Bloomberg Plays Turd In The Democratic Punch Bowl

Posted by Rude One

Former New York City mayor and billionaire prick Michael Bloomberg barely won his last election. In 2009, after he rammed through an exception to the city's term limit for mayors, he ran for a third term as a Republican and spent nearly $100 million on his reelection. While that's sofa cushion money for Bloomberg, it was unheard of in a local race, and he outspent his Democratic rival Bill Thompson 14 to 1. Yet, after supposedly having had two successful terms to run on, after dropping all that coin fluffing his own public image like an aging porn star injecting his dick for the third time in a day on the set, all Mayor Mike managed to get was 50.7% of the vote. Enough to win, sure, but Thompson still got over 46%.

The point here is that a hundred million bucks bought Bloomberg a just eked-through victory. There is certainly no guarantee that the $400 million and counting he's spending on the Democratic nomination will do more than give him a brief novelty surge that dies down as soon as everyone remembers "Oh, right, he's that prick."

And it's so easy to find Bloomberg being the goddamndest asshole all the time. Between the odious sustained assault on non-whites in New York City that was "Stop-and-Frisk" to his completely demeaning treatment of women in his circle, Bloomberg has left a trail of bullshit that's visible from miles away. Then there's the strongman tactics that he used as mayor to break up Occupy Wall Street, which involved a violent raid on the protesters camped out in Zuccotti Park in defiance of a court order. I was there in the aftermath, and I saw kids slammed to the ground by cops and listened as Wall Street fucks laughed about the arrested getting raped at Riker's Island. I'd bet anything they were Bloomberg voters. The thing about Bloomberg is that, until he apologized, he seemed to get off on this shit.

It's so simple to find a fucked-up quote from Bloomberg. Here he is in 2010 after then-Gov. David Paterson signed a law that prevented police departments from keeping the data they got from every single stop-and-frisk suspect, including those where nothing was found. Bloomberg scoffed, "And what's wrong with keeping the data? We have data on everything. You wait until we have facial recognition software, and somebody's going to have a record of every person that walks down by your house. You just point a camera at them, the software will do it. That's coming. I mean, these days of, we put license plates on your car. You can read those by computer now, and we know where you're driving." He wasn't wrong about the technology, but his enthusiasm sure makes it seem like he may misuse the larger data collection capabilities of, say, the NSA. Ask the Muslim community of New York how that surveillance ended up.

I'm attacking Bloomberg in a way that, frankly, I haven't attacked the other Democrats for the simple reason that Bloomberg isn't a Democrat. Unlike Bernie Sanders, most of Bloomberg's views throughout his career have never really lined up with the Democratic Party platform. He spoke at the 2016 Democratic National Convention, but, prior to that, he spoke at the 2004 Republican Convention, which was being held in New York City (with protests that were met with their own overzealous response from the NYPD).

Basically, until a couple of years ago, Mike Bloomberg is what we used to call a "moderate Republican," back when such political creatures existed in the wilds of the GOP. The best way to define "moderate" was someone who was conservative on financial shit but was sane on guns, gays, and abortion and understood that climate change is real. In other words, a Republican who believed in science and medicine. He should have run as a Republican and used his billions to force Trump into spending his war chest fending off a primary opponent. He might have actually been able to drag the GOP back to having a toe on the sane side of the line of demarcation between sanity and madness. And he would have significantly weakened Trump.

But, alas, instead, Bloomberg, with his authoritarian impulses and his record of racism, sexism, and violence, has decided to be the turd in the Democratic punch bowl, plopping into the election to ruin the thing for everyone who's been there. Already in second in national polling, with way too many people who should know better accepting his apology for Stop and Frisk, he has a real chance at the nomination. And way too many people are champing at the bit for the Democrats to have their own douchebag billionaire to face down the worse douchebag "billionaire" in the White House. Jesus, you know how fucked a nation that makes us?

To be fair, Bloomberg's website is filled with Democratic kibble in its section on his plans, so he's still better than Trump in the way that a rotting cheese sandwich is better than Trump, but it's still a rotting cheese sandwich. You'd rather toss it in the garbage than see it inaugurated. But if that's all we got...

I could see this going another way, too. That same national poll showed that Bernie Sanders has opened up a 12-point lead on second place, with 31% choosing him, his biggest margin yet. Faced with the possibility of Bloomberg, progressive Democrats and those who are just fuckin' skeeved out by Mayor Mike might be moving towards Sanders as a way of getting this goddamned thing over with before a just recently-converted former Republican buys the nomination.

Let's hope that Bloomberg is chewed up and spit out at the Democratic debate tomorrow night, making him spend his billions where he should if he's so goddamned concerned about 2020: on the Senate races.

And They're Off!

2,003 Former DOJ Employees Call On Barr To Resign After Intervening In Stone Case

(CNN) More than 2,003 former Justice Department officials who served in Republican as well as Democratic administrations posted a statement Sunday calling on Attorney General Bill Barr to resign.

"Mr. Barr's actions in doing the resident's personal bidding unfortunately speak louder than his words. Those actions, and the damage they have done to the Department of Justice's reputation for integrity and the rule of law, require Mr. Barr to resign. But because we have little expectation he will do so, it falls to the Department's career officials to take appropriate action to uphold their oaths of office and defend nonpartisan, apolitical justice," the officials wrote in a statement.

The rare statement from the officials -- mostly former career prosecutors, but also some former political appointees -- came in the wake of an extraordinary week at the Justice Department. In just one week, career prosecutors withdrew from a case after Barr overruled their sentencing recommendation, the attorney general pushed back against the resident in an unusual interview and separately ordered an examination of politically charged cases involving those close to resident Donald Trump.

The statement went on to say career attorneys should report any troubling actions they see to the department's Inspector General.

The Justice Department declined to comment when reached by CNN Sunday. Barr has so far not given any indication that he is considering stepping down from his current role.

Attorney general's actions spark outrage and unease among US prosecutors

The upheaval at the Justice Department began when all four federal prosecutors who took the case against Roger Stone to trial withdrew from the case Tuesday afternoon after Barr overruled their sentencing recommendation hours after the resident criticized it on Twitter.

Barr on Thursday claimed he couldn't do his job with Trump publicly commenting on sensitive investigations, but insisted the Justice Department had acted appropriately, and, without explanation, suggested prosecutors' recommended sentence for Stone was too harsh.

In an interview with ABC News, Barr defended the department's rank and file.

"I cannot do my job here at the department with a constant background commentary that undercuts me," the attorney general said.

In an unusual move on Sunday, Judge Amy Berman Jackson, who is overseeing Stone's case, called for a "scheduling" conference call with attorneys in the case on Tuesday, ahead of the sentencing hearing set for later this week, according to court documents.

The court did not provide additional details on what would be discussed on the call, and Jackson has not yet formally acknowledged the withdrawals.

Barr zags and prosecutors worry

It was a notable zag for Barr after days of mounting scrutiny, and on Friday, the Justice Department informed former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe - a frequent target of Trump's ire - it was dropping charges against him.

