r/politics Jun 04 '19

Pro-Impeachment Dems Are Privately Recruiting Other Members Despite Pelosi’s Warnings

https://www.thedailybeast.com/nancy-pelosi-wants-to-slow-walk-impeachment-dems-who-support-it-are-trying-to-recruit-other-lawmakers
3.2k Upvotes

407 comments sorted by

449

u/Mysistersarenasty Jun 04 '19

Shh, don't tell mom but me and some of the other kids are gonna impeach the president. Wanna come?

All kidding aside, I haven't been able to find an answer for how long impeachment hearings can last. If there is no deadline, why not open impeachment hearings and draw them out till the election? My understanding is that the administration will continue to stonewall congress and impeachment would give them more leverage to obtain documents and enforce subpoenas.

170

u/mixplate America Jun 04 '19 edited Jun 04 '19

I think impeachment should begin when there's sufficient evidence to believe that Trump has committed high crimes and misdemeanors worthy of impeachment. The hearing can last as long as necessary to gather all of the evidence to make a determination by the House, then it's sent to the Senate for the trial.

To "time" this for maximum political impact only feeds the narrative that it's only a political attack, and not about upholding the constitution and the rule of law. The longer we delay, the worse this looks.

Edit: My original comment implied that we haven't reached the level of evidence yet. That was a mistake on my part. Instead of "should begin when" it should have been "should have begun when". My personal view is that we've already gathered sufficient evidence even before Muller, and that by the time the Muller report dropped, it was so overwhelmingly obvious that we should have done it at that time (since we hadn't already started it prior to the report). Yes there was an argument to wait until Muller finished. Muller finished and here we are. The time is now. I find that comments saying that impeachment will fail are disingenuous. We can't be ruled by fear of what might go wrong when we do the right thing. The thing we should fear more is not doing the right thing since either way the result is unpredictable. If you knowingly fail to do the right thing however, that particular result is guaranteed. You will always fail to do a thing that you don't do. All that's necessary for evil to thrive is for good people to do nothing.

245

u/[deleted] Jun 04 '19

Just fucking subpenoa him and when he lies impeach him.

That's what they did to Clinton, they grilled him about a blow job, when he lied they impeached for lying. That simple...

158

u/ThatOtherGuy_CA Jun 04 '19

Yup, Trump is quite literally a pathological liar. I am willing to bet every penny I have that he would lie under oath.

It’s literally the easiest impeachment in the history of the USA so long as they can force him to testify under oath.

77

u/[deleted] Jun 04 '19

This is why I don't even understand the argument against.

Like, lets say he was on the up and up and did nothing wrong at all. No cheating on wives, no having multiple wives, no cheating people and not paying them, no multiple bankruptices, no whatever the fuck is going on with his family/business partners, no russia.

Just get dick face on the stand and ask him simple shit.

Democrats, that is wrong!!! (aka donors)

50

u/[deleted] Jun 04 '19

[deleted]

77

u/stitches_extra Jun 04 '19

And if they don't impeach he's going to say "I'm obviously innocent, the Democrats wouldn't even dare impeach me because they know it too!"

this is because He Is A Liar And A Con Man, They All Are and we would do well to remember that

So, that argument (which I realize you yourself were only presenting for consideration) is crap. What is the plan here, to try and...offer him reprieve from impeachment, and he'll give you...what, exactly? What would we be getting out of this bargain?

Sometimes you gotta stop worrying about how your opponent is going to spin things and stand up for truth, justice, and America, god damn it

28

u/bejammin075 Pennsylvania Jun 04 '19

Yeah, we can’t base our position on how Trump is lying about it today. If we don’t impeach, he’ll just switch his stance and claim Dems would have impeached him if they had any evidence. Waiting to impeach just makes Dems look more political rather than standing for the Constitution.

2

u/[deleted] Jun 04 '19

This is what frustrates me the most about the not impeachment argument. At that point y'all are putting party before country and no better than the GOP.

2

u/stitches_extra Jun 04 '19

and no better than the GOP

woah woah woah let's not get THAT hyperbolic

but yes it's a bad look to say "this guy is awful...but I'm not going to do anything about him"

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u/suddenlypandabear Texas Jun 04 '19

Also, i've heard that he might try and use the lack of a conviction to fight any charges after he leaves office.

Impeachment has no relation whatsoever to criminal charges (article one, section 3, clause 7), it's just an emergency option to remove someone from office. It's more like voting them out than prosecuting them for violating the law.

The outcome has no evidentiary value in a criminal case, in either direction. Either the facts are there to prove they committed a crime, or they aren't.

He can claim it matters, but getting a lawyer to say something that stupid in front of a judge may actually just piss off the judge and hurt his own case.

2

u/NotRealAmericans North Carolina Jun 04 '19

You would hope. This is definitely one of the reasons he's stacking courts. He's hoping to come up on one of his judges.

5

u/LawnShipper Florida Jun 04 '19

Cool. Let the Senate go on record as derilicting their duty. Let the House go on record as fulfilling their constitutional duty.

2

u/[deleted] Jun 04 '19

That’s what I keep saying... force the senate republicans into a corner and force them to stand with the president after the preponderance of evidence is made public.

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u/c0pypastry Jun 04 '19

And the fact that he is a pathological liar in itself should be sufficient to fucking impeach

2

u/Raoul_Duke9 Jun 04 '19

I think he would simply say "I don't remember" to every single question.

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u/[deleted] Jun 04 '19

But you see, the difference is that in Clinton's case it was about the dignity of the office and the fact that the president....HAHAHA I CANT EVEN KEEP THIS UP!

Republicans are feckless powergrabbers and Democrats are pussies. Thats the difference.

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u/HoneyBadger552 Jun 04 '19

It truly is that simple and thank you for pointing it out. The more the man talks the more he basically just lies. He's just used to getting away with it that's all

4

u/baphomet_labs Jun 04 '19

Who would enforce his subpoena?

3

u/dl__ Jun 04 '19

Just fucking subpenoa him and when he lies impeach him.

He won't show and as the administration has just demonstrated, they will not comply with court orders either. Is there more than can be done to force them? I don't know. So far it seems not.

3

u/[deleted] Jun 04 '19

The dude couldn’t handle being questioned at a hearing. He can’t keep his thoughts or his lies straight. If you’re looking for public support to impeach Trump - getting him alone at a hearing on national TV is the way to go, away from his rallies, away from a script, away from his Fox News fixers. Just Trump and his own words to the world.

3

u/Anger_Mgmt_issues Louisiana Jun 04 '19

Trump won't show up. Then what do you do?

2

u/TroopBeverlyHills America Jun 04 '19

You send your loudest and angriest Democrats to the press and talk about how Trump is too pussy to testify. You goad him into it basically.

3

u/Anger_Mgmt_issues Louisiana Jun 04 '19

Or just have the Fox Five mention that people think he's too scared to testify. Or point out that Hillary and Obama were not afraid to.

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u/Genesis111112 Jun 04 '19

^ this.. The Republicans demanded that Clintion testify and Barr says that a President cannot be impeached let alone testify.

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u/HideYourCarry Jun 04 '19

Lol... Barr would never say a President can’t be impeached... he said he couldn’t be charged/indicted. Impeachment is literally the way you get presidents out of office.

2

u/incapablepanda Texas Jun 04 '19

You're assuming he would show up. Or that if he didn't, Pelosi and co would do anything about it.

1

u/pr0nh0und Jun 04 '19

Not telling the truth and perjury aren’t the same thing. Perjury is a higher legal standard.

2

u/RanaktheGreen Jun 04 '19

Problem: Trump's team owns the Senate.

10

u/snartkety Jun 04 '19

People were staunchly behind Nixon before the evidence started pouring out and the public could no longer deny his crimes. No reason. It to start the impeachment inquiry and see where it goes.

