Chaos is strategy

Laura Clawson of Daily Kos reported after McCarthy announced the impeachment inquiry the White House has issued a letter to major media organizations. The letter said in part:

It's time for the media to ramp up its scrutiny of House Republicans for opening an impeachment inquiry based on lies. Covering impeachment as a process story—Republicans say X, but the White House says Y—is a disservice to the American public who relies on the independent press to hold those in power accountable.

Clawson wrote:

If House Republicans can rely on the media to help spread their lies under the guise of neutral reporting, without a full explanation that these claims are false, then people are going to believe things that are not true. ... The White House: Hey, guys, could you try to stick to the facts and identify misinformation as such? Right-wing media: How dare they??? This is oppression.

The letter has a 14 page appendix (both are online) that lists the seven key lies that are the foundation of Republican claims with a thorough debunking of those claims. And many of the sources are the same media organizations that received the letter. So will media reports include such things as, “Republicans say this, which is false”? Alas, I have my doubts. In a pundit roundup for Kos Chitown Kev had a few interesting quotes. The first is from Heather Digby Parton of Salon. She says the impeachment is essentially the nasty guy’s revenge.

Trump instinctively projects his own shortcomings and problems on his enemies and then attacks them which is what he's doing with the "Biden Crime Family" thing. I don't know what specific psychology is at work, but it serves a tactical purpose for him and his allies by muddying the water and contributing to the widespread cynicism in American life that leads people to think everyone is corrupt and there's nothing to be done about it. It's already worked to some degree in this case. According to a recent CNN poll, "61% say they think that Biden had at least some involvement in Hunter Biden's business dealings, with 42% saying they think he acted illegally, and 18% saying that his actions were unethical but not illegal." There is literally no evidence of any of that. Well played, Republicans, well played.

And from Ryan Tarinelli of Role Call:

“This behavior by Republican House members is just astoundingly self-destructive of the prerogatives of the institution that they serve,” said Bowman. “Because it, of course, devalues impeachment as a meaningful tool to deal with genuine presidential misconduct.”

In the comments is a cartoon by Walt Handelsman showing a pirate ship full of elephants waving swords with McCarthy at the end of the plank saying, “I’ve been persuaded to step forward with an impeachment inquiry.” Joan McCarter of Kos wrote:

On its first full day of work following the August recess, the House was supposed to start the floor process to bring up the defense appropriations bill Wednesday. The people in charge of Speaker Kevin McCarthy, however, had other plans. That plan consists of: one, shutting the House down while they come up with more unreasonable demands for slashing government funding and, two, running the clock down toward Oct. 1, when they can shut the whole government down. One of the hardliners in the House, Rep. Barry Loudermilk of Georgia, told Politico that running amok is their master plan. “We have an evolving strategy going right now. This whole place is about chaos, right?” Got that? Chaos is strategy.

The rest of the post is details about the chaos being spread and why McCarter thinks it is that and not what various Republicans claim to be doing. Back on Tuesday an Associated Press article posted on Kos reported that Putin has come to the defense of the nasty guy. He said:

As for the prosecution of Trump, for us what is happening in today’s conditions, in my opinion, is good because it shows the rottenness of the American political system, which cannot pretend to teach others democracy. ... Everything that is happening with Trump is the persecution of a political rival for political reasons. That’s what it is. And this is being done in front of the public of the United States and the whole world.

Yeah, we know who spoke those words and what kind of human he is and that means they should be discredited. But, alas, there is a portion of American politicians and public that will lap up those words. That’s why we appreciate the response of former Rep. Liz Cheney, as reported by Kerry Eleveld of Kos. Cheney lost her 2022 election because she was one of only two Republicans who served the House committee that investigated the Capitol attack. She has a way of encapsulating a concept into just a few words. She’s now dropping those good phrases for the rest of us to use. She tweeted:

Putin has now officially endorsed the Putin-wing of the Republican Party.

A good feature of the phrase is that it doesn’t apply to all Republicans, only those who support Putin.