"This problem isn't a problem because if it were a problem it would have already been solved." That's some weird ass logic.
Oh yes there was. If this was a problem before, it should have been addressed before the election season started, when it was known to have occurred. If you wanted to be overly dramatic, you could say his inaction handed the White House to Trump. So, again, why would people allow some seriously egregious shit like killing of border agents to go down without repercussions but not divesting from your personal business is the biggest scandal ever?
There’s a disturbing trend in our recent history, in that each of the last three Presidents has had a “legitimacy” issue of some sort. W Bush with Florida, Obama with his supposed “Kenyan origins”, and Trump with his current thing. I’m very concerned that this trend will continue with the next election and beyond.
I didn’t say it was the biggest scandal ever. It’s just another one in the series. Just the hush money paid to the porn star would be career ending for ANY other politician. That money is also controversial as to its source and if it was campaign money. There was a very convenient transfer of funds in just that amount from the campaign fund to a different fund in a shell company just around the time discussed in the story.
The hilarious thing about birtherism is that Obama's mother was a white woman from Wichita, so it literally does not matter where he was born or who his father is, he's still a natural born US citizen. And yet somehow we elected the man who took birtherism farther than anyone else, in what must be a totally non-racist coincidence.
Part of me was hoping Ted Cruz won the republican nomination just so I could watch all the birthers I know backtrack.
I’m going to ask two questions that aren’t rhetorical or facetious. How was the hiring of Mike Flynn not a serious scandal in your mind? How is the firing of the FBI director for no discernible reason other than to protect himself and his administration not a serious scandal?
Sure, we'll call them both scandals because both are questionable behavior. Beyond that though, let's unpack each one and look at them. What are the facts involved, not just supposition by the media citing unnamed sources or sources familiar with the situation? Is it likely as not that Trump didn't know of Flynn's connection to Russian officials? If not, can that be proven? While we can't discern the reason for Comey's firing, is that in and of itself wrong? You can be fired from your job for no reason at all or any reason at all, why is Comey different? I agree that these events are unseemly but every President we've had were surrounded by some type of strange events that made you question whether or not something bad was going on. Why are these specific events now grounds for impeachment while others in previous administrations were not?
I’m not saying Trump should be impeached for hiring Flynn. However, that was a fuck up of the highest order and we don’t really know the magnitude of that yet. But if you’re going to write off the firing of the FBI director as just some at will employee like he’s a teenager at Chipotle then I don’t know what to tell you. Obstruction of justice has historically been a solid reason for impeachment. Everything we have seen about the way Trump has handled Comey and now Mueller points to him trying protect himself. It’s not that we don’t know why Trump fired Comey. It’s that he gave a bullshit reason (Comey was too tough on Clinton) and then he gave one that of course implicates him (he did it because of the Russia investigation). The calls for impeachment of Trump for this aren’t dead solid as the Mueller investigation needs to conclude. However, they aren’t just partisan bullshit. Facts matter. All the facts we have right now point to Trump fucking up in a way that should transcend party issues. Here’s a quick thought experiment: if Hillary had won and the FBI still had open investigations into her and her staff, do you think we would be okay with her firing Comey after he wouldn’t pledge loyalty to her? I don’t think we would.
This isn't true. Being fired for no reason is not the same as being fired for any reason. My boss can wake up on Monday, scratch his balls, and say "Welp, left testicle really isn't diggin' Aetius' job performance" and fire me, but he can't wake up, scratch his balls, and say "We've got far too many darkies on staff, time to axe the darkiest darkie I can find." Similarly with the President he can fire an FBI director because he believes someone else will do a better job, but he cannot fire an FBI director for the express purpose of derailing an ongoing investigation. As for how we know that's why he fired Comey, he told us: admission is at 1:00 (God I forgot that that clip includes him claiming the electoral college is stacked against Republicans; I'll never get over how transparent his narcissism is)
I think this is a pretty straightforward explainer of where we are and the relevant ideas about obstruction of justice. The Answer to Whether Trump Obstructed Justice Now Seems Clear
That's not how I take it. He said he thought Comey was incompetent. Trump also said he fully supported the investigation continuing. So, Comey was fired for cause (incompetence, not to derail the investigation). I think you are operating from the position that you don't like him and want him out. I don't care for him but I also haven't seen a smoking gun here. If there is then I support impeachment as well. This article also operates from the space that there was wrong-doing no matter what. The justifications discussed (for firing Mueller) could just as easily be explained as he was concerned his contact with Mueller could be construed as a conflict of interest, shading the investigation in favor of Trump - he had interviewed Mueller for the head of FBI - if the investigation shows nothing at the end, couldn't the press pick up on the fact that Mueller had been a member of Trump's club, his firm had represented Kushner and Trump had interviewed him for head of the FBI and say that the investigation was tainted for those reasons? Ultimately, he didn't fire Mueller and now that potential still exists. If he is found innocent of wrong doing, will the media point to his contact with Trump as the reason he didn't prosecute him? Seriously, if the investigation finds wrong doing then impeach him but a lot of these articles I have seen are more Op-Ed than fact.
I concede it's possible, but it would be quite a stretch. The full text of the termination letter: A few things to parse here: The letter claims Trump is acting on the recommendation of the AG and DAG, but in the interview he openly declares he was going to fire Comey regardless of what the AG and the DAG told him. It is likely that Trump solicited the recommendations as a pretext for firing Comey (Rosenstein responded "I am not at liberty to talk about that now," when asked who had asked him to craft the memo in a congressional testimony). Rosenstein's recommendation, upon which Trump purportedly acted, most heavily criticizes Comey for behavior that was detrimental to Clinton, arguing in essence that Comey exceeded his authority because of political concerns (how would it look if the FBI quietly reopened a case into Clinton without informing Congress, how would it look if the FBI quietly recommended no charges and AG Lynch accepted that recommendation, etc). Rosenstein's memo basically says that Comey should have followed protocol and let the political chips fall where they may. Trump however, has constantly attacked the FBI for being too kind to Clinton, and has constantly sought to inject political concerns into the bureau's investigations (Someone do something!). Trump spends one paragraph in a three paragraph letter bringing up the Russia investigation when there is zero cause in the letter to do so. Comey himself testified that Trump had made repeated efforts to get Comey to "lift the cloud" of the Russia investigation from the White House. Taken together, this would seem to indicate that Trump didn't think, and little cared, about Comey's job performance as an actual FBI director, but resented his refusal to drop the Russia matter. Edit: I also think it's telling that as soon as Comey leaves and the special counsel begins, Trump immediately starts griping about Mueller, who was a 10 year FBI director whose term crossed both Bush and Obama. What is more likely: that both Comey and Mueller, who collectively served 14 years as FBI director across three presidents, are coincidentally both stunningly incompetent; or that Trump simply hates anyone investigating him, or lending credence to the idea that Russia interfered to his benefit?
Umm... which one? Last I heard he was beefing with both Eminem and Jay-Z. Given that Eminem is out of the running because he hates him, I'm like 99% confident that Trump's favorite rapper is Snow: