Below is my column in Fox.com on the impact of the likely GOP takeover of the House on the Hunter Biden scandal. Hunter Biden’s laptop is Washington’s Pandora’s Box. Opening up that laptop to greater public scrutiny could expose our local cottage industry of influence peddling.
Here is the column:
In the legend of Pandora’s box, the star-crossed Pandora releases a slew of evils upon the world. Notably, the only thing that she was able to trap in the box or jar was something that is likely to be at a premium in Washington this week: hope.
The likely Republican takeover of the House could yield a slew of investigations in the months to come. Washington is famous for managing scandals. Indeed, it is a virtual artform in the Beltway. However, there is one investigation that comes the closest to Pandora’s box for the Washington establishment. A serious investigation into the Hunter Biden scandal could put the political and media elite into an existential crisis.
Here are the “usual suspects” who could find themselves under a microscope for the first time as a result of a full investigation into Hunter Biden.
The Bidens
The Biden family has long been associated with influence peddling to the degree that they could add an access key to their family crest. While they may be more aggressive than most families, influence peddling has long been a cottage industry in Washington. For decades, I have written about this loophole in bribery laws. It is illegal to give a member of Congress or a president even $100 to gain influence. However, you can literally give millions to their spouses or children in the forms of windfall contracts or cozy jobs.
James Biden has been remarkably (even refreshingly) open about marketing his access to his brother. Former Americore executive Tom Pritchard and others allege the Biden openly referenced his access to his brother and his family name in his pitch for clients. James has faced a wide array of litigation over allegedly fraudulent activities as well as a personal loan acquired through Americore before it went into bankruptcy.
Hunter worked with his uncle but also branched off on his own in the family business. While his father recently emphasized that his son was a hopeless addict, that defense stands in glaring contradiction to the fact that he maintained a multimillion-dollar influence-peddling scheme. The question is why foreign figures (including some associated with foreign intelligence) rushed to him international money transfers and complex deals worth millions from Moscow to Kyiv to Beijing.
However, the Biden most concerned may be the president himself. Joe Biden has repeatedly denied knowledge of Hunter Biden’s business entanglements despite numerous emails and pictures showing him meeting with Hunter associates. That includes at least 19 visits to the White House by Hunter’s partner, Eric Schwerin, alone between 2009 and 2015.
While emails on Hunter Biden’s laptop make repeated reference to his father as a possible recipient of funds derived from influence peddling. Indeed, in one email, Tony Bobulinski, then a business partner of Hunter, was instructed by Biden associate James Gilliar that the Bidens wanted to avoid such references: “Don’t mention Joe being involved, it’s only when u [sic] are face to face, I know u [sic] know that but they are paranoid.”
In discussing these deals, Joe Biden is referenced with code names such as “Celtic” or “the big guy.” In one, “the big guy” is discussed as possibly receiving a 10% cut on a deal with a Chinese energy firm. There are also references to Hunter paying off the bills of his father from shared accounts. From his board memberships to venture deals to legal fees to his art deals, Hunter Biden is a tour de force of alleged corrupt practices used in Washington. Indeed, while his skills as a painter and a lawyer have been questioned, Hunter’s remarkable skills at influence peddling could soon be the focus of Washington.
The Beltway Bandits
One of the things that most worries the establishment is that these emails threaten to pull the curtain away from the influence-peddling cottage industry. The emails contain an array of children connected to powerful Democratic and Republican leaders. For example, one of Hunter’s closest associates was John Kerry’s stepson, Chris Heinz. Like Joe Biden, Kerry is also accused of falsely denying knowledge of his son’s business dealings. Even the late mobster James “Whitey” Bulger’s nephew, Jim Bulger, was a business associate of Hunter Biden. The Bulgers were a powerful Democratic family in Massachusetts.
Surrounding these well-connected children are an array of insiders tied to the very top of the Democratic and Republican parties. An array of lawyers and political operatives quickly formed around the kinder of the powerful to cash in on these foreign dealings. An investigation of Hunter Biden could not spotlight his conduct without putting a floodlight on all of those who support the influence-peddling industry.
The Media
The media is the final group that could be collateral damage in any investigation. This influence peddling could not have occurred without the assurance that the media had the back of the Bidens. Imagine what the media would have done with even one of these deals with foreign political or influence figures if a Trump child was the recipient. The genius of the Biden influence peddling operation was to make the media an early and active participant. The media and social media companies almost universally buried the Hunter Biden scandal before the 2020 election. They became invested in the denial over two years of belittling or dismissing the story.
