Crash Course: 2022 was a bad year for MAGA Republicans: Here are the GOP's 5 biggest faceplants

Donald Trump's brand of stupid fascism led to a whole bunch of losing for Republicans in Biden's second year. Your daily update from [Salon](~/AASU4wA~/RgRleu5SP0REaHR0cHM6Ly9saW5rLndoZXJlYnkudXMvc2M2dzA3NHdtZy8_bGhfYWlkPTM1NDM5NTImbGhfY2lkPXJvcHVpbzY5dzJXA3NwY0IKY5BSaZhjyE1yEVIbdHJpc3RyYW1iYWxkd2luODVAZ21haWwuY29tWAQAAAAo). 2022 was a bad year for MAGA Republicans: Here are the GOP's 5 biggest faceplants Going into the seventh year of the hell that began when Donald Trump announced his presidential run from a golden escalator in 2015, the MAGA movement was riding high. Yes, they had lost the White House to President Joe Biden in 2020 and Trump's 2021 coup had been no more successful. But as 2022 began, it was clear they had completely colonized the GOP, and in a year most political experts believed would end in a "red wave" of major Republican wins, no less. Well, that didn't happen. On the contrary, we end 2022 with a strong sense that "find out" season has finally begun after all this fascist f**king around. It's not just that Trump saw one hand-picked candidate after another lose otherwise winnable races. It's that he and his minions are sweating the real possibility — and in some cases, actuality — of legal consequences for their crimes. Nonetheless, the GOP sticks, loyally, to Trump's side. They should instead look at this list of the year's five biggest Republican faceplants and ask hard questions about whether this whole MAGA thing is the winning strategy Trump insists it is. [Read more from Amanda Marcotte.](~/AASU4wA~/RgRleu5SP0REaHR0cHM6Ly9saW5rLndoZXJlYnkudXMvaGhwcm5qb3JyYS8_bGhfYWlkPTM1NDM5NTImbGhfY2lkPXJvcHVpbzY5dzJXA3NwY0IKY5BSaZhjyE1yEVIbdHJpc3RyYW1iYWxkd2luODVAZ21haWwuY29tWAQAAAAo) (Photo illustration by Salon/Getty Images) “That’s an endorsement of violence”: MTG’s “armed” Jan. 6 claim could land her before a “grand jury” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., who previously defended Jan. 6 Capitol rioters, said Saturday that they would have "won" the attack on Congress had she been the ringleader. Greene spoke Saturday at a dinner hosted by the New York Young Republican Club and claimed that she and former Trump campaign chairman Steve Bannon would have done a better job leading the mob that stormed the Capitol, [according to CBS News.](~/AASU4wA~/RgRleu5SP0REaHR0cHM6Ly9saW5rLndoZXJlYnkudXMvMDlqaDUzMWtkYy8_bGhfYWlkPTM1NDM5NTImbGhfY2lkPXJvcHVpbzY5dzJXA3NwY0IKY5BSaZhjyE1yEVIbdHJpc3RyYW1iYWxkd2luODVAZ21haWwuY29tWAQAAAAo) "And I will tell you something, if Steve Bannon and I had organized that, we would have won," she said. "Not to mention, it would've been armed." CNN analyst Errol Louis suggested that Greene may have opened herself up to be subpoenaed. "It would have been illegal to bring weapons into the district, as she no doubt knows," Louis said. "It's the kind of thing where, in the name of being cute in front of the donors