Category: Politics

PBS’ Yamiche Alcindor Defends Democrat Double Standard On Impeachment – ‘Wasn’t Storming Of The Capitol’ After Maxine Waters’ Speech

Posted on by LifeZette

PBS correspondent and MSNBC political contributor Yamiche Alcindor spoke out on Tuesday to defend the Democratic Party’s double standard when it comes to the impeachment effort against Donald Trump.

Alcindor Defends Democrats

After it was reported that Trump’s legal team is planning to argue that Democrats incited riots with their speeches, Alcindor said that this argument is not valid because speeches by leftists like Maxine Waters and Kamala Harris did not result in deadly riots.

“I’m really watching to see how much this becomes a personal reliving of what happened on January 6,” Alcindor said. “You’re hearing from senior Democratic aides that they want this to feel like a violent crime trial. They want people to be brought into what happened at the Capitol.”

“So that’s why they’re saying this is going to be this new evidence. I suspect some of that will probably be possibly videos that we haven’t seen before, talking to aides on Capitol Hill, they’re really feeling as though they need to remind people exactly what happened.”

Related: PBS Reporter Yamiche Alcindor Slams Paralyzed GOP Candidate Madison Cawthorn After His RNC Speech

Alcindor On Trump Team

“The Trump team, as you reported, also is going to be bringing out this video, trying to say, ‘Hear what Democrats said. Here is why they are just like President Trump,'” she added. ”

“But I think the thing that’s going to be so obvious is going to be that there wasn’t a storming of the Capitol after Maxine Waters or Senator Harris — then-Senator Harris had fiery speeches,” Alcindor said. “So I think that’s all the things that we should be watching, how they juxtapose this at the scene of where this happened.”

Alcindor has long been an outspoken critic of former President Trump, and she went at it with him regularly at various points in his presidency. On Tuesday, she took to Twitter to celebrate the start of Trump’s Senate impeachment trial.

“And we’re off, House impeachment managers and making the walk to the Senate chamber,” she wrote. “Trump Impeachment 2.0 is upon us.”

Related: PBS Reporter Tangles With Trump – Gets Backlash

This piece was written by James Samson on February 9, 2021. It originally appeared in LifeZette and is used by permission.

Read more at LifeZette:
Maxine Waters Confronted By MSNBC About Encouraging Violence Against Republicans
Bill Maher Claims Christianity Is To Blame For Capitol Riot
Liz Cheney Says There’s Major Criminal Probe Into Whether Trump Made ‘Premeditated Effort To Promote Violence’

The post PBS’ Yamiche Alcindor Defends Democrat Double Standard On Impeachment – ‘Wasn’t Storming Of The Capitol’ After Maxine Waters’ Speech appeared first on The Political Insider.

Texas Sheriff Claims Biden Admin Releasing Illegal Immigrants Into U.S. Without COVID Testing

Posted on by Becky Noble

A Texas Sheriff claimed on Fox News Channel’s “Tucker Carlson Tonight” that the Biden administration is releasing illegal immigrants into the interior of the U.S. without any COVID testing.

Sheriff A.J. Louderback of Jackson County made his comments to Tucker after the host asked him whether or not illegal immigrants who are released into the United States after being detained were getting tested. 

The Sheriff replied in the affirmative:

“It’s absolutely true. It’s even, if I can continue, Tucker, the memo, the memo that I received this last week, it’s essentially a defund the ICE by memo, by a memorandum that was sent out by David Borkowski on Jan. 20 or 21. So this is a particularly devastating document for Texans and Americans here in the United States.

The memo Sheriff Louderback referred to in his reply was sent out by then Acting Homeland Security Secretary David Pekoske on Inauguration Day, Jan. 20, 2021. 

RELATED: Governor Greg Abbott Wants Texas To Be A Second Amendment Sanctuary State

Sheriff Makes Shocking Claim About COVID-19 Testing

Sheriff Louderback, in his interview with Carlson, did not hold back.

He said that the memo, put out to CBP (Customs and Border Patrol), ICE, and USCIS (Citizenship and Immigration Services) essentially ties the hands of these immigration enforcement agencies. 

