Why Allow A President To Get Away With What Would Be A Firing Offense For Anyone Else?"
Urgently Needed Article Of Impeachment: Trump Is A National Security Threat
If the United States Senate is to find Trump guilty of "high crimes and misdemeanors," the 45th president's condemnation in the House -- under the existing articles of impeachment -- will not be enough to turn public opinion decisively against Trump.
In our politically polarized environment, there will not be enough partisans willing to desert Trump for the sake of the nation.
Not even to insure the survival of democracy in anything other than flag-waving showcase form.
Let's not forget that the impeachment process cannot successfully appeal to level-headed judgment in the cult-worshipping Senate.
Rather, it is about popular opinion.
Just that. Nothing more.
Absent a ground swell of revulsion against Trump, the Senate will exonerate Trump and this abnormal, twisted, egomaniacal mutant will chest-thump his way through four more years during which he will expand and consolidate presidential power around his emboldened core cult, and the result will be citizens of the United States continuing to wave flags, spout platitudes and tout the Constitution-as-a-theater-prop in mock-dramatization-of-Democracy while, just below the surface, Trump's followers become increasingly like their brown-shirted kin.
Against this backdrop, Trump will almost certainly become as fascist as Mussolini.
Why Allow A President To Get Away With What Would Be A Firing Offense For Anyone Else?"
Urgently Needed Article Of Impeachment: Trump Is A National Security Threat
If the United States Senate is to find Trump guilty of "high crimes and misdemeanors," the 45th president's condemnation in the House -- under the existing articles of impeachment -- will not be enough to turn public opinion decisively against Trump.
In our politically polarized environment, there will not be enough partisans willing to desert Trump for the sake of the nation.
Not even to insure the survival of democracy in anything other than flag-waving showcase form.
Not even to insure the survival of democracy in anything other than flag-waving showcase form.
Let's not forget that the impeachment process cannot successfully appeal to level-headed judgment in the cult-worshipping Senate.
Just that. Nothing more.
Absent a ground swell of revulsion against Trump, the Senate will exonerate Trump and this abnormal, twisted, egomaniacal mutant will chest-thump his way through four more years during which he will expand and consolidate presidential power around his emboldened core cult, and the result will be citizens of the United States continuing to wave flags, spout platitudes and tout the Constitution-as-a-theater-prop in mock-dramatization-of-Democracy while, just below the surface, Trump's followers become increasingly like their brown-shirted kin.
Against this backdrop, Trump will almost certainly become as fascist as Mussolini.
Pope Francis Warns Against Nationalism, Says Recent Speeches Sound Like "Hitler In 1934"
"The Rise And Fall Of The Third Reich": Hitler And Goebbels' Replacement Of Truth With Falsehood
Eric Fromm On The Rise Of Fascism In Pre-War Germany
"We Forget That Hitler Brought Economic Prosperity To The German People"
The only remaining hope is to create an article of impeachment that will require testimony by Mattis, Kelly, McMaster, Tillerson, Giuliani, Hope Hicks, Roger Stone, Manafort, Flynn, Kellyanne Conway and anyone else who can give eye-witness testimony to Trump's behavior - behavior that represents an ongoing national security risk that will result in Senate condemnation of Trump for derelection of duty and failure to honor his oath of office as commander-in-chief.
Such supoenaed testimony will put on full display everything that Trump -- an obssessively secretive man -- has systematically hidden from the light of day.
The consequent revulsion that will sweep over the citizenry will create a secondary demand for invocation of the 25th Amendment. https://fortune.com/2018/09/22/invoke-25th-amendment-simplified/
If the cumulative testimony of the forementioned "insiders" does not result in Trump's ouster, then we will deserve our fate as a failed state.
But by embarking this course of action, we will have given our level best in the cause of restoring sanity, security, democracy and -- after years of chaotic turmoil -- a return to domestic tranquillity.
Eric Fromm On The Rise Of Fascism In Pre-War Germany
"We Forget That Hitler Brought Economic Prosperity To The German People"
The only remaining hope is to create an article of impeachment that will require testimony by Mattis, Kelly, McMaster, Tillerson, Giuliani, Hope Hicks, Roger Stone, Manafort, Flynn, Kellyanne Conway and anyone else who can give eye-witness testimony to Trump's behavior - behavior that represents an ongoing national security risk that will result in Senate condemnation of Trump for derelection of duty and failure to honor his oath of office as commander-in-chief.
