Most Americans know how Trump’s impeachment circus will end

[cancel2 2022]

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Indeed they do, but it seems that the plebs need their bread and circuses.

The first public hearing into President Donald Trump’s impeachment began with a bang. And it proceeded throughout the afternoon into a constellation of two completely different realities. By the time the hours-long testimony was over, you might find yourself having trouble separating truth from conjecture.

Bill Taylor, the interim US ambassador to Ukraine and the star witness of the inquiry, told the panel of a previously unreported phone call between US ambassador to the EU, Gordon Sondland, and president Trump. According to Taylor, one of his aides overheard the conversation, in which Trump was inquiring about the status of Ukraine launching the politically-motivated investigations into the Bidens he was asking for.

To the highly respected career diplomat, this latest news was just more evidence of what he believed was a disturbing corruption of US foreign policy. “By mid-July it was becoming clear to me that the meeting President Zelenskyy wanted [at the White House] was conditioned on the investigations of Burisma and alleged Ukrainian interference in the 2016 U.S. elections,” Taylor testified.

Other than this breaking news, the hearing went as one might have expected. The two witnesses, Taylor and deputy assistant secretary of state George Kent, were under the lights, cameras rolling, trying to do their best to recollect events that occurred months ago. But in a strange way, the two diplomats were side pieces to a much louder clash of narratives between America’s two largest political parties.

Democratic lawmakers served as the prosecutors, probing the witnesses in order to extract a confession that Trump broke the law, discredited American foreign policy and engaged in the very high crimes and misdemeanours that warranted impeachment under the US Constitution.

Adam Schiff, the California Democrat and chairman of the proceedings (and a former prosecutor himself), engaged in methodical questioning in an attempt to paint Trump as a criminal who abused the power of the presidency for his own personal gain. Taylor and Kent largely helped Schiff build his case, describing their understanding that Volodymyr Zelensky, would only receive £310m ($400m) in US security assistance if the novice Ukrainian president opened an investigation into Joe Biden and his son, Hunter for alleged shady business practices in the country. Taylor categorised Rudy Giuliani as a bad influence on Trump and a destructive wrecking ball to US diplomacy.

Republicans, in turn, were the defendants desperately trying to protect one of their own from being just the third president in US history to be impeached. The GOP strategy was three-fold: attack the Democrats for crafting a false story; attack the credibility of the witnesses; and pretend as if the entire affair was one big, fat, nothingburger.

Steve Scalise, the second-ranking House Republican, called the impeachment inquiry “a sham.” White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham tweeted that none of the witnesses had a direct conversation with Trump and therefore were relying on second and third-order accounts. Trump, always spoiling for a fight, played the victim:

“They’re trying to stop me, because I’m fighting for you. And I’ll never let that happen.”

Republicans know they have a political problem on their hands, which is why they are pulling out all the bandages to stop the bleeding. Whether it’s asserting that Kiev assisted Hillary Clinton’s campaign in 2016, that Trump’s request for investigations was perfectly legitimate due to Ukraine’s systemic corruption, or that Zelensky actually received the US military aid he were hoping for, the GOP resembled the balloon-man at a used car lot—flailing around and contorting every which way.

The ironic thing about these impeachment hearings is that most Americans know how the circus is going to end. The Democratic-led House will impeach Trump. The Republican Senate will acquit him. And Trump will survive, using the vindication as he seeks re-election in a race that may very well make the 2016 contest look like sunshine and roses.

The question is the meantime is how much pain and polarisation the country will go through between now and then.

https://app.spectator.co.uk/2019/11/...d/content.html

[Tranquillus in Exile]

Does anyone believe that Trump really thought Biden was involved in corruption, and that's why he wanted Zelensky to make a public declaration?

No, it was the HEADLINE he was after - "Ukraine investigates Biden for corruption!" - trusting, of course, that the "fake news media" would splash it on their front pages.

Well, he got a headline. Just not the one he wanted.

[Earl]

Opinion: Day 1 of the Trump impeachment hearing was a lost day for Democrats

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam B. Schiff (D-Burbank) and ranking Republican Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Tulare), during the first public impeachment hearings.
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam B. Schiff (D-Burbank), left, and ranking Republican Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Tulare) during Wednesday’s first public hearing in the impeachment inquiry into President Trump.(Saul Loeb / AFP/Getty Images)
By SCOTT JENNINGS
NOV. 13, 2019 2:10 PM
Day 1 of the public House impeachment hearings on President Trump is in the books, and nothing that happened will move public opinion in a meaningful way. The folks who have wanted to impeach Trump since he won the presidency still do, and the folks who don’t still don’t.

