monitoring Trump and relevant contemporary events

apparently the town halls are getting to her (among others)

But Trump said he divulged intelligence to the Russians because he’s such a great guy.

Anyhow, we’re only four months into Trump’s tenure. A lot will happen between now and November 2018 — let alone 2020. If AHCA dies in the Senate — and Trump stops making such a strong case for his own impeachment on a near-daily basis — the Republican House majority may be fine. By some estimates, thanks to gerrymandering and the clustering of Democratic voters, the GOP could retain the House even if they receive 7 percent fewer votes than the Democrats do.

But as of this writing, Trump is giving his party little cause for optimism.

The GOP’s woes are largely attributable to its radically regressive health-care bill. A mere 25 percent of voters support the American Health Care Act (AHCA), while 52 percent oppose it. Even among Republicans, the bill musters only 49 percent support.

The potency of AHCA as a midterm issue was affirmed by a separate Priorities USA poll released Thursday.

The Republicans need to start setting rules requiring decorum for their town hall meetings, so that when kooks start screaming and disturbing the peace they get dragged out of the meeting and prosecuted.

Comey's revenge is a gun without powder

Three months ago, the then-FBI Director met with President Trump. Following their private conversation, Comey did what he always does –he wrote a memorandum to himself memorializing the conversation. Good lawyers do that routinely.

Now, only after Comey was fired, the memo magically surfaces in an inflammatory New York Times report which alleges that Mr. Trump asked Comey to end the Michael Flynn investigation.

Under the law, Comey is required to immediately inform the Department of Justice of any attempt to obstruct justice by any person, even the President of the United States. Failure to do so would result in criminal charges against Comey. (18 USC 4 and 28 USC 1361) He would also, upon sufficient proof, lose his license to practice law.

There is no evidence Comey ever alerted officials at the Justice Department, as he is duty-bound to do. Surely if he had, that incriminating information would have made its way to the public either by an indictment or, more likely, an investigation that could hardly be kept confidential in the intervening months.

Comey has put himself in a box. If he now accuses the President of obstruction, he places himself in legal jeopardy for failing to promptly and properly report it. If he says it was merely an uncomfortable conversation, he clears the president of wrongdoing and sullies his own image as a guy who attempted to smear the man who fired him.

The Republican Congress has surrounded the Trump administration with a protective wall. The majority party has denied Democratic demands for independent investigations, quashed bills to force President Trump to release his tax returns, and avoided any serious effort at oversight. Hours after the New York Times reported that James Comey has memos describing Donald Trump attempting to steer him away from the Russia investigation, that wall began to crack.


Jason Chaffetz, chairman of the House Oversight Committee, and heretofore a staunch Trump defender, has subpoenaed all records of Comey’s meetings with the president. Cathy McMorris-Rogers, the fourth-ranking House Republican, endorsed the request, followed within hours by House Speaker Paul Ryan.

Opening up Comey’s trove of evidence is hardly a radical step. But it paves the way for a series of revelations are are extremely likely to depict the president having committed an impeachable offense. The implication of the next step is apparent to many Republicans. Senator John McCain says the charges have “reached Watergate size and scale.” Dana Bash reports that Congressional Republicans are discussing an independent prosecutor or an independent commission – two steps the party has avoided so far.

While Fox News personalities, like ex-journalist Tucker Carlson, filled their time either defending Trump or frantically distracting from the scandal, the network reported it had difficulty rounding up Republican members of Congress to toe the administration line. It is not clear the administration has formulated any line of defense yet. At least some of its staffers, who have created the leakiest administration in history, understand what lies ahead of them. One senior Trump administration official, and campaign veteran, tells the Daily Beast, “I don’t see how Trump isn’t completely fucked.”

Congress is far, far away from the two-thirds majorities necessary to impeach and remove a president of their own party. But the policy of shutting down all oversight or investigation is no longer tenable. And once the apparatus for producing evidence against Trump begins to churn, there is no telling where it will end. A few days ago, impeachment and removal seemed inconceivable. Suddenly, it isn’t.

you want the representatives prosecuted?

how very forward-thinking of you

Opening up Comey’s trove of evidence is hardly a radical step. But it paves the way for a series of revelations are are extremely likely to depict the president having committed an impeachable offense. The implication of the next step is apparent to many Republicans. Senator John McCain says the charges have “reached Watergate size and scale.” Dana Bash reports that Congressional Republicans are discussing an independent prosecutor or an independent commission – two steps the party has avoided so far.

My bet with guijohn is that an impeachment trial will end in Trump's removal before March 13, 2018. (March 1, 12, 13?)

What is this supposedly impeachable offense supposed to be?

My bet with guijohn is that an impeachment trial will end in Trump's removal before March 13, 2018.

I want the belligerent thugs to be prosecuted.

Do you think that Trump has committed some sort of crime?

No, he's filled his campaign and cabinet with Putin toadies and people fresh off the Kremlin's payroll

I thumbed you up, silly. Lash is feeling confident.