Martin Longman is the web editor of the Washington Monthly.
He is also the founder of Booman Tribune and Progress Pond. Before joining the Monthly, Martin was a county coordinator for ACORN/Project Vote and a political consultant. He has a degree in philosophy from Western Michigan University.
From Trump’s point of view, the only thing that could be a win is for the Republicans to stick with him. Otherwise, he leaves office in disgrace and, as much shame as that guy carries, I think we can agree there’s no way he’d do it voluntarily. The Republicans know this. Trump isn’t leaving office absent a big fight and he’ll do nothing to assuage the outrage of his followers. In fact, he’ll stoke it to 11. Having weighed the options, the entire party has made clear they’ll stand with Trump. That could change but it’s not likely. I’m not… Read more »
PS: On that score, I think it would be wise to include a charge associated with putting children in cages. That’s a no-brainer. Will further draw the partisan divide and alienate a few who might have maybe been drawn to our side. But I think it’s so compelling to so many that it far outweighs whatever drag it might create.
So they asked her if she thought all that’s going on now is just to distract us from what is going on in Vietnam. She agreed. And they asked him if he should be allowed to keep the recordings he made in the oval office and he agrees bc he has diplomatic immunity. And what about Deep Throat? She thought that sounded sexual and more fake news. These are our citizens. You don’t really expect to change them do you?
You can’t win an argument with an irrational person, and the behavior of every Repub on the committee makes clear that they are biased and irrational, and that evidence cannot move them–they (and 40-some percent of the citizenry) are immune from evidence and reason, and thus the preconditions for democracy imagined by the Framers no longer obtain or exist in the United States. We will find out if it was “wise” as a purely political matter for the Dems to have forced the issue, but there is no doubt that it was compelled as a democratic and constitutional matter. While… Read more »
Some enterprising young reporters actually asked Trump supporters those questions and more. Those are the answers. Now imagine someone thinking the Vietnam war was still ongoing and the democrats were causing it? Some of this is utter nonsense. These people don’t even know what decade they live in. So asking them to support impeachment is idiocy. And if public opinion has anything to do with getting republicans to vote to convict Trump we have a hard road ahead. You have to see the expressions on their faces when asked that nonsense and more to know nothing registers. So the chances… Read more »
Folks (to quote Joe Biden), you don’t dismantle a corrupt presidency with a couple of weeks of good hearings. It took a lot of political and economic power to put Trump in office; it’s going to take a lot to remove him.
This was a good two weeks for Democrats and for democracy. Now go enjoy Thanksgiving, come back the week after and do another 2-3 weeks like that. Take a break for Christmas and New Year’s, and then start up again in January. To cite that great progressive leader, Jacob Riis, and his stonecutter’s credo: keep pounding the rock.
But it is not getting us anywhere. The needle hasn’t barely moved. Schiff is ready to file his report with the Judiciary in the next week or two. I understand he may amend it if anything material comes up. Otherwise he is done. I take it to mean he is not going to wait for appeals and such to get some more testimony in.
I hope but I am not betting on that. For them this will be a truly great victory over the lying democrats. I hope it will increase turnout sufficiently of some sane people to beat the fools. ..
Certainly, the ultimate arbiters are the voters. Democrats will have made their case against Trump, and Republicans will stand behind them. Then it is up to the electorate to decide if they care about this or not. That said, having even an handful of R votes would be immensely important for signaling to the politically uninvolved (which is most of the country) that Trump really did do something wrong. That’s why Will Hurd’s indication that he will not vote to impeach is so disappointing. In the Senate, I will count it as a victory if we get even one R… Read more »
It is infuriating to see reporter after reporter ask Democrats “DO YOU HAVE ANY REPUBLICAN SUPPORT FOR IMPEACHMENT AND REMOVAL FROM OFFICE? HOW WILL YOU GET ANY? SPEAKER PELOSI SAID IMPEACHMENT WAS DIVISIVE SO THE CASE HAS TO BE BIPARTISAN OR YOU SHOULDN’T DO IT. THIS IS VIOLATING PELOSI’S STANDARD ISN’T IT? SHOULDN’T YOU LEGISLATE INSTEAD OF WASTING TIME ON A DOOMED EFFORT???” The same journalists could choose to query Republicans about the shamefulness of the President’s actions as persistently and thoroughly and loudly as they question Democrats in this way. They could also let the constant horse race narrative… Read more »
First, glad to see you back here. Second, given the well known complicity of the corporate media in the failure of the nation, it really is up to the Dems being asked these questions to turn the tables on the worthless teevee “journalists”. Perhaps responses such as “I see you asking Dems that question quite a lot. The question really is why the Repub party has unanimously decided to ignore and condone the evidence of abuse of office which has been uncovered”, or some such. The Repubs (in building the “conservative” movement) used counterattacks on media questions almost exclusively. Since… Read more »
From Trump’s point of view, the only thing that could be a win is for the Republicans to stick with him. Otherwise, he leaves office in disgrace and, as much shame as that guy carries, I think we can agree there’s no way he’d do it voluntarily. The Republicans know this. Trump isn’t leaving office absent a big fight and he’ll do nothing to assuage the outrage of his followers. In fact, he’ll stoke it to 11. Having weighed the options, the entire party has made clear they’ll stand with Trump. That could change but it’s not likely. I’m not… Read more »
PS: On that score, I think it would be wise to include a charge associated with putting children in cages. That’s a no-brainer. Will further draw the partisan divide and alienate a few who might have maybe been drawn to our side. But I think it’s so compelling to so many that it far outweighs whatever drag it might create.