In other words, it’s a lost day for Democrats.

The burden of proof is on Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam B. Schiff (D-Burbank) to do more than secure impeachment, which is all but certain. Their job is to conduct these hearings in a way that moves public opinion to the point that the Senate will convict the president. That means giving Republican senators something that changes their impression of Trump’s conduct of Ukraine foreign policy. What’s alleged may make many members of the GOP uncomfortable, but it doesn’t come remotely close to requiring that the president be removed from office.

The opening-day witnesses — diplomatic officials Bill Taylor and George Kent — testified professionally and with honor, but they failed to deliver a made-for-TV gotcha. Rather, they simply reiterated that they had no firsthand knowledge of the president’s interactions and had not had conversations with the president directly.“
LA Times

LA Times...gasp!

[cancel2 2022]

Does anyone believe that Trump really thought Biden was involved in corruption, and that's why he wanted Zelensky to make a public declaration?

No, it was the HEADLINE he was after - "Ukraine investigates Biden for corruption!" - trusting, of course, that the "fake news media" would splash it on their front pages.

Well, he got a headline. Just not the one he wanted.

Just about everything to do with politics in the US is more akin to a three ring circus than an earnest quest for the truth.

[Bigdog]

Does anyone believe that Trump really thought Biden was involved in corruption, and that's why he wanted Zelensky to make a public declaration?

No, it was the HEADLINE he was after - "Ukraine investigates Biden for corruption!" - trusting, of course, that the "fake news media" would splash it on their front pages.

Well, he got a headline. Just not the one he wanted.

Lame. An investigation is not a conviction.

The excuses for Pelosi NOT to hold an impeachment vote are piling up.

[Bigdog]

Just about everything to do with politics in the US is more akin to a three ring circus than an earnest quest for the truth.

The Media coverage of President Trump is now rated at 94% negative.

[Truth Detector]

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Indeed they do, but it seems that the plebs need their bread and circuses.



https://app.spectator.co.uk/2019/11/...d/content.html

How can they even be considered witnesses without any first hand knowledge and only basing their statements on their own OPINIONS?

[Truth Detector]

Does anyone believe that Trump really thought Biden was involved in corruption, and that's why he wanted Zelensky to make a public declaration?

Anyone who watched Biden publicly boast about his threats knows the intent was corrupt. Biden's own son admitted the APPEARANCE of corruption.

No, it was the HEADLINE he was after - "Ukraine investigates Biden for corruption!" - trusting, of course, that the "fake news media" would splash it on their front pages.

Well, he got a headline. Just not the one he wanted.

So you're okay with corruption then?

[LV426]

Lame. An investigation is not a conviction.

The excuses for Pelosi NOT to hold an impeachment vote are piling up.

WTF? We just started public hearings. Is the reason you are pushing for an impeachment vote now because you don't want more pubic hearings like yesterday?

[Bigdog]

WTF? We just started public hearings. Is the reason you are pushing for an impeachment vote now because you don't want more pubic hearings like yesterday?

I said, Pelosi will NOT hold an impeachment vote about the phone call.

[Truth Detector]

WTF? We just started public hearings. Is the reason you are pushing for an impeachment vote now because you don't want more pubic hearings like yesterday?

I would love to see more hearings like the ones yesterday. You're too stupid to comprehend how devastating it was for the lie filled narrative Adam Schiff is trying to promote.

But once again, you miss the point.

[LV426]

I said, Pelosi will NOT hold an impeachment vote about the phone call.

Well, it's too early to tell, and they haven't even drafted articles of impeachment yet.

Patience, paduwan...you'll get your chance to make an ass of yourself.

[Gonzomin]

The Media coverage of President Trump is now rated at 94% negative.

There is not much positive that anyone can say. He is a crook whose campaign got involved a second time in trying to get a foreign nation to help him in an American election.

[Bigdog]

Well, it's too early to tell, and they haven't even drafted articles of impeachment yet.

Patience, paduwan...you'll get your chance to make an ass of yourself.

So you are already having doubts.

I am willing to make the prediction now, with 99% confidence, that Pelosi will not hold an impeachment vote over the phone call for the following reason ...

1. A Senate trial will be fair
2. The Senate will not convict.
3. A trial will remove 6 dem senators from the campaign trail.
4. A dem failure to remove the president is a major victory for Trump
5. A dem failure to convict will all but guarantee Turmp's reelection.
6. A fair trial will expose the Deep State coup players.

[moon]

Just about everything to do with politics in the US is more akin to a three ring circus than an earnest quest for the truth.

You don't know what ' truth ' is maggot- other than something which exposes you and makes you poorer.