Politico ran a story this morning about the online abuse Representative Bill Flores suffered after Breitbart and a smaller right-wing blog twisted his words about Trump. He said that some of Trump’s policies might not align with the party’s values but he was sure they could work together. That somehow became a headline that read, “BREAKING: Rep. Bill Flores Has CRAFTED a PLAN to BLOCK Trump’s Immigration Reform.”
Before releasing that particular post, a blogger reached out to Flores and advised him to get ready “for a shit storm,” which is exactly what came his way. Sean Hannity signal-boosted the Breitbart report by giving it air time on his radio show and soon, Flores was under attack online.
Now, Republicans on the Hill don’t want to be the next to get pounced on, so they’re staying quiet about any misgivings or questions they have regarding Trump. Politico pointed out that by tearing into someone online, the trolls are taking a cue from the President-elect himself.
I mentioned earlier how the National Enquirer was Trump's propaganda outlet with the national reach, but he also has attack media at his disposal.
I think we all saw this in its infancy back in Sarah Palin's heyday when all she had to do was write a Facebook post and her flying monkeys went after Joe McGinniss and even members of his family with stunning aggression.
However that assault weapon has now been honed to a razor's edge, and Trump has even gone so far as to put one of its triggers into his administration in form of Stephen Bannon.
So no, there are few Republican lawmakers who are going to dare challenge Trump no matter how insane his policy proposals might seem, because they realize to do so is to risk the wrath of Breitbart, Fox News, and numerous other Right Wing news outlets.
There may be a few such as Lindsey Graham, John McCain, and Rand Paul who will rise to the challenge, but without greater numbers their attempts will be largely ineffective.
That also means that talk of an impending impeachment are essentially just pipe dreams as well.
The minute that a Republican lawmaker suggested anything like that he would be crushed under a deluge of bad press, his e-mail box would fill with misspelled threats on his life, and his career would essentially be over in Washington.
Trump once bragged that he could shoot a man on fifth avenue and not lose any support, and now that may hold true concerning the presidency as well.
In short this next four years is going to suck, and they are going to suck hard.
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