The disclosure of the corrupt practices linked to the Bidens will erode what little trust remains for the media. Figures like Bobulinski and the underlying emails were available to the media before the 2020 election. However, the media showed strikingly little interest in pursuing the facts of the influence peddling. Bobulinski and others will now presumably have a chance to be heard.
Obviously, other groups are also worried about what sunshine will expose in this scandal. That includes the FBI which appears to have scuttled or slowed early efforts to investigate the Biden dealings. It also includes Attorney General Merrick Garland, who steadfastly refused to appoint a special counsel despite overwhelming support for such an appointment.
There is of course a difference between opening Hunter’s laptop as opposed to Pandora’s Box: few in the Beltway expected to find hope within its sorted contents.
KARIZONA
Pradheep J. Shanker
@Neoavatara
Now…after ALL that…Georgia is going to a runoff. And the vote will be so close, Walker can’t afford a divisive Trump coming in and insulting Kemp, DeSantis, McConnell, etc. Only by unifying do they have a chance.
Does Trump have the mental capability to do that?
LOL.
7:42 AM · Nov 9, 2022
It is a toss up – that guy needs to step back!
Of course Dems are cheating. Again. Do you see the democrats’ strategy now? Steal as many votes as is reasonable using rigged voting machines and use mail in ballots to stop the red wave. Let DeSantis win big in Florida. Then use the red failure as a division tool to split the republicans between DeSantis and Trump
Then simply dismiss accusations of election fraud as ‘crazy Trumpian conspiracy theories.’
They know exactly what they are doing to cheat and steal. The ends always justifies their means.
Not much talk by Democrats today about “the end of our democracy”……
THEY are the actual threats to our democracy.
Let’s be clear, Franklin et al. gave Americans a RESTRICTED-VOTE REPUBLIC, distinctly not a one man, one vote democrazy.
They plan to steal the Georgia seat giving themselves control of the Senate. We are watching.
Are they going to use the FBI again?
Pradheep Trump!
Svelaz, after about 100 comments (your usual allotment per story) saying that Hunter did nothing illegal, will you come on here and admit what a fool you are when he is indicted?
+10
Indicted for what?
Tax Fraud
FARA registration
Lying to the FBI
False swearing on the gun purchase application.
Recklessness with a firearm
Possible sex trafficing.
and Sex with minors.
That is a start.
Each of those should get an easy conviction – anywhere but DC.
He won’t be indicted. Like General Flynn, to avoid a trial he will plead guilty to violating the trivial FARA rules and get a slap on the wrist (unlike Flynn he will not stupidly try to recant his guilty plea and look like more of a fool)
Sounds like a smaller version of TRUMPers and JARED.
>”The genius of the Biden influence peddling operation was to make the media an early and active participant.”
I doubt that. The media may really, truly be that low down petty, ignorant, stupid gossiping grifters .. . worse than Grandma’s sewing circle.
Looking on the bright side, the NYT today, now quoting simply ‘analysts’, are reporting Biden will have strong bi-partisan support for continuing the war in Ukraine, but I’m not so sure.
*(keep it on the down low: i think the Biden NS handlers are preparing to declare victory and pull the plug on Zelensky.)
Oh-Yeah … well I think the Stock Markets and Federal Reserve Banks are insolvent – so launch WW-III
Incentives matter.
Too many people have too much to lose by an honest and thorough investigation. Even people not involved in a Biden influence-peddling scandal likely know (and personally care about) someone who is involved in something similar. The incentives induce silence not exposure. Put your head down and shuffle your feet forward.
Our hope can be found in up-and-coming journalists and down-and-out insiders.
THIS is why republicans had a dismal showing in this election.
“Some Republicans Want to Raise Voting Age After Gen Z Midterm Turnout”
Gen z voters overwhelmingly voted democrat and conservatives are dismayed. So that do they want to do? Deny them their right to vote by raising the age to vote from 18 to 25. Because they can’t win fairly they chose to cheat and change the rules so they don’t have to deal with the problem of losing fair and square.
