It’s Jim Jordan day in the House. Jordan’s new Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government will hold its first hearing at noon ET, so if you hear any yelling around that time, assume it’s the sound of Jordan screeching lies about how the federal government is oppressing Republicans. The panel will also include Rep. Matt Gaetz, himself only recently under investigation for underage sex trafficking.
The subcommittee’s whole purpose is to feed right-wing conspiracy theories that the federal government is out to get Republicans, as evidenced by the fact that Republicans are sometimes investigated for possible crimes. Those investigations are not because Republicans have or may have committed crimes, see; it’s persecution by the government. To that end, Jordan has assembled two panels of witnesses who will assure Republicans that this is exactly what’s going on.
RELATED STORY: House Republicans are firing up the Jim Jordan show, and it's going to be ugly
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The first panel of witnesses includes Republicans Sens. Chuck Grassley and Ron Johnson and former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, who was elected to the House as a Democrat but is now an independent and a regular Fox News contributor. The Democratic witness on that panel is Rep. Jamie Raskin. Later, a second panel includes former FBI agents Thomas Baker and Nicole Parker and Jonathan Turley, the law professor who has become a go-to for Republicans. The Democratic witness will be Elliot Williams, a former Obama-era Justice Department official and current CNN contributor.
Grassley and Johnson are expected to talk about their investigation into—of course—Hunter Biden in 2020, which they believe was undermined by the FBI. In the Trump era. Yet the Justice Department under President Joe Biden continues to investigate his son for tax crimes and a possible false statement relating to a gun purchase. It doesn’t actually look like he’s getting favorable treatment!
Gabbard has a long history of admiration for authoritarian leaders around the globe, including Russia’s Vladimir Putin, and leveraging her identity as a Democrat or former Democrat to complain about Democrats. The two FBI agents bear grudges against their former employer. Turley is a reliable Republican mouthpiece.
If that all sounds like fun, bear in mind that the panel’s main reason for existing is to give Jordan an additional platform from which to unleash high-pitched rants about how unfair everything is if you’re a Republican. In this setting, he’ll be able to insist that it’s not just unfair but downright nefarious that “They raided, they raided Trump's home. They haven't raided Biden's home,” without Chuck Todd there to respond, “Because Biden didn't defy a subpoena, congressman. [Trump] defied a subpoena.”
The whole thing is a production developed to bolster the Fox News/Newsmax/OAN conspiracy theorist view of the world, from the very existence of this subcommittee to the rigged set of panelists. The Democrats on the panel will no doubt come armed with facts and push back hard, but nothing they do will be seen by the Republicans’ intended audience for this.
The good news, though, is that the Republican insistence on hearings and attacks over getting things done is a serious turn-off for independent voters, so while Jordan and his crew will be exciting their base, they will definitely not be expanding it.
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