Transcription
It looks like Margie Hiller Green is not the only former MAGA faithful to learn the lesson that everybody in Trump's orbit eventually learns. That loyalty to Trump is a one-way street. So, here's what just happened.
Trump used his very first veto of his second term, but it was on a bill called the Finish the Arkansas Valley Conduit Act, which passed unanimously in both the House and the Senate, and importantly was introduced by Lauren Boowbert. It would fund a pipeline project bringing clean drinking water to 39 communities on Colorado's eastern plains. So again, introduced by Lauren Boowart, passed unanimously in the House and the Senate. So why would Trump veto legislation introduced by his political ally and passed by Congress by unanimous consent?
The answer might be in Lauren Boowbert's response. She wrote, quote, "President Trump decided to veto a completely non-controversial bipartisan bill that passed both the House and the Senate unanimously. Why? Because nothing says America first like denying clean drinking water to 50,000 people in southeast Colorado, many of whom enthusiastically voted for him in all three elections. I must have missed the rally where he stood in Colorado and promised to personally derail critical water infrastructure projects. My bad. I thought the campaign was about lowering costs and cutting red tape. But hey, if this administration wants to make its legacy blocking projects that deliver water to rural Americans, that's on them. I'm going to continue fighting for Colorado and standing up for our rural communities, our farmers, and every family that deserves safe, reliable drinking water without decades more delay. And I sincerely hope this veto has nothing to do with political retaliation for calling out corruption and demanding accountability. Americans deserve leadership that puts people over politics. This is not the last Southeast Colorado will hear from me on this critical infrastructure project."
Now, you might have caught the line where she says, "I sincerely hope this veto has nothing to do with political retaliation for calling out corruption and demanding accountability." What she's referring to is the fact that she was not only one of the four Republicans to sign on to the Epstein discharge petition in the House, which of course enabled the full vote that would ultimately lead to the law's passage, but even when the White House summoned her into the situation room to pressure her to take her name off that files discharge petition, she didn't bend.
According to the New York Times, top officials met in the White House situation room on Wednesday with Representative Lauren Boowart, a Colorado Republican who is backing the effort to force a House vote on whether to demand the release of the files. She was summoned to sit down with top justice department and FBI officials, according to two people familiar with the matter. One of the people said the session included Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Cash Patel. Both people spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment on the private discussions. Caroline Levit, the White House press secretary, confirmed that the meeting had taken place, calling it an example of transparency and how administration officials are willing to sit down with members of Congress and address their concerns.
Ah, yes. Because nothing says transparency quite like summoning members of Congress to a closed-door meeting with top justice department brass to be pressured into removing your name from a discharge petition so that Trump can continue to suppress the files. The definition of transparency. In fact, Caroline Levit went on to say this: ">> government reopening because of Republicans and President Trump. >> But given your intransparency, Caroline, why are White House officials then meeting with Representative Boowbert in an effort to try and get her to to not sign this petition uh calling for the release of the files? >> Doesn't it show transparency that members of the Trump administration are willing to brief members of Congress whenever they please? Doesn't that show our level of transparency? Doesn't that show the level of transparency when we are willing to sit down with members of Congress and address their concerns? That is the that's a defining factor of transparency having discussions having discussions with members of Congress about various issues. And I'm not going to detail conversations that took place in the situation room in the press briefing room."
To answer Levit's question, doesn't that show transparency? Um, no. I'm sorry, but what the are we doing here? Does it show transparency to try to get a member of Congress to remove her name to help you bury the Epstein files? Uh, no. That is the opposite of transparency. That is literal secrecy. I understand that we're in a world where words don't mean anything anymore and up is down and black is white. But dear God, at this point, the Trump administration is just playing their supporters for absolute fools. Either they're morons or they think all of us are. Take all the time you need with that one.
And of course, the impact of Boowbert's actions here were widely felt, including by Trump, as evidenced here. ">> He's calling it totally pointless exercise and completely moot. What do you make of his comments? Do you agree with those? >> Well, the White House spent a lot of effort in the midst of a shutdown to stop a totally pointless exercise that's completely mute. And by the way, I I gotta give credit to Lauren Boowbert to walk into the White House, the center of power, the free world really, and to sustain that and to come back out and to be solid. And also to Nancy Mace and Marjorie Taylor Green. There was all the speculation that they might take their names off and they never did. So it's it's not a hoax. It's not a moot point. It is a very serious thing. There are a thousand victims and there are survivors who have had a press conference with Roana and I. And that's what we're fighting for, justice for them."
