2989

How many congresscritters have you done this to, so far?

2990

I don’t agree that the Dems aren’t doing anything either. At the same time I sympathize with people that don’t see a way forward that doesn’t rely on the GOP giving up on Trump.

2991

It sure seems like they’re slow-walking this stuff, and have been doing that all along; and it hardly seems necessary for them to keep saying or intimating that impeachment is off the table. What’s with that?

2992

If I saw one of these shitheel republicans I would not hesitate to speak my mind.

I live near Boston. My rep is Katherine Clark and my Senators are Warren and Markey. They agree with my views.

I saw Charlie Baker once at a distance and I tried to get closer to ask him why he’s still a Republican despite being a seemingly decent human being but he got into a car.

2993

I do too. I’m in a boiling rage half the time I look at the news. I just don’t blame the Democrats for that, I blame Trump and his enablers in the Republican party. If a fraction of GOP senators had even a hint of integrity, he’d be impeached.

2994

Surely if this is so important to you, you’d be willing to go out of your way to voice your displeasure? Your complaint is that no one is doing anything. What are you doing?

2995

My complaint is our elected representatives aren’t doing anything. Specifically, the leadership of the Democratic party isn’t doing anything.

I’d run for congress but it would be a waste of time because I’m an asshole and I’d lose. Plus, like I said, I have a Good aligned rep.

2996

Again, TimexRachelMaddow.jpg. They are doing a lot of things. When Trump has stonewalled, they go to court. Those court battles aren’t going well for Trump. This shit is slow.

2997

Again, what happens when the Court orders the administration to comply with a subpoena and the administration refuses to comply? I’m not talking about the appeals process, I’m talking about end of the appeals process.

2998

Certainly not impeachment! That would be a bridge too far.

2999

The answer is, of course, we don’t know, because it hasn’t happened in modern history. The court itself has limited power to enforce its judgements, though I think they can direct people to be jailed for contempt of court.

But the President of the United States ignoring the Supreme Court’s judgement would be a pretty big step across the line for lots of people I think.

3000

If there’s no public backlash and not enough public support to bring Republicans to convict on impeachment? Then we live in a dictatorship.

3001

This is objectively false.
There are numerous concrete things which they are doing, and have already done.

3002

Evidence that that Fake Mueller Report Nothingburgertree continues to bear nothingfruit and nothingindictments.

3003

Who are the 18 Republican Senators who would vote to convict? I can’t name them.

The point is, nothing happens until it gets to SCOTUS, especially if e.g. Nadler makes deals to defer enforcement of a judge’s order pending appeal. Why are Dems doing that shit? What do they gain from slow-walking all of this?

Edit: Not Nadler, sorry, Cummings. What’s the point of this shit?

3004

I have a lot less faith in our electorate.

3005

It’s an interesting hypothetical. Let’s take the case of the border wall. What happens if the Supreme Court says that Trump doesn’t have the authority to move money from the military budget to build the wall and Trump does it anyway?

Is that a big-enough deal to Republicans to support impeachment? They seem to not care about precedent setting moves by Trump, so I assume they think they’ll have the Presidency forever, or that if a Democratic President tried the same thing they’d somehow be able to stop it.

3006

Or they understand that it’s wildly unlikely a Democratic President would do that sort of thing.

3007

I would hope that if Trump did this (or if the Supreme Court supports the notion that the President has ultimate authority over the military budget) that the next Dem President would immediately declare a climate emergency and pull $200 billion from the military budget.

Then we can work on the Alt-Right Emergency declaration.

3008

I can’t name 18 Republican senators today either, because they’re traitors. If they actually get public pressure from their base against them? They’ll cave. I don’t know what that will take. I’ve said before that I don’t like all these pundits talking about “we could have a constitutional crisis if x happens”. We’re already in one!

The Democrats in the House have one round in the chamber and that’s it. There isn’t enough public support to get 18 GOP senators to convict on impeachment today. The way I see it, their only option is to continue the subpoenas and the court battles and continue to beat this drum every day, which they have been.

The administration refusing to comply with the Democrats can be spun (with their base) as “justified” because these are just Democrats on a “witch hunt”. If Trump starts defying both the House and the judiciary, perhaps that’s enough for some people. Not his hardcore base, they’re all-in for a dictatorship, but maybe enough Senators.

All I know is that I certainly don’t want the Democrats to use their one shot on impeachment today. It’s a guaranteed failure. Without the Senate, I don’t know if there will realistically be a shot, but I’d say hold your fire until you have a small chance instead of no chance.

And all of this is why I’m deeply concerned about the health of our republic. Trump is a buffoon and a moron, but even with all his ineptitude he has helped pave the road for our own Putin or Chavez or Orban. He’s showing that our system of checks doesn’t work, because the GOP has more loyalty to him and the party than they do the Constitution and rule of law.