US Politics, November 2019: These people are truly sick.

this is otm:

Michael D. ShearCongressional Correspondent

One thing that has struck me during each of the sessions by the Republican lawyer – it’s just unclear what the strategy is to the questioning. What is the goal? What narrative are they trying to tell? The Democrats are much more focused, and you can see the story they want to assemble.

12:01 PM ET

"everyone's hair was on fire"!=December Title

I was just thinking that they have given him nothing to work with so he's just trying to stay afloat. (the GOP lawyer).

Castor was very desperately begging him to say this was all speculation and Sondland didn't bite.

MAJOR BREAKING NEWS: Mike Pompeo Planning to Resign https://t.co/UJ6W7buKwD

— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) November 20, 2019

i think the GOP strat at this point is tread water while everyone in the back room determines wtf is going to happen now. no direction at the moment.
xp welp there's a strat

the take i've seen (from renato mariotti i think) is that the kitchen-sink GOP line of questioning reflects a lack of a case for them to make. as a fallback they're just throwing stuff at the wall in hopes of creating a general cloud of confusion and suspicion so that those not paying close enough attention will get, vaguely, the sense that the impeachment case is shaky or fishy in some nonspecific way.

ya that's pretty obv to me a non lawyer

i wish i was watching this at the bar and not peeking at twitter at my office.

I was just reading what the deal is with Steve Castor and based upon his past he seems like he would've been a better questioner than what has been shown here. Cuz he kind of sucks.

i’m just like gop need to step their game up, but who’s left
https://youtu.be/JNMQqh1ovlM

the GOP doesn't have a case, and the best lemonade they can make out of this lemon is shoring up their primary voters' sense that their representatives are tough on the Democrats. making soundbites for Fox and for people who are already immersed in obscure conspiracy theories and GOP talking point gibberish is a good way to do this.

xxp he's working with what he's got

you can tell he's kind of hating this

RE: Pompeo resigning (and Seth Abramson), that's not breaking news from this morning. that's a story by Time, published yesterday, saying that Pompeo is planning to resign sometime this year in order to run for congress again.

If it were announced right now, in the middle of the Sondland's testimony, that would be more pants shitting news.

Abramson bad

jesus anyone hear trump screaming under the helicopter? what the fuck is wrong with his voice?

planning to resign sometime this year

sorry, i mean planning to resign some time in the next year, before the 2020 election

a five year old trying to be pretend president

Via @jcartillier pic.twitter.com/UoDEq9Jylj

— Carl Quintanilla (@carlquintanilla) November 20, 2019

that article on pompeo says he was planning on leaving in spring but it sounds like they think it will be faster.

yeah something tells me he might want to speed it along now

I WANT NOTHING
I WANT NOTHING
I WANT NO QUID PRO QUO

^^and that's yr december thread title imo^^

Is that a Ramones song?

Mission of Burma iirc

We here all knew Trump had committed serious crimes meriting removal from office long before today. The real question now is how these hearings and the testimony given before the cameras affects public opinion in the coming days and weeks. The Mueller report cited facts just as damning, but the public shrugged it off.

This Ukraine narrative seems to have had far more impact, with recent polls showing just slightly more than 50% favoring Trump's removal from office, even before today. If that jumps up to 60% in short order, the monolithic Republican Senate caucus is going to crumble and senators will each be searching for the correct formula they think will save their asses with the voters in their own state.

There is reason to hope.

i want hot dog

https://i.imgur.com/PgzHENX.jpg

xpost Eh, skeptical. A major implosion still hasn't happened from within WH circles itself. After that things would get odd.

THIS IS THE FINAL WORD FROM THE PRES OF THE U.S.

more bad news for trump
http://i.imgur.com/EjvtlF5.png

i'm skeptical that this changes the calculus for most GOP senators at all. what's Trump's approval rate among Republicans going to fall to? 82%? he's the best thing they've got. maybe the best thing they've ever had? which, lol.

