Today may have marked the last public testimonies of the Impeachment Inquiry that we will see. It’s not quite clear if House Democrats will be proceeding now towards voting on Articles of Impeachment and if approved, triggering a public impeachment trial in The Senate.
What we do know at this point though is what the Republican defenses of their criminal president are and will be (he did already admit guilt in stealing from his own charity). They are not substantive or honest, they range from just closing their eyes and claiming they don’t see any evidence of impeachment to calling it all a hoax to insisting the real impeachment hearing should be of Hillary Clinton (even though she’s not a president).
As Republicans have deployed their morally bankrupt, party-and-power-before-country ploys, they have intentionally obscured or just flat out lied about truths that they don’t want Americans to think about because they prove Trump is a criminal and that they are indeed criminal conspirators.
So what follows is a list of Republican defenses of Trump and the truths they try to obfuscate.
DECEPTIONS REPUBLICANS USE TO PROTECT TRUMP AND THE FACTS THEY DENY
- “There was nothing wrong with Trump’s call.” Just the act of asking a foreign national to contribute something of value to one’s political campaign is a crime. Yep, just Trump’s ask in that call, even if Trump had hung up right after asking for a “favor” and never mentioned it again…is having committed a crime. Also, last I checked, bribery and extortion are crimes. Using a public act, like the release of $400 million in desperately needed aid or giving a head of state a White House meeting, in exchange for something of value to the president personally, is bribery. Knowing that withholding both from a country in a hot war with a major power that badly needs the money and the meeting for support in its war, in order to squeeze out a political “favor”, is extortion.
- “All of these claims about Trump are 2nd hand hearsay.“ First, that is just false. Many of those who testified in hearings offered first-hand knowledge of events, especially Gordon Sondland who spoke directly with Trump and other principles in this scheme. Second, there are a number of exclusions in federal law that allow for hearsay to be entered as evidence. Third, this is not a criminal trial and doesn’t even need to abide by federal legal standards on the admissibility of hearsay. What supports all this testimony too is that both the direct and hearsay testimonies have all supported each other as accurate.
- “The $400 million was released and Zelensky never made the public announcement about investigating the Bidens so there was no crime.” I challenge all Republicans to put on ski masks, go into banks and pull guns on the tellers, order them to hand over all the cash in their drawers then as cops burst in to stop them, angrily complain that they didn’t commit a crime because they were caught before successfully completing it. Ever hear of “attempted murder”? “Attempted robbery”? Yes Republicans, it is a crime to attempt a crime even if you’re too inept to complete it. Also, this was only one of two extortion items. The other was a meeting in the White House and, even though a mass-murdering tyrant like Turkey’s Erdogan has received a White House visit, President Zelensky hasn’t. So, as of today, the extortion and bribery proposition is alive and well. No public announcement of a Biden investigation by Zelensky, no White House visit. So if Republicans think Trump is not guilty of extortion/bribery because the aid wasn’t withheld, Trump must be guilty of that because the visit is still withheld. As for why the $400 million was released without Zelensky making the announcement, Zelensky was set to appear on CNN to do so when the whistleblower complaint was finally provided to Congress and an investigation began. Then quickly, just two days later, the $400 million was suddenly released…what an amazing coincidence. Not. Trump was caught in the middle of his extortion, that’s all that forced him to stop it just days from getting away with it.
- “Trump was just holding back the military aid because he was concerned about corruption in Ukraine.” Because there wasn’t enough of it? So much to expose about this lie. Trump smeared and removed the actual anti-corruption Ambassador Yovonavich from Ukraine, by allying with and using lies created by the corrupt ex-prosecutor in Ukraine. Trump’s “anti-corruption” concerns for the entire country and its entire history were just for two narrow issues that involved his political opponents and would benefit his re-election. It was just these two issues that were responsible for all corruption in Ukraine? Trump has never shown any interest in corruption in any country including Russia (and the U.S.). The reason for the hold on the aid was and still is kept as a secret from everyone working with and in Ukraine for the U.S.. If this was the truth, there would be no reason for Trump to keep it secret. Trump also broke the law to withhold that aid without notifying Congress, he has no legal authority to just hold onto aid Congress has approved without Congress being notified and approving of the hold.
