Val Demings rocked her final statement when she said, “Innocent people don’t try to hide every document and witness, especially those that would clear them. That’s what guilty people do.”
She also reminded everyone that Vice President Pence knew what was happening, which of course, is the reason Republicans voted against additional evidence: They want to hide the depths of corruption in the Republican Party.
She wasn’t talking to the cowardly Republican Senators. She was taking to future generations. She was creating a record.
Law professor Rebecca Ingber nicely summed up the problem with GOP members of Congress saying they won’t vote for a “partisan” impeachment.
If the Republicans voted for it, it would be bipartisan. They create the partisanship, and then insist they’re hampered by the situation they created. And any Republican members of Congress who vote for it are kicked out of the club, like Justin Amash, and are no longer Republicans, which means no Republicans voted for it, which means it’s partisan so Republicans can’t vote for it. Sure, that makes sense.
I didn’t agree with Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) who said that acquittal will make this the new normal.
Honorable people will behave honorably. Elect people who care about the law and rule of law will thrive.
What matters about this sham trial is what we do in November. A landslide election that washes out this GOP will put this sham trial in context.
Doomsayers like Mach Draught fall into two categories:
- Ordinary people genuinely scared
- Fear-mongers, demagogues, and bots who are deliberately stoking fear and chaos to undermine democracy
People overestimate how easy it is to fix an election by hacking and flipping votes, and underestimate how easy it is to sway an election through propaganda and disinformation techniques.
Think about this: What was Trump doing in Ukraine to fix the election? He was engaged in a black propaganda operation: Pressure Ukraine to announce a bogus investigation, but hide the fact that it was Trump who wanted the investigation.
The incomparable Asha Rangappa explains that Trump was engaged in what was known as black propaganda, and it’s illegal.
Success with Operation Ukraine Shakedown would have meant persuading large numbers of voters that Biden actually is corrupt.
In real life, a person asked me, “Will Biden be hurt by all of this if he wins the nomination?” What was this? This was a Big Lie told about a videoclip of Biden. The video was not only innocent, it was heroic. Biden was taking on corruption in Ukraine.
If we have to “worry” about that kind of slander, even the cleanest and most saintly politicians are at risk because lies can be told about anyone.
If Biden had actually done something corrupt, they would have found it. This was the best they could do, which creates the irony of the Trump children (who cheat charities) railing against nepotism. The greatest danger we face is propaganda and disinformation campaigns.
Exactly. I stand corrected: The greatest danger right now is that a major political party, in its desperation to hold power in the face of its own shrinking demographics, is using propaganda against the citizens.
Notice that the great leaders don’t lead with gloom and doom predictions:
The reason to be optimistic is because of young people like Greta, David Hogg, Taylor Swift, and so many others.
If you haven’t heard Taylor Swift’s song, Only the Young, do yourself a favor. Taylor Swift is angry, she’s engaged, and she can turn out the young vote.
“They think it’s over. But it’s just begun. . .Only the young can run.” The future belongs to the young.
The song is here.
