Trump Commits More Impeachment Worthy Offenses (aka Another Day Passes)

Trump is trying to out the alleged Ukraine whistleblower on Twitter.

Some will not take someone that even the likes of the head guy at liberal leaning Dorf on Law has dismissed to me personally as a kneejerk types a good judge. But, when it comes to how bad Trump is, that level of disgusted cynical partisan (though repeatedly he still leaves something to be desired) is appropriate.

Trump retweeting right wing conspiracy b.s. on a steady basis is not okay.  "Trump being Trump" at this point is akin to "arsonist being an arsonist" -- you'd keep the person out of sensitive buildings without close supervision.  President Andrew Johnson, in a largely forgotten bit, was partially impeached for "attempt to bring into disgrace, ridicule, hatred, contempt and reproach, the Congress of the United States." This calls to mind Trump's campaign rhetoric and like with the Ukraine Extortion Racket, he is a repeat offender here.  The problem is that we saw how far criticizing this in 2016 went with people mostly resigned about how uncouth the guy is.  Yeah.  LBJ was uncouth.  This guy is f-ing disgusting.

"Facebook has a policy against naming the whistleblower, and told BuzzFeed News on Thursday that any mention of the name of the person believed to be the whistleblower violates its coordinating harm policy."

Even with Andrew Johnson, when a Johnson even campaigning itself was notable and there was a higher degree of propriety regarding public speech, there was not enough support to even bring it to a vote.  But, Trump at some point makes Johnson's "Swing Around the Circle" rhetoric tame, particularly given the reach of his Twitter. Calling Comey "scum" is notable enough. [See Aaron Ruper Twitter.] No wonder serious splits among evangelists (note it always was much more "white" evangelists anyhow, a qualifier notable in its absence) are starting to come out. This guy is in the minds of many after all the President of the United States.  But, retweeting the supposed whistleblower?

How exactly can this be handwaved?  As I said there, it isn't the case that there was no coverage.  Newsweek (where one can find out, including by links to Buzzfeed, that Twitter said retweeting would not violate its standards, but outing the alleged whistleblower would violate Facebook standards).  I continue to be wary at the limited impeachment counts though hold to my belief that (1) the "consistent/previous" type language makes it wider than some make it out to be (2) realistically, it's a synecdoche of wider wrongs as seen repeatedly when people talk abut them. Nonetheless, the ongoing actions here suggest the value of an obstruction of justice count. Among other things.

It's hard to keep up the outrage without, especially since there is a general feeling by many that reality is not as bad as all that. At least, you cannot hold up that level of outrage and disgust on a steady basis.  Thing is that at times it is warranted.  Jim Crow was a thing, a bad thing, even if only a small minority was strongly against it in practice. As a new decade approaches -- I'll take the side that thinks 2020 is that -- we need to stay firm here.  It's basically holiday time as is, making it harder to spread the news, but so it goes there.  As some attempt is made to pressure a few Republican senators to at the very least make the impeachment trial kinda actually a trial, we continue to see horrible things that were there all along. As with Ukraine, this all is "consistent" with "previous" stuff.  It's still real bad.

Mr. Biden was asked by The Register whether he stood by previous comments that he would not comply with a subpoena to testify in the impeachment trial. He said he did, and explained that complying with a subpoena and testifying would effectively allow Mr. Trump to shift attention onto Mr. Biden and away from the president’s own conduct. Mr. Biden made similar comments to reporters aboard his campaign bus on Friday night.

While the idea of witnesses called on behalf of the Senate, or at the request of the House of Representatives in the form of managers putting on a case, is put out there, this latest Biden thing to me didn't help.  Biden is obviously right that there really is no good reason for Biden to be subpoenaed as a whole and it is likely just a way for Trump/Republicans to throw smoke. OTOH, I'm not sure how unlike that is as compared to many witnesses called in various civil and criminal trials. And, the rules are more lax in impeachment trials.  Biden had no grounds to say that.

Some with less concern for legal niceties appreciated Biden's comments; my reaction (colored somewhat by not being a fan anyway) was negative. My thought was not only that he had no right to challenge but it would give aid and comfort to the other side's refusal based on what basically amounts to "they aren't going to be fair" allegations.  Democrats are trying to get support for witnesses. Preemptively refusing theoretical subpoenas is not really ideal.  And, as noted in that article, Biden finally got around to realizing it.  More depressing dubious strategic decision-making.

It is realized, concerned people will be sure to emphasize, that this is a lesser problem to Trump aiding and abetting right wing trolls against the forces of proper government.  The lesson is that being a whistleblower is a dangerous affair and you shouldn't make waves.  The putative executive head rather help war criminals.  We knew this in 2016. It was ridiculous then to think he was a credible person for the job.  One party refuses to admit this or even be "disturbed" (as the gentle lady from Alaska is reportedly of Moscow Mitch totally being in hoc with Trump on impeachment, as you know as the leader of a separate branch naturally should be) that much.  Impeachment is a sort of "you know, I have concerns" thing, not "obviously he should be, I'm just concerned on it being so limited."  The state of things as the decade runs its course.

The 2010s left something to be desired for me personally. It is ending rather dubiously for the country though impeachment was a little sign of sanity. Well,at least we aren't the UK!