Impeach Trump Y/N

He did get snippy late last night!

that word always makes me think of the story where Dubya fumes on the phone when Gore withdraws his concession on Election Night 2000, and Gore said "You don't have to get snippy about it."

i have to say, i am enjoying this part here - the 3 days straight of the house managers presenting the case without being interrupted. especially with the senators being forced to attend, with no phones or talking out loud. don't get me wrong, i understand that it won't affect the republicans' votes. but this is almost certainly the first time that any of them have been forced to sit and listen to exactly how fucking wrong they all are, at length, indisputably, since they were children (if that).

if nothing else, when future generations rightly wonder how in the fuck this all happened and why a whole party could unanimously side with a corrupt villain rather than bear the indignity of having to retire or getting voted out of office, we can always remember this glorious moment of republicans being forced to stfu and listen for 3 days straight, and that the correct decision was abundantly clear, not obfuscated whatsoever

that is pretty much the only value unless any citizens who are hearing/watching wake up

Schiff was terrific yesterday, and even Nadler looked for once out for blood

nah, there's more value than that. even if/when the impeachment vote fails, it's still important to at least try to hold corrupt people accountable. when we stop doing that, even, we forfeit our right to complain (a right i very much intend to hold onto). also, it would be very hard to explain to people in the future why he wasn't impeached. "but we knew republicans wouldn't vote to impeach him! so it wasn't worth trying!!" would not be a winner. much better to do the right thing, let the republicans do the wrong thing, and make as many people as possible understand that in November and beyond.

^otm

and Den senatorial candidates can use excerpts in campaign ads

perhaps. i may have a lower opinion of its effect on the Unwashed.

In an incredible exchange at Davos, @realdonaldtrump admits he is comfortable with the status of the impeachment trial because the White House is withholding evidence. "Honestly, we have all the material. They don't have the material." As always, he says the quiet part out loud. pic.twitter.com/Gk3h1QZyAi

— Justin Hendrix (@justinhendrix) January 22, 2020

Schiff is presenting such a complex, yet coherent, timeline (to me) of all of the behind the scenes emails and conversations that it’s hard to imagine anyone not following the trail or agreeing with it. But you still have his base focused solely on that one ‘perfect’ phone call.

And the fact that it’s Shifty Schiff.

Schiff has been amazing in his ability to speak with logic at length on all of this. I'm really impressed

Pierce agrees:

Schiff led off the House managers’ 24 hours of presenting their case, and he came up with a bravura two-hour recitation of the facts that connected one dot to another. Schiff has a remarkable facility to organize and present a chain of events logically and with perfect clarity. He mixed in video clips drawn from various sources during the past eight months. He had particular fun with White House Chief-of-Staff Mick Mulvaney’s blundering press conference in which Mulvaney pretty much admitted that the Ukraine aid was indeed a quid pro quo, and in which Mulvaney argued that this kind of thing happened all the time, advising the rest of the country to "get over it."

Every time Trump or some toady repeats ‘read the transcript’ I want to scream. It’s a chain of events, not one fucking phone call.

Meanwhile, over at Fox News, “Restless lawmakers struggle to sit through Schiff’s opening argument.”

the republicans are heroes, for having to sit through it! sit with strength, gentleman! sit with righteous contempt!!!

^^ favorite Bowie lyric

just for one day!

Karl speaks wisdom as always.

Don't spin the witness thing as "oh darn we wanted witnesses, too bad we were outvoted." Spin it as "what is the administration afraid of?"

Don't spin the inevitable party-line vote as "oh well, at least we tried." Spin it as "Republicans never even pretended to take this seriously, let's punish them in November."

Underscore that every procedural blocking tactic that McConnell uses adds more evidence for the "obstruction" charge. Ensuring a complicit and compliant gop Senate caucus was and is a part of the obstruction tactic.

