What I still can't wrap my head around is how the politicians, all of those working for Trump, can ignore laws that are on the books and for which they are not held accountable. If I break a law, I'm arrested, have to post bail, hire a lawyer out of my own money--not usually the taxpayers' unless I'm indigent, tried, convicted (or not) and fined. If it's a misdemeanor, I still have to deal with the legal system. How do these people get away with it? Is there one set of rules for them and a different set for us peons (no disrespect meant to our Hispanic brothers and sisters)?
Those who demean themselves to work in the Trump administration should be held in contempt when they ignore the laws, hauled away in cuffs and jailed until they decide to comply with the law.
50
@Karen K, And especially since (if the Constitution is any guide at all) it is the Congress's duty to make the law, and the only 24/7 duty of the executive is to see that the existing laws are "faithfully executed," to enforce them, and to obey them.
19
Lewandowski should have left the hearing in handcuffs. That is he only way for Democrats have to stop this kind of behavior.
43
Can you even imagine a country that could elect this malevolent criminal a second time? I actually can't. Our citizens will be able vote from their painfully gained wisdom and will do what the politically sick Congress can't do. That's faith in America.
13
Corey Lewandowski is simply the face of what our country has become. Trump and his sadistic buddies would not last a minute if there were good people in the Congress who hated their behavior and had the courage to say so. But as we know, "the best lack all conviction while the worst are full of passionate intensity."
24
Lewandowski's sneering and truculence reminded me of Erlichmann's manner before the Watergate Committee. And HE went to prison.
31
Those that have never had to actually fight do not understand Trump.
8
I am of the opinion that tossing a couple of folks in jail who stonewall will have a curative effect on those who follow. DJT cannot pardon them while they tap their feet in a small cell awaiting a trial
23
Let me shorten it for your Frank: in these hearings Republicans like Lewandowski behave like abusive king-of-the-family males and Democrats like Nadler behave like abused wives, pleading and cajoling with their abusers to change their behavior.
The primary dynamic is Republicans like Trump and Lewandowski forcing themselves on Democrats and the Democrats lacking the fortitude to respond appropriately. This display of raw dominance is very appealing to Trump's base, who themselves feel week and impotent, and get a vicarious thrill of smashing stuff up.
It's as if Democrats never heard Maya Angelou: "When someone shows you who they are, believe them; the first time." Democrats aren't even getting any good photo-ops. All they got Lewandowski to admit too is that he lies to the press and public, which is not illegal.
20
The American people will now be a judge of their future.
5
Frank, you hit the nail so squarely on the head with this Op Ed that it went through the plank entirely. Giving a stage to these vermin and then not being able to hold them accountable for their behavior is an outrage! Talking about impeachment with an election around the corner and a Senate full of lackeys is ridiculous. As of today, Congressional Democrats have done ZERO to hold any of the people who have flouted the country's laws and shown contempt for Congress accountable. As the rules are written, they have ZERO ability, on their own, to demand respect and accountability. They need to accept this and work with it UNTIL the day comes that they can legislate change that will make it into law and the only way to do that is to flip the Senate and regain the White House. ENOUGH with these hearings. They should be passing legislation that forces the Senate to take a stand, thus calling them out to the electorate. They should be passing measures that strengthen Obamacare. They should repeal the Trump tax cuts. They should pass legislation that strengthens the Emoluments Clause and prevents presidents from profiting and pilfering while in office. Let Moscow Mitch refuse to take up those measures and use it against them. With the election looming, no one, not even members of the so-called "squad" believe that Trump will be removed from office through impeachment and the electorate doesn't want distractions taking away from the contest that is coming. End of story.
16
"I have no obligation to be honest with the media because they're just a dishonest as anyone else."
For anyone wondering HOW he might be elected in NH, the remark above from his testimony last week pretty much sums up the attitude of the people in Northern MA and NH. Cynical, negative, nihilist, pugnacious, contemptuous, grounded in suspicion of anyone known.
Trump is a nihilist. Nihilism is a philosophy few Americans understand, not that few more are acquainted with other philosophies. Trump has attracted the worst like-minded people this nation has to offer, from "I forgot about the $100M in offshore assets" Mnuchin (which would have automatically disqualified anyone else) to "alternative fact / alternative universe KA Conway to serial liar and insinuator Sara Huckabee. They are all moral nihilists. Moral nihilists assert that there is no inherent morality, and that accepted moral values are abstractly contrived meaning that, in some aspect, knowledge is not possible, or reality does not actually exist and that there are no necessary norms, rules, or laws. Lewandowski simply embodies and exudes the above character faults spectacularly indignantly. He'll be forgotten before long.
17
Undeserving fealty and protection of the leader are not merely a perversions of this particular administration. They are leading principles of fascist politics. So is the relentless lying and the steady subversion of law and public decency. This not something Trump or the Republicans happened to stumble upon. Nancy Pelosi gets nothing about this. She and the great majority of Democrats continue to behave as if the Republicans are a political party in the traditional American mold. They are not. Trump, his acolytes, and the Republican Party have wholly adopted the fascist political model. Trump may, indeed, not be able to spell fascism, but he and the Republicans fully grasp fascist political tools and objectives. It is irrelevant that they don’t adhere to or understand some doctrines of 1920’s fascism. They are very effectively using the tools of fascist politics to achieve the fascist objectives of power and the ability to impose their beliefs on an entire country. Political pundits would do well to seriously read history.
16
Speaker Pelosi must insist that the ONLY speakers at the hearings are the Chairman, Ranking Member, and the Democratic Staff Lawyer and the Republican Staff Lawyer. Otherwise, the circus ensues. Committee members CAN FILTER ALL QUESTIONS THROUGH THE RESPECTIVE STAFF LAWYERS. No grandstanding - justice!
15
I think the Democratic outrage toward Lewandowski's behavior definitely plays into the right wing media, who , like Trump, portrays his repeated illegal activities as perfectly normal. The effect of this make the Democrats look especially like they are simply hounding Trump.
Repeatedly threatening contempt charges but not following through will only embolden those who are summoned under subpoena for questioning.
There desperately needs to be leadership to fix contempt charges so that they can be used effectively.
13
More of the same from this administration and its lackeys. I wonder if putting all the House committees' focus just on obstruction of justice, handed to them on the Mueller platter, wouldn't have done the trick. Even now, some reporters talk about "collusion" in the report, which the report specifically said was not the case.
I thought the point was that despite no collusion, Trump and his campaign knew about and approved of the foreign intervention in his campaign, also illegal. Why not get him on that?
4
Nice piece, Mr. Bruni. Seems like any House vote to impeach hits a Senate brick wall, and the unresolved controversy changes few voters minds from their prior positions. I do believe that Trump showed corruption in withholding military aid to Ukraine until they find corruption by his leading opponent in the upcoming Presidential election. But the usual blockage of even the details of the case, by political appointees of the President, threaten to stymie the case.
To break that blockage, logic would dictate that if the issue did not arise formally among the Intelligence agencies then it is not legally within the jurisdiction of the National Intelligence Chief. Therefore, the pathway from the Inspector General to the House of Representatives should not go through the National Intelligence Chief. Is this correct logic, Frank?
1
The public can do duty on Election Day, but that's over a year away. In the meantime, I expect the Democrats in Congress to do their jobs and show some backbone while they're at it.
16
For impeachment to succeed, nearly 40% of the 53 Senate Republicans would need to be persuaded to vote for conviction.
These men and women have watched Trump’s myriad violations of law and decorum, and their response has ranged from silence to explicit support for the President.
Now, what kind of odds do you assign to the prospects of the President leaving office via impeachment?
Slim to none, methinks...
4
@Garrison1 Conviction is highly unlikely. But an impeachment process detailing vividly the criminality of this regime and forcing the senators to go on record acquiescing in that criminality might deliver the senate from their dirty hands.
16
What exactly is it that drives Democrats into repeated fits of outrage over replays of the same, well worn, well-understood, horrific Trump behavior?
What is it that drives the call for impeachment - a quixotic endeavor that currently can only end in Trump’s being absolved by the Senate?
Why is it that with a year left till the most important presidential election in history, the US Democratic Party is emoting like a spoiled child, rather than developing, then getting behind a program and candidate that will rid us forever of this president?
In my opinion the impeachment fanatics should take their investigations private for awhile. If they can find a smoking gun so very compelling that it will tip the balance in the Senate, let them re-emerge, then impeach.
But in the absence of such a smoking gun, continuing on this same, tired path elevates the likelihood Trump wins a send term. And that will be a disaster for America...
10
In this age of streaming
Democratic Leaders (?)
are still listening to record players
They just don't get modern media
hence the rise of Indivisible, Swing Left, Sister District et al
to do what a political party ought to do.
Nancy and Chuck and Gerald, I love you,
You've done well, Thanks and you are excused
so we can replace you with the next generation
...
Sometimes it appears that the headline writers are not in sync with the authors of columns. For example using the word "audacity" to describe "Trump and his Tribe" is putting a positive spin on the dreadful behavior of the current administration since audacity is often used in a positive way.
Lewandowski's behavior in response to questioning by the House Judiciary Committee, in particular, was so outrageous that he should have been slapped with a contempt of Congress citation immediately.
Mr. Bruni asks "How, for instance, did Jerry Nadler, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, and his colleagues on that panel not realize that Lewandowski’s appearance would play out precisely as it did?" If, in fact, many people judge others by what they know of themselves, it may not have occurred to the decent and honorable members of that Committee that Lewandowsk would flaunt his nastiness so completely under questioning. Probably most of them were taken aback by the uncivilized, uncouth and contemptuous words of the man in front of them.
11
We should all be well past the ever lowering phases of astonishment about this mess. Instead of saying or hearing what the Dems "should do", I say they'd better step on it, and do it quickly.
I see NO reason why the integrity of the 2020 election will be any different than the litany of myriad cited conventions, legal constraints, traditions, protocols, constitutional mandates that have been brazenly flouted thus far with this bunch.
By the way, this implied "who's your daddy" posture didn't begin with the Trumpers. See Financial Sector Bailout, Citizens United, SCOTUS Justice Block for starters.
Much the same way in which all the ultimately mollifying eggs were placed in the Mueller Investigation basket, Dems are naively--extremely foolishly-- putting all stock in the 2020 election as the day when the final high moral ground judgement will be made.
Haven't we seen enough to quite credibly doubt that process won't be wholly compromised if not totally corrupted? Those multiple scenarios are quite plausible and perhaps quite likely when one considers the fact that these crooks have shown no compunction thus far--why should we believe they'll straighten up and fly right (out of town) come 2020?
We need to get cracking with the cracking down on this NOW. This is a coup in progress and has been for some time.
6
I believe that the people of New Hampshire are very wise and would promptly take care of Mr. Lewandowski.
4
I agree with every comment that reprimands the Dems on the judiciary committee for such a meek, mild and cowardly spectacle. It was humiliating, and I suspect some observers might consider "how can I vote for a Presidential candidate from such a spineless, weak party?" The committee members, all, were, incredulously, unprepared for Lewandowski and partially
saved only by the talents of Barry Berke. I cried while watching the snarky Lewandowski. Contempt oozed from every pore of his body. Pelosi may be great at her job, but I respectfully disagree with her decision to "count on" the vote in November and not back impeachment. This entire administration is an affront to our democratic republic and must be, and should have already been, indicted for, if nothing else, the history books.
9
Chairman Nadler impeachment committee allowed this joker to perform his show Lewandowski direction of the Pres. Donald Trump. The only thing that Chairman Nadler to do contempt a Congress with jail time until he answered the questions about Pres. Donald Trump, if I was Chairman Nadler I would call him back Lewandowski to serve the contempt citation and lock him up beneath the House of Representatives the jail cell is waiting for him .
During his testimony he was texting out to run for senator at New Hampshire, I hope people will see the way other people see him as a puppet for President Donald Trump.
Chairman Nadler has the power but is not using it neutered from the President Donald Trump. The only thing Chairman Nadler can do now is to use his office to stop the shenanigans like Lewandowski.
2
Thank you New York Times for Frank Bruni's opinion columns.
Truly, I think that his readers, are among the few readers of the New York Times who comment, who are actually educated, and read the "news" consistently.
The comments to this article are very enlightening and I agree with the commenters who state that 1) we have no idea how well or unwell the 2020 election might proceed, so we cannot rely upon the election as a solution to correct illegal conduct during a congressional investigation, and 2) the Democrats must sanction the illegal conduct of a witness.
Most court proceedings loathe to criminally sanction a witness, no matter how blatant their misconduct. However, nearly in all cases, the individual who does violate legal procedure does suffer some consequence - later.
In my opinion, when a reporter discovers that the interviewee has not read a key piece of information - a book in this case, a report in a book, at all, but has commented on it and offered an opinion -
"also the morning after, during an interview with CNN’s Alisyn Camerota, when he (Lewandowski) inaccurately described Mueller’s report while blithely conceding that he hadn’t read it."
the reporter's duty is to stop the interview and reprimand the interviewee by stating that his comments are not credible and that she won't be enabling his lying.
It's not just the "democrats" who have to push back against the legal abuser and correct him, it's the media TOO!.
5
I respectfully disagree with Bruni. The Lewandowski hearing reminded me of the HRC testimony before Congress. What goes around comes around! Democrats tolerated Clinton all too convenient memory lapses.
2
Frank Bruni, I always enjoy your pieces. You summed up Trump World perfectly when you described Lewandowski as having, "a proudly situational relationship with the truth".
The passive responses of our Democratic Leaders is depressing to the Democratic Party base. We need to see Pelosi and Schumer fighting back, because, along with their contempt for integrity and truth, Trump's people never stop plowing forward with their agenda to take down our democratic government.
Waiting for Nov 2020 is a mistake
3
@Reliance Trump's people have contempt for integrity and truth! :) TDS
1
Barry Berke established that Mr Lewandowski, by his own admission is a serial liar when, as he says, he is not under oath. Why then should the media ever bother to interview him? Such promulgation of “fake news” is hardly the domain of Mr Lewandowski alone. It seems many in the administration, including Ms Sanders, Ms Conway, and many others all seem to believe they have little obligation to say anything truthful to the press, when, as Mr Lewandowski says, they are not under oath. According to Mr Lewandowski, he does this because the press misrepresents what he says so he is therefore under no obligation to tell the truth. After one lie, this should not surprise us. I have to say, I’m particularly impressed with the uncanny ability of Mr Lewandowski or any others in the administration to know when they are telling the truth and when they are lying. It must be very confusing to live in a world of reality overlaid with a world of lies. Maybe the problem is that the worlds have become so convolved that separating them into self consistent entities has become impossible. A good reason to dispense with daily briefings. Either Mr Berke needs to interrogate each of Mr Trumps minions to sort this out, or anybody who talks to anybody in this administration should carry around a bible to swear in the spokesman du jour. I’m sure Bibles are available at fine bookstores everywhere (or on Kindle), right next to Mr Lewandowski’s book, something he repeatedly noted. That’s the truth.
2
@Kalman - and you don't think other politicians, and non politicians, do similar things.
Obama told the Russians to wait until after the election to negotiate with him. He told the American people they would be able to keep their doctors, he knew when he said it he was LYING. The Clintons were pathological liars.
So what if Lewandowski did, unless congress puts him up on charges. That committee knows they are operating in a charade.
2
This piece and the recent Op-Ed piece ("Why Republicans Play Dirty" by Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt; Sept 20) clearly indicate that the civilized discourse and rules of decorum that elected Dems continually fall back on (the evidence we have seen since the start of the year is that threats from Democratic-chaired Congressional committee are empty - put someone in jail for contempt of Congress, for God's sake) are swatted away by Trump and his ilk to the point of their being ignored. Has Pelosi considered the fact that her Democratic Party looks more and more like they cannot accomplish ANYTHING if they cannot even gather evidence to put together an obvious impeachment argument against this criminal in the White House?
6
We have a dearth of all the wrong politicians and enablers destroying our fragile democracy.
Flawed though it was ethics and policies still mattered .
4
Frank Bruni's excellent description of the ongoing massacre of democratic impotence reminds those of us whose memory recalls all of the historical antecedents of totalitarian takeovers.
For Trump believers we are finally "really # 1"; we are still "that shinning city on the Hill", and if "Democracy dies in darkness" who put out the lights? Slogans are for simpletons as they infantilize knowledge. This is a democracy looking for a rest home where looking back is" Happy Hour".
1
Thanks for this very insightful column, Mr. Bruni. I've been reading about Weimar Germany recently, and the behavior of the Trumpites is a lot like the scornful, openly dishonest behavior of the German Right at that time (not only the Nazis, but they did it the most effectively), where they took pride in doing precisely what seemed shameful to people devoted to the law and the constitution. As Mr. Bruni indicates, its important both to keep our institutions functioning properly, and to keep them seen to function properly. And yes, winning in 2020 is crucial.
4
Many years ago, when trump was in the process of taking valuable land from Palm Beach County for a golf course while simultaneously demanding that the PBC airport reroute their planes so as not to disturb his newly acquired Mar-a-Lago, I had a repetitive disturbing vision about him. Unbidden, I would see him walking down the streets of Palm Beach and he would spontaneously burst into flame. For many years, I assumed that this vision was a product of my intense disgust for him.
Now I believe that God was trying to show me that he is the anti-Christ. Between lewandowski, miller, ross, mnuchin, et al, his minions are flinging it in our faces while we continue to believe we will overcome him somehow, someday.
Rise up, America, or we are doomed. Whether you believe in God, satan, Christ, Mohammed, Yahweh, or any other deity, or none at all, if we don’t fully support the Democrats now, our children will grow up in an unimaginable world.
6
Unfortunately, Bruni doesn't know any better than the Democrats quite how to deal with the outrageous arrogance of a Lewandowski whose behavior is straight out of the Roy Cohn/Donald Trump handbook. When, he describes Democrats as looking pathetically weak and still lends some credence to the characterization of the opposition to Trump as elites, he serves the purposes of the carefully contrived arrogant posture of so many Republicans. I think left to themselves most Americans would be repulsed by the Lewandowski stance without the encouragement to consider it a sign of strength and a justified challenge to entrenched power.
2
The road to Trump's demise "runs through the ballot box." Another erroneous assumption. It should come as no surprise when Trump declares martial law on November 1, 2020 and suspends the election indefinitely. Or if he allows the election to go forward and loses, he'll declare voter fraud and hold up the results in the courts for who knows how long.
And now that he's softened up our military with luxurious stays at his golf resort, who knows how anxious they'll be to disobey their commander-in-chief when he issues illegal, unconstitutional orders
5
Just as the Iranians know that Trump's "locked and loaded" threats are empty, Trump and his associates know that the Democrats are shooting blanks, afraid to exercise their constitutional power lest it lead to unpopularity and loss of power. If you threaten an advisary and fail to follow through, respect is lost and your advisary behaves as if there is no threat. This is a sad chapter in american history. We have a president who is contemptuous of congress, and a congress that does not have the integrity to act against his contempt. I'm disgusted.
2
The Democrats will continue to fail as long they keep bringing a knife to a gunfight. The fact that at this point they didn't anticipate Lewandowski's performance demonstrates that they are pitiably clinging to old rules of decorum. Nobody associated with Trump is going to follow the rule of law. Assume the worst behavior and plan ahead for that. Start imposing fines and contempt charges. Throw somebody in jail for withholding testimony.
We can already see the script development of the Biden story and it parallels the Hillary emails/Bengazhi/Vince Foster playbook. Repeat a lie often enough and it becomes true. Russia, Iran, China & other adversaries will interfere in the election. If Trump gets reelected with a Senate majority, the U.S. will become an authoritarian banana republic. The Supreme Court will back him up 100%. This is happening, it's not a dream.
4
“if Democrats didn’t possess whatever requisite combination of legal authority and political will to hold him in contempt right then and there, they shouldn’t have given him the stage.”
That is the salient point. Don’t engage unless you’re willing to go at it. Lewandowki’s reprehensible performance should have ended with him being dragged out in cuffs, off to a cell. If Maguire refuses to produce the documents that he’s legally required to produce, arrest him. As Talking Heads sang: “This ain’t no party, this ain’t no disco, this ain’t no fooling around.”
5
Have we ever seen a better illustration of contempt of congress? Or a better reason to jail the miscreant?
3
"Did that look of unalloyed contempt come naturally to Corey Lewandowski, or did he rehearse it?"
Partly. He honed it as a young republican in Northern Massachusetts, where most people are just like him.
2
Nadler doesn't have the guts or situational awareness to wield his power. Lewandowski should be in jail on contempt, and fed nothing but cold US Senate Bean Soup.
The Democrats need to grow a spine and understand that they are in a political war to save the country from a tyrant.
3
If the US electorate elects Trump in 2020, quite simply, the world will understand that American democracy does not exist, that the US is not what it touts itself to be, that the majority does not elect its candidate - for all sorts of corrupt reasons.
7
The reason why impeachment won't work as an act of politics or law is that Trump's bad behavior has become normalized and most people will not feel the burn, the outrage, the shock and awe that impeachments must cause to be successful. To be clear, impeachment proceedings will be no more compelling than any one of Trump's weekly gaffs, and he will make many boorish moves to upstage such proceedings and use impeachment as a platform by which to run for a second term.
Vote him and his enablers out of office by wide margins and move on. The USA is still an adolescent nation, we are young and we made a stupid teenage mistake by putting Trump into power.
2
The indecisiveness of the Democrats is becoming mind numbing. After 15 minutes of Lewandowski's testimony they should have had him arrested for contempt of congress and let him go to court to extricate himself.
5
I'm actually guardedly hopeful.
Trump's mentor was Roy Cohn, one of the most loathsome men this country has ever produced.
Cohn died disbarred, disgraced, friendless and alone.
The disciples of such a man usually face similar fates.
6
@michael anton May Trump die disbarred, disgraced, friendless and alone!:) TDS
2
Note to Democrats: Get mean. Get nasty. Or, you will lose.
8
@Robert Blankenship Get mean. Get nasty!! :) TDS
Good lord, have all the centrists given up on the NYT? There must be some diversity of opinion at this venue. What the Trump lovers witnessed: Mr. Lewandowski told the truth to congress just as he did for the deep state for over 20 hours. To our amazement, Mr. Lewandowski refrained from sarcasm to the fools and traitors who questioned him despite the impotence of the Mueller Report and the hypocrisy of Hillary and Biden's collusion. Lewandowski hit home when he said, "the Dems hate Trump more than they love America".
3
Frank, Trump has not discovered anything. He is incapable of discovery. He believes what he says when he says it, regardless of what it is. He does not deeply ponder anything ever. The people around him flatter him as much as possible and lie to him to manipulate him (it works) and he gets to hear on FOX and SINCLAIR, every minute of every day, that he is doing a fantastic job. The GOP, especially McC, are aware they can stay in power as long as they let him do his thing in public. The crazier the better.
There are people, like Lewandowski, who want to ride on Trump's middle finger-ness and don't really care about the things you listed like protocol, ethics, dignity, decorum and honesty. They deeply believe DJT is being persecuted unjustly by the Democrats. They believe he is doing a great job, trashing everything from the past that was built up over 70 years. They want what he wants. Power.
To give most of these people credit for being thinkers is foolish. YOU are a thinker. Most of the readers here are.
Mrs. Pelosi is wrong not to go on full frontal attack and get as many of these people locked up as possible. Nadler should have had Lewandowski taken away in handcuffs. Same with others who "refuse" to answer or simply do not show up to testify. She is frightened of losing control, but fear is a poor tactic for success. Man the torpedoes and full speed ahead would be better than being cowed into a corner, no? If this is posted, please keep the paragraph breaks!
1
I don't want impeachment because it won't work. Speaker Pelosi knows this. So why are the Democrats screwing around? There's ample evidence of crimes by Barr, Lewandowski, Trump and loads of others. Find a judge who will sign arrest warrants. Send men with guns and badges to arrest people. "But the Secret Service wouldn't allow that." Then have an armed standoff live on television and let the press explain.
2
Mr. Brunei is correct.
The Mueller Report is more than sufficient grounds to begin impeachment proceedings, but if Democrats performance during the recent hearings with Mueller and Lewandowski are any indication, Nadler & Co. will make a dog's breakfast of such an impeachment process.
They looked like the Keystone Kops. Another series of performances like that will just add to the perception that they are inept and weak.
Keep your powder dry and vote for the Democratic nominee in 2020.
2
In history caution rarely wins the day. The sorry Democratic response to the impudent trashing of all agreed-upon-for-centuries behavior is handwringing and wishywashy tut tuts. They should be burning down the Capitol with fiery unending denunciations. I wish they would act - uncontaminated by handwringing about the future. Just do the right thing NOW. It’s impeachment. Period. Being authentic and morally congruent is where it’s at now. That’s the fundamental revulsion for D.C. Egg headed cerebrals trying to forecast a best-possible future and best-possible moves without taking their own bold action guarantees history will act upon them. As others have pointed out...who says Putin can’t throw the whole thing his way again? There may not be another shot. A gamble. Just raise the moral standard, get on the field, and charge.
4
I believe democrats will find many folks will stay home and not vote because the folks they voted for roll over and beg for bones.
3
Let’s see if I have this straight... Dems subpoena’ed Lewandowski to a “hearing” on how to impeach Trump. Lewandowski showed up, but wasn’t the prop & punching bag that he was intended to be. He actually out-politicked the politicians... Out-lawyered the lawyers. And he plugged his “New York Times best-seller” books, and launched a Senate campaign. Quite a good day at the office for Lewandowski. Just sayin’...
4
Hits the nail on the head. The abject cowardice of the Democrats is appalling. They are terrified of their own shadows. At the end of the hearing, Nadler should have ordered the Sgt. at Arms to place Lewandowsky under arrest for contempt of Congress and locked him up in the basement of the Capitol. Who would have challenged him? House Republicans of course but they are in the minority. Let them scream foul until they succumb to apoplexy. Who cares? Looking to the courts for relief is an exercise in futility. The courts will not get involved. Either the Democrats in the House start acing like a co-equal branch or they will be reduced to a footnote in the history of fascist America.
6
@Barry Newberger Lock him up in the basement of the Capitol!! Huh! :)
1
No. Don't wait until 2020. Act now--employ a strategy that will put the pox on these contemptuous preening jerks. It can be done; BEFORE you give them a national stage. Time to roll!
3
I can't help but feel that the Trump sycophants are acting out the parts in an episode of The Apprentice--a pathetic version of the old saying that life imitates art...
3
I am appalled they did not find him in contempt and have him marched to the Capitol jail. Jerry Nadler looks like a weak fool. I’m sick of the equivocating and handwringing in the face of all-out Republican assaults on our democracy. It’s the wrong way to deal with a bully. Flat out wrong. But make no mistake, the Republicans have taken note and are salivating over it.
4
Lewandowski is a little jerk acting gansta. And Trump, his potential benefactor, loves it.
An impeachment proceeding will assume the same demeanor. Just imagine the degree of contempt on display. Giuliani has no difficulty brazenly lying and contradicting himself in public.
Unless Trump and his abettors are confronted with serious jail time, nothing will change.
Trump has implemented mobster rule in the White House and the Republicans are loving it.
2
Sir,
Now that you suggest the only solution is the ballot box, I wonder if you will also accept that the “Big One” as your colleague M. Dowd writes today doesn’t exist, has been misguided all along, has been a political waste of time, and and unneeded distraction from doing the hard work needed to improve our country. Regrettably I think the Democrats and some of the media have been useful idiots all along. You can do more that just “oversight” and you should. Come on, you can do better.
1
Cowards. All of them.
Wait for 2020? In what alternate universe do you respond to crime, including contempt of Congress, by just chillin' until the criminal loses an election?
Good thing Son of Sam and Jeffrey Dahmer weren't running for office.
1
I wrote for over a year that unless we nominate a guy willing to jump in the sewer and beatdown on Trump in his favorite battlefield we are doomed.
Does anyone believe either Sanders or Biden is cable of beating trump in the sewer?
What a woman nominee like Warren or Harris will do when he starts trashing them with names, insults, and humiliations? Who can imagine what she will say back to him?
Trump will ever allow us to beat him with norms or traditions.
He will force the whole nation to meet him where he always belong; a rotten ugly disgusting sewer bond.
And guess what? He will win.
An overwhelming majority of Whites admire his thuggish behaviour. It's an insurance policy for them.He is their last defender from a Colored American.
I thought Andrew Comuo is the only Dem capable and willing to meet Trump in a BX sewer bond. But he opted out.
