I thought he would be all talk, but he came through on Article 1. Good for him. It’s now a bipartisan vote. I wonder what the Senate’s version of the Amash shunning will be?
Update: Here’s his floor speech. Quite good.
Reader Interactions
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SFAW
Stealing his magic underwear?
randy khan
Given how Utah feels about Trump, this didn’t take a huge amount of courage (not, for instance, as much as the Doug Jones vote), but it puts him head and shoulders above the supposed Republican moderates.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
NotMax
It had already been announced he’s been disinvited form this year’s CPAC. Maybe that wankfest will now add an event burning him in effigy.
waspuppet
Will anyone in our six- and seven-figure political media call the vote to remove Trump “bipartisan”? Or is that only for when Democrats join Republicans?
That certainly seemed to be the case with the bipartisan vote for witnesses.
Baud
@randy khan: Yeah, I’d imagine Collins isn’t too happy right now.
Marcopolo
Trump only has himself to blame. He had the chance to make Mitt his SoS. Would have kept him out of the Senate.
Lol, right, like Mitt would have lasted as long as Rex in that job, what am I thinking. He’d probably still have been out of the administration in time to run for the Senate.
Anyways, here’s to the Mittster! Actually carrying on in the great tradition of his father (who took it to Goldwater).
germy
I wonder if drumpf will seek revenge by attacking Ronna McDaniel.
(Unless she disowns Mitt completely.)
MattF
Mittster:
Not exactly insightful. But he has a conscience.
utterdregs
Has Manchin weighed in yet?
germy
Spite headline:
Trump more popular in Utah than Romney, as senator weighs impeachment
guachi
I think Romney is too old for a conviction vote to be used as a basis for a 2024 Presidential run. It’s possible that his Senate seat not being up until 2024 makes it easier to vote to convict, though the same can be said for other Republican Senators who are wimping out.
So, basically, I don’t think Romney is making any kind of political calculation. Seems like he really believes Romney is guilty, no ifs ands or buts.
Good for Romney!
And I bet Jennifer Rubin will write a total paean to Romney about this. She was all in for him in 2012.
lee
I wonder if him having the fortitude to vote guilty is having an effect on any of the waffling Dems?
I seriously doubt it, but it would be nice.
Betty Cracker
I used to work for a company that required me to spend a bit of time in Utah every year and work with a lot of LDS coworkers. They’re deeply conservative people, but I can easily see where they wouldn’t be as susceptible to Trump’s grandiose, hypocritical bullshit like the evangelical assholes down South are.
germy
@utterdregs: Manchin wants to censure drumpf.
download my app in the app store mistermix
I’m only going to say nice things about Mitt so this will be brief: Mike Lee is in pretty much the exact same political situation and he’s not going to vote for conviction. Say what you will about Mitt’s courage, he has more of it than Lee. Also, he’s right that this will affect his children and grandchildren.
Marcopolo
@randy khan:So Mitt is a very wealthy guy (so he’s not worried about losing a board seat or job prospect or whatever), is white, is privileged, etc.. but the courage part is 1) that there are millions of deranged Trump arseholes in this country & he now has a target painted on him for those folks; and, 2) there will be a substantial portion of the cohort that Mitt hangs with who will now shun him–if only because they are cowards and want to cover their own asses. So it is not the kind of courage of putting your life on the line but rather the courage of putting your lifestyle on the line.
On the other hand, I guess Mitt already has a pretty large family to hang out with…so there is that.
trollhattan
@guachi:
“Finally, a Republican I can believe in!”
–J. Rubes, next column.
JPL
@guachi: He deserves nothing but our applause. I hope that he and his family remain safe because the orange asshole is vindictive.
Kent
Mitt is actually following in a LONG line of maverick Western Republican Senators who have defied the party hierarchy.
Mark Hatfield from Oregon, defying Nixon on the Vietnam War.
before that Wayne Morse of Oregon who was first elected as a Republican, then as an Independent, then finally a Democrat, who was one of only two senators to vote against the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution.
John McCain of course sort of followed that path as well.
Westerners like themselves some “maverickness” I don’t think this will hurt Romney at all. Especially in Utah which really doesn’t like Trump.
LongHairedWeirdo
YAY! A single Republican, who is already as safe as frickin’ houses, is willing to say that the President did something wrong! That’s less than 2% of the party, but, it’s still good news, given that the Republican Party is sure to act honorabl-BWAHAHAHAHA!
I’ll come in again.
download my app in the app store mistermix
@trollhattan:
I want to read her next column, seriously. The overap between desire to love Mitt and her hate for Trump is a venn diagram that looks like a circle.
kindness
I can’t wait to see 1) Trump’s tweet about Mitt and 2) Mitt’s daughter-in-law put Mitt’s head on a pike (figuratively people. Figuratively).
Citizen Alan
I’m genuinely astonished by this. I’ve said a lot of very harsh things about Mitt over the years, mainly for his failure to live up to the example set by his father and also for the fact that he is greedy to the point of borderline sociopathy. It’s possible that his primary motivator is anti-Trump spite, but still, given the present composition of the GOP Death Cult, this was an amazing act of courage.
Elizabelle
Proud of him. Well done, Mitt. I am not surprised.
