It wasn’t a blue wave, but it wasn’t a red tide. We will have divided government again – Republicans control the executive branch and the Senate, and Democrats took the House. At the end of the day, the GOP will have gained seats in the Senate, just as Democrats can say that their majority in the House is substantial. I’m not depressed, nor am I overwhelmingly happy. We now have a “check” on Donald Trump’s fascism, and I have high hopes for substantial oversight on this administration from the House now. Subpoena Power Activated!
President Donald Trump will soon be on the receiving end of something he didn’t see much from a Republican-led Congress: orders, backed up by subpoenas, for officials to answer questions on controversial policies like the dispatch of thousands of troops to the U.S.-Mexico border. Now that Democrats have won control of the U.S. House of Representatives, they will be able to force administration officials to testify and provide documents. That will subject Trump’s decision-making — as well as his personal finances and potential conflicts of interest — to deeper public and private examination by key committees, as the national focus shifts to the 2020 presidential election.
“The American people voted to give the House of Representatives a mandate to conduct credible, independent, robust, and responsible oversight of the Trump administration,” said Representative Elijah Cummings of Maryland, who is likely to be the Oversight chairman.
Democrats say that when it comes to the administration’s response, for example, to the “caravan” of Central American immigrants, they want answers about the rationale behind the troop deployments and details on the force’s rules of engagement.
“It’s not like we’re going to go drunk-crazy with subpoenas. But it may seem that way because we are coming off a two-year drought of no subpoenas,” said Representative Gerald Connolly of Virginia, the top Democrat on the Oversight subcommittee on government operations.
Democrats say they want to pursue unanswered questions about Russian interference in the 2016 election and end what they call a campaign by House Republicans to undermine Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s continuing investigation. But Democratic leaders also play down Republican predictions that they’re out to impeach the president.
What’s depressing is that I understand completely why Congressional Democrats are downplaying the impeachment conversation. It’s not that Elijah Cummings or John Lewis or Gerald Connolly fail to see how Trump has committed hundreds of impeachable offenses. It’s because even if the House started impeachment proceedings, the Republican controlled-Senate wouldn’t do sh-t about it, so it would just be a gigantic waste of time and it would completely hijack the conversation. My theory is that the Democrats are going to do “death by a thousand paper cuts” to this administration. They’re just going to investigate the sh-t out of everything. It’s going to be beautiful.
Meanwhile, Trump has been doing a victory lap all night and all morning. I’m not 100% sure he understands that House Democrats are going to open up a can of whoop-ass/subpoenas?
Received so many Congratulations from so many on our Big Victory last night, including from foreign nations (friends) that were waiting me out, and hoping, on Trade Deals. Now we can all get back to work and get things done!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 7, 2018
Those that worked with me in this incredible Midterm Election, embracing certain policies and principles, did very well. Those that did not, say goodbye! Yesterday was such a very Big Win, and all under the pressure of a Nasty and Hostile Media!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 7, 2018
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
House Dems are already talking about getting Trump’s tax returns, heh.
Trump has also made the statement that he doesn’t care if they do he’ll do what he wants to do. Can’t wait until he realizes he can’t just do what he wants to do.
Has anyone ever told him “no” in his entire gold-plated life? He doesn’t even bother to learn how our political system works and I’m sure he thinks he doesn’t have to.
I can’t get over how profoundly stupid he is.
Richard Neal said filing the subpoena would be his first order of business.
And guess who has the power to subpeona Dump’s taxes? That would be Auntie Maxine Waters. Bwahahahaha!
This is the best. Auntie Maxine is going to have some fun.
Congresswoman Waters will be reclaiming her time.
Showing that he isn’t as wealthy as he’s long claimed would be more than a paper cut. It would be a giant wound to the ego.
Honestly, I could care less about the tax returns at this point. He shows us every day he’s a corrupt liar. I want a subpoena on the border deployment situation.
And Rep. Maxine Waters is now head of the Finance Committee. Ha!
The “nasty and hostile” factor is HIM. Ugh. Of course he was going to spin it-that’s what he does. Up is down, black is white. I’m happy the Dems took the House but he’s still there until at least 2020.
Exactly what my husband said when we went to bed when I told him Trump said it was a huge victory for them. He said of course because he thinks everything is about him and he has to make it sound like he always wins.
I am really starting to think narcissism is one of the worst disorders. Maybe not for the person who has it, but everyone else. Ugh.
