Nixon`s job approval rating fell from 66% in Jan. 1973 to 24% a yr later. It was still 24% when he resigned in disgrace 7 months later (Aug.1974).
So some of the GOP base belong to the group that "can be fooled ALL of the time".
In the case of the Trump-Kushner crime family and their activities in laundering Russian oligarch/mafia money through Trump real estate business (ie. dozens of condos sold to the Russians via opaque transactions/ownership) hopefully this will become common knowledge in Redneck Country so that the GOP abettors in Congress will be forced to choose to oust Trump rather than wait for him to pull them down in the 2020 election. How sad to think that a Nixon like job approval rating of 24% might be needed in the case of the Trump-Kushner crime family and action by the GOP.
8
Don't impeach - Indict!
5
Michelle, you're a Brooklyn resident..... I went to grammar school in Hamilton Hts., high school in St. Albans, college in Bayside, and believe me when I say that I did not need an out-of-town Hillary warning me about the evils of Trump. Give me a break.
2
My son is a soldier. He joined the Army one month after 9/11. He has been at war for over 17 years.
He recently returned from Afghanistan to his home at Fort Benning, Georgia that he shares with his wife and two young daughters.
Just before his return, his wife had been asked to move due to extremely high levels of lead in the pealing paint and lead poisoning in the water.
They were moved to another home on the same street that was subsequently determined to have higher lead concentrations than the house they had just left. They continue to live there.
There are currently 87,000 military housing units suffering from excessive levels of lead poisoning.
To get to the point, Trump has declared THE WALL as a National Emergency. Using this "National Emergency" Trump will attempt to access $3.6 billion in military construction money. A portion of this military construction money was to be used for the military housing lead crisis.
Perhaps our pretend president might take a moment from golfing, or whatever he does during the "National Emergency", to focus on this burgeoning Flint, Michigan.
Our soldiers deserve nothing less.
29
The image of Trump caressing the flag so closely resembled Chaplin as Hitler caressing the world globe that it was eerie.
The horror of our situation is clear to all those who choose to recognize it. Trump will try to kill us before he surrenders.
19
Many responses here recommend at election time, rather than impeachment, a constant focus on all Trump's abuses and crimes. But if such complaints are directed only at Trump, half the story is missed. I want to see every Democrat running against a Republican incumbent persistently hammering how that incumbent methodically ignored growing evidence of Trump's criminal behavior. Republicans' failure to do their duty and protect the Constitution cannot just be left in the background, or only ascribed to nameless Republican masses. Republican congress members must each be shamed by name for their cowardice, greed, and willful blindness. Things never could have gotten this bad if they had taken their oaths seriously.
18
Maybe him and his buddy Bebe can share a cell?
3
But he’s got this:
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/03/11/the-making-of-the-fox-news-white-house/amp
1
Quite frankly, a columnist who takes Adam Schiff seriously is very likely a columnist not to be taken seriously.
@Timothy And who do you take seriously? Steve King? Matt Gaetz? Roy Moore?
10
I remember when Fox "News" had a week-long meltdown because Obama wore a tan suit. In July. Just imagine the hysteria coming from the righteous, cowardly phonies in the GOP if Obama had paid off a porn star, humiliated himself and our country with his sickening adoration of Putin, or had children by three different women? Elect a clown, you get a circus.
21
“You have to think of the Trump phenomenon as a religious cult surrounding an organized crime family,” Amen! For a while now I have been comparing Individual1's fans to people giving their last dollar to a rich TV evangalist. They are true believers. And true believers don't live in reality but fortunately the rest of us do.
6
Simply by taking Trump on, one is reduced to his level of sleaze. It is a very potent sociopathy.
2
I expect very little out of Ms. Goldberg, since she is among several OP-ED writers with The Times who are reflexively anti-Trump. This essay could have been summarized via this short dialog:
Ms. G. -- Mr. President, what color is the sky?
Mr. T. -- The sky is blue.
Ms. G. -- Wrong answer. The sky is azure.
We need to STOP RE-LITIGATING the 2016 Election. Under the prevailing rules, POTUS Trump won. In the 2020 Election, the opportunity exists for the Democrats to unseat POTUS Trump and reclaim the White House.
The focus should be on legislation, not on unnecessary investigations that are likely to uncover nothing of value.
1
Because Cohen gives the impression that everything out of his mouth is a lie, his 'blockbuster' testimony only made me doubt the truth of bad stuff I'd formerly assumed to by true - like the Stormy hush money.
1
Regarding the Trump Tower in Moscow, is it possible that Trump sees it as a refuge for himself if he was tried either criminally or by the Senate following impeachment? Sort of like Russian oligarchs buying high rise condos in NYC?
4
I wish someone would write an article or even a book that explains why so many people support someone who has broken the law, cheated, lied, paid hush money to hide affairs, named people to head departments who have histories showing they want to destroy those departments, etc. Does anyone understand what these people think or why they think it? I'm not talking about the billionaires who are clearly motivated by greed and a lust for power. I'm talking about everyday people who support this man no matter what.
11
How obnoxiously apropos that cultural whiplash seems to be the most historically salient driver of societal change in America.
March 5, 2019, 4 p.m. EST: I hear that a House Committee's demand for documents relating to Prince Jared's security-clearance (NOT!) has been or will be 'refused.'
Whoever be the 'technical' (non) responder, 'tis surely the 'work' of trump, the never-so-much-ever-even a "King" of Queens.
Round ? (Here we go.)
4
I am little bit annoyed when I hear democrats cannot win because of the electoral college due to its being rural and white etc.
If we agreed that whites are still in power enough to put Trump in the white house, then whites will have to take him down.
the minorities have been minorities forever and nothing will change but USA losing world power and getting hit financially because of people like Trump will hurt whites more than minorities.
So let us be honest, it will take a white man to take down another white man who is out of control.
Whenever I hear electoral college are against democrats - I will say OK then have a white man who have decency, education and the merits to run!
This argument is non-sense and veiled racism of Trump is only bad for black people.
Trump is cancer on USA - all of you!
1
I watched the Watergate Hearings and never dreamed that once again we would find criminal activity in a President. I had hated Nixon for many reasons but mainly his treatment of college students and his press on Vietnam. The current resident is so disgusting in all he has done especially to women that I will once again watch and love all the dirt that comes out. Let's hope that many in the administration get their just desserts instead of those juicy payments from da boss.
5
When Clinton announced to the nation that he did not have "sexual relations" with the young lady, I took it a confession that something short of coitus had indeed transpired, couched in terms intended to avoid informing minors of untoward sexual behaviors. How infantile does one have to be to fake that they were lied to?
1
Repeat 100 times:
“You have to think of the Trump phenomenon as a religious cult surrounding an organized crime family,”
10 Hail Mary’s; 10 Our Father’s . . . Now Get Outta Here!
2
I don't think Nadler needs to consider impeachment. There are 19 months until 'THE' election; let his investigation do it's work. Court cases, appeals ... Some issues will not be addressed, some results inconclusive, but even a few are enough. Oh, then there's Mueller !
some possibilities:
(1) A few repubs talk to Trump, as with Nixon. Trump opts out, Pence runs and loses.
(2) Above; Pence wins.
(3) Above; someone other than Pence ...
(4) He resists the 'suggestion', runs and loses. This is his best choice: It buys time to avoid conviction and find a brilliant, corrupt lawyer. He continues to fleece the country and enrich his family. This choice is likely; this man is never conflicted about what is good for the country vs what is good for him.
Meanwhile, the dems better show they can chew gum, cross the street, and create specific, workable, honest legislation for health care, the environment, immigration, and more.
Create 'teaching moments' concerning labels being thrown around, like 'socialism' Show how socialism has been a part of our democracy plus the idea that our 'capitalism' is possibly morphing into oligarchy. Show how we need to attack environmental problems now to create a better future.
And the dems nominee better know how to sell it and be prepared for the attacks he will receive from the repubs.
Trump supporters; you've been had. Take stock, figure out what you want, and go forward.
3
Cohen's public testimony was the first critical step in cobbling together the sprawling narrative of this president's malfeasance for the American public.
Unfortunately, unlike those who watched the Watergate hearings firsthand, many Americans will be getting FOX spin on the Trump hearings.
Hopefully enough Americans will be watching the actual hearings, not the filtered imaginings of The Trump News Network, so that, "facts [may] still have an inexorable logic."
1
As Trump goes down, so will Pence, who has been an accessory during and after the fact to treason and conspiracy to obstruct justice. As for Trump, he is guilty of a myriad of impeachable offenses, which when thoroughly investigated will translate into a myriad of indictable crimes as well for him and his entire family.
8
During the questioning of Michael Cohen’s “airing of grievances” in open testimony, the Democrats asking questions were generally to the point with the task of getting answers to specific issues. They had a thick LEGAL binder, ready for the game and hurled it against the tRump wall of supplicant GoP actors and orators who performed for the Faux News base.
The line of questions and acting out by Rep. Jim Jordan and his ilk reminded me of the 60’s era role of Riddler from Frank Gorshin, Cesar Romero, Lee Meriwether and Burgess Meredith.
They seem like a random bunch of friends from the bar who pieced together a strategy, while the Dems didn’t want to “fill-up time” and waste more of tax payers money than required.
With Marci Gras upon us today, it is now Festivus for the rest of us...!
1
The people that support Trump would not care if he went on live television and put out a bounty to have Mueller kneecapped. They would cheer and his approval ratings would tick up. Do not expect any kind of public awakening similar to the Nixon era. Americans have become a savage, violent, crude people.
9
Trump's hardcore support may never fall away. They are the ones who would support him if he shot someone. The hearings may, however, strip away enough support among independents & more moderate Republicans that the Senate might consider conviction.
3
I wish I could be as sanguine as Ms. Goldberg. The U.S. electorate has by now basically discounted Trump’s bad behavior. He and his antics have become so much a part of the political landscape that we’ll all surely suffer withdrawal symptoms the day he’s gone. The congressional investigations, already dismissed by some as a partisan fishing expedition, will probably just confirm what we already suspect. In any case, nothing they reveal about Trump or his family is likely to shake public opinion to the extent of hastening his removal or resignation from office.
Analogies with Watergate are ill-conceived. In the 1970s, social media and the blogosphere didn’t exist, nor did the notion of politics as spectacle. Most important, there was still a broadly shared civic culture. Issues of national importance were debated in open forums, without partisan whooping or the distraction of personality and “optics.” Who today would think of founding an organization like Common Cause or Public Citizen?
There’s no sign that Trump’s support in the traditionally Blue-leaning rustbelt states that gave him his margin of victory has weakened. If the election were held today, especially given the current roster of Democratic hopefuls, he could win by a bigger margin than in 2016. His recent harangue at CPAC offered a likely preview of his campaign strategy. All he has to do is bray and contort his features, taunt his opponent with nasty names, and now and then invoke the specter of Nicaragua.
3
@Fidelio: In short, the US public really is so opiated with religion that it believes this land is a divine creation overseen from the far side of the sky.
3
First of all, Michelle Goldberg is a pleasure to read and to hear on panel discussions. She is smart and to the point. I've watched her career grow over the years.
Nancy Pelosi, with wisdom and experience, has the DEMs moving forward in just the right posture......deep investigation into the Trump Organization's many corrupt divisions. If part of these deep dives is sharing hearings with the public (as with Michael Cohen) and up and coming Felix Sater, then there is no need for impeachment. Using social media (that includes TVs and PCs) the public automatically becomes the vast jury who will decide at the ballot box who is best suited to serve the American people, from the WH.
Next to the transparency of public hearings, the process of impeachment becomes a dusty 20th century vehicle (like the electoral college).
AND, if it's discovered that there is enough evidence, to indict DT, before 2020, let the indictment remain sealed, while the public gets educated, right up to the 2020 elections. Then indict.
This short period of time, before the 2020 elections, has the potential to bring the American people together, not cause upheaval.
By the way, reporters and news anchors have not done their homework, or they would know that the phrase and the concept: "You can't indict a sitting president" is not correct. Please look up the historical record, from which this concept took shape, as if it were the law of the land. It isn't.
6
The justice in all will be exposing Trump for the pathological liar and cheat that has been his brand for a long time. Some have said that his followers will never change, regardless of the facts. I. too. believed that until remembering how my father took years to realize that Nixon was a liar and serial corrupter. Once dad got it, he never forgot it, and never forgave himself for being had. Dad was a stalwart Republican until that moment of truth.
5
Lead to impeachment? When, in the middle of his second term? The Dems are still hemming and hawing about even considering impeachment, and the Mueller report will almost certainly land with a thud. What is the point of all this huffing and puffing if it doesn't result in his removal from office?
1
@thebigmancat It's important because it is a return to normalcy, accountability, and respect for the rule of law.
6
@Robert Wood I thought it was about containing the damage he does in office?
We shouldn't consider Cohen's testimony as a "John Dean" moment as much as he was a "Joe Valachi" against the Cosa Nostra. Impeachment is a red herring with the Senate full of Trump apologists who will never go after their "great leader". Expose them all, work on getting people registered to vote and plan for 2020.
3
If Trump & Family had to escape prosecution for federal crimes, they would depart to a country that has no extradition agreements with the US… Russia, the Saudi Kingdom. North Korea?
4
I fully support and encourage a careful, thoroughgoing, measured, and exhaustive House investigation of Mr. Trump, his Administration, and his supporters who may have broken our laws and/or otherwise damaged our Nation, its Democracy, and its standing in the world.
Our Department of Justice has expressly, willingly, and purposefully, NOT guaranteed our Nation and its citizens a full accounting of the Mueller Report.
Therefore, the current Democratic-led House investigations are the only way our Nation can gain an real understanding of what has transpired under Mr. Trump.
As a Independent Voter, to me these investigations are about the rule of law and the standing of our Democracy, not about politics. Something the Trump Republicans seem not to care about as they are giving Mr. Trump a free ride as he trespasses on, and usurps, our Nation's morality, common decency, and Democratic ideals.
Mr. Nixon and Mr. Clinton received the scrutiny they deserved, I trust Mr. Trump will as well.
MB
5
@Michael Bain: It is all trivialized by how much of it there is.
@Steve Bolger
Dear Steve:
So it is not what it is?
I think that is Trump's aim: To overwhelm with graft and the denial thereof.
And to led good people to self doubt.
I say, let the investigations go on until they exhaust themselves.
MB
2
When I hear people referring to multiple felonies committed to get oneself elected as 'petty crimes' it makes me wonder what the response would be if someone on the other side had paid off and bribed someone to keep quiet.
It's not the act of treating his spouse like garbage that is the problem here, Trump is well known for that, it's the money laundering and fraud that are the issue here in the eyes of the law. It's not 'petty,' it's habitual and criminal. This is not 'reality TV' anymore, it's real life.
115
SO HEADS OF THREE COMMITTEES, Oversight, Foreign Affairs and Intelligence, have started the process that was used to convince the public of Nixon's criminal acts. From now on, we're going to get daily reports on the status of the multiple investigations of the alleged crimes of Trump and members of his thugocracy. Trump's support has already begun to erode, before the full force of the investigations begins to impact this historically most corrupt of all US Administrations. There will be more people who will flip for easier sentences, such as Flynn, Cohen and others. The steady drumbeat of the nightly news recounting the crimes and misdeeds of Trump and is cronies, uncovered by the House committees named, among others, will be accompanied by the investigations of the South District of New York, reputed to be the toughest on crime in the US. Then there's the release of the Mueller report, which is expected to be somewhat anticlimactic. Still, it will be invaluable to investigators, providing them with concrete road maps of how to conduct their investigations efficiently and effectively. Meanwhile, tune in for Trump dancing around during the nightly news, wrapped in the US flag. If I didn't know any better, I'd say that was a pig in the blanket. Yesterday, Trump was sarcastically saying that he was cooperating with everyone. At this late date, his cooperation is not needed to get the business of the people accomplished. In fact, Nixon said little before resigning.
2
This simply underscores the still-surprising fact (to me) that, for the past two years, the Republicans in Congress have placed their Party and their personal re-election prospects above the security and moral and ethical foundations of America. I never thought I would see that in my lifetime.
11
"But so far, neither Democrats nor prosecutors have woven the various threads of presidential wrongdoing into a coherent picture, "
Unfortunately several right wing media sites are developing their "alternate" coherent narrative in which all the Russian interactions between the Trump campaign and staff is an "entrapment" plot hatched by Hillary Clinton, the Russians, and the FBI. In this Black Mirror narrative, Clinton started in 2014 working with Fusion GPS to get Trump entangled with the Russians (which of course, he was too smart to fall for). This bizarre narrative even claims that the Australian ambassador to the UK who reported Pappadalous to the FBI for Russian interaction is also a Clinton sleeper agent. No facts put together by Congress will overcome that narrative
1
Some people are sick by choice.
1
If anything the public investigation of our current will at the least explore his capability of fulfilling his duty of being a moral agent in performing the duties of his great office. We do this not only for the present but for the future.
For it is unbecoming to have at bottom a rogue political punk sitting in the highest chair of the land. We cannot give sustenance to those of Trump's ilk who would model themselves on him as some resurrected goodfella. Really film noir is best seen in the movies not nestled up top in the government of the United States.
1
"I'm not a crook." --- Richard M. Nixon, November 1973
"I am an innocent man." --- Donald J. Trump, March 2019
4
Will Djt acolytes watch the hearings or just the Fox spin and propaganda?
3
I don’t care for this impeachment talk especially when there is no impeachable offense - yet.
Consider the consequences of impeachment - President Pence.
In 2020 would you rather run against a clean-cut incumbent president Pence or are a disgraced Trump - wounded from thousands of cuts?
48
@Martello - Pence doesn't have the cult following at all - Pence is horrible but we'd be much better off with him as president
8
@Martello
Indirectly Pence would suffer from the same cuts as Trump, as T's VP, as would the entire roster of Republican candidates.
Remember Al Gore? Clinton's Monica affair wounded him as well.
9
@Martello
I think Pence would be electable, and if Trump is impeached, could serve out T's term and be eligible to be elected for 8 more years.
Electable because he would inherit Trump's base (over 90% of the Republican party): he's been anointed by Trump, he's been loyal to Trump, and he would have no hand in taking Trump down; he has none of Trump's vices - crook, con man, womanizer, if he's racist, he's hidden it; there are many independents who will be turned off by a Democratic candidate with a liberal agenda.
Better to run against a vulnerable Trump whose true colors will become manifest.
13
Why don't the democrats subpoena Stormy Daniels? She could testify in public that trump did have sex with her and also that she was paid to shut up about it. I wonder what Melania would say then. I wonder what trump would say? I wonder what the evangelicals would say?
3
Michelle, love this...
'In an operatic legal fusillade,...'
3
Can I use the word buffoon in my comment? We’ll see.
Interesting Jackson followed Lincoln and Trump followed Obama.
2
@Piece man: Andrew Johnson, Lincoln's VP, became president after the assassination. Lincoln had chosen Johnson, a southerner, as a conciliation to the South, but after Lincoln's death there was no buffer between Johnson and Congressional determination to reconstruct the South in the image of the North. This led to Johnson's impeachment by Congress. The Senate did not convict, and Johnson served out his term, chastened.
But what about that sign that said "liar, liar pants on fire" with Cohen's picture; How immature was that!!??? What purpose did it serve? If even $5 of taxpayer money was spent on that down at rhe local Kinko's, it's too much.
5
How sweet it is. The Felon-in-Chief is so richly deserving of the cleansing exposure that the glaring light of day will have on his pattern of sleaze. Got to love democracy.
2
It is truly disgusting that Democrats and the FBI do not pursue Ivanka Trump with the same relish that they pursue the rest of the Trump gang.
She continues to swan around like she's at a fashion show, as an enobled aristocrat.
9
Treason, could that be the reality?
1
Consider that most Fox News watchers and readers don't know half of what appears in this article. They're told of the congressional hearings, if at all, through the guise of "the witch hunt," with every damning fact against Trump spun as a lie. Chances are the most any of them knows about the hearings is that AOC was there, and allegedly horrible.
The difference between Nixon and Trump is Fox News. And we will never be free from the creeping GOP fascism as long as Fox continues unchecked.
14
Ray Donova and Lena in 2020
The 2019 Congressional hearings, the Mueller investigation and the SDNY investigations will produce a steady stream of reports of negative and illegal activities by Trump, his family and associates. The Democrats need to avoid the temptation to impeach Trump and instead make sure that every bit of damning material is used in an aggressive public information campaign against Trump based on his lack of character, his dishonesty and his efforts to undermine democracy. This coupled with positive Democratic proposals addressing jobs, income equality, a common sense medical plan and climate change should decisively drive this man from office in 2020. Then, let the indictments begin.
5
I have always been disgusted by trump from his days on Howard Stern's radio show where he talked about his daughter's body and how he would have slept with her if she wasn't his daughter. So he is a sexual predator. Then he went on and on about Obama birth certificate. So he is a racist. He didn't pay his employee their full amount and when they complained he threatened lawsuits after lawsuit. So he is a cheat. His charity and university were fake and just tried to give his family more money and legitimacy. So we know that he is a con man.
We knew all of these things before he became president yet republicans treat him like Jesus.
I don't trust republicans now and think most of them are fascist.
Please cancel this reality show.
11
Everybody at once now: "CHECK PLEASE!!!"
"... A religious cult surrounding an organized crime family." Finally, Democrats are finding adequate words to describe the Trump administration!
5
Donald J Trump marches in like a liar and out like a sham.
2
" ... think of the Trump phenomenon as a religious cult surrounding an organized crime family ... " Indeed. And with Republican Congresspersons like Mr. McConnell the priests of the cult.
4
Many comments advise waiting for the election to rid us of Trump. Have we forgotten that he won the election having LOST by nearly 3M votes? There is no reason to think it can't happen again. At the Constitutional Convention James Madison warned against the "tyranny of the minority." It has indeed happened.
4
Congress is doing the right thing, finally. The republicans refused to do the job, don’t blame the democrats for the overload. trump needs to be brought down as soon as possible. He was not the people’s choice by a wide margin. But instead of acknowledging the truth he pretends to be our king. We need to start repairing our reputation in the world before the next election. Support Congress and pay no attention to the misdirection and lies of Huckabee and trump.
4
"In an operatic legal fusillade..."
I love you, Michelle Goldberg.
I'll never forget "...Beto O’Rourke, the Democratic congressman from El Paso who is running a strikingly competitive race against oleaginous ghoul Ted Cruz."
Thank you for making me guffaw even while reading about this ongoing political horror show.
3
Let's see:
Fox gathers followers based upon the notion that Fox alone will tell the truth.
Those followers become a cult, unwilling to believe other news outlets because Fox has told them that those outlets are part of a liberal conspiracy.
Fox and friends (lower case "f"--includes Limbaugh, Alex Jones, etc.) convince their religious followers that mainstream media is evil, Listening to them will put your immortal soul in peril.
Fox and friends support corrupt Republicans in the Bush II administration, particularly in its efforts to infringe on our freedoms. PATRIOT ACT (it's an acronym--I'm not shouting) anyone?
Fox and friends promote various posse comitatus groups trying to take over federal lands.
Fox and friends defend radical, racist and violent right wing protesters.
Fox and friends constantly assert ridiculous accusations against Democrats--particularly Hillary. (If you're going to lie, tell a big one. Tell it loudly enough and often enough, and it will become the truth.)
Fox and friends now support a president with clear and obvious ties to Russia, ties that are dangerous to our national security.
An inference must be drawn that Rupert Murdoch is an explicit fascist and that he's trying to destroy our democracy. Maybe that's why John Paul II made him a knight of the church.
6
Fox bases its success and appeal on reflecting and confirming the views of its audience. Fox did not need to teach its viewers to be reactionaires, racists, or Christian fundamentalists. it has suceeded by giving them voice and legitimacy, clever packaging, endless repetition, then building momentum...
4
Love watching Spanky squirm!
1
According to John Dean's recent op-ed piece, 80 million Americans watched his testimony during the Watergate hearings. By comparison, 16 million watched Michael Cohen's testimony. This trial will not be a TV trial; rather, it will be trial by social media.
2
Trump doesn't care much about being President; even with the constant vacations and TV watching he's still having to work harder than ever before, for less money. When one way or another it's over, he'll retreat back to Mar a Lago with his base support intact. It won't be a big change for him and he'll be insulated from the shame as he always has been.
The only thing that causes a scammer regret is losing either money or freedom; he'll suffer neither. Guys like him don't go to jail, bird-of-a-feather Madoff being a notable exception.
However: anyone who can watch the Guardian's CPAC highlights reel (https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2&v=g5HHZI_pe3w) and still feel good about this man as President of the United States is doomed. Doomed, I say.
10
At least Trump was paying off port stars, not burglars! That's progress, right?
