Based on the Mueller Report I believe Trump committed Obstruction of Justice.

[numberthirty]

...

Which is what's crazy. That's how desperate Middle America was at wanting to be heard. They were willing to back an orangutan-looking clown in a 3000$ suit because he was the only guy saying what they wanted to hear. If Hilary had not called scared people deplorables, if she had chastised those calling Middle America flyover states... Jeez she herself is from Arkansas. Just listen and pay them lip-service and she woulda won.

Goddamn madness I tells ya.

Hold on a second...

Where did you get that idea?

[Malvolio]

This is the wrong kind of attitude. I am in no way shape or form a Republican or White but I am from a small town and only moved to the city for college. Don't tell Middle America what's good for them, listen to them for chrissakes. One of the first things I learned when working in customer service is the client must be heard. Assuage their fears make them feel like someone's in their corner. I once got into an argument with some young people online over seal hunting in the Arctic. I was explaining to them that it was one of the few opportunities that the Inuit had to make their own money. They replied that maybe then the Inuit shouldn't be living there... I was dumbfounded, I replied are you advocating for moving out Aboriginals? They answered yes. Thinking you know what's right for someone gave us Mao Ze Dong type solutions.



Which is what's crazy. That's how desperate Middle America was at wanting to be heard. They were willing to back an orangutan-looking clown in a 3000$ suit because he was the only guy saying what they wanted to hear. If Hilary had not called scared people deplorables, if she had chastised those calling Middle America flyover states... Jeez she herself is from Arkansas. Just listen and pay them lip-service and she woulda won.

Goddamn madness I tells ya.

She is from Chicago. She married a man from Arkansas and lived with him in Arkansas when he was the Governor. But I don't think Hillary Clinton has ever thought of herself as a southerner and I doubt if anyone else ever has either.

[DrNewGod]

Oh, PLEASE! Trump wasn't and isn't that voice for anyone except for billionaires and racists. If those Middle (white) Americans were scared, it wasn't because of any economic or health woes, but rather they feared being no longer atop the societal food chain in a country growing increasingly diverse. If you think Trump, born into the sort of wealth 99 percent of Americans will NEVER even imagine, forget about acheiving is a president to all Americans who aren't white, then I have a bridge in Brooklyn you might be interested in.

Generally, I tend to agree with WestPhillyPunisher's point of view on politics, including a great deal of what WestPhillyPunisher says here, but racist privilege panic was not the sole motivator for Trump voting among Rural Americans. (for the record, I voted for Clinton, and I cannot imagine any opposing candidate that would drive me into voting for Trump)

Yes. They were blind, and stupid to believe that Trump would serve anything but his own interests. Yes, there were many seething at the "indignity" of "enduring" the administration of the nation's first Chief Executive of Color, almost all of whom were further horrified at the prospect of having to endure the administration of the nation's first Female Chief Executive. Those, however, were not the only factors.

The desperate are often blind and stupid in their decisions. Rural Americans have been watching their communities wither for generations, seeing the lack of opportunities scatter their families far and wide. Some of this has been decisions of their own making, but much of it has also been increasingly efficient supply chains and communication systems concentrating wealth in the hands of an ever smaller number of insiders. Such Rural Americans found the ascent of such insiders particularly galling when said insiders indulged in lecturing Rural Americans on their non-progressive backwardness.

The Clintons long ago allowed themselves to be seen as self-important insiders of the kind Rural Americans hate. Moreover, Secretary Clinton earned a well-known reputation for disdain of The Armed Forces, an institution dear to Rural Americans, who by far provide the largest percentage of the services' volunteers. Being desperate, and outraged, some of these Rural Americans foolishly assumed that Trump couldn't do any worse, or deceived themselves that he was going to fix what was wrong with us just on the grounds that he seemed different than what had gone before.

Yes. There was bigotry among Trump's supporters. No. It was not the only reason that some unwisely voted for Trump.

[ZombieHavoc]

If any of what you guys saids above in the couple posts ahead of me were true, they would've dropped him a long time ago.

[jetengine]

If any of what you guys saids above in the couple posts ahead of me were true, they would've dropped him a long time ago.

You dont understand politics then.

[ZombieHavoc]

You dont understand politics then.

Well, that is quite possibly true. But I specifically meant the reasons/excuses they were giving for all the people who voted for Trump. Laughable.

[jetengine]

Well, that is quite possibly true. But I specifically meant the reasons/excuses they were giving for all the people who voted for Trump. Laughable.

I mean if you WANT to ignore evidence sure

[ZombieHavoc]

I mean if you WANT to ignore evidence sure

Ha, yeah, I totally read alll those think pieces that came out in the weeks after the 2016 election, trying to pin this all on other things. People want to believe our country is different than it is.

[jetengine]

Ha, yeah, I totally read alll those think pieces that came out in the weeks after the 2016 election, trying to pin this all on other things. People want to believe our country is different than it is.

Its not my country for one, but I'm curious. What do you think it is.

[ZombieHavoc]

Its not my country for one, but I'm curious. What do you think it is.

I know, I can read. I wasn't saying ours and is in yours and mine.

And you mean people voting for Trump, what do I think that was? A mix of a few things. Nothing as reasonable as economic uncertainty, having their voice heard and all that stuff I already indicated was wrong.

A lot of my family members who voted for Trump also shared memes on Facebook with Ronald Reagan bottle feeding a monkey with text readind "That time Reagan babysat a young Obama."

[jetengine]

I know, I can read. I wasn't saying ours and is in yours and mine.

And you mean people voting for Trump, what do I think that was? A mix of a few things. Nothing as reasonable as economic uncertainty, having their voice heard and all that stuff I already indicated was wrong.

A lot of my family members who voted for Trump also shared memes on Facebook with Ronald Reagan bottle feeding a monkey with text readind "That time Reagan babysat a young Obama."

Ah yes. I mean realistically I do think economic uncertainty was a factor...but not a huge one. You vant solve Americas internal ecenomic issues with a man who couldn't make money out of a casino.

[ZombieHavoc]

They wanted a wall and a Muslim ban.

[Gray Lensman]

They wanted a wall and a Muslim ban.

It's easier to blame your problems on someone than to deal with dozens of reasons that contribute to them (especially when someone is yelling whose fault something is, even when that person is a compulsive liar). So economic anxiety also made it easier to embrace racism, and coupled with the human tendency to dig in when told one is wrong....well, here we are.

[BruceWayneJr.]

Its not my country for one

But jet's here to explain to that country what's happening in that country.

You've got to love it.

[Toreador]

Bluntly: If you can't impeach Trump, who CAN you impeach? If you only impeach if you're sure you can pull it off, you're effectively conceding a lot. Impeachment is the right thing to do. It may or may not be the most /effective/ thing or path ahead, but it is ethically the correct process.

Of course ethically it' the right thing to do but it's also an exercise in futility if you can't get enough Republicans on board. The Republicans left their ethics on the side of the road a long time ago. And it would take months to set up and try the case tying up time and effort needed to win back the White House and the Senate for next years election. Better to keep bringing out the report to weaken Trump's campaign and fire up the public to vote him (and McConnell) out of office.

Even if Congress did go through the process of the procedure Trump and cronies will be putting up blocks to slow it down and of course McConnell will make some kind of statement that it can't be done during an election year and will have to wait until after the election.