General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsRachel "The Doc" Bitecofer - 30,000 ft View of the Trump Ukraine Bribery Scandal
ORIGINAL Twitter Thread:Link to tweet
UNROLLED Twitter Thread:
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1218532331918647297.html
The entire Admin ran an illegal scheme to withhold military aid from Ukraine. Literally all of them were involved, & thus when the scandal broke, they all lied at multiple points (except Mulvaney) & thus obstructed justice.
In a practical sense, this means the country's Sec of State oversaw the investigation into a scandal he was personally involved in. The Rep Party's minority party chair @DevinNunes oversaw the House impeachment hearing into a scandal he was personally involved in. The Atty Gen
Bill Barr used his position as Atty Gen of the United States to try to squash the "whistleblower complaint" bc it brought to light a scandal he was personally involved in. Once that failed, he used his position as Atty Gen to hamper the investigation. Through it all, they told
the American public that the event never happened, not only knowing it did, but after having been personally involved in it. They all still sit in positions in which they can and ARE using the powers of their offices to thwart investigations into their own activities. This is
also the case for the Vice President, Mike Pence. Via control by their party of the Senate, these individuals are planning on using the rules of the Senate's impeachment power to avoid having to answer questions under oath about their involvement in what now has been declared a
crime by the GAO. The GOP is using the powers of majority status of the Senate, and control of what is supposed to be an impartial Justice department, to obstruct justice, by refusing to have evidence or call these Admin officials as witnesses, at least thus far. I remind you of
all of that bc although the level of malfeasance in the Admin may be similar to Watergate in that the scandal involved multiple players in the Admin, we are in totally new territory in that these revelations about Barr and Nunes have not forced these men out of their positions
Most esp Barr, who as AG has MASSIVE influence over the federal law enforcement apparatus. The fact that our system, in addition to all of the other issues (a likely acquittal despite inarguable violations of the office) perhaps the MOST serious is that our system is functioning
is this completely unprecedented place where there appears to be no accountability in the Cabinet. Keep in mind. At the beginning of this administration we saw cabinet members forced out due to excessive travel expenses and outlandish furniture purchases. BC that's how the OLD
system was. It had tightly constrained rules of acceptable conduct and norms. And now look where we are in terms of both Pompeo and Barr and utter lack of even a conversation about the fact that they should still be in their jobs. Its very telling as to how much destruction has
already been wrought on our political culture, our norms, and this democracy. We have lost a great deal of our 240 year institutional integrity and it seems to be that few are really focusing on this "big picture" problem.
Kid Berwyn
(14,971 posts)Meanwhile, Moscow Mitch and the Guardians Of Putin sit in judgment while getting money from oligarchs and their henchmen.
Were going to need a bigger Paddy Wagon.
MontanaMama
(23,337 posts)Thats a new one for me. Perfect. I may be stealing it.
Dennis Donovan
(18,770 posts)Thanks for posting this!
Scarsdale
(9,426 posts)Pelosi, Schiff, Nadler and many others, for keeping their focus. Imagine trying to do the right thing, in the face of so much corruption? It is unprecedented, and shameful what the gop members have done, and are continuing to do. For the gop to protect this unqualified goon is shameful. Mafia members have more integrity than he does, plus many in the gop also. Something went tragically wrong in the republican party, for them to defend the worst person EVER to enter the WH, with lots of help from Russia. The truth will eventually leak out, I have faith that it will. Too much CRAP to shove under any rug.
certainot
(9,090 posts)really want to send a message to the republican senators and the trump admin those protests and other political activism needs to go DIRECTLY to the only real and unigue advantage the cons have - 1500 coordinated radio stations that follow the lead of trumps neighbor and putin's tool - lmbaugh. 260 of the loudest of those stations depend on 87 universities to keep broadcasting sports on them and for students and communities to keep allowing it
long term low level activism was haappening aaround the university of colorado and last september the loudest radio station in the colorado area demoted limbaugh to a smaller station. it is possible the station wanted to avoid escalating publicity that would have interested pro athletes whose teams also endorse that station, where limbaugh regularly attacks kneeling athletes as traitors.
if that happens again and spreads the talk radio monopoly will fall apart and republican senators will know it won't be there to make excuses for them if they protect trump
wnylib
(21,620 posts)we need to target RW radio. So I'm with you 100%. But few people seem to recognize the need to discredit and marginalize them.