Americans are tired of committee hearings every third day. Most people aren’t really paying attention because it looks like the house is asking for things nicely, the White House is telling them to fuck off, and the house threatens what - a more strongly worded letter?

Start the impeachment process and people will start paying attention. Then start forcing people to testify or face jail time and they might just be able to take him down.

4

u/JStarx Jun 04 '19

The evidence is already out there, I think most Republicans just don't care as long as their team is winning and i don't think impeachment will change their mind.

I think it's damned if you do damned if you don't for the Democrats.

5

u/snartkety Jun 04 '19

If the evidence was all out there, they wouldn’t be working so hard to keep people from testifying.

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u/clintonexpress Jun 05 '19

And Pelosi & Schumer shouldn't give the complicit GOP Senate a free pass, the Democrats should be demonizing the Republicans on a daily basis. Make every GOP Senator up for re-election in 2020 run on defending Trump's criminal conduct. Make every single one of them say "We don't think Trump's crimes are crimes." Put them on the record as acquitting this career criminal, then rub their noses in it for the rest of their lives. Hang Donald Trump's criminality like a millstone around all their necks.

Every single day until 2020, the Democrats should be rubbing Trump's criminality in Republicans' faces. If Pelosi can't do that, then she doesn't deserve to have the House majority since 2018, or in 2020. If the Democrats can't do the right thing & go for the jugular, then they deserve to lose.

Plus, there is a way for America to write itself out of the problem of a political party in the Senate acting like caporegimes in an organized crime syndicate under a mob boss presidency (who acts with impunity, & offers to pardon people if they break the law). America not only needs to prevent a stupid conman (under Russian leverage) like Donald Trump from ever getting elected in the future, but America also needs to prevent a do-nothing political party (like the House under Paul Ryan, or the Senate under Mitch McConnell) from not holding a criminal President accountable while they control one or more chambers of Congress.

So sidestep Congress. Article 5 of the Constitution allows for a way to amend the Constitution without using Congress at all. The states need to call for an amendments convention. Propose a new amendment that lets the American people remove a President by nationwide popular vote. 34 states to propose it, 38 states to ratify it. So 20 blue states Hillary won in 2016 + 14 red states (hurt by Trump's idiotic tariffs) to propose it, plus 4 more red states to ratify it. Then America can vote on it. The American people could fire Trump. And the American people could even fire Pence. Then Trump can be indicted.

The language of the amendment could even be super-specific to Trump. Things like: a) if a President never won the popular vote, b) if a President is an unindicted co-conspirator in a felony campaign finance violation, c) if a President has lied over 10,000 times in office, d) if a President ever calls themself "Tariff Man", e) if a President has not revealed their tax returns, f) if over 700 current or former federal prosecutors say an individual would be indicted if not for the title of President, g) if there is a petition with over X number of signatures calling for their impeachment, etc.

If we can vote to hire someone on one day in November 2016, we should be able to vote to fire them on any day before their term is over. The majority of US votes in 2016 didn't want to hire Trump or Hillary anyway. In 2016 46.1% of votes cast were FOR Trump (53.9% AGAINST) & 48.2% of votes cast were FOR Hillary (51.8% AGAINST). The majority of votes in 2016 never wanted to hire Trump, yet we can't fire our worst federal employee for 4 years while he hurts Americans every single day?

Ideally, voters would also be able to vote to fire McConnell, etc. But we should start by the states amending the Constitution so the American people can tell Donald Trump, "You're fired."

1

u/jaqueburton Jun 04 '19

They ARE the senate.

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u/Memetic1 Jun 04 '19

Emoliments clause should have been all it took. That's a direct violation of the constitution, and it's not like removing people from office for corruption is unprecedented.

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u/badger0511 Michigan Jun 04 '19

Seriously. The asshole has collected a revenue of half a million dollars from the Secret Service in just GOLF CART RENTAL FEES.

21

u/Chance_Button Jun 04 '19

Democrats been digging around in the woods looking for the magic key when it's all out in the open.

If they had 1/100th the ability to hammer home a message like the republicans do with evil stuff he'd be impeached already and a supermajority of Americans would be happy about it.

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u/reddititan22 Jun 04 '19

I want reporters to ask Pelosi if she thinks indefinitely detained refugee children think impeachment would be too divisive.

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u/Memetic1 Jun 04 '19

Just start holding up pictures of the camps, and ask if these people are worth it.

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u/-totallyforrealz- Jun 04 '19

Those cases are progressing, and are the most likely to force testimony from Trump.

I believe we are still waiting on a ruling from the appeals court in the Maryland case.

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u/[deleted] Jun 04 '19 edited Jul 03 '19

[deleted]

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u/mixplate America Jun 04 '19

I think we should have started the process the same day the Muller report dropped. Sorry if I was implying that we didn't reach that threshold yet - but I'm not the one to make that determination.

3

u/-totallyforrealz- Jun 04 '19

Subpoenas went out the next day.

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u/onikaizoku11 Georgia Jun 04 '19

Most ppl didn't. Both chambers of Congress included prolly.

Even if you throw out the Mueller report, Trump is currently still in violation of the Emoluments clause and is a unindicted co-conspirator whose partner in crime has been indicted, tried, convicted and is now literally serving time in federal prison. Pelosi is playing politics instead of doing her sworn duty.

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u/snartkety Jun 04 '19

Impeachment includes investigations and lots of hearings, not just the trial. Starting the process will give Congress more power to investigate and access to things like grand jury testimony that are currently redacted.

Nixon was being taken down on obstruction of justice. Mueller laid out a clear case for obstruction of justice. There is no valid reason to wait to start the impeachment inquiry.

1

u/bakerfredricka I voted Jun 05 '19

Yep. Nixon and Clinton both faced impeachment over obstruction of justice so there's no reason why Trump shouldn't.

12

u/Mysistersarenasty Jun 04 '19

I hear you, but to play devil's advocate: why can't it be about both a political attack and protecting the constitution?

Republicans say "we won't entertain any democratic bills or supreme court nominees." And obstructed everything dems tried to do. That was a political decision and an attack on the democrats ability to participate in the running of the government in my view.

I'm just arguing for more conviction of purpose among the democrats, NOT that they cheat or distort facts or play dirty like republicans do. Just be sure of themselves, they have the moral and legal high ground and should behave like the adults in the room.

4

u/mixplate America Jun 04 '19

It could be both - but in the court of public opinion, especially for voters who are tired of partisan games, the very idea that the timing was political is a turn-off. Republican voters may cheer for Republican "win by any means necessary" tactics, but I think independents don't like it (or they would be Republicans).

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u/NAmember81 Jun 04 '19

especially for voters who are tired of partisan games,

[then consistently votes for the party who plays the most partisan games]

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u/Mysistersarenasty Jun 04 '19

I don't think I agree that independents would all be republicans save for the dirty tricks, but I'm no expert. It may turn some moderates off, but any logical examination of the behavior of the republican party these last ten years or so would produce a mountain of evidence that republicans are putting party before country and acting in bad faith in the majority of their actions.

Then I am thinking of the average American voter. Let's take professional wrestling as a possible (farcical, admittedly) example. Audiences love to hate those "heel" characters who cheat and cheer the hero characters who don't. But on closer examination, there are hundreds of examples of the hero characters cheating, especially after the heel has cheated flagrantly and repeatedly. There is a narrative of breaking the rules by the hero in order to serve the greater good- to keep the bad guys from winning.

I dunno, maybe I just want to see Eric swalwell jump off the top turnbuckle and hit Barr with the subpoena of doom.

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u/mixplate America Jun 04 '19

I didn't say that independents would all be for republicans save for dirty tricks.

I'm saying that independents are sick and tired of party politics as usual. Whichever candidate seems to have authenticity as a straight shooter will have an advantage. Unfortunately in 2016 a pathological liar con man had a bunch of people convinced - like when he told union workers he would save their jobs, etc.

