Clearly Mr Blow you don’t recognize a game when it’s taking place in front of you.
You may have missed the fact that it is a game since Schiff and the democrats
are denying the President due process or any ability to face his accusers,therefore
making it seem totally unfair unlike most games.Keep up the hate Mr Blow and
discover what losing the game feels like again in 2020 when Trump is re-elected.
My GOP friends believe this is a witch hunt and it is a program of scoundrels going after scoundrels. To them, "who's your guy" is the only relevant question, and Trump is their guy.
It's not over folks...
what is frightening is that the likes of mccarthy are willing to turn their backs on their own rules set in place in 2015 and mope, whine, cry, complain, that the dems are following them.
As Ed Snowen puts it: If we only knew what government wants us to know, we wouldn't know anything. But the current version of censorship goes way beyond imprisoning or murdering journalists. Instead, all anyone has to do is bury the truth in disinformation and lies. For what it's worth, the endless accusation of fake news from the guy with the fake hair and the fake complexion is the greatest fake news of all. The signature rhetorical tacitc of the right is accusing others of its own sins, as in the Fox News patriotism police insisting that Purple Heart Kerry is a coward and DDD (draft-dodging Dubya) is a hero. Dubya needed an actual pilot to fly his plane onto the USS Lincoln in San Diego in order to declare the burgeoning catastrophe in Iraq a "mission accomplished", because he went AWOL from the Air Force many decades ago. President Bone Spur never even walked on the base.
Sad day-What baloney! Blow and the NYT opinion columnists, the Democrat party, and all the other Trump haters have been waiting for this since they started collectively calling for impeachment before Trump had even taken the oath. I do not hear so much about the Steele report anymore, at least since the author acknowledged that it could not be verified and the damaging information allegedly came from many of the same Russian oligarchs that are accused of interfering with the election. Mueller bombed, so this is a last resort.
When low level diplomats who have never met, spoken with or interfaced with Trump and his principal advisors, they cannot say what US policy is or should be. It is determined above their pay grade. If Obama could withhold lethal weapons from the Ukrainians, Trump can withhold monies.
If he believes that there was Ukrainian interference against a candidate in the last election, he can pursue that as he chooses. If he believes that corrupt action was taken by the Bidens (like the appointment of an unqualified- druggie son to the board of a key player in the Ukrainian oil market, then he has a right to investigate or have investigated such actions. And to take those actions necessary to make such determinations. And to withhold or threaten to withhold monies to assist in those efforts. This is investigation of corruption and is a legitimate function even if your political bedfellow (Biden) is involved in the corruption.
1
Haven't you heard? Fox News says no one should watch because it isn't "sexy." It has no "pizazz." Who cares that democracy is in the balance?
I thought it was great. All those selfless public servants telling me how great they are. Gosh move over Mother Teresa. And those questions they were just amazing. I guy hears fourth hand something he (a selfless public servant) doesn’t like and now he’s being hoisted up toward the heavens and being called, you guessed it, a selfless public servant. While most of us have just crummy jobs like engineering, accountancy, plumbing, golf pro, along those lines, we will never approach the saint hood of selfless public servants. Darn it
Yes, truth matters, and we live in a hyperpartisan era.
That said, Mr Blow does not seem to question his own convictions. Rather, he seems convinced that Republicans are the only ones with blinders, and he waits for them to fall off.
I would say that liberals and conservatives both have their blind spots, and I would like to see both sides work harder to consider the possibility that the other side is not simply Evil.
For example, some liberals assume that conservatives are simply racist, misogynist, homophobic, misguided, stupid, deplorable supporters of the "white supremacist patriarchy." This is not much different from conservatives who conclude that liberals all "hate America" and advance their agenda through the "deep state."
I don't see conservatives opening itheir minds-- or liberals either, unfortunately.
2
Trump accuses the Democrats of fabricating stories and lies. I don't think the Democrats or anyone else could make any of this up if they tried. While the Republicans think everything is a big game, the Democrats are trying to save the country from permanent destruction. And tens of millions of people are too ignorant, dumb or self-interested to realize this.
Nope, it's a game. The House will impeach and the Senate will throw it out. But, the best part is the liberals act sanctimonious. "This is the moment when truth has to matter more than anything else." Ha! You're killing me, Man!
Thank you Mr. Blow every word is 100% true .I hear the name Lindsey Graham I get very angry ,this is a man who said "Most unqualified person to ever run for office what Trump is a kook, crazy, if you are a Republican please do not vote for him ,he said this hundreds of times.
Only God knows what happened to Lindsay Graham? Everyone knows. He’s being blackmailed. About what?Use your imagination.
So Charles, Trump/Fox/Limbaugh lie to the gullible Republicans. Don’t you and your media cohorts ever tire of insulting the 63 million voters who elected Donald Trump President of the United States? You people live in a Manhattan progressive bubble and are so invested in subverting a legitimately elected President that you can’t see the forest through the trees.
1
Today on Fox, they did not cover the impeachment hearing but instead covered the size of one of the witnesse' water bottle, as if his water bottle made him an unfit witness. They mocked his water bottle and him incessantly. This is what matters in the Fox world, somebody's water bottle and not his testimony.
For the record, I can not STAND Donald Trump. He is a boor, a cretin, and possibly, a traitor to our country.
BUT...what is the point of this hearing?
We all know by now that NOTHING will be done to Trump, and even if it is, so what?
The people who support him will NOT change thier opinions.
The people who hate him will NOT change their opinions.
Young people will not watch or pay much attention. Too many words. Too long to read. BOW-RING....what's for lunch and here's an Instagram of my bologna sandwich!!! YAY!!!!
Old folks like me(63)....well, our hard earned and diligently saved retirement accounts are thru the roof. We HAVE worked and have money saved. We LIKE the markets going up, up, up. We KNOW it can't go on forever, so we harvest some gains and move the money to safer investments for that rainy day that WILL come.
The truth? I DON"T want to "share" with whiners,crybabies, and phone diddlers who WON'T work. I don't want thier hands in my pockets.
When I hear the Dem candidates advocating free this and free that...NOTHING is free. And then, when I see young people frittering thier lives away, covered with tattooes, heads bent over thier computer phones...not to learn, but to play games and send selfies....
No Way can or will I vote for a Dem who wants those hands in MY pocket to "share".
Make military service mandatory.
Discipline and worldliness is the answer.
1
What is it that Trump Republicans see in Trump that they are ready to cling to him while the ship is sinking? What kind of a future do they think they have with Trump? Are they all so deluded that they believe what he says ,are they all terrified for their pensions if they get fired, what is it that binds them to him? The tarnish that is rubbing off on them may well make them unelectable and unemployable anyway. And what about Democracy, the best idea yet,but a hard one to keep.Why do they persist in trashing it? Can we send them all to live in Russia for a year to find out if they really do want a dictatorship? They act as if they really do not want democracy, and they are certainly trying their best to trash it.
They look like such fools and traitors. Lying through their teeth. Do they know this? They can't all be dumb. Why do they persist in following blindly someone with all the shortcomings that Trump has? Can someone explain this? It makes no sense at all to me. I know Trump surrounds himself with yes men,but this is way beyond the pale. Even yes men must have a limit. But apparently not. They jump through hoops. How High?they say.They are all now running like lemmings to drown in the sea. Doing this of their own choice. Why? Can they really be this stupid? I suppose the answer is yes. Sad comment on the republican party.
2
Dead right.
Wonder how the Right Reverend Chucky (Mr. Racisim himself) feel when the Senate acquits Mr. Trump?
1
I sent Mr Blow a question on FB; Why do so many USA people support DT and the R party?
Trumps run for the Presidency and his entire time as President has been nothing but a game to him. He has controlled the story line and has been the puppet master of his own personal reality show. The press was a pawn in his campaign, providing millions of dollars of free coverage, his supports are rubes duped by the biggest con job in history his members of congress have been reduced to a feckless mob of yes men and suck ups and his cabinet has been culled down to a bunch of blithering idiots designed to make him look smarter. As long we keep playing Trumps game he’s not going anywhere.
Granted, extremist right wingers just love a good story about illicit sex, but nevertheless they took their attempt to impeach President Clinton (btw, I didn't vote for him,) over his lie about oral sex in the Oval Office, very, very seriously. Why? Because they wanted to undo the previous election, as they accuse Democrats of doing today. Thing is, THAT was not an impeachable act, but THIS IS certainly impeachable, in the text of the Constitution, and with hard multiple evidence, not circumstantial, as the Republicrooks claim. tRump has basically assaulted his own country by threatening our national security, and the the sovereignty of one of our most important allies, in the fight for democracy, and against the forces of Russian authoritarian aggression. He did it to benefit HIMSELF, not the American people. If anyone can be called a traitor to our nation, today, he would be the first one I would think of. Get him out! Republicans had better vote for conviction, if they want to retain any power in Congress. Otherwise, for our national well being, out they go, and good riddance.
Just a thought for Mr. Blow
George Kent, a State Department expert on Ukraine told lawmakers at the Wednesday impeachment hearing that he raised concerns about Hunter Biden’s job with a Ukrainian natural gas firm in 2015 — but the Obama/Biden administration blew him off.
Some issues Democrats would sweep under the proverbial rug but Trump promised to lift the rug and that’s one of the reasons people elected him and of course self righteousness Democrats are flipping out and want him removed at all cost.
Yesterday afternoon, late, as union workers that work in cities and suburbs head home to the far exurbs and near rural areas ..as feed mills and co-ops weigh the days last inbound loads and mark up the farmer that brought the loads as they take time and make note of fittings on the augers that need lube and hope that failing conveyor holds up til spring as these same peoples wives and children ready themselves for an evening of a quick dinner then it'll be off to the schoolhouse for a program or to a football game or dance lesson. Now multiply that scenario times, hard tellin' a lot..a big number.
Sadly as good as Taylor and Kent laid out the ideal laden morality that should be part of the national collective concern. Then additionally factor in the transparency of the Republican rebuttal and lack of any denial that indeed..THIS REALLY HAPPENED, it will in all likelihood be once again, sadly, overlooked. There will be a limited number of folks that have one of those..how do we say it?..moment of clarity.
The battle for that small but previously white hot American ideal can no longer be conducted as it were in the light of day, it is conducted mostly in the dark hours on computers supplemented by clarions on the cable channel you prefer.
And so that 'shining city on a hill' seems to fade further away, fearfully to be replaced by a dingy badly lit underground parking garage..
All this means a lot and hardly any of it is good
Yet when one reads the NY Times interviews on impeachment one has to wonder what is wrong with this country. We have dangerously ignorant people voting in our elections. Many interviewed don't just support, but defend this president. One can't help but feel tremendous fear for the future of our nation.
They refuse to see, to hear, to believe the damning evidence that is piling up daily. If they can't be convinced when the most damaging, irrefutable evidence is presented, how *will* they be convinced?
My belief. They cannot be convinced. trump is their savior and nothing will tarnish him in their eyes. But what is most terrifying is that their dangerous ignorance, their willful obstinance, their unyielding, unquestioning and complete fealty to this dangerous demagogue will destroy our country and democracy if he is not stopped and brought to justice.
The horrors multiply daily yet his base, who are willfully ignorant of reality, is not moved, nothing will persuade them, nothing will change their minds. They have sold their souls to the cult of trump, have made their deal with the devil but sadly all of us will pay when the devil comes due.
We are watching the destruction of our country but are impotent to do anything to halt it. The revelations are vile and indicative of how dangerous the sycophantic, complicit administration and his henchmen in congress are. They are traitors to our country, to our Constitution. How do we stop them? It's truly terrifying.
3
I've said this before. Trump is not an aberration, he's the culmination of 4 decades of Republican work. They won't convict him because this is how they want the country ruled.
Yes, ruled. Not governed. And all the folks who sat out elections for the past 40 years bear more culpability than any citizen who voted, no matter whom they voted for.
The end game of the American Experiment began in the latter 1970s, with the rise of the Chicago School, and this is the end of the end game. While the country grew happy and fat consuming and ignoring their self-governance, the corporations swooped into the vacuum and are now the "people" represented by the government.
Contrary to popular belief, every election is the most important, because things like this don't happen in 4 years, they're generational.
"A republic, if you can keep it."
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@David F
Yes, David --- as all our founders knew from their deep understanding of Roman history, and was 'burned into the back of their brains':
"The disease of Republics is EMPIRE".
Unfortunately, today, most Americans think that EMPIRE is the name of a TV entertainment show.
3
@David F Right on.
3
I have given up any any expectation of decency from Republicans, Mr. Blow. They are rotten to the core. To me the fact that they spread and sustained that vicious lie about President Obama's place of birth was it. I will not let that crime go.
Nothing has happened to lyndsey. This is the real lyndsey unshackled by the death of McCain.
Some NYT commenters have used the phrase "they drank the Kool-aid" to describe Trump's fervent base--his base being even the members of Congress who leap over each other to show their loyalty. I think the reason our elected officials bow and scrape to our Dear Leader is not because they believe what he "stands for" but because they have all been bought and sold.
Maybe the buying and selling took the form of bribery. Maybe the loss of their own souls resulted from the threat of embarrassing information dangled over their heads.
Or maybe Vladimir Putin is behind all of this kowtowing to Little Donnie. And it is certainly conceivable that Little Donnie is in hock up to his orange hairline to the former member of the KGB.
Wow, I guess Mr. Blow couldn't find a single solitary part of the testimony that actually supports impeachment, so he had a lot of white space to fill up his column with non-facts.
Weeks and months after Trump entered the WH as POTUS, he's blurt out as if still stunned: "I'm the President. Can you believe it?" He is POTUS. It is still unbelievable that so many Americans selected him on their ballot. I still don't believe they did. If the polls were so wrong, and the outcome determined they were-- were so many people that embarrassed, faking it or just dishonest (as is the current POTUS) about who they voted for? Besides the help from the media; how is he POTUS?
Trump was the worse of the Republican candidates. He entertained his way through debates in ways that his rivals, seasoned politicians could not clear. Now, perhaps we see why they fell to him: if they were trying to uphold traditional GOP values-- we now see that they did not believe in those themselves. Forgive the language, but they have all been punked publicly and remain so to this day by Trump (except for the true believers in Trump's 'ilk who have been the promoters of anti-immigrant and racist ideologies bolstered by Trump's unfiltered and sometimes violent rhetoric). They dish out lobbyists dream deals like Trump helped his ilk to a huge tax cut.
This is not a game to Trump. He is however a "player." First, it was his "reality show." He was going to "vanquish his rivals" everyday. Now, its about avoiding indictments if he is not re-elected in 2020. He'll sell his soul to Satan to avoid jail. The Devil is in the details. He obscures truth as fake. He's fake. Since Day 1. He's known it.
"The notion that no one is above the law is being tested."
Donald Trump has lived his life as if rules do not apply to him. From the dynastic tax fraud which facilitated the transfer of Daddy's wealth to him, to the stiffed contractors who worked on his projects, to the stiffed banks who loaned him money, to the constant stream of lies he spouts to cement the Trump mythology in the minds of his gullible followers, Trump is a massive fraud with an unlimited sense of entitlement. Also, taking just what is already known about him, it would be something past naive not to assume he is connected to dirty Russian money.
Trump must be brought to account, or the idea of America instilled in me from my youth will be revealed as false.
1
Thank you, Mr. Blow. This IS a somber and disheartening time in our country's history. We have a decision whether to protect our traditions and cherished norms or pivot to degrading the office of President to become a refuge for any criminally bent egomaniac who gets elected and claims immunity from the institutions which define us as a nation.
The hypo-hysteria does not serve this deep and meaningful conversation over the question of what we want to become in the future, an America we are proud to leave for our children or the spineless subjects of a Putin-like dictator?
The House will impeach, the Senate will acquit. What will be learned that was not already known?
I find amusing that many of the folks that condem Trump think that Clinton was unjustly impeached.
As Nancy Pelosi reiterated today, “All paths lead to Putin.”
By Trump’s withdrawal of troops from Syria, he left the Kurds in harm’s way. For him to delay funds to the Ukrainians to bribe them to get dirt on Biden, he left Zelenskiy In the arms of Putin. By asking Russia to hack to win in 2016, Trump gave them carte Blanche to tip the scales on his behalf. Now, he’s pushing the conspiracy theory that it was the Ukrainians, not the Russians, who meddled. Putin has kompromat on Trump that grows daily, but fool Trump forgets he is playing Russian roulette with this KGB thug , and he will lose. This is a serious game that hurts all of us as well the balance of power worldwide. Trump is a national calamity and a code red danger.
2
Cheato has really worked hard at his efforts and accomplished a great deal in a short time, Too bad all of his actions have been backwards looking, corrosive and destructive,
There is an impeachment hearing?
The Democrats are going to lose in 2020.
It is worse than sad. It is pathetic.
Never before in this hideous three years have I been so certain he will sully our TV screens for another five.
On that note, never before have I been so tempted to put a brick through said TV screen.
Dems and their disablers in the media bleat on about “quid pro quo.” This for that. A trade. A deal.
Get over it.
When in fact the reality was seismically worse: It was extortion. A shakedown. An offer poor Mr. Zelensky couldn’t refuse. But you’d never know that from listening to the pundits and other blabberatti on cable. Apparently a fancy Latin phrase makes the speaker sound so much smarter.
And the Dem questioners, Lordy! As pitiful as anything in the Mueller sit-down. Repeatedly, when they want something confirmed, they fail to ask the straight, to-the-point, clear-as-day “Did you?” -- and instead pose the most convoluted of upside-down expressions, “Did you not?”
Excuse me? You are asking if the witness did “not” see what he just said he saw?
In which case he should answer, “No, I did not not see it”?
Here's another "not": They simply could *not* do a better job of undermining their own case.
I will place a bet presently on his re-election. I am long overdue for my consolation prize.
What I find amazing is that if one reads the WSJ and the NYT editorials, one would think we are in two different countries.
With his intimidating ad hominem realtime tweets during Ambassador Yovanovitch's testimony Trump has stepped into the abyss in front of the whole world.
of course its a game. called "resistance." Russian collusion didn't work, groping charges didn't work, now we have disgrunted diplomats who don't want to accept Presidential direction trying to oust their boss because they don't like him. Next we will have tax filings to whine about.
trump’s impeachment is a good day. trump as president is a bad day. It is also a bad day having the Senate majority allowing trump to remain in office. It is a good day to know that our Constitution has a mechanism to remove unfit presidents. trump is the anti-American, he seems to have no idea who America is supposed to be. America must never support white nationalism. America must never support dictators while denigrating our intelligence community. America must never support anyone who does not believe in the First Amendment, except for himself. Impeachment is a very good day. It allows us to keep America from being destroyed from within.
Spot on. Truth=Fact. Fact=Reality. If Trump and his toadies succeed in the big con, that there is no 'real' reality, only spins, then we are firmly in Trumpistan, where tribes battle, each with their own 'Truth'.
Or are we there already? Is Foxland already a coherent Tribe? Will the battles go on forever?
America has attracted some of the smartest people around for a very long time. If America fails to separate Truth from False, and the Tribes battle for the Reality that includes nukes, we are all done. Truly an existential crisis, although it may not seem that way as yet.
Another fine column, Mr. Blow.
I agree that 'no one is above the law' is being tested.
We are also testing the extent of corruption in the Congress and Senate, not just the White House.
There is really no other explanation for the posturing, sneering, coarse and unbecoming disrespect the Republicans showed the process and its dignified pair of witnesses.
What offstage master are these Republicans serving? It's definitely not the electorate.
Blow's "Game" has been to undermine the Trump Presidency from the day of his election by any means necessary.
He considers this "sad but necessary".
His weekly Opinions are vitriolic political diatribes demonstrating a strong dislike for most Americans including Republicans, moderates, and many liberal Democrats who disagree with him on an issue.
His self-righteousness is of epic proportions.
1
Trump, alas, is the only man whom real Americans feel they can rely on to protect them from the radicals of the media and the Democratic Party. Blow's piece shows how worried he is that the constitutional process of election will once again give Trump fours years in office. Instead of getting up in his pulpit and preaching fire and brimstone to Trump's enablers, he would do well to examine his own side's selfish determination to disestablish white Americans. Then he might have an inkling of how to disestablish Trump.
As I watch the media tacitly validate Republican lies by calling them strategy, lament the months Nancy Pelosi tampered the necessity of impeachment by lending Republicans the talking point.."It's far too divisive for the country," I am not hopeful. Now, rather than allowing all trump's crimes to be exposed, Democrats plan to rush and narrow the focus. This whole crisis will end, unceremoniously and people, namely white will move on as if nothing ever happened. Democrats will again debate healthcare plans that will never come to fruition if they lose in 2020 and the country will spiral. Bottom line..if people arent made to understand the danger of this montster we will read about an America that..used to exist.
Not a game for Republicans either, but definitely a fantasy TV show.
I'm almost going to feel sorry for him when he resigns.
1
My elite NYC high school had a motto: “Great is the truth and it prevails”.
