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Paul Krugman: Conscience of a Liberal
The Confluence
Suburban Guerrilla Ian WelshHe went too far. He got cocky and careless. The House Intel Committee is questioning the acting DNI. You can watch it here.
I have to work so take good notes.
Meanwhile, the Whistleblower complaint says that the actual meeting log between Trump and Zelensky is stored on a secure server for political reasons. Let’s hope someone from the NSA has hacked into it before the WH person with the su password wipes the thing clean.
This is an open SHTF thread:
Filed under: General |
Corrente (Lambert) Avedon’s Sideshow
The Confluence 
https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show
The foe is the President, VP, and a Justice Department run by a man who believes in a unitary executive, that “a President” (surely not one from the other side) cannot be investigated for anything. An all-encompassing theory of executive privilege, reclassifying and hiding of documents, DOJ opinions that shut down investigations and remove any power of the IG or any other executive body to follow up on anything. That is how totalitarian states operate. There is no other interpretation of what has been going on. It is Nixon era without the few high-level appointees who stood up to him. Just imagine how this would be had not Democrats won the House. Imagine if Nunes were still running IC.
I am confident in Schiff, the best person possible for his job. Despite everything Congress might do, the ultimate determination will be made by the electorate. If they do not know what is going on, or if they don’t care, then evil wins. I do know that if any Democratic President had done any of what Trump has done here, he or she would already be impeached, convicted, and probably set for execution for treason. I do believe that Trump will be impeached by Congress, but after that, I do not know. i suppose that Republicans might decide that if they can switch to Pence, or even Haley, as the next candidate, they would jettison Trump, as they are nothing if not calculating.
I just hope that Democrats are also strategic in thinking about the election, because ultimately it does come down to how we are governed and by whom. President Pelosi would be wonderful, but Republicans are too clever for that. And the question is, where is the electorate in terms of what leaders it wants? My fear is that someone like Haley, just like Bush and Reagan before her, is where the country is most comfortable, particularly as they are influenced by the billions of dollars of campaign money spent by Republicans to demonize Democrats and whitewash their own candidates. I wish I could just enjoy the squirming going on among Republicans, but I do remember that Ford came very close to being elected, two years after Watergate, and after that, came 12 years of Republican Presidents.
I think Schiff did a much better job than Nadler with Lewandowski. Nunes, wow, naked pic of Trump…urgh. Rep. Hurd did a decent job, but then he isn’t running again. The biggest take a way for me is why go to the White House and and ask to release the whistle blowers complaint, which is about the president and Att. General. Duh, I don’t know why they would want it released to the House Intelligence Committee. I thought McGuire was/is over his head, he seems with his record an honorable man, and more than likely hasn’t had to deal with this caliber of dishonesty. I wonder how long he will be DNI, esp. with Trump calling the whistle blower a spy and ect.
I send my thanks to the CA district that sent Schiff to Congress. Maguire, a long time “by the book” bureaucrat who fell up into a position he’d never dreamed he’d ever have a chance for.
How did the whistleblower (whose lawyer is a former Hillary Henchman) know that the meeting log was stored on the secure server? Because he (or one of his as-yet-unidentified buddies) tried to illegally access it!
Which is probably the reason it was put on the secure server – to prevent Democrat moles in the IC from accessing and leaking classified information.
Trump was caught off guard by Russiagate because he knew it was all bogus and he didn’t expect anyone to take it seriously. But Trump is not just ready this time, I suspect this is a sting operation designed to expose traitors in the IC and document their connections to the media and Congressional Democrats.
ROFLMAO. You are kidding, right Niles? Did you miss the part about the “classified” information being POLITICALLY sensitive not matters of national security? Do you understand the concept of abuse of power and, in this case, for personal gain? Do you really think trump gives a shit about you or this country? Do you understand that there is a law addressing whistleblowers? They are not leakers, they are following a statutorily established process to call out wrongdoing without retribution. The IC IG, a trump appointee, deemed the complaint both credible and urgent and followed the law. The DNI (Maguire) and the WH failed to follow the letter of the law, not the whistleblower.
At this point, I would venture a tentative guess that Trump will not be on the presidential ballot next year. Republicans have the opportunity to pull a switch, to avoid having a badly damaged candidate. Trump will be impeached over this matter. I have constantly said that there was no chance that Senate Republicans vote to convict, but now I see a possibility that they will all vote for it, as political cover and escape. McConnell allowing a floor vote on releasing the transcript in which every single Republican senator voted for it, was not done out of patriotism or a new wish to work with Democrats, it was a possible sign of a new tactic designed to make Republicans look better, and get Pence or someone else on the ballot. Congressional Republicans would be just as happy with anyone who will continue the packing of the courts, and the tax breaks for millionaires.
