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

[Tami]

Oh, really?

[worstblogever]

Uh huh. Meanwhile, the polling on if Trump should be impeached continues to tilt in favor of "support impeachment". A CBS News poll out today has 55% for, 45% against. That's the highest one I've seen yet.

[Dalak]

Oh, really?

He seems to be retweeting obvious bots, I think his hinges have hinged their last at this point.

[Tami]

Uh huh. Meanwhile, the polling on if Trump should be impeached continues to tilt in favor of "support impeachment". A CBS News poll out today has 55% for, 45% against. That's the highest one I've seen yet.

I guarantee it will just keep increasing over time.

[worstblogever]

I guarantee it will just keep increasing over time.

Barr and Pompeo have to testify.
The whistleblower has to testify.
Giuliani is going to try and claim executive privilege, which he can't, because he's not a White House employee, and he can't claim attorney/client privilege because he's already said he wasn't acting as Trump's lawyer, but as... somehow... an agent of the State Department.

The first attempts at playing defense by Jim Jordan and Lindsey Graham on the Sunday shows blew up in their face, for how absurd they're being. Chris Wallace is on Fox News flat out calling lies "lies".

So... yeah. More people are learning about the scandal, and right now, 2/3 describe Trump's actions as a problem, or a big problem.

[Iron Maiden]

He seems to be retweeting obvious bots, I think his hinges have hinged their last at this point.

I wonder how much time Trump wastes per day and per week

We know he watches Fox news
We know he makes numerous tweets
It's obvious he also searches for tweets about himself.
He calls some of his buddies like Roger Stone
Ivanka has said it takes him a while to do his strange combover

How much time does he spend doing anything presidential? Maybe an hour or so?

[Gray Lensman]

Barr and Pompeo have to testify.
The whistleblower has to testify.
Giuliani is going to try and claim executive privilege, which he can't, because he's not a White House employee, and he can't claim attorney/client privilege because he's already said he wasn't acting as Trump's lawyer, but as... somehow... an agent of the State Department.

The first attempts at playing defense by Jim Jordan and Lindsey Graham on the Sunday shows blew up in their face, for how absurd they're being. Chris Wallace is on Fox News flat out calling lies "lies".

So... yeah. More people are learning about the scandal, and right now, 2/3 describe Trump's actions as a problem, or a big problem.

Even if Trump wins a second term some other Republican is going to want the office when he leaves. How can they trust him not to turn the federal government against them in order to ensure one of his kids gets the job next? I'd hope at least some of them are thinking about that possibility.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Trump is said to have demanded to meet with the whistleblower, which brings to mind this meme:

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Trump Was Repeatedly Warned That Ukraine Conspiracy Theory Was ‘Completely Debunked’

President Trump was repeatedly warned by his own staff that the Ukraine conspiracy theory that he and his lawyer were pursuing was “completely debunked” long before the president pressed Ukraine this summer to investigate his Democratic rivals, a former top adviser said on Sunday.

Thomas P. Bossert, who served as Mr. Trump’s first homeland security adviser, said he told the president there was no basis to the theory that Ukraine, not Russia, intervened in the 2016 election and did so on behalf of the Democrats. Speaking out for the first time, Mr. Bossert said he was “deeply disturbed” that Mr. Trump nonetheless tried to get Ukraine’s president to produce damaging information about Democrats.

Mr. Bossert’s comments, on the ABC program “This Week” and in a subsequent telephone interview, underscored the danger to the president as the House moves ahead with an inquiry into whether he abused his power for political gain. Other former aides to Mr. Trump said on Sunday that he refused to accept reassurances about Ukraine no matter how many times it was explained to him, instead subscribing to an unsubstantiated narrative that has now brought him to the brink of impeachment.

[Kusanagi]

He seems to be retweeting obvious bots, I think his hinges have hinged their last at this point.

Including, apparently, parody shark bots.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Including, apparently, parody shark bots.

That orange skinned dumbass just plain doesn't know any better.

[Tami]

Back Home, House Democrats Tread Carefully on Impeachment and 2020

ANAHEIM, Calif. — Orange County was the epicenter of the 2018 House Democratic takeover, where Republicans lost four seats in what was once the heart of Ronald Reagan conservatism in California. On Saturday night, as three of the victorious Democrats were honored at an annual political dinner, a new battle was on everyone’s minds: How to protect those gains in 2020 by selling voters on the impeachment inquiry of President Trump.

