Today is Impeachment Day. Today the House of Representatives will vote on Articles of Impeachment, in a vote that is expected to go down along party lines in favor of impeachment. The debate on the House floor starts at 9 am and can last six hours, possibly more. Politico says we should expect the actual vote to take place between 6:30-7:30 pm. After the House votes to impeachment, the process will likely move over to the Senate for the second phase, which will be a trainwreck. There are some House Democrats who want to hold back the second phase until the Senate Republicans guarantee a fair and just process. Which probably won’t happen.
On Impeachment Eve, Donald Trump sent Speaker Nancy Pelosi an absolutely unhinged six-page letter. You can read the full letter here at the NY Times. Some moments and statements we need to discuss:
…The Articles of Impeachment introduced by the House Judiciary Committee are not recognizable under any standard of Constitutional theory, interpretation, or jurisprudence. They include no crimes, no misdemeanors, and no offenses whatsoever. You have cheapened the importance of the very ugly word, impeachment!
… Everyone, you included, knows what is really happening. Your chosen candidate lost the election in 2016, in an Electoral College landslide (306-227), and you and your party have never recovered from this defeat. You have developed a full-fledged case of what many in the media call Trump Derangement Syndrome and sadly, you will never get over it!
After three years of unfair and unwarranted investigations, 45 million dollars spent, 18 angry Democrat prosecutors, the entire force of the FBI, headed by leadership now proven to be totally incompetent and corrupt, you have found NOTHING!
Before the Impeachment Hoax, it was the Russian Witch Hunt. Against all evidence, and regardless of the truth, you and your deputies claimed that my campaign colluded with the Russians — a grave, malicious, and slanderous lie, a falsehood like no other. You forced our Nation through turmoil and torment over a wholly fabricated story, illegally purchased from a foreign spy by Hillary Clinton and the DNC in order to assault our democracy
Worse still, I have been deprived of basic Constitutional Due Process from the beginning of this impeachment scam right up until the present. I have been denied the most fundamental rights afforded by the Constitution, including the right to present evidence, to have my own counsel present, to confront accusers, and to call and cross-examine witnesses, like the so-called whistleblower who started this entire hoax with a false report of the phone call that bears no relationship to the actual phone call that was made. Once I presented the transcribed call, which surprised and shocked the fraudsters (they never thought that such evidence would be presented), the so-called whistleblower, and the second whistleblower, disappeared because they got caught, their report was a fraud, and they were no longer going to be made available to us.
In other words, once the phone call was made public, your whole plot blew up, but that didn’t stop you from continuing.
More due process was afforded to those accused in the Salem Witch Trials.
I just… I actually sat here and tried to read the whole thing. This letter is an impeachable offense, in my humble opinion. It’s clearly in Trump’s exclamation-happy voice, and my guess would be that he spoke the broad strokes of “mention this” and “say it this way” to whoever actually wrote the letter. There are so many lies in it, so many pity parties, so many historical and legal inaccuracies, so of course the letter is a glimpse inside Trump’s mind. It’s the mind of a moron who thinks he’s the victim. And how long are his supporters going to keep this sh-t up?
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
But his followers probably loved it.
Yeah, I agree with you on that. It’s pretty scary.
Exactly. Trump Derangement Syndrome is what his supporters have, not his critics. They’re so deranged that they’ll believe anything this morally corrupt buffoon and his GOP boot-lickers say. Once this reaches the Senate he’ll be acquitted, McConnell has all but said so, calling himself “impartial.” It’s a joke. One giant sad, tragic joke.
The Daily Show had a crazy segment with Trump supporters. Asking them if they’d “read the transcript” that Trump kept whining about. Shocker, they had not. The only info they have on impeachment comes from reading Trump’s tweets because they trust him. *bangs head on desk*
Absolutely. That term describes them, not the non-believers. Everything they say is a projection.
Largest cult in American history and people wonder how cult leaders like Manson and Jones has so much power over their followers.
Absolutely. They are never going to desert him, because they (a) still believe he is their messiah and (b) they will never admit they were wrong about this moron, because it would make them look and feel stupid.
I would rather they admit they made a mistake but then most of them are stubborn ignorant bigots who don’t care how this administration has impacted so many lives and none of it in a positive way.
Admitting to mistakes is actually something really important because it shows that a person has a spine and some character left.
