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babylonsister
babylonsister's Journal
babylonsister's Journal
December 18, 2019
Harvard’s Laurence Tribe is on board with impeach/withhold:
more...
https://thebulwark.com/impeach-and-withhold/?fbclid=IwAR1alv0g3XgskBZyszDwK5XFMUDxWhIKiDbfDT1-PNvCg-SnIMrKz1a7I-c
Impeach and Withhold
Yea, The Bulwark. But when they're right, they're right.
Impeach and Withhold
Senate Republicans have said they intend to violate their impeachment-trial oaths. The House shouldn’t let them.
by Charles Sykes
December 16, 2019 9:02 am
It is beginning to dawn on Democrats that the moment they send articles of impeachment for Donald Trump to the Senate, they will have lost all of their leverage.
So they shouldn’t do it.
snip//
So here is a modest proposal: the House should (1) vote to impeach on Wednesday, and (2) withhold sending any articles which pass to the Senate unless and until a majority of senators commit to holding an open and fair trial in accordance with the Constitution.
Speaker Pelosi could highlight Trump’s continued cover up and obstruction, while also noting that his abuse of power is a crime in progress.
She could also explicitly link the referral to Chuck Schumer’s demands for key documents and the testimony of senior White House officials, including acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney; Mulvaney’s senior adviser Robert Blair; and former national security adviser John Bolton.
snip//
This idea seems to have already occurred to some Democrats:
Senate Democrats are quietly talking about asking Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to hold articles of impeachment in the House until Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) agrees to a fair rules package for a Senate trial.
Democratic senators are concerned by talk among Senate Republicans of holding a speedy trial without witnesses, which would set up a shorter time frame than when the Senate considered President Clinton’s 1999
“There’s no requirement the impeachment articles be sent here within any particular time. But certainly we don’t want delay just for the sake of delay,” the lawmaker said.
Democratic senators are concerned by talk among Senate Republicans of holding a speedy trial without witnesses, which would set up a shorter time frame than when the Senate considered President Clinton’s 1999
“There’s no requirement the impeachment articles be sent here within any particular time. But certainly we don’t want delay just for the sake of delay,” the lawmaker said.
Harvard’s Laurence Tribe is on board with impeach/withhold:
more...
https://thebulwark.com/impeach-and-withhold/?fbclid=IwAR1alv0g3XgskBZyszDwK5XFMUDxWhIKiDbfDT1-PNvCg-SnIMrKz1a7I-c
December 18, 2019
Impeaching Trump Is Worth It, Even With the Senate Poised to Acquit
After the sun sets and all the House members have spoken their piece, Donald Trump will almost certainly join Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton in the presidential impeachment club.
Jared Rodriguez / Truthout
By William Rivers Pitt, Truthout
Published December 18, 2019
snip//
Donald Trump has also wantonly broken this country’s laws, and today, he faces impeachment for it. That is to say, he will almost certainly be impeached for some of it, anyway. The crimes of bribery, conspiracy, coercion, obstruction of justice and the kidnapping of children at the southern U.S. border do not appear on the articles drafted by the House Judiciary Committee and approved by Speaker Nancy Pelosi. They should be there, but they are not. Instead, Trump stands accused only of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, and unless the Potomac thwarts its banks and subsumes the District of Columbia, Pelosi has the votes to get it done.
snip//
Even if some miracle of politics coalesces in the Senate and Trump is actually removed from office, the poison is already loose within the national bloodstream. It was David Frum himself who just this month wondered, “What if Trump-style politics were executed a little more deftly, by someone with a stronger work ethic?” Answer your own question, Mr. Frum, and find a mirror when you do it.
Some will say a seemingly inevitable Senate acquittal makes this whole endeavor a waste of time, even a dangerous one, as the process has invigorated an already hyped GOP base in an election year. Stuff and nonsense: The left is on fire, too, as protests in favor of impeachment are taking place today in all 50 states. More than that, the Constitution demands this impeachment, win or lose.
It is bad enough that this despicable, cruel and law-breaking president will almost certainly retain his office when all is said and done. Had impeachment not been undertaken, even in the face of possible political setbacks, the only thing left would be to turn out the lights on this thought experiment of a nation. It is dark enough already as it is.
This is an important day, a momentous day, a historic day, but not a happy day, even for those of us who have been calling for impeachment since Trump first began flouting the laws he swore to uphold. This is what we have become as a nation, and it will be a long, perilous road to recovery, if in fact we even recover at all.
