and did you want to go after Clinton and the Clinton money machine ?
Nope
And now the Clinton’s are worth $700mm
But there was nothing to see there, no need to investigate. We hate rich people unless they’re democrats ?
5
trump could stomp a kitten in Times Square and his base would say, hey-at least there're jobs and rich folks got another tax break.
4
Did anyone on this partisan editorial board ever consider that Trump's actions in the "Matter Ukraine" had nothing to do with the Biden's already fading nomination chances, but rather were intended as payback to the Democrats for the hit job that they did on Trump in an effort to prevent his election. Trump and the Dept. of Justice are now looking at all those actions. As an aside-what position did the NYT take on calls of treason based on non-verifiable information. Not the same as if a crazy left-winger were accused. How about the DNC? The Trump kid was not sophisticated enough to know that meeting with Russians for damaging election information was potentially criminal. The DNC knew and its election lawyers knew. Yet the DNC channeled money through the law firm and a cutout partisan law firm to a foreign agent to provide them with dirt on Trump and they did (even though the agent himself testified in court that the information was not verifiable). What position has the NYT taken on this overt criminality. Nothing!
Trump asked with sarcasm if the Russians could help finding the stolen DNC and Clinton emails. Where are the NYT editorial board members from, if they do not recognize NYC sarcasm- East Podunk. Not necessarily if they as abettors of the Get-Trump conspiracy (which I believe them to be).
3
In as much as most readers value the NYT Editorial publications - there is no real parallel to what Clinton as president did to undermine that office and stature versus what Trump has already done to the office of president. Perhaps we need a new vocabulary, a new playbook, a higher reasoning to fight back against what damage Trump and his enablers have already done. My only question is - what's next? And I answer my question - whatever it is - it is bad.
8
Business and governments have always operated with large doses of quiet nepotism and variations of an institutionalized "favor bank". Trump and his family have expanded the spectrum for this version of corruption.
3
Why, yes I do remember what happened. Clinton served two full terms, was lionized by the Democratic Party and made a fortune after leaving office. And your point is...?
4
I wasn't for Clinton's lynching and I'm not for Trumps lynching. As the old saying goes look at the source.
4
We have learned from their behavior that Republicans in the Senate are all atheists. They don't believe they will be judged. And they could obviously care less what will be written about them in future history books.
4
The article neglects to mention Bubba Clinton's request to Tony Blair for a political favor. Maybe if the coverage was fair and impartial, people would be more outraged at both sides.
5
"Remember When Bill Clinton Was Accused of Trading White House Access for Political Favors? Republican lawmakers were incensed. Yet President Trump has actually warped foreign policy for political reasons and they defend him."
But hasn't so much outrage been tossed down the memory hole since 2016? Adamantly against the Russians for a century, they're suddenly all for using this foreign enemy to get their boy in office. Deficits are bad? Not so much anymore. Clinton's sexual dalliances, and his lying about them, were absolutely beyond the moral pale. What about trump's now? Well, that's different. How about using a private server to hide supposedly incriminating digital files? That's seemingly OK now, even though we'll eventually discover that in trump's case, we can exchange "seriously" for "supposedly."
Please feel free to add to this list, but I'm getting nauseous and have to stop.
8
Remember when Republicans were logical and consistent? No, neither do I. It is just about winning, not about governing. This is a party that despises 50% of the population - they are never going to act in the public interest.
13
And yet, the NYT endorsed Hillary for Pres. in 2016.
The Berniebot commenters are all asleep this morning I guess.
1
Different world.
Why did Clinton do it?
Typical GOP hypocrisy. Then again, "patriotism" has always been the refuge of scoudrels.
5
Republicans are hypocrites.
We are so surprised.
One can only hope that young voters are so turned off by republican's behavior that they will never vote republican in their lifetimes.
Even their leader has said that the republican party is useless, until he took them over.
Easy to be taken over when you have no souls to begin with.
6
There has never been a president as nefarious as Trump, so the comparison to Clinton and anyone else is not informative.
Trump is on a single-minded, whatever-it-takes quest for unquestionable authority over the law, the economy, the military, and even the culture. He is making incremental progress towards his goal, at this early stage proving that he can break the law, defy law enforcement, ignore political convention, and forcibly control government institutions, all without limit. He is doing a reasonably effective job of spreading propaganda even though most of it is easily disproven LIES. And astonishingly, he consistently captures the unquestioning loyalty of powerful public figures who willingly enact his impulsive dictates.
No, these analyses should not compare Trump to other presidents. Rather, he is comparable to historical and current authoritarians. The young Adolf Hitler is a good analogy, if only for his ascent to power, not his demonic deeds.
Maybe the direct comparison to despots will shock those in power into finally removing Trump, whatever it takes. If not, if Trump gets through the turbulence he is currently experiencing, our country will soon be under the control of a strongman. For life, if he so dictates.
7
Bill & Hillary Clinton have been the punching bag of NYT & Wash. Post.
Unless Bill Clinton behaved perfectly and has been carrying out his official duties commendably he was criticized for something or other.
His sexual indiscretion should have been a concern for Mrs. Clinton only. Compare that with how the press covered up JFK's dissolute behavior.
Clinton was impeached, no less for lying about sex.
6
I don't like this country, I've lived here all my life, and I've hated it all my life.
It's pompous, arrogant and wrong. Amost all of the time.
Go away.
I hate China also, so don't let them take over.
Human rights are doomed just as the planet is doomed.
2
After reading these comments, it's obvious that a lot of the Trump apologists out there are either Russian bots or suffering from the real Trump Derangement Syndrome--the inability to distinguish fact from fiction accompanied by a drone-like loyalty to a carnival barking clown who lied and bullied his way into the White House with Russian aid.
Wake up! Your Clown-in-Chief is working for the Russians because he's a weak loser who wouldn't stand a chance in a fair fight. Putin rigged it for him via Faux News and Facebook trolls. Haven't you people got a patriotic bone in your bodies?
7
Remember it well. The Lincoln Bedroom tour was one price, staying overnight in the Bedroom was another price, and so on. Bill was and is a huckster. Presidents post Eisenhower are a whole other breed. Absent Kennedy and Johnson who were millionaires, the Presidency has become opportunities for incumbents to retire multimillionaires. Recall President Reagan after he retire receiving a gift of several million dollars from Japan. As George Washington Plunkett observed, “I sees me opportunities and takes ‘em.”
2
"Mr. Trump isn’t yet known to be hosting pay-to-play pajama parties or dialing for dollars from his office."
It is known that Trump is dialing for dirt, however.
3
Why don’t we all stop these silly comparisons and just write everyday demanding this insane existential threat to all of us be removed from office immediately before he takes us beyond the brink. What more does anyone need? Really?
5
Every accusations Republicans have made against democratic administration, its leaders in the past are borne out of these republican leaders’ actions. Shadow foreign policy, quid-pro-quo etc. … you see happening now.
Give the access to foreign interests, perfect example is Nixon’s handling of Asian-American politician Anna Chennault and sabotaging LBJ peace deal; and, controlling access to white house and managing shadow foreign policy.
Jim Jordan, Mark Meadow et all … wow !!!… tea party conservatives … joke …
Lindsey graham went to senate to argue removal of Clinton from office for his personal sex scandal because Starr could not get him on Watergate scandal. He is now fine with Trumps sex scandal, pay to cover it up, quid-pro-quo with foreign leaders.
Every accusation - they made against Clinton and Obama administrations and Hillary Clinton; and railed against are now practiced by republican administration and these senators and congressmen are enabling the administration.
5
Oh no! They are hypocrites? NOBODY saw that coming.
6
totally different. Thats the Clintons you are talking about!!
Nope. Dismember why Bill Clinton was impeached? Lying about sex in the oval office. One lie. Impeached.
I'll bet money that the Democrats will NOT impeach Trump and will not defeat Trump in 2020. Trump has lied thousands of times, yet there is not one Democrat that can affectively sell it to the Americans people. As I always say: Republicans are evil and Democrats are useless.
2
I wonder how pleased the Ukrainian people are that they elected an American patsy.
1
Exactly what national security interest has Trump put at risk? Broad based accusations have been stock in trade by the political opponents ,to include the media, of Trump. When pinned down to specifics there has been no there there. With Clinton there was the transfer of dual use technology to the Chinese. Technology that has allowed the Chinese to leap frog into a world power and peer competitor with the US and Europe.
1
@ Wes Evans
Oh please. Where have you been getting your information?
Comrade Don has been trying to lift sanctions on the Russians for several months. Plus, this latest Shakedown-Extort-Coverup incident, (the withholding of critical money for arms for the Ukrainians, so the Ukrained might be able to prevent Putin from taking over the rest of Ukraine, not just Crimea) are gifts to Putin. And now, trump’s rash decision to leave Turkey - another gift to Putin. (Not just my opinion. Ask Senate Republicans.) Trump is Putin’s Puppet.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2018/12/19/us/politics/sanctions-oleg-deripaska-russia-trump.amp.html
And Don the Con is selling nuclear technology to the Saudis because he owes them money, too.
https://mobile.reuters.com/article/amp/idUSKCN1R82MG
Trump’s foreign policy decisions are bought and paid for by foreign, hostile governments.
Trump is a threat to our national security for and our free and fair election process.
8
@wes evans
No question Clinton was overzealous in his attempts to placate Silicon Valley execs chomping at the bit to gain access to Chinese market. As far back as Reagan though, US was post-cold war strategizing about how China might be a counterweight to Russia.
I don’t understand your suggestion about Trump’s approach not having security interest however, given his laissez faire attitude toward Russian meddling and associates cheap shots at the EU, encouraging Brexit, etc.
I find it difficult to understand how those are not evidence of weakening our global national security and alliances.
6
American needs more than politicians and intellectuals to speak out against Trump and the GOP, we need celebrities, CEOs, and athletes who can reach those on the right to speak up for American values.
It's not just the GOP that's abdicated responsibility.
176
@Josh Wilson
We need the Press to stop watching Trump commit High Crimes on TV, and pretending he's just ignorant. He has been told again and again what he can and can't do and he keeps doing the opposite.
Its not an accident.
28
@Josh Wilson
Celebrities and athletes? Are they really teh voices you want to hear? Geez.
7
@Dave I think he means more 'ordinary people' will start really giving a damn if 'stars' are the ones vocally opposing Trump.
Only I'm afraid many people consider pop-culture idols as much 'the elite' as academics. So it might not do much good.
13
A sleep-over in the Lincoln Bedroom seems positively quaint. No Giuliani pals and donors elbowing each other for a piece of Ukrainian energy contracts, no President dangling half a billion in military aid for manufactured dirt on an opponent. No White House shilling for the president's kids' businesses or pulling troops out of Syria to placate Turkish hoteliers with million dollar licensing deals. No voting machines for Ivanka. No VP or military visits to prop up money losing UK resorts. A night in an historic bed. A visit to Camp David. Things that are now the norm.
7
The NYT is correct to point out the hypocrisy. For those readers who express their boredom at the never ending stories on corruption and GOP complicity; you’re reacting exactly how the Russian propaganda machine has programmed you to react.
I grew up in NYC when the murder rate was ten times what it is today, violence and crime was a way of life and most people didn’t care much, those who could moved away and those who couldn’t were stuck.
Unfortunately none of us have the luxury of moving away. Wake up, pay attention and be outraged. In the 90’s the scandals were who laid with who or where they laid. People are being laid to rest today. There’s no time for boredom.
4
What the heck has happened to the Republican party? Seems Mitt Romney is one of the few with a backbone and morals.
5
It's simple. Vote R for repression. Vote D for democracy.
5
Let's face it. This is a horrible country to live in. It is corrupt and poisonous to anyone trying to form a new life.
It's dead.
It cannot be revived.
I favor session.
Let's start over at a smaller scale.
1
Do you not know that some animals are more equal than others?
Strangely, Trump is able to filter corrupt behavior through his populist conservative prism in a way that it isn't corrupt but good business sense that snowflake liberals are just jealous about. Yet, how many times have we heard "corrupt" Hilary?
3
Barr clearly said during the hearings for his current position in the Congress that he would investigate the investigation of Russian collusion. He requested help to his boss, Trump, for his job, and Trump just accepted it and talked about it with his rightful peer, the Ukrainian president, who could be the only person to initiate such huge investigation in that country. Bidens' stories had been well known for a long time, and investigation on them was kind of a package deal. Biden is interesting not because of the next election but because of his role in the last government. If anything is suspicious, investigation is a logical follow-up. And about the money giving, talking before doing is very normal process of business!
I really don't what's the problem at all.
1
@Young
Please get some real information about the Ukraine. You need to know the truth. You need to know when you are being gaslighted. You need to know and recognize the Attack and Distract maneuvers that good propagandists implement to confuse people.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.rferl.org/amp/30181445.html
And know this: Trump said what he did, and did what he said.
Shakedown
Extort
Coverup
Repeat
He is a threat to our national security.
5
Clinton bad.
GOP Good. Stand for honesty. Openness. Rule of Law. Support the Constitution. Why can't liberals see this? Fox New does!
@gratis
Nice sarcasm.
Made me laugh, even though Republican corruption is not really funny.
Thank you
1
The NY Times Editorial Board wrote, “Such concerns seem nearly quaint now. Mr. Trump isn’t yet known to be hosting pay-to-play pajama parties or dialing for dollars from his office. “
But Mr. Trump IS known for hosting “pay-to-play pajama parties” in his many self named hotels and resorts. One need only do a quick search in the NYT’s own engine to come up with an embarrassingly long list of occasions where Mr. Trump, his family and his closest associates have benefited both financially and politically from Trump property high profile sleep overs. Corporate CEOs with proposed legislation in hand, Russians, Saudis, lobbyists of every stripe - all have lined the Trump family pockets to curry favor with “the Don”, simply by booking hotel rooms or playing a round of golf.
Until the recent disclosure of Trump’s Ukrainian “Arms for dirt” scandal, the Trump Turnberry “Air Force cash scam” held the headlines. Quite frankly, a full impeachment inquiry of this failed “presidency”, couldn’t have come sooner!
4
Did any of us get the DJT supporters got the best reward of all -- much lower taxes, esp. for family and friend in real estate!
Vote for me -- you von't be sorry!
Hopeless, hapless corruption. So far as the despicables they like a man who keeps his woman in her place... and a pretty one to boot. And he's not too high falutin'. (Interesting that they don't hold the fact that he is from NYC against him.... and saying "You're fired" goes over well as well... esp. as he got to fire the Hollywood elite!!
Hypocrisy, thy brand name is "Republican".
The one truism in the universe at the moment.
5
The republicans are guilty of duplicitous behavior and are outright hypocrites. The democrats need to stand up and play hardball with these buffoons. Fight fire with fire. If the roles were reversed, would you expect any less from them?
3
Time to get down in the gutter to fight those who’ve crawled up from the sewer
2
Why are so many responses here worried about the Bidens? The man in the Presidency solicited a foreign country for political information for personal political usage. This is against the Constitution and he is at this moment obstructing the Congress from doing its job. He has violated the Constitution in multiple ways, lied to the American public, violated his oath of office multiple times.
What will it take for the Republican Party to put on their patriotic big boy pants and say, “Enough!” By the time these self serving men wake up they will have no rights in the Senate at all because Trump will find a way to negate all of them as he is negating American prominence in the world every day. What will be their excuse when the thousands of ISIS prisoners now held by the Trump betrayed Kurds are let out of prison by the Turks to plague the world and the US again? Trump’s betrayal of the Kurds is also a betrayal of Republican Senators who thought that on foreign policy at least Trump would depend upon the State Department. Surprise! Trump cares for no one and nothing but himself — including this country.
It is past time to impeach, convict and remove while we still have a democracy left to defend!
3
The Republicans in government have been so deeply cynical and hypocritical for so long I’m surprised that anyone can even get upset about it anymore.
2
Apples and oranges?
No, hypocrisy.
Remember when the GOP did not ask for Russia to mess with our elections?
1
@Gratis
Trump said what he did, and did what he said.
Shakedown
Extort
Coverup
Repeat
https://www.npr.org/2019/10/08/768319934/senate-report-russians-used-used-social-media-mostly-to-target-race-in-2016
2
Remember when Democrats defended Clinton for trading access for favors? Now they critique Trump. Is the New York Times editorial board admitting they are no better than the likes of Linsay Graham and Mitch McConnel????
The hypocrisy of American media and politicians is one of the biggest threats to the continued prosperity of this country.
Blah blah blah, republicans are hypocrites. Everybody knows this and continuing to beat that dead horse is a waste of time.
1
An interesting comparison of the corruption of two administrations. As an Independent voter, I am reminded of the reasons I could not support the Clintons (either one, e.g. Marc Rich, exorbitant "speaking fees" from Wall Street, in addition to the subjects of this article). And how much worse Mr. Trump and his minions are (a seemingly endless and obvious list). Maybe we should contract out our government to the Danes, Number 1 on "The Most (And Least) Corrupt Countries In The World, 2018" (CEOWorld Magazine). (The USA is No. 22, slightly ahead of Uruguay).
1
It seems apparent that Trump simply doesn’t know the difference between right and wrong. His attitude asserts that stealing a car is justifiable if it means one can get from A to B. He may have a pressing lawful need to travel from A to B, however, it is the methodology he uses by hijacking legal principles in doing so. In the case of the Ukraine debacle, it seems that he had no legitimate need to travel in the first place. His immorality has made his situation far worse and is tainting Biden too.
As the latest member to a conspiratorial cabal of would be tyrants, by calling Zelensky, Trump was offering him a minor seat at the table. By asking a favour, he was seeking a soul. Zelensky played along by offering platitudes, knowing he needed Trump’s help to defeat Putin, ironically sat at the head of the table. Had Zelensky accepted the lure, Russia would have compromised by keeping its territorial gains in Ukraine but agreeing not to continue the war elsewhere. Trump would have regarded himself as a peacemaker and statesman. In reality, another tyranny would emerge to bolster those in already in existence.
International communism was once posited as the great threat to western democracy. In truth, it was the internal greed and ruthlessness that hid in conservative thinking. Thatcherism and Reaganomics released the genie. It is enlightened social and political responsibility that will recapture it unless it’s already too late.
2
@Marcus Brandt: Trump knows right from wrong; the bigger issue is, he doesn't care.
Above all, Trump believes he's above it all.
2
Amen!
The perversity of Party tribalism is simply that each tribe reserves the absolute privilege to claim special exemption from the equal application of rules, ethics, and statute law to the miscreants in their own tribe.
Perhaps it is time for a permanent bipartisan Inspector General whose office would be charged with judging the behavior and the tactics of both Republican and Democrat leadership.
