Impeach Trump Y/N

i'm embarrassed that i was fooled by mcconnell's recent statement that the senate would have "no choice" but to take up impeachment hearings if the house votes to impeach.

WASHINGTON — Senator Mitch McConnell’s comment this week that the Senate would be forced to “take up” articles of impeachment from the House had the capital in a swirl, bracing for a full-blown Senate trial of President Trump. But as things now stand, any trial would likely be swift, ending in dismissal of the accusations.

While the focus was on the statement by Mr. McConnell, the majority leader, that the Senate would have “no choice” but to begin an impeachment proceeding, it was his next line that might have been more telling: “How long you are on it is a whole different matter.”

The fusty rules of the Senate make clear that Republicans could not unilaterally stonewall articles of impeachment of Mr. Trump as they did the Supreme Court nomination of Merrick B. Garland. But Mr. McConnell’s declaration suggests the Republican-controlled Senate could move expeditiously to toss them out if Republicans conclude the House impeachment is meritless, or a strictly partisan affair.

“I don’t think they could just duck it,” said Donald A. Ritchie, historian emeritus of the Senate. “It is a constitutional responsibility. When you look at the weight of history, I think they would feel they have to do something. They would have to decide how abbreviated they wanted to make it.”

these slimy bastards

From what I heard the Senate could hold a vote on whether to take the House indictment to trial, that this would be a 51-vote to win vote, and that in case there was a tie Pence would not be able to break it--CJ Roberts would decided whether the trial went forward.

I kinda don't see how that helps them or hurts us (at least in terms of November 2020), but okay.

Voting to quash the trial rather than voting to acquit Trump is probably a safer bet for GOP Senators

i think for the republicans it's the better of two bad options, politically speaking. they can either hold a weeks/months-long trial with the entire administration's crimes in the spotlight only to cravenly vote not guilty in the end, or they can cut the whole thing short and pretend it's not a problem. they can't vote "guilty" because trump is their party, now. better for them to head to 2020 elections with impeachment in the rear window and bullshit attack ads talking about the failed coup against trump, which will rile up a portion of their base, then to let dozens of republican administration stooges take the stand and embarrass themselves for weeks on end.

really, the only loser here is democracy, integrity, truth, bullshit things like that

maybe the democrats can convince clint eastwood to lecture an empty chair, standing in as trump and his associates, in lieu of a trial

trump said the s word

"sorry"?

snakes

bot will change to sharks

I see that he's calling it a coup now. Cool.

If for no other reason, we need to impeach the lobotomized six-year-old for repeatedly shouting 'FIRE!' in a goddamn crowded theater.

high pranks and misty diapers

bullsharks on the way

Confirmed: A source familiar tells me the State Department IG briefing on the Hill is about retaliation against State Department officials who are trying to cooperate with House Democrats.

— Yamiche Alcindor (@Yamiche) October 2, 2019

as in, the IG is reporting on incidents of retaliation, or threats of retaliation against State employees from higher-ups at the dept? or as in "we're gonna retaliate like hell against anyone who opens their mouth?" haven't seen any clarification on that

he's the IG, so the former. unless the IG has gone rogue, which i would normally think is impossible, but in this dimension

LOOK AT THIS PHOTOGRAPH! pic.twitter.com/QQYTqG4KTt

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 2, 2019

holy shit

An aside: In the past two weeks, the future historical appraisal of Trump's presidency moved from 3rd worst to 2nd worst. It's going to take his own civil war before he dislodges Buchanan for the top spot.

I'm hoping its just a few nutters with ARs, and Trump-related domestic casualties will remain in 3-digit territory. I'm fearing worse.

Anyway, the sort of premonitions that have cost me sleepless nights finally leaked into the mainstream media with Thomas B. Edsall's Will Trump Ever Leave the White House? on the NYT editorial page.

never would have taken donnie for a nickelback fan

Trump sounded a lot like Jack Lemmon in The Out of Towners today, brandishing his list of people he plans to sue.

Xxpost do we have to see a OMG WILL TRUMP LEAVE IF HE LOSES hot take every month. Who enjoys being fearful of this shit daily when there's no possible way we can know until it happens

Solid gold comment Clementine - ‘Serpentine! Serpentine!’

Clemenza, I mean

Thanks, but I think you're mixing up The Out of Towners with The In-Laws.

Trump calling himself a "stable genius" (so we don't get him confused with the Delmore Schwartzes and Syd Barrets of the world) counts as the Maximum Possible Error, like when Sports Illustrated picked the '87 Indians to win the World Series and they finished with the worst record in baseball.

