Cassidy Hutchinson Held Their Manhoods Cheap
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Cassidy Hutchinson Held Their Manhoods Cheap
Catching up on today's hearing, featuring... ketchup?
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TIM MILLER: Cassidy Hutchinson Held Their Manhoods Cheap.
This afternoon a 26-year-old former assistant showed more courage and integrity than an entire administration full of grown-ass adults who were purportedly working in service to the American people, but had long ago decided to serve only their ambition and grievance.
Cassidy Hutchinson did so at risk to her safety. Her social circle. Her career.
And she overcame all of the self-serving rationalizations that prevented the powerful, whose manhoods she held in her palm, from stepping to the plate.
It was a fitting testimony for me, seeing as it came on the day that I published Why We Did It, a book that aimed to answer the question: Why haven’t there been more Cassidys?
AMANDA CARPENTER: Hutchinson Puts Trump’s Violence on Display.
Hutchinson put Trump’s capacity for violence and willingness to break the law on display. By doing so, she put herself in danger. This is not theoretical. The committee had to keep her name under wraps out of concerns for her security.
During the last hearing witnesses Rusty Bowers, Gabriel Sterling, Brad Raffensperger, and Shaye Moss talked in detail about how they were threatened and harassed in their homes and at their jobs by Trump supporters. (Remember that Bowers, Sterling, and Raffensperger were/are also Trump supporters. They just weren’t willing to break the law for him following the 2020 election. And for this reason, their fellow Trump supporters threatened to kill them.)
Also: At the end of the hearing, Cheney said the committee had evidence of witness tampering and further acts of intimidation from “Trump World.”
Cheney said that as a matter of routine, the committee asks witnesses if they have been contacted by former colleagues or anyone else who may attempt to influence their testimony. Although she refrained from naming the witnesses, Cheney said that two people connected to the White House told the committee the following in response to those questions. She read their statements directly into the record.
“America never would have gotten into this mess if it weren’t for me and my friends,” Tim Miller writes in his new book. He joins Charlie Sykes today to discuss the GOP political culture that set the stage for Trump — a culture that was all about the thrill of winning at all costs.
Bulwark+ members can listen to an ad-free version of this podcast on the player of their choice. Learn more at Bulwark+ Podcast FAQ.
PHILIP ROTNER: Could Trump Face Justice Over the Fraudulent Electors?
For years—decades even, depending on when you start counting—the road to holding Donald Trump accountable for criminal conduct has led nowhere. Robert Mueller’s toothless report on Russiagate. William Barr’s turning a blind eye to obstruction of justice. The Manhattan district attorney’s inexplicable refusal to follow the recommendations of his lead investigators. Two impeachment acquittals in the Senate. The list goes on.
Given that dismal history, it arguably borders on insanity to believe that law enforcement will, at long last, find the weak spot in Trump’s otherwise impenetrable armor of impunity.
But if anything can, my money is on the fake elector scheme.
THEODORE R. JOHNSON: From Mayor to President in 2024?
At the end of every sports season—often the day after the championship is decided—there is a rush to put out the “way too early” rankings of which teams are the favorites to win it all the next year. The grace period for the White House horserace is a tad longer, partly because it only occurs once every four years but mostly because the pundits and the public revel in throwing roses or tomatoes at the victor. But by the time the midterm primaries get underway, our attention is directed at the next set of potential presidential contestants that the parties will field.
Which is to say: now. The time has arrived. The game is afoot.
🚨OVERTIME 🚨
Hooboy. I have to admit my threshold of surprise is probably higher than most. I had long assumed that Trump really wanted to go to the Capitol, that he was informed there were armed people (how could you not expect that?) What I wasn’t ever sure about was what he planned to do when he got there.
Cassidy Hutchinson probably didn’t know that last one either, or if she did, she wasn’t asked. But among the things Ms. Hutchinson testified to, bravely, and I don’t think that point can be emphasized enough, added things we did not know, none of which appeared in the umpteen books from former Trump aides that made me exclaim Holy Shit! like Bluto in Animal House.
The attempt to grab the steering wheel. The failed second attempt to grab the head of his security detail to turn The Beast and have it go towards the Capitol. The thrown plate with his lunch shattered against a White House wall, with poor Ms. Hutchison cleaning up ketchup off of it. (Was it McDonald’s chicken nuggets? This is sounding suspiciously like my toddlers’ behavior after a bad day.)
If you missed today’s hearing, it lived up to its billing. You can ketchup, I mean catch up here.
SOME HIGHLIGHTS:
Make sure to follow our friends @AccountableGOP for more clips.
The Defend Democracy Project… has this list of takeaways.
A useful thread with some observations and screengrabs… From our friends at Lawfare.
The House GOP Judiciary Account… Inappropriately tweeted this, but they’re not scared, no sir.
Tim Miller on CNN! Did you get his book today? I was too busy with the hearings to get too far into it, but it’s my nightcap plan.
Writing at Lawfare… Gabriel Schoenfeld on “Defending Liberalism From the Right and Left".”
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