Who Are You Going to Listen To?

 

Several hours before this tweet, North Carolina was declared a federal major disaster, which means @FEMA will rush federal aid to 25+ affected counties and reimburse local governments + nonprofits for restoring facilities and infrastructure.

👉🏻 https://t.co/NkRaj6EJ73 https://t.co/JLeTgiYzyq

— Frank Luntz (@FrankLuntz) September 29, 2024

Well, uh, let's hear it for a fact-check from Frank Luntz, because open-faced lying to struggling people is, my God, why do we have to explain this?  Completely wrong and unnecessarily divisive and totally unhelpful. 

And also, what Trump is stunting about right now. He did a little photo-op in Valdosta and lied behind a tiny brick wall someone had to stop everything and make for His Nibs. And he had an emotional support evangelical by his side to sanctify his lying. Who prayed for HIM and his election because of course. 

People have died. Some of the survivors have lost everything they had. They have family photo albums and keepsake Bibles and all kinds of records of their life they can't get back. They are going to be homeless for a while. And Trump shows up in his MAGA hat like this was a campaign event. Costing local security. Taking away resources from search and rescue or whatever else for his hot minute criticizing the Biden Administration for--what they already are doing. 

What they ARE ALREADY DOING. 

This Was "America's Mayor", Once

 

Watch "America's Mayor" Rudy Giuliani call Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis a "ho," and the Christian audience at the ReAwaken America tour go wild for it last night. pic.twitter.com/yy68oan7lg

— Stephanie Mencimer (@smencimer) June 8, 2024

He's not half racist and misogynistic, is he? It reminds me that he went out of his way to defame, and continued to defame, two Black, female election workers, also in Georgia.  But because my government name ends in the same vowel as his, let me help him with the pronunciation of Ms. Willis' name:

And she isn't a "ho"--but an adult female who can socialize with another adult person. Are we going to sit here in 2024 and pretend a professional adult woman is not allowed to have adult relationships? That "dating" is some form of harlotry?

Is this the Middle Ages?  I do not want to hear sexual slurs about anyone under the sun from this sleazeball. 

Rudy Giuliani Has Been Served

 

I've been meaning to get to writing something on Giuliani this week, about how he's lost money, his radio show, his mind over Trump...but damn it, the story of an 80 year old man taunting the law whilst service-dodging and getting served at his birthday party is really just on a different level. I could add more about how he isn't helping himself by continuing to spread 2020 election lies and continuing to defame Ms. Moss and Ms. Freeman,

But that image above--it's perfect. Why do more?

Oh Look, We Found GA Voter Fraud

 It turns out, it was the GOP all along--or anyway, there was an election-denier who weirdly enough submitted multiple ineligible GOP ballots. 

Nine times.

While serving as the state party vice chairman.

There's a pattern, here. The GOP hates voter fraud and also, seem to be about doing it. It's almost like more Republicans are primed to think they will get away with it.  It is a given--you just will find more voter fraud happening with Republicans.

They do get caught though. I wonder how they got it into their heads that's there's massive voter fraud and no one ever gets caught. (I do not actually wonder this.)

TWGB: Running Interference

 

It's a funny old thing that Trump wants to scream "ELECTION INTERFERENCE!!!" with respects to his two lawsuits today. They are both actually election interference lawsuits, in that Trump took extralegal efforts to interfere with what happened in both the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections. 

In the so-called "hush money" case that Trump lost his motion to dismiss today, the case really has to do with using his business funds fraudulently to cover up information that would tend to prejudice voters against him: that he had intimate relations with an actor in the porn industry while his third wife had just given birth. This kind of secrecy and coverup is a part of Trump operations in general: he has long been an avid user of employee NDA's (which were, as constructed, not a valid truth-quashing mechanism for political campaigns or White House administrations) , and used his friendship with National Enquirer exec David Pecker to "catch and kill" negative stories. 

