Hatch dismisses allegations of Trump crimes over hush money. Asked if he had any concerns, Hatch said: “The Democrats will do anything to hurt this president.” Told it was alleged by SDNY, Hatch told me: “Okay but I don’t care; all I can say is he’s doing a good job as President”
Hatch added this when asked if he was concerned about allegations. “No because I don’t think he was involved in crimes but even then, you know, you can make anything a crime under the current laws; if you want to you can blow it way out of proportion you can do a lot of things.”
Hatch also told me: “President Trump before he became president that’s another world. Since he’s become president this economy has charged ahead. ... And I think we ought to judge him on that basis other than trying to drum up things from the past that may or may not be true.”
Grassley, the Senate Judiciary chairman, similarly dismisses the federal prosecutors’ argument: “They based it on what a liar says, so it hurts the credibility of it.”
Earlier today, it was my position that impeachment should be brought against Trump even with the full knowledge that Senate Republicans wouldn't vote to convict and remove him from office. My argument was that it would put Republicans on the record showing that they don't care that the President is a criminal. I also argued that, essentially, not drafting articles of impeachment for that reason would be its own statement on our nation's values, and that that statement would be quite bad.
Well, perhaps two Republican Senators were reading my posts and thought, "Hey, why make Cardinal wait for impeachment before it gets to that? Let's go there now."
https://twitter.com/mkraju/status/1072244175544963073
At this point it's not a significant step to go from saying, "I don't care if he committed Federal Crimes because look at the economy" to "I don't care if he illegally conspired with a hostile foreign state because look at [insert Conservative goal here]."
The fact that we've already reached the point that Republican Senators are comfortable going on the record stating that rule of law is irrelevant represents the most recent and dramatic deterioration in the foundation of our Democracy. As bad as the nation's dialogue is (not least to say the quality of dialogue here on DP right now), what follows once our debates have shifted from arguing that crimes happened to arguing why crime is bad? If this kind of nihilism is successful in shaping the country's narrative, I won't be very optimistic about what happens next.
UTTER SCUM:
"you can make anything a crime under the current laws"
Orrin Hatch on Donald Trump directing Michael Cohen to commit a federal crime: “I don’t care.”
Orrin Hatch on Bill Clinton lying under oath about having sex with Monica Lewinsky: “Perjury and obstruct justice ... rise to the level of high crimes and misdemeanors.”
The modern GOP in a nutshell.
Hatch is only an echo of the man he used to be.
Earlier today, it was my position that impeachment should be brought against Trump even with the full knowledge that Senate Republicans wouldn't vote to convict and remove him from office. My argument was that it would put Republicans on the record showing that they don't care that the President is a criminal. I also argued that, essentially, not drafting articles of impeachment for that reason would be its own statement on our nation's values, and that that statement would be quite bad.
Well, perhaps two Republican Senators were reading my posts and thought, "Hey, why make Cardinal wait for impeachment before it gets to that? Let's go there now."
https://twitter.com/mkraju/status/1072244175544963073
At this point it's not a significant step to go from saying, "I don't care if he committed Federal Crimes because look at the economy" to "I don't care if he illegally conspired with a hostile foreign state because look at [insert Conservative goal here]."
The fact that we've already reached the point that Republican Senators are comfortable going on the record stating that rule of law is irrelevant represents the most recent and dramatic deterioration in the foundation of our Democracy. As bad as the nation's dialogue is (not least to say the quality of dialogue here on DP right now), what follows once our debates have shifted from arguing that crimes happened to arguing why crime is bad? If this kind of nihilism is successful in shaping the country's narrative, I won't be very optimistic about what happens next.
One conservative poster here lashed out, barely apropos of the post he was responding to, "You guys owe us Hillary's head on a pike." I think that pretty much says it all. They failed to impeach Bill, and when they failed to get Hillary thrown in jail I think that completed the long process of losing their minds. They're willing to end the American experiment altogether because they didn't get to destroy the Clintons in the way they always imagined they would.
Orrin Hatch on Donald Trump directing Michael Cohen to commit a federal crime: “I don’t care.”
Orrin Hatch on Bill Clinton lying under oath about having sex with Monica Lewinsky: “Perjury and obstruct justice ... rise to the level of high crimes and misdemeanors.”
The modern GOP in a nutshell.
The ramifications of the Senators' answers are something I'll be processing for a while.
1. Republicans voted into office to create legislation just expressed that the rule of law is naturally a barrier to their power.
2. Republicans voted into office to be a check on the Presidency have prejudged Mueller's investigation to be irrelevant.
We crossed a really bad threshold today.
Its turning into a bit of a meh.
The country is screwed, because it's not even about Trump, if they're willing to vote into power and tolerate someone like him, they'll believe and vote for anyone, they absolutely can and will top the insane decision to elect Trump, with someone even worse down the road, if we get through his Presidency in one piece that is.
Except there is no "getting through his Presidency," and the Senators' comments highlighted that point more clearly than at any time in the last two years. The observation that Trump is the product of the Republican Party has never been in sharper focus than it is now. That means we've got much bigger problems than Trump.
Earlier today, it was my position that impeachment should be brought against Trump even with the full knowledge that Senate Republicans wouldn't vote to convict and remove him from office. My argument was that it would put Republicans on the record showing that they don't care that the President is a criminal.
The ramifications of the Senators' answers are something I'll be processing for a while.
1. Republicans voted into office to create legislation just expressed that the rule of law is naturally a barrier to their power.
2. Republicans voted into office to create legislation and be a check on the Executive branch have just pre-emptively dismissed Mueller's investigation and deemed any conclusions to be irrelevant.
We crossed a really bad threshold today.
History thus demonstrates that acts
or conduct that demeans the integrity
of the office, or harms an individual’s
reputation in such a way as to engender
a lack of public confidence in the
office holder or the political system is
an impeachable offense. Justice Joseph
Story, in his celebrated Commentaries
on the Constitution of the United
States §762 (1835), made this abundantly
clear when he wrote that impeachment
lies for private behavior
that harms the society or demeans its
institutions:
"The Democrats will do anything to hurt this president.”
Told it was alleged by SDNY, Hatch told me:
“Okay but I don’t care; all I can say is he’s doing a good job as President
Earlier today, it was my position that impeachment should be brought against Trump even with the full knowledge that Senate Republicans wouldn't vote to convict and remove him from office. My argument was that it would put Republicans on the record showing that they don't care that the President is a criminal. I also argued that, essentially, not drafting articles of impeachment for that reason would be its own statement on our nation's values, and that that statement would be quite bad.
Well, perhaps two Republican Senators were reading my posts and thought, "Hey, why make Cardinal wait for impeachment before it gets to that? Let's go there now."
https://twitter.com/mkraju/status/1072244175544963073
At this point it's not a significant step to go from saying, "I don't care if he committed Federal Crimes because look at the economy" to "I don't care if he illegally conspired with a hostile foreign state because look at [insert Conservative goal here]."
The fact that we've already reached the point that Republican Senators are comfortable going on the record stating that rule of law is irrelevant represents the most recent and dramatic deterioration in the foundation of our Democracy. As bad as the nation's dialogue is (not least to say the quality of dialogue here on DP right now), what follows once our debates have shifted from arguing that crimes happened to arguing why crime is bad? If this kind of nihilism is successful in shaping the country's narrative, I won't be very optimistic about what happens next.
Funny. When Clinton was President, the republicans were hell bent on impeaching him - even though the economy was very strong at the time.
And the majority of Americans didn't care about his adultery claiming that was between him and Hillary. All Americans cared about was having a job and the economy was strong.
But the republicans had other ideas. They thought Clinton's lies and adultery were impeachable offences and they wasted MILLIONS of dollars and YEARS investigating and pursuing this.
Now we have a liar and an adulterer who allegedly committed federal crimes - and the republicans are just dismissing it all because the economy is doing well.
More proof that the republicans are putting trump before the country. In their world, trump is above the law - something the founding fathers never would have allowed.
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