Category: 2016 election

Trump pursues phony Crowdstrike conspiracy theory

This crackpot conspiracy theory blames the Democrats and Ukraine for 2016 election interference. It gets Russia off the hook which of course appeals to Trump.

Trump’s allegation of 2016 voter fraud will undermine confidence in 2020 results.

He’s getting his cult ready to consider the 2020 results invalid if he loses. His claims of fraud in New Hampshire and California are baseless lies. Republicans should step up to defend our elections but they won’t. They won’t support legislation to increase election security because they have benefitted from Russian interference.

Debunking the fraud claim

It was debunked back in 2016

Phony claims of busing voters to New Hampshire

NY Times article from 2017

Republicans don’t care about election security

They think foreign meddling will help Trump again. That’s all they care about. We know a lot more than we did in 2016 about interference but McConnell won’t even give hearings to election security bills passed by the House. Trump has no interest in the truth – the spread of disinformation helps him. Sad!

The Trump campaign should have told the FBI about the Russia meeting in Trump Tower. They never should have met with our enemy.

Mueller’s testimony tomorrow

Robert Mueller testifies before the House tomorrow. The $1 question I would ask him is:

You did not make a determination on obstruction of justice. Did you expect the Justice Department or Congress to make that determination?

I think Congress should have done it but Barr stepped and cleared Trump. Mueller has played by traditional norms but this has been a failure since Trump and the Republicans have not. They have lied about the report and distorted the conclusions and Mueller has done little to correct them. Barr got his message out before the redacted report was released and Republicans have won the message war so far.

Mueller should have realized that very few people would read a 400 page report. Instead, partisans of both sides are primarily relying on interpretations made by others. It will be good for the report to be discussed in public. Maybe this will increase public sentiment for impeachment hearings. It would be disgraceful if Trump suffers no consequences for what I believe is criminal behavior.

Republicans will focus on Stzrok and Page instead of Trump’s behavior.

Trump is winning the message war on crimes and impeachment

Trump and the Republicans have done much better than the Democrats on getting their message out concerning the actions discussed in the Mueller Report. Trump and Barr have consistently lied and got their side out before the redacted report was released. They and Fox News (state TV) have consistently focused on “witch hunt” and insisted there was no collusion or obstruction. Except for Amash, the entire Republican party has fallen meekly in line to defend Trump. There are plenty of clips showing how differently Graham and McConnell behaved when Clinton was accused of crimes. These hypocrites think only Democrats can be guilty. Now, they’re going to investigate the people who began the investigation. This is another ploy to divert attention away from Trump’s crimes.

Mueller has not helped. He must testify publicly. He stood by meekly when Barr deliberately misinterpreted his report. I understand that he doesn’t want to make this political but it’s too late. Trump and Barr already have. Mueller is helping them by not saying much more than he has. He says it’s all in his report but few people are going to read over 400 pages. I haven’t.

Democrats have come across as divided, indecisive and unwilling to do the right thing. If Trump isn’t impeached, what is impeachment for? I would rather see indictments but now we are seeing nothing. Republicans are winning by stonewalling on witnesses and documents. They are dragging this out which helps them. Why would you have John Dean testify? This isn’t Watergate. We need public hearings on the evidence in the Mueller report so that the public can be educated on how serious Trump’s actions are. Over 1,000 former prosecutors say Trump would be indicted for obstruction if he wasn’t the president.

The media isn’t helping either. They assist the Republicans who claim that the Democrats are only focusing on impeachment, not legislation. The House has passed over 100 bills but Mitch McConnell will ensure that the Senate won’t consider any of them. I stopped watching cable news but still read a lot. I see very little on the bills Democrats have passed on issues such as election reforms and gun safety. The media is all about Trump.

The media is also giving the Republicans a free pass when they only focus on what the Democrats are going to do about Trump’s misdeeds. All of Congress is responsible, not just Democrats. Senate Republicans have made it clear they would not convict Trump no matter what the evidence is. The Senate is a jury. What kind of jury makes up their mind before the case is even presented? This would not be acceptable in a court and should not be acceptable now.

Update 6/12

Two polls and two excellent comments on impeachment.

Mueller must testify publicly

Trump and Barr have totally outmaneuvered Mueller. They have lied and distorted his findings and he only objected behind the scenes until last week. His brief public statement was unsatisfactory. He was way too polite and not very blunt. He expects people to read his report – that’s not realistic. It’s over 400 pages. He allowed Trump and Barr to set the narrative and there are now millions of Trump cult members who believe Trump is innocent. I don’t blame Mueller for not wanting to make this political but it’s too late. Trump and Barr already have. Now, Mueller must answer questions in public.

What “treason” means

Trump has been abusing the term “treason” to describe people he perceives as his enemies. Here’s what it means and how he used it.