“Tuesday’s midterm election saw Gen Z come out strong for Democrats, including for their generation’s first U.S. representative: Maxwell Frost, a 25-year-old Democrat from Florida. The young blue bloc left Fox News personalities dismayed, with other conservative voices suggesting that the minimum voting age be raised from 18 (currently enshrined in the constitution) to 21 or 28.
“The fact that these youth voters are coming in so strong in an off-year is very concerning,”
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/some-republicans-want-to-raise-voting-age-after-gen-z-midterm-turnout/ar-AA13Yn6d?cvid=7469a9a8a6f543b1a9c65cad658a657f
It’s a group of voters that republicans completely ignored. That was a mistake.
Pelosi wants to lower it to 16. Let more uninformed dem dum dums vote!
Sure. Why not kindergartners?
Has anyone noticed? The legal age to purchase alcohol is 21; the same age the Founders deemed appropriate for participation in the American Republic.
There must be some appropriate characteristics for voters and the Framers left the power to entitle citizens to vote with the States.
Democracy has imposed restrictions on the vote since its creation in Greece.
Svelaz: “It’s a group of voters that republicans completely ignored ”
So patheitc. You are completely uninformed. Republicans Candace Owens and Charlie Kirk and many others, with their groups like Turning Point USA, have been working with students and young people for years!
BTW, when I was in college, the voting age was 21. It was a good age for first time voters.
And if it’s unfair that 18 yr olds join the military to fight for their country at that age and are not allowed to vote, then change that requirement to 21 as well.
“Where Democrats Lost”
The fast-rising Asian vote slips away
https://rossbarkan.substack.com/p/where-democrats-lost
I was a dim until I 18. That’s when I realized that me and them weren’t the same kind of people.
Turley; You’ve become such a predictable mouthpiece for Fox that I don’t even bother to read the manure you write any more–just a look at the heading is enough. Of course, this is the vengeance piece as a backlash to the “red wave” that didn’t happen and the fact that Biden set another record as the first POTUS in recent history not to lose massive numbers of seats in the midterm. You’ve admitted, in previous posts, that influence peddling is not illegal. You didn’t mention the fact that Trump WAS on the ballot, and that the likeliest reason that there was no “red wave” was due to him–no matter how much criticism you and alt-right media lob at Biden, he’s a better man than Trump and has already accomplished more than Trump ever could. Plus, the Republicans had NO plan to combat inflation, and are intending to waste taxpayer money pursuing fruitless hearings and attacks on Trump’s perceived enemies instead of accomplsihing good for the American people. You didn’t mention the fact that where abortion was on the ballot, even in ruby-red Kentucky, voters overwhelmingly chose to protect a woman’s right to choose–more proof of just what outliers Kavanaugh, Barrett, Gorsuch and Alito are and how out of step with the wishes of the majority of Americans that they are. You don’t have any credibility any more, Turley, and it’s your own fault.
Gigi – please list Biden accomplishments.
1. COVID under control: marshalling of ultra-cold freezers, PPE, trained people to administer vaccines–things Trump could have, but didn’t do because he was obsessing over losing in 2020; taming COVID got schools, businesses, factories and retail businesses and restaurants back up and running; now, people can take vacations and don’t have to wear masks all of the time everywhere they go; 2. COVID Relief Act–financial help to individuals and businesses helped the economy recover from the worst recession since the Great Depression, thanks to Trump’s utter incompetence and lying about the seriousness of COVID; 3. reversed Trump’s 10% unemployment to 3.6%; 4. healed rift witn EU and NATO Allies; now, Finland, Sweden and Ukraine want to join; this is helping fight off Russian aggression, which will help prevent WW III; 5. got CHIPS Act passed, which will stimulate domestic production of computer chips, increasing supplies of consumer goods and automobiles; Trump’s stupid tariffs and war with China caused shortages of consumer goods and cars. With the economy recovered and people back to work, demand outstrips supply, so prices went up. Once supplies catch up, which they will, prices will come down, and that will help bring down inflation; 6. Relief for veterans injured by burn pits; 7. Inflation Control Act will bring down the cost of prescription drugs and insulin once it kicks in next year, paid for by corporations paying their fair share of taxes; 8. Infrastructure Act: will create thousands of new good-paying jobs to build roads, bridges, etc..; 9. bringing the national debt under control: Trump’s tax breaks for the wealthiest corporations and individuals resulted in the national debt reaching an historic high. Biden has paid that down by several trillion already. Interest on the national debt alone helps drive inflation.
