Wednesday, December 04, 2019
The Republican Defense Of Trump Makes No Sense
Their report would be laughable if this wasn't such a serious matter.
Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin (pictured) gives us 12 reasons why the GOP report makes no sense. She writes:
The Republicans’ 123-page report asserts that Trump “has a deep-seated, genuine, and reasonable skepticism of Ukraine due to its history of pervasive corruption” and aversion to foreign aid, and that public criticism by Ukrainian officials justified his suspicion. The defense is ludicrous for a batch of reasons.
First, for a guy so concerned about corruption, he never mentioned it. Constitutional scholar Laurence Tribe observes, “Trump never raised a concern with corruption as such on any call with [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelensky or anyone else.” The Obama administration was interested in fighting corruption and deployed Biden to, for example, pressure Ukraine to oust a corrupt prosecutor Viktor Shokin. Trump thought this was awful and wanted to investigate Biden for doing this.
Second, what Trump did raise in his call with Zelensky was the “Bidens” and the ludicrous CrowdStrike conspiracy. “The other thing. There’s a lot of talk about Biden’s son, that Biden stopped the prosecution and a lot of people want to find out about that so whatever you can do with the Attorney General would be great,” Trump said on the July 25 call. “Biden went around bragging that he stopped the prosecution so if you can look into it … It sounds horrible to me.” Trump infamously told Zelensky, “I would like you to do us a favor though because our country has been through a lot and Ukraine knows a lot about it. I would like you to find out what happened with this whole situation with Ukraine, they say Crowdstrike … I guess you have one of your wealthy people … The server, they say Ukraine has it.” None of this has to do with rooting out corruption.
Third, if Trump was so concerned about corruption, why release aid in September when the plot was uncovered? One would think his deep-seated concern about Ukrainian corruption would not have been alleviated with no additional intervening action on anti-corruption measures.
Fourth, if anti-corruption was his obsession, why did Trump want a public announcement specifically mentioning the Bidens? Trump wanted the PR value of headlines blaring “Ukraine investigating Biden,” but he showed no interest in doing any actual investigation. He never, for example, tasked the attorney general with investigating the matter.
Fifth, as attorney Maya Wiley noted, Trump never bothered to correct or contradict Giuliani in May when he publicly promised to goad Ukraine into conducting probes “very, very helpful” to Trump.
Sixth, if Trump was conducting a serious investigation of corruption, why deny there was a “quid pro quo” — that is, investigations in exchange for release of aid. Instead, he should have declared, “Darn right I’m not giving those people a penny!”
Seventh, the role of Giuliani makes no sense if this was about fighting corruption. He had a skilled anti-corruption fighter in Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch, whom Trump fired at the behest of Giuliani and his cronies. Former prosecutor Harry Litman tweeted that there was “no possible reason to have Rudy running the show of course, much less fire Yovanovitch. The normal career and political officials can and do fight corruption just fine--that’s their main lookout in fact and they all made clear Trump subverted it.”
Eighth, as my colleague Aaron Blake points out, the excuse that Trump was seeking a “thoughtful review” of corruption before meeting with Zelensky is inane. “There already was a ‘thoughtful review’ of Ukraine’s anti-corruption measures, and Ukraine passed it. It came from the Defense Department, which concluded in May that Ukraine had made sufficient progress on corruption to merit the aid.”
Ninth, for a guy so interested in fighting corruption, he’s made a practice of cavorting with some of the most corrupt authoritarians on the planet — Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey and Russian President Vladimir Putin. As Tribe puts it, Trump, “to tell the truth, has never evidenced any such concern in his entire life — whether with Ukraine or with any other government — apart from his manifestly phony comments about ‘draining the swamp’ that he has done more than anybody else to fill.”
Tenth, if the explanation for all of this is entirely innocent, why would former national security adviser John Bolton have characterized the Giuliani-Mick Mulvaney activities as a “drug deal” and told his subordinates to inform the lawyers, and why would the lawyers not have explained to those raising concerns — such as Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman — that the holdup was entirely appropriate (rather than instructing him to tell no one about it)?
Eleventh, there is no reason to withhold documents or to prevent witnesses such as acting chief of staff Mulvaney or Secretary of State Mike Pompeo from testifying if the explanation, supported by documents, shows Trump’s determination to fight corruption. Surely there would be documented evidence of Trump’s “genuine” concern for stopping corruption, right?