- “Trump had cause to suspect Ukraine, they tried to take him down in 2016.” The victimhood defense is a popular one with Trump and Republicans but as usual, it is phony. In the 2016 campaign, Trump said, “But you know, the people of Crimea, from what I’ve heard, would rather be with Russia than where they were.” Imagine if a country invaded the U.S., took over a big chunk of America and then a political ally of ours said, “Well, it’s probably for the best”. Would he be complemented by U.S. leaders? The Ukranian Ambassador to the U.S. wrote an editorial criticizing this view of Trump’s but the majority of the article was not about Trump, about explaining the region, history and why Russia’s theft of their land was an outrage. But that’s enough for Trump to clutch his pearls and swoon. Of course, as there were here, officials in many countries around the world criticized Trump as his campaign exposed his hateful, racist, pro-Russian, pro-dictator mentality. But he didn’t “suspect” any of these many other countries of being an adversary…just the one from which he wanted political help from to cheat in the 2020 election.
- “Like the Russia hoax, Democrats keep trying to undo Trump’s election by the people.” Impeachment may have a result of overriding an election but that’s not what it is. If Trump hadn’t been so criminal and stupid to have committed these acts this year, he wouldn’t have to worry about being impeached. Trump instigated his own impeachment, it is a consequence, not an optional reversing of an election that can be used at any time. This is a matter of crime and punishment. No crime, no punishment. I suppose repeat offenders who keep going to trial for their crimes feel just like Trump and the Republicans. Also, the Mueller “Russia Hoax” has resulted in the indictments of dozens of people including Russians who attacked U.S. elections in 2016, the convictions of Trump’s advisers, Campaign Chairman, Assistant Campaign Chairman, National Security Adviser and on and on. I don’t think many hoaxes result in proving people guilty of crimes. Also, Mueller never exonerated Trump on Russian conspiracy, he just said he didn’t have sufficient evidence to get a conviction…and considering that AG Barr refused to allow any indictment of Trump, it’s not surprising. Mueller did strongly present 10 counts of obstruction of justice against Trump in his report. Not bad for a hoax. And lastly, the people didn’t elect Trump, a majority of Americans voted for Hillary Clinton instead of Trump. He won the Electoral College which in the end, is winning the election but it is not being elected by the people since that means a voting majority.
- “What Trump did may not have been ideal but it’s not impeachable.” The Founders created the impeachment clause in The Constitution specifically to remove a rogue, corrupt president who acted exactly as Trump has, abusing the power of the office to personally benefit himself (herself). To quote The Constitution, “The President, Vice President and all Civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.” Why are treason and bribery specifically referred to? What they have in common is that they represent corruption and putting self-interest above the welfare of the country. This is unquestionably what Trump has done. Even the Republicans in The House who flail around to defend him, haven’t claimed that a public announcement by Ukraine of criminally investigating the Bidens is in the national interest. As many have said, if this betrayal of his oath of office, his position of power and the country by overriding the nation’s interests to serve himself, if this isn’t impeachable, nothing is.
- But the process! But Hunter Biden! But Hillary! But The Steele Report!” Distractions are the primary weapon that Trump has employed against truths that expose his immorality, criminality, etc. Calling impeachment “illegal” or unconstitutional”, knowing that it is specifically established in the Constitution is intended to be outrageous to the intelligent and more Kool-Aid for the Trump cultists. Claiming that Hunter Biden needs to be investigated…without any evidence of any crime being committed is a dishonest distraction and very Russian in its lawlessness. It also doesn’t change Trump’s committing a crime by trying to say someone else committed a different crime. And beating the dead costumed horse of Ukraine conspiring with Hillary, Russia, Christopher Steele, Fusion GPS and an assortment of boogie men to defeat Trump…is as nutty as it is provably false. But this is really just intended to be a political version of throwing grit in the eyes of the public. Whataboutism is always an admission of guilt, why else do Trump and his angry band of Republicans need to change the subject to how bad someone else is if it’s not to try and grade Trump’s criminality on a curve?
