Rule Number One for the GOP: They monetize everything.
Rule Number Two for the GOP: When they accuse you (or anyone) of doing something, it’s a safe bet that they’re doing it themselves.
We’re all sick of watching one Republican member on the House Oversight Committee after another spew and froth and bark and wail about Michael Cohen supposedly trying to make paper on his appearance before the committee today. Jordan is snarling. Meadows is screaming. Paul Gosar is spitting blood. Chip Roy is channeling demons. Clay Higgins is ready to pull his shootin’ iron and arrest Cohen right now for withholding evidence. Will you say right now that you will never ever try to make a book deal, Mr. Liar-Liar-Pants-On-Fire? Will you say right now that you won’t ever try to be part of a movie deal about Our Dear Leader? (Cohen, wisely, said no to those questions.)
It’s all bullshit. But more importantly, it’s about building the brand. You know, the same thing Cohen says Trump ran for president to achieve.
All this posing and snarling is to undermine Cohen’s credibility, sure, but all of the most stupid of the Republicans on the committee (paging Louis Gohmert, why didn’t Jordan name you for this committee?) know that isn’t going to make any real difference in the minds of anyone who already isn’t sinus-snorting Fox News vomit 24/7.
What it does do is raise their profile. They’re all competing for Best Video Clip To Be Shown on Hannity, just like some NBA athletes compete to get the ESPN Dunk of the Day. Hannity shows their clip, says their name — “Wow, didja see Glenn Grothman ram that one home on that shameless liar and money-maker Cohen?!” — and voila, the big-dollar donors get that guy’s name more prominently on their radar.
Matt Gaetz (R-Asshole, pictured above), one of the most egregious of the GOP trough-snorkelers, found a way to monetize the committee hearing without even being on the committee. Gaetz just straight-up threatened Cohen the night before the committee hearing, and is now under investigation by the Florida Bar for doing it. So what? He doesn’t care. Like the DWI from 2008 that magically went away for him, he trusts this too will pass without leaving a mark. And his name is very high on the oligarchs’ radar now.
So as you watch the rest of the hearing today, remember, all of the GOP bluster and bullshit is for face time on Hannity and the fat donations that will follow.
And we haven’t even talked about all the GOP fundraising going on as we speak that uses the hearings as a hatrack for demanding money to “stop the librul DemoncRats from impeachering our Maximum Leader!”