At the time, Barr ordered a re-examination of several high-profile cases, including that of former national security adviser Michael Flynn, US officials briefed on the matter say. The move could bring fresh scrutiny of the political motives behind actions at the Justice Department.

Prosecutors across the country have been incensed and worried about what some perceive as growing political directives coming from Washington.

On the West Coast, one federal prosecutor said there was an overwhelming sense of "outrage" felt in his office.

A prosecutor on the East Coast voiced concern about the potential impact of political interference on juries and judges, who could perceive that cases aren't being brought objectively.

And a former prosecutor said his clients have expressed concern about cooperating with investigations out of fear that the Justice Department could interfere improperly in a case, putting them in jeopardy.

'That's just not normal'

Marc Short, Vice President Mike Pence's chief of staff, said Sunday that Barr "does enjoy the support" of Trump, telling CNN's Dana Bash on "State of the Union" that he doesn't think "it's impossible (for Barr) to do his job."

"In fact, I think that Attorney General Barr is doing a great job," he added. "I think he has a lot of confidence inside the White House. I think that the resident's frustration is one that a lot of Americans have, which feels like the scales of justice are not balancing."

But several Democratic senators, including presidential candidates Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, last week also called for Barr to resign.

Democratic presidential candidate Amy Klobuchar echoed that call Sunday on "State of the Union," but added she does not expect Barr to step down.

"Sure, I'd be glad if he resigned. I just don't think that is realistic," the Minnesota senator said, adding, "But what I think is realistic is that he is now going to testify in front of the House Judiciary Committee. I'd also like him to come to the Senate. And, along with my colleagues, I have asked him to do that, so we can probe him on the role of the resident in trying to influence decisions in the Department of Justice, in particular the (Roger) Stone decision."

Klobuchar told Bash that Barr's involvement in the case is "just not normal."

"I just think it's outrageous, knowing how hard these career prosecutors work to do the right thing, how hard they worked on a case like Roger Stone's, got him convicted, and then get undermined when it comes to the sentencing," she said. "That's just not normal."

CNN's David Shortell, Erica Orden and Kara Scannell contributed to this report.

https://medium.com/@dojalumni/doj-alumni-statement-on-the-events-surrounding-the-sentencing-of-roger-stone-c2cb75ae4937

The Price Of A Bloomberg Nomination Is Too Damn High

By Eric Levitz

In the wake of Donald Trump’s 2016 victory, Democrats made a concerted effort to fortify their party’s pro-democracy and anti-corruption bona fides. Their opening salvo in the 2018 midterm campaign was the “Better Deal Agenda,” a suite of policies aimed at combating concentrated corporate power and the “armies of lobbyists” that had given big money a “stranglehold on Washington.” The first bill Nancy Pelosi’s majority passed upon taking the House was a package of voting-rights expansions and campaign-finance reforms designed to ensure that our “government works for the public interest, the people’s interest, not the special interest.” And throughout the Trump era, Democrats have hammered the resident for helping the super-rich translate their economic power into the political variety.

But the party may let a megabillionaire openly purchase its 2020 nomination anyway.

Mike Bloomberg has offered blue America a Faustian bargain: Forfeit all credibility on the issues of money in politics and democratic reform, and he will spend whatever it takes to make the bad man in the White House go away. The market for what Bloomberg is selling is large and growing, thanks in no small part to the $300 million he’s already spent advertising it. Many rank-and-file Democrats — like so many disillusioned voters in democracies the world over — like the idea of hiring a no-nonsense, post-political businessman to fix their broken government (just, you know, a less ostentatiously racist one than America’s current CEO). Meanwhile, many Democratic elites see Bloomberg as a (slightly unsavory) savior who can single-handedly stop the party from nominating a supposedly unelectable socialist, provide its vulnerable first-term suburban House members with an ideal standard-bearer, and liberate the party from all resource constraints and fundraising headaches as it rides a rising tide of billionaire bucks back into power.

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/02/why-democrats-should-not-nominate-bloomberg-sexual-harassment-plutocracy.html 

Lou Dobbs Growls That An Independent DOJ Is 'Crap'

Lou Hobbs is furious that Bill Barr would say anything against Trump. John Iadarola, Cenk Uygur, and Jayar Jackson, hosts of The Young Turks, break it down.



Dobbs seems super angry at Bill Barr for speaking a negative word about Trump that one time.



By Karoli Kuns

Trump's Roy Cohn Attorney General Bill Barr told ABC News that Trump's tweeting has made it impossible to do his job. Now, that might seem kind of difficult to parse if you have more than two synapses to rub together. Was Barr simply saying the quiet part out loud?

What Bill Barr MEANT to say was "it's tough to do the sneaky, slimy, illegal stuff when trump says the quiet part out loud." #ResignBarr https://t.co/WHw7GeMWhl

— BrooklynDad_Defiant! (@mmpadellan) February 14, 2020

Was he trying to make stupid people believe the pretzel-logic of his actual explanation? (That he'd decided to intervene before Trump tweeted, and the tweet put Barr in the uncomfortable position of having to decide between intervening, which would make it seem like he was doing it because Trump made him, or not intervening which would be wrong because he'd already decided it was the right thing to do — are you still with me?)

Keep your eye on the ball - Bill Barr’s purported reasoning is nothing more than a shell game to deceive the public.

pic.twitter.com/R61yh02Av3

— Publius (@ThePubliusUSA) February 13, 2020

Fortunately, we're talking about Lou Dobbs, here, and he does NOT have two synapses to rub together, so THIS was his interpretation of Bill Barr's interview with ABC News:

DOBBS: He [Trump] is keeping his promise as candidate for the office that he holds. He is also expressing himself fully, freely, and directly to the American people, without going through the sage intermediaries of the national left-wing media. And, it's just, I guess I am so disappointed in Bill Barr, I have to say this. You know, it's a damn shame when he doesn't get what this president has gone through, and what the American people have gone through, and what his charge is as attorney general. And by god, if he's gonna complain, I just want to endorse everything you've said. Those are all things to complain about.
But where the HELL is the report? Where the HELL are the indictments against the corrupt, the politically corrupt Deep State within the Justice Department, the FBI, and why in the HELL aren't we hearing apologies from someone in that rancid, corrupt department about what they permitted?

Because they had to have enablers by the dozens to pull off what they did. The 26 names that we can go through on the FBI and the Justice Department. But then, to hear this attorney general complain about this president, who's fighting every one of those damn people to do the right thing and to get this country straightened out, and it's his mission to do so. Not to carp about about his boss.

And by the way, I don't want to hear any CRAP about an independent Justice Department! This Justice Department, as does everyone, works for the president. It is part of the Executive Branch.

Did we catch that, kids? Oh, Dobbs is hopping mad at that mean AG dared speaketh a harsh word about his lord and savior Donald Trump. He's so angry that he, Dobbs, HIMSELF said the quiet part out loud.

"I don't want to hear any CRAP about an independent Justice Department!"

Welp. There it is. I mean, the Deep State conspiracy tin foil hat spizzola is old hat already, but now we're getting somewhere. Independent Justice Department? Who needs it? You get on your knees pronto before Dear Leader, or else.