The Sheriff stated that, “This is a particularly devastating document for Texans and Americans here in the United States. When I read it and looked at it, it’s a message to the world that you can come here illegally, you can commit crimes here against Americans, and remain illegally.”

At a time where the U.S. and the rest of the world are still in the grips of a global pandemic, the Sheriff was particularly bothered, as should all Americans be, by the very vital issue of COVID testing being overlooked. 

 “The COVID issue [is being] during that time. So I struggle for a thought process, like many Americans and Texans, on how an administration can conduct themselves in this manner,” stated Sheriff Louderback.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, there have been many news articles about illegal immigrants who have been afraid to get tested for COVID for fear of being identified and deported. 

RELATED: Biden Administration In ‘Active Conversation’ To Require COVID Test Before Domestic Flights

Back To Obama-Era Lawlessness

Sheriff Louderback also said that this was not the first time that America had gone the way of lax enforcement of immigration law. “We walked this path from 2008 to 2016,” he said.

The Sheriff stated that the policy was very similar to the Priority Enforcement Program in 2014 and 2015 during the Obama administration.

In his interview, Sheriff Louderback painted a very grim view of the safety of Americans, at least for the next four years.

“Every peace officer in the United States should be extremely concerned about the attitude, the lawlessness, the complete abject removal of law.

We have a full nullification of the law going on here. We’re going to allow our ICE officers, USCIS, all affected by this memo, which guts the INA and handcuffs them so that they’re unable to respond. So in law enforcement here, those of us that don’t have the jurisdiction to enforce the federal laws here, we’ve created a situation that is unthinkable for the public.”

RELATED: Constitutional Professor: Why Senate Cannot Bar Trump From Being President Again

Immigration Under Joe Biden

New Biden administration policies include guidelines for Homeland Security that will mean fewer arrests and deportations for drug crimes, DUI’s, and low-level assaulters, fraudsters, and thieves.

Sheriff Chuck Jenkins of Frederick County Maryland says that traditionally in the deportation process, criminal histories are considered.

With fewer arrests for these kinds of crimes, those who may have committed crimes will be free to walk the streets. 

Those coming into the country through the southern border are not just from Mexico and Central America.

Recently, eleven Iranian citizens were apprehended in Arizona, and there is evidence of Chinese drug lords assisting Mexican drug cartels in smuggling fentanyl and other substances across the border.

The new policies are a strong departure from the policies of the Trump adminstration.

To see the entire interview with Tucker Carlson and Sheriff A.J. Louderback, see below.

The post Texas Sheriff Claims Biden Admin Releasing Illegal Immigrants Into U.S. Without COVID Testing appeared first on The Political Insider.

Report: Democrats Have A Back-Up Plan That Might Still Bar Trump From Running Again If Impeachment Fails

Posted on by Rusty Weiss

Congressional Democrats are reportedly considering a back-up plan – a censure resolution against Donald Trump should this week’s impeachment trial result in acquittal for the former President.

The resolution, according to McClatchy, would bar Trump “from holding future office over his role in the U.S. Capitol riot.”

The Senate impeachment trial began on Tuesday with opening statements and debate between House impeachment managers and the former President’s defense lawyers.

Trump’s lawyers argue that the House impeachment charge is unconstitutional and are calling on the Senate to acquit the former President.

His acquittal seems all but assured with 45 Republican Senators having already voted on a point of order that the trial is unconstitutional.

RELATED: Trump Lawyer’s Demand Senate Impeachment Trial Be Dismissed, Top Dem Admits ‘Not Crazy To Argue’ It’s Unconstitutional

Democrats Have Back-Up Impeachment Plan – Censure Trump

The Democrat attempt to censure Donald Trump – who is now a private citizen – would invoke Section 3 of the 14th Amendment.

It is a rarely cited Civil War-era provision that bars people from holding office if they “have engaged in insurrection or rebellion” or “given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.”

Pushing forward with the plan seems to be a foregone conclusion, as McClatchy notes “the debate among members of Congress is now whether to push for the resolution early this week — as the impeachment trial is first starting — or towards the end.”

Some Democrat lawmakers are hoping the trial itself will “build public support and political momentum” for the censure resolution.

