US Politics, December 2019: Profound procedural deficiencies

Barely been paying attention today, because why bother, but the GOP's stance is so untenable it's embarrassing.

"This process is a sham, there are all sorts of fact witnesses we need to hear from!"

"What about all the fact witnesses and first-hand accounts Asshole has forbidden from testifying? Shouldn't we hear from them under oath? Like Trump, or Pompeo, or Pence o r Rudy?"

"No, not from them, just the other people, like Biden and Elmo and Nessie."

oh cool here's the new fake outrage we get to hear about for the next week

A minor child deserves privacy and should be kept out of politics. Pamela Karlan, you should be ashamed of your very angry and obviously biased public pandering, and using a child to do it.

— Melania Trump (@FLOTUS) December 4, 2019

this is the cruel & indefensible joke in question

KARLAN: "I will give you one example that shows you the difference between him and a king, which is, the Constitution says there can be no titles of nobility. So while Trump can name his son 'Barron,' he can't make him a baron." pic.twitter.com/FF0E0KyAEh

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) December 4, 2019

it's not like she insulted a dead soldier's family or anything

she insulted him by...calling him by the name his parents gave him? idgi

He's going to be confused and embarrassed by the answer he'll get when he asks his father why he can't make a Barron.

poor kid still rattled from the time he thought Kathy Griffin beheaded his father

This is the stupidest, fakest thing

She practically murdered the child with that comment

the GOP's already fund raising off that remark.

The GOP fundraises even when there is nothing to be outraged about. They're just crazy fundraising fools.

I intend no criticism. I've sent them a dollar in the shape of a turd.

I am deeply offended by this neutral public acknowledgement of a child Donald Trump forgot that he fathered. What's next, a reminder of Tiffany's existence?

Speaking of forgetting of something's existence, I completely forgot the Senate exists. What do those dummies do all day?

Confirm incompetent judges

it's a full time job

OMG SHE FUCKING APOLOGIZED?!?!?!?!

This really is the dumbest stupidest fucking country.

...and that's how the GOP wins

OMG SHE FUCKING APOLOGIZED?!?!?!?!

Discretion is the better part of valor. This just takes the hammer that the GOP has been using to beat her with out of their hands. It's not as if she is apologizing for some central idea or any part of the substance of what she said, so there's no reason to dig in and vociferously defend such an irrelevant part of her testimony.

yeah, agree

This just takes the hammer that the GOP has been using to beat her with out of their hands.

I can tell this is your first day here on Earth, so let me explain: What will happen now is they will hammer even harder, every hour of every day, until impeachment is over and long afterward, until eventually Trump will just have to mention her name at one of his goon rallies in the same tone he mentions Lisa Page and Peter Strozk to inspire mocking cheers and roars of rage, and long after everyone else on Earth has forgotten who this woman is she will remain a hate-object in Knuckle-Walker Land, because she dared to mock the God-Emperor's child.

yup cause hey, she even admitted she did something wrong!

the only way to "win" vs this or any GOP tactics/policies is to have 40% of the country stop being stupid selfish paranoid xenophobic assholes. Good luck USA>

Exactly, the GOPs entire operating procedure revolves around them constantly being apologized to for perceived slights. Don’t play into it.

Don’t get me wrong it would be understandable if there was any chance someone was actually offended by this but we all know that they don’t really care. Trump probably doesn’t even remember the kid’s name.

miserable timeline indeed

for all we know it's some made up kid

So, if one concludes that there is no difference whatsoever between the result if she apologizes and if she doesn't, then there is no harm at all in her apologizing and it becomes just a personal decision she made for her own purposes; it's none of our business.

Nobody's gonna remember this shit in two weeks.

that's what I think

conservatives are still doing Hanoi Jane joeks. They are the masters (and weirdly effective) at beating a dead horse into paste

and mashing the resultant paste

I wish the entire GOP Congress had been in the car with Vince Neil that fateful night

I know. It’s still fucking infuriating. Don’t forget Melania parading around a newly orphaned baby for a photo op while her dipshit husband (whose rhetoric probably inspired the killer) smiled for the cameras and have a big thumbs up. These people deserve nothing but milkshake hats.

they think they're the popular kids and we're all in seventh grade forever

this apology was unnecessary, but the demand was no more ridiculous than a few "you keep her name out of your filthy mouth" style threats i've heard made that have absolutely NOTHING to do with any actual or accidental insult, so uh, "america."

what are you people reading or watching where this shit is even a big deal? And I read NRO once a week.

seriously - nobody sincerely cares about barron

Nobody Sincerely Cares About Barron by Tiffany Trump (for readers ages 10 to 47)

I wish the entire GOP Congress had been in the car with Vince Neil that fateful night

― master of nuggets (Neanderthal), Wednesday, December 4, 2019 5:51 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

I know. It’s still fucking infuriating.

― frogbs, Wednesday, December 4, 2019 5:51 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

Same, guys. Same.

This is the lead story on foxnews.com right now and prominently featured on cnn’s site

IOW I would not be even slightly surprised if everything unperson laid out above came to pass

She shouldn’t have apologized.

This is the lead story on foxnews.com right now and prominently featured on cnn’s site

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlKao_Pox5A

the Speaker of the House is directing the Judiciary to draw up articles of impeachment for the President

oh surprise

anyway, obviously it has to be done, he won't be removed, and now I fear he's going to be re-elected and our next five years are going to be a fucking authoritarian hellscape previously unimagined.

oh fuck off

Everything the asshole does is so beyond the pale I wish people like her stopped being so fucking solemn about it and just repeatedly kicked him in the nuts, literally and rhetorically. As if anxious hand wringing is going to get impeachment any more support.

Impeached or not, the most likely outcome of all of this is that asshole will ... ask another foreign power to interfere in the election for personal gain.