This afternoon Zerohedge republished two impassioned cries for Zhou’s impeachment. The first is by James Howard Kunstler, who seems convinced that the GOP House will pull the trigger come September: "Way Worse Than Watergate" - All Aboard The Impeachment Express
I've given up thinking about what would do the most good for the country. There aren't enough public servants with integrity to make a difference. The country is too far gone, and really tough times are coming. I don't even wish on Trump the job to right our country. It will be difficult, thankless and sure to provoke forceful opposition if it is even possible. One can only hope that something can be salvaged after we hit the iceberg. Till then we each and every one of us have a personal responsibility to live a moral life, and ensure the well-being and survival of those near and dear to us.
Re the impact of a Watergate-style impeachment of Zhou and specifically its impact on US support for Ukraine as well as the Ukrainians’ processing this inevitable betrayal, A Mercouris offers great insight from the 52 min point on…
The choices presented: do the right thing for the wrong reason (Kunstler: impeachment of Zhou for a rancid Uniparty deal) versus do the wrong thing for the right reason (VDH: non-impeachment to ensure the elites eat the ugly they created). The choice, I think, depends on the question Mr Wauck highlights: which path holds the most good for the country? Presidential impeachments (Zhou would be our fifth if you count from Watergate = Nixon, Clinton, Trump, Trump, Zhou) have become cheap and frequent affairs. The fact that Zhou's might be the only wholly worthy one is made worse than worthless by the judgment he was so well-known to be rotten he never should have been emplaced to begin with: our elites and their power politics are utterly corrupt and only self-serving. A crap impeachment at the cost of preserving Uniparty corrupt continuity does the country no good, it is a very bad trade-off (weirdly, props so far to Speaker McCarthy for not buying in). On this path, in any event, the Senate will not convict, and so the whole affair would become partisan, further cheapen it's use, and amplify divisions in the nation. Passing on so richly-deserved an impeachment as Zhou's is bitter too, but forces the elites to deal with their tar-baby in full public sight. It is probably the one set of forces that could break the Uniparty (it certainly will break the eGOP, as Trump is the run-away nominee). There is a lot of good for the country along those lines.
Look at it this way. If the presidency has become a front for the political elite and deep state, impeachment may have some value--the Constitution does still vest authority in some areas in the person of the president. Removing Zhou, therefore, strikes at our real enemies. But ... only to a very limited extent. They simply find a replacement, so the victory is fleeting because it takes too much time and political capital to go through the process over and over. That was the importance of Trump as an outside, even if an imperfect outsider.
Trump was imperfect, but I am perfect? All I know is he did all the things I wanted done. Clinton did not, and Obama and Biden only did things I did not want done. Forgive me if I don't have the sophistication to understand political theory, and I choose my President just like I choose my plumber. I only wish everybody else would do the same.
Screw impeachment. Congressional Republicans should spend ALL their time on election security, exposing the permanent bureaucracy’s abuse of power and promoting the agenda the grassroots express in every public opinion poll. It’s about winning elections, fools...
While I too wish such a thing would happen, it seems to me that hoping for the Rs to work for for the things you list isn't a whole lot different from hoping the Ds will do it. The uniparty is a real thing, and if the Rs were actually the sort of people who would work for election security, against abuse of power, etc, they would already have done it forever ago.
Nearly every national-level R is bought and paid for by very bad people, so the only way out of this, imo, is through putting in better people in the primaries. Otherwise, we're just hoping that bad people in office controlled by bad people out of office will somehow turn on a dime and start doing good things, and that just isn't gonna happen.
I’m sorta in agreement, the longer Biden stays in place the clearer the choices in 2024 becomes. I hold little hope of election security coming out of congress, as I believe many are in place because of cheating themselves Governor Kemp I’m convinced is there because of it. That’s why Stacy was so adamant she had won. She knew her side was cheating, she just couldn’t conceive that Kemp/Raffensperger had outcheated her.
Tha impeachments are the only hope. The Trump cases will take too long, and I mean multiple impeachments, most of which should end in criminal court cases. For sedition, participation in a coup. They need to pay for what they have done. No more nice guy, let’s just hold on till things get better. They will never get better until the people who are using every lie and trick to frame and to jail innocent people are stopped.
