The Presidency of Donald J. Trump, Episode VI: No Witnesses, One Defector, No Checks or Balances

He’s definitely got enough hot air to make a run

1 Like

I always forget he’s a Californian. Something about him makes me think he’s an East coaster.

They’ve really boxed the GOP in now! No way can that party now claim the articles have no merit.

5 Likes

Who appointed Christopher Wray now?

2 Likes

I mean, the GOP is going to say this no matter what the Dems do.

2 Likes

https://mobile.twitter.com/mehdirhasan/status/1204411600767111171

2 Likes

https://twitter.com/mrbromwich/status/1204393176611602432?s=19

Narrator: There were no disciplinary referrals

Idk. The GOP has been doing pretty well for 40 years or so with the strategy of constant accusations and damaging stories about Dems, which results in an atmosphere of distrust even if the average Republican probably couldn’t tell you exactly what Hillary did wrong in Benghazi or which emails were bleached and which were yoga related and which were given to the Ukraine for safekeeping or what exactly Reverend Wright was yelling about or why exactly we hate Eric Holder again, etc etc etc.

The problem with limiting impeachment to this one thing is that a.) the GOP can throw 100 different BS smear campaigns against it and gain some traction in convincing people it’s not an open and shut case, and b.) it implicitly admits that the past 2.5 years of reports and investigations and breathless WE GOT HIMs were, at minimum, less bad than asking somebody to look into a shady foreign gas company with connections to Joe Biden.

3 Likes

So he’s admitting to extortion

He was just doing it for USA#1

I don’t know what’s up with emoluments. Seems like it’s either got to be that the case really isn’t that strong and maybe you’re just allowed to do all of that or there are a lot of people in Congress up to their eyeballs in that s*** and they don’t want it coming back to bite them.

1 Like

Nancy hasn’t gotten the focus group results she wants on an emoluments charge. It’s as simple as that. Republicans are right that none of this is genuine, even though it’s legitimate.

2 Likes

The case is airtight but also too long and boring for the public to digest.

1 Like

This may well be the case, but Nancy Pelosi is worth over a hundred million dollars and maybe she does not want that examined closely. And she’s hardly the only super rich person in Congress.

2 Likes

Emoluments may be a tricky word but the case seems much more simple than the Russia and Ukraine interference. Trump is using the office to make money. That’s pretty simple.

I don’t know where I fall on this. Like, I firmly believe that most members of Congress engage in habitual grift. I agree that Pelosi almost certainly has a bunch of financial dealings that, even if they aren’t quite illegal, are questionable.

But I’m not quite sure I buy the idea that if one person gets taken down for it the floodgates open and now everyone will investigate everyone else. It doesn’t comport with the level of thinking that I assign to most GOP representatives, and it also doesn’t jive with the fact that these members of Congress DO go on tv and talk about Trump’s emoluments violations. It’s not like they’re keeping things hush hush.

So, I think the most likely explanation is simple cowardice.

2 Likes

I think too it’s just a flat out loser for the Dems. Trump’s supporters voted for him expecting him to grift the presidency. He’s a businessman. “Let Trump be Trump,” as they say.

2 Likes

I think this is true, but I also think it’s true that not many people care about Russia or the Ukraine. Maybe they are just going with what tests the best with focus groups, I don’t know. He’s not going to be removed and the trial may well help him. So I guess it doesn’t really matter. The Senate is not going to remove him for either emoluments or Russia or the Ukraine.

2 Likes

The GOP’s been getting clobbered ever since it went full Hannity. The demand for Fox News kulturkampf is very much limited to a small audience of diehard Boomers.

Dems should serve up a straightforward case for impeachment, let the Senate acquit, and immediately get back to talking about dinner-table politics and only occasionally point out that Trump is Putin’ bitch.

But of course Dems suck ass so we’re going to make 2020 all about old man Biden yelling “MALARKEY!” and how Trump is a bad man who wanted to investigate Joe’s crooked-ass son.

4 Likes

I agree and think this makes him more appealing nationwide. Newsom is fantastic imo, but he is clearly a Californian, which for some reason makes him a bit toxic nationwide.

Agree. As a matter of political strategy, not just virtue ethics, it’s an impossible task. The corruption and criminality could not be a more clear and present danger, and yet testing shows that virtually nothing moves support (different than approval) among entrenched voter decisions.

So what do they do? As much as I love to bitch about this, it’s much harder actually making a decision for what has even a tiny chance both of being the right thing to do and actually making a difference.