It's infuriating that the Senate's position from the very start was, "We're not voting to remove him no matter what the evidence is." And the stance of Lamar Alexander and others that the House managers made their case but that they just don't care is appalling in its irresponsibility and cynicism. History will not be kind.
[Alexander] “I worked with other senators to make sure that we have the right to ask for more documents and witnesses, but there is no need for more evidence to prove something that has already been proven . . . There is no need for more evidence to prove that the president asked Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden and his son, Hunter; he said this on television on October 3, 2019, and during his July 25, 2019, telephone call with the president of Ukraine. There is no need for more evidence to conclude that the president withheld United States aid, at least in part, to pressure Ukraine to investigate the Bidens; the House managers have proved this with what they call a ‘mountain of overwhelming evidence.’ . . . It was inappropriate for the president to ask a foreign leader to investigate his political opponent and to withhold United States aid to encourage that investigation. . . . The question then is not whether the president did it, but whether the United States Senate or the American people should decide what to do about what he did. . . . Let the people decide.”
But let's look at the pure politics -- and try to make the best of things. First, people are furious -- and let's hope this fires up the anti-Trump majority to remove him for real. Second, the underlying facts of what he did were flawlessly laid out by the House investigation and the case presented in the Senate -- and more detail and confirmation are sure to come out from Bolton and others, one way or another. Third, the House still has the option to reopen hearings, and in many ways it is better to do it there, without time pressure, than a rushed job of interviewing one or two witnesses in the Senate. The obvious incompleteness of the Senate non-trial, given the new revelations that have come out, gives the House a clear justification for doing so.
Finally, aside from Trump we have a chance to punish the liars and enablers in the Senate, and take Moscow Mitch's majority away. That would be an apt punishment for all of them
http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/01/senate-impeachment-trial-evidence-bolton-cover-up-trump-ukraine.html
The Republican Cover-up Will Backfire
The Republican Cover-up Will Backfire
More: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/2/1/1915480/-Abbreviated-Pundit-Round-up-The-sham-of-a-travesty-trial-will-fire-up-anti-GOP-voters
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/2/1/1915676/-Why-Jonathan-Turley-isn-t-just-wrong-about-the-House-impeachment-but-dangerously-wrong
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/2/1/1915676/-Why-Jonathan-Turley-isn-t-just-wrong-about-the-House-impeachment-but-dangerously-wrong
[NB: It is an ongoing theme of this blog that in politics sometimes when you win, you lose. A short-term benefit can have damaging long-term consequences. The price you pay for a victory may cost you, later on. The people who lose in one vote or contest get fired up to win the next one.
This is, I think, the challenge for all of us. Trump's method is to assume the inevitability of getting what he wants, of bullying others into thinking there's no point in opposing him, of bragging over powers he arrogates to himself until and unless someone says NO. There is only way to stop him, which is to STOP HIM. It's up to us now.]
It ain't over
https://crooksandliars.com/2020/02/rep-swalwell-explains-why-trump-s-problems
This is, I think, the challenge for all of us. Trump's method is to assume the inevitability of getting what he wants, of bullying others into thinking there's no point in opposing him, of bragging over powers he arrogates to himself until and unless someone says NO. There is only way to stop him, which is to STOP HIM. It's up to us now.]
It ain't over
https://crooksandliars.com/2020/02/rep-swalwell-explains-why-trump-s-problems
https://politicalwire.com/2020/02/01/two-trials-in-the-senate/
https://politicalwire.com/2020/02/01/no-daylight-between-trump-and-republicans/
https://crooksandliars.com/2020/01/jonathan-lemire-donald-trumps-republican
Wikipedia! https://www.huffpost.com/entry/senate-wikipedia-died-trump-impeachment-trial_n_5e3570d3c5b611ac94d540e0
Because "conservative" now MEANS loyalty to Trump
https://crooksandliars.com/2020/02/meanie-matt-schlapp-disinvites-mitt
In other investigation news . . .