Trump is really great at using funds. sometimes fraudulently, to cover up things. Some say he used Trump Foundation money to pay to Florida prosecutor Pam Bondi's political campaign org to stop an investigation into Trump University, (I dunno if it happened that way, but the results are the results.) Trump sued Tim O'Brien for pointing out Trump's numbers never did add up because he hated to be called out on what we could have should have known about his businesses. Was it worth it to give some of us a glimpse into what we learned later when his 2005 taxes were exposed--he's been drawing down his liability from a mega loss in 1995? (He still was benefiting from losses when his last six years got opened up later on.) He mightily fought to keep that tax data unknown. Because he was doing crimes. 

TWGB: The Detroit Deceit

 

Once again, Trump is in the news because we have tapes--a story in The Detroit News from Craig Mauger uncovers that a phone call between Wayne County election canvassers, Donald Trump and Ronna McDaniel reveals a little offering for their service in not certifying the election for Biden, which is a kind of back-handed bribe: we'll get you attorneys!

I mean, I love this for the obvious reason: they knew it was shady, they knew that the canvassers knew it was shady. Sure, it's probably illegal! But we will get you lawyers. You'll be fucked if you do this but we'll make sure it's with lube!

Is that just me? 

So of course, I go back through the TWGB archives, and huh. When one of the recipients of this phone call got asked about it back when, she just said Trump was concerned about her wellbeing. Well, yeah. Hence the lawyers. The other canvasser isn't available at the moment for further comment. He doesn't need lawyers at this time.  It's also pretty interesting to me that this call was followed up by an invite to the White House for certain Michigan officials. (I wonder if a similar call to PA officials occurred...wait, I don't!) I think this reinforces the Georgia RICO case by establishing a pattern of leaning on election officials. 

I can talk about the violence of 1/6 and the way Trump encouraged it then and still encourages violence, but the subversion of others' sense of duty and fidelity to their oaths of office is the key to the damage that Trump offers. Through coaxing and threatening, he undermines the idea that government isn't about duty or a higher purpose, it just become gross transactionalism. 

I like to think this opens up Trump for a new set of indictments in Michigan. And some for Ronna McDaniel too. (The Michigan GOP has its own terrible troubles right now.) 

TWGB: Flipping Bricks

 

Well, here's to having the kind of week in the news where a journey into TrumpWorld actually feels like a bit of a vacation. And before I get things started, let's hear it for this week's TrumpWorld winner, though he doesn't even know it, Jim Jordan, for not becoming Speaker of the House. I used to joke about a tough job as "leading the clowns and following the elephants"--and that's what GOP Speaker would look like right now. Jimmy--enjoy doing less. I hope to enjoy you doing less and less in the future. It suits you. 

Now on to TrumpWorld--obviously, the big story this week is out of Fulton County where Sidney Powell and now Kenneth Chesebro have entered plea agreements with cooperation.  This does a handful of things--shocks TrumpWorld because some folks probably thought Powell was too batshit to get flipped: nah, she's a lawyer and figured out how screwed she was--and with the addition of Chesebro, um, probably Jenna Ellis and Rudy Giuliani should be getting on the phone about getting correct, you think? 

By admitting guilt, they are highlighting that the conspiracy was real and by agreeing to talk about it without Trump and the other co-conspirators getting the benefit of watching those speedy trials get played out for them, they are giving some folks specters of not a penny or a dime dropping, but a whole Coinstar machine falling out. Happy Halloween being haunted with the ghosts of felonies past and sentences future, you guys!

TWGB: Seething Contempt

 

The former guy seemed a little confused about how he ended up with no jury. His attractive strip mall attorney who also does traffic beefs forgot to check a box! (So weird! By his own admission, Trump is always checking boxes.) But anyway, instead of being mad at his counsel (and really, they are what he can get) Trump trained his ire on the AG (of course) calling her a reverse racist again and the judge, which is exactly what you would do if the decision in this case came down to (checks notes) that guy. 

TrumpWorld has poisoned my brain. I start looking for the obvious fuckery every time. Is Trump baiting the judge so he can declare everything was biased against him? Is he baiting him to get contempt ruled on him? Is he just pretending he doesn't know how he ended up with no jury so he can turn around and waste time with an incompetent counsel appeal? 

