Joy Reid sought comments from CNBC correspondent John Harwood today about why the Republican party has strayed so far from its Reaganite principles. She noted that members now run away from questions about foreign interference in our election and are promoting Russian propaganda that Ukraine, not Russia, interfered in our 2016 election.
Harwood laid out some hard truths in a way not often seen from a reporter:
But what is plain from all of this testimony is, we know the answer -- he did it. All of this evidence, this huge accumulation of evidence from highly credible witnesses over and over and over shows us that what we saw initially on that summary of the Trump/Zelensky call is, in fact, what happened. He pressured Volodymyr Zelensky, a vulnerable new leader of a country at war with Russia, under attack from Russia, he pressured them to get an investigation of the Bidens. Now, Republicans can pretend to have a defense. They can say -- they could try to impeach people as Never Trumpers. None of that is good faith. They don't have a serious argument, that didn't happen. The only question now is, what do you do about it? Is it impeachable?
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HARWOOD: Russia interfered, and [the Republicans'] line of argument is an attempt to absolve Russia and absolve the Trump campaign. The facts have been established, and now the question is what we as a country do with it.
That is indeed the question. The answer likely depends on whether anything can be done to make the Trump Tribe put facts, national security and the rule of law ahead of loyalty to Dear Leader.