The consequent revulsion that will sweep over the citizenry will create a secondary demand for invocation of the 25th Amendment. https://fortune.com/2018/09/22/invoke-25th-amendment-simplified/
If the cumulative testimony of the forementioned "insiders" does not result in Trump's ouster, then we will deserve our fate as a failed state.
But by embarking this course of action, we will have given our level best in the cause of restoring sanity, security, democracy and -- after years of chaotic turmoil -- a return to domestic tranquillity.
Compendium Of Best Pax Posts On The Impeachment Inquiry - And What Needs To Be Done
There is one other necessary "aside."
There is an unbending tradition among American military officers to refrain from ANY criticism of a sitting president.
In every historical circumstance that has previously pertained, this traditional respect for "the chain of command" has been admirable.
However, in these extraordinary times, when the survival of our constitutional republic is rocked by clear and present danger, this traditional chain of command keeps men like Mattis, Kelly and McMaster from providing the kind of testimony which, alone, insures that the senate will ratify the articles of impeachment, or failing that, Trump's essential lunacy will become so well illuminated that the 25th Amendment will insure his dismissal.
Blessedly, a congressional supoena should carry enough weight to exempt these obedient military men from their perceived duty to the commander-in-chief, insuring their perception of an equally lofty responsibility to the legislative branch and to the people that branch represent.
It is about the polity, not the power hungry acquisitiveness of a single bedlamite.
"We the people" must be moved by the methodical presentation of all the evidence against Trump in order that we make common cause and ultimately demand that Trump be toppled.
Indeed, a strong argument can be made that the chief reason why the framers of the constitution incorporated a procedure for impeachment was to prevent unbridled egotists from imposing their autocratic will to the end of effectively re-constituting something like the Monarchy which America's founding fathers were determined to jettison once and for all.
Immediatly below are introductions to two blog posts in which I previously laid groundwork for expanding articles of impeachment, and to do in a way that insures the testimony of every official who witnessed the reckless endangerment of the Republic from inside The White House.
It is time to finish the work that these "leakers" began by describing Trump's behavior as an ongoing - and worsening -national security threat.
Dear F,
Thanks for your email.
The masses will pay attention to "big names" they already know - Mattis, Kelly, Tillerson, Conway et al.
They couldn't care less about intelligent, honorable, dedicated people like Taylor and Kent.
Taylor and Kent belong to the "intellectual elites" whom the masses DESPISE.
Mass hatred of these "elites" is what Michael Brown wrote his book about.
Pelosi needs to introduce new, wide-ranging articles of impeachment NOW.
Articles that will put every "sexy" "bean spiller" into the public spotlight.
"Is it true, Mr. Tillerson, that you -- as one of the president's "best people" -- called him a 'fucking moron?'"
You and Pelosi (and nearly all well-educated Democrats) want impeachment to be brief and to the point.
In fact, the masses want reality TV which goes on and on and on.
Week after endless week.
They can't get enough "insider gossip" - the more lubricious the better.
As Gerald says: "Find out what people want... and give it to them."
"Are Democrats Building A Collapsible Impeachment?" Is It Deliberately Designed To Collapse?!?
It Is Time For The Press And The Public To Clamor For Ex-Trump Officials To Spill ALL The Beans
For example, supoena this judge to testify:
There is an unbending tradition among American military officers to refrain from ANY criticism of a sitting president.
In every historical circumstance that has previously pertained, this traditional respect for "the chain of command" has been admirable.
However, in these extraordinary times, when the survival of our constitutional republic is rocked by clear and present danger, this traditional chain of command keeps men like Mattis, Kelly and McMaster from providing the kind of testimony which, alone, insures that the senate will ratify the articles of impeachment, or failing that, Trump's essential lunacy will become so well illuminated that the 25th Amendment will insure his dismissal.
Blessedly, a congressional supoena should carry enough weight to exempt these obedient military men from their perceived duty to the commander-in-chief, insuring their perception of an equally lofty responsibility to the legislative branch and to the people that branch represent.
It is about the polity, not the power hungry acquisitiveness of a single bedlamite.
"We the people" must be moved by the methodical presentation of all the evidence against Trump in order that we make common cause and ultimately demand that Trump be toppled.
Indeed, a strong argument can be made that the chief reason why the framers of the constitution incorporated a procedure for impeachment was to prevent unbridled egotists from imposing their autocratic will to the end of effectively re-constituting something like the Monarchy which America's founding fathers were determined to jettison once and for all.