AFTER the Senate decides they don't want any more evidence, the WH admits that they've been hiding emails that show Trump's true intentions about Ukraine
https://politicalwire.com/2020/02/01/trump-still-blocking-dozens-of-ukraine-emails/
“Hours after the Senate voted against seeking new evidence in the impeachment case against President Trump, the administration acknowledged in a midnight court filing Friday the existence of two dozen emails that reveal the president’s thinking about withholding military aid to Ukraine . . . The filing marks the first official acknowledgment from the Trump administration that emails about the President’s thinking related to the aid exist, and that he was directly involved in asking about and deciding on the aid as early as June. The administration is still blocking those emails from the public and has successfully kept them from Congress.”
More: https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/02/white-house-admits-blocking-emails-trump-thinking-ukraine-aid.html
Hmmm . . .
https://digbysblog.net/2020/02/suicide-pact/
All week, I’ve wondered if Trump’s attempts to undermine Joe Biden’s bid for the presidency may have strengthened it. All the negative attention Trump has paid to Biden and his son reinforces the notion that Biden is Trump’s strongest potential opponent. Trump certainly thinks so. He’d rather run against Bernie Sanders. Whatever the progressive wing of the Democratic Party may want in a candidate, Biden may be what Democratic and independent voters most want in 2020: someone who can defeat Trump. And Trump himself and his impeachment defense team have been making the case all week that Joe Biden is that candidate.
AFTER the Senate decides they don't want any more evidence, the WH admits that they've been hiding emails that show Trump's true intentions about Ukraine
https://politicalwire.com/2020/02/01/trump-still-blocking-dozens-of-ukraine-emails/
“Hours after the Senate voted against seeking new evidence in the impeachment case against President Trump, the administration acknowledged in a midnight court filing Friday the existence of two dozen emails that reveal the president’s thinking about withholding military aid to Ukraine . . . The filing marks the first official acknowledgment from the Trump administration that emails about the President’s thinking related to the aid exist, and that he was directly involved in asking about and deciding on the aid as early as June. The administration is still blocking those emails from the public and has successfully kept them from Congress.”
More: https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/02/white-house-admits-blocking-emails-trump-thinking-ukraine-aid.html
Hmmm . . .
https://digbysblog.net/2020/02/suicide-pact/
All week, I’ve wondered if Trump’s attempts to undermine Joe Biden’s bid for the presidency may have strengthened it. All the negative attention Trump has paid to Biden and his son reinforces the notion that Biden is Trump’s strongest potential opponent. Trump certainly thinks so. He’d rather run against Bernie Sanders. Whatever the progressive wing of the Democratic Party may want in a candidate, Biden may be what Democratic and independent voters most want in 2020: someone who can defeat Trump. And Trump himself and his impeachment defense team have been making the case all week that Joe Biden is that candidate.
In other news . . .
This was published on Nov 10, 2016, right after Trump's election, by someone who had lived in Putin's Russia
https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2016/11/10/trump-election-autocracy-rules-for-survival/
[Obama] added, “The point, though, is that we all go forward with a presumption of good faith in our fellow citizens, because that presumption of good faith is essential to a vibrant and functioning democracy.” As if Donald Trump had not conned his way into hours of free press coverage, as though he had released (and paid) his taxes, or not brazenly denigrated our system of government, from the courts and Congress, to the election process itself—as if, in other words, he had not won the election precisely by acting in bad faith. . . . However well-intentioned, this talk assumes that Trump is prepared to find common ground with his many opponents, respect the institutions of government, and repudiate almost everything he has stood for during the campaign. In short, it is treating him as a “normal” politician. There has until now been little evidence that he can be one. . . .
It was as though Donald Trump had not, in the course of his campaign, promised to deport US citizens, promised to create a system of surveillance targeted specifically at Muslim Americans, promised to build a wall on the border with Mexico, advocated war crimes, endorsed torture, and repeatedly threatened to jail Hillary Clinton herself. It was as though those statements and many more could be written off as so much campaign hyperbole and now that the campaign was over, Trump would be eager to become a regular, rule-abiding politician of the pre-Trump era. . .