The Watergate hearings were still novel tv. Yes, we had the Army-McCarthy hearings before them, but for the most part the country wasn’t deluged by a tsunami of political news, hearings and grandstanding. Further, I hope those who conduct the questioning are better informed than the ignorant show trial displays of the Benghazi, Comey, Zuckerberg hearings for example. If not, it will be a further polarizing tv series where politicians audition for the Viral Comment of the Week Award. I want this sorry excuse for a President brought to his knees, but don’t trust our crop of legislators, with such me exceptions, to be up to the task.
1
Only as allegory, the American Bolsheviks coming for the Trumpanovs can't come soon enough. Can hardly wait for the good old wonky days of American politics.
Trumpty-Dumpty's team has its own version of Pravda (Faux News) that offers a 24/7 commentary that the Dems are out to get him. No such luck for Tricky Dick, who only had a small number of conservative newspapers and influencers to back him. Scary, but Sean Hannity may be the most important person influencing the true believers who watch that network. As much as I wouid like to sing "Jail to the Chief", I have no expectation that anything will happen before January 20, 2021, and remain concerned that the Trump Party will be able to turn out their voters and give us 4 more years of Trumpistan.
4
Trump voters hated her and voted for him knowing he is corrupt and a crook and a tax fraud. They didn’t care then and they don’t care now. They think everyone does it, so why shouldn’t he? I have been asking Trump supporters since 2015 why doesn’t his corruption give you pause and the answer every time is that the law allows him so it is no big deal.
By allowing white collar criminals and corporations to commit crimes without prosecution the public had been educated to think that these crimes don’t hurt anyone including the tax cheats who cheat them.
9
I'm trying to take this seriously. I watched Nadler on the Stephanopoulis' show Sunday. He talked about a lot of accusations but said the most important was Trump may have violated campaign finance laws.
Fair enough, if the check was not a retainer and the reason was not to keep the affair from his wife...and they can prove this...he may have violated campaign finance laws. The problem is this is exactly what John Edwards did and he was acquitted.
The rest of the accusations have giant holes in them. For example, it doesn't matter any more if Trump knew about Wikileaks dumps prior to us than if HRC knew about the Access Hollywood Tape prior. The question is whether he coordinated with Wikileaks, and once again there's no evidence he did.
The Democratic response is lots of document requests and lots of hearings.
Two sides can play at this game. The Senate can request documents and have hearings too. Where did Bernie Sanders' fortune come from? Let's get Klobacher's disgruntled former employees on the stand. How about Harris' affair with a married man to advance her career? Let's have Senate hearings?
Third world countries bring down their opposition with government power. That's what this looks like to me. If that's the country you want go ahead with your pointless endless hearings.
Otherwise, try to win the election based on the issues. You lost the last election, you can't undo that no matter how many hearings you hold and how many documents you request.
2
And, yet, his followers believe he can do no wrong. Look at him at CPAC. He was a lunatic. And they cheered. Okay, some walked out after 2 hours, but they still cheered. And his poll numbers edged up.
He really could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and get away with it.
As long the spineless Republicans in Congress do nothing, or, worse, do his bidding, I will continue to fear for our country.
Look to the fall of the Roman Empire. Granted, we're not an empire in that sense, but you get the idea. We can fall, and at this stage in the proceedings, I believe we will.
4
Not one commentator ever said it better, “You have to think of the Trump phenomenon as a religious cult surrounding an organized crime family.”
7
Even earlier was McCarthy and Trump’s mentor Roy Cohn, they got away with their accusations for years until the Army hearings destroyed them.
4
What we will learn from the House investigations is whether the racial prejudices Trump has tapped into are greater than America's desire for honesty and justice. We will see if Trump really can shoot someone in the fiddle of Fifth Avenue and get away with it.
Donald Trump is not really concerned with the Democrats' investigations; he knows he does not have to be. While praising the intelligence of the American electorate, he secretly knows that they can be led around like a bulls with nose rings - only instead of bull rings, he uses their beliefs and prejudices to lead them wherever he wants.
If DJT doesn't destroy our fragile democracy, he has published the blueprint and playbook for some other demagogue to do it later. If a democracy like America's is going to exist, there will have to be a paradigm shift in human thought throughout the world.
In the near future, we will program the human mind in the computer based on a "survival" algorithm, which will provide irrefutable proof as to how we trick the mind with our ridiculous beliefs about what is supposed to survive - producing minds programmed de facto for destruction. These minds would see the survival of a particular group of people or a belief as more important than the survival of all. When we understand all this, we will begin the long trek back to reason and sanity.
See RevolutionOfReason.com
1
kwb, can you say White Water?
It was about an investment made by Bill and Hillary Clinton in 1979, a full thirteen years before Clinton became president and investigated for a full eight years by the Justice Department. Clinton was impeached for lying about a sexual act with an adult woman who has admitted she was tempting him. The GOP set the precedent.
Ever hear of Benghazi?
4
"Soon America will be tuning in to find out who’s next."
We don't have enough jail cells to hold them all
1
@Ian MacFarlane: That's what Guantanamo is for. And if it gets too expensive to maintain security, we can turn them over to the tender mercies of Cuba. The people of Cuba know what the republican party has been doing to their country for sixty years.
The Religious Cult concept and analogy is so fitting. Yet...many intelligent well informed American voters chose to vote for the most divisive Presidential candidate in our history. Unfortunately they could not foresee the divisive future this would bring us! Too many of us can be easily duped..conned and persuaded to believe lies ! The Republicans for the most part have been a greater disappointment. They bowed down to Trumps disruptive divisive bullying to ride the wave of his now waning popularity. This is not saying much for too many of us. Some interviews done on Fox News etc. and some of the ads posted by the NRA are just frightening ! Do these people actually believe what they are saying or are they just trying to make a great living spewing more truly Fake News while they still can? Slowly we have been taking back the country from the brink of a chasm that should have never been! Why has it been so difficult...what has taken so long? Oh how I wish John McCain were alive to see the latest unfolding of events and the investigations into the worst President in American History !We elected a man who was a liar a cheat and a con. He criticized women,the handicapped ..POW's...Gold Star families...other candidates..etc..yet we voted for him. Some of us were so foolish...we believed that once elected he would become more Presidential?? Sorry guys...the stable genius ain't so stable and does not appear to be a genius... except at conning people !!! He is simply..UnAmerican !
1
Jim Jordan's disgusting performance at the Michael Cohen hearing, and the demeanor so far of Adam Schiff pretty much says it all about "truth seeking"... and the difference between the GOP and the Dems.
Schiff comes across as a person of integrity, dignity, and an honest desire to get to the truth.
Jordan comes across as a mean, nasty, Trump sycophant.
8
What do we tell our children about the depravity of the president of the United States of America? He is a fluke, he was elected through illegal means, ( with the help of Russia), that you can fool some of the people all of the time? I can’t wait for the Trump era to be over.
4
“You have to think of the Trump phenomenon as a religious cult surrounding an organized crime family,”
Priceless! Incisive-
3
Thank you, Michelle. For educating readers. Metonymy.
And may I offer a link to Michelle’s smart discussion of the tactics being used on the American public? Michelle calls It ‘epistemological terrorism.' Was March 1 with Chris Hayes.
The ten minute mark.
“Nothing Is True and Everything Is Possible: The Surreal Heart of the New Russia”
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6x16zeGBxY
1
But Trump does control the narrative and has from the infamous escalator ride. Down.
With the media, ever hungry for breaking news, he provides a daily outrage to get our blood pressure. How can he still be here? Why do I pay him so much attention?
He was elected with the help of media's constant free reportage on his latest most awful lie, insult, vulgarity, scariness. We were head spun from the beginning. Did he really say that? Does he honestly believe that?
Trump is a monster in the social retardation department. We think that he can't possibly be a success if he treats people so badly, if he really is so stupid, arrogant, ugly and self-centered boring. Can he?
Yes, he can and he does. He's so awful and we have never seen his like quite like this.
We can't believe that everything we thought was so wrong: that working hard, treating people fairly and kindly, being honest, was the way to get on in the world. But that's all naive silliness now in Trump country. The way to be a success is to be a sub-sub-mediocre whistle-brain bully with only money on your tiny, wizened mind.
We are sickened but fascinated by him, daily picking at a scab that hurts, but just can't help ourselves. He's a freak and apparently 30 plus percent of the people identify with him.
But he can't change the law and he can't avoid punishment if he committed crimes. Can he?
3
I recommend “House of Putin, House of Trump” for a very frightening expose of the Trump-Russian mob-Putin partnerships. The Trump organization has succeeded beyond anything Capone, the Genoese family, or any other crime syndicate in our history. Please justice, be done with this criminal family!
2
Hopefully, the House investigations and hearings will demonstrate that the Democrats haven't been on a 'witch hunt' or a 'fishing expedition'. When it comes to Trump and his cronies, finding corruption and obstruction of justice is more like shooting fish in a barrel than a 'fishing expedition'.
No one investigation may turn Trump's cult against him, but the accumulated weight of all the evidence produced by each investigation will hopefully do the trick (especially if it's clear how all the pieces fit together).
1
At this relatively late date (19 months to the 2020 election) it is probably not in the country's best interests (nor that of the Democrats) to press for an impeachment trial. Unless some incredibly damning piece of malfeasance is uncovered by Mueller or elsewhere, the GOP senators will never, NEVER, vote to convict.
Remember that Gingrich rushed the impeachment of Clinton--seen largely by the American public as a political vendetta--and paid the price: Clinton's standing rose in the polls and Gingrich eventually lost his job. Do we want to risk turning a criminal, amoral president into a 'persecuted martyr?'
Pelosi had it right: spend the next months before the election uncovering Trump's almost endless mendacity, and then let him face the voters. If he is to be spurned, it's best done by millions of Americans rendering an uncontestable verdict, not by well-meaning but partisan opponents.
153
@Peter Absolutely right. Keep pressing for the evidence, then use it as the center piece for the 2020 Presidential bid.
17
@Peter. Dam straight.
15
Brain research shows that conservatives are far more sensitive to threat than liberals. Conservatives seek safety and order above all else, while liberals seek adventure and new experiences. This explains why Conservatives are so resistant to and afraid of change and progressive policies. For example, the Bush administration knew that if they said “weapons of mass destruction” enough times it wouldn’t matter whether they really existed or not, Conservatives would support invading Iraq out of fear. People embrace political conservatism because it reduces their level of fear, anxiety and uncertainty, and they will do almost anything to avoid change, while liberals find change exciting and challenging. Trump supporters, as we have seen, admire power over others and are attracted to autocratic rulers and "strongmen," or "big daddy" types who mete out extremely severe punishment to anyone who deviates from established rules or encourages change. Trump understands that fear motives his base, and he will never stop using it to inflame them. It is how he keeps his grip on power.
5
The most important difference between the evolution of public opinion during the Watergate era and today is that Trump’s supporters exhibit the behavior of members of a cult, which is immune to facts and rational analysis. Citizens who witnessed the hearings of the early ‘70s were not members of such a cult, so the analogy isn’t applicable.
3
With what is left of Trump's term, there will be no time for impeachment before the election. My hope is now on a new, sane and worthy Democrat to be elected. And for Mr. Trump, private citizen, to subsequently be jailed because of his many proven crimes.
7
I suspect there is something related to the Saudis. Trump first action after his 2017 visit was selling them arms to destroy Yemen. Saudis have a long history of laundering money through property deals.
5
One difference between Nixon and Trump is that in Nixon you had someone who's outward behavior and appearance was as normal as the other 535 elected officials who were running the country. In Trump's case, you have someone who personifies everything your mother ever taught you not to trust and certainly not to be. How the one-third of the American electorate with mommy issues will react to his impeachment or being voted out of office is anyone's guess, but I'm guessing it won't be pretty.
8
At the end of this process, whether it be Trump's impeachment, voluntary resignation, or removal from office by the voters, I have one constant expectation. As citizen Trump steps out of the White House, U.S. Marshals will be waiting with open arms and handcuffs, followed by a well-covered perp-walk to his arraignment on multiple charges including fraud, conspiracy, money laundering and treason. This President deserves nothing less.
6
Years ago, after I asked why people weren't stopping someone misbehaving, my friend said "no one wants to be the first to push him down the stairs but everyone wants to be the second." Donald Trump said he could shoot someone on 5th Avenue and his base wouldn't care and Michael Cohen said he'd take a bullet for Donald Trump. A bullet, maybe, but not being cast aside and disrespected. "Hardly knew" his decade long personal fixer and attorney? Donald Trump has long taken for granted that loyalty is one way - to him. In the past, those cast aside had no where to go except maybe family to complain.
The public tuned in to hear a previously loyal soldier turn. It was not pretty. Most of all, the hearings gave actual insight into Trump's World of deceit. It wasn't liberal talk shows parsing their version of everything Trump did wrong that day, it was a person who knew him as family, even if only in his own mind. It will resonate. And all those willing to follow Mr. Cohen's lead and save themselves will feel like a freeway pileup trying to get out.
Donald Trump has never held the majority only the loudest. He caught everyone off guard. That has changed.
6
Future history books will have a list of those who drank the Kool-Aid. And those who selected the red and pink Starbursts. We have an aptly-named president DON ("mob boss, king pin, crime lord") TRUMP who would be a bankrupt loser serving time in jail if not for his many (inexplicably many) minions who fixed the results of the election and have been protecting him (ahem - let's face it - their own monetary assets) ever since. Disgraceful.
4
As a point of order, I hope that I have read, for the last time—as in this batch of comments—the misstatement about Individual-1’s “affair” with Stormy Daniels. It was not an affair, and she was not his “mistress,” as she has been called elsewhere. They had sex. Sex. And maybe a spanking. No more no less. It is massively unfair and disrespectful to Ms. Daniels to suggest that she had an actual affair with him. Good grief! The term implies kisses, snuggles, words of endearment, and perhaps meals together. Mistress implies time together, an apartment, gifts, fur coats, and so forth. In other words, some affection and care. Didn’t you all see the same 1950s films noir I saw, for heaven’s sake?
3
Did anyone pick up on Cohens statement that he didn’t believe there would be a peaceful transition of power if Trump loses the election? Why is no one talking about this. Trump will say the election was rigged and his followers will believe him. I know these people. They know Trump is full of crap, but he is igniting the race war and that is all that matters.
3
The 2019 Congressional hearings, the Mueller investigation and the SDNY investigations will produce a steady stream of reports of negative and illegal activities by Trump, his family and associates. The Democrats need to avoid the temptation to impeach Trump and instead make sure that every bit of incriminating material is used in an aggressive information campaign against Trump based on his lack of character, his dishonesty and his efforts to undermine democracy. This coupled with positive Democratic proposals addressing jobs, income equality, a common sense medical plan and climate change should decisively drive this man from office. Then, let the indictments begin.
8
Forbes just released its list of billionaires. There are now 2,153 billionaires across the entire globe. https://www.forbes.com/billionaires/#6497a8f5251c
Yes, Donald J. Trump is still on that list.
I’d say the only reason that Trump has been getting away with all of his documented bad behavior (theft, draft dodging, tax evasion, money laundering, sexual assault, domestic abuse, racism, hiring undocumented workers, nepotism, abuse of executive powers, inept job performance, bullying, and endless lying) is because he is a billionaire. Everyone is afraid of the power that goes with that much money.
If we’re going to have good governance, we need to get money out of the equation. Every candidate should have an election pot maximum; once they hit the limit, they should have to do their campaigning within those constraints (which is a good test of budgeting skill) and they must separate their political career from whatever business they were in previously.
We need to keep elected officials responsible to the people. When we are afraid of their power, we can't do that.
8
It's essential that this information be made public. Having public hearings(plural) is essential in terms of informing the public while counteracting the spell of this con man holding the bully pulpit. Hopefully this will change public opinion. Unfortunately the key to making the GOP congressional office holders attend to their mandate and duty is when the stench from Trump sycophancy is overwhelming which will be too late to save any. What we will be going through now could have been avoided if in the last two years Congress behaved like the bipartisan check it should have been. This is a case of obvious unfitness and apparent criminality in our executive with our national security and well-being perilously at stake. Many of us have been constantly appalled these last two plus years.
4
There is a general inability on the right to understand facts. True, actual events. Developments, findings, evidence. This is easily on display in the comments via the "NO EVIDENCE" trope many right wingers are throwing up in defense of trump.
As an informed adult actually DOES know, there is significant evidence of the Trump campaign's collusion with Russian interests. The key term here is trump CAMPAIGN not president. No one is stating an unequivocal proof of trump involvement at this point. Though you'd need to be pretty dense to guess it wasn't likely.
But the evidence is clear and has come from Don Jr. and his Russian attorney meeting. It has come from Manafort and his junior Quisling who turned state's evidence. It has come from the Stone indictment and wikileaks. And in the form of multiple statements by trump in his foreboding of the release of the HRC email dumps.
Reality is a subset of voters who don't care about this because they like the politics of their president. Instead of admitting guilt or unpatriotic actions, they deny the evidence exists. This takes us full circle to the fake news mantra. Convenient, intellectually sloppy, and irrelevant.
But it works. They will vote for him regardless of facts because they were never about facts. The sooner we understand the general contempt that conservatives hold for us, the sooner we can leave them behind...ignore their voices, and ignore their needs. Something they've long done to the rest of us.
12
"Given the polarization in our politics, ..."
"Polarization"? Ms Goldberg, you might want to read your colleague Tim Wu's piece in today's edition. We're actually pretty united.
2
I wish I could be as optimistic that Russia-gate will play out as Watergate (the original "-gate") did. But I am not, and for two reasons: (1) Nixon did not have a Pravda-style propaganda arm working for him as Trump does today at Fox News; and (2) Nixon's party was in the minority in the Senate in 1973-74. At present, while the House could easily vote out Articles of Impeachment, it would require at least 20 GOP senators (out of 53) to go along with 47 Democrats to remove Trump from office. If there were that many profiles in courage in the US Senate, they could write a sequel to John F. Kennedy's best-selling book. All that said, I hope I'm wrong about all of this.
3
Perfectly put, Ms. Goldberg.
2
What usually gets lost in the analyses of Nixon's downfall and the rapid swing of public opinion against him is sitting in plain sight: the 1973 oil crisis.
Gas lines, shortages and price spikes in a commodity that Americans had come to view and almost endless and ubiquitous was an enormous shock to the nation. Economic anxiety axiomatically relates directly to plummeting approval of the party in power. And if the leader of that party has already been shown to be an immoral, cheating slime-ball, that's all the excuse needed.
Think about all of this in light of our own current events, and suddenly that 40-ish percent approval rating that just never seems to budge any lower makes much more sense.
1
When they talk to Felix Sater, I'd like to hear more about his Trump Org. office on the same floor as the family, but Donnie 'couldn't say what he looks like'. And then ask him some pertinent questions about the time he took Ivanka to Russia for business and they just so happened to end up in Putin's office in the Kremlin, and Ivanka even sat in Vlad's desk chair, but she just can't seem to remember anything about it...
3
I remember Watergate well. But the biggest difference between then and now is that currently we're enjoying a Goldilocks economy. Humming right along. Not to fast. Not to slow. Just right. It's important to remember that the Arab Oil Embargo happened in the fall of 1973, just when the Watergate hearings were heating up. The price of oil went through the roof, Americans had to endure long lines at the gas station, and the economy completely tanked. Had not Nixon & Co. shepherded the country into economic ruin, Congress's threat of impeachment and his ultimate resignation from the highest office in the land might never have happened.
Democrats are overplaying their hands, and it will start looking like harassment rather than meaningful inquiry. Nadler should have waited for Mueller.
14
Benghazi much?
Congress has oversight authority far broader than Mueller.
32
@kwb
You are advocating that Congress violate its Constitutional duty of oversight of the executive branch with what now has become the republican mantra that it is overplaying its hand. Might work well at MAGA campaign rallies, but not with the majority of law abiding Americans.
28
@kwb
It appears the Judiciary Committee is looking at a lot more than where Mueller is. Trump Organization money laundering, tax fraud, Russian mob connections, emoluments, secret conversations with Putin..the list is longer than the space I have. The key word in the essay was ‘exposure.’ Lets pull the rock away and shine a light on what’s hiding underneath. One thing is guaranteed - it will not be pretty. It will be as expected - sordid and shocking that America elected as President a man of such unsavory character. Let Trump squirm for the next two years. Hopefully he’ll be so wounded impeachment might only be an afterthought.
25
If the upcoming hearings reveal that Trump is doing Putin's bidding -- something which is very possible -- I think that will be the straw that breaks the camel's back.
Maybe the hardcore Trumpists would rather kowtow to Russia than listen to the elected Democrats in Congress, but most Americans do not want to think the president is doing the bidding of a foreign power. Hard and fast proof of this will be enough to get people enraged and calling their senators and congressmen/women. Once the members of Congress start hearing from outraged constituents that those constituents want Trump gone -- then and only then will he be gone. But it will happen pretty fast if members of Congress see their own jobs in jeopardy.
3
The Watergate hearings did build support for accountability with Nixon's crimes. Many commentators have noted that hearings now are necessary for the public to ever support the impeachment of Trump. There is a critical difference between then and now. There was no Fox News in 1974 offering a counter narrative to the president's misdeeds. A high percentage of Fox viewers have bought the President's argument of "witch hunt" and don't support the Mueller investigation. Regardless of the findings, a large percentage of America will deny the facts as "fake news". Fox News, a de-facto state news organization, is seriously undermining our democracy. Nixon might well have survived if he had their cover in 1974.
7
The legal system grinds exceedingly slow.
I fear tRump will have long since passed away from natural causes (or hamburgers) before he is ever put in a well deserved orange suit. Thankfully, his enablers will have to face the music (bars) as many found guilty in the Watergate era eventually did,
but that too will be a long time coming...
3
Speaking of TV, our media experience is much different than it was in the 1970's. Back then, there were three major news and television networks, with the remainder of the news provided to the public via newspaper and radio. The fairness doctrine was still in place, which kept the integrity of news and media intact. If it was on or in the news, the public trusted it implicitly, and acted and voted accordingly.
Today, we've now suffered under decades of right-wing propaganda media, the fairness doctrine having been repealed by Reagan in the late 1980's. Fox "News", Rush Limbaugh, Bretibart, and their various ilk on television, radio, and the internet, spew out a relentless toxic miasma of lies, bigotry, conspiracy theory, corporate propaganda, extremist opinions, and fact-free "news". This was by design. Those who own those media outlets (Roger Ailes most directly) saw what happened to Nixon and they were bound and determined to ensure future Republican presidents would never have something as pesky as "facts" or "truth" get in the way of their agenda. So they spent the last 25+ years attacking facts themselves. They denigrated the idea of expertise, and brainwashed their audience into believing a worldview that has little, if anything, to do with objective reality. And here we are.
The truth still matters. Facts still matter. The majority of the American people still support facts and truth, and we deserve and demand both in regard to the worst administration in decades.
16
“We’re willing to take it as far as we need to get the answers,” Adam Schiff, head of the House Intelligence Committee, told me. About time. We need answers so we can have confidence in the management of our country again.
11
You compare Trump’s organization to a religious cult. This rings true, especially if you look at his “Presidential organization”: Mike Pence, VP and president in waiting, Sarah Huckabee Sanders....not to mention the mysterious support of fundamentalist evangelicals. And they rally around a man who is consistently unrepentant. Religious cult? You bet.
17
Brilliant analysis as usual by Michelle. Her integrity and loyalty to journalistic principals confirm her as one of the best young columnists today. Certainly in NYT.
13
"On Aug. 5, definitive proof of his guilt emerged: the “smoking gun” recording of Nixon agreeing to a plan to have the C.I.A. ask the F.B.I. to stop investigating Watergate." -- This has already happened here. We already have proof that Trump asked the CIA and the NSA to stop Mueller.
8
Trump is terrible, and if there is any justice in the universe the coming hearings will make that plain.
That aside:
- "...metonym..."
- "We are about to find out whether facts still have an inexorable logic."
- "...operatic legal fusillade..."
Wonderful writing.
11
I only hope that when we tell him that we may love him but we’re not IN LOVE with him like Cassie did last night on the Bachelor, he’ll,jump the fence and run away like Colton did. For me at least, that’s a definite “happily ever after”.
1
It is irrelevant whether people who supported Donald Trump knew or did not know who he was from the beginning. A criminal is a criminal ,and a fraud is a fraud . In the end it is the exposure of Donald Trump‘s wrongdoings, his obstruction of justice and his abuse of power , that will be far more powerful in getting rid of him than impeaching him. And while Trump’s base is staunchly supportive of him, the majority of American citizens do indeed want to be finally rid of him once and for all .
