"‘The most shameful hour’: Schiff rips GOP for ‘blinding themselves’ to defend Trump in impeachment hearings"
I acknowledge many will say quoting Schiff is Tribal, that Schiff cannot be objective. The GOP fails to focus on the only reasonable argument against impeachment in the face of unaltered truth and fact-based evidence of abuse of power that harms National Security in a very serious way, and jeopardizes the election in 2020: Tweety abused his power, did wrong, should be censured, but it was not so bad as to deserve impeachment.
The GOP loses all credibility and integrity arguing anything else in Tweety's defense.
Here are my credentials for understanding National Security: 27 years as an "Army Brat" to an infantryman, 22 in the Air Force, schooled in war in many ways while buying weapon systems for our military, a total of 44 years writing contracts within the Defense industry.
I know I am right to say the GOP and all Tweety Trump supporters have sold America down the pike, betrayed all our values and principles for the sake of the almighty dollars in your pockets, and will find a day of reckoning in your future.
I'm not trying to scare anyone, and I'm not blind to the near term benefits of a disrupter as President, nor will I say all Tweety Trump has done is bad. Tweety Trump has accomplished some good things, but the bad and ugly outweigh the good largely. I'd venture 90% of the "good" will burn out in a few years, leaving us with ashes.
Schiff says "“For some of our members who are defending the Constitution, it is their finest hour,” Schiff said in a Thursday interview on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert.” “But for others who are willfully blinding themselves to this president’s misconduct, it is the most shameful hour.”"
Here is an interview with David Jolly, a former GOP Congress member from Florida. Jolly left Congress in 2017, and has since renounced his membership in the Republican Party.
"A former Republican Congress member explains what happened to his party
And why it belongs to Trump now."
By Sean Illing@seanilling sean.illing@vox.com Dec 6, 2019, 10:20am EST
"“Republicans in Congress,” he told me, are now “tearing at the fabric of the Constitution every bit as much as Donald Trump” and “undermining the institution of Congress every bit as much as Trump.”"
The GOP is nurturing short-term gains. More.
"I can’t tell you how many Republican members of Congress have told me, “I’m just trying to keep my head down and not get noticed.” They see all the excitement stirred up by people like Jim Jordan and Devin Nunes but at least half the caucus wants to stay the hell out of the media. They’re not looking to make a name through this, they’re looking to survive this."
Sitting on the sidelines waiting for the storm to pass seems like a sad posture considering what is at stake. It is a coward's approach. It is a mix of reasons that cause this "deer-in-the-headlights" choice.
"I struggle with whether some of their behaviors are an intentional decision on their part to engage in either misdirection, or to overlook the facts because they have a fealty to the president or because they want to put a stake in the ground in right-wing media or because it just works in their districts. Or are some of them just duped into it by following the leader?"
But the stakes are so high and the situation so dire, I don't get it. Will Hurd, Texas Rep, says there is no evidence of wrong doing! Hurd, sadly, chooses to ignore the truth in the evidence, and the facts.
" . . . if you stay with not proven, it’s as though Republicans have decided to simply overlook the truth and look the other way and that’s where I think it will have long-term consequences for Hurd and for the party at large."
The evidence is substantial, the facts are clear, not complicated, showing the Ukraine call by the President was an abuse of power. I have said what David Jolly says all along, just admit it was an abuse and move to "not impeachable." Then the GOP would at least retain a minimal amount of credibility and integrity.
Some GOP members are opportunists, seeing the impeachment not as a way to save our country, but more as a path to fame, greater visibility and stature, power, and fortune. Jolly is generous to call her a "political entrepreneur."
If I talked like Tweety Trump talks at his rallies lately, I'd call Stefanik a political whore. Sorry, I had to get that out there. If Tweety can say tings like this, why can't I? Bullying, name calling, and not being Politically Correct means I am telling the truth too, right? I am just being honest, right? Just like Tweety, right?
"There’s also someone like New York congresswoman Elise Stefanik, who has been a moderate but has clearly used the impeachment process as a platform to boost her political celebrity. It strikes me as a reflection of where the party is right now and how the line between legislator and political entrepreneur is perilously thin."