Mind you, this is all theater, too. Barr had permission to "act" upset about Trump's tweets, and Dobbs and Barr are on exactly the same page. They're all just playing their roles in the ways they think will best keep all the gears turning in the direction they want until they've achieved their ultimate goal.

Unilateral, consolidated control under the Executive Branch.

Trump's Ultimate Goal: The Erasure Of Barack Obama

Posted by Rude One

We talk all the time about What Donald Trump Wants as resident because it's plainly obvious that "improving life for all Americans" is not really on his radar, and "keeping the nation safe" is pretty low down the list. There is the obvious greed - from the access his children have to overseas investors to the open graft of the government paying tax money to his properties. There is the ego burnishing, which you'd expect from someone whose grievances include not getting an Emmy for his reality show and not being praised enough for being resident. There is very likely the wholesale paying off debts owed to various Russians, Saudis, Azerbaijanis, Iranians, and who knows who else. And much, much more.

But one of his primary goals has been simple: Donald Trump wants to erase Barack Obama from the recent history of the country. He has been insidiously resetting the clock and rewriting history since he first gaslit his way to the national political stage by embracing the whole birther lie. Most other Republicans want to wipe out the New Deal and the Great Society and other progressive accomplishments, and Trump is fine doing that as long as it achieves this central objective of eliminating the black president and all his black deeds.

Trump regularly brags about all the Obama-era regulations and initiatives that he's tossed in the garbage can, some that have even left the industries affected scratching their heads at why. Just look at the environmental regulations Trump has reversed or wiped out. In one case, Trump had his EPA roll back "limits on carbon emissions from coal- and gas-fired power plants," which has led states from California to North Carolina to sue because it will lead to more air pollution in general. When Trump rolled back rules on auto emissions from the Obama administration, automakers were not overjoyed at the change because of the confusion it put into the marketplace.

In each case, Trump or some lackey from his administration crowed about how they were getting rid of "burdensome" regulations that Obama put in place that were preventing the economy from growing. Except here's the problem with that: Those regulations weren't preventing the economy from expanding. It was expanding just fine under Obama post-2010 while the nation was still doing at least something minimal to slow down climate change.

And that leads to the biggest lie that Trump tells constantly. Trump has essentially colonized Barack Obama's economy and claimed it as his own. It's oldest, whitest trick in the book. "Oh, hey," Christopher Columbus said, "I've discovered a New World" as he looked at all the people who had been there long before he ever bumbled his way to the Bahamas (and then he enslaved and tortured those people because Columbus was a monster).

Every chance he has, Trump decries Obama's presidency as a time of great economic tribulation that he alone came along to fix. In the State of the Union speech last week, he said, "The years of economic decay are over...Gone are the broken promises, jobless recoveries, tired platitudes, and constant excuses for the depletion of American wealth, power, and prestige. In just three short years, we have shattered the mentality of American decline, and we have rejected the downsizing of America’s destiny....From the instant I took office, I moved rapidly to revive the U.S. economy."

That's absolutely false. Like factually false by nearly every measure. All that's mostly happened to the economy overall since Trump came to office has been a continuation of the trends that started several years before Trump ever rode his golden escalator to the nomination. He was handed a growing economy by Barack Obama and the only thing that he did was exploit it for his own gain while completely, willfully, cruelly erasing Obama from the narrative of why things are going pretty well. It's mind-blowing that anyone can hear Trump brag about the low unemployment rate as if he's responsible for more than a point or two of its decline, as if Obama's policies didn't take care of 80% or more of the improvement since 2010-11. Trump can say that the recent job numbers are incredible, but it's not better than many, many months under Obama.

In fact, Trump could have taken Obama's economy and said, "Yeah, that was all well and good, but we need to get people better jobs and better pay." He could have built on it and crowed about any improvements he made. But he couldn't because if he did, he'd have to admit that he's just the guy who didn't screw up Obama's achievements yet. He'd have to admit that Obama did something right. Instead, Trump has made it so that his voters believe as an article of absolute faith that Obama did nothing but damage the country and Trump came along to rescue us, the white savior riding in to save the nation from the savage Negro. And all those white people at Trump's rallies are eager to believe it's true.

Of course, these are the same people who believe that the Affordable Care Act is a "disaster," as Trump says repeatedly.  Even if they have benefited from it, they act like they despise it because they themselves would have to admit Obama did something to help them. The Supreme Court, with its Trump-installed, McConnell-enabled conservative majority, could come close to finishing the erasure of Barack Obama if it overturns the ACA and the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy (you know, DACA). If those two unabashedly positive steps towards a saner nation are gone, Trump will have finally gotten back at Obama for insulting him at the White House Correspondents' Dinner in 2011 and for daring to president while black.

Some Democrats are defending Obama's legacy, like Nancy Pelosi did in her press conference after the State of the Union and, obviously, like Joe Biden is on the campaign trail. But it seems like Trump's lies about Obama ought to be front and center, at least as a reminder that a Democratic president didn't screw things up. In fact, the job of a Democratic president since Clinton has been to clean up the wreckage left by the Republicans.

Trump's making a hell of a mess. Let's not allow him to throw President Obama into the trash heap of history.

(Note 1: I know that Columbus never said the phrase "New World" as far as we know. That was Amerigo Vespucci, which is also a great porn name if you pronounce the last name a little differently.)

(Note 2: You're right. There's more Obama could have done. But considering he had a Congress that wouldn't work with him, well, we're lucky we got as far as we did.)

(Note 3: Yes, you're very smart to bring up drone missile murders and the expansion of fracking under Obama, but if you don't think an Obama presidency is better than a Trump presidency, you're an idiot.)

(Note 4: White supremacists are emboldened by this effort to erase the first black president's accomplishments. Debasing him justifies their existence. It's one way Trump enables those groups.)

MSNBC: Bloomberg Campaign Manager Drops Joe Biden Bombshell | Tim Black

Mike Bloomberg Campaign Manager explains Bloomberg's strategy and why Joe Biden's race may be coming to an end. 

Nina Turner Destroys Media Hack - LIVE!

Dr. Jason Johnson gets mopped by Bernie Sanders National Co-Chair Live on Air.



Jesse Dollemore plays and then talks about a clip from MSNBC where Nina Turner and Jason Johnson argue over her labeling Michael Bloomberg an oligarch. Johnson insists there is no difference between Bernie and Bloomberg... that they are both just "rich guys" and "one-percenters." 

Jesse describes just how MUCH RICHER Bloomberg is than Bernie Sanders, and the difference might shock you!

Fox News Puts Amy Klobuchar On The Spot Ahead Of Iowa Caucus

Sen. Amy Klobuchar has a tough interview with Fox News Chris Wallace on the eve of the Iowa Caucus. 