Gin & Tonic
@download my app in the app store mistermix: I like to think that at some faraway time, probably well after I have left this mortal coil, the US will arrive at a point where this can be something that his grandchildren can publicly take pride in.
utterdregs
@germy: F*ck. Not unexpected, but weak sauce.
Archon
@LongHairedWeirdo:
Voting to remove the President of the United States in the same political party as you is no small thing.
Belafon
@germy:
She already did:
This is not the first time I have disagreed with Mitt, and I imagine it will not be the last.
The bottom line is President Trump did nothing wrong, and the Republican Party is more united than ever behind him.
I, along with the @GOP, stand with President Trump.
SiubhanDuinne
Apologies for the O/T, but this is worth reading:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/02/05/george-conway-trump-i-believe/?itid=hp_no-name_opinion-card-g%3Ahomepage%2Fstory-ans
I have no idea why he is still with that shrewbitch harpy Kellyanne, but I am liking George Conway more and more every time I hear or read him. (Thought for a long time that it was some kind of performance art, à la James Carville and Mary Matalin, but somehow George comes across to me as a bit more sincere. YMMV.)
patroclus
I am very impressed by this. The blowback that Trump and his minions will now aim at Romney will show them at their worst. He wasn’t exactly eloquent, but he takes his oath seriously and can see facts when they stare him in the face. It’s now a bipartisan vote and for a Senator to vote to remove a President of his own party is historic. His vote won’t make much of a difference to the outcome but he will be remembered better by history now.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@trollhattan:
download my app in the app store mistermix
@Betty Cracker: Same, lived in Wyoming, lots of Mormons there. I have lots of issues with their patriarchal religion, but most of them are good people. They value education so they often have kids who leave the cult and are a combination of smart and honorable. Ken Jennings is a great example.
Martin
@Kent: I pains me to bring up a few other prominent western Republicans:
I could go on…
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@SiubhanDuinne: I’m embarrassed that I know this and drew conclusions from it, but I do and I did: a couple of weeks ago at the Alfalfa Dinner– big beltway suck-up clusterfuck party– Kellyanne was noted among attendees at the dinner and the Bezos afterparty, George was not.
SiubhanDuinne
@Belafon:
Shaking my aged head.
Baud
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
She still hasn’t learned to spell Buttigieg, I see.
Gin & Tonic
@Martin: I found it telling that Kent could come up with four in a half-century.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Baud: yeah, I noted that, too– ETA: I will say, she was making a point about voters and how far the country’s come. she’s been pretty enthusiastic about Buttigieg in the past, IIRC. But not naming him scans badly
the Conster
I hate to say it as a Masshole, but we must have rubbed off on him somewhere along the way. I also think he listens to Ann his wife, above all else and from what I remember of her as first lady of the Commonwealth, she is probably constantly horrified at Trump and his family.
Martin
@Baud: Go easy on her. Buttigieg is not easy to pronounce and I’m sure in a certain accent it sounds exactly like ‘the gay dude’.
Fleeting Expletive
Good for Senator Romney, and I hope his reasonable explanation leads to some others having a moment of clarity. I have harbored a shred of hope even for Grassley based on corn state values and cussedness, like my scary paternal grandfather.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Kent: I’ll see you Jim Jeffords, Bill Roth, the Chaffees (much of the time, Linc seems to have gone a bit nutty), Bill Weld (much of the time, let’s just assume that from here on in), Bill Cohen, Olympia Snowe (voted against Clinton’s impeachment, for the ARRA, history is calling again), and Arlen Specter (with the very notable exception of his conduct toward Anita Hill)
lee
In the Ronna Romney tweet thread there are multiple calls to stop all donations to the GOP until they kick Mitt out of the party.
This is 100% a Poe’s Law trap. I have no idea if they are trolling the Ronna or not because I can see Republicans being that stupid.
Jay
Betty Cracker
Petri nails it:
MJS
Between Jones and now Romney, there is now zero excuse for any Dem to vote to acquit. Zero. What are Sinema and Manchin going to run on – that what Trump did isn’t that bad? Do they think that will get them any votes? And do they understand they’ll be undercutting what should be a core argument of whoever the Dem nominee for president is?
RoonieRoo
I thought Mitt’s speech was excellent and it is courageous.
download my app in the app store mistermix
@Kent: I think the Western desire for mavericks has been blunted by Fox News. They used to elect a Democrat once in a while if they liked him or her. Doesn’t happen much anymore (Tester’s about it). Depends on where you draw the line for West (I draw it at the Missouri in the plains states) but we had McGovern, Dorgan, Conrad, Daschle, Frank Church, others. No more.
germy
Martin
@lee: Mitt’s problem isn’t that he’s going to lose his seat, his problem is that he’s now created an opportunity to draw comparisons with other Republicans in a way that makes them look bad, and, because everyone in the GOP is trapped in the Trump death cult, he’s invited all of them to make their demands. All it’s going to take is for Sheldon Adelson to demand Mitt out of the party in exchange for releasing money to get them to push him out. They’ll trust that Utah isn’t about to turn blue.
Belafon
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I wish the site would include the link. I would like to share it.
Gin & Tonic
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Only one “F” in Chafee.
