Are We Watching the End Of the Trump Presidency?
By Thom Hartmann A...
As the explosive allegations against Donald Trump pile up, is impeachment now a real possibility?
Even as he headed to Saudi Arabia for his first foreign trip as commander-in-chief, Donald Trump couldn't escape the growing stench of scandal surrounding his administration.
Big breaking news Friday on the various investigations by the Justice Department, and presumably the FBI, of the Trump campaign and now the Trump administration itself.
The Washington Post is reporting that the feds now have a "person of interest" in their crosshairs who is a "senior White House Advisor."
Only two people, Steve Miller and Jared Kushner, have that title, and both were on Air Force One with Trump on their way to Saudi Arabia.
Meanwhile, Rod Rosenstein, the number two guy in the Justice Department and the one who, because Jeff Sessions lied under oath to congress about his contacts with Russian officials, is in charge of the investigation, is reported by McClatchy to have said that the investigation has both moved into a criminal phase, and that they're looking at charges of obstruction of justice - a cover-up - within the Trump camp.
On top of this, the New York Times is reporting that Trump himself bragged to the Russian foreign minister and the Russian ambassador that he "relieved pressure" on himself by firing James Comey, who he described to the two senior diplomats as a "nut job."
Are we watching the beginning of the end of the Trump presidency? And, if so, how might this bizarre game of thrones play out?
Comments
#2
Where is the evidence?
#3
It's forthcoming.
On second thought, just look at the list of yahoos waiting in line behind Ryan: https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Presidential_line_of_succession !!!
(Now where in hell did I hide those damned Razor blades?)
#4
I can't help but wonder how much of this Trump bruhaha is ginned up by the Deep State who wants Trump gone so they can replace him with and even more fanatical, fundamentalist, *FAR* Right, Mike Pence. They let Trump run the race because he appealed to a public that was desperate to get away from 4-8 more years of Bush policy and corruption. But now that the (R) are in control of everything, Trump is too much of a wild card for them and they want someone who will carry their water quietly, and that would be Attorney Pence. I'm glad we got rid of the Bush-Clinton-Obama crowd (really sick of their baloney,) and for a time, Trump was a spoiler for the Deep State (TPP). But now that we have settled down to the daily grind of running the country, the Deep State wants to get on with the business of slashing America to death to make money. They shot Ronald Reagan when he tried to walk alone, just to frighten him back into line. I can't see where the Deep State would shy away from going after Trump; especially in the light of Seth Rich. In case no one realizes it yet, we are in DEEP trouble as a country and unless people wake up and get on it real soon, there is a good chance that some military-industrial Christofundamentalist totalitarian dictatorship is in our permanent future. As of late, the Deep State has begun to be very overt about what they do; they just don't care; they are in charge and are out there for all it's worth. But the country sleeps on...
#5
Where there is smoke there is fire. If it does turn out, and we already have evidence the Ruskies turned the election tide for Rump, then the last election must be voided, like it never happened. And then if the evidence finds Rump conspired with the Ruskies to rump Comey to stop his investigation which we already know he obstructed an investigation of his ties to Russia, impeach the prick.
#6
Pence and Tr@mp are both impeached. Then Ryan is rushed in unless he's prosecuted too. Hurry Mueller, hurry.
#7
Maybe. Maybe Pence follwed by Ryan followed by . . . . But so much has been so unpredictable that I wouldn't bet on ANYTHING right now. I just hope we survive it and get some decent and intelligent human beings to help resolve all of this -- but I think now it will take years. And think of what we've lost in terms of the status of the presidency!
#8
Alas, if it really was the "Game of Thrones," the 70-year-old boy king would be duly poisoned or beheaded by now. End of episode one.
Meanwhile, as the peasants of our evil empire are distracted by Republican lies and rampant corruption, the deep state makes another deal with the devil:
"Your every wish is my command, Sire." The fake president bows to the blood-thirsty King of Saudi Arabia while lavishing Amerikkka's gifts of death and destruction upon the biggest exporter of terror in the world, which included the Saudi citizens who attacked us on 9/11.
Billionaires straddling the U.S. arms industry are orgasmic over the 10-year, 350-billion, state-terrorism deal, with Trump the Vassel discounting the first installment of 110 billion worth of our most advanced military hardware and weapons systems for the Wahhabis to deploy as they wish. At the moment, that means continuing their two-year pogrom of American-sponsored terror against the Houthis in Yemen -- mostly innocent civilians ...and "babies, beautiful babieees."