At the dinner, Representative Harley Rouda warned Democrats not to “sit on our laurels.” Representative Mike Levin solemnly said “the times have found us.” And Representative Gil Cisneros, who came out for the inquiry only last week, plugged his campaign website twice to ask for donations and noted, “The Republicans are coming after me now.”

A tricky balancing act is now underway for House Democrats as they return to their districts for a two-week recess that will double as a crucial time to frame a coast-to-coast debate over impeachment and the nation’s priorities.

Even as surveys showed more Americans embracing an impeachment investigation, voters talked mostly about issues like health care and the economy over the weekend at town hall meetings and party gatherings with House Democrats. Those members, especially in battleground districts, responded by highlighting their policy accomplishments and goals — while at the same time attempting to shape public opinion on impeachment and prepare voters for coming G.O.P. attacks.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Back Home, House Democrats Tread Carefully on Impeachment and 2020

I would agree that it can't ALL be about impeachment, not when there's still issues to be sorted out about healthcare, the economy which could teeter and topple over at any time, and the migrant issue at the southern border isn't going away anytime soon.

[Tami]

Kremlin propaganda pushes U.S. ‘civil war’ message

The Kremlin-controlled Russian media have been trumpeting the news of the U.S. college admissions scandal, grossly exaggerating its scale.

Since before the 2016 U.S. presidential election, the Kremlin has been pushing a manufactured issue of prospects of a civil war in America, claiming that white blue-collar workers in the country are getting increasingly disenfranchised.

Most recently the Kremlin has used the college admissions scandal to back up its claim. One of its propagandists’ favorite talking points is that “Collegegate” has eclipsed Russiagate and the Mueller investigation.

President Vladimir Putin’s propaganda machine lays an unsubstantiated claim that there is hardly a university in the United States that’s not mired in corruption. The allegation is that the universities — the “famous” American social elevators — are broken, which makes the social divide between the haves and the have-nots unbreachable under the existing political system.

GOP rep calls Trump’s ‘civil war’ tweets ‘beyond repugnant’

If Donald Trump’s rhetorical choices are a reflection of his state of mind, the president is increasingly panicked about the scandal that’s likely to lead to his impeachment. On Saturday, for example, he lashed out at several congressional Democrats – four women of color and two Jewish committee chairs – as “savages.”

A day later, Trump accused Democrats of being “dangerous” and trying to “destabilize the United States of America.” It was around the same time as the Republican suggested House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) should be investigated for “treason.”

And then came the “civil war” references.

For those unfamiliar with Jeffress, his record of extremism is tough to defend, though Trump has embraced the right-wing pastor as a key political ally. (Chris Christie once said to associate with Robert Jeffress was “beneath the office of president of the United States.” Trump, however, doesn’t seem to care.)

And yet, there was Jeffress yesterday on Fox News, offering viewers a prediction: “If the Democrats are successful in removing the president from office, I’m afraid it will cause a Civil War-like fracture in this nation from which this country will never heal.”

After Trump published a multi-tweet thread, quoting the right-wing pastor at length, Rep. Adam Kinzinger, a Republican congressman from Illinois and an Iraq war veteran, published a tweet that read, “I have visited nations ravaged by civil war. [Donald Trump] I have never imagined such a quote to be repeated by a President. This is beyond repugnant.”

The New York Times had an interesting item the other day, noting that during the 1998 impeachment fight, the Democratic White House crafted a careful strategy, predicated on the idea that the president and his team had to focus entirely on day-to-day governance – and ignore the impeachment process.

It took a great deal of discipline to stick to that script, but Clinton and his team executed the plan quite well; the Democrat’s approval rating remained high; and broad public support for impeachment never materialized.

At no point did Bill Clinton quote radical allies suggesting impeachment would “cause a Civil War-like fracture in this nation from which this country will never heal.”

[worstblogever]

And now Trump is calling for Congressman Adam Schiff to be arrested for treason.

Do you think it's possible the GOP decide enacting the 25th Amendment via the Cabinet would help them save face as opposed to having an entire impeachment trial where everyone gets thrown under the bus who is complicit?