PandoraAwakened
(905 posts)Does anybody else wish Bloomberg would just buy out all these stations, give Limbaugh and his ilk their walking papers, and reprogram all 1500 of them ASAP?
He already has a news network, so it's not such a stretch. Wonder how much that would cost?
scarytomcat
(1,706 posts)or he could start a TV news station and have it be like news was when there was only three stations. When people totally trusted the people on the nightly news to give them THE story. With facts, witnesses and documents. Not this opinion bullshit that passes for news. They should all be issued taro cards before they come out because they would be just as accurate and insightful.
Dave in VA
(2,039 posts)Let's hope that it is still fixable!
Evolve Dammit
(16,778 posts)It rarely gets tied together and put it the perspective of this post. Thank you.
UniteFightBack
(8,231 posts)day.
Evolve Dammit
(16,778 posts)UniteFightBack
(8,231 posts)Pepsidog
(6,254 posts)world wide wally
(21,755 posts)usaf-vet
(6,213 posts)Shanti Mama
(1,288 posts)This is an excellent and terrifying summary. Thanks for posting.
And it doesn't touch on anything other than the Ukraine scandal. Imagine if she tied in Putin and all the other foreign involvement in our politics and democracy.
James48
(4,441 posts)Only I fear it is much more extensive- you just pointed out the faces and the names that we know about.
This didnt just appear.
It was orchestrated.
There appears to be a whole mother organization who created it and were just beginning to see the tip of the iceberg.
dlk
(11,578 posts)Remember when Trumps lawyers argued he is completely above the law? Even with an impeachment trial in the Senate, we see mealy-mouthed Republican senators equivocating about calling witnesses or document production. The entire party has become a RICO organization and our democracy is hanging on by a thread. Its difficult to be optimistic at this juncture.
lambchopp59
(2,809 posts)To dismantle the corrupt mechanism stacking falsehoods upon confabulations upon lies upon flim-flam hoaxes all while calling the facts a hoax.
Even in all the indigestion the whole putrid pie is causing, if only by observing the hoardes of Faux Noise faithful voraciously consume the tainted excrement, an old margarine commercial meme comes to mind:
"It's not nice to fool mother nature". Watch even the GOP mascot get frightened in the light of facts:
Okay, maybe it won't crumble that easily. But mother nature is already eroding at a major pedestal of their bullshit.
I'll recover from the licentious cult syndrome the day they are all facing charges and jail time for their part of the conspiracy. And I hope that includes the purveyors of RWNJ media hate and BS as well.
aggiesal
(8,929 posts)Last edited Sat Jan 18, 2020, 05:47 PM - Edit history (1)
(Not Sessions) when the Mueller investigation got started?
It would have been completly squash and those that went
to jail would probably be free and wreaking havoc.
mjvpi
(1,389 posts)She forgot to mention the purge of the FBI that happened earlier.
UniteFightBack
(8,231 posts)librechik
(30,676 posts)Putin is playing chess, and the US is playing Walkman. Not even in the same universe.
As far as I can tell, we aren't even aware of the Great Game. And Putin OWNs all our top men.
Now we are trapped.
How are we going to stumble out of this predicament? We sure won't win with brains. A moron has the football
We aren't playing with a full deck. Whatever the game is.
TxVietVet
(1,905 posts)This whole game makes me sick. The conservanazis 🤡 are the cause of it all.
TxVietVet
(1,905 posts)Our country and government may be destroyed. Fox Snoose fans still love their tRump 🤮.
shanti
(21,675 posts)Everything became exponentially worse after Barr entered the picture. The focus should be on HIM. After Barr, nobody was held to account.
Evolve Dammit
(16,778 posts)SunSeeker
(51,726 posts)Laura PourMeADrink
(42,770 posts)lindysalsagal
(20,733 posts)(Washington, Franklyn, Jefferson, Adams, Hamilton.) There should be Rachel Maddow Action figures sold in stores, not star wars dolls.
klook
(12,170 posts)Dr. Rachel Bitecofer.
scarytomcat
(1,706 posts)our constitution has some holes and they are exploiting them
founding fathers did not think such wide spread corruption could be possible
I too can't believe republicans would trash the constitution and their god in some cases
DO THE RIGHT THING!