The problem is that Democrats want Americans to believe 'evidence', but just how believable is it, and, really, how much do we care? What do Americans actually believe? (1.) Mr. Trump is no angel and most of us probably wouldn't really like to have to deal with him. (2.) The Democrats are frantically self-interested and will do or claim almost anything to get into the White House. (3.) As a practical matter, the country is running pretty well under Mr. Trump. (4.) Democrats look like a bunch of big-spending, minority-centric socialists who most people don't want running the show, anyway. (5.) Should we throw out a president who looks like doing a good job over legal technicalities having to do with some obscure East-European country that most people couldn't even locate on a map--just to give the Democrats a win they probably can't get in the voting booth? (6.) Is it more important for America to succeed, or for the Democrats to get what they want? (7.) Are Democrats putting party ahead of nation?
46
Thank you for sharing this most astonishing perspective.
302
@Ronald B. Duke 1) Agreed. 2) You are entitled to your opinion. 3) The country is doing OK because Trump is increasing the national debt by 1 trillion dollars to stimulate the economy. That won't last for ever. 4) You are entitled to your opinion. 5) The President's job is to uphold the constitution. Asking a foreign government for help in defeating an election rival is not doing a good job. 6) It is more important for American democracy to survive. 7) Impeachment may or may not benefit the Democrats. Either way, the country is entitled to know what the President is doing. He works for us, after all.
354
There is no end to the contortions people are willing to go to to ignore the obvious malfeasance of this President
Suggesting that a good economy is exculpatory is another one to add to the list
BTW - growth is not especially good and the deficit is again on the rise - inexcusable with a relatively healthy economy. Job creation was similar or better in the Obama years.
The number of uninsured is on the rise again - it was falling under Obama
278
Lock him up. Lock all of them up. Hillary was correct, of course. They are deplorable. They ARE the swamp.
64
Why don't I ever see comments that defend Trump in these Times editorials? Surely there must be some pro-Trump Times readers who will take the time to refute the views of the Editorial Board. Where are they? Are their comments filtered out? (asking for a friend)
7
Fox News incites and encourages ignorance. Rupert Murdoch and famila should be held accountable.
34
This is a horror movie, where the evil creature keeps coming back. Republicans in Congress and Senate have founded a new vein (Trump) to exploit their nonsense, fundamentalism, right wing ideology, corruption, nepotism, etc, etc. Trump cannot stand alone, the Republicans in Congress and the Senate, are the ones sustaining all the idiocy.
21
I would like Republicans to do a thought exercise.
Close your eyes and try to clear your mind (if possible) and just replace the characters in this Ukraine story as:
Trump >> Obama
Bidens >> Romneys
AG Barr >> Eric Holder
Giuliani >> Valerie Jarrett
And now please tell us whether this was an impeachable offense or not?
39
Trump really needs to be removed.
37
Absolutely.....WELL DONE.
Quote, after Quote, after qoute.
And they ( Republicans) impeached Clinton for lying? One thing after another; day after day; after day after day....of non-presidential behaviors...........overwhelming #’s.
I’m afraid....very afraid.... apparently there are to many Americans that aren’t concerned with democracy, constitution, or honesty. They’re Just interested in their own magical delusion of exactly what? That they “matter” to these ludicrous politicians?
What? What? Is it that get them to support these fascist. They evidently didn’t learn, read, or understood their history classes!
The whole Republican Party ought to be impeached. They’re all “ lying”.
And all this Tim....there’s no one working on problems needing resolve.
America slid off the rails.
Solutions?? I don’t know. These folks won’t be honest so how can one have a reasonable discussion with them.
28
All of this is deliberate lying. Their "base", of white supremacists, expects them to lie, cheat and steal for them.
20
Sometimes it is just too difficult to think about the Constitution and what it means to be President:
1) Just because Trump sold out American national security in exchange for manufactured dirt on his political rival;
2) Just because he obstructed justice into the investigation of Russia's attack on America's sovereign elections, including voter and party cyber-terrorism, propaganda, and Electoral College manipulation;
3) Just because he is supported by the Russian mafia, he doesn't pay taxes, and he and his kids feed at the taxpayer trough;
4) Just because he deserted Syria without notice, leaving our Kurdish allies to die while finding a new home; and made the capture of ISIS with the help of the Kurds more dangerous for our special ops;
5) Just because he bonds with dictators while leaving our NATO allies on their own; belittles the nation's 17 intelligence agencies in favor of Putin's jokes; and attacks the parents of fallen American hero soldiers;
6) Just because he separates babies from mothers and fathers, causing the deaths or loss of uncounted dozens of children, and he calls Mexicans rapists and criminals;
7) Just because he has been accused of rape 21 times, has acknowledged grabbing women's genitalia at will; and was allowed to wander into the dressing rooms of naked teenage beauty contests;
8) Just because he has bankrupted 6 companies serially, and is known not to pay workers, vendors, regular bills, and even hotel bills....
Defenses?
45
Lies have very short legs. Let's see how far they can get.
5
Veterans Day. As a veteran myself, It is depressing in the extreme to see a lying, bloviating, criminal, and traitor who turned away from military service standing before the nation with practiced and hollow words of tribute to our servicemen and servicewomen. It makes me sick to my stomach! He hasn't a clue about patriotism and sacrifice or honor.
And to the veterans who support him, shame on you!!!
46
Oh, thank you, NYT Editorial Board!
What a clever way to break it down: lying excuse by lying excuse!!
Just what we needed!
10
Let's look at the "Defense of Trump" by his Republican supporters. First it was "No first-hand knowledge of the phone call" When first-hand knowledge was given we heard "No quid pro quo". When quid pro quo was proven we now hear "But quid pro quo is not an impeachable offense". Do the Republicans really think that Americans are that stupid?
18
Cheater, loser. These are what should be shouted at all Republicans. Trump can hide, but all Republicans cannot do so. If they defend him, they should suffer the embarrassment.
21
I guess the NYTs stock will rise even more when Trump wins again next year.
But after he leaves office in January 2025, the NYTs is toast.
1
A lot of people in the United States seem to have forgotten the lessons of the Third Reich. Maybe they never learned them in the first place. Hope they don't have to learn the hard way.
24
"Who you going to believe, me or your lying eyes?"
Lindsey Graham brings Chico Marx into the 21st Century.
12
Loyalty to Trump=what evedence?
2
“Who are you gonna believe, me, or your lying eyes?”
4
Who are you going to believe? Trump or your own lying eyes?
2
"Apparently"??
30 to 35o/o of Americans are proud to have a president who is like them. Liars, cheaters, sexually promiscuous, egoist, uneducated and big mouthed. What they like in Trump is that he has money and success as well. After all he is the American president!! So his glory rubs off on them too.
21
I have to say it and so should everyone else with a sense of decency and historical insight. Trump's defenders are as disorienting as Goebbels, Goering, and the other useful idiots during the days of "America First" fascists who - as well, here in America - advocated such a demented demagogue.
18
Donald Trump wants us to be disoriented and confused, in the dark and afraid. That’s how fascists gain power, it’s how Hitler and Mussolini and a score of lowlife dictators and autocrats found their way into power for a very short time. But since Donald Trump is using this particular playbook he should take the time to go back and discover what happened to each and every one of these dictators. But of course he won’t do that, he doesn’t have the attention span to allow himself to read anything that’s not a graph. And for that reason and many others he has created his own path to doom. Try not to see this man is a victim; he’s managed to create the misery that awaits him all by himself.
16
After Secret Impeachment Proceedings, Schiff, et al. Now Hide Witnesses:
1) https://thehill.com/homenews/house/469776-schiff-denies-gop-calls-for-trump-whistleblower-to-testify-redundant-and
2) https://thehill.com/homenews/sunday-talk-shows/469790-klobuchar-i-have-seen-no-reason-why-hunter-biden-would-need-to
2
Who you gonna believe, me (trump) or your lying eyes? Incredible!
2
"Who you gonna believe - your loving husband or your lying eyes?" But Richard Pryor was funny.
2
Csn you please stop using quid pro quo? Spell it out in plain English Joe Six Packs csn understand: Bribe and Extortion. That is its legal home.
12
Folks,
We live in Foxlandia, not America. Our American Democracy is failing and the autocratic Foxlandia has amassed a stronghold (with the help of the electoral college).
You see, in Foxlandia, anything goes, if you're a Foxican. If you don't agree with the indoctrination of Foxland's ideology, then you don't belong in this (their) country.
As Shakespeare said "A rose is a rose by any other name"
Time to grieve the loss of our country and figure out what to do next.
9
Trump thinks he’s playing golf and that if he threatens to take his golf cart and go home then the House will give him a mulligan and play will continue. God bless the poor man. It’s time to bring in the groundskeepers and drive the vermin out.
4
Condoning a "leader's" illegal actions, looking the other way or bringing forth shifting excuses as more facts become known - instead of holding elected officials accountable undermines democracy itself. There are many examples of the disastrous consequences of similar behavior in history, the rise of Hitler being Exhibit 1. Republicans, do you really want to follow suit?
6
What about the evidence before your eyes of Hunter and Joe Biden? The Times claims the issue of Joe Biden pressuring Ukraine is debunked when he clearly bragged about withholding a billion in White House aid unless the Ukrainian prosecutor Victor Slokin, who was investigating Hunter Biden, was immediately fired. Joe Biden was recorded in an interview by the Council On Foreign relations bragging about bullying Slokin by having him fired immediately.
The New York Times attempts to create an alternative reality about a story where they are clearly lying.
1
"His primary rules were: never allow the public to cool off; never admit a fault or wrong; never concede that there may be some good in your enemy; never leave room for alternatives; never accept blame; concentrate on one enemy at a time and blame him for everything that goes wrong; people will believe a big lie sooner than a little one; and if you repeat it frequently enough people will sooner or later believe it."
--Office of Strategic Services (OSS) Washington, D.C. report on Adolph Hitler
15
Not just the literally mindless defenses; it's also the 180 they've done! The endless investigations of the Clintons, Obama's birth certificate(!) etc.....all evaporated as values.
Every. Single. Value. Poof, gone. They are reduced to telling us that lies are truth. We don't have to feel so scared about this evil clown; WE THE PEOPLE will get rid of it. At least those of us who actually care about the words we mouth: ONE NATION, INDIVISIBLE NO MATTER WHICH AMERICANS TRUMP CURRENTLY HATES.
Or those of us who care about the constitution; who remember that the founding fathers were not lefty antifa communist socialist trump haters.
They're pathetic, not scary. I'll happily stand WITH my fellow Americans against trump cult members who are just panting for a krystallnacht against degenerate San Fransisco libs.
6
IMMATURE Republican cowards continue to claim no responsibility for anything.
6
John Ratcliffe is a traitor to America. Instead of doing what the Constitution tells him is his duty - to investigate the President - he is busy trying out lies on the Fox News propaganda network to see if anything sticks. Fortunately Ratcliffe’s blatant lie that there was no “quo” had been contradicted by people actually involved. Ratcliffe wasn’t even involved and certainly had no idea whether there was quo or not - so we know he is lying. In his stupidity, he admits there was a quid. How can someone this dishonest and stupid be making laws for we the American people?
5
The Democratic controlled House impeaching trump will be no more than a slap on the wrist that trump plans to promote to his benefit with more lies and exaggerations. The Senate almost assuredly will not oust him no matter what evidence abounds.
As to evidence, trump and company correctly state there is no first-hand evidence (other than Mulvaney's promptly back-pedaled admission of course).
There is no (additional) first-hand evidence given the stonewalling, and it appears Democrats have no stomach for waiting for the courts with the final say in the hands of the Supreme Court.
Unless someone within the inner circle comes forward with the hard first-hand evidence that can move the public needle sharply against trump, this exercise, though surely proper, will only go down in history as another partisan saving of a guilty official.
Oh, and it also gives trump what he wanted, tarnishing his most formidable challenger, Joe Biden, perhaps irreparably.
2
All of these bogus excuses used by Republicans are just a fig leaf to hide the fact that it is in their political interests to protect Trump no matter how guilty he is proven to be. Diverting attention to nonexistent evidence of wrong doing by the Biden's is a slight of hand to divert attention from the overwhelming evidence against Trump as is all the other excuses they pull out of thin air. And Trump hides behind these obfuscations and his enablers to win another election.
To me the irresponsibility of the GOP in this breath taking in its ignoring all norms upon which this country was founded. But the inquiry must go on and the prayer is that enough voters will see beyond GOP hypocrisy and smoke and mirrors to vote in people who will restore the integrity of our country. A Republican Senate will never remove Trump but the American people must.
9
I think the depths of the vast amount of corruption that Trump engages in daily haven’t even begun to be plumbed. There are surely kickbacks coming in from every sector of government and business, as Trump continues to deregulate business and deconstruct protections for Americans. Trump does nothing for anyone but himself, so to think that any action he takes is altruistic, even for his rich buddies, is beyond naive. If Republicans think the situation with Ukraine is an isolated incident, they will most likely be set back on their heels when the rest of it all comes tumbling out. Of course, they are also most likely heavily involved in those kickbacks, so they won’t be surprised when it comes out, but they will have to keep coming up with ridiculous defenses. And none of that even touches on whatever is going on with Putin and Russia, whether it’s kompramat or pure greed on Trump’s part. Trump is probably singlehandedly the most corrupt person of all time. His corrupt tentacles reach everywhere. They are so deep and so long that I don’t think it’s possible to ever make him accountable for any of it.
9
When I read statements like this "Republicans find themselves in a tough spot. Lawmakers swear an oath to uphold the Constitution, etc," it makes me wonder, how do smart people at the NYT think? Does anyone really believe, at this point, that Republican lawmakers are in a "tough spot" regarding Trump's illegal and abhorrent behavior? Hmmm, let's see now, exactly how many Republicans have denounced his attempted bribery regarding Ukraine ... Mitt Romney and who else?
It is not a "tough spot" for them! That would imply that they are morally and ethically conflicted about what to do. They are not. It's actually easy, and simple for them, and it goes like this. They check with their base and their base tells them "we don't care what he did, you had better support him or you will be replaced. " So they oblige. They may do so quietly or enthusiastically, but they oblige, willingly. To heck with the constitution, our country or even the long-term negative impact on the Republican Party.
To them, it's not about an ethical or legal choice between country, constitution and party versus satisfying their base. It's about keeping their job or losing it. It's that simple!
I spent 30 years in the business world. I was never naive about how transactional the business world could be. Even as a young man I was not surprised that people could be bought. What surprised me was how cheaply they could be bought.
16
The problem with the quid pro quo is the “quo.”
Quid pro quo means “this for that.” Every contract or transaction involves a quid pro quo. US foreign policy engages in them all the time to further legitimate national interests. What makes this particular quid pro quo an impeachable offense is the nature of the “quo.” Pressuring a foreign government to investigate the president’s political rivals serves no legitimate national interest, only the president’s personal political interest. Even without the “quid” of US aid to Ukraine, the “quo” would be an impeachable abuse of presidential power. The “quid” conditions the aid on the Ukraine’s agreement to carry out the investigations, a textbook case of bribery. The Constitution specifically identifies bribery as an impeachable offense.
Media and Congress, please simplify our lives. Just call it what it is. It’s bribery, plain and simple. Impeach.
8
Gallup's Presidential Job Approval Center puts GOP support for Trump at 88% right now.
Let's not wallow in the soft bigotry of low expectations here: there are sources outside Fox and the president's Twitter feed. Those people refuse to go to them; refuse to question themselves; refuse to do much of anything but worship their Dear Leader.
They're morally lost. Simple as that. The solution is to go large to the tens of millions who didn't go for this lunatic but who gave up voting ages ago for lack of a trustworthy option that might actually and materially improve their lives and those of their children.
Sure, if you pick up some ex-Trumpers on the margins, great. Not against it. But what you do is reject triangulation and swamp the polls with energized Americans ready to reject not just Trump but the half-century-old bipartisan consensus that has hoovered wealth upward; wasted trillions on pointless wars; and done zippo about carbon. Just to name a few.
Most families don't have $400 in the bank; a huge percentage have negative net worth. I'm actually somewhat heartened that the whole country hasn't gone full fascist, given the situation.
So, self-regarding Establishment Liberal (sic) geniuses: perhaps endlessly bashing the not-so-radical left, the neo-FDR-oids, might not be the best option.
I'm sorry: that cohort is protecting its own rice bowl: I mean to aim that at you, a NYT reader whose rice bowl is simply not that threatened by a minor tax hike. Your choice.
2
All of our intelligence agencies say the Russians interfered in our 2016 election to help Donald Trump and damage Hillary Clinton. So as Dr. Fiona Hill said during her recent House testimony, all of these Republican efforts to try to make it seem like, maybe, it was the Ukraine that actually did it are doing nothing but playing into the Russians' hands as the gear up to influence our 2020 election. In other words, those who are trying to confuse the public to help Trump are not working for the good of the country.
In my book, one of the most despicable smoke blowers is Senator Lindsey Graham, a man who was a colonel in the Air Force reserve. He is doing everything he can think of to try to confuse people about the truth of a very simple matter. There is absolutely no reason why it is necessary to interview the original whistleblower or Hunter Biden as a part of Trump's impeachment investigation. I know it, and he knows it. Moreover, he knows the true nature of the man he is working so hard to save; and he told the truth about it when Trump was first running for president. Now, he is the most disgusting of sycophants (almost as bad as Pence). What an amazing evolution. What would his former mentor, John McCain, say about Lindsey's present conduct? I'm pretty sure he would call Graham out for the hypocrite he is.
I cannot stand a politician like Graham who thinks the American people are stupid enough to believe the verbal garbage he throws out almost daily.
15
After Watergate, a number of White House senior advisors went to prison:
Harry Robbins Halderman - White House Chief of Staff
John Daniel Ehrlichman - counsel and Assistant to the President for Domestic Affairs
John Wesley Dean, a former attorney who served as White House Counsel (imprisoned and disbarred of course too)
Nixon's Attorney-General, John N. Mitchell, who ran the Department of Justice, was also convicted and sent to prison (guilty of conspiracy, obstruction of justice, and perjury).
Many other White House staff, government personnel, and people involved in CREEP (Nixon's 1972 re-election campaign) were convicted and imprisoned. None were pardoned.
8
And what did Lindsey Graham state on January 16, 1999 re: his urge to impeach President Bill Clinton?
“You don’t even have to be convicted of a crime to lose your job in this constitutional republic if this body determines that your conduct as a public official is clearly out of bounds in your role,” the politician said. “Impeachment is not about punishment. Impeachment is about cleansing the office. Impeachment is about restoring honor and integrity to the office.”
It’s fine for him when the Impeachment is about a Democratic president. Graham has become three or four monkeys rolled into one with his recent stance on the Impeachment of Trump: SEE no EVIL, HEAR no EVIL, SPEAK no EVIL.... even READ no EVIL. His hypocrisy is TRULY astonishing ... and apologies to the monkey in the example. Guess the US President’s extortion of a foreign government to promote his own re-election seems okay to him now that a Republican holds the office. Different strokes for different folks.
Read more here: https://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/white-house/article230483449.html#storylink=cpy
7
The best way to get attention of the American people is for every comedy show in one week to act out the entire description in this piece so that the average American can see the ridiculousness of the Republican stance. Go for it, Colbert, Oliver, Noah, etc. Also calling on all cartoonists!!!!
4
When someone who has told more than 13,000 lies in office protests his innocence who can believe him? Apparently about 40% of the American populace and many leading Republicans. If they want to believe his lies -- or say they do while secretly disbelieving -- shame on them. But can the rest of us please kick the serial liar out of the White House?
9
After carefully assessing the situation for the past few years I have come to the conclusion that the main issue is that we are a nation of complete imbeciles.
9
How can Trump's "Do me a favor" not be an impeachable offense? For one thing, it is totally in character, Trump being Trump: of course he is always out for himself, never mind how it looks to anyone not on his side. If you delight in supporting him through thick and thin, or if you've swallowed hard and made your peace with clinging to his coat-tails, you wouldn't think of bailing at this point. After all, he personifies the Nation to which his true-believing followers belong, and any wicked move that serves Himself is, in the real world he cynically inhabits, exemplary Statecraft advancing his prospects for re-election. And the foregone conclusion in the Senate just goes to show that the Democrats, as usual, are just wasting taxpayers' money.
You can fool some of the people all of the time.
206
@Jon Quitslund It is not a waste of taxpayers money because it is a moral, legitimate, legal and urgent defense of the Constitution and it forces these Republican senators to vote on the record for a criminal president. ..They will forever be remembered for their vote and it will be their legacy...as with McCarthyism. That is a high price to pay....political and historical suicide. And any defense of the Constitution is worth taxpayers money particularly since such a defense of the Constitution by impeachment is in the Constitution itself!
64
@Jon Quitslund I really like your comment because you never indulged in "quid pro quo". The Dems should call it was it really was...extortion and/or bribery. Most people know those words. Extortion and bribery. They need to say it over and over. Because that is what it was.
59
It is not just the White House that denies there was a quid pro quo. The Ukrainians say they never perceived any connection between Trump request for a favor and the military aid package.
Ukrainian President Zelensky has repeatedly said there was not pressure and no blackmail. He also says that at the time of the July 25 phone call he was unaware that the United States had put a hold on the aid package
A senior Ukrainian official told Time Magazine that Ukraine did nor see Trump’s request as linked to the release of military aid. The magazine reported that the official, who took part in the July 25 phone call between Trump and Zelensky, said, ‘I’m telling you – no, there was no such connection.” According to Time, “the official was adamant that the Zelensky administration, which took office in May, did not interpret Trump’s requests as a form of blackmail aimed at releasing U.S. aid money in exchange for help with investigations of Biden. “
According to Time, the official said when they learn about the hold, Zelensky and his staff suspected the White House had frozen the aid package due to concerns over the purposed sales of a Ukrainian company that produces missile and jet engines to China. The United States had urged Zelensky to stop the sale on national security grounds.
https://time.com/5686788/ukraine-no-connection-aid-biden/
I am the lucky person that has friends on both the left and right: ardent Trump supporters and haters. I get a much different and disturbing perspective on a host of controversial issues that have arisen during the Trump administration.
In trying to form a truly objective opinion, I read “facts” and opinions offered from both sides:
First, President Trump’s behavior as president is totally in line with his behavior during his entire life leading up to the presidency. A man hungry for approval; a fragile ego; the need to direct rather than influence and lead; a blatant liar. But you got to hand it to the man, he’s still got money and power (please ignore the dead bodies crushed beneath his boot). Trump’s normal MO makes him an easy mark for his political and personal enemy.
