Last week he asked for “EQUAL TIME.” This week he’s having second thoughts about the political genius of Kevin McCarthy. While his minions continue to insist that there’s nothing to see here, Donald Trump is obviously paying attention — lots of attention — to what the House January 6th Committee is doing. And he’s unhappy.

In an interview with far-right host Wayne Allen Root, Trump ripped McCarthy for not putting his defenders on the panel.

“Unfortunately, a bad decision was made.”

“This committee, it was a bad decision not to have representation on that committee,” Trump said. “That was a very, very foolish decision because they try to pretend like they’re legit, and only when you get into the inner workings you say ‘what kind of a thing is this?’ Just a one-sided witch hunt.”

Committee member Adam Kinzinger tweeted:

Adam Kinzinger🇺🇦🇺🇸✌️ @AdamKinzinger

This is honestly, the best thing I’ve seen all week! Nice work @GOPLeader! As @SykesCharlie says, when you grow an alligator in the bath tub don’t be surprised when it gets out and eats your face.

Scott Wong @scottwongDC

Now Trump calling McCarthy’s decision to yank all Republicans off Jan. 6 committee “foolish.” “it was a bad decision not to have representation on that committee,” Trump said. “That was a very, very foolish decision …” https://t.co/FKxG11B7Ok

June 21st 2022

731 Retweets4,576 Likes

**

Today’s hearings will feature Georgia Secretary of state Brad Raffensperger, his deputy Gabe Sterling; and Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers. Via Politico’s Playbook:

Bowers is expected to describe the pressure campaign from Trump, Rudy Giuliani and Virginia Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarece Thomas. In one phone call, Trump and Giuliani pushed Bowers to change Arizona law retroactively “to allow the Legislature to choose a different slate of presidential electors than picked by voters.”

Happy Tuesday.

Meanwhile, in Texas…

You’ve probably read/heard something about the Texas GOP convention last weekend, but trust me, it was worse than you thought.

None of what follows is a parody.

On Sunday, Cathy Young wrote about the platform resolution that declared homosexuality “an abnormal lifestyle choice”:

What the actual hell? This has a real “the 1980s called and they want their social-issues rhetoric back” feel to it. Did someone from the Texas GOP leadership steal Marty McFly’s DeLorean? Or overdose on Stranger Things? Did the Cold War-to-proxy war escalation of tensions with Moscow cause a time warp?

Also, this tidbit from the convention shows how “political correctness” has now become “anything to the left of the Westboro Baptist Church”):

Sewell Chan @sewellchan

Another delegate, Nate Criswell, says weakening the homosexuality language would be caving to political correctness. “People appreciate calling a spade a spade.” A third delegate mentions dildos and fisting before she is cut off.

June 18th 2022

182 Retweets708 Likes

Sewell Chan @sewellchan

One delegate, David Gebhart, said the provision “does no benefit to the party” and calls for softening the language: “We are the Republican Party of Texas, not the Westboro Baptist Church.” Mix of laughter and boos.

June 18th 2022

186 Retweets1,221 Likes

**

But there was more.

The Texas GOP also rebuked its own senior U.S. senator, John Cornyn, for working on gun-safety legislation, explicitly rejected the outcome of the presidential election, and declared that Joe Biden was an illegitimate president.

. . . and more.

The Texas GOP also called for the repeal of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

“We urge that the Voting Rights Act of 1965, codified 1402 and updated in 1973, be repealed and not reauthorized.” The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is a landmark civil rights-era bill that banned racial discrimination in elections by prohibiting any voting rules that “results in the denial or abridgement of the right of any citizen to vote on account of race or color.”

And there was this tidbit amidst the offal:

Paul Waldman @paulwaldman1

1. The whole Texas GOP platform is insane but the piece that jumped out to me was the endorsement of a state-level electoral college, eliminating one person-one vote in favor of a system they could gerrymander so that the votes of white rural Republicans will count more.

June 20th 2022

4,797 Retweets13,036 Likes

**

All of the above was, however, only a warm-up act for what history may remember as the main event.

