Just Read The Tea Leaves!
Yesterday House Intel Committee chair Mike Turner (R-OH) was Jake Tapper’s guest on State of the Union. Asked about Foreign Affairs Committee chair Michael McCaul’s much discussed claim about Russian propaganda having taken hold of the GOP base, Turner replied “Oh, it is absolutely true. We see directly coming from Russia attempts to mask communications that are anti-Ukraine and pro-Russia messages, some of which we even hear being uttered on the House floor. I mean, there are members of Congress today who still incorrectly say that this conflict between Russia and Ukraine is over NATO, which, of course, it is not, Vladimir Putin having made it very clear, both publicly and to his own population, that his view is that this is a conflict of a much broader claim of Russia to Eastern Europe, including claiming all of Ukraine territory as Russia's. To the extent that this propaganda takes hold, it makes it more difficult for us to really see this as an authoritarian-versus- democracy battle, which is what it is. President Xi of China, Vladimir Putin himself have identified it as such. We need to stand up for democracy. We need to make certain that we know that authoritarian regimes never stop when they start an aggression. Ukraine needs our help and assistance now, and this is a very critical time for the U.S. Congress to step up and provide that aid.”
I suppose they had agreed in advance that Tapper wouldn’t ask Turner which Republican members he was referring to when he said some of his colleagues were parroting Kremlin propaganda, just the way Trump does. There are several who do, worst of all, though being Senator JD Vance (R-OH) and Tommy Tuberville (R-AL). In the House, though, the worst offenders— the Russo-Republicans, or what McCaul described as the Putin wing of the Republican Party— are ignoramuses Marjorie Traitor Greene (R-GA), Byron Donalds (R-FL), Lauren Boebert (R-CO), Ronny Jackson (R-TN), Matt Gaetz (R-FL), Elise Stefanik (R-NY), Mary Miller (R-IL), Ralph Norman (R-SC), Mike Collins (R-GA), Troy Nehls (R-TX), Dan Bishop (R-NC), Scott Perry (R-PA), Barry Moore (R-AL), Andy Ogles (R-TN), Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL), Chip Roy (R-TX), Nancy Mace (R-SC), Josh Brecheen (R-OK), Bob Good (R-VA), Matt Rosendale (R-MT), Clay Higgins (R-LA), Diana Harshbarger (R-TN) and MAGA Mike himself.
With Traitor Greene running around babbling about how today’s eclipse was a sign from God that everybody has to vote for Trump or some kind of nonsense like that, how could anyone expect her to understand the difference between Russian propaganda and objective reality? “God is sending America strong signs to tell us to repent,” she wailed on Friday. “Earthquakes and eclipses and many more things to come. I pray that our country listens.” One has to wonder, who’s stupider, her or the voters who back her? Or maybe Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders who declared a state of emergency ahead of the eclipse and released funds from the Response and Recovery Fund Friday! The original congresswoman from QAnon, on Traitor Greene wasn’t backing down. Yesterday, she was at it again: “Many have mocked and scoffed at this post and even put community notes. Jesus talked about that in Luke 12:54-56. Yes eclipses are predictable and earthquakes happen and we know when comets are passing by, however God created all of these things and uses them to be signs for those of us who believe.”
Clearly, God’s message of repentance via the eclipse is strongest in Republican states: Texas, Arkansas, Indiana, Ohio and strictly Republican parts of Indiana, Missouri, Illinois and Maine, scrupulously avoiding Democratic areas in those states. I consulted a soothsayer who told me that any Republican who votes for Trump or any candidates he endorses in November will contract leprosy, be plagued by locusts and hear Marjorie Traitor Greene’s voice in their head for eternity.