1
Enough with the ranting and crying already!
1
Mr. Bruni is pointing to the bigger danger posed by the Trump-Republican phenomenon and that is in some outrageous way, Trump will attempt to render the 2020 election null and void if he loses by challenging the results' authenticity. It is a classic strategy by autocrats. He cares not a bit about whether the election is fair as long as he wins.
Trump and people like Lewandowski will not go quietly nor will they suddenly come to respect the rule of law. But they should come to fear it.
6
Why aren’t Joe Biden’s friends across the aisle reaching out and helping him now? Are they waiting for him to be president?
4
Dems need to step up their game. Four years of unchecked lawlessness by the GOP is unacceptable. Lewandowski should be in jail for contempt. Trump should be impeached and then sent to prison. Impeach Barr. Impeach Pence. Use the checks and balances of the Constitution. This is outrageous.
4
@By Lewandowski should be in jail for contempt! Did he lie?
1
I graduated at the rock bottom of my class at The School Of Arrested Development! And even I knew that Cory Lewandowski was going to come to that hearing and be Cory Lewandowski!
One would’ve thought that Cohen’s KFC minstrelsy was absurdity's absolute-zero! But it wasn’t! The Democrats managed to out bottom that! It was a performance that gives those of us who are viscerally repulsed by trump misgivings about them being in charge of ANYTHING!
2
Not sure what hearing you watched?
When the attorney took over the questioning, Mr Lewandowski was chewed up and spit out. He admitted to lying in public multiple times and painted a clear picture of trump’s Russian collusion and obstruction of justice.
Trump is corrupt and morally bankrupt playing the country like a NY real estate conman.
3
Like every bully, Trump and his ilk know they can take advantage the Dem's wanting to be civil and play by the rules.
If they don't get organized and grow a spine soon, Dem's in the House will have only their "honor" to comfort them as they are laughed off the stage for failing to arrest Trump and his corrupt gang.
2
Hints? You are giving us hints?
All through this piece you lectured us as if you had the answer.
I’m thinking that’s not the case.
Decent people are ALL aghast at Trump, his minions, his enablers in Congress and of course our fellow Americans who support these fascists.
Don't attack the Democrats Mr. Bruni. We are working within the system to try and fix a problem that seeks to destroy our country.
3
Yes, from the beginning of Trump no one knew how to fight him.
All he is doing is following Roy Cohn rules.
The Cohn rule is to fight back a thousand times stronger.
You can’t out decent Trump.
In the 2020 election he must be fought head on in order to win over his base votes!
2
The Democrats have to realize they’re dealing with brazen criminal lowlifes who are using theater to skate charges against them, and act accordingly. They should use seasoned prosecutors to conduct the questioning, and dispense with any attempt to out-theater these crooks, since such attempts elevate these bums to the same level as the questioners.
2
Only one third of the senators are up for election in 2020. This awful system is nothing but insult to intelligence.
2
Republican Senators were tougher in trying to stop one of their own, Senator Warren, from speaking than the Democrats were with Lewandowski. The chairman should have gaveled him into submission when he answered questions with insults; the chairman should have killed his microphone. The chairman and committee should have voted to hold him in contempt on the spot.
4
Maybe the time is nigh for Lewandowski to be made an example of.
Maybe the time is nigh to subject him and all others who show such belligerence and disregard for the rule of law.
Maybe the time is nigh for implementing public canings.
Even if the physical pain can be endured, the humiliation of it all should send a message.
2
I'm not sure it's bad to give these people the rope to hang themselves with. Dems just need to play the long game. No one respects a cheat and a liar. The novelty will wear out. We just gotta stop reacting to it.
1
Why is it that Bruni and so many are framing this administration’s immoral and corrupt behavior as a reflection on the democrats? Trump, Lewandowski, Ross and these cronies are wicked, malicious creatures on their own. There is no precedent for this type of official behavior. There is no playbook. I agree with ongoing sessions to showcase how bad these people are. Lewandowski may have been campaigning but there are voters on both sides. Let 2020 be the judge that convicts these criminals.
2
Democrats shouldn't hold these hearings unless they have a hammer, one that they will use. Otherwise they look ridiculous and weak.
2
Why weren’t these arrogant disrespectful witnesses thrown in jail for contempt and heavily fined.is that not an option.
1
When are YOU going to do some real reporting that starts by asking Republicans in the senate what they think about each event such as this and getting their names on the record instead of blaming the Democrats for this disaster. About 15 Republicans in the senate are keeping our country at the mercy of this horror show. YOU and the rest of the media should never forget this
4
"Democrats in near permanent state of hysteria that can easily look like overreaction. " yup. Sure does.
2
By next Wednesday this will be on the back burner, and by Friday forgotten by most people. True, it may be taken to federal court by the outraged Dems, there to slowly slip away like all the other court cases, even won cases, like the Mazars and D. Bank Trump docs.
Anyone remember those names?
Any docs yet Gerry?? Who knows. I think not. ??
But for all the arm waving, a bunch of smart, sincere and experienced Dem pols are looking weak, ineffective, powerless, even stupid and clueless.
They also forget that in the modern age of politics, since way back when in the RR and Gingrich days, caution is a killer, boldness wins every time.
" , they’re still putting too much faith in an old-fashioned rule book and they’re still not looking around corners as well as they should be."
Frank's best line in the piece.
They are NOT looking around corners, so anyone whom may have actual access to the Dems need to tell them to form a plan now for when Trump invalidates/cancels the election results under a national emergency declaration, and refuses to leave the Oval Office on Inauguration Day 2021.
Now, when it happens, and it will, then need to not look surprised, stupid, mouth agape, mumbling about 'This is unprecedented', and file a suit in court.
They need to be ready. What being ready may look like, I don't know. But they should know and must know.
1
I respectfully disagree that the House should not impeach. The House has enough evidence from the Mueller report to impeach and certainly has to stop Trump if there is any possibility it can. Ukraine was brazen, but I believe Trump has been more brazen with Putin, Sisi, Dutarte and Kim Jong Un. The US is at grave risk of perishing as a democracy every minute Trump spends in the WH. If the House does nothing he will be encouraged to expand on the Lewandowski performance.
The House should impeach as soon as possible. Even if the Senate acquits as expected, there will have been a trial conducted in front of Chief Justice Roberts. Although he is ideologically similar to Thomas, Alito, Gorsuch and Kavanaugh, he is clearly independent of them. He voted twice to uphold Obamacare. If Trump and his slaves behave in a Senate trial the way Lewandowski behaved, the Chief Justice will not tolerate it. Second he will be exposed in person to the most damning evidence the House managers can muster. It may influence his votes in future close cases involving Trump.
Also, when the Republican House impeached Clinton and the Senate acquitted, it was the Republicans who won the next presidential election. The conventional wisdom which you, Mr. Bruni, and Speaker Pelosi adopt; I believe is wrong.
2
Great analysis. "Owning the libs" has for some time been chum for a demographic base that takes cues blindly from spiteful conservative pundits. This impulse overrides any reason, rule, or patriotic duty.
2
And the spineless Democrats sat there and took Lewandowski's abuse with nary a word said.
Lewandowski should have been cited for contempt and jailed.
But he wasn't and this is why Trump and his Wrecking Crew will win again in 2020.
3
Why, oh, why didn't they put their staff lawyer up first? Why, oh, why was that so hard to figure out?
Hapless. Embarrassing. Frustrating.
When all this started I heard how great Jerry Nadler would be, how smart he is, how he'd pin the Trumpsters down. I keep waiting and waiting to see that brilliance. What I see is a nattering nabob of nothingness.
We have a criminal in the White House who flagrantly brags about his crimes and we have his little cohorts running around laughing at all of our institutions. We have a Democratic majority who just want to grandstand.
And we have a country that's dying from corruption. I fear the wimpiness of the Democratic majority. I fear there won't be a 2020 election. I fear Trump will never be gone.
5
And so, what should the Dems do?
Times have changed, people and their morals have changed but the old laws and norms of congress have not. Congress is really toothless and we need to change that. Lie to Congress, get thrown in jail. Mouth off to Congress -- make it like being held in contempt of court. Do it and you're thrown in jail. We are now in the age of thugs and liars, and unprecedented corruption. We need to give Congress the tools to deal with it.
3
It would have been so satisfying to watch LBJ handle trump and his sycophants.
2
Yes, of course, the ultimate answer is the ballot box next November, but can't the Dems show some backbone in the meantime? If Lewandowski's performance was not contempt of Congress, I don't know what is.
2
new hamshire, if you send lewandowski to the senate, we will ask you to leave the union.
2
Today’s Republican - compared to the Yesterday’s Republican Joe Biden thinks he knows - considers himself a member of a Ruling Class. He is superior to other people by virtue of whiteness or money or power or some combination of those attributes. He can look down his nose at others as long as he demonstrates fealty to Republicans above him (more money, power, or whiteness). Laws don’t matter much to him, as long as he toes the Party line; the Party will protect him somehow. It’s easy to insult people who think they have authority, if they’re not Republicans; they are inferior so just ignore what they tell you to do.
Modern Republicanism is a macho culture. You drive a pickup truck or a luxury car or are planning to do so when you get the money; you know your gun will keep you safe from people you don’t like, especially if they try to hurt you; you are always ready to fight or argue with a non-Republican, and if there is no fight or argument going on right now you might just go out and start one. Military things are fetish: uniforms and tanks and jet fighters and warships and flags satisfy a certain need in you. Even Republican women are macho, no matter how submissive they might act in private: in public don’t cross them or they’ll put a shiv in you, even if it’s only a verbal one, because they think they are, basically, better than other people. They don’t Govern, they Rule.
They should not be in power. Vote then out, every last one.
Vote Blue, No Matter Who!!
2
Lewandowski is the walking, talking personification of the evil that spews from the tRump occupation. When you look at him, you are looking at pure evil. I hope he will soon crawl back under his rock, along with the rest of that frightening, infectious mob. The cure is your vote for a healthy, thriving country. You know what you have to do.
3
The House Democrats are clowns. Lewandowski owned them. They thought they'd have hours of sound bites to recirculate through cable news, and he denied them that opportunity for partisan grandstanding. Kudos to him. They should be ashamed for the three year witch hunt and failure to do the people's business. They only care about political gamesmanship and the politics of personal destruction. They apparently don't like when the target of their Inquisitions doesn't play along.
2
In many ways this sounds familiar. Crime runs rampant through the city. The lawful authorities are baffled and shackled by due process, while a cartoonish mob boss thumbs his nose at the the rule of law and plans felonious caper after felonious caper to disturb the peace and tranquility of the frightened citizens of Gotham. Holy Constitution! Where's Batman when we need him? Both Corey Lewandowski and his crime boss, the ridiculously Orange-colored Trumpster, belong in Gotham not in the White House.
2
@Jay Masters Where's batman?!! haha
If New Hampshire votes in Lewandowski as their senator, we may have to expell them in disgrace from New England.
2
Frank Bruni simply does not get it here.
The entire sesson was set up to end with a serious and professional questioning of Lewandowski by a professional in the name of Barry Berke.
Process dictates that a committee cannot just turn over all examination to a lawyer... because the Congressional representatives on the committee are an active part of the committee. Hence.. the usual deflection, distraction, and delay from republicans, and half hearted poorly formed questioning by democrats. That was the undercard pregame showing... before the floor was turned over to Barry Berke.
Berke used Lewandowskis' own on the record lies and distortions to corner him into looking like a complete liar and fool. THIS was the plan from the beginning.
Should the committee hold Lewandowski in contempt for his behavior and refusal to answer basic questions by representatives? Perhaps... but on the other hand.. I think Berke put the skewer completely through the deceiver here and his Trumpish bluster and contempt for the rule of law.
In essence... the committee chair let Cory be Cory being Trump.. so Barry Berke could surgically cut him to pieces with his own contradicting statements. More of this needs to be done with other deceiving witnessess.... to expose to the maximum amount possible.. how terrible these people are for our representative democracy.
2
It's simple: power corrupts, but it also attracts those who aspire to have it rub off on them. That's why Trump has so many eager & willing enablers & toadies. When (and if) he loses that power, they will disavow him--either for his perceived 2024 successor (Pence), or their own lobbying & media deals.
2
Why have the Democrats not figured this out? They look so weak and disorganized and completely clueless. Why is there not one Democrat--just one--who will get in the face of a Corey Lewandowski and slap him down? And sweet Jesus, why on earth do these ridiculous Democrat Congresspeople insist on preening around in front of the cameras instead of letting their committee counsels interrogate their witnesses? Why, finally, are all of them wasting our time? I'm a Democrat, and I'm about done. If the Democrats' point is to alienate their own base, they're doing a fine job of it. We put them in office, all of these Democrats, because we're fed up and want Trump and his goons held accountable.
4
I watched as Corey manipulated Congress that day & recalled Trump's statement: "I could shoot somebody on 5th Ave. & not lose any voters, o.k.?"
Well, here was his stand-in (Corey), while the House Speaker & the Democratic Congress let both him, as well as some certifiable GOP Reps, do the shooting. The victims are the US voters & their international allies.
3
So again it’s lies over truth, sneakiness over civility, meanness over self control. It was a disgusting performance.
2
I am confounded by the idea that Dems on the judiciary committee would subject themselves to this impudent behavior, with no recourse other than to dismiss Lewindowski in disgust. If I were anticipating this behavior, I would have screamed "contempt" at the first refusal to cooperate, not that it would help my position, but at least I wouldn't look like a pathetic wimp. I don't understand how this furthers our understanding or our cause, which begs the question....why?
2
@Robert Scream "Contempt!!!" :)
How they could not conjure a contempt charge against this goon is bewildering. The Dems are playing beanbag, as usual.
3
Lewandowski was glaring, sneering and contemptuous, but how he really looked was scared and weak. He was acting just like Trump. He is insecure and pathetic. He is mealy-mouthed,(literally, where are his lips?) and hateful.
After his little act was over, and he was questioned by someone with real authority, he just squirmed in his seat.
All of these creeps will eventually get their due. I can't wait.
2
I think the House committees should issue contempt citations and shove some miscreants in the slammer for failure to appear, failure to comply with requests for info, obstructing Congress' investigations. These people will never acquiesce to anything Congress asks, so off to jail. DT will have his turn after he's thrown out in 2020
2
What a display of Trumpian cinicism, a cruel joke on the rule of law; and celebrated by the obstructor in-chief, Donald J. Trump. Lewandowski is a royal disgrace to civility.
2
Let's suppose Jerry Nadler had had Corey Lewandowski arrested. How likely is he to have had any other witness agree to testify before his committee? He needs to decide whether the occupant of the white house will want to negotiate for the release of anyone because he/she has backed the current administration. They can continue to play weak until they get the one witness they want that will get the administration's attention. Unfortunately, I cannot figure out who that might be. As far as I can see, the current occupant of the white house will let anyone rot in jail without soap, toothpaste, or mattresses to keep the Democrats from questioning anyone. On the other hand, the staff attorney got several damning revelations from Lewandowski that, I assume,Jean Shaheen will use in her campaign ads.
I am not sure where this ends. Every quarter I send estimated tax payments to the Department of the Treasury. Have I put already this money beyond the control of the House of Representatives, who supposedly have the power of the purse? Maybe the House Ways and Means Committee needs to have the IRS report directly to it and not to the Treasury.
2
I see this a different way. Corey Lewandowski showed himself to be a completely uncouth uncivil obnoxious liar who contradicted himself numerous times. In fact his last statements were that the Mueller report was not a witch hunt and did not exonerate Trump. His testimony will show Americans what an animal he is. He wont be elected in NH and neither will be Trump.
124
@terri smith
Indeed, BUT that is exactly why the powers that be admire and respect him. And / or fear him.
10
This is the pundit take that always gets me: "the frequency of [Trump's] questionable or outrageous behavior keeps Democrats in a near-permanent state of hysteria." IT'S NOT JUST DEMOCRATS! There are many erstwhile and current Republicans who also cannot abide Trump. It is a Coalition of the Decent. It is not partisan to want to protect American democracy and our institutions. I just wish the Democrats (and pundits) did a better job of articulating this.
3
@John B. I don’t see a lot of Republicans stepping up and protesting the outrageous behavior. The most assertive anti-Trump views by R’s in Congress have generally taken the form of either going silent or in leaving public service altogether.
Evil triumphs when good men remain silent.
1
Every time the Democrats end up overwhelmed by this type of dog and pony show, it makes them look powerless and indecisive. Worst if all, it's no just an illusion, they really are weak, divided, powerless and indecisive. Voters can sense that...
5
@loco73 But do voters really want an authoritarian who violates every norm and law? Deregulating our clean air, water and environmental laws? Letting big corp run wild? They sure did not in 2018. Trump lost big in 2018. I expect him to lose even bigger in 2020.
3
Thugs are the most predictable creatures on the planet (one can only assume half or DC expected the Biden-Ukraine shakedown).
If a model of the world still thinks of thugs as typical human being with a higher propensity for thuggish behavior, this model will continue to be surprised by what they do and how persistently they do it. In short, the model is refusing to adapt to the evidence, and this can lead to grave strategic errors.
This far in, it is safe to assume almost everyone in Trumpwolrd is a committed and shameless thug. One can be disgusted or disappointed by their actions, but the time for being surprised has long passed.
4
Nasty attracts nasty ; they have fealty because they're all in cahoots together . the Dems should have foreseen this , his persona having been on display openly . I hope if he runs in New Hampshire common sense prevails over partisanship , nasty not being nice and beyond naughty but more of a defect in a human being .
1
Strategic, tactical, I don't know. I think they enjoy being the bad boys on the side of the dance, smoking and giving authority the finger. Lewandowski looked liberated and joyful to me. However perversely, Trump and his followers are tapping into that old American visceral lust for freedom that comes really alive in the conflict. Democrats come across as the nerdy/prissy (not so subtle message, 'not masculine') rule followers who are trying to make sure that the bad kids get their due. The Trumpies pretend to to hate the 'fake media' and the 'witch hunts' but they are an existential part of the dialectic.
Impeachment seems like a fantasy. The Republicans are not going to say at any point, "I guess you're right". This actually is a kind of war (hopefully without too much more violence). One side will win through sheer force. As far as I can tell, there is no meaningful politics left.
5
The school yard bully will keep swaggering around the playground until someone connects with a punch or takes them down (does Rep. Nadler have a black belt in karate?). Come on guys, we learned a long time ago that Trump and his crew play dirty like the crime syndicate they are. Congress may not have RICO statutes, but they do have other tools to counter the stonewalling and corruption. Either take out the two by fours or keep giving your school lunch to Trump and sleaze bags like Lewandowski.
3
It is a colossal waste of time to become incensed by the likes of this scurrilous group of swap dwellers (i.e., Lewandowski, Mnuchin, McConnell, Miller, Kelly Ann Conway, Pence Guiliani etc., etc.). Time and time again they infuriate, intimidate, lie, bully all in the sycophantic service of their deranged boss. Impeachment, I'm afraid, would only galvanize Trump's legions, further divide the country and be a major distraction, providing Trump with the never ending media coverage that fuels his deviant journey. The democrats need to either fish or cut bait here, and in the meantime would probably be much better off as a party to jettison their internal differences and come together in a united effort to soundly defeat Trump and his odious cadre of incompetents in the 2020 election.
1
Every time the Democrats end up overwhelmed by this type of dog and pony show, it makes them look powerless and indecisive. Worst if all, it's no just an illusion, they really are weak, divided, powerless and indecisive. Voters can sense that...
2
I think the Democrats are playing Trump just right between NKorea, Iran, Russia, Ukraine, The Wall, Israel, Saudi’s, Brazil, Afghanistan, Pakistan, China, Turkey, Syria, Mexico, Venezuela, the economy tanking, another hurricane hitting the east coast, and Texas flooding for the fifth year in a row, re-election woes waiting for the next shoe to drop, why would he want to stay.
Politics is a copycat game. We are in trouble because Republicans began realizing years ago that it was possible to lie and distort and pay no penalty. They campaigned with racist dog whistles. They defamed the poor as not being "responsible" for their problems. Then they threw away the dog whistles and brought racism right out into the open.
When they noticed that people were worried about immigration, that was added to the playbook. That would not necessarily be the huge problem that it is, but they violated traditional norms and made their xenophobia a central issue.
Democrats have never been as good as Republicans at this game. It may be that they just don't realize how ruthless Republicans are willing to be, but I suspect that big money plays a significant role in manipulating public opinion.
We should all, especially real conservatives, be worried about the effect this has had and continues to have on our political system. Unless voters extract a political penalty for these tactics, it will get worse.
3
He admitted to lying to the American people on behalf of Trump. Isn’t that “gotcha” enough?
3
We are Pandora who, having opened her eponymous box and releasing evil into the world, closes it in a vain attempt to mitigate her actions. We have brought this reign of error upon ourselves since the 2016 election and see no way out.
But we forgot the last part of Pandora's lesson. The one thing she was able to keep in the box was hope.
In just such a way, having done everything else, the Democrats have another option remaining and it is time to use it. They need to defang the sycophants.
When a hearing goes south with the posturing and preening of a Lewandowski, the committee chair needs to continue the hearing but stop all audio-video recording. Let the print journalists remain to document the results of the hearing but end the displays for the Audience of One in the White House.
Even a journalist with the stature of an H.L. Mencken cannot capture with words what a 30 second soundbite offers as clickbait to the rabid base of our president and to the man himself.
Deny him his oxygen and he will suffocate and choke on his corruption. The Congress will do its duty and a revitalized polity will thank it.
3
Why are democrats always taken aback when one of the rights (no it's not just Trump's people) minions scoffs at the truth. Did you see Candace Owen's deluded rant last week in a House hearing and the smug look on Jim Jordan's and Mark Meadow's faces as she went off. They are disgusting and have no regard for the truth at all.
If we're going to go down, let's at least go down swinging. Impeachment proceedings in the House should start ASAP.
2
Lewandowski is the face of the Trump Administration: defiant, deceitful, uncooperative, arrogant, disdainful, entitled. Just like Trump.
Trump is facing indictment if he isn't re-elected. He will do anything to stay in office, anything to keep Congressional investigations at bay.
This is what a slow-moving coup looks like. Wake up, folks.
4
Trump goes for whatever the market will bear. The Democratic House "market" is apparently willing to bear quite a lot. Dems keep moaning about GOP senators not doing their job. The Dems, by letting this fool Lewandowsky walk out instead of being escorted to a cell, are no better.
1
The rules have been changed under this awful and amoral administration, but Dems like Nadler can’t seem to adjust, and come off looking foolish and ineffectual. Time to play hardball, House leaders.
1
I saw that Lewandowski interview with Alison Camerota. He insisted over and over that he was correct about what was in the Mueller report, and Camerota wrong, while at the same time repeatedly agreeing that he had not read it. How can any sane person support this pack of liars?
3
The next-level support, fealty and protection Trump receives from Republicans in his administration and Congress is a reflection of his incompetence not his strength. Because Trump has no idea how to govern effectively, he needs people around him who actually have experience in government--Kudlow, Pompeo, Mulvaney, et al-- to constantly project strength on his behalf. Most president's need advisors to guide their decision-making, Trump needs them as private tutors to educate him on the basics of government.
I agree that nobody looks good in this impeachment hearing, but Republicans in Congress underestimate how bad they look when they'd prefer to be on the side of someone like Lewandowski who was purposefully disrespectful, dismissive, cocky, and petty in front of these duly-elected representatives--and in their arena no less. For someone who said prior to the hearing on cable news that he'd be happy to answer the committee's questions b/c he had nothing to hide, Lewandowski certainly wasted a lot of time beating around the bush. If you had nothing to hide and were halfway decent, wouldn't you want to just answer the committee's questions and get the heck out of there instead of being defensive and projecting the kind of improper behavior you're being accused of?
1
As a loyal Democrat, I still can't stop laughing at the funniest joke of 2018:
"If we win the Congress we'll have ... [wait for it] ... subpoena power!"
2
In future hearings, Democrats all need to yield their time to Barry Berke. In the short time he questioned the witness he got more accomplished than the members of the committee did in hours. The way CL and others have thumbed their nose at Congress is a strategy that the stable genius wants his people to use. They are trying to run out the clock to impede the House from doing its job.
In addition, the chairs of the committees need to do more than threaten with contempt of Congress. As soon as witnesses fail to appear before Congress or began to behave the way CL did, the chairs needs to take action. Arrest them right on the spot! Keep them in jail and/or fine them until they begin to cooperate. This has been done in the past and if the stable genius’s minions don’t face consequences when they are in contempt of Congress, they will continue with this tactic.
Let’s see how many are willing to be arrested and be fined while the stable genius gets away with his crimes.
SEE:
reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-congress-subpoena-explainer/explainer-congress-no-longer-runs-a-jail-so-just-how-powerful-are-its-subpoenas-idUSKCN1S02K8
nytimes.com/2007/12/04/opinion/04tue4.html
3
This is how the world ends, not with a bang, but with a sneer. When agents of the government cease to care about duty and honor, all is lost. The handle has been pulled, and we're in the swirl before the flush.
The Kabuki displays of faux outrage, contempt, disregard and denial are for an audience of one. The president is watching, and he is pleased. And why not? It's what he would do. It's what he does.
Democrats are caught off guard, although you'd think they would have anticipated this behavior by now. Maybe they think that the government has rules that are there to prevent this kind of intentional disregard and grandstanding, and that honorable people will adhere to them.
But honor has left the building. It happened when the president entered it and squatted in the Oval Office.
3
Yes – you are right it’s a trap…totally self-inflicted, that is.
Democrats seem to be paralyzed by a spell when Trump et al do something so offensive, illegal and divisive. They “react” by repeating what happened – sometimes the headlines... verbatim. That’s it – still arguing about the impeachment inquiry and attacking each other who said what….30 years ago.
My fear and nightmare is a flare of the “Hillary-Sanders Syndrome”. I see the same symptoms and signs.
1
DJT will burn the Constitution during his next rally and his stooges will cheer him on. They will walk into his private vault, chests puffed out at being chosen, and initially relish the smell of "incense". They will continue to close their minds and walk backwards into the recesses of some terrible pain from someplace deep that they do not know exists and yell MAGA. They are the ultimate "fish" for a con man.
3
A totally predictable Lewandowski hearing fiasco should be a reminder to the left: If you find yourself in a hole, stop digging.
3
I wish every congressional Democrat would read this column.
Additionally, Mr. Bruni wrote, “Lewandowski’s performance, like Maguire’s refusal last week to share any details of the whistle-blower’s complaint, was just the latest reminder of the terrible corner that Trump puts Democrats in. Proudly flouting convention and brazenly bending the law,...”. They haven’t been “bending the law”, they have been categorically breaking the law.
1
Mr. Lewandowski tried for public office before. In his first try he got 7 votes. That's all you need to know about him, his family size, and circle of friends, such as they are.
It also reveals the current president's knack for singling out major losers, with low self-estem, whom he can mold into sychophants.
McConnell, Mnuchin, Pence, Mattis, Carson, Pompeo, Gaetz, Grassley, Graham, Gompert, Gohmert, Gosar, Gibbs, Gowdy, Giuliani, etc., and all those who did not fuffill the loyalty pledge.
2
How have we come to a point where some in congress with enough integrity to do their job are accused by a NY Times editorialist of “just not getting it?” Sadly, those few ‘heroes’ who are willing to stand up for the rule of law are up against not only the lawless but their hypocritical ‘friends’ in the media who call them fools for even attempting to do so.
And then there’s the conservative (sic) media.
1
I wanted to slap the sneer off his face and I was crestfallen that no Democrat had the smarts to do it.
Was Robert Mueller watching ?
2
He should have been arrested and taken to jail right then and there.
3
Let’s not play chicken within our alliance, Democrats. Well said, Frank
1
I'm with ya Frank. Democrats need to start jailing people for contempt.
2
It is not Trump who put Democrats in a corner, it is Pelosi.
She needs to insist her caucus be more prepared in their questioning and stop trying to show boat almost as much as the witnesses.
And how about some push back?
Barr blocks the acting DNI from giving the whistle blower info to Congress as per the law?
Impeach Barr.
Mnuchin violated the law and doesnt instruct the IRS director to turn over Trump's tax returns?
Impeach Mnuchin.
Ross lies about the reason for the census citizenship question?
Impeach Ross.
No lengthy, drawn out hearings. Do it on the spot and accept no excuses.