/RI pedant
germy
@Belafon:
Romney’s speech:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-rnsJo0_yI
Martin
@download my app in the app store mistermix: Ahem. Washington, Oregon, and California are all western states. And all are blue and trending more blue.
Martin
@Martin: And right on cue, Don Jr proves my point.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Belafon: Rubin’s twitter feed.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Martin: not even a Daddy’s Boy, a Wannabe Daddy’s Boy, who knows Daddy likes Jared better
Gin & Tonic
@Martin: What does “push him out” mean in this context? If he wants to continue to put the “R” after his name, how can they stop him?
Mrs. D. Ranged in AZ
@Betty Cracker: You’re right in regards to their difference from Evangelicals. But also, from what I have gathered from the large LDS presence here in AZ it boils down to economic class. Essentially, the lower and many middle class Mormons, which make up the majority, despise Trump as a sinful, vain nincompoop who has done nothing for them. This view of him is particularly strong with Mormon women. The rich Mormons, particularly the men, were willing to set their moral misgivings aside for that sweet, sweet tax refund.
catclub
Also probably kills Ronna’s future in the party – at least until Trump becomes a non-person. And he apparently knew it.
Kent
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Oh, you are totally right. There are a ton of old school Northestern GOP Senators who became more liberal as the GOP shifted southward and more crazy in the past few decades. Or perhaps they just stayed the same while the GOP went crazy.
The western thing isn’t so much becoming more liberal than the GOP like a Chafee. It is just being more independent or libertarian. Even Goldwater was like that, crazy as he was. He was pro choice, supported medical marijuana , and gays in the military way back in the early 90s.
catclub
Interesting. Thanks for the perspective.
Cermet
Never really comment much on Romney (excepty his college immaturity and donnation pattern) but glad he finally decided to be on the right side of history. Even though he has a bigger grudge against the orange fart cloud, I still am glad he did it regardless of his true motivations and will consider his actions, rather than real reason. So will history, more than likely. A win for all of us – so, congrats to Mitt.
Martin
@Gin & Tonic: The party controls the nomination. They can refuse to allow him on the ballot. They can also refuse to allow him to caucus with them.
Granted, they are both huge self-inflicted injuries, but this is the GOP we’re talking about here.
Miss Bianca
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Holy crap, how long do you reckon it is before J-Rubs has a Cole-esque conversion? At one point I would have called it laughably unlikely, now it’s down to “laughably (almost) likely”.
Cacti
What a tragedy (snicker).
Jeffro
Schumer just called trumpov a “child”…OUCH
catclub
I agree. I also think the press should be actively asking the other 52 GOP senators why they have no principles.
They won’t.
Kent
Maybe. But I think the bigger split is the urban rural split. Western states with large cities (Oregon, Washington, Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico) all have Dems or even Dem majorities. And AZ is trending that way. The western states without big cities to balance out the rural folk are trending ruby red (Idaho, Wyoming, Dakotas, Nebraska). Utah is sort of in the middle and unique with the Mormons. Oklahoma is kind of weird and more southern than Western in a way. Or more like Texas. Oregon and Washington used to regularly elect Republican senators and governors too. Those days are also long past.
catclub
@Cacti: I agree with the snicker. But I would have hard time doing something that would kill my daughter’s career.
Even if it was drug dealing.
Cacti
@catclub: Niece, not daughter.
ETA: Also too, I think Uncle Willard was none too amused when she stopped using her family name because it offended the orange manbaby. Someone is being taught a lesson.
Jay
Belafon
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Thanks. I can’t twitter at work, so I tend to rely on embedded links to share stuff. I managed to find it.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
as Cole said on twitter, Willard just tossed Susan Collins a cinderblock
I’m sure that towering strength and thoughtfulness will help her with Both Sides. I hope Stephen King has a mean streak to match is bank account
trollhattan
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Alfalfa Dinner? Do the toast one another by saying, “O-tay!“
Topclimber
@Martin: Mormons call the political tune in Utah…you know, the folks who trekked from Missouri to Salt Lake City rather than do what they were told. Conformists within their church no doubt. Likely to turn on one of their own because of GOP tantrums? I say no.
Kent
@catclub: Ronna will be fine. she is Romney’s niece not daughter. And she’ll land in some cushy private equity job if she leaves politics.
Martin
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Not helping Collin’s case is that Trump continues to insist that everything was perfect and Rudes has confirmed he’s still digging up dirt.
A Ghost To Most
@Kent: And then there’s Cory Gardner.
Cacti
@Topclimber: Mittens also isn’t up for reelection until 2024, so, Trump has nothing he needs.
Cheryl Rofer
@Kent: LOL, in New Mexico, it’s the rural northern Spanish and Native American communities that are the heavy Democratic strongholds. Albuquerque is about half and half, although I think it’s tending blue these days.
JPL
Maybe, just maybe Mitt did what he thought was the right thing to do. Maybe, just maybe Doug Jones did what he thought was the right thing to do.
Jay
Steeplejack (phone)
Nutters gotta nut. Style points for the reverse twist.
JaneE
For a long time I have compared Mitt unfavorably to his father George. Today, he has demonstrated the character I admired in George Romney, and I think his father would be proud of him.