Here’s the problem. Are his detractors innocent people that walk the straight and narrow path of doing only good? Far from it!!!
In some cases, President Trump’s accusers are guilty of bending or breaking the law in their mission to bring down the President. Lying or bending the truth seems to be an accepted practice.
In the end one is left to wonder: who has the best interest of the country at heart or have they prioritized the interest of a political party or personal gain.
This is what really concerns me.
55
@Lamar Johnson -- The problem is that there should be only one set of facts, regardless of who presents them. Facts don't change. They remain what they are, and don't change according to what political party you belong to or which news source reports them. Trump has made it acceptable to believe that facts and the truth are not facts and the truth, but can be "interpreted" in some other way. "What you're seeing and what you're reading is not what's happening," Trump has told his followers. It sounds like you might have taken his advice to heart.
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@Lamar Johnson
"In some cases, President Trump’s accusers are guilty of bending or breaking the law in their mission to bring down the President."
That's what they may say, but can you provide a case or two where that is true?
Who else tried to extort a foreign nation with military aid in exchange for political dirt? Who else is intimidating witnesses, or obstruction the investigation?
Who else has a position of public authority and lied to us over 13,000 times?
False equivalency seems to be a thing with trump supporters.
360
@Lamar Johnson Here's the problem with the President's accusers. In an effort to be fair and impartial and to get at the facts, they have subpoenaed witnesses and held hearings only to be stonewalled by the President.
I don't see bending the truth or lying from the accusers, so if you could elaborate it would be helpful.
What the President did was bribery -- specifically mentioned in the Constitution's article on impeachment. What has always bothered me is the fact that Trump was using our taxpayer money to bribe Ukraine into giving him a favor. Extortionists with integrity use their own money to get favors.
199
Quid pro quo is just a polite term for the activities under discussion: bribery and extortion.
'LET'S HOPE?' Those who care about the rule of law must do more than hope or pray. AG Bill Barr defused the facts found in the Mueller report, that Russia interfered in the U.S. 2016 election, and they did so in favor of Candidate Trump.
WILL BARR ATTEMPT AGAIN TO OBLIVIATE THE RULE OF LAW WITH A SIMILAR ACT?
https://mobile.twitter.com/tribelaw/status/1193588769280147457
7
The beauty in all of this is that the Democrats commit the crimes and then convince half of America that the Republicans committed the crimes. Dazzling.
4
So, now according to Ms. Haley, Trump didn't do anything wrong because even though he attempted to get Ukraine to do his bidding by withholding funds appropriated by Congress, he was not successful and the funds were sent.
By this logic, if I shoot at somebody and miss, I get off scot-free.
Nice to have law and order Republicans in charge.
6
A conservative judiciary is the glue that binds the Republican support for Trump. Or perhaps it should be called the paste that is used to wallpaper over his transgressions.
4
Do you suppose that if we call it "quo pro quid," instead of "quid pro quo" POTUS will claim that he never said that. He and Giuliani can spend more time over a defense for that . He'll have less time mulling over tariffs, the fence, etc. After all wasn't a professor of his as saying he "was one of the dumbest " students he has had at Wharton.
1
It's obvious to me that the entire Republican Party is a criminal conspiracy to grab power and hold onto it, forever if possible. They engage in character assassination of their opponents, most notably Bill and Hillary Clinton, an effort that began decades ago. They suppress the votes of their opponents, gerrymander congressional districts, welcome assistance from foreign governments (Russia!), engage in voter fraud and lie constantly. They cheated Obama out of a hearing for his nominee to the Supreme Court and then rammed through Gorsuch and Kavanaugh in a blind partisan rush. Now they're packing the federal courts with unqualified right-wing nuts in an effort to legalize whatever crimes the Republican Party wants to commit. If a Democrat did any of the things Trump has done, they would be screaming for impeachment. They're delighted that they can lose an election by nearly three million votes and still seize power. They aren't bothered in the slightest that they're hypocrites and liars. They sold their soul to the devil long ago. The Republican Party needs to be crushed in every election going forward, and a lot of these people need to go to Leavenworth for a long time.
13
Inexcusable behavior? How about illegal behavior?
3
Excellent article responding to all the Trumpian obfuscation. Thank you!
5
The idea that President Trump sees Joe Biden as a political threat in 2020 is absurd. Laughable actually. Poor old Joe can't string together a coherent thought on any subject, is never out on the campaign trail, and doesn't take questions from the press.
Why should the United States give any money to a corrupt government? President Obama didn't bother sending anything of consequence to Ukraine.
The defense(s) of Trump's actions have gone from merely crazy to desperately unhinged. The belief behind them seems to be, if we can only say enough nutso things about Trump, the American people -- and especially the perfectly named base -- will take up the cause at full shout and overwhelm the unPatriotic opposition.
3
There is no question but that spanky's actions warrant removal from office.
3
"One cannot speak truth to power if power has no use for truth."
4
Republican defense of Trump serves one purpose - to provide Republican voters with a rationale to oppose an impeachment. The rationale doesn't have to be rational or logical, it's not. By repeating it often and loudly it gives cover to Trump supporters who in turn will give cover to Republican senators to acquit. That will help them in their singular goal, to stay in office. This is understandable, other than violating their oath of office to adhere to the constitution, selling their souls for this despicable person, selling their country down the river, and leaving their grandchildren a world in much worse shape then the one they were given.
10
Great analysis NYT. Rational, clear, intelligent and convincing. I don’t see a single Republican subscribing to it.
7
Democrats are trying to impeach Trump for something Joe Biden actually did and bragged about on tape.
2
It's convenient to blame the Con propaganda machine, Fox, 8chan, Breitbart, Rush, Facebook et al, that protects this bubble of lies, but the reality is the Americans who enter that bubble, stew in it, make themselves at home in it, have a need and a desire for it. They do it of their own free will. It's not Con media, it's not poor education, it's not the Bible, it's them.
A rational, honest counter to their delusions is needed, yet "moderate Democrats" argue that we need to coddle them, wean them off of decades of manufactured anger and entitlement, with trump-lite. Maybe another old billionaire, because nothing says competence and intelligence like money; or maybe another old white man, stumbling over his words, who you can have a beer with, who will restore the status quo, because nothing says progress like going back to what got us here.
4
Another I've been hearing: "Trump isn't guilty of extortion because he didn't get away with it." Absurd. He was caught with his hand in the cookie jar. That's the only reason he didn't get a cookie.
7
Trump deserves to be impeached and a vote to that effect in the House. But the GOP lawmakers that prop him up deserve this impeachment process just as much. It will be a stain on their own legacy, and rightly so. The US democracy and Constitution deserve this process too, to show that at least not all politicians are there to serve their own, material, interests (and have lost their capacity to feel ashamed).
5
Alan Dershowitz is right in that there was no crime that can be shown in the criminal code committed. The Constitution specifically states that a crime must be present to impeach a President and there is none.
What the Democrats are trying to do is to impeach Trump for his vileness. The Framers would have included this if it wasn't such a nebulous concept. But I don't think they imagined such a despicable person to be elected President so they left it out. So we are going to be stuck with him.
1
For you GOP'ers that think Clinton affair rose to level of impeachment but this does not...how do you justify? This involves our tax payer dollars. Money we paid being held up to benefit Russia and Trump re-election. This is an illegal abuse of power at the expense of our national interests and using our money. This is far more worse than lying about a private matter. However, if you disagree, Trump has that in his history as well...lied and paid off two women to hide his affairs. Do you not see how damaging his corruption is to our country? Time to drop support for him.
6
‘Dezinformatsiya’ works. No surprise there. All these active measures are giving me some serious vertigo.
Never in my life would I have imagined that ‘master-slave’ morality would be embraced so enthusiastically.
1
Nikki Haley offered the most outrageous defense yet of Trump. Her nutty view is it's not a crime to attempt robbery, extortion or bribery if the attempt is not successful.
6
We are locked in a dance with a pathological narcissist. All of his tactics are predictable patterns of behavior of all people with strong narcissistic tendencies. This has been on display his entire life, and we can expect it to get worse as the pressure on him builds.
6
The trump was interested in rooting out corruption in Ukraine like he was in rooting out the swamp from Washington - only to be replaced by his own best-est & greatest corruption. Rudy and Donald lusted after the corrupt possibilities of leveraging American power to exploit corruption of a vulnerable country under attack by their ally - Putin - for unimaginable oligarch-level riches.
Journalists must ask Republicans if they swore an oath to trump over the Constitution. If not, how do they excuse the trump for blocking the aid - blocking $400 million of the American people's money (and profits to American weapons manufacturers) - to Ukraine that they themselves voted for? Trump is a check on the Republicans instead of the other way around.
Republicans returning to their roots - looking to actually lynch the whistle-blower as a spy and traitor, as they call him/her. Look how trump and his followers in the House are trying to instigate the lynching - hoping to keep their hands clean by getting others in their base to do the deed.
So, according to Meadows, there was this huge conspiracy to extort Ukraine on Putin's, ... err, trump's behalf but trump was unaware. Indeed, that Rudy would profit financially without giving the Don a cut?!
Bottom-line, Republicans "can't handle the truth" and will never "get over it" when the trump is impeached as the Republican senate tars and feathers itself for eternity by letting the criminal go - the ultimate in reckless jury nullification.
4
Democrats and the media must stop using the term "quid pro quo". It is too difficult for many citizens to comprehend latin.
How about using words that refer to criminal
behavior..."extortion" or "bribery"?
Trump wanted to bribe/extort a foreign country by using taxpayer money to obtain political benefits for himself in the 2020 election.
5
All roads lead back to Putin. Congress must gain access to the notes from all of Trump's meetings with Putin, particularly the notes from the Helsinki meeting. Putin is ex-KGB and Trump is the easiest mark in history. "Dearest Donald, exalted leader of the United States, it wasnt Russia who hacked your election, it was those fiends in the Ukraine. Go look, you'll find all the answers there!" We must know what was discussed at those meetings.
3
Trump supporters are in a desperate situation, they voted for a man they thought would "drain the swamp" but instead got the swamp creature itself.
It takes courage to admit a mistake, particularly in such a hostile environment, but admit it they must or else suffer the same defeat that Trump is destined to suffer.
Conservatives must find a legitimate, honest leader of their movement or it will die from exposure to truth.
4
I agree with the 22 journalists that pled for the Times to come up with a clearer term than "quid pro quo" to describe Trump's demand. That's one reason Republicans can minimize it. That Latin legalese is so abstruse, so arcane, so recondite it might as well be accusing him of body odor.
Call it what it is: Trump's extortion campaign. Shakedown. Most intelligent people know exactly what those words mean in all their bullying viciousness. Then let the Republican reps tell this nation to "get used to it."
5
The Republicans have sold their souls to the Russian puppet. Many do not want to believe this, but the evidence is obvious. What I want to know is: what does Putin have on the GOP? I’m willing to bet they have all accepted dirty money, they have all been compromised in some way. Especially, Lindsey Graham, Mitch McConnell and Kevin McCarthy.
We, the People must oust each and every Republican up for re-election. Our vote is the only power we have!
3
This is an excellent case study in "How to Gaslight the Public", and has been masterfully executed by this administration. Fortunately, the New York Times and other media are laying this all bare for all to see. Unfortunately, too many of the public use Fox News and the like as their only source of information.
2
This is not a court proceeding. Anyone who can get away with shooting someone on Fifth Avenue is free to change his nonsensical arguments with impunity.
1
There seems to be so much floundering around when it comes to dealing with Trump and his blatant whacky behavior, it makes me wonder how anything ever gets done in the world of officialdom.
1
I agree with another writer, that Trump's best defense is that he pleads INSANITY. Not even, temporary insanity, just plain ol' insanity. I think he would get off then!!
1
I'm fairly impressed by how methodically the Democrats are deconstructing trump. They don't rise to the invective and hyperbole trump and his minions do and will be successfull i believe, because this is the only way you can defeat a tyrant like trump. Well done, Dems!
3
The saddest and most despicable thing about republican politicians and their spokesmen is how blatantly they lie and fail to fulfill the responsibilities of their office.
Graham refuses to read reports, McConnell refuses to hold hearings, gerrymandering and voter suppression.
Very sad.
2
Trump deserves to be impeached and a vote to that effect in the House. But the GOP-ers that prop him up deserve this impeachment process just as much. It will be a stain on their own legacy, rightly so. And the US democracy and Constitution deserve this process, to show that at least not all politicians are there to serve their own, material, interests (and have lost their capacity to feel ashamed).
1
Modern conservatives ridiculed democracy since the Eisenhower administration orchestrated coups in Guatemala and Iran and Eisenhower said the Vietnamese didn't deserve elections after they defeated the French because "they'd all vote for the Communists".
A German soldier shot my father through the chest as he reached for a grenade, and gangrene took his right hand that smelled like death until doctors cut if off four days after his wound. He realized our country betrayed his sacrifice when he said, "we're trampling in the Vietnamese mud everything my generation fought for in WW II."
Trump and his sycophants are trying to bury everything Americans fought for in 1776 and September 1944 when the war in Europe ended for my father and a new six year slog to live with only one hand began. We can't let these people have their way with us.
2
My fear is that when trump releases the "transcript" of the first congratulatory conversation with the Ukrainian President, Faux News will start touting that as the transcript that is the basis of the current Impeachment proceedings - and the fox news followers will believe them.
Maybe it's time to have another T-shirt, "Read the ORIGINAL transcript - 'I would like you to do me a favour, though' "
1
For starters, as was suggested in the paper before, let’s start using “extortion,” instead of “quid pro quo.” We need to call a spade a spade.
2
Trump deserves to be impeached and a vote to that effect in the House. But the GOP-ers that prop him up deserve this impeachment process just as much. It will be a stain on their own legacy, rightly so. And the US democracy and Constitution deserve this process, to show that at least not all politicians are there to serve their own, material, interests (and have lost their capacity to feel ashamed).
1
Who knows for sure if Trump voters will turn on him know matter what he does? I've seen it over the years..the demonization of Democrats by Republican allies in their media as "Un-American, not patriotic etc. Especially by a well know radio voice forever barking "The Democrats HATE America." How insidious and insulting to a large chunk of loyal, patriotic citizens. And Trump of course has exponentionally picked up on this theme. Yea, ugly and disspiriting Politics.Also, people vote with their guts. And there is a visceral distrust of more government, that the Democratic Party represents. Lest we forget, a significant percent of people, probably a lot of them Trumpites, believe the moon landing was a "setup," never really happened.
1
Time for readers to go back to Orwell's "1984" and learn about DoubleSpeak and how it works. This dark, frightening book w/o a happy ending does not have to be our ending. It will be a challenge with fox, brietbart, and their fellow megaphones spewing misinformation and fear and loathing 24/7.
1
Who do you believe ? Me, or your Lying Eyes ?
They are playing to the base at this point...only single issue voters and the few who are involved in the cult of personality that has been generated.
Like any trauma, we need to stop the bleeding, stabilize the patient, and begin therapy to go back to a normal life. We still need to limit the infection.
1
The Constitutional phrase "high crimes and misdemeanors." is kind of like "beauty" ... it's in the eye of the beholder.
Thinking out loud: if the judge in Roger Stone's trial ordered the jurors to not watch The Godfather, perhaps the rest of the country should start watching it.
Trump to Zelensky, "I'll make him an offer he can't refuse."
1
Please write the word extort instead of quid pro quo. Bribe also more easily explains the point.
2
You forgot one defense, best articulated in Orwell's Animal Farm.
Trump is always right.
I have been reading Seth Abramson's Proof of Conspiracy. It is a story replete with sleaze and corruption. He writes about many of the same characters that appear in the Ukraine story. There is a firehose of corruption; it explodes in every direction. The White House shamelessness wears its sleaze with pride.
1
It's time for Trump to go away.
2
Every morning down here in the South Pacific I open the NYTs in hope; that I will read the Republican party and 45% of the USA have regained their minds.
The world is also asking, when?
3
just what are you gonna believe, the facts, clearly stated by numerous people, all corroborated, or the words of the president of the U S, who is a proven liar, constantly, continuously and completely? and that's all corroborated too. just askin !
What about Trump making clear that he likes foreign assistance to help him win re-election when he asked China also to investigate the Bidens? If re-elected Trump may really be able to shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and get away with murder!
Trump is inept and corrupt. Always has been. Always will be. That is not depressing. That so many supposedly sane Americans like and support him is depressing in the extreme.
"The president and his allies ask Americans to reject the evidence before their eyes." The precise behavior of a cult.
1
"No one outside the president’s party appears to believe that anti-corruption was the objective."
It's extremely unlikely that anyone inside the president's party believes that anti-corruption was the objective. They have to say that, but most are more corrupt than stupid. Although listening to Trump supporters like Senators Kennedy and Paul one has to wonder if either has even a scintilla of intelligence.
The line from the Times used to be that Trump wanted Ukraine to "dig up dirt" on Joe Biden. Now the line is that Trump *didn't* want Ukraine to "dig up dirt," but merely to announce an investigation.
Attacking corruption in Ukraine is long-standing U.S. policy. And it is undisputed that Ukraine was involved in 2016 election meddling. https://www.politico.com/story/2017/01/ukraine-sabotage-trump-backfire-233446
Pressing them to investigate, threatening to withhold aid until they did so, is normal and legitimate foreign policy.
Major Problems Facing American Democracy
• a corrupt President
• a feckless Republican Party placing Party before justice
• a large segment of the electorate uncaring of the basic tenets of our Constitution
The immediate and most critical issue is the Republican willful blindness/deafness to the truth. They apparently cannot see, hear, or SMELL Trump's cesspool!
2
The Art of the Deal: How to Lie, Cheat and Steal Your Way Through Life.
1
"His primary rules were: never allow the public to cool off; never admit a fault or wrong; never concede that there may be some good in your enemy; never leave room for alternatives; never accept blame; concentrate on one enemy at a time and blame him for everything that goes wrong; people will believe a big lie sooner than a little one; and if you repeat it frequently enough people will sooner or later believe it."
--Office of Strategic Services (OSS) report on Adolph Hitler, Washington, D.C
2
Dear NYT:
A recent Times' story sought to bolster VP Joe Biden's "good" motive for the one astonishing Ukrainian quid pro quo we know actually took place -- Biden threatened to withhold $1 billion in US aid if Ukraine did not fire its chief prosecutor. See https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/what-joe-biden-actually-did-in-ukraine/ar-BBWysPD?li=AA2dnLi
This a core area of inquiry into President Trump's "corruption defense" - that he had a statutory duty to safeguard taxpayer money by probing corruption in Ukrainian politics - especially corruption induced by US officials.
Any serious "impeachment" inquiry must explore the objective facts underpinning this defense.
But the mystery deepens. According to The Times, US officials knew that Burisma was paying bribes to two -- not just one -- corrupt Ukrainian prosecutors!
After the first prosecutor is fired for accepting bribes to protect Burisma, "within months, though, the State Department began suspecting that the office of Mr. Poroshenko’s first prosecutor general was accepting bribes to protect Mykola Zlochevsky, the oligarch owner of Burisma Holdings, the gas company where Hunter Biden was a board member."
We also learn that Kent demanded answers: "Who took the bribe?"
OK. So what happened when Kent confronted Joe Biden about his son'e role at Burisma? Given this obvious conflict, why did Biden take the lead in policies influencing Burisma?
Did Hunter Biden personally lobby the Obama admin to shield Burisma?
1
If claiming the sky is green gets a reaction from "libs," then the new Trumpian GOP will claim the sky is green.
Okay, but how do you communicate with and convince Republicans and Trump supporters? In this society they are in their own media bubble with all its spin and Twitter lies. We’ve been conditioned to sophisticated persuasion through the science of psychology and the business of advertising. Where is morality? Do the ends justify the means? If the other guy did something wrong, then can I do something “equivalent”? Do two wrongs make a right? Does it matter if the leader is immoral, if he does what you want? How do you open prejudiced minds (a mob) to hear something different?
Thirty pieces of silver.
95
@Joel H you cannot: Republicans & Trump supporters cannot be reached with logic, fact, law & our Constitution, they are mentally lost, only their The Donny matters ....yet their The Donny could care less about the majority of the sheep who support him ....
35
@Joel H It is puzzling and frightening. Might be similar to how many Germans felt when the Nazis were spreading false rumors. These are the tactics of fascists throughout the world.
42
It's what mob bosses, like the head of the Trump Crime Family, do.
5
The Theory of Republican Evolution
Deny Deny Deny
Democrats are all liars
Witch Hunt
perfect letter
whistle blower lied
Admits what whistle blower apparently led about
Not a Bribe
A bribe but nothing came of it so it is OK.
President is way too stupid and incompetent to know what he was doing.
Tick Tock the asteroid is in the atmosphere.
2
Open Message to Senators Lindsay Graham, Rand Paul, et al.:
Read The Transcripts!
Do Your Jobs!
or
Get Out And
Leave Us Alone!
2
May I offered a defense for Putin's trump?
I am not your elected president, Putin put me here and only he can remove me. Get over it.
2
Perfect Call: One used by Mafia Godfathers in the fifties. Trump loves criminal history, but despises evidence.
This is worthy of the Marx brothers about whom you can believe: https://quoteinvestigator.com/2018/07/31/believe-eyes/ Who are you going to / gonna believe, me or your lying eyes?
Why would Bolton not come forward without any conditions, unless of course he has financial reasons with his future career with Republicans? So he swore on a Bible to uphold the constitution? Just by hesitating he has proven he is not up to the courage of a patriot....He is no different than the dude who gets a letter from his Dr saying he has bone spurs....and can't be a patriot...and then their is Nikki Haley...Who distorts on tv the extortion attempted....by saying well they Ukaranians got the money anyhow??? What oath did she swear to....they are all pathetic Republicans
3
Trump's approach to governing...
WWPD...What Would Putin Do?
4
In the final analysis “All points lead to Putin” for our president.
It was Donald John Trump who abused his presidential powers to hold up badly needed pre-approved Congressional aid for Ukraine in its military defense against its aggressive neighbor Russia in exchange for dirt on a political opponent according to his own current and former administration officials sworn testimony. It is safe to proclaim that Donald J. Trump is Putin’s useful idiot and needs to be held accountable to the highest degree for his alleged crimes of bribery and extortion as well as being a traitor to his country.
All this malfeasance from a duly elected President of the United States and it is his own Republican Party useful idiocy that are all enabling him and will attempt to distract in the live televised public hearings that are to begin this week.
The majority of the American electorate are on to them now and they will all pay dearly for their shenanigans next year in the upcoming 2020 elections. Please proceed at your own peril. Have I missed anything?