Impeaching Trump Is Worth It, Even With the Senate Poised to Acquit
https://truthout.org/articles/impeaching-trump-is-worth-it-even-with-the-senate-poised-to-acquit/Impeaching Trump Is Worth It, Even With the Senate Poised to Acquit
After the sun sets and all the House members have spoken their piece, Donald Trump will almost certainly join Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton in the presidential impeachment club.
Jared Rodriguez / Truthout
By William Rivers Pitt, Truthout
Published December 18, 2019
snip//
Donald Trump has also wantonly broken this country’s laws, and today, he faces impeachment for it. That is to say, he will almost certainly be impeached for some of it, anyway. The crimes of bribery, conspiracy, coercion, obstruction of justice and the kidnapping of children at the southern U.S. border do not appear on the articles drafted by the House Judiciary Committee and approved by Speaker Nancy Pelosi. They should be there, but they are not. Instead, Trump stands accused only of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, and unless the Potomac thwarts its banks and subsumes the District of Columbia, Pelosi has the votes to get it done.
snip//
Even if some miracle of politics coalesces in the Senate and Trump is actually removed from office, the poison is already loose within the national bloodstream. It was David Frum himself who just this month wondered, “What if Trump-style politics were executed a little more deftly, by someone with a stronger work ethic?” Answer your own question, Mr. Frum, and find a mirror when you do it.
Some will say a seemingly inevitable Senate acquittal makes this whole endeavor a waste of time, even a dangerous one, as the process has invigorated an already hyped GOP base in an election year. Stuff and nonsense: The left is on fire, too, as protests in favor of impeachment are taking place today in all 50 states. More than that, the Constitution demands this impeachment, win or lose.
It is bad enough that this despicable, cruel and law-breaking president will almost certainly retain his office when all is said and done. Had impeachment not been undertaken, even in the face of possible political setbacks, the only thing left would be to turn out the lights on this thought experiment of a nation. It is dark enough already as it is.
This is an important day, a momentous day, a historic day, but not a happy day, even for those of us who have been calling for impeachment since Trump first began flouting the laws he swore to uphold. This is what we have become as a nation, and it will be a long, perilous road to recovery, if in fact we even recover at all.
December 18, 2019
Trump’s rhetoric on impeachment in 2014 becomes relevant anew
12/18/19 11:08 AM—Updated 12/18/19 11:23 AM
By Steve Benen
In his unhinged letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi yesterday, Donald Trump told the congressional leader, “You have cheapened the importance of the very ugly word, impeachment!” The president went on to suggest via Twitter this morning that he’s concerned about impeachment being made “trivial.”
He appears to have arrived at these concerns quite recently.
It wasn’t long ago, for example, that Trump wanted Pelosi to impeach George W. Bush for having launched the Iraq war. “He got us into the war with lies!” Trump said in 2008.
His attitude toward impeaching Barack Obama was even more cavalier. “Are you allowed to impeach a president for gross incompetence?” Trump wrote on Twitter in June 2014.
snip//
But given today’s developments, it’s worth pausing to reflect anew on Trump’s 2014 on the personal toll impeachment takes on a president:
Does this sound like anyone else you know?
Postscript: As long as we’re on the subject, Obama’s impeachment is apparently still on the minds of some Republicans. Yesterday, Rep. Bradley Byrne (R-Ala.) introduced an amendment during House Rules Committee proceedings, arguing that Democrats should’ve endorsed Obama’s impeachment before the Democratic president left office. Meanwhile, during a congressional hearing two weeks ago, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) suggested that Congress might still consider impeaching Obama, even though he’s now a private citizen.
Trump's rhetoric on impeachment in 2014 becomes relevant anew
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/trumps-rhetoric-impeachment-2014-becomes-relevant-anewTrump’s rhetoric on impeachment in 2014 becomes relevant anew
12/18/19 11:08 AM—Updated 12/18/19 11:23 AM
By Steve Benen
In his unhinged letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi yesterday, Donald Trump told the congressional leader, “You have cheapened the importance of the very ugly word, impeachment!” The president went on to suggest via Twitter this morning that he’s concerned about impeachment being made “trivial.”
He appears to have arrived at these concerns quite recently.