NUTCHACHACHA, Real President Donald J. Trump facilitated American free enterprises, Pfizer and Moderna, that developed a vaccine for “China Flu, 2020,” the only act that had any actual, perceptible, valuable effect. “China Flu, 2020” was never a serious threat; having comorbidities was. The onus was on vulnerable individuals to protect themselves. Please cite the Constitution for any authority of Joke Biden to tax for or regulate healthcare. Everything Biden and the communists (liberals, progressives, socialists, democrats, RINOs, AINOs) have done since 1860 is unconstitutional and, just like abortion, the Supreme Court will soon get to the task of striking down all of them.
Trump didn’t “facilitate” anything–he diverted taxpayer money to Pfizer and Moderna to pay the cost for vaccine development and agreed to pay for doses even if the vaccine proved to be ineffective. That’s it. Nothing else, including locating ultra-cold freezers needed to store and transport the vaccine, which is something his administration could and should have done, but didn’t. There aren’t that many of the freezers that go down to multiple degrees below zero. They also didn’t marshal enough PPE, which was in short supply at the time, or come up with a plan for vaccine distribution–getting people trained to administer the vaccine, priortizing distribution, or other infrastructure types of activities that don’t require scientific backgrounds. Biden’s administration did all of these things. Of course, Trump tries to take credit, but he doesn’t deserve it.
You are just another MAGA conspiracy theory believer. There was no “China flu”–that’s just a Trumpian xenophobic anti-Asian slur. And all of lies and conspiracy theories that COVID really wasn’t that bad, that lockdowns weren’t necessary and were wrong, have all been debunked. But, I know you are a true MAGA believer, so I’m not going to waste time arguing with you.
NUTCHACHACHA, can we get rid of affirmative action and welfare “assistance” now? Can Americans be free again?
Remember when the big guy said that no vaccines were available till he became president. Yet he was vaccinated while Trump was still in the White House. This guy lies so much he doesn’t know fact from fiction.
Biden also lied about the SS increases, that the cost of gas was $5 when he came into office, tried to claim the withdraw from Afghanistan was a success to name a few of his other lies.
Still trying to figure out what, ““My legislation says there can be no more than eight bullets in a round.” even means.
Sensing weakness, Putin invaded the Ukraine, many of our so called allies are pivoting away the the US/West and to the BRICS.
I do not for the most part pay attention to anything Biden says.
I anxiously await a real post mortum on this election.
It is important to know what went wrong and what worked. for both sides.
There was a deliberate tactic by Biden late in the election to forecast the end of the world if Republicans succeeded.
I found that just stupid and annoying – did it actually work on anyone ?
At this point I actually hope that Abortion was the force blunting republicans – because the alternative is that
democrats are very successful at blatantly lying to voters and getting them to vote based on bat $hit crazy.
Regardless, we have large amounts of data from all over the country. We have radically different results in different places.
It should eventually be possible to crunch the numbers and determine what did and did not work.
There are still a number of odd things about the results. Republican’s nationwide won the popular vote by 5.6%
That is huge and alone should have been a red wave.
John, many people are not emotionally invested in politics even if they have positions and parties. These people may or may not vote. The news media can awaken people, but if the left has total control of the Media, we will see more from of them voting because they have been battered to vote in one direction.
Musk now controls Twitter. If free speech is permitted that might provide more excitement for both side.
I recall back in the 90’s a study that suggested that the left bias to the media titled elections accross the nation about 12pts.
The media has leaned left all my life. But it was not so far left in the 90’s I could buy a full 11pt swing.
Today we have – 3/4 of the MSM as a propaganda wing for the democratic party. It is actually shocking when a reporter challenges any democrat on anything. The left wing nut media is actually firing liberals for the audacity to allow anyone not on the left a voice.
Until last week all of social media leaned hard left and censored the crap out of the right.
Democrats have massive and illegal ballot harvesting operations all over the country – in 2020 Zuckerberg organizations were invited in to local election commissions and fed the information needed to run more effective ballot harvesting to democrats in real time.
Ballot harvesting is a crime everywhere in the country except California.
Further Zuckerberg gave 1/2 a billion dollars – mostly concentrated in the 6 cities that flipped the election to improve voting.
