"Donald Trump ought to be impeached and removed from office. This isn’t what I thought two months ago, when the impeachment inquiry began. I argued that the evidence fell short of the
standards of a prosecutable criminal act. I also feared impeachment might ultimately help Trump politically, as it had helped Bill Clinton in 1998. That second worry might still prove true.
But if the congressional testimonies of Marie Yovanovitch, Bill Taylor, Gordon Sondland, Alexander Vindman and especially Fiona Hill make anything clear, it’s that the president’s highest crime isn’t what he tried to do to, or with, Ukraine.
It’s that he’s attempting to turn the United States into Ukraine. The judgment Congress has to make is whether the American people should be willing, actively or passively, to go along with it...it’s to the enduring shame of the Republican Party that they have been willing to debase our political standards to the old Ukrainian level just when Ukrainians are trying to rise to our former level.... The one way to stop this is to make every effort to remove Trump from office. It shouldn’t have to wait a year." - Bret Stephens, NY Times, Nov. 23, 'The United States Is Starting To Look Like Ukraine'
"Trump's quid pro quo attempt with Ukraine is of a piece with the corrupt practices ushered in by right wing populists all over the world. They had vowed to smash the rules but it turns out it was mostly for self-enrichment." - David Brooks, NY Times
"I have contended from the beginning that impeachment was important regardless of Republican support, regardless of the chances of conviction and removal in the Senate. Impeachment is important because our system of democracy is being tested. The Constitution is being tested. And, not moving to impeach would in a way enshrine abuse of power as a precedent....
Thanks to multiple investigations and reporting we now know the White House and congressional Republicans allied with "Capt. Bonespurs" Trump are preparing for a Senate trial in which they will not only declare Trump’s innocence but also present a version of events that portray him as the victim of a broad plot to undermine his presidency even before it began. That specious - already debunked narrative - will claim that it was Ukrainians who meddled in the 2016 election instead of the Russians. This was an unfounded allegation totally refuted by Dr. Fiona Hill last Thursday.
"Trump's quid pro quo attempt with Ukraine is of a piece with the corrupt practices ushered in by right wing populists all over the world. They had vowed to smash the rules but it turns out it was mostly for self-enrichment." - David Brooks, NY Times
"I have contended from the beginning that impeachment was important regardless of Republican support, regardless of the chances of conviction and removal in the Senate. Impeachment is important because our system of democracy is being tested. The Constitution is being tested. And, not moving to impeach would in a way enshrine abuse of power as a precedent....
Trump knows that the impeachment inquiry can simply be seen as part of the show, and if he can put on a bigger, better show, he can survive it. Trump is not concerned about truth, protocol, tradition or the sanctity of the Constitution.. Trump cares about Trump. Trump cares about the Trump brand and the Trump show. Trump will reduce this country to rubble before he will submit to correction" - Charles Blow, NY Times
Thanks to multiple investigations and reporting we now know the White House and congressional Republicans allied with "Capt. Bonespurs" Trump are preparing for a Senate trial in which they will not only declare Trump’s innocence but also present a version of events that portray him as the victim of a broad plot to undermine his presidency even before it began. That specious - already debunked narrative - will claim that it was Ukrainians who meddled in the 2016 election instead of the Russians. This was an unfounded allegation totally refuted by Dr. Fiona Hill last Thursday.
Also, an intel report released Friday noted the Ukraine - CrowdStrike BS was being peddled by Putin and the Russians to frame Ukraine. But the Reeptards will run with it because they are traitors first- and sowers of propaganda and lies second - who consistently place party and obeisance to Trump, over country.
In a telephone interview with “Fox and Friends” on Friday morning Trump went on an unhinged, 57 minute paranoid bender. We have no idea if he was on opiods, MJ candy, crack or just too many greasy burgers (with the fat coagulating in his brain) before he dialed in. But his sputterings and drivel - which ordinarily would have the guy on the street in a straitjacket - didn't go unnoticed by the FOX trio. After alluding to“the Democrats and their media machine, the fake, corrupt media”, the psychotic preznit went on to bawl:
"The F.B.I. went in, and they told them, ‘Get out of here, we’re not giving it to you,’ They gave the server to CrowdStrike, or whatever it is called, which is a company owned by a very wealthy Ukrainian. I still want to see that server.”
Which is 100 percent, undistilled horse shit. Hell, even Brian Kilmeade and Steve Doocey (two of the FOX trio) had their mouths agape. Kilmeade - once he caught his breath - even had the sense to ask the Traitor- in -chief for his sources. All he could do was bark 50 more minutes of lies.
