Wednesday, June 10, 2020

REPUBLICANS: WE WANT POLICE REFORM TOO -- WHY ARE YOU LAUGHING?

The press is now telling us that the Republican Party understands the national outrage over police misconduct and wants to participate in the discussion of reforms. The New York Times reports:
Congressional Republicans, caught flat-footed by an election-year groundswell of public support for overhauling policing in America to address systemic racism, are struggling to coalesce around a legislative response....

Adding to their challenge, President Trump has offered only an incendiary response, repeatedly invoking “law and order,” calling for military and police crackdowns on protesters, promoting conspiracy theories, and returning time and again to the false claim that Democrats agitating for change are simply bent on defunding police departments.

On Tuesday, Republicans on Capitol Hill rushed to distance themselves from that approach, publicly making clear that they would lay out their own legislation and refraining from attacking a sweeping Democratic bill unveiled this week aimed at combating racial bias and excessive use of force by the police.
A story in Politico adds:.
Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina — the lone black Republican in the Senate — briefed his colleagues Tuesday on ways to improve policing.... Scott, who was appointed by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to lead the caucus’ effort, then met with senior White House officials including chief of staff Mark Meadows, adviser Jared Kushner and senior aide Ja’Ron Smith.

And Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), one of Trump’s top conservative allies in the House, is aiming to release his own plan to improve police practices by the end of this week.
And we're being told that the president might even get on board -- no, really:
... in an election year anything could happen with the mercurial president — especially with the GOP eager to shed its image as a party that appeals mostly to older, white males.

Several close Trump allies, like Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and John Cornyn of Texas, said Trump could conceivably embrace a product from the Senate.
But Republicans would be a wee bit more credible on this issue if they weren't also doing this:
Trump ally Dan Bongino [is] among the dozen witnesses who are slated to testify Wednesday in front of the House Judiciary Committee....

Bongino, formerly an agent in the U.S. Secret Service, is an outspoken defender of law enforcement. In a recent "Fox and Friends” appearance, he said defunding police was “catastrophic.”

“People will die,” he said.
Those quotes make the former NYPD officer sound sincere and sorrowful. But that's not the real Dan Bongino. Let's look at his recent social media posts. (I had to go into incognito mode to read these, bercause the big tough guy blocked me on Twitter a while ago.)






(Watts is the head of the gun control organization Moms Demand action.)

Bongino retweeted a recent white-nationalist TV monologue from Tucker Carlson (“This may be a lot of things, this moment we are living through, but it is definitely not about black lives—and remember that when they come for you, and at this rate, they will”):



And there's this:



Bongino posts this every day, updating it with the current date. He's hated Obama for a long time. In 2015, when an Illinois police lieutenant named Charles Gliniewicz was found dead, Bongino went on Fox News and blamed Obama:
“The man has been a complete disgrace when it comes to dealing with police officers, and it really gives me no joy in saying that. I know people can engage in hyperbolic statements here, but it’s just the truth. I mean, how many people are going to have to die, how many police officers, before President Obama has that Sister Souljah moment President Clinton had and he comes out and says ‘enough is enough’?”
It turned out that Gliniewicz committed suicide after defrauding a youth group with which he'd been associated.

When Bongino worked for NRATV, he said, “My entire life right now is about owning the libs.” He also used to be a frequent guest on Alex Jones's InfoWars show.

Yeah, inviting that guy really makes me believe you Republicans are sincere about reform.
Posted by Steve M. at 8:49 AM

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)