Is Trump the Only Adult in the Room?

Victor Davis Hanson

The common denominator of all this petulance from Trump’s enemies is exasperation over the inability to derail him.

"Donald Trump certainly is mercurial at times. He can be uncouth.
"But then again, no president in modern memory has been on the receiving end of such overwhelmingly negative media coverage and a three-year effort to abort his presidency, beginning the day after his election.
"Do we remember the effort to subvert the Electoral College to prevent Trump from assuming office?
"The first impeachment try during his initial week in office?
"Attempts to remove Trump using the ossified Logan Act or the emoluments clause of the Constitution?"
"The idea of declaring Trump unhinged, subject to removal by invoking the 25th Amendment?
"Special counsel Robert Mueller’s 22-month, $35 million investigation, which failed to find Trump guilty of collusion with Russia in the 2016 election and failed to find actionable obstruction of justice pertaining to the non-crime of collusion?"
"The constant endeavors to subpoena Trump’s tax returns and to investigate his family, lawyers and friends?" . . .

Democrats see "only a handful of defections"

Andrew Thomas blogs at Dark Angel Politics

Althouse  "The news isn't "only a handful" — it's that there are defections."
. . . "So... Politico says "no more than a half-dozen" and WaPo has 2 sources who say that and one who says "could be higher.' " . . .

House Democrats brace for some defections among moderates on impeachment of Trump   . . . "The House Judiciary Committee is poised to vote Thursday on one article charging Trump with abuse of power for pressuring Ukraine to help his reelection chances in 2020 and another on obstruction of Congress for blocking testimony from witnesses and ignoring requests for documents in the impeachment inquiry.
The full House would vote next week.
“I’m still thinking it over,” said Rep. Susie Lee, a centrist who hails from a GOP-leaning Nevada district Trump carried in 2016. “This is a very grave decision. . . . I’m hearing all sides of it. . . . It’s mixed, it’s very mixed.' ” . . .

Lloyd Marcus: Our Outrage Over the Dems' Impeachment Farce  . . . "This whole impeachment scam reminds me of the 1938 Disney movie, Snow White. As a child, I could not understand why the wicked queen's hatred for Snow White was so great that she was willing to sacrifice her beauty and even her life to destroy Snow White. We are witnessing the same obsession with Democrats irrationally moving forward with impeaching Trump." . . .

Dem Rep. Says Country Should Impeach Trump Because He Benefited From Slavery

“ 'I’m concerned that if we don’t impeach this president, he will get reelected,” Green said in an interview in May of this year.

Lawrence Richard  "Democratic Congressman Al Green wants to impeach President Trump due to him benefitting from what Green is calling the “original sin” — slavery.
"On Saturday, the Texas Democrat appeared on MSNBC where he said his party ought to charge the president and remove him from office because “slavery was the thing that put all of what President Trump has done lately into motion.”
“ 'I do believe, ma’am, that we have to deal with the original sin,” Green said to host Alex Witt, the Washington Examiner reports. “We have to deal with slavery. Slavery was the thing that put all of what President Trump has done lately into motion. It’s [the] insidious scion of racism. The president has played on racism, and he’s used that as a weapon to galvanize a base of support to mobilize people.”
"Green has a consistent record on wanting to impeach President Trump since he first was sworn into office in 2017, long before the accusation of benefiting from slavery or anything to do with Ukraine. His desire to impeach the president stems from his own admitted belief that if Trump is able to run for re-election, he’ll win.
“ 'I’m concerned that if we don’t impeach this president, he will get reelected,” Green said in an interview in May of this year.

"The Washington Examiner reports it was Green who also initiated the idea of a perpetual impeachment, or voting multiple times to remove Trump until the Senate acts on the issue:" . . .

How ironic that slavery was the Democrat's "original sin" and today it is their hope for reelection. TD

Some short miscellaneous posts

Horowitz: ‘I Think the Activities We Found Here Don’t Vindicate Anybody Who Touched’ the FISA Applications  "Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz lashed out at the FBI during his testimony in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

"He released his report on the investigation into the origins of the Trump-Russia probe and FISA warrants on former Trump adviser Carter Page a few days ago."

. . . Horowitz has some bad news for Comey:

“The activities we found here don’t vindicate anybody who touched this,” Inspector General Michael Horowitz said Wednesday while testifying to the Senate Judiciary Committee on his report.

Schiff Confirms Impeachment of Trump is All About 2020  “The President’s misconduct goes to the heart of whether we can conduct a free and fair election in 2020.”