Twelfth, Trump should be dying to participate in the impeachment hearings if he had a valid reason for strong-arming Ukraine. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) commented, “If the President thinks the call was ‘perfect’ and there is nothing to hide … [he would] provide any exculpatory information that refutes the overwhelming evidence of his abuse of power.” Instead, Trump is bent on undermining the process and encourages his helpmates in the House to raise one bogus conspiracy theory after another.
C’mon, who are Republicans kidding? Saying Trump is concerned about corruption is about as believable as saying he is concerned about his own conflicts of interest or nepotism. If this is the best Republicans can come up with, there really is no factual or constitutional defense for Trump.
Tuesday, December 03, 2019
Gallup Poll Shows Healthcare Is A Good Issue For Democrats
The chart above is from a recent Gallup Poll -- done between November 1st and 14th of a national sample of 1,015 adults, with a 4 point margin of error.
It shows a significant majority of Americans (63%) think the U.S. healthcare system is in a state of crisis and has major problems. Only 37% say it has only minor problems or no problems at all.
This is good for Democrats -- if they are smart. Americans want significant improvements to U.S. healthcare. They want lower costs (for doctors, hospitals, and drugs) and they want all Americans to have decent health insurance (that will provide preventative care and save them from bankruptcy). This would be a good issue for Democrats to campaign on in the general election.
But as much as I think the ultimate answer to our healthcare problems would be a single-payer, government-run system (like Medicare For All), the public is not quite ready for that. The public will support a public option for insurance that will cover everyone that wants it, but a large number of workers are not yet ready to give up their employer-provided private insurance.
Campaigning on an immediate Medicare For All system (eliminating private insurance) would scare a lot of people and make the healthcare issue work against Democrats.
I think Elizabeth Warren has the right idea. We need to create a public option that would cover those who cannot afford private insurance, and give others the option to buy into it. Once the public (and corporations) sees that it works (without massive taxes on the working and middle classes), then we can take the final step to Medicare For All.
Democrats have an issue that will work for them -- as long as they don't try to go too far too fast.
McConnell Is Blocking Over 400 Bills Passed By House
Donald Trump has said several times that the impeachment effort by House Democrats is keeping important legislation from be ing passed. That is a ridiculous lie! It is just another Trump lie to try and damage the impeachment effort.
While Trump may not be able to do so, House Democrats can chew gum and walk at the same time. Those House Democrats have been very busy trying to legislate for the good of the country. They have passed over 400 bills -- most on important issues (like background checks on gun sales, election security, minimum wage raise, lower drug prices, etc.) that need to be addressed.
Unfortunately, nearly all of those bills die when they get to the Seante. That's because Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (who dubbed himself the "Grim Reaper" of Democratic bills) refuses to let the House bills be debated or voted on.
The Senate has passed only 70 bills -- most of them on naming, or changing the names, of post offices, VA facilities, and other government buildings. McConnell's conduct is shameful. Some of the bills he's blocking were passed in the House on a bipartisan basis. And others could be debated and amended if he allowed it.
This is the epitome of a "do nothing" Congress. But it starts and ends with "Moscow" Mitch McConnell. Democrats are trying to legislate, and some Republicans in the Senate would like to debate, amend, and vote on the bills the House has sent.
It is time for McConnell to go. If he cannot be defeated in Kentucky in the 2020 election, then enough Democrats must be elected to the Senate to boot him out of the job of Majority Leader.