Trump is anything but a regular politician and this has been anything but a regular election. Trump will be only the fourth candidate in history and the second in more than a century to win the presidency after losing the popular vote. He is also probably the first candidate in history to win the presidency despite having been shown repeatedly by the national media to be a chronic liar, sexual predator, serial tax-avoider, and race-baiter who has attracted the likes of the Ku Klux Klan. Most important, Trump is the first candidate in memory who ran not for president but for autocrat—and won. . . .
I have lived in autocracies most of my life, and have spent much of my career writing about Vladimir Putin’s Russia. I have learned a few rules for surviving in an autocracy and salvaging your sanity and self-respect. It might be worth considering them now:
Rule #1: Believe the autocrat. He means what he says. Whenever you find yourself thinking, or hear others claiming, that he is exaggerating, that is our innate tendency to reach for a rationalization . . .
He has no political establishment into which to fold himself following the campaign, and therefore no reason to shed his campaign rhetoric. On the contrary: it is now the establishment that is rushing to accommodate him—from the president, who met with him at the White House on Thursday, to the leaders of the Republican Party, who are discarding their long-held scruples to embrace his radical positions. . . .
Rule #2: Do not be taken in by small signs of normality. . . .
Rule #3: Institutions will not save you. . . .
Rule #4: Be outraged. . . .
Rule #5: Don’t make compromises. . . .
Rule #6: Remember the future. . . . [read on]
More: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/2/1/1915681/-For-the-sake-of-our-country-we-all-better-read-this-again-because-every-word-of-it-is-coming-true
Behind the scenes at NOAA when Trump falsified a hurricane forecast just to cover up his own stupid mistake
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/emails-show-panic-anger-at-noaa-after-trumps-doctored-hurricane-forecast
Experts are predicting a massive voter turnout in the Fall. Are we ready to handle it?
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/1/31/1913186/-U-S-could-face-a-voting-deluge-in-November-Will-states-be-ready-for-the-storm
Fascinating word clouds about each major Dem candidate: most fascinating are words that people consider "positive" or "negative"
https://digbysblog.net/2020/02/a-word-cloud-to-ponder/
This ongoing Hillary/Bernie feud is stupid and destructive. It helped ruin 2016 and it won't help 2020. We need a unified party behind whomever is the nominee
This was published on Nov 10, 2016, right after Trump's election, by someone who had lived in Putin's Russia
https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2016/11/10/trump-election-autocracy-rules-for-survival/
[Obama] added, “The point, though, is that we all go forward with a presumption of good faith in our fellow citizens, because that presumption of good faith is essential to a vibrant and functioning democracy.” As if Donald Trump had not conned his way into hours of free press coverage, as though he had released (and paid) his taxes, or not brazenly denigrated our system of government, from the courts and Congress, to the election process itself—as if, in other words, he had not won the election precisely by acting in bad faith. . . . However well-intentioned, this talk assumes that Trump is prepared to find common ground with his many opponents, respect the institutions of government, and repudiate almost everything he has stood for during the campaign. In short, it is treating him as a “normal” politician. There has until now been little evidence that he can be one. . . .
It was as though Donald Trump had not, in the course of his campaign, promised to deport US citizens, promised to create a system of surveillance targeted specifically at Muslim Americans, promised to build a wall on the border with Mexico, advocated war crimes, endorsed torture, and repeatedly threatened to jail Hillary Clinton herself. It was as though those statements and many more could be written off as so much campaign hyperbole and now that the campaign was over, Trump would be eager to become a regular, rule-abiding politician of the pre-Trump era. . .
Trump is anything but a regular politician and this has been anything but a regular election. Trump will be only the fourth candidate in history and the second in more than a century to win the presidency after losing the popular vote. He is also probably the first candidate in history to win the presidency despite having been shown repeatedly by the national media to be a chronic liar, sexual predator, serial tax-avoider, and race-baiter who has attracted the likes of the Ku Klux Klan. Most important, Trump is the first candidate in memory who ran not for president but for autocrat—and won. . . .
