Impeachment Part Two

Amanda Marcotte admits Dear Leader is correct about one thing--if more people are able to vote, Republicans will lose. Fuckface has threatened to withhold federal funding from states that pursue mail-in ballots.

What he's doing now isn't just as bad as what he did to Ukraine — it's much worse, since he's directly attacking American citizens and their constitutional right to vote.

Marcotte knows he won't ever be convicted, but concludes a second impeachment is necessary.

[W]e know one thing about the first impeachment: It worked. It blew up [von Clownstick's] scheme to blackmail the Ukrainian president, and exposed the fraudulent nature of the conspiracy theory against Biden.

Travis Gettys notes that Democratic counsel Daniel Goldman anticipated this very scenario.

[I]mpeachment witness Pamela Karlan, a Stanford Law professor, testified during the trial that [Dear Leader's] request for assistance from Ukraine was similar to him asking a state’s governor to perform a favor in exchange for disaster assistance.

Goldman tweeted:

In fact, it was a hypothetical designed to show how absurd that would be. The absurd has sadly become reality.

Update (May 26):  Fuckface is indignant over being fact-checked on Twitter over his lies about voting by mail. Michigan Lt. Governor Garlin Gilchrist explains:

I think that the president wants to set us up so that there can be a conversation about the legitimacy of an election that he is looking to lose. That is a really unfortunate thing. That's not how we do democracy here in the United States, and we need to be ready to respond to that forcefully.

So, is that a second article for impeachment part two?

Update (May 27):  Matthew Rozsa argues Dear Leader's threat to "close down" Twitter shows his utter contempt for freedom of speech. Rozsa quotes Laurence Tribe:

The threat by [Fuckface von Clownstick] to shut down social media platforms that he finds objectionable is a dangerous overreaction by a thin-skinned president. Any such move would be blatantly unconstitutional under the First Amendment. That doesn't make the threat harmless, however, because the president has many ways in which he can hurt individual companies, and his threat to do so as a way of silencing dissent is likely to chill freedom of expression and will undermine constitutional democracy in the long run.

Article three?

Update (May 28):  Fuckface signed an executive order (funny how fast he can act when something affects him personally) that would leave companies like Twitter liable for statements users publish. ACLU responds:

This order, if issued, would be a blatant and unconstitutional threat to punish social media companies that displease the president.

The president has no authority to rewrite a congressional statute with an executive order imposing a flawed interpretation of Section 230 [of the Communications Decency Act].

Ironically, [Dear Leader] is a big beneficiary of Section 230. If platforms were not immune under the law, then they would not risk the legal liability that could come with hosting [his] lies, defamation, and threats.

Update (June 1):  Amanda Marcotte points out the Twitter flap is just more hypocricy.

It's always been obvious that for [Dear Leader] and other conservatives who whine about "political correctness," the entire concept of freedom of speech had nothing to do with the constitutional bar on government censorship. It was always about asserting their presumed privilege to say bigoted, stupid or false things with no pushback or correction from other people using their own free-speech rights.

Update (June 2):  Bill Barr continues the attack on mail voting by lying his ass off about counterfeit ballots. Michael Li:

It's hard to see Barr's comments as something other than laying the groundwork for casting doubt about the election after November. That's why it's important that we all push back.

Update (June 5):  Anne Applebaum thinks authoritarianism is a real threat in the U.S. as certain politicians become desparate to hold on to power.

In a lot of ... countries that cease to be democracies, what comes next is the attempt to steal an election, and what I hope all Americans will be focused on over the next several months is will [Dear Leader] and will the Republican Party collaborate in an attempt to steal this election?

Will they try to change the rules? Will they mess around with distance voting? Will they, you know, exacerbate the problems caused by the pandemic to prevent people from voting?

Do they value democracy in America enough to allow a real election to go through and to allow themselves to lose? I think there will be a few people that will break out of it. I’m doubtful as to whether we can rely on the party leadership.

Update (June 22):  Still laying the groundwork, without any evidence, to dispute his likely loss.

RIGGED 2020 ELECTION: MILLIONS OF MAIL-IN BALLOTS WILL BE PRINTED BY FOREIGN COUNTRIES, AND OTHERS. IT WILL BE THE SCANDAL OF OUR TIMES!

Update (June 29):  Fred Hiatt argues Dear Leader has committed four impeachable offenses since he was aquitted by the Senate in February: "the willful, knowing endangerment of the American people for selfish political ends" during the pandemic; ordering "federal law enforcement officers to violate the First Amendment rights of peaceful protesters to enable a photo op near the White House"; "a rampage of retribution against anyone who told the truth to House investigators last fall"; and giving his approval of concentration camps for Muslims in China. I guess I would have to ask--only four?

Update (July 19):  Fuckface is still insisting mail-in ballots "rig the election". Will he accept the results in November?

I have to see.

Update (July 27):  Nothing will come of it, of course, but Fred Hiatt seems to have expanded his list: the police attacks in Portland; abuse of appointment power; ignoring Russian bounties; trying to use influence to bring a golf tournament to his property; Roger Stone; disparaging mail in voting to disrupt the election.

And Amanda Marcotte suggests the Portland situtation alone justifies a second impeachment.

Ultimately, there's no way to know for certain how impeachment hearings would play out politically.

What is known, however, is the morality of this situation. What [Fuckface] is doing is illegal and immoral. It's incumbent on those who actually care about the safety of Americans to do whatever they can to stop his cynical campaign of violence against citizens who are exercising their free speech rights.