Villago Delenda Est
@Baud: Fuck that bitch with a rusty chainsaw.
Cacti
Yes, Mitt Romney of all people exposed Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski as the bloviating cowards they actually are.
Well played.
Dorothy A. Winsor
Sinema says she’ll vote to convict on both charges.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Gravenstone
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Just listening to him last night should have been enough to disabuse you of that delusion, Suzie…
Jay
Archon
Anyone with even a rudimentary understanding of history knows that Romney’s vote will be vindicated by future generations.
It’s confusing to me that other Republican senators don’t realize that too.
JPL
The repubs really don’t want Pence as president, do they.
Dread
All I know is that right now, Donald Trump is, most likely, stomping around the White House yelling and complaining about how Mitt ruined his “perfect” acquittal.
That thought makes me happy.
Baud
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Good for her!
Eric U.
I think McConnell should convince Collins to vote for conviction. Things like that used to happen fairly recently. But things are too screwed up on the Republican side for electoral calculations like that nowadays.
Cheryl Rofer
Steeplejack (phone)
@Belafon:
Betty Cracker
Manchin is a yes on both articles!
Elizabelle
Oh Gawd. Mitch is up. Whingeing that Hillary Clinton said “our president is illegitimate.”
Which he is. Alert me when there is another stirring speech.
And good for Sinema. More pressure on Manchin. I cannot see any reason it benefits Manchin to acquit. I really cannot.
Miss Bianca
@A Ghost To Most:
*pbbbtf*! *Spit* when you say that name!
I’ve been keeping away from my usual barrage of pestering my elected officials, mostly because I’ve been insanely busy and also deeply depressed about the general shitbaggery and spinelessness that is the Republican brand, but I’m feeling oddly energized by this development. I can’t wait to rub it in Cory’s face that if he only had Mitt’s principles, he might be facing a real chance at re-election.
Jeffro
I have my order all wrong on the pee-on-their-graves tour. I had been thinking only trumpov, then I was thinking limbaugh first, then trumpov.
But I think I’m going to save the Turtle’s final resting place for last. He really is a much bigger monster than any of them.
Elizabelle
@Betty Cracker: Yea!!
Now: are there any GOP who might surprise us even more than Mitt Romney?
Cheryl Rofer
Betty Cracker
Jeffro
@Dread: why, it’s a BIPARTISAN vote to convict, a PARTISAN vote to cover-up.
LOLOL
Your bed, you made it, GOP
Baud
@Betty Cracker: YES!
Cacti
@Eric U.: That ship has sailed. Changing her vote now after Mitt actually showed some character would only make her look smaller and more craven.
catclub
@Kent: I guess what is running through the back of my mind is that the GOP is now North Korea. And if you defect, your relatives will be punished by the party.
And Romney knows that.
dmsilev
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Good for her. All eyes on Manchin now; I think he’s the only one left who hasn’t publicly decided.
Edit: Never mind. As per above, Manchin is also voting to convict. Good for him, and that means it’s officially a bipartisan vote to convict.
CindyH
@Jeffro: he deserves worse than pee on his grave
Miss Bianca
@dmsilev: See above. Woot!
Elizabelle
@CindyH: But may he be in that grave. Real, real soon. Decorations to follow.
jl
@dmsilev: News says all Dems voted to convict, plus Romney. So Manchin and Sinema voted for Constitution.
Baud
Once again, the worst Democrats prove to be better than the best Republicans (Mitt excepted today only).
Next time someone tells you there’s no difference between the parties, kick them in the nuts.
JPL
@Cheryl Rofer: I was more concerned about Sen. Sinema but good for her. May Collins retire to FL sometime soon.
download my app in the app store mistermix
@Martin: Haven’t you read this blog long enough to know that coastal states are populated by elites and therefore don’t exist, politically?
@Kent: You’re definitely right that the urban/rural split eclipses pretty much everything else.
dmsilev
@Miss Bianca: I saw it (after commenting, natch). Let’s give credit where it’s due. Democratic Senators like Jones, Sinema, and Manchin did the right thing even though a large swath of their constituents are going to get very angry with them.
Compare and contrast with Susan Collins.
Mikeindublin
The new Maverick!
THIS IS EXCELLENT NEWS!! FOR TRUMP!!!
JPL
@CindyH: Don’t waste your shit on him.
catclub
I think William Barr has already started giving orders for shredding documents, to avoid that as much as he can.
Aleta
“But my promise before god to apply impartial justice required that I put my personal feelings and political biases aside”
This must be so confusing to all the Republican Charlatans for Christ who believe “almighty god” is just the name of the con game where you trade obedience for money and glitter.
Betty Cracker
So, are there any other Democrats who are wobbly, or are we reasonably certain it will be all Democrats plus Romney voting to convict? The orange fart cloud must be FUMING. His minions have telegraphed for weeks that they expected not only an acquittal but a BIPARTISAN acquittal.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@dmsilev:
Kudos to him
Patricia Kayden
Thank you Senator Romney for being on the right side of history. Respect.
catclub
Those coastal elites don’t even know the geography of Missouri and Kansas.
Patricia Kayden
@dmsilev: Burn!!
WaterGirl
@Betty Cracker: Wowser! Maybe Mitt made a difference?