or whatever group she's addressing, she could talk herself into a grand jury." [Read more from Areeba Shah.](~/AASU4wA~/RgRleu5SP0REaHR0cHM6Ly9saW5rLndoZXJlYnkudXMvOGxkN3R6bndubS8_bGhfYWlkPTM1NDM5NTImbGhfY2lkPXJvcHVpbzY5dzJXA3NwY0IKY5BSaZhjyE1yEVIbdHJpc3RyYW1iYWxkd2luODVAZ21haWwuY29tWAQAAAAo) (Photo via Drew Angerer/Getty Images) - "It was 90% cheers": Elon Musk tries to tweet through it after getting [booed at Dave Chappelle show](~/AASU4wA~/RgRleu5SP0REaHR0cHM6Ly9saW5rLndoZXJlYnkudXMvdGR0aGFyampmMC8_bGhfYWlkPTM1NDM5NTImbGhfY2lkPXJvcHVpbzY5dzJXA3NwY0IKY5BSaZhjyE1yEVIbdHJpc3RyYW1iYWxkd2luODVAZ21haWwuY29tWAQAAAAo) - The [worst film performances](~/AASU4wA~/RgRleu5SP0REaHR0cHM6Ly9saW5rLndoZXJlYnkudXMvM3FzaDVvcmk1by8_bGhfYWlkPTM1NDM5NTImbGhfY2lkPXJvcHVpbzY5dzJXA3NwY0IKY5BSaZhjyE1yEVIbdHJpc3RyYW1iYWxkd2luODVAZ21haWwuY29tWAQAAAAo) of 2022 - [Finale recap: "The White Lotus"](~/AASU4wA~/RgRleu5SP0REaHR0cHM6Ly9saW5rLndoZXJlYnkudXMvazMyNmhkNmQ5ei8_bGhfYWlkPTM1NDM5NTImbGhfY2lkPXJvcHVpbzY5dzJXA3NwY0IKY5BSaZhjyE1yEVIbdHJpc3RyYW1iYWxkd2luODVAZ21haWwuY29tWAQAAAAo) shows no pity for fools in love - Don't relax too much: [Our abusive relationship with Donald Trump](~/AASU4wA~/RgRleu5SP0REaHR0cHM6Ly9saW5rLndoZXJlYnkudXMvcDM1ZzA2eW5sZC8_bGhfYWlkPTM1NDM5NTImbGhfY2lkPXJvcHVpbzY5dzJXA3NwY0IKY5BSaZhjyE1yEVIbdHJpc3RyYW1iYWxkd2luODVAZ21haWwuY29tWAQAAAAo) is not over - “Humiliation for Judge Cannon”: [Judge reverses pro-Trump order](~/AASU4wA~/RgRleu5SP0REaHR0cHM6Ly9saW5rLndoZXJlYnkudXMvbW5ndGY2dncyZC8_bGhfYWlkPTM1NDM5NTImbGhfY2lkPXJvcHVpbzY5dzJXA3NwY0IKY5BSaZhjyE1yEVIbdHJpc3RyYW1iYWxkd2luODVAZ21haWwuY29tWAQAAAAo) after getting “slapped down" by court - [Take out those earbuds](~/AASU4wA~/RgRleu5SP0REaHR0cHM6Ly9saW5rLndoZXJlYnkudXMvZDBpaXl5dGoyeS8_bGhfYWlkPTM1NDM5NTImbGhfY2lkPXJvcHVpbzY5dzJXA3NwY0IKY5BSaZhjyE1yEVIbdHJpc3RyYW1iYWxkd2luODVAZ21haWwuY29tWAQAAAAo) — they're wrecking your hearing - Ultraprocessed foods [contribute to disease and early death](~/AASU4wA~/RgRleu5SP0REaHR0cHM6Ly9saW5rLndoZXJlYnkudXMvaXIxODVsc2poei8_bGhfYWlkPTM1NDM5NTImbGhfY2lkPXJvcHVpbzY5dzJXA3NwY0IKY5BSaZhjyE1yEVIbdHJpc3RyYW1iYWxkd2luODVAZ21haWwuY29tWAQAAAAo). Why do we keep eating them? - [California desert tortoises](~/AASU4wA~/RgRleu5SP0REaHR0cHM6Ly9saW5rLndoZXJlYnkudXMvazkxYTU4NG9kbS8_bGhfYWlkPTM1NDM5NTImbGhfY2lkPXJvcHVpbzY5dzJXA3NwY0IKY5BSaZhjyE1yEVIbdHJpc3RyYW1iYWxkd2luODVAZ21haWwuY29tWAQAAAAo) are hurtling toward extinction. Saving them won't be easy - Is lasagna the unimpeachable victor of [Italian-American comfort food?](~/AASU4wA~/RgRleu5SP0REaHR0cHM6Ly9saW5rLndoZXJlYnkudXMvdWphYmY1OXUyei8_bGhfYWlkPTM1NDM5NTImbGhfY2lkPXJvcHVpbzY5dzJXA3NwY0IKY5BSaZhjyE1yEVIbdHJpc3RyYW1iYWxkd2luODVAZ21haWwuY29tWAQAAAAo) - Personal, no-bake [honey rum balls](~/AASU4wA~/RgRleu5SP0REaHR0cHM6Ly9saW5rLndoZXJlYnkudXMva2o3NzVsZHFoeC8_bGhfYWlkPTM1NDM5NTImbGhfY2lkPXJvcHVpbzY5dzJXA3NwY0IKY5BSaZhjyE1yEVIbdHJpc3RyYW1iYWxkd2luODVAZ21haWwuY29tWAQAAAAo) are too good to give away If you found yourself here without subscribing, sign