Here, from Vox.com, are some of the major bills and resolutions that McConnell refuses to allow the Senate to consider:
Health care
- House Resolution 259 — Medicaid Extenders Act of 2019
- H.R. 271 — Condemning the Trump Administration’s Legal Campaign to Take Away Americans’ Health Care
- H.R. 986 — Protecting Americans with Preexisting Conditions Act of 2019
- H.R. 987 — Strengthening Health Care and Lowering Prescription Drug Costs Act
- H.R. 1520, the Purple Book Continuity Act (bill aimed at lowering the cost of prescription drugs)
- H.R. 1503, the Orange Book Transparency Act of 2019 (bill aimed at lowering the cost of prescription drugs)
Civil rights
- H.R. 1 — For the People Act of 2019
- H.R. 5 — Equality Act
- H.R. 6 — American Dream and Promise Act
- H.R. 7 — Paycheck Fairness Act
- H.R. 124 — Expressing opposition to banning service in the Armed Forces by openly transgender individuals
Gun control
- H.R. 8 — Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2019
- H.R. 1112 — Enhanced Background Checks Act of 2019
Environment
- H.R. 9 — Climate Action Now Act
- H.R. 1331 — Local Water Protection Act
- S. 47 — National Resources Management Act
- H.R. 2578 — National Flood Insurance Program Extension Act of 2019
- H.R. 205, 1146, 1941 — Banning Offshore Drilling on Atlantic, Pacific, Eastern Gulf and ANWR Coasts
Military/foreign affairs
- H.R. 840 — Veterans’ Access to Child Care Act
- H.J. Res. 37 — Directing the removal of United States Armed Forces from hostilities in the Republic of Yemen that have not been authorized by Congress
- S.J. Res. 7 — To direct the removal of United States Armed Forces from hostilities in the Republic of Yemen that have not been authorized by Congress
- H.R. 31 — Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act of 2019
- H.J. Res. 30 — Disapproving the President’s proposal to take an action relating to the application of certain sanctions with respect to the Russian Federation
- H.R. 4695 — Protect Against Conflict by Turkey Act
- H.R. 676 — NATO Support Act
- H.R. 549 — Venezuela TPS Act
Mueller report
- H. Con. Res. 24 — Expressing the sense of Congress that the report of Special Counsel Mueller should be made available to the public and to Congress
Other major legislation
- H.R. 1585 — Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2019
- H.R. 987 — Raise the Wage Act
- H.R. 1500 — Consumers First Act
- H.R. 1994 — SECURE Act/Gold Star Family Tax Relief Act
- H.R. 2722 — Securing America’s Federal Elections (SAFE) Act
- H.R. 4617 — Stopping Harmful Interference in Elections for a Lasting Democracy (SHIELD) Act
- H.R. 1644 — Save the Internet Act of 2019
- H.R. 2157 — Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2019
- H.R. 397 — Rehabilitation for Multiemployer Pensions Act (The Butch Lewis Act)
- H.R. 2513 — The Corporate Transparency Act
- H.R. 269 — Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness and Advancing Innovation Act of 2019
- H.R. 251 — Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards Program Extension Act
- S.24 — Government Employee Fair Treatment Act of 2019
- H.R. 430 — TANF Extension Act of 2019
- Concurring in the Senate Amendments to HR 251 — Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standard Program Extension Act
- H.R. 790 — Federal Civilian Workforce Pay Raise Fairness Act of 2019
- HJ Res. 46 — Relating to a national emergency declared by the President on February 15, 2019
- H Res. 183 — Condemning anti-Semitism as hateful expressions of intolerance that are contradictory to the values and aspirations that define the people of the United States and condemning anti-Muslim discrimination and bigotry against minorities as hateful expressions of intolerance that are contrary to the values and aspirations of the United States, as amended
- H Res. 194 — Rule Providing for Consideration of H.R. 1644 and H.R. 2021
- H.R. 2480 — Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act
- H.R. 375 — To amend the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 to reaffirm the authority of the Secretary of the Interior to take land into trust for Indian Tribes (also known as the “Carcieri Fix”)
Recent Poll Shows Change In Dems Race - But It's Still Fluid
These charts reflect the results of the recent Quinnipiac University Poll -- done between November 21st and 25th of a national sample of 575 Democrats and Democrat-leaning Independents. The margin of error is 4.9 points.
As the top chart shows, the support for the leading candidates has changed. While Biden remains in first, Buttigieg has leaped over Warren and Sanders to now sit in second. But don't take these results to the bank. The race still remains very fluid, and will likely change again before the voting starts in a couple of months.
Back in September, only about a third of voters said their mind was made up while nearly two-thirds said they might change their minds. That was still true in this November poll.
The poll also asked some other interesting questions about the leading candidates. The results from those questions are in the charts below.
As 2 Enter And 2 Leave, There's Still A Large Field Of Dems
Two candidates have dropped out this week. Montana Governor Steve Bullock and Rep. Joe Sestak of Pennsylvania both announced the end of their campaigns. Neither had been able to gather significant support or donations.
But they were replaced by two new candidates last week -- Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick and former NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
Here are the 16 candidates still in the race for the nomination:
Joe Biden
Elizabeth Warren
Pete Buttigieg
Bernie Sanders
Kamala Harris
Amy Klobuchar
Cory Booker
Julian Castro
Andrew Yang
Tom Steyer
Michael Bennet
John Delaney
Marianne Williamson
Tulsi Gabbard
Deval Patrick
Michael Bloomberg
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)