Impeachment Day Two: Nice Country You’ve Got There, It'd Be a Shame If Somebody...

Today’s applicable metaphors are: first and ten at the twenty, a full count on the batter, and the Blue team wins the tip-off. ...which is to say the process is just beginning. Those of you who lack patience should mute your rage for a while. There will be twists and turns, ups and downs, daily media missteps, and a truly vicious counter attack from the right.

Even before Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced support for an impeachment investigation, the President’s team was raising money: “"President Trump is launching the Official Impeachment Defense Task Force. This task force will be made up of only President Trump’s most LOYAL supporters ...."  

As I’m writing this, more damning evidence is oozing out. In an attempt to dampen the uproar over the transcript of a phone call between Trump and the Ukrainian President, the Justice Department briefed journalists on Wednesday morning. A decision not to pursue the whitleblower’s complaint had already been made, they were told, because the DOJ "did not and could not make out a criminal campaign finance violation." 

Trump DID ask President Volodymyr Zelensky for a “favor.” Rudy Guiliani and Attorney General Barr were available to the Ukrainians to help any investigation into the Bidens.

• "The United States has been very ·very good to Ukraine. I wouldn't say that it's reciprocal necessarily because things are happening that are not good but the United States has been very very good to Ukraine... I would like you to do us a favor."

This could have been a line in the script for The Godfather.

The Justice Department somehow missed the White House’s refusal to release aid to the Ukraine already authorized by Congress.

Vox:

• On Monday evening, the Washington Post broke news that Trump asked his chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, to make sure that Ukraine didn’t get the aid payment just days before his July phone call with Zelensky — one in which he reportedly “repeatedly pressured the president of Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden’s son,” according to the Wall Street Journal. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told reporters on Tuesday that he wasn’t given an explanation for why the aid was initially held up.

The President initially told the press this delay was triggered by concerns of corruption over how the “money would be spent.” Later on, the story was changed to focus on a concern about European allies not contributing their fair share. 

(The U.S. is actually on the low end of the scale for aid when measured on a per capita basis; most of the assistance has been surplus military gear.)

And, to nobody’s surprise, the so-called transcript wasn’t really a transcript: 

https://twitter.com/IndivisibleNet/status/1176867337682604037?s=20

https://twitter.com/Amy_Siskind/status/1176861564558860288?s=20

But wait! The President thinks this is all okay.

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1176848267759509504?s=20

His supporters are all worked up.

https://twitter.com/JuliaDavisNews/status/1176847999684829192?s=20

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Impeachment Explainers...

There were two Presidents before Andrew Johnson that faced impeachment: John Tyler & James Buchanan. Johnathan Katz' Long Version newsletter gives a history lesson worth reading.

Via The Poynter Report: "PolitiFact’s Louis Jacobson and John Kruzel have it covered with an easy-to-read guide on how an impeachment against President Donald Trump would work. The New York Times also has an effective chart."

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In other news, Elizabeth Warren has scheduled a stop in San Diego on October 3.

The doors at Waterfront Park on Pacific Highway will open at 5pm, fun starts at 7pm. RSVP here for tickets.

Recent polling* shows a significant shift in Warren’s favor, including here in California, where the latest UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies poll, conducted for the Los Angeles Times has her up by 9 points.

*It ain’t over ‘till it’s over folks. Polls go up, polls go down. Candidates are tasked with persuading voters, and there’s plenty of time left. 

Having said something about Senator Warren, it’s likely some of Sen. Sanders more rabid fans will dial in to complain. 

It’s time to put things into perspective. Rather than quibble about candidates, let’s celebrate the fear they’ve triggered with the people who are busy looting our common wealth. 

I recently came across a non-politically-correct quote by Hamilton Nolan in an essay about Warren vs Sanders: The Big Fight, Not the Little Fight. [Trigger Warning: Swallow Your Coffee before reading]

•  Think about the collective power of the group that encompasses “Wall Street, major corporations, and the rich,” and you can start to imagine the sort of opposition that will rise up against either of these people if they are the Democratic nominee. When you keep this in perspective, the fact that we on the left are engaged in harsh and bitter battles over the relative merits of these two similar candidates seems rather petty and unwise. 

• If Bernie crushes the rich in a “movement” style and Warren crushes the rich in a “wonky” style they have still both crushed the rich. I just can’t find it in myself to get particularly worked up about who does it, so long as it gets done. Nor do I trust my own powers of prediction enough to tell you with real confidence who would be more likely to get it done. They both want to get it done. And, not to be too cutesy, getting it done is going to require a whole fucking lot of People Power, because the power that comes from money will be acting to stop it. 

• If the portion of the American electorate that can accurately identify both the problems with and the best solutions to our nation’s problems proceeds to divide itself in half and then consume itself with rivalry over personalities while the upper class marches on to win another class war, I am going to fucking scream. Let’s not do that.

• Eat the rich in 2020. Don’t worry too much about which fork you use.

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