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You are here: Home / Politics / Impeachment / Impeachment Trial – January 31, 2020

Impeachment Trial – January 31, 2020

by Cheryl Rofer|  January 31, 202012:58 pm| 111 Comments

This post is in: Impeachment, Live Blogging, Trump Crime Cartel

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Separate rumors are floating that Democrats and Republicans want to delay the vote to enthrone Donald Trump I until next week. I can see why Democrats might want to do this, but not Republicans. The State of the Union is scheduled for next Tuesday, February 4, and I would think they would want King Donald I to take a victory lap. I see Mistermix has already speculated on this.

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Reader Interactions

111Comments

  1. 1.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    January 31, 2020 at 1:08 pm

    Is it possible that McConnell is uncertain of his votes?

  2. 2.

    mrmoshpotato

    January 31, 2020 at 1:18 pm

    Oh Trump trash ads.  How you can go suck a bag of farts.

  3. 3.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    January 31, 2020 at 1:21 pm

    I see Murkowski says she’ll vote NO for witnesses. So I have no idea why McConnell would want a delay.

  4. 4.

    Betty Cracker

    January 31, 2020 at 1:22 pm

    Damn, Schiff calling Cipollone out to his lying face. Awesome!

  5. 5.

    Jerzy Russian

    January 31, 2020 at 1:25 pm

    I am still in shock/awe at the events of the last few days, especially those involving Senator Alexander.     A lot of people would benefit from some “shutting the fuck lessons”, but I suppose it is good that they are unwilling or unable to stop talking.  Then at least some of these things are out in the open.

  6. 6.

    Martin

    January 31, 2020 at 1:27 pm

    I think a Trump victory lap at the SOTU would be a VERY bad look for the senate. Further, the Senate Finance Committee interviewed the IRS Whistleblower this morning. It’s possible the Senate is considering how todays decision might look after a 2nd impeachment referral.

  7. 7.

    Ohio Mom

    January 31, 2020 at 1:27 pm

    Here in a Red suburbia, I know plenty of Never-Trumpers.

    It’s all I can do at moments not to scream  at them, “That “normal” Republican you vote for, Senator Rob Portman? He’s letting Trump getting away with everything. If you had voted for Cordray, sanity, fairness, and the Constitution might have had a chance!”

  8. 8.

    Adam L Silverman

    January 31, 2020 at 1:27 pm

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: @Dorothy A. Winsor: McConnell is not unsure of the votes.

  9. 9.

    Adam L Silverman

    January 31, 2020 at 1:29 pm

    @Martin: The Senate Finance Committee has nothing to do with impeachment. Until or unless the House Finance Committee deposes him and decides to move forward on what he or she divulges, then nothing will happen.

  10. 10.

    Ohio Mom

    January 31, 2020 at 1:31 pm

    I am developing quite the crush on Adam Schiff. But instead of fantasizing about becoming “Mrs. Ohio Mom Schiff,” I debate what sounds better: President Schiff or Supreme Court Justice Schiff.

    He’s young enough, maybe he could fit both in.

  11. 11.

    Adam L Silverman

    January 31, 2020 at 1:32 pm

    Murkowski statement: “I have come to the conclusion that there will be no fair trial in the Senate. I don’t believe the continuation of this process will change anything. It is sad for me to admit that, as an institution, the Congress has failed." pic.twitter.com/jNQU3BfbzP

    — Addy Baird (@addysbaird) January 31, 2020

  12. 12.

    janesays

    January 31, 2020 at 1:33 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: Indeed. It’s gonna be 51-49 to block witnesses. I’ll give a teeny-tiny bit of credit to Romney, because he genuinely seems to be voting out of principle, or at a minimum, spite, because he clearly loathes Trump and really isn’t trying to hide it anymore.

    But fuck Susan Collins – for her, it’s 100% a cynical golden ticket she got permission from McConnell to use to try to save her ass in Maine. And she got it knowing that it would be totally inconsequential to the outcome, so she gets no credit. She had the opportunity to do the right thing in October 2018 in her vote on Brett Kavanaugh, and she made the wrong choice, so she can piss right off forever.

  13. 13.

    zhena gogolia

    January 31, 2020 at 1:36 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:

    This is so incoherent. I don’t get it at all!

  14. 14.

    zhena gogolia

    January 31, 2020 at 1:37 pm

    You don’t think there can be a fair trial, so you’ll vote in such a way as to ensure there won’t be a fair trial? WTF?

  15. 15.

    Brachiator

    January 31, 2020 at 1:38 pm

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    There is a GOP political strategist who appears on a talk radio station here in Los Angeles who says that the GOP is feeling relaxed and confident that this will all be over soon. He also thinks that the GOP Senate will not sustain any serious consequences for backing Trump.  I think, and hope, that he is wrong about this.

    ETA: Can we impeach Trump again before the November election?  He could go down in history as the first president with multiple impeachments.

  16. 16.

    mrmoshpotato

    January 31, 2020 at 1:40 pm

    @zhena gogolia:

    This is so incoherent. I don’t get it at all! 

    Nominate this!

  17. 17.

