The Walls Are Closing In On Trump

The Times finally runs the "John Dean moment" story they probably outlined months ago. Still waiting for a smoking gun, but I know they are ready with that headline as well.

Definitely a tipping point.

Comments

[JimNorCal]

Ha ha.
The walls are closing in!
Again :) :) :)

[JimNorCal]

TM's "tipping point" link is a humorous YouTube.
Recommended.

[henry]

So the walls were closing in, but crappy Chinese / Ukrainian construction made them tip over and Trump escaped?

[henry]

So is NYT saying John Dean made up all his testimony like Sondland did? Zombie Nixon will get revenge if so.

[MissMarple2]

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/royal-family/2019/11/20/prince-andrew-met-ghislaine-maxwell-two-weeks-prosecutors-announced/

The Duke of York held a meeting with Ghislaine Maxwell in London two weeks after US prosecutors announced they wanted to reopen their investigation into Jeffrey Epstein.

The Telegraph has discovered that Ms Maxwell, who is now at the centre of an FBI inquiry, made her last trip to the UK at the beginning of June where she met Prince Andrew.

(More at link.)

[henry]

meanwhile...

The Wall Street Journal @WSJ
13m

A judge has suspended the executions of four federal death-row inmates that were scheduled to begin next month, effectively blocking the Trump administration’s plan to restart the use of the death penalty after a 16-year hiatus on.wsj.com/2XyTzr4

Judge Tanya Chutkan, DC

Obama appointee born in Jamaica.

[MissMarple2]

henry,

My fervent hope is that some in the NYT get arrested for their participation in this.

[henry]

predictable, not an excuse even if it happened:

Adam Schefter
@AdamSchefter

In an appeal with the NFL, Browns’ DE Myles Garrett alleged that Mason Rudolph called him a racial slur prior to last week's brawl on Thursday Night Football, sources told ESPN's Josina Anderson and me, an accusation the Steelers’ QB strongly denies.

https://twitter.com/AdamSchefter/status/1197580939104325633

[Threadkiller]

Fiona Swill knows how to hog the clock.

[Dave (in MA)]

TM's "tipping point" link is a humorous YouTube.

A montage of clips largely taken from the Avenatti Channels.

[MissMarple2]

Sara A. Carter
@SaraCarterDC
·
1h
Since 2001, the U.S. government (both Dems and GOP) gave #Ukraine:

$4.6 Billion Dollars

Despite Ukraine being one of the most corrupt countries in the world.

When will this non-sense stop? We have to borrow money in order to be this charitable.
======================
How much of that $4.6 billion did all of these leeches skim off the top?

[Threadkiller]

If they don't reign in this cranky twat, this hearing will be a disaster for Republicans.

During the 5min, they would be wise to not ask her a damn thing.

[henry]

Shem Horne
@Shem_Infinite

Someone needs to ask Fiona Hill if she wrote the anonymous op-ed and book about being a member of the resistance inside the White House.

[MissMarple2]

POTUS Press ✩
@POTUSPress
·
2h
In unexpected move, @DevinNunes
invokes obscure House rule that will allow Republicans a hearing in which they can call witnesses. Schiff must have overlooked it when formulating his show rules. Well done Congressman.
👏

[Threadkiller]

If Nunes prevails, then it is "well done." Untill then, it is more dog and pony.

[MissMarple2]

Here's the rule:

https://www.everycrsreport.com/reports/RS22637.html

[Threadkiller]

Princess Fiona runs her trap like no other.

[henry]

MissM, Looks like Schiff can torpedo that with both hands behind his back... simply hold that day in the basement SKIF and classify it all thus burying anything useful that might come up.

[Narciso]

Fusion judge chutkin.

[henry]

Jordan agrees with TK

Shem Horne @Shem_Infinite
32s

Schiff says Jordan is interrupting because he doesn't like the answer.

Jordan: "There wasn't an answer it was a filibuster." 😂😂

[JM Hanes]

From the Lee Zeldin tweet, quoted in the last thread:

Schiff just said in his latest opening statement parody that the President demanded an investigation of Joe Biden in return for US $. This is a lie.