Immediatly below are introductions to two blog posts in which I previously laid groundwork for expanding articles of impeachment, and to do in a way that insures the testimony of every official who witnessed the reckless endangerment of the Republic from inside The White House.
It is time to finish the work that these "leakers" began by describing Trump's behavior as an ongoing - and worsening -national security threat.
Dear F,
They couldn't care less about intelligent, honorable, dedicated people like Taylor and Kent.
Taylor and Kent belong to the "intellectual elites" whom the masses DESPISE.
Mass hatred of these "elites" is what Michael Brown wrote his book about.
Pelosi needs to introduce new, wide-ranging articles of impeachment NOW.
Articles that will put every "sexy" "bean spiller" into the public spotlight.
"Is it true, Mr. Tillerson, that you -- as one of the president's "best people" -- called him a 'fucking moron?'"
You and Pelosi (and nearly all well-educated Democrats) want impeachment to be brief and to the point.
In fact, the masses want reality TV which goes on and on and on.
Week after endless week.
They can't get enough "insider gossip" - the more lubricious the better.
As Gerald says: "Find out what people want... and give it to them."
"Are Democrats Building A Collapsible Impeachment?" Is It Deliberately Designed To Collapse?!?
It Is Time For The Press And The Public To Clamor For Ex-Trump Officials To Spill ALL The Beans
Trump "Violates All Recognized Democratic Norms" Federal Judge Says In Biting Speech
Pretty soon, the impeachment hearings -- spread out over the first six months of 2020 -- will be the most highly-rated show on TV.
Fight fire with fire.
Give up on the dinky little bucket brigade.
In his most recent article, Nicholas Kristof asks this simple question: “Why Allow A President To Get Away With What Would Be A Firing Offense For Anyone Else?" https://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2019/11/nicolas-kristof-and-cheryl-wudunn.html
Love
A
PS My working title for a blog post which will feature this correspondence is "Introduce Additional 'Articles Of Impeachment' That Bash The Bastard Six Ways From Sunday." Give no quarter. Do what Trey Gowdy did -- for two years! -- with his Benghazi hearings. And the people ate it up!
Pretty soon, the impeachment hearings -- spread out over the first six months of 2020 -- will be the most highly-rated show on TV.
Fight fire with fire.
Give up on the dinky little bucket brigade.
In his most recent article, Nicholas Kristof asks this simple question: “Why Allow A President To Get Away With What Would Be A Firing Offense For Anyone Else?" https://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2019/11/nicolas-kristof-and-cheryl-wudunn.html
Love
A
PS My working title for a blog post which will feature this correspondence is "Introduce Additional 'Articles Of Impeachment' That Bash The Bastard Six Ways From Sunday." Give no quarter. Do what Trey Gowdy did -- for two years! -- with his Benghazi hearings. And the people ate it up!
Alan: It seems to me that the focus of the Impeachment inquiry is far too narrow.
It recycles the Federal government's Al Capone strategy: "We're not sure if we can convict Capone for his real, egregious, murderous crimes, so... let's get him for income tax evasion."
The difference between Capone's case andTrump's impeachment inquiry is that, ultimately, impeachment gets played out in the court of public opinion.
Notably, Nixon resigned because he saw the court of popular opinion turning against him so that he could foresee the everlasting opprobrium that would soil his reputation in every way - and forever. And so, rather than undergo the fait accompli of the formal impeachment process, he quit.
Consider this.
The evidence that could be brought to bear against Trump for all his real crimes -- PLUS the witnesses who could be supoenaed for "all the real reasons," witnesses like Mattis, Kelly, McMaster, Tillerson, "Anonymous," Michael Flynn, Roger Stone, Rudy Giuliani -- would create an avalanche of public opinion against Trump.
But a phone call with the president of Ukraine?
Meh.
Alan: From the time Pelosi launched the formal impeachment inquiry, Democrats' tunnel vision focus on the Ukraine affair - and only the Ukraine affair - has mystified me.
In the article below, law professor Jonathan Turley gave me a jolt by confirming my suspicion that drawing up just one article of impeachment indicates a flimsy process that, by nature, is not designed to "hold up."
Does Pelosi have some inscrutable 3 dimensional chess move in mind?
