It’s not much, but there is something you can do about the Republicans’ scheme to hold a fake impeachment trial with no witnesses and no documents: you can call your senators and tell them that you (along with nearly 70% of Americans, according to a CNN poll that came out yesterday) want a real trial with witnesses and documents.
202-224-3121
That’s the Capitol switchboard number. It’s easier to Google your senators and call them directly. I left messages for the craven shitstains Marco Rubio and Rick Scott. Only takes a few seconds.
It’s easy to feel hopeless about this whole thing, but I don’t think we should. Republicans control the trial, so of course they’re going to rig it, and there’s a 99.9% chance they’ll acquit Trump. (I say 99.9% rather than 100% because it’s possible that Trump will poop in his pants during a Davos presser today, strip to the waist and try to draw the 2016 Electoral College map on the wall, using his own turds as a Sharpie.)
But even so, his ass is impeached! And a majority of the country wants him removed! That’s a big fucking deal! It’s also 100% obvious that the Republicans in Congress are propping up Trump’s unpopular, criminal ass, which is helpful to our cause in 2020.
So, call your damned senators. It’ll make you feel better, even if they are a pair of corrupt toadies like mine.
Open thread!
H.E.Wolf
Thank you! I will call.
Also: faxzero.com/
5 free faxes per day, for folks who prefer written communication. Some of the Republicans have opted out of this service, but others are on the list.
Adam L Silverman
The RUMINT, reported by Clair McCaskill on MSNBC about a half hour ago, is that McConnell is going to try to take the Senate into closed session as soon as he starts up at 1 today.
That means they’ll clear the chamber of press, visitors/the public, and turn off all the audio and video
zhena gogolia
I called Blumenthal and Murphy first thing this morning. Their staffers already sounded tired.
randal m sexton
If the process of the trial is a complete sham, maybe we should also ask our senators to withhold their (final) votes completely. Just refuse to vote, or abstain in protest or something.
-r
Amir Khalid
@Adam L Silverman:
Is a closed session off the record?
frosty
Called my shitstain Senator Toomey 2 times now. Told him to stand for his country not his party.
ETA I’ve never talked to a staffer. Both DC and PA numbers go straight to voicemail.
Baud
@Adam L Silverman:
That’ll probably piss off voters more than a show trial and non-removal.
Joy in FL
I have the same senators as Betty Cracker.
I left messages last night. Because of this post, I just called both again. Scott’s office was busy, so I left another message. I spoke to a staffer in Rubio’s office.
I will keep calling at least daily.
zhena gogolia
Hell, I just sent an e-mail to McConnell, that’s how desperate I am. (You can’t call him. I once had the pleasure of asking one of his staffers how it felt to work for a traitor.)
JaySinWA
@Adam L Silverman: Interesting, Mitch would do it for strictly perfidious reasons, but a closed session might offer everyone to lay out positions that they would not do publically. It may not have the results he would hope for.
Kind of like labor negotiations, public vrs private often have different positions and allow for different results. Not that I am getting my hopes up.
Betty Cracker
@Joy in FL: Both were busy when I called. I’m hoping that’s a sign they’re getting a lot of constituent calls.
germy
@zhena gogolia: What was their response?
germy
@Betty Cracker:
I’m sure the MAGA people are speed dialing all day. But I hope sane people are also calling.
germy
@Adam L Silverman:
Well, House Democrats held hearings in a basement, so both sides really…
zhena gogolia
@germy:
“He’s not a traitor, he’s a very fine man who’s serving his country.”
randy khan
I called both Warner’s and Kaine’s offices. Kaine’s office had a pre-planned response, so I suspect they’re getting a fair number of calls (or they’re, you know, just good at what they do). Both of them are going to do the right thing because, well, they’re Democrats.
JPL
Call Democratic Senators and tell them to walk out and address the media. We are not Russia.
Aleta
Yes. All possible pressure, stress and foreshadowed damage.
oldgold
This 1:00 PM to 1:00 AM scheduling is a cynical scam. The stated reason for this late start is that the Chief Justice is too busy with his “day job” to begin the “trial” sessions before 1:00 PM.
