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There's a lot going on in the world of politics. But I got ya covered!

I’m Michael A. Cohen, and this is Truth and Consequences: A no-holds-barred look at the absurdities, hypocrisies, and surreality. If you were sent this email or are a free subscriber and would like to become a paid subscriber, you can sign up here.

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So much going on right now … let’s get to it.

WTAF?

This is the most mind-boggling story I’ve read in some time.

The Pentagon did not tell President Joe Biden and other top officials about Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s hospitalization for three days, three U.S. officials said.

National security adviser Jake Sullivan and other senior White House aides didn’t know of Austin’s Jan. 1 hospitalization until the Defense Department sent over word Jan. 4, two other U.S. officials said. Sullivan informed Biden shortly after DOD’s Thursday notification.

… The news of Austin’s situation came as a shock to all White House staff as they were unaware the Pentagon boss was dealing with complications following an elective medical procedure, the officials said. National Security Council staffers were surprised it took the Pentagon so long to let them know of Austin’s status. The Pentagon didn’t make the information public until Friday evening, notifying Congress about 15 minutes before releasing a public statement.

“This should not have happened this way,” said one of the U.S. officials. The NSC and Pentagon declined comment.

“This should not have happened this way.”

Ya think?

It’s one thing for Austin not to tell the press he’s in the hospital. That’s bad. But not telling the White House AND his own deputy is insane. Austin is the Secretary of Defense. His boss is the president. He is responsible for informing him and the national security advisor of his whereabouts. I honestly can’t imagine what Austin and his staff were thinking in trying to keep this quiet.

We still don’t know why Austin was admitted … and, oh, by the way, he still hasn’t been discharged.

All we’ve been told is that Austin had an elective surgical procedure, and I don’t want to publish unverified information, but if the rumors I’m hearing about the nature of the procedure are true … this story could get even worse.

I don’t think Austin will resign over this because it’s an aggravation that the White House doesn’t need, and good luck getting another Secretary of Defense confirmed during an election year. The Biden folks do not want to go through a confirmation fight in the middle of an election. But his actions are indefensible, and the American people are owed a much better explanation for what the hell happened than what they’ve received so far.

• Read Tom Nichols on this. He gets it right.

Lying Liars

Photo by Eleonora Francesca Grotto on Unsplash

Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik appeared on NBC’s Meet the Press over the weekend, and it went about as you might have expected — she lied a lot.

At one point, Stefanik referred to those who have have been prosecuted and imprisoned because of their actions on January 6 as “hostages.” They, of course, are prisoners not hostages. Stefanik surely knows this but she is lying about because any attachment she might have once had to ethics, morality, and integrity has been wholly supplanted by her ambition. The way to get ahead in GOP politics is to lie, constantly, flagrantly and shamelessly, all the while repeating talking points approved by Donald Trump. And Stefanik has clearly made the decision that she is willing to pay that price to get ahead.

But here’s the part that stuck out to me. Welker asks Stefanik whether she would “vote to certify the results of the 2024 election.” Stefanik doesn’t answer the question and instead pivots to talking about the 2020 election — and this exchange ensues.

STEFANIK: What we saw in 2020 was unconstitutional circumventing of the – of the Constitution, not going through state legislatures when it comes to changing election law. And we're seeing this in my home state of New York, Kristen. We are seeing Democrats try to steal the election and illegally gerrymander congressional districts that we fairly won and are fair lines. So, I see this at a very local level as well as the unconstitutional overreach we saw at the national level in 2020.

WELKER: … Mr. Trump, his allies did take their case, their concerns about the election to court more than 60 times. They lost every time. Mr. Trump hired two independent firms to investigate that. They came up short as well as the federal agency responsible for overseeing election security, CISA, said that the 2020 election was the most secure in American history …

STEFANIK: Well, let me make a final point, and I think it's important, because the American people understand that it was not a fair election. We had unconstitutional overreach. And that was why I objected to certain states when it came to my constitutional responsibility as a member of Congress. I'm going to always stand up for the Constitution and make sure that we have strong election integrity. And the real threat to democracy is Joe Biden and Democrats who are attempting to remove President Trump from the ballot, because Joe Biden knows he can't win at the ballot box.

There’s a lot to unpack here. First, Democrats in New York are not engaged in an illegal gerrymander. In December, the New York State Court of Appeals ordered New York State to redraw its congressional map. Surely Stefanik knows this, since she represents New York in the House of Representatives.

Second, Stefanik's claims about the 2020 election — and the alleged circumventing of the Constitution — are false and have been repeatedly debunked. Indeed, as Welker helpfully points out, Trump went to federal court with these claims of electoral malfeasance and lost — repeatedly. (Here is a helpful fact check from the folks at Politifact).

But what I find remarkable about this exchange is that even after Welker makes it clear that Stefanik is lying … she goes back to repeating the same lies. Indeed, her claim that the “American people understand that it was not a fair election” is, you guessed it, not true.

The Hill

In fact, 62 percent of Americans believe Biden was legitimately elected. Granted, that is a terrifyingly low number … but it’s still a majority of Americans. The people who don’t believe Biden was legitimately elected are Republicans — and that’s because they have leaders like Stefanik, who regularly lie to them.

Politicians lying is not exactly a man-bites-dog story. But what makes Stefanik’s lies so notable is that not only are they easily disprovable, but she is entirely immune to fact-checking. She keeps repeating lies as if they are standard political talking points, oblivious to Welker basically calling her a liar to her face. The lack of integrity and self-respect is astonishing, but it’s also an unusual problem in a democracy.