@Angela82, it is. Absolutely devastating to those in close proximity.
I found it fitting that a classic movie network ran Gaslight last night. We are all Ingrid Bergman’s character, being gaslit by a series of less charming Charles Boyers.
Throw in A Face in the Crowd (demagogue who rises and self-implodes) and it explains our current situation.
Trump is about to enter a world of hurt!
Yup because the House investigations will lead to criminal referrals to Justice for every member of his cabinet.
I guess after a late night last night, watching the returns (and a lack of enough coffee this morning!), my brain isn’t kicking in yet. Can someone tell me what can be done if DOJ refuses to prosecute an obviously criminal referral sent by Congress? Especially when the courts are now stacked with republiTHUG judges, esp. on the SC?
@jan90067 My question also…
Trump doesn’t understand anything about how the government works, he just thinks he’s in control of everything
I have never read truer words in my life. This idiot doesn’t understand government at all. I don’t entirely understand the American government either (I’m Canadian) but I am not president. If anyone needs to understand it, it should be the president, right??
An eighth grade (US) civics class teaches the basic structure of checks and balances that he clearly does not understand. To quote another poster, he thinks he’s chairman of the board.
Well done to all those who voted blue!
I mean, in exit polling something like 60% of people stated they aren’t interested in impeachment proceedings at this point, even though Donald Trump is very much disliked. To do so would be potentially ignoring the will of the constituents who voted you in (never a good look) and also useless as the Republicans have a solid majority in the Senate. So I can completely understand why they are downplaying impeachment talks now. It would just waste time and potentially fire up people to vote in a way we do not want in 2020. Perhaps after some investigations are concluded…
They don’t need to impeach if they conduct hearings from now until 2020. Drip, drip, drip.
And Nixon was not impeached. He resigned the day before the hearings began because investigations had dug up so much dirt that Senate Republicans were calling for his ouster.
I have no illusions that Republicans will ever turn against Trump. No matter what the House uncovers, they will stand by their man. I think it’s better for Dems to dig up the dirt and take their case for change to the voters.
Actually, recently released docs about Watergate show that the Grand Jury wanted criminal indictments against Nixon but weren’t sure if he could be successfully indicted while President. So instead they gathered the evidence together and bundled it off to Congress to consider impeachment. The Republicans saw impeachment would be inevitable and were able to convince Nixon of that. So he resigned.
With Trump, everything depends on how thorough Mueller’s report is about his various activities. My guess has always been that they would quickly find solid evidence of his extensive money laundering for foreigners, including Saudis and Russians. This is all very bad for a President to have such connections.
Trump is also is overcharging big time for his new hotel in Washington DC, and people are paying the exhorbitant prices in hopes that this will give them influence with Trump himself (who regularly appears there for meals).
The yearly dues for Mar-a-Lago were doubled after the election and Trump regularly goes there to play golf and hold court in the dining room. The prices at his DC hotel show a similar pattern, huge jump over the past year or so. He’s such an obvious crook.
The majority, by over 3 million, picked Clinton. He likely wouldn’t be where he is without Russian interference in the election, with possible collusion from his campaign, which I hope their subpoena power will eventually prove. No matter where you stand on politics, the truth must come out about all of that and all guilty parties punished.
And that is why the Senate will do nothing. They know there was true interference, and after last night, I think a strong possibility of manipulated votes in 2016.
Documented issues occurred yesterday in Texas, Indiana and Florida alone where computer votes for D candidates came up as R.
That throws every single Senate seat into question. That’s a can of worms they don’t want opened for their own sake. If votes for Trump were changed, then their votes may have been changed too.
Miss Melissa – in Texas, vote-shifting reports were coming from people who voted a straight Democratic ticket but saw that their vote for Senator had been switched to the Republican Ted Cruz, the alleged winner. That’s a rather specific change if so….
This vote-shifting (Dem to Repub) has been reported since the 2004 Presidential election. Votes were shifted from Kerry to GWBush and as in 2018, voters could actually see the switch happen onscreen before leaving the booth. (Probably a timing error in the malicious software). So the shifts have always been quite specific and are not due to “old machines”. In one Ohio precinct in 2004, more votes were counted for Bush than voters existed. A programmer showed that one typo in a simple vote-shifting program (intended to shift every tenth vote for Kerry to Bush, but the typos shifted all the Kerry votes over instead) would explain the numbers.