And let's not pretend that Trump did not feel the sting of that move, especially as Thomas Massie and Roana ran a victory lap and invoked Lauren Boowart's name specifically. Now, I know what you're thinking. Hold on, Brian. Are you saying that Donald Justice Trump would stoop so low as to retaliate against Lauren Boowart for voting for transparency on the Epstein files by depriving the people of her state, including in districts that voted for him, clean water? Do you really think this champion for the little guy would stoop that low? And to that I say, yes. The only thing more on brand for Donald Trump is if he admitted to it by emblazening it on a gold plaque and slapping it outside the Oval Office. He 1,000% retaliated because that is how loyalty works in the Trump era. You give him 100% loyalty. And if you relent even 1%, you are persona non grata in Trump world. You are excommunicado. You are dead to him.
Which raises the obvious question, why do all of these other sick offense and doormats keep graveling at his feet as if it'll never happen to them. News flash, it will. Just ask Michael Cohen, George Papadopoulos, Gordon Slands, Rex Tillerson, Ronda McDaniel, Mike Pence, Kaylee Mcinaney, Mike Pompeo, Rance Prieous, Christopher Ray, Marjorie Telegram, and now Lauren Boowbert. Here's a message to the rest of the GOP. You are not special. You will be discarded. It is not a matter of if, but a matter of when. The faster you learn that, the more likelihood there is that you might retain just a shred of your dignity.
All of which is a point that Marias made here. We have seen this over and over again in that loyalty is only a one-way street. Donald Trump does not have loyalty to anyone. He is only loyal to himself and yet he demands complete loyalty from others. What is more mind-boggling than that, Brian, is why one after another none of these people figure it out until it happens to them. Like you would think that right now there'd be a bunch of Republicans in Congress looking at what happened to Marjorie Taylor Green and being like, "That could be me."
And by the way, she could have looked to what happened to Liz Cheney and said, "That could be me." Right. And we could go back and go back and go back. That Liz Cheney could look at Ronda McDaniel. Ronald McDaniel could look at Michael Cohen. Like, just [laughter] Michael Cohen could look at Roy Cohen. I mean, it just it's a never-ending cycle of people Donald Trump. It's just this this trail of of of discarded people in in his wake. It is and the it is that fact that they are so willing to compromise themselves and to surrender their dignity and surrender their self-worth in order to try to be in his good graces knowing knowing full well that their time may come and that their time may come over something like this that they can't even have imagined possible. I mean, I can't believe that Lauren Boowbert when she introduced this bill and Mike Johnson said, "We'll put it on the floor." And Hakee Jeff, you know, says, "Great. All the Democrats are going to support it." Right? Like, this bill is now sailing through the House on the way to the Senate. And then the Senate, it sails its way out there. She couldn't possibly have thought that this was going to be the thing that would bite her, that this would be the place where he would draw the line. And yet for the rest of us, it's completely under it's completely predictable. This was what was going to happen because this is how he operates. It is always going to be the thing that is the most petty, the thing that is the most disgraceful, the thing that shows the least human decency that Donald Trump will do. Like you can always count on him doing the worst thing possible at the worst time to the mo the people with in greatest need.
I should note too, this isn't Trump's only beef with Colorado. He's also seething at the state's leaders for keeping his ally Tina Peters, who was convicted on charges related to tampering with voting systems after the 2020 election, in prison. Why? Because she was convicted on state charges, which means she goes to state prison. But Trump wants her transferred to federal prison so that he can pardon her. Because remember, the law does not exist for Republicans because something something law and order.
So, look, I hope the people of Colorado can see what's happening here, especially those folks who voted for Trump or who live in the four Republican districts. Trump is depriving you of clean water. Clean water because he's salty that he was forced to live up to his own campaign promise of releasing the Epstein files because he wanted to protect his pedophile friend. He's salty because he thinks that the people who helped him overturn a free and fair election in 2020 should face no accountability for their actions. And he wants to issue pardons that he has no authority to issue. He thinks that he's a king in power to punish and seek vengeance. Not to deliver for his voters or for the Americans that he represents, left, right, and center, but rather to impose his edicts, his will, and crush his opposition, crush any dissent. And the rest of the GOP allows it. That's what you get with Republican governance. Colorado is impacted here, but this is a lesson for the rest of the country. When you vote for Republicans, this is the behavior that takes place. Something to think about as we head into this election year with midterms just around the corner.
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