Stefanik sin't the only one who is a PW tho. Jim Jordan, Nunes, Collins, Kennedy, etc are PWs.
"When she said to Fiona Hill, for example, or whoever it was, “Can’t a president fire an ambassador for any reason?” And Hill says, “Yes,” and Stefanik says, “A-ha,” then she goes to her press guy and says, “I’m glad we all agree the president has the authority to do it.” Well, it overlooks the fact that the corrupt conspiracy behind it could still be impeachable.And she knows that. Of course she knows that. And when Jim Jordan (R-OH) says, “We don’t know the whistleblower’s identity,” well, it doesn’t matter because we have the testimony of everybody else and he knows that. This is where I can’ tell if this is just intentional misdirection or a case of blindly following the leader."
Will these PWs ever wake up to the damage they are doing by using bad arguments to defend abuse of power? I could live with their conclusion if they just admitted Tweety abused his power, but it is not impeachable. Stop with the distracting BS, whining about the process, yelling, Red Herring excuses, stupid excuses: "us" meant "United States", the endless false equivalencies/relativisms, silly warnings like beware future Presidents can be impeached, and endless hours of obfuscating commentary!
Use the only rationale available to you, GOP, Congress people, based on the evidence and facts: the abuse of power by Tweety Trump is not impeachable!
The GOP is eternally changed by Tweety Trump. The new GOP is anti-democracy mostly, and sadly, because they fear people of color are typically liberal and outnumber white, typically conservative people, anti-people of color, anti-non-religious, anti-gay, and anti-freedom as AG Barr daily assaults our American rule of law.
" . . . today’s Congress is so suffocated by leadership that there is really no room for independent behavior."
". . . Leadership turns money on or off for rank and file members. The number one rule is just don’t step out of line. If you’re Kevin McCarthy, your job is to protect Donald Trump and keep your members in line."
" . . . hyper-partisan members don’t have to worry about any of this. But people like me, the moderates or independents, depend on the party for financial support and that’s a huge driver of behavior."
"Sean Illing [the interviewer for Vox]
You said earlier you weren’t sure about what was motivating Republicans, but I guess I want to push a little more on that. I just don’t see any way to look at a Nunes or a Jordan or someone like Lindsey Graham on the Senate side and not conclude that they’re acting in bad faith. We can call it “blindly following the leader” but that’s almost a cop out because I think it’s much more self-conscious than that. This is pure self-serving nihilism and I think it’s important to be clear about that.
David Jolly: " . . . I know Lindsey Graham well. We traveled the world together. I had enormous respect for him. The one area where I would say Lindsey has been more honest than any other Republican is in how he made the pivot.He said, “This guy [Trump] beat me. He won. The voters chose him and my job is to reflect the will of the people, so therefore I’m going to protect this president and do everything I can in his defense.” At least he acknowledged that he was flipping for reasons of public opinion and politics within the party.
I would say the others have just kind of scurrilously made this shift and smiled about it because they don’t care. It’s even more unprincipled than what we saw from Lindsey Graham."
I understand and recognize the "I don't care." attitude in Jim Jordan, as he denied his responsibility to protect wrestlers from sex abuse at his alma mater. Jordan is a totally unprincipled hack.
The Lindsay Graham pivot is who he really is, an opportunist, he is being himself. I see the same pivot in Americans, like embracing "Wrestle Mania-like" Tweety rallies, White Nationalism, hating immigrants and ll people who do not look like or agree with them - yes HATING people, enjoying insulting Europeans, washing themselves in bullying, and essentially liking a real-time trashing of freedoms they will one day regret losing, i.e., media is the enemy of the people no matter what they do, law enforcement where police purge is OK, freedom of speech where it is NOT OK to criticize anything Tweety Trump does, you end up on Tweety's Enemies List.
"Sean Illing
Doesn’t that just make Graham an unprincipled hack?