It wasn’t long ago, for example, that Trump wanted Pelosi to impeach George W. Bush for having launched the Iraq war. “He got us into the war with lies!” Trump said in 2008.
His attitude toward impeaching Barack Obama was even more cavalier. “Are you allowed to impeach a president for gross incompetence?” Trump wrote on Twitter in June 2014.
snip//
But given today’s developments, it’s worth pausing to reflect anew on Trump’s 2014 on the personal toll impeachment takes on a president:
Here’s that quote again: “He would be a mess. He would be thinking about nothing but. It would be a horror show for him. It would be an absolute embarrassment. It would go down on his record permanently.”
Does this sound like anyone else you know?
Postscript: As long as we’re on the subject, Obama’s impeachment is apparently still on the minds of some Republicans. Yesterday, Rep. Bradley Byrne (R-Ala.) introduced an amendment during House Rules Committee proceedings, arguing that Democrats should’ve endorsed Obama’s impeachment before the Democratic president left office. Meanwhile, during a congressional hearing two weeks ago, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) suggested that Congress might still consider impeaching Obama, even though he’s now a private citizen.
December 18, 2019
Posted on Wed, Dec 18th, 2019 by Sean Colarossi
Mitch McConnell Is Struggling To Get 51 Senate Votes Against Trump’s Removal
Even though the chances of Donald Trump being removed from office via a Senate vote are slim, there is still the possibility that a majority of lawmakers in the upper chamber could vote in favor of removing the president from office.
In other words, McConnell knows he doesn’t have 51 votes in favor of his sham trial or against removing Trump from office, which is why he’s been making so much noise lately.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1207101308290904065
Melber said:
snip//
If a majority of the GOP-controlled chamber vote that Trump should be booted from office, it would be a humiliating and potentially dooming result for the president ahead of 2020, even if he does remain in office.
On the eve of a vote in the House of Representatives to impeach Donald Trump, Mitch McConnell is still scrambling to get to 51 votes in the Senate to prevent a humiliating, bipartisan vote in favor of removal.
Mitch McConnell Is Struggling To Get 51 Senate Votes Against Trump's Removal
https://www.politicususa.com/2019/12/18/mitch-mcconnell-struggling-to-get-51-senate-votes-against-trump-removal.htmlPosted on Wed, Dec 18th, 2019 by Sean Colarossi
Mitch McConnell Is Struggling To Get 51 Senate Votes Against Trump’s Removal
Even though the chances of Donald Trump being removed from office via a Senate vote are slim, there is still the possibility that a majority of lawmakers in the upper chamber could vote in favor of removing the president from office.
“Obviously, if Republicans have this all sewn up, [McConnell] doesn’t to have say much of anything,” MSNBC’s Ari Melber said on Tuesday, on the eve of the House impeachment vote.
The MSNBC host added, “There are signs that Mitch McConnell … is still trying to figure out how he gets to 51 for pieces of this or all of it.”
The MSNBC host added, “There are signs that Mitch McConnell … is still trying to figure out how he gets to 51 for pieces of this or all of it.”
In other words, McConnell knows he doesn’t have 51 votes in favor of his sham trial or against removing Trump from office, which is why he’s been making so much noise lately.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1207101308290904065
Melber said:
[McConnell]’s not impartial and he’s predicting partisanship. What is important there is the leg work that Mitch McConnell is doing. Obviously, if they have this all sewn up, he doesn’t to have say much of anything. They can slam-dunk it. But there are signs that Mitch McConnell tonight – and we’re going to keep reporting this out for you – is still trying to figure out how he gets to 51 for pieces of this or all of it. When he says this is all going to be a partisan side show, he’s talking about himself. There is a tell there. And he wants, apparently, from what I can tell, he wants the country to give up hope on this process before it even begins, to only see it as partisan. So you have to ask yourself: If there is a politician in Washington trying to convince to you to look other way, why is that? And is it a tell, a sign, that maybe you should be looking even closer?
snip//
If a majority of the GOP-controlled chamber vote that Trump should be booted from office, it would be a humiliating and potentially dooming result for the president ahead of 2020, even if he does remain in office.
On the eve of a vote in the House of Representatives to impeach Donald Trump, Mitch McConnell is still scrambling to get to 51 votes in the Senate to prevent a humiliating, bipartisan vote in favor of removal.
