again.....
Really capable smart people are digesting the minutia of the details of what was done. Folks, the real issue here is not the details of what was and is being done, it is why we voters have found any hint of this behavior acceptable in the management we hire. Trump aside, why was it that the Senate confirmed a known lier to the top law enforcement post in the US? A lot of the members were around when Barr did his rendition memo rendition. They knew better.
The details are a distraction, an entertaining one (only 2/3rds through the read), but a distraction.
How do we talk to each other and fix ourselves, our values as a nation?
The Republicans have gamed the system to win with less than a majority. In 2016, they lost the popular vote, but won the electoral vote thanks to 3-4 squeaker and possibly illegal wins (Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Florida). In the senate, they lost even worse. The popular senate vote for Democratic senatorial candidates was over 51 million and the Republicans got around 40 million votes. The Democrats won 12 senate elections and the Republicans 22.
In many states thanks to gerrymandering the Democrats got more votes in both House races and state legislature races, but got a minority of seats.
The same thing repeated in 2018. The generic Senate vote was 53 million to 35 million and the Democrats lost two seats getting 18 million more votes.
The majority of Americans are not backing the Republicans, but they have a large enough minority scared of boogiemen in the right corners of the country to vote for them. Getting rural voters to vote Republican is a very effective bang for the buck.
Thanks to the technology differences between the cities and the rural areas, the majority of people living in rural areas have far fewer options for getting their information than people in cities. Republicans have repeatedly blocked ideas to bring broadband internet to rural areas because they know that if their constituents are able to learn what's going on from something other than the local TV and radio stations and what they pump in via satellite, the gig is up. In the suburbs where broadband is widely available, the abandonment of the Republican party in 2018 was profound.
What is disturbing is the relative handful of Republican politicians who are sticking with Donald Trump, even though it's obvious he's a criminal. They do so because they think that's their best bet for getting re-elected.
In terms of impeachment ... I'm slightly surprised the most vociferous calls are coming from progressives and not "resistance" liberals.
My guess is Pelosi, apart from being a coward, is worried about purple seats they just won in '18.
Pelosi isn't being a coward, she's being a realist. Look at how much Trump crowed about being exonerated by a report that clearly did not exonerate him. If he is impeached and survives the Senate trial, then he will be even more emboldened. And right now the votes are not there in the Senate.
Starting in a few weeks there will be a blizzard of Congressional testimony, much of it public that will have one former Trump person after another testify that Trump tried to obstruct justice many times and generally how corrupt he is. This will be played every night on the news. The independents who don't really like Trump, but were leaning his direction will see testimony about Trump's guilt every time they turn around and it will erode their support.
Nixon enjoyed much more popularity than Trump does now until a tipping point was hit in the Watergate investigation and the public started clamoring for his head. Then a number of Republican senators said they were willing to break with their party and vote for conviction in an impeachment trial. Once Nixon became aware of that he resigned.
We're living in a very different media environment, but the same rules still apply. Impeaching Trump is easy, removing him from office right now is impossible. And an attempted impeachment now would only make Trump stronger.
Think of it like this... you have a neighbor who you are sure is up to something illegal, say selling illegal drugs. But the cops are being paid off and they are looking the other way. You've complained to the cops, but it doesn't look like they're doing anything. If you take a baseball bat, go over to the neighbor's house and wreck the place, chances are you'll end up in prison and the neighbor will look better than ever. If however you start gathering evidence and then turn it over to the local news and it becomes a big news story, then the cops will have to act out of their own best interests.
As short term satisfying it would be to take a baseball bat to the neighbor's house, the most effective way is to bide your time and make your case.
If the Senate does not shift against Trump, the Democrats can put the Republicans there in a bind in 2020 by impeaching Trump during primary season. Then the 22 Republican Senators up for re-election have to go on the record as protecting a president the majority of the public will probably believe is a criminal by that point.
It's frustrating to watch. I'm frustrated too, but in the current political environment, that's the best play the Democrats have.