Fuck Every Republican Who Says Trump Was Wrong But Won't Vote to Remove Him

Posted by Rude One

Oh, fuck Lisa Murkowski. Yeah, yeah, we can thank her for doing the right thing that one time with the Affordable Care Act and still say, "Fuck Lisa Murkowski." The Alaska senator's statement on why she won't vote to convict resident Donald Trump of the crimes that she admits he committed is just the fucking worst because she thinks she's making some grand statement about the state of partisan divisions in the Congress and the country. Really, it's just ass-covering and bullshit justification.

She said that "The House rushed through what should be one of the most serious, consequential undertakings of the legislative branch simply to meet an artificial, self-imposed deadline." That "artificial, self-imposed deadline" is the fucking 2020 election. The rush was to make sure that Trump couldn't game it, corrupt it, or, you know, invite foreign countries to get involved by digging up dirt on his rivals and using U.S. foreign policy to get his way. If you know an arsonist is about to set a fire, you stop the fucking arsonist before shit is burned to the ground. 

Continuing her speech to the Senate, after a bunch of both-sides garbage, she offered, "The response to the resident’s behavior is not to disenfranchise nearly 63 million Americans and remove him from the ballot." Except no one is talking about the disenfranchisement of voters (well, yeah, Republicans are, but not in this case). It's one of those idiot arguments that get the rubes to think you're standing up for them when you're really just not making any goddamn sense. They have the right to vote. They just couldn't vote for one particular candidate. Murkowski is also implying that Republicans have no one else to run for president. 

Then, with willful naïveté, Murkowski said, "The Constitution provides for impeachment, but does not demand it in all instances.  An incremental first step, to remind the resident that, as Montesquieu said, 'Political virtue is a renunciation of oneself' and this requires 'a continuous preference of the public interest over one’s own.'" That's fuckin' hilarious. Yeah, Lisa, go to Donald fuckin' Trump and remind him of what an 18th century French philosopher said. He'll quote Sean Hannity back at you between Big Mac bites as you dodge crumbs being spit in your face. 

Even worse is Maine's own anthropomorphic bowl of Jello, Sen. Susan Collins. Her reasoning for not voting to remove Trump from office is as delusional as someone investing in a Trump University education: "I believe the resident has learned from this case...The resident has been impeached. That's a pretty big lesson...I believe he will be much more cautious in the future." I'm cynical enough to think that Collins knows this is unrepentant bullshit, but if she really believes this, then, seriously, someone should introduce her to Donald Trump because that asshole has never felt chastened and the only "lesson" he's learned is "Say you're right loud enough and often enough and everyone will agree just to make you shut the fuck up about it."

Tennessee's Lamar Alexander, one of those fake moderates you occasionally hear about but only see as unreal Bigfoot-like blurs running past the Capitol, tried to sound rational in his declaration of Trumpian exoneration. Look at this bastard try to thread a rusty needle: "It was inappropriate for the resident to ask a foreign leader to investigate his political opponent and to withhold United States aid to encourage that investigation. When elected officials inappropriately interfere with such investigations, it undermines the principle of equal justice under the law. But the Constitution does not give the Senate the power to remove the president from office and ban him from this year’s ballot simply for actions that are inappropriate."

Actually, the Constitution gives the Senate the power to remove a president if it agrees with the House and convicts that president, even for, you know, "misdemeanors." But look at that shit. Alexander says that Trump was undermining "the principle of equal justice under the law." That's pretty fucking significant. And he added, just to sound like he's a thoughtful, dignified statesman instead of the elderly errand boy for a bloated, mad, ignorant dictator-in-waiting, "The framers believed that there should never, ever be a partisan impeachment." There were no goddamn political parties when the Constitution was written. Fucking hell.

Alexander bemoans the "partisan" nature of the House vote for the articles of impeachment, yet, weirdly, doesn't seem to have any problem with witnesses being blocked from testifying by a vote of just Republicans. Apparently, "partisan" only means "Democrats." 

We are moving into a degradation of this country's checks and balances the likes of which we haven't seen. Sometimes I think it's more important for Democrats to take back the Senate than it is to win the presidency. That way, Democrats can assert the power of the Legislative Branch in full and restore some kind of fuckin' balance.

INEXCUSABLE!!! GOP Now Admits To Donald Trump's Guilt, Yet Decides To Let Him Off The Hook Anyway!

Jesse Dollemore discusses Wednesday's impending Senate vote on the impeachment question of removal of Donald Trump from office. Reading from multiple Republican statements wherein they admit to Donald Trump's guilt but choose cowardice over principle. 

Excuses For Acquittal

NPR reporter says Mike Pompeo berated her after interview

Republican strategist Rick Wilson and CNN contributor Wajahat Ali join Don Lemon to discuss Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's statement in response to NPR host Mary Louise Kelly's claim that he cursed at her and demanded she find Ukraine on a map after a taping of "All Things Considered."

CNN's Don Lemon Non-Apology Apology

Impeachment Rules

Joe Biden Can't Stand Voters

Joe Biden has no patience for campaigning, answering questions or other people's opinions. 

Here's proof.

MSNBC REPORTS: Bernie Sanders Could Win Iowa And New Hampshire | Tim Black

The Establishment is nervous.

MSNBC Reports Bernie Sanders Could Win Iowa and New Hampshire.

Chris Matthews Bernie Smear Hilariously Backfires

UNACCEPTABLE!!! Trump Threatens Entire Senate & Adam Schiff While Republicans Quiver Like Cowards!

Jesse Dollemore discusses the reprehensible and shameful conduct of Donald Trump and Republicans in the Senate who are bowing and scraping in the face of threats. Included are clips of Donald Trump, Senator James Lankford, Adam Schiff, and reporting from CBS News.

Kobe Bryant Killed In Helicopter Crash

NBA great Kobe Bryant and teen daughter Gianna die in helicopter crash

Democrats running for Office in 2020.....PAY ATTENTION to the current events....

By ProudMNDemocrat

To win in 2020, EVERY Democrat running for office needs to be paying close attention to the events taking place in the Impeachment trial of Donald Trump..

1) Use the evidence against every Republican running for office that they ARE NOT in the service of the people, but LOYAL to Donald Trump.

2) That every Republican VIOLATED their oaths to do impartial justice, to seek additional evidence from key witnesses and documents.

3) That Republicans are interested in THEIR POWER than following the rule of law and defending the US Constitution.

4) EXPOSE their hypocrisy to the world.

5) Still talk about the issues...What kind of country do we want if Trump is acquitted?

6) MAKE this election a referendum on Trump. Do that by tying EVERY Republican to Trump.

Just my 2 cents worth on a Sunday. Pass this message on to your Democratic Candidates for the Senate and US House.

Mentally Unstable Trump Claims The Wheel Was Invented In America

Donald Trump gave a rambling, incoherent interview to CNBC while at the World Economic Forum yesterday, where he claimed that the United States needed to protect our inventors and patents, including the invention of the wheel. 

Trump seems to believe that the wheel was invented in the U.S., even though the earliest reports show that it had been in use for transport for thousands of years BEFORE the United States even existed as a country. 

Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins discusses this.



https://www.rawstory.com/2020/01/trump-makes-bizarre-statement-about-protecting-the-inventor-of-the-wheel-in-rambling-interview/ 

Senate Republicans Vote To Block Witnesses & Evidence In Impeachment Trial

In what shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone, Republicans in the Senate unanimously voted to block both evidence and witnesses in the impeachment trial of Donald Trump. 

This vote came after weeks of media speculation about Republican Senators being “on the fence” and some even openly saying that they wanted witnesses. 

In the end, these Republicans showed us what they care the most about, and it isn’t the rule of law. 

Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins discusses this.



https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-impeachment-trial-latest-gop-senate-evidence-ukraine-witness-a9295966.html 

Jared Kushner Is A MASSIVE National Security Threat

Jared Kushner’s use of WhatsApp to allegedly message world leaders about policy issues has been well-documented. But with recent reports alleging that the Saudi Royal Family hacked into Jeff Bezos’ phone via his WhatsApp account, this raises very serious national security concerns about Kushner, who was also messaging members of the royal family. 

If they can get into Bezos’ account, they can certainly get into Kushner’s, as Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins explains.



https://www.businessinsider.com/jared-kushner-reportedly-used-whatsapp-mohammed-bin-salman-2020-1 

53 U.S. Senators Disgracefully Violate Their Oaths - All Vote To Cover Up For Trump's Many Crimes!

Jesse Dollemore talks about the shameful Republicans in the U.S. Senate who voted to table ALL ELEVEN of Chuck Schumer's amendments (which were intended to make Trump's impeachment trial a fair one)! 

Especially notable is the fact that Susan Collins, Cory Gardner, Martha McSally, and Thom Tillis voted against witnesses and evidence, and are likely to lose their seats because of it!

Midnight Mitch: 'Embracing A Coverup For All To See'

Carl Bernstein shut Rick Santorum up and gave Moscow Mitch a new name, all in one fell swoop.



https://crooksandliars.com/2020/01/carl-bernstein-midnight-mitch-embracing

UNBELIEVABLE! As Impeachment Trial Starts, The Trump Team Is Making ABSURD Arguments In His Defense!

Jesse talks about this Bizarro Republican Party that expects us to buy their nonsense related to ridiculous defenses of Donald Trump. Watch clips of Alan Dershowitz and Texas Senator John Cornyn.

TRUMP SCAM UNCOVERED! He's Charging THOUSANDS For Single Rooms In Exchange For White House Access!!

Jesse Dollemore discusses a recent report from Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington which uncovered the TENS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS which Donald Trump is personally raking in from political groups who are staying at Trump International Hotel in Washington D.C., who in turn get White House access to him and his Cabinet!

HILLARY CLINTON NEEDS TO SHUT THE FUCK UP

Hillary Clinton did an interview with The Hollywood Reporter to promote an upcoming documentary series about her that will premier on Hulu, and she didn’t hold back her anger for Bernie Sanders.

In the interview, Clinton attacked Sanders personally, claiming that nobody likes him, and even went as far as to perpetuate the attacks on Sanders’ base.

Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins hits back at Clinton for her disgusting attacks.



https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/features/hillary-clinton-full-a-fiery-new-documentary-trump-regrets-harsh-words-bernie-1271551

The Return Of The Unbelievable Trump

Mitch McConnell Could Cost Donald Trump His Reelection

Swing voters aren’t happy with Mitch McConnell’s comments about the impeachment trial, and one focus group said that they are far less likely to support Donald Trump if the Senate trial proves to be a sham.

Granted, this was only one focus group of swing voters in a swing state, but the likelihood that their beliefs are widespread is strong.

Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins explains how McConnell’s protection of Trump could prove to be his undoing.

Kellyanne Conway refuses 3 TIMES to answer Fox hosts on whether Lev Parnas is lying

Kellyanne Conway just refused THREE TIMES to answer the Fox hosts’ question on whether Lev Parnas was lying about Trump's involvement in Ukraine.

Elie Mystal: Trade Hunter Biden's Testimony For John Bolton's? DEAL

"The truth will out" says The Nation's justice correspondent on Joy Reid's AM Joy show. The Bidens "did nothing wrong." That's a trade worth making in the impeachment trial.

 

By Aliza Worthington

 

 

There is a lot of anxiety in the Democratic ranks regarding Republican ploys to prevent a full and fair impeachment trial for Trump in the Senate. We've already climbed the initial roadblock we feared: an outright immediate dismissal in the Senate of any trial at all. We have Speaker Nancy Pelosi to thank for that, and her ability to not only lead, but listen to the brilliant team surrounding her. Holding the articles for a few weeks has turned outright dismissal of a trial from a real possibility to certain political suicide for the GOP, and we now have assurances that the trial will indeed, proceed.

The next obstacle, however, involves whether or not Republicans in the Senate will allow witnesses to be heard. Any trial without witnesses will be rightly recorded by hindsight and history as a complete sham. A complicit cover-up for the most openly corrupt, mercenary, and cruel American president in its history. Yet, the GOP has dispensed with any attempt to feign distaste for malfeasance, racism, and destruction of any semblance of democracy, here, so Democrats are just going to have to bite down hard and bring the guns to the gun fight.

Elie Mystal made exactly this argument on Joy Reid's show this morning, and in particular, spoke about witness reciprocity. GOP Trump sycophants like Rand Paul and Ted Cruz are threatening to call Hunter Biden to the stand if Democrats insist on calling witnesses like John Bolton and Mick Mulvaney to testify. And that was before Rachel Maddow's explosive interview with Lev Parnas practically doubled the number of names on the witness list that now seem pivotal and crucial to Trump's crimes.

Mystal's position? Bring on the Bidens.

 

REID: Elie, can you imagine Republicans being able to get away with doing a trial without these witnesses that are obvious that Rachel Maddow's brought forward, just in that interview?
MYSTAL: I mean, what you're seeing, though, is that the Republicans are getting so desperate they realize they might have to call witnesses. They're trying to find ways to scare the Democrats in other ways. I think to Kurt's point about how this is really a knife fight. The Democrats cannot be scared.

So when Ted Cruz and Rand Paul threaten witness reciprocity, "If you call John Bolton then we're gonna call Hunter Biden," man, if that's what it's gonna take to get Bolton, then Hunter Biden can just be played by Jeff Daniels in Speed, alright? Hunter Biden can take one for the team. They can call Hunter Biden, they can call Joe Biden, call Ray Ray Biden, call T. Joe Biden, cause you know what?

At the end of the day I want Bolton. I want Mulvaney. And the Bidens can take one for the team because the truth will out. The Bidens did nothing wrong, other than some low-grade nepotism, the Bidens did nothing wrong. That truth will out. We're trying to diffuse a bomb at the top of our country and John Bolton and Mick Mulvaney have part of the answers. I'm willing to sacrifice what I have to sacrifice to get them in the chair.

The Dems need to keep their perspective, here. Mystal is right. We're talking low-level nepotism vs. destruction of every democratic norm, burning of the Constitution, Hitler-without-the-bunker situation if Trump is not removed, either via a guilty verdict or decisive electoral loss in November.

