The September 2019 US Politics Thread is great Great GREAT GR8

“This wall can’t be climbed,” Trump says. pic.twitter.com/SFtkZbKvCG

— Jeff Mason (@jeffmason1) September 18, 2019

Trump’s fancy border fence. LMAO! pic.twitter.com/qdawK1oyKI

— Max Howroute▫️ (@howroute) September 19, 2019

I guess those Moscow Mitch cracks really got under his blobfishskin

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/in-turnaround-mcconnell-backs-250-million-in-election-security-funding/2019/09/19/b9f64462-daec-11e9-ac63-3016711543fe_story.html

It’s gonna be ICE at every polling station

Bikers For Trump probably.

Exclusive: A whistleblower complaint about President Trump’s communications with a foreign leader centers on Ukraine, according to two people familiar with the matter https://t.co/hJSuFKJCVO

— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) September 20, 2019

This thing https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-ukraine-joe-biden-military-aid-zelensky-kiev-a9111106.html

AP's @colvinj asked Pence a very pointed question on Sept 2, 2019 in Poland:

"Can you assure Ukraine that the hold-up of that money [U.S. security assistance] has absolutely nothing to do with efforts, including by Rudy Giuliani, to try to dig up dirt on the Biden family?"

— Ryan Goodman (@rgoodlaw) September 20, 2019

https://www.washingtonpost.com/resizer/QMzzv5HYwBPFpSbFam40KaGS92k=/1484x0/arc-anglerfish-washpost-prod-washpost.s3.amazonaws.com/public/ZGS6VHW3GEI6TLDDGALHCFKD7Y.jpg

Man, those LED lights make him look terrible.

So Rudy Giuliani went into full meltdown mode with Chris Cuomo on CNN, admitting to going to Ukraine for dirt on Biden.

WATCH: Rudy Giuliani denies that he asked Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden, before admitting to Chris Cuomo seconds later: "Of course I did!" pic.twitter.com/flcierpKGu

— Axios (@axios) September 20, 2019

Insane Rudy says he's being faced with a "ridiculous allegation" and then in the next breath says the allegation is true and he's proud of it. pic.twitter.com/TZ1u6aIzjZ

— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) September 20, 2019

Rudy asked whether Trump was involved in pressuring Ukraine to go after Joe Biden. It goes not well. pic.twitter.com/LBiOuECJ8B

— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) September 20, 2019

btw the whistleblower thing playing out looks ... bad? It's not salacious, it's not blue collar tax crimes, it seems like it's just outright high crime and misdemeanor to apparently promise a foreign power money in return for them aiding an investigation into a (civilian) political opponent.

xpost

Holy fuck Rudy

This looks bad but I have lost all perspective with this shit

This is obviously still true

Well, I'd like to see ol Donny Trump wriggle his way out of THIS jam!
*Trump wriggles his way out of the jam easily*
Ah! Well. Nevertheless,

— The Casino Man (@BronzeHammer) October 2, 2016

Yeah, it's hard to take the latest freak out seriously, but then I read commentators saying stuff like it's collusion but they got caught red-handed this time.

Nancy ain’t doing shit

Trump seems increasingly isolated

Like I know how bad this is but I assure you everyone is gonna forget in 2 weeks

so many questions have been raised tho

rick james: yeah i remember grinding my feet into eddie's couch

lol whoops I mean white collar tax crimes ...

xpost lol

lol more isolated! She has to be in on the joke at this point

Trump has grown more isolated without Madeleine Westerhout, his longserving assistant who was fired by Mulvaney. Some White House aides have privately faulted how Mulvaney handled the situation. https://t.co/oAOH2B6xg3

— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) September 20, 2019

She's clearly playing a drinking game.

I’m not going to believe the isolation thing until Trump records an album about building a wall or something

Talking Headcase, More Songs About Building Walls (No Bridges!)

Ah, Ukraine.

Famously associated with a hideous toxic catastrophe that poisons everything it touches, coupled with a clumsy coverup. The fallout will last for decades.