Kent
@Cheryl Rofer: New Mexico used to elect Republicans like Pete Domenici, Suzana Martinez, and Gary Johnson. In fact, Gary Johnson might be exactly in the independent maverick mold with his Libertarian party stunts.
But yes, it has been trending nicely blue in recent years. I expect that is probably due in part to the growing anti-Hispanic tenor of the party.
WaterGirl
@Jeffro: Wouldn’t you want that one first, when your bladder is more full?
Baud
@Betty Cracker:
I think that’s everyone.
Kent
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Manchin is not up for re-election until 2024. By that time we will be in the heat of the NEXT presidential election and this will all be very old history. He has no political reason to vote for Trump at this point.
Steeplejack (phone)
@Jay:
Hell, he said it in direct response to her comment.
dmsilev
@Betty Cracker: Apparently a press photo op was abruptly cancelled when the White House learned that Romney was voting “convict”.
He hasn’t, so far as I know, found his phone and started tweeting yet. Tonight, however, I’m sure will be quite something.
clay
@germy: Yes Jr., expel him. Let him switch parties (or at least Caucus with the Dems), and that’s one step closer to ditching Mitch. Fine with me!
pamelabrown53
@germy:
OMFG, germy…did Trump actually tweet that?! Is there any chance that some republicans might deem that a bridge too far?
theturtlemoves
@download my app in the app store mistermix: Yeah, Fox has definitely polluted the West considerably. I voted for and met Daschle a couple of times. Hell, we had him, Johnson, and Herseth all in there at one point. Now that state would elect a rock with an R after its name and I avoid going back home like the plague. I’ve wondered if I’ve changed but my mom still lives there and she assures me it is the state that has gotten worse.
Cheryl Rofer
@Kent: NM is totally blue this year – governor, state government, and national delegation.
Damned_at_Random
Mitt is probably the best we can expect from Utah. Too bad about Maine
jl
@dmsilev:
” Senators like Jones, Sinema, and Manchin did the right thing even though a large swath of their constituents are going to get very angry with them.
Compare and contrast with Susan Collins. ”
I see several contrasts: Collins didn’t do the right thing, weaseled and connived to hide her corrupt vote in a dishonest, but very transparent way, custom made for attack ads, was immediately undercut by Trump, also custom made for attack ads. And a majority of her constituents are already very angry with her.
I really hope the good voters of Maine can end Collins’ tragic history of disappointment in the Senate by deciding that she should find another line of work, so that she can finally find some small bit of satisfaction in life.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@catclub:
I’ve been informed that tearing up government documents is one of the worst crimes imaginable.
Baud
@Damned_at_Random:
Maine has been trending blue again. Between this and Kavanaugh, I hope Collins is done.
Spc
@Betty Cracker: yes, most are quite conservative but many are also at same time a bit more “worldly,” if that’s the right word – far more engaged with a reality-based world than some Evangelical sects.
Betty Cracker
@pamelabrown53: It’s the namesake failson, not the pseudo-president. Still, with a narrow senate majority and an election coming up, it’s pretty goddamned dumb for any Republican to talk about expelling Romney. What a maroon!
Aleta
Thank you Nancy Pelosi for making them do this.
Mnemosyne
@Miss Bianca:
I’ve been predicting that for a while. Her horror at Trump seems genuine, and his palling around with white supremacists is something that she (rightly) sees as more of a problem than any disagreements Obama had with Israel.
Martin
@Cacti: Not possible.
Aleta
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
She’s now on his list of trashy women who will go through some things.
hitchhiker
Thanks, Mitt.
There was a documentary-type film about him after the 2012 loss to Obama. Remember how the Rs were all convinced that he had that race won? Ann was looking at where to board the horses, and all that?
What sticks in my mind from the movie is an image of Mitt puttering around at one of their fancy homes, in his socks, late at night. He was doing what I call “putting the kitchen to bed,” a nightly ritual that involves loading the dishwasher, making sure all the food is out of the dog’s reach, wiping down the countertops and the stove top, and sweeping the floor.
It was a perspective on him that was invisible during the campaign, which as I recall it now seemed to have a rule against mentioning the one thing that most defined him: the Mormon church. The result of that rule was that he seemed like a human-sized cardboard cutout wrapped around a big bag of money. Can’t know, but it seems like more of the puttering around handsome grandpa in his socks could have changed that.
Anyway, I’d have been shocked if he’d found a way to pretend trump was legit wrt Ukraine. I’m glad he didn’t try.
Crashman06
@pamelabrown53: That’s a tweet from Jr… But even if it wasn’t, no; there is no bridge too far.
Betty Cracker
@Spc: That’s true, and I’ve wondered sometimes how much their missions abroad influence their thinking. Being exposed to other cultures broadens the mind and all of that.
Elizabelle
@Betty Cracker: I hope Katty Kay realizes what a dupe she is.
She was merrily surmising, on BBC TV last week, that Trump might find some Democratic votes to acquit. No doubt fed to her by some high-ranking Republican she trusts.
BBC was doing ANYTHING to avoid talking about Brexit. Over there — coronavirus!
catclub
This is the word of someone who does not understand that the future might hold other votes where Romney’s vote might be needed. The BoJo school of party building.