    Yutsano

    January 31, 2020 at 1:40 pm

    @Brachiator:

    Can we impeach Trump again before the November election?

    The Constitution places zero limits on the number of times a President can be impeached. So why not? I’m thinking the Founders originally thought it would be a one and done affair. But they didn’t explicitly say so…

    EDIT: I think the Republican strategist is whistling past the graveyard. As soon as he’s acquitted the Democrats are going to be enraged beyond what they are. And if he somehow pulls off a narrow Electoral College victory again, especially after losing the popular vote again, that might cause some cracks. Some of which can’t be fixed.

  18. 18.

    Duane

    January 31, 2020 at 1:41 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: Alexander and Murkowski admit that the trial is unfair so they just give up. Not willing to fight for what’s right, they’re absolute cowards.

  19. 19.

    Cheryl Rofer

    January 31, 2020 at 1:42 pm

    @zhena gogolia: I don’t either. Nor does Popehat.

    I must declare this church picnic closed on the grounds that my friends and I have fucked this goat, which is extremely regrettable and demonstrates the failure of the church and church picnic as institutions. https://t.co/kyGVPJK0mE

    — FormalThreatHat (@Popehat) January 31, 2020


    ;

  20. 20.

    mrmoshpotato

    January 31, 2020 at 1:43 pm

    @Brachiator:

    Can we impeach Trump again before the November election?  He could go down in history as the first president with multiple impeachments.

    ITMFA! – Impeach the motherfucker again!

    ETA – I’d rather fire all these gasbags into the Oort cloud.

  21. 21.

    PJ

    January 31, 2020 at 1:45 pm

    @zhena gogolia: It’s all the fault of those partisan Democrats that we can’t have a fair trial!  So after the President has directed that documents and witnesses be withheld from the House impeachment inquiry, I, along with the other Republicans, have to make sure that highly relevant documents and witnesses are withheld from the Senate, too.

  22. 22.

    Adam L Silverman

    January 31, 2020 at 1:45 pm

    @zhena gogolia: I think she’s trying to say that because there’s no way to get enough votes to get witnesses and evidence admitted, which means there won’t be, because there can’t be, a fair trial. And this means the Senate has failed. And because the Senate has failed as an institution, she’s not voting for witnesses and evidence to be admitted, because there’s no point in doing so. It’s a circular argument.

  23. 23.

    Adam L Silverman

    January 31, 2020 at 1:46 pm

    @Cheryl Rofer: As long as the goat was consenting and everyone used appropriate protection, who can really judge?//

  24. 24.

    mrmoshpotato

    January 31, 2020 at 1:46 pm

    @Cheryl Rofer: It was only a matter of time before goat fucking was brought into this shitshow.

  25. 25.

    mrmoshpotato

    January 31, 2020 at 1:48 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: ?‍♂️

  26. 26.

    satby

    January 31, 2020 at 1:48 pm

    @Duane: they needed a fig leaf of cover, so they opted to blame the Democrats for a “flawed” referral and bemoan the partisan nature of the Senate that keeps the trial from being fair. See, it’s totes not the Republican party’s fault!

  27. 27.

    SFAW

    January 31, 2020 at 1:50 pm

    @Duane:

    Did Alexander actually say anything about the fairness of the trial? I thought the nub of his gist was “Yeah, he shot that Demon-rat on Fifth Avenue, and it was inappropriate, but it doesn’t rise to the level of a ‘High Crime and Misdemeanor.’ I mean, hell, we’ve all wished we could do that at some point in our lives, amirite?”

     

    Murkowski? WTF does her statement even mean? How is the trial not fair? Because the Demon-rats want Dear Leader impeached? Or because Moscow Mitch has rigged the game? [This is where Adam steps in, in his Narrator voice, and says “It wasn’t about Traitor Turtle rigging the game.”]

  28. 28.

    oldgold

    January 31, 2020 at 1:51 pm

    Murkowski’s statement is an intellectually dishonest piece of crap on steroids.

    Lambar’s statement, while disingenuous and wrong, at least at some level made a bit of sense.

  29. 29.

    mrmoshpotato

    January 31, 2020 at 1:51 pm

    @satby: Also, I’m rubber.  You’re glue…  Neener neener booga booga ?

  30. 30.

    bemused

    January 31, 2020 at 1:51 pm

    I wonder how many Republican senators knew Cipollone was a witness to trump’s crime.

  31. 31.

    Betty Cracker

    January 31, 2020 at 1:52 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: She also took a gratuitous shot at Warren for that question on the chief justice. Ha! That tells me the shot landed.

  32. 32.

    Cheryl Rofer

    January 31, 2020 at 1:52 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: That is world-class pretzeling and will go down in the history books alongside Lamar Alexander’s explicit pusillanimity.

  33. 33.

    SFAW

    January 31, 2020 at 1:53 pm

    @mrmoshpotato:

    ITMFA! – Impeach the motherfucker again!

    ETA – I’d rather fire all these gasbags into the Oort cloud.

    The two are not mutually exclusive. Or, as they say in France: “Por que no los dos?”

  34. 34.

