Having practiced constitutional law for over 13 years, it’s obvious to me that Trump has not committed any offense even closely related to an offense supporting impeachment.
It’s also clear that the opposition is continually searching for a method to overturn the election of a candidate they find unacceptable.
While the current allegations might support impeachment for Joe Biden, he is no longer vice-president, and so he’s safe from sanction for blatantly illegal conduct.
35
@Constitutional Lawyer I guess we know how you read the constitution--as Scalia did, as a textualist when wanted to and holistically when he wanted to. I believe the only time he found a violation of equal protection was to support his crazy opinion in Bush v Gore. If Florida had not been decided by the day for the tabulation of the votes of the electors, the House would have decided the election. The result would have been the same, but he would not have had to torture legal reasoning to the point where he wrote in his opinion that it could never be used for precedential value in any future case.
349
@Constitutional Lawyer: Having practiced law for 40 years before I retired, it's obvious to me that Donald Trump has committed multiple offenses that require impeachment. He has abused his power in calling for the governments of at least three foreign countries to interfere in our elections on his behalf. He has undermined our democracy. There are few offenses worse than that.
943
@Constitutional Lawyer
Which Constitution?
Not ours.
510
The press should be stressing that Ukraine will be highly motivated to say Joe Biden and his son committed crimes, whether they did or not. They need to please their benefactor any way they can to get the vitally needed military and defense support on offer from the US. This is the bigger story than splitting hairs on what Trump lied about. He lies all the time and the public is inured to hearing that he lies.
101
Trump is an old man whether he realizes it or not and he cannot continue on the crazed manic path he has taken. He needs to look at Bernie today and he will see himself. Not that anyone cares.
61
It is obvious, based on the document (the telephone call) provided by the White House that President Trump deserved to be investigate and impeached if the facts are proven.
But President Obama ordered the assassination of American citizens in violation of the Fifth Amendment which said that a citizen should not "deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law". President GW Bush in the War against terror used tortures against the "enemy combatants" and set up Guantanamo Bay Prison which violated American and International Law. Where was the call for impeachment in both cases? Obviously two cases of abuse of power. Of course those terrorists were and are guilty of heinous crimes. And therefore have to pay the price but they still deserve due process of law like Donald Trump in a democracy based on the rule of law.
17
All this attention to Trump is flattering to his ego.
There is no such thing as bad publicity.
If it wasn’t necessary for journalists to generate capital by writing about Trumpism it would be possible to ignore him right up to his impeachment.
Too many people are playing right into his hands.
Please cut it out!
29
This coup will fail. I voted Trump in 2016, and will again in 2020 after the coup plotters have been brought to justice. I would support Trump even when he declares himself president for life. Drain the swamp, Mr. President!
21
The correct name for adult bullies, is either dictator or mob boss. However, his frustration, is that he can't permanently silence people, which, in my opinion, he would like to do, so he relentlessly bullies, and demeans them, day in, an day out. He wears people, and institutions down by threats, lies, lawsuits, and withholding payments of owed monetary compensation. Sound familiar to what he is doing on the world stage, as it has been his MO for decades.
77
Trump understands this. The House will impeach. The Senate will acquit and very swiftly. Trump will scream ‘innocent.’ Trump will be re-elected. The Constitution and the rule of law will be shredded.
37
"Suicide"?
But Allstate (that would be the UN) patriots like Cohen had him "done in" as a candidate? The globalist nightmare is this: The Program has crested, and the Empire's legions are way out in Neverlandland seeking new trophies (weather, bathrooms, cultural Leninism, etc), while the angry plebs are banging on Senate doors. Cohen is smart enough to know that they're simultaneously banging on his own--you cannot have white-collar rot without white-collar enablers. The historic pendulum has reversed the world over--Trump is but a useful prop on forces beyond anyone's control. Deplorables have not yet even "yellowvested." Trump is their torch. In normal circumstances, Trump would be finished. But in normal circumstances, he would still be blackmailing corrupt bankers, instead of corrupt politicians. He simply went corruption one better, so to speak, by forging it into a club on behest of the mob, the Cato's who still wax mistily over the Old Republic. Trump has no such illusions. From here on, the battle will be over who controls the ruins. He also knows that if he does not secure protection post-Presidency, his enemies will settle scores. This Caesar knew, the political had become fatally personal, and for a lifelong opportunist, crossing the river was just another throw of the dice. The corner is where the opportunist has his decisions made for him. No one should assume that he won't "go there."
10
One wonders what the republicans would be saying if the script were flipped. Say, Hillary Clinton won the election and was urging foreign heads of state to investigate someone running against her, say....Ted Cruz. I suspect there would not be silence.
75
Trump 41% approval rating? That's obscenely high. Clearly some people's brains are not working to capacity.
134
There's no genius here, just a mob boss keeping his capo's in order. They are terrified of him and as long as he keeps them scared and in line, he is safe. I find comments like Ernst's and Rubio's cowardly and disgusting.
80
What appalls me is that 41% of polled people still support the man. What is wrong with us?
109
“He will not be a one-term president!”
You got that right. He’ll be a 3/4 term president.
56
This horrid man loves to play the victim and wallow in self-pity.
Of course he is the architect of his own downfall and we should do everything we can to accommodate that.
41
The GOP --beginning with McConnell -- are wondering when & how to pull this dangerous freak whom they entered into a dirty alliance with back in Aug/Sept 2016.
Mitch is calculating the options as I type this. Dump Trump and put forth a more viable candidate (almost anybody) . . . or triple down all with the great possibility the entire GOP will be incinerated in 2020.
C'mon, Mitch, do you really want to go down shackled with this criminal ?
36
Take all those recalcitrant Republican Senators - those who refuse to stand up to our wannabe dictator - out to a military cemetery - especially Arlington National Cemetery -- have them look at the row upon row of white marble grave stones and repeat the following:
I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God."
36
Political suicide without question.
Just turn off the volume when Trump is speaking.
Even without listening to his angry lying rants, you can see Trump's wild desperation. He's red faced and ready to explode.
"O, what a tangled web we weave when first we practise to deceive!"
And so Jared Kushner is his new "Anti-Impeachment Czar"? Please monitor all calls to Kushner's BFF, the Saudi Prince Bone Saw.
45
As though to warn Tolstoy against the temptation of dogmatism, Turgenev wrote:
"Would to God your horizon may broaden every day! The people who bind themselves to systems are those who are unable to encompass the whole truth and try to catch it by the tail; a system is like the tail of truth, but truth is like a lizard: it leaves its tail in your fingers and runs away, knowing full well that it will grow a new one in a twinkling."
11
Superb commentary, as always, from Mr. Cohen.
He speaks such obvious, logical sense that it would be, one should think, difficult to deny or ignore. Yet here we are: No Congressional Republican will publicly support impeachment.
Maybe that will change, and change quickly. I doubt it, but I didn't think Trump had a snowball's chance of winning in 2016, so my assessment and predictive capabilities are questionable.
And how 'bout Mitt? "Gee, I don't know ... that's troubling." Ah, a decisive statesman of courage and action indeed! And he's the best of the lot.
Another interesting, intense period in America's political history is upon us.
If Trump could just be a good sport about winning, magnanimous in victory, instead of "hell hath no fury," half or more of his problems would disappear. But such a man he is not, to everyone's consternation and chagrin.
What will next week bring? No doubt, more storm and stress. Trump has just begun to fight, forcing counteractions and increasing our misery index. Is there a fast-forward on this disaster movie?
20
Can`t wait for Nancy Pelosi Presidency !
I don`t see how trump will survive in between his open lies and attacks to whoever goes against him
Senetor Mitt Romney knows well, trump can not touch him, He is good until 2024 and then trump will be gone if not sooner.
But what`s with trump`s secret supporters ?
Where I live in OH, know most of my neighbors in my daily walks.
During Obama / Romney election there was Romney signs all over . In 2016 not a single trump sign, obviously all are embarrassed to disply their open support .
All secret trump supporters were embarrased fo support a congenital liar .
Will they channge in 2020, I don`t know.
We can only hope.
17
Good grief, do you not realise how idiotic this article makes the American people appear to the real world? It is now nearly three years since Trump was elected and lord knows how many millions of futile words like these have been cast into the ether - showing maximum activity but zero achievement in removing this individual who is clearly not fit for office. Maybe someone could resurrect the Nike swish - Just DO IT!
24
Rocky has the most accurate description of the situation: the President is mentally irregular.
To paraphrase:
If you hire ethical people you get an ethical administration, hire incompetent people and you get an incompetent administration, hire crooks and scofflaws and you get the Trump administration. It's simple mathematics.
31
Yes, Trump and his henchmen are in the flames. We just need to make sure that we burn them.
18
Trump cannot be indicted while in office. He cannot be removed if impeached. And that leaves only one necessity: win re-election. But this is more of a long shot than in 2016. That leaves one option: Double down on the Manafort game-plan for 2016: Cheat and go big.
In fact, that is what Trump is doing even with Manafort’s help sitting in stir. That is smear Joe Biden. Enlist (extort) foreign governments to concoct the smear. Manipulate the press to get them to adopt the “investigation” misnomer. Use Fox News(sic) for smoke & flak. Attack the attackers. Fool the rubes. Exploit lazy reporting. Normalize the crimes.
It worked in 2016. It worked after the Mueller report. It can work in 2020. After that, there will be no need to repeat the plan.
19
It’s not whether Trump will win the next election, but how much havoc he will sow. It doesn’t take many radicals to create chaos, and most Trump supporters are probably NRA members.......
5
26 floors is all he got?
He got nothing.
1
Every time Trump opens his mouth these days, he doesn’t just lie, he commits a crime.
He invents suspect activity against Joe Biden’s kid, then calls on a foreign nation to violate the Emoluments Clause - a valuable phony investigation...
And violates Federal Election Law, demanding a foreign government take action to change the outcome of the US Presidential election.
Problem is, Trump has gotten away with these crimes while ignoring his oath of office - what else can one call not bothering with his daily national security assessment - while working a five-day-a-week job, spending at least a day campaigning and celebrating the Sabbath on the golf course (though, unlike his predecessors, his scores, and commitments to the rules of game are kept as deep secrets along with his tax returns and the state of his health - have you noticed he’s released only select data from one “annual physical” - his first - a report which mischaracterized the “psychiatric test” he “passed with flying colors”.
The test described answers one question - whether the taker is senile.
A four-page exam, it asks for takers to complete tasks including ‘draw hands on clock faces to match times stated below).
The increase in Trump’s total disconnect from reality is terrifying to those who know the US Constitution and understand the Rule of Law.
But will the general public catch the increase in magnitude of the crimes committed?
Or just say “oh it’s just more of the same politics”?
9
I'd love to hear the hosts of the Sunday morning political programs ask the Trump defender guests if Clinton's impeachment was a coup.
13
What is the relevance of naming president Zelensky "a comedian-turned-politician"?
9
"Rudy and Mike made me do it.”
8
Republicans who continue to blindly defend Trump should realize that their support is like a lawyer defending the innocence of an arsonist while watching that person continue to flick matches into a burning building. It’s a lost cause, and makes the defenders look like idiots or worse.
20
“As always with Trump, the rational and the Cartesian bump up against his fiendish antennae for the mass hypnosis of our age. He has his finger on the pulse of the technological character of evolution — even though he knows nothing about it. “
Huh? What does that mean? If there was a Pulitzer for mixed metaphors this would be a finalist.
This whole article fits nicely into the category of what I would call “non-news”. Meaning the only people who understand it, know it already. My suggestion, try telling us something we don’t know.
4
In Monica Potts’ article “In the Land of Self Defeat” she describes the dedicated to Trump rural voters. Living here in New York, I am thrilled with the progressive liberal humanitarian agenda being implemented by our Democrat controlled government. There lies the country. I have personally dubbed any Trump supporter as a knucklehead. Coming from a childhood spent on Long Island in the 50’s and early 60’s I was not introduced to racism and anti semitism until my freshman year in college in Lakeland Florida. And so little has changed.....but one thing....
The Republican Party is now a bunch of little puppies wagging their tail for their cruel, disgudting trainer....Trump.
15
Couldn't happen to the nicest bunch of fellas.
5
According to the London Time, H Clinton is setting up a "resistance" organization. Pur opportunism.
Please stay out of this Clinton! You will just mess it up.
4
The guy is so sick as to believe he really is a king - a " boy king". No limits as a child, daddy gave himlots of play money, he blew it and stole from others because he's a crook and con man.
Nancy Pelosi is the perfect person to drive him mad. Then we'll all see that trump is just an empty shell of a human being. He will
I'd love to hear Nancy ask trump one simple question. "Mr. Trump - do you have no decency?"
5
Michael Cohen testified that those who throw in with Trump eventually swirl down into the sewer ...
13
Wishful thinking Roger. It is very important to not count your chickens before the eggs hatch. Every month of his term djt has sunk to a new low and yet he has full republican congressional support. He still has full republican support.
The only way to rid ourselves of this nightmare is to vote all republicans out of office and then appoint a special prosecutor to look into the past four years of this administration.
By getting so over confident, as this piece does, opens the Democrats to defeat because their voters will stay home while the republicans go to vote. We need to keep the pressure on the voter to get to the polls. That is the only solution. It is not just djt, he is the ultimate republican so the whole party has to go.
18
After trump is gone and the wounds heal, there should be a bipartisan commitment to codifying as law some of the safeguards americans assumed would be held in place by institutional norms, basic tenets of democratic accountability and common decency.
And if this current and undeniable crisis of american democracy —and i don’t think that’s overstating it— requires constitutional amendments, those should be pursued.
One place to start might be law requiring all presidential candidates to disclose their tax returns. Another might be clearer statutory guidelines for the DOJ governing its relationship with the executive branch.
12
It is all part and parcel of the Cohn/Trump doctrine: cheat, lie, attack, and belittle anyone who challenges you. What was it Cohn said about “nice? What was it he said about “legal”? It is the Trump playbook. He will never change and will claw and squirm to the bitter end. What amazes me is that his approval rating is still 41%. How is it possible that more than 40% of voters actually think he´s doing well? As Spock would say, “Fascinating”.
13
Since we seem to be living in a time where “let’s break all the rules of law, not to mention decency,” is the order of the day, why doesn’t the media - print, TV, Internet - ALL stop covering him simultaneously. You know, sorta’ put a metaphorical pillow over his face ( well, mostly his mouth ) and standby and wait for anoxia to set in. You know what they say: “Dreams die hard” but then again “nightmares just need to be extinguished”. Wouldn’t the silence be exhilarating?
6
Iowa has Joni Ernst, Utah has Mitt Romney, in Maine we have Susan Collins etc, etc.....No need for further details. They are all scared of DJT. So obvious and sad. Better yet, they are scared of us, the voters. Didn’t the Founding Fathers give the power to us? That is the power to vote them out, vote the GOP out that is. Then you will see DJT swallow his red tie before he gets indicted.
11
Once Trump appointed people whose loyalty was to him despite their declaration to uphold the Constitution and the laws of the US you had the beginnings of autocratic and despotic governing. What we see now in the mass refusal to answer subpoenas of a Congressional impeachment inquiry is the end of a process that has been taking place in Washington since Trump’s first day in office.
What we see in the silence, instead of ethical comment from Republicans at all levels, is the consequence of a decades long plan to get and maintain political power despite not having a philosophy with appeal to the majority of voters. Anyone who didn’t go along or whose ideas differed has been pushed out of the party. Even Mitt Romney, whose Senate seat couldn’t be more secure because of when he is up for re-election (several years from now), where he is coming from (a state full of Mormons like himself), and his own personal wealth (surely in the multi-millions), was only able to issue a tepid condemnation of Trump’s behavior.
The fear of Trump is palpable. The question is why are these people willing to abandon their oath of office to a person whose personal history shows nothing but disloyalty and abuse, even to those who serve him because they believe they are serving the nation.
12
The media writers like this one have all failed or refused see one thing. There is no national outrage. Absolutely none.
In the 1960's I grew up watching the civil rights demonstrations from Selma to Seattle, the March on Washington when half a million descended on the nation's capital, and the anti-war demonstrators in 50 states chanting, "Hey Hey LBJ, how many kids did you kill today?" It bordered on civil insurrection.
You do not see that today and you aren't going to. The only outrage is confined to the editorial departments of this paper, WaPo, MSNBC and CNN and those who send comments to this forum.
Trump has largely deflected the Ukraine matter on the back of Biden and Hunter already. The Biden campaign is already started to resemble a meltdown. Trump's chances of impeachment: Next to zero.
12
Actually, the name of the book is, "The Medium is the Massage", not "Message". The irony is interesting.
3
Trump is impeached by the House, acquitted by the Senate and narrowly wins another election and four more years to torture any living soul with a brain and a heart. I'm sorry, but the Democratic Party today is simply feeble. Where are the charismatic, eloquent, powerful, persuasive Democratic leaders? He still lives in Washington D.C. and his name is Barack Obama. So incredibly sad.
12
The Biden kerfuffle resonates with his base not because there was anything illegal but because they see it as elite privilege. The Congressman that leaves the government only to turn up on K St. making huge salaries to corrupt the process leaving the middle class behind. The confusing thing to the rest of America is why can’t they see the that the POTUS has been doing this his whole life and now has been at the government teat enriching himself and his family. “Where’s the line?”there hasn’t been one for quite some time.
10
While Congress could draft an article of impeachment for obstruction of Congress if the administration does not comply with the subpoenas, from a PR perspective (i.e. get the voters on board for impeachment) it is not as effective as actually getting the evidence.