“The reception has been lukewarm so far from Democrats, who would prefer to see the former president convicted in the impeachment trial, and from Republicans, who fear political consequences in barring Trump from office,” McClatchy observes.

Senator Tim Kaine adds, “Right now there’s not enough support on either side.”

If the Senate acquits Trump, however, bitter Democrats could conceivably coalesce behind such a censure resolution and they wouldn’t need any help from the Republicans.

A resolution to censure Trump would require a simple majority vote to pass in the House and Senate.

RELATED: Squad’s Ayanna Pressley: Capitol Riots Gave Me ‘Deep And Ancestral’ Terror From ‘White Supremacist Mob’

It Could Backfire

The report indicates that Democrats may be playing with fire if they plan to censure Trump following the Senate impeachment trial.

“Some Democratic lawyers warn the strategy could backfire if taken to court and provide Trump with a rallying cry to run again for president in 2024,” it reads.

Legal scholar Jonathan Turley has argued that censuring Trump is a “dangerous” tactic for the nation.

Barring the former President from running again in the future based on a rarely cited provision of the 14th Amendment, without a trial and supermajority vote could open up the floodgates for party’s in power to keep their political opponents out of office.

“The party in control could bar dozens of its opponents from running for federal office,” Turley explains. “Some Democrats are now demanding such action against Republicans who challenged the election of Joe Biden.”

Indeed, how often have we heard Democrats demand Senators Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz be expelled from Congress?

“This is common in authoritarian countries such as Iran, where leaders often bar their opponents from office,” Turley adds.

The post Report: Democrats Have A Back-Up Plan That Might Still Bar Trump From Running Again If Impeachment Fails appeared first on The Political Insider.

Biden Administration In ‘Active Conversation’ To Require COVID Test Before Domestic Flights

Posted on by John Hanson

On Sunday, Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said that the Biden administration is in active conversations with the CDC about requiring Americans to have a negative COVID-19 test before traveling by plane to another U.S. state.

Buttigieg made his comments during an Axios interview when the Democrat was asked what he thought “of requiring a COVID test before someone flies even domestically?”

RELATED: Dan Rather Says It May Have Not Been ‘Responsible’ To Air Commercials Of Crowds Maskless During Super Bowl

Buttigieg: ‘Going To Be Guided By Data, By Science’

“Well, there’s an active conversation with the CDC right now, what I can tell you is this going to be guided by data, by science, by medicine, and by the input of the people are actually going to have to carry this out,” Buttigieg replied.

The former mayor of South Bend, Indiana and 2020 presidential candidate continued, “But here’s the thing, the safer we can make air travel in terms of perception as well as reality, the more people are going to be ready to get back in the air.”

Buttigieg also argued that most Americans’ typical work schedule might be permanently changed due to the pandemic.

Buttigieg said we should start looking more closely at different types of transportation like “bikes, scooters, wheelchairs” because “roads aren’t only for vehicles.”

‘Mayor Pete’ Defends Keystone Pipeline Cancellation

“Mayor Peter” also defended President Joe Biden recently killing the Keystone Pipeline by executive order.

During Buttigieg’s Senate confirmation hearing, Sen. Ted Cruz pressed Buttigieg on that issue, asking, “So for those workers, the answer is somebody else will get a job?”

Buttigieg replied, “The answer is we are very eager to see those workers continue to be employed in good-paying union jobs, even if they might be different ones.”

RELATED: Trump Lawyer’s Demand Senate Impeachment Trial Be Dismissed, Top Dem Admits ‘Not Crazy To Argue’ It’s Unconstitutional

It’s safe to assume the many Americans put out of work by the Biden administration’s decision to axe the Keystone Pipeline XL might take a very different view.

Several unions have blasted the move.

Even the head of America’s largest labor union, the AFL-CIO, declared his disappointment.

“I wish he had paired that more carefully with the thing that he did second by saying, ‘Here’s where we’re creating jobs. We can do mine reclamation. We can fix leaks. We can fix seeps and create hundreds of thousands of jobs doing that stuff,’” AFL-CIO leader Richard Trumka said of the move.

The post Biden Administration In ‘Active Conversation’ To Require COVID Test Before Domestic Flights appeared first on The Political Insider.