Good luck with that. [Yes, I know it actually worked for BoJo, for the moment.]
Elizabelle
@?BillinGlendaleCA: /snort
Elizabelle
@catclub: Jr. is a thug and a moron.
Albeit, we already knew that. I hope he and his siblings spend a lot of time with their attorneys and, eventually, jailers, in the future.
catclub
@?BillinGlendaleCA: IF you are not a Republican.
LongHairedWeirdo
@Archon:
“Just doing my job” is, in fact, a very small thing. “Not violating my duty to the people of the United States” is a tiny thing. “Not covering up for a corrupt bigot who puts this nation is danger” is a miniscule thing.
Having to *do* so is a *HUGE* thing.
But doing one’s duty is not.
download my app in the app store mistermix
@theturtlemoves:
Tom’s a genuinely good guy. If you’re old enough, you might remember when SD had the most liberal Senators in the nation, McGovern and Abourezk.
catclub
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Also, Trump routinely tears up documents. I wonder if his underlings are still taping them back together, as was reported back in 2017 or so.
Miss Bianca
@catclub: You know, I wish a dumb muthafucka *would* try to expel Romney from the GOP. It could only help us and hurt them.
JPL
NYTimes… the near party line vote acquits.. I just know they would have said bipartisan if Manchin.. .. never mind.. efg
NotMax
@catclub
Note the word choice. Resistance, not opposition. Telling to da max.
The Resistance fought and worked against Nazis.
Cheryl Rofer
First impeachment charge: 48 guilty, 52 not guilty
jl
@JPL: So much
public serviceprofit driven access journalism to be done, so little time!?BillinGlendaleCA
@catclub: Trump not only tears up documents, it’s been reported that occasionally eats them.
hitchhiker
@Betty Cracker:
Missions abroad do help, but I think the main diff between evangelicals and LDS types is that the Mormon church is pretty overtly socialist. They have their own internal system for helping members in need and supporting their own communities.
I mean, the price for that is needing to at least tolerate all the wacky theology, and –for women– to cheerfully agree that being married and raising a big family is the most wonderful thing possible.
My exposure to evangelicals is less deep (I lived in UT for years), but my sense is that they don’t have the hierarchy to enforce the discipline needed to make a strong social safety net work.
tam1MI
Try and ” Dems in Disarray” this, Villagers!
zhena gogolia
@MattF:
Oh, he knows better than that. It’s rhetoric.
Don’t people around here know how to read between the lines?
Mary G
Good on Mitt, and the Democrats who put country over re-election. So happy to hear so many “guilty” verdicts, even if there aren’t enough of them. And Jared Kushner continues his record of being wrong about everything. He was sure Manchin and a couple of others would vote to acquit.
Quicksand
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Tearing a document with someone’s name printed in it is exactly the same as tearing that actual person in half.
O. Felix Culpa
Who was horrible and a female Trump-type and who nearly destroyed an already poor state’s economy. Perhaps you might not be quite as familiar with New Mexico politics as you think.
Baud
@Quicksand:
That document is where one of the horcruxes was stored.
MCA1
@tam1MI: Forthcoming Cilizza headline: “The Democrats’ Mitt Romney Problem.”
Elizabelle
Mitt is going to look really good when his next election/ambition rolls around.
Not so much the craven Republicans. I hope this vote was the nail in the coffin for many of them. It’s abhorrent.
theturtlemoves
@download my app in the app store mistermix: That was before my time slightly. I was voting age for Daschle, though. My mom gave him communion at our church and commented on how he was shorter than she expected. Just amazing we went from him to tools like Rounds and Thune but I do have to remember that in addition to them we also had Janklow as governor for years and he was just a nightmare.
LongHairedWeirdo
@Archon: They don’t care about history; they care about the news cycle. The news cycle is trumpeting the GOP as strong heroes who stood together against a Democrat (sic) assault, and Mcconnell as winning a grand victory by keeping his caucus together to cover up a crime.
Why on earth would you care what some boring scholar says some fifty, a hundred years, after you’re dead? It’s not like “history” has vindicated those who voted or fought against the Iraq war in any way that benefits them, and that was 15 years ago. It’s not like history has vindicated Michael Schiavo, or the courts, when the GOP smeared both and were 100%, completely, incompetently wrong (since all one had to do was *READ THE COURT RECORDS* to see all the lies being told).
Sure, the Senators all see that “history” will vindicate Romney’s decision as the correct one, one that was obvious to all… but that won’t win the election in November, and, Romney will probably be billed as a coward anyway – and rightfully so, for his weak, lickspittle protests against the juggernaut of corruption and criminality.
Jeffro
@CindyH: yeah maybe but ew
I’m not looking to gross my own self out here, just give them their due.
Juju
@SiubhanDuinne: he’s catholic.
Jeffro
I’m busy doing that with RWNJ dad and bro right now… they had their chance, but from here on out it will be TCNJ (trumpov cult nut job) dad and bro.
Hell, they earned it.
zhena gogolia
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Oh, good for her.
tam1MI
The news cycle was all set to do this.
Then Mitt Romney fucked up the narrative.
zhena gogolia
@JPL:
Isn’t it weird?
I guess they realize he doesn’t have that Hitleresque charisma.
zhena gogolia
@Betty Cracker:
Whooppee!
