Conservative calls for Trump removal

Brett Stephens is one of the ever growing list of conservatives who are appalled by Trump and the current Republican Party.  He is calling for the removal of the President. 


His most recent article shows how Trump is turning America into the old Ukraine that was steeped in corruption.  The current Ukraine has been moving to rid the old corruption and replace with anti-corruption forces, including the new President, Zelensky.  Trump, of course, is on the side of corruption and has tried and is trying to corrupt Zelensky by forcing him to dig up dirt on a political rival, Biden, and fabricate a case that it was Ukraine and not Russia that interfered in the 2016 election. 


Stephens sums it up in a very revealing paragraph:


"...we’ve been living in a country undergoing its own dismal process of Ukrainianization:

• of treating fictions as facts;
• and propaganda as journalism;
• and political opponents as criminals;
• and political offices as business ventures;
• and personal relatives as diplomatic representatives;
• and legal fixers as shadow cabinet members;
• and extortion as foreign policy;
• and toadyism as patriotism;
• and fellow citizens as “human scum”;
• and mortal enemies as long-lost friends —

and then acting as if all this is perfectly normal. This is more than a high crime. It’s a clear and present danger to our security, institutions, and moral hygiene."

An excellent summary of today's disgusting administration and Republican Party. 



Impeach him and remove him from office.  And punish his corrupt toadies by voting them out of office.  Please.

The Sound Bite Defense

The testimonies in the House Impeachment hearings were decisive and specific - Trump and his administration tried to bribe the newly elected president of Ukraine to investigate Trump's political opponent, Joe Biden and his son, and to fabricate evidence that it was Ukraine rather than Russia that interfered with the 2016 presidential election. 


But the responses by the Republicans on the committee were interesting. Rather than deal with the testimony itself they simply created an alternate reality that had nothing to do with the testimony.  They waged a Sound Bite Defense. Sound bites that can be fed to the Trump base on Fox News and the Right Wing media bubble.  Ignore the news, they say, just hear the Republican Sound Bites.

For example, the testimony was that Trump demanded a quid pro quo in order to release Congressionally authorized military aid.  the Sound Bite Defense by Nunes and Jordan is that Ukraine got the aid, so that is proof that there was no quid pro quo.  What?  The aid was only released after Trump was caught, after the whistleblower blew the whistle, after Congress was in the process of forcing the release.


The testimony was that Trump pressured, demanded, the Ukrainian president to announce an investigation before aid would be released.  The Sound Bite Defense is that the two people on the call - Trump and Zalensky - both said there was no pressure.  What?  Of course the accused, Trump, will say there was no pressure. And of course the one who was pressured, Zalensky, has to say he wasn't pressured - he needs Trump's help in his war against Putin's Russia.  He has no choice.  He is still under pressure.


The fact is that Trump was caught in a flagrant violation of the Constitution's Bribery Clause.  The Sound Bite is that this is a coup to overturn the will of the people.  What?  Bribing a foreign country to announce an investigation into a political opponent isn't a violation of the Constitution?


The fact is that the Democrats are following precedent and law in their impeachment hearings along the lines of the impeachment hearings of Clinton and Nixon. The Sound Bite is that the investigation was all hidden and underground without Republicans having a chance to question witnesses.  Even while Republicans were on the committees asking questions of the witnesses.


I expect Trump and the Republicans to fight back.  But their strategy is to feed Sound Bites that simply ignore the evidence so that the only place the Trump base gets its news - Fox News and the Right Wing Media Bubble - ignores the evidence and presents the fictional reality of the Sound Bite Defense.

Bribery is impeachable

Donald Trump is guilty of bribery, as outlined in Wednesday's impeachment inquiry. Article II, Section 4 of the U.S. Constitution states:


"The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors."


Trump tried to bribe Ukraine when speaking to it's new president and the Ukrainian thanked Trump for military aid and Trump responded with "I would like you to do us a favor, though".  It was much more than that one line in the fateful phone call.  Wednesday's hearings outlined a concerted effort by Trump and his administration to withhold assistance until and unless the Ukrainian president publically announced that he was investigating Joe Biden and Biden's son, and was investigating whether Ukraine rather than Russia was the one interfering in the 2016 U.S. elections.  (The CIA, FBI, the Mueller Report, and all 17 U.S. Intelligence Agencies have concluded that it was Russia that interfered in the 2016 elections - to get Trump elected)


The Republican defense seems to be that nothing happened.  In the end the aid was given and the weapons were sold to Ukraine.  So what? 


To say that there was no bribery because there was no quid pro quo because the aid was eventually given is a pretty dumb defense.  It is like saying a politician is in a room soliciting a million dollars for his upcoming campaign in return for a billion dollar contract, and having the FBI swoop into the room to arrest him, and then have his defense say that there was no bribery because he never got the money. 

Republican Congressmen and women seem to have a very low opinion of their constituents if that is all they can come up with for a defense. 



Indeed, the completion of the "deal" doesn't matter. The offer of a bribe is impeachable all by itself.  Plus, the blackmail/extortion/bribe was only removed after the White House whistleblower made the impeachable offense known to Congress and it became public knowledge, plus with the threat of Congressional action forcing the administration to release the assistance.


By the way, Ukraine is fighting for its democratic life against military invasion and coercion from Russia.  Actually, they are fighting for their actual lives.  About 13,000 Ukrainians have died in this war.  But Trump is more interested in his re-election than helping Ukraine fight against Trump's favorite dictator - Putin's Russia.


Corruption, corruption, corruption..... it goes on forever with this man and his enabling Republican Party.


Is it really that important to them that they keep out brown people?  or get their corrupt tax cuts? or pack the courts with religious fanatics?  Or be allowed to pollute our waters and air? or get to devastate the social safety net?  Or keep their women in the kitchen and pregnant? Or be mean to gay people?  Or to keep a house full of assault weapons waiting for the Apocalypse?  Or.... what is so important to Republicans that they tie their fate to this authoritarian and mentally unstable man-child?

Virginia tuns blue - thank you President Trump!

The Virginia legislature turned blue tonight for the first time in a generation. Thank you President Trump.  The Democrat won the race for governor, even though the Republican candidate has yet to concede. 

Loser?

It may not be too long before Republican politicians wake up and realize that President Donald J Trump is hurting them personally. It has been said that once the polls show a 60% approval rating of an impeachment of Donald J Trump the Republicans will show him the same loyalty that he shows all of them – zero.  Support for impeachment is already at 48%. 

Loser?

The impeachment testimony is clear, Trump is guilty of bribery of a foreign power to find dirt on a political opponent. That is a direct violation of the Constitution, and a very serious impeachable crime.

Loser?

He is affecting Republican politicians’ election chances. How long will it take before they finally get to turn on the man that so many of them privately loathe?

Look out.