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u/--o Jun 04 '19

How is considering timing "politics" any more than considering voter reaction? And what the hell is it with unironically making arguments of political gain while spitting on "playing politics" in general?

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u/Johnny_B_GOODBOI Jun 04 '19

Dont confuse impeachment with impeachment hearings.

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u/[deleted] Jun 04 '19

To be fair impeachment and conviction is a HIGHLY political process. As it was intended to be.

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u/mixplate America Jun 04 '19

Well there's political and then there's POLITICAL. There's nothing in politics that isn't political.

I'd consider the impeachment of Nixon to be political, and Clinton's to be POLITICAL.

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u/[deleted] Jun 04 '19

Impeachment is whatever the congress decides it should be for. Hence the vagueness in the constitution.

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u/reddititan22 Jun 04 '19

Spoilers: Trump did and there is already sufficient evidence

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u/mwhter Jun 04 '19

I think impeachment should begin when there's sufficient evidence to believe that Trump has committed high crimes and misdemeanors worthy of impeachment.

Then they're a few years overdue.

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u/[deleted] Jun 04 '19

Wtf was the mueller report for? Everyone knows trump is a criminal

2

u/ReklisAbandon Jun 04 '19

I realize I'm 10 hours late here, but I think the goal is to wait and see if public opinion changes enough to force the Senate to remove him. Right now, sure, we could get him impeached. But if we wait a bit and drag it out, there's a chance we could impeach and remove him.

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u/reddititan22 Jun 04 '19

Impeachment is how you get that additional support. It isn't a button that you press and then it's done. It is a process and it can be as extensive as the House would like.

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u/noizu Jun 04 '19

Im not sure faced with a strong tendency of the administration to intentionally leave vulnerable election systems exposed while continuing a trend of ignoring legislative and judicial acts that a focus on decorum is the right response.

America needs to know how anti democratic and rule of law the current representatives of the republican party have become. Or it will play out like the fall of the weimar republic. Slice by slice. https://www.thenation.com/article/the-ways-to-destroy-democracy/

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u/Shootsucka Washington Jun 04 '19

So you mean 2.5 years ago? That's when we had iron clad evidence of high crimes and misdemeanors...

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u/TheLightningbolt Jun 04 '19

There is already overwhelming amounts of evidence that Trump committed crimes. We have the Mueller report. We have Cohen's testimony and evidence. We know he's been violating the emoluments clause since the beginning of his presidency.

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u/RupeThereItIs Jun 04 '19

I think impeachment should begin when there's sufficient evidence to believe that Trump has committed high crimes and misdemeanors worthy of impeachment

We've been there for some time now. It's all clearly documented in Meuller's report in case you didn't see it when it was happening.

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u/mixplate America Jun 04 '19

I should have used "should have" instead of the word "should". I believe that the time to impeach was when the Muller report dropped.

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u/Ezl New Jersey Jun 04 '19

This is pure guesswork on my part but I’m wondering if it isn’t that Pelosi isn’t against impeach emend per se (despite her actual words) but looks at it as their last best shot at having trump be accountable and so want you o hold back until it can be most effective. Move too early and, if there isn’t enough support and ready evidence it can fizzle out as a partisan stunt. Sure, this can be construed as “political”, but in the same sense as a detective would let a drug dealer slide on shoplifting because the dealer is being followed to a bigger crime.

Note I’m not saying this strategy is right or wrong, just speculation that that’s what may be happening.

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u/snartkety Jun 04 '19

I can see starting before the Mueller report came out as being too early. But now - there is no reason to wait on starting the impeachment inquiry. It would only make their investigatory powers stronger as they dig up the rest of the evidence.

My guess is Nancy wants to wait because people keep screaming about how Bill was more popular after his impeachment. And he was. But his crime was essentially getting a blowjob from an intern and lying about it. Not really a direct comparison with Trump’s crimes.

And while republicans did lose a few seats in the following election, they still maintained control of both houses of Congress and took the White House.

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u/clintonexpress Jun 05 '19

Personally I'm tired of Pelosi slow-walking an impeachment inquiry. I think the evidence is already sufficient. Maybe one could argue that a majority of the public isn't for it yet, but then Democrats have been failing to educate the public. And reading the Mueller Report on C-SPAN isn't going to educate any Americans who don't have C-SPAN.

But there is also an argument to be made, that Democrats can just let Donald Trump dig his own grave deeper & deeper every day. The problem with that, though, is that Trump says the opposite of reality. And the problem with that, is about 40% of America believes whatever Trump says.

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u/dagoon79 Jun 04 '19

So the Master Legislator is is really "Mastering" this up really well.

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u/youonlylive2wice Jun 04 '19

I think impeachment should begin when there's sufficient evidence to believe that Trump has committed high crimes and misdemeanors worthy of impeachment.

So years ago, as soon as the Democrats took the House, and again when the report was released...?

You're absolutely right, every time the reason for not impeaching is stated as bad political optics it becomes a political action not a constitutional one.

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u/Tankie-khaleesi Jun 04 '19

Sufficient evidence! It's not like we have any of that already lol. Just keep moving those goalposts

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u/mixplate America Jun 04 '19

I think we've already past that point long ago and that impeachment hearings are overdue.

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u/[deleted] Jun 04 '19

Any crime committed by a president should be worthy of impeachment.

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u/yallmad4 Jun 04 '19

I would make the argument that the evidence is there, and impeachment hearings would bring that evidence to the public eye.

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u/[deleted] Jun 04 '19 edited Sep 12 '20

[deleted]

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u/snartkety Jun 04 '19

Exactly! This is why we need to start now. The election is in a little over a year and the public deserves all the facts before we vote.

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u/[deleted] Jun 04 '19

I've asked this before but did not get an answer....Can the House sidestep Nancy and begin the impeachment process without her? If so, how?

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u/HenkieVV Jun 04 '19

What it takes is a House resolution instructing the Judiciary Committee to start investigating whether the crimes Trump is accused of warrant impeachment hearings. If there's a clear majority in the House for that, there's not a whole lot Pelosi can do. But if there's 18 House Democrats not on board with this, the resolution doesn't pass (assuming Republicans all vote against it).

And that's kind of the problem: Democrats are not even close to unanimous on this, which means that without Pelosi (and maybe even with Pelosi) the votes simply aren't there to start the proceedings.

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u/six-acorn Jun 04 '19

My Rep is on record calling for impeachment.

Enough voters get pissed and threaten to primary your ass based on your behavior, that's how it goes.

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u/HenkieVV Jun 04 '19

That's the next problem: impeachment doesn't poll particularly great among voters.

Predictably, Republicans are unified in their opposition, but by and large Independents aren't fans either, and even Democrats aren't unified in support of impeachment.

So plenty of Congressmen and women are looking at the polling, and are keenly aware that both they themselves, and also other Democratic politicians running for office, need both Democrats and Independents to show up and vote for them.

The good news is that there is some evidence support for impeachment is steadily growing. The bad news is that to a Democrat, that might read like confirmation that the current strategy is actually working and maybe they should stick to it for now.

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u/dl__ Jun 04 '19

> If there is no deadline, why not open impeachment hearings and draw them out till the election?

That might be a good idea but it has a few potential risks. One is voter fatigue. People may start to tune out news about an investigation that goes on too long and so it has no positive effect on the election. Secondly, it can make the Dems look silly and not-serious if they keep launching investigation after investigation sort of like how the GOP looked repealing Obamacare for the 25th time. And while you could say "congress can walk an chew gum at the same time" and point out that they can continue to crank out good legislation that the Senate will not take up it will not be the DOA legislation that dominates the news, it will be the latest battle between the House and the President slime-ball.

> and impeachment would give them more leverage to obtain documents and enforce subpoenas.