Under a section titled "State Sovereignty," the platform states: "Pursuant to Article 1, Section 1, of the Texas Constitution, the federal government has impaired our right of local self-government. Therefore, federally mandated legislation that infringes upon the 10th Amendment rights of Texas should be ignored, opposed, refused, and nullified.

Too vague? unclear?

"Texas retains the right to secede from the United States, and the Texas Legislature should be called upon to pass a referendum consistent thereto."

**

You may be tempted to roll your eyes at the crazy here, but some quick thoughts:

• This is the platform of the governing party of the nation’s second largest state. (Go ahead. Get yourself another cup of coffee. Go for a walk. Pet your dog.)

• If you’ve been paying attention, you know the velocity with which crazy ideas have become mainstream in the modern GOP.

• The Texas GOP is run by batshit lunatics, but it is not a total outlier. (You might want to check out the Arizona and Nevada GOP.)

• Secession is going to be a thing, especially if the GOP loses the next presidential election.

**

Exit take: Tom Nichols reminded us of what this might look like.

This is where we really will have “free” and “unfree” Americas, side by side. To drive from Massachusetts to Alabama—especially for women and people of color—will not be crossing the Mason-Dixon line so much as it will be like falling through the Time Tunnel and emerging in a pre-1964 America where civil rights and equal treatment before the government are a matter of the state’s forbearance. If an American citizen’s constitutional rights are violated, there will be no Justice Department that will intervene, no Supreme Court that will overrule. (And arresting seditionists? Good luck with that. I expect that if Trump is reelected, he will pardon everyone involved with January 6.) The highest authority in these areas will be the governor with maybe the occasional peep out of a state court here and there.

He’s talking about murder

Can we dispense with the euphemisms? The GOP’s leading candidate for U.S. Senate in Missouri is pushing his bid for a Trump endorsement by calling for the killing of squishy Republicans.

“I’m Eric Greitens, Navy Seal, and today we’re going RINO hunting,” the 48-year-old says in the 38-second ad. 

“The RINO feeds on corruption and is marked by the stripes of cowardice,” Greitens says in the video before the group forces entry into an empty home. 

“Join the MAGA crew, get a RINO hunting permit. There’s no bagging limit, no tagging limit and it doesn’t expire until we save our country.”

**

As I’ve written before, Greitens is very much a creature of new MAGA political culture. Even before this ad, he was testing the limits of his party’s post-shame politics.

Forced to resign from the governorship after a lurid sex scandal, Greitens is nevertheless the leading Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate. And there has been speculation that an endorsement from Trump himself might be forthcoming.

Greitens also now faces allegations from his ex-wife that he “was physically abusive and demonstrated such ‘unstable and coercive behavior’ that steps were taken to limit his access to firearms.”

But he continues to lead in the polls, and clearly thinks overt threats of political murder are just the ticket to seal the deal with the GOP primary electorate. But what are we actually looking at here?

Allahpundit does not mince words, describing Greitens’s RINO hunting ad as “fascist.” Some Republican voters will brush the ad off as trolling for the lulz . . . or a sign that Greitens will fight.

The libs say that sexual blackmail is bad, so maybe sexual blackmail is actually … good? Or at least not entirely bad. A man willing to blackmail his mistress may show the same sort of ruthlessness towards the left if elected to the Senate.

The same goes for the domestic abuse allegations. That’s not a good thing, surely — but Republicans could benefit from having some men of strong will in the Senate, no?

Essentially, Greitens is weaponizing his own immorality.

And it may work. Writes Allahpundit: “That’s the sort of depravity to which nihilistic “own the libs” thinking leads some voters, and there may be enough of them in Missouri to win a Senate primary.”

Greitens’s fascist ad is a signal to them, I think, that essentially says, “I may be a scumbag, but I’ll use my scumminess to punish your enemies.”

Which is also the Trump bargain with Republican voters in a nutshell, no? In fact, Greitens may yet earn Trump’s endorsement in the Missouri race. Stay tuned.

**

A reminder that toxic ideas can have fatal consequences:

Exit take: This is the death threat that Adam Kinzinger’s wife received last week for the congressman’s participation in Jan. 6th Committee