Opening arguments will formally begin Wednesday in the second impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump, after six Republicans joined Democrats in voting to let the trial proceed. The 56-44 vote came after House impeachment managers previewed their case against Mr. Trump, using powerful video to walk senators through the January 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol that they say he incited. Nancy Cordes reports.
The Republican Party Is Radicalizing Against Democracy
The GOP is moderating on policy questions, even as it grows more dangerous on core questions of democracy and the rule of law.
The republican party is radicalizing against democracy. This is the central political fact of our moment. Instead of organizing its coalition around shared policy goals, the GOP has chosen to emphasize hatred and fear of its political opponents, who—they warn—will destroy their supporters and the country. Those Manichaean stakes are used to justify every effort to retain power, and make keeping power the GOP’s highest purpose. We are living with a deadly example of just how far those efforts can go, and things are likely to get worse.
At the same time, the Republican Party is moderating on policy. On a host of issues, the left is winning. It’s not a rout—and ideological battles continue—but public opinion is trending left. Yesterday’s progressive heresy has become today’s unremarkable consensus. On top of that, Democrats have established a narrow but surprisingly durable electoral majority, holding control of the House, winning back the Senate, and taking the presidency by 7 million votes.
‘Its Own Domestic Army’: How the G.O.P. Allied Itself With Militants
As the Senate on Tuesday begins the impeachment trial of Mr. Trump on charges of inciting the Jan. 6 Capitol rioting, what happened in Michigan helps explain how, under his influence, party leaders aligned themselves with a culture of militancy to pursue political goals.
Michigan has a long tradition of tolerating self-described private militias, which are unusually common in the state. But it is also a critical electoral battleground that draws close attention from top party leaders, and the Republican alliance with paramilitary groups shows how difficult it may be for the national party to extricate itself from the shadow of the former president and his appeal to this aggressive segment of its base.
“We knew there would be violence,” said Representative Elissa Slotkin, a Michigan Democrat, about the Jan. 6 assault. Endorsing tactics like militiamen with assault rifles frightening state lawmakers “normalizes violence,” she told journalists last week, “and Michigan, unfortunately, has seen quite a bit of that.”
Analysis: A race war evident long before the Capitol siege
For a very long time, civil rights leaders, historians and experts on extremism say, many white Americans and elected leaders have failed to acknowledge that this war of white aggression was real, even as the bodies of innocent people piled up.
Racist notions about people of color, immigrants and politicians have been given mainstream media platforms, are represented in statues and symbols to slaveholders and segregationists, and helped demagogues win elections to high office.
The result? A critical mass of white people fears that multiculturalism, progressive politics and the equitable distribution of power spell their obsolescence, erasure and subjugation. And that fear, often exploited by those in power, has proven again and again to be among the most lethal threats to nonwhite Americans, according to racial justice advocates.
So how does the nation begin addressing the war of white aggression after countless missed opportunities?
You’ve probably seen this, but look again: it makes a convincing case that #Trump’s lies, and call to stop the Electoral College certification, specifically to stop #Pence from allowing it to happen, were the cause and focus of the #Capitol riot. Guilty. https://t.co/abtXyG751V
In America’s ‘Uncivil War,’ Republicans Are The Aggressors
Biden didn’t explicitly say that the extremism, domestic terrorism and white supremacy is largely coming from one side of the uncivil war. But that’s the reality. In America’s uncivil war, both sides may hate the other, but one side — conservatives and Republicans — is more hostile and aggressive, increasingly willing to engage in anti-democratic and even violent attacks on their perceived enemies.
