Repeating something that he had apparently learned from his father, President John Kennedy said, “Always forgive your political enemies. But never forget their names.”
It may not be pure coincidence that the GOP has the elephant as its symbol. Republican voters have pretty long memories. They remember clearly the names of the ten Republicans who voted to impeach President Trump on the flimsiest of grounds. They needed no prompting from Donald Trump. That vote is burned into their collective memories. Like elephants who know the route to the next watering hole, GOP loyalists know which way to go.
The vote to impeach was a defining moment. There is no need to question the motives of those who voted aye. It doesn’t really matter if they were otherwise likable, qualified Members of Congress. These Representatives were called upon to judge based upon the evidence presented. The overwhelming number of folks who had previously supported the ten came to an entirely different conclusion. One by one these Representatives are either retiring or are being replaced.
They are being replaced for one principal reason. Their voters no longer trust their judgement. It’s as simple as that. If they couldn’t figure out what was really going on in those hyper-partisan inquisitions, they have shown themselves unworthy to make judgements on future weighty matters.
End of discussion.
Of course CNN who served as the 24-7 cheerleaders for the failed impeachment attempts has their own take on the defeat of these incumbents. These “heroes” and “statesmen” are being taken out like it’s some vendetta orchestrated by Mafia Don Vito Trump.
In a piece by Eric Bradner titled Five Takeaways from Tuesday’s elections in South Carolina, Nevada, Texas, Maine and North Dakota https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/15/politics/nevada-south-carolina-primary-takeaways/index.html CNN claims that it was all about vengeance. This quote, “South Carolina voters delivered the vengeance that Donald Trump had sought as they ousted Rep. Tom Rice, one of ten House Republicans who had voted to impeach the former President.”
There you have it.
It was all about Donald Trump and his vengeance. If the Donald hadn’t issued that hit, Rep. Rice would have sailed to an easy victory. So much nonsense! Until Barrack Obama began the practice, Presidents shied away from making endorsements, especially in primaries. Many would argue that those endorsements have carried little weight anyway and are often counterproductive. Primary voters are perfectly capable of figuring things out without the help of former Presidents.
Bradner conveniently forgets that Democrats, including the Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, were threatened with primaries if they hadn’t brought articles of impeachment against Trump. Would resisters have been hailed as “statesmen” had they pushed back against the Trump hating mob? We think not.
CNN wasn’t through.
The piece then pivots to discuss results from Nevada. “Meanwhile in Nevada, Republicans chose a vocal supporter of Trump’s lies about election fraud as their nominee to become the state’s top elections official.” So we are left with a dilemma. Are we to believe CNN or our lying eyes? Or in this case, Trump’s lies?
Anyone who has been paying attention to the audits, reviews and now a documentary called 2000 Mules believes (at minimum) there were serious election “irregularities” especially in states like Nevada. Nevada voters cannot be proud of the way their Secretary of State carried out her duties. She thumbed her nose at Legislators who raised legitimate questions. Sorry CNN, it wasn’t “Trump lies” that sent her to the showers.
There is a stronger case for the removal of certain incumbents than there was for the removal of one of the most successful Presidents in our lifetime. Especially one who succeeded in spite of the withering fire he faced daily from CNN and their fellow travelers. If you live in the Washington media bubble. If you live and breath the daily narrative, this all makes sense. Donald Trump is evil. He represents everything you despise. The Trump supporters, like Limbaugh listeners, are brain-dead robots who await the next command.
The CNN’s of the media world will go to any length to defend the Democrats. They pretend that this administration is competent. They defend their failures, cover up their corruption and manufacture tortured ways to blame Putin or Trump for the situation we are in. This is CNN. This is who they are.
We are bigger than them. Like President Kennedy, we will try to forgive our political enemies. But please forgive us if we never forget their names.