A review of the Supreme Court’s calendar reflects that tomorrow there is an argument scheduled for 10:00 AM until 11:00 AM. After that the Court’s schedule is clear until February 24.
What, if any, role is Robert’s playing in this midnight madness?
Adam L Silverman
@Amir Khalid: It’s complicated. It will depend on what the rules are for the closed session. And the key here, as I keep reminding folks, is that McConnell determines what the rules are.
Adam L Silverman
@Baud: It’ll piss the political junkies on the left off. It’ll delight the political junkies on the right. The majority will, at best, not actually understand what happened because they don’t pay attention to process.
Betty Cracker
Senator Murphy checks in:
oatler.
At least Hitler had the grace to burn down the Reichstag. Mitch conducts business as usual.
Gravie
My senators, Wyden and Merkley, have asked their constituents who support impeachment/removal to call and get that into the record. I feel fortunate to be represented by them — and I called.
JaySinWA
@Adam L Silverman: Of course Mitch has to count on the willingness of Republican Senators to embrace Jury Nullification. They get a vote here
ETA Which of course most have embraced quite publically.
hilts
Aleta
Important to continue calling/writing Senators about their vote even after it’s over. What happens after is probably more important now. (Since we know the fix is in.)
Kent
I’m still convinced this is all a ploy to fluff up Susan Collin’s “centrist” cred. We have all seen this ploy before. At some point Collins will express her “concerns” to the cameras. The GOP will negotiate with itself, and then they’ll end up conceding to Collins’ “concerns” and add something meaningless like one additional day to the proceedings. Which is probably where they intended to end up anyway.
Steve Inskeep will then interview Schumer on NPR and demand why the Democrats are not satisfied since McConnell “met them half way” and off we go. Except that the press will paint McConnell as the reasonable one and the Dems as obstructionist.
This is the oldest game in the book.
Eunicecycle
I was listening to NPR today (yes I know) and the reporter in Iowa was saying that people weren’t really paying attention to impeachment. I thought, REALLY PEOPLE?? Even caucus goers, who you assume are tuned in, weren’t paying attention? Really shocked me.
Adam L Silverman
@JaySinWA: Who could’ve possibly predicted?
Dorothy A. Winsor
Mr DAW has Mitch McConnell on our TV. I think I have to leave the house. B&N has no TV
Adam L Silverman
@Eunicecycle:
Only about 10% of Iowa Democrats will caucus.
A Ghost To Most
Cory Gardner hears from me on a regular basis. This morning I called him a “greedy fascist willing to back a wannabe dictator”.
JaySinWA
@Adam L Silverman: As I added, they are saying publicly they will nullify. Some are more subtle than others.
This needs to be hung on them, not just Mitch.
ETA Mitch has the power because they cede it to him.
zhena gogolia
@Adam L Silverman:
I’m spitting nails.
Baud
@Adam L Silverman:
The majority expects things to be on TV or YouTube. It’s a fundamental right.
Kent
My Senators are Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell. But OK, I’ll call them.
Adam L Silverman
@zhena gogolia: It’s not like you couldn’t see Romney doing this from several miles away.
Chief Oshkosh
I wonder what would happen if a Senator decided to wear a wire. Since Mitch has done away with Senate “rules,” why not ignore this anything Mitch says? Wear a wire , record it all, and upload it all to publicly-accessible sites everywhere. Other than being censured by a no-longer-deliberative body, what would happen to that Senator?
The Moar You Know
@Eunicecycle: Honestly, why should they? It became a rigged process once those charges left the House to go to the Senate.
Every person in America knows Trump’s a criminal.
The only question to be settled is this: how many of them think the president is doing the things they voted for him to do?
My bet is “most of them”. I think Republican voters are very happy with Donald J Trump, and his polling bears that out.
Adam L Silverman
@Chief Oshkosh: They have to secure all personal electronic devices before going onto the Senate floor or in caucus meetings.
zhena gogolia
@Chief Oshkosh:
People on Chris Murphy’s twitter are urging him to do that.
Fester Addams
Strip search or just walk through magnetometers?
