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Trump Timeline ... Trumpocalypse
- Thread starter CdnGuy
- Start date
One interesting aspect of the Mueller Report is not what's in it, but how Trump's shills have reacted to it. They have taken two positions.
1. The report says exactly the opposite of what it says
2. The media totally screwed up this story.
Both are worth a moment here. /1
The first strategy is pure gaslighting, like Kellyanne demanding apologies. She's like the person who backs into you in the parking lot, gets out, and and demands your insurance info and says you'll be hearing from her lawyers while her BMW is lodged in the side of your Camry. /2
This is the strategy taken by people who know only the strategy of doubling down, of reacting with aggression, and who understand just how bad the news really is. They go on offense because...well, why the hell not? Bang the table. Might work. Rube Nation loves that stuff. /3
The other is a spate of tweets and articles about what "the media" got wrong, mostly focused on talking heads who (admittedly) went too far in believing the myth that Trump would be led across the South Lawn in handcuffs. But these stories, too, are a panic reaction. /4
They're from conservatives who really, really wanted to invalidate the entire MSM - as conservatives, who see themselves as anti-MSM insurgents, always do - and they thought the Report was their silver bullet. It wasn't In fact, it validated almost all of the MSM reporting. /5
Sure, there were clinkers, like McClatchy's "trip to Prague." But when your case against "the media" is something you pulled off a panel from CNN or MSNBC (and notice "the media" is never "Fox"), then you're admitting that you'd rather talk about anything but what happened. /6
The Russians attacked the election. The Trump campaign, right up to the top, thought that was awesome. They greeted it with "how can we work this" instead of "call the FBI." They lied, and lied, and lied some more. Amazing that the media got *any* of it right faced with that. /7
Why are they freaking out? As @TheRickWilson said: "The most striking part of the last two days is how Donald Trump and his allies are acting like losers, more aggrieved, bitchy, and petulant than ever."
It's because they know. They always knew. And now it's in the open. /8x
Thread by @RadioFreeTom: "One interesting aspect of the Mueller Report is not what's in it, but how Trump's shills have reacted to it. They have taken two positions. […]"
1. The report says exactly the opposite of what it says
2. The media totally screwed up this story.
Both are worth a moment here. /1
The first strategy is pure gaslighting, like Kellyanne demanding apologies. She's like the person who backs into you in the parking lot, gets out, and and demands your insurance info and says you'll be hearing from her lawyers while her BMW is lodged in the side of your Camry. /2
This is the strategy taken by people who know only the strategy of doubling down, of reacting with aggression, and who understand just how bad the news really is. They go on offense because...well, why the hell not? Bang the table. Might work. Rube Nation loves that stuff. /3
The other is a spate of tweets and articles about what "the media" got wrong, mostly focused on talking heads who (admittedly) went too far in believing the myth that Trump would be led across the South Lawn in handcuffs. But these stories, too, are a panic reaction. /4
They're from conservatives who really, really wanted to invalidate the entire MSM - as conservatives, who see themselves as anti-MSM insurgents, always do - and they thought the Report was their silver bullet. It wasn't In fact, it validated almost all of the MSM reporting. /5
Sure, there were clinkers, like McClatchy's "trip to Prague." But when your case against "the media" is something you pulled off a panel from CNN or MSNBC (and notice "the media" is never "Fox"), then you're admitting that you'd rather talk about anything but what happened. /6
The Russians attacked the election. The Trump campaign, right up to the top, thought that was awesome. They greeted it with "how can we work this" instead of "call the FBI." They lied, and lied, and lied some more. Amazing that the media got *any* of it right faced with that. /7
Why are they freaking out? As @TheRickWilson said: "The most striking part of the last two days is how Donald Trump and his allies are acting like losers, more aggrieved, bitchy, and petulant than ever."
It's because they know. They always knew. And now it's in the open. /8x
Thread by @RadioFreeTom: "One interesting aspect of the Mueller Report is not what's in it, but how Trump's shills have reacted to it. They have taken two positions. […]"
1/15 Thoughts on the impeachment debate.
Disclosure: I am not a political advisor or political scientist. I am speaking as an informed citizen.
Some say, “Impeachment is a political process.” But impeachment is a hybrid. It is not clean
2/15 and it can be easily corrupted by politics - because it is a legal trial carried out by politicians. But impeachment should be based on a legal determination of essentially dereliction of duty. It is not a political “vote of no confidence.” Making it such would be wrong.
