House Democrats plan to shift their focus this fall on President Trump’s alleged role in the hush money scheme that led to the imprisonment of his former lawyer, the Washington Post reported.
Not that I have any real expectations that anything will come of this, but it doesn’t really matter: it can’t hurt to keep banging the “unindicted co-conspirator” drum over the next few months.
At least this is one instance of Trump’s criminality where Democrats won’t need to go to court to force witnesses to offer testimony. Hopefully, this can get some public attention while the subpoenas in more important matters wind their way through court.
Sounds to me like they’re just pushing the dotard to start making even crazier moves and statements than he is already.
OK, so I get that they’re making the cynical calculation that Americans will pay more attention to Sex and Money than anything else, but this is the most superficial of all the things he’s done to damage American democracy. Does this have to be the “laser” focus? Couldn’t it be the hyped version while the rest is going on at the steady pace that will reveal his true nature?
Trump informs the House Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal are not going to testify or provide any documents in their possession. End of story. It’s worked on almost every request of others up to now, there’s no reason to think it won’t continue to work. Pelosi folds.
Unless they can precede and follow this up with proof of criminality and corruption that really matters and affects people’s lives, I’m afraid this will backfire. Better to keep pounding away on the economy, health care, jobs and income gap, the environment, his many failures on the world and domestic fronts, and his cruelty to people.
And keep doing everything possible to enforce the subpoenas.
Maybe I’m wrong, and if this works in some way I’ll admit my mistake and lack of political savvy.
Trump’s failures and cruelty are what got him elected. Highlighting them plays into his hand. The electorate loves his cruelty. And they long ago reconciled themselves to the fact he’s a failure. But he’s their cruel failure.
No, just no.
Are you prepared for another round of Bill Clinton sexual assault accusers being trotted out on an endless loop between now and Nov 2020?
Democrats and their voters feel actual shame and remorse over sexual improprieties. Republicans, and Mango Mussolini in particular have ZERO shame.
This strategy is going to get buried in an avalanche of both-siderism as fast as you can say “blue dress”.
There is more than one House Democrat, so they really could have one person walk and the other chew gum. Sex coverups will matter a lot to some people, but as we get closer to the 2020 election, it is increasingly important Russia and 2016 voter manipulation stay in the public eye.
In view of the American public and the MSM, this is probably a wise decision. Why?
Because sex is something even imbeciles understand and seek out by preference in the infotainment world of today, and the MSM is more than willing to cater to them with pseudo-grave reporting masking the appeal to prurient interest.
And also because of the corollary, that the yahoos’ eyes glaze over once anything emanating from beyond the 12 mile limit is mentioned. And that includes Russia subverting our elections and manipulating a Manchurian Candidate in the White House.
What do you call the straw that comes after the final straw? I’ve absolutely had it with the sheer talentlessness of the House Democratic leadership. Here’s what this move will do:
Boost Trump’s approval rating by making him look like a victim of petty score-settling. Do nothing to increase approval of any Democrat. (Note that Trump’s approval rating rebounded massively in January 2018, when the Stormy Daniels story broke.)
Obscure grave questions of election security and national security with a tawdry National Inquirer drama featuring porn stars and discredited lawyers. Distract attention from the presidential excesses and focus instead on candidate Trump’s private life in 2016.
Damage the improving brand of the Democrats as the party of seriousness and competence and sanity restoration.
There is no political upside to this, only a downside. It will never rise to an impeachable offense in the eyes of Joe and Nancy Schmo, because most folks think that taking steps to hide sexual infidelity is only human. See Clinton-Lewinsky.
Aargh.
Yep, starting with the low hanging fruit and easy crimes to understand before moving on to the heavier stuff.
The public knows Trump obstructed justice. They know he’s a xenophobe, racist and misogynist. They know he’s in bed with the Russians. They know he’s a conniving grifter lining his pockets from the Oval Office perch. They know he’s incurious, doesn’t read, lazy, inattentive, lies and is ill-suited for his office. Everyone knows all these things. Anyone denying any of them is doing so to keep up a front, to justify supporting him in the face of it all. So, what could, or should, Democrats pursue to crack the edifice? Is there really a chink in his armor, an Achilles’ heel? If Democrats haven’t found it in all the years he’s been in the public eye I doubt they’re going to stumble upon it in time to do any real damage in the lead up to the election. So what do they do?
I disagree. This kind of otherwise counter-productive move keeps uncritical supporters of the Party happy. Given how consistently the house has slow walked all the substantial investigations, the sycophants need something to point to as an accomplishment.
But everyone else sees this the way you do. When this story was current — when Michael Cohen went before the House in February with cancelled checks from Donald Trump – there were no followup hearings. Doing it now is an act of desperation.
pursue the real investigations – using impeachment powers to speed up the court cases. The problem here is that every day that Pelosi delays an official impeachment inquiry, it looks more and more like impeachment is politically motivated. Pelosi has so (deliberately?) mismanaged things that Trump will argue that the sole reason “impeachment” is being used is that the courts won’t let the Democrats engage in “presidential harrassment”.
This is what I was saying months and months ago. btw. Pelosi’s has become Trump’s chief enabler, by giving Trump all the ammunition he needs to claim that impeachment has nothing to do with “high crimes or misdemeanors” and everything to do with politics. Democrats have lost any credibility when it comes to “acting on principle” at the point – and trying to bring up Stormy Daniels reinforces the Dems lack of seriousness.
It’s a start.
I’m glad for that.
Sure - there’s pros and cons. “It just brings up Clinton/Bothsiderism” - Well no shit. EVERYTHING brings up Clinton. It’s all they’ve got for defense. (Obama is clean). So saying “But CLINTON” is just their style - no sense doing it for them. On the ‘pro’ side - yeah - SEX SELLS. It’ grabs press and eyeballs - and it has the added stink of ‘payoff’ that Lewinski didn’t - I think that is a net gain …
AS LONG AS…
We keep pounding away on other fronts.
As other’s have said - more investigations - more hearings - more ‘impeachment movement’ - all the time.
Select committees are the next step. For more than one issue.
David Pecker, the chairman and CEO of American Media Inc., which owns the National Enquirer, will reportedly be asked to come in as a potential witness.
we need to see the immunity agreement that Mueller gave to Pecker – because my guess is that Mueller let him get away with waiving his “first amendment” rights only for Mueller, and the House won’t get a word out of him.
Since you ask, Dems in the House should:
243 days. Dems have controlled the House for 243 days. And they had 58 days between election day and assuming the majority where they KNEW they were going to have the gavel and control the committees. 58 days to begin laying the groundwork and hit the ground running. So that’s 301 days they’ve had to produce results. What do they have to show for it as far as holding Trump accountable for his criminality? Precious little in my estimation.
I know exactly what you mean. But let’s say the most sinister thing is his effort to break down the idea that there’s a knowable objective reality. Every modern authoritarian does it–they attempt to muddy everything up to get a sizable chunk of society to throw up its hands and say “Who knows?” Putin is doing this globally with the guidance of his puppet master Vladislav Surkov. Now go to your nearest Walmart, look at the people there, and ask yourself how much they’re going to care about any of that, how long you could get them to pay attention, how much they would comprehend. I’m not saying they’re dumb. I’m saying they’re wrapped up in their daily lives and epistemology isn’t a thing they think about much. But they can understand a rich guy paying off porn stars and Playmates not to blab about his diddlling them.
Another thing, shit, you couldn’t get Trump himself to pay much attention to that first thing. He doesn’t understand it himself, even if he instinctively does it. But this stuff will drive him crazy.