It's a Conspiracy, I tells ya!

.@RepSteveChabot's questioning illustrates a vulnerability of Mueller's strategy of sticking to his report -- it allows Republicans to push conspiracy theories without any pushback pic.twitter.com/xavIlQpmpF

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 24, 2019

I'm a little unclear on this problem of "conspiracy theories," because if you take them on, you give them oxygen.

Q-Anon, like Pizzagate from which it sprang, is rank nonsense.  Still, Pizzagate drove a man to enter the pizza parlor in question looking for a basement it didn't have, to set the children who weren't there free from politicians who weren't holding them.  People showed up for Trump's 4th of July fizzle wearing John Kennedy, Jr. masks, expecting him to rise from the dead (which they believe was faked) to lead the arrests of everyone guilty of whatever Q-Anon believes they are guilty of.

Do we really need to refute things like this to keep them from spreading?  Is the bulk of the U.S. populace really this gullible?  Because if they are, the republic is done for; or it gets the government the people want, which would be just as bad.

So Republicans are using their five minutes to promote baseless conspiracies that Mueller is supposed to deftly destroy?  How does he do that, without fueling those conspiracies because any refutation just proves you, too, are part of the conspiracy.  Myself, I'd rather see the GOP make fools of themselves.  I know my GOP rep. barely won his race, and as a first-termer has spent his time railing against Ilhan Omar and showing up for extreme right-wing fantasy sessions.  I don't think anyone has to refute his ignorance, I think it likely they will just vote against such an ignorant buffoon.

It's not like the country is riveted to this testimony and deciding Trump's guilt or innocence based on Mueller's few words.  As my wife said this morning, they should conduct these hearings in the evening when people are home and can watch.  Most of these conspiracy theories won't make the evening news, and most voters are going to vote for them, or against them, despite what Mueller says or doesn't say about them.