I personally have not trusted the vote tallies since 2004. Obama just outran the hackers, and Hillary came close. Now we have evidence that the vote-shifting is definitely not limited to Presidential candidates. As I feared, so much is at stake in this midterm especially, they made the effort whenever needed (and wherever they could do it without suspicion). Intelligence people were apparently only looking at potential Russian interference and really made no attempt to monitor other types.
It was insane to go into the midterm with those machines instead of paper ballots. Getting people out to vote doesn’t help much if their votes are not properly counted.
He is rattled.
I don’t think he is.
I think he is too stupid and narcissistic to be raddled.
When jr and Kushner face the House committees he will be rattled.
He sees the gains the Reps made in the Senate as a win, even though he controls the Senate he hasn’t quite grasped that the lower house can and will make it impossible for him to do anything. Either that or he somehow thinks the Senate will just tell the lower house what to do esp as they now own the SC. Talking of the SC, me thinks there maybe another retirement coming soon as they will now be doubly desperate to control the court. I wouldn’t be surprised if they Senate tries to pull some sh!t to get one of the democratic justice’s retired off somehow.
The Democrats will need to practice every ounce of reserve they have and play this out as smartly as they can. Let’s hope they’re up to it.
That’s what worries me – Pelosi as House Speaker.
She backed down when she had the chance to pursue charges against Bush/Cheney in 2008.
Is she up for that now?
I’m praying that Pelosi gets kicked to the curb and not elected House Speaker.
She needs to step aside and let Schiff or someone else have the helm.
Every time I remember that is the actual President of the United States tweeting this rubbish I have an out of body experience. Is this real life?
No kidding. I was feeling good about last night’s results. So many great candidates, voices of reason and integrity and compassion and intelligence, won (and lost). I blissfully put Trump out of my midn last night I was so focused on the individual races. Then Trump makes his idiotic statements today and it’s like a needle scratch. He’s a f%^king monster.
I choose to believe that we are living in an alternate universe… Not really, but I agree with you that it seems surreal. We’ll get through it, but the damage to the earth and the rest of our world’s trust in us will take forever to repair.
YES! I feel that way, too- about the alternate universe we are in! I keep telling myself that we’re just in a shitty alternate, but over in the Prime everything is okay and there’s not a white nationalist in the goddamned Oval Office.
I LOATHE trump but don’t think Impeachment is the way to go. Dems need to play the long game. And honestly, I strongly believe Mueller will take care of trump.
Yes.
Impeachment is the only solution to Muller’s findings though.
If indictments for Junior, DaughterWife, etc. start coming down maybe #IQ45 will take the hint and flee to a country with no extradition policy.
Like the FBI took care to do a thorough investigation of allegations against Kavanot? The FBI could only do the level of investigation Trump (the client) allowed. So no true investigation was done.
Mueller cannot take care of Trump if the investigation is ended. Trump fires Sessions and Rosenstein, next person in line has conflict of interest, it passes to fourth in command, Solicitor General Francisco. They’ve already put that Trump insider pawn in place at the DOJ and waived the ethics clause, done and hidden back in April.
Thank God for CREW and Rachel Maddow.
Kavanaugh was always going to get the votes so this was a sham. Mueller and the FBI are a different story. They aren’t controlled by the WH in terms of what can be investigated on the Russia issue and Dump is a traitor and they know it. It’s going to get crazier.
There are some firsts and glad we have the House but as long as the Repubs are able to stack the courts with conservative judges things do not bode well for us down the line. I shudder to think where we will be at if another SCOTUS dies or retires. I think we should skip the tax returns and come up with a plan to take the Senate in the future, retain the house and get a viable presidential candidate for 2020. I’m actually a bit disappointed in the results overall. Shows me that Trump still has a vast stronghold.
It’s more like the Republican agenda – racism and voter suppression – has a vast stronghold.
Both really and nothing is really bring done to stop either if those things.
Yes. I mean, 70+% of white women voted for Kemp.
Having something is better than having nothing.
And of course this giant liar and his enablers were always going to lie about any loss they suffer. It’s what they do, it’s all they know.
So many women were elected last night. I hope they fight like hell for the people who don’t usually have a voice in government.
Trump has until January 3, 2019 to cause a lot more damage, so be careful folks.