And neither is possible without the calling of witnesses in this trial. Step up, Bidens. Not that the Bidens haven't already sacrificed and lost a lot — more than any Trump family member could hold in their tiny brains and tinier hearts. Still, though, it a small price to pay to keep America a democratic republic. 

Michael Moore Exposes Elizabeth Warren's History Of Lies

SHOCKING New Evidence Shows Trump Pals, Lev Parnas & Robert Hyde, Plotting Against U.S. Ambassador!

Jesse Dollemore outlines the latest developments related to new evidence released by the House impeachment investigators. Including in this trove of documents are private messages and emails between individuals plotting in Ukraine, as well as between Trump lawyers which definitively show that Donald Trump knew Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman!

Michael Avenatti Arrested By Feds At California State Bar Hearing

Stormy Daniels’ ex-lawyer was taken into custody by federal agents during a disciplinary hearing at California’s State Bar Court.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/michael-avenatti-arrested-by-feds-at-california-state-bar-hearing/

Scenes From The Sort Of War

What Blacks In The Hood Think About Donald Trump

Viewer discretion is advised. May contain profanity and adult situations.

The Hilarious Reason Why No One Loves Cory Booker

Cory Booker is very talented. Cory is so talented he should not be a politician. Let me explain the reason no one loves Cory Booker.

John Kerry Fact Checks Trump's Lies About The Iran Deal

Trump continues to repeat false claims about the Iran nuclear deal, including his oft-told lie that Iran received $150 billion from the U.S. in that deal. John Kerry tells Lawrence O' Donnell "it is an outright lie by the resident." Aired on 01/08/20.

This Cowardly Nation Has Learned Nothing Since the Iraq War

Posted by Rude One

Donald Trump is a coward. This much we must agree on before moving on. Everything he does, everything he has done, is based on his soul-draining fears. He fears that he will not be perceived as a success, a tough guy, a charmer, a winner of everything. He lashes out at anyone who foments those fears, those who tell him he's wrong, or those who want to hinder him. He is driven by his panic that everyone will find out that he is entirely a fake, entirely a fraud. He is running away from the legacy of the still-beloved Barack Obama and the laughter that accompanies any comparison between him and the last president. Just like the buildings and products and businesses, he is merely a body, a vessel that has the word "Trump" stamped on it, and, goddamnit, that name better mean something or it all crumbles. In the business world, this led him to wildly overspend and wrongly invest, which led him to need financing from the skeeviest elements in the banking system, which led him to the residency, which led us to this pivotal moment, one pivotal moment among far, far too many.

But we know that. We knew that when he started talking and blustering about all the ways he would kick this person's ass or that country's balls. A man who uses the phrase "bomb the shit out of them" when talking about a bunch of bedraggled, starving terrorists who live among civilians who don't want them there hasn't an ounce of courage in him. We know that we have been led by cowards who talk tough about the enemy because it's all they can do to cover up for their intense cowardice that hangs like a vulture ready to peck out their eyes. Mostly Republicans, yes, but too often pathetic Democrats join in this mask of bloodlust.

There is another kind of cowardice, the fear of action, the fear that if you say what you mean, reveal what you know, show where the bodies are buried, that you yourself will suffer even if it means stopping the suffering of, oh, hell, let's say the world.

The specific cowards I'm talking about here are the ones who proclaim anonymously to friends in the media and in the political world that what Trump is doing is wrong, is madness, and is opposed by people around him. This Twitter thread from Reza Marashi with "career U.S. government officials" talking about the breakdown of the entire foreign policy apparatus of the country is a good example, and there was a time where we could forgive people who are twenty years into their careers and just wanted to put food on the table for not wanting the wrath of Trump and his bot army and Fox "news."

But not anymore. Because, see, we did this fuckin' dance before. We did the whole "many people knew" but didn't say on the record jig on weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Now we're doing it again, this time with Iran and every other impending disaster. Democrats will tell us, "I've spoken to Republican colleagues who said Trump is wrong." And then there are the Republicans who speak to each other or to their favorite reporters without attribution that they are queasy about what Trump is shitting out today.

Look at this article from Politico in November. Once you wipe off the oozy glaze of insider jizz that is spewed across every Politico article, you get a glimpse of the depth of the cowardice of the Republican Party. The article is ostensibly about the treatment of Francis Rooney, a second-term Republican from Florida who dared to get bolder about his dislike of Trump.

Just a sample:

"Venting privately about the U.S. resident has become a hallowed pastime in Republican-controlled Washington, a sort of ritualistic release for those lawmakers tasked with routinely defending the indefensible."

"Of course, the yawning delta between what Republicans feel privately and what they say publicly has been a defining theme of the Trump era."

"There is a sizable number of Republican senators and representatives who believe Trump’s actions are at least theoretically impeachable, who believe a thorough fact-finding mission is necessary, who believe his removal from office is not an altogether radical idea."

Every single motherfucking one of those Republicans is a goddamned coward, afraid of what Trump will do if they dare say that criminal is a criminal, that a madman is a madman, that an idiot is an idiot. And now we might be sending more soldiers to die and allowing untold thousands of civilians to die in another stupid, useless war based on a gruel of lies that's so thin that not even Colin Powell could force it down.

Democrats need to out the Republicans who oppose Trump privately. Make them have to deny or defend themselves. Reporters need to burn their sources. That last quote up there is "from dozens of interviews with GOP lawmakers, congressional aides and White House staffers over the past month." How many people need to die in order for a Politico reporter to scoop those bastards at the Washington Post?

Time and again, the cowards allow their fear to wreck us. And you might say that you're not a coward, that you actually believe in a war with Iran and everything the resident says. Well, then you're just an accomplice.

And those of us who allow them to get away with it time and again, for, indeed, the crisis we're in now is a direct result of not punishing those who caused the crisis last time, we also risk becoming accomplices.

Iran Strikes Back, Now What America?

More than a dozen missiles have been launched at U.S. sites in Iraq by Iran, according to a U.S. official.

That Old Familiar Melody

The McLaughlin Group 12/27/19

Iran vs Trump vs The Media vs The Truth

US and Iranian developments are unpacked by a Freedom Friday Caller with first hand knowledge of the region.

Trump's SHOCKING Admission About Melania

"During a private fundraising event Tuesday night, resident Trump joked that his wife Melania would not cry if he was shot, Politico reports. The dinner, intended for House Republicans who fundraised the most, was held at Trump’s hotel in Washington, DC, and featured a lengthy speech from the president that reportedly devolved into a roast of GOP members, as well as his own wife.

During his speech, Trump used the near-fatal shooting of House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA) in 2017 during a congressional softball game as fodder for a dig at Melania. Trump reportedly started by noting how tough Scalise was—but warned against getting shot as a weight-loss strategy.

