A Party Disgraced

McConnell's Republican Scam

The Senate impeachment trial of Donald John Trump has reached its predetermined conclusion which Mitch McConnell openly admitted prior to the start of the trial.  With only two dissenting Republicans, the vote to allow witnesses has been denied along party lines.

This is a foreshadowing of McConnell's ultimate pre-trial public admission, that Trump will be acquitted next week on both articles of impeachment, regardless of what the evidence shows.

Trump's actions to cheat in the 2020 election has been upheld by the GOP majority.  And when you think about it, Republicans have become famous for finding ways to cheat at elections.  They are the ones who created the false narrative around voter fraud.  They found many ways to deter or suppress  Democrats from voting. They came up with the idea to use mathematical models to help them win against overwhelming opposition by gerrymandering state districts.  Why should Congressional Republicans expect their President to be any more honest than they themselves have shown to be?  Why would they want their candidate to lose in the 2020 election?  

With patriotism devoid in the GOP, they do not care about the Constitution or their oath of office or the oath that they took at the start of the trial to be impartial jurors.  Hell, they don't even care about guilt and innocence or right and wrong.  They only care about power and money.  The power they get from having their party's President working only for the rich and the money they get from that and  ultra-rich donors who's sole bidding they do every day in the Congress.

If there was a party that the devil himself would join, it would be the Republican party.  Think about the atrocities and cruel things that Trump has been allowed to get away with.  Things like caging Latin-American men, women and children because he thinks they are undeserving of entry into America.  Like losing track of over 1800 children in government custody.  Like  preventing the population of innocent Muslim countries from entering the United States.  Like reducing and preventing immigration of refuges from Syria.  Like undoing regulations that the Obama administration placed in order to protect Americans air and water.  Like attempting to eliminate health protections of the Affordable Care Act.  Like reversing DACA so that registered immigrant children are deported back to countries they don't even know.  Like taking from the poor and middle class in order to fund a tax cut that satisfied the greed of the ultra-rich and himself.

And his moral offenses are really something the devil would be proud of.  Things like having extra-marital affairs with porn stars while his wife is pregnant.  Like proudly speaking of sexually abusing women.  Like hanging around with a pedophile and allegedly taking part in sex with underage girls.  Like allegedly raping multiple women who have come forward.  Trump is a scar on the Presidency that the Republican party not only approves of, but encourages to violate the American Constitution.

With an acquittal, Republicans will have given up their constitutional duty to protect America from a tyrant. Every Republican Senator must now face the will of the American people if our republic is to survive.  If America accepts this acquittal without removing those responsible, our government is lost.  The one last chance America has to keep its democracy is left with the voting public.  

Now that Trump will be very active in doing favors for other foreign countries in order to get them to help him cheat in the 2020 election, this may be a formidable task.  It will take every person who is eligible to vote to get out and vote like our democracy depends on it.

Because this time it really does.

Trump's Acquittal is not Guaranteed

Partners in Crime

Today, America witnessed the start of the early proceedings to prepare the Senate for the impeachment trial of Donald John Trump, current President of the united States.

But before those proceedings, we heard from the Government Accountability Office.  The GAO has announced that Trump and the Budget Office did in fact break the law when Trump ordered that money approved by Congress to be released to Ukraine, was withheld.

Before that, Lev Parnas, an associate on team Trump, who was tasked along with Rudy Giuliani and others, to coerce Ukrainian President Zelinsky, to announce an investigation into the Biden's, was interviewed on the Rachael Maddow show.

Parnas admitted that Donald J. Trump directed and knew everything about this plot.  Parnas reported that Trump's purpose was to gain political advantage over Joe Biden in the upcoming 2020 election.  There were many pieces to accomplish this plot, including releasing Ukrainian oligarch Dimitry Firtash from DOJ prosecution in a legal case he was involved in, in exchange for announcing information that would be detrimental to the Mueller investigation.

Parnas says that William Barr knew of the plot to release Firtash and was part of the team working for Trump.  The Justice Department has denied any truth to those statements.  Two colluding fox news TV lawyers (Joe diGenova and Victoria Toensing) would become Firtash's lawyers and Parnas would broker them.  All of this was to help ensure that the Ukrainians would make the announcement of the Biden investigation.  Back at home, Trump had others at Fox news promoting his conspiracy theories about Joe Biden's son Hunter, to keep the Republican base focused on defending their leader.

