Dana Milbank in the Washington Post captures the strange upside-down distortion of facts and evidence that characterized the Republican side of the debate. Not a single Republican was willing to question Trump’s efforts to entice a foreign nation to dig up dirt on a political rival. None thought it was unsavory, atrocious, intolerable. What if Obama has done the same thing? They would have been howling for his impeachment. Instead, all spoke of Trump as if he were a deity who walks among us.
Looking at the complete subjugation of the a Republican Party, Milbank declares a victory for Trumpism. I disagree. Trump has totally subjugated the Republican Party to his will, but the American people will decide next November whether he has won. A victory for Trump in November is a victory for racism, misogyny, xenophobia, climate change denial, greed, and isolationism. It could happen. But we must work to make sure that it doesn’t.
Milbank wrote:
Democrats are the ones, Rep. Tom McClintock (R-Calif.) said, who committed a “stunning abuse of power.” Democrats are the ones, Rep. Tom Rice (R-S.C.) said, who “colluded with Russia and Ukraine.” Democrats are the ones, Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) said, who engaged in “the largest and most massive coverup of such a list of crimes against our country.” Democrats are the ones, Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) said, who committed an “assault on the Constitution.” Democrats are the ones, Rep. Tim Walberg (R-Mich.) said, who are “interfering in America’s election.” Democrats are the ones, Rep. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) said, who “have dangerously shattered precedents.”
It was as though Alex Jones and Tucker Carlson had taken over the House floor. Even during the most solemn constitutional ritual, Republicans were auditioning for an audience of one — and outbidding each other with conspiracy theories in hopes of scoring a favorable tweet from the boss.
Republicans on the floor applauded.
Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Tex.) accused Democrats of pursuing impeachment to conceal “Ukraine’s interference into the U.S. election in 2016” — earning Gohmert a rebukefrom Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) for spouting this false Russian propaganda.
It was all a triumph for alternative facts, for Russian dezinformatsiya, for Fox News and for social media toxicity.
The losers aren’t the Democrats — the public remains as split as before — but democracy. Just as after the Mueller report, Trump will only grow more emboldened in breaking the legal constraints on his presidency.
Trump, and Republicans, succeeded in making impeachment just another political fight. (“They don’t just hate Donald Trump, they hate the 63 million Americans who voted for this president.”) As such, Wednesday felt oddly routine at the Capitol. Only a few dozen lawmakers watched most of the debate. Outside, a few hundred rallied for impeachment; a lone figure dressed as Santa Claus rallied against. There was little of the fire that greeted Obamacare’s passage in 2010.
To look down from the gallery was to see a House divided: almost all white men on the Republican side, a mosaic of color and gender on the Democratic side. Rep. Justin Amash (I-Mich.), forced to leave the GOP because he supported impeachment, sat with the Democrats; Rep. Jeff Van Drew (N.J.), about to leave the Democratic Party because he opposes impeachment, hobnobbed on the Republican side with new colleague Steve King.
The Rev. Patrick Conroy, the House chaplain, prayed for “wisdom and discernment.” But it wasn’t to be found. Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.) compared Democrats unfavorably to Pontius Pilate. Rep. Fred Keller (R-Pa.) likened Democrats to those who killed Jesus (“they know not what they do”). Rep. Mike Kelly (R-Pa.) likened impeachment to the attack on Pearl Harbor. Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.) repeated the same misquote of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi — three times.
Democrats, in response, kept repeating the evidence. “The president withheld congressionally approved military aid to a country under siege to extract a personal political favor. That’s a cold hard fact,” said Rep. Jim McGovern (Mass.).
But Republicans met hard facts with protests (they began by forcing a vote to adjourn and ended by refusing to use their electronic voting cards), intermittent and then frequent heckling, booing and jeering, maligning of Democrats’ motives, demands for Adam Schiff’s indictment and Pelosi’s expulsion, and hours of Trumpian insults directed at Democrats: Phony. Fraudulent. Socialist. Stalinist. McCarthy(ism). Sham. Witch-hunt. Coup. Kangaroo court. Joke. Rigged. Hoax. Charade. Circus. Stunt. Lies. Corruption. Swamp creatures. Star chamber. Illegal. Illegitimate. Hit job. Delusional. Elitists. Total Schiff show! READ THE TRANSCRIPT!!!
And Trump chimed in on Twitter with more of the same — “ATROCIOUS LIES . . . ASSAULT ON AMERICA” — before heading to a campaign rally.
