Richard Cohen, one of the Beltway’s crappier columnists, deposited a steaming turd of a column yesterday entitled “We Would Impeach Trump at Our Peril.” Cohen’s columns are invariably unfunny and obtuse. But this column is worse; it is cowardly. An excerpt:
In a speech last week, Arthur Eisenberg, the legal director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, warned, “There should be no impeachment unless the case for impeachment were overwhelming.” If that were not the case, he went on, “Trump’s supporters would feel that they were deprived of their electoral victory.”
Eisenberg’s caution is well founded. Trump has already prepped his supporters to believe that an influx of illegal immigrants almost stole the election from him. He has labeled uncomfortable truths “fake news” or, in the Orwellian concoction of Kellyanne Conway, “alternative facts.” He would surely lie in his own defense. He almost certainly would tolerate, possibly even stoke, violence…
After she lost the election, Hillary Clinton called for reconciliation. Al Gore did the same after the Supreme Court, in a partisan vote, handed the White House to George W. Bush. I cannot imagine Trump doing the same after being removed from office. He has been a miserable winner. He would be an even worse loser.
I actually don’t disagree with any of the above, nor do I expect Trump to be impeached, though I fervently hope for it. IMO, the most plausible best-case scenario is that Trump limps through his one, chaotic, embarrassing term under a cloud of scandal, accomplishing nothing of note and whittling his party’s unearned stature down to the rump it truly is.
But the unmitigated fucking gall, the sheer goddamned effrontery of a hack like Cohen mewling about what might happen if Trump fails to confess but is impeached anyway, well, I’m out of fucks to give or can’ts to even.
Trump’s supporters would FEEL deprived of their electoral victory? Fuck their goddamned feelings, sideways and with every oxidized garden implement in the rustiest toolshed in the land.
How about the much larger group (by nearly three million) who were LITERALLY deprived of our electoral victory by a lying demagogue, his gang of corrupt GOP toadies, a murderous foreign autocrat, an albino rat cowering in Ecuador’s basement and James Comey’s sanctimony?
And the certainty that Trump would continue to lie, sow division and behave like an unpatriotic asshole is supposed to stay our hand? Fuck that noise too — those traits make his removal all the more urgent.
The thing Cohen fails to comprehend is that this isn’t just about Trump. Yes, Trump is an unhinged demagogue who poses a clear and present danger to the United States and the world, and booting him from office would be the first step in the generational work of restoring our good name as a nation.
But Trumpism as a concept is even more dangerous. It needs to be drawn and quartered, packed in lye, encased in lead, loaded aboard a rocket and fired into the goddamned sun.
Impeachment or removal via the 25th Amendment is highly unlikely, even though Trump IS on video confessing to obstruction of justice and behaving like a pinwheel-eyed lunatic who would make Richard M. Nixon blush to wear the R label. But the idea that we should take these remedies off the table to appease the mush-brained ninnies who elevated the fool in the first place? Fuck. That.
zhena gogolia
Thanks, Betty!
Jeffro
Seconded!
(Plus, now I have a neat Latin phrase to have inscribed on my trusty Chair Leg of Truth!)
hueyplong
Richard Cohen has intellectual property rights to cowardice, though I don’t think he aggressively enforces them through litigation. Cheaper and easier to be that shining beacon of political yellow, acknowledged by acclamation.
Adam L Silverman
You plan for capabilities, not intentions – the latter get accounted for elsewhere. Cohen is focusing on intentions. He’s taken the commenters saying what they’re willing to do or would do at Breitbart and Guns & Ammo and Fox News Online and NRO and TTAG and on twitter and facebook, etc, etc, etc at face value. And since he, himself, probably can’t imagine having to engage in actual, physical self defense the bluster and hyperbole freaks him out. His column is the self justification of every abused person; that if the abused just doesn’t trigger their abuser they’ll be okay. This lasts until the abuser escalates the abuse to the point where there is no surviving it.
DCrefugee
Allow me to fully associate myself with the remarks by the gentlelady from Florida…
errg
It’s amazing that a mediocrity like Richard Cohen can just go on and on having a column in the Washington Post. Has he ever said anything interesting at all? Is there anyone in the world that wants to read him?
rk
So the feelings of racist white republicans are always to be taken into consideration when making any decisions.
TenguPhule
@hueyplong:
Also treason in defense of tax cuts and quislings.
Sab
You do have way with words.
JPL
Great post, but while reading it, I said ouch!
Ohio Mom
@Adam L Silverman: “You plan for capabilities, not intentions — the latter get accounted for elsewhere” is a fabulous rule of thumb for all sorts of circumstances and situations. I’m making a special note, and thanking you for this new lens for viewing many things in my life.