    Leto

    January 31, 2020 at 1:53 pm

    @mrmoshpotato: bit gassy today? Second gas cloud reference in this thread; need some Tums? Mylanta? Pats on the backside? :p

  35. 35.

    Barbara

    January 31, 2020 at 1:57 pm

    As a tweet said, McConnell wants us to focus anger on Alexander precisely because he is not running.  He wants us to forget that McSally, Ernst, Gardner, and Tillis all voted the same way.

  36. 36.

    SFAW

    January 31, 2020 at 1:58 pm

    @Leto:

    Pats on the backside?

    Are you saying the Pats will be sitting on their backsides, in front of their TVs, in two days? Fine by me.

  37. 37.

    Cacti

    January 31, 2020 at 1:59 pm

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: I knew Murkowski would be voting with the cult after Collins had announced she would vote for witnesses.  Sue only does moderate Kabuki when it’s certain not to be decisive.  Ditto for Murkowski.

  38. 38.

    Baud

    January 31, 2020 at 1:59 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:

    I have come to the conclusion that there will be no fair trial in the Senate. I don’t believe the continuation of this process will change anything. It is sad for me to admit that, as an institution, the Congress has failed.”

    I gotta try this with the court next time I need to get a case dismissed.

     

    ETA: It’s not me. It’s you, your honor.

  39. 39.

    janesays

    January 31, 2020 at 2:00 pm

    @Ohio Mom: Honestly, on a more realistic note, I’m really hoping we get to see Attorney General Schiff taking over DOJ in January 2021.

  40. 40.

    mrmoshpotato

    January 31, 2020 at 2:01 pm

    @Leto: Several farts in your general direction?

  41. 41.

    janesays

    January 31, 2020 at 2:01 pm

    @Barbara: And he wants us to give Susan Collins a pat on the back for making the right vote, even though she’s only doing it to try to save her ass electorally and she’s doing so knowing it won’t actually change anything.

  42. 42.

    Archon

    January 31, 2020 at 2:05 pm

    Do elected Republicans think about how history will judge them during the Trump era? Do they care?

  43. 43.

    SFAW

    January 31, 2020 at 2:07 pm

    @mrmoshpotato:

    Several farts in your general direction?

    What’s next? Are you going to ask Avalune if Leto (or his father) smells of elderberries?

  44. 44.

    mrmoshpotato

    January 31, 2020 at 2:09 pm

    @SFAW: Haha!

  45. 45.

    Kent

    January 31, 2020 at 2:10 pm

    @Ohio Mom:

    I am developing quite the crush on Adam Schiff. But instead of fantasizing about becoming “Mrs. Ohio Mom Schiff,” I debate what sounds better: President Schiff or Supreme Court Justice Schiff.

    He’s young enough, maybe he could fit both in.

    Speaker of the House Adam Schiff, but only when Pelosi decides to finally hang up up her stilettos.

  46. 46.

    smintheus

    January 31, 2020 at 2:10 pm

    One of the reasons that Republicans have closed ranks against hearing witnesses, even though it requires them to pretend absurdly that eyewitnesses could not possibly have anything relevant to say, is that they are feeding another of Trump’s obsessions. Trump wants to have at least some weak-kneed Democrats vote against his removal. If no witnesses are heard from, that makes it possible and even likely that the cowards in the Democratic caucus will try to have it both ways: ‘I might have voted to convict the president if I had been able to hear the testimony of those around him, but since the rules of this trial did not permit that testimony to be produced I was obliged to vote against conviction.’

    I will be surprised if Manchin in particular does not use this as his out.

  47. 47.

    trnc

    January 31, 2020 at 2:10 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: I think she’s trying to say that because there’s no way to get enough votes to get witnesses and evidence admitted, which means there won’t be, because there can’t be, a fair trial.

    That isn’t what she’s saying. She blamed House democrats for “rushed and flawed” articles of impeachment. What the exact flaws are or why only a perfect referral is worthy of further investigation, I suspect we will never hear.

  48. 48.

    mrmoshpotato

    January 31, 2020 at 2:12 pm

    @Archon: Ha ha you’z a funny. :)

  49. 49.

    Captain C

    January 31, 2020 at 2:12 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: Mickey Kaus can judge, that’s who!  (And he’ll only give you a perfect ’10’ if you stick the landing.)

  50. 50.

    waspuppet

    January 31, 2020 at 2:15 pm

    Trump wants to be acquitted not just in time for the State of the Union, but for Hannity to interview him before the Super Bowl. He is saying “Make it snappy!” And the Senate GOP is rolling over like good little doggies to make it happen on his timetable.

    Just a reminder: Last night he said, again, that stealth bombers are literally invisible. This is who the Republicans are burning the country to the ground for.

  51. 51.

    Brachiator

    January 31, 2020 at 2:16 pm

    The State of the Union is scheduled for next Tuesday, February 4, and I would think they would want King Donald I to take a victory lap.

    I’m also hearing that Trump is going to have a Super Bowl ad.

  52. 52.

    The Dangerman

    January 31, 2020 at 2:16 pm

    Damn, who knew the person from Alaska with the most integrity would be Sarah Palin?

    Fuck Murkowski.