Oh, and also Chernobyl.

lol that giuliani interview is wild even by rudy's standards, holy shit

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Psl7ZVwiRl4

So Ukraine published their "readout" of the call between Trump and Zelensky back when it happened, and here's what it says (via Google Translate):

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky has a telephone conversation with the President of the United States of America Donald Trump. The President of the United States congratulated Ukraine on the successful conduct of free and democratic parliamentary elections and Vladimir Zelensky - with a sure victory for the Servant of the People's Party.

Donald Trump is convinced that the renewed Ukrainian authorities will be able to quickly improve Ukraine's image, complete investigations into corruption cases that have hampered Ukraine-US cooperation.

He also reaffirmed his continued support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine by the United States, and the willingness of the American side to comprehensively contribute to the implementation of a comprehensive reform program in our country.

Vladimir Zelensky thanked Donald Trump for his leadership of the United States in maintaining and increasing sanction pressure on Russia.

The presidents agreed to discuss substantially the practical issues of Ukrainian-American interaction during Vladimir Zelensky's visit to the United States.

link to original

'See, I never just did things just to do them. Come on, what am I gonna do? Just all of a sudden jump up and grind my feet on somebody's couch like it's something to do? Come on. I got a little more sense than that.

Yeah, I remember grinding my feet on Eddie's couch.'

Ah, Jimmy beat me to it. Apologies.

xp - see, trump? It’s beneficial to have a half-true, self-serving account of your calls with foreign leaders

He says “currently there is no open investigation” and that "Trump is now looking for kompromat to discredit his opponent Biden, to take revenge for his friend Paul Manafort, who is serving seven years in prison.” https://t.co/wGi7r6K62y

— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) September 20, 2019

getting the feeling Trump may have committed a major crime here

Nancy ain’t doing shit

meets Shakey's expectations

xpost It seems that Trump may have shot himself in the dick as far as getting an investigation of Biden's son

it is time for the nation's strong institutions to stand strong and re-institute for this nation a time of good standing and

nah, better to just delay the beginning of preparations to jumpstart the process of reinstating accountability, and put all of this in the hands of our very informed electorate in the 2020 election instead

If the president shoots himself in the dick, it's not a crime. In fact, it's encouraged.

he has every right to shoot himself in the dick

I can't blame Ukraine for being like "That's cool, Mr. President, but we don't want to piss off the guy who's going to replace you."

the president could stand in the middle of 5th avenue and shoot himself in the dick and not lose any voters Nancy Pelosi

"Is anyone dumb enough to think I would shoot myself in the dick? I would have someone else shoot me."

Q: "You want to address this whistle-blower story?"

President Trump: "It's ridiculous…It's just another political hack job…I don't know the identity of the whistle-blower. I just hear it's a partisan person." pic.twitter.com/6XAWA0001Z

— CSPAN (@cspan) September 20, 2019

handled it

NC Senate seat a possible Dem pickup?
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/462224-warning-signs-flash-for-tillis-in-north-carolina

From the Russia thread back in May:

Hunter Biden being hired to ‘work’ for Burisma was clearly an attempt to influence Joe - and reflects badly on all involved - but there is no indication that it worked. Biden sr pressured the Ukrainian government into sacking an anti-corruption prosecutor who had absolutely no interest in prosecuting anyone for corruption, least of all Burisma.

He might have a bit more luck with the other strand - potential election interference by the Ukrainian government / security services.

It doesn’t sound like Zelenskiy is going to meet Giuliani personally, though, and he seems smart enough to not want to bet the house on Trump getting re-elected,

The big prize would have been linking Biden Sr pressuring the government to sack an anti-corruption prosecutor to an investigation into the company Biden Jr worked for .

That didn’t pan out so it sounds like the best the Trump camp can do is wonder out loud whether Biden Jr filled in his tax returns correctly.

^sounds like a political hack job

Can’t be investigated for ‘corrupt deals in Ukraine’ if you turned up at the office too infrequently to do anything corrupt.

The Ukrainian official supppsedly quoted in the Daily Beast piece about being ready to investigate on request has clarified that he was just explaining the normal process for cross-border police investigations, though that should probably have been obvious.

NC Senate seat a possible Dem pickup?
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/462224-warning-signs-flash-for-tillis-in-north-carolina

― Οὖτις, Friday, September 20, 2019 12:16 PM (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

politics are incredibly corrupt down here, worse than elsewhere imo, so I'd expect Tillis to hold his seat no matter what else happens