And weird is still possible: a tweet with "BULLSHIT" in all caps, but censoring himself on "blank-strap."

Like William Styron, Trump often fears he will meet the same fate as Delmore Schwartz.

He thinks about Delmore all the time.0

Wait i was thinking of randall jarrell

Oof. And i thought trump was the illiterate one.

Somehow it really bothers me he didn’t shake the Finnish president’s hand - oh, I guess about the same as when he crossed the NK DMZ - this dude is nutso.

Is he still doing the excessive handshake thing he was getting notice for a couple of years ago or are people avoiding it.

no, now he's patting thighs

sorry for that post, struggling to comprehend all of it

Like William Styron, Trump often fears he will meet the same fate as Delmore Schwartz.

― treeship.

to have a velvet underground song dedicated to him? i think he's out of the woods on that one

I think schwarz essentially drank himself to death in the chelsea hotel. I had confused him with jarrell, who purposefully walked into traffic, and who william styron talks about in his book about depression.

Anyway, trump will resign for the good of the country and then devote the rest of his life to making amends, voluteering his time and fortune to a good cause.

Like the Grinch, he’ll die a beloved figure and no one will even remember he tried to steal Christmas.

I think schwarz essentially drank himself to death in the chelsea hotel. I had confused him with jarrell, who purposefully walked into traffic, and who william styron talks about in his book about depression.

― treeship.

can't imagine the poet who wrote "the death of the ball turret gunner" could possibly have any mental health issues

about the IG briefing this afternoon:

The State Department Inspector General briefed congressional staff and a member of Congress Wednesday on a mysterious packet of Ukraine-related “disinformation,” according to a member of Congress, that had landed on the watchdog’s desk.

House Rep Jamie Raskin (D-MD) told reporters that Inspector General Steve Linick did not discuss alleged retaliation against State Department employees for cooperating with Congress, as some outlets had reported the meeting was expected to be about.

Rather Linick provided for the attendees the unclassified packet, which the official said was provided to him by the State Department’s legal counsel after if started circulating around the Department in May, according to Raskin.

The packet appeared to have White House calligraphy and was addressed to Secretary Pompeo.

apparently there's good reason to believe the bogus package of disinformation is the product of one rudy giuliani, and that pompeo played an active role in circulating it around state:

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/the-rudy-dossier

isn't there any hero

feels like there should be at least one person with a conscience in all of this

As a befuddled bystander, the heroism I consider somewhat noteworthy are those elements of the media who are able to maintain some objectivity while sticking to the pertinent facts of the matter. I maintain that Twitter in particular really has been a big fucking mistake, at least in its current guise. No props to FB or any of the other social media culprits either.

I'm a leftist somewhere near the Bernie camp and personally I've lately been convinced that despite my reservations of the political effectiveness of impeachment that it is now a historical necessity, if only to put this shit on the record. The phone call was where have him really crossing the line, and without this unironically brave hero of a whistleblower it too could have easily blown over like every other ill wind in this shitstorm.

In what should have been the least surprising development ever, the New York Times twisted a story about Schiff following procedure into something weird, and gave the right the ammunition they needed. Great job all around.

Campos has some good ideas about how to read the numbers: http://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2019/10/poll-finds-nearly-two-thirds-of-americans-dont-oppose-removing-trump-via-impeachment-and-conviction

Just to be clear, Trump is currently, this morning, calling on foreign leaders to investigate Biden in the midst of an impeachment proceeding about whether he has encouraged foreign leaders to investigate Biden

— Sam Stein (@samstein) October 3, 2019

it's kind of classic trump: just do the thing, openly, that everyone is saying is wrong and illegal, while making the argument that it's fine (and later, that everyone else lied)

every now and then I step back and think: This is exactly the kind of shit we expected when Trump got elected. In fact, it's not even as bad as what we expected.

He's just forcing Republicans to support these things, and they will, gladly.

very trump 2019 video clips:

President Trump says he wants both Ukraine and China to investigate Joe Biden and his son https://t.co/61W3znhPM1 pic.twitter.com/dhC0tXKhww

— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) October 3, 2019

2/3 of the screen is given over to debunking the thing that he's screaming about, once again, over the deafening roar of helicopter blades

the aesthetic of this presidency is fucking disgusting

At least it turned out that he's too craven to actually declare war on anyone.

xpost

i know he's a teetotaler, but is he in the "god, someone please punch me *sobs* just punch me in the fucking face and in the niiiight *barf*" part of the blackout drunk night?