Yet in Every one of those cities – the 2020 Election was a complete mess – how is it you spend 500M to make voting work better and actually make it work worse. Anyone consider the possibility that the purpose of the spending was NOT to make voting work better – but to deliberately make it work worse. Messy elections are camouflage for fraud.
In 2022 Republicans are beating Democrats by 6M votes – and yet they are barely able to flip the house ? That is not actually beleivable.
Today the FTC announced they are investigating Elon Musks aquisition of Twitter, and President Biden called Musks aquisition of Twitter a threat to national security.
All the above and more were necescary to keep Failed democratic ideas from being pitched to the dustbin of history.
I am reminded of a phrase by many gun owners.
The 2nd amendment exists – to assure we get to keep the first.
Again 1984 was NOT a howto manual.
FTX one of the largest Crypto exchanges in the world went bankrupt recently – many people who have crypto accounts on that exchange will lose all or most of that – there are allegations of fraud. The owner of FTX is the 2nd largest donor to democrats in the 2022 election cycle – behind only George Sorros.
This is actually a big deal – because there is no real necessity for Crypt o exchanges. But The US government is increasingly insisting that Americans must use crpto exchanges to conduct crypto transactions – why ?
Because you can make a purchase using cryto currency and there is no way for the government to track it or scrutinize it, or even to know about it.
“in ruby-red Kentucky, voters overwhelmingly chose to protect a woman’s right to choose–more proof of just what outliers Kavanaugh, Barrett, Gorsuch and Alito are and how out of step with the wishes of the majority of Americans that they are.”
Yes and Kentucky voters got to choose. The job/role of supreme court justices is precisely the opposite of following “the wishes of the majority”….
All 4 of them admitted, in their confirmation hearings and interviews, that stare decisis was the guiding principle for SCOTUS decisions–to prove that the high court is not just an arm of political influence. Roe was the law of the land for 50 years, and was reaffirmed multiple times by the SCOTUS. All 4 lied about their position on Roe just to get onto the Court so they could take away a woman’s right to choose. Never before has the high court taken away a right found to be protected by the Constitution.
NUTCHACHACHA, a direct and mortal enemy of the American thesis, the U.S. Constitution, America and Americans, makes it up as she goes along and is immutably false.
Correction: Anti-American communists (liberals, progressives,socialists, democrats, RINOs, AINOs) on the Supreme Court amended the Constitution illegally in 1973 on the issue of the legality of abortion. The decision of that court was high-criminal and actionable. Never was abortion a constitutional right. Never was abortion a federal law. Absent from the USC, abortion is a State issue and the current Supreme Court found, correctly, for the Constitution.
They did not lie. Stop libeling them.
Also, it’s been exactly 6 months since the draft Dobbs opinion leaked, and the Supreme Court leaker has still not been identified. Shocker.
“Never before has the high court taken away a right found to be protected by the Constitution.”
Correct. They did not “take away a right” because there was no “protected right” to take away.
Natacha – Gigi… shows how much you know about FOX… because if they did not have the good fortune of Prof. Turley’s analysis once in a while, they would be just another controlled-from-above outlet…(not quite as bad as the others though. The fact that Prof. Turley lost his ‘credibility’ with you is a superb sign that he’s still moving in the right direction in support of our Constitutional Republic.. Bravo.
Absolutely Democrats did not do as badly as we thought a few days ago.
But this is still pretty bad for D’s.
There are an enormous number of offices that Republicans did not win – that they did FAR better than ever before.
Florida was a complete wipeout for Dems. Absolute obliteration at every single level.
Florida is also a lesson to republicans that if you govern well – put people not left wing nuts first. Protect your economy,
Just plain do your job – not only will you win – you will obliterate democrats.
Desantis won by a razor thin margin in 2018 against a democrat who is now a felon.
On tuesday he beat a former governor by 20pts. DeSantis turned Florida from a swing state to a DEEP red state in 4 years. And the people in florida rewarded him for it. Sane democrats rewarded him.
DeSantis – and Republicans won in Miami Dade – that has like never happened before.
Zeldin lost against a poor democratic Governor in NY – but it was a close election – Cuomo won by 20pts.
Further Zeldin led a charge that flipped seats all over NY red.
It is still to close to call the NV senate seat – But Republicans won the NV governor, and most NV house seats.
NV has flipped from a blue state to a pink state and will certainly be red soon enough.
Democrats got scares in Oregon and Washington of all places. Republicans did not win – but they came close and these are Blue states.