I think we absolutely need an impeachment inquiry so that there is a process whereby (hopefully) all of the facts come out in a public forum. Does it lead to an impeachment or to a conviction? I don't know. I can well imagine the Senate falling short of two-thirds. But the process should result in the incontrovertible truth coming out and in accountability by the Bidens. This -- accountability -- after all the lies -- is critically important if we are to recover as a nation.
As the current regime stonewalls the investigations it faces, the various statute(s) of limitations clock is running. As Leonard Cohen wrote it, "Everybody knows the good guys lost." Even as this stopped-up toilet of an economy--held together with jiggery/pokery and duct tape--approaches November 2024, there will come a financial reckoning. Will it matter at all who occupies the WH?
I’m inclined to agree Mark. Why should the Republicans help the Democrats clean up their mess? Leave Biden there so everyone can see and smell the stink of corruption. A leisurely ongoing inquiry, or multiple inquiries into all his various crimes would be good though. The process is the punishment. What really intrigued me and what no one seems able to answer is why Biden is still there? The Dems could easily have him ‘honourably’ medically retired so why haven’t they? Is Jill Biden stopping them? Is Kamala refusing to move out of the way? Have they not yet stitched up a deal with Republicans for who becomes President and VP? I suspect the latter. If the Republicans refuse to deal, then all the Dems can do is to continue to wallow in the mess of their own making and try to ramp up the pressure on Republicans. If I’m right, watch them go after key Republicans in the Senate and the House so those guys will want their problems to ‘go away’ in return for their support for the Democrat coup.
Dear FreeFrench - my hunch as to why Zhou is still there? Because if you pull on his thread, the vast depth and breadth of corrupt US power politics gets exposed: Congress, the three, four, and five letter departments, the judiciary, the state-house feeder farms and all their enablers. Each of everyone has kompromat on a somebody else in the rotten racket, hence the omerta. I think your pressure point theory is sound ("watch them go after key Republicans"), but I also think the Kamala problem they made is why we haven't seen pardons for the first family and Zhou's resignation. What is the modus vivendi to get her to step aside? No way to control who would replace her as VP either. The Dem's options are all very poor: lose, steal, work with eGOP for a third Trump impeachment, cancel election (steal by coup). The eGOP's are also poor: lose to Trump, support a Dem steal, deepen the mess by supporting a third Trump impeachment. No way to slice it other than 2024 is a harbinger of change
Very astute analysis. All the Uniparty’s options are bad - no wonder they can’t choose. They simply have to continue on until something breaks and they are forced to act.
I agree Kamala would 'refuse' to move aside. But if Biden is forced out before 2024 and she becomes President and 2024 nominee aren't her chances of winning an election nearly non-existent? Putting election manipulation aside...
We hope for a long shot, a national awakening and realization of sins committed, a wave of apologies and resignations, and a commission of truth and reconciliation.
Hope is not expectation. We expect excuses and mindgames and propaganda. We expect more abuses and scandals amidst a decay of the one Empire that never acknowledged itself.
The facts have been "out there" for a long time. No doubt there are more to come, but Zhou has been impeachable from day one, just on the basis of the Ukraine prosecutor video. Why hasn't the awakening begun yet? I can think of several reasons, none of which bode well for an impeachment inquiry going forward. One of my main concerns is that the Ruling Elite would turn impeachment into a tit for tat deal--you take out Trump, we get to take out Zhou. That leaves Deep State and complicit political establishment running things. Is something like that already in the works?
"The facts have been "out there" for a long time."
I beg to differ. Yes, you (and your readers and possibly even I) have known the 'facts' for a long time. But tens of millions of Americans don't know the 'facts'. Don't have a clue. The overwhelming majority of Americans have jobs and kids and bills to pay. They aren't paying attention to the 'facts'. If they consume news its from the MSM and then its only sound bites. Trump is a criminal! Putin is Hitler! Ukraine is winning! Scranton Joe indulges in ice cream cones, owns a Corvette and likes to go to the beach (don't we all!) He is the good guy. Half of America would vote for Biden again. The polls show Biden and Trump are nearly tied.
