Unlimited Power

As published December 19, 2019:

Letter: Do Senate Republicans really want to give presidents unlimited powers?

To the editor — Believe it or not, someday there will be a Democratic president again.

[Fuckface von Clownstick] claims Article II of the Constitution gives a president the power to do anything he or she wants to do. When Senate Republicans take up the charges against [Dear Leader], are they really willing to give a future Democrat unlimited power?

Impeachment

The House Judiciary Committee released two articles of impeachment against Fuckface von Clownstick. Abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.

Using the powers of his high office, [Dear Leader] solicited the interference of a foreign government, Ukraine, in the 2020 United States Presidential election.

[He also] interposed the powers of the Presidency against the lawful subpoenas of the House of Representatives.

There are plenty of other crimes not being held to account, and there are doubts this impeachment will make any difference at all, but there really was no choice. Representative Adam Schiff explained why it needs to be done now.

The argument, 'why don't you just wait' amounts to this: 'why don't you just let him cheat in one more election? Why not let him cheat just one more time?'

Matthew Rozsa now thinks the Democrats have the correct approach. He cites several experts. Lawrence Tribe:

[T]he evidence supporting the two charges, which the Articles clearly and unambiguously summarize, is so overwhelming that only an unwillingness or inability to face the facts could lead anyone to conclude that [he] is innocent of the accusations soberly leveled in the Articles.

Barbara McQuade:

Framing [his] misconduct in terms of abuse of power properly focuses on the threat that requires his removal — soliciting foreign influence, subverting an election and using his power to advance self interest. Impeachment is not about punishment. It is about protecting the country from harm.

David Priess notes Democrats even left out obstruction of justice for now.

Today’s articles are more focused and are less easily dismissed as pure politics.

Update (December 13):  The Judiciary Committee passed the articles of impeachment on a purely partisan 23 to 17 vote.

Update (December 14):  Laurence Tribe responds to Mitch McConnell's pledge to collude with White House lawyers during a Senate trial.

[A]n exoneration, if that’s what emerges by a Senate that is essentially rigged and fixed so that it’s coordinated in this way with the defense, really doesn’t clear the name of the accused so that the president will go down in history as having been essentially found guilty by the House in a proceeding where he had a chance to defend himself but didn’t take advantage of it.

Also, Greg Sargent and Paul Waldman think Republicans could pay a price over this.

Democrats can seize on McConnell’s sneering proclamation that he’ll turn the trial into a massive coverup (which he may not even be able to do) to press for a process that could do the opposite — allow for a full airing out of aspects of this scandal that the White House has tried to keep buried. And that might not be so easy for vulnerable GOP senators to resist.

Update (December 15):  Cody Fenwick refutes ten Republican beliefs about impeachment.

Meanwhile, Nicky Reid thinks the whole business is bullshit and Chris Hedges says Democrats have no credibility on protecting democracy.

The shakedown that [Fuckface] clumsily attempted to orchestrate against the president of Ukraine in the hope of discrediting Joe Biden ... pales beside the shakedown orchestrated by the elites who rule over America’s working men and women. This shakedown took from those workers their hope and, more ominously, their hope for their children. ... This shakedown led to the end of the rule of law and the destruction of democratic institutions that, if they had continued to function, could have prevented the rise to power of a demagogue such as [Dear Leader].

Update (December 16):  The Judiciary Committee has released their report. And Wim Laven argues the evidence for conviction is there.

David Cay Johnston says the obstruction of Congress charge puts Republican Senators in a bind--either remove the president from office or agree that Article II means the president can do anything they want.

If Senate Republicans turn a blind eye to this blanket defiance and let [Fuckface] off the hook, they will be deciding that future presidents can defy Congress any time they wish. They would be destroying the fundamental Constitutional duty of Congress to oversee and investigate the conduct of the Executive branch.

But Heather Digby Parton sees an ugly backlash.