3/15 No sane person believes that there are not quite sufficient reasons to investigate impeachment in the House. No reasonable person doubts (& Mueller reported) Trump has acted in ways that a least merit investigation of impeachment. Not because of political differences but
4/15 because of sadistic, cruel, very likely illegal acts that are derelict of his oath of office. No sane, reasonable person doubts Trump heads a dangerously, globally & consistently corrupt administration with (at least) authoritarian, anti-democratic and racist “tendencies”.
5/15 No sane person can question that the Trump cabal lies constantly – to the people, to the press, to Congress. No rational person can question that Trump has attacked (not just disagreed with) the free press in violation of the constitution.
This is not “politics as usual.”
6/15 Trump is a threat to the core of our democracy, our government and our society. Hearings in the House will be “divisive” – but if whom? What persons, hearing the evidence presented logically, will swing from anti-Trump to pro-Trump – who would not have so swung anyway
7/15 once the Trump machine propaganda goes full-force, regardless of what Democrats do? IMHO, few. But having hearings fully lay out the deeds done will solidify some previous supporters who now reject Trump; will unify those always anti-Trump and will record for history
8/15 that what is happening under Trump is wrong, indecent, immoral and a threat to society. To normalize it as “just politics” is also a threat to society. It demands investigation; it demands actions.
...
Thread by @DMRDynamics: "1/15 Thoughts on the impeachment debate. Disclosure: I am not a political advisor or political scientist. I am speaking as an informed citiz […]"
Disclosure: I am not a political advisor or political scientist. I am speaking as an informed citizen.
Some say, “Impeachment is a political process.” But impeachment is a hybrid. It is not clean
2/15 and it can be easily corrupted by politics - because it is a legal trial carried out by politicians. But impeachment should be based on a legal determination of essentially dereliction of duty. It is not a political “vote of no confidence.” Making it such would be wrong.
3/15 No sane person believes that there are not quite sufficient reasons to investigate impeachment in the House. No reasonable person doubts (& Mueller reported) Trump has acted in ways that a least merit investigation of impeachment. Not because of political differences but
4/15 because of sadistic, cruel, very likely illegal acts that are derelict of his oath of office. No sane, reasonable person doubts Trump heads a dangerously, globally & consistently corrupt administration with (at least) authoritarian, anti-democratic and racist “tendencies”.
5/15 No sane person can question that the Trump cabal lies constantly – to the people, to the press, to Congress. No rational person can question that Trump has attacked (not just disagreed with) the free press in violation of the constitution.
This is not “politics as usual.”
6/15 Trump is a threat to the core of our democracy, our government and our society. Hearings in the House will be “divisive” – but if whom? What persons, hearing the evidence presented logically, will swing from anti-Trump to pro-Trump – who would not have so swung anyway
7/15 once the Trump machine propaganda goes full-force, regardless of what Democrats do? IMHO, few. But having hearings fully lay out the deeds done will solidify some previous supporters who now reject Trump; will unify those always anti-Trump and will record for history
8/15 that what is happening under Trump is wrong, indecent, immoral and a threat to society. To normalize it as “just politics” is also a threat to society. It demands investigation; it demands actions.
...
Thread by @DMRDynamics: "1/15 Thoughts on the impeachment debate. Disclosure: I am not a political advisor or political scientist. I am speaking as an informed citiz […]"
Nazis ...
President Donald Trump’s approval rating has taken a hit since the redacted Mueller report was released to the public on Thursday morning. According to a new poll by Reuters/Ipsos, Trump’s approval rating now stands at 37 percent, a 2019 low.
The poll, which saw a three point drop from a similar poll taken just five days earlier, which showed the president with a 40 percent approval rating, was conducted Thursday afternoon to Friday morning, after U.S. Attorney General William Barr went out of his way to put the best face he could on Mueller’s report.
Fifty percent of the adults polled said they believe that President Trump tried to stop the Mueller investigation. And fifty percent said they think Trump or someone from his campaign worked with Russia to influence the 2016 election.
When asked if the Mueller report has changed their minds, 68 percent said they were more likely to believe that President Trump or someone close to him broke the law. That’s up from 49 percent in March.
Two of the leading political analysts of the American Enterprise Institute, Thomas Mann, Norman Ornstein, about five or 10 years ago, described the Republican Party as what they called a “radical insurgency” that has abandoned parliamentary politics.
Well, why did that happen?
It happened because the Republicans face a difficult problem. They have a primary constituency, a real constituency: extreme wealth and corporate power. That’s who they have to serve. That’s their constituency. You can’t get votes that way, so you have to do something else to get votes.
What do you do to get votes?