The Jan. 6 insurrection and the run-up to it is perhaps the clearest illustration that Republicans are being more hostile and anti-democratic than Democrats in this uncivil war. Biden pledged to concede defeat if he lost the presidential election fair and square, while Trump never made such a pledge; many elected officials in the GOP joined Trump’s efforts to overturn the election results; and finally, Trump supporters arrived at the Capitol to claim victory by force. But there are numerous other examples of conservatives and Republicans going overboard in their attempts to dominate liberals and Democrats:
from @SykesCharlie I forgave Never Trumpers long ago and I don't expect them to not be conservative the next batch is harder but context mattershttps://t.co/IhrvUr0CpK
Trump legacy: Personal responsibility is for suckers and GOP means 'Grievances On Parade'
Trump's Senate impeachment trial and fake victims Josh Hawley and Marjorie Taylor Greene symbolize the Republican descent into whiny entitlement.
Not that there’s much suspense, given the GOP path since it embraced Trump and, in the memorable phrase from the late New York Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, defined deviancy down. Moynihan was talking about mental health, family structure and crime. Trump has spearheaded the downward redefinition of personal responsibility. The expectation is that bad behavior will carry no consequences, and if there are some, that’s liberals trying to cancel conservatives.
Thomas Paine, hero of the American Revolution, wrote that those “holding themselves accountable to nobody ought not to be trusted by anybody.” Trust in government depends on accountability, and so do liberty and democracy. Otherwise, elected officials, especially presidents, could upend our government and rights with impunity.
That is why the Senate trial of Donald Trump matters, both to determine his guilt for trying to stop the peaceful transfer of power and to maintain freedom.
don’t forget: since most GOP senators either actively fostered or quietly acquiesced in Trump’s lies about the election, a vote to acquit him is also a vote to acquit themselves
Freedom of Speech Doesn’t Mean What Trump’s Lawyers Want It to Mean
The First Amendment does not limit the removal and disqualification powers conferred on Congress by the Constitution.
Front and center in former President Donald Trump’s defense this week will be the argument that convicting him and disqualifying him from holding future office would violate his First Amendment rights—that it would essentially amount to punishing him for speaking his mind. His new lawyer, David Schoen, has warned that convicting Trump “is putting at risk any passionate political speaker, which is against everything we believe in in this country.”
That is wrong. Even if the First Amendment protected Trump from criminal and tort liability for his January 6 exhortation to the crowd that later stormed the Capitol, it has no bearing on whether Congress can convict and disqualify a president for misconduct that consisted, in part, of odious speech that rapidly and foreseeably resulted in deadly violence.
Above are staunch conservatives.
Even if Trump dodges a Senate conviction, top New York prosecutors will be waiting for him.@thisisinsider dug through clips and court records to find the lawyers taking on Trump https://t.co/ghChGekQzL
Parties can and do change. But these four barriers stand between the Republican Party and moderation.
Most congressional Republicans continue to embrace Trumpism, despite some wavering after the deadly Capitol riot. The GOP has backtracked on impeachment, with most Senate Republicans voting against holding an impeachment trial. State parties have punished Republicans such as Rep. Liz Cheney (Wyo.), who spoke and voted in favor of impeachment, rather than members such as Sens. Ted Cruz (Tex.) and Josh Hawley (Mo.), who supported the falsehood that the presidential election had been stolen. House Republicans did not sanction Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (Ga.), despite her past endorsements of wild conspiracy theories.
But the notion that the GOP would suddenly abandon Trumpism once Donald Trump left the White House has the basic story upside down. Trump wasn’t the cause of authoritarian populism; his success was the consequence of deeper underlying forces.
Too many stories about how Trump will be acquitted. That's politics. Not enough stories about how he's clearly guilty. That's the truth.
This week, hosts Markos Moulitsas and Kerry Eleveld talked all things “(im)peach-y,” why Republican senators seem poised to once again protect Trump, and the tasks facing Joe Biden. For this episode, they were joined by political historian Kathleen Frydl, who talked about the potential for a transformative Biden presidency; and Joan McCarter, Daily Kos staff writer, who shared her thoughts on the difficulties the Senate faces with competing priorities thanks to the impeachment and senators’ regular work, as well as on Biden’s first few weeks in office.