THAT will send a message more than subpoenas that get folded into paper airplanes by the recipient.
1
That Congressional hearing should have been behind closed doors. Why give such a venomous man the spotlight ?
2
We’re frustrated and furious. Our democracy is at stake. But what are we to do? What will a Trump impeachment accomplish? That damning vote by the House isn’t suddenly going to shame the president. What is there to suggest that American citizens will suddenly wake up to the maliciousness of Trump? If the record is then officially set, what will be the subsequent effect when the Senate majority rejects the House decision and Americans learn how the impeachment process works and that Trump is still in office? The GOP will march in lock step excoriating Democrat’s and their “partisan” attacks. Trump will remain as president, perhaps stronger than ever, as one more effort to defeat him fails. Republicans won’t be guided by their consciences or a commitment to the values of the founding fathers. Those days are over. As despicable as Trump and his party enablers are, the end of this nightmare will only come at the ballot box.
I was a toddler during the Roy Cohn era. I only know about him from books, and news articles and television and I know he represents the ugly underbelly of America in some of its ugliest times.
So why there is no immediate solace to be found in what transpired last week at the Lewandowski committee meetings, I do think that many years from now, Lewandowski might be the short hand vernacular of Roy Cohn of future generations. Unfortunately immediate gratification in seeing Lewandowski’s demise is highly unlikely. So I seek solace in knowing that the name Lewandowski will be forever cemented in time and memoriam as a splotch on 21st century American History.
Hess, Cohn, Lewandowski, Steve Miller; history will never be kind to any of you. So no there will not be any immediate gratification in seeing a smirking Lewandowski go down. I find solace in knowing that history will not treat Lewandowski kindly.
His 15 minutes of fame will wither under the scrutiny. “Lewandowski” will be a euphemism for despicable for generations to come.
1
The Democrats are at a significant disadvantage. They have to follow the rule of law and due process. For the Trump administration, there are no rules except to protect Dear Leader by any means necessary.
2
"…did Jerry Nadler… and his colleagues… not realize that Lewandowski’s appearance would play out precisely as it did?"
As Mark Twain said, "I'm not a member of an organized political party. I'm a Democrat."
"…(decent people) to some extent keep being surprised and taken aback by just how many people are willing to abase themselves for Trump…"
Yes, surprising, mind-boggling, gob-smacking! It's just so flipping hard to wrap one's head around who, in the name of The Good Sweet Goddess, these people are. What is their moral structure? What do they value?
In some perverse way, one feels that GoodBrain did us a favor by exposing the amorality, the un-Americanism that (R)eagan, Bush, even Nixon, sorta', kinda' hid from us. But, what do we do with this shocking exposure? How do we ever get the cork back in the bottle?
1
'Sustained nuttiness,' Frank? I'd call it, 'sustained evil.' And that's just being nice.
Once again, and again, and again and again, Democrats will snatch defeat from the jaws of victory by playing polite, hoping that a fairy angel will come to the rescue. Not going to happen.
Nice guys finish last. When will they learn?
Vote.
1
If the impeachment of Trump doesn't happen, can any future president be impeached?
3
As long as money dictates politics, Democratic establishment donors dictate the rules of the game. And major donors have zero appetite for change. It’s not about an underestimation by Democrats. While Trump is the most corrupt president in the history of the Republic, he’s your average corrupt “businessman”, at least by NYC standards - Bernie Madoff’s home town. The only solution is defeat in 2020, and not by a “centrist” , malleable candidate with “his” umbilical cord attached to big money.
1
Why did the Democrats ask Lewandowski to testify? What did they ever think would come of it. Instead of a lowlife political flunky, Nadler et al act like they are dealing with Clark Clifford, Jacob Javitz and Everett Dirksen. Let me throw out some other names - Al Capone, James Gotti, Jimmy Hoffa. These are the kind of people they are up against. If you are going to continue with these useless hearings, get good interviewers. Nadler doesn't cut it. Consider the people around Trump including Manafort, Michael Flynn, Michael Cohen. Maybe some good will come of it if Lewandowski looked so bad to the voters in New Hampshire, that they will reject him as a senator.
1
Lewandowski was a perfect example of intentional crazy making. One way to wear down your enemy is to pile insanity on insanity, crisis on crisis, misshape reality, toss around chaos and contradictions until your “victims” no longer know which way to turn and clear thinking gets muddled. It’s gaslighting with a broad stroke. The Republicans and this White House have perfected that pandemonium. I don’t think the Democrats are not incapable of stooping to their muck level but they are surely overwhelmed by all the layers of muck. Victims who sometimes have a chance at survival have to get more devious but smarter than their aggressor. The Democrats must break this chokehold. Holding out for some miracle in 2020 is naive. So, Dems enough of this victim mentality and get really mad. Lewandowski should have been squashed.
2
The House Democratic Leadership has failed the American people. They are too scared of their own shadows to truly assert their power. When the opposition party lies down like a welcome mat for the party in power, our democracy is broken.
I respect those who state that the only solution is to vote him out. On the other hand, every day he gets away with something that would have never been acceptable from another president, and each time he turns and does something worse.
We have 14 months until the next election. That’s a lot of time for our wrecking ball President to damage our country further. Where is OUR Roy Cohn?
1
Mr. Bruni could you please make copies of your article wrap it in a bow of fake money, say 1 billion dollars for starters, and send it to every Democrat on the Hill. On the other hand, I cannot remember how many times I have been confronted with characters so mean or so devious that it was obvious they would win because they were willing to do things that honest and fair people were not willing to do. Let’s hope for sake of the planet and all generations to come we all get out to the polls and we are able to overcome whatever ploys they use to rig the 2020 election.
4
The smartest analysis of the Democrat's real vulnerability I've read. With each more outrageous act, the latest normalizes what preceded. Which makes the Democrat's accusations (which lag) look small. Would be good to have a powerful communications strategy in place. We don't see it.
2
Just doing to the Democrats what the Democrats have been doing to Republicans for as long as I've been following politics. Democrats should not be surprised.
Striking example of just how the presidential campaign will be prosecuted by Trump and company.
And even more so a lucid window into why a Biden ticket will get malled in the most contentious, no holds barred, and deceitful election brawl in living American memory.
Of the current Democratic field the only capable warrior with vision, experience, and guts is Elizabeth Warren.
3
Corey Lewandowski went into those hearings understanding what over half the American electorate (including many Democrats) understands - that the Nadler-led hearings are yet one more attempt to invalidate the results of the 2016 election, and as such worthy of any honest person's contempt. Remembering that the public approval rating of the Congress of the United States as a whole is far, far lower than the public approval rating of the president (as low as that may be) is an indication that a huge portion of the electorate also holds that Body in great contempt, so that one could legitimately claim that Mr. Lewandowski was simply and honestly reflecting the general contempt of Congress by the people of the United States.
2
I've been in Europe, so it's not easy to track some of this. What I heard via Twitter was that although the first part of that hearing was as Bruni describes, the last hour was dominated by a Committee attorney making Lewandowski look terrible and admit to all sorts of stuff. People declared it a win. #confused
3
"[His supporters] embrace Trump as someone who raises a middle finger to propriety, to elites and to the establishment, because they somehow don’t see him as part of that crowd and because they deem that gesture necessary and courageous." Indeed. Why, then, do Mr. Bruni and moderate Democrats persist in insisting that only a centrist can defeat him at the ballot box?
Voters on both the right and the left see that our democracy has become a hollowed out shell of form without substance, replaced by an oligarchy of the elite who use elections to "manage" us. The Democrats have not merely ignored this phenomenon for decades, they have worked hard to cash in on it, even while offering soothing progressive rhetoric to their supposed base. Such blatant hypocrisy is why Trump carried the Rust Belt states in 2016.
No centrist coming from such a record has even a prayer of beating Trump. He would crush Biden or Bill Maher's champion, Amy Klobachar. Even Elizabeth Warren, to whom the panicky establishment now appears to be turning, isn't making inroads with people of color or the blue collar and lower middle class voters without whom the Democrats cannot win. Only Bernie Sanders has consistently drawn his support from a base of both white and black blue collar and lower middle class voters. He offers them actual, substantive alternatives to the xenophobic and racist siren songs of the Republican right. Centrists aren't saviors; they are why Trump sits in the Oval Office today.
2
Why not vote for impeachment? And then the House can slow-walk passing the articles of impeachment to the Senate. Just wait out the clock until the next elections, just like McConnell did with Merrick Garland. Let the next Senate decide the issue. Make the next election a referendum not just on the President's suitability for office, but on the Senate's duty to the American people.
The Republican argument with Merrick Garland was that the people should have a vote. I think we could turn this argument right around on them. Perhaps holding up the articles and demanding a Senate vote AFTER the election would drive Dem turnout.
5
The most important goal, above all else, is to ensure we don't wake up in Nov '20 to the news that Trump is reelected. Trump himself is the Dem's best advantage, as he will drive turnout for them that will bring benefits all the way down the ballot. We're approaching a point where we may be better off letting Trump finish his term and sink the election
On-going investigations, or a fruitless impeachment that leaves Trump acquitted by the Senate, merely stoke the indignation of his followers, bringing more of them to the polls. The exonerated Trump could claim persecution and victory at the same time, and would also be immune from prosecution for any crimes he's been acquitted of. Nancy Pelosi knows what she's doing.
6
The comments here are disturbing. People want the "Democrats" to just "arrest" Lewandowski. Seriously? Have you lost your minds? Did you not read The Crucible?
The Republicans have chosen to go along with Trump because he's enacting their policies: closed borders, less government regulation, a smaller social welfare system. After eight years of Obama, they just want action; they don't care if it's wrapped up in a flawed candidate, they just want to "win".
As far as Trump seeking to become an "autocrat," he isn't smart enough to know what one is much less how to become one.
Democrats need to realize that a large party of this country (and especially in the swing states) has moved center/right to their "progressive" platform. That's the only way they win and restore sanity.
6
Lewandowski should have been held in contempt and tossed in jail right then and there. Dems can't count on any GOP help. They need to realize that about half this country doesn't just want to throw this administration out, or in the meantime issue subpoenas (an increasingly weak move), we want contempt citations, indictments and jail time. Anything less, and they're not doing the right thing.
10
@brian "contempt" is when you don't show up....
1
Upon reflection I'll take a Warren-Nadler approach any day of the week when it comes to the future of our country. I'd rather go down fighting for our democracy than relying on a Rodney King- Blue Dog Democrat-Collins, Snow, Murkowski- Flake game plan which to date appears to be the Democrats preferred fall back position.
4
If the Democrats don't hold Lewandowski in contempt, they should stop all the Trump investigations and start doing something else. What do they expect to happen with McGahn? If they aren't willing to use the courts to force testimony, there's not much point in continuing.
8
Lewandowski should be arrested immediately for Contempt of Congress. Rep Nadler should inform Vice Admiral Maguire, at the outset of the hearing scheduled for Sep 26, that if he obstructs Congress's inquiry in a similar manner, he will be arrested. Enough is enough.
11
Putting all our eggs in one basket (beating Trump in 2020) is madness. Trump is not bound by any law, or Constitution, or conventions. He will find a way to win, He and his party and sycophants will lie, steal, bend every rule, or break them if need be, to win. This is war, no less than the Civil War.
We must impeach him. Yes, we're taking a chance the American people no longer care. We know the Senate will not convict, but that's the solution our founders gave us, and it's the right thing to do. If we fail and Trump wins again, it won't matter, it will just prove that our marvelous experiment was flawed. Eventually greed and lust for power killed it
6
Frank, how do you reconcile the fact that if the Democrats don’t impeach DT that he will be braying endlessly on the campaign trail,”Don’t you think if the Democrats and Fake Media had any legitimate evidence to impeach me, they would have done so?!”, with your obvious position against impeachment?
If the constitution calls for the president to be impeached, the Democrats need to do their job!
5
Everything in this article stems from one incontrovertible fact: There are 53 Republican senators.
3
I know much has been made about Democrats failure to get the “impeachment” enquiry off the ground.
But I saw things differente, the Lewandowsky hearing showed a pitiful man who lies to the press ( and therefore to the public) without any conscience. Furthermore, in his alternate view of the world, he feels justify to do it because he believes his master’s lies.
A sad man who is willing to give his life to the service of a man who would not even give him a job once he was no longer needed.
Lewandowsky and people like him keep forgetting that neither Trump nor Barr will be in power forever. There will be a time when justice will be restored and these rats will pay for their betrayal of their country.
5
I respectfully disagree with Frank Bruni. If witnesses are contemptuous of Congress, hold them in contempt. Throw them in jail. Do this once or twice and it’s certain that subsequent witnesses will start behaving better. Allow them to behave this way, and it’s guaranteed that subsequent witnesses will follow suit.
Democrats simply need to start welding the power that they already have.
422
The problem is the Democrats don't have any power, real or imagined. Instead they are busy infighting and tripping over eachother trying to show which one of them is more morally virtuous, so as to curry favour with this group and that group.
Unfortunately, the left has been the side that has descended into tribalism and division. The right, despite appearances to the contrary, have been the ones driving the narrative of tribalism and division, and the left has fallen for it repeatedly, hook, line and sinker.
The right are united behind Trump right or wrong, while the woke and virtue signalling rank and file of the Democratic Party are busy trying to knock off or invalidate so and so candidate because they cannot fulfill some impossible to reach, peak of moral purity.
At the same time the vast majority of the voters in the middle of all this, the hated centrists, are left scratching their heads.
Honestly, have progressives, lefties and Democrats in general never heard of "divide and conquer"?! Because this is what Trump and the Republicans are currently and successfully doing to them.
35
@Rich
The corruption is too far gone, the DOJ as a tool of the president will respond weakly or not at all. I dont believe congress can proceed without the involvement of DOJ and if they can it will take forever for final judgement to be delivered, in the meantime Congressional power is further eroded. Our constitutional checks and balances are weak in the face of such assaults on our democracy not only from within but also from foreign powers. We'll never really know what a blessing our democracy is until we lose it.
36
@Rich
He should have been charged with contempt on the spot.
46
“...if Democrats didn’t possess whatever requisite combination of legal authority and political will to hold him in contempt right then and there, they shouldn’t have given him the stage.” On the money, Frank. The 2020 election will be about trust. For many, trust will require a willingness to do the right thing, and the competence to do it. It seems the House Democrats can’t agree on the former and have been unable to deliver on the latter. At this point, I’d say Nadler’s bumbling committee is a failure and should do everything in its power to avoid drawing attention to itself. I say this as someone who favors impeachment.
4
I did watch the entire 30 minutes of Barry Berke questioning Corey Lewandowski, and it was incredibly satisfying. I think the Democrats need to put their egos aside, and let professional prosecutors question Trump's people. The lawyer was focused, unemotional, and relentless. He'd ask Corey Lewandowski a question, get an untrue or evasive answer, and then play a video of Lewandowski saying the opposite on TV. He'd stay on the same question until he got an answer. I think this is too personal for the Democrats for them to be effective. If they outsource the job to professionals. If they have to ask questions themselves, then they should put the lawyer on first, and then they will get a worn-down witness when it is their time to ask questions. (P.S., please ask questions, don't pontificate. We're all mad, but that's the environment Trump wants.)
19
If the Democrats did not understand what the Republicans were up to when Merritt Garland was nominated and trashed where have they been? Trump has followed their lead.
8
@RC
The Democrats proved they did not understand what the Republicans were up to when they nominated such a centrist (really center-right) jurist to the Court in the first place. Obama thought he was throwing an olive branch to Mitch McConnell and showing that he could "reach across the aisle." McConnell responded by cutting his hand off and humiliating him. He would have done that with anyone Obama tried to nominate, so he might as well have nominated a progressive jurist in the mold of RBG, Sontomayor or Kagin. Instead, he merely demonstrated that the Democrats don't stand for very much of anything.
2
First of all, I think it is a bad strategy to put one's hope in the election of 2020. We have no idea how that will turn out, and there is the possibility that Trump will be re-elected, as Trump will do anything, including whatever means necessary to win. He Constitution was written with the idea that an abusive executive could be removed from office and should be removed from office by way of impeachment. This should be the route that Democrats take and let their candidates win the election if they can. Next, I would arrest individuals like Lewandowski, McGuire, Barr, and anyone else who refuses to obey a subpoena. Put them in jail, and then let them petition the courts to be released. The Democrats are doing this backwards. With Trump there are no rules, norms or any bounds whatsoever which govern his behavior. Democrats need to push the boundaries as well and force Trump and his minions to go to the courts to seek release or bail or whatever else is needed and put them on the defensive rather than the offensive. We cannot dither and we must start striking back.
4
What I would like to see is the Democrats running for President using the endless “debates” and the months before the first primaries differently. Instead of discussing what detail of which bill is on what page or how much of education should be paid for by the government, they should be using whatever skills they have to prosecute Trump as if he were a contemptible crook. They would do a great service to themselves and especially the voters.
4
The strategy of making the players highlighted in the Mueller report testify is proving to be a loser. The idea was that the public doesn’t read, but if there were to be a “TV moment”, then the public would be swayed. Cleary this is not going to happen.
It’s time to move on from Mueller. Congress needs to quietly continue its efforts through the courts to “follow the money” and then see if there is any real corruption. As for the Whistleblower, he or she blew the whistle. If it was worth blowing to begin with then this person should simply walk his/her complaint over to Adam Schiff’s and Richard Burr’s office.
Just like with Nixon, you need the “Tapes”. Without the smoking gun of curruption the hair-on-fire Dems play right into the GOP’s hands.
1
Lewandowski made the committee look like incompetent bumblers. First, do away with the five minute time for each member and let those who are trained prosecutors, members or staff, have more time.e.g Barry Berke. Second, behavior like Lewandowski s should immediately elicit Contempt of Congress proceedings.
5
Sir, you miss the very basis of the Democratic representation's inability to make a compelling case for the return of law and order. They never make a case for the return of law and order!
They cower behind polling that says they 'may or may not' win votes in a certain demographic by pursuing a case for holding Trump and his minions accountable. If the GOP congressmen are going to abdicate their role, the House can and should exercise every bit of their constitutional authority to check this abhorrent behavior. Hold Lewandowski in contempt. Trump will pardon him, but make him do it. Authorize an impeachment hearing. The Senate will never convict and probably fail to even hold the hearings, but put Moscow Mitch in the position to deny the hearing.
Stop relying on these polls that continually fail to predict the reality of our current situation. Start reading the Constitution and stand up for yourselves, Democrats!
2
435 democratically elected Congressional Representatives and they can't hold up their end of the checks and balances deal. Are the supporters of Trump that contemptuous or cynical of the nominating-and-electing political process in those 435 districts? Or are those elective districts so corrupted by money and power as to preclude due constitutional respect. Whatever the answer, looks like our Republic is in trouble.
Would be voters might look at the difference between participating in the democratic political process and spreading ugliness online.
The only reason this guy could be so disrespectful of the people's house is that the Justice Department works for Trump.
We have people in jail today for lying to Congress, but they were arrested and prosecuted by Justice. That is no longer likely.
AG Barr should remember that John Mitchell, Nixon's attorney general, went to jail.
7
Everybody lies sometimes, many times, or always like Trump. In 2020, Americans will have to decide if this behavior is in anyway acceptable.
1
"This is not who we are" is a frequent refrain when Americans behave reprehensibly. Yes, Democrats, it is. It seems that some Democrats simply cannot accept that despite its impolitic timing, Hillary Clinton's basket of deplorables comment was correct. That there are some, more I think than we are comfortable admitting, in this country, a number of which inhabit the corridors of power, who are despicable in the broadest sense of the term, and these individuals, like moths, been drawn to the light of the Trump presidency.
Rather than allowing the farce of the Lewandowski hearing to go forward, Mr. Nadler, the instant Lewandowski began his performance, should have simply declared him in contempt of congress, ended things, and moved on. Democrats should have never given this, or any other Trump bottom-feeders a platform.
7
It flipped me. I was in agreement that impeachment was a waste of time. Now I think it is the only appropriate way to label Trump in the House. No the Senate will not convict but history will indelibly record the Trumps stain.
Sure the Democrats are being foolish. They have few options when there is a total breakdown of civility and honor. However I do not agree this is ultimately what Americans want. The country will right itself. It always does. This whole page of history will be in our rear view mirror some day. It will be like McCarthyism. Once in the spotlight and now a curious page in the book.
We have overcome race riots, false wars and huge anti war movements to come together. America will figure it out. Our history is proof.
4
I hear somewhere in Washington DC there is a jail cell that congress can use to put people who act with contempt towards them. It hasn't been used since the 1930s. It's time for congress to dust it off, turn on the lights, and put the likes of Corey Lewandowski in it that cell until he stars to cooperate, or at least until congress can figure out how to ask questions.
7
I honestly don’t understand what Nadler was expecting. That Corey would curl up into a little ball, cower, and beg forgiveness for supporting President Trump? That he would embellish whatever he’d already told Mueller with new details of Trumpian perfidy? Really? If that’s what they thought, they deserved all the mockery they got.
3
Barry Berke did a great job and made Lewandowski look like a fool. It seems as though many did not see this part though which is a shame. TV is a powerful medium when used properly. Regular people who live in the Fox bubble will never learn the truth about Trump without (effective) televised hearings. Public opinion will follow if dems can get their act together.
3
The framers of the Constitution should have hypothesized the worst possible behavior by a President, doubled it and than doubled it again to protect their creation for the likes of Trump and the modern Democrats should do the same when dealing with the result of their lack of clairvoyance.
1
The more Trump flips off Congress, the stronger he looks to his supporters; more importantly independents voters necessary for extraction in 2020 from his impending dictatorship will also see him as strong (and therefore vote-worthy).
2
Thank you Frank. Your work helps give voice to me and millions of Americans who are increasingly exasperated and thoroughly disgusted with our governmental charade.
Trump and his enablers could not be more toxic. The behavior by Democrats in response could not be more inept. If throwing in the towel would help, I’d have done it long ago. Somehow, your thoughtfulness is therapeutic.
1
The Democrats are feckless. I am confounded by their insipid refusal to be ruthless in upholding the rule of law as Trump preens and struts -- dismissive of any accountability to the American people for his behavior. We first saw the signs as he refused to release his tax records, as if the public has no right to know about a President's financial vulnerabilities. Later came his instructions to his staff to ignore Congressional oversight by refusing to testify before Committees.The Attorney General routinely manipulates DoJ policies to favor, not the search for justice and truth, but to accomodate the President's desires to shield his Presidency in all of its guises from the people. Bruni's decription of Lewandowsky as "audacious" is spot on. His was the most arrogant and smug appearance to-date, and puts us on notice that it will only get worse. And clearly, the worst today is the refusal to answer Congressional demands to see the details of the Ukraine whistleblower file. This inexorable march to despotism promises no pause or retreat. The horror of another four years is unimaginably terrifying. Congress must move to seek punishment of recalcitrants for criminal contempt, and it must agressively paper the federal courts daily to seek judicial redress each and every time this Administration, by sneering at Congressional oversight, demonstrates its total disregard of its responsibility to the American people including by not even pretending to tell the truth - ever.
4
When are the Dems going to stand up and fight back? They hold hearing after hearing, the person being questioned lies, obstructs, deflects and does not answer any of their questions.
They are starting to look like fools. They are playing right into the hands of Trump and his supporters. All Corey L did was sit there and smirk, raise his eyebrows up and down, and look like the arrogant fool that he is. This is not doing the Democrat party any good. They either need to go after impeachment and get all the facts out there, or concentrate on winning the 2020 election. I am an independent voter, and I will vote for anyone not named Trump. But it isn’t because the Dems have impressed me with their handling of Trump. Trump has stonewalled them at every turn. The Dems need to take a page out of the GOP’s playbook. They need to learn to fight back, and not with just words, but with actions.
2
So what you’re saying is that a rogue, if he is brazen enough, gets to be president for four years, do lasting damage to our democracy, enrich himself royally in the process, and then strut away, and the only “penalty” is he will forever be known as a one-term president?
That would be a disgrace and deeply damaging to the already battered idea of democratic governance worldwide, not just here.
Should we not instead be forcing all those elected officials in both the House and Senate to state their fealty to corruption and Trump through impeachment votes? Trump will never think he’s done anything but great things for the country, and goons like Lewendowski will always be goons, but those who are preventing defense of our constitution should be forced to say so explicitly through impeachment votes. They should be on record as supporting the shredding of the rule of law, and enabling a lawless president.
3
The contempt citations still need to issued. Massively. Every single instance of stone-walling needs to be slapped with a contempt citation. Pelosi needs to wake up and allow the Dems to fulfill their constitutional obligations.
This all needs to happen because if it does not, no one will be inspired to vote for the 2020 candidate leading the party of spinelessness, uselessness, and cowardice.
1
Maybe we should see this as the beginning of the end of the republic. Perhaps our founders weren’t so smart after all. Maybe the constitution is not a foundation of solid granite on which democratic principals can thrive, but rather a soft mix of manure and sawdust on which the worst elements of American society can feast while they laughingly watch the whole experiment begin to tumble. Maybe Democrats are weak because our Constitution makes them weak and perhaps that is just what our landowning, slave-holding founders intended. Jefferson is not turning in his grave, he’s raising a glass as a heavenly (or hellish) toast.
2
I don’t know who is being more contemptuous. We have the Democrats that are running down a hole where there is no there there. So they go and ask a bunch of empty ended question for which there is no answer and they blame the witness. They have ignored the findings of the Mueller report. It’s a tough sell and rightly so.
1
It will be interesting to see what kind of traction his senate campaign gets. Folks from New Hampshire are generally not too impressed with arrogant loudmouth boors. They could retire him.
Baring, of course, a contempt conviction but I'm not holding my breath for that.
1
Ask the next question Mr. Bruni.
If Trump and his acolytes can successfully break all norms, defy the rule of law, and trash our institutions, why should we expect them to accept an election that doesn’t go their way?
2
Dems can not even properly question a witness led alone impeach Trump ! Trump and his gang do not play by the rules . They will turn every hearing into a circus and blame the dems for holding a fake proceeding. Unfortunately, the dems, the press, and the country will not be able to lower ourselves to Trumps level.
1
Once again, as with the Mueller hearing, it was not only the witness, but every Republican in the committee. This was yet another staged snide support of lies and deception. Lock up the Republicans for contempt, too.
1
The Republicans are the party of political war and the Democratic party is the party of traditional politics. Democrats have Nadler, Waters and other incompetents as chairs of committees they have no business chairing based on ability. They chair them because of seniority. This fiasco was visible a mile away to anyone minimally competent. Lowendownski should have been held in contempt of Congress after he acted up, got warned and continued acting up. The Sergeant at Arms of the House and his security detail take him into custody and place him in the Congressional jail. Then its up to Corey to see how he gets himself out. He wouldn't be smirking then. And the Democrats would be feared and not look like fools. That's how you win.
Throwing a few of them in jail for Obstruction of Justice and adding massive daily fines might just give a few of them to rethink their impudence. trump may offer pardons, but Is he going to cover biggly lawyer bills. And, as we know, trump lies like a rug.
1
Corey should have been made to smirk his way through a perp walk to federal custody for contempt of Congress without completing his "testimony." Hard ball is the only way to play with this administration and its minions. Abide by the rules, but use them with a very, very heavy hand.
2
Each time a read another narrative about Democrats letting down democracy, I end up wondering why no one chastises the oh-so-principled GOP for giving itself over to a celebrity grifter.
2
Lewandowski made it obvious that these Democrats who called him to testify are nothing to be afraid of, like stuffed shirts, some of them having gained one too many terms in office.
The people surrounding trump, those trump engages with (trust is too exaggerated a term as he trusts no one) are just like him by definition. Why would anyone expect anything other that trump behavior? Trump has already dismissed the so called grownups.
Unless the rest of us are willing to get dirty the dirty trump team will continue to kick A.
Can you imagine the flag football team imagining it can compete on the same field as the NE Patriots?
1
A tri-fecta of democratic House, Senate, Presidency, if it happens, MUST ensure another Trump never happens: security clearance, background cks, no loopholes to evade prosecution, etc.
2
Frank is absolutely right - the Dems should pay attention to Speaker Pelosi and try to vote out our wannabe dictator Trump in 2020.
Rep Nadler and the others in his camp are just wasting precious time by chasing down Trump’s Tax Returns and also by holding congressional hearings (as a preparation for a possible impeachment) with small time crooks like Corey.
