When Republicans are in charge they fight like hell to consolidate their power and do little else. It's time for Democrats to add "maintain power" to their list of good things to accomplish, in addition to their world-improving policies.
March 29, 2019

It's time for the Democratic House to start being as Machiavellian as Republicans in Congress have been since at least 1994.

We must not waver for a second in the face of new faux outrage from the biggest political frauds in American history.

Watching Republicans cluck their ginned up disapproval of Chairman Adam Schiff yesterday gave me hope that Democrats have finally had enough. Instead of trying to reestablish comity between the two parties (which Republicans since Newt Gingrich have never had an interest in) Democrats need to get down to the actual business of oversight.

And they can't be afraid of a few beltway media journos whining about trying to make the two political adversaries come together. No matter how they try to be the "adults in the room," it will have no effect on the American people, the 2020 election, or how Congressional Republicans act. Both Sides Don't supress the vote or put babies in cages.

As a reminder, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell blatantly stole a Supreme Court seat with not even a hearing for Merrick Garland in 2016, even though there were nine months left in Obama's term.

Comity? Give me a break.

Even out of power, spies for the Trump administration like Rep. Devin Nunes are constantly on Fox News spreading misinformation about the FBI, Democrats, and the DOJ.

And now Nunes is filing fraudulent lawsuits against social media platforms and American citizens parodying his Twitter feed. It's an abusive attempt to stifle dissent, and to promote the conspiracy that conservatives are suppressed and targeted by the others.

Let's be clear. There are two things House Democrats need to get their hands on immediately: the Mueller report and Trump's tax returns.

It's good that Chairman Cummings of the House Oversight and Reform Committee is seeking 10 years of President Donald Trump’s financial records from an accounting firm called Mazars USA.

But that's not enough. Chairman Neal of the powerful Ways and Means Committee needs to step up his aggressiveness, as Charlie Pierce explains, even "if they have to invoke an obscure law, much of which dates back to 1924 and the Teapot Dome scandal, that gives the Ways and Means Committee the right to demand the tax returns of every American. The law—26 U.S. 6103".

Turn on your noise-canceling headphones and never slow down.

The Republicans shamelessly launched investigation after investigation into the Benghazi attack, which made their motives quite clear. They wanted to dig up anything they could use to attack the presumptive Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

And Republicans weren't coy about it.

A constant refrain from the White House and Trump's Fox News surrogates during the special counsel's tenure was that Mueller's investigations were too costly and taking too long, but they had no issue with using the tragedy of Benghazi for their own political gain for years whatever the cost.

Not to mention Solyndra Fast and Furious Whitewater Baby Parts Vince Foster birth certificate Kenyan Muslim Uranium One Seth Rich Tan Suit and the Tarmac.

Ten investigations were conducted into the 2012 Benghazi attack, six of these by Republican-controlled House committees.

This culminated in Speaker Boehner creating the United States House Select Committee on Events Surrounding the 2012 Terrorist Attack in Benghazi to investigate even more.

Unlike Trump, who refused to be interviewed by Robert Mueller, Hillary Clinton faced off with hostile Republicans and demolished them for over eight hours during Trey Gowdy's hearing in 2015.

But that didn't stop them and we know what happened with her private server and Comey's disgusting handling of the investigation in July and then again in October 28th, which led to her demise in the 2016 general election.

And Senate Republicans have only ramped up their own faux outrage machine since the GOP got blitzed in the midterms.

The new Republican leader of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Lindsey Graham has said he's going to investigate "whether top officials at the Justice Department and the FBI had plotted an "administrative coup" to drive President Trump out of office."

On March 25th, Sen. Graham told PBS, "Was it a ruse to get into the Trump campaign?-- I don't know, but I'm going to try to find out."

Senator Rand Paul told Fox and Friends he's against releasing the Mueller report until after a full investigation of all Obama era officials is completed first.

It never stops with Republicans.

A whiny Rand Paul or bitchy Lindsey Graham should not stop the focus on what's important to the Democratic party and the American people.

It's been two months and nine days since the House Democrats were sworn into power after a blue wave gave them complete control of the House of Representatives.

The time for niceties is over. It's time to fight.

Frances Langum contributed to this post.

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