Friday
Dec132019
The Commentariat -- December 14, 2019
Olivia Beavers & Mike Lillis of the Hill: "Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee approved two articles of impeachment Friday that charge President Trump with high crimes and misdemeanors, setting up a historic House vote next week that all but guarantees Trump will be just the third president to be impeached in U.S. history. The articles, which charge Trump with abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, were passed out of the committee along strict party lines, with 23 Democrats voting to send the measures to the full House, which is expected to approve them next week. One Democrat, Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.), was absent after undergoing an unexpected medical procedure earlier in the week." The New York Times report, by Nicholas Fandos, is here. (Also linked yesterday.)
Oops! Jim Dwyer & Eric Lipton of the New York Times: "... Mr. Trump did not mention Mr. Giuliani or his unpaid labor on the annual financial disclosure he filed in May, which requires that the value and source of gifts -- including free legal work -- be publicly listed. That requirement is cut and dried, said Kathleen Clark, a law professor at Washington University in St. Louis. She cited guidance from the Office of Government Ethics, issued in November 2017, that states federal officials must disclose 'gifts of legal defenses -- in kind or by payment of the fees.' 'The purpose is to ensure the public has an opportunity to see whether there is any kind of corrupting influence,' said Ms. Clark.... The economic value of [Giuliani's] services to the president could be considerable. Mr. Giuliani has said that at the height of the Mueller inquiry, representing Mr. Trump amounted to a full-time job. Partners at major law firms can bill their clients as much as $1,500 an hour. To serve as Mr. Trump's lawyer, Mr. Giuliani left a firm where he was making $6 million a year." ~~~
~~~ ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Mrs. McCrabbie: This sounds like an ideal time for Trump to apply Steve Martin's old advice on how to get a million dollars without paying taxes on it: "First, get a million dollars (in this case, in legal services). Then, when the tax man comes to your door, you look him in the eye and say two simple words: 'I... forgot.'"
John Fritze of USA Today: "... Donald Trump's personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, was seen entering the White House Friday, just as the House Judiciary Committee was taking a historic series of votes to approve articles of impeachment against the president. Giuliani, a central figure in the events driving the Democratic impeachment push, has said he wants to brief U.S. officials on the findings of his recent trip to Ukraine. It was not immediately clear if Giuliani was meeting with Trump." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Update. Kristen Welker of NBC News (@4:59 pm ET Friday): "Rudy Giuliani confirmed via text he did meet with Trump at the White House on Friday. 'I'm caught going to meet with my client? Is that an impeachable offense?' he added." ~~~
~~~ Alex Ward of Vox: "... Donald Trump's entire impeachment mess began over his efforts to pressure Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden's family and Democrats with the help of his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani.... Giuliani recently returned from a trip to Kyiv this month in which he interviewed local officials to learn more about Hunter Biden ... and his time on the board of the Ukrainian gas company Burisma. He also wanted to prove the conspiracy theory ... that Ukraine, not Russia, interfered in the 2016 presidential election. After landing in New York last Saturday, according to the Wall Street Journal, the president called his attorney while the plane was still taxiing. 'What did you get?' Trump asked, according to the Journal's Friday interview with Giuliani. 'More than you can imagine,' the former New York City mayor replied, noting he would be putting his findings in a 20-page report. One almost has to respect (while remaining appalled at) how brazen Giuliani's admission is here. He's openly telling the Wall Street Journal that his anti-Biden investigation in Ukraine continues, and that Trump is still interested in knowing about it." ~~~
