Adam Schiff – RAnt(hony)-ings

Questions & Closing

Both impeachment cases have been presented, both the prosecution and defense. Now we will find out what the mood of the senate is towards the Orange Hate-Monkey (OHM) and his bullshit.

C-SPAN – U.S. Senate: Impeachment Trial (Day 9) – January 29, 2020

Prayer starts at 12:00 minutes into the video. First question is read at 15:45. Two hours in (the point where I started watching live) there is little doubt what the Texas Senators think. All of the Republican questions have been rather ham-handed gotcha questions that they can’t possibly think will advance the debate on the question before the Senate. The question of whether or not the charges brought against the president deserved to be given a proper hearing.

3:30 pm. Javelins and president Trump’s support of Ukraine. If the characterization by the president’s defense is accurate, then Donald Trump can’t be said to be working in the interest of Vladimir Putin. Putin would not want the OHM to sell the Ukrainians lethal weapons. That means that OHM and his defense are either dumb enough to think there was a server that Crowdstrike sent to be hidden in Ukraine, and that this was done somehow in relation to Vice President Biden and his son hunter. They are either that dumb, or they think that their audience is dumb enough to believe that fantasy could be true, and so sell that as a diversion. The depth of idiocy/ delusion this reveals almost beggars the imagination.

The OHM either believes the QAnon conspiracy fantasy, or he likes pretending he believes it in order to cover his desire to throw mud at Joe Biden. Wow. Just wow.

6:30 pm. What we learn from people who call in to the C-SPAN line, generally, is that the supporters of Donald Trump have very little understanding of the facts in this case. This isn’t surprising. What is surprising is that the tuned away from FOX news long enough to listen to themselves talk on C-SPAN.

Clearly the talking point they’ve picked up is that the house failed to do a proper investigation. Anyone, ANYONE who is really paying attention knows that the OHM prevented a proper investigation. That is the truth about that specific point of inquiry. Every person who puts the blame on the House is either an idiot, is uninformed, or is lying. It has to be one of those three things. A minimal level of pushback by the talking head who listens and nods would reveal which one of the three mental states the callers are in. Too bad he doesn’t do that more often.

I didn’t even watch the second day of questions and answers. I meant to come back and catalog the first day of questions and answers, but by the time I had my phone working (that article is still in progress) and finished my World of Warcraft raids for the week (priorities) the Senate Republicans were too busy sucking Donald Trump’s cock (right there in public) to be able to do anything but pay attention to the job in front of them.

No witnesses. Nothing more on the subject of the most corrupt president in US history will be entertained by the Senate that is lead by his morally bankrupt Republican party. Closing arguments were heard this morning. I may or may not watch any of the continuing charade. Here, however, are the closing arguments of the House managers who have so valiantly lead the fight against the corruption embodied by the OHM.

C-SPAN – Rep. Adam Schiff Closing Argument – Feb 3, 2020

So I moved this post up to Monday, February 3rd from Thursday, January 29th. The final vote will be on Wednesday. I’ve already started writing on that article. What has happened to this country since 2016 is unacceptable. It has to stop, and we have to stop it because no one else will.

It has been 3 years, 14 days, 7 hours and 35 minutes since Donald Trump should have been removed from office.

Trump isn’t Nixon and he’s not going to be held to account by Republicans. He’s going to weasel out, as he always does. As the rich and privileged and powerful always do. You knew it. You said so, right here, on my Facebook page, in my Twitter timeline. You knew. So did I. So did we all. Of course, we foolishly let ourselves hope it would be different, sure we did. We got excited there for a minute. Maybe this time Susan Collins and Mitt Romney and Lisa Murkowski would actually stand up and … well, yeah, like I said, foolish.
Stonekettle Station – Stalking Horse

Caudito Trump

A Caudillo is more murderous. I’m thankful that the Orange Hate-Monkey (OHM) isn’t a Caudillo. He’s a tiny little wannabe Caudillo. He’s a Caudito. My apologies to Spanish speakers for murdering their language.

I only bring this up because Robert Reich says that,

A dictator is on trial in his home country. Over half the jury is in his pocket, the foreman is openly coordinating with him to make sure he goes free, and despite public outcry the foreman is refusing to conduct a fair trial.
Facebook – Robert Reich

He says dictator and makes references to Banana Republics or Third World countries in this video.

Facebook – Robert Reich

The word for strongman leader, colloquially, in the language that is spoken South of the United States border, is caudillo. I have this on the good authority of Maria Hinojosa and this episode of Latino USA. If Trump was a dictator in the fashion of third world countries, countries that used to be South of our border here in the States, then he would be a Caudillo. Since he is a little short of the mark, I will from this point onward refer to him as a Caudito. The Caudito, Mr. Orange Hate-Monkey if I want to address him formally.

I thought Trump was a dictator in waiting when he first asked to be given the job of president. I still think he is a dictator in waiting, I just don’t think his mental makeup is vicious enough for him to be able to be a Stalin or a Mao. This is a good thing.

