The Impeachment of President Donald J Trump

[Habbaku]

They put him there in order to catch him. Brilliant maneuver by our very stable genius President.

[The Minsky Moment]

It's interesting. I always thought if he started to try and pressure or politicise the Fed that would possibly be the sort of thing that would cause Republicans in Congress (especially the Senate) to abandon him.

Nope the whole Goldbug/Rand Paul/"audit the Fed" lobby has been co-opted or vanished.  GOP in addition to being the party of unfree trade and giant fiscal deficits is also the soft money party.

[The Brain]

So apparently the Lt. Col who is testifying today is probably a spy and traitor.  He was born in Ukraine and thus can't be trusted.

If so, that's a pretty big failure by the Trump Whitehouse, since they put the guy in that position.

What are your feelings? You used to work in Whitehouse IIRC.

[Eddie Teach]

No, he used to ride the Whitehorse.

[Tonitrus]

That's a horse of a different color.

[The Brain]

And conservatism followed with him.

[DGuller]

It's interesting. I always thought if he started to try and pressure or politicise the Fed that would possibly be the sort of thing that would cause Republicans in Congress (especially the Senate) to abandon him.

Nope the whole Goldbug/Rand Paul/"audit the Fed" lobby has been co-opted or vanished.  GOP in addition to being the party of unfree trade and giant fiscal deficits is also the soft money party.

I don't think there was much co-opting to be had.  Paul types seemed to embrace Russian propaganda and conspiracy theories long before it was fashionable.  The rest of the GOP joined them more than the other way around.

[Syt]

The Vindman twins, both on the National Security Council. Does that ever cause confusion, I wonder.

[Oexmelin]

Republican toadies persist in calling the impeachment procedure a coup.

This is extremely dangerous.

[Malthus]

Republican toadies persist in calling the impeachment procedure a coup.

This is extremely dangerous.

I find it difficult to tell how seriously to rate their bullshit.

Will the US have actual political assassinations and the like, stirred up by such rhetoric? Seems quite possible at this point.

[grumbler]

Republican toadies persist in calling the impeachment procedure a coup.

This is extremely dangerous.

This is also extremely standard.  The Democratic toadies did it for Clinton, and the Republican toadies did it for Nixon.  Toadies are going to toady; they can't help it.

[Valmy]

Yeah we always hear about how bad it is to use Constitutional methods to check the power of the executive because it is trying to cancel an election and is anti-democratic. I guess because Congress isn't elected or anything? I never understood that logic.

[Malthus]

Republican toadies persist in calling the impeachment procedure a coup.

This is extremely dangerous.

This is also extremely standard.  The Democratic toadies did it for Clinton, and the Republican toadies did it for Nixon.  Toadies are going to toady; they can't help it.

The question in my mind is whether such rhetoric will have a different effect on impressionable minds this time around. 

[Oexmelin]

This is also extremely standard.  The Democratic toadies did it for Clinton, and the Republican toadies did it for Nixon.  Toadies are going to toady; they can't help it.

Do you not see anything different at all from these varying circumstances?

[mongers]

Republican toadies persist in calling the impeachment procedure a coup.

This is extremely dangerous.

I find it difficult to tell how seriously to rate their bullshit.

Will the US have actual political assassinations and the like, stirred up by such rhetoric? Seems quite possible at this point.

Yes, that's a key consideration.

In the UK we've already had a political assassination of an MP, though not clear how much the divisive political debate of the last few years influenced the right wing murder.