And for Trump supporters , they should keep this in mind: the findings of the Southern District of New York with respect to Donald Trump’s criminality will not be pardonable. Perhaps his supporters can know who he is while he’s in jail one day.
8
No further hearings are necessary in order for voters who care to recognize that Trump is a serial liar and cheat and unfit for the office of the Presidency. The only legitimate purpose of further hearings is to determine if Trump should be impeached. Otherwise the hearings will simply be a mechanism for Democrats to continuously remind voters in advance of the 2020 Presidential election of what they already know.
4
As long as President Trump has the support of people he can fool, he will remain in power of one kind or another and, at least, partially protected. And that protection will continue as long as the United States of America continues to be "America", with all love of fame and money, fakery, bigotry, and misogyny.
https://www.quora.com/Why-are-Trump-supporters-still-so-obsessed-with-Hillary-Clinton-years-after-the-election-and-when-do-you-anticipate-they-will-move-on
4
Democrat Congresspeople’s gift to the eastern coastal legal profession. 81 individuals and entities have to lawyer up—minimum $100.000 up-front—$8.1 mil total starting payment. Ten times that to follow to testimony before a congressional committee—One hundred million dollars in legal fees for what?
1
@Scott G Baum Jr
To (hopefully) show that nobody is above the law. That's what.
2
@Scott G Baum Jr For justice.
btw...what did 11 Benghazi investigations that went absolutely nowhere end up costing us??
1
At some point, the country needs to investigate the role that Fox News has played as a Trump propaganda arm. Rupert Murdoch and his own criminal family need to be held to account. As far as I know, no one is investigating what classified information Trump is sharing with Hannity and his fellow Fox sycophants. No one is checking what happens to this information. Are Putin, MBS, Erdogen and other dictators recipients?
The wreckage that the Supreme Court wrought over free and fair speech needs to be swept away and new, robust and SCOTUS proof legislation needs to be put into effect so that propaganda never again influences and deforms elections
14
“But at the outer perimeters people are starting to melt away.” So, how many followers/voters need to stop supporting (melt away from) Trump before Republicans in the House and Senate break ranks? Trump is a cruel bully, a mafia-like figure who apparently has intimidated his party to the detriment of our country. We can only hope party loyalty will eventually “melt away” as devotion to the nation takes precedence. These are precarious days. Republicans need to serve the interest of the nation rather than the interest of a business thug named Trump.
5
"... neither Democrats nor prosecutors have woven the various threads of presidential wrongdoing into a coherent picture ..."
Is that a fact?
1
"But so far, neither Democrats nor prosecutors have woven the various threads of presidential wrongdoing into a coherent picture."
I respectfully disagree. Trump kicked off his campaign with an appeal to racists and before that he was a racist "birther." He bankrupt multiple businesses, was being sued for racketeering (Trump U), was on tape bragging about his success in habitually successfully assaulting women, had a documented history of stiffing contractors and being sued for it, attacked gold star families, mocked the disabled, was a proven liar with no public service qualifications, and had repeatedly said he would be dating his daughter with the great body if she weren't his daughter (how creepy can you get?). All of this was public knowledge before he was elected.
On top of all that, his refusal to release his tax returns, love of Putin, and Russian "business" ties made it fairly foreseeable that he was guilty of tax evasion and/or money laundering with Russian oligarchs.
It was overwhelmingly obvious that the man is a moral degenerate guilty of racketeering at a minimum.
The question is why his voters don't have more patriotism or morality.
12
@sarah
Hey Sarah can you explain how you know for sure that Trump is billionaire? He doesn’t release his taxes so they is no way in knowing. I get it that you are upset with us lefties, but a man who has repeatedly lied to his country, over and over and over again without shame or consequences lives in bubble that only exists in his imagination. Politics aside, Trump is simply unfit to run any mom and pop business let slobs the USA.
9
Trump is never going to go away voluntarily.
The craven, gutless Republicans who are now disgracing this country will never allow him to be impeached.
He can only be defeated at the polls.
I believe Nadler is playing this correctly.
Investigate Individual-1 day and night for the next two years.
Drag his and his family’s criminalities including those he committed in kindergarten into the bright light-of-day.
Speak to us again of his visits to the dressing rooms of teen-age beauty contestants,
Call upon every graduate of Trump University, elderly person he has evicted and woman he has wronged on an airplane to testify in open session.
Count every hour not spent attacking him an hour irretrievably wasted.
The object must be to make just enough Republicans sick-and-tired of hearing another word about him to carry the Democratic nominee in 2020 -- whoever he or she may be -- to a clean and decisive victory.
Getting rid of him this way also rids us of Pence who -- if Trump is successfully impeached -- could be plaguing the nation until 2028.
13
How much more do you need?
Everything falls hence gravity.
Everything's lies hence Trump.
8
The jury will be the voters in 2020.
5
“'You have to think of the Trump phenomenon as a religious cult surrounding an organized crime family,' said Raskin."
Ah, someone who gets it.
And who (finally) explains to me Trump's unbelievable "popularity." Who doesn't love a good, ruthless, conniving-yet-inept Mob Boss? With a massive cult-like followings?
I think we're soon gonna have a whole new style of Reality TeeVee show -- 'Religulous Cults In and Around Our Populist Inmates, 2020.'
Will that be Pay-per-View?
(can we make Mexico pay for it?)
3
Trumps doing a pretty good job controlling the narrative; take a look at his approval ratings. Up, up, and away.
The more corruption, racism, and immorality that's revealed about Trump the more white people love this guy.
He is a true representative of what whites in this country stand for.
What other conclusion can you reach?
6
It might be a good idea for House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler to get in touch with George Smiley about borrowing a “safe house” for translators.
5
The article leaves out Reagan's blocking of attempts to reinstate the fairness doctrine. Thus right-wing propaganda can masquerade as "news."
6
Trump & his supporters think this is just part of the political game of investigating opponents. The difference is Trump almost certainly has skeletons in the closet & likely a crime trail, whereas the Obama & Clintons were clean (Bills affair aside). So what the GOP will do is preach ‘deep state’ & ‘bias’ because Obama & Clinton ‘got off’, but not Trump. You can already hear it now. ‘Benghazi’, ‘Uranium One’, ‘Hillary’s emails’, ‘Hillary’s server’, ‘Fast & Furious’, ‘IRS’; Hannity & Tucker talking about a two tier justice system for republicans & democrats. The actual reality is, that someone ethically lacking enough to rig a charity auction to increase media coverage & score a free self-portrait with funds given in the name of charity, is probably guilty of many of the other accusations levelled against him. It’s not ‘both sides’, it’s the Republican Party.
6
Ha!
The reason those Nixonian hearings led to a disgraced helicopter flight into oblivion was because of the votes in Congress. In other words, Republicans didn't have the power to stop this and there was every indication that Nixon would be the first president to be successfully removed through the impeachment process.
I fully believe yesterday's Republicans were a more decent bunch than today's breed. But let's not kid ourselves about their search for the truth routine in either Nixon's time or our own.
As far as our current 'polarized times'...I am SICK OF HEARING THIS. Republicans have carried on a never ending onslaught on average Americans since our worthless Ronald Reagan won office. Everything from food stamps to social security privatization has been on their radar. Anything to pick the pockets of working men and women and line those of the 1%.
It is maddening to hear the outrage on the left treated as so much 'polarization'. If I was to verbally harass you and your family on a daily basis, impact your ability to make a living, deny your children healthcare due to 'pre-existing conditions'...your moral outrage and will to fight certainly wouldn't be simple 'polarization'.
What is wrong is wrong. Do not normalize the unbelievable bad actors of the Republican party and their many many Quislings in the American electorate by placing the blame EQUALLY upon democrats and republicans.
14
Focus on his money laundering for Putin and the Russian mob. I’m relatively certain that Mueller has enough evidence to put him in prison for a long long time.
6
If only we lived in simpler times, when showing the innumerable transgressions of our corrupt president on the major networks would be enough for the scales to fall from the eyes of his base of support. No, by the time Limbaugh, Hannity and the rest of that propagandistic media complex are done giving their twisted translation of the facts, up will be down, right will be left, and Aged Orange will be the strong truth-teller being victimized by the crazy liberals.
7
Huey Long. George Wallace. Joseph McCarthy. Mayor Daley.
The list of corrupt and contemptible politicians antedates our unsimple times. It goes back to the know-nothings at the very least.
For two years the Democrats and the liberal Media have been bragging as to how thorough Mueller is, how comprehensive Mueller is, how Mueller will leave no stone un-turned, and now complete silence. Now America needs two, six, or eight more investigations about Trump, his family, and his businesses. America you have been duped by the Democrats, with the help of the liberal Media. The Democrats nor the Media, know of any crimes, but will continue to look until 2020. All the while they will do nothing to help America, because they are to busy trying to help themselves to the 2020 election.
1
Total nonsense....for 2 years the republican congress did nothing, allowed Trump to do anything without oversight.
Now, with a democratic congress with responsible adult Americans they will do their constitutional duty . The Mueller investigation is something completely different. Trump has clearly been destroying democratic norms, operating on ego only and embarrassing our nation around the world. If you don’t see that , then you don’t care to....
5
You don’t investigate because you know of crimes and misdeeds and maladministration and corruption. You investigate when facts come to light that suggest such things may have occurred.
Which crime did we know about when congress convened 7 separate hearings on Benghazi?
No Democrat ever claimed all investigation of Trump should start and end with Mueller. Many criticized the Republican house, correctly, for refusing to investigate potentially criminal matters, including whether or not Comey was fired to obstruct his investigation. Many would also like to know what transpired between Trump and Putin when they were alone, and no one was so much as briefed afterwards.
3
“There is something in corruption which, like a jaundiced eye, transfers the color of itself to the object it looks upon, and sees everything stained and impure.” - Thomas Paine
The burnt Cheerios tint is upon US.
3
I'm shocked that you lag so behind the disclosures made by this paper, the Wall Street journal, Washington Post, Philadelphia Inquirer and Newsweek as well as a host of others in 2015-16 detailing Trump's ties to La Cosa Nostra. They also published Trump's cooperation agreement with the FBI and interviewed his FBI handler. There was also given details of a number of relatiomships with Russian and Ukrainian criminals who frequented Trump's AC casinos and resided in Trump Tower. Even Ted Cruz attempted to make use of it. So really, why are you speaking of it as if it has just been uncovered? Forget about what Hillary did or didn't do because she had her own bad conduct to explain. The real story here is why this conduct of Trump was never deeply pursued. Why was Trump given a pass by this paper and all the others? If the story had been really investigated there is a good chance Trump wouldn't have been elected and a probable Russian asset wouldn't be President. So please explain why the NYT didn't follow through before the election because unlike Watergate the info was all available before the election
4
Trump is a symptom of something larger. The poisoning of the American Mind. The things we tolerate, even to the point of discussing the pro's and con's of these days, would have sent all others directly to jail in times past. The evil being done is self-evident, yet now we equivocate and obfuscate in analysis of it. What has happened to us?
John~
American Net'Zen
5
Putting the law aside for a second it takes an average student of psychology to know that only a corrupt man who would interfere with the AT&T/Time Warner merger simply because he wanted to punish CNN for false stories about him. You might as well hang a pay for play flag on the White House.
7
Trump can’t control the narrative, but won’t his Mussolini-like performances—such as that at this weekend’s CPAC convention—serve to furter enthrall his base and inspire terror in the hearts of his Congressional enablers?
Moreover, doesn’t Trump’s obscene full-body flag hugging surpass even Mussolini’s “patriotic” posturings?
Maybe not. Mussolini was a far superior orator—he could speak in complete sentences and possessed a far more coherent megalomaniacal, narcissistic and authoritarian stream-of-consciousness. Further, his followers could emulate Mussolini’s posturings without themselves feeling totally ridiculous.
3
Nixon was corrupt, but he was light years more intelligent than Trump, and infinitely more qualified.
Trumps scandals and outrages follow one upon the other, in rapid succession. I think many have been anesthetized by their scope, and their frequency. There is just so much, it boggles the mind. There has never been anyone in public life like him.
Gore Vidal said that Truman Capote had raised lying to an art form Vidal didn't know Donald Trump. Capote was an amateur.
Trump has debased national politics to a sleazy reality show.
Nixon didn't have Fox, which is now a propaganda organ.
Decades of Republican brazen dishonesty and tactics have paved the way for the catastrophe that is Trump. In Nixon's time, there were still honorable Republicans. Now they are scarce as hen's teeth.
9
Yes, exactly: we're dealing with a religious cult surrounding an organized crime family. This is what the "there's just too much rudeness" article elsewhere in the Times misses. Maybe that author could write about compassionate, tactful ways to help people get out of a cult and/or organized crime?
3
That " speech" he gave at CPAC is proof that this man is completely unhinged.
Two hour rant of complete and utter nonsense, like a dialogue from the Mad Hatter.
I find it very frightening.
It's no longer about politics and which " side you are on. He is a clear and present danger.
13
@Carla Think of the mental emptiness of those attendees at CPAC who hooted and hollered and cheered him on. This is a segment of society that we need to keep an eye on.
3
The naivety of the Democrats on full display:
“To me it’s a thrilling moment,” Jamie Raskin, a Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, told me. Finally, he said, “we have an opportunity to discover what has been happening in our country over the last two years and several months.”
The craven corruption of the GOP has been on display for decades, it took Trump to make it stink enough for people to notice.
It took a special council to start convicting a bunch of arrogant (we can get away with anything) rich crooks.
Investigate them all and throw them in jail!
2
I was remember the Nixon era well. The differences between Watergate and Trump's Oval Office Crime Spree are significant.
First, while Republicans did re-elect Nixon in 1972, none of them ever really "liked" him. They thought he was the lesser of the "two evils". In contrast, Trump voters have truly formed a cult with their slavish loyalty to Trump. They would literally take up arms against the rest of us, at his mere suggestion.
Second, this country was on a trajectory that saw the expansion of civil rights for minorities, and women's right. Within the past two years, this administration with its toadying Supreme Court is systematically stripping us of these civil rights gains. Hate crimes have skyrocketed as Trump has urged on his supporters, telling them that the KKK and neo-Nazis are some very fine people. Nixon wouldn't have survived a week after such an outcry.
Third, in 1974 Democrats had majorities in both houses of Congress. More importantly, they were able to secure enough votes from Republican Senators to meet the two-thirds threshold for the president's removal from office. Nixon did not resign out of the goodness of his heart. And today, Trump knows that no Republican will cross the aisle and vote for his ouster.
So how will we rid ourselves of Trump? There is only way, and sadly, I doubt it will be peaceful. His supporters will foment violence against the rest of us, should he lose in 2020. He will not go willingly and he will not go quietly.
3
If the committees’ dems continue to conduct themselves (with a precious few exceptions) the way they did at the Cohen hearings, then we can expect their inquiries to have little to no impact on the president’s political prospects.
Stop the grandstanding. Pursue the facts. Shine light on the details. These will speak for themselves. Take a tip from Mueller. Think like prosecutors. Pretend that most of you really are lawyers! Be patient, firm, and always respectful. Remember that your duty comes about as close to the sacred as a secular Constitution permits.
Don’t blow it.
3
Live by the TV, Die by the TV. The greatest day in TV history will be the day he’s shown lumbering out of the White House, for the very last time. Resign, elope to Russia or anywhere else without an extradition treaty. I’m too exhausted to care. JUST LEAVE.
Seriously.
3
I was remember the Nixon era well. The differences between Watergate and Trump's Oval Office Crime Spree are significant.
First, while Republicans did re-elect Nixon in 1972, none of them ever really "liked" him. They thought he was the lesser of the "two evils". In contrast, Trump voters have truly formed a cult with their slavish loyalty to Trump. They would literally take up arms against the rest of us, at his mere suggestion.
Second, this country was on a trajectory that saw the expansion of civil rights for minorities, and women's right. Within the past two years, this administration with its toadying Supreme Court is systematically stripping us of these civil rights gains. Hate crimes have skyrocketed as Trump has urged on his supporters, telling them that the KKK and neo-Nazis are some very fine people. Nixon wouldn't have survived a week after such an outcry.
Third, in 1974 Democrats had majorities in both houses of Congress. More importantly, they were able to secure enough votes from Republican Senators to meet the two-thirds threshold for the president's removal from office. Nixon did not resign out of the goodness of his heart. And today, Trump knows that no Republican will cross the aisle and vote for his ouster.
So how will we rid ourselves of Trump? There is only way, and sadly, I doubt it will be peaceful. His supporters will foment violence against the rest of us, should he lose in 2020. He will not go willingly and he will not go quietly.
1
"You have to think of the Trump phenomenon as a religious cult surrounding an organized crime family"...Wow, that is the best description yet.
5
I won't be happy until I see Trump dressed in an orange jump suit along the shoulder of the Interstate, with a trash bag, working on "infrastructure".
5
Long ago Trump crossed the line and committed treason against the American public. He is complicit in the crime of betraying his country by attempting the overthrow of the government by attacking our institutions. His rabid supporters are ready, willing and able to use force to protect him. His TV network daily spews a melange of disinformation, propaganda and outright lies in their support for him. A cult of personality embodied in a deranged individual.
Back in the day they would assemble a firing squad. An orange jumpsuit would be sufficient.
3
If I remember correctly, Nixon caved finally after the House went after his family. Let's see if Trump cares as much about his family as Tricky Dick did. Since he's thrown almost everyone under the bus over the years ("you're fired"), my prediction will be no.
1
Go for it- our nation will be in a better shape with the con man and his swamp in prison. Seems like “lock her up” is turning into lock him up. There were hundreds of criminal corrupt acts by the divider in chief and the most corrupt cabinet in the US history. It catches up. No wonder, con man looks so worried. What goes around, comes around.
The vaunted Mueller investigation will reveal no collusion, but the Democrats---enraged, and determined to reverse the 2016 election, will pursue him obsessively, like Hugo's Inspector Javert.
Stalin's Lavrenti Beria--"Show me the man and I will show you the crime"
Rep. Adam Schiff--"We're willing to take it as far as we need to go"
Expect a Trump re-election landslide in 2020.
Surely the Democrats don't want impeachment.. leave the carcass of Trump swinging in the breeze until after 2020.. The party of Donald will never recover..
Unlike Nixon and the subsequent tapes which revealed his vile nature, here we have a president ON TAPE BEFORE HIS ELECTION referring to married women in the most obscene ways AND YET that sick part of the public which voted for him are immune to revelations of the charlatan's nature. Based on this, I don't really think that whatever else comes out about him will do that much to change the mindless minions views who support him no matter what. The only way to beat him down is to convince enough people who are open to repenting their support for Trump and who have changed their minds as a result. The swing necessary to consign him to the dustbin of history isn't that great and if the midterms are any indication, the shift might have taken place. However, as to what remains of his base and those Congressional Republicans who are enabling him, I expect nothing further from them. What eventually comes forth from the hearings will be interesting and might form the basis of eventual prosecution but that will come from a dedicated federal prosecution somewhere down the line. I think the facts are already known to most people so it's simply a matter of time to see how that all plays out but Congress won't be the ones that remove this man from office.
2
The Trump Group does a lot of business. It should do more all around the world. Peace through wealth and trade. A lot of us vote only for people with business savvy.
2
@Eugene Patrick Devany - The kind of "business savvy" that includes multiple bankruptcies, including casinos. Regarding casinos, the old expression is, "The house always wins." But it appears that adage does not hold true when they are run by Trump.
2
@Eugene Patrick Devany The "Trump Group" has also put a lot of small businesses out of business because they don't pay their bills. That's not "business savvy". It's just crime.
Regardless of what happens to Trump, his election has shown that about one-third of Americans do not believe in the ideals upon which our country was founded.
They don't believe that all people are created equal. They believe that some people are inferior based on race, gender, ethnicity, religious beliefs or country of origin.
They don't believe in the rule of law. If their politican does it, it must be okay. If an opposition politican does it, it's illegal, unethical, or unfair.
They don't believe in the common good. Like their hero, they believe that you are allowed to do anything that profits you personally without regard to how it affects others. And they don't think it's their duty to those in need.
One way or another, Trump will be gone soon but we will still be left with the problem that a large minority of our people do not believe in America.
7
@Joseph Thomas
I can tell you from my own experience that most of the Trump supporters that I know believe in precisely those ideals that you proclaim with absolute certainty and generality that they don't. This presumptuous, telepathic attitude is a big part of what is tearing the country apart today. If there is indeed a Russian effort to sow discord and mutual demonization among us, they have succeeded spectacularly with you and many like you.
1
Raskin sums it up succinctly: “You have to think of the Trump phenomenon as a religious cult surrounding an organized crime family.”
Organized crime bosses often fall when their close associates start talking because they fear to be thrown before the bus (or worse) when the crime family is threatened. Cohen's testimony fits the mold. Others will likely follow. The number of Trump cultists will likely shrink when the facts get exposed and when Fox "News" will not be able to control the narrative and detract from Trump's misdeeds. There may be light at the end of the tunnel.
6
Remember, there are many people surrounding Trump who have significant exposure, and who do not have the advantage of being a sitting President to shield them from prosecution. In casting the net for Donald Trump, they will undoubtedly return a substantial catch regardless.
2
I was one of those transfixed by the televised Watergate hearings, and I agree the hearings had a lot to do with getting Americans' attention and turning the tide against Nixon. But the truth was respected then.
I was also transfixed by the Cohen testimony. Plus, I would say Cohen's demeanor and body language added to the drama--that puppy-dog look, hunched over body signaling subjugation, and the calm deference to the committee members that made the mad-dog Republicans look crazed and crazy (well satirized on SNL).
Cohen was effective. When it comes to changing attitudes, some research says that people tend to believe that a "convert" who goes from one side to the other has more credibility than someone who is well known as a partisan—hence explaining why Democrats and Republicans speaking the party line change few minds.
But In the 1970s we didn't have Fox News and the right-wing-nut media dis-informing the public and propping up Nixon. We had 3 mainstream TV channels with the likes of Walter Cronkite and Chancellor and Brinkley anchoring the news and behaving like professional journalists.
Given the right-wing brain-washing against liberals that has been going on for years, the House Democrats need to let the facts of the committee testimonies accumulate and lead the "discovery"—no grandstanding, no speech-making, no histrionics; just try to get to the bottom things. Few Trump supporters will change their minds, but don't turn off the disengaged Independents.
3
I beseech Congress NOT to impeach Trump. Allow him the travesty of losing the 2020 election, charge and try him after he's replaced and jail him if found guilty. If Bernie Madoff was taken down and locked up, why can't Trump?
Do you really want him impeached and have Mike Pence, a toady sycophant and blind religious right fanatic, as President of the United States of America and Trump 'pardoned' and escaping accountability?
Trump's following and stranglehold on congress and his constituency are rapidly eroding. Time on the side of Reason, Truth and Justice and the mechanisms and tools are now at hand to make it totally fade away.
"A lie cannot live." ~ MARTIN LUTHER KING
6
A couple of thoughts:
1. Trump will do all that he can to delay and frustrate the attempt to get at the documents.
2. One constant of all of Trump's acolytes is that they lie. We know that none of them will be forthright in front of Congress.
6
“It’s too early to know whether these investigations will lead to Trump’s impeachment. The important thing is that they lead to his exposure.”
This is the best summation ever written. I am of the opinion that we should stop using the word “impeachment.” It fuels one side and enrages the other and the act of impeaching a president is not one to be taken lightly.
Two years in, it is frustrating to continue to take these investigations one step at a time, but it is far more important to get it done right than to get it done fast.
5
I watched the Watergate Hearings. This was before Fox News and the cast of sycophants. If a Watergate burglary happened again and it was funded by the Trump Administration, the crazies would go down with the ship before they or the president would admit any wrong doing. We are living in a different world. I don't think anyone could have predicted that we as a country would end up here.
15
ivanka is his advisor. she should be at the top of the list.
7
@Marlene- I wholeheartedly agree!
2
These new allegations get no traction because everyone understood who Trump was well before the election. Paying off a porn star, inflating the price of your portrait at a charity auction, undocumented workers at your golf club? These are largely seen as petty offenses and nothing close to high crimes for impeachment. Coming in the wake of the deflating "Russia collusion" allegation, this all smacks of desperation by Democrats and increasing fear that Trump has a good shot at winning in 2020. Stop this noise and nominate a sensible centrist and you've got a shot even with some Trump supporters who enjoyed the show but feel it's time to move on.
32
@Aurthur Phleger As the 2016 fiasco attempt to elect a "sensible centrist" has shown, it is time to nominate someone who not Republican Lite. We need someone who actually speaks to the working class people who the Democrats abandoned leaving them vulnerable to the false promises of Trump.