When you're done mowing the lawn today drive down to the local 7-11 and ask the first person you see if Joe Biden took money from a Ukrainian oil company to use his influence to have a Ukrainian state prosecutor looking into the oil company fired. Ask the same person if they think Joe Biden is a corrupt grifter who has been on the take his entire political career.
A liberal 'friend' of mine (former classmate) recently told me (apparently in all seriousness) that he is impressed by Biden's energy. He thinks he's pretty darn smart and doing a good job undoing the mess Trump created. He asked me if I knew that Biden has overcome a childhood stutter and should be commended. What corruption, he said...I also asked him if he had seen Biden's then-recent dark speech in Philadelphia where he accused his political opposition of being fascists (or maybe it was only 'semi-fascists')? My friend said, "What speech"?
Me: "Why hasn't the awakening begun yet? I can think of several reasons, none of which bode well for an impeachment inquiry going forward."
Cassander: "The overwhelming majority of Americans ... aren't paying attention to the 'facts'."
Reason #1 of several. What makes you think an impeachment inquiry into the Ruling Class' choice to sit in the Oval Office will cause the overwhelming majority of Americans to start paying attention to the facts? Because the MSM they somewhat listlessly pay attention to will give them the facts and present a fair summary of what the committee puts forward? Really? Because people who haven't bothered with the facts up till now will start digging deeply for the truth on their own? The MSM is simply an arm of the ruling class and will slant to the max extent possible such facts as do leak out--from an impeachment committee or otherwise--because even if the Ruling Class needs to get rid of Zhou it will still seek to minimize the reasons. Again, my fear is that this would play into a deal to keep Trump out and install another non-entity to obey the Ruling Class and Interagency.
Perhaps at some point Americans really will start paying attention and I'll be pleasantly surprised. Obviously Americans are unhappy with the way the country is going, but that's a long way from awakening to how we got here and how to get out of the hole we're in. Till then, our best hope is probably that people will say, Well, things were better with Trump, let's roll those dice again. That and grass roots conservatives in the House, who will remain a decided minority.
It may well be that the Ruling Class and the MSM can spin the facts which emerge from an impeachment inquiry (which you say are already out there) into a nothingburger. I'm not so sure. If Comer comes forward in a televised process (perhaps live-streamed on X) with irrefutable facts (some of which in fact are not yet out there) that during his Vice Presidency Joe Biden corruptly sold influence for tens of millions of dollars to individuals and companies in Ukraine, Russia, China, Rumania, Kazahkstan through a family criminal enterprise, and backs it up with emails, written evidence of shell companies, money transfers, bank records, and sworn and/or eyewitness testimony of payors, whistleblowers and former associates, I (for one) think the effort will have been worthwhile. The Ruling Class and MSM can try to spin it, but, as they say, the internet is forever, and the case against Biden will have been made indelibly and forever.
I simply don't buy into the idea that it will ever get to the point of impeachment, and the Ruling Class will see to it that the facts you want to see "out there" don't get "out there"--not in the sense of televised hearings. They'll see to it that Zhou leaves before that can happen, if it looks like happening, because it would lead to uncovering The Swamp. Once Zhou leaves Americans will lose what interest they may have had. Such a result will not drain the Swamp and will probably not have much effect on the Deep State. Impeachment simply isn't the Big Deal it once seemed to be, and certainly isn't the ticket to recovering our constitutional order. As far as that goes, I actually have more hope that the SCOTUS can have a significant effect for the long term by addressing admin state issues.
As far as all the facts that you want to see "out there", I actually had experience in financial investigations, including some that went to trial--with uniformly positive results. Juries like pictures more than bank records, in my experience. The American public, IMO, will not want to immerse itself in all the details. The big picture is out there for anyone who's interested and that's all that's needed. I think right now the Ruling Class is simply trying to come up with a mutually acceptable deal to rid themselves of both Zhou and Trump. Trump is probably the hardest part, by far.
Now it seems like the "President" is an "honorary" title given to a useless person who pretends to be in charge. The average person seems to be fine with this. Who is actually running the country? I am starting to believe if anyone other than Trump gets in, they will just be a puppet. It is very depressing.