I have often wondered if his supporters realize just how stupid he thinks them to be? As for his letter? It shows how fractured from reality he actually is. It was horrifying to think a POTUS has no idea what the Constitution means & stands for & equally horrifying that he was aided by staffers (I’m looking at you Nazi Ken, Miller) who thought sending such a missive was a good idea.
It is a petulant projective cry from a v v guilty man. A funny side note is that once he is impeached he is unpardonable. It’s the reason Nixon left relatively quietly
So if he’s found guilty of any federal crimes after he leaves office, he can’t be pardoned for anything?
Snappy: Ford pardoned Nixon. And Nixon left before the Senate could vote, because the House had impeached him & it was clear the Senate would convict.
@beaniebean. Ford pardoned Nixon because he resigned. He was NOT impeached. It is why Nixon resigned so that he could be pardoned. He knew when the court ruled against him that the House would impeach him. The pardon discussion was made the night before he resigned. Once a president is impeached he is no longer pardonable
Now his resignation was because he knew he WOULD be impeached so he resigned. Only Johnson & Clinton have been impeached by the House. Today Trump will join them
Given how long it is, I doubt they actually read it but I’m sure they thought it was great.
Yeah, his supporters will follow him into hell itself because they ALSO the morons who think they’re the victims.
this whole process has been eye-opening in terms of seeing how people cling to one belief no matter what the facts say. His supporters believe that “transcript” completely exonerated him, when it just proved the accusations against him.
that letter is so BSC that I couldn’t even read the whole thing.
Becks, yes. I am, honestly half way in shock watching these Republicans defending this man! And they have the audacity to be indignant? I have always looked at republicans as friendly foes. Adversaries, but able to deal with. No more. And say what they want… their man is being impeached now. Trump is asking for prayers and off to a rally, and Ivanka is being a witch. Ha, ha, always wanted that Trump name? Well they got it now. It is ruined. And guess what? He is being impeached as we all speak. Phase one lol will be completed end of day today. Next…vote him out!
Roy Cohn must be so proud.
Any attorney (JARED)who fed him that “due process” line needs to be investigated by the Board of Bar Overseers in which he/she/it is licensed. He has not been denied due process.
This letter proved one thing to me: his wife and kids are using him for power and profit. Nagini probably helped him draft it. A caring spouse or child would never let such a letter see the light of day outside a doctor’s office. They don’t love him.
And Pence needs to be asked why he has not invoked the 25th Amendment.
Speaking of Pence, I’ve been wondering about him as he has been very quiet lately. What are the chances he is quietly talking to the very few “moderate” senate republicans asking them to vote yes on impeachment? You know… Hey Mitt, vote to impeach and I’ll make you my VP…
Pence could have ended this whole thing months ago by invoking the 25th Amendment. He hasn’t. He isn’t doing anything behind the scenes except fighting off Nikki Haley.
Throughout the hearings, we’ve heard that Pence was aware of the quid pro quo, some of his staff have listened to the July phone call and were part of conversations with Volker, etc. So if Trumps go down because of Ukraine (which he won’t because of the Senate), Pence would be ousted too. He tried so hard to always claim he didn’t know anything about anything but it can’t work for the Ukraine stuff
Do you really think he would care about his wife’s opinion?
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Pity party indeed. As Nancy Pelosi stated, this diatribe is ‘sick’. If anyone cared about the Orange Turd, they would have taken him to a therapist years ago. Instead Crazy and Criminal Rudy is still digging for dirt in Ukraine. You couldn’t make this stuff up. Maybe they should brand Trump with a giant ‘I’ on his forehead when he is impeached.
I’m surprised they have not shut Rudy up yet. He is damaging their case every time he speaks.
Rudy Colludy will accidently take them all out with his verbal diarrhea
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I was flabbergasted to read in today’s news that Trump will be in Battle Creek, Michigan for a rally that starts at 7 pm, the same time as the vote. I live nearby….I would have thought he’d be in the White House rage-tweeting
Distraction, deflection, nothing to see here. It doesn’t seem surprising that he wants to be surrounded by adoring sycophants at this moment. Sigh.
My initial thought was the same, until I realized for him, it fits. He can feel the adoration of a handpicked crowd around him, while live-ranting and attempting to sway the news cycle. I’m sure Faux will broadcast the whole thing, so mission accomplished.
It’s along the lines of – Don’t look over there, or think about how your own life is potentially impacted by policies (or lack thereof). Keeping the false narrative going takes a lot of effort!
