While the focus is properly on the compromise of Russian asset and treasonous sociopath Donald "Rump" Trump made manifest in the Helsinki capitulation (#treasonsummit), the extent of the conspiracy to undermine our democracy runs far deeper into the Rethuglican / New Confederate / Shooters Party. While a handful of Rethug office holders have offered up one-off criticisms of Rump's betrayal to corrupt Russian thug Vladimir Putin, they'll do nothing in Congress to back it up or prevent Rump from new betrayals out of craven fear of Trumpists.
When Senate Majority Leader and corrupt party-over-country hack Mitch "Missy" McConnell was made aware by U.S. intelligence prior to the 2016 election that Russia was meddling in the election with the aim of helping Rump, he blocked a bipartisan announcement of the meddling, saying that he would portray it as a "partisan" attack on Rump. As David Klion writes in The Nation:
"It’s not a stretch to say McConnell deliberately undermined national security for partisan advantage, a decision that has paid off with the signing of a massive tax cut for the wealthy and the looming establishment of a durable right-wing majority on the Supreme Court."The party-before-country Rethugs in the House also thought that interference in our election by a hostile foreign power was amusing, as long as they benefitted:
"It’s rarely recalled now, but back in May 2017, The Washington Post published the transcript of a conversation from June 2016 among the House Republican leadership, in which House majority leader Kevin McCarthy made clear that he was aware 'the Russians hacked the DNC and got the opp research that they had on Trump' and speculated 'there’s two people, I think, that Putin pays: [Representative Dana] Rohrabacher and Trump.' Amid laughter, House Speaker Paul Ryan insisted that the conversation remain off the record, adding, 'What’s said in the family stays in the family.' Ryan would later claim he and McCarthy were joking." (our emphasis)There's also the information revealed in the indictment of 12 Russian military intelligence officers last Friday that a Rethuglican Congressional candidate solicited dirt on his/her opponent from Russian military intelligence.
As an almost comical example of Rethuglican ignominy when it comes to kowtowing to Moscow, there was the July 4 visit by eight Rethuglican lawmakers to the Kremlin to play softball with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and apparently to let him know (because Putin was otherwise occupied) that the Rethuglican Party was open for shady business, despite the Mueller investigation. The sour irony that they were there in Moscow on our Independence Day wasn't lost on most observers.
The rot runs deep and wide.
