In recent weeks, one of the most influential Republicans has been Rep. Devin Nunes of California. The far-right GOP congressman has been a loud and strident defender of President Donald Trump at all of the public impeachment hearings. And Sam Brodey, congressional reporter for the Daily Beast, outlines in a November 25 article some of the ways in which Nunes’ over-the-topic antics have been helping fellow Republicans craft a pro-Trump impeachment narrative.
“Charged with weaving the Republicans’ counternarrative — and crafting a case for the exoneration of Trump — has been Rep. Devin Nunes,” Brodey reports in the Beast. “The California Republican, as stalwart an ally of the president’s as there is, not only got more airtime than any other Republican lawmaker in the room, but had the first word and the last word for his side across seven hearings.”
Trump’s Democratic critics have been quick to point out that Nunes, during the hearings, has been talking a lot of nonsense and promoting the debunked CrowdStrike conspiracy theory — which claims that it was the Ukrainian government, not the Russian government and President Vladimir Putin, who interfered in the United States’ 2016 presidential election. But that doesn’t mean that Nunes’ impeachment speeches before the House Intelligence Committee haven’t been influential on the right: Fox News and AM talk radio have been quick to echo Nunes’ pro-Trump talking points.
Nunes, Brodey explains, has been the voice for “an entirely different political universe” — one in which Trump is the victim.
“In that universe,” Brodey observes, “Trump is totally innocent of all of the Ukraine allegations. And what’s more, those allegations are just one more step in a coordinated and years-long conspiracy by an evil coterie of actors — Democratic Party operatives, the ‘fake news’ media, faceless and nefarious deep state bureaucrats, and even Ukrainians themselves — who will stop at nothing to destroy the president.”
Brodey points out that although “Nunes’ Democratic colleagues sometimes struggled to react with a straight face” when he made his pro-Trump speeches during the hearings, Republicans thanked him with “some atta-boys from Trump World” and “a healthy dose of Fox News coverage.”
A senior White House official, quoted anonymously, told the Daily Beast that Trump supporters were pleased with Nunes’ speeches at the hearings: “Everyone thought he did a great job. He wasn’t there to be the breakout star, like a Jim Jordan or an Elise Stefanik, and throw major bombs or anything like that. He coordinated and led the Committee, and everyone watching was happy with what he achieved.”
