Here is the one hundred seventy-third article in our Republicans on Parade series, featuring individuals who personify what the Republican Party has become. Today’s winner is Republican Senator Richard Burr [R-NC]. He is so honored for cashing out of the stock market and warning rich Republicans to do likewise, explaining to them just how dangerous Trump* virus really is, while lying to the American people, telling us that we were completely safe.
On Feb. 27, the United States had just 15 confirmed cases of COVID-19. Donald Trump was telling Americans the coronavirus was “going to disappear” one day, “like a miracle.” But Republican Sen. Richard Burr, in a private meeting with members of an exclusive group, was issuing dire warnings about the emerging pandemic.
“There’s one thing that I can tell you about this: It is much more aggressive in its transmission than anything that we have seen in recent history,” Burr, chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, told members of Tar Heel Circle in a secret recording obtained by NPR reporter Tim Mak. “It is probably more akin to the 1918 pandemic,” Burr added.
The luncheon, held at the Capitol Hill Club, included a nonpartisan group of dozens of Burr’s constituents who pay between $500 and $10,000 to be part of the elite Tar Heel group, which promises them access to powerful leaders in Congress, the executive branch, and the private sector. NPR reports that the companies represented at the luncheon and their political committees “donated more than $100,000 to Burr’s election campaign in 2015 and 2016.”…
…Burr’s stark assessment of major disruptions also predated school closures in his state by 16 days. “There will be, I’m sure, times that communities, probably some in North Carolina, have a transmission rate where they say, let’s close schools for two weeks, everybody stay home,” he said. Burr also mentioned the potential need to mobilize the U.S. military in order to resource the effort to battle the coronavirus… [emphasis added]
Inserted from <Daily Kos>
Here are the excerpts from that meeting that have been released. Not only did he tell the truth to this select group, but also, he used that insider information to bail out of the stock market and escape the effects of the Republican Recession of 2020, while thousands of Americans lost their IRAs and 401(k)s, because Republicans hid the truth from them.
Recording: NC Sen. Burr warned crowd about coronavirus during late-February event
I sure the rich Republicans at that meeting bailed out too. Burr was not the only Senator to save their own investments, while screwing their constituents. There were two more Republicans and, unfortunately, one good for nothing, mother stinking piece of DINO shit.
Four senators reportedly sold stock before markets’ coronavirus spiral
The other three are Kelly Loeffler [R-GA], Diane Feinstein [DINO-CA], and Jim Imhoff [R-OK]
In my opinion, Di-Fi is the most culpable of the four. Greedy, illegal behavior is SOP for members of the Republican Reich, but when Democrats start acting like Republicans, as Feinstein did (and so often does), how are voters to tell the difference? All four should resign. Those who don’t (all of them), should be brought up on ethics charges. Unfortunately, Senate ethics will matter only if Democrats win the chamber.
In the meantime, all four deserve a parade. If DINO Feinstein insists on acting like a Republican, let her be paraded liked a Republican.
RESIST!!
11 Responses to “Republicans on Parade–3/20/2020”
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Yes, strike up the chorus, and the band as these should be paraded for what they’re worth.
How vile and sickening to do or even think of doing this?
Pretty damn cold blooded. But, isn’t that what R’s are known for best??
DiFi is an examle of power corrupting. As a native Californian, I can remember when she was a decent human being.
The old saying “If a person is not a liberal when he is twenty, he has no heart; if he is not a conservative when he is forty, he has no head,” often misattributed to Chirchill or Clemenceau (but apparently going back at lease as far as Jihn Adams, though the ages he picked are different), implies that liberals have heart and conservatives have brains, which, of course, is not only false, but provably false. However, the the phenomenon of young liberals turning into old coservatives is real – not universal, but it does happen, a lot. What really explains that? I submit that if a person is not a conservative by 40, s/he has no power, and is aware s/he has no power.
Brains have nothing to do with it. Maturity has nothing to do with it. It’s all about power.
Afterthought – Sometimes all you need to do to know what happened last week is look at Merriam-Webster’s weekly list of words that r=trended:
unfactual
asymptomatic
nonessential
furlough
insider trading
I doubt those should trend JUST to the last week …
Update – Here’s a quote from ALterNet – “Some of the sales that were highlighted on social media, such as those by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), appeared to be unconnected to the coronavirus crisis, analysts pointed out—while also urging that the transactions be closely examined.”
I’d love it if DiFi were not quite as corrupt as this looks, but I absolutely think everyone’s transactions should be examined hard.
Because the entire stock market is tanking, as a result of Trump* virus, saying that the transactions are not connected ia a BS evasion.
You certainly pick the perfect rotten scandals for this Parade.
I never knew of DiFi’s being so corrupt.
I’ve signed numerous petitions today regarding these criminals.
Hopefully they will be investigated.
You put Richard Burr on parade because he’s a Republican, TomCat, but it might as well have been our own DINO Finkelstein, as you note in your last remark. The rich getting richer by bailing out and letting the market crash in their wake, ruining the little investors, crashing the economy. The greedy rich making more money at the expense of everybody else. Despicable.
There is at least a possibility that the sales transacted by her and by Ron Johnson (R-WI) were not insider influenced. Ron Johnson is a creep, God knows (he’s the one who said [paraphased] “People won’t die from COVID-19, unless they do”), but if it turns out that he and DiFi are innocent in this, I will gladly apologize to him as well as to her.
Parade well taken! There is no doubt in my mind that Burr acted on inside information and should be prosecuted and resign. Will he? I doubt it, unfortunately.
I did read yesterday that Feinstein has her investments in a blind trust. I don’t know if the same can be said of Ron Johnson. However that said, all of these transactions bear scrutiny.
Thanks ans weekend hugs to all.