These impeachment efforts are emboldening Trump and his “Cult Members” to spread their favorite “deep state” conspiracy theory against the Democrats. So Democrats should just “Fogetaboutit”
Are there any legal responses to witnesses who ignore subpoenas or show utter contempt for legitimate congressional inquiry? If so, Democrats need to respond. As a teacher, I learned from my principal that you never let unruly students make a fool out of you. You discipline. You respond. You never let infractions go. I wish Democrats would learn the same lessons—or stop parading Trump acolytes into the klieg lights to perform for their master.
1
One silver lining. He'll never get a New Hampshire senate seat.
Of course this contemptible yes-man was enabled and encouraged by that horror in the White House. trump admires every and all demonstration of his utter contempt for democracy and law.
When will this charade ever end?
1
Trump didn’t “discover” shamelessness...he was taught it.
1
Pelosi and the toothless Democrats have turned Congressional oversight into Congressional overlook.
“And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything.” – Trump on the Access Hollywood tape.
1
Mr. Lewandoswski needs to be jailed for contempt of Congress. He was acting like a spoiled brat who thinks he doesn't have to follow the law. That's Trumpism in a nutshell. Congress needs to vote on the contempt citation and throw him the capitol jail. That message needs to be sent NOW.
3
My speculation is that Pelosi is keeping impeachment in the wings as Plan B if Trump wins the electoral college again in 2020. Keep the investigations running, pass important legislation in the House that will be stalled in the Senate, and be ready to go if none of that matters to the handful of American voters in rural precincts who will actually decide who the next President is.
2
"There’s a way to sidestep that trap. Hint: It has to do with November 2020."
You assume that, after all the law-breaking and norm-shattering, Trump and his cabal are going to accept defeat at the ballot box. Not a chance.
He already has key elements of the Homeland Security apparatus ready to break the law to support him. He'll have even more loyalists in place fourteen months from now.
When he declares a national emergency, invokes martial law, and sends his henchmen to round up the Pelosis and Nadlers, then what?
6
At this point in time I have no idea what is the best way forward. However I do think it is too late for impeachment. If, god forbid, Trump wins re-election let impeachment be just the beginning. Do I think he would resign like Nixon and quietly go into this good night. No. There is a way out and that entails the 60% of voters who disapprove of him to get off the couch and vote. I just hope the way forward is not Elizabeth Warren with all her insane ideas. But if she is the nominee I'll vote for her.
3
@amp
Seems to me that for the same reason you cite for voting for Warren, Trump was elected in 2016. "Anyone except Hillary" ruled the day.
This should not be difficult. The House can call witnesses like Lewandowski, but there is no need to give them hours to perform their act for their partisans. As soon as a witness becomes unresponsive, he should be cited for contempt and expelled. If the House has the power to impose punishment, it should be imposed immediately. There is no gain for the nation in continuing the farce if question are not being answered.
But will the Democratic House members be willing to give up their own five minutes of free national TV exposure? They need to get their act together.
17
This suggestion is precisely how the House Un-American Activities Committee acted in the 1940’s and 1950’s!
1
@skeptonomist
Don't expect the circus shouter Nadler will to close the circus.
Reaching for the lever of impeachment is analogous to trying to operate the controls of a plane that has suffered a serious mechanical failure - what has already gone wrong has made it unworkable. Just persisting as if it would eventually start working again is wishful thinking and wastes precious time that should be devoted to the one thing that can definitively solve the problem: defeating a lot of Republicans in 2020.
And in that light Democrats would do well to remember that Trump feeds off of confrontation. As Bruni points out, impeachment hearings are actually tailor made to continue this story line, and that is a service we Democrats should not be providing.
Elizabeth Warren is showing the way out of this, by looking past Trump to what comes after.
4
This isn't about Trump or Lewandowski. They will go away one day. This is really about how people are willing to overlook the ethical and criminal activity of the politicians they voted for as long as the policies they value are pushed through. That hits at the core of American democracy and is a much greater concern.
14
@Mario "how people are willing to overlook the ethical and criminal activity of the politicians they voted for as long as the policies they value are pushed through. "
I disagree. The unwashed have NO Policies. eg:
1/Did they get anything from the $1.5 trillion tax cut for the 1% ? Trump did.
2/ Did they get better , cheaper (universal) healthcare that ALL other developed nations have ? No.
3/ Did they get the world to stop laughing at the USA or did the world laugh at Trump a yr ago during his UN speech ?
4/ Did the US get 4% GDP growth that Trump promised or did it get the same GDP growth that Obama achieved ? (plus a $trillion/yr deficit vs his promise to end deficits & pay off the debt).
5/ Did coal mines and steel plants thrive as promised or are they closing down (which they are) ?
6/ They did get the liar (12,000+ so far) that they voted for but is that OK ?
Excellent analysis, Frank!
I doubt, however, that Corey Lewandowski had to perform much "character practicing" in front of a mirror: it looked to me during the hearing that Mr Lewandowski is a natural born brat, a gifted know-it-all quite at ease as he happily reveals his genuinely obnoxious personality to one and all.
Of course Trump was smitten.
But at the end of the day, New Hampshire voters will take Corey's measure (assuming he can get the GOP senate nomination--not at all a given), and I seriously doubt that such an ill-mannered, annoying child will do well with the voters that carry NH elections: Democratic and Dem-leaning independent women. This group could not have been impressed with the frat-boy's hearing antics.
Indeed, I hope Lewandowski gets the GOP senate nomination and that his defeat in 2020, along with Donald Trump's, finally ends perhaps the most shameful period in our nation's history.
4
I'm afraid that I have to agree with this. The Democrats STILL haven't figured out just how ruthless their opponents are willing to be, and how utterly divorced from any concepts of rules, fair play, and preservation of the better principles that guided the creation of this country they are.
I hear many calls for impeachment, and there's no President in history who deserved it more than does Donald Trump. But if the House hearing with Lewandowski is any indication of the readiness of Democrats to deal with the foe in effective terms, I'm as apprehensive as is Mr. Bruni, and I agree that impeachment would very likely lead to a similar humiliating outcome on a much grander scale.
12
I wish that we could come to a point where progressives can stop labeling us moderates as enemies. Moderates are not your enemy. I plan to vote for the Democrat nominee (preferably Warren or Sanders), unless he turns out to be Trump.
Pelosi is right, because with experience comes wisdom. The correct route is to inspire, every one who can, to come to vote. Republicans want to see impeachment proceedings, because they would love to turn them into another right wing circus in order to gain leverage. This will be played and replayed on Fox. My spouse is a republican and I know that they are not even listening (Rinse & repeat!). They do not care what Trumps does. They do not care that he is deploying soldiers to fight for some feigned conservative fear for the well-being Saudi Arabia. Our best hope is to tap into 'listening' independents and moderates.
R-Sensenbrenner, who has been asleep in the House for 40 years is now retiring. However, his plan is to focus on campaigning against impeachment proceedings. He said this on conservative radio.
The best way to understand what republicans are doing and thinking is to tune-in sometime. Watch what they are doing. Understand their message. Progressives are going to lead us to failure by remaining tone deaf to the real threat, which is being out-maneuvered.
6
I agree completely. My only hope is that the Democrats are working on a plan. It is one thing not to act on the preponderance off evidence against Trump, but it is worse to act, as Nadler's committee did, and then look inept and feeble. They should have thrown Lewandowski in jail for contempt. But, maybe we should start talking about impeaching Pelosi. She is obligated to enforce our laws and act on behalf of the country to stop this madness. She seems to be making a political calculation, but it should not be a political decision. She and the Dems should stand as our leaders and convince us that they are doing the right thing. And if it fails, as it will with Moscow Mitch in charge in the Senate, at least they can run in 2020 as warriors, not serfs. And if the moral and intellectual fiber of this country has been so compromised that Trump is rewarded with a second term, then Dems can at least say they tried when Humpty Dumpty finally falls, which he will one day.
1
No president will ever be impeached in an election year. Nixon and Clinton were both in their second terms and couldn't run for a third. Any impeachment inquiry now should serve only two purposes: defeating Trump in 2020 and, failing that, setting him up for impeachment if he is reelected.
I suppose a third reason would be to dig up crimes for which Trump can be indicted after he leaves office and becomes a private citizen again.
3
I think you have the casualty backwards. AG Barr and Speaker Pelosi conspired to make impeachment all but impossible. Impeachment proceedings are failing because they were forbidden from succeeding — by design.
In this scenario, Trumpian impudence is not only natural but expected. The minions behave with maximum contempt because they know they can. Pelosi wouldn’t allow impeachment and now the moment has passed. There is absolutely nothing left in the Democratic arsenal that can check Trump’s misconduct before the 2020 election. Pelosi burnt her own ships.
You had better hope she’s right because now there is no other option.
5
Exactly. The sticklers about the "rules" do keep falling into the trap of the outrageous behavior that flouts those rules and gets away with it. I still believe that Congress has a moral and legal obligation to pursue impeachment, as supported by Lawrence Tribe--who literally wrote the book on that process. Mr. Bruni is right about the "system" having the means but the people within the system still not ready to comprehend how to use them in this utterly bizarrely unique situation. Something must be done, and yes, there's November, 2020, but how much more damage can be done and likely will be done in the meantime?
1
The ballot box was rigged last time, not by mechanical manipulation but by a foreign power that reinforced the despair and the frustrations and the fears and the hatred of voters. Those emotions have permeated the Congress. McConnell won’t allow the Senate to vote unless he is certain that Trump will approve. Pelosi won’t impeach Trump because McConnell will not follow through. Our government is broken.
Breaking the law, not paying taxes, has a consequence for ordinary Americans. For them, crime is punished. If crime is ignored and not prosecuted then respect for authority and law and our Constitution our country will be lost. Democrats are the problem. They ran away from Obama in 2010 and lost the country. Why? How did the Democrats lose so much after the financial catastrophe of 2008? They failed to arrest and prosecute any of those who caused the collapse? Billionaires were saved and homeowners and pensioners and workers were crushed and remained crushed. Why did so many Obama voters stay home? Or vote for Trump? They were betrayed and abandoned? The very idea that any corporation is too big to fail is the reason. Those who break the bank, including the banks must pay or law is meaningless. Trump’s unrelenting violation of law, violation of Constitutional requirements is a reminder that if one has enough money, one is king.
8
Thank you for writing about it, Frank. I was entertained and totally on Mr. Lewandoski’s side. Indeed, what an excellent performance!
The men and women of Congress sounded like they had a medieval inquisition trial going on. Absurdly medieval, ie., based mostly on false accusations and hearsay.
Bravo, Corey. I am proud of you.
8
I don't think we will have a free and fair election in 2020, anymore than we can have an impeachment hearing that does work in Trump's favor. I don't know or understand why Patriotic Americans cannot and do not recognize that Trump is taking down our way of life, our democracy. He would turn on anyone of his supporters and stabbed them in the back if they started asking him one question regarding his dictatorial transgressions.
5
I don’t understand why Democratic lawmakers allow subpoenas to be ignored, hearings to be flouted and turned into a circus, formalized procedures to be shredded, etc. People have been arrested for less in the past. Are the Dems exercising restraint to show the GOP how to govern without deploying bare-knuckled tactics? (Good luck with that, as the GOP has demonstrated itself to be thoroughly ineducable.) I just don’t understand why they’re keeping one of their most powerful weapons holstered. You can be sure the GOP would not show any such hesitation were the roles reversed.
16
Jerry Nadler represents the West Side of Manhattan: well off liberals, lawyers, psychiatrists, college professors. They're by and large polite, they read The Times, The New Yorker, and the New York Review of Books. There is nothing wrong with that, except that they're a minority in the America that needs to go into battle.
It's time for the Democrats to get down and dirty. And I'm a little surprised that Nadler (a Columbia Law School alum) didn't follow that old law school admonition to not ask a question of a witness unless you know the answer.
15
What is referred to as debasing themselves is better expressed as the bottom of the barrel have been chosen to define policy, obstruct the functions of Congress, run the Department of Justice, head every Cabinet, sit on Federal Courts and now are now poised to fill Circuit Courts. They are no different than Lewandowski, he is merely more flamboyant, all cut from the same cloth as Trump.
7
Picking a new president alone won't address this situation. If McConnell remains in position, a Democratic House and Presidency will remain "stuck." with McConnell "killing" every bill that comes his way. In many ways, it is more important that McConnell is removed, than to gain the Presidency. Then there would be real "teeth" to hold Trump accountable.
13
The Dems think it is flag football while the Republicans know it is tackle football with no refs. Dems don’t have to play dirty but they cannot afford to be naive about what is being played.
11
Democrats overestimate their skills to persuade. Partly because they rely too much on the media. The media likes a rousing story, regardless of veracity. And when much is made of very little just to make the headlines, the populace begins to tire. We're tired. The media has hyped every rabbit hole story, the Muller report, the Kavanaugh disgrace and on and on. The media hype was also on display at the Democratic debates which were simply a series of morally-indignant gotcha questions. Trumpy's the media star and they don't want to give up their money-maker.
7
I, too, believed House impeachment hearings were a politically wrong direction for the Democrats and that the full focus should be on defeating Trump at the ballot box. I did, that is, until the intelligence agency whistleblower matter came to light in which Trump is alleged to have directly solicited foreign power assistance in his re-election campaign. This is exactly the evidence of collusion and, since Trump now is in office, direct abuse of presidential power, that Mueller found missing.
There is a point at which it becomes the responsibility of elected officials to preserve our form of government from attack from the inside or the outside, regardless of political impact. That point has just been reached.
Further, it is illogical and dumb to expect the ballot box to save us when the evidence, direct and circumstantial, is that Trump is happy to corrupt the presidential campaign and the sanctity of that same ballot box through immoral exercise of his presidential power. In that, he will be supported by a political party which knows no morality and is motivated solely to maintain power. Sadly, millions of voters are steadfastly in support of anything to keep Trump in office.
Democrats now must aim higher. But the House focus must be on the big stuff. Not Stormy Daniels campaign law violations, but on abuse of power in office. And dump the bumbling Nadler as the party prosecutor for someone more forceful and articulate to lead the charge.
9
Congress is back in session, and the House has a resolution to investigate impeachment, but the House and the Senate both are still missing their mojo. The House is the first branch of the legislature of our Republic and the legislature is the first branch of our government. This is the branch that makes the law. The second branch of our government, the executive, is to execute existing laws (and to obey them). When the chief executive or any of his appointees fails to execute the laws or breaks them, the Congress should investigate and throw any who refuse to answer their investigative demands, or who lies to their investigators, into jail immediately—or impeach them and remove them from office. Please, Congress, the executive has you on the road to dictatorship. Get off of it now.
4
Lewandowski's performance before the House Judiciary Committee and the Committee's response are representative of the strong, in-your-face, combative style of the Trump administration vs the disorganized and weak response of the Democratic opposition. People wonder how Trump manages to escape condemnation for one atrocity after the other. The Democrat's response is certainly part of the answer. I have almost given up hope that Trump will ever be accountable for the most corrupt administration in history.
9
Another way to sidestep the trap would be to show a matching, but legitimate audacity, and arrest and jail contemptuous witnesses on the spot. Witness arrives without subpoenaed documents? Go directly to jail. Witness refuses to appear? Send congressional marshals to find the witness, and put him/her in jail. Keep contemptuous witnesses in jail until they deliver what they have been required to produce.
Meanwhile, provide zero funding for running the White House. And let it be known that funds diverted from other appropriated accounts will be permanent subtractions—they will never be replaced in those budgets. Or better yet, treat diversions of appropriated funds as instances of contempt, subject to punishments as above.
Those who advocate waiting for an election before responding merely draw emphasis to the disgraceful surrender of power by congress. That will prove bearable only until the moment when Trump wins the election, at which point it will turn catastrophic. But maybe that will not happen, say some. What a feckless risk they run, at what awful stakes, because they have been overmatched by fear.
8
If Trump is not reelected in 2020, what happens to all the fury he represents in the electorate? The sense that the game is fixed will not go away. Problem is to fix it requires jiggering with capitalism's rapacious grasp upon everything and Trump-ites believe that is evil socialism. It is fairness that they want yet are so indoctrinated that they can't recognize the solution.
6
As we all know, getting an impeachment through the Senate at this point is laughable, but what of the value of getting on record each and every Senate republican’s support for their Criminal in Chief, painting them as the accomplices they are? Force some of these GOP senators to defend their record as they go up for re-election.
At this point, not impeaching him may be the worst thing we could do. What’s wrong with going all in and attacking his criminal behavior every day until the election, from the floors of Congress?
6
The Republican Party has been shifting toward anti-Democratic totalitarianism since Nixon's days of shame, but their brazen antics have accelerated due to the changing American demographic: old white privileged men (and women) will soon be outnumbered by persons of color and women and a populace rightly anxious about climate change, healthcare costs and jobs. The Party of Trump will not change until the electorate closes it down.
3
The “Charlie Brown with the football” act that Congressional Dems keep getting themselves into with the Trump Administration has grown old. While I’m no fan of AOC, I’m now even less of a fan of Jerry Nader, who appears to be clutching his pearls at the insolence of Trump Administration witnesses. For House Dems to assume that subpoenaed officials will meekly sit at the witness table and “answer all questions” is beyond naive. There are other younger smarter members of Congress who need to take on leadership roles in these Congressional hearings, or at least tell their elders “we aren’t going to learn anything new from this guy...pass”.
I also hope this is instructive for future D administrations in their relationship with Congress. It’s never going to go back to the “old days”, and I’ve spent some time daydreaming about Hillary Clinton treating Trey Gowdy this way and how FOX News would have erupted in red faced bloviating.
Trump keeps winning because he knows what we like: reality television. There’s a winner (Trump) and a loser (Nader...in this case).
6
Impeachment should have happened months ago with the Mueller Report - had that happened it would have been strengthened by tacking on the Ukraine corruption. I don't think it would or will have any impact on the election either way, but Democrats will now go down in history as doing virtually nothing during the most corrupt administration of all time.
The good news is there is a very winnable election approaching - the American voters still retain the ability to end this nightmare.
3
Mr. Bruni is totally correct and this article points out just how feckless the Democratic strategy is. They are stuck in the past and this is not a president that will resign because he's afraid of public opinion or how history will judge him. Speaker Pelosi must engage Trump head on and forcefully push the impeachment that Trump clearly deserves. Anything less will prove that the Democrats are weak hoping that the voting public will chose them over Trump just because they follow the law. It's not enough just to follow the law, they must hold all members of government accountable. Trump was brought up in an atmosphere that encouraged corruption if it resulted in personal gain. Trump is growing stronger in his understanding of the powers of the presidency and is becoming more dangerous every day. Lewandowski is just one example of how empowered his enablers feel and this is truly damaging to this country. Forcefully impeach now!
4
This piece contains much wisdom and astute observation. HOWEVER, Mr. Bruni has one major miss that undermines a great part of his reasoning. One cannot untangle the disgrace of the GOP and the White House without pulling the Press to the witness box in the courtroom. The national media sensationalizes every comment made by Trump or his henchmen. The national media presses every point non-stop throughout the mornings, afternoons and evenings. The national media has normalized scandal and gossip to the point that those who care about the Constitution look not much different than the Furies that support Trump.
3
You nailed it! I think it is time for the House to break some rules, too! They should vote to impeach, at the State of the Union speech, then march up there and grab Donald Trump and haul him down to that basement cell. Then declare a coup. Ignore McConnell. Have their own police force ready to take over the country. Then call for a new election. If the GOP can ignore the Constitution, what are they waiting for? The People want him out, and all his GOP enablers with him. The GOP elected Trump to blow things up. Maybe they should get what he promised, delivered on a plate.
2
@Cynthia Adams gee Cynthia and you all wonder why we will never let you take our guns? “Grab Trump, haul him to a cell, ignore McConnell, have their own police force ready to take over the country “. Thank you lady, you just nailed exactly why we have the 2nd Amendment.
Always thought that dustup during the campaign and his hiring by CNN as a commentator was fishy. CNN played right into the Trump camp's hands and they are still doing it. Giving a guy a forum, even as a guest, after he said he routinely lies on news shows shows a lack of journalist ethics on CNN's part.
2
Increasingly I find myself placing responsibility on Nancy Pelosi for squandering a Democratic House majority. Despite the power of Trump's narcissism and McConnell's obstinacy -- her leadership has not risen to mount an effective and powerful counterattack even to pounce on the kind of performance that Lewandowski displayed. The Ukraine situation? She better speak loudly and carry a bigger stick.
4
The problem with the Democrats in Congress like Jerrold Nadler is not their intent, which is correct and even noble.
The problem is execution or the lack thereof.
Exposing Donald Trump’s crimes is a duty of Congress, and they should not shirk that duty. The hearings should continue, but arrogant mini-Donald’s like Corey Lewandowski must not be permitted to make the Democrats look like timid fools.
So what if a contempt of Congress citation takes months to litigate and if there is a chance of losing. Congressional chairpersons can simply move on to the next witness and continue to prosecute the Lewandowski contempt simultaneously.
Frank Bruni is right that the Democratic chairs in Congress need to get tougher and more prepared for Trump showoffs, but he is wrong to suggest that the Democrats ought to focus exclusively on an Election Day more than a year away.
The Democrats we put in office can investigate, legislate and politick. Doing one aspect of the job does not preclude fulfilling any other duty.
3
None of this would be happening if the DNC hadn't pushed Hillary of the hidden emails, hapless campaign appearances, weird health issues (when will someone explain how 'walking pneumonia' makes you stiff as an unconscious board?), and backstabbing of Bernie Sanders on us.
I blame the Democrats - there seems to be connections between people with $200,000,000 personal fortunes (the Clintons and Pelosi's of this world) and an inability to do what's required by their oaths of office and common decency. And what about that Foundation, huh? Shuttered immediately not because all poverty issues in the world were suddenly fixed, but because 'charity donations' pay-per-play options suddenly evaporated. Nevermind the wisdom of nominating a candidate with an endless supply of personal and familial scandals - what could go wrong, right?
Don't get me wrong, I'm far left of both of them, but I see what gave us an unhinged obvious psychopath to deal with and what our options were, and it's not pretty. Lots of Trump voters saw it also.
1
@signalfire
It's amazing how far people are willing to go to avoid blaming Republicans and Trump himself for the terrible situation this country is now in.
1
Those who wish Pelosi and other Democrats to "get a spine" may find that the House will become Republican again in 2020.
2
Show what happens when the toothless confront the corrupt.
2
It’s as if Pelosi, Hoyer and Schumer operate in a different world, one detached and remote from what the rest of us experience. Anyone who has seen Lewandowski on CNN would know to anticipate his behavior in that hearing. To (once again) have no response to this administration’s chronic disdain for the law is astonishing. This is an administration that had a key threat die in prison! The only response would have been to cut short the hearing, declare Lewandowski in contempt and have him put in detention - but, once again, the Democrats were flat footed.
8
Dems are not to blame for Trump & Co.obstruction. No president has ever been removed through the impeachment process. Pelosi is spot on. The hearings need to proceed with experts lie Barry Berke conducting cross examination as an integral step to a Blue Wave in 2020.
Mr. Emoluments & his grifters are emblematic of utter corruption, & depravity. Trump & Co. have crossed over into a form of autocratic disinformation that is designed to render fact-based deliberation and argument impossible. Dems in Congress, & the Mueller team are not to blame.
Any of the leading Dems is an order of magnitude better than Trump. Bring on the Blue Wave.
5
Another spot on column Mr. Bruni. Democrats still haven’t realized that hardball is the only language these Republicans understand. Barr was just as smug when he testified about the Mueller Report. LBJ would have ended the career of a clown like Barr if he’d done the equivalent when Johnson was in Congress. And the way McConnell thumbed his nose at Obama when he appointed Judge Garland to fill Scalia’s seat on the Supreme Court? Johnson would have had three investigations of McConnell (and his wife) completed by now with recommendations of criminal charges. Yes it’s cynical. But yes it’s the only way to fight these people.
6
“Overwhelming — by design...”
Like an obnoxious teenager whose behavior and demands grind you down until you say, ‘Whatever. Join a band. Get a tattoo. Just leave me alone.’
I’m to the point with Trump where I think we should make him a deal. Let him find a country that will take him (and his family,) revoke his citizenship, and let him leave. He can take his money. Write him a check for his U.S. real estate only. No more Secret Service protection. He can pay that out of his own expenses.
This was never about public service or national leadership. It was a publicity stunt gone awry. His demeanor, paucity of analytical skills, and lack of engagement make him a clear and present danger.
We should cut our losses.
5
I think that the Congressional Dems have been operating from the assumption that "seeing" conteptuous, obstructionist behavior of those testifying would be the evidence needed. Of course that calculation continues to backfire, as you correctly point out, Mr. Bruni. The Dems look pathetic. So do the Repubs, but for different reasons: they patheticly fall in line behind Trump thinking they are winning. Of course, we are all losing BIGLY.
2
Strongly condemning Trump's and his thuggish flunkies' antics whenever it occurs (and it's on a daily basis) is not hysteria, it's the proper, rational and necessary reaction. Why do you borrow the words of Trump supporters ("hysteria")? Adhering to proper protocol, norms and laws in the face of Trump's obstruction and contempt for such is not weakness, it's a sign of strength and perseverance in the face of adversity and faith in American values. We don't have to become bullies ourselves to stand up to a bully. VOTE! And if needed, blowing the whistle and civil disobedience is the right thing to do.
4
The democrats have proven to be weak. It’s been going on for some time. Obama was weak in his approach to the ACA and the result was a bill that was easily picked apart. He was weak with his rhetoric confronting Islamic terrorism. Clinton was weak on immigration issues and a thoroughly flawed candidate too boot. Schumer seems lost at sea and when he does step up he is a very poor messenger to the country. Pelosi is trying, but caught in a bind. The fact is her committee chairmen are left flat footed in this hearings. She has rookies talking trash and she doesn’t want to make Trump a martyr to his base. Maybe Warren if she can stop the happy talk has the guts to communicate tough, but the rest are way to conciliatory with the possible exception of Harris who can be brutal but who too often appears unsteady and off. It’s painful to watch.
2
The Lewandowski Trap has already been sprung, Frank, and the Democrats cannot do anything about it.
The argument you make is that a different response by the Democrats can somehow prevail over the dangerous behaviors of Trumpists. Sorry, but that train has left the station. The Donald Trumps, Moscow Mitch McConnells, Jim Jordans, and Corey Lewandowskis of this nation are sufficiently entrenched and fueled by corporate greed funding their goals and state-run TV (Fox News)inciting their ongoing hatred, that traditional mechanisms of check and balances and, yes, The Law, are insufficient to change any of their tactics. If the GOP is going down, then they are happy to take the rest of the nation with them.
No, it will take a cataclysmic event to change the behaviors of Trumpland: a full economic Depression; another major Mid-East war; a civil war between disaffected whites and persons of color stoked by white supremicist hatred; successive years of crop failures due to climate change; a ramp-up of more mass shootings; and any of a host of calamities brought on by the ruinous policies that Trumpists now herald.
None are as blind as those who refuse to see. Only when they are personally harmed by the very behaviors and policies they perpetuate will they recognize their own mistake. I am not sure the Democrats can do anything about that, given the type of intransigence we see from sycophants like Mr. Lewandowski.
3
Again Bruni has it right. Implicit in his analysis is the conclusion that Lewandowski (another Trump clone) came out on top. He showed the enemy, the Democrats, how ineffectual they were.
I fear that his impudence and defiance of authority will help rather than hinder him in our present climate. Our political world of today reminds me of the schoolyard bully who picks on the kid who is a little unusual ---maybe fatter or a stutterer or better-dressed or more polite or smarter than he--some trait he can make fun of---"low energy"or "Pocahontas" or darker skin---and pick on the poor kid, provoke the kid to respond---rally the other kids to rally around himself, he the bully--a big rally of others who join in surrounding the victim--those joining the bully, some sharing his obnoxious traits and some feeling compelled to join in--or else the bully will make them the target of his outrageous behavior. That's how it is in today's America.
Most kids are cowardly and go along with the bullying unless some higher authority intercedes . But if the bully is the highest authority than he goes along his merry way hurting the weaker while the crowd continues to applaud him.
There was a time when convention, custom, mores had their power . Bullies would be rejected and pushed aside. Especially if they were cowardly themselves (using bone spurs to avoid danger). Nicer kids kept him quiet. No longer. The ballot box might not remove him. Bullies win when cowards abound
2
Frank, you nailed it "Shamelessness is its own reward."