The strategy was similar to the Trump legal team’s handling of the Mueller inquiry, which they frequently charged was not following normal procedures. Thus when the special counsel’s report did not reveal ironclad evidence personally connecting Mr. Trump to the Russian efforts to influence the 2016 election, the asshole and his advisers seized on it as a reliable disinfo weapon. "Lookee here, we're exonerated!" Of course, Mueller said no such thing.
But the point is, using that false perception Trump was emboldened to do corruption on steroids. Freed from Mueller's close scrutiny and the threat of any sanctions, Donnie Dotard has elected to promote the debunked conspiracy theory that Ukraine interfered in the 2016 election. This was a day after the former top Russia expert - British-born Fiona Hill - called it a “fictional narrative” in her dramatic impeachment testimony.
"The F.B.I. went in, and they told them, ‘Get out of here, we’re not giving it to you,’ They gave the server to CrowdStrike, or whatever it is called, which is a company owned by a very wealthy Ukrainian. I still want to see that server.”
Which is 100 percent, undistilled horse shit. Hell, even Brian Kilmeade and Steve Doocey (two of the FOX trio) had their mouths agape. Kilmeade - once he caught his breath - even had the sense to ask the Traitor- in -chief for his sources. All he could do was bark 50 more minutes of lies.
The strategy was similar to the Trump legal team’s handling of the Mueller inquiry, which they frequently charged was not following normal procedures. Thus when the special counsel’s report did not reveal ironclad evidence personally connecting Mr. Trump to the Russian efforts to influence the 2016 election, the asshole and his advisers seized on it as a reliable disinfo weapon. "Lookee here, we're exonerated!" Of course, Mueller said no such thing.
But the point is, using that false perception Trump was emboldened to do corruption on steroids. Freed from Mueller's close scrutiny and the threat of any sanctions, Donnie Dotard has elected to promote the debunked conspiracy theory that Ukraine interfered in the 2016 election. This was a day after the former top Russia expert - British-born Fiona Hill - called it a “fictional narrative” in her dramatic impeachment testimony.
In her testimony Thursday, she scolded Republicans loyal to Trump that they must stop pushing the idea that Ukraine interfered in the 2016 presidential election because it plays into Vladimir Putin’s hands. Dr. Hill also in her opening text, vigorously attacked the debunked conspiracy theory used by Republicans to defend their master against allegations that he sought to bribe Ukraine for his own political gain.
Back to the Fox and Friends farce. In the incoherent, often rambling 57-minute interview, Trump also:
- Claimed, without evidence, that he was trying to root out corruption in Ukraine when he withheld aid over the summer.
- Claimed he was the reason China had not taken steps to crush pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong.
- Said government officials had praised the former Ukraine ambassador Marie Yovanovitch – a highly regarded diplomat whom Trump has repeatedly smeared – because “she’s a woman, you have to be nice”.
- Complained that Marie Yovanovitch, who has served presidents in both parties, was “an Obama person” and took too long to hang his picture in the Ukraine embassy.
- Called the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, the top woman in Congress, “crazy as a bedbug”.
The Fox & Friends hosts were largely passive bystanders during what effectively became a Trump monologue, though as I noted, Brian Kilmeade at one point did ask the orange goofball for his sources. "Sources? What're those? I don't need no sources! Lotsa people have said....."
This is the depraved, corrupt jackass we have as president, who needs to be ousted from his unearned office as soon as feasible, e.g.
by Paul Street | November 22, 2019 - 7:09am | permalink
Let's get into our heads that Trump's behavior is not just pro forma and "normal". NO, it instead marks the epitome of corruption. That is, a person given public power to act for the people but who then takes that and uses it for his own selfish, private gain. Most constitutional scholars - not the dopey "Federalist Society" idiots- grasped that the Founders took corruption most seriously. Indeed, it was central to the founding of this country. After the decision to become these 'United States' the next question was how do we protect against corruption.
A quarter of the time, at the Constitutional Convention, the Framers were all about corruption in sundry aspects: the treaty power, the size of districts, the Electoral College. Everything was debated in terms of how do we protect against corruption. Inherent to this, implicitly understood was the danger of Republics, or their potential weakness.
That is, they could become corrupted if a corrupt politician or demagogue - especially one with an energetic minority (or majority) backing, somehow was elected. Thus, the framers were less afraid of external threats than internal threats of corruption. One of the Founders and Framers most aware of this was George Mason. Who, at the Constitutional Convention, said the following:
"Shall the man who has practiced corruption, and by that means procured his appointment in the first instance, be suffered to escape punishment by repeating his guilt?"
In other words, should an unfit swine like Donald Trump, who's already escaped accountability in the Mueller investigation, be now allowed to once more use bribery of a foreign power to get re-relected, and thereby escape his just punishment?