The big event looming over this whole week is Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial. With Republican senators once again lining up to stymie impeachment and protect Trump from facing real accountability, Markos wondered if they would “go down with this ship,” anticipating a kind of collapse of the Republican Party. Kerry replied:
It’s a level of stupidity that, frankly, is jaw-dropping. But on top of that, the betrayal of the country that they’re getting ready to pardon is just … this guy has not only been impeached once, and now twice, but in the last impeachment ... in Adam Schiff’s closing arguments, he predicted that Trump was a menace. And that if you didn’t teach him a lesson, if you didn’t convict him, this was going to be a disaster for the country. And then what did [Trump] bring to the country? Disaster. Like, the first president-inspired attack on the homeland, on the seat of national government, right? It’s never been done before. And now, apparently, 45 of them have already voted to set up this whole argument that supposedly you can’t convict a former president, a former official—which isn’t true.
Trump is costing Republicans all the “growth demographics,” Markos noted, as they are falling out of favor with young people, suburban white women, and people of color. Kerry mentioned the fact that the party at large will face inertia without a different strategy that relies on something other than voter suppression.
The pair were first joined by Kathleen Frydl to talk about the potential of the Biden administration and what it would take for Biden to deliver a great and potentially historic presidency. Frydl believes there is great promise for this new presidency and laid out the groundwork for what Biden must do to deliver for the country:
This presidency does have the potential to be a great, a historic presidency … but the task before Joe Biden echoes the task that Franklin Roosevelt faced, which is restoring confidence and legitimacy in government and making the federal government, especially, work on behalf of ordinary Americans. That’s a task that we have drifted away from, and it’s something that Franklin Roosevelt really presented to the American people and really forged an entire Democratic coalition on that precedent.
She also praised Biden’s leadership style, which she indicated has been less about his personal appeal or charisma and focused on “depersonalizing” his political persona—which he is likely bringing with him to the White House. Prior to Trump, Frydl believes, “we were engaged in a very performative political culture,” and a return to substance, policy, and regulation could benefit us. Because Biden centers policy and his Cabinet members, there’s a much better chance they will accomplish their goals and help everyday Americans.
On the future of the Republican Party, she had this to say:
Since 1968, the Republican Party has forged their presidential coalition—so, their national coalition—on a politics of whiteness … I’m talking about a party that’s dedicated to preserving the mechanisms of institutionalized racism … but the political destiny that awaits this country is quite different from the politics of whiteness.
What’s more, Frydl wondered if we will continue living in a country that is predicated on a two-party system, noting the extent to which whiteness is a unifying force in American politics and that, even if its power wanes, new power structures and factional lines will emerge to complement or replace it—especially in the Republican Party—long after Trump is gone. As she explained, “Republicans can’t win with Donald Trump, but they can’t win without him either. He was their Faustian bargain.”
Next, McCarter joined the show and offered her insights into how quickly the U.S. Senate can get its work done with impeachment looming over their heads, how Biden has been doing on the job so far, and if we will see additional financial regulations enacted in the coming years.
McCarter believes that the Senate’s work will still move quickly, especially now that Democrats have captured both the House and the Senate. Despite everything, she believes Biden has done well. As she said,
[He is] trying to get this government up and running [when] … Trump trashed absolutely everything—and the people who are left are downhearted, they are exhausted, they are depressed. They’ve got a lot of building-up of morale to do just to get the government functioning again … They want to get a lot of Obama administration back in to try to shore up where they’ve had losses, but they’ve got to weed through a lot of political people that Trump put in. So, that they’re moving this fast and doing this well considering what they’ve inherited—I’m impressed … Joe Biden, so far, is a really good president.
Markos then brought up Wall Street reform and financial services taxation, as this administration seems less likely to take it on directly. With many Elizabeth Warren allies in the administration, “most of the work done will be regulatory,” McCarter said, and corporate reforms remain at the top of the list of the administration’s priorities. This would be achieved through the Department of Justice and the Treasury and would “start to restore Americans’ view of government and what a government can do for them,” Kerry agreed.