Player.FM – Stitcher – The Economist Asks – What makes a dictator? – Jan 17th 2020

[We] enter an age of Democracy in that you must appeal to the people. You can either do so by going to the ballot box and be elected; or, if you are a dictator, you can pretend somehow that the people really, truly love you, even though they never voted for you. But this is surely the paradox of dictatorship in the twentieth century, that even dictators ultimately wish to portray themselves as democratic figures.
Frank Dikötter

That author specifically rules out Donald Trump as a dictator because the structures of the United States government have so far kept him in check. I think the professor overestimates the fondness that Stormtrumpers feel for the United States government. I think they’d happily live under a dictatorship that governed according to the rules they felt were important enough to kill over. Things like abortion, which isn’t murder, but I digress.

The former president of Mexico, Vincite Fox, thought Donald Trump was a dictator back in 2016,

Weekend Edition – A Former Mexican President Looks At Trump And Sees A ‘Dictator’ – April 10, 2016

Just like the rest of us did. However. If Donald Trump, the OHM, really had the metal it takes to be a Stalin or a Mao, he’d have cut a bloody swath across the country already with the power that the presidency controls. Luckily for us (so far) he is too incompetent to do the job he was sent to do by his Stormtrumpers. It isn’t too late for one of them to step up and be the Stalin or the Mao, and it won’t be too late for that to happen for quite some time. Not until he is safely removed from office and cannot be brought back to power by some group or other in violation of the law of the United States.

…for now he remains Caudito Trump. But for how much longer?

Robert Reich goes on to suggest that Mitch McConnell is going to orchestrate the acquittal of his Trump card. However, Mitch McConnell isn’t in charge of the Senate during an impeachment trial. Mitch McConnell is nothing more than another senator for as long as this trial lasts. What needs to happen is for someone to point out to the actual leader of the Senate during trial, Chief Justice John Roberts, that Mitch McConnell is claiming more authority than is his due. Even the Chief Justice refers to Mitch McConnell as Leader McConnell, so the chances that pointing out his error will change his behavior is slim. But Mitch McConnell isn’t leader anything during an impeachment trial. He is senator McConnell, and the word disgraced should preface even that since he should have been removed from office already for his unwillingness to do his job properly.

…Again, someone should point these facts out to the presiding officer of the court. You can write (or call) him here.

The rest of the video is informative, as far as it goes. The yield curve inverted. That was a bad thing. Tariffs are bad for trade and the OHM loves tariffs. This is also a bad thing. The economy is weakening. Also bad. If we allow Trump to continue in office, he will drive the economy into the ditch all the while blaming everyone around him for the problems that he doesn’t know how to fix because he is a caudito. A caudillo would have executed a dozen people already and blamed them. Be thankful Trump isn’t one of those.

Anyone who doubts that Trump doesn’t want to be a dictator need only look at what he said to Representative Schiff via Twitter. Trump threatens his prosecutors. That is what that Tweet was, and no lying press secretary can change the text in the OHM’s tweets. It was a threat, and it wasn’t even the first one issued against someone who didn’t act like one of his toadies does. Jokes are funny. That was not a joke. Remove the Cadito.

Obstruction of Congress

Day three of the prosecution of President Donald John Trump.

C-SPAN – U.S. Senate: Impeachment Trial (Day 5) – Jan 24, 2020

Two and a half hours into that video from C-SPAN they let Lindsey Graham go on and on lying through his teeth about the rightness and wrongness of the evidence and investigations. I noticed this before on C-SPAN and PBS. They let defenders of the president talk for hours and hours as long as the cameraman thinks that what he is getting has entertainment value.

Here’s the problem. Politics is not fucking entertainment. Politics is life and death. Blood and treasure. It isn’t fucking entertainment. All I need to understand in order to discard every single thing that Lindsey Graham has to say on the subject of Donald Trump, is to look up anything the Senator said before Donald Trump took the oath of office. The only question I have for Lindsey Graham is, what does Donald Trump know about him that he’s holding over Senator Graham’s head? What, exactly, is the dirt he has? Is it better than the dirt that Vladimir Putin has on Donald Trump?

This day’s evidence mostly relates to the president’s obstruction of congress. An observation I’ve made previously, that his declaration that he will not comply with demands made by congress is in itself an impeachable act. No other president in history has done this. Why don’t they ask dear Lindsey that question? See how he wiggles out of that. No other president. Not Nixon, not Clinton, not Obama. Never in the history of this country has a president refused to comply with lawful subpoenas issued by congress. Here are a few informational screenshots from the video.

In word and in deed President Trump has declared himself above the law.
Representative Jerry Nadler

(My thoughts go out to Congressman Nadler and his wife as she goes through her cancer ordeal. May she survive to live many more healthy and happy years.)