This was begun by Richard Nixon with the Southern strategy: try to pick up racists in the South. The mid-1970s, Paul Weyrich, one of the Republican strategists, hit on a brilliant idea. Northern Catholics voted Democratic, tended to vote Democratic, a lot of them working-class. The Republicans could pick up that vote by pretending—crucially, “pretending”—to be opposed to abortion. By the same pretense, they could pick up the evangelical vote. Those are big votes—evangelicals, northern Catholics. Notice the word “pretense.”
It’s crucial. You go back to the 1960s, every leading Republican figure was strongly, what we call now, pro-choice. The Republican Party position was—that’s Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, all the leadership—their position was: Abortion is not the government’s business; it’s private business—government has nothing to say about it. They turned almost on a dime in order to try to pick up a voting base on what are called cultural issues. Same with gun rights. Gun rights become a matter of holy writ because you can pick up part of the population that way.
In fact, what they’ve done is put together a coalition of voters based on issues that are basically, you know, tolerable to the establishment, but they don’t like it. OK? And they’ve got to hold that, those two constituencies, together. The real constituency of wealth and corporate power, they’re taken care of by the actual legislation.
So, if you look at the legislation under Trump, it’s just lavish gifts to the wealth and the corporate sector—the tax bill, the deregulation, you know, every case in point. That’s kind of the job of Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan, those guys. They serve the real constituency.
Meanwhile, Trump has to maintain the voting constituency, with one outrageous position after another that appeals to some sector of the voting base. And he’s doing it very skillfully. As just as a political manipulation, it’s skillful. Work for the rich and the powerful, shaft everybody else, but get their votes—that’s not an easy trick. And he’s carrying it off.
Who didn't see this coming.
"As we have previously stated in multiple episodes, Gaslit Nation stands in favor of impeaching the motherfucker."
"This was previously not a controversial view, as Trump has committed a multitude of impeachable offenses, including but not limited to: violating the emoluments clause; obstruction of justice; ordering unconstitutional imprisonment of migrant families..."
"...abusing the pardon power; high crimes and misdemeanors; conspiracy against the US; and conspiracy to illegally influence the 2016 election. Trump has committed these crimes in plain sight and confessed to some of them, like obstruction, on television."
"These are not merely constitutional violations but severe threats to national security and public safety that require immediate action – investigation and indictment as well as impeachment. "
"Impeachment is not a snap of the fingers producing an instant result. It is a process of hearings in which officials present evidence of crimes and deliberate in a public forum, removed from media bias."
"Americans these days tend to exist in information silos, but hearings, from Comey to Cohen, have brought our country together to bear witness. Hearings give the public information long withheld from them and shift expectations of accountability."
"We see parallels with Watergate, in which much of the republic was unconvinced of the severity of Nixon’s crimes until hearings began and they learned the full details. The public has the right to information and to make up its own mind."
"Our media is largely sponsored by dictators or dictated by sponsors. It is critical that officials present evidence to the public directly."
"This is not a partisan issue; it is a matter of public safety. Trump’s supporters have as much right to the truth as do Trump’s opponents. We are Americans, and we are in this together."
"Pelosi doesn't seem to see herself as in it together with us. She sees herself as above it. She sees Trump as a partisan matter, not an urgent public threat. She does not understand that we are already divided as a nation, and that truth and transparency are the salve."
"Pelosi is replicating the mistakes made by the Obama administration (and by the FBI and James Comey) when they withheld the truth about Trump and Russia from the American public due to their fear of seeming 'divisive' or angering Mitch McConnell."
"The GOP has been hijacked by a transnational crime syndicate masquerading as a government. This is not a secret."
"We have seen the indictments and we have seen the panicked protectiveness of Trump by the GOP even when they are confronted with his most severe and obviously illegal infractions."
"Any possibility of bipartisan support for impeachment, for the GOP to put country before party is a myth. The Republicans created this situation: they long ago abdicated their duty through corruption and capitulation."
"If the GOP were to impeach Trump, they would effectively impeach themselves, since they are caught in Trump’s web of criminality. (Michael Cohen, for example, was the deputy finance chairman of the RNC.)"
"But when Pelosi makes a bipartisan resolution that she knows is impossible the standard for following rule of law, she continues the very abdication that the GOP initiated – and in doing so, aids in their complicity."
"Supporters of Pelosi believe there must be a secret message or a secret plan behind her statement, but there is very likely not. (We will be delighted if we are wrong and there is a secret plan, since we are thinking first and foremost about the welfare of the American people.)"
"Some have said the point of Pelosi proclaiming Trump 'not worth it' is to wound his ego – as if Trump remotely cares what Pelosi says. All Trump cares about is money, power and being immune from prosecution."