~~~ Matt Naham of Law & Crime: "Is that a folder -- or a dossier, if you will -- tucked under Giuliani's arm? [Naham comments on a photo of Giuliani entered the White House.]... 'Mafia in action at the White House. This is just so surreal.' [former prosecutor Mimi Rocah tweeted].... 'Trump has been emboldened, not chastened, by impeachment. His personal attorney is at the WH right now after his trip to Ukraine to continue to dig up dirt on Joe Biden, the heart of this impeachment itself. And GOP is no longer lodging any protest. This is the reality for 2020.' [CNN host Jim Sciutto tweeted]." ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: When Bill Clinton got caught by the blue dress (after he gave his DNA to the Starr chamber), he apologized for his behavior & implied there would be no more bimbo eruptions during his tenure in office. That's a huge difference. Trump, besides refusing to cooperate with House investigations, not only has not apologized, he sees nothing wrong with his actions and is continuing the offending behavior in an in-your-face manner. And Mitch McConnell, along with almost all other elected Republicans in Washington, is egging Trump on. We are living in dangerous times. ~~~
~~~ Josh Kovensky of TPM: "Rudy Giuliani has yet another new anti-Joe Biden theory ready to go, conjured up during his trip to Hungary and Ukraine last week. The latest Rudy eruption makes the fantastical and unsubstantiated allegation that the U.S. embassy in Kyiv, under the tenure of former Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch and under the direction of Vice President Joe Biden, diverted a whopping $5.3 billion in American aid that was intended for the embattled former Soviet republic. It gets better though. [George] Soros is involved. Of course. Biden and Yovanovitch, as Rudy's theory goes, moved the funds to the embassy's 'favored' non-governmental organizations which, you may not be surprised to learn, allegedly have ties to the billionaire philanthropist and bogeyman of the right." ~~~
~~~ AND Have You Heard This One? Josh Kovensky (Dec. 10): "The Ukrainians who met with Giuliani have announced, on their own, what they told the President's lawyer. What emerges is a new conspiracy theory positing an elaborate scheme involving the Franklin Templeton investment fund, [President] Obama, and [Adam] Schiff.... Oleksandr Dubinsky..., known in Ukraine in part for his ties to a local oligarch with certain legal issues pending in the U.S..., uploaded a video last week in which he retells what he claims to have told Giuliani.... Without providing any evidence to support the claim, Dubinsky said in the video that $7 billion that had been stolen from the Ukrainian budget via various corruption schemes was laundered into the U.S. by being used to purchase an equal amount in bonds issued by the Ukrainian government.... The investment manager overseeing the alleged scheme was also one of the Obama campaign's biggest donors, Dubinsky said.... Giuliani tweeted last week that Schiff is an 'investor' in Franklin Templeton. 'Working on an important project with @OANN, [right-wing One America 'News' Network] intended to bring before the American people information Schiff (recently disclosed investor in Franklin Templton) "Star chamber" proceedings have covered up,' [Giuliani tweeted].... Schiff's connection to the mutual fund company appears to be as passive and insignificant as that of a typical investor with money in Fidelity, Schwab, or Vanguard." ~~~
~~~ safari, who linked both of Kovensky's posts, points out that Kovensky was formerly a reporter for the Kyiv Post. ~~~
~~~ digby: "If Trump pushes this publicly, you would think the Republicans would feel compelled to not only convict Trump and remove him from office, but have him hospitalized. This is lunacy and if it makes you feel crazy too, I'm pretty sure that's part of the plan." Mrs. McC: Actually, I expect Lindsey Graham, who already has opened an "investigation" into Joe & Hunter Biden's activities re: Ukraine, to incorporate Rudy's "findings" into the Senate "investigation." Further, if Biden is the Democratic nominee, the "investigation" will drag on throughout the fall, and we'll have a repeat of Hillary Clinton's 11-hour grilling before a House Benghaaazi! committee -- only Biden won't hold up in the admirable way Clinton did.
Mike DeBonis of the Washington Post: "In a late Thursday interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity, [Mitch] McConnell (R-Ky.) all but guaranteed a Trump acquittal, saying there was 'zero chance' the president would be removed from office, and promised 'total coordination' with the White House and Trump's defense team.... Those remarks infuriated House Democrats as they voted to advance the fourth-ever set of presidential impeachment articles toward a Senate trial where, they said, the fix appeared to be in.... Rep. Val Demings (D-Fla.) ... call[ed] on McConnell to recuse himself from the Senate proceedings based on his Fox News remarks. 'He's working hand in hand with the White House, the president's attorney, and yet we are supposed to expect him to manage a fair and impartial impeachment inquiry?' she said. 'They've screamed "bias," "kangaroo court," "witch hunt" and everything else. ... When the Senate majority leader stands at the microphone and says I'm basically going to coordinate with the president's attorney, that scares me.'... Sen. Chris Murphy (Conn.) tweet[ed], 'The Majority Leader proudly announcing he is planning to rig the impeachment trial for Trump.'"