It has stayed with me over seven decades, and became part of my core beliefs.
I recently discovered that William Barr went to the same school, three years behind my class. But the AG of the US is a liar and master of obfuscation. The president, the entire Republican party and a propaganda TV network not only lie, but will create their own truths to serve their own purposes, gaslighting the entire country.
Can the truth prevail? It’s a tossup.
The truth is that Republicans have violated their oath of office, they have abdicated their responsibility to protect the Constitution and the rule of law. They are traitors. If they are not removed from office, and soon, there will be no country worth defending.
1
Trump is the team leader chosen because he brought the ball, owns the court, the stadium, the concession stands and the land on which the game is played. The problem is that he has chosen a team of bullies who only know how to cheat, using force rather than skill, who will do anything to win. Everyone who sought to do otherwise has been kicked off the team. Are we, as a nation content to conduct ourselves thusly ? Have we sunk so low that we venerate a leader who practices a scorched earth policy? We can't just sulk and shuffle quietly away. Time to choose your future folks. This is a genuine crisis.
Maybe the motto for "the awakening" will be ...
The truth has set us free.
BTW - We're going to dig the hole a lot deeper before we go try to clear that bar.
"And Trump’s tactics have been informed and amplified by the misinformation organ that is Fox News and much of conservative talk radio."
Let's stop using euphemisms. Fox isn't a "misinformation organ." It's a state-condoned propaganda organ similar to what we saw frequently in the 20th Century European and African experiences. "Conservative" talk radio ennobles the breed as something espousing a philosophy. That's a perversion of "conservative." It took more than 2 years for media to step to the plate and describe White House tweets "lies" rather than "shading the truth." Let's not for one more minute say that right wing radio is conservative; it's hateful and explosive. Fox isn't "misinforming." It's lying.
1
Once again Mr. Blow, you have taken what is in my mind and have expressed it as prose. I hope your words begin to affect those in this country holding onto a belief in their President, take off the rose colored glasses and begin to see the truth. If anyone can do it I believe you can.
Thank you again
"... the country got something horribly wrong. It elevated a man of poor character." Trump built his political career on a slander of President Obama (birtherism). At his nominating convention, he trashed a Gold Star family. He was defended again and again. He would change once elected; he would become Presidential. He did neither. Maya Angelou said it best: "When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time."
1
I don't think the truth is going to clear the bar. The impeachment inquiry will do little, most likely nothing, to break down the walls of the silo's we have chosen for ourselves.
The Senate will acquit Trump and he will remain the Twitter God for at least one more year in which he will do even greater damage. Truth is relative and fleeting in Trump world. And we still live in it.
The 2020 election will be the final test. These days I have little faith in my fellow Americans and resort to prayer. We have no idea what will happen between now and then and I am not looking forward to any of it save being with my family.
Listening to the GOP apologists yesterday, I couldn't help wondering if they actually believe themselves when they argue that there was no harm done since Ukraine ultimately got the military aid. If your spouse arranged a hook-up but didn't go through with it because you found out about it, would you not feel betrayed? Of course, you would. Trump has betrayed his country. We have been betrayed, and those who would look at his actions and call them fine, also betray us. Up is still up. Down is still down. And it's not just heart breaking, but terrifying, that so many have lost their willingness to acknowledge what's staring them in the face.
You are absolutely right Mr. Blow, impeaching Trump is not a game, but so far Republicans have performed their part as if it is a penny dreadful comedy.
History will not find their antics funny, nor their defense of Trump honorable. They are revealing the truth of who they are just as the impeachment hearings reveal the truth of what Trump is.
So, is there a plan to bring someone in that can sink the USS Trump? Is there a torpedo ready to go? So far, these Nerf shooting witnesses just aren't getting it done.
Are there at least talking points going to the candidates? What will Bloomberg and Klobachar say on what one act Trump committed that warrants impeachment? Warren and Bernie are going in front of people, and it is not a one way flow of information. Some of these town halls might be very enlightening, the next few days.
"One hopes that there are many whose sense of morality is greater than their sense of tribalism."
Those people voted against Trump. But there are also many whose sense of tribalism is greater than their sense of morality and they voted for you-know-who.
The point I am trying to make here is that there won't be many people who are going to learn that the American president is immoral. Trump wasn't born last night. People knew his character.
So we “elevated a man of poor character who did not keep faith with the country”.
Isn’t this what the electoral college was supposed to protect us from?
The electoral college is irrelevant and should be abolished.
The cold hard truth is that Trump is paying his enablers in various ways. They are not loyal to him because they like or respect him. They are getting something back = quid pro quo.
It is up to Democrats to get to the bottom of exactly what they are getting back from Trump.
We already know that he is bribing senators to vote no on impeachment. That should be headline news. Why isn't it?
Whatever is motivating these Republicans to lie to protect Trump is a matter of law and needs to be investigated to determine what is going on.
The systematic brainwashing by the far right via Fox News, and other outlets, cannot be overstated. The dumbing down of the electorate gives them permission. The public has to make a choice what kind of country we will have in the future.
1
"That honesty and bravery were the hallmarks of good character and honorable leadership."
And the latest honoree is Al Green. Not Al Green the singer, Alexander N. Green the congressman, from Texas's 9th congressional district.
Mr. Green spoke words so powerful and true, they were put on a poster and displayed during Wednesday's hearing.
"If we don't impeach the President, he will get re-elected."
Those words aren't just the truth, they are the desperate truth.
I listened to the news this morning about the GOP strategy against Yovanovitch. Jordan is expected to attack her as a partisan hack, question her voting record, make her out to be a “never trumped” whatever that is (made up by GOP to denigrate people). Of course, she’s female, so let the accusations fly. Women, pay attention to how Jordan treats her. He will do everything to diminish her. Misogynistic it will be.
"As such, people choosing to live in a Trump/Fox/Limbaugh world are unlikely to be altered by the truth because they are less likely to be exposed to the truth, the fullness of it, the unassailability of it."
Exactly. Those Republican politicians and pundits who appear of Fox News and call these proceedings a "TV show 'to create a spectacle'" like Mike Huckabee and a "witch hunt" clearly show their lack of ethics and integrity, which the rest of us should be shoving in their faces. While they continue to act like those who believe the Earth is flat, and not accept facts that are undeniable, they wonder why they can't control the narrative with weak excuses and a "do as I say, not as I do" attitude.
The only person on Fox who seems to have any character whatsoever is Judge Napolitano.
Excellent column. I was very frustrated by your last column about Bloomberg but you really made up for it with this one. Thank you.
Should Trump somehow survive impeachment (highly likely) and get re-elected (unclear), the blue states of the northeast and the west coast should really look into seceding. As others have noted, the similarities to the civil war are growing every day, and I don't want to live in a country where I am not wanted and my values are the opposite of those of the president.
Trump would be unlikely to allow it to happen because it would be perceived as losing and he only sees the world in terms of winners and losers, not realizing that in reality, he is the biggest loser of them all because he is morally bankrupt.
It is a tragedy, but it has less to do with the times and more with the principle of "strength in numbers". Divided they fall, united they conquer and so forth. It would be nice if strength were aligned with principles, but it isn't always the case. Such is politics. You can't always get what you want. You do with what you have, even if it means sticking with the likes of you-know-who.
Thank you for this Mr. Blow. I am rooting so hard for truth and conscience to break through. Though, I confess, It feels a little like wishing for a Christmas Miracle at this point.
It's not just "blind devotion to Trump." It's blind devotion to extremist right-wind ideology. Republicans have been this way for a very long time. They despise the reality-based community. Even though this Republican emperor has no clothes, they are still gaslighting the American people, telling us that he's well dressed.
For me, hyperartisanship began back when the idea of Trump winning was still laughable. Hillary was on the campaign trail and called a significant % of our fellow citizens deplorable. Unprovoked and not a good move (something, by the way, she has stood by without apology)
The broader global implications of the inevitable outcome of this process is hard to wrap one's head around.
America, you are in deep, murky waters... be careful here. More than your democracy is at stake. Your ability to hold good faith, and morality, will be swept away with this.
Be careful here.
2
We are in this Trumpian pickle because for years the needs of many of America’s citizens have been cast aside in our relentless quest to maintain our Superpower stature in the world. This neglect of our human capital, coupled with increasing wealth inequality, is what is driving the desperate many into the arms of our current party of dictators, the GOP. Since we as a country no longer offer much hope for their futures, we can expect that strong arm dictator types Will remain appealing to many.
It seems to me today’s politics is like the World Series. It’s my team vs yours. They cheer their own team right down to the last points scored and last moment. Then get ready for the next game. Cheating and unsportsmanlike conduct is OK if it scores points. Only it is much more than a competition with lives and the present and future environment at risk.
Only one party seems interested in facts. Only one party promotes ideas that have majority support. The party that won with minority vote is only interesting in ruling, not governing.
Republican ideology. “I’ve got mine. Too bad about you.”
Democrat ideology “we are all in this together”.
1
I will certainly vote in 2020, hoping against hope that Trump will not be on the ticket.
But my fear is that Trump may win because of forces having nothing to do with legitimate processes -- meaning, to what degree will Russia, and other actors, affect the outcome? Will forces within the U.S. keep potentially Democratic voters from the polls? Will electoral college politics somehow be corrupted?
I am dismayed by my own cynicism. But as I watch the impeachment process, listen to Trump's insane tweet regarding Yavonavitch, see the Republicans interrupt the opening remarks, and more -- I can only imagine what will occur behind the scenes with power and money to ensure Trump's continued reign of terror and corruption.
Democrats have to engage in an assertive and energized campaign -- beyond that of the candidates -- to confront this barrage of insult that has been heaped on the country.
@SGK
Trump will most definitely be on the ticket. He’ll likely be “impeached” by the House, but the GOP-dominated Senate will dismiss him, so he can go on a self-pitying “vindication” tour to rally the GOP and most likely win a second term. The Devil has his back.
So Charles, 'The truth will out'. Or will it? We are not the same nation we were when Watergate broke.
Entertainment began displacing reality with the advent of television. Marshall McLuhan warned us about it. Neil Postman warned us about it. Paddy Chaefsky warned us about it. Rational thought is hard in the best of times. When everything is judged for entertainment value, rational thinking is nearly Impossible.
So now here we are. Fox ran the hearings in real time with sidebar text deriding the hearings. Reputable major media derided the first day of hearings as, 'Booooring!'
These hearings are as much about us as they are about Trump. Can we get this right?
2
Charles Blow wrote: "As such, people choosing to live in a Trump/Fox/Limbaugh world are unlikely to be altered by the truth because they are less likely to be exposed to the truth, the fullness of it, the unassailability of it.
But one hopes there are those whose blinders slip."
The people you refer to DO NOT WANT THE TRUTH! The truth of their circumstances are unacceptable to them. The WANT LIES.
This has been clear for some time, Trump is not the cause, just the catalyst.
6
Those who are banking on the 2020 election are whistling in the wind if they think 1. Trump will actually voluntarily leave office if defeated, and 2. That there will not be foreign influence quite possibly altering the true vote count. This amoral gangster will stop at nothing to maintain power and all the comments and Mr. Blow’s column only reinforce that. Perhaps we would be better suited if Mr. Blow calls fro massive civil protest in the streets to reclaim our democracy before it is too late; which it may well very be.
3
@Lawrence Garvin I agree.
The Impeachment Hearing have highlighted Trump's
intimidations.
Now,in my opinion, there are millions of his supporters who encourage and will join in those intimidations.
The threat is very real now.
3
Charles Blow wrote: "This impeachment will test whether the spell Trump cast can indeed be broken."
It is apparent to me that there are tens of millions of Americans who lie and cheat. That was before Trump. He has only enabled them and encouraged others to join them.
The myth of the "decent American" is being exposed.
7
I am fed up with all the politicians in office.
It's time to get younger people in office to refocus our aims as a society.
Dislodge the political system with the old foggy's in it and start
anew.
They always said the older the person in office new more but in this case they don't care.
Vote for younger people that want a better America in 2020.
1
Finally, we are seeing Americans step up and say "Enough!" No, the diplomats aren't saying the words in the hearing room, but for once, the rock has been lifted, and facts are pouring out into broad daylight.
I don't know if the country as a whole will do what is right next year, but today I am seeing history's playing out before me, with a stark divide between right and wrong, and individuals choosing to be on one side or the other of that divide.
2
Here's the problem: Mr. Blow's contention that "Trump had attempted to extort the president of Ukraine..." is an unassailable truth is simply not true; it's plenty assailable, as evidenced by the Republicans having assailed that notion continuously for weeks. Rather, Mr. Blow has given a hyperbolic spin to, or his own preferred interpretation of what Messrs. Taylor and Kent actually said, which was nothing of the sort. So what's "true" seems to depend on one's politics, and I wish pundits would stop stating as fact what is merely a biased interpretation. In this case, I happen to agree with Mr. Blow's interpretation even though I don't believe it's an unassailable truth.
3
@William Wroblicka Truth is absolute. Truth is not opinion.Truth is not belief.
Truth is ABSOLUTE.
1
@William Wroblicka Your comment reminds me a bit of a scene from Godfather II, the one at the end of the Senate hearing where the case against Michael Corleone falls apart. Everyone knows what Michael Corleone is and has done, but to prove it, that's a different matter. So, here you stand, a bit like Corleone's brother/advisor Tom Hagen, not demanding an apology, but still, feigning ignorance.
Agree with you 100 percent, Charles.However, the Republican reaction to Taylor's testimony on Wednesday suggests that they will not heed the call of truth.
4
Absolutely, it's not a game and it is a tragedy. Not just because of one man's corruption, even if that man happens to President of the United States, but because of the long term and even irrevocable harm that has been done. A big part of our policy in Ukraine has been to fight corruption, yet one of the first realities that their new president confronts is a threat from the President of the U.S. with loss of critical support in their war against Russia unless he initiates investigations into Trump's political opponents. Our allies and others who look to America for leadership against repression and invasion now have additional reason to question our commitments. Our adversaries and authoritarian regimes around the world are now further encouraged to pursue their evil plots. Removal of this President from office would go a long way toward reinstating the free world's confidence in the U.S., but only time and a return to honorable behavior will ever heal the damage.
4
Yes, it's not a game even though Republicans are trying to make it look like one. Instead, they have made themselves look like a bunch of Russian agents, employing the same type of disinformation tactics used by the Kremlin to discredit Putin's critics.
7
Charles has been so uncompromisingly relentless--for three years--in his criticism of this (pseudo-)presidency that this column seems, in some respects, restrained. He captures the sense, confronted by the constitutional cancer generated by a lawless president and by the malignant theatrics of his enablers, that a great reckoning is about to take place. This is not a game, Mr. President. This is not a game, Mr. Nunes. This is not a game, Mr. Giuliani. May it be an awakening; may it be the first step in what I would term an exorcism. May it be a turn toward, a re-claiming of, the "better angels" (Lincoln) of our fragile civic enterprise.
6
Beautifully and somberly stated. Thank you and thank you to all the career professionals who have devoted their lives to serving our (I hope still) great nation. Listening to William Taylor and George Kent was inspiring and reassuring. In contrast to the ignorant, bombastic liar who occupies the highest office in the land, their measured, concrete testimony was sobering and startling. I am grateful that the men and women who serve us in the State Department have stepped up to face the traitors in the GOP and White House. Let's get out the vote in 2020.
6
Truth will prevail. I have to believe that.
4
@Jean
Sadly, truth will out, but Trump will prevail, I’m afraid.
So brilliantly put, and yet so tragic that clearly this president will remain in office nevertheless.
1
Our Founding Fathers thought we should have a Free Press.
It is one of the cornerstones of our democracy.
But since 1996, we've had Fox News acting as the Official Republican Channel. Promoting the GOP has been their bread and butter. They make sure every segment favors Republicans, factual or not. Selling Republican indignation is very, very lucrative.
During the Bush/Cheney years, we had the White House feeding talking points to Fox. Now, we have Hannity as an "unofficial" adviser. telling Trump what to do and say.
Trump's staff goes on Fox & Friends to lobby Trump, as watching Fox News is Trump's main occupation and source of information.
The coordinated lie campaign is going very well.
Trump's base almost exclusively watches Fox News.
Every segment strokes indignation and fear - the liberals are out to destroy America by giving the country away to people who do not look like "Real Americans".
And Fox News is now the second career of choice for Republicans. They are pretty much guaranteed a place on Fox News, payback for loyalty.
So will truth prevail?
Maybe, but not on Fox News.
It doesn't need to bother with it.
Outrage works much much better.
Bloomberg really should buy Fox News instead of running.
He'd be doing a great service to the country.
Vote Democratic in 2020.
Every office, every seat.
10
@D. DeMarco You should contact your cable provider and ask why you only get FOX News. I get a number of news channels, including OAN.
And let people snooker you, it is party over country.
This is a public hearing that may not result in a vote in impeachment but COULD result in a motion by the House to censure the President for his conduct. If such a motion were well crafted by the Democrats it would put the GOP in the awkward position of either supporting the conduct of the President or supporting a motion of condemnation. Alternatively, the House could craft legislation that provides targeted aid to support the Ukraine's efforts to ferret out corruption taking place NOW and to establish the rule of law in their country.
Voters MIGHT react take note of there is bi-partisan rejection of Mr. Trump's handling of international affairs which COULD serve the ultimate Democrat candidate well in 2020. Both the House and Senate have voted to reject Mr. Trump's actions in Turkey. I find it hard to believe they would support Mr. Trump's dealings with the Ukraine.... but I've been unpleasantly surprised before.
4
Bloomberg does not really want the misery of a campaign or the job of president and he’s trying to force himself to do it as a contribution to his country.
At his age and wealth it doesn’t make sense to waste his precious time on earth with an unpleasant political campaign having to endure insults from his opponent.
Bloomberg doesn’t have the fire in his belly, a necessary requirement to run a national campaign.
1
@Michael Kittle
With men like him, one cannot discount ego as a factor.
Benjamin Franklin's response to the question asked of him about what he and the other Founding Father's had wrought at their convention: "A Republic, if you can keep it." is now being tested like never before. I think this may be worse than the actual Civil War. Reconstruction never fully happened, and our country entered in to a deeper division which festered for decades. The two World Wars snapped us back together, but afterwards, we became divided again...and then came along FOX News, which just further stoked the flames of division. Maybe it is time for that Divorce. Staying together for the sake of the kids is never a good idea. I am not seditious. I am being realistic. Study history. Since our founding, we have been in an internal battle. Trump is our undoing if he is not removed, and his sociopathic followers are not awoken.
7
You are correct that it is unlikely that the Republican senate will vote to convict Trump, regardless of the evidence and regardless of their sworn duty. That's why, in 2020, vote blue, no matter who.
6
@Steve L
I have a small business, and come across many types of people. Trump types seem detached from reality, as if all of this is no big deal. Notable is their admiration for his entertainment value. It is pathetic.
The scariest part of the Trump presidency to me is that almost 40% of the people in this country still supports him. That despite the numerous scandals, incessant lies, and attacks on our institutions, he is still venerated by so many Republicans.
I look at these hearings and wonder, what do we have to do before this seemingly rock solid mass of support begins to ebb? The facts are there and for all intensive purposes are not being disputed. Yet, while the Democrats are performing their responsibility, we are left to hope that a few Republicans grow a backbone and put country before power.
It's a sad day for this country.
6
42 percent.
Tragically, the court of public opinion risks ruling against the constitution. For this reason, the process must be handled delicately and offered as a learning moment for a vast number of Americans who have been trained to ignore /repudiate Washington and the workings of our republic.
Imagine the same circumstances in the 19th century; families would be heatedly debating around the dinner table, armed with knowledge of their republic and its path into existence. Education is key.
3
" . . . particularly by Republicans in this country."
Mr Blow has this right. Unlike games, this contest is one between two sides to which the idea of equivalence does not apply.
3
I am gifted, as a Ph.D in a field in the Humanities, with the ability to listen to hours of words, and be able to more or less keep track. I have been known to avidly listen to hours of The Home Shopping Network and comment on it on /r/HSN, all the while grading papers.
I thought the matter a joy. What, did I miss some more important programming?
Grow up people. Those half off embroidered scarves can wait. Even Judge Judy can wait.
2
It is a game for The trump folks, its their team against ours and its not how you play its if you win. Does not matter how much evidence given the Red team will never accept it. Their star is under attack so thats the main thing to protect , not the principles or the democracy..
4
Unless and until William Barr, Stephen Miller and other enablers in the administration are questioned publicly, the average voter will not comprehend how far from the rule of law this administration has gone.
Democracy dies in the darkness.
10
The almost daily assault on our dignity will soon ameliorate when he is forced to resign.
I'll almost feel sorry for him.
Not quite.
1
How did Hillary get to be the Democratic candidate to oppose Trump and how did she lose to Trump in the electoral college?
How did she get to be Sec of State and a household name?
