President Trump is big on declaring his best-ever, most-ever, first-ever accomplishments. In classic Trumpian fashion, Donald indeed has achieved two things no other American president has: 1) He is the first to be impeached in his first term; and 2) He is the first to be impeached for endangering national security. House Republicans compared Wednesday’s impeachment vote to the Crucifixion, among other things. Apparently in this analogy, Donald Trump is Jesus of Nazareth. That night the president held a Battle Creek campaign rally. Donald, ostensibly in his Son of God persona, mocked the grief of Congresswoman Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.), then implied her late husband, John — revered Detroit area Democratic House member of many decades — was in hell. I want my kids to grow up to be just like Mr. Trump. (scroll down for full article)
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“Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) Announces on Fox News: Trump Will Not Be Removed From Office, Senate Impeachment Trial Leaders Will Be in Direct Coordination With WH” (12/12/2019)
“HOUSE JUDICIARY CMTE. VOTES IMPEACHMENT ARTICLES ON TO FULL HOUSE VOTE” (12/13/2019)
“Fox News Poll: 54% for Impeachment; 50% Support Removal; 41% Against Impeachment” (12/15/2019)
“Final Dem Impeachment Inquiry Report Released: 630+ Pgs., Including 130+ New Pgs.” (12/16/2019)
Trump Releases 6-Pg. Letter (aka Trump Rally on Paper) to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) Protesting His Impeachment, Projecting Every Grievance He’s Ever Had Against Dem Enemies; Virtually No WH Legal Input; Widely Seen as Unhinged Outrage, Embarrassment to WH, Office” (12/17/2019)
“Indicted Trump Deputy Campaign Manager Rick Gates Finally Sentenced After Extensive Cooperation With Prosecution: 45 Days Prison, 3 Yrs. Probation, $20K Fine, Will Continue Cooperation” (12/17/2019)
“Trump Personal Lawyer Rudy Giuliani Admits on Fox News: He Engineered Removal of Amb. to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch Because She Was Blocking Attempts to Initiate Biden Investigations” (12/17/2019)
“750+ Respected Historians Go on Record Supporting Impeachment: ‘If President Trump’s misconduct does not rise to the level of impeachment, then virtually nothing does’” (12/17/2019)
“FULL HOUSE VOTES TO IMPEACH TRUMP ON BOTH ARTICLES: 230-197, 229-198” (12/18/2019)
“Many Vulnerable House Dems Show Moral Courage, Vote to Impeach; 2 Defections” (12/18/2019)
“Speaker Pelosi Won’t Commit to Sending Articles to Senate, Awaits Senate Trial Rules” (12/18/2019)
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The United States House of Representatives made history this week, voting for only the third time to impeach a president.
President Trump is big on declaring (exaggerating? lying about?) his best-ever, most-ever, first-ever accomplishments. In classic Trumpian fashion, Donald indeed has achieved two things no other American president has: 1) He is the first to be impeached in his first term; and 2) He is the first to be impeached for endangering national security.
I want my kids to grow up to be just like him.
President Trump also wrote a letter this week, on the eve of his impeachment, to his old friend Nancy from California. The White House has emphasized that this meandering missive is largely Donald’s own words, with minimal input from his staunchest aides (read: Stephen Miller) and virtually zero input from the White House counsel’s office. We can tell.
Donald Sends Angry Letter After Dems Break Up With Him
“You have cheapened the importance of the very ugly word, impeachment! …
“It is a terrible thing you are doing [fake-praying for the President], but you will have to live with it, not I! …
“You have developed a full-fledged case of what many in the media call Trump Derangement Syndrome and sadly, you will never get over it! …
“You view democracy as your enemy! …
“[T]his impeachment drive … only has to do with your attempt to undo the election of 2016 and steal the election of 2020! …
“After three years of unfair and unwarranted investigations … you have found NOTHING! …
“Before the Impeachment Hoax, it was the Russian Witch Hunt[!] …
“More due process was afforded to those accused in the Salem Witch Trials[!] …
“You said [impeachment] was very divisive … and it will only get worse! …
“I write this letter to you for the purpose of history and to put my thoughts on a permanent and indelible record. One hundred years from now, when people look back at this affair, I want them to understand it, and learn from it, so that it can never happen to another President again.
“Sincerely yours, Donald J. Trump”
(Trump, Donald, R-Fla., U.S. president; open letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.; 12/17/2019.)
“And you’re terrible in bed, too!”
You might have noticed the two marks of exclamation in brackets, which indicate that I believe Donald really meant to put these in, he just overlooked them during the exhaustive editing process.
Trump also made reference to “Democrat Lawmakers,” “Democrat conspiracy,” and “Democrat Party,” whatever those are.
Now I don’t want to overplay the copy editor’s role here. Some of my best friends and ideological brethren write with grammatical errors and structural weaknesses. I, myself, once misplaced a comma back in 1989, I think it was. But this letter looks like it came from the eighth-grade editor of the “James Danforth Quayle Middle School Republicans Bulletin,” the MAGA-supporting teacher’s pet who cannot fully shed her tweet-writing habits and love affair with the exclamation point.
Obviously, this was not the entire letter, which can be found easily online. But it was most of the good parts. Trump’s six-page word-processed tweet was the unhinged rantings of a frightened, corrupt delusionist, once again embarrassing America on the world stage.
Projectionist Projection
The Trump presidential era has illuminated the concept of projection, the psychological weapon of accusing your enemies and others of offenses you are guilty of. In technical terms, this is the “I-know-you-are-but-what-am-I?” defense. Donald’s letter to Nancy is a fecund pool of projectionist pronouncements. In Trump World, House Speaker Pelosi and the Democrats are the ones guilty of the following:
“Abuse of power …
“Violating your oaths of office …
“Breaking your allegiance to the Constitution …
“Declaring open war on American Democracy …
“Spiteful actions displaying unfettered contempt for America’s founding …
“Viewing democracy as your enemy …
“Lying all the way up to the present day …
“Interfering in America’s elections …
“Subverting America’s Democracy …
“Obstructing justice …
“Bringing pain and suffering to our Republic for your own selfish personal, political, and partisan gain …
“Reviling the voters and truly detesting America’s Constitutional order …
“Bringing the Founders’ worst fears to life …
“Little respect for the American people …
“False displays of solemnity …”
(Ibid.; Trump; 12/17/2019.)
That last one really hurt.
Of course, the problem with labeling projection — Trump’s or anyone else’s — is that the projector simply projects the projectionist accusations. Moreover, I know you are but what am I?
Pretty much all you need to know is this: Trump is scared sh**less, like Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young at Woodstock.
“One hundred years from now, when people look back at this affair, I want them to understand it, and learn from it.”
(Ibid.; Trump; 12/17/2019.)
Mr. President, it won’t take 100 years. We’ve learned from you (and your affairs) in less than one presidential term.
Final House Debate Before Impeachment Vote
At Wednesday’s House impeachment debate, before the final article votes were taken at approximately 8:30 p.m., Republican representatives made one last 10-hour gasp, spewing their basket of deplorable lies: that the process was unfair, secretive, too quick, not based in fact, based on hearsay evidence, based on Never-Trump witness testimony, anti-constitutional, yada, yada ….
The old learned lesson here is that shamelessly repeating a lie doesn’t make it true, but it does sway or confuse enough voters to create a sturdy false equivalency. This old learned lesson, however, requires the perpetrators to subvert their ethical approach to truth. The new lesson is that Trump-supporting Republican legislators and MAGA media prostitutes are so bereft of principle, they no longer have any ethical tendencies to subvert.
Therein lies the rub: Democrats can’t fight communications fire with fire because they still have a moral core that precludes them, as a group, from blatant, persistent lying. Are there isolated examples of Democratic misinformation? Yes. But compared to what the Trump GOP does, these isolated examples are like a few snowballs in an avalanche.
Essentially, Republican House members denied the facts and repeated ad infinitum all the same false projectionist proclamations, as they have been doing in lockstep with Trump and the White House all along. Noted pundit Chris Matthews was the first of many political observers to point out, however, that throughout 10-plus hours of congressional debate, not one GOP member in the House ever defended the president’s character, ever said Donald Trump is a good man.
House Republicans compared the Democrats’ imminent impeachment vote to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, Stalinist Soviet rule, and the Joseph McCarthy redbaiting, blacklisting campaign of the 1940s and ‘50s. Apparently in these analogies, Donald Trump is respectively Jesus of Nazareth, President Franklin Roosevelt, President Harry Truman, and Joseph N. Welch [circa 1954].
Oh, word just came in: The president has been impeached: Article I, Abuse of Power, 230-197; Article II, Obstruction of Congress, 229-198.
The president held a Battle Creek campaign rally the same night as the impeachment vote. Donald, ostensibly in his Son of God persona, mocked the grief of Congresswoman Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.), then implied her late husband, John — revered Detroit area Democratic House member of many decades — was in hell.
I want my kids to grow up to be just like Mr. Trump. ■
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Impeachment Timeline — This Week
[RECAP]: 12/9/2019 — DOJ Inspector General releases long-awaited report on Trump-Russia investigation: 1) there was no FBI political bias; 2) FBI had adequate “predication” to open investigation; 3) no “spying” occurred; 4) there were significant mistakes made in FISA warrant processes, which warrant examination and overhaul
[RECAP]: 12/10/2019 — HOUSE ANNOUNCES 2 ARTICLES OF IMPEACHMENT: 1) Abuse of power; 2) Obstruction of Congress
[IMPEACHMENT: DAY 80 — 12/12/19]
12/12/2019 — Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) announces on Fox News: Trump will not be removed from office, Senate impeachment trial leaders will be in direct coordination with White House counsel’s office
12/13/2019 — CONGRESS JUDICIARY CMTE. VOTES IMPEACHMENT ARTICLES OUT OF CMTE., ON TO FULL FLOOR VOTE NEXT WEEK
12/16/2019 — Final Impeachment Inquiry Report Released by House of Representatives, 630-plus pages
12/17/2019 — President Trump releases 6-pg. letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) protesting his impeachment, projecting nearly every grievance he’s ever had against Democratic enemies; letter is widely characterized as a Trump rally on paper, had virtually no White House counsel legal input, widely seen as an unhinged outrage and embarrassment to White House, office of the presidency
12/18/2019 — FULL HOUSE VOTES TO IMPEACH PRESIDENT TRUMP ON BOTH ARTICLES: I, 230-197; II, 229-198; caps 10-plus hours of debate
12/18/2019 — Speaker Pelosi won’t commit to sending articles of impeachment to Senate until learning Senate trial rules
Trump Corruption Chronicles — We Must Never Forget
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