Knowing the Republicans, they will be up late concocting new contorted and dishonest defenses of Trump so more may need to be added to this collection.
What is worrisome though is word that AG Barr is preparing to release a report on his crooked investigation of the origins of the Russia probe. His goal from the start was to declare that all these conspiracy theories about The Deep State, the Democrats, Russia, Ukraine, etc. were all working together to prevent Trump from being elected and were “spying” on him. Barr is as corrupt as Trump and it wouldn’t be unexpected for him to flat out lie about this as he did when summarizing the Mueller Report. The plan may be to use that to sabotage the impeachment of Trump and try to blow up our democracy if it means saving Trump and retaining power. All Americans should brace for such desperate acts by Trump and his cronies and be prepared to fight back against them with the truth in hand.
I don’t know if one of the articles of impeachment will be violation of the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution, as the House inquiry has not focused on that at all. However, trump is violating the Emoluments Clause in various manners, some OPENLY. The Washington Post is reporting today that Mulvaney has persuaded trump to use Camp David as a way to “woo House republicans” to support him in the impeachment inquiry.
This is one more example of trump using the powers of his office and taxpayers money for self enrichment. How does wooing republicans to support trump politically, serve the interest of the country? IT DOESN’T!
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-opens-up-camp-david-as-an-adult-playground-to-woo-gop-lawmakers-during-impeachment/ar-BBXc80U?ocid=spartandhp
The reason Rep. Wagner has never been invited to Camp David to support a president’s defense in an impeachment inquiry is because no president has ever stooped so low in openly violating the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution.
The multiple lawsuits against Trump for violating the emoluments clause are continuing but the question of including them in the impeachment articles is probably more about the public than Congress.
The sad truth is that it appears that the majority of Americans don’t understand or care much about this criminal, thieving-of-tax-dollars behavior of Trump’s. Polls have reflected this. So while I initially was upset at The House limiting the Articles of Impeachment to the Ukraine extortion, I have come to see that including articles for crimes that the public won’t see as egregious, will help Trump deflect all of the articles.
It’s outrageous but seems to be where things are with the American public today. An impeachment and removal would need the overwhelming support of the public to be successful. IMO, The House should never consider public opinion in pursuing impeachment against a criminal president like Trump. But as to the strategy for succeeding, that is a factor.
If Americans don’t “get” the emoluments clause and it’s included with articles covering crimes they do get, Trump and the Repubs will only obsess on decrying how wrong it is to impeach Trump on emoluments and use that to erode public support of impeachment.
Same with the Mueller Report, the public is too ignorant (sorry about the tough love public but you know it’s true) about what the Mueller Report actually laid out about Trump’s criminal and unconstitutional acts to have been properly outraged about its conclusions.
In the end, it won’t be until and unless a Democrat wins in 2020 and a legit AG is put in place in the DoJ until Trump and his crime family can be properly pursued for all their crimes. In the meantime, the challenge for The House is to try and draft Articles of Impeachment that are as understandable and bulletproof for a majority of Americans to support.
Again, I think this narrow approach is a comment on how unengaged and uninformed as citizens, Americans are today. Polls show so far that the public hearings, which were very successful for Dems, haven’t moved public opinion to any real degree. So those blindly supporting Trump, those supporting impeachment and especially, those who haven’t tuned into what’s happening, haven’t changed at all.
With those dynamics, we’re stuck with this House strategy of keeping the Articles of Impeachment narrowly focused on extorting Ukraine and Contempt of Congress/Obstructing Justice in the pursuit of gaining greater public support for impeachment.
It is disappointing but the logic is hard to argue against.
IMHO, Democratic presidential candidates are ALL running weak campaigns. They are running based on fear, rather than strength. Democratic presidential candidates should not only be running against trump. They should be running against the GOP AND republican voters as well. YES, republican voters!