Many Trump picked candidates did not win – but they came close. These purported radical bomb trowing republicans got 47, 48, 49+ percent of the vote in places Democrats have owned for years.
We are going to learn over time what things Republicans did right – and what they did wrong.
We know alot about what Democrats did “right”.
Lawfare,
Lie
Complicate the crap out of elections.
Get people to vote BEFORE we learn about the candidates – 1M people voted for Fetterman BEFORE his debate. debacle.
It is BTW entirely possible that the Election day polls predicting a Republican Tsunami were completely accurate.
What they did NOT take into account was that tens of millions of people had already voted.
Republicans won the popular vote by 5M votes – they won the “generic ballot” by 5.6% – that is more than double what RCP predicted would lead to a Tsunami.
Democrats do a good job of hiding their failures from voters.
There were some early analysis that the losses of Buldoc, Oz, Maybe masters, Dixon, …. should be blamed on Trump.
That the fact that the GOP won less seats than predicted monday is Trump’s fault.
Early claims also suggested this cemented McConnell’s leadership position in the Senate.
But what I am hearing later is the opposite McConnell starved Trump candidates for money – and STILL they managed to come close – and even win in many instances. I am now hearing suggestions that it is McConnell who is going to get the blame for not doing better in the Senate.
It is also slowly becoming clear that probably the single most important factor precluding this from being a Red Tsunami was Abortion. On nearly every single issue with respect to this election – Republicans and Democrats were in agreement – with very small differences in priorities. EVERYONE thinks Crime is a problem – and republicans are better on that than democrats. Everyone thinks the border is a problem and republicans are better than democrats. Everyone thinks inflation is a problem and republicans are better than democrats. I was suprised that Impeaching Biden, and Garland, and Mayokas – though not high on the list – made the list for Democrats. that the politicization of the FBI made the list for Democrats. Pretty much accross the board th most important issues for democrat voters were he most important issues for republican voters – Save for Abortion. It appears that a small but significant number of mostly white mostly middle class women despite siding with Republicans on every single other issue voted democrat over Abortion.
If so that is excellent news for Republicans – Abortion will NOT be an issue in future elections. But everything else will
BTW the inflation news today was “goodish” – down to 7.7% – still way too high – with several important things, gas, food, shelter much higher, regardless inflation is headed int he right direction.
But other BAD news – more and more economists – Larry Summers, and other prominent economists are predicting a recession starting in 2023, and lasting as much as 24 months. I do not know how deep that recession will be,
but your hopes that we will avoid recession are likely wishful thinking.
Politically that is excellent news for Republicans. but it is bad news for the country.
And tone deaf Biden was celebrating a great victory today and promising th press that he was doing NOTHING different in the next 2 years. Even CNN thought that was a big mistake.
I was also surprised that the priorities that americans – republicans, democrats and independents have for the Republican House – are very close to the same. they want spending cuts, they want the border secured, they want the flow of drugs stopped, they want crime brought down.
Republicans Democrats and independents ALL want J6 investigations to continue – though it is not clear whether they want more of what Democrats did, or Republicans to actually search for the Truth. They also want Hunter investigated, Biden investigated, DOJ & FBI investigated. There are differnces in the order of priorities – but republicans, democrats and independents all want the same thing of the Republican house.
And it is NOT what Democratic politicians want.
This is pretty preliminary, but it appears that the country as a whole is 4 square against the left wing nut agenda that has dominated the past 2 years. And that possibly the only thing that stopped a red Tsunami was a couple of percent of single issue women voting on abortion – despite agreeing with republicans on everything else.
There is still an open question as to whether this was a huge loss for Trump or a small win.
Republicans did not get what they hoped for.
But even where they fell short – they proved the future is much redder accross the country.
This election is NOT the Peak of a nationwide realignment of voters. But it is headed towards that peak.
“I don’t even bother to read the manure you write any more–just a look at the heading is enough.”
“You didn’t mention the fact that where abortion was on the ballot . . .”
How do you know he didn’t mention that, if you only read the heading?
Then why do we find you here, polluting this medium?
