“It’s a little too quiet” - US Politics February 2021

"You have to look at what he did during the insurrection to confirm where his mind was at," Herrera Beutler, one of 10 House Republicans who voted last month to impeach Trump, told CNN. "That line right there demonstrates to me that either he didn't care, which is impeachable, because you cannot allow an attack on your soil, or he wanted it to happen and was OK with it, which makes me so angry."
"We should never stand for that, for any reason, under any party flag," she added, voicing her extreme frustration: "I'm trying really hard not to say the F-word."

there are already media sites running the "people laugh at Van Der Veen" news as a short article, which is sure to please a President who doesn't like when his representatives are openly mocked

https://www.mediaite.com/news/watch-senate-chamber-openly-laughs-at-trump-defense-lawyer-van-der-veen-call-for-depositions-in-his-philadelphia-office/

Perhaps he shouldn't have secured representation from Clownshows & Fuckstick LLP

Maybe they were the only ones willing to work Pro Bonehead.

Half expected him to follow up "I didn't laugh at you" with "I'm just as God made me, sir."

lol

All kinds of history being made here, I guess

Lol Henry

“The world is laughing at us”

equal rights for the braindead . is this lawyer geezer going to have a future?

So @SenatorCardin just told @burgessev that he thinks the trial will pause fo TWO weeks as they come to an agreement on a narrow set of witnesses. Then go through depositions and/or subpoenas.

— Paul Kane (@pkcapitol) February 13, 2021

dems capitulate on witnesses

What the fuck is wrong with them? Republicans are on their heels, why would you fucking give up like this

schumer out

this is awful. they don't understand what is at stake at all.

Why do I carry water for these cowards. Jesus Christ they’re so fucking complicit

what is the thought process here? "get it over with so we can move on and heal as a country"?

The entire Republican Party was in a blind panic for an hour and Democrats’ first instinct was to be like “jk! we would never hurt you.”

— Brian Beutler (@brianbeutler) February 13, 2021

Total asymmetric warfare: Republicans abuse power & make no apologies while Dems refuse to use power they have

— Ari Berman (@AriBerman) February 13, 2021

Fuck these people

"oh shucks, they won't convict anyway, it's hopeless just hopeless"

completely allowing this to be done on republicans' terms

I feel like I must be missing something here. They couldn’t call witnesses in the first one because they didn’t have the senate, I get that, but now they do and they just won’t? Did they learn a fucking thing from Benghazi?

Pathetic

maggie haberman, on the lil livestream thing on the times homepage, said that the dems probably want to avoid the fallout of "trump acquitted" headlines. the idea is that if this is drawn out more, the exonerating headlines would have a bigger impact.

are they really this fucking stupid?

like, who cares if people think democrats are "dividing the country"? the republicans don't care if people think this about them! they're protecting the guy who whipped up a deadly mob in order to overthrow the election.

how's staffing the capitol going to go now. I thought all of the non political staff had asked for t to be impeached heavily.
Would be so funny if everybody just walked out cos they didn't feel safe in the building anymore.

I actually don't understand what's happening.

maybe behind the scenes chuck cut a deal with mitch for some bullshit that mitch will pull back on anyway

Yeah somethings going on, why would they hold a vote to call witnesses, win the vote and then not do it? Like it can’t just be them not wanting to do their jobs. What are the Dems saying right now?

maggie haberman... said that the dems probably want to avoid the fallout...

look at your own description here. this is maggie haberman speculating, not quoting sources or reporting facts. you should instead ask, "is she really this fucking stupid?"

Yeah somethings going on, why would they hold a vote to call witnesses, win the vote and then not do it? Like it can’t just be them not wanting to do their jobs. What are the Dems saying right now?

― frogbs, Saturday, February 13, 2021

Sure, but before I get outraged, I'm confused about what I'm supposed to be outraged about. He was always gonna get acquitted, and the witnesses weren't changing the math. A majority will vote to convict but not the 67. Were we hoping the trial would go after today?

*would go on

i was gonna say maybe one of the witnesses would have a bombshell to drop but yr right, GOP senators are gonna keep ranks closed and trump voters would never hear about it, or they'd hear the usual spin and continue farting themselves to death

I think it's time to move on. Remember that we still have a full legislative agenda to also get disappointed and mad about. Let's wrap this thing up.

— Osita Nwanevu (@OsitaNwanevu) February 13, 2021

as for whether it is a good idea to extend the number of hours and days trial continues, there is the competing interest of giving the senate time to consider bills and to approve nominations filling important positions in an administration that is facing an enormous national crisis. the number of people out there whose minds would change if given more information is close to nil, while the number of people getting closer to personal catastrophe every day is in the tens of millions. I don't see them being grateful to the Democrats for putting more effort into exposing Trump's crimes than they already have.

i strenuously disagree with the "who cares about witnesses; GOP won't vote to acquit anyway" angle

so why impeach at all? could it be that there's more to it than convicting or acquitting?

they caved to shit like this:

This is what Democrats just caved to -- fake outrage and empty bullying like this from @joniernst (also note that press accounts continue to report on these claims as if they're sincerely held beliefs):https://t.co/UsA6T6J2B2 pic.twitter.com/nA1L9WQ1Or

— Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) February 13, 2021

btw, Lee has interrupted the proceedings for his own bullshit AGAIN, just now

Either Trump's incitement of a riot was a serious thing or it wasn't. If it was a serious thing, then you marshal all the evidence to convict. If it wasn't serious then you shouldn't have impeached. The worst outcome is a half-assed impeachment.

— Jeet Heer (@HeerJeet) February 13, 2021

jeet otm. karl otm. me otm.

this was always about more than just convincing republicans to convict. otherwise it was pointless.

also it's COMPLETE bullshit that cruz, graham, and who knows how many others have just been allowed to meet and advise trump's defense team, in the middle of the "trial". there have been multiple accounts of this, photos - they just don't care. it's shameless.

https://i.imgur.com/GoBaJRJ.png

btw, even the B- rated WashPost online news team (or whatever the fuck this is) referred to it as "the democrats' frankly _astounding_ decision" to not call witnesses, especially after winning over some republicans for the cause

bullshit

the only thing they're hearing from democrats right now that "they want to move on", "don't want to gum up the works for biden's insurance", "doesn't make sense to drag it out"

I don't like Schumer and was wondering what alternatives there were a while back. Guess they're stuck with him now

AOC will defeat Schumer in 2022

fuck all of them

stevo he has to run for senate again in 2022, and no matter how much he pretends to have progressive values, he's going to get ass kicked if AOC primaries him, which she should

There has to be more to it than this. Democrats have signaled that they’re perfectly fine with encroaching fascism in this country. They’re gonna get their asses kicked in 2022.

Well done dipshits

According to a source close to Trump legal team, the former president is pleased there won’t be witnesses at the trial.
The source added that the legal team views the democrats‘ decision to not call witnesses as a clear victory.

— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) February 13, 2021

why make a push for witnesses this morning, at all? why do that, only to turn around and not do it? that, by itself, is tactically idiotic and indicative of weakness and lack of resolve

Even if we somehow maintain a plurality of congressional seats in 2022, I look forward to dems conceding a number of the elections when republicans make mean noises about doing bad things if they don't get their way.

What's even the point of pushing back against terrible people if you're just gonna fold like a rickety lawn chair facing a stiff breeze, fuck everything.