âBut I was magnamiousâŚâŚâ
They just went through it with the Mueller report. She was totally exonerated, she did nothing wrong.
No one in Trump's administration did anything wrong. Everyone was exonerated. There was no collusion. obstruction or perjury on anyone's part. Ergo, they should have nothing to hide. Any questions about anything they ever said or did would reveal complete innocence on their part.
Yet Trump will allow no one to be asked any questions.
Seems legit.Didnât the mango terror pronounce that âmagnum Iâm an ass?â
If thereâs nothing there, why are you fighting every House subpoena in court? And why were there so many people indicted and convicted during the Mueller investigation with unknown numbers of cases still to come?
Democrats often have trouble seeing whatâs right in front of their faces. The Mueller/Russia thing bothers Trump to no end. It throws him off message, causes multiple meltdowns and bad decisions. You can go back through the polling of the past 2 years and youâll see that his poll numbers always dipped with big Mueller news and that it was a factor in framing the general negative view of his Presidency. Thatâs his weak spot. Exploit it. (incidentally, his numbers went up during the Mueller blackout period in the last few weeks before the 2018 midterm elections)
Right now, the defiance and obstruction of the Congressional investigations feeds his base. It fits into his image as a breaker of the system and a troller of liberals. Itâs what his people voted for. However, if Pelosi declares an inquiry tomorrow, power shifts to her. She becomes the center of everything in DC. The political establishment, MSM, foreign govâtâ and the business community will play to the Dems b/c theyâll sense Trump is done. Pelosi will grab all the attention. The effect on Trump will be devastating because she will be dominating him, and the glare of a woman w/a gavel doing that to him will be too much for his base to bear. Theyâll see him as weak and thatâs the beginning of the end for Trump.
The beginning of his end began when he decided to scam his first contractor.
Donnieâs words mean nothing, his behavior tells the truth. Heâs very, very scared., hence the clampdown.
âI couldâve done anything I wantedâŚ"
Trump truly believes his powers are limitless, essentially bound by no rules, laws or past precedents.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
**âAnd on the pedestal these words appear:**
**'My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:**
**Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!'**
**Nothing beside remains.**
**Round the decay**
**Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare**
**The lone and level sands stretch far away.â**
**â Percy Bysshe Shelley, Ozymandias**Donald Erdogan is really, really frustrated that he canât just round up, imprison and torture all those who cross him.
Love that scenario, if only we could make it happen.
Incidentally, Rep. Sean Casten (Ill) has now declared that he is in support of an impeachment inquiry. Heâs from a red to blue swing district. That brings the total to 69 Dems + Amash = 70. There have been 7 flips in the last 6 days.
I would also add that the Civiqs poll that Dkos highlights on its site has impeachment at 46-47 nationally, with 82% Dems and now 41% Indies supporting impeachment. (the question is phrased as âimpeachmentâ as in the articles, not the inquiry).
What I found most interesting about this poll is they provided a breakdown by state. Here are some fairly surprising results in the battlegrounds:
FL: -5
GA:-7
MI: -4
PA: -3
WI: -6
NC: -5
AZ: -5
The only battlegrounds where impeachment is -10 or worse are IA and OH.
Incidentally, CO is +5, ME is +9, NH is +11.
Keep in mind that this is about the big âIâ (articles) and not the little âIâ (inquiry). This is also before Dem leadership has invested any political capital in impeachment.
Thereâs a fair argument to be made that going through an impeachment inquiry will not hurt Dems at all in the purple states, but in fact rally the base and like minded Indies to put the GOP incumbents on the defensive.
Support for impeachment is slowly starting to align with those who support or oppose Trump. White voters are 37-57 in this poll, which incidentally is the exact breakdown of white support from the 2016 exit polls. Minorities support impeachment. However, thereâs a big group of voters who are impeachment skeptics but will never vote for Trump. It feels to me as if going through a properly run impeachment inquiry (e.g., like the Cohen hearing) may have high upside and little costs for Dems.
So has my Rep â Jan Schakowsky. Sheâs a pretty close Ally of Madame Speaker. Things could be about to get interesting.
So wait several more â6 daysâ. And thatâs not âflipâ but âcoming togetherâ.
The ball is in your court, Madame Speaker.
My take on Pelosi is that she is waiting the the optimal time to begin impeachment proceedings. The Senate wonât do anything so it canât be turned over to them because Trump will bellow that he has been exonerated. I donât think that anything they uncover in the proceedings, however egregious, will result in 2/3 of the Senate voting for conviction. The proceedings will need to continue up to the 2020 elections, so the question is when to start? Seventeen months seems a bit long but waiting too long will allow Trump and his toadies to gloat about how they havenât found anything yet. My guess is that early Fall will see the start of proceedings and sooner if something comes out of the Deutsche Bank investigations or something not on anyoneâs radar at this point. Of course, impeachment inquiries will come first and that could start at any time and not necessarily go to proceedings.
Those numbers are interesting. They will bear close watching when impeachment inquiries begin, I expect they will swing to the + side as all the dirt comes out in the press. I also have to wonder how many on the - side are there because they favor impeachment but think that starting proceedings too soon would be counterproductive.
The Senate doesnât matter to me. First, the only reason Dems want impeachment is because Trump crossed the line of high crimes and misdemeanors and itâs not a close call. Thatâs important to keep in mind. If you run a competent inquiry, youâll convince people that you had grounds to go for an inquiry, at minimum.
Second, I am with Adam Jentelson (former chief of staff to Sen Harry Reid) on this that an inquiry which exposes Trumpâs crimes puts the burden on the Senate GOP, not on Dems. âAcquittalâ will be deemed a white wash which will hurt Trump. Equally important, it hurts Collins, Gardner, McSally, Ernst, and Tillis and gives Dem challengers a good shot to rally the base, win Indies and win. It plays into the same themes that won the Dems the House and a majority of Senate races.
The sooner the Dems start an inquiry the better because there are multiple tracks involved here and multiple opportunities for articles, censure and criminal referrals. There are also multiple tracks to use for campaign purposes to pitch to key voter groups. Play offense. That is my constant demand of the Dems.
Donât give him any ideas, for all our sakes!
I will assume by âbad decisionsâ you mean decisions that damage him politically. Therefore goading him with the Mueller report is a good thing, because he will do something stupid that benefits Democrats. Ergo, Democrats would do well to keep throwing it in his face.
But what if the bad decisions damage the nationâs interests, alone or in addition to damaging Trump politically or personally? What calculus do Dems perform, what measures do they take, to see to it their efforts solely hurt Trump, and not the nation, once he reacts? How do you even predict what form Trumpâs lashing out will take? Seems to me there is no way to predict whether his reactions and decisions can be limited to damaging only his prospects, yet not the nationâs welfare and interests also. Unfortunately theyâre almost inextricably intertwined.