3
You can post as many pictures as you want of American soldiers. You can attach two big flags to the back of your pick up truck. You can go on about real Americans all you want. But to sacrifice the foundations of this great country in the name of this shady NY developer means you really are not very patriotic
3
Can the NY TIMES do a better job of pinning down Congresswoman Elise Stefanik of upstate NY on her stance on attacking “the process”, while she is a member and attending the sessions of the Intelligence Committee?
So NYT Sondland is the first guy to buy an ambassadorship? In order to be creditable you cannot pull points that suit your argument ignoring the fact it is SOP in politics.
Stop calling it"Quid pro quo' and call it like it is...BRIBERY
BH
1
The whole world's watching,...It is no mystery how the temper brat with silver spoons, acquired what he has.
Stiff the workers, drag them through the courts, invent outrageous excuses, deny, obstruct, lie, cheat, steal their homes through foreclosures ........etc etc
1
Excellent editoral. Keep your eye on the prize, NYTimes. Make the headlines big and bold and above the fold. Our form of gov't hangs in the balance.
The truth has the potential to set us free.
1
Trump and his cronies are simply liars and deceivers. Regarding and sad history of such blind support for evil and treacherous leaders, Trump and his supporters simply join that sad list.
1
As Chico Marx said to Margaret Dumont in "Duck Soup": "Are you going to believe me or your own eyes?"
1
“The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears.
It was their final, most essential command.”
George Orwell
————
“I’m not lying. I’m creating reality.”
Donald Trump (as reported by The New Republic)
2
“Who are you going to believe? Me or your own lying eyes?” - Groucho Marx as channeled by Donald Trump.
1
Forgot to mention in my post: Fact is, Putin wants all of Ukraine. This whole affair may just Trump's clumsy way of giving Putin what he wants and finding an excuse to hold that assistance congress has approved unless he gets dirt on Biden.
Clumsy and stupid, the next defense from the GOP.
1
There are a half dozen or more senior administration officials, plus Trump's private lawyer and his henchmen, who have direct knowledge of Trump's actions towards Ukraine. They include Mick Mulvaney, Rudy Giuliani, Mike Pence, various NSC staffers, senior lawyers, and their immediate underlings. If any of these people had exculpatory evidence, they'd be lining up to testify under oath and contradict the numerous witnesses on the record with damning testimony.
Trump is as guilty as the day is long. Having apparently stonewalled the House's attempt to follow up on the damning Mueller investigation, Trump then thought he was clever enough to shakedown the poor Ukrainians. Trump wanted to invalidate Mueller's findings about Russian meddling in 2016, clear Manafort sufficiently to pardon him, and kneecap his strongest perceived 2020 rival.
It was a great, if treasonous, plan if he succeeded. But this is the same 'businessman' who went bankrupt six times, repeatedly stiffed banks and contractors, ran a fake university, fraudulently ran his charitable foundation, committed tax and election fraud, sexually assaulted some two dozen women (that we know of), betrayed the Syrian Kurds, allowed Kim Jong Un to test a hydrogen bomb and ICBMs, and tallied over 13,000 lies in office.
Trump is inherently corrupt and inept at everything he does. And the once proud and loyal Republican Party now stands ready to go over the cliff with him. They're again popping champagne in the Kremlin.
4
Everything in Trump World is 2 2=6 as long as it benefits him. I say leak the taxes and sex tape.
3
Please stop with all the thrashing about a quid pro quo (QPQ).
Let's review the law.
From 52 USC §30121. Contributions and donations by foreign nationals
(a) Prohibition
It shall be unlawful for-
(1) a foreign national, directly or indirectly, to make-
(A) a contribution or donation of money or other thing of value, or to make an express or implied promise to make a contribution or donation, in connection with a Federal, State, or local election;
(B) a contribution or donation to a committee of a political party; or
(C) an expenditure, independent expenditure, or disbursement for an electioneering communication (within the meaning of section 30104(f)(3) of this title); or
(2) a person to SOLICIT, accept, or receive a contribution or donation described in subparagraph (A) or (B) of paragraph (1) from a foreign national. (emphasis added)
So, despite the presence of a QPQ proffered by the president himself, Amb. Sondland, Mr. Giuliani, the 3 amigos, and the vice president, it does not matter.
The president broke the law. Full stop.
Like Humpty Dumpty, all the kings' horses and all the kings' men could not put Humpty together again nor change the truth of the crime(s) he committed.
3
"In his book Mein Kampf Hitler addresses his lack of candor with remarkable candor. The less honest a political message, Hitler wrote, the better. The small lie could be easily discovered... better by far to tell "the big lie." Hitler explains "because the broad masses of a people can be more easily corrupted to the deeper reaches of their hearts."
The Death of Democracy by Benjamin Carter Hett, pg. 38
Trump's ex-wife said that Trump kept Hitler's essays in his bedside cabinet. Trump denies reading them. It's disconcerting to many of us that Trump mimics Hitler's advice so well. Big lie. Lie. Lie. Deny.
On Remembrance Day, honor our WWII soldiers. They died for honesty and decency and a better world, and we are watching these ideals slip away every single time time Trump opens his mouth.
5
Trump took a moral stand to fight against Ukrainian corruption by hiring Manafort.
1
If you or I had a son or a father or a brother who tweeted 82 times on a single day to inform the world that he was a great man who was being hounded by the Democrats, we’d take him to see a doctor and cut off his Tweeter account.
Where are Lindsey Graham, Mitch McConnell and Jim Jordan when America needs them?
https://www.axios.com/donald-trump-twitter-tweets-impeachment-inquiry-70f705e6-17ba-4adb-9975-ff1c11ea2d5f.html
6
Why not have testimony regarding Donald Trump's reputation for honesty and integrity from a few unbiased sources who know him best outside of American partisan politics?
Like one of Trump's three wives? Marla? Ivana?
Like one of Trump's ' kids'? Tiffany? Barron?
Or one of Trump's multiple mistresses and paramours? Stormy Daniels? Karen McDougal?
Or one of Trump's foreign allies and friends? Such as Benjamin Netanyahu, Vladimir Putin and Mohammed bin Salman?
1
In all the examples stated in this article, they all amount to “Trump Distraction Syndrome” in throwing up anything against the wall to see if it would stick. The Republicans are desperate. They are all sure to fail in their feeble attempts in defending the indefensible and this time it will be airing live for all to see.
This week is another pivotal point in our American history with the beginning of the long awaited Congressional public hearings of President Donald J. Trumps alleged charges of bribery and extortion. I believe all the evidence is rock solid and indisputable. The damning testimony we will hear are from his own administration officials.
After all is written of this whole sad affair, Donald J. Trump will most likely be asked what he regrets the most in his one term presidency and I believe his answer will be the loss of the majority in the House of Representatives in the 2018 midterms, for up to that time he behaved recklessly like he could abuse his presidential powers unabated. Kudos to Speaker Nancy Pelosi for her strong leadership in legislating for the American people, and simultaneously re-establishing needed oversight of this overly corrupt administration. Our only regret of the BlueWave in the 2018 midterms is that the American electorate didn’t flip the United States Senate as well for his impeachment and removal would already be a far gone conclusion and our world would be a safer planet for it.
Onward!
2
I recently watched the Netflix series, "Trotsky," which offers a compelling portrait of Leon Trotsky, with additional appearances of Stalin, Lenin, Karensky and others who fomented the Russian Revolution in 1917.
In 1917, the Bolsheviks had only printed pamphlets, the telegraph and personal speeches to distribute their propaganda, inciting the overthrow of Imperial Russia and installing to power the Communist Party, resulting in the oppression of a nation 1921 - 1991 and the deaths of tens of millions of dissidents including writers, scientists, intellectuals, Jews, businessmen, and other elites.
Hitler, of course, had Joseph Goebbels as Minister of Propaganda, the Nuremberg rallies as well as later generation media technology, radio and Leni Riefenstahl's adoring cinematic efforts. Even so, Hitler was able to ignite the Nazi firestorm which consumed millions in concentration camps and launched World War II, with tens of millions killed in Europe.
Trump has propaganda tools in Twitter and social media which are infinitely more powerful than the crude means available to the Communists or Nazis. Perhaps we should count our blessings that Trump is so petty, egotistical, narrow, stupid, and disorganized that he only uses these tools to support his mediocre commercial and political ambitions.
If Trump were smarter and with a clear political agenda, we would be in big, big trouble.
1
If only this level and quality of exposure of Trump and Fox News lying was the norm among legitimate journalism months before he was elected.
Now I have a better sense of how the Weimar Republic turned into Nazi Germany. The actors are different but the skillful use of lying and propaganda to a public ready to eat the red meat of scapegoating, "other" and racism is in full view to those who have any reasoning skills.
1
“Well, who you gonna believe - me, or your own eyes?” Chico Marx, Duck Soup, 1933
2
1 cup Bully + 2 cups shifty Con Man + 6 cups Egomaniac + dash of spoiled salt = trump
Served to rabid mob who care not a whit about honesty & morality, only about shouting and screaming and supporting the unkind ignorant lying maniac in their corner who has no substance whatsoever, only spite, an empty angry husk of a man.
2
What evidence?
No "real" court of law in this country would convict anyone on 'hear-say' evidence and 'interpretation' of what one might have meant.
Get a grip of yourself. You have wanted to impeach this president since the first day he took office. And you are desperately looking for a 'casus belli'.
BTW, searching for a 'casus belli' was what a certain dictator did after he invaded Poland in 1939 to allegedly 'defend' his country.
1
As far as Nikki Haley is concerned, Ukrainians got their money and Trump didn’t get his investigation, so no harm done. Are they all stupid, or are they all corrupt? We should forget the criminal act don by President Trump, as if nothing happened. Really?
2
But, why are ALL Republican House, Senate, White House, and Cabinet members marching in goose-step with their eyes shut tight? Even if Mr. Trump is ultimately impeached, even if he were somehow removed from office, ALL those Republicans will still be there. Are we as a nation becoming the New Nazis? Have we, in fact, become the Evil Empire? Trump’s impeachment wouldn’t be the beginning of the end of this story, it won’t even be the end of the beginning. Something is rotten in our country.
1
I thought Trump was liar and a perfect conman who took over GOP. I was wrong.
GOP is full of Trumpians..
It's time we reject the GOP as a whole else give up our democracy. Choice is simple..
1
Elliot Ness will get Al Capone.
2
Since the democrats know that they would never be able to beat him in a “fair” election, they keep making up these idiotic scandals. Most of America is not falling for it. Mr. Trump will roll to reelection.
1
Utterly incompetent, disfunctional, mad but fit for office. Some office.
1
Trump is either too narcissistically delusional to think that anything he ever did could be wrong or too immoral to recognize when he has done something that is so unethical that it could be grounds for impeachment. Take your choice. But here is the real question for those thinking American voters who understand what Trump did was wrong: How can so many Congressional Republicans continue to defend the obviously impeachable behavior of Donald Trump???
2
Stephen King wrote the definitive allegory for the Trump phenomenon that has captivated the GOP and so many of its codependent victims with its delusional promises to deliver "Needful Things".
Therein we've seen the gathering gloom it has produced in the dysfunctional beliefs that wrack the fabric of U.S. culture. It is now a war of perceptions between the darkest elements of human nature and a rational appraisal and response to the clinical realities.
The NYT Editorial Board has reduced it to the razor's edge:
"The barrage of allegations and finger-pointing is so frenzied that it is disorienting for anyone trying to keep up. That’s the point. Let’s hope the hearings this week help sort truth from all the many lies."
3
Everyone including Trump supporters know the truth behind his lies and corruption and desperately latch onto any excuse available. Why engage with them in the argument of what's true or not? The real question is why are so many Republicans willing to lurch towards authoritarianism instead of democracy and the rule of law?
5
To the Editorial Board: What about the DJT Republican defense line that says "but he released the funds anyway, how is that extortion?" That will be said also this week.
4
@M Bloomfield
Attempted extortion is also a crime called conspiracy.
3
We oft hear that voters should decide Trump’s fate in 2020. Actually, the fate of the GOP should be decided, for the shameful political calculations they’ve made to acquiesce to Trump at the expense of the country. The impeachment inquiry will allow the facts to surface. Purge!
6
What is so ironic here is that Trump will be impeached based on his "quid pro quo" (political coercion of the Ukrainian president; money for political dirt on Biden) But it is unlikely that Biden will be the Democratic candidate for president in Nov 2020, especially not after Bloomberg enters the race.
2
No conspiracy, no collusion, no impeachment. Trump’s walk away line from the conclusion of the current altogether POLITICAL process.
The most the serially deviant outlier in the Oval Office may suffer is censure without removal from that office.
The GOP controlled Senate will make it so.
2
This is the best dissection of the lies I have seen so far.
3
You list 10 separate lines of attack by Republicans. That should be enough to ensure confusion by the masses. Mission accomplished?
4
The GOP is now insisting that Hunter Biden be brought forward to testify in the impeachment public hearings supposedly because it relates to the Ukrainian ‘quid pro quo'' matter. Don jr. should also be brought forward to testify in the same public hearings for the same reason given recent revelations of his involvement with Giuliani's shenanigans there. Besides that, trump's attacks on Biden and son fly in the face of his repeated assertions that his own son (Don jr.) is totally exonerated by the Mueller report. How does he know this? AG Barr is still sitting on the real (ie unredacted) Mueller report. It was supposed to have been released to the Congressional Judicial Committee several months ago. All critical parts of the report related to Don jr. have been redacted (ie covered up). Go figure.
4
@John Townsend
The GOP would insist Queen Elizabeth II and Henry Kissenger be there if they thought they could get away with it.
2
When Trump says the phone call was “perfect,” we should accept that from his perspective (and, sadly, from his perspective only), it was a perfect conversation where he said what he wanted to say and he heard what he wanted to hear. Perfect!
4
Remember also that Trump asked Don McGahn to enter a false narrative into the record to protect Trump, McGahn refused, a blatant and corrupt attempt by Trump to obstruct justice - this is who Trump is and let's not forget that.
4
"Let’s hope the hearings this week help sort truth from all the many lies."
Probably not - at least not for the core of Trump's support. They believe that this is all part of a "Deep State" conspiracy to thwart America's greatest president. Once people are wed to a conspiracy theory they almost never desist. They have been lied to nearly 15,000 times and they have an excuse for each and every fib.
This collective disorder fueled Lindsey Graham to the point that he said he would not read the transcripts of testimony. Think about how crazy that is. Indeed, think how crazy Trump is.
4
Gosh, it's too bad that the various defenses of the President are "disorienting", but the fact is that the anti-Trump forces in his political opposition, including members of the permanent government, have been looking for a reason to impeach since the beginning of his Presidency, and the mainstream press has been desperately trying to sell it. It's not surprising that the discovery of yet another angle of attack against the President is being met with resistance, or plain indifference by those who just don't care. It's all been heard before. It's been pathetic to hear members of the press ask each other on the air over the last couple of days whether this is getting through to the American public, as if they are salespeople wearily trying to figure out how to convince a reluctant client. What they haven't realized is that like a lot of hucksters, they have worn out their welcome, and a lot of their customers are just ignoring their calls.
1
To quote Trump, there was no quid pro quo. There was, however, extortion. So bingo for the high crimes and misdemeanors.
And that makes it impeachable.
5
If Trump is not impeached and banned from elective office, how will we ever know if the 2020 election is free and fair?
1
As a reminder and for the benefit of their Republican colleagues every hearing the Democrats conduct should open with the reading of their oath of office.......
"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.”
3
"Yet no matter how many times Mr. Trump exhorts Americans to 'read the transcript,'....."
Those running Mr. Trump's re-election campaign are not stupid. Anyone who actually spends the time to "read the transcript" can immediately see the "drug deal" that Mr. Trump is offering the Ukrainians. So the question is: Why Republicans have chosen a slogan that, if followed, can actually hurt them?
The answer to that question is indeed disheartening. The Republican strategy is exploiting a fundamental concern in today's America: Just like their president, many Americans do not read. Hence, when seeking information about what is happening in Washington, they are at the mercy of Republican news outlets such as Fox News. And that is where pro-Trump "analysts" get their chance in shaping the public's views on subjects concerning Trump administration.
That is the key point that Democrats are missing when they come up with their elaborate, nuanced, explanations why Mr. Trump has violated the US Constitution. Most of their arguments are well above public's head; hence treated as patronizing or worse; a subtle reminder that "we are the smart ones, and you are not"!
There is nothing "disorienting" about this. To anyone who has a normal adult's experience with human behavior, it's perfectly clear what Trump and company are doing. It's the same thing a dishonest child does if you find his toys in the pool when he knows he isn't allowed to go there alone.
Nor are the Republicans in a tough spot. Their Constitutional duty is absolutely clear. Whether enough of them will fulfill it to remove an unqualified and corrupt person from the Presidency is less clear.
1
The Times concludes its editorial with, "Let’s hope the hearings this week help sort truth from all the many lies."
"Hope"? Are you kidding? It's the media's job to expose the ugly truth about this administration, not to sit around and hope that Adam Schiff prevails against a massive Republican wave of obstruction and obfuscation.
If the media would stop framing this charge of extortion and pursuit of justice as a squabble between Democrats and Republicans maybe the public would learn what the Trump administration is all about, and join in the effort to rid ourselves of him.
1
They couldn't care less about the Constitution, or the country for that matter. Trump has plainly demonstrated himself unfit for office, but instead of impeaching, they wanna double down. That's more than suspicious.
1
The media forgets to add in these facts:
1) This is OUR taxpayer money, which was rightfully allocated to help an ally by our elected Congress. Trump had no right to use it for his "deal."
2) Calculate the amount of taxpayer money that has been wasted in all of these shenanigans. Everyone involved, except Rudy, were doing all of these actions at our expense. It's bad enough that our tax money were given away to major corporations, driving up unrivaled debt.
4
Witnesses with first hand knowledge have already testified that:
Trump broke campaign law, especially egregious because it was with a foreign government
Trump extorted Zelensky for Trump's personal political gain
Trump withheld funds passed by Congress (without their approval), which put at greater risk a country we were trying to protect from Russian invasion
We also know that:
Trump and Republicans have lied repeatedly to Americans about the evidence
Trump and Republicans have tried to cover up the evidence
What more do Americans need to know about this one affair?
4
If the Patriots (the current and the 18th century ones) had to play with these moving goalposts, we wouldn't have won one super bowl..or had a country.
4
Rand Paul and ring wing pundits on the Sunday shows are equally alarming as they refuse to distinguish withholding aid for US policy versus Trump's withholding aid for PERSONAL GAIN. They, like Trump, seeking to normalize deeply unethical and abnormal behavior.
NO MATTER WHO, VOTE BLUE.
6
The question is..if we reject what we know to be true, reject the evidence and reject our democratic process which is held in Congress, then do we also reject the Revolutionary War , do we reject the all the conflicts that followed that kept us on a democratic path, do we reject WWI and WWII, the Russian takeover of East Germany, or other countries that fought hard to determine their own path in history, do we dishonor those who put their country first over greed and political profit, do we turn our backs on our own Constitution for the many who would make us believe, it doesn't really say what you think it says and we should give up this democratic path for a despot and his minions in Congress who have chickenly hid behind their own discretion and profits made on the backs of the poor, the struggling and those who can't fight back. Propaganda is real and its takes many colors and forms and we should not be fooled that our own eyes can be blinded by it. One should rewatch the "V" movie again...it only takes a few to spread the word of "distrust" and a median to make you bellieve it and they work it in their favor no maker what side they are on. i.e. Fox NoReal News, and Congressional Senators such as Lindsey, Grassley, McConnell who control the lives of all American citizens right now in favor of their own political power.
We must not fail our own Constitution. We the people must hold fast in seeing this impeachment through.
5
Richard Nixon didn't have state TV repeating all these quirky defenses hourly. Trump supporters believe the most absurd things about the "chosen one."
Instead of running for president, why doesn't Michael Bloomberg buy Fox News and fix it.
7
"Get over it," say the same people who would not allow merrick Garland to even be considered as a Supreme Court nominee because former President Obama suggested it; the same people who would have objected to a cure for cancer had Obama promoted that.
"This was about corruption" say the same people who have blown off the FACT just recently that A COURT OF LAW has just ordered President Trump as well as his offspring to pay $2 million in damages to nonprofit groups because the Donald J. Trump Foundation paid off business debts, self-profited dearly, and purchased gifts for themselves.
4
Donald wants us to think that Rep. Schiff is guilty of something. It really is sad.
1
The fix is in. The path is clear. The end is near. Less than 5 years from now, what left of this place we call home will be sold for scrap, to our most formidable sworn enemies by our illegitimately elected leader and his corrupt cronies. Those who hope and believe otherwise are sadly fooling themselves and destined to regret why they didn't do more to keep our unique experiment in democracy alive.
Good night, America.
2
Don't forget Trump the Corruption Fighter's comments from a few years ago when he complained about the way to strict rules about doing business with people in foreign countries, and how he'd like to see that rule eliminated.
Here's what the republicans are doing.
Firehosing relies on pushing out as many lies as possible as frequently as possible. That’s typical for propaganda, but the aspect that makes firehosing a unique strategy is that it doesn’t require the propagandist to make the lies believable. That seems counterintuitive, but as Carlos Maza of Vox explains, firehosing is effective because its goal isn’t to persuade. It’s to rob facts of their power. Firehosing inundates us with so many wild opinions that it becomes exhausting to continually disprove them. In this scenario, reality is reduced to positioning and who can sell their position best.
I just saw Rand Paul do it with Chuck Todd.
Paul lied repeatedly and Todd didn't refute it. Refuting it later is ineffective because the first thing you do is repeat the lie which is what they want you to do.
4
Trump's playbook doesn't change. When accused of wrongdoing, his response is always, always to deny the accusation, throw dirt at the accuser and the messenger (the press), and keep throwing dirt to stay off-topic rather than defending the accusation.
Republicans are trying desperately to ignore the mounting evidence and to make it about the accusers and the opposition rather than the accusation. Demanding political favors from a foreign government in order to release bipartisan-approved and desperately needed military assistance is extortion and bribery. Doing it to aid Trump's re-election as President makes it a high crime and a betrayal of our country.
Impeachment is inherently political but it's there for exactly this reason. The mission of Congress is to pass laws and uphold the constitution. It's their mission to investigate serious wrong-doing and, if supported by credible evidence and testimony, to impeach. We must all encourage Congress to focus on the accusation, which is extremely serious, and do their jobs.
2
The Donald Trump School of Deception, Deflection and Lies has the highest tuition of any "school" in the country - and we are paying that high price, but with default on the loan coming very soon. The next president will have to pick up the pieces.