On a number of occasions, I have argued that trying to impeach Malignant Messiah over a single phone call with Ukranian president Zelensky is like bringing Al Capone to court for income tax evasion, rather than the many egregious crimes he committed during his "reign of terror."
With one key difference.
Capone's case was tried in federal tax court.
Trump's case will be tried in the militantly non-cooperative Republican-held senate.
Here is my expanded argument on behalf of a comprehensive catalog of impeachment articles - including those enumerated in the Mueller Report. Such a sprawling menu of charges brings with it the added advantage of NOT being able to vote on all articles of impeachment until well into next year's presidential election campaign.
In my view, expanding the articles of impeachment affords Democrats - or could have afforded them - the tactical advantage of being able to prolong impeachment by holding non-compliant witnesses in contempt, one witness at a time.
Ideally, the House impeachment process could be prolonged until "ALL the dirt on Donald" comes out. And by controling the timing, Trump's treachery and putresence would be revealed during the last hundred days of the campaign which is when most Americans start to pay attention.
It also seems possible that Democrats could have timed their manouvers so that the Senate would not be able to conduct its own impeachment trial until after November's election.
Consider the scope of "the dirt."
If Pelosi and the House were to expand "The Articles of Impeachment" as suggested by Amitai Etzioni in his excellent article, "What Should Donald Trump Really Be Impeached For?" - https://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2019/11/what-should-donald-trump-really-be.html - then, the House would have reason to supoena Mattis, Kelly, McMaster, Tillerson, Bolton, the anonymous author of "A Warning," Hope Hicks, Sean Spicer, The Mooch, Manafort, Michael Cohen, Roger Stone, Kellyanne Conway, Steve Bannon, George Conway (?), Michael Flynn, and the fall guy co-conspirators currently "doing time."
However, if the "big guns" -- Mattis, Kelly, McMaster, Tillerson, Bannon and Bolton et al -- were to testify, the upshot would shed harsh light on the unmitigated monstrosity Trump is.
As it is, trying to impeach Malignant Messiah on the basis of a single phone call with Ukranian president Zelensky (who is on record saying he didn't feel any pressure from Trump) is like bringing Al Capone to court for income tax evasion.
Don't monkey around on the periphery of the obvious.
Cut to the quick.
Oblige every crucial in-house witness to Trump's treachery-and-treason to testify -- before the cameras -- in The House of Representatives.
Am I missing something?
Dear F and Jimbo,
Please read the following post.
"Are Democrats Building A Collapsible Impeachment?" Is It Deliberately Designed To Collapse?!?
What happened to our erstwhile conviction that when Trump gets acquitted by the Senate, he will "make hay" by representing himself as "exonerated," dismissing "the Zelensky call" as just another "witch hunt" - and a trivial one at that?
I already feel that the first day of impeachment testimony -- as eloquent and admirable as it was -- is not getting traction outside the political junkie bubble.
Perhaps Americans have become addicted to the dependable hormone hit of Trump's incessant inflammatory tweeting in contrast to Schiff et al building a methodical, evidence-based case just doesn't pack enough hormonal punch.
Trump's "tweet dispensor" reminds me of those experimental cages in which rats choose death-by-starvation if only they can keep getting concentrated "hits" of pure pleasure by pulling the lever that "lights up" their intracranial pleasure center electrodes.
Hoping for the best
Alan
"Are Democrats Building A Collapsible Impeachment?" Is It Deliberately Designed To Collapse?!?
https://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2019/11/are-democrats-building-collapsible.html
Law Professor Jonathan Turley Just Hit Me With A Sinking Feeling
https://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2019/11/law-professor-jonathan-turley-just-hit.html
Introduce Additional "Articles Of Impeachment" That Bash The Bastard Six Ways From Sunday
https://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2019/11/introduce-additional-articles-of.html
"What Should Donald Trump Really Be Impeached For?" Amitai Etzioni In "The National Interest"
"This Is No Ordinary Impeachment" By Andrew Sullivan, New York Magazine
“Why Allow A President To Get Away With What Would Be A Firing Offense For Anyone Else?"
"Dems Should Welcome A Long Impeachment Trial," Conservative Columnist Jennifer Rubin
House-Only Impeachment (Without Taking The Process To The Senate)
State Department Official Bill Taylor, Star Witness At Today's Impeachment Hearing
https://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2019/11/state-department-official-bill-taylor.html
https://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2019/11/state-department-official-bill-taylor.html
No comments:
Post a Comment