It seems appropriate that there should be an investigation into the actions of William Barr, Devin Nunes and others in the administration who colluded in this plot.  If justice is done, we should see additional impeachments or incarceration against others in the Trump circle.

It is hard to believe that the start of the Senate impeachment proceeding would be preempted by such relevant news directly related to the guilt of Donald J. Trump, but this is Trump's America where a mad man rules.  You can expect the worst when a malignant narcissist has the keys to the country.

Meanwhile, back to the impeachment trial.

Chief Justice John Roberts was sworn in by Chuck Grassley, to do impartial justice according to the Constitution and the law.  Roberts gave the oath to swear in to all Senators, also to do impartial justice according to the Constitution and the law.  Each Senator was called up to sign the document of their oath.

Remember that McConnell and Graham have already publicly declared that they would be traitors to the Constitution and not be impartial jurors.  They also already predetermined and announced that Trump would be acquitted in a rapid trial with no witnesses.

I wonder how many of the GOP sycophants in the Senate were feeling a little differently about how their vote would go, being that they had just made a promise to the American people to be impartial.  This was the quietest and most solemn period I have ever seen in the Senate.

We shall see what GOP Senators will do in the coming days.  They should be re-evaluating their intentions given the additional information that has come out recently.  More incriminating evidence is sure to come out before the Senate trial begins.

The Senate is expected to begin their trial in earnest on Tuesday of next week, January 21, 2020, although additional findings and Trump's travels may delay it.

Senate Scam Impeachment Trial

Enemy of Justice

Nancy Pelosi will be passing the impeachment articles on to the Senate the week of January 13th.  Shortly after that, Mitch McConnell will begin the Senate trial to decide the status of Trump's presidency.  

The fate of our Democratic Republic depends on the outcome of the Senate impeachment trial of Donald J. Trump. 

Senator McConnell said that he will not be an impartial juror and will coordinate every step of the Senate trial with the White House and Trump.  Before the Senate trial even starts, Mitch McConnell, has publicly stated that Donald J. Trump will be acquitted and not be removed from office.

 McConnell says this, not because he believes Trump is innocent, but because he and the GOP Senators are rigging the trial to allow a guilty President to go unpunished and continue his abuse of power.  The GOP will ignore their oath of office and the oath they will take before the trial to be impartial jurors.  If there could be a definition of a treasonous party without there being a war, the GOP would exemplify it.

The prosecutors of the Senate trial are the House members who are chosen as "case managers."  At this time it is unclear who these people will be, but it is fairly certain that  Adam Schiff, House Intelligence Committee chair and Jerry Nadler, Judiciary Committee chair will be among them.   

Besides every Republican member of the Senate, Trump will have White House lawyers defending him.  There is rumor that Alan Dershowitz may also be on Trump's legal team.

It's possible that the Republicans may vote to dismiss the impeachment even before a trial commences.  In the case of a Senate impeachment trial, only a simple majority would be needed to eliminate the impeachment proceedings.  Although the expected outcome of dismissal would be the same as a scam trial, it may be too arrogant or at least unwise for the GOP to eliminate the trial altogether.  There is the smallest chance that a few Republicans would vote against dismissing. With a dismissal, Republicans would not have a chance to cloud the issue of Trump's guilt and help him appear innocent to confuse American voters.

As the trial starts, the Senate's sergeant-at-arms will proclaim that all persons are to remain silent, on pain of imprisonment, while the House is exhibiting to the Senate the articles of impeachment. 

The trial will be overseen by Chief Justice John Roberts.  With the Republicans so openly partisan and standing steadfastly by their guilty president, John Roberts' role may be moot.  The Chief Justice will be able to rule on questions about evidence, however, his decision can be overridden by a simple majority vote in the Senate.  Unless the Democrats can convince four or more Republican Senators to vote with them, it is likely that all votes will follow the Republican game plan and favor Trump.  

McConnell said that he does not want any witnesses to be heard, however, Republican Senator Susan Collins has publicly announced that she is working with a small contingent of Republicans to ensure that witnesses can be heard.  Based on Collins' previous actions it is fairly certain that she will walk back those words if a vote on witnesses is required, but we shall see.

