Adam Schiff Hammers Cruz & Hawley For Kissing Putin’s Ring

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Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) is among the many Americans who are fed up with self-obsessed buffoons like Sens. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who seem so sure of themselves but consistently have so little that’s constructive to offer to the national political conversation.

In a frankly humiliating appearance last month on the Fox News show hosted by Tucker Carlson, Cruz apologetically walked back his previous usage of the word “terrorists” to describe individuals who participated in the assault on the Capitol, because he claimed that “Democrats and the media” have been “twisting words and trying to say that all of us are terrorists.” More recently, Hawley pushed the Biden administration to drop the long-standing support by the United States for the eventual membership of Ukraine in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Hawley justified his position by arguing that needing to defend Ukraine in the event of its membership in the alliance would further jeopardize the ability of the U.S. to respond to threats posed by China — but any way you cut it, Hawley’s push plays into the interests of Russian officials, who oppose Ukraine joining NATO. Schiff pointed out this week as follows:

‘First, Cruz begs forgiveness for saying Jan 6 attackers were terrorists. Now, Hawley echoes the Kremlin, questioning if Ukraine should be allowed in NATO. Welcome to Trump’s GOP, where propaganda is policy and Senators grovel at the feet of despots.’

Republican Party officials once again showed their commitment to Trump and his agenda this week with a censure resolution against Reps. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) and Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) over their participation in the House committee investigating the Capitol riot. Beyond the notion of censuring Cheney and Kinzinger for investigating the circumstances surrounding the riot, the censure resolution disturbingly includes an insistence that the duo are “participating in a Democrat-led persecution of ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse.” The riot investigation committee has targeted individuals such as leaders of the far-right groups known as the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers; in recent days, investigators directly heard from Oath Keepers founder and leader Stewart Rhodes, who’s currently jailed ahead of his trial on charges including seditious conspiracy. Are these the people who Republican Party officials would say merely participated in “legitimate political discourse”? What about those who brutally beat police officers?

Cheney and Kinzinger are remaining committed to their convictions amid opposition from the national GOP. (Censure constitutes a formal rebuke.) Cheney, for instance, said that she does “not recognize those in my party who have abandoned the Constitution to embrace Donald Trump,” adding: “History will be their judge. I will never stop fighting for our constitutional republic. No matter what.”