Alex Ward (Vox; May 20):
"The war has been brutal and has produced a humanitarian catastrophe on a staggering scale: at least 10,000 people have been killed and over 3 million displaced since the war began in March 2015. Millions more are currently at risk of famine.
Saudi warplanes have targeted hospitals, schools, roads, bridges, farms, livestock, and other civilian targets with zero regard for either the laws prohibiting such tactics in wartime or the horrendous suffering they’re inflicting on innocent civilians."
https://www.vox.com/2017/5/20/15626638/trump-saudi-arabia-arms-deal
#9
I see the Repugs are about to decimate our social programs and get rid of the EPA. Come on Dems-you just must talk the reps into voting against it all and let's get Der Furor outta there before he destroys our country!!!!
#10
How will it play out? My prediction: As a distraction, Trump will bomb Iranian nuclear sites and all hell will break loose. War for profit with Iran has been a major goal of the Fascists for years, and Israel is pushing for it.
Along with that, the stock market could crash any day now.....it hasn't been this overvalued since 1929. That would change everything too, mass panic will set in because the Teapublicans won't agree on what to do. Crooked Donny will simply hang around blaming Obama for the economic depression.
Then there's the very real possiblity of an assassination of Putin. This would totally mess up Trump and company, because if Putin gets bumped off, my guess is that intel would immediately get released regarding Trump's treason....game over.
No matter what plays out, "We the People," need to demand a new election. Pence is no more valid than Trump.
#11
if tRUMP goes, then we are stuck with Pence! which is worse!!!!
#12
Is there Any Chance that the 2016 election will be declared Null and Void and that a New Presidential election be held?
#13
Outback -- Why do you say it is forthcoming? I thought the interview with Lester Holt explicitly defined obstruction of justice.
I think we should not forget, what Thom said, that the impeachment clause "misdemeanors and high crimes" was written when there were no laws because no governing body existed until after the constitution was ratified. Therefore that impeachment clause implies that the congress can impeach the president for whatever they want. The people are supposed to rule, not somebody like King Don.
#14
I don't know much about the Deep State government, but I do know that Trump supporters are in a Deep State of Denial and Deep State of Delusional thinking regarding the veracity and character of one, Donald J. Trump.
Trump exemplifies the H. L. Mencken quote: "No one ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public." I also found another Mencken quote that is relevant here: "Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard." Bend over America…we are getting a Trumpfuck'n the likes of which we could scarcely imagine and that Trump supporters will never believe or ever understand.
#15
chuckle8: forthcoming only in terms of "formalizing" the charges. Common sense dictates that Trump's own documented comment to his Russian visitors that the heat was off due to his firing of Comey is, in itself, sufficient to send him down the river.
stopgap: I loved your phrase "a Trumpfuck'n". In fact, when I contemplated the relative merits of a Clinton vs Trump victory, I finally concluded that "a Trumpfuck'n" is precisely what this country needs to jolt it out of its apathy/ignorance/comatose lack of attention span regarding what's being handed us by the vaunted "job creators". I don't know if your chastity belt is in place, but mine is (even though I'm grabbing my ankles like everybody else).
#16
Trump supporters think that our despair is about Hillary losing. But it's really more about Trump winning. Not that it doesn't confirm what we thought all along about Republicans. Trump is no crazier or worse than virtually any of the Republicans. He's just more openly delusional. He reminds me of Willy Loman, and the whole Trump administration reminds me of the Marx Brothers film, "Duck Soup." Trump is a real-life personification of Rufus T. Firefly.
#17
stopgap: :It's more about Trump "winning"? Relative to what? A crazed Wall Street hooker that would have compounded her "husband's" well known propensity for advancing the interests of the transnational capitalist class's interest in beating down the great unwashed? A Clinton win would have been a "death by a thousand cuts". A trump win forced the issue.
#18
Thank you God, for the whining from the leftie/socialists that keep bringing Christmas presents. The repetitive futile babbling I hear and read looks like it will continue for another seven and one half years, and thank you for graphically point out last evening how pathetic these people are when immediately following the Manchester Arena attack Fox News was covering it fifteen minutes before MSNBC and CNN who were too busy pointing out President Trump used the salt before the pepper while seasoning his food.
#19
The negative implications of the Trump win were obvious and predictable to all but the devout Trump supporters. But the win itself was like the U.S. being diagnosed as insane and overdosing on heroin, all at the same time. That it could actually happen has left most of us in a state of shock while many of the Trump supporters remain blissfully ignorant, even while this belligerent corrupt, immoral and incompetent train wreck wipes out everything in its path.