1
Trump has revealed a possibly fatal flaw in our government and that is the inability of a divided Congress to check a corrupt and despotic President.
It is clear that the only way to remove Trump will be at the ballot box, and even that may not dislodge him.
3
Jerry Nadler is the dog that chased the Hummer and caught it. Before Nadler started his hearings, we had the Mueller report. It included all of the lies and crimes the President told up to that point.
I did not read the report. Like the rest of the world, I was waiting for the Democrats to distill 400 pages into a paragraph. A couple of sentences. A bullet point. All I got was, Trump lied and obstructed justice. Then, when completely filtered, he obstructed justice to crimes he didn't commit.
4 years on, the conversation is still about no one being able to figure out Trump. The Democrats, the media and everyone that hates him, doesn't know what Trump is about. It is not that hard.
If you hit him, he hits back. Ask Congressman Elijah Cummings how it works. Or doesn't. Lewandowski seems to have learned how to do it. And, there is more where that came from.
4
Trying to reflect morality with an immoral philosophy is like preaching to a starving person when all they really want is food.
To understand this even better, try to remember how you felt during the Clinton hearings for impeachment by the Republicans if you happened to support Bill Clinton. I remember my reaction to that as if it happened yesterday. My thought at the time was “Who cares if he had oral sex with an aid?” Look at all the good things he was doing! Look at our economy. We’re not at war! How can you NOT like him?
Today, I feel totally different about what he did. I was wrong back then, but, look how long it took me to realize that what he did as President of The United States was just plain wrong. Having said that, I still feel that Bill Clinton was one of our best Presidents.
That’s exactly how Trump supporters feel about him, no matter what he says or does.
Want to get him and his sycophants out of office? Get totally behind whomever our nominee is and vote like your life, this country and our planet depends on it, because it does!
4
It's time for a censure resolution against Trump, and contempt charges for all his little quislings. Serve notice that Dems don't have to play any nicer than their Republican counterparts.
3
The American people have a choice. The reality of the lies, deceit, crime and contempt of law is on display day after day. If a majority of the American electorate can support anarchy or shrug their shoulders and accept it, then the Founding Fathers' great experiment has been destroyed. From within. The only way it could be destroyed.
3
House Democratss must:
1. Dump the five-minutes-per-member method of questioning witnesses. All it allows is a four-minute-and -thirty-second question and a fifteen second evasion.
2. Hire staff to question witnesses. Prosecutorial pit bulls who are not enamored with the sound of their own voices and who ask fifteen-second questions that they already know the answer to.
Pro Tip: This is how House Dems treated Watergate witnesses and it worked.
3. Issue subpoenas under the auspices of an official Impeachment Hearing. Be ready with contempt charges against the next Lewandowski. And be ready to arrest him and have made arrangements to hold him prisoner until he or she cooperates.
These traitors aren't playing around. Why are our representatives?
7
It bodes ill to see the democrats persist with tactics proven wrong again and again. They are craven in their hand-wringing embarrassment.
They are ineffective and self-defeating when they allow Trump's minions such egregious disrespect and misbehavior at their hearings.
The democrats are perverse in putting themselves on national television only to provide the debasing spectacle of their complete humiliation. What are they thinking?
Is the democrats' fear to fight so huge that they'd rather just dance around like pathetic marionettes avoiding conflict because so terrified of it? Is that it?
Well then, 2020 will bury them. And the rest of us with them, too.
oz
2
I considered myself a republican before 2016, now, not so much. I didn't vote for DJT or HRC. Sorry Jerry, but the only way the DJT mob are going to be removed is through the ballot box, and that cause is not advanced by you staging media spectacles. The recent Nadler hearing reminded me of a WCGW video on Reddit.
1
Had the Parties been reverserved, Republicans would have had the Obstruction vote after an hour of this and ordered the uncomplant witness to be taken into cutody and held in an office in the building until he purged his Contempt of Congress and testified.
5
I don't think it's any great mystery why so many men and women drop to their knees to serve as Trump sycophants. One of two reasons: they only thing they care about it reelection, and the path to that runs straight through Trump; their only value as lobbyists after their terms comes from access to power, and if they are shut out by criticizing Trump, they are worthless as lobbyists.
So, long story short: self interest. Greed. Love of power.
This is a tale as old as time, but when you see it so up-close and firsthand in such a brazen manner, it does tend to disturb.
4
I don’t know which is worse: Corey Lewandowski treating the Congress like it’s a toothless joke or Nancy Pelosi and Jerry Nadler acting the part.
1
Frank, Frank, Frank, I am surprised at you. These hearings are not about getting to the bottom of anything except perhaps donors pockets. The hearings are a kubuki play to placate the dems far left, provide face time for the representatives and provide Nadler with protection against a primary challenge from his left. You were suckered if you think these hearings are about anything else. When has a congressional hearing been about something serious? Joseph Welch and the army / McCarthy hearings?
1
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Democrats should use ridicule against Trump. It drives him to distraction and leads him to ever more self-destructive behavior. It’s his Kryptonite.
Refuse to take the man seriously and watch him implode. Refuse to give him the respect he craves.
4
We are witnessing the total failure of the US Constitutional system to deal with a President who is determined to ignore it. This failure has been a long time coming, decades of gerrymandering and the stupid allocation of two Senators to every state have ensured a permanent GOP majority. The Supreme Court has become completely politicised, reform was apparent decades ago but was avoided for reasons of political expediency. The DOJ is completely subservient to the President - we need a genuinely independent prosecution power. The upshot is that there is no longer an effective rule of law, powerful men ignore it and nothing happens. The next step is anarchy and civil war, we are at a critical juncture in our history and we are sleepwalking to the abyss.
4
I'd like to point out the heroic work of Barry Berke, in the last half-hour of the meeting. Lawmakers should have yielded all their time to him. Lewandowski looked like a squirming little boy under his thorough questioning. Call his unease conscience of guilt if you may, but it was a real humiliation. Very telling also was the complete change of attitude of this lady just in the back of Lewandowski, who was having a great time all throughout the hearing but she all of sudden was stripped of any possible fun and realize what Lewandowski was up against. Himself.
Democrats need to come up with a way to highlight more of these very important moments.
More Barry Berke (and Norm Eisen) please.
465
I never thought lawyers could be so poetic until I listened to Barry Berke shine in his craft. I was totally captured for thirty minutes!
63
@Étienne Guérin
Amen.
Let the experts interview these witnesses FIRST!
Give each Committee member one followup question after the skilled attorneys get the facts and finish their session.
58
The bug eyed gal pal sitting behind Corey was Emily Miller. Emily would love to hear from everyone @emilymiller
7
Why bring a hostile witness if you survey your options and choose passivity? Trumpers are right about two things: Democrats are naive, moderates exquisitely so, and only progressives like The Squad carry the necessary weapons to the fight. Pelosi seems to split the difference.
4
An excellent analysis, as always, Mr. Bruni.
I especially agree with: "...if Democrats didn’t possess whatever requisite combination of legal authority and political will to hold him [Lewandowsky] in contempt right then and there, they shouldn’t have given him the stage."
In other words, Democrats need to show some PASSION as they confront this illegitimate President.
5
Congress is empowered to perform oversight, not politically motivated inquisitions.
Responding to Jerrold Nadler and his fellow ideologues in complete contempt would be the natural reaction of any reasonable person.
5
Nadler worked to change the Committee rules a few days before the hearing, and it proved to be a flawed strategy. The new rules allowed a lawyer to grill Lewandowski for 30 minutes, but he was too clever by half, and underestimated the man with whom he questioned. It became a farce when the lawyer referenced a snippet from Lewandowki's published book, and Corey recommended that he read it, generating amusement and laughter from the audience. There was nothing to be gained by having Lewandowski testify; he's done so on three separate occasions. Furthermore, he informed the committee that he would not go beyond the text of the Mueller report, and that private conversations between him and the President were protected, period. The Democrats were hoisted on their own petard.
10
I'm told Capitol Hill has a prison cell.
Why Lewandowski wasn't hustled off for obvious contempt of Congress is a puzzlement.
He gets away with with it, same as Trump.
"The fault, dear Brutus, is in ourselves."
13
I’m surprised trump isn’t trying to repurpose funds currently appropriated for important projects to build a coliseum, describe it as infrastructure, and then conduct and oversee battles to the death using prisoners sentenced for capital crimes against his political opponents.
I think the significant number of Americans who support him would gladly attend these events and extend their xenophobic thumbs downward every time the opportunity arose.
I’m not sure I can recall a day gone by when something outrageous hasn’t occurred with trump as the source.
Worst of all is the number of representatives in congress and cabinet members who avert their eyes to this behavior.
Each has failed to carry out their respective oath of office.
I am holding out for Election Day 2020, but I wish congress would act now. The latest abuse of power is just too over the top and show he is unfit to serve.
8
Normal government depends on regular procedures and respect for norms. The nation does not have normal government now, largely because of one person, who stands in the way. That person is not Donald Trump, that person is Nancy Pelosi.
4
@S.P.: Pelosi wants to see Trump in prison, not victoriously exonerated b the Senate after impeachment in the House. If that happens before the elections, the House might as well pack up and retire.
2
Watching the hearing convinced me of only one thing. In the main , the Judiciary Committee members were more interested in screen time than actually holding Lewandowski accountable. Long convoluted statements leading to a question asked and answered gave him the perfect stage to display contempt of the truth. Having participated in numerous depositions, as well as sitting as an expert witness at several civil trials, when you want the facts, have a skilled interrogator ask the simple straight forward questions, not politicians. A skilled interrogator never asks a blunt fact-based question unless he or she already knows where the answer will lead. Given Mueller’s investigation and final report, we know where that is. All else is entertainment of a terrifying kind.
14
Democrats should be concentrating on getting big name candidates to commit to Senate runs and raising money like crazy. The Republicans are way ahead in funds and that is alarming. In part we can thank the purists and ideologues.
In a seminar room or a confab of activists, rejecting money from business or from well to do contributors is all the rage. In the world of Citizen United it is called unilateral disarmament.
Mr. Bruni , you are right. This impeach shouting is all about mollifying the activist Left of our party in all their perpetual circular firing squad glory. When the Left shows as much passion in keeping this a team effort and a Big Tent moment for our freshmen who won Trump districts, then we'll have a chance.
7
..., the more relevant (and bigger) picture, is that of the Democrats being so singularly ill prepared to govern.
Mixing in Joe Biden’s assertion that “everything changes” with him in the White House, puts on full display the utter illusion that Democrats will even be capable of governing in the reality, which is the politics of today’s United States.
9
@Kristian Thyregod The Democrats are governing; the Republicans are not. The House has passed numerous and varied bills to move the country forward; Moscow Mitch has not allowed any of them to be considered in the Senate. We have reached this point of a non-functioning federal government thanks in large part to the origins of the Tea Party.
Until the voters wake up and overwhelm the ballot box with the election of Democratic candidates, defeating even the Russian social media propaganda, we will go further down the rat hole.
Should the dream government happen, the work will be 1) to take big money out of campaign financing; 2) work non-stop to pass environmental protections and forge global initiatives; 3) pack the courts with reasonable centrist qualified judicial appointments; 4) pass laws which will enlarge, strengthen and support the diminishing middle class (dare I include attention to public education to ensure an informed populace?); 5) restore morality and respect to high office.
6
It seems that Democrats need to focus on debilitating the Trump political machine in every possible way. This could and should include the extended drama of an impeachment investigation with all the bells and whistles certainly. The Pelosi calculus of waiting for the election shoe to drop could seriously underestimate voter apathy with the Democratic ticket. Likewise the Biden baggage could be fatal to his campaign especially with the Fox News trumpets blaring constantly to the base.
The Trump playbook is open and there are likely to be few secrets left. On the other hand there is a lot that could come out in terms of Trump's dirty laundry when his tax returns, diplomatic phone calls, indelicate relationships etc come into the light of day. Trump has rightfully been depicted as someone with a damaged personality, and damaged good will break under duress.
Nadler should resign after the disastrous Lewandowski hearing and the House Judiciary Committee should be put in the hands of a young firebrand in the mould of Elizabeth Holtzman. Pelosi should recognise that doing nothing will achieve nothing. There is no reason that our elected House of Representatives should not do their constitutional duty and impeach if evidence of high crimes and misdemeanours exists. Impeachment hearings are the only way to determine this with any certainty.
8
While Bruni's point about the unrestrained ruthlessness of Trump and his enablers - as well as the Democrat's inability to fully realize it - is well taken, he falls into the trap of describing the situation as if he's reviewing a reality show.
We currently have a President using his office to ask a foreign power for opposition research on a potential rival in an upcoming election. Have we really gotten to the point of normalizing profoundly destructive political behavior that saying "Well, what else is new?" is now considered to be a reasonable response?
9
If for no other reason, and there are many many, trump should be impeached just so that this fact will forever be in the history books and will taint his family’s name forever. To wound his ego is one of the best ways to get at him and Impeachment would provide the surety of this.
15
How about sending him and his Congressional enablers to a crushing defeat in 2020?
Another article by a pundit who simply assumes that the mechanics of an impeachment process have little value. Bruni is wrong. Hold the hearings, showcase the misdeeds, the illegal activities, the contempt for our institutions and rule of law. Expose it all. Unexpected things happen in these unscripted moments. Force them to testify under oath. Over the months it takes to hold these hearings events may unfold that change public opinion (see Nixon's impeachment process in which the GOP didn't break from supporting him for months, and then suddenly did). It's only possible if you do the hard work and pursue the process.
24
It is the commentariat that keeps getting surprised and taken aback that somehow, someway, republicans refuse to abandon tRump. The other side of tRump, as you put it, only goes through the ballot box. Registering voters, getting people to the polls needs to be the only - ONLY - thing thinking people should be caring about. You're never going to convince the bigots that make 33% or so of voters to vote in their own economic interests because they can't see past their bigotry.
14
The Dems appear weak because the ARE weak. I’ve watched the Republicans drag the Dems to the right over the past 40 years without the GOP breaking a sweat.
So why is anyone shocked that the House is paralyzed in the face of Trump?
Perhaps impeachment isn’t the right move (perhaps), but surely there are other things that the House could do to assert its constitutional status. Instead, the House seems just like a sadly out of style 435 piece doormat. Instead of welcome, it says “Please Tread On Me.”
I think it comes down to the fact that most House Democrats and the rest of the Dem establishment don’t actually believe in anything in particular. Maybe decency, truth, justice, and donors. Definitely donors.
Any particular policy positions though? Nope.
So when Warren trots out her latest plan for rebuilding the American middle class, the best the spooked establishment Dems can say is that it’s “extreme.” No counter proposal, no arguments beyond what an extreme right wing Republican might have mooted 30 years ago.
The Squad proposes a Green New Deal, and Pelosi dismisses it as radical, in favor of.... nothing.
The passion-free, idea-free, strategy-free Democratic leadership strikes again!
You are right, Frank. 2020 is a key date. Time to get rid of Trump and time to get rid of the useless dead wood in the Democratic caucus. Starting from the top.
11
After nearly three years of Trump the fact of the matter is that voters have made up their minds already. They either want to remove Trump or they don't. The justification for an impeachment inquiry in say June 2017 wasn't there but in September 2019 it is. So if Nancy Perlosi thinks that an inquiry will change one vote she had better read her tea leaves again. There is greater long term danger for Democrats by doing nothing or something half-hearted than by vigorously defending our democratic principles now.
15
I only watched a small part of this what I couldn't understand was the failure of the Congressman to cross-examine him and demand that he answer the questions asked, rather than putting up with his contempt. Somebody ought to give them a lesson in how to cross-examine the recalcitrant witness.
12
@Linda
It was obvious from the start that Lewandowski was a hostile witness. Nadler should have stopped the proceedings and held Lewandowski in contempt of Congress. It was a farce and only made the Democrats look foolish, which was Lewandowski's plan from the start.
1
Absolutely agree---Democrats, there are no rules, none anymore. I would say this, that the Republicans in Congress have enabled this behavior. Instead of standing up for their institution---they have permitted Trump and his aides to emasculate the second branch of our government---
10
"Hint: It has to do with November 2020."
Mr. Bruni and Ms. Pelosi are banking an awful lot on a huge voter turnout that day. But I'm not sure that's in the cards. Democratic inaction and bumbling are more likely to leave voters depressed and discouraged. What was the point of the Blue Wave of 2018, after all? You may condemn voter apathy, but Democratic passivity is not going to motivate people to go to the polls on election day.
10
If the Dems put up someone exciting, they will get the votes. Someone like Warren who comes across high energy. People don’t trust the Democratic Party after what happened to Sanders last time. In the meantime, Dems should stop trying to pretend that 2016 was anything but their fault.
5
He’s the Dems Vietnam. Couldn’t fight that war with traditional methods. Same with Trump. And a lot of people are tired of the traditional methods. Tired of the status quo and the frayed political playbook. Indeed that’s a big reason Trump got elected. Maybe the Dems need to out-Trump Trump. But who can or will do it?
9
@Jon Swift: Do you mean to have the Second Amendment People take care of the problem? Lock him up? Shoot him in broad daylight in the middle of Fifth Avenue? Force him to provide his long form birth certificate? Or his tax returns, e.g., by producing some fake tax returns showing malfeasance and indebtedness to Putin, forcing him to provide his real returns?
1
In a world in which lawyers claim the president cannot be investigated and the Attorney General may well agree with them, in which whistleblowers are threatened and not allowed to speak to relevant committees, to reject impeachment is like saying the people have power only on Election Day, and that we can do nothing except on that day. We must assert our right to act now, even if we are unsuccessful. To allow this to continue effectively unchallenged, is to give in to cynicism and to accept powerlessness.
17
This is why impeachment proceedings in the House must start in January 2020 and continue unabated and at full volume through the elections. It has frequently been noted that impeachment is essentially a political, rather than a legal, exercise. So it must be wielded in the service of politics. It must be used to remove the entire administration rather than a single person. It must be used as a campaign tactic, relentlessly spotlighting Trump's malfeasance. It must use the media, get free airtime, turn whatever power they have against him right until election day and beyond. They need to stay in this unsatisfying place-holder position through the holidays and use the time to plan, to get court decisions, to urge reluctant witnesses (Mueller? Mattis?) to step up, and to let Trump add to the mountain of evidence. The Lewandowski hearing will be long forgotten when the main event takes center stage.
367
@syfredrick Yes, Yes, Yes. Trump will explode if they start impeachment hearings. It will sully his "reputation" even if the Senate doesn't convict. Please, Democrats, just do it.
48
@syfredrick Agreed. The Democrats need to get ruthless, not sit back and sigh and moan and do nothing like they did with the Garland snub and like they are doing now. No more liberal niceties. As you say, wield impeachment as a political bludgeon. Pelosi rightly worries about moderate members, but the Democrats have to get on the offensive. I really thought once they got control of the House that they would do so, but they have slow walked, permitted stonewalling and the defiance of subpoenas, and generally acted like a wrestler in a permanent bottom position. They need to reverse that position and put the entire GOP's face on the mat.
42
@syfredrick
The point of the article is to warn that impeachment is NOT the road to go down. The Lewandowski hearing was a disaster for Democrats, Please, no more.
9
The problem with allowing conjectures about future election results to outweigh the clear and compelling constitutional duty of impeachment is that this "let's put all our eggs in the 2020 basket" strategy assumes that there will in fact be a free and fair election in 2020, and that it will yield Democrats a clearly legitimate victory.
But it's just as likely that the election will not be free and fair, will not produce a clear result, or that it will re-elect Trump.
This President is an aspiring autocrat. To keep himself in the office that he regards as an elective monarchy, he will use the full powers of the "unitary executive" in unprecedented ways, unrestrained by any norms or laws. This is a man who will do anything, and I do mean anything, to stay in office.
The Russian government, with Trump's open encouragement, will go far beyond the attack it launched against our country in 2016. It will seek either to re-elect their man, or to sow such confusion and chaos that the election has no clearly legitimate result.
House Democrats appear divided, muddled, and weak for the simple reason that they are. But allowing political considerations to (so to speak) trump constitutional duty is as likely to prove folly as wisdom.
502
@Timbob, Especially since (if the Constitution is any guide at all) it is the Congress's duty to make the law, and the only 24/7 duty of the executive is to see that the existing laws are "faithfully executed," to enforce them, and to obey them. I want to see "Jail to the Chief" again on signs around the Capitol.
32
@Timbob
I think if Democrats can make use of the impeachment proceedings wisely, then this would be fine. However, if the optics comes across as Lewandowski or Mueller's testimony has, it is a losing battle. I have little faith in the current crop of officials. Democrats need to stop asking these criminals the political questions that they expect and start turning things upside down.
18
@Timbob
I agree with you. If we believed that a fair and free election would happen it might mean no impeachment. But I have little assurance that the Senate will vote for sufficient protections (it is not to the GOP's advantage to do so) for our election and we know Russia will be doing all it can to continue such a supine and compliant leader in the US.
It has to be impeachment, and now.
12
Bruni is correct, and this is why Biden will not be the nominee. His mind is locked in a past bi-partisan era, even after observing first hand how the Republican Senate stone-walled everything Obama. More could have been accomplished in Obama's first two years in office, without the unrequited attempts at bipartisanship. Viewed in the light of Mitch McConnell's inauguration eve meeting, at which Republican senators vowed to block any measures put forward, Grassley and his R cohorts on the gang of six seem to have been clearly just delaying progress on the ACA in order to thwart other pieces of Obama's agenda. Whether Joe actually believes that bipartisanship can be reborn if he just tries hard enough (Obama tried awfully hard) or he is just appealing to his base which focus groups may tell him yearns for the old bipartisan days, he seems out of touch with current reality as he keeps going back to the well of bipartisanship in the debates and his speeches/comments.
10
I find the 'strategy' of Pelosi trying to protect her moderates in the 'swing' districts wanting.
The midterm elections were as much about holding Trump accountable as was healthcare.
Voters were looking to send Trump and the GOP a message.
So Pelosi thinks that the voters in these 'moderate' districts will lose their seats if impeachment proceedings commence and the House votes to state he is not above the law?Really???
Does she really believe by doing their constitutional duty their voters will say, 'that's a step too far' and then what? Go back to supporting Trump and trusting him to repeal the ACA and come up with something 'bigger and better'? While Pelosi makes her sole mission as Speaker to protect these moderates, she is alienating the base.
Honestly, if she succeeds in supressing the growing calls for Impeachment I think the Dems will start losing voters, and they'll deserve to.
11
Trump supporters should be careful for what they wish for. The flouting of laws, conventions, and decorum can be applied by the Democrats as well.
There may arise a time where no one will recognize the leadership or authority of anyone and believe that respect should be provided no-one or nothing.
A matter of fact, I am about their myself.
You can find fault with anyone if you are willing to stereotype and contribute the worst motives based loosely on the facts.
You can get away with anything if you don’t worry about ethics and try to narrowly remain in the boundaries of strictly defined laws.
A law is only as good as its enforcement.
The Congress needs to hold people in contempt if they act contemptuous.
8
If Lewandowski's testimony before Congress did not represent the very definition of "contempt" then the word carries no meaning at all. It's become clear that the only way in which subpoenas are going to be honored by this administration and records are going to be turned over is for the House to go ahead with a formal investigation into impeachment. It's a pity that Trump's supporters are too busy reveling in this puerile spectacle of abusive anarchy to notice that their hero has done absolutely nothing to make their lives any better or to make America as great as it was even on the day before he took office.
668
@stu freeman
This is just "entertainment' to these people who cannot distinguish between fantasy and reality. Did they even notice they didn't get a cent from Trump's tax cut? This is real money we're talking about and they don't seem to care! These geniuses get more worked up over the scripted misdeeds of professional wrestlers than they do with Trump's antics. You just have to write them off as irredeemable troglodytes, deadweight on society, and concentrate on getting everyone else to the polls with a true progressive platform.
60
@stu freeman
I don't know; having President Trump responsible for appointing 150 Federal judges and 2 Supreme Court judges, and then enjoying this great economy with low unemployment seems and improvement to me.
11
@Zugzwang...all the judicial appointees might look good to you, but as a woman, I certainly worry about my gender’s future.
93
They need Barry Berke and lawyers like him to do the questioning. The congress is just not capable of that type of effective questioning. A good trial lawyer knows how to get answers; congress does not. They need to put their egos away and let professionals handle it. They also need to get some of these lawyers on tv who know how to get their message across.
485
@kay: You're right, but I don't think it's that the legislators aren't capable of effective questioning, it's the format, where they each just get a few minutes to ask their questions, and then turn it over to someone with a totally different agenda, and then back to someone with some other focus.
I don't know when this format was agreed on, it's certainly not in the Constitution. They do get some information, but it would definitely be more effective if it was set up more like a trial, with periods of time allowed to each party or interest group, allowing for depth and continuity of questioning.
As far as that goes, many of these legislators are lawyers themselves, and have some skills at getting their message across, but the format they are working with is a real problem.
37
@kay
It is true that a person with skills sets in grammar, logic and rhetoric can sort out the defensive tactics to obscure the facts. It is not necessary to be a lawyer to do so however.
The challenge you allude to is the forum is inadequate. The normative is like a ping pong game with rules that for five minutes one side is free to score on the other side which can't use a paddle. Time is then called and the paddle is handed over with the same insanity repeated.
The law has developed Rules of Evidence and overall Rules of Procedure, Civil and Criminal.
The overall proceeding has a judge presiding, much like the umpire in a tennis match, to enforce the rules.
The Committee hearings lack for that structure - the hearings have no filter mechanism for irrelevant questions or responses, no evidence process to introduce facts into evidence. and the results are usually a "hot mess" but it seems to suit the dynamics that envelop our republican form of democracy.
17
@kay, you got this right. The reason legislators cannot do this correctly is that they are enthralled by the sound of their voice. Once they get the mic they forget why they are there to do and start preening and pontificating just to crash and burn like sailors drawn to their death by the songs of mermaids.
16
Mr. Lewandowski reminded me of a ticking time bomb and one in need of serious mental help. He evidently believes deeply in his views, but I think he must have forgotten, it’s suppose to be a compromise - it’s not his way or the highway, not when all of us are paying the bills.
4
The word that accurately describes Corey Lewandowski is "scofflaw". He swears to tell the truth, etc., but chooses not to answer questions at whim. The same word applies to Joseph McGuire, who is required by law to inform Congress of the substance of an "urgent" whistleblower revelation, but chooses not to. The same word applies to Steven Mnuchin, who is required by law to turn over the president's tax returns, but chooses not to. I'm starting to see a pattern.
You note that the committee (not the Democrats, for refusing to answer questions is contemptuous of Congress, not just on one party represented in Congress) should have been prepared for this type of behaviour. I would be greatly enlightened if I were to learn precisely what Congress is capable of doing. A contempt citation sounds oh-so-scary, but in real life what makes contempt REALLY scary is the ability of a judge to imprison. What exactly are the steps which are necessary before a scofflaw is require either to follow the law or spend the night in jail?
27
I begin to think our only hope is the economic damage of Trump's trade war, to change those few crucial voters minds next year. Because after nearly 9 months of control of Congress, the Democrats are a complete failure at holding Trump accountable under the laws. Does anyone think the GOP would of let Cory Lewandowski get away with that performance? They would of held him in contempt and jailed him in order to win. Daily we see the GOP will do anything to maintain power.
11
Watching Lewandowski have his way with the Democrats on the judiciary committee is all we need to know about the difference between the two parties. Had Lewandowski worked for a Democratic president, the Republican chair of the judiciary committee would have cited him for contempt of Congress minutes into the hearing. But not Nadler. When will the Democrats wake up and realize they cannot fight a mobster-like presidency by using decorum and propriety? Bringing a butter knife to a gun fight never works.
36
We've all seen hundreds of iterations of this complaint that our Democratic legislators are a bunch of wide eyed innocents who haven't understood that Republicans are bad guys; an understanding that is obvious to Mr Bruni and many, many others. It strikes me as a strange assertion to make without explaining how such a bunch of naive babes in the woods got elected to public office at all, let alone got to Washington. I mean, realistically, we can take it for granted that all of our representatives are as smart as Mr Bruni, or at least in the same ball-park, and they all know as much as Mr Bruni does about what their Republican counterparts are like. So, if he has a suggestion of how he thinks hearings should be carried out, he should certainly put it forward. He might have some good ideas. But he shouldn't imagine that he has some kind of special insight into the evil that lurks in the hearts of Republicans, that professional Democratic politicians haven't noticed, because they are too nice...