As I understand it, no American president has been chucked out of office after being impeached. I’m here for a quick lesson in American politics. How will the American people benefit if he is impeached? Will his powers be reduced? If he is impeached, will he be allowed to run again in 2020? Does anyone believe he can/will be ousted?
Och. So many questions.
@annakist – first, in order for him to be impeached, it has to be voted on by The House of Representatives (happening today) and then it goes for a vote by the Senate, which would require 2/3 of the body to vote him out. It’s basically not going to happen in the Senate, bc his allies hold over half the seats. IF it did work out for him to truly be impeached, he would no longer be POTUS and no longer have any power, at least no official, government power. Pence the VP would then be sworn in as President. Hope that helps explain things a little. Look up Richard Nixon on Wikipedia to see what happened in a true impeachment, although technically he resigned as he saw the writing on the wall. Trump would never ever resign lol.
Sorry but no. Impeachment and Removal are two separate things. There have been two impeachments: Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton. Trump will be the third. The Senate votes on whether or not to remove an impeached president, not whether to impeach a president.
law professor here. we have bicameral government. the constitution says the impeachment articles are drafted by the house and voted on there. then the senate holds a trial to determine if he is guilty and needs to be removed from office. he’ll be impeached in the house today. the senate will not find him guilty and not remove him.
BUT since he has been impeached, he cannot be pardoned by the next president. he is up s creek for many crimes, including financial stuff related to his businesses at the Southern District of NY (federal, where he fired a prosecutor, Preet Bahara, who wouldn’t take his calls – because its unethical/a conflict of interest – in the first few months of his presidency).
this is why Nixon left BEFORE the house voted, and he was later pardoned.
if he is impeached AND removed by the senate, VP Pence becomes the president. but Pence can probably also be impeached. Pence took some kind of call on sept 17 that probably implicates him in the same Ukraine shit that is bringing orange a-hole down. If pence is removed, Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House, becomes president. None of that will happen though.
This is a very serious moment for American democracy. A test of the rule of law. Trump is the commander of the armed forces and can do lots of bad things to keep power; at the end of the day he controls the people with the guns. They can disobey unconstitutional orders, but would they is the question. That is why public officials swear an oath, not to the president, but to uphold the Constitution. Still, every Republican in Congress took that oath and 99.9% of them are completely supporting Cheeto Mussolini
Thanks for the explanation. I have a question. If he was removed from office (my dream), does he and his family still get secret service detail? He already has used SS to help finance his golf resorts so I can’t imagine what he would do if he got to keep them.
Your entire post is why I fear the 2020 election is already lost. STILL VOTE REGARDLESS!
Trump and the entire GOP should have their houses cooked but I’m fully convinced there will shenanigans and we will either see sweeping victories for them or if they do lose, they’ll contest the results and the GOP-packed courts will rule in their favor.
Trump will be “elected” for what should be second and final term. But they will change laws or do something to declare a state of emergency and term limits will be changed. Then when the laws are totally in their favor, Trump will resign when he no longer has to fear prosecution and Ivanka will then take his place as the first female “president”.
We’re already under a dictatorship/kleptocracy. They just haven’t made the formal announcement yet.
The one thing that can come out of his being impeached that is very important for the future, is that he cannot be pardoned if he is impeached. So, I believe if I understand this correctly, if he’s impeached, in the future a Republican president can’t immediately pardon him for his crimes and he can be prosecuted for what he did to get impeached. So, even if he is not removed by the Senate, it’s still a important thing to have against him.
again, the answer to this depends on this test of the rule of law that the Trump Presidency has posed since the outset (emoluments for example, keeping his businesses). There is a debate about whether he could pardon himself, but in general the federal pardons do not apply to impeachment. He can still also be tried at any time he is out of office for violations of state law, by state courts. The state attorney general in New York, where most of his businesses violations occurred, has cases in process. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_pardons_in_the_United_States
Thank you everyone, for your very helpful information. It’s a lot for a non-American to get her head around, especially since we’ve had several prime ministers unceremoniously chucked out of office for far less than tamgerino’s exploits, a,d with a lot more haste.
I do remember the Nixon affair, even though I was quite young. I was friends with a young bride and her husband from Minnesota. They’d come to Australia on some sort of exchange deal, but had to stay her, and be gainfully employed, for two years. While the whole Nixon thing evolved, they were beside themselves. When he resigned, they packed up their belongings and life here and went straight home, and I mean within days, thereby breaking their residency agreement. They felt they had to be at home in the face of an American crisis.