Do the dems have a PR strategy to counter this?
Regular people don’t show up at town halls. Only those with an agenda will find the time to blab to an audience (politician) that is forced to listen.
3
Loved the cartesian reference . I bet trump didn't take philosophy 101.
3
trump and his henchmen maybe in the flames, but they’re still making s’mores for their base. Every day some new evil - yesterday was a twofer, more cuts to food stamps and barring immigrants from entering without proof of healthcare. Evil.
10
Your deceitful power crazy narcissist will self destruct. Of that there is little doubt. But your country and its constitution will survive, and any damage done can be repaired. My deceitful power crazed narcissist will doubtless go the same way. But the consequences will be profound and lasting. The United Kingdom will fragment and cease to exist. There is likely to be civil war in Northern Ireland following a re-establishment of a customs border with the Republic of Ireland. There will be decades of extreme economic decline for all the post- fragmentation new states. My best hope for both the US and the UK is that other successful Western democracies will learn from our self inflicted disasters and recognise their budding charismatic populists for what they are - deeply damaged and deeply selfish charlatans.
22
Trump is utterly hopeless as US President. His wild promises made to get elected have largely been failures. His is morally bankrupt, devoid of empathy and a pathological liar. Despite all of this I have some sympathy for him. He clearly has no knowledge of, or interest in, things scientific, artistic, musical, sociological or historical. He is obsessively self consumed and is likely to spend his final years as a lonely, bitter and resentful man. The sooner he is ejected from office the better because maybe, just maybe, he might find something other than himself to delight him.
9
His campaign raised $125 million! How can the RNC even consider him for nomination as his behavior deteriorates every day. They must be thinking of other candidates who might be electable or are they so sure of him despite the bleak future of this unfit man. What a horrible prospect to consider a second term of this idiocy!
8
Trump has already committed numerous impeachable offenses. The only solution for him is to one-up himself... which is why he is doing it openly. Indeed, a public crime is, in his logic, hardly a crime at all. The astonishing thing is that he may yet be right (operationally... he has committed impeachable offenses).
5
There are no simple answers here. But one thing is fairly certain. Nothing will change unless the representatives that protect this corrupt and lawless president begin to feel that their own gig is being threatened.
Ignore Trump. Put maximum pressure on his protectors. MAXIMUM pressure. Call them, email them, speak out and stand up. The fate of our republic is at stake.
9
'Trump’s approval rating sinking as low as 41 percent.'
Still 41%? Is that low enough?
7
Trump torches everyone who comes in contact with him. Now Barr, Pompeo, and Pence have been pushed into the fire. They will all go down with him, along with his lock-step Republican supporters in Congress, because Trump has finally torched his insane self.
12
Is there any chance of getting Mexico to pay for the wall being constructed around the White House?
7
“They’re all in this together — Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, and the rest.” You should have started your list with the most obviously compromised figure in the Trump Administration.....Billy Barr, who heads the United States Department of Injustice.
20
When Lindsey Graham changes his spots once again, then I'll know for sure, Trump's a goner. Graham's a craven, amoral, suck-up, which makes him the ideal bellwether for the GOP.
41
Is there any truth to the rumor that unless the Maldives investigates Biden, Trump will pull out of a deal to develop a golf course there?
11
"Trump promised China US silence on Hong Kong protests during trade talks
US officials banned from supporting pro-democracy protests
CNN reports Trump gave Xi pledge in personal phone call"
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/oct/04/trump-china-hong-kong-protests-xi-jinping-trade-talks
Every day I say to myself, this man can’t go any lower.
And then he does.
15
Just wait till his Scotch drinkers leave him.
6
As long as Trump is racist he will retain his largely white die-hard base of supporters. If by some unlikely chance he would come out in support of Black Lives Matter, his base would abandon him tomorrow morning and demand his impeachment. Nothing else that he may do or say will change the opinion of his racist base.
9
"A pardon! A Pardon! My White House for a pardon!"
- Donald III; Act V, scene iv.
4
"If we nominate Trump, we will get destroyed.......and we will deserve it."
Lindsey Graham, May 3 2016
54
Finland happiest? Hmmm. See https://www.newsinenglish.no/2017/03/20/norway-the-worlds-happiest-country/
Maybe a Happiest Country World Cup...
1
I do not recognize this dystopian world that Mr. Cohen portrays, which makes me conclude that he is basically living in his own mind/world. I don’t recall in my lifetime the degree of scorn and hatred that one side of our political spectrum has exhibited toward the other. Columnists like this one do nothing but feed the fire of their wrath. Comparing the president to the deranged and murderous character acted by DeNiro (a bit deranged himself these days) is simply unacceptable. The Democratic side has been threatening to impeach this president since the moment he took office. House Intelligence Committee chairman Adam Schiff said he had irrefutable evidence of Trump’s collusion with the Russians. He never produced it in the two years it took to conclude the obvious at a cost of $40 million. Schiff never produced any such evidence, and Roger Cohen never questioned his veracity. As often happens, the vociferous Left has driven many voters into silence. Mr. Cohen wishfully thinks Ohio may not vote for Trump in 2020, when he will carry that state by an even greater margin. Ditto the other battleground states. A great portion of the country believes that the president has done an excellent job and would have accomplished a lot more, if only the other side and their mouthpieces in the media had allowed him.
5
In short order Republicans who are running for re-election in 2020 will have to stand with the Democrats, now matter how begrudgingly or they'll face defeat.
Trump's rants will continue and grow in intensity. He will try to bully his way through this but he won't succeed. The Republic is stronger than a criminal, narcissist and a cheap imitation of a tinpot dictator.
5
His actions show he has not advanced past the age of an angry teenager. He lashes out at anyone who dares to challenge him. I believe that in his mind he thinks he is showing strength. He has bullied and threatened people his whole life so why should he change now? We are stuck with this horrible adolescent for another year, but hopefully people will come to their senses and vote him out of office before he completely destroys our country.
9
@Joyce I was thinking more along the lines of an imature 4th grader.
9
In these trying times, it is a relief to read Richard Cohen.
5
Never have bought any of these contentions put forward that Trump is some sort of evil genius at manipulating people and situations, surviving by possessing some preternatural understanding of media or the national stage. That’s like beholding in wonder a crocodile for being an ice-veined remorseless reptile. Donald Trump is nothing more than an illiterate, vulgar parvenu. His ‘success,’ if you want to call it that, is derived from the simple fact that decent, well-mannered, law-abiding people that possess even a moderate sense of shame do not have any defense when confronted by a crocodile like Trump, who possesses none of these basic human attributes. He doesn’t so much manipulate them as they manipulate themselves into being rendered impotent before such an unscrupulous, shameless lizard-brained sociopath.
Trump has been on my radar a long, long time as being nothing more than a repugnant vulgarian. I have always whole-heartedly believed that he is in no way a conservative, merely an opportunist. He only wants the starring role in his own media circus. Had the circumstances been different I am sure he would have just as easily veered left and become a champion of the liberal-minded Little People and given the Gilded Age Redux oligarchs a black eye like Theodore Roosevelt, if only had he sensed the potential ratings there to exploit the downtrodden zeitgeist of the Left, rather than that of the Right.
14
63 million Americans thought Donald Trump was a good Presidential idea.
As the saying goes, "if you think education is expensive, try ignorance".
Let's hope Americans grow a few IQ points by November 2020.
41
Cohen forgot to add Barr to his list of Trump enablers.
Since Mitchell and Nixon has any other AG been so complicit in aiding and abetting a criminal president?
Trump is no genius. He is slowly sinking into dementia that is compounded by his abysmal ignorance.
He survived all of his life because his father gave him a fortune to start his business career, protected him from the draft and Viet Nam, and bailed him out when his businesses failed. Since then his money enabled him to hire loud mouth, bully attorneys to deal with ex-wives, concubines and business people who had dealings with him.
Now he has met people like Pelosi and Schiff that he cannot bully. They are immune from threats by Barr, Trump's new fixer, and Trump's fragile psyche is cracking.
9
It was a form of coup attempt, from Election Night on.
It failed.
So far. You are still trying. You'll try right up to the November 2020. Heaven help you if you fail at that too.
Try not to do it again. Offer a candidate the rest of America also wants.
Neo-liberals and war hawks taking big money to please big money people isn't it.
7
@Mark Thomason —
Almost 3 million more voters preferred Sec. Clinton. There was never a doubt in my mind that she was more than capable to be President, that she was the smart choice and trump’s abysmal performance confirms it. I hope our democratic republic can survive him and his mob-like supporters.
11
The talking, or should I say shouting his falsities over the helicopter noise provides cover so he can raise his voice and sound more authoritative and ferocious. That’s a weak way to communicate with the country. Don the “Doo”, we are through with you. (I grew up in Queens too, where your strongest offense is your mouth).
3
Republicans: Do not let this be your legacy, nor the legacy of the Republican Party.
Do you want the Trump history to be the history, forever remembered, as what the Republican Party stands for? What do you, as individuals, want as your history in this time of the devolution of the “Republican Vote” for democracy?
Stand and be counted. Please!
11
Like you, Mr. Cohen, I’m not convinced. Let’s talk about craziness as a strategy.
Ferdie Pacheco was the personal physician and cornerman for Muhammad Ali when Ali was Cassius Clay, in 1964 (record: 19-0, 15 KOs), during the run-up to the 1964 heavyweight championship fight with the seemingly unbeatable Sonny Liston (35-1, 24 KOs). Ali was a 7-1 underdog, and over 90% of the sportswriters picked Liston to win via a knockout.
(Analogously, last week the betting website PredictIt forecasted a 62% likelihood that Trump will be impeached in the House. That makes Trump the underdog in the upcoming impeachment fight.)
In the months before the 1964 heavyweight championship fight Ferdie Pacheco said: “Ali believed that the only thing that would shake up Sonny would be if he thought Ali was crazy, and that is exactly how Ali acted with him—crazy."
Craziness scares people, and scared people are pliant, cooperative people. 53 Republican Senators are scared of Trump, and that’s why they’re putty in his hands.
Ali scared Liston with his craziness, and beat him in ‘64 via a TKO after 6 rounds. Trump will absorb a fair amount of punishment in the House, in the early rounds of his upcoming fight, like Ali did against Liston in ‘64, but Trump will take the late rounds in the Senate, and win (like Ali) via TKO. Scared Republican Senators will make sure of that.
“Crazy like a fox” describes Mr. Trump. Expect his crescendo of craziness to last until minutes before Round 1 in the Senate.
4
The GOP senators who defend Trump should share his fate.
7
Are we getting closer to evoking the 25th amendment for this "stable genius"?
7
If you just look at Trump as destroying himself you don‘t see the whole picture as he is destroying trust (institutions) successfully - that‘s what the article explains very well. Trump doesn‘t succeed because he is a genius or gifted strategist - his success is possible only because his madness and denial of reality meets the madness gone panic of at least a third of the US society who can‘t bear the truth that they are living a dream which leaves them inevitably no other choice than to fail - Trumps alleged selfdestruction is a mirror of a society in selfdestruction mode, asking unbefriended nations to fight it‘s institutions is begging to be destroyed!
What a pity!
660
Trump is in better shape than some of the top Democratic presidential candidates Biden and Bernie. By the end of the month the B candidates could drop out Biden, Bernie and Booker and pressure will be on Warren as the front runner.
2
The other side of the Trump coin is the breakdown of politics that he's exploited. The motto of the Republican Party has long been "I've got mine, Jack," and their voters are pretty much unanimous in that secular gospel of wealth. Meanwhile, Democrats divide their voters by trying to appeal to every possible subvariant of gender, ethnicity, or victimhood with particularized plans for their betterment or relief, without offering anything for people as a whole to unify around.
6
Regarding his 2020 run. He is effectively offering a defense against the inevitable dip in the economy, and his negligence in regards to healthcare, If not for the democrats, he would have done something beautiful.
3
Trump has a penchant for creating his own crises, then resolving them and claim to be a brilliant problem solver. The longer Trump is in office, the more damage he imposes on everyone both foreign and domestic. Republicans please publicly acknowledge what you evidently privately know to be true. Do you really want to be on the wrong side of history like Haldeman and Ehrlichman?
Find an alternative Republican 2020 candidate that can address the concerns of middle America. If not now, it may take a decade to restore your party.
6
I’ve seen this movie before. It doesn’t end well for the Democrats
3
Trump has three core characteristics that will be his undoing. Everything else falls under one of these headings:
1. He trust no one and believes everyone is as crooked as he is. He depends on himself alone for that reason.
2. He is intensely petty and vindictive. As a Narcissist, he is easily wounded and enraged by the pain that creates. There is no slight too small for him to overlook.
3. He is perseverative. He can't let go of anything. If he feels wronged in some way, he will not rest until he has found a way to inflict greater pain on his enemy, even at great risk to himself. The risk is generally unforeseen though.
The disorganization, poor judgment, limited fund of knowledge, and grandiosity are secondary to the above mentioned three.
He is his own worse enemy although - admittedly, - he does have a facility for making enemies of others, even those who who agree with him. Those unhappy people get entangled with his Tar Baby aspects.
He is going, but he won't go gently. He will be screaming and protesting his innocence every step of the way while taking those around him with him. I hope the Secret Service is ready. They may have to dislodge him with a crowbar.
Really, it is disgusting, but it is almost Shakespearean in its tragic aspects. Hubris aways! We will contemplate that at some greater distance after the dust settles.
16
You are right that the rural, hard core supporters identify with a loudmouth President who outrages the snobbish, urban, overpaid elites and enjoy his socking it to their mutual "enemies." They support him for his sense of grievance is theirs, never mind that he is a billionaire, and they are just barely making ends meet.
The only way to end the madness that is the political reality today is for the Republicans to wake up to their moral duty to this country. Or wait for 2020, and vote.
6
The Republicans and tRump have to continue to bend and flagrantly break the rules, squash any sense of human decency, throw tantrums like a 2-year-old, and more debasing things to get what they want to win at any cost. So, what does that show all of us? When they go to their graves, they may have ‘won’ something (???), but they will have lost their souls.
4
The problem with Times opinion columnists is they are blinded by their hate for Trump.
Trump is melting down but not for why you opine. It has nothing to do with impeachment, the silly Democrats don’t have anything and they know it - otherwise they’d have a vote. Trump’s melting down because this is constant, the harassment hasn’t stopped since the election in 2016.
I don’t like Trump but I understand his behaviour. People like NYT columnists don’t. Keep relentlessly pushing him and he’s going to hurt you along with everyone.
Mutually assured destruction.
3
@Lazlo K. Hud
The Democrats aren't going to be voting on impeachment until they have gatherrd the evidence to make it stick. And there's a lot of evidence out there, with people coming forward.
2
Trump in one word: Sordid. All I want for Christmas is one little Resignation. Make the Deal of your life, Donald, and GO AWAY. As for your Collaborators, the reckoning is near.
7
Off the rails like no President before. He's acting more and more like he's not working with a full deck, maybe 3/4s? We should make him a 3/4 term President to match.
4
Amy I'll answer your question. The line is at the voting booth.
Donald Trump is in the midst of a narcissistic crisis. He appears to believe that because he has prevailed by cheating or wearing down his adversaries, that he will always "win". He is bumping up to an insurmountable barrier. He has suborned his Attorney General, Secretary of State, Chief of Staff and many members of his White House staff but he cannot manage the House of Representatives. His performance with the Finnish president showed that he is mentally de-compensating before our eyes. He looked crazed. Most people learn that they cannot always get their way long before 73, sadly Trump is not coping well with this life lesson.
8
He's not a genius, and this is not exciting.
This is as dull as mud, dull as a Trump.
When I think of all the energy expended by each of us and all of us collectively, the imagination and thought given to this common conman, and I think of the force of it, all the hours of television and print, the bickering among politicians and neighbors, given to this celebrity hoodlum, and I think of that energy instead put to some good use it makes me enraged.
We won't get this time back. We have wasted opportunities to have adverted famines, stopped a war or two, or have read a million books among us. All for this sloth, louche, coward.
Are we not any smarter than he?
10
You mentioned John Kelly. Let me assure you we here in Boston are ashamed of him. Of his sleazy fawning over Trump just because Obama did not visit his son’s grave or something like that. John somehow was under the impression that Obama disrespected his son who died in the war, being a son of a General, needed none less than the Presidential honor of visiting graveside. So John nurtured his revenge against Obama and pounced when Trump arrived on the scene. John Kelly is no patriot. If he was he would not have allowed Trump madness to continue wrecking our country’s honor.
7
This is either the end of Trump or the end of Republicans. It's their choice but there is only room for the republic or a despot. They don't share power.
1
I'll believe we can finally vanquish this monstrous ego if, and only if, the House sends an impeachment vote up to the Senate AFTER most of the deadlines for the registration for Primary Candidates are passed.
At that point, Republican Senatorial Candidates are beyond Tump's clutches forever. They can turn on him with their metaphorical long knives and slice him up like the Bologna that he surely is.
4
"Where is the line ?" That depends on which line is in question.
There is some very important information buried about 2/3 of the way down this article posted on a somewhat obscure website :
https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/10/04/impeachment-brought-to-you-by-the-cia/
Don't stop reading just because of the headline ! Look for the paragraph which references the former President of Poland, who not only sits on the board of Burisma Holdings but also may have been instrumental in securing Hunter Biden's seat on that board (according to other articles, in which Hunter himself references the former President).
