Category: GOP

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GOP Military U.S. Senate

WATCH A Retired General Put GOP Sen. John Kennedy In His Place

 

Republican Sen. John Kennedy (LA) got more than he bargained for when he tried to attack a retired general at a Senate hearing today.

During a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Kennedy asked Retired Major General Randy Manner about Donald Trump’s mass deportation plan and accused him of favoring “open borders.”

“It makes you angry that most Americans don’t believe in open borders, doesn’t it?” Kennedy asked.

“Not in the slightest, sir,” Manner responded.

Kennedy then asked Manner about a remark he made to CNN on October 14.

“President Trump is not like any sane leader. I’m very proud of General Milley for saying that President Trump is a total fascist,” Kennedy quoted Manner saying. “The challenge is because most MAGA Republicans, they don’t understand what fascism is. The reality is that they are, in fact, fascists themselves.”

“Did I read that accurately?” Kennedy inquired.

“Senator, I am happy to discuss my personal perspectives with you separately at any time,” the general explained. “That’s not the purpose of the hearing today.”

Kennedy: “You think you’re smarter than the American people, don’t you?”

“Absolutely not, senator,” Manner replied. “I am here to discuss the use of the military as part of this mass deportation.”

“You think you’re more virtuous than the American people, don’t you, general?” Kennedy asked.

That’s when Manner let Kennedy know he wasn’t about to take any of his crap.

“Senator, I am insulted by your comment. Senator, for 35 years, I served my country with absolute honor and distinction, and I will continue to do so.”

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GOP Social Safety Net WTF?!

GOP Congressman: ‘We Can Move The Retirement Age Back’ To ‘Save’ Social Security

Republican Congressman Mark Alford (MO) said this morning that the way to cut trillions from the federal budget is to “move the retirement age back” and “save” Social Security.

On Fox Business Network’s Mornings With Maria, Alford said both Social Security and Medicare need to be changed because “people are living longer.”

Referencing a visit to Capitol Hill last week from Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, who have been charged by Donald Trump to slash the federal budget, Alford said, “You know they were here the last week speaking to members of Congress and really they weren’t speaking as much that’s were listening, getting some — from all sides of our conference — some ideas to cut our budget.”

The Missouri Republican added:

“We all agree this is an unsustainable area that we’re in right now — almost $36 trillion in debt and we are spending more on the interest on our debt than we are going to spend on the National Defense Authorization Act this year. Over a trillion dollars. And so we’ve got to right the ship and it’s going to mean cuts. It’s going to mean cuts to the 24% of the discretionary spending that we have and it’s also going to mean looking long-term at the front end of some programs like Social Security and Medicare. Not taking anyone off of what they paid into so far. But there is some waste, abuse and fraud in Medicare that we can take those numbers back and add to our general coffers and our treasury. And on the front end on Social Security, I think there’s a way, when people are living longer, they’re retiring later, then on the front end we can move that retirement age back a little bit.”

Move the retirement age back? How far? To the age of 70? To 80? Or would 90 be better for the GOP?

Hey, maybe we should say no one can ever retire and has to work until the day they die. And those who become unable to work can just starve, thereby making them less of a burden on the government. Sound good, Congressman Alford?

Here’s a better plan: Tax the rich at a rate of 50 percent or higher and cut every member of Congress’ salary to $5 a year with no benefits until they solve the problem without screwing over working people.

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Elon Musk GOP Social Safety Net

Spurred By Elon Musk, The GOP Sounds Ready To Slash Social Security

Carrying his two-year-old son on his shoulders as he walked through the halls of Congress on Thursday, Twitter/X CEO Elon Musk made it clear that he’s ready to slash just about every government program to the bone.

Even Social Security? Yep. Even Social Security.

According to Jake Johnson of Common Dreams, Republicans who met with Musk seem willing to help dismantle the social safety net that has existed since Franklin Delano Roosevelt was president.

On Thursday, Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) emerged from a meeting with Musk and Ramaswamy with the message that “nothing is sacrosanct.”

