There is something innately rotten about that particular number, it seems…
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It sleeps for 27 years in the new movie (it was 30 in the TV series). Wonder if that was intentional or just because they happened to make this one 27 years after the tv series? Sorry for the off-topic sideline. ha.
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I’d watch that.
The main character would be a formerly wealthy California PI, who lost all her money in the real estate bubble. Her name would be Phyllis Procrastinati.
So it does; yet another ominous 27.
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Almost as if they can’t do more than one thing at once.
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It’s also interesting because he frames it as something he’s not powerful enough to do alone. I think he’s spooked.
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That’s why the “transcript” is not a true transcript. Trump is a lot of things, but I don’t think he is stupid enough to record such conversations.
Nixon was still hanging on until the tape of his ordering an end to the Watergate investigation came to light. That’s when his GOP support evaporated. There will be no “Trump tapes”.
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I actually pay money to subscribe to the WaPo, and when I see columns by those guys (especially Thiessen ) I wonder why. I like to think that they’ve intentionally chosen such over-the-top berks to make the right look like idiots.
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It’s turning out that there probably are transcripts or recordings of the more… questionable interactions with foreign leaders - but they’re stored on a separate, secret server. (lol, the irony)
The problem is, Fox News was pretty explicitly created in response to Watergate - to provide a counter-narrative (counter-reality) to prop up Republican presidents in trouble. As a result, the support numbers for a Republican president embroiled in scandal has a floor much higher than what Nixon experienced. Possibly Trump’s support numbers can’t go any lower than they already have…
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Translation: My idiotass Republinazi supporters were right and good when they acted the exact same way when Obama was in office, but the Demos are wrong for acting like this now because they’re being mean to poor little me sob sob boo hoo.
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That’s why I’m looking at this through my fingers like a kid at a scary movie.
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Reading Scalzi helps a bit, I’ve found.
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Sanest comment on it since someone shouted IMPEACHMENT. Why does it take a writer of SF stories to sum this up?
FTR: Rethorical question, that.
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I know you were being rhetorical; nevertheless here’s the short answer:
The stories that we tell ourselves matter.
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My only nitpick is this:
So while I’m delighted that Pelosi has finally pulled the trigger on an impeachment inquiry, I am from a purely realpolitik view sympathetic regarding her reluctance to do so before now. And even now it’s far from a slam dunk. Does it feel good right now? Sure! Because Trump is objectively terrible, incompetent and corrupt. But I think people on the left really should understand how narrow the victory lane is here, and what lengths Trump and the Republicans will go to in order to keep him where he is, and their own grip on power.
This last statement is hugely important. I think this is the real power move the Democrats have. Pressure, pressure, pressure. President Biff and his cronies do not handle pressure well at all. They panic. They virtually shit themselves. Like a striker running at a goalie towards a pass they can’t possibly get a touch on, the point isn’t to score; the point is to rattle your opponent into making a mistake.
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Trump wants an uncontested stage. He also wants to drive any discussion, and not be interrupted.
That’s why he looks uncomfortable in group shots, he doesn’t like court-room scenarios, he doesn’t like to be in situations where he’s beside people he can’t control or who elicit sympathies or respect that he doesn’t, like children or war vets that don’t like him. He rankled and pretty much abolished formal scheduled White House Press Briefings, so being questioned by empowered politicians under formal rules is going to be the Democrat’s best chance of pinning him down on anything so far.
An impeachment trial was an uncomfortable ordeal for Clinton, it would be a nightmare for Trump and I think he knows it. A formal, highly bureaucratic proceeding is the opposite of a rally.
I also disagree that there’s only one thin path to victory. I would fully expect the Senate to acquit him. I also think people will ultimately only remember the circus, what it shows about his character without him controlling his participation, and any discovery of other misdeeds, and not the details of how it ended.
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Thanks for this.
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It’s also starting to crack the shell of party unity. As things start to unravel, they’re going to start stabbing each other in the back, with Trump first in line to do the stabbing. He’s already done it to Pompeo and Pence, and we know he esteems Ghouliani about as much as a single panel of toilet paper. At some point, he’s going to lash out at someone who has more of the real goods on him and no longer gives a fuck.
My popcorn is ready.
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You may pick your nits about this, but he is spot on when he indicates that this isn’t likely to end well for the Democratic party.
And FFS, politics is no game. If anyone sees it as a game at this stage of fuckuppery, they are clearly not paying attention.
Metaphors: how do they work?
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