NotMax
Mustn’t upset the poisoned apple cart, don’tcha know.
Spanky
@JPL: Spare yourself Cohen’s article, but if you can, I highly recommend the comments!
zhena gogolia
@Adam L Silverman:
Well put.
zhena gogolia
@Spanky:
The WaPo comments are always feisty!
eclare
Fuckin’ A, Ms. Cracker.
geg6
Fuck Richard Cohen. Nobody knows or cares what he thinks. He’s been found guilty of creating a “hostile work environment,” he thought what Scooter Libby did was just fine, he thinks black men should not be allowed in jewelry stores, he thinks George Zimmerman is the sympathetic figure in the Trayvon Martin case, and thought that most slaves were content to be slaves. Fuck him and fuck the Post for still employing him.
Hal
Trump is an empowerment to people like this:
rawstory.com/2017/09/pennsylvania-fire-chief-calls-steelers-coach-mike-tomlin-a-no-good-ngger-over-n…
He needs to go.
The Very Reverend Crimson Fire of Compassion
Everyone seems to forget that these racist nimrods have reached for their “second amendment solutions” before, and it didn’t work out too well for them the first time. Sherman’s biggest mistake was not hanging them all from lamp-posts on the way to the sea. We can rectify that this time.
rikyrah
He’s a stupid, racist muthaphucka that should go somewhere, sit down and STFU.
I have said for awhile.
This isn’t 2000.
This isn’t even 2004 , after Shrub lied us into TWO wars.
This is something on a whole other level.
I .do.not.give.two.shyts.about.being.nice.
I will NEVER forget those whose votes, or 3rd party votes brought us this horror.
There is no ‘ understanding’.
There is no ‘ reaching out’ to them.
Why?
They showed THEIR lack of character by voting for him.
And, the 3rd party voters showed their idiocy and uselessness.
The amount of bile that I feel when I see that Orange Muthaphucka on the tv screen…can not be measured.
I.WANT.HIM.IN.JAIL.
I.WANT.ALL.OF.THEM.IN.JAIL.
Make nice?
Get THE ENTIRE PHUCK OUTTA HERE.
Shalimar
I agree that there is no point in impeaching Trump if you aren’t going to get enough Republican votes in the Senate to kick him out. That said, it is a good thing to point out each and every impeachable offense he commits. It can’t hurt to highlight his horribleness.
geg6
@Hal:
Yeah, but he probably won’t. Very white, rural postage stamp of a town with grinding white poverty next door to a millionaire’s mansion. If you call next door a quarter mile away, that is.
sharl
In addition to his many positive attributes (e.g., he’s apparently quite the ladies’ man), I have it on good authority – the Man himself – that to the extent his columns are not funny must be due to admirable self-discipline and devotion to professional duty on his part to suppress his own rollicking sense of humor while penning his classic editorials:
In conclusion: so there! Q.E.D.
Adam L Silverman
@Ohio Mom: Here you go:
dtic.mil/doctrine/new_pubs/jp5_0.pdf
apd.army.mil/epubs/DR_pubs/DR_a/pdf/web/atp5_0x1.pdf
We expect a CONPLAN for taking those subversives at LGM no later than close of business on Friday.
Spanky
@Hal: Good luck with that. Cecil Twp is Pennsyltucky.
Shalimar
@geg6: This. For a supposedly liberal columnist, I can’t think of a single thing Cohen has ever written that I agreed with.
Edit: To be clear, I don’t agree with any of Cohen’s reasons on impeachment either. I desparately want Trump impeached. We need to get to the point where it is practical. I just don’t think it is smart to start the process like Republicans did against Bill Clinton if you’re going to lose the final vote.
NotMax
@Adam L. Silverman
Hookers and blow?
Or are the old standbys now deemed too quaint?
;)
Betty Cracker
@Shalimar: I disagree. If he can’t be convicted, at least let him be impeached, and let the Republicans in the Senate go on record as defenders and enablers of the disgraceful demagogue. It’s not nearly enough, but it’s not nothing either.
Mike in NC
We subscribed to the paper version of the WaPo when we lived in the DC area, and Cohen always came across as an invertebrate.
Shalimar
@Betty Cracker: They have gone on record for worse without suffering any negative consequences. But you may be right. I wouldn’t bet my house on either side of the argument.
Citizen Alan
@geg6:
Thank you. I was wondering when someone would point out the fact that the supposed liberal now shilling for our white supremacist president is himself the most obviously racist writer on The Washington Post editorial page.