Included with every edition of C&J we post is an award-winning poll question that increases blood flow through your neural pathways by an average of 21%. (Source: New England Journal of Medical Articles the New England Journal of Medicine Refuses to Publish, Vol. 54, pp 334-9,976.) Every now and then we post the results of some of them to give you a snapshot of Daily Kos’s collective brain power which, if we could bottle it, would probably violate several federal, state and local bottling laws. These are some results from last October through January:
» 50 percent of yousupport a bill proposed by Democrats to limit a Supreme Court justice's term to18 years. 25 percent think it should be shorter than that. Only six percent think they should enjoy lifetime appointments.
» Among PA, AZ, GA, MI, NV and WI, 43% were happiest about Biden’s Pennsylvania win...37% were happiest about the Wisconsin win...and 8% were happiest about the Michigan win.
» 97 percent of you were not surprised that Lindsey Graham tried to tamper with the Georgia election results by getting legal ballots tossed willy-nilly.
Continued…
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Note about today’s poll: The amounts mentioned are annual, not monthly. C&J regrets the error.
» Sen. Tammy Duckworth proposed a bill that would ban federal law enforcement from wearing military-style camo uniforms that make them look like U.S. military troops. 99 percent of you support that bill.
» Astoundingly, only 5 percent of you thought that Trump's closing arguments to women—"I improved dishwasher pressure" and "I won’t listen to the scientists"—would win back their vote.
All C&J polling data is backed up on the finest computers available. This zippy little thing can store two questions on a single floppy disc and also play “Mary Had A Little Lamb.”
» After the election, 34 percent of you said you were most eager to see who President-elect Biden would choose as Education Secretary, while 23 percent said Secretary of State and 19 percent said Secretary of Health and Human Services.
» 59 percent rate Joe Biden's economic team "excellent," while 30% rate it "good." And 97 percent support Joe’s decision to make Dr. Anthony Fauci his chief medical adviser.
» 89 percent believe the period between election day and inauguration day should be shortened. Only 8 percent believe it shouldn't.
» And one more: 13 percent of Daily Kogs say they had "Louie Gohmert sues Mike Pence in court demanding he overturn the electoral college results to keep Trump in power" on their 2020 Bingo card.
As always, thanks for participating in our C&J polls. If you’re on Weight Watchers, remember that voting counts as 16 cardiovascular workout points.
And now, our feature presentation...
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Cheers and Jeers for Wednesday, February 10, 2021
Note: With all the advertising they did, I just don't understand why Frank Peezaschitt's Used Cars folded so quickly. I mean, who wouldn't want a shiny Peezaschitt in their garage?
Percent of Democrats polled by AP-NORC before the election and this month, respectively, who believed the country is on the right track: 10%, 75%
Annual growth in GDP over the last century under Democratic and Republican presidents, respectively, according to a New York Times analysis: 4.6%, 2.4%
Amount Exxon Mobil lost in 2020: $22 billion
Percent of Americans who believe climate change is either a "problem" or a "crisis": 76%
Amount Kroger is paying its employees to get the Covid-19 vaccine: $100
Percent chance that FDR's is the largest of several portraits President Biden has hanging on the wall in the Oval Office: 100%
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Mid-weekRapture Index: 178 (including 4 incidents of global turmoil and 1 Mark of the Pillow Crackhead Beast). Soul Protection Factor 24 lotion is recommended if you’ll be walking amongst the heathen today.