So they asked her if she thought all that’s going on now is just to distract us from what is going on in Vietnam. She agreed. And they asked him if he should be allowed to keep the recordings he made in the oval office and he agrees bc he has diplomatic immunity. And what about Deep Throat? She thought that sounded sexual and more fake news. These are our citizens. You don’t really expect to change them do you?
You can’t win an argument with an irrational person, and the behavior of every Repub on the committee makes clear that they are biased and irrational, and that evidence cannot move them–they (and 40-some percent of the citizenry) are immune from evidence and reason, and thus the preconditions for democracy imagined by the Framers no longer obtain or exist in the United States. We will find out if it was “wise” as a purely political matter for the Dems to have forced the issue, but there is no doubt that it was compelled as a democratic and constitutional matter. While… Read more »
Some enterprising young reporters actually asked Trump supporters those questions and more. Those are the answers. Now imagine someone thinking the Vietnam war was still ongoing and the democrats were causing it? Some of this is utter nonsense. These people don’t even know what decade they live in. So asking them to support impeachment is idiocy. And if public opinion has anything to do with getting republicans to vote to convict Trump we have a hard road ahead. You have to see the expressions on their faces when asked that nonsense and more to know nothing registers. So the chances… Read more »
Folks (to quote Joe Biden), you don’t dismantle a corrupt presidency with a couple of weeks of good hearings. It took a lot of political and economic power to put Trump in office; it’s going to take a lot to remove him.
This was a good two weeks for Democrats and for democracy. Now go enjoy Thanksgiving, come back the week after and do another 2-3 weeks like that. Take a break for Christmas and New Year’s, and then start up again in January. To cite that great progressive leader, Jacob Riis, and his stonecutter’s credo: keep pounding the rock.
But it is not getting us anywhere. The needle hasn’t barely moved. Schiff is ready to file his report with the Judiciary in the next week or two. I understand he may amend it if anything material comes up. Otherwise he is done. I take it to mean he is not going to wait for appeals and such to get some more testimony in.
Acquittal in the senate will be a Pyrrhic victory for Trump and the Republicans.
I hope but I am not betting on that. For them this will be a truly great victory over the lying democrats. I hope it will increase turnout sufficiently of some sane people to beat the fools. ..
Certainly, the ultimate arbiters are the voters. Democrats will have made their case against Trump, and Republicans will stand behind them. Then it is up to the electorate to decide if they care about this or not. That said, having even an handful of R votes would be immensely important for signaling to the politically uninvolved (which is most of the country) that Trump really did do something wrong. That’s why Will Hurd’s indication that he will not vote to impeach is so disappointing. In the Senate, I will count it as a victory if we get even one R… Read more »
It is infuriating to see reporter after reporter ask Democrats “DO YOU HAVE ANY REPUBLICAN SUPPORT FOR IMPEACHMENT AND REMOVAL FROM OFFICE? HOW WILL YOU GET ANY? SPEAKER PELOSI SAID IMPEACHMENT WAS DIVISIVE SO THE CASE HAS TO BE BIPARTISAN OR YOU SHOULDN’T DO IT. THIS IS VIOLATING PELOSI’S STANDARD ISN’T IT? SHOULDN’T YOU LEGISLATE INSTEAD OF WASTING TIME ON A DOOMED EFFORT???” The same journalists could choose to query Republicans about the shamefulness of the President’s actions as persistently and thoroughly and loudly as they question Democrats in this way. They could also let the constant horse race narrative… Read more »
First, glad to see you back here. Second, given the well known complicity of the corporate media in the failure of the nation, it really is up to the Dems being asked these questions to turn the tables on the worthless teevee “journalists”. Perhaps responses such as “I see you asking Dems that question quite a lot. The question really is why the Repub party has unanimously decided to ignore and condone the evidence of abuse of office which has been uncovered”, or some such. The Repubs (in building the “conservative” movement) used counterattacks on media questions almost exclusively. Since… Read more »
Agreed.