In the last 24 hours or so the number of Democratic Senators calling for their deeply corrupt and now twice-indicted colleague Robert Menendez to resign went from three to now more than half of the 51 member caucus – now including second-in-command Dick Durbin who wouldn’t go for it when asked on Sunday – even as the corrupt asshole apparently dug in his heels further against quitting.
Which means it’s time to toss him the fuck out, now. Skip the ethics committee investigation and all the other process bullshit and put his expulsion to a vote immediately. Americans can’t wait.
Why? Because Menendez could give in to the pressure and resign in the meantime, which would suck for those of us who just figured out what the GOP’s game is here. To our knowledge only three Republicans in Congress have addressed Menendez: Weak and feckless House Speaker Kevin McCarthy who flip-flopped on it after being reminded he protected George Santos, Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton, who implied Menendez is the real victim, and Texas Senator John Cornyn, who sidestepped it by saying “I’d like all of my Democratic colleagues to resign,” which was basically just repeating what fat former President Trump ranted in a Truth Social post on Sunday.
Well actually George Santos also said Menendez should stick around, but we kind of don’t see that as any sort of multi-dimensional chess move considering the similar legal predicament he faces.
We can give Santos that much. We believe he’s being sincere enough here, that even a piece of shit like him and a proud member of a party that lives and breathes on hypocrisies big and small would at least have his own self-interest at the forefront when asked to address the issue.
But with the possible exception of McCarthy, who’s fucking stupid and probably wasn’t thinking any further than Santos when he nervously backtracked on Tuesday, the rest of them, even Trump included, know what they’re doing here by either sidestepping the issue or not speaking up at all.
Hypocrisy is so elemental to Republican politics we barely even acknowledge it now. How many fucking times are the media supposed to print “Republicans freak out over Hunter Biden this while ignoring Jared Kushner that” as if it’s anything new to you or, more importantly, as if they’re capable of expressing any shame over it? They love getting libs riled up over it. Nothing makes them happier.
Most of the time. That immediate puddle-deep take of “Sure doesn’t seem like the ‘Biden Regime’ only prosecutes conservatives now does it, fanboys?” was of course batted away with “Yeah BS! It’s just a token arrest to distract people from the Biden Crime Family!” by the MAGA trolls easily enough. Then the Democrats started responding and a new, more serious messaging problem arose.
Now this Menendez thing is different. Very different. It’s not conveniently changing their minds on whether a Supreme Court justice can be confirmed in an election year or if an impeachment inquiry is real if the full House hasn’t voted to authorize it. Saying either basically nothing or actually nothing about whether the very damning and very credible accusations against a powerful establishment Dem – one who should be in prison already if not for a hung jury – is exposing a serious political vulnerability for the GOP, one they can’t just shrug off as a regular day-to-day expediency.
Surprise, right? In no fucking universe where Donald’s thankfully already in hospice care after a massive stroke is the Republican line on Menendez “He deserves his day in court” or “It should be up to the voters in New Jersey.” It is “Majority Leader Schumer and President Biden are clearly complicit in Robert Menendez’s scams and must resign along with him for not forcing him out of the Senate immediately. He is a stain on the reputation of this hallowed institution,” and other such umbrage.
In this timeline however they can’t go anywhere near it. Again, the “rules for thee, not for me” shit is like the binary machine code of the Republican operating system, all day, every day. But this time, saying a Senator should resign after being hit with a three count felony indictment while saying Trump should not drop out of the 2024 presidential race after being hit with four felony indictments for a total of 91 counts across four jurisdictions is (apparently) a bridge too far for them.
Surely many of them in private have said Menendez should resign and Trump should drop out, but that doesn’t mean shit. For now they’re staying unified on a deliberate effort to publicly avoid it.
Republicans in the Senate at least can be forced to go on the record and there’s one way to do it: Call a vote to expel Robert Menendez from the chamber before he can resign on his own. His crimes are beside the point. He’s going to be held accountable one way or another so use him to hold Republicans accountable politically. If they vote yes then that confirms that they don’t think a politician credibly accused of federal felonies should hold office. If they vote no then they’ll have to explain to GOP primary voters back home why the hell they let a corrupt Dem off the hook.
It’s a win-win. Get on it right fucking now.