David Jolly
I think the Lindsey Graham we’re seeing today is the real Lindsey Graham. This is a political opportunist [A PW!] who will flop with the winds and do whatever it takes to serve his own self-interest. That’s who he is."
We have fallen into a trap of our own making, creating a money-based election system enforced by the decision of the US Supreme Court.
"Trump has exposed a lot about who we are as a country and who Republicans are as a party. But the partisanship problem is less about the people in the party and more about the structural forces driving hyper-partisan decision-making. The big three for me are gerrymandering, closed primaries, and big money. All of this puts so much pressure on people to conform or compromise.
If we unrigged the system, if we had competitive districts with open primaries and public financing, you’d see people behaving very differently because there would be a completely different reward structure. Right now the only way to get reelected is to act like a hyper-partisan. As long as that’s the case, we won’t get value-driven decision-making."
"
Sean Illing
What does the Republican Party look like in two or five or 10 years?
David Jolly
The Republican Party is in long-term trouble. The demographics of the nation are shifting away from hardcore Republican conservatism and they’re basically doubling down on that while relying on these rigged elements of the system to help them keep power. That’s not a good place to be in.
The reason Trump won was because he brought in populism, not conservatism. I don’t see who follows that. Who’s the populist in the Republican Party that comes next? I don’t see one. I think it’s a return to conservatism and largely white male flyover state conservatism, which statistically just isn’t going to put Republicans in office a decade from now."
People who said Tweety Trump was a bad choice for President in 2016 described him in very ugly terms. Then pivoted when he was elected. Why are we surprised?
These two-faced people have no character or courage. They are political opportunists, or worse, "PWs."
They changed their minds for access to power, privilege, and money.
"Heidi Cruz talked to Trump about World Bank president job"
By Kevin Diaz Updated 6:54 pm CST, Thursday, January 31, 2019
https://www.chron.com/news/politics/article/Heidi-Cruz-talked-to-Trump-about-World-Bank-13578332.php
"WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump interviewed Heidi Cruz, the wife of U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, for the World Bank president job this week, but passed her over for the position, a spokeswoman for the Texas Republican said Thursday.
Heidi Cruz, 46, reportedly met in the Oval Office with Trump on Monday, following meetings last week with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and White House advisor Ivanka Trump, the president's daughter. She also met with Larry Kudlow, director of the White House's National Economic Council"
"Audible Laughter On Broadcast As Ted Cruz Claims Ukraine Meddled In 2016 Election"
A mic on NBC’s “Meet The Press” picked up a giggle as the Texas senator defended what many in the intelligence community have debunked as a conspiracy theory.
By Josephine Harvey 8 Dec 2019
"Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) got an unintentional laugh during his appearance on NBC’s “Meet The Press” on Sunday.
During a heated interview with host Chuck Todd, the GOP senator joined the list of Republicans to support the conspiracy theory that Ukraine worked to influence the 2016 presidential election.
“Do you believe Ukraine meddled in the American election in 2016?” Todd asked the senator.
“I do, and I think there’s considerable evidence,” Cruz replied.
“You do?” Todd responded incredulously, with a smirk on his face. At this point, laughter was picked up by the mic. Twitter users assumed someone on Todd’s staff couldn’t hold it in. However, the show is taped before a live audience, making it unclear who had a case of the chuckles. "
Cruz was called a liar by Tweety Trump and Tweety insulted Cruz's family too. Now Cruz is throwing in on a conspiracy theory of Tweety's to help Tweety? Cruz can say what he said only if he explains it.
Ukraine PUBLICLY stated support for Hillary. Is that PUBLIC support the same as Russia deceit, secret manipulation of the 2016 election?
"It has come to this: Ted Cruz is Putin’s stooge"
By Jennifer Rubin Opinion writer covering politics and policy, foreign and domestic
Dec 8, 2019
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/12/08/its-come-this-ted-cruz-is-putins-stooge/
"Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) has spent his entire adult life touting the West’s defeat of communism in the Cold War. In July 2014, he declared to a young conservative group, “‘Mr. Putin, give back Crimea.’ Why is it so unimaginable for President Obama to utter those words?” He continued, “We need to stand up and speak out for freedom. The words that come from the president of the United States matter. President Reagan demonstrated that. One of the saddest things is President Obama doesn’t do that.”"