Trump likes to brag about getting more done than any other president. But he is confusing demolition with accomplishment. He pretends that undoing is doing. That undoing regulations is positive rather than negative. His term is comparable to someone that has been given a new car and the first day he removes an outside rearview mirror, the next day he removes the other rearview mirrors. The next day he removes the seat belts. The next day, he removes the brakes, the next day he removes the air bags and so on, and so on. This is his concept of a positive course of action.
Hillary made of had many faults, but at least she was competent and rational. Hell….compared to Trump, she was Joan of Arc.
#20
And whatever happened to Joan of Arc?
#21
Joan of Arc was burned at the stake…and the conservatives cheered and cheered and chanted and ranted and cheered...
#22
Do you mean Joan of Arc the anti immigrationist who drove the English out of France?
#23
Here is a typical trump voter. Embarrassment to American intelligence. Way too many of his type in the USA. I hope that he is currently residing in a Shanghai jail.
2950-10k, yes the Trump budget will destroy America as we know it. Homeless and starvation in America up by uncountable amounts. $1 trillion cut in Medicaid and SNAP in a 10 year period. They want to bring unwanted children into the world and let them starve and not treat medical problems.
#24
I guess the Palestinians are "anti immigrationists" for rejecting the building of Jewish settlements on their occupied territory. But, #23, typical of Republicans, you have dreamed up your own definition of the word immigration to suite your ideological agenda.
#25
By the way #23, based on your definition of anti-immigration, that would make George Washington and Andrew Jackson "anti-immigrationists" with regard to England and it would also make Winston Churchill and Charles de Gaulle "anti-immigrationists" with regard to Hitler and Germany.
#26
Whenever terrorists attack and innocent people die in Western countries, the ghostly images of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney loom above the carnage like the Wizard of Oz in Emerald City (also the nickname of the "Green Zone" in Baghdad). In Manchester, England right now, it's the mocking specter of Tony Blair's head (Bush's poodle) smiling down in "shock and awe."
The chain of events after 2001 brought us to where we are today -- the last time a delusional minority of fake Americans installed a fake president, who started a fake war over oil, killed and displaced millions, squandered trillions of our tax dollars, and destroyed the world economy.
Because their latest fake president is too stupid even to manage his shrinking staff of loyalty-pledged brownnosers, it's been reported that basically the entire government of this "exhausted," low-energy fat man is aboard Air Force One on an overseas apology trip of shame and embarrassment, confirming that Americans are the laughing stock of the world. God forbid should a laptop explode in the cargo hold...
In related (buried) news: A half million Yemeni children are in danger of starvation. But who cares about all those little Muslim bastards ... no splashy chyrons on Fux News about that American-induced tragedy!
#27
Dianereynolds RE#18 -- Are you pointing out that FAUX News is more into spectacle than MSNBC and CNN? However, it is only 15 minutes more.
I must of missed that salt and pepper thing, or are you promoting the meme that FAUX is generating. The meme that giving code word classified information to the Russians is no more important than the order of salt and pepper application.
#28
Do you want to talk about a terror attack that will kill thousands and brutalize millions?
The Trump/Tea party budget is off the savage charts. This country is headed for an economic disaster of the magnitude we've never seen before...when will citizens wake the f up??? We're looking at the possibility of third world economic extremes on a large scale. None of this should be happening, the election was a total fraud and we all refused to do anything about it, including Clinton and Obama.
The billionaires don't need more billions and it sure as hell never trickles down.
#29
Most Americans will not wake up until the damage has been done. Then, they'll blink their large, trusting cow eyes and wonder how any of this could have happened.
#30
deepspace, If you are not a professional writer, you should be. As much as I enjoy and appreciate your posts, I often wonder if your talents are largely wasted on barstool activists like myself. Hopefully your writing finds a larger audience than a somewhat obscure internet comment page.
#31
Barstool activists are the soul and the conscience of a people -- where the revolution begins.
;--))
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Well, as this article http://inthesetimes.com/article/20141/the-trump-pence-impeachment-trap-be-careful-what-you-wish-for nicely sums it up, There is an even scarier scenario; that being that Pence himself becomes ensnared in the obstruction of justice charges, and then guess what. How would you feel about Paul Ryan sitting in for the next 3 years? Hide the razor blades!