History will note that at 8:42 Wednesday evening, the People’s House impeached Trump for high crimes and misdemeanors. The punishment was necessary and just. But though Trump stands rebuked, the Republicans’ ugly defense of an unrepentant offender shows that Trumpism has prevailed
Diane Ravitch's blog 
O frabjus day!
An entire U.S. political party stands with a traitor. Breathtaking. Surreal. But so it is.
You can’t make anything up this crazy.
I hate to go here, but is this how Hitler gained power? Too many people persuaded by lies that suit their own purposes or fears willing to close their eyes to their consciences.
Exactly. https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/the-enabling-act
Yes, you are correct. The next thing to expect: depending if he is up in the polls (when it will happen after the election) or down (when it will happen before the election), there will be a contrived, planned catastrophe a la Reichstag fire to declare a national emergency, suspend Congress and the judiciary, and something akin to martial law. And internment camps will come. Look into the eyes of the people at his rally tonight–or any rally, for that matter–they will cheer it on and love it when we are jailed or worse.
Which brings me back to how everyone misinterprets Martin Niemoeller’s oft mis-quoted “first they came.” What everyone fails to understand is that his mis-quoted statement (which even he did not remember exactly how it came to be) he recalled that it was not just that he stood by as communists, social democrats, and union members were put into concentration camps, he and his ilk actually thought it was a good thing and supported it, after all, the Protestant church in Germany opposed communists, Hitler just did what they were thinking would be good. It was only when he was detained and jailed that he realized the error of his ways. That’s what will happen here.
Happy trails, folks!
I also suggest we all brush up on Victor Klemperer to prepare for our futures. History repeats. Take his observation from 1941: “Always and everywhere: National Socialism does not want to know, to think, only believe…The main thing for tyrannies of any kind is the suppression of the urge to ask questions.”
At which point we prey for a military coup. After attacking his Generals he is now under water with the armed forces.
https://www.militarytimes.com/news/pentagon-congress/2019/12/17/half-of-active-duty-service-members-are-unhappy-with-trump-new-military-times-poll-shows/
An absolutely hideous and obscene display by the so called Republican party. They have truly embraced bully boy Mussolini-style fascism but so far minus the violence and murder characterized by Mussolini. They will utter any lie, any fantasy, any conspiracy in service to their lord and master DJT. The really scary part is that this human pustule could win a second term, it’s all too possible. Will the Electoral College rescue Trump again?
Greg is right.
I think it’s fair to say that we teachers failed to inoculate students against a resurgence of Nazism. We needed to teach how it happened and it could happen here. We could and should have done more. But perhaps enough have learned the lesson to fight back hard and win. We must get tough and strong and focused.
One lesson in the rise of Nazism is that a very educated populace, including some professors of great note, were right in there with the saluting and nationalism.
Yes, it is bizarre to hear all the repeated claims that Ukraine—not Russia—hacked the 2016 election. Didn’t Trump win?
Because they (Ukies) were out to get him.Wouldn’t a sane person just dismiss it and move on ? After gloating that he won anyway.
Cheryl, that’s what confounds me. He won the election. He is president. Why does he keep obsession about the election of 2016 and trying to “prove” that the Russians did not help him but the Ukrainians tried to help Hillary. He is very consistent at projecting his feelings, so he is demonstrating again and again that he doubts the legitimacy of the election. What does he know that we don’t know?
Trump gains his following from people who have an outsized influence on political discourse, but perceive themselves as underdogs. Some support him because they see democrats as attacking the idea of laissez faire economics. Some see him as supporting their vision of traditional society embattled is an era when they are assailed by social change. Every part of Trump’s constituency sees itself as embattled. He has to paint himself with these colors to keep his base from becoming complacent. So it is with the rest of the republicans, who have moved over the last four decades from Rockefeller and Eishenhower to Tom Delay and Newt Gingrich to Paul Ryan to Trump and his minions.
trumphas to look like the underdog. It is th source for his power.
Trump, the alleged billionaire, likes to present himself as the Classic Victim, the Underdog, the common man fighting for the oppressed who have lost out in life.
When he was in bankruptcy (one of several times), the banks required him to live on no more than $450,000 a MONTH. Some sacrifice for him.
I am reminded of an incident from many, many years ago–maybe 40 years.
I used to play tennis once a week with an eccentric man who owned a chain of custom shirt shops around the nation.
He was born into poverty but struck it rich in his lifetime.
He drove a beige Rolls-Royce, and I was embarrassed when we drove through Harlem.
I told him so.
He said I was mistaken to be embarrassed.
He stopped at a red light, alongside an asphalt playground where teens were playing basketball.
