Finding a way through 'the avalanche of crazy' or Trump thread 96.

[lionheart]

From back in Decemeber:

'This shouldn’t get lost in the avalanche of crazy. The wall we need is between DOJ and the White House. The foundation of our democracy- the rule of law- depends on it.' Sally Q. Yates.

Old thread:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/3645518-Its-High-Crimes-and-Misdemeanours-Time-Trump-thread-no-95

Following on from ^

≡l≡v≡nth
@3L3V3NTH
· 7m
Their aims were profit, not politics. This circle of businessmen and Republican donors touted connections to Giuliani

As Rudy Giuliani was pushing Ukrainian officials last spring to investigate one of Donald Trump’s main
apnews.com/d7440cffba4940f5b85cd3dfa3500fb2?utm_campaign=SocialFlow&utm_medium=AP&utm_source=Twitter…
Show this thread

Oh yes, he is. Very Kim Jong Un this is.

GOP
@GOP
“President Trump is the great protector of the Medicare program.” -
@SeemaCMS

Katyal:

www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-ukraine-impeachment-neal-katyal-text-messages-1463212?utm_source=Twitter&utm_campaign=NewsweekTwitter&utm_medium=Social

Not the best news. Turkey has announced it is going to move into Syria - ie. attack Kurds - and the US says it plans to leave them to it. See the image for the US press statement. This is another example of Trump either not understanding foreign policy or wilfully abandoning allies when assistance is required, or both.

Not posted for a long time but still watching the thread. What are the odds on impeachment succeeding?

Here's a thing. Usually, when a POTUS makes a phone call to a foreign leader, there is someone present who makes notes at the time. Trump seems to have stopped that practice. (Is that "practise" in American English?) And there is generally an actual transcript, rather than a sort of cobbled-together thing like the one the White House released of his recent conversation with Zelensky.

I also note this isn't the first time he has asked a foreign leader for a favour. There was also the Mexican president, whom he asked not to say that Mexico would not pay for the border wall because it looked bad for Trump when he did. And he asked the Australian prime minister please not to send the two thousand refugees the USA had agreed to take, because it made Trump look bad.

Last time and the time before nobody seemed to care much, so he must be surprised that this time it is getting him impeached. Maybe he has just got careless about the level of blatant threat/bribe that he allows himself to use in phone calls.

www.salon.com/2017/08/03/donald-trump-pleaded-with-mexicos-president-to-not-talk-about-the-border-wall-which-he-caved-on/

It was interpreted as pleading at the time rather than a threat or bribe, after all.

I wonder if this will create a bit of a diplomatic incident. My heart went out to the parents, so grief stricken and their worst nightmare for the culprit to flee the country. At the moment the US won't waive immunity.

The family are asking BoJo to ask Trump to intervene.

So awful. She was driving on the wrong side of the road.

www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1187286/harry-dunn-crash-news-latest-car-crash-us-diplomat-wife-dominic-raab-raf-croughton-crime

www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/chief-constable-demands-hitandrun-suspects-return-to-uk-a4255416.html

Loved the SNL clip (late watching it).
"Convert into straight"

Anyway, Pence as President would indeed be bad, but it might well open the GOP race to another internal candidate instead. And that's if he's not caught up in the mud.

With his mob boss Modus operandi I think that Trump will have instinctively compromised all those around him, in particular he will have made sure he has dirt on anyone whom he feels might usurp him

I think if he goes down he will make sure he takes as many people as possible with him...unless his rage and fury breaks his brain completely and he just malfunctions?

Colin Powell weighs in:

"As many GOP lawmakers continue to defend President Trump amid an expanding impeachment inquiry, Colin Powell, the retired general who served under three Republican presidents, said the party “has got to get a grip on itself.”"
"Republican leaders, Powell said, “are holding back because they’re terrified of what will happen to any one of them if they speak out.”"
"He continued, “When they see things that are not right, they need to say something about it, because our foreign policy is in shambles right now.”"

www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/10/07/colin-powell-republican-party-has-got-get-grip-itself/

I'm still lurking about from my 'undisclosed location' ha! My cousin doesn't watch the news at all, let alone political news. So I'm gathering bits and bobs from here and there.

So, there are supposedly SEVEN whistleblowers waiting in the wings. One supposedly from the WH itself.

