Impeach Trump Y/N

Committing flagrant crimes and getting caught is his only weakness.

xpost Does give him a leg up, that's fore sure.

lol @ McConnell fucking up his vote count

CNBC:

Senate Democrats won two key changes to the rules of President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial as proceedings kicked off Tuesday afternoon.

The changes will permit each sides’ opening arguments to span three days, instead of two, and will also admit materials into evidence from the House investigation into Trump last fall.

You're welcome

xp did he fuck it up? the key vote he's talking about is the one, after opening arguments, to admit additional new evidence/witnesses. last i heard (a few hours ago) he said he had 53 votes against, which would protect his evil plan

It is critical at this time of national crisis that we do our utmost to maintain the fiction that the Senate is the greatest deliberative body in the world.

Incitatus

zoe lofgren is a very good reader, she should do voiceovers for tedious educational films about how government works

at this time of national crisis

border caravan? Iran imminent threat? shortage of chicken sandwiches?

the legislative branch forfeiting its power of oversight over the chief executive

Was the length of time given to previous impeachments precisely limited to the time it's registered as having taken or would it have been more open ended if it had taken longer? I'd just be thinking that things take as long as they take so this is an artificial deadline.
& just totally the anathema of justice anyway. I half listened to the Trump defense team lie with every breath a couple oof hours ago.
& seems like taht is a standard that the GOP are determined to keep up.
What is a trial without the relevant evidence? A complete sham which is presumably what McConnell wants anyway.
I think your senate may be a bit broken and need this to go right as a first step towards repair.
Wasn't going to watch any of that debate cos I knew it was just going to be utterly shat on. Then did catch Schiff and the lady following.
BUt what use is coherent dialogue if it's just something to poop on from one side of the aisle.

If/when Trump loses the election, he's not going anywhere, and his supporters are not going anywhere.

His supporters will largely dissipate as they are dedicated to him, not to the separate ideological aims of the Republican Party. It would take another colossal, famous asshole & huckster to fill that void, and there is no famous asshole as colossal as him alive.

He can keep holding rallies, but the media will have less impetus to cover them, and his brain is melting too fast for him to keep the con up once the authority of the office is gone. A fat old man sweating and shouting about how very unfair everyone has been to him, while being unable to stand or walk unsupported, has less inherent entertainment value or worth as an avatar for the audience's own aspirations, once that man is not ostensibly powerful. (Being out of office might reveal his bankruptcy too, as his lendors have no further advantage to be gained from their leverage.)


As much as Obama winning, twice, turned out to be a shortsighted victory as well.

Obama had the near-unprecedented chance to effect material change to benefit the American people in his first year, and chose to bail out the banks instead. It was clear not much was going to happen in the following seven.

He had the near-unprecedented chance to transform ponies into unicorns when he had a filibuster-proof Senate from July-August 2009 and again from September to, I think, January.

meanwhile lol:

Flake says argument that president ‘did no wrong’ pains him

xp Perfectly accurate, until you recall that his filibuster-proof Senate was filled with US Senators.

yes that's true

every non-Republican Senator stood ready to do the President's bidding, especially Joe Lieberman

Dems needed an ideological purge like the de facto one the Repugs have had

but now is a good time too

to the Blue Dog constituents: "We don't want your votes, hillbillies"

July-August 2009 and again from September to, I think, January

The perfect time!

(My thesis incorporates the idea that the populace would have been exceptionally receptive to being sold transformative policy [possibly quickly, possibly over months and years] at that point. The opportunity existed for leadership to pitch and campaign on long-term changes, but instead they rushed to slap one rubber cement patch on a leaking dinghy, and assure the people that they ought to go back to not thinking about anything, especially not how much their boat had sunk already.)

I think Hakeem Jefferies is speaking now? not bad as these things go

Is there a reason why this isn’t blanketing every network?

NBC is showing something called “Ellen’s Game of Games”

The networks don't have to show this and they are afraid of both bad ratings and politically-motivated reprisals from the FCC.

Dems needed an ideological purge like the de facto one the Repugs have had

Exactly. I told my Mom, who is mostly liberal/left, but keeps asking who is going to pay for everything, that I want the left version of Steve King. Like mandatory abortions for everyone. Then maybe we can talk about compromise.

Had this on for a good part of the day while puttering around the house, running errands, napping, cooking, etc. I only paid attention for maybe an hour. So I was encouraged a little while ago to hear Carl Bernstein call it a "devastating" day for Trump, but, at the same time, keep waiting for one of those old-guard media guys to start down that road and stop himself cold: "It was a deva--ah, fuck, what difference does it make?"

Does the NYT stylebook just have an entire chapter on synonyms for both-sidesing now? pic.twitter.com/VQTog1ZBNF

— Jonathan Myerson Katz (@KatzOnEarth) January 22, 2020

oh the acrimony

I humbly submit that the honorable gentleman from the great state of Kentucky is, and ever has been, both a scoundrel and a popinjay. Nay, a scallywag!

a pettifogger!

why would any value be assigned to Carl Bernstein in 2020?

Roberts now needs to recuse himself from the upcoming Supreme Court states rights case arguing the legality of pettifogging in Florida. Good job, John.

Roberts looks like suddenly aged 135 years in the last 24 hours.

If only Scorsese had his technology

i had this terrible sinking feeling, as i watched the proceedings last night at midnight (central time): "i'm going to end up listening to almost all of this, aren't i?"

on the plus side i've been doing some painting recently and impeachment proceedings make for very nice listening imo

In 1987 I had a job removing rotting insulation from an old house; it was the summer of Iran-Contra.

To this day if I chance to listen to political-procedural news, I associate it with the smell of fiberglass and mold.

I missed it but did they vote on witnesses yet? Did Collins vote for if so? I’m assuming not since I’ve seen nothing

I want to watch, and tried, but don't have the stomach for it

No witnesses until they get through the main part of the trial, at which point they'll vote on it again. All votes for witnesses so far have failed.

What would even be the point of calling witnesses in the trial of someone who is innocent and has nothing to hide? Surely those witnesses would rather be fishing or reading a good book, why bother them and waste everyone's time with a bunch of repetitive exonerating testimony.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell thanked Chief Justice Roberts for his “patience” as the first day of the trial stretched past 12 hours. “It comes with the job,” Roberts responded. There was some applause for the chief justice in the chamber.

PFFFFFFFFFFFFFT

from what i witnessed yesterday, roberts' duties as the presiding justice in this case are 1) be the timekeeper. periodically announce how much time each side has remaining.

that's it.

oh yeah, i forgot, 2) lend the facade of dignity and formality to the complete bullshit taking place directly in front of him

3) to go to sleep and never wake up, while Alito, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh and Thomas simultaneously do the same

He did get snippy late last night!

Someone undercook his Moons over my Hammy?

what a fucking prick, all of them

Not a way to talk about Denny's employees

Trump said he would prefer to have Bolton and others testify but then added, “The problem with John is that it’s a national security problem. ... He knows some of my thoughts. He knows what I think about leaders. What happens if he reveals what I think about a certain leader and it’s not very positive and I have to deal on behalf of the country?”

damn imagine if some leaders knew what he thought about them

And vice versa.