This past week, President Donald Trump faced the first public hearings of House Democrats’ impeachment inquiry. Those hearings featured witnesses including top Ukraine diplomat Bill Taylor, State Department official George Kent, and former Ukraine Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch, who Trump fired because he believed she stood in the way of his plot to get Biden dirt from Ukraine. As this weekend got underway, Trump remained resolute — on Twitter, he dug only further down into his already precarious position.
Showing just where his mindset still is — and where his closest associates fall on the issue too — Trump retweeted a video clip of Attorney General Bill Barr denouncing the “resistance” as nothing more than saboteurs. Although Barr had indicated his fiercely partisan, pro-Trump leanings before, it’s convenient for him to make his extreme partisanship abundantly clear here as he completely dismisses an entire class of politically minded people as supposedly out of line because they dare oppose Trump.
Barr said:
‘Immediately after President Trump won election, opponents inaugurated what they call ‘The Resistance’ and they rallied around an explicit strategy of using every tool and maneuver to sabotage the functioning of the executive branch.’
That is — just to be clear — brazenly false. Those who “resist” the Trump administration are not trying to sabotage the Executive Branch of the federal government. Rather, they are responding to the Trump administration’s open, repeated provocation through means like enacting policy after policy to undercut immigrants. There’s a big difference.
This weekend, Trump also posted on Twitter that Louisiana voters should go out to the polls to support Republican gubernatorial candidate Eddie Rispone. Many recent polls have had the Democratic incumbent John Bel Edwards out in front. The last time Trump tried to stump for a Republican gubernatorial candidate, that candidate — Kentucky’s Matt Bevin — ended up losing.
This time, Trump tweeted:
‘Good morning Louisiana! Polls are open at 7AM. Get out and VOTE for @EddieRispone to be your next Gov! He will get your taxes and auto insurance (highest in Country!) way down. Loves our Military & Vets. Will protect your 2A… LOUISIANA, VOTE @EddieRispone TODAY! He will be a great governor!’
He also shared a video in support of a convicted war criminal who he decided to release.
“Army 1st Lt. Clint Lorance, one of two U.S. Army officers granted clemency Friday by POTUS Trump, was released from prison in Kansas on Friday night & reunited w/ family members.” ➡️https://t.co/SjeGn8CnoP
Below, Clint reunites w/ family, after 6yrs (19yr sentence) in prison. pic.twitter.com/dpoSwanojS
— Dan Scavino (@DanScavino) November 16, 2019
Check out Twitter’s response below…
