IMO Trump may be impeached early and often.

There appears to be a new shared sentiment among the "I hate Trump and the Deplorables" wing of the Democratic Party and the "I hate Russia, er, the USSR, er foreign devils" wing of the Republican Party.

This shared sentiment is continuously voiced with vehemence and certitude on the basis of an evident belief  among the intelligentsia/ignorami that anyone who wishes to improve relations with Russia has demonstrated prima facie evidence of treason in the service of a foreign and malevolent power.   Perhaps Vladimir Putin is actually Dr. Moriarty returned with new and improved air guns at his disposal.

IMO the present media campaign against Trump is intended to de-legitimize him as a legally elected chief executive.  If that can be accomplished then a bill of impeachment against him for something like "failure to defend the country," or "failure to execute legally binding sanctions" is likely.

Would the insurgents have the needed votes in the senate to convict and expel him from office?  Only the event would demonstrate that. 

The Deplorables are watching and waiting.  pl

Comments

[Nancy K]

Trump is his own worst enemy. If he could just quit twittering and act a little more presidential he would be in a better place. As a Democrat and a liberal one at that, I definitely do not want to see Trump impeached. I truly hope he can get it together and make this country greater, not great again as it is already great. The last thing I want to see is Pence as president.

[Kenny]

As Gingrich said, Trump has not been initiated into the borg club, apparently he refused. Perhaps he lacks a certain kind of passion for infants. Every president since Reagan, if not earlier, has gone through the initiation. Now they have been preparing mine fields for over a month.

Ross Perot bailed in similar circumstances. Trump must have powerful backers who he trusts. Even so, if Trump doesn't play the game he is likely to be dismembered if not eliminated.

[NotTimothyGeithner]

The math isn't about the House and Senate.

The math is did more people vote for Trump in the districts of the Republicans than voted for the local Republican. What percentage of the votes for the GOP congressman can even name their congressman? The President is Caesar incarnate. Trump isn't as powerful as Obama could have been in 2009, but Mrs. McCain in South Carolina couldn't deliver his state to Jeb in the primary. Trump will stomp him for at least the next two years. Stories of corruption? Trump ran a casino. If that wasn't a problem, nothing is.

All Trump has to do is go to a GOP congressman's district, invite a state senator on stage, and ask the crowd to make sure they send the state senator to Congress in 2018. The other GOP congressmen will be terrified Trump will do that to them, they will be his lap dogs if they aren't already.

[raven]

The only problem is that Pence is worse.

[JohnsonR]

"Would the insurgents have the needed votes in the senate to convict and expel him from office?"

Assuming his enemies have the sense to pick issues on which the Democrats will be united and enough Republican establishment types can be relied upon to betray their party's President, that seems possible. Impeachment itself seems easy almost regardless of the issue - there are surely more than enough cynically dishonest RINOs in the House of Representatives to get a vote for impeachment through almost regardless of its merits, once a sufficiently protective popular idea of Trump as illegitimate has been established. Conviction in the Senate seems less clearcut. Are there enough John McCain types amongst the Senate Republicans to get a two thirds majority? Probably depends upon the merits of the case.

Related to the present absurd furore about supposed Russian interference in US governance, here's a recent story about interference by a foreign power in the UK's government which seems strangely low profile given its seriousness. Any guesses as to why nobody seems to want to make a big fuss about it?

Israel's ambassador sorry over 'take down' Sir Alan Duncan comment

[steve]

Trump will not be impeached. The GOP, prioritizes power over ideology and principle. (The Dems also do this at times.) Just one example out of a nearly endless number of examples, the GOP supports smaller government. Then they passed the largest unfunded (the GOP supposedly doesn't like debt either) spending bill in our history with the Medicare bill they passed under W. When push comes to shove the GOP will not impeach. If the GOP loses the House and Senate in 2020, unlikely given Dems ineptitude, that could change.

Steve

[jld]

Alas even impeachment will not restore the mental health of some who have been too badly traumatised:
https://twitter.com/Thomasismyuncle/status/818117574466699264
The plumber coming to fix your tap MIGHT have voted for Trump!
Can you imagine the dread of that?

[doug]

On 10/3/16 I wrote here:

I expect Impeachment proceedings to being about 6 months into his term. He will be assimilated or discarded

I was a Nixon supporter but recognized that Watergate was not going away and bet a colleague $100 that Nixon would not complete his second term. I sadly collected 6 months later.

I hope I'm wrong but to me it looks more likely than it did earlier with Nixon when I made a little bet.

One difference with Trump is that his ability to get across his point of view without the MSM filter is far greater from both an access POV and his very good, intuitive, skills of persuasion. The counter to this is that he is palpably detested by a larger segment of the DC, and Coastal establishment.

It will be interesting.

[ked]

You are being provocative?
The Russian influence matter is just not that big a deal to Americans in these times - the folk have moved on from the Cold War while the Soviet Union industry thrashes onward. There's nowhere near the level of popular support needed to pull off an impeacment, absent a smoking gun of clear treason. The borg-complex (I'm beginning to think some correspondents think there's an actual Board of Directors, a membership roll, secret decoder ring, regularly scheduled mtgs) is playing traditional politics - preparing the politcal battleground, firing for effect, softening up the adversary - yes, perhaps for the almost inevitable counter-revolution to come. He runs a high risk of alienating his base(s) so throughly that his ratings fall to nil - his show becomes ripe for cancellation. That's when his commission of "high crimes & misdemeanors" is most likely to trigger a bonafide impeachment movement. That won't happen right away ... It could take months.