From our own jaymc

Found a reference to Gordon Sondland in a self-published 2006 memoir by a friend of his mom. She calls him "Gordi" and says "he is a very big man now." https://t.co/wuKQexznqH pic.twitter.com/alGVxNvADU

— John M. Cunningham (@jmcunning) November 20, 2019

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EJ1RHXzWsAA3cW-?format=jpg&name=large

*record scratch*

yup, that's me

inconceivable!

Isn’t he incriminating himself basically?

it bears repeating that before any republican senator can worry about getting reelected, they have to worry about getting through their primaries. a "no" impeachment vote possibly turning some of their general-election voters against them is a hypothetical, and less and less worrisome the redder your state is. a "yes" impeachment vote turning the overwhelming majority of their primary voters against them is an absolute certainty no matter how red your state is.

other than collins, murkowski, and romney I still can't imagine any republicans voting to remove now.

Wow, Ken Starr making a strong case for obstruction and contempt of Congress charges on Fox right now. Cites Nixon. Says he's changed his mind on these proceedings. "It's over. There will be articles on impeachment."

— Tom Watson (@tomwatson) November 20, 2019

lol, great photo

There are plenty of Republican senators from places like Wyoming who don't need any votes from non-Republicans to win elections, But there are enough of them who need 'independent' voters that the caucus won't hold firm and the messaging will start to diverge, doubts will be admitted, some shock will be expressed, a sub-group will confess themselves "deeply troubled" and make public appeals to Trump to honor the subpoenas, etc. These would be the visible preludes to vote-switching.

^ All this being conditioned on a further notable swing in public opinion toward removal.

He ain't getting removed by the Senate.

But this might now start impacting more than just the Presidential election and start hurting the Senate races.

this doesn't change the Senate calculus for GOP Senators at all. As noted, they can't get re-elected without the base. The only ones in danger have already been noted, and there aren't enough of them to make any difference during a Senate trial. The only thing that will move the needle in the Senate GOP caucus is if the GOP base turns against Trump like they did with Dubya, and there are no indications that that is likely to happen.

xps

other than collins, murkowski, and romney I still can't imagine any republicans voting to remove now

agreed and Collins is such a troll now i could almost see her saying fuck it let's be legends.

anyway, Ben Sasse should be spat on in public for the rest of his life.

I imagine the only fallback from this point is that god wanted Trump to ratfuck Biden to save America from abortion and gays

He speaks!

I came into this at Volker’s request. Sondland is speculating based on VERY little contact. I never met him and had very few calls with him, mostly with Volker.

Volker testified I answered their questions and described them as my opinions, NOT demands. I.E., no quid pro quo!

— Rudy Giuliani (@RudyGiuliani) November 20, 2019

In response:

If Rudy's focus on Burisma, 2016 was just opinion, why the hold on the aid, why couldn't Pompeo, Bolton, and Esper get it lifted, ignore his requests? https://t.co/CyEUTlyyTJ

— Mieke Eoyang (@MiekeEoyang) November 20, 2019

Ah for fun

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will be making a statement to the press at State Department at 2:20 pm/ET so stay tuned...

— Amee Vanderpool (@girlsreallyrule) November 20, 2019

Probably be something like "Oh morale's great here."

anyway, Ben Sasse should be spat on in public for the rest of his life.

this cannot be repeated enough times

what this will do is drive outrage against the GOP in general when he gets acquitted in the Senate - the election will be a referendum on the party, and that's good for the Democrats, who are likely to have a weak candidate that doesn't poll that great nationally imo.

what's Trump's approval rate among Republicans going to fall to? 82%?

if that happens the GOP will get completely wiped out in 2020

dunno why anyone cares what Ken Starr thinks, the Dems probably had the articles drafted and the votes to impeach him weeks ago tbrr

xps

I think it's unlikely that the Democrats will have a candidate who polls poorly nationally given they have at least 4 potentials who are polling pretty well when considered independently rather than in comparison to each other

It's cos Ken Starr himself was calling this a bullshit nothingburger and now even he is like..."well, fuck"

Jiggly Panda for Prez