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MSNBCs Katy Tur today asked how Congress can debate or even have a trial on an impeachment focused on President Donald Trumps actions on Ukraine when one side is refusing to acknowledge the world as it currently exists.

On Meet the Press Sunday, Chuck Todd clashed with Republican senator John Kennedy over Ukraine and 2016 interference, with Todd saying at one point, You realize, the only other person selling this argument outside the United States is this man, Vladimir Putin.

Tur brought up that interview and said, It seems like theres arent just two set of facts, its that one side is completely refusing to acknowledge that facts exist.

Its snowing here in New York City, she continued. Its like someone looking outside saying, its summer and its sunny and its wonderful outside, what are you talking about, its not snowing. Republicans are embracing the conspiracy that Ukraine meddled in our election on a large scale, like they were the ones responsible for the hacking of our elections and not the Russians. How do you go about making even having an argument, having a trial, having a debate when one side is refusing to acknowledge the world as it currently exists in front of them?

Ian Bassin called it a contrast from the Watergate days, saying, Theres a real danger here, I think. Republicans see the president as immoral, unethical, not that intelligent, I dont think they fully grasp how dangerous he is.

You can watch above, via MSNBC.

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One Side is Refusing to Acknowledge the