The latest is that the final impeachment vote could be delayed until the middle of next week, after the SOTU.
If I were a Republican putting party over country (is that redundant?), I would be of two minds on that. First, if Trump skates today, the notion that his SOTU could be summarized as anything but “boo-yah, suck on that Nancy” are dim, and only his advisors Al, Dan and Van (Adderall, Percodan and Ativan) really know what else he would say once he feels that he got away with it. Better to still have him in the dock so he reads the prompter.
On the other hand, the minute Trump is acquitted, the value of the Bolton revelations are diminished, since there’s no possibility that they can be used as leverage against Collins, McSally, et. al.
So yeah, it’s hard out there for the traitorous Republican Senators, but don’t worry, their retirement wingnut welfare jobs are totally safe.
MattF
Oh, oh, oh, how inappropriate.
khead
I just returned from taking some bad salmon back to the grocery store. The salmon actually smelled better than today’s proceedings.
donnah
Well, Lucy tees up yet another football for Democrats to kick at and miss as she jerks it away.
I want to be wrong, as I often am, but this late news from Bolton’s leak mill may be a bombshell in providing more proof of Trump’s timeline in the Ukraine deal, but the Republicans, like Lamar Alexander, have already made up their minds and they join McConnell in rushing to get this all over with.
The caveat to this is the time spent today in the final questioning and debate might be able to air this news so everyone can at least have the latest info from Bolton, even if he’s too cowardly to speak in person. But having watched this whole process, I’m guessing that even with hard facts cementing the players and the timeline, Republicans simply will not waver.
I hope I’m wrong.
The Dangerman
Doesn’t matter if the Deal Is Done, it’ll be 90 minutes of suck on this regardless.
Can we get some sharesies on the Ativan? I’m all for Rip Van Winkling through start of 2021.
/wake me when it’s over
scav
As the “value of the Bolton revelations” against the orange one diminishes, their indictment against his enablers increases.
JMG
The point is not to get Republican Senators to waver. They can’t, as they’re in too deep now. Bolton’s leaks are for 1. Don’t bother censoring my book, White House. I got a million other leaks like this. 2. Sheer vengeance.
JPL
@donnah: Nothing matters. It doesn’t matter how you cheat to win, it just matters that you win.
GrueBleen
It’s certainly otiose.
JPL
Giuliani denied it, and Mulvaney was a no comment. If Bolton dropped it yesterday, Cipollone could have been asked. Actually that might not be Bolton because it is becoming apparent that the NYTimes has the manuscript. Why did they sit on it and what else do they have. hmmmm
Cermet
@JPL: Only for a thug; a dem would be crucified, even by the left wing, if they so much as hint at a possible illegal election action,on their part.
As for any thug even putting their party first – no way. They put ONLY themselves first – period. Just so happens that right now, putting party first protects their own worthless ass’s.
Sloane Ranger
Sorry go O/T immediately but a couple of threads down someone asked about what is happening today in the UK re Brexit. I don’t have Tony Jay’s command of invective but I can give an accurate answer.
At 23.00GMT tonight the UK formally leaves the EU and enters an 11 month transition period during which Britain’s future relationship with the UK will be negotiated. At the end of this period, Parliament will vote on the deal and either accept it, in which case, future relations will be conducted in accordance with the provisions of the deal, or reject it, in which case we leave without a deal with all the problems this will cause.
From today British MEP’s will no longer sit in the European Parliament, British civil servants will no longer work in Brussels, Britain will not participate in any EU structure but will still be subject to EU rules and regulations until the end of the transition period.
Things like travel to the EU, medical treatment reciprocity and taking your pet on holiday will be unaffected during the transition period.
Icedfire
The second paragraph literally places Cipollone (who has spent the last week ranting before the Senate that there were no firsthand witnesses) in the fucking room with Trump, Bolton, and Mulvaney.
But of course, there’s nothing to see here, nothing impeachable, perfect call, no need for witnesses.
I don’t think I will ever again have a shred of respect for anyone who votes for the Republican Party.
Probably Not an Asshole mistermix
@JMG: The Times has the whole manuscript. Reading Maggie’s tweet, I was first pissed that they hadn’t published everything. But then I also thought that it might be smart to drip it out – if they dumped it all at first, it would be forgotten.
natem
Well, the good news is that Trump can only play partial victim now. Yes, the mean Democrats impeached him, but they couldn’t remove him, and he can still run for re-election, and therefore he and his base will have to accept, if defeated in November, the result is legitimate and he will step down come Inauguration Day.
Yeah, I just wrote that. No, I don’t believe a word of it. We’re fucked.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@donnah:
I wouldn’t use that analogy here. This has always been, barring an earth-shattering revelation– about creating a 2020 issue for Dems. It’s still not a sure thing, but the case against trump and GOP Senators is much stronger than it was two months ago.
And Lamar Alexander pretty much tweeted out Schiff’s closing argument last night.
and hopefully this is a reminder to certain wings of the Democratic Party that is actually matters who controls the legislature.
Ryan
Fuck John Bolton. Why didn’t he just testify before the house? He would only do it if subpoenaed? Really? Why a subpoena? Why not just go?
He stonewalled, plain and simple. He could have volunteered his testimony. (John Bolton: “Yea, I will testify before the House, but I have to be subpoenaed, and I know that there is a complicated legal debate going on between executive privilege and congressional subpoena power, and this matter is currently in Federal Court, which could delay this forever, so, in reality, there is no real likelihood I would ever have to testify, but I still look like I am willing to cooperate.”)
