Happy Thursday and welcome back to Common Sense with Ally Sammarco. Let’s break down the latest news.
Trump Threatens to Pull Todd Blanche’s Nomination….President Trump said Thursday that he may temporarily withdraw Todd Blanche’s nomination for attorney general after Sens. John Cornyn and Thom Tillis refused to advance his confirmation. Trump praised Blanche as a “STAR” and suggested he could simply re-nominate him once both senators leave office, while Blanche continues serving as acting attorney general in the meantime. The standoff appears to center on demands from Cornyn, who wants the Justice Department to formally scrap its $1.8 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund” and narrow the scope of Trump’s IRS immunity deal before he’ll support the nomination.
Common Sense Takeaway: Cornyn and Tillis—if you have any self-respect you would vote “NO” no matter what. Todd Blanche claims there are "no leads" he can pursue related to the Epstein Files. There are over 3.5 million pages of the files. If that's genuinely what he believes, he's clearly NOT fit to be Attorney General—among many other reasons. Let Trump flounder trying to confirm his personal attorney, but don’t make it easy for him.
Fauci Invokes the Fifth at Senate Hearing….Dr. Anthony Fauci invoked his Fifth Amendment right more than 100 times during a contentious Senate hearing on the origins of COVID-19 and the federal government’s pandemic response, declining to answer questions from lawmakers. Fauci said he made the decision on the advice of his attorneys, arguing that Sen. Rand Paul’s repeated calls for his prosecution created a risk that his testimony could be used against him. Republicans accused Fauci of misleading the public and announced plans to pursue a contempt of Congress vote, while Democrats dismissed the hearing as a partisan effort to entrap him into a perjury case.
Common Sense Takeaway: I guess Dr. Fauci shouldn’t have suggested we inject bleach to kill COVID. Oh wait, that was Donald Trump. Well at least he shouldn’t have compared wearing a mask during a pandemic to a “face diaper.” Oh no, that was Donald Trump too. Fine, well he definitely shouldn’t have downplayed the virus to seem like the “flu” when he knew it was deadlier. Nope, that was Donald Trump too! The decision by Rand Paul to go after an 85 year-old doctor years after the pandemic ended is certainly a choice. And a pathetic one, at that. Maybe, for once, Republicans could focus on things that matter.
CDC Director Nominee Clears Senate Committee….The Senate Health Committee voted to advance Dr. Erica Schwartz’s nomination to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, moving her one step closer to Senate confirmation. While several senators questioned whether she would resist political pressure from Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., committee chairman Sen. Bill Cassidy ultimately backed her after private conversations, saying he believes she will “stand against those” who disregard science. Public health advocates remain skeptical, arguing Schwartz has not made strong enough commitments to protect the CDC’s scientific independence.
Common Sense Takeaway: Don’t be fooled. Schwartz is not a moderate. She couldn’t even commit to removing a CDC webpage that suggested a link between vaccines and autism, despite the overwhelming scientific consensus that vaccines do not cause autism. She said she “had not reviewed the page” and would discuss it with RFK Jr. before deciding. We all know what that means. I look forward to the day that we can trust what our public health officials tell us again.
That’s it for today. Thanks for reading Common Sense with Ally Sammarco. Check back tomorrow for more.
There are so many awful things the Republicans have done. They are using Bannon's "flood the zone with ****" strategy, and it's hard to keep up with *hearing* about it all, let along doing anything about it. But one of the things I really want to see these people held accountable for, is the way they have attacked Dr. Fauci, and made up ridiculous lies about him, in the same way they've tried to claim Trump won the 2020 election. Democrats and journalists need to start asking every Republican if they think Fauci did anything wrong, and *exactly* what that is, and where the proof of their allegations are, just like they do about the election.
I have grown to absolutely, genuinely hate, loathe, despise everyone in the republican party.