‘A Man Unprincipled’

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Yesterday House Impeachment Manager Adam Schiff opened his case with a remarkably prescient quote. Did Alexander Hamilton see Trump coming?

“When a man unprincipled in private life desperate in his fortune, bold in his temper, possessed of considerable talents, having the ability of military habits—despotic in his ordinary demeanor—known to have scoffed in private at the principles of liberty—when such a man is seen to mount the hobby horse of popularity—to join in the cry of danger to liberty—to take every opportunity of embarrassing the General Government & bringing it under suspicion—to flatter and fall in with all the non sense of the zealots of the day—It may justly be suspected that his object is to throw things into confusion that he may ‘ride the storm and direct the whirlwind.'”

Hamilton on Aug. 18, 1792, in his “Objections and Answers Respecting the Administration” letter to George Washington.

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29 thoughts on “‘A Man Unprincipled’”

  2. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/impeachment-trial-live-updates/2020/01/22/3beb411e-3d05-11ea-8872-5df698785a4e_story.html

    But for at least one GOP senator, the careful step-by-step walk-through of the facts has been worthwhile.
    “I know the House proceedings were heavily reported. But I think most, if not all, senators are hearing the case by the prosecution and the case by the defense for the first time,” said Sen. John Neely Kennedy (R-La.), stressing that he was learning new things by listening to the arguments. “If you polled the United States Senate, 9 out of 10 senators will tell you that they have not read a transcript of the proceeding in the House. And the 10th senator who says he has is lying.”

  5. only in floriduh. further expanation:

    https://www.cbsnews.com/news/iguana-florida-falling-weather-service-issues-alert-as-temperatures-drop-2020-01-21/

    The National Weather Service has issued a warning for some Florida residents: Beware of falling iguanas. As temperatures in parts of the state dip this week, the cold-blooded lizards slow down or become motionless and can drop from trees onto unsuspecting pedestrians below.
    […]
    The iguanas are an invasive species, native to Central and South America. They begin to get sluggish when temperatures fall under 50 degrees, Kristen Sommers, of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), said in 2018. If temperatures drop below that, iguanas freeze up.
    While the animals aren’t dead, well-meaning residents finding stiffened iguanas are advised to leave them alone, as the animals may feel threatened and bite once they warm up.
    Iguana’s aren’t the only reptiles averse to chilly weather: Sea turtles also stiffen up in cold temperature.
    [continues]

  6. Perfect quote!
    I did catch some of Schiff’s stuff last night…  he was great.
     
    Yeah… watching from gavel to gavel is too much for the average person…  let alone for a political junkie like me.  Life is still calling.  But I appreciate all that’s written here.  Especially Bink….   thanks!

  7. With exception of “considerable talents” (unless you count lying and bullying) and “military habits” (Bone Spurs?),  it describes him quite well.   If Hamilton were to have met SFB, I think he’d be astonished at what a brazen idiot we have holding office.   

  8. speaking of Hamilton, from best of late night in nytimes:

    “He laid out a ton of evidence against the president, much of it sound bites of Trump himself, and he invoked the founding fathers and their words a lot. Schiff quoted Hamilton so many times today, he was nominated for five Tony Awards.” — JIMMY KIMMEL

  10. Poobah, I agree with your assessment that the House managers now just need to pile up the SFB video of himself incriminating himself and then sit down. Slowly dragging this out by replowing the same ground is not going to move any on the fence “moderate” repugs to vote for witnesses and documents. That IMHO is the primary focus of this stage of the proceedings.

  11. Craig
    Trump is just a standard character in American politics, evidently going back to the founding of this nation. This is just the first time we have let one be president. As I read yesterday, Trump is what would have happened if we elected McCarthy for president.
    Jack

  12. pogo, you seem to be assuming that the goper (and maybe even the dem) senators know the facts or are aware of what’s in the record. 

    sen. kennedy tells us:   “If you polled the United States Senate, 9 out of 10 senators will tell you that they have not read a transcript of the proceeding in the House. And the 10th senator who says he has is lying.”