I have no idea at all. Maybe none of the above (I don't think any of that would pass the smell test, anyway) and it is really just a sad, farcical clusterfuck where the stable genius is watching his life pass in front of him. But he says he's going to testify on his own behalf, and goddamn if that doesn't sound worth the price of admission!

And maybe he also wants to duck the deposition for the Michael Cohen libel trial he initiated because he realized he'd incriminate himself because he's a big flipping dumbass. Because at some point, isn't somebody gonna ask: But wasn't he working for YOU? Like, Michael Cohen didn't get himself into the shit for you without you, hon.

TWGB: The Argument for a Speedy Trial

 

A few notable figures in the Fulton County case have requested a speedy trial--Ken Cheseboro (whose request for a speedy trial might have sent pangs through the legal teams of several of the other indicted individuals) and Sidney Powell. There's a benefit to a speedy trial, of course. The defense can work with still-fresh evidence and make their best case for what had happened. In the case where multiple people are indicted at once, it severs their trial from the rest--that's definitely a great idea in the case where one is providing evidence that others have more culpability for wrongful events--right?

It's a right of the accused under the Constitution. And one of Donald Trump's crack team of legal experts--the finest his political donors can pay for so far--has explained on television why even Donald Trump should think about going to trial as soon as possible:

He's very smart and has access to all the facts as well as anyone ever could! He doesn't need to be prepped! (He's incredibly intelligent as well as virile and good-looking, easily 6'3" AND A HALF if you add charisma! Like a 165 IQ. Easily.)

TWGB: Surrender, But Don't Give Yourself Away

 

I really felt underwhelmed by the speculation about what Trump's mugshot would look like and the "tale of the tape" regarding his height and weight. I mean, is it not enough that he's now standing at four indictments and 91 charges? No other president measures up to that, I can tell you!

But what anyone could also tell you is that he would use the mugshot to fundraise off of his situation. And of course he is, ironically using the slogan "Never surrender" when he Just. Surrendered. Himself. To. The Jailhouse. For. Processing.  His "Kubrick stare" into the Fulton County camera is supposed to show defiance. 

Eh. To me it looks like he's using "MySpace angles" to plausibly make his face look like he could theoretically stand 6'3" and 215 lbs. This is not me making a ding against his vanity (his bulletproof vanity!) but the credulity that we'd get an honest reckoning. This wasn't his physician's weigh in (Ronny Jackson only dared to tell us he was 239 lbs.) or the hype before a heavyweight bout. This is Trump's charitable best guess that he must have at least lost that much weight in sweat since his Manhattan indictment. 

Roger Stone pushes elector plot on tape

Doesn't it remind you a little of the "Green Bay Sweep?" It should. Like the "Eastman Memos" it really suggests the bid to just declare victory and throw out Democratic votes was always part of the plan.  We always knew Trump would plan to declare he won early and take advantage of the "Red Mirage" to pretend the election was being stolen.  Trump and friends were going to bet on their little fan club's ignorance of how voting worked to pretend the steal was a thing, when they were going to do the stealing. After the fact of course. By leaning on every GOP person with the full force of the White House and all that. 

The dumbfuck thing was how many Trump stans fell for it. And he expects they will again when he reinvokes the same busted shit from a Bedminster stage in order to pretend he was exactly right to lean on the Georgia state campaign apparatus. Does anyone seriously believe he has some new shit he didn't wave from the rafters before he got indicted in Georgia? Like since he lost in 2020? 

It sounds stupid to me, like something he's doing to once again threaten some court somewhere to gag him so he can play FREEZEPEACHMARTYR!  I think he would adore the opportunity to have posters strewn about with his mouth sealed with duct tape or the like. Poor Trumpy, celebrity, owner of Truth Social, silenced. A victim of trying to do too much, to care too much, to be too much. Why do they hate him for being so awesome?

One thing better he could do? Gather up and pay his 2020 lawyers like Guiliani (who is apparently flat busted broke) that he forgot to pay anything to. In order to prevent them explaining in detail why their holding forth totally is fraud/crime exception in their plea deal.  Since he apparently didn't pay them and they got indicted anyway. And he went and fundraised on his trials and tribulations. 