He tooted his horn and gave a thumbs up signal.
All the boys stopped playing basketball, rushed to the high chain link fence, and they all gave him a thumbs up.
He turned to me and said, “See? They aren’t jealous. They hope they can have the same someday.”
I never forgot it but I don’t know the lesson.
Is Trump the lesson? Don’t pick on the rich because someday you might be rich too?
Or is there some other lesson?
Diane: fascinating story. Coming from an impoverished part of the country until very recently, I think I can give some insight. When people are born into poverty, they react to life on a visceral level. They see a cool car, they think in the immediacy of the moment. Cool car. I do that now. I know that it takes $50,000 to preserve an old car, but I always smile and greet those who have done that work positively, knowing all the time that there are people who could really use that excess. Such is the dynamic of a society wherein wealth is not restricted.
I understand your view as well. I have been with friends who are fairly wealthy, and have felt somewhat embarrassed at the ostentation we displayed. One of my more interesting friends grew up in a family that was extremely wealthy, and admired me for being a farmer back when I was young.
None of this has anything to do with bankruptcy laws, which are clearly designed so that the wealthy get to keep more of what they have than the needy. Poor Trump. All that struggling on his way to his present wealth or penury, depending on which narrative you accept.
Just what kind of koolaid have the GOP members been drinking? I don’t get it.
The GOP members are afraid of the dump. “What does he have over them?” should be the question asked.
Well, this sure wasn’t any Hollywood movie.
But then again, so many people will just tune out, move past and turn on whatever the next video diversion is, God help us.
More and more I’m noticing that we are living in a video-based culture. If the story isn’t on YouTube, or now Tik Tok, does it really exist? Those of you who aren’t in a classroom right now everyday might not notice this phenomenon as much. Or, probably you do if you watch the evening news. Things have really changed in just three years.
The written word is disappearing. Just this week our school library stacked up the bulk of our reference section; it’s already marked “discard”. (I was showing my classes some of the books yesterday.)
Usually, in the movies the hero wins at that last minute. The catastrophe is dodged. The car makes it though a fire. The planet is saved as the space fighter just misses an asteroid and blows up the bad guys. Jimmy Stewart collapses but the corrupt Senator Paine gets a conscience and admits his wrongdoing….the best of what our nation stands for carries the day.
But not last night. Nope.
Despite hours and hours of heartfelt speeches and appeals to the “better angels of our nature” the needle barely moved.
And, so goes the Republic.
Well, I have to go get ready for school. And, find a quick, pithy video that will show my students in 60 seconds or less how things are slowly, day by grueling day crumbling down around us.
John,
The needle didn’t move. No one changed their view after all the hearings and debate.
The Republicans are terrified that Trump will destroy them with a tweet.
Yes, and what a power that is. It’s scary how human fear has been harnessed -21st century style. Maybe someone will write a book (or a computer post) someday called, “Profiles in LACK of Courage.”
P.S. Among other things, we cracked open an old textbook this morning and actually read the sections of the U.S. Constitution that mention impeachment. (It doesn’t take long.) It’s amazing how much a document from 1787 is being referenced now, on the edge of 2020.
If I had time at this moment I might sit here an read an entire Federalist Paper. But gotta go….
To save your time, here is Hamilton on impeachment:
https://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/fed65.asp
https://www.congress.gov/resources/display/content/The+Federalist+Papers#TheFederalistPapers-66
https://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/fed69.asp
[impeachment] “as a bridle in the hands of the legislative body upon the executive servants of the government. Is not this the true light in which it ought to be regarded?”
Nice prose Mr. Hamilton. Who could ever guide a horse without a bridle?
Interesting bridle analogy. Let me extend it. The Republicans have tried to rein in Trump using a hackamore which is a bridle without a bit. Years ago when I worked briefly as a camp counselor and riding instructor, we had a horse who had to be ridden with a hackamore. Only problem was he was also a school horse and would jump a fence if he was in a ring by himself apart from the rest of the horses. Trump seems to be jumping fences all the time to be with his barn buddies.
Your comments on the video becoming the dominant communication paradigm reminds me that political upheaval has typically occurred when the primary means of communication undergoes technological shift. Gutenberg was prologue to the reformation. Marat and Paine, both masters of the quick poster and pamphlet, steered their revolutions with their ink spots. Jackson rose as the modern press rose, and yellow journalism catapulted us into the Spanish-American War and the age of American imperialism. Kennedy arguably defeated Nixon on TV by using make-up and Roger Ailes took us back to the future when he created a Fox that was every bit the partisan as anything the Jacksonian Democrats ever thought of. Then Trump tweeted his way into the White House, amplifying a right wing way beyond its general access to a public wider than its own narrow group.