‘Squad’ Member Rep. Cori Bush Defends Prison Riot After Condemning Capitol Riot

Posted on by Becky Noble

Far-left Congresswoman Cori Bush (D-MO), a member of the ‘Squad,’ appeared to defend a prison riot that broke out at the downtown St. Louis Justice Center over the weekend.

In a tweet Bush posted on Saturday, she quoted the late Dr. Martin Luther King saying “A riot is the language of the unheard.”

Bush went on to say that she and her team are working to “ensure that the needs of people who are incarcerated are not ignored.”

The freshman Congresswoman also put a more in-depth statement on her Congressional page where she talked about the positivity rates and testing for COVID-19 among those incarcerated.

But it was her apparent support for the riot that broke out on Saturday that became front and center.

RELATED: Squad’s Ayanna Pressley: Capitol Riots Gave Me ‘Deep And Ancestral’ Terror From ‘White Supremacist Mob’

Trouble At The City Jail

According to the St. Louis Post Dispatch, roughly 115 inmates at the Justice Center jimmied already-faulty lock systems and freed themselves from cells.

The fourth floor of the building was taken over as inmates set fires, clogged drains, broke windows, and threw furniture down onto the sidewalk.

While no inmates were reported to have been injured, one corrections officer who was attacked by inmates is recovering from injuries. Mayor Lyda Krewson says damage totals are “way into the thousands of dollars.”

RELATED: AOC Declares She ‘Will Not Apologize’ For Saying Cruz Tried ‘To Get Me Killed’

Bush’s Position On Riots – It’s Complicated

Bush’s comments that seemed to support, or at least justify, the riot drew rebuke and questions.

The National Republican Congressional Committee wondered aloud if any of Bush’s fellow Democrats would also justify the riot at the St. Louis City Jail.

The Daily Caller covered Seattle conservative radio host Jason Rantz, who called Bush a “total failure” and said to Fox News’s Harris Faulkner, “Well, I can look at it and say that Cori Bush is a total fraud unless suddenly she’s decided to change her position on impeachment.”

Rantz was referring to President Trump, who was impeached for allegedly inciting the Capitol riot on January 6th. 

Bush voted to impeach Trump, with the official charge in the article of impeachment reading, “Donald John Trump engaged in high Crimes and Misdemeanors by inciting violence against the Government of the United States.”

RELATED: Bill Maher Claims Christianity Is To Blame For Capitol Hill Riot

Are Riots Good Or Bad?

Just a little over a month ago however, Congresswoman Bush was singing a very different tune when it came to the subject of riots.

In a report from ‘The Hill”, Bush claimed that, “had the rioters that stormed the Capitol earlier in the day been black, they would have been shot.”

The only person shot on January 6th was a white woman, unarmed Air Force veteran Ashli Babbitt, who was shot by Capitol Police.

In another report from CNN, Bush called former President Donald Trump the “white supremacist in chief” and described the storming of the Capitol, “a white supremacist insurrection.”

“Madam Speaker, St. Louis and I rise in support of the article of impeachment against Donald J Trump. If we fail to remove a White supremacist President who incited a white supremacist insurrection, it’s communities like Missouri’s First District that suffer the most,”

While Bush was careful to use the term “insurrection” instead of “riot,” Twitter users were quick to wonder where exactly the Squad member stood on riots. 

One user finished Martin Luther King’s quote for Bush, pointing out that the august Reverend opposed wanton violence:

Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has come under fire from the media and the left and was recently removed from her Congressional committees, wondered where Bush stood on riots:

Many Bush defenders were quick to differentiate between “riot” and “insurrection.” 

Dictionary.com defines riot as “a noisy, violent public disorder caused by a group or crowd of persons, as by a crowd protesting against another group, a government policy, etc., in the streets.”

They define insurrection as “an act or instance of rising in revolt, rebellion, or resistance against civil authority or an established government.”

A Google search for “Capitol riot” returns 229,000,000 results, with news outlets TIME, NBC, CNN, New York Times, CBS, and USA Today describing the event as such.

When speaking to the local NBC affiliate immediately following the Capitol Hill riot, Bush describe those storming the Capitol as “not protesters, not demonstrators, that was violence happening in our Capitol.”


Based on that, it seems fair to wonder where exactly Bush stands on riots.