It's clear that impeachment is just a bump in the road for [Dear Leader] and the Republicans. Once it's over, they plan to continue with the lies and smears and betrayals without even taking a breath. The main lesson they have learned from his leadership is that it's a waste of time to even pretend to care about the rule of law or the Constitution unless it serves their partisan political needs.

Update (December 17):  There's a strategy being proposed that the impeachment resolution could be withheld from transmission to the Senate until McConnell reaches an agreement with Democrats on the rules for the trial. Also, more than 750 historians signed a letter calling for impeachment.

And people called for impeachment and removal in hundreds of demonstrations around the country.

Update (December 18):  Articles of impeachment were passed by the House of Representatives on almost entirely partisan votes of 230 to 197 and 229 to 198. Despite Democratic appeals for political courage, Republicans demonstrated that they "just don't care" and claimed the whole thing is politically motivated. Entirely unlike the Clinton impeachment.

As Dear Leader defends himself with a totally insane letter to Congress, Amanda Marcotte argues Democrats have a huge responsibility.

They must do whatever they can to make clear to the American public and the world that the entire Republican Party is corrupt and that every single one of its elected representatives on Capitol Hill wants to take away our democracy.

Ha! Here's an entire Huffington Post article by Nick Baumann, Amanda Terkel, Elise Foley, and Kate Sheppard:

Why The Democrats Impeached [Fuckface von Clownstick]

Democrats impeached [Fuckface von Clownstick] because he used the power of the U.S. presidency to pressure a foreign country to investigate a political opponent.

Also, Manu Raju reports the Speaker isn't transmitting the articles right away.

I asked Pelosi point blank if she could wait "weeks" to send the articles to the Senate until [Democrats] get what they consider a "fair" trial. I also asked if she would "never" send over the articles.

She wouldn't rule out either possibility.

I say let's have no trial at all. It's a foregone conclusion anyway. Just let the impeachment hang over him unresolved all the way through the election!

Update (December 19):  This time, the big baby is Mitch McConnell.

Update (December 22):  Yeah, it's all a partisan witch hunt.

A trove of documents released late Friday evening show that the White House moved to halt nearly $400 million in military aid to Ukraine directly after [von Clownstick's] July 25 call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Congress was not to be told, according to the email from a top Office of Management and Budget official.

And Paul Rosenberg discusses a list of twelve articles of impeachment developed by Ralph Nader, Louis Fisher and Bruce Fein.

Update (December 23):  Paul Waldman explains the significance of the newly released email.

[It] directly undermines the justification [administration] defenders have so often offered for holding up the aid: that it was not to coerce Ukraine into helping [Dear Leader's] reelection campaign but was merely a product of [his] passionate commitment to fighting corruption (please stop laughing).

If that were true, the White House would have wanted to make sure that every relevant official in the government was informed about the suspension of aid and why it was being undertaken. The White House might even have wanted to talk about it publicly. Instead, the White House treated the suspension of aid as a secret so dangerous that if if were discovered it would be a disaster.

And they were right. When it finally did become public, the result was the impeachment of the president.

Also, as new information comes out, there are suggestions that the House should reopen hearings and possibly bring additional articles of impeachment.

Update (December 24):  Andrew O'Hehir thinks neither party is really telling the truth about this impeachment. Since Republicans only care about power, their antics aren't actually delusional.

It was more about nothing being true and truth being unknowable and the whole impeachment mess not being quite what it seemed.

Democrats face a more challenging deception.

This express-lane impeachment was the result of a political compromise between progressives and centrists in the Democratic caucus — and in that sense Republicans are correct in describing it as partisan theater.

This impeachment feels so unsatisfying to so many Democrats because the Ukraine scandal makes a poor substitute for the grand narrative of ... corruption they were promised. The president was reportedly surprised to be impeached over a single failed act of extortion, which probably struck him as no big deal.