There is no impeachment remedy for House and Senate members. There are few effective remedies for the abrogation of the rights of the minority Party.
For example, only by Senator McConnell’s block of Obama’s right to nominate his own choice in the last year of his term was a Republican Court majority created. The result has been corruption of the Supreme Court appointment process.
Such examples cry out for an officer within the Congressional branches who can illuminate and publicly criticize actions by individual leaders of both parties that are violations of traditional rules, precedents, or the constitution. Even if the only remedy is public censure, that may help to curtail the most shameful behaviors. Without such an unbiased inspector general, “ quis custodiet ipsos custodes?”. Who shall watch the watchmen themselves.
2
How can you prove that Trump's motivations were purely political and meant only to destroy Biden as a candidate? I suspect that after three years of pummeling abuse from the press and being under the microscope from the Mueller investigation for allegations that proved false he was mad as heck that corrupt Democrats like Biden are given a free pass. Of course the press would never look into the Biden matter so he had to push it along. I believe Trump when he says that he wasn't worried about Joe as an opponent. This is about corruption and I support Trump's efforts to uncover it.
@rpe123
You "support Trump's efforts to uncover corruption," yet have forgotten to call for a Justice Department investigation, which is the proper and obvious place for all this to start. Funny thing: Trump forgot to call for this as well.
The Bidens were exonerated years ago, and suddenly when Biden's the Dem front-runner, Trump decides to ask several countries for any dirt they have, rather than beginning his own investigation. Any dirt he DID find would be useless without a DOJ investigation, and useful only as campaign fodder.
This isn't a difficult-to-understand matter, despite efforts of the Right to muddy it.
2
@roe123
Did you read the Mueller Report?
Over 100 contacts with Russians by trump team, before, during and after the campaign. And they lied about the meetings and contacts and tried to cover them up. They gave US polling data to Russian troll farms so they could target their attacks on HRC.
Back Channel Jared tried to set up a secret communications set up in the Russian Embassy
http://nymag.com/intelligencer/amp/2018/03/the-push-for-a-trump-russia-back-channel-what-we-know.html
And not just my opinion.
https://www.npr.org/2019/10/08/768319934/senate-report-russians-used-used-social-media-mostly-to-target-race-in-2016
1
Unfortunately, millions of Americans think that the press should lay off the president as long as what he is doing is good for the country. This is why Trump keeps touting economic numbers, despite the fact that anyone with sense knows he is not responsible for the small recovery. These Trump supporters have no interest in the rule of law or the Constitution. Their GOP representatives have followed suit and ultimately don't care about the rule of law because their constituents don't. Now, we have an impeachment crisis and some ask why. Well, there are these important things called the Constitution and the rule of law.
2
There has never been a president as nefarious as Trump, so the comparison to Clinton and anyone else rings hollow.
Trump is on a single-minded, whatever-it-takes quest for unquestionable authority over the law, the economy, the military, and even the culture. He is making incremental progress towards his goal, at this early stage proving that he can break the law, defy law enforcement, ignore political convention, and forcibly control government institutions, all without limit. He is doing a reasonably effective job of spreading propaganda even though most of it is easily disproven LIES. And amazingly, he consistently captures the unquestioning loyalty of powerful public figures who willingly enact his impulsive dictates.
No, these analyses should not compare Trump to other presidents. Rather, he is comparable to historical and current authoritarians. He will readily remind students of WWII of the way dictators can rise through hard-fisted partisan politics based on loyalty to the party leader.
Maybe the direct comparison to despots will shock those in power into finally removing Trump, whatever it takes. If not, if Trump gets through the turbulence he is currently experiencing, our country will soon be under the control of a strongman. For life, if he so dictates.
4
"Remember When Bill Clinton Was Accused of Trading White House Access for Political Favors?
Republican lawmakers were incensed."
That's not quite right. "Republican lawmakers __pretended__ to be incensed" is what's needed.
3
Is "Republican hypocrite" redundant?
5
Um, yeah, because Republicans are criminals. Duh.
5
Remember the Party of Lincoln ?
"With malice towards none, with charity towards all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right..."
The GOP now believes Trump is the best president ever.
(... in my great and unmatched wisdom...)
2
The hypocrisy of Republicans is beyond shocking at this point. I've been waiting for a media outlet to do the following experiment: Attribute Obama's words/ideas to Trump, and Trumps tweets to Obama. Then see how people red and blue respond. I can't imagine Republicans not going absolutely bonkers if Obama had said anything about his "his great and unmatched wisdom". And, I do believe that most Democrats would have not let Obama get away with it.
6
@CPK interesting thought experiment, but I wouldn't do it. there's already too many outright lies floating around
2
GOP hypocrisy is well documented. The problem is that it has never come with consequences in part due to the corporate media's obsession with bothsiderism.
Well, both sides don't do it. Republicans do it. And it's long past time to make them pay for it.
7
Politicians are guilty of dividing the country due to unbridled loyalty to their own partisanship and self-serving re-election plans. It's not one side or the other - it's both sides. Where are the statesmen who knew the only way to advance America was through compromise? Not in this Congressional leadership.
5
Right now, it’s more one-sided than I’ve ever seen it.
4
@AnnaT I'm proud to say that I have always voted for the person I thought best fit for the job. Example - I voted for Obama but didn't for Hillary. In other words, I don't choose sides. Just call me an "I" but not a "R" or a "D".
But no matter how middle I try to message, social media trolls insist if I am not totally on their side, I am the enemy. What's up with that?
1
@John Bowman
What when did democrats ever side with putin and the KGB over us intelligence? Not all republicans are traitors but they are doing nothing to stop the traitor in the white house.
1
Trump's repeated role in involving foreign governments in our elections and now connecting military aid to political favors make Bill Clinton look like a saint and Nixon look like a bad boy, at worse. The Republican party will have some rebuilding to do after they have exhausted the Trump gravy train.
As a moderate, conservatives adherence to Trump has completely challenged my perception of conservative values and hence my own values. I am not sure whether historically conservative values ever existed, or if they were just a bludgeon for political and corporate interests. Evangelicals may have won their voice in government, however they have lost the trust of communities. Their silence on bigotry and at the site of immigrant children in cages evokes the memories of their connections to white supremacy and violence.
However, in terms of republicans, I am under no false illusions that they have not closely calculated that my opinion of them will not matter for their re-election.
7
From healthcare insurance to environmental regulations through foreign affairs, to name a few areas they have devastated, the Republicans are vandalizing our government & society.
Republicans have hobbled the ACA, obscured our country's commitment to human rights, stripped away protections to our environment to afford capitalism unfettered & despoiling access to our natural resources, and the media act like the message boys in the old Pall Mall cigarette commercials - messengers merely of the public relations statements issued by the privileged & wealthy.
The Republicans vandalize our country & the media reports on their success.
8
As if we're supposed to be surprised about the results of electing an inexperienced, narcissistic, paranoid con man with support from a GOP that wouldn't even vote on a supreme court nominee (they could have just down voted) and cares nothing about deficits or climate change...
American should return to its root principles of liberty and equal protection and get rid of the factionalism and intersectionalism of the rightists and leftists.
2
Republicans are hypocrites? Wha?
3
@ABG
The GOP believes in the Rule of Law, supporting the Constitution, fiscal responsibility, self-sufficiency, and honesty. Anyone can look at the record and see the real world results. One example would be the 7th Benghazi hearing where they said they were spending tax payer money solely for the purpose to damage Hillary. The whole GOP supported this. Fox News, too.
4
Entities do not shower huge amounts of money on board members just because... Hunter Biden got the position only, and only because he was seen as a useful tool through his kinship to Joe Biden. That he joined after the alleged transgressions by Burisma is irrelevant. Burisma used him at the time they needed to. It is legitimate to ask what motivated Joe Biden, the man who half the time doesn't remember where he is giving a speech, to intervene.
1
The republicans are hypocrites.
3
@Gary W. Priester The democrats are even bigger hypocrites.
The Clinton's pushed the legal line, which was shady at best. Trump just ignores the law and does whatever he damn well pleases, breaking laws at will, and then villifying anyone who calls him on it. The house needs to make the impeachment case clear and transparent, send a summary to every American, and then impeach the miscreant who holds the office of President of the United States. The Republican controlled Senate will never the criminal miscreant out, but at least we the people can hold them accountable in the next election.
4
@Dan What specific law did the President brake?
1
@Dan: Two thirds of the senators do not even have to run in 2020. This system is fossilized.
Impeachment parallel be damned - Trump and his cronies are in entirely different territory as recent Atlantic article aptly points out:
LANNY DAVIS: Everybody in the country got it in about a week. Bad judgment. Personal. Whatever you want to say. Nothing to do with abuse of presidential power. Nothing to do with the impeachment clause. He had publicly apologized to the country, to Ms. Lewinsky, and to his wife and family. It took all of Washington, including me, about a year to figure that out.
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/12/clinton-impeachment/573940/
2
Remember Hillary and Bill's motel?
$10,000 donation to sleep in the White House's Lincoln room.
3
@Thom McCann
That was wrong, but pennies next to GOP corruption .
Everyone has heard the story of Diogenes the Cynic, who went around the sunlit streets of Athens, lantern in hand, looking for an honest man. The modern takeaway to this story is you won't find one among career politicians, the majority of them acquired the crook gene immediately after mulling over a run for office. Any bending of the truth or ethical shortcuts is just their own ego saying that I am so important to the outcome of my world view, that the ends always justify the means.
3
@Kevin
There are no perfect people.
One needs to look at magnitude and frequency.
Unfortunately, if one Dem does something illegal, it means that the GOP and institutionalize the crime throughout every bit of their organization. The moral position of the GOP is "They do it, too", which appeals to all the GOP.
The idea of, we will try to follow the law regardless is considered too liberal, too leftist . No GOP would ever think like that. Disagree? Specify an example.
Incredible- Ivanka Trump in Istanbul for opening of a Trump Hotel even though she is a government official. How is this nit illegal, immoral and unethical? I am baffled at behavior of Republicans and Trump sycophants. We are leaving Kurds to die so Trump can make more money and no one seems to care.
10
Hasn't the editorial board learned by now the worst way to attack a Trump is to defend a Clinton? It doesn't matter whether you are right; you are still wrong. For the good of the nation, don't drop Clinton's name at all. Please.
3
Yeah, and "Remember When Bill Clinton Was Accused of Trading White House Access for Political Favors" by [civility-challenged] REPUBLICANS?
(Who else?)
1
Remember when Republicans cared about deficits? Remember when they cared about free trade?
Remember when they cared about infrastructure? How about when they cared about not getting cozy with dictators?
Let's try this a different way. Does anyone remember when Republicans did NOT act as hypocrites and readily sacrifice all semblance of principle when they see an advantage? I didn't think they'd ever turn out to be such sycophants, but hypocrisy is the heart of the party.
10
The structure of our government encourages this clear partisanship. I'd be interested to know how many current Congresspeople were in office during the Clinton impeachment area, not even to call out any hypocrisy but to help illustrate that fostering relationships with other Congresspeople, donors, PACs, etc. is more important to them than making good choices for the American people.
As it stands, if you go against the establishment, your odds of reelection plummet. Impose term limits on the House and Senate and I guarantee you'll start to see our government acting in the best interest of the people rather than of themselves.
3
Republican tactics are quite predictable with "projection" and "false equivalency" their faves.
They are forever accusing their opponents of what they're doing and/or "well Clinton did so and so"! Like children actually.
The most sophisticated move pioneered by Rove and Rush, attack your opponents greatest strength. And of course the newest of the trump era...just lie. All the time.
Republicans continue these laughably transparent strategies because they work with (respectfully) low information types and they cannot win elections based on their policies, as they only benefit the wealthiest.
7
This is how Fox News works -- drums up outrage at everything Democrats do and defends and excuses everything Republicans do. Fox News is a Republican ad campaign running 24/7; its hypocrisy is obvious. There is no such thing as "principle" or "integrity", there's only "we're right and you're wrong", preferably delivered in a shouting match or while laughing derisively at guests who disagree.
Republicans at home and around the dinner table copy Fox News's loud and vicious disdain for Democrats, even if they are their own wives and children.
Fox News is not allowed on British TV because it's so biased.
Until Fox News and everything it stands for goes up in flames this will be a country divided about facts, unable to recreate a common vision of what's right and wrong, and never able to agree on what's good for the country.
9
The larger point of this editorial is extremely important: there is an undeniable partisan double standard, and both sides are guilty of it at times.
We must stop accusing the same wrongs in our political opponents that we overlook in our allies.
The current man in office has some justification in complaining of this hypocrisy, and as this piece points out he and his party of choice are known to deal in it as well.
Everyone is quick to point it out in their opponents and very slow to admit it in themselves.
2
It’s so apparent the Republicans are afraid of Trump. Either they opt not to be re-elected or they nod their heads in silence.
1
There's a vacuum of leadership here. Can't one congressperson with an (R) in their title try to fill it? Even Mitt Romney, safe in his state full of actual conservatives, timidly admonished the White House. It is past time for a Republican with gravitas to step in and say enough is enough. It would be a great time to announce a primary challenge to the buffoon in office.
4
No one even remembers what happened one month ago.
Remember when Trump tried to buy Greenland? Yeah I know that feels like it was 10 years ago, not just one month ago.
5
210 visits to Trump golf courses at a cost of $109 million to taxpayers.
There is NO comparison between Trump corruption and any other US president. Even Warren Harding didn't personally benefit from the Teapot Dome Scandal.
7
Wrong is wrong. Whether it is Clinton or Trump - it is the Office of the President (an office held by a citizen for a specific time).
1
Mark Rich ring a bell?
1
I don't recall-What was the NYT' opinion on the Clinton accusations and how does that contrast with the Times' opinion on the Trump accusations.
Plenty of hypocrisy to spread around?
2
Seems bizarre, but, but ANY standard, these repubs who support the ILLEGAL attempt by the traitor to get "something of value" from the Ukraine (and who knows who else, besides China) are, themselves, traitors to the oath they took to the U.S. Constitution. They are more than "enablers"; they are traitors, NOT American citizens.
3
Oh, well. What’s good for the goose may not be good for the gander. If you are a loyal Republican. Woops! I meant a loyal Trumpista. The Republican party is moribund.
Being mad at them for being hypocrites is a complete waste of energy and political capital.
1
Right on!
What else would else would you expect from the party of Evangelical Christian Family Values led by a thrice married serial philanderer who wants to date his own daughter?
Beside racism and obesity, hypocrisy is about the only thing Republicans are good at.
Honestly, Democrats should be pushing to break up this country. Time to free the Blue States from the Evangelical Welfare Empire that is the Red States.
4
The impeachment inquiry is to hear testimony to determine if Trump traded favors for foreign police. But judging by this editorial, you've already convicted him....It was the same with Mueller (your editor admitted to that) and everything else Trump related since he assumed the presidency. You think you can at the least allow the process to play itself out before running "He Did It!!!" editorials?
To any Republican worried about losing re-election: You honor our fallen soldiers who gave their lives for our country, yet you do not have the courage to give your career for it. Those who died for democracy have lost everything. By contrast, if you lose your seat in Congress, you still have a stunning array of options in public service or any field of your choice. You applaud military personnel for being willing to die for us, while you are cowering in the dark corners of your supposed power. Millions of us out here in America are waiting for you to show the courage and decency we want to see in our elected leaders. For God’s sake, and the country’s sake, stand up for what is right and true.
3
Of course, one can also flip this around. Once upon a time, Democrats did not worry about trading access. Now, they do.
1
Total hypocrites. Republicans will say and do anything for power. Power is money. Trump was the only recourse for Republicans against a Hillary Clinton presidency. They sold their soul and aligned with the Devil to keep the White House out of Clinton's grip. I pray they will pay a price. The country already has.
Hillary Clinton was a flawed human being and a flawed candidate, but hatred for her was completely irrational, visceral. She possesses a brilliant intellect and expressed great ideas for moving the U.S. forward. "We will retrain coal miners!" She won the popular vote by 3 million people. I believe she would have made a great president. We'll never know.
Now we're stuck with a lawless president, and a Republican party that has trashed all moral and ethical backbone. We are a country in trouble, and the future looks bleak. How high will the price be to recover from this travesty?
5
that's because republicans are traitors to this country.
They put trump in so they could dismantle democracy.
1
Republicans have shown the country and the world what they truly stand for, that is cowardice, greed, bias, and selfishness. It will not be forgotten. It will come back to haunt them, possibly destroy their insecure notions of power and bigotry completely.
1
It’s time to move beyond impeachment.
To impeachment.... and beyond!
2
Yes we remember. We also remember that the NY Times wasn't nearly as vituperative about it, or about Bill or Hilary trading access for contributions to their "foundation". Where's the investigation in that?
BOTH CLINTONS Were subject to extraordinary legal scrutiny and intense attacks from the GOPpers for 8 years. It was the same with Obama. The GOP has been transformed into a party whose objective is to destroy democracy in the US as we know it. The manual of The Family, a religious extremist terrorist organization (I use the term adivsedly, providing clear evidence below) that portrays the government as engaged in a battle to protect the good and to defeat evil. The profound problem with that world view is that it is at once religious and authoritarian. The Family "manual" suggests that its members (GOPpers) are entitled to use whatever means necessary for good to triumph over evil, including the "strategies" of such "leaders" as Hitler, Stalin and Mao, all of whom unleashed waves of terror slaughtering many millions, on their people and on the planet. The Philosophy of the Enlightenment, upon which the US Constitution and government are predicated, use open, democratic logical debate to resolve problems. Ultimately, the GOPpers sticking to Trump is but the latest chapter in their eroding the separation of church and state. They'd be glad for the US to become a Theocratic Kleptocracy and and a Kleptocratic Theocracy. Or both! With Trump acting as our Caligula! Next thing you now, Trump will appoint a horse to be a Senator.
2
What Bill Clinton did is nothing compared to what Trump is doing. The GOP has been out to get every Democrat that's been in the White House since Nixon was forced to resign. In fact the GOP has redefined the meaning of disrespect, moral purity, and hypocrisy to the point of criminality. If any one of us did half the things that McConnell, Trump, Gingrich, or the rest of the Greedy Obnoxious Pretenders did or have done or plan to do, we'd be in jail for life.
In my entire adult life I have never seen such corruption at such a high level in this country. It's frightening to watch and even more frightening to realize that the GOP feels entitled to violate the laws, to support a man like Trump, to allow him to subvert the entire government to serve their ends.