Notice that, on the day the 'impeachment inquiry' was announced, the current President of Poland signed an agreement to purchase (natural) gas from the United States rather than from Russia, while Ukraine drafted an MOU of a similar agreement.
So, we are fracking natural gas -- at significant expense to our groundwater and other vital resources -- to ship it 2/3 of the way around the world and sell it to Poland, who had been buying the same commodity from its near neighbor Russia ?
From an environmental perspective, this is ridiculous. Why hasn't this 'deal' been reported in the MSM, and where is the outcry from all the politicians supporting the Green New Deal ? As this is clearly a contra-indicated strategy in light of our rapidly accelerating Climate Crisis.
2
Don't count on Senators like pseudo-vet and pseudo- caring Ernst to do anything but affirm the madness and cover their sorry tails.
3
Trump flaunts Treason like he flaunts Money. But Why? What's the Ace in his side pocket he figures gives him Carte Blanche? The Military? The Pentagon? The Republicans? The Mob? He operates so outlandishly lawless--there's a puzzle here with exposed solution
1
And his party. Don't forget the traitors that got him where he is and are trying to keep him there.
2
If you want to understand the person and the enablers, read "Hitler's Willing Executioners." Trump may indeed survive this. Just long enough to ensure disaster for the rest of us.
5
He cheats at golf. That pretty much sums up who he is.
12
#WhereIsTheLine?
Donald Trump is barking, rolling over, begging and fetching for his pet masters Benjamin Netanyahu and Vladimir Putin.
Donald Trump is parading, prancing, preening and protending for his ventriloquist masters Benjamin Netanyahu and Vladimir Putin.
Donald Trump is tweeting and speaking nicknames and slurs while watching Fox News and playing golf for his puppet masters Benjamin Netanyahu and Vladimir Putin.
4
The inability to deal with him is appalling. What an emetic!
2
NYT columnist Gail Collins has written before about women disliking -- and not voting for -- men who yell. Might be time for another column.
4
To quote Joseph Goebebels, Hitler's propaganda minister: "If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it."
This is Trump in a nutshell. Consider him Goebebel's star pupil.
13
There’s no doubt that Mr. Trump is unsuited for the presidency and is tearing the country, and world relationships, apart. Impeachment is too good for him. “Lock him up!”
But, has anyone considered that Mike Pence would then assume the role? He’s very likely to decide issues on his belief in the Bible. Then where is the separation of church and state?
Even worse, Pence would be eligible to run for the office two more times. Eight plus years!
Would we be better off chancing the 2020 election to oust Trump?
What a quandary!
1
Swearing an oath on a Bible defies the first amendment prohibition of government endorsement of religious beliefs. The mindless and clueless do this anyway, and their oaths are worthless.
2
When Mueller went before Congress, he was, on purpose, an absolute disappointment. He decided not to vigorously defend the arduous two year labor of his many dedicated investigators from the continued misinformation and distortion by Trump and his supporters.
He could have stated emphatically that Russia interfered in our election and that Trump welcomed and excused their behavior .He could have squashed the many conspiracy theories currently promoted by Trump and his worthless minions who enable his delusions and can not speak truth to power.
Mueller essentially allowed Trump to keep operating with impunity and total disregard for our Constitution.
13
The whole Mueller show was a delaying action to let Trump grow into the presidency. The result is stage four presidential cancer.
3
I have never stopped thinking of Trump as a madman and never will. It helps that Adam Schiff and Nancy Pelosi are showing the way in a calm and measured way, the way things should be done in government. Follow the law, be true to yourself and your country and Oath of Office. Good will win out.
8
Trump may have risen, however unlikely, to the presidency, but is that any solace for a man who has to the most unloved person the Earth has ever known? From a child, Trump was a poor little rich kid, begging for human tenderness from parents who were otherwise occupied. Money was the substitute for parental love and acknowledgement. Like many, to compensate, Trump would mask his insecurities with bravado and bullying.
Even having the title, POTUS, can't fill the void, as he pleads with the public to recognize his accomplishments as the greatest in presidential history. Even if he was given the presidency for life, rendered immortal with gene therapy and honored with statues every 50 feet all across America, Trump would still be the most unloved person the world has ever known. He is surrounded by toadies and sycophants, but no friends. He's damaged goods and that should be evident to any discerning person.
9
A madman is standing in the driveway of the White House taking a flamethrower to the US constitution. His genius is his instability. He's stickier than a category 5 hurricane churning in the gulf 100 miles from New Orleans.
We don't vote at the ballot box anymore we vote with our attention spans. His genius is to understand and embrace that fully. The media still does not understand it. Blinded by the advertising revenue derived from his stunts and antics.
The same advertising algorithms that lead the weatherman to wade in to the surf and lean in to the wind and rain when a hurricane approaches are what landed this man in DC.
Disasters sell newspapers and glue us to the news on TV. And we can't look away. He sees that, and runs with it.
4
I'm not convinced either. Toqueville, repulsed by Andrew Jackson, warned us against such a man as Trump.
Republicans, who once worshipped Toqueville, have stopped mentioning his name. I hope this is out of shame but it is more likely out of calculation.
Shame, to which Senator Joni Ernst's questioner appealed. may be our only salvation. Guilt, once a staple of American culture, appears to have disappeared among Trump's evangelical supporters, who in a very biblical fashion, have made a graven idol out of the President.
Note to them: Try reading out loud 2 Thessalonians, in which the faithful in every age are warned against a "Man of Sin" (also translated as "Man of Recklessness", which perfectly fits Triump, as well as Caligula).
At long last, Senators, "have you no sense of shame?"
9
It will be a very great mercy to both Mr. Trump and the wider world when he vacates the presidency and with it his power to command the media. That command is the demonic link between him and his base and the terrors they have unleashed on the Republican Party leadership.
That leadership alone now control his political power, and it will be on their shoulders if they refuse to step up to their responsibility to God and humanity. Their mere courage to do so will be for them a massive liberation of the spirit--the opposite of which is the demonic character of the spectacle we have witnessed for way too long.
2
Mr Dionne is right. Trump has spent most of his life learning how to play the media, irrespective of reality.
Witness Biden's most recent press conference. All the questions from journalists were about whether Biden thought he and his son did anything wrong. As if it remotely compared with the venal, in your face corruption of Trump, his brood, and sycophantic officers of state like Bar and Pompeo.
If you want Trump to win another term and shame America at least once a day, this is the way to go about it.
4
I talked to some friends about US politics the other day.
Me: "Have you heard what happened in the US this week?"
Them: "No"
Me: "Trump tried to blackmail Ukraine into investigating Biden and Biden's son. Now the democrats are trying to get him impeached."
Them: "Ha ha, they always are. But what did the Bidens do?"
Me: "Basically nepotism, similar to Ivanka."
Them: "That can't be all there is to it. Maybe Trump knows something we don't?"
These are educated people, although none of us are Americans. And they're not Trump supporters. My point is, not everybody is invested in the rapid 24h news cycle. The above discussion is probably going on right now in many places in the US. The same "crooked Hillary" strategy is working again.
What I'm saying is, this still might work out for Trump, if he survives impeachment. It's a calculated risk - short of this, I doubt Trump can win next year. But if he does survive impeachment, he just might: he'll have secured a new "victory", and, more importantly, he'll be able to keep on using US state resources to support his campaign and attack his opponents.
4
Trump is the "Gross Entertainment President," a dark horror-comedy mini series, from which America cannot look away.
What's next? Republicans in Congress are a support cast of mini Trumps. They genuflect before their regal Dear Leader.
It has been obvious since Trump came down the escalator, he is not fit to be elected dog catcher, much less president, but Republicans were desperate and chose to support him as a last ditch effort to defeat Hillary.
For a minority to rule over a majority, Republicans pull out all the stops. That's why they haven't called out his majesty Dear Leader. Ernst, Collins, Murkowski, don't speak up, they fear loss of minority rule.
McConnell, McCarthy, Graham, Grassley, Romney, et al, cower before their Dear Leader. Their dignity doesn't matter, minority rule is at stake. They are wagering that if impeachment subpoenas make their way to the Supreme Court Trump will win 5 to 4. And that's their game - let the show go on - remain quiet and wait for the next episode - hold on to power as America's laughter changed to cries of outrage, now screams of horror.
The Gross Entertainment President has his audience entrapped because Republicans refuse to give up minority rule.
3
While I understand the need for the media to focus on the current Trumpisn outrage, let us not forget the past, and still ongoing, tragedy of families separated and confined under inhumane conditions at the southern border. Young children and infants are confined to these cells, filthy, sick, crying for their parents, or someone, to hold them. This is a crime against humanity, and an issue which should certainly be included among Articles of Impeachment. When Trump is finally ejected from office, there should be no pardon for the architect of a policy that has been responsible for the deaths of seven children, and the abuse of thousands of others and their families.
3
This is a man who loves drama and being the center of things. If no one ever takes their eyes off him all the better. Completely outrageous and villainous so what? Us versus them is his mantra and he is going to beat them to the ground in a colossal show. His supporters love every minute of it. So what if there’s no time to run the country and get anything presidential done, he’s get a slew of others to blame, it’s never going to be his fault. The show has to go on!
4
Trump is not the mastermind who is controlling the tidal surge of political chaos that potentially could destroy this great nation if WE THE PEOPLE don't pay attention. Vladimir Putin is the architect of this modern day version of King Lear. Trump is just the front man, the theatrical distractor for Mr. Putin, a masterful manipulator who is well on his way to becoming a supreme world leader. Using the intoxicating power of social media Putin is playing Trump, the Republican Party Leaders, Evangelical Leaders and the American Citizens of all ages by cultivating fear, anger and greed. NONE of us need to partner with him in this horrendous game, we can choose a different path. Wake up America!
7
At the very beginning of the Trump presidency when my French friends and other European acquaintances brought up Trump’s latest “outlandish” words, deeds and tweets, it was still possible for us to engage in nervous laughter and for the French to pronounce with a smile - “Ils sont fous ces Américains!”
Then the Trump administration withdrew from the Paris Climate Accords and the Iran Nuclear deal and has berated Europe and NATO at every possible opportunity while lavishing praise on Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un. Now, none of us here are laughing at Trump, and when the French look at the continuing support Trump enjoys among 40% of the US voters, and say “They’re crazy those Americans,” it is no longer with affection, they really mean it, and who can blame them!?
6
Amy Haskins deserves the Profile in Courage award for articulating simply and powerfully the moral rot of the republican party. Where is the line? This could turn out to be another: "Where is your decency Sen. Ernst?" moment. In lieu of fake prayers all 53 GOP senators each morning should hear Amy's words echo in their ears.
2
If then US vice-president Joe Biden had told his son Hunter that joining the Burisma Board and being paid $50,000 per month by them while he, the US vice-president, was addressing corruption issues in Ukraine, that it would create the appearance of a conflict of interest for the vice-president, and his son Hunter agreed to refrain from joining this board per his father's request, then none of this would be happening today. How crazy is it for Joe Biden to claim that he never discussed his son Hunter's business dealings with him? Why not? As an elected official (US vice president) Joe needed to keep track of his close relatives' business dealings just to be sure a conflict did not crop up that could damage him! How much time are we now wasting since Joe did not do this? Sad.
2
Although I'm a Socialist and a lifelong Democrat, let me speak for the ghost of Senator John McCain:
I prefer Presidents Who Do Not Get Tossed Out Of Office.
Pompeo and Barr will be out by Friday, and the Mouth will be gone by Halloween - say hello to President Pence.
2
@Michael Pollens
President Pence would be another nightmare, pushing the USA towards theocracy. It's already happening now. Look at the way women's health had been gutted.
2
@Michael Pollens, that is why it’s important for the impeachment committee to address trump AND pence as one team and get rid of both of them. Nancy can be interim President while we await November 2039. (Please God Pretty Please)
2
The political fear of Trump, now that he's had a chance to flame out with virtually everything he's tried--from tax-cut for the rich sugar high to trade war to wall and back again--is crazy. Warren is going to annihilate him and the Republican Senate with him next fall. Trump is not going to lose by six million and still win. He's going to be pulverized. Believe the polls this time. Slightly more than half of voters hated him last time. After his criminality and job performance a minimum of 55% of voters will hate him this time. That's a landslide, folks. He and the Republicans will get exactly what they deserve.
If the Republicans think that he will stop with Biden, they should remember the words of
Haile Selassie I “It is us today. It will be you tomorrow.”
Trump is a danger to all of us.
2
Excellent question for every senator, Republican and Democrat. Do you have a line? Trump has been breaking the emoluments clause since day 2 and now he even has the military subsidizing his golf courses. There is far too much tolerance. Every rant is excused (as he apparently hopes) as if it is meaningless - except he really was giving Russia permission and no doubt China and any other country now.
The question of a “line” could equally be asked of the press. The 2016 election the press followed Trump from one show to the next giving him millions in free advertising. And was Kelly the last “reasonable one”? When he attacked Representative Wilson he sounded like a racist. Apology? None. Where is the line for the press?
4
The sad reality in all this is that the Public really has already known all along what the Whistleblower has revealed. Too many of us Voted for and supported this President in spite of his bizarre behavior. It should have never happened. The Whistle Blowers are all true Patriots. Our Democracy has suffered in the last few years. We as a Nation need them to freely step forward ! The Lewandowski testimony recently was another spectacle. Where was the public outcry? How did we as a Nation come to this?? Too many of us...Voted for this. We enabled this Administration..every step of the way. Our Nation needs a fresh start. I can't imagine the healing will be swift..it's going to take some time !! The sooner we get started the better !! What a MAGA Mess our Nation has become. Thank goodness for those American Patriots willing to step forward and tell their truth. Mueller and Cohen gave their truth in their testimonies. Mueller said Trump could be Indicted when he leaves office. Cohen said that Trump was a Liar a Cheat and a Con. Now will we believe them?? Perhaps public opinion is changing because the public is beginning to see first hand ...what Mueller and Cohen and others have said..all along !! What took so many of us ..so long??
1
Trump feels great. He knows the Senate will back him and the money keeps rolling in for his re-election. He understands (just as he did with his Birther campaign) that casting aspersions is a wonderful tool . Why he almost got five kids executed in NYC for a crime they didn’t commit. He is neither self impeaching or melting down. He is running on the strategy that got him elected. Can’t argue with success.
5
Mr. Cohen's remark that "Like a good Mafia boss, he now has everyone complicit." sums our President up exactly. We essentially have a "mobster" and his "crew" in the White House.
He speaks, acts and sounds like a Mafia boss. When he threatens, this President doesn't crudely say: "Give me $10,000 a week or I'll kill you." No, it's more subtle, more shrewd, and more dangerous: "You have such a nice restaurant and business here. It would be such a pity if something happened to it. I can offer you protection." The same technique applies equally to Ukraine. The threat doesn't need to be explicit. It's implicit - only a fool would miss the hint. President Trump made Ukraine an offer it can't refuse.
This "mobster" will become ever more desperate, ever more dangerous as he's brought further to bay. Donald Trump together with both his Republican and Russian allies, is collectively too dangerous NOT to be impeached. Our democracy is in real and immediate peril as long as this man remains president, and we simply cannot take the risk of waiting for a tainted and perverted (by the Electoral College for a third time in this short century) election. The Democrats and the responsible Press & Media must act now and impeach, and their courage needs bolstering by our support.
1
DARVO Don shoots Democracy in the middle of Pennsylvania Avenue and dares America to care. Fortunately. the criminal prosecutors in the House know Deny, Attack, Reverse, Victim with Oppressor all too well. It’s the sub-conscious defense mechanism of every serial predator. Trump SVU Season Finale. Stay tuned.
2
The only GOP Senate defections - no matter the charges or evidence - will happen if there is economic collapse (not just a slump) ... which in the time-frame prior to the coming election seems unlikely. The Constitution's framers never anticipated such a glut of cowardly and unprincipled politicians running the country.
4
The Republican party these days isn't anything I recognize from my early adulthood. They were once the party of probity, self-reliance, and above all, the law. Even when I disagreed with the GOP, I never disrespected it. What I see now however is a mob of undisciplined sycophants led by a monstrous demagogue. Thankfully, the waste of human skin called Donald Trump and his limbic-dominated steak-headed minions are on the way out. Because we know better, the real Americans that is. Our time is now.
2
"But, guess what, everyone starts reporting and writing on what Biden and his son Hunter did or did not do in China. Trump is a mass-media magician."
Trump is a mass-media magician only because too many media outlets effectively act like Trump's pet parrot because they feel a responsibility to "fairly" present "both sides".
When one of those sides has told well over 12,000 lies, purposefully using the media to obscure, treating the latest ridiculous statement as news deserving of main article analysis is not journalism. It's puppetry.
5
@Nile
trump, with his 30 second brain, lives in 'the here and now' not because he is 'Buddha-like,' but because his brain circuitry does not transmit short term memory into long term memory. The man literally does not remember what he has said 30 seconds ago.
2
Trump is not Nixon. Nixon was a narcissist but he knew when to get on that helicopter and let others pick up the pieces so the healing process could begin. He had no desire to see the country destoryed. Trump does not care about anything but his IMAGE. He could care less about this country and has nothing but utter contempt for it's citizens. If the Senate does impeach him, we need people in white coats and US Marshalls standing by to escort him out of the people's house because, let's face it, one never knows how a madman will react when he doesn't get his way. To say he is a narcissist is an understatement, though just what he really is I do not believe we have a diagnostic label for. I simply think of him as the most dangerous creature on the planet.
