Kevin McCarthy’s freakout gives away just how afraid he is of what comes next

| 2:00 pm EDT September 1, 2021
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House minority leader Kevin McCarthy is so rattled by the 1/6 Commission that he forgot which branch of government he works for.

The commission informed 35 telecoms and social media companies to preserve communications records for a list of people as they work to understand the sequence of events leading up to the insurrection. This is standard in the preliminary stages of any investigation, putting them on notice not to destroy any potential evidence. Notably, it is not a request for any information to be handed over to the commission – yet.

But this caused McCarthy to throw a loaded diaper tantrum on Twitter: “If these companies comply with the Democrat [sic] order to turn over private information, they are in violation of federal law and subject to losing their ability to operate in the United States. If companies still choose to violate federal law, a Republican majority will not forget and will stand with Americans to hold them fully accountable under the law.”

McCarthy won’t say which federal law would be violated if telecoms respond to a congressional subpoena, and nobody else can figure out what he’s talking about either. However, Congressman Ted Lieu observed that the minority leader’s tweet is itself a clear violation of 18 U.S. Code 1505, which defines obstruction of justice.

But let’s play along with the minority leader’s fantasy for a moment. Enforcement of existing laws is the responsibility of the DOJ, not of some hypothetical “republican majority” in Congress. Who does McCarthy think he is, Merrick Garland?

I don’t know why republicans insist on disparaging our great nation by implying that justice is a fickle thing that depends on which political party is in charge, but it exposes their corrupt attitude toward governance and underlying contempt for our sacred institutions. That is what the words “republican majority” would mean for America.

I have two better words: “No, thanks!”