December 18, 2019
Trump's wild tantrum shows his unfitness
By Frida Ghitis
Updated 10:55 PM ET, Tue December 17, 2019
(CNN)President Donald Trump on Tuesday added another wild document to the mountain of evidence that will be used against him when the verdict of history inevitably concludes he was unfit for office.
In a rambling six-page letter addressed to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Trump weaved together a tapestry of lies, self-pity and warped allusions to history, in an effort to craft for himself a mantle of innocence on the eve of his likely impeachment.
As ever, one wonders whether he believes all the crass nonsense he promotes or whether he's consciously, brazenly trying to deceive the public on all counts. And that leads to the next question: Which would be worse?
Above all, and in the most serious claim in a missive that is difficult to take seriously, Trump rejected the legitimacy of the impeachment process, an indispensable element of accountability, the key tool to prevent democracy from drifting into tyranny.
And in what has become one of his trademarks, Trump accused his targets of his own transgressions. The House of Representatives appears set to impeach him for obstruction of Congress and abuse of power. Trump accuses Pelosi and Democrats of the same thing. But unlike the evidence on which the impeachment is based, the bonkers barrage in the letter is based on proven falsehoods.
more...
https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/17/opinions/trump-pelosi-letter-ghitis/index.html
Trump's wild tantrum shows his unfitness
Trump's wild tantrum shows his unfitness
By Frida Ghitis
Updated 10:55 PM ET, Tue December 17, 2019
(CNN)President Donald Trump on Tuesday added another wild document to the mountain of evidence that will be used against him when the verdict of history inevitably concludes he was unfit for office.
In a rambling six-page letter addressed to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Trump weaved together a tapestry of lies, self-pity and warped allusions to history, in an effort to craft for himself a mantle of innocence on the eve of his likely impeachment.
As ever, one wonders whether he believes all the crass nonsense he promotes or whether he's consciously, brazenly trying to deceive the public on all counts. And that leads to the next question: Which would be worse?
Above all, and in the most serious claim in a missive that is difficult to take seriously, Trump rejected the legitimacy of the impeachment process, an indispensable element of accountability, the key tool to prevent democracy from drifting into tyranny.
And in what has become one of his trademarks, Trump accused his targets of his own transgressions. The House of Representatives appears set to impeach him for obstruction of Congress and abuse of power. Trump accuses Pelosi and Democrats of the same thing. But unlike the evidence on which the impeachment is based, the bonkers barrage in the letter is based on proven falsehoods.
more...
https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/17/opinions/trump-pelosi-letter-ghitis/index.html
December 18, 2019
Trump 'going crazy over' impeachment legacy
Years from now, impeachment will be one of the first things students are taught about the 45th president.
By MERIDITH MCGRAW and DANIEL LIPPMAN
12/18/2019 05:10 AM EST
Real estate mogul, billionaire, reality show host, late-night show punch line, populist rabble rouser, norm-busting leader — impeached president.
Beyond the immediate ramifications of the all-but-certain outcome of this week’s vote, impeachment will always be attached to President Donald Trump. Years from now, it will be one of the first things students are taught about the 45th president.
It’s a reality that has tormented past presidents who faced the prospect of impeachment. In the days before his resignation, President Richard Nixon confessed to Secretary of State Henry Kissinger his fears that Watergate would define his legacy. President Bill Clinton fretted behind closed doors about how history books would paint him, even as he projected a dismissive attitude in public.
“For Trump, now impeachment will appear in the opening paragraph of his life,” said presidential historian Douglas Brinkley.
Outwardly, Trump characteristically swats away any suggestion that such questions weigh on his mind. “No, not at all,” Trump said earlier this month, shaking his head when asked if he was worried about the potential stain impeachment will have on his legacy. “It’s a hoax, it’s a hoax, it’s a big fat hoax.”
But Trump’s pugilistic insistence belies a longstanding fixation on his personal image and the legitimacy of his presidency.
From the day he sent Sean Spicer out to harangue journalists over the crowd size at his inauguration, Trump has waged a three-year campaign to wear down any doubts about his right to occupy the Oval Office. He set up — and then quietly abandoned — a panel to investigate his specious claims that only voter fraud kept him from winning the popular vote in 2016. He publicly sowed doubts about Russia’s election-year meddling. For White House visitors, reporters — anyone really — he constantly pulled out the red-saturated map detailing how districts voted in 2016.
