Republicans have launched a Benghazi 2.0 disinformation campaign. It's a flop.

Meanwhile the gulf between Democratic accomplishment and Republican silliness is impossible to conceal, no matter how hard the GOP tries to change the subject.

Benghazi is a place in Libya. It is the site of a tragic attack that killed American diplomats including U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens. That tragedy was seen by cynical Republicans as a political opportunity to tarnish then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. They set up hearings and promised smoking guns. Day after day, they held up documents and suggested wrongdoing. The strategy built on lies & disiformation worked.

Interviewed by Sean Hannity in 2015, Kevin McCarthy said:

"Everybody thought Hillary Clinton was unbeatable, right? But we put together a Benghazi special committee, a select committee. What are her numbers today? Her numbers are dropping. Why? Because she's un-trustable. But no one would have known any of that had happened, had we not fought."

Two years and $7 million later, the 800-page House Committee Report, when they finally wrote one, completely vindicated Mrs. Clinton. The facts, as McCarthy and his conspirators knew, would not matter if they could throw enough mud.

Benghazi 2.0

Now they are back at it with Hunter’s laptop and the ridiculous attempt to get the public to start talking about “the Biden crime family.” But this time Kevin McCarthy, James Comer and Jim Jordan may be getting the worst of it themselves. Their big secret witness, the one who would reveal the smoking gun turned out to be a Chinese spy on the run from the FBI. Their next bombshell witness ended up testifying the Joe Biden was never involved in Hunter’s business. Meanwhile everyone knows the big crime family in politics is called Trump.

Ohio Congressman Jim Jordan. Photo Credit: Jim Lo Scalzo/ AFP

But their ridiculous antics are not sticking for another reason.

Democrats are on a roll

Democrats are making things better at every level of government. In Washington, the Biden Administration is using the landmark legislation passed when Democrats controlled Congress to tame inflation and grow the economy at the same time. The President is doing big things on the world stage, from rebuilding NATO and checking Russian aggression, to managing a rebalancing of our economic relationship with China. On his watch, America is finally taking on climate change.

At the state level, the gulf between Democratic accomplishment and Republican silliness is impossible to conceal, no matter how hard the GOP tries to change the subject.  Here in the upper Midwest, Democrats in Minnesota, Illinois, and Michigan have invested in education, protected the environment, expanded access to healthcare, and made sure everyone has a fair shot. In Florida, Texas, and Iowa, on the other hand, are cutting taxes (again), deregulating businesses (again), restricting abortion access, and restricting voting rights. In Florida, Gov DeSantis has also re-regulated businesses to force his politics on corporations like Disney.

Back in Washington, after Nancy Pelosi led the most consequential Congress in half a century, Kevin McCarthy is betting no-one will notice that governing is actual work, and instead get away with Benghazi all over again.

Americans know better. But what should really keep McCarthy, Comer, and Jordan up at night is that people might actually wonder if they aren’t right after all. When the GOP front runner wants to purge government of civil service employees and fill it with partisan hacks, when the in state after state, public education is privatized to connected donors, the ones complaining about weaponization sure look vulnerable.