Why do I say that? Trump, with all of his evil deeds, is one person. He is propped up by congressional republicans and republican voters. YES, we are a divided nation. How are we divided? We are divided for many reasons, some based on political policies, some based on social issues, but the most important reasons are those based on principles. One such principle is the rule of law.
Trump doesn’t feel he has to respect the rule of law because congressional republicans and republican voters don’t respect the rule of law, when the law is being trampled on by their team. When laws are being violated by others, they PRETEND to respect the rule of law. However, we know they don’t respect the rule of law, because if they did, they would respect it regardless of who violates it.
That is why Democratic candidates, from the statehouse to the Whitehouse, should NOT be courting a single vote from people who do not respect the rule of law. Trump is claiming that the president is above the law, and anyone who supports trump obviously agrees with that. EVERY Democratic presidential candidate should commit to ON DAY ONE when they are president, that they will instruct the Department of Justice to abolish the “rule” not “law”, that a sitting president cannot be indicted.
Additionally, they will ask a Democratic Congress to pass a law that bans future presidents from allowing such a “rule” to be established by any future Department of Justice or Office of Legal Counsel. The executive branch of the federal government should be the highest example of the rule of law. However, trump and his minions promote the notion that the law only applies to those who disagree with trump, but it does not apply to anyone who is loyal to trump.
Democrats should not want anyone who supports trump to vote for them.
https://www.npr.org/2019/11/25/782705643/federal-judge-rules-that-mcgahn-must-testify-delivering-blow-to-white-house
I think there are Dem candidates who are running on fear, the most prominent one being Joe Biden. His campaign basically says, “Forget all the serious flaws and weaknesses are, just be afraid of Trump so vote for me.”
But I don’t see that as much in many of the candidates. While I agree with your primary point that they should be running against the GOP as being a Russian-backed and owned agency that is destroying our country and democracy, I think the motivation for not addressing that is the opposite of fear.
Just as when Pelosi was standing against impeachment and insisting that The House instead pass bills to show voters that they were working for them, I think many of the candidates are following that same strategy and trying to push the positivity of what they will do as president.
But in the end, you and I are generally on the same page. I think that the whole story has to be, “Here are the things I’ll do for you as president but here are the destructive things Trump and Repubs have been doing and will do to this country if they win in 2020.”
Nearly all the Dems want to fix healthcare, reverse the tax cuts for the wealthy, attack Climate Change, improve the economic inequality in the country, etc. As effective as it may be to stress the positive, it is foolish to ignore that 2020 will be a referendum on Trump and the GOP and the criminal behavior they are committing or conspiring on by excusing it.
The votes that are taken by Repubs in The House on impeachment articles and in The Senate on convicting and removing Trump should be seared into the minds of voters as a betrayal of the country and everything it stands for.
The overthinking of Dems is frequently their downfall. They think it is clever and more effective to just focus on their positions on issues when contrast is far more effective and ignoring the ongoing constitutional crisis makes them look oblivious.
Biden’s campaign is a massive failure. This should be their central issue and yet…all it seems to be about is, “I know foreign leaders by name, I’m ready to go on day one!’ Who the hell is clamoring for that among voters? Sure, Dems want a candidate who can beat Trump but proof that Biden has a losing campaign is that their meek messaging is already losing so much in the primary, Bloomberg and Patrick have jumped in late. That is ALL about Biden’s weakness. It is obvious to the Dem establishment that has been betting all along on him.
As for the other candidates, I understand that they are focused on setting themselves apart from their rivals to win the Dem nom and that they will naturally turn more against Trump and the Repubs once the nom is chosen and in the GE against Trump, they’ll have no choice then.
But hammering home now that they see the crisis we are now in because of what Trump and the GOP are doing, shows a candidate who recognizes the real stakes of the upcoming election and that they will be prepared to confront them as the Dem nom.
That will be a candidate who can beat Trump and the GOP (and Russia), one who knows that for the sake of our democracy, they have to.