Ocotillo
When shitgibbin won the electoral college, I confess I was stunned and sick to my stomach. As time has marched on, I consoled myself that the people that I know that supported this moran would wake up and see the light.
Sadly, my book of faces says otherwise. Not only are they digging in, it really appears to be truly cult status now. I caught a few minutes of Oprah on 60 minutes and found myself consumed with rage. I have to channel this into working the resistance but I am out of phucks to give as far as the jerks who voted for this abortion and their feelings.
trollhattan
Trump’s followers wouldn’t even notice, they’re too busy “boycotting” the NFL.
“Wait, he’s where?”
ruckus
Betty
I like the idea of a trip to the sun for the lot of them. How you pack them is irrelevant to me.
Aimai
@geg6: comprehensive and, of course, perfectly just and correct.
Ocotillo
@Betty Cracker: You make a good point. Why should Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton have to go through history as being impeached and evil circus peanut should not? Clinton has that stain due to a hatchet job, truly a contender for one of the greatest witch hunts in history if there is one.
Adam L Silverman
@NotMax: Huh?
schrodingers_cat
@rikyrah:
Truth.
Can I also add that I tired of all the comments (see the next post) of how Mueller is going to be fired and how we are absolutely going to lose and never win again, on this very blog, trying.
Home of the brave in the national anthem should be changed to the home of the eternally frightened.
schrodingers_cat
@Betty Cracker: I agree, we need to stop being afraid of our own shadow.
schrodingers_cat
@Adam L Silverman:
Succinctly put.
? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?
@Hal:
So does Tomlin
Adam L Silverman
@schrodingers_cat: I probably learned as much, if not more, from my assignment at USAWC as I taught anyone during my first year there. It was an excellent broadening assignment for me. As was the case with my deployment to Iraq, I knew this stuff from books and seminar rooms. What I didn’t know, but now do, is this stuff from actually doing it. Or, in the case of low intensity warfare, being involved in doing it and meeting and spending time with people that had been the enemy before we enticed them to switch sides. Provides a very, very different understanding of what it is revolutionaries or insurgents or terrorists are actually on about.
Brachiator
I would absolutely love to see Trump impeached, even if he were not removed from office. Impeachment alone would put him up next to Nixon and Bill Clinton. Would Trump say that his impeachment was the best ever?
That said, right now, I believe that Trump would easily win re-election. His accomplishments may be more negative than positive, but they are still having a profound effect on the United States. His cabinet appointees are strangling effective government. His judicial appointments will have influence long after Trump is gone. Trump’s foreign policy is incoherent and adds to world problems.
The thing is that Trump’s supporters love him and believe that his opponents and the media are preventing him from achieving great things. People hate the Congress even more than they hate Trump, and they do not necessarily see the Democrats as offering anything new or useful.
? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?
@? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?:
@Hal:
Edit: So does Tomlin. The US and the world would be a better place without people like Mike Tomlin.
At my clinical this morning, we were sitting around in visitor’s area and the tv was on. They still talking about that Steeler’s guy who accidentally came out for the anthem. I heard from a fellow student that a local saw mill/lumberyard is offering some deal for Steelers jerseys to be burned.
This is crazy and so many people have outed themselves as racist authoritarians
trollhattan
@Ocotillo:
I think we now know which witch they were really hunting. Hillary’s been in their gunsights since Arkansas.
gene108
Shorter Cohen: Trump is a spoiled toddler and we better not upset him or he’ll throw a temper tantrum and ruin our lives.
? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?
@gene108:
He might send us to the cornfield. That would be better than living this torture.
Ksmiami
@The Very Reverend Crimson Fire of Compassion: to the sea motherfuckers. Most of these butt hurt white Trumpers are a waste of space
Jonothan
@DCrefugee: Oh, me too!!!!
Brachiator
@gene108:
@ Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) :
Yes! There is this weird fantasy, which was actually suggested by Trump during the primaries and reinforced during the general election, that Trump’s supporters might form some kind of citizen’s militia and overthrow the government if their desires were to be thwarted. But we have seen these sweaty ass wipes at rallies and other events. Some of them imagine themselves to be super soldiers, and love to play act while wearing military gear. But they are ultimately just as much cowards as their fearless leader the Orange shitgibbon himself.
Miss Bianca
@Adam L Silverman: Dang, Adam, you get right to the secret heart of the matter again.
@Brachiator: It’s cowards all the way down.
Adam L Silverman
@Miss Bianca: I’m not saying we wouldn’t get our hair mussed, but I do say no more than 10 or 20 million killed tops.