Attorney Sol Weissenberg said the other day that since DOJ dropped charges on Hunter he will be in the clear forever. Weiss won’t do anything. Reading today how Weiss and DOJ are so intertwined it makes sense to go forward with the I inquiry. I tend to agree.
A leisurely inquiry could be good. The amount of material generated over the years is astounding, so may as well linger over it all. I think America needs that.
But Maga voters want an impeachment now, and the more Trump is subjected to lawfare the more their anger grows.
The eGOP is risking even more of their credibility with non Maga types.
My gut feeling is a lot of eGOP in congress are going to retire in 2024. Trump will primary them otherwise. Trump seal / authorization for advertising is about control.
Dear Ray-SoCa - my Tea Party / MAGA friends aren't unified on a call for a Zhou impeachment. Yes, peeved, but they see goodness in a Nixonian scenario wherein "a leisurely investigation" is made, but an actual impeachment vote in the House doesn't happen to Zhou. I really like your thinking on retirements / primary risk to eGOP: Trump will remake the GOP, and with that new support, has a shot at next steps with the swamp
and how!! The Democrats also get a lot of eGOP help in their "investigations" (Liz Cheney? really really: smh). It is all Kobuki, and Trump is screwing up their theatrics - bigly!
I can’t express my lack of trust in the house Gop doing any meaningful investigation. They seem so out of touch and risk adverse.
House Investigations that should be open and going full speed are Covid, vaccines (no placebo testing?), jab side effects, Jan 6, promotion to captain of killer of Ashli Babbitt, fbi shootings, tn trans manifesto, Russiagate, Ukraine funding, etc.
Back in the day we had saying, “If he was going any slower, he’d be backing up”!
As far as the American people having there noses rubbed in it a little longer, after all that’s gone on, they either don’t mind the smell or shrug their shoulders and say, “what smell?”.
I’m with Marie, it’s very depressing.
It also becomes more apparent every day how Hitler rose to power. I’m dumbfounded by what I see happening in this country and how oblivious people are to the calamity that has already begun to engulf us.
It takes a while to change direction with an oil super tanker, same with our zeitgeist.
Luckily our elites keep on applying steady pressures pushing boundaries, and what is nice about Trump, is he pushes back, which creates lots of attention and moves the Overton windows. It’s a messy process.
I am encouraged by indications (mostly anecdotal) that (some) blacks, hispanics (open border), suburban moms (inflation, school policy), anti-war libs, etc. have finally had enough w the Dems.
It was interesting to see video over the weekend of some blacks celebrating (if that's the right word) Trump now that he is being persecuted by The Man...and defyingly taking it.
That could turn out to be a good way to go, politically. I still tend to the view that the American people need to have their noses rubbed in it longer.
ohh, how could I forget - you are right, Johnson was the first, making an impeachment of Zhou #6. Overall, seems as if the impeachment mechanism is reflecting our craptastic federal politics. one side of me thinks the tool is not working as intended, the other side is thinking but it sure is....
Poor eGOP…
Trump To GOP: Impeach “The BUM” Biden Or “Fade Into Oblivion”
“THEY DID IT TO US!”
https://summit.news/2023/08/28/trump-to-gop-impeach-the-bum-biden-or-fade-into-oblivion/
I've given up thinking about what would do the most good for the country. There aren't enough public servants with integrity to make a difference. The country is too far gone, and really tough times are coming. I don't even wish on Trump the job to right our country. It will be difficult, thankless and sure to provoke forceful opposition if it is even possible. One can only hope that something can be salvaged after we hit the iceberg. Till then we each and every one of us have a personal responsibility to live a moral life, and ensure the well-being and survival of those near and dear to us.
