All Purpose News and Politics Thread Part IV: The Center Cannot Hold

[Dalak]

It doesn't matter they released it because they will have support saying see its fine.

So what if I withheld 391 million in allotted aid money to Ukraine days before this call. To clearly be used as intimidation while he asks the Ukrainian President to "do us a favor" and work with his personal lawyer Rudy and the Barr to investigate his chief rival.

I mean talk about conflict of interest. What the hell is Rudy doing involved in this? He is a personal lawyer, with all the bias that entails.

They'll defend him like they always have, until it becomes apparent to them that they have to throw him under the bus or go down with the ship. Trump's core supporters will never abandon him, but if the rest of the reliable GoP voters turn on them they will flip on him faster than a tweet can go viral.

[kidfresh512]

They'll defend him like they always have, until it becomes apparent to them that they have to throw him under the bus or go down with the ship. Trump's core supporters will never abandon him, but if the rest of the reliable GoP voters turn on them they will flip on him faster than a tweet can go viral.

I don't think they will. Not over this. I mean they voted for him after hearing him say he is allowed to grab any woman he wants too. This is too "foreign" and obscure for a GOP voter to care about. Fox News and the evangelicals didn't care that he cheated on Melania with Stormy and paid to cover it up. They made it seem like he was the victim

They wont care about this.

All they will hear is Dems are coming to take all your guns, they want to let the brown people invade, and they want free abortions on every corner and the transgenders in your bathrooms.

[InformationGeek]

And for some strange reason, the White House sent House Democrats its talking points on Ukraine, because..... ummm... mistake? Also, apparently, they are asking to recall the email from Democrats buuuuuuuuuuuuut... nope. Not happening.

Click the link above to read this while I currently try to process what just happened.

[Malvolio]

That's precisely why I'm not rejoicing about this. The accused has pretty much bought off the entire jury and he's over there cackling and mocking the court. Sure, the judge and the prosecutor mean well and they have a good case....but dammit if that ******* doesn't look like this is exactly what he wants because he already knows he'll never be found guilty.

Yes. That's why it took so long to convict John Gotti. They needed to find a jury willing to convict. And until the next election, the only other way here would be to convince the most biased of Republican Senators to recuse themselves from the impeachment vote. But we all know that's not happening.

[Tami]

Lindsey Graham is speaking the Republican talking point 'It's not Trump, it's Biden'

The story behind Biden’s son, Ukraine and Trump’s claims

Hunter Biden was named a paid board member of Burisma Holdings in April 2014. The company’s founder was a political ally of Viktor Yanukovych, Ukraine’s Russia-friendly president, who was driven out in February 2014 by mass protests.

Yanukovych’s ouster prompted the Obama administration to move quickly to deepen ties with Ukraine’s new government. Joe Biden played a leading role, traveling to Ukraine and speaking frequently with its new Western-friendly president.

The younger Biden’s business role raised concerns among anticorruption advocates that Burisma was seeking to gain influence with the Obama administration. At the time, the company ran a natural gas extraction operation in Crimea, a Ukrainian peninsula annexed by Russia after Yanukovych was pushed from power.

Hunter Biden has denied using his influence with his father to aid Burisma. He remained on the board through early 2019, often appearing at energy-related conferences abroad representing Burisma’s interests.

On Saturday, the former vice president said he never speaks to his son about his overseas business dealings.

Biden was representing the official position of the U.S. government, a position that was also supported by other Western governments and many in Ukraine, who accused Shokin of being soft on corruption.

Corruption has continued to fester in Ukraine. In May, the country’s new president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, came into office with no political experience but with bold promises to put an end to the corrupt practices.

Around this time, Giuliani began reaching out to Zelenskiy and his aides to press for a government investigation into Burisma and Hunter Biden’s role with the company.

Ukraine’s current prosecutor, Yuriy Lutsenko, was quoted by Bloomberg News in May as saying he had no evidence of wrongdoing by Biden or his son. Bloomberg also reported that the investigation into Burisma was dormant at the time Biden pressed for Shokhin’s ouster.

[Tami]

Senate Republicans split over Trump urging Ukrainian leader to investigate Biden

Several Senate Republicans were stunned Wednesday and questioned the White House’s judgment after it released a rough transcript of President Trump’s call with the Ukraine president that showed Trump offering the help of the U.S. attorney general to investigate Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden.

One Senate Republican, who requested anonymity to speak candidly, said the transcript’s release was a “huge mistake” that the GOP now has to confront, even as they argue that House Democrats are overreaching with their impeachment effort.

A top Senate GOP aide said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is expecting Wednesday’s closed-door lunch to be eventful and possibly tense as Republicans react to the transcript and debate their next step.

“It remains troubling in the extreme. It’s deeply troubling,” Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) told reporters Wednesday, when asked about the transcript.

[worstblogever]

HAHAHAHAHAHA! Touche!

Meanwhile, I don't know if anyone has already mentioned this, but the irony of the Ukraine Debacle is that it didn't have to happen, especially when you consider that Joe Biden isn't even the Democratic nominee for president. If Trump tried this strong arm scheme a year from now after Biden got the nomination (if he got it, god only knows what could happen over the next twelve months), it would almost make sense, but today? More proof that Trump is just a colossal bungler arrogant enough and stupid enough to believe he could get away with anything. All he wound up doing with that stunt was to force Nancy Pelosi's hand since she had little to no appetite for impeachment hearings. I saw this on Facebook last night, a quote attributed to Woodrow Wilson about the current mess Trump got himself into: "Never attempt to murder a man who is committing suicide", Trump was that man, but he made Pelosi pump a round in his head after he slit his wrists.