The "centrists" as you call them are clearly seen by too many as allied with those who are at the root of the decline of their prospects and the prospects of their children: the financial industry. I wonder which "centrist" can be considered free of the taint of having moved the Democratic Party so far to the right over the past 20 years that so much of it constituency fled into the arms of Trump? I can't think of one.
23
@Aurthur Phleger Consider that he has lied loud and long about each of those 'minor crimes'. And then remember that Clinton was Impeached over lying about a sexual fling, not the fling itself, but lying about it.
When does Trump NOT lie?
If it was right to Impeach Clinton, then Trump needs to be impeached some 8000 times Plus. And Counting.
49
@Aurthur Phleger What, exactly, makes you suspend belief in “Russian collusion”, other than wishful thinking? The fact that indictments haven’t yet been unsealed is merely an indication the investigation is ongoing. That a conspiracy occurred is beyond dispute, except among flat earth Trumpistas.
43
The march toward the eviction of Trump from the White House, one way or another, is inevitable. But it is a markedly different time now than in the early 1970s.
Our standards of morality are different. The fact that 30-35% of the country simply has chosen to ignore the putrid stench of this man's rotted moral and ethical core would not have happened in the 1970s.
The way we get information is light years' different. In the 1970s most Americans got their news from Walter Cronkite. And they trusted him. Nixon famously said something to the effect that, if he lost Cronkite, he would lose middle America. That happened. No single media personality or outlet has anywhere near that impact.
And in the early 1970's the US was the leader of the free world and it was important to the public to keep it that way. Today, the world is utterly confused as to what we stand for and our strategy, as Trump has withdrawn from treaties and international organizations and shown that we have little interest in international affairs. 30-35% of our country seems to like it that way. And our enemies--Russia and China in particular--are taking full advantage
So while I appreciate Ms. Goldberg's analysis and, frankly, wishful thinking, I see almost no scenario where 1975 is similar to 2019 when it comes to Trump. He is, in the worst possible way, unique.
96
Unfortunately 35% - 40%.
6
@Jack Sonville
It was President Lyndon B. Johnson who is reported to have said, "If I've lost Cronkite, I've lost Middle America."
4
Oh really? So the progressive socialist Hollywood Left now claims the moral high ground? Good luck with that absurd claim.
Comparing Nixon to Trump is like comparing a shoplifter to Al Capone. Both have committed a crime but the nature of those misdeeds are quite different.
The damages inflicted by Trump to this country is already substantial and the punishment should fit the crime.
Discouraging any future "Trump" is for every American not only a right but also a duty.
10
Phineas Taylor Barnum and Donald John Trump resemble each other. Both are extraordinary promoters and entertainers. Neither is a political action figure. It ain't over until the fat man is loaded into the cannon barrel...and fired.
11
I am not convinced that even conclusive evidence of criminal activity will dissuade Donald's base from their religious adulation.
If Donald asked them to drink the kool-aid, they would.
8
@Occupy Government
Good idea!
“No single media personality or outlet has anywhere near that impact.”
Well, not entirely: Fox is the most-watched “News” channel in the country. And it’s no surprise that their viewership corresponds almost exactly with the 40% ( /-) of the populace that blindly supports our so-called “President.”
Fun fact: My parents met Walter Cronkite in the early 1970’s in a Cairo hotel restaurant. They sat and talked with him for about 15 minutes. To this day, they still revere him—as do I. We need him now more than ever, don’t we?
7
As has been stated, Nixon did not have FOX. Pure propaganda-read Jane Mayer's recent New Yorker piece. How is this legal?
Nixon also did not have the internet where people can go and find facts to fit their beliefs.
If Republicans do not allow the rule of law and truth to prevail, then we are doomed. Their actions so far appear to be leading us there. Short term greed and lust for power. Who ever said that democracies last forever?
10
Two years of investigations to date, and no evidence that the trump campaign colluded with russia. Indeed cohen confirmed he had no such evidence, and that he was never in Praque. Both the senate and house committees investigated and found no evidence, after hearing from hundreds of witnesses. So now the Dems want to continue searching for criminality. What a waste. Why not just try to beat him in the election?
15
@R.P.
1. The evidence of the campaign coordinating with Russia is substantial.
2. Cohen had no evidence of collusion because he was not part of the campaign.
3. Senate and House committees, controlled by Republicans, refused to call the witnesses most likely to have information.
90
@R.P.
2 years of investigations by the Special Council has put several people in prison with a few more to follow.
Should we just shrug our shoulders and agree that the United States no longer needs to be a Nation of Laws? Should we allow a crime family that has suborned our Nation's wellfare for their own profit to get away with it.
A reminder: the last two years congress was controlled by the so called president's party with no real intention of getting to the root of the crimes.
One more question: How is the weather in Moscow?
82
@R.P. How about both options???
9
I remember back at the years when I or my now-grown daughters would spend many minutes with our dot-to-dot books, each following page becoming harder than the previous one. These last two years have given us among the most difficult, most complex, indeed even maze-like, dot-to-dot political/Trumpian paradigm I have ever experienced or endured. But there is a picture emerging, each day becoming ever more clear toward its finished product..that of a sneering Trump surrounded by his band of scoundrels. When one hears the facts to date of past as well as present misdeeds, most likely even crimes, how can this nation possibly be able to deny the reality about this corrupt and devious reality-show con-man? I fear, however, that the populace of today is not that of Nixon's time. You see...I believe that we did not have so much hate within ourselves then, particularly for those who did not share our skin color, ethnicity, sexual identity, gender, or religion. I have trust in our laws and system of justice. What I do not trust is how so many of my American neighbors will react if their leader is found to be guilty in all of the above.
161
@Kathy Lollock "What I do not trust is how so many of my American neighbors will react if their leader is found to be guilty in all of the above."
Your "Red-State Bubble" neighbors are going to have to suffer defeat as we --the true 60% Base--have had to do these past two insane
years.
12
@sarah You just don’t get it. It’s his overwhelming degradation of America and everything our country stands for that the anti-Trump majority cannot abide. He’s a disgusting individual who is destroying the reputation and standing of our country here and all over the world.
He won’t be impeached, though, because the spineless Republican Senators won’t go there unless they believe their own re-election is in jeopardy. So, hopefully, a clear majority of the populace will vote him out in 2020 and then start to pick up the pieces of his devastation.
14
@sarah Have a nice day, Sarah!
5
Why did they leave Ivanka off of the list? Are they going to go easy on her because she was subject to psychological (at a minimum) abuse by having a father starting when she was a minor bragging about his daughter's great body and saying he would probably be dating her if she weren't his daughter?
Seriously, why leave her off the list?
5
@Ann
I agree. It's chauvinist and will prove to be a tactical mistake.
“You have to think of the Trump phenomenon as a religious cult surrounding an organized crime family, ...”
Amen. Proper Congressional oversight as required by the Constitutional has finally arrived, and not a moment too soon. We will persist until justice is done, and the wellbeing of our democracy is assured.
12
@Robert-yes indeed. And the Trump Crime Family, in organized crime operation fashion used FEAR via Non Disclosure Agreements that most if not all employees of Trump's corp. and businesses were required to sign. Fear of being fired from a job for no reason is why, until now, everybody kept their mouths shut.
2
It is not nearly enough to rid ourselves of the defiler and admitted serial groper Donald Trump.
Unfortunately, regardless of Trump's ultimate fate, the rest of us are saddled with his SCOTUS picks, as well as the absence of one Merrick Garland.
Heaven forbid that Trump gets even one, let alone two, more SCOTUS picks before he is evicted.
And we have to find a way to rescind the enormous wealth transfer to the already uber-rich.
The greatest tragedy in all of this is the lost momentum and absence of civic progress brought about by the obstructionist Republican senate during President Obama's tenure.
It has been side-show ever since, while the true deep state Koch brothers, Adelsons, Fox cons, etc, have had their way with us, at our exPence. (Pun intended)
8
@Peter Stix
I don't think there is a deep state save the one
described in the metanoid fantasy of those quasi
Americans mentioned in the final paragraph.
Theirs is a shallow, skin deep state between
their ears
1
It is not just polarization at present that is different from Watergate. During Nixon's impeachment, citizens were much more literate, more capable of logical reasoning, and not dumbed down to the point of sheer ignorance, gladly abdicating their civic responsibilities, as we see now with the GOP and their voters. The computer era has facilitated rather than hindered this.
9
“You have to think of the Trump phenomenon as a religious cult surrounding an organized crime family,” said - Jamie Raskin (D)
"Donald Trump can't control the narrative, Ms. Goldberg, but as he and Conservative media have shown, they can control perception of the narrative. That's all they care about." - James McBride, NYTs Commentor
These two comments pierced me like swords. Who owns these airwaves? Are they not a utility, a public resource? Why should any media be yelling "FIRE" in the theater of this country, 24/7, portraying one group of Americans as liars with torches ready to attack the other half? A foreign adversary has even come along for the ride. Our airwaves have been highjacked for sedition with our approval. Civilization, much less democracy, cannot survive this. We have seen this movie before and we know how it ends. Americans are being ripped apart by propaganda.
8
Of course, Trump will never go to jail. Though he should. He will likely not be impeached. Though he should. What I hope for is the destruction of his criminal enterprise - The Trump Organization - and the impoverishment of him and his family of miscreants.
5
Cohen says a Trump will not allow a peaceful transition of power. How will that play out? We already saw it.
The election is rigged. The elected winner is a criminal. There is a national emergency. Voter fraud. Hacking.
So the question becomes: what will prevent a Trump and the Russians from doing all this?
5
he will tell you that it is raining when the sun is shining if it suits his purpose. he is pathological.
3
Somewhere in presidential history, the presidency became the brass ring of a carnival ride with many riders reaching further and further from their own bobbing exploritoray ponies and their lack of qualifications to grab the ring. They were supported by legions of shady big corporate money absurdly designated persons. It only took one wet behind the ear junior senator from Illinois to convince the current president that he too could be President. How in God's name did our founders only put being born in the country and age, as the sole qualifications for a shot at the presidency?
3
In regard to our "reality-TV president," I just finished reading the text of his speech to CPAC. I even made notes, about the scores of topics he covered (or rambled amongst--because he didn't fully cover any subject). I think I lost IQ points by slogging through the whole text.
Trump spent several long minutes describing the sizes of different crowds he's spoken to--with the most time devoted to his ginormous inauguration crowd, of course. He made references to tariffs in China, Robert Mueller, "Lyin' Hillary," Andrew Jackson, Ronald Reagan, President McKinley and the Tariff of 1888, the Tariff's end in 1913, job-killing regulations, the Firing of James Comey, Jeff Sessions, the recent trip to Iraq, and even to a general named Raisin Caine.
The speech should be required reading for all voters. If you're already a Never-Trumper, reading the speech will merely reinforce your beliefs. If you're a Trump supporter as you begin to read his words ("off-script," as he told the crowd more than once), and you are still a Trump supporter when you have completed the thing . . . well, maybe you have other redeeming qualities.
As for watching a video of Trump actually giving the speech? I'm not recovered enough for that yet.
11
“You have to think of the Trump phenomenon as a religious cult surrounding an organized crime family,” said Raskin.
I understand the reference, as I've long thought that once this rogue administration is out of office we may need 70's style deprogrammers to deal with the aftermath. But I see the phenomenon of trumpism less like a like a religious cult and more like the dark underside of the 60's, less Jim Jones and more Charles Manson, minus the murders, of course. In other words, contagious mayhem.
2
Here is the problems for the democrats and Trump's genius...a well crafted narrative is a coherent message that weaves together the evil deeds, of evil doers, a plot, and then the Law and Order moment. With Trump, however, there are just too many crimes, too many evil doers, too many plots, and even now, too many Law and Order moments to form a coherent narrative---in fact, the narrative that is evolving out of Trump's serial criminality is "crime does pay."
1
The only way the Trump Sur/reality show should end is with him in handcuffs being marched off to prison.
No Season II after 2020 and possible cancellation prior to that due to loss of the lead actor.
5
The 2018 election was prelude to 2020 where a considerable number of Representatives "retired" rather than facing defeat with the Trump rock hung around their necks in their election fights.
The upcoming vote on Trump's capricious and arbitrary use of designated Federal funds to pay for his totally political wall is very telling. Most, but not all Republican Senators will follow him to the very edge of a Constitutional cliff but not jump off of it.
If his past behavior to political defectors is also prelude, they will be shamed and embarrassed by the illegitimate POTUS leaving resignation as their only out to save any face at all.
As went the House in 2018, so goes the Senate and the POTUS in 2020.
4
If his TV defense bears any resemblance to his performance at the CPAC gathering on Saturday, he stands a better chance of being removed by the 25th Amendment than by impeachment. One wonders if the men in white jackets were called to the building but not on to the stage.
6
In 2019 America will live through the Cat 5 hurricane of our 116th Congress's televised hearings into our 45th President's two years in office. Will the logic of facts brought to light during these hearings bring down President Trump and his administration? The facts brought down our 37th president, Richard Nixon, as all of us who watched the hearings before social media and cable TV remember. Back in the day, in 1954, we watched the black and white TV Army/McCarthy HUAC hearings that brought Senator Joe McCarthy and his personal lawyer, Roy Cohn (an advisor and mentor to Donald Trump) to their waterloo.
Our country will live through the Trump hearings (or whatever they will be labeled), and after the new and bloody civil war between Trump's redmeat G.O.P. loyalists and democracy's champions, America will recover somehow in the 2020s. The Congressional hearings this year and the 2020 presidential election will mark another tragic watershed in our democracy.
2
Isn't it amusing to see a man who carefully scripted his own fictional life with the media for decades lose control of his own narrative. Most Manhattanites found him utterly repelling and are both amused and transfixed at the current state of affairs. The sad thing is the media bought into his cabinet of curiosities for so many years for ratings and now we are stuck with him in the White House. I believe Nancy Pelosi is paranoid and loathe to do anything about it based on the outcome of the elections post Clinton. Truly a sad state of affairs. That said, I for one don't mind him off kilter as much as possible. The more he's worried about saving his and his children's hide, the less damage he can do to America.
1
AND THUS THE SPECTACLE HAS BEGUN Of slicing away the Sycophants along with the other creepies and crawlies who have filled the swamp Trump filled to overflowing. You might even say of Trump, His Swamp Runneth Over. Given the profound differences between the dissemination of information at the snail's pace of 1973, contrasted with the instantaneous pace of 2019, the type and pace of the responses will be more voluminous and drastically faster. Which forebodes no good for the Tweeter-in-Chief!
3
The first rule of a prosecuting attorney in court is "never ask a question you don't know the answer to." This same rule applies in congressional hearings -- the "questions" are to force known testimony under oath.
The questions of interest are
* What does the committee already know, from the Mueller and SDNY investigations, that is directing their demand for documents?
* And then what if any surprises do they get when the documents come in?
It should be apparent that Allen Weisselberg and secondarily Donald Trump Jr are the key individuals in going after the Trump organization in what amounts to a RICO prosecution.
The Trumps have a lot of problems, so many vulnerabilities. Once the lid is peeled open the can of worms seems nearly certain to be stuffed with juicy ones.
Trump supporters may feel that it's "unfair" to go after the President for business crimes, but no President in modern times has come anywhere near the Trumps in the nature of their businesses before being in office.
No other President has involved family in his campaign or administration to the degree that Trump has done -- and several advisors warned Mr. Trump of the legal vulnerabilities that can create.
Lot's of old scandals will get a new look -- this is likely one of them:
https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/how-ivanka-trump-and-donald-trump-jr-avoided-a-criminal-indictment
3
Why is this different than the Mueller investigation ?
1
Well done, Michelle. Keep us informed. paul in bessemer
3
Never over-estimate the ignorance of Americans and the addiction to the Republican kool-aid. Members of the Cult, like some commenters here, are so mesmerized by the GOP hate campaign, they will not see what a crooked, horrible man Trump is, and label him a victim of revenge driven Democrats.
These are the same people who lionize the wealthy as hard-working, ultra smart, and believe they too can become billionaires, thus supporting low taxes for the wealthy “job creators.”
The cult members are unreachable and so must be ignored. Only a few on the edges might come around. The fear is that defeating Trump, and especially impeachment, will cause a revolt led by the cult, all who own tommy-guns, that will be like Cairo or Syria, perhaps even with backing by some police, like Alabama sherries.
3
@Grey, the cult is an echo chamber. The cult members hear the same talking points floated by rush Limbaugh hannity ann Coulter repeated by Trump. It reinforces the thoughts these radio show hosts put in their brains in the first place. Echoed by president trump who has very little originality.
2
We have seen time after time. common sense and decency tossed to the wayside by Trump's supporters in both the political and public arena. I fear that there is nothing this man can do that would turn his supporters against him. He could actually shoot someone on 5th Avenue and get away with it.
Until the Republican politicians who have hitched their wagon to this miscreant wake up and realize that they are headed for political Armageddon, we will continue to suffer from Trump's failures and his disgusting behavior.
Will we see a repeat of Watergate? When irrefutable proof of criminality is brought froward will the party rally and tell him it is time to go? I seriously have my misgivings that that will ever happen.
They will defend this poor excuse for a human being until they are all voted out of office.
Trump's base will never leave him because they see themselves in Trump, and what does that say about America?
You get the government you deserve.
3
Watching Trump unravel over the next two years will be the ultimate schadenfreude. Time to buy stock in popcorn.
4
@rab And butter futures!
"The outlines of Donald Trump’s venality and fundamental civic disloyalty have been obvious since the 2016 campaign" SHOULD READ "The outlines of Donald Trump’s venality and fundamental civic disloyalty have been obvious since LONG BEFORE the 2016 campaign" Cheers!
3
And what of Trump’s Evangelical support? Will there ever come a time when they decide that having a “Mafia Crime Boss” in the White House might actually be worse for this country than having someone who doesn’t advance their plan for reproductive control over America’s women? I think they’ll be the last to withdraw support for Trump (if they ever do) and that certainly includes religious hypocrites like Mike Pence, Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Betsy DeVos.
I hope that Nadler and his committee are able to paint such a picture of ongoing endemic corruption by Trump and his entourage that even they will be have to give up the ghost.
4
I remember Watergate and Nixon. I also remember George Wallace in 1968. Trump's rallies remind me of Wallace and his vile base.
4
Trump and his GOP enablers use 1 thing to frame everything "there was no collusion". It is their way to deal with a situation they no longer have any control over.
When the voter gave Ms. Pelosi power the democrats can now finally do something that the GOP has neglected to do for 2 years. Investigate possible crimes and conduct actual oversight on a clearly corrupt, lying, racist, and inept president and his cronies.
Mr Jordan, Mr McCarthy, Mr McConnell and even Mr Trump can scream whatever they want, but they are about to learn what real oversight means.
The Democrats shouldn't focus on impeachment. They need to turn every stone and expose all of the corruption and lies of this president and his government. Everything.
Thanks to these hearings we will see the depth of it all. Just today T-Mobile acknowledged spending $200,000 at Trump Hotel after they announce the merger with Sprint. It is these things that will paint a picture of corruption that we've never seen before. There are literally thousands of things just like this waiting to be exposed. Let's see them all and let's see how the GOP tries to defend the indefensible.
5
As beautiful as the words “In an operatic legal fusillade...” are, I’m looking forward to seeing the headline “our long national nightmare is over” by January 2021, if not before.
2
'Anything you say can and will be used against you.' That's the quagmire our leader and his party have so disingenuously turned
against anyone who dares to disagree with them.
This, too, shall pass.
Vote.
1
Instead of coming up with policy, as they promised, the Democrats are essentially “all impeachment, all the time.” And the more they do it, the more Trump rises in the polls. Bring it on.
4
@Mike Livingston
It is hard to keep up with Trump who commits almost a new impeachable act day by day. Maybe if he would stop doing so it would give the Democrats time to do other things.
It's kind of like a thief complaining that the police are constantly after him every time he breaks into a house.
That's so unfair.
62
@Mike Livingston
Perhaps you missed it, but policy is happening at the same time as oversight. See how easy this is. Dems can walk AND chew gum. See?
68
@Mike Livingston In 2010, instead of coming up with the Jobs Jobs JOBS that the Republican Campaing was built on, once in office the pivoted and became Anti Everything Obama, even if it meant voting No on the Jobs Bills from Obama.
If Trump would cease and desist in his impeachment worthy misdeeds, perhaps the Dems would be ABLE to go on to other thing, but the crisis in Government now is the incompetent wannabe-mafia don in the Whitehouse surrounded by just as corrupt sycophants and a seemingly complicit Republican Party, at least in the Senate.
Remember, the Republicans are the party of All Benghazi, All The Time, no matter if nothing is found even with their fake insinuations, there was no crime for Clinton to be convicted of, yet they sure had a ton of hearings and NO arrests or convictions.
By Comparison, Mueller, who is a Republican, has racked up several solid convictions, tons of indictments and has a very clear line on what all has happened, and will be able to prove it beyond Any Doubt.
Trump continues to sink in the polls as people wake up to the fact that Yes, he really IS a stupid crook with a purely mafia-like family enterprise devoted towards keeping him and his narcissim sated. And they realize they have been used, shafted, and feel dirty enough to leave the show.
34
As the pressure mounts around this failing administration, I find myself wavering between hope and despair.
While it’s true that he cannot control the narrative from all of the scrutiny, it seems Trump has not lost his grip on those who unflinchingly support him. This makes me worry about how they will react if evidence is brought forward that requires an impeachment. The signs are troubling.
Recently, we hired a firm for electrical work in our home, one of the workers, after a few hours stopped and said, “now for the big question, what’s your politics?” We were aghast. He said he was solid for Trump. We said we were not. He seemed a bit agitated so to avoid unpleasantness, we said but probably we can agree on many things, and quickly changed the subject. This was a first for us and I fear just the beginning. When someone feels they can enter your home as a hired worker and ask your political leanings, what other boundaries will be removed?
12
Why didn’t you say it’s none of your business? People you contract with are obligated to complete the contract, not evaluate your politics.
3
@MG
Check your wiring!
1
"We are about to find out whether facts still have an inexorable logic."
Logic will have little to do with it in this age of balkanized media. FOX will present only a fraction of the truth and his base will remain intact.
8
" If they go the far left route, and become a party of deranged anti-Trump zealots who talk non-stop about the end of the world in 12 years a la AOC, they’ll lose like Mondale did."
AOC does not say the world will in 12 years.
What she says is that if we and the rest of the world do not act now and take steps to drastically reduce the emissions of CO2 into the atmosphere by 2032, global warming will be unstoppable taking the planet on an unstoppable bullet train to disaster.
After 2032 the climate will begin to unravel, resulting in the loss of fisheries, agriculture, societies and all the mainstays of civilization.
Global warming is an existential threat to every living thing on the planet, and there will be no Noah's ark to save us.
12
I was one of the transfixed. I was a postdoc at Johns Hopkins with a TV in my lab and followed every hearing on Watergate by the Committee. In June I traveled across the country on Route 40 and, when visiting friends in the heartland, I discovered little interest in Watergate. In Nov of 1973 after my tennis foursome with 3 CIA agents I asked them "What's going on with Watergate?" that was prominent in WashPo. One agent looked directly at me sternly and said "He'll be out by June!" He wasn't too far off.
9
Reality television is nowhere near reality. This is a concept Donald Trump doesn't understand.
4
Can't wait to find out what the REAL Donald Trump is REALLY guilty of. Among the stories that seem to be re-emerging ever so clearly is that long before Trump demanded that Trump's Folly be built along our southern border, he tried and failed to get people around him to build an impenetrable wall between him and the law--for example, Jim Comey said no, Jeff Sessions demurred, Stormy Daniels piped up, and now his fixer-in-chief Michael Cohen has spilled the beans. Poor deserted Donald--can't ANYONE protect him from revelations about the REALITY of his sordid sorry life? It's been said that "Reality is for those who lack imagination." In Trump's view, "Reality is for those who lack loyal liars and slick lawyers."
3
“But at the outer perimeters, people are starting to melt away.”
Mild evaporation at most. As long as Hannity and Fox News continue to apologize for, and WHITEwash, Trump's crimes and misdemeanors, his rabid core of unthinking cult supporters will not desert him.
If Hannity turns on Trump, however, the end is near.
3
I’m very interested in what will be uncovered about the NRA and Republicans besides Trump. I have for a long time thought it was used to funnel illegal foreign money into Republicans campaigns for offices besides the presidency.
7
Given that The Times, along with the rest of the media, was until recently filled with the word "treason", these are comparatively trivial charges. Indeed, the word "treason", along with its relatives, does not appear in the piece.
It is true that the word "Russia" shows up, but only once, and in speculation that Trump's interpreters will be interrogated. Should we expect much of this? Isn't it what Perry Mason used to call "a fishing expedition?"
Ho hum.
