The GOP’s defense of Trump and Netanyahu's crimes is despicable

Perfectly sums up the GOP

This week we saw the GOP threaten to weaponize the federal government to protect two of their beloved figures: Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. And in both cases the GOP is reminding us how morally bankrupt and despicable they are as a party.

On Tuesday, MAGA Speaker Mike Johnson called for an end to the criminal prosecutions of Trump in four different jurisdictions while at same time threatening to use the power of Congress to punish those involved in attempting to hold Trump accountable for his crimes. Johnson began his weekly press conference by declaring, “President Trump has done nothing wrong here and he continues to be the target of endless lawfare.” He added that it must “stop,” and if doesn’t, then “you’re gonna see the United States Congress address this in every possible way that we can, because we need accountability…we’re gonna get down to the bottom of it.”

Here's the highest-ranking Republican in Congress threatening to use the vast power of the House to punish those who dare to hold their beloved Trump to account for his attempted coup, his Jan 6 terrorist attack, his 30 plus violations of the Espionage Act and his election fraud that is the core of the “hush money” trial currently happening in New York.  

Please don’t dismiss this as empty rhetoric. Trump and MAGA aren’t kidding.  As a reminder, Rep. Jim Jordan—who should’ve been charged as a criminal co-conspirator in Trump’s Jan 6 case--has utilized his position as chair of the House judiciary committee to try and protect Trump by demanding information from the respective prosecutors. For example, in the Fulton County case, Jordan launched a probe of  DA Fani Willis  shortly after Trump was indicted for attempting to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia.  Since then, Jordan sent a subpoena seeking all communications between her offices and DOJ regarding the Trump case as well as engaged in essence an audit of how she was using federal funds.  Recently, Jordan threatened to hold her in contempt.

Jordan engaged in similar measures targeting Special Counsel Jack Smith and Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg. In fact, just last week Jordan announced a new investigation accusing the Justice Department of “coordinating with New York County District Attorney Alvin Bragg in a “politicized” prosecution of former President Donald Trump.” As a result, Jordan demanded in a letter recently to Attorney General Merrick B. Garland that he “hand over documents and information about Matthew Colangelo, a former senior Justice Department official who now is a lead prosecutor for Mr. Bragg in the Trump hush money case.”

Then there’s the GOP’s appalling efforts to protect Benjamin Netanyahu. After news reports surfaced recently that the International Criminal Court (ICC) was investigating whether Netanyahu committed war crimes in connection with his military’s action in Gaza, twelve GOP Senators joined forces to threaten ICC officials with personal consequences if they dare hold Netanyahu accountable.  The letter directed to ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan—signed by Tom Cotton of Arkansas, Florida’s Marco Rubio, and Ted Cruz of Texas among others--was dated April 24, 2024, but only came to light this week after Mehdi Hasan’s Zeteo obtained a copy of the jaw dropping document.

In this letter, the GOP Senators point blank threaten the ICC officials and even their families telling them: “Target Israel and we will target you,” adding that they will “sanction your employees and associates, and bar you and your families from the United States.”  These Republican Senators go on to say that if the ICC issues an arrest warrant for Netanyahu “we will interpret this not only as a threat to Israel’s sovereignty but to the sovereignty of the United States.”

The letter concludes ominously: “You have been warned.”

Neither the United State nor Israel are members of the ICC, but in the wake of the Hamas terrorist attack of Oct. 7, 2023 and Netanyahu’s military response, ICC prosecutor Khan announced that the court had jurisdiction over any potential war crimes committed both by Hamas and Israel.

Putting aside the jurisdictional issues, the issue of Hamas and Netanyahu’s obvious war crimes should be investigated. The Oct 7 Hamas terrorist attack was horrific, killing nearly 1,200 Israelis--many women and children.

Netanyahu’s military response to Oct 7 has been beyond brutal. As of today more than 34,000 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed—with UNCIEF saying at least 13,000 of the dead are children and thousands of others are women.  The destruction of homes and civilian infrastructure in Gaza has not been seen since World War II as the United Nations recently noted.  The NY Times recently detailed, “more than 80 percent of Gaza’s schools have been severely damaged or destroyed, with more than two dozen U.N. officials accusing “Israel of a deliberate pattern of targeting educational facilities, much as it has been accused of targeting hospitals.”

This is why President Biden has stated publicly that Netanyahu’s military was engaged in "indiscriminate bombing" of Gaza. If that allegation is proven, that is a war crime under international law.

US Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-Md) stated on the Senate floor in February that the Netanyahu government had engaged in a “textbook war crime” with its “deliberate withholding of food” from children in Gaza.

Senator Bernie Sanders on my SiriusXM show just last week went into detail why he believes Netanyahu has violated international laws. Sanders noted that Netanyahu was creating “the worst humanitarian crisis in the modern history” as he laid out that “more than 5% of the entire population of Gaza has been killed or is wounded, two thirds of them women and children.”

Sanders noted the lack of clean water and food, destruction of hospitals and schools by Netanyahu’s military.  The Vermont Senator explained that Netanyahu’s apparent goal was to make it “impossible for the Palestinian people to live” in Gaza. He concluded that it’s clear Netanyahu “has violated international law and American law.”   (Sanders is correct that “collective punishment” of a civilian population and intentional destruction of civilian infrastructure are war crimes under international law.)

All of this is why a new Data for Progress poll released this week found that 56% of Democrats believe that “Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza.”  Only 22% of Democrats say no. And of Independent voters, 36% say it’s a genocide while 35% say it’s not.

The term “genocide” has a definition under international law that is very specific, requiring certain violent acts be “committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.”  I would imagine that the bulk of people who say Netanyahu’s actions constitute a “genocide” aren’t looking at the legal definition but are indicating that the death toll and images they’ve seen of Gaza constitutes something both immoral and barbaric.

But obviously there is enough evidence that merits an investigation into Netanyahu—as well as Hamas leaders—for war crimes. But the GOP Senators like the GOP House with Trump want to protect their beloved Netanyahu from any accountable.

The bottom line is the same with both Trump and Netanyahu. If Trump is not held accountable for his Jan 6 crimes, he will absolutely engage in the same conduct in the future. The same goes for Netanyahu. And today’s GOP knows that and is fine with both.

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