The aftermath of Trump's acquittal in his second impeachment trial

Fox News reports, "A national survey conducted by former President Donald Trump's 2016 and 2020 pollster suggests that the Republican Party is divided into what it calls five distinct "tribes."

The poll by the Republican firm Fabrizio, Lee and Associates highlights that four of the five "tribes" hold very positive attitudes on Trump and strongly approve of the job he did in the White House.

Where are they?

The pollster is lying. This thread contains documented criticism of Trump, and "four of the five tribes"are nowhere to be found. They make no attempt to defend Trump.

Want proof? Scan this thread. Except for occasional attacks on writers, Trump's followers -- if there are any -- have avoided Trump.

 

I hold Trump as president in very high regard.

As to this horse pucky of 5 tribes one has to know who and what they are to discuss any.

 

The Mueller Report did not clear Trump or his campaign team. For example, it contained numerous examples of obstruction of justice, and it reported the clandestine meeting between Trump's son, Trump's son-in-law, and Trump's cmpaign manager with Russian agents at Trump's home, Trump Tower, in June, 2016.

4 1/2 years later Trump incited an insurrection against our government. His supporters, like Robert, love him.

You are not doing Trump any good. Quit lying, and, if you don't know, don't say anything.

 

The notion that Trump or his team worked with Russia is the lie you still tell to this very day.
The report released by Obama on January 6, 2017 was not about obstruction of justice. It blamed a deal made by the Russians with Trump to get Trump elected. That was proven by Mueller to be a flat out lie.

Do you love Biden for you voting for the man?

I no more love Trump than any other person merely elected. I do not know Trump in person.

That meeting in the Trump tower is no different than when Biden contacted governments once he was elected and not in office as of then.

Do not accuse me of lying again.

 

The enormous stupidity displayed by some of Trump's apologists never ceases to amaze me.

Take, for example, Senator Ron Johnson from Wisconsin.

Recently, he accused Speaker Nancy Pelosi of being behind the January 6 riot at the US Capitol. He said the riot wasn't actually an "armed insurrection" because it was not shooting engagement. Five people were killed in the uprising. He told a Senate hearing that there were professional protesters stirring up the problems that day and that they might have been affiliated with radical leftist groups.

Then, late last week, he stepped on it again.

Here's Johnson on with conservative talk radio host Joe Pags :

"Even though those thousands of people that were marching to the Capitol were trying to pressure people like me to vote the way they wanted me to vote, I knew those were people that love this country, that truly respect law enforcement, would never do anything to break the law, and so I wasn't concerned...

" ... Now, had the tables been turned -- Joe, this could get me in trouble -- had the tables been turned, and President Trump won the election and those were tens of thousands of Black Lives Matter and Antifa protesters, I might have been a little concerned."

It is difficult to comprehend that these statements were made by a U.S. Senator. I wonder if Johnson is okay from a mental standpoint.

Of course, I often wondered that about Trump. What kind of an idiot would suggest injecting Lysol to kill off a virus, and what kind of a President would incite an insurrection against his own government?

Perhaps both need some quality time with a psychiatrist.

 

Robert, show us where I said "Trump or his team worked with Russia."

When all else fails, create what I said, then criticize me based on what your imagination came up with. It's an old Trumpian tactic, and it is quite foolish. It never works.

 

What proof do you have that Trump was NOT involved with the Russians? To quote an old Rumsfeld maxim, "the absence of evidence is not evidence of absence." Just means Mueller couldn't prove beyond reasonable doubt that Trump was guilty of collusion with them. And, he left the evidence regarding obstruction of justice to be judged by his boss AG Barr or to Congress. Congress impeached him, but could not get a Senate conviction based on a partisian vote.

 

And, as we all know, Trump himself. I was watching this press conference, and I could not believe my ears. Nobody could be this stupid, but he was.

NBC reports, "Dr. Deborah Birx said Monday that military protocol prevented her from publicly questioning then-President Donald Trump's dubious suggestion that injections of disinfectant could fight Covid-19.

"In a moment that came to symbolize the Trump administration's pandemic response, Brix struggled to hold a poker face on April 23 when the president told reporters that disinfectants and "ultraviolet or just a very powerful light" could be used to treat coronavirus patients.


"You can see how extraordinarily uncomfortable I was," Birx said in a new interview with ABC News.




"A former U.S. Army physician, Birx said she's long been trained not to show up a commander, no matter how outlandish a statement was being made."

"I have spent almost 30 years in the military. I worked for every president from Jimmy Carter up and through President Bush," she said.

She added: "Frankly, I didn't know how to handle that episode. I still think about it every day."

NBC continued, "At no time, Birx said, did she think about correcting Trump at the moment."

Little wonder as to why the GOP leadership wants to shed this man. Maybe they have. Trump is being uncharacteristically quiet as of late.

So are his followers as this thread shows.

 

Of course, Putin wanted the mindless, incompetent Trump reelected.

The Times reports, "President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia authorized extensive efforts to hurt the candidacy of Joseph R. Biden Jr. during last year’s election, including by mounting covert operations to influence people close to former President Donald J. Trump, according to a declassified intelligence report released Tuesday.

"The report did not name those people but seemed to be a reference to the work of Mr. Trump’s former personal lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani, who relentlessly pushed allegations of corruption about Mr. Biden and his family involving Ukraine."

The report also found that there were no efforts by Russia or other countries to change voter registration or the ballots themselves.

"Russia sought to influence how the American public saw the two major candidates “as well as advance Moscow’s longstanding goals of undermining confidence in U.S. election processes,” the report said.

Russia was aided in their efforts by Trump who began asserting in mid-summer that the coming election would be fraudulent.

Russia was further aided by Trump, the Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, Three Percenters, and QAnon when they mounted an insurrection in the halls of Congress on Jan. 6. Further undermining the "public confidence in the electoral process and exacerbate sociopolitical divisions in the US," Trump insisted on that day that the election had been stolen from him, thus prompting the violence that followed. No doubt Putin was enormously pleased with his efforts on that day.

For more on the report see https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/16/politics/us-election-intel-report/index.html

 

Contrary to what the Trump administration told us, China decided to sit this one out.

The Times report also said, "The declassified report represented the most comprehensive intelligence assessment of foreign efforts to influence the 2020 vote. Besides Russia, Iran and other countries also sought to influence the election, the report said. China considered efforts to influence the presidential vote, but ultimately concluded that they would fail and likely backfire, intelligence officials concluded."

 

Reuters reports, "Racially motivated extremists pose the most lethal domestic terrorism threats to the US, according to an unclassified intelligence report that warned that the threats could grow this year.

"The blunt assessment, in a report released by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, echoes warnings made by US officials, including the FBI director, Christopher Wray, who testified earlier this month that the threat from domestic violent extremism was “metastasizing” across the country.

"Merrick Garland, the attorney general, has also described it as a top priority as his justice department works to prosecute hundreds of people who participated in the mob attack on the US Congress in January.

"Developments such as the anger over restrictions imposed during the coronavirus pandemic and a belief in the debunked narrative that November’s presidential election was fraudulent “will almost certainly” spur additional violence in 2021, the report said."




“We’re going to walk down to the Capitol, and we’re going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women. You have to show strength, and you have to be strong.”

“When you catch somebody in a fraud, you are allowed to go by very different rules."

“We fight like hell and if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore.”

"Now it is up to Congress to confront this egregious assault on our democracy. And after this, we’re going to walk down, and I’ll be there with you. We are going to try and give them the kind of pride and boldness that they need to take back our country.”
***************************************************************************************************************************President Donald J. Trump

 

It is clear from this thread and others concerning Trump that his followers wish they had never heard of him.

Or, they have no desire to learn the reality of Trump.

In any case, faced with overwhelming criticism of Trump, his followers remain completely silent except for occasional attacks on writers.

 

Trump's followers, in and out of Congress, have absolutely nothing to say.

 

“We’re going to walk down to the Capitol, and we’re going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women. You have to show strength, and you have to be strong.”

“When you catch somebody in a fraud, you are allowed to go by very different rules."

“We fight like hell and if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore.”

"Now it is up to Congress to confront this egregious assault on our democracy. And after this, we’re going to walk down, and I’ll be there with you. We are going to try and give them the kind of pride and boldness that they need to take back our country.”
****************************************************************************************************************************President Donald J. Trump

Washington (CNN)Former President George W. Bush said the January 6 US Capitol insurrection left him "sick to my stomach" and he remains "disturbed" when he thinks about it.

"I can't remember what I was doing, but ... I was sick to my stomach ... to see our nation's Capitol being stormed by hostile forces," Bush said in an interview with The Texas Tribune. "And it really disturbed me to the point where I did put out a statement, and I'm still disturbed when I think about it."

The episode, Bush said, "undermines rule of law and the ability to express yourself in peaceful ways in the public square."