CHEERS to gavels at dawn. (Or, to be more precise: after lunch.) The impeachment trial—the preliminary round, anyway—got going yesterday. If you’re just joining us after a long winter’s nap, former President Donald Trump was impeached by the House last month for “inciting insurrection” at the Capitol building on January 6th, and now we’re at the part where Senate Republicans play Angry Birds on their smartphones until it’s time to vote in favor of a Republican president’s right to send a mob to trash the Capitol and try to destroy our republic. Yesterday’s action was to determine if it was even constitutional to put a former president on trial. House impeachment manager Jamie Raskin (D-MD) provided the highlight, and after he said this they could’ve adjourned for the day:
The vote was 56-44 to proceed. The trial continues today with the presentation of evidence. We’ll see it all: glass smashed, chairs thrown, threats shouted, and desks ransacked. But then Lindsey Graham will be sedated and they can start the presentation of evidence.
CHEERS to Anatomy 101. Wikipedia tells me that the spine is "the defining characteristic of a vertebrate in which the notochord (a flexible rod of uniform composition) found in all chordates has been replaced by a segmented series of bone." And when it comes to pandemic relief and economic stimulus, Democrats have apparently found theirs, at long last:
[I]nstead of entertaining talks to shrink the president's $1.9 trillion proposal, [Democrats] are determined to go big. […]
They’re done playin’ smallball.
Rep. Richard Neal, D-Mass., the chair of the Ways and Means Committee and a key figure in crafting the bill, wants to add monthly cash payments totaling $3,600 per year for every child under age 6, or $3,000 for children from 6 to 17. […] For Democrats, the aggressive approach is a sea change after decades of echoing Republicans about the risks of a rising national debt.
Biden's $1.9 trillion package [also] includes $1,400 direct payments and $400-a-week jobless aid, plus vaccine funds, health care subsidies and money for rent, food stamps and public transit. His advisers have circulated surveys showing broad public support, including a recent Quinnipiac poll that showed 68 percent of U.S. adults favor it.
Word of advice: don’t hurt your spine before you've had a chance to even use it. $1.9 trillion is a lot of fiscal weight. Lift with the legs.
CHEERS to the most important day in U.S. history. On February 10, 1945, the Andrews Sisters hit the top of the charts with 'Rum & Coca Cola.' Why we don't get today off as a national holiday remains an infuriating mystery.
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BRIEF SANITY BREAK
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Beautiful timelapse of Earth rising over the Moon captured by the Japanese lunar orbiter spacecraft Kaguya. Credit: JAXA/NHK pic.twitter.com/C8Iiuawweg
CHEERS to dropping in unannounced. Amidst all the excitement over the new Biden-Harris administration, the impeachment trial, and trying to navigate winter without doing a faceplant on an un-shoveled sidewalk, is the imminent landing of the Mars probe Perseverance. The big event happens next Thursday, February 18th, and this time we'll have an even frontier front seat than previous landings:
Innovative cameras and microphones on Perseverance will capture much of its pivotal entry, descent, and landing process. This process, sometimes referred to by space engineers as seven minutes of terror, is considered by many to be the most critical and dangerous part of the mission. […]
A camera mounted on the back shell of the spacecraft is pointed upward. That will record a view of the parachutes deploying as it slows to land. Then, beneath it is a downward-pointing camera on the descent stage, which will film its first touch-contact with the ground on Mars. … Lori Glaze, who heads the Planetary Science Division of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, told reporters: "We’re going to be able to watch ourselves land for the first time on another planet."
Perseverance will bring an assortment of fine Amway products for Martians to try...and order.
There won’t, however, be a livestream of the footage, as we’re accustomed to with International Space Station events and rocket launches from Earth. The reason for this is due to a lag in data relay from Mars to Earth, which is slower than even old dial-up connections. … NASA TV’s live coverage of the event will begin that day at 2:15 p.m. EST (19:15 UTC); landing at approximately 3:55 p.m. EST (20:55 UTC).
As we're waiting for the glorious landing footage, you can watch my dramatic reenactment at approximately 3:56 p.m. next Thursday when I jump off the porch roof, open an umbrella to slow my descent, and then gently land thanks to the suspenders I've hooked from a tree limb to my pants. I'll be sure to post the footage on YouTube once I'm discharged from the ICU.
