I could only follow on Twitter, since I was at work, but sounds like Jimmy Jordan made a complete fool of himself. Again. There is a lot of competition, but he has to be the dumbest member of the House.
Sure, but if the Dems did that Mitch et. al. would just respond with, “The Senate can’t do a thing until the House sends them articles of impeachment.”
Of course, the reason the House hasn’t sent them articles of impeachment is that the Senate would instantly vote to acquit, leaving Donnie to run on, “I was totally exonerated! Completely innocent! The Senate said so. Fake news witch hunt!” in 2020.
So the House has no choice but to stall until the pressure builds to the absolute maximum point. It’s gonna take Puerto Rico-level public outrage (and even then, that won’t convince the Senate, who probably have their reservations on the evacuation copter ready and nice dachas picked out.)
rowe33
3655
I think what you meant to say was that Jordan just ensured he has a nice safe GOP seat in the House for the next 20 or 30 years.
He has a ridiculously gerrymandered district, but I don’t think his seat is quite as safe as people think it is.
I’ve mentioned this before, but I went to HS with Jordan. He’s a couple of years older, he was in my sister’s class. When I call him dumb, I know what I’m talking about.
DJT’s entire life is a ridiculous hoax.
Agree. They did a good job of setting it up today, and they have to act on it now, quickly, before it gets picked apart by a thousand opinion columns.
It felt today like it was getting picked apart by a thousand opinion columns while the sessions were still going on.
I don’t have much respect for Tom Nichols, but this is right on, only assuming a Democratic President.
As a side note I would like to say that I think Mueller comes closest to behaving like a Vulcan of any person I can think of.
Pretty clear Trump wants these people to get off his lawn.
…and Pelosi reportedly remains determined to head off any impeachment momentum.
Sharpe
3667
So that’s it then. If the Dems are not going to move into at a minimum an impeachment inquiry now, we’re done in terms of impeachment. Sure, they can talk about go slow and working through the courts and maintaining pressure but if they don’t open a formal impeachment inquiry now after the lengthy delays and after Mueller’s testimony, then in terms of the flow of the case and political momentum, the Dems are done on impeachment.
If there’s not an impeachment inquiry this week, then impeachment is a joke and any theater by the Dems including the inevitable unending court battles is just a farce.
It’s extremely disheartening.
House Democrats have passed 100’s of “messaging” bills that won’t even get considered by the Senate (and receive exactly zero attention from the media.) What message are Democrats sending by not starting an impeachment inquiry? [Note the inquiry part.]
I’m watching this live at an airport and I got all hopeful when Cummings was speaking then Pelosi got up there and deflated the whole thing. What else do we need??
Of course no one can predict the future but I think that result would doom Trump along with a few GOP Senators and Members of Congress. It would only play with the base, and the so-called moderate voters would see the Republicans in the Senate and the House as an impediment to justice, and every dodgy Senate seat would be in peril.
Maybe, but then the time to impeach Trump isn’t now, but in 2020 for maximum pressure on Senate incumbents.
There’s basically no upside to sending articles to the Senate right this minute. What you want to have happen is for the Senate to vote on the articles of impeachment and let Donnie walk, and then have Dems say, “Did this make you mad as hell? Do you wish you could do something about it? Then get out there and vote in the election next week!”
If instead you force impeachment to the Senate now, the Dems’ message then becomes, “Are you mad as hell? Then stay that way for … uhhhh, more than a year. And then you can do something.” And for that year both the GOP and the media will be pushing the headline, DEMS EFFORTS FAIL, SENATE CLEARS TRUMP.
TLDR: blue balls now are a necessary part of the process.
Meanwhile, here’s the shorter, funnier version of what I said upthread about the media:
You don’t have to send them this minute. Form a special committee and begin subpoenaing witnesses and taking testimony. But make it an impeachment enquiry, so people know what it’s about and pay attention. Frankly, I don’t believe for one minute that Pelosi plans to trigger an impeachment vote in the 90 days leading up to the next election. She’s basically playing a delaying game to take it off the table. She’s running out the clock in an effort to make the question irrelevant.
The problem is she’s making the voters believe that the Dems they elected in 2018 don’t think what we know is enough to warrant action. That’s…insane. If this isn’t enough, what would be?