Distractions and lies won’t change the fact that Trump committed a crime and got caught. Republicans who use these dishonest “defenses,” are not just morally bankrupt, but they are contributing to Trump’s crime(s).
Hey Opie! It is great to hear from you.
TY. I comment here on occassion.
This is how things work in North Korea, Russia and other dictatorships. The Great Leader is always described as infallable and beyond the laws of men by the supplicants that compose his “party” (cult is more accurate).
The lengths that Repubs have gone to in order to declare they haven’t heard testimony proving Trump’s guilt in committing a crime and impeachable offense is so extreme, it defies belief for anyone other than their ignorant core supporters.
Trump already explained that he could commit murder and his cult followers would keep following him. The GOP should be repeatedly referred to in the media as “cult-like”, “dishonest”, “refusing to accept truths they don’t like”, “propagandists”, as opposed to still being treated like a political party.
A political party represents a collection of values and principles. The GOP has neither now, they are just a cult that blindly follows and defends their cult leader, violating any and all previously espoused values and principles without hesitation.
That is the definition of a cult. And this country needs to take back its power from the hands of such disturbed people for good. The GOP needs to be shunned as a permanent minority party until they can change and be part of a decent society.
Excellent! I too believe that Barr is as great a danger to democracy as Trump, as you state near the conclusion. He may, any day now, attempt to invalidate the Inquiry. He will interfere with the 2020 elections.
Trump may not technically be a traitor, because of his senility; but Barr knows perfectly well what he is doing – he has planned this his whole life – he is betraying his trust, and violating his Oath of Office.
Thanks Steppenwolf!
In a colloquial sense, Barr is already a traitor to the country, betraying our Constitution and democracy since he has acted in a way that affirms his declaration that a president is an untouchable king.
The whole reason there was a revolution was to escape being ruled by a dictatorial ruler yet Barr, deranged by his lust for power and screwed up by his cult religious beliefs, thinks he knows better. America should not be a democracy, it should be a theocracy ruled by the Religious Right and a king.
He is a mentally disturbed man and has no business acting as the country’s head of law enforcement when he doesn’t truly believe in the law.
Trump is a traitor IMO as he has clearly demonstrated his fealty to Russia and has made countless decisions, major ones too, that are to the benefit of Russia and betray America’s national security. Is Trump giving aid and comfort to a foreign power that is a foe of the country he is supposed to be protecting? The answer is indisputable.
We are careening through a time of madness and actually, real evil. It may sound over-dramatic but when one considers the evil being done to human beings seeking asylum at the border, evil being done to destroy the environment and health of Americans, evil pursued to tear away health care from tens of millions, evil legislated to rob the majority to enrich the wealthy and evil to encourage and support the hateful racists out there who attack and murder innocent people…we are indeed confronting a terrible evil in Trump.
But the majority will stand against Trump too in November, we just need to keep rallying them to get out and vote and keep a close eye on those Repubs who would try to cheat them out of their vote and voting for their best interests.
I just saw where several Senate republicans met with the White House staff to map a strategy for the Senate impeachment trial. I think Democrats should demand that these senators be recused from the trial because if they are strategizing with the White House it is impossible for them to be unbiased. Especially, Senator Ron Johnson who is actually implicated in knowing about the extortion scheme. Not that it would matter though, since even with the recusals, 15 republicans would have to vote with Democrats to remove trump from office
https://www.inquirer.com/politics/nation/trump-impeachment-trial-two-weeks-senate-20191122.html
I fully agree with your points, these deceitful Republicans have been cowards, avoiding the press on the impeachment hearings by claiming, “I can’t comment because I will be a juror in an impeachment trial,” while conspiring with the defendant in that upcoming trial on strategies to protect him. And Ron Johnson, Lindsey Graham and the other Repub Senators who have proven their prejudices against being fair jurors should be removed from the process as jurors in any other trial would be for conspiring with the defendant on throwing the trial for him.
But we know that won’t be done. We can only hope that the rigging of this trial will stick in the minds of voters when they go to the ballot box next November and that Dems rightly hammer these Repubs in their re-elections for corrupting justice and fairness as their criminal boss has.