Re the impact of a Watergate-style impeachment of Zhou and specifically its impact on US support for Ukraine as well as the Ukrainians’ processing this inevitable betrayal, A Mercouris offers great insight from the 52 min point on…
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zrpFsIr_wfs&list=UUwGpHa6rMLjSSCBlckm5khw
The choices presented: do the right thing for the wrong reason (Kunstler: impeachment of Zhou for a rancid Uniparty deal) versus do the wrong thing for the right reason (VDH: non-impeachment to ensure the elites eat the ugly they created). The choice, I think, depends on the question Mr Wauck highlights: which path holds the most good for the country? Presidential impeachments (Zhou would be our fifth if you count from Watergate = Nixon, Clinton, Trump, Trump, Zhou) have become cheap and frequent affairs. The fact that Zhou's might be the only wholly worthy one is made worse than worthless by the judgment he was so well-known to be rotten he never should have been emplaced to begin with: our elites and their power politics are utterly corrupt and only self-serving. A crap impeachment at the cost of preserving Uniparty corrupt continuity does the country no good, it is a very bad trade-off (weirdly, props so far to Speaker McCarthy for not buying in). On this path, in any event, the Senate will not convict, and so the whole affair would become partisan, further cheapen it's use, and amplify divisions in the nation. Passing on so richly-deserved an impeachment as Zhou's is bitter too, but forces the elites to deal with their tar-baby in full public sight. It is probably the one set of forces that could break the Uniparty (it certainly will break the eGOP, as Trump is the run-away nominee). There is a lot of good for the country along those lines.
Look at it this way. If the presidency has become a front for the political elite and deep state, impeachment may have some value--the Constitution does still vest authority in some areas in the person of the president. Removing Zhou, therefore, strikes at our real enemies. But ... only to a very limited extent. They simply find a replacement, so the victory is fleeting because it takes too much time and political capital to go through the process over and over. That was the importance of Trump as an outside, even if an imperfect outsider.
Trump was imperfect, but I am perfect? All I know is he did all the things I wanted done. Clinton did not, and Obama and Biden only did things I did not want done. Forgive me if I don't have the sophistication to understand political theory, and I choose my President just like I choose my plumber. I only wish everybody else would do the same.
Bravo Perle - you’ve said it with your typical simplicity, wisdom and moral courage!
Screw impeachment. Congressional Republicans should spend ALL their time on election security, exposing the permanent bureaucracy’s abuse of power and promoting the agenda the grassroots express in every public opinion poll. It’s about winning elections, fools...
While I too wish such a thing would happen, it seems to me that hoping for the Rs to work for for the things you list isn't a whole lot different from hoping the Ds will do it. The uniparty is a real thing, and if the Rs were actually the sort of people who would work for election security, against abuse of power, etc, they would already have done it forever ago.
Nearly every national-level R is bought and paid for by very bad people, so the only way out of this, imo, is through putting in better people in the primaries. Otherwise, we're just hoping that bad people in office controlled by bad people out of office will somehow turn on a dime and start doing good things, and that just isn't gonna happen.
I’m sorta in agreement, the longer Biden stays in place the clearer the choices in 2024 becomes. I hold little hope of election security coming out of congress, as I believe many are in place because of cheating themselves Governor Kemp I’m convinced is there because of it. That’s why Stacy was so adamant she had won. She knew her side was cheating, she just couldn’t conceive that Kemp/Raffensperger had outcheated her.
They should do both, but the focus seems to be on uniparty grift.
Mitt Romney on Ukraine “ it's the best national defense spending I think we’ve ever done."
https://thepostmillennial.com/romney-us-aid-to-ukraine-is-a-very-small-amount-of-money-among-the-best-national-defense-spending-ever-done
Tha impeachments are the only hope. The Trump cases will take too long, and I mean multiple impeachments, most of which should end in criminal court cases. For sedition, participation in a coup. They need to pay for what they have done. No more nice guy, let’s just hold on till things get better. They will never get better until the people who are using every lie and trick to frame and to jail innocent people are stopped.
I think we absolutely need an impeachment inquiry so that there is a process whereby (hopefully) all of the facts come out in a public forum. Does it lead to an impeachment or to a conviction? I don't know. I can well imagine the Senate falling short of two-thirds. But the process should result in the incontrovertible truth coming out and in accountability by the Bidens. This -- accountability -- after all the lies -- is critically important if we are to recover as a nation.
Then the chips in 2024 can fall where they may.