Ruckus
@zhena gogolia:
I’ve heard that he refuses to talk to the people who elect him and that if you show up at his office, he has you arrested or at least detained.
What a smarmy fuck.
Immanentize
@Adam L Silverman: Even a walkman?
Rina99
@Eunicecycle:
At the risk of going against the push to remain positive, I’m barely paying attention either. I have no faith that the inevitable outcome of this sham will matter to people in November. It will likely be some new fuckery by Trump that will be making headlines by then.
Gravenstone
@zhena gogolia: “His country” lost in 1865. The staffer needs to update his references.
JaySinWA
@Fester Addams: They showed a magnetometer that had just been set up for this escapade. and a shelf for Senators to stow electronic gear
ETA that was on PBS Newshour and noted that this was unprecedented territory along with the press and visitor exclusion.
LongHairedWeirdo
If you want to say nasty things to your Senator, don’t. Instead, point out that you’re getting insulted to your face (by friends/family/neighbors), simply for pointing out the President abused his authority to demand an investigation into a pair of innocent US citizens, and you expect your Senator to admit at least that much, even though “we know you’ll vote to cover up his crimes.”
Don’t let them call that nasty – “??? But he did commit crimes, and the honorable Bedfellow is planning to acquit or dismiss in spite of the evidence, isn’t he? All I’m asking is that the honorable Sen. Bedfellow admit it was an abuse of power; I’m not asking for him to fulfill his Constitutional obligations, because I’ve given up on that.”
tam1MI
Putting this here in Hope’s it will reach someone who can organize it…
We should do well publicized “money bomb” donations to anyone challenging a Repuke Senator when the bullshit acquittal comes down.
spudgun
Oh my goodness:
THIS
dww44
Just want to report my call to my 2 Republican Senators that I made within the last hour but which were made as a result of an email request from Indivisible with 3 talking points for those with GOP Senators. I called my brand new Senator Kelly Loeffler, she of the exceedingly sycophantic TV ads, and actually got a staffer who acknowledged my requests, albeit he was so soft spoken I could barely understand him.
It was my experience with Perdue’s office that has angered me so much. First off, one NEVER gets a human when calling his DC office. There’s voicemail from Perdue about how much he values the caller’s concerns and a staffer would get back to me . No one from his officer has EVER called me back.
So, I left a voicemail asking that he not support McConnell’s resolution, and that he support witnesses, testimony, and public release of same. And not to support late hour hearings.Plus that it wasn’t exactly democratic and transparent for McConnell to control when and what media outlets were allowed to broadcast.
Ten minutes ago I got a response from his office with links to video of his appearance on Chuck Todd’s Meet the Press show. The email, titled “ICYMI: The Senate is Poised to Begin a Fair Trial.” Maddeningly there was this verbiage in the text of the email:
WaterGirl
@spudgun: Wow!
Joy in FL
@Betty Cracker: I don’t think I have ever gotten a staffer in Senator Scott’s office, and frequently the voicemail is full. I often can get a staffer in Senator Rubio’s office. And yes, I’m thinking they are getting a lot of calls today. I agree; I hope the pressure (from our side) continues.
Jean
@randy khan: I called both Warner’s and Kaine’s offices. Left a voice mail for Kaine, but spoke directly to Warner’s staffer. I asked her to also pass message on to Tim Kaine too because I had to leave voice mail. She laughed and said yes.
EveryDayIhaveTheBlues
Called Portman and Brown. Portman, as is usual, had no staffer answering calls. I spoke to a Brown staffer and asked that he vote to impeach the president on high crimes and misdemeanors.
randy khan
@Jean:
I call their Northern Virginia offices, and almost always get through right away, but I know they listen to the voice mails.
Hortense
l live in one of the bluest of states with one of the bestest of senators, to whom I regularly contribute, so calling him is unnecessary. (The other one is good and also not ever going to vote with the Republicans.)
But all you red staters, get those digits going!
MobiusKlein
Have there been any defections in any of the Senate votes?
HeartlandLiberal
My two Indiana senators Todd Young and Mike Braun are among the worst in the nation. They are in lockstep with destruction of the Republic. A call to them is like spitting in the wind. They are useless. They are evil.