1. The theory that ex-presidents can’t be tried by the Senate is fake, conjured in bad faith to give GOP sens cover to acquit without stating the truth: they’re OK with the right using violence to subvert democracy. nymag.com/intelligencer/…
2. If and when Republicans acquit Trump on false pretext, Democrats must pivot immediately to a measure disqualifying insurrectionists from office under the 14th amendment—they might even warn Republicans that they’ll face this vote before the trial ends. nytimes.com/2021/01/12/opi…
3. This whole saga is an object lesson in the pitfalls of timidity and foot dragging. The original sin here was recessing the House in the hope of turning the page instead instead of voting on the impeachment within hours of the insurrection.
Quibble: it isn’t just a talking point. It’s a knowing lie. None of them believed it until they realized they’d have to vote post-presidency, at which point they (with the help of dishonest legal “scholars”) began pretending it was a long-held principle.
Can’t overstate the importance of reporters conveying that this position was fabricated rapidly to give Republican senators dishonest cover to acquit Trump. Clearly evident in the genesis of the talking point.
With a h/t to @steve_vladeck, the fact that Turley held the opposite view until Trump faced a post-presidency impeachment trial, and then fabricated an argument for Republicans who want to lie about why they'll vote to acquit HAS to be part of the story.
Remember, they don’t believe this argument, they invented it over the past three weeks to obscure the true meaning of their coming votes to acquit: that they are OK with the right-wing using corruption and violence to subvert democracy.
Would be helpful to note that not a single Republican senator claiming to be certain that trying a former president is unconstitutional is telling the truth. They invented this idea in the last few weeks, with the help of a handful of unscrupulous legal “scholars.”
Today would be a great day for the MSM to discover that the Republicans pretending to believe you can’t impeach a former president more or less invented that idea a few weeks ago to cover their asses and help Trump get away with it. It’s all made up.
Exactly. I believe the coverage of the GOP position has been more than a bit too credulous, but this presentation may be overwhelming enough to persuade the refs to acknowledge that those Republicans are lying. One can hope anyhow.
Remember, all the Republicans voting no are lying. Every one of them.
If Republicans acquit Trump then run to the press to claim they were obligated to because of the lie they invented about the trial's unconstitutionality, Dems really must bring legislation disqualifying insurrectionists under the 14th amendment to the floor immediately.
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New: I don’t know how things will shake out early next year, but I think it was a mistake for Dems to agree to decouple certain domestic appropriations from defense (sorry, the “ladder approach”) as ransom to the GOP to avoid a Thanksgiving shutdown. offmessage.net/p/shoots-and-l…
This all happened very fast, and because the Freedom Caucus is mad and Republicans are cosplaying Street Fighter, most of the coverage has taken it as a given that Mike Johnson caved. I’m not so sure. offmessage.net/p/shoots-and-l…
Democrats have conceded “take it or leave it” leverage that comes with omnibus bills and clean CRs, allowing Republicans in principle to demagogue their way to full defense appropriations while shutting down or gutting other departments. offmessage.net/p/shoots-and-l…
SOME PROFESSIONAL NEWS: Thursday was my last day at Crooked Media, today I launch a new, independent venture. It’s called Off Message and I hope you’ll join me by subscribing. offmessage.net/p/welcome-to-o…
If you’ve followed my work in recent years, you know I’ve been consistently concerned that the liberal and Democratic Party tendency to hyper-caution is a bad fit for a zero-sum fight against authoritarianism. offmessage.net
At the same time, I’ve been heartened by the many exceptions. Most recently, the 1/6 Committee, the Fetterman campaign, Jack Smith, Fani Willis, the clear signal from 2022 voters that they will prioritize democracy and basic rights over any policy issue or picayune grievance.
Our media in response to a basically good jobs report, my god…
Ok, I went and looked. In March, 2019, BLS reported that the economy added 196,000 jobs. Here’s how the same media interpreted that finding for news consumers.
In August of the same year, the economy added 164,000, before revisions. Here’s the story the public heard about it.
I think another way to look at the dynamic Greg describes here is that McCarthy, other GOP leaders, Fox, et al have trapped themselves. They could get together, smoke-filled room style, and solve their collective-action problem, but refuse to. washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/…
The Times, similarly, sees a story about Trump’s strength, but I see a mirror image story of GOP weakness.
The Times could’ve inverted the emphasis: DeSantis CRUSHES Trump among GOP voters who say Trump committed serious crimes. My takeaway isn’t really about how well or poorly DeSantis is doing vs Trump, it’s that there are so few GOP voters who know or admit Trump committed crimes.
Newsletter! (Yesterday’s.) I looked at the bafflement among It’s The Economy, Stupid liberals over why Joe Biden remains unpopular, despite a very strong economy. https://t.co/rCFqy2WxeKmailchi.mp/crooked.com/bi…
One possible explanation is, I think, pretty obvious… https://t.co/9XgiG6qbFWeepurl.com/gQH7lz
The best alternate explanation, consistent with the theory that a good economy helps incumbents like clockwork, is that there’s a lag between the economy becoming good and the public catching up. I hope it’s correct, but it’s a gamble and there are reasons to imagine it’s wrong.