So much has changed since 1973! That was when Nixon said "People have got to know whether or not their President is a crook. Well, I'm not a crook. I've earned everything I've got."
Some 40 years later people wanted a crook as President. And still do. Trump's faults, failures, deficiencies, questionable practices and skirting of the law were not, and are not, unknown. Despite obvious differences in wealth, power, celebrity, people see themselves in Trump and approve. If Trump can get away with it, so can they.
2
Democrats running for the presidency in 2020 have to acknowledge the elephant in the room who needs to be either removed from office OR soundly routed in the election. No Green Deal, Infrastructure Plan, Debt Reduction, Health Insurance Reform, or Educational Makeover is possible while this cretin is in the White House. Say it out loud: Trump has to go so that the USA can resume the business of leadership in the world and of accomplishing newer and greater feats.
The USA got rid of one - no, two if you count Agnew - rotten apples 45 years ago through judicial hearings and investigations, and it can be done again. Really all we’re lacking now are some true Republican leaders willing to stand up and say, “That’s it. We’ve all had enough.”
It will come from within the rank and file as McConnell and McCarthy sold out long ago. Both deserve to remain on the wrong side of history as footnotes to a dark and embarrassing period of our country.
I believe that once two or three are ready to come out of Trump’s shadow, others will follow.
4
Yes! Trump supporters are largely like Roald Dahl’s “Mike TV”. Only what happens on TV is real. So now this whole thing gets realer and realer and the base will finally begin to wither. Even Trumpy, who is the real Mike TV, may begin to wonder...
All Trumpism is about the party not caring who it was just that they are in power. How much can one person lie and you just sit complacent? How many years and time did we hear from Republicans they were all getting rid of O’Bamacare and NOTHING while now the focus is on Big Bad SOCIALISM. Watch how many times the GOP will use that during the next two years.
3
Is the Republican Party oblique to reality? Yes or no.
1
An innocent man would laugh at these investigations, knowing he has nothing to fear. A guilty man will do everything in his power to discredit the inquiry, knowing what it might discover and reveal. Trump's behavior gives him away in the starkest manner. I suspect his downfall in inevitable - and overdue.
8
As a very senior citizen I remember Watergate well. I also remember the mindset of the country. It was a very different time. The House and the Senate, and more importantly, the American people, possessed a significantly higher level of integrity. Our leaders, and the nation, wanted to know whether Nixon was involved and whether he participated in the cover-up. Conversations between supporters of both parties debated whether he did or did not. Once the facts were discovered he was doomed.
Today, Trump supporters know the facts. They know he had sleazy affairs with a porn star and playboy model. They know he paid hush money to hide his conduct. They know he denied both the acts and the cover-up. They know he used Michael Cohen as a fixer. They know he at least has cuddled up to the world's worst dictators. They know he hides his tax returns, threatens schools to conceal his academic performance and misleads lenders. They just don't care.
Unfortunately, our national integrity has plummeted since Nixon was shamed out of office. Many of us are no longer capable of shame.
299
@Disillusioned But there are enough of us to get this man out of office, one way or the other (or watch him implode on his own).
20
@Disillusioned
And isn’t this just the fever dream juice of the GOP?
2
@Disillusioned
Unless of course Hillary Clinton writes some innocuous emails from the wrong account. That we do care about, it seems.
21
The question of Trump will eventually be answered -- although not, I suspect, as the result of any impeachment effort. The question of why 63 million Americans -- apparently deeply alienated and angry -- voted for him, however, will linger. And its the answer to that question that will have far more impact on the country's future than anything Trump can do, criminal or otherwise.
314
@Curt Carpenter ~ The answer lies in the comment above, summed up in one word by My2Cents: Education, which is the core factor that so many Americans, especially in the south and the midwest, are sorely lacking. And when a sizable number of the population is uneducated, and willfully ignorant, that creates a fertile ground for a cult mentality to grow in.
70
@Curt Carpenter
The answer lies in the Deep South, Florida, and Oklahoma. These states are key to Trump's appeal, and support. Their firm notion of the United States Government is militaristic, white, Christian, and poor. Death is a relief vs. taxes increasing for health care or public education. Taxation is seen as elitist and liberal. Until these states decide to govern themselves more effectively for all of their citizenry, we will be dominated by this minority. Poverty, and the closure of local news organizations, is a very powerful weapon of control and hopelessness for the Christian Religious right in power. The current Southern strategy is like Trump smiling while kicking his dog, quite cheaply keeping the nation bent, sick, poor and divided; for us and the world.
49
@Curt Carpenter
It was a choice between two candidates, one ‘known’ to be a skillful politician but slimed for decades and one ‘known’ to be business success and reality TV star. Throw in the Russians and Jim Comey. I’m not sure how devoted to Trump those 63 million were—or are. And, don’t forget, almost three million more people voted for Clinton than for Trump.
41
The Watergate break in really was nothing more than a bungled 3rd rate burglary. What's more, it was irrelevant to the actual outcome of the 1972 election. George McGovern had absolutely no chance of winning, and won only a single state, Massachusetts. But in a way, it symbolized Nixon's paranoia--trying to rig an election which was already a certain win. It was, of course, the cover-up that brought him down.
In trump's case, the election was far from certain. It turned on a perfect storm of events: the complete focus of the media, including the MSM, on trump, televising every event and every accusation he made; Russian interference, likely with coordination with the trump campaign ("Russia, if you are listening, ...."); Comey's inexplicable criticism of Hillary Clinton in July and his even more inexplicable letter to Congress 11 days before the election, reopening of the investigation into her emails--without mentioning far more serious investigations of trump.
The main parallels are the willingness to flout every election law to rig an election, and the paranoia. Apparently, trump's entire life is based on a vision of "it's them against me"; I can only win if others lose. All's fair in love and war--and everything is war.
His paranoia, if anything, is more extreme than that of Nixon, and more dangerous to our democracy.
4
@Andy Beckenbach When I envision Trump's old age I see a man all by himself in a room which has mirror walls, no exit and nothig else at all.
1
What did voters get from Watergate and the end of Nixon?
Reagan. They got hosed.
So who won Watergate? Those to the right of Nixon.
5
@Mark Thomason
And Reagan begot Trump.
3
Our nation won.....we removed a crook, a dishonest nasty man. In hindsight, yea..Nixon seems mild by comparison to Trump....a real cancer on our nation!
Trump can't control?
Trump is the control.
He is the distraction so nobody needs to do what the voters want done. They do Trump instead, all Trump all the time.
Republicans are delighted. Sure, talk about the orange thing.
Democrats can please their donors. "See, we have a frenzy, and yet we are not doing any of the things you don't want done. Everything is under control."
We are under control. Trump serves that purpose.
3
Hearing Fatigue will ultimately set in, the ratings will go down and people will move on to other - more real - subjects such as the state of the economy, the state of the world. Reality Shows will be replaced by Actual Reality.
2
A massive investigation of the corruption and treason now governing our country is starting, it needs to be supported and protected, and the public has to be included in this journey.
Hearings should all be televised. Closed door hearings need to stop, ending the corruption and treason must take precedence over intelligence information that is already largely public. People must see witnesses refuse to answer important questions and stall. Witnesses must be promptly prosecuted for lying. Witnesses who do not take the 5th should be compelled to answer questions.
Hearings need to replace Fox News as the entertainment of the masses.
Resistance to production of evidence must be met with prosecutions. Whistleblowers are critical, they should be protected and thanked.
Relentless messaging is critical to overcome deflection and lies. The press must continue to seek and publish otherwise protected information, and the press itself must be protected.
This is a battle, the people need to be educated and understand what is necessary to protect our country.
27
I am not a lawyer, but I understand that an old law school axiom goes something like this:
If the law is on your side, argue the law.
If the truth is on your side, argue the truth.
If neither, shout and pound the table.
There was a lot of shouting and table pounding from the Republican side at the Cohen hearing.
Democrats must argue for the law and inquire after the truth. The contrast will be obvious to all who follow these proceedings.
56
@Edward
Love these public hearings!
The extreme to which these spineless pathetic Republican representatives go to defend their blatantly corrupt President is simply mind boggling!
Have they no dignity, no self respect, no brain?
1
Trump, like most Republicans, is better at propaganda than are the Democrats. He constantly refers to the various investigations into his conduct as witch hunts which implies that they are nothing more than a partisan effort to bring him down. The Democrats could counter his argument by simply responding that the investigations are based on the legal standard of probable cause. Certainly probable cause exists that laws have been broken by somebody and the investigations are accordingly justified.
12
For the House dragnet investigation to lead to a serious legal threat to Mr. Trump, some 18 Republican Senators must side with the Democrat minority. Without such an unlikely coterie, the President remains in office and possibly wins re-election.
With that likely scenario, how do the good guys win?
If Trump wins a second term in office, the statute of limitations may have run out on a sitting president’s departure from office.
There is no tolling of theses statutes notwithstanding that a sitting president, by DOJ rule, is immunized from criminal prosecution. Such dire scenario leaves only the possibility that state indictments and prosecutions for state felonies need not comply with DOJ policy. Since this scenario has never presented itself in our history, few if any “experts” can predict the outcome.
Maybe justice can only be served if Trump doesn’t garner a second term and faces legal process once he leaves office after 4 years when charges against him are not precluded by the passage of time. If he wins a second term, he may get away with
playing golf and never having to face a grand jury indictment and subsequent trial.
2
The difficulty, in my opinion, of Trump garnering a huge TV audience for these hearings is that he just is not a tragic figure. To make a good TV show you need a Nixon who genuinely had redeeming qualities being taken down by some central flaw. Nixon could play international chess; he good start up the ideas of clean water and air; he could make a speech that was coherent. He had statesman qualities. Trump just lacks all that.
Dean versus Cohen shows the situation. Cohen is no Dean.
1
The only problem with this analysis is that when the televised Watergate Hearings captivated a national audience - including this High School Sophomore who rushed to the store every day to buy the NYT so that he could read the hearing transcripts, which he played out in his head like Shakespearean drama - it was the only show in town. Nowadays, with the golden age of television pulling viewers' attention in more directions than any one person can possibly exhaust, these hearings will be one choice among a trillion, and the one with the least compelling writing, casting and production values. The Watergate Hearings will be to Trump Congressional Hearings what Twin Peaks is to current binge worthy TV. Plus, with 24 hour TV news, why would I watch the hearings when I can, for example, watch the engaging and well-informed Michelle Goldberg sum it all up amid some lively, entertaining conversation on shows like HBO's Real Time? We are a nation tired of all the noise blaring out of the nation's capital with countless ingenious diversions on our TVs. Except for journalists and political junkies, this will not be must-see TV. So, odds are at least even money that Trump continues to win this media war of attrition.
6
@jsdchitown Maybe it's just me, but I am GLUED to these hearings. I put them into my calendar and have all the junk food ready to binge on. I watch the commentators, too, but there's nothing like the real thing.
5
@actualintent
The problem is that there are several people out there like you, except they are GLUED to Fox, Limbaugh and others, and their version of events. And they truly believe they are watching/listening to the "real thing".
@actualintent Right: because you and I are political junkies (and, apparently, junk food junkies, too). I just don't think that's most of the country, or even as much of the country as it was during Watergate. I think this piece preaches to the converted. I hope I'm wrong, and the entire country does shake off its zombie daze - I'm just not optimistic about that.
We need to put into law the norms that all decent people seeking office uphold as a matter of tradition, including (but not limited to) requiring presidential candidates to release several years of their state and federal income tax returns. We need to require presidential nominees to undergo a thorough, standardized physical, with results made public. We need to require by law that the president puts his or her business interests into a blind trust. We need a law that forbids the president from hiring a son or daughter or their spouse. We need to enforce the emoluments clause.
73
@Amelia
Great idea, except in Trump's case, you can rest assured that the "blind" trust will be under the control of (or subject to the controlling directives of) certain children named Trump (or lawyers really representing same). Besides, in the land of free speech, how does one control or discourage promotion of his golf courses, hotels, etc. when the man has so successfully inoculated the public against outrageous and nearly continual promotion (of himself or his properties)?
2
@Amelia
Thank you, Amelia!
We are in the battle of our lifetime!
We must have laws to weed out the con men, cheats and liars way BEFORE they get into office!
I am copying and sending your recommendations as a demand to all three of my House and Senate "Contact" email AND especially to Do-Nothing Mitch McConnell's.
1
@Amelia
Great ideas. Common sense. They need to be laws because of Trump.
That makes it good coming out of evil. Sounds dramatic but first we had Nixon, then Bush with his cronyism " Heckuva job Brownie. " and now Trump. OK, now we know we can't count on elected persons behaving with integrity so we have to make these preposterous behaviors against the law. But we also have to be prepared to indict. And convict. And fine and jail.No sweet pardons.
So first we enact the laws and anmounce them loudly and clearly so there's no gray areas of confusion.
Greedy cheats need not apply.
4
The very public exposition of the conflicts between Trump’s personal financial interests and the national interest should lead to anti-corruption legislation.
Trump has used The Wall as a distraction from the abject failure of his promise to drain the swamp. Instead Washington has become more corrupt, with the corruption spreading to foreign capitals.
The House has introduced anti-corruption legislation as a result of Trump’s egregious flouting of ethics and norms.
If the public hearings increase public support for such reforms and shame the Senate Republicans into support, then the hearings will not be in vain.
For those who talk about the crookedness of Hillary matching or exceeding that of Trump, look at the Clinton Foundation versus the Trump Foundation. One is still going strong, the other has been shut down because Trump used the Foundation (i.e. other people’s donations) as his personal piggy bank. And while donations to the Clinton Foundation dropped as a result of the end of a 3 year endowment campaign and self-imposed restrictions put on by Clinton during her campaign, it is still functioning and amply endowed. Shame on those who don’t look behind the memes.
58
As a lifelong liberal Democrat of a certain age, I can well remember the swing of public opinion against Nixon, driven, as this column expresses, by "the inexorable logic of the facts".
Michelle Goldberg says, "We are about to find out whether facts still have an inexorable logic." No, we're not. The answer is obvious to anyone who's ever attempted a fact-based conversation with a Republican in the last two years. Facts no longer matter.
Trump's base will get "alternative facts" from Fox News, whose boss and owner, Rupert Murdoch, reportedly chats on the phone with Trump on a regular basis.
Congressional Republicans in both Houses of Congress will continue to support Trump, no matter what the evidence shows. They no longer have a choice - or souls for that matter.
The Supreme Court will prove, once again, that its majority is made up of right-wing hacks who owe their places on that Court to stolen elections. They will rule accordingly.
Our only hope is that there are enough "real Americans" left in the electorate who actually know and care what this country stands for and who will vote the Republicans out in 2020.
82
I am pleased to see the NRA among the names of groups and people under investigation. The NRA, like the Trump Family, appears to be guilty of the most heinous of crimes, the degradation of human life for money. The American People need to understand the degree of guilt.
55
Why wouldn't we investigate this president?
Perhaps because of the 'backlash' such investigation might create among the president's loyalist base. As Tim Wu points out in his column today, the supermajority of voters in America has been effectively herded for a long time by a foul, angry minority mob on many issues of great importance. The minority cannot fairly win at the ballot box so they rule with threats.
The unmasking of this illegitimate president and his criminal minions should not be delayed another minute.
69
Of all the sickening photos of this president, the one that truly turned my stomach was the one taken at last weekend's CPAC meeting showing Trump sneering as he embraced the American flag. That was simply too much. This sick joke is exclusively on the people who continue to support him, and who tolerate the entirely craven GOP. This tawdry carnival act has gotten very, very stale.
144
@Michael
I am appalled as you are about that incident of flag hugging. However, I saw his face as making an attempt to smile and show his "love" for the flag.
What I am still astounded over is Trump's disjointed, unfocused, untruthful in many parts, deeply unpresidential speech. That 2 hour 2 minute speech should make any listener seriously question the mental stability of the speaker.
9
@Michael
I found it especially repellent that a man who used his daddy's money and connections to evade serving his country should use its' flag as a prop.
9
@Michael
Hugging the flag is not proper. Honor and respect - yes. Hugging - no. Not to mention he looks a fool.
4
There is no point in trying to convince Trump voters that they were wrong in 2016. They will not move in sufficient numbers to make a deciding difference in 2020.
Republican political strategist Stuart Stevens points out that Trump in 2016 drew fewer votes than Romney in 2012 and that Hilary Clinton had fewer minority votes than Obama in 2012, due in at least part to a highly-targeted voter suppression effort. Two third-party candidates also drew substantial numbers of voters, enough to sway the election in critical states.
Trump may be impeached by the House, but given the current composition of the Senate, will not be convicted.
It is well and good that his misdeeds, high crimes, and misdemeanors be the subject of continuing investigations by the Congress. We must determine what needs to be repaired in our system of elections and government given the terrible stress and damage caused by Trump.
But the only way to make real progress is to remove him via the ballot box. 2020 must be an "all hands" election in which anyone who cares about our democracy and our future works tirelessly to replace Trump and begin the process of repair. There is no other way.
83
The exposure of crimes against our country and rule of law are things all American should welcome and applaud no matter who is responsible in the end. I think it's pretty clear, thanks to the cooperation and hard evidence Michael Cohen revealed, that Donald Trump is guilt of committing felonies in order to win the White House. This is not acceptable.
The fact that these crimes are likely the tip of the iceberg should not be surprising to anyone, no matter how 'willfully ignorant' you might choose to be. History will not be kind to his enablers and sycophants.
29
Woe to any progressive who thinks that reality TV is a battlefield they can beat Trump on. He’s going to use these investigations as an attack on them. His message will be that while he tries to protect American jobs and the border, the Democrats are trying to destroy him, destroy private healthcare, replace our jobs with green ones, and open our borders to hordes of migrants.
And this message, especially the witch hunt one, will resonate.
Democrats are at a fork in the road. It’s no longer a matter of whether or not they will lose in 2020, but by how much. If they go the far left route, and become a party of deranged anti-Trump zealots who talk non-stop about the end of the world in 12 years a la AOC, they’ll lose like Mondale did. And the GOP may even take the House back, and have such a lock on the Senate that RBG’s replacement will be a real hardliner and Trump’s coattails will be Reagan like, and a GOP candidate will waltz to victory in 2024.
If they go softer, and pick someone like Biden, Brown, or Hickenlooper the loss will be smaller, and we can maybe avoid another Dukakis debacle in 2024.
But the reality is that the left is seriously out of step with the rest of America right now, and unless the neuroticism, rage, and fantasies are reigned in, we’re going to be facing bigger problems than just mass depression. We’re going to lose our hold on our own party, as the worst of capitalism’s enablers - robotics and AI - are ascendant. Third Wayism on steroids.
3
@Cane Not sure I understand your point. "the reality is that the left is seriously out of step with the rest of America right now..."
Are you saying that by being in touch with reality, the left is not going to pull in voters buried under such a deep sludge of trump/republican lies and false promises that those other folks can't tell if it is day or night? Are we then doomed to fall into the dustbin of history because the country has become hooked on the new drug of fantasy trump worship? This could be more deadly than opioids.
1
Nice diatribe, now deal with facts and reality. The Democrats won back the House, in spite of voter suppression and gerrymandering, and took back districts that voted for Trump!
Trump has lost ground in key battleground states, including the 3 key ones he won by a squeaker.
All the evidence points the exact opposite way from your Chicken Little cries or Fox Fake News wishlist! Trump is toast!
1
@Cane--Not so sure things are as dire as you predict. What I am seeing is that as the investigations and testimony intensify, Trump is becoming more desperate. Witness his delusional and incoherent speech at CPAC. Rambling, whining, profanity-laced and full of lies and distortions, that speech shows what happens to Trump unhinged. And, he will become more and more reckless and outrageous as the hearings and the evidence continue. It's clear that he's obsessed even now, and his fixation and compulsion to remake history and force his warped sense of himself onto the public will turn unappealing at some point. Every sideshow loses it's appeal eventually. As Trump degrades, Republicans will have to decide. Stay with him as he blathers and whines about an inauguration that took place years ago, or cut ties and move forward? I have an idea which they'll choose if they want to have a chance of holding onto an electorate that will gradually be put off by the increasingly preposterous and irrational president.
1
This is right on the money. But there's more to this. Republicans basic strategy since Bush has been to win elections by cheating. Add to this racist dog whistles coupled with motivational advertising to get mostly uninformed voters to vote against their own self-interests (think on healthcare, and actually voting for a candidate who routinely outsources running on a platform of blaming his opponent for the out of jobs consequences).
The reason Republicans continue to support Trump is that he is their all time champion in cheating to win an election. He even got the Russians to pour in illegal contributions adding to their own efforts to suppress the Democrat vote (the suppression was evident in the state of Florida for Bush right up to election day with a phony sample ballot published in Jacksonville, and we still don't know the FL sect'y of State's involvement in the butterfly ballot).
What they are most afraid of is not that Trump will be exposed, but that their wide ranging election fraud will be exposed. They are all on the take from the NRA, and the circumstantial evidence is that the NRA took the Russian money and spent it on behalf of Trump--highly illegal. But they also spent it on behalf of nearly all the other Republican candidates. And we don't know if NRA voter profile data was also shared with the Russians, but we can assume it's much worse than we now know--the first thing the Republicans did was to pass a law hiding the NRA's records, evidence of guilt.
71
@loveman0
The GOP is not interested in shedding light on Russian interference but how to camouflage it in 2019.
5
You are right!
The NRA-Russia connection is one of the most underreported or forgotten elements in all this. Once the evidence on that comes out, the results will be explosive.
4
No president in history, as far as my knowledge extends anyway, has deserved a more public and humiliating unraveling than this one. I hope you're right Ms. Goldberg, but his scales are slippery.
And he won't go quietly. He will blame the last rats to jump ship for their disloyalty, and he will use his bully pulpit to incite violence, as all desperate dictators do. And in the end, as soon as his Russian overlords realize he no longer serves their interests but rather might actually unite Americans (although possibly in some newly perverse and social media-driven way), maybe he will get what is due to him--the implosion of the Trump Empire, which should crumble, like his hastily concocted edifice of lies, swiftly and ruthlessly.
Someone should be checking the staff's pockets for silver on the way out.
22
I hope the digging and sunlight do their job, but we did not have Fox back in the 70's. I saw excerpts of Cohen's testimony on fox, only it.was nothing but Republicans chastising him for him being a proven liar. Funny they should suddenly find this to be a problem, but that.'s beside the point : Trumpers are more likely to admit they were wrong than Trump himself is to admit to anything whatsoever.
14
Imagine if, in 2020, the Electoral College again works its dark magic and the minority candidate, Trump again wins the White House, thanks to the old slave states, but the Democrats regain the Senate and hold the House.
It would be the impeachment trial of impeachment trials. Under the McConnell rule, no Supreme Court nomination would be taken up by the Senate until "the next election" . It would give us, and unfortunately, the world, a chance to see the starkest hates and divisions in America stride about the stage.
It is said that the "South will rise again", and many of us look at the racist Trump and figure, looking at who votes for him, this is that time. America will never actually be the nation it pretends to be until White Power politics of the South ends.
Hugh
27
Criminality appears to be the sine qua non of Trump enterprises.
Why are we turning over rocks looking for additional evidence?
This is a guy that spent 26 million dollars a few weeks before the general election to settle the Trump University fraud scheme.
Let that sink in
Twenty six million dollars.
How much evidence is enough?
23
At the same time there needs to be investigations of Fox and right wing media. The level and depth of criminality could be as severe as many expect it to be but there will be media that will defend him to the end of time.
Though the purpose of government is lost in confusion and manipulation, it should be stated that our government was founded on the belief that through participation of the citizenry in the decision making process, our society would find a greater peace, equality, and freedom than any other society known at that time. The government's core job is to facilitate a healthy society. I state this because it is obvious that there are media outlets that can be easily shown to create divisiveness and strife. They may say they are just presenting the news but there is clearly a skewed, malignant tone that sow seeds of hatred and resentment through parts of our society. Until that is addressed no matter what is discovered in these investigations they will be seen as tainted and serving a perverted agenda.
There are those in government only there because the media has allowed it and supported it. The Cohen appearance exposed some of these people choosing to create a poster with a childhood taunt "Liar, liar, pants on fire". It is surprising that mainstream media didn't castigate this Congressman but then again that is a side-effect of the power of right wing media.
8
Yes, and finally we may expose the truth. We have to stop thinking that trump took over the Republican Party. Instead the Republican Party took over Trump. It is hard to imagine that all of this happened outside the core power structure of the Party, I.e Mitch McConnell was having conversations. If he wasn’t he is incompetent. And if he did he is criminal. What about Mike Pence? Think of the level of Russian involvement in the Republican Party under Donald Trump. Why did mitt Romney know about the dangers of Russia? Those two things are correlated.