Today there is a poll showing that a plurality of Americans favor impeachment of Trump. This number will go up to some degree. Republicans do not want to run on this narrative. As exciting as it would be to finally have Trump out of office, I know that we must have a purging of the Republican Party, in order to save the environment, and do so many important things. We still have to convince many voters that the Democratic agenda is necessary for the country’s and planet’s survival. So even in the middle of this, that remains my personal overriding concern.
Pence would lose worse than a damaged Trump in 2020. He has no base outside of white evangelicals which are about 20% of the US.
I keep viewing this scenario as the Republicans believing they could somehow control the uncontrollable. Trump is the absolute worst person that could have ascended to the presidency as their proxy. Even the fellow running the check out lane at the grocery store would have been better.
Driftglass knocks it out of the park.
http://driftglass.blogspot.com/2019/09/the-tribe-that-rubs-shit-in-their-hair.html
Ha! Love this!
That’s great. I have been using smear feces all over themselves on social media even before I saw that.
follow Maddow
https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show
Is Trump too legit to quit?
What is the methodology of the poll? Who conducted it? How was it conducted?
Lies, damned lies, and statistics… 😉
I am surprised to see that it appears that the goal is to get the Articles of Impeachment done by November, as least according to news stories. It is an interesting calculation. The House can get Trump impeached, but then what? I would have preferred that they take their time, bring in various key witnesses, build a strong case, and have several Articles, which might make it more difficult for the Senate to dispense with a Trial. It seems that Pelosi does not expect the Senate to convict, and thus wants to have a clean argument focused only on the whistleblower issue, impeach him, and then let the Senate do whatever they will do to end the process.
If that happens, we will have Trump impeached,and then going along finishing his term. Sort of like the penalty box in hockey, where you get to come back into the match? Maybe Pelosi and her caucus think that this is the best that we can get: the “constitutional duty” often referred to by those who have pushed for impeachment for a couple of years; the actual impeachment to damage Trump; little opportunity for people to attack the Democrats for not focusing on legislation (even though it never gets to the Senate floor); the impeachment not overshadowing the campaign; and Democrats in the House not being blamed for any of it by voters.
It may be. But I would like to see more hearings, many subpoenas, filings to force people to testify. I’d want to see the whole thing exposed, and the Republican Party in ruins. But probably that is too optimistic. It’s just that giving Trump ten or so free months of governing before the election, with impeachment done, gives him the chance to play all sorts of games with the economy in an effort to win. This has to be of more effect than a Censure, and it should not let Pence, Pompeo, Barr, Giuliani, and the other conspirators skate off. It may even be that such a result would embolden Trump, because if that’s all that happens to him, he might figure that he’s now got a free card, since he wouldn’t be impeached again, and even if he would, there are no lasting consequences. I get tired of the “shoot at the king, you had best not miss,” metaphor, but the almost certain impeachment should be played to yield the most positive results possible. This is not just about Trump, it is about tying his party to all the corruption.
William,
All the evidence needed for a judgment against trump is readily available and is why the republicans have been having a hell of a time defending trump. The extremely clear-cut nature of the Ukrainian scandal is what overcame Pelosi’s skepticism about the political wisdom of impeachment. CNN reports that Pelosi told her caucus “she thinks this issue is understandable for the American public, and they get it.” The Ukrainian scandal has the merit of simplicity, clarity, and urgency.
It’s a stark case of a president abusing his power in a way that threatens democracy itself. It’s hard to describe it as anything other than tinpot dictator behavior. Most importantly, this approach will continue to fuel a majority of Americans to have him removed from office.
Will the senate republicans continue to support trump if that happens?
It is greatly irritating, but not surprising, that so many media people, at least on TV, are full of advice and demands for how the Democrats should handle things. “They must not let this drag out.” “They must not go too quickly here.” “They must make things very simple for the American people..” “They must not get distracted.”
It is “as if” the Democrats are portrayed as well-meaning but hopelessly incompetent people who need constant guidance from everyone else. Of course, some of this comes from the ubiquitous “Never Trumpers.” who are after all, Republicans. Some of it comes from the Left, which really doesn’t like the Democrats, and thus looks for ways to snark at them. But given that there are many Democrats in office who are very intelligent, well educated,with priot careers in law or the helping professions, it is ridiculous that they keep getting reflexively described in these ways. I”d put my money on Pelosi and Schiff above any Republican in any office in this country.