7
Could you be any more dishonest than this editorial? Quoting portions of texts that NYT thinks look good (as Schiff hoped). Omitting the ones that point out that no quid pro quo was being asked for by the President. Even your use of these quotes is wrong. They refer to the what happened in 2016. Meaning the illegal targeting of candidate and President Trump by Brennan, Comey et al. Which is the subject of current investigations by the DOJ. They're not referring to an investigation of Biden.
Keep it up. And thanks for the trip down memory lane with the Clintons. Now they operated on a grand scale. Makes the President's request for investigations look quaint.
1
You're being too kind. Trump has done things Republicans would want Clinton skinned alive for. Where are those Republicans? Bellying up to the bar at Trump's DC hotel, and what they pay for drinks goes into Trump's pocket. It's Ok If You're A Republican.
3
There has always been some corrupt behavior, everyone knows that. But the flagrant level in this Administration is breathtaking. What is most alarming is how Fox News and right wing radio have managed to make so many so nonchalant about it. Republican leaders at least have a motive, holding on to power, but what the heck is in it for so many “average joes?” That is what is most worrisome, that Trump and his clan of grifting liars has normalized unethical and downright illegal behavior to the point that Republicans actually see an upside to defending this conduct. God help us all.
2
"Once upon a time, Americans — and especially Republican lawmakers — used to worry a great deal about access to the White House being traded for cheap political gain."
---
Is the operative word "cheap" or that one ought (must) go through American channels, viz., hire an American lobbying firm?
Either way, it comes down to money, and thus, the prostitution of the White House, aka America, is not the question; the price one must pay is the question.
How does Trump attack democracy and decency? Let me count the ways.....
I read these editorials and, as a decent person, become incensed -- how can these things all be happening? But the bottom line is that you can't shame Republicans by pointing out their hypocrisy, any more than Trump will be embarrassed by his -- every nasty libel that he flings against his enemies is ultimately more true of himself. This man, these people, this Republican party, are beyond shame, no matter how blatantly awful they are or how criminally they behave.
1
The hypocrisy is stunning. This President has leveraged military aid approved by the Congress to obtain political dirt (true or false) on an opponent in next years elections. The morally bankrupt Clinton committed sexual acts with a staffer less than half his age in the Oval Office. Republicans see nothing wrong with their guy putting the countries most sacred democratic processes up for the highest bidder (foreign or domestic), but believe the personal sexual acts effecting no one but the two parties rise to treasonous levels. One doesn't have to major in ethics to stack rank these incidents. One is a threat to our nation, the other is an affront to decent behavior. One is survivable, the other is an existential threat to our democracy. Come on folks, this isn't hard.
2
@Dennis W So MeToo does not apply to Bill... those were personal matters.. not personnel matters.. right?
While I did not vote for Clinton the second time around due to his indiscretions in the White House, the what aboutism about Clinton is an absolute false equivalence.
Trump is employing a "scorched" earth policy to fight the Dems...Mr Trump is a sexual predator and a megalamaniac who will absolutely do or say anything to get elected.
Clinton hardly used McCarthyesque tactics to keep his Presidency --he was impeached anyway and the Republicans paid for it the next cycle.
With support for impeachment rising it is very obvious that people now see how wreckless and radical Trump really is.
3
I find the "remember when" and "what about" narratives to be unhelpful.
This is the consequence of making unrighteous judgments. When you condemn others, unless you repent, you will do the same thing you judge them for. Christ said it in the Sermon on the Mount; St. Paul elaborated on it in Romans chapter 2.
The Republicans are reaping a very bad harvest from all the unrighteousness they have sown over decades. Let's hope that Democrats don't make the same mistakes. We must speak the truth in love and love the sinner while hating the sin. Speaker Nancy Pelosi was very wise when she said that impeachment should be pursued prayerfully.
Oh my goodness, Republicans are acting hypocritically? I am shocked, shocked!
For Republicans all is fair in politics if it furthers their Contract With America, i.e. rewarding fat cats with tax breaks, unlimited polluting of the planet with heat-trapping gasses, and outlawing abortion.
Remember the date, 1/20/2017. That’s the day America began it’s decline into a dictatorship.
The editorial board keeps talking and writing as if they know the president's intentions and declare guilt.
This is not serious journalism, because there's massive confusion between what a report should be and an oped or opinions - the NYT reporters and the editorial board mingle both and thus mislead the readers to conclusions that are far from proven and adjudicated.
While I don't approve of the current political climate (which is no different than in the past), I think "journalism" should be put in quotes these days.
Get back to basics, please, and deliver properly sourced information and facts untainted by personal bias.
While there is enough hypocrisy to go around the GOP manages to have the lion’s share. To paraphrase Colin Powell they need to get a grip and start being statesman rather than cheap politicians.
144
@Studio1201
Colon Powell calling the kettle, wait a second!
5
@Studio1201
The meaning of the word hypocrisy is still to be found in American home dictionaries - but in the Republican one it seems to have been erased. I'm now certain they don't understand the word. Look no further than how McConnell treated one Supreme Court nominee contrasted with how he treated another a year later. You could call a Republican politician a hypocrite, and you may in return be greeted with a blank stare and a shrug.
21
Yes, we have had to unfortunately move the bar down though at least he is standing up. It needs to start somewhere.
3
The children of Presidents should stay carefully away from anything beyond the position they hold on Election Day. This applies to Ivanka and Hunter.
The Clintons were really no worse than Nixon, who was really no better than Reagan, who was really no better than Bush, who was really no better than Clinton, this is the nature of politics, if they aren’t corrupt when they are elected, they are corrupt by the time they leave office. As William Shakespeare said, “The good that men do is often buried with them, the evil they do lives long after they are gone.
1
Bravo to the Editorial Board for highlighting the gravity of this matter. Partisan blindness afflicts so many these days. But irrespective of one’s political tilt, we must not tolerate the administration’s ham-handed, deplorable attempt to pressure a foreign government (and strategic ally) to meddle in our domestic political affairs.
Such actions undermine our unity as a country, and put petty, selfish political calculations ahead of our national interests and national security.
1
Our whole political system is built on pay for play or really bribery - look at all of the lobbyists and corporations making contributions to get what they want.
Why is it so different or surprising when it’s in connection foreign counties and presidents?
It’s all corrupt.
1
Republican Senators have a chance to be heroes again. All they have to do is remember that our COUNTRY is more important then their PARTY.
Impeach and convict Trump!
2
The GOP is what the GOP is, and frankly has been ramping up on for some decades now — and with that Washington has become an intensely belligerent and grievously dysfunctional political mess.
The Democrats are not without substantial blame as well.
Service to country and honorable conduct in political office are vanishing species.
How could the majority of Americans not be as they are — deeply disenchanted with a political culture that has all the earmarks of full blown, deep seated racketeering on a momentous scale. Despite this passivity pervades and voting seems to have no real impact on the national political condition.
Trump is the quintessential reflection of that condition made fully manifest in the ugliest and most dangerous way imaginable.
While hypocrisy is the mother's milk of politics, nothing is more corrosive to American values than the blatant double standards increasingly embraced by the Trump party. If I do it it's OK, if you do it it's criminal.
Donald Trump -- a moral icon and giant standard bearer for America and the entire world -- if you live in a world of organized crime.
3
Exhibit #9999 of a million, further cementing the fact that it was never about “principle “ for the GOP, it was simply all a cynical power play.
47
@Matt If it was ever the 'principle' then there is one heck of a lot of interest owed on that starting sum.
And the Repubs have been playing that one like it was a pinball table, racking up them "Heck of a Job" Brownie Points!
Does this come as a surprise to anyone? The Repubs are nothing if not supreme hypocrites. And supremely self-interested. Power hungry. Greedy. Corrupt. Hate-filled. Angry. Loathsome. I say Repubs generally because anyone who supports this party after 40 years of slash and burn and hasn't left the party is as loathsome as the Repubs in Congress. Maybe more so.
1
What is so easily derivable from this article’s descriptive documentation is that “ personal unaccountability” is an integral dimension of America’s past and present political heritage and legacy.
What is missing from the article are the interacting human and nonhuman conditions which enable(d), foster(ed) and anchor this toxic reality.
The “Cs”- complacency about..., complicity in...corruption of... and the almost endless numbers, types, levels and qualities of (Ws)- “willful” choices (blindness, deafness, indifference, ignorance, dehumanization, marginalization, exclusion, irresponsibility, shamelessness, betrayal, lying, etc.).
By all to many.
Ordinary folk. me? you? By intent or not.
Not just elected and selected policymakers. THEM, of THAT party!
Willful “copping out” is so EASY.
Choosing to contribute to making a difference that can make a
sustainable difference for equitable wellbeing,
health and menschlichkeit for ALL is a viable option.
Clinton paved for a horrible guy like Trump.
If we could go back in time, surely we would have done so much better with Jerry Brown in 1992.
Vision, integrity, compassion, and extreme competence.
Cincinnatus we need you.
He's not old, he's wise.
#JerryBrown2020
This is how Fascist regimes operate, silence dissent and govern by propaganda.
11
Senate elections are statewide and therefore are based on the popular vote (i.e., are not affected by gerrymandering, unlike congressional elections). After the 2018 election, which, e.g., saw a moderate Democrat elected governor of Kansas on the popular vote, the apologist/blind-eye Republican senators up for reelection in 2020 would do well to doubt the length of Trump's coattails.
4
Not to worry. Once the Democrats recapture the Presidency, the same Republicans and newer replacements will once again feign outrage and demand investigations for perceived transgressions. "I've never seen such questionable activity" will again be the common refrain.
5
It should be clear by now that trump and his people have no regard for any of the rules of the constitution, congress, presidency, etc. They all serve trump no matter what. They all serve themselves by seeking business opportunities that benefit themselves. None of these people should be in office. They should all be removed!
5
Yes, you know it will......The Supreme Court is now the fire wall in the world of policy and power that Fox News is on the cultural front of our beleaguered country.
The thin blue line of resistance is led by the House Speaker and her stalwart committee chairs. Will enough brave hearts in the 'deep state' of our civil service volunteer to stand with them, that's the looming question staring us all in the face.
2
Republicans were wrong in accusing and impeaching Bill Clinton. That was in the last century. Should the Democrats do the same blunders of Republicans or take the higher ground and avoid the same blunders. Should the Democratic party party behave like the mafia mob bosses or work for the good of the people?
4
Remember the names of any prominent democrats who were publicly outraged by Clinton's pay-to-play schemes? Me neither. I don't remember any Democratic senators voting to impeach him for perjury and obstruction of justice either.
Seems that where you stand on issues depends on where you sit.
6
Couldn't agree more. so much outrage from Democrates, which is okay. But don't act like "you" were in agreement during Clinton era. in 20 years many will forget all the Trump transgressions. Americans all have a short memory.
2
And is no one going to investigate and tell me just how many governmental sons and daughters, nieces and nephews, are raking in big bucks from foreign and domestic corporations by trading on their relatives' position and influence? I'm revolted by Hunter Biden's behavior, and appalled by his honorable father's failure to curtail it in the past, but I don't believe for a minute that he is the only one behaving in this manner. I find it far more likely that it is so extensive that it is considered a perk of office while in office, to be followed by person aggrandizement when out of office. How about some investigative reporting?
4
This isn't about hypocrisy or standard of investigation. Instead, it is a competition if not a war of ideas in which truth is a welcome first casualty if it need be. It is plain that these confrontations are about lifestyle, about what kind of people we should be. The public supports and indeed has been drafted into this battle. Theirs not to reason why. Theirs but to do and die.
The 2020 debates will center on which candidate is the better person and, by extension, which constituency is the better citizenry.
3
Bill Clinton’s behavior epitomized the “devil you know” cliche. His private actions were defended, or glossed over, by Democratic supporters, because the political alternative remains overbearing in its zeal for religiosity.
It seems rather meaningless at this point to try and separate cause from effect, in any way which pertains to our current socio-political schism, but what does seem abundantly clear is that a course correction is required.
A clearly established system of values would be a decent start.
2
I mean, McConnell denied Merrick Garland a hearing during Obama’s last year and used the election as justification to deny the hearing, then he laughed at a conference where he said that were a SCOTUS position to open in Trump’s last year he would approve of the nominee.
The GOP has abandoned every single shred of integrity in order to grab more and more power. It’s obvious to everyone, including Republicans which is why there’s a firesale in the government. It’s a race to the bottom. The entire government is up for auction to the highest bidder and the Democrats have shown that they are completely unwilling to enforce the law. So it’s no surprise at all that every single day we reach new amazing and horrifying lows.
The only thing that’s surprising anymore is that there are still people who are shocked at how corrupt the GOP is.
4
@Austin Ouellette Again with McConnell and Garland.
Mitch McConnell simply executed the plan articulated by Joe Biden in 1991 and Chuck Schumer in 2007. Each said that, as chairmen of the Senate Judiciary Committee, they would not hold confirmation hearing for a Supreme Court nominee in an election year, should a vacancy occur. They did not get to execute their plan because no Justice died or retired, but they made their plan clear to the public.
So why are you mad that McConnell followed the Biden-Schumer playbook, while not being mad at those guys for inventing their scheme in the first place?
3
Clinton offered favors to supporters to get re-elected. Trump offers favors to get rid of the competition to get re-elected. Don't know if there is a legal difference here, but certainly there is a moral and strategic difference between rewarding supporters and destroying the opposition, and keeping the deal inside the US and going outside the US. Clearly Trump believes the world literally is his oyster, along with our tax dollars.
1
Unfortunately your system, until now, is really not working.
Greed, money and power are doing fine.
2020 is a monumental election year. The consequences will last for decades. Scary.
5
Perhaps, there have been no sleepovers in the tRump admin, but he doesn’t need that. He’s got conveniently placed hotels nearby where his cronies can stay. If that’s too close for comfort to the WH, then they stay at Mar- a-logo or any of his other properties around the world. Even the military stays at his resorts. Talk about buying influence! Pretty transparent, me thinks.
8
How the NYT quickly forgets. Bill Clinton exchanged nights in the Lincoln Room in the White House for political donations. Bill Clinton allowed the transfer of American technology (can you say Loral Space) for Chinese political donations.
What Clinton did was much worse. He traded our country's security for financial gain. He continued this corruption with his Clinton Foundation, where he traded "donations" for access to HRC. His Foundation tanked when she lost the election. Don't even get me started on the sexual assault allegations that dogged him his entire career and how the DNC shoved him in a box when the #MeToo movement threatened to overwhelm HRC and her campaign.
5
Interesting take by the NYT. I agree that Clinton and Trumps attempts to leverage the public office for personal gain are unacceptable; however, the NYT chose to focus on Republicans defending Trump vs. their prior condemnation of Clinton. However, does no one else see the point that while Republican congressman conducted an investigation, no one was trying to Impeach Clinton like the Dems are to Trump! I predict increasingly this will be seen as gross over-reach by the Dems just like the Mueller report
2
@RJPost : The Mueller investigation was just a stall to let Trump grow on the US.
It's easy to laugh at a buffoon who refers to his "great and unmatched wisdom" while throwing toddler-like tantrums and bullying critics. Yet despots throughout history shared Trump's ability to give voice to the anger of the struggling while instilling fear in the powerful who want to hold on to what they've got. The first group idolizes a rock star; the second puts up with a diva to stay in the band. So they let their unhinged frontman trash hotel rooms and rip up rules until everything collapses. If we can't defend our democratic institutions against Trump, he will win and this country will lose. I bet plenty of people in the Weimar Republic and post-colonial Cambodia ridiculed the rogues who destroyed them.
5
@Brooklyn Writer: The Electoral Collage is an anti-democratic insult to intelligence that perpetuates the US Civil War.
1
@Steve Bolger True. Like our tax system, the lack of transparency in our election system encourages people to game it.
I have known that the GOP and their supporters were hypocrites for decased. I sometimes feel that they invented the double standard. For years they have been accusing others of doing exactly what their own people were doing and attacking their opponents visciously while ignoring their own transgressions.
If you want to know what a Republican is guilty of, look at what they are accusing Democrats of.
6
Did Clinton change foreign policy to improve his election chances?
3
There is no end of Republican hypocrisy on almost any issue you'd care to name. The Internet is full of bald-faced examples of spittle-spraying attacks when a Democrat is in office, and a boot-licking defense of exactly the same behavior when a Republican is in office. There are no principles at work here, other than, "I'm a second-rate lawyer, this is the best job I can ever hope to have, an I'll do anything not to lose it."
2
@JimBob: US courts are so corrupt, lawyers advise clients not to waste money on motions to dismiss even when they are sued frivolously.
I think it would be good from time to time to remind folks when Trump expresses concern about “Corruption” in Ukraine that his former campaign is spending 7 years in jail arising from his work for Yanukovych, the most notoriously corrupt politician in the history of that sad country.
And remember how the Democrats defended Clinton? Do I think what Trump has done is worse? Yes, far worse. Does it make what Clinton did excusable? No.
Degrees of failure to conduct the office of the President does not mean they still are not both failures. It also does not change the fact that whichever party the President belongs to that party will go to tremendous lengths to defend that President even when they know he is wrong. Welcome to politics.
You can rant over how much more awful Trump is or over what he is doing but both scenarios are still wrong. Expecting the Republicans to act differently than the Democrats did means that you do not understand the slimy, gross, despicable world that politics is.
1
Republicans weren’t worried about Reagan, Bush I and
Bush II selling overnight stays in the Lincoln bedroom. They didn’t even care that Bush II allowed a major campaign donor to pilot a US active duty nuclear sub which he surfaced under a Japanese fishing boat carrying school kids on a field trip, killing several of them. Why didn’t the editorial board mention that? Why didn't you mention that the Chinese also sent a large donation to the campaign of the ‘96 Republican candidate, Bob Dole. Dole, when caught, was allowed to quietly return the Chinese bribe and go back to pretending to have the ethical high ground. What happened to that $65 million out of $100 million that Trump collected from wealthy special interests for his inauguration that wasn’t spent? We know Sonderberg got the EU ambassadorship for his million, but what did the others get in the blatant pay-to-play scheme?
The NYT should not be complicit in the Republican rewriting of history to whitewash their own actions. It won’t gain you any favors, or even lessen attacks, from the Right.
1
Trump's justification for his withholding of military air to Ukraine was that he was concerned about 'corruption'. Yeah, right.
Well now, he has just invited Erdogan to the WH for a working visit. Is trump concerned about 'corruption' in Turkey? Will he be withholding military aid or an agreement to leave Syria for Turkish troops while he investigates any 'corruption'? Does he have his personal lawyer on it?
We are almost there. Dictatorship, oligarchy, facist rule by the 1% GOP - take your pick. Trump's declaration today that he will not comply i.e. obstruct Congressional inquiry has brought us to the crisis point.
The GOP stands up for the Kurds but not the rule of law in America, not for Congress' powers?