You did a great job of laying out the republicans’ defense of the indefensible. I always thought that the right thing for House Democrats was to impeach trump, for cause. Not because we don’t like his policies or because we think he stole the 2016 election (unless of course, he actually conspired with Putin to steal it, which he did), but because he committed crimes. Even in Volume 1 of Mueller’s report, documented evidence that trump’s team co-ordinated or at least attempted to co-ordinate with Putin to interfere in the election was presented. Mueller’s decision not to charge criminal conspiracy was for two reasons. He deferred to the DOJ policy of not indicting a sitting president and he thought trump’s team did not know they were breaking the law. Basically, they were too ignorant to prosecute. However in Volume 2, Muller documented ten cases of obstruction of justice, and without Mueller’s report, trump openly committed obstruction of justice in many cases.
After the House impeaches trump, the American people will be forced to confront our own values. What kind of government do we want? One where a president, ANY president, conducts himself or herself like they are above the law? Senate republicans will have the unenviable task of explaining to Americans WHY they did not remove from office a president who was impeached for cause. If they can’t convince the majority of Americans that trump was simply the victim of a Democratic witch hunt, they will lose control of the Senate, Democrats will maintain control of the House and a Democrat will be elected as president.
We will have a very hard job of putting the nation back on the right track. The U.S. government has caused the nation and the world to lose confidence in its moral character. I suspect it will take a long time to regain trust, especially among our allies, but even among our own people.
Thanks TOCB! There are still Repub “defenses” of Trump I realize that I didn’t include but I hope to have at least covered the majority. I’ve been with you on that in supporting impeachment as a duty Democrats owed to the country when a president has turned corrupt and criminal. The BS excuses that the establishment Dems kept throwing out after the Mueller Report’s impeachment roadmap, before the Ukraine call, that the public would rally against them to support Trump as they did with Bill Clinton, that it was pointless if Senate Repubs won’t remove him, etc., were reflective of the status quo and fearful mentality that has frequently hobbled the Dem Party over the years.
And as I’m sure you’ve assumed too, the public testimony would only help to cement and convince Americans of Trump’s criminality. The recent poll I saw showed that now 70% of Americans think Trump did something wrong in his call and over 50% of Americans want Trump impeached and removed. As seemed intuitive, the public’s support of impeachment zoomed up as it progressed.
Now, after the past two weeks, the case has been fully made and whether Trump is removed or not in The Senate, he is seriously wounded politically as are the many officials surrounding him. He is a proven criminal and while that won’t change the support of his cultist followers, it is a powerful argument against him in the 2020 election that he can’t escape from or try to use whataboutism on with the Dem nominee…even if it’s Biden (which I hope it’s not).
The Repubs in The Senate will not have as easy of a time covering up for the criminal in the WH as they may think. Their votes against justice and for party over country will be cudgels that are used to hammer them as unprincipled and untrustworthy by smart Dem candidates.
And the Dem presidential candidate will be handed a powerful campaign theme, attacking the corruption of our democracy, our rule of law and our character as Americans with the country and around the world. Many politicians have used the winning campaign of fighting corruption (even Trump hypocritically did with his “Drain the Swamp” BS). Among persuadable voters, only the Dem nominee will have that issue to run on since Trump has been proven corrupt and a criminal.
It seems likely that the country will be very divided after the 2020 election but just to be contrarian for a moment, I have to wonder if many Repubs will be relieved that the madness of the Trump era is gone and normalcy returned. The frothing Trump faithful will no doubt be screaming, “Election fraud!” but aside from that 30% or so, 70% of the country which now sees Trump as being corrupt in his Ukraine call, may actually come together and drown out the defeated and possibly exhausted Trump cultists.
The Dem nominee will need to make big changes quickly to take advantage of that and cement unity and support, on health care, gun control, climate change, etc., issues where that 70% are agreed on issues. And as long as it’s not Biden, I think that’s very possible.