Congress absolutely has to launch impeachment proceedings now. Who gives a fuck about the Senate. Might as well appoint Trump emperor if they don’t.
Occasionally I see some bit of news flying across the Internet and on a whim I decide to investigate further. 9 times out of 10, there’s more to the story, which reduces my trust of people and organizations pushing that angle.
In this example, it’s the “I’m fucked” line. From merely a few sentences later in the report:
That doesn’t sound like someone worried about being thrown in jail. It sounds like someone correctly aware of the distraction and cloud it would cast.
Trust reduced.
JonRowe
2051
The report is fairly damning as for the obstruction angle.
Literally the guy was saved by the people he ended up firing, because they would not do the crimes they were directed to do.
Timex
2052
Holy shit, so Trump directly told WH council to fire Mueller, and Mcgahn chose to resign instead.
Jeeeeesus.
Banzai
2053
It’s the Steve Martin defense (from his standup routine): “I forgot that conspiracy with a foreign government and obstruction of justice were illegal”
I actually suspect the best way to spin it is the way they actually did it. Have Barr release a 4 page summary that says “nothing to see here”, and proclaim No Collusion No Obstruction for a few weeks before releasing the actual report. And then double down on that mantra. Most people don’t have time to dig deeper.
Timex
2055
Well, that’s not what i would consider “spinning” the report at that point. That’s just lying.
“Spin”, to me, implies some way of interpreting the facts… Not simply ignoring them.
Timex
2057
Oh, and the report confirms, conclusively, that Jared Kushner approached Kisliak, and asked to set up a secure back channel to the Kremlin, through communications equipment at the Russian embassy.
Kismet specifically wanted to avoid AMERICAN intelligence organizations hearing what he wanted to say to the Russians.
That is so insanely shady.
Oh, hey there Wikileaks defenders. Seriously: be less gullible.
(Wikileaks was happy to imply to the world that Seth Rich had been telling them all sorts of evil going on within the DNC and Clinton campaigns, and that’s why Rich was murdered. Turns out it was a second-hand “source”, who spoke broken English and claimed to be Romanian.)
kerzain
2060
Okay, so now we have part of the report and everybody can run off to their favorite Twitter feeds and news commentators for analysis, hot takes, and opinions. So where are we headed from here? Pelosi moved on weeks ago, and except for the occasional random congressional nobody shouting for a resignation here or there, nothing substantial seems to be taking shape as a result of today’s info dump.
What’s next? Just let Trump have this one, move on, and focus on 2020?
Menzo
2061
Not quite. I expect two years of hearings and subpoenas from various House committees. But no serious impeachment talk.
Nothing on the order of impeachment was ever going to happen. But if it’s the case that the only reason Trump didn’t get indicted due to this stuff is because he’s the President, then there’s still a reasonable chance that at the end of his term he walks out of the White House in handcuffs.
Impeachment gives you only one bullet, and if you fuck it up you only strengthen the other side and waste any potential advantage of hanging this stuff over him during the election.
Given what you have seen of the GOP’s behavior over the past 10 years, do you really think any of them would vote to impeach no matter how damning the evidence?
Understanding that impeachment is a shitshow with lots of downside since Republicans will not convict, personally I think Dems in the House have to do it anyway. Otherwise the rule of law as it applies to the executive is dead, gone.
Then the Senate doesn’t convict and he gets to trumpet he’s innocent and the case is closed.
We did it for Bill Clinton.
Menzo
2067
That actually helped Democrats. It’s the case study for NOT impeaching Trump.
Clinton was impeached for cheating on his wife. Trump would be impeached for colluding with an enemy state to steal our election and profit from the office of the Presidency. I’d like to think the American public is smarter than this.
They aren’t! But I want to believe they are.
