieve everything that “one side” says.
But what low-interest voters absorb is that the right wing media says that the Republicans are absolutely right that violent insurrection is legitimate, and even the liberal media confirms that Republicans might be right that violent insurrection is legitimate. If even the “liberal” media say that the Republicans might be right, it completely normalizes that belief and makes it palatable to voters.
And the Republicans now say all of this out loud because they know the so-called liberal media will then help them normalize it while the complicit journalists convince themselves they are upholding journalistic standards by presenting a lie and truth as equal.
Boy do we need Jon Stewart now. He should be directing CNN News coverage as he could see decades ago how dangerous this was.
On a positive note the media forgot about the “stalled Biden economy ”
when the Employer survey made complete jack asses out of all the pundits. They were so shocked they forgot about inflation for a day.
Or the media “forgot” about the economy because the jobs report was so good.
The Jan 6 Insurrection was legitimately Nazi political discourse”
Fixed.
The only thing missing was the Fuehrer.
Although the furor was still present.
Furor but no Fuehrer
(Jan 6 Insurrection)
The furor was there
But Fuehrer was not
Was hiding in lair
And watching the plot
On TV unfold
Of this we are told
The Fuehrer had left
Supporters bereft
“I’ll be right there with you!” –Honest Don
How fitting that the censuring of those criticizing the Jan 6 Putsch should take place in Salt Lake city.
#NoMoreGOP
It is apparent that many but not all elected Republicans are mirroring Trump’s Big Lie tactics because those fascists think it works so why not?
This is case of a troop of monkeys seeing one monkey get away with something that thought wouldn’t work to get votes, so they all start doing it like lemmings following a leader of a cliff to their deaths.
We won’t know if the same thing will happen to many if not all of the traitors zombie lemmings until the 2020 election results.
If many of The traitor’s zombie lose their election in November, the next day those that are still in office will all pile on a bandwagon calling for the traitor’s head on a spike.
Most of the zombie lemming losers will fall into line and continue to support the traitor’s BIG LIE, but much louder, calling for a civil war to put them in power.
Those in the Republican Party at their conference who chose to censure Chaney n Kinzinger and to claim that the attacks on our Capitol, our police and our national legislative offices were “legitimate political discourse,” are no longer credible. We, the people of the USA will not allow them, Trump and his allies, to make us lie to ourselves and say a violent insurrection that we saw on January 6 was legitimate political discourse. No, we will vote them out and call upon the Republican Party to cleanse itself of insurrectionists, of neo-nazis and of those who will not defend our Constitution. Now is the time to work and to rebuild our democracy. Vote, build community, and elect democrats so that Republicans can say goodbye to Trumpism, threats of violence, fascist authoritarians, and the wise guy culture of gangsters.
The Republican Party has reinvented itself as the party of violent insurrectionists, Nazis, and authoritarianism. OK, it’s been there for decades, but now it’s out and proud and loud.
Violent insurrection is political discourse by other means, I guess. LOL.
World War II. n. A political discourse that occurred in Europe and in Southeast Asia from September 1, 1939 to September 2, 1945
“Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
“Now we are engaged in a great political discourse…”
— Abraham Lincoln
“It is only those who have neither fired a shot nor heard the shrieks and groans of the wounded who cry aloud for blood, more vengeance, more desolation. Political discourse is hell.”
― William Tecumseh Sherman
“Political discourse? Huh. What is it good for? Absolutely nothin'”
— Edwin Starr
LOL
Political discourse is a racket” — Smedley Butler
“Make Love, not political discourse” — popular saying of the 1960’s
Smedley!!!!! xoxoxox!!!!
“The Political Discourse of the Worlds” — the science fiction novel by HG Wells
“Political Discourse and Peace” — by Leo Tolstoy
The Art of Political Discourse” — by Sun Tzu
[The Congress shall have Power …] To declare Political Discourse, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water …
— The Political Discourse Powers clause of the US Constitution
The world anxiously watches to see whether Putin will initiate “legitimate political discourse” against Ukraine.
“We shall discourse on the beaches, we shall discourse on the landing grounds, we shall discourse in the fields and in the streets, we shall discourse in the hills; we shall never surrender…”
Here’s a pretty big lie: https://youtu.be/_DTSSvtg19I
Of course, Tsar of all the Russias Vladimir Vladimirovich would never ever ever lie or make use of falsified pretexts, drawing upon his experience as a KGB officer and head of the FSB.
He would never ever ever rise to power as a defender against terrorist incidents that he himself arranged.
He would never ever ever fabricate charges against oligarchs who wouldn’t play ball with him so that he could wrest control of corporations from the oligarchs and place it in his own hands and in the hands of his siloviki so that he could amass historically unprecedented personal power and wealth.
He would never ever ever poison dissident journalists and political opponents with nerve gas available only to Russian intelligence and the Russian military.
He would never, ever ever send little green men lacking Russian military insignia into Crimea.
He would never ever ever have the GRU conduct a vast campaign via social media to elect an orange puppet (Moscow’s Asset Governing America) to the presidency of the United States.
He would never ever ever have anything to do with a rash of doctors who opposed his Trumpish Covid policy jumping out of windows.
He would never ever ever siphon off a billion and a half dollars of the wealth of the Russian people from government projects to build himself a private palace.
Etc.
Just as the Johnson administration would never ever ever have staged the Gulf of Tonkin incident as a pretext for going to war in Vietnam and Ronnie Reagan would never ever ever have sold arms to Iran to fund his murderous Contras and the Bush administration wouldn’t have fabricated intelligence about WMDs in Iran as a pretext for going to war.
It would be entirely crazy for people to imagine that these weren’t decent, honest people.