I can’t believe I’m this excited about losing. But it is meaningful, nonetheless.
catclub
The announcement that Mitt was the first Senator to actually vote to convict a president from his own party means… Sanctimonious Joe Lieberman did not vote to convict. huh.
zhena gogolia
@Betty Cracker:
Just donated to Joe Manchin. Can’t believe I said that.
Today is getting expensive. But dammit, I want to reward those who are stepping up.
chopper
i’m a give trump 3 hours before he starts accusing mitt of being the guy that ‘did the quid pro quo’.
bemused
@SiubhanDuinne:
Kellyanne talks fast to obfuscate while George is coherent. I can’t imagine what their home life is like. It’s weird that trumpie hasn’t pushed her out of the WH yet. Trump doesn’t rage tweet about George that I know of.
I thought the marriage of Mary Matalin and James Carville was peculiar. Then along came Kellyanne and George.
Bill Arnold
@lee:
botsentinel.com classified some responses in that thread as probable (deep red) trollbots[1] . I don’t know without a deep look whether operators are amplifying the crazy on this to make Rs look worse; it would not surprise me.
[1] including cyborged accounts, computer assisted and low human touch.
zhena gogolia
@pamelabrown53:
It’s Junior.
NotMax
Today’s verdict is today’s.
The verdict of history carries a much longer reach.
Gin & Tonic
@Betty Cracker: I don’t wonder. I also have done business in SLC a bunch, and while I’ll seldom agree with the LDS folks on much of anything, they have seen the world. They have passports, they have been places, they speak languages other then English, and they actually live the moral values that the southern evangelicals only mouth.
J R in WV
All these people making noises about expelling, kicking Romney out of the Republican party.
That isn’t how it works. You go down to the county clerk’s office and register to vote. One potential choice is to register as a Republican — I don’t know why anyone would, but you can.
Other choices are Democratic, or Independent, sometimes called declines to state a party.
That’s it. The only other part of being in a party is how you vote, and that is a secret. So for Donald Jr to talk about kicking Romney out of the Republican party just shows his lack of political knowledge… no surprise there. Do you suppose Donny jr is actually registered to vote? You can’t send your valet to do it for you, you have to show up yourself…
The Moar You Know
Proud of Manchin, Jones and Sinema. Had I been Schumer, I’d have cut them loose to vote however they would; conviction was never in the cards, and a vote to convict might have hurt them among their voters. None of them took that option.
Also, for that matter, proud of Mitt. He’s a made man, true, but it still takes courage with people like Bill Barr in charge of Project “Donnie’s Vengeance List” to vote the way he did. And he will reap whatever payback Trump can muster, as will his family. Fortunately, he should be able to protect them.
NotoriousJRT
@Baud: I hope she is miserable- for the rest of her mealy-mouthed days.
NotoriousJRT
@MattF: I’ll take it.
Kent
@Gin & Tonic: One of the smartest people I have ever known was a Mormon girl who I went to high school with. She went to Harvard Law, was a Fullbright Fellow in Latin America and is now a law professor at BYU. She now leads teams of BYU law students to work summers at Texas detention centers to help represent the asylum cases of detained refugees. Imagine someone from say Liberty University doing that.
pamelabrown53
@zhena gogolia:
Sorry zhena, I don’t understand.
BTW, I hope you forward your beautiful tribute to Adam Schiff to him.
Thank you for underscoring his brilliance and courage.
PJ
@NotMax: Today is the culmination of three and a half years of institutional failure. It’s the period at the end of the sentence of what we’ve been shown all along – where norms of behavior and the rule of law are discarded, a grubby fight for power is all that remains. And because Republicans have no respect for law or decency, they will not stop here. If a Democrat wins but Trump is not decisively defeated in November, if the electoral or popular vote is at all close, I would not be surprised if 52 Republican Senators use all of the levers of power to make sure Trump stays in office. And then we will have an end to the Republic, or civil war.
catclub
Even when you think the William Barr DOJ is completely corrupted, there is still this:
Two guys completely wired into Giuliani and trump get arrested – which should just be normal.
Steeplejack (phone)
Just checked Trump’s Twitter feed. He is consoling himself by running his president-for-life “Trump 4eva” video and retweeting Bob Dole (“POTUS really hit a home run last night”), who is 96 and looks like he is crossing the animatronic valley.
“Trump 4eva”:
worn
At lunch at work, so I won’t have time to listen to Romney’s speech until later tonight, but I do have a hard time making these statements in the WaPo article make sense when taken together:
“There’s no question that the president asked a foreign power to investigate his political foe. That he did so for a political purpose, and that he pressured Ukraine to get them to do help or to lead in this effort. My own view is that there’s not much I can think of that would be a more egregious assault on our Constitution than trying to corrupt an election to maintain power. And that’s what the president did.”
Romney said his decision to vote to convict the president was “the hardest decision” he has ever had to make and one that he hoped he would never have to make. “When [House Speaker] Nancy Pelosi indicated we’re now going to pursue impeachment, my heart sank in dread,” he said.
“I agree with his economic policies and a lot of other policies. And yet he did something which was grievously wrong.”
