'Let's stop attacking pedophiles'

Tongue-tied Ted Cruz inadvertently discloses the GOP strategy on the Epstein files

By Sam Bellamy

Republicans have apparently given up trying to convince Americans, including Donald Trump’s MAGA base, that the GOP is not protecting pedophiles named in the voluminous Epstein files.

Sen. Ted Cruz, who is widely reported to be loathed by colleagues in his own party, inadvertently spilled the beans at a crime hearing Tuesday about Washington D.C., which is evidently still teetering between the safest city in America (all hail Trump!) or a hellhole only a crime-loving Democrat could go to dinner in.

Here’s Cruz, referring to a comment made earlier by Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey:

Sen. Booker also said we should have bipartisan agreement. I think that’s a great idea, we should have bipartisan agreement. How ’bout we all come together and say, ‘Let’s stop murders?’ How ’bout we all come together and say, ‘Let’s stop rapes?’ How ’bout weall come together and say, ‘Let’s stop attacking pedophiles’?

Yikes. OK, so the man from Texas (and Cancun) likely misspoke and didn’t actually mean that people need to stop being mean to creeps like Trump’s former wingman Jeffrey Epstein.

We all stick our foot, or two, in our mouths from time to time, so we probably shouldn’t laugh too loud.

But, then again, it’s Ted Cruz. So, really, who’s feeling charitable?

Matters got worse over on the House side Tuesday when Republicans refused to swear in newly elected Rep. Adelita Grijalva, a Democrat from Arizona, before they embarked on a one-week recess.

It just so happens that Grijalva says she’ll provide the final signature needed for a discharge petition that would force a vote on a measure to release the Epstein files.

Only three Republicans – Rep. Thomas Massie (you might remember him) and the illustrious trio of Marjorie Taylor Greene, Nancy Mace and Lauren Boebert – support forcing a vote.

The recess, which may end on Oct. 7, seems oddly timed given that the government has shut down and, presumably, there are some things to talk over with Democrats.

Be that as it may, the failure to swear in Grijalva before the mini-GOP vacation is even odder.

Republicans stood on procedure in denying the formal welcome to the new duly elected representative, saying that Tuesday’s session was just “pro forma,” a move that enables one chamber of Congress to pause proceedings without the vote of the other.

A pro forma session isn’t the right time to swear in new members, Republicans said Tuesday.

But, as Democrats were quick to point out, GOP members did exactly that back in April, swearing in a newly elected Republican representative from Florida during a pro forma session.

“There’s no reason why I couldn’t have been sworn in, and it’s very problematic, because we’re facing a government shutdown. We’re going to have constituents who have questions, and there is nobody there to answer questions,” Grijalva told The Hill.

Obviously, the two parties are bickering over who’s to blame for the government shutdown – aside from Trump, as Speaker Mike Johnson would hasten to add – so it’s likely Grijalva is just a convenient pawn being pushed around by Republicans.

But Trump’s allies in Congress certainly have been slow-rolling the release files pertaining to what His Eminence himself calls “a Democratic hoax.”

Why are they fighting so hard to block full disclosure? Why did the FBI sift through the files to look for Trump’s name before any were released? Why not release all of the files, now, with the victims’ names redacted?

There’s no reason for Americans – including Trump’s MAGA base – to feel any more charitable about this chickenshit delay by Republicans than any of the others.

To paraphrase Ted Cruz, if he were more articulate, let’s stop protecting pedophiles.