As the current regime stonewalls the investigations it faces, the various statute(s) of limitations clock is running. As Leonard Cohen wrote it, "Everybody knows the good guys lost." Even as this stopped-up toilet of an economy--held together with jiggery/pokery and duct tape--approaches November 2024, there will come a financial reckoning. Will it matter at all who occupies the WH?
https://www.zerohedge.com/covid-19/recent-mask-mandates-lifted-amid-pushback
I’m inclined to agree Mark. Why should the Republicans help the Democrats clean up their mess? Leave Biden there so everyone can see and smell the stink of corruption. A leisurely ongoing inquiry, or multiple inquiries into all his various crimes would be good though. The process is the punishment. What really intrigued me and what no one seems able to answer is why Biden is still there? The Dems could easily have him ‘honourably’ medically retired so why haven’t they? Is Jill Biden stopping them? Is Kamala refusing to move out of the way? Have they not yet stitched up a deal with Republicans for who becomes President and VP? I suspect the latter. If the Republicans refuse to deal, then all the Dems can do is to continue to wallow in the mess of their own making and try to ramp up the pressure on Republicans. If I’m right, watch them go after key Republicans in the Senate and the House so those guys will want their problems to ‘go away’ in return for their support for the Democrat coup.
Dear FreeFrench - my hunch as to why Zhou is still there? Because if you pull on his thread, the vast depth and breadth of corrupt US power politics gets exposed: Congress, the three, four, and five letter departments, the judiciary, the state-house feeder farms and all their enablers. Each of everyone has kompromat on a somebody else in the rotten racket, hence the omerta. I think your pressure point theory is sound ("watch them go after key Republicans"), but I also think the Kamala problem they made is why we haven't seen pardons for the first family and Zhou's resignation. What is the modus vivendi to get her to step aside? No way to control who would replace her as VP either. The Dem's options are all very poor: lose, steal, work with eGOP for a third Trump impeachment, cancel election (steal by coup). The eGOP's are also poor: lose to Trump, support a Dem steal, deepen the mess by supporting a third Trump impeachment. No way to slice it other than 2024 is a harbinger of change
Very astute analysis. All the Uniparty’s options are bad - no wonder they can’t choose. They simply have to continue on until something breaks and they are forced to act.
99% sure Kamala refuses to move. She has a high chance with Biden’s health of becoming Potus.
I agree Kamala would 'refuse' to move aside. But if Biden is forced out before 2024 and she becomes President and 2024 nominee aren't her chances of winning an election nearly non-existent? Putting election manipulation aside...
Agree 100% on her chances of being “fairly” elected Potus.
Just to get it out there:
Would she be that much worse than Biden?
I’m assuming Biden is basically a puppet due to his dementia.
Kamala has the risk she can has a mind of her own, is incompetent, and can’t be controlled.
Yep - she’s Obama’s pick so she has some protection. Hard to believe there isn’t kompromat out there in her though.
Rumors are there are pics of her, and Willy Brown, that are a bit compromising…
We hope for a long shot, a national awakening and realization of sins committed, a wave of apologies and resignations, and a commission of truth and reconciliation.
Hope is not expectation. We expect excuses and mindgames and propaganda. We expect more abuses and scandals amidst a decay of the one Empire that never acknowledged itself.
That's why I'm in favor of an 'impeachment inquiry'. Put all the facts out there and let the awakening begin.
The facts have been "out there" for a long time. No doubt there are more to come, but Zhou has been impeachable from day one, just on the basis of the Ukraine prosecutor video. Why hasn't the awakening begun yet? I can think of several reasons, none of which bode well for an impeachment inquiry going forward. One of my main concerns is that the Ruling Elite would turn impeachment into a tit for tat deal--you take out Trump, we get to take out Zhou. That leaves Deep State and complicit political establishment running things. Is something like that already in the works?
"The facts have been "out there" for a long time."
