Make the US Politics Thread Great Again

It’s a good thing Fox News isn’t angry all the time.

2 Likes

Could have just fought the influence of money in politics, not only is it the right thing to do, it helps Democrats electorally and is extremely popular with an overwhelming majority of the country, republicans and Democrats alike. Being Anti-Corruption will always work to your advantage and if you don’t use it someone else will and Trump did. Hopefully Bernie will get his chance too.

1 Like

https://twitter.com/abbydphillip/status/1021740431678296064

3 Likes

I agree with the principle, but this is one of those things that it was extremely difficult for Obama to do as soon as the Dems lost their Congress/Senate majorities in 2012. After the Citizens United Supreme Court decision, it’s going to take soe serious legislation or even a constitutional amendment to meaningfully reduce the impact of big money in election campaigns, and with a Republican party that would have hysterically condemned Obama as a kenyan muslim communist for having toast for breakfast and was unswervingly dedicated to not letting him pass any policy measures whatsoever, neither of those things were going to happen. and it would have been a tough sell BEFORE the 2012 election too - big money gets listened to by Dems as much as it does by repubs - not so much in presidential campaigns, but massively in house/senate campaigns.

I’m not going to condem Obama too hard for failing to do things he didn’t ever really had the power to do.

2 Likes

You’re right in saying it’s going to take an ammendment, likely via a convention, to fix it. But as President he should have been using the pullpit, his refusal to do so on any issue allowed the Republicans to define him and the Democrats. There’s a reason why they lost 1000 seats across the country under his presidency, Republicans receive more money, by at least 2:1 which in local and state races is virtually insurmountable.

Thankfully some of the mainstream Democrats are realising that taking pac money isn’t an advantage for them and are switching tact by taking small donations and then point the finger at their corrupt opponent, something that worked for Trump, especially in the deciding States.

1 Like

Haha. Under WTO rules, other countries have the right to ban products of prison labour.

Trump wouldn’t know how to spell WTO let alone know its rules. And if one of his babysitters were able to teach him, with use of plenty of visual aids, I don’t think he would much care

Well this is heartening :disappointed_relieved:

1 Like

I’d say that is fairly encouraging mate,… it looks only the “Trumped” rednecks & fkwitz that believe him over facts according to those.

1 Like

Education is so important.

1 Like

Glass half full. You are right.

1 Like

Considering the % identifying as Republican has dropped to around 26%, that’s not a big concern. Around 3% of the population have moved to either identify as independent or Democrat. So with a lot of these polls, the Republicans are appearing more extreme, but the moderates amongst them are no longer identifying as Republicans.

The interesting thing with the upcoming mid-terms is historical mid-term voters are while, old and educated. Those three things are traditionally GOP features, however Dems are now winning the educated voter. The GOP is the smaller party, but it is more effective at turning out.

Historically Dems don’t push back hard after a GOP presidential victory. The GOP hits the polling stations hard when the Dems win the Presidency.

So if GOP enthusiasm drops, then the Dems have a good chance. If Dem enthusiasm at least holds ground, the larger size of their party gives them a good chance.

1 Like

Trump-ally congressmen introduce impeachment resolution against Deputy AG Rosenstein

(CNN)House Freedom Caucus leaders Reps. Mark Meadows and Jim Jordan on Wednesday escalated their fight with the Justice Department, introducing a resolution to impeach Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.

