Now, I could go back and tell you all the sordid details of how the impeachment inquiry of Donald Trump began and put everything on a neat little timeline so that it’s really clear that the president is full of shit, but that’s a lot of effort. To quote Phil Collins, “Well, we were there and we saw what you did, we saw it with our own two eyes. So you can wipe off that grin, we know where you’ve been. It’s all been a pack of lies.”
On Friday night, when everyone was sheltered in place watching Tiger King or Ozark, the president fired Michael Atkinson, the inspector general of the intelligence community.
On Saturday, he explained for the White House press corps: ““I thought he did a terrible job, absolutely terrible…He took a fake report and he took it to Congress with an emergency, OK? Not a big Trump fan, that I can tell you…Never came in to see me, never requested to see me. That man is a disgrace to IGs.”
In translation, this means that Atkinson was fired for following the law and making sure that Congress was notified about a whistleblower report that credibly detailed a massive crime in progress. Even some Republicans are upset.
Sen. Chuck Grassley, the Iowa Republican who leads the Finance Committee, said that Congress has been “crystal clear” that written reasons must be given when inspectors general are removed for a lack of confidence.
“More details are needed from the administration,” Grassley said.
Maine Sen. Susan Collins, a GOP member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said she didn’t find Trump’s reasoning in his Friday letter to be persuasive, and said Atkinson’s removal “was not warranted.” Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr, R-N.C., said an inspector general “must be allowed to conduct his or her work independent of internal or external pressure.”
To which we can all ask in unison, “Or what? You acquit him in a Senate impeachment trial?”
This is what happens when the Senate is a useless sack of crap run by spineless quislings.
I still have faith that Trump will get what’s coming to him, but there is no justice in the air tonight.
Yes. And this allows me to once again say that the single biggest national political mystery of the past decade is the failure of centrist Republican senators to form a Blue Dog-like caucus to wield their power more effectively. (The single biggest journalistic mystery out of Washington in the past decade is the failure of some well-sourced reporter to write a book about this.)
that’s about as mysterious as the sun coming up tomorrow. lets see
– repubs gave up the seniority system, so if you want to be a chairman you stay in line
– failing to be far enough right will get them a well-funded primary opponent
– “centrist” republicans are way right of any reasonable definition of center and have never been as moderate as they sometimes like to pretend (Susan Collins is the master of this act)
Thanks for your response. It may well be as simple as that (but even if so, the details would make for a fascinating book).
But look what’s happened to the centrists: they’ve all been forced into retirement or, like Collins, are faced with losing their seats because of their association with the party’s right wing. Even simple immediate political self-interest would seem to argue for a different tack.
Note: this is not a small group we’re talking about. Since 2009 it includes Collins (ME), Snowe (ME), Specter (PA-switched parties and lost), Murkowski (AK), McCain (AZ), Lugar (IN), Gregg (NH), Voinovich (OH), Alexander (TN), Corker (TN), Hutchinson (TX), Portman (OH), Ayotte (NH), Heller (NV), Flake (AZ), Gardner (CO), Sasse (NE), Kennedy (LA), Capito (WV), Romney (UT).
In any given session, five or more of those senators could have negotiated a mini-platform among themselves and then gone to party leaders (first their own, then the Dems) to cut a deal. They’d have maximized their power, protected each other, and (best case scenario) carved a path forward for a “national greatness” or “Sam’s Club” or “Third Way” type of Republicanism that broadened the party’s base. But they haven’t. I still wonder: why not?
A Red Dog caucus? Even sounds odd. Perhaps these folks are not as moderate as you think or they really are afraid of Trump’s wrath, and he will “fire” them as he does somebody nearly every other day for some minor infraction. Dictators are not forgiving.
“Ever Get Tired of Republicans Tut-Tutting the President’s Behavior?”
YES. And not just the Collins, Grassley types. Republicans I know personally need a baseball bat to the face every time they try to re-write reality to make Trump (or any Republican) look like a decent person. It’s tempting.
Agree completely but aside from that, the post star rating system is goofy as hell. I click 5 stars and get 1 star and there is no way to fix a faulty rating. Skipping the stars rating in the future. Another aside, I have to log in again every couple of days, not a big deal by itself except, it is a crazy number of clicks to get back to the starting point. There are probably an unlimited number of people with unlimited ability to pay subscriptions for everything, but just guessing, some subscribers are going to prioritize where they put limited subscription dollars and it is probably not a great strategy to persist web programming offering subscription hassels.
Yes, but I’m equally tired of Pelosi and Clyburn and the rest of the elder statesmen treating Trump like a regular Republican President. Just this morning Clyburn said this:
“This committee will be forward-looking. We’re not gonna be looking back at what Donald Trump may or may not have done before the crisis hit.”
I mean, Trump is telling the states that they’re on their own, and then the federal government is intervening and scooping up supplies that they purchased and re-selling it because of some hallowed belief in the private sector (or so his buddies can get rich). But Clyburn and Pelosi and Hoyer will just stand there and say “have you no decency?” while they give away any leverage they have/had. It’s a farce, Martin. Our leaders are failures.
I agree. At the very least, the voters need to be reminded of what Trump has done pre-virus, as reasons why he not only doesn’t deserve to be reelected, but shouldn’t because of the harm he’s caused, pre-virus, and will continue to cause if reelected. I don’t think voters really appreciate the damage Trump has done because of this penchant by the media and some democrats to treat him as a “normal” republican president. At best, he’s normal, just has a bad attitude. That doesn’t do justice to the impact Trump’s had.
I’ve been a democrat all my life, but this current generation of party leadership just baffles me. Sometimes I have to ask, do they really want to win, or are they happy in the “opposition” where the spotlight of responsibility isn’t on them? Or is this the end result of the obsession with getting approval from republican voters, something that has never borne fruit commensurate with the effort and risks? Or is it driven by a desire to not upset their donors? Worse, just asking that question will get you slammed by party sycophants, who say just exploring that question is an attack on the party.
We’re stuck until we can figure this out.