A Sorcerers Guide to Impeachment
A Master Class in Safe and Effective Narratives for Democrats
There is a true and a false science, a divine magic and a magic that is infernal, that is to say misleading and obscure: we will reveal one and unveil the other; we will distinguish the magician from the sorcerer and the adept from the charlatan -
Eliphas Levi
KJP, Karine Jean-Pierre. Isn’t she just so sexy cute? Those curls! She checks so many boxes on the identity scale: black, a birthing person hostile to birthing, she is shacked up with another birthing person hostile to birthing, she has that frenchie name, she is smokin’ hot (wait, I already said that), and she’s a stutterer. That last part, what an achievement indeed, to be the White House Press Secretary. How can you not adore her?
She was asked repeatedly in a recent press conference, about impeachment. What follows are her words only, until we get to Ian Sams, Special Assistant to the President. You will hear all the Facts, so that you will know what is True, all else is mis- and dis-information, and outright lies. So many lies. The White House and adjacent media shall be your sole source of information, America.
I put a few things in bold so you will know the most important things to put on repeat, which are the only parts that really matter. If you just repeat the words in bold like a daily mantra you will be totally good. In fact you could practically read nothing of this post but the words in bold and you would get the message. I also added a few throwaway comments in the text in brackets.
In the spirit of repetition and stuttering, I love that picture so much I added it again.
“"a baseless inquiry that the House Republicans can’t even really defend themselves
“they have spent all year investigating the President. That’s what they’ve spent all year doing, and have turned up with no evidence — none — he — that he did anything wrong.
“we’ve heard over and over again from their almost lear — year-long investigation. And — and that’s because the President didn’t do anything wrong.
“Their own investigation have actually debunked their ridiculous attacks.
“So, you know, that’s why we call it baseless. That’s why I just called it baseless, because they have said themselves that there is no evidence. There does not — the evidence does not exist, and this is a political stunt
“from what I just laid out, Republicans have been — made it pretty clear just how illegitimate this is. They’ve made that very clear. This is a — this is an entire exercise of how to do this in an illegitimate way.
”And, again, it’s a politi- — political stunt. And it is going after the President politically — not about the truth. There is no truth here.“even House Republicans have said — have said the evidence does not exist.
“It’s actually an actual fact.
“When you have Republicans saying that there is no — no evidence, it doesn’t exist. They have said that.
“they could not even support their own votes. They couldn’t. Speaker McCarthy could not even get support for this vote.
“there is no evidence.”
Sure, there is nothing quite as snappy as “safe and effective”, but you have some idea now what you have to repeat again, and again, and again….so as not to fall prey to lies. Though I do have to say, I think the closest thing to safe and effective is the line, “there is no truth here.”
The White House gave the media their marching orders talking points, sending out a 2pg and a 14pg “memo.” Sadly though, Ian Sams doesn’t fit any of the boxes on the proper identity scale, unless, maybe, if he is Jewish, except that is kind of white adjacent. But at least he is on the side of Truth, even if he is a not-trans.
Ian Sams
Special Assistant to the President, White House Counsel’s Office
“at every turn, their allegations about wrongdoing by Joe Biden have been debunked and refuted by their own witnesses’ testimony, the financial records they have obtained, independent public reporting, and more.
"it’s clear that this “investigation” is all politics and no evidence. Chairman Comer has already conceded that his investigation is not about pursuing the truth but about damaging the President’s poll numbers,
“and every day it becomes more clear that Comer and his fellow extreme MAGA Republicans in Congress have decided that peddling conspiracy theories is more important than working with President Biden and Democrats on the real issues
‘Virtually every single allegation that House Republicans have suggested would be the basis for pursuing impeachment has been refuted. [virtually?]
“Again and again, Speaker McCarthy, Marjorie Taylor Greene, James Comer, and other House Republicans have shown that they are pursuing a baseless impeachment stunt – despite revealing no evidence of wrongdoing by Joe Biden – in a relentless effort to smear the President.
