The huge disconnect at the core of the GOP defense of Trump

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

There’s a strange, gaping disconnect at the core of the Republican performance at the ongoing congressional hearing about Michael Cohen and President Trump.

On one hand, Republicans have, so far, spent every second they could find pointing to all the reasons that nobody should believe a single word Cohen says about anything.

But if Cohen, who was Trump’s personal lawyer and fixer for a decade, and is now cooperating with the special counsel’s inquiry, was really as woefully lacking in credibility as Republicans claim, then why wouldn’t their House Oversight Committee members also be using all their time interrogating the specific claims that Cohen is making about Trump himself?

After all, by their own lights, you can’t believe anything Cohen says. And this is the best — and probably only — chance they’ll have to go one-on-one with Cohen. So why not grab on to this unique chance to demonstrate for the whole world to see that Cohen’s many allegations also can’t be believed?

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But ask yourself this: How much time did they spend cross-examining Cohen about the many substantive claims he made in his testimony?

Consider some of the big revelations of the day. Cohen alleged that he overheard Trump on a phone call with Roger Stone, who gave him a heads-up on a coming Wikileaks email dump. At the hearing, Cohen elaborated, claiming he’d overheard this conversation on speaker phone. He even said that he believed special counsel Robert S. Mueller III may have corroborating information about this.

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https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/narendramodi_opinion/the-huge-disconnect-at-the-core-of-the-gop-defense-of-trump/ar-BBUaOcc?li=BBnb7Kz

[billh58]

1. A crime was committed, and Republicans shrug their shoulders

(CNN)President Trump's former personal lawyer Michael Cohen made a series of shocking allegations about the commander in chief Wednesday.

As the President spent his day overseas trying to reach a historic deal with the North Koreans, Cohen painted a portrait of a leader who has engaged in all sorts of fraud, broke campaign finance laws, associated with devious figures, knew of the dirty and possibly illegal tricks being done by some members of his campaign and who instructed associates like Cohen to intimidate people who were perceived as a threat.

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Throughout their questioning of Cohen, the Republicans showed absolutely no interest in probing the issues that were raised about the President.

They spent the entire time attacking Cohen's behavior and making insinuations about the Democratic-led hearings themselves. Republicans took every opportunity to remind the public that Cohen is on his way to prison, in part for lying to Congress. They used Cohen's lawyer and former Clinton associate, Lanny Davis, and suggestions about mysterious forces funding him, as the bogeyman to allege that Cohen's testimony was politically motivated.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/27/opinions/trumps-base-wont-desert-him-over-cohen-but-thats-not-the-key-zelizer/index.html

The rabid right-wing is too heavily invested in Trump's criminal enterprise to actually investigate, or even acknowledge, his anti-social behavior, or his actual crimes.

Our side will need to do all of the heavy lifting in order to prosecute the Orange Anus-Mouth.