The common theme: I deserve to be here. I earned this.
more...
https://www.politico.com/news/2019/12/18/trump-tainted-impeachment-086749
Trump 'going crazy over' impeachment legacy
Trump 'going crazy over' impeachment legacy
Years from now, impeachment will be one of the first things students are taught about the 45th president.
By MERIDITH MCGRAW and DANIEL LIPPMAN
12/18/2019 05:10 AM EST
Real estate mogul, billionaire, reality show host, late-night show punch line, populist rabble rouser, norm-busting leader — impeached president.
Beyond the immediate ramifications of the all-but-certain outcome of this week’s vote, impeachment will always be attached to President Donald Trump. Years from now, it will be one of the first things students are taught about the 45th president.
It’s a reality that has tormented past presidents who faced the prospect of impeachment. In the days before his resignation, President Richard Nixon confessed to Secretary of State Henry Kissinger his fears that Watergate would define his legacy. President Bill Clinton fretted behind closed doors about how history books would paint him, even as he projected a dismissive attitude in public.
“For Trump, now impeachment will appear in the opening paragraph of his life,” said presidential historian Douglas Brinkley.
Outwardly, Trump characteristically swats away any suggestion that such questions weigh on his mind. “No, not at all,” Trump said earlier this month, shaking his head when asked if he was worried about the potential stain impeachment will have on his legacy. “It’s a hoax, it’s a hoax, it’s a big fat hoax.”
But Trump’s pugilistic insistence belies a longstanding fixation on his personal image and the legitimacy of his presidency.
From the day he sent Sean Spicer out to harangue journalists over the crowd size at his inauguration, Trump has waged a three-year campaign to wear down any doubts about his right to occupy the Oval Office. He set up — and then quietly abandoned — a panel to investigate his specious claims that only voter fraud kept him from winning the popular vote in 2016. He publicly sowed doubts about Russia’s election-year meddling. For White House visitors, reporters — anyone really — he constantly pulled out the red-saturated map detailing how districts voted in 2016.
The common theme: I deserve to be here. I earned this.
more...
https://www.politico.com/news/2019/12/18/trump-tainted-impeachment-086749
December 18, 2019
Fox's Lou Dobbs Calls Trump's Pelosi Letter 'Elegant,' Guest Says It's the 'Gettysburg Address of Smear Job False Accusations'
By Jeffery Martin On 12/17/19 at 11:20 PM EST
Tonight on the Fox News program Lou Dobbs Tonight, host Dobbs spoke glowingly of the letter President Donald Trump wrote to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi concerning the impending impeachment proceedings against him.
"The president today wrote a beautiful letter," Dobbs said. "A terrific letter to Nancy Pelosi which she responded to by saying it was 'ridiculous.' 'Sick.'"
Pelosi had no immediate response to the letter. "I don't have a reaction," Pelosi told CNN. "It's ridiculous. I mean, I haven't fully read it. We've been working. I've seen the essence of it. It's really sick."
more...
https://www.newsweek.com/foxs-lou-dobbs-calls-trumps-pelosi-letter-elegant-guest-says-its-gettysburg-address-smear-1477861
Fox's Lou Dobbs Calls Trump's Pelosi Letter 'Elegant,'...
Fox's Lou Dobbs Calls Trump's Pelosi Letter 'Elegant,' Guest Says It's the 'Gettysburg Address of Smear Job False Accusations'
By Jeffery Martin On 12/17/19 at 11:20 PM EST
Tonight on the Fox News program Lou Dobbs Tonight, host Dobbs spoke glowingly of the letter President Donald Trump wrote to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi concerning the impending impeachment proceedings against him.
"The president today wrote a beautiful letter," Dobbs said. "A terrific letter to Nancy Pelosi which she responded to by saying it was 'ridiculous.' 'Sick.'"
"In point of fact," Dobbs continued, "it was elegant, it was comprehensive and it put her and the radical Dems who have attacked this president mercilessly for over three years precisely where they should be, and that is in the focus of history for decades to come."
"You have cheapened the importance of the very ugly word, impeachment!" Trump wrote.
"You have cheapened the importance of the very ugly word, impeachment!" Trump wrote.
