Outside the Beltway

Source: Screencap from X.com

In Front of Our Noses: The Loyalty Tests Continue

Jay Clayton edition.

Steven L. Taylor
7

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From today’s hearing:

OSSOFF: Who won the 2020 election?CLAYTON: Uhm, you know, I'm not going to do this with youO: This is a job interview. You have an obligation to be honest with the committee. Who won the 2020 election?C: I'm not gonna get into that with youO: You're not being honest or forthrightC: …

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2026-07-15T15:31:39.133Z

The whole clip is worth a watch, not that it isn’t utterly predictable.

Ossoff is correct: everyone in the room knows the answer, and everyone in the room knows why Clayton has to play this game. All nominees have to indulge Trump’s delusions.

I know that this ongoing line of questioning can seem silly, insofar as we know how it will go. But I think it is vital to get them all on the record as being willing to debase themselves for the jobs they want.

And yes, I personally think such debasement should be disqualifying, but I expect enough Republicans in the Senate, who also have their own loyalty tests to take, won’t think so.

I know this series of posts is based on one Orwell quote, but it seems worth noting that there is another one about the party demanding that its members ignore what their eyes see. And here we have Clayton, like so many before him, being willing to performatively do just that.

To quote Stanley, yet again, from How Fascism Works: “Fascist politics exchanges reality for the pronouncements of a single individual, or perhaps a political party” (57).

Can there be any doubt that on any number of topics, and most especially the 2020 election, Trump appointees are required to do just exactly that?

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7 responses to “In Front of Our Noses: The Loyalty Tests Continue”

  1. Scott F. Avatar
    Scott F.

    Ossoff’s closing in that clip (starting around the 1:30 mark) is particularly strong. The question of “isn’t it humiliating…” should be put to every single Senator who ultimately casts a vote to confirm him. (Hell, “aren’t you humiliated?” should be put to every single GOP pol every single time they are asked a question until Trump is out of office and on his way to The Hague.)

    Sadly, because acting DNI Bill Pulte is so toxic, Clayton will likely pull votes from Democratic Senators desperate to get the temporary guy out of there. I don’t know that “silly, insofar as we know how it will go” fits the depravity of this situation.

  2. Kathy Avatar
    Kathy

    The loyalty tests never end. Every time El Taco makes some absurd pronouncement, they have to defend it if asked about it.

    Consider, after over 4 months of war against Iran, El Taco hasn’t even articulated exactly why he went to war or what the objectives are. And yet few in his party dare offer even the mildest criticism of the enterprise, or how it’s handled, or even the fucking obvious consequences everyone else in the world can plainly see.

    1
  3. Crusty Dem Avatar
    Crusty Dem

    Every question about 2020 should begin with “Who won the 2024 election?” – Even knowing what’s coming they’ll all jump at the opportunity to appease Dear Leader.

    The job may be working under Donald Trump but they make an oath to the constitution and they serve the people. If you can’t tell a simple truth that everyone knows in public, how are you going to tell Trump the hard truths in private??

    2
  4. Rick DeMent Avatar
    Rick DeMent

    All of this goes alone with the fact there they have presented no evidence, nor have they move for any indictments nor have they even identified any individual as a perpetrator. Not one shred of evidence that they are will to go into a court and argue for.

    This kabuki is a de facto pledge of loyalty to Trump and no one else.

    1
  5. Charley in Cleveland Avatar
    Charley in Cleveland

    All nominees have to indulge Trump’s delusions.

    But does the media? And “delusions” is the correct word. What is so often noted as Trump lying is actually Trump displaying the deeply delusional world he lives in. He truly believes his own bullshit, which is far more dangerous than him being simply dishonest (which of course he is). MAGA subscribes to the Costanza Theory: It isn’t a lie if the liar believes it is true.

    1
    1. CSK Avatar
      CSK

      Sometimes I think he’s consciously lying to support the delusion.

  6. Bobert Avatar
    Bobert

    i really wish that Ossoff had asked (since the election question was so difficult to answer) “is gravity real or just a theory” or “from the perspective of a person on the earth, does the sun rise in the east” or “is the earth flat” ? Maybe asking a simple question first, the committee can assess the candidates ability to tell the truth, or if the candidate just makes up stuff.

    2

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