[turcopolier]

ked

The anti-Trump movement is all among the bi-coastal elites, the people who disdain the flyover proles (Deplorables). You know, people like you. Neither Andrew Johnson, nor Bill Clinton could be convicted in the senate, but, take heart, maybe this time. BTW I like your suggestion of a Board of Directors for the Borg. Do correspondents have suggestion for who might be members? pl

[John Minnerath]

There is some of the most outrageous insanity going on I have ever seen in my 73 years.
It's sickening and shows no sign of letting up soon.

[gowithit]

I have long time solid Republican friends, who I maintain email chats with, one a county chairman in the midwest, who are praying that Trump will get tired of the political charades on both sides, conjure up a reason to resign, and turn the Prez over to Pence.

[Ed]

Jon Rapport reports : —ABC News reports:

“Citing increasingly sophisticated cyber bad actors and an election infrastructure that’s ‘vital to our national interests’, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson announced Friday that he’s designating U.S. election systems critical infrastructure…”

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/state-election-systems-federal-aid-security-44615737

https://jonrappoport.wordpress.com/2017/01/08/this-is-a-coup-the-homeland-security-takeover-of-us-elections/

[turcopolier]

raven

You have been banned here for a long time because of your vile nastiness during the election. This is actually a cogent thought. I admit to having doubts over Pence, a man who evidently thinks humans and dinosaurs walked the earth at the same time. pl

[Seamus Padraig]

"The last thing I want to see is Pence as president."

Then that puts you at odds with your own party. The DNC would much rather have a traditional Republican like Pence as president, since they already have a tried-and-tested playbook for such a thing. Trump, on the other hand, has completely upended all their strategies.

[robt willmann]

This morning on Jake Tapper's show on CNN television, they were of course talking about Russia. When the camera shifted to Michele Flournoy (with an accent on the first 'e'), her face displayed some disappointment, possibly because since Hillary Clinton lost the election, she was not going to be appointed Secretary of Defense, and, instead, is stuck on CNN reciting talking points and trying to defend the status quo.

They also put up the message Trump sent yesterday, that: "Having a good relationship with Russia is a good thing, not a bad thing. Only 'stupid' people, or fools, would think that it is bad!"--

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/817748207694467072

http://www.cnn.com/videos/tv/2017/01/08/sotu-intel-panel-full.cnn

[LondonBob]

https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2017/01/israeli-spy-shai-masot-not-expelled/

Interesting that Craig Murray says the notorious Matthew Gould might have originated the hacking story.

[Seamus Padraig]

Worse for whom? I think the establishment would strongly prefer Pence over Trump. In fact, I feel that Trump may have picked Pence for VP mainly as a peace offering to the RNC.

[LondonBob]

As I understand it the next slate of elections you have in 2018 are all in Trump friendly territories.

I also note what has just happened in Ohio. Trump's supporters just took over from John Kasich, defeating his Chairman. The highly successful popular sitting governor LOST control of his own party apparatus because he would not support Trump. I think Trump has enough buy in from the GOP, business and the military that he is secure. His Cabinet picks in this regard were very good, and his favourables are up and economic confidence has surged since his election win.

[Seamus Padraig]

Chairman of the Board: George Soros.

[Fred]

ked,

The intelligentsia do not agree with your view. It is they who are out of touch with the popular support - of the "old demographic" Americans as a University of Michigan trained historian recently put it to one of his fellow professors - for Trump. They do not accept that it was those supporters and their votes that elected him. This class of people do believe that Trump is Putin's tool and that Hilary was denied her rightful due by the crafty old Russians. They are going to oppose Trump and more importantly his supporters, at every level of government and industry. The "#BLMKidnapping" this weekend in Chicago is only one example of such, along with all the hate hoaxes that started on November 9th.

They will be very easily manipulated by social media campaigns - take a look at what the fake Rolling Stone rape story managed to do on college campuses and state legislatures. What will be even worse is what the Chinese are going to be able to do in recruitment and blackmail of government employees given the OPM data they stole two years ago and the easily accessible social media data to identify individuals who have a deep seated emotional need to "defeat Trump" at any cost. Needless to say the FBI can be fully trusted to defend the Republic from such espionage. Just ask some college professors and Democratic party leaders.

[Jack]

Sir

The media assault on Trump during the campaign and now after his electoral victory will likely rise in intensity as TPTB can't countenance that their influence operations aka disinformation operations are not having the desired effect. Trump is smart to keep the direct communication with The Deplorables open. He's gonna need it.

The comments to John Harwood's twitter poll are very instructive. The Deplorables only have contempt for the Borgists and they are using mockery to note the utter corruption and duplicity of these status quo players. I got a chuckle reading some of the comments as they show what a bootlicker Harwood was in his emails to Podesta.

I feel certain we're heading to a political crisis. Schumer's "six ways to Sunday" comments on what the IC could do to get back at Trump sounded ominous. And the Kushners may be that weak spot. The question is will the Borg go as far as to attempt a coup through impeachment? And if Trump makes a call for armed insurrection will the Deplorables including the grunts in the armed forces heed it?

[Babak Makkinejad]

Col. Lang:

I cannot credit the Republican Party bringing articles of impeachment against their own party's President.

They are already scared of his popularity; as indicated by their hasty retreat on the "Ethic Office" - they are suicidal (politically speaking) in my opinion.

[Babak Makkinejad]

Trump is the only political leader in US, save Bernie Sanders, who has been willing to articulate some of the issues that the United States is facing domestically - issues such as decent-paying work (above $ 45,000 a year).

Your interlocutor in Mid-West, what does he have to offer to the people who inhabit that place called Ohio?

What does his party have to offer?

[doug]

Woolsey's statement of estrangement with Trump made my hair stand on end a few days ago:

"He wishes the President-elect and his Administration great success in their time in office."

This, it seems to me is carefully worded. Too carefully.