Mega-Thread: Impeachment Proceedings & Inquiry of Trump

[-aiko-]

As expected.

It's hard to get too excited, though, as the Republicans have shown through their childish yelling and screaming that they don't care about honest debate or doing what's right. Still, it's a big victory and puts a huge stain on this disgusting presidency. Hopefully it will be enough to prevent future presidents, no matter their political party, to try such egregious abuses of power.

[Grapemask]

I liked the smug look on Nadler's face as he asked for the votes to be counted. So many reasons it was such a hilarious moment.

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Is that why the vote happened along party lines and 2 Democrats voted no and one is swapping parties? All House Democrats care about is further dividing the country.

You forget the Republican who also left his party, and voted with the Democrats, because of the GOP being for the Trumps rather than for the people.

[s_bushido]

Still, it's a big victory and puts a huge stain on this disgusting presidency. Hopefully it will be enough to prevent future presidents, no matter their political party, to try such egregious abuses of power.

I think this is probably too much wishful thinking... It could just as easily lead to a president basically being able to do whatever s/he wants regardless of the law so long as their party has control of the senate. Which seems like a pretty dangerous precedent to set.

[bladeXcrasher]

The first thing Trump says after impeachment: https://twitter.com/i/status/1207468243717259269

The we have Klingon bird of prey cloaking technology on our stealth fighters story, amazing.

[Grapemask]

The we have Klingon bird of prey cloaking technology on our stealth fighters story, amazing.

Hey, he's right. This Christmas, it's definitely a merry fucking christmas.

MERRY FUCKING CHRISTMAS.

[rogueMatthias]

Yeesh. You guys still think you have a win?

Impeachment always needed to be bipartisan for this to have meaning. But because democrats have been crying for impeachment since day1 and by running slapdash through a partisan impeachment enquiry it's made a mockery of the entire concept of Impeachment.

When the votes came in, Trump was stood in a rally LITERALLY LAUGHING at it and how meaningless it is now. This was the democrats biggest weapon against Trump and now it's a joke.

Congratulations on your most pyrrhic of victories.

You've finally got your impeachment. Impeachment now means nothing.

[Shadowferal]

Can’t wait for this to get laughed at in the Senate. Waste of taxpayer money.

If I recall you said impeachment would never happen.

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Pretty sure it has to do with this: http://a.msn.com/01/en-us/BBY8HRA?ocid=st

I was just reading this...and laughing hard.

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Yeesh. You guys still think you have a win?
You've finally got your impeachment. Impeachment now means nothing.

And what did it mean to you when Clinton got impeached?
Still nothing?

[nonameelf]

Yeesh. You guys still think you have a win?

Impeachment always needed to be bipartisan for this to have meaning. But because democrats have been crying for impeachment since day1 and by running slapdash through a partisan impeachment enquiry it's made a mockery of the entire concept of Impeachment.

When the votes came in, Trump was stood in a rally LITERALLY LAUGHING at it and how meaningless it is now. This was the democrats biggest weapon against Trump and now it's a joke.

Congratulations on your most pyrrhic of victories.

You've finally got your impeachment. Impeachment now means nothing.

It was never going to be bipartisan because Republicans refused to participate.

[Grapemask]

Yeesh. You guys still think you have a win?

Impeachment always needed to be bipartisan for this to have meaning. But because democrats have been crying for impeachment since day1 and by running slapdash through a partisan impeachment enquiry it's made a mockery of the entire concept of Impeachment.

When the votes came in, Trump was stood in a rally LITERALLY LAUGHING at it and how meaningless it is now. This was the democrats biggest weapon against Trump and now it's a joke.

Congratulations on your most pyrrhic of victories.

You've finally got your impeachment. Now impeachment means nothing.

The argument that impeachment must be bipartisan is an awful one, and it's one that the founders foresaw when they warned relentlessly about factions.

Which is, by the way, what Republicans got wrong all day when they quoted the Federalists and what various founders said about fearing partisan impeachments. They lost the context of the quotes entirely. They feared a partisan impeachment, so they made conviction hard to do with the requirement of a super-majority. Just like if I fear someone breaking into my house, I put locks on the door.

What the founders feared and could not fix about partisanship was the state of a single faction protecting a corrupt individual. They foresaw that the need for a supermajority also protected corruption. They chose what they saw to be the 'lesser' of two evils, and then damn near every one of them went on to lament factions until their dying days.

Largely, they liked the idea of the impeachment step being an easy one. That's why they also wrote in the Federalists that "ambition be made to counteract ambition." They wanted the ambitions of congress to counter the ambitions of the president. An impeachment-hungry body would make the president more cooperative and more wise in his actions.

[cubby]

Now, quick question, in regards to being impeached straight-up congress-wise - does that do anything? Like... does it actually remove power from him that the Senate can't re-establish?

It does nothing physically with the office of the President. Impeachment and Trial work analogously like Indictment and Trial. The House indicts the President, but the Senate is in charge of the trial - evidence, etc - and then the vote to convict and remove from office.

[Gamevizier]

Trump used his powers in the office to further a personal goal. He got caught. He should pay the price. It's that simple. Either be smart and not get caught, or don't do shit like that at all.

I'm aware that most politicians are corrupt. Trump however is corrupt AND dumb enough to get caught.

[cubby]

Pelosi is holding the Articles now in hopes of getting a more fair trial, meaning, trump cant get acquitted just yet. smart.