Hillary was the wife of a former president who most unfortunately was Impeached. How the wife of an Impeached president got to be the Democratic standard bearer for President and of course lost to Trump, was the most tragic story of all in its consequences for the country. This Is Not a Game indeed. Democrats need an able candidate with a solid personal accomplishment of personal executive performance.
2
@David please give Hillary-bashing a rest at this late stage in the trump nightmare. We all understand that Hillary was not perfect - who is?- but those of us paying attention in 2016 had a good idea of just how bad trump is and the danger he would pose to the country and the world order if he were elected. No way would Hillary have been as continuously terrible on so many levels as trump is. So at this point I hope you can see that ANY Democrat nominee in 2020 will be better than trump.
16
@Mossy
Please try just a little introspection into your past mistakes.
It would be improbable that "ANY" Democrat nominee in 2020 would be better than Trump. Insanity is repeating the same mistakes again and again and expecting different results.
Thinking that ANY Democrat, no matter how flawed and ill conceived, would beat Trump, was your first mistake. Don't repeat it. Your 2nd mistake was thinking that any female is better than any male candidate.
@David If you read the book "Shattered", about Hillary's campaign and subsequent loss, all of your questions will be answered.
A beautiful column Charles.
My fear, however, is that no matter what happens, whether Senate Republicans find a spine and remove Trump, or they remain defiant before the facts, there is a significant minority (~40%) of the US population that thinks Trump is a true leader. I suspect a significant proportion of that 40% would be happy if Trump became president for life and his children followed him into that position.
In other words, I believe the American democracy is in serious trouble. How can it survive when almost half the population doesn't care whether the president is voted in or simply selects him/herself?
And what is sad and scary for me as an Australian is that I see my own government starting to follow some of the Trump playbook.
I believe the next century will be a real test for humanity. Can we continue down the road of equality for all, rule of law or will we once again turn to fascism and totalitarianism?
I think all people (liberal and conservative) who want to continue living in democracies will have some hard questions to answer, the main one being, what are they prepared to do, what are they prepared to sacrifice to move the world in a better direction?
14
I am afraid America already failed the test three years ago in November. The individuals who voted for Donald Trump certainly failed it and our electoral system failed it by enabling a minority to elect a president. But even if a small percentage of Trump voters withdraw their support from him based on the evidence of the impeachment hearings, what can they do next November? Not vote if Trump is the nominee? Write-in Mickey Mouse? It would be better if they called their representatives now and told them to support Trump's impeachment and removal so another Republican could get the party's nomination, wouldn't it?
5
This is the first NYT article I have read that gives me hope that Americans are starting to get it. However, while you have the majority leader of the Senate, Mitch McConnell, musing on whether Senate Republicans will either:
1) drag out the impeachment trial so Democrat POTUS candidates are prevented from campaigning across the country, because they need to be present in Washington for the Senate trial or
2) expedite voting down the impeachment reommendation from the House in the Senate trial to signal to the American people what Trump did, did not matter,
then it is there for all the world to see that your democracy is in real jeopardy. You need to rescue it - and rescue it very soon.
This reality is very much a Clear and Present Danger.
8
What Republican is actually watching the debates or reading the actual information being presented? They just hear what they're supposed to learn from their corrupted sources and ignore literally everything else. I will be shocked if any Republican Senators change their public views about Trump until the day that Trump is no longer President.
5
It seems clear that truth the enemy of the Trump and the Republicans. Truth is a critical concept in a democracy but once a democracy no longer matters neither does truth. I think the problem faced by the Democrats goes back to power grabbing strategies devised by Republicans which may have begun after the defeat of Barry Goldwater in 1964. This landslide defeat made conservatives realize that they would have to do things differently to gain power. One thing that was changed was the southern strategy. This was devised after civil rights legislation was signed and the South abandoned the Democrats. Also, since Goldwater's defeat right wing think tanks have emerged, conservative talk radio came about, and Fox News was created and most recently there have been right wing media websites like Breitbart and use of social media to sow disinformation and engage in troll attacks. All of this stuff comprises the Republicans world and it is very different from the mainstream world of the major TV networks and papers like the NY Times which are familiar to Democrats. So really there are two separate Americas that have almost nothing in common. I think the mainstream world will be convinced that the truth has been found through the impeachment inquiry but in the Republican's world the truth will be irrelevant and the focus will remain on obtaining power.
10
Sorry to disagree but this is a waste of time. Trump's actions here are viewed purely in a partisan manner. The left has him in a jumpsuit and handcuffs and the Republicans do not see this rising to the High Crimes and Misdemeanor bar. Since the Senate ultimately decides his fate the outcome is obvious. Not one Republican in the House voted against him here so there is no way the Senate will. No new news will come from this inquiry and it will reduced to just a hearsay based effort without an identifiable accuser.
People hoping for a miracle likely also think the Dems will win the next election as well.
That's not happening either folks.
Trump will take this flawed and failed effort and declare this as exoneration and cruise to an easy victory.
Mark my words, the Dems got played here.
6
This brings the facts to the people. They have a choice to make once they have the facts.They have a responsibility. If they won't or don't exercise it,we do not deserve a democracy,and we certainly won't have one. Once that choice is lost it is extremely hard to go back because elections will either be rigged or not available. Crossing that line is entering a whole new world of freedoms lost, justice lost, choices gone, futures bleak.
7
This is a constitutional procedure that has no chance for success. The Senate will not impeach Trump no matter how compelling the evidence that Trump committed high crimes or misdemeanours.But this a tribute to American values and the Democratic leadership. Silence and inaction in the face of Presidential corruption would have made the Democrats complicit in Trump’s trampling of the law.There is more at stake here than simply winning the next election. No man is above the law. This is NOT Russia. Thank God.
15
Sad, yes. Necessary, yes. And I am so thankful that we have a system of checks and balances, along with a free press, that provide for a process of accountability on the part of elected officials. The gentlemen who were courageous enough to testify on Wednesday are among our finest citizens and deserve our deepest gratitude and respect. They are helping to save our democracy.
4
One of the things that made the case against Richard Nixon compelling is it involved a burglary. I think everyone can agree burglary is a criminal act. I fear that Trump’s criminal acts may not be regarded as such by his base and those who tend to lean in his direction. If he is to be held accountable, it is imperative the prosecution emphasize the damage Trump has done, and continues to do, in very raw terms. Ambassador Taylor accomplished this by noting that Ukrainian solders were being killed every day, and as we speak, by an invading Russian army. This, while Trump sat on their security money trying to gain a political advantage for himself. These type of examples need to be repeated, and repeated again, rather than parsing the finer points of Constitutional Law.
10
@Dale Merrell.
Bribery is a crime. I'm compelled to believe that tRump tried to bribe the President of Ukraine to help him win re-election in 2020.
@Dale Merrell. Sadly, through his treatment of the Kurds, we have learned that Trump does not care if soldiers who are allies are killed.
"The notion that no one is above the law is being tested."
And I feel were going to ultimately fail that test.
Maybe not all of us, maybe not some of us, but most certainly based on what I've consistently seen, all of the senators that matter: the ones who vote the crucial votes to impeach or not, those 20 extra Republican senators who can spell the difference between watching Trump leave Washington or continue to abuse power as freely as he wants.
8
There was nothing sad about Congress finally fulfilling it's Article I legislative duty and power to check and balance the Article II executive office President of the United States.
America is not and never was meant to be a democracy. America is a very peculiar kind of republic.
A divided limited different constitutional republic of united states.
A nation state where the Senate, the Electoral College, the Cabinet and the Supreme Court of the United States stand as bulwarks against democracy.
A nation where the size of the House of Representatives and Electoral College are limited to the disadvantage of more populous States.
9
We are seeing the reaction of a fading dominance by white christian conservatives as they realize that they no longer have a realistic chance of winning a fair election in coming years, so they have moved to reject democracy. A natural consequence of rejecting democracy is rejecting the voices of those whose votes aren't going to be coming to you, and with that any sense of reality as partisanship, not evidence, becomes the hallmark of truth. Sad to say, but when faced with a reality that shows conservatives positions are wrong, the vast majority of conservatives choose to reject reality rather than their political beliefs. This will change and shift as they become more comfortable with the new reality, but it will be a vastly long and hard road to get there.
6
In his Opinion, Charles Blow writes that the first day of the impeachment inquiry was a sad day. I think it was the first good day we've experienced in the USA for a long time. Two truthful and stalwart members of the State Department revealed the reasons for their concerns about the unauthorized, shadow dealings in the Ukraine of Rudi Guiliani and others, which they believed was undermining the USA's security as well as that of the Ukraine. Rep. Adam Schiff, Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, masterfully conducted the testimony and questions by lead attorneys as well as those from democratic and republican representatives. When were we last be treated to a sane, prepared and uncircus like presentation of the facts? It appears that bribery and the abuse of power by Trump and his accessories will be exposed. It was a good start at exposing the unscrupulous Trump and a fine example of democracy at work.
6
Indeed, a stress test. And one that Republicans are failing with flying colors, unlike in the Nixon days. But it takes both parties working together to make this a cathartic moment for America. If even one Republican senator would stand up be counted -- with the facts clearly visible -- that could change the whole atmosphere. Are you listening, Sen. Romney?
226
Not one has the courage to stand up for truth in this trying time. That says something about them that history will not forget.
39
@PT In therapy, the most failed clients are those with strong delusions and those with personality disorders. Either will think his errors and untruths and dysfunctions are entirely right, that all fault lies in the "other." Yet most people who come to therapy, with even extreme problems, can be helped. They can have insight, can reach their undermining pain.
There is no escaping that the Trump millions are those that cannot be helped, barring some personal crisis.
12
@PT
The Republicans were failing too during the Nixon years. It wasn't until the tapes came out and his behavior (not to mention his opinions of everyone in the country) could no longer be denied or defended that they switched from being virulent sycophants to criticizers. It's a lesson they've learned from.
This is one reason they've worked so hard over the past few decades to purge any remaining elements of critical thinking and independence from their ranks. They can't afford to have anyone actually thinking for themselves.
This leads us to where we are now as a nation. We have a party whose president, senate, and now judiciary literally believe that any dissension from party dogma is equivalent to treason. This is why any person committing independent thought (regardless of position or location) is vilified. The saddest part is that because of their crystalized thinking, they don't even realize their thinking and 'solutions' detrimental to society and the nation.
6
"God only knows what happened to Lindsey Graham."
Not much since the Clinton impeachment.
Graham, was, and is, a craven politician.
Unfortunately, too many Republicans in Congress have joined him in ignominy and infamy.
Their conduct has been on a long, steady descent from Clinton (years of investigations resulting in impeachment for lying about sex), Bush (those who do not support the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and mass government surveillance are unpatriotic), Obama (leveraging the first African-American president to stoke racial hatred and fear), and Trump (defending a serial liar and conspiracist who has committed dozens of impeachable offenses memorialized in both the Mueller Report and in his own phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky).
No, Mr. Blow, the governance of this Nation is, and has long been, a game to Republicans.
5
so lately a question has been bumping around the back of my thoughts:
What if we are being lied to as well?
How often have you said to yourself in the last several years, "How did this happen? How can someone so ignorant, selfish and corrupt become President?"
What if they haven't...
I know it sounds crazy, but, it just keeps bugging me.
1
Nancy Pelosi and her understanding of the Constitution and her intelligence of the current administration and political environment is our best bet to save our democracy for all of us.
16
This impeachment will test whether the spell Trump cast can indeed be broken.
Too obvious a reference to Witch Hunt but that’s beside the point.
John Kennedy only had charisma, a feeble power compared to magic. Such power could have been nurtured for the good of America rather than mocked as you very well know it was.
The sad thing is that it actually is a game...for him to even be in office in the first place; for Kanye West to be disturbed when people are chuckling at his 2024 presidential run (link below)...this is all a game and unfortunately integrity and dignity are the ultimate losers in the duel.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0dnlTtJ7FU
4
A classic verse from the Bible, John 8:32--"And ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free"!!! Hopefully the truth will prevail so that our democracy can and will keep us free; and may God Bless America!!
No Its a circus!
2
Want to feel sick and terrified? Go over to reddit's The_Donald or AskTrumpSupporters and see just how firmly entrenched those individuals are. You might be able to claim some of it is Russian propaganda or people trolling, but the sheer volume of support and degree of robustness in arguments in favor of Trump and against anyone with a (D) next to their name is absolutely frightening.
Things are much, much worse than most of us want to believe and unless we take honest stock of rot, it will eat us alive.
11
ow that congress can see trump's taxes, if bribery isn't enough for the senate Rs then perhaps his corruption will shine brightly in the financial dealings with dictators and his exposure to blackmail finally in broad daylight as the self dealing goes merrily along. it will not break my heart if the senate refuses to do the right thing because just as unfit in his own right is the homophobic sycophant veep, ready and willing to jump right into that empty chair. nighmare, either way.
1
The “ game “ is the Trump Regime. A long Con, with a few winners and millions of losers. Many, many Millions.
7
“Trump . . . has been priming the country for this moment, weakening it for this moment. He has attacked vital institutions like the press. He has corroded the very idea of truth. He has snatched the souls from Republicans in Congress.”
The Republicans & their media have been soullessly hacking away at the press, and at standards of truth & the rule of law for decades, counting on the Democrats & the “MSM” to keep up the pretense that it was all in good faith disagreement. You’d really have to be a part of the power structure not to have noticed that.
4
Don't hold your breath Mr. Blow. America has so lost its way, it may never find a way back. Sad sad state of affairs when the country that called itself Christian, valued truth and integrity worships the "golden" (read orange) calf. God have mercy on us all.
3
Trump has snatched the souls of republicans. What they do not know is it’s actually Putin who is doing the theft. Republicans are mere puppets of what Putin wants America to become and they have unwittingly become willing slaves. So for every republican it’s imperative they ask themselves is this for our country or is this for Putin? Once their souks become hollow they will find it hard to get their country back from Putin maneuvers.
5
A career diplomat daring to lecture a member of Congress? Daring! This exchange was worth its weight $1,000. dollar bills:
"Pressed at one point by a Republican to agree that a particular offense was not impeachable, Mr. Kent flashed some steely contempt... “I’m here as a fact witness to answer your questions,” he instructed the congressman, John Ratcliffe of Texas. “Your constitutional obligation is to consider the evidence before you.”
Bam! Take that.
The Republican members have no accepted constitutional obligation. They are utterly bereft of a sense of patriotic duty, the irony being that the right wing and Republicans have for generations denounced any deviation from orthodox adherence to patriotic observances, like standing for the anthem, wearing a flag lapel pin or honoring the "black lives matter" movement.
They, they told us, were the patriots, the other side was a bunch of cowardly quislings who were soft on every threat. Now, in a dark hour, they desert defending the constitution, the rule of law, the norms of presidential behavior and the outrageous corruption of foreign policy. For what? For what do they sell out their duty? Rank partisanship on behalf of a man who would destroy America to save it.
7
@Doug Terry
I've never liked the flag pin on the lapel thing. It seems to me that it is supposed to imply that the wearer is more patriotic than someone not wearing one. Everyone started wearing them so they couldn't be accused of being less patriotic, and what an arms race that started. What is inside the cup is what matters not what's on the outside of the cup. Matthew 23:26. Better than wearing a flag lapel, is living up to and honoring the ideals our flag represents. Seen any of that lately from the Republican party?
5
@kel
Great comment. I would say this to anyone who would insist that I were a flag pin on my suit jacket: that is not where my patriotism resides. If anyone wants to challenge my fealty to this nation, they had better come ready to be challenged right back, hard. It is what is in my heart and mind that count and no one can take that away or reduce its importance.
Another concern of mine is any president, in civilian clothes, saluting service members when coming or going. There are rules in the military about this kind of thing and I respect those rules. Nothing in the procedures requires or allows civilians to be walking around imitating those in the military. The commander-in-chief is specifically and intentionally a civilian title/position.
1
While your comments are cogent and very much on point, the sad reality is that people who support Trump feel just as strongly as you do that they are correct in their views, that Fox News is the beacon of truth, and that anyone who disagrees with them is part of the untrustworthy New York Times left wing.
3
Well, aren't we living through some "interesting times" as the old yarn warns. November, 2016 when this long strange trip began officially, I told myself: "perhaps the damage will do us all and our sleepy Republic some good", and i'm still hopeful of that, and it's certainly easy to hope for such, right up until the damage actually starts. Then of course, the hurting begins. Mencken warned: "On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron." Lucky us. -C
5
We have seen the enemy and it is us. The country is in big trouble. The Republican Party resembles the Communist Party of Russia. Facts are denied, propaganda and lies are routinely offered, and no one dares to stand up to our leader. Putin must be licking his chops.
6
We need to MAGA -- Make Arrogant GOPers Ashamed.
1
There's something just a tad sanctimonious about Mr. Blow's column. President Clinton violated a sex harassment statute he signed into law. Promptly lied when he got caught, then launched a vile tramp-shaming campaign against his unwilling accuser. Finally bombed Baghdad and a pharmaceutical plant in Somalia to distract public attention from his legal woes. He did all this with the connivance of his wife's "feminist" friends, and members of his cabinet. He suborned men like "civil rights leader" Vernon Jordan to dispatch his erstwhile conquests to Fed jobs and state party organizations far away from the W.H. He corrupted everyone he touched. Trump is epic in his awfulness but as yet hasn't bombed a city to solve a political problem - just a little extortion and bribery. The Clintons are scandals and yet to this day most Democrats still refuse to see the truth in front of their eyes.
4
@Gary FS Donald Trump has caused deaths untold. Remember I said this.
Your soul cannot be 'snatched' without your consent.cf Goethe.
1
There is none so deaf a the one who does not want to hear.
This is a sad truth. Unfortunately not everybody wants or has the cultural or mental capacity to try to analyze what is going on.
Stupidity has many faces that can be summarized in these two: those that do not want and those who do not have the capacity .
2
No sane person could have looked at him and said "yeah, he has the intellect, temperament, and morals to be President of the United States." I blame the American people. He shouldn't have gotten more than five votes let alone boast an approval rating near 45% three years into this madness. The only thing that could turn Republicans against Trump is if his approval ratings plummet. And the only thing that would do that is an economic downturn because a great many Americans don't care about human rights, education, democracy, rule of law, or any other high ideal. Americans care about money.
11
Well said! Sadly true....
Sadly there are the bulk of Trump/Republican supporters who are committed to tribe over country, and they will not be swayed by ANY evidence. Trump's boast that he "shoot someone on 5th Avenue and get away with it" is no exaggeration as far as his followers go. The question that remains is: will enough Americans stand up for what's right and lawful and Constitutional?
Surely there are people who vote Republican who still have scruples and a sense of duty and justice! If not, I fear we've already gone past the point of salvaging our Republic.
2
It isn’t blind devotion to Trump that has blinded Republicans, its blind devotion to wealth and power. They’ve convinced themselves that they are more valuable then the rest of us, and its God’s will that they should prevail over their Democratic enemies. They have spent years building a base of ignorance, racism, misogyny, and hate - because that’s easier, and because their policies are not for the public good. This greed has always been with us. But now its amplified by social media and a large population. Ultimately they are fighting for their own irrelevance.
5
Trump "snatched the souls" from the Republican Party? Mr. Blow, Trump IS the soul of the Republican Party as it has been for a very long time.
The R's have been trying to hide it for years, but it's been hugely apparent to anyone who's been paying attention, at least since the days of Reagun. Trump is the real face of the R party. They've kept it hidden for a long time on a portrait in an attic. All Trump has done is expose it.
Let's all stop being so naive about who and what Republicans are--voters as well as politicians.
7
This moment has been coming for decades. Republicans long ago chose to embrace lies and hate: tax cuts create jobs and pay for themselves; wealth trickles down. Democrats hate America. The media lies. Poverty is a lifestyle choice. The real racism is talking about racism. And so on.
Trump says out loud what they’ve been thinking. The open corruption of Trump is what Moscow Mitch has been doing all along with more finesse. They no longer try to hide it. The have no shame.
The impeachment of Trump is really an impeachment of the GOP - and they know it. We must vote them out. 2020 isn’t just about Trump.
10
The tragedy is the stupidity of a great part of the voting public. Stupid in the sense of 'uneducated' which renders them incapable of rational thought, which is replaced by knee-jerk tribalism.
The majority of citizens turning a blind eye to the train wreck of Trumpism are not inherently evil or morally defective. Not as much can be forgiven of the elected officials who aid and abet Trump, they know EXACTLY what they are doing and must be held to account, one way or another.
It's our job as a modern democracy to provide for the education of our citizens, in this we have failed miserably. We may have to pay the ultimate price, the loss of the United States as we have come to know it. At the very least, we may be looking at a long period of darkness.
12
The shame is not only that such a sizable portion of voters will not hear or be open to facts but also that their Republican members of Congress -- who down to the last one surely know what is at stake for Constitutional government and the rule of law but do not care -- have abandoned all principles (to whatever degree they had them) other than their their own reelection, unwilling to be anything more than political wind vanes. They hitched their wagons to the wrong star, and they know it, but they will not admit it openly and act on that knowledge.