I almost forgot the two political leaders who used radio for their ascendancy: Hitler and FDR. Americans were soothed by the fire side chats and Germans were roused by the incessant rants of Goebbels until he grew old in the face of certain defeat.
So what will it be now? Can democratic ideals coexist with the new media? Will logic and reason fall victim to the absence of media that transmit these necessary adjuncts to freedom? Or will good people begin to use Uboat-tube or Tic-tic-tic-tic to their own advantage?
Roy,
I wish you had been my world history teacher.
Thanks to you and this site, we can all be each other’s teachers if we just have reasoned dialogue. That said, you can bet students in the 9th grade are not ready to process such a stream of consciousness mess as you just liked. Someday I may be worth something to them, but it is a struggle.
My son-in-law teaches at a public college in NYC. He just got a handwritten note from a student thanking him for being such a wonderful, well-informed, inspiring teacher.
He was so happy, he shared the note with all his family.
If only students knew how much teachers care about them and are moved when someone says, “thanks for making a difference in my life.”
I told my son-in-law that years from now that student won’t remember who the president of the college was, who the mayor was, but will remember him because he was a wonderful teacher.
You are correct. Students always recall something human you did. Maybe you nicknamed the student. Maybe you said something over and over. Maybe you were quirky and did not care what anyone thought of you.
As a college student, however, I remember my mentor professors a different way. I had had a negative experience in which a parent of a friend had accused me of being a communist. I was anything but a commuist, and went to him with my feelings, my own father being an invalid for several years by then. He listened and responded with his usual belligerence: “you have to arm yourself with the facts!” This conversation led to a three credit hour independent research paper on the issue of communism in American politics. Just let a computer duplicate that experience.
As we get older, we can start to process what we know if we recall the particulars and start to put them together. Meanwhile, we remember the teachers that validate our humanity.
I’m sitting here alone in my classroom after all the students have left. I just finally had my lunch -it was one of those crazy days when I never had the time to eat.
It’s heartening to read all these comments on here -amidst the political tragedy that’s engulfed our country. Thanks.
I have one of the sunniest classrooms in the building with a beautiful view of the lake. But the trees out there are glistening with ice…it’s windy and brutally cold today. Kind of a metaphor for this moment.
John: Where do you live? I love brutal winter. We never have it in Tennessee, however. Today is about 45 and sunny, last night was 20 or so, depending on whether you were on the ridge or down by the river (its always 5 degrees colder where the cold air settles by the river.
We have been so warm this winter that the ducks have remained to the north of us. My wife and I are birders.
We’re in Upstate NY on a mountain. It’s beautiful but the winter is long. I’m glad I put our bird feeder up early. Take care.
It’s hard to understand why people in Congress are so ‘unable to see the threat that Trump is putting upon this country”. How far can ignorance go? I now understand why Hitler was able to take over the minds of a whole country. Hatred, fear, hurt, lies, greed…only negative things occur in this administration.
I’m glad that Trump will be labeled for all of US history as a person who went against the Constitution. Tough SH*T that he is upset about it. At least the Democrats are doing the right thing.
Whatever is wrong with the GOP? They are shaking in their boots because the Orange Turd might Tweet something offensive.
Trump is not only unfit and ignorant, he is showing signs of dementia.
………………………………………………..
Trump, Unbowed, Uses Rally to Strike Back Against Impeachment Vote
The president traveled to Michigan, a vital electoral state, to deliver his response after he became the third president to be impeached by the House.
…Even by his own standards, the president’s speech was discursive and sometimes strange, as when he digressed to complain that modern toilets lack adequate flushing power and that “women” had informed him that dishwashers, too, have lost their historic oomph.
At the moment the House approved the first article of impeachment, for abuse of power, about 17 minutes after he took the stage, Mr. Trump was bragging about how F-35 fighter pilots were even more handsome than the “Top Gun” actor Tom Cruise.
“Is there a better place in the world to be than a Trump rally?” he asked at one point. But as the speech went on, supporters began leaving in significant numbers or in some cases, appeared to doze off in their seats…
“. . . they took turns accusing Democrats of the very offenses Trump committed — with Trumpian language and disregard for reality.”
In other words the Buxton defense: “I know you are so what am I” See:
The GOP is dead and buried. Long live Lincoln’s GOP.
What was once the GOP went through a vampirish transformation and became TPOP, Trump’s Party of Puppets.