Impeach Trump Y/N

schiff getting into an interesting discussion of what will face swing state republicans who vote for impeachment. nothing new, but rarely publicly acknowledged. he's doing this in the service of an argument amount moral courage.

anyway, in the midst of this i realized how badly Amy Klobuchar wants to stand up and tell everyone that what the people really want to hear about is how are you going to unite this country and how are you going to defeat donald trump, well you could do worse than supporting a candidate who has never lost, Amy Klobuchar

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/01/impeachment-senators-drinking-milk.html

It's so unfair that the networks stuck Trump with this shitty time slot. His show would be doing much better if it was on on Thursday nights — everybody knows that's when you get the really big ratings.

After having been treated unbelievably unfairly in the House, and then having to endure hour after hour of lies, fraud & deception by Shifty Schiff, Cryin’ Chuck Schumer & their crew, looks like my lawyers will be forced to start on Saturday, which is called Death Valley in T.V.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 24, 2020

fuck him and his fucking TV dots

Saturday night took out both Twin Peaks and Freaks & Geeks, he knows what happens to cult-things in that time slot.

but the Golden Girls thrived!

cult status xp

Would you like some cheese with that whine, there, President Fusspot? Jesus.

It's a wonder that he doesn't regularly lapse into wracking sobs. BUT MOOOOM IT'S NOT FAAAAIIIIR!!!!

Would he rather have this on prime time where everyone would see it?

Yes, for the defense portion.

trump defense starting in on the key question: proving that lots of people were and are concerned about corruption in ukraine

didn't think about that. kind of blows up the entire case against trump

The defense seems extremely weak, but I'm biased. Would be interested to know if this is convincing anyone.

they just finished for the day, after 1 hour. guessing they'd rather save their important arguments for the primetime goldmine of MTW, noon-8pm

Maybe they have a lot more to discuss Monday, but today seemed extremely thin.

the thing is, though - did you know that LOTS of people are concerned about corruption in ukraine? not just trump?

and all those documents the various agents didn't release to the house investigative committees because the white house wouldn't let them, and the people that won't testify in court because the white house wouldn't let them...

did you know the only reason the white house wouldn't let them is because the requests for documents were made before the house officially voted for the impeachment inquiry? that's the only reason.

*points to television screen at 11am on a saturday*

you are very relaxed. your tension and stress is gathering into one sphere, shrinking, and flying out of the top of your head. you can hear it receding now. it is in the hallway. your stress has put a coat on and stepped outside. you can hear the stressball rolling down the sidewalk, and now it is completely gone. listen to the lack of stress. you believe everything i say. the president is actually very concerned about corruption in many countries. he has done nothing wrong. it is normal to withhold aid in a secretive process that your own team is confused about, using rudy giuliani and some guys from a company called Fraud Guarantee as the point people for a shadow diplomacy campaign over the course of several months. tide is the best laundry detergent. it gets your clothes cleaner, faster than the alternatives. your mother used tide. your children will use tide. now i want you to concentrate on the tips of your eyelashes. feel your energy in the thinnest of hairs, now spreading to the bottom and top lids and down the ridges of your nose, dripping down into your mouth and flowing through your body's network. understanding is washing over you and altering your dna. when you wake up, turn on the television and find a middle aged white man who yells. this man is your new teacher. live in love, love to live.

Trump, who recently tweeted that bribery should be legal, is very concerned with corruption. Makes you think.

iirc they can't bank hours today by pushing things into Wed. of next week. I *think* the rules stipulate x hours over three days, which means they have to finish by Tues.

more likely they are lazy and want to go home and have no case in the first place

Someone noted that this opening presentation by the defense only seems to further underscore the need for more witnesses.

along those lines:

Sen. Joe Manchin told me Trump’s team did a “good job” and are “making me think about things.” He added: “One thing that stuck in my mind is they said there isn’t a witness they have had so far that had direct contact with the president. I’d love to hear from Mulvaney and Bolton”

— Manu Raju (@mkraju) January 25, 2020

(wow manchin is a despicable shit!)

Seems like he's walking the line between paying lip service to both sides while leaning on the need for witnesses

Nah he's just really dumb and spineless

rumblings this morning that he will split his votes on the two counts

BIPARTISAN TOTAL EXONERATION

lonely senator thinking baout things

This is one thing where it's fine for Manchin to be chickenshit for "electability" since there's zero chance of conviction anyway.

we have to let manchin take this unethical vote so that we can get him re-elected so that he'll be there as a democrat for important votes, such as, i don't know, an impeachment hearing

manchin is like a permanent IOU - he's definitely going to pay out at the end!

Doug Jones, theoretically even more vulnerable, just made a definitive request for witnesses based on the WH defense.

man, fuck manchin. he's not up for re-election 'til 2024. grow some cojones.

Lede on NPR news: "Senate Republicans impressed with opening argument of Trump defense team." Your public radio donations at work!

(I realize M L Kelly did well, but otoh they give the likes of Jonah Goldberg regular slots)

for sure, NPR is a continual let down of "evenhanded" coverage these days, it's almost a performance piece

the trump/fruman/parmas "get rid of her" tape is now public

whereas the "grab her pussy" tape has been public for over three years now.

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/emmaloop/trump-tape-yovanovitch-take-her-out-parnas-fruman-giuliani

trying to stay positive about things, where i can, so i'll note that this is very good timing. this is directly relevant to the impeachment proceedings, it is now public, and to not admit it as evidence in the "trial" is indefensible. yes, i know most of the GOP will vote to keep it out of the trial anyway. but it makes that decision more painful for them, at worst, and there's a chance that it could split off a few GOP votes for admitting evidence/witnesses

it's also kind of fascinating to have an hour long recording of trump candidly sharing his views with crooks, in a Nixon tapes kind of way

lots of golf talk, how surprising

these nimrods guffawing at every shit-for-brains utterance

It’s also mildly instructive that Parnas apparently is not bright enough to voice-record, so just used his camera app to make a video, with the phone face down on the table

Not that it makes a difference at all but I think it’s Fruman

well i'll tell you what, the next media session with the press secretary is going to be pretty intense, i don't...oh wait

^Jan 2021

xp more astounding yet that whoever is in charge of such things is perfectly cool w ppl having phones in the room at all much less on the table

when Rudy Giuliani is your cybersecurity czar

Republican Sen. Mike Braun said he hopes the impeachment process will “be instructive” for President Donald Trump’s conduct if he’s acquittedhttps://t.co/KJds56rkoe

— POLITICO (@politico) January 26, 2020

*bloodcurdling scream*

it will instruct him for damn sure, that the worst a Republic Senator will ever do is frown at him briefly, no matter who he shoots on Fifth Avenue.

Trump Tied Ukraine Aid to Inquiries He Sought, Bolton Book Says

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/26/us/politics/trump-bolton-book-ukraine.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage

trump never even met bolton. i mean, maybe at a fundraiser or something, but