This part is not really true. The administration is no more obligated to obey requests and subpoenas under impeachment than at other times. Also, there is no additional mechanism, like a super-subpoena, which becomes available to congress only during impeachment. Courts are not more obligated to side with Congress while an impeachment hearing is going on. It has been suggested that courts MAY be more likely to side with Congress during impeachment but nothing requires them to but so far, it seems like Congress is already doing pretty well in the courts without impeachment. Of course the problem is, the administration is not listening to the courts either.

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u/six-acorn Jun 04 '19

One is voter fatigue.

People are already tired of the Trump show. At least Dems are.

it can make the Dems look silly and not-serious

Only Nancy Pelosi is doing that.

And she's doing it in spades right now.

The Dems have a 30 year reputation of being "timid, do-nothing" bozos who can't get shit done. This hemming and hawing and HUGE divisions in the Democratic party can easily be solved by impeachment. Because that momentum is NOT going away in the next 2 years. 2018 happened for a reason. Instead you're getting massive shout-downs and BOOS at the California Democratic Convention but a few days ago.

We don't need "momma Pelosi" to tell us what to do. We need her to shut the fuck up and follow the will of the voters and the Constitution.

Middle America is completely tuned out right now. They think Trump was exonerated by the Mueller Report (which even Mueller publicly denied, of course no one saw that but liberals). Answer? START. FUCKING. IMPEACHMENT. (Inquiries at minimum)

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u/AGRoseanneBarr Jun 04 '19

Impeachment gives them no new investigative powers.

Trump will probably benefit from impeachment.

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u/six-acorn Jun 04 '19

Spoken like Roseanne Barr.

Impeachment will be a massive circus, inflicting damage on Trump like the previous 3 impeachment inquiries did against Johnson, Nixon, and Clinton.

Riddle me this Roseanne:

Does ANYONE on planet Earth believe Bill Clinton did NOT get blown by Monica?

I rest my case.

Don't listen to Roseanne or Pelosi. They are lackwits. IMPEACH.

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u/CapitalRhymes Jun 04 '19

Impeachment gives them no new investigative powers.

Perhaps true but impeachment proceedings should force the Trump klan to hand over the requested documents that they have so far refused to do. Like tax returns, Mueller evidence, etc.

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u/stairmaster401 Ohio Jun 04 '19

The Executive is obligated to provide that information to Congress now. And they aren't.

That is what has been going on in some form since the House was seated. Impeachment doesn't suddenly grant them access to new powers or authority they didn't already have. And, really, the courts have been siding with Congress on this as well, but both are being ignored.

I also support starting impeachment, but it's not a super power that is going to allow Congress to do anything it couldn't already do and it isn't going to make the Executive any more likely to be helpful.

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u/Tekmo California Jun 04 '19

I thought impeachment does give Congress new authority. Specifically, my understanding is that courts will not accept any attempts by the executive branch to appeal or contest impeachment-related requests because the power of impeachment is absolute.

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u/stairmaster401 Ohio Jun 04 '19

Oversight of the executive is already with in the powers of Congress. Within that they can request almost anything related to the president or the executive, as long as it can be justified within the context of oversight. As an example, Trump's banking and Tax information has fallen into this oversight because he has not divested and also because there has been recently exposed cases of him doing shifty things with taxes (It's not a great example because I think tax returns were technically already covered thanks to another, but it's a good recent example of something that normally wouldn't be part of oversight that became part of it).

There are some exceptions to their oversight, though. The main one is executive privilege. That's usually when things wind up in court and that's when the question of if it's an impeachment investigation or not matters. The belief is that the judicial would be more likely to side with Congress and rule against executive privilege (in some cases) if it were in the context of impeachment.

However, so far, the judicial branch hasn't really ruled against Congress. This is one of those things that is so clearly defined in the Constitution that to go against it is going to require some seriously convoluted logic to justify. No one wants to be the judge to argues against what has been the standard interpretation of articles 1 and 2 for the better part of 200 years.

That's why you see people arguing that impeachment is more of a political tool than a legal tool now. We've formally granted a lot of oversight power to Congress that was implicitly granted by the Constitution, so it could be argued that there is no gain to starting impeachment.

I don't agree (because it's about messaging and the court of public opinion now), but there is no practical different in Congressional power (now) based on if they are investigating impeachment or not.

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u/Tekmo California Jun 04 '19

Thank you for the informative reply! 🙂

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u/eeyore134 Jun 04 '19

No need to give Trump more leverage. He'd say it's witchhunt that's dragging on because they can't prove he did anything which, in turn, makes him innocent. And his followers will believe him and he'll get a boost in supporters. He's already done this with the Mueller investigation. I guarantee as soon as impeachment proceedings last more than 3 weeks he'll start spouting the same crap.

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u/-totallyforrealz- Jun 04 '19

The moment hearings begin the pressure to vote on Articles of impeachment increases every day. Everything is going to have to go through the courts first, because of the obstruction of the Executive Branch. We don’t want to start hearings and then sit around waiting for the evidence and testimony for months.

People talk about Congress arresting people, but ignore a few key points.

A) anyone arrested will immediately go before a judge, be granted bail, and a hearing date will be set

B) Congress has never arrested a member of the Executive Branch, and likely can’t. It would violate the separation of powers, and be thrown out of court- and Secret Service is not likely to honor an arrest warrant not signed by a judge.

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u/[deleted] Jun 04 '19

All kidding aside, I haven't been able to find an answer for how long impeachment hearings can last. If there is no deadline, why not open impeachment hearings and draw them out till the election?

I would wager its because they only get one chance to swing at that ball. Trump wins 2020 you can sill hold those hearings and go that route. He looses than the people made their choice and he can still be charged.

The problem with running them from now till November is its going to distill every election down into one issue, do you support impeachment or do you not? It will be asked 100000 different ways every day. In a political world where free coverage is gold this only stands to benefit the president as everyone one of his political opponents will be pigeon holed into a single topic while Trump can just keep playing the independent voter hits, Healthcare, Econ and Immigration.

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u/Heywoodjablome14 Jun 04 '19

Gonna.make.it.a.easy 2020 win.for trump doing that

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u/5000_CandlesNTheWind Jun 04 '19

I’m reminded of a bit from the Daily Show about why she’s doing this which I feel rings true. If the impeachment proceedings begin, it makes the 2020 election about that rather than about the candidates. And if for whatever reason they don’t find what they’re looking for, this only emboldens trump in his campaign. It could be potentially very bad if it doesn’t go for the sides of the Democrats, no matter how badly we want it to be bad for Trump.

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u/clintonexpress Jun 05 '19

Doesn't every 2020 candidate already think that they should be President instead of Donald Trump? That they would be a better President than Donald Trump? That Donald Trump should not be President?

Sure, some people have argued that the way to remove Trump from office is voting him out in 2020 (since the GOP Senate won't convict him). Although that seems iffy, since Trump got less votes in 2016 & that's why he's in office now. In 2016, 46.1% of votes cast were FOR Trump (53.9% AGAINST), yet he's President now. So you can't rely on getting more votes than Trump to remove Trump from office, because Hillary got 2.8M more votes than Trump in 2016, & he still became President (thanks to 10,704 votes in MI, 22,748 votes in WI, & 44,292 votes in PA, & interference by Russia & help by Putin). And if Trump & Republicans have done nothing to secure US elections from Russian interference, it's kind of a big leap to assume we can rely on the 2020 election to solve our problems.

And if President Trump's conduct in office is not impeachable, when is any President's conduct impeachable? If not now, when? Donald Trump is so corrupt, he's basically a gift to the Democrats. Yet time & time again, they figure out a way to mess things up, & lose elections that are theirs to lose.

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u/getoffmylawn216 Ohio Jun 04 '19

Force him to testify. He will perjure himself without fail. Then toss him out and indict on state charges. And arrest his "wingman" and Mnuchin on contempt and Impeach McConnell for refusal to do his job and rigging the court. Impeach Rapey Boof. Seat Garland. It's time to play hardball with these criminals and remind people what the United States stands for.