Graham: FBI Never Made Any Effort To Warn Trump, Not Only That They Used Intel Briefing To Spy On Trump Team

CNN’s Don Lemon Loses It Over Trump Meme

 VIDEO: College Republican President Attacked at Sacramento State

. . . Sacramento State student appears to slap former College Republicans president on video   Video here

"A video has emerged online of a Sacramento State student appearing to slap the former president of the College Republicans repeatedly on Friday — and police said they’re investigating.

"Their scuffle was said to have originated with an online Facebook argument over a mutual friend’s anti-abortion post the previous day, the Sacramento Bee reported." . . .

This all stemmed from a Facebook thread yesterday where Keaton wished death on a child with cancer because their family member was pro-life.

"This deranged leftist and LGBT activist named Keaton Hill assaulted and threatened to kill @FJtheDeuce, a black conservative at Sacramento State. This is reportedly the 2nd time Keaton has violently attacked college Republicans at @sacstate."

Who's Doing the Raping? Don't Ask 'Law & Order: SVU'

"The hallmark of civilized cultures is to arrest and imprison child rapists. But the brain-dead writers of “Law & Order: SVU” invent little stories to demoralize the defenders of civilization, so we can let the incest and child rape flow!"

Ann Coulter  " 'With the impeachment nonsense making TV news unwatchable, I’ve been catching up on “Law & Order: SVU” recently.

"The scripts involve the sort of real-life crimes that are a lot more common since our country has become “diverse,” such as child rape and incest. But the child-rapists are never diverse, as they are in real life. No, the perps are always blond, blue-eyed American men.

"In fact, the modern American white male is the least rapey, most gentle, protective, chivalrous creature God has ever created. Get ready for a gigantic I TOLD YOU SO when American women realize that, from 1620 to the day Ted Kennedy’s 1965 immigration act kicked in, they never had it so good.

"I wouldn’t mention it, except for “Law & Order: SVU.” It would be as if the writers portrayed New York City as a sleepy little burg and Dixville Notch, New Hampshire, as a fast-paced metropolis, jam-packed with skyscrapers.

"In one episode titled “Zero Tolerance,” a white American male sells illegal alien girls to other white American men in a sex trafficking scheme that was somehow enabled by Trump ... SEPARATING CHILDREN FROM THEIR PARENTS AT THE BORDER!!!

"(The theory of causation is a little vague, but it was definitely Trump’s fault.)

"Also, according to “Law & Order: SVU,” the main demographic with a sexual fetish for pre-pubescent Hispanic girls is: handsome, married American white men.

Thus, the john having sex with a 9-year-old illegal alien in this episode was a white businessman, married with two sons, who was in New York specifically to have sex with underage girls.

"You have to admire television writers who have taken a vow to never leave their homes, have any human contact or read.

Reviewing my years of research on child sex crimes, I see that this has happened NEVER. It’s kind of the opposite. I ended up with so many immigrant child rape cases for 

" 'Adios, America!” that most of them had to be left on the cutting room floor -- or the book would have been twice as long.

"Since 2013, an average of 34 illegal aliens have been charged in North Carolina with 151 counts of raping or sexually assaulting a child per month -- and that’s based on police data from less than a third of the counties in a single state." . . .

California (California!) Democratic congresswoman says House could impeach Donald Trump AGAIN if he's re-elected and Republicans lose Senate control

UK Daily Mail  "Democratic Congresswoman Karen Bass said members of her party could take another shot at impeaching Donald Trump if he's re-elected and they win control of the Senate in next year's election.
"The Democratic-controlled House is expected to approve next week two articles of impeachment against the president but Trump is expected to survive his trial in the Republican-controlled Senate.

"Bass was asked if Democrats would take another stab at the president should the Senate come under their power after the 2020 contest, assuming Trump won re-election." . . .

"Levin asked her: 'Suppose he gets reelected and you're right and you win back the Senate in a big way. If you did that, would you be inclined to take a second bite at the apple and reintroduce the exact same impeachment articles and then send it through again a second if you have a Democratic Senate on your side?'

" 'So, you know, yes, but I don't think it would be exactly the same and here's why,' Bass replied. 'Because even though we are impeaching him now, there's still a number of court cases, there's a ton of information that could come forward. For example, we could get his bank records and find out that he's owned 100 percent by the Russians.' " . . .

After all, the odds are in their favor because “he probably has other examples of criminal behavior.”