up for [Crash Course](~/AASU4wA~/RgRleu5SP0REaHR0cHM6Ly9saW5rLndoZXJlYnkudXMvcXN0ZTgzaWdmdS8_bGhfYWlkPTM1NDM5NTImbGhfY2lkPXJvcHVpbzY5dzJXA3NwY0IKY5BSaZhjyE1yEVIbdHJpc3RyYW1iYWxkd2luODVAZ21haWwuY29tWAQAAAAo), so you don't miss anything! Kevin McCarthy's dangerous bargain: Without MTG, he's doomed. And with her ... Basically, Greene said that if it had been up to her, the insurrectionists would have stormed the Capitol with guns blazing and executed the coup plot successfully. Fortunately for all of us, she was brand new in Congress at the time and was not intimately involved in the planning, so that didn't happen. Greene is now one of the most powerful and influential members of Congress and she hasn't quite completed her first term. She has been working the levers of the power effectively, agreeing to endorse presumptive Speaker Kevin McCarthy, [reportedly in exchange](~/AASU4wA~/RgRleu5SP0REaHR0cHM6Ly9saW5rLndoZXJlYnkudXMvZWhwZG91MjN5ZC8_bGhfYWlkPTM1NDM5NTImbGhfY2lkPXJvcHVpbzY5dzJXA3NwY0IKY5BSaZhjyE1yEVIbdHJpc3RyYW1iYWxkd2luODVAZ21haWwuY29tWAQAAAAo) for investigations, committee assignments and her ability to keep the extreme right on board. She's been pretty clear about what she expects, telling the New York Times, "I think that to be the best speaker of the House and to please the base, he's going to give me a lot of power and a lot of leeway. And if he doesn't, they're going to be very unhappy about it." Greene, who [tweeted](~/AASU4wA~/RgRleu5SP0REaHR0cHM6Ly9saW5rLndoZXJlYnkudXMvd2J0aWN0a3JvMi8_bGhfYWlkPTM1NDM5NTImbGhfY2lkPXJvcHVpbzY5dzJXA3NwY0IKY5BSaZhjyE1yEVIbdHJpc3RyYW1iYWxkd2luODVAZ21haWwuY29tWAQAAAAo) last September that "Joe Biden is Hitler," with the hashtag #NaziJoe, is on a roll and there's no way any member of the GOP House leadership will dare to cross her. [Read more from Heather Digby Parton.](~/AASU4wA~/RgRleu5SP0REaHR0cHM6Ly9saW5rLndoZXJlYnkudXMvZjFsaWlqN255Mi8_bGhfYWlkPTM1NDM5NTImbGhfY2lkPXJvcHVpbzY5dzJXA3NwY0IKY5BSaZhjyE1yEVIbdHJpc3RyYW1iYWxkd2luODVAZ21haWwuY29tWAQAAAAo) (Photo via Drew Angerer/Getty Images) - "We Might Have Long Covid All Wrong," [The New Republic](~/AASU4wA~/RgRleu5SP0REaHR0cHM6Ly9saW5rLndoZXJlYnkudXMvdTJkZjc3bTg0NS8_bGhfYWlkPTM1NDM5NTImbGhfY2lkPXJvcHVpbzY5dzJXA3NwY0IKY5BSaZhjyE1yEVIbdHJpc3RyYW1iYWxkd2luODVAZ21haWwuY29tWAQAAAAo) - "The ‘Twitter Files’ Is What It Claims to Expose," [New York Magazine](~/AASU4wA~/RgRleu5SP0REaHR0cHM6Ly9saW5rLndoZXJlYnkudXMvNml3aHg2MHc2by8_bGhfYWlkPTM1NDM5NTImbGhfY2lkPXJvcHVpbzY5dzJXA3NwY0IKY5BSaZhjyE1yEVIbdHJpc3RyYW1iYWxkd2luODVAZ21haWwuY29tWAQAAAAo) - "The price of ‘sugar free’: are sweeteners as harmless as we thought?" [The Guardian](~/AASU4wA~/RgRleu5SP0REaHR0cHM6Ly9saW5rLndoZXJlYnkudXMvN2tlY29yZWF6dy8_bGhfYWlkPTM1NDM5NTImbGhfY2lkPXJvcHVpbzY5dzJXA3NwY0IKY5BSaZhjyE1yEVIbdHJpc3RyYW1iYWxkd2luODVAZ21haWwuY29tWAQAAAAo) - "Why Conservatives Invented a ‘Right to Post,’" [The Atlantic](~/AASU4wA~/RgRleu5SP0REaHR0cHM6Ly9saW5rLndoZXJlYnkudXMvZjQ0dTVjbTczdy8_bGhfYWlkPTM1NDM5NTImbGhfY2lkPXJvcHVpbzY5dzJXA3NwY0IKY5BSaZhjyE1yEVIbdHJpc3RyYW1iYWxkd2luODVAZ21haWwuY29tWAQAAAAo) - "The