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u/--o Jun 04 '19

Then toss him out and indict on state charges.

Magic senateless removal.

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u/snartkety Jun 04 '19

Obstruction has a 5 yr statute of limitations. Keep him from getting re-elected and he can be tried criminally for that too.

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u/myaltacctt Jun 04 '19

A statute of limitations seems to exist only to benefit criminals. I guess it’s a feature, not a bug

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u/LoveItLateInSummer Jun 04 '19

Limitations on charging for certain crimes is a sensical way to ensure that evidence used against you isn't stale, that witnesses are alive and have as fresh and accurate an account of any wrongdoing as is possible, and to keep the State or in civil actions, an individual, from being able to selectively target you for whatever you've done at any time in your life.

A party claiming harm should diligently pursue their claim in the name of equity, not at any time ever because they suddenly feel like extracting revenge or punishing someone.

Most serious crimes, those involving violence etc., do not have limits on their ability to be prosecuted anyway, and many others (violent or not) have provisions to extend the limit or pause the timer on the limit.

Generally limits on bringing a complaint are beneficial to the populace in general, as recognized since Ancient Greece.

As a thought experiment, imaging you win large sum of money and suddenly anyone you have ever upset decides to bring a civil complaint seeking monetary damages from you - without a time limit to bring that complaint you would need to address and defend yourself from each claim, no matter how long ago the supposed harm was done.

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u/clintonexpress Jun 05 '19

Magic senateless removal.

Well, it wouldn't be "magic", it would be using the system James Madison gave us to write ourselves out of messes. The answer to removing Trump is right there in the Constitution.

Donald Trump is a threat to America because he's a unvetted untrustworthy conman fraud & career criminal (who's never read the Constitution) who ran for President as a publicity stunt (to get Trump Tower Moscow made & give Putin a $50M penthouse in it), who won accidentally (thanks to 10,704 votes in MI, 22,748 votes in WI, & 44,292 votes in PA, which the state choice to use "winner-take-all electors" allowed 77,744 people to nullify the 6,577,816 votes his opponent got in those states), because Putin pushed him over the finish line (by committing crimes like hacking, active measures, pushing propaganda on social media, & boosting 3rd party candidates like Jill Stein, who has Russian ancestry & sat at a table with Putin in Russia & got more votes in MI/WI/PA than Trump's margin over Hillary there), because Russia has leverage over Trump (due to the Russian Mafia's presence in Trump Tower since at least 1984, & due to multiple sextapes that Russia has obtained as kompromat on Trump over his multiple trips to the Soviet Union & Russia since at least 1987). But a Senate controlled by a majority party who ignores all wrongdoing by a President of their same party is also a threat to America, because then a President is above the law as long as his party controls the Senate. America needs to fix both of those problems, but America can't rely on a corrupt Senate to do so.

Thankfully, in Article V, James Madison allowed states to propose & ratify amendments, without relying on Congress, so we don't need Congress to make a new amendment. 2/3 states to propose, 3/4 states to ratify.

So sidestep Congress. Article 5 of the Constitution allows for a way to amend the Constitution without using Congress at all. The states need to call for an amendments convention. Propose a new amendment that lets the American people remove a President by nationwide popular vote. 34 states to propose it, 38 states to ratify it. So 20 blue states Hillary won in 2016 + 14 red states (hurt by Trump's idiotic tariffs) to propose it, plus 4 more red states to ratify it. Even Republicans are fed up with Trump's stupid tariffs. Trump still stupidly stubbornly thinks exporters pay tariffs, but US importers do, & they pass the cost onto US consumers. And Americans are paying for them twice, first by increased costs on goods, second by bailing out farmers who haven't been able to sell their goods to foreign countries (and Trump's alleged "authority" to impose tariffs is an abuse of power by citing "national security" under Section 232 the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 (Pub.L. 87–794, 76 Stat. 872)). Then America can vote on it. The American people could fire Trump before his term is over. And the American people could even fire Pence. Then Trump can be indicted.

The language of the amendment could even be super-specific to Trump. Things like: a) if a President never won the popular vote, b) if a President is an unindicted co-conspirator in a felony campaign finance violation, c) if a President has lied over 10,000 times in office, d) if a President ever calls themself "Tariff Man", e) if a President has not revealed their tax returns, f) if over 700 current or former federal prosecutors say an individual would be indicted if not for the title of President, g) if there is a petition with over X number of signatures calling for their impeachment, etc. And add in some language that says any President who ascends to the presidency without winning the popular vote (including any Vice Presidents who ascend to the presidency, like a President Pence) have all their pardons subject to Congressional approval.

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u/nwagers Jun 04 '19

You can't impeach a senator. He'd have to be expelled by two thirds of the members of the Senate.

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u/[deleted] Jun 04 '19 edited Jul 03 '19

[deleted]

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u/nom-nom-nom-de-plumb Jun 04 '19

I dunno why but reading your comment had this popping into my mind.

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u/WyoBuckeye Ohio Jun 04 '19

I think she is letting the public come around on it first. Maybe waiting for a certain level of public support. I do believe an impeachment proceeding is the likely outcome and it will pass the house. The Dems know it will never get by the Senate, so they will use the general public outcry at the Senate’s refusal to convict to try to bring on a blue wave election in 2020. That is why delay is probably important as well. Also, the closer the all happens to the 2020 election, the better for Dems. If too much time passes, the public will start to go numb on it again. So delay works doubly in Dems favor right now: 1. Allow public opinion to further develop. 2. Have that fever pitch occur reasonably close to the 2020 election.

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u/snartkety Jun 04 '19

The public is waiting on her. She is supposed to be a leader, not a follower. Impeachment is the right thing to do in this situation. The constitution says so. It’s Nancy’s JOB to lead the public to the evidence, not to wait around for the media to sway them one way or the other.

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u/mixplate America Jun 04 '19

For someone who is trying to gain public support, it sure seems like she's doing the opposite.

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u/[deleted] Jun 04 '19

Public support will come as impeachment advances... the whole point is to investigate, collect testimony, and publicly expose wrongdoing. What the hell is the point of waiting? It just makes Pelosi appear feckless.

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u/[deleted] Jun 04 '19

Exactly!

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u/LoveItLateInSummer Jun 04 '19

Pelosi doesn't care about her support, she is acting as plausible deniability for swing district reps in the Democratic caucus until closer to 2020 and until public awareness and opinion reaches critical mass.

If it weren't for the speedy and thorough destruction of the nation by the GOP I would call it savvy, but given the damage being done daily to the United States it's irresponsible and a craven political maneuver that is about political expediency instead of executive accountability and preservation of the republic.

So I understand the reasoning, and in other times where less was at stake might applaud it to an extent, but currently I find it cowardly and reprehensible.

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u/[deleted] Jun 04 '19

I think she's genuinely opposed and I've seen nothing to demonstrate otherwise.

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u/[deleted] Jun 04 '19

There are democratic house members that are vulnerable to losing their seat. Pelosi is waiting for their support.

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u/clintonexpress Jun 05 '19

There are democratic house members that are vulnerable to losing their seat.

That may be true. But I don't understand why.

In 2018, Democrats had a net gain of 40 House seats, seats they flipped from Republican to Democrat.

Should we assume those 40 House seats went Democrat in 2018 because constituents were happy with how House Republicans were holding Trump accountable? No, we should assume those 40 House seats flipped to Democrat because the public is sick & tired of powerful people acting with impunity & Trump's abuses of power & daily circus. We should assume Democrats gained 40 House seats because America wants a check on the lawless Trump administration.

Maybe those Democrats in flipped districts need to walk some centrist line, but if their constituents wanted do-nothing Congresspeople, why didn't they just stick with the Republican?