3
You're right. Republicans were incensed about it, but they didn't try to impeach him over it.
Clinton had to suborn perjury and commit perjury himself in a court of law (while getting disbarred by the ABA in the process) before Republicans would try to impeach him.
Please don't conflate the two issues.
I realize this is the NYT and conjecture and conflation are what they do best, but one must work hard to maintain some level of professional integrity when working in the business of journalism vs. media.
3
Had Hillary Rodham Clinton been elected president, she would have picked up where Bill left off. In fact, she had already been bought and paid for from so-called donations to the Clinton Foundation, their personal slush fund. Boy, I imagine that there a lot of folks out there wanting their money back, their down-payment for access and influence to the White House. HRC had been bought and sold as the Secretary of State and would have the same as President. Thank the Lord, she is not the President. No pay-to-play with Trump. Trump is the real deal. Thank you.
5
@Southern Boy No pay to play with Trump? Are you not listening or reading anything? Are you not watching the Turkish, Saudi, and Russian money flow to the Trump hotels and businesses? Did you not see where the Trump Foundation was terminated by the courts because of its corruption? The list could go on and on but I guess your name here is reflective of why you can't understand what is clearly before your own eyes.
1
“Where have all the law and order Republicans gone? Long time passing. Where have all the law and order Republicans gone, long time ago? Gone to obsessive loyalty to Trump, almost every one. When will they ever learn? When will they ever learn?” Justice will be served. The day of reckoning will come. Take a stand before the authoritarian tyrant now, to avoid being on the wrong side of history. Stand up for our democracy while we still have one. Do good and act righteously, as your choices will define you for generations. Praying for ‘all those in authority over us’.
132
@GraceNeeded I think they are planning to be the winners and thus the one writing the history books. So they don't have anything to worry about. The rest of us won't even be around to worry about it as we will have died early and broke thanks to out predatory 'health' care system.
9
@GraceNeeded - Where have they all gone? they've gone over to "the dark side" everyone. Elections are becoming (correction, already are) just a big cash register. I see news stories about how much money various candidates have raised thus far, or last week, or after the latest polling numbers. I usually withhold a contribution until a nominee is selected. But when you step away from it all, this is a bizarre method of deciding who's the most qualified because it isn't. Trump is already running a lot of TV spots talking about corruption by "all of his opponents". But of course He's cleaning everything up just like he promised. And who's going to fact-check these ridiculous accusations? Oh well, that's our "system"- And aren't we the "lucky ones" with this great democracy, the pre-eminent positive force in the world. Trump is dependable, Trump will fix everything, look at all we've accomplished, the Dem's will ruin everything, and so on and on and on.
Are voters going to finally understand that talk is cheap, and the dividing line between reality and propaganda?
A parrot can easily be trained to repeat what you say, but understanding the meaning of the words is another story.
4
@GraceNeeded
"Where have all the law and order Republicans gone?"
They have all become deep state hating hippies...unless they are in charge...then deep state is their beloved power play.
5
The invariable response of trump supporters, and of Republicans in general, to serious charges about trump's conduct is the "what about (some Democrat, often a Clinton)?" ploy. But if one examines each and every one of these retorts, there is a major qualitative difference between the substance of the charge at hand and the substance of the charge conveniently snatched from the past. I cannot say whether the mind of a Republican is simply incapable of discerning difference is moral weight or if Republicans simply don't care and will dredge the past for some nitpick they mistakenly think is an effective counter-punch. But I can say with assurance that the dereliction of donald trump's presidency and the heinousness of his conduct has no historical precedent among the Democrats, and it trumps, by far, the egregious conduct in office of Richard Nixon. Never has the meaning of "trump" been so clear.
6
How many constitutional amendments will be needed after the Trump presidency...that is, if he ever leaves?
1
The argument presented here is that if Trump were "to get to the bottom of what happened in 2016" it would benefit him politically. I totally agree and understand why the Democrats are pulling out all the stops to prevent it.
5
Why anyone would be surprised about the GOP's hypocrisy surprises me. When the Republicans held all three branches of government they couldn't abolish the ACA neither did they do anything to fix the immigration problem, but had no problem admonishing the Democrats on both issues. It's about obtaining and maintaining power. The suggestion that it's anything else is ridiculous.
Most Republicans know what Trump is doing is wrong and are either afraid to cross Trump or care more about staying in Congress than the good of this country and I'm sure that they are convincing themselves that they can stop Trump before he makes any irreversible moves to harm this country. Again, they are lying to themselves as we are starting to let our enemies know that maybe a first strike is doable against our country because we have an inept government with no clear foreign policy.
How naive does one have to be to think that people in power don't use that power - and abuse it? The Clintons took it to a new level, though, and it seems it just may have seeped into the Obama/Biden team, although they were adept at putting on a holier than thou face. It appears to be extremely lucrative to be a past President - or his wife - these days. Books, tours, speaches and the vast array of entertainment posibilites. That's also an abuse of power. Hard to think of Eisenhower or Truman embracing the ego trip of celebrity. Pointing fingers can be dangerous.
7
@me
Hard to think of Eisenhower or Truman
embracing the ego trip of celebrity.
Most especially, Democrat Jimmy Carter!
How many embassy and cabinet appointments went to major Trump donors? Ambassador Sondland, a key participant in the Ukraine scandal, donated $1mil to Trump's inaugural fund. Betsy Devos and her relatives have donated over $20mil to Republican candidates and PACs that support them. Although neither individual has the experience typically required for their positions they are both in positions to have great influence over foreign or domestic policy.
Allowing donors to sleep in the Lincoln bedroom in exchange for donations doesn't compare to Trump's pay-to-play.
2
When out of power the GOP feign moral indignation. When in power they lack a moral conscience. The current crop of GOP will defend Trump at all costs no matter how illegal the acts are.
8
The "moral majority", one of the monikers the Republicans love to wrap themselves up, yet again proves themselves to be anything but.
Why do we continue to be surprised by this? If you look at the history of their marketing relative to their actions and policy there is a massive disconnect.
1
The bottom line of the editorial is clear. President Clinton did much the same things President Trump is now alleged to have done.
And, he got away with it. With the Democrats' blessing.
Indeed, President Clinton's wife was the Democratic nominee for President in 2016. She was likely complicit in much of what President Clinton did. Further, during her 2016 campaign, she explicitly promised to make her husband an active participant in her administration.
And while we're considering the Clinton presidency, lets not forget Clinton's notorious pardons: of a financial scoundrel, of terrorists, of convicted drug dealers. The pardons were, under our Constitution, legal. But they were not ethical, and served to benefit Democratic donors and their families, and garner political benefits for President Clinton's wife.
And then there's the Uranium One scandal.
The Times Editorial Board, to its credit, objected. But the Democratic Party did not. The party implicitly and explicitly supported President Clinton's pay to play activities.
The Democrat's outrage over President Trump today very much reflects a double standard.
9
Single or double standards are measurable.
Criteria need to be considered. Assessed.
Consensualized. Rightly or not.
Accountability is an immeasurable value.
Norm. Ethic.
Playing “gotcha” doesn’t resolve
the complex, toxic, infectious
WE-THEY violating culture enabled by
each of US.
1
How are Trump's actions (to be condemned, no doubt) from those of Joe Biden's threatening to withhold $1Bn unless prosecutor is removed? Biden does brag about it. Is it just the difference between a Presidential position and a Vice-presidential one that makes one outrageous and the other a folksy good tale?
1
Bidens efforts were part of a multinational foreign policy effort to rid Ukraine of a corrupt prosecutor who was NOT DOING ENOUGH to investigate. Got it?
1
It is the nature of the political beast that when a president lowers the bar on acceptable behavior, the presidents that follow don't reverse course, they lower it further. So when the Clinton's demonstrated questionable ethics by selling access (via the Lincoln bedroom or deferred bribes masquerading as library or foundation donations), they set a precedent for others to match or exceed. This is not to blame them for Trump's illegal acts - rather that you can't put the genie back in the bottle.
We see this in other areas of questionable policy - such as Obama's significant expansion of drone strikes started by his predecessor, the continuing erosion of freedom of speech protections post 9/11, cheapening of the political dialogue post "Willie Horton", the destruction of "normal order" in Congress.....to name a just a few examples.
I am not sure how we get back to basic principles but clearly the direction we are heading is tearing the country apart.
138
@Mister Mxyzptlk
Sorry, there is no getting back to basics. That horse has left the barn. Sorry. All that is left now is arguing about how OUR theif is not as bad as THEIR theif.
11
@Mister Mxyzptlk: Where there is no enforced minimum standard of conduct that expels violators, the bad drive the good out of any human pursuit whatsoever.
17
@Mister Mxyzptlk This is about the Trump Administration, not about Clinton or Obama. This is about Trump and Tump alone. You are a Trump supporter and please do not bring the other Presidents into the mix, especially President Barack Obama.
38
The "Lincoln Bedroom" controversy was one of the most absurd "scandals" that the MSM came up with during the Clinton presidency, and that's saying a lot. Rarely was it stated that the Lincoln Bedroom is PART OF THE PRESIDENT'S RESIDENCE, or whether the guests were actual acquaintances of the POTUS. The MSM went completely bonkers during Clinton's terms in office, and we ended up with the ultra-corrupt Bush 43 administration to show for it.
Thanks, MSM!
6
A constant thread runs through these Clinton-Trump comparisons.
The Clintons were the ultimate in tacky -- from the Lincoln bedroom stuff through Ms. Lewinsky and Hillary's responses to Bill's philandering. The end of term pardons were particularly tacky.
But there are several orders of magnitude difference between Clinton tacky and Trump systematic betrayal of the national interest and the Oath of Office.
Clinton governed through all the scandals. Nixon, at his paranoid worst, was still a patriot. Trump is an erratic, monomaniac narcissist, who confuses himself with the United States of America. He is enabled by a GOP that has lost all courage.
The reply of the voters is going to bury the GOP in the dustbin of history, and its Senators are going to go down in history as cowards who preferred their soft jobs to the Republic.
14
@Howard Eddy
I agree with your assessment of the order of magnitude, but the refusal of the democratic loyalists to be contrite about past sins is disappointing. "They did it too" is hardly an excuse for bad behavior.
We all learned this as children when our mother said "if Johnny jumped off the roof?" I personally long for an adult candidate (party) that does not think that tacky behavior is OK. And I still think Hillary may have lost the marginal votes in the swing states due to the revelations of "pay for play" at the Clinton foundation . Making excuses for bad behavior may have already come back to bite the DNC sooner than they expected.
2
More worthless whataboutism. Clinton isn't president and he wasn't attempting to leverage a foreign entity with already appropriated congressional; funds. Big difference. Trump and his cabal no doubt believe they are impervious to the rule of law and answer to no one. The time to hold them accountable for defying compliance is now. For Trump it will probably be the very first time in his life and certainly well deserved. Karma is knocking.
10
I've long said that "Republican" is an alternate spelling of "Hypocrite."
Bill Maher has long pointed out that if Obama did a fraction of the things Trump has they would have long ago impeached him. Oh, wait. No scandal, no high crimes or misdemeanors. Guess not.
5
Trump knows that the House has no way to enforce a subpoenae. None of his courtiers will show up to be questioned. They won’t produce any more docs. They know that if they stonewall and get away with it, like they will, we are witnessing the end of a democratic, two party system here and eventually abroad. Trump knows he can do anything. Thanks a lot, Robert Mueller. What a great time to hide behind some phony rule about prosecuting the President. Well, that’s what you get from the “Values” Party. All hail King Trump. Let he Hunger Games really start. Don’t forget Obama’s courtesy to the GOP, appointing them to key positions like FBI. Read Krugman today. When they go low, he should have indicted.
2
Oh, but Trump does have sleepovers. Everytime he stays at one of his properties, it reaps as much money as any fundraiser does. And he gets to play golf with all kinds of characters.
How on earth could you miss this obvious fact?
425
@Chuck Jones EXACTLY
15
@Chuck Jones Great catch. His are outside of the
DC crib or bunks them at his trashy motel down the block for an exorbitant fee. Heard you can get a bed bug infested feather mattress for about a grand.
16
@Chuck Jones And how’bout the empty rooms at Trump properties that are leased or rented for the one and only purpose of currying favor. (And now I wonder where that phrase originated and how incorrect it may be.)
7
Regardless of how the impeachment process turns out (and given the current political structure it appears that the outcome(s) are pre-ordained), the stark fact of the repetition with which we are bombarded of the unseemliness of the younger Biden's $50,000.00 a month remuneration for serving on the board of an energy company in the Ukraine is likely to inflame the feelings of the great majority who struggle to make ends meet with their hard-earned paycheck. If he can get them to the polls, these voters - with frustration and dismay - will pull the lever for the loudmouth opposition in protest for what appears to be an undeserved and unjust remuneration awarded to the son of the vice-president of the United States. I am truly sorry to have to write here that the Trump effort to torpedo what was earlier his most likely political opponent has succeeded.
67
@Daniel K. Statnekov
Firstly, let us look to the woman who could and will dismantle Donald Trump on the debate stage next year, her name is Elizabeth Warren. Ms. Warren is and has been the most likely political opponent, and she will succeed in her run for the U.S. presidency.
Then the matter of the vice-president: just the thought of Mayor Pete debating VP Pence makes me smile, what a scholar this man is, and he would also serve this nation well.
The Biden family like the Clinton family do not live in the truth, and not only does that not speak well of them, their behaviors mess with the minds of the electorate.
The DNC and the DCC should stand behind a winning team, not the Biden camp, the sooner the better.
95
@Daniel K. Statnekov Trump was elected despite the unseemliness of having cheated people out of millions of dollars—hired workers, people who had paid for Trump University, those who had bought apartments in his buildings with various promises, etc.
I’ve seen no indication that Biden’s salary is not the norm in that business
60
@Daniel K. Statnekov
Don't look for Republicans to push too hard on Hunter Biden's job on the board of an energy company. Look at the board of directors for almost any large corporation and you'll find someone who's there because of their political connections, many of whom are Republicans.
148
And Bill Clinton was impeached for lying about an affair, the lie, even under oath, hardly rising to the political level of a high crime or misdemeanor, but to damage his election chances. Some say it was a different time so the two presidents' actions are not the same in terms of impeachment, but they are perhaps properly contrasted.
136
@Mark
Sorry, the president of the USA was faced with a decision to violate his oath of office or be embarrassed by his own personal behavior. Clinton made the wrong decision, and so did the U.S. Senate.
If Clinton had been impeached for lying under oath once, it would have made it far less likely that Trump would become president.
As Republicans prove again and again while they blame Democrats for their disasters, you can't learn from your mistakes if you refuse to admit you made any.
The Constitution is more important than any president's vanity.
46
@McGloin -
President Clinton WAS impeached/ indicted.
The Senate did not convict.
Whether you agree with the outcome or not, conflating indictment with conviction is a serious error.
We have enough foo-fa-rah going on currently - we do not need to have basic terms mixed up on top of it all.
96
@McGloin Makes sense. If a President cannot be impeached for lying under oath (I believe it is called perjury), then how can Trump be impeached for lying all the time when he is not under oath? (Agreed both Presidents took an oath when becoming President but that hardly counts these days).
9
So history is repeating itself. When Mr. Clinton offered access to the White House for potential political favors the republicans held hearings.
This time around the circumstances are different as your article points outs, foreign policy is being warped to aide the presidents re-election and this violates his oath of office. But one important distinction needs to be made between these two investigations is that Mr. Clinton continued to do the "work of the American people." Mr. Trump on the other hand has become so manic about the investigation that he spends the day the twitter. Mr. Trump's erratic behavior along with his warped foreign policy demands the immediate attention of Congress as it is a threat to our nation.
232
@Sue, Not true!!! Trump is doing for our country just what his supporters want him to do.
4
@Tcarl. Good point. "What his supporters want him to do," not what's best for the country as a whole nor what the majority of people (not electoral votes) want.
25
@Tcarl.
"Trump is doing for our country just what his supporters want him to do."
Which, coincidentally, is precisely what his buddy Vlad wants him to do as well.
Hmmm...sounds so very patriotic.
14
Times readers will agree that Trump should be impeached. But do they know why? Contrary to what many moderates and even Democrats will tell you, the reason has nothing to do with the 2020 election. The reason is the Congress' constitutional duty to keep the President in line - period. Abdication of its responsibility will only embolden future presidents, and over time, destroy the Democracy we are so proud of. Nancy Pelosi has made a huge mistake by holding off impeachment due to election considerations.
Not only should House Democrats rectify the mistake by immediate impeachment, they should also quit brandishing dozens of flashing plans in the nomination battle. The ONLY election issue in 2020 should be Trump's character.
158
@Subhash Garg The timing is not ideal.
Question: When is a good time for impeachment?
If anything, something definitive and unassailable was going to have to present itself before an inquiry could be unquestionably justified.
29
The only issue should be Trump’s impeachment? No. That is one in a long list of important issues that face our country that Dems must address if they want to display leadership.
39
@Subhash Garg It is like abortions, that particular political football of the Right: impeachment is like unto an abortion in that it is never a 'Good' time for one, but there are times they are absolutely the only thing that can save the life of the Already Living and be able to put away those that fail to develop properly.
Trump's late development never happened, or is yet to, one or the other.
But there are certainly lives on the line, like those Ukrainians who where stiffed on their funding for a time because the Donnie Wanted to 'Apply Pressure where it hurts', and nobody has ever taught him how to play nicely...let alone 'share'.
Unless it is dribbles of his mind via Tweet, which he shares way too much of.
4
Hard to argue with Trump's logic here. He does not deny asking a foreign government to help him win-it worked real well for him last time. And winning is better than loosing, and frankly, his supporters in America and allies in Congress would rather win than loose. And if he does bad stuff to win, well he won and winning is better.
He has proven himself right about shooting someone in the middle of 5th Ave (especially if it in Schiff) and none of his supporters caring.
I'm in my 60s but wonder what the youth of today think about lying and cheating-seems like the leader of the free world sees it really works out if you want to win.
180
@Johninnapa
Talk to almost any middle school teacher and you will hear about the agony of dealing with kids who hide behind the president when called out for racist banter.
24
@Johninnapa; "wonder what the youth of today think about lying and cheating"? Answer-the same you and I did during the Clinton administration.
2
@Johninnapa
I think we have a culture that is falling deep into "ends justify the means" territory, but only for themselves and their tribe. The "other" side must obey all rules to the letter.
23
Hardly will you find defendants in quid pro quo cases making explicit connections between the bargains. They are nonetheless routinely found guilty because no one expects explicit connections.
