This morning Fox News anchor Bill Hemmer brought the Grand Wizard of Cynical Pronouncements Newt Gingrich on to explain how mean House Democrats are being to Donald Trump with all their impeachment nonsense.
First, he pulled the lynching card: "The whole thing is a joke," he declared. "Frankly the whole thing is very close to what Clarence Thomas once described as a 'modern day lynch mob.'"
Second, the projection card: "The Democrats have no interest in the facts." We all know Newt wouldn't know a fact in this case if it came up with a sign and smacked him in the ass with it.
Third, the Jonathan Turley card: "I think Jonathan Turley, the professor who voted against Trump, but who nonetheless came back and testified the other day that of the two impeachments that have occurred -- Clinton and Johnson back in the 1870s -- this is the weakest of the three," Gingrich claimed. "He said it is an embarrassment to the country, it lowers the prestige of the House and that it's the House which is abusing power."
Actually, that isn't what he said at all. Anyone who was watching heard what he said, and specifically with regard to the obstruction of Congress charge only. Here he is on NPR saying it again:
And what Congress is saying is that if the president invokes executive privilege or immunities and goes to court, he can be impeached for that - that he has to just turn over the information to Congress. Now, that's a position that was maintained during the Nixon impeachment. In fact, it was the basis of the third article of impeachment. I've always disagreed with it. It's not that you can't impeach a president for withholding documents and witnesses. You can, and President Trump could well be the next one to be impeached on those grounds.
His testimony was quite tortured, actually. He admitted that the letter was far less than perfect, that the witnesses heard in the Intelligence Committee were credible, and more. But he is actually not partisan, just wrong. That didn't stop Gingrich from pretending otherwise. "Now Turley is a Democrat. But as an expert I think he actually outlined exactly what we're up against," he said.
Finally, he laid down his final card: "And really, on the eve of Christmas it is really sad to see the dishonesty and partisanship that the House Democrats are displaying."
Gingrich and his House of Representatives impeached Bill Clinton for lying about a blowjob on December 19, 1998.
He really earned his pointy hat and Grand Wizard title today, didn't he?