** "Vindman Rule." Alex Marquardt, et al., of CNN: "... Donald Trump's senior aides have further restricted the number of administration officials allowed to listen to the President's phone calls with foreign leaders since his July 25 call with Ukraine's President was revealed and became the centerpiece of the impeachment inquiry, according to multiple White House sources. Transcripts of Trump's calls with world leaders are also disseminated to a far smaller group of people inside the White House, those administration sources say, continuing an effort to limit the number of people with insight and information about the conversations. Nobody is allowed on the calls,' a White House official said.... 'The barn door officially closed after the horse escaped.'... Gone from the calls are some of the career staffers and detailees whose roles included taking notes and providing edits to the eventual transcript of the conversations meant to clarify what was said." ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Congressional oversight chairs should "object in the strongest terms" to the administration's hiding the substance of Trump's calls with foreign leaders. Trump is supposed to be using these calls to advance U.S. interests & policies. If he's not -- and we know he's not -- the Congress should know about it. Limiting the number of people on the call to Trump loyalists who won't blow the whistle or even testify under subpoena to any wrongdoing is a huge national security risk.
Alexander Nazaryan of Yahoo! News: "A district court judge in Washington, D.C., has ordered administration lawyers to explain why, for more than two years, the White House has refused to turn over to the State Department an interpreter's notes from a meeting between President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. That meeting took place in the summer of 2017, during a summit of the G-20 nations in Hamburg, Germany. The two men got along so well that the meeting, which was supposed to last an hour, ran to 137 minutes. In the room with Putin were Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, along with two interpreters — one American and the other Russian. As the lengthy meeting concluded, Trump confiscated notes from the State Department interpreter, thus depriving American diplomats -- and, according to an ongoing lawsuit, the American public -- of the lone U.S. government record of what exactly was said.... Judge Trevor McFadden rejected the administration's argument that the notes were a presidential record outside the purview of the Federal Records Act, which describes how executive-branch agencies must preserve documents."
Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court agreed on Friday to decide whether President Trump can block the release of his financial records, setting the stage for a blockbuster ruling on the power presidents to resist demands for information from prosecutors and Congress. The court's ruling, expected by June, could give the public a look at information the president has gone to extraordinary lengths to protect. Or the justices could rule that Mr. Trump's financial affairs are not legitimate subjects of inquiry so long as he remains in office. Either way, the court is now poised to produce a once-in-a-generation statement on presidential accountability.... Mr. Trump asked the court to block three sets of subpoenas, and the justices agreed to decide his appeals in all three. All of the subpoenas sought information from Mr. Trump's accountants or bankers, not from Mr. Trump himself, and the firms have indicated that they will comply with the court's ruling." (Also linked yesterday.) The NBC News report is here. ~~~
~~~ Ian Millhiser of Vox: "The stakes in these cases are massive, and go well beyond the question of whether a particular subpoena may be enforced. A decision for Trump could give the president broad new immunity from oversight that would extend far beyond this one case. Under existing law, Trump's legal arguments are exceedingly weak, so a decision embracing those arguments could completely rework the balance of power between Congress and the presidency."
Try Again, Mike. Michael Wilner of the Wichita Eagle: "A federal judge ordered the State Department on Friday to expand its search for records of communication between Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and ... Donald Trump's personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, regarding Ukraine policy. The State Department released a number of records last month documenting contact between the two men. But Judge Christopher Cooper, on the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, ruled on Friday that the department arbitrarily limited its search for documents with a cut-off date of August 2. The State Department was given a January 8 deadline to release all records documenting emails, text messages, call logs and scheduled meetings on Ukraine policy that were dated until October 18. The court ruled that the department had 'not adequately justified why its Executive Secretariat used a cut-off date.'... The same judge in a separate case has ordered Kurt Volker, Trump's former special envoy to Ukraine, to produce his calendar entries texts with Giuliani regarding Ukraine policy by January 10."
