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After two weeks of the of the wretchedly reviewed Adam Schiff show, the Democrats are rethinking the impeachment of Donald Trump. They are floating the idea that they could censure the President and save their own bacon. Republican should give that idea a hard pass.
Despite Democrat crowing and 99% of the media reports, those few of us who listened to the full testimony of the “fact” witnesses know that it was a lot of twaddle. The witnesses surmised, presumed, believed, and even got their knickers in a knot. The witnesses had nothing that refuted the July 25 phone call between Presidents Trump and Zelensky that, allegedly, started this Impeachment Inquiry.
Now, between you and me and the fence post, I think Lt. Col. Vindman was upset by everything Trump was doing with the Ukraine. He told the alleged “whistleblower”, who is really a planted spy. The spy went to the Schiff team. The Dems never thought Trump would release the July 25 phone call, which led to Adam Schiff’s vicious story time performance/parody.
Right now, the Democrats are pursuing two tracks.
The first track is full speed ahead on impeachment:
Democrats on the House intelligence committee believe they have enough evidence to write a report and move forward. But it’s still unclear whether they will hear any last-minute testimony.
Democratic House intelligence committee Chairman Adam Schiff said Sunday he won’t foreclose the possibility of his committee undertaking more depositions and hearings in the impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump. Schiff said on CNN’s “State of the Union” that his committee continues to conduct investigative work, but he won’t let the Trump administration stall the inquiry.
We know that the Dems really, really want to keep on this track. Jerrold Nadler still has his nose out of joint because Speaker Pelosi handed this plum assignment to Schiff. Nadler wants his chance at taking out a Republican President.
The second track is to censure the President. They have already floated a trial balloon. Chris Wallace started down this track on Thursday.
Forbes.com had a column this past September on censure. From the article:
Indeed, if Trump were censured by House Democrats (you’d need to find four GOP senators willing to turn on a Republican president for this to happen in the other chamber), the wounds would last. And perhaps a Republican House, one day back in majority control, would undo the stain on the Trump record.
The Democrats would love a wounded Republican President.
The Democrats already pitched censure just eight months into the Trump Presidency, after Charlottesville. That would have never worked since Trump didn’t say what they said he said. Just like now.
The only response to censure should be, “No way, Nancy.”
The Democrats flipped 31 House seats in 2018 that Trump had won in 2016. The candidates that Pelosi put up were conservative Democrats. These seats are vulnerable in 2020.
The Republicans should demand a full Impeachment Hearing. Imagine the trial in the House. Instead of the dictatorial fascist rules of Boss Schiff, the President would get to have a defense. The Democrats fraud on the public might be exposed. The whistleblower’s motives might be exposed. It could go very badly for the Democrats. There might just be a big, old train on this track. It’s not a foregone conclusion that the Republicans wouldn’t peel off a half-dozen or so Democrats, and Trump wouldn’t be impeached in the House. The Senate would never have to take it up.
I say to bring on impeachment, if you dare.
Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore/Wikimedia Commons/Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-SA 2.0)
Wfjag says: Schiff will write an Impeachment Report, a/k/a the Steele Dossier Part 2. It will be full of press quotable statements. Like the Dossier, nothing in it will be verifiable. Rather, it will be full of opinions disguised as facts.
However, Dems know that they cannot send it to the Senate for trial, because that would let Trump bring out facts to counter the Dem narrative. Usually an investigation hurts the subject of the investigation. Here, however, the investigation was handled so unfairly by Schiff, and, none of the witnesses ever testified or opined that Trump did anything wrong. Rather, what came out was what looks like V.P. Biden using his office because he son received $Millions from an Ukrainian oligarch. So, Trump’s support had been going up. The Dems are afraid not only that a trial will show corruption involving Joe and Hunter Biden, they fear that the Bidens will implicate Obama in the scheme.
So, Pelosi’s best option is to declare Trump guilty without giving a chance for him is to defend himself and say that it cannot be sent to the Senate because partisan Republicans will acquire him . Censure is the Dems only option, and they hope that will satisfy The Squad and their followers.
Toni Williams says: It won’t satisfy the Dems. And, it will make the Republicans madder.
TW
GWB says: the wounds would last
Uh, no. The Congress has no authority to “censure” the Executive branch. Especially as there is NO authority anywhere in the Constitution, other than actual impeachment, where the Congress can pass anything that doesn’t have to go to the President to be signed. Otherwise it’s just posturing, name-calling, and campaign ad material.
Don’t get me wrong. Congress often does exactly that – pass something as a “sense of the House” or “sense of the Senate” or some such malarkey. Unless it’s backed up by actual legislation (in which case it could be helpful to future originalist justices), it doesn’t even rate a footnote in history. It’s posturing.
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