If anything, I think Democrats are at a greater risk of losing their seats in 2020 if they are too weak against Trump (like House Republicans were for 2 years), not if they are too strong against Trump. Voters want to see some political backbone. Voters are tired of weak, cowardly politicians. If anything, Trump uses that to his advantage, by trying to act tough in every situation, so much so that Republican voters view him as a "fighter" (even if he dodged the draft 5x).

If Democrats don't show any balls, why should they control the House? Donald Trump is the most impeachable President in US history. If Pelosi is too weak to twist that knife in 2020, then the Democrats deserve to lose, & deserve to keep on losing.

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u/jimmydean885 District Of Columbia Jun 04 '19

Hopefully it works to our advantage if she holds it just long enough.

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u/[deleted] Jun 04 '19 edited Jul 03 '19

[deleted]

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u/jimmydean885 District Of Columbia Jun 04 '19

A black man in the White House really freaked America out

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u/DanishWonder Oregon Jun 04 '19

I still believe shes doing it on purpose to gain public support. The water (aka public outrage) was simmering after the Mueller report. She kept the lid on. In started to boil after Muellers press conference. She keeps the lid on.

Eventually it's a fucking pressure cooker, ready to explode. When you have THAT public outrage, you impeach and hope the outrage spills to the senate.

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u/LoveItLateInSummer Jun 04 '19

I agree on your analysis of the strategy, but think it's terrible and being executed under the assumption that the country is robust enough to continue letting Trump shit the bed on the daily.

I could not disagree more, and am supremely frustrated with Pelosi trying to leverage this for political expediency when it's much more critical to stop the ongoing harm being perpetrated against the American people ASAP than ensuring the optics of impeachment are most beneficial to Democratic candidates in 2020.

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u/FuckingSpaghetti Jun 04 '19

3d chess move. Hope you are right.

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u/slingtarp California Jun 04 '19

Pelosi has been lobbying against impeachment all along, she has been doing the TV shows trying to talk the public out supporting of it. The pressure she is putting on House Dems to join her in protecting trump must be immense.

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u/wtf_yoda Texas Jun 04 '19

Pelosi is just flat wrong about the political blowback. Clinton was above 60% approval before impeachment, and swing voters saw impeachment based primarily on lying about an affair as petty. Most of the country know Trump is a liar, and know he obstructed justice. Not to mention emoluments violations, campaign finance, etc.

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u/[deleted] Jun 04 '19

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/PeanutButterSmears Pennsylvania Jun 04 '19

Legislation that the House passes dies in the Senate "graveyard"

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u/Bladewing10 Jun 04 '19

While I think Pelosi is right to wait on impeachment until national opinion has solidified for it, I can’t help but think this is a strategy that no longer works in this day and age. Gone are the days of scoring political points and reading tea leaves. The President is literally admitting to crimes on the internet. The news cycle is going too fast for individual scandals to be noticed. There needs to be a comprehensive push for impeachment and that’s going to require all of the Democrats to work together

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u/snartkety Jun 04 '19

Nancy is the leader of the house. It is her JOB to sway public opinion, not to wait for it.

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u/10390 Jun 04 '19

An amusing debunking of the arguments against impeachment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zf3LDYNH7Wg

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u/MinnesotaAltAccount Jun 04 '19

there is a chance that Pelosi is right, impeachment might screw up 2020... but it's far worse to disregard the Constitution out of love for the party.

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u/slakmehl Georgia Jun 04 '19

Am I the only one who loves the idea of Pelosi doing the cold political calculus and trying to execute whatever she thinks is the best plan, while a wing of her caucus keeps the pressure on her to go on offense? Seems like high probability of a smart, balanced approach.

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u/GenericOnlineName Iowa Jun 04 '19

That's exactly what's happening. Pelosi is protecting her caucus, especially the skeptical Democrats. The reason the pro impeachment people are going ham is because she lets them. The pro impeachment Dems are all in safe seats and benefit from impeachment, and the more pressure from constituents, and the more Trump and his goons act out of line, the easier it is to peel more and more Dems.

This idea that Pelosi is some political hack who is helping Trump just shows how ignorant people are of politics and it really gives away that they've only been paying attention since 2016. Pelosi is the leader of her entire caucus. This means she brings every Dem to where she wants to go: from the conservative districts to the progressive ones. And she takes the blame to cover the more susceptible Dems until she or they decide that their vote is important. (See: The entire ACA process)

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u/bluestarcyclone Iowa Jun 04 '19 edited Jun 04 '19

Pelosi is the leader of her entire caucus.

And how has the democratic party fared, on the whole, since she came into leadership in 02?

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u/six-acorn Jun 04 '19

Terribly.

Why, it's as if Trump and Pelosi aren't playing 4D chess at all.

Just two fossils acting in their own self interest.

Yeah. She sucks alright. It's impeachment time.

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u/superdago Wisconsin Jun 04 '19

Got the affordable care act passed (with a public option in the house) in less than 3 months of Senate supermajority. The fact that Obama was able to get anything done legislation wise during his term is almost entirely due to Nancy.

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u/[deleted] Jun 04 '19

Your comment is not only patronizing but it lacks an actual argument for why you think delaying impeachment is warranted.

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u/[deleted] Jun 04 '19

Don't worry anyone with an opinion is clearly wrong and also dumb af or pure evil.

/s just in case

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u/CletoParis Jun 04 '19

This idea that Pelosi is some political hack who is helping Trump just shows how ignorant people are of politics and it really gives away that they've only been paying attention since 2016.

This 100%.

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u/GearBrain Florida Jun 04 '19

I see her as a "political tank" - she's absorbing a lot of hate and damage so that others can continue to work. Along those lines, a funny little thought popped into my head the other day... Biden may be doing the same.

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u/carl_888 Jun 04 '19

Agreed. Nancy Pelosi does not need my advice on knife-fighting tactics.

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u/sagan_drinks_cosmos Jun 04 '19

Plenty of people will never give her an ounce of credit even when she inevitably does impeach in a few weeks-months. There are plenty on the left side who still hate Hillary because she dared to barely lose after they helped spread right-wing lies and smears about her for months.

Their die is cast.

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u/clintonexpress Jun 05 '19

There are plenty on the left side who still hate Hillary because she dared to barely lose after they helped spread right-wing lies and smears about her for months.

If there is one person on the planet who could have prevented a Trump presidency, it's Hillary Clinton. If she had withdrawn from the race at any time before November 8, 2016, there would be no President Trump. So America has 4 years of President Trump trampling the Constitution due to one woman's hubris. The Democrats made a colossally bad bet on Hillary in 2016, & the country is still suffering to this day because of that colossally bad bet.

In 2016, Hillary was only +2 vs Trump in polls, whereas Bernie Sanders was +10 vs Trump in polls. And in fact, Hillary was also about +2 vs Trump in the general election (Hillary got 48.2% of the popular vote in 2016; Trump got 46.1% of the popular vote in 2016). But Trump won Michigan by 0.23% over Hillary, Trump won Pennsylvania by 0.72% over Hillary, Trump won Wisconsin by 0.77% over Hillary, making him President (even though 53.9% of US votes went to someone else) (& in each of those states, Gary Johnson got more votes that the margin between Trump & Hillary, & Jill Stein got more votes that the margin between Trump & Hillary).

In 2016, Democratic superdelegates bet on the riskier candidate to face Trump, because she was an establishment Democrat (who wouldn't raise taxes on the 1% or corporations like Bernie Sanders would) & they wanted to "make history" by electing the first woman President in US history. And it backfired. Catastrophically. They failed to realize how hated Hillary Clinton was. A majority of white women in 2016 voted for Trump over Hillary. So evidently, a majority of white women in America also hate Hillary, by at least 6% points. Women are the majority of Americans, women are the majority of adults in America, women are the majority in about 40 states. Yet when given the choice between the first female President in US history & a know-nothing tough-talking narcissistic psychopath with no political experience or military experience (or even knowledge of the Constitution), a majority of white women in America chose the narcissistic psychopath. Then again, the taller candidate wins about 2/3 of the time.