But he won't think of that in a hurry. And that's great, too. I don't care. I am rooting for maximum Trump enbuggeration. Self embuggerment. Ye olde own petard-hoistification.  I dunno. The thing of when he goes off and finally fully fucks himself. 

TWGB: The Fourth Indictment is Here and It's Beautiful

 

I feel like the other indictments against former president Trump are all really special in their way, of course. I mean, it's not really just four is it? There's Manhattan, and the Florida documents one, and the DC 1/6 one, but can't we sort of count the superseding indictment to the Florida one as a sort of other....

Nah. No need to. The Georgia indictment is the unlucky number four for Trump, the one he bragged he needed to clinch the 2024 election. It's not just charges against Trump, but includes 18 others and mentions other unindicted co-conspirators, and displays the lengths that the Trump 2020 campaign were willing to go to in order to try to steal the election. 

And it is beautiful. The truth:

Defendant Donald John Trump lost the United States presidential election held on November 3, 2020. One of the states he lost was Georgia. Trump and the other Defendants charged in this Indictment refused to accept that Trump lost, and they knowingly and willfully joined conspiracy to unlawfully change the outcome of the election in favor of Trump. That conspiracy contained common plan and purpose to commit two or more acts of racketeering activity in Fulton County, Georgia, elsewhere in the State of Georgia, and in other states.

He lost, and he and his associates tried to overturn the election in Georgia and in other states. In my state, as a matter of fact. And I'm still mad about it. They engaged in lying about the election results--particularly members of the elite strike farce, Giuliani, Ellis, and the Kraken. They lied about election workers Shaye Moss and Ruby Freeman and caused them to be harassed. With horrible results for these innocent election workers. 

TWGB: State of Mind-Bad. Looks Bad.

 

There was a lot of legal stuff to do with TrumpWorld yesterday, not even including the five-minutes-under-the-wire Trump legal response to the request for a protective order, but honestly, I'm not seeing the point in going over all that in detail. I mean, it's official--Trump's counterclaim against E. Jean Carroll was dismissed.  His writ of mandamus against Fani Willis is dismissed. 

You can't cover everything. Trump's got five cases in the next nine months, and I bet that feels like he's about to give birth to quintuplets. And tracking all the side characters like Bernie Kerik (turning over docs), Giuliani (selling his house), John Eastman (asking for his disbarment proceedings to be postponed because he's getting indicted)....whew! I'm petty, but I just can't be that kind of compleatist. 

But I am the kind of petty to point out that Dark Brandon is definitely in Trump's head based on yesterday's court filing. Apparently, the touting of the campaign merch is supposedly tweaking Trump based on his recent indictment. So says the Trump team.

Yeah. He's here to eat ice cream and put you in prison and he's all out of ice cream, jack. 

It's absurd. Of course, it has nothing to do with Trump, but that his lawyers put it in there suggests it was on the client's mind. In the just the way his lawyers have to always be on the various chat shows, because if they aren't on television, how does Trump even know they are working? Of course, he wants to try this, and all of his cases, in the court of public opinion and make them political spectacles. 

It's both legally and politically questionable. But he's welcome to it. If it helps his obviously concerned state of mind. 

UPDATE: I'm just going to throw this down here, but I really think I like Judge Chutkan. She ordered the sides to get their act together by Friday to discuss the protective order--Friday. And the DOJ said, "Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, we're good." And Trump's lawyers thought it would be funny to say "How's next week?"

So she said, "Fine. 10 AM Friday."  And now they should understand whose court this is. 

TWGB: Trump--Target and Bullseye

 

Trump hustled to let us know he got his letter on Suday, right after he did his little thing at TPUSA whatever, and he was so mad you guys. He knows this means an indictment (or several more) for him is likely imminent. 

Is he really surprised? I mean, do you concoct a whole "Stop the Steal" thing when your own Attorney General and two firms you hired to look into the voter fraud thing all say you lost, and think no one will notice you were lying? 