Apparently, Congresswoman Bush has learned the art of Washington D.C. Democrat double standards quickly. 

The post ‘Squad’ Member Rep. Cori Bush Defends Prison Riot After Condemning Capitol Riot appeared first on The Political Insider.

Meghan McCain Calls Bashing Liz Cheney, Pro-Impeachment Republicans A ‘Losing Strategy’

Posted on by John Hanson

“The View” co-host Meghan McCain said on Monday that reports of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy asking Congresswoman Liz Cheney to apologize for her vote to impeach former President Donald Trump was concerning.

McCain said Republican leadership taking this route was a “losing strategy.”

Watch the video below.

RELATED: Trump Lawyer’s Demand Senate Impeachment Trial Be Dismissed, Top Dem Admits ‘Not Crazy To Argue’ It’s Unconstitutional

McCain On Cheney’s Impeachment Vote: ‘She Has Nothing To Apologize For’

McCain said on ABC, “There was a really interesting report that came out in Axios over the weekend that said that Kevin McCarthy actually asked her to apologize for voting for impeachment, and she said that.”

“She said people in the caucus asked me to apologize, and she said that publicly,” McCain said.

According to Axios, before the GOP conference met to decide the fates of Cheney and Marjorie Taylor Greene, GOP House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy had asked Cheney to apologize.

McCain said it worries her that McCarthy or any other Republican would think that voting for impeachment was something to apologize for.

“It’s interesting to know that it’s the leader of the caucus that asked her to do that, and she defiantly said she won’t apologize, and she has nothing to apologize for,” McCain insisted.

McCain Is Worried About The ‘Liz Cheneys Of The Party,’ Including Herself

She continued, “I now am feeling very concerned about the fact that the leader of Republicans in Congress seems to think that if you are for impeachment, you have something to apologize for and atone for, and I do think that’s a losing strategy.”

McCain is worried there isn’t enough love for the “Liz Cheneys of the party,” and included herself in the same category as Cheney.

“I’m very skeptical of the big-tent party narrative right now because it doesn’t seem like there’s a lot of love for the Liz Cheneys of the party,” McCain complained, adding, “which I guess at this point includes me.”

RELATED: Sunny Hostin Confronts CNN’s Van Jones On ‘The View’ – ‘People In The Black Community Don’t Trust You Anymore’

McCain Calls Cheney A ‘Red-blooded Conservative’

“The View” co-host also added that she is worried about the future of the GOP when a “red-blooded conservative” like Cheney can be treated this way.

“I’m very skeptical of the promises that we will respect the Liz Cheneys after this,” McCain said. “My question is, how long until we start trashing her?”

“I think she’s doing good work now, but at a certain point, she’s a red-blooded conservative,” McCain insisted. “She’s not a squish or a RINO.”

“She is not someone in the middle,” McCain finished.

McCain and Cheney exemplify what many in the conservative movement consider the Establishment of the GOP, who are out of step with the base that largely aligns with President Trump. 

In a measure of how out of step she may be, Cheney has been censured by the Wyoming state Republican Party, and at least 10 County Republican Parties in Wyoming for her vote to impeach Trump. 

Commentator Dick Morris recently said Cheney has a ‘snowball’s chance in Hell’ at getting re-elected.

RELATED: If Republicans Put America First, They’ll Remove Liz Cheney, Not Donald Trump

Watch the segment here:

The post Meghan McCain Calls Bashing Liz Cheney, Pro-Impeachment Republicans A ‘Losing Strategy’ appeared first on The Political Insider.

AOC Declares She ‘Will Not Apologize’ For Saying Cruz Tried ‘To Get Me Killed’

Posted on by John Hanson

Far-left Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez told the New York Post that she “will not apologize” for her tweet late last month in which she said of Senator Ted Cruz, “You almost had me murdered 3 weeks ago.”

According to the Post, AOC made the comments at a press conference in Queens on Monday.

In the video, which is garbled in the beginning, you can see a reporter say “Ted… (unintelligible) he, he tried to have you murdered at Capitol, at the Capitol riots.”

AOC responds, “That’s not the quote and I will not apologize for what I said.” 