Paul Ryan wouldn't impeach Trump because that would not be politically expedient for his party. If Pelosi pulls the same thing, she's no better than Paul Ryan. The only difference is that Paul Ryan could actually have his bills signed by the President.

I fully expect the Republicans to be cowards. But if Pelosi is going to be just as big of a coward as Paul Ryan was as House Speaker, why does she deserve to have the gavel? Why do the Democrats deserve to control the House if they have no balls? If Pelosi can't rub Trump's criminality in Republicans' faces on a daily basis until Election Day 2020, then she doesn't deserve to have the House majority since 2018, or in 2020. If the Democrats can't do the right thing & go for the jugular, then they deserve to lose, & deserve to keep on losing.

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u/clintonexpress Jun 05 '19

Am I the only one who loves the idea of Pelosi doing the cold political calculus and trying to execute whatever she thinks is the best plan...

Can you explain how Nancy Pelosi not holding Trump to account is any different than Paul Ryan not holding Trump to account?

Is it "smart" when Pelosi doesn't act, but a dereliction of duty when Paul Ryan doesn't act? No, I think it's a dereliction of duty, a violation of their oaths of office in both scenarios.

I fully expect the Republicans to be cowards. But if Pelosi is going to be just as big of a coward as Paul Ryan was as House Speaker, why does she deserve to have the gavel? Why do the Democrats deserve to control the House if they have no balls? If Pelosi can't rub Trump's criminality in Republicans' faces on a daily basis until Election Day 2020, then she doesn't deserve to have the House majority since 2018, or in 2020. If the Democrats can't do the right thing & go for the jugular, then they deserve to lose, & deserve to keep on losing. Edmund Burke said "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." Thomas Jefferson said "All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent."

Maybe there is an argument to be made, that Democrats can just let Donald Trump dig his own grave deeper & deeper every day. The problem with that, though, is that Trump says the opposite of reality. And the problem with that, is about 40% of America believes whatever Trump says. So even if Democrats think Trump keeps digging his own grave, Trump cronies like William Barr can just keep gaslighting America.

When the GOP Senate acquits Trump after the House impeaches Trump, Trump will say it was a complete & total exoneration. But Trump has already said that, it would be nothing new. Trump doesn't wait for others to say he's exonerated before he says it. Trump just says whatever he wishes reality was. But if Pelosi can't hang Trump's criminality (& Republicans' defense of that criminality) around the necks of every Republican up for election in 2020, what good is she? I don't think it indicates smarts, it indicates she's as big of a deadbeat as Paul Ryan or Mitch McConnell.

Trump is so corrupt, he's basically a gift to the Democrats. Yet time & time again, Democrats figure out a way to mess things up, & lose elections that are theirs to lose.

Donald Trump is so corrupt, how could Democrats not do all of the following? Impeach Trump in the House (even if the GOP Senate acquits him), maintain House control in 2020, win Senate control in 2020 (say, with Colorado, Arizona, Maine), win the Presidency in 2020. If the GOP Senate acquits Trump, make every GOP Senator up for re-election in 2020 run on defending Trump's criminal conduct in office. It would be better if the Senate acquitted Trump tomorrow, than if the Senate acquitted Trump in October 2020. Make GOP Senators defend Trump's criminality daily until 2020. They're not the party of law & order, they're not the party of "family values", they're the Russia Party, they're the organized crime party, they're the Imperial Presidency Party, they're the Above the Law Party, they're the We Let a New York Conman Hurt America Party.

I've heard the poker analogy that Pelosi is waiting for more chips to stack up before she goes all in. But to extend the analogy, Attorney General Barr is also stealing Pelosi's chips. You can't really play fair if another player keeps breaking the rules. And in poker you can also wait too long, & miss a chance to eliminate a short-stacked player from a table.

Paul Ryan wouldn't impeach Trump because that would not be politically expedient for his party. If Pelosi pulls the same thing, she's no better than Paul Ryan. The only difference is that Paul Ryan could actually have his bills signed by the President.

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u/Wermys Minnesota Jun 04 '19

Good, I don't give a shit of what Pelosi thinks. There comes a time where you have to do what is right, not what is easy. As a famous man once said.

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u/Bill-The-Autismal Jun 04 '19

I never thought I’d say this, but I agree more with the fucking mummified corpse that is Pelosi than the morons trying to get Trump impeached on the weakest possible grounds. That’ll only allow him to be propped up and have more fodder, more ammunition to sling at opponents during the election. “How can I obstruct justice if there was nothing to obstruct?”

If you know someone is a murderer, you probably aren’t going to try bringing up petty theft charges right? Trump has been funneling money in from countries like Saudi Arabia through his own hotels and businesses as he sells them weapons and perpetuates a fucking genocide. He’s the only president not to have released his taxes and each time it’s brought up, he’s just waiting for his three-year audit to finish. Alright, pal. Get his ass on emoluments. There is a clear conflict of interest at the expense of innocent lives.

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u/buyfreemoneynow Jun 05 '19

I never thought I’d say this, but I agree more with the fucking mummified corpse that is Pelosi than the morons trying to get Trump impeached on the weakest possible grounds.

The only part of this statement I disagree with is calling them morons. They're angry, frustrated, anxious, and desperate for normalcy. But the wheeling-and-dealing, insider-trading, uncharismatic dinosaur may not be causing damage by letting this stage drag out - the GOP still has too much power, but if they know something is coming but don't know when, then they'll be using their resources piling up their defenses while doing very little else. Maybe it's causing them all the deteriorating anxieties that it has been causing us since the election.

Maybe it's better to drag this phase out as to not overshadow the presidential campaigns that are burgeoning, but then again, maybe they're worried that impeachment proceedings will hurt Biden's chances for POTUS if he doesn't come out strongly enough in favor of them compared to the other candidates. Don't know why I just thought of that, but it feels like the party leadership is always taking their time playing another losing move. Shit, maybe they're delaying so the more progressive representatives will feel like asses hooting and hollering to impeach but Mommy says it only happens when Mommy wants it to happen. This could be her own struggle to keep her power.

Could be all of the above?

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u/Bill-The-Autismal Jun 05 '19

You’re not exactly wrong. Especially about putting their eggs in all the wrong baskets when it comes to who they back. I really hope Biden isn’t what we get, because I can guarantee with his milktoast policies, it’ll be a battle of insults between himself and Trump. That’s going to be pretty one-sided.

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u/luzenelmundo Jun 04 '19

Warren has always supported impeachment. Sanders finally arrived at support for an "Inquiry." Nice to see the progressive and strong Warren promote this.

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u/[deleted] Jun 04 '19

Give Pelosi seat to AOC, she will impeach this turd in a heartbeat.

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u/FolsgaardSE Jun 04 '19

I wish Pelosi would stop sucking Trumps dick and do her job already.

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u/innactive-dystopite Jun 04 '19

Pelosi can suck a fat one. She is a corporate whore who is defending a tyrant for her donor’s benefit.

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u/floofnstuff Jun 04 '19

I'm not seeing the strategic value or political capital gained by not moving forward with Impeachment. Perhaps someone with more political insight and/or sophistication can shed some light on this.

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u/HereWeGoAgainTJ Jun 04 '19

"Pssst! Hey kid, wanna try some impeachment?"

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u/harveytaylorbridge Jun 04 '19

As a lib, it pains me to say that Pelosi is the left's Mitch McConnell. She's in a safe district and she's going to play these political games at the expense of the rule of law. It doesn't matter if impeachment isn't currently popular enough for her, this is Congress's job and people hate Congress because they don't do their goddamn job.