I beg to differ. Yes, you (and your readers and possibly even I) have known the 'facts' for a long time. But tens of millions of Americans don't know the 'facts'. Don't have a clue. The overwhelming majority of Americans have jobs and kids and bills to pay. They aren't paying attention to the 'facts'. If they consume news its from the MSM and then its only sound bites. Trump is a criminal! Putin is Hitler! Ukraine is winning! Scranton Joe indulges in ice cream cones, owns a Corvette and likes to go to the beach (don't we all!) He is the good guy. Half of America would vote for Biden again. The polls show Biden and Trump are nearly tied.
When you're done mowing the lawn today drive down to the local 7-11 and ask the first person you see if Joe Biden took money from a Ukrainian oil company to use his influence to have a Ukrainian state prosecutor looking into the oil company fired. Ask the same person if they think Joe Biden is a corrupt grifter who has been on the take his entire political career.
A liberal 'friend' of mine (former classmate) recently told me (apparently in all seriousness) that he is impressed by Biden's energy. He thinks he's pretty darn smart and doing a good job undoing the mess Trump created. He asked me if I knew that Biden has overcome a childhood stutter and should be commended. What corruption, he said...I also asked him if he had seen Biden's then-recent dark speech in Philadelphia where he accused his political opposition of being fascists (or maybe it was only 'semi-fascists')? My friend said, "What speech"?
No, the facts are not out there.
Me: "Why hasn't the awakening begun yet? I can think of several reasons, none of which bode well for an impeachment inquiry going forward."
Cassander: "The overwhelming majority of Americans ... aren't paying attention to the 'facts'."
Reason #1 of several. What makes you think an impeachment inquiry into the Ruling Class' choice to sit in the Oval Office will cause the overwhelming majority of Americans to start paying attention to the facts? Because the MSM they somewhat listlessly pay attention to will give them the facts and present a fair summary of what the committee puts forward? Really? Because people who haven't bothered with the facts up till now will start digging deeply for the truth on their own? The MSM is simply an arm of the ruling class and will slant to the max extent possible such facts as do leak out--from an impeachment committee or otherwise--because even if the Ruling Class needs to get rid of Zhou it will still seek to minimize the reasons. Again, my fear is that this would play into a deal to keep Trump out and install another non-entity to obey the Ruling Class and Interagency.
Perhaps at some point Americans really will start paying attention and I'll be pleasantly surprised. Obviously Americans are unhappy with the way the country is going, but that's a long way from awakening to how we got here and how to get out of the hole we're in. Till then, our best hope is probably that people will say, Well, things were better with Trump, let's roll those dice again. That and grass roots conservatives in the House, who will remain a decided minority.
It may well be that the Ruling Class and the MSM can spin the facts which emerge from an impeachment inquiry (which you say are already out there) into a nothingburger. I'm not so sure. If Comer comes forward in a televised process (perhaps live-streamed on X) with irrefutable facts (some of which in fact are not yet out there) that during his Vice Presidency Joe Biden corruptly sold influence for tens of millions of dollars to individuals and companies in Ukraine, Russia, China, Rumania, Kazahkstan through a family criminal enterprise, and backs it up with emails, written evidence of shell companies, money transfers, bank records, and sworn and/or eyewitness testimony of payors, whistleblowers and former associates, I (for one) think the effort will have been worthwhile. The Ruling Class and MSM can try to spin it, but, as they say, the internet is forever, and the case against Biden will have been made indelibly and forever.
I simply don't buy into the idea that it will ever get to the point of impeachment, and the Ruling Class will see to it that the facts you want to see "out there" don't get "out there"--not in the sense of televised hearings. They'll see to it that Zhou leaves before that can happen, if it looks like happening, because it would lead to uncovering The Swamp. Once Zhou leaves Americans will lose what interest they may have had. Such a result will not drain the Swamp and will probably not have much effect on the Deep State. Impeachment simply isn't the Big Deal it once seemed to be, and certainly isn't the ticket to recovering our constitutional order. As far as that goes, I actually have more hope that the SCOTUS can have a significant effect for the long term by addressing admin state issues.
As far as all the facts that you want to see "out there", I actually had experience in financial investigations, including some that went to trial--with uniformly positive results. Juries like pictures more than bank records, in my experience. The American public, IMO, will not want to immerse itself in all the details. The big picture is out there for anyone who's interested and that's all that's needed. I think right now the Ruling Class is simply trying to come up with a mutually acceptable deal to rid themselves of both Zhou and Trump. Trump is probably the hardest part, by far.
