During an appearance on Fox News this Sunday morning, infamous Trump ally Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) sounded obsessed with the possibility of sending political opponents of the president to jail. This nonsense is the kind of behavior that’s put on display in authoritarian countries around the world. If many Republicans (other than Jordan) weren’t blinded by their relentless commitment to the party line, then maybe they could recognize the brazen authoritarianism that they’ve made a space for right in their midst.
Specifically, Jordan claimed that the “number one question” that he gets from both constituents and voters around the country is when someone is going to be jailed for dubiously alleged crimes related to the Russia investigation.
He said:
‘The number one question I get — whether I’m in the fourth district of Ohio or traveling around our state, or traveling around the country, the number one question I get from people is that they’ll walk up to me and say when is somebody going to jail? The reason they say that is because they’re sick of the double standard, this idea that there is one set of rules for the politically connected in D.C. and a different set for us regular folks. So let’s hope that we have the investigation done before the election. Let’s hope that someone is going to be held accountable for the major wrongdoing that took place when they targeted the president’s campaign.’
No “major wrongdoing” took place in connection to the Russia investigation. Does Jordan want us to disbelieve our own eyes and ears and ignore the mountains of evidence clearly establishing the Trump team’s links to Russia? Watch Jordan’s comments below:
While America is ravaged by a deadly pandemic and unemployment is in double digits, Rep. Jim Jordan claims that "the number one question I get from people" is about "when somebody is going to jail" for the investigation of the Trump campaign's dealings with Russia pic.twitter.com/GlB5sIFP3E
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 12, 2020
First of all — does he seriously expect people to take that claim seriously? Over 137,000 people have died from the Coronavirus, the most recent jobs report had national unemployment at 11.1 percent, and a full 35.8 million Americans are either currently receiving unemployment benefits or recently applied for benefits and are waiting to receive a government response. What alternate universe does Jordan live in where his nonsensical, unhinged crusade against the president’s political opponents takes precedent over all of that?
35.8 m Americans are either currently on unemployment benefit (UI/PUA) or have recently applied for it and are waiting to hear back. @EconomicPolicy via @SoberLook pic.twitter.com/PThsCGAMSQ
— Adam Tooze (@adam_tooze) July 11, 2020
Trump himself has gone on plenty of similar unhinged tirades against his opponents. At one point, he delusionally ranted:
‘A lot of very good people were taken down by a small group of Dirty (Filthy) Cops, politicians, government officials, and an investigation that was illegally started & that SPIED on my campaign… If this had happened to a Presidential candidate, or President, who was a Democrat, everybody involved would long ago be in jail for treason (and more), and it would be considered the CRIME OF THE CENTURY, far bigger and more sinister than Watergate!’
….had happened to a Presidential candidate, or President, who was a Democrat, everybody involved would long ago be in jail for treason (and more), and it would be considered the CRIME OF THE CENTURY, far bigger and more sinister than Watergate!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 2, 2020
That entire rant is nonsense and entirely disconnected from reality. No one committed treason via daring to launch the Russia investigation in response to obvious evidence tying the Trump team to Russia. Treason, it’s worth noting, is traditionally dealt with via capital punishment, meaning Trump is about an inch away from saying his opponents should be executed.