I remember first recognizing this as a deliberate tactic back during the war in Iraq, when Lancet published shocking Iraqi mortality rates. It didn't matter how many times and ways their numbers were debunked, the opposition repeated them as gospel for years. All you need is to get a lie into print once, and you can self-righteously repeat it as proven fact forever. This approach has been so expanded and refined, that Congressmen read NYTimes articles into the record as evidence, and malefactors like Comey do likewise with their own targeted leaks when someone wants a FISA license to spy. No wonder the Dems think State Dept opinions should be sufficient to indict a president.

I get irritated when I see our own comrades in this war sliding that direction. Now I know there's a distinct divide between headlines and stories, but this is not as removed from tipping point/bombshell/walls-closing-in territory as it might seem:

The Federalist headline :

Elizabeth Warren Vows To Use Taxpayer Dollars To Tear Down Border Wall

The actual exchange:

Would you ask taxpayers to pay to take down any part of the wall on the nation’s southern border?” asked one of the debate moderators.

“If there are parts of the wall that are not useful in our defense, of course we should do it,” Warren declared.

This is hardly a vow; it's a weasel worded way to avoid any kind of commitment that could come back to haunt her. The Federalist jumped on it anyway. I don't like it when the press distorts what Republicans say, and I don't like it when Republicans do the same to Democrats. It's important to know what people are actually doing and saying, especially when they are the folks you're fighting against.

Twitchy is particularly bad about overselling their stories, as are the folks breathlessly reporting IG/DoJ bombshells #2 weeks, or reporting on what unreleased documents are rumored to contain. That stuff is mostly irritating, but it's also like the JV version of transcending inconvenient facts.

[henry]

Trumka playing politics as usual.

CNBC @CNBC
now

Pelosi, Neal and Lighthizer do not reach a deal on Trump USCMA agreement

https://twitter.com/CNBC/status/1197595731076567040

Labor groups and Democrats have worried the agreement will not go far enough to boost wages in Mexico and stop U.S. companies from moving jobs south.

[MissMarple2]

Kelly
@KellySunshineT1
·
10m
Was there a single personable person in Obama's State Department? From what I see from these hearings, no.
=======================================
I would say that it is because they are mostly democrats in spirit, even if registered as independent.

For comparison, I give you the 10 presidential candidates in the debate last night. Voila!

[Sammy Small]

“If there are parts of the wall that are not useful in our defense, of course we should do it,”

Is there any doubt who will decide what is not useful to our defense? I would expect pretty much everything to come down.

[D]

We must rid the State Dept of these disloyal people.
President Trump needs a team he can trust and that have his back.
If Romney has done anything wrong it would have come out during his presidential run.

[Buckeye]

So Fiona knows that the President's family is tweeting about Yovanovich, but doesn't know much about the Steele Dossier?

Right.

[Narciso]

Thats seems odd because she was steeles opposite no on tbe nsc

[Barbara]

"So is NYT saying John Dean made up all his testimony like Sondland did? Zombie Nixon will get revenge if so."

Posted by: henry | November 21, 2019 at 01:27 PM

henry,

I never thought that John Dean's testimony was anything but ass covering, self-aggrandizing, bullshit.

Just for good measure he brought along his wife (his insurance policy) who sat right behind him every day to remind the politicians in the House and Senate that she knew everything about them.

[Jim Eagle]

From all these witnesses have we figured out who is actually POTUS and where Trump fits in?

[Threadkiller]

DawsonSField is the actual POTUS, JiB, and Trump is his Oz curtain.

[D]

Barbara:
I remember John Dean’s testimony for the little weasel that he was.
I was glad he had to spend some time in jail although it was one of those cushy federal ones.
He was a real scumbag.
I am so glad these Congress people are leaving for Thsnksgiving.
When they come back the IG report will await them.
Then we will see how anxious they are to impeach a duly elected President.

[MissMarple2]

The Trump campaign is now selling Bull Schiff tee shirts.

[henry]

Maryrose, they are in Congress. Reality is not allowed to intrude on their lives.

[John S]

The house rule allowing minority witnesses that was linked above is totally useless because it allows the majority members to decide if the proposed witness testimony is "relevant." Pffft!!!

[MissMarple2]

Retweeted by the President. Video at the link.