AOC vs. Cruz

“Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez told The Post on Monday that she’s not going to apologize to Sen. Ted Cruz for accusing him of nearly having her ‘murdered’ during the Jan. 6 Capitol riot,” the New York Post reported.

RELATED: Trump Lawyer’s Demand Senate Impeachment Trial Be Dismissed, Top Dem Admits ‘Not Crazy To Argue’ It’s Unconstitutional

Ocasio-Cortez’s controversial tweet came after investor trading app Robinhood started blocking investors from buying shares of GameStop.

Small investors had banded together using the popular forum Reddit in order to buy GameStop stock, after it was discovered that major hedge funds had massively shorted the stock. 

A few days into the rally, the app blocked users from buying shares, and only allowed them to sell their shares. 

Cruz said he “fully” agreed with AOC’s statement that Robinhood’s actions were “unacceptable.”

“This is unacceptable,” AOC tweeted. “We now need to know more about @RobinhoodApp’s decision to block retail investors from purchasing stock while hedge funds are freely able to trade the stock as they see fit.”

“As a member of the Financial Services Cmte, I’d support a hearing if necessary,” Ocasio-Cortez added.

Cruz, in a bipartisan move that is increasingly rare in Washington, retweeted Ocasio-Cortez, adding, “Fully agree.”

In a sign of the times, Cruz’s agreement with AOC didn’t go over well.

Ocasio-Cortez To Cruz: ‘If You Want To Help, You Can Resign’

Ocasio-Cortez then went after Cruz, “I am happy to work with Republicans on this issue where there’s common ground, but you almost had me murdered 3 weeks ago so you can sit this one out.”

“Happy to work w/ almost any other GOP that aren’t trying to get me killed,” AOC tweeted. “In the meantime if you want to help, you can resign.”

Ocasio-Cortez went on, “While you conveniently talk about ‘moving on,’ a second Capitol police officer lost their life yesterday in the still-raging aftermath of the attacks you had a role in. This isn’t a joke.”

“We need accountability, and that includes a new Senator from Texas,” she wrote. “You haven’t even apologized for the serious physical + mental harm you contributed to from Capitol Police & custodial workers to your own fellow members of Congress.”

AOC added, “In the meantime, you can get off my timeline & stop clout-chasing. Thanks. Happy to work with other GOP on this.”

13 House Republicans Demanded An Apology From AOC

On Feb. 2, 13 House Republicans led by Congressman Chip Roy demanded that Ocasio-Cortez apologize to Cruz.

In a joint letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the 13 House members demanded that Ocasio-Cortez apologize for her accusation. 

RELATED: Sheila Jackson Lee’s Gun Control Bill Would Create A National Firearm Registry, Require Licensing

“It has come to our attention that Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez sent out a tweet in which she accused Senator Cruz, in essence, of attempted murder,” the letter read.

It continued, “We believe this is completely unacceptable behavior for a member of Congress to make this kind of scurrilous charge against another member, in the House or Senate, for simply engaging in speech and debate regarding electors as they interpreted the Constitution.” 

“We ask you to call on her to immediately apologize and retract her comments,” the House members demanded of Pelosi.

For the time being, it looks like AOC has no plans to apologize.

The post AOC Declares She ‘Will Not Apologize’ For Saying Cruz Tried ‘To Get Me Killed’ appeared first on The Political Insider.

Toomey Doubts The Senate Will Convict

Posted on by LifeZette

Senator Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, along with Ben Sasse of Nebraska, perhaps the sharpest members of the Senate, doubts the Senate will convict the immediately former president of “incitement of insurrection”, regardless of any evidence pro or con.

Toomey Speaks Out

FNC:

“Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., who has been a top critic of former President Trump and called for him to resign after last month’s riot at the Capitol, said in an interview Sunday that it is unlikely that the Senate will vote for a conviction on the one count of ‘incitement of insurrection.’

The 50-50 Senate is preparing for another trial that many Republicans say will serve no purpose other than to fuel the divide the country. They say Democrats want nothing more than to score political points with the trial and get one last parting shot in against Trump.”

“You did have 45 Republican senators vote to suggest that they didn’t think it was appropriate to conduct a trial, so you can infer how likely it is that those folks will vote to convict,” Toomey told press.

