The Trial Thread
"I wannabe a wantabee" said the manatee to the worker bee
"I'm sorry, we've got a Queen. We've got drones. We've got worker bees. No such thing as a wantabee"
"Is it because of my size?"
I caught part of the Republican "arguments" at The Trial.
I can't think of anything more torturous than listening to these clowns for 24 hours.
So far, the defense team's best asset, is their style of presentation, at least the parts that I've seen. They sound calm and reasonable, a perfect contrast to Trump. No loud theatrics a la Giuliani. It doesn't inspire, or rile. No display of anger. So for the person home today who tunes in for a few minutes or has it on as background noise, it may come off as thought out and factual. Patrick Philbin, for example, sounds like he is just calmly explaining a big misunderstanding, even though he has just totaled your car.
Just trying to view it objectively.
But he's LYING. No plans to hear from any witnesses? Of course there were plans to hear from witnesses...but the President did not permit them to testify.
sbenois said:
But he's LYING. No plans to hear from any witnesses? Of course there were plans to hear from witnesses...but the President did not permit them to testify.
Yes, but there is a whole country out there made up of people who barely pay attention. Today is Saturday, when people may have time to tune in for a few minutes and then tune out. The best of these sound bites, even the blatant lies will be played on a loop over at FOX.
They'll see, neat, soft spoken men in suits calmly explaining the "facts."
sbenois said:
But he's LYING. No plans to hear from any witnesses? Of course there were plans to hear from witnesses...but the President did not permit them to testify.
There's a fundamental aspect to human nature which the Trump defense might be trying to exploit.
Sometimes in our lives we're faced with a situation which challenges our core belief system. Maybe it's a cheating spouse, or a well-respected manager who turns out to be harassing colleagues. Maybe a beloved teacher is exposed for having an affair with a student. Logically there are certain courses of action we should take, but the facts conflict with our feelings.
Then someone sits us down and quietly, carefully explains that everything is okay and nothing really bad happened. They hook right into that human need for our world view to not be challenged.
I think a lot of Trump voters are happily listening to what his defense team is saying because it assuaged any feeling that maybe they made a mistake in voting for this crook. The bad people just don't like him, they're saying mean things and what he did isn't all that bad. I'm not a bad person that voted for a horrible human being.
It's my theory anyway. An authoritative person saying "don't worry, nothing is wrong" can do a lot of damage.
Morganna said:
Yes, but there is a whole country out there made up of people who barely pay attention. Today is Saturday, when people may have time to tune in for a few minutes and then tune out. The best of these sound bites, even the blatant lies will be played on a loop over at FOX.
They'll see, neat, soft spoken men in suits calmly explaining the "facts."
Yep. I think this meshes well with my last post.
Trump and his entire defense team come across as used car dealers. It's too ridiculous to even watch this now. I want to remember Adam Schiff last night in his closing. Not these thugs in suits. I'm so done. Whatever the outcome, November is the day the intelligent people of this country get to make their case against all this ...
Jaytee said:
Trump and his entire defense team come across as used car dealers. It's too ridiculous to even watch this now. I want to remember Adam Schiff last night in his closing. Not these thugs in suits. I'm so done. Whatever the outcome, November is the day the intelligent people of this country get to make their case against all this ...
Stay tuned Schiff is responding.
Morganna said:
They are not showing Schiff's response on FOX.
That's why the folks on this message board are so blind. You can tell who watches Fox news constantly. They even pretend to be moderate, but their postings is insightful.
Hmm, in animal rights protests, there were body cams with graphic videos. Be great to have one for the upcoming Trump rally in South Jersey. Adam Schiff on a loop.
mtierney said:
The wantabees I was referring to were the Democrat candidates running against Trump in November. They have been essentially off the canvass for weeks now.
Huh?
They were all over Iowa which holds its Caucus in 10 days until those of them who are Senators were called back to DC. Check out Newspapers, TV, internet.
The last Debate was just two weeks ago.
STANV said:
mtierney said:
The wantabees I was referring to were the Democrat candidates running against Trump in November. They have been essentially off the canvass for weeks now.
Huh?