This was an enlightening exchange btw HOLMES & @RepRatcliffe:

Holmes could hear the Ukraine portion of the call btw Trump & Sondland, but not much about the A$AP Rocky portion.

Incredible. Holmes only could clearly hear what he perceives to be damaging, but not much of else. pic.twitter.com/W4Fqg1Y76P

— Rep Andy Biggs (@RepAndyBiggsAZ) November 21, 2019

[MissMarple2]

Retweeted by the President. Video at the link.

Democrats have brought in numerous witnesses to testify about matters completely unrelated to the heart of their impeachment claim.

📺WATCH: @RepMikeTurner calls them out. pic.twitter.com/4dr6TB2W50

— Oversight Committee Republicans (@GOPoversight) November 21, 2019

[Jim Eagle]

My theory: If you were to take the top 100K smartest people in the United States by MENSA and/or university degrees, none, I repeat none would be in our Congress. [That includes Senate, of course]. Think about that everytime Schiff pontificats or Burr lets Warner run his committee. I think I could actually expand that to 10M people but someone like Dan Crenshaw or Rand Paul could get caught up in that web.

[MissMarple2]

Retweeted by the President. Video of DOug Collins on Laura Ingraham's show at the link.

When you're trying to overturn 63 million votes and take down a sitting president, you better come up with something more than the fact that you don’t like him.https://t.co/KPXPQ99PQD

— Rep. Doug Collins (@RepDougCollins) November 21, 2019

[Barbara]

Apart from Sondland's opening statement which did not contain any reference to the most significant part of his testimony - that the President stated he wanted NOTHING from the new Ukrainian President - I'm troubled by what Sondland did say when that information was dragged out of him by the Republicans.

He testified that he repeatedly asked the President, "What do you want?" It would appear that the President finally got fed up with this question and emphatically said, "I want nothing." I have to wonder, especially because this information only came out under questioning, if Sondland's purpose in that meeting was to elicit some form of quid pro quo from the President.

[MissMarple2]

Retweeted by the President. Video at the link.

13 conversations that Ambassador Taylor remembered.

But he didn’t remember Mr. Holmes briefing him about a call that was “so remarkable,” and an “extremely distinctive experience.”

THIS is the Dems’ closing witness? pic.twitter.com/jHdx8fJxf1

— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) November 21, 2019

[MissMarple2]

Retweeted by the President. Video at the link.

The American people expect fairness. @RepAdamSchiff's #impeachmentcircus has been anything but fair.

Thankfully, this circus is coming to a close very soon.

🎥 : @RepChrisStewart pic.twitter.com/qkYzTSadLN

— Oversight Committee Republicans (@GOPoversight) November 21, 2019

[MissMarple2]

Jack,

I agree.

Here is another reason President Trump is successful: he IS smart. They assumed he was not due to the Queens accent and owning hotels and casinos. He is used to looking at blueprints, plans, budgets, etc. and spotting flaws, overspending, etc.

They have never had to deal with someone like that. Most of them think if they spout off some flowery words that the voters will be impressed. Not any more!!

I am really finding their discomfiture enjoyable.

[boris]

"I have to wonder ... if Sondland's purpose in that meeting was to elicit some form of quid pro quo"

My thought on the "What do you want?" question was that quid pro quo is so much standard operating procedure that Trump's lack of such seemed unusual to him.

[James D.]

JiB @ 3:36

Disagree. High IQ or an advanced degree doesn’t automatically grant good judgment, common sense or ethics.

I’m sure that Elizabeth Warren, for example, has a very high IQ. And I’m also sure she’s not the economic illiterate we imagine her to be. I’m sure she understands perfectly well the immense damage her policies would do, and that in no way would they accomplish what she says she wants to see happen.

[MissMarple2]

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/fiona-hill-is-wrong-about-ukraine-it-did-interfere-in-the-2016-election

Tony Schaffer linked this article with this comment:

Tony Shaffer
@T_S_P_O_O_K_Y
·
7m
I've dealt with elitist academic morons just like Fiona Hill my entire career - I was just at the Pentagon w/ an old boss discussing how the bureaucracy is full of these "book smart" morons - she is an absolute stooge of the deep state & progressive left

[MissMarple2]

Retweeted by the President. Link goes to video.