Now that there is no possibility of testifying, the book will now reveal all. What a self-serving asshole.
Downpuppy
The Republicans are turning the Senate into one of those fake cars with a pretend wheel attached to the front of a grocery cart.
An obvious thing, and one I intend to mention to any R-Senator that sticks their head up.
MattF
@JPL: 1) They have a deal with Bolton. Or, if you prefer, an ‘arrangement’.
2) You get more clicks if it comes out a little at a time.
3) Maggie doesn’t want to completely burn access to her sources.
clay
@Probably Not an Asshole mistermix:
It would be very satisfying to see the Times play the Emailz Gambit against Trump.
Kay
@Probably Not an Asshole mistermix:
It’s really bad how the public can’t find out anything until all the various private gatekeepers decide it makes the most business sense to give it to them.
This is the point of public trials. That’s the whole thing. They get the source material without a commercial middleman.
This whole thing is just tragic to watch. It’s not the Democrats fault, but these are huge concepts and they’re just being swept away as if they were incidental. They ARE the thing. The process IS THE POINT. That’s the protection we’re guaranteed. US, you and me, not Maggie Haberman of the NYTimes and her editors. We get it unedited.
Kay
We paid Bolton. What Bolton did while in the public employ doesn’t belong to his book publisher and it doesn’t belong to the NYTimes. They can’t buy it from him. It doesn’t belong to him.
Forget “the manuscript”. I don’t want it. I want this public employee I paid to tell us what happened while he was on our payroll. I already paid him once for the work. I shouldn’t have to pay him twice.
PJ
@Kay: Trials aren’t perfect sources of information; you get what the prosecution or defense chooses to present, and there are times when information which would be in the public interest to know is deliberately left out Or blocked for relevance or for strategic or political or commercial reasons.
But your larger point is important – that Republican intransigence prevents the public from knowing the truth about what its government is doing, and what criminals are doing. Since Gingrich, throwing sand in the gears of Congress has been a tactic which has reaped tremendous benefits for Republicans without risk for them, because they are never punished and Democrats always respect due process and The Process – denying process is denying justice. Republicans only care about justice when it works in their favor, which leads to this current injustice and the general lawlessness of the Trump Administration. This needs to be hammered home between now and the election.
schrodingers_cat
Moscow Mitch and his Republican minions have turned the Senate into the Soviet Politburo.
Ruckus
@natem:
We are currently being fucked.
That is different than we are fucked.
They do not have a complete hold on us. Through out history there have been situations where the people were being held hostage by a group of people similar to todays republican party. Every time those hostage takers were defeated. Sometimes at the ballot box, sometimes in the street. But they were defeated.
We still have the means to defeat the smaller, ineffective party here, to defeat them. They are not all that strong but because of their numbers and current position seem strong. But they are very weak, they have to openly, bald faced lie, to have any power. And they know they are doing it. They are in desperation mode, it is obvious and it is up to us to continue to build upon that. They have tools in their favor, the media can and does help them. But there are major cracks in that media. There are cracks in the power of money – take Bloomberg. He’s one of the very wealthy, he’s been one of them and he’s fighting them. My twitter feed is yelling from the rooftops about this and that’s just one small part of it. Conservatives are losing power because they have nothing but contempt for their supporters and hate for everyone else. We are coming into election season, I vote in the primary in just over month. We live in an at least semi free country, we can vote. We need to vote, every one of us, we need to make sure that everyone understands the immense issues we face and vote. Any of our candidates, OK most of our candidates, would be far, far superior to the conservative side of the aisle.
So, right now our winning strategy is to vote like your life depends on it, because it does. Demand better of your state and your reps, and if they don’t actually represent you and the best interests of moving the country forward not back, vote them out and at least try someone new. Worry about the shitgibbon being dragged out of the WH when it happens, not 11 months before it happens. Do not let this senate, in complete disregard for it’s duties to it’s oath and it’s citizens sway your resolve, become stronger.
We have let some of the people who represent us take charge but that is wrong, they work for us, represent us, not their bank accounts and their phony personas. It is time to once again have a representative republic as our type of government. We can do this, we must do this, for our children, for their children and for us.
Timurid
@schrodingers_cat:
And they’ve turned the House of Representatives into the House of Lords.
Ruckus
@Ryan:
What a self-serving asshole.
You of course answered your own question. John Bolton has never been for anyone but himself. He is a war monger, he is a hater and he is not a moral man. But he also is not in trumps pocket, and that’s a good thing. He’s a vindictive ass, but we can use that to our favor, in this particular case.
Ruckus
@Kay:
1,000,000% this.
Every single one of the people in congress works for us, the people of the nation. We do the work of production, of service, of economic value, they do the protection of that, to support that, to continue that, to enhance that, not to steal from it, not to hinder it, not to destroy it. We hire them for that, we give them power for that, we trust them to do that, and a lot of them are not doing what they were hired for. They need to be fired.
artem1s
Doesn’t this argument follow only if you assume the House won’t bring more charges? Nancy can do it all over again. And if Trump is standing in Bolton’s way of making gravy off his book, maybe he agrees to testify this time? In any case, there is plenty of evidence that the GOP is trying to pick their moment to scrap 45 off their shoe and disavow all knowledge of his actions. That’s the ticking time bomb the GOP and Putin has their eye on – when to dump Trump. Cause you know they are gonna.
karensky
@Kay: 100% yes?
No One You Know
@artem1s: I’d like to believe this. It’s good reasoning. It makes sense politically and it makes sense emotionally. And it depends on two Ifs and a Maybe. How do we get actual leverage on any of those points, I wonder.