James Stewart of the New York Times: "The [DOJ inspector general's] report [on the origins of the Russia investigation] 'was far worse than expected,' the president asserted -- after already predicting it would be 'devastating.' 'This was an attempted overthrow and a lot of people were in on it and they got caught, they got caught red-handed,' Mr. Trump said in the Cabinet Room at the White House. Attorney General William Barr was quick to pile on, too[.] Media coverage and Senate hearings quickly shifted to the F.B.I.'s procedural failings, which [IG Michael] Horowitz labeled 'gross incompetence.' By the end of the week, Americans could be forgiven for thinking that the F.B.I. was indeed part of some sinister coup attempt -- precisely the opposite of what Mr. Horowitz had concluded.... To a striking degree, Mr. Trump and his allies have turned the [inspector general's] post into a potent weapon aimed at his supposed enemies in the federal law enforcement agencies. Their ability to wreak political havoc with the latest Horowitz report is part of what has now become a clear pattern: Call for an investigation of a favorite Trump target; speculate about the likely outcome; seize on any collateral evidence that emerges; spin the results; then move quickly to the next investigation. Repeat."
Alan Rappeport, et al., of the New York Times: "The United States and China said they had agreed to an initial trade deal that would reduce tariffs on some Chinese goods and increase purchases of American farm products, a significant de-escalation in the 19-month battle that has rattled the world economy.... The limited agreement was widely viewed as a détente that would prevent an escalation of tariffs ahead of the 2020 election and could help reignite trade between the world's largest economies. But the preliminary pact lacked the magnitude of change that Mr. Trump had promised to deliver before talks broke down earlier this year and many details that have hampered past agreements continued to be in flux, including the size of China's agricultural purchases." A CNBC story is here. Mrs. McC: Trump of course called the limited agreement "phenomenal" and "amazing." (Also linked yesterday.)
AND in our Continuing Series, "Everything Trump Says Is a Lie":
~~~ All Jewish People Speak Alike. Sad. J.M. Rieger of the Washington Post: "Touting his accomplishments during a second Hanukkah reception at the White House on Wednesday, President Trump recalled a conversation he said he had with real estate developer Charles Kushner. 'I said, "Charlie, let me ask you, what's bigger for the Jewish people: giving the embassy to Jerusalem, it becomes the capital of Israel. What's bigger? That or the Golan Heights?" He said, "Neither." I said, "What does that mean?" He said, "The biggest thing of all is what you did by ending the Iran nuclear catastrophe,"' Trump said to applause from the audience. 'I think that's true.' It was remarkably similar to a story Trump told at the first White House Hanukkah reception just four hours prior, this time recalling a conversation he said he had with New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft." Four days earlier, it was the same conversation he had with Sheldon Adelson. In September he had the exact same exchange with "people." "The White House declined to comment." There's a "Sir" tell in the first iteration. ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: The point of the story, of course, is that Trump has done three wonderful things for Israel. As we already knew, Trump is so desperate for praise that he makes up anecdotes about people praising him. This is pretty amazing for anyone who hold any sort of power, much less a POTUS*; people actually do praise them all the time, at least to their faces. Sad!
Derek Chollet reviews Peter Bergen's book Trump and His Generals in a Washington Post op-ed. "Bergen traces the ways Trump's fanboy fascination with 'his' generals transformed into deep frustration with their caution and ethical code.... As Bergen tells it, [Jim] Mattis and [H.R.] McMaster were motivated to work for Trump by their perceptions of the Obama administration's failures, especially in the Middle East. They thought Obama had squandered American leadership by not enforcing the red line in Syria, ceding ground to Moscow, withdrawing from Iraq and being too timid in the fight against the Islamic State. Ironically, they ended up serving a president who wanted out of the region far more than Obama ever did.... They found themselves doing everything possible to save Obama policies (like the Iran nuclear agreement) that Trump was determined to destroy."
