I suppose one could argue one line had already been crossed a few years ago.
House votes to censure Gosar and boot him from committees
The House voted almost entirely along party lines on Wednesday to censure Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) and take away his committee seats for posting an anime video depicting him violently attacking Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and President Biden.
Only two Republicans, Reps. Liz Cheney (Wyo.) and Adam Kinzinger (Ill.), joined all Democrats as the House voted 223-207, with Rep. David Joyce (R-Ohio) voting “present,” to punish Gosar.
In an extraordinary scene, Gosar was forced to stand in the center of the House floor as Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) read aloud the resolution that made him just the 24th lawmaker in the chamber’s more than 200-year history to be censured.
What line am I talking about? The line House Repubs crossed when they, sans Cheney and Kinzinger, decided en masse not to punish one of their own. A heretofore unimaginable departure from traditional decorum. And now, this................
Trump Posts Fake Video Showing Obama Arrest
President Trump reposted a fake video showing former President Barack Obama being arrested in the Oval Office, as Trump administration officials continue to accuse Mr. Obama of trying to harm Mr. Trump’s campaign during the 2016 election, and the president seeks to redirect conversation from the Epstein files.
The short video, which appears to have been generated by artificial intelligence and posted on TikTok before being reposted on Mr. Trump’s Truth Social account on Sunday, comes days after the Office of the Director of National Intelligence issued the latest in a series of reports from the Trump administration trying to undermine the eight-year-old assessment that Russia favored the election of Mr. Trump.
To my knowledge, no Repub has seen fit to condemn the use of an AI generated video meant to demean a former president in this most despicable way. Nor have they made it clear trump and Gabbard's allegations against Obama have no factual support. The same can not be said for Obama.
“Out of respect for the office of the presidency, our office does not normally dignify the constant nonsense and misinformation flowing out of this White House with a response. But these claims are outrageous enough to merit one. These bizarre allegations are ridiculous and a week attempt at distraction. Nothing in the document issued last week undercuts the widely accepted conclusion that Russia worked to influence the 2016 presidential election but did not successfully manipulate any votes. These findings were affirmed in a 2020 report by the bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee, led by then-Chairman Marco Rubio.”
Former President Barack Obama's office issued a rare statement on Tuesday responding to the latest flurry of attacks from President Donald Trump.
www.mediaite.com
I suspect the board's conservatives will follow the lead of congressional Repubs in their tacit approval of the use of a boorish, disgusting video. The use of which is far below the dignity of the office of the POTUS (or at least it used to be), and the deflection it was designed to achieve.
Conversely, I find it remarkable that a 79 year old man has stooped to a level previously reserved for juvenile delinquents. I have no idea what is in the "Epstein files" but it appears trump does. Why else would he be so desperate to keep them from public view?