[W]e got a fast-track impeachment process that isn’t about Russia or the blatant obstruction of justice or the emoluments clause or the epic self-dealing or even paying off the porn star. Gazed at with a cold eye, it looks overtly cynical. If it wasn’t deliberately designed to fail, it was constructed with the full knowledge that no other outcome was even possible.

It all seems intended to give the illusion that checks and balances are in place, and that the two parties could come together to find reasonable compromise.

It’s probably better for public morale if only one party at a time announces that the legislative process is a sham and the entire federal government is hopelessly corrupt. It has fallen to the Republicans, at this historical juncture, to speak those truths so thickly draped in lies as to render them unrecognizable.

Update (December 29):  The New York Times reports on conflict within the administration over aid to Ukraine.

The Times story brings together independent reporting ― including newly acquired emails ― and testimony from the House’s impeachment inquiry to depict a cleaved administration, in which some officials in various agencies helped [Dear Leader] withhold aid from an ally in need and others expressed worry about the legality, morality and potential fallout of the effort.

This is exactly why the impeachment must hear from all relevant witnesses.

Update (December 31):  Rob Urie and Gary Leupp take broader views of the politics surrounding impeachment.

Update (January 1, 2020):  Jeffrey Issac suggests that Pelosi can put more pressure on the Senate by threatening to reopen hearings.

It may just be that the only way to keep impeachment from being thrust into a Senatorial black hole is to make a bold gamble. Either the Senate organizes a fair impeachment trial and allows for important relevant witnesses to be called, or the House Democrats will call those witnesses themselves, presenting the testimony that the Senate refuses to allow, and that the public deserves.

Update (January 3, 2020):  Previously redacted portions of emails between two administration officials most directly involved with the hold of aid have been leaked to the press.

Their correspondence makes clear the president was solely responsible for the hold and that the Pentagon had grave concerns about its legality.

Update (January 6, 2020):  Fuckface von Clownstick announces he is prepared to commit war crimes.

Let this serve as a WARNING that if Iran strikes any Americans, or American assets, we have targeted 52 Iranian sites … some at a very high level & important to Iran & the Iranian culture, and those targets, and Iran itself, WILL BE HIT VERY FAST AND VERY HARD.

Is John Bolton's sudden willingness to testify a signal that it's time to pull the plug? David Atkins:

All it would take is 20 Republican Senators to say no. To say that enough is enough. To put the interests of the United States ahead of their temporary partisan interests. It would only take well under half of the GOP Senate caucus to do the right thing.

Update (January 14, 2020):  More evidence has been released by the House Intelligence Committee.

Update (January 15, 2020):  The articles of impeachment are now formally presented to the Senate. And Lev Parnas gave an interview:

[Fuckface von Clownstick] knew exactly what was going on. He was aware of all of my movements.

Update (January 16, 2020):  A report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office finds that the Office of Management and Budget broke the law by withholding military aid to Ukraine under the direction of Dear Leader.

Faithful execution of the law does not permit the President to substitute his own policy priorities for those that Congress has enacted into law. OMB withheld funds for a policy reason, which is not permitted under the Impoundment Control Act (ICA). The withholding was not a programmatic delay. Therefore, we conclude that OMB violated the ICA.

And, think of all the pressure brought to bear to try to get Ukraine to announce a fake investigation of the Bidens.

The Ukrainian national police have launched a criminal investigation after the House Intelligence Committee released text messages suggesting that [Fuckface's] allies had had former Ukraine Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch under surveillance.

Update (January 26, 2020):  The threats are going to work and Heather Digby Parton agrees the Senate trial amounts to jury nullification--even "reality nullification" as some Senators deny basic facts of the case (asking a foreign leader to investigate a political rival and withhold foreign aid to coerce him into doing so).

[T]he president [is] modeling his defense on the O.J. Simpson trial ... . He's portraying himself as a victim of a rigged system and his "jurors" are prepared to acquit him on that basis.

