lots more stories and comments here-trending:  #SeditionHasConsequences

good point:

This is the best argument against the challengers, mho, blows everything else away as just sound and fury signifying nothing. Truly don't understand why I am not seeing more of it:

More evidence of what she said (don't know her, just posted her tweet on the Proud Boys thread)-below-

they are eating each other-

though I also now pretty strongly think it true that if's just another "bread and circuses" distraction, to distract the populi from what's really going on (imitating the current president's only skill of consuming the media air)

Is a Kabuki show to distract from sucky Covid vaccine rollout and how the populi is going to get $600 checks instead of $2,000. Realistically, if you're a Republican, what else would you do? Their base continues to split pro-Trump vs. anti-Trump and therefore hasn't allowed you to have a coherent policy position with most colleagues.

Good alternative is to put on a big rhetorical shew about "what is democracy?" and the American Constitution, everyone can argue on social media and around the dinner table, add their two cents, stop worrying that they have no money, hospitals are full, everyone dying, restaurants and businesses and nobody is being vaccinated.. you get to do big dramatic tweets on big Constitutional questions, Patrick Henry style. (You also set Pence up to play an eminent man of reason on Jan. 6, against the wilding hordes of new patriots? Instead of a Trump toadie without a spine. Convenient!)

Only a couple more weeks and they can switch the show back to the old standard one and to blaming Joe Biden & Nancy Pelosi. Meantime they have to do something to distract from their inability to agree on what to do about the mess this country is in. Don't like reality, create an alternative narrative, Trump has shown the way...

interaction between George Conway & Maggie Haberman on Pence & another related statement by Maggie:

edit to add, another tweet of the video of Navarro on Judge Janine:

Bernie:

and here's Mitt's latest, tweeting a link to the formal statement of his entire "bipartisan group" (Romney, Manchin, Collins, Mark Warner, Bill Cassidy, Jeanne Shaheen, Lisa Murkowski, Angus King, Maggie Hassan, and Dick Durbin) today after the "egregious plot" tweet of yesterday that Bernie mentions:

This tweet was a  reminder to me that Joe himself served as a fairly right-wing Republican in the House for four terms. I found it helpful to revisit exactly what that constituted in the 1990's (and note that he did not become an Independent until 6 mos. into the Trump presidency). Wikipedia:

Scarborough in 1994

In 1994, Scarborough won the Republican Party primary for Florida's 1st congressional district. The seat had come open when eight-term Democratic incumbent Earl Hutto announced his retirement. In the general election, Scarborough defeated the Democratic candidate, Pensacola attorney Vince "Vinnie" Whibbs Jr., with 61 percent of the vote. Whibbs was the son of former Pensacola mayor Vince Whibbs. The district had not supported a Democratic candidate for U.S. president since 1960. However, Democratic candidates had continued to hold most local offices well into the 1990s. Scarborough's win coincided with a large Republican wave that allowed the Republicans to take the majority in the House for the first time in 40 years.

Proving just how Republican this district was, Scarborough was reelected with 72 percent of the vote in 1996. In 1998 and 2000, he faced only write-in candidates as opposition.[13][14]

Tenure[edit]

During his congressional career, he received a 95 percent lifetime rating from the American Conservative Union.[15] He signed the Contract with America. Scarborough served on the Armed Services, Judiciary, Government Reform, and Education committees. In 1998 he was named chairman of the Civil Service Committee.[16]

Scarborough was one of a group of about 40 freshmen Republican legislators who dubbed themselves the "New Federalists" after The Federalist Papers. Scarborough was elected political director of the incoming legislators. The New Federalists called for sweeping cuts in the U.S. government, including plans to "privatize, localize, consolidate, [or] eliminate"[17] the Departments of Commerce, Education, Energy and Housing and Urban Development. Gingrich tapped Scarborough to head a Republican task force on education, and Scarborough declared, "Our goal is to get as much money, power, and authority out of Washington and get as much money, power, and authority into the classroom as possible."[6] Rep. John Kasich (R-Ohio), then chairman of the House Budget Committee, adopted Scarborough's language eliminating the federal Department of Education in the 1996 House Budget Resolution.[18] The budget passed the House by a vote of 238–193.[19]

Scarborough supported a number of anti-abortion positions while in Congress, including the Unborn Victims of Violence Act, that made it a crime to harm a fetus during the commission of other crimes.[20][21]

Scarborough sponsored a bill to force the U.S. to withdraw from the United Nations after a four-year transition[17] and voted to make the Corporation for Public Broadcasting self-sufficient[22] by eliminating federal funding. He also voted for the "Medicare Preservation act of 1995,"[23] which cut the projected growth of Medicare by $270 billion over ten years, and against the "Small Business Job Protection Act of 1996,"[24] which raised the minimum wage to $5.15. Scarborough had a conservative voting record on economic, social, and foreign policy issues but was seen as moderate on environmental issues and human rights causes, including supporting the closure of the School of the Americas and defending accused terrorist Lori Berenson.[6][25]

While in Congress, Scarborough received a number of awards, including the "Friend of the Taxpayer Award" from Americans for Tax Reform; the "Guardian of Small Business Award" from the National Federation of Independent Business; the "Spirit of Enterprise Award" from the United States Chamber of Commerce; the "Taxpayer's Hero Award" from the Citizens Against Government Waste; and the "Guardian of Seniors' Rights Award" from the 60 Plus Association.[citation needed]

Scarborough was one of the 228 members of the House who voted to impeach Bill Clinton in December 1998.[26]

[...committee memberships and electoral history...]

Resignation[edit]

In May 2001, five months into his fourth term in Congress, Scarborough announced his intention to resign to spend more time with his children. Of his resignation, Scarborough said, "The realization has come home to me that they're at a critical stage of their lives and I would rather be judged at the end of my life as a father than as a congressman."[32]

A special election was held in October 2001 to replace Scarborough. Since then, Scarborough has contemplated returning to politics several times.[33][34][35] On July 11, 2017, Scarborough announced on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert that he was leaving the Republican Party to become an independent.[36]