{"id":1182,"date":"2024-05-16T10:12:05","date_gmt":"2024-05-16T14:12:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/potlatchga.com\/?p=1182"},"modified":"2024-05-16T10:12:05","modified_gmt":"2024-05-16T14:12:05","slug":"the-big-suck-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/potlatchga.com\/?p=1182","title":{"rendered":"The Big Suck Up"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The spectacle of Senators Tim Scott and J. D. Vance attending Trump\u2019s hush money trial was bad enough, but the presence of Mike Johnson, current Speaker of the House, struck me as sick politics. Second in power to the president, the speaker\u2019s attendance sends the signal that the tawdry and potentially criminal acts of the former president are both acceptable and nothing to be concerned about. As GOP Senator Mitt Romney said \u201cI think it\u2019s a little demeaning to show up in front of a courthouse, particularly one where we\u2019re talking about an allegation of paying a porn star.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But this is where our politics is today thanks to Trump, the MAGA gang and a minority of the electorate who continue to enable such sordid politics by voting for him. The sycophants who showed up at court are auditioning to become the Republican nominee for vice president in the upcoming 2024 election. The Speaker is doing penance for supporting aid to Ukraine against the right wing of his party. To a person they echoed Trump\u2019s unsubstantiated claims that this trial is a political hit job to prevent his reelection. Johnson called it a sham trial that was being used to keep Trump from campaigning.<\/p>\n<p>So much for hoping that Johnson would sober up and take his job seriously for the good of the nation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The spectacle of Senators Tim Scott and J. D. Vance attending Trump\u2019s hush money trial was bad enough, but the presence of Mike Johnson, current Speaker of the House, struck me as sick politics. Second in power to the president, the speaker\u2019s attendance sends the signal that the tawdry and potentially criminal acts of the&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1182","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-by-robert-fischer"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The Big Suck Up - Potlatch<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/potlatchga.com\/?p=1182\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Big Suck Up - Potlatch\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The spectacle of Senators Tim Scott and J. D. Vance attending Trump\u2019s hush money trial was bad enough, but the presence of Mike Johnson, current Speaker of the House, struck me as sick politics. Second in power to the president, the speaker\u2019s attendance sends the signal that the tawdry and potentially criminal acts of the...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/potlatchga.com\/?p=1182\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Potlatch\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-05-16T14:12:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"George Shafer\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"George Shafer\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/potlatchga.com\\\/?p=1182#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/potlatchga.com\\\/?p=1182\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"George Shafer\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/potlatchga.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/aa4c9c1bec1eefbee281c7b4f91d91b0\"},\"headline\":\"The Big Suck Up\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-05-16T14:12:05+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/potlatchga.com\\\/?p=1182\"},\"wordCount\":232,\"commentCount\":0,\"articleSection\":[\"by Robert Fischer\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/potlatchga.com\\\/?p=1182#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/potlatchga.com\\\/?p=1182\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/potlatchga.com\\\/?p=1182\",\"name\":\"The Big Suck Up - Potlatch\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/potlatchga.com\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2024-05-16T14:12:05+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/potlatchga.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/aa4c9c1bec1eefbee281c7b4f91d91b0\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/potlatchga.com\\\/?p=1182#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/potlatchga.com\\\/?p=1182\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/potlatchga.com\\\/?p=1182#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/potlatchga.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Big Suck Up\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/potlatchga.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/potlatchga.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Potlatch\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/potlatchga.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/potlatchga.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/aa4c9c1bec1eefbee281c7b4f91d91b0\",\"name\":\"George Shafer\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/504c3f3f28fae38b2412b60d480e2acaf009ec80be15447e5fb39173ef16b03c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/504c3f3f28fae38b2412b60d480e2acaf009ec80be15447e5fb39173ef16b03c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/504c3f3f28fae38b2412b60d480e2acaf009ec80be15447e5fb39173ef16b03c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"George Shafer\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/potlatchga.com\\\/?author=6\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Big Suck Up - Potlatch","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/potlatchga.com\/?p=1182","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Big Suck Up - Potlatch","og_description":"The spectacle of Senators Tim Scott and J. D. Vance attending Trump\u2019s hush money trial was bad enough, but the presence of Mike Johnson, current Speaker of the House, struck me as sick politics. Second in power to the president, the speaker\u2019s attendance sends the signal that the tawdry and potentially criminal acts of the...","og_url":"https:\/\/potlatchga.com\/?p=1182","og_site_name":"Potlatch","article_published_time":"2024-05-16T14:12:05+00:00","author":"George Shafer","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"George Shafer","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/potlatchga.com\/?p=1182#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/potlatchga.com\/?p=1182"},"author":{"name":"George Shafer","@id":"https:\/\/potlatchga.com\/#\/schema\/person\/aa4c9c1bec1eefbee281c7b4f91d91b0"},"headline":"The Big Suck Up","datePublished":"2024-05-16T14:12:05+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/potlatchga.com\/?p=1182"},"wordCount":232,"commentCount":0,"articleSection":["by Robert Fischer"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/potlatchga.com\/?p=1182#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/potlatchga.com\/?p=1182","url":"https:\/\/potlatchga.com\/?p=1182","name":"The Big Suck Up - Potlatch","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/potlatchga.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2024-05-16T14:12:05+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/potlatchga.com\/#\/schema\/person\/aa4c9c1bec1eefbee281c7b4f91d91b0"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/potlatchga.com\/?p=1182#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/potlatchga.com\/?p=1182"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/potlatchga.com\/?p=1182#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/potlatchga.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Big Suck Up"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/potlatchga.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/potlatchga.com\/","name":"Potlatch","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/potlatchga.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/potlatchga.com\/#\/schema\/person\/aa4c9c1bec1eefbee281c7b4f91d91b0","name":"George Shafer","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/504c3f3f28fae38b2412b60d480e2acaf009ec80be15447e5fb39173ef16b03c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/504c3f3f28fae38b2412b60d480e2acaf009ec80be15447e5fb39173ef16b03c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/504c3f3f28fae38b2412b60d480e2acaf009ec80be15447e5fb39173ef16b03c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"George Shafer"},"url":"https:\/\/potlatchga.com\/?author=6"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/potlatchga.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1182","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/potlatchga.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/potlatchga.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/potlatchga.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/potlatchga.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1182"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/potlatchga.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1182\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/potlatchga.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/potlatchga.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/potlatchga.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}