Trump then said Scalise’s wife “cried her eyes out when I met her at the hospital that fateful day… I mean not many wives would react that way to tragedy. I know mine wouldn’t.”*

 Hosts: Cenk Uygur, Ana Kasparian Cast: Cenk Uygur, Ana Kasparian

https://www.thedailybeast.com/donald-trump-jokes-melania-wouldnt-cry-if-he-got-shot

White House Tries To Argue That Trump Wasn’t Really Impeached

The White House is crafting a new message about impeachment: It never actually happened. They are basing this theory on a legal scholar’s op-ed saying that impeachment only happens when the vote in the House concludes AND the articles are sent to the Senate for trial.

Since Pelosi has not sent the articles to the Senate yet, the White House believes that the process has not quite finished, and therefore Trump wasn’t impeached. Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins explains what’s happening.



https://www.cbsnews.com/news/is-donald-trump-impeached-white-house-considers-arguing-no-articles-of-impeachment-not-delivered-to-senate/

Lawsuit Tries To Force Kellyanne Conway Out Of White House

A lawsuit filed against the Office Of Special Counsel seeks the removal of Kellyanne Conway from the Trump administration.

According to the lawsuit, Conway has repeatedly broken several laws while in office, and most of these instances have been confirmed by the OSC, with the OSC going as far as recommending her expulsion from the administration.

Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins explains the lawsuit and reminds everyone about Conway’s nonstop
rule breaking.

https://lawandcrime.com/lawsuit/lawsuit-office-of-special-counsel-should-fine-and-remove-kellyanne-conway-from-white-house/

Marco Rubio humiliates himself when confronted about Trump’s crimes

BREAKING: Marco Rubio just humiliated himself when asked directly about Trump’s crimes.

Behind The Ukraine Aid Freeze: 84 Days Of Conflict And Confusion

The inside story of resident Trump’s demand to halt military assistance to an ally shows the price he was willing to pay to carry out his agenda.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/29/us/politics/trump-ukraine-military-aid.html

The Unfairness Of It All

Top Republican gives absurd defense of Trump tweeting whistleblower’s name

Republican lawmaker Steve Scalise just defended Trump tweeting the whistleblower’s name.

Merry Trumpmas

Tulsi Gabbard's Present Vote Unpacked | Tim Black

Tulsi Gabbard voted “present” on both articles of impeachment brought against resident Trump.

Democrats Hit Back Hard Against Mitch McConnell’s Laziness

There are currently close to 300 bills that have passed the House of Representatives sitting on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s desk that he refuses to bring up for debate. Democrats in the Senate have had enough, and they began tweeting out pictures of the stack of bills this week in an effort to both shame McConnell and fight back against the “Do Nothing Democrat” label Republicans have created. Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins discusses this strategy.



https://www.newsweek.com/democratic-senators-tweeting-photos-giant-pile-dead-house-passed-bills-mitch-mcconnell-desk-1478047

Rudy Giuliani Wins “Scoundrel Of The Year” Honor

The Republicans might still be bitter about Greta Thunberg winning Time Magazine’s Person of the Year award, but they still got one for themselves: Rudy Giuliani has officially been named as The New Republic’s “Scoundrel of the Year.” And that’s quite a good pick.

Giuliani has managed to be at the heart of all of Trump’s scandals, and has proven through his countless media appearances that he is grossly incompetent and more than a little unhinged. Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins discusses Giuliani’s new accolades.

America's Toady

How Nancy Pelosi Should Handle Impeachment

Nancy Pelosi is bungling Trump’s impeachment. Cenk Uygur, Jayar Jackson, and Francesca Fiorentini, hosts of The Young Turks, break it down.

"The House’s impeachment debate on Wednesday held surprises for few across party lines – including for viewers of Fox News.

For most of the day, the resident’s favorite channel covered the debate straight; the vast majority of the afternoon deferred to the live feed of the House floor. News anchors such as Chris Wallace and Bret Baier would occasionally jump in with commentary, largely to signpost the oft-used “historic” label and the debate’s deep partisan schism.

“No matter what you think of the resident, after today we will never talk about the 45th resident of the United States the same way again,” Baier said."

Hosts: Cenk Uygur, Jayar Jackson, Francesca Fiorentini

Cast: Cenk Uygur, Jayar Jackson, Francesca Fiorentini

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2019/dec/18/trump-impeachment-fox-news-response

Joe Biden Democratic Debate Answer Was Amazingly Bad | Tim Black

Joe Biden's answer to this question was so bad it might grind his campaign to a halt.

Note To Democrats: Don’t Fuck Up The Post-Impeachment Process

Posted by Rude One

Every once in an increasingly regular while, I just feel like someone needs to sit Democratic leaders and members of Congress down and explain to them How the World Works Now. See, they are approaching the completed impeachment and the hopefully forthcoming trial of Donald Trump as a solemn and serious occasion for reflection on one’s Oath of Office and the Constitution, hoping that their solemnity and seriousness will be the gravity that brings Americans to earth with the understanding that, yes, obviously, Donald Trump has as much business being resident as he does doing anything other than handing out shopping carts at Home Depot and telling customers about great deals on paint. Even then, he’d probably be a dick about it.

So, while one might think that seriousness is the proper response to the political turmoil and the potential removal of a resident for the first time in our nation’s history, that’s not How the World Works Now.

Right now, Republicans are going full dickhole on opposing Trump's impeachment, trial, and removal. Since well before the vote yesterday, the GOP and allied groups have been running ads about how Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is going to use a strap-on on Uncle Sam and the Do-Nothing Democrats are literally masturbating in the House chamber rather than passing everything that their Lord and Savior Trump wants. Democrats and their groups, meanwhile, are essentially buying into the Republican narrative by releasing ads touting all the shit they are doing on health care and other stuff, like little brothers insisting, "We're not do-nuttin'" to their noogying older siblings.

Messaging for Democrats has never been a strong suit. When we have swept into office in wave elections, like in 2006, 2008, and 2018, it's been because Republicans were finally so abjectly awful that most voters could no longer live with themselves voting for them. But the thing is that Republicans are masterful at disinformation, and they will lie and lie and lie some more in order to pound a lie into the brains of anyone paying even scant attention. "Ukraine meddled in the 2016 election" and "Joe Biden got the prosecutor fired to protect his son" will be crammed down the same throats who eagerly swallowed the load of whatever the fuck Hillary Clinton supposedly did in Benghazi, despite multiple hearings exonerating her, and, of course, now and forever, her emails.

Don't fuck this up, Democrats. That's the message here. We already fucked up on the Mueller Report, and now it's an article of faith among the faithless that Trump did nothing wrong in the "Russia hoax," despite the report very clearly and thoroughly explaining that he did a shit-ton wrong and that Congress needed to get off its ass and do something about it. Democrats let it go because it was too complicated and because the Mueller show wasn't entertaining enough.

I cannot begin to catalog all the ways Democrats have fucked up. The list of grievances here would be so long and so enraging that it'd make calm heads burst and spray viscera all over their nice Christmas trees or menorahs or cornucopias or whatever the fuck you have up. It would include the failure of the left to fund a liberal media message delivery system in the same way that the right has talk radio and Fox "news" and its devolved children, OAN and others. All that shit was and still is propped up by rich fucks like Sheldon Adelson and the Koch cocks. It would include the failure to force the country into an electoral reckoning over the 2000 election. It would include the failure to go to the barricades over Merrick fucking Garland.

