January 22, 2020 By: El Jefe Category: Impeachment, Trump
In Davos yesterday, Trump bragged to the press on global television that he has withheld documents from Congress, saying, “…we have all the material; they don’t have the material.” Knowing that the fix is in, he is blatantly boasting about getting away with impeachable behavior, and he’s doing it in front of the entire world.
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The campaign ads can be written in IQ4.5’s own tweets of confession, if he isn’t pounded by stampeding Republicons watching their re-election chances go bye-bye with each hour of this sham Senate ‘trial.’ Moscow Mitch may think he’s pulling a fast one, but November is 10 months away; plenty of time to frame the ads, have witnesses speak publicly and have documents emerge.
Usually Republicons are deplorable at concern trolling, but this tweet by Rick Wilson has merit: 9/ M. “I voted against witnesses and evidence and covered up Trump’s crimes of obstruction, lying, and abuse of power so he wouldn’t tweet mean things about me.” is a shit political obituary.
1As one of the countless “frogs in the pot of water being heated to boil”, it is easy to lose perspective.
BLOATUS the first has irrevocably changed our nation for the worse. The partisan split is beyond being able to save the Union. And Putin is so, SO happy.
Even if removed, the damage is done. We can only act to decrease the further tragedy.
Just like with the climate, setting us all on a slow boil…
2Comrade Donnei really gets loquaciously lubed up hanging around the 0.1%.
In Davos he also spoke of another of his and the Rethugs fondest dreams, slicing up American social programs like Social Security, Medicare, etc.
They’ve already preset the US government to where it is now running -Trillion dollar- annual Budget Deficits, and is accumulating an even more massive National Debt [~$23T today] than ever before.
This massive, deliberately engineered [tax cuts…] US debt problem presents, to Rethugs, a perfect excuse to gut spending on SS and Medicare.
Even though those insurance plans are self-funded and the Treasury actually owes them money, not the other way round.
This Rethug strategic initiative perversely will decimate one of their own most rabid core/base elements: the predominately aged, modest income, Anglo Teabagger MAGAots.
That same cohort will gleefully lap it up, until they are dumped out of their homes [and nursing homes] due to their accrued medical, tax, and other debts amassed by their soon-to-be slashed income and -earned- benefits.
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/1/22/1913295/-Trump-says-cutting-social-insurance-programs-in-his-second-term-would-be-the-easiest-of-all-things
3Brag on, Drumpf, your number comes up in November and down you go. One can only hope that handcuffs appear shortly thereafter.
4Old Fart @2, As you imply.
5We are witnessing the “Fall” part of ‘The Rise and Fall of the American Empire’ [to paraphrase Edward Gibbon’s “The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire”].
It began in earnest with the ‘lost decade’ under Cheney-Bush, when we lost irrecoverable ground in many areas to the Chinese and others. The deterioration has accelerated exponentially under the Trump regime.
We really are fucked. Even if the Democrats sweep to a near-total victory in November [and can suppress the certain rebellion of the MAGAots], recovering from this national disaster will take many hard years.
With thuglicans flat out flaunting the law and their senators flaunting the polls,and all political wisdom, in their unbridled bootlicking one must wonder if
a) they are that arrogant
b) the fix is in so they don’t care.
Remember the thuglicans literally own the voting machines. Private companies where software and hardware is kept outside of public oversight because they are “trade secrets”.
6Coupled with foriegn hacking of campaigns, voter databases and centralized vote counting it would be the height of stupidity to ignore a completely “fixe’ election.
This does not even factor in voter suppression, facebook manipulation, and the other dark trades of cambrigde analytics that live on in other manifestations.
Since they have repeatedly shown that the law only apply’s to D’s and progressives while thuglicans and their whack job right wing compatriots ( KKK, proud Boys etc) get not only a free pass but praise for helping shred the rule of law.
So I fear their arrogance is based upon the knowledge that the election results have essentially been decided and they don’t have to care.
Even if they can’t fix every election they may cause enough choas, in person and digitally, that results will be unknowable and with a supine and obedient judiciary they may finish off what bush v. gore (with last d speaker of Texas house endorseing the twit in an act of supreme treason) pushed down that slippery slope of making voting irrelevent.
A potemkin election for a potemkin regime intent on finishing the hollowing out of the rule of law.
I think the House managers have been smart in their use of Trump on video and those remarks should show up as they continue!
7How quickly Liberty forgets.
8Trump proved his blatant Treason in front of the whole world in Helsinki when he backed the info of Putin/Russia, over his own U.S. Intelligence Agency’s.
And the GOP has proven it’s Treason blatantly since Nixon by deregulating every Law which keeps our Democracy healthy and safe.
Deregulating the Fairness Doctrine, Voting Rights Act and legalizing Citizens United, etc. are severe and near-fatal blows to our Democracy which is now on a diminishing life support.
Well the fake justice overseeing the sham impeachment trail just showed his indifference to thuglicans ignoring the rules.