4
So 41% of Americans still support this "president." Can someone rationally explain why that is? There can no longer be any question about his dishonesty, his cruelty, his misogyny, his racism, his xenophobia, his paranoia, his narcissism or his infantilism. We have now seen him engage in political activity that is both unethical and plainly illegal- and to admit to having done so as well as to exult in having done so. Even if we were to credit him with a flourishing (for some) economy and to ignore the fact that the turnaround actually occurred during the Obama administration, is this really enough to override all of the above or to assume that no decent human being could have possibly accomplished just as much? Please, someone, give me a hand here! Unless you admire and/or share the specific combination of character flaws that cling to this man like fleas to a dog I need a member of that 41% to explain to me what it is that I'm overlooking here. And please be informed that, having not inherited a fortune from my late dad, I am in no way a member of the dreaded "elite." And, furthermore, that my cultural affinities run the gamut from Bach to Bacharach and from Chaplin to Mike Meyers. Anyone...?
comment submitted 10/5 at 12:23 AM
7
Your assessment of America and Americans is laser-sharp as always, Mr. Cohen. Like de Tocqueville, it probably helps that you're not from around here...
This is the most poignant and direct description of the Trump presidency I have ever read.
A man who unflinchingly becomes first in presidential history for not just lying, but for fathering a media segment that tracks and tallies his lies and near lies, for reacting to concern about his lying by lying even more, and especially lying about lying, is unafraid of dealing with abuse of power charges.
A quote in today's NYT gets to the heart of Trump: ""This president is a master at what Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan called defining deviancy down. One baldfaced presidential lie, once exposed, is an outrage; a thousand such lies is a statistic."
Trump knows his supporters. They like this behavior. They'll abandon him if he stops behaving this way. The country is full of Red Counties in every state of the nation, full of individuals who find finally a voice for not accepting change in Trump's wreck-of-a-human-being apparent success in Reality TV and real estate empire. Trump shows them that you can get your way and force people to accept you regardless of whether they like you or not.
And they won't abandon him. We've revealed ourselves to be a nation who can produce a President supported by voters who will literally burn the effigy of a Black President and condemn NFL players for taking a knee, while themselves denouncing any media criticism whatsoever of Trump and threaten sedition and civil war, not just if he is removed, but if he isn't re-elected.
There is no reasoning with irrationality.
6
The old GOP is now the new POT (Party of Trump). The silence from those who castigated him in the GOP primaries in 2015/16 is deafening. Graham, Cruz, Rubio - all lap dogs. More than that, they are neutered lap dogs. Jordan, McCarthy - all bark but no bite. Trump's bravado, blustering and bullying has emasculated the Republicans in Congress. Maybe we are seeing some recovery of GOP spine with the recent comments of Romney and murmurings from Grassely and Sasse. One can only hope that the GOP re-emerges as something other than the cult of personality that now masquerades as a political party. America deserves an honest party in opposition and not a pack of mindless Trump sycophants.
Trump is no genius. He is a cunning street fighter who has no understanding of law or concern about it. It's all about what Trump wants at the moment. Trump has stumbled on, or was taught (possibly by Roy Cohn?) the technique that Karl Rove perfected. Instead of trying to hide your major weaknesses, attack your opponent for the same weaknesses (imagined if necessary) & attention will be deflected from you. Rove used this brilliantly against John Kerry. Kerry had served a full tour in Vietnam on a warship off the coast. When his tour was over & he was about to be sent home, he volunteered for the far more dangerous task of piloting a swiftboat up the Mekong. During this second tour, he saw a lot of combat & earned a Silver Star. Rove gathered up a number of right-wing veterans, one of whom, Gregory Corso (still agitating for the right) won a medal himself in an encounter he later claimed didn't happen as he & Kerry reported it on their after-action reports. For a draft dodging Bush, who hid out in the Champagne Squadron to attack a Silver Star combat veteran was sheer genius. In the hysteria Rove ginned up, Bush's questionable record in the Texas Air National Guard was lost in in the tall grass. Bush squeaked by Kerry, as much on Rove's gambit as anything.
2
Two "n" words fit Trump. Narcissist and nihilist. He cares only about himself and will incite a civil war in this country if he's removed by the Senate or loses in 2020.
3
The best hope for more Republican senate outrage is if Romney sees he has a path to the nomination instead of Trump. It has been said that once a candidate gets that “presidential bug” it never leaves. Look at Biden, Clinton, and John McCain( man, could we use him now). This is probably Mitt’s last shot. I remind again that Mitt, in a presidential debate, warned us against the Russians. Plus, the ACA is modeled after Romney’s health plan in Massachusetts. If you can win in Massachusetts as a Republican, you can win anywhere. Lastly, I believe “Medicare for all” is a big loser.
2
Trump represents the traits of every bad manager I have had through the course of my work life. This is why I find it so hard to understand why his base is mostly white male. I am quite sure if they used a different lens to look at this man, they would see this as well.
For those of us who are sports fans, have we reached the point where ignoring the rules so long as it benefits our team is acceptable? The entire administration is backing up the mad king. How sad we only have one person of integrity in the whistle blower. How fortunate as well!
588
Some moderate and centrist Republicans or Independents, or even some corporate leaders, need to speak out against this fiasco. Kudos to the Iowa lady for challenging the Senator. I love how plain-spoken and refreshing Midwesterners are. We decide where the line is...this is our country.
5
Dear Joni Ernst (and all Republican Senators), a primer on how to survive despots and autocrats - insane or otherwise. Just read as often as required and remember:
First they came for the immigrants, but I was not an immigrant and didn't speak out.
Then they came for the children, but I was not a child and didn't speak out.
They came next for the poor and hungry, but I was neither poor nor hungry and didn't speak out.
Then they came for voters of color, but I was not a person of color and didn't speak out.
They came next for the whistle-blowers and Whitehouse aides, but I was neither of those and didn't speak out.
And then they came for the Senators - but there were none left to speak for me.
"It is always the right time to do the right thing." - - MLK
14
First, the only possible way out is to realize that being saved by any type of rationality from Trump OR his political supporters (i.e. most Republicans) isn't going to happen. This is crucial. I believe Nancy Pelosi understands this, but it is a constantly recurring threat to most of the adults in the room. Adults in the room naturally understand and are committed to logical consequences. The current (and really, historical) strategies of the right, and more so of the Trump types ( Stone, Bannon, etc.) is to disassociate logic from perception. They do it by amazingly outrageous deeds, statements, faux belief systems, and other nefarious approaches which, as other readers have pointed out, wear down a sense of grounded reality to the point of complete despair, handing immense power to their side. We must stand apart from this visceral, warped hold on reality and proceed with integrity, and show that we can take back raw political power, shedding nonsensical fear of these charlatans by moving forward with a solid, united, saner version of reality.
14
Still uncertain that the average American views Trump as an existential danger to our Republic--which he has become. We are truly in a governing situation where the institutional guardrails are either totally gone or so badly damaged they are barely standing. What we have left between our democracy and a quasi-banana republic is one branch of Congress and a smart Speaker---that's it.
7
I am compelled to believe that an increasing majority of Americans now see this sordid spectacle for what it is. If the Democrats can obtain solid evidence of his many offenses, although given the current court that is not assured by any means, and present it in understandable language to the people, the tide will indeed turn. It's already turning. Not among his hard core supporters, but among those who reluctantly took a chance on him in 2016. Even the most popular sit-com eventually gets stale, and this one is long past its cancellation date.
7
"To which Ernst offers only evasions."
All politicians (and journalists) evade. Cohen evades this problem for example. Trump's evasions are not criminal or even necessarily impeachable--a word not well defined in the Constitution or jurisprudence.
People will vote for Trump if they judge he is likely to do less long term harm to American governance and society than the current manifestation of the Democratic party. And that is not an unreasonable motivation.
"Not unreasonable and not unworthy on the part of the
voter whose political opinions differ from those of, say, Nancy Pelosi and AOC". Can we agree on that and then debate real issues?
1
This is the old “they all lie,” “they’re all bad,” partisan nonsense that distracts from the facts: the President of the United States deliberately is asking foreign states to investigate a political rival and withholding aid if they don’t. Full stop. If you don’t see this as a problem then the problem is you.
3
@roy rogers: nice try, but the question remains - is there anything this president could say or do at this point that the republican-led senate would balk at? How about ask Iran for help? Or would that also be acceptable.
2
@Roy Rogers
Yes, we can most certainly debate the issues.
Consider this year's Dem prez candidates.
Sure, there's been some strange pull to the LLLeft (reparations, OPEN borders) at the formal debates, but every one of them is Eager to talk policy. Talk about how to do policy best.
I haven't felt or heard that eagerness from the Rs in a very long time. To them, it's always the scripted line.
1
Trump's supporters believe it is all lies and dig in their heels. Trump's opponents don't understand the sense of abandonment that motivates his supporters. We all need to exercise critical thinking and try to understand people with views different from our own. That doesn't mean surrender, it means civility and reason, communication and meaningful debate, not attack. If we don't hang together we will most assuredly hang separately.
5
There is nothing new about Trump. He is a charismatic leader under Max Weber's definition: a man who elicits unquestioning belief among his followers - who are beyond persuasion until they grow disenchanted with their idol.
So far, the checks and balances of the US constitution have prevented the rise of charismatic leaders as opposed to charismatic politicians. But now that the GOP has given up on defending the constitution and its underlying norms, a man like Trump can rule supreme, and do as pleases.
If he had Pelosi and Schiff arrested for treason and summarily executed in the WH Rose Garden, the GOP would still have his back, and that's why he acts as he does.
6
Trump has shifted focus to the supposed corruption of Biden. He is controlling the narrative. Now we have to read about what happened in Ukraine when Hunter Biden was on the board of an energy company. Trumps assertions are false, yet his statements muddy the waters and divert attention to Biden.
To understand the impeachment inquiry requires reading mundane details like the transcript of text messages between diplomats. Many people are not interested and prefer Trumps rhetoric.
A characteristic of Facism is creating false narratives and convincing enough people that this narrative is true. Trump holds onto his base using this strategy and unfortunately it is working.
11
Humpty Trumpty is inexorably stretching at his seams, to the point that no one will be able to keep him together. The question is what effect will this destruction be on our society and the world? This is a critical phase, and certainly some outlying parts will be altered, and broken before he goes down.
2
Thank you Roger Cohen for your work and today for the link to Senator Ernst and the WAPO coverage.
Is it just me or do many of us see that Ernst looks trapped ? While Trump has made many things she stands for happen - weakening EPA, more money for military, no funds for Planned Parenthood, etc. etc. - she knows he is evil.
Maybe, just maybe, this whole disaster will move Ernst type Republicans go examine who and what they are. This could lead to key Senators abandoning Trump and trying to restore the GOP to just a 'normal party' for power and privilege a la Reagan.
If Ernst and Grassley, reading the tea leaves of Iowa voters, flipped to impeach there would be a majority in the Senate to impeach.
7
shakedown done nose an extortion opportunity when he sees it, but not as something wrong. It's just another way to play the game.
1
To Amy Haskins, my fellow Iowan: America gives its thanks to you for speaking truth to Joni Ernst. Joni quaked, quivered, and equivocated in the face of the question all America must ask as we head into 2020: "Where is the line? indeed.
23
Come on Mr. Cohen, be serious. There won’t be anyone other than Democrats voting for impeachment, the only question is how many of them will vote against.
4
The mere fact he "doubles down" is meaningless: Post hoc ergo propter hoc applies. Independent events that have yet to be revealed will only add to his problems.
The only certainty is that he has "followers" who are face down in the trump cool aide. He is in a corner and using them as leverage.
However, his base is inadequate to win an election. Knowing he cannot win the election (and thus survive), he resorts to his last hope: cheating.
5
He lumbers forth, repeating word on word,
As narcissistic noise assaults the air,
And not a bit of substance to be heard
Where it’s delusive hopes that work the snare.
He craves the center stage, never concedes
That he has limitations or is blind:
Crude, harsh, and cruel the way he pleads
His case, well-schooled in how to be unkind.
Though ever happy to diminish others,
He, like a glass-jawed fighter, can’t abide
The blows delivered by his party brothers
And sisters, focused only on his pride.
A piece of work on view for all to see,
But not a good thing for our polity.
11
Elmer Trump Gantry believes that if you repeat a lie often enough it will be believed. But he has lied so often -- more than 12,000 times at last count -- sometimes in the same sentence that all but the most fanatical MAGA-hatted followers are beginning to peel away. It is becoming harder and harder for even the believers to believe something Trump says that is then disproved in a video clip of Trump saying the exact opposite.
7
If the GOP was smart, they'd nominate Kasich and move on.
25
@TOM
'If the GOP was smart, they'd nominate Kasich and move on.'
Bite your tongue! Don't give them ideas.
Recent polls indicate that Trump has a similar positive/negative job rating as Obama had during his presidency. Mr. Cohen is correct in his observations, yet he doesn’t grasp the antipathy that many average citizens hold for “the system.” Hillary lost precisely because she was perceived as an insider-entitled to the crown. She further confirmed to middle America that she was a bigoted elite by her “deplorables” rant, guaranteeing that Joe and Jill six pack-share a joint my friend voters-would walk away from her. Joe Biden’s current woes amplify to many why they don't care what Trump does, they simply see the system-embodied by powerful people on all sides, as rotten to the core. The Biden family, justly or not, is a wonderful lightening rod for the Trumpsters. Heck, Joe is even older than Trump and looks the part. Ideologues would do well to take note.
3
This is called “distraction technique,” - let’s not talk about the impeachable behavior of the President, nor his corruption and deeply disturbing remarks. Let’s talk about Hillary and Biden instead. Fewer and fewer Americans are fooled by this rhetorical trick. Try something else, like waking up to the reality that the guy you support is so not worthy of it and never has been.
2
I am old enough to remember when the GOP actually stood for something. Back in 1980 Ronald Reagan ran a campaign of balancing the budget and eliminating the national debt. He also had a hard line program against the Soviet Union and the eastern block countries.
His promise to eliminate the debt was misguided as he quintupled it in two terms. Reagan was steadfast in his policy against the Soviet Union and their policies and the Berlin Wall came down in 1989. I am uncertain looking back at Republican presidents which ones could even tolerate the stench of Donald J Trump and his minions. James Comey's line about having your soul eaten little by little is the best characterization of what happens to those that submit themselves to being in his inner circle.
8
@Sean Sorry, the Berlin Wall came down in 1991.
What little self control he had is seeping away. Trump should be sent for a full range of tests.
7
It is sobering to think any Americans still support this traitor who asks a foreign leader to find imaginary dirt on a political opponent and makes receiving vital military aid contingent on that leader agreeing to investigate that dirt. Thus he was jeopardizing our national security for personal political favors. It is harder to think that any official who takes the oath of office to defend our Constitution and believes in our country can tolerate these facts. The silence of Republican leaders are revealing and suggest that they care mainly about power and political survival rather than our country and their oaths. The complicity of the entire White House in this scandal and these crimes mean that they must all resign, be removed from office through impeachment too and must face legal consequences just like Nixon’s staff did. To do less would be cowardly and irresponsible and mean that America doesn’t believe in the rule of law. The American people must demand justice and must throw out of office all these silent Republican appeasers who supported Trump and tolerated his crimes to hold onto power. It is the solemn duty of all voters regardless of Party in order to redeem our Republic and demonstrate our revulsion to their conduct; so this won’t happen again for a very long time. Then we must reform our election with rules that will mandate tax returns, financial disclosures, and placing assets in blind trusts. We must demand a renewed level of campaign civility too.
10
Many dictators look invincible...... until they're not. Trump's end is near. Two-thirds of the U.S. populace has finally seen through his strategy, and that strategy is losing credibility and momentum. I believe Elizabeth Warren will beat him (or any other Republican) by a landslide.
9
Our president now is maintaining he has no political ambitions. He now states his objective is only the elimination of corruption.
I would like to hear Sen. Ernst or any other senator or representative hiding in the hustings to answer only one question: if fighting corruption is the objective of this administration, why are we ignoring the target-rich environment in our own country? Please explain any one of the following items to me:
-- Self-dealing: committing to use of the Trump property for the next G7 (or is it G8?).
-- Cronyism: appointing lobbyists to head agencies which now seek the dismemberment of regulations over worker and environmental safety.
-- Corruption of international relations: Favoring autocratic leaders throughout the world especially Russia and North Korea.
Senator? Senator? What say you now?
13
It would help if the media would, in plain sight of everyone, declare his lies as soon as he makes them.
Keep the pressure on.
11
Like Nero who fiddled while Rome burned, Senator Joni Ernst and her Senate colleagues pretend that all is well with this president and there's nothing to see in his protection money shakedown of Ukraine's president. She says that there's no quid pro quo because the president didn't use those exact words. Speaking in code is not admissible evidence according to the GOP.
Republicans won't admit it but they are witnessing in real time an "imperial presidency", the derogatory term they applied to Barack Obama's two term tenure. A president who bellows publicly and defiantly for foreign intervention in America's political process is clearly unhinged.
Ms. Ernst can deflect, deny and pretend that all is well with this administration but even an ostrich has to come up for air once in a while, unless she's as clueless as is this president.