I would like to know if Professor Turley feels that we can overcome what we have become as a nation? The Biden Crime family, with Joe as the pivot man, will never be punished for what they have done. The media will not ever return to honest reporting, our institutions (FBI, DOJ, DOD, Congress) have proven time and again that they cannot be trusted. The Democratic Party will destroy what is left of Democracy when they destroy the Supreme Court and the Senate Filibuster. Couple all of that with a public that would actually elect persons to the Presidency and Senate with obvious conditions that should disqualify them – the list goes on and on. I would like to know from Professor Turley or anyone else why there is hope for this nation. I just don’t see it – there is no way our best days are yet to come.
It’s really not that bad, folks, Nancy Pelosi merely got a haircut.
It’s a very attractive coiffure indeed.
Kevin “The Bumpkin From Bakersfield” McCarthy is a Pelosi in RINO clothing.
It’s not a mirage, it’s the “swamp effect.”
It’s “swamp” gas.
Another disappearing ink attack by ATS on John Turley.
“Word” and “Deed” are two very different concepts. The GOP might give their word to open that laptop (and some might even mean it). It’s the Deed that matters. Will they follow through? Some of that dirt (if there is any) will lead to the GOP.
Lobbyists and influence peddlers might be the only true nonpartisans left in DC. They don’t care who they bribe.
*OPEN THE BOX*
Release the Kraken!
If anyone thinks that Jim Jordan isn’t going to pry the lid off that box they are suffering delirium tantrums. Merrick Garland to the stand please.
Made the case for a big bright spotlight when it gets opened. The people have a right to know.
As for the collateral damage to powerful people in Washington? We have monuments to Washington, Lincoln and Jefferson in our Nation’s Capitol and they have all been replaced. No one there now matters a whit, they are all replaceable.
Dear Prof Turley,
Will the new GOP congress know where the Laptop is, or not? As you may, or may not, know the FBI continues to refuse to comment on criminal investigations?
>”The genius of the Biden influence peddling operation was to make the media an early and active participant.”
How did they do that, exactly?
OT
OH —- NO, 2020 WASN’T STOLEN FROM TRUMP! ELECTION DENIERS ARE WRONG, RIGHT?
________________________________________________________________________________
“SPECIAL REPORT: The Stealing of the Presidency, 2020” (excerpted)
“The left-wing news media didn’t just poison the information environment with their incessantly negative coverage of President Trump going into the 2020 election. They also refused to give airtime to important arguments of the Republican campaign — both pro-Trump and anti-Biden — which meant millions of voters cast their ballots knowing only what the media permitted them to know about the candidates.”
“To measure the true effect of the media’s censorship on the election, the Media Research Center asked The Polling Company to survey 1,750 Biden voters in seven swing states (Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin), six of which (all but North Carolina) were called for Biden (survey details below). This lack of information proved crucial: One of every six Biden voters we surveyed (17%) said they would have abandoned the Democratic candidate had they known the facts about one or more of these news stories. A shift of this magnitude would have changed the outcome in all six of the swing states won by Joe Biden, and Donald Trump would have comfortably won a second term as president.
■ “Burying Biden’s Bad News: The media’s censorship of Biden’s scandals had the strongest impact on this year’s election. According to our survey, more than one-third of Biden voters (35.4%) were unaware of the serious allegations brought against the Democratic nominee by Tara Reade, a former staffer who said Biden sexually assaulted her in the 1990s.
“If they had known about Tara Reade’s sexual assault allegations, 8.9% told us they would have changed their vote — either switching to Trump or a 3rd party candidate, not voting for any presidential candidate, or not voting at all. Even more Biden voters (45.1%) said they were unaware of the financial scandal enveloping Biden and his son, Hunter (a story infamously censored by Twitter and Facebook, as well as ignored by the liberal media). According to our poll, full awareness of the Hunter Biden scandal would have led 9.4% of Biden voters to abandon the Democratic candidate, flipping all six of the swing states he won to Trump, giving the President 311 electoral votes.
“The ticket’s left-wing ideology was another issue barely mentioned by the national press. A GovTrack analysis found Biden’s running mate, California Senator Kamala Harris, had the most left-wing record of any Senator in 2019 (even more than self-described socialist Bernie Sanders). Our poll found that 25.3% of Biden voters said they didn’t know about Senator Harris’s left-wing ideology. If voters had the complete story, it would have led 4.1% of Biden voters to change their vote, flipping Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin to Trump. The result would have been a Trump victory, with 295 electoral college votes.