.@RepStefanik just called out Democrats for their lies about Republican support in holding Russia accountable for election meddling.

Their political desperation is showing. pic.twitter.com/4OiPD9BCqQ

— Kevin McCarthy (@GOPLeader) November 21, 2019

[MissMarple2]

Retweeted by the President. Link goes to video.

Every time the Trump administration meets Speaker Pelosi halfway on the USMCA, she tries to move the goalposts. The Speaker literally has not even updated her own talking points since Valentine’s Day. Textbook obstruction. pic.twitter.com/bOH2Cde7ZM

— Leader McConnell (@senatemajldr) November 21, 2019

[matt - deplore me if you must]

The dark night of walls closing in is always descending on the Republicans but falls on Dems.

btw, the Andrew quote was a joke.

[Threadkiller]

Sitting behind Schiff is some Ali Ali Akbar. I wonder which Awan he is.

[Barbara]

"High IQ or an advanced degree doesn’t automatically grant good judgment, common sense or ethics."

Posted by: James D. | November 21, 2019 at 03:52 PM

James D.,

Those words of wisdom should be carved over the door of every institution of higher learning and courtroom in the land.

[Jim Eagle]

jamesD,

Could no disagreeing more. I worked 6 years in DC. Metors hundresds of the denizens from Sentors, Reps, other lobbyists, bureaucrats, heet. al. Not any of them had the brain power to make competent decisions, develop concensus or even run the county. Look at it. Are you impressed where we are as a country. Our debt, our dysfuntional institutions, they way we handle easy things like immigration or illegal immigration, health care, infrastructure investment, our overseas war mentality?

You really think my theory is wrong? Tell me where I am wrong.

[D]

Barbara:
Interesting theory and probably true.
They have tried and failed big time with this sham inquiry.
Will wait for the true real news of the IG report and the testimony of Horowitz.
Anything else from the Dems is just noise.

[Jim Eagle]

..sorry for that garbled 4:13 post....fat fingers, too much early wine...

[MissMarple2]

https://magamedia.org/2019/11/21/queen-to-prince-andrew-youre-fired/

This has more details on Prince Andrew's firing by the Queen, including that he is to stand down from the 300 charities he sponsors.

[D]

JamesD:
Countless people have stated Warren’s Health plan is non starter in Congress.
She knows she can never get it done.
Ditto for Bernie.
Promising what they can’t deliver.

[Davod]

God that Schiff needs to be reined in.

[Barbara]

My thought on the "What do you want?" question was that quid pro quo is so much standard operating procedure that Trump's lack of such seemed unusual to him.

Posted by: boris | November 21, 2019 at 03:49 PM

Boris,

That's a logical possibility. It just seemed to me from his testimony that Sondland was pressuring the President to come up with something that he clearly had no intention of doing. It bothered me because given the varying charges that the Committee is toying with, this bit of information was critical to Sondland's testimony. Yet, he left it out of his statement.

[Jim Eagle]

MM. ,

Of course he is fired. Another annus horriblis

[matt - deplore me if you must]

I think Andrew's next step is the Costa Brava.

[MissMarple2]

Jack,

I am on your side. One of the reasons I am such a fierce defender of President Trump is that he reminds me of my Dad.

My Dad was very smart. However, due to the Depression he had to leave IU and joined the Army. He spent 7 years there, until the end of WWII. He was in charge of the Quartermaster platoon and bossed all sorts of guys: mechanics, carpenters, tailors, etc. When he got out of the Army in 1945 he started a furnace and sheet metal shop.

He sold the business when he was in his late 40's and went to work supervising maintenance for our local school system, where he was talked down to like he was a moron almost daily by the principals and other administrators.

He was smarter than all of them and could have beaten them in a contest over SAT scores. He used to come home and read poetry and English novels with my Mom, and helped us with our math homework.

I see the President the same way. He is very smart and is willing to hide it in order to lure in the idiots in Congress. The Deep State apparatchiks simply don't get it, and think THEY are the geniuses.

