Progressives (Liberals)

Trump’s Show Trial
Fintan O’Toole
Even in a cynical pursuit of political advantage, the Republicans might have maintained the form of a real trial (scrutiny of verbal and written evidence) without its substance (a genuine weighing of guilt and innocence). They decided instead to have neither the form nor the substance. Because the Senate’s proceedings do not look much like a trial, its declaration of Trump’s innocence on both charges will not look much like a vindication. Whatever Chief Justice John Roberts would like to imagine, the Republicans are not even bothering to keep up appearances...

Projection and imagination appear to be your principal tools.

In the matter at hand I cannot ever recall reading or hearing the word "rage"in describing Nancy Pelosi's recent actions or attitudes. My use of it arose exclusively out of my own impressions watching her in the last minutes of Trump's presentation before the House. Frankly it was very hard to miss.

But I think they sound fun, and I wish that I could participate in them.

"It's time for us to grow up as Democrats and to be willing to look at our own house," Castro said about how voting is accomplished in the caucuses. "We have to complain and take action and file suit when Republicans trample on voting rights but we can't stop there. We actually have to improve how we do things as well or else there's a little bit of hypocrisy there."

Castro also described some of the voting restrictions enacted at the Iowa caucus.

"If you didn't know anything about the Iowa caucus," Castro said, "and I said to you, 'Okay, look. Here's how we're going to start this process. You can only vote on one day at 7:00 in the evening, there's no early voting, there's no secret ballot, so you can't have a secret ballot about how you're voting. You have to declare in front of everybody how you're voting. People would think that Republicans designed the Iowa caucus."

"I very much see this as in keeping with our push in the Democratic party for greater ballot access and voting rights that we change the way that we do our presidential nominating process," Castro added. "I don't believe that we should have these caucuses."

If Republicans think Trump's Ukraine scandal is over, they're wrong

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) fielded reporters' questions yesterday afternoon, and was asked a question his party has struggled with for months: why should an American president be allowed to press foreign governments to target his domestic rivals?

The Republicans' Senate leader not only chose not to answer, he acted as if the question has been deemed irrelevant. "We've completed it, we've listened to the arguments, we voted, it's in the rearview mirror," McConnell replied.

Around the same time, Vice President Mike Pence -- who, incidentally, was 19 Senate votes from being elevated to the nation's highest office -- added, "It's over, America."

Pence didn't exactly specify what "it" referred to, but if he meant the entire ordeal -- Donald Trump's scandal, the scrutiny of his misconduct, the search for truths the White House and its allies fought to cover up -- has come and gone, the vice president and other Republicans are likely to be disappointed...

They sound fun to me.

. . . when speaking of those with a uterus.

[ I'll take you at your word re that first sentence. But I too watched that segment and your use of "rage" remains inaccurate. As hightor said above, "disgust" is the better term. But I doubt you'll find it so as "rage" denotes an internal state marked by emotionalism and irrationality which works better when speaking of those with a uterus.

She certainly appears to have been, and remained since then, rather pissed off.

Quote:

If Republicans think Trump's Ukraine scandal is over, they're wrong

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) fielded reporters' questions yesterday afternoon, and was asked a question his party has struggled with for months: why should an American president be allowed to press foreign governments to target his domestic rivals?

The Republicans' Senate leader not only chose not to answer, he acted as if the question has been deemed irrelevant. "We've completed it, we've listened to the arguments, we voted, it's in the rearview mirror," McConnell replied.

This is the obvious strategy Trump and Republicans will continue to use. It's what they did/are doing with Mueller's report (see georgeob above) - "It's over. There was nothing there. Time to get on with the nation's business".

That's just not going to work with reporters who will keep digging. It won't work with ongoing investigations by various agencies federal and state. It won't work for anyone who attends to politics carefully and who aren't trapped within the rightwing information cocoon. But it will work with those people. And it will likely have some effect on less involved citizens who are susceptible to the storms of bullshit and false information filling social media.

Most parties select their candidates via a central organ of some kind. The Socialist Party and the Republicans have tried the primary system à l'Américaine but it didn't work out for them. In fact it almost killed them.

The mainstream press is NOT ready for this election. They've learned a bit. They can use the word "liar" now, though the NYT hasn't really absorbed the lessons they should have learned.

If that wasn't clear before, this last week proved how poorly prepared they are. Even while the impeachment process was ongoing with all of the critical importance of it and what it revealed, the press jumped on the shallowest of news stories - the Idaho caucus.

I have no confidence the US is going to pull out of this slide towards a failed state turned profoundly authoritarian.