Thank you, Mr. Blow. Please keep ringing the firebell. Our house is burning down.
1
The problem is not just Fox News, but the mainstream media as well, which has the attention of a gnat. They treat even the most serious stories like a Netflix series and eventually tire of previous bombshells with takes like "nothing new was revealed" -- because unless there's something "new" on top of already damning stuff, it's apparently a snooze. Some of the coverage of the first day of testimony lamented the lack of "pizzazz" and focused on partisan strategy.
When this story first broke, Chuck Todd looked shaken but it didn't take long for him to revert to form by treating this as a sporting contest. In this atmosphere, it's amazing that people still have the courage to come forward and blow the whistle on egregious wrongdoing. Not only are their careers destroyed but now it's usually for nothing.
Kudos to David Sanger, then, for his serious piece today. It seems almost quaint, like those serious and patriotic State Department officials who testified yesterday.
6
Well written Charles.
Bill Taylor and George Kent showed us yesterday what
real American patriots look and sound like.
No jingoisms, no bluster, no appearance of partisanship: just honest to goodness Frank Capra-esk do-the-right-thing Americans.
Made me proud.
2
I would just point out that many "never Trump" Republicans, including those who work as columnists for major newspapers, prefer to scold Democrats than look their own party in the eye.
2
Everything you say is true, sir. Except the president who corroded the idea of truth was George W. Bush, not Trump. In fact, as nightmarish as Trump has been, nothing he has done comes even close to what Bush/Cheney did and absolutely nothing happened to them. They started a war to enrich their friends using nothing but a pack of lies, tortured at will, spied on civilians and despite all that and more got themselves re-elected. Maybe that's because their tactics weren't just amplified by Fox, they were amplified by everyone, including this newspaper. After the truth came out, they rode off into the sunset. Obama and Congress held them accountable for nothing. Those lies and that lack of accountability set the stage for Trump.
3
Thank you Mr. Blow for this admirably succinct and clear reckoning of where we are at the moment. Along the way you provide an appropriately damning explanation of the only sense to be made of the idea that Trump is a "stable genius." He's had designs on this country, and like an evil demon has a malevolent streak that never wavers:
"The thing is that Trump, knowingly or not, has been priming the country for this moment, weakening it for this moment. He has attacked vital institutions like the press. He has corroded the very idea of truth. He has snatched the souls from Republicans in Congress. And he has seeded the courts as much as possible with people who are likely to be more in line with his positions."
1
Charles - you are preaching to a choir that the Republicans will never join. Lying comes so easy to them. They sit there so smugly arguing their pathetic and silly points (conspiracy theories for Nunes) and their flock blindly follow them and believe them. All the while these liars know what they are doing to our Democracy and simply do not care.
1
f there is a silver lining to be had, it showed itself yesterday in the persons of William Taylor and George Kent. These two public servants, distinguished, credible and intensely patriotic, showed the rest of us the meaning of righteous objection to abuse of power.
Something else, too. They gave any Americans paying attention a detailed lesson in how America, despite many missteps and mistakes along the way, have largely been a force for good on the world stage. They were implementing a policy in Ukraine to bolster that nation's reliance on the rule of law by breaking an endemic cycle of corruption. In other words, helping a potential buffer state against Russia through creative, honest nation building.
Whatever else you can say, these two career diplomats represent the best of this nation, while the Trump regime represents, at a minimum, a most sordid manifestation of an ugly side of the American psyche.
6
"In the end, this is not a game. This is a tragedy."
I beg to disagree, by suggesting that politics IS a game.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Unfortunately, Democrats are still playing politics by old rules.
We need rules that to convince Trumpsters that they are wrong.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I suggest repetition, repetition, repetition to NUDGE people.
Trump uses repetition and wins. Democrats use petition and lose.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For example, Democrats might use the DEMOCRACY song:
"Democracy is coming to the USA" (Leonard Cohen, 1992)
Perhaps, the Times can discuss the value of repetion vs petition.
Maybe the Times can write about the DEMOCRACY song...
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1
@H Pearle
How about Some good ol’ nasty political ads that portray Trump as the fiendish crook that he really is?
Great piece Mr. Blow!
”....That honesty and bravery were the hallmarks of good character and honorable leadership.”
Honesty certainly has a very old and shady past. Arrogance can cast a shadow over it in the presence of sunshine. The Devil’s story comes to mind.
1
Donald Trump is a concrete block, poured around the feet of the Republican Party by Russian mobsters who are ready to heave them overboard, into the bottom of the swamp.
Has the GOP already waited too long, and let it get too solid?
Sure hope not.
But it kinda seems that way.
2
@Joe S. Like your imagery.
Mr. Blow, President Trump will not be removed from office by the Senate. What should be more of a concern for you is that he has a strong chance of being reelected. Savor that somber idea for a moment. . . . . . . You are correct: this is a test for the country. But Trump may pass the test once again in November 2020. That will be an awakening for you, Mr. Blow.
2
What happened to Lindsey Graham? There's no mystery here. Just look at the sad, puffy bloodshot eyes, the ones that look past you and never at you. And listen for the self-pity whenever he speaks. These are symptoms that can be seen and heard at every detox in the land.
4
i have to disagree on one thing here, strongly disagree, 'He has snatched the souls from Republicans in Congress', he did not do this, the republicans offered them up on a plate, no coercion was needed, no resistance was offered, they bent over backwards to Trump, is it any wonder we are in this position now?
4
To my eyes, it looks like the final fall of the Roman republic, as it degenerated into an empire. Even the assassination of Julius Caesar didn’t prevent it.
It may be that the American experiment is over.
1
I value your observations, they are important observations that EVERY American Citizen needs to consider. Watching the hearings yesterday, I felt that the testimony of Mr. Kent and Mr. Taylor was honest, responsible and supported the philosophical foundations of the American Constitution. I feel fortunate that our country still has such honorable human beings serving this country. Likewise, I felt the Democrats behaved responsibly and effectively served the American Citizens they represent. The Republicans... hmmm... what has happened to the Republicans. I know many 12 and 13 year olds that radiate more maturity than the behavior I observed yesterday. Which leads me to the following question... WHY are the Republicans cowering to the criminal and unethical behavior of Trump and Vladimir Putin? What is going on? EVERY American Citizen should feel enraged. Trump clearly does not have the interest of ANYONE but himself in focus. WHAT IS GOING ON? WE THE PEOPLE must demand change. Immediately. If not to protect our own interest but to protect the interest of the coming generations.
18
Waste of time.
Not one Republican Senator is going to vote to convict.
He simply hasn't done anything that calls for him to be removed from office.
Trumps going to be a huge winner too.
Wait until that not-guilty verdict goes out.
That's how this ends.
With a giant Trump celebration.
You're going to love it.
5
Asking, well trying to bully, a foreign official to act against a political opponent is wrong.. Foreign governments should not be involved in our politics. Full stop. To ask for interference, to threaten to withhold Congressionally authorized funds for political purposes, these things are forbidden by are constitution. Additionally, they are unethical and immoral. I know this but I don't know if any Republicans recognize that some things are illegal, unethical, and immo
1
You really expect those who dislike our putative president to enjoy such an outcome? I sincerely doubt it.
@LarryThiel
Is is possible for you to open your mind and not judge until you hear the testimony of all witnesses? Think of yourself as a juror in a murder trial. Would you decide guilty after 2 witnesses and give the death penalty in advance of the jury instructions? Shameful.
So what happens if the truth doesn't win out, Trump once again
manages to evade accountability for all of his criminality, is not impeached and goes on to win in 2020? Truly truthful Americans have been in denial of this possibility since election night 2016.
Yes, there's been a tremendous resistance movement that continues to grow. Yet yes, there's also been a chilling, almost existential feeling of dread that this time in American history could signal its end in a way that at least equals our first Civil War in terms of its significance for the future of our democracy. We are
now firmly engaged in an unofficial conflict between Americans who put their country above their party and themselves and Americans who put themselves and their party above their country by conspiring with our most formidable sworn enemies
to do so.
Let's forget about impeachment and focus on defeating the incumbent.
3
@Guido Malsh The two objectives aren't mutually exclusive.
1
Maybe a few Republicans will vote for the truth when this gets to the Senate. Just this week, Sen. McConnell made it clear to Kentucky Republicans that our soon-to-be former governor Matt Bevin should accept the results of the recanvass of the vote last week. Wonder of wonders, Republicans in the state legislature publicly said that Gov. Bevin should not try to take it to the state house, because they wouldn't overturn the will of the people. So for once, I feel there may be a tiny bit of hope.
4
Good article. Somber and true. I wouldn't count on 20 Republican senators suddenly rediscovering their integrity but the American public might. That's what this is all about.
Will the public wake up in time to defend our democracy by Nov. 2020?
11
As I say every time, when you write about something other than RACE, your columns are superb.
I am stunned that more people (actually everyone) are not disgusted by Trump’s absolute lack of character. So many of my friends love Trump for one reason or another. They can overlook his lack of character because they align on a single or several issues. Baffling.
Anything built on lies lacks any foundation and will fail. Guaranteed.
2
"In the end, this is not a game. This is a tragedy."
That captures it perfectly. The mendacity, and how I feel. Thank you, Charles.
10
No. This is Not a Game. But it is The Only Show in Town. The American public has not been involved in a devastating hot war since Vietnam. A couple of generations have grown up with relative peace and lots of upper middle class money. Nobody worries about getting drafted, or giving anything back to the country that gives them everything. World War II might as well have been World W I. Both blood baths make for exciting entertainment.
The “showman in chief” is all about entertainment. And EVERYONE is watching the show while democracy dies a torturous death. Unless and until this generation wakes up from digitally watching the show, we will truly live up to our epithet, “The American Dream.”
3
This administration's obstruction of justice is even more frightening to me than Trump's attempted bribery. Doesn't the Congress have the right to arrest individuals who have ignored subpoenas from the House of Representatives?
4
"As such, people choosing to live in a Trump/Fox/Limbaugh world are unlikely to be altered by the truth because they are less likely to be exposed to the truth, the fullness of it, the unassailability of it." Easy to see why evangelical Christians worship Trump: he is an expert at distorting facts and reality to fit delusional beliefs. Trump is indeed the King of Gaslighting.
4
"He has snatched the soul of Republicans in Congress."
Sorry, Charlie. The Republicans have no souls to snatch.
10
Repeating the headlines nearly verbatim from the Russian collusion ruse and subsequent Mueller probe, Charles Blow and company again shout legitimacy as root cause of the current impeachment inquisition. Again, truth is the enemy and must be discarded to continue this chutes and ladders exercise to topple a President, disregard a constitution, and overturn an election.
Covering up the crimes of the Biden family and the prior Administration in not investigating while knowing the pay for play scheme the former Vice President played in Ukraine with son Hunter is now coming out in living color. Let the game continue.
3
@Grant
Whataboutism is feeble defense of bribery/extortion, self-dealing from the Oval Office, and the obstruction of justice as noted in the Mueller Report.
1
Charles, for Emperor Trump and this Disguised Global Crony Capitalist Empire, only nominally HQed in, and merely ‘posing’ as our country — “This Is Certainly and Exactly a Game” — and this Game of Empires is now in the 21st century a Game called “Hide the Empire”.
As Prof. Robinson has exposed and expertly diagnosed for more than half a decade:
“The U.S. state is a key point of condensation for pressures from dominant groups around the world to resolve problems of global capitalism and to secure the legitimacy of the system overall. In this regard, “U.S.” imperialism refers to the use by transnational elites of the U.S. state apparatus (hard & soft powers) to continue to attempt to expand, defend, and stabilize the global capitalist system. We are witness less to a “U.S.” imperialism per se than to a global capitalist imperialism. We face an EMPIRE OF GLOBAL CAPITAL, headquartered, for evident historical reasons, in Washington.” [Caps added]
Global Capitalism and the Crisis of Humanity, 2014 Robinson, William
Cambridge University Press.
2
"Do humans possess some ever-present receptivity to the appeal of primal herd-like hatred?" - Ron Rosenbaum in his New Introduction to "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich".
The behavior of most Republicans so far in this Impeachment Inquiry, and especially those (with the exception of Will Hurd) who questioned William Taylor and George Kent in yesterday's Impeachment inquiry hearings reminded me of this statement by R. Rosenbaum.
1
I, too have family members that are trump supporters. One of the things about them that is most glaringly apparent, especially now, is that they’ve never been able to admit making a mistake. I don’t expect that to change now.
3
I agree with Mr. Blow. Yes this is a sad day for the Republic. And I wish I knew how this story was going to end. But history will be the judge of what happens here, and I will go out on a limb and say it will not be kind to Donald Trump or the Republican Party.
That may be a small victory if we could not keep our Republic (a prophetic Ben Franklin). But there are true heroes here, true patriots, true Americans. The Press has come under fire as never before in the history of our nation, but it has not withered, not bowed, not backed away.
Yes, Mr. Blow, the truth will out, and Donald Trump, Devin Nunes, Jim Jordan, Lindsey Graham et al., will not escape its laser-like beam of sunlight. I fought in Vietnam for my country - not exactly the war I would have wanted to fight - but my country is calling me now as it did in 1968. I will not fail her.
10
As I wrote earlier today on a different editorial, it would seem that for 40% of the country, and for Congressional Republicans, the laws should only apply to Democrats.
Hmmmmmmm.....
1
In a fascist takeover, power is held by some fanatics, but moreso those who rationalize the power as "god"; those that profit; those that have an ax to grind; those that feel safer with thug-like power at the top; those that hate; those that fear; those that are confused, have been made confused, who defend against anxiety with denial and fantasy. There are cult-like aspects; conversions into the cult are rationalized.
What is saddest to me is that the power bloc might conclude that DT is unnecessary to their cause, and let him burn; then, the ultimate consolidation will occur.
1
During the phone call, Donald Trump, decisively and incontrovertibly, attempted to use the power of the Presidential office to gain a PERSONAL political gain--not national interest gain--out of a foreign government, in direct violation of both Constitutional and extra-Constitutional mandates. This is the very definition of an impeachable offense.
The only question is whether the process we are going through now reveals we still have the rule of law in the United States, or if that has been sacrificed on the altar of partisan power.
That's all.
384
@Glenn Ribotsky
All true. But it's not partisan power, is it, which implies equivalency? On one hand, there is clear and open testimony. On the other hand there's smoke and mirrors, lying, and fear mongering. On one hand, there's the attempt to govern within the boundaries of the law. On the other hand there is the willful dismissal of the rule of law, and arrogant abrogation of the oath of office. It shocks me, every day, how infected is the GOP by not just Trump but venality in every form.
57
@Glenn Ribotsky The Senate will not find Trump guilty and the long slog to 2020 will go on. One more year to destroy what Americans have built and cancel action on our most urgent matter: global heating.
6
@Glenn Ribotsky : If the rule of law has been, or will be sacrificed, on the alter of partisan power than we should change the name of this country to The United States of Fascism. Actually this country is far from united in anything but anger, although factions of us are united in our demand for democratic decency, compassion, egalitarianism, and honorableness, while the other factions are united in their delight in republican racism, hatred, greed, and deceit. We are as divided a nation as we were during The Civil War. I am still sitting here waiting for those who have ignored and/or defied Congressional subpoenas to be jailed. Why have they been allowed to get away with this? Because they are all government "big shots?" To me, they are common criminals, and they are obstructing justice. Why would each of us not be granted the same privilege? To defy a Congressional subpoena and walk away with not even a slap on the wrist? We would be thrown into jail in a heartbeat if we did any such thing.
6
This may be a bar America has to clear, but I am not holding my breath on this. There have been so few defections of Republicans to the Trumpist party line to this point. It seems like their calculus is 'in for a penny, in for a pound.' There seems to be a real element of rather watching the country burn than admit the Trump experiment is an unmitigated disaster.
So what happens when the Senate fails to convict? Trump claims victory, and will get even more help from foreign governments to sway the same mere 100,000 key voters to his side to get his Electoral College victory.
What happens when the Senate fails to even bring a trial? That is the real question.
3
The Emperor Trump finally stands before us with no clothes. He stands there for all of us to see his nakedness. Not a pretty sight.
5
@M Harvey
You're absolutely correct, M Harvey, and fortunately the "Atlantic's" Jeff Goldbery made the exact same comment on this Sunday's aptly named TV "Face the Nation".
This is what I commented on the "Times" Sunday regarding Goldberg's first National TV outing of Emperor Trump:
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/11/us/politics/supreme-court-dreamers-case.html#commentsContainer&permid=103603563:103603563
1
No writer of fiction before 1980 could have predicted our country as it exists today:
We have Fox News which the majority of Americans now understand to be a bald-faced propaganda machine for the oligarch class, spewing out lies and divisiveness 24/7, undermining our democracy, as we watch and do nothing in response;
The oligarchs hiding behind the "populist" (divisive) rhetoric of the Republican Party;
A President who is vulgar, crude, ignorant, juvenile, divisive, cruel, sadistic, petulant, churlish, malignant, and obnoxious as no other human being who has ever risen to a position of authority in our federal government; and
We have far more than half of our citizens worried that this oaf and his backers are going to steal the election again in 2020.
How did we get here? Does that even matter? How do we fix this mess? Who is in charge of leading that agenda? The Congress is doing a fine job with the impeachment hearings. The juvenile and offensive attacks of the Republicans, with their snotty remarks and immature insults are hard to watch, but they will get theirs in the end (read: Nunes, Jordan, and their ilk).
May the truth prevail and ring loud and clear throughout our trampled democracy. I am proud of Adam Schiff and the other elected officials doing their jobs while being relentlessly attacked by these pathetic men posing as elected officials of our federal government (i.e., Republican Congressmen).
18
Trump has certainly decimated journalism. With gleeful pundits dominating impeachment reality shows. Those who used to be at least somewhat objective professionals in the media are now reverse Fox-bots. There is no platform anymore for straight news.
By design or stupidity, Trump has uncovered the swamp of corruption in Washington D.C., and the world. It's clear to me that the Republican Party has slowly overtaken the US Government during the past 40 years damaging our Democratic Institutions and Constitution. It appears we are on the road to Fascism if we leave the Republicans in power.
Trump is a symbol and the best conman- puppet the Republicans have used for their purposes. Reagan, Bush the Younger, Cheney, and now Trump. These are the actors working for the power behind the power, the real topic we should be discussing. The USA has been corrupted by more than money, power, and just plain greed. Trump is the most vivid example of what's wrong with our country. He deserves to be impeached as well as McConnell and Barr.
2
Republicans that coalesced as a criminal conspiracy to inflict misery and pain on all others while ensuring maximum power for their criminal assault on humanity banished all claims to any moral character and human dignity when they preyed on the most evil and vile of human traits, racism, to diminish and demean not just the office of President, but democracy and every American citizen in this democracy with their racist birther attacks. If you plant ice, you're going to harvest wind.
No reconciliation without truth.
1
"The only criticism was that some of what they testified to they heard from others."
As has been pointed out by participants in the hearing, if they don't like hearsay, AND if Trump is as innocent as they say, then let's have them trot out the first hand witnesses of what really happened and tell us the truth!
Only we're already getting the truth from the real patriots of our country. They have risked their careers to tell the truth; it's not likely that they would take those risks to lie.
Those that are snuggling up to the Donald and refuse to testify aren't patriots, I wouldn't even want them as neighbors. They've broken their oaths to the Constitution -- not the same as Trump -- so that traitors might be a better description.
7
"He has snatched the souls from Republicans in Congress."
Ummm, no. They have given them up willingly.
9
The reason that this is such a unique and dangerous moment in history is that we have one of the two major political parties of the last 100 plus years that has gone completely off the rails. The only thing they seem to stand for is money, the rich, and winning at any and all costs. Trump didn't appear in a vacuum.
Once Trump leaves office (assuming he doesn't win a second term and he survives impeachment), there has to be a reckoning with the Republican Party. They are no longer trustworthy. They put tribal loyalties before America's common good. They need to be gone.
7
"Elevated a man of poor character."
YUH THINK?
I'm thinking of our two previous presidential nadirs of corruption. U. S. Grant--stalwart Union general during the Civil war.
Warren G. Harding. Not a man of comparable achievement--but friendly and likable nonetheless. "Looked like Cicero," said one historian.
Neither was ever accused of personal wrongdoing. Both surrounded--enveloped as it were--by slick-talking guys with sticky fingers.
BUT MR. DONALD J. TRUMP!
Truly, Mr. Blow--what we saw is what we got.
The man's inveterate crudity--his vulgarity--and (above all) his unwinking, unflagging concern with the fortunes of Mr. Donald J. Trump--
--what can I say? He lived DOWN to expectations--with a vengeance. Which explains the ongoing impeachable hearings in the House of Representatives.
As for today's GOP--
--there are no words bad enough. "Servile"--"abject"--"pitiful"--no! None of those words quite matches the swamp-like depths to which the GOP has sunk. Thrashing about in the muck which is Mr. Donald J. Trump and his calamity of an administration.
