There's no denying that Donald Trump and the House Republicans are largely powerless to stop the impeachment train set in motion by the House Democrats. I'll be candid in saying that I was skeptical of any impeachment proceedings and viewing them as a waste of time, given that we're about to hold an election next year. I'll say right now that I was wrong in saying that the Democrats wouldn't find anything, as the whole business with Ukraine blew that door wide open to mapping out various gross abuses by the president of his office, and those of his closest surrogates. It also is going to extend out to Senate Republicans many of whom may also be ensnared.
Making the whole scandal that much more interesting is that the House Republicans' ranking member on the Intelligence Committee, Devin Nunes (R CA-22), is part of it, too. How many other Republicans get ensnared remains to be seen, but it is sufficient to say that Ukraine-gate definitely goes well beyond Trump and Nunes. Trump, and many of the heads in his orbit, are just the tip of the iceberg. When watching the whole saga play out, keep in mind that it's not just Trump whose on trial; it's also the Republican Party at-large having been caught red-handed colluding with foreign actors and rigging the districting maps in their favor.
Nancy Pelosi is right in saying that President Trump's actions have left the House of Representatives with no other choice, but to draft and vote on articles of impeachment. This is because of the President's abuses of his office's powers by getting foreign actors involved in next year's election and using his office to continually violate the Constitution's Emoluments Clause. Those reasons are in addition to his continued ordering of all staffers and appointees to ignore lawfully drafted subpoenas by Congress to investigate the role that Russia and other foreign and corporate actors have played not just in 2016 and 2018 (to a degree), but also what role they'll play in next year's election.
As for the Senate, watch what Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) does when he recieves the articles of impeachment from the House of Representatives. He's going to try to make the trial go both as long and as short as possible. Long enough to muck with the schedule of the Democratic presidential primaries, but short enough so as to not imperil his and other Republican Senators' primaries for their re-election bids next November. He's most likely going to try to make the impeachment trial as brief as possible because the longer it drags out, the more likely McConnell's going to get ensnared, too.
Many talking heads will tell you that America is the biggest loser in this whole saga. That notion is both absurd and flat-out false as they'll be directing your attention in the wrong place. The biggest loser in this whole saga is the very man who they keep falsely claiming has leverage on Trump: Russia's Vladimir Putin. Putin will be the biggest loser as his strategy of playing the peripheries has backfired. As I've said in a couple of posts, Putin has nothing on Trump, and it's Trump who's got Putin by the balls. Putin needs Trump in order to solidify his dominance back home in Russia, while Trump can go elsewhere in terms of foreign leaders and actors to help him keep his office by meddling in the election on his behalf. To put it simply: Trump doesn't exactly need Putin in order to remain in office. There's always China's Xi Jin-Ping, or Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, whom he can turn to in his time of need.
Making the whole scandal that much more interesting is that the House Republicans' ranking member on the Intelligence Committee, Devin Nunes (R CA-22), is part of it, too. How many other Republicans get ensnared remains to be seen, but it is sufficient to say that Ukraine-gate definitely goes well beyond Trump and Nunes. Trump, and many of the heads in his orbit, are just the tip of the iceberg. When watching the whole saga play out, keep in mind that it's not just Trump whose on trial; it's also the Republican Party at-large having been caught red-handed colluding with foreign actors and rigging the districting maps in their favor.
Nancy Pelosi is right in saying that President Trump's actions have left the House of Representatives with no other choice, but to draft and vote on articles of impeachment. This is because of the President's abuses of his office's powers by getting foreign actors involved in next year's election and using his office to continually violate the Constitution's Emoluments Clause. Those reasons are in addition to his continued ordering of all staffers and appointees to ignore lawfully drafted subpoenas by Congress to investigate the role that Russia and other foreign and corporate actors have played not just in 2016 and 2018 (to a degree), but also what role they'll play in next year's election.
As for the Senate, watch what Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) does when he recieves the articles of impeachment from the House of Representatives. He's going to try to make the trial go both as long and as short as possible. Long enough to muck with the schedule of the Democratic presidential primaries, but short enough so as to not imperil his and other Republican Senators' primaries for their re-election bids next November. He's most likely going to try to make the impeachment trial as brief as possible because the longer it drags out, the more likely McConnell's going to get ensnared, too.
Many talking heads will tell you that America is the biggest loser in this whole saga. That notion is both absurd and flat-out false as they'll be directing your attention in the wrong place. The biggest loser in this whole saga is the very man who they keep falsely claiming has leverage on Trump: Russia's Vladimir Putin. Putin will be the biggest loser as his strategy of playing the peripheries has backfired. As I've said in a couple of posts, Putin has nothing on Trump, and it's Trump who's got Putin by the balls. Putin needs Trump in order to solidify his dominance back home in Russia, while Trump can go elsewhere in terms of foreign leaders and actors to help him keep his office by meddling in the election on his behalf. To put it simply: Trump doesn't exactly need Putin in order to remain in office. There's always China's Xi Jin-Ping, or Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, whom he can turn to in his time of need.
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