Republicans will keep covering for Trump's outrages. Why? For the judges

[DonViejo]

Republicans will shield Trump forever, if that’s the only way to keep packing the courts with right-wing judges

AMANDA MARCOTTE
JULY 19, 2018 11:00AM (UTC)

After Donald Trump's eventful Monday — in which our president held a joint press conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin, endorsed Putin's denials that his military committed crimes to meddle in the 2016 election, and floated conspiracy theories to bolster this obvious lie — the spotlight turned, once again, to congressional Republicans. How, many in the media wondered, could so many Republicans, who claim to abhor a murderous dictator like Putin, stand idly by while the president openly colluded with Putin to cover up Russia's criminal assault on our democracy? Why, instead of holding Trump accountable for his behavior, are Republicans actively covering up for Trump by holding kangaroo-court hearings in Congress that are based on conspiracy theories and only serve to discredit the investigation into Trump's possible Russian collusion?

Faced with these questions, Republicans simply doubled down on the cover-up, holding a press conference in which Trump meekly read from a prepared statement pretending that he had misspoken during his appearance with Putin, a claim that is clearly false to anyone who actually watched the event unfold.

At a certain point, the fierce loyalty to Trump is hard to fathom, in no small part because there's no doubt he would stab any and every Republican politician in the back if it suited his own ends. But also because most Republicans are not complete idiots, and must understand how tying themselves to such a disastrous leader will hurt them in the long run, as well.

To understand why Republicans are continuing to embarrass themselves this way, it helps to look at what was happening in the Senate the very same afternoon that Trump was reading his fake walk-back of his deep Putin love. While most of the press was, understandably, watching Trump do a bad job of feigning disapproval of Russia's action, the Senate decided to move forward with the confirmation of a far-right radical named Andrew Oldham to sit on the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. On Wednesday afternoon, by a 50-49 vote, he was confirmed.

The move means that Trump will set the record, at 23, for the largest number of appeals court judges seated by a president in his first two years of office. It's this project, turning the federal judiciary into a bastion of right-wing radicalism, that is causing Republicans to not only accept but actively cover for Trump's apparent betrayal of the country.

more
https://www.salon.com/2018/07/19/republicans-will-keep-covering-for-trumps-outrages-why-for-the-judges/

[mr_liberal]

1. They're a lot smarter than the left. They know winning is what matters. nm

[Greybnk48]

2. The judges the Republicans have seated may well be

Russian assets. They must all be seen as suspicious. Especially since we know the Russians are firmly ensconced in the NRA and the Christian Evangelical movement.

We will have to investigate all of them.