  53. 53.

    jl

    January 31, 2020 at 2:20 pm

    Looks like many Senators, including the vulnerable fake moderates who will be up for election this year, are saying Trump did everything he was accused of, but what Trump did doesn’t merit removal. In general election, important to point out that letting the people decide in the next election doesn’t mean anything if the President can use unfettered power to corrupt and fix the next election. That is a voting rights issue, or at least connected. It’s a voting rights issue that affects every single person in this country, not just ‘other people’ like minorities, youth, and the majority of old people who want to keep social insurance, sundry everyones in Democratic precincts.

    Also, will be interesting to see whether Murkowski and Collins, who apparently will try to get a pass by saying the Senate and House processes are both messed up vote to acquit (which I assume they will). Do they admit, with other fake moderates that Trump did it. They need to answer for their feigned incoherence in the general election.

    Collins will say that she is  predictably very disappointed and concerned again.  In general, she should be asked whether she was disappointed and concerned by the corrupt deal she made with McConnell to get a pass on voting for witnesses before she voted to acquit, and thereby go down with her concern without putting up any real fight.

  54. 54.

    trollhattan

    January 31, 2020 at 2:22 pm

    @Ohio Mom:

    SCOTUS Justice Schiff would be a wonderful palliative while attempting to tolerate Kavanaugh and Gorsuch. He has been an absolute rock throughout the process.

  55. 55.

    Cckids

    January 31, 2020 at 2:24 pm

    @trnc:

     
    Also, the House investigation was “rushed” ? I remember a daily, endless drumbeat of R whining about how it was “toooo looonnng, why is Nancy dragging this out!!?”
    Assholes.

  56. 56.

    janesays

    January 31, 2020 at 2:30 pm

    @smintheus: Manchin might, but unlike his vote for Kavanaugh in 2018, there really is no political reason for him to do so. He’s not up for re-election again until 2024.

    But here’s the gross thing – he really is the best we can do in that state for the foreseeable future. It’s either him, or a Republican who would be far worse than him. To the best of my knowledge, he’s never directly tanked a Democratic vote in a decisive moment. That is to say, he’s never cast a decisive vote that hurt Democrats, as far as I know. Kavanaugh would have been confirmed with or without him, but there’s a decent chance he loses his re-election in 2018 if he had voted against Kavanaugh. If that had happened, we would be far less likely to win a senate majority next year.

    My main point is that he sucks, but we’re stuck with him, and I’d rather have him than the most likely alternative (a far right Republican who votes with Democrats zero percent of the time).

  57. 57.

    catclub

    January 31, 2020 at 2:32 pm

    @PJ: I, along with the other Republicans, have to make sure that highly relevant documents and witnesses are withheld from the Senate, too.

     

    Those documents will also be withheld ( shredded)  from history, or a Democratic administration.

  58. 58.

    jl

    January 31, 2020 at 2:32 pm

    @Brachiator: I’ve heard reports that McConnell and GOPers might put off the vote to finalize the cover-up until right after the SOTU, in order to keep Trump from doing a completely berserker victory dance.

    Seems to me that Trump will go berserk no matter what they do. Unless McConnell gravely lies to Trump that he has to read the teleprompter, or no telling what the fake moderates will do.

  59. 59.

    gene108

    January 31, 2020 at 2:32 pm

    @Yutsano:

    And if he somehow pulls off a narrow Electoral College victory again, especially after losing the popular vote again, that might cause some cracks. Some of which can’t be fixed.

    Democrats need to object, and kick to the House to decide. Wouldn’t be the first time in history the House decided an election

  60. 60.

    Eric U.

    January 31, 2020 at 2:33 pm

    Only thing I can think of is McConnell wants to make it look like they deliberated on this.  And maybe also he’s more afraid of the SOTU that Trump would deliver if he were acquitted than he is of the speech he will give beforehand.

  61. 61.

    mrmoshpotato

    January 31, 2020 at 2:34 pm

    @Brachiator: Dump should have a super bowel ad.  (No offense to Gene Belcher.)

  62. 62.

    catclub

    January 31, 2020 at 2:35 pm

    @Cckids: Also, the House investigation was “rushed” ?

     

    Yes. this was the first part of catch-22, spend months or years fighting for subpeonaed witnesses in the courts,

    before you do anything rash.

    It was what Turley was saying all along and he was the second witness at the House impeachment hearings.

  63. 63.

    piratedan

    January 31, 2020 at 2:36 pm

    yes, it still hurts to see this play out this way… we knew it was coming, they’ve been showing us who they were for years now… kids in cages, no problems; climate change, we live in condos, so what of it?; selling our troops out as mercenaries, not even an issue.  Laws are simply a mechanism we use to keep us on top and “you all down below”.

    it allows the cynics to hold sway, that this is just “politics” as usual, there will be no ‘Mr Smith Goes To Washington” moment with our own pet Fascist.

     

    It does relieve me of the burden of having to go into any conversation with any known Republican with any kind of good faith or benefit of the doubt.  Those bridges are burned and if anyone is on the hook for the rebuilding, it will not be on me and mine.

