Tom Cotton says, in a statement (which I'm quoting in full).
"The Founders designed the impeachment process as a way to remove officeholders from public office—not an inquest against private citizens. The Constitution presupposes an office from which an impeached officeholder can be removed. Fidelity to the Constitution must always remain the lodestar for our nation. Last week, I opposed the effort to reject certified electoral votes for the same reason—fidelity to the Constitution—I now oppose impeachment proceedings against a former president. Congress and the executive branch should concentrate entirely for the next week on conducting a safe and orderly transfer of power. After January 20, Congress should get on with the people’s business: improving our vaccination efforts, getting kids back to school, and getting workers back on the job."
Click on my "Tom Cotton" tag. Tom Cotton is getting a lot of things right.
Remember the poll I had on November 23? "Trump voters only please: If you had to pick the 2024 GOP nominee right now: Trump/Tom Cotton." I said, "My poll, my options — do your own poll if you don't like the constraints." Tom Cotton looked like the most apt alternative to me at the time. And you Trump voters who answered the poll — or whoever answered the poll — chose Cotton over Trump, 55% to 45%. Let me see how that choice is holding up:
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With the Living Constitution, show trials are now allowed.
Sorry, but I'm firmly convinced that Tom Cotton's primary and overriding concern is the future of Tom Cotton.
Far more conservative than Trump - fiscally and Constitutionally - without the daily dumbassery.
Holding this impeachment trial works toward the end of disqualifying Trump from running again in 2024, so Cotton is — I think — taking a position against his own political interest.
He seems smart and relatively sturdy for an ambitious politician, but he's probably too old-fashioned and gentlemanly to succeed in our bloodsport politics. He'd be an interesting candidate for more boring times.
I also think he's miscalculated a bit in the interest of his own political self-preservation, and put too much distance between himself and those folks very upset about election 2020. If the choice were limited to established politicians, I'd rather see him over Nikki Haley, but it's a mistake to trust these people. They will disappoint approaching 100% of the time given the opportunity.
The legal question may be considered one to be answered definitively by the Senate itself (under the interpretation of the political question doctrine from Nixon v. United States).
Cotton will have zero influence on Democratic colleagues and has near zero fear of Trump as primary opponent. Remember, Trump's doctor died today. He's not getting any younger.
Cotton is — I think — taking a position against his own political interest.
There's a bridge for sale nearby, and the local team just signed a very exciting new ballplayer.
I'm a Trump voter and a Trump supporter (still), but I think he'll be too old by 2024.
"Fidelity to the Constitution must always remain the lodestar for our nation."
AYFKM? That ship has sailed.
Readering said...Cotton will have zero influence on Democratic colleagues
...you do make a very good case for Cotton.
Cotton has raised his profile. Astute.
He’s positioned himself well to vote No on the grounds that the Senate cannot try an impeachment of a president who is no longer in office.
His political shortcomings are that he’s hawkish and too pro Big Corporation.
Cotton finally puts county before his political ambitions. He will likely be hated by both sides going forward.
daskol, 12:02:
"but he's probably too old-fashioned and gentlemanly to succeed in our bloodsport politics."
He was an infantry officer, very much by choice. I'm not worried.
Tim Scott is my preferred candidate at this point.
Then Nikki Haley/Kristi Noem.
Then Cotton.
There is no grievance that is a fit object of redress by mob law.
Be that as it may, a mob is what you will get sooner or later if you close the avenues for redress of those grievances.
I had mixed feelings about the first BLM riot in Minneapolis. I felt the same way about what flared up at the Capitol.
John Roberts can decline to attend the Senate trial on the grounds that the Chief Justice is not empowered by the Constitution to preside over the impeachment trial of a former president.
I think Cotton will make this point to enhance Cotton’s own position.
I'm not sold on Trump's running again in 2024, but Tom Cotton would be less of a choice for me than Trump. I wouldn't take a vote for Trump to mean people want Trump to run again. Entertain the idea it's a vote against Cotton.
I wrote Riot - so I'll never agree with this.
I didn't vote for Trump in the 2016 Primary. I can't say I would vote for either in the 2024 Primary. My preferred candidate is still an option. I'll vote when that poll becomes available in 2024.
As for Cotton or Trump, I agree with Rabel for now. I thought the same of Trump in 2016, but he surprised me. Only a couple of other Republicans (really any politician) have exceeded my low expectations. That's probably why I can't vote the poll now. I'm not particularly invested in any politician. Not being invested doesn't mean I can't see when a person is being railroaded on false (at least unproven) charges.
I think Roberts refusing to preside after January 20 would be akin to Pence refusing selectively to open electoral college envelopes on January 6.
"...Cotton is — I think — taking a position against his own political interest."
Or he is attempting to win favor with Trump supporters to advance his own political interest.
A Trump run four years from now is highly unlikely so Cotton gives away nothing here.
I don't see where impeachment equates with any disqualification for a future presidency. Of course, with the free-for-all complete disregard of laws, such a thing might be accepted regardless of how bizarre the logic is that's applied.
It's amazing such lawless politicians are now seeking law to protect their interests. They fed the beast of anarchy for so long, thinking it won't eat them too is foolish.
Cotton is wrong. I can think of a handful of grivances off the top of my head that are a "fit object of redress by mob law." One would be a fraudulent election orchestrated by one of the major national political parties. Now, I don't believe this actually happened, but plenty of people do.
Rabel said...
Or he is attempting to win favor with Trump supporters to advance his own political interest.
Exactly. I suspect after four years of Joemala a blessing from Trump will be a huge boost.
Even after he gets labeled as an unbridled racist for having the last name of Cotton.
I think Tom Cotton's weakness -- not unique to him! -- is that he doesn't seem particularly charismatic. He seems nice enough. But charismatic isn't the same thing as "nice." Both Trump and pre-2020-Biden are actually quite charismatic, while also obviously being total assholes (2020 Biden is just sad and honestly painful to watch). He could win, I guess, but I can't recall the last President we elected who seemed so bland. Maybe Bush I? But even he was a bit quirky, even if the quirks I remember are all things like "hated broccoli" and "vomited on the prime minister."
Cotton was a bit too emphatic in his condemnation of Trump supporters sucked into that Antifa operation run on the 6th. I voted in your poll for Trump, not because I think he will run but to make my point that Cotton has outsmarted himself. My best guess right now would be Ric Grennell as the candidate. Another outside and gay. Even Ann's son might have trouble smearing him as he has done with Trump.
I read Ivanka still thinks she can run for presidency. Then I read that she would not allow secret service detail to use any of the six toilets in her home, so they has to rent a nearby studio apartment with a toilet for 3 grand a month. I think her dad still has a better chance running.
Smear complaint from the guy still (and forever) blaming January 6 on Antifa!
It is the duty of our elected leaders to provide for redress of grievances. When they fail and shit goes pear shaped, the fault does not lie solely with the aggrieved.
Not even if they turn into a mob and rush to the Capitol to flop their angry, MAGA-red cocks onto Pelosi's desktop. As distasteful as that me seem to most of us, the cock-flopping and what not may have acted as a critical pressure relief valve and prevented a larger explosion. Thanks Nancy!
Grinnell would be competing with O'Brien for the John Bolton slot in the 2024 primary field.
It's a bold strategy, Cotton. Let's see if it pays off for him.
Unfortunately, Cotton has an unfashionable regional accent.
Michael K said... My best guess right now would be Ric Grennell as the candidate. Another outside and gay.
How does being gay make one an attractive candidate?
I just don’t get it.
Antifa and BLM are organized, funded, directed and led by the Democratic Party.
Antifa and BLM are the paramilitary troops of the Dems. They will be called out again in the lead up to the 2024 election.
It’s just a lie that mob law is not a fit method of redress. It’s reserved to Democrats. The mob tactics of Antifa and BLM have been extraordinarily effective, and in fact might account for Biden’s victory. The Democrat’s paramilitary forces are what deprived us of the “boring and quiet” Althouse yearns for. She’s manipulated by the violence.
