Category: 2020

Dems Have Had A Chance To Show They Care For The Rule Of Law For Over 20 Years — And Failed

Posted on by Wayne Dupree

The Articles of Impeachment were a forgone conclusion, from the morning after the election, and before the then-GOP candidate, Donald Trump took over the Presidency.

The only question was which specific charges would be included. But, as Nancy Pelosi has infamously said earlier, you have to vote FOR them, to find out what they may contain.

The Democrat party has proven itself wholly and utterly unfit to lead. IF they had any involvement in the incredible past three years of economic development and wealth creation, they would at least be able to say they did something of value.

RELATED: Opinion: If The Dems Case Is So Strong And So Obvious, As They Insist, Why Need More Docs And Witnesses?

Still, they did nothing but “protest,” complain, and lie to the American people at every turn. The results of the upcoming election will be theirs to own, as voters take them to task for their failures. Seventy-five million (75,000,0000), that’s the number of votes Trump will get this election. Mark my word. Republicans will win at least one more seat in the Senate, and the Democrats will lose the House. You’ll see.

Democrats had the chance to show how much they care about Rule of Law numerous times over the past 20 years, starting in the late 90s with Clinton’s impeachment, and their vote that obstruction of justice didn’t warrant impeachment, to “sanctuary laws” and pretending immigration law is exempt from the concept of Rule of Law.

Rep. Adam Schiff keeps saying that there is overwhelming evidence that has been presented, and “the extensive evidence” that was collected in the House impeachment process will be given. So if the House has done its job, there’s no need for additional witnesses, and the Senate can make their determination on the case the House managers present.

Remember, every “star” witness called by the Democrats was asked on cross-examination if they witnessed the president committing any crimes – and everyone said “no.”

Let’s say this again. It is NOT the responsibility of the Senate to find evidence. That task is up to the House of Reps, which is what they are supposed to use to decide whether to bring Articles of Impeachment. Obviously, they’ve decided to bring Articles of Impeachment and then try to find evidence to support them.

RELATED: Opinion: This Impeachment Is Based Only On Political Desire And Opinion, Not The Constitution Or The Law

This is just a bunch of nervous Democrats fearing that if they don’t get rid of a president that is getting closer to exposing their dirty games and affecting their bank accounts, they will be out of a job.

Senate trials have ONE purpose. To remove officials who have done very serious crimes. Bill Clinton committed a felony (lying under oath), and he was not removed. Nixon committed a felony and resigned instead of going through a Senate trial in which he would have been pronounced guilty. What we are looking at here are hardly crimes, if crimes at all. They certainly are not worthy of a Senate trial.

Once you understand that, you know that this could be nothing other than a sham.

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The post Dems Have Had A Chance To Show They Care For The Rule Of Law For Over 20 Years — And Failed appeared first on The Political Insider.

Susan Collins finds a principle to stand behind: Tattling on ‘both sides’ in the name of civility

Posted on by Joan McCarter

Just when you thought Maine Sen. Susan Collins couldn't get any worse, you find out she's a tattle-tale. Yes, the one thing that woke Chief Justice John Roberts out of his stupor during the ongoing impeachment trial was a note from Collins tattling on Rep. Jerry Nadler for being mean during his statement Tuesday night.

She told Politico she was "stunned" that Nadler would suggest that Senate Republicans were aiding in Trump's cover-up of his Ukraine dealings, and felt compelled to tell teacher Roberts that Nadler and White House counsel Pat Cipollone were breaking the rules. "So I did write a note raising the issue of whether there’d been a violation of the rules," she said. "I gave that note to [Senate Parliamentarian] Laura Dove and shortly thereafter the chief justice did admonish both sides. And I was glad that he did." Which is quintessential Collins: more concerned about decorum in the Senate chamber than Trump extorting a foreign leader to interfere in our election on his behalf. And clearly more invested in helping cover that up, since she voted against every single amendment brought by Democrats trying to expand the record with new witnesses and documents.

Collins has chosen her side, and Maine knows it. Please give $1 to help Democrats in each of these crucial Senate races, but especially the one in Maine!

Collins apparently also remains unconcerned with the behavior of her fellow Republicans, who are breaking all the rules set for them in an impeachment hearing by leaving the chamber for long stretches of time, chatting, snapping gum, doing crosswords, playing with toys, and reading books. She's not tattling to Roberts about that, and reminding him that he's supposed to keeping her colleagues in line. That’s presumably because it's Republicans and not "both sides" misbehaving.

Trump celebrates impeachment for abuse of power by bilking the taxpayers even more

Posted on by Joan McCarter

Smack dab in the middle of his impeachment trial for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, Donald Trump is shamelessly grifting off the taxpayer, spiking room rates at his Doral Resort just ahead of a Republican National Committee meeting there, which he will attend. HuffPost reports that the rates are more than doubling, from $245 to $539 per night for the least expensive rooms. That $539 is just under the maximum $546 per night per diem rate under federal rules.