CNN Ignores Opening Statements in Senate Judiciary Hearing on IG Report

Free Beacon

"CNN broke from other major networks Wednesday and did not broadcast opening statements during the Senate Judiciary Committee's hearing on the recently released DOJ inspector general's report.
"The network only showed a brief segment of Sen. Lindsey Graham's (R., S.C.) statement, during which he discussed Russian interference in the 2016 election, and displayed video of the hearing without audio while reporters and pundits discussed the impeachment inquiry. The network did not show any of Sen. Dianne Feinstein's (D., Calif.) opening statement.
"By contrast, MSNBC broadcasted Graham's opening statement for a little more than 20 minutes before cutting to a panel discussion. Fox News aired Graham's entire statement. MSNBC showed Feinstein's whole opening statement, which was significantly shorter than Graham's.
"Both CNN and MSNBC eventually broadcasted Inspector General Michael Horowitz's opening statement.
"Graham in his comments ripped media coverage of the inspector general's report and criticized the FBI's conduct in obtaining permission to surveil a member of Donald Trump's presidential campaign.
"Graham said the media overlooked the FBI's errors because its misconduct did not fit their narrative, focusing instead on the finding that there was no political bias in the investigation. The report faulted the FBI for committing numerous "significant errors or omissions" in its application to surveil Trump aide Carter Page.
"Both CNN and MSNBC previously opted to give full coverage to House Intelligence Committee chairman Rep. Adam Schiff's (D., Calif.) opening statements during the impeachment hearings held by his committee." . . .

The Picture That Tells The Democrats’ Impeachment Story

Canada Free Press

"Meanwhile, look at today’s tell-tale picture as a memento of how the desperado Dems pulled the 2020 presidency of Hillary Clinton out of the 2016 raging fire.You can always keep it to show your grandchildren when they grow up—but it’s now not likely they’ll have much of a country when they do. But all is not lost because patriots will NEVER let the lawless Desperado Democrats impeach their president." (CFP)

"The picture of the holier-than-thou Democrats in today’s announced articles of impeachment against President Trump alleging abuse of power and obstruction because of his alleged interactions with Ukraine, couldn’t possibly speak for them any louder.

"In fact, it positively renders blood-curdling screams.

"In the photo these politicians marching America down the path of socialism where Commie Bernie Sanders and his sidekick Alexandria Of The Occasional Cortex wait breathlessly to welcome them, have the unmitigated gall to FEIGN sorrow.

"In the iconic photo, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi stands apart from the others, as she always tries to do in real life.  Rep. Maxine Waters, whose high-pitched screech brought about the call for non-stop Impeachment, tries for a soberly silent look,  and living ghost Adam Schiff (Eric Ciaramella—or whoever he is)  tries to bring up the rear.

“ 'House Democrats on Tuesday announced articles of impeachment against President Trump alleging abuse of power and obstruction of Congress regarding his interactions with Ukraine, touching off a rapid-fire sequence that could result in a momentous floor vote in a matter of days. (Fox News, Dec. 10, 2019)" . . .

‘Sportsperson of the Year’ Megan Rapinoe slams Sports Illustrated

“Love more, hate less?” Rapinoe might as well have told us to eat more spinach and less pizza. Is there anything more abrasive than being told you’re a hater? Can you imagine Manning or Jordan lecturing us like this? Nor would Manning or Jordan pop up on a show as divisive as Rachel Maddow’s, as Rapinoe did, where she said “I try to … keep myself woke.”

NY Post  . . . "In 2016, Rapinoe generated controversy for kneeling in support of the Black Lives Matter protest movement started in the NFL by then-quarterback Colin Kaepernick. This year, she feuded with President Trump and said she would not go to the White House if the team won the Cup leading up to their big win.
"Trump blasted Rapinoe on Twitter — and ultimately did not invite the team to the White House after the Americans bested the Netherlands 2-0 in the final.
"For good measure, Rapinoe then blasted FIFA, soccer’s governing body, for failing to offer women athletes the same pay as men, despite the American women’s winning track record." . . .

"World Cup soccer champion Megan Rapinoe is milking her "victimhood" in the wake of her World Cup win."  "Arrogant, abrasive, sanctimonious, whiny, humorless, unpatriotic, self-important and immensely boring, Megan Rapinoe has made the least of her sudden ascent to fame as the captain of the World Cup-winning US women’s soccer team. With unprecedented alacrity, she has become America’s anti-sweetheart.
"Instead of coming across as delighted about the team’s championship run, and humbled by all of the support, Rapinoe cast herself as a foe of President Trump, first aggressively, then passive-aggressively. Trump, like everybody else, had probably never heard of her until last month, when she told an obscure magazine called Eight by Eight, “I’m not going to the f–king White House” . . .

How Joe Biden Gets Away With Calling A Voter A Fat, Dumb, Liar

In contrast to the way Trump’s insults are treated, it’s otherwise hard to explain how Biden gets a pass on calling a reasonable Iowa voter a fat, unintelligent, liar.