Now it seems like the "President" is an "honorary" title given to a useless person who pretends to be in charge. The average person seems to be fine with this. Who is actually running the country? I am starting to believe if anyone other than Trump gets in, they will just be a puppet. It is very depressing.
Exactly!
Attorney Sol Weissenberg said the other day that since DOJ dropped charges on Hunter he will be in the clear forever. Weiss won’t do anything. Reading today how Weiss and DOJ are so intertwined it makes sense to go forward with the I inquiry. I tend to agree.
A leisurely inquiry could be good. The amount of material generated over the years is astounding, so may as well linger over it all. I think America needs that.
I see McCarthy doing impeachment at the slowest possible rate that allows him to stay speaker.
I think his hand will be forced by the election timetable.
EGOP is finding every excuse to dodge the issue to keep the uniparty gravy train going, without endangering their re-election.
https://babylonbee.com/news/mccarthy-says-783rd-impeachable-offense-by-biden-will-be-the-last-straw/
But Maga voters want an impeachment now, and the more Trump is subjected to lawfare the more their anger grows.
The eGOP is risking even more of their credibility with non Maga types.
My gut feeling is a lot of eGOP in congress are going to retire in 2024. Trump will primary them otherwise. Trump seal / authorization for advertising is about control.
Dear Ray-SoCa - my Tea Party / MAGA friends aren't unified on a call for a Zhou impeachment. Yes, peeved, but they see goodness in a Nixonian scenario wherein "a leisurely investigation" is made, but an actual impeachment vote in the House doesn't happen to Zhou. I really like your thinking on retirements / primary risk to eGOP: Trump will remake the GOP, and with that new support, has a shot at next steps with the swamp
I have seen so many gop investigations that were a cover up and fizzled. Benghazi under Trey Gowdy), Guns to Mexico, House Server fiasco, etc.
The Democrats, when they are out for blood, know how to run an investigation in the house.
and how!! The Democrats also get a lot of eGOP help in their "investigations" (Liz Cheney? really really: smh). It is all Kobuki, and Trump is screwing up their theatrics - bigly!
Comer/Jordan may be different...
I pray they are…
I can’t express my lack of trust in the house Gop doing any meaningful investigation. They seem so out of touch and risk adverse.
House Investigations that should be open and going full speed are Covid, vaccines (no placebo testing?), jab side effects, Jan 6, promotion to captain of killer of Ashli Babbitt, fbi shootings, tn trans manifesto, Russiagate, Ukraine funding, etc.
Back in the day we had saying, “If he was going any slower, he’d be backing up”!
As far as the American people having there noses rubbed in it a little longer, after all that’s gone on, they either don’t mind the smell or shrug their shoulders and say, “what smell?”.
I’m with Marie, it’s very depressing.
It also becomes more apparent every day how Hitler rose to power. I’m dumbfounded by what I see happening in this country and how oblivious people are to the calamity that has already begun to engulf us.
It takes a while to change direction with an oil super tanker, same with our zeitgeist.
Luckily our elites keep on applying steady pressures pushing boundaries, and what is nice about Trump, is he pushes back, which creates lots of attention and moves the Overton windows. It’s a messy process.
"It takes a while to change direction..."
I am encouraged by indications (mostly anecdotal) that (some) blacks, hispanics (open border), suburban moms (inflation, school policy), anti-war libs, etc. have finally had enough w the Dems.
It was interesting to see video over the weekend of some blacks celebrating (if that's the right word) Trump now that he is being persecuted by The Man...and defyingly taking it.
That could turn out to be a good way to go, politically. I still tend to the view that the American people need to have their noses rubbed in it longer.
Agreed.
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/watch-climate-commies-blocking-burning-man-taken-down-hard-tribal-cops
Highly amusing.
ohh, how could I forget - you are right, Johnson was the first, making an impeachment of Zhou #6. Overall, seems as if the impeachment mechanism is reflecting our craptastic federal politics. one side of me thinks the tool is not working as intended, the other side is thinking but it sure is....