Reading over the particulars is a reminder of just how systematic Trump’s assault on democracy has been. If the 120th Congress does not make an effort to hold him accountable for these abuses, you can be sure that a future president will use this as a to-do list.
Ideally, I’d like to see him impeached for raping children. That would be his legacy.
The Constitution is not self-enforcing. It forbids, for example, presidents from receiving emoluments—that is, profits of any kind—from foreign states. It’s a prohibition Trump has made a mockery of (American Constitution Society, 10/1/19; Executive Functions, 5/15/25). But there’s no penalty attached to the violation of this stricture, which makes it, without impeachment, more of an emoluments suggestion.
You bet. Listening to a lot of calls for impeching Hegseth from corporodems–Kabuki theater of course–but they all limited their criticism to INCOMPETENCE, never war crimes. These are fundamentally unserious people.
Because moderates think competent leadership might also sometimes include committing war crimes.
How would we secure lebensraum for Israel without comitting war crimes?
they all limited their criticism to INCOMPETENCE, never war crimes
That reminds me of an interesting moment in an interview earlier this week (arc)
NPR’s Steve Inskeep speaks with former Pentagon spokesman John Ullyot about articles of impeachment brought against Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.
…
INSKEEP: … Now, I want to take seriously, though, this suggestion that you mentioned, Hegseth saying, if you come after me, you’re coming after the troops; if I broke the law, the troops broke the law; if I committed war crimes, the troops committed war crimes. Let’s just look at that for a moment. Do you believe that is accurate? If, as Thomas Massie says, this is an illegal war waged without proper authority from Congress, is everybody in the military guilty of a crime?
ULLYOT: No. That’s obviously a bogus accusation there because the troops are following lawful orders, or what they believe are lawful orders. And they’re told by their commanders. And so nobody’s going to be going after the troops or military.
Ullyot is a dumbass who really needs to read up on the Nuremberg trials and international law, because he’s 100% wrong about “just following orders” being an acceptable excuse, but American society is really not prepared to have this conversation, so we just talk about incompetence and never war crimes
Yes, they don’t want to challenge the United States’ right to murder people for their resources, so they can’t actually go after Hegseth because I honestly don’t think incompetence is much of an impeachable offense, and even if it were, it’s a pisspoor and subjective argument.
As far as troops go, yes, that guy is a moral midget and “just following orders” is widely known as an invalid Nazi dodge. I do have some sympathy for soldiers doing legal war-type stuff in an illegal war, but actual illegal actions like doubletap-murdering the sailors in the Carribean would be a war crime even if the war were legal.
I actually like kabuki theater.
Also the biggest reason to impeach Trump is that he’s a criminal who does impeachable things on a daily basis.
I’m planning on posting some kabuki images every time corporodems talk about changes they would like to see.
Whats a good intro to Kabuki theater, by the way? Does it work on a TV screen or does it need to be live?
Wherever you are, you can probably find some interpretation of Kabuki theater near you.
You can get an idea from a screen, but ambiance is important.
As for posting images, that’ll work regardless.
Impeachment in the house without conviction in the Senate only exonerates him. Just like Jan6th when the Senate ruled he wasn’t guilty.
Impeachment creates a permanent public record of findings and popular support (via reps) for removing him. Even if he’s let off by the Senate, making this public matters.
popular support
No matter the popular support, Trump will be found not guilty by the Senate. This was proven by Jan 6th. The not guilty ruling will only support Maga like it did the last time.
Even if it’s still short of the margin needed to convict (assuming no Republicans flip, which is not a good assumption given what I’m about to say), impeachment with a Democrat-controlled Senate is not like impeachment with a Republican-controlled one. The Republicans quashed the trial before it even started, but the Democrats would hold a legitimate one. That is what makes the crimes impossible for the public, and therefore also any Republican who doesn’t want to be out of a job, to ignore.
