US Politics April 2019 Thread: 'I find that pretty hard to believe'

Alfred, I think that's in response to this tweet (already posted)

“Based on what we have seen to date, going forward on impeachment is not worthwhile at this point. Very frankly, there is an election in 18 months and the American people will make a judgement,” House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer told @DanaBashCNN .

— Manu Raju (@mkraju) April 18, 2019

Tom also pointed out that "there is an election in 18 months" is an argument for congresspeople to do nothing for 3/4 of their terms.

it brings me no pleasure to report this, but the mueller report has two spaces after every period

— gamer wife (@bijanstephen) April 18, 2019

NPR also talked to some republican woman who worked with or for Clarence Thomas and she said flat out that Congress had enough to start Articles of Impeachment. Missed who she was though.

yeah seems like the american people made a bad judgment in electing you to be every vigilant in your fucking job, Steny xxp

Two spaces after every period is THE WAY IT SHOULD FUCKING BE

More enraging to me was when they gave airtime to the RNC spokeswoman to engage in blanket denials and whataboutism.

i really wish news outlets would stop doing interviews with people who are paid to spin things. it has nothing to do with "balance" or the representation of both sides. it's literally inviting someone on to manipulate the audience

so this is the start of the purge right? like, we can all just do criminal shit

Two spaces after every period is THE WAY IT SHOULD FUCKING BE

otm

brb, gonna go annex my neighbor's apartment.

so this is the start of the purge right? like, we can all just do criminal shit

the answer is yes, you can do criminal shit and get away with it, but the key is that you have to be rich, and you have to do the criminal shit out in the open so the entire world can see it, over and over. that way you can say you weren't hiding anything

i get to make an ebook out of the report so i'll report back on the quality of the prose next week alfred

unfortunately, i'm probably redacing the double spaces

Barr: yes, my client did murder his wife, but in his defense, he was very frustrated with her at the time

so this is the start of the purge right? like, we can all just do criminal shit

its always been this way

"the law" is just whatever benefits/exonerates Republicans the most, you just work backwards from there

If they started impeachment proceedings *today* it would at best barely be close to done by the time of the Nov. 2020 election; Clinton took a year and a couple of months to resolve, I think. Even then, with a divided gov and a senate in no way inclined to do shit, it wouldn't amount to anything more than a symbolic victory; voting him out of office would achieve more with less bullshit. Of course, if the opposition et al. are seriously making an argument that it would be somehow *easier* to impeach than get him voted out in 1.5 years, well, then maybe they all deserve 4 more years of this asshole. But it's not. They should just keep up the pressure, keep up the investigations, support voter registration, drives and turnout, and, if the Mueller report proves anything, in the meantime Trump will repeatedly fuck shit up for himself on his own, possibly making a 2020 loss easier to achieve.

I feel like I am getting away with a crime when I do one space after a period. It's a thrill.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGOtZDk6wRc

Meanwhile on America: The Series, a woman named Ginger White is threatening to describe Herman Cain’s penis unless he withdraws his bid to oversee the country's central bank. https://t.co/7L44q6i6ES

— Paul McLeod (@pdmcleod) April 18, 2019

ma'am this is actually called "modern day presidential"

the very concept of the full stop is counter-revolutionary

Damn. Even Chuck Fucking Todd led his show a few seconds ago with, "Trump tried to obstruct the investigation"

so far i've only read about things i already knew but when they're just stated all orderly and suchlike, it's existentially deflating to think (which seems realistic) the report can't make a dent in republican official or popular support

pic.twitter.com/YBFvIIehUv

— MichaelCoffee (@MichaelTCoffee) April 18, 2019

Hoyer can eat shit

JiC, you have amazing confidence in the Dems to not fuck up another election (the elite are going to do their Smear Bernie thing by summer)

Oh, I totally think they're going to fuck it up!

But if there's ever been a bigger fuck up than the Dems it's Trump.

I appreciate Morbs' reveling in the thought of bad news.

(plus the GOP to steal another) xp

bad news is all I get, public and personal

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/6/66/Don%27t_Stop_Believin%27.jpg/220px-Don%27t_Stop_Believin%27.jpg

I suppose it's possible to masturbate to bad news.

so this is the start of the purge right? like, we can all just do criminal shit

― maura, Thursday, April 18, 2019 3:47 PM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

worth repeating so

You can only do criminal shit if it's in the service of securing a status that will shield you from the consequences of the criminal shit you did.