"As Lincoln organized the forces arrayed against slavery, he was heard to say this: "Of strange, discordant, and even hostile elements, we gathered from the four winds, and formed and fought to battle through."
That is our purpose here today.
That is why I'm in this race. Not just to hold an office, but to gather with you to transform a nation. I want to win that next battle---for justice and opportunity. I want to win that next battle---for better schools, and better jobs, and better health care for all. I want us to take up the unfinished business of perfecting our union, and building a better America."
And here we are, looking at the improbable two-term Obama presidency in our rear-view mirror. We'll always be frustrated by the unfinished business that was left on the table, but we'll never forget why: petty, lockstep GOP obstruction (aided by Senate Democrats' failure to deal with it sooner despite knowing exactly what was going on), and a conservative movement that took leave of its senses by displaying a willingness to burn the country down before it would ever let that "foreign" and "lawless" black guy succeed. And yet, to the right-wing's tooth-grinding chagrin, big black badass Barack Hussein Obama—with many major accomplishments and zero scandals in his plus column—left America stronger and better, and he’ll end up higher on historians' Best Presidents lists than their patron saint Ronald Reagan or that GOP supervillain Cult 45.That's gonna hurt their delicate snowflake fee-fees. A lot, I hope.
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Ten years ago in C&J: February 10, 2011
JEERS to sugarcoated B.S. Ben Quayle, the son of Dan "Potatoe" Quayle and the guy who ran a political ad saying Barack Obama was the worst president in history, is now a U.S. congressman. And he's hornin' in on the hot Reagan 100th-birthday legacy action:
When I was a child, President Ronald Reagan was the nice man who gave us jelly beans when we visited the White House. I didn't know then, but I know it now: The jelly beans were much more than a sweet treat that he gave out as gifts. They represented the uniqueness and greatness of America—each one different and special in its own way, but collectively they blended in harmony."
Yeah. Whatever. Never mind that Reagan kept jelly beans around because he was an ex-smoker and they helped him stay on the wagon. But Quayle is right, in an accidental way, that we Americans are like jelly beans: we're hard on the outside, soft on the inside and some are so distasteful they make you wanna barf. Hi, Ben! [2/10/21 Update: The junior Quayle only lasted one term before he got the boot, while Obama cruised to reelection for a second term. Jus' sayin'.]
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And just one more…
JEERS to missing an important member of our national peanut gallery. I was reminded this week that beloved Michigan Congressman John Dingell left us two years ago last Saturday after serving from the 84th Congress (1955) to the 113th (2015). As the impeachment trial rages on, this morning we remember some of the classic post-retirement Twitter taunts John rained down on the 45th president to the delight of, well, everyone:
☺ The American people wait with bated breath as their idiot president announces something he could have done 35 days ago to avoid this national disgrace of a shutdown. The Art of the Deal.
☺ Crooks like Trump will steal a hot stove and come back for the smoke.
☺ Big Macs. Small hands. A nation’s embarrassment.
☺ Is this clown going to cry and yell at us again?
Ho ho ho! Look at our president. Too dumb to know he has toilet paper on his shoe and the world is watching. God save America from a man as foolish as this. pic.twitter.com/7CzehSpR5B
☺ We’ve had presidents of almost every stripe, but this one will be remembered as the smallest and most vile. A petty man with no interest in a greater good for us all. All I want for Christmas is January 20th, 2021.
☺ Trump’s entire criminal operation is on the brink of collapsing and honestly there is not enough popcorn in the world.
Brother, you said a mouthful.
Have a happy humpday. Floor's open...What are you cheering and jeering about today?
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Today's Shameless C&J Testimonial
Super Bowl hero Rob Gronkowski celebrates win by visiting Cheers and Jeers kiddie poolto have a candy corn fight with Bill in Portland Maine
Republican senators say former President Trump’s second impeachment trial is going to divide the parties and make it tougher to reach a bipartisan deal on COVID-19 relief legislation.Striking a deal on a coronavirus bill was never going to be easy,...
