Last updated on September 25th, 2023 at 02:49 pm
Top conservative commentator Charlie Sykes said Monday that Donald Trump and his defenders in the administration are running “one of the least effective cover-ups in history.”
He also trashed Republicans in Congress for humiliating themselves in their efforts to defend what are clear high crimes and misdemeanors on the part of the president of the United States.
Sykes pointed to performances by House minority leader Kevin McCarthy and GOP Rep. Jim Jordan – two blindly loyal Trump supporters – who crashed and burned in their first attempts to defend Trump’s criminal conduct.
“You have the top Republican in the House of Representatives beclowning himself on the first weekend of defending the president,” Sykes told MSNBC’s Chris Matthews. “They’re looking for a narrative but the fact is we know what the narrative is.”
Sykes added, “A lot of what happened with Ukraine took place in plain sight.”
In other words, it’s hard to deny criminal behavior that happened in full view of the world. Trump and his remaining allies are starting to figure that out as they talk to any serious journalist outside of the Fox News bubble.
Video:
.@SykesCharlie slams members of the House GOP for “beclowning” themselves as they attempt to defend Donald Trump. #ctl #p2 pic.twitter.com/3FjkM3GT1j
— PoliticusUSA (@politicususa) October 1, 2019
Sykes said:
You have the top Republican in the House of Representatives beclowning himself on the first weekend of defending the president. This was an embarrassment really throughout the day. I think a lot of other Republicans need to look at that and go, ‘Okay, if this is the best we’ve got, am I going to be the next guy? Am I going to be the next Kevin McCarthy or Jim Jordan?’ But I think that the tell was how weak their defenses were. They’re looking for a narrative but the fact is we know what the narrative is. It’s not hearsay. The president has acknowledged it. We have this quasi transcript. A lot of what happened with Ukraine took place in plain sight. Yes, there was an attempted cover-up but it’s one of the least effective cover-ups in history. So what they’re left with is to throw stuff up against the wall, try to attack and intimidate and discredit the whistle-blower. But I think the weakness of the Trump defense was really on display yesterday.
Why the Trump-GOP spin machine is failing so miserably
Over the last three years, Donald Trump – with the help of Republicans in Congress and right-wing extremists on Fox News – has somewhat successfully created a safe, fact-free space that allows him to come away clean from any lie or scandal that plagues the White House.
In those previous instances – from Russian collusion to the Mueller report to Trump’s infamous hush-money payments to an adult film actress, and on and on – Trump and the right-wing spin machine were able to capitalize on somewhat complicated investigations or scandals.
But what is happening with Ukraine – and apparently other foreign powers – is so clear-cut that Trump and his defenders have no room to create a competing narrative. The truth is such a smoking gun that their transparently false talking points collapse almost the moment they leave their mouths.
The pathetic performances by die-hard Trump defenders show that there are limits to the fact-free MAGA crowd’s ability to completely whitewash reality.
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