The problem is that, although this appears totally corrupt to those of us paying attention to the evidence, Trump and McConnell’s base see this as the only appropriate action. In their minds phony accusations should lead to a phony trial. Once you’ve decided that all news you don’t wish to hear must be fake, you’re effectively beyond reach.
As a nation, we won’t recover from this anytime soon.
For every action there is a reaction. Go ahead Mitch and see how the voters respond.
Donnie being his remarkably dense self will self impeach again.
the problem is that the oath that McConnell takes only requires him to be impartial after the oath is taken. Therefore he can set things up for a completely fixed “trial” that does not allow a full presentation of the evidence before taking the oath – then say that he will be impartial in reviewing the case that he previously fixed.
You have got it - McConnell will pave the way with gold for Trump and Trump will still find a way to fuck it all up.
Is it just me, or are public executions starting to sound good?
Nope.
McConnell knows that this is a ‘code red’ and modern day Republican voters are expecting their senators to save Trump.
Also, McConnell is one of the folks who ushered in the Trump era, soooooooooo, nope, he’s a fan until the end.
Not sure how fucked that is, but it sounds bad.
Do you have a handle on whether or not the Republicans have gamed this out? It doesn’t seem to be the case, but that’s unlike McConnell.
Strange days indeed.
The House should NOT refer this to the Senate after the full House vote. After all, they are waiting for the slow-rolling of the courts to finish their investigations. Let it hang over the creepy tweeter’s head.
It is time for a strategy such as Nadler’s decision to recess at midnight and vote in the am. It deprived GOPers of the ability to say the vote was held in secrecy in the middle of the night (while making sure it was dragged out all day long).
The rotten, criminal GOP proves every day that it couldn’t care less how it gains/maintains power. It’s a crime organization masquerading as a political party. The Dems are forever “Charlie Brown” to the GOP “Lucy with football”. And so it will continue until the Dems stop bringing words to a knife fight.
I’m still of the opinion that everything McConnell is saying now is bluster for the TV cameras, aimed at keeping Trump sedated and under control.
What McConnell actually does in the trial will be driven by whatever he thinks is the best way to preserve his R majority in the Senate. That may align with what Trump wants anyway, and I’m still expecting the Senate to acquit. But the format won’t be under Trump’s control.
We are about due for another massive own goal from Spanky about now.
McConnell may line up everything as-perfect-as-possible for the T-ster, but no one can stop the traitortot’s own self-destructive impulses.
He, clearly, does not appreciate the role of the Senate/jury during a trial. What a dishonest, arrogant fool. Almost everything he has done since Obama was elected has been objectionable and outside the traditions of the Senate. I can only hope at this point that Republicans will be held accountable for all of this for generations to come…and Mr. McConnell next November.
before, during AND after the fact. And for the foreseeable dismal future.
I saw that, and I think it’s great. I really miss Frank’s… frankness. His and Franken’s. (!)
I’m inclined to think McConnell is too savvy to commit massive overreach. Words like “calculating” and “scheming” are often applied to him primarily as epithets, but I recently read The Cynic*, and this degree of foresight and preparatory action on his part seems no different from his maneuvering to make the leap from state to national politics.
Consider: one of McConnell’s great weapons is his finesse at defusing legitimate proceedings to render them safe vehicles for stunts by struggling GOPers. Passing over the obvious analog to Trump’s anticipated trial by the Senate, it’s the same kind of thinking in both cases: a shell game in which he secretly decouples the force of action from the trappings of procedure, the better to present him and his allies in an appealing light.
And my point is not that McConnell invented this kind of duplicity, or even that he has innovated upon it – it’s just that the complexity of his schemes to-date is not greater than a hypothetical scheme in which he deliberately disqualifies himself so he can evade the political cost of the corner he’s been backing into.
I think McConnell is an extraordinarily dangerous man in the best of times, and now he and the GOP are both cornered animals.
* a biography of Mitch by ProPublica (?) journo who has followed Mitch since before he was even state government in KYI’m hoping (with little hope) that this is the plan – at least Plan B. when i first read the line about Schumer not having talked to McConnell yet, I was annoyed – but that might be a good thing. McConnell should be negotiating with Schumer, not Trump – and the fact that McConnell is making commitments to Trump without consulting Schumer justifies Schumer going on full-bore blast at McConnell.
And it justifies the House withholding the article until they are allowed to present their case in an appropriate manner.
(again – McConnell’s actions are an indirect result of the House decision not to enforce its subpoenas. If these cases were in the courts, McConnell would have far more incentive to negotiate with Schumer, lest decisions come down against Trump that provide even more evidence against Trump, and put Senate republicans in even worse positions than they are currently. Now, McConnell can tell the Dems to shove it – he doesn’t care if there is a trial or not. Its Trump that needs the “vindication”, and if Trump wants rules that the Dems won’t accept, thats on him. )
If anyone ever deserved a punch in the nose, it’s that traitorous, unethical, partisan, POS called turtle man.
Several reasons not to do that:
It’s better for Trump to yell “I’ve been exonerated!” after a Senate trial in January, instead of closer to the November election.
It lets our Dem Presidential candidates use the message that he’s been impeached by a majority of both House and Senate (if not a supermajority) during the rest of the 2020 election cycle.
A Senate trial in January frees up the media to cover other things, like any other malfeasance the House can dig up with financial records or further testimony. As long as we’re still in the impeachment process, it’s sucking all the oxygen out of the room for other stories.
Every time this guy does something reprehensible, he subsequently comes up with doing something else ever MORE reprehensible. He’s very talented that way.
We all need to become vigilant and steadfast as this election cycle grinds on. What’s happening in DoJ is surreal and very, very frightening. And we must eagerly tune in when Rudy’s “documentary” exonerating Dear Leader is aired next summer. Undoubtedly it will be jaw-droppingly exciting and fully embraced by Trump’s cult.
And let’s not forget how the entirety of Republican “leaders” in both houses diligently maneuver into immediate lockstep whenever new angles trying to obfuscate around Trump’s crimes magically appear out of nowhere.
Interesting times, indeed.
I’m really surprised that the orange menace hasn’t brought that up as a way to try and tame the Fourth Estate, or just anyone he doesn’t like.
President Clinton and the Democrats in the Senate were coordinated in strategy.
Democrats in the Senate were the minority. Republicans didn’t have the votes because the “crime” of consensual sex didn’t rise to the level of removal. Republican Fred Thompson and others agreed.
Trump’s crime does.