12
Mr. Cohen knows Donald Trump has no bottom. As Mr. Trump continues to gaslight his opponents, sorry to say, Democrats haven't learned the art of countering the gaslighting. Defending oneself, rather than attacking, is the wrong tactic. Mr. Pence went all in this week, attacking Mr. Biden and his son, while the elephant in the room is the Trump family; Ivanka's 16 Chinese trademarks, Eric and Don Jr wheeling and dealing all over the world, Trump International's bookings from foreigners hoping to do business with America, and Mr. Trump touting his golf courses and country clubs and hotels wherever he takes Air Force One. That nearly all Republicans are nose-blind to the stench of Trump's corruption, erratic behavior and vindictiveness, is pitiful. 'Qui tacet consentiret,' their silence is consent to this degradation of the presidency and our national integrity. This has spread to the Justice Department. AG Barr has become Mr.Trump's Luca Brasi. There is nothing he won't do for his Don. Defeating Mr. Trump in 2020 should be the only goal of Democrats. They need to smarten up and rethink policies requiring funding we don't have and policies that bring on the 'open border' trolls.
3
The United States of America has never faced the madness of a president like Donald Trump. Not even the madness of King George III in the 1770s, the madness of the Confederacy seceding from the Union in the 1860s, the madness of the Axis powers setting fire to the world in the 1930s and 40s. Nothing has divided our country like the madness of Donald Trump and his henchmen of loyalists and followers today.
Our American reality grows more shocking every day. This is the central moment of our failing democracy, the undeniable descent of our 45th president into insanity. Who will brave the onslaught of Trump's demented and chaotic presidency? How will he be removed from the highest office in the world? Can we await Trump's end by legal means? Or will our unfit president be exiled from his power beyond our imagining?
8
One thing we can count on: it will get worse. Just when we think it can't, it does. Doesn't it? I guess I thought his self humiliation -drenching the Finnish president in embarrassment - was as about as unhinged a performance as I have ever seen from a public figure. I had a wave of nausea.
But that was surpassed by the headline indicating that immigrants will be required to have health insurance (or the ability to pay for it) before entering the US. My hurl reflex was barely suppressed.
Most major events are a product of multiple influences. An economy doesn't collapse just because lousy mortgages are sold to naive customers. Then they were bundled as CDOs, over priced and resold. It starts its spiral dive when housing cools off and the notes can't be serviced. And then the banks can't afford to write them off because they don't have enough reserves. Next it may be CLOs.
Several bad policies and decisions - combined - leading to disaster. Trump is creating his own verbal disaster. And his lack of attention to the normal ebb and flow of sloppy economic activity will merge into a chaotic mess. Be sure there's cash under your mattresses.
In isolation, each offense, each outrageous policy, each steaming rant, each flaming dragon's breath of a speech stuns us. Until we are numb. But as with all things, there is an accumulation effect. There is also a weariness.
And we, as a country, will simply say "enough already".
6
Trump is only the vessel. He is launched by The Family, the National Prayer Breakfast people, who have taken over the Republican Party and whose ultimate goal is to take over the world by reinventing the message of Jesus.
This is truly scary stuff. Check it out.
14
Mr. Cohen summarizes Trump well. Describing Trump is akin to describing Gregor Samsa, the protagonist of Franz Kafka's "The Metamorphosis". In his grandfather's native German, Trump would be known as an 'ungeheures Ungeziefer'. Hopefully, he will be gone soon.
2
Right on.
Trump is going to get madder as the impeachment inquiry becomes an impeachment because as this is unfolding —
• Trump’s secrets will be revealed. Not by the committee Q&As, or Iran, or another whistleblower, but by Putin himself. Peskov’s statement of “we would rather not have to release what President Putin and Donald talked about in Helsinki,” is a threat that Trump can neither ignore or answer back to. He won’t dare to dare Putin.
• The economy in the swing states that handed Trump the Electoral College victory will soon be in the gutters as manufacturing and farming continues to suffer from the trade war and no amount of Sharpie scribblings can alter the numbers. No amount of racism will sway the Electoral College this time, not when manufacturers and farmers are being insulted as socialists for accepting bail out money.
4
I see symptoms of early dementia, a family member was diagnosed and I see similar patterns. Trump may actually not remember some of the things he’s said or done and truly believe he never did anything wrong . He is our King George, filled with madness and too powerful to rein in.
I hope our next president understands law, the constitution,history, how organizations function within checks and balances. This one is clueless and we are stuck with him until the end. We are the laughing stock of the world. I used to think Trump wanted his old life back and was looking to lose the election, but I believe he likes being King of the World (in his own mind)
7
As the polls show, a growing number of Americans are signaling their outrage over the points you illustrate here, Mr. Cohen. So the question remains: Why isn’t the NYT and other national media doing the same with a unified call for Trump’s resignation and/or removal?
3
I believe that there is method to his madness and it has clearly worked for him in his shady business career. Republicans in Congress can't desert him and also keep their jobs, so he will never be removed from office via impeachment, no matter how much he deserves to be.
Our only hope is the 2020 election and as long as Fox dominates the views of rural America even that is a faint hope. The US is in a bad place right now and I don't really see a viable way forward.
2
Isn't all impeachment really "self-impeachment"? No matter the office held, those who eventually are impeached make choices, say things, do things, and inflict their own wounds. There may be aiders and abettors, but it is ultimately brought on the self.
7
Trump is convinced he will never be removed by the Senate. His biggest concern is whether he will be reelected. His gambit with the Ukraine/Zelensky call is to create a big lie about Biden. Tell a big lie enough times to enough people and everyone begins to believe it. History has proven that to be true. Trump intends to ride that strategy all the way to the end should Biden be the Democratic nominee. Trump has nothing other than negative campaigning to run on. He has done nothing positive during his term.
22
The most important group in this are the people who voted for him because they hated Hillary and thought Trump would settle down and grow into the job. He is doing neither and voting for him again will be tantamount to saying they are eager for more of this. If you haven't figured it out by now, he is not going to change. He knows no other way. They got their judges. They got regulatory relief. And common sense says addressing climate change is the only way to go. And they know the top 1% is not sharing their wealth. And to think Trump not starting a war with Iran was a genius move, remember Obama would have likely done the same thing. And if you really stop and think about it,the average American is not really all that better off than they were 5 years ago. What is needed is far less drama. And there is only one way to accomplish that. So I see independents switching back to the Democrats and enough Republicans staying home to end this. No matter what comes out in the inquiry. People have seen and had enough. We can all offer our thoughts and prayers as he is moving out of the White House.
16
Trumps closest historical comparison is Nero. Nero fiddled whilst Rome burned. Trump tweets as the American sense of political decency and sensibility burns.
The Constitution is but a piece of paper. Intrinsically it is worth nothing, it’s only value lays in the respect and adherence that it can and should engender ( and has largely to date).
For quite a few of the wealthy elites the Constitution has become an impediment to even more power and wealth. That is why they want Trump.
Trump has also given the American Circus, firstly through his TV show, the insults that he freely hurls, and more recently with his chaotic governance.
11
There are some of our fellow citizens who are simply not interested in this sort of discussion.
They "know" what they know, and won't budge.
They might be secretly scared that if they did budge from what they "know" that their orientation to the world might get unhinged. What else would fall away if they took away one block from their leaning tower?
As long as there are websites and letters from somebody saying that global warming and its human causes is a hoax, they have something to hang onto. As long as Trump says his conversation was perfect and Pence and Pompeo agree, then why doubt that? As long as Trump says he has caused "the economy" to be great, even if it is just following a path its been on for 10 years, and even though it is a dangerously unequal economy, that harms these believers' families and communities, what else is there to believe?
They bunch together the Sacklers and bankers and politicians with the poor and middle class of the cities and with liberals and socialists. They define environmentalists as tree huggers uninterested in humans, and regulators as job killers.
To doubt any of these things they "know" would mean to doubt the foundations of their lives. Or so they feel in their gut -- so they don't want to even discuss it.
What to do? Continue to try to help these folk, but isolate them politically so they do not bring us all down. Vote in some honorable men and women to represent and lead us. Pay attention daily to what is going on. Vote!
19
@Just Thinking’ And pray, if that means anything.
1
Meanwhile, if I read correctly, Trump is receiving more donations from small donors than any other candidate.
3
Perhaps an audit of his contributions is in order. Russian intelligence was behind tens of thousands of fake messages on his behalf.
4
Roger Cohen accurately describes the dilemma in this age of reality television and some Americans loving the circus of Trump world.
But this won’t last as long as Democrats continue to run this investigation in a competent manner. it should be a slam dunk as Trump readily admits his crimes that in a normal time would be clear grounds for impeachment and removal from office.
Trump is an evil genius but the facts are so overwhelming that he engaged in extortion, bribery and lies to the American people in his conduct overseas that it’s almost a foregone conclusion that he will be defeated at the next election if he doesn’t have to leave office.
4
The most comically sad blather coming out of Trump's mouth is his recent exhortation for China to investigate the Bidens.
Why would China help a man who does not bother to disguise his contempt and initiated a punitive trade war with them? It is in their best interest to help Biden.
China is playing the long game. Whether 2020 or 2024, Trump will be gone soon enough. China will still be there.
Trump is losing it, as it finally dawns on him that his Presidency is in jeopardy.
6
Trump is like an evil Tinker Bell, he can only exist if enough people believe in him. Unfortunately an alternate reality has been created where up is down. Those of his base that have the wherewithal to distinguish the real from the fake have a hard time admitting they swallowed the hook. If one invests enough energy into a belief it is very hard to divest yourself from that belief.
The rest of his base just gets off getting even with the world.
7
@mr
Your trump as Tinkerbell image made me smile. It reminded me of the ballet dancing elephants - or was it hippos in Disney’s great Fantasia. Imagining trump in a tutu also gave me a giggle.
2
Pelosi remarked Trump projects, i.e., when he wants to die in some way, he calls for the death of an enemy.
Amplifying Trump's sickness of mind, Pelosi has him on the run quickly descending into his own Trump-Tower of Darkness.
Bravo, Ms. Pelosi, and good riddance to this civic heart-sore. You have hit the spot.
Trump wants out, desperately so, and what better way to go than as a victim into the dark night. So he helps evacuate himself from his own burning building inside his own deteriorating mind. God-awful to witness, but we earned our place on the sidelines of this particular military parade.
9
It should not worry a Democrat in the House and Senate what Donald Trump will do next to defend himself. The future defense tactics Trump should not matter to any Democrat who holds an elective office anywhere in America or to a Democrat who works in the private sector and whose only involvement in politics is to vote.
If this vindictive, foul-mouthed man is unhinged and growing crazier every day, or if he actually has a feral understanding that a loud, unrelenting attack is his best chance at survival, Democrats should feel no duty to figure him out.
Democrats also should stop worrying about whether or not a significant number of Republicans will finally speak out and step forward to oppose Donald Trump’s continuing in the White House.
We Democrats also should stop wringing our hands over whether or not Republican voters on the farms, in the suburbs and the cities and towns understand that a malignant aberration, Donald Trump, holds the nation’s highest office.
Everyone, Democrat or Republican or whatever, should keep doing what she or he honestly believes is the right thing to do.
Should Donald Trump survive in his presidency with the help of his henchmen, then we apparently deserve our fate, and our representative democracy will be ending soon..
If, however, we all do the right thing, Donald Trump will soon be gone, and our democracy will survive.
8
Two points: the fact that 40% of Americans still support Trump and that his hardcore is a solid one-third of the country says an enormous amount about Americans. After this nightmare of a Presidency ends, Americans need to look at themselves and their neighbors and ask exactly why it is that a man so venal can command so much support. Second, and related, is the fact that, for many of Trump's supporters, it is the man's venality that is the appeal. They love that he is vulgar, racist, sexist and cruel. They love the idea of Trump strong-arming weaker countries to use in his own political campaigns. They love him using his position to enrich himself. The idea that he breaks all the rules of decency and law and gets away with it is his appeal. Again, the question of what is wrong with so much of the country and how they got that way should be of maximum concern. Trump is a symptom. He is not the disease.
27
@Shaun Narine, America represents the rest of the world. People arrive here from all corners of the earth. In essence Americans reflect what is going on in the world. Trump is s symptom of the venality prevalent in the globe, he is simply a place holder. The entire world ought to look at him and reflect. Is this trump what our kids and grandkids deserve in their future? If not, how do we learn the lesson and vow that this shall not happen again.
6
One thing Mr. Cohen does not consider is that Trump is such a megalomaniac that he will stop at nothing to stay in power. He doesn’t even think he broke any laws by asking countries to investigate political enemies.
Most Republicans at least see the stop sign and hesitate before going through it. For Trump, a red light is likely to enrage him if he even sees it. Grip it and rip it!
6
I refuse to argue with common folks who -- against all reason -- continue to support Trump. They have cut themselves loose from any system of personal ethics and have embraced a path of lemming-like obedience to an amoral, raving, incompetent megalomaniac. Why bother arguing with them? They are lost.
What I cannot understand, however, and what I will not forgive, are Trump's Republican enablers in Congress and in the Senate. These are supposed to be educated, responsible, literate, and competent men and women who understand the government of the United States of America and who have sworn an oath of office to protect our country.
They know perfectly well that what is unfolding in the White House is sheer madness. And they do NOTHING to stop it.
Are they really willing to let Donald Trump destroy the country merely to retain the perks of an air-conditioned cubbyhole on Capitol Hill and the privilege of hearing others address them as "Congressman This, or Congresswoman That, or Senator Something?"
17
@Jimbo
Yes they are willing.
Except you left out the perk of assured and lucrative perks of lobbying jobs and speaking fees upon (usually) heaving office.
1
I watched the Joni Ernst tape - she looked embarrassed, insecure and sad. The woman questioning her seemed principled and confident. When you are on the right side of an issue you have no doubt or reason to be vague.
6
Mr Trump is using one syllable words to replace reality with his own hyperbole. That's a game others could play, without the lies.
He needs to be branded a LIAR & a CHEATER. Simple messages like "Don't listen to a liar," should be out there. He doesn't really own the market on blaring a message.
7
@ellen luborsky
I keep saying the Democrats should be flooding the country with billboards saying either, “What is he hiding” or “He’s lying.” That is enough. “He” doesn’t even need identification.
5
Strange world, where people as bad and incompetent as Trump can be so powerful and go so far, while the good and super-competent, such as Robert Mueller, prove to be so effete. It's remarkable. I can see why science fiction writers conceived the idea of parallel universes: just like us, but better. Please remember that the Narcissistic Personality is a delusional state of false perfection and superiority. Literally, it is "crazy" from the start. Human beings become delusional to protect themselves from painful reality -- so it can be seen as a kind of natural state. Otherwise, so many of us wouldn't have listened to the first deranged sentence of this president.
8
How about now, Senator Portman?
Any signs of quid pro quo now?
There is a willful blindness on the part of Republicans that exposes their hypocrisy. Clinton deserved to be impeached because he lied about a consensual sexual affair, but Trump asks a sovereign foreign nation to produce dirt on a political opponent and Republicans' strongest argument is that Pelosi called for an inquiry before the whistleblower complaint and transcript of the phone call were released.
Defend Trump on the substance of the charges or let your silence speak to the dereliction of your constitutional duty and your failure to uphold your oath of office.
13
Trump's game is that he can do or say almost anything and inflict little to no more damage to himself in all of this at this point.
Yes he's in deep doo-doo this time, but his pursuers need to be perfect. Even one little miscalculation on the part of the Democratic House in handling this mess would severely hurt the entire effort and the eventual chance to unseat Trump in the election.
Overplay the hand or make a misstep and the advantage will swing right back to Trump and his supporters. It's far to early to call them out. To much on the line.
6
The advantage that narcissists have is that they don't follow the rules everyone else follows. The real question is why are the Republicans putting up with him? How long can trump be the lightning rod and the Republican House not catch fire? If the Republicans don't deal with him soon history will judge them harshly. Republicans you should be very ashamed of yourselves, very ashamed.
7
The Alt-right mediasphere is to blame for our descent into crazy town conspiracy theories. Limbaugh-isms, is what I call them. Opinions that are stated as facts that have not been proven yet. Limbaugh and Alex Jones are the two best known practitioners. Millions of our fellow citizens think their government is evil, or a deep state. They think all politicians are liars and cannot be trusted, so it doesn't matter that Trump lies with facility. He lies in a way that reflects their hopes and fears. I know Trump supporters who in fact operate at a high level of normalcy. I wouldn't have suspected they would entertain the ridiculous conspiracies that I now see coming from their fp posts. I pray that our political leaders, on both sides, recognize the threat to our system of government and take appropriate action. Trump, Pence and many others in this administration need to be impeached.
Blue wave 2020!
8
@joe parrott I agree with you about the alt-right mediasphere. The equal time for opposing political viewpoints in national broadcast media law that was abolished by R. Reagan et al, should be reinstated. Of course, now we have cyberspace social media (along with destruction of net neutrality), which is a separate problem.
3
It was inevitable that Trump's cohort would whittle down to a few henchman. How would anyone with a trace of honor tolerate working with him? But it is also true that many have left in disgrace. These are the ones who were not cagey enough not to be caught or did not live up to Trump's level of corruption. Failed mobsters. Now that really a low point in a person's career.
5
As with his dreadful investment decisions Donald Trump has acted out a deep dark need to be humiliated. He has confessed endlessly in the hopes of being told he isn’t the swine he knows himself to be. On the political stage he has deliberately risked criminal charges that could lead him to prison after the horror of being undone by hypocrisy. The damage he has visited on his children and his enablers reminds me of the evil his father lived by: greed and racism.
6
@Naked In A Barrel Most importantly, the damage done to the caged innocents.
1
Sane people know Trump is mad (crazy). But we hesitate to write his impending obituary because we recognize that a good 45% of the country is just as stir crazy as him.