Trump's whole thing with military aid to our allies is that he expects THEM to pay, or to do something for the money given. He had about $400 million dangling over Ukraine's head and a deadline coming up, so he probably figured, "couldn't hurt to ask these deadbeats to do something for the cash".

He had been told by Giuliani they might have something on Hunter Biden they could exploit, but as the expression goes, "There's no there, there."

However, Trump's a conspiracy theorist, so of course he believed Giuliani that there was, and thought they could leverage it with the payment. Trump is just that f***ing stupid.

[Tami]

Hmmm… The White House just sent its talking points on Ukraine to House Democrats.

Here are some screenshots, per source.

Twitter Link

Source says the White House just sent a follow-up to “recall” the email to House Democrats containing talking points...

Twitter Link

LOL They realized they screwed up and now want it back. No take-backsies.

[worstblogever]

And the first transcript of the main phone call was released... Trump directs Ukraine's president to discuss the investigation into Biden dirt further with his personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani (we knew this)...

But also, he tells him to contact AG William Barr. If Barr was in any way contacted, he may be implicated as well. Barr will, of course, lie about this under oath or plead the fifth a lot, given all of his history before Congress.

Meanwhile, Giuliani has said at least twice that he had the State Department's blessing to talk to Ukraine about Biden, which SoS Mike Pompeo has had his department categorically deny, trying to not get any s*** on him and go down with anyone else.

This administration is the Three Stooges version of the Nixon administration.

[worstblogever]

Best response to the thread about the White House blundering and giving their talking points away to the Democrats:

"Forget the myths the media created about the White House. The truth is, these aren't very bright guys, and things got out of hand."

[Jack Dracula]

True, but his "witch hunt" nonsense is galvanizing. I can't shake that he wants this to happen and that, almost by itself, is enough to make me wonder if there was a better alternative.

Though I'm also apprehensive, it's clear that the Democratic leadership is finally taking the Trump administartion seriously and that is cause for hope.
It would also be wise to keep in mind that failure can motivate people as much as success. If Trump squeaks out of this he will face an enraged and frustrated Democratic party looking for a way to strike back at him and the Republican administration enabling him. The Plan B for the Democratic leadership should be to keep the electorate engaged and angry with one unifying message centered on clearing these criminals out.

[Tami]

Trump says just now that he thinks @HillaryClinton's 30,000 "missing emails" could be in ... Ukraine

Twitter Link

[Theleviathan]

Though I'm also apprehensive, it's clear that the Democratic leadership is finally taking the Trump administartion seriously and that is cause for hope.
It would also be wise to keep in mind that failure can motivate people as much as success. If Trump squeaks out of this he will face an enraged and frustrated Democratic party looking for a way to strike back at him and the Republican administration enabling him. The Plan B for the Democratic leadership should be to keep the electorate engaged and angry with one unifying message centered on clearing these criminals out.

The problem is that an engaged and angry electorate might work against the Democrats. What's more likely to keep Dem voters upset and interested? Impeachment or Trump's day-to-day, baffling awfulness. I'd say the latter or the net gain is minimal. Republicans? Almost certainly the former by a mile.

They have to get the goods on him with this or it almost certainly means a boost for Trump's election chances. This is important and dangerous. (I'm not advocating that the Dems shouldn't have done this. These actions force their hand...but **** if I don't feel good about it at all. I think this is step one to four more years of this goon)

[Tami]

Acting director of national intelligence threatened to resign if he couldn’t speak freely before Congress

The acting Director of National Intelligence threatened to resign over concerns that the White House might attempt to force him to stonewall Congress when he testifies Thursday about an explosive whistleblower complaint about the president, according to current and former U.S. officials familiar with the matter.

The revelation reflects the extraordinary tensions between the White House and the nation’s highest-ranking intelligence official over a matter that has triggered impeachment proceedings against President Trump.

The officials said that Joseph Maguire, who was thrust into the top intelligence post last month, warned the White House that he was not willing to withhold information from Congress, where he is scheduled to testify in open and closed hearings on Thursday.

The move was in part designed to force the White House to make an explicit legal decision on whether it was going to assert executive privilege over the whistleblower complaint, which centers on a call that Trump made with the leader of Ukraine in late July.

[worstblogever]

Every conversation I've had with my friends on the left reflected a disgust with Pelosi and Democratic leadership for doing nothing while migrant children continue to be kept in cages, LGBTQ rights are under constant thread via executive order of an Evangelical convinces Trump it's a good idea, and his Cabinet continues to grift while entire agencies spend months with "acting" directors...

Well, the Democratic base was starting to be disgusted that nothing was being done. Trump gave them the excuse they needed, asking a foreign power to intervene in our elections AGAIN. The dust had arguably not settled after the Mueller investigation, and he did the same f***ing thing. How could they NOT impeach, or do something about it? Does Trump really think he's that bulletproof? Will the GOP make him that bulletproof when the inquiry reaches the Senate?

And... that's the thing. The buck is shifted... Democrats were going to lose voter momentum if they did nothing. If they lose, the argument is, "We tried, but the GOP have Trump propped up. But now it's clear what you, as Americans, have to do... We all know Trump is guilty of corruption, and only one party intends to try and do something about it... SO VOTE DEMOCRATIC TICKETS UP AND DOWN THE TICKET IN 2020 BECAUSE THIS CANNOT STAND."

The GOP can either learn from Watergate or not. But if they stand with Trump, 2020 will be a f***ing bloodbath. Bill Clinton lied about a beej, and when all was said and done, he became sympathetic.

Donald Trump does not inspire sympathy, ever. He inspires antipathy. He's just s***ty. And if he starts crowing about getting away with crimes he's f***ing admitting to, 2020 will be a done deal for Democrats. And the GOP will go with him for propping him up.