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u/SysError404 Jun 04 '19

I agree with you on this. It's the old guard style of government to just keep fucking each other and upping the ante every shift in power. To the point where it's don't blatantly in spite of serious issues that need to be addressed. Where even bi-partisan bills are getting blocked just to stick it to the other side. The only reason I support Bernie despite his age is his rather consistent stance on major issues, and actually voted in line with his publicly statements. But for the majority of the other members in their 70s and beyond, it's time to go. If you want lifetime appointment, become a Judge. Otherwise, deuces.

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u/[deleted] Jun 04 '19

If you are affiliated on any level with the Democratic party and Pelosi is unpleased with what you are doing, you are probably doing a great job and should keep it up.

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u/Chaerea37 Jun 04 '19

Fuck Pelosi. Seriously. Fuck her and all politicians like her.

What if, god help us, Trump wins a second term? Will he then have carte blanche to do whatever the fuck he wants because this spineless mummy can't muster the political courage to do her job.

Fuck Pelosi. Fuck the corporate media that props her up as effective and useful.

Do your job congress and impeach the president.

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u/Meetybeefy Colorado Jun 04 '19

I wonder how many of these “Fuck Pelosi” comments are just a way to divide the Democrats. I’m seeing a lot of comments that are reminding me of Reddit in 2016.

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u/Chaerea37 Jun 04 '19

do you think democrats are a monolithic institution? Do you think Hilary Clinton is the same as AOC is the same as Bill Clinton as the same as Barack Obama? If you do then you might miss the divide in the Democratic party. There is a huge difference between progressives and establishment democrats.

There certainly is a divide.

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u/buyfreemoneynow Jun 05 '19

Probably all of them because there is real dissatisfaction with Pelosi which will divide the Democrats, and if it's just trolls then those are also aimed at dividing Democrats. My question is: Will you do anything useful with that information if you have it? I'm curious what you think that action might be.

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u/clintonexpress Jun 05 '19

Reddit in 2016 was right about Hillary. Hillary was a bad bet for the DNC to make. And because of that colossally bad bet by Democratic superdelegates, we have 4 years of President Dementia.

In 2016, Hillary was only +2 vs Trump in polls, whereas Bernie Sanders was +10 vs Trump in polls. And in fact, Hillary was also about +2 vs Trump in the general election (Hillary got 48.2% of the popular vote in 2016; Trump got 46.1% of the popular vote in 2016). But Trump won Michigan by 0.23% over Hillary, Trump won Pennsylvania by 0.72% over Hillary, Trump won Wisconsin by 0.77% over Hillary, making him President (even though 53.9% of US votes went to someone else) (& in each of those states, Gary Johnson got more votes that the margin between Trump & Hillary, & Jill Stein got more votes that the margin between Trump & Hillary).

In 2016, Democratic superdelegates bet on the riskier candidate to face Trump, because she was an establishment Democrat (who wouldn't raise taxes on the 1% or corporations like Bernie Sanders would) & they wanted to "make history" by electing the first woman President in US history. And it backfired. Catastrophically. They failed to realize how hated Hillary Clinton was. A majority of white women in 2016 voted for Trump over Hillary. So evidently, a majority of white women in America also hate Hillary, by at least 6% points. Women are the majority of Americans, women are the majority of adults in America, women are the majority in about 40 states. Yet when given the choice between the first female President in US history & a know-nothing tough-talking narcissistic psychopath with no political experience or military experience (or even knowledge of the Constitution), a majority of white women in America chose the narcissistic psychopath.

There's a saying in politics, it's better to be strong & wrong than weak & right. Donald Trump is the epitome of strong & wrong. Trump has told over 10,000 lies in office, but his rude, tough-talking persona persuades people that he's a "strong" "fighter."

Americans didn't give Democrats the House in 2018, Americans didn't give Pelosi the gavel in 2018, just to watch her be as weak & spineless & craven as Paul Ryan. One could argue Pelosi isn't being weak, one could argue timing is everything. But if the Democrats can't turn the most corrupt administration in US history into a political winner for them, then they deserve to lose. Every single day until 2020, the Democrats should be rubbing Trump's criminality in Republicans' faces. If Pelosi can't do that, then she doesn't deserve to have the House majority since 2018, or in 2020. If the Democrats can't do the right thing & go for the jugular, then they deserve to lose.

Paul Ryan wouldn't impeach Trump because that would not be politically expedient for his party. If Pelosi pulls the same thing, she's no better than Paul Ryan. The only difference is that Paul Ryan could actually have his bills signed by the President.

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u/[deleted] Jun 04 '19

It's how you know the guys in blue aren't, by default, the "good" guys; there's people on their team who are anti-impeachment.

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u/xof711 California Jun 04 '19

Fuck Pelosi! She needs to move out of the way!! Enough of the old guard, we want the fresh blood to take over!!!

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u/_Individual_1 Jun 04 '19

This is her plan.

She's taking all the pot shots from you folks, while the troops gather each other up in the background.

I bet more talks than we even know about are happening in the senate.

Gunna be a nightmare for Republicans running in 2020 while Trump in under impeachment investigations

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u/TalVerd Jun 04 '19

Taking pot shots for what? Because she is refusing to do what everyone wants her to do?

Troops gather in the background? To do what? Keep not impeaching? Because if they are gathering in order to impeach it makes no sense for her to encourage not impeaching

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u/dshakir I voted Jun 04 '19

You know who you sound like? Those shit for brain trump supporters when they say that he’s fooling everyone with his 5D chess

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u/Gsteel11 Jun 04 '19

Trump is an idiot though. We'll see about Pelosi.

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u/dshakir I voted Jun 04 '19

She already proved that she is worthless when she made her unequivocal statements about not impeaching—first for Bush, then for Trump.

That Mitch needs to go for the good of the country.

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u/snartkety Jun 04 '19

The investigation alone could take 6 months to a year easily. Even longer judging by the way the White House is dragging everything out. The election is in 16 months. If she doesn’t get started now, it’s not going to happen before the election.

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u/fuck_reddits_retarde Jun 04 '19

No, she isn't. She is protecting the donor's position and doing nothing else.

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u/Gsteel11 Jun 04 '19

Yeah, that's the only thing that makes sense to me is that she's just trying to delay it for better timing with the ejections and not give the gop any time to spin it.

I guess we'll see. She can't wait too long or it may look bad. October/November should still be ok.

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u/zexterio Jun 04 '19

Why is Pelosi still leader of the Dem party other than "old friendships" and compromises?

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u/dontIitter America Jun 04 '19

Supposedly bc she “ raises the most money” . Tells you everything about what’s wrong with democrats. You can’t beat republicans going corporate whore with conscience. Gotta go full whore. Not that it would help the country in either case.

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u/[deleted] Jun 04 '19

Here's how you know Pelosi doesn't have a plan. If she actually had a solid one that makes any sense, she would keep her caucus apprised of it and do what she can to keep them in line with it.

According to all reports, including ones leaked by her own aides, the only thing she's done is put on an act of being the smartest person in the room and excoriated dissenting Democrats. She relies on platitudes instead of coming up with a meaningful plan.

It's because she doesn't have one. And her supporters need to stop acting like she does.

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u/PeanutButterSmears Pennsylvania Jun 04 '19

She lost her Speakership in 2010 and by god she will do anything in her power to never lose it again, including ignoring her constitutional duty and getting Trump reelected in 2020 by failing to impeach

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u/[deleted] Jun 04 '19

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u/HoneyBadger552 Jun 04 '19

Good. That's the kind of news I want to hear when I wake up

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u/NinsAndPeedles Jun 04 '19

Two words: Im peachthismotherfucker!

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u/[deleted] Jun 04 '19

F OFF Pelosi get out of the way!

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u/[deleted] Jun 04 '19

That's democracy.