R senator tells the truth: "Our 'base' is effing dumb"
...and more MAGAworld madness
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The Senate passed a stand-alone (i.e., without the border security Republicans already scuttled last week — after previously insisting it was the price of a Ukraine aid package) by a 70-29 vote. Forty-six (46) Dems voted for it, as did two Independents, and 22 Republicans (click here to find out how YOUR senators voted on the choice between Putin and standing up for democracy).
One of the Republicans who was willing to buck former President Trump by voting for the bill — North Carolina’s Thom Tillis — commented about his vote being at odds with the Putin Caucus of his party and the MAGA base. He was refreshingly honest about this low-information “base” and his colleagues who pander to it, saying:
“Our base cannot possibly know what’s at stake at the level that any well-briefed U.S. senator should know about what’s at stake if Putin wins. Some people around here — if they really are being driven just by the perceptions of their base, they should grow a spine and explain if they think it’s a tough vote. It’s not a tough vote for me…For the ones who think it is, look at the consequences of us not getting it done.”
Good for him.
Sucking up to Putin…again: Trump says he told NATO ally to spend more on defense or he would ‘encourage’ Russia to ‘do whatever the hell they want’
Trump claims he told “a leader of a large country” who asked a theoretical question at a NATO meeting about the US keeping its Article 5 commitment to mutual defense if a country was behind on its commitment to spend 2% of its budget on defense that the US would not come to their aid, but would tell russia to do “whatever the hell it wants to do to them. Claims he said:
“You didn’t pay? You’re delinquent? No I would not protect you. In fact, I would encourage them (Russia) to do whatever the hell they want. You gotta pay. You gotta pay your bills.”
Thus sayeth the serial bankrupt “real estate tycoon.” You can hear him here: https://twitter.com/i/status/1756414506723320127
Moscow was so nice to Tucker…
…after Tucker was so nice to offer Vlad a propaganda platform.
Do you miss Ivanka and Jared?
…the nepotism continues, with Lara.
“My very talented daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, has agreed to run as the RNC Co-Chair. Lara is an extremely talented communicator and is dedicated to all that MAGA stands for. She has told me she wants to accept this challenge and would be GREAT!” — Donald Trump
Reuters: Trump vows to undo Biden gun restrictions if re-elected…
Speaking to thousands of supporters at an event organized by the National Rifle Association (NRA), Trump promised to rescind a rule curbing sales of gun accessories known as pistol braces and other regulations put in place by the Biden administration.
…so the GOP is set to offer more thoughts and prayers.1
Attacking military families….again…and Michael Haley fires back
Nikki Haley’s husband Michael is currently serving an active duty deployment in the Horn of Africa for the South Carolina Army National Guard. Yet he was Donald Trump’s foil over the weekend when Trump went on a bizarre rant at a campaign rally in SC, mocking either Nikki Haley, or Michael, or both because he has not been accompanying her on her campaigning.
Trump bellowed:
“Where’s her husband? Oh, he’s away. He’s away. What happened to her husband? Where is he? He’s gone. He knew. He knew.”
This is in character for Trump, who earned the moniker “Cadet Bonespurs” for his Viet Nam-era 1-Y (medical) deferment for a …. questionable condition which may have been enabled by a podiatrist doing Trump’s father a favor.
But that’s far from the worst of Trump’s disrespect for the military and its personnel. Trump:
Said of John McCain: “He’s not a war hero. He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured.”
Attacked the parents of a slain Muslim soldier who had strongly denounced Mr. Trump during the 2016 Democratic National Convention.
Declined a visit a cemetery near Paris where Americans who fought and died in World War I because it was filled with "suckers" and "losers," according to one of his former chiefs of staff, John Kelly.
Both Haleys responded. Nikki fired back with: "…Donald, if you have something to say, don't say it behind my back. Get on a debate stage and say it to my face."
Michael was a bit more dramatic, tweeting:
Note: I started this post the day before the Super Bowl Parade shooting…the mass shooter parade keeps going on and on. There’s one party to blame for that…and I’m sure they’re offering thoughts and prayers again.