Melanie: Okay for Donald to Bully Teenaged Girl. Maggie Serota of Spin: "First lady and anti-bullying advocate Melania Trump apparently thinks it's fine for her husband ... to bully 16-year-old climate change activist Greta Thunberg. When asked by reporters how she squares her anti-bullying initiative Be Best with ... Donald Trump's tweet telling the teen to 'work on her Anger Management problem,' the first lady seemed unbothered by her husband's behavior. '... she will continue to do all she can to help children. It is no secret that the President and First Lady often communicate differently -- as most married couples do,' read a statement issued from the White House to CNN reporter Kate Bennett. 'Their son is not an activist who travels the globe giving speeches. He is a 13-year-old who wants and deserves privacy.'... Melania just issued a public statement condemning impeachment witness Pamela Karlan for invoking Trump's 13-year-old son Barron Trump's name while making a point about the limitations of presidential power. 'A minor child deserves privacy and should be kept out of politics. Pamela Karlan, you should be ashamed of your very angry and obviously biased public pandering, and using a child to do it,' Melania Trump tweeted." ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Karlan never said anything to disparage or characterize Barron. Her remark during testimony was, "The Constitution says there can be no titles of nobility, so while the president can name his son Barron, he cannot make him a baron." Later during her testimony, Karlan apologized for the remark. Oh, and there's this bizarro tweet from Trump's campaign. I did not make this up; Newsweek has the story:
When it comes to keeping his promises, there's only one Person Of The Year:
— Trump War Room (Text TRUMP to 88022) (@TrumpWarRoom) December 11, 2019
✅Booming Economy
✅Record Job Creation
✅Historic Tax Cuts
✅#AmericaFirst Trade Deals
✅ISIS Destroyed
✅Building the Wall#TIMEPOY #PromisesMadePromisesKept pic.twitter.com/pe1CNB7KKz
Presidential Race 2020. Zeeshan Aleem of Vox: "On Friday afternoon, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) declared that she was willing to boycott next week's Democratic debate at Loyola Marymount University in California in solidarity with campus workers who are picketing for better pay and health care. She immediately set off a domino effect that would eventually see every other Democratic presidential candidate who qualified for the debate make the same pledge. Unite Here Local 11 -- a union that represents 150 cooks, dishwashers, cashiers, and servers on LMU's campus who are employed by the food services company Sodexo -- plans to picket at the debate next Thursday to express their disapproval of Sodexo's handling of negotiations with the union. 'Honestly, the proposals are relatively modest ― living wage, improvements on health care,' Susan Minato, co-president of Unite Here Local 11, told HuffPost. 'So we did not anticipate that there would be ... difficulty over it. But we were wrong. They abruptly canceled negotiations.'"
Beyond the Beltway
California. Dale Kasler of the Sacramento Bee: "In a stunning rebuke to PG&E Corp., Gov. Gavin Newsom late Friday rejected the utility's plan to pay Northern California wildfire victims and exit bankruptcy. In a letter to PG&E Chief Executive Bill Johnson, the governor declared that the company's proposal doesn't go far enough to make it 'positioned to provide safe, reliable and affordable service.'"
** Georgia. Excellent Voter Suppression Method: Shutter the Polling Places. Mark Niesse & Nick Thieme of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: "Amid widespread voter distrust of government oversight of elections and questions about ballot access, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution conducted a unique statistical analysis to learn how precinct closures and distance to the polls impact voting. The AJC mapped Georgia's 7 million registered voters and compared how distance to their local precincts increased or decreased from 2012 to 2018. During that time, county election officials shut down 8% of Georgia's polling places and relocated nearly 40% of the state's precincts. The AJC's analysis ... showed a clear link between turnout and reduced voting access. The farther voters live from their precincts, the less likely they are to cast a ballot. Precinct closures and longer distances likely prevented an estimated 54,000 to 85,000 voters from casting ballots on Election Day last year.... And the impact was greater on black voters than white ones, the AJC found."
