Hey there! Tool checking in. I’m just your average run of the mill goth socialist hanging out at 3 am in AOC’s district, the fighting 14th!
There’s been a lot of talk about impeachment lately and like a majority of democrats (people — not politicians) — I support it!
Two days ago the NYTimes was doing a classic round of concern trolling democrats with an article aptly titled “Why Aren’t 2020 Democrats Talking About Impeachment?” — and spit forth this little nugget at the start of the piece:
Support among Democratic voters for opening an impeachment inquiry is growing, and at least 100 members of Congress are now in favor. But even in the aftermath of Mr. Mueller’s nationally televised testimony, voters bring up impeachment far less than they do policy issues, and few of the 2020 hopefuls make it central, or mention it at all, in their appeals.
Interviews with Democratic primary voters in New Hampshire and Wisconsin, and at the N.A.A.C.P. and Urban League conferences this week, yielded an unwavering belief that Mr. Trump is a lawless demagogue who must be turned out of office — but also a sense that efforts to impeach him will inevitably run aground in the Republican-controlled Senate.
*bold by author
www.nytimes.com/… (pay wall — boo)
Anti-Impeachment Argument Number (1)
Impeachment dies in the senate.
Here the paper presents the anecdotal evidence from a voter that claims they have a sense that impeachment will fail in the senate. The paper then goes on to quote a few democratic lawmakers who echo that exact sentiment — manufacturing a level of consent from anecdotal evidence that the only outcome in the senate is Trump getting off — so why bother?
Answer:
Moscow Mitch will never acquit. Did you hear me my friend? Moscow Mitch will never acquit!
No one can have a reasonable expectation that after destroying the senate, assisting the Russians in cyber-warfare, undermining our institutions, and working doggedly to reshape our judiciary into a fascist stamp approval network — that he would preside over a fair trail in the Senate.
Mitch is a foreign actor and should be regarded as such given how he has responded to every bill put forth to safe guard our coming elections.
Impeachment does need to be discharged to the Senate till right before the election. Meaning that 14 months of hearings, charges, and informing the public will lead to Trump resigning or hopefully dropping dead from a burger induced heart attack.
- There is no limit to the number of times Trump can be impeached. He can be impeachment for -every- -single- -one- of his crimes (of which at this point there are hundreds, if not thousands). Most Impeached in History! How about that mark on him?
- Impeachment is a political process — not a legal one. Trump can be still charged afterwards.There is no double jeopardy here.
Behaviorally why is this important?
- Democratic base voters and left leaning indi’s will see impeachment (or failed impeachment) as a motivation to vote.
- Even if democrats fail in the Senate — the perception with the base is that democrats fought for the people or what they believed in (even though they lost). This is a fight about core values.
- Failure to stand up to Trump (the most historically weak president ever) — as he jails people and children in concentration camps — will demotivate democratic voters and left leaning independents.
Failure to impeach will also embolden the racists:
- If Trump is not impeached — the guy who 10 years ago would have felt shame for saying racist stuff — is going to be even more motivated to vote for Trump. Republican base voters are motivated by racism. Democratic base voters will be motivated by hope, change, and fighting for justice.
- If Trump is not impeached — republicans will feel emboldened to continue their fascist destruction of our institutions — specifically because the previous incarnation of republican fascism that led us into two wars, untold death, domestic spying, and torture — was not punished.
Anti-Impeachment Argument Number (2)
The media is biased and coverage won’t be fair.
This one is currently on the recommended list:
www.dailykos.com/… “Why impeachment media coverage would likely be a disaster”
Here the author presents the argument that given the tepid coverage of Mueller’s testimony — that he has no expectation that the media will treat impeachment coverage fairly
- therefore we don’t impeach.
Answer:
-
Why _______ media coverage would likely be a disaster.
Fill in the blank with anything you choose. How about "non impeachment".
Democrats should never have any expectation of a fair treatment when media companies have been consolidated and are billionaire own (namely republican but when you’re that rich you play both sides against each other)
Given the state of ownership and consolidation of media in our country there should already be an expectation of reasonable bias. It’s like I expected Chuck Todd’s behavior to be exactly the same as it’s always been so why should I be shocked?
Republicans paid 0 political price for impeaching Bill Clinton. 0. In fact over the long term — demonizing of the Clinton's paid off simply in terms of sheer numbers of years they have been in control of our branches of government.
It is more important to care about the motivation of our democratic base than it is to worry about what Chuck Todd is saying. Impeachment is very popular with the base. Support for impeachment is higher now than it was after a year of the Watergate hearings. That’s the baseline starting point. Higher than a year after Watergate hearings.
If the hearings need to be entertaining I know a story about a president who hired a mob guy to pay a porn start hundreds of thousands of dollars to keep their affair secret.
I mean...who could be entertained by evidence like that? Trump is a spectacle. Why not use the spectacle against him?
Anti-Impeachment Argument Number (3)
Ignore Fascism and focus on the election.
That’s in essence what the democratic leadership has been signalling to the base right? Our Speaker in the House is not for impeachment currently. The justification for not impeaching but focusing on the election is that:
- voters will reward democrats for producing policy bills that go to the senate to die.
- voters will not reward democrats for sending impeachment to the senate that will die.
You see how those are two very mixed messages to be sending voters in an election year? If we have the political courage to sign our names to legislation that we know will never come to pass — why do we not have the courage to send articles of impeachment to the senate (even if we know they may not see the light of day)?
The sooner leadership gets on board with impeachment — the better since they are playing a very dangerous game with repeating the Bush year outcomes. Can we imagine something worse than Trump? We are going to start to have too if our institutions are not defended and justice is not restored. It is important for people to see justice done. It is a powerful motivator to vote.
Anti-Impeachment Argument Number (4)
Impeachment has been abused in the past — we must be super careful.
Yes, I would call the impeachment of Bill Clinton over a blowjob shameful. Republicans had no right to impeach Clinton. They spent his entire presidency trying to remove him — regardless of how many of their policy positions he incorporated into his bills.
The sham of justice that was widely televised had a lasting impact on me as a teenager, watching republican hypocrisy day after day with Ken Starr and good old wife cheating Newt plastered on the TVs. I was already a democrat then but seeing those impeachment trials as a young teenager made evident the sheer audacity of the oppositions true nature.
Imagine what broadcast impeachment trials could do for the next generation and serve as motivation for growing our party?
What other time was impeachment abused? Oh yeah — Andrew Johnson — the most racist piece of shit president we got stuck with after Lincoln was assassinated. The cretin pardoned people who committed genocide on African Americans and invited them to the white house. It looks like our ancestors knew when to impeach another fucking Trump when they accidentally landed in the white house.
There is no limit to the number of times Trump can be impeached. He can be the most impeached president in the history of the republic. It can be a deal he can be remembered for!
Impeachment will motivate the base in an election year that we need to beat the racists.
Not impeaching him will allow them to justify their behavior and will not depress the racists.
Impeaching him and drawing out a long and painful public hearings — will depress them in much the same way the racists were depressed in 2008 when McCain called out racist behavior on their side.
Impeaching Trump is a moral imperative of our times. It will likely bring down Pence and expose Moscow Mitch’s role as a foreign agent.
We will never know unless we try.
*Tool has a long history of advocating for impeachment and is author of such famous diaries as:
Dear Speaker Pelosi. Impeachment Day 1 Nothing else will work