Very smart. Asking for a fair trial is terrific phraseology.

[Endus]

Yeesh. You guys still think you have a win?

Impeachment always needed to be bipartisan for this to have meaning. But because democrats have been crying for impeachment since day1 and by running slapdash through a partisan impeachment enquiry it's made a mockery of the entire concept of Impeachment.

When the votes came in, Trump was stood in a rally LITERALLY LAUGHING at it and how meaningless it is now. This was the democrats biggest weapon against Trump and now it's a joke.

Congratulations on your most pyrrhic of victories.

You've finally got your impeachment. Impeachment now means nothing.

It's only pyrrhic if you think removing Trump from office is the endgame of this particular endeavour. That's the only thing that the Senate has any say over from here on out. They can't negate the impeachment; that stands forever. Trump is the 4th American President to be impeached. Now a historical fact.

Plus, we now have the votes of members of the House. And will, in the future, have the votes of the Senate. That puts their position on this boondoggle on the official record. That matters, moving forward.

Plus, Congress has had broad powers to investigate this, powers a courtroom might not have had. When some of these accusations go to criminal trial, those trials can readily use the existing body of public evidence without additional subpoena, and can seek classified intelligence via subpoena that they strongly suspect Congress has, without the original source of such being able to block or evade that subpoena. That evidence is on the record, now, and won't vanish moving forward. While these proceedings can't go forward until Trump is out of office, the moment he is, they can.

Plus, it puts all this in front of the American people, giving the American people a closer insight into who they're really voting for, both with the Congressional votes and the evidence against Trump himself. Sure, devout Republicans won't care, but that's not a fixable problem; they have abandoned fact and reason for blind partisanship and there is no evidence you could ever present them with that would ever convince them to change. Trump could start shooting tourists from the White House balcony, live-streaming the whole thing over Twitter with a score count, and these people would defend him and vote for him in 2020; they are not salvageable votes, and nobody's going to try. If those people have enough presence to outvote the rest, then America's an empire in collapse, and it's only a matter of time. I don't believe that's true, I only stay this to stave off the "yeah, but there's more of us" bullshit.

This isn't the end. This is Act 2 of a 5-Act play. The Mueller Report was Act 1.

[Jimmy Woods]

Yeesh. You guys still think you have a win?

Impeachment always needed to be bipartisan for this to have meaning. But because democrats have been crying for impeachment since day1 and by running slapdash through a partisan impeachment enquiry it's made a mockery of the entire concept of Impeachment.

When the votes came in, Trump was stood in a rally LITERALLY LAUGHING at it and how meaningless it is now. This was the democrats biggest weapon against Trump and now it's a joke.

Congratulations on your most pyrrhic of victories.

You've finally got your impeachment. Impeachment now means nothing.

Man, imagine if Republicans allowed individual thought in their party where we would be at today. If you say something against the Dear Leader and you're out, ie Justin Amash.

I guess Fox New's Judge Napolitano also must be way wrong when he said Trump has to be impeached. Or the huge list of former Republican congressmen and politicians like John Kasich.

But Trump was right about one thing this won't go over well for the Democrats at the box office. WHAT AN ALPHA MALE, so much ALPHA! 10 to 15 flushes like a regular person. And I'm sure the ladies love his comment about dishwashers from today.

Merry Impeachmas!

[cubby]

If he is not acquitted he will have a criminal change dangling over his bald head. image damaging stuff.

It would be interesting if Pelosi held those Articles for delivery until after the holidays. It might be prudent in case Moscow Mitch tries to slam through a dismissal of charges and hope it all blows over during the x-mas holiday and new years.

[Omega10]

Remember people, there will be no death star trench run to get trump out of office no magic button that just needs pressing to win forever, this is political siege warfare. We must never stop applying pressure we never let trump and his cohort rest. Even when hes out of office keep the pressure on.

This is the reality of the world we are living in. As someone else said, this is just Act 2 of a 5 Act play. Might even be more then 5 acts. Today is a good day. Tomorrow we keep fighting so that we might have more good days later on

[PACOX]

Whats Tulsi's play?

She isn't running for reelection. She isn't going to be president. She'll probably take a Fox News job but why even show up if you're going to pull some bull? She isn't even good at her own shenanigans.

[cubby]

This is why the 2018 "Blue Wave" failed.

Says the guy who hasn't been paying attention. Did you think the Senate was even mathematically possible to take in 2018?

The Blue Wave was literally a historic success, flipping almost 40 House seats. Insofar as numbers go, the number of people voting Blue should have flipped 60+, but we have the GOP illegal gerrymandering to thank for that not happening.

And EVERYONE but you apparently knew that the Senate will never convict Trump. Impeachment happened because objectively Trump is a criminal, and his criminal acts during the Residency are subject to Congressional review. And Drumpf has been reviewed and found wanting - in so many areas.

[Flower Milk]

Merry Impeachmas!

I celebrated by making martinis.

[PACOX]

It would be interesting if Pelosi held those Articles for delivery until after the holidays. It might be prudent in case Moscow Mitch tries to slam through a dismissal of charges and hope it all blows over during the x-mas holiday and new years.

I think she isn't going to deliever the articles until afterwards. Turtle doesn't have his shit together. I don't think should give him an easy out by handing them over early. He needs to deal with the trial ASAP, she isn't just going to let him have his way. Theres also the matter of picking the House prosecutors and strategy. I think they'll sleep over it over the holidays since the foundation is already laid out.