Thread by @KevinMKruse

I don't normally like to use academic jargon on this site, but this tweet is twelve different kinds of bullshit.

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1186611272231636992

Let's start with the obvious -- a bare majority in the House can already impeach a president at any time, for any reason they deem fit. Even by a tiny margin.

I have no idea what he thinks is new here, but nothing has changed.

Second, I'm not sure what the president thinks "due process" means, but it has nothing to do with the impeachment process.

Here: thebulwark.com/impeachment-an…

Third, for a politician who constantly presents himself as a bold, tough guy who breaks the mold and has people at his rallies wearing "Fuck Your Feelings" t-shirts, the endless whining about not being treated fairly is just sad.

Fourth, I'm not sure what "legal rights" he thinks he's entitled to in the current stage of the impeachment proceedings -- which are akin to a grand jury investigation and indictment -- but whatever rights he imagines he has will apply in the Senate trial.

Fifth, this isn't the first time people have referred to an impeachment proceeding against a president as a "lynching" -- it came up often when conservatives tried to defend Richard Nixon in the Watergate investigation.

Sixth, some conservatives insist on calling the impeachment campaign against Nixon a "lynching" even to this day.

This is from a couple months ago:

Seventh -- and read this part slowly if the last two didn't shock you -- there is NO reason to liken the Constitution's formal remedy for removing a president to an illegal mob action that seeks to subvert the rule of law with the kidnapping, murder and mutilation of a suspect.

Eighth -- and I CANNOT believe this part actually needs to be said -- comparing impeachment proceedings to a lynching is even more insulting when you've cozied up to the very forces of white supremacy that historically have used lynching as a tool to terrorize racial minorities.

Ninth -- again, hard to believe we have to say this, but here we are -- when your supporters at rallies are wearing shirts that "joke" about lynching the media whom you repeatedly denounce as "enemies of the state," you shouldn't claim that *you* are the victim of lynching.

Tenth, lynching is essentially the subversion of the rule of law.

Impeachment, in sharp contrast, is the rule of law. It's the constitutional provision for handling a president who has disgraced his office, as designed by the founding fathers.

YOU are seeking to subvert that.

Eleventh, and related to that, you are seeking to subvert the rule of law here by spreading fear, confusion and hatred.

Again, I think it's insulting to bring lynching into this, but if anything here even remotely resembles the dynamics of a lynch mob, it's not your critics.

Twelfth and most important, the goal of this tweet is obviously to distract from the substance of the very serious charges that have been brought against the president -- which he and his aides have already largely confirmed.

Stay focused, and don't fall for this utter bullshit.