Trump’s Temper Tantrum Unfolds
FYI-- “Acquitted” means he got away with it. “Not Guilty” means he didn’t do it.
A group of spineless partisans in the United States Senate have decided to affirm the rights and privileges of their Lord and Master in the White House to act as he pleases, unconstrained from oversight, checks, or balances.
Donald John Trump was impeached by the House of Representatives, but didn’t have a real trial in the Senate. Some Republicans said the President was guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors, but keeping him in office was the sensible thing to do.
Others stuck their fingers in their ears and chanted “USA! USA!”, hoping all the incriminating evidence would go away. Still others complained that they’d seen no evidence of malfeasance even as they voted against hearing first-hand witnesses.
Here’s an excerpt from Senator Sherrod Brown’s (D-Ohio) op-ed in the New York Times:
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.
Utah Senator Mitt Romney broke ranks, affirming the first article of impeachment. As he said in a speech leading up the vote, he's ready for consequences for acting on his moral dictates.
"With my vote, I will tell my children and their children that I did my duty to the best of my ability, believing that my country expected it of me.""With my vote, I will tell my children and their children that I did my duty to the best of my ability, believing that my country expected it of me."
Already there is a call for him to be drummed out of the GOP. We won’t hear about the death threats to the Senator and his family, but history shows the Cult of Trump will follow their worst instincts.
Here’s the #1 son doing what he dies best:
Daddy Donald has begun to weigh in, and it’s an open secret in Washington that revenge has moved to the top of his bucket list. A scheduled media photo session at the White House on Wednesday was abruptly cancelled, reportedly because the President was blindsided by Romney’s act of rebellion and wasn’t fit to be seen.
Here’s Gabriel Sherman at Vanity Fair:
Republicans briefed on Trump’s thinking believe that the president is out for revenge against his adversaries. “It’s payback time,” a prominent Republican told me last week. “He has an enemies list that is growing by the day,” another source said. Names that came up in my conversations with Republicans included Adam Schiff, Jerry Nadler, Mitt Romney, and John Bolton. “Trump’s playbook is simple: go after people who crossed him during impeachment.”
Several sources said Bolton is at the top of the list. Trump’s relationship with Bolton was badly damaged by the time Bolton left the White House in September. Trump has since blamed his former national security adviser for leaking details of his forthcoming memoir that nearly derailed the impeachment trial by pressuring Republicans to call witnesses. In the book Bolton reportedly alleges Trump told him directly that Ukraine aid was tied to Ukraine announcing investigations into the Bidens (Bolton has denied being a source of the leak).
Moments after the acquittal vote, Republican Senators Grassley and Johnson announced a request for Hunter Biden's travel records from the Secret Service.
From the Daily Beast:
The morning after President Donald Trump was acquitted on both articles of impeachment, White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham said that the president’s Thursday afternoon post-impeachment remarks will feature him demanding some payback. “He gave a little preview this morning at the prayer breakfast,” she said on Fox News’ America’s Newsroom. “He is going to be honest, going to speak with honesty and I think with a little bit of humility that he and the family went through a lot...But I think he’s also going to talk about just how horribly he was treated and, you know, that maybe people should pay for that.”
During his speech at the National Prayer Breakfast on Thursday, the president took shots at Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) for invoking his faith when revealing his conviction vote, adding that “so many people have been hurt, and we can’t let that go on.” Asked about Trump’s comments, Grisham told Fox News that the president thinks “people should be held accountable.”
How will the rest of the Trump Cult’s revenge play out? We’ll have to wait and see. If history is any guide, this will be the most outrageous chapter in the saga to date.
Oh, and THIS, via Bloomberg News:
Supporters of President Donald Trump flooded a hotline used by Iowa precinct chairs to report Democratic caucus results after the telephone number was posted online, worsening delays in the statewide tally, a top state Democrat told party leaders on a conference call Wednesday night.
According to two participants on the call, Ken Sagar, a state Democratic central committee member, was among those answering the hotline on caucus night and said people called in and expressed support for Trump. The phone number became public after people posted photos of caucus paperwork that included the hotline number, one of the people on the call said.
A little good news is in order…
Politico reported last week that House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy told his GOP colleagues that Democrats "are kicking our ass" in fundraising, and our data shows just how right he was.
The Democrats who flipped GOP-held House seats in 2018 are continuing to raise money at a pace that would have been unthinkable just a few years ago, while Democratic challengers are also hauling in massive amounts. Collectively, Democratic House candidates raised $105 million during the quarter, compared to $82 million for GOP contenders (including minor candidates not listed on our chart).
Once again, folks, the solution to Trump and what he stands for starts with voting all the way down the ballot.
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