I love the optimism, but I can’t say I believe it. Even if Trump is voted out in November, I give it at most 8 years before the US electorate votes in a new GOP president.
Seriously - this is an electorate that voted in Bush for a second term, and voted in Trump. What’s the saying? Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice… I won’t say the US electorate is stupid, but there is a weakness in the democratic system of the US, and it will eventually put a party of grifters and traitors into power again. And when that happens, they’ll finish the job Trump started.
KevinC
5936
Totally agree. I remember in 2008 when the Republicans had got us stuck in two unwinnable wars and threw the economy off a cliff, I thought the GOP would take a while to recover. Voters handed them back the House just two years later, then handed all branches of government over to them by 2016.
I will. I know of no other conclusion to draw from 2016.
I would not say they are stupid. I would say poorly educated which are two separate things.
Many people are rightly skeptical of either party. From there it is a war of information and without the training to analyze that information, you have the decision to vote in a total outsider, like Trump.
Nadler laid out a hell of an historical perspective just now.
JoshL
5940
There’s a flaw in the House manager’s argument. They keep saying, “If Trump is allowed to stay in office after declaring that he is above the law, then all future presidents will be able to break any law and then just refuse to comply with subpoenas”.
But every Republican in the Senate is thinking, “well, that’s not true. Of course we’ll enforce subpoenas and impeach democratic presidents”.
Elements of the US electorate, yes, most definitely. Not seeing that Trump is a narcissistic grifter* by nature requires a special kind of willful blindness.
BTW, I’ve been very impressed by Rep. Hakeem Jeffries during his presentations. Wondering if he has any future Presidential ambitions.
*why does the forum software underline this word in red? It’s perfectly cromulent.
JoshL
5942
I just saw c-span display a tweet (or whatever) that someone sent in, saying something like “I believe both sides. I believe Trump is guilty and he will be acquitted and I will vote for him in November”. I don’t know how to find c-span’s archive of these (if they have one), so I can’t provide a link or screenshot.
But. Holy crap.
Found it:
ShivaX
5943
Raylan had to leave Kentucky. Then he could come back. Look at the people who didn’t leave.
RichVR
5944
This is what we’re up against. Every person like this is irredeemable.
Yep, because the Constitution may as well be something you wipe your [derriere] with, if God Emperor Trump is in charge. rolleyes
Apparently kings and dictators are OK now, as long as they take power peacefully.
Party over Country, huzzah!
LockerK
5948
I don’t understand this at all. As awful as it is I can follow the train of thought to “I think he’s guilty, and I’m voting for him anyway” - but then to say you think it’s unfortunate that most Americans feel the same way? Like, you obviously feel that voting for him is “wrong” at this point, but then you go ahead and do it anyway?
RichVR
5949
Because they feel that anyone but Trump would be worse. For no fucking reason. That guy is a Fox watcher. I’d guarantee it.
Brainwashing is real. It used to be harder to do. Maybe one deluded person at a time. Or small groups in a room. But now, it’s a fucking art form. And for some people, some people with no self awareness, it’s easy.
SlyFrog
5950
In fairness, all that I hear are that the Clintons would be worse. Oh yeah, and Bernie and Warren for their socialism.
They honestly don’t say anything about Biden, etc. They just hate the Clintons, Bernie, and Warren, and they really do think that any Republican is better than having them in office.
At least the Trump supporters I talk to. They freely admit Trump is a buffoon. (On a personal level.)
Had a Trump supporting co-worker tell me yesterday the impeachment is all about negating 2016 and installing Nancy as president, which of course would be far worse for America than Trump as president.
Yes, the “they’re trying to get him out and get their own person in” instead of the “they’re trying to get him out for criminal acts and anti-constitutional acts which will insert Pence as President” agruments.
It’s so, so stupid. If Trump got removed Pence becomes president but in 10 months we have an election. Pelosi doesn’t become president.
Mr.GRIM
5953
What it really is is an admission of failure. I voted that guy, and he was so unfit for office that he had to be removed. We can’t have that stain on the rep. party, especially after this particular campaign. Constantly demonizing the other side is starting to ingrain a particular mindset of fear in many democracies.
Oh for fuck sakes:
“That’s when he lost me,” Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a Republican moderate, said about Schiff’s remark, according to her spokeswoman. She denied having been told what the network reported about the White House. Schiff’s invocation of it, she added, ”was unnecessary.”
Yeah, that’s right, the real outrage here is Schiff reading a CBS news report.
But thank god the media is dutifully recording Republican “outrage.”
Edit: Here’s the WaPo link on Republicans (pretending) to be offended:
