President Donald Trump, Pennsylvania rally, 12/10/19. Screencap: YouTube

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us… Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities

You said it, Chuck. The past three years, the past several weeks, the past three days: all are signified and underscored by extremes. Today is no different. President Trump is being carried toward impeachment on the thinnest evidentiary basis ever, less a tide than a hundred angry ripples. And he’s loving the ride.

Why? There’s no there there. Every passing day erodes the Democrats’ case. Exculpatory evidence, further exposure of the FBI and rotten FISA process. Inspector General Michael Horowitz did not specifically say that the FBI conspired to begin the investigation into Trump and his 2016 campaign, but he unequivocally stated that an email was altered that kept the investigation alive, that “The activities we found here don’t vindicate anyone who touched this, including the leadership”, and agreed with Senator John Kennedy (R-LA), who said, “At a minimum, someone’s got to be fired [at the FBI].”

The FBI fabricated evidence, altered emails, & used what it knew was partisan oppo research to spy on a presidential campaign. This is a massive scandal. https://t.co/VXjcqA3U6g — David Harsanyi (@davidharsanyi) December 12, 2019

That’s a win in any league. But it got better. The 17 errors exposed in the IG report–all of which were to the detriment of Trump and his team–clearly demonstrate a pattern, a systemic abuse of power.

To those who kvetch that Horowitz didn’t say as much plainly, please understand that Horowitz is essentially the HR department for the FBI. His role is analogous to the Internal Affairs detective in a city police department. He was never going to publicly throw the FBI under the proverbial bus. What he did do was expose malfeasance for others to carry forward. Enter Attorney General Bill Barr and U.S. Attorney John Durham, who endure no such restriction and expectation of professional decorum. Both have spoken out in disagreement with Horowitz’s conclusions.

Trump’s opinion of the mainstream media is no secret. Indeed, apart from reshaping the judiciary, the biggest piece of his living legacy thus far is his indictment and exposure of the partisan press. The fourth estate did itself precisely zero favors by cynically cutting away from Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee Lindsey Graham’s opening remarks yesterday. Both MSNBC and CNN cut away to other programming once Graham began to speak. After covering the Democrat-run House hearings nonstop, both networks decided the Republican Senate Chairman’s opening remarks weren’t newsworthy.

The beauty of that act? Twitter exploded. The feckless media acted just as Trump would expect.

enough said, fake news



CNN, MSNBC Cut Away From Horowitz Hearing Into Obama FISA Abuses https://t.co/13mhK9MExJ #NewsandPolitics via @pjmedia_com — jb hamilton (@j_b_hamilton) December 12, 2019

Play It Again, Sham

Rep. Karen Bass (D-CA) gave us a glimpse into the lunacy that is the Democrat mindset. As the Epoch Times reported yesterday, the plan is to impeach ad infinitum.

The House will impeach President Donald Trump once more if he wins the 2020 election, Rep. Karen Bass (D-Calif.) said.

Trump has not been impeached but House Democrats released articles of impeachment against him on Dec. 10 and are widely expected to hold an impeachment vote soon.

Bass was asked if she would support impeaching Trump again if Democrats flipped the majority in the Senate next year. If Democrats also held the House, they could potentially impeach the president and remove him from office.

Bass said that the same two articles of impeachment—obstruction of Congress and abuse of office—could be introduced again, with more articles a possibility.

“Yes, but I don’t think it would be exactly the same … because even though we are impeaching him now there are 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,” Bass told TMZ.

Dancing In the Dark

House hearings were held until the wee hours of last night. America heard from all the members of the Judiciary Committee, and the substance and tone of the two parties was markedly different. The Republicans stuck to the issues, claiming that the impeachment was without merit.

Democrats made an interesting choice, choosing to speak almost exclusively about their personal struggles and those of family members, friends, and constituents. Emotional appeals, claims of patriotism and love of liberty: it was like listening to Bruce Springsteen lyrics. The collective motive–and apparent play call–was an appeal to emotion, a grasp for the hearts of voters watching the proceedings, not the facts of the case. It was smarmy and transparent: we’re good, Orange Man Bad!

Alas, it’s a tale of two parties.

Yes, Trump is smiling. Doubtlessly, he would prefer for impeachment to fail, but even if it succeeds, he wins. The case could be made that impeachment stirs up more support for his 2020 campaign. Money has, in fact, poured into RNC and Trump campaign coffers since hearings began.

Trump is like a kid on Christmas morning, and he hasn’t even opened his biggest present: the Durham report.