2
Common sense editorial finally using the term "extort" not quid pro quo. However it's an uphill battle as propaganda works. Transactional is the new normal, the targeted cyber ability to tip scales with a profit to be made, tech will partner with deep pocketed foreign influence, the GOP, and SCOTUS (Citizen's United) knowingly to dismantle institutions. Trump's base are sitting ducks for these weapons, as are the new pro-Soviet GOP. Truly disturbing new reality.
1
If the US is the only world superpower, it means that we overpower the other nations and force them to act in the way we prescribe.
That's how we made NATO countries to join us in invasion of Aghanistan in direct violation of the NATO charter because that country and those people didn't attack us on 9/11.
That's how we forced the EU countries to join us in the Iraq War.
That's how we forced the EU to severe their economic ties with Iran and Russia.
And now we are shocked that Trump Administration deployed just 1 promile of that strategy?!
Senate republicans have to hold their fire.
Republican Senators would be insane not to vote to convict Trump in the Senate impeachment trial.
Senators have hundreds of reasons to impeach and convict besides the articles of impeachment the House decides on. What a great feeling of satisfaction the Senators will have accomplished with one vote of guilty/conviction and our country would alleviated the greatest threat of all time.
When will Mueller testify in the impeachment hearings?
There is no reason for the Senators to speak out against Trump now because that would only give the lunatic the megaphone .
Senate republicans know Trump will not win the election and all of Congress are very concerned with how much damage/ danger Trump will do between the landslide election lost and inauguration day 2021. Senators understand it is simply much smarter to wait for the Senate trial and send The Criminal Con Man in Chief on his way to prison in one fell swoop.
The New York State Attorney General will be waiting with open arms of justice.
2
This all comes down to the vote in the Senate. No matter how incontrovertible the evidence against Trump, you can bet every Senator has his or her finger on the pulse of the electorate in their state. And they will be feeling that pulse, minute by minute if possible, right up until they cast their vote to convict or acquit. If they vote to acquit, they will come up with a lame rationalization and we move on to the election. Their vote will then become a campaign issue. If you don't like the result, get out and vote accordingly in November.
2
Yes and probably lots more. However we have Repub Senators refusing to recognize or come to terms with any of this. Let us hope the zombie trump people will wake up before the next election.
1
The vast majority of the GOP doesn't care.
Trump's supporters don't care.
To think that GOP Senators will vote for impeachment is laughable.
The only solution will be the Election of 2020. Given the map of the Electoral College, that's a toss-up.
1
Children put the cookies back when they are about to get caught.
The whistle blower's complaint was being examined in August, leading our President to realize he was about to get caught extorting a campaign issue in exchange for military aid. He acted as most criminals do -- he released the aid.
So the claim of 'no harm, no foul' is lame. Put another way, 'no whistle blower, no aid to Ukraine.' Or if the Department of Justice had its way, 'no see it, no problem.'
The President's problem is he committed an impeachable act.
1
Evidence? What's that? I'm clean as a whistle no matter what I do seems to be Mr. Trump's favorite refrain. This presidency has been beset by demagoguery from the get-go. What's really disheartening is the reaction of Republicans to back the bellicose and contorted twistings and turnings of Mr. Trump. Taken at face value, I'd say the Republican party is in deep trouble after this.
1
To my knowledge, the US has never had a serial liar as president. Fourteen-thousand lies in three years. Find me someone who says you can trust a serial liar.
Why are Republicans so oblivious to the truth of Trump's misconduct, as displayed by the Mueller investigation and the Ukraine matter? I believe they have sold their souls to big-money interests in order to ensure re-election through Citizens United, which allows large and undeserved tax breaks for corporations and oligarchs to pay for their re-election campaigns.
Republicans still assert that trickle-down economics benefit everyone and the right-to-work law is good for the average worker. These so-called conservative Republicans believe that the government is the problem and not the solution. Trump, the con man, lied that he would bring their jobs back. But today, I see thousands of former factory workers taking menial low-pay jobs to make ends meet.
While millions of jobs were lost because of outsourcing by American multinational corporations' greed for more profits, the former factory workers believed Trump would bring their jobs back.
That's the Big Lie.
3
"The barrage of allegations and finger-pointing is so frenzied that it is disorienting for anyone trying to keep up. That’s the point. Let’s hope the hearings this week help sort truth from all the many lies."
Dear Editorial Board,
So true. The barrage from the Democrats and most of the media since Trump was elected has been relentless and focused on one thing: removing Trump from office before 2020. From "Russia collusion" to the Mueller Report and now a phone call to the Ukrainian president. It has been one manufactured crisis after another. Everything Democrats and the media have attempted so far has been a dud. Now it's a phone call and your own spin - same junk, different day. By the way, I hope the whistle-blower testifies so both sides can question him. That would be fair, right?
Some of us didn't vote for Trump because he's not presidential material. But I'm willing to wait for the next election. Unfortunately, Democrats haven't had anyone better in my lifetime.
And Democrats can't do math. Even when they impeach Trump and read the charges to the Senate, there are not 67 votes to convict, period. So this is nothing more than an attempt to weaken Trump's chances in 2020. Impeachment was not designed as tool to remove someone from office simply because you hate them.
We deserve better than two thoroughly corrupt political parties and their equally corrupt media sycophants.
Submitted 11/11/19 @ 12:05 p.m. EST
1
I have run out of words to describe the behavior of Trump and everyone of his congressional supporters. Any suggestions?
4
The list of Republican defences:
1. There was no quid pro quo
2. There was a quid pro quo, but the President was not involved
3. There was...he was...but it's not impeachable
etc
Calls to mind the stages of Climate-change denial:
1. It's not happening
2. It's happening, but not us causing it
3. It's happening, we're causing it; but it won't be bad
4. It's happening, us, and might be bad, but there's nothing we can do because China...
So it seems a good idea to expect a similar set of tactics and dodges - the Trump aid-for-dirt denialists, are trying to mount the illusion of an argument, where no valid, principled one exists. The tactics of denial, according to Skeptical Science website, are:
1. The use of fake experts
2. Logical fallacies
3. Impossible expectation of what research (or hearings) can achieve.
4. Cherry-picking
5. Conspiracy theories
More about that here: https://skepticalscience.com/agw-denial-explained-2.html
Trump defenders, like climate-change denialists, haven't got a leg to stand on in full-frontal substantive argument, so they will use the tactics of denial. They've done it for many decades now, and it hasn't stopped working.
7
In an interview on NPR this morning, a Tennessee journalist [I think] confirmed that politicians from that state view voting for impeachment as the end of their careers. He also said that his rural relatives have bought in to the notion that impeachment proceedings to date have been "unfair" to Donald Trump, without "due process", and a "soft coup" to "reverse the election". Apparently, suburban Republicans have a SLIGHTLY more nuanced perspective: They just believe that Trump has done nothing wrong.
Sigh.
1
I have noticed that in the last month the comments by Republicans or "Concerned Democrats" attacking the Democratic Party, all the Democratic Candidates and defending Trump have mushroomed from one or two to dozens per news article. I believe that these comments are by and large the product of Republican sweatshops and intended to destroy democracy as we know it. You may think that my fears are far fetched but just look at Trump's illegal and unamerican day to day actions.
2
Groucho Marx had it nailed. "You gonna believe me or your lying eyes?"
Incidents daily. Thousands of lies. And he is still standing. The GOP is disappearing before our very eyes. Many of those who are adamant about Trump's being "sent by God" listen to the Evangelicals, Fox Opinions, and the rest of the goon squad.
The wolves are closing in though. The GOP better stoke the fire some.
7
It is not just the White House that denies there was a quid pro quo. The Ukrainians say they never perceived any connection between Trump's request for a favor and the military aid package.
Ukrainian President Zelensky has repeatedly said there was no pressure and no blackmail. He also says that at the time of the July 25 phone call he was unaware that the United States had put a hold on the aid package
A senior Ukrainian official told Time Magazine that Ukraine did not see Trump’s request as linked to the release of military aid. The magazine reported that the official, who took part in the July 25 phone call between Trump and Zelensky, said, ‘I’m telling you – no, there was no such connection.”
According to Time, “the official was adamant that the Zelensky administration, which took office in May, did not interpret Trump’s requests as a form of blackmail aimed at releasing U.S. aid money in exchange for help with investigations of Biden. “
According to Time, the official said when they learn about the hold, Zelensky and his staff suspected the White House had frozen the aid package due to concerns over the purposed sales of a Ukrainian company that produces missile and jet engines to China. The United States had urged Zelensky to stop the sale on national security grounds.
https://time.com/5686788/ukraine-no-connection-aid-biden/
2
@William Case Any fair reading of the White House's summary of Trump's telephone call indicates that he intended to have the Ukrainians believe there was a link between military aid and investigation. The fact that Trump was unsuccessful in that regard )and I have doubts about that) doesn't make the attempt right.
6
Please reprint this editorial-- regularly updated-- as an ongoing expose' of the corrupt Trump/GOP defensive tactics, over the next year until the November 2020 elections.
The Trees, the Ground, the Buildings, the Sky... the Facts. Let us ever stay focused on the Facts, as in this editorial.
9
It is difficult for us honest, hard working folks to comprehend the dishonesty and corruption that runs through the current administration and also through the Republican Party. But, it is true these are ruthless, selfish men and women who care nothing about 99% of Americans. Me, me, me is the motto of these mobsters.
8
Disorienting indeed. Just reading this editorial and my head is spinning (again).
1
Russo-Republican pretzel logic at its finest:
“Impeaching Trump will guarantee his reelection in 2020.”
But —
“This impeachment hearing is a sham!”
So if impeachment is a guarantee for reelection, why isn’t everyone in the former party of patriots on board? Are you all tired winning?
4
@Opinioned!
I guess you missed the memo that over 50% of people actually support impeachment, and not necessarily for the reason you hope.
As an independent, who agree with the Dems on progressive issues such as Univeral Healthcare, free college education for the 20 percent percentile of good students regardless if they come from rich families (the rich should get something for their taxes too), but not on immigration, sanctuary cities, and law enforcement, I have to say that the NYT, CNN and MNBC coverage of Donald Trump and respectively Biden is as biased as the coverage of Fox News, if not more so.
There is a LOT of evidence incriminating both Bidens in Ukraine in the public record, that one can find in 5 minutes with google and youtube if one only looks for it. It was not debunked as falsly claimed by the NYT and others, because there are facts -- not opinions, like in the case surrounding Trump's impeachment.
The NYT is covering for Biden and the Democrats. It is not an independent news outlet. The article on Biden today is closed to comments and most of the incriminating facts are not mentioned, let alone debunked.
What the Democrats have done in Ukraine is much more corrupt than anything Trump has done. But their media outlets prefer to keep their heads buried in the sand and direct ALL their curiosity toward Trump.
Anderson Cooper admitted on CNN to not reading the book Secret Empires that details, with irrefutable facts and proof, Biden's corruption in Ukraine and China. How can you cover the biggest story of the day if you refuse to read of any fact that goes against your narrative?
3
Yet another example of helpful clarity and perspective in these days of turmoil and obfuscation that have rightly earned the Times a near doubling of its subscription base. I thank you.
2
The inexcusable behavior here is treason, asking a foreign power to interfere in our democratic process
4
You missed the latest and maybe last reason for Republicans not to vote to Impeach. Fox News reported last week what they called the Republican “safe landing place” - “well, it is just too close to the Nov 2020 election, so we should wait and let the people decide”
2
Trump's defenders' arguments all boil down to one sentence: "Who you gonna believe, me or your lying eyes?"
3
It is called the elephant defence. There is an elephant in the room. What elephant? There is no elephant in the room. Just deny the overwhelmingly obvious again and again.And according to Trump it will go away and never was anyway.Are Trump supporters that gullible? Surely not.
4
The other part of this is Trump's, as usual, working on behalf of Putin and trying to shift the truth of Russian's attack on our democracy on behalf of Trump to a lie that it was Ukraine.
5
I'm 70 years old and was first allowed to vote when I turned 21. I remember the day that John F Kennedy was assassinated. The whole country was devastation whether Republican or Democrat. Now, if a Democratic President were assassinated the Republicans would throw the largest block party in history. Trump and the Republican Party are the most corrupt Government in my lifetime. I used to think it was Richard "I am not a crook" Nixon but Nixon was a saint ten times over compared to the Trump Administration and the current Republican Party. Simply put, they are all anti-American fascist self serving crooks.
4
Good summary.
2
I wonder if Vegas is setting odds on who will get thrown under the bus next? Giuliani? Mulvaney? Pompeo? All of the above? Who will be next to hear the famous words: "I hardly knew the guy"...
5
Who is the Repub party? The heart of it is the party of the Confederacy. It doesn’t care about the rule of law or the US Constitution or the USA itself. It is fixed on maintaining white control only. Trump is it’s agent.
2
It is not just the White House that denies there was a quid pro quo. The Ukrainians say they never perceived any connection between Trump request for a favor and the military aid package.
Ukrainian President Zelensky has repeatedly said there was no pressure and no blackmail. He also says that at the time of the July 25 phone call he was unaware that the United States had put a hold on the aid package
A senior Ukrainian official told Time Magazine that Ukraine did not see Trump’s request as linked to the release of military aid. The magazine reported that the official, who took part in the July 25 phone call between Trump and Zelensky, said, ‘I’m telling you – no, there was no such connection.” According to Time, “the official was adamant that the Zelensky administration, which took office in May, did not interpret Trump’s requests as a form of blackmail aimed at releasing U.S. aid money in exchange for help with investigations of Biden. “
According to Time, the official said when they learn about the hold, Zelensky and his staff suspected the White House had frozen the aid package due to concerns over the purposed sales of a Ukrainian company that produces missile and jet engines to China. The United States had urged Zelensky to stop the sale on national security grounds.
https://time.com/5686788/ukraine-no-connection-aid-biden/
2
... and, shame on Nicki Haley too for pandering to Trump's ego. Shame on her too for not seeing the Quid Pro Quo. Shame on her too for defending him on the "go back to your countries" comment.
5
@Abhilash she is a disgrace to the valiant truth upholding Sikh faith.
3
Mr. Trump's incessant lies function as a type of fog machine deployed to obscure observable reality and provide his supporters one straw after another to desperately grasp.
His pathetic tirades with the helicopter running in the background, particularly his body language, as his hands subconsciously attempt to deflect unwanted facts, are painful to watch....knowing that this man and his odious displays represent America to the rest of the planet.
4
Trump is a malignant bad egg, wrecking our country and institutions. The level of corruption ineptitude, and absolutely vile mean-spiritedness is unmatched. When there is a cancer it needs to be removed before it becomes fatal. So, I, and nearly everyone I know, is hoping that the Republican Senators come to their senses (and oath!) and vote (if impeached in the house, the Senate determines if he'll be removed from office or not) to remove this man from his post.
3
Weaving about the internet is a poem.
Cannot find attribution but it SO applies here, as a mirror of the The Donald's "defense" of himself.
---
A Narcissist's Prayer
That didn't happen.
And if it did, it wasn't that bad.
And if it was, that's not a big deal.
And if it is, that's not my fault.
And if it was, I didn't mean it.
And if I did...
You deserved it.
3
There should be no excuse for bribery and extortion, for undermining our National Security and Ukraine’s by withholding vital military aide to gain personnel political advantage from a foreign nation. Shame on the feckless Republican Party for denying that truth with marketing malarkey. They are just like their leader Trump without conscience, without honor, without any commitment to their oath of office and the Constitution. They have chosen power, party, and partisanship over their country and the truth.
They deserve to be voted out of office for their cowardice and have become co-conspirators with their Trump in this scandal. Shame on all of them!
3
Since there hasn't been anything even close to a trial, where witnesses give testimony and are then cross-examined, how do the NYT come to its conclusion? Aren't defender allowed to call witnesses? Isn't the presumption of innocence alive in the USA anymore? I have read many of the transcripts of the testimonies held behind closed doors. All of them actually support the President's case. Why is the editorial board of the NYT not waiting for all the facts to be heard before condemning the President?
2
It is a psychological truth that people in their anger, fear and angst forget what they say. So is this the "new norm" that Trump and his weak-kneed Republican indentured servants are counting on - that we the people will also forget about human dignity, goodness, and honesty?
They are rats in the corner, pathetically gnawing on their own tongues.
3
I enjoyed the following statement made by former Ukrainian foreign minister, Pavlo Klimkin, when he made it clear that Ukrainian officials were very aware that US assistance was contingent upon doing political favors for Trump--regardless of assurances from Trump supporters that they shouldn’t have taken it that way:
“We are not idiots, or at least not all of us.”
Oh, if I could only say the same for Americans.
4
The crime is extortion. Say it. Write it.
6
In the article "What Biden did in Ukraine," which is conveniently not open for comments and seems written by the DNC and Biden's defense lawyer there is this sentence:
"Mr. Giuliani has claimed, without evidence, that Mr. Biden’s push to oust Mr. Shokin was an attempt to block scrutiny of his son’s actions."
How without evidence? The top [iece of evidence is the affidavit of Shokin.
Reading that article it is clear that Joe Biden said one thing to the Ukrainians about corruption and did the exact opposite in private.
To be credible and not partisan, before saying that anything about Biden has been debunked, the NYT should address every item in Glenn Bleck's charges of what has happened actually in Ukraine with the Bidens, which is on YouTube, and millions watched it.
2
I don't pretend to know how long the absurdity will last, but it's all so depressingly frustrating to watch grown men quiver and tell one bald-faced lie after another.
As for that wimpy Lindsey Graham, he's the most outright phoney power hungry punk in the Senate. Thank you South Carolina for Fort Sumpter and Trumpster Lindsey.
2
I'm starting to think that Trump is actually a successful "Manchurian Candidate." He's doing everything in his power to push Russian interests. He is dismantling the building blocks of American democracy right before our eyes, and the Republicans are willing participants.
He's destroying any faith the public has in it's own government, calling Democrats far-left socialists, devalued newspapers and journalism, and seemingly devalued the Constitution itself. At least 35% of Americans seem too stupid or lazy to understand the news, albeit proclaimed "fake" by the Russian Stooge.
And under the black veil of "patriotism" they seem to be the ones supporting un-American activities: anti-Semitism, anti-immigrant, white-supremist and rascist rhetoric. Or are those the values that they believe to be most "American"?
2
Donald Trump is a bad Orwellian character. By assaulting the most sacred thing known to humankind – the truth, and with it a sense of conscience, he thinks he can be the “winner“ of all things. He and his odious Attorney General try to use spin” as a euphemism for outright lying, and the president will invariably attack others for qualities that he himself possesses in great abundance.
We are witnessing with Trump the greatest of Faustian bargains , and while many mundane minded politician will say that it doesn’t matter if you gain the world and lose your soul, what does matter is the damage that is inadvertently done to over 300 million people and the democracy within which they live.
It then becomes the responsibility of the press and of citizens who still possess a conscience to continue to call out this fraud which is Donald Trump at every single step of the way. Trump
may still proclaim the New York Times and the Washington Post as “fake news“, but deep down within whatever sound mind he has left , he knows this is as real as it gets.
And when he and his Republican lapdogs in the Senate try to turn Donald Trump into a victim, they should understand that there are all too many viable reasons why the majority of Americans cannot stand the sight or the sound of him.
4
We have yet to see the real (unredacted) Mueller report which AG Barr is sitting on. We can't see the real (full) transcript of the trump call with the Ukraine president because it's been hidden away in a top security data base. This a cover up perpetrated by the trump administration which is a violation of the "separation of powers" construct of our constitutional government. Congressional investigative power is being deliberately subverted ... which is carte blanche corruption, no question!
3
Trump, his family, friends, supporters, sycophants, the GOP, Lindsey Graham, Rand Paul, Hannity, John Soloman and all the other blatant liars who bizarrely support Trump are flat out gaslighting the whole country. Too much is being written to try to understand Trump and describe what is happening. The simple fact is if Trump and the rest his shameless gang are talking it is obvious to assume they are lying. Why even bother to give them any more oxygen?
2
The cascade of evasions, slurs, deflections, whataboutisms, innuendos and outright lies currently coming from Republicans leaves me breathless and shaking with anger. Donald Trump and the Republicans are seeking to pervert the constitutional foundations of our democracy. If they succeed, our almost 250 year old American experiment will be over and we will take our place in history as a once-free society now in the hands of liars, criminals and oligarchs, with a puppet judiciary serving to give them a thin veneer of legality in which to practice open venality.
3
Lindsey Graham, February 2016: "I'm not going to try to get into the mind of Donald Trump because I don't think there's a whole lot of space there. I think he's a kook. I think he's crazy. I think he's unfit for office."
You don’t go from this statement to his current, lame defenses of a corrupt madman without a reason. One can only imagine that Trump has some serious dirt on him.
2
Reading that laundry list of increasingly absurd "defenses" should not fool anyone.
And yet, millions are fooled. This is Orwell's "memory hole" on steroids, and I submit that politicians and their enablers now make use of it knowingly, and with impunity.
At some level, we, the people, are to blame. So busy scrolling through social media, putting unseemly amounts of attention and emotional intensity on sports, mesmerizing ourselves nightly with entertainment....
And that, now that I think of it, is straight out of Huxley's "Brave New World" and Bradbury's "Fahrenheit 451."
Orwell, Huxley, Bradbury, Atwood. The dystopians had us pegged.
3
The attempted defense I'm amazed at comes from Trump supporters who claim that Rudy's extortion racket should be dismissed as a mere "policy difference".
1
Making nice nice to trump is like the old story of making nice nice to a rattlesnake. It's in a rattlesnakes DNA to bite and kill what he thinks will harm him. And so be it with Trump. His fumbling the words of our Anthem says it all. A third of the country picked the most unfit President ever.
4
This article points out the core of the demagogue: attach unthinking people to yourself instead of our Constitution and have them prove “loyalty” by requiring their support no matter how absurd, how dishonest or contradictory. Propaganda helps.
Time is Up for this ridiculous requirement from Trump and the corrupt GOP. American citizens are not required to support a lunatic. Ever.
2
All the supposed reasons given by Trump and his keystone kops korp of kleptos, kourtiers, kranks and koo-koo birds just clarify the reasons for impeachment and/or removal from office (impeachment conviction or voting out of office).
What is in the kook-aid drunk by his supporters? I’m a moderate who has voted Republican for often than not, and I just don’t get the current, sustainabed support.
3
The GOP is not authentic in their defense of the president. They will never recognize his lies which they choose to replicate. Why? Because they will not surrender to the outcome by admitting Trump’s malfeasance. Thirdly, they will not do the hard work of reconciling the error in Trump’s misconduct which is supported by the GOP toadies in Congress. They are all corrupt.
