Trump’s impeachment strategy is backfiring. Bigly.

God’s Chosen One (Franklin Graham edition) shared some seasonal thoughts this past Christmas Eve and Day: “… very unfair with no Due Process …”  “They want to make it as hard as possible for me to properly run our Country!”  “I am having to constantly defend myself …”  “… they are vicious, will say anything!”

You are, no doubt, feeling spiritually elevated after all that. Also, he apparently forgot to get a gift for Melania. Might as well blame that on the Do Nothing Democrats™, too.

Continue reading “Trump’s impeachment strategy is backfiring. Bigly.”

Trump: Thank you for coming to my TED talk

This is the President of the United States speaking. You know, the guy who says he has “the right to do whatever I want to do.” Commander in Chief of the military. Finger on the nuclear button. Yeah, that guy.

Wherever you live, call your Senator. He needs to go.

U.S. Capitol Switchboard: (202) 224-3121 – Friendly operators standing by to help you do democracy.

Continue reading “Trump: Thank you for coming to my TED talk”

Let him twist slowly, slowly in the wind.

Let him twist slowly, slowly in the wind. Those words were famously uttered in the early days of the Watergate scandal, which led to Richard Nixon’s resignation in the face of imminent impeachment. They were uttered in 1973 by John Erlichman, a top Nixon aide, about L. Patrick Gray, Nixon’s nominee to become Director of the FBI.

As Acting Director of the FBI, Gray had been complicit in the White House’s efforts to conceal Nixon’s connection to the Watergate break-in. Congress was only just beginning to sniff out evidence of such a connection and the Senate’s confirmation hearings for Gray afforded Congress its first opportunity to start digging deeper. Gray tried to stonewall but ultimately made several damaging revelations. The White House soured on on his nomination, but instead of withdrawing the nomination, Erlichman thought Gray should undergo a period of public embarrassment. “I think we ought to let him hang there. Let him twist slowly, slowly in the wind.”

That’s what Congress should do with Trump: Let him twist slowly, slowly in the wind.

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“Partisan” impeachment, bipartisan militarism. The military-industrial complex marches on.

While everybody has been focused on — and bemoaning — the starkly partisan nature of the continuing impeachment saga, a stunning display of broad bipartisanship has just taken place in the House. It hardly made a dent in the wall-to-wall impeachment coverage. That’s too bad, because the recent bipartisan action in question here is an outrage.

I’m talking about the passage last Wednesday of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), the massive legislation that funds all things military. This year’s Pentagon funding bill passed the House with a lopsided 377-48 vote (only 41 Democrats voted against). You can’t get much more bipartisan than that. And that’s a huge problem, especially because the military spending bill always garners such bipartisan support.

Continue reading ““Partisan” impeachment, bipartisan militarism. The military-industrial complex marches on.”

The U.S. Constitution as Calvinball

We have been awash in analyses of the recent letter to Congress penned by White House Counsel Pat Cipollone. In it, Cipollone outlines the Mis-Administration’s “reasoning” for why it will refuse to participate with Congress’ impeachment inquiry.

This flood of analysis comes mostly from Constitutional scholars and features detailed dives into the legal abyss, which can leave one’s head spinning. (Although some are quite amusing. My favorite came from a George Mason Law School professor, who said Cipollone “must have been sick the day they taught law at his law school.”)

But I have a simple approach to help everyone understand exactly what’s going on. Just think of the U.S. Constitution as Calvinball.

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Choreographed cover-up

That was some fun yesterday, what with the Very Stable Genius seemingly coming unglued over Nancy Pelosi pointing a finger at his attempts at a cover-up. The VSG ranted at Schumer and Pelosi in the White House before turning on his heels and haughtily walking out. Then he babbled incoherently for 15 minutes at an “impromptu” press conference in the Rose Garden. It was a live action Tweet rant. Continue reading “Choreographed cover-up”

McGahn won’t testify before Congress. Not a problem.

Credit: Nick Youngson CC BY-SA 3.0 ImageCreator

The White House has informed the House Judiciary Committee that it will bar former White House Counsel Don McGahn from testifying in response to the committee’s subpoena. That might seem like a problem for the Committee’s probe into possible obstruction of justice by Trump. But it shouldn’t be.

It’s not a problem because McGahn’s extensive eyewitness accounts of presidential obstruction of justice are already on the record in the Mueller report , even in the redacted version that has been made public. Continue reading “McGahn won’t testify before Congress. Not a problem.”

Impeach already!

My weary 2-year old son after an Impeach Nixon march and rally in Washington, DC in 1974.

Impeach the corrupt, lying, criminal in the White House already! What the hell are you waiting for, Congress?

Oh, right, you’re all waiting for the unredacted Mueller report so you have “all the facts” before proceeding. A noble sentiment. Hollow words. There is ample evidence in the redacted version of the Mueller report. If not for a Nixon-era Department of Justice memo — a memo for crying out loud — that opined a sitting president cannot be indicted, Mueller himself would have likely pressed a charge of obstruction of justice. Instead, we have a Congress obstructing justice. Continue reading “Impeach already!”