■ “Hiding Trump’s Successes: The liberal media also prevented many Biden voters from learning about record-breaking positive economic news in the months leading up to the election. The five pre-election jobs reports from June 5 to October 2 showed a record 11,161,000 jobs were created in the extraordinary snapback from the pandemic recession. Yet a large number of Biden voters (39.4%) said they didn’t know about this achievement. If they had, 5.4% said they would have changed their vote; this would have swung Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin to Trump, who would have won with 295 electoral votes.
“On October 29, the government reported a huge jump in economic growth — 33.1% on an annual basis, double the previous record. Yet nearly half of Biden voters (49.0%) said they had no idea about this record-breaking achievement. Armed with that information, 5.6% said they would have changed their vote, swinging Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin and a total of 295 electoral votes to Trump.”
…and on and on and on.
– Rich Noyes, November 24, 2020 https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/rich-noyes/2020/11/24/special-report-stealing-presidency-2020
There’s a reckoning coming, and the further it’s pushed back, the more violent it’s going to be.
The problem with snarky predictions like yours, it’s hard to tell if you WANT to see a violent reckoning, or would try to prevent it. Which expectation are you trying to advance with your comment?
OT
No, no, 2020 wasn’t stolen.
Oh, those pesky conservative election deniers; FBI conspires with Facebook to suppress critical election information.
Zuck said the suppression was “meaningful.”
____________________________________
“Zuckerberg Admits Facebook Suppressed Hunter Biden Laptop Story ahead of 2020 Election”
“Facebook suppressed stories about Hunter Biden’s laptop before the 2020 election after the FBI told the company they should look out for Russian “misinformation,” Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg told podcast host Joe Rogan Thursday. The ‘distribution’ of the bombshell report was suppressed on Facebook for ‘five or seven’ days when it was being determined if the laptop was real, Zuckerberg said, but users could still ‘share it.’ Facebook engineers downgraded the report within the platform’s ‘ranking and newsfeed’ features, so ‘fewer people saw it than would have otherwise,’ he said. Asked how many fewer user saw the story as a result of the suppression, Zuckerberg said he couldn’t provide an exact number but offered that the effect was ‘meaningful.'”
– Diana Glebova, August 26, 2022
Why use a vague word like “stolen”, when you could accurately claim that the infospace leading up to the election was corruptly tilted in Biden’s direction? When saying an election was “stolen”, you’re suggesting the outcome was illegally changed by voting irregularities on a massive scale (which it would need to be to change the 80,000 vote margin added up across the pivotal states). Neutral investigative reporters from the Associate Press found only evidence for ~500 votes being illegally cast in 2020, among 150 million.
Yet, few would argue that the pre-election infospace was heavily biased pro-Biden / anti-Trump. Does the fact that this media bias is legal and only questionable ethically matter? It should. Because it’s possible that having a “free and fair election” includes fairness, openness, and accuracy of the infospace leading up to it. Few would deny that the votes cast in an election are heavily influenced by the infospace voters are immersed in leading up to the election.
The false-grievance about illegal voting and vote-counting completely missed the true nature of the 2020 problem. It wasted a huge opportunity to reflect upon and perhaps tighten up regulations on the media’s role during campaigns. It demonstrates idiocracy at work. Thanks, Trump.
AP is the Public Information Office of the communist party headquarters, comrade. Nice try.
AP is the official purveyor of communist (liberal, progressive, socialist, democrat, RINO, AINO) propaganda and indoctrination.
I like that, presenting the fact of FBI complicity in the anti-Trump effort in general and in the anti-Trump effort in the election specifically is nothing to be concerned with, right?
Brilliant, Einstein, simply brilliant.
I had no idea the Constitution provided for election participation by the FBI.
Let’s hope the Republicans don’t become so consumed with investigating the past that they forget that most of America wants leadership for the future.
That is a good point.
I also think that is why the whole America First policy is actually good for the GOP. It was a slap to the entire party what issues are important to their voters, like the economy, inflation, secure borders, election integrity etc.
Like to see a third party who really embraces that kind of platform and is a challenge to the GOP, heck, both parties.
Both parties need to get rid of some of these long time establishment members.
What can be wrong with the America First Policy? The only thing bad about it is if a person wants to see America decline and fail.
They can do both — investigate Biden’s foreign corruption and impeach Biden cabinet incompetence/lawlessness. They can simultaneously legislate and force Biden to veto. IF they choose to. We’ll see. “McLeadership” is a real problem.