Trump's statement was extra-special:

Trump says he’s a target of special counsel’s criminal probe into 2020 election aftermath pic.twitter.com/ZR5swPqqJK

— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) July 18, 2023

It's a litany of presumed wrongs heaped upon his noble brow--feh. It's a bunch of stuff he's also fucked up with. He's pointing out the many, many scandals imputed to him--do you really want to bet they are all hoaxes? If you really know Trump--would you put good money on ANY OF THEM being hoaxes?  

Look, given the Mar-A-Lago documents scandal, which is dumb as hell because he could have just given over what the National Archives asked for and no one would have said anything more, but OH HELL NO THAT'S NOT HOW TRUMP ROLLS, he played around. He FA and is big mad he has to FO about it. And he lost his election and knew it, and FA about that, and is now big mad he has to FO about that, too. 

Trump, CNN and the Power of Sufficient Cable

 

The CNN town hall featuring former president Donald Trump and former Daily Caller employee Kaitlan Collins was a shitshow as expected. The network stocked the audience with Trumpists because that's obviously fucking normal. And then he got to saw away at his special hobby horses, which was just fun to watch with little to no pushback when you pause to consider this is a twice-impeached racist sex pest who absolutely fumbled COVID-19 and the economy in his last year in office.

This bitter, lying, indicted, tarnished, twice-impeached, treasonous, shambling reprobate should in no way be considered a viable candidate for office and should, in fact, be made a figure of mockery everywhere his grotesque bulk lurches, and yet, he is also the best shot the GOP has for 2024, so the cable news dickheads are going to try and make him...credible? 

So, what we were treated to, one day after a jury unanimously after but three hours of deliberations awarded E. Jean Carroll damages for his sexual battery and defamation of her (and not rape, because it was uncertain whether she noticed his thimble dick actually penetrating her nor ejaculating, leading us to wonder if his small fingers actually brag on him, not the opposite--which is not intended to be defamatory because I am of a scientific aspect and am merely asking questions of a delicate anatomical nature) was more defamation, and rather gross as well.  And the Trump-friendly studio audience loved it. 

I don't know how that resonated with you, Gentle Reader, but it makes me bloody-minded, and I mean more so than usual. It's one thing to despise Trump heart and soul. It's another to take in the values of his fanclub in full and realize they are complete gutter-dwellers with little to redeem them. Deplorables, by choice. 

But maybe a silver lining exists in the sound bites created by the fact of Trump being given adequate cable (which, like saying "hoist on his own petard" suggests the concept of "enough rope"--which is what I think he definitely wished on 1/6 for his running mate, Mike Pence, not that that gormless SOB appreciates it).  He did admit Mike Pence did something wrong in his mind in this little chat. He said he believed that the Georgia SOS owed him votes. He reiterated that he did take documents to Mar-A-Lago, it was great of him to do that, and definitely had the right to declassify them--although whether he did and how and what he took and why he's so pleased with himself stays a mystery. 

We can wonder whether the fluke of this gasbag becoming president was the fault of outlets like CNN giving him "sufficient cable"--platforming him and taking him "seriously, not literally." The image of CNN cameras focusing on an empty podium where the celebrity candidate had grabbed their attention by its figurative lowest chakra remains a sticking point with me regarding their failure to be serious journalists because they wanted his ratings power. 

But in the course of this shitshow, he delivered several soundbites that would certainly be of interest in at least three of his ongoing criminal investigations and at least one civil complaint. 

Maybe it's possible that this creature could be both raised up and brought low by the quality of sufficient cable. 

TWGB: April is the Cruelest Month

 

I guess Trump's indictment cherry having been popped, he has no reason to expect the rest of this month to be great, but wow--I don't think it's going to be good for The Donald! For one thing, just this Thursday, he's sitting down again with Leticia James and her crew regarding his NYC civil case over his business practices, and since he repeatedly pled the 5th the first time around, this time isn't going to go any better. See, the thing is, in civil trials there's a thing called adverse inference which means what it says on the label: if someone is pleading the 5th because their testimony might incriminate them, take it at face value that the truth would not set them free. 

