Impeach Trump Y/N

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?

speaking as a former US Senator, i can say with confidence that it is pretty easy to assign some go-getter underling to pay attention to the whole "the president is an active crook" thing and have them brief you on the most important items every few weeks

frankly, at this point i am very impressed whenever one of the house reps or senators displays any sort of knowledge for any of the issues on hand, on anything. i assume that they are constantly synthesizing information from briefings from all their staff, who are the people who actually know things. in general, the politician's job (imo) is to try not to be a tremendous dick, to listen to subject matter experts, to select qualified people to serve as subject matter experts/staff, and offer some version of a coherent viewpoint when chuck fucking todd's chipmunk face looks in your direction

Really, though, what incentive would they even have had to engage to that extent, assuming the party line (explicitly-stated or no) has long been that this would be a show trial with no action on the part of the senate?

It may be interesting to see if the trial moves the needle at all with any of their constituents and that winds up prompting them to take things a little more seriously. Although the trial will likely be too short and their constituents too unfocused for any potential threat to their reelection to develop in time.

xpost

Come ON, folks; they are allowed to go to the bathroom.

Presumably where "go to the bathroom" means an hour of playing Angry Birds, an hour being interviewed by Fox, and an hour of drunkenly groping a dewy intern or two.

Leave us be charitable and assume that they're just locked in a protracted battle with their rapidly-aging bowels.

and that at the time the reporter did the headcount, 21 republicans were battling their decrepit bowels while only 2 democrats were.

Per CNN, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) spent more time out of his seat than in it Wednesday night. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) also left for stretches, while Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) could be seen using his iPhone in the Democratic cloakroom (electronics are banned from the chamber during the trial).

Meanwhile, some of those who may have the most to lose by being sequestered stayed securely in place for the duration on Wednesday. According to CNN, Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), both running for President, stayed in the chamber for the entirety of the proceedings. They were reportedly joined by Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Susan Collins (R-ME), two of the most scrutinized lawmakers due to their past willingness to vote with Democrats.

...Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) told CNN that senators are struggling to understand why they have to sit there in the first place, accusing Democrats of presenting the “same arguments over and over and over again.”

Really, though, what incentive would they even have had to engage to that extent, assuming the party line (explicitly-stated or no) has long been that this would be a show trial with no action on the part of the senate?

maybe I'm being naïve here but I think this is something that really *has* changed in the Trump era, 10 years ago they'd at least pretend to care

senators are struggling to understand why they have to sit there in the first place

Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) conclusively demonstrates that he is unfit to sit on any jury anywhere for any purpose. But I bet he could wax on at length about the need for naturalized US citizens to demonstrate a deep knowledge of and commitment to their civic duty.

accusing Democrats of presenting the “same arguments over and over and over again.”

unlike the president, who famously referred to his phone call as perfect only once, suggested that we read the transcript only once.

his impressive restraint in suggesting that we "lock her up" *precisely once* was and is a model of statesmanlike oratorical concision

remember that time he talked about building a wall?

I don't think that was widely publicized

Addressing Trump’s assertion that a president must violate a statute to be impeached, Nadler played a clip of Graham from when he was a House manager in the Clinton impeachment.

“What’s a high crime?” Graham said. “How about if an important person hurts somebody of low means? It’s not very scholarly. But I think it’s the truth. I think that’s what they meant by high crime. It doesn’t even have to be a crime. It’s just when you start using your office and you’re acting in a way that hurts people. You’ve committed a high crime.”

Graham had exited the chamber by the time the clip of his remarks was being played.

lindsey sure does have to use the restroom a lot, weird

Santorum is a harsh mistress.

the “same arguments over and over and over again.”

about toilets and dishwashers

i love that schiff is literally reading the transcript, as the entire trumposphere has been begging for months, and annotating it with his thoughts

schiff doing a fantastic job

it's his "Have You No Sense of Decency?" argument

Schiff's exceeded my expectations.

that was very academy award-nominated last 10 minutes of the legal drama monologue, i loved it

That was powerful. If that’s all we’re gonna get out of this, the effort was worthwhile.

After Wednesday’s presentation, Sen. Lindsey Graham—one of Trump’s fiercest advocates in the Senate and a House manager in the last impeachment trial, of Bill Clinton—went up to Schiff to applaud him for a job well done. “He’s well spoken, he did a good job of creating a tapestry, taking bits and pieces of evidence and emails and giving a rhetorical flourish, making an email come alive, sometimes effectively, sometimes a little over the top,” Graham told reporters on Thursday morning. “But quite frankly I think they did a good job of taking bits and pieces of the evidence and creating a quilt out of it.”

Nice compliment there from Sen. Graham. But he'll still vote the party line to stonewall, cover up, and acquit. I ardently hope that all these yahoos will pay a heavy price at their next election, however unlikely that outcome may seem atm.