Impeachment is going to happen, I'd say 99.99% probability that he will be impeached as the House Dems have the simple majority they need right now. But if I have my numbers right, the Senate will need 20 Repugs to 'cross the aisle' and vote for removal from office. I still doubt that they will be able to muster that number. The total number needed is 67 (out of 100 total Senators). The Dems have 47 seats, GOP 52, and there is one 1 independent.

The reason Nixon resigned was because he knew that the House and Senate GOP members had 'deserted him' and that impeachment AND removal was a certainty. Scrotus knows he still has their support. He will never resign. And he will spin the impeachment and NON-removal from office as a victory. This is why Pelosi was stalling. Nixon also knew that if impeachment hearings started the public would turn (even more) against him. Because at that time he wasn't dealing with the 'cult of celebrity', the American people still expected their leaders to be politicians with at least a modicum of integrity. Now, many of them are more impressed by celebrity status and 'flashiness' of a candidate. A great example is the way people (ie Scrotus & his ilk) mock Bernie for his somewhat 'rumpled' appearance and his vehemence rather than focusing on the ideas he has and his passion for his beliefs.

Resignation is not in 45's nature.

If seventy per cent of Americans think he should be impeached, maybe the Republican base is less secure than it was? Some of them must be wavering, because they are said to be 37%, and if you add 70% that comes out as more than the population.

This is a pretty good CNN piece with links to polls:

www.cnn.com/2019/10/05/politics/trump-approval-rating-impeachment-poll-of-the-week/index.html

Current percentage for impeachment isn't 70%, per the article it's 47-49% depending on the source. That's an increase, but not 70%.

One of the things to remember looking at polls is that IF a poll is asking if the individual favours an impeachment inquiry, a number of the 'yes' respondants will actually be Trump supporters who feel an inquiry will either totally exonerate him OR that an impeachment by the House and then non-removal by the Senate will actually increase his support base.

I don't think it will go through, Across. People forget just how big a deal it is. However...............he'll be flawed enough to make him unelectable come November. I hope..................

“In my great and unmatched wisdom”

“I will totally destroy and obliterate”

Who does he think he is now - Thanos? Deluded bigly!

Strewth. He really is nuts.

I don't know where I got the 70% from: sorry. Might it have been a "think there should be an inquiry" poll.

Thanos.....

He WISHES he was Thanos. Who by the way I'm sure he thinks is a real person. He's probably trying to launch an offensive to get the Infinity Gauntlet as we speak. And he'll want to rename it "The Trump Infinity Gauntlet". So much 'bling', he'll have to put his 'brand' on it.

Hey Asking, it's just that we all WISH so hard that it was 70%. You know, believe in something strong enough and it will come true? That's us!

cozie I'm beginning to believe there will be an impeachment if things keep progressing as they are, re whistleblowers etc. They have enough votes in the House to pretty much guarantee it, even if it's just voted along party lines. But I still don't think he'll be removed from office. How that will affect his re-electability, who knows? Could an impeached POTUS be reelected? We're really in uncharted territory. Andrew Johnson lost his party's nomination for a second term and Clinton WAS in his second term. Times are so different than 150 years ago (Johnson) that who knows if the GOP will stick with him for 2020 if he's been impeached by then. It'd be a perfect chance for them to dump him though. The delegates decide that, not elected officials worried about themselves. And they wouldn't have to nominate Pence, either.

Polls show that the impeachment investigation hasn't increased his ratings as GOP pundits thought it would. Instead it's declined, slightly, but still declined.

I was wondering that too Roussette.

I predict sudden illness and looking to get the vice in ASAP, illness will ensure sympathy and his term in office will get a gold star. There will be no other way to end this with dignity. He was tweeting at 1am last night, if he was my Dad/family I would worried about him.

You have a point.

I just think he has too big an ego to EVER admit defeat (resign, become 'ill'). Before when there's been a business failure, he's always had someone to bail him out and/or take the blame for him. And always he's come out being told "You're the greatest, Donnie" and "You didn't really lose, you won because " so he thinks that he's always gotten himself out of trouble. This is the first time in his life that he's ever been in a position where there are people with just as much power (ie Congress) who have no fear of him and do not depend on him. I honestly think he thinks all he has to do is brag, bluster, and insist his way out of this.

It is inconceivable to him that he might actually lose. Especially after winning the election against all common wisdom. Face it, even his own party didn't really think he'd win. If that didn't make him feel invincible, nothing would.

His narcissism does also extend to being the tallest, healthiest, smartest president ever.