Kentucky. Ben Tobin of the Louisville Courier Journal: "Kentucky Senate President Robert Stivers [R] is calling on the U.S. Attorney's Office to investigate the pardons issued by former Gov. Matt Bevin. The Courier Journal first reported Wednesday that Bevin issued hundreds of pardons during his last days in office. Those pardoned included a man who was convicted of raping a 9-year-old in Kenton County and other convicted killers. 'From what we know of former Governor Bevin's extreme pardons and commutations, the Senate Republican Majority condemns his actions as a travesty and perversion of justice,' Stivers said.... Stivers' statement came hours after two Democratic legislators, Senate Democratic Floor Leader Morgan McGarvey and state Rep. Chris Harris called on Attorney General-elect Daniel Cameron to appoint an independent special prosecutor to investigate potential criminal wrongdoing involving Bevin's pardon of Patrick Brian Baker." ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Also too, I'd like to know if Bevin showed his peculiar "mercy" to any criminals of color. The mugshots I've seen of his lucky pardon recipients are of white people.
Wisconsin. Bruce Vielmetti & Patrick Marley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: "An Ozaukee County judge on Friday ordered the state to remove hundreds of thousands of people from Wisconsin's voter rolls because they may have moved. The case is being closely watched because of the state's critical role in next year's presidential race. Circuit Judge Paul Malloy also denied the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin's petition to intervene. Lawyers for the League and for the Wisconsin Elections Commission indicated they will appeal and asked Malloy to stay his ruling pending those appeals, but he declined. At issue is a letter the state Elections Commission sent in October to about 234,000 voters who it believes may have moved. The letter asked the voters to update their voter registrations if they had moved or alert election officials if they were still at their same address. The commission planned to remove the letter's recipients from the voter rolls in 2021 if it hadn't heard from them. But Malloy's decision would kick them off the rolls much sooner, and well before the 2020 presidential election."
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Reader Comments (10)
Seems everywhere I read/hear pundits are saying that the UK election should make Democrats think twice before uniting behind one of the radical left. I think they are reading too much into it. I might agree with their conclusion but not because of the British election. Boris is just another liar and Corbyn is not a Democrat. But more importantly, Corbyn's personal popularity was a negative 61% and labour's platform was pure never never land. Compare that to Trump's negative 53%. Isit any wonder he lost?
I think the recent Canadian election is more relevent after all surely your next door neighbour is more like you, even if we can't understand you, than an insular people on a tiny island far far away. In this years Canadian election over 63% of the votes went to left wing parties even though our Right is not nearly as rabid as yours nor is it as unCanadian as the Republicans are unAmerican.
Masha Gessen (12/12) in The New Yorker on Tump's anti-Semitism EO:
"The new executive order will not protect anyone against anti-Semitism, and it’s not intended to. Its sole aim is to quash the defense—and even the discussion—of Palestinian rights. Its victim will be free speech."
https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/the-real-purpose-of-trumps-executive-order-on-anti-semitism
I recently read a long excerpt from Roberto Saviano's book on the Mafia (in translation from the Italian). He begins with the misconception many people have about the mafia–-that it's first and foremost about violence, hit men, threats, extortion, etc. But, he tells us, before all else, the mafia is language and symbols. He reminds us of the scene in the "The Godfather" when Vito Corleone extends his hand to Bonasera, who has come to ask him a "favor" and who reverently kisses the boss's hand to ingratiate himself. The word "favor" that was used by Trump is a reverse here but we are playing in the same ball park. Here is a segment from the piece that stood out for me in relation to our present Don and I keep remembering what Michael Cohen said about Trump––he talks in code–-and you know exactly what he means.
"To understand what a mafia boss says, outsiders must do more than listen to his words: they must decipher them, decode them, and the keys to their possession are often not enough to make the meaning clear. This obscurity is one of the mafia's great strengths and has made it ultramodern."
And yesterday that busy boy–-Fatty's fatuous "man on a mission" returns from Ukraine with mountains of salacious info that will curl your hair. Will we be entertained once again by a Rudy roundup served with jelly doughnuts and warm milk? Someday soon those adorable dimples are going to disappear along with any good reputation he has managed to hang on to––orange is not his color but he may have no choice.