"I am appalled by the reckless behavior of some political leaders since the election and by the lack of respect shown today for our institutions, our traditions, and our law enforcement," he said. "The violent assault on the Capitol -- and disruption of a constitutionally mandated meeting of Congress -- was undertaken by people whose passions have been inflamed by falsehoods and false hopes."

https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/18/politics/george-bush-capitol-insurrection/index.html

 

Has the Republican Party sunk that low? Does the party want a Trump clone for its Presidential candidate in 2024?

NBC News says that is a distinct possibility. They reported, "Ron DeSantis wouldn't be governor of Florida without Donald Trump."

Now he is positioning himself to replace Trump, and the GOP seems to be supporting the effort.

Trump's "endorsement in 2018 turned a young congressman into the runaway winner of a Republican primary that featured a far more seasoned establishment favorite, Adam Putnam. Not quite three years later, many in the party see DeSantis as the person best positioned to carry on Trump's legacy as their national standard-bearer in 2024."

The abrasive governor who is often at odds with local leadership is in the Trump mold. Trump arguably was the most abrasive President in American history and he was easily the least popular.

In other words, DeSantis fits.

And he has been lucky. Although often rejecting the science of the pandemic, "Florida has, since the beginning of the pandemic, seen fewer per-capita coronavirus cases and deaths than many states, including many that instituted the more restrictive measures. And DeSantis' poll numbers are rebounding a year ahead of his re-election bid. A Mason-Dixon Polling & Strategy survey last month found him with a 53 percent job-approval rating," NBC.

"At last month's Conservative Political Action Conference for hardcore GOP activists, he finished second to Trump in one presidential straw poll and first in another from which the former president was excluded.," NBC added.

But is this what the Republican Party wants? Have they sank that low because of their uninformed, extremist grassroots?

Trump lied his way through the four years of his administration. The Post reports, "By the end of his term, Trump had accumulated 30,573 untruths during his presidency — averaging about 21 erroneous claims a day."

Trump lost his reelection by over seven million votes. To this day he is not able to admit that he lost. Because of his refusal to admit defeat, because he claimed the election was stolen from him, he was able to incite an insurrection against our government on Jan. 6. Trump has been impeached twice.

Is the Republican Party yearning for a repeat?

Unfortunately, the answer appears to be "yes."

 

Actually Mueller didn't say he couldn't prove Trump Inc was guilty he said it was not his place to proceed with that accusation, he said it was Congress that had the job to go that route.

 

Don't have my copy of his report with me, although I've read it. My recollection is that that was the conclusion of the second part of the report regarding obstruction of justice. The first part regarding Russian collusion was that there was insufficient proof of any link between Trump or members of his campaign to rise to the level of a indictment based on such a link.

 

“We’re going to walk down to the Capitol, and we’re going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women. You have to show strength, and you have to be strong.”

“When you catch somebody in a fraud, you are allowed to go by very different rules."

“We fight like hell and if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore.”

"Now it is up to Congress to confront this egregious assault on our democracy. And after this, we’re going to walk down, and I’ll be there with you. We are going to try and give them the kind of pride and boldness that they need to take back our country.”
*******************************************************************************************President Donald J. Trump

NBC reports, "The federal prosecutor who had been overseeing the Justice Department’s investigation into the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol says evidence likely supports sedition charges against some of the rioters.

“I personally believe the evidence is trending towards that and probably meets those elements,” Michael Sherwin, the former acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, said in an interview with CBS News’ Scott Pelley that aired Sunday on “60 Minutes.”

"Asked if he expects sedition charges to be brought against some of the suspects, Sherwin said, “I believe the facts do support those charges, and I think that as we go forward, more facts will support that.”

"Sherwin joined law enforcement officers at President Donald Trump’s rally on Jan. 6 in downtown Washington and observed his supporters, many wearing tactical gear, leaving early and heading to the Capitol. He said he knew the situation was spiraling out of control when he saw people starting to climb the scaffolding outside the Capitol."

“Now the question is, is he criminally culpable for everything that happened during the siege during the breach?” said Sherwin, noting that many people said they came to D.C. because Trump told them to take back the House. That fact “moves the needle towards that direction," he said. "Maybe, the president is culpable for those actions.”

 

TEL AVIV, Israel — For three elections in a row, Israeli politics had an outsize guest star: Donald Trump.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made his close relationship with Trump — who was widely popular in Israel — a centerpiece of his campaigns. His Likud party hung a 15-story poster on Tel Aviv's busiest highway showing the two leaders grinning and shaking hands.

Trump, who appeared to relish his political clout in the country, was widely seen as trying to swing the polls in Netanyahu's favor. Shortly before the March 2019 election, Trump invited Netanyahu to the White House, guaranteeing him days of media coverage.