It’ll be 8 excruciating weeks until the Democrat have subpoena power and there will likely be some attempts at shutting the whole thing down. I hate to say it, but we have to stay vigilant.
I know people are looking ahead to 2020 but it seems the important tasks now are to pressure Democratic Senators to replace Schumer with a more activist, confrontational, inspiring leader, and to let all those Democratic Representatives – ongoing and incoming – know your priorities.
For me it’ll be reversing the impact of voter suppression, cleaning up campaign finance, action on climate change, protecting Social Security/Medicare/Medicaid, and investigating the heck out of Trump and Republican party complicity and corruption. I know, long list. I’m starting with calls today.
^ This
The session is lame duck because the new House will be able to reverse anything done now. There will be threats but even if things are passed it won’t be for long. The issue of judge stacking is a problem because they have the senate and will keep it.
You mean like asking the Supreme Court to fast-track a decision on ending DACA, enabling the Trump administration to deport 700,000 young people before the new Congress has a chance to enact legislation making it impossible? Because they did just that while everyone was preoccupied with the election. They’ve asked the SC to take preemptive before, but the request was denied. Of course, that was before Kavanaugh was on the bench.
https://www.npr.org/2018/11/06/664649161/white-house-asks-supreme-court-to-rule-on-daca-sooner-not-later
Donald Trump doesn’t seem to understand ANYTHING.
There ya go, fixed that for you. 🙂
I was thinking this morning, today would be a good day for Robert Mueller to release his findings.
I would not be surprised that he uses the result to sack them, blaming them for the loss.
But he doesn’t get to release them, does he? He submits his report to the proper authorities not to the public. If those authorities (DOJ?) chooses to do nothing? Then nothing is done. We only now got the release of Watergate info after decades of FOI requests.
All they have to do is end the investigation by firing Sessions and Rosenstein. Follow it up with removing Mueller’s security clearance to ban his access to any evidence – even the report he himself wrote.
The depth of their depravity and damn sneakiness in all of this is astounding and possibly unstoppable. See the way they stacked the deck with #4 at DOJ. Francisco will rubber stamp anything for Drumpf, including shredding the Mueller report.
I vividly remember the feeling of hope and jubilation when President Obama was elected President. I further remember elderly residents of a nursing home we help cheering with tears in their eyes that they would have insurance. That is a distant memory now. I feel like draping my mirrors in dark cloth. Mourning. trump has broken our spirit….but yesterday we proved we can fight back with our votes. Proud of the 20 somethings that turned up and out to denounce this pig. He won the war, but we’re winning the battle. The House and more blue states. Keep resisting and don’t rest until we get our country back. Also, would somebody please take the exclamation point off of any device that muther effer owns. MLK….we shall overcome, right?
As a Canadian, I’m not super familiar with the American government system.
Is the sentate more ‘important’ than the House?
The Senate has more to do with foreign affairs and federal appointments while the House deals more with taxes and oh, little matters like impeachment! The important thing is the House can provide a balance now as both are needed to pass anything. There are 2 senators from each of the 50 states, regardless of population, but the House varies based on population. My senators are awesome, but my house representative is horrible and just got re-elected… Every time I contact his office, I get back a form letter blaming Obama… I wish that was a joke. On the whole, the House is more feisty though!
The Senate and House are equally important but with very different responsibilities – the Senate just has more PR value because there’s only one hundred of them and they have longer terms. Where legislation is concerned, having a superior majority in the House can be a big deal because it means stopping things from even making it to the Senate in the first place. It’s also where our budget gets sorted out, along with other regulatory affairs. When it comes to Congressional approval of foreign affairs, cabinet members, and, oh, Supreme Court positions, you want the Senate because those individuals can have a tremendous impact on the long-term policies of a nation. (This is part of why people were screaming about the Bernie Bro nonsense. It doesn’t help your progressive future vision if you let people get put in place who will set you back so far you’ll have to crawl back to where we are now.)
People act like the Senate is more important than the House because it’s harder to flip for Democrats (hint: it was designed that way), but it’s really not. All branches of government require civilian maintenance because they all have an impact on us, great and small.
I think he actually does understand but is planning on not complying.
They aren’t talking about impeachment because it’s impossible. You need 2/3 of the chamber vote to get that through, and with a Senate controlled by Republicans still, you’d never get a proper trial. For now, we’ve bought ourselves time to get the real work done – addressing voter suppression, gerrymandering, and educating people about the reality of democracy. It’s a continuous process, not an occasional check-in.