[Fuckface] should consider, however, that while O.J. Simpson was acquitted he lost his reputation anyway.

The Senate can nullify the Constitution, at least for now. It can't nullify the truth.

Amanda Marcotte also notes "an unvarnished contempt for reason and facts".

The reality is Republicans have disproportionate power, pretty much baked in. They will leverage that power to stop any and all Democratic agenda items, no matter how minor, because, under the leadership of [Dear Leader] and Senate boss Mitch McConnell, they have embraced a fascistic "will to power" philosophy. No argument will move them, since their goal is to crush their opponents and achieve total domination, not to engage in governance based on rational debate and discourse.

The only thing Republicans respond to is power. Even if some have pangs of conscience, and I have to imagine they do, they are stifling any remaining care for our democratic values and wholeheartedly running toward the siren call of authoritarianism. They are lost. They aren't coming back.

Also, even more threats (or projection!) from Manbaby.

Shifty Adam Schiff is a CORRUPT POLITICIAN, and probably a very sick man. He has not paid the price, yet, for what he has done to our Country!

And I'm wondering how the Senate will manage to ignore this tidbit from an upcoming book from John Bolton:

Drafts of the book outline obtained by The New York Times describe [Fuckface] telling Bolton in August that he wanted to continue freezing nearly $400 million in congressionally approved military assistance to Ukraine until officials there agreed to help investigate his political rival.

How could they possibly let that go without bringing Bolton in for testimony? Republican Senators have no courage, but it wouldn't be surprising to learn Dear Leader has some powerful enemies. The timing is perfect--right in the middle of his defense in the Senate.

Update (January 27, 2020):  Heather Digby Parton thinks Republicans might be starting to feel the heat.

We don't know whether any of this will make a difference. [Fuckface von Clownstick] has strong-armed senators into covering up for his crimes altogether, rather than allowing them to simply say that what he did was wrong, but he hadn't committed an impeachable offense. He won't stand for anyone saying he isn't perfect. So they must all agree to be his accomplices.

Those senators may have been tossing and turning on Sunday night, however. In just the last three days, recordings have come to light that show [Dear Leader] has been lying about knowing Parnas and Fruman, and now Bolton's book testifying to [Manbaby's] personal involvement has been leaked. Every day there's something new. They have to be wondering how much more they will be forced to answer for next November.

Update (June 18, 2020):  So John Bolton's book is finally coming out. Nancy LeTourneau isn't terribly impressed.

Bolton, Pompeo, and Esper all knew that [Fuckface] was attempting to extort the president of Ukraine for political purposes. And yet none of them spoke up.

Intelligence Committee Report

The House Intelligence Committee has issued a report stating that "the call record alone is stark evidence of misconduct; a demonstration of the President’s prioritization of his personal political benefit over the national interest".

The report details how the withholding of aid became public and "the president’s scheme unraveled". Public statements form part of the evidence.

On October 17, at a press briefing in the White House, Acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney confirmed that [von Clownstick] withheld the essential military aid for Ukraine as leverage to pressure Ukraine to investigate the conspiracy theory that Ukraine had interfered in the 2016 U.S. election.

Perhaps this excerpt gives the best summary:

The President engaged in this course of conduct for the benefit of his own presidential reelection, to harm the election prospects of a political rival, and to influence our nation’s upcoming presidential election to his advantage. In doing so, the President placed his own personal and political interests above the national interests of the United States, sought to undermine the integrity of the U.S. presidential election process, and endangered U.S. national security.

Update (December 7):  Rachel Maddow points out that the section headings of the Intelligence Committee Report basically summarizes the entire story.

And in a letter to Congress, more than 500 legal experts conclude Fuckface von Clownstick "engaged in impeachable conduct".

[T]here is overwhelming evidence [he] betrayed his oath of office by seeking to use presidential power to pressure a foreign government to help him distort an American election, for his personal and political benefit, at the direct expense of national security interests as determined by Congress.