More importantly, under our election laws, soliciting electoral assistance from distant lands is in of itself illegal. According to the "transcript" put out by the White House, Mr. Trump specifically asked for a "favor." The inquiry can stop at that point.
372
@Sam It was an admission against interest that transcends the hearsay exception and is in itself evidence of wrongdoing.
32
@Sam
Yes, mere solicitation is strictly illegal, and why has the Times, of all places, allowed itself to be distracted by the quid-pro-quo aspect? (Maybe because it is so blatant and makes things even worse.)
26
I very clearly remember the Clinton-Gore "got a dime?" rush that they put on donors. It was unnerving to know that the president and vice-president were auctioning off special favors for cash.
One of the points that this editorial makes is that it is never wise for a president to be seen to hungry for money for his campaign or for his party's treasure chest that they lower the standards of ethics and morals in the quest for crisp dollars and shiny pennies. After all, only the wealthy, it seems can afford to enjoy the hospitality of the White House or its environs. The rubes, like myself, are reduced to touring the place; stand in line, don't linger, don't touch, don't let the door hit you on the way out. Not very hospitable when you're not rich.
But the Ukraine Connection is lots worse than anything that Bill Clinton and Al Gore (or even Gene Hackman's Popeye Doyle in "The French Connection") did. They didn't trade favors for foreign influence. What this current president has done is to practically walk down a dark street on a dark night and mug an unsuspecting stroller. "Give it up," he might have said. "Or else."
The Ukraine, given its own politics and corruptibility, is hardly innocent. They knew very well what Donald Trump wanted and were hardly virginal in their showy eagerness to comply with the hard sell. Republicans, of course, see what they want to see here, which is essentially nothing.
They're also panderers of the public trust just like their president.
481
@Red Sox, ‘04, ‘07, ‘13, ‘18
It is beyond laughable for Trump to say that he launched an investigation into the Ukraine to weed out corruption. Trump’s preferred foreign leaders are compromised and sleazy, just like him. Where one might see shady dealings in need of sunlight, Trump sees golden opportunities.
Thanks for what you wrote. Take care.
401
@NM
"Trump sees golden opportunities." Unintentional pun? :)
16
@Red Sox, ‘04, ‘07, ‘13, ‘18 Pls also remember that in 2000 someonne offered to give Gore dirt of George W....Gore turned it down and told the FBI about the offer.
46
Donald Trump campaigned as a political outsider who would ‘drain the swamp.’ In reality, Trump has treated the White House as if it were his personal enterprise. Every last aspect of the presidency has been coopted by Trump for some self-serving end.
725
@NM
I agree and I'm coming to the conclusion that the swamp is actually not corruption by those in gov but non-gov people they don't like, eg women, immigrants, LGBQT, etc, etc.
49
@NM
Why not the republican party has done that to the rest of the country and all of its citizens.
10
@NM
By refusing to disclose and divest his assents into a blind trust Donald Trump made a solemn sworn oath to preserve, protect and defend whatever Trump Organization profitable advantage that is being from the American people in Trump's income tax returns and business accounting financial records arising from Trump's occupation of the White House.
You can't tell where Trump Mar-a-Lago ends and Trump White House begins.
Trump didn't run a covert stealthy subtle campaign. Every American knew who Donald Trump was and was not and voted accordingly.
28
While I agree with the gist of your article, could we please stop relitigating the Clinton Administration.
Stop comparing Trump to any other president, he's in a league of his own.
I think by continually mentioning Clinton, Bill or Hillary, and their respective times in office, you feed Trump's Clinton-mania. He's still obsessed with the 2016 election, although the phone call and quid pro quo to Ukraine show's us he's gearing up for 2020.
Please, let's forget about the Clinton's and just expose Trump and his merry band of Republican henchmen and women for what they are: selfish, greedy, power and money seeking people who do not care for anyone but themselves. And that means they don't care for ordinary Republicans either.
They want to enrich themselves, stay in power at all costs and don't care if Trump gives our country away to Russia and China.
This is what we all have to fight. If Republicans think it's ok, then it's up to Democrats and independents to right our country and get it back from Trump, Republicans, Russia and China.
6
This is why Nancy Pelosi was so adverse for so long to wading into the impeachment process. Likely she regrets having done so at last.
How is this editorial helpful! The NYT is giving itself a pat on the back for calling out misconduct whether by Republicans OR Democrats. But in doing so, the NYT makes it so much more difficult to appreciate the gravity of Trump's actions that are being investigated in an impeachment inquiry. I fear this editorial will simply help to give Trump a pass because everybody does it, and this is just politics, and if Trump is no different then why is it fair that he should be impeached. Disappointed in the NYT.
2
Why is no one discussing the fact that Paul Manafort, working for Putin allies, secured the election of a pro-Russian Ukrainian president, and was then reassigned by the same Putin allies to elect Donald Trump?
And then all Trump seems to be interested in is lifting economic sanctions on Russia, and aiding Russia in its foreign policy objectives around the globe.
I wouldn't be surprised if the current occupant of the White House is ignorant of the Russian disinformation campaign that put him in office, or cognizant that his entire presidency has been a slow moving Russian deep-state assault on the US. Most Republicans seem to be asleep at the switch, if not truly brainwashed. How can patriots stand by and watch these Manchurian Candidates dismantle the United States?
1
What the Clintons were alleged to have done - open themselves up to access and influence - is questionable and is an ugly appearance. But politicians are either influenced by people and situations that are genuine or by factors (money, support) etc that are ugly.
What the Clinton's DID NOT DO was use the office of the President, and the weight of the US foreign aid, to secure support from anyone to secure damaging political information on a political opponent. Worse, Trump has used his office to solicit support from a foreign nation. Nothing Clinton was alleged to have done comes close to Trump's transgression. Clinton was no angel, but Trump is as close to a devil in politics as you will ever see.
2
Without any ounce of loyalty to our venerable democracy, the GOP leaders sacrificed their moral principles for the selfish pursuit of political self-preservation by effectively turning into henchmen of the despotic demagogue in the White House.
Members of the GOP essentially buried the legacy of Lincoln by becoming sycophantic spectators while Trump is systematically deconstructing our democracy into a dysfunctional dystopia.
This despicable act by the GOP leaders is very analogous to the actions of Faust (by Goethe) when he made a deal with the Devil (Mephistopheles) in order to attain pleasure and power at the expense of his soul. GOP’s new mantra is: Trump over country.
Very shameful indeed!
2
So, selling access to the Lincoln Bedroom is the same as asking for investigations of fairly obvious pay to play (let alone getting a prosecutor fired for investigating your serially-misbehaving child)? Really, you have to be suffering from TDS to believe this stuff.
1
This has been a problem for a long time: Republicans don't do what the other side does and when they do it isn't wrong. It's commonly known as hypocrisy. Hillary was grilled on Benghazi for 12 hours and Republicans refuse to testify at all. The question here is what will we be left with after this latest episode? Clearer water in the swamp? Or just deeper mud for all to hide in? The question I would ask Republicans is : Are you making it more or less likely you will catch your big fish when the wheel comes around again? Just think, over the years, how much time, effort, angst, and money is spent accomplishing so little. No one caught, no one paying a price, and , most importantly, no end in sight to these wild goose chases. And now, instead of American law enforcement and the justice department trying to get to the bottom of things, Barr travels the world....in search of..... I am sure he will find something. The AH HA evidence that will convict no one of anything. "Yeah, yeah. Ok. Biden was here. OK? Now leave us alone". William 'Perry Mason' Barr. Grill them until they come clean. Biden breaking down and making a full confession on live TV. Made for TV. Assuring Trump gets another season and isn't tossed to the rerun heap.
Uh, excuse me, when was foreign policy not political?
1
"....and they (Republicans) defend him.
Yes, and, so did Democrats defend Bill Clinton back in the day.
I guess it is the human form of AI.
Once one party demonstrates a new low in behavioral norms, then, the other party adopts that approach as well.
2
We the people are sick and tired of this tit for tat Washington dance. They did it so we can do it, they got off easy, we should too.
Both sides do it, both sides profit. We cannot say either is clean, or innocent.
The problem of course is precedent. Since Al Gore and the Clintons wiggled out of that issue by claiming the president was immune while in office and the VP had no ‘controlling legal authority’, the same defense can be used now for the same issue.
If the Democrats then find the current residents guilty, then it should become retroactive and the Clintons and Al Gore are guilty as well. If we want to be fair, then they should be given the same sentence as Trump, if this ever goes that far.
Or not.
What we would love to see, is the government back to work for the reason we hired them, to try and fix the issues plaguing this country.
We did not hire you to run this circus non stop. Well, some were hired just for this by the Liberals in last election cycle. But the rest of them were hired to fix this country.
They get a negative review from us. I have only one thing to say to them - get to work.
2
Yes, Bill Clinton gave Presidential access in return for big donations. What else is new? I recall that the GOP was having fundraisers for George W. where a donation of sufficient size was openly touted as guaranteeing a meeting with the President. Nowadays, one needs to book a block of rooms at Mar-El-Lago. I don't like it, but the Supreme Court has ruled that money equals free speech.
The Clintons were accused of theft, murder, and treason, usually with no evidence at all, but they were never even accused of strong-arming other nations to help their personal political fortunes.
3
At least we didn't have Bill Clinton tweeting insane conspiracy theories every 3 seconds and screaming at press conferences with foreign leaders and generally acting erratically and irrationally. Trump multiplies his problems with his crazy rhetoric, which just serves to make him look more guilty. Clinton never claimed he was victimized by enemies--not that I remember, at least. He defended himself calmly and rationally. At least he made sense. It's impossible to follow Trump's garbled and wacky utterances. Trump would be doing himself a huge favor if he would just shut up. But, he seems incapable. Just another thing he's totally inept at.
15
@Ms. Pea That's right. It was Mrs. Clinton who spoke of a "vaste right-wing conspiracy."
@Health Lawyer
vast
You state "Mr. Trump isn’t yet known to be hosting pay-to-play pajama parties or dialing for dollars from his office." But foreign dignitaries are staying at his hotels, especially when he meets with them. And he has suggested using his golf property for the next G7 meeting!
9
This editorial fails to mention the magic incantation that excuses all sins, negates the Oath of Office, allows Republicans to sleep at night: "But Judges" repeat with increasing volume as needed.
It's easy. Watch:
"If Mr. Zelensky agreed to give Mr. Trump the investigations he so desperately wanted, then Mr. Trump would give Mr. Zelensky the White House visit he so needed as a sign of the United States’ continued support of Ukraine in its conflict with Russia. ..."
But Judges!
"....Trump has warped American foreign policy and directed administration officials to put the interests of his re-election campaign above those of American national security. ... "
But Judges!!
... This is not merely tacky or ethically dubious. It is a flagrant violation of his oath of office
But Judges!!!
Sure, we may be one election cycle away from losing our democracy. I'm sure Republicans will say they are sad to see it go.
But Judges!!!!
It's magic.
4
Trump made so called swamp into solid sludge. This sludge unfortunately cannot be drained, it has to be hammered and broken into pieces and hauled away.
If we don’t do this the sludge will go all over the country not just stay in Washington and will eventually engulf his base. May be then the base might wake up, I hope
1
Geez, don't know it's okay when the GOP does it, but not when the Dems do it? The GOP likes to hoard its graft just like it's corporate donor dollars.
As long as Republicans have no shame none of this will stop. People without a moral compass do evil things.
6
And no one cared, suddenly its an issue, because of course it's Trump!
1
Democrats like to believe that they would never stoop to such behavior, and we all know that is not true.
1
It seems obvious to me that Mr. Trump would not award big donors with a free pajama party in the White House. They would be expected to pay full boat at the Trump Hotel in Washington.
9
There is no way to shame today's Republicans by pointing out their hypocrisy. Feeling shame requires morality.
12
I saw a great video this morning where Bill Clinton was asking the UK PM to interfere in a US election by fixing an election problem he had. Impeachment talk? Outrage? Unprecedented? No, just absolutely nothing because it just seemed like a favor and nobody cared. It demonstrates how absurd and fraudulent this entire impeachment nonsense really is.
2
Corruption, and hypocrisy, personalized? Trump, and the Republican party, respectively. By mutual agreement.
This excellent opinion piece is why it is important to have a free press -- to report on government. It's a vault into the imperfect past and reminds us of why being informed is just good civics. The "fake news" mantra espoused by this White House is most devastating; every time it's uttered, it cuts like a knife.
1
How about a follow up on the RNC returning low six figure donations in 1996 from Hong Kong business men with no businesses in this country?
The NY Times, in ANOTHER shot at the Clintons, makes it appear the GOP was not doing THEN exactly what they are doing now.
http://tech.mit.edu/V117/N25/ahongkong.25w.html
3
Neither party has a monopoly on hypocrisy or on virtue. If we have an informed, reflective electorate then the party that leads us will be that which is most honest in admitting its mistakes and sincere in attempting to correct them.
10
The board makes some good points, but it failed to point out at least one of the more egregious long-term “pay-for-play” schemes of American Presidential politics: Awarding ambassadorships based on political/financial support. Whether it’s a sleep over in the Lincoln Room or an ambassadorship, it’s all corruption. You can argue degrees—is a sleep over worse than an ambassadorship—but it’s corruption any way you cut it. However, the Gordon Sondland appointment as Ambassador to the European Union is an example of corruption gone even further amuck. Sondland has not a scrap of experience in foreign service (he’s an innkeeper), but he gave the Trump campaign a million dollars, so guess who qualifies for an ambassador position? (And—surprise, surprise—guess who won’t testify?) Congress could fix all this, of course, but it will give that about as much attention as it does gun control.
9
Look up quid pro quo in any business dictionary and you will see that it means "reciprocal" and reciprocity. Trump's own words could not be clearer. And just to make sure Zelensky got the message, he added : "I will have Mr. Giuliani give you a call and I am also going to have Attorney General Barr call and we will get to the bottom of it. I'm sure you will figure it out."
4
As my mentor always said “there are two sides to every story.”
Restaurant owner Charlie Trie made 22 visits to the White House compound and the Lincoln Room for more than $600,000 in so-called donations. Johnny Chung was admitted to the White House compound and Lincoln Room 50 times and gave $366,000. The sleaze of the Clintons is hardly defendable.
This article only dressed up to look like it’s unbiased and balanced. When The NY Times does anything bipartisan is the day that donkeys and elephants will both fly.
4
@Charlie This piece does not underplay what Clinton did. Instead, it points out that Republicans were enraged at Clinton's behavior, but are willing to let Trump get away with virtually anything. Need to read it again.
3
Oh? And what important diplomatic posts were Charlie Trie and Johnny Chung given? Or what government programs or policies did they subvert into trying to get Clinton re-elected? Your points don’t even rise to the level of what-aboutism in excusing Trump’s corruption. I wouldn’t care if he treated a major donor as a VIP. But if Clinton had spent a penny of taxpayer money on getting re-elected, the Republicans’ wailing and moaning would have been deafening.
3
You, of course, realize you’re reading an editorial.
Don’t you?
When she is sure her vote will not count, sure that her Republican cronies will protect the liar and cheat in the White House, our own corporate money grubbing Senator from Maine may decide to vote to remove, after the House votes to impeach.
And then our Senator Collins will crow loud and self righteously about how non partisan she is. But I can tell you what she isn't, another Margaret Chase Smith. If she was, she would stand up on the Senate floor and denounce our traitorous self serving excuse for a POTUS.
21
When she is sure her vote will not count, sure that her Republican cronies will protect the liar and cheat in the White House, our own corporate money grubbing Senator from Maine may decide to vote to remove, after the House votes to impeach.
And then our Senator Collins will crow loud and self righteously about how non partisan she is. But I can tell you what she isn't, another Margaret Chase Smith. If she was, she would stand up on the Senate floor and denounce our traitorous self serving excuse for a POTUS.
When Senator Susan Collins is sure her vote will not count, sure that her Republican cronies will protect the liar and cheat in the White House, our own corporate money grubbing Senator from Maine may decide to vote to remove, after the House votes to impeach.
And then our Senator Collins will crow loud and self righteously about how non partisan she is. But I can tell you what she isn't, another Margaret Chase Smith. If she was, she would stand up on the Senate floor now, and denounce our traitorous self serving excuse for a POTUS.
Comparisons to Bill Clinton pale as this Ukraine story unfolds like tropical flower in a hurry to pollinate and set seed. Although the dots track back to Paul Manafort’s activities several years ago, the denouement is upon us.
Trump and Manafort are traitors in every sense of the term. Next up, lord willing, they’ll serve their prison terms together.
5
Hypocrisy means nothing to McConnell and friends.
9
I remember. How quaint, how sweet, how innocent. Comparing Clinton to Trump is like comparing juvenile delinquency to the BP Oil Spill. It only exposes the utter hypocrisy and lack of shame of the Trump Collaborators.
11
Why were the Clintons above the law for selling the Lincoln bedroom? No wonder he was disbarred and sued. I cant believe that Pelosi defended these people.
1
You tell us about the Times editorial position but what you dont make clear is that the "money trial" story would continue for months and be covered on the front page again and again. I think we can be pretty sure that we will never hear about this story again. Not only is this a false equivalence it is radically different standards that tells any future president that the press will ultimately fall into equivalence and lead citizens to the view that since everyone does it we might as well have the strongest dictator.....you know the name of the most reputable newspaper in Moscow? Neither do I .....is there a lesson to learn.
1
And that folks is really how it all started slick Willy, legalism, and refusal to step down in face of overwhelming evidence of boorish and almost illegal conduct.
Thanks for reminding us how a Democrat President was really Trump’s exemplar.
2
The motto on the Republican's flag reads:
Do as we say.
Not as we do.
4
Trump has played chicken with America, not just Democrats, since he took office. He blasts through one ethical standard after another saying, "Who's going to stop me?" His entire life he has never done anything that was not for his own personal benefit, lying, bullying, cheating, and covering his many failures with more lies. Yet, his protectors will sell their very souls to cover for his total lack of civil virtue. Trump wants his way, whatever that may mean at whatever time. But at some point you have wonder of his supporters, just what is it that he could do to which you would say, "Enough." Have you Trumpers no shame? At long last, have no really no shame?
3
Republicans are hypocritical? I’m absolutely shocked!
Seriously, though, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee ought to do some digging for comments made in the late 90s by every single Republican member of Congress to substantiate the hypocrisy. It would make wonderful material during the 2020 election cycle, especially if those Republicans attempt to use the impeachment inquiry against their Democratic challengers.
3
How many “pay-to-play pajama parties” have been hosted at Mar-A-Lago?