2
These are small , petty, selfish men who give no thought to the values of our country.Yesterday, as a prelude to Veterans Day I visited the National Battlefield at Gettysburg.It is a beautiful , solemn place filled with memorials to thousands of patriots who fought and died for our country.It put it all in perspective-the men memorialized there are giants-true defenders of our country.The men you describe are not worthy of the sacrifices many veterans have made-they should hang their heads in shame!
3
Marsha Blackburn is my senator, and she wrote an op ed on Fox News about the impeachment, calling it "a revenge scheme orchestrated by a fallen political party." The highest rated comment afterwards says:
"If there ever is a time and reason to value your second amendment -- that time is NOW!
It is your final recourse if these corrupt and evil DEMS managed to cheat and regain control of the country through illegal and underhanded tactics. They are doing it 24x7 and they don't care.
These domestic terrorist are the true enemies of the United States and they will be stopped in 2020!
God protect the President and God restore law and order in these United States!"
Tell me, what hope is there left for this country?
2
This article is a nearly complete summary, but the author left out the part where Trump has repeatedly tried to reduce funding for anti-corruption efforts in Ukraine and other countries.
3
The only people being disoriented are the Trump base and his own enablers in the GOP.
Let me clear NYT:
We the people who are against Trump are not disoriented.
3
There is no need to waste time speculating on impeachment. Trump is guilty, his ignorant and increasingly hostile base doesn’t care, he will be acquitted in the Senate by ideologies and cowards, and unless the Democrats vote like they did for president Obama, Trump wins.
2
I agree, STOP calling it quid pro quo. It is extortion and we are not children, we recognize it. Juries do every day.
Trump talks like a mobster and we all need to see that. He thinks that by not saying "or else" no one will make the connection.
It is disgusting. I can't imagine what history will write of this time.
2
The GOP, a minority party, has control of our federal government, even though it badly lost the popular vote for president in 2016. Would you expect Republicans to act morally and justly, when their Leader is a sociopathic demagogue who wants, very badly, to be a dictator? The Leader sets an example for all of his party members, and the GOP Leader does nothing but lie and cheat. Does anyone expect Republicans to do anything but weasel out of their responsibility to protect the Constitution from him? To anyone who might have that expectation I would simply say, Get Over It.
2
The socialist opposition digs the laugh-folly onto themselves deeper and deeper every day ... .. digging your own graves
what well a planned political suicide .. bang and fall in ...
no worry after .. the President's people will cover you over with
gracious and grateful competency.
Had these charges been set forth and substantiated against the Obama administration, the GOP Senate would have already voted at this point and be pushing for treason charges. Anyone who disputes this is living in an alternate reality where lies are believed more than documented truth. Oh wait...that's where we are now. Unfortunately.
3
They are not "disorienting defenses". They are continued criminal actions by a brazenly lawless con man used to gangster methods.
3
The challenge is not to report the facts, but to have minds open to those facts. The efforts of our Liar-in-chief and his lying minions are geared not to argue the facts or law--it is to confuse, obfuscate, misdirect and cover up, which is relatively easy to do when 40 percent of the country refuse to let their preconceived notions get challenged.
1
It's intriguing to imagine how the Ukraine Caper was
hatched, the earliest moments...
Trump: "Rudy, ol' pal, you know I'm cooked on more than
one front if I don't get re-elected, the limitation statutes, all that, even though I HATE this silly job".
Rudy: "Yeah, buddy. Let's get creative. I'm ready.
Gotta be dirt mining on Biden somewhere, eh?. You KNOW
I'm really good at this stuff.
Trump: Oh, yeah, yes you ARE good, my friend, and I think I've got some leverage. So listen to this"...........
1
Most corrupt administration in history.
The USA deserves better
3
The right-wing propaganda machine will go into overdrive on this. No quid pro quo! No conspiracy! No malfeasance! Just a leftist conspiracy, a witchhunt! Let's see if they can sell it. Tragically, they just might.
2
Trump is a symptom. He learned his disinformation, disruption techniques from Roy Cohn, who got them from J Edgar Hoover. Nixon, with CIA contractors, Bush (from the CIA)/Reagan and Cheney/Bush did all of this and more, and got away with it all with impunity...with Barr's help no less (a former CIA lawyer). No reason for Trump to think he will not retire to Mar-a-lago after a second term in which he pardons self and all others, or that Don Jr. will not be President in 2028 or 2032.
I hear all the time impeachment is inherently a "political" issue. That impeachment and removal is nullifying an election. That we should allow the voters to decide who their president is or will be.
The problem is that three million more people didn't want Trump to be president.
As one of those three million, my only comfort is knowing congressional Republicans still have to look in the mirror every night, fully aware of the damage they have done to our country by ignoring clear and damning evidence , and how harshly history will judge them for doing so.
2
I'm reminded of the words of the late great Chico Marx. "Who ya gonna believe, me or your own eyes?"
1
few cult members will entertain adverse information about their Leader when they know to do so will get them ejected from the comforts of the cult. Reason i a weak tool against self-dentifictaion wih the team. it's amob-membership mweentlity Patriots fans didn't entertain the possibility that Brady had his minions deflate the game balls sin "deflate-gate". Republicans are quintessentilaly a cult now incapable of doubt, resistent to logic, and willfully blind to evidence. They won't read this piece.
1
Haven't they circled around yet again to say that they are all for an impeachment enquiry but only so long as it focuses on what is really important that being the isn't Hunter Biden a bit dodgy signing onto the gas company only because he shares he's father's name, and weren't a few Ukrainians not in love with the idea of Donald Trump becoming president, and wasn't there something about Pizzagate? These are the questions that must be answered!
The Republicans in Congress have no excuses for supporting this president other than hoping to keep their jobs. I hope the people are listening.
Trumpism means corruption. Think his charity, his thousands of lawsuits, his fake university, his not paying his contractors, paying off women to keep silent, not paying his fair share of taxes,demonizing illegals while hiring them at his golf resorts, etc. The guy is a crook.
Plain and simple.
3
Republicans can continue to stew in their ignorance, resentment and spite. I don’t care. Democrats and Independents need to rid us of this pestilence, the sooner the better.
3
And even more disturbing is the fact that Barr has some sort of conspired media bomb he is going to drop on the hearings, based on his travels around the world that reports say will discredit the Mueller investigation and the FBI who worked on the initial Russia interference in an effort to change the narrative. Expect to hear “The Trump campaign never contacted Russians, George Papadopolous was a set-up by the CIA, Ukraine hacked the DNC and Secretary Clinton conspired with them to make it appear like Russia was the hacker, etc, etc.”. He is expected to combine the Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s report with his “own”. I wonder if he also got some of his “reports” from Giuliani who, come to find out, worked with Parnas, who worked for Firtash, a corrupt Ukrainian oligarch who reports have tied him to Russian mobsters. It’s all so mind boggling. I just miss the days when our country was normal and one could trust the POTUS and Attorney General.
Please stop using the Trump talking point quid pro quo. It was extortion and bribery. The mass media is so lazy. Watergate was a third rate burglary. Has anyone being sentenced for burglary really said to the court, but judge it wasn't so bad it was only third rate. Usually the court gives you more time for lack of remorse.
2
Who better to "reject evidence before their eyes" than Trump's base: bigots, conspiracy fanatics and, most of all, evangelicals?
1
If you go into a bank, hand the teller a threatening note demanding money but do not succeed (the teller faints, the teller ducks, the police respond and you run out the back door, whatever) you are still guilty of a crime. What is so different, so diffulculy or so hard to understand between that scenario and what is currently going on in Washington?
3
Wife catches man in bed with another woman.
Man asks "who are you going to believe, me or your eyes?"
2
Think back to January 20, 2017 when Tump claimed he had a larger crowd than Obama. This was the beginning of don't believe your lying eyes. His supporters will back him no matter what he does because they only believe what he says and fact has no meaning. Trump has a lot of faults but his ability to brainwash millions of people is impressive.
2
Editorial Board: QUESTION!!!
What is this in the editorial about "theft of the Democratic National Committee server"? I see nothing anywhere that says a server was stolen. A server is hardware. Emails were stolen from a server.
I am very confused. Trump claims the server (hardware) may be in Ukraine. No evidence I have seen anywhere suggests any actual peculiarity about the server. Presumably it is still with the DNC where it always was.
1
It’s now obvious that you can be a Trump supporter or an American patriot but you can’t be both.
3
Not going to fly, Republicans. You set the bar for this kind of thing. You investigated everything and anything until you found yourself a crime—lying to Congress about a sex act between adults. A married man lied about sex with someone not his wife. Not something very rare, as Gingrich and Livingston discovered.
2
Talk about ignoring the evidence before one's eyes. The media and Dems are ignoring that there was a multi million dollar payoff to Joe Biden's son, Hunter.
As the 33 letter writers stated in yesterday's Times, it's not "quid pro quo," but extortion. Time for the Times to change the terminology.
3
Last night one of the news channels showed excerpts from Russian TV, in which commenters cheerfully gloated that Trump’s presidency was brought about by Russia and continues to weaken America. Putin’s craft is demonstrated by his ability to use Trump’s insecurity about the 2016 election (and probably also financial information about Trump and his relationship to Russian oligarchs) to work against Ukraine. If Trump can be convinced Ukraine hacked the 2016 election against hm, he can lift sanctions on Russia, and Trump can justify not supporting Ukraine. Putin wins again.
7
The GOP got into this mess by degrees. They defended Trump over all the tweets and insults by saying that's just how Trump is and that people needed to look beyond that because he was making America great again. America has always been great. We are the leaders in so many ways. Now the GOP has defended Trump over so many issues and has fallen prey to the worse people among us. Nationalists, deniers of science and misogynists, and so-called southern Christians (in name only). Too late for the GOP now. They have made their bed with Trump in it and will now suffer the consequences at the polls and in the courts until his stench wears off. It didn't have to be like this either. Just a little integrity and willingness to honor their oaths of office would have gone a long way in the people's mind. Too late now.
14
To this I say: it worked once, so why wouldn't it work again.
Though, they actually won't need it to this time. They simply won't vacate the office.
3
@Iain You're not alone in saying Trump won't vacate the office in January 2021 should he lose the next election — but I find this notion absurd. There's simply no way powers-that-be in the military, business, the clergy et al won't intervene and tell him in no uncertain terms he has no choice. Failing that, swarms of Americans could storm the castle gates and throw this fake-from day-one 'president' straight into the dustbin of history.
2
Thank you for outlining the arguments that attempt to discredit the impeachment inquiry made by several Republicans and the actual events as they have happened.
Like many following this story I've been confused and amazed at the Republican response to the impeachment inquiry. Confusion is their strategy probably, and frankly bizarre responses have been known to gain ground during this President's tenure.
Stay the course and don't allow misinformation to distract and confuse--the truth will out.
11
These current affairs are the result of having a two-party system in governing the entire US. It is much the same in two large corporations aligning themselves to evolve into a monopoly. For sure the GOP senate will not remove this disgraceful president from office, but the DEMS are partially to blame for this outcome too. There has been no "reaching across the aisle" business being done and both sides have obviously agreed to this. We live in a corporate monopoly and the rules are written behind closed doors.
5
@sharon pendleton Have you forgotten that during the Obama administration, that all attempts by the House to submit bipartisan bills were rebuffed, and that Moscow Mich declared his sole objective was to thwart Obama and the Democrats?? Then there is the matter of the disallowed Supreme Court nomination by a lawfully elected president....if the reaching across the aisle is not evident, you can only be slapped down for so long before you stop trying. Even dogs understand this...
3
Recently Trumps lawyers were saying he can shoot some one and not go to jail. Trump is so arrogant and the supporters they honestly believe he and they are above the law. We know this Ukraine phone call with all the witnesses listening and trained CIA witness said this was treason and Trump demanded an investigation into Mr Biden. Trump is guilty and less of a outcome will just go to show the American people the GOP are all about saving their party and not about America and justice.
7
If only the secret weapon could be found to cause the GOP to be Americans, and for the white man with a high school education to see the truth. The polls would move and this man would be impeached, which is absolutely necessary to restore sanity to our country.
11
This has been his MO. Since day one on the escalator. Why are we surprised at all?
5
"There was no quid pro quo."
"How could it have been a quid pro quo if the Ukrainians didn’t know about it?"
"It was a quid pro quo. But so what? This happens all the time."
Etc.
Thank you NYT for not pandering to the request of the 33 writers in a Letter to the Editor to refrain from using difficult (sic!) phrases like "quid pro quo" "that people don't understand" or that "underplays" (!?) the situation.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/08/opinion/letters/quid-pro-quo.html
The intelligence of readers should be respected even if not all are at the intellectual level of said keepers of reading comprehension.
9
Nikk Halley has offered an addendum to "these are not impeachable events" defense with little tidy variant "Yes, the aid was (illegally,) held up by DJT and yes DJT did ask Zelensky to open investigations into Cloudstrike and the Bidens but... No investigation occurred and Ukraine eventually got the aid". Call it the nothing-burger defense for abuse of power. If you attempt to abuse your authority and you fail well let's call that something less sinister than abuse of power. Call DJT and Co stupid, reckless but do not call them to account in impeachment or convict DJT at the Senate trial. Apparently, Nikki Haley has a transactional view of the world aligned nicely with DJT.
14
What is the penalty for breaking your oath to defend the Constitution as a Senator?
12
The Democratic Party wrongly believes that America is still the British colony.
The DNC believes that a British citizen, the one that created the Steele Dossier, has the right to demand the US government to start the criminal investigation of the American presidential candidate, but that the US president don’t have the same right…
@Kenan Porobic
The Democrats in office are not toadying up to a Lunatic King.
As far as Britain goes, at least they have universal healthcare, which was advocated by a real conservative named Winston S. Churchill.
And speaking of the Rule of Law, a COURT OF LAW just recently deemed Trump GUILTY - as well as his offspring - who defrauded people donating to the Trump Foundation charity.
So if you're really concerned about respect for our country's laws, you should maybe try showing some respect for our House of Representatives in the Democratic party.
3
OMG
All the republican talking points are ridiculous. Trump withheld aid to Ukraine so that they would investigate his political rival. He used public funds as the bribe. Seriously, this is not hard to understand or believe.
10
NYT should,in my opinion,move away from the gratuitous use of the quid pro quo argument.
The US-Ukraine exchange-s are extortion ,non-reciprocal and non-consensual.
7
Time for the spigot of lies from Trump and the Republican Party to cease and desist. The continued support by Republican legislators of Trump (and his Middle East consultant Putin) is shameful; no outrageous and frightening. Republicans are using lies to protect a president who fails to abide by our Constitution.
7
Time to defund PBS; it only wants to show concerts anyway.
Why?
Former PBS host Bill Moyers tells CNN he fears for the United States, "for the first time, because a society, a democracy, can die of too many lies. And we're getting close to that terminal moment, unless we reverse the obsession with lies that are being fed around the country."
Moyers and colleague Michael Winship bought a full page ad in the New York Times urging PBS to rebroadcast the impeachment hearings in prime time. Hearings begin Wednesday.
PBS rebuffed their request
4
@David Henry
Bill Moyers = American hero.
Donald Trump = UnAmerican ZERO.
4
He's learned to just keep moving, lying, stealing, using people with no thought about anything else. Just move; towards more money and power. He's the little boy that cried wolf, elected by the scared and self-pitying 'forgotten'. But, he's the reason the workers are 'forgotten'. He's the example of the rich, bullying, vain, greedy traitor. He could care less about America or Russia or Ukraine. He wants 'his'. He's shameful, and we are for electing him.
Climate catastrophe and inequality/wealth concentration are eating us up, killing us, reducing our divine spirits. Our bad, our fault. So, Trump be gone; but then, so much to do. And, as of yet, we've not been prepared to do so. Wherefore art thou, honor, courage, compassion, America?
6
This should be required reading for all Americans. Nice job NYTimes Editorial Board!
9
The defenses are only disorienting if we haven't already learned that Trump and his minions are dishonest.
5
All of this noise caused by Trump and his pathetic enablers is obviously part of a planned and coordinated effort. That effort is also linked to the destabilization of NATO, the European Union and our relations with our allies. When will the media and real patriots put this all together and sound the alarm that this is clearly an existential threat to all that we hold dear emanating from none other than Vladimir Putin.
7
What the president of the United States attempted was two crimes—bribery and extortion.
In the Constitution, the founders specified bribery as an impeachable high crime and misdemeanor.
Quid pro quo does not adequately and accurately describe the crime Trump attempted.
Let’s top permitting Republican propaganda about what Trump did and their labeling of it—their attempts to misdirect and misinform.
What Trump and his mob attempted was bribery and extortion, plain and simple.
If it walks and talks like a duck...
7
What is impeachable is the underlying agenda for Trump’s clumsy ‘deal making.’ He has been serving Putin’s agenda for 30 years, Fed disinformation, attacking NATO, handing over Syria and trying to prove a Ukraine meddled for Hillary instead of the truth.
Maybe Trump believes what Putin tells him or maybe his tax returns reveal the real leverage Putin has.
Whatever the mechanism, Trump is self-serving and betrays America’s national interest.
Impeachable.
6
The entire Keystone Cops aura of the GOP defense of President Trump's intent to pressure President Zelensky of Ukraine to concoct a corruption scheme on behalf of Joe Biden reminds me of what the wealthy popular high school athlete's defense is when accused of raping a poor unpopular high school girl. First, denial, second, smear the girl's reputation to remove the focus off the accused rapist, third, blame other guys for the rape who are as unpopular as the female victim, fourth, blame all people who defend her (even with incriminating evidence & first hand testimony proving he was the rapist) as part of a cabal who are out to get him.
Let's face it, most of the high school consists of C grade students who just go along with the crowd. Most don't bother to read the transcripts of the first hand accounts proving that the popular boy did the crime. Most of the C or lower students only believe the statements issued by the student body which just so happens to be comprised of rich popular friends of the boy accused of the rape. Lastly, people in positions of power, like the Supreme Court, majority of the Senate, right wing media, etc. are friends/neighbors of the accused & don't want to witness their upstanding neighbor's son get sent to prison as this would rock the boat of the present status quo that works so well for all involved. Besides, there are so many poor girls who have "questionable sexual mores" that this girl must be in the wrong. So it goes with "adult" society.
6
Great analysis, but too bad the folks who want 4 more years of this garbage will not bother to read it, and Fox and the others in the echo chamber will repeat the lies so loudly that he'll be back in the oval office.
Get out the vote, Dems, in Ohio, Florida, Michigan, and Wisconsin. Otherwise we are doomed to more of this nightmare.
6
To me the absolute worst thing Trump has done is use his charitable foundation as a family ATM and cheat Iowa veterans out of funds he allegedly raised on their behalf. If that doesn’t tell you all you need to know about the dishonorable man we have in the White House I don’t know what does. I have yet to hear him try to defend himself in those cases. Why? Because this is one time lying won’t work. And still Republicans seem to think he is worth defending and protecting instead of the Constitution. God help us.
7
@GK
Do you also remember how he put children, and toddlers still in diapers, in fenced, chain-linked cages? These are their formative years. I will never forgive him for this, and for those who still support him after it. This is horrendous. This is a break down of civility. This should have been the last straw.
1
I'm waiting for Trump to defend himself by insisting that he only did what he felt he had to do to win in 2020, and that he did it because Americans hate losers. I expect I won't have to wait very long.
3
Ultimately, the point will be reached when we all stand before something black, and Mr Trump will say that it's white.
This cannot endure.
3
What a perfect outline of recent events. It IS confusing to follow every little turn and switch back this embarrassing administration embarks on. Especially Lindsey Graham. McConnell is clearly only out for his political future...but he is politically savvy. Graham is just an embarrassing sycophant.
3
I thought Niki Haley may have been one of the normal ones that saw through Trump. Wrong again!
6
@karen nothing but politics. Ugly politics and Nikki is a player. Her religion emphasizes that truth is uppermost but she ain’t showing any signs of paying heed to the holy book, Granth Sahib.
3
@Karen
One by one, we learn the hard way: Republicans are corrupt.
Evidence, so far, points to no exceptions to the rule.
4
I am not disorientated, I am weary of trying to figure out what Trump supporters see that I cannot see. From day one I saw a grifter, a misogynist, a liar, and a bigot. He revealed himself early and in plain view so there was no mystery to be solved. Yet, they cheer for him at his rallies and see a great man standing in their midst.
He is far easier to figure out than the people who support him.
8
Silly Trump. He could just have retained Comey who would make an announcement about an investigation of the Democrats 2020 nominee about ten days before the election.
1
The first thing we need to understand is that Donald Trump is a very psychologically and emotionally damaged, and dangerous person with a low IQ.
When Donald Trump speaks it is his Illnesses speaking. There is no sane Donald Trump, there is only the very sick Donald Trump.
Every single word that he speaks is a manipulation to keep people away from seeing the insanity inside. He counts on intimidation, obfuscation, keeping people confused, turning on each other, and questioning their own sanity. He thrives on chaos and distraction.
Words are weapons to Donald Trump. They are tools of destruction and self preservation.
Only the survival of Donald Trump matters. Nothing else matters.
Donald Trump is a time bomb. When his barricades are broken through, he is going to explode.
8
Call it what it - lies. It is so much worse than disorientation and the republicans all know it.
3
Lindsey Graham continues to dissemble and embarrass himself and the entire state of South Carolina with his inane rants in public. Yesterday, it was on Fox News’ Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo, where he said, “When you find out who the whistleblower is you will find out it’s somebody from the Deep State and had interactions with Schiff and this thing’s going to stink to high heaven.”
Senator Graham, the only thing that stinks to high heaven right now is you, sir.
7
I am so tired of fighting the GOP for the obvious, for the basics such as health, water, air, education & housing, and now we have to fight--again, our fellow citizens--for the simple truth, for plain old justice. Members of the GOP have lost their minds, their hearts, and their souls to stupid conspiracy theories and to vile men so utterly worthless, they won't distinguish obvious wrong from right if it threatens their perverted hold on power. We do not live in the same country. Decent people will never vote for Republicans.
3
We heard before with Nixon "i am not a crook" . This time we have a president who is a multi crook. Dishonesty is in his ADN. Morality is a virtue which totally escapes him. Judgment day is approaching and as a human being a lot of people would like to see him pay for his crimes once in his life. Be impeachment, tax or real estate frauds, who cares !
2
That last point, questioning the loyalty of Col. Vindman because of his Ukrainian origins got me thinking. Melania was born in Slovenia and she, unlike Col. Vindman, spent her formative years there. One has to wonder if her loyalties are divided or even if she is a Slovenian asset bedded (sic) in the White House. Can it be a coincidence that Prof. Mifsud was President of the Euro-Mediterranean University of Slovenia?