They were all over Iowa which holds its Caucus in 10 days until those of them who are Senators were called back to DC. Check out Newspapers, TV, internet.
The last Debate was just two weeks ago.
Pretty sure mt is just repeating some piece of nonsense she heard on Fox.
"WASHINGTON — President Trump told his national security adviser in August that he wanted to continue freezing $391 million in security assistance to Ukraine until officials there helped with investigations into Democrats including the Bidens, according to an unpublished manuscript by the former adviser, John R. Bolton."
Shorter John Bolton... pic.twitter.com/sjHOJTx08j
Do you think any republicans care? He could shoot Bolton on 5th avenue and they would still acquit him.
jamie said:
Do you think any republicans care? He could shoot Bolton on 5th avenue and they would still acquit him.
Agreed, some won't be convinced no matter what.
However, it would be good to get Bolton in there, under oath, to testify about what Trump did. Some GOP Senators, at least the more vulnerable ones, will lose any pretext of "plausible deniability".
And not for nothing, but Trump tweeted about his discussions with Bolton last night, so he's basically waived whatever phony-baloney "privilege" his clownish counsel tries to assert. I NEVER told John Bolton that the aid to Ukraine was tied to investigations into Democrats, including the Bidens. In fact, he never complained about this at the time of his very public termination. If John Bolton said this, it was only to sell a book. With that being said, the...
Lindsey cancels press conference - odd: https://www.rawstory.com/2020/01/lindsey-graham-abruptly-cancels-planned-press-conference-in-wake-of-john-bolton-bombshell/
jamie said:
Lindsey cancels press conference - odd: https://www.rawstory.com/2020/01/lindsey-graham-abruptly-cancels-planned-press-conference-in-wake-of-john-bolton-bombshell/
Maybe a case of the vapors.
This is really nothing new. Bolton is corroborating what other witnesses told us.
As, Jamie said, Trump would be acquitted if he murdered Bolton on 5th Ave.
I'll go further:
If Trump machine gunned all the witnesses that disagreed with him, he would claim videos of the mass murder are fake. That they in remorse committed suicide. He'd be acquitted.
Anyone wonder why after the Night of the Long knives, Germans bought Hitler's story? Don't.
Now we have Ken Starr giving us a history lesson. We are truly in bizarro land.
I believe Trump's team main argument is that is impeachment isn't bipartisan - it a shouldn't happen.
Again - will there be ANY defense in what Trump actually did?
What the XXXX is Starr prattling on about? The repubs say the dem presentation was boring, but WOW ! This is effin' nuts !
It's not about getting any Republicans to vote "guilty".
It is , first, getting enough of them to vote to call Bolton as a witness and shaping public opinion against those "vulnerable" Senators running for re-election if they vote to not call him.
Imagine the opponent of Susan Collins or Cory Gardener running commercials saying that the Senator was so afraid of Trump and McConnell that he/she wouldn't even agree to have Bolton testify under oath. And by then his book will be out.
And, in general, it's about making the case not to the Senate but to the Public. When Trump boasts about being acquitted if Bolton has not testified the Dems would say the Republicans refused to hear from the witnesses and then said there was no evidence! If Bolton does testify the line will be that the Republicans voted to acquit even though Trump's own National Security Adviser and Conservative Republican stalwart testified to Trump's guilt.
jamie said:
Now we have Ken Starr giving us a history lesson. We are truly in bizarro land.
I actually appreciated the history recap by Starr. He barely looks at his notes, often speaking at length with clear and impassioned comments.
Going forward, impeachment will be used as a remedy for a future election loss. We are witnessing that remedy in use right now. Long before the phone call with Ukraine’s President, impeachment of DJT was front and center on the Democratic agenda. This fact is undeniable.
mtierney said:
Long before the phone call with Ukraine’s President, impeachment of DJT was front and center on the Democratic agenda. This fact is undeniable.
almost like McConnell vowing that Obama be a one term president? Main difference is that he never put his personal ambitions above the country.
The "dozens of wantabees" who have been unable to campaign, for let's see, about 5 days, (not weeks) number a total of 4.
Good work.