6
If there is "no evidence to suggest that Joe Biden used his position as Vice President to protect his son Hunter," what do you call the video, taken at the Council on Economic Affairs, which shows Mr. Biden, on stage with two other gentlemen, telling how he told the Ukrainians that he was withholding the $1 billion in military aid to them Congress had authorized until they fired the prosecutor who was investigating his son.s company, and then, "profanity," six hours later they fired him and Joe released the funds.
It's been watched more than half a million times on You Tube so far.
You're a newspaper and that's news. It's already out there.
Shame on you.
3
Politics as usual. Give me a Socialist Democracy.
2
Remember when Bill Clinton traded White House access for political favors?
Or when the Clintons formed a foundation and traded access for money when Hillary was Secretary of State and during her Presidential election campaign? When it closed down very quietly after she lost?
And NYT failed to call it all out?
One of the reasons Hillary did lose. Millions of otherwise Democrat voters decided they didn't want any of that back in the White House.
At least this time it's being aggressively called out.
2
Here’s the silver lining. We Democrats never have to listen to a Republican trying to make a high minded point based on morality ever again. Never. Ever. Again. They have completely surrendered the right to do that. Forever. If they ever try to do it to you for the rest of your life, just smile and say “Trump.“ End of conversation.
4
Oh, c'mon, you know the (now) old saying, it isn't wrong if the Republicans do it!
4
I guess the New York Times did not get the memo. There are different rules for Republicans and Democrats and the Republicans write the rules. Happy to clear that up for you. All hail trump.
2
"Remember when Bill Clinton...?"
Yeah, I do. Dems did not seem to think it was a big deal.
1
Yet another example of how the GOP is the party of hypocrites.Their new motto: party (self) before country.
2
In the Republican playbook, immorality, malfeasance, criminality, and corruption don't count when the office holder in question is a Republican.
8
As Mr. and Mrs. Trump don't sleep together, there is one less bedroom for any pajama party.
3
Witch hunt! Hoax! Complete witch hunt! Total hoax! As the felon-in-chief utters these words so routinely in the obvious belief that his supporters and apologists can use them too, he can also sow the seeds of confusion and malfunction with his constant harping on "fake news" and "corruption." Day becomes night. White becomes black. Up becomes down. The alternate universe in which trump lives is a place into which he wishes to drag the rest us. With his constant lies, his pattern of deceit, he wants to spin a web of moral ambiguity. He has occupied this morass for so long that he is incapable of doing anything else but concocting as much fiction as he can to blunt all efforts to expose his fraud. He cynically believes most people are stupid enough to accept his lies as truth. Thankfully, there remains in this society a higher sense of decency and integrity. He will fail and he will fall. There is some truth to the old adage that want doesn't kill you may make you stronger. Once we have rid ourselves of his leadership, we can get busy erecting new standards that will preclude such abuses in the future. We can do this, yes we can.
3
G.H.W. Bush lost reelection because he had no idea what a gallon of milk costs, and broke his promise of no new taxes (so he could balance the budget)....oh how I wish this were the headline again....
But, hey, cheer up! It's Putin's birthday today and his best worker got him a big present in Syria...
7
Remember when the Clintons were renting out the Lincoln bedroom, or later, when Russians whose interests were tied to Hillary's actions as SoS showered millions on the Clinton Foundation? Remember how the Democrats and the Times loudly demanded impeachment investigations or resignations?
Nah.
Neither do I.
2
I am genuinely curious...why does not the NY Times call on U.S. lawmakers to vote for impeachment? Is there an editorial policy against it. Has the Times never done this, even when it came to Nixon? Any response, NY Times?
2
What the Republicans are doing now and have always done is to make mountains out of molehills when the object of investigationis the Democratic Party and a Democratic President and try to make molehills out of mountains when the object of investigation is their own Party and a RepublicanPresident.
10
Wait, I thought that •Hypocrisy was a bullet point or a line item in the Republican Party convention platform. Am I wrong or am I’m lying?
4
Republicans will just say that inviting donors to sleep in The White House is worse than stabbing Ukraine and The Kurds in the back.
8
Absolutely! The hypocrisy of the Republicans is beyond belief. Simply put, take ONE of Trump's misdeeds (crimes) and if it were done by a Democrat the Republicans would push for impeachment and conviction without hesitation. Their commitment to party over country is despicable, and should earn them all banishment. History will not be kind to these hypocritical cowards.
6
I clearly remember the New York Times editorial board, reporters and opinion columnists accusing both Clintons and later Gore of all kinds of things that good reporting would have told them was not true. When facts would show there was no there there the Times would blast them for “optics”. I also remember that the Times signed an exclusive agreement with Steve Bannon’s flunky, uh employee, Peter Schweitzer, so they would print his accusations of corruption/conflict of interests of the Clinton Foundation. Funny that the most serious accusation, the Uranium One fairytale was easily debunked by other media outlets. Meanwhile the completely, blatantly corrupt Trump Foundation which had been operating right under their noses was totally ignored until late in the election.
Having learned nothing from blowing the Travelgate, Wen Ho Lee/Chinagate, WMD and Clinton Foundation lies the Times once again fell for right wing propaganda and published Schweitzer’s claims about Biden and the Ukraine even though Schweitzer is still an executive at Breitbart.
Without the complicity of prestigious media outlets like the Times, WaPo and major network news Republicans would not have gotten away with all this insanity. Sadly too many Democrats still trust the Times to be objective in their reporting.
As Bannon openly stated his goal was always to get the MSM to buy into his smears because it is the mainstream media that does the most damage to Democrats.
10
@BernieO You left out Whitewater, which was an out-and-out Times/WaPo hoax.
Not too many liked the Clintons, sleazy lawyers from Arkansas. Then you have the DNC with Debbie Wassermann Schultz sabotaging Sanders, that disenfranchised millions. I still voted for her because she was qualified and not a blithering idiot.
Now here we are, no hope for campaign finance reform, no hope for saving our environment, elimination of the electoral college, foreign interference condoned and encouraged, a broken democracy.
Senator Warren would make a fine president, but I fear women will still vote for their reality TV star. Tom Steyer talks the talk, but is not supported by our inept DNC. Is it too late for Tom Hanks, Dwayne Johnson or Oprah? Someone with a powerful personality has to step up to save our democracy, someone not 80 years old.
2
Who wants a sleepover in the Lincoln BR when you can have a weekend at Mar-a-Lago, which M. M. Post deeded to the US gov. National Park Service as a winter White House, and which was then sold to Trump, who wrangled all other goodies.
What is beyond distressing is the refusal of various persons to appear before Congress... and perhaps it is time for a massive March on DC -- this time supported by the House of Representatives. People must be penalized and treated as the criminals they are. Is there no law?
12
There's apparently no law for these guys. It boggles the mind.
1
This headline is irresponsible and leads people to make false equivalency if the entire piece is not read
10
When the Republican Senators in Congress who are up for re election realize that their jobs are going to be on the line because their constituency has finally had enough of their idiot in chief, you will see more of these Senators standing behind Mitt Romney , who is one of the only Republicans left in the Senate with a conscience.
The trade-off that these Republican Senators have made to protect Donald Trump will also not stand if Trump’s part of the bargain (which includes his policy on Syria) is no longer honored.
And when these Senators finally understand that everyone who comes close enough to Donald Trump gets infected and eventually destroyed by his toxicity , it will probably be too late for many of them. Their arrogance will have blinded them in not being able to see the true damage that Trump has done .
3
Oh, my. Republicans are hypocrites? Who would have ever suspected.
8
Republicans, wasting money, chasing lies, creating fake reality, because they are crackpots who dream of power above everything else. Despicable.
6
Really, there is no republican party anymore, just a bunch of craven bootlickers who willingly trade their integrity (if they ever had any) to stay a whole longer in office. Wow, what patriots!
10
Shame on you for this headline!
Instead of one about GOP hypocrisy you instead promote their "whataboutism" knowing that the accusation about Clinton is the only thing people will take away from this article.
I am seriously reconsidering reading this paper. Your promotion, and subsequent apology, for promoting GOP lies about the Iraq War seems to have taught you nothing about the danger of being "useful idiots"
11
McConnell doesn’t care; look at his wealth the past 12 years. Power plain and simple.
10
As the info about Syria shows Trump is a bit challenged intellectually. Yet the Dems and the Times go after him on a very narrow basis: yes he is thoroughly corrupt but the Ukraine conversation is not the main or major instance of it. And as the Financial Times, Politico and the Nation have documented Ukraine helped the Clinton camp in 2016 so this will defang the attack on Trump's own behavior.
The Times itself was very critical of Biden and his son in 2015: "It should be plain to Hunter Biden that any connection with a Ukrainian oligarch damages his father’s efforts to help Ukraine. This is not a board he should be sitting on." (Dec 11).
Afghanistan is the place where empires go to die, as the saying goes but Ukraine seems to be the go-to place to find dirt on one's American rivals. Not very good to get the "insane clown" (Matt Taibbi) out of the WH.
1
Well then, now I can I see that the Democrats as blameless in this pay to play game, but these Republicans are possibly human versions of the Devil himself. Thanks for your analysis.
1
White House sleepovers are worse than extorting Ukraine?
4
Dem campaigns need to find old clips of Republicans hollerin' about stuff they berated Dems for and re-run them with the name of whatever local Repub candidate is running for office. It shouldn't be very difficult to force Repubs to answer for their duplicity.
9
Bill Clinton lied under oath and Trump asked the leader of a foreign country to investigate his political rival. Stop squabbling about which one was worse and focus on the fact that both of them broke the law. This commentary has to rise above political affiliation as it speaks to an attitude held by the powerful and entitled among us that the law does not apply to them. This attitude is seen in income tax cheats, school admission scandals, the Harvey Weinstein clones and all of your basic white collar criminals. Money and power corrupts and we are seeing it play out every single day in the press coverage of our politicians in Washington D.C.
9
This is another succinct editorial published in the NY Times.
Reading this the one word that came to me was hypocrisy.
President Clinton could be called out for improper conduct but Trump? Oh no the Republicans cannot do that. Why would they kill the goose that lays the golden egg? This goose has given them what they desire, deregulation, conservative Federal judges, 2 conservative Associate SC judges and a tax break that in reality was for the uber rich & corporations. In turn we the people have been shafted. This includes Trump's faithful flock but they will never realize this. I am not surprised by Trump's convoluted Ukraine "adventure" . I figured that sooner or later Trump would finally end up creating a boondoggle that he could not tweet his way out of. The presidency always magnifies the personality of the current occupant for better or worse. It seems that with Trump there is no best only a person who thrives on confusion, seeking attention & constant approval. In Trump's mind it is all Trump and nothing else. Welcome to the Twilight Zone.
9
I remember when Bill Clinton met with Attorney General Loretta Lynch on an airplane in Phoenix to “discuss grandchildren.” Sure..
HRC would have made a better President, let’s face it - she’s just as corrupt with the Clinton Foundation donations. Totally compromised. Neither Trump nor Clinton we’re fit for office. I’m disgusted with our national politics.
2
@Midwest Josh "(Hillary is) just as corrupt with the Clinton Foundation donations."
How so? What evidence can you provide?
7
@Jtati - the evidence is that she/ the Foundation continued accepting donations from foreigners and foreign governments while running her campaign. Shady business. Interesting that Clinton Foundation donations went down 90% after she lost.
3
@Midwest Josh
HRC just as corrupt as Trump? I beg to differ. Did Clinton reveal highly classified intel to Russians in the Oval office? Did she take Putin's side over her own government or try to extort a foreign government into investigating a political opponent (and American citizen)? Republicans hate Hillary with a passion yet continue to support a man who would trade his own country for a business deal or an election.
6
There are a few differences between Clinton and Trump:
1. There is a logarithmic difference in mendacity.
2. There is a logarithmic difference in financial greed.
3. There is a logarithmic difference in publicly expressed narcissism.
4. Trump is crazy as a bat (sorry to insult bats).
5. Clinton had a full-time (not acting) cabinet--with just a bit less attrition.
6. Clinton could read a white paper.
7. I do not recall Clinton claiming to have "great and unmatched wisdom."
8. We could usually tell when Clinton was telling a joke.
9. I could keep going but it is my bedtime. I just ran out of time before I could mention that Trump personally enjoys sowing chaos and hate.
13
As with most things, we need to examine the both sides of the argument. During the Clinton years where was the outrage of the Times Editorial Board as Clinton used his office for his, and his family's, political gain?
1
A confession that " I stole the cookies from the cookie jar" is not good enough today to convict you. Someone should actually have seen you with your hand in the cookie jar, taken a picture of it with a time and date stamp on it. Of course you would have to prove that the picture was not doctored in any way and whether it was taken by a Republican or Democrat. Right, Trump?
4
An evil is always an evil irrespective of who resorts to it. If Bill Clinton traded White House access for personal gains, that never jistifies Trump too repeats the same sin of abusing constitutional authority for private gains as he is already doing in office in gross violation of the law and ethics that certainly warrants action.
2
It is indeed a flagrant violation of our constitution. Where will we find ourselves when the Senate votes to allow this man to remain at the head of our government?
3
The GOP screams for a do over. GOP House and Senate amoral spineless corrupts must be replaced. Dirty money has to be removed from politics, term limits must be enacted and Sunday elections instituted.
How and who got us to this level of vulgarity? Apparently, it “innocently” and cleverly began with comedian Lenny Bruce testing the First amendment. It followed with Hollywood’s “creative types” testing the margins of what’s been permissible; “edgy entertainment” the call it. Then we had the Kardashians and the House Wives Cable TV franchise and Clinton’s intern’s dress and, of course, Trump right now. Utter vulgarity and lack of norms, lack of morality and graft and grifters as the country’s leaders. And who lost and who won? The American middle class was decimated and “vulture capitalist” turned into overnight billionaires. Regrettably, this corrupt culture touched both parties, lest we start casting stones.
3
That all this intrigue occurs in the Ukraine, AKA Putin’s Backyard. They lost half their country to little green men. I wonder how many elves Trump will find. Corruption is rife in the Ukraine and it seems the electorate has had enough of it. And along comes corruptible Don boy genius against a man who hacked typewriters (true).
The Lincoln bedroom episode may have been terribly tacky and ethically questionable, but it didn't compromise national security.
And it also wasn't a sign of mental derangement. Trump's reference to Crowdstrike in the Ukraine call proves Trump is pursuing insane, Infowar-level conspiracy theories, and he is trying to blackmail Ukraine to fake evidence for them by withholding $400 million in aid that is important to both Ukraine and ultimately America's national security.
There are corrupt elements of this--the demand for dirt on a political opponent, and it looks like Giuliani's cronies were ginning up business deals in Ukraine.
But we all knew President Racketeering Fraud was corrupt. The bigger issue is that he is mentally deranged to the point that is compromising national security, and no one could credibly say that about Bill Clinton.
8
Yes, the hyper concerns of the GOP about the perceived wrong doings of the Clinton Administration now seem very quaint
in the alternative universe of the Trump Administration and the current gang of GOP quislings inhabiting the halls of Congress.
6
Those were the days. I’d trade Trump for Clinton in a heartbeat. Of course, I’m sane.
2020. Bigly.
1
The official motto of the Republican party should be "Do as I say, not as I do!" Their hypocrisy is painfully apparent. In their world, a Republican can do no wrong, but a Democrat's every act is considered to be some sort of violation.
Republican accusations of impropriety by Democrats cannot be taken seriously as long as Republicans persist in defending the most corrupt administration in modern history.
5
Still waiting for that expose about Newt Gingrich during Clinton's impeachment.
All the Sunday shows that Gingrich goes on; I've yet to hear one host ever ask, weren't you carrying on affair with your intern WHILE leading the impeachment against Clinton for an "affair" with HIS intern?
9
As an independent voter, I am sick to death of the constant, "Well, it was done previously, but this is far worse and must be addressed." No one's hands are clean and if we were to investigate our esteemed members of Congress, I think we would be shocked but not surprised at the back door deals and other sordid details. What we should be asking is, "Why isn't Congress doing what they were elected to do, solve the existing problems that truly affect all Americans." I direct this to both sides. Unfortunately, we will never get term limits for these people when they decide the vote. The one error that was made in our government, and as it turns out a huge mistake.
5
Sleeping in the Lincoln bedroom was such a reward during the Clinton years not because the invitation would pad the bank accounts of wealthy supporters but because the Clintons, besides being powerful, were (and are) utterly fascinating and highly engaged people with whom just about anyone would be more than happy and honoured to spend a little time. Certainly Lincoln himself wouldn't be caught dead overnighting in the bedroom named in his memory so long as Donald J Trump was just down the hall tweeting his offensive nonsense fuelled by cheeseburgers and diet cola.
8
I think that the very reason many voters can no longer support Republican candidates for office is specifically the hypocrisy of all their actions.
The current investigations into Trump and his administration have truly become the last straw. At least Democrats showed up for subpoenas and produced the requested documentation when Republicans were in charge of investigations. Trump and Republicans do not have the respect for the very institution they serve to do even that. I do not understand how they can even pretend to have any honor.
2
You shouldn't be parroting the line that Trump was trying to get foreign powers to open investigations. The accurate reporting would be that he was trying to get foreign powers to fabricate improprieties.
4
Why do Dems always fall back on examples that demonstrate that Republicans are hypocritical? That their prior "concerns" about a Democrat's behavior are being ignored now that a Republican president is in power?
The Republican playbook is simply and Machiavellian -- they use whatever means they can use to attain power. And once they have power, to use it without any restraint to advance their agenda. When they are out of power, they are back to using whatever means necessary to attain power...
There is no striving to maintain "principles" or recognition of "consistency." There is striving for power, and then exploiting it to their maximum benefit once attained.
2
Left out was the corruption of constant implied extortion from Trump where any foreign government, any branch of the US government, institution or special interest has to please Trump personally either by renting rooms from him, eating at his restaurants if they want his attention. It is no coincidence that Trump has property in Turkey is a reason why he caved to Erdogan, who will probably slaughter our Kurdish allies as soon as he gets a chance.
1
I am a non-partisan who favors impeachment of Trump for his corruption. However, in this editorial the editors present a very misleading and devious argument.
Of course, partisan Republican lawmakers are reacting with robotic support of Trump. I agree with the editors and other partisan Democrats that the Republicans deserve criticism for that. However, the editors' citation of the Republican criticism of Clinton for selling access to the White House is misleading and devious.
The Republicans were critical of Clinton then in robotic unison in the same manner as Democrats are critical of Trump now in robotic unison. And, Republicans are supportive of Trump now in near unanimity just as Democrats were supportive of Clinton then in near unanimity.
By raising the Clinton affair, the editors have really illustrated how similarly disgusting is the behavior of both Republican and Democrat politicians. But the editors deviously pretend that only Republican politicians behave in such an outrageous manner.