This refusal on both sides to recognize and demand an end to the Democrat’s provisioning and directing of its paramilitary forces is really pissing me off.
So, long as the Democrats continue to field their private paramilitary forces, I’m in favor of the Republicans creating and fielding their own. That’s just self defense.
I want Trump to run again because I want to see the horror in their eyes when suburbanites have to admit that voting for Biden over Trump was a disaster. That said, other than Trump, my preference right now is Noem/Grennell.
I believe Tulsi Gabbard is maneuvering to win Trump voters. Don't count her out.
"The Founders designed the impeachment process as a way to remove officeholders from public office—not an inquest against private citizens."
I know the man is smart has a Harvard law degree but I learned this in ninth grade Social Studies class and see no reason to give him credit for stating the obvious.
If he wants support from me then he should start by calling out by name and condemning his colleagues who are distorting the plain words of the Constitution and using that distortion to further their own careers, their pocketbooks, and their petty hatreds.
"After January 20, Congress should get on with the people’s business: improving our vaccination efforts, getting kids back to school, and getting workers back on the job."
If, at this point in time, he believes that the Democrat's can be countered with an effort at collegiality and cooperation then he's fooling himself or trying to fool the rest of us.
I'm had enough with the surrender caucus.
I like Tom Cotton. But he decided that in order to “protect the Constitution” he would just turn the other cheek on the targeted 2020 Election Fraud. He didn’t once speak of the avenues of remedy that we’re shut by closed ears, covered eyes, and corrupt cowardly courts.
I seriously don’t know if I’ll ever vote again, and I’ve been voting constantly since I was 18. As long as the voter rolls in Wisconsin are dirty, and Madison can ballot harvest at will it is futile. Waste of time. Only I’m allowed to jerk my own chain.
Fuck the GOP. Trump wasn’t about the GOP. He certainly was about its principles that the hypocrites who are now allowing the entire Trump base to be defined as domestic terrorists, never delivered.
The premise of one person one vote ended in 2020, with plenty of applause and cowardly ducking for cover. Voting and the Constitution are now the new COVID masks and lock downs. It’s all bullshit and make believe.
"How does being gay make one an attractive candidate?"
Depending on one's perspective, no Melania or Dr Jill.
I believe Tulsi Gabbard is maneuvering to win Trump voters. Don't count her out.
1/14/21, 12:35 PM
I've said for a while that I suspect Gabbard is trying to position herself to appeal to blue-collar Dems once the hard left implodes. At some point Pelosi and Schumer will be gone, and there really aren't any heirs waiting in the wings. It's going to be an ugly fight among the progressive wing of the party for control.
That is what the country needs right now- a Senator running for President.
Fuckem all! Outsider gets my votes from now on.
Kristi Noem.
It's too bad Cotton is on the corrupt intelligence committee. Richard Burr and Mark Warner are both swamp rats. The Senate Intelligence Committee was hip-deep in Spygate. I will never vote for any Republican who didn't at least quit the Committee if he wouldn't fight.
I like Tom Cotton, don't misunderstand me, but he will never be President and giving him the nomination makes it a near guarantee the Democrats win again in 2024. I will literally vote for Trump over any polician now serving in D.C. The place needs to be figuratively razed to the ground and the earth salted, and I am increasingly of the opinion that "figuratively" is probably not really right either.
Althouse: "Holding this impeachment trial works toward the end of disqualifying Trump from running again in 2024"
And soon we will enjoy the stupid argument of holding an impeachment trial after a President is out of office, to prevent a reemergence. Why not you impeach a President who died in office?
You're right Ann. The absurdity is funny. It's like defiling a corpse. It's only meant to further humiliate the deplorable's family.
I'm not voting for anyone who calls this a riot, they are either ignorant or opportunistic. And Cotton talks better than he acts. So, nope to both.
daskol @ 12:02: "He seems smart and relatively sturdy for an ambitious politician, but he's probably too old-fashioned and gentlemanly to succeed in our bloodsport politics. He'd be an interesting candidate for more boring times."
Well, I have never had to lead troops in battle (or anywhere). Cotton has. He knows how to place fire where and when it's needed. Which makes me think. he might be able to put (political) fire where and when THAT's wanted.
Just my guess. Trump enjoyed counterpunching, and IMHO his targets richly deserved it. But Cotton might actually be better at calling in the(metaphorical) airstrikes...
Antifa and BLM are organized, funded, directed and led by the Democratic Party.
That does not mean blacks don't have serious legitimate grievances and a build up of enormous frustration. Look at the schools their children are trapped in, for example. It means the Dems wanted to channel that frustration for their own ends rather than provide redress. A vote for Biden was a vote for the status quo for blacks, tragically.
"How does being gay make one an attractive candidate?"
Well, it would at least make it more likely that he is like the rest of us in one regard- taking it up the ass on a daily basis.
I just don’t understand the lack of recognition here.
Am I the only one who notices that the Democrats routinely run this campaign of mob violence in the run up to presidential elections?
This is not happening spontaneously. It’s happening under Democratic command.
Mr. Wibble @ 12:35: I like your idea. Shall we get busy with a "Draft Kristi and Rick" movement?
With the Living Constitution, show trials are now >>required<<.
With the Living Constitution, show trials are now >>required<<.
Althouse said: "Holding this impeachment trial works toward the end of disqualifying Trump from running again in 2024"
I can't believe after the 2016 Primary, 2016 and 2020 general elections, you still don't see that the 75 or more million Trump voters consider the GOP a necessary inconvenience. Now they are not necessary.
If people do return to the polls, and establishment Republican that betrayed Trump will not be the nominee. That now includes Tom Cotton.
You're way off base Ann. Trump will be 78. Cotton is trying to look like he was loyal. Without Trumps base...it's over for them. This isn't some altruistic position of self-sacrifice on his part.
Talk about rose colored glasses....
Ann - what about Seth Barrett Tillman's argument (in the emoluments clause cases) that the Presidency, while an office of the United States, is not an office UNDER the United States (that properly being restricted to appointed offices)? The idea in this context being that the voters are supreme, and if they want to put Trump back in office, Congress can't stop them.
The Mixon case (to me, IANAL) just says that the Senate defines what constitutes a trial in the same sense that the House defines the grounds for impeachment. This would be about the penalty, for which the constitution clearly provides limits.
Can Trump maintain his energy? And, like 2016, will he be without political support? A lot of rats abandoned ship using the protest as an excuse. Nobody with average intelligence believes Trump called for insurrection.
If he chose an exceptionally clean and articulate VP, who had reliable connections, he might go for it.
Dems already working on a Cotton dossier.
Does Cotton plan to run for office in Arkansas again! Cause lol.
I think the argument for the "no" vote on conviction ought to be straightforward on substance. Impeachment is an extraordinary remedy. It's for treason, bribery, and "high crimes and misdemeanors," suggesting that whatever high crimes and misdemeanors are, they ought to represent a comparable abandonment of duty as treason or bribery.
There's a couple things Trump us accused of doing:
1. Spreading "lies" about electoral fraud and undermining faith in the vote. This is a bit rich coming from Democrats who just this past summer were promoting a bonkers conspiracy theory about the US Postal Service interfering with mail votes to benefit Trump, but tu quoque aside, it seems highly inappropriate to impeach a public official for raising sincerely held concerns about electoral fraud. Even if some of those concerns (e.g. Dominion voting machines rigging the vote) seem bonkers.
I know a lot of politicians are deeply offended at the suggestion that the system that put them in power might be susceptible to fraud, but they need to get over it. You don't rebuild trust by yelling "shut up!"
2. Not condemning the violent protests quickly or forcefully enough. I think this one is total nonsense. Failing to make an appropriate statement may be reprehensible -- and I've criticised Trump for his response here -- but it's not remotely on the level of treason or bribery. You don't impeach a President for doing a bad job.
3. Orchestrating an armed takeover of the Capitol. This would be legitimate grounds for conviction, frankly. But seriously, does anyone think Democrats can prove this? There's been no direct evidence whatsoever presented thus far, just handwaved post hoc arguments -- not even circumstantial evidence, really -- and it seems highly implausible.
I don't think Cotton needs to resort to procedural arguments here.
Shouting Thomas said...Am I the only one who notices that the Democrats routinely run this campaign of mob violence in the run up to presidential elections?
I see it clearly. And you are correct Tom. Each election cycle it gets worse, and much more violent. This time they just went for burning the whole shithouse down. By 2024 they will have to paste together the ashes to have something more to burn.
It's gonna get worse. A lot worse.
The problem, Owen, is that despite Cotton's physical courage and combat experience, he's playing politics according to outdated rules. He's critical of the most motivated, activist and angry people on his own side. That may be a principled stand, but that shit doesn't work in our politics. Progressives exploit this. This is what Achilles and others refer to when they say that what comes after Trump will not be nice. Cotton is too nice.
Nikki Haley is soliciting ME for $35.00. I responded to the email. Let’s see if I get another one. Lol.
Don't repudiate that anger, lead it, direct it to useful purpose. That's what we need, and will need more of, because more and more people are getting more angry.
Althouse: "Holding this impeachment trial works toward the end of disqualifying Trump from running again in 2024"
Not exactly. Trump will be too old to run, even his supporters know that.
The two objectives of the impeachment are to make the name Trump as toxic as Nixon was after Watergate, and to provide legitimacy to the unconstitutional attacks being made right now on Trump supporters.
Democrats will be attacking all future Republican proposals by saying "That's what Trump would want."
Regarding the poll: Crenshaw/Scalise 2024. Those two guys are functioning adults who don't quiver at the Left like the Versailles Republicans. They support the better part of Trump's policy positions and don't exhibit Trump's personality flaws. One big question is: who has the talent for reaching audiences conventional Republicans are typically bad at reaching? Not Pence for sure. My instincts tell me Crenshaw tops Cotton on that matter.
“That is what the country needs right now- a Senator running for President.
Fuckem all! Outsider gets my votes from now on.”
I’m interested to see what happens to Josh Hawley.
"I think Roberts refusing to preside after January 20 would be akin...”
Because to Democrats like readering the Constitution is just a sheet of toilet paper.
The better questions is "Trump, or Cruz?"
Trump or Cotton? Trump
Trump or Cruz? Cruz. Because Cruz actually will go to war against he Establishment, but, unlike Trump, he will have personnel he can appoint to help carry out the fight
Shouting Thomas said...
I just don’t understand the lack of recognition here.
Am I the only one who notices that the Democrats routinely run this campaign of mob violence in the run up to presidential elections?
This is not happening spontaneously. It’s happening under Democratic command.
If that's true then why are there still on-going riots in Portland? Why did a noted Antifa organizer (arrested 4 times for rioting last year) punch Democrat Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler in the face at a restaurant over the weekend? Why hasn't Pelosi told them to stand down?
Because they are not controlled by the DNC, Antifa/BLM is it's own movement that the Democrats have glomed on to. They do not call shots with Antifa.
If Trump is being impeached for “spreading lies about the election” then truth is a defense and that brings all of the shenanigans that went on in Philadelphia, Wisconsin, Michigan, Georgia, Arizona into scope for examinatino. Nothing would be more healing for the country than to lay those issues to rest by proving they were all lies by having an open look at the evidence.
Not to look at the evidence is inflammatory and suggests a guilty mind.
Before Trump and COVID, I was very much stupidly opposed to an outsider, trusting in the institutions and experts. After Trump and COVID, I no longer trust institutions and experts. I will vote for any outsider over the establishment candidate of either party.
So far as I know, Cotton's private life is not just respectable but admirable. That would be a welcome change of pace....You say swamp. I say wetlands, and I wouldn't mind having a President who can tell an alligator from a log....I have had enough fire and brimstone from both Republicans and Democrats. I want someone to bring down the gentle rain of heaven.
Mr. Wibble @ 12:35: I like your idea. Shall we get busy with a "Draft Kristi and Rick" movement?
1/14/21, 12:47 PM
Sure thing. I gotta finish ordering my "Gabbard/Sinema in '69!" Campaign T-shirts first.
Ann Althouse said...
Holding this impeachment trial works toward the end of disqualifying Trump from running again in 2024
Why? How?
If they hold an actual trial, Trump gets to have evidence and present a defense. So his team puts on the whole "the election was stolen" defense that no court has allowed.
If the Senate refuses to allow the Trump team to bring that in, that's a flat out admission that the election was stolen.
If they do allow it to be brought in, we will get days, weeks, maybe even months of people testifying about all the things in those affidavits. Which will cause the entirety of America to know that the 2020 election was, at best, a joke.
The LAST thing any sane Trump opponent wants is an impeachment trial in the Senate
I prefer someone who has never been institutionalized and isn't an expert.
Greg the Class Traitor,
"The better questions is 'Trump, or Cruz?'"
I preferred Cruz on substance in 2016, but I do not see him ever winning a national election. Man's got the charisma of a damp rag. He is anathema to the left, off-putting to many in the middle, and now he's pissed off some on the right – call them squishes if you want, but either way his floor and his ceiling are both lower than Trump's.
AlanKH:
"One big question is: who has the talent for reaching audiences conventional Republicans are typically bad at reaching?....My instincts tell me Crenshaw tops Cotton on that matter."
I could see Crenshaw really going places, if he plays his cards right.
@NorthOfTheOneOhOne
I lived in Woodstock, NY for 45 years and still live nearby. This is one of the most radical leftist towns in the U.S. I’m a church musician. I’ve played in half a dozen very progressive churches in this area. I taught in half a dozen colleges in NYC and this area before I retired.
In short, I live right in the heart of the Democratic Party and I’ve worked for their institutions for decades.
The financing, organization and direction of these Democratic Party affiliated institutions is what feeds Antifa and BLM. There is a very well defined command chain that leads to the recruitment of soldiers and paying for their keep. The progressive churches and the teacher’s unions are directly involved.
Yes, there is a well developed fiction that Antifa and BLM are separate from the Democratic Party. It’s bullshit. Antifa and BLM are private paramilitaries of the Democratic Party.
Now, it’s true that it’s hard to control the hotheads in Antifa, and that’s something the Democrats use to their advantage, too.
Trump or Cruz? Cruz. Because Cruz actually will go to war against he Establishment, but, unlike Trump, he will have personnel he can appoint to help carry out the fight
I disagree. Cruz will find himself stabbed in the back by a lot of the same GOP establishment types. McConnell likes squishy corporatist Republicans, which Cruz isn't. Also, Cruz has basically spent most of his life angling to run for office. I think that tends to cultivate a personality which is a little too eager to triangulate and appeal to people. Trumpism, or it's heir, needs a Trumpian personality.
Assuming there is another Presidential election. Wonder what the odds against would be.
Republicans are such morons. Bill Kristol's son is the top Aide to Senator Cotton. Cotton REFUSED To fight the vote fraud that elected Biden. His statement about impeachment is crap. He's not calling it for what it is, a political hatchet job unheard of in USA history. instead, its "oh, Trump can't get a fair trial in time" And "Gee, the constitution says..."
And the absurd, "Look at me, I'm a MODERATE, Both sides are wrongs!". Cotton also voted to keep section 230, rename the army bases, and give HUNDREDS of BILLONS in pork to foreigners and big corporations while stiffing the average American with $600 instead of $2000!
why don't you moderate republicans, just roll and die right now. Why wait till 2024 and see your McCain-lite candidate go down to defeat, when the D's start calling them NAZI, and they can't do anything except talk about "Hey, I hated Trump too!".
Bob Boyd said...
"Antifa and BLM are organized, funded, directed and led by the Democratic Party."
That does not mean blacks don't have serious legitimate grievances and a build up of enormous frustration. Look at the schools their children are trapped in, for example.
I will care about the hours inflicted on blacks in America when they stop voting for the people inflicting the horrors on them.
THeir kids are going to "schools" that are horrors because of the actions of the Democrats, and the "Teachers Unions" that support / run the Democrats.
Anyone who wants those schools fixed should be voting Republican. Anyone who votes Democrat is responsible for the poor state of those schools, and so can't legitimately whine about it
Nobody from either party was able to defeat Trump so they're getting together to ban him from the game.
It's like if all the touring pros from the PGA got together and banned Tiger Woods when he was at his winningest.
While Sen. Cotton was serving bravely in Iraq he was also writing letters to the NYT and sending copies to conservative outlets calling for prosecution of journalists under the Espionage Act.
This may have been because he wanted to see journalists prosecuted under the Espionage Act and it may have been because he saw an issue that he could use to get his name in print to advance his own career.
My reading is that this is a man who is so dominated by personal ambition that he was willing to put his life at some risk, not primarily to serve the country, but to advance his own prospects by putting a military credit on his resume.
It's a tactic as old as politics.
We could do worse than Cotton, and probably will, but if you support him you should do so with your eyes wide open.
Here's the Republican establishment (which includes Cotton) strategy for winning in 2024:
1) Do nothing about the D's winning through vote fraud
2) Do nothing to stop illegal immigration
3) Reach across the aisle to help Biden push climate change, big spending, and bad trade deals.
4) talk about cutting the corporates tax rates and capital gains tax
5) Help Big Tech maintain their strangle-hold on Freedom of speech
6) more wars in the middle east- woo hoo!
7) help bring in 1 million H-1B workers to line zuckerberg's pockets.
8) Rush through Biden's left-wing judges.
Cottonism, and McConnalism and Romneyism is a LOSER. But the R's are GOOD LOSERS. That's what they do.
Dear Tom,
The constitution also applies to states.
Anyone who wants those schools fixed should be voting Republican.
Anyone who wants those schools fixed should have voted for Trump.
Republicans before Trump weren't doing much for blacks either.
Well, Greg, we will get an answer on the last sentence- the decision really isn't up to McConnell- Schumer and the Democrats will be in charge in short order, so a Senate trial will be a Democrat decision, and really a Chuck Schumer decision.
Question, when McConnell held last year's trial, did he have to hold a vote to hold the trial itself? I don't remember.
The banned commenter just can't help himself. Apparently no other site will have him.
And if the Democrats hold a trial, they will bar any evidence they don't want to see. Guaranteed, and the media will support it will all their heart. It really would be a show trial in every sense of the word.
The Democrats, Big Tech, and the media are the ones inflaming passions.
https://twitter.com/briebriejoy/status/1349777587078389760
Honestly 2024 is so far in the distance and so many things are likely to happen between then and now I wouldn't care to venture a guess about Tom Cotten or Trump or whoever might be appealing to Trump voters almost 4 years hence.
It's likely that the political landscape will change quite drastically over the coming months and years for a number of reasons. To me it seems like things are likely to get even more strained as more radical policies are pushed through with little resistance.
I keep hearing how Biden and the Democrats won't do anything too extreme since they're leary of losing the House and/or Senate in 2022, but so far I'm seeing little evidence of any kind of moderation from them, and a lot of the opposite. At minimum I'm expecting a $2000 relief checks, repeal of Trump's tax cuts, a mountain of new environmental regulations for businesses, an increase in the Federal minumum wage, reentering the awful Paris climate accord, spending $2 trillion on climate change nonsense, and a host of other economic idiocies. All of these efforts are likely to greatly stunt any post-Covid economic recovery and could potentially lead to horrendous inflation in the longer term. We'll see how well the media can spin the misery like they did back in the Obama recovery years.
Readering said...
Smear complaint from the guy still (and forever) blaming January 6 on Antifa!
After saying...
I read Ivanka still thinks she can run for presidency. Then I read that she would not allow secret service detail to use any of the six toilets in her home, so they has to rent a nearby studio apartment with a toilet for 3 grand a month. I think her dad still has a better chance running.
Readering has an obvious self-awareness problem...
Vote...isn't that precious?
Congress doesn't get to decide if it's permitted to pass bills of attainder.
PM
Shouting Thomas said...
@NorthOfTheOneOhOne
I lived in Woodstock, NY for 45 years and still live nearby. This is one of the most radical leftist towns in the U.S. I’m a church musician. I’ve played in half a dozen very progressive churches in this area. I taught in half a dozen colleges in NYC and this area before I retired.
@ST
I get you, I lived for a long time near Chapel Hill,NC which is not Woodstock but pretty close. Yes there are/were people there that donate to Antifa, but they are being gamed. No one in the DNC can make a call and stop Antifa. They have made a bargain with the Devil by funding them, but they are hardly Democrat paramilitary forces and no one in the DNC can do anything about them. You can guarantee that Biden’s domestic terrorism bill is geared as much toward Antifa as it is MAGA.
the forecast is pain, that's in the short term and in the medium term, gas going up to 4 or % dollars a gallon, electricity brownouts ala venezuela, deputized black bloc like the colectivos,
Didn't answer the poll. I would pick Cotton but only because of Trump's age. Trumps lack of political skills is a negative, but his experience on the other side of government bureaucracies (as a builder) is a plus no "true" politician can match.
I have a close friend in Manhattan whose decades long battle with the New York Building Department was like something out of a Dickens novel.
Holding this impeachment trial works toward the end of disqualifying Trump from running again in 2024
Nope. Forest for the trees.
This is a classic Sicilian message - Luca Brasi sleeps with the fishes. It's to send Trump, his family, and anyone else who wants to aspire to Trumpist policies, a message: try it, and you'll end up the same way. The establishment has spoken, and it'll do all it can to make sure it is never challenged again.
Outsiders are the only choice but there are so few of them who want to dive into the slime and run.
"Holding this impeachment trial works toward the end of disqualifying Trump from running again in 2024"
Technically that's not true, and if the trial isn't underway soon, the Senate has no power to put a private citizen on trial.
"You can guarantee that Biden’s domestic terrorism bill is geared as much toward Antifa as it is MAGA."
Uh-huh. That's why all of those Antifa rioters were prosecuted by local Democratic adminstrations.
It will not be "Biden's" bill and will focus mainly on right-wing movements.
How terrible is it that anyone who stands for the Constitution is immediately seen as a viable leader of the free world?
It used to be a requirement.
Now it sets you apart.
Trump will simply be too old to commence and complete a term in 2024. Only an idiot would vote for someone that old.
Problem is, we don't know what's in Cotton's closet; is there a homophobic tweet or blackface photo waiting to be discovered?
Meanwhile, Trump is waist-deep in dirt, and no one cares; there's literally nothing anyone can do to make him look worse.
"Trump will simply be too old to commence and complete a term in 2024. Only an idiot would vote for someone that old."
I see what you did there.
Certain states had sent letters to Pence requesting the return of their ballots and Cruz suggested a reasonable solution to allow those states to conduct a genuine audit in 10 days. No one was actually asking Pence to violate the Constitution or decertify the votes, so that claim is deliberately misleading. Democrats didn't want any challenge to happen in case the fraud might have been exposed. Old school Republicans didn't want the fraud to be exposed either because that would have been very disruptive.
It's unlikely Trump will run again unless there is a major shift in this country, a major catastrophe thanks to Biden. So Cotton isn't really doing anything for Trump.
And I also don't believe that a return to the old style genteel Republican Party is what this country needs at this time. With what is happening in the Democratic Party the Republican Party needs strong straight shooters who can challenge the status quo and hit back, like Kristi Noem. I don't think that's who Cotton is. But I don't know, he has time to develop his voice. I'm not a loyal Republican, I just appreciated Trump. If the race in 2024 were Tulsi Gabbard v. Tom Cotton I'd vote Gabbard.
I reluctantly choose Cotton, though I disagree with his notion that "Congress should get on with the people’s business".
Congress should get the hell OUT of the people's business! The less they do, the better off we would all be.
Blogger Rabel said...
Sorry, but I'm firmly convinced that Tom Cotton's primary and overriding concern is the future of Tom Cotton.
Yes, of course it is. The only question is to what degree his interest aligns with yours.
There is no grievance that is a fit object of redress by mob law.' Those words are as true today as when Abraham Lincoln spoke them.
If Cotton believed that, and had real courage and integrity, wouldn't he be also defending his fellow legislators who did seek a peaceful redress of grievances with their votes, even though Cotton himself disagreed? Especially since the parliamentary procedure had become routine practice for the opposing party.
Might that be because those fellow legislators are potential primary opponents in the next presidential election?
I prefer Trump as a kingmaker in 2024. He only seems young for his age when compared to Joe Biden. The job beats the shit out of much younger people. Look at how Clinton, Obama and Bush looked after eight years,
One of the things we have learned from the Trump presidency is that the office is less powerful than the forces it can muster. Trump would do better as one of those forces.
It will neither be Cotton or Trump. It will be someone who you are not even considering now that will have the GOP nomination in 2024.
I think it says a lot that is not good that before Biden is even sworn in people are talking about the next election.
I don’t believe a pro-life candidate can win the presidential election. 11 million people die every four years and they are replaced with more liberal members.
Republicans have won the popular vote once in the last 8 elections; it’s only going to get worse.
Distressing.
It will neither be Cotton or Trump. It will be someone who you are not even considering now that will have the GOP nomination in 2024.
Mike Pompeo?
It's going to be fun in two years.
"Whereas it is now an established tradition for this House to impeach a President on the grounds that he is not of the party of the House's majority (whatever transparent pretexts were used in the 116th and 117th Congresses when this tradition was established), we, the House of Representatives of the 118th Congress honestly and openly impeach President Joseph Biden for the same high crime of daring to be elected while being of the other party."
@NorthOfTheOneOhOne
No, the Dem’s funding and direction of Antifa and BLM are not incidental and personal.
Here’s a good example. I quit servicing one of my church clients over the past year because they were directly funding BLM in NYC, as the riots were going on.
The methods for maintaining the pretense that the Democrat’s are not funding and directing their paramilitary units is clever. One of the favorites is conferring huge speaking and consulting fees on members of the paramilitary.
The Dem’s support and funding of Antifa and BLM is institutional and directed nationally by the DNC through a well established signaling network.
One might feel better about Cotton over Trump but either way Cotton will be turned into Trump. So with that known would it not be better to just go with the real thing?
"Tom Cotton is getting a lot of things right."
Careful. He's not a "centrist," you know.
Anyway, Cotton had a good batting average well before Althouse gave up on the cruel neutrality BS.
My main concern would be Trump's age in 2024 and by the end of a theoretical term ending in 2029. We don't need to be ruled by a gerontocracy. Biden will be proving the folly of that idea.
Trump has kicked major ass and has accomplished more than any democrat pres. has. They hate him for it. I'd like to see the pressure kept up on dems to produce for Americans. Someone who can take it to em. Like this guy ->
https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2021/01/13/jocko-willink-communism-starts-banning-words/
Dems are bullies, they need educatin!
I am probably never going to vote again in my life for President or any other Fedral or State office. Maybe dog catcher or school board. Otherwise. No voting, a futile exercise and a big joke.
There is no point, none, zero, nada, in wasting my time in voting, or caring about any election where my vote is stolen by fraud or purposely misdirected.
This election was blatantly fraudulent and NO ONE wants to do anything about it. Why should I even care. I'm going to spend what is left of my life doing what I want and pleasing myself.
If it is out of my hands, it is off of my mind.
I quit servicing one of my church clients over the past year because they were directly funding BLM in NYC
Baby Lives Matter (BLM)? Probably not. Probably a Progressive Church, and in good company, now that the CCP has united in common cause and adopted their semantic games, conceptual corruption, conflation of logical domains, faith in mortal gods and goddesses, ideological bent, and quasi-religion. Forward!
Yancey Ward said...
Well, Greg, we will get an answer on the last sentence- the decision really isn't up to McConnell- Schumer and the Democrats will be in charge in short order, so a Senate trial will be a Democrat decision, and really a Chuck Schumer decision.
Will they? If Perdue files an election challenge, and asks the Senate to hold off seating anyone until the challenge is finished, that's 50 GOP Senators vs 49 Dem Senators voting on the results.
And the Senate is "sole judge" of those challenges.
There can be only one.
Blogger eddie willers said...
It will neither be Cotton or Trump. It will be someone who you are not even considering now that will have the GOP nomination in 2024.
Mike Pompeo?
Could be and I would not object. I wonder if Ric Grenell would be interested?
Ted Cruz – tough enough for the required battle, but it will be hard to run for President when you are on a no fly list.
Elon Musk – doobies and blunts in the oval office. No go.
Rand Paul – we’ll see if his neighbors keep him around that long
Richard Grenell – Democrats would tear him apart for being gay, even though they are pro-LGBTQ BS Blah Blah Blah… they don’t mean any of it.
Mike Pompeo – Hmmmmm
Mike Pence – Done
Nikki Haley - Nope. Silent on fair elections in the US, while defending it for the rest of the world.
Xi Jinping - Odds on favorite and the man to beat.
But all this is predicated that your vote actually matters or counts. It doesn’t anymore. So there is that to consider.
The Democrats are a violent party. They wheel out violent mobs every election.
There is always violence and dishonesty surrounding the democrat party.
The democrat party has chosen the most corrupt person they could have possibly chosen the last 2 primaries.
Democrats kicked republican poll observers out of poll counting stations and made our elections non-transparent by force.
Tom Cotton is willing to treat Democrats as a legitimate party. Tom Cotton treats them as if they are operating in good faith.
They are not.
Tom Cotton cannot be a representative if he is going to operate from dishonesty.
Blogger rcocean said...
Republicans are such morons. Bill Kristol's son is the top Aide to Senator Cotton.
Didn't know that. Thanks.
Although Susan Rice's son was president of the Stanford College Republicans.
"'There is no grievance that is a fit object of redress by mob law.'
I call bullshit:
Redressing Bill and Hillary Clinton forcing Juanita Broderick to endure a lifetime of watching them strut across the world stage. after he raped her, is worth it.
To punish Hillary for being the first American, in my lifetime, to bring slavery back somewhere is worth it.
Redressing Oprah Winfrey spreading quackery, misinformation, and pseudoscience for 30 years, after Obama gave her the 2013 Presidential Medal of Freedom for doing so, is worth it.
Redressing the Democrat Party fooling the entire world on Harvey Milk, the Peoples Temple, the Gay Rights Movement, the true identity of Dan White, and - just about everything we know about the modern world - is worth it.
Redressing getting rid of a President who was releasing prisoners for one who wrongly imprisoned millions, and calling it a Civil Rights move, is worth it.
I could go on.
So, speaking of mob rule. The wrong guy got identified as Extinguisher Man by the Twitter mob. His life? Ruined. He's receiving routine death threats. Twitter has left up multiple incorrect tweets claiming he killed a man.
But, don't worry. Twitter has here in its digital hand a list of names that were made known as being members of the Capitol Rioters. Surely some of them may be right.
Face it: Y'all, are fine with living in a lawless immoral world.
I've said that since the day I got here.
"One might feel better about Cotton over Trump but either way Cotton will be turned into Trump."
-- Every Republican will be turned into Hitler the moment they are a real threat to the left's chance at the presidency. McCain and Romney had their turn in the Hitler chair, if you recall.
Michael K said...
Blogger eddie willers said...
It will neither be Cotton or Trump. It will be someone who you are not even considering now that will have the GOP nomination in 2024.
Mike Pompeo?
Could be and I would not object. I wonder if Ric Grenell would be interested?
It will be someone that calls a Spade a Spade.
The democrats are violent fascists who pull dishonest shenanigans and block transparency.
The only way we will have an honest election is if we have millions of people physically insisting on being present when votes are being counted.
We will have to force our way inside the buildings where these Thumb Drives disappear.
It will be someone who refuses to trust douchey shit bags like Raffensburger and Kemp.
It will be someone who calls traitors like Kemp traitors.
It will be someone who organizes thousands of people to stare the dishonest cities like Detroit down and force them to have transparent election processes by forcing their way into these counting stations and video taping everything.
It will take activity in primaries sussing out people like Kemp who will betray us and holding Elected Republicans accountable.
It will not be a deal maker like Trump.
I don’t believe a pro-life candidate can win the presidential election. 11 million people die every four years and they are replaced with more liberal members. Republicans have won the popular vote once in the last 8 elections; it’s only going to get worse. Distressing.
This ties in with what another regular here (J Farmer) says about demographics, and I agree with both views. There need to be huge efforts to get kids out of the indoctrination centers as well as keeping the borders closed in order to stave that off, and I don't see how that's possible at this point.
With Grenell, any opposition could be called "homophobic" Be kind of fun accusing dems of blatant homophobia.
Sort of like if Condi Rice ever runs we could accuse dems of being afraid of a strong black woman.
I voted for Cotton in the poll, not because of Cotton but because I'm ready to turn the page on Trump. He had a lot of the right ideas but was too much of a self-absorbed buffoon to learn how to implement them. He wanted to drain the swamp but to do that you need to know how the swamp works and the limits to your own power and the the power of the bully pulpit, which Trump misused for four years.
All I - a foster child - have tried to do, since the day I left South Central, Los Angeles, was find a better life than that on the border between America's two most notorious and brutal gangs. I never have. All I've found are new depths of madness to plumb, amongst cowards, too dumb to even save themselves.
I'm almost 60 years old, and this means there's no hope for me EVER finding solace. Trump was the last opportunity - for us all.
Thomas Sowell said if Biden becomes President we might not make it.
It's that picture of Kamala with Montel Williams that makes me 100% certain he's right.
"Bob Boyd said...
Anyone who wants those schools fixed should be voting Republican."
How do you know they didn't? I'm aware of a great big silence from the black community on this outcome. I'm aware of down ballot Democratic losses.
Trump was faithful to the Constitution when he let Congress and the Capitol police be responsible for their own security. Not his fault they screwed up. The longer this goes on, the more I believe some of the rioting ringleaders are anti-Trump and Pelosi let them in intentionally just so she could impeach again.
I like Cruz, but I still believe the GOPe was anti-Cruz before they were anti-Trump. I point to the decision late in the 2016 Primary when the GOPe was desperate to stop Trump after 3rd place Rubio dropped out; they skipped 2nd place Cruz, and with last place Catshit for the win.
Cruz committed the same crime as Trump, just at a lower scale. Cruz chose to primary out the GOPe preferred Senate candidate David "Do you know who I am" Dewhurst, thus skipping the line and the time to earn his way into the Senate. What's a Party if it doesn't protect its process. It would be like an Union letting the energetic new kid get a promotion above the lazy journeyman that's paid their Union dues for 10 years now. You can't have that, or you'll lose the ability to collect those dues.
You guys WANT to play their game - notice I got Inga and that other creep to leave - and I never mentioned what happened at the Capital? Why?
Because what happened at the Capital doesn't matter.
Talk about what they want you to discuss - use the paprameters they put on you - and they win.
You've got to lock them DOWN.
Fuck Tom Cotton - we got a President - we need to fight for him and we won't.
Is there a seppuku option?
Why is it all of my familiar RW Pirates are here and Inga feels alright but I show up - ask a few direct questions - and she scrams?
Because you guys are playing their game.
The legal question may be considered one to be answered definitively by the Senate itself (under the interpretation of the political question doctrine from Nixon v. United States).
The legal question of disability for future elective office is definitely one for the people in their capacity as voters, and for the states and ultimately the courts on the question of ballot access. Just as impeached judge/U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings.
Cotton is essentially correct -
Any Senate trial of private citizen Donald Trump would be a bill of attainder.
Blogger The Crack Emcee said...
All I - a foster child - have tried to do, since the day I left South Central, Los Angeles, was find a better lifeM.
Crack, when I was examining recruits for the military, I interviewed a nice kid who was 18 and had been a foster child. He told me "I have 17 half siblings and I never want to see any of them." He was black but a white girl in my Masters program at Dartmouth told me she had grown up in foster homes and would rather have been in an orphanage.
Cotton might make a good cabinet member for someone.
But he's too wooden for a prez candidate.
He does have boring down. That appeals to some.
Blogger Henry Louis Gomez said...I voted for Cotton in the poll...
Probably because you never voted for Trump in the first place. Give me a break.
"self-absorbed buffoon" - There's a dishonest troll right there.
"The Founders designed . . . The Constitution presupposes . . . Fidelity to the Constitution"
This is all very nice, and it may help to reach out to Trump-hating whites, and perhaps even to nice "centrist" women, who might think you are "getting a lot of things right," which is very nice, just as long as we and Cotton aren't kidding ourselves that the Constitution means anything to anyone anymore.
Michael K said...
"Crack, when I was examining recruits for the military, I interviewed a nice kid who was 18 and had been a foster child. He told me "I have 17 half siblings and I never want to see any of them." He was black but a white girl in my Masters program at Dartmouth told me she had grown up in foster homes and would rather have been in an orphanage."
In foster homes I've been hit in the head with a 2 x4 - by my Forster mother - hit with a board with nails in it - same foster mother - put in gay homes where kids and adults tried to climb in my bed every night, forcing me to almost become a wild animal to defend myself. I got hit in the stomach with a dining room table leg, while sleeping, and when I rose up from the impact, a samoan kid was waiting to clock me in the jaw - this was because I was listening to Gil Scott Heron in a foster home where everyone was into KISS and Pink Floyd. I was listening to that because, at my previous home, they beat the shit out of me for listening to Led Zeppelin and Queen ("Didn't you see "Roots"?") Someone once dropped a bicycle chain on my naked back as I lay on the floor, drawing. He had been heating it up to a white hot temperature on the stove for a few minutes. You get the idea.
Foster care is nightmare.
Sebastian,
The Constitution is definitely still a thing.
However, application and access is quite selective.
Standing, laches...tools to avoid getting involved.
I joined the Navy as soon as I could, but I was essentially homeless by then. I was not going back to those places.
This is why losing my sister to NewAge is so tragic. She got raped by nine guys and I was the only person she could talk to. It was like I went through it with her. I was with the guys who got revenge.
And now she's a reiki healer, hates my guts, and blocked it all out. That's what she said: she doesn't remember it at all.
I don't know what my life is anymore.
In 2012 who would have thought Trump would be the nominee? It's likely the 2024 nominee will be somebody unexpected.
Chuck:
I saw you get told last night in clear, unequivocal, terms to leave this blog. And not for the first time. Your refusal marks you as beyond dishonorable. Pathetic.
Crack,Crack, Crack, why do you keep bringing up that boring old rape when cigars and blue dresses are sooo much more titillating?
Trump is done. Even most of his supporters see he wasn’t very committed or competent. He played them ( just as I said, as as Farmer said). Only the Trumpkins remain. They might be willing to sabotage Harris's opponent though, out of spite.I mean look at the Trumpkins here and their level of burn it all down spite. But Trump is done regardless.
Crack, I'm so sorry for your lifelong troubles, and also so glad you're here.
"Who will you vote for in 2024?" is a party game. The dems will hijack that election, and there's not a dam thing you can do about it.
wildswan said...
"Bob Boyd said...
Anyone who wants those schools fixed should be voting Republican."
I didn't say that, I was quoting Greg TCT. He said that. I said, Anyone who wants those schools fixed should be voting for Trump.
How do you know they didn't?
I'm sure more blacks voted for Trump this time than last time. I'm sure more blacks voted for Trump than for any Republican in a very long time. Still, most blacks probably still voted Dem.
Getting people to change parties is hard. That's what's so amazing about Trump. Black voters, Union voters, both staunch Dem constituencies. And the Republican party squanders it. A party of Chucks, apparently.
But Trump is done regardless.
I bet he isn’t.
Don’t know now what the situation will be in 2024, but if he wants to run, I’ll give him consideration.
He’s going to have to convince me that he can gain control of the FBI, DOJ, CIA and the bureaucracy.
Tom Cotton has the ability to control his tongue and emotions, something that Trump was never able to do. If Trump had controlled himself, he would have won the election.
If I were (hypothetically speaking) specifically told to stop commenting on some site, even if I thought the ban unfair or hypocritical, I would put any complaints I had on my own site. For one thing, most of us are very poor judges of ourselves, and tend to think we're right even when 95% of our acquaintances tell us we're wrong and give reasons for it. (I guess some people "don't speak hypothetical".)
One of my fonder memories of having a blog of my own - still there, but not updated in 6-7 years - is when Max Sawicky banned me from commenting on his blog, but then kept commenting on mine (until I banned him), as if that were a perfectly fair and reasonable thing to do. To repeat, some people have very twisted, and self-centered, ideas of what counts as fair and reasonable. Most of us call these people "assholes".
I voted Trump. I wonder what your poll would have shown if it were taken Jan 4th?
I clicked on Cotton, then switched back to Trump. He has still done nothing wrong. Evidence is trickling out that in fact a plan to get into Congress was plotted long before a Trump speech.
A FOI request to the DC police requesting all communications was denied. Because it might embarrass the Dept. More likely it reveals the Mayor asked Schumer and Pelosi for NG troops and they ignored her.
My point is, I will not allow the DC protest color my decision...today. I like Cotton alot and he will make a fine President. I Choose Trump because he is free of political motivation. Free from donors, free from thoughts of legacy, free from re-election. He exposed the State Dept as a gang of posers that have no intention of accomplishing anything in the best interests of the People. Thats just one example.
Sorry side tracked. If Trump is healthy and wants the job I would vote for him today.
People might want to put off saying things like "Trump is done" for another 5.8 days. As I commented three days ago, I think he's going to be reinaugurated next Wednesday, and the 20,000 armed troops and fence around the Capitol (now with razor-wire on top, I've read) are there to deal with the inevitable Antifa reaction. As I keep reminding people, we shall soon see whether he's done or not. If I'm right, he won't be running in 2024 because he will be ineligible after two full terms, and he will have a great deal of influence in picking whoever does run.
Leland said...
I like Cruz, but I still believe the GOPe was anti-Cruz before they were anti-Trump. I point to the decision late in the 2016 Primary when the GOPe was desperate to stop Trump after 3rd place Rubio dropped out; they skipped 2nd place Cruz, and with last place Catshit for the win.
The phrase was "I'd rather lose with Trump than win with Cruz." Then Trump won, and they were screwed.
The fact that the GOPe hates Cruz is one of his best selling points. The fact that Cruz actually has conservative followers who could move into positions and accomplish something is another selling point.
The question is whether or not he can connect to the WC voters that put Trump over the top.
For some reason, this assertion by the Democrats that they can ban Republicans from nominating Trump really pisses me off.
I’m still pissed off at the Democrats for looting and sacking NYC twice in 2020. I live nearby.
I have no idea what moral authority Democrats think they possess here.
Here is the brutal truth for the Republicans- the party as it stands today is electorally locked out of the presidency. There is no other Republican candidate that can make Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania competitive at the national level- literally no other candidate right now than Trump. The same applies to Iowa, by the way, and likely to Ohio, too. A mainstream Republican might still be able to win Arizona and Georgia, but that isn't nearly enough, and Georgia seems to be going the way of Virginia, as is North Carolina.
Trump showed the Republicans the way to break that lock, but they aren't listening and won't learn a fucking thing between now and 2024.
Senator Josh Hawly:Highly intelligent, principled, glib & articulate, telegenic, many accomplishments as AG of Missouri, unafraid to be outspoken in advancing his cause and unashamed/unrepentant Trump backer--the total package..
Full Moon I have asked repeatedly that you ignore my comments and not address me.
they hate me
Might as well eat a worm.
You want to know what things would be like today if Trump had lost the nomination in 2016? Here is what it would look like- next week would be Hillary being inaugurated for her second term, with the only other difference being a 6-3 edge on the court for the Democrats.
the only other difference being a 6-3 edge on the court for the Democrats.
And Jeffrey Epstein would have killed himself.
Hmmm. Some people don't seem to understand that the easiest way to get someone to ignore their comments and not address them is to stop making comments, to go the fuck away and not come back.
NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...
No one in the DNC can make a call and stop Antifa.
Note how extreme the standard is which reflects the desire to exonerate. The issue isn't whether they can be controlled completely. The issue is whether Dems will do anything about Antifa.
We know the answer because we've watched Dems spend two decades denying they are a problem and granting them political protection just as fascist governments protected their own blackshirts and brownshirts. We just spent most of a year watching Dems first provide bail and then dismiss charges against antifa members. Before that local governments in places like Berkeley and Portland refused to act when antifa was violent. They did the same thing the Portland and Seattle governments did last year - withdraw police so antifa could act with impunity.
Yancey Ward said...
You want to know what things would be like today if Trump had lost the nomination in 2016? Here is what it would look like- next week would be Hillary being inaugurated for her second term, with the only other difference being a 6-3 edge on the court for the Democrats.
And interesting, and almost certainly wrong, notion.
She would have inherited the same rocking economy that Trump enjoyed, but the same pandemic. She would surely have handled the pandemic better, and perhaps might have improved national health care, but can you imagine how the far right would have been howling? How many Senate investigations there would have been? Would Justice Kennedy have retired in that setting?
I have often thought of how easy it would have been, for a competent Republican -- a Jeb Bush or a Kasich -- to have won reelection last year. I still think that, so I suppose I should give you your due on Hillary.
Would Clinton have had Operation Warpspeed and brokered successful peace deals?
Hillary certainly is unlikely to have pressured Russia by wanting to arm our allies in that area.
Ann Althouse said...
Holding this impeachment trial works toward the end of disqualifying Trump from running again in 2024, so Cotton is — I think — taking a position against his own political interest.
The question seems ambiguous to both left and right. Both always have an opinion, and then fall back to "its complicated"
My position rests on the principle, the people make the decision.
The wording about not being able to hold an office of honor or profit(paraphrased) has been interpreted to eliminate Elected persons. Much like the debate on emoluments.
Also why was impeachment established? We cant impeach Pelosi...Oh the House can kick her out. Same with the Senate
So why impeachment? A safety valve to remove a President if the election is too far out. Guess what? The people did that.
Today, these circumstances, what Pelosi did was moot, by months, moot.
Impeachment comes with its own checks and balances. If congress goes too far afield the voters have a chance in less than 2 years to remove the renegades. Congress must be on firm factual ground to impeach, the people will see to that.
As far as banning from running again.
Isn't that the Peoples choice? I see no constitutional basis for the Senate to supplant the peoples choice with the Senates choice.
I don’t believe a pro-life candidate can win the presidential election. 11 million people die every four years and they are replaced with more liberal members. Republicans have won the popular vote once in the last 8 elections; it’s only going to get worse. Distressing.
The demographic issue is overstated. Young people are more liberal because they don't know enough. But life itself proves leftist principles don't work. Smarter people change as they get older.
This is why leftism is most extreme among the young and those in controlled environments like academia that don't interact with the world enough to learn from it.
To summarize, insurrection is OK for Democrats, but criminal for Republicans.
Why?
And why are Republicans tolerating this?
"People might want to put off saying things like "Trump is done" for another 5.8 days. As I commented three days ago, I think he's going to be reinaugurated next Wednesday, and the 20,000 armed troops and fence around the Capitol (now with razor-wire on top, I've read) are there to deal with the inevitable Antifa reaction. As I keep reminding people, we shall soon see whether he's done or not. If I'm right, he won't be running in 2024 because he will be ineligible after two full terms, and he will have a great deal of influence in picking whoever does run."
Well, while most of that is improbable there is one bit of truth in there that dare-not-speaketh-it's name.
My son's Washington National Guard unit was sent to Olympia this week to guard Jay's useless ass. While most WA proggies no doubt assume that the WNG is there to protect the tremulous Jay from those evil Trumpkins, the soldiers were specifically told that they are there to prevent Antifa from attacking conservative protesters and avoid the ensuing chaos.
Fascinating, and it suggests that there is intelligence being shared by Federal law-enforcement that doesn't quite match the narrative being pushed.
Trump showed the Republicans the way to break that lock, but they aren't listening and won't learn a fucking thing between now and 2024.
Yes, a diverse minority seems to be stuck on progress: one step forward, two steps backward.
That said, diversity of individuals, minority of one. #HateLovesAbortion
Blogger Ann Althouse said...
Holding this impeachment trial works toward the end of disqualifying Trump from running again in 2024, so Cotton is — I think — taking a position against his own political interest.
If the political calculus was just limited to whether Tom Cotton can do better in a field that has Trump or doesn't have Trump, I would agree. But, I think any Republican that is seen as tacitly supporting, or not fighting against impeachment 2 : Electric Boogaloo, will have a very hard time winning votes in Republican primaries.
Matt Sablan said...
Would Clinton have had Operation Warpspeed and brokered successful peace deals?
Sure, I think so. Why not? What exactly did the Trump Administration do, that another Administration would not do? The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, from the UK, is just a few weeks behind Pfizer and Moderna. HHS threw a ton of money at AstraZeneca, but was that a pure Trump thing? Did Trump do anything at all over any partisan objections? No.
Peace deals? Flights for shoppers between Tel Aviv and the Emirates?
"People might want to put off saying things like "Trump is done" for another 5.8 days. As I commented three days ago, I think he's going to be reinaugurated next Wednesday, and the 20,000 armed troops and fence around the Capitol (now with razor-wire on top, I've read) are there to deal with the inevitable Antifa reaction. As I keep reminding people, we shall soon see whether he's done or not. If I'm right, he won't be running in 2024 because he will be ineligible after two full terms, and he will have a great deal of influence in picking whoever does run."
Ya gotta love those comments. That's some straight-up badass QAnon.
Hey it reminds me that somebody owes me a donation to the Althouse blog for a bet that I won.
LLR-lefty and marxist candidate endorser Chuck: "Full Moon I have asked repeatedly that you ignore my comments and not address me."
Banned commenter, who was banned, posts on respecting his commenting wishes.
Discuss.
Blogger The Crack Emcee said...
Face it: Y'all, are fine with living in a lawless immoral world.
Lawless? No. Immoral? Yes.
I’m still pissed off at the Democrats for looting and sacking NYC twice in 2020. I live nearby.
I have no idea what moral authority Democrats think they possess here.
... and businesses, neighborhoods, people... persons.
They subscribe to the ostensibly "secular" Pro-Choice selective, opportunistic, relativistic ("ethical"), politically congruent ("=") quasi-religion with a liberal ideological bent. All's fair in lust and abortion, I suppose. Let us bray. #InStorkTheyTrust
Chuck,
Explain to me the path Kasich or Bush would have won the presidency- show me how they would have won WI, PA, and MI in 2016 when no Republican had won any of those states since 1988. Romney in 2012 had already demonstrated that VA and CO are permanently outside the Republican Party's reach, and that FL and OH are likely tossups for any mainstream Republican candidate, though a favorite son like Kasich might have won it in 2016. Of the states that Trump won in 2016 he took out of Obama's 2012 column, a Kasich or Bush would have won only Ohio and Florida, with possibly Iowa tossed in, but no other state.
How do I know this? I know this because we have the results of the 2004 election to judge by- George W. Bush was the last Republican to win 50%+ of the popular vote, and he didn't come close to winning MI or PA, and lost in a tight race WI and barely won IA. All of those states drifted left, not right, in the intervening elections until 2016. Ohio and Florida also drifted left, though not as much. Those political drifts will now continue to the left unless the Republican Party embraces Trump's policy positions.
Cotton has his principles, and is true to them. I also see that he could withstand and repel the attacks from the Left as good and with better locution than Trump.
The banned shithead calls my argument "straight-up badass QAnon". That's his usual filthy lying. I've never read QAnon in my life, and on Monday, I recommended QuodVerum, which has a policy of banning QAnon shit - one of the many things I like about it. They are the ones arguing that Trump will be reinaugurated, and giving reasons. I also mentioned @RattlerGator on Twitter, but he's since been banned for the usual reason - arguing the pro-Trump case too effectively.
Just one more bit of evidence as to why banning the shithead was a necessary and proper bit of basic blog hygiene.
Yancey, I'm not going to do that. At least not here and now. I think we are going too far off topic from Althouse's blog post. You'll call me a coward or lazy or whatever. I don't care. I'm doing things my own way. And this one, I presume, is the Althouse preference. I'm going to try for my own commenting hygiene. Following Althouse's general preferences. Perhaps you could figure out some other way to pursue your questions.
Dr Weevil
You must have graduated summa cum laude from the Yancey Ward School of Forecasting.
"Explain to me the path Kasich or Bush would have won the presidency-"
-- That really is the biggest problem, isn't it? Clinton had enough control of the media that they worked to push Trump when she thought she could beat them, according to the released emails. Clinton, of course, isn't particularly smart and couldn't see Trump was strong in the exact areas she was weak, but her being dumb isn't exactly news. She essentially sunk herself.
Not only that, but a Kasich or Bush that had won was going to face the exact same Russian Collusion hoax as Trump. I can't see them navigating it nearly as well, and Trump didn't exactly cover himself in glory in how he handled that. I think the Russian Collusion Hoax probably would have ended either Kasich or Bush, because they wouldn't have been willing to expose the FBI as liars or continue fighting against Hillary Clinton.
Dr Weevil said...
The banned shithead calls my argument "straight-up badass QAnon". That's his usual filthy lying. I've never read QAnon in my life, and on Monday, I recommended QuodVerum, which has a policy of banning QAnon shit - one of the many things I like about it. They are the ones arguing that Trump will be reinaugurated, and giving reasons. I also mentioned @RattlerGator on Twitter, but he's since been banned for the usual reason - arguing the pro-Trump case too effectively.
Cool! Then let's bet on who is inaugurated on the 20th. And let's make it a very large bet.
Even worse for the Republicans is that they are getting close to losing the Senate permanently. They appear to have lost AZ and GA for good, and NC will elect a Democrat to fill Burr's seat, and would have elected one this last cycle if Cunningham had been able to keep his dick in his pants. In 2022- the Democrats will take both WI and the PA seats, along with the NC seat, while other states simply become even more uncompetive to the point a Republican can't even win a senate seat during a red wave. What happens when Grassley retires or dies?
You got a good vision of the future, Chuck, when the Democrats took both GA seats by comfortable margins. Thats the future of the GOP.
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