Where will it all end?
You tell me.
God help us all
4
We have two major problems-Trump is impeached and removed or he isn't. Pick one only. The challenges of resolving this has my sensibilities running all over the place-anger, impatient, convinced and shaken and plain old worried. The good news from yesterday is that for the first time lately, I feel patriotic, thanks to the clear, sober testimony of Taylor and Kent and the calm, firm questioning from our Congress.
3
"The thing is that Trump, knowingly or not, has been priming the country for this moment, weakening it for this moment."
He absolutely has been doing it knowingly. His long-term strategy -- the only one may save his skin -- is to undermine the legitimacy of Congress and the courts to such an extent that rampant corruption and undeniable guilt become irrelevant.
1
What most Republicans fail to realize is the extreme cost they will pay for their support of this President. Regardless of whether he ultimately survives or not, he and the GOP have already lost. Had they respected Congress and responded to subpoenas and let executive branch officials testify, we would not be here. Trump's imperial presidency had to be challenged. Under these circumstance they left Speaker Pelosi no choice but to protect the Constitutional powers given to Congress.
Neither Trump or his Republican Party can wear impeachment as a badge of honor. It is shameful. One only has to observe how it stained Bill Clinton's presidency to understand how history judges an impeached but not convicted president. I very much doubt that impeachment will make running for office any easier for Republicans in general or Trump in particular. Both will carry the indelible stain of impeachment after all of this is over. What makes this even sadder is that all of this could have been avoided if they had just respected our laws and honored our Constitution.
7
If withholding military funding cost even one Ukrainian life (and this seems entirely likely), Trump has blood on his hands.
So it’s not enough to just look at the crime itself - bribery. The consequences must also factor in.
5
Trump already has blood on his hands: Charlottesville, Pittsburgh, Poway, El Paso and Christchurch come to mind.
All these commenters saying Trump won't be impeached must be confusing impeachment with removal from office. On a strict party line vote in the House, Trump will be impeached. The Senate trial will determine whether he should be removed from office. Again on a strict party line vote in the senate, Trump will probably be acquitted.
I think that if they were to vote as Americans instead of politicians, the senate vote would be overwhelmingly to remove him from office because when you get right down to it, Donald Trump is terrible at leading the country. He has never had more than 45% of the country behind him. Compare that to 69% Obama, 90% Bush, or 73% Clinton. Taken as a benchmark of his leadership, it's obvious that Donald Trump is not seen as presidential by the majority of Americans. Millions more voted against him than for him. So why is he president?
"Russia, if you're listening..."
4
Dear Charles M. Blow, WELL DONE! Bravo!
I to felt that truth was important and well agreed to among fellow citizens regardless of party. No it's not. In these tRump times he and others following it have come to mimic the idea that inventing reality beats factual verifiable reality. I think LINDSEY GRAHAM has succumbed fully and completely to invention VS verifiable facts. I especially liked your characterization that tRump "snatched their souls" because that is surely what we have observed with most REPtiles - I mean REPUBLICANS.
2
I firmly believe the Republicans are so focused on retaining power, no truths penetrate their skulls. Just watch Rick Santorum's comments on CNN last night. It's dumbfounding. As a result nothing is getting done with the business of running the government.
3
@JJ -
Most of the GOP's elected leaders know the truth. But they have spent decades telling half truths to their base in order to get elected, and they get campaign funds from corporations that prefer half truths.
With Trump, they merely needed to go to whole untruths so their Trump infatuated base does not primary them.
In short, they are worse than ignorant. They are liars.
Any red- blooded loyal American listening to the testimony of these seasoned American diplomats, should be startled by the clarity of evidence presented on Wednesday. No professional law-abiding citizen can ignore their statements.
That which is true or in accordance with fact or reality
What happens to this country's future depends on the quality and character of the men and women in Congress today. Whatever mistakes in judgement made here will have consequences for all mankind.
Russia's Putin wants world domination. Are Republicans willing to surrender our country ?
Current occupant of the White House already has
4
1) That Republican Representative Jordan is stridently impressively commanding, if not just down right scary.
2) As a worrywart, I suspect that Trump, Giuliani, and some Republicans have cooked up a Brer Rabbit “Don’t throw me into the Briar Patch.” scheme from the git-go for this entire impeachment trap. Trump still impresses me as the Media-Meister. Either that or they’ve been drinking their own batch of koolaid of crazy right wing conspiracies.
3) If the impeachment and removal fails, what further trespasses against the Constitution and our democracy will Trump be emboldened to pursue? If so, then how powerful may the President’s executive powers have been expanded?
2
Thank you, Charles. My dad has been gone nearly 20 years now and he would not be surprised at this state of affairs. He was always predicting the fall of America (vis a vis the Roman Empire) due to Trump-type officials. I have to add that Jim Jordan brings shame to Ohio on a daily basis. I can only hope there are still Republicans who have the sense God gave them to wake up soon.
2
We already know how this will turn out. Trump will be impeached in the House, the Articles of Impeachment will be dismissed by the Senate Republicans, Trump, the Republicans and Fox News will gloat that he's been exonerated, and Trump's Republican and overall approval ratings will be 80 and 42 percent respectively. The only hope is that the number and severity of the "high crimes and misdemeanors" uncovered in the hearings will shock enough swing state non and independent voters out of their torpor to make a difference at the polls next November.
3
"... people choosing to live in a Trump/Fox/Limbaugh world are unlikely to be altered by the truth because they are less likely to be exposed to the truth, the fullness of it, the unassailability of it. But one hopes there are those whose blinders slip."
I wish I could be comforted by the knowledge that 53 of these people also occupy seats in the Senate, where they are - or at least should be - exposed to truth and have also sworn an oath to defend our nation and its Constitution "against all enemies, foreign and domestic."
Then Lindsey Graham rears his tiny head to proudly reveal the blinders he's freshly acquired.
It is articles like this that reminds me why I am a proud subscriber of the New York Times. I do get weary...as I am sure many do. When you look at the current political discourse, it is hard for one not to. But the Word tells me to keep doing good. And that is all I can do, and pray that God brings this nation together.
5
What happens if we do not clear the bar that Mr. Blow has set? What if the truth fails to matter in the impeachment process?What then? Giving up on our democracy is simply not an option. The best way to restore a crumbling democracy is through democracy itself. In short, we all must vote in 2020.
256
@S
Fully agree.
The best of outcomes would be for the House to impeach Trump after hearings that show beyond a shadow of a doubt what a menace to America he is, and for the Senate to prove its cravenness and refuse to remove him.
And then for enough Americans to be so appalled by it all that we vote Trump out along with much of the Republican Senate.
It's probably a fantasy, I know, but it would be more effective in the long-run that removing Trump, turning him into a martyr
30
@S If the truth fails to matter in the halls of power, we must take to the streets.
25
@imomateo
Yes, I fully agree. If the truth fails to prevail, it will prove that the people have lost their government, that we have lost our voice, that Truth is no longer valued as a primary factor in decision making, and that we are doomed to accepting arbitrary rule. This is unacceptable and dictates popular rebellion: peaceful resistance, non- compliance, Civil disobedience. The Vietnam Veterans Against the War, documented today on NPR, show the way.
16
"In the end, this is not a game. This is a tragedy. This is a mourning. This is an awakening. This is the moment where truth has to matter more than all else. That is the bar America has to clear."
Indeed the truth must matter now more than ever.
From "The Man on the Dump" by Wallace Stevens in the last stanza:
"One sits and beats an old tin can, lard pail.
One beats and beats for that which one believes. "
and the final line:
"Where was it one first heard of the truth? The the."
We must seek the truth, and we must find it. We must find the the.
Sadly, when it all comes tumbling down, when Steven Miller is directing the ethnic cleansing of this nation, when those who supported trump are swept up with those of us who stood with the truth, there won't be anyone left who will be able to stand against them. Trump supporters are too angry, too filled with hate and despair to recognize that trump is loyal to no one and will harm them right along with the rest of us when it suits his needs.
4
I disagree that Trump snatched any Republican souls in Congress. Those souls were gone already, followed by every iota of patriotism when the party woke up in November of 2008, after cavorting through eight years of "Conservative" hedonism for which the country had punished them in spectacular fashion by electing a black Chief Executive.
Trump merely filled the vacuum where Republican souls had been, or never were.
3
@Trusgift true that.
"with utter contempt for tradition, history, conventions and the rule of law itself can be reprimanded and chastened by the instruments of power as they now exist."
I would add "utter contempt for post-World War II order" as well.
1
Best column by Mr. Blow, ever.
As he states, House Republicans aren't denying the truthfulness of the witnesses so far. And, based on my observations, its seems most Trump supporters aren't bothering to deny he committed an offense. It's that they see it as necessary.
They see liberalism as an existential threat to their values, way of life, freedom and the nation itself. They see Democrats as representing the forces of social and familial dissolution, radical social justice movements, anti-white, anti-male, anti-straight, anti-Christian, pro-unlimited immigration, abortion for kicks, economic socialism and Godless cultural Marxism.
To them, 2016 was the "Flight 93 Election." Today, Trump is Jack Bauer in "24," the Democrats the terrorist who knows where the nuclear bomb is. What wouldn't you do to save the city from a mushroom cloud? What wouldn't you do to "save" the nation from the left?
It is awful and terrifying.
5
Of course, it is a game. The reason why turnout is so low in the US and more than half the country is politically unaligned is precisely because it is such a joke.
Nothing really changed when Trump got elected, and yet certain small groups of people in this country got really upset for some reason. This stuff is just a circus for the people who foolishly believe they live or used to live in a democracy.
2
Charles Blow needs to check a dictionary. What Trump did is not a case of extortion (to extort is to obtain something by force or other unfair means) but rather of bribery (to bribe is to persuade someone to act in one's favor by a gift of money or other inducement). Fortunately for us, bribery is specifically included in the Constitution as an impeachable offense.
5
one problem those who dislike trump created was to cry "impeach" when the only things known and objectionable were an 11 yr old access hollywood remark, a bull in china shop character, a disorganized administration, a ridiculous attitude towards immigrants, and his desire to pack the west wing with his inexperienced unqualified children and child in law. a lot to object to but nothing grave enough to hold hearings about. (although, if hunter biden goes on the witness stand to be accused by republicans of "inexperience" then i hope jared is called by the democrats and held to the same ridiculous forays and dissections.)
this gave republicans the boy who cried wolf theory - that this is all just "never trumperism" and "theater."
the low bar was set when republican wanted to impeach clinton. the technical charge was lying to congress under oath and obstruction of justice through witness tampering. however, most people remember it as because he had his sordid office affair, and the religious right made it about morals while the libertine left said No Big Deal. wan't the real reason was to stop the momentum of an enormously popular candidate?
all of that has to stop.
what happened to lindsay graham? he was probably promised the next VP slot.
1
it certainly is a game, a theatrical game with quite predicable characters where the play is substituting for doing needed legislation and trying to solve societal issues
both sides of the aisle seem to relish the stage as they perform for the cameras and the home audiences
some dance for the president while others seek to 'feather their own nest" in pursuit of partisan and personal agendas
and you, mister pundit, make your living off these events......they are the fuel and fodder to fill your agenda - judging
from the side lines - a bystander to history
not many noble roles in this game......
3
@ZEMAN
Harsh words. I suggest that you, who are without sin,
have indeed cast the first stone.
@Jerseytime
these players in congress need to work on saving this nation in many ways...education and health reform, the VA system, fund and cure some disease ...instead they want to do this impeach dance...round and round...
beat trump in the polls ..that is the real game and if you cannot our vote him....democracy has spoken
I am harsh ? no realistic and disappointed
Most Americans believe that they can do whatever they wish because the constitution gives them permission....no matter if what they do is moral or immoral, decent or indecent, or right or wrong. With this kind of total freedom the future will have no need of prisons, law enforcement agencies, nor law books. Why? Because if the law allows you to do what you want, then there is no wrong you can do.
Blessed are those who do not see yet believe. To those who believe in His name: who are born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
The man that would withhold lifesaving aid to an ally for dirt on a rival was always incapable of understanding the size and power of the office. He never seems to comprehend that his vindictive tweets can put people's lives in danger or that his careless remarks can ruin international alliances. Far from being any kind of "stable genius," he can't get out of the small world that he inhabits to recognize the harm he has been doing on a grand scale. That is the ten-year-old emotional life he lives. Was his business empire bigger? Someone said he wasn't a businessman but a promoter; his focus was always on the latest sales pitch, nothing bigger. Unlike Hamlet's metaphor, "I could be bounded in a nutshell, and count myself a king of infinite space," as president Trump's actions have affected a space that is truly global, yet he still occupies a mental nutshell. A small man who never grew out of his smallness but whose every whim has too often taken on monstrous proportions because of the power he has been given. It has to be taken away if we are to survive him.
9
Because the U.S. is split into two contradictory populations, the cynic in me says that this is unfortunately a game. The almost half of the country that gets its news from Fox, the WSJ, and talk radio sees a universe of “alternative facts” which repeat constantly that the proceedings are a sham (another word for “game”). It’s only those of us who read, or listen to, other sources who see a clear case for impeachment. No one, either in Government or the public, is willing to change their already made up minds.
1
On a very simple level one needs to ask " Would I want my children being raised to think if they were not successful in a scam that it wasn't a scam"
4
In a democratic society it is the truth that matters. But in a fascist society, or one that is quite similar, it is the fiction that matters. I think what we are seeing is these two views of society coming together in conflict. Trump's side, which I would call the white supremacist side based to its most loyal supporters, has adopted disinformation as a major weapon in the battle. I don't think the truth will clearly win out because there are now too many opponents of the truth and the US has not yet figured out if there is way to make social media compatible with democracy. I think whatever happens with the impeachment inquiry America will continue as two people, basically the white supremacists and advocates of liberal democracy, the former thriving on fiction and the latter on truth, without a clear resolution that can unite the country.
4
Truth, a precious commodity these days. America is showing us how easy it is to slip into the delusional gas lighting world where crucial thinking is no more and cult worshipping feeds us what we need to know. Feels like Russia’s playbook is now the norm. Will there be an awakening? Not sure Charles.
2
In your list of truth seekers trump has demonized don't forget scientists and intellectuals. They do the vital work of the nation, too.
5
Mr. Blow,
You are always on target, telling it like it is, speaking the truth, the whole truth, all of the time.
If only the Republican Party and the people who swallowed Trumps dogma had even a smidgen of decency, Trump would never have been nominated.
But it's too late now for hindsight; here we are Thanksgiving a couple of weeks away, and we are at war with the most despicable President our nation had the misfortune to unwittingly place in our White House.
I say "unwittingly", because in my heart I still cannot come to terms with the idea that Americans of any political persuasion could hand the reins of our destiny to such a terrible person, if they knew what he represented, and was capable of.
I can't see this ending well; those who realize their error will breathe again if he is impeached, and those who stick to their wrongheadedness will feel put upon, and angry, and our nation will suffer for it.
Still I hope, I hope reason prevails, and if nothing else we msy be in the process of learning, albeit a hard lesson.
3
Are the Republican Senators and members of Congress toeing Trump's line because they fear being unseated if they go against him? Or, worse, do they really believe in his presidency? Are their constituents so attached to the idea of Trump as some sort of savior, that they would indeed vote out any representative to go against Trump? It's not just Trump, and it's not just the political scene in Washington. It's the base. Until we understand why people support Trump we can never understand what is going on. He is philandering, casino-owning, sleazy real estate phony; what is it about that that appeals to middle Americans? I really want to know.
3
The Republicans are playing a game here that has always favored them. As long as ordinary people are frustrated, confused and eventually alienated by never-ending exchanges of charge and countercharge, they won't show up to vote them out. At the same time, if the "base" feels picked on, it can be manipulated into ignoring its own interests and voting for more of the same.
Trump has so little concern for the Constitution and so much interest in hanging onto power that he is really more than happy to have impeachment staring back at him. It's just what he was looking for going into an election year.
This is why impeachment is so politically perilous for Democrats, but it also points the way to something else: this is where the rules of the game have to change.
The fact is that there is now no Democratic or Republican position on Donald Trump.
The dividing line is now between those members of the House who will honor their oath of office and those who will not. The people of this country will then have to decide whether those they send to Washington will be bound by the Constitution or not.
2
I'm not sure why Mr. Blow considers it somehow wrong or immoral that President Trump "has seeded the courts as much as possible with people who are likely to be more in line with his positions." Every president in living memory has done the same. Suddenly it's an issue?
1
@Timothy
Sorry but ... While it seems true among Republican presidents in the past 40 years (and , only seems! Many appointees were moderates!) neither Clinton nor Obama went out of their way to find 'liberal' justices. Their appointees all fit a very moderate model. Including Obama's last pick, so shamefully blocked by McConell...
Trump's picks have been egregiously political rather than based on competence in jurisprudence. Indeed. he even nominated one who had never tried a case!
5
@Timothy Not sure that every presidents judiciary picks for lifetime have been given a " Not Qualified " by the American Bar Association.
6
@LaLa
A point few Trumpists are even aware of.
2
Beginning with Goldwater, a decent man with some unreal and impractical ideas, Republicans have increasingly kissed reality goodbye. Atwater, Ailes and Newt put an end to decency when it interfered with going all-out for victory. Voodoo economics and racial dog whistles put an end to honesty. So the party unwittingly prepared itself to be taken over by Trump, for whom decency and honesty were illusions, propaganda ploys to be believed in only in private if at all.
So here we are.
9
Well said, but the argument misses the point. The point is that the Senate, speaking through the Majority Leader, has signaled to the country exactly what they intend to do with Articles of Impeachment: absolutely nothing. (At least McConnell is not duplicitous about it.)
This means that there is only one chance to remove Trump from power, and it comes in November of 2020. That will not be easy. The 2020 Presidential election will be *very* close. The only difference between Trump's re-election and his removal will be voter turnout. This means voter registration and voter education.
Now.
9
Mr. Blow is asking the right question: does a president's withholding of congressionally approved aid from a foreign country until they agree to investigate a political rival, sufficient to remove him from office?
No one has yet provided an answer to that question, and undoubtedly the Senate Republicans won't agree, but at some point in the next few months, many "experts" will present their opinions.
In thinking about that question, I would remind everyone to consider that it was the Democrats who got rid of the super-majority requirement in the Senate for approving Supreme Court nominees, that came back to haunt them when the Republicans had the majority. What goes around - comes around is not just a cliche.
I'm not saying that this case doesn't meet the bar. Just that they better be darn sure that it has before firing the first shot.
@Steven Roth
The Dems eliminated the super majority for all appointees EXCEPT SCOTUS nominees. And they had little choice in the face of unprecedented obstruction from the GOP. The GOP lowered the bar further by eliminating the filibuster for SCOTUS nominees.
"God only knows what happened to Lindsey Graham."
It seems someone besides God also knows... well, we don't know what, do we? Does Mr. Graham himself even know for sure?
2
Trump has no defense. He turned around and did exactly what Mueller was investigating. This time it was with Ukraine. This time with deadly consequences for Ukrainians in the east. And, this time it using the power of the presidency and U.S. taxpayer money allocated by a rare bipartisan congress.
Trump and his supporters can't claim that he was ignorant of the law. Trump willing poked a finger in the eye of all Americans and what we stand for in this world.
History will look harshly at the Nunes, Jordans an McCarthy's and the spineless GOP who know that this administration committed extortion and obstruction. The grandchildren of these co-conspirtors will one day be ashamed of their surnames.
7
And while the hearings were being conducted, President Trump had the gall to meet with President Erdogan of Turkey. The country that has been killing our Kurdish allies.
Trump is a disgrace to not only our country, but to the human race.
12
Mr Blow:
Dems claimed that the Clinton impeachment was a game and they showed the right how to play it.
1
@James Let's see, Bill Clinton impeached for personal conduct unrelated to office of POTUS.
Republicans-violate oaths of office, fail to defend
Constitution, conspire with hostile power to advance personal agendas risking security of all Americans (arguably treason), and they cut and run abandoning our troops on the field of battle and allies.
Yeah lot's of equivalence there....
1
@Songsfrown
No, Clinton was impeached for perjury, please stop pretending otherwise.
1
Thank you, Charles!
1
For more than four years, Charles Blow has done little other than write column after column excoriating Donald Trump. Now, he asks us to believe that he is in "mourning" as the House opens impeachment hearings? Gimme a break! I am sure that Mr. Blow can scarcely contain his glee.
3
I have lived through two of these scenarios already in my long life and I am dismayed to be living through a third. I am also a life long, staunch Democrat that despises Trump and everything he does and stands for. And, yet, all I feel in this moment is a profound sadness that my country finds itself here once again. Nobody is gleeful about this. This isn’t a football game where people are cheering the loss of the opposing team; this is literally the future if our nation hanging in the balance and anyone who doesn’t recognize the profound implications of the outcome either way is deluding themselves.
3
I say thee, Yes, Mr. Blow.
And to perdition with the 5 or 7 or 10 "faithless electors" who gave us this slug.