Tribalism and spite rule the day in Republican politics. Turnout in fly over country is the looming unknown in the next election. Trump's is doing his best to poke the wasp nest of their anger and bitterness.
Civil War anyone. That is Trumps only ticket and he definitely will punch it.
1
I don't ascribe genius to Trump, or that he is that adept at using the media. Mr. Cohen describes Trump as having 'fiendish antenna' for 'mass hypnosis.' Actually, what I see is a ranting loon, very likely surrounded by yes men/women, in front of a timid press.
How often has Trump fielded questions, and espoused lies followed by "You know it, they all know it," as if the latest falsehood is true? The answer from the press should be: NO, we don't 'know' it, Mr. President. You are lying.
Press the questions. Trump cannot answer a question straight: he is more likely to fold and dither and gibber, a sure sign of weakness.
And how often has he insulted the press to their faces? If I had gone into journalism school, I would frankly tell the POTUS that I'm not a 'fake' in my profession -- and that his attitude towards a legitimate, honorable and ethics-bound American tradition is inexcusable. How dare he insult the intelligence of those doing their jobs (except, of course, for those who scratch his back at FOX News)?
So no, I don't think that Trump is a genius. The sociologist Max Weber argued that charismatic leaders only appear to have 'magical' qualities: in fact, it is the followers who bestow such a 'gift of grace' onto the leader, and then forget that they have done so themselves.
It's incredible that Trump has gotten to where he is now without having been exposed before. But I see it as less a matter of fourth-dimensional chess, than one of dumb luck.
8
I'm sure everyone knows someone like Trump: malignant at the core, charming at the surface, creating chaos and division and thriving on that whirlwind because it forces people to take sides. Who hasn't faced a coworker, boss, or a someone in a social group who is brilliant at stirring the pot and then playing the victim. It's just a pity that the voters put someone who fits this profile into the WH with so many levers of power to use. I think if more Republican representatives get grilled by constituents and the Democrats keep the pressure on and stay sharply focused, Trump, like his balloon image, will deflate. How many true allies does he have to patch him up, keep him afloat?
4
“As always with Trump, the rational and the Cartesian bump up against his fiendish antennae for the mass hypnosis of our age.”
That’s the point that needs exploration. The devotion to Trump is just that: devotion. It has a religious foundation.
The foundation is profoundly twisted and distorted.
Evangelicalism has become a set of ideas no longer recognizable as authentic Christianity based on the Scriptures, and certainly no longer democratic and rational.
But the fact remains: in Trumpworld, he is adhered too with all the power of a religious idol. He is God’s Warrior sent to defend them, by every means fair or foul. Warriors don’t need to follow rules, why should Trump?
I do not believe this set of ideas can be bent toward justice; I believe it can only be rejected. White conservative evangelicalism is neither truly Christian nor truly democratic.
But, it is essential in the coming months to understand why 35 percent of American voters will likely never budge, no matter what Trump does.
There are steep challenges ahead for American democracy, and an educated electorate alone can meet them.
6
The "very stable genius" appears increasingly unstable. Accountability to the oath of office he took, the law of the land and reality in general are accelerating his unraveling.
5
I wonder if the powers that be in the Republican party are secretly meeting to discuss the possibility of finding an alternative candidate to Trump in the 2020 election. They must have a Plan B. They have put up with Trump's behavior because, well, he's all they got. But with the possibility of facing a Democratic controlled House and Senate, the leaders must be prepared to move into extreme crisis mode and find another candidate. It most certainly won't be Pence, as he wears too much of the Trump stain. Sanford's past romantic craziness will most likely disqualify him. Perhaps someone morally stable like Mitt Romney. In any case, the Republicans are at the end of the second act and are becoming desperate. They are very likely trying to decide who will ride in on a white horse and save the election for the GOP.
4
By the time of Trump’s trial in the Senate, those Senators who cannot find the line that is on the side of the Constitution will be shown the door by their constituents.
7
Trump's legal team:
"Ignorance of the Law" seemed to stifle the Mueller Report-- will the "Insanity Plea" work against impeachment?
7
What is the President is doing or not doing is less and less interesting. As long as people keep staring at him like rabbits caught in the headlights, nothing will change.
What Republicans are doing - or actually not doing - is more important. They should draw that line, they should have done it some time ago, but it is still not too late.
8
I also think you underestimate him. I think there is a well thought out strategy.
In 2016 it was ‘the election is rigged’. He said it so often, so many times that by the time we found out the election was rigged but in his favour the words had lost its value. Democrats couldn’t say it anymore because he had debased the terminology.
And the 2020 strategy is clear. ‘Coup’ and ‘Civil War’. Those will be the words. He will use them endlessly and then, when he performs the coup we will be speechless.
‘The Iranians and Chinese have manipulated our elections and we will have to cancel the result to protect America’
That can never happen in America? Right. We have had quite a few of those already. And McConnell laid the groundwork by his apathy on election security.
Who would have thought Michael Cohen would be a visionary when he predicted that Trump would not voluntary leave the White House.
Is this a daft conspiracy theory? Maybe. But conspiracy theories go a long way these days...
11
As a president Trump is perfectly qualified to ask a foreign government for information on some criminal. Even if that criminal might be a candidate in the elections.
So Trump is acting perfectly rational. If he would be sitting on his hands and awaiting the impeachment he would de facto consent to what is now the common opinion in the US that Biden did do nothing wrong and that Trump was on a fishing expedition against his adversary. If on the other hand he finds extra evidence of corruption against Biden or at least manages to convince the public that Biden is far from innocent he can show that he had a good reason to ask Zelensky for information.
2
Your view is a violation of the law. I suggest you reread the Constitution and rethink your position.
5
@Wim Roffel Pure nonsense. Mr. Trump, corruption personified, has zero interest in any of the vast corruption that has enveloped Ukraine since the soviet system's dissolution. The extortion of Zelensky is solely to fabricate dirt on Mr. Biden as likely Democratic nominee for president.
4
Unfortunately the Electoral College is still our big stumbling block. Putin knew how to manipulate it and taught it to Trump. And Fox News has used it as it way to get its foot in the door.
We must eliminate the Electoral College if we want a fair and just election. I never cease to marvel how 270 votes can eliminate the voting of the millions who went to the polls to do their civic duty and found their votes to be null and void.
74
We the People of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, must vote Donald Trump out of office. We must also vote out any and all of his Republican enablers. The country is at stake. The republic is at stake. This is a crisis.
The whole world and the future are watching.
59
Mr. Cohen writes "President Pressures Foreign Leader to Find Dirt on His Political Opponent" and adds this is clearly outrageous.
And it may very well be, but I'm quite sure that a lot of people are thinking "Well yeah! He's the President. If that foreign leader (of that, to Joe Sixpack, obviously not very important country because it is not the US of A) may have dirt on Biden, then ole Trump is right to ask for it." The legal niceties may get the punditry and the congressional Democrats in a lather, I don't think many other people care.
So I wouldn't write Donald the Magnificent off just yet. Not only has the impeachment process just started, a lot will depend on who the Democrats agree on to send out into the arena against him and with what set of policy ideas. And there there is quite a lot of room for improvement and little time.
1
Maybe there are two lines here. The line that Ernst’s questioner pointed to, which is Trump focused: how far does he go outside the line before Republican Senators hold him to account and discipline him?
The second line is coming out through the impeachment investigation, and is GOP focussed: who in the GOP is inside the line of Trump’s corruption these days? The whole of the WH except the people who spoke to the whistleblower? The whole of the Executive Branch? Aren’t they all in cHoots with their leader, both the original crimes and the never-ending attempts at cover up? The whole of the Republican legislature, save Romney and Sasse? And the Judiciary branch? Barr? SCOTUS?
Just where is the line that demarcates the already corrupt from the not yet corrupt from the incorruptible?
I guess we will find out soon enough.
11
There is no turning back now. A quick and efficient impeachment process will hopefully remind American voters that the amoral Trump is manifestly unfit to hold the office of President.Trump’s die hard base in key States like Michigan,Ohio,Pensylvania and Florida hopefully will shrink enough to tip the Electoral College in favor of the Democratic candidate. Pelosi will stand up to Trump. He will not stalk her. Check mate Trump.
27
Read the Monica Potts article. Try to imagine a Democrat getting anywhere with the people of Van Buren County. The winning plan for Democrats is to motivate every last Democrat to get out and vote. Stop trying to convert Trump voters. The only Democrat that can win is one that inspires the base to a voting frenzy.
214
@DK In VT: Smartening up the US begins with enforcing "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion". God does not run the US.
15
Thinking would get in the way of his instincts.
He's pure unconscious, which is why he's so powerful and out of control.
He's beyond thinking.
Consciousness has not done such a great job for a lot of people. Trump is the pull back into unconsciousness.
6
@bob (Santa Barbara)--
Speaking of the unconscious, I just finished Justin Frank MD''s excellent "Trump on the Couch." No need for Cohen and seemingly every other member of the media to speculate about the meaning behind Trump's actions, his "strategy" (as if!), or anything else that drives him. It's all right there.
I had always wondered why one never hears about Trump's mother even as ample ink is spent on Fred. Well, mystery solved! In a nutshell, a tyrannical father and a detached mother as sources of the psychic wounds coupled with a likely learning disability, all of which morphed into psychological defenses that, left untreated, produced the monster in the White House.
59
@bob Have you read Galapagos by Vonnegut?
Sam sort of sentiment.
Perhaps inadvertently, perhaps because the media is afraid of being accused of bias, perhaps because the major media missed much of the story in 2016, we have been fed an incorrect impression of the support Trump has around the country. Of course Republicans are going to say they support him if nothing else because they've been taught to hate Democrats, that Democrats are monsters out to destroy the country. We've been treated to hundreds of stories from the local cafes in Iowa or portraying farmers in their fields.
At the same time, the internet has spread the idea that the thousands of those shouting online truly represent the rest of the nation. They don't. Nor, for that matter, do the 1/3 or so who would vote for Trump if he grew horns and started flying by his own power across the White House lawn.
Trump is acting like a classic bully, daring anyone to take him on, implying that he is ready for any fight. He isn't. He's coming unglued, if one supposes he had previously been glued at all.
This is what bullies do. They act tough until they see they are cornered then they run, fast.
Trump's support will stay for a long time but when it turns, watch out. It is likely to be a mighty wave stronger and longer than anything we have seen in decades. When it turns, it will do so quickly, decisively and beyond any doubt.
It is entirely possible that Trump will go into 2020 with a solid base of less than 25% while the majority from all parties decide it is time for him to go.
41
The beauty of this moment is that for once, Trump is not in control of events. He is on the ropes and will be down for count sooner rather than later.
60
@Padfoot also his parents are not here to bail him out. His older sister a retired federal judge is also under scrutiny for aiding and abetting the family in its tax evasion schemes.
12
When is somebody going to ask the obvious question?
Why didn’t Mueller find out about this when there was a whistle blower eager to spill the beans, and probably more prepared to if anybody asked them?
26
@Glen
He wasn't in the government at that time. He was only allowed a very narrow window of looking at election interference with specific time frames. Basically, they tied his hands.
5
It hadn’t happened yet.
Trump is emblematic of a country that has lost its humanity. The 'winner takes all' ideology has long since proven to be a dead end road. America needs to take a long, hard look in the mirror, to ask itself, if it likes what it sees.
Trump is the pinnacle of Boomer selfishness, self-importance and self-adulation.
I just wish we could move beyond the Boomer mentality, but it seems that Trump and his generation are determined to take America down with them.
How quaint.
42
@dad - I'm sorry if your Dad was that kind of boomer. There are just as many of us who spent 40 or 50 years in public service jobs, trying to give to our communities.
16
We have a man, whose policies and integrity I applaud, but who had a heart attack and is 76 run for President, when he should step aside and maybe guide similarly inclined from the rear.
1
Trump does NOT represent the baby boomer generation at all. He only represents an evil cabal of amoral people who think they are superior and entitled.
3
Impeachment is never going to succeed as long as there is republican majority in the senate. So, I don't think Trump is going anywhere. Besides, he has to be on the presidential seat to avoid the numerous litigation waiting for him once he is out of the office. The question is whether democrats will get him out in the 2020 election.
If democrats wanted to push him away, they have to win the election with a large majority. If the election is close, Trump will refuse to concede claiming rigging in the election.
People generally considered Nixon as a bad President. He resigned in disgrace to avoid impeachment. But when he lost the earlier election against Kennedy by a narrow margin, some of his party members told him not to concede and coaxed him to contest the results. Nixon refused saying that it will destabilize the country and added that he will get another chance. I doubt whether Trump has the mental maturity to think along that line.
39
@Ganesh
Destabilization is pretty much the goal isn’t it? The next step before a takeover.
1
Generally, Republicans do not seem to be able to admit they are, or ever were wrong.
Trump is the greatest manifestation of this way of being.
I believe this is directly tied to the Republican base and it's evangelical component. No matter what Trump says or does he cannot be wrong because in the black and white world of Republicans they believe, just like the highly religious believer does, they cannot be wrong because the bible tells them so. Trump is sent from on high and he will make the world (America) great again. Kind of like Jesus returning when everything will be made right once again.
Even though we are often told the end times are upon us and Jesus will be back anytime soon, we've been told this since he left, there is no sign he's coming back any time soon. And Trump will make America great again any day now...............
41
@Magan judging by what organized religion has brought the world since the time of Jesus maybe Trump is the return ! We are living in a Stephen King novel.
1
@Magan Yes, I blame the so-called "evangelicals".
These people are animated by superstition and delusion.
They think they're in charge of what people believe in, in charge of women's bodies, gay peoples lives, etc., etc.
All the while embracing an immoral man like Trump.
They sell nonexistent products like a savior and an afterlife.
Think about it: you'll be happy and fulfilled when you're dead, ("heaven").
I'm not talking about attacking religion, just simply exposing it for the scam that it is.
The little good in religion, is overshadowed by what's bad about it.
2000 years of christianity gave us Donald Trump.
2
It should never have gotten to this point; Trump was manifestly unfit for office even before he came down that escalator with a paid crowd cheering him.
Give Trump credit for this much though.
He has shown the Republican Party is as unfit to govern as he is.
He has shown their principles are as much a sham as his own.
He has shown the media is failing as a key institution of our democracy.
He has shown American exceptionalism is a myth we’ve used to ignore painful realities.
He has shown there is a real crisis of faith among people who want and need government they can believe in. (Too many have lost hope.)
He has shown our system of government is not as strong as we thought it was, and needs an overhaul. (Structural Change!)
He has shown 50 years of conservative propagandizing has left too many of us unable to face the 21st century.
The only questions left are, how much further do we have to go to hit bottom, are we going to be able to recover, and to what extent?
The world is made by the people who show up for the job. Time’s a-wasting to get started.
344
@Larry Roth
Every time we hit bottom, we break new ground and keep on digging our way to oblivion. Trump is merely the latest on the continuum of descent. I thought Milhouse was the nadir. He seems like A. Lincoln compared to the thing currently squatting in the White House. Carter was an interregnum, replaced by the atrocious Ronald Reagan.
The mendacious trigger happy Bush dynasty was interrupted by the neocon Clinton, who at least was less likely to cause as much damage while indulging his libido, (although he did manage to broker a questionable deal over the phone with the sugar industry while Ms. Lewinsky performed a private service). He managed to erode the threadbare social safety net, rescinded the Glass/Steagle Act, which led years later to financial crisis.
G.W. Bush gave us war without end, and massive surveillance, which Barack Obama SWORE to end. The carnage and surveillance increased during Obama's reign; not even Angela Merkel was safe from the prying ears of The Patriot Act.
The Trump debacle has revealed to some that which was always in plain sight to others. The United States has for most of its history been a plutocracy, that hides behind a Constitution that accommodated slavery, disfranchised most of its citizens for more than a 100 years, and continues to thwart the access to voting booths through gerrymandering, intimidation tactics and questionable vote registering methods and equipment. The Electoral College ensures a downward trajectory.
48
@Larry Roth
I agree with much of what you have written but to assert that the "media is failing as a key institution in our democracy" is shocking. I strongly disagree.
The media has been instrumental, indispensable, and heroic, in finding and disseminating the facts about this corrupt man and his nefarious "administration." Without the diligence of the Fourth Estate during this dangerous time, I don't know where we'd be.
38
@Georgiana
I agree with Larry Roth. The blatant failure of our media is what's shocking. The trivializing or non-reporting of issues, wrong focus and constant grubbing for ad dollars has made the media mostly ineffective and often a huge part of the problem.
9
The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expect a different result. Trump's presidency is by it very nature the definition of insanity. When his lies are exposed he either doubles down or continues to lie as if objective reality doesn't exist but only in variations as defined by him. His repertoire of retorts to criticisms is to shout and shout louder. When Gertrude Stein remarked "there is no there there" she could have easily referred to Trump's lack of veracity.
16
I supported the astute Pelosi’s strategy to tamp down the impeachment fever until this outright straight-from-the-Godfather Presidential extortion surfaced. Her bet - and I agree- is that the public instinctively understands a shake down, and the number of those favoring the removal of the increasingly unbridled and totally unnerving Trump will steadily grow.
106
For the sake of their own party, the GOP senators should vote to remove Trump from office. Not that I want to save the Republican Party. "Let them twist", I say, "twist slowly, slowly in the wind."
But that would be rude. It would definitely go down poorly at the country club.