Betty Cracker
@Brachiator:
I think you’re daft, but having been so dead wrong about the last election, I wouldn’t bet my life on it.
schrodingers_cat
@Brachiator: His fucking supporters are in the fucking minority he won by the skin of his teeth in the last election. It is up to us that he does not win again. His bullet proof support among his base is not enough.
Miss Bianca
@Adam L Silverman: Once more unto the breach, dear friends!
Obdurodon
Does Cohen also suggest that we suck up to Kim Jong-Un, because he and (some of his) followers are also unstable, have threatened to attack us, etc.? What ever happened to “don’t appease terrorists”? No, Betty’s right, the threats by some to meet constitutional action with nothing short of armed rebellion is why this movement must be quashed with *extra* extreme prejudice, not coddled and forgiven. If their threats work, they’ll make more, until those are no longer threats.
Adam L Silverman
@Miss Bianca: Breach? I thought that was beach. Dammit, I didn’t pack extra ammo, just sunscreen and flip flops.
Heywood J.
Richard “Dice” Cohen is to opinion-mongering what Emperor Snowflake is to business, or Michael Jackson was to child care. In a rational world, the Diceman would be juggling rotten lemons on a street corner, upturned hat on the ground with a few stray nickels and loogies.
The Moar You Know
@Brachiator: So do I. I hate to say it, but yeah, he would. The GOP goes for him largely as a block, just like last time, while the Sanders acolytes and the Dem party go to war.
I’m terrified of 2020. Hopefully we as a party can get our shit together in time. I can see a situation much like Canada had where the split between their two liberal parties kept Harper in office for almost 10 years.
Far less terrified about 2018. The Sanders/Dem split won’t factor nearly so much into Senate and House races.
Duane
@Shalimar:How would we know if there’s enough Republican votes? A good way to point out Trump’s impeachable offenses is with impeachment hearings.
Make the Republicans own their votes, so everyone can see.
Miss Bianca
@Adam L Silverman: once more unto the *beach*?! Adam, even for you, that’s a reach!
Adam L Silverman
@Miss Bianca: I’m more of a swimming pool person anyway.
Mike E
He hears the talk at the Wapo watercooler…this column is the “bargaining” phase of his grief
rk
@Shalimar:
I disagree. I think the biggest failing of democrats is and has been their failure to hold people accountable. Obama needed to go after Bush and Cheney for war crimes and bankers for financial crimes. You hold hearings, bring everything out, ruin their reputations and destroy their lives. You always, always have them on the defensive. Look at what republicans do. Benghazi for years, Barak Obama birth certificate for years till he was finally forced to release it. Of course republicans have nothing so they waste their time, but they never let up. I’m not saying witch hunts and made up nonsense. But Bush and Cheney lied to get us into war. And the banks messed everyone up. Why not investigate? Investigate the bastards 24/7. When they’re busy defending themselves they’ll have no time to cause trouble. Impeach Trump. So what if they have no votes? Republicans impeached Bill Clinton (knowing they did not have the votes) and trashed Hillary and that was a major reason why she did not win. Impeach Trump and make it impossible for him to govern and anyone related to him to ever think of running.
Brachiator
@schrodingers_cat:
Trump won the electoral contest fairly comfortably. Yeah, you got voter suppression, etc, but Trump came from nowhere and claimed all the reliable red states, and then benefitted from defections and people who had stopped voting because they hated both parties.
I totally agree with you here. My analysis of the lay of the political land has nothing to do with my deepest desires that Trump gets his ass kicked to the curb the next time out. And I heartily endorse efforts to impeach his butt. I welcome every political and legal attack on him from every corner.
However, right now, the Democrats are on the defensive. They do not have a clear message or a clear alternative to Trump. There is plenty of time, but there will be much work to be done.
@The Moar You Know:
Excellent point. Trump is not unbeatable. Not by any means. But right now, Democrats have either been neutralized or are reacting to Trump’s moves. Despite much of the commentary here, as much as we all might despise Trump (and I certainly detest him), he and the Republicans are still setting the agenda. They stumble and fall, but unless the Democrats kick ass in the mid terms and start winning back governorships, no one can claim that voters have tired of the Republicans. And I duly note the ongoing GOP advantages of gerrymandering and voter suppression. Democrats have to find ways to counter this, or hope for a seismic screw-up from the Republicans.
Ms. D. Ranged in AZ
No one rants better than Betty Cracker and the writers here at Balloon-Juice! Y’all make my day on a regular basis.
Chris
@gene108:
Actually, at the end of the day, it’s more “Trump’s voters are spoiled toddlers and we better not upset them or they’ll throw a temper tantrum and ruin our lives.”