9While Schiff was laying out the case a dozen thuglican senators walked out of the chamber and are reported to be hiding in the cloakroom.
Under rules all senators must be present at all times.
For roberts to ignore such a flagrant and public flaubting of the rules makes a mockery of those “rules”.
I guess like the thuglicans that he feels rules and laws only apply to the D’s
Would love to see the D’s challenge the right of those dozen ( or more) thuglican senators flaunting the rules by leaving the senate chamber right to vote on any more aspects (witnesses, documents, final count) and be kept out of the chamber for the rest of the proceedings.
10Better yet the presiding hack should issue this ruling but he is an ideological foot soldier in the protection of demented donnie so no hope there.
k@9, yesterday dimmest of Republicon dim bulbs, Marsha Blackburn was over at Fox Not the News giving an interview when she was supposed to be in the Senate.
Waiting for Roberts to blast her. j/k
11this is really a cry for help. But unlikely the republicans will help him by issuing subpoenae. One of my profound wishes, other than the inauguration bible self-immolating, would be for Trump to resign in August and let the rest of them flounder.
12K says:
“With thuglicans… flaunting the law… one must wonder if
a) they are that arrogant
b) the fix is in so they don’t care.”
I believe Republicans are following the logic of the old joke:
“A man fell off a skyscraper and as he passed each floor he reassured himself that he wasn’t in any imminent danger: So far so good… so far so good… “
13This actual ‘toon [shown in a tweet for context] should be picked up by the Salon management, it’s worth an extra-Friday thread:
https://twitter.com/DebeeMI/status/1220109597123514371/photo/1
By itself:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EO6zNYBWkAckN8y.jpg
.
What a hoot, you have to admire political cartoonists, and almost all of them always portray Rump with those tiny hands.
How about the Democrats propose a witness subpoena for the Mango Mussolini hisself?
14Will Trump’s bragging move any of the Republican Senators to re-think their plans to acquit him? Of course not. I”m only hoping that it will move some of his cult members to change their minds about voting for him in November, but that may be a forlorn hope.
15[OT +-]
Hey K,
You’ll like this link/story about ‘your’ nemesis [he’s my Rep], Laredo’s Henry Cuellar [TX-28].
I started seeing these/his ads a few days ago, they’re pretty lame.
Haven’t seen anything by his Dem primary challenger yet, Jessica Cisneros; even though, until this, she had raised a bunch of dinero [iirc, more than him].
This is going to get heated and nasty real soon, the primary is on 3 March.
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/1/22/1913372/-Dark-money-group-spends-700-000-to-save-conservative-House-Democrat-from-progressive-challenger
“A mystery dark money group called “American Workers for Progress” has booked $720,000 in TV time to help Texas Rep. Henry Cuellar ahead of the March Democratic primary, according to data provided by a source with knowledge of media buys in the district. The spot praises Cuellar for fighting “to protect Obamacare” and “standing with Nancy Pelosi to lower prescription drug prices.”
16…in this case attorney Jessica Cisneros, who is challenging the conservative Cuellar for his long history of siding against progressive priorities and with Donald Trump.
This dodge allows the spot’s sponsor to avoid having to disclose its spending to the FEC, since by the barest definition this isn’t a campaign ad. In fact, American Workers for Progress hasn’t disclosed a thing: Their website is just a single page that contains exactly one sentence of explanatory text and doesn’t describe the group’s backers in any way.
All we know from the site’s registration data is that the domain was purchased on Jan. 8 of this year by a firm called NP Strategy Group. “
thatotherjean, you may be pleasantly surprised to learn after the 2020 elections that Moscow Mitch and the Republicons in the Senate have overstepped the st00pidity of the IQ4.5 base. They are all crazy for IQ4.5 and they’ve perverted the essence of antidisestablishmentarianism. But the stumbling fools in all their rah rah for Donnie do not like what they perceive in their teeny reptilian brains as the “establishment.” Yep, they continually vote against their own interests. But they see Congress as corrupt. As convoluted as it is, they’ll rah rah Donnie, but are easily as likely to turn on Moscow Mitch and Leningrad Lindsey for corruption.
17@Jane & PKM:
Oh, I hope so! I’d be delighted if Trump’s cult were able to see the same corruption in Moscow Mitch and Leningrad Lindsey that I can see, even if they don’t quite get that Trump is right there with them.
18sandridge@16: Now, now. NP Strategy Group is a fully transparent and obvious organization:
“NP Strategy Group is an agency that helps organizations plan, communicate, and succeed through the use of data, creativity, and experience.”
There, that makes everything perfectly clear. [OK, at least they hit every slot on the Shady Consultant Bingo Card.]
Their web page is a hoot. Lots of vague claims of wonderful success like “We helped launch a leading immigration reform advocacy organization and created the plan to better integrate immigration advocacy efforts into existing progressive and political infrastructures.” With no indication what the organization is/was. Maybe it’s the latest chancre sore on our politics, “The Base”. Not the Arab one (the translation of “the base” is al queda), but the one made famous byj arrests this week.
