Here Lies the Republican Party
We’ve gotten to the point where even the highest ranking elected Republicans have no problem just flat-out lying. Well, either that or they’re monumentally ignorant. For some, it’s admittedly hard to decide between. But generally not.
Yesterday, Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) got about as blatantly egregious as you can get.
It began when CNN’s
CNN's Jim Sciutto posted a tweet that described the debt ceiling as "about past spending commitments, not new spending." That seemed rational enough. Except, as reality, it posed a bit of a problem for the line the GOP is trying to sell in order to justify their sending the U.S. economy into freefall. So, Mr. Cornyn replied with a tweet that gave new meaning to the phrase "stomach-churning irresponsible." Cornyn, an actual sitting senator, wrote back -- "No. Otherwise we would have already exceeded the debt limit. This is for future spending."
And there’s our conundrum. After all, his response is sort of the equivalent of saying, “No. Up is down.” So, either Sen. Cornyn is a blatant, reprehensible liar or he is just mind-numbingly ignorant. But for anyone confused, here's is the truth from the U.S. Treasury's OWN WEBSITE!! At the top of the page, in big letters, they write –
"The debt limit is the total amount of money that the United States government is authorized to borrow to meet its existing legal obligations"
But don’t take my word for it, here’s a graphic from the top of the U.S. Department of the Treasury's webpage on the subject in big letters --
Okay, that seems pretty clear. Especially since it’s from the course. But this all gets even worse for Sen. Cornyn, because the very first line below that directly contradicts what he tries to flim-flam the public when he tweeted, "This is for future spending."
In fact -- as in, well… "fact" -- what the U.S. Treasury itself says is not only the exact opposite, but it’s so contradictory that it’s almost as if someone at the Treasury Department had read Cornyn’s tweet and quickly updated their site to correct him. They write --
"The debt limit does not authorize new spending commitments."
As in, no, it is not for future spending.
It's very hard to miss. You can see it right there, under the official Department of the Treasury shield, directly below the equally hard-to-miss words, "Debt Limit" --
And it see all that and more, indeed everything about what the Debt Limit really is on the U.S. Treasury website here.
This is pretty blatant stuff, in as clear enough language that even Cornyn's fellow-Texan Louie Gohmert could understand it. From the people who should know.
But then, Sen. Cornyn should know. He's been in the U.S. Senate for 19 years. And they raise the Debt Limit every year. So, in language Cornyn can understand, this is not his first rodeo.
This is so obvious, so blatant, so gallingly opposite the truth and wrong that either John Cornyn is a knowing, disreputable liar attempting to deceive the public (or more the case, deceive his GOP base since most everyone else gets it) -- or he's is totally clueless in his job after 19 years that you wonder how he's able to function.
As his likely-favorite "news" channel says -- we report, you decide.
BTW, as long as we're on the subject of the debt, we should also note our national debt increased by $8 trillion under Trump. No wonder Republicans like Cornyn not want you to look at the past, but only "future spending." The GOP not only doesn’t want to pay for what they spent, it turns out that, now, they also want to try to tell you that they don’t even owe it. Sorry, guys, but $8 trillion is just too much to hide in your ledger. Even if you hire Allen Weisselberg.
But this isn't just about John Cornyn, he's only the most blatant and obvious. This is what the entire Republican Party in Congress is doing.
Trying to hide the elephant (oh, how appropriate), just like Jimmy Durante in Jumbo. And praying for their lives that you're stupid enough to believe it.
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