Trump will only be there for part of one day, not staying overnight. But he has to have advance staff and Secret Service agents there for a few days ahead of time for security and preparation. The Secret Service wouldn't tell HuffPost how many people will be housed there, at $539 a night each for an unspecified amount of time. But it could result in tens of thousands of dollars flowing into Donald Trump's pocket—tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars.

Of course, the RNC chose Doral as its January meeting site. It’s happy to have its 168 individual members put their money into Trump's pocket. HuffPost estimates that the total cost to the RNC will be $500,000 for food, staff bedrooms, and meeting rooms, in addition to the room cost to the individual attendees. That's on them if they want to keep enriching their dear leader. But they should be forced to reimburse the treasury for the taxpayer costs.

As Robert Weissman, president of the liberal watchdog group Public Citizen, told HuffPost, "What better way to defend yourself in an impeachment trial over abuse of power than to jet to your private golf resort on the public dime, secure lots of publicity for the club on the public dime, and then, possibly, rip off taxpayers by forcing them to pay extra for the staff whose costs at the resort are billed to 'we the people.'"

Schiff shines bright light on Moscow Mitch’s dangerous negligence in protecting our elections

Posted on by Joan McCarter

Rep. Adam Schiff, in his role as impeachment manager, both distilled the import of this trial and put Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell under a harsh light, without ever mentioning McConnell's name. In his opening argument, as prepared and provided by email, Schiff says that the "House did not take this extraordinary step lightly. As we will discuss, impeachment exists for cases in which the conduct of the President rises far beyond mere policy disputes to be decided, otherwise and without urgency, at the ballot box."

But, he says "we are here today to consider a much more grave matter, and that is an attempt to use the powers of the presidency to cheat in an election. For precisely this reason, the President’s misconduct cannot be decided at the ballot box—for we cannot be assured that the vote will be fairly won. [emphasis added]"

It's time to end McConnell's destructive stranglehold on the republic. Please give $1 to our nominee fund to help Democrats and end his career as majority leader.

That's the case in a nutshell, that and the continuation of the thought, that "in obstructing the investigation into his own wrongdoing, the President has shown that he believes that he is above the law and scornful of constraint." Trump believes he's above the law and unconstrained because McConnell refuses to do his constitutional duty and provide a check. No where is that failure of McConnell more dire than in refusing to secure the ballot box, which Schiff is subtly underscoring in his statement.

The legislation to protect our elections from interference from Russia and other adversaries has been sitting in the graveyard of the Senate for months, with McConnell refusing to act on it because he says the government has done enough, and even congratulates the Trump administration for the actions it's taken. That presumably includes Trump publicly, on national TV,  inviting any foreign government who wants to interfere to come on in.

This is deadly serious business. McConnell and Senate Republicans might not be taking that seriously, but the nation is watching.

Majority of Maine voters say Collins is ‘driven by political self-interest, not principle’

Posted on by Joan McCarter

Susan Collins is damned if she does stick with Mitch McConnell and Donald Trump on impeachment and damned if she doesn't. The filing deadline for the primary for her Senate seat is March 16, and while she's got the backing of the state's rabid Republicans now, they would turn on her in a split second. Former Gov. Paul LePage, who's endorsed her, has to be casting a beady eye on the seat in case she strays. While Collins has to keep looking over her right shoulder, the rest of Maine is bailing on her, according to the latest polling by Garin-Hart-Yang Research Group for the Democratic Senate Majority PAC.

Goal Thermometer

Pollster Geoff Garin points out, based on the polling, that "Maine voters already see Collins as someone who who makes decisions based on what's best for her and least risky politically. They don't see her as acting on principle or what's best for Maine." That makes her voting lock-step with Republicans against witnesses and documents at Trump's impeachment trial on Tuesday a problem for her. That's because 71% of respondents in Maine said the Senate "[s]hould insist on seeing documents and call witnesses." That's on top of the 53% who say that Trump abused the power of his office, including 57% of independents. She has no room to maneuver here.

This comes on the heels of a Morning Consult survey showing Collins to be the least-popular senator with home-state voters in the entire country, in either party. What was remarkable in that survey, conducted quarterly in every state, wasn't necessarily that she's 10 points underwater in her approval rating with Maine's registered voters, 52% disapprove to 42% approve—a drop of 10 net points since the last survey in September. The big deal is that 93% of Maine voters are familiar enough with her to have an opinion about her. Just 7% percent of Maine voters don't look at her favorably or unfavorably.

In this context, this conclusion from the polling for Senate Majority PAC has got to be striking terror in her heart: "Maine voters do not trust Susan Collins to put principle above politics, and if she votes to acquit President Trump a majority say it will be because she is following a party line and doing what she believes is in her own political interest."