1
Three years of Chaos in Trump White House as well as incompetence ,lies and coruptions are symptoms of bigger problems in today's America.
It is mass of uneducated and uninformed people who are easily manipulated by politicians.
5
The President has turned into a Bond villain - but without the brain power. His enablers (step forward Republican Party) will one day say it had nothing to do with them. Shame on them.
5
Thank you so much, NYT!
Also, we must not forget the loathsome Lev an Igor, from
whom we should hear much more before they disappear,
having been "done in," or exported themselves.
In any case - their citizenship should be canceled.
Now! Surely, they have violated whatever oath they must
have taken to qualify for citizenship.
4
It is terrifying that we seem to be living in the dystopian novel “1984.”
3
You forgot another Trump defense: I didn't do it and besides, it was an accident.
3
A conspiracy theory government cannot lead a once great nation.
The sands of time can never hide facts and the truth.
There is room in the ash can of history for America the country that self destructed.
2
Apparently no one in the Republican party has ever heard of the crime of extortion, otherwise known as "do this for me or else I am going to really mess you up".
3
"...and there is no truth outside the Gates of Eden'"
B. Dylan circa 1970
Didn’t Donald Trump want to buy Greenland?
I think he should be allowed to do so. Then we can send him, all his administrative and Congressional sycophants, and his “base” there to start a new country: Trumplandia. Sort of what Jim Jones did in Guyana.
Russia can support it, and Americans can then get back to some semblance of normalcy.
And democracy.
4
Poor Greenland.
2
The one good thing about trump's many defenses is that if you don't like the one today you only have to wait 24 hours before he floats another one. Maybe that one you can get behind.
3
The basic problem here is that editorials and factual articles about this criminal president and his Extortion, Solicitation of Bribery, Abuse of Power and Obstruction of Justice are not reaching the people who need to read them.
4
The other day, the NYT published a letter from about 35 writers who stated that the term "quid quo pro" should be replaced with either "bribery" or "extortion." They reasoned that "quid quo pro" simply means "tit for tat" without the obvious connotation of being illegal. In fact, clearly this president was orchestrating an extortion plan for his personal benefit.
Listen to the writers, NYT. Call it extortion. It's simpler, it's more understandable by more Americans, and it's accurate.
6
There is only one word that applies to freezing of government funds for the purposes of personal enrichment: Treason.
Especially if the person extorted is the leader of a foreign nation. That's not only treason, stealing from your country for your own benefit: That's unconstitutional.
The emoluments rule says the President may not accept anything of value from a foreign government - and an "investigation" into a person the president regards not just as an opponent, but an "enemy" makes it even far more valuable.
We know the "investigation" would be phony. The GOP leadership knew about Hunter Biden's job for years - and didn't do anything - because the time-line is wrong.
Ukrainian businessfolk may have thought they were buying something, but all they got was a stale case of Billy Beer.
Joe neither helped nor hindered his son, and it looks "wrong" only until you map out the dates.
The last poster before I wrote insisted "you have to prove motive to prove a conflict of interest", both a fallacy, for we're not talking 'conflict of interest' and motive is obvious - "I might have to run against Biden, make Biden look bad or you do not get the aid the law I signed says you're entitled to, and the Russians will soon add Ukraine back to their empire."
Lastly, remember, the 'deep state' running the nation as elected officials come and go is there to implement legal policies, and to stand up if those elected commit serious serial crimes.
And that's what we have here.
2
The bitter irony of Senator Lindsey Graham twisting himself into knots defending Trump’s betrayal of the US Constitution is what Graham said about Trump in 2016. “I’m not going to try and get into the mind of Donald Trump because I don’t think there’s a whole lot of space there. I think he’s a kook. I think he’s crazy. I think he’s unfit for office.”
In 2019 those words have proven to be true; yet the shameless Graham now degrades himself by kissing the rump of Trump on a daily basis. One cannot defend the indefensible lies of Trump by embracing those lies.
Reporting on Trump’s crimes is not fake news, but the charlatan in the White House is certainly, “unfit for office.”
4
Clearly Lindsey Graham has no shame.
2
They'll believe Trump rather than their lying eyes.
4
To the Editors;
Please save and update this when the trial starts in the Senate. Because now you are only preaching to the choir.
I suspect the Times' and WaPo's readership is pretty well acquainted with the Trump horror story. The real challenge is to get to those who only listen to Fox news and thus have absolutely no idea of what is going on.
Yours, etc.
5
His behavior and that of his enablers reminds one of propagandists in WWII. Scary times for our nation, but the House must do its duty to impeach this corrupt president for his offenses, Trump has laid waste to his oath of office.
1
The Democrats should dare the Republicans to put witnesses under oath to testify to these lies. The Bidens should dare them to do the same for the attempts to smear them.
Psalms 115:4 Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands.
5 They have mouths, but they speak not: eyes have they, but they see not:
6 They have ears, but they hear not: noses have they, but they smell not:
7 They have hands, but they handle not: feet have they, but they walk not: neither speak they through their throat.
8 They that make them are like unto them; so is every one that trusteth in them.
3
Trump is truly the head of the Republican Party. corrupt one and all
3
Senate Republicrooks are not unlike their Kool-Aid drinking "base," who say NOTHING tRump does, including shooting someone on 5th Ave., will cause them to vote against him. He has become above the law. He is the leader of an unholy cult. I think voters will need to decide if this is the kind of country they want, and if not, remove those Republicans from government, top to bottom.
5
A little help here, even if Donald Trump used military aid as a quid pro quo to require Ukraine conduct an investigation of a relative of a political opponent, what law did he break?
Presidents use strings on foreign aid constantly, usually it is part of their authority to conduct foreign policy (it depends on whether the law was written as the president 'shall' or 'may' send foreign aid). That Mexico has to go after the drug cartels in exchange for our aid may be an example.
In this case Trump might have politically benefited from the act but he was not asking Ukraine to do anything illegal, just to confirm a suspicious transaction, why a pro-Russian gas company was paying the son of the Vice-President of the United States $50,000 a month to 'sit on a board'. So what?
Because the target of such a request confers a political benefit on Trump does not make the traget immune from investigation (and in this case that fat salary for no work alone even makes it a reasonable suspicion).
It calls to mind firing Comey, a president's Constitutional authority to hire and fire and otherwise run the federal government does not somehow magically stop when the firing may be politically to president. A president can also replace any envoy or ambassador s/he wants to, the motive is irrelevant.
Ironically this is almost the same reason President Andrew Johnson was impeached, for firing a cabinet member, which the SCOTUS of the era ruled was he absolute prerogative under the Constitution.
3
A fine example of the kind of pretzel logic required to defend this president.
2
The Constitution of the United States of America specifically prohibits the president from that sort of action. What law?!? Only the highest law in the land.
1
The evidence points unequivocally to bribery and extortion and the Times and other mainstream media need to start using that terminology, along with printing the full account of the fraud admitted to by Trump involving the Trump Foundation. Part of the reason the evidence is not getting through is that it is not being described in clear, plain language and with the appropriate level of outrage and attention it deserves. Republicans will continue to distract and deflect— don’t play into that game by just repeating their lies. This editorial is a start but it needs to continue and in stronger, clearer language. Don’t let up. The American people need to see the truth.
6
Seems simple. The factions in and around the govt are operating with two different sets of rules. Dems trying to use rules of law,and constitution vs trumps people doing anything they please in public and office. SLIGHT double standard?
3
"Let’s hope the hearings this week help sort truth from all the many lies." Amen. Our democracy hangs in the balance. Never has the United States and its citizenry been so misled by wholesale propaganda and much of it coming from governments adversarial to us. They are trying to break us from within and Mr. Trump himself is leading the charge. He is treasonous as well as his Republican enablers. I pray every day for justice, truth and peace for our country. And beg all praying people to do the same. God help us.
8
Republicans would not be doing this except for one simple fact. Forty two percent of Americans believe that everything this President does is just fine and if you Congressional Republicans don’t defend him we’ll vote you out!
6
@Vito. Unfortunately this is true. And I’ve noticed the Republicans have recently modified their talking points, so Trump’s actions don’t sound so bad.
1. They realize they can no longer say that Trump didn’t ask a foreign entity to investigate his main political rival. Or that doing that is not bad. Now they’ve started saying “he asked a foreign entity to investigate an AMERICAN (sounds not nearly as bad, and not as clearly illegal as, “try to influence what happens in our domestic election”, which is explicitly forbidden in our Constitution). And they’re saying “o.k., investigating an “American” is not a good thing”, because they can no longer deny it.
2. “Congress is being “arrogant” to have impeachment hearings. People familiar with the Constitution know that it is absolutely their job to do so. But many Trump supporters already think all non-Trump supporters are arrogant, so the word seems completely reasonable to them.
3. The Republicans have already made it clear they’re trying to pull another Merrick Garland, and refuse to resolve the impeachment issue “so that ‘the people’ can decide in the 2020 election.” If Americans are so lame as to let that happen again, rather than rioting in the streets, well, then they get what they deserve.
2
Elections are held to elect a "trust representative of the people." The elected official swears an oath to "uphold the Constitution." The people have faith in a system of government because they believe that their trusted representative will fulfill that oath.
How can we trust representatives who regularly and repeated tell and perpetrate lies? How can any democracy exist in the face of such corruption of the faith of the people? How can a democracy exist if a considerable proportion of its voters refuse to make the effort to educate themselves?
Has the country split into those that want a democracy and those that want a monarchy/dictatorship? Or in other words, have we reverted to the pre-Revolutionary War era? You know that time before we had that "pesky Constitution."
7
Appalling and hysterical to read about the crook in the White House, the liar-in-chief, and view the many cul-de-sacs built into all the news from Ukraine. Again! It's a witch-hunt and read the transcript as though something else from the facts presented will be in the reading (an allusion to Mueller?). The president's own words via telephone and Sondland (now that he's seen the light), Yokanovich, Kent, Taylor, and Vindman testifying that it just ain't so will be in the news for a long time. Lots of GOP'ers who seem to believe that patroitism involves lying. See Kennedy (LA), Meadows (/), and just old fashioned prevaricating, Graham. Bring it on.
4
There's a reason trump loves the ignorant and uneducated.
12
Trump is a lifelong misogynist, grifter, tax shirker and pathological liar who, since he became President, is now also guilty of bribery, extortion and obstruction of justice.
It is very difficult to defend this vile man on so many levels of crime. The Republicans are doing the best they can. With no plausible defense the GOP politicians have decided to just obfuscate and deny the obvious misconduct and corruption of the Executive Branch under Trump.
9
Add to that Putin and his coffers full of stolen oil money that has FaceBook etc salivating. Expect a lot more smoke and mirrors KGB style.
4
We already have the smoking gun.
All these efforts by Republicans are to distract us from the enormous implications of that phone call.
As Nancy Pelosi said of Donald Trump, “all roads lead to Putin”.
Lock him up! Lock him up! Lock him up! Lock him up!
7
"It wasn’t a real quid pro quo because the Trump administration is too disorganized to pull off such a scheme."
So are we talking about a diabolical genius or the man that is too stupid and unqualified to be president?
The longer he is in office, the more I lean to genius. And, I would like to know what the Democrats have to show for their 2018 win.
2
NYT editors already know the identity of anonymous. But since yesterday’s news Nikki Haley might have hinted: either Rex Tillerson firmer Secretary of State or John Kelly former chief of staff, considered themselves more patriotic than a treasonous President who would stop at nothing to get back at those opposed to him. Trump is the most crude rude crass brash vengeful guy to sit in the Oval Office, Nixon pales in front of him. Trump exemplifies to the entire world how awful bitter crafty cunning crooked Americans can be.
6
It’s like no Republican has ever heard the phrase, “don’t shoot the messenger.”
1
Love the illustration with the bandaids. Their colour reminds me of Russia for some reason...
6
“The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.” —George Orwell, 1984
9
The Times Editorial Board has committed itself to destroying the Trump Presidency since the day of his election.
The Editorial Board's strong partisanship has undermined the credibility of the Times as an unbiased news source.
The claim that the "newsroom" is uninfluenced by the Editorial Board's partisanship is disingenuous nonsense.
5
Reporting on the GOP or Trump’s behavior isn’t partisan. It is partisan to refuse to even consider the behavior as incorrect. Some of the GOP doesn’t even deny the behavior was wrong, they merely decry the prosecution of it as wrong or unfair, because it is being pursued by their political opponents. Do they believe only they can police themselves? And they won’t, because then they will lose power? The partisanship of the GOP is sickening. Theirs is the partisanship that is putting party before our Constitution and our country. Admittedly, the Democrats will benefit from the downfall of DJT, but his downfall will also protect our democracy.
4
Jck, it is not biased to report the facts in the face of lies and obfuscation. You want propaganda, watch Fox.
4
@jck
Take it easy there, snowflake.
Do you think Trump had nothing to do with all this?
4
I know what I'm gonna do next November. If the Senate holds Trump not guilty, I will go vote to throw that evil orange monster out of office. And furthermore, I will not vote for any Republican for any office whatsoever.
8
Every action the current occupant of the White House takes is in BENEFIT of Putin. Putin wants to annex the Ukraine, so he withholds the aid package. Putin wants to transfer blame for the 2016 bogus election, he attempts to bait and switch Ukraine for the Russian's attack on our presidential. When will the madness end? Impeachment is long overdue. Get on with it ASAP
All Americans aren't gullible when presented the clear facts.
6
Quid pro quo....Use "bribery" …..will make more sense to the average voter! Wake up Democrats!
3
Biden what about Biden?
Thank-you for articulating the canned arguments that will reverberate in right wing echo chambers.
2
It is simply NOT OK to reject the Constitution. In the case of Trump, he (as has every other President) pledged to uphold the Constitution. Obviously, he is totally incapable of doing that. He must be impeached! He has committed treason!
4
Perhaps the 'pro quo' matters.....
1
Release the Russian/J. Epstein video of Lindsey Graham.
Let us all watch the video. Children excepted.
2
Eds." "appears not to have cared less" would be the correct phrase.
1
Weird that the Kremlin uses the same talking points as the GOP...
5
The big deal. "...release of the aid was contingent on a public announcement of an investigation."
"Mr. Trump appears to have cared less about an actual investigation than a televised announcement of one."
There was no need or intent to actually pursue an investigation!
The birther hoax. The Central Park Five. Benghazi. Her emails. Gold Star& social progressive families. War heroes and Democrat dissing. The power is in the rumors and ranting. Raising your hate rate.
Trump expertly uses rumors that sow division and discord. Rally chants like 'Lock Her Up" and Build The Wall" is his style of fake wrestling large audience rally chants. Holy Railers.
Trump believers sadly maybe lemmings used to install an inept Putin/Trump monarchy, oligarchy, and dictatorship. Fueled by tabloid scandal news. The neo-confederacy. Fox & Fiends.
The big coupe. Trump as a reluctant monarch.
"Mr. Trump “wanted nothing less than President Zelensky to go to the microphone and say investigations, Biden and Clinton.” Mr. Kent said. “As a general principle, I do not believe the U.S. should ask other countries to engage in politically associated investigations and prosecutions.”
The GOOD news is that Trump did not go to the FBI the CIA or other trusted national intel orgs to ask them to fake an investigation for headlines and rally rants. He had no chips to deal with, gamble or trade for provoking a qpq dirty campaign conspiracy using them.
Poor Ukraine and their new President. Forced to grovel.
4
You believe what you want to believe. Besides, the president said it was true. The other side must be lying. Simple, isn't it?
3
After having read what is basically the same editorial at least 6 other times, I have concluded that the NYT editorial board, and most of its readers, will never understand how Trump voters view Trump and his election. I certainly won’t waste my time trying to educate them again. I have posted far too many comments already that clearly have had no impact. It’s like the piece on CNN covering the President’s attendance of the LSU Alabama football game yesterday. The CNN talking heads are literally at a loss for words to explain how the President could receive such a warm welcome. Finally, they explain it as being ‘just a college football game in the South’. You could hear the contempt dripping off their words. People like here at the NYT and at CNN and the isolated liberal urban centers of California, NY and Washington DC were totally shocked when Trump one. They remain ignorant of his appeal and will be shocked yet again in a year when he likely wins re-election. I guess you can take some solace in the fact that ignorance is bliss.
4
We know what drives his supporters. Trump said himself, he loves the uneducated. But I guess he also said , don’t believe what you see and hear . So trumpkins follow orders.
2
I think we reject the so called evidence because it is merely the cherry picked parts of testimony that the democrats leak to the NYT and other msm media outlets.
Nothing “exposed” to date make us believe that President Trump has done anything wrong other than win the Presidency in 2016 which unleashed the lefts constant attempt to undo the election.
The President will perceiver and go on to win re-election in 2020.
2
Republicans should seize this opportunity to rid themselves of Trump and banish the mad king and his court from the White House. I am positive they could find another puppet to fill the post and one that is not an abomination and disgrace to the office.
2
What evidence?
It’s all hocus-pocus. We can all read for ourselves what’s in the transcript of the phone call. It’s a big nothingburger.
To some, it may be the last straw, but what the Democrats have chosen to impeach the president is just a straw.
3
I’m sure you’d feel the same way if a president hrc had used the office of the presidency to extort a foreign leader to announce a bogus investigation into a political rival. Not holding my breath.
2
Trump and the GOP and Fox Nation are asking Americans to Ignore the Evidence before their eyes? You mean like when he stood before Americans and the world and with a straight face and perfect ease.. he apologized and said....that it was all just Locker Room Talk? Or when Barr distorted the Mueller Report...so badly Mueller had to come before Congress to defend and explain his own report? Why would the Trump Train want their devoted followers to ignore the Evidence Before their eyes? Because my fellow Americans...it's been working like a charm for a few years now!! If the Democrats had not won the House...our Democracy would have no hope of surviving the damage caused by the Worst President in American History! Even with a Dysfunctional Chaotic Administration with an 80% turnover rate and fairly consistent failed policies...Trump and the GOP have Fox nation...eating out of the palms of their Alternative Facts !! What a MAGA...MESS !! Who Voted for this Catastrophic President??
3
one picture is worth 1000 words. the n.y. times is right. trump is cracked in the head. maybe it's actually a medical problem but the man is not fit to serve. article 25 ASAP
2
Putin, Putin, Putin. Everything in the Trump orbit comes back to Putin.
4
Was it really necessary to put in the following sentence: "But the truth is that the whistle-blower could have been Joe Biden himself at this point." Do you really dislike Biden this much? I have always loved the NY Times, but this is just a bit much!
1
Pretty limp stuff, as usual, from the NYT "Editorial Board" -- which is, as far as I can tell, just a small gathering of acolytes bearing, in typical NYT fashion, a grandiose title, but whose eyes -- assuming they really exist; the paper is not clear about that, referring to them in rather mysterious fashion -- are so focused on the cue cards the publisher is holding up for them to read, that they can never manage to say anything interesting or new. And they certainly do not understand the intelligence of their opponent, who constantly outwits them, despite their charming, childlike, and terribly mistaken impression that they are 93% likely to be right about almost everything. And how about this quote from the article: "Whether that warrants removal from office is another matter". Indeed! You want limp, pallid, establishment stuff, the air of the smoke-filled room clinging to it, the stink of old cigarettes up in your nose? With the NY Times "Editorial Board", once again, you got it!
2
"The people" aren't disoriented. They simply don't care about this . Trump is their hero; they adore him. Most of his 40% would be quite satisfied to make him king. They could care less about Democracy and democratic institutions ; be happy to scrap them straight up for a Trump Monarchy. And that's the wsy if is.
2
Yet in lock step republicans in congress still support him. I've not heard one of them even say, either in the house or the senate, "if this information is correct he must be impeached and removed from office." There is overwhelming credible evidence against the president that the information is true and credible. We've read HIS own damning transcript of 'the call' and read the transcripts of extremely credible witnesses who were deposed by Democrats AND Republicans. If he is not impeached and removed from office our system of checks and balances is a joke. If he is not impeached and removed from office the position of president is above the law. If he is not impeached and removed from office he may very well get reelected and that my friends will be checkmate on America.
4
In season one, episode eight of the Hogan's Heroes TV series, the allied prisoners engineer a fake radio program for a small German audience listening in Kommandant Klink's office. One prisoner imitating Hitler's voice says the following:
"You may have heard that Hamburg is in ruins, that Berlin is a shambles. I order you NOT to believe these things, even if they are true!"
Sounds a lot like what we are hearing from the White House these days.
If you want to know why truth is important to our system of government you would do well to consult Justice Holmes'
opinion in Abrams versus U.S. from 1919. A century later
we need to remember that truth matters.
2
Will the NY Times and other press notice AG Bill Barr feint? First 'refused to follow Trump request to exonerate Trump in public press release
RUMORED TO BE SECOND STEP (IN WHAT LOOKS LIKE A 2-STEP FEINT):
https://m.dailykos.com/stories/2019/11/6/1897632/-William-Barr-is-racing-to-deliver-a-report-that-blows-up-the-impeachment-inquiry-and-everything-else
If so, will American voters be Charlie Brown to Bill Barr's football-holding Lucy Van Pelt?
We all know the call was perfect judging from how everyone is lawyering up.
A very telling detail is how Rudy “Facts aren’t facts/Cousins aren’t cousins” Giuliani took more than a week to find new lawyers only to end up with third rate shysters.
3
Stop calling it quid pro quo.
It was a bribe!
Language matters.
Do the journalists and editors need English lessons and dictionaries?
1
Trump is simply an odious, incompetent man who inflict pain on people on a regular basis, and yet feels no guilt or shame. His presidency has been a disaster. It’s time to Republicans do the right thing.
3
Typical lawyer gibberish from Rudy. It's obvious there was quid quo pro. If you threaten to kidnap a child unless money is paid but you didn't really plan on kidnapping that child it Is still a crime. Guilty as charged.
1
Welcome to 1984. It's no longer fiction, it's here.
"The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power, pure power. What pure power means you will understand presently. We are different from the oligarchies of the past in that we know what we are doing. All the others, even those who resembled ourselves, were cowards and hypocrites.
The German Nazis and the Russian Communists came very close to us in their methods, but they never had the courage to recognize their own motives. They pretended, perhaps they even believed, that they had seized power unwillingly and for a limited time, and that just around the corner there lay a paradise where human beings would be free and equal.
We are not like that. We know that no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it. Power is not a means; it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship. The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power.
Now you begin to understand me.”
― George Orwell, 1984
4
Love this!