"Impeachment hearings actually threaten all three of these things Trump cares about. Attempted jibes do not."
"The message Pelosi conveys when she says Trump is 'not worth it' is that it is not worth holding him accountable for crimes that have resulted in the loss of human life and the ongoing destruction of our nation."
"Pelosi may not have intended for this to be her message, but that is how many received it. She hurled a grenade into progressives and wounded many with her words. She may think we can vote Trump out, but she has hurt that very cause."
"We have heard from younger voters and voters from marginalized groups who no longer want to vote for the Democratic candidate because her flippant dismissal of impeachment as an outcome has led them to believe that the two parties are the same. They are *not* the same."
"One party is an existential threat, and one party is deeply flawed. We encourage you to support the Democratic candidate in 2020. But we demand that the Democrats confront our grim reality head on – that there may not be a 2020, that there may not be free and fair elections."
"Every day is damage done. It may be a partisan game to you, Speaker Pelosi, but for the rest of us, and for this country, it is a matter of life or death."
"It is critical that the stakes are made clear. Refusal to impeach sends the message that the situation cannot possibly be that dire – it if were, the Democrats would move to impeach, right?"
"This is the same disastrous miscalculation that gave us an unpunished cadre of criminals from Watergate, Iran-Contra, the War on Iraq, and the 2008 financial crisis – criminals who are working with the White House right now!"
"This is not a comparative study; this is literally the same people committing crimes over and over without repercussions. We would not even been dealing with this crisis if officials had acted with conscience and conviction earlier, and brought these criminal elites to justice."
"Let us be clear: we do not think that, if the House impeaches Trump, the GOP-dominated Senate will convict. We also do not think that if the Senate, by some miracle, impeaches Trump, that he will leave."
"Trump has made it clear he will not leave office even if the will of the people demands it in an election, and even if the will of Congress demands it in impeachment. Trump is an aspiring autocrat, and the GOP is seeking a one-party state."
"So what is the point of the House impeaching Trump? An informed public is a powerful public, and hearings are the best way of informing the people on what the White House has done."
"Autocrats and wannabe autocrats live by their brands. A symbolic vote of impeachment by the House, sending the world the message that the United States still stands for the rule of law, damages the Trump brand."
"It leaves a mark on the Trump brand that Ivanka must carry with her as she continues to represent us abroad. The House must begin impeachment proceedings to help restore America's standing in the world and because it is their constitutional duty."
"Impeachment sends a message about who we are as a country and what we will accept and abide. The rule of law demands action. Refusing to take action is normalizing atrocity. Lawlessness must be confronted regardless of the outcome, as a matter of principle and conscience."
"Fighting only the battles that you know you will win is a sure way of ensuring you lose. Preemptive surrender, in a rapidly consolidating autocracy, is permanent surrender."
"The American people have suffered enough under Trump; they should not have to suffer due to Pelosi’s capitulation as well. We all deserve better than this."
Thread by @sarahkendzior: ""On Impeachment: A @GaslitNation Essay" Read: patreon.com/posts/25377010 Listen: patreon.com/posts/impeach-… * * * "As we have previously st […]"
"This was previously not a controversial view, as Trump has committed a multitude of impeachable offenses, including but not limited to: violating the emoluments clause; obstruction of justice; ordering unconstitutional imprisonment of migrant families..."
"...abusing the pardon power; high crimes and misdemeanors; conspiracy against the US; and conspiracy to illegally influence the 2016 election. Trump has committed these crimes in plain sight and confessed to some of them, like obstruction, on television."
"These are not merely constitutional violations but severe threats to national security and public safety that require immediate action – investigation and indictment as well as impeachment. "
"Impeachment is not a snap of the fingers producing an instant result. It is a process of hearings in which officials present evidence of crimes and deliberate in a public forum, removed from media bias."
"Americans these days tend to exist in information silos, but hearings, from Comey to Cohen, have brought our country together to bear witness. Hearings give the public information long withheld from them and shift expectations of accountability."
"We see parallels with Watergate, in which much of the republic was unconvinced of the severity of Nixon’s crimes until hearings began and they learned the full details. The public has the right to information and to make up its own mind."
"Our media is largely sponsored by dictators or dictated by sponsors. It is critical that officials present evidence to the public directly."
"This is not a partisan issue; it is a matter of public safety. Trump’s supporters have as much right to the truth as do Trump’s opponents. We are Americans, and we are in this together."
"Pelosi doesn't seem to see herself as in it together with us. She sees herself as above it. She sees Trump as a partisan matter, not an urgent public threat. She does not understand that we are already divided as a nation, and that truth and transparency are the salve."
