Thread: President Donald Trump

Not guilty. Not guilty.

In the United States Senate, like in many spheres of life, fear does the business.

Think back to the fall of 2002, just a few weeks before that year’s crucial midterm elections, when the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq was up for a vote. A year after the 9/11 attacks, hundreds of members of the House and the Senate were about to face the voters of a country still traumatized by terrorism.
Senator Patty Murray, a thoughtful Democrat from Washington State, still remembers “the fear that dominated the Senate leading up to the Iraq war.”

“You could feel it then,” she told me, “and you can feel that fear now” — chiefly among Senate Republicans.

For those of us who, from the start, questioned the wisdom of the Iraq war, our sense of isolation surely wasn’t much different from the loneliness felt in the 1950s by Senator Herbert Lehman of New York, who confronted Joe McCarthy’s demagogy only to be abandoned by so many of his colleagues. Nor was it so different from what Senator George McGovern must have felt when he announced his early opposition to the Vietnam War and was then labeled a traitor by many inside and outside of Congress.

History has indeed taught us that when it comes to the instincts that drive us, fear has no rival. As the lead House impeachment manager, Representative Adam Schiff, has noted, Robert Kennedy spoke of how “moral courage is a rarer commodity than bravery in battle.”

Playing on that fear, the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, sought a quick impeachment trial for President Trump with as little attention to it as possible.

Reporters, who usually roam the Capitol freely, have been cordoned off like cattle in select areas. Mr. McConnell ordered limited camera views in the Senate chamber so only presenters — not absent senators — could be spotted.

And barely a peep from Republican lawmakers.

One journalist remarked to me, “How in the world can these senators walk around here upright when they have no backbone?”

Fear has a way of bending us.

Late in the evening on day four of the trial I saw it, just 10 feet across the aisle from my seat at Desk 88, when Mr. Schiff told the Senate: “CBS News reported last night that a Trump confidant said that Republican senators were warned, ‘Vote against the president and your head will be on a pike.’” The response from Republicans was immediate and furious. Several groaned and protested and muttered, “Not true.” But pike or no pike, Mr. Schiff had clearly struck a nerve. (In the words of Lizzo: truth hurts.)

Of course, the Republican senators who have covered for Mr. Trump love what he delivers for them. But Vice President Mike Pence would give them the same judges, the same tax cuts, the same attacks on workers’ rights and the environment. So that’s not really the reason for their united chorus of “not guilty.”

For the stay-in-office-at-all-cost representatives and senators, fear is the motivator. They are afraid that Mr. Trump might give them a nickname like “Low Energy Jeb” and “Lyin’ Ted,” or that he might tweet about their disloyalty. Or — worst of all — that he might come to their state to campaign against them in the Republican primary. They worry:

“Will the hosts on Fox attack me?”

“Will the mouthpieces on talk radio go after me?”

“Will the Twitter trolls turn their followers against me?”

My colleagues know they all just might. There’s an old Russian proverb: The tallest blade of grass is the first cut by the scythe. In private, many of my colleagues agree that the president is reckless and unfit. They admit his lies. And they acknowledge what he did was wrong. They know this president has done things Richard Nixon never did. And they know that more damning evidence is likely to come out.

So watching the mental contortions they perform to justify their votes is painful to behold: They claim that calling witnesses would have meant a never-ending trial. They tell us they’ve made up their minds, so why would we need new evidence? They say to convict this president now would lead to the impeachment of every future president — as if every president will try to sell our national security to the highest bidder.

I have asked some of them, “If the Senate votes to acquit, what will you do to keep this president from getting worse?” Their responses have been shrugs and sheepish looks.

They stop short of explicitly saying that they are afraid. We all want to think that we always stand up for right and fight against wrong. But history does not look kindly on politicians who cannot fathom a fate worse than losing an upcoming election. They might claim fealty to their cause — those tax cuts — but often it’s a simple attachment to power that keeps them captured.

As Senator Murray said on the Senate floor in 2002, “We can act out of fear” or “we can stick to our principles.” Unfortunately, in this Senate, fear has had its way. In November, the American people will have theirs.