    If people end up in the streets and heads on pikes, well what can I say, those motherfuckers have brought this upon themselves, I won’t bother asking any deity to have mercy on their souls, they don’t have ’em.

  64. 64.

    Immanentize

    January 31, 2020 at 2:36 pm

    @mrmoshpotato:

    Dump should have a super bowel ad.

    Both he and Bloomburg are running ads during the Super Bowl.

  65. 65.

    catclub

    January 31, 2020 at 2:36 pm

    @gene108: That election is state by state by House delegations, so since a majority ( thanks Wyoming!) of House delegations are held by GOP. They would win that also.

  66. 66.

    randy khan

    January 31, 2020 at 2:37 pm

    @zhena gogolia:

    Oh, come on, it’s easy:  I would totally vote for witnesses if I wasn’t 100% loyal to the Republican Party and the President.

  67. 67.

    mrmoshpotato

    January 31, 2020 at 2:41 pm

    @Immanentize: Both reasons not to watch it.

  68. 68.

    jl

    January 31, 2020 at 2:41 pm

    @Eric U.: “Only thing I can think of is McConnell wants to make it look like they deliberated on this.”

    Maybe McConnell should have ordered the fake moderates to shut up until after the final vote. They are on record admitting  that the president used his almost unfettered power in foreign diplomacy to corrupt and fix and election using foreign government assistance and that is not grounds for conviction and removal.  A few days or a week delay on the final choreographed vote won’t make any difference to how this looks now.

     

    The true story is simple, and easy to fit into 30 second attack ads that will be very accurate, and will come with as much reliable documentation and verification as most persuadable voters would want. Too late to change that now.

  69. 69.

    Kent

    January 31, 2020 at 2:41 pm

    @smintheus: Manchin has no reason to play games.  He’s not up for re-election until 2024 and we will be in the heat of the next presidential election cycle by then.  Trump Impeachment will be really old news by then.  He is also 72 so question is whether he would even run for reelection in 2024 at the age of 76.

  70. 70.

    Ruckus

    January 31, 2020 at 2:41 pm

    @bemused:

    Probably more than the number that give a fuck.

  71. 71.

    randy khan

    January 31, 2020 at 2:41 pm

    @gene108:

     

    So, the process when EC votes are counted is that both the House and the Senate need to object to votes before anything else can happen.  (And, as an aside, that just starts an investigation into whether the votes were cast properly; the House doesn’t vote on the President unless in the end nobody has a majority of EC votes.)  If there isn’t agreement by both houses that there’s a problem, the votes are counted.  This is not in the Constitution – it’s part of the law on the whole process from beginning to end.

    The process was invoked after the 2000 election, when someone from the House objected to Florida’s electoral votes.  There was no corresponding objection from the Senate, so the votes were counted (with poor Al Gore presiding over the whole thing, doing his duty until the end).

  72. 72.

    Brachiator

    January 31, 2020 at 2:42 pm

    @Yutsano:

    I think the Republican strategist is whistling past the graveyard.

    He may be taking a leisurely stroll through the graveyard, singing show tunes. But I partly agree.  He is a pretty good strategist, in terms of successfully handled a couple of candidates’ campaigns, and he is somewhat honest in talking about both Democrats and Republicans, but obviously pumps up the GOP.

    As soon as he’s acquitted the Democrats are going to be enraged beyond what they are. And if he somehow pulls off a narrow Electoral College victory again, especially after losing the popular vote again, that might cause some cracks. Some of which can’t be fixed.

    Yep.  These strategists cannot control how Democrats react to this horror show.

    ETA: When I was a kid, we lived across the street from a cemetery.  The Kid’s Universe rules were that you could play in the cemetery in the daytime. But you had to be out of there before it got too dark.  And you weren’t supposed to step on a grave.

    The cemetery was a cool place.  Some areas without graves had trees.  There was a stream running through the place. And a couple of groves of reeds and branches which could be broken off and used as wooden swords or play rifles.

  73. 73.

    janesays

    January 31, 2020 at 2:46 pm

    @trollhattan: I can’t imagine him ever getting nominated to SCOTUS with his current resume. The only relevant legal experience he has is a brief stint as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in California in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Since 1994, his entire career has been as a legislator. Every current SCOTUS justice and every justice in my lifetime has had far more legal experience than Schiff, by a mile. Even Kagan, who was never a judge before joining SCOTUS, had a background as an Associate White House counsel and as U.S. Solicitor General, and she clerked for Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall. She was a tenured constitutional law professor for many years as well. Anyway, she’s one of the least experienced justices in recent SCOTUS history, but she still came into the job with far more relevant experience than Schiff currently has.

    Also – Schiff turns 60 in June. That alone should be an immediate disqualification for any future Democratic SCOTUS appointees. We just can’t run the risk of having someone there who doesn’t have at least 25 years left in the tank in their career before they turn 80

    All that said… I would love to see Rep. Schiff get the opportunity to take over the Department of Justice in January 2021.

  74. 74.

    Immanentize

    January 31, 2020 at 2:46 pm

    @mrmoshpotato: Tru dat

  75. 75.