“No one wants to vote to remove a president of the United States, and I sure don’t.”
Even so, good on Mittens for voting the way he did. It is good to know there is evidence of a spine – even if it is just a single one shared amongst the entirety of their membership – in the Republican Party.
SFAW
@Gin & Tonic:
I think it’s that the RNC Chairman will call Mitt in to her office, say “I break with thee! I break with thee! I break with thee!” and then throw dog poop on her uncle’s shoes.
As long as she doesn’t tell Mitt he’s a “made” man, a la Joe Pesci.
Elizabelle
Sad about today’s acquittal. That it was foreknown does not make it less bitter.
Shame on the Senate Republicans (except for Mitt Romney). May they get their comeuppance sooner rather than later, and hard when it comes. For shame.
catclub
@J R in WV: If Romney loses all GOP seniority positions because they are revoked by McConnell, that is being ejected from the party. McConnell is unlikely to do that, even if TrumpJr thinks it looks tough.
MJS
@The Moar You Know: I really don’t get how Schumer would have given any of them the green light to basically say either, “The House didn’t prove its case” or “What Trump did wasn’t so bad”. Doing so would have significantly undermined a basic message for all Democrats in November – Trump is unfit for office. And while Alabama and West Virginia are lost causes, Arizona is not.
Bill Arnold
@Jay:
From that:
Trump Withholding $823 Million for Clean Energy, Democrats Say (Ari Natter 2020/02/05)
He is almost certainly lying given his work history:
Daniel R Simmons – Assistant Secretary for EERE
Institute for Energy Research
No. 12: Institute for Energy Research (A.K.A. American Energy Alliance) (Josh Harkinson, December 5, 2009)
whole series of 12
or “consistent with administration priorities” is code for “fuck liberal congregressional guidance, article 2 says we can do whatever we want”.
Steeplejack (phone)
@pamelabrown53:
The tweet you referenced was not from Donald Trump but from Donald Trump Jr.
trollhattan
@Bill Arnold:
$823 mil will buy a lot of coal.
A Ghost To Most
“For Everyman”, JB
Martin
@trollhattan: More likely it’s money Trump plans to argue he can use for the wall since he saved it.
Death Panel Truck
@germy: Why stop there, Donny? Why not just go Full Metal Stalin and un-personize him?
evinfuilt
@Miss Bianca: We have to make him pay! I think it’ll be worth calling his office to make sure he understands that Coloradans think him weak.
Miss Bianca
@PJ: Consider, Francis, that you have been given the obligatory exhortation to lighten up.
Mnemosyne
I just realized what this is.
Mitt just gave McConnell the John McCain Memorial Thumbs-Down. ?
Bill Arnold
M. Romney is no John Wick, but Excommunicado Scene
At least the Trumpublicans would like all Rupublicans to think so. They’re probably wrong; Romney will probably have substantial support.
C Stars
@hitchhiker: Anecdotally, it does seem like the majority of LGBTQ people from evangelical/baptist backgrounds literally escape their families/communities, never looking back and with no thought or hope of ever being accepted or valued as a family member again.
Whereas I’ve known or known of quite a few mormon LGBTQ folks who stuck around in their families and communities, insisting they were still mormon, working to change their church’s doctrine from inside, with the total support of their family and friends. And, for that matter, I’ve known plenty of jack mormons, not gay, who lived in a way completely antithetical to LDS rules, but still enjoyed the complete love/support (both emotionally and materially) of their families. It definitely seems like family/community is a primary and authentic practice for LDS folks whereas with evangelical christianity, punishment and authority are valued more than family.
Miss Bianca
@Mnemosyne: I do believe you’re right!
Oh, Lindsey, Lindsey, Lindsey…it could have been *you* inheriting that maverick-y McCainy mantle, but instead it’s…Mitt!
Bill Arnold
@Mnemosyne:
I have respect for people like J. Rubin who escape from ideological constraints using their own mind and free will. (The progressive canon is not so hidebinding.)
Mnemosyne
@PJ:
Time to log off of the internet (especially Facebook and Twitter) and come back tomorrow. Go do something nice for yourself and come back fresh. Even Ali didn’t fight every damn day.
PJ
@Miss Bianca:
@Mnemosyne:
Yeah, what I wrote was melodramatic and over the top. I was editing it when I timed out and turned to doing something productive. The Dems did good today and throughout this whole process, and the majority of the people in this country are on our side. I’m gonna do some canvassing this weekend for my candidate of choice.
J R in WV
@pamelabrown53:
Zhena G. was quoting Donald J Trump Junior, The Donald’s ne’er-do-well son.
Villago Delenda Est
@catclub: Joe Lieberman should be on the tumbrel manifest. Just on general principle. Sanctimonious putz, he is.
LongHairedWeirdo
@J R in WV: they could remove him from the GOP caucus in Congress, which would mean he’s not placed on committees, etc..
I think it’s the only honest thing they could do, though I agree it would be evil and wrong.
brantl
If you watch this carefully, you can see the mittbot have to reboot, right in the middle of that, he is so overcome with reluctance, that he can just barely start again, and then he gets his second wind, and powers through. I have a lot more respect for him, now, then I ever had before. He’s mainly a dipshit, but he is a dipshit of some principles, I must admit.