5
Those who live by the sword. . .
It is fitting that the televised hearings will lead to Donald Trump's undoing. We should also keep in mind that even when Richard Nixon's guilt was crystal clear, a full third of the country still supported him. Sounds familiar.
Trump's fall from grace was inevitable from the beginning of his campaign. He conducted it like a person with nothing to lose, because he fully expected to lose. There's a message there somewhere.
The Zen Archer hits a perfect bulls-eye with his arrow by looking in the opposite direction. Something for the field of Dems to consider as they climb the political mountain toward the White House in 2020.
5
I wish the term "reality TV show" would die a quiet death.
It diminishes and trivializes the desperate situation we find ourselves in.
Trump's TV show is only a very small part of his career of criminality, his abuse of power, his racism, sexism, anti-Semitism, his connections to Russia, his contempt for our Allies....one could go on perhaps forever.
We are not living in daily tapings of a television show.
We are watching our country be destroyed, piece by piece.
It's our cold, hard reality.
We desperately need all of these hearings.
And we also need the media to stop saying it's too much, the American people are tired of it, the Dems may be over reaching, and people can't understand it, anyway.
They can understand it, and I think they will, if they don't already.
Facts still matter.
But if we keep comparing it to reality TV and telling the public over and over again that they can't understand it -- well,
I worry about the phenomenon of self-fulfilling prophecy.
And the non-stop reliance on polls.
Since when do we govern by poll results?
Look who's in the White House.
25
Ah, if only this were 1974!
Back then, most Americans, having never been exposed to the drama of Congressional hearings, were as fascinated by the process as they were by the content. The compelling nature of the hearings buttressed the emerging facts that Nixon was, indeed, a crook, and worse.
Back then, there was no alternative microphone. Basically, Nixon had to sit back and take it with little recourse to publicly push back at the tidal wave of opposition coming his way.
And most importantly, back then, Republicans still understood patriotism.
Today? Feh. Trump really could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and McConnell will say he didn't see it so he can't say what really happened, Jim Jordan will shed his coat and yell about something or other and the other Republicans will run for cover to protect their behinds from the the sickening Trumpian vengeance.
I predict the hearings will reveal a volume of crime by the Trump family that will put Tony Soprano to shame. And it won't make a darn bit of difference.
13
@Ralphie
Let's forget the reality show tag and focus on all that continues to seep out of the Trump world, "White" House, connections to the NRA, the Russians, the Wall, the physical manifestation of Trump's neediness above all, and this hugging of the American flag at the CPAC conference. That'll show Kopernick who loves his country! In totality, the disaster that is and continues to be the Trump era will put Tony Soprano to shame, as you state, Ralphie. But it will make a difference.
We have become a nation influenced and/or ruled by the bad to reprehensible behavior of reality TV scripts and stars. (Mob Wives, not the Great British Baking Show.) It is the extension and morphing of yellow journalism into a focused media juggernaut that glorifies the worst aspects of the human animal. Whoever the “other” is in our individual or tribal narratives becomes fair game for derision or death. The other is ever only the parts of ourselves we kill off and refuse to be accountable for, thus justifying our equally judgmental or boorish behavior.
We have become the opposite of Lincoln’s hopeful appraisal, thus “We are not friends, but enemies. We must not be friends. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of hate. The mystic chords of memory will swell when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better devils of our nature.”
5
The difference here is Trump would not resign. It's a part of his phony brand that he must always appear to win. It was this branding that made he seek the presidency in order to promote that brand. He hadn't expected to win and now he is a corrupt, possibly treasonous con man who can't skip town.
11
What is often overlooked is how Trump got overwhelming approval of white supremacists and nationalists and the ultra right in the first place. That road leads to Steve Bannon who single handedly orchestrated Trump's visibility and articulated his talking points.
12
During the Watergate era there was a genuine republican party. There was no cable news or internet but there were people on both sides of a less contentious political divide that were first and foremost Americans. When Nixon was told it was time to go, it was a republican who told him. Today, there is no republican party. There is a cult following who dare not question or criticize a hollow, amoral man who, for no good reason, has seized this country by the throat. The dishonest threat to our national security is the president.
11
Trump is the circus barker for the GOP backers, a coterie of corrupted billionaires who fun the re-election of their Congressional vassals. Removing Trump might not be a blow to these folks, and the GOP might be able to separate themselves from their dirty deeds by pasting it all on the disgrace of Trump.
However, there behind it all, remain the Kochs, the Mercers, the Adelsons, the Uihleins, the Wilks, the Spencers, billionaire manipulators of 45% of voters glued to Fox, Limbaugh, Hannity, Coulter, fanatic fundamentalists, and paranoid posters on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram and other scurrilous web sites.
The Oligarchy is well prepared and entrenched. Trump’s departure will open the way for a possibly more able charlatan.
8
Republicans who have made the decision that their political careers will sink or swim with Trump are quick to point out that Michael Cohen was convicted of lying to Congress, therefore he cannot be believed.
They carefully do not complete the sentence. He was convicted of lying to Congress ... by repeating and protecting Trump's lie. To call Cohen a liar is to acknowledge Trump lied as well, and cannot be believed.
11
These are process crimes, rookie crimes, crimes of the incompetent, crimes with no clear victim.
They will have no impact on his support.
This could very well be a turning point, the beginning of the end for this family of life-long charlatans and, hopefully, for many of their enablers as well; all the McConnells, Meadows, Jordans, McCarthys, and so on.
And Ms. Goldberg is right. Regardless of the final outcome of the investigations, the important thing is that they lead to the exposure of this corrupt president and his clan.
There is, however, an outcome that does matter: An entire political party, supported by the Fox conglomerate, has been putting American institutions to the test. The results will last for generations.
5
Even though he will not be convicted by the Republican Senate, Trump should be impeached by the House.
He -- and they -- will be voted out of office in 2020.
Trump will thus go down in history as an impeached and disgraced president.
The very worst in American history.
4
When asked by his public relations agency Fox News if he was a Russian agent, Trump didn't answer the question. He just said he was "insulted by it." This from the King of Insults, Don Rickles on steroids.
As for whether he "colluded" with Russia, you would have to be really, really stupid to still be asking that question. His son leapt at the chance to collude in a official capacity. Asked in writing if he wanted to collude on some intelligence Russia had gathered on Clinton, he said "if what you say is true, I love it." The meeting with the Russians DID take place and was certainly recorded by the Russians for further leverage. FBI have convicted people in sting operations for far less than that. When the chairman of your campaign shares polling data with Russian agents, THAT'S COLLUSION!
18
The rise of Trump's image, cartoonish at times, was fueled by his constant use of the media, particularly television.
Now a group of determined congressional Democrats are going to use television to engineer the downfall of this publicity hound. Go Democrats!
12
@William
The more vocal and visible they are the thicker their skin better be.
The opposition will go after them with a vengeance. Their attitude in rebuttal needs to be llike a mother soothing her petulant 2 year old having a tantrum.
They can't be taken seriously. Laugh at them. Condescend to them. Treat them like the childish bullies they are.
2
Trump pressured his administration to reject the AT&T Time Warner merger. He did this because he sought retribution against CNN because they were critical of him. A petulant, infantile abuse of power is still an abuse of power. Impeach.
14
Here’s the problem: News coverage of the Watergate hearings were carried over the three major networks in real time. Without running commentary. Absent flashing “breaking news!” and running banners of editorialized summaries. People saw the testimony, then drew conclusions based on what they saw and heard.
No more. The devoted Trump base knows enough to stick with their preferred news sources. Fox ensures their viewers need never deal with the unpleasant truths presented in testimony. They have a full redirection panel of commentators, skilled in the sleight of hand tricks needed keep the base riled up, ignorant of the facts, and creepily devoted to Trump.
13
The difference between the Watergate hearings and now is that many Americans will only see the Trump related hearings through the lens of a complicit conservative media ecosystem.
Conservative media can't spin everything, but they don't really need too. Trumpists know he is a crook, but as long as he irritates the libs and Fox and the rest stir up enough hate and division, well, that will be enough to the cult alive.
6
Hopefully the democrats will advocate for the nations's other needs more overtly as their positive agenda is important. The Senate under Mitxh McConnell needs some oversight as he had led that branch to actions that harm the majority, is trying to thwart the resolution against the emergency declaration. I want not to see 45 impeached, rather indicted for his crimes. It may not undo his destruction, but will show that no one is above the law. He has made it an embarrassment to be an American. Fox should not be allowed to call itself "news".
7
I'm probably too old ever to see it myself, but it would gratifying to have a rogues' gallery in the Smithsonian devoted to this current crop of miscreants, their enablers and their propagandists following the example of Jeremy Bentham.
'You see, son,' I could say, 'these people finally took the advice of the majority of our citizens, and got stuffed.'
6
“You have to think of the Trump phenomenon as a religious cult surrounding an organized crime family.”
Nicely put by Raskin.
The Republicans we saw in action at the Cohen hearing last Wednesday are committed cult members: deluded, willfully blind, and dishonest, they can not handle the truth. Jones and Meadows are so far gone they have become ridiculous caricatures of themselves. But it is the whole lot of them in Congress: they, and about 40% of the electorate, are not right in the head.
14
The hearings will go on and eventually the truth will come out. By then a Democratic opponent will have been vetted. And the final TV day of hearings will go like this. Welcome. THIS IS POLITICAL JEOPARDY. The contestants will be introduced and after the votes are counted the MC will say :"Sorry, Don, that is incorrect. So (insert Democratic challenger) you are our winner. And what do we have for our departing, losing, contestant, Don Pardo?" And Don Pardo will say "Alex, we have a nice set of silver handcuffs, a flak jacketted, guns drawn FBI raid on his office and home, and best of all a big, beautiful gag order on Don. Better luck next time , Don. Bye, Bye. And for our winner, Alex, we have a trip to the White House along with any emergency declarations s(he) wishes to declare. Congratulations.
3
These hearings are perfect.
They show everyone, very clearly, that the Democrats lied about their plans for control of the House.
There were lots of great promises about changing things, and now we can see that instead, it's all about getting even.
Even with what ? Well, rejection by the nation, I guess, via the rejection of Clinton and the election of Trump.
The needs of the nation will not be addressed by this House.
They are focused on getting even with the nation.
They will be preoccupied with revenge right up to 2020, when they will lose the House again, for exactly that reason.
1
Democrats were open about needing control of the House to conduct vigorous oversight of Trump. And that is exactly what they are doing, with the mandate of the people.
79
The loud young left fringe Dem House folks are looking to make a mark with a vengeance. But the two men on the two committees giving the Trump Administration trouble have been in Congress for sixty years between them ( Nadler and Cummings ). So , for them, they were not just recently elected on a platform of attack Trump. They are solid incumbents who will advance all sorts of party objectives.
29
@Objectivist. Well maybe to your mind Trump won the election. To mine, and I am not alone, he won the outdated Electoral College and Ms Clinton won the popular vote by some three million votes. So much for the will of the people. It is not OK with me that we have such a person as our 'leader'. I am guessing that there is plenty of fodder for the Democrats or Trump would not be so defensive and secretive about his financial dealings, taxes, etc..
28
The difference between Trump and Nixon is that Trump's faults were very well known even before the election. The people who voted for Trump knew about his faults but still felt a very flawed person like Trump was better than the very corrupt Clinton. Unless something comes out showing a material crime by Trump while he was president, any effort at impeachment will be seen by many (and not just Trump voters) as a Democratic attempt to overturn the 2016 election.
And speaking of the corrupt Clintons, did anyone notice that contributions, grants, etc. to the Clinton Foundation dropped by almost 80% from 2016 to 2017? This should dispel any doubts that the Clinton Foundation was anything other than a way to make "legal" payments to buy influence with the Clintons.
1
@J. Waddell Of course, the foundation actually has a board of directors, publishes its tax returns, and does some good in the world. So far no word about an anonymous purchase at inflated prices of a portrait of Bill. The list of donors is also public, making it pretty obvious that if people were trying to buy influence, they would be aware that other folks were also trying to buy influence in the other direction. I would have preferred another candidate to Mrs. Clinton and Bill Clinton sure has his flaws, but this is a false equivalency.
28
@J. Waddell
Interesting that Trump is "flawed" but Clinton was "corrupt"- the full evidence of the extent of Trump's corruption is still pending, but remember, Clinton wasn't in bed with Putin and other despots. It seems that Trump supporters can only defend him by bringing up the Clinton's supposed wrong doing.
14
Wouldn’t be ironic to find ( but not necessarily surprising ), if Trump or any of his affiliates donated to Clinton orgs ? Certainly Trump curried Bill and Hilary with small money and some social attention prior.
2
I wish a poll would be taken of avowed Trump supporters asking whether they are in favor of, or not, the dissolution of the U.S. Congress. I am guessing they are.
17
I think one of the things that makes understanding how really bad all of this is is that influence peddling has so infiltrated, well every where. I think most people would be surprised that as a paralegal at the Department of Justice, I was allowed to accept nothing more than a cup of coffee from anyone I came into contact with through my position. Anything more would be considered an attempt to sway my judgment.
That seems almost comical today after Citizen's United and McCutcheon. For those not acquainted, McCutcheon lifted the cap on the amount of money a person can "contribute" which we all know is nothing altruistic as the word contribute passes for.
We see corporations buying presence in movies, celebrities getting free swag at the Oscars and everywhere else. Drug companies give away free drugs to the poor so they can soak the rest of us. Members of Congress get free junkets to just about anywhere for anything. People go to Mara Lago to rub up with the President that he makes money from in profits to Mara Lago. Examples of influence are endless.
The reason that cup of coffee at the DOJ is comical now is that when you have so many opportunities to influence, that cup of coffee is a symbolic joke. a prim fig leaf.
It shouldn't be.
That is isn't is why so many have no problem with that Trump and McConnell et. al. are doing to the country.
8
1972 was the first presidential election in which I vote (Thank you 26th Amendment!). I could not believe it when so many voters ignored the obvious evidence of criminality.
In hindsight, I realize that most people lead busy worrying about paying their bills, raising children and going to work. They don't have time, or are just not that interested.
I remember reading the Post or the Times during breaks at work and I would get these comments like, "What are you reading, boy?" Or, many just said, "They are all crooks," or "They all lie." I remember being mesmerized by the hearings of the day. No one seemed to care. But thanks to my parents, who always voted, I had a sense of duty to care.
I was young and idealistic. (I am still idealistic). I thought that after Watergate, this could never happen again. But as in 1972, voters did not see the big picture. The angry Americans won in 1972, and again in 2016. Some voters never think to ask themselves, "What does the rest of the world think about us?" Or "How will this look in 50 years?"
There will always be a large portion of the population that does not care. Witness the unbelievably large number of citizens who do not vote. How can this president have an approval rating in the 40% range? I will never understand that.
I, for one, will stay tuned into what is happening in Washington. It is a great civics lesson, which I can pass on to my students.
Everyone need to vote!
156
@delmar sutton I was really taken with your depiction of your coming of age and aware of the bigger world, drawn in by an authentic voice and one that made having that bigger picture possible.. Then at the end you mention your students, that you are a teacher. They are lucky to have you. I know you are making better citizens, one student at a time.
9
What absolutely astounds me is that Trump's devotees in particular, and Republicans in general, require only that Democrats follow the law.
94
@J Burkett
Those Trump devotees and Republicans are brainwashed to HATE Democrats more than lying, cheating and stealing. More than 32 year olds going after 15 year old girls ) Roy Moore ). More than a sitting American president siding with our foe Putin against our intelligence community FBI, CIA etc.
Why? Powerful stuff cult indoctrination. Brainwashing works. There's no other explanation for Trump supporters. The question is when sunlight doesn't disinfect them from Trump, what will?
4
Trump is going to do whatever he wants to do, including feathering his nest at the expense of America and our future. Nothing will come out of any vote or investigations because, while he is president, he is immune from everything.
He might even stop the 2020 election if it suits him.
12
@Juniper This is certainly the way it appears to those watching this drama unfold from afar. The man seems more invincible by the day and less likely to be removed from office or charged with any offence. He continues to make his life work as he wishes.
9
Congressman Nadler must quarterback this process of ‘prosecuting’ Trump. He has the lawyerly background. He knows the US Constitution. He knows Wash DC. He chairs the most powerful House committee at it concerns hearings and wide/ deep information gathering. If left to Pelosi , it will bog down and get detoured. Keep watch, he will be central until an impeachment occurs.
8
Mr. Cohen during his recent testimony said that Mr. Trump speaks in code when he wants something done by others that is illegal.
At the CPAC convention Mr. Trump did just that. Mr. Trump said there are "people in Congress who hate America." For the portion of his supporters who are rabid, those words are code enough to do the unthinkable. For others not quite unhinged, further code might be required, and it would go like this—
"President Trump, what should we do about those people in Congress?"
"I can't tell you what to do, but I know what I would do."
51
Yep. Before too long, Trump will incite violence against Congressmen. The incitement might be couched in a “joke”, or a “some people say”, or like he did for Hillary’s possible election, a reference to “second amendment remedies”. But the message will be clear enough for shots to be fired.
3
@F. E. Mazur
For me, the most jaw-dropping moment at the CPAC convention (and there were many) was when MIchelle Malkin encouraged the crowd to disparage Senator McCain.
I disagreed with many of the late Senator's policies, but to think that the CPAC brownshirts would cheer about the death of another human being.....there are really no adequate words.
NOT my president
4
“But at the outer perimeters, people are starting to melt away.”
But those “people” arent the Republicans on The Hill. Public opinion is important, at least as valuable as public perception, but when Mitch McConnell and Kevin McCarthy are protecting the president from an onslaught of legal and political woes, then the public is going to be confused. “What does this all mean?”
The near-tsunami of Michael Cohen’s trashing of the Trump Family requirement for omertà has bewildered Americans not entirely on board with removing the president if he’s damaged goods. Many want a neat, orderly process so that they can come to grips with the deluge. But there will never—can never—be any such thing. These people aren’t much different from MAGA nation, a political reality that would rather destroy the country than have the facts and proofs laid out before them for a just resolution and healing.
So in this way, the “reality show president” does control the narrative. It’s a broken record but people are only going to believe what they want to believe.
10
Trump has always understood the power of TV.
Cohen's appearance rattled him to the core.
The feeble response from Sanders shows
the truth depths of their fears.
34
What Sarah Sanders says carries no weight. She is certainly not in the loop. Never was prove. Just fed talking points. She is just someone barking back at the press as a sideshow. Not much different than Rudy Giuliani. The press also know that it is the NYT, especially Maggie Haberman , which mine and bring to the surface virtually every new nugget from the dirty ore of Trumpland.
My guess is that by the end of the year Trump will find himself on the ropes (for real) and public support for him will have shrunk to 25% and Republicans realize that their time in office will be coming to a close in 2020 if they continue to defend the indefensible.
30
While I am glad that Congress is no longer waiting for Robert Mueller’s report before acting, most, if not all, of the people who will be hauled before Congress will lie, just like the ones who have already testified before Congress. Congress is now seen as a weak body by the criminals who come before it, Michael Cohen not withstanding. The lying is rampant and flagrant and will lead to long delays while the committees make stabs at getting subpoenas, and even if obtained, they can’t be enforced (I believe I heard Congress can’t send anyone to jail for failing to answer a subpoena, so what’s the incentive for complying?). The Special Counsel will need to present his report by mid-summer at the latest, in order to not be seen as interfering with a major election. Congress can go on much longer than that with active investigations but I don’t have much faith that the American people will buy what they’re selling.
2
But the good news is that the transcripts of the testimony of those who appear in front of Nadler's committee can be forwarded to Mueller to see if the testimony is consistent. If it isn't, the subject can be prosecuted for perjury.
12
Frau Greta,
Your point that many of the people subject to these requests have already testified to Congress is correct. The more important points you omit. There are many more facts exposed and now the Democrats are in charge. It will be a very different story now. The bumbling Devin Nunes lost his seat, for example. This will create a public record even if Trump's new AG Barr tries to keep the Mueller report back. Brilliant! Blue wave 2020!
3
@Susan
I agree that's a possibility for some, but others may not have been before Mueller at all, though, so it wouldn't be relevant if he hadn't done his own investigation with them. Plus, some of them are being questioned on things not related at all to the Special Counsel's focus. If Mueller's team disbands this summer, he won't be available for prosecuting people who committed perjury and I doubt Trump's justice department will want to go through the transcripts. That's where delaying tactics by those who testify can pay off for them...if they HAVE been before Mueller already, they won't have to worry, if he's no longer in business. Maybe someone with some legal background can explain how that would work, if someone who went before the Special Counsel lied, but then the Special Counsel disbands before it is discovered?
My friends and I lived through Watergate as young boomers!
We hated Nixon as much as I now despise trump!
Nixon ordered. Ohio National Guard to open fire on Kent State students.
It was a spring day and all the kids were walking in the quad on the hill enjoying early spring weather. There were no protestors or threats involved. Orders from above from King Nixon.
How do you think the parents of those injured and dead students felt.
I know there are many reading my words who witnessed that tragedy. Students in response nationwide put on black arm bands and walked out of classes in protest.
Nixon escalated his attacks on boomers and student organizations.
He tried to destroy the good community work of the Black Panthers.
“ Fake News” was used then in character assassinations of progressives and Nixon’s many perceived enemies.
It was comparably destructive to our Democracy and we never recovered because Nixon destroyed our idealism and sense of societal purpose.
I see in our young Congress people ,that same justified anger and kinetic idealism .
Nixon was a dangerous man but the Republicans still had a moral legacy to pretend to uphold.
I now realize that the Republican Party are Masters of Facade .
We are in so much danger of becoming a “ serf class” attached to High Tech control . Scraping by on handouts peppered with insults from corporate entities that took our values and mores away.
My kid cannot live on $24000 a year.
That is a major problem for college educated !
57
@nurseJacki Brilliant analysis. Thank you. I was one of those protesting college students in the wake of Kent State. Our generation, as maligned as it is now, actually began to effect real, positive social change. Our large numbers made us a force to be reckoned with. That terrified Nixon and the right wing and they did everything they could to crush us. Young Republican (i.e. right wing) "patriots" like Karl Rove, Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld were enlisted to help in those efforts.
24
@nurseJacki
I too lived through Kent State and the photo of Jeffrey Miller's body with the young woman screaming in horror above him is forever imprinted on my mind.
But your facts are wrong.
There were protests on campus against ROTC on campus, and May 4th, the day of the National Guard murders, was a national student protest day against the bombing in Cambodia.
Ohio Governor Rhodes is the one who sent the National Guard to Kent State. He also physically went there and forbade the students from protesting on May 4th, something he had no constitutional right to do.
When students ignored him, despite the presence of the National Guard, someone, probably Rhodes, gave the order to shoot.
One would assume Nixon supported the action, but it was Governor Rhodes.
It was one of the worst days in our history, gunning down protesting students on their college campus.
I hate Nixon, too. I despise Trump.
But if you're going to make a case against Nixon and his legacy, the GOP, and Trump, you can't do it when your basic facts are incorrect.
The life went out of all of us that day.
32
@Lora. A corollary, as marijuana becomes legal across many states, is Nixon's then then statement that he couldn't make being black illegal, and he couldn't make being counter-culture illegal, but he could make pot illegal! We live with the consequence of that policy to this day.
6
I was an ardent impeachment person but now accept that there’s too much evidence to sift through and not enough time before the next election. Trump won’t be impeached but all the evidence the committees will develop along with the special prosecutor and SDNY will ensure that Trump’s retirement is anything but quiet. Donald the Don will spend the rest of his life fighting a RICO prosecution which will eventually reduce the Trump Org to rubble.
60
Unfortunately the Democrats will have to play the reality TV game in their rollout of the evidence. I don't know if it's possible since they don't actually know what the performance of the individual performers will be, nor do they know for certain when headline-grabbing bombshells will be revealed. Mueller will be able to gather all of the data before scripting a compelling narrative with a socko ending. The Congressional committees cannot count on a secret recording to suddenly appear for the shocking denouement. On top of that, the propaganda arm of the Trump administration, FOX News, will do its best to distract or spin the story in real time. Even if the committees succeed in both legal and dramatic terms, I have little confidence that revelation of even the most egregious malfeasance, the most criminal behavior, will drive Republican leadership or Rupert Murdoch to act with integrity. They'll just keep changing the channel.