    Kent

    January 31, 2020 at 2:47 pm

    @jl:

    Also, will be interesting to see whether Murkowski and Collins, who apparently will try to get a pass by saying the Senate and House processes are both messed up vote to acquit (which I assume they will). Do they admit, with other fake moderates that Trump did it. They need to answer for their feigned incoherence in the general election.

    Collins will say that she is  predictably very disappointed and concerned again.  In general, she should be asked whether she was disappointed and concerned by the corrupt deal she made with McConnell to get a pass on voting for witnesses before she voted to acquit, and thereby go down with her concern without putting up any real fight.

    The vote for witnesses seems consequential now, but the vote to acquit is likely to be the real meaningful vote in November in terms of what kinds of ads get run and having to defend her vote if we keep seeing drip drip drip of more information come out.  This whole threading the needle thing Collins is trying to do is unlikely to work this time around as there is no needle to thread.  Censure is not on the table.  You are either in favor of giving Trump unlimited power with no accountability, or you are not.  No middle ground.  Collins will be voting to cast herself squarely in the “Trump can do no wrong and cannot be checked” camp.  I only hope the voters of Maine have finally had enough.

  76. 76.

    Ruckus

    January 31, 2020 at 2:51 pm

    @Archon:

    They care. Otherwise they wouldn’t be looking for excuses and backdoors to sneak out of.

    Do they care enough? A better question. And the answer is no they don’t. All they care about is themselves, their power, their positions, and holding on to them. Most of them have absolutely nothing else going on for a living. Without the job they hold and from the looks of it, despise, they would have to work for a living. And being who and what they are, that would mean being night clerk at the local quickie mart/gas station. And the local quickie mart has a better range of applicants to choose from.

  77. 77.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    January 31, 2020 at 2:54 pm

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Also possible that Turtle was lying hoping to stamped the wavers threw.

  78. 78.

    jl

    January 31, 2020 at 2:55 pm

    @Kent:  I think Murkowski had already dug herself in a deep hole with her vote against witnesses, and will dig even deeper if (ha ha, when…) she votes to acquit. As far as any human can make sense of her incoherent babble, she is saying that the whole process has been bad, but won’t lift a finger to improve it, or even try to salvage it. And I think she was elected, formally, as an independent for her current term. Her state political cred in Alaska is not as a die hard GOP loyalist.

    Alaska may be about half deep red, but not the kind of red that won’t elect a moderate Democrat.

  79. 79.

    Brachiator

    January 31, 2020 at 2:57 pm

    @jl:

    I’ve heard reports that McConnell and GOPers might put off the vote to finalize the cover-up until right after the SOTU, in order to keep Trump from doing a completely berserker victory dance.

    Seems to me that Trump will go berserk no matter what they do.

    Yep. Trump will go wild, both at the SOTU and at his inevitable staged political rally.

  80. 80.

    PJ

    January 31, 2020 at 2:58 pm

    @janesays: The last thing the Supreme Court needs is another graduate from Harvard or Yale (with little experience of the real world, as most of them lack).  Earl Warren was a career politician.

  81. 81.

    janesays

    January 31, 2020 at 3:02 pm

    @gene108: The House is only constitutionally allowed to intervene in the event of a an electoral college tie, a 269-269 deadlock.

    That’s extremely unlikely to happen, but if it did, it would be very bad for us. The House picks the winner, but not as a vote of 435 members, but rather as a vote of 50 delegations. Each state gets only one vote, which means the 53 U.S. representatives in California collectively get one vote, and the 1 U.S. representative in Wyoming also gets one vote which can cancel out that California vote. Needless to say – the Republicans may have fewer representatives overall, but they control 26 state delegations to the Democrats 22 (or possibly 23). Michigan was a split delegation at the start of the congress (each party had 7 representatives), but with Amash’s defection from the GOP, the split is 7 Dems, 6 Reps, 1 Ind. Pennsylvania is split 9-9. In any event, even if the Dems were able to pick up both MI and PA, they still fall short with a 26-24 vote that favors Republican-controlled congressional state delegations

    Bottom line, if we wind up in a situation in which the 2020 election is decided by the House of Representatives because of an Electoral College deadlock, Trump gets re-elected.

  82. 82.

    hitchhiker

    January 31, 2020 at 3:03 pm

    Cippolone — who is on the PUBLIC PAYROLL — was present last May when trump told Bolton to attach security funding to election dirty tricks, and he has been LYING to the US Senate repeatedly as he SCREWED THE PUBLIC by acting like trump’s personal attorney.

    If Schiff does get to be the AG, he ought open an investigation that leads to disbarment.

  83. 83.

    The Moar You Know

    January 31, 2020 at 3:05 pm

    I only hope the voters of Maine have finally had enough.

    @Kent: The voters of Maine have a track record that is, quite frankly, utter shit.

  84. 84.

    Martin

    January 31, 2020 at 3:06 pm

    @mrmoshpotato: Ok, again. As with firing into the sun, firing into the Oort cloud is unnecessarily expensive in terms of delta v.

    I’d be inclined to put them in a high orbit where their frozen corpses could be viewed by future space travelers as a warning, but the risk they pose as space debris probably isn’t worth it.