I have lived in autocracies most of my life, and have spent much of my career writing about Vladimir Putin’s Russia. I have learned a few rules for surviving in an autocracy and salvaging your sanity and self-respect. It might be worth considering them now:
Rule #1: Believe the autocrat. He means what he says. Whenever you find yourself thinking, or hear others claiming, that he is exaggerating, that is our innate tendency to reach for a rationalization . . .
He has no political establishment into which to fold himself following the campaign, and therefore no reason to shed his campaign rhetoric. On the contrary: it is now the establishment that is rushing to accommodate him—from the president, who met with him at the White House on Thursday, to the leaders of the Republican Party, who are discarding their long-held scruples to embrace his radical positions. . . .
Rule #2: Do not be taken in by small signs of normality. . . .
Rule #3: Institutions will not save you. . . .
Rule #4: Be outraged. . . .
Rule #5: Don’t make compromises. . . .
Rule #6: Remember the future. . . . [read on]
More: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/2/1/1915681/-For-the-sake-of-our-country-we-all-better-read-this-again-because-every-word-of-it-is-coming-true
Behind the scenes at NOAA when Trump falsified a hurricane forecast just to cover up his own stupid mistake
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/emails-show-panic-anger-at-noaa-after-trumps-doctored-hurricane-forecast
Experts are predicting a massive voter turnout in the Fall. Are we ready to handle it?
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/1/31/1913186/-U-S-could-face-a-voting-deluge-in-November-Will-states-be-ready-for-the-storm
Fascinating word clouds about each major Dem candidate: most fascinating are words that people consider "positive" or "negative"
https://digbysblog.net/2020/02/a-word-cloud-to-ponder/
This ongoing Hillary/Bernie feud is stupid and destructive. It helped ruin 2016 and it won't help 2020. We need a unified party behind whomever is the nominee
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/2016-redux-clinton-sanders-campaign-keep-up-beef-three-days-before-iowa-caucuses
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/02/rashida-tlaib-boos-hillary-clinton-bernie-sanders-iowa-event.html
Is Michael Bloomberg for real?
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/dem-candidates-angry-with-dnc-over-new-debate-rules-that-favor-bloomberg
Dem Candidates Angry With DNC Over New Debate Rules That Favor Bloomberg
More: https://politicalwire.com/2020/01/31/bloomberg-spent-200-million-in-five-weeks/
Bloomberg Spent $200 Million In Five Weeks
https://politicalwire.com/2020/02/01/bloomberg-proposes-5-trillion-in-taxes-on-the-rich/
Bloomberg Proposes $5 Trillion in Taxes on the Rich
https://politicalwire.com/2020/01/15/bloomberg-holds-biggest-lead-over-trump-in-michigan/
Bloomberg Holds Biggest Lead Over Trump In Michigan
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/dem-candidates-angry-with-dnc-over-new-debate-rules-that-favor-bloomberg
Dem Candidates Angry With DNC Over New Debate Rules That Favor Bloomberg
More: https://politicalwire.com/2020/01/31/bloomberg-spent-200-million-in-five-weeks/
Bloomberg Spent $200 Million In Five Weeks
https://politicalwire.com/2020/02/01/bloomberg-proposes-5-trillion-in-taxes-on-the-rich/
Bloomberg Proposes $5 Trillion in Taxes on the Rich
https://politicalwire.com/2020/01/15/bloomberg-holds-biggest-lead-over-trump-in-michigan/
Bloomberg Holds Biggest Lead Over Trump In Michigan
Bonus item: Super Bowl special: why I can't enjoy watching football any more
https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2018/2/2/16956440/super-bowl-2020-concussion-symptoms-cte-football-nfl-brain-damage-youth
https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2018/2/2/16956440/super-bowl-2020-concussion-symptoms-cte-football-nfl-brain-damage-youth
***If you enjoy Progressive Blog
Digest and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this
issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sharing its URL
(http://pbd.blogspot.com) with others via email or social media. Thanks for
helping to spread the word!
I don’t get anything personally out of
this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don’t run ads, etc.). The
credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute.
But if I do have a “mission,” it is to get this information into the hands of
as many people as I can.***