He's also facing the E. Jean Carroll civil suit in NYC over his defamation of self-described rape victim E. Jean Carroll. The judge in this case has agreed to anonymity for the jury based on Trump's already egregious behavior regarding judges, prosecutors, witnesses, you name it.  Because he acts like a mafioso. As with the Bragg case in Manhattan, this case highlights how horrific he is to women. 

I really wish people were more aware of this. 

Anyway, there is still the potential for indictments to drop in either the Georgia grand jury case, where racketeering and a broad cast of characters being looked at for indictment figure, and the obviously bad Mar-A-Lago documents case. I am not actually crouching on a case of champagne waiting for those things, but it would be neat, right? 

And then there's the odd thing about Trump filing to block Mike Pence's testimony to the Special Counsel regarding J6--why? Is there a problem with the very honest man Trump had as his Vice-President testifying about what might had led up to that day? And if so why? 

Enquiring minds would like to know. After all, it always has struck me as strange that Trump's impulse is always to obstruct or delay the release of facts about whatever it is he's been up to while he claims he's a pure as the driven snow, and his little fan club hasn't yet caught on and said: "Put up or shut up." 

Anyway, I think it's already been demonstrated that executive privilege appeals are going to fizzle. And with interesting results. I know Trump wants to plead all his cases to the Supreme Court because he picked a third of them, but OTOH, has he offered any really good vacations lately? (I mean really!) 

Anyways, it is starting to look like the season of finding out for Donald Trump, and the season of fucking around is going to have to stop (I know that Trump is loving the idea of courting a gag order re: his running down the DA and judge in his Manhattan case, and I bet his attorneys would LOVE THAT FOR HIM. Also he kinda is earning it.)  

And in other weird news, why hasn't he filed his financial disclosure  yet? (Truth Social is a bit of a struggle-launch, isn't it?)  He's going to be like this the whole election, isn't he? His supporters better start asking the questions that are logically piling up. And just deal with the reality that they don't really know if they are funding a campaign for president, or just the legal fees for a serial criminal. 

This is a Victory Today.

 

Thank you, Georgia. We did it again. pic.twitter.com/jikuO5Kt8S

— Reverend Raphael Warnock (@ReverendWarnock) December 7, 2022

I am so pleased that the good people of Georgia saw their way through and voted for a good man over whatever Herschel Walker is. You have a good senator and escaped a whole strata of nonsense. It's a triumph of competence over heavy partisan promotion.

UPDATE: Here's a pretty good recap of the 2022 Georgia Senate race, but I do have a bone to pick:

Mr. Walker’s loss will almost certainly lead to soul-searching for a Republican Party that must decide heading into the 2024 election how firmly to tether itself to a former president who has now absorbed powerful political blows in three successive campaign cycles. 

"Almost certain"?  You would think so, you really would, but counterpoint, even if they do, how honest is the party willing to be about their messaging and their appetite for "Celebrity Apprentice" candidates like Walker and Dr. Oz? 

In other things the GOP should re-think: prioritize getting people to vote over complaining about voter fraud. (After all--where has election-denial gotten them?)

As for Democrats--the takeaway should be to run as Democrats and form coalitions of voters who are motivated by the promise of good government and dedication. But Warnock's still-close win feels like it is in many ways more attributable to an impossibly awful Republican candidate in a state which, even with two Democratic senators, is still so red.  

Herschel Walker's Final Pitches

 

As we get closer to run-off erection day in Georgia, I think it behooves us to consider the man, the candidate, the father, the phenomenon, that is Herschel Walker, who said out loud where people could hear that young voters (those under 31) are like immigrants and have no business voting to try and affect things.  That's a weird message to have when young voters could be deciding this election.  

But then again, he's also the person whose campaign decided right on the heels of a shooting at an LGBT nightclub that a transphobic ad was entirely on point. 

The problem I have with all of this isn't that he will probably lose--but that he's a candidate at all and I am forced to say "probably". The Republican party, as currently constituted, gives absolutely no fucks whatsoever about the quality of their candidates, only having the quantity to retain some kind of power.