And the moon is made of green cheese and black people just loved being taken care of by their “masters” and storks bring babies and everything you read on the internet is true.
And, ofc, Covid was made in a lab in China by CRT, working under the direction of Dr. Fauci, and virgins give birth and wafers become Christ’s body and eating Christ’s body is a great idea and meteors are stars falling from the sky and throwing salt over your shoulder is good luck.
Diane Ravitch: The Republicans are now endorsing the lie that a violent insurrection to overturn a presidential election and install the loser as president is “legitimate political discourse”.
dienne77: I have no comment as to whether a violent insurrection is legitimate political discourse when the Republicans say it is, but what really concerns me is any assertion that Putin might manufacture propaganda.
I find it interesting when folks believe the jury is still out on whether the Republicans are telling the truth when they claim that a violent insurrection is legitimate political discourse, but they are absolutely certain that Putin is telling the truth when he denies he would ever manufacture propaganda.
The Democratic Party should take out a Super Bowl ad with graphic footage of 1/6 while showing what Republicans really believe about democracy and promoting violence.
All the reich wingers around here gave up on the NFL, refuse to watch anymore due to the Kaepernick kerfuffle.
Reich wingers. ROFLMAO!!! That’s perfect, Duane!!
Funny, I just had this letter to the editor published in the Sun Sentinel (Ft Lauderdale area) the day before this happened:
McCarthyism and Trumpism.
I think most people look back at the era of McCarthyism (in the 1950s) as a terrible stain on our country. I hope we’ll look back at this period the same way.
People feared to call out Sen. Joseph McCarthy for false accusations and fear-mongering about supposedly hidden Communists in government, the arts, and everyday life. Today, our gutless, mostly Republican officials and fellow citizens suffer the same quivering fear of crossing or calling out Trump for his delusional, phony lies about the election. Every true, patriotic Republican should get behind Reps. Adam Kinzinger and Liz Cheney and take back the GOP from the Cult of Trump. Learn from history: Trumpism needs to go down — just like McCarthyism.
Excellent letter. I was a teenager during the McCarthyite era, and I agree that the stench of repression and censorship is the same today.
Great comment!!!
In all my years, I have never seen anyone as completely debase himself or herself as did Pence the Dense throughout almost all of the Trump maladministration. At every public event, he would spend 9/10ths of his time larding lavish praise upon the Orange One. Then he would address whatever issue was at hand in the remaining 1/10th of the time. His was the final perfection, I think, of groveling sycophancy and toadying. And now, Donnie won’t even speak to him. This is hilarious.
Despite all his cowtowing to Trump , Pence came through when it mattered most when he refused to go along with Trump’s plan to overturn the election.
In fact, just yesterday, Pence told Trump he was wrong in claiming that he (Pence) could legally have overturned the vote, saying
“President Trump is wrong. … I had no right to overturn the election. The presidency belongs to the American people, and the American people alone. And frankly there is almost no idea more un-American than the notion that any one person could choose the American president.”
Yes. It’s important to give him his due, but I have never forgiven him for his callous mismanagement of his state’s AIDs response, and this is the “Christian” who was just fine with his administration’s taking children–babies, even–from their parents.
I think what Pence demonstrates with his most recent pushback is that Trump has lost his stranglehold on the Republican party.
Whether he will be replaced with someone better or even worse remains to be seen, but it looks to me like Don the Con may be history.
I know we are halfway to fascism when the media is portraying Pence as “brave” for his so-called courage in saying that Trump was wrong in saying Pence had the right to overturn a presidential election.
If Trump shoots someone on Fifth Avenue, I have no doubt that the media will characterize Pence as demonstrating a supreme act of courage in saying that Trump was “wrong” to believe that he had the right to shoot someone on Fifth Avenue. Oops!, Trump only did something “wrong” because he was mistaken and thought it was okay! No biggie. But so brave of Pence to say it out loud.
This is like saying that a right wing Republican is courageous for being willing to publicly say that a right wing supporting gun nut was “wrong” to believe it was perfectly fine to gun down 20 first graders if he felt like it. It’s such a shame that the gun nut was “wrong” about whether it was okay to do that or not.
This is like saying that a right wing Republican is one of the bravest men in history for having the courage to say “Hitler was ‘wrong’ to believe he had the right to mass exterminate millions of Jewish children and their families.”
Talk about an Orwellian normalization of atrocities.
Saying that someone is “wrong” about believing they had the right to commit treason completely normalizes an atrocity. Remember, Pence didn’t want to say that Trump was lying because that would have required what the media obviously believes is a superhuman bravery that no mere mortal – even one with the courage of Pence – would ever have.
I mean, how could even the most morally courageous man be expected to say that someone who is lying is actually lying. Merely saying that someone who is lying is “wrong” is itself an act of selfless bravery that is beyond the ability of even the so-called liberal media. No wonder the cowardly media perceives Pence as having as much if not more courage than Rosa Parks.
Talk about normalizing fascism.
We are no longer talking about the reprehensible actions that horrible people did. We are discussing whether Trump or Hitler or some gun nut was right or “wrong” about whether or not it was perfectly fine to do what they did. Let’s discuss that. Was Trump right or wrong?
Whether Trump was “right” or “wrong” about whether or not Pence could overturn an election for Trump is a conversation that is perfectly acceptable to the right wing.
Was Trump wrong? Did Trump make a little oopsie? Let’s discuss Trump’s own thinking about what he believes he can do instead of discussing the harm that the person did.
Discussing whether Hitler was “wrong” when he believed he had the legal right to massacre Jews has only one purpose. If you don’t want to make the public aware of the atrocities Hitler committed, you make sure the discussion is limited to whether Hitler’s perception that he was doing something that was fine to do might have been wrong. That normalizes it.
Orwellian.