Murky Path To Becoming a 'New York Times' Best Seller," [Esquire](~/AASU4wA~/RgRleu5SP0REaHR0cHM6Ly9saW5rLndoZXJlYnkudXMvanA1cXk0Y2JlbC8_bGhfYWlkPTM1NDM5NTImbGhfY2lkPXJvcHVpbzY5dzJXA3NwY0IKY5BSaZhjyE1yEVIbdHJpc3RyYW1iYWxkd2luODVAZ21haWwuY29tWAQAAAAo) - "The Prince, the Plot and a Long-Lost Reich," [The New York Times](~/AASU4wA~/RgRleu5SP0REaHR0cHM6Ly9saW5rLndoZXJlYnkudXMvcmpybmh1aHZxMC8_bGhfYWlkPTM1NDM5NTImbGhfY2lkPXJvcHVpbzY5dzJXA3NwY0IKY5BSaZhjyE1yEVIbdHJpc3RyYW1iYWxkd2luODVAZ21haWwuY29tWAQAAAAo) “He wasn’t particularly interested”: Fiona Hill refutes Trump Truth Social boasts about Paul Whelan Former President Donald Trump drew pushback after claiming that he "would have gotten" former Marine [Paul Whelan](~/AASU4wA~/RgRleu5SP0REaHR0cHM6Ly9saW5rLndoZXJlYnkudXMvcTk3bzVwY216ci8_bGhfYWlkPTM1NDM5NTImbGhfY2lkPXJvcHVpbzY5dzJXA3NwY0IKY5BSaZhjyE1yEVIbdHJpc3RyYW1iYWxkd2luODVAZ21haWwuY29tWAQAAAAo) out of Russian custody while attacking President Joe Biden over his deal to [free WNBA star Brittney Griner](~/AASU4wA~/RgRleu5SP0REaHR0cHM6Ly9saW5rLndoZXJlYnkudXMvem16emRlMW5jcC8_bGhfYWlkPTM1NDM5NTImbGhfY2lkPXJvcHVpbzY5dzJXA3NwY0IKY5BSaZhjyE1yEVIbdHJpc3RyYW1iYWxkd2luODVAZ21haWwuY29tWAQAAAAo). Trump in a subsequent post on Sunday claimed that he had "turned down a deal with Russia" to exchange Bout for Whelan before claiming that he "would have gotten Paul out." Former White House national security official Fiona Hill told [CBS News](~/AASU4wA~/RgRleu5SP0REaHR0cHM6Ly9saW5rLndoZXJlYnkudXMva2txd2Ixcjc2Yi8_bGhfYWlkPTM1NDM5NTImbGhfY2lkPXJvcHVpbzY5dzJXA3NwY0IKY5BSaZhjyE1yEVIbdHJpc3RyYW1iYWxkd2luODVAZ21haWwuY29tWAQAAAAo) that Trump was not "particularly interested" in getting Whelan out while he was president. Whelan's brother David also rejected Trump's claims, writing on [Twitter](~/AASU4wA~/RgRleu5SP0REaHR0cHM6Ly9saW5rLndoZXJlYnkudXMveDZ1NGdpMTBwNy8_bGhfYWlkPTM1NDM5NTImbGhfY2lkPXJvcHVpbzY5dzJXA3NwY0IKY5BSaZhjyE1yEVIbdHJpc3RyYW1iYWxkd2luODVAZ21haWwuY29tWAQAAAAo) that the former president appears to have mentioned his brother's "wrongful detention more in the last 24 hours than he did in the 2 years of his presidency in which Paul was held hostage." [Read more from Igor Derysh.](~/AASU4wA~/RgRleu5SP0REaHR0cHM6Ly9saW5rLndoZXJlYnkudXMvb3c0ZWt1d3BsdS8_bGhfYWlkPTM1NDM5NTImbGhfY2lkPXJvcHVpbzY5dzJXA3NwY0IKY5BSaZhjyE1yEVIbdHJpc3RyYW1iYWxkd2luODVAZ21haWwuY29tWAQAAAAo) (Photo via Mario Tama/Getty Images) [Unsubscribe from this list](~/AASU4wA~/RgRleu5SP0RCaHR0cHM6Ly9yZWFkLmxldHRlcmhlYWQuZW1haWwvY3Jhc2gtY291cnNlL3Vuc3Vic2NyaWJlP2lkPUAzNTQzOTUyVwNzcGNCCmOQUmmYY8hNchFSG3RyaXN0cmFtYmFsZHdpbjg1QGdtYWlsLmNvbVgEAAAAKA~~) Copyright © 2022 Crash Course, All rights reserved. 1000 N. West Street, Suite 1200, Wilmington, DE 19801 [Made with Letterhead [Letterhead logo]](~/AASU4wA~/RgRleu5SP0QiaHR0cHM6Ly9saW5rLndoZXJlYnkudXMvbmVwbm83czh5c1cDc3BjQgpjkFJpmGPITXIRUht0cmlzdHJhbWJhbGR3aW44NUBnbWFpbC5jb21YBAAAACg~)