“The relentless pursuit of this extreme, far-right political agenda comes at the expense of what the American people have sent their leaders to Washington to do – move past the constant political warfare and focus on working together to improve the lives of American families.
“After nearly 9 months of investigating, House Republicans haven’t been able to turn up any evidence of the President doing anything wrong. But House Republicans led by Marjorie Taylor Greene are nonetheless opening a baseless impeachment inquiry of President Biden – despite many House Republicans openly admitting there is no evidence on which to support it.
“Impeachment is grave, rare, and historic. The Constitution requires “treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.”
“It’s time for the media to ramp up its scrutiny of House Republicans for opening an impeachment inquiry based on lies. When even House Republican members are admitting that there is simply no evidence that Joe Biden did anything wrong, much less impeachable, that should set off alarm bells for news organizations.
“For years, Republicans in Congress have tried to muddy the waters by attracting media coverage of their allegations, and as they choose to move forward with impeachment, it is the responsibility of the independent press to treat their claims with the appropriate scrutiny.
“Covering impeachment as a process story – Republicans say X, but the White House says Y – is a disservice to the American public who relies on the independent press to hold those in power accountable. [the only thing to report about Republican allegations is that they are debunked lies.]
“And in the modern media environment, where every day liars and hucksters peddle disinformation and lies everywhere from Facebook to Fox, process stories that fail to unpack the illegitimacy of the claims on which House Republicans are basing all their actions only serve to generate confusion, put false premises in people’s feeds, and obscure the truth.
"House Republican leaders should be held accountable for the fact that they are lurching toward impeachment over allegations that are not only unfounded but, in virtually all cases, have been actively disproven – including by witnesses and documents in their own investigations, as well as years-old congressional probes and even the former President’s first impeachment inquiry.
“As you begin to cover the House GOP’s impeachment push more intensely, enclosed you will find a 14-page appendix that comprehensively addresses the 7 key lies House Republicans are suggesting they are basing an impeachment on. We hope this document helps provide you with factual information useful in your reporting on their unprecedented, unfounded claims underlying an impeachment inquiry without any evidence of wrongdoing”
I particularly love that bit about everyday liars and hucksters. You are going to hear these words and phrases repeated, ad nauseam, ongoing through 2023 at least. The name Marjorie Taylor Greene if not the person is going to haunt your dreams.
CNN
Oliver is at least not-white (at least no one is going to mistake him for the Darcy of Pride and Prejudice, which should be cancelled anyway because it is all-white.)
Oliver Darcy
Senior Media Reporter
“The correspondence comes one day after McCarthy announced that he had directed three House committees to begin an impeachment inquiry into Biden. House Republicans, most of whom have denied that disgraced former President Donald Trump committed any wrongdoing, have long sought to baselessly portray Biden as a corrupt, crime-ridden politician engaged in sinister activities.
“While news organizations have published innumerable fact checks on the matter, they have also often failed to robustly call out the mis- and disinformation peddled by Republicans in their coverage, frustrating officials in the Biden White House who believe that the news media should be doing more to dispel lies that saturate the public discourse….
“McCarthy launched the impeachment inquiry Tuesday without a formal House vote in a bid to appease Republicans on his far-right, including those who have threatened to oust the California Republican from his speakership if he does not move swiftly enough on such an investigation.
“The Republican House-led investigations into Biden have yet to provide any direct evidence that the president financially benefited from Hunter Biden’s career overseas.”
https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/12/media/white-house-letter-news-executives/index.html
The other half of the propaganda article was just quotes from the memo.
Now you know what is permissible to say and believe. Everything else you hear is a lie. Everything the Republicans say about anything is a lie. Everything Democrats and Biden say is Truth. Obviously.
Now we can return to our regular programming.
Matt Taibbi’s covered this well. Thank god for journalists like him. But they’re a dying breed.
"Now we can return to our regular programming."
I prefer NO programming, as I've had my share of shit to DE-program throughout my nearly six decades on this planet!
Still, I appreciate your word analysis of the cushy-job-keeping career clowns🤡!