They could run a cardboard standee. It would be less trouble than the actual Herschel. 

The guy lives in Texas, he's got a series of broken homes behind him, and he wants to be a werewolf. 

I am not sure I can even WT enough AFs about this candidacy. I will say the RNC is weak and useless and can't vet or influence winners and lets capricious monied arseholes run weird dark horse bets because why the hell not? Who cares? It's only our democracy. 

It's tragic.

UPDATE: Also, he lives in Texas if I didn't mention it (I mentioned it). He isn't so daft he doesn't know where he lives, right? He just doesn't live where he is running for office. 

Somehow, the RNC and the former president who endorsed him did not pick up on that. Or care. Either/or.

TWGB: The Wild Card

 

This was another one of those weeks where it felt like Trump was on the verge of a comeuppance. I'm starting to hate that feeling. It's the kind of hope you feel when you think Michael Myers has been finally shivved for good just before he bounces back up again. 

Sure, he was deposed in the defamation case brought by E. Jean Carroll. I note that he spewed the same comments against her, now, as a private citizen, that he did when he was president, and kind of hope that means his defense that he said what he said as a defense of himself as the holder of the officer of president goes away, now that he has said the same thing as a private citizen. I also don't see any indication that he turned over a DNA sample. It just seems to me that if the DNA sample was the thing that definitively "set him free" from her claims, he wouldn't be loath to provide it--so what's the deal? 

There was a time when this kind of scandal might have rocked a political career, and still, the mainstream media treats this man, the one-term twice-impeached self-described pussy-grabber--as a completely viable 2024 presidential candidate, even while he is under investigation for stolen government documents under the Espionage Act, his business is under investigation in a civil case in NY, his conduct related to the 1/6 insurrection attempt is under investigation by the 1/6 Committee,  and his attempt to fraudulently disrupt the Georgia vote count is under investigation by a grand jury in Georgia. 

The GOP Are Who We Think They Are

 

So, when news broke that Herschel Walker was accused of having paid for an abortion and there were receipts, I knew instantly: that wouldn't move the needle. After all, Walker has been rambling in public with sentence fragments that make no sense at all, has claimed multiple personality syndrome, has admitted to holding a gun on his ex and even playing Russian roulette, and has make various statement about his college career, sports, his charity, and what he even does for a living, that are frankly, just not true. 

And the polls vs. current GA. Sen. Raphael Warnock are still awfully close. Republicans have a very high tolerance for fuckery when it comes to people with an "R" after their name. 

I mean, you could look at Roy Moore as an example, or Trump after the TMZ video and multiple allegations of sexual harassment or assault. But it isn't just about sexual allegations. I mean, Steve Bannon conned anti-immigration conservatives out of their money over "Build the Wall" and he still has support. Alex Jones is lying grifter, and he has support. The GOP still has a big tent, it's just really looking a lot like a sideshow. 

So, the image about is from a prayer held over Herschel Walker the very next day wishing him protection and support. The GOP circled the wagons at once and his campaign had record fund-raising. He was clearly a VICTIM! of a vicious left-wing smear of the kind that was entirely true but why did anyone have to be a bastard and TALK about it? Including his conservative son, who had finally reached his limit on discussing his father's messy as hell personal life, and understandably so. 

Dana Loesch probably put it best when she said:

"I don’t care if Herschel Walker paid to abort endangered baby eagles," she said. "I want control of the Senate!"

Loesch went on to dismiss the significance of the Walker abortion claims in even starker terms.

"If the Daily Beast story is true, you're telling me Walker used his money to reportedly pay some skank for an abortion, and [Sen. Raphael Warnock] wants to use all of our moneys to pay a whole bunch of skanks for abortions," she said. "So, it doesn't change anything for me!"

It doesn't matter what kind of person Walker is, he's a Republican. And even if he was fucking around and paid for an abortion, it's the girlfriend who is the skank (that feels revealing). And "all of our moneys" to fund abortion--she isn't really considering abortion murder so much as the kind of health care she would rather not fund. Not that conservatives ever want to fund medical care.