19thatotherjean, we don’t pretend to understand the IQ4.5 supporters, but we have detected consistent patterns within their inconsistency. There’s a phenomena that the social scientists call misdirected anger. They’re PO’d, and in many instances rightfully so that they’ve been left out of the “American dream.” So Donnie in his convoluted way appeals to them because he ignites their misdirected anger toward “others” as it has been flamed into a sick passion by Republicons. Think Ronald Reagan. But in some visceral way they “get it” that Republicons have done nothing for them. While Donnie appeals to their misdirected basic instincts, they don’t get it that Donnie is a fraud. But yeah, they’re PO’d, Donnie has done nothing for them, but he at least promised. So it is likely the failure will totally fall on Moscow Mitch and “establishment” Republicons.
20CNN, MSNBC, and C-SPAN2 televised the Senate trial, at least since I’ve been home from work. Which consisted of the House managers presenting part of their case. Without interruption. Or interpretation.
21Faux news ran hannity. Who sometimes had silent video of the proceedings in a corner of the screen. Silent. While he flogged conspiracy theories about Adam Schiff, Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton. To be fair, I only saw about an hour’s worth before it ended. Maybe before I got home Faux was more transparent. But I doubt it.
My question is, when it’s time for ken starr’s bunch of reprobates to take the floor, will the Fox propaganda machine be as helpful with advice, or will they let the American people decide for themselves?
Fair and balanced.
22I’m sorry, I can’t help myself.
23When donald fucking trump’s treasonous shysters take the stage, faux news will treat them like constitutional superheroes.
Sandridge #16
24Hardly my nemesis but an unfortunate example of the thuglican asps that the congressional d’s have been holding to their bosom for way to long.
I usually mention him in company with others of his ilk such as Lipinski (D Ill) and Case ( d Hawaii) and other misbegotten children of rahm’s.
Sandridge wrote at comment five:
I would argue it was earlier, when Barry Goldwater invited the Klan and the John Birch Society members in to his campaign.
The GOP has always been “the business party,” but that’s where the racists and atavists started having sway.
With George Wallace taking a number of states, it became apparent to the GOP those were the people they needed to keep themselves relevant, and the launch of the so-called Southern Strategy to win over the racists in the Democratic Party. Nixon capitalised on that to win.
Ronald Reagan launching his campaign on the site of slain civil rights workers in Philadelphia, Mississippi cemented the GOP as the racist party.
25Well done, EJ. This story needs as much amplification as possible.
26Hillary Clinton would have made a great president; but she was a terrible choice by the Democratic Party as a candidate!
27It is almost, as if, the Repugnuts had the political savvy to dare (and trick) the Democrats to nominate a “female Clinton”.
The present, so called, president would not have won over any other Democratic candidate!
The Surly Professor @19, Yep, looks like a warmed over Cambridge Analytica for D’s? Must be a lucrative biz.
Jane & PKM @20, Nailed the MAGAots/Teabagger/Talibangelicals. They’re all seething blobs of ‘pissed off’, no matter who in DC is in power. The Rethug master manipulators and propagandists know how to play them like a fiddle.
P.P. @21, PBS has the best impeachment coverage, imo; they’ve turned their whole “PBS World” subchannel over to it, plus the Newshour is doing OK [still cues up more Rethug interviewees].
K @24, You’re right, Rahm and the ‘Third Way’ D’s all suck. But seats/numbers count, so we gotta put up with them until they can be replaced with a better D. I’ll be contributing and primary voting for Cisneros, but her chances of upsetting the Laredo Cuellar machine are infinitesimal.
James @25, You’re ultimately correct [you could even go back to the ’30s/PrescottBush/AHarriman/etc], but I was thinking more in economic and military terms. The still largely hidden economic decline [incl. loss of prod, workforce, debt, etc] really got accelerated from Reagan’s kickstart [debt, trade deals, union-busting, etc] under the Cheney-Bush regime. Which led to the predictable meltdown, which should have resulted in structural corrections [and some prison time], but somebody whiffed it.
Dan @26, ITYS, check my old comments here from ’15/16, I wrote that HRC would be great, but she was flawed, unelectable, wrong because of mostly what the Rethugs had done to the Clintons for decades [the power of modern ‘Murikan RW propaganda].
28But of course the Rethugs do the same to every Democrat, it’s time we fight fire with fire.
James @25
29I would argue that it goes back to at least the failure to prosecute the organizers ( including at least 1 bush crime family ) of the failed “Bankers Coup” against FDR.
Not only did no prosecution for treason occur but the thuglicans even got to bury from history.
Lesson learned with enough money even treason would be overlooked.
Complete and total crime boss stereotype. That’s the highest bar he can reach.
30Since the Senate majority will likely vote and approve lying under oath (their oath to uphold the constitution) while being presided over by the Chief Justice does that then constitute a new law of the land ? None of us will be bound by previous oaths/commitments – we can refer to this case as legal precedence ? Just wondering…
31