Dem
47
GOP
53
The Senate does not stand up to Donald Trump very often, but occasionally the Republican majority is asked to approve a nominee who is simply a bridge too far. Matt Gaetz was one, Alina Habba is another and, as of yesterday, Paul Ingrassia appears to have joined the list.
Ingrassia was tapped by Trump to lead the Office of Special Counsel, and was supposed to go before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday. There were already concerns about the candidate's... extreme views, and yesterday those concerns reached a boiling point, thanks to Politico. That publication is all over the "bigoted text messages" beat these days, having exposed the problematic messages from the Young Republicans last week, and now having shared some messages from Ingrassia that are—as hard as this is to believe—even worse. It would seem it's definitely time to update the old chestnut we deployed last week, to "Don't send anything via text that you wouldn't want to see in Politico."
So, what choice observations did Ingrassia share via text? Well, he said that Martin Luther King Jr. is his generation's version of George Floyd, and that the holiday in his honor should be "tossed into the seventh circle of hell." The would-be White House staffer also wants to get rid of Juneteenth and Kwanzaa (which he spells 'kwanza'), which he describes as "moulignon holidays," utilizing an Italian slur for Black people. He also decreed that victimhood is Black people's "natural state," and that they cannot overcome that, which is why all the countries in Africa are "sh**hole countries." Obviously, you can see why Trump likes this guy.
Although much of Ingrassia's venom was directed at the Black folks, he also had some keen insights about other groups, as well. For example, in a text expressing his disdain for Vivek Ramaswamy, Ingrassia wrote: "Never trust a chinaman or Indian." Maybe he's been watching too many John Wayne films. He also said that he "celebrates white men and white civilization," and that minorities should read books about George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, if they know how to read.
The part that appears to have been most damaging, however, involves a conversation that Politico did not print in its entirety. Maybe they didn't receive the whole thing, but it's more likely that they were trying not to reveal the identity of the person or people who leaked the texts. Whatever the case might be, it's not clear exactly what prompted this remark, but one of the other people in the chats wrote, in response to some sort of comment from Ingrassia: "Paul belongs in the Hitler Youth with Ubergruppenfuhrer Steve Bannon." And Ingrassia responded: "I do have a Nazi streak in me from time to time, I will admit it." Yikes. Not a great look for someone who was already criticized for associating with known antisemites, including Nick Fuentes and Andrew Tate.
It is possible that the other stuff also angered the Republican senators, and it is possible it did not. None of them have said. Those senators who have already come out against Ingrassia did all reference the antisemitism, however. At the moment, it is a trio of GOP senators who have said they are "no" votes. If those three were, say, Lisa Murkowski (AK), Susan Collins (ME) and Mitch McConnell (KY), it's possible Ingrassia might survive, with the help of J.D. Vance's tiebreaker vote. But it's not those three; it's Rick Scott (FL), James Lankford (OK) and Ron Johnson (WI). If a candidate has lost three of the most conservative members of the Republican conference, and nearly all of the other members are keeping mum, that is big trouble when it comes to confirmation.
The other senator who has spoken up, besides those three, is Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD). While not necessarily revealing his own voting plans, he told reporters that he "hopes" the White House withdraws the nomination. And just in case the subtext wasn't clear there, the Majority Leader later explained that "[Ingrassia's] not gonna pass." It is not often that a president, even Donald Trump, fails to take that hint. It does happen, but maybe only once a decade. So, one presumes there will be an announcement today or tomorrow that Ingrassia has decided to withdraw from consideration so he can pursue other opportunities. Then Trump will appoint him to some job that does not require Senate confirmation.
We wonder—and we may never learn the answer—if Ingrassia would have survived, but for last week's texting scandal. One story along these lines might be an outlier, but two is a trend, and a trend that does not comport well with the administration's claims that it cares deeply about antisemitism at U.S. universities. One thing is certain, though: Any Republican who has said whackadoodle stuff in a text message in the last 2-3 years should be nervous, because who knows what other data dumps Politico is sitting on.
We are very glad that there are still a few publications, like Politico, that are not cowed by Trump. We wish there were more. We observed that Sunday, the day after millions of people protested Trump on No Kings Day, the lead story on The New York Times website was about "George Santos" getting out of prison. Wethinks their priorities are a bit off. (Z)