The past few days in DC have been gray, cloudy, and wet. This morning is bright, crisp and sunny! A wonderful day for impeachment! The heavens are smiling.
Here is hoping!
The House is doing the right thing, and those who listen to and vote their conscience (assuming they have any moral fiber) will at least be on the proper side of history.
I attended an impeachment rally last night outside my Republican congressman’s office. Over 500 people braved the rainy, winter weather to call for impeachment. Less than 100 Trump supporters showed up to counter protest. The congressman was inside his office and was seeing groups of people five at a time. However, being a Republican he already announced early in the day he was going to vote against impeachment.
I’ve been wondering if the Republican party knows something everyone else doesn’t. You’d think they’d have distanced himself way before now if they were fearful about the party’s survival. However, being that McConnell is blocking election security bills and is flaunting his alliance with Trump I wonder if they know the election next year is a “done deal” for them.
The Republican party has been dying a slow death since the early 90s. They know this and don’t want to change. So with foreign interference, gerrymandering and voter suppression do they intend to rig the election so they can’t lose and then subject the rest of us to minority rule?
They are also masters at gaslighting, especially since the 1980s. Framing Ronnie as some type of saint (ignoring his ineptness and bad policies that still haunt us) was step one.
I agree that the party is in trouble due to changing demographics. But their ability to falsify narratives in a very vocal, consistent way (along with dirty tricks) are not to be minimized. They are impressive when it comes to getting average voters to vote against their own best interests by focusing on a few issues. They want to but healthcare, Social Security, etc., yet some voters ignore that because of their anti-abortion, anti-minority stances.
I enjoy the mention of 45 million spent on this “hoax.” A coworker mentioned that same point to me a few weeks ago as if she had a really good argument and I reminded her that president lard ass has spent over 100 million on golf. Not to mention the amount of money that was spent for Melania and Baron to stay in New York in 2017. I personally feel all the impeachment funds is money well spent and it’s going to be if we need to do it again.
“I just… I actually sat here and tried to read the whole thing.”
I did the same last night. He didn’t write it of course, it’s lengthy. But it’s him. His thoughts and convoluted ramblings, his accusations, dangerous hyperbolic vitriol and his disgusting way of knitting lies creating a frightening layer of impenetrable opaque hate and anger which is being embraced by an alarming amount of voters. I’m not happy. And I’m not convinced enough politicians are willing to do the right thing. Politicians doing the right thing. That oxymoronic statement got us here.
Canadian here. I keep hearing about Republicans who have announced they aren’t running next year. Are there enough of them that if they voted for impeachment it would pass in the Senate?
Unfortunately, the timelines do not align. Senate vote will happen in January 2020 and these Republicans who are leaving office won’t be out of office until January 2021.
But if they already are leaving they shouldn’t fear reprisals for voting against the party line.
Ohh, I gotcha. I still think too many of them want to run again/not be pariahs/want a cushy job as a Republican consultant that they will not go against party line. They are craven.
“You have developed a full-fledged case of what many in the media call Trump Derangement Syndrome and sadly, you will never get over it!” = “waaaaaa…..you’re such a meanie beanie fo feeny!”
My goodness he’s a kindergartener.
That would explain why he knows nothing about the Salem Witch trials.
I am really worried about what is going to happen after Senate voted against removing him. He will be even more powerful and unhinged after that because nobody will stop him.
You are right, because the Senate will not vote for removal, and he will survive this. The only hope of stopping him in November 2020 will come down to voters in a small handful of swing states due to the electoral college. If he somehow loses he will fight tooth and nail against being removed from office.
As soon as I hit the word ‘jurisprudence’ Ot was obvious Trump didn’t write this!
Now that impeachment passed, I’ve got to wait until tomorrow morning to get Celebitchy’s take on it.
He knew it would pass and that’s why he’s at a rally, so he can rant in real time. Honestly, how long before the genocide formally starts? I really admire the bravery of those that voted to impeach him. History shows They are risking their lives
It’s reported that Stephen Miller (human slug), some dummy in Mulvaney’s office and another flunky wrote this letter. They bypassed WH counsel Pat Cipollone. I think Pat is finally done writing letters to embarrass himself and his law degree so they went to the basement and brought out the uneducated losers