10
A reality TV show that Trump may not control the narrative or the hearing but it it keeps him in the lime light and vets him over and over again and obstructs him from delivering on his promises. Depending on who one talks to, I can say that there are 2 baskets, one of people who will never ever vote for Trump no matter what he does that makes America great, there are those at the other end who will say that unless Trump has caused the murder of some one just anyone they will continue to support Trump. Then there are the independents like me who will ultimately tip the balance one way or the other who judge Trump by their own multiple criteria but primarily "Are we better off today than we were before Trump was inaugurated as 45th president of America, Is the world at greater peace and whether the economy is strong". Of course there will be minor considerations like what is the viable and qualified alternative to Trump presidency? One can only know that in a year so the reality as of now is Trump or no Trump.
I may add that Trump's approval ratings are better than they were ever before and only a third believed Cohen was credible less than Dr. Ford, probably no one believes that the highly partisan hearings are going to influence anyone to change their minds, especially since the dozen or so democratic candidates have still to make their case and another dozens are still contemplating whether to run . Some like Eric Holder have said he will not run. Biden, Clinton who know?
1
@Girish Kotwal. After my comment, I found the BBC news that says Hillary rules out running against Trump in 2020. Of course that does not mean that she cannot jump in another time.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-47453302
1
One important fact to recognize here is that in 1972, Nixon was re elected in a true landslide. He carried 49 of 50 states in the electoral college and beat McGovern by approximately 13% points. It was thus, not a close election. Nevertheless, he was forced to resign 21 months later, having lost public support and that of his own party. Donald’s margins of support are much thinner.
It is easy to feel despair looking at the GOP behavior today. No profiles in courage. It feels like we’re on Mr. Toad’s wild ride with all the little craven toadies bowing and scraping to Donald. I try to remember that in 1973, Howard Baker was recorded saying these words to Richard Nixon, “ I’m your friend. I’m going to see that your interests are protected.” His famous question, “What did the President know and when did he know it?” was in fact, an attempt to exculpate Nixon. But the facts emerged and the loyalist became a critic. Let’s hope that history will repeat itself.
33
True enough analysis, yet, the echo chambers and polarization have emptied out the middle body politic. 1970s to a degree was a watershed times after LBJ/ Congress’ civil rights and the tumultuous 1960s ( Vietnam and free love ) when there was a coalescence between many segments of US social structure. There still were only three networks nationally and two daily papers in each city. Without today’s splintered information systems ( and media wars ), the citizens could agree on facts and be tolerant and united as need be to save the situation from abuse.
6
Most Americans don't realize just how high the stakes really are. Ruth Bader Ginsberg is doing all she can to hang on for 2 more years, but it's wishful thinking to imagine she can last 6 more years. If Trump wins reelection and the Republicans maintain their stranglehold on the Senate, another conservative Supreme Court justice will be confirmed. And then Roe v. Wade will almost certainly be overturned.
When that happens, California will surely secede from the union. It's amazing Californians haven't already left, given that Trump has been doing everything he can to drive them away. And once California secedes, the blue northeast will have to leave as well or be rolled by Red America.
13
@Marcia Here is the irony of our time. Our 1st Civil War began with secession. Our 2nd Civil War (has it already begun?) can only be avoided by secession. Your comment perfectly illustrates the political/social chasm dividing Red and Blue states. What's the point of fighting?
1
While I wish we could just get on to impeachment-so that our Senators would have to have their votes recorded for all of history-in ways this approach may be better. The House committees will record for history how the Republican Party allowed/ encouraged/ participated in a foreign disinformation and money laundering campaign to destabilize America.
The Republican Party should not be allowed to unload their faults onto a scapegoat (admittedly a most deserving one) and not have to answer for their sins. Perhaps the only thing to his credit, President Trump won't let that happen. If the corrupt Trump enterprise is going down; the corrupt GOP/ RW media is going with him.
If he survives, that last line of defense will have held.
Very good move by the Democrats- to get those most responsible on the record.
18
The comparison to Watergate is fair only in that a president was involved. I suspect that once full disclosure of all that is Trump is made, Nixon will look better than ever.
25
The only thing that these television hearings are going to be missing are the commercial messages touting Trump's hotels and country clubs. Unfortunately, Trump relishes any attention, even negative attention, so, I don't think the unfolding narrative will bother him until they indict one of his children.
12
@ZinklerT\
I look forward to the next SOTU address being peppered with advertisements for Trump hotels and Ivanka's new spring line.
1
It seems reasonable to me to expect that Mr. Weisselberg and Deutsche Bank will be primary elements on the critical path to Trump's exposure.
All cons eventually run their course. The fact that Donald Trump's con included a stint in the White House is spectacular, but it will not prevent his ultimate exposure.
May sanity prevail.
88
It's not Watergate Michele and all the wishing in the world will not make it so.
Focus on reality Michele, the Republicans hold the Senate. End of story.
4
@George. No George it's far worse than Watergate, and the Republicans who bear responsibility for protecting this traitor will be forever remembered for their roles in this fiasco.
4
@George....exactly...which is why the Democrats who are finally serving the American people by investigating Trump and his obviously corrupt administration were elected. With time and continued elections the Republicans who for the most part have been nothing but Trumps enablers...will be a thing of the past !! May the Popular vote win !!!
3
@George 2020 is coming and the GOP may very likely lose not only the WH but the Senate too. Trump’s Adderall fueled rant @CPAC and his insane groping of the flag made clear that the extremists of the far right (read: Traitors) will accept anything if they can continue grifting and profiting off the corruption of the Trump cult.
2
I really despair that this president will face justice.
There is no link to our American history that fully explains what's going on, since there's never been a presidential cult of personality quite likethe one surrounding Donald Trump.
He's managed to retain, and even gain, percentage points of approval since the Cohen hearings. The spectacle of a US president swearing, lying, and absolutely mezmerizing his audience at CPAC as he attacks our basic institutions is chilling.
Can democracy survive two radically different views of this man? I'm starting to wonder "bigly."
85
@ChristineMcM
It's an extremely subtle point, Christine, but I think an important one. Notice how he has so affected our culture that even YOU end a comment using a Trump-ism?
I'm sure your last sentence was intentional, but soooooooooo many people now sign off with "Sad", or similar. I fear that this style will have entered our culture in an enduring way, and decades from now our language will still bear the scars of Trump.
7
@ImagineMoments I hear what you're saying--since it was intended, I'm not sure if I should simply not use such expressions. That said, I like the emphasis if provides when writing against this president, which I do pretty much every day. I assure you, once he's gone, hopefully sooner rather than later, I'll never ever use a Trumpism again.
2
Generally speaking, if you’re going to get an insider to speak, you have to grant them immunity. The case Ms. Goldberg anticipates would be built on testimony of immunized witnesses, like Manafort and others.
No Congressional Committee has granted witness immunity in a major case in 30 years. 30 years ago, Poindexter and North were granted immunity and, as a result, notoriously escaped prosecution for their criminal conduct during the Iran-Contra affair
Ms. Goldberg’s suggestion of a case built on insider testimony is not a likely option. There is excitement that the flood gates are open. But Congressional committees do not have the power of grand juries and, unfortuanaty Ms. Goldberg’s optimism is, to a large extent, wishful thinking,
Immunity is a tool usred almost exclusively by prosecutors. Nadler’s committee has no criminal expertise. If it grants immunity to anyone, history suggests it will do more harm than good. And if it refrains from granting immunity, as it should, securing insider testimony is a long shot.
( I was a criminal attorney for 20 years. I’m not just talking off the top of my head.)
4
With respect, I feel you are not applying your criminal expertise to the case. The case is: Create a “public opinion prosecution” so that an impeachment is easier to swallow. Not to gain grand jury indictments. It may be true that the immunized persons involved in Iran-Contra skated, but w/o the arrangements, then even less would have been learned and resolved in that issue. The main thrust of Congress - in this aspect the House Dems - is to get Trump out of office. Jail time etc is not their primary or even secondary objective despite fringe invective.
6
"We are about to find out whether facts still have an inexorable logic. The outlines of Donald Trump’s venality and fundamental civic disloyalty have been obvious since the 2016 campaign."
Brilliant column. The Nixon comparison certainly doesnt compate to this frightening cult of personality swirling around this corruptvprediident.A
14
Watergate will become to be seen as simple recess in comparison to the coming, all out war between the three governmental branches of checks and balances. The large number of major players is barely enough to cover one tentacle of this monster crime family. There are many root lines coming from the gangsters of trumpism. Each root needs extracting in as simple a way as possible.
But this is our second Civil War, with the numbers of 60-40 percent anxious to uncover everything vs.those blindly willing to keep it all under wraps respectively.
We need to remember that only one serious high crime and misdemeanor is needed to make the donald completely captured in his own web of deceit. Something that cannot easily be ignored by anyone, anywhere. The rest will be grease to the skids that quite possibly slide mr. trump into a more permanent house of correction.
48
The fact that last week's US-China trade deal talks were front page material and nobody mentioned the fact that the Bank of China rents 3 full floors up in Trump Tower, New York, is a perfect example of why Trump will skate.
In 1974 over 60 million viewers watched Watergate TV coverage - fewer than 16 million US viewers saw Cohen's testimony. More people than that watched it live in Iran on BBC tv. The world audience was close to a billion. Some one has to first wake up the US citizenry!
76
@Tim NewlinI. In 1974, the hearings on Wayergate did attract many viewers, but 21% watched all of it. With a one job economy, 3 television networks and a small
and growing public television network, it was easier to find the time to watch.
The Cohen hearing is just the beginning, it will be a long slog through the Trump denials and Fox hysteria, this summer.
8
Michele Goldberg writes : "Jamie Raskin, a Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, said: “we have an opportunity to discover what has been happening in our country over the last two years and several months.”
the opportunity to discover - and PREVENT- what was about to unfold in the US, was out there, in plain sight, for anyone who could see and hear, as soon as the Republican primaries kicked off for the 2016 elections. the very same behavior we've been witnessing from Trump since then - and up into today - was obvious.
we didn't really need the scores of forensic psychiatrists from Yale and other world-class institutions to write open letters in this paper( and elsewhere) outlining Trump's pathology. and pathological behavior does have consequences, as we all know.
as soon as I saw Trump's behavior during those primaries, and later past the election, I, like many others who were rightfully alarmed, wrote to this paper and other major publications, acting as the boy in " the Emperor's new cloths", shouting in the
parade :"the king is naked".
there were many alarmed people who mobilized to work tirelessly
towards retaking the house by the Dems. and today Chairman Nagler announced the highly - anticipated broad inquiry of what " happened in our country in the last 2 years".
to paraphrase the famous ending of " Casablanca :"that's the begining of a new era".
38
The only lasting way to combat ignorance and the deleterious results of blind faith to an autocracy is Education. Trump 's ascendancy is proof that this country is in a major education deficit. How else to explain the current zealous contempt for critical thinking, for science, or expertise, for just plain common sense. As long as we place a higher value on the personal accumulation of wealth and status then we will continue to fall way short of our human potential.
By concentrating on our education system , then the other major issues we face today such as ragged race relations to costly health care, to environmental degradation, to species collapse, to toxic agriculture, to unnaffordable housing, to climate denying energy policy , to gun violence , to unjust incarceration, all of it will follow suit. There is no problem so big that humans can't solve if we just put our collective minds together.
In the past couple of years we've had a taste of ; 'in the land of the blind the one-eyed man is king ' model. It is obvious this is just not sustainable.
There is no greater investment in our future , than to promote and support our innate intelligence through advanced education and life- long learning opportunities.
105
@My 2Cents
There are plenty of “educated” people with advanced degrees who work tirelessly for the orange-faced loon. There are plenty of “christians” who have sold their souls to the man who mocks and denies their god. These base people have been groomed for decades for a tyrant like trump by the rwpm (right wing propaganga machine, aka fox/talk radio/ breitbart, er al). It takes more than a schoolhouse and a churchhouse to create the sort of citizen who will resist the lure of the dictator who promises them everything they want and humiliating defeat to the neighbors they hate. Every society has this element in its midst, it is a matter of keeping them small enough and disempowered.
4
@My 2Cents
We can't invest in Education. Pooling our money (via taxes) for a general public good is Socialism. Can't have that.
3
Agree. My cousin isn't the brightest,and voted for Trump. To her, his evasion of taxes makes him smart in her mind.
3
Donald Trump's best business decision was picking a New York City real estate baron father. Trump's second best business decision was playing a businessman on a reality TV show. Trump's worst business decision was running for and winning election as President of the United States.
107
This is a brilliant strategy by House Democrats, to publicly and dramatically expose the far-ranging corruption and criminality of the Trump Administration to as many Americans as possible via the mass media, in advance of any formal impeachment proceedings. If the one-note, incompetent handling of Michael Cohen by Republicans on the Oversight Committee is an indication of how they will perform in future hearings, Trump & Co. have much to fear from both sides of the aisle. A tsunami of unavoidable, grievously damaging revelations are about to descend upon this White House. It will be powerless to stop the all consuming nature of this highly organized and focused legislative process.
85
For two years, good, solid, loyal Americans have had to suffer through the lies, hate and amorality of the man who would be king. For two years, we had to endure the whims and tweets of a man lacking in civility. Today is a good day for people who want to win back their country.
172
It would be nice if Trump and his syndicate ended up in prison, but I don't see that as happening, at least not to him, and at least not after the next election. What I do see, though, is his losing the next election by a landslide in spite of the shenanigans the GOP and the Russians might try to pull off. What I also see happening is that a slew of laws will be passed so that this kind of thing doesn't happen again.
32
@Jackie That will surely depend on his opponent. Clinton won by a substantial margin but her flawed strategy vis-a-vis the electoral college doomed her campaign. There is no room for complacency.
13
@Jackie
Keep an eye on your voter registration. The games have yet to begin.
Trump and his enablers--and I include the Republican House and Senate hierarchy among them--are about to become much more familiar with Zymurgy's First Law of Evolving System Dynamics.
That particular law states that once you open up a can of worms, the only way to re-can them is to get a larger can.
There are already a lot of worms wriggling in various directions away from the center of Trump's lack-of-reality field, and the House investigations are likely to discover more. Eventually there will be too many, and they'll be too widespread, to re-can them all.
And Trump will finally learn that he can't control all systems.
116
But Trump DID change the narrative. He left the country on a fool's errand to play footsie with Kim Jong-un during Cohen's testimony. And his supporters were proud of him. And then when his negotiations with North Korea made zero progress- which is shocking considering he said they would no longer be a nuclear threat less than a year ago- his supporters still didn't care, they were proud that he played the big man and walked out. Trump writes the narrative for his looneytunes fans - and the only thing that's going to stop this show is putting him in jail (but his supporters will stand outside for decades with signs that beg "Free Donny".)
94
The first sentence of the last paragraph in this opinion piece is the best summary I have read of the Trump phenomena. It encompasses is not only the entrenched base but also Republican Senators whose spines turn to jello whenever Trump utters menacing noises like the head of a crime family.
161
@serban
Sentence 3 in paragraph 5 is also a pretty good summary of a collision of compromising acts.
But the true tragedy is that the ones who truly believe they're following a great leader are the ones who are being told the biggest lies. Republican politicians will jump off the train when the track ends. Seems like some are already making that calculation.
35
@serban
Given that we really know little about relationships in Washington, we'll just have to assume that ALL of Congress has been compromised in some way (thanks Citizens United) and take matters into our own hands. As a liberal in Utah, I've never been represented in Congress, the legislature, or even on my street. Congress will do nothing. It's up to us.
7
@serban Many of us have noted and been saying that his supporters are faith-based cultists. It needs to be repeated, over and over. They are not just blind to, but also hostile to any evidence of his wrongdoing, criminality, and incompetence. I never thought I'd see the day when so many Americans could be so obviously delusional, but with Fox News continuously painting an altered universe, it gives them an excuse.
9
Underlying everything political today in the U.S. is the fearsome right-wing propaganda empire of FOX News and Rush Limbaugh. For over 2 decades now, these tools of the political right have poisoned the minds of millions of Americans. I'm afraid that the damage is irreversible. The truth no longer matters. Facts don't matter. The fact that Congress shields the President from tough scrutiny without feeling the anger of their constituencies is troubling.
I'm afraid the problem we face is that there are a lot of Americans who would rather support Trump, vote against their own interests and dismantle our social framework than work with "liberals" to nurture a better country. Their resentment and anger are more important to them than solving our great challenges. Truly sad.
637
And in conclusion, the sad and frightening fact is that a large swathe of the American public, and humanity in general, wants their minds to be poisoned. Spite is intoxicating. Though we forget, to our peril, that revenge/hate is like eating poison and expecting the other person to die...
39
@mrfreeze6 Look the corporate Dems who take legal bribes and vote for corporations interests and the ultra wealthy interests are just as much to blame for Trumps base. The base has been ignored for 40 years by the Dems who used to be for the working people.
It is money in politics which is to blame for Trump's base. Of course the Republicans are worse with their lies and propaganda and gerrymandering and voter suppression, but hey why haven't the democrats really fought them? Why do they usually buckle when the Republicans play so unfairly and worry so about the Republicans will say when the Dems do such and such? Why don't they call out the lies and the propaganda? Yes they have perked up a bit recently but still...
Is it the bribes they are taking from corporations that have weakened their back bones, I mean 80 percent of the Democrats in congress are taking bribes, so they actually do not represent the voters do they.? Can you really blame the base for being fed up with the corruption and falling for a populist candidate out of dire desperation. Of course Trump is the worst of the worst, but I think this opinion piece gives us a ray of light and I very much appreciate it,
Now how do we at wean the corrupt Democrats in power from the sugar teats of the donors and make them represent the interests of their constituents ?. And if they refuse... Hey I am all for primarying corrupt Democrats. And I don't think I am alone either.
9
@mrfreeze6 It is reversible and that reversal is happening now. Trumps followers are primarily older, whites and they are dying out. Twenty years from now it will be a very different electoral landscape and it's starting now (note the 2018 election cycle). As they say, "Time heals all wounds."
8
Who is next indeed. Those who still choose to be apologists and fixers for this president are really the hard core believers. Belief that what is being done to this country is a good thing, or at least better than some socialist nightmare in their heads. Religious cult is maybe not accurate enough, but I read from some who are willing to go down in flames for this guy.
Will facts have an inexorable logic this time? There is the rub. So much effort has been invested in blurring reality to the point that filmed reality in real time is something to be argued about.
Yes Michelle, a television event it surely is, having just reacquainting myself with "Network" one can only marvel at how close we are to the spectacles imagined back then.
Too many simply want to believe the trumpism and republicanism that is the basis for the attacks on institutions that these investigations are aimed at. A very harsh civics lesson is coming, as was said elsewhere, it is starting to get real and fast. How angry will that base get when they are already misguided in the first place? It will be ugly, as we have become as a Nation, however I hold on to optimism that our Institutions have the resilience and the strength to overcome this and have progress in the ascendent. Sooner than later the truth will out.
29
The big difference between Watergate and Trump is that the former focused on a single event--the break-in at the Watergate of Democratic offices. With Trump you're dealing with a hydra-headed monster that is a vast criminal enterprise ranging from the conspiracy involving hush money to two women who had affairs with Trump where Trump is an unindicted co-conspirator, obstruction of the Russia investigation, fraud by Trump University settled by Trump, illegal use of the Trump Foundation that forced its liquidation, possible conspiracy with Russia to rig the election, interference in a corporate merger, attempts to use the Postal Service to attack Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos, interference with the F.B.I., and many other activities. This is the essence of a Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organization (or RICO) charge. It's is complex and hard to understand. Unless the House committees are careful, they may along with the public get lost in the thicket of criminality. They need to work in unison to focus on a smaller set of charges that are both important and easily understood by the public. We already know that the Trump Organization is corrupt. The House has to show that corruption continued once Trump became president. That's why Michael Cohen's checks that corroborate the hush money conspiracy were so important. They showed that Trump was paying Cohen back while president. Each committee would be well-advised to focus on one such criminal activity.
99
Between now and the next election, the Trump Crime show is going to be televised to all American voters, regardless of their political affiliation. Day by day, they will peel back the onion one layer at a time, exposing the president in all of his criminal glory. Fox propaganda will try to spin and distract from the truth, but they don't have enough fake material or talking heads to overwhelm the truth that will be displayed, day, after day, after day. No hurry for impeachment, we need to let this play out.
177
@markymark: you suggest a great idea -- a nightly news show: The Trump Crime Family. Jon Stewart would be the perfect host. He is, after all, the most trusted television journalist today. A worth successor to Walter Cronkite.
6
@markymark
People will vote for which ever candidate sounds the most familiar. If the media covers the Trump crime show he will be a star and will have no problem being elected in 2020.
@markymark I look forward to the hearings, and I hope that many, if not most, will be televised. I remember, but not with a great deal of fondness, the Watergate hearings on television. I'd come home from school everyday, and I tried like the dickens not to let the procedural aspects confound my understanding of what I was hearing. I knew what I was seeing was important. Each day, gradually more was revealed by witness after witness. At some point, I finally paid less attention to Sam Ervin twiddling his eyebrows, and more interest in what Howard Baker, Sam Dash, and the others were asking the witnesses. I saw that what was coming out in the hearings seemed more certain to lead to Nixon's downfall than the special prosecutor's investigations, or so it seemed to me at the time.
The testimony coming out in the upcoming investigations may be just as riveting as what we saw and heard in those Watergate inquiries. But there will be too many distractions, if Michael Cohen's recent appearance showed. With each yielding to a GOP representative, the action changed from serious investigation to crybaby ballyhooing. At one point in my viewing, I snapped off the set, and headed over to the gym for a couple hours. This next set of hearings, Mark, I'll keep you in mind as the representatives "peel back the onion one layer at a time" as they seek to uncover what the President and his party seek desperately to conceal.
1
Impeachment is insufficient.
Unlike the Nixon precedent, for the sake of our future, Trump must pay full price. Orange jumpsuits were designed for this moment in time. This man and his enablers have befouled a once-great nation.
It's treason, and its perpetrators need to suffer the consequences. Said perpetrators include most of the Republican leadership, particularly McConnell. We've been sold out. Payback is required.
992
@Odysseus Without severe consequences, it will just happen again, probably in the next election cycle. Plus without jail time, his supporters will just say "Well, they weren't very serious crimes, and the Dems do it too."
119
@Odysseus, one of the great things about America is that they make great examples of folks who have committed wrong, especially high profile ones. Just so it’s a lesson to others who have gotten away this far or ones who are contemplating such wrong doing for personal gains. America ought to make an example of Donald Trump and his family as folks who have committed multiple wrongdoings at multiple levels and gotten away. No more. We are watching and now our representatives are here to make policy decisions and Implement with a capital I!
25
@JP
Exactly correct. Even if Republicans are forced to admit that Trump is impeachable and probably a criminal as well, they will always fall back on false-equivalence "Dems do it too" to salvage as much as possible and limit the fallout.
34
"But so far, neither Democrats nor prosecutors have woven the various threads of presidential wrongdoing into a coherent picture, showing how Trump’s shady business practices, opaque finances, vulnerability to blackmail, abuses of power and subservience to foreign autocrats all intersect..."
The more interesting question might be: "Why not?" Journalists of all stripes - print, cable TV, magazine - waltz around this issue with mincing steps. Well, there are libel laws, and such a thing as responsible journalism - not National Enquirer scandal sheets (which directly protect Trump with irresponsible journalism and bribery).
The marginal, peripheral nature of the embryonic Nixon scandal that didn't register with mainstream America until the Ervin committee hearings in 1973 is an interesting media phenomenon. That was before CNN, MSNBC, Fox.
I'm wondering now though, with regard to Trump's many and obvious transgressions - potential felonies - why the public is not more concerned. Everyone - the media, public - appears to be proceeding as though nothing had happened, including the Democrats who seem to be taking it for granted that their primary strategy - with various approaches - should be defeating Trump. (Who says he'll still be around in two years?)
Perhaps it's just media saturation - round-the-clock cable news, e-journalism available 24/7 - that has anesthetized, immunized the American public against any atrocity.
(Did somebody say something about an atom bomb?)
18
At the heart of Watergate was Nixon's attempt to discover who was leaking anti-war material out of the Pentagon. This, no doubt, was to prevent a defeat in Vietnam and to ensure that someday the Russians wouldn't be deciding who our elected leaders were going to be and what movies we were going to be watching.
If only we'd been willing to stick it out a little longer in 'Nam.
sthomas1978,
What history have you been reading? The Vietnam war was unwinnable and many in government knew it. The LBJ administration lied to Congress and the American people many times to justify continuation of the war effort. Yes, there was fear of Communist take overs. That fear was unfounded and it would be a tragic mistake to make again. History has proven the communist approach to be an evil corrupted system.
2
@sthomas1957
It was much more likely an attempt to find out if the leaker knew that candidate Nixon had interfered in the President Johnson's peace talks with North and South Vietnam, leading South Vietnam to walk away from the talks the day before the 1968 elections.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/02/us/politics/nixon-tried-to-spoil-johnsons-vietnam-peace-talks-in-68-notes-show.html
1
The 40% of this country who supports him do not care that he has used fraud to evade millions and millions of taxes throughout his life.