Four Supreme Court justices give Trump a big gift, punt on hearing Obamacare case

Posted on by Joan McCarter

In case anyone is wondering if Chief Justice John Roberts will be assisting in having a fair and transparent impeachment trial of Donald Trump, look to what just happened at the Supreme Court on behalf of Trump: The justices denied a request by House Democrats and Democratic state attorneys general to expedite the Affordable Care Act case, a denial Trump's Department of Justice requested. It takes four justices to deny consideration of a case, and while we don’t know who those four were, it's a pretty safe bet that they looked to Roberts for guidance, if indeed he wasn't leading the conservatives in this.

They could still grant a hearing later in the year, and hear the case in the fall, when they could withhold a decision until next year, well after the election. Don't forget: Trump has argued that the entire law needs to be struck down on the specious grounds that the individual mandate penalty in the law was zeroed out by his tax scam of 2017. The Trump case has been panned by legal scholars left and right, but the extremely partisan Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit agreed with an even more partisan federal district court judge that the mandate was unconstitutional. The 5th Circuit, however, played its own bit of politics in remanding the case to that judge to consider what parts of the law might still stand. Since that judge, Reed O'Connor, already ruled once that the entire law should be tossed, it's not going to be a huge surprise when he decides he was right all along.

But that will likely be months away, now that we're actually in an election year and no Republican wants to rely on Trump to come up with a replacement plan for Obamacare. That's exactly what he'd have to do, and they all know it. Health care is going to be one of the major issues—if not the issue—of the 2020 election. This case is still going to loom over it, with or without a Supreme Court decision, because Trump is arguing that the entire law be tossed. That includes protections for 130 million people with pre-existing conditions. It includes coverage for people up to age 26 on their parents’ plans. It includes no limits on what insurance has to cover in a person’s lifetime in the event of a medical catastrophe. It includes affordable premiums for millions of people who were previously uninsured. And it includes the Medicaid expansion that's covered more millions.

But for now, the denial of consideration takes the worst of the pressure off of Trump, which seems to be what Roberts and crew want most. So don't expect any heroics from Roberts on behalf of the country and Constitution during this impeachment trial.

Elizabeth Warren Vows to Create DOJ Task Force to Investigate Trump

Posted on by Rusty Weiss

In today’s episode of ‘It’s Okay For Democrats,’ Elizabeth Warren vows that, should she become President, she will commission a DOJ task force to investigate corruption in the Trump administration.

Warren released the plan to investigate her political opponent on Tuesday, posting it to her campaign website.

Warren’s latest platform, titled “Restoring Integrity and Competence to Government after Trump,” begins by explaining that the President “has run the most corrupt administration in history.”

Did she blackout during the entire Obama administration?

“I will direct the Justice Department to establish a task force to investigate violations by Trump administration officials of federal bribery laws, insider trading laws, and other anti-corruption and public integrity laws,” her campaign promise reads.

Warren will “give that task force independent authority to pursue any substantiated criminal and civil violations.”

The House of Representatives couldn’t get bribery to stick in their impeachment sham but reality be damned, Warren is going to find it.

RELATED: Trump Campaign Has Identified 3 Democrats to Worry About in 2020

Where’s the Outrage?

Where is the outrage over the suggestion that an occupant of the White House would unleash her Department of Justice to investigate a political opponent?

Didn’t the media and Democrats themselves tell us these are the actions of a dictator?

Now suddenly it’s okay to investigate alleged corruption because the President’s last name isn’t Clinton and his first name isn’t Hillary.

“Donald Trump will leave behind a government that has been infected by corruption and incompetence, and his vindictive actions as president suggest that he is likely to do everything he can to undermine the next president,” Warren’s campaign writes. “We cannot assume that everything will be fine once Donald Trump leaves office.”

Hillary herself has engaged in “lock him up” chants since she lost the election, something she once claimed was an affront to truth, justice and the American way.

RELATED: Hillary and Colbert Help Start ‘Lock Him Up’ Chant Directed at President Trump

Remove All Appointees

Warren’s plan also includes a section in which she vows to remove all political appointees.

“Rooting out the corruption in our government starts with wiping the slate clean on political appointments,” she states.

“Donald Trump gave influential, high-ranking positions to his donors, friends, and political allies,” the plan reads. “I will ask for the resignations of all political appointees, including U.S. Attorneys, save only those positions necessary to preserve continuity and protect national security during the transition period.

Again, does anybody recall the vitriol directed at President Trump for firing Obama-appointed attorneys during the transition, something every new administration does? Remember U.S. attorney Preet Bharara becoming a grandstanding member of the resistance by refusing to resign?

The hypocrisy by Warren and the media who will either ignore her threat to investigate Trump or tout it as a refreshing new policy is truly breathtaking.

The post Elizabeth Warren Vows to Create DOJ Task Force to Investigate Trump appeared first on The Political Insider.