The Republicans have started pulling excuses out of the “Excuses for Dummies”book. Reality doesn’t matter. Protecting Herr Trump does. They overlook his abundant lies, incompetence, criminal background and historic offensiveness. I ask the Republicans to grow up and do the right thing.
1
The GOP lie so much it is disgusting.
2
trump has pleaded guilty to fraud and had to pay $25 million for his bogus university.
trump has pleaded guilty to fraud and had to pay $2 million fine for his bogus charity including admitting the $2.8 million he said he raised for Veterans which went to himself, his campaign, and his company which he never has divested himself from and is a campaign finance violation.
trump has played golf at his resorts for over 200 days costing US tax payers over $100 million.
trump is a co-conspirator paying $280,000 to porn star Stormy Daniels and Playboy playmate Karen McDougal which is a campaign finance violation which his former lawyer Michael Cohen is in prison for, paying them both at trump's direction.
Pay attention to the details and follow the money.
Stop following the tweets and the other noise.
What I've listed is just the tip of the ice burg and does not include impeachment proceedings, Russia, Ukraine, Syria,Turkey, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Phillipines, Qater, NATO, etc. and all of those will prove to be far more damaging than anyone can imagine.
1
- Senator Lindsey Graham said this last Wednesday. “What I can tell you about the Trump policy toward the Ukraine, it was incoherent, it depends on who you talk to. They seem to be incapable of forming a quid pro quo. So no, I find the whole process to be a sham and I’m not going to legitimize it.”
If I'm following this logic correctly; a man who hires a contract killer to knock off his wife can't be convicted of the crime (of conspiracy to commit murder) because he's a bungling idiot who couldn't figure out how to withdrawal the money out of his bank account to pay the contract killer?!?! Is this the logic of a sitting United States Senator? And furthermore, he has the gall to actually say that in public???
This has become the theater of the absurd. Thank you NY Times for crystallizing it for one to grasp. Unfortunately, you're preaching to the choir. The Fox News crowd has demonized legitimate journalistic and editorial work.
1
You know what Trump and his followers will say. "The failing New York Times is saying corruption and witch hunts are just fine."
1
If ya can’t convince ‘em, confuse ‘em.
2
Distract. Divide. Conquer.
3
Well done. I think that I'll invite the neighbors in and have a drinking game while we watch the show. Every time one of Trump's defenders uses one of these 10 attack lines, we'll pound a shot. Maybe we should use the 1 ounce shot glasses instead of the 2 ouncers...
My favorite line is, “I hardly know the gentleman.” How many times has Trump used this one? I think the first time might have been when he denied knowing George Papadopoulos, whom he described as "a low level volunteer named George, who has already proven to be a liar.”
He "didn't know" a former Trump Tower receptionist who said that Trump once kissed her “directly on the mouth”. "Didn't know her, never happened."
He "didn't know" Serge F. Kovaleski, the NY Times reporter he mocked for his disability.
He "didn't know anything about WikiLeaks": “I know nothing about WikiLeaks,” he told reporters. “It’s not my thing.” Hmmm...
He didn't know Kellyanne Conway's husband, George, but says that he was "VERY jealous of his wife’s success & angry that I, with her help, didn’t give him the job he so desperately wanted." Except that he DID know him, and once sent him a letter in which he praised him: "...you have a truly great voice, certainly not a bad asset for a top trial lawyer!"
It seems to me that what Trump doesn't know is how to tell the truth.
3
"I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn't lose voters," Trump said.
He believes he is above the law.
Is he?
His voters need to wake from their stupor.
2
Would anyone like to join in an over under pool on how many lies trump tells this week? I say start at 100 lies from midnight Saturday to next Saturday, at least 100!
1
Trump: 'Who would you rather believe:
Me, or your lying eyes!?!"
Let's hope our eyes win!
1
There is enough material in this episode of American history to convince any objective reasoner of the validity of evidence from evolutionary psychology. Tribalism is stronger than reason. However, it makes no sense for those on the political left to puff up their chests. They cannot escape the fact that they share the same pool of genes that drive Trump supporters. We are all potential Trumps to varying degrees.
Never paid Stormy Daniels, Mexico will pay for the wall, Will submit tax returns after the audit, Never had dealings with Russia, The meeting was about adoption.............etc etc etc
517
@Getreal, tsk. EVERYONE knows that the Democrats conspired with Ukraine to sway the election to Hillary Clinton. Hadn't you heard?
7
@Getreal Yes, no matter what Trump or the Administration says, I don't believe. How did we get this far so fast, where this man has destroyed so much already...
15
This editorial is an excellent summary of the "high crimes and misdemeanors" committed by Trump, and the defenses offered by his sycophants. However, it omits what I view as the most serious aspect of Trump's behavior - the patent threat to our national security. Based upon the transcripts that have been publicized thus far, several members of the diplomatic community have emphasized the national security threat, but I have heard little about it from commentators in the media. I urge the NYT to focus on the threat to national security as the strongest argument for impeachment.
3
Riots in Hong Kong and other places around the world are just confirming that the population at large have had enough of those in power who are abusing the system at their expense and Trump and his "Trumpublicans" are "poster children" for it.
The difference between America and these other countries is that a considerable number of Americans continue to be either in a state of denial(it can't happen to us)OR millions in the country who are more than willing to accept Facism, along with the breakdown of the rule of law and dismantling of democracy even at their expense.
2
We have to impeach Trump or else we will be ignoring the laws of our own nation. But it would be so much more comforting if those who've blindly supported Trump would finally acknowledge what has been happening. We don't wish to gloat. We'd welcome you back into the values of our nation and its system of law. Look at the veterans and at the present members of the military who are speaking out against Trump's actions.
You must have some who better represents your beliefs than Trump and all those tainted by association with him do.
4
This is becoming so tedious. With Adam Schiff and his impeachment propaganda stage. What a waste of taxpayer’s money.
I live in Schiff’s district, West Hollywood. In one of the worst states in the USA, California. Democrats rule everything. They’ve turned the Golden State into an eyesore. Filled with endless regulations. Run by corrupt political hacks like Schiff.
Schiff and his three years of grandstanding to get the Russian/Ukraine reality show top ratings is making many of my fellow constituents to achieve one thing in 2020.
To vote Adam Schiff out of office!
3
@Michael In the mind of Republicans upholding the rule of law, defending the constitution and keeping a foreign government from interfering in our elections is a waste of time and money? However investigating Hillary Clinton for two years over Benghazi and finding absolutely nothing with not even one inditement was not a waste of time and money.
4
@Michael G. "In the 2018 general election, Schiff defeated Johnny Nalbandian (R) by a vote of 78.4 percent to 21.6 percent." (Ballotpedia.org)
Good luck, Michael!
2
@Michael G. So you don’t believe in the basic premise of our constitution- checks and balances?
3
I disagree that Republicans are in a "tough spot." There is no reasonable doubt that Trump has done exactly what he is being accused of here - held up foreign aid to a country in the hopes of pressuring them to investigate a political rival.
This is as easy as it can be. It's not ambiguous, it's not open to interpretation. There's a record of the call released by the White House itself. There's text messages. There's dozens of hours of testimony by witnesses who's credibility is unassailable. If one has to participate in an impeachment proceeding against the President and that President happens to be of one's own party, the best situation is exactly the one that exists now.
You don't need to to do any heavy lifting or even much thinking. Just surrender to the facts, remove him from office, and walk away with at least some modicum of dignity and credibility. What is so hard about that?
Doing what's right is not always easier than doing the wrong thing, but in this it absolutely is.
11
@Kristin
It very much is open to interpretation when the entire USAID budget was held up and doled out in tiny increments, unlike before.
Is literally every country on the USAID list doing Trump's investigations? Unlikely.
1
The Republicans just say, "Get over it". How about one of the Democratic candidates for president in 2020 adopting a similar phrase, "Get it? It's over" and putting THAT on campaign t-shirts! Right back at ya!
7
Here's an idea New York Times: how about a article about the status of all the State and Federal appeals involving Trump's claimed Executive Privilege and other dalitory tactics (including his tax returns) and when - if ever - they will be concluded? It should be very educational - if not frustrating.
6
Boris Johnson is squatting on that report about Russian influence in the Brexit vote. Most agree it is because too many Conservatives took Russian money either stupidly or willfully.
Same here. But the GOP is hoping they can convince the base that’s is a good thing right after they normalize foreign intrigue to derail democracy.
5
From the article:
"...Mr. Trump apparently attempted..."
If you have use the word "apparently" you haven't got a chance of impeaching anyone.
Or to put it in another way - which Democratic Party Campaign Office did Giuliani break into in middle of the night? And which cop caught him in the act?
Trump will be back, stronger than ever, for another four years of favors to cronies at the expense of the rest of us; and the failed impeachment attempt will go down in history as "the farce that launched a thousand rips".
3
All this evidence has no bearing on Republicans or the Trump cult. It is futile. The cultists listen to nothing beyond Faux news and right wing radio, so do not believe ANY of the evidence. Cultists insist any conservative who testifies or investigates Trump is treasonous. Military, FBI, CIA and NSA are not to be believed and are actively denigrated. Congressional Republicans know quite well that Trump has requested election interference (among other things), but will do nothing to stop him, and actively support his criminal activity. This country needs a Trump cult intervention. NOW.
6
This may be a coup...but brought about by Trump himself, by helping put all his corrupted ways in the open. As the Republicans, utterly servile, and adamant in defending him no matter what (and all to safeguard their miserable seats in Congress), are trying to find novels ways to defend the indefensible, Trump's criminality, perhaps by implying that Trump's extortions do not amount to the need for impeachment. Do they think, by chance, that just because all is in the open, there was no crime? G.O.P.'s cowardice and hypocrisy is also out in the open. Next week, public hearings shall take place, so to illuminate people's minds of the regal disgrace Trump represents to this republic.
4
Trump's extortion of the Ukraine president, and its cover up which includes: lies, misinformation, gaslighting, stonewalling theatrics by Republican congressman, Trump officials ignoring subpoenas, Trump's readiness to throw anyone under the bus, all this charming behavior is not normal political horseplay. They are grotesquely unethical behaviors, and behaviors that violate the US Constitution; in short, impeachable CRIMES.
Maybe deeply entrenched Republicans in the Congress and Senate, used to the "government trough," and the money they reap from lobbyists and interest groups, will continue sleep walk through their lives with the usual dollar signs in their eyes, but your average stout hearted American is just not going to buy this. Trump and the Republicans have destroyed themselves.
5
There is an analogy in Greek / Roman mythology about what Trump does -- the monster Hydra, and it was very difficult to destroy that monster. With Trump, as soon as a misdeed of his pops up, he puts on a spectacle to distract from it, making it very hard for his opponents to defeat him.
In mythology:
The Hydra was a monster that was killed by Hercules after much effort. The Hydra possessed many heads, and for every head chopped off, the Hydra would regrow two heads. With the help of his nephew, Hercules killed the monster by cutting off all the heads and then burning the neck using sword and fire.
This is what we're up against -- and we need the prosecutorial and journalistic equivalents of sword and fire to defeat Trump.
5
It is not at all difficult to keep track of everything here: Whatever Trump says is a lie. Case Closed!
8
Great editirial but it appeals more to the head -- too intellectual -- than the heart and soul that make the difference at the ballot box.
As a foreigner I ask my American friends: How effective is the message of people like Lindsey Graham (investigate the whistle blower but not the president) going down with the public?
I get the feeling the Trump side is winning the public relations battle handily (at least with the always Trump base) and swaying the independents.
I'm not seeing a forceful, muscular (better word, visceral, call-to-arms push back from the Democrats.
Is it that America has no appetite for that type of resistance since Vietnam and Civil Rights?
What do you think?
2
@Terence Yhip
Clearly, those that voted for Trump along with their "cultist" behavior were ALWAYS there in America. They always voted for a Republican Party that in order to hide their REAL feelings and racist, "divide and conquer" mentality, spoke in code words instead of the "head on, bring it all out in the open" mindset of this President and this group loves every minute of it even to the point of dismantling democracy and the rule of law in America while accepting Fascism in their leadership.
Whether this President continues in office or not, these millions of Americans will always be there and the deep divisions will remain and as history has shown, without a revolution or civil war, a country cannot continue to exist or move forward in that atmosphere and the only ones that think otherwise, don't know their own history.
1
The lucidity of this piece is an affront to those who gaslight for a living. Well done.
7
Is Prez Trump the only corrupt entity in The United States of America? Do many parts of the populace think politicians and businesspeople (and other entities) are corrupt? Is this thinking a significant reason why Trump gets a pass from his supporters? Is this a democracy or a hypocracy (sic)?
3
@uga muga
One has to constantly remind themselves that Trump is just a symptom of a society and its attitudes that were 40 years in the making and Americans have to take a long hard look in the mirror as to the circumstances of why someone like Trump would even be considered to be President, let alone get elected in the first place.
In the "corrupt, dog eat dog, winner take all, climate change denying" atmosphere of America in which basic human needs such as healthcare and record inequality are shunted aside, rarely discussed or dealt with, the result is obvious and other than authoritarian governments, continues to be rejected by the majority of those in the world because they prefer not to have riots in the streets.
The Constitution says bribery of a foreign power for personal benefit is corrupt and abuse of power. Why are not more people mentioning what the Constitution says for impeaching the President?
He is still paying back Russia for his 2016 election!
5
Any way you look at it this is a sad moment for the country. Intellectual Sociopathic behavior is not the answer "GOP". You are creating a new Norm for future generations.
3
Buried beneath all this fighting over the years, Watergate, Iran- Contra, Cigargate, Whitewater, Benghazi, is the fact that nothing gets done.
Tax cuts for the wealthy, new wars, and congressional salary raises are treated with laser like precision by Congress. The remainder of their time is just bickering .
This is by design. Sickening.
3
All driven by banana republicans.
1
Regardless of everything, remember that only 29% of Americans identify as Republicans and perhaps only two-thirds of them believe trump did nothing wrong. That adds up to maybe 20% of Americans who support this nonsense. Get out and vote.
6
No one ever regretted counting on the gullibility and sloth of the American people. Don't expect the GOP to start now.
3
What’s confusing about this? It’s called lying, it’s called gaslighting, it’s called spinning, and so many laws have been broken in the process. For a president who was just charged two million dollars for scamming donors of a charity, bullying a weaker leader to do his dirty work before he “pays” him money that doesn’t belong to him is nothing. This is the real Donald Trump at work. It’s just more of the same and shame on the Republicans for degrading themselves and this country to join this crook instead of defending the constitution and protecting their constituents from his crimes. They are all part of the coverup as far as I can see.
4
The institutional corruption present in the GOP is disgusting. Their "win at any cost" attitude should be the death of the party, but complacency will cause it to be the death of Democracy. They are proving that while claiming to be Constitutionalists, they are crossing their fingers behind their backs.
I am ashamed to have ever been affiliated with the GOP.
2
Clinton illegally lied under oath. Worth a censure but not impeachable. Trump illegally pressured another nation. Worth a censure but not impeachable. Not blind here, but also not suffering from TDS.
1
It's unbelievable that Republicans and/or Trump would expect us to believe any of their foolish statements regarding the state of events. It's embarrassing at best, that our government consists of grifters and thieves, let alone their inability to even carry on a literate discourse.
2
How about the irony of Trump's claim he secretly shut down Congress's mandated missile deliveries to Ukraine, due to Ukraine's "corruption"?
1
It has become surreal. Who would have ever believed that Republicans would give our country to Putin. And yet. All for the love of power, there it goes. R’s in Congress are not stupid, (ok maybe Jim Jordan), but they support what most consider to be a maniac, to keep their jobs? Really? What can be said at this point. We are watching real time democracy dying.
2
Read the Transcript. No Collusion. Repeat the lie over and over...
I saw an interesting quote from Galileo:
"He who does not know the truth is merely a fool.
But whosoever knows (it) the truth, yet call it a lie, is a criminal."
The Galilei Files
4
For any sentient being the truth is clearly sorted from the lies. What is unfathomable is that there are so many in Congress who, apparently are not capable of rational thought or compassion. The fact that our Capitol is filled with that many who lack character and integrity, who are consumed by fear of a blowhard, know-nothing who threatens them with "primarying" is both mind-blowing and appalling.
2
The Times recently ran a piece using the phrase Banana Republicans: it would have fit this piece as you laid bare the lies, the dissembling that Trump and his misguided enablers are engaged in.
This is a dark period in our nation’s history. As the Republicans embrace Trump, they are embracing their demise as a viable party.
1
Parroting Trump's " quid pro quo" statement is getting just a bit old. The fact of the matter is that what was going on needs no Latin translation. It was extortion and blackmail. "Do what I ask in my little favor request or you won't get the military supplies to fight Putin.
Trump had nothing to lose in this game. Get the information or if need be let his bff Putin win another one.
One thing is certain in all this,
Judiciary Chairman Graham who refuses to study the matter is grossly negligent in upholding his oath of office.
3
Jedi mind tricks that work on the weak-minded. These are not the crimes you're looking for...
1
Maybe Trump could help us out and just testify under oath.
1
Trump is without a doubt the most dishonest, the most incompetent and easily the most ignorant on how government works and what the constitution and our laws mean. Easily the worse president in the long History of this nation. Trump is one for the books and not in a good way, hopefully the low bar in American Politics. Somehow I suspect this new GOP will give us equally worse choices in the next few elections.
2
Quid pro quo? ... who cares? Most americans don’t know and don’t care to know what that means. What it really was is EXTORTION in plain sight. And that is a CRIME easily rising to the level of an impeachable offense. Period. The Dems need to move on with it and by pass trump’s endless ‘muddying the water’ antics.
1
Trump is a symptom, not the disease. He acts upon instruction, not his own plans and ideas. The folks pulling his strings run Fox, innumerable Twitter and Facebook bots, the Senate, the GOP, and half the Supreme Court. They are the disease. Their brainwashing apparatus has almost half of voters fixed upon crazy conspiracies, servers in the Ukraine, fake news and alternative facts. But the Mercers, the DeVos, the Kochs, the Wilks, the Spencers, the Murdochs continue their propaganda blitz, and examination of their activities goes undone.
3
Trump is engaged in gaslighting, which is a standard tool in the toolbox of malignant narcissists. It's straight out of the psychiatry textbook--you can look it up.
2
Can we drop the “quid quo pro” - that’s when I’ll keep your kids for a weekend if you’ll do the same for me.
What was going on here was bribery/extortion. Either you do this for me or else! And when the “or else” is asking for a personal favor repaid with taxpayers money, that’s bribery/extortion.
2
Barr will announce this week that somehow what the President did was not an impeachable offense. This is the quiet before the storm.
2
Schiff should agree to call GOP requested witnesses IFF (if and only if) those GOP members refusing to testify agree to do sp. Trade Hunter Biden's testimony for Ruby Guliani's, etc.
1
"There is a season, turn, turn, turn" Ecc. 'There is a season for every purpose under heaven'. Now is the time for Republicans in leadership in government and the church to part ways with Trump. He has acted illegally, immorally and will lead this country to ruin, possibly destroy the entire planet for nothing but his own self interests. Are you really going to support him in this? How wrong is that? Justice will be served. The day of reckoning will come. Woe to those who ignore truth to support the likes of Trump. Millions are crying out to God for goodness and truth to prevail over hate and wickedness. Please be on the side of righteousness, for it truly 'exalteth a nation'.
2
This is the hallmark of totalitarian/authoritarian regimes. As the great philosopher of totalitarianism, Hannah Arendt, said: "The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the convinced communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction (ie the reality of experience) and the distinction between true and false (ie the standards of thought) no longer exist." If there is no agreed upon reality, then the state cannot be held accountable for anything it does, because who can know what it did. From Fox News, to Clear Channel, to Sinclair Broadcasting, to Breitbart Media, to Donald Trump and now the elected members of Congress in the GOP, they are ALL denying that observable reality exists. Tax cuts for the wealthy always lead to a great economy for everyone (demonstrably false); Global warming is a hoax (demonstrably false); Donald Trump didn't blackmail Ukraine into announcing an investigation into his political rival (demonstrable false). If there is no truth, then their policies and statements can't be counted as false. The banality of evil, indeed.
3
We don't even need the public hearings to get the truth. We've heard it for weeks now. This is on the Republicans. Full stop. I suppose the Founders never considered that an entire party would stoop so disgustingly low to protect a criminal President. These people don't care about the country. They care about their wallets and every last one of them down to the county level needs to be voted OUT.
4
At this point in time the endless parade of shifting excuses renders it abundantly clear that Trump nor his congressional sycophants have a clue how to address the defense of Trumps actions. The result of all that political floundering is that it also clearly defines their complete lack of credibility. Watching grown men behave like third graders in effort to save themselves from their own undoing is sad and very enjoyable in a sick sort of way. I will admit to taking great pleasure in watching them flounder over and over and over..........
3
Connect the dots:
Trump helps ....Putin...Putin helps Trump. Trump feels the sting of being, in so many ways, illegitimate so he helps his benefactor, Putin, by trying to say Putin’s local adversary, the Ukraine interfered with the 2016 US election.
Regarding Hunter Biden, that is pure deflection to protect his kids and Jared. Trump could care less about Joe Biden. Trump will retire to Moscow, with Mitch McConnell as a neighbor.
10
The Repubs star will be Jim Jordan, who acts all the populist refusing to war a sports jacket and rolls up his sleeves for the camera. He is a disgrace to the proceedings. When Schiff, gavels the hearings Wednesday morning, Jordan will object (using words like 'sham.')
2
Thank you for the concise point by point refutation of the horribly unpatriotic liars that the R party has become.
If Americans reject this unconstitutional action, but the R party does not, then the entire party must be expelled in the election, and then prosecuted, imprisoned, or in the case of those committing treason...well, look up the penalty the Founders listed in the Constitution for that offense.
1
The late comedian Richard Pryor coined the phrase, after getting caught in some romantic cheating, “Who are you going to believe, me or your lying eyes?” Too bad this is not something so simple, this is life or death. If Trump held up the money to Ukraine, people died and democracy was lost to a country being attacked by Russia.
Trump was losing wide public appeal & he went for a “deal” to save his hide. Some good patriots got enough of the news to understand it, they pieced together how it could deliver the boost Trump wanted so they courageously took it to Congress. It was then made plain that a “High Crime” had been Committed. Congress has now verified every allegation.
We can all thank God for the Dems Blue Wave of 2018, that saved the day or this would never have seen the light of day.
It will now take the Dems Blue Tsunami of 2020 to finish cleaning the mess that’s made. It has started in Virginia and Kentucky.
2
I am totally against this impeachment inquiry and I find it very alarming that a CIA operative who calls himself a WB - in tandem with Schiff and the Dems - is trying to unseat a duly elected President. I am disgusted that the Democratic Congress is passing no bills for American people. Their first priority was DACA and then fighting TRUMP.
