Last updated on July 18th, 2023 at 11:32 am
If Donald Trump thinks Republican senators will be his political shields during the impeachment saga about to play out before the nation, he might think again after GOP Sen. John Kennedy’s horrendous performance on MSNBC on Tuesday.
During an interview with Chuck Todd, the Louisiana senator was reduced to babble after the MSNBC host dumped a cold bucket of facts on him about the made-up Trump conspiracy about Joe Biden and his son, Hunter.
Todd reminded Sen. Kennedy that the Biden-Ukraine conspiracy – which Trump is trying to use to deflect from his own extortion scandal – has been completely debunked by multiple entities.
“There have been four or five different entities that have found nothing here,” the MSNBC host told the Republican senator. “Maybe there’s magical missing information here. But at some point, do you not accept all of these entities looking into it to have found the answer?”
At that point, it only went downhill for Sen. Kennedy, who stumbled his way into a bizarre metaphor about a bank robber and police officer.
Video:
If GOP Senator John Kennedy’s stuttering, stammering performance in this Chuck Todd interview is a preview of how Senate Republicans will defend Trump during impeachment they are in deep, deep trouble when it comes to holding their majority. pic.twitter.com/CbKp4hBYSQ
— Adam Best (@adamcbest) September 24, 2019
The exchange between Chuck Todd and Sen. Kennedy:
TODD: We’ve all looked into it … You do realize you’re looking for an outcome, not the facts. That’s what you keep telling me. There have been four or five different entities that have found nothing here … and they’re not good enough for you. … Ukrainian journalists have. The Ukrainian government has. Apparently, if the FBI’s been contacted, the FBI can’t seem to open an investigation either because they haven’t found enough. American media, myself, we’ve looked into it. The New York Times has looked into it. Look, maybe you’re right. Maybe there’s magical missing information here. But at some point, do you not accept all of these entities looking into it to have found the answer? And again, if what Hunter Biden did was wrong then, boy, there are a lot of people with the last name of Trump that have some answering to do about their foreign work and their foreign entanglements.
SEN: KENNEDY: I’m gonna have to disagree with you, Chuck. I don’t think there has been an in-depth investigation of [Trump’s made-up Biden claims].
TODD: What is your definition of it – if it’s conducted by who? Who would have to conduct this investigation for you to accept that there is nothing there? And do we have to conduct investigations basically based on partisan fairness? Well, if we do this, we have to do that. That isn’t how the rule of law works, sir.
SEN. KENNEDY: Well if you want to be fair, then it seems to me, in my example, that you need to investigate both the alleged bank robber and the alleged violation by the policeman who beat the bank robbery suspect.
Republicans are struggling to defend the sinking president
Republicans have historically been the party that is better at staying on message. After all, the Democrats have a huge tent, which is more susceptible to competing opinions on messaging and strategy.
But on Tuesday, the script flipped and it was the Republicans that were struggling to defend Trump – on both his Ukraine extortion scandal and his lies about Joe Biden’s son.
Democrats, on the other hand, are becoming more united by the minute behind the idea that this lawless president must be held accountable.
If Sen. Kennedy’s performance on Tuesday was an early glimpse of how Republicans will handle the coming impeachment battle, they’re in big trouble – and so is Donald Trump.
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