A step towards becoming a banana republic.

Even high levels of knowledge are not immune to personal bias. Those who like Trump interpret the knowledge differently than the left. Tribalism makes us all predictable in that when we like someone we will be much easier on them than if we did not like them. We will even give one we like a pass yet lambaste those who we do not like that do a like thing.

It is human nature to overestimate our ability, intelligence and rationality. This can be mitigated but requires the acceptance of the former to do so. Even then it takes a heroic effort that includes a brutally honest self reflection to nearly a masochistic level that few ever attempt to do. The human default setting is that we are too ignorant to see just how ignorant we are, yet in our heads we think we have it all figured out. I am convinced that if there is a god, he/she/it must be a sadist as only a sadistic god would make us all biased then severely limit our ability to detect our own bias.

 

That is a two way street. Trump and all those around him are innocent right? If so their fighting the impeachment investigation implies that they fear something. The excuse will be to point out the obvious bias on the left (while ignoring the bias on the right) thus justifying not complying with the investigation. How the left will see it as an admittance that team Trump has something to hide. Yet I agree with your assessment but apply it to team Trump as well.

 

Who is a human thus not immune to bias. In terms of character, what a man once was does not necessarily mean the man still is. We all change, sometimes for better and other times for worse.

 

I am hoping that the intolerant that do not play well with others are the minority. If they are not you may sooner or later get your way.

 

Which involves a man who may be running against Trump in 2020. Alleged crimes that involve politicians should be investigated by the DOJ, not the White House. To do otherwise is unethical. To believe Trump when he says it is not political is to believe a man with a long history of lying.

 

Which does not make it OK. Doing wrong because others do it is illogical by my measure of logic.

 

I think both sides are using this for their own political gain. I think both sides are desperate to find dirt on the other. Makes me sick.

 

There is plenty of corruption to investigate.

This one is a cold case where there is no evidence of corruption, and there is documented evidence of the intent to gain the help of a foreign nation in our election process. That's totally illegal even if you ignore the fact that Trump used our national security and the aid directed by Congress as a personal bargaining chip.

ThIs one is absolutely an impeachable offense.

 

I agree that the left are engaged in a which hunt. Where we differ is that I see the right doing the same against the left. Both sides are hypocrites as each accuse the other of that which they do themselves.

No president should be involved with investigating a political rival. Those who disagree stand upon very different ethical ground than I. But do not worry as the Senate will exonerate Tump as they place party over country. If Tump were a Democrat then the Republicans would be up in arms although few on the right possess the intellectual honesty to admit that. In politics all that matters is tribalistic loyalty to party where the ends justify the means. This includes the Democrats as they are no better than the Republicans.

 

All of which that need to be vetted rather than blindly accepted or rejected based upon one’s political allegiances and views aka biases. This is why I remain neutral pending verifiable and vetted facts.

 

Justifying bad behavior by pointing out the bad behavior of others is illogical by my measure of logic. No president should be involved with investigating a political rival. I stand against the bad behavior of both parties.

 

Ask yourself, If you HAD NOT VOTED FOR THE SCUMBAG IN THE WHITE HOUSE,HOW WOULD YOU FEEL ABOUT what he has done and is doing to our country?????

 

The preferred direction for a reduction in criminal investigation would be for the perpetrator to stop comitting crimes.

And, one of those crimes (obstruction of justice) only drags things out longer - which seems to irritate you!, too!!

 

I keep hearing about this bit about it being illegal to get help from a foreign nation in an election process, but you'll have to excuse me for thinking that's a huge load of diarrhea. You're trying to create a separate set of laws for people who are running for office. Sorry, but you can't do that.

Just because somebody is running for political office doesn't change the law. There are certain laws that don't apply to the winners of certain political jobs, but that's after the election.

 

Sadly we have reached a level of partisanship that political expediency is the controlling factor, principle has essentially no standing these days. Which keeps us moving incrementally towards being a banana republic

but we can console ourselves that we are a super power of banana republics

 

I have no problem finding dirt on each other. That's just politics. What is sickening is the violence, the propaganda, and the absolute hypocrisy.

 

YES!! There are rules related to running for office!! There are LOTS of such rules.

One of them is that using public funds for ones own campaign is absolutely NOT acceptable. And, Trump is doing that.

That's not the only one he's breaking. Plus, he's playing games with our bipartisan national security objectives when he hangs Ukraine out to dry when they face Russian aggression.

Russia is already stating that this incident shows that the US is not a dependable ally. Read the news.

 

Yes, public funds for your own campaign is illegal. The only problem with that is you're making a huge leap from Trump doing his job as President, to using public funds for his campaign.

If you think that's happened, then make your case, but it hasn't been made yet, nor will it.

 

??
This is being reported all across the media of all types.

It's not "my case". It's documented by those in the executive branch and not even denied by Trump.

 

Let me guess... you've been watching TV and reading your favorite twitter feeds again...

I really don't know where you get your "news" but you might want to stop listening to people who have gotten absolutely everything wrong since Trump decided to run for president.

 

This is even being reported by Fox.

How do I know? I read numerous sources, as even if they are fairly bogus I want to know what their readership is getting fed.

 

There is reason to fear the permanent party class. Doesn't matter which is which: they are the establishment. Right now, the bigger problem to me is the Left. I do not hear their candidates talking about making the US a better place to get a good job, get paid more and use that money to buy what you want. I hear about handouts. The rest of the time, like during the birther issue was for the Right, the impeach Trump stuff allows the Left to not talk about actually fixing issues. Dunno what it will take to make it stop so we can actually fix stuff.

 

well okay, but you might want to start being a little bit skeptical about what you hear - even on fox. For example, you say Trump did not deny some charge of corruption. Which charge is that one? If it's about Ukraine, I know he did deny it because I saw a video of him saying twice or three times that he's only interested in corruption and doesn't care about politics.

so which charge of corruption hasn't he denied? Much more importantly, where's the evidence of corruption that would cause him to take ten seconds out of his busy day to deny it? If there is nothing but unnamed sources and garbage media outlets, then wiping dog poop off his shoes is much more important.

 

I said that what he has done with respect to Biden, Ukraine and election law is a clearly impeachable offense. And, he has stated that is what he did - which he might as well do, as there is incontrovertible evidence from the executive branch that he DID do it.

Having him suggest he doesn't care about politics is just plain stupid.

 

The news cycles are getting soaked up with Trump's totally outrageous behavior.

Dem candidates DO have policy statements that include what you're concerned about. It's just that repeatedly reporting what they have said isn't news when compared to the total crazy coming from Trump, Pence, Pompeo and Giuliani.

When the president's own lawyer says his "MISSION" is to "disrupt the world", when Pence lies about not knowing of the Ukraine quid pro quo, when Trump goes on live TV and invites China to help him with his campaign - how do you compete with that?

When Putin points out that these machinations indicate that America is not a reliable ally (which he did, and which is a reasonable argument), why would the media turn to something some Dem candidate has already stated multiple times??

It's not like "let's stop penalizing the midwest and the rest of the country with these tariffs" is going to to be more exciting news!!