The resolution is not a sign that the House is about to vote to impeach Rosenstein, as House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte and House Oversight Chairman Trey Gowdy – who have been pushing for documents from the Justice Department – did not sign on. The House is also leaving for a monthlong recess after Thursday.
The resolution to impeach Rosenstein, which Meadows and his conservative allies have been threatening for weeks, is the strongest step that conservative allies of President Donald Trump have taken in their feud with Rosenstein and the Justice Department.
In a statement, Meadows said Rosenstein should be impeached because of the Justice Department’s stonewalling of congressional subpoenas and hiding information from Congress, and for signing one of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrant renewals for Trump campaign foreign policy adviser Carter Page.
Rosenstein has fiercely pushed back against his House Republican critics, warning in May that the Justice Department is “not going to be extorted” amid threats that he could be impeached.
The impeachment resolution that Meadows introduced was not “privileged,” which is a procedural motion that can force a House floor vote on the matter, a move that liberal Democrats have already taken against the President, though it was easily voted down.
A Meadows spokesman said the North Carolina Republican was leaving open the option of making the resolution privileged to force a vote. But such a move isn’t likely to occur until after the House returns in September.
“Information has been hidden, efforts have been stonewalled,” Meadows said during an appearance on Fox News Wednesday night. “I guess for us, it’s all about transparency so the American people can judge for themselves. They may be able to ignore Congress but they can’t ignore the American people.”
Later in the Fox News interview, Meadows hinted he may try to force a vote on the House floor about the articles of impeachment against Rosenstein as soon as Thursday. Meadows said he doesn’t want to bring the motion to the floor without Ryan’s permission but that it’s possible it can happen.
“But starting tomorrow, we can bring it up as a privileged motion,” he said.
He added, “It really means it would require a vote on the House floor within two days and that’s something that any member of Congress, Jim or I, can do. And quite frankly, it’s either we hold him in contempt or we get the documents or we impeach him, and the only thing we have control over is the ability to bring impeachment straight to the floor.”
Rosenstein has been in the crosshairs of conservative Republicans – as well as Trump – for a number of reasons, including his role supervising special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 US election.
He has been faulted, in part, because of an accusation that the original FISA application on Page was based on “political opposition research (that) was neither vetted before it was used in October 2016 nor fully revealed” to the FISA court, according to the articles of impeachment. Yet Rosenstein was not sworn in as the No. 2 official at the Justice Department until six months later, in April 2017. He did sign off on at least one request to renew FISA warrant after taking office.
Democrats charge that Republicans are targeting Rosenstein because they’re trying to undercut Mueller’s probe.
The impeachment resolution was formally introduced after a meeting Wednesday between senior Justice Department officials and Goodlatte, Gowdy, Meadows and Jordan, which Rosenstein did not attend.
Leaving the meeting, Meadows said he still had “great frustration” that the Justice Department had not complied with congressional subpoenas, although he declined at that point to comment on the prospect of impeaching Rosenstein.
While Meadows then moved on the impeachment resolution, others had a more positive view of the meeting. Gowdy, who is opposed to trying to impeach Rosenstein, told reporters afterward that he thought the meeting had been productive “because we’re making progress towards compliance.”
“I want the documents and I’m not a big fan of drama, I like the documents,” the South Carolina Republican said, explaining that he opposes impeachment because it’s punishment and not a remedy to obtaining the documents in question.
The Justice Department declined to comment.
The fight over documents between Congress and the Justice Department boils down to subpoenas from the House Judiciary and Intelligence committees for documents related to the FBI’s Hillary Clinton email investigation and the probe into Trump’s team and Russia.
Justice Department officials maintain that lawmakers have been provided with nearly all the documents requested by the House Judiciary subpoena from March and that they have been trying to accommodate incoming requests from House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes.
The most substantial effort has surrounded roughly 880,000 pages of documents related to the Justice Department inspector general’s investigation into how the FBI handled the Clinton probe. Committee staff have been able to review the documents in a reading room at the Justice Department and then obtain copies of documents of interest – a laborious process being overseen by US Attorney John Lausch from Chicago.
In June, FBI Director Chris Wray testified that 100 FBI employees have been working around the clock to respond to lawmakers’ requests.
But Republican lawmakers maintain that while the Justice Department is turning over more materials, it has yet to fully comply with the subpoenas. The House passed a resolution last month demanding full compliance with the subpoenas.

These treasonous ‘representatives’ are a disgrace to democracy. “Freedom” Caucus, yeah right. Is there another nation on earth which so misuses that term?

The US is so far from freedom it’s absurd.
All freedom is there is a political catch cry.
The US is Christianity’s Iran.

8 Likes

Not sure this counts as politics, but LMW informs me that Trump’s star on Hollywood Blvd (who knew?) has been smashed.

1 Like

Iran doesn’t pretend to be anything other than a theocracy.

1 Like

The impeachment bill won’t get through the Senate, so it’s fine. Just grandstanding for the base.

If this socialism is the future of the Democratic Party then count me IN. Common sense will hopefully make its way back:

1 Like