3
The sad truth is that the republican party has become a clear and present danger to our democracy and indeed, the rest of the world. The most important election in the last 243 years will take place next November. It will determine the future of our democracy.
883
@EE Nobody's trying to overturn the results of the election. If Trump is impeached and removed from office, Hillary Clinton will not become president. Republican Mike Pence will. Please retire this stale talking point about a process that is explicitly part of the United States Constitution.
251
@EE One might say a tainted election...
29
@Markymark well said!
19
You pretty much hit the nail on the head.
The only thing you seem to have missed is what happened to Lindsey Graham. He simply dropped what was left of the camouflage he's worn all his life. You've made a common mistake. Over the years you judged him by the things he wanted you to see. He's always been a deplorable bigot and the farthest thing from a Christian possible. IDJT has shown him that it's ok to be openly evil and he's loving the freedom.
5
The greatest threat to the country is our tolerance of criminality.
This is what brought us Trump in 2015 and 2016. Its logical extreme is an institutional defense of Trump's attempts to steal the next election as necessary to prevent his prosecution for his role in the theft the last one.
6
Amen.
4
One can only hope and pray that the electorate that put Trump in office has the wherewithal to actually say "Enough". I think the current Republican party (will not use GOP, they are no longer "Grand") have already passed the point of no return and regardless of facts presented by viable testimony will do as Graham did, cover their ears and state "not listening", then not vote to impeach and remove from office. Hope for this country's future is in the hands of the people and we can't screw this up for future generations.
1
Thank you for your thoughts Mr. Blow. I too am a believer in the truth, that that is the most important ingredient in human society.
I think we are faced here with people who don't deserve our trust. And that we are going down.
This feels like the Fall of the Roman Empire. Definitely the end of the American Century.
Thank you-
Phil Johnson, San Diego
253
@Phil Johnson
I agree. It also feels like the death of a beloved relative from a sudden illness. Seriously - I had no idea our democracy was this vulnerable. The sneering contempt and posturing by the Republicans in the hearing is so shocking I can only listen to them in small doses.
Just as with such illnesses you thought the immune system was working to protect you, this process shows that our Congress is chock-full of legislators who appear to serve with absolute, unshakeable loyalty -- to something or someone outside the electorate.
2
@Phil Johnson
We can not allow ourselves to be destroyed by a group of sick individuals who need to be thrown out of the white house and from any future positions in the political process.
We need to write the history books now and highlight their traitorous names so that even the fools who want to be stupid can not hide behind the veil of ignorance for much longer.
The leadership of the GOP are traitors to the Constitution and the world must know that they can not be trusted.
The president is a constant liar and the GOP are the supporters of Russia and the enemy of Americans.
2
Please remember that Donald Trump is not the root cause of our political environment, it is the result of it. Notice how there are fewer and fewer centrists and moderate Democrats? For years the left has been pushing ever harder and more radical. Republicans have long opposed legislation that has put us in our current political quandary. Yes, I am speaking about open borders, sanctuary cities, 2nd amendment revocation, abortion and the ALL OUT ASSAULT on religion. What did you think would happen? Impeach Trump and I fear the next time the GOP runs a candidate they will be an equal but opposite force like the pendulum of a clock swinging back the other way. People should realize that Republicans are also a part of this Democracy and if you don't like their opinion then don't run them off college campus' and harass them in the streets and at gas stations as Maxine Waters suggested. While it is true that there are more poorer red states then blue you do not see all the problems associated with big cities in rural America. I know I am not from New York and do not personally know Donald Trump but I know people who speak like him and when he said "hey do me solid and find out what Biden's up to" while knowing good an well he is being monitored on the phone call does not upset or even worry many people. If this is impeachable then so was Obama's comment to Putin about having more flexibility after the election but that seemed to go un-noticed.
3
@RS - that is what got us here. The strained belief that both sides do it. There is no cult-like behavior from the Democrats or the Independents. We had 8 years of clear governance in tough times; that went out the window when Trump was elected. People stand by what he does no matter how bad, how outside the norms. If he is innocent, why won't he let those who attended the call testify?
5
@RS
There has not been "all out assault" on religion. The Religious Right, however, has mounted an all out assault on our separation of Church and State. We are simply trying to protect our Republic from them.
1
@RS
for the millionth time, Democrats are not " for open" border. They are however, for the rule of law and not throwing toddlers in iron cages.
Call me a snowflake but there it is.
and no, Republicans are not acting as if they are part of a democracy. They avoid their constituents and continue to support a crook like trump.
I AM from NY and we had him here for decades: everyone knows the crimes he committed here.
1
Sadly, my bet is zero Republican votes for either impeachment or removal.
5
Long time Times subscriber view: trumpists reading free right wing websites (Breitbart). Times should do likewise regarding trump impeachment coverage. May open perceived outwardly closed minds wishing to remain anonymous, fearing right wing ostracizing,amongst fellow tribe.
1
Jim Jordan's shrill, bullying performance was - as intended- detestable.
3
"Absolute predictions are dangerous, particularly now."
When there is the inevitable surge in Lust for Power they will wholeheartedly throw DJT right under the bus without ever saying a word. How do I know? Jesus.
1
@Rob
And of course, Mr. Pence.
Reality - 40% of American voters do not, and never will, believe that Trump is guilty of anything. And they believe that he must be reelected in 2020.
Some are true believers who have been brainwashed by Fox and the rest of the right wing media. Others dislike Trump but like his appointing ultra-conservative Justices and Judges, favor expelling all undocumented immigrants, want to bar all abortions, or are white nationalists.
They cannot be reached and, more importantly, will not change their position after Trump is removed by impeachment (which will occur only after aviating pigs are seen over an ice covered Hades) or he loses in 2020.
So the whole question is whether the Democrats can rally the remaining 60% (not only nationally but in the swing states) to effect his removal a year from now.
2
The Republicans, so many supposedly Christian-minded, should read (again?) Jesus' Parable of the Prodigal Son. It's no shame to admit being wrong. In fact, it could merit being given a banquet.
2
I enjoyed your column, Mr. Blow. It brought to mind a lyric, "When the truth is found to be lies, and all the joy within you dies.." (Jefferson Airplane, 1967), at another time when the country was divided. I hope we end the test this time with a country to love.
2
Mr. Blow,
Thank you for touching important points. You are absolutely right, this a somber moment. I hope and pray the US comes out of the impeachment intact. It is the poor, immigrants and war victims (such as the Kurds and Syrians) who have been tragically harmed by the guy who lost the election by 3 million votes.
1
What made this hearing sad was that it was almost impossible for a person to find out what actually happened and what was said in the hearing. Reading this publication, one would conclude immediately that we should impeach Trump tomorrow. After reading conservative news, the case was closed - he was innocent. Only after much effort could one find that both sides scored points and we are no closer today than yesterday in finding out what happened.
30
@Kevin
Unless you are living under a rock - It has been pretty clear for weeks what happened. Trump and Giuliani lead a shadow government to extort the Ukraines to say to the world that they are investigating Biden and his son for corruption. - Ironic since trump is nothing but corrupt and breaks the law trying to create dirt to smear his political opponent and used the power of the presidency to do it - using my money instead of his own which is is modus operandi - just ask the bank who loaned him money and he never paid them back.
If we had any justice at all in the DOJ they would have already indicted this man but instead we have trump's deep and highly corrupt state.
147
@Kevin Understood. If you watched the hearing you know he's guilty as hell. But most rational people understood that, anyway.
I get, though, that it is impossible for many to watch midweek. That's why one needs to find two or three (at least) media outlets they trust, and go with them.
But you do need to be intelligent enough to be able to separate the trusted, somewhat middle-of-the-road outlets from the biased and extreme (Fox News, HuffPost, etc.).
52
@Kevin - Evidently, the truth of the matter, based on the testimony of the witnesses as well as the reality of Trump's character and the documented history of his self-serving actions and untrue claims, is much more clear than some, including you, want to admit.
54
Well said, Charles.
"There was a time in my life when I believed — and thought that most other Americans believed — that the truth was all that mattered. That honesty and bravery were the hallmarks of good character and honorable leadership."
I thought, wholeheartedly, that this is who we are. It's how I was raised. Blood is not thicker than water. Wrong is wrong - period.
I am utterly heartbroken and somewhat dazed to find that so many do not share these ideals.
493
People cannot recognize the truth. One if my own relatives admitted as much, they can’t tell what’s fake. I have pointed out many times the inconsistencies & problems in the stuff said person shows me. Same person then tries to convince me the Q conspiracy garbage is real. It makes my head explode that so many people think Facebook and You Tube are great places to get their news.
27
@Smilodon7
If they believe Qcon is real, they are lost.
10
@Smilodon7 -- At least part of the problem has to do with the fact that searching the web feels like honest inquiry. When someone doing that comes up with a nugget which flatters a prejudice, they get little warning from the process that this is not a discovery they made on their own, and therefore believable. Worse still, the web has ways to identify folks who can be influenced in that way, and can respond by feeding those people a steady diet of such "discoveries." Each new find just confirms the others!
It is a vicious process. It preys on people of lesser intelligence, on people without information sources outside the web, and on people who live among too many like-minded others. Sometimes, even fairly bright people fall victim, for want of any habitual exposure to a source of contradictory information.
7
This is indeed a test. Of both political parties, of the nation, and even the media.
Ultimately, we need to affirm that it is not okay for a president -- or any elected official -- to solicit foreign assistance in affecting the outcome of an American election.
This is the principle involved here. Democrats and the media should not let any of us forget that.
438
@avrds
Let us be even more clear: he didn't "solicit foreign assistance" he attempted to blackmail a foreign government using using our tax dollars as the bludgeon.
221
@Patrick
Even better.
But the bludgeon and the Congressionally appropriated aid and the role of Ukraine in our national security and the blackmail and the rest, can be nitpicked by Trump supporters. And will be. It already is.
What I'd like to see the Democrats hit home instead is one simple question: is it okay or not to solicit foreign assistance in our elections.
If the Republicans publicly say yes, it is okay with them, then we have an even bigger problem on our hands -- and I think we need to start questioning them all on whether or not they, too, intend to start getting Russian help in 2020.
I certainly plan to start publicly asking my representatives, because both Gianforte and Daines are on record saying the president did nothing wrong.
74
@avrds
"This is indeed a test. Of both political parties, of the nation, and even the media."
No, it isn't a test. Republications flunked a long time ago. The media works on "If it bleeds, it leads". And the Democrats think a bumper sticker is something that wraps around a car twice.
14
“This is an awakening.”
Indeed.
The hearing was a collision of two different Americas. One America, the real America, and the largest side in the room, thankfully, was diverse and well-prepared and determined to tell the truth. The other side looked like a glorified Southern Baptist deacon’s meeting, complete with the sweaty wrestling coach who arrives straight from practice and without a jacket.
Trumpism is simply the confederacy rebranded. I say this because Trumpism at its core is cruel and founded upon the idea that some people aren’t as important as others. What I found so telling was that the only Republican who treated the witnesses with respect was a man of color, Will Hurd. He was also the only Republican to ask an intelligent line of questioning. Because of this, I think it’s clear that he belongs in the real America, not in the confederacy rebranded. It will be interesting to see whether he cows to the good ole boys or separates himself from them moving forward. I have a hunch that he’s retiring because the party no longer represents him. I think he’s had his personal awakening like so many who no longer recognize the Republican Party under Trump.
554
@Corrie
If it is a new rising of the values of the Confederacy we may need these words, from a great man:
"We here highly resolve . . . that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."
40
@Corrie
One of the best descriptions I've heard about the Republican party. There was (even) Nunes, Jordon and Steve Castor- speaking in "tongues"; an unknown language or recreating the Tower of Babel.
34
@Corrie
"... the sweaty wrestling coach who arrives straight from practice and without a jacket..."
Brilliant. A small man with small ideas and a big voice who thinks he looks bigger by not donning a jacket to honor the gravity of the situation he finds himself in.
55
The humiliating disintegration of the Soviet Union could have resulted in the rise of fascism in post-Soviet Russia. Instead, we have seen the rise of criminal mobs, kleptocracy, and oligarchies on a continental scale. But that new order must also be defended for the long term and this requires the recruitment and support of criminal groups for whom money and power are the only "ideology". Observe the chaos of Brexit, of Trump, of the new nationalism in Eastern Europe and elsewhere. This chaos doesn't represent a clash of ideas but rather the rise of an unaccountable criminal class. The movement is universal in the same way that capital knows no borders. The Republican party is a part of this movement.
94
@jim morrissette - Well said. The rise of "unaccountable criminal class" and "New Order." Let's talk about one of the major crime bosses of this criminal class, Vladimir Putin, driven to wield absolute power and make Russia a world leader by breaking up NATO and the EU as well as the U.S. His past KGB expertise has served him well in creating an effective and cyberwar "machine", that has been waging a dangerous cyberwar for years against European nations as well as, the U.S. by such activities as infiltrating and sowing misleading information and "fake news." He has also succeeded in becoming Trump's "handler."
5
This impeachment is many things, but it is not somber. There are two primary camps in the United States. The first is fully aware that Trump is utterly unfit for his office. They are wear of this corrupt buffoon of a PotUS and endlessly exasperated by the cynical and cretinous behavior of those who support him.
The second camp sees nothing wrong with Trump’s behavior and is angry that their man in the White House is being impeached. They believe what alt-right media tells them are the facts, and because of that they are not somber, they are angry.
Let us dispense with the wringing of hands and the hanging of heads. We can’t afford to dwell on the tragedy of the moment while the conflict is still unfolding.
Reason does not apply when large portions of our citizens are no longer living in dignity. The monopolies, the banks and Wall Street are taking greater and greater profits at the expense of working families. Since 1970, each full time worker has lost $5/hour in purchasing power. For a family with two full time workers, this shortfall amounts to $20,000/year, the difference between living in dignity or not for tens of millions of families.
When a third of our families skip meals each month to make ends meet and are fearful that the next sickness or car breakdown will throw them into the street, reason is replaced by fear.
Demagogues like Trump leverage this fear to blame and hate others. If we are to recover our democracy, the next administration must bring immediate financial relief to working families beginning with an increase in the minimum wage.
Democracy cannot survive empty stomachs!
11
“This is an awakening.” Charles you got than one right. However the “awakening” will not be the awakening you wanted. The awakening will be the fact that the Republican Party will get away with invalidating any and every investigation concerning Trump. The awakening will be the election of Trump for four more long years in 2020. The awakening will be the fact that the intelligence of our voters fails and falls to ZERO within a few years. The awakening will be the future election of someone far worse than Trump. Get ready for the alarm clock to go off Charles!
2
I believe many Trump Republicans believe him guilty of qui pro quo. They simply overlook the seriousness of Trump's actions by claiming that all politicians are corrupt. So they will view these proceedings as partisan and continue to support Trump.
Look at how many people were ready to believe the Pizzagate conspiracy theory during the 2016 election. If many Trump Republican voters were ready to believe that opposing politicians ran a human trafficking and child sex ring, they will not lose faith in Trump over his black-mailing of Ukraine. They will overlook the fact that as President, Trump damaged the United States security interests to further his personal political agenda.
1
Sadder for me than the threat to any institution of thought or politics is the utter lack of inference in all of the discussion to the threat to humanity. By that I mean that Trump and all his obvious interpersonal pathologies seem to have no place in the discussion of why he is not only unfit for office but unfortunately also a threat to any sane and caring person. I am a psychiatrist, and he is in my opinion a danger and this is openly apparent. His inhumane and sick behavior are not discussed but instead his legal missteps. I'm on the side of humanity and the law is normally on the same side. But it's a matter of priority which law you quote when you claim that someone is doing wrong. In time the law will catch up with him; my concern is that his disrespect for fellow humans and "humanity" will remain unattended to, since that, in my opinion, is his most grievous crime.
4
It’s like when they got Al Capone on tax evasion. It wasn’t his biggest crime, but it was the one they could prove in court.
@Smilodon7 Exactly! It's a matter of what matters most (in my opinion, humanity) and what counts most (the laws). Indeed, laws are important, no doubt. But when humanity loses weight in the bigger picture, that's a scary development : Laws are in sense "chosen" or arbitrary;a sense of humanity comes from the heart, a deeper conviction about how we want our world to be.
It is. But if this is the only way to get him, I’ll take what I can get. He’s too dangerous not to try to get rid of him. He’s gonna start world war 3 if we aren’t very very lucky.
Actually, to the GOP and the Trump regime, that's all it is -- a game. A game to be won by any means available -- for those in the positions to benefit the stakes are power and money. For the run-of-the-mill voter, the MAGA folks, GOP supporters, all they get is the dopamine blast of flipping off "the libs." and that seems to be enough for them even if the Trump regime policies are not in their best interest.
So, how do you get the 'blinders to slip?' It won't be anything so mundane as them educating themselves or looking at things objectively -- the only way it'll happen, if really begin to suffer at the hands of Trumpism, and finally connect the dots. This could take a long, long time, and may lead to eight years of Trump if the Dems aren't careful about who their candidate is for 2020.
3
Did our founding fathers anticipate a sociopathic president supported by a corrupt political party with the support of ignorant citizens fed lies with every breath?
Perhaps they did - certainly the 18th century monarchies of Europe reeked of corruption, inequity and abuses of power justified with religious and authoritarian propaganda.
But the founders also believed in man’s unique capacity to reason based on facts.
They thought citizens within a nation ruled by government of, by and for the people would curb the tyranny of wealthy oligarchs and criminals who serve themselves first and only.
They thought an independent judiciary would enforce the rule of law.
Watching Nunes, Jordan and Trump yesterday, amplified by Fox and social media trolls, I fear our founders were overly optimistic.
5
All that requires a well educated citizenry, which we do not have.
2
There’s a reason Republicans are so anti-public education and undermine and underfund it at every opportunity.
Oh, Donald had a failed presidency when he disputed the crowd size at his grotesquely overpriced inauguration.
Since then, it's been all down hill.
3
You can not impeach a sitting president on Rumor, speculation, hearsay or innuendo. Considering this is all the evidence Democrats have the likelyhood of impeachment is less than zero. This is even worse that Parisian considering two members of her party also think its a sham as well. Pelosi is losing Dems every day this goes sham continues. Pelosi is way over her head. Once the Horowitz report is released and arrest warrants are issued, this will all be over.
2
@Nielson reviewer So if direct testimony is provided that all that is alleged in fact happened you support impeachment? Sounds like Bolton would provide exactly that if he testifies. It's one thing to say you don't believe all these career diplomats and veterans but the GOP defenders are saying it doesn't matter if they are telling the truth, tRump is like a king and beyond reproach . . . Is that you too? I certainly hope not.
1
Funny isn’t it that the White House us blocking the testimony of those who do have first hand knowledge. Now why would they do that? You realize that if you or I ignored a subpoena, we’d go to jail, right?
1
Neither Goldwater nor Baker exist in any disguise in this farce of a political party and so we will bear witness in the Senate to a protracted trial that will fatigue the audience, the pols and John Roberts. Watergate hearings were extraordinary because of the tapes attested to by Alex Butterfield, Dick Helms’ protege, and the case of the Pentagon Papers. Nothing like these to see or read here, and no audience that hasn’t already been persuaded that Trump et al are guilty or innocent. Nothing will rise above politics this time, the only occasion in our history when a president actively sought to corrupt an ally on behalf of a political adversary and by so doing giving aid and comfort to our enemy, Russia, just as Trump pretended that Erdogan is a friend to the Kurds. Nothing and nobody has ever been quite as mad in the office as deadbeat Don who no longer cares what he says to anyone in front of anyone else. This is Lear without the lost nobility; this is nothing but shouting at midnight on the seashore; it has become baby babble with the drooling, spitting up and the spew parents grow used to and tolerate only because the spawn is theirs. This ends badly for everyone.
4
The big revelation was the overheard phone call between Sondland and Trump - FROM A RESTAURANT IN UKRAINE!!!! Security? Privacy? Trained career diplomats do not do such things. Political operatives who pay for their appointments are apparently not trained in security. This guy, who Trump said he does not know, seems to have a direct line to Trump. If Trump was speaking loud enough for 2 others to hear both ends of the conversation, I wonder who else might have been eavesdropping? Ukrainians? Russians? Chinese? They didn’t even need a hack!
3
You’d think they could have tried to make it hard for the Russians or Chinese, at least.
Priming the public is right. The Republicans are doing everything they can to pimp out the hearings, to make it feel as though it's just another clown show. What this all may come down to is if the average American - after years of binging on reality TV hooliganism - can actually get politically sober enough to comprehend the gravity of what's happening.
1
The first republicans in the house and senate to vote for impeachment and conviction, respectively, will be honorable and patriotic men and women. They may not know it yet, and not even care, but history and the U.S. do care.
221
Confronting the truth is the hardest thing to do especially when you have been so thoroughly brainwashes by the likes of Trump's lies, the Fox News and the right wing talk show combine. Yet as you say that there is hope that the hearings will shine some light into their closed minds. Truth has that power.
4
Only if people recognize truth when they see it.
Thank you for your thoughtful piece, Charles. But entertainment defeated reality quite a while ago.
There isn’t much room for think pieces or considered thought in this world. And we must not ignore that there is a considerable part of our citizenry of which apathy is their strongest attribute.
7
Charles, it is not what happened to Lindsey Graham, it is revealing who he really is, and was.
What more can the Democrats do, except invite any witness who has exculpatory evidence to appear before the House? Trump has refused to allow those people with direct contact with him to testify.
A great many of these Republican senators have law degrees, yet they contort themselves with nonsensical arguments about "second and third hand evidence". Their primary other argument is that "quid pro quo" always occurs in foreign relations.
This is only true when it involves the nation's interests, not the president's.
I think our nation will take a very long time, if ever to heal from a "party over country" philosophy. Trump, and especially Republicans have caused irreparable harm to my definition of American values.
8
I am appalled by the Republican approach to these hearings: that aid to Ukraine was released and there was no Ukrainian investigation of the Bidens so nothing happened, pretending these outcomes would have occurred if Trump had not been exposed by the whistleblower (and constantly demanding that the whistleblower.to step forward when that plainly contradicts the law). Republicans must know this. How can they have no shame in perpetuating plain falsehoods?
I believe they defend Trump not because they support or like him but because it is their way of assuring the implementation of their policy agenda, chiefly: gut health care for ordinary Americans to maintain the private insurance industry, maintain income and wealth inequality, sacrifice the planet to maintain the profits of the fossil fuel industry and the industries that depend on it, leave the elderly and the poor to the tender mercies of the free market.
As for Trump, I wonder if he was emboldened in his dealings with Ukraine because nothing happened to him as a result of the Mueller investigation (even though the report exposed that he obstructed justice and he was only exempted from prosecution because of policy regarding sitting presidents). If he was emboldened because the Mueller report was widely misinterpreted as a nonentity, that makes impeachment absolutely crucial. If he's not impeached, what new atrocity will he engage in?
10
It is crucial that we stop framing this as "Democrats vs Republicans." It is truth versus falsehood. The whole point of the inquiry should be to determine facts. The media (including the Times) has contributed to the idea that this is necessarily partisan.
We want minds to be able to change when they confront the facts. That becomes very difficult if changing your mind is framed as treason. The media can help by removing all reference to 'such and such helped the Democrats' and similar language.
8
"Too much of today’s political culture, from the delivery of speeches to debate performance to testimony, is caught up in an “America’s Got Talent,” entertainment-quotient, viral-capacity sensibility. Nothing is genuine; everything is contrived." This is the most nauseating (to me) aspect of where we find ourselves currently. I think I understand something of what Rush Limbaugh radio and Fox new has done to conservative brains but I feel something close to despair when fellow liberals lament that the hearings are too boring to watch. Sad.
5
I dislike Mitch McConnell but I believe he may be the second most effective Senate majority leader in history after only the incomparable LBJ. Trump has been abusing him from day one and he tolerated it to get his justices and his judges. Mitch doesn't say much. The only times he has spoken since Ukraine blew up was to criticize Trump for his betrayal of the Kurds and to refuse to call for the outing of the whistleblower.
I am sure Mitch is aware that in 1869, the year after Andrew Johnson was acquitted by one vote, that Ralph Waldo Emerson said "when you strike at the king you must kill him."
If Mitch is interested in figuratively killing the king, then he will not advertise it.
2
He’s really effective at getting nothing done.
1
@James Ricciardi
I'm afraid you may be correct.
But Madam Speaker, amirite?
It was somber, and it might have been taken seriously if the Democrats haven't been looking for an excuse to overturn the 2016 election since the day they lost. Conversely, the Republicans recognized the game for what it is, a partisan effort to impeach a President who won't be impeached. What a waste of time.
A President can engage in a quid pro quo for anything that he or she determines is in the national interest. This entire circus was predicated on Trump trying to "dig up dirt" on his opponent. But one man's dirt is another man's national security breach. After all, wasn't Mueller "digging up dirt" on Trump.
In his 15 minutes Representative Nunes provided detail and evidence of Ukrainian interference in the 2016 election on behalf of HRC. No one questioned his evidence or made the hypocritical argument that preventing foreign interference in an election isn't in the national interest. Ambassador Taylor agreed. The impeachment inquiry should be over. Trump wanted an investigation because he felt it was in the national interest. This is exactly what Biden did in 2016 when he got a Ukrainian prosecutor removed.
If the Democrats hadn't "cried wolf" for 3 years, if these "existential threat to our democracy" hysterias didn't fade once the public lost interest perhaps people would be taking this seriously-but they're not. The House vote shows no Republicans will break ranks and he won't be impeached.
So self-righteous! Just get this nonsense finished quickly.
5
The republicans overturned the democratic process with outlandish help from Republican Comey, Russia and the non-democratic electoral college. In a democracy the majority wins the vote. The U.S. is not a democracy.
President can engage in a quid pro quo for anything that he or she determines is in the national interest. The key word is nation interest, Trying to pressure and exhort a foreign government to investigates a major political opponents at expense the president own official foreign policy is not nation interest but personal political interest. it actually undermine national interest, military assist was delayed, career diplomats were damaged and US lost credibility that is important in soft diplomacy
2
@jkemp It is NOT in the national interest to extort a foreign country to give him a personal political favor. If Trump's motives were so righteous, let's hear from his co-conspirators, Giuliani, Bolton and Mulvaney under oath.
Right wing propaganda has somehow convinced a lot of people that the president is above the law. We do not have a dictatorship yet no matter how badly you want it.
1
Short of large scale protests in the street, DJT will not be removed from office by the senate. He probably won’t be removed by the election no matter the outcome. The world need to start preparing a contingency plan for the moment when Nancy Pelosi is arrested along with the Clintons, Bidens and Obamas. For when Lindsey Graham hands Mitch McConnell a newly made Golden Crown to crown DJT the Emperor of America. Please spend more time covering how we got here, how bad it actually is, and how we move on. Otherwise it doesn’t matter. How does anyone think this ends? With DJT quietly getting on Marine one and flying to Florida? There will be blood in the streets if this ends wrong.
The upper crust that’s wringing it’s hands over Warren and Sanders needs to understand that the bargain will likely be “a little socialism for Trump’s removal”. If you love every penny of your money more than your country and your freedom, we deserve the Golden Emperor. Hail Caesar!
4
@Justin
Is this a script for a new mini series. Very funny but the world does not work this way.
Bret Stephens of The New York Times once asked his readership whether The President would be remembered as a tragic figure out of Shakespeare, or a comedian to entertain us, while an attempt appears to be taking place to break the spirit of our country.
It has never been a game, unless we enjoy self-defeating spectacles. France came in earlier with a trumpeting of its leadership, and in turn received a mild response, venturing that the political temperature is rising in our nation.
Let us not accept that the shame of The President is our shame to bear, let us not disperse, let us rise again from this false dawn of lies, and soar like The Eagle in open skies.
Let us take back the 'Real America', Red, White and Blue, and mawkish as it sounds, The People across the States are composed of such a rich variety of extraordinary fabric, one senses that we may emerge from this dark hour, stronger and more caring than before, from this learning experience.
A prayer for those in Santa Clarita, CA. on this November Day.
1
Today's Republican Party has devolved into a Lord of the Flies collection of lawless 9-year-old boys who think the complete destruction of civility is just fine for society because their side will 'win'.
Their complete disregard for truth, facts, common sense, diplomacy, fair play, the United States Constitution and human morality have come close to sinking the republic into their Trumpian swamp of unapologetic greed, corruption and lies.
This will not end well if decent American citizens do not rise up and actively reject this Republican Frankenstein.
November 3 2020.
Celebrate National Republican Impeachment Day.
94
@Socrates - Well said!
4
Some "truths" are perceived in shades of gray to many of us, including, I suspect, yourself Mr. Blow. The sky is blue and the Earth is a sphere and space-time is warped. But the truth for some, is not for others because it is no longer black and white. What then takes over is emotion, bias, intuition and loss of empirical thought.
The bar is fuzzy.
I am puzzled.
Occasionally I try to "see beyond my silo" of the NYT, WaPo, and watch FoxNews.
Isn't that what we want them to do, in reverse?
But I cannot tolerate it very long.
Bitter, inaccurate, even deceitful, I end up wanting to throw something.
How can I "see the other side"??
7
@Zeke Black
I have heard Trump supporters say that they do not even want outlets like CNN on the cable lineup. Something terribly wrong with that type of disdain and intolerance.
1
Yes, I suppose it was a sad, somber day for some. The saddest thing is that the republicans have been lobotomized by trump and will never change position.
The base will never change position. trump really could kill somebody and the base wouldn't care. Who knew that turning a blind eye to the murder of a living human being would be required to overturn Roe v. Wade to prevent "murder of the unborn"?
So the blind republicans will inflict a little more of trump on the rest of us until we are rid of him one way or another. We will be rid of him one day. That's the truth and that's a fact.
Even in trumpneyland alternate universe.
5
A blastocyst is more important than an actual living, breathing human, didn’t you know?
The game is called solitaire. Republicans aren’t playing.
1
You're right.
Charades is not a game.
It's Kabuki Theater.
1
Let us consider this fact: the President of the United States extorted a bribe from a foreign nation. Is there some way to make this fact disappear? Is there some way to make this fact not be? I wish it were not a fact, but it is. I wish that the President of the United States had not done what he did - but I cannot magick away truth to suit what I want. We have got to deal with this fact as forthrightly as we possibly can. We have this fact. What do we do with it?
3
For His Collaborators, it is a Game Show. Combine “ Celebrity Apprentice “ with “ The Gong Show “ and a twisted “ Untruth or Consequences “. They hit the big time, appearing on National TV to prove their loyalty and adulation, and free footage for their Campaign Ads. In one sentence: Total Political Prostitutes. Personally, I have much more respect for the “ working girls “ on any City street corner. At least they give value for money, have a great work ethic and perform a public service.
Just saying.
4
No ,it's a sick carnival by the party which is incapable and incompetent of governing.after 8 years of a President who governed by executive order ,while bypassing congress,they have never experienced true government.Now when a President follows the rule of law the Democrats attempt to derail the Presidency because electing a Democrat is impossible.
2
The GOP as currently constituted is a national security threat.
5
The point about echo chambers is very valid. Back when Nixon was impeached, everyone watched the same news broadcasts, which stuck almost exclusively to reporting the facts and avoided much commentary. Now, we have Fox news ignoring or not reporting many of the facts and clouding events with their prime time opinion shows, which universally deserve to be called propaganda. As a result, Nixon went from one of the most popular presidents ever elected to one of the least popular within months, whereas Trump's tribe continues to stick with him despite anything.
Apparently, objective truth no longer exists in America.
7
Here is the litmus test for many Republicans.
If they believe that Trump has not done anything deserving of impeachment, will they carry this over to also be the bar for impeaching Democrats in the future?
We all know the answer, of course not. They will want to impeach the Democratic President who committed similar acts.
The Constitution should not be malleable depending on who and in what party they are affiliated with.
What is alarming is the world is watching including allies and foes. Both have to be concluding that the United States is imploding. Putin is smiling and Europe, the Middle East, Japan and parts of Asia are recognizing we are not as reliable as we once were.
In this world friends still matter and we are losing them, like it or not.
10
If we can't force FOX to stop broadcasting the pro-Trump propaganda featured nightly on its network, courtesy of Sean Hannity, Laura Ingram and others, at the very least the network should be forced to display and read out loud the following disclaimer before each of those shows begin:
The views and opinions of the host of and the guests on the following program may or may not be the actual views and opinions of the authors (and Donald Trump), but they absolutely do not reflect the official policy or position of this network or any other organization or company.
FOX makes no representations as to the accuracy, completeness, correctness or validity of any information presented as fact on this program.
This program is specifically designed to be viewed
by uninformed and gullible adults.
16
@Jay Orchard: Trouble is, Fox and its followers believe and repeat the lies. They will never admit that their information is "tainted". In actuality, the programming does reflect their official policies and they truly do believe it's the truth!
1
@Cecilia
You're giving the FOX hosts more credit than I think they deserve for honesty. I think they know they are full of it. Trump I believe is delusional and believes that he is justified in anything and everything he does, but not the FOX hosts.
1
They are well paid to ignore the truth.
"The fact that we are here signals that the country got something horribly wrong."
Mr. Blow, you left out an important word: "again".
You see, in the last 50 years, America has had 9 presidents:
Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush, Obama, and Trump. Of them, (if you count the current situation as an ongoing impeachment), and recognize that if Mr. Nixon had not resigned, 3 presidents have been impeached, two Republican and one Democrat. America has been getting something 'horribly wrong' for 50 years, now.
Should the world accept that in the U.S.A., that 1/3 of the presidents it elects will commit some act that results in that president's impeachment? Should the U.S.A. accept that? Should the Republicans and Democrats accept that?
I think American society had better find that demon and slay it quickly, otherwise the next 50 years just don't look that good.
2
Yes, some people think political conflict is a game like football. The point is to win, whatever the issues and stakes. Thank you for reminding us that this is a travesty.
But Trump didn't "snatch the souls" of Republicans. They have given and continue to offer them up eagerly. Faust would be appalled.
11
Listening to Wednesday's testimony by Mr. Kent and Mr. Taylor, I felt disoriented at times, almost trembling. Eventually I realized why: I'd become demoralized and drained by non-stop high-level deceit, defamation and corruption for so many agonizing months that, when these decent, lifelong public servants calmly and directly spoke truth to blatant corruption, I felt the waters of hope seep into my soul again, that truth may yet prevail in this fragile democracy.
Thank you for your integrity, gentlemen.
57
Oedipus was the last to recognize himself. Everyone else began to see the truth but he alone is saddled with the responsibility of facing the truth and admitting to it.
It ain't gonna happen with this greatly flawed individual. He'll march to the gallows unless he musters the courage to resign and we all know he doesn't possess enough courage to do that.
8
Every country is breakable. America is no exception.
Keep calling loud and often for Trump’s tax returns
and vote, please vote!
20
We are going to have to make this country over again. We cannot keep going on like this. There is something terribly wrong with our government and the political parties that make it run. Trump is simply the canary in the coal mine showing that the air is indeed poisonous and that we are going to die if something is not changed. The center is not holding and the entire edifice is slipping. There are no standard procedures for making the changes necessary. The framers made a constitutional convention essentially impossible and a one party government a likely end game. We sit in the evolving crisis with no means to correct it. Electoral energy has no force to change government at these levels. The last time reforms of this magnitude were made it was in response to a civil war. War seems to be the only option the founders left us which is really no option at all. But if that is what it will take then so be it. We have to settle this somehow and it is better to get it over with. With some luck we can come out of this better and stronger than when we went in. And maybe the next civil war does not have to be as bad as the last one. We will see.
8
Charles, I like your assessment. I hope you are right that this is an awakening. What happens when the wise guys meet the wise men? Do they remain smart alecks or gain smarts? As a Christian, I believe people can repent and live their lives in a different direction. For instance, some years back , the Rev. Jeb McGruder (he went to prison before seminary for his role in Watergate) served in our church. Epiphanies do happen.
2
This is a beautifully written article! I found this line particularly inspired:
"One hopes that there are many whose sense of morality is greater than their sense of tribalism."
I fear for our country. So many have fallen for the false prophesy of Trump and his supporters, is there any hope for reason and moral judgment? How will those believers respond when that prophesy fails?
12
This is not a game.
Trump is obviously guilty and the process must go forward.
He will be impeached.
He will not be removed.
People will not will change their minds.
It all comes down to next November.
32
But if the election next November is interfered with and the results are in serious dispute and neither party concedes, what will happen then? What mechanism will kick in to solve that problem? Will we have another illegitimate president? Will every president be impeached as we go forward with the results depending only on Congressional makeup? If every president governs while impeachment hearings go on what kind of government can we have? Could this be an indication that a country as big and as diverse as ours is incapable of being a democracy? Could this be an indication that we are too different in culture and beliefs to be a single country? Does this mean that we are about to collapse like the Soviet Union did when it disintegrated into today’s Russia? Does that mean that we have dictatorship and civil war in our future? If it is up to Trump then the answer is yes. The key will be to make sure that it is not up to Trump.
8
It would help if we could get something done about election security. Mitch? Plan on doing your job anytime soon?
3
@Bobotheclown
Good questions all. I have no answers for them.
I do think that the country may well be both too big and too divided to function as one nation. The problem is that many, many states are Red in parts and Blue in parts.
Since you are from PA, you know well about the Republican "....T...", but within the T there are liberish cities and near Philly and Pittsburgh there are some Deep Red exurzbs and small towns.
Then there is Austin in Texas.
Then there is the question of black voter suppression in a New Confederacy, were one to arise.
it is just one helluva mess. No doubt about that.
I did an informal survey of major newspapers in each state yesterday. It was clear that in Republican controlled states, there was virtually no mention of impeachment coverage (not even a mention). I agree with you - this is not a game. Republicans and Democrats are acting like parents in a divorce proceeding and the country is the suffering child dependent who will ultimately be damaged. I challenge Americans of all political backgrounds to step in together and save our country by silencing this custody battle. NYT - do your part, stop characterizing this battle as Dems v. Repubs. It is really Congress/Trump v. our Country.
46
@Brenda I liked your analogy. Republicans and Democrats may have irreconcilable differences, but let's think about what is at stake here. We have to stop this zero-sum game before we lose our country forever.
15
@Brenda How, exactly, is starting proceedings to hold someone accountable for bribery and extortion (to name one of Trump's offenses) like a divorce proceeding? I see your simile could apply to the terrible behavior and parliamentary affronts coming from Nunes and Jordan, but Mr. Schiff? Really? How is a ruthless despot to be held accountable in a genteel or totally inoffensive way? Part of the problem we have now is that prior to the 2018 election the House did not have a Democratic majority, so they were powerless to begin to hold this sociopath accountable. Now we must make up for lost time. Please don't trivialize the significance of this action by the House.
7
@Brenda False
"Republicans and Democrats are acting like parents in a divorce proceeding and the country is the suffering child dependent who will ultimately be damaged."
False equivalence much?
We're taught in school that all great struggles have a decisive turning point. McCarthy had his "Have you no sense of decency" moment. This has not happened with Trump yet and there's plenty of reason to believe it won't. So, we remain in this "darkest hour" with no dawn in sight.
The question is not when or how but if "our long national nightmare" will end.
33
I believe the problem lies in that the same question can be asked of pretty much any Trump supporter.
5
The political conflict playing out in front of us reduces to this: Republicans have been radicalized into proto-totalitarians who no longer distinguish between the national interest and the personal political interests of Donald Trump. The Democrats have ben cast into the centrist and essentially socially conservative role of upholding the democratic, rules-based order. It is a visceral and fundamental conflict which will determine the future of this country.
66
"It is a stress test for the country and its institutions," but also for many American extended families. In my 70+ years, even during the Vietnam war years, there has never been a President who has been divisive enough to cause me to want to avoid family members who openly support him. You think you know people until someone like Trump comes along.
302
@Carl My 85-yr-old mother feels the same way.
16
@Concordata: I hear you. My 86 year old mother has stopped speaking to her 84 year old sister. They both live in a retirement home. My mother gives my aunt her insulin shots. Those haven't stopped, but any conversation during the process has ended. The last straw was when my mother told my aunt that her husband has been dead for 10 years and it's time she starts thinking for herself. My aunt, the brainwashed staunch republican, told my mother she is a "libtard". I have to admit, I have been very entertained by these missives.
16
I feel your pain. I have a Q follower in my own family. Drives me absolutely nuts. And I’m told I’m arrogant for getting an education and not bothering to hide that fact.
17
"He [Trump] has snatched the souls from Republicans in Congress."
This is the one point in this article with which I disagree. Seems to me more like their souls were willingly sold.
History will remember the current iteration of the Republican party as being as bad or worse than Trump.
63
One of the most important revelations from yesterday's hearing is how the State Department literally contacted Fox News about spreading false Ukraine propaganda.
Fox news reportedly helped push the Biden/Ukraine false story, even though they knew the information was deemed false.
To many in the Republican corner ( Jim Jordan, Lindsey Graham and Mark meadows), it is a "game" as to who can win Trump's favor.
While Jim Jordan was continuing his theatrics yesterday, Fox news had already upload a video to YouTube highlighting Jim Jordan attacking the State Officials in the hearing.
So for many...yes...it is a game, which hurts all Americans.
111
It’s a logical conclusion and self correction of our democracy. Trump has always been a con man, cheat and lier. His verbal racist, misogynistic bombs reflect who he is. Regrettably, it also uncovered the dangerous undercurrents that flow in our nation. On the positive side, the majority of Americans are just people.
The press has been equally reprehensible, over the last three years, by embracing soft coverage of this traitor - that’s what the evidence of the impeachment hearings show: bribery and extortion.
34
“Equally reprehensible” is probably the strongest example of false equivalence I have come across so far.
2
True. Even today the press can only congratulate itself for beginning to use the word “lie” when that is the correct word to use. No newspaper has yet been able to go as far as use the word “traitor” even when it is the proper definition from the facts. We are in a war and the press is still covering what they think is a political squabble. They have no clue about what is happening even though they are closest to it. Maybe that is the problem, they know too many of the traitors as they work their daily interviews and they don’t want to bite the hand that feeds them. But in every revolution, the established press is always on the side of the strong. The truth in these kind of times only comes from the underground press which has yet to make its appearance. I wonder where it is?
1
The unflinching support of tRump by Republican Congress and his base indicates that there is a serious deficiency or ignorance that inhabits the minds of our citizens. For the emergence of racism, greed and medacity to supplant moral, ethical behavior our citizens must embody these values. They must truly believe in superiority of rule by autocracy and personal enrichment.
If the election favors tRump & company it will be because the citizenry of this country have abandoned their value and their own professed "righteousness." They will be granted the government they deserve. God help the rest of us.
19
Even traditionally sober platforms like the Times and WAPO can't resist framing the moment in terms of "sizzle" and "viral moments." Have we really become a nation of twitchy thumbed, meme addled seekers after the next shiny moment of infotainment, unable to even focus long enough to recognize the truth?
15
@teach What are you talking about ?
“It is a stress test for America and its institutions.”
This is a “stress test” that I fear the Republican members of the U.S. Senate will fail on all counts. Its members are so in thrall to Trump, his/their corporate sponsors, the right wing media, and their narrow political interests, that the idea that they will vote to impeach, however compelling the evidence, is, at this point, risible.
The real “stress test” that ordinary Americans must pass, is that of turning out massively in November 2020 and voting to rid us of this criminal presidency.
19
@Susan It may well come down to 2020. But we dare not kick the can down the road, content to wait another year, as if that election won't be rigged, as if he won't get worse w/ each passing day (he will, as correctly predicted by our country's top mental health clinicians who specialize in severe character pathology.) This man is extremely dangerous. We need to do everything possible now to remove him from office.
7
We are dealing with personalities of every stripe.
For some, winning is all that matters; for others, the truth is paramount. And they are all, consciously or unconsciously, driven and pulled by a variety of rewards or reinforcers.
All's fair in love and war, and apparently now that rule includes politics. And that dynamic is currently running wild and free.
Millions of Americans admire, respect, and revere Trump, his attitude, spirit, and actions. He represents them; he is them. He is the only game in town; without him, white, traditional America falls, never to rise again. There's a line drawn in the sand: Whose side are you on?
White America's back is against the wall, they believe. (It isn't, but they've been brainwashed to think so. Even if Trump is removed from office, that will just substantiate their fears.)
Our national division is here to stay, unless there's some huge diversion, say, war or massive natural disasters. Until then, we all stand in a boat, armed to the teeth, with our guns, metaphorical or not, pointed at those traitors over there amassed on the far side of the boat.
We are dead in the water, destroyed by racism, paranoia, hatred, and greed. It was only a matter of time: We, many of us, are a violent, angry, selfish people who are never satisfied for long -- unless we continue to win and remain obviously on top. Our political fraternity, as rare as it was, is gone with the wind.
28
@Jim Muncy
You've made a very good argument for partition, or even making multiple independent nations out of these not United States.
The question is, with the divides being much more urban/rural than strictly geographic, how this might be accomplished.
7
@Glenn Ribotsky
I suppose and propose that it would be something like Europe, a patchwork of various sized nations, maybe even split off from one another, like Michigan or Hawaii.
Not ideal, of course, but it might be an improvement over the current dysfunctional system. It would be a painful choice, but we're already suffering and divided psychologically.
2
>> God only knows what happened to Lindsey Graham
I would even say DJT compares favorably with Sen. Graham. His volte face is just unbelievable. And I’m not interested in what happened to him, but only in why is he still a Senator.
30
@Sheet Iron Jack
Lindsay always said absolutely nothing. When the press would ask him a question, e.g., "What do you think about Obamacare?" he'd answer, "I think we should learn all the facts!". He never said anything meaningful, never made a commitment.
1
I wonder if DT has something on him. That would be important to know.
1
The truly sad thing is that the two bureaucrats had absolutely no first hand knowledge of anything. What a waste of time. They obviously thought they should be deciding foreign policy.
3
@Jackson
Partially true.
But do not forget that Trump stands convicted by his own words. There could be no better evidence.
Trump is preventing those with more direct knowledge of what Trump says and things from testifying.
28
@Jackson
Let me ask you something. If you were being accused of something on the basis of second-hand evidence, and you were innocent, wouldn't you do all you could to get people with first hand knowledge of your behavior to testify? And if you were guilty wouldn't you use all your power to keep them from testifying--as Trump has done?
11
@Jackson The WH is preventing those with first hand knowledge from testifying. If they could clear easily Trump of corruption/bribery why aren't they allowed to testify? Pompeo, Bolton, Perry, Giuliani, and so many others. Why are Taylor's own detailed notes also being withheld? This all just builds an obvious case for another Article of Impeachment-Obstruction of Justice.
Yet now, we find as of yesterday, we actually do have yet another first hand witness, Taylor's aide, who will be able to give his deposition today and later publicly testify, who has overheard Trump directly speak to Sondland about "the investigations" in a phone call (the day after THE phone call to Zelensky) while in a public restaurant no less. Talk about a National Security Risk. What will the next concocted Republican defense be now?
2
This clearly is a game to the Republicans and the trump administration - argue personalities, biases, procedures, and stonewall to hide evidence (if exculpatory why hide it?).
The vast majority of trump's base will adhere to this view, and that is a tragedy, in the modern sense, for American democracy, justice and the rule of law.
There is no tragedy for trump as a protagonist if one considers Aristotle's perspective, "that tragedy is characterized by seriousness and involves a great person who experiences a reversal of fortune."
trump is a reality-TV salesman, lying from morning to night, misunderstanding or ignoring the Constitution and the law, striving for re-election to run out statutes of limitations, and far from a great person regardless of the beliefs of his base.
16
Of course it's a "game." It's all strategy. The House Democrats want to keep the House, even if the Senate rejects impeachment. That way, the Republicans keep one chamber, while the Democrats keep the other. Pelosi, Schumer and McConnell know this, and tell their donors the same thing.
2
@Louis Anthes
Louis, what Italians call "low polítics" is and will always be there. It's universal, it's the tactics and strategy of power.
If you try to analyze a historical moment from that perspective, you will gain no new insight, for, indeed, "politicians are all the same". Only from the perspective of high politics--the issues addressed, the larger goals pursued--are you able yo differentiate.
4
Apparently, it's all about getting the goods on your opponent. A lot like Watergate.
3
Except in Watergate, the parties joined in a bipartisan vote carrying out their solemn oath "to protect and defend". Here the gop is a tranch of gutless wonders who spout insane deflections rather than try and get to the truth of the matter.
It's incomprehensible that finding the truth to matter above all else has become such a challenge
26
Pundits and journalists have been treating all of politics like a game for years now, that is exactly why Trump was elected. Instead of real investigative, non-partisan journalism, reporters take sides and promote narratives rather than facts. How many tens of thousands of hours of coverage were wasted reporting on the rumor du jour during the much hyped Russia-gate probe? Did a single news organization own up to the fact that much of their speculation and their carefully crafted narratives were in the end wrong? No, hence people are gradually tuning out the legacy corporate media. With regards to Ukraine, many people on the internet have seen the video clip of Joe Biden bragging about having the Ukrainian prosecutor fired (the one who was investigating Burisma) on the contingency that US foreign funds would be withheld during the Obama Administration if he were not. Yet, journalists covering the supposed 'Quid Pro Quo' impeachment never report on it. Hence, many Americans are gradually losing confidence in the ability of the press (legacy corporate media) to accurately present information in a non-partisan way that examines all angles of an issue carefully and presents the strongest arguments from each side to the American people so that they can make up their own minds about it. In that same vain, these proceeds are made for TV theater, with hearsay and water cooler talk substituting for facts. Ukraine got the money & missiles, nothing was withheld.
5
@EE What has been disproven in the Russia probe? What was "in the end wrong"? I must have missed it.
7
@EE I found myself confused by your post. After rambling about reporting and journalism and the media in general you get in a couple of subtle digs about "Russia-gate", Joe Biden and Burisma and "Quid Pro Quo" you take some more digs at journalism and then conclude that "Ukraine got the money & missiles, nothing was withheld".
But you ignore the facts: Mueller only withheld a prosecutorial judgement because he lacked authority to indict; Biden was acting on behalf of the US government, in coordination with allied governments, in trying to persuade Ukraine to do something about its rampant corruption, and the President of the United States exerted tremendous, existential pressure on the fledgling Ukrainian government. They desperately needed (and still need) affirmation and backing from the US, and the POTUS only released the illegally withheld aid when Politico unveiled his scheme.
Russia benefited and continues to do so. Trump not only undercut a crucial NATO ally at a critical time, he aided Putin, who operates in open opposition to the US.
These facts are documented and easily found. If you are not aware of them you have not informed yourself; if you are aware of them you dissimulate. Either way I find your post in error.
13
@EE You seem to be missing or ignoring the key point. When Biden threatened to withhold funds unless Ukraine fired a corrupt prosecutor, he was presenting a quid pro quo ("this for that"): you fire this guy and you help yourself and the USA to make your system better. For that we'll give you dollars. When Trump presented a quid pro quo to release dollars it was to do HIMSELF a favor -- to benefit HIMSELF in the 2020 election, not the USA. He used public moneys to extort/bribe Ukraine's president for his own personal benefit. See the difference?
4
I agree. And I am particularly concerned about the collapse of journalism in our country. We have an oligopolistic media system run by corporations that care more about profits than providing good journalism - as witnessed by where they have made their budget cuts. We have also seen the rise of Fox News, Clear Channel, Sinclair Broadcasting and other media that devote themselves exclusively to right-wing propaganda but mask themselves as "journalists." Here is where your "fake news" is, Mr Trump! They created the misinformation bubble that Republicans live in. Rupert Murdock even has many of these know-nothing politicians on his payroll. The scariest part of all is that they are moving toward authoritarianism - perhaps even fascism - as they reject the values that uphold a democracy.
136
@Phil Rutledge Not only is the media an oligopoly, but all of their major advertisers are as well. When is the last time you heard the word monopoly or the phrase "restraint of trade" on any of these. They are all guilty of sins of omission, but FOX News takes it one giant step farther with sins of commission.
All of the congressional members who accept PAC money and large contributions from these same elements have sold their soul to get into office, so selling it once more to Trump is no big deal for them.
5
"He has snatched the souls from Republicans in Congress."
The case against Trump is clear. The Republicans on Capitol simply know that having gone all-in with a morally reprehensible president, who is now, without question, guilty of using American taxpayer dollars as an inducement for a political favor from a foreign leader (with life or death consequences for Ukrainian soldiers facing Russia), they are now stuck with hanging together or else hanging separately. I would love to see the secret Republican marching orders now afoot in the Capitol.
Where among the Congressional Republicans is the whistleblower against their coup on the Constitution and the rule of law? Do none of them have any honor?
119
@Mark
The sole Republican member of Congress to have taken the step you wish them to take is the tea-partier Justin Amash, who left the party in disgust. History will be kind to him; we'll see about the voters in his district.
15
Might not be a game, but we have all lost it.
13
But, 40% of the population seem to think that it is a game and they are perfectly fine with it.
26
@RNS That begs the question of how much longer our nation can remain united. When 40% of our citizens embrace beliefs antithetical to our Constitution and indeed to decency and truth, where do we find common ground as a nation?
1
@gesneri Not to be picky but IMO the question is how much more divided can you get? I don't think the 40% will go quietly. Good luck.
The Democrats chose the Ukraine issue to build the case for impeachment because it is narrow and specific. But I fear it may prove too colorless to capture the public's imagination, as the Democrats had hoped. However, it does open a door to a larger issue that might do the job: why does Trump’s every foreign policy action always seem to benefit the Russians?
Does Putin have some "dirt" on Trump? Or, does Trump simply live in fear of it (we know that’s how his mind works). Or, is Putin merely the most prominent among all the dictators that Trump is drawn to. Or, most gravely, is Trump a "Mongolian president," a traitor working for Putin, a crime so heinous that even Republican senators would have a hard time looking away?
I urge the Democrats in Congress to start asking these questions, if they want to move the polls on impeachment.
75
@Ron Cohen Have patience. You're right about the Ukraine phone conversation being a nice neat package and easily understood. But I predict that the final list of charges in the impeachment will be long. It should, and I believe will, include violations of the emoluments clause, obstruction of justice, and violations of the campaign laws (e.g. paying off two women to keep silent about his extra-marital escapades, which is a use of undeclared moneys to affect an election). The list will (I hope) include the proverbial kitchen sink.
18
@Ron Cohen they also need to ask why Trump is allowed to praise Putin when Putin is actively killing Ukrainian soldiers. Ukraine is a democracy. Russia is not. Why is he propping up russia rather than our democratic allies?
12
@Ron Cohen - Well said. I believe Putin is, as you say, the most prominent among the dictators that Trump is drawn to and more than likely has "dirt" on Trump. He has succeeded in becoming Trump's "handler."
4
Basically, the question is whether it is permissible for the president of the United States to bribe a foreign country to interfere with the United States election process? To basically request a foreign country to dig up dirt on an election opponent and get paid for it, by the president of the United States?
31
It's not a game?
Of course, it's a game. darling.
This about politics.
This is about keeping your job.
This is about enhancing your job prospects.
This is about moving forward.
7
@P&L Ah the phrase "moving forward" means I am now going to lie to you. It is a phrase used by corporate executives who teach their underlings to repeat this phrase. What it really means is I am now going to present donkey dust and you will all believe it and live by it or lose your jobs.
"did something so egregious and offensive that lawmakers are forced to employ one of the Constitution’s greatest powers." More accurately, replace "lawmakers" with Democrat legislators because that is the truth of your Impeachment process: political, overblown and as far from bi-partisan and the truth as one can get
2
@RJPost
*Democratic*
SMH
I wish you were right Charles but to Trump it’s all a game.
His strategy in business and in the White House has always been to win at all costs and that’s what he and the GOP and their lawyers are trying to do.
Isn’t it obvious how little they care about anything but winning?
27
This is not really about Trump. It has never really been about Trump.
At the end of the day, this is about a significant number of people whose lives are getting progressively worse and worse looking for someone to take it out on because neither they nor anyone else seems to be able or willing to fix it.
Economists have said for years that globalization is the tide that lifts all boats and that technological innovation ultimately increases employment(or at the very least doesn't destroy jobs).
Now, after an almost global tide of awfulness, they are finally admitting that globalization and technological innovation has winners and losers and we have to help the losers somehow.
That's what this is about at the end of the day. The losers aren't being helped and they are lashing out.
19
@James Jones Well, you coastal Elites might have thought about that more in the 80's and 90's when you stopped buying American and spent your dollars on Euro and Japanese imports. Yes, its trade treaties and economic trends, but its also a bunch of lifestyle choices that a lot of Americans gladly made that gutted our economic system. The cost has now come due
1
@RJPost
An unfair tax system that provides massive tax breaks to the ultra rich and overtaxes the middle class and the poor is our main problem. It is not "coastal elites" buying foreign products. This tax system deprives the people who generate jobs via spending in our consumer economy from access to education, mobility, and freedom from crushing medical costs, housing and other essential constituents of a middle class life. It deprives our states of the money necessary to do infrastructure repairs, fix their retirement programs, support their educational systems, render property tax relief, and give adequate support to their health providers.
13
@RJPost you mean buying Japanese cars that were superior in quality yet cheaper and more fuel efficient then those gas guzzling pieces of junk that American auto companies were dumping on the American market? I guess you don't remember the Arab oil crisis of those days. Stop blaming so-called Elites for the results of mid-american complacency.
7
Taylor and Kent did not testify that Trump attempted to extort the president of Ukraine into publicly declaring that he was opening an investigation in the Biden family and the 2016 election.
Taylor said he "understood" the White House would deny aid to Ukraine if it did not comply with Trumps request, but said he based his understanding on a conversation with Ambassador Sondland.Taylor testified that Sondland told him that the told the Ukrainians "aid would likely not be resumed" unless it complied with Trump's requests.
Sondland does not dispute this, but in his addendum to his testimony he explained he only "presumed" the the White House might not resume aid. In other words, he made a prediction that proved wrong; the White House resumed aid even though there was no announcement.
Sondland did not change his initial testimony. He testified that after Taylor expressed his alarm, he called the White House and the president told him there was not quid pro quo.
1
@William Case If you were paying attention, you would have heard that after he said there was no quid pro quo, that is exactly what he described.
13
@William Case
This is the classic case of if you believe that, I have a bridge in Brooklyn I'd like to sell you.
I would suggest you check the timeline of when that aid was released. I think you'll see that the timing is not coincidental:
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/11/us/politics/trump-ukraine-timeline.html
But in spite of all the smoke and mirrors about Ukraine, this is ultimately a very simple question:
Is it okay for a president (or any elected official) to solicit foreign assistance with their campaign and potentially affect the outcome of an American election?
If it's not okay, then anyone who does so should be removed from office. Democrats, Republicans, and Independents should all agree on that.
9
@William Case
You don't get credit for something once your caught. The White House only resumed the aid once they knew the jig was up and the whistle blower story was out in the open. The White House knew it was wrong. IT WAS "QUID PRO QUO" UNTIL THEY WERE CAUGHT.
4
"These men seemed to be telling the truth, and that’s the way that it reads."
Seemed? Mr. Blow, this is one thing I believe bothers many people about the media, I believe. The need to always be SO careful about not seeming biased.
Yes, it is critical that journalists not take sides (though you are able to as an opinion writer) and look at the facts. But can we be one hundred percent certain these men are telling the truth? Can we be 100% certain about ANYTHING, really?
The answer is not, but we can be 99.99% certain about many things; in this case, that these men are telling the truth. How do we know? We just do, because ALL of our observations, knowledge and common sense tell us so. That, for me, is good enough to be able to say, "These men ARE telling the truth."
100
@Rich , that also stood out when I read it. These people took an oath and have spotless resumes. Coupled with the "Chief" who took an oath which he violated pretty much in the same week and refuses to testify or allow anyone in his orbit to testify. Which of these are telling the truth?
21
@Rich Yes. Can reporters, pundits and media figures please simply state the obvious accurately?
However, I do think it is also important that Taylor and Kent "seemed" truthful. What they said was not only obviously true but also FELT so.
10
@Rich Because each of them is putting his lifetime of service to US interests on the line. Something that Trump and his family will never ever understand.
19
This is a great column: cool, clear, measured, and direct. You cut to the heart of the matter here and what's at stake for our country. Thank you.
154
Sobering and necessary op-ed, Mr. Blow. It amazes me that people can hear reasoned facts and yet spin those facts and twist them for their own purposes. And what are those purposes? Re-election? Money? Not wanting to alienate people in their home areas? Ego? Sometimes I think that America deserves someone like Trump. As a nation, we've been so arrogant toward many of our citizens, our environment, our democracy. But, yes, this is a time that we must choose the right path. If not, I worry for my grandkids.
134
@Mary Hudak Putin picked Trump for a reason. For in Trump, Putin saw all of our vulnerability, our hubris, and our weakness wrapped into one. Trump is a uniquely American poison, that has been expertly applied to the arrowhead that Putin then shot through our American heart.
Alas, we are feeling the spasms, the convulsions and seizure, awaiting the poison to course through our country and deliver our one last breath.
2
One commenter last week smartly suggested that instead of entering the Democratic race for 2020, Bloomberg should buy Fox News. He could do more in impacting the state of things by doing this rather than run for president. The 24/7 toxic news cycle of the Rupert Murdoch propaganda machine doesn't help with truth seeking as loud talking heads distort and confuse the issues while gullible viewers take it all in thinking that Trump did no wrong, even when the compelling evidence proves otherwise.
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I second the motion. Fox News and Rupert Murdoch have done more to undermine the rule of law based on facts than any other force in America. The GOP is merely following their duped constituents.
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@Birdygirl good thought but then Murdock would just start another network. Without re-enacting the fairness doctrine we are doomed to this propaganda.
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@Birdygirl
What makes you think the Murdoch family would sell?
13
No it is not a game. Yet many pundits and journalists (including some at your own paper) describe it as if it were a game or some sort of television of theatrical production. The only win this process should strive for is the one that upholds the Constitution and the rule of law. The public would be better served by less of these characterizations (which may reflect implicit bias of the authors) and more factual reporting and analysis.
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@JBC
"No it is not a game. Yet many pundits and journalists (including some at your own paper) describe it as if it were a game or some sort of television of theatrical production"
And including, most importantly Donald Trump and the Republican Party. They have done more to turn the constitution, our laws, and societal norms into a game and theatrical production, rendering them nearly unobservable in our politics and government.
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