“They’re going to put everything on the table,” said Norman, one of the wealthiest members of Congress.

After airing Norman’s remarks, Fox Business reported that Musk and Ramaswamy told lawmakers that no federal program is safe from cuts, “and that includes Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.”

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) even suggested that he was open to touching the “third rail” of American politics and cutting the social safety net, telling NBC’s Julie Tsirkin “perhaps mandatory programs are areas that they’re looking to make cuts in, like Social Security, for example.”

Musk has also been making his plans clear on his social media platform, amplifying posts from Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT), who has previously said he wants to “get rid of” Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.

Ramaswamy is also opposed to Social Security. During an interview on CNBC, he said that there are “hundreds of billions of dollars of savings to extract” from Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. He alleges that all three suffer from massive waste, fraud, and abuse but refuses to provide details to support his accusations.

“People love to have lazy armchair discussions about, oh, are you going to make cuts to entitlements or not, when, in fact, the dirty little secret is that many of those entitlement dollars aren’t even going to people who they were supposed to be going to in the first place,” said Ramaswamy.

For his part, Donald Trump has repeatedly said he will not allow anyone to touch Social Security, but as Ryan Teague Beckwith of MSNBC wrote recently, Trump is known as a liar who cannot be trusted.

“Would Trump try to cut Social Security? It’s hard to say. Over the years, he has staked out every possible position on Social Security—sometimes within hours of each other.”

“So if Republicans—or Musk—decide to propose changes to Social Security benefits,” Beckwith adds, “it’s possible that he might go along with it.”

Possible? It’s almost guaranteed, because that way he and the Republicans can give more tax cuts to rich assholes like Musk and Ramaswamy, who appear to be controlling Trump whether he realizes it or not.

 

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GOP Social Media

Margie Greene Says She Wants A ‘Blanket Pardon’ – The Internet Asks ‘Is That A Confession?’

To express her outrage over the pardon President Joe Biden gave to his son, Hunter, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) declared yesterday that she wants a “blanket pardon” when Donald Trump retakes office next year.

On Twitter/X, Greene posted, “If Democrats are going to play the pardon game then we should do the same thing. Trump can just blanket pardon all of us too.”

https://twitter.com/mtgreenee/status/1863953303899357555

Reportedly, Greene begged Trump for a pardon before he left office in 2020. That’s according to Cassidy Hutchinson, an aide to former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, who told the House Jan. 6 committee in 2022, “I heard that she asked the White House counsel’s office for a pardon.”

Greene denied Hutchinson’s allegation, calling it “gossip and lies.”

But the Georgia Republican’s latest reference to being pardoned left many wondering if she had just accidentally confessed to having committed a crime.

https://twitter.com/Toplinesman/status/1863960684070908280

https://twitter.com/LizbethFriedman/status/1864146942265085976

Instead of asking for a pardon, Margie might just want to go ahead and put an attorney on retainer.

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GOP Social Media

Ted Cruz Tries To Troll MSNBC Hosts And Winds Up In The Middle Of An Embarrassing Self-Own

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz (R) couldn’t resist firing off a cheap shot at two MSNBC hosts, but his attempt at trolling them resulted in the joke being at his own expense.

Appearing on Sean Hannity’s nightly hour of conspiracy theories, lies, and assorted bullshittery, Cruz suggested that when Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski made a visit to Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort after last month’s presidential election to mend fences hadn’t done so to kiss the Donald’s ring.

“I’m not even sure they were kissing the ring. I think they were kissing a little bit lower than that.”

While that may sound like a nasty burn, the fact that it’s coming from a sniveling sycophant like Cruz is beyond hypocritical, not to mention ironic to the nth degree.

After all, this the very same Ted Cruz who angrily whined when Trump made fun of his wife’s looks during the 2016 race for the White House, only to turn around and enthusiatically endorse him less than a month later when he wanted to remain politically viable in the Republican Party.

So instead of landing a blow on Scarborough and Brzezinski, all Teddy accomplished was humiliating himself so he could once again curry favor with a man who hates him. And that’s beyond pathetic, as social media users reminded Cruz.