Linsey's Personally Compromised

There, fixed it.

Thank you.

i am hoping that many will be shamed into ducking the senate vote.
it is 2/3 of those present, presuming a quorum.
when names start getting named, and price tags revealed, i think at least a few will get cold feet. hopefully that will be enough.

I think it is safe to say that the news about Nunes' role is one of the primary reasons that republicans are willing to even propose a compromise. Several republicans have also been studying Arlen Specter's infamous "vote" in the Clinton impeachment, which infamously did not use one of the two recognized options of guilty or not guilty.

Condensed version. You're welcome.

I know that a few of the republican Senators are unnerved by the prospect of having to be sworn in at the beginning of the trial. That is, of course, the only time an elected representative in the federal government has to take a second pledge to uphold the Constitution, beyond the one they take when they take office.

This is a strange time.

Trump's self-serving actions aren't just highly criminal but they also imperil the interests and security of the United States and betray our alliances. These causes for impeachment alone are also enormous.

In Clinton's, a completely politically motivated impeachment was entirely based on Clinton having lied about having an affair. The affair wasn't in the slightest bit illegal. Responding to an inappropriate surprise question into his personal life by blurting out a lie to keep his wife from finding out, and protect her and the other woman, was the crime. That means censure in a bogus impeachment was the absolute most the senate should have done.

In this case, censure would be a massive failure of the duty of the senate.

Thanks, and I will be keeping this in mind as the trial proceeds.

I'm enjoying listening to today's hearing. The witnesses are nailing it so well. Trump is the "best" example of why impeachment was included in the Constitution.

In the Clinton case, the Senators could be confident that the president would not engage in the behaviors that resulted in the impeachment for the remainder of his second term. With Trump, anything less than conviction can only result in Trump's engaging in worse behaviors.

was written for Trump. He'll be the example in every future textbook for possibly ever. As long as our democracy continues, anyway.

may be possible, at least in theory, that our constitutional democracy could survive Trump's being acquitted. But not if he is acquitted and gets a second term. There is a hell of a lot riding on this.

an acquittal now. Thank everything for our belated control of the house, which is a huge barrier to their takeover. And, in practical terms, for what I believe will be continued revelations of shocking betrayals and other crimes both outside and inside congress.

But not another stolen election. I'm very afraid our democracy cannot survive continuation of power by the enemy inside its walls that today's Republicans have become.

The stolen elections of 2000 and 2016 have done severe damage to our very system of government. As you know, a "hidden" part of Newt Gingrich's "Contract on America" in the 1990s was to divide the legislative branch of the federal government, in order to give the executive branch a level of power far beyond what the Constitution defines; the Supreme Court selection of Bush-Cheney did horrible harm to the judiciary; and Dick Cheney and Donald Trump have damaged the executive branch throough power grabs.

It was the weakened institutions that allowed for Trump's "victory" in 2016. And he has done serious damage to the executive branch's institutions ever since. His attacks on the DoJ, FBI, etc, are dangerous. Trump wants the FBI, for example, to return to the corrupt nature it had under Hoover.

The foreign "influence" that Trump welcomes in our elections is a direct attack on the US. If allowed, it crushes every option for corrective measures in the federal government -- which in turn makes state and local government at high risk at best, and a fform of international feudalism by definition.

And the republican party's leadership is welcoming this dynamic. Just fucking unreal.

That's why I am so pleased to see what the Democrats in the House are doing. I'm confident the Democrats in the Senate will act with similar intentions. It's up to us, the people at the grass roots, to do our part.

past Trump's term with as little damage and delay to their plans as possible. They're doing their best to turn his disruptions and destructions to their purpose and have been having a lot of success. His government is packed with their corrupt agents and religious right extremists, often both in the same package for unified major power blocs. Pence, for instance.

The Republican-controlled trial will be very different, but the trial process itself, even though the Republicans decide what that will be, should keep them from being able to hide the truth. Someone pointed out that the congressmen leading the house hearings will conduct the prosecution at trial.

I am pretty sure that Adam Schiff will serve as our lead prosecutor. I think that will be perfect. I really like and respect Jerry Nadler, but believe Schiff is the right person for the job.

I have some mixed feelings about censure. It's not what I want, of course, but it would put a serious divide between Senate republicans and Trump. We witnessed his inability to accept that anyone views him as less than "perfect" yesterday. If he isn't going to be convicted and removed from office, there are benefits to added stains to his presidency. Still, I think it is possible that the Senate would convict him.

The fact that the Senators have to take a seond oath before hearing an impeachment trial should be important. Swearing to uphold the Constitution should mean something. It's terrible that it doesn't appear to, though.

I find it hard to imagine further revelations potentially highly injurious to Trump and the Republicans won't continue after the trial. Perhaps even during. Pelosi et al have to be considering that, almost certainly know what some will be, and are including that in their strategy. Somehow. The big, immutable goal, of course, is getting majority and presidential power away from the enemies within the walls of our democracy. As soon as possible.

I am curious though. Why aren’t the republicans afraid of that?

If he gets a second term he would be 10 times as demented as he is now. Don’t they also fear that? Today he stormed home because other world leaders made fun of him. He called Trudeau two-faced. Doesn’t that sound like a schoolgirl who isn’t popular with the in crowd so she takes her ball and jacks and goes home and cries to Mummy?

So go into the future, at a NATO conference they make fun of him so he pulls out of NATO and declares war? He’s demented enough to do it now. If re-elected he would have no incentive to curb his tantrums.

I just know there have to be republicans who look at today and say let’s cut bait and impeach him before he nukes Queen Elizabeth.

Today was insane. In two years it would be life threatening.

in the Senate are prone to expressing concerns about him. Most of them recognize that he's getting worse. He doesn't take pressure well.

I was listening to someone on the news today, who said that many of his base -- I include House republicans -- have replaced "the United States" with "Trump." And obviously Trump has attempted to do so. And that i, like so many have said here, cult-thought. Replace your family & friends with the cult. You've likely encountered people like that.

We are at the crossroads: one direction heads towards healing our society, the other goes where the great poet Yeats wrote "the center can no longer hold."

You said you would tell me when it was time to worry.

Are we there?

I mean, yes I remember. But no, it isn't time for us to worry.

It's how they got their name: "Censure and Move On".


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_MoveOn.org

There was, at the time, quite a bit of support for censure.

For republicans since it lets trump off the hook and will hurt Democrats in the election.

That is very, very important. I noted in the OP that pressure from the House republicans deflated the Gorton-Lieberman trial balloon. It is important, in my opinion, that everyone let their Representatives know that they need to make sure that Senators know such a compromise is simply unacceptable.

Impeach & Convict Trump, which was by no coincidence the title of my 11-22 essay.