Opinion | In Private, Republicans Admit They Acquitted Trump Out of Fear - The New York Times

Trump won, again

And losers keep supporting him

The Dems you mean? yes, they are the big losers

Trump always win, and get ready for another 4 years, so you fookers can whine for more like sore losers

supporting him

Originally Posted by Dragonfly

The Dems you mean?

Ummm... this is the reason Trumptards have a reputation as being fucking dumb

In an interview on NBC news, senator Susan Collins was asked, “what’s keeping Donald Trump from doing this again?” (Asking a foreign government for help in our election)

Collins, in her best Bette Davis voice: “ I believe the president has learned his lesson.“

either she’s dumb as hell, or she thinks the American people are.

suck it up pissy, 4 more years of being triggered by trump.

you snowflake wimpsters cant handle the loons unpredictability. he's gone rogue and you dont know what to do, you have no answers, no plan, nada, bupkes, nothing.

hes got you all hogtied. all you can do is go red in the face and insult him and his supporters..... and where will that get you?

so suck it up losers.

Democratically elected. There is nothing more to add.

I am no fan of trump, but to see his detractors running around like headless chickens explains perfectly why he is in the white house and they are not.

So suck it up losers, and until you can come up with a viable plan to overturn his majority, youll just have to keep sucking.

Watching from the sidelines is entertainment of the highest calibre.

You can't help but think of Terry when you read this eh.

Has Trump got a point about the "wall" ?

A country that do not control it's borders is a failed state

Why doesn't the other party take the wind out of that Balloon ?

Originally Posted by taxexile

Watching from the sidelines is entertainment of the highest calibre.

Yes,but comes at a steep ticket price

Originally Posted by helge

Has Trump got a point about the "wall" ?

he has just executively appropriated 7.2 billion for his wall from some budget - his strategists will have identified the wall as a lie that will bite him

Originally Posted by taxexile

Democratically elected. There is nothing more to add.

He lost the popular vote.

Originally Posted by helge

Has Trump got a point about the "wall" ?

When our roads and bridges are crumbling beneath our feet, when our healthcare system is for shit, when our public education system ranks 27th in the world, when our cities are overrun with homeless, spending 45 billion on a fucking wall,
is one fucking dumb idea.

The majority of illegal aliens in America made it through legal ports of entry, so unless you’re going to build a wall around the airports, spending money on our southern border wall doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.

Never mind, I forgot! Mexico is going to pay for it!

the house is on fire and half the residents are cheering at how big the flames are and that the other half of the residents will be homeless

Originally Posted by beachbound

When our roads and bridges are crumbling beneath our feet, when our healthcare system is for shit, when our public education system ranks 27th in the world, when our cities are overrun with homeless,

...not mentioning the needy military budget...

How many Trumptards does it take to change a light bulb?

None, Trump just says it's fixed and they sit in the dark and applaud.

Originally Posted by taxexile

that'll get the electorate thinking

I am not that confident that is the solution

far better is to dismantle the gerrymandering that produces their 2 party system

far better is to dismantle the gerrymandering that produces their 2 party system

got any hackneyed memes to illustrate your point?

Trumptards will celebrate this as another sign of 'strength' from their wannabe dictator douchebag god and totally miss what it actually is:

Impeachment witness Alexander Vindman and his twin brother were abruptly fired and escorted from the White House as part of Trump's payback | Business Insider

Originally Posted by taxexile

got any hackneyed memes to illustrate your point?

my point is for more that just you

Fine Lines: Partisan Gerrymandering and the Two Party State | Harvard Political Review

Originally Posted by Klondyke (President Donald Trump)
...not mentioning the needy military budget...

[QUOTE=panama hat;4056143]Indeed, the poor thing is only slightly ahead of everyone else . . . literally everyone

Sorry, I should have written "needy" - for some to get the clue...

Originally Posted by panama hat

Luckily it's a 'Defence' budget

Defending "own" country at "own" gates...