I read the transcript, and I find it business as usual. As for quid pro quo, it is the lifeblood of politics and it is hypocritical to claim otherwise. Biden should be investigated for what he did in Ukraine. He bragged on TV about firing that prosecutor who had signed an affidavit and a video testimony where the says he was inbestigating Burisma.
1
I’d like the NYT to do a similar summary of The Republicans track record on the “injustices” they have been similarly “certain” about: Trump was certain that the Central Park 5 were guilty and deserved the death penalty; Obama’s birth certificate; Pizzagate; Benghazi .... for a lot of people, the possibility that the Biden’s could be guilty is what makes them think Trump’s behavior is justified. No matter how many times the press refers to “debunked” theories, people still be live there is a whiff of truth to them, and that causes doubt about the impeachment process.
2
When are we going to be spared interpreters (like Larry Kudlow, Mick Mulvaney, Stephen Miller, Steve Mnuchin, Mike Pompeo) who parse the President's words and tell us what they think he REALLY means? Don't we deserve a president who doesn't need legions of minions to interpret his careless words?
4
Thank you, NYT editorial board, for this excellent summary of the inane arguments the GOP are desperately trying to make Americans believe.
3
Well, thanks NYT for your clarity, out of this shocking cacophony.
1
Can't read? Ask your twelve-year-old to read the evidence to you. Trump and his accomplishments have betrayed Americans. I will leave it at that.
3
There is a excellent article in the WSJ right now about how even if Trump did a ...? Quid Pro Quo....its not a impeachable offence...and in fact is exactly the kind of skullduggery that All politics are being played on....it goes on to say that there even is not such a thing a crime being Quid Pro Quo....Bottom line / No Defense is even needed for nothing that is not Status Quo is what has been and is going On!
1
The Republicans have just put "temporarily" as their lead attack dog on the house intelligence committee a congressman currently being sued for covering up the sexual abuse of athletes. Need one say more about the degradation of the Republican party and their contempt for legal norms and the constitution.
2
Rand Paul on Meet the Press yesterday already pulled the "It was a quid pro quo, but President Trump was only interested in rooting out corruption in Ukraine." excuse along with not included in this op ed piece, "what about the Biden's corruption", a childish retort if there ever was one. But thank you New York Times for this hand guide. Everybody ought to keep it bookmarked and send it to their favorite Republicans. I know I will.
2
A 21st century dictatorship requires new laws. Conspiring with foreign governments is such an 18th century crime! Obsolete laws must simply be disregarded.
1
Most people believe what they want to believe. Facts don't really matter. The other side is evil.
This, like so many other things coming out of our President's mouth, is Orwellian Doublethink.
1
The GOP would like you to believe that lying about an affair is grounds for impeachment, but setting aside our national security interests in order to extort a foreign government by withholding millions in military aid unless they agree to publicly help you get re-elected is a "nothing burger".
And that, "The people should have a say in who goes to the Supreme Court!"
And that, "The Iraqi's have WMD's, a nuclear weapons program, mobile chemical weapons labs, and they helped the people who attacked us on 9/11" (You know, all those Saudi nationals).
That's all they want you to believe.
Oh, I forgot that, "Poverty is a choice!", and that, "The Earth is just fine!".
4
This is like watching Titanic, you know going in how it’s going to end. No amount of logic or irrefutable proof is going to sway twenty some Republican Senators, perhaps a third of them up for re-election in a deep red state, from echoing these disjointed defenses in their vote to acquit this orange con-man.
My concern remains, will Democrats collectively shoot themselves in the foot by nominating a leftist darling incapable of winning the seven or so states that decide the election?
1
Trump and his Republican enablers (99.9% of GOP) are traitors. If you don't believe me just read through the RNC "survey" questions of likely Trump supporters. On this Memorial Day every American must remember this moment, when the GOP chose Trump over our country, to save their own necks and desperately cling to power. Allowing kids be locked in cages, giving the wealthiest people and corporations even more power and wealth, and watching the world literally burn while Trump destroys every alliance and notion of American leadership around the world.
1
Nikki Haley dismissed the evidence in an interview on CBS Sunday Morning, to paraphrase: " There was no investigation of the Bidens and the military aid funds were sent. So, nothing occurred and there is no basis for the impeachment. " In other words, Trump held back the aid funds until he couldn't and the Ukrainians didn't agree to the investigation. In the real world, as with Watergate, a bungled attempt and a cover-up is as bad as a successful scam, as Trump knows too well.
3
Great synopsis. Thank you! For more about Trump's full array of antidemocratic actions, I recommend reading "Trump and the Demise of Democracy. " It's a new book on Amazon in Kindle and paperback.
2
What is considered to be a high crime or misdemeanor? Who decides their meanings in the 21st century? The founders surely had their own definitions in mind when they wrote those words. Their perceived meanings at that time would never apply to today's thresholds for impeachment and removal from office. Does this just leave the obstruction of justice as the only case against the president or can we throw in his abuse of power and his many other violations committed against the Constitution to end this national nightmare?
3
This is a brilliant editorial. The Board has covered all the bases. However, Donald Trump has two resources and two liabilities that no one else has. On the resource side:
1) William Barr, an Attorney General who will twist the truth like a pretzel (no offense to pretzels intended) to benefit his boss; and
2) A stacked court system (including the Supreme Court?) that will probably interpret some arguable claims in Trump's favor or at least will hold up the process to the advantage of Trump Republicans.
On the liability side:
1) Rudy Giuliani and his confederates; and
2) the dedicated professionals in the relevant executive departments (State, Homeland Security, Justice, etc) who want to preserve The Republic.
8
"The president and his allies ask Americans to reject the evidence before their eyes."
Well, Americans elected the president with a plethora, in fact a 50 year very public display, of odious evidence before their eyes. It doesn't seem to much of stretch to hope for the same again.
2
Seems to me the best pro-Trump argument is essentially that "it was a "quid pro quo," but President Trump was only interested in rooting out corruption in Ukraine." Critically, the Editorial Board misstates the legal standard that would apply to this case assuming a quid pro quo were proven. Trump does not have to have been "only" interested in rooting out corruption. If Trump believed, whether rightly or wrongly, that there was a legitimate basis for further investigation into corruption (i.e., he believed the whole situation with the Bidens in Ukraine potentially involved corruption), he can investigate utilizing the tools at his disposal as commander in chief, and, legally at least, it doesn't matter if he's also partially motivated by trying to benefit his political fortunes. If the law required a completely "pure heart" in all political investigations, all of them would fail since they're all at least partially political.
That's precisely the reason why the democrats can legally investigate their political rival (i.e., Trump). Clearly these multiple investigations into Trump are at least partially motivated by politics. A number of democratic leaders were talking about impeachment before Trump even assumed office, and there was a very public calculation under discussion before launching the inquiry as to whether impeachment helped or hurt Democrats. Still the investigation is not illegal unless you can show there was no legally sufficient basis for conducting it.
2
Great article, but can we just add - and maybe start with - the fact that there is NO NEED WHATSOEVER for quid pro quo for trump's request that Ukraine help him politically by manufacturing dirt on the Bidens, so as to harm Joe Biden's campaign.
The mere "ask" of a foreign country is enough to break longstanding law.
That said, there is enough quo to feed an army, at this point.
4
There are Americans - good Americans- especially in the Rust States, who see their jobs as precarious and their wages stagnant. They see no future jobs for their children. Trump has offered them a hand and they have grasped it. Democrats have done so in the past, but then failed to follow through as worker jobs disappeared to automation and off-shoring. Well, now as that hand is seen as being attacked, they won't let go. There is nothing else they trust to grab onto. And as long as that base understandably remains loyal to Trump, Republican politicians are afraid to go against him. It is that simple.
3
@Larry Name one thing Trump has done to help workers increase wages. He offered them a hand? How?
8
@Larry
I fully agree with your analysis. However, the point that needs to be emphasized here is that most job loses in the US Rust Belt States - as in the Canadian prairie provinces - are due to technological changes in large-scale farming, marketing, and transporting farm produce to markets. Any politician claiming that he can stop fundamental technological changes is simply a demagogue, as those changes are irreversible.
The reality is, once the combustion engine technology was out, the horse-and-buggies did not have chance!
1
@Jtati
Cut taxes by about a thousand dollars on the average family, caused a massive repatriation of over a trillion dollars back into the US economy and slashed regulations that were crippling US businesses. Trying to argue that the economy hasn't been brilliant under Trump is a total loser. We've been at full employment for years now, and somehow the economy keeps finding more jobs. It's really breathtaking.
You forgot the Nikki Haley defense: The Ukrainian president never gave the press conference trump wanted, and Trump eventually did cough up the $400 million, so there was no actual completion of the transaction, whether you call it bribery, extortion or whatever, and therefore it never happened.
This is akin to the situation where a an armed man enters the bank and points his gun at the teller and demands that the teller put all the money in his bag. The teller complies, but as the man is running out of the bank, the police arrive, arrest the robber, and return the money to the bank.
So the robber is therefore innocent, because he never got away with the money.
Remember, Trump released the military aid to Ukraine only after his wrongdoing was exposed by the press.
8
@Dr. Planarian Other great analogies are the crimes of "Attempted rape or "Attempted murder". If no one was actually raped or murdered, using the Republican's logic, people accused of these activities are also blameless. More importantly, this establishes a precedent- no crime unless the transaction was concluded.
Fascinating to watch republican congressmen from gerrymandered districts calling the investigation unfair. They certainly know "unfair"when they see it!
13
America would be better off to focus on investigating 8 years of Trump tax returns, especially because he promised on the campaign trail to share it with us ASAP...
7
20 Republican congress people including now rep King a long time representative are leaving the house. They have decided that what Trump has done is illegal and immoral, but want to fade away and say nothing. Or will these 20 stand up and finally say the truth about Trump during these hearings? This is their ethical turning point and what they decide will make a huge difference.
9
"It was a quid pro quo, but President Trump was only interested in rooting out corruption in Ukraine."
People will believe what they want to believe. The above Republican defense of trump's actions is, in my opinion, the most powerful. This defense turns trump from a scheming political extortionist into a knight in shining armor fighting for American ideals against a corrupt foreign government. How can the Democrats win against such odds? Certainly not in a Senate full of trump sycophants. The Senate Republicans now have believable excuse for voting 'No' to remove trump from office, and I'm sure they'll take advantage of it.
5
Ok, but the language used here is not one of high crimes and misdemeanors. As usual, to describe Trump's behavior, the press adopts the language being pushed by the politicians. As a result, the Editorial Board seems unable to use plain and proper words such as "Lie", "Extortion", "Conspiracy", "Criminal", "Perjury" and so on. The arguing about "quid pro quo" is a replay of the obsession with "collusion". The President has committed multiple crimes that would have led to indictments. Use the words we use for criminals.
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We get the Democracy we deserve... or will tolerate.
If the Senate gives this corruption a pass, then we have got an Autocracy, and our government has ceased to have a legitimate claim to authority, because they would have violated the Constitution and broken their oaths of office.
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Let’s not forget the cosy bromance between Trump and Putin. Who invented the dodge to drive a wedge between Ukraine and Western Europe?
Could it be Manafort, who had made money from the corrupt previous Ukraine administration? Rudy Giuliani, whose perennial hunger for profitable shenanigans keeps him sniffing for action? Did Putin hire Parnas and his buddy Fruman to remind the new administration there will be no friendly overtures to the US? Putin wants the rest of Ukraine inside Russia’s sphere of control. What was said between Putin and Trump in those phone calls Trump protects so energetically?
6
"The president and his allies *demand* Americans reject the evidence before their eyes."
There. I fixed it for you. Trump and his allies reject ordinary, quotidian facts as handily as they reject everyday, ordinary scientific facts.
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Another glaring fault in the "Trump was just trying to root out corruption in Ukraine" defense is the fact that Trump was using his personal attorney to get Ukraine to undertake the task. A real effort to unmask corruption would be undertaken by DOJ, not Trump's personal attorney.
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"As described so far by several witnesses, President Trump’s behavior, consorting with a foreign government for his own personal benefit, is literally what the framers had in mind when they established the power to impeach a president for high crimes and misdemeanors. Whether that warrants removal from office is another matter."
Seriously? How can you describe what constitutes a high crime and misdemeanor as envisioned by the Constitution, and then say it might not warrant removal? By your own definition what you describe requires removal.
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Alice, of Wonderland fame, said “Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.” Donald Trump takes that a few steps further, by actually claiming such things.
Whether or not gaslighting is a high crime or misdemeanor, it could rightly be added to the list of charges brought against the president. He's making Alice look like a rank amateur.
Donald Trump has been spinning, stretching, shading and misrepresenting the truth since he was old enough to speak. Why anyone expected him to change since becoming president is beyond me.
Are you an Alice? Now there's a question that should be added to the next census! We might find out in November, 2020. Senate Republicans need not respond; we already know that answer.
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Impeachable offense? Sure, and I think most of his supporters know that, in the case of the Ukraine, Trump was guilty in a basic sense of "cheating." But other presidents have done worse (Reagan: "arms for hostages," Iran-Contra, etc.; George W., two wars based on false pretenses) and not faced impeachment. And while most of Trump's supporters would probably concede that what he did was wrong, they won't concede the legitimacy of the investigation itself. Democrats howled in outrage (justifiably) when Mitch McConnell said his top priority was to make Obama a one-term president; it implied an unwillingness to accept the results of the election and work for the good of the country. But Democrats' response to Trump's election has from the start been far more extreme--they've attempted from Day One to make Trump a NO term president, essentially looking for a way to get him out of office even before he got in. In the minds of Trump voters, Dems have been trying to delegitimize the results of the election from the word go, and therefore no attempt at impeachment can be seen as legitimate--Trump may have "cheated," but the Democrats cheated first, so to speak. And there's something to that argument. If you don't want to wind up w/ an abomination like the Trump presidency, trying to cancel the election after the fact won't work: you have to create and maintain a society that won't accept such crassness and stupidity in the first place, but we gave up on that project long ago.
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@KLM
This strikes as a highly selective review of recent history.
Democrats didn't howl in outrage because McConnell wanted to make Obama a one-term president. It would be weird if the GOP did not actively work to replace a Democratic president. What provoked outrage was the scorched earth tactics he used: refusing to allow legislation to pass, even in the face of a crisis like the 2008 Crash, in hopes that the pain a paralyzed government would cause would 1) be blamed on Obama and 2) be remembered on election day.
I think this walk down memory lane also skips that every president you've mention faced impeachment discussions. In 1987, the House introduced articles of impeachment for Reagan and the Iran-Contra. The joint hearings on the scandal were a direct result of those articles. Two bills for impeaching George Bush were introduced, but the Republican dominated Congress of the time squashed both easily. And let's not forget that, throughout the Obama years, Republican casually called for his impeachment on a nearly monthly basis, for everything from being a secret Kenyan to transgender bathroom use. In 2012, reps introduced a bill proclaiming (without articles of impeachment or an inquiry) that Obama's actions were impeachable. It was killed. The next year the House Judicial Committee held meeting on whether to impeach Obama, but the meeting ended without any resolution.
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Trump's success is in denying that there even *is* an objective reality. Daniel Moynihan said "everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts." Trump says "OF COURSE you are entitled to your own facts! And they can change every hour!" He and his close associates change theirs until people doubt there is any true reality. Meanwhile he harps on fear and hatred: of immigrants, of dark-skinned people, of Big Government and the Deep State that want to take away their health care, their jobs, their right to buy the light bulbs they want, and THEIR GUNS! Of conspiracies everywhere! Of (shudder) HILLARY!
It works.
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Trump’s conduct with regard to Ukraine fits a pattern that has been obvious since his campaign began. The only difference now is that the evidence is irrefutable. It is, however, a waste of time and effort to hope that there is some additional level of proof that will cause Congressional Republicans to abandon him. They now constitute a cult and even those who have not been brainwashed are being swept along, believing that adherence is their only chance to retain power. The proceedings to follow will be to confirm to rational voters the depravity of Trump and his supporters so that those voters will know the consequences of a vote for anyone who is still comfortable to run for office as a Republican.
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Call it bribery or extortion. Most people don't knoe what Qui pro Quo is. Call it what it is.
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This paper's commentary on Trump and Russia has long since passed surreal, but you do continue to surprise.
The evidence of the dishonest campaign engaged in by some intelligence, Democrat, and media elements has been evidence since 2016 - it didn't become obvious until later, but its been there to see the entire time. Yet here we are in 2019, well past the time when any cognizant person should have figured out what is going on, and we still get this sort of unreal argumentation about what is before our eyes.
I do wonder how they're going to try to continue to spin the president's "conspiracy theories" - never miss an opportunity to categorize and dismiss an issue you clearly don't understand - when the actual arrests and convictions start happening. Nevermind the *made-up stuff* you've been obsessed with over the past 3 years.
@Dan The "actual arrests and convictions" have already been happening for Trump's cronies. I guess that's "made up stuff" too.
@Dan Were Paul Manafort, Michael Cohen, Michael Flynn, Rick Gates and George Papadopoulos convicted on this "made up stuff?"
In 2016, just over 60% of eligible voters actually exercised their most important civic duty.
Now, 3 years later, under a daily barrage of lies, and hypocrisy and purposeful ignorance from politicians and unscrupulous media outlets, our democracy is on the ropes, bleary eyed and confused.
I fear the facts no longer matter.
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Dan: Just goes to show that people can ‘see’ the same thing but yet have completely disparate descriptions and understanding of what happened. Your ‘understanding’ of what is happening and what has happened is so far removed from reality that I just cannot understand your ‘thinking.’
The anti-tank missiles to defend Ukraine was paid for by taxation. To request Ukraine's interference in a US election for the missiles is without representation.
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"Quid Pro Quo ain't English"--know your audience.
I think we should adopt Bolton's description: "Giuliani's Drug Deal"
Republicans will like it because, at least it doesn't directly name the President.
Democrats might like it because it reminds people that even Bolton knew it was illegal, and it's simply another *personal attorney for DJT that is likely going to prison. Er. *Coffee boy, I should say.
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The Republicans don't care what the truth is. The truth no longer matters for that party. What matters is maintaining power. And to do that they must protect Trump for if they fail to do that Trump's nutcase base will make them pay.
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Focus on Trump tax returns. The president cannot object having them published because he wants to practically teach the entire country how to be the great businessman and how to file the taxes as a genius...
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It is important to understand that the Trump demand that the original whistle-blower come forward is not simply a prelude to an attempt to discredit him or her. It is an attack on whistle-blowing generally, and Trump intends it to deter any others from coming forward with evidence of the rampant corruption in the administration.
Only the corrupt and the criminal fear whistle-blowers.
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Trump's tactics will work if a majority of Americans either don't care or don't watch the hearings. Constitutional democracy requires the time and participating of the governed. Autocracy is for the lazy.
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How is withholding $400 million in aid a quid pro quo for "digging up dirt"? I am not surprised that Trump doesn't understand the meaning, but you should use it correctly.
"Whether that warrants removal from office is another matter."
Another profile in courage from the New York Times editorial board. Lay out, in detail, why Trump needs to be removed and then back away at the last moment.
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I shudder in anticipation of questioning by the likes of Mark Meadows et al. Their aggressive distortions will make a mockery of this very serious hearing. That they feel free to defend this blatant corruption is mind boggling. That one President can be impeached simply because he lied to Congress about an illicit sexual liaison while another is defended by those same people for attempting to involve a foreign power in our political process for his own benefit is Orwellian. Indeed, these Republicans are the "deep state" which is probably why they believe they can get away with this, and may.
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The problem is not that Trump asked the government of Ukraine to investigate whether Vice-president Biden was involved into shameful corruption and pitiful grift related to placing his son Hunter into position he was highly UNQUALIFIED for. The problem is how such politician could be the presidential candidate in America...
This is the most bizarre Presidency the world has ever witnessed. Not because other countries haven't had their share of lying leaders, but rather the fact that he is still allowed to make blatant false claims using his official Presidential Twitter account and get away with it.
Just minutes ago he tweeted that the deposition transcripts released were altered by Adam, and has previously claimed the call memo is a word by word, comma by comma transcript of the July call.
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The dedicated civil servants testifying in public starting this coming week should stop talking about the "quid pro quo".
Leave the Latin at home and call it by its English name, blackmail, extortion, etc.
Even if the most crooked attempt by Trump didn't succeed in Ukraine confirming the debunked conspiracy theories, while blackmailing President Zelinsky to make a statement on CNN in return of a White House visit plus the release of almost $ 400 million in military help, it is akin to someone trying to rob a bank but not succeeding.
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The Republican defense of Trump bears a remarkable resemblance to the famous Bart Simpson Defense: “I didn’t do it. Nobody saw me do it. You can’t prove anything.” Of course, Bart is just a cartoon child, while Trump is a cartoon child who happens to be President of the United States.
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The president said it was a “perfect conversation”. That’s because that is how all his conversations go. He is always making sure there is something in it for Him.
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He never cut it in NYC. He does not cut it now. He is one of those persons who is unbelievable, unacceptance and offensive in a single glance. Why all his supporters would "wanna be" an empty suit is beyond me. He has sold his soul to the fuel industry.
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With regard to the claim that "there is no direct linkage to the president of the United States” (said Mark Meadows, a Republican congressman from North Carolina), NYT should refer to the best counter-evidence: we (and Meadows) can just read the transcript of the "perfect" conversation between Trump and Zelensky. It is Trump HIMSELF who describes the quo, "Do us a favor though".
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Indeed, "Let’s hope the hearings this week help sort truth from all the many lies." If at least some of the folks still under the sway of the Trumpian chaos brainwashing come to and start to smell the malfeasance, the impeachment process will have been worth it.
The Repubs in Congress by and large already know the ugly truth, and have lowered themselves so far that they don't seem capable of turning back to reality. For them, anything, no matter how dirty and crooked, is OK as long as they get their tax breaks for billionaires and get to deregulate us into an outright climate change catastrophe.
If too many of our fellow Americans are incapable of seeing thru the fog of Trumpian chaos, our experiment with democracy will be all but over, and Putin will have succeeded. Please, wake up America!
1
You wonder why no Trump supporter believes you?
Because everybody knows that if the roles were reversed - if the president was a progressive Democrat - you'd be praising her as a tough-minded practitioner of real politique, one who leverages American military aid to root out corruption around the world.
@Hugo Furst No, that's not true. If there was a corruption case to be made, it would be done through the DOJ, not through a threat by the POTUS to withhold aid.
Since the law and facts are not on Trump's side, time to pound the table.
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