4
Trump and his people will do whatever they please, whenever they please, until they are escorted off the stage in handcuffs, nothing less will deter them.
26
Hint: win or lose in Nov 2020, Trump is not ceding power and will use his unregulated well armed militia to protect him from a "deep state fraudulent election" which he will declare null and void and will not schedule a new one. Perpetual power. We are doomed.
7
Within 15 minutes of that, whatever it was, last week, Nadler should have declared Lewandowski in contempt and ordered the Sgt at Arms to transfer him to the capital holding cell. House committees have gotten John Dean (?), Michael Cohen and Robert Mueller to testify. Trump is in complete control of what the media calls “the process”. This isn’t a process, it’s a comedy sitcom and it still has 408 days left to run.
11
The Lewandowski hearing was a fiasco. Jerry Nadler was responsible for it. He should be fired and replaced with somebody competent.
Why should we take the Democrats seriously when they put their oldest and most senile members in charge of committees? Impeachment, if it goes forward, will be a very tough fight, and it will require the best talent the Democratic caucus has. The questioning should be placed in the hands of an experienced professional prosecutor who knows how to deal with hostile witnesses. The Trump people are going to play hardball.
Should impeachment happen at all? I think a lot of the supporters of impeachment have agendas that have nothing to do with removing Trump. The political media wants drama that generates ratings to sell advertising. The media will benefit financially from impeachment, so it is no surprise that many of them are promoting the idea.
Another group is Judiciary Committee members like Jerry Nadler who hope to play starring roles in a TV drama that will make them famous. They want impeachment because they think it will turn them into celebrities. They should be wary. They could end up being exposed as incompetent fools.
The bottom line for me is that Democrats don't have the votes. Nixon resigned August 9th 1974, during the 93rd US Congress. At the time there were 232 Democrats and 174 Republicans in the House. There were 56 Democrats and 42 Republicans in the Senate.
In 2019, Democrats are in a far weaker position.
2.51 EST 22nd
3
Trump and company are using anyone who dares stand against them as punching bags.
While I agree that impeachment is warranted I do not believe this to be an effective step at this juncture.
Democrats have to build an iron clad coalition and convince enough voters that the menace that is this administration can be stopped and it’s damaging effects reversed.
1
"Part of what could be called the Corey Lewandowski trap is Democrats’ failure to accept this."
The minute the Democrats accept Trump's henchman or the henchmen of any future president trashing etiquette, tradition, the law, and the very notion of truth is the minute this country is doomed. It may be reality, but it is a reality that must not be allowed to become permanent - a reality that has to be fought against tooth and nail every step of the way.
There was value to Lewandowski's testimony. It put in full view the despicable ignorance and disregard for the truth of those in Trump's circle.
To me to do nothing about this except wait for the next election is akin to watching someone being beaten to death, hoping the assailant will one day get his due rather than stepping in to help. Yes, I might get hurt in the process and might not be successful, but I for one couldn't live with myself if I simply stood by and waited while someone died, simply hoping one day justice would take its course.
8
So what Nancy Pelosi is affirming is that our system is really based on the good will of the participants and nothing more. In Isaac Asimov's great "Foundation Trilogy", a thousand year plan is set in motion based on mathematical assumptions of human nature. When a mutant, The Mule appears who is immune to such assumptions, the entire enterprise derails until he is eliminated. What we have had is essentially a verbal agreement among our political players, and as Samuel Goldwyn said, "A verbal agreement isn't worth the paper its printed on".
3
Worst Democratic retreat in a long series of them....and they think that nominating an "accommodating" Joe Biden will help? They need some help with that, and I hope they get it....they should replace Jerry Nadler as head of this committee, for starters, and then make sure Biden doesn't make the head of the ticket.
2
No, we need to rid ourselves of this president with more of a slap in the face than losing an election, and with trump doing what he feels like without concern, even losing is a bold assumption. The Democrats need to act, not talk. The Constitution provides for removal of a corrupt president. It's time to DO IT, even if it neve gets to a trial in the Senater. Congress, stop letting this president walk all over our Constitution and our Democracy!
1
Counting on the 2020 election to get rid of Trump is delusional. The combination of the electoral college and Russian meddling will win for him even if he loses the popular vote by a bigger margin than in 2016. And if he loses, he has no intention of leaving the office. Just who will remove him? The Justice Department? The Supreme Court? The only answer to Trump is impeachment, and even then who will force him to leave?
3
His “tribe” extends well beyond the absolute loyalty of the sycophants who surround him.
White conservative evangelicalism—the primary ingredient of the GOP base—has pledged ultimate fealty to Trump in return for political power for their religious cause.
It is not the way of Christianity, not the way of the gospel. Ultimate trust belongs to Christ alone.
But Trump has theirs and has them, and will continue to use them, even as they will shamelessly and willingly allow themselves to be used.
4
Perhaps Pelosi knows that most of the House Democrats are not really skillful enough to question witnesses like Levandowski and the rest of the odious swamp creatures that are likely to testify in an impeachment hearing. Even if they are held in contempt and jailed, little new information will be forthcoming.
3
Congressional Democrats seem constantly surprised by the outrageous flaunting of the law practiced by Trump and his copycat minions, yet they’ve had over thirty months to observe the increasing lawlessness and authoritarian rule of this administration. Why are they still surprised? Seeing how William Barr lied about the contents of the Mueller report and the obstruction it revealed, Democrats should have announced an impeachment investigation and should have been in court the next day seeking access to hidden files. When the head of the DOJ, who is supposed to represent the people—not the president—lies to the public and consistently supports the suppression of any information about illegal activities damaging to the reelection of the president, that person is a partisan hack who no longer represents the rule of law. Democrats know this, so why can they do nothing about it? They have the Constitutional role of investigating wrongdoing by the president. It’s long past time to do the job.
3
Since the election of 2008 the GOP has exposed its ugly hand with increasing clarity and boldness.
Trump just really ripped back the covers! Stripping away almost all the make-up - snapping into focus things blurry.
First, we see clearly the phoniness, selfishness, shallowness, and darkness that lurks in us the electorate.
The lack of civic awareness.
The cynicism, apathy, hate, fear, lack of reason, and lack of patriotism (defined as defending our highest ideals).
How unimportant truth, honor, rationally, secular government, and uplifting principles are to many of us.
That a Trump got to be President tarnishes us "we the People" mightily.
Second, beyond any doubt the social vacuity, hypocrisy. and amorality of the GOP and its true supporters is laid bear.
Third, exposed is how fragile our social egalitarian liberal democratic pact with each other is.
We are players in a morality play to rival all morality plays.
And we will decide its ending with our vote (or no vote).
About 42% of us will invariably and inevitably opt for the villain to win. They WILL vote GOP AND THEY WILL VOTE!
It is up to 58% that really get the gravity of this morality play - voters not really in the theocratic authoritarian plutocratic camp - voters that intellectually recognize the real dangers this GOP poses - to VOTE and VOTE D EN MASSE.
Vanquish GOP in 2020 - this REALLY is our our only hope!
We can easily sort out paradigms down the road! Now it is existential!
3
'Distilling the Trump ethos?' 'Scornfully Trumplike?' I don't know about that... I think part of Trump's evil genius is that he doesn't, generally, behave in a hostile manner towards the press or his opponents when he is actually with them--in person. He lets his minions do that, sure, but in press conferences, meetings, on the White House lawn, he almost always keeps his cool. It's actually kind of creepy. At last night's state dinner, he seemed, as others have pointed out, like he 'didn't have a care in the world.' At rallies he goes off on people, and he's insulting on Twitter, but other than that, he remains relatively calm, given what's swirling around him. If he did act like Lewandowski or Guiliani (for all of us to see, not behind the scenes as he is rumored to do), I think more of the public would have turned against him... and he knows that, I'm afraid.
3
‘if Democrats didn’t possess whatever requisite combination of legal authority and political will to hold him in contempt right then and there, they shouldn’t have given him the stage.”
That is the crux of the matter, right there. As any seasoned mental health professional knows, when dealing with a sociopathic personality one does not expect any amount of truth, fairness, or empathy. One therefore must externalize one’s reactions and erase any ego response; in other words, don’t let them push your buttons, but hold them accountable to the rules.
If the formal consequences for a performance like Lewandowski’s, or for the Director of National Intelligence’s failure to provide the whistleblower report include imprisonment, monetary penalties, etc., then, by all means use them. It’s the only form of transaction to which they respond. If you cannot, or are unwilling to do so then you have already lost.
3
If I could see this coming, why couldn’t the judiciary committee? What is it people think is going to happen, right before they shoot themselves in the foot?
3
Regardless of the claims about safeguarding America’s institutions and the Rule of Law, the bizarre show Nadler and his group put out on national tv only helped Trump. It’s hard to believe professional Democrat politicians are so naive to think this type of show will get them anything else than embarrassment. American politics is a brutal endeavor of gaining and maintaining power. Both parties engage in such brutality and Lewandowski taught the Nadler cabal a lesson about politics they’ll never forget. In the end, it became clear to American voters that a half cooked witch-hunt backfired to those bent in finding “something” that would support the now mythical impeachment of Trump.
1
I disagree that Democrats should abandon impeachment efforts in favor of waiting for the 2020 election.
Actually, Democrats should pursue every effort to remove Trump from office in parallel. Impeachment is warranted many times over. Hopefully, some insiders are investigating 25th amendment possibilities as well. If the Trump train wreck is still operational in November 2020, then use the ballot box to remove him.
Trump is a travesty, an embarrassment and a national emergency each day he remains in office. No efforts to remove him should be spared.
4
Kavanugh set the example and now all of Trumps people know they can not only get away with their belligerence they actually are congradulated by his base.
Why aren't these people held in contempt and taking to jail? Is there not some form of punishment for contempt?
5
To me it just looked like Lewandowski was mimicking the attitudes displayed by Comey and Strzok when they testified in front of Congress. I didn't hear any complaints about their behaviors then.
1
I completely disagree. The 2020 ballot box is a cop-out of the House Democrat’s responsibility to do their job and uphold the Constitution. Even if Trump loses the election, it is no guarantee that he will leave the office. He will claim that the election was rigged. And who will force him to vacate the office if he loses - the William Barr Justice Department?
The only way to remove Trump is to impeach him and throw him in jail. Get a spine Pelosi.
4
And so we see the entire dance that has brought the USA to the brink; complete disregard of one half, waltzing with complete inadequacy of the other half.
1
What does Mr Bruni suggest the Democrats do? Ignore the criminal behavior of Trump and his minions until electors get their say? That not only is a dangerous gamble it is shirking their responsibilities. Also it feeds Trump‘s belief that he can act however he please without any significant repercussion. The current president is a threat to America’s democratic system. He lies with every breath he takes. He has very likely engaged in criminal wrongdoing. He needs to go sooner rather than later. However I agree that these hearings do not provide great optics. That comes down to the manner in which they are held. The long winding preambles to questions are a waste of time. They should prepare solid question like prosecutors, cut to the chase, stick to extracting fact, not preach to the choir. They need to be cleverer in setting traps for people like Lewandowski to walk into and betray their crimes. They should never allow a witness like Lewandowski to refuse to answer a question without reminding him and everyone in the room that his refusal is suspect, repeatedly ask him why he will not answer, and hold him in contempt. They should use the whole legal toolbox at their disposal. And they should above all persist.
4
This is what is really depressing: the Democrats couldn't get a guilty verdict on John Dillinger. "The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight" had better aim than these people!
And its maddening to sit and watch them pursue Trump and his minions through the courts while Trump's entire history is chock full of instances where he evaded legal reckoning. How could they think this time would be any different? Have they not heard of Einstein's definition of insanity ("Doing the same thing over and over, expecting a different result")?
Waiting until Mueller completed his investigation was unfortunately necessary, but once that was issued, and no verdict pronounced, the House should've immediately launched impeachment. That is the only way that they might be able to compel Trump and his underlings to testify and provide the evidence they've so far refused to deliver. Waiting for the courts will take years, perhaps even beyond a second Trump term, and even then, there is the Trump Supreme Court waiting to reverse any guilty findings.
That Pelosi and the DNC are this naive is the most troubling thing of all. We are being led by criminals and incompetents. Putin sure knew what he was doing.
2
I believe congress has a police force.
Could they send the police to arrest Lewandoski? That certainly wouldn't be meek. I don't know if they could get away with that.
1
Silent Republicans. Reticent Democrats.
Perhaps if this tug of war produced a draw, it might make sense to wait it out until the 2020 elections. But Trump and McConnell are inexorably pulling the House over the line. When will Pelosi, et al, dig in their heels?
We can surmise her logic. Impeachment is distracting. Trump will be retributive. Future GOP administrations will exact payback. The Senate won't convict.
Problem is, there's no precedent for Trump's behavior. He doesn't care about his legacy. He's playing hardball now. Grift. Greed. Delay. Distraction. Obstruction. Circumvention. And now, treason? All of this out in the open, and Trump declaring "I'm the president, you can't touch me" and Republicans bailing out instead of standing up?
It's one thing to want to abide by convention and civility. After all, it's worked so far. But our system has been caught with its pants down. A lawless president. An AG who lied about upholding the law. A smarter but imperious Senate leader whose court packing is more than willing to toss out precedent in favor of politics. A House leader who's stared the president down before but is unwilling to take off the gloves and slam the likes of Lewandowski and Hicks and every other recalcitrant witness with contempt charges and done jail time.
We're approaching a Mad Max moment. It's time to bust out, take the system back, and reconsider the rules that've allowed the unthinkable. If not now, when?
2
Although the emphasis of Mr. Bruni’s piece, following the embarrassingly juvenile and grossly disrespectful performance by the boorish Lewandowski before Congress, centers on the categorical imperative of removing this dangerous Fake President from office, we must also vote out each and every Republican appearing on the 2020 ballot. They have clearly revealed in their unprecedented and unashamed support for our national/international underminer of democratic institutions their own disqualification for legislative office and the violation of their own oath of office. Trump and his Republican Party must be purged from participation in our political life forever.
1
The system is so broken that criminal activity in the executive branch of government continues unchallenged. It is out in the open, documented by a 2 year Muller investigation, analyzed ad nauseum by pundits, but no action to remove the corrupt leadership. Congress is impotent. Clever discourse at best outright lying has become acceptable. I am frightened for a world increasingly in the hand of evil demigods and their minions. The US had succumbed to the rot as well. People are dying, the planet is being destroyed and Trump hosts state dinners and golf outings.
3
In more “innocent” or “normal” times, after Corey Lewandowski was fired as Trump campaign manager in 2016, for, among other things, manhandling journalist Michelle Fields, we might have expected that he would sink into well-deserved oblivion. But that was then, and Mr. Lewandowski not only keeps turning up like the proverbial bad penny, but is determined to channel his inner-Trump to enter politics. The fact that Mr. Lewandowski’s brand of toxic machismo and contempt for the democratic process are such catnip for 40% of the Trump electorate is appalling and frightening in equal measure.
1
So just wait and allow the corruption to continue unabetted? Than we have no laws, we have no constitution and we have no belief system that relies on facts and truth. You are stating that the Dems are wrong to expect a modicum of civility in a hearing forum and this leads you to the conclusion to jettison oversight? No.
2
Could the House impeach and not send it to the Senate? That would be a stain on Trump without a Senate vindication for him to crow about.
3
I was let down with the lack of 'Contempt' charges, from Rep. Nadler. Corey made a mockery of the House Leadership. They do have: 418 U.S. 618 (1974) the- US v Nixon Ruling, ensuring that, one day, the D's will have their subpoenas served, rather than ridiculed, as if they were junk mail or a take-out menu.
Will we have a country by then?
Will the Judicial Branch rise above itself, to meet the need?
Myself, I can't wait forever, but yes,
I can 'take a hint', and I will definatly, take Mr. Bruni's "Hint", regarding next November.
1
When is the House going to start utilizing the jail cell they have on premises. The House Sergent at Arms needs to start rounding up uncooperative Trump minions and letting the cool their heels in a cell until they answer questions and respect the law.
3
@Steve
They have lost the key to the cell.
The Democrats' reaction to Corey Lewandowski's stonewalling was reminiscent of the reaction of the Senators in Godfather II to Frank Pentangeli's recanting of his sworn testimony against Michael Corleone. They acted outraged, but looked pathetic. Outrage was exactly the reaction that Lewandowski was hoping to get to his testimony/refusal to testify. Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee and others need to remember one of the cardinal rules of a lawyer in a courtroom. Never act surprised or upset by the testimony of a witness, no matter how bad it is. Just go about your business matter-of-factly without histrionics.
3
Even if impeachment fails, and Nancy is probably right, it would still stamp a clear stain on his escutcheon.
His reaction would demonstrate his unfitness for office and the chips would fall where they may.
Its worth the risk. Do we want really want to find out the depths of uncontrollable narcissistic impulses of our president?
3
The saying says "give him enough rope and he will hang himself" seems not to apply since his GOP minions appear to keep cutting the rope to save him. However, protecting our Quisling president from himself only emboldens him, and that will prove his undoing. Emboldened and protected by his GOP enablers he will continue to say more and more arrogant, imperial statements, continue to use his office to enrich himself and finally grievously endanger our nations vary survival. No matter how much rope cutting his minions do, they won’t be able to save him as he himself is making his own hanging rope faster than they can cut it. At that point, his house of cards will fail and he will either be brought down or run away revealing him for the bullying, incompetent he is.
3
Trump is totally unfit to run again for President based on investigations and crimes already outlined, much less still under investigation.
Every day that he flouts the Constitution, ignores the written law, and the norms of ethics and decency, he grows emboldened.
It is time for Congress to be unified on Impeachment and take the gloves off on all the Powers available to Congress for Impeachment investigations - including holding witnesses in contempt, fining witnesses, and jailing uncooperative witnesses. Defund departments acting lawlessly.
The urgent credible Whistleblower Complaint shall be turned over to Congress, and even the Supreme Court would uphold the clear and unambiguous law as written.
A memo written as guidance decades ago preventing the prosecution of a sitting President is not a law.
A Russian asset sitting in the White House, stealing from the US Treasury, flouting the Constitution, cannot find refuge in such a memo.
The Administration is now run by presidential loyalists who pledge allegiance to the Mafia Don rather than the Constitution.
Trump is attempting to recreate Russia's oligarch kleptocracy with America's complicit plutocrats.
Every day in power emboldens Trump to do worse.
Every former President of the United States, every true American in Congress, every citizen supporting democracy and freedom, must work together to bring him to Justice.
It is time for Trump to see what Justice looks like.
1
NO! If Trump is not impeached, future presidents will have license to replicate Trump's illegal abominations. They might estimate doing a quarter or a half of his shenanigans will be acceptable because 100% of them did not draw impeachment. The will suspect, rightly, that nothing will ever draw impeachment. Trump's boundaries will be the new norm, disastrously. If he merely loses, he loses. Yes, it could be because of his sins, but that will not be certified. Maybe it was, maybe it was not. Why do you and Nancy Pelosi want the voters to do her job for her? The Constitution calls for impeachment. If we fail that responsibility, our democracy will be in shreds. And, the final disastrous possibility, Trump may refuse to leave the White House even if he loses, call his AR-15 brigades to the streets and mayhem will reign. He knows he will be indicted as soon as he leaves office, so he won't leave, as Michael Cohen predicted. How will your election solution look then?
2
Waiting until November 2020 is a fool's game. trump and his mob only understand power. Letting them set the agenda for the next 12 months means 4 more years of damage. The House has to use its oversight powers to stop the corruption or lose them. Lewandowski should be jailed for contempt, Barr should either uphold the law or be removed. Americans elected representatives to uphold the law and defend the Constitution.
Do your jobs.
3
It isn't like the Corey Lewandowski who showed up the testify was completely different from the pugnacious creep we all came to know and hate during the 2016 campaign. Why were the Dems behaving as if they were caught off guard? They should have had a plan to deal with Lewandowski's antics in real time, and the fact they didn't indicates that they have no idea how to go toe-to-toe with any of Trump's cronies.
In the words of Rick Wilson, the Dems have brought a soup ladle to a gunfight. "November 2020" is far from a sure thing, and nothing but a transparent effort to avoid fulfilling their Constitutional duty. No one is enabling Trump more now than Nancy Pelosi, and she is making a grave mistake. Trump will use impeachment to his political advantage, but he will also use a failure to impeach as evidence that he has done nothing wrong.
Time to stop putting political considerations above country, time to stop letting Trump call the shots. He will pervert every power he has as president--and many that he does not--to win re-election, setting the lowest of standards that will forever defile the U.S. presidency. The voters gave the Dems the House for a reason, and it wasn't to let smart alecks like Corey Lewandowski make fools out of them. It wasn't to watch them engage in endless buck-passing, vacillation and cowardice.
That's the Republican playbook, and the country will not survive both parties living in abject fear of a corrupt and unfit president.
3
It’s time for Democrats to show us in detail what we already know: the full extent of Trump and Co’s Crimes.
Get the tax returns, make it all public knowledge, win the next election, then reform the system so this corrupt catastrophe can never happen again.
1
Democrats are paper tigers and Trump’s tribe knows it. They know they can walk all over the constitution and break any law they want to. Nancy took an oath to defend the constitution. She needs to be fired for failing to do so.
2
Frank, the First Rule Of Politics for Republicans: There are NO Rules. Rules are for Democrats, and for decent people who abide by rules. “ Do as I say, and not as I Do “- apparently the personal motto of every republican politician caught in any conceivable (pun intended ) scandal. After all, Jesus forgives them, as they will witness and swear.
Speaker Pelosi is absolutely correct. Trump wants to be impeached, he needs to be impeached, it’s the best thing that could happen for his re-election Campaign. His base would be fighting mad, literally. A rabid base and freely available assault rifles are a horrifying combination, even more than the usual low-level domestic terrorism. And yes, I’m being very sarcastic in calling it low level, meaning once or twice a week. Now daily, THAT would be worrisome. Right, NRA ???
Our last, best chance to rid our nation of this Creature and his Collaborators is on November 3, 2020. VOTE THEM ALL OUT.
2
Trump's behavior requires impeachment to show how far out of bounds it truly is. Moreover, his co-conspirators (Lewandoski et al), need to go to jail just like Haldeman, Erlichman and Attorney General Mitchell. These people need to see the consequences of their actions are so much more than political pugnaciousness.
2
this whole thing sounds so 'inside the Beltway'. Most people don't even know who Corey Lewandowski is, or what the 'whistleblower' controversy is about. What they do understand is that Mr. Trump is one of them, he's on their side against a bunch of Democrat elitists who want to regulate, tax, and spend for the benefit of left-leaning, self-pitying economic succubi.
Sadly, they look like dear caught in headlights and until THAT changes, this sad state of affairs won't.
Anyone who has grown up in NYC understands the schoolyard bullying carried out by Trump. Purveyors dare you to resist. And when you don't, your goose is cooked.
We don't need a shouting match. We just need someone with a gavel who makes a short and unmistakenly clear statement that you are sitting before a Congressional committee performing its constitutional duties and if you don't start answering questions in a manner that respects who we are, you will be repeatedly cited for contempt and be removed by the Capitol Police. Do you understand what I just said?
Instead we have a bewildered Jerry Nadler afraid to get his lunch money back. If you are the playground wimp, find a bigger kid who won't be pushed around to do the talking. Instead we get take your kid to work day with Nadler sitting on a couple of phone books pretending to be a chairman. How will you expect the Constitution to be respected unless you fight for it? Know your opponent and always have a plan.
3
In a smarter world Lewandowski's performance would be viewed not as an indication of his strength but of his weakness. He came across as bitter, petulant, self-pitying (not your usual measure of "manliness") - as well as sarcastic and mean spirited. True strength of character reveals itself in ways no one seems to recognize today. Truth is simply stated - not sputtered, shouted, or worst, whimpered.
1
Article II Section II US Constitution:
"...and he shall have Power to Grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offenses against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment."
POTUS can pardon any crime EXCEPT those that have been the case for impeachment.
The House must impeach Trump, even it the Senate does not convict because:
- His crimes can otherwise be pardoned by a future President (Don Jr., for example...don't laugh, this CAN happen)
- We must send a message that we will not abide a President who profits from foreign intervention, violates the emoluments clause, maligns our time-tested allies and fauns over authoritarian dictators, incites violence against the free press, shuts down reasoned dissent, denies states' rights, and whose toadies smirk at laws meant to make government accountable and fair.
If we don't impeach, DJT will be let off the hook for his misdeeds by a future POTUS, and we'll have given a green light to more of this deceit in the future.
Congress must IMPEACH, even if it is 'politically naive' to do so.
If you didn't have time to read the Mueller Report, try listening to Lawfare.org's 'The Report' podcast. Every American should know what is in this document.
Write/Call/Fax your Representative!
2
People who like this sort of behavior are going to like this sort of behavior.
I begin with the premise,from the Mueller report, that Trump connived with a foreign power to get elected (and has busily been paying that foreign power back ever since) I am also following the Mueller report that he has been obstructing justice . And has been abusing his power in other ways
The evidence seems to exist that he is guilty. If he were innocent he wouldn't continue to commit more crimes to cover up the previous ones.
l don't understand the idea that investigating Trump's various crimes against his country is going to get more voters to vote for him.People are going to say "Trump has committed crime after crime against American interests and the Constitution . I was undecided before but now that I know all of this, I am going to vote for him!" Really?
The people who like him will vote for him regardless of what Congress does.
This is not some consensual sex act we are talking about that nearly anybody can relate to, this is betrayal of the United States How could letting the public know of his crimes damage the messenger? They would damage themselves instead by not standing up for the country.
What will harm the Democrats is not that they have shown what a moral and political disaster Trump is but that he will be able to say "See! I did nothing wrong! Witch-hunt!"
Others will say "Even if he did do something wrong, they are just as bad themselves or they would call him out on it."
4
The Democrats at this point appear to be pathetic, clinging to rules that are being broken, sort of like someone trying to fight by Marquis of Queensbury Rules while they are being mugged by a guy who is hitting them with a tire iron.
They'd better start displaying some gumption, or people will rightly wonder what they stand for and what they are fighting for. Democratic messaging is awful right now. Daily they concede the news cycle to Trump, who is just spitting in their collective eye, over and over again.
The Democrats need to look at every single weapon that is available to them in the legislative process and start using them. If the shoe was on the other foot, does anyone think the Republicans would be acting this passive?
3
The trouble is that Republican sympathizers are lifted by mean-spirited performances of say, Trey Gowdy during the Clinton email circus, while the rest of us feel like we have to shower even when people of good will are simply seeking the truth.
1
Read the book Killers of the Flower Moon. It's about the murder of Osage Indians in Oklahoma in the 1920's and the corrupt compromise of the legal system in the pursuit of money and power. We are witnessing the same kind of mobster behavior by the president and his minions. It's hard to fathom, yet it is true and the Republican Party is the mechanism by which this is taking place.
1
Unless there is a real possiblity of prompt and lengthy prison time, there is little point in interviewing Trump's staff. No doubt the president's attorneys have advised these folks that nothing can be done to them, so they haven't the slightest incentive to cooperate. I'm suprised Leandrowski showed up, but it sounds like he got a kick out of it.
It's like Wall Street. No one goes to jail, so it's appropriate to laugh in the face of your accusers.
305
@JR
No one went to jail.
And banks are still too big to fail.
Clearly Obama's biggest mistake of his lifetime.
All those financial criminal masterminds are still out there manipulating the system in different ways and ready to bail out right, scot free, before the rest of America gets left holding the bag.
8
@JR Eventually they'll get caught and wind up incarcerated.
1
Lewandowski was infamous for roughing up a reporter during the Trump campaign and was known as his pugnacious sidekick.The Committee could certainly not have been surprised at his behavior.You are correct that the Congressional Committees are not getting the information they want.Why are they not indicting these lawless witnesses with Contempt of Congress citations? It would take some time in Court but they would have higher legal fees to pay and might even be fined or sent to prison.If committees take Contempt citations off the table they are undermining their credibility as fact finding institutions of government.
7
What's an American citizen to do? We've got a special prosecutor who won't prosecute, an FBI that won't investigate, an AG who's become the biggest stone in the wall protecting this administration's malfeasance, a Speaker of the House who seems determined to look the other way and a House that looks like a deer in the headlights. It feels like we are well and truly lost.