    So, here is my pragmatic suggestion. We pay Elon Musk to take them to the moon and recreate the dogs playing cards scene. A little moon tourism to boost GDP.

  85. 85.

    Martin

    January 31, 2020 at 3:10 pm

    @Brachiator: Yes, the president can be impeached multiple times.

  86. 86.

    jl

    January 31, 2020 at 3:15 pm

    @Martin: That might be an argument for holding back on some of the slam dunk counts that were omitted from this one. And I read in reports that Trump’s attempt to enlist foreign governments to corrupt and fix the 2020 election is ongoing.  So can put more charges from ongoing behavior wrt to Biden and Ukraine on the next bar tab too. Focus is still on Biden, but that will only last as long as he is the front runner.

    China’s government publicly  told Trump to go shove it when he publicly asked it to smear Biden and Warren. Italy did he same after Barr’s extortion tour of Europe. But the US has more leverage with other countries, though probably none on the A list.

  87. 87.

    WhatsMyNym

    January 31, 2020 at 3:15 pm

    @Immanentize:

    …Bloomburg are running ads during the Super Bowl.

    I can’t count the number of Bloomberg ads I’ve seen on youtube.

    Moderators: I’m having trouble with typos in my Nym again – please rescue me.

  88. 88.

    janesays

    January 31, 2020 at 3:19 pm

    @PJ: Warren was Attorney General of California and he was appointed to SCOTUS in 1953 – before 80% of the country was even born.

    But aside from that, you’ve already disqualified Schiff from consideration in your theoretical, because he went to… wait for it… Harvard Law School.

    It’s a moot point, as it is extremely unlikely Schiff will ever be seriously considered as a SCOTUS justice. If he was 15 years younger and could get some relevant experience under his belt, I’d be all for it. But his age alone should be a disqualifier. Since Reagan, the oldest Republican SCOTUS appointee has been Samuel Alito, who was 55 when he joined the court. Every other GOP pick since O’Connor has been younger than Alito.

  89. 89.

    The Moar You Know

    January 31, 2020 at 3:20 pm

    To the best of my knowledge, he’s never directly tanked a Democratic vote in a decisive moment. That is to say, he’s never cast a decisive vote that hurt Democrats, as far as I know.

    @janesays:  He has not.  At some political risk to his career.

    The broader point of your post is important.  If we want the Senate back, we’re going to have to run, support and back some folks who I, personally, can’t stand.  And who, under certain circumstances, might wuss out and not back the party.  The problem is that the options in those states are:

    D- Shit Sandwich

    R- Anthrax-dusted Tire Rims

    If the Dem party really wants back in power, we’re going to have to get used to eating some shit sandwiches, because the Senate/Electoral College/Supreme Court/American Political Process was set up from the get-go to favor imbeciles and, as it turns out, traitors.

    We’re a minority, in short, even though we squarely have more than half the population at our backs.  That isn’t enough.  We need a majority or else, for all practical purposes, we have nothing.  McConnell showed us that with Garland.  Do you think he will pass anything if a Dem gets back in the White House?  No, that chinless motherfucker will happily shut down the country, and then it’s either martial law or civil war time.  Possibly both.  I’d like to avoid that.

  90. 90.

    zhena gogolia

    January 31, 2020 at 3:23 pm

    @Barbara:

    I’ve set up monthly donations to the opponents of Gardner, Collins, and McConnell, and will probably do the same for Mark Kelly against McSally.

  91. 91.

    Brachiator

    January 31, 2020 at 3:24 pm

    @PJ:

    The last thing the Supreme Court needs is another graduate from Harvard or Yale (with little experience of the real world, as most of them lack). Earl Warren was a career politician.

    Earl Warren was also Attorney General of California, and went to UC Berkeley, a top tier school.

  92. 92.

    zhena gogolia

    January 31, 2020 at 3:25 pm

    @Ohio Mom:

    I am worshiping Schiff as a god. I thought Obama was the greatest human being I had seen in operation on the planet, but Schiff is giving him a run for his money. He has been superhuman.

  93. 93.

    Jeffro

    January 31, 2020 at 3:26 pm

    @Yutsano: Agreed.  It’ll be like the Kavanaugh Effect, on steroids.

    (ie, it drove up GOP turnout a little and ours a LOT)

  94. 94.

    janesays

    January 31, 2020 at 3:26 pm

    @jl: Murkowski’s not up for re-election until 2022, by which point the impeachment vote will be old news. Especially since her vote will be totally inconsequential.

  95. 95.

    zhena gogolia

    January 31, 2020 at 3:28 pm

    @jl:

    I hope he has one of those neurological episodes of the kind he’s been regularly having at his Nuremberg rallies, right in the middle of the SOTU. Then maybe the media would have to take note of it.

  96. 96.

    Kent

    January 31, 2020 at 3:30 pm

    @jl:

    @Kent:  I think Murkowski had already dug herself in a deep hole with her vote against witnesses, and will dig even deeper if (ha ha, when…) she votes to acquit. As far as any human can make sense of her incoherent babble, she is saying that the whole process has been bad, but won’t lift a finger to improve it, or even try to salvage it. And I think she was elected, formally, as an independent for her current term. Her state political cred in Alaska is not as a die hard GOP loyalist.

