Thanks, Nance. AFT.
Just take a list of all Trump officials, issue a blanket contempt order. Will save time.
So let me get this straightâŚ
Trump tries to cover up the Russia attack on America. Pelosi says ânot worthâ impeaching Trump
Barr thumbs his nose at Jerry Nadler: Pelosi says âconstitutional crisisâ.
is there any wonder why Democrats loose the messaging wars?
This clip was better messaging from Pelosi.
To be honest, this statement was probably made 2 months ago. Havenât heard it recently and obviously itâs an evolving situation. Look what has happened in the last 6 weeks. They have to be thinking about it, theyâre lining up the ducks and sheâs not being bombastic and proclaiming what theyâre going to do. Itâs keeping certain people in limbo, but driving some of us nuts because itâs taking so long.
Yup. Everything in context. Had she launched in January, would have been too soon. Impeachment is inherently a political process, need to have everything lined up, including public support.
Weâre getting to that point rapidly, with the continuing obstruction of any oversight.
âSo I support the path that our chairmen are on, and I do believe it will establish the case for where we go from here.â
The âbetween the linesâ is getting more pointed every day.
True. If you prefer, Iâll amend my post to
Trump tries to cover up the Russia attack on America. Pelosi says impeachment is âthe easy way outâ and âimpeachment is too good for himâ (from about a week ago)
that being said, my criticism wasnât so much directed at Pelosiâs priorities as her messaging. For instance, if Pelosi had said
Russia attacked us, and Trump tried to cover it up. Many questions remain, both about the attack and the cover up, that can be answered by the unredacted Mueller report. Now Barr is trying to hide the evidence about the Russia attack and Trumpâs efforts to cover up the attack â and that is why the judiciary committee approved a contempt resolutionâŚ
I wouldnât have a problem. But all she talked about was process â turning the entire controversy into "impeachment about nothing" That is bad messaging.
Pelosi continues to play this smartâŚTrump is somehow immune to all of this stuff, and anything aimed at him riles his base up. Barr doesnât have the same shield, neither does Mnuchin or the others, so building on their bad behavior is the way to start bringing the people onboard with the idea that the administration is behaving lawlessly. Once thatâs clear (and itâs more clear each day as they ignore laws and obstruct investigations), people will see them executing a coverup, not as defending the executive branchâŚall it takes is enough actions that are âworse than Nixonâ to make the point. Weâll start to get into court fights, and any court that follows the law is going to rule for the Democrats (thanks to the careful buildup)âŚif the SC rules for Trump and against precedent they look highly political, which will piss people off.
I know it was popular to rip op Pelosi and the Democrats for not starting impeachment proceedings immediatelyâŚdoing that would have sunk the case immediately as well. The route they have taken is building a strong case against Trump and the administration, and more and more they seem fearful of any investigations at all, which makes them look weak and conniving. Let the Democrats continue, they are building a strong case against the Republicans, one that will hopefully resonance enough in 2020 to get the Democrats back into power and able to undo the Republicanâs worst efforts. All this noise about Democrats not being âtough enoughâ just makes that harder, and itâs obviously not true.
I donât see any increased public support for impeachment since January. Indeed, precisely the opposite â the more evidence that Pelosi ignores about Trumpâs genuinely impeachable offenses, the lower support for impeachment falls.
And instead of âimpeachmentâ being about the Russia attack and Trump trying to cover it up, Pelosi is going to make it about Trumpâs assertion of executive privilege. In other words, impeachment about nothing.
At this point, who is this messaging supposed to convince? I donât mean to be snide, but at this point, the camps are pretty well set. Every GOP MOC knows impeachment is the right course, naturally, as do any educated Republicans. I donât see the Dems âlosingâ the messaging wars, as those wars have already been lost. Nancy knows that for now, she is depriving the Moron from shrieking âIMPEACHMENT!!!â every 10 seconds. I think sheâs smart for doing that.
A lot of people are stupid. And a lot of smart people pay much less attention than youâd think.
please tell me what is âlawlessâ about what TRUMP is doing, that qualifies as an impeachable offense.
Claiming executive privilege is not an impeachable offense. Finding lawyers to say they donât have to turn over Trumpâs tax returns is not an impeachable offense.
It will likely take YEARS before the courts rule definitively against Trump in any of these cases.
People wonât see a coverup, because Pelosi doesnât see Trumpâs attempted cover-up of the Russia attack as an impeachable act. What they will see, instead, is a massive assault on the Trump presidency by âangry Democratsâ, who are intent on destroying Trump and his family. America will see this as âimpeachment about nothingâ because ultimately, its about nothing more than a bunch of Democrats whining about their oversight prerogatives being ignored.
This is classic Pelosi slow-walking. She could have the vote scheduled today, if she wanted.
Pelosi was otherwise tightlipped about if or when a House vote on the Barr contempt might occur, alluding to âother contempt of Congress issuesâ that the House might want to address as a package.
âWhen weâre ready, weâll come to the floor. Weâll just see because there may be other contempt of Congress issues that we want to deal with at the same time. And he (Nadler) wants to do it as soon as possible and so do we, â she said. âSo I support the path that our chairmen are on, and I do believe it will establish the case for where we go from here.â
Slow-walking Jerry and Slow-walking Nancy are going as fast as they possibly can.
the 20% to 30% of Americans who are neither rabid Democrats nor rabid Republicans.
Its not about âconvincingâ however. Its about framing. That 20-30% doesnât need to be convinced that Russia attacked us. Only the rabid Republicans have any doubt about that. Nor do the 20-30% need much convincing about Trumpâs efforts to cover-up the attack â Trump himself created that frame when he admitted to firing Comey because of âthe Russia thingâ â people just need to be reminded of it, not convinced of it.
What they need to be âconvincedâ about is that the Russia attack, and Trumpâs cover up, is important. , Pelosi has been implicitly saying its not important. That is bad news.
But what is far worse is what she is saying IS important, because it completely lacks any substance. Its entirely about process â about subpoenas, and possible televised hearings, and contempt citations, and the endless round of court filings, hearings, blah blah blah that focus on NOTHING â just âexecutive privilegeâ and âcongressional oversight powersâ
its âimpeachment about nothingâ. And its exactly what Trump wants.
These cases will be resolved in 3-4 months tops by Merrick Garland of the DC Appeals Court. The admin will lose them all.
The SCOTUS will refuse to review because 1) the conservatives are Originalists who are loathe to upset precedents that go back to the Constitutions Separation of Powers doctrine, and 2) the conservative side of this Court does not want to upset the GOP base. The easiest way to reconcile these two competing issues is to let Garland decide these cases on his own and take the heat.
When you have a lawless president, who used his partyâs majority in the Senate to install a lawless attorney general to protect both the AGâs party and president and to attack their political enemies, and theyâve spent two decades packing SCOTUS with party-first jurists ⌠yes, thatâs a Constitutional crisis.
The reason they didnât schedule the vote today or tomorrow is because Schiff has subpoenaed the full report as well due by May 15th. They want to consolidate their efforts before they bring their case before the courts.
Contrast Nancyâa coherent press conferences where she listens to the questions and frames answers to a press that is ârespectedâ to the hostile nonsense that SHS used to blather out. SHS combative and uncomfortable - and now announcements on the lawn?? (what will they do when itâs rainy or snowy?)â Contrast that to the OOO who loves to shout in front of a helicopter.
What banana republicans.
Would be nice to see them all cleaned out of office.