This seems logical if you are rich and trying to avoid taxation on your own assets.
I just don't understand how working class Trump supporters look the other way when confronted with this stuff.
372
When Social Security goes, the numbers will change.
52
@William Jefferson
Perhaps the answer is that two things are vastly more important to conservatives: relative status based on birth parameters and avoiding responsibility for their own bad behavior. The first is manifested in their assorted bigotries and the latter in their desperate need for weak or powerless scapegoats.
Unfortunately, this also means that the truth being even more fully revealed will sway very few conservatives. They already know the truth. But he speaks for them and is just like them. That is an identification that will make changing conservative minds largely, but not completely, futile.
34
@Dan Many of the supporters are working class evangelicals, who believe Trump, despite his "transgressions" in life, was sent by God...to help get the country, "back " on track. Many are working-class whites, who are troubled by and fearful of the 8 years of cultural and social change, purportedly initiated while a black man was president of the country. And many support the view of a Fox pundit who stated that "immigrants make our country dirtier." All of these issues are more important than what may be in their overall personal interests.
50
This column appropriately crystallizes in the closing paragraphs:
"It’s too early to know whether these investigations will lead to Trump’s impeachment. The important thing is that they lead to his exposure. Unlike Nixon, Trump lost the popular vote, and the majority of the country has consistently disapproved of him. He thus can’t afford even a small erosion of support.
“'You have to think of the Trump phenomenon as a religious cult surrounding an organized crime family,” said Raskin. “But at the outer perimeters people are starting to melt away….'"
At last. I believe that hearts and minds have been melting away, under the surface of the opinion surveys, from the early days of Trump's presidency. Now we may see an open trend that will affect the calculations of politicians, the electorate, and Donald Trump himself, each in their own way.
http://thefamilyproperty.blogspot.com/2017/03/the-three-rings-of-castle-trump.html
19
Donald Trump can't control the narrative, Ms. Goldberg, but as he and Conservative media have shown, they can control perception of the narrative. That's all they care about. The Republican party central committee may be resigned to acts and statements streaming into public view, but they've learned since Watergate that they can literally tell a significantly large percentage of American voters what to believe, just as religions know that they can tell individuals what is, and isn't, true, and what, and what not, to believe.
Presuming that this man cares about legal matters in the same way that a normal individual would is presuming more than Donald Trump's history reveals. Trump doesn't care. Trump is, as many observers have asserted, a true narcissist, an individual marked by personality disorder. He isn't capable of accepting that what investigations turn up is true, let alone that it matters.
To that point, most of the over 40% of Americans who still support him won't accept the narrative, even if a parade of FBI agents, Trump informatives, and others stand with their hands on bibles in House hearing chambers and swear to tell the truth. Most of them are firmly already convinced by the Deep State narrative that Conservatives have built for months in anticipation of needing a Trump investigation counter offensive.
Defeating Trump is convincing Democrat and Independent defectors who didn't vote, or voted for Trump, that this criminal is in fact just that, a criminal.
237
Revenge is a very dehumanizing motive and one that often does not play well with decent people. The public will weary of this to the detriment of Democrat power. Strive to accomplish something rather than crucifying someone.
6
Investigations into crimes are revenge?
In that case, our entire criminal justice system must be just one big exercise in vengeance.
272
@Once From Rome- Ending Trump's criminal assault on our counties institutions and its Constitution would be a great and valuable accomplishment. What better goal could there be than to bring about justice and preserve the rule of law. Democrats can work on infrastructure, healthcare and women's freedoms when they gain more power. For the good of the nation, let's hope it's soon.
136
@Once From Rome
It seems to me that Donald Trump specializes in revenge. It appears to be a primary motivation for a lot of what he does. Why does that not make "decent" people like yourself reject him?
20
I am encouraged by today's action by House Judiciary Chair, Rep Nadler, who is taking a very broad and simultaneous look at likely misdeeds by Trump and associates.
On Planet Trump, where lying to protect the boss is the highest calling, things get more complicated when there are so many possible "rats", to use Trump's mob boss language, being pressured at once. Better yet, there are gigantic troves of evidence seized from the homes and businesses of Manafort, Cohen, Stone and other central figures.
And Chairman Nadler gave them only 2 weeks to get their stories straight. And some will be heading for House Committee testimony, not knowing who knows what.
I predict many crazy moments of the Giuliani contradictory statement sort in coming weeks, from a lot more directions. We should learn a lot.
103
@Look Ahead Thank you ...you have explained what was most worrying me....given how much time has elapsed since the campaign and election, how would the committees be able to expose the crimes? Plenty of time for evidence to be destroyed or falsified....but as you say the timing of appearances will not give witnesses time to compare statements/notes, and the investigations will be as much about comparing testimonies and documents, as about what is actually testified. Again, thank you!!
8
@Look Ahead
Thank you for bringing up Giuliani and his contradictory statements. At least we will be able to find there some comic relief in the midst of the drek and sleaze we surely will find in the hearings.
3
If all this is a witch hunt, as Trump says it is, and he is innocent, as he claims to be, why did he have no witnesses to his talks with Putin? Why isn't he happy to have the translators interviewed? For that matter, when will he release his tax returns?
613
@Linda The simple answer is because he is King (or so he believes).
5
Linda that’s so logical. Seems self evident.
5
If Trump was able to convince his base that the investigation led by Republican Robert Mueller was a witch hunt, all investigations by the Democrat-controlled House will be readily dismissed by his base as just more of the same. Minds will not be changed.
18
@Jay Orchard
Those particular minds need not be changed, as they do not make up the majority of those who voted in 2016, much less of those likely to vote in 2020.
Let's watch and wait ...
67
There are 20 months until the next election. Democrats are just now starting to have hearings. Even if significant corruption is uncovered, there won't be time enough to remove the president from office.
Which leads to several possible scenarios. One, a Democrat wins the White House, in which case I suspect most Americans probably won't care much what happens to Donald Trump except as a purely legal matter.
Two, Mr. Trump wins reelection, but Democrats hold the House and Republicans the Senate. Basically the same situation as we have today. Under this scenario, a reelected president carries a stronger mandate than does one just newly elected, plus the Senate would be as likely to remove a president of their own party from office as the moon is made of green cheese. Democrats would have to calculate carefully the value to the country of dragging it through the trauma of impeachment with little to nothing to show for it at the end. You can ask Newt Gingrich something about that.
Plus, Mr. Trump would probably relish the fight with Democrats on center stage.
The least likely scenario is one where Donald Trump gets reelected, yet somehow in the same election Democrats manage to win both the House and the Senate. I don't think even the Russians have a play up their sleeve for this. It would be the same situation that Richard Nixon faced in 1973, and it would be the most perilous for Mr. Trump.
It also would make Mike Pence the new president for as much as eight years.
4
@sthomas1957 Democrats were not expected to win the House in 2018, the map was not favorable. The map for 2020 is much more favorable for a Democratic win. Especially if the GOP continues blindly supporting Trump and the Democrats are as persuasive in their campaigns as they were in the 2018 election.
9
These document requests come as a relief. Misdeeds can be committed in public, just like bullies can bully in public, without punishment. But that doesn't mean that there aren't plenty of things done by bullies in secret, to continue the parallel.
Once we find out what this president is doing in secret, we may not find a smoking gun, but we may find things that diminish his less enthusiastic supporters' appetite for continuing on under his leadership. They may give actors cover as they withdraw support. They may weaken this president's image enough to lessen the cost of turning away from him.
This isn't meant in the spirit of a personal attack--everyone is the hero of their own story. This president isn't all bad like most people aren't. But he isn't good for the country or good for the world. So it will be best for him to be gone.
That said, there will have to be a reckoning with all the people who love him so intensely. There will have to be a reckoning with the severe job losses to automation and climate change induced industrial changes.
As a solution for a start. I am for Universal Basic Income, or UBI. Instead of recriminations or trying to shut people down by insisting how wrong they've been, why not do something good for everyone who needs it? That should go a long way to calming anger and frustrations. And as the wealthiest nation on earth, we can certainly afford to do it.
10
Our dictator wannabe is about to find out that America isn't the land of the autocrats he falls in love with like Putin and Kim Jong-un. We have the rule of law here. Fox News cannot control our judicial system.
Because of the secrecy of the Mueller investigation, Trump has had the liberty to fire away at a target that can't fire back. That is about to change. These House investigations will fire back and the public will get to see the volleys fly across the room. Hard evidence will be put on display. Trump has been cornered and at last.
The red hat(e) folks will fall on their swords for Trump. They will stick with him to the bitter end because they think Trump will stick it to the liberals. Let them. They will soon find out that minority rule doesn't last very long here.
What the Democrats realize is to not turn this into a ridiculous Benghazigate or emailgate. So long as they let the facts drive the investigation, it will be credible and not political theater.
The Republicans have spent years showing us how not to conduct an investigation. We have all learned from their folly.
I remember as a teenager spending long hours with the radio on, listening to the Watergate proceedings. Looks like I'm not going to get much work done being glued to the computer watching this one.
805
@Bruce Rozenblit
"We have the rule of law here. Fox News cannot control our judicial system."
How I wish I could believe you. With regard to the rule of law, no we don't have it. Not when the banksters who brought us 2008 go scot free while so many have no jobs, no housing, no future. And it was a supposedly progressive president who let that happen. Whether it happened because of him or despite him doesn't really matter -- either way it is empirical proof positive that there is no rule of law. The ultra wealthy can do what pleases them. And Donald Trump pleases them.
As for Fox News, I think you underestimate the effect of brain washing. Try convincing a pious, well-educated, otherwise rational liberal who claims to believe in science, that God is as real as Santa Claus, and watch all the contortions about "spirituality," "higher power," "God is in each of us" that then emerge. It is not fundamentally different than all the wacko birther explanations involving Barack Obama's Kenyan aunt/grandmother/third cousin.
So I am not so sure Trump will be like Nixon 2. And we have to remember that Nixon 1 didn't really cure the racists -- they just waited and bided their time, and we're seeing them full throated right now, with their man in the White House.
For certain ideas there is no cure but death. British aristocracy continued to send little children up into sooty chimneys for 30 years after pumps and hoses could do the job far better. Mankind advances one funeral at a time.
22
I’ve tried to understand how any decent American can continue to support Trump. We’re talking TENS OF MILLIONS of Americans...
My conclusion: Trump thrills them because he lives their secret fantasy.
If they could, they would ALL sleep with porn stars, not pay their taxes and wallow in endless greed and self-indulgence.
Trump is the living embodiment of their American Dream.
33
@whaddoino,
Great comment!
8
Amongst the biggest shames here is that it seems as though no one is capable of changing their mind. We have so much direct evidence of illegal activity. Trump has benefitted financially from his office (e.g., emoluments clause). He has obstructed justice (e.g., firing Comey and saying it was to stop the Russia investigation). He has violated campaign finance law (e.g., paying off women to stay silent regarding affairs). That Trump has committed these crimes is clear. But his party and base still support him strongly. No hearing or evidence seems able to change any minds into thinking that Trump and company need to be removed from office.
Granted and on the other hand, no investigation outcome is going to be able to convince me that Trump is an innocent and good person.
83
@Mr. SeaMonkey The saddest part of this is how easily Trump was, and is able to, like a great magician, direct our attention away from all his truly heinous deeds and words and have us focus on his favorite magic word: Collusion. The press has fallen for this ploy completely. There is no collusion, collusion is not a crime; on an on endlessly. The word has become his shield and armor against the slings and arrows of an unjust world.
Hopefully now we can focus on, as detective Joe Friday used to say "Just the facts".
33
@Mr. SeaMonkey
"That Trump has committed these crimes is clear. But his party and base still support him strongly."
I think it possible that we, non-Fox News watchers, have no idea about how one-sided their coverage of these scandals are. Their political commentary is worse, never critically looking at established facts garnered in the Mueller investigation.
It's Fox, the most negative media influence in this country, that is enabling this strange devotion to Trump. May as well be Russian. And maybe it is. It is certain, however, that a global Oligarch owns that show.
32
@Nelly
There is a good piece in that regard by Jane Mayer https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/03/11/the-making-of-the-fox-news-white-house
1
When the facts of all the criminal wrongdoing begin to pile up like weeds springing up in late spring and early summer, we will see a mass exodus of independents and centrist Republican voters turning away from Trump and his base. When facts begin to point in the direction of many of Trump's family and business associates that look to be criminal, these former sycophants will turn on Trump in the blink of an eye. Trump will be alone and unable to influence anything or anyone and will fall from his lofty status. One can only hope that a jail cell is in his future but I wouldn't put a lot of faith in that because we just don't throw the book at the wealthy and powerful. Here is our chance to right the wrongs of the past and send Trump away for a very long time. He can rail from his jail cell about a witch hunt all he wants and let's see if Fox news is there to broadcast it!
102
“the “smoking gun” recording of Nixon agreeing to a plan to have the C.I.A. ask the F.B.I. to stop investigating Watergate.“
From this remove, in 2019, such a rationale for impeachment seems kind of quaint. My goodness, didn’t we cross this threshold with Trump a long, long time ago?
416
@NA
i would say AMEN to your comment except that our remove from 1974 is farther than 45 years vis a vis the acceleration of cultural, political and sociological changes. Not one of our founders or certainly none of our erstwhile citizens ever dreamed of someone as corrupt as Trump being elected to office. Our system was simply not set up for his level of corruption.
11
Just wait until the full impact of the Republican tax cuts hits the electorate. It’s the “wait, there’s more!” moment of the Trump reality show. And the next episode will not be pretty.
49
@Chris I got a tax increase. I'm capable of arithmetic. I compared my year over year income to tax paid.
1
@Bmcg
And it is all about you not caring that large corporations don’t have to contribute to the country they are exploiting? The deficit will affect you when you no longer have the social security that you a have been paying your whole working life.
3
@Bmcg - Is that increase enough to make up for your air and water being poisoned? Does it cover increased prices due to Trump's stupid tariffs or the increase in medical costs?
3
An in-depth investigation is under way, as it must. Just know it won't be easy, as fierce opposition of official criminal minds shall be forthcoming. Insofar keeping the public informed, close attention may be lacking, as News Media will be competing for attention; and last time we checked, fake news seemed the order of the day. And those that believe Trump's lies, that the press is the enemy of the people, may be lost to the facts and the truth, as confirmation bias may prevail.
12
Let's face it. The only number that matters is 34, the number of Senators who can prevent Trump from being convicted if he is impeached. And it is almost a certainty that, unless there is an actual tape of Trump colluding with Putin, he will be able to hold onto 34 Senators if the issue is Russia.
But, imagine if some prosecutor, preferably federal but it could be New York State, came up with an indictment of the Trump Organization and everyone associated with it … except for the President himself, who would be referred to as "Individual One." If he were shown to be the head of a criminal organization, would he still get the 34 votes? Or would the Senators decide that Pastor Pence would be the better candidate in 2020?
34
For over two years the Republicans controlling Congress stymied any real exposure of the wrongdoing that is likely to have been done by Trump and his campaign, so public pressure was suppressed. But now that the lid is being taken off things, expect the public opinion to start swiftly building. We can only hope that it builds high enough to force the do-nothing Republicans to finally be pressured into doing their duty.
77
Trump and Nixon are different because of the evidence needed for their impeachment. Nixon came out with questionable statements that led more and more people to drop his ideas. Trump in this way in different. rump is more secretive with how he says things and how he gains back peoples´ respect. As explicit as he is, he still shows a lot of reasons to the people why they should keep their trust in him. Its all about how they got out their statements and how they backed them up.
3
I have two points. First, if Democrats really want to be effective in these hearings, they will need to drastically turn down the hints of anti-Trump animus and focus on fact finding. The Watergate select committee did that, and its adherence to fact finding worked well. Second, a late poll put Trump's approval rating at 46%, so his opponents must not assume the public has the same concerns they have.
100
@Iconoclast1956 I agree with you on all points. I was pretty disappointed to watch almost all of the Democratic representatives at the Cohen hearing wasting their allotted time airing anti-Trump statements instead of focusing on asking useful questions that might shed light on DT's shady businesses. In that regard, I admit I was surprised to listen to AOC limiting herself to asking that kind of questions. I'm hoping the hearings that follow will center on fact-finding questions.
65
Exactly! And yes, Sil, I was impressed with AOC and Katie Hill.
Just the facts, ma’am.
12
If I was in money-launderer a Trump supporter would want to see me go to prison. If a Trump supporter was a money launderer I would want to see that person go to prison. However, as Trump is in money-launderer I would like to see him go to prison, and a Trump supporter, well,..... he doesn’t want Trump to go to prison, seeing as how Trump is looking out for the supporters best interests. Just like how Colonel Sanders is looking out for the chickens best interest.
3
The only catch is, the increasingly soap-opera like atmosphere around Trump just feeds into the public's same morbid fascination that helped him get this far.
40
And yet, for all the momentum of a Democratic-majority House, for all the speculation around Robert Mueller, for all the salacious details publicized by Michael Cohen, there is no more powerful indictment of Trump than that which Trump himself makes every day of debasing our highest office. Come what may in the legal system, Trump leaves no doubt that the voters should render a verdict next year against his fitness for the presidency.
459
@NM: If Trump is immune to the rule of law, then who will ever be its subject? in other words, if we allow what he has done, what, if anything, will we ever disallow?
His dissembling, gratuitous dismantling of our principles in his endless pursuit of money and fealty has been two years of pure agony. We cannot endure two more years of this -- and, as Cohen warned us, we cannot expect him to honor the voters' verdict in two years. He is the national emergency. He needs to be excised now.
75
@George Moody
It has been 2 years of growing outrage yes, but also 2 years of accumulation evidence, of understanding how this extremeMalignant Narcissist functions, and distorts for his own benefit and fealty.
Now we know hiw he finctions, how he distorts, how his ‘negotiating ability’ is nothing but bullying, that he backs diwn from.
Every day his Hystrionic Personality Disorder propels him to assert his pathologically distorted persona in full public view of the American and International communities.
He has redefined the word “trump” to mean “debased”.
The American people are strong and yes, you can endure whatever it takes to bring Trump to account.
This period of time has also shone a lught on the weaknesses of the American Constitution and governmental system, checks and balances.
Who would have foreseen the craveness of McConnell, Ryan, Nunes and GOP members of the investigation he led.
This is an opportunity to right the weaknesses, to shore up the Constitution, it’s processes, and voter rights.
We all have weakmoments, but you are strong and you will prevail.
8
Television logic privileges spectacles, and the investigation into Trump's businesses and past will make great television. This may foster a climate in which public opinion in Republic base may shift. Although, in case of Nixon the tapes were the smoking gun of his complicity in the crime of burglary, a crime that is not difficult to understand. In the case of Trump his financial and moral shortcomings are more nebulous and criminality will lie in the eye of the beholder. The good part this new development is that congressional investigation was the always the right way to handle all the suspicions about Trump. Congressional investigation is a political tool that is constitutional--unlike the special counsel investigation, with seemingly draconian powers--it is politics happening in the domain politics, and the goal is political persuasion. If Democrats succeed in chipping away at the Trump base that will be a great achievement, and most likely a easier win in 2020.
23
@AK
I commented earlier that what is commonly known as Reality TV is really fake TV.
But you are absolutely correct. Live exposure of the myriad frauds of trump and his coterie of crooks and con men would not just be great television It would be real Reality TV
31
@AK
At the heart of Watergate was Nixon's attempt to discover who was leaking anti-war material from the Pentagon.
At the heart of today's alleged Russia collusion is who was leaking anti-Hillary material to Julian Assange.
Parallels indeed, except this time Democrats are on the side of wanting to crucify the leaker(s). Interesting.
Too many Democrats are wishing for Watergate to repeat for Mr Trump. This is unlikely. Nixon resigned when his Republican support collapsed. This occurred because the major media of the day and then Republican voters turned on the President. That's not likely now. Conservative broadcast and social media and the Congressional Republicans they helped elect- aided by the President's effective attacks on independent media will ensure continued support for Mr Trump in the face of criminal evidence.
40
@steve
I agree. There was no Fox News, Rush Limbaugh and all in the '60s. We can only hope that there is enough movement on the margins to enable a Dem win in 2020.
61
steve,
No one can say with certainty what would have been the result if Nixon wouldn't resign. He knew he was guilty and lost the support of his own party in Conress. They were going to vote, along with their fellow Democrat congressman, to impeach him. He saw the writing on the wall, "Nixon, go home!" With Trump, who knows?
2
@steve
This is as dreadful as it is true. Jane Mayer's recent article in The NewYorker, "The Making of the Fox News White House" makes for very informative, demoralizing reading on this subject.
8
one can only hope that trump's translators are being protected. i recall cohen noting that those who cross trump, trump "can do a lot" to settle the score.
83
@L'historien
...not to mention the literal poison the likes of Putin have been known to wield.
2
I just wish that the Orwellian terms "Reality Show" or "Reality TV" were consigned to the dustbin where they belong. They may use "real" people as opposed to actors (which is just a way of avoiding mega production costs), but otherwise they are just fakery.
So it's really quite fitting that the current occupier of the White House should have emerged from that genre.
249
@mancuroc - The Trump supporters I've met are all fans of "reality TV."
7
@mancuroc Orwellian is exactly right. The first reality show was named 'Big Brother'. That really tells you everything.
3
The math is clear:
as long as Fox controls the hearts and minds of voters in certain key states, the Democrats must work very hard to expose facts and decent candidates to enough voters to overcome this lost minority.
704
@Terro O’Brien
Yes, we have to wonder whether the Watergate saga would have evolved as it did if there had been a Fox News spewing lies and distortions. Not to mention the other "alt-right" outlets that constantly push the envelope.
No matter what is revealed, we know that a significant number of our fellow citizens will say that people are just being mean to Trump. Or that they don't really admire Trump's behavior, but he's doing a lot of good things.
61
Yes, Terro O’Brien, The Con Don is a cult leader. Just like Hitler. Fox so-called "news" is his mouthpiece.
Average Americans do not understand how Hitler came to power and almost destroyed the world with the help of the wealthiest and a few demented, evil followers. If they did they would see that The Con Don is even more dangerous because he is using OUR taxpayer treasure and OUR resources - including OUR lives to try to destroy the lives of 99.9% of people around the world.
He must be stopped NOW. Before he can can cause any further damagee. Before he can start the WW3 they are planning.
13
@Betsy S
An excellent report on the role of Fox in the debasement of our democracy over at the New Yorker https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/03/11/the-making-of-the-fox-news-white-house
14
The math is stacked against Democrats due to the Electoral College which makes the votes of smaller, whiter, more conservative states count far more than their share of the population. The Senate is even more rigged. With 10% of the population having almost half the power. Young, educated people flee for the coasts leaving behind the easily manipulated, largely elderly population who LOVE Trump. It doesn’t matter what MOST people want—only what old white people want—and Trump is their guy. Republicans only won the popular vote in one of the last six elections. Best to just ignore the Federal Government as much as possible and work at the state level.
181
@Scott D: You had me until the last sentence. What do you recommend we do in the face of this unprecedented assault on those least able to defend themselves? Surely the answer is not just to close our eyes, put fingers in our ears, say "la-la-la" at the tops of our voices, and head off to our respective State Capitols? As you note, much of what's wrong with our country is due to the exaggerated importance given to the concept of states. We have left our society in the hands of those who care nothing for it. We need to let our representatives in Congress know that we support their efforts to correct the horrible mistake that now occupies the White House and hold him to account for his crimes.
181
@Scott D
I mostly concur with what you wrote until the last sentence.
The Federal Government in this current administration is largely the whole problem.
They cannot be ignored.
51
Yes, states should max out the independence the constitution allows them. Maxing out states taxing power to use them locally, health care as well. Let congress manage foreign policy and defense. Thus, get rid of the senates undemocratic power representing only a minority of Americans. States rights has been the Republicans point, just use it and remove the undemocratic stronghold wielded by small state senators on the American people.
6
Even the best tv shows have to end and the Trump Show, which, I hate to admit it, has been good television, will, sooner or later, end, too. However, there will be one big difference: unlike “The Sopranos” or “Breaking Bad,” there will not be a universal cry for just one more season.
435
@Dave Thomas
I call the Trump show, "Making America GRATE Again, or extreme soap opera, featuring the sleaziest plot lines and a more corrupt cast of characters than you'd ever want to see. And don't forget to check the folks who advertise this show. Corruption abounds with the whole crew.
29
@Dave Thomas It's worth remembering that the star of the Trump Show is 73 years old and obese. His run may yet be cut short.
6
@Dave Thomas lets hope there are no spin-offs!
8