    Alaska may be about half deep red, but not the kind of red that won’t elect a moderate Democrat.

    I lived in Alaska for a decade.  Murkowski is Senator for life up there.  Unlike Collins, nothing to do with impeachment will threaten her seat.   In any event, she isn’t up for reelection until 2022.  There aren’t enough people who live in Juneau and the native villages to elect a Democrat anymore.  The suburban railbelt (Anchorage suburbs) just overwhelm the rest of the state in terms of population.  And that was Sara Palin country.

    Besides, the Dems are too afraid to run against her anyway because they know from experience they will wind up with some sort of tea party crazy instead.

  97. 97.

    The Truffle

    January 31, 2020 at 3:39 pm

    @The Moar You Know: McConnell and 21 other GOP senators are up for reelection. The GOP is probably trying to get as much done as they can because of the (likely) wipeout in November.

  98. 98.

    Quaker in a Basement

    January 31, 2020 at 3:44 pm

     I would think they would want King Donald I to take a victory lap.

    I think they can guess how ugly that’s going to be and they don’t want it broadcast on all the networks.

  99. 99.

    jl

    January 31, 2020 at 3:45 pm

    @Kent: I’ve lived in Alaska too, but with blue relatives in a very blue pocket, so maybe my view is biased. The recent Alaskan election results maps I’ve seen say to me that you may be too pessimistic.

    How long ago did you live up there? If until recently, I’ll defer to you since I never completely wintered over, so not admittedly not a real Alaskan.

  100. 100.

    trnc

    January 31, 2020 at 3:47 pm

    @hitchhiker: If Schiff does get to be the AG, he ought open an investigation that leads to disbarment.

    It is my sincerest hope that the next administration DOJ will prosecute the ever livin’ shit out of all of these criminals, whether led by Schiff or Kamala.

  101. 101.

    Mnemosyne

    January 31, 2020 at 3:48 pm

    @janesays:

    As a Californian, I still prefer Senator Adam Schiff to replace DiFi when she retires.

  102. 102.

    WaterGirl

    January 31, 2020 at 3:57 pm

    @WhatsMyNym: Just fixed your typo in this comment and then released your comment.

    But you’ll still have to fix it in the box in your browser.

    Does your browser not remember your nym?  Maybe you are using private browsing or you are set to not use cookies?

  103. 103.

    Yutsano

    January 31, 2020 at 4:14 pm

    @Mnemosyne: Or to take over for Kamala Harris if/when she gets picked and confirmed for an administration role. Although jeez you guys are lousy for options!

    Granted we are in Washington too. I would still love a Senator Jayapal when either Patty or Maria decide to call it quits.

  104. 104.

    Dan B

    January 31, 2020 at 4:38 pm

    @Yutsano:  Pramila is MY Rep!  Yew can’t have her yet!!

    Although I wouldn’t mind replacing Cantwell sooner rather than later.

  105. 105.

    janesays

    January 31, 2020 at 4:40 pm

    @Mnemosyne: You mean in 2036 when she is 103 years old??

    All kidding aside, Schiff could be AG for most of the next president’s first term and then run for Feinstein’s seat in 2024, which is the next time it will be up. But I wouldn’t hold my breath on her retiring after this term. People who continue to run for a senate seat after their 85th birthday (which is how old she was when she last ran in 2018) tend to just stay in the seat until they die. I’m thinking she wants to become the first female senator in history to turn 100 while still in office.

  106. 106.

    Bill Arnold

    January 31, 2020 at 4:53 pm

    @mrmoshpotato:

    Both reasons not to watch it.

    Boycott any show that runs Republican ads or Republican surrogate ads?

  107. 107.

    Bill Arnold

    January 31, 2020 at 5:04 pm

    @Brachiator:

    Yep. These strategists cannot control how Democrats react to this horror show.

    Expect to see a lot of twitter troll(-bot)s and other social media influence operations pushing nihilism, that this is no big deal, nothing will change, this won’t affect you, don’t worry, calm down you are being silly. Probably a lot of talking heads will be saying this too.

  108. 108.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    January 31, 2020 at 6:20 pm

    @waspuppet:

     Last night he said, again, that stealth bombers are literally invisible.

    Really?  What’s this?

  109. 109.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    January 31, 2020 at 6:32 pm

    @PJ: I guess Schiff is out then, HLS’85.

  110. 110.

    J R in WV

    January 31, 2020 at 6:51 pm

    @janesays:

    Bottom line, if we wind up in a situation in which the 2020 election is decided by the House of Representatives because of an Electoral College deadlock, Trump gets re-elected.

    Not necessarily so… the House [and Senate] that will be voting after the November 2020 election will include the newly elected members, not the currently sitting members.

  111. 111.

    WaterGirl

    January 31, 2020 at 6:54 pm

    @J R in WV:  @janesays:

    I don’t get it.  We are currently in the majority in the House.  Are you expecting to lose the majority in Nov 2020?

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