Democrats under Pelosi are already talking bipartisanship. Like how many times do you get the football taken away from you like Charlie Brown before you know better.
They won’t subpoena Trump’s taxes, and even if they do so what? Everyone already know he’s crooked, a fake billionaire, etc. If anyone thinks taxes will take down Trump… you’re being naive.
Right wing militias are organizing along the border. 25% of voters in Illinois voted for a literal Nazi, and 25% did the same for a holocaust denier in blue California.
Trump says whatever. His base believes whatever. Going on and on about “how Trump doesn’t understand.” He understands perfectly well. Too many people want to pretend we’re operating under “normal” conditions. If anyone think this fascist genie is going back in the bottle, they’re deluding themselves.
waiting 2 years until white savior Beto can run or Democrats to grow a spine is s a failed strategy. Start organizing with your communities, schools, workplaces, and neighborhoods.
Still less than half of voting age people turned out. Until people wake up and pay attention we are screwed. He doesn’t need to make sense or ever say anything presidential. All he has to do is rile up the worst among us while the rest do god knows what instead of paying attention, demanding change, or voting. I have a “friend” that gets food stamps and free healthcare for her children but wouldn’t be bothered to vote because “they are all crooked”.
This is what baffles me. There are people who will wait in line for hours to get the latest smartphone, a Black Friday sale or even Orange’s rallies, yet cannot be bothered to vote. Some races could have gone a different way had more people cared enough to exercise their right to vote.
One thing that Zero and his crew know how to do is motivate people in areas that are often neglected by major candidates.
A TN Senate candidate in TN spent one recent morning (unannounced) at a popular, very busy regional quick service eatery with her campaign staff, buying food for anyone who said they would vote for her. At first I was angry that the chain’s owner allowed it, but then my husband said, “Well, the Democrats could have done that, too.” Once again, they were outplayed. Little things do matter, and some of it’s how hard you work to get people to the booth.
Also recognizing that for many disenfranchised communities, there is extreme exhaustion of daily life and the historical precedent for constant rigging of elections. What belief does one have in the USA…I still believe folks should vote but I also understand that there is generational PTSD and exhaustion that factors in especially when we see how easily Reps keep stealing elections…
Auntie Maxine’s about to get in that ass.
lol I know a girl like him. Doesn’t understand anything, takes her first impression of a situation or person as a lasting impression and uses it as an excuse to justify being terrible toward them if they don’t meet her exact specifications. Won’t accept that people change. Both are hate-filled sub-humans.
I have said it before and will say it again, nothing will happen. And after listening to that orange blob known as 45, ranting on about this today, I feel even more strongly about that. He will get it shut down before years end. Illegally no doubt, but that does not seem to matter anymore.
Eh, I don’t think I want my tax money wasted on a “death by papercuts” and expensive investigations. Can we not control him through the checks and balances already in place?
Do you think we are talking about a deputy Cabinet secretary taking his wife to dinner with government funds? If only it were that benign. Make no mistake, Trump and his cronies have very likely committed multiple crimes, some of a very serious nature.
Congressional oversight of the executive branch is one of the checks and balances, one that the Republicans refused to even contemplate. Until the House is actually allowed to investigate, we won’t know the full scope of the wrong-doing. I hope they cherry-pick the worst of the worst, and go all-in on just a handful of issues, but there is a lot to choose from.
There’s no smoking gun for impeachment proceedings, so I wish that talk would die down. There is other work to be done. I’d love to see that oaf kicked to the curb, but we are pretty much stuck with him for at least 2 years, probably 6.
I just have this to say: House Dems BETTER NOT SIT ON THEIR HANDS as they have in the past.
I’m a lifelong Dem, but I’ve been long frustrated by that. They need to go in there both barrels loaded. Trump and his ilk don’t respond to or even notice subtlety.
Sessions resigned. And fuck Trump, Dems need to quit playing defense with him and on offense. They need their own vision for this country and hey need to start selling it. The best thing they can do is not engage with Trump. Ignore him. Stop replying to his tweets, stop getting dragged into the muck, with his bullshit. Maintain checks and balances on his power – but move on.
That’s the problem with the left. They have no vision, no game plan, they aren’t playing offense. Their messaging sucks, they continue to struggle with young voters and “undecided”. The party leadership is just mind boggling tone deaf and dumb.
agreed