Time and again, Democrats have played this game like there is honor in it instead of playing it to fucking destroy the opposition. Time and again, we have let Republicans set the terms of the contract and just signed along. Time and again, they dared Democrats to vary from a pre-ordained set of responses, going full force after any Democrat that dared to call "bullshit" on them.

The fact that Nancy Pelosi is holding back on sending the impeachment articles over to the Senate has enraged Republicans because it upset the script and showed that maybe, just maybe, this time Democrats weren't going to accept the Republican rules in this game. It's the smart play, and they have no idea how the hell to respond. Now, it's time to mobilize the public and market the shit out of the removal of Donald Trump from office.

Democrats need to be gearing up for the greatest battle of our recent lives. They need to go big, with everything from billboards on the highways to ads out the wazoo. I mean pounding the fucking message until it drowns out other shit. This is How the World Works Now. We are never out of campaign mode, and nothing is so serious or important that it can't be marketed to the hilt. To pretend otherwise is to cede the ground on convincing everyone to the Republicans. It would once again allow them to set the terms of the argument.

Fuck that. Create a new playing field, one where the dominant message is this: "You are only a good American if you support removing Donald Trump from office." It's that simple. We punish criminals, and Trump is a criminal; ergo, get him the fuck out of there. Hell, the column from Christianity Today that calls for Trump's removal from office is incredible support for that stance.

This will require a massive amount of spending, as well as Democrats sucking up their reticence to really get down in the shit pool with Republicans and slug it out. But if you don't get dirty, the GOP will take it as weakness and exploit that until there is nothing to impeachment and the whole thing will have been just to put an asterisk next to Trump's name.

Sure, it's something. But it's not enough. If you win this messaging war, you can shift the narrative, and that's the real game changer. It means that even if not a single GOP Senator changes their closed, Trump-owned minds, the voters will know what the deal is.

Barring a miracle, Trump won't be removed by the Senate. But if Democrats succeed only a bit at this war, they will finish the job in November.

Trump should be removed from office

It’s time to say what we said 20 years ago when a president’s character was revealed for what it was.

 

By Mark Galli 

 

December 19, 2019

 

In our founding documents, Billy Graham explains that Christianity Today will help evangelical Christians interpret the news in a manner that reflects their faith. The impeachment of Donald Trump is a significant event in the story of our republic. It requires comment.

The typical CT approach is to stay above the fray and allow Christians with different political convictions to make their arguments in the public square, to encourage all to pursue justice according to their convictions and treat their political opposition as charitably as possible. We want CT to be a place that welcomes Christians from across the political spectrum, and reminds everyone that politics is not the end and purpose of our being. We take pride in the fact, for instance, that politics does not dominate our homepage.

That said, we do feel it necessary from time to time to make our own opinions on political matters clear—always, as Billy Graham encouraged us, doing so with both conviction and love. We love and pray for our president, as we love and pray for leaders (as well as ordinary citizens) on both sides of the political aisle.

Let’s grant this to the president: The Democrats have had it out for him from day one, and therefore nearly everything they do is under a cloud of partisan suspicion. This has led many to suspect not only motives but facts in these recent impeachment hearings. And, no, Mr. Trump did not have a serious opportunity to offer his side of the story in the House hearings on impeachment.

But the facts in this instance are unambiguous: The president of the United States attempted to use his political power to coerce a foreign leader to harass and discredit one of the president’s political opponents. That is not only a violation of the Constitution; more importantly, it is profoundly immoral.

The reason many are not shocked about this is that this president has dumbed down the idea of morality in his administration. He has hired and fired a number of people who are now convicted criminals. He himself has admitted to immoral actions in business and his relationship with women, about which he remains proud. His Twitter feed alone—with its habitual string of mischaracterizations, lies, and slanders—is a near perfect example of a human being who is morally lost and confused.

Trump’s evangelical supporters have pointed to his Supreme Court nominees, his defense of religious liberty, and his stewardship of the economy, among other things, as achievements that justify their support of the president. We believe the impeachment hearings have made it absolutely clear, in a way the Mueller investigation did not, that President Trump has abused his authority for personal gain and betrayed his constitutional oath. The impeachment hearings have illuminated the president’s moral deficiencies for all to see. This damages the institution of the presidency, damages the reputation of our country, and damages both the spirit and the future of our people. None of the president’s positives can balance the moral and political danger we face under a leader of such grossly immoral character.

This concern for the character of our national leader is not new in CT. In 1998, we wrote this:

The President's failure to tell the truth—even when cornered—rips at the fabric of the nation. This is not a private affair. For above all, social intercourse is built on a presumption of trust: trust that the milk your grocer sells you is wholesome and pure; trust that the money you put in your bank can be taken out of the bank; trust that your babysitter, firefighters, clergy, and ambulance drivers will all do their best. And while politicians are notorious for breaking campaign promises, while in office they have a fundamental obligation to uphold our trust in them and to live by the law.

And this:

Unsavory dealings and immoral acts by the President and those close to him have rendered this administration morally unable to lead.

Unfortunately, the words that we applied to Mr. Clinton 20 years ago apply almost perfectly to our current president. Whether Mr. Trump should be removed from office by the Senate or by popular vote next election—that is a matter of prudential judgment. That he should be removed, we believe, is not a matter of partisan loyalties but loyalty to the Creator of the Ten Commandments.

To the many evangelicals who continue to support Mr. Trump in spite of his blackened moral record, we might say this: Remember who you are and whom you serve. Consider how your justification of Mr. Trump influences your witness to your Lord and Savior. Consider what an unbelieving world will say if you continue to brush off Mr. Trump’s immoral words and behavior in the cause of political expediency. If we don’t reverse course now, will anyone take anything we say about justice and righteousness with any seriousness for decades to come? Can we say with a straight face that abortion is a great evil that cannot be tolerated and, with the same straight face, say that the bent and broken character of our nation’s leader doesn’t really matter in the end?

We have reserved judgment on Mr. Trump for years now. Some have criticized us for our reserve. But when it comes to condemning the behavior of another, patient charity must come first. So we have done our best to give evangelical Trump supporters their due, to try to understand their point of view, to see the prudential nature of so many political decisions they have made regarding Mr. Trump. To use an old cliché, it’s time to call a spade a spade, to say that no matter how many hands we win in this political poker game, we are playing with a stacked deck of gross immorality and ethical incompetence. And just when we think it’s time to push all our chips to the center of the table, that’s when the whole game will come crashing down. It will crash down on the reputation of evangelical religion and on the world’s understanding of the gospel. And it will come crashing down on a nation of men and women whose welfare is also our concern.

Mark Galli is editor in chief of Christianity Today.

Christianity Today Editor-In-Chief: Trump’s Character Is Troublesome | Velshi & Ruhle | MSNBC

 

Tulsi Gabbard Mocked For Her 'Present' Votes On Impeachment

Twitter users had a field day, both with her votes and her self-serving "explanation".



Source