Toomey is correct. The trial is a sham, a waste of time, meaningless Democrat show and tell with a preordained win for the immediately former president.

Related: Trump Lawyer’s Demand Senate Impeachment Trial Be Dismissed, Top Dem Admits ‘Not Crazy To Argue’ It’s Unconstitutional

Michigan State Professor Weighs In

As such, in related news,  Michigan State Professor Brian Kalt wonders why the Trump defense team took one of his articles out of context. With a slam dunk win coming up, why the stretch?

“The article favored late impeachability, but it set out all the evidence I found on both sides–lots for them to use,” Kalt said. “But in several places, they misrepresent what I wrote quite badly.”

A “more problematic thing” he noticed, was that “they suggest that I was endorsing an argument when what I actually did was note that argument — and reject it.”

“When a President is no longer in office, the objective of an impeachment ceases,” a Trump memo said, citing page 66 of Kalt’s article.

But Kalt posted a screenshot of pages 66 and 67.

He says that this argument “has textual appeal” and “an admitted degree coherence,” citing Article II Section 4 of the Constitution, which refers to the removal of the “President, Vice President and all civil Officers[.]” He said that by mentioning “Officers,” this would seem not to apply to former officers.

RELATED: Dead On Arrival: 45 Republicans – Including McConnell – Vote That Trump’s Impeachment Trial Is Unconstitutional

Kalt Doubles Down

“Late impeachment, so the argument goes, which is also not self-evident,” the footnote continues, “would have also required specification if the Framers wished to include it as a possibility.” Kalt then cites page 37 of the article, showing some states discuss late impeachment in their constitutions.

“Citing me that way, they make it sound like I was making that argument. But I wasn’t,” Kalt continued. “On page 37, I raise that argument as something a critic might say, and then I refute it…”

“A critic of late impeachment could argue that things like two-thirds majority requirements are not self-evident, and therefore require specification; and that late impeachment is similarly counterintuitive…” Kalt added. “Therefore, allowing late impeachment is the self-evident proposition, not the counterintuitive one, and failure to explicitly bar it while specifying other limitations on the impeachment power is a telling omission.”

This piece was written by David Kamioner on February 8, 2021. It originally appeared in LifeZette and is used by permission.

Read more at LifeZette:
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Maxine Waters Confronted By MSNBC About Encouraging Violence Against Republicans
Tucker Carlson Ruthlessly Mocks Ex-Colleague Shep Smith

The post Toomey Doubts The Senate Will Convict appeared first on The Political Insider.

Bill Maher Claims Christianity Is To Blame For Capitol Riot

Posted on by LifeZette

During Friday’s episode of “Real Time With Bill Maher,” host Bill Maher blamed Christianity for the Capitol riots last month.

Maher Blames Christianity For Capitol Riots

Maher, 65, claimed that a belief in Christianity is comparable to a belief in conspiracies like QAnon, and he said this led in part to supporters of former President Donald Trump storming the Capitol last month.

“As long as we’re going to go to the trouble of another impeachment trial, we might as well be honest about what it’s really about: The events of Jan. 6 were a faith-based initiative,” he said.

Not stopping there, Maher alleged that Trump supporters who believe in a “Christian nationalist movement” are firm in their beliefs that God “literally sent [Trump] from heaven to save them.”

He cited comments made by Alabama Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville, who once said that God personally chose Trump for president of the United States of America.

“There’s a lot of talk now in liberal corners about how Republicans should tell their base who still believe the election was rigged that they need to grow up and move on and stop asking the rest of us to respect their mass delusion,” Maher said.

“And, of course, it is a mass delusion. But the inconvenient truth here is that, if you accord religious faith the kind of exalted respect we do here in America, you’ve already lost the argument that mass delusion is bad,” the HBO host continued. 

Related: Bill Maher Panics Over Trump’s ‘Radio Silence’ After Leaving White House. – ‘Does That Not Alarm You A Little?’

Maher Compares Christianity And QAnon

He then directly compared Christianity and QAnon.

“It’s fun to laugh at QAnon, with the baby-eating lizard people and the pedophile pizza parlors, but have you ever read the book of [Revelation]? That’s the Bible,” he said. “That’s your holy book, Christians. And they’ve got seven-headed dragons and locusts that have the face of men and teeth of lions and other stuff you see after the guy in the park sells you bad mushrooms.”

