GOP politicians are quite literally bullying their adversaries.... and allies

Plus, the failure of the media to properly cover Trump's rhetoric, and the Supreme Court's attempts at a new ethics code prove flimsy.

WHAT YOU MISSED

At a Veteran’s Day rally over the weekend, Donald Trump made — even for his standards — alarming comments about his perceived political enemies. The former president claimed that geopolitical rivals like Russia and China were less of a threat to the U.S. as compared to what he thought were the true threats from within. 

“We pledge to you that we will root out the communists, Marxists, fascists and the radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country that lie and steal and cheat on elections,” Trump said to a crowd in Claremont, N.H. 

“They’ll do anything, whether legally or illegally, to destroy America and to destroy the American Dream.”

Historians and academics compared Trump’s rhetoric to that of fascist strongmen like Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini. Still, a Trump spokesman responded by asserting that “those who try to make that ridiculous assertion are clearly snowflakes grasping for anything because they are suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome and their entire existence will be crushed when President Trump returns to the White House.”

But despite such candid language, mainstream media failed to respond properly. Per our own Jennifer Schulze, The New York Times and other major outlets seemed underwhelmed. “In the newspaper of record, this promise of political revenge was minimized and normalized,” she wrote Monday. 

“If you were only skimming the headlines, you might think Trump was engaged in a routine political campaign event instead of a vile political revenge plot.” 

On Capitol Hill today, GOP senators and members of Congress were either threatening to or quite literally assaulting their political rivals. First, Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) told CNN that former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) sucker punched him with a push via the elbow while Burchett was being interviewed by a National Public Radio reporter. 

Claudia Grisales, the NPR reporter, later recalled the event in a post to X that McCarthy “shoved Burchett. Burchett lunged towards me. I thought it was a joke, it was not. And a chase ensued…” 

And then, in a U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing, Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) attempted to instigate a fight with Teamsters President Sean O’Brien. 

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), who was chairing the committee, broke up the verbal altercation. 

This is not the first time the two men have almost come to blows. Back in March, the pair shared harsh words in almost the exact same setting, which led to Mullin — who was once a professional Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) athlete — proposing in June that the two engage in an MMA-style fight to settle their dispute.

To curb criticism of the multiple Supreme Court Justices embroiled in gift-giving scandals, the Court announced yesterday that they will implement a new set of ethics codes. However, the Revolving Door Project, a liberal watchdog group that focuses on political influence and finance, released a statement calling the new codes toothless. 

“Today’s so-called Supreme Court ‘Code of Conduct’ comes with no enforcement mechanism. This unenforceable public relations document serves absolutely no purpose other than to permit the media to revert to pretending that our unaccountable and unethical Supreme Court retains legitimacy,” Jeff Hauser, the group’s executive director, wrote.

In the wake of Sen. Joe Manchin’s (D-WV) announcement that he will not seek reelection, a new piece by Politico is alleging that Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) had spent quite some time orchestrating Manchin’s exit from politics.

“Senate Republicans worked for more than a year to make Joe Manchin’s retirement announcement on Thursday a reality,” the publication reported.

“And for good reason: The Democrat’s decision puts Republicans on the precipice of a majority that’s eluded them for two straight election cycles.”

West Virginia’s Republican governor, Jim Justice, is the favorite to replace Manchin in the Senate.