1
Trump is the wannabe king that the Constitution was designed to impeach.
Trump solicited China on TV to interfere in our elections. That is a federal felony, as well as something the Founders warned against. Trump said on TV, that he would accept information from foreign governments to use in our elections before he called the FBI. The Ukrainian thing just just adds those charges.
The media has to stop treating Trump's public High Crimes as if public crimes are not crimes. Stop getting lost in minor details. I keep seeing Trump commit treason on TV, giving "aid and comfort" to a hostile intelligence agency that we have been at war with for 70 years (including many casualties) by praising the man who ordered attacks on our elections, and accusing the entire U.S. Intelligence Community of being "treasonous".
Charles Blow is exactly correct. The House should IMPEACH Trump this Monday and EVERY Monday until he is removed or voted out.
Monday 1: Soliciting Foreign Interference in U.S. Elections.
Mon. 2: Obstruction of the Investigation into Russian Attacks on U.S. Elections. (Mueller said that Trump committed federal felonies and referred them to Congress for impeachment.)
3: Repeatedly Calling from Violence against U.S. Citizens, Without Reference to the Law or Due Process of Law. (There are thousands of examples of this.)
4: Taking Payments (Emoluments) From Foreign Countries.
5: Giving Aid and Comfort to Russian Intelligence by Refusing to Defend U.S. Elections.
Etc.!
1
Joe Biden was tasked with tackling corruption in the Ukraine. Allowing his son to accept 50K per month without providing a service sent the wrong message. It’s like having the new cop’s family on the payroll. It’s presumptively corrupt. How could Biden seriously tackle corruption while allowing this? I’m surprised that Editorial Board isn’t more interested in this. I’m surprised that the Editorial Board says there’s no evidence of misconduct when the arrangement itself speaks loudly of tacit approval of corrupt relationships.
1
And yet it has been common practice to reward donors with ambassador appointments. The laws need to be overhauled. To think Al Gore needed to walk across the street to talk with donors! Ridiculous but that was a different Republican party.
It doesn’t matter. I really believe we could have all the “lame stream media” film Mr Trump shooting someone on 5th Avenue and it would make no difference. No one cares. There is no embarrassment or shame left in the political world.
Thank for reminding us that both sides do it. That both sides are corrupt.
1
"It is an exchange so explicit that even Mr. Trump’s fiercest apologists cannot wish it away."
Oh ye of little faith -- since when have the highly-paid professionals over at Facts-Free FOX been unable to wish/wash away anything the far right deemed unsuitable for the masses?
Their Masters of Propaganda welcome your challenge.
3
The Biden camp might not like what comes out in an impeachment investigation.
Why aren’t Democrats outraged by Joe Biden, while he was VP, trying to get the Ukrainian prosecutor general dismissed, Victor Shoki, who was investigating the Ukrainian gas company, Burisma, on whose board Hunter Biden sits.
I don't know what he's making now, but Hunter was making as much as $50,000/month, not to mention that $1.8 billion in US aid to the company disappeared during Hunter's tenure on the board (which he joined in 2014), while his father was VP.
Sounds like this NEEDS some investigating. It sounds worse than what people are so upset about with the President.
Perhaps, the President was correct to talk to the Ukrainian officials to get a real investigation started.
2
Donald Trump flagrantly violated his oath of office by demanding a quid pro quo trade from a foreign government of American tax dollars for political dirt on his opponent.
Why must the House move forward with its impeachment inquiry?
Because as Donald Trump has said many times, he actually, sincerely believes he did nothing wrong in requesting this 'favor'.
Somewhere along the line, Mr. Trump did not learn right from wrong. Like it or not, Senate and House Republicans, you know what the right path is. It is a hard path to take, but you know you need to take it.
For the good of our country and of the world, do the right thing.
I will take the Clinton scandals over the MESS we have now with the current resident of 1600.
The list of misdeeds is dizzying and ever changing.
4
Trump does not hold White House pajama parties for money
Ike Bill Clinton. Instead the supplicant must check in down the street at his hotel for a suite of rooms or book a reception with extra credit going to those who book a block of rooms and do not use them. Just variations on the theme.
1
We really need to get better about how we handle Donald Trump's lies. In this editorial, you explain what Trump accuses Biden and his son of. This is totally unnecessary. It just serves to do Trump's bidding by repeated false accusations against his political adversaries. It's enough to say, "Donald Trump's false accusations." Done. It gets the point across without spreading the lies.
4
"Trump has actually warped foreign policy for political reasons"
Not unusual in the N Y Times, this is a statement put forth as a fact for which there is no evidence to substantiate it.
There is no evidence that Trump needs to do anytthing to dminish Biden's political position.
In fact, most Democrats agree that Biden's own mouth and history of cringeworthy embraces will be more than enough to ensure he doesn't get the nomination.
The TImes wishes to portray the actual cause for White House interest in the Bidens as a false narrative, and is resporting to a false narrative to do so.
The fact is that members of the Ukraine government had involvement in the Russia collusion farce, and investigating connections between the Democrats and their operatives, and officials of Ukraine and their operatives, in connection to corruption and meddling in election campaigns is a duty, not a silly side effort.
When Barr and Durham are finished, the Times will have egg on its face for decades to come.
2
Hello Americans. We have some breaking news. The Bidens actions in Ukraine have been extensively investigated and they have been proven to be totally baseless. Those actions by the Bidens were based on poor judgement but were not illegal. Arguing that Trump was just seeking truth and justice is one of the most laughable assertions that I have seen lately.
Next up we will no doubt bully other countries to get to the truth about Obama's citizenship. There is very little doubt why Trump loves the poorly educated.
6
If Washington weren't so partisan it could have nipped the Clinton era misuse of office in the bud along with the president's sexual exploitation of a young woman and his lies about it. Now the problem has metastasized with Trump's bargaining of foreign aid for campaign information and paying off women in prostitution and his lies about it. Both men disgraced their office and both men deserve impeachment and removal from office. By sticking to partisan politics the nation is losing power and stature in the world and crippling itself at home.
1
Who needs “pay to play pajama parties” when Mar a Lago and a host of hotels and golf resorts beckon for those eager to show Jared, Junior and the Apprentice himself how any price to curry favor, is a price too cheap for the largesse and access gained?
Just business. No, just the “deal.” What deal makers! Wow. Envious!
3
Nice little country you got there. It'd be a shame if something happened to it. Someday - and that day may never come - I'll call upon you to do a service for me.
The claims against President Clinton never really proved were an aberration that stood out in a time when ethical conduct was expected. Now with Trump his corruption in so many ways has become the norm for once ethical republicans. Will the GOP ever regain their collective souls? Or will they pretend that Trump never happened and condemn Democrats for much smaller offenses?
Indeed, it is far worse now than then in the time of Clinton. And how it can get worse from now is hard even to imagine, Trump being ... well Trump - a word, ie, “trump,” that will likely gain distinctive meaning in the future ... such as, “bedlam.” But the thing is, Trump didn’t happen in a vacuum. What we have now with Trump is what we, the People, have gradually allowed for years. It’s time to face our responsibility and get serious about our obligation to democracy and justice. Somehow, we have to get over ourselves rather than dodge that in outraged complaint that Trump’s too stuck on himself.
2
@wak
The Clintons have thrived from use of a legal foundation to obtain massive cash donations from every kind of questionable entity seeking indirect but what is clear influence peddling. It employs Clinton cronies and the Clintons themselves, gives limos, benefits, salaries, etc to one and all, and is a tax haven. Sure, the Republicans are authoritarian weasels who wake up daily trying to discriminate against anyone not white, straight or Christian, but the Democrats as the antidote? Give it a rest. This is Empire Rome and you are merely Romans in late stage.
1
I have no doubt that Clinton peddled White House influence for the purpose of enriching his reelection. The cyclical connection between big donors and the quid pro quo that must be paid homage, are a constant feature of our corrupted government.
All candidates to some extent do it, just as all big corporations participate. They feel that they have to if they want to remain in office and keep profits up, respectively. This is our fault for being too cheap to cough up the money ourselves.
Not paying for the campaigns of elected officials with public money probably costs up to 1 Trillion dollars. That trillion dollars is bought on a 100 to one ratio. That means for their trillion dollars big donors spend about 10 billion or less.
That's a pretty good deal... for the big donors but it is a disaster for us, the people who have consented to be governed so long as the government strives to spread the common good of a lawful society. Now our government has no interest whatsoever in what will benefit the common good. They only serve their ultra wealthy d-owners.
7
"Once upon a time, Americans — and especially Republican lawmakers — used to worry a great deal about access to the White House being traded for cheap political gain."
That time was not all that far back. It was in the late 1990s when the Bill Clinton rewarded "big donors with sleepovers in the Lincoln Bedroom."
As this column notes, "Such concerns seem nearly quaint now." To which I might add, almost immature and silly in comparison to jeopardizing our national security and subverting a foreign policy objective.
It is too early to say with any confidence if the Republicans will break away from Trump. But it is easy to say that if Trump begins to feel isolated, he is not going to go down alone. He'll take as many of the swamp rats as he can along with him.
And then he'd have kept his campaign promise of draining the swamp.
10
Has trump made a single other effort to investigate corruption other than Joe Biden, his political rival? And he chose to do so only now, after over 2 1/2 years in office, he coincidentally decides to investigate him and his son now for corruption?
Can anyone actually state that this is all mere coincidence with a straight face?
12
Just keep this in mind.
The GOP are taking an advanced course in total hypocrisy, but it is not just because they “fear Trump” if they criticize him, as some have said; or even that they have become moral nihilists, though that is sadly becoming increasingly obvious.
What is at play here is the unbreakable bond between Trump and the primary base of the GOP, which is white conservative evangelicalism.
Evangelicalism has decided: we don’t care WHAT TRUMP DOES, as long as he protects our interests. Indeed, the rougher he plays, the better deal he gets for us. And we will punish at the polls and with our checkbooks anyone who stands in his way.
Now, this is NOT the traditional way of the Republican Party. If there are any traditional Republicans, now is the time to say: follow this way, and you lose your soul.
Nor is it the way of traditional, ecumenical Christianity. It is also time for the global, ecumenical church to say: Christian support for Trumpism is no longer an option. You must choose one or the other: faith in the gospel, or Donald Trump. You cannot have both.
9
Who didn't know that it was' all about the Benjamins' in preserving, protecting and defending the American military- industrial and prison- industrial complexes on behalf of and beholden to the corrupt crony capitalist corporate plutocrat oligarch welfare caste reigning and ruling minority?
Avoiding the appearance of impropriety is the basic ethical obligation of the legal profession.
Doing no harm is the basic ethical obligation of the medical profession.
What is the basic ethical obligation of the political profession?
5
@Blackmamba
They are mostly lawyers.. now guess. Keeping quiet about what their clients tell them.
1
Please give Trump more credit for his own pay-to-play schemes, with the vice president and cabinet members going out of their way to stay at Trump hotels, with military planes refueling at commercial airports that have business contracts with the Trump organization, with military personnel staying at Trump golf clubs, with Trump cancelling the relocation of FBI headquarters because the building that would replace the old headquarters would be a hotel that competed with a Trump hotel for customers, with foreign emissaries seeking favorable treatment from our government renting large number of rooms at Trump hotels and not even using them, etc. etc. etc. If I downloaded an app that would allow me to report Trump's graft and corruption, I'd never be able to use it because it would be tied up by excessive traffic!
7
Trump is the master of pay-to-play pajama parties. What is the function of Mar a Lego, Trump's DC hotel and every other Trump property?
16
The Clintons survived their scandal of trading access for political favors and I predict Trump will survive this scandal. Hunter Biden gets a lucrative job solely on the basis of who his father was. Trump's kids make money because of who their father is. Washington remains a swamp.
3
@J. Waddell Tha refusal to believe in standards and look at things with some perspective, the intellectually lazy cynicism, will bring our Republic down. What the Clintons did was somewhat sordid money and votes grubbing. What Trump is doing is dismantling our constitutional system.
I remember. He was doing it too.
Anyone who can do so should access Rachel Maddow's comment on her show tonight (Monday) about trump's use of language as a shield for himself and a weapon against his opponents. An early example was turning around by 180 degrees "fake news" from an accusation against him into a blanket phrase to discredit journalists.
Now, he has seized on "corruption" and sprays the word far and wide and wide over opponents that he feels most threatened by - a strategy that suddenly robs it of effective meaning, just when it is so needed to describe an administration that is by far the most pervasively, well, corrupt, in our lifetimes. And not just the administration, but the Congressional profiles in cowardice who are its enablers.
When I read "1984" many decades ago, I little imagined such effective misappropriation of language in any western democracy.
22:30 EDT, 10/07
12
@mancuroc
You’re right. I saw that show last night and Maddow’s point about Trump’s overuse - to the point of numbing - of “fake news” and now “corruption” is not merely due to his abysmal lacking when it comes to adult vocabulary skills, but rather, his life-long fallback ploy when it comes to being caught with his tiny hand in the cookie jar. I wish someone would tell him that he’s really not the Wizard of Oz that he thinks he is. The curtain has been pulled back and we all can see that not only does the emperor have no clothes, but more and more, the entire Republican Party is beginning to resemble a nudist Colony.
1
What is left out of this article is that committees from both parties found that the Chinese tried to influence Congressional elections in 96.
Joe Lieberman wasn't so sure about the plot until he saw the evidence the FBI had collected.
They just could not agree on which part: the Senate or the House.
The bottom line was that both parties found that there was evidence of Chinese government funds from the PLA being funneled into elections.
Its interesting how that is minimized in this piece. Some of the offenders fled to China, others convicted.
It was much more tangible and insidious than the Russian influence via social media.
3
@Herry : I sure would like to know where you got this information (story). I followed the Clinton impeachment investigation closely and do not remember any of your post. What I do remember is the "witch hunt" by that hypocrite Newt Gingrich which was held for no other reason than to embarrass Clinton and weaken his presidency.
2
Watching Senator Johnson on Meet The Press tells the whole story. I had a long-time (30 years) friend at work. We never spoke about national politics. After we both retired we started having conversations not related to work and I found out her and her husband were: 1. Republicans 2. Climate Denier's 3. DieHard Capitalists unwilling to have their Phillips Petroleum dividends reduced by eliminating the Government subsidies PP received every year, while decrying the subsidies given to Solar Energy companies as unfair market manipulation. 4. She was a state employee with all the benefits that accrued to that status (sick pay, health care, retirement, freedom from firing) who nonetheless abhorred Trade Unions. 5. Extremely disliked President and Michelle Obama and most of what they tried to do.
In short, she was irrational and unable to think outside of her box. Otherwise, they were nice folks, she gave much to community endeavors and was a volunteer board member for many years, among other things.
Conversations always ended when I realized nothing I could bring to our discourse was ever going to be considered as an alternative way of looking at any of those topics. So I gave up. That is what is happening with the GOP and it's 90% approval of DT. There is no egress.
26
Wasn't it the Whitewater investigation that brought charges against people close to the Clintons? It's revealing that the Clintons were not able to keep the DOJ from pursuing those charges.
It's hard to imagine Bill Clinton screaming at the press that he was the victim of presidential harassment. How times have changed.
39
Thank you for the history lesson. I did remembered everything that happened back then. It's easy to forget how both sides, who've had control, worked "back in the day" to complain about the other side. I think a good example is when Senator Shumer sent Mr McConnell's own letter back to him in Jan, 2017. The sad part is that, we the American people, have to watch both sides play the same game back and forth. In the words of Rodney King: Can't we all just get along?
10
@Dan O, really? You quickly and neatly did a 'bothsides' to make this article about Democrats! It's very odd how you equate a Congressional letter exactly the same as trump's flagrant daily abuses of YOUR constitution. Today he tells yet another private citizen NOT to obey Congressional summons'! Seems there isn't anything trump isn't now allowed to do, because at one time, Obama said something about keeping your doctor. It's kind of sad, Dan. You'll have no standing at all to complain about Schumer or President Warren in the future, since you 'bothsides' each time trump betrays us.
A question: Do you support impeaching this president for his impeachable offenses, or is that just Democrats being mean?
1
Why bring the Clinton's into it at all? Isn't that in itself a distraction and obfuscation of the main issue which is to my mind, the attempt by our own president to subvert democracy by dangling legislated support in return for an investigation by that foreign country on an American citizen in order to smear him in a clear effort to defeat the potential selected candidate.
There's no comparison to Clinton.
45
@Julie, you're probably young and don't remember the back and forth of the Clinton's use of the power of the presidency (and later the power of the Senate, still later the
power of the Secretary of State) for personal and political gains. Let's not forget Iran-Contra, Nixon's use of the Presidency to further his personal agenda, and Kennedy's womanizing. Those of us who were alive and paying attention learned that politicians, especially Presidents, could get away with violations of the "spirit of the law", and even activity that seemed to be unlawful.
I try to see Trump's tweets and speech statements for what they are---activities similar to those I have seen in prior Presidents and politicians in general. He is getting his comeuppance from a press obsessed with his abrasive and unpleasant personality, and will pay a price, I'm sure. I don't think he will deserve the price he will have to pay, though.
1
@Tcarl. Again, what does what past presidents did have to do with what this president is doing. Why bring other presidents into the fray. Yes we all know what they did. You didn't have to be alive to know what they did, It's well documented. But why bring it up. And just for reference, yes I was alive in the 90s.
1
@Julie Actually more than apparent at a surface look. The Trumps and Clintons actually have a fair amount alike in their circles of 'friends'.
I just have to wonder how the Democrats reacted to the particular Clinton issues referenced in this editorial? While the current Trump scandals move the line of acceptability further beyond the norm it all just goes to show no matter what the Presidential scandal, the party in power will like moths to a flame, support the head of their party. It is unlikely there are more than five independent brains in both the executive and legislative branches of our government. Unfortunately, just business as normal.
9
@Daniel I mean, it's understandable when parties circle the wagons to a degree, but of the two parties the lengths the GOP will bend to protect their own is unmatched.
2
I'm sorry, but this is not a "both sides" problem. Calling it one shows only shallow cynicism, not lofty impartiality.
1
@Daniel - And that's exactly what Spanky is counting on - that he can create a distraction by claiming that "everybody does it". His entire presidency has been a process of normalizing aberration.
1
Trump ran on a platform of ‘cleaning up the swamp’. That swamp extends far beyond the physical boundaries of the United States. If the possibility exists that Young Biden got his board position (and millions of $) at Burisma in exchange for access or favors from Old Biden, shouldn’t that be investigated? The U.S. has no right to conduct the thorough investigation needed to determine whether there was any impropriety so why wouldn’t Trump tie an aid package to their help?
