|
Nunes’s Insanity Is America’s
Devin Nunes spent many of his early years in Congress as a single issue representative: Valley agriculture and its ever-voracious desire for water. In that at least he is still on brand, signing on for billions of taxpayer subsidies to big agricultural producers who have been both voting for and suffering from Trump’s attention-deficient trade war with China. However, from the moment Trump first nailed his red hat on the head of the Republican elephant, Nunes has found a new love in the swirling chaotic world of conservative conspiracy theories and the lies that build them.
As a member of the House Intelligence Committee, Nunes wielded what legislative power he had to defend Trump and lash out viciously at any threat, real or imagined. Most recently, he has moved onto Trump’s favorite lie-of-the-day, which claims the Democratic Party conspired with Ukraine to rig the 2016 presidential election, presumably against themselves.
Nunes’ denials of the Russian campaign to benefit the Republican Party stand out even in today’s era of bold-faced Republican lies. Much like with Trump, it is hard to imagine what Nunes’ foreign policy goals might be other than the advancement of Russian interests. One can only imagine that the land near Joseph McCarthy’s grave is now an earthquake zone from the late Russophobe’s rolling.
Nunes has grown ever more like the reality-show actor in the Oval Office. The thin-skinned California Congressional member currently has an ongoing lawsuit in Virginia against the California-based company Twitter. Nunes contends that Twitter allowed Republican strategist Liz Mair to operate several satirical Twitter accounts, including “Devin Nunes’ Mom” and Devin Nunes’ Cow,” which he contends are illegal defamation.
It is rightly nearly impossible for public figures such as politicians to win defamation cases, but today there is a dangerous movement growing within the Republican Party to undo that pillar of free society. Nunes is also suing in Virginia the California-based company McClatchy, which owns the Fresno Bee, this time for reporting on a sexual harassment accusation against a winery of which Nunes is a part owner. Again, the accusation is defamation.
Other Nunes lawsuits, nearly all in Virginia despite not including any Virginia-based defendants, include lashing out against a Valley farmer who protested the politician naming his occupation as “farmer” on ballots, Esquire magazine for an article describing the area around Nunes’ parents’ Iowa farm and contrast between the agricultural dependency on illegal immigrant labor and its anti-immigrant voting record, and the company Fusion GPS for taking money from the Jeb Bush and Hillary Clinton campaigns to create the first investigative dossier on Russian interest in Trump’s presidential campaign. Worryingly, some judges are letting these clearly frivolous lawsuits move forward. The conservative tilt of our current judicial branch seems to be steering toward Trump’s world where whistleblowers are spies deserving of execution.
The Republican Party, led by Trump, has become the enemy of truth and democracy. A republic such as ours depends on the concept of an informed electorate, which can judge the performance of their chosen representatives. The Republican approach of sowing distrust in all sources, lying without repercussion and presenting reporting on their actions as treachery is as dangerous to the soul of our country as any act of civil war.
It is exhausting to face this never-ending onslaught of gross and petty lies, but we must. We must stand against the attempts of authoritarians such as Trump and Nunes at every single turn.
|