40
Long live American Democracy... for if we withstood the assault of Trump presidency, we will emerge a stronger nation. Impeachment sent strong message to the world: USA is a beacon of the world, as we not only stand up to populist attack, we also prove our democratic institute is well-established.
9
For the punditry, suggested direct question to the GOP hierarchy: Is Trump the best you got?
If we can't get rid of Trump, Bob Dylan's song "Blowing in the Wind" might be a decent temporary substitute for the Stars Spangled Banner.
16
Trump has a pretty good estimate of intelligence of his base voters, who neither know nor care what happens in Washington, as long as Grandma gets her social security check and Trump sticks it to the Coastal Elites. Personally, I just can’t get into the head space of a Trump base voter. Living in flyover country is not an excuse; many people beside myself have lived in multiple states far from either coast and have not gone over to the Dark Side.
I really hope that Pelosi and the Democrats keep up the good work, and that many more brave whistle-blowers come forward. We really need them now, because neither Trump nor his base voters are expected to return to the world of rational thought—let alone good governance—any time soon.
236
@Constance Warner
'... as long as Grandma gets her social security check and Trump sticks it to the Coastal Elites.'
Referring to the current op-ed piece about a town in Arkansas 'In the Land of Self Defeat' by Monica Potts, the folks there believe that the 'Coastal Elites' are way overpaid, wasting 'government money'. How can one convince them that it is the elite workers' SSA contributions (not to mention undocumented immigrants who cannot collect on their own social security contributions!) that pay Grandma's benefits.
18
Excellent. Many Democrat Representatives in red or purple districts have made a difficult choice to do what’s right rather than playing it safe. It would be nice for democracy if a few Republicans could find some moral courage. They can’t all think Trump is innocent.
67
@DO5 “Democratic”. Please. When the noun “Democrat” is used as an adjective, its original intention was as a slur. It was first used this way by Newt Gingrich in the 90s. “Democratic Representative” is proper, but ol’ Newt figured out he could demean Democrats but intentionally misusing the language.
4
Why would anyone assume that there’s no war room or a plan? Of course there is. It might not be where you’re looking but it’s there. Don’t underestimate it.
2
Trump's public lawlessness has the effect of normalizing lawlessness for the vast majority of his supporters, and he knows it. He also knows that beating journalists to the news, even when the news looks bad for him, gives him the advantage of driving the story where he wants it to go.
Trump is confident that as long as he owns the Republican Senate and Republicans in the House, he can deflect criticism even through the impeachment process, which will almost certainly end with acquittal in the Senate. Trump has calculated that no more than one or two Republican leaders will stand against him no matter what he does. Given the abject moral cowardice of today's Republican leaders, he has good reason to trust his reckoning.
13
@Eric Caine
Yes, and he is reckoning he won’t have a reckoning.
1
"The line, through all the madness, may be right here."
Don't hold your breathe, Roger.
10
@Brainfelt So do not send it to THIS Senate; wait in 2020!
1
Neither. He’s incapable of suicide like all pathological narcissists and while not a genius, he is somewhat Buddha-like, in one very narrow respect. He lives exclusively in the moment. There is no yesterday or tomorrow for him, only this moment. And whatever comes to mind passes without modification through his mouth. Like a newborn, he possesses that one aspect inherent to the fully liberated and enlightened: time has no hold on him. There is no “how” to the president, nor any temporal context that he can relate to - he just is. Like a hurricane. Or a rock. Depending.
1006
@Nile Sitting in Maui this moment, I am with you, in a couple of ways, so to speak...
But hearing you say "he is Buddha-like, in one very narrow respect" I get your drift, yet "One lost inside his broken mind" is surely not here and now, but very gone and went.
Far adrift from the moment that counts, which is, as Marrianne Williamson usually points out, is a Present.
76
@Nile
Hmmm.
Hard to reconcile this analysis with the fact of a child who loves to put his name on buildings. Or who starts a reelection campaign days after winning an election.
Or who probably is contemplating incarceration.
110
@Nile
Hmmm.
Hard to reconcile this analysis with the fact of a child who loves to put his name on buildings. Or who starts a reelection campaign days after winning an election.
Or who probably is contemplating incarceration.
6
Note to Republicans-
Don’t underestimate Americans. There are many other life long Republicans who are watching someone, in real time, take over the Republican Party. These people are watching Trump and taking note of his King George-ness.
They will not vote for Trump again. They won’t say it because they are embarrassed. But when they vote in 2020 they will get to say to Trump that they wanted change but they didn’t want a crook in the White House.
Th
41
And yet we still have the electoral vote, whereby a few thousand votes in one area can trumph the voices of our majority.
22
@Oliver - specifically what makes Americans different from the other 7 billion people on the planet? Are we immune from human foolishness, flawed political structures, ignorance, greed, and outright stupidity? Are we immune to propaganda? Do we have a superior education system that trains all citizens in critical thinking, and a deep knowledge of history, science, statistics, and geography?
We have been lucky rather than good, and with Trump - a self-inflicted wound - our luck may have finally run out.
4
@Space needle
I hear you loud and clear. I know there are many unreasonable and irrational Trump supporters. But I just think half of them were voting against Clinton and not FOR Trump. These people are disgusted with Trump and will vote against him or stay home (which is the same thing, really).
Yes we have to win the electoral college and three swing states in the Midwest to beat Trump. And that’s why he went after Biden. Trump might be crazy but he knows he can’t beat Biden in the “Flyover Guy” vote.
The Democrats though, self included, can be an arrogant elitist bunch at times, that can’t get excited about the boring Joe Biden, and then nominate someone who makes our blood boil but loses the EC.
2
This man, thru inherited privilege, has never been held accountable in his life. He practically doesn't understand the concept. This is going to get really ugly.
290
The rocket in the upper right side of the lead picture is Trump 'going off' on Schiff.
1
Don't forget:
"By all appearances, the President’s brazen and unprecedented appeal to China and to Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden is wrong and appalling."
- Romney; Twitter this eve.
15
Romney is no fool. He must have some party backing.
1
Roger Cohen, you captured Trump’s fiendishness perfectly! But what are we to do? Dream that a bunch of suburban white women wake up finally? Not much on which to hang our hopes.
10
" You can fool all of the people some of the time, and some of the people all of the time, but you can't fool all of the people all of the time. "
Abraham Lincoln
34
@Helmut Wallenfels
Apparently, enough people have been fooled.
1
"Repeat something often enough, brazenly enough and aggressively enough to people dazed enough by the cacophony around them, and they will lose their bearings enough to believe anything" Ummm.... at the risk of violating Godwin's Law, this is something out of Goebbel's playbook.
26
Trump's only genius is for generating outrage and disgust, which are powerful motivators in the voting booth. In the past his inherited wealth enabled him to behave with all the vileness that crooked lawyers and accounting firms allowed. Now with the impeachment fact-finding and today's news of a second whistle-blower coming forward, Trump's impunity is history.
9
We know who trump is, we know what he’s done. Now we must hold republicans accountable for abandoning the constitution by choosing party over country. 200 bills are buried in the graveyard of McConnell’s office- Senators like Ernst, Tillis, Mcsally, Gardner, Collins, Cronyn and Purdue must be held accountable for doing nothing.. that’s the real crime..trump is a mobster..what’s their excuse?
226
Seriously I saw a boy around 13 with his mother in a grocery and the 13 year old in a loud discussion about getting a product. He used words that he heard on TV spoken by POTUS. They were profane and obscene. The mother uyelled back at him "Where in the world did no hear those words? " The boy said, "I heard the President say them,. If he can say them on them, I can say them, THERE! He got slapped by his mother and he cried.
7
@Dick Diamond
Hopefully no 13-year-olds heard Trump talk about shooting someone on 5th Avenue....
1
The Taxi Driver, as crazy as he was showed more thoughtfulness than The Steak, University, Tie huckster in charge.
Characters like DJT see niceness as weakness, an anti-social characteristic. We have to fight fire with fire!
Usually having excellent judgement, my most erudite buddies believe Trump might resort to violence, if he's impeached or doesn't win the election. Gangs of second amendment types, coupled with the Evangelical set???
As his status and sanity wane, it seems like a growing possibility.
11
Love that phrase-- "his fiendish antennae for the mass hypnosis of our age." What we're watching ain't pretty.
But let's change the subject a bit. As you say, Finland is named 'the world's happiest country'. What's their secret? Shouldn't Americans find out--- we who live in the richest country? And the 'greatest democracy'?
Let our media inform Americans about Finland, and the Nordic countries' advanced systems of capitalism and social democracy.
See NYT op ed "The Fake Freedom of American Health Care" by Anu Partanen, Finnish journalist now in the US after marriage. She's seen both societies and how we put up with a very complicated, expensive HC system, sold to US voters as part of 'American Freedom'.
The US lags behind, still fighting fiercely about basic rights and benefits that citizens in other democracies expect as normal.
By keeping the progress of other countries dark, the US media leaves US voters more vulnerable to the self serving propaganda-for-power of the GOP and their most valued mega donors--who set the limits of our lawmaking.
A big cause of American 'unhappiness' is that we have to still fight in the 21st C, for medical care, gun safety, low cost education, fair and adequate taxes for public services---all labeled left wing here. We have to fight to not be exploited.
Show us contrasts Roger.
The changes we need in our politics may help prevent a future Trump Swamp Thing from rising up to use 'his fiendish antennae for mass hypnosis.'
55
“An unstable president has lurched … into a form of madness …”
Trump has just lost it. And Trump’s racist taunts to his base will not be enough to save him as the economy tanks.
Trump will continue to pressure the Fed for another rate drop in December, and there may be a “miraculous” end to the trade war with China next year. We can’t let that put Trump over the top with voters. We can’t let him get away with it. Hopefully, China won’t let him get away with it, either.
Democrats need to keep getting the message out. Trump and his Republicans are not working in the best interests of the nation. Democrats are.
Democrats will work to combat climate change. They will work for better health insurance and health care. They will work to improve infrastructure and public education. They will mend relations with our international allies. And they will impeach Trump to show us – and the rest of the world – that no one is above the law.
Are we worried about election tampering? We should consider that if a Democratic candidate is substantially ahead in the polls – beyond the margin of error – then election interference won’t work. It will be too obvious.
Democrats need to keep fighting hard. And they need to keep doing it until the election is over. And beyond.
That is our path to freedom.
51
Trump understands bottom lines. Nothing else matters. The bottom line here is that he remains in office unless 67 senators vote to remove him. That means that 20 Republican senators must cross the line. He's betting that won't happen.
He also understands that moral outrage has a very short shelf life. Moral outrage that doesn't lead immediately to action becomes transformed into impotence, weakness. He has taken to goading Democrats on almost a daily basis with new, ever more explicit and outrageous acts of defiance, most of them arguably "impeachable." He wants to expose both the futile weakness of the Democrats and the essentially trivial nature of the purported offenses. When every small thing you do becomes "impeachable," then the sting of the accusation is diminished.
The talking heads on cable TV are playing into Trump's narrative. Every hour one or more former Justice Department or FBI lawyer offers a breathless update on why this or that Trumpian peccadillo constitutes a new impeachable offense. Similar hand-wringing and tut-tutting has also become a staple of journalistic punditry.
Democrats hope that the cumulative effect of recent disclosures and defiant acts will create a public wave of revulsion against Trump. For his part, Trump is betting that the public's short attention span will reject a constant diet of impeachment outrage and want to move on. Pelosi and Schiff appreciate the danger of excessive melodrama, but media profits require feeding the frenzy.
4
Have you ever seen roaches run for cover in the kitchen of a run-down pre-war apartment?
That's what Republicans will look like if/when Trump implodes. But in this case, the best object to hide behind, kind of like a big old counter-top flour can, will be Mike Pence.
9
"So what does he do? Double down! If there’s any guiding principle it seems to be: If Trump says often enough in broad daylight that he tried to get foreign powers to interfere in our election to his benefit, how can it be wrong? 'China should start an investigation into the Bidens,' says Trump, as he leaves the White House to go to Florida."
This.
Following this principle (using the term loosely), if Trump did shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and anyone objected or even commented on it, he would simply shoot someone else, or even several others. Doubling down in sheer narcissistic defiance. It's always worked for him.
5
It is time for the Joni Ernst in this world to step up. You want to continue this stain on our country or stand up to the country and its constitution that you swore an oath to.
19
There's a point where true friends and family will pull this guy out of the ring - that is, if he has any. Sad.
3
@logic
True family and friends would have had an intervention (or pulled him out of the ring) long ago. Family is there for the money, friends are there for the "power" and "prestige."
I remember Melania saying that when Trump is hit, he hits ten times harder, and she seemed proud of that fact.
Sad.
8
Your narrative weaves together the facts as I see 'em. Problem is: about 40% of Americans watch the same events, hear the same comments, observe the same behavior, and tell an entirely different story about them.
So here we are.
No matter what happens with impeachment in the House, the fate of the nation is up to purple, new, returning, and disgusted red voters in the 4-10 key swing or potentially swing states.
'Nuf said.
7
What Trump knows is that all he has to do is keep enough of those Senators in his camp and he remains untouchable. Pence, appearing as guilty or complicit as Trump himself, is impeachable, too. Getting enough GOP Senators on board to install Pelosi as POTUS? Priceless, but impossible.
4
Judging by the millions who, astonishingly, still support this man, I suggest that we need to start teaching Civics again.
153
@Mary
Civics was taught when El Exijente and his cohort were students, although they may have been absent that day.
2
And there is the key, Roger, for converting obstinate and self-serving Republican Senators: That is to have a lot more than one of their own voters say with dismay, "...your silence is supporting him." And as you write, the numbers of Americans for impeachment are increasing while simultaneously Trump's favorability is sinking. These are more than just Democrats and Independents who actually have functioning brains. That being said, I am watching the Senate closely. As I do, I have to ask myself, Do they think they will escape unscathed by aligning themselves with a corrupted man who has lost all sense of reasoning and sound logic as well as any shred of morality or ethics, if indeed he ever had such? As Donald Trump does not and never did deserve taking the presidential oath of office, so, too, Mitch McConnell et al. do not deserve a place in the halls of Congress. They are frauds and of the same ilk as their leader. What makes it worse is that they are not only smarter but also seemingly saner, I think.
15
Good points all, but as someone observing all this from another country, I see this all with considerably less invested in the process.
To my foreign little brain it’s abundantly clear that this man is not only unfit for his office but that he’s been actively undermining the western alliance and liberal democracy worldwide. So, eminently a candidate for removal from office in the US.
It’s also abundantly clear that he was elected fair and square by the rules embodied in the US constitution. Actually removing him therefore has to be for reasons a very clear majority of Americans can live with. Otherwise they will be punishing the perpetrators at the polls, very soon.
I don’t see a two-thirds majority of a Senate dominated by the President’s party doing anything of the kind until Trump’s approval rating drops quite a bit below the narrow range it has been in since the beginning. Think Nixon.
Until any of this happens, think Clinton.
3
About Mike Pence. I thought I heard on TV last night that Pence had a final meeting with Zelensky just before July 25 phone call to work out details about the "first tranche" of the $391 million of aid to Ukraine. ...So Trump was trying to string out the money for more leverage over time?
I haven't seen or heard any more reporting on this point.
6
This is Trump being Trump, in all its hideous reality.
Trump has gone through life with no consequences for his behavior, no real accountability to anyone, no regard for playing by the rules, no moral compass to guide him.
He has hardly risen to the occasion of holding our highest office.
Whether his MO finally reaches its limits has yet to be determined.
9
Very good article.
I think that the thing which most people don't grasp about The Donald is his utter shamelessness and brazenness. If you tell most people that they are lying, it will give them pause -- most normal people will be taken aback.
But things don't phase The Donald. He tells one lie and if he is called on it, he just goes ahead with another lie as if nothing happened.
And there are no depths to which he will not descend to pursue his own interest. Here again most people have things which they would not stoop to in order to defend themselves in a fight. The Donald has no such scruples. He will do absolutely anything.
Many people say that Roy Cohn was a horrible person but he would stick by a friend. I read recently that Roy Cohn once was a friend of The Donald. But when Roy Cohn contracted AIDS and was ill and was of no more use to The Donald, The Donald dropped Cohn. That is the kind of person The Donald is.
Nancy Pelosi and Adam Schiff are the brains of the democrats in the House relative to impeachment. Now there are a lot of smart and capable democrats in the House but if they are going to take on The Donald, it will take a special person or persons to stay in the ring with him.
The way The Donald wins is he just out nasties his opponents. No matter how dirty his opponents are he is dirtier. I don't know that will work with Pelosi and Schiff. I hope not.
12
Senator Portman of Ohio: You have spoken out before about the false shenanigans of this President regarding Ukraine and other things.
Please now be one of the National Republican leaders who will speak the truth to the most corrupt power since the days of Harding.
You are the strongest voice in Congress fighting to end the opioid epidemic. This is just as import to keeping our nation healthy.
13
“Where is the line?” asks Amy Haskins of Manning, Iowa. “You still stand there, silent, and your silence is supporting him.”
As the investigation unearths more evidence - and Trump himself provides even more! - lots of Trump supporters are becoming former Trump supporters, and as that number grows, eventually it's going to catch the attention of Republicans in Congress. All those who said, "Why bother with impeachment? The Senate will never convict him might have to re-think that.
And don't overlook the strong possibility that Republican leadership is going to soon realize that Trump can't win re-election, and at that point they may well "help" the Democrats remove him so they can get someone that CAN win.