I am enjoying it and rooting for him. I wish I could do more to help him, but he IS smarter than almost all in the Congress and the members of the bureaucracy that we have seen, and I am pretty sure that anyone here is smarter than the Senators and Representatives. I know for darn sure we are smarter than any of the witnesses Schiff has dragged in!

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

--You really think my theory is wrong? Tell me where I am wrong.--

My perspective is that while rank stupidity is quite destructive, mere intelligence, is useful mainly in technical areas like particle physics, etc. But many of the smartest people I know are also some of the most foolish.
My theory aligns with Solomon's;
"Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding."
Wisdom is what political leaders need, and courage. I'll take a guy with a nice mediocre 100 IQ and those two over shiny bright boys like McNamara and company any day.

[MissMarple2]

https://www.wbtv.com/2019/11/21/aircraft-charter-company-that-moved-rowan-now-closing/

Owner charged with sex crimes. Was " a retired U.S. Marine Corps pilot who served on the crew of the Presidential Helicopter, Marine One, supporting the White House and President Clinton."

[James D.]

JiB @ 4:13

Where I think you’re wrong is in assuming that because they’ve made an utter mess of this country, our “leaders” aren’t intelligent.

First thing - that assumes that their goal is actually what they say it is - producing actual good results for the citizenry. If you assume that the goal of many (most) politicians and bureaucrats in DC is to expand their own power and bank accounts, and punish people they don’t like, I think you’d have to agree they are wildly successful. And you have to have at least some brain power to keep getting re-elected by the very people you’re continually ripping off (and fending off challenges from within your party at the same time).

Second thing - I think we have all met people whose IQ is off the charts and who are stone cold experts in whatever their primary field is...and who you wouldn’t trust with the simplest task outside that field.

[Jim Eagle]

Iggy,

Unfortunaly, Feynman is no longer around to run the country. Try another one. Who in the full Congress you believes has the intelligence to run, save, or help the country? If they are so smart then why can't they figure out how to arrange a consensus to do that?

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

Your question indicates I didn't make my point too clearly, JiB.

[MissMarple2]

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/california-supreme-court-rejects-law-requiring-trump-to-release-tax-returns-to-be-on-primary-ballot

[Jim Eagle]

You still didn't answer my question. And your point doesn't even come close to answering my question. Who do you think has the intelligence to align all the phoints of the stars to save us? No one.

We depend on the sins of mankind to save us not the intelligence of mankind.

My point is that in a nation of smart people we still can't solve important concerns and issues. Why not, if we are so smart? Because, there is an element in our geneitc intelligence that make us more political than solvers. I come from the solver's category, not the politcal one.

As I see it, we are doomed to political solutions instead of smart ones. My point.

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

Mexican drug cartels are no longer drug cartels. They are taking over entire legitimate industries.
When Mexico is literally a gangster-run failed state run by literal gangsters will controlling the border then be in our national interest?
Probably not even then, since it will mean even more Dem voters to import.

[henry]

Thread and link to Graham’s request at link.

@themarketswork

1) Graham Requests State Department Documents on Bidens, Obama Administration Officials and Ukraine

https://twitter.com/themarketswork/status/1197625082387976192?s=21

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

Your point seemed to be no one in DC is smart enough to save us.
My point is, it is not a lack of intelligence, but a lack of wisdom. A DC full of Linus Paulings, Michael Foucaults and Bertrand Russells would make a much bigger mess than even the gang of simpering apes we have now because intelligence and wisdom are two different and not necessarily coincident attributes.

[Jim Eagle]

Okay. Who in DC has the wisdom to save us?

[MissMarple2]

Jack,

Wisdome to save us:

Donald J. Trump
Ben Carson
Mike Pompeo
Mich Mulvaney

After those 4, I will have to think for quite a while.

[James D.]

JiB, I think what we need is a lot less saving from DC in the first place.

[boris]

I agree and disagree with both Ignatz and Jack. There probably are lots of above average IQ peeps in DC but it doesn't show because IQ is not that useful in politics.

Much more useful in STEM, but look at silicon valley where prog delusion is off the charts but their software works.

[MissMarple2]

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1192492500289753089.html

Thread:FLYNN PROSECUTION TEAM HID EXCULPATORY EVIDENCE

[Comanche Voter]

Congressman Hank Johnson says that if you put one more pound of paper containing "bombshell charges" against Trump on Guam, the island will capsize.

