Steve Benen says, “In theory, lawmakers charged with assessing the seriousness of Trump’s misconduct should value the judgment of the nation’s leading scholars…” But, as we all know, members of the modern Republican Party do not value the opinions of scholars, scientists, or experts of any kind. Rather, they hold these people up as elitists who look down on ordinary Americans. As Rep. Jim Jordan said during the House Judiciary Committee hearing that led to articles of impeachment, “They don’t like the 63 million people who voted for this President. All of us in flyover country, all of us from Ohio, Wisconsin, Tennessee, Texas, they don’t like us.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CWFaeUyp3oBut whether Republicans want to listen or not, over 750 legal scholars have concluded that Trump has committed impeachable offenses and over 750 historians have just co-signed a letter concluding the same thing. Their conclusions are based on their understanding of what the Founding Fathers feared and intended when they included presidential impeachment in the Constitution.
On that score, see if what Alexander Hamilton wrote sounds applicable to Trump:
Hamilton understood, as he wrote in 1792, that the republic remained vulnerable to the rise of an unscrupulous demagogue, “unprincipled in private life, desperate in his fortune, bold in his temper, possessed of considerable talents … despotic in his ordinary demeanour.” That demagogue, Hamilton said, could easily enough manage “to mount the hobby horse of popularity – to join in the cry of danger to liberty – to take every opportunity of embarrassing the General Government & bringing it under suspicion – to flatter and fall in with all the non sense of the zealots of the day.” Such a figure, Hamilton wrote, would “throw things into confusion that he may ‘ride the storm and direct the whirlwind.’”
It’s almost like Alexander Hamilton had clearer foresight than Nostradamus. It makes me wonder if he based this merely on his understanding of human nature or perhaps had some specific historical examples in mind.
The Founding Fathers were children of the Enlightenment, and it’s not difficult to know what they would think about a political party that devalues education, scholarship and expertise. But, whether we like it or not, that’s where we are as a country, being led by resentful know-nothing demagogues and their enablers.
If that doesn’t concern you, then this certainly should:
President Donald Trump, the first modern president to face impeachment during his first term in the White House, now leads his top Democratic rivals in his bid for a second, a new USA TODAY/Suffolk University Poll finds.
The national survey, taken as the House of Representatives planned an impeachment vote and the Senate a trial, showed Trump defeating former Vice President Joe Biden by 3 percentage points, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders by 5 points, and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren by 8 points.
In hypothetical head-to-head contests, Trump also led South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg by 10 points and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg by 9.
Over in the United Kingdom, the left was just beaten down to a level not seen since the 1930’s. Here in the United States, it’s time for people to get serious about the threat we face.
There’s not a shred of substantive difference between the way the mob would fix juries and what Moscow Mitch plans to do with impeachment in the Senate.
I try not to read too much into the UK general election. Differences in conditions etc. Some takeaways that seem pretty obvious:
1. The opposition needs to be united. That did not happen in the UK. Gave Tories a lot of breathing room. Look by contrast at this year’s local elections in Hungary, where the opposition parties all united against Fidesz candidates, in the process winning outright majorities in major and minor cities that Fidesz took for granted. Unite against the GOP all the way up and down ballot. That’s our hope.
2. Let’s hope to whatever higher power one might believe in that the eventual Democratic Presidential nominee is one who is well-liked. Corbyn was largely despised, even within his own party. So were his most virulent followers – Momentum. We’d be wise not to make that mistake. In an unpopularity contest, the incumbent might have an unwanted advantage.
3. Phone calls, texts, knocking on doors – souls to the polls. That’s going to be the ballgame. Make sure that the elevator pitch is simple and relatable.
4. Don’t get hung up on the ideal candidate. None exists. Remember that this next four years, if we succeed, is about cleaning up a huge mess.
Booman seems to have lost his MoJO
He is just putting the facts out there, I am thinking?
He’s not just putting facts out there, he’s being irrational and citing nonsense without context. This polling includes imaginary third party candidates getting 11-12%. Trump’s toplines are 44% no matter who his opponent. If we take these numbers to the bank, Trump would get his clock cleaned. Bernie and Biden perform similarly in this poll and others, with Biden having a bit of a kick for +1-3 over his rivals, and Warren suffers some from her gender. Consistent everywhere.
I’ve noted this before but Moody’s predicted a smashing victory for Trump some few months ago baring a recession. It’s all about the economy you know. Turnout could also influence the outcome. How does one do that? Maybe, just maybe, we need a candidate who people believe will help them. I equated that to someone like Warren. She, like Harris, appears to have lost her enthusiasm so I am no longer thinking she can carry the day. Maybe no one can. Same turnout same outcome as 2016. The impeachment is thus far not moving the needle. Nadler and Schiff don’t got it.
There seems to be some cherry-picking of polls going on. Just a day earlier we saw the Fox poll showing all the major Democratic candidates defeating Trump.
Impeachment was never going to move the needle. I laughed at Booman everytime he talked about 25th amendment or Mueller giving cover to GOP senators to vote against impeachment. I understand you want to set a tone but sometimes it’s too much.
Look an incumbent president with a good economy is always going to be favored for reelection and the Fed is doing it’s usual thing of juicing the economy in an election year when it favors a right wing president.
The average American couldn’t tell you who Alexander Hamilton was, never mind what any of that means.
They’re busy staring at their phones to see any new information on the latest masked singer update.
We’re probably fucked.