Trump insults a lot of people, and D.C. elites are horrified. But Biden can call an Iowa voter who asked a reasonable question about corruption fat and tell him Biden has a 'much higher IQ.'  "Everyone was buzzing last week about Joe Biden’s confrontation with a voter in Iowa who had the temerity to ask about son Hunter’s extremely lucrative job on the board of Ukrainian gas company Burisma—a job Hunter Biden received one month after his father was named the Obama administration’s “point person” on Ukraine.
"Biden, obviously, did not take well to the suggestion he had enabled corruption by his son. As a general rule, I’d like to see more bare-knuckles between politicians and voters in campaign settings, but the real revelation here is that Joe Biden is totally, utterly unprepared to answer obvious difficult questions he’s going to have to answer in a presidential campaign.
"Biden’s latest excuse is blaming his aides for not warning him that his son’s Burisma job was a problem, even though at least one aide says he raised the issue with him directly. Plus, calling an ordinary voter a “damn liar” and other ad hominem insults for raising the very real issue of his son’s corruption is… something.
"Yet much of the political Twitterati responded with praise because Biden was “feisty.” In fact, here’s how CNN National Political Reporter Maeve Reston covered the exchange:" . . .
On CNN, Trump's "insulting demeanor" was Biden's "human moment". . . .

"It’s true that it only takes two clowns to make a circus."

Hillary still campaigns

Image by Bryce Marshall

Rabbi Aryeh Spero:  Hillary Clinton misuses Tikkun O'lam to bring down President Trump  . . . "In her speech, Mrs. Clinton used Tikkun Olam to condemn all the policies of the Trump administration.  Such rhetoric seems to be much too political for what the ancient Joshua, Zohar, and Talmud had in mind.  She even included in her remarks a castigation of our immigration policies.  But this belies the reality of the Torah, which is quite protective of a nation's borders and a country's existing citizens.  The Torah does not espouse open borders or a "no need for vetting" policy.  No way!  No doubt, liberals would not be calling for open borders if those coming across the border illegally were Likudniks from Israel, fierce anti-communists from Cuba, or fundamentalist Nigerian and Sudanese black Christians fleeing persecution from Islam.  They would, as they did during the Nixon impeachment, be chanting "rule of law, rule of law." . . .

Bernie Sanders was one more reason for Clinton's loss in 2016  . . . "Mr. Stern asked Mrs. Clinton if Sen. Bernard Sanders, who she battled for months before securing the 2016 nomination, should have endorsed her more quickly after he dropped out. “He could have,” she said. “He hurt me. There’s no doubt about it. He hurt me.”
“ 'I hope he doesn’t do it again to whoever gets the nomination. Once is enough,” she said with more than a hint of bitterness.
"Mrs. Clinton’s new honest and open demeanor is a move away from 2016, when she was a cardboard cutout candidate unable to connect with voters, whom she kept at arm’s length as she went through the motions." . . .
. . . “ 'The way I helped Donald was I let him come on and be a personality. "Whether you liked him or not people related to him as a human being,” [Stern] said." . . .

Back in 2017: Hillary Clinton: Here's the misstep from the campaign I regret the most
Hint: Hillary lost every coal mining county in West Virginia.

Fireworks at the Trump impeachment

House Judiciary Committee ranking member Rep. Doug Collins says House Democrats’ announcement shows how partisan their impeachment inquiry is

AG Barr: “Our Nation Was Turned On Its Head For 3 Years…Based On A Completely Bogus Narrative”   A.G. Barr speaks about an irresponsible press and it's effect

Barr ----*: Trump Campaign ‘Clearly Spied Upon,’ ‘First Time In History’ To Happen To ‘Presidential Campaign’
(* word "Bombshell" removed because of bombshell fatigue. TD)
. . . "NBC News Pete Williams asked Barr, “Based on what you know so far, do you still stand by your statement that the campaign was spied upon?”
“ 'Oh, it was clearly spied upon. I mean, that’s what electronic surveillance is. I think wiring people up to go in and talk to people and make recordings of their conversations is spying,” Barr responded. “I think going through people’s emails which they did as a result of the FISA warrant. They went through everything, you know, from Page’s life.”
"Earlier in the interview, Barr said that this was “the first time in history that this has been done to a presidential campaign, the use of these counterintelligence techniques against a presidential campaign.' ” . . .

Schiff: We Can’t Conduct A Free And Fair Election In 2020 Unless We Impeach Trump

Rep. Gaetz Exposes Impeachment Investigator as Partisan Democrat

Panelist makes surprise Trump impeachment prediction  "CNN political commentator and Democratic strategist Paul Begala predicts that this will not be the first attempt at impeaching President Trump because he believes Trump would be impeached again if he ignored a possible Supreme Court ruling that would force key White House witnesses to testify."