67
@teach
Don't feel lost - vote, and remember to shun Republicans for a generation, until they've earned some trust back.
I.e., read the last line of Bruni's piece.
This is the strategy of Pelosi.
Once they are out of office, then they can be prosecuted more effectively.
7
Stating the obvious: His Contempt of Congress attitude will evaporate after some time in jail for Contempt of Congress.
Congress needs to get their act together and exercise the authority allocated to Congress directly from the US Constitution.
43
We desperately need congressional reform. Eliminate the electoral college. Restore the true meaning of the second amendment. Provide laws to protect us from presidential corruption. A true democracy is only meaningful when the popular vote wins. A true democracy places country over party. We are failing our children and grandchildren leaving them with trillions of dollars in debt, with a polluted environment, little or no health care, and afraid to attend school because of an internal terrorist group the NRA and its fellow criminal organizations. Meanwhile the corruption of higher education continues with their legacy policies and illicit donations where money trumps merit.
18
Maybe the west coast. Certainly not the east. Trump won Florida, Georgia, both Carolinas, Virginia and Pennsylvania. Besides, why should where you live matter in a presidential race? The middle states have enormous power in the Senate and are well represented in the House.
3
The electoral college is not only outdated but dangerous. what it truly means is that a minority of voters choose the president. Basically it comes down to Ohio,Florida. PA, And maybe WI and MI. The rest of America may as well not vote because we know where they sit. I live in SC and I know that my vote is meaningless here. By the way that is on the coast as I live 20 miles from the Ocean. The electoral College and the Senate have enabled right wing minority views to tyrannies America. Secondly having kids have to engage in active shooter drills is traumatic. Thirdly Trump and his ilk and are addressing climate change they are making it harder to deal with and the economic consequences are coming through displaced populations, disasters and by eventually making some places in the world uninhabitable.
3
@Ed
Respectfully, I disagree strongly with your vindication of the electoral college, and your views on the climate crisis fail to see it as the pressing, indeed existential, issue that it is. Way too little is being done while this administration's roll backs of necessary regulations are reversing the few baby steps we've finally managed to take. Back to the electoral college, how can anyone extol a system that enables minority rule? How exactly is the dominance of Middle America over the more populous coasts more fair than the reverse? Your surprising question, "who says a true democracy is when the popular vote wins" is a chilling defense of autocracy.
And finally, are you not at all aware that children in this country are being psychologically shaped - if not outright traumatized - by the culture of gun violence and massacre that has become a regular occurrence?
3
The impudence of this performance suggests that Trump and his associates either feel that their actions are not unlawful (really? Let's see how that plays out), or that they are above the law and secure in this position. Both are deeply damaging to the US.
23
Reality Check: Most Americans believe both parties are corrupt. So all the noise about Trump is countered with the fact that the other side does it as well. How do we get corruption out of American politics? Let's start with removing all lobbyists permanently and campaign contributions over $50.00 per person and per organization. The late George Carlin once said: "The politicians are bought and sold by the owners of this country." I'd like to see this statement proved wrong someday.
20
While I appreciate your point, I think you miss the bigger problem. Trump will do everything and more to win 2020, if only to keep himself from being indicted after he leaves office. As you have written, Democrats seem to have no understanding of the depths this man and his party will sink to get what they want. Do you really think they will let 2020 slip by them? EVERYTHING is on the line for them here, including the Supreme Court to justify and normalise Trump's actions. And that means that if the Democrats in Congress don't at least hold up to the people Trump's actions as high crimes and misdeeds, characterized in stark terms, the people may see these things as just so much noise and sink into more of a fatigue. Look at the situation we are in! Mitch McConnell refuses to vote on all the things the House passes, and the Trump administration refuses to hand over anything at all and sues everyone to prevent the House from taking action. And all the House can do is have John Dean testify (and how did that become a snooze fest?!) and Lewandowski, who they should have known would be a mouthpiece for Trump. It looks pathetic and terrible and it is not in the best interest of Democracy to look this way. Are you really going to get a big turnout for the Democrats in 2020 with this as inspiration? Is this really a succesful strategy, to look overpowered, out-calculated, and unwilling to stand up for the rule of law?
81
I’m wondering, how many newspapers have called for Trump’s resignation? It’s a no-brainer, but we don’t see the great editorial boards of America taking a critically important stand. Why is that?
134
@Michael Yantis
He's good for the bottomline.
3
By granting Trump a pass for his behavior, the Democrats have set a precedent that future presidents acting the same way will also get a pass. It's time to put duty over politics.
83
Trump will be gone soon enough, but the people who voted and support him will still be here. That’s the real problem. American citizens can’t coexist anymore. We need to look at alternatives other than a 50 State union.
57
@Paul diamond
Such as? If the North and South found a way to coexists after the Civil War we can find a way to keep a 50 state union after Trump.
3
@Paul diamond -- Yes, Trump will be gone soon enough.
But still there will be the flock of useless clowns who have done nothing about Trump, and nothing about anything else either.
It goes on and on. We voted to throw out the Republicans in 2018. I voted that way too. What did we get? So far, a fat lot of nothing.
2
According to the justice department memo, Trump cannot be indicted. According to the Republican held senate, he cannot be impeached. Essentially, then, he has immunity from the law. He is, in fact, above it. The cure is not just in the coming election, it is in changing the laws and interpretations of them that make such a situation possible.
128
@James Mensch
"According to the Republican held senate, he cannot be impeached."
Please, at the risk of sounding like some old school teacher, let's get the facts and definitions straight. Impeachment proceedings are the political equivalent of a criminal indictment. Impeachment is opening up inquiries into possibly criminal behavior by the President. Removal by McConnell's Senate will never happen, granted. But yes, Donald Trump can be impeached, which would be a good thing. And no, he won't be removed from office by this proceeding as long as Senate Republicans look the other way.
28
@James Mensch,
Will say this if a Democrat acted in this manner,the Republicans like they do with the deficit act differently.He would be impeached and out. Democracy is teetering.
5
I thought the Republicans have been spineless, but the Democrats seem determined to give them a run for their money. The Democrats are still trying for gold stars for attendance and citizenship while the Republicans steal their lunch money -- every day. Meanwhile, Jerry Nadler gets the Joseph Biden award for the shameful administration of a congressional hearing. As the article 1 branch of government granted oversight of the executive they should be first among equals. Instead they have ceded power to the executive and now they've ceded respect for the legislature. The Lewandowski hearing was the essence of contempt, not just contempt of congress, but contempt the concept of oversight, essentially, contempt for our entire system of government.
94
There is plenty of evidence to impeach Trump and the Dems don't need a cooperative interview with Lewandowski to do it. They should impeach him because it is the right thing to do, to stand up for our democracy and laws and against corruption and law breaking. Even if Trump loses the 2020 election, the lack of impeachment would basically say that Trump's behavior was in the realm of of politics, not law.
54
We know Trump cannot be impeached, the mobsters in the Senate will acquit him. The system has broken down, there is one hope left an overwhelming victory for the Dems in 2020 followed by a radical reform program. But not a single Democratic candidate seems aware of what needs to be done, the rule of law needs to be reestablished before any of the wonderful social programs have a chance of being enacted.
14
@John Stroughair To Impeach means to be indicted by the Hour for political misbehavior. The fact that the Senate will never convict Trump does not mean he cannot be impeached. It means that the Senate will either stonewall the trial, or vote to acquit him. So we all know Trump will not be removed, but the impeachment process will make clear to history that the people (represented by the House) consider Trump a menace and that Republicans (represented by the Senate) explicitly endorse Trump's misbehavior.
25
@John Stroughair
Please folks, get your facts straight. YES, Donald Trump CAN be impeached, and this does not mean he will be ousted from office. The House can bring forth all sorts of facts and witnesses to impugn Trump and this would be a good lesson for the country.
McConnell of course will not even consider a trial and that is what will be bad for the country, just letting a rogue, criminal President get away with multiple crimes, starting with obstruction of justice.
19
The only thing missing from Mr. Lewandowski's appearance was jack boots.
By tolerating Mr. Trump's sweeping concept of executive privilege, GOP congresspeople have effectively demoted their branch of government.
The Democrats on the committee would been better off asking Mr. Lewandowski if he's ever read the Constitution and why he seems to disagree with many of its provisions.
60
I think you've nailed it. Not a single Democrat, be it a Member of Congress or a Presidential hopeful gets just how "other" Trump is and how "other" he has already made America.
What no-one understands either, apparently, is how loyalty to institutions works and how powerful it is. That the egregiously peculiar individual Donald Trump is the current holder of the Office of President of the United States is neither here nor there.
And, make no mistake, this is a good thing, however unfortunate it may be in this particular instance. Government would cease to function, if it were normal and acceptable for anyone working for it to decide for him- or herself to first consider whether or not he or she felt in accord with what was being asked, before acting.
But back to the first point. The message is "there are no rules". Nothing is out of bounds and notions of process, procedure or of propriety, even common decency, have been thrown by the wayside. Trump and his base will stop at nothing to win.
Truth has become irrelevant. The speed of the news cycle has overtaken the content. This has been the case for a while, Trump has merely made it obvious. Unless and until the Democrats understand this and act accordingly, they are doomed.
Oh yes, having a couple of actual policies that address the needs and the concerns of the abandoned center would also be a good idea, obviously.
15
@Rudy Flameng
Oh yes, having a couple of actual policies that address the needs and the concerns of the abandoned center would also be a good idea, obviously.
I believe there is a Democrat running that has a plan.
1
Are there any more Trumps out there to run for president when he is finally out of office? Maybe he has a unique combination of characteristics -- his wealth, his manner of speaking, his ability to lie unself-consciously, to rouse a crowd and all the rest -- that just happened to intersect with the mood and the moment. If so, then we don't need to get too worked up about him and Democrats don't need to take their duty to hold him accountable too seriously because no one will push the boundaries again like he has. In other words, he's as bad as it will ever get and we just have to endure another year, even another four years and the dark night of our American soul will be over. When the morning comes, most of what he does can be undone, just like he has undone most of what President Obama did. Work hard to un-elect him and let the rest, rest.
7
@abigail49 I'm afraid that by not impeaching Trump we are incubating more like him.
3
Trump has written the playbook there are many others who will follow it.
3
@Are there any more Trumps out there to run for president when he is finally out of office?
Don Jr. is in the wings. As he'll begin where the father left off, you may expect even worse.
5
How accurately Mr. Bruni describes the double-bind situation in which we find ourselves. And how utterly depressing, as well as infuriating, it all is. It's true: the answer will come in November 2020, and we absolutely must not let ourselves be divided. Please, please, no "protest votes" for an alternative, third-party candidate!
73
100% agree with the statement here that Democrats are stalling on impeachment, knowing the only way to remove Trump from office is voting him out.
But here’s the problem with that belief: public perception is that our election system is not to be trusted, what with it proven the Russians hacked, or attempted to hack, election systems in 2016.
Experts say the hacks did not impact the 2016 election, but they do acknowledge the hacks happened. This not only rattles confidence in safe elections, it also arms Trump with a reason to declare he thinks the 2020 election results (him losing) to be invalid, based on 2016 hacks. While suspending democracy and a reelection until his belief is proven to be true (queue Bob Barr), our nation plunge into years of more legal battles while Trump completes his slow-motion totalitarian coop.
That the Dems don’t think this scenario will happen, or at least are preparing for it to happen, is seen in their expecting Lewandowski to have been a respectful, cooperating witness.
37
Do Trump former employees, staff members that left or were fired, have an easy time finding a job? Does working for his administration represent an asset?
Sometimes I wonder how it must be to work close to someone with well documented lies and law breaking behavior used to cover for or protect this particular President.
Is it even worth talking to people associated with this President?
The Mueller report said it all, what more is needed?
16
Obama included, all Democrats who are or were in position to do something about Trump and whoever is behind him have failed their constituents. It is clear that the point in politics in these days (unlike the past) is to just win. It doesn't matter how you do it. There is no moral victory, 99.9 % of winning is a failure. The GOP understands that perfectly and that is why they are calling the shots. The Democrats need to wake up to that if they want to even have a shot. I certainly don't think anyone should break the law, but the Democrats are wearing flip flops to a 100 m dash while GOP are wearing Nikes.
18
The Democrats keep doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting the outcome to be different. They haven't learned, and as a consequence, aren't being forced to look ineffectual. They choose to look that way.
And, unfortunately, their leading contender for the presidential nomination hasn't learned that lesson either. Biden speaks dreamily of reaching compromise with the GOP. One would think after having seen first-hand for eight years and then three years outside of Washington, Biden had learned Republicans don't compromise any longer and they would rather spit in your eye than extend a hand. Trump and Lewandowski are the poster-boys for the new GOP.
The longer the Democratic party keeps its head in the sand, the less likelihood they have of ever winning control of the Congress and the White House.
We all see that. Why won't they?
62
BY the way, nominating Joe Biden is also doing things the same way they’ve always done (since 1992). You can’t call for a radically new approach to Trump and then nominate a tired figure from the obsolete past to defeat the new reality. Yet, Frank supports Joe. Why?
13
I think those who do not show up and answer the questions that Congress poses should be arrested and jailed until they comply. I thought that was what a subpoena entailed.
Of course there would be a court battle, but until that is resolved, keep them in jail. No one is above the law - stop allowing them to act as though that were not true.
146
@Gerard
Eric Holder was found in contempt of Congress--he shrugged in off. Should he have been jailed?
Lois Lerner plead the Fifth--she was viewed by many as stonewalling--and was very nearly held in contempt of Congress--but the vote failed. How to decide if she should have been jailed?
The answer is not jail. It is having sufficient evidence to convict. The Democrats were on a fishing expedition with Lewandowski, and it failed.
@Gerard. Another liberal who doesn’t know that he is a champion of mass incarceration.
You can not destroy Trump at the ballot box. He and his supporters will just claim that the voting was fixed. The only way to stop this madness is through the impeachment process of relentless investigation and if Trump is defeated in the election, his prosecution and imprisonment.
157
@Breck
Trump and his supporters can claim anything they wish, but his first (and hopefully only) term ends at noon on January 20, 2021.
There is no need for the courts to interpret that clear, direct statement of the 20th Amendment. Should it not hold, then we no longer have a constitution, nor a United States of America.
8
How does impeachment succeed with a Republican majority in the Senate. You seem to believe that the Republican party is one which respects democracy or the rule of law, a comfortable delusion. They are essentially racketeers.
2
I looked up "sour grapes" in my dictionary and found a copy of today's column. It's time for the Democrat controlled Congress to accept the fact that Trump is going to be President until 2024, and begin working with him to address the needs of our country and its citizens.
3
@lgh
But Trump doesn't know what the needs of the country are; only HIS needs.
Even Mitch McConnell is leery of dealing with him and insists he go first.
50
@Paul To name a few of our needs: a strong economy, good jobs for citizens, rising real wages, the respect from our international allies and enemy's is a good start. Trump is performing quite well in all of these areas.
2
@lgh just a question (not a trick question) because I am truly curious regarding the pulse of our country... how has your specific life improved in the past 2.5 years?
20
I have seen videos of mobsters and war criminals treating those examining them with more respect.
That the democrats on the committee had failed to rule him in contempt of congress and jail him shows how spineless and ineffectual they are.
If they are in a safe blue area primary them. There is a lot of dead wood that needs to be thinned for new growth.
37
Surprised and taken aback - once again. I'm sure there will be lots of rhetorical finger-wagging and threats that "something will be done." More witnesses will be called. More information will be subpoenaed. Civil suits will be brought.
Lots of explanations about how impeachment is not practicable because, you know, Republicans in the Senate.
November 2020 will arrive - and the real message from our representatives will be: "It's all up yo you." But how much support and inspiration - moral and otherwise - will they have given the voters they will rely on?
Leadership, I fear (on this evening of cynicism) is left up to the electorate, collectively. In an age of shameless voter suppression (along with all the other shamelessness). and a splintered Democratic party, I wonder how effective that will be?
Our representatives need to take a strong moral stand, with every weapon at their disposal - including contempt of Congress charges and formal impeachment proceedings.
43
Any serious moves to impeach Trump will only activate his 'base'; including people who might otherwise not vote.
Conduct investigations; hold closed hearings; gather evidence but do not move against him while he is in office. Not unless you want a legislative battle, followed by a legal one, that occupies the next presidential term.
Otherwise this is just a distraction from a "laundry list" of necessary social and political changes.
3
@Philip Brown
I respectfully disagree. Trump’s base is already “activated.” The Democratic party is in danger of being sufficiently splintered so as to benefit Trump. Democratic voters are looking for signs of leadership from their representatives – and see political anxiety and bumbling fecklessness instead.
It is Democratic voters that need to be activated – and unified. There may be risk in taking action – but there is no security in taking no action. It’s time to cast the die . . .
33
And you don’t activate the Democratic base with a worn out has been like Joe Biden, the man who brought you Clarence Thomas, the Iraq war, and financial deregulation.
Trump likes to talk about winning, as if this is a contest or game. But let's say it is a game. Let's say it's like competitive sport. The winners ultimately are those who set a new standard of excellence, the batter with the most career RBIs, the skater who executes the first quadruple whatever, the weightlifter who lifts the most weight, the tennis player with the most Grand Slam titles.
Trump and his minions aren't really good at anything but cheating and grandstanding. You can cheat and win for quite some time (Lance Armstrong), but cheaters are eventually exposed and disgraced. True excellence endures. It just may not seem like it in the short term.
And that's why we talk about the presidency in historical terms. Trump tries to erase history by talking as if he ranks with Lincoln and Washington, but we all know better, even his supporters.
"The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice"—as has been pointed out, this is not a statement of faith alone that justice is inevitable and we need only wait, but a test of our will toward justice.
I just hope I live long enough to see moral purpose once again part of our politics—or even productive pragmatism.
28
I understand the institutionalist argument for an impeachment process, which necessarily turns on political propriety and power distribution as among the three coequal branches. But I have come to embrace the counter-argument that destroying Trump at the ballot box is our best chance at reanimating some of the unspoken norms by which Americans heretofore performed our social contract. Trumpism is a proudly White supremacist, anti-science, anti-immigrant, anti-feminist, anti-other collective whose hatreds and delusions run so deep they welcome illegal election interference from avowed nuclear-armed enemies. We've become so inured to his gleeful ignorance, bumbling incompetence, and unconstitutional self-enrichment that his intellectual deficit had become a blessing. Things could be much worse. And that's the point. A properly conducted impeachment involves a thousand interlocking legal protocols executed in good faith by legislators who understand the government institutions involved. We don't have that here. Republicans appear willing to ride this runaway clown-car of a presidency over a cliff -- and not just to improve their base-dependent reelection prospects. Mitch McConnell is packing the federal judiciary with a younger, overwhelming white and ultra-conservative cadre whose life tenured Article III judgeships will empower them to influence every American's life for a generation to come.
27
Imagine thinking Congressional Democrats are aren't too shortsighted, but instead not short-sighted enough. That is effectively the argument here. That our only hope is a defeat of Trump in 2020, and nothing after the election matters. Unfortunately, since the federal government runs on precedent, future presidents and Congresses, whether Trump wins or not, will interpret Congress's failure to rebuke now him as acquiescence and a license to conduct themselves similarly in the future.
If Nancy Pelosi was actually good at her job and cared about the future of the institution she runs, instead of coasting on an overhyped reputation earned a decade ago, we would have been watching impeachment hearings six months ago. Instead, she has decided not to use the most effective guardrails she was given to prevent Trump from driving the constitution off a cliff.
28
There's nothing in the constitution that compels the House to impeach, and I don't see how it's their duty to do so when there is no chance the Senate will convict. What, do we think the investigations will turn up something that'll change Mitch McConnell's mind? It will be more instances of the same behavior they've countenanced over and over again, behavior that has been discussed ad nauseam and to which the American people are increasingly desensitized. Endlessly repeating the same actions in the expectation that one will eventually get the desired outcome is foolish, pathetic, and doomed to fail. Democrats need to change their strategy.
@Susan
You are right that the Constitution does not compel impeachment. However, the fairly recent ( in historical terms) decision by the OLC that sitting presidents cannot be indicted means that impeachment is required to hold a president responsible for crimes committed while in office. Additionally, impeachment is the final mechanism available to hold presidents accountable for impeachable offenses that are not criminal acts (including constitutional violations).
All of this means that refusal to impeach by Congress is a violation of the Congressional oath of office, which requires members to "support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic".
1
Too much faith in the old-fashioned rule book is what I fear about a Biden/Bernie presidency and quite possibly, any Democrat that is elected. Genteel politic is dead. Reaching across the aisle will not work in 2020 and beyond, unless the Dems can control all three branches of government. The Republicans will revert to obstructionist ways and it will be the Obama years all over again where NOTHING gets done.
22
Unfortunately, Chairman Nadler and some of his colleagues looked like buffoons in the Lewandowski hearing. If instead of examing Lewandowski themselves, Nadler and his fellow Democrats on the committee had let a capable professional lawyer, who actually knew how to cross examine a hostile witness, the hearing would have been far different. For future hearings I hope (but doubt) they will be wise enough to give up the glory of the tv cameras and let a real lawyer question the witnesses. Looking like fools in the limelight helps neither their cause, nor their careers. Having a real pro ask the questions will get us far closer to the truth and shine a much brighter light on the rampant corruption that underlies everything the Trump administration touches.
111
@Ted They did have that (an external staff lawyer) and it was quite effective, but unfortunately only came during the last 30 minutes of a long day. Anything useful they got out of Lewandowski came at that time.
19
@Ted
Bringing in a professional lawyer means admitting that you are not competent. It also requires relinquishing the soap box. When was the last time you saw a politician do either?
1
@Ted-They did let a let a capable professional lawyer cross examine him, only that came later.
2
Frank has consistency beaten the same drum: Pelosi is a political genius and an impeachment inquiry is a terrible miscalculation. I do not buy either hypothesis. However, I agree that Democrats in Congress are generally useless. They do not know how to handle this business. Biden is probably example number 1 - lets go back to the good old days. But if the current situation is not enough to require an impeachment inquiry (forget about the Senate), what is? And revelations of criminality are not disconnected from the election of 2020
28
So you can see the future. 20-20 hindsight, friend. Next time, publish your thoughts and advice BEFORE the fact. Then I'll believe you. Fact is, 40% of this country is happy with Trump and the Republicans. Democrats can't change that. As Warren says, any country that elects Trump is in trouble. Trump is not the problem: it's the electorate.
43
@Quentin Moore: That leaves 60%, no? Not good enough to win the Electoral College?
14
@stu freeman
Even with Bernie supporters who “could not bear” to vote for Clinton, she won the popular vote – and lost in the Electoral College. As Nassim Nicholas Taleb once pointed out (roughly): a zealous minority can defeat a less zealous majority. How zealous is that 60%? How are they affected by voter suppression programs? And where are they vis-à-vis the Electoral College?
Nevertheless, your point is well-taken. I hope your optimism is merited.
14
@stu freeman
That depends on where the votes are. The Electoral College is won in key States: PA, MI, WI and Ohio. Clinton did not carry those states, because she relied on as being traditionally 'Blue'; she did not campaign for their votes. Obama left a decent economy for Trump to coast on. Eventually McConnell's tax giveaway will shrink the revenue necessary to maintain basic infrastructure, good jobs, funding for good schools in all venues, and decent health care. The GOP will have rewarded their donors and retired. It won't be the first time that Democrats have had to clean up the mess and repair the damage, as Clinton did following Reagan.
8
This is rather useless. Really nothing new here. And the conclusion--sidestep the trap via the general election in 2020--how is that supposed to work? Sidestep for 13+ months?
6
I believe the hearing produced evidence of the Trump Administration obstructing justice. It is the instruction to Lewandowski, a private citizen, that he cannot reveal his, communications with Trump.
24
I cannot for the life of me understand why that wasn't challenged. He never even worked for Trump while he was in office. Why didn't they hold him in contempt and throw him in jail until he agreed to cooperate?
3
Yes, the way out is to drop impeachment and focus on voting Trump out of office. Except that Elizabeth Warren -- the strongest candidate out there -- has painted herself into a corner by supporting reparations and an open door for illegal immigrants. Does she really not understand which country she's living in? Because those two stances could cost her the election. And if it's Joe Biden, he's not up to this horse race, not only physically but because of the baggage from his decades of playing political insider. So unless I'm missing something here or Warren gets real, the utterly unacceptable may come to pass: four more years of Trump.
28
@free range
Warren has never supported open borders; she does support more funding for trained Border Agents, more professional Hearing Officers to rule on pleas for asylum, and checkpoints along the border. There are practical reasons for regulating entrance to the U.S., public schools and health care are among them. There are some States which have benefited from immigration; perhaps they can offer jobs and housing to vetted migrants.
6
@free range. Also the baggage of Joe's son's dealings in Ukraine.
@free range Those two stands will cost her the election together with her endless plans everyone knows wont work and will go nowhere. Amy Klobuchar is the way to go.
The challenge before the Democrats (and Republicans with the courage) is how to respond without being drug into the same Trump approach. If we decide to "kick them in the shins" as Eric Holder was quoted, then D's are no better. Continue to follow the north star of doing what is "right" by people. The day will come (soon I believe) where Trump will be finally revealed to his followers. Those that support him in congress will find themselves on the outside looking in and glum. Humans managed to evolve through centuries of treacherous conditions not because they wished something (animals, cold climate, diseases or starvation) away, rather using their brains to ethically outsmart those elements. ALL of us must possess the attitude of being able to overcoming this "trend". DO NOT lose faith people!
8
@Tim: I'd love to believe you, but Sinclair and Fox has such a lock on parts of the electorate that they will not see the truth for the same 70 years that it took to undermine the Soviet Union. We can't wait that long.
1
There will be much hand wringing and teeth gnashing about the so-called "need" for house democrats to impeach President Trump. Knowing full well that the senate will never vote to remove him from office.
A meaningless house vote to impeach all but ensures eight years of Trump instead of four. Talk about a Pyrrhic victory.
There is one and only one way to remove Trump from office. Vote him out.
15
Maybe it comes down to the choice of leaving the country because it seems to be beyond repair (I've considered it), or staying and understanding that you have to "pick a side--we're at war" (both politically and perhaps existentially) and for those of us who have a hard time letting go of what we thought democracy looked like, understanding that the "rules of engagement" no longer apply and haven't for a long time now.
21
Agree with emigration for young people with families
1
Why does it have to be either/or?
Are we really incapable of pursuing all appropriate congressional actions against this lawless administration, while simultaneously gearing up to beat him at the polls next year?
It seems to me that instead of weighing which of the two avenues will pack the most wallop, we should be engaged on both fronts. The House should do its job -- at the very least to establish precedent that Trump's Executive Branch behaviors will not be tolerated -- despite its knowledge that the Senate will not convict. And the party should also, as it would be regardless, focus on winning the White House and as many Senate seats as possible.
Newton said, "for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction." Why can't the Democrats muster an equal and opposite reaction to Trump, who commits daily acts of corruption while also running for a second term?
58
@D Price
Because he controls the presidency, the Senate, and the Supreme Court. Because the AG and Republicans, are subservient. He must have the goods on a lot of powerful folks. It is not hard too feel as if the situation is hopeless.
22
Lewandowski's performance demonstrated all too clearly that the administration's antics WILL be tolerated, and for the worst possible reason: Democrats are simply too weak and ineffectual to do anything to check them.
1
Our government operates under a Constitution that is 230 years old. Though "originalists" do try to divine the intent of the Founding Fathers, the simple fact is that the Founders were just men and the Constitution that they wrote is imperfect and is now out of date. We have amended it several times, but it still isn't useful as an operating manual for government in the twenty-first century. Over the years custom and courtesy served to make government work while preserving the "spirit" of the Constitution.
Until Trump. Trump and his minions do whatever they want and dare critics to stop them. The Constitution is no defense against these men of bad faith and malign intent. It will take an equal force of men and women to oppose Trump with equal vigor to restore proper order.
So far Democrats refuse to take that role. Rather, they seem to be waiting for the voters to handle Trump in 2020. Even if Trump leaves in 2020, all the rules customs and conventions will lie in tatters on the floor. We will never be the same.
73
The momentum continues to build toward this type of disrespectful, rude and lawless behavior. I never thought it could possibly get worse but it has, every day, for the last 3 years, so I don't have much hope that it will recede without a stunning reversal of norms in the House of Representatives. Be it impeachment, contempt citations, purse string pressure or, my favorite, there is a prison in the basement in the Capital, let Corey cool his heels there until the courts can deal with his contempt. Toddler Timeout will be the headline in the NY tabs.