When any right-winger says anything about a lack of evidence, point out BOTH how much evidence already exists AND that there would be a lot more if not for the WH stonewalling - what are they trying to hide, anyways? If everything was perfect then why won't the WH provide the documents and witnesses that would corroborate that narrative?

Etc

once the Grifter is sent back to Florida, Schiff can resume his previous identity as Mr Military Boondoggle Voter.

Futility is the first refuge of straight white guys, I always say.

apparently someone tweeted 150x on his flight back from Davos

I heard @realDonaldTrump would like to attend the impeachment trial. Mr. President, would love to have you as my guest during this partisan charade. pic.twitter.com/GhTZ9Ez4U4

— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) January 22, 2020

i bet that ticket comes with a promise ring

uh Judge Napolitano otm

Foregone conclusion or not, I've seen a couple of congress people on twitter, Chris Murphy in the Senate and Justin Amash of the House, strongly imply that several Senators may have never seen or heard much of the evidence or testimony being presented before. I don't know how that's possible unless they've been ignoring the news for months, for plausible deniability, but regardless, folks like Schiff could potentially be making an impact.

and they won't hear it if they keep getting to pee or say sup to Laura Ingraham on camera.

if for no other reason to than to sustain the illusion of SC impartiality and its role in all this I really wish Roberts would admonish these shits to remain seated and pay attention, that it's their job

"upon pain of imprisonment" lol what weak sauce all around

apparently the ratings are good, to put this on a trumpian level

the NYT ran a story yesterday in which the jus' folks interviewed knew exactly what the House charged the president with.

An under-appreciated aspect of this clusterf*ck is John Roberts solidifying his status as the blander and smarmier version of Melville Fuller https://t.co/Mf5EHgQI4o

— Kevin Gannon (@TheTattooedProf) January 23, 2020

The Melville Fuller!?

better mustache than Roberts imo

hadda look him up; pro-trust tool of a CJ

dignity, always dignity

ignoring the news for months

I am mildly conflicted because for normal citizens this may be a good sanity move, for a senator it smacks of dereliction tho

The senators are sworn into silence yet they're all on teevee.

Such schmucks.

Dereliction? In our senators?

help them out by muting them

’21 Empty Seats’: More Than One-Third of GOP Senators Reportedly Left Room During Schiff’s Speech

why isn't the sergeant-at-arms cuffing those dopes? still on Zoloft?

There are less than 10 Republican Senators that may possibly be swayed on basic rules questions about witnesses and evidence, and probably far fewer on actual removal. Not sure that the fuss over a bunch of Senators who clearly don't give a crap makes sense.

21 Senators flouting the rules, which forbid them leaving the room or talking, with penalties up to imprisonment (lols yea right). it's a giant "fuck you" to Schiff and the trial and basically saying "this is a sham trial, we don't have to obey the rules".

your Law and Order party, folks. Dems need to use this in their campaigns as well. keep pointing out how often the Law and Order party flouts the law as it doesn't apply to them.

21 Senators: A GOP-centric 21 Pilots tribute band.

"Heathens' would make sense

The fact that a lot of these Senators are being exposed to the House's case for the first time is the more wtf aspect of this for me.

tbh i've yet to come to terms with the fact that Donald fucking Trump is the president of these united states

Would be curious to know what % of those 21 senators are staunch pro-lifers who have at some point coerced someone they impregnated into getting an abortion.

would safely put the over/under at 75%

the Senators walking out is infuriating, I thought this was the party of LAW AND ORDER & DO YOUR JOB

The fact that a lot of these Senators are being exposed to the House's case for the first time is the more wtf aspect of this for me.

All members of Congress have only so many hours in a day and must prioritize very strictly. For example dialing for dollars takes up 2-4 hours a day. Then there are the delegations of business owners to meet, lobbyists to strategize with, staff meetings, publicity-seeking events, and numberless cocktail parties to attend. Who has time for reading transcripts or understanding the details of the president's venal political maneuvers?