DC’s WTOP coverage sure wants to try and make this seem like it COULD GO EITHER WAY

10 or 11 plane crashes and maybe

at the last minute Ronald Reagan's ghost arrives in the Senate chamber and moans, "Who the hell is Donald Trump?"

i have news via talking points memo!
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/report-trump-recorded-telling-parnas-and-fruman-to-take-her-out-about-yovanovitch

President Trump was recorded telling two buddies of Rudy Giuliani’s that he wanted Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch fired in April 2018, ABC reports.

“Take her out!” Trump reportedly said on the recording to Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, after being told that the career foreign service officer was “badmouthing” him in Kyiv.

Fruman reportedly made the recording, which occurred at a small April 30, 2018 dinner at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C.

Todd Blanche, an attorney for Fruman, did not immediately return a request for comment.

“Get rid of her!” a voice that appears to be Trump’s reportedly said on the recording. “Get her out tomorrow. I don’t care. Get her out tomorrow. Take her out. Okay? Do it.”

Parnas reportedly told Trump on the recording that “the biggest problem there, I think where we need to start is we gotta get rid of the ambassador. She’s still left over from the Clinton administration.”

“She’s basically walking around telling everybody ‘Wait, he’s gonna get impeached, just wait,” Parnas reportedly added.

but don't worry, there's an explanation

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) dismissed the recording as a reflection of how New Yorkers talk. “Totally different style,” Sen. Johnson said.

thought he didn't know Parnas

a reflection of how New Yorkers talk

I don't see Trump saying "standing on line" there

Ron Johnson (R-WI) is an expert on the nyc dialect, though

fuhgeddaboutit

I say don't you know
You say you don't know
I say, take her out!

eyyyyy, i'm presidentin heah

*opens the white house window to address loud press corps*

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!"

*slams window shut*

TS: "locker room talk" vs "new york talk"

"Get her out tomorrow. I don’t care. Get her out tomorrow. Take her out. Okay? Do it.”

(sound of stuck window being yanked open)

"Hey! Hey asshole! I'm trying to sleep up here!"

"Why don't you shut the fuck up!?"

(another window opens)

"What the fuck is going on down there?"

"None of your fucking business!"

"What was that?"

"I said, none of your fucking business!"

"What ... well, I ..."

"Did you just tell my wife 'none of your fucking business'?!"

"Yeah, I did! Why don't you fuck off, too!"

"Fuck you, I'm coming down there right now to kick your ass.!

"I'll be waiting here, asshole. I'll be here."

"Don't go anywhere, you asshole!"

(window slams shut, someone rumbles down the stairs and exits into the dimly lit alley.)

"What the ... Donald Trump?!"

(Trump takes the phone from his ear)

"Now what the fuck are you going to do, huh? You come at me, you gotta go through my security goons. They're gonna ... hey, where did they go?"

"I guess they don't like you either, asshole."

(Sound of Trump getting his ass kicked)
(Window opens again)

"I said knock it the fuck off! I've gotta get to work at 4am tomorrow. I'm gonna call the cops, so help me ... Wait, are you kicking Donald Trump's ass?"

"Yeah, asshole had it coming."

"Oh. Well, wrap it up in a couple of minutes, I've got to get some rest."

"No problem! We cool?"

"Yeah, we cool. Just keep it down, ok?"

Ron Johnson (R-WI) adopting his brothers-in-GOP's 'steamed ham!'-level rhetorical calisthenics in proud service of a man who, under the right circumstances and with little provocation, would also absolutely call for Ron Johnson (R-WI) to be gotten rid of.

under the right circumstances

Like if he even knew who he was.

would like to hear the audio on these tapes.

and actually, if the audio DOESN'T leak soon, doesn't that make the GOP even LESS willing to vote to consider new evidence? if the broader public hasn't had a chance to hear trump's voice saying and doing the exact things he says he never has, then republicans certainly won't want to consider new evidence because that would mean exposing the audio.

in other words, leak that shit, Fruman legal team

Don't know about the audio, but the video just leaked:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UceGF3M56bE

This sounds to me like an open goal for any top Trump advisors who want to get rid of a rival, just tell Trump they heard that rival "bad-mouthing" him. Stephen Miller has probably used this gambit about a dozen times already.

women are too emotional to be leaders

In much the same way that it's those on the left who are brittle, mewling snowflakes.

I say don't you know
You say you don't know
I say, take her out!

I started reading this in a Foghorn Leghorn voice. Now I want to hear a Foghorn Leghorn remix of 'Take Me Out'.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CVxmffCWoAA1kda?format=jpg&name=360x360

Jake Tapper: You think Trump is actually concerned about corruption?

GOP Sen. James Lankford: Yes, I do.

Tapper: Can you provide me any examples of Trump expressing concern about corruption?

Lankford: You're trying to put me on the spot! pic.twitter.com/Z0EXj3KB1y

— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) January 24, 2020

Was a time when you could make a baseless, truth-perverting assertion without some wiseacre challenging that God-given right. Truly, a fallen world.