This was not to get dirt on a political rival. Trump’s asking for ‘a favor’ was a nice way of making it clear that he wouldn’t give Ukraine what they wanted unless Trump got what he wanted.
9
@Matt Williams There is zero evidence that Joe Biden did anything to get Hunter Biden on the Burisma board or made statements about removal of the Ukrainian prosecutor as anything other than a statement of official U.S. policy that had previously been expressed by the u.S. ambassador to Ukraine. There is even less to the China accusation; virtually everything Trump has said about Hunter Biden and China is made up. The only true fact (as presented by Trump) seems to be that Hunter Biden and his daughter once flew to China with Joe Biden while he was VP.
Given the lack of any basis for a real investigation, Trump's strong-arming of the Ukrainians was clearly about ginning up accusations for use in the Presidential campaign -- right down to insisting Ukraine make a public statement about opening an investigation and "helping" to draft that statement.
In the meantime, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner continue to pursue personal financial benefit from offices in the White House.
72
@Matt Williams
There's a difference between having a right to investigate and going through proper ethical channels to do so... and holding Congressionally approved foreign aid up while privately asking for an investigation to hurt your political rival (and then attempt to cover up that you did so). trump clearly violated the public trust and his oath of office. Unfortunately, this is just the most clear example of him doing that - he actually does it quite regularly.
33
@Matt Williams You've nailed quid pro quo. A strong arm from the "world's most powerful nation" on a country vulnerable to Putin's expansion plans.
16
Head-snapping reverse whattaboutism is not going to convince anybody. Simple declarative language is, unfortunately, the way to get people’s’ attention. Start with: the rich don’t pay taxes. Everything else follows from there.
26
@Thomas
I took the Times editorial to be not so much "what-aboutism" but rather an attempt to show the paper's even-handedness when it comes to corruption by either party.
Corruption is corruption though, certainly, Trump's is by far the more serious. Whereas the Clinton/Gore attempts to gain funds or reward donors were tawdry, Trump's affects foreign policy strategy...and plays right into the hands of the Russians.
21
@Mary
"Trump's affects foreign policy strategy..."
Yes--and Ukrainian soldiers, our allies, die at the hands of our enemies, the Russians. Somehow the Ukrainian army is forgotten in all this. There was a reason Congress approved that substantial amount of money to Ukraine.
2
Having read my fair share of presidential biographies, it is clear that most presidents have their human failings. Both FDR and LBJ did their fair share of lever-pulling and sleeping around. But they also produced Social Security and Medicare for the masses. Trump, on the other hand, delivered only a tax cut for the rich. Give me the Democratic kind any day. And please, please, give me Elizabeth Warren.
107
@Dale Irwin Trump has actually delivered a number of things his base want. Increased border security and a more conservative court. So yeah, lots of tawdry everywhere in politics. That seems to leave power politics as the real basis for the impeachment. Which is constitutional. But look at Johnson and Kellogg, Brown &Root. Look at Clinton renting the Lincoln Bedroom before monetizing his post presidency . If it helps the Democrats, impeach him. If it sells politically, to the nation, congratulations. But please do not invest yourself in a feeling that you are on a more moral side. Our system is run by money and by lobbyists. Both parties have created it and benefit from it. Don’t look to politicians for morality. They spend have their time begging for money from their masters.
4
@Dale Irwin Becareful for what you wish for. Do you really trust Liz Warren? or is she just a neoliberal speaking out of both sides of her mouth. I like what she says but will she stand up to the powerhouses in this country?
@Julie
Yes. I really trust Elizabeth Warren. I met her many years ago at a conference and was immediately struck by her intelligence, integrity and compassion. She spoke at that yearly conference several more times. My wife, who votes Republican (one issue - not taxes) always insisted on hearing her and has read her books. My wife did not and will never vote for Trump.
1
"Whataboutism" does not change the truth of either the current president's or any past president's actions.
Wrong is wrong.
Unless we vigorously fight against ongoing corruption and continue to do so each and every day, our presidencies and by extension our country will be engaged in a race to the bottom.
Only the heirs of James Buchanan can be pleased.
18
The history of psychology includes a lot of brain power that went into developing personality theory. Cognitive dissonance was often a central factor, alluded to as aversive to the self and something to avoid. In retrospect, today’s political landscape reveals that the tolerance for hypocrisy was never quite appreciated.
Sadly, confronting hypocrisy is ineffective. If you can’t beat them, why not join them?
Russian, if you are listening, talk to the Democratic nominees. Trade those golden shower videos for getting sanctions removed. Winning is all that matters. It’s a new day for global politics.
15
@William phillips: "It’s a new day for global politics. Wrong! Start with the Old Testament, work your way through the Roman Empire and then the Age of Enlightenment, through our history as a nation, and you will see it's business as usual.
1
@william phillips
Sure man, not. You have joined 'them', I and many others have not, and will never join 'them', ever, ever, ever, William.
@Great Lakes State. Sarcasm!!!
Wake up, folks:
What happened in the political Past--no matter how much it signals hypocrisy or disconnect in the Present--means nothing to the GOP of today or its diehard supporters.
Take the energy of outrage and move forward with strategies that are effective NOW.
29
Arguments about partisanship directed toward today's Republican Senators and Representatives flat when we remember the similar partisanship of Democrat lawmakers when faced with evidence of possible wrong-doing by Clinton and his Administration. If only we had lawmakers who acted in the national interest rather than along purely partisan lines!
19
Speaking as someone who voted for Bill Clinton and would have loved to have seen the 2-term limit overturned so he could have been reelected in 2000. . . nonetheless, we have to acknowledge that, unlike Jeff Sessions, who at least recused himself and allowed the Mueller investigation to proceed, Clinton's Attorney General Janet Reno decided, after supposedly conducting her own investigation, that there was nothing to see here at all.
And, contrary to FBI Director Louis Freeh's recommendation, Ms. Reno announced she would not appoint a special counsel (like Mueller) to independently investigate the Clinton and DNC fund-raising matter. As reported at the time, Ms. Reno overruled her own campaign finance experts and attorneys at Department of Justice who felt, yes, there was plenty to see here, and that the matter merited much deeper investigation and an independent special counsel.
25
@GRH Corruption in Washington is not new. When people point to Clinton or Obama or any other president's real or perceived misdeeds to justify Trump's, all I can think is "but didn't Trump promise to be different?" One of the few planks in Trump's platform that I liked was the promise to "drain the swamp." It's not a promise he has shown any intention of keeping.
23
@JP
Right, Trump promised to "drain the swamp."
But somewhere I read that Trump admitted the phrase came to him on a whim during one of his campaign rallies.
Apparently the crowd loved hearing it...so Trump decided to continue using it. "Drain the swamp" was merely a crowd pleaser, not a heart-felt commitment on the part of the candidate. Tell the audience what they want to hear, and they'll love you forever. Sad.
11
@JP , who is pointing to this to justify Trump's misdeeds? There are no excuses for either.
Solely that, unlike Sessions, who recused himself and allowed Rosenstein to appoint Mueller, Janet Reno did no such thing. And apparently was worried enough about what a real investigation would reveal that she decided to overrule the FBI Director and her own DOJ attorneys in the campaign finance division to prevent a special counsel from going forward.
Janet Reno and Bill Clinton's corruption and misdeeds, including how they impacted US domestic and foreign policy in terms of laying the groundwork for China to receive "most favored nation" status and admission to the WTO; and torpedoing the Jordan Commission Immigration legislation, including the bipartisan-supported chain migration reform, in part, at the request of the China lobby, etc. - These misdeeds in no way justify Trump's own nonsense.
There is no defense of either. In fact, President Clinton's actions to take the illegal campaign finance cash from China, via John Huang, directly impacted foreign policy as well as domestic policy, and arguably set the stage ultimately for Trump's election in 2016.
According to Boston Globe and other reporting at the time, Clinton killed the immigration legislation that was widely expected to pass Congress in spring of 1996 and did so at the behest of the Chinese. After receipt of their illegal money; & just a month or two after the tragic passing of his fellow Democrat (& Immigration Commission leader) Barbara Jordan.
Immigration legislation based on President Clinton's Bipartisan Commission on Immigration Reform (aka, the "Jordan" Commission) was widely expected to comfortably pass Congress. It was drafted and included virtually all of African-American, Democratic Congresswoman Barbara Jordan's recommendations. Including chain migration reform; reduction of legal immigration from the then 1990's average of 750,000 per year back down to the 1980's average of 550,000 per year; strengthened enforcement versus illegal immigration; and increased funding for civil society in Central America and Mexico. Coincidentally, virtually all of the same reforms supported by Trump during his first two years, including as embodied in the Cotton-Perdue "RAISE" Act.
It was wrong then; it permanently warped US policy; & arguably directly led to Trump's election. No excuses for either
26
@GRH
If Republican leaders really wanted to curb illegal immigration they would investigate the demand side of the equation. We punish undocumented immigrants, while those who profit from exploiting their labor continue comfortably doing business as usual.
11
@GRH Why would the Chinese have any interest in killing this legislation?
2
@PieceDeResistance , don't ask me, but according to reporting at the time, they didn't want the chain migration reform advocated by Jordan Commission.
1
Since 'David McIntosh, then a Republican House member from Indiana, put it simply: “Very clearly, it is wrong to use government property, government assets for political purposes.”', what should we think of the standard, bipartisan practice of selling -- I mean giving -- ambassadorships to heavy campaign donors?
65
It doesn’t matter. At this moment tribalism beats patriotism, honor, and honesty. The Republican base has their outsIder who is not in any way indebted to the establishment. And if a Republican politician steps out of line the voting masses will nail them.
It would have been the same among the Democrats if Sanders had beaten Clinton and then beat Trump in 2016. Fortunately, or unfortunately, that didn’t happen.
3
@Dundeemundee Actually, it wouldn't have been the same. The democrats had plenty to go after Bush over the false information used to get us into Iraq and never acted on it. Democrats can also be corrupt, but they still have a basic regard for our constitutional system, something Republicans have shown that they have utterly abandoned. This "both sides" argument is just intellectual lazy and dishonest.
2
The evidence does not direct us to set aside the other charge which is more serious than trading White House access for personal political favors. Both charges of course ask the same thing of Ukraine, namely, to interfere in the 2020 election on Trump's behalf. The White House's own summary memo about the Ukraine call makes it clear that the delivery of military aid and weapons from the United States to Ukraine was also on the line. "We would like you to do us a favor, though," said Mr. Trump. That was a viscerally frightening threat. The survival of a free and democratic Ukraine is on the line. Russia is even now waging a proxy war to swallow Ukraine up once again. Russia looms ominously in Ukrainian memory. Most folks here do not know that the Soviet Union murdered ten million Ukrainians. In a house-to-house effort, Stalin took all of their food, in order to overcome their resistance to collectivization and destroy their independence movement.
74
@Robert -- Good post, thank you.
Two words in the call "transcript" reveal Trump's underlying motives: the word "though," which others have made reference to: we'd like you to do us a favor though.
Also the word "reciprocal" ... as when Trump told President Z that the U.S.'s "very very good" treatment of Ukraine was not reciprocal. Reciprocal, of course, meaning what?
Isn't Trump's reference to reciprocity a blatant synonym for a quid pro quo?
9
@Robert Trump asked for investigation not for made up story.The out come of Biden investigation is not a forgone conclusion.What Hunter Biden and father did stinks to hell and the Editorial Board is more concerned about the person who wants to shed light on crime than the criminal act.I saw a video with my own lying eyes in which Joe Biden blackmailed Ukraine to fire a prosecutor.
@Robert And on national TV, Mr. Trump asked Mr. Zelensky to make a deal with Putin.
I remember when Republicans thought a deficit was a bad thing. Turns out it's only a bad thing if Democrats do it.
227
@ted
Yes! Let’s all make a bet on how long it will take after a Demcratic President is elected the Republican deficit hawks start squawking. It’s the Republican playbook on hobbling the Democratic party, and it works perfectly.
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Not only can we remember the investigation which is the subject of this article, but we can also remember when GOP'ers took 140 hours of testimony over 10 days to determine if Bill Clinton was using the White House Christmas Card List for political purposes - including whether White House personnel were answering letters to Socks, the Clinton's cat, from America's children.
Which was all par for the course, remembering that the '92 election campaign had the Bush 41 State Dept. rifling through the passport files of Ross Perot, Bill Clinton, and Clinton's mother - whom Clinton perfectly described at the time as "my mother, that well known subversive".
Rules and laws have not applied when GOP'ers were in charge.
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@R. Law You might remember that Bush's Attorney General rifling through those passport files was Barr.
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@R. Law
Nonsense.
Both political parties take turns begging for the Benjamins in order to reward their political friends and punish their political enemies.
Those who rule make the law work for them and against their foes while they reign.
The GOP of Ted Cruz, John Cornyn and Greg Abbott makes the rules in Texas.
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1. It's not illegal for a President to call for investigation of a possible crime involving high ranking govt officials just because it occurred in a foreign land. In fact, since American law enforcement has no jurisdiction in Ukraine, the investigation must be requested as a favor.
2. The word "favor" implies a friendly regard or consideration; the opposite of a "quid pro quo" which means a trade or exchange.
3. Just because Biden is running for office, does not insulate him from investigation and prosecution for his possible crimes.
4. All this being a far cry from being impeachable "high crimes and misdemeanors" by Trump.
5. The whole thing is Democrat theater born of frustration at failure of prior attempts to negate 2016 election.
6. Many Democrats are willing to sacrifice Biden on the altar of the impeachment trial -- thinking they are killing two birds with one stone.
7. All will backfire on Dems as impeachment fails and they fail to win 2020 election.
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@Dr. Reality
I presume you would be quite okay with President Warren piling sanctions upon sanctions until Moscow investigated Trump's many and real crimes with Russian nationals, as laid out by Robert Mueller.
Using your metrics, any crime, real or invented, would be accepted at face value, even if obtained under duress.
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@Dr. Reality
1. There are standard procedures for requesting an investigation from another nation. Why were they not followed?
2. The situation with the Bidens and Burisma has been investigated, and several extremely high level and deeply credible people involved publically state that there is nothing there. Why does this need a new investigation?
3. Certainly "favor" can be used that way, but context is everything, and the context is far different.
4. Certainly Biden is not above an investigation, but why is he the only person Trump seeks to have investigated?
5. Neither you nor I get to decide what "high crimes and misdemeanors" are - that's the job of the current Congress to decide as they see fit. We might agree or disagree with them, but the Constitution gives them that job.
6. If the country had elected a person you considered utterly unfit for office, what action would you rule out in your efforts to see them removed from that office?
7. Elections are not the last word in the US political system. A some on the right (and a few on the left) like to remind us, we live in a republic, not a democracy, and there are processes built into our Constitution that override and overrule elections. Impeachment is one of those processes.
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@Dr. Reality Let's get real here. Democracies like the United States do not open criminal investigations into any citizen, much less a political rival, without a credible allegation of wrongdoing.
To date, I've never seen anything close to a credible allegation made against either Biden involving the Ukraine. Conservative media talking points and conspiracy theories do not count as credible.
I would also hope that our president would never request a foreign government to open an investigation of any American unless the same threshold had been met. Unfortunately, Mr. Trump has proven me very wrong in this instance.
Also, let's put aside the strict Webster's definition of the word "favor." The meaning of the spoken word to can vary widely depending on the tone, emphasis and relative position of the speaker and listener.
In this instance, the United States in a vastly more powerful country than Ukraine. Ukraine is also in the position of desperately needing military aid to defend itself against Russia. Our country had promised but had delayed the needed aid.
Let's put aside any pretense that the leader of the more powerful country asking a "favor" of a less powerful one who is in need of something is anything other than as direct request.
In this case, the direct quid pro quo was the delivery of the military aid in exchange for a spurious investigation into a political foe. Dictatorships act like that, not our country...I hoped.
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Also remember when the Republicans in Congress threatened Obama with impeachment if he went into Syria? Funny how things consistency goes out the window when political expediency is the only goal.
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Click on this graph of The Economist
It presents a rather convincing case that the Clintons exploited influence over foreign policy for financial gain
https://www.economist.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/640-width/images/print-edition/20161001_USC691.png
It presents a rather convincing case that the Clintons exploited influence over foreign policy for financial gain
As The Economist noted : Speaking fees for ex Presidents decline with time away from the office. Not in this case
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@Woof
That's good to know, but in order to prove, as they say, quid pro quo, you'd have to show that Senator and SoS Clinton's policies reflected political influence. Don't have a subscription to the article -does it get into that?
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@Woof - This is called dodge and weave. Forget about the past. If it should have been different last time, that is a very good reason to get with it this time.
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@Woof
If you can find real evidence of a crime to convict the Clintons for, I'm right behind you.
As far as I'm concerned, the Clintons sold out We the People to global corporations, but I haven't seen hard evidence of a crime. (You can't impeach Hillary for High Crimes, because she doesn't hold office.)
I have watched Trump commit numerous High Crimes ON TV however. Committing crimes on TV makes them easier to prosecute, not harder.
Just the other day, Trump asked China for help in our elections. Soliciting a foreign government for help against a political opponent is a Federal Felony and a High Crime. No Quid Pro Quo is necessary to be convicted of that crime. The president just has to ask for information against his opponent. Open and Shut Case. High Crime.
The only defense his supporters can come up with is that attacking the Constitution by directly violating it is a form of comedy. "Surely you can't believe that Trump really thought that China would help him in the election?" Sorry doesn't matter. He committed the Crime on TV, and
THE CONSTITUTION ISN'T FUNNY.
Too many Americans have died protecting the Constitution for it to ever be funny. The Constitution keeps too many people alive to be funny.
There is no comedy defense for High Crimes.
The Clintons betrayed the working people of the USA, to pass Republican policy after Republican policy. Please find actual evidence of crimes.
In the meantime, Impeach the wannabe king, before his destroys Our Republic.
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Republicans are not who they want you to think they are.
Or to answer the title question of another article "What happened to Rudy Giuliani?" The answer is; nothing much really except he/they no longer care if you see them for what they have always been any longer.
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@magicisnotreal And Trump revealed his true character (or lack of it) when he declared his candidacy at Trump Tower in 2015 in front of a partially-paid crowd of actors. First, he announced he could get away with killing a passerby in front of that edifice for no reason at all. Secondly, and more tellingly, was the "My daughter is hot! But I can't marry her." That implied ongoing carnal knowledge, and cast a shadow on the paternity/legitimacy of her children.
Anyone who knew the kernel of the plot of "Chinatown" (1974), to wit, the "My sister! My daughter!" scene, know exactly the kind of depravity on display there and then.
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