Thus, Mason was aware that it's not just the corruption he was worried about (as well as other Founders, like James Madison) but also if such man becomes corrupt enough that he can corrupt the electoral process itself, to get into power again- and escape all sanction.
The Mason quote, interestingly, came in the midst of the Framers' debate about impeachment. The original drafts for the impeachment provision were more concerned with malpractice or the neglect of duty. But Mason and others were so worried about corruption that they insisted the provisions include bribery, treason and maladministration.
They then decided the last was too broad and ambiguous so it was taken out an replaced with "high crimes and misdemeanors" - which had a very precise meaning at that time (i.e. in the English tradition). For reference, the three major proponents of the impeachment power were: Edmund Jennings Randolph, Mason and James Madison.
Each talked not only about corruption but foreign corruption, i.e. the unique dangers of an executive have powers in the foreign realm. Randolph, for example, was worried about an executive becoming corrupted in matters of war and peace, because people wouldn't necessarily know about them. Say Trump making a secret deal with Kim Jong Un or Recip Tayyip Erdogan, that was against U.S. security interests.
Other framers objected that there shouldn't be an impeachment clause and Charles Pinckney e.g.
even said in effect, 'Don't worry! If there's another election that is all you need."
The overwhelming response (of the then states; delegates) was oh no, we actually need this. The reason was that the threat of foreign corruption was so great and could do so much damage to the country, say to have someone continuing in office while serving their own private, selfish ends at the expense of the public. Especially in foreign affairs, but in all affairs. So we can't simply wait for an election and hope enough people (AND the Electoral College) ensure the corrupted individual isn't returned to power. Hence the need for the impeachment clause.
This is exactly the case with Trump and why impeachment - as well as rapid removal from office - is essential..
The problem is that if the majority Reeps in the Senate adopt the governing narrative (seeded by the Russian security services) that Ukraine was really the interloper in the 2016 election and Trump was the victim- then we are witness to no more than a kangaroo court with no positive outcome for removing the turd. Worse, by carrying water for the already discredited GRU and their conspiracy codswallop - like Lindsey Graham plans to do to use against the Bidens - we can declare that all these miscreants are de facto traitors. They are openly using debunked material from a foreign security service to undermine our Republic, and indeed, to destroy it.
As Jeffrey Stacey in a Times op-ed observed:
"What the Trump administration and the rest of us need to acknowledge is that these campaigns are a type of low-grade full spectrum warfare — military jargon for the combined use of new and complex methods for attaining victory. To be sure, the attacks have been mostly bloodless, except in eastern Ukraine. But they constitute warfare nevertheless — fully analogous to the Cold War, when Russia also challenged the United States for the balance of influence around the world."
Given they had the report from our intel services and still chose to ignore it to attack our Republic they all need to be hung, drawn and quartered, in effigy if not in reality- because they are the REAL "human scum".
Starting with the orange fungal pestilence fouling the White House, who now has insinuated his corruption into the military by effectively pardoning a convicted war criminal, former Seal Edward Gallagher. (Gallagher was turned in by his own platoon last spring. Several fellow SEALs reported that he had shot civilians and killed a captive Islamic State fighter with a custom hunting knife during a deployment in Iraq in 2017. In other words, plain war crimes not unlike William Calley's in Vietnam. Crimes that his platoon reecognized brought dishonor on them all.) Never mind conservative talk show monkeys have turned Gallagher and other imps into "heroes".
This latest intervention by Trump was deemed so outrageous and vile by the Secretary of the Navy (Richard Spencer) that he was led to write - after being forced out by Pentagon punk Mark Esper (the guy who chirped the Kurds were "on their own" after Trump pulled out the military from northern Syria):
"I cannot in good conscience obey an order that I believe violates the sacred oath I took...to support and defend the Constitution".
Effectively calling out his mock "commander in chief" Dotard as doing the opposite. Let us also process that when Gallagher appeared on FOX News Sunday to claim "this is all about ego, not order and discipline" he omitted one of the primary charges against him: that he threatened to kill any fellow Seal who reported him to the chain of command for his war crimes. In other words, this guy is garbage like Trump.
Let's further note here that Trump has angered and alienated a number of military leaders by intervening in the cases of three American service members who had been accused of war crimes. Why? Because Trump, a criminal himself, seeks to often intervene on behalf of other criminals - especially other traitors, war criminals. Not to mention garden variety vermin like Sheriff Joe Arpaio.
But the signal takeaway is that the Swine-in -chief now believes he can intervene in any domain he wishes to insert his distinct brand of corruption.
As far as the Senate impeachment trial goes, given the GOP majority plans to use debunked Russian (GRU) material to try to make a case, then it is by definition a farce. In which case I have no intention of wasting my time watching a propaganda performance - sponsored by Vlad and the Russkies no less.
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