I am disgusted by my party this morning.
After years of investigation and mountains of compelling evidence, the Democrats offer just two articles of impeachment, one about Ukraine and the other about obstruction. Does anybody anywhere believe that ANY GOP senators will care even a little bit about the latter?
No mention of emoluments. No mention of ANYTHING from the Mueller report or investigation.
Most significantly to me, no mention of the enormous stinking carcass of a dead and rotting elephant in the room — the pervasive pattern of doing Vladimir Putin’s bidding on virtually EVERY decision made by this administration and enthusiastically supported by its GOP collaborators. We betrayed South Korea. We betrayed the Kurds. We are dismantling NATO. This week, we learn that this administration is dismantling the WTO, so that it can continue to destroy the economy of the west with self-destructive trade wars. Who benefits? Vladimir Putin. Who loses? Each and every one of us.
What happened to elected officials who actually care about national security? What happened to an electorate who valued law and order? How much more obvious does betrayal have to be?
We are watching in slow motion as the great American experiment crashes and burns. Our government, judicial and political systems are proving themselves utterly powerless to stop or slow this Russian takeover of our government.
The silence of the Democrats on the multitude of presidential abuses means that the constraints that kept the power of the presidency in check have been removed. The treason, bribery, high crimes and misdemeanors of Donald Trump, his administration, and the GOP will be viewed as normal and acceptable behavior from here on. How can ANY Democrat object to any future abuses those abuses aren’t even mentioned in the impeachment articles?
This is a tragic day for America.
Announcing the new NAFTA agreement with bipartisan support one hour after the articles of impeachment upset me more. They’re giving the President a major bipartisan win on his signature issue on the SAME DAY as the articles of impeachment.
And for the Nancy Pelosi fans here, did you see her interview the other day in which she admitted that Bush lied about the war in Iraq and she knew as a ranking member on the Intelligence Committee and then a Speaker that there were no WMDs and the Bush administration lied about. She didn’t pursue impeachment as speaker because she didn’t think those lies were impeachable. Stunning. The consequences of those lies were 100000X worse than anything Trump has done re: Ukraine.
Well, I’m not sure lying per se is an impeachable offense either. As for NAFTA 2.0, that just goes to show Dems know how to investigate and govern at the same time, which to me is a plus.
If Donald Trump is, in fact, an existential threat to the US — which I believe he is — then we should not participate in anything he does.
I invite you to consider a pantheon of historical tyrants — Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Pinochet — and ask: Is endorsing or approving a treaty or any other such policy of one of those dictators something that a responsible elected official should have done?
If you agree that Donald Trump is as bad he appears, then I don’t see how it makes to approve of anything he does. Anything the slows or detracts from his removal from office is dangerous and wrong.
@ I’m not sure lying per se is an impeachable offense either:
You’re “not sure” that lying as a basis for war is impeachable? So if you had a video showing that LBJ lied about the incident that provoked the Tonkin Gulf Resolution, you’re “not sure” that his fabrication of that incident — which led to our full-scale involvement in the Vietnam war — would be impeachable?
How could we claim to be a nation that respects the rule of law if we allow our Presidents to lie about the reasons for war?
Well, I once heard the Autobahn referred to as “Hitler’s one and only good idea”, but I would strongly caution against comparing Trump to any of those you mention.
In the view of our #resistance leader, what Bush did was not impeachable. I don’t know how she squares that circle.
It would be nice if the Democrats could be good at politics so that we could be in a position of power to win progressive achievements. That’s the governing I want to see and that we don’t get.
Also this takes NAFTA off the table as a cross to hang around Democrats. Now we can go on the offense on trade and show those empty farms that can’t sell anymore goods to China.
Trump did all of the above, and more. Just now, I read, a civil court in New York has fined the President to the tune of about $2M for misappropriating funds from his own charity.
Guess what? Trump does not care, and his supporters turn two blind eyes.
Have we ever had a proven thief as President before? A Gallup survey shows 90% of Republicans approve of his ‘performance’ in office, and a YouGov/Economist poll finds 53% of Republicans think Trump is a better President than Abraham Lincoln,
These are the times we live in.
The House Democrats did exactly what they should have done. They picked a single charge, Trump’s criminal attempt to have Ukraine investigate his political opponent – and went with it. When Trump obstructed the investigation in Congress, they added a second charge.
Democrats did not include the 100 other things Trump is responsible for – anything from stealing, cheating, to sexual abuse and to being generally unfit for office.
Trump is expert at hiding old outrages by drawing attention to an even bigger, shinier outrage, until people eventually get immunized from the infection and stop paying attention. He is quite used to jump from one outrage to the next. We are not. We are normal people. We have a life.
The charge that Trump interfered with the election, and had his opponent investigated by a foreign country is the one that should stick, if anything will. This is an outrage above all others. Some Republicans argue Trump should not be removed, but elected out of office. We’ll see how that argument fares, with the facts showing Trump has attempted to corrupt the next election.
On a narrow point – why did the emoluments charge not get included? Sadly, I think it’s because politicians on both sides are too close to breaking that constitutional requirement. Think paid speeches given abroad after politicians leave office. Think friends and relatives getting posh appointments on wealthy international company boards – heck, even Hunter Biden can be seen as breaking the emoluments clause.
The solution was to have Trump sued in federal court to stop violating the emoluments clause, rather than include emoluments in the impeachment charges.
That way, if another politician on ‘our team’ is caught, they can get sued by the ‘other team’, and have a chance to cease and desist, rather than being investigated or indicted. Why throw sands in the gear on a fine mechanism that has brought such benefits on both sides of the isle.
There are no constitutional prohibitions on either making money after leaving office or sources of money for family members.
That is the prevailing interpretation, yes. You don’t have to pay me now – just remember to pay me later. And you don’t have to pay me – just pay my family.
It’s not prevailing interpretation – it’s exactly what the Constitution says.
You are right, I am wrong. Nevertheless, he is not impeached on emoluments because there would be blow-back on Hunter Biden and other folks who have been paid by foreign companies or governments. It is the only possible explanation.