*term from Yale prof. Timothy Snyder. Step 1: Create a crisis where brown people live. Step 2: When migrants come north to escape crisis, stoke anger against “invaders. Step 3: Enact policies that cause pain among constituents: Take away health care; give tax cuts to rich corporations to create more income inequality, encourage global warming, …
The Putin-Trump Sadopopulist* Playbook in 6 Steps Read More »
The Parnas-Fruman Indictment is here. What a story it tells. First, a summary of the indictment itself. Election laws protect elections from illegal foreign influence and provide transparency to maintain public confidence in elections. Defendants Parnas, Fruman, Correia, and Kukushkin conspired to funnel foreign money to candidates in violation of U.S. election law. They concealed …
If This Was A Movie Plot, Nobody Would Believe It Read More »
New York Magazine’s Yashar Ali reports that there are now multiple reports revealing that Trump’s personal lawyer, the former mayor of New York, Giuliani, is the subject of a federal criminal investigation. Michael Cohen, Trump’s former personal lawyer is in prison. Now Giuliani? Seeing a pattern? The investigation into Giuliani is of course connected to …
The summary of the phone call between President Donald Trump and newly elected Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy offers ashocking and illuminating look at how Trump operates, particularly when he purports to conduct foreign policy as president of the United States. But the conversation shouldn’t surprise those who listened to Trump’s personal lawyer and longtime fixer Michael Cohen testify before …
The letter the White House sent to Congress announcing Trump’s intent to obstruct the impeachment inquiry is here. It’s a political letter, attempting to frame impeachment on Trump’s terms. The Democrats should not let Trump control how impeachment is framed. I’ll start by debunking a few of the letter’s bogus legal points. I can’t debunk …
Trending this morning on Twitter: 58% of Americans now in favor of impeachment inquiries, and Sondland defied Congress. These two things go together. I agree with Bill Kristol: I also trust the 60-65% of Americans who are not part of Trump’s base to see it. We shouldn’t be shocked by Sondland’s refusal to testify. (From …
Dear GOP Senators: You’ll soon face a choice. Will you accept the evidence of your eyes and ears, and the findings of the US intelligence community—and Mueller? Or will you stand with Trump let him do whatever he pleases? You won’t be able to do both. Trump’s defense against all accusations (and his tactic for …
Luke’s friend asked, “Where’s Trump’s crime?” and Luke isn’t sure how to answer. The natural inclination is to answer this question by offering a list of crimes Trump has committed. In fact, I’ll go ahead and do it. There are, however, two problems with this approach. Problem #1: Anyone asking this question is challenging you. …
The breaking news this morning was that Trump, in public, urged China to investigate the Bidens. He moved the conversation from “Did Trump do it?” to “Now he’s doing it in public.” Given that polling is showing increased public support for impeachment, journalist Derek Thompson called Trump’s doubling down “risky.” It seems to me that …
Watch it here. The press conference is important because we can see the Democratic impeachment strategy at work. Pelosi opened by stressing that the House continues its legislative work, trying to lower the cost of prescription drugs, finalize a US-Mexico-Canada trade agreement, etc. Pelosi: Investigating a president for impeachment is a “sad time” for the …
