This Has Been A Very Bad Week For The Republican Party— And It’s Only Wednesday!

Trump was convicted— unanimously— of sexual assault. The head of his GOP militia, the Proud Boys, was convicted of seditious conspiracy— as the leader of the Oath Keepers had been— and could spend spend as many as 20 years in prison. MAGA Long Island Congressman George Santos was finally arrested and charged with 13 criminal counts— 7 counts for wire fraud, 3 counts of money laundering, one count of theft of public funds and 2 counts of making materially false statements to the House of Representatives. Meanwhile, Kevin McCarthy is still insisting that House Republicans will not move towards expelling him— not a good look for him or his conference. Santos faces decades-- literally-- in prison, maybe more than the heads of Trump's domestic terrorist militias!

By the way, the NY Times reported that the “bulk of the charges relate to what prosecutors said was a scheme by Santos to solicit donations from political donors and then pocket tens of thousands of dollars for personal expenses, including luxury goods and to pay off debts… [while] falsely telling potential donors that contributions would be used for his congressional campaign. [Investigators] said he used a limited liability company he controlled to collect two $25,000 contributions and employed another person to help. Santos then transferred the money to his personal bank accounts. He is charged with three counts of money laundering in connection to the donor solicitation scheme. Prosectors charged the congressman with two more counts of wire fraud and one count of stealing public money in connection with what they said was a scheme to obtain unemployment benefits from New York beginning in June 2020. Even though he was earning $120,000 a year through his employment at a Florida-based investment company, they said he told the state he was unemployed and collected more than $24,000 in benefits.

Last night Santos missed 2 votes important for his Long Island constituents, the Coastal Communities Ocean Acidification Act & the Advanced Weather Model Computing Development Act. McCarthy has been babbling nonsense all day when confronted with the facts about the Santos case and claims he will not take any action. “If a person is indicted,” he said, "they’re not on committees. They have a right to vote but they have to go to trial,” as though he has any say over that! McCarthy's refusal to take any action is upsetting to vulnerable Republicans in swing districts, especially in New York, where Mike Lawler, Anthony D'Esposito, Nick LaLota, Andrew Garbarino, Marc Molinaro and Brandon Williams are all demanding Santos resign-- though none of the guts to bring up the expulsion resolution that have talked about in the past.

But even skipping over-- at least for the moment-- the mind-blowing Supreme Court bribery news by right wing billionaire, Harlan Crow— currently being protected from accountability by a gaggle of senators, led by McConnell, who he has donated millions of dollars to— there are more problems for the GOP that can’t get lost in the shuffle.

As we saw a few days ago, half of Trump’s fake electors in Georgia have opted for an immunity deal in return for testifying against the Trump coup attempt. One who didn’t take the deal-- or wasn't offered the deal-- was the porcine chairman of the Georgia Republican Party, David Shafer, who personally organized the Georgia efforts to steal the election. He’s almost certain to be indicted. His defense is that he was just following orders from Team Trump, which, his lawyer says, gave him “repeated and detailed advice of legal counsel…”

And take Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville. Right now, he’s blatantly working to make America’s military weaker and less prepared— and getting away with it because… you know: Alabama. This morning Marianna Alfaro reported that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Tuberville’s delay of the quick approval of nearly 200 military promotions poses a “clear risk” to the nation’s military readiness and directly affects the lives of service members’ families. In March, Tuberville vowed to delay the approval of all Pentagon promotions over his objection to the Defense Department’s perfectly legal abortion policy. “His decision, Austin warned in a letter last week to Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), ‘harms America’s national security and hinders the Pentagon’s normal operations… The United States military relies on the deep experience and strategic expertise of our senior military leaders. The longer that this hold persists, the greater the risk the U.S. military runs in every theater, every domain, and every Service.’ Austin has urged the Senate to move ahead with the promotions, telling members of the Senate Armed Services Committee in March that the blockade on military promotions caused a ‘ripple effect in the force that makes us far less ready than we need to be.’”

Tuberville, could be serving the Kremlin’s interests as better if he were a paid spy. Speaking of which… Tuberville was the only member of Congress present at the Trump DC Hotel last minute coup planning session on January 5, along with Donald Trump Jr, Eric Trump, Kremlin agent Michael Flynn, Peter Navarro, Corey Lewandowski, the Mercer family’s David Bossie, Adam Piper of the Republican Attorneys General Association and Charles Herbster. So far none of the coup plotters, including Tuberville, have been arrested.

Last night, after Trump’s conviction on sexual assault charges was announced, Tuberville said the verdict “makes me want to vote for him twice. They're going to do anything they can to keep him from winning. It ain't gonna work... people are gonna see through the lines, a New York jury, he had no chance.”

And with their party collapsing around their ears, what are Republicans talking about in Congress today? Well, of course, spurious claims that the Biden family is guilty of money laundering.