Or for quicker results, you could stack all the dollars the Biden and Kerry families and associates collected from the Ukraine, and the whole danged island would sink beneath the waves.

[Threadkiller]

I propose a test to find out who in DC can save us.

Take three glasses of clear water and mix them together. Have the politician write down the color of the mixture.

Then take two glasses of clear water and one glass of water that is dyed red and mix them together. Have the politician write down the color of the mixture.

If they answered "clear" to the first mixture and "reddish" to the second mixture, they have a perfect understanding of Article II eligibility.

[MissMarple2]

https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2019/11/21/president-trump-disrupted-dcs-ability-to-monetize-government/

This is true. Comments add some additional evidence.

[D]

I have a much longer list than the 4 listed above.
Thomas Cotton
Chuck Grassley
Josh Hawley
All the representatives fighting against impeachment
All governors now senators that are Republicans
President Trump is new to this game.
He will be effective for this term and his next and then he is out of the picture.
The others I have mentioned will be around for s long time.
Again I take the long view.
One person cannot save us.
Following that course hobbles our ability to develop other good leadership.
In the past the parties decided on a candidate.Successful with Obama but a failure with Hillary
Now they have had 3 years to agree on a consensus candidate.
Their inability to do this, shoots the decision to the convention.
Advantage :Trump
That now appears for the Dems to be

[D]

Should include a better course.

[D]

David:
Agree.
Schiff is off the hook.

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

--Okay. Who in DC has the wisdom to save us?--

Nobody. That's why we're going to end up shooting each other.

[Buckeye]

I am less confident in those wise owls saving us, and most of them are people I like.

You'll find me on The Ledge.

Drinkin' doubles.

[Threadkiller]

Speaking of The Ledge, has anyone checked in with OL?

[Captain Hate]

The GOP is a money laundering clown show. The only good Presidents of the last century have been outsiders: Trump, Reagan and maybe Eisenhower.

[MissMarple2]

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/471573-trump-awards-jon-voight-others-national-medal-of-arts

[Pinandpuller]

I hope all you Huwight people are ready for a peaceful transition of demographics: https://www.wdrb.com/the-real-young-prodigy-s---raperations/video_86a7eb3e-dda7-11e9-94ad-7fac3e70f7eb.html

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

Coolidge just squeezes in to the last century and even Harding was better than the Bushes.

[Captain Hate]

Speaking of The Ledge, has anyone checked in with OL?

I think our last interactions were cordial so don't blame me...

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

Well, goodbye first amendment; it's been good to know ye.
'Slave for Sale': Teen Charged with Hate Crime for Posting Black Friend on Craigslist

[JimNorCal]

Insty:
COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF: Trump Lays Down the Law on Pardoned SEAL: ‘The Navy Will NOT Be Taking Away Eddie Gallagher’s Trident Pin.’

[Pinandpuller]

Illinois was a Free State your honor. I plead irony.

[Captain Hate]

I was considering Silent Cal but better than the Bushes is very scant praise.

[Pinandpuller]

Captain Hate, have you ever heard of Dayton Supernova?

[Captain Hate]

Regarding OL, maybe he just got tired of commenting. I've been thinking over the past few weeks that living in interesting times can be mentally taxing, particularly trying to keep track of what's really going on with a propagandist press that can't be trusted. One of the things that keeps me here is that my giving up might be what the derp state is trying to do.

[Captain Hate]

No, Pin.

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

Coolidge was a great president. It was Harding who accomplished some great things but did surround himself with corruption who still exceeded the Bushbabies.

[henry]

CH, agree on OL. The world is insane, and appears to be accelerating in its insanity. No way to tell if we are at Max Dynamic Pressure (aka max q — funny coincidence), so no way to tell if this ride goes anywhere good or explodes... or even when we will have enough info to identify the inflection point.

[MissMarple2]

Captain Hate,

Don't leave! You were one of the people who welcomed me. Take a break if you must, but I want to sgare the joy when we win!

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

Vice does a metaphorical hitjob on John Christy and other skeptical climate scientists after someone nearly did a real hit job on him.