You thought that Michael Cohen was “must see TV”?
Yes, yes, it was, but it was merely a prequel. After all, Cohen would be destroyed by Republicans, no matter how much he could corroborate, there was only so far he could go. And he left the best stuff …. an offer of a pardon(?) ... to be heard another day.
So, what could be better?
How about inviting Donald Junior in for a talk, on primetime electric teevee? What about some disgruntled former employees, employees like General John Kelly? How about White House counsel Don McGhan? Do we dare to Hope? Yes, her, Hope. I hope. Do you?
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Congressman Nadler sent out document requests and letters to sixty (60!) people in and around the Trump Organization, slash White House today. People like Allen Weisberg are going to be consulting attorneys very soon about how to save one’s own ass by answering questions honestly, while invoking the 5th Amendment quite liberally.
Ha ha, I said “liberal.”
According to The Daily Beast, the letters:
to “begin investigations to present the case to the American people about obstruction of justice, corruption and abuse of power,” as he put it on ABC’s This Week.
Say it over and over, replace “collusion” with “corruption.” They are not mutually exclusive, and one is far far far more encompassing. Establish “corruption” and you don’t need “collusion.”
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The conventional wisdom is that talk of impeachment is “overreaching” and will lead to actually helping Donald Trump much more so than hurting him. And that’s true, for now. Because “Impeachment” is a process, and though he surely has done enough to be impeached, the process to underpin one has not been established.
While Democrats must be careful to not overreach, we cannot lose by focusing on “corruption,” as opposed to “impeachment.” So long as Democrats are also introducing bills for Medicare for all, for a livable minimum wage, all that (and I assume we can do two things at once), we cannot possibly go wrong focusing on Donald Trump’s un-ending corruption.
Expose more and more corruption, and either impeachment grows organically, it becomes obvious, or one chips away at Trump’s relevance, and hence the relevance of all who stand by him. And it all starts with getting the witnesses lined up.
Which is why that’s all occurring as we speak.
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Preach, Beast, preach it.
Aside from the two aforementioned and former Trump aides John Kelly and Don McGahn, whom Nadler named on TV, it would seem likely that letters would go to Jared Kushner, Stephen Miller, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, and some campaign aides. There’s also a fair chance they’d go to Ivanka and other current and former members of the Trump Organization.
As for what he’ll be looking into, let’s start with obstruction of justice. Something weird has been happening over the last few weeks. As we prepare for the Mueller report, this odd bit of conventional wisdom seems to have settled in that if Robert Mueller finds no smoking gun on collusion, and has “just” obstruction, it won’t be a big deal.
Imagine you’re Donald Trump.
For the last 45 years, you have been [barely] skating by, playing a billionaire “character” in real life until they invented reality TV. (If it hadn’t been invented by then, they’d have had to invent it now, because of you). Then they gave you a TV show where they paid you to be an asshole.
He probably would have done it for free …. I kid.
Imagine you have spent all those years, cheating on taxes, cheating on insurance, cheating on wives (beating wives), fellating Russia, cheating the Trump Charity, cheating, cheating, cheating. Then imagine you’re elected, and you start out by amassing as much money for yourself (by way of your inaugural committee) as possible, and then CHEAT! Cheating, cheating, cheating, committing crimes from there, daily crimes, on the hour, with every breath … and of course you get away with it because you’re president, and Republicans in Congress FEAR YOU, and you can fire the police! It’s awesome.
Then …
America happened!
In 2018, citizens starved for real entertainment, decided to turn the tables on you, and elected liberals, to police the joint, and these ones come with subpoenas.
Now everyone around you is going to be asked questions about little ole’ you. Oh, and lying in answering these questions is a felony.
Imagine you’re Trump.
Gulp.
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I think Rep. Nadler is perfectly suited to settle it all out. He seems intent on doing it, 60 people? My god, think who could be rolling through on a channel near you. Bannon, Jared, Moooch, Miller ….
Since Nadler’s jurisdiction is the Constitution, I’d expect he’ll also be digging into violations of the emoluments clause. Trump has done nothing to separate himself from his business. This is another one of these “in broad daylight” things that should have been a huge scandal from the day Trump took office. But as long as the Republicans were running Congress, it all went unpursued.
Well, that changes, starting today. And what a change! Last week wasn’t just a bad week for Trump, as many commentators noted. It was a humiliating week for the United States of America.
Corruption.
It is “c” word for impeachment.
Yes, the defense of the Constitution has begun, the real police are at the door. And you thought Law and Order ran forever.
Except it is not just for show. Indeed, much of the entire reason to have these hearings is to show ourselves, and the rest of the world, that we’re still capable of governing ourselves, and that no one is above the law.
Ironically, that all begins by showing the world that we elected one of the worst petty criminals of all time, a guy who lies like he breathes.
Fortunately, we seem to have a man willing to examine every breath.
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It is simple. Use “corruption” instead of “impeachment.” We’re looking into possible “corruption.”
Peace, y’all. Love one another.
You can support my writing by purchasing my novels here, because in them, Trump isn’t president, Reps are “reptilians,” and a regular liberal college kid, alien abductee, saves the world.