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You are here: Home / Politics / Impeachment / Impeachment Trial – February 5, 2020

Reader Interactions

148Comments

  1. 1.

    Patricia Kayden

    So now we’re in the phase where Republicans help Trump tear up our constitution and its norms by acquitting him for blatantly committing impeachable offenses. What a day.

  2. 2.

    dmsilev

    But according to Susan Collins, Trump has “learned his lesson” and surely won’t do anything bad ever again after today.

  4. 4.

    The Dangerman

    There are going to be a lot of trips to a lot of gravesites for appropriate responses to this bullshit. I hope everyone eats their fiber and brings their Charmin (no squeezing).

    I saw something that just exhausts me. Yesterday, or maybe it was today, Susan Collins said that this exercise would temper Trump’s behavior going forward. She must love being wrong as Trump came out and said “What you talking about, Willis?”.

    I get it. Winning is better than losing, but winning dirty (hi, Houston Astros) can come back and bite you in the ass. I can only hope that 2020 produces a wave that sends todays Republican Party out to the wilderness where they can figure out how to play within the rules and no more of this “if the president does it to get reelected, it is in the public interest” horse manure.

  5. 5.

    Elizabelle

    re Republican senators:  sucks to be them.

    We know it now.  They will come to know it.

    I wonder if Doug Jones’ vote will put some steel in Joe Manchin’s spine.  It really might.  (Here’s hoping Manchin is already a vote to convict.)

  6. 6.

    WaterGirl

    @rikyrah: We knew this was coming, but I didn’t know what an amazing job the Dems would do, so for awhile I actually had hope that they couldn’t possibly acquit, or not allow witnesses, at least, and documents.

  8. 8.

    Barbara

    @WaterGirl: My husband pointed out that she is basically doomed no matter what she says.  She can’t win without her Trumpie base voters in Maine, so she has to twist herself into a pretzel to pretend that she cares enough for some and not at all for others.  My come back to him was that these are the hopeless tensions that you resolve by just doing the right thing.

  10. 10.

    Jeffro

    The Dems should just repeat that Lindsey Graham quote from May 2016 over and over:

    “If we nominate trumpov, we will get destroyed…and we will deserve it.”

    And then end with Schiff: “Well, the GOP hasn’t been completely destroyed, not yet…but it has lost three straight elections. More importantly, look where you are now. Look how far your party has fallen. Did you ever think it would get this bad? Could you ever imagine he would be such an obvious criminal?” etc etc he would say it far better than all that, but still

  13. 13.

    Elizabelle

    The only thing making me smile today is remembering Nancy Smash tearing up that lie-festooned SOTU speech.

    Goes right up there with the clap from previous year.

  14. 14.

    Elizabelle

    @patrick II:  I truly think Susan Collins has run out that rope.  A bit surprised she decided to run again.  Maybe she’s hoping for Bernie, with his no coattails effect.

    I am thinking about nominee Bernie, and realizing it means goodbye, my brave and brilliant first term congresswoman who beat a Tea Partier.  Very tough district.

    I live in Richmond, VA.  Remember the whitepeoplepalooza a few short weeks ago — thousands upon thousands of angry white male gun humpers, open carrying and protesting at the Capitol on Martin Luther King Day?  [On “lobby day”, so that non-armed people did not feel safe venturing into that swarm?]

    In subsequent weeks, the Democratic legislature — with more women than ever — has been passing gun violence prevention measures.  They were not intimidated by the gun bros.

    Saint Bernard could take all that away from us.  He does not like Democrats.  He will have no coattails in hard to win districts.

  17. 17.

    Elizabelle

    @Matt McIrvin:   I tire of the imbeciles on Twitter.

    I think I would be happier not knowing about all that shouting and puffery.  They are mostly loudmouths with twitter handles.

  18. 18.

    Elizabelle

    @zhena gogolia:  No.  Not at all.  But I worry about what might happen if he prevailed.

    I still hope for Elizabeth Warren or even Joe Biden.  Think I’m a tad disheartened at skimming (lightly) the FTF NYTimes’ newish opinion columnist, Elizabeth Breunig, who is out there to feed red meat to the Bernie contingent.  Need to remember:  he underperformed.

  19. 19.

    cckids

    @Elizabelle:

     

    Need to remember: he underperformed.

