Looking at Greg Sargent’s latest piece on Russian Bountygate, I was caught a bit off guard by the president’s latest spin. It wasn’t the sheer disingenuousness of it that astounded me. It was my realization that I can still be astounded by this asshole.
I looked at that tweet for a long time. My mind began to process not just the ludicrousness of what Trump was saying but also the impossibility of defending it. Two separate congressional teams have already been to the White House to review the intelligence, and they came away saying it was not a hoax. It has already leaked that the intelligence community used banking records to ascertain that a GRU unit made large transfers to the Taliban. This is reminiscent of when Trump kept harping on about the “whistleblower” long after his Ukraine-related impeachable offenses had. been confirmed by much more solid sources. But, in this case, it involves Putin paying for the murder of U.S. soldiers, and few Republicans are going to pretend that it’s no big deal.
There’s a word for Trump’s argument that this is Fake News designed to damage him:
His primary problem is that everyone knows that the allegation is real. There was a National Security Council meeting in March that looked at the issue. It was in the president’s daily intelligence briefing on February 27, 2020. What the Republicans world like to do now is pivot by taking some strong measures against Russia, but they can’t do that if the president insists this is all a giant hoax.
The parents of soldiers who died, the parents of people still serving in the armed services, the members of the armed services, veterans’ groups, and ordinary concerned citizens are all going to demand some kind of clarity on this story, and some kind of response. Congressional Republicans would be committing suicide to take the president’s line on this.
It’s just not going to work.
Doesn’t matter that it’s real. If Dear Leader says it, best squak like his version is real. Or else the Republican voters will call that person a RINO and stay home.
What a nice pickle the Republicans have placed themselves in. Too bad it’ll take the rest of us down with them.
What are the options for another impeachment?
I’m no constitutional expert, but it’s my understanding that there’s no limit on the number of times a president (or other official) can be impeached by the House (and tried by the Senate). In theory, anyway.
As a practical, political matter, it seems unlikely Trump will be impeached again this year…unless Republicans somehow take the lead.
I agree that as a political matter, it seems strange to start impeachment again at this point. This has always been an urgent situation, but now even more people can see it. Communicating that Democrats take Russia seriously via impeachment might actually be good politics, not to mention just the right thing to do.
“Congressional Republicans would be committing suicide to take the president’s line on this.”
This is how badly this country is fractured – I read that sentence and think: “Fine by me”. Except I want it to be real suicide…that’s how much I hate these dishonest assholes.
Every day I pray for a Budd Dwyer re-enactment.
Congressional Republicans would be committing suicide to take the president’s line on this. Congressional Republicans would be committing suicide to go against Trump. What’s a poor whore of a politician whose sold his soul to the devil to do? Poor little dears.
With this stupid asshole there is no bottom. The press secretary called him the most informed person in the world regarding threats to Americans. Can you imagine being able to say that with a straight face. She’s another Holy Roller that has no qualms about lying. I’d like to ship all of these traitors over to Afghanistan.
The Democrats need to hammer on this every second of every minute every day. We should start calling him Bounty Boy.
The Republicans won’t do shit. They won’t. I don’t even know if they CAN.
So they’ll ignore it.
Why can’t they take a voice vote on sanctions?