All we want for Christmas is an IMPEACHMENT! Trump con't

[AcrossthePond55]

Dear Father Christmas/Santa, Please grant our Christmas Wish. We have been very good this year. We promise not to say shit, cunt, or fuck too terribly much unless we're driven to it by Trump CuntFuckery. Oh shit, so much for that promise! Well, we'll TRY. Thank You, the MN Viper Freedom Squad

Old thread;

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/3081957-The-zephyrs-of-change-Trump-continued?msgid=73548297

Trump's motorcade greeted with chants of 'lock him up' in NYC

Oh I so want to go to the protest if his visit does go ahead, fingers crossed it coincides with my brother's court decision date, then I'll come for sure (though with newborn in tow so I better avoid the kettling!)

It cannot continue and the GOP know it

How will it be stopped though? At the next election through the ballot box? But fair and free elections are looking less and less likely as gerrymandering and voter suppression efforts are increasingly deployed. The other way it’s resolved is by revolt, uprisings, civil war, which is not a good option either.

Meanwhile, trump has:

• armed state police so they have militia equipment
• stuffed, or is trying to stuff, law enforcement agencies with political actors
• tried to enable a private company to become an intelligence service and undertake covert operations
• CIA Director Mike Pompeo has publicly promised that the agency would become “much more vicious” and aggressive. He said in one speech that the administration “is prepared to engage in activities that are different from what America has been doing these past few years.”
• stuffed the law courts with extreme right wing judges
• supports a culture where people protesting Nazis are sentenced 60 years for broken windows where as the white supremacists, who participated in and facilitated

Heather heyer’s death, walk free.

Which suggests he might be well equipped if the second option of revolt materialised.

I’m hopeful that mueller and due process still holds but given how much normal order had already been smashed to smithareens and how successfully two separate realities are now prevalent - 71% of people believing allegations against Roy Moore are fake for example - it’s not looking good (in my opinion).

The other way it’s resolved is by revolt, uprisings, civil war, which is not a good option either.

I hope it's the fear of this that eventually stops them, but I have to say I share the fears that we're witnessing the beginning of something terrible.

And I previously thought that the GOP might dump trump once they achieved legislative success in the tax cut, without which their donors would have ceased supporting them, but actually, while they might still do that once it’s finalised (though it remains to be seen), they will only do so if there’s a way for them to continue to hold onto power. And given that they’ve enabled this whole shitshow (Mcconell has now walked back his fairly firm anti Moore statements and has revised it to “allow the people of Alabama to decide”) in order to keep hold of power, it’d be the same oppression but with fewer Big Macs. And possibly less nuclear war but Graham’s been pretty gung ho about it so perhaps not even that.

"Which suggests he might be well equipped if the second option of revolt materialised. "

I only have 2 friends - they're a couple - living in the US. It's really hard to gauge how far this will go and how much people are okay with the fact that Trump is who he is. I actually think there won't be a revolt. I think he's got a good chance of being voted in a second time.

He probably will be, if not just because they'll have engineered it that way with gerrymandering etc. If it did ever get to that point where people were frustrated and saw that perhaps the GOP weren't acting in their interest (which is a big if), possibly when the tax bill impacts hit etc, it'll be too late to do anything about it.

Exclusive: Trump lawyer claims the "President cannot obstruct justice"

www.axios.com/exclusive-trump-lawyer-claims-the-president-cannot-obstruct-justice-2514742663.html

John Dowd, President Trump's outside lawyer, outlined to me a new and highly controversial defense/theory in the Russia probe: A president cannot be guilty of obstruction of justice.

The "President cannot obstruct justice because he is the chief law enforcement officer under [the Constitution's Article II] and has every right to express his view of any case," Dowd claims.

Dowd says he drafted this weekend's Trump tweet that many thought strengthened the case for obstruction: The tweet suggested Trump knew Flynn had lied to the FBI when he was fired, raising new questions about the later firing of FBI Director James Comey.

Dowd: "The tweet did not admit obstruction. That is an ignorant and arrogant assertion."
Why it matters: Trump's legal team is clearly setting the stage to say the president cannot be charged with any of the core crimes discussed in the Russia probe: collusion and obstruction. Presumably, you wouldn't preemptively make these arguments unless you felt there was a chance charges are coming.

One top D.C. lawyer told me that obstruction is usually an ancillary charge rather than a principal one, such as aquid pro quo between the Trump campaign and Russians.
But Dems will fight the Dowd theory. Bob Bauer, an NYU law professor and former White House counsel to President Obama, told me: "It is certainly possible for a president to obstruct justice. The case for immunity has its adherents, but they based their position largely on the consideration that a president subject to prosecution would be unable to perform the duties of the office, a result that they see as constitutionally intolerable."
Remember: The Articles of Impeachment against Nixon began by saying he "obstructed, and impeded the administration of justice."
Bob Woodward tells me this "is a legal thicket and really has not been settled":

"I think a president can only be reached through impeachment and removal. But the House and Senate could conclude a president had obstructed, and conclude that was a 'high crime.'"
"In Watergate there was political exhaustion — plus, as Barry Goldwater said, 'too many lies and too many crimes.' These questions are now, in the end, probably up to the Republicans. The evidence was in Nixon's secret tapes. Is there such a path to proof now is one way or the other? We don't know."
Be smart: The one thing everyone agrees on is that the House of Representatives, with its impeachment power, alone decides what is cause for removal from office. For now, at least, the House is run by Republicans.

Matthew Miller‏
@matthewamiller
This is such a dangerous claim: that the president is above the law. Also one you only need to make if Trump actually did the things he’s accused of.

This was inevitable I suppose. He's going all out with his explicit endorsement

Donald J. Trump‏
@realDonaldTrump
Democrats refusal to give even one vote for massive Tax Cuts is why we need Republican Roy Moore to win in Alabama. We need his vote on stopping crime, illegal immigration, Border Wall, Military, Pro Life, V.A., Judges 2nd Amendment and more. No to Jones, a Pelosi/Schumer Puppet!

Is he trying to big up the Democrats?

It took me far too long to get what you meant lweji!

Yes, claiming full credit for the tax bill might bite him on the ample arse but only if people aren’t too indoctrinated in the orange cult by the time the effects hit.

Peter Daou
@peterdaou
The Republican evolution on #RoyMoore is a quintessential example of how norms and values are eviscerated:

1. Hesitant criticism
2. Gradual equivocation
3. Backtracking on criticism
4. Tepid support
5. Full-blown support

And like that, child molesting is acceptable to the GOP

While quietly shutting up child molesting accusations.

Because he denied it, so that's it.

Seb Dance MEP
@SebDance
We await the details on Phase I, but if N Ireland can get SM/ CU - which is what every sector says it wants - then this shows we’re winning the argument and that all parts of the UK can get it too.

And elsewhere:

Hugo Rifkind
@hugorifkind
Hope somebody is keeping a list of all the bits of the UK that want. "regulatory alignment" with the EU. So far I've got Northern Ireland, Scotland, London, farms, banks, universities, healthcare, Grimsby and Cornwall.

Sorry, wrong thread

Natasha Bertrand‏Verified account
@NatashaBertrand

TRUMP just now: "I feel badly for General Flynn...Hillary Clinton lied many times to the FBI and nothing happened to her...she lied many times, nothing happened to her. Flynn lied and they ruined his life. It's very unfair."
Here comes the pardon?

I haven't seen this in the UK press

British security services are vastly outgunned by the Russian counterintelligence threat

uk.businessinsider.com/british-security-services-vs-russian-counterintelligence-threat-2017-12?r=US&IR=T

MI6 has elevated Russia to "tier one" threat status.
The head of MI6 has told NATO its response to Russian interference in Europe and the West needs to get sharper.
Russia has at least 700,000 security and intelligence personnel on its payrolls.
Britain has only about 16,000 equivalent people in its special security services.
NATO's Very High Readiness Joint Task Force is outnumbered six to one by Russian forces.

A Vox piece.

Trump pardons?

I imagine that Mr M knows the various options well.

Trump shortlisted for Time person of the year, about an hour after he fully endorsed Roy Moore (not sur the two things are connected).

Mueller is on the shortlist too. Imagine how galling it would be to Trump, to lose to Mueller (or indeed Kim, also on the list!).

*sure

I imagine that he might be a fair old shoo-in for person of the year. (Mind you, the reason behind it............)

And he didn't get his Nobel Peace prize.

Wonder if it has anything to do with this?

Time Magazine sold in Koch-backed deal

www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-42133002

Although as they note in the article:

The issue recognises the person who "for better or for worse... has done the most to influence the events of the year".
Past recipients have included almost every sitting US president, Queen Elizabeth, Pope John Paul II and Mahatma Gandhi.
More controversially, Joseph Stalin and Adolf Hitler also both received the recognition.

So there's that.

Nixon got it if I recall?

Ha!

The descent into authoritarianism makes more progress. I wonder why Trump would want to undermine public confidence in institutions such as the press and law enforcement?

Poll: Majority of Trump backers say media is ‘enemy of American people’

thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/363098-poll-majority-of-trump-backers-say-media-is-enemy-of-american-people

"The survey also showed that trust and confidence in the press falls roughly along party lines, with 74 percent of Democrats or those who lean Democratic saying they have a “great deal” or “a fair amount” of confidence in the press, a 23-point increase from last year. Among Republican and Republican-leaning respondents, only 19 percent said the same."

Trump has this playing on a loop. It's his personal ear worm.