    This. And everything I’ve heard/read before Iowa was that Bernie was generating SO MUCH EXCITEMENT, that he was bringing in thousands of new voters, this would CHANGE THE GAME!!! Even the Pod Save America guys were all in on this one.

    Reality : Not so much.

    I swear to FSM, I want just ONE reporter, at any time, to ask Bernie or his spokesperson, if crowds and excitement are enough, what happened with Obama?? His smaller crowds dwarf Bernie’s biggest, and we all saw how much that mattered to McConnell & co. Delusional, all of them.

  22. 22.

    joel hanes

    @schrodingers_cat:

    “establishment” = anyone they don’t like

    As it was for we who were children and teenagers in the 1960s.   We spent a lot of time talking about the oppressive “establishment”, and how it was preventing good things.

  23. 23.

    Geminid

    @Elizabelle:  I think the gun safety issue will help Congresswoman Spanberger this fall. Her two main challengers, Freitas and McGuire will have to compete for the conservative vote by staking out generally unpopular positions on background checks, “constitutional carry” (no licensing to carry concealed, and other absolutist 2nd Amendment goals. The republicans in this state have ceded the middle to the democrats. The Country Club/Chamber of Commerce types, like Eric Kantor, who used to run the party are standing back and watching the train wreck.

  25. 25.

    Jeffro

    @cckids: Bernie’s getting about 60% of the turnout he got in 2016, right?  I’m not sure how his supporters call that ‘progress’

    In 2020, he’s not able to run as the Dems’ only alternative to Hillary Clinton, so it’s really no wonder his support has diminished this time.

    Speaking of (alternatives to Hillary)…why didn’t Martin O’Malley make a second run?  Not that I am feeling the Mall-mentum, I’m just curious.

  26. 26.

    gene108

    @Elizabelle:

    Worries me too. Bernie refused to campaign for supporters running for office, in 2016.  These were candidates, who stumped for him. He didn’t return the favor.

  27. 27.

    trollhattan

    @Elizabelle:

    Maine finally rid themselves of the odious Gov. LePage. Can the eject Collins as well? She’s not as cartoonishly bad, so I wonder.

  28. 28.

    Elizabelle

    @joel hanes:   I love that.  Thank you.

    And that is why we need more women in politics.  (I know, we do get the Susan Collin types.  But I would take her any day of the week over John Barrasso or her bizarre governor who’s since been replaced by a Democrat. Or the GOP frat boy/bible-thumping types.)

    ETA:  Trollhattan got there first.  The deplorable LePage.  Yeah.  I think Maine might be ready to elect a Democrat to the Senate.  Angus King is pretty much one.

  29. 29.

    WaterGirl

    I had not seen this until I read it just now on The Washington Monthly Political Animal blog.

    Speaker Pelosi later explained to reporters that she tore up the speech because it was a “manifesto of mistruths.”

  30. 30.

    WaterGirl

    @Barbara: Yep.  When you’re damned if you do, and damned if you don’t, the one upside is that you have the luxury of doing what you think is right.

    She’s a total fucking coward.

  31. 31.

    WaterGirl

    @Elizabelle: I just saw this about Nancy Pelosi:

    Speaker Pelosi later explained to reporters that she tore up the speech because it was a “manifesto of mistruths.”

    How is it that I had not heard about that?  To clarify, I knew that she had torn up the speech, but I had not heard that comment.

  32. 32.

    Cermet

    Wow, get a grip, people; first, 90% of the thug senators will suffer no consequences from their vote. Thinking otherwise is a lost cause. We (hopefully) might get rid of two or if extremely lucky three, but we’ll lose at least one seat (AL) in all likelihood.

    As for Iowa and NH making sanders a winner – please. The media are stupid and will try that bullshit but all those old white men (besides sanders) don’t make the amerikan voting body.  Warren and Biden are the two most likely winners in the majority of the remaining  states.

    This will be a slow war – and take more than one election to win the senate back; we might get lucky and win back the white house but not I, somehow, sanders wins the primary. I don’t think so but I know the thugs and hence the media will try and anoint him just so they can screw this country further for the rich.

  36. 36.

    trollhattan

    @WaterGirl:

    Moar Nancy.

    Speaker Nancy Pelosi ripped into President Donald Trump in a private meeting with Democrats Wednesday, just hours after the two jousted in a silent sparring match during his State of the Union address. Pelosi, addressing her caucus Wednesday morning, said she felt “liberated” after defiantly ripping up Trump’s speech for the world to see, tearing up each page as she stood behind the president after he concluded his annual address. “He shredded the truth, so I shredded his speech,” Pelosi told House Democrats, according to multiple sources in the room. “What we heard last night was a disgrace.”

  38. 38.

    Citizen Alan

    @Jeffro:

    why didn’t Martin O’Malley make a second run?  Not that I am feeling the Mall-mentum, I’m just curious.

    I really wish O’Malley  had done better in 2016. He’d have never won, but he might have decided that his best option would be to go negative on Wilmer and take him out before his cult-leader tendencies took hold.

  42. 42.

    Cheryl Rofer

  43. 43.

    BC in Illinois

    @Bill Arnold:

    A line from the Wonkette article:

    . . . the barely “elected” president himself, whose speech no longer exists because Mean Nancy done ripped it to shreds. . . .

    I hadn’t thought of this. What will become of the historical record?

  51. 51.

    Barbara

    @WaterGirl: Running around in circles and pretending to make a principled decision is such an insult to the rest of us.  This is pure narcissistic self-protection on her part.  That’s why I dislike her more than even those I have probably never agreed with in my life.  Also, my husband nearly died laughing when I told him that Lisa Murkowski gave as her excuse that she didn’t want to put pressure on John Roberts — who has lifetime tenure that is not subject to political coercion, along with 24 hour Secret Service protection.  “She must not be very bright.”  Yeah, if that were the the only problem we might be okay.

  54. 54.

    Jay

    The Deplorables, MAGAt’s, MemeWarriors and even some “Senators” are busy retweeting a Simpson’s GIF where Lisa tears up her speech on democracy, as if it’s a winning comeback,

    This scene is when Lisa tears up her essay on Democracy when she sees a lobbyist buying drilling rights from a Congressman. It's similar to when Pompeo had a Raytheon Lobbyist head his legislative affairs dept at State & then sold $2 billion is Raytheon weapons to Saudi Arabia.— That Guy (@ThatGuy3002) February 5, 2020

    It’s not,

    And they are clueless.

  57. 57.

    Geminid

    @Cermet:   Yeah, taking back the Senate is a heavy lift, but I am optimistic about this year and here’s why: I think McSally (AZ) and Collins (ME) have strong challengers and will lose for sure. Tillis (NC) has a strong challenger and will go down if we have a good presidential candidate who doesn’t scare the independents. Same with Gardner (CO). If there is a Democratic wave this year- I’m not saying there will be, but I believe there could be- the Republican seats in Iowa and Kansas, where Boullier may be fortunate enough to face Kobach,are vulnerable. And then there’s Texas and Kentucky. Both Cornyn and McConnell are relatively unpopular incumbents, and the anti-incumbent, anti-establishment dynamic has been strong the last few years. And MJ Hegar and Amy McGrath are tough, serious women who can ride that dynamic. “We want Eight, and We Won’t Wait.”

  59. 59.

    trollhattan

    @Baud:

    Don’t worry, he’ll get back to being the corporation-lovin’ Willard we’re all familiar with, gosh darn it.

  60. 60.

    Elizabelle

    @Geminid:   I am going to be optimistic.  We need the best possible nominee, though.  A uniter.

    We do have strong Senatorial candidates.  We will have their backs.

  61. 61.

    zhena gogolia

    Oh, I’ll have to watch Mitt later. As Adam Parkhomenko said, it would seem that having the 2012 GOP nominee for president vote to convice the 2016 nominee should be a pretty big story. But I won’t hold my breath.

  63. 63.

    Jay

    " …. And then the Secretary of the State responded to the Speaker of House ripping up the printed speech by posting a screencap of Lisa Simpson crying. It was from the third season episode, 'Mr. Lisa Goes to Washington.'" – A history book in 2062. https://t.co/UhT9TJXAYv— Travis View (@travis_view) February 5, 2020

  64. 64.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    I am legit shocked by this.RT @samstein: Romney not just voting to convict, he’s ripping Trump anew: “An appalling abuse of public trust”“A flagrant assault” on our elections“Perhaps the most abusive and destructive violation of ones oath of office that I can imagine.”— John Cole (@Johngcole) February 5, 2020

  68. 68.

    zhena gogolia

    I don’t have time to watch the whole thing, but I saw clips. He spoke with strength and conviction. Thank you, Senator Romney.
    Good tweet: “Mitt took a long hard look in the mirror, downed a shot of 2% milk, girded his loins, and did the right thing.”

  69. 69.

    Martin

    Bloomberg passed Mayor Pete in national polls.

    I’m going to go out on a limb and say that he’ll be polling at least in 2nd at some point in this cycle on the strength of the argument that he can outspend the GOP, and enough Democrats/Independents will do the math and decide that yeah, if the way to get rid of Trump is to outspend him, then they’ll back anyone who can do that. He’s also going to push Biden out of the race as the old white guy that Ohio diner voters can support.

  71. 71.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Baud:

    I’ll miss making fun of Romney however.

    Gonna be a long week, like that time I quit drinking.

    In all seriousness, I am pleasantly shocked.

  74. 74.

    Cacti

    @Martin: I’m beginning to suspect that myself.

    The flip side to that though is my fear that Bloomberg, Biden, and Klobuchar split the moderate vote and dilute it, giving one of the lefty candidates a chance to win and McGovern the election.

  76. 76.

    Elizabelle

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:   I thought Mitt might vote to convict.  Surprised it’s only one count, it appears, but will take it.

    Good for him.  Now he can get the “patriot” MSM award that will not be given Schiff or Pelosi (icky partisans).  Anyway, all three are going to come out of this well, and maybe earlier than we think.

  77. 77.

    Jay

    Doug Jones of Alabama has the toughest Senate fight of any incumbent this year, and he’s voting to convict despite there not being close to enough votes for conviction. This is what character looks like. This is a U.S. Senator doing their job with integrity. https://t.co/BeWIA5ETnU— Charlotte Clymer🏳️‍🌈 (@cmclymer) February 5, 2020

  80. 80.

    Jay

    Currently, the National Archives is destroying records related to the detention of migrant children at the U.S.-Mexico border — you know where our gov’t has enabled the deaths of several children?That’s actually illegal, but Kirk here is concern-trolling over a Xerox copy. https://t.co/WWqSgeyRqZ— Charlotte Clymer🏳️‍🌈 (@cmclymer) February 5, 2020

  81. 81.

    Barbara

    @Martin: Doing my best imitation of the little old lady I am becoming, I am sure Mayor Pete is a nice young man but he has never demonstrated by any experience that he has the gravitas or chutzpah to become president.  He is the ultimate feel good candidate.  I am sorry he is stuck with the limitations that living in a red state imposes on his political career but it’s just not my problem.

  82. 82.

    Cheryl Rofer

    LOL

  83. 83.

    Elizabelle

    @Baud:   Me too.  I think they should vote to convict, both because it will work for them WRT self-preservation, and it’s the right thing to do.

  85. 85.

    John Revolta

    I remember that Simpsons ep. It ends with Bush the First coming to the rescue and signing a bill that will “make my bosses happy- all 200 million of them!”

    Well, they hadn’t really hit their stride yet.

  90. 90.

    Jay

    The courage exhibited by @fred_guttenberg tonight was heartbreaking. He protested Trump at the State of the Union after his daughter was murdered at Parkland and Trump did next-to-nothing to finally enact gun reform in this country. And he was kicked out.#ImWithFred— Charlotte Clymer🏳️‍🌈 (@cmclymer) February 5, 2020

  91. 91.

    Roger Moore

    @Martin:

    How long before Romney is forced out of the GOP?

    I think he’s going to be safe.  For one thing, he’s not up for reelection soon, so there’s plenty of time for people to forget this.  For another, Utah is the red state that is most likely to forgive someone for voting against Trump.

  93. 93.

    TriassicSands

    Doug Jones votes to convict.

    mitt Romney votes to convict.

    Has Manchin committed himself yet? Sinema? She has the worst voting record of any Democrat in the Senate. With far less justification than Doug Jones.

    We can hope that Romney’s decision will put overwhelming pressure on Manchin and Sinema. If the Democrats are united, Romney’s vote becomes more meaningful.

    Meanwhile, HuBINO*, Donald Trump is probably busily working on plans to illegally discredit the other Democratic candidates. So many options, so much power, so little accountability.

     

    * Human Being In Name Only

  95. 95.

    Cacti

    @Baud: I think your fear about Sinema is misplaced.

    She ran and won in Arizona as irreligious, and openly bisexual.  I don’t think she’ll do anything but vote her conscience.

  96. 96.

    pamelabrown53

    @Jay:

    Doug Jones: another profile in courage. Would love to see Bloomberg’s $$$ fund a quick, yet blanketed (in AL) campaign to wrap Doug Jones in the flag for the true patriot he is.

  97. 97.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    What will make trump crazier? Romney’s vote, or all the praise Romney’s going to get over the next few days?

    Richard M. Nixon @ dick_nixon
    Old George Romney came in the night, clad in locks and chains.

    FTR, I was making this joke at Christmas time, when it was appropriate

  99. 99.

    zhena gogolia

    I sent contributions to Jones and Schiff today. It’s the only thing that calms me down.

  100. 100.

    Wapiti

    Good for Romney.

    Related, if anything happened to Trump or Pence, we’d need a new V.P. Romney demonstrates that he has more moral character than any other Republican Senator, and any replacement VP needs to pass the House.

  101. 101.

    Jay

    @TriassicSands:

    Doug Jones will vote to convict.

    Mittens has speechified that he will vote to convict, hold your applause until after the vote. See if his actions match his words, often, they don’t.

  104. 104.

    Cacti

    @Martin: Pete needs another 10 years or so, to fill out his resume with more responsible offices than the one he currently holds.

  107. 107.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Miss Bianca: Yeah I was gonna say, I don’t know what chains the old man earned.

    Phillip Bump and Carol Leonig (whose book I am about to finish on audio– infuriating) saying on MSNBC that old George breaking early with Nixon is a legend and a source of pride in the family. Political Daddy Issues finally do some good in the world.

  108. 108.

    Kent

    @Cacti: Yes.  I see him in a technocratic job like Secretary of Commerce, which is actually a hodge-podge of technical and science agencies like census, patent office, NIST, and NOAA.

    Or maybe as DNC Chair if Perez continues to flame out.

  109. 109.

    janesays

    I really don’t like Mitt Romney, but I’m gonna give him sincere credit for doing this. He has literally nothing to gain by voting with the Democrats on this one, and he’s already taking a massive amount of shit from the Trump goons over this. Don, Jr. had the tweet out demanding his immediate expulsion form the GOP in record time.

  110. 110.

    tam1MI

    @Martin: Romney comes from the only state that went for MacMullen in 2016. If the GOP wants to waste their time trying to push him out, let them.

  112. 112.

    Miss Bianca

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: You know, tho’, if George appeared to Mitt and told him that his chains had been put on him in the afterlife, *because of his son’s actions*, that might have scared old Mittens straight.

    As long as we’re re-writing “Christmas Carol”.

  114. 114.

    Cheryl Rofer

    Again I say, lol

  115. 115.

    Miss Bianca

    @Cheryl Rofer: The “pool spray”? WTF is the “pool spray”, anyway?

    I’m picturing the White House press pool standing there while Trump’s minions spray liquid shit all over them. They should be thankful for the escape!

  117. 117.

    janesays

    @Elizabelle: To be honest, Doug Jones is the only one I could possibly forgive on an acquittal, and only because he might legitimately need to do it to have any prayer of saving his seat. I’d kind of prefer if he voted to convict, but I won’t be super pissed if he makes the political calculation that his best chance of re-election is to acquit. If he tries that gambit and it works, it would be completely worth it to still have that seat on our side going into 2021.

  119. 119.

    Kent

    @janesays:I really don’t like Mitt Romney, but I’m gonna give him sincere credit for doing this. He has literally nothing to gain by voting with the Democrats on this one, and he’s already taking a massive amount of shit from the Trump goons over this. Don, Jr. had the tweet out demanding his immediate expulsion form the GOP in record time.

    Payback I think for Trump not making him Secretary of State.  Remember the humiliation charade that Trump tried to play in 2016 by inviting Romney to interview for the Secretary of State job and then dissing him in favor of the utterly unknown Tillerson?

  120. 120.

    Roger Moore

    @janesays:

    My gut feeling is that voting to acquit wouldn’t help Jones much, if at all.  He can only win if the Democrats are energized and the Republicans are demoralized, and he is more likely to achieve that by taking a principled stand that pleases his supporters than by compromising in an attempt to placate his enemies.

  121. 121.

    Mnemosyne

    @sdhays:

    Yep — as a donor, I got an email from him announcing that he’s voting for conviction. I’m going to send him some $$ tomorrow when I get paid.

  123. 123.

    TriassicSands

    @Jay: There was no applause in my comment. However, once a Senator has announced her or his intention to vote a certain way just hours from the actual casting of that vote to convict, to change that decision would be all but inexplicable. Both Jones and Romney would look like fools and much worse to change now. If you heard Romney’s explanation, it is virtually impossible to conceive of a justification for him to change his decision. I haven’t seen, read, or heard Jones’ explanation.

    According to Progressive Punch, Sinema actually votes more with the GOP than with the Dems. Were the politics in Arizona to shift rightward, I would expect her to change parties. She’s a much worse Democrat than Collins is a “bad” or “moderate” Republican. I hope Kelly is not the DINO Sinema is.  And for her the name truly applies. She doesn’t seem to be Democrat at all — just an opportunist.

  124. 124.

    Uncle Cosmo

    O/t, but a noteworthy result in yesterday’s special primary election to select candidates to fill out the remainder of the late Rep. Elijah Cummings’s seat (MD-07): with 312 of 313 precincts reporting, in the Democratic primary Kweisi Mfume received 43.1% of the vote, Maya Rockeymoore Cummings  17.0%, and Jill P. Carter 16.1%. None of the other 21 candidate received more than 7.4%.

    Mfume was the 5-tem incumbent Representative from MD-07 when he declined to stand for re-election in 1996 to become President of the NAACP (1996-2004); he was replaced by the late Elijah Cummings until the latter’s death last October. Cummings is Chairman of the MD Democratic Party and the late Representative’s widow. Carter is the incumbent MD State Senator for the 41st Legislative District in Baltimore City. All are African-American.

    A special general election to fill the seat for the rest of Rep. Cummings’s term will be held on April 28, simultaneously with the MD primary election (for national and local offices – the MD legislature is elected in non-Presidential even years). MD-07 is heavily Democratic by registration & the winner of the primary is almost certain to be elected.

    The Baltimore Sun has “6 lessions” from the results on its website but it’s behind a paywall – if anyone out there has a subscription (or feels like logging on for the hell of it) it might be interesting to post a summary.

    Mfume is widely known throughout the Baltimore Metro area & was the odds-on favorite for Mayor when incumbent Kurt Schmoke did not run for re-election in 1999 but chose not to run. Carter was endorsed by the Sun and “Our Revolution” but (without drilling down for details) my guess is the bulk of her support came from her legislative district.

    The big loser here is Maya Cummings, who met Elijah when she was working on Capitol Hill & has made no secret of her own ambitions (e.g., she was running for the 2018 gubernatorial nomination but dropped out when he was hospitalized). They were married in 2008 but her ties to MD-07 seem tenuous (for years after the marriage she commuted daily to DC for work). When his adult daughters endorsed his Chief of Staff for the nomination, it probably added to an aura of opportunism (if not outright “carpetbagging”) that surrounded her campaign.

    Somewhat bizarely, the general election to fill the remainder of Cummings’s term will be held on the same date (& presumably on the same ballot) as  the primary elections to fill the seat (& all other MD Congressional seats) for the Congressional term starting in January 2021. IIUC, all of the candidates who filed for yesterday’s special election will also be on the ballot for the MD-07 Congressional nomination in the April primary.

  126. 126.

    TriassicSands

    @Miss Bianca:

    When I read your comment I imagined a different pool spray. It would be reporters involuntarily spewing spit all over Trump every time he tells another outrageous lie. I could imagine Trump needing a raincoat.

  127. 127.

    janesays

    Interesting… Mitt Romney is the first senator in U.S. history to vote for conviction of a member of his own party in a presidential impeachment trial. Every single Democrat voted to acquit Andrew Johnson in 1868, and every Democrat voted to acquit Clinton in 1998. Obviously, this probably wouldn’t be a first if Nixon had been impeached and gone to trial, but we’ll never know.

  128. 128.

    Hoodie

    @Martin:  Yeah, voters may be sensing that we need a wartime consigliere.   Send Pete to handle the family business in Nevada.

