Sure, for Trump it makes sense, the more influence he can retain the better for him. But as for the Republicans, they're either very short sighted or just really don't care about how they get into power, so long as they do.

A lot of good that did. What they got was a pro-American, “America-first” agenda. The KGB fell with their commie empire. Maybe Trump cultivated them and we can thank him for the fall of the Berlin Wall. — NOS4A2

Hell of an insight into how you rationalise Trump from the vile, pathetic human being he is to the American hero you see him as. Usually people consider things like evidence and logic but you fasttrack the shit out of it.

Years of Russia conspiracy theories and where were you? It sounds like double standards but there is no evidence you have any. Is it because you have a Trump-shaped hole in your heart?

It seems consistent with your disregard for evidence that a Special Council investigation finding a President welcoming and benefiting from Russian interference in US elections is negligible.

Yeah, I could care less if Russians bought Facebook ads. Biden employed Facebook and they censored information that might look bad for Biden. Where were you?

Of course you could(n't) care less. He's your man, and anything he does is fine by you. He said it himself: he could shoot someone in the street and his mindless supporters would stay with him.

But yeah if you have evidence that Biden colluded with foreign powers to win in 2020, throw it up. That's evidence in the usual sense, not in the sense of photos of his son smoking in a bath, i.e. we shouldn't have to make twelve leaps of faith to get from the evidence to the conclusion.

No, I couldn't care less because there is no crime or evil occurring anywhere folks like yourself have been crying wolf for the past half-decade. Trump, like the mods and rockers, just happens to be the source of your hysteria.

I've never said nor implied Biden colluded with foreign powers to win in 2020, so I'm not going to bother.

I've never said nor implied Biden colluded with foreign powers to win in 2020, so... — NOS4A2

... your point was utterly irrelevant, yes.

No, I couldn't care less because there is no crime or evil occurring anywhere folks like yourself have been crying wolf for the past half-decade. — NOS4A2

Depends how much you care about democracy, I suppose. For people who do, a President that courts foreign interference in elections (and then attempts to interfere with his next election) is a huge cause for concern. I think after Jan 6th everyone is cogniscent of the fact that his supporters are somewhat more ambivalent about the security of their democracy.

American Kompromat: How the KGB Cultivated Donald Trump, and Related Tales of Sex, Greed, Power, and Treachery

https://www.amazon.com/American-Kompromat-Cultivated-Related-Treachery/dp/0593182537/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8

CNN is reporting that Trump's impeachment legal team has resigned en masse, less than a week before the Senate trial. This is because the Stable Genius wants to continue to argue that the election was a fraud, instead of arguing that a President can't be impeached after leaving office, which is what his lawyers wanted him to do. Of course, as always, Stable Genius knows better.

A person familiar with the departures told CNN that Trump wanted the attorneys to argue there was mass election fraud and that the election was stolen from him rather than focus on the legality of convicting a president after he's left office. Trump was not receptive to the discussions about how they should proceed in that regard. — CNN

Everyone's saying that the verdict is a foregone conclusion, but I still reckon the Impeachment Managers might have a few tricks up their sleeve.

I think a lot of those kinds of authors are dodgy. Besides, Trump ought to be shunned wholly and solely on doings and sayings in the public domain, things that nobody can dispute - you don’t have to do forensic investigation to expose him as the charlatan he is, you just have to persuade people to see it. (Apparently, that’s the hard part. :sad: )

Trump ought to be shunned wholly and solely on doings and sayings in the public domain, things that nobody can dispute — Wayfarer

Exposing someone’s dodgy past is an important journalistic function.

True, but what I'm saying is, Trump ought to be disqualified from office regarding of what's in them, and I hope he is. There's enough already in the public domain that it should happen, and might yet.

//on the other hand, drilling down into the author of the book Tim mentions, he is a writer for the NY Times, so I'm inclined to think he's credible, I withdraw my remark that his book might be dodgy. There's a lot of dodgy material around on both sides of the Trump story, but I don't think Craig Unger is part of it.//

Why are you all still talking about Trump?

:roll:

Excellent point I’ll shut up

He doesn't even need a defense. 45 Senators voted that it's unconstitutional to impeach ex-Presidents, so they're a guaranteed "no" whatever is said at the trial.

He doesn't even need a defense. 45 Senators voted that it's unconstitutional to impeach ex-Presidents, so they're a guaranteed "no" whatever is said at the trial. — Michael

That would be quite corrupt (and therefore you're right, that's what will happen). Congress has already answered the question of whether an ex-President can be impeached: those 45 were in the minority. The question put to the Senate is whether he is guilty of what he is accused of. Voting in the Senate that he should not be impeached would be undemocratic, i.e. counter to the will of the democratically-elected House. Since Republicans are undemocratic, we should expect it.

It's extremely dissappointing, the way that the Republican Party have all come crawling back to Trump. One of the senators who voted to impeach, Tim Rice, has been censured by his state branch, and there is a strong move to demote Elizabeth Cheney. For a brief moment after Jan 6th, it looked like the GOP had broken the spell - but no.

If they believe they won the election despite, you know, the votes, there's no incentive to learn. Plus there's the original reason for the party and the media to get behind Trump: he is the ideal for Fox News audiences. I think the GOP need to lose a couple more elections to realise it's them who are the problem.

It sounds like double standards but there is no evidence you have any. — NOS4A2

There's shit loads of evidence, you just explain it away, like any good conspiracy theorist will do.

Yeah, I could care less if Russians bought Facebook ads. — NOS4A2

No, I couldn't care less because there is no crime... — NOS4A2

What you didn't seem to grasp four years ago, and still don't seem to grasp is that there are laws against foreign participation in an American election. It is a crime.

What you didn't seem to grasp four years ago, and still don't seem to grasp is that there are laws against foreign participation in an American election. It is a crime.

Twitter and Facebook have nothing to do with American elections, so all that nonsense about Russian bots and fake news on social media was piffle. You guys live in some weird alternate reality.

Nancy Pelosi’s second impeachment trial begins today.

hopefully they make an example of him to dissuade any other would-be authoritarian shitbags.

Just what we need: more authoritarian pantywaists in power chilling free speech. This is a show trial in a kangaroo court,

“The establishment is stopping me from protecting you against invaders.”

The theme that Trump used throughout his political career, simply varying who were the establishment and who were the invaders. A simple message for simple minds. An obvious haunted universe statement.

It’s a weird conclusion because what Trump was “really saying” (according to the author) is contradicted by what he really said. One can search his entire archive of tweets and not find a single mention of “invaders”. And given that the author’s analysis is restricted to Trump’s tweets, it leaves out a vast amount of rhetoric Trump used elsewhere. So it’s a poor analysis for poor minds.

Just what we need: more authoritarian pantywaists in power chilling free speech. This is a show trial in a kangaroo court — NOS4A2

Michelle Carter exercised her free speech by encouraging her boyfriend to kill himself. She didn't kill him, so why should SHE have been punished when she was just exercising her free speech?

twaddle. The invaders were everything from Democrats to Mexicans.

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