Pelosi had no immediate response to the letter. "I don't have a reaction," Pelosi told CNN. "It's ridiculous. I mean, I haven't fully read it. We've been working. I've seen the essence of it. It's really sick."
more...
https://www.newsweek.com/foxs-lou-dobbs-calls-trumps-pelosi-letter-elegant-guest-says-its-gettysburg-address-smear-1477861
December 17, 2019
RBG says Trump 'is not a lawyer' and suggests biased senators should be disqualified
Alex Woodward
New York
2 hours ago
Asked whether Donald Trump could petition the Supreme Court to stop his impeachment, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said: "The president is not a lawyer. He's not law trained."
Ms Ginsburg, speaking in a wide-ranging conversation with the BBC's Razia Iqbal, also implied that senators who have already expressed their verdict in the president's likely impeachment trial should be disqualified.
She said: "Should a trial be impartial? Of course. That's the job of a judge to be impartial."
Ms Igbal asked: "So if a senator says, 'I've already made up my mind and the trial doesn't exist at the moment,' there is no accountability, is there?"
Ms Ginsburg replied: "If a judge said that, a judge would be disqualified from the case."
She also invoked a statement from former Justice William Rehnquist, saying: "The day a judge stops being impartial, and starts to do things to please the home crowd, that's the day the judge should step down from office."
more...
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/rbg-trump-impeachment-supreme-court-interview-a9250906.html
RBG says Trump 'is not a lawyer' and suggests biased senators should be disqualified
RBG says Trump 'is not a lawyer' and suggests biased senators should be disqualified
Alex Woodward
New York
2 hours ago
Asked whether Donald Trump could petition the Supreme Court to stop his impeachment, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said: "The president is not a lawyer. He's not law trained."
Ms Ginsburg, speaking in a wide-ranging conversation with the BBC's Razia Iqbal, also implied that senators who have already expressed their verdict in the president's likely impeachment trial should be disqualified.
She said: "Should a trial be impartial? Of course. That's the job of a judge to be impartial."
Ms Igbal asked: "So if a senator says, 'I've already made up my mind and the trial doesn't exist at the moment,' there is no accountability, is there?"
Ms Ginsburg replied: "If a judge said that, a judge would be disqualified from the case."
She also invoked a statement from former Justice William Rehnquist, saying: "The day a judge stops being impartial, and starts to do things to please the home crowd, that's the day the judge should step down from office."
more...
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/rbg-trump-impeachment-supreme-court-interview-a9250906.html
December 17, 2019
3 hours ago
GOP-Led Voter Purges in Wisconsin and Georgia Could Tip 2020 Elections
Hundreds of thousands of voters are set to be purged in two key swing states.
Ari Berman
Republicans are intensifying efforts to aggressively purge the voter rolls in Wisconsin and Georgia before the 2020 elections, potentially giving their party a crucial advantage by shrinking the electorate in two key swing states.
On Friday, a state judge in Wisconsin ruled that the state could begin canceling the registrations of 234,000 voters—7 percent of the electorate—who did not respond to a mailing from election officials. The Wisconsin Elections Commission, a bipartisan group overseeing state elections, had planned to wait until 2021 to remove voters it believes have moved to a new address. But in response to a lawsuit from a conservative group, the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty, Judge Paul Malloy, a Republican appointee, said those voters could be purged 30 days after failing to respond to a mailing seeking to confirm their address.
On Monday night, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger removed 309,000 voters from the rolls—4 percent of the electorate—whose registrations were labeled inactive, including more than a hundred thousand who were purged because they had not voted in a certain number of previous elections.
These numbers are large enough to swing close elections. Donald Trump carried Wisconsin by 22,000 votes; the number of soon-to-be purged voters is more than 10 times his margin of victory. Democrat Stacey Abrams failed to qualify for a runoff against Brian Kemp in the 2018 governor’s race by 21,000 votes; the number of purged voters in Georgia is 14 times that.
These purges appear to disproportionately affect Democratic-leaning constituencies, including voters of color, students, and low-income people who tend to move more often. In Wisconsin, 55 percent of those on the purge list come from municipalities where Hillary Clinton defeated Trump in 2016. Nine of the 10 areas with the highest concentration of voters slated to be purged voted for Clinton. Milwaukee and Madison, the state’s two most Democratic areas, account for 14 percent of the state’s registered voters but 23 percent of those on the purge list, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
more...
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2019/12/gop-led-voter-purges-in-wisconsin-and-georgia-could-tip-2020-elections/
GOP-Led Voter Purges in Wisconsin and Georgia Could Tip 2020 Elections
3 hours ago
GOP-Led Voter Purges in Wisconsin and Georgia Could Tip 2020 Elections
Hundreds of thousands of voters are set to be purged in two key swing states.