73
Would someone please explain, because Frank Bruni decidedly has not, why this overwhelming, no-holds-barred strategy will suddenly cease when Trump is down fifteen or twenty points next October, or after he's started multiple wars and declared national emergencies to postpone elections? This man is going to politely admit that his time has come? I'd like to tell Frank Bruni and all the rest of the crack-smoking moderates in this country to get the hint that November 2020 may not matter at all. Bruni can't believe that people keep underestimating Trump and his minions, and I can't believe that he is doing exactly the same thing.
174
@matt Did we read the same article? I came away thinking Bruni was saying the opposite. That the Trump show was winning at winning.
2
@matt: So what do we do? Leave the country? Take up firearms training? Help me out.
@ChicagoWill my guess is that people will be in the streets before order is restored, and I think the sooner that happens the better. It might take a while. Thinking that 2020 will right things surely won’t help. The notion that the GOP will respect elections and their outcomes seems like pure fantasy.
3
Surreal is the only word I can find to describe the present situation. There are so many elements that should have been impossible, all at about the same time. Dali. Or Kafka.
15
Democrats need to realize that the Republican Party is now a cult with Trump as its leader. There is absolutely nothing that Trump can’t do that will alter his followers adulation of him. Pure tribalism at its best. Impeachment will change nothing. The sooner the those Democrats that are calling for impeachment totally understand this the better. The only way out of this mess is via the ballot box.
24
@Ash, I hope you're right and that the ballot box is still an effective way to create the change we need--however, I'm no longer certain of that.
13
@Ash
The ballot box can be trumped the same way he is trumping and trampling on all the other norms of our Constitution. He needs to be handled by the means established in our Constitution since there seems to be no way to indict a president for criminal behavior. We should take all possible actions: censure, impeachment, and even perhaps jailing him for contempt of Congress since it is his obstructionist demands on those subpoenaed that keep them from talking.
5
I think Frank Bruni is getting closer to the actual reason that Mr. Trump commands so much loyalty. Yes, it’s partly because his supporters are thumbing their noses at the elite. But it’s more because Mr. Trump has proven himself to be indifferent to and unaffected by the charges of bigotry and discrimination that the left used so effectively against mainstream politicians. Mr. Trump’s supporters realize that this strategy has lost its potency. In contrast, Democratic politicians - beholden to the activists that devised and perfected this strategy - can’t step away from it even if they want to because that way lies certain political annihilation. Mr. Lewandowski understands this and used it to his advantage.
I agree with Mr. Bruni that this hand was played badly by Democrats. They should have anticipated Mr. Lewandowski’s strategy and been prepared to hold him in contempt of Congress. That they haven’t done that reveals weakness. And weakness is death for politicians.
47
I agree with Bruni. I've been a prosecutor, and when the other side is going for scorched earth, you need to know how to play it. The Democrats must hire a hard hitting attorney to conduct these hearings, someone who knows how to ask the questions, especially in the congressional setting where there is no judge to referee and keep order. Nothing else will be effective, and continually setting up these hearings without thinking this through feeds the deep state argument.
308
@Puck Barry Berke did a brilliant job questioning Lewandowski at the very end of the hearings. If only the American public at large could have seen that....He is an excellent counsel for the Democrats, and I hope he will be at the helm next time, at the outset, or at the very least, early on into the hearings.
15
Everyone over 70 needs to retire. Now. There’s a reason the big 4 accounting firms retire everyone at 60.
3
@Puck
These hearings have become grandstanding by politicians on both sides. These should not be auditions for your reelections.
Louie Gohmert, I'm looking at you.
Even Republicans had the good sense to get an outside council to do the questioning at the Kavanaugh hearings.
1
Nadler et al remind me of the tough guys
in the schoolyard who strutted around
with their chests puffed out daring
anyone to challenge them and when
someone did,they went crying to the
teacher.they frighten no one,certainly
not Trump and his minions. Pelosi is
right:impeachment leads only to the
re election of Donald Trump and to
the unraveling, perhaps for decades,
of this faux tough Democratic party.
12
@Frank win or not if the democrats don't impeach trump or try to they are not living up the the check and balance in their jobs. Just because the republicans don't check trump or will vote down impeachment, the record needs to show that our government attempted to do its duty otherwise we just need a king and be done with all the talk of the constitution.
48
@wakara
Agree, and the record needs to show which House Republicans will not vote for impeachment.
2
why didn't the committee fine Lewandowski a significant amount for contempt, every hour he refused to cooperate ?
98
@kagni: Even if the committee fined him $10 million an hour, the backers of the Trump Cabal would have paid it. If Lewandowski had been imprisoned, would Trump have cared? We have to find a way to sanction the administration in a way they find painful. I am not sure I know what that is.
9
Keep at it. Keep running the impeachment inquiry so.it becomes background music; it will permeate trump's attempt at re-election.
Forget his base, they are a like a lost weekend.
Keep exposing the utter contempt and mawkish fealty that people like Lewandowski exhibit.
The democrats are building a record. After trump is defeated at the polls in 2020, there will be enough to impeach and remove him from office before the inauguration of Elizabeth Warren
24
@Phil Hurwitz: No, one of two things will happen.
1. He will attempt to claim massive fraud and have the elections nullified and will call on his followers to pursue Second Amendment solutions to enforce his point of view.
2. He will resign, and President Pence will pardon him.
1
As an independent, I also find infuriating the Democrats seeming inability to understand they can't win at gotcha with Republicans who play dirty. We all know the adage about insanity and doing the same things over and over.
That said, Lewandowski's snot-nosed kindergartner performance was not only childish and unprofessional, it made him look weak and pusillanimous, as most juvenile bullies are at their core.
If that's all he's got to woo the voters of New Hampshire, which he hopes to do, then he also deserves our pity as well our contempt.
90
@Roxy
You might have said the same thing about Trump during the 2016 campaign. In fact, many people did.
Apparently Trump and the Republicans think New Hampshire is a place where he and Lewandowski can win. It makes me sick to think that possibly they are correct.
4
The Democrats keep acting like they think they're still at Woodstock when it has long been obvious that we're at Altamont.
It's almost enough to make one want to be on the side that's winning.
53
@Andrew M. No, it's not. Please have more morals than that.
1
There are a lot of terms that have been rendered meaningless by the Trump administration -- "the rule of law," for one. Another is "contempt of Congress."
If the vile behavior of Corey Lewandowski before the House Judiciary Committee isn't considered contempt of Congress, what is? Same goes for a long line of subpoenaed witnesses who self-declare themselves exempt from testifying as they gleefully ride Donald Trump's obstruction-of-justice train.
And if the acting director of national intelligence gets away with defying the law and not transmitting a whistleblower's complaint to Congress on an alarming matter involving interaction with a foreign leader, what we're doing yet again is allowing Trump, Barr et al. to make up the rules as they go along in furthering unbridled presidential power and the unconstitutional abuses that come with it.
Also rendered meaningless is the impeachment-related term "high crimes and misdemeanors," since, whether we like it or not, it has been replaced by "anything goes" for this out-of-control president. The longer our democracy allows this, the more likely it is that we'll find ourselves living in an autocracy.
Or maybe we already are.
234
@Dotconnector
Yes, as your last sentence said, we already are living in autocracy.
One of the surreal things, to me, is how Democrats and progressives keep saying "if this keeps up, democracy will be dead".
No, it is already dead. We need the defibrillator NOW.
12
I mean, yes, Trump is awful and that is motivation enough but when will Democrats do something to motivate the base? The Democratic base is starved of the red meat that Trump and co serve to his supporters by the bucketload. So yes, perhaps it might be a good idea to vote for the Democrats because of the utter insanity that is Trump but no one will be excited for it. It will be tepid resignation to the fact that they are voting against something. If Biden does get elected, the effect will be multiplied.
Or maybe the Dems don't have a base? Is that it? Or is it too concentrated in a few places to matter? Why are all these wise voices so committed to doing absolutely nothing for their presumed supporters? They are not even to give them perfomative versions of the justice that Dems crave so much.
If Trump wins in 2020, will they finally be galvanised or will they patiently wait to vote him (and the GOP) out of the White House in four years, while doing absolutely nothing?
13
@Matthew Dube
"The Democratic base is starved of the red meat that Trump and co serve to his supporters by the bucketload."
Aren't Democrats vegetarians?
I may be hopeless naive, but I still think this is but a blip in history. Maybe even a necessary one. I understand Mr. Bruni's hand wringing, but he/we pay FAR more attention to this than most folks. The conservatives I talk to are disgusted and embarrassed by Trump and his cohort, but you won't see them on Fox news or read about them in the NYT. If the Democrats nominate any reasonable person with a pulse, I think they'll win handily. Bush and Iraq beget the first African American president, Trump the first female? Remember, the symbol of America is not the eagle but the pendulum.
32
@JF
The conservatives I talk to think Trump is awesome. I wish I knew the conservatives you know.
19
Rep Nadler conducted a "sham" oversight investigation concerning impeachment to please the Democratic base. There is no chance of impeachment, and he knows it. Lewandowski gave a "sham" testimony, because he knows it also.
15
This is a very good article.
There are a lot of democrats who think politics is like the League of Women voters and the Good government society. Places where everyone is well meaning, well mannered, earnest, and well intended. I don't know when they are going to wake up and see that since the days of Newt Gingrich, politics has been pretty much a blood sport. And it has gotten a lot worse with The Donald. Especially among the republicans it is anything (and I mean anything) goes no matter how low.
Nancy Pelosi is the one that seems to understand the situation. I hope that she will get to call the tune in the 2020 elections for the House. Whoever runs elections for the Senate should take some pages from her play book.
I am afraid that the democrats (candidates and voters) will not stand up to the smear and propaganda in the presidential campaign. The republicans are expert at propaganda and smear and that will be running 24/7 -- of course aided by Fox, Rush, Hannity, and company. The Donald is a master at jibs and taunts and will run down the democratic candidate in hopes of getting some democratic voters to stay home -- as he did in 2016.
So all democratic voters need to go to the polls in ever election -- it is that simple.
77
@Aubrey I really don't know enough to say which is best, impeach or let it ride until election. But it's worth thinking about it that "Nan...cy Pe..lo si" is the chief drawn out snide taunt you hear from Trump. Is he more afraid of her acumen that that of the impeach-him crowd?
2
@Aubrey
Actually, the League of Women Voters has been getting a lot done in Ohio...But I agree with your general point. The House Committee needs a real trial lawyer to do the questioning. Where is Perry Mason when we need him?
2
Lewandowski had help in making a mockery of the hearing from Republican congressmen whose behavior proved they are unfit for their jobs. Maybe if the Democrats call any additional Lewandowski-like characters in for hearings, they should conduct the hearings behind closed doors. Grandstanding for a few members of Congress is far less appealing than preening for television cameras.
103
@CH
Behind closed doors? Never happen. These impeachment hearing/investigations/inquires are Grandstanding
Let me preface this by saying I’m not a conservative or trump supporter.
I think the democratic side of politics makes a mistake when they assume that Trump supporters condone his behaviour. I suspect they’re prepared to put aside Trump’s style because they believe in his message “make America great again”. From a non American, what’s wrong with wanting your country to be great. He’s going to win again in 2020 because all I can see from his opponents is open borders and this odd sense of wanting to tear down everything that previous generations of Americans stood for.
10
@Michael That theory was tested in 2018. He tried to make it all about a looming invasion with endless demonization of the caravan. The voters in swing districts and suburbs did not buy it.
60
@Michael
The open borders is Democrat's Achilles Heel. They need to moderate it.
2
@Michael: No, not all Democrats want "open borders".
2
Lewandowski treated the hearings like a farce and the Dems did their best to make his point. I have never seen a major political party go against public sentiment as the Democrats have by pursuing impeachment. Most of these committee members were in office when the GOP killed themselves trying in vain to impeach President Clinton. Nadler knows this is a losing hand. Yet, he's chosen to appease the radical element of his party, one of whom is primarying him.
7
Nadler should have held Lewandowsky in contempt of the House Judiciary Committee and directed the House Sergeant at Arms to arrest Lewandowsky and hold him pending formal prosecution for contempt. If AG Barr does not prosecute, the House should continue holding Lewandowsky until he agrees to cooperate with the Judiciary Committee. If Lewandowsky wants to be released he can have his lawyers filein federal court a Petition for a Writ of Habeas Corpus, the Great Writ. Regardless how these proceedings are finalized, the next time Lewandowsky is called before a Congressional Committee I will bet he will be very cooperative.
268
@Harold Berk indeed. He should have been arrested right then and there. There is no legal reason why he should not have been, and I for one would like to see rule of law reign in this country for once. Maybe if we hadn't spent the last 250 years arresting putting people in prison for petty crimes that no one deserved punishment for, the rule of law might have meant something.
74
Frank Bruni, I think your analysis is actually perfect! Trump and associates: *Increasingly* no boundaries and no consequences for deceit, indecency, and willingness to trash the law. Democrats: Terrifying enabling through naive goodness, ineffective decency, insipid defense of the law.
The saddest part of all this is your accurate conclusion that only November 2020 elections can--possibly--defeat Trump and his corruption. We are left with no protection along the way.
What good is being on the moral side if it is so ridiculously mouselike against roaring corruption? I fear the outrageous lagging of Nadler, Pelosi, and others will actually lose support for the Democrats in 2020.
So the tragedy of a double loss: No strength and fire now, fewer supporters for the 2020 election.
20
Bruni is not reading the House Dem's actions correctly. They surely know that Trump and his toadies will stoop to any low, to avoid prosecution, or impeachment. But this is not what's going on.
Trump, Lewandowski and other members of this crime family understand that in our system of government, they are essentially untouchable. By this I mean that the interpretation of the Constitutional "executive privilege" is very broad, and there is little authority specifically outlining what, and what is not included in it. But sitting presidents are according great deference in making these decisions, and this partisan Supreme Court will have no problem finding five votes to rubber stamp Trump's privilege claim.
So it is not that the Dems do not understand what they're fighting here. What they do understand is that the deck is stacked against them. They may subpoena witnesses and the production of documents all they want, but at the end of the day, it will be the Supreme Court's call. They know this, and Trump knows this. He has literally nothing to lose by asserting his "privilege".
And if anyone is betting that this Supreme Court will rule on the side of transparency and disclosure here, well, I have some beachfront property to sell you, right outside my home in the Arizona desert.
31
@Donegal You comments are true.
But Mr. Bruni says that the House Democrats don't know that they are wasting their time; you say that they do know that they are wasting their time.
To me it amounts to the same thing. What am I missing here?
The only thing that will make any difference is the elections for the House of Representatives, U. S. Senate, and President in 2020.
8
@Aubrey,
I don't necessarily believe that the House Dems are wasting their time. I think they are trying to discharge their Constitutional duties, regardless of the foregone conclusion. That they'll lose this fight is no reason not to do their jobs. They have Constitutional responsibilities they must meet - and the Constitution doesn't say they must meet them only if they win.
That said, they understand quite well that there is an extremely high likelihood that the Supreme Court will grant Trump's claims of executive privilege, under any circumstances.
This means they will be powerless to gain any evidence or testimony that will support a meaningful impeachment claim.
18
@Donegal
I agree that the Federalist Society justices will pretty much let The Donald do anything he wants to.
Thanks for your comment and best wishes.
13
If these committees are going to call Trump's minions as witnesses then the committees need to be ready, willing and able to cite any recalcitrant witness for contempt of Congress. Why put up with false claims of executive privilege when Corey Lewandowski did not even serve in the administration? Come on Dems, play hardball. Vote for contempt and impose jail time and fines. Maybe then Trump and his minions will get that actions and words have consequences. I bet a little jail time would knock that smirk off Corey's face.
421
Dare I even think that perhaps there’s some behind the scenes stuff going on with the Democrats and Republicans? Otherwise how could Nadler and his team put up with all this baloney?
6
@stefanie
If only. Jail time would inspire the outraged pundits who rail about how pointing out lies, distortions and evil doing is harassment of Trump. It might make you feel better, but it would ultimately benefit the bad guys.
I don't know what the answer is to this dilemma, but I think it has something to do with the news media. They seem enraptured by Trump and his minions as they push further on the envelop of normality in our political process.
4
@Betsy S Yes, it would outrage the already outraged on the right, but it might make people who are not paying much attention think a bit more about the criminality of our president if Trump's cronies kept landing in jail.
5
These are Establishment Democrats who deep down are not that opposed to Trump.
5
Mr. Bruni, I no longer share your faith in making the battleground the 2020 election. I believe Trump's actions herald an election where he will not accept a loss. Trump has wildly claimed that millions of votes in the 2016 were "illegal." He "jokes" about a third and fourth term, and his 2020 campaign manager talks about a Trump family dynasty. Now Trump has again invited foreign influence in a US election. In such circumstances, I cannot endorse putting faith solely in the 2020 election. Better to go all in on the only constitutional alternative still available - impeachment proceedings - whether or not successful. If unsuccessful, the 2020 election remains.
136
@William
What choice do you have? Either 2020 is the battle ground or there is no battle. Democrats need to be getting ready for 2020 now.
2
@William
Agreed entirely!
1
Haha, not so sure, people look beyond appearances for the final reckoning. There is a snicker or two at his performance, but, his is coming.
11
The Democrats continue to bring knives to a gunfight. They somehow have convinced themselves that finger-wagging at the same time they're being punched in the face is a strategy worth pursuing, but it's clear that they -- and, in the process, the country -- aren't winning.
The House seniority system has never looked worse, especially the "optics" and internal bickering. Despite having the majority, and presumably the muscle that comes with it, presumed watchdogs have turned into paper tigers, and the relentless Trump/Lewandowski style of bullying keeps feasting on them.
Meanwhile, courtesy of Trump enabler/fixer/consigliere William Barr, who's supposed to be our attorney general but functions as the president's defense lawyer, key witnesses such as former White House counsel Don McGahn are defying subpoenas and refusing to testify. Yet facing no consequences.
A constitutional system of checks and balances, separation of powers and meaningful oversight has devolved into abject dysfunction as Republican obstructionism keeps prevailing. Democrats have succumbed to intimidation and, even at this late date, still haven't figured out how to overcome it.
Timidity, obviously, isn't working.
165
@Dotconnector
This has been the serious flaw to the democrats approach right from the beginning in that Pelosi and all the other "dinosaur democrats", even in these unprecedented times honestly believe that the political rules of the 1980s and 90s can still be used. The problem is Trump and his group of "boot lickers" don't care about rules.
This should have been anticipated even before this started in that those people who lie in front of the Congress, should immediately be charged with contempt. That should have happened to Lewandowski within the first 60 seconds of his opening his mouth.
Instead Jerry Nadler and all the other corporate/establishment democrat types on the panel just want to make speeches. They are like deers in the headlights".
41
@Dotconnector,
You have written extremely well and persuasively about the exact problem with the Democratic Party's spineless submission to Trump and Troglodytes.
oz.
4
@Dotconnector
Democrats don't bring knives to a gunfight. They bring spatulas.
2
Well said, but the key point, or real “alarming fact,” is that they still can’t quite wrap their minds around the fact that Trump won the last election.
There’s a reason we say that rage can make a person blind.
9
@Stan Oiseth, MD The "last election" was in 2018. Did Trump win that? Or did the GOP suffer losses all over the country?
2
@Stan Oiseth, MDi
Wow. So winner takes all, including our democracy and rule of law with it?
2
@Stan Oiseth, MD
Self-gratifying nonsense. We all know Trump was elected. We mostly know he is a law-breaker and a destroyer. Winning an election doesn't change that.
1
Of all the moments in which Corey Lewandowski was offensive, aggressive and sleazy, perhaps one most bleakly showed the evil in his character. When Corey was defending Trump's cruelty towards immigrants, and had been presented with the story of a girl with Down Syndrome who had been snatched from parental care, he mockingly made a cartoonish noise.
He is a person without shame or conscience. It goes without saying that he would make a joke of our legal system. The joke is on anyone who would elect him as a legislator.
349
@NM
I didn’t watch the hearings, but it appears there may be a few clips that could be used to smear him in his senate campaign.
6
@NM
True. But another joke is on the voters who elected the Democrat members who are enablers for witnesses who display contempt for our Constitution by letting them get away with it.
6
This is the best, most biting analysis of the Trump juggernaut and the meek, misguided Democratic response I have read. If the Democrats keep on the ineffective track they are following now, they will be in a position of weakness in 2020. They must take decisive action and impeach now. And they must call evasive witnesses like Lewandowski to account by citing them for contempt of Congress and arresting them on the House floor, as they are entitled by law to do. They should have done the same to other recalcitrant witnesses and those who refused to appear. Otherwise they cede their lawful power to Trump.
If they don’t stand up now, they will lose many of their supporters in disgust. The only way to beat Trump at the ballot box is by sheer numbers. If the Democratic lawmakers don’t show some spine, why should voters overcome difficulties to get to the polls?
510
@Barbara
Well put. Where are the arrest and jail? People are waiting, Jerry! But Bruni puts equal-handed "partisanship" too high. There is only one monster partisanship.
21
@Barbara two summers ago when steny hoyer came out to northern california to campaign for a democrat, i challenged him with this very same idea: why dont democrats fight back? he was shocked that a nobody from california fiercely challenged him on this very issue.
31
@Barbara Impeachment with no chance of conviction is mere censure. The Democrats' only weapon in their arsenal with any effectiveness is attrition by litigation--and by WINNING that litigation, before the 2020 election. We have a GOP Congress unwilling to convict, a Cabinet of toadies unwilling to invoke the 25th Amendment, an A.G. acting as Trump's personal attorney, and his actual attorneys now outrageously arguing that the DOJ policy against Federally indicting a sitting President extends to investigating him for even state-level crimes and suits. (Said policy appears nowhere in statute, judicial opinions, nor the Constitution). We're reaching the point where SCOTUS needs to rule "sua sponte:" it has given itself no power to issue advisory opinions, but nothing in the Constitution prevents it from issuing declaratory judgments (leapfrogging the district & appellate courts if necessary). It eou
6
This more than some spat between Donald Trump and "Democrats." This IS NOT a partisan issue.
This is Donald Trump AND his allies in the media AND THE CONGRESS against the sovereignty of the American people. Pundits are so obsessed with soundbites that they overlook the effect these decisions will have on people.
It's ridiculous to examine the "performance" of Democrats in Congress while at the same time ignoring the behavior of Republicans Most Republicans have demonstrated why they do not deserve their constituents' votes.
In the hearing, Corey Lewandowski said: "I have no obligation to be honest with the media". This is the same man who was paid as a pundit BY CNN DURING 2016. That is the quote of someone who should never be trusted, much less PAID BY, the media.
It's not about theatrics and entertainment. What's at stake is whether the American people will have a government that works on their behalf.
365
@Clinton
Yes! When the media are more concerned about performance than the underlying reality, we are in trouble. And we are in trouble. News as entertainment has a lot to answer for.
15
@Clinton
I find it interesting that many individuals believe that the purpose of the Second Amendment is to allow citizens to use their assault rifles to fight "tyranny". (See, for example, Will Wilkinson's op-ed piece). One (good) definition of tyranny is "an autocratic form of rule in which [power is] exercised ,,, without any legal restraint" (Duhaime's Law Dictionary).
Do not the repeated actions of the current administration in violation of the law — refusal to answer questions under oath, refusal to disclose "urgent" whistleblower complaints, refusal to release tax returns, etc, etc — constitute the exercise of power without any legal restraint? Shouldn't the Second Amendmenters be up in arms? For this is tyranny.
18
@Clinton "It's ridiculous to examine the "performance" of Democrats in Congress while at the same time ignoring the behavior of Republicans." EXACTLY. However, the double standard is beyond that. It is downright hideous.
4
You really nailed this one. I Kept thinking of the advice Sean Connery’s character gives to Kevin Costner’s Eliot Ness in the great movie “The Untouchables.” I can’t repeat it, but it boils down to: beat them by being tougher. If LBJ or Everett Dirksen had chaired that committee, Lewandowski would have spent the night in the jail cell at Capitol police HQ.
630
@Michael Judgen Exactly. But it's not "being tougher", it's actually applying THE LAW. I wish Democrats would just do that.
86
@Michael Judge
What so many of us don't understand is why Lewandowski isn't in a jail cell now. If they didn't get him for contempt during the hearing, is it too late now? Why? And why do they let other people say they choose not to respond to congressional subpoenas? Or that they will show up but not testify to anything because the President told them not to? How can these things happen without the jail cells filling up more and more each day?
88
@Michael Judge
And why did he not? What is wrong with the Democrats?
23
'It’s one of the great perversions of his administration: that a president so undeserving of fealty and protection gets a magnitude of it .....that worthier predecessors in the White House didn’t."
Frank Bruni, in one sentence, sums up the paradox that has led liberals, independents, and never-Trumper Republicans to slam their heads against a brick wall.
It's as if Trump has cast a witches' spell over everyone in public life, Dems and Republicans, dulling their sense of autonomy, rendering them passive.
Can anyone imagine Jack or Robert Kennedy meekly tolerating Trump's abuses of power? Over the past decades the GOP has been on a carefully plotted power trip while Democrats grow more and more afraid of their shadows.
While Trump has set terrible precedents, so have Democrats. Unless they grow a spine, and fast, and use every tool in their kits rather than long court battles, this nation will never recover.
745
@ChristineMcM, seems we are all held captive by "the base". Since when did the minority determine the wishes of the majority. These are strange and immoral days for our country.
94
@ChristineMcM
Yes, that sentence struck me, also. How does Trump skate through time and again when he is so reprehensible, and why do people continue to enable him? Many books will be written about this in years to come!
33
@ChristineMcM As a domestic violence survivor and student of malignant narcissism and psychopathy, Trump's effect on his minions and on his base is very typical. These evil individuals seduce their targets and put them in a submissive trance. They have cognitive empathy and know exactly how to lie and manipulate gullible others. And their crimes become more and more blatant and destructive until they destroy themselves (along with many innocents along the way). Time for Americans to wake up. One way to do so is to read "People of the Lie" by M. Scott Peck, if you're inclined toward naivité and illusion (or have not encountered a narcissistic family member, coworker or partner).
36
If the Democrats don’t move to impeachment soon, America as a democracy will no longer exist. Trump has yet to personally experience any tangible repercussions from the Mueller report. As a result he’s becoming more emboldened as he tries to run out the clock towards 2020. Time is of the essence however. International allies no longer look to America for leadership, moral or otherwise. International rivals continue to meddle in the country’s elections as they fear no repercussions. Lawlessness will prevail if Trump is not reined in and tossed out.
193
@Ann D You're forgetting that impeachment is only an indictment. It has no effect without conviction--which, unless every current GOP Senator is replaced by someone with principles & conscience (as IF), has absolutely no chance of happening. Impeachment as a dead end isn't even a slap on the wrist, because you-know-who can yank his wrist away as he pleases.
4
This is the total package in a nutshell!
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Democrats frequently accuse Republicans of putting party above country. If the Democrats do not impeach Trump, they will be guilty of the same thing. Impeachment is not just an option at this point, it is a duty. Failing to do so because of how it might affect next year's elections is a dereliction of that duty.
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@Michael McDaniel - Impeachment won't be successful without some Republican support and any Republican in congress that might have criticized Trump has either lost an election, quit, or died.
Trump supporters have convinced themselves that he is both in the right and being unfairly persecuted - their minds are not likely to change.
I believe Trump is deserving of impeachment, but at this point, it's clear that no amount of wrongdoing will lead to a successful impeachment before the election (or ever, with a McConnell in control of the Senate).
House Democrats are on a fool's errand if they think proceeding with an impeachment will get anywhere.
In the end it will hurt their cause.
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@Michael McDaniel
Nope.
The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.
More good will be done by defeating tRump in 2020 than by branding him with the stain of what, without Senatorial conviction, will amount to a perfunctory denouncement.
The planet needs tRump to lose.
Let the Southern District of New York impale him after he is ousted.
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@Michael McDaniel-Democrats need to do everything in their power to make sure we have secure and fair elections. Time and again, Democrats lead with a superior platform and set of candidates, only to lose because Republicans have gerrymandered the system and used other tactics to subvert the vote and disenfranchise voters. Of course, Russian assistance is a great help!
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