Maher went on to say that “magical religious thinking,” such as faith in Jesus’ resurrection, is not dissimilar to a “current mutation” of the QAnon “virus.”

“All the armies of the world will gather and Jesus will come down on a flying horse, shooting swords out of his mouth, and have a thousand-year cosmic-boss battle with Satan, the Beast, and the antichrist. … It’s like 10 ‘Avenger’ movies plus 10 ‘Hobbit’ movies plus a night out with Johnny Depp,” Maher said.

Related: Bill Maher Hits Biden Campaign For Blaming 254,000 U.S. Coronavirus Deaths On Trump

“Please, magical religious thinking is a virus and QAnon is just its current mutation,” he insisted. “That’s why megachurches play QAnon videos. It’s the same basic plot. ‘Q’ is the prophet and Trump is the messiah. There’s an apocalyptic event looming, ‘The Storm.’ There’s a titanic struggle of good versus evil, and if you want good to win, just keep those checks coming in.

“We need to stop pretending there’s no way we’ll understand why the Trump mob believes in him. It’s because they’re religious! They’ve already made space in their heads for s**t that doesn’t make sense,” Maher concluded. “When you’re a QAnon fanatic, you’re also a fundamentalist Christian. They just go together like macaroni and cheese.”

This piece was written by James Samson on February 8, 2021. It originally appeared in LifeZette and is used by permission.

Read more at LifeZette:
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Trump Lawyer’s Demand Senate Impeachment Trial Be Dismissed, As Top Democrat Admits It’s Not Crazy To Argue It Is Unconstitutional

Posted on by Rusty Weiss

On the eve of Donald Trump’s impeachment trial, lawyers for the former President are demanding a dismissal, while a top Democrat admits the process could reasonably be argued as unconstitutional.

A memorandum filed by Trump’s legal team Monday calls for an “immediate dismissal” of what they define as Democrat “political theater.”

“The Article of Impeachment presented by the House is unconstitutional for a variety of reasons, any of which alone would be grounds for immediate dismissal,” they write.

“Taken together, they demonstrate conclusively that indulging House Democrats’ hunger for this political theater is a danger to our Republic[an] democracy and the rights that we hold dear.”

RELATED: CNN’s Jake Tapper Called Out For Claiming Republicans Must Stop ‘Insane Lies’ That Have Led To ‘MAGA Terrorism’

The Impeachment of a Former President IS Unconstitutional

Meanwhile, Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT), during an interview with Fox News anchor Chris Wallace, admitted it is not “ridiculous” for his GOP colleagues to argue the impeachment is unconstitutional.

“I will admit that this is, of course, a matter of first impression. And so I don’t think the case that Senator Paul is making here is a ridiculous one,” Murphy said.

Senator Rand Paul forced a procedure two weeks ago that prompted 45 Republicans to vote that the impeachment trial is unconstitutional.

In an op-ed column, Paul (R-KY) also referred to the impeachment process against the former President as a “farce” and said it should be dismissed.

“The Constitution says two things about impeachment — it is a tool to remove the officeholder, and it must be presided over by the chief justice of the Supreme Court,” he wrote.

Neither of those criteria has been met by the House impeachment effort.

RELATED: Dead On Arrival: 45 Republicans – Including McConnell – Vote That Trump’s Impeachment Trial Is Unconstitutional

Murphy Disagrees

While he does argue that Republicans could make a viable case, Senator Murphy disagrees that the impeachment is unconstitutional.

“I come to a different judgment … I think we have this responsibility,” he countered. “But I – listen, I admit that Senator Paul’s case is, you know, not from outer space.”

Paul, however, claims even Supreme Court Justice John Roberts recognized the impeachment trial as being troublesome.

“Justice Roberts said heck no, I’m not coming across the street because you’re not impeaching the president,” Paul said.

“This was a strong signal to all of us that this was going to be a partisan hearing with a Democrat in the chair, who’s already voted for impeachment.”

Paul went on to echo the sentiments of Trump’s lawyers regarding the impeachment trial, calling it a “partisan farce.”

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