"Pelosi is replicating the mistakes made by the Obama administration (and by the FBI and James Comey) when they withheld the truth about Trump and Russia from the American public due to their fear of seeming 'divisive' or angering Mitch McConnell."
"The GOP has been hijacked by a transnational crime syndicate masquerading as a government. This is not a secret."
"We have seen the indictments and we have seen the panicked protectiveness of Trump by the GOP even when they are confronted with his most severe and obviously illegal infractions."
"Any possibility of bipartisan support for impeachment, for the GOP to put country before party is a myth. The Republicans created this situation: they long ago abdicated their duty through corruption and capitulation."
"If the GOP were to impeach Trump, they would effectively impeach themselves, since they are caught in Trump’s web of criminality. (Michael Cohen, for example, was the deputy finance chairman of the RNC.)"
"But when Pelosi makes a bipartisan resolution that she knows is impossible the standard for following rule of law, she continues the very abdication that the GOP initiated – and in doing so, aids in their complicity."
"Supporters of Pelosi believe there must be a secret message or a secret plan behind her statement, but there is very likely not. (We will be delighted if we are wrong and there is a secret plan, since we are thinking first and foremost about the welfare of the American people.)"
"Some have said the point of Pelosi proclaiming Trump 'not worth it' is to wound his ego – as if Trump remotely cares what Pelosi says. All Trump cares about is money, power and being immune from prosecution."
"Impeachment hearings actually threaten all three of these things Trump cares about. Attempted jibes do not."
"The message Pelosi conveys when she says Trump is 'not worth it' is that it is not worth holding him accountable for crimes that have resulted in the loss of human life and the ongoing destruction of our nation."
"Pelosi may not have intended for this to be her message, but that is how many received it. She hurled a grenade into progressives and wounded many with her words. She may think we can vote Trump out, but she has hurt that very cause."
"We have heard from younger voters and voters from marginalized groups who no longer want to vote for the Democratic candidate because her flippant dismissal of impeachment as an outcome has led them to believe that the two parties are the same. They are *not* the same."
"One party is an existential threat, and one party is deeply flawed. We encourage you to support the Democratic candidate in 2020. But we demand that the Democrats confront our grim reality head on – that there may not be a 2020, that there may not be free and fair elections."
"Every day is damage done. It may be a partisan game to you, Speaker Pelosi, but for the rest of us, and for this country, it is a matter of life or death."
"It is critical that the stakes are made clear. Refusal to impeach sends the message that the situation cannot possibly be that dire – it if were, the Democrats would move to impeach, right?"
"This is the same disastrous miscalculation that gave us an unpunished cadre of criminals from Watergate, Iran-Contra, the War on Iraq, and the 2008 financial crisis – criminals who are working with the White House right now!"
"This is not a comparative study; this is literally the same people committing crimes over and over without repercussions. We would not even been dealing with this crisis if officials had acted with conscience and conviction earlier, and brought these criminal elites to justice."
"Let us be clear: we do not think that, if the House impeaches Trump, the GOP-dominated Senate will convict. We also do not think that if the Senate, by some miracle, impeaches Trump, that he will leave."
"Trump has made it clear he will not leave office even if the will of the people demands it in an election, and even if the will of Congress demands it in impeachment. Trump is an aspiring autocrat, and the GOP is seeking a one-party state."
"So what is the point of the House impeaching Trump? An informed public is a powerful public, and hearings are the best way of informing the people on what the White House has done."
"Autocrats and wannabe autocrats live by their brands. A symbolic vote of impeachment by the House, sending the world the message that the United States still stands for the rule of law, damages the Trump brand."
"It leaves a mark on the Trump brand that Ivanka must carry with her as she continues to represent us abroad. The House must begin impeachment proceedings to help restore America's standing in the world and because it is their constitutional duty."
"Impeachment sends a message about who we are as a country and what we will accept and abide. The rule of law demands action. Refusing to take action is normalizing atrocity. Lawlessness must be confronted regardless of the outcome, as a matter of principle and conscience."
"Fighting only the battles that you know you will win is a sure way of ensuring you lose. Preemptive surrender, in a rapidly consolidating autocracy, is permanent surrender."
"The American people have suffered enough under Trump; they should not have to suffer due to Pelosi’s capitulation as well. We all deserve better than this."
Thread by @sarahkendzior: ""On Impeachment: A @GaslitNation Essay" Read: patreon.com/posts/25377010 Listen: patreon.com/posts/impeach-… * * * "As we have previously st […]"
...
