I apologize for not posting more. I have been plagued by a bad tooth, and today I have to face up to root canal. I will be more communicative once that’s over with, I’m sure.
But only two articles of impeachment? What the bleep? Get this —
House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) emphasized what he characterized as “extreme restraint” in pursuing Trump’s impeachment in a statement issued after the two articles were unveiled.
Is “extreme restraint” supposed to be a good thing?
Dems are trying really hard to have this blow up on them.
As a strategy I can see the logic of it. Trump will get an impeachment added to his legacy and the repugs in the Senate will be denied much cover to shield Trump from his deeds. By keeping it simple it puts the max amount of pressure on the Senate to do the right thing. Also their legacy and prospects for reelection will be tainted if they decide to take one for the Trump.
Personally I'll love to see that bag of shit have to answer for every abuse and transgression he's committed, but you take what you can get. This hasn't been a one way exercise where Trump has run the board. I'm not convinced of his invincibility in 2020. I suspect his constant domination and saturation of the news cycles with his pushing the envelope is going to cause people to decide that they've just had enough of his antics, and will turn him out at the ballot box.. Who needs the constant bullshit and bombast of Trump?
Aside from that Trump has amply demonstrated that he is a liar and dishonest to the core. Whether people admit to that or not for whatever reasons, they know in their hearts that he is. That fact will count for something in 2020.
They're actually trying to impeach the president in such a way that Republicans don't get upset about it. I'm speechless.
Between the sycophantic RepubliKKKLANs, their voter suppression, voting machines with no paper trails, and a cowardly, compliant, and complicit MSM, I'm not confident that tRump will lose.
And only having two counts of impeachment makes it look like that's all he's guilty of. Yeah, I hear the argument about KISS, but he can now bellow and whine about "That's ALL the Democrats could come up with?!? I didn't do anything wrong! I've had a perfect presidency! !!"
Plus, after the Senate lets him skate, he'll really be emboldened to do whatever the fuck he feeels like! And because he's such a stupid, ignorant, bigoted, and gullible simpleton, every country will help him get reelected. They know that if they flatter him enough, they can take the clothes right off his body to get what they want! " Oh, Mr. President, you're the toughest negotiator we've ever met! Here's our country's 'Sheet of Honor" to wear until you can get into your limo! (Suppressed laughter!!!!!).
The question is after 2020's "election," will tRUMP want to be called King, or President for Life?
And of course, it'll be a hereditary title. Will he designate Ivanka or Jr to pass the throne to?
Our best hope may be a "Game of Thrones" situation, where Ivanka, Jr, Eric, and young Barron, will fight to the death.
Ok, enough pessimism from me.
Time for one of you optimists to give me some hope!
My friend, compared to me you are an optimist.
I consider our problems to be systemic, and every US institution to be hopelessly corrupt.
I think our species is fatally flawed.
Here is what I wrote elsewhere earlier today …
http://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2019/12/recycling-a-globally-broken-system#comment-4719346492
Looks like this year's State of the Union address is going to take place on the floor of the Senate by default. We're all going to get an update on the moral condition of our governance. I hope they manage to maintain some degree of decorum. Watching the GOP display in the House was just shameful. It was like they adopted all the childish and bullying tactics that Trump prides himself in and incorporated them in their attack on the rule of law and adherence to the Constitution. It shows that they are all a bunch of deviant shitbags whose only allegiance is to their own political self preservation.
The wisdom of any strategy is in the outcome. I'm not sure if the strategy is sound but let's examine the intent. (as I see it) The GOP and Trump have for the last two years misdirected attention to whatever flaw or omission in an accusation or scandal that the base would accept. Thus the "Steele Dosier" was discredited by a few details that couldn't be proven or were inaccurate. The bulk of the report wasn't wrong but it is ignored or proven completely false to the faithful.
The same thing is true of the Mueller Report. To a lot of viewers, it's completely debunked – totally false – and at the same time, it exonerates Trump. Go figure – but that's what they think. They think this way because Fox and Trump repeated the lies for months with very little rebuttal. (Mueller made almost NO public statements for months and months – Trump and FOx owned the reporting.
Democrats in Congress think that a clear majority of viewers who tune in to the Senate Impeachment will look at the evidence and testimony. To you and me, the Mueller Report is authoritative. For a lot of viewer/voters, it's not. In the Senate trial, the Democrats would have to overcome the inertia of expectations – that Mueller had it in for Trump or (if they believed Barr) the report cleared Trump on all counts. Personally, I'd like to see Trump charged with Obstruction of Justice in Jan 2021 based primarily on the Mueller Report. Trump wants to make the trial in the Senate about whether Lisa Page said something nasty about Trump. (Which is entirely a distraction, but it's exactly the distraction Trump wants.)
The Ukraine shakedown is relatively new. It hasn't dragged out intermanably like the Mueller Report and the evidence against Trump has been laid out dramatically in just the last month or so. It's new and it has produced an Impeachment, which the "Russia Hoax" did not. It didn't go on for months and months in secret like the Mueller Report.
So the strategy is based on the goal (as I see it) – turning a few percent of voters against Trump in 2020. Not cultists, but the low-info conservative who thinks Trump has been good for the economy and he's been fighting "elitists" and "shaking things up." Trump isn't as non-stick as Reagan but he's good at deflecting and distracting. The basis of the strategy is to make the truth simple and apparent for the non-cultist conservative to the degree that in 2020, they find Trump so revolting they stay home in disgust if they can't vote for the Democrat.
The proof of the strategy won't be known for eleven months.
Ya never know…It just might be in the stars that the GOP decides that the time has come to jettison Trump's fat ass in favor of rebuilding the party to something more in keeping with the basic decency of the American people.
Trump has had his chance to show his stuff to the American public, and from what I've seen, I wouldn't feel to comfortable betting on him to walk away in a landslide electoral victory. He's a risky bet at best.
You all remember what happened to the Gingerbread man? Run, run, run, as fast as you can., you can't catch me, I'm the Gingerbread man! In a sense,Trump might meet the same fate.
It seems that Obstruction of Justice will be added to the impeachment charges. This seems prudent, as it is a serious part of the power overtrach of this president.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/10/us/politics/impeachment-mueller-charges.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage
Amidst all the bad news, my hero is Time Magazine’s Person of the Year.
I had an infected molar last month and sympathize. Nothing hurts much worse. The root canal was a huge relief.
The reason for only two articles of impeachment is straightforward: They're an attempt to cut through the confusion of right wing political spin, lies and marketing (propaganda).
According to recent polling only 1 in 3 Americans can name the three branches of government, and 1 in 5 can't name any. Decades of deliberate and inadvertent dumbing down have resulted in a majority population of consumers and a minority of citizens.
Republicans seem completely assured that our republic now trades in a business-like "market of ideas" that functions the same as the market for any other product. Worse, in the Trump era they've come to rely heavily on Big Lie marketing – repeating the same lies over and over until they become accepted as true.
The two articles are clearly written to make relatively simple points as powerfully as possible for a not overly sophisticated public. The idea of a dumbed down public, though true, is constantly attacked as "elitist". In fact, there's no way democrats (deliberate small "d") can make any statement that can't be attacked in some way by the Republicans/far right. More articles would just be more to attack and more opportunity to create confusion.
I hope everything went well with your root canal and you are out of pain.