There are no enemies so dangerous as former supporters - ask Caesar.
26
I wouldn't call Trump a genius---it's giving him too much credit and it is a gross abuse of the word. What he is, is someone who is bent on self-preservation, no matter what it takes and at all costs. The Mafia analogy is apt--if you have seen Barry Blitt's cartoon on the cover of the New Yorker this week, it says it all--- Trump and Giuliani dumping Uncle Sam in a cement block into the East River (or Potomac--take your pick). Things will get uglier in the next few weeks as Trump flails, lashes out, and implodes, so you ain't seen nothin' yet. as the saying goes.
8
@Birdygirl
Re cartoons: Eric Cartman is the cartoon version of President Id.
Wishful thinking on your part, Mr. Cohen. We are stuck with this president until January 2021 at least.
I love your columns, Mr. Cohen; your insights and lucid prose thrill me deeply.
Here, though, I run up against Mitch McConnell. All roads lead to him. He's a lot like a crocodile: cunning, not like a turtle: stolid. He simply submerges, only the eyes visible above the waterline. He slowly homes in upon his target. There's a rush of water and a bloody trace but that's all.
The Joni Ernst situation is promising but only just. McConnell will toss out a life vest to the wobbly Iowa woman and she will, much like her Maine colleague, Susan Collins, twirl and twist and say one thing and mean another and attempt to never be pinned down. They all know, of course, how evil and dangerous Donald Trump is but they, like wacky Ado Annie in "Oklahoma, "cain't say no."
The simplest test is this: had Barack Obama been caught on tape strong-arming a foreign head of state on a Sunday call, would he be in office by Friday? The answer is yes, but, of course, the House would have voted out impeachment articles by then. And by Saturday, he might be out of office.
It's politics and it's race and it's urban vs. rural and it's elitism vs. the working class and it's religion vs. abortion. And almost everything in between.
Donald Trump stands for nothing; this does not matter with those who remain faithful to him. His shallowness is their depth. His apostasy is their elixir. His abnormality is their breath of life.
America must reconcile itself to one of two choices: the good or the evil.
28
@Red Sox, ‘04, ‘07, ‘13, ‘18 Right now, our comments are next to each other. I find it more than coincidental, hopefully insightful, that we both point to Mitch McConnell as one more culprit in the descent of our democracy. You refer to him as a crocodile. I compare him to another snake slithering out of Trump’s viper’s pit.
8
The fall of strong countries comes from within. The US is declining. This is what the end of the Republic looks like. Don’t worry the death of the country doesn’t mean you will die with it.
5
He won't be impeached and he has a good chance to be reelected.
2
It is illegal to solicit outside help in US Elections. Federal Election Commission can take action against POTUS in this regard.
7
UkraineGate is going to make Nixon's Watergate debacle look like a mere office prank. We have just seen the tip of the iceberg and Trump will go down hard for his crimes.
37
@Jefflz
God, let's hope so.
4
So many lies in the right-wing blathersphere!
When the U.S. President uses the enormous power of the office to shake down foreign leaders who need U.S. support, all for personal gain and to cheat in an election, the President has committed an illegal act and impeachable abuse of power.
There is no requirement for a “quid pro quo” under law or for impeachment. Nonetheless, texts and testimony already prove Trump and his operatives made benefits that new Ukrainian President Zelensky wanted from the U.S. conditional on his agreeing to seek dirt on the Bidens.
Republicans are selling out the country and Constitution. They are enablers of Trump’s systemic corruption and likely treason.
16
Joni Ernst does a great Colonel Klink impression!!
8
@Grove More like Sgt. Schultz: "I see nothing! I know nothing!"
2
Can this be anything but the long-awaited and very public self-destruction of a man unfit for office? It may well be, but almost half of the voting public will try to elect him to a second term nonetheless.
5
Trump can listen to the advice of others when he is scared. This morning, for example, he said that pressuring Ukraine and China to investigate the Bidens was all about rooting out corruption. This is a departure from previous days. It is likely that some advisors or his attorneys warned him that public statements like the ones he made as recently as yesterday are impeachable in themselves. Stating that this as about an attempt to root out corruption and not about a personal quid pro quo is the best spin that can be put on it, even if it is preposterous, and even though Trump, and his family, are in serious violation of the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution since the day he took office.
6
He's backing himself into his own corner, creating his own impeachment by flaunting the many rules he has broken so that he can negotiate his way out on his own terms.
He's playing chicken with our laws, our truths and our democracy.
Staring us all down. Who's going to blink first?
Vote.
1064
@Guido Malsh Regrettably, our electoral system has been structured to give extremely disproportionate weight to voters in states which are home to Trump's base. Yet on the positive side, in the last few months Georgia (which went for Trump in 2016) has registered 350K+ new voters, 49% of whom are African Americans and many that are younger voters. So there is some hope!
90
The election is being rigged again as we speak. November 2020 will be too late.Incredible damage to our country is being done every day.The players that refuse to appear before Congress need to go to jail. No dithering please.
94
@Guido Malsh And the security of the USA.
19
What Trump does brilliantly is to wear people down. When contractors would sue him for bills not paid, he’d lawyer up, delay, stonewall, re-schedule. Finally, the contractor would run out of money for lawyers and settle for pennies on the dollar.
Think of the last three years. Has there been one quiet, relaxed, day without drama? The country has had to deal with daily outrages, some so brazen and unprecedented that they were beyond comprehension. People’s nervous systems cannot take this kind of daily abuse. They start to shut down. It’s not that they don’t care; they care too much. But the daily assaults are too painful to take.
Trump LOVES this. Rather than the drama wearing him down, it gives him vital life force. He thrives on adrenaline and Diet Coke. Chaos is the state of his mind and the state of his being. This is part of his pathology. Now, he’s really on full display.
His fans think all this is incredibly humorous. He’s going to be more and more outrageous every single day - daring anyone to stop him. And so far, nobody really has. His delusions are propped up by his family, fans and sycophants. Anyone who crosses him is kicked to the curb. He cares not for the country or its people. He is totally absorbed in SELF.
“We’ll have to see what happens.” That’s what Trump says when he doesn’t know the answer to a question. I’m afraid to see what happens. Our country is being run by a madman. He might just run it into the ground.
2521
@Kathryn May be if people had functioning moral compasses which they actually engaged, they would have rejected Trump at the outset because they would have not only been able to ask the question: "Is this right?" They would have known the answer and their self-esteem and pride would have ensured they enacted it.
232
@Kathryn: "His fans think all this is incredibly humorous." If so, they must be under the impression that what they're watching is a sitcom: a parody of a presidency as opposed to the real thing. Which would be fine if there were a real President running this country in addition to "Trump- the Insult Comic President."
171
@Cass Phoenix ...You're right ...things should never have come to this. Even with the Electoral College's help..Trump should not have received enough Votes to win the Presidency. The fact that his bizarre behavior has been enabled by so many Americans for so long is not an encouraging sign. Our Democracy has struggled and too many Americans seem oblivious !!
195
I think the President knows exactly what he is doing. Not only has he been able to use the media throughout his career he has a host of very talented people helping him to achieve the goals he promised his followers and the American people.
While the Democrats try everything but put forth a plausible candidate that can actually get elected president, or any sane policies that Americans can get behind (think New Green Deal, Medicare for All and reparations) the President achieves one goal after the other.
96
@DesertGuy - Except, he hasn't actually achieved anything. "Infrastucture week", anyone? No fabulous ACA replacement, even his plan to withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord is not yet official or done. No NAFTA replacement, not a mile of wall built, no China trade deal, just a trade war, which is neither good nor easy, and may yet choke the economy. One goal after another? Phooey.
938
@DesertGuy
What, exactly, are the goals that President Trump promised you?
258
@DesertGuy I thought at first this was sarcasm. Then I read it again and realized it was sincere. A host of very talented people? Achieving one goal after the other? Clearly, we do not inhabit the same universe. Or maybe this is “spooky action at a distance,” only reversed?
260
The "line" is up to trump. Pelosi is the leader we all deserve at this moment in history. Yes, I agree she knows that impeachment has the potential to send trump way over the brink of derangement. But it depends on her tactics: how she metes out justice is the key to vanquishing trump. The timing, the cadence of evidence gathering, the exploitation of new developments, weighing simplicity, or not, in articles of impeachment.
She knows the Senate firewall is all: the moment Republican senators acknowledge trump is a liability to them, all the dominoes will fall almost instantly.
This is a grand American drama and a turning point in our country.
1532
@Murray Bolesta
Totally agree. He will melt down more and more right in front of everyone in the world, including his followers. Then the line will be obliterated.
Things will happen very quickly after that, Even now I believe that a majority of top Senators are just waiting for just one somebody to be the first.
Yes, drama at its' finest, with something even the Ancient Greeks could not possibly make up.
This will be an exciting week indeed.
124
@Murray Bolesta
How I'd love to believe this is what will happen. However, there is nothing Trump could do to turn the Republicans against him. Nothing. The reason being there will almost certainly be at least one Supreme court appointment in the next five years. The Republicans have been playing the long game and there is no way they're going to let anything stand in the way.
91
@jsciort
If it looks like Trump turns into a liability for them, you can bet they'll turn on him and scramble to throw their support behind a 2020 candidate to carry that torch. That person may or may not be Mike Pence, depending on how deeply he's involved in this mess.
57
There is no strategic mastery in Tump. His egotism, narcissism and vanity possess him to such a degree that he simply cannot see reality. He cannot think in any other terms than in absolutes:
the economy is the greatest ever, he is a genius, he has made America respected and admired. A conversation is not instructive, productive, friendly. It is "perfect". What can the word perfect mean regarding a conversation? He simply cannot help self-glorification. He would be a subject of derision if it were not that a sizeable number of people follow him. In some it is political
survival, in others it is financial interest, in still others it is blind faith in a person that has not done anything for them. That's his strategy: the incomprehensible behavior of human beings.
1107
@Frank Casa
Trump is the pinnacle of Boomer selfishness, self-importance and self-adulation. I just wish we could move beyond this antiquated Boomer mentality, but it seems that Trump and his generation are determined to take America down with them.
We are wasting the potential of our younger generations, just to keep an older one from seeing the forest for the trees.
42
@Frank Casa Trump has done a lot and continues to do a lot for his core supporters - he lashes out and demeans the "elites" who have scolded them to be politically correct, demeaned them for their food and music choices, ignored their worries about rapid social changes, their fears about losing their jobs to immigrants and technology.
He IS their voice and they love him for it, even as his policies hurt them financially. Trump feeds the emotional desires of his supporters. It's very real.
40
@dad Enough with the ageism rant. Do not paint others with the same broad brush because their birth year is close to Trump's.
65
I'm sorry, but I watched the Joni Ernst clip also, and I got a totally different feeling from her evasions. I got the feeling that she and her Republican cohorts - I mean colleagues - are not going to turn on him. Because one person's madman is another person's Svengali-like demagogue and they are counting on him to repeat in 2020.
39
@thebigmancat
I watched the clip. I did not think she was evasive, and I did not think that she came down on one side or another. At the most, even if it was vague, she said/implied, that she was not going to opine on what comes out of Trump's mouth, but that she was against the general concept, trading power for political purposes.
And, you know what?
Nobody in Congress, either party, should be expected to react to Trump's hourly --- every single day --- verbal incontinence.
I am solidly Blue, but I don't blame any Republican for not wanting to answer when they get microphones shoved in their faces all day long with questions about what Trump tweeted or said.
2
@thebigmancat But they're not speaking out in support of him, and that is the first little step in gaining the strength of a patriot. Have faith because we need it. Speak highly of any and every potential patriot that may be lurking in the shadows of the GOP Senate. THEY would be the winners, full stop, if they chose country over party.
9
Circa nine years ago, Cohen's columns, such as about Israel, showed signs of his being...old and tired. His comments about the current trump-crisis, on the contrary, are among the most astute in the media. Yes; this column superbly captures the essence of the present scary, beautiful, unprecedented moment!
40
The Republican party is an anti-democracy party that does not believe in the rule of law. They've made that abundantly clear through their actions -- or rather their refusal to act. Even after Trump, how do they come back from that?
248
@BPS
After Nixon, it’s hard to understand how anyone ever trusted them again.
Reagan labeled government as the main problem, and then proceeded to dismantle the middle class, giving it all to the 1%.
And people keep voting for this.
420
While no doubt "not being a loser" is part of Trump's motivation to win a second term, there's a more pragmatic aspect. If he loses the 2020 election or is impeached, he's going to prison. Mueller for all his waffling said as much - if Trump weren't President, he'd be indicted for obstruction of justice right now.
327
@Gus
I'm no criminal lawyer, but if Donald Trump wins reelection, won't that US Department of Justice memo that forbids indicting a sitting President immunize Trump from fraud prosecutions in New York State until several statutes of limitations expire? If that happens, Trump skates free.
11
@Gus 'If he loses the 2020 election or is impeached, he's going to prison', huurraahh, and there was much rejoicing among the people!
10
And isn't it ironic that what Trump like to call the "deep state" -- those non-partisan government employees that show up to work through various administrations and political tidal waves to actually keep the wheels of government moving -- may be this country's salvation. I'm speaking of the folks, like the whistle blower, who have the courage and conviction to take their jobs and oaths seriously enough to question authority when questioning is exactly what's needed. Thank you, Daniel Elsberg, Mark Felt and now, the unnamed CIA employee who, unlike the current crop of Republican senators, knew when to say, "Enough is enough."
599
@kbear Whistles should be handed out at every Federal agency in Washington.
29
@Mimi
And we can participate. Can you imagine a Million Whistle March? With pots and wooden spoons and drums and ear protection for all. The marchers could be dubbed 'The National Salvation Corps'.
27
His followers know exactly who and what he is. That is truly the saddest part of this.
553
@Mixilplix I'm not sure this is correct. Read David Brook's column published yesterday. Many, perhaps most, of Trump's supporters hate Democrats (liberals) and support him simply because of this. They also are over joyed by all the insults he throws at them.
21
Amen, amen, amen.
2
@Mixilplix
Many (most?) of his followers probably don't exactly really know, not if they get their news from Fox or the right/w-nut radio guys.
I don't know if that makes it more or less sad.
14
We are living history. The outcome is uncertain but it will certainly be momentous.
125
Answer: It's his genius for survival. I wish it weren't, but whatever else he is, this man is an exceptional phenomenon.
(Still, he won't have a second term.)
28
@Curtis Hinsley I still have family and former friends in Trump loving areas, and believe me, nothing he says or does will disabuse them of their fervor for El Presidente Grande.
Unfortunately, I've come to the sad conclusion that there's an extremely high chance he WILL have a second term, with perhaps more to come. Yes, he'll lose the popular vote again but between the Electoral College and the machinations of the republican party, those votes will be useless.
1
@Fourteen14
Faust he ain't. This thing has no soul to sell.
2
@Fourteen14
Granted. He's the Houdini of real-estate scam artists.
1
Yay, Ohio. Here are the words of Senator Rob Portman in today's response to my email:
Thank you for contacting my office to express your opinions about President Donald Trump.
Ultimately, we all want our country to succeed. To bring about that success, I believe that I have a responsibility to be an independent voice for Ohio.
The process of impeaching the President, or any government official, is a serious matter and one of the most significant undertakings for the Legislative Branch. In the case of impeaching an elected official, it is ultimately a decision by Congress to overturn the will of the people. This is not something that should be taken lightly and I believe the House of Representatives' rush to impeachment is unwarranted, especially as it was done before the transcript of the phone call between President Trump and President Zelensky and the whistleblower complaint was released.
I reviewed the transcript of the phone call and the whistleblower complaint. Frankly, I do not see the quid pro quo that some have asserted. President Trump did not threaten to withhold aid in exchange for anything nor did he link the promise of continued aid to any particular investigation. The whistleblower complaint falls under the jurisdiction of the Senate Intelligence Committee, which has received the complaint and is diligently reviewing it in a bipartisan manner. I believe that this is an appropriate course of action and I look forward to reviewing the results.
PART ONE
27
@Logan
Hey, at least your senator responded specifically to your message, albeit it with lies. My republican senators deflect and sidestep so much, their words are meaningless.
39
@Logan He does not see the quid pro quo?
"It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it."
I was taught to always look with suspicion on any sentence that begins, "Frankly, ..."
71
@Logan
You neglect to identify Sen. Portman as a Republican, although it comes through from his reply.
17
We need more like Amy Haskins who call their elected Republican officials and to show up at Republican town hall meetings to demand an answer: “Where is the line?” Silence in the face of the Trump administration’s blatant abuses of power is complicity. Each and every Republican in office should have their phones, email, and town halls flooded with angry patriotic Americans who demand that they uphold their oaths of office. Country and Constitution before tribal party politics. Where is the line?
1126
@J.
Perhaps their only line is the campaign bottom line - i.e., the outsize donations from their very conservative funders, who they don't want to offend.
90
@J. - Indeed; the asymmetry of Affluenza 45* should not be allowed to eternally change the presidency because 'norms' like Constitutional prohibitions are inconvenient to him - and his Complicit GOPers.
20
@J.
The sad reality is that so many Americans still support him.
As long as he makes them feel he hates the same people they do, they have his back.
I have read so many articles that try to understand Trump supporters, especially rural ones, that I have given up any hope that they can be redeemed. They believe he thinks as they do, hates as they do, views the world as they do, and he will somehow return us the those thrilling days of yesteryear.
They will willingly hurt themselves if they think they can cause pain to those "others" who can never be "real Americans".
55