Jimmy Breslin once said of Giuliani: "He's a small man in search of a balcony."
@Cowichan
Good to hear from my neighbor to the north, doubly so because what you had to say is more positive about our prospects than much of what I have been reading and thinking about it for the last few weeks. I needed the uplift.
What depresses me about our grim situation here across the border is the forty percent of Americans and the 100 percent of Republican leadership that continues to support the Pretender and endorse all he does.
It depresses me because, awful as it is, I don't know what to do about it and I don't know what to do about it because I don't understand it. When I look at Republicans I feel what Europeans must have felt six hundred years or so ago when they looked at a map of the world, to them mostly terra incognita at the time, a darkness surrounded by the warning words, "Here Be There Dragons."
I really don't know what the Trumpbots want, and when I do get an occasional glimmering, it generally suggests something I don't want (like living in a racist, oligarchic, ignorant society) and can't understand why anyone in his right mind (ah, there's perhaps the rub) would.
So, thanks for the more positive view. Keep well my friend to the north.
@Ken Winkes: The Trumpistas do not have access to the same information you and I hear & read. Isaac Stanley-Becker has a piece in today's WashPo about the "pro-Trump Web" and the "information" that makes it into that neck of the Web bears no relation to reality. The same is true of Congressional Republicans. Remember when Kevin McCarthy revealed in a "60 Minutes" interview that he had no idea Trump said, "I'd like you to do us a favor, though"? It's because what McCarthy hears & reads never mentions the evidence against Trump.
And it's clear Congressional Republicans will not listen even when someone spoonfeeds them facts. Democrats on the Judiciary Committee begged Republican members to listen to the evidence against Trump. At one point, Eric Swalwell (and I think others may have done the same at other times) asked Republicans on the panel to raise their hands if they would ask a foreign country to help them with their re-elections. None of the Republicans responded. They won't say they would do it, but they won't admit Trump did.
There have been right-wing publications nearly as long as there have been printing presses, but right-wing lies first came to the unwashed masses -- who don't read much (and wouldn't watch something as egg-heady as "Firing Line") -- when Fox "News" opened up shop. I think Fox "News," more than any other factor, has created the "two Americas" paradigm. But the problem is top-down, too. Antonin Scalia said he never read the NYT & WashPo but preferred to get his news from publications like the Washington Examiner.
Like you, I don't see where there's anything we can do about it. Some hope education is the answer. True, some high-school teachers may try to teach their students how to read critically, but what a kid hears in a couple of hours of classroom study isn't much of a defense against Hannity & Carlson's nightly barrages. You and I don't have much trouble thinking through what Chris Hayes & Rachel Maddow might say & finding fault when we think it's appropriate, but I don't think Foxbots know how to do that.
It's certainly true that Trump and his daily barrage of lies have exacerbated the problem, but I still see him as a malign symptom of the larger problem, not something that can fix itself if he chokes on a Big Mac tonight. The right-wing cult is huge, and it's not exclusively a Trump cult. But like all cults, it relies on "beliefs" more than "facts," and it treats "inconvenient facts" as "lies."
The one time that everyone would have been happy if Melania plagiarized Michelle Obama she does not take it.
".@GretaThunberg, don’t let anyone dim your light. Like the girls I’ve met in Vietnam and all over the world, you have so much to offer us all. Ignore the doubters and know that millions of people are cheering you on," Michelle Obama
@PD Pepe: Thanx for the Breslin line! A perfect description of Giuliani.
https://www.politico.com/news/2019/12/14/jeff-van-drew-change-parties-085036
Don't know anything about this guy, but since I see he's already deeply underwater with democrats in his home district, he seems like someone who ran as a round earther but has acted as if the earth is flat, and the tension between his behavior and the his label has become too great to allow him to continue the charade.
I guess Lindsey Graham is going to be a no show for the Senate "trial". He openly dismissed the idea of having to be a "fair juror", says his mind is made up, and doesn't see the need for the trial.
No, John Roberts is just going to swear them in with "Do you solemnly swear to ignore the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth so help you Trump"