In fact, in March 2014, CNN reported:
President Barack Obama and other world leaders have decided to end Russia’s role in the group of leading industrialized nations. . . . The move to suspend Russia’s membership in the G8 is the latest direct response from major countries allied against Russia’s annexation of Crimea.
“International law prohibits the acquisition of part or all of another state’s territory through coercion or force,” the statement said. "To do so violates the principles upon which the international system is built. We condemn the illegal referendum held in Crimea in violation of Ukraine’s constitution.
In August of that year, Obama said, "We agree, if there was ever any doubt, that Russia is responsible for the violence in eastern Ukraine. The violence is encouraged by Russia. The separatists are trained by Russia, they are armed by Russia, they are funded by Russia. Russia has deliberately and repeatedly violated the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, and the new images of Russian forces inside Ukraine make that plain for the world to see.”
So Cruz and other Republicans, in particular President Trump, have been lying about Obama’s stance on Ukraine for a long time. One can argue, as I did at the time, that Obama’s response should have been stronger, but he was no apologist for Russia. In that regard, Obama cannot hold a candle to Trump, who in the 2016 regurgitated Russian talking points that “the people of Crimea, from what I’ve heard, would rather be with Russia than where they were.”"
Who was weak on Russia!? TWEETY WAS WEAK ON RUSSIA TAKING CRIMEA!
Tp quote Tweety Trump, “the people of Crimea, from what I’ve heard, would rather be with Russia than where they were.”"
Cruz is a coward and a boot licker for Tweety trump, hoping to get some crumbs off the adult table.
"Todd went on to tell Cruz he found it strange that Cruz, whom President Donald Trump waged war on during the 2016 primaries, wasn’t more aware that this president was capable of creating “false narratives” about people in order to promote himself politically.
Cruz waved it off and went on to insist that Ukraine “blatantly interfered in our election,” but was only able to cite one op-ed, written by then-Ukrainian ambassador to the U.S. Valeriy Chaly, as evidence.
The op-ed condemned comments made by Trump hinting that he supported the 2014 invasion of Crimea by Russia, which is recognized internationally as a part of Ukraine. Todd told his guest that an op-ed was of a slightly different magnitude to Russia’s well-documented interference in the U.S. election to help Trump win."
"Donald Trump Threatens Ted Cruz’s Wife"
PRESIDENTIAL
Updated Apr. 13, 2017 5:37PM ET / Published Mar. 22, 2016 9:49PM ET
https://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/2016/03/22/trump-threatens-cruz-s-wife
"Donald Trump threatened to “spill the beans” on Ted Cruz’s wife in a tweet he quickly deleted and reposted Tuesday night. Trump was apparently referring to Facebook ads from an anti-Trump super PAC mocking Melania Trump’s nude appearance in a GQ magazine spread years ago. “Lyin’ Ted Cruz just used a picture of Melania from a G.Q. shoot in his ad. Be careful, Lyin’ Ted, or I will spill the beans on your wife!” he wrote."
"Just A Reminder Of What Donald Trump Really Thinks About Ted Cruz"
The president tweeted of the senator in 2016: “Why would the people of Texas support Ted Cruz when he has accomplished absolutely nothing for them?”
By David Moye 19 Oct 2018
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/donald-trump-ted-cruz-insults_n_5bca51f1e4b055bc94809ac2
Go ahead and read it. These two did not like each other during the election campaign. They went beyond politics tho, and got personal and nasty. Now they are lovers?
"All the terrible things Trump and Ted Cruz said about each other before the president decided he was 'Beautiful Ted'"
Rebecca Harrington
Oct 23, 2018, 9:11 PM
https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-cruz-feud-history-worst-attacks-2016-9
"9 truly awful things Ted Cruz and Donald Trump said about each other"
By Aaron Blake Senior political reporter, writing for The Fix Sep 23, 2016
