So Mitch can’t do anything except doggedly hold onto Trump’s backside and hope that the suppression tactics pull out a win for the Census and redistricting so they can try to further gerrymander the districts to continue to hold the majority at bay indefinitely.
Don’t ever assume Mitch McConnell does not have control over what he is doing. Of course he wants the Census question added, but don’t think he’s just doggedly holding on to trump’s backside. He’s working as fast as he can to undermine our Democracy and trump is just a convenient distraction for him. All Mitch has to do is tell trump he’s going to allow impeachment hearings in the Senate and it’s game over. Mitch has more power than trump and trump’s very life is in his hands. So as long as trump keeps up his chaos act, Mitch can continue with his dismantling of all we hold dear about our country.
I hear she has been doing the opening number for the dotards rallies, firing up the crowd for dear old dad so her days as being thought of as ms aloof from it all are shot to hell.
My premise was that they are not interested in governing, only retaining power, but at some point they will not be able to do so because of the trump support liability
The article’s assertion that Sekulow directed Cohen to lie is not borne out by the text of the article, including the quotes from the transcript. Instead, what a close reading of the article shows is Cohen using weasel words and the Committee’s incompetence in both asking questions and in following up on Cohen’s weasel worded answers. Incompetent Committee members and incompetent staff. The only positive thing to come out of Cohen’s testimony is that Cohen now has several years to think about all this in jail.
I don’t have eyes on the ground in KY, so I obviously can’t speak with authority, but my sense was that Trump is wildly popular with the GOP rank-and-file there and McConnell is barely tolerated (something like 60%, 30% approval, respectively, though I’m just spitballing). McConnell is good at exercising control over his environment, but if true, that would put him very much under Trump’s thumb. If he were to turn on Trump, he could find himself fending off a primary challenger from the right.
I know that McConnell wants to dismantle our democracy because he realizes that things won’t go the GOP’s way, demographically, if left unchecked, but I don’t think he is quite as much in control has he likes to pretend. I think he’s very much riding the tiger or facing down Frankenstein’s monster (whatever metaphor you prefer), the same as the rest of the GOP leadership. They created the conditions for Trump, but they never expected anyone to step into the role.
Their “ideal” leader for the rubes was supposed to be a “George Kaplan” type who they could always point to, but never actually existed (e.g. the hagiography of Reagan). It was always supposed to be an ideal, never actualized (like banning abortion), but the party is getting away from the leadership, in my view. This is in part because some of the hoi polloi have moved up into the leadership, having grown up entirely in this alternative-fact reality where they believe it’s all true.
I agree that the questioning was not the best. Preparing to examine and examining a witness is a learned skill. Most members of congress either never had it or lost it as they drifted from law to politics.
But if you read pages 170-177 of part 1 of the transcript, there is a story there. Scattered through the pages are Cohen’s assertions that:
(1) Russian hotel development negotiations lasted to at least June of 2016,
(2) Sekulow knew that to be true,
(3) Cohen discussed with Sekulow planned testimony that January 2016 was the negotiation end date,
(4) Sekulow told him “Good. Good. Let’s just stay on message. Keep this thing short.”
Sure, it could have been done better. In particular they should have explored the foundation of Cohen’s knowledge of these things. But it’s interesting that Sekulow’s attorneys don’t actually deny the allegations.
This doesn’t matter because nothing matters. Democrats won’t impeach, Senate won’t convict, FBI won’t press charges, Trump will get reëlected because the media will focus on his every utterance while ignoring his opponent, and we’re fucked for the next fifty years. Have a great day!
McConnell believes no one is as or more powerful than he is. That said, we both have a point on the position he is in. On the one hand, he can pull the rug out from under trump whenever he wants to. On the other, if he does that, he goes down with him eventually…and sooner rather than later. Probably the two most hated men in American politics.
And yes, he’s been my Senator for way too many years. Just think the most craven way possible and you’ll find yourself in his head.
Perhaps they both overestimate and underestimate their leverage over each other at the same time. McConnell is an old hand at this and assumes he can’t be shaken loose while Trump has never acknowledged his frequent failures/weaknesses, so he imagines he can bulldoze through McConnell if they ever wound up in opposition. Trump does hold the base in thrall, so they would move against McConnell if called upon. Meanwhile, McConnell could move the levers of power to destroy Trump in the process.
I just think that if McConnell ever even shows the slightest resistance to anything Trump wants, Trump won’t hesitate to open a fusillade at him and tip the balance. McConnell is crafty enough to understand that, so he has to go along with Trump to prevent the MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction) scenario from playing out.