All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.
Each House may determine the Rules of its Proceedings, punish its Members for disorderly Behavior, and, with the Concurrence of two thirds, expel a member.
Article I of the United States Constitution

Just imagine how they would have reacted if president Obama had ordered total defiance of all subpoenas.
Representative Jerry Nadler

That really is the important question here. If the shoe were on the other foot, Obama would have been clapped in irons within a week of even attempting what president Trump has done. Even attempting it. But Trump remains defiant. Nadler continues to enumerate exactly how, down through history, access to the president’s records has been assured by previous presidents, even those under investigation by Congress (president Polk NBC.com Think article Achive.org link) the OHM forced Speaker Pelosi’s hand. She had no choice but to call Trump’s bluff when he defied lawfully executed congressional subpoenas. Now we either have a republic, or we don’t. Either Trump is removed, or he isn’t.

C-SPAN – Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) Closing Arguments in Senate Impeachment Trial – Jan 24, 2020

It has been 3 years, 4 days, 8 hours and 54 minutes since Donald Trump should have been removed from office.

The Drug Deal

Day two of the impeachment trial. I’m still watching.

C-SPAN U.S. Senate: Impeachment Trial (Day 4) – Jan 23, 2020
Facebook – PBS

I’m sorry, but I don’t want to be involved to democratic open … elections. Elections of USA.
Volodymyr Zelensky (Axios)

The drug deal started before Volodymyr Zelensky was elected president of Ukraine. It was his election that caused the Trump administration to panic. Rudy had been working with prosecutors under the previous president of Ukraine, trying to get those prosecutors to open investigations into the Putin-created conspiracy fantasy that Ukraine had somehow worked to undermine the Trump election campaign.

The fact that Ukraine favored the election of Hillary Clinton, as did every single one of our allies (except possibly Saudi Arabia) is irrelevant. Or would be irrelevant if any other person was president other than someone like the Orange Hate-Monkey (OHM) Any other president would have understood that US allies were his allies, no matter their opinions on US political competitions. For the OHM, not wanting him to win the election was tantamount to betrayal on the part of every single one of our allies. But it was especially a betrayal by Ukraine. Why? Because Vladimir Putin wants Ukraine back in the Russian sphere of influence, and not part of the EU or part of NATO.

Moth Putin

RAnt(hony)-ings

Donald Trump loves Vladimir Putin. He loves all the vicious dictators who currently hold power in the world. He wants to be one of them and has been working to make the US into a banana republic that he can rule over just like all his heroes do. But there is something special about Putin and Trump. One really has to wonder what kind of dirt Putin has on Trump that makes him so terrified of the Russian President. Because the OHM’s terror is palpable.

So Trump appears to be working for Vladimir Putin and against the interests of our allies in the region, whether he is conscious of this fact or not. It was because of the Putin fabricated conspiracy fantasy that Donald Trump, through Rudy, Lev and Igor, sought to remove ambassador Yovanovitch from her post in Ukraine. You can’t have a corruption fighter in the ambassadorial residence if what you want done involves engaging in activities that are essentially corrupt.

Before Trump, oligarchs felt relatively defenseless in the face of American efforts to strip corruption from the Ukrainian judicial system. Because the Ukrainian nation depended on American support, a figure like Yovanovitch had the leverage to demand cleaner government. But the new U.S. president presented the possibility of salvation for the corrupt. Here was an American leader who operated in the style of an oligarch, who wanted to use the legal system to wound his political rivals. Trump seemed like he could be enlisted, with a properly calibrated message, to act on an oligarch’s behalf.
The Betrayal of Volodymyr Zelensky (The Atlantic)

This is probably why Bolton instructed his subordinates not to even talk to Rudy. Instructed them to take no part in his drug deal and to inform the lawyers that he wasn’t involved. It was his unwillingness to do the presidents bidding in this matter that probably lead to his leaving/being fired. We won’t know unless and until he takes the stand and testifies. The trial continues after dinner.

Meanwhile, the publicity stuntmen working for Donald Trump just can’t seem to keep quiet.

Facebook – Stonekettle Station

This is why I quit listening to him and to them. Because they lie constantly. Paying attention to what they say is a complete waste of time. Donald Trump will always be the guy who stole from all his contractors on his building contracts. Caveat Emptor, America. Just ask them the question.

Dear Republicans. What Does Trump’s Cock Taste Like?

RAnt(hony)-ings

Make them confront exactly what it is they are doing.

C-SPAN – Adam Schiff Closing Argument – Jan 23, 2020

It has been 3 years, 3 days, 10 hours and 11 minutes since Donald Trump should have been removed from office.

President Pence? Unlikely

So, if impeachment IS a coup as Republicans say it is, well, then the primary suspect behind this illegal power grab wouldn’t be Nancy Pelosi or Adam Schiff or Hillary Clinton.
No. It would be the guy who ends up in power. That’s how coups work.
You want to call it a coup? Maybe wonder where the fuck Mike Pence has gotten to lately.
Stonekettle Station

Because Pence is implicated in Trump’s crimes, he can’t serve either. I’ve heard that scenario run down on Today, Explained, The Nine Impeachment Scenarios