It would take a super majority of sixty-seven votes to convict and remove Donald Trump from office. Anything short of that leads to an acquittal.  That verdict would be final and no appeals would be allowed.

The outcome is certain.  Donald Trump will be allowed to continue his pursuit of the destruction of our Constitution and democratic republic.  

Perhaps the GOP believes Donald Trump will support their re-election, helping to maintain their Republican Senate majority.  But they miss the most important point.  Trump is guilty of violating our Constitution and is abusing Presidential power.  The GOP has lost its sense of justice and its ability to do what is right for the country.  Some could argue that the GOP lost those things many years ago, but it has become worse with Trump.  

The best result of the trial we could expect is that it could generate significant controversy around the actions of the GOP in excusing Trump's violation of our Constitution.  It may lead to more active participation by more Americans in peaceful demonstrations against autocracy.  It may cause more Americans to vote against the GOP and Donald Trump in upcoming elections. Let's hope the GOP loses their Senate majority and loses the Presidency in 2020.

The GOP will regret the day that they helped create the first American dictator. 

Multiple Trump officials should be impeached over the substance of Ukraine meeting

Nancy Pelosi, House Speaker

Throughout his Presidency, Donald Trump gave the public many examples of his betrayal of the Constitution and denigration of the office of President.  So many of Trump's actions have been attacks on  democracy and our American way that any one of them could be a part of the articles for impeachment.

Nancy Pelosi has focused on one of Trump's recent infractions before she committed to impeaching him.  And that one was a big one.  Big in substance but also big in the number of Trump officials involved.

This recent infraction was the quid, pro quo that Trump asked from the newly elected Ukraine President.  Trump is so driven to find ways to ensure his re-election, he has not only avoided taking precautions against future Russians interference, but has also asked the Ukrainian President to dig up dirt on his Presidential challenger, Joe Biden.  Trump told Ukrainian President Zelensky that he must report on the requested investigation into Joe Biden and his son in a public announcement to be given at a White house visit, or he would not be given military aid that Ukraine so desperately needs to defend against Russia.

Just as Trump and his family asked Russia for dirt on his 2016 challenger, Hillary Clinton, they have now asked Ukraine for dirt on his 2020 opponent, Joe Biden.  It seems when it comes to finding an illegal leg up on the competition, Trump is surprisingly consistent.

And now we find out that this plan was in effect many month's ago, when his personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, his EU Ambassador, Gordon Sondland and his Energy Secretary, Rick Perry were sent to discuss related matters with Ukrainian officials.

On July 25, 2019, Trump had the infamous quid, pro, quo call with Zelensky.  Mike Pompeo was present for the call.  Trump instructed Mick Mulvaney to delay the Ukraine military aid related to the quid, pro, quo call.

If by these actions Trump is guilty of impeachable offenses, so are all of the other Trump officials that were involved.  Perry has self-impeached as he recently announced his resignation, but all the others except Giuliani should also be impeached.  Giuliani is not a federal employee but has to answer for other crimes such as not registering as a foreign agent.

As for impeachment, Donald Trump's attorneys have gone to court to have the impeachment deemed illegal since there was no formal impeachment vote in the House.  Last week Lindsey Graham introduced a resolution condemning the impeachment inquiry as illegitimate.  Republican officials  have been stymied by a judge covering the case who has determined that the inquiry being carried out by the House is legitimate and does not need a vote to continue.

However, Nancy Pelosi has announced that Democrats wanted to push back on claims by Trump that the impeachment is not valid and will hold a vote on Thursday, October 31, 2019 to establish the procedure for open hearings, dispositioning transcripts and transfer of evidence to Judiciary as they consider impeachment articles.

The impeachment will happen.  The House of Representatives has the votes for that.  However, the impeachment is not the same as removing Donald Trump from office.  It will take more Americans to register their outrage with Trump in order to convince Republicans in the Senate to vote to remove him from office.  At this point, the GOP is still solidly with Trump.

As public hearings give Americans more insight into the impeachable offenses of the Trump administration, perhaps more GOP Senators will come to their senses and save America, democracy and their own dignity.