  13. It is important, to keep repeating the obvious, not for the benefit of the Senators but for the voters who are tuning in and out as time permits. Polls tell us that 50% of the people support removal. Also 2/3 of the voters believe that the Senate should conduct a fair trial with facts and witnesses. So the 1/3 is not reachable, the 50% is in your corner. To flip the Senate and the presidency Democrats need to reach that 16% who are trying to have an open mind. I suspect most of them live in well off, highly educated, Republican suburbs. 
    Schiff is doing an excellent job. His intellectual approach strokes their ego an plays to their prejudices. Especially the one that says “because I went to college I am smarter and entitled”  But because they have a tiny brain you do have to repeat yourself, speak slowly and use lots of fancy big words.
    Jack 

  15. gopers would be first in line to applaud shortening the presentation.  George Conway on cnn yesterday explained some of that according to this excerpt from daily beast:

    But he had far harsher commentary to share about Senate Republicans who voted down every proposal to call witnesses or subpoena evidence for the trial, explaining that there is “no justification” for their actions. 
    “What are they afraid of?” Conway asked. “That they’re going to hear evidence they don’t like? They must be afraid of something. And that’s the thing that I find most disturbing about it is they don’t want to hear the evidence, because they know the truth. They know he’s guilty. And they don’t want to hear the evidence because they don’t want the American people to see it too.” 

  16. They were waiting for Nadler, they had the attack machine prepped. He stepped right into it. As I said above this isn’t about feeding red meat to the true believers. Pelosi is on solid ground with this one. In fact after his bungled comment the other day she could probably remove him with little blowback. I suspect at this point the only person who doesn’t realize that Nadler is an idiot is Jerry Nadler.
    Jack

  17. From the Never Trump conservative world

    They all know Trump is guilty. The only question is whether or not they can avoid admitting this, out loud, before they vote to acquit him. Every action Republicans take in the coming days should be viewed through the lens of them casting about for a strategy that lets them avoid telling voters what they actually believe.

    And I’ll add , try not to look too stupid as you do so, maybe. 
    Jack

  19. https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/479562-senators-allow-classified-evidence-from-pence-aide-for-impeachment-trial

    Senators on Wednesday night agreed to admit a classified document from an aide to Vice President Pence into the impeachment trial following closed-door deliberations.
    The one-page document relates to a phone call that took place between Pence and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky a week before Zelensky met with President Trump at the United Nations.
    This latest development is a win for House Democrats who have unsuccessfully pressed the White House to declassify the document, which Pence aide Jennifer Williams submitted to the House in late November to supplement her public testimony earlier that month.
    […]
    Williams’s evidence may be accessed by senators in a classified setting but will not be made public, according to the terms of the closed-door agreement announced late Wednesday by Chief Justice John Roberts, who is presiding over the trial.
    [continues]

  20. I’m fine with Nadler. No harm done. 
     
    The best the rippers could do would be to wait for the end of the prosecution, announce that the defense believes that the case is unproven, and go as quickly as possible to the vote. But, the rippers are far from the best. 

  21. Even though every VP following Jack Garner has been subservient to the presidents, I question whether the WH has the power to claim exec privilege for any pence papers. Despite the long precedent, pence was elected by the corrupt Electoral College to serve as the VP, not to serve as an employee of the President. 

    See Article II and Amendment 25.

  22. like rick, ilsa and paris —

    what happens when it dawns on gopers (and IMpotus gets wind of them saying it) “we’ll still have pence”

    they’ll still be in the white house, life will go back to normal and the big bad bully will be gone.

  23. npr.org
     
    ^great web-player, plays while phone is in standby mode (many don’t)

    ugh, that opening prayer was gross…

    ok, gonna try to shut-up, today. ✌️🇺🇸

  28. Also noticed this yesterday, again just now, when idiot Trump lawyer Jay Sekulow blathers to cameras WH press aide Hogan Gidley shuts him up.  Check out his alarmed expression. 

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