Ari Berman
Republicans are intensifying efforts to aggressively purge the voter rolls in Wisconsin and Georgia before the 2020 elections, potentially giving their party a crucial advantage by shrinking the electorate in two key swing states.
On Friday, a state judge in Wisconsin ruled that the state could begin canceling the registrations of 234,000 voters—7 percent of the electorate—who did not respond to a mailing from election officials. The Wisconsin Elections Commission, a bipartisan group overseeing state elections, had planned to wait until 2021 to remove voters it believes have moved to a new address. But in response to a lawsuit from a conservative group, the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty, Judge Paul Malloy, a Republican appointee, said those voters could be purged 30 days after failing to respond to a mailing seeking to confirm their address.
On Monday night, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger removed 309,000 voters from the rolls—4 percent of the electorate—whose registrations were labeled inactive, including more than a hundred thousand who were purged because they had not voted in a certain number of previous elections.
These numbers are large enough to swing close elections. Donald Trump carried Wisconsin by 22,000 votes; the number of soon-to-be purged voters is more than 10 times his margin of victory. Democrat Stacey Abrams failed to qualify for a runoff against Brian Kemp in the 2018 governor’s race by 21,000 votes; the number of purged voters in Georgia is 14 times that.
These purges appear to disproportionately affect Democratic-leaning constituencies, including voters of color, students, and low-income people who tend to move more often. In Wisconsin, 55 percent of those on the purge list come from municipalities where Hillary Clinton defeated Trump in 2016. Nine of the 10 areas with the highest concentration of voters slated to be purged voted for Clinton. Milwaukee and Madison, the state’s two most Democratic areas, account for 14 percent of the state’s registered voters but 23 percent of those on the purge list, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
more...
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2019/12/gop-led-voter-purges-in-wisconsin-and-georgia-could-tip-2020-elections/
December 17, 2019
Posted on Tue, Dec 17th, 2019 by Jason Easley
Eric Swalwell Blasts McConnell For Giving Trump The Green Light To Cheat
Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) said that Donald Trump is currently abusing his power, and Mitch McConnell has given him the green light to cheat in 2020.
Rep. Swalwell was asked on MSNBC is Rudy Giuliani is being helpful to Trump, and he answered, “No, but it also demonstrates that the president did not abuse his power in the past tense. He is abusing his power in the present tense, in that when he hears from Senator Mcconnell that he’s going to be acquitted, the signal that he receives from that is a green light and he believes that he can continue to abuse the power of his office to cheat the upcoming election, which gives us the urgency in the House to act.”
https://twitter.com/i/status/1206957010719322112
Rep. Swalwell was right. McConnell is sending the signal to Trump with his sham trial that there will be no consequences for his actions. It could even be argued that McConnell is encouraging Trump to cheat because the cheating would benefit Senate Republicans.
Trump is responsible for his own actions, but the corruption within the Republican Party has led to a breakdown of the accountability checks that the Founders designed in the Constitution.
Eric Swalwell Blasts McConnell For Giving Trump The Green Light To Cheat
https://www.politicususa.com/2019/12/17/eric-swalwell-mcconnell.htmlPosted on Tue, Dec 17th, 2019 by Jason Easley
Eric Swalwell Blasts McConnell For Giving Trump The Green Light To Cheat
Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) said that Donald Trump is currently abusing his power, and Mitch McConnell has given him the green light to cheat in 2020.
Rep. Swalwell was asked on MSNBC is Rudy Giuliani is being helpful to Trump, and he answered, “No, but it also demonstrates that the president did not abuse his power in the past tense. He is abusing his power in the present tense, in that when he hears from Senator Mcconnell that he’s going to be acquitted, the signal that he receives from that is a green light and he believes that he can continue to abuse the power of his office to cheat the upcoming election, which gives us the urgency in the House to act.”
https://twitter.com/i/status/1206957010719322112
Rep. Swalwell was right. McConnell is sending the signal to Trump with his sham trial that there will be no consequences for his actions. It could even be argued that McConnell is encouraging Trump to cheat because the cheating would benefit Senate Republicans.
Trump is responsible for his own actions, but the corruption within the Republican Party has led to a breakdown of the accountability checks that the Founders designed in the Constitution.
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