Festivus arrives early
by Tom Sullivan
On the eve of the House impeachment vote, former FBI lawyer Lisa Page whose text messages became fodder for years of personal attacks by the president of the United States gave her first television interview on the “Rachel Maddow Show.” In hundreds of cities from coast to coast, in fair weather and in single digits, thousands of protesters called on Congress to defend the Constitution and to impeach and remove Donald Trump from said presidency. Trump himself began Festivus early with a 6-page airing of grievances addressed to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. Trump called the impeachment vote scheduled for this morning a “perversion of justice” and an “attempted coup.”
I'm only 2 1/2 paragraphs in to Trump's letter and it's clear to me that our President is unwell, unfit and very uninformed about our government & our legal system. And that fills me with a profound sadness that we're at this point. It's time to fix this. Past time.— Joyce Alene (@JoyceWhiteVance) December 17, 2019
“Typically a president’s words are weighed very carefully, especially at a moment of constitutional significance,” said Michael Waldman, a White House policy aide and speechwriter during the Bill Clinton impeachment. In this case, White House counsel Pat Cipollone was not involved. Instead, Eric Ueland, director of the Office of Legislative Affairs, helped draft the letter with input from top Trump policy adviser, Stephen Miller, and Michael Williams, an adviser to acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney.
“Angry white mail,” late-night host Stephen Colbert called it.
The Washington Post’s fact checker describes it as a “written version of a Trump rally.”
Former Republican congressman David Jolly warned that Trump’s lie-filled screed is suggesting “Congress’ ability to provide oversight to the president has someway eroded to the point where it’s no longer valid … We are in a dangerous spot.” He is “tearing at the fabric of Article 1.”
New York Times conservative columnist Jennifer Rubin writes:
On the eve of his impeachment, a stain that obviously torments him more than his enablers have let on, President Trump issued a rambling, unhinged and lie-filled letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). It is difficult to capture how bizarre and frightening the letter is simply by counting the utter falsehoods…or by quoting from the invective dripping from his pen.
What is most striking is the spectacle of the letter itself — a president so unhinged as to issue such an harangue; a White House entirely unable to stop him; a party so subservient to him that it would not trigger a search for a new nominee; a right-wing media bubble that will herald Trump for being Trump and excoriate Democrats for driving the president to this point; and a mainstream media not quite able to address a public temper-tantrum…in which one major party has bound itself to the mast of a raging, dangerous narcissist while the other cannot uphold the norms and institutions on which our democracy depends.
Former Obama White House staffer and Pod Save the World co-host Ben Rhodes tweeted, “The fact that the Trump letter is not seen as an insane, alarming, authoritarian warning about the decay of our political system is a signal of how far norms and expectations have moved in politics and media the last three years.”
As confirmation, New York radio host Mark Simone, a longtime Trump friend, appeared on Fox Business’ “Lou Dobbs Tonight” to liken Trump’s primal scream to the Gettysburg Address. He urged everyone to read it.
Here’s Lou Dobbs guest Mark Simone comparing Trump’s unhinged impeachment screed to the Gettysburg Address pic.twitter.com/SfaGLQA4ts— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) December 18, 2019
Naturally, Trump’s red-hatted fans will not.
Have Trump supporters read the Ukraine call transcript? @jordanklepper finds out: https://t.co/N9I4xStMx4 pic.twitter.com/HmOjbuBG9s— The Daily Show (@TheDailyShow) December 17, 2019
And here we are. On the cusp of we know not what. An emotionally stunted, ignorant man — an alpha-coward — has seduced a large minority of “freedom-loving” Americans into surrendering their volition to his vanity. Many risked their lives to defend this republic. Now they risk their republic to defend a fool who would be their king.
We are in grave danger.
(h/t D.B.)
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— digby
Happy Hollandaise!