House Democrats Jujutsu Jim Jordan

Republicans were repeatedly undercut by their own schemes during Jim Jordan's GOP-led hearings on the alleged 'weaponization of the federal government.'

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Republican Rep. Jim Jordan led a “Select Subcommittee on the weaponization of the federal government” hearing on Thursday in an attempt to smear President Biden with Trump’s dirty dealing, but he failed miserably.

It was, instead, a Democrat Art of War method and discipline exercise, with an emphasis on verbal jujutsu. Enjoy.

Actually, Trump did that

Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA) brought in Matt Taibbi and Michael Shellenberger in an ironic attempt to weaponize the obviously cherry-picked Twitter Files against Democrats, only to be forced to acknowledge that *actually*, it wasn’t an elected President Joe Biden who weaponized the federal government against Twitter, but rather… then President Donald Trump.

A fact curiously missing from Republicans’ “evidence” even though it was already established as a fact and they know this because it happened in a different hearing:

Sarah Reese Jones @PoliticusSarah

Taibbi busted for not releasing the actual thing he said he was against.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar

CONNOLLY: Have you released any information about the Trump White House attempting to moderate content at Twitter TAIBBI: No CONNOLLY: Mr Shellenberger? SHELLENBERGER: I did not find that CONNOLLY: You haven't found it?! *cites the PAB testimony* https://t.co/96FXoW4SYQ

Well. That’s awkward.

Propaganda Fail

Of course, Republicans’ publicity departments (Fox News, et al) will not show the hearing in context or in total. They will also… cherry pick. Because this is what it takes to establish a lie as the “truth.” This is the hard work of propaganda.

But the problem for Republicans is that even though they didn’t provide Democrats with the “evidence” or material in advance, the Democrats came prepared for battle.

I mean, they were on fire. Had I not known they were Democrats, I would not have believed it.

Nothing like working to advance the PR of a social media company owned in part by Saudi Arabia to burnish a journalist’s resume.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar

PLASKETT: Did you know that Elon Musk received part of the funding for buying Twitter from Saudi Arabia and Qatar? SHELLENBERGER: Ah, I heard that.

Elon Musk’s Public Scribes

Doing PR for one o the world’s richest men isn’t the same thing as doing journalism.

Democrats pushed on to the record that all of this work Republicans and these two “journalists” - one of whom is quite loud about his belief that progressivism is linked to mental illness, so not exactly unbiased - were doing was the work of Musk’s “public scribes.”

Ranking Member Stacy Plaskett (D-VI) came unarmed since, again, Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) didn’t share the documents in advance, but still managed to not only trip the two Republican witnesses but burn them as “two of Elon Musk’s public scribes”:

Aaron Rupar @atrupar

Plaskett refers to Taibbi and Shellenberger as "two of Elon Musk's public scribes" who "release cherry-picked, out of context emails and screenshots designed to promote his chosen narrative, Elon Musk's chosen narrative, that is now being parroted by the Republicans."

Do remember that term the next time anyone brings up the Twitter Files as if they contain facts within their proper context. They do not.