Impeachment

[Z%rø]

Acquitted 57 Guilty - 43 Not Guilty

Good job, Democrats. Time and effort well spent. Again. You guys did it.

[hngkong]

Good job, Democrats. Time and effort well spent. Again. You guys did it.

All the democratic leadership wants is to lose enough seats in two years that they can ramp up fundraising AND not have to do anything to help Americans.

[Mongrel]

Acquitted 57 Guilty - 43 Not Guilty

Good job, Democrats. Time and effort well spent. Again. You guys did it.

Counterpoints: It was a foregone conclusion that he would be acquitted, there were certainly more Republican votes to convict than was expected, and it's not like they could NOT impeach him considering it was actual civil insurrection.

[Blossom]

It was a way to occupy time until they go on vacation, without having to talk about checks.

[Thad]

Acquitted 57 Guilty - 43 Not Guilty

Good job, Democrats. Time and effort well spent. Again. You guys did it.

Counterpoints: It was a foregone conclusion that he would be acquitted, there were certainly more Republican votes to convict than was expected, and it's not like they could NOT impeach him considering it was actual civil insurrection.

Voting to call witnesses and then going "Nah, just kidding" is fucking baffling to me.

I don't think the final vote was ever going to be better than what we got -- frankly I wasn't sure we'd get 2 Republicans, let alone 7 -- but this was about crafting a narrative.

I guess there's an argument to be made that Beutler's statement was as clear and to-the-point a description of what Trump knew and when he knew it as we were going to get, and any further witness testimony would have just amounted to letting Republicans grandstand and muddy the waters. I'm not sure I buy that argument, but I understand it.

I see two goals here -- get the votes, and shape the narrative. As far as getting the votes, I don't think they could have done any better than they did. They were never going to get 67, and I'm surprised they even got 57.

As far as shaping the narrative? I think they could have done better, but they certainly could have done a lot worse. There's strong consensus that the prosecution's presentation was effective and the defense's was bumbling, polls showed 56% of the public in favor of conviction, votes to convict were bipartisan and votes to acquit were partisan.

They didn't do as well as I'd hoped, but they did better than I expected. What all this means, who the hell knows.

[Friday]

I mean, I've been waving my arms and shouting CHAOS TIME since COVID started, and we have maybe entered a small ebb, but that's it.

If chaos is a ladder river, we're currently swirling about in a little eddy off to the side, waiting to get back on the ride. "It's not over" doesn't even begin to cover what's coming. Fascism is not only "alive and kicking" it's fucking on the march, worldwide. Trump being in office was just one finger.

Actually, you know what? A really good metaphor just occurred to me. Minor s3 Stranger Things spoilers:

At the start of s3, the hole between worlds that the Mind Flayer opened (and Eleven closed) is described as "thin and weak." That's where we are now. Voting Trump out was Eleven closing the hole, but the damage remains and the shadow is still right on the other side, ready to pour through.

[Bal]

Luckily nothing bad has ever happened after a failed fascist coup effectively went unpunished.

[Büge]

If chaos is a ladder river, we're currently swirling about in a little eddy off to the side, waiting to get back on the ride.

Some say chaos, it is a river~
That drowns the tender reed~