As weary Israeli voters head to the polls for a fourth time in two years Tuesday, Netanyahu can no longer rely on a helping hand from the White House.

President Joe Biden is staying out of the Israeli election after having left Netanyahu waiting for weeks to even receive a phone call. The silence lasted so long that White House press secretary Jen Psaki clarified that it was not "an intentional dis" of Netanyahu.

Polls show Netanyahu's party will almost certainly win the most votes and seats in Tuesday's election. It is not clear, however, whether he will be able to form a majority coalition in Parliament along with his right-wing allies. He is also projected to win fewer seats than he did in last year's vote.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/...er-centerpiece-netanyahu-s-bid-power-n1261605

 

Sandy Shanks posted "Has the Republican Party sunk that low? Does the party want a Trump clone for its Presidential candidate in 2024?

NBC News says that is a distinct possibility. They reported, "Ron DeSantis wouldn't be governor of Florida without Donald Trump."

Now he is positioning himself to replace Trump, and the GOP seems to be supporting the effort."

CNN reports, "Donald Trump has set the price of admission for Republicans in the midterm elections, and probably the next presidential race: an embrace of the big lie that he was cheated out of office by a historic voter fraud operation.

"The former President's effort to turn 2022 polls into a personal revenge mission and to replenish his personality cult got a big boost Monday when a comrade-in-arms, Rep. Mo Brooks, launched an Alabama US Senate run.

"Brooks is the latest Republican to seek to leverage his efforts to thwart a democratic election as a springboard for higher office. He led a push in the House to block the certification of President Joe Biden's victory after telling Trump supporters at the "Stop the Steal" rally that turned into the Capitol insurrection on January 6: "Today is the day American patriots start taking down names and kicking ass."

"In 2020, America suffered the worst voter fraud and election theft in history," Brooks said, claiming no other candidate for the US Senate had stood as strongly as he had alongside Trump. Channeling his hero, he slammed "weak-kneed RINOs," the "fake news media" and "radical socialists."

60 court cases and the Supreme Court tell us that Brooks is lying. Also, he makes no attempt to substantiate the statement. That is pure Trumpian. Trump Republicans consistently make accusations they cannot explain, including Republicans on this forum.

Brooks knows he is lying. It doesn't matter. He is not talking to rational voters. He is talking to the uninformed, intelligence challenged members of Trump's cult who dominate the GOP on the grassroots level.

Want proof of Republican lack of awareness at the grassroots level?

The poll from the Associated Press–NORC Center for Public Affairs Research shows 33% of Republicans say Biden was legitimately elected as the 46th president of the United States, while 65% say he was not. https://www.marketwatch.com/story/p...ve-bidens-election-was-legitimate-01612570478

The poll was taken in February.

Brooks is speaking to 65% of the Republican base which is loyal to Trump. If it is favorable to Trump and his kind, members of Trump's cult believe anything. In Alabama that is enough to win elections, and Brooks knows it.

 

Republicans never cease making complete fools of themselves. The latest example is the contorted argument made by one of Trump's lawyers, Sidney Powell.

Little wonder as to why Republicans can't defend themselves. They get more ridiculous by the day. Where is their leadership?

CNN reports, "Right-wing lawyer Sidney Powell is claiming in a new court filing that reasonable people wouldn’t have believed as fact her assertions of fraud after the 2020 presidential election.

"The election infrastructure company Dominion Voting Systems sued Powell for defamation after she pushed lawsuits and made appearances in conservative media on behalf of then-President Donald Trump to sow doubt about the 2020 election results. Dominion claims that Powell knew her election fraud accusations were false and hurtful to the company.

"In a new court filing, Powell’s attorneys write that she was sharing her “opinion” and that the public could reach “their own conclusions” about whether votes were changed by election machines."

“Given the highly charged and political context of the statements, it is clear that Powell was describing the facts on which she based the lawsuits she filed in support of President Trump,” Powell’s defense lawyers wrote in a court filing on Monday."

In 60 court cases plus the Supreme Court, it was quite clear there were no "facts" to support her contention that the election was stolen from Trump. In addition to everything else, Powell and her attorneys are lying to the court.

“Such characterizations of the allegedly defamatory statements further support Defendants’ position that reasonable people would not accept such statements as fact but view them only as claims that await testing by the courts through the adversary process.”

That is positively amazing, unreal, even for a Republican.

 

Politico reports, "After two mass shootings within a week killed 18 people, the evenly divided Senate is no closer to agreement on any gun control legislation that could respond to the devastation.

"Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is vowing to force a vote on an expansive proposal on background checks for gun buyers, but three critical swing votes from both parties are resistant. Talks are ongoing on a bipartisan strategy that might steer gun legislation past political tripwires, but it's far from clear whether those negotiations could yield the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster."

That means Joe Manchin, the conservative Democrat from West Virginia, and Senate Republicans will not allow a vote on the bipartisan bill expanding background checks which was passed in the House.

Republicans will argue that the Democrats want to take our guns away, Ted Cruz as an example. Of course, that is a lie. Lying has become a common tactic used by Republicans during the Trump era. Trump used the tactic over 25 times a day. Compared to Trump, Cruz is a Boy Scout.

So what if there were two mass shootings within a week that killed 18 people. Obviously, Republicans don't care. They are far more concerned about the gun lobby. Members of Trump's cult actually believe the Democrats want to rescind the Second Amendment and take away their guns.

In actuality, the Democrats want to make it harder for murderers like Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa and Robert Aaron Long to get guns which enabled their rampages. Republican Senators see something sinister in that, but, then, they have been digging themselves a hole for the past four years.

 

Trump is doing his best to take the Republican Party down with him as his devoted followers remain silent.

Politico reports, "John Thune could eventually succeed Mitch McConnell as Senate GOP leader. But first the second-ranked Senate Republican has to decide whether to run for reelection — with Donald Trump prepared to stand in his way."

But his decision looms as the Senate GOP nears a serious crossroads, with five incumbents announcing their retirements and Trump waiting to engage in multiple Republican primaries as he tries to reshape the party’s Senate conference in his image. Several other senators are undecided on running again.

The Democratic Party is trying to defeat Trump's party of "NO!" on several fronts.

Politico continued, "Thune acknowledged that the state of the Senate has nosedived during his 16 years in the chamber, which began when he shocked the political world and defeated former Democratic Leader Tom Daschle in 2004. He fears that things could become only more miserable for the GOP minority if Democrats kill the filibuster."

“We’re losing a ton of talent, a ton of experience and expertise. And so, you know, you hate to see quality people leave. And if the Democrats pursue the course they’re on right now and try and do everything by pure majority rule, obviously, it won’t be a fun place to be,” he said. “It’s probably as challenging today as it’s ever been, given the political environment.”

"Trump’s vow to campaign against him doesn’t visibly ruffle Thune, a lanky former basketball player. “It’s not something I’m weighing heavily one way or the other,” the 60-year-old said. He’s laughed off Trump’s attacks on him, advising his party to avoid revolving around one person and focus on issues," Politico added.

 

They are crazy in Texas.

They are crazy in Colorado as well!

They are crazy in Atlanta.

Following the killing of eight people in three spas, six of them Asian, a guy walked into a Atlanta grocery store armed to the teeth.

NBC reports, "A 22-year-old man who police say went into an Atlanta grocery store carrying a rifle and who was later found to have six guns and body armor was arrested Wednesday.

"No one was injured, and the man's motives were not clear early Thursday.

"Rico Marley was booked into the Fulton County Jail on 11 charges, including five counts of criminal attempt to commit a felony and six counts of possession of firearm or knife during commission of or attempt to commit certain felonies, records show."

It is okay to walk around the streets of Atlanta carrying an AR-15. Georgia, too, along with Texas and Colorado, has open carry.

Gee, do you think there is a connection between open carry laws and this insanity?

Complete silence from Republicans on this forum. That is significant.

 

With Trump there was no shortage of stupidity, false steps, and incredulous statements. However, since Trump left office, the news has become rather boring. Here's why.

JACK SHAFER writes, "This time four years ago, the Trump administration had already burst its banks with sensational, revealing and damaging leaks. The Washington Post had reported the dodgy phone conversations between President Donald Trump’s pick for national security adviser, Michael Flynn, and Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak. An executive memo about reestablishing CIA “black site” prisons had appeared in the New York Times. Trump advisers candidly—though anonymously—gossiped with the New York Times about the president’s “impetuous,” impulsive ways and his reliance on “alternative facts.” And a confidential White House request that the FBI publicly discredit reports of Trump campaign connections to Russian intelligence seeped onto CNN.

"In comparison, the Biden White House has been as tight as an airlock on the International Space Station. This absence of leaks has fed the press corps’ hunger for a presidential press conference—a desire for him to say something, anything, to fill the silence."

We now have a President whose only desire is to do his job, no fanfare, no controversy, no conspiracies, and no mindless statements.

How boring.