  129. 129.

    Martin

    @janesays: Just to be clear regarding your phrasing – Nixon was impeached. They held that vote after he resigned. But it was never sent to the Senate. So, as you note, there was no opportunity for a republican to vote to remove him from office.

  130. 130.

    Mnemosyne

    @TriassicSands:

    Suzanne warned us that Sinema is an opportunist and a grandstander, so I’m not surprised.

    The photos of her from yesterday doing a standing ovation for Trump while the seated Harris and Gillibrand give her the side-eye are pretty funny.

  133. 133.

    Citizen Alan

    @janesays:  I really don’t see how voting to acquit would have helped Jones at all. Everyone would have accused him of being craven in just trying to save his seat. The GOoPers still wouldn’t vote for him, and it would have suppressed Dem support.

    His best bet is to do everything he can to maximize Dem turnout, and still it’s a long haul.

  135. 135.

    Three-nineteen

    @Martin:   Nixon was not impeached.  The Judiciary Committee did vote to send 3 articles of impeachment to the full House, but the actual House vote to impeach never happened.

  137. 137.

    janesays

    @tam1MI: That’s incorrect. Trump got 45.5% of the vote in Utah in 2016, Clinton got 27.5%, and McMullin got 21.5%. To be sure, it’s the smallest plurality Trump got in any state that he won (including Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania), but he still won there pretty handily. He did get fewer votes than Clinton and McMullin combined, however.

  138. 138.

    Miss Bianca

    @Hoodie:

    @Martin:

    Sad to say, I’d probably vote for Bloomberg over Buttigieg, precisely because I’d be thinking, “Mayor of NYC definitely beats Mayor of South Bend” when it comes to administrative experience and political knife-fighting.

     

    But I’d definitely vote for Buttigieg over Bernie. I’m trying to take a detached, critical interest in how my personal rankings are shaking out, rather than a depressed one.

  139. 139.

    janesays

    @TriassicSands: If you heard Romney’s explanation, it is virtually impossible to conceive of a justification for him to change his decision. I haven’t seen, read, or heard Jones’ explanation.

    Yeah, this. The way he phrased his explanation for his vote, there was no Susan Collins, “it pains me to do this” wishy-washy hand-wringing involved. He pretty clearly said Trump is guilty as shit and there’s no way he can justify not voting to convict him.

  141. 141.

    🐾BillinGlendaleCA

    @Martin: Nixon was NOT impeached.  Articles of Impeachment were approved by the House Judiciary Committee, but Nixon resigned before a vote on the Articles by the full House.  Only after a vote by the full House is an officeholder impeached.

  143. 143.

    J R in WV

    @joel hanes:

    That was good, putting gun worship in it correct place, way down on the list of important things for a family.

    The gun lovers’ responses were hilarious, also too — but also a little disturbing. So blind.

  144. 144.

    Barbara

    @Uncle Cosmo: I voted for Mfume in the Democratic primary, the one year I voted in Maryland.  I think it was for his second term in Congress.   I think the polling place was the closest branch of the local library system.  Thanks for posting.  I am not surprised and somewhat gratified that Cummings’ wife did not win.  I want less of that not more.

  145. 145.

    Geminid

    Re Mitt Romney. He is a Mormon, from a state full of Mormons.  They remind me of the Mennonites who are numerous in the Shenandaoh Valley, where I lived for 10 years until I moved to Greene County last year. They are religious, conservative (with a small c), but they do a lot of mission work overseas and at home. There are African American Mennonites, just like there was an African immigrant Mormon Congress woman (Mia Love, R-UT. Both the Mennonites and the Mormons know what its like to be pushed around by the majority- a lot of Mormons were lynched in the 19th century, and they are not receptive to Trump’s racism and xenophobia. And, if I were a Mormon, I’d be pretty chafed at how lukewarm political evangelical leaders were in 2012 towards Mitt, who personally exemplified all the virtues they preach, and how these sane “leaders” jumped in whole hog behind Trump in 2016. So I don’t think Romney has alienated too many Utah voters.

  147. 147.

    janesays

    @Martin: Nixon was not impeached. He resigned before the full House got to a vote, though obviously he would have been impeached (and removed) had he not quit first. This is why they keep referring to Trump as only the third president ever impeached in our nation’s history – the first two being Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton.

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