Future generations are going to wonder how people were ever this fucking stupid.

when you're a star you can do anything iirc

The media touting Trump as a winner of today's news is such a profoundly bad take.

What did he win? If you ignore nuance, at best he got the same news that he got a month ago. At worst, he had anecdotes of his neuroses, incompetence, and disregard for rule of law confirmed. Many of which that he previously dismissed as "fake news".

The idea that he wins presupposes he gets anything out of this other than "not being indicted", which we all knew before the day began. His approval ratings got no positive bump from the Barr report, and while some opined this was due to people waiting for the Mueller report's release, that's horseshit.

The type of idiots that are malleable in one of those polls are the types that see the original lede and never dig further. And if any of those folks were holding out for more information and actually cared enough to read or read about Mueller's report, what in it is going to endear them more to Trump?

"Investigate the investigators" is dead in the water, meanwhile House investigations continue, and Barr is now getting clowned in the media.

Like this wasn't a salvo for anti-Trumpers but Trump didn't "win" shit. He'll get zero material gains from this other than not bunking in a Club Fed hotel.

I seldom watch Chris Mathews but I caught the end of his shoe and I agree with his closing statement . It may not be good politics to go after impeachment but after winning the house it’s their duty to do something rather than just let shit slide.

Otm

NYT homepage is pretty full of "Trump damning" angles

Future generations are going to wonder how people were ever this fucking stupid.

only while baking to death in Waterworld etc

No better time to wonder about the cognitive shortcomings of one's forebears imo.

Wait not only is Trump not in jail, there are four bears roaming around?

https://cdn3.vectorstock.com/i/1000x1000/12/42/funny-russian-bear-in-cap-with-earflaps-plays-vector-20081242.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0n8GZfQrAmA

Worth noting that Dem Majority Leader Steny Hoyer still holds his congressional seat in part because he had his allies in the legislature racially gerrymander it to keep whites in the majority instead of giving Maryland a third predominantly black district https://t.co/nBqaDKSJ3V https://t.co/VIWNS0uCau

— Stephen Wolf (@PoliticsWolf) April 18, 2019

Rudy blowin' all the gaskets on CNN rn.

granted I haven't really 'watched' news and listen to NPR but my cursory web checks (which did not include fox news) seem to be pretty forthright about 'this does not exonerate Trump and his claim that it does is not true" but everyone who watches and listens to normal news already knows this.

NPR has had loads of ridiculous coverage on this, particularly who they choose to interview, like multiple republican strategists. It’s been uneven

if they didn't have sycophantic shits on, they'd fear for their funding

NPR has had loads of ridiculous coverage on this, particularly who they choose to interview, like multiple republican strategists. It’s been uneven

Senior House Dem aide tells me the messaging from Dems is that Mueller needs to come to the Hill and that full documents are needed. Hoyer ruling out impeachment was "clearly off message."

— Sam Stein (@samstein) April 18, 2019

NPR: "what do you think the reaction will be to the report?"
INTERVIEWEE: "i think everyone is exhausted, frankly, i think on both sides of the aisle everyone is ready to move on. yes, there are things in the report that are mildly embarrassing for the president, but it is also a complete and total exoneration, no collusion, with liberty and justice for all, the nation is ready to move on."
NPR: "mmhmm, yes, interesting! but what about those mild embarrassments, which we won't ever ask you to be specific about during this interview, so really just deliver your message, take as much time as necessary, i'm just going to step out for a moment, keep this going until i get back"
INTERVIEWEE: "both sides of the aisle are ready to move on-
*12 more minutes pass in this fashion*
NPR: "and that was a republican strategist that tried to brainwash you using our pocketwatch, next up on all things considered

hey, NRO's house intellectual is to the left of NPR:

I’ve finished reading the entire Mueller report, and I must confess that even as a longtime, quite open critic of Donald Trump, even I was surprised at the sheer scope, scale, and brazenness of the lies, falsehoods, and misdirections detailed by the Special Counsel’s Office. We’ve become accustomed to Trump making up his own facts on matters great and small, but to see the extent to which his virus infected his entire political operation is sobering. And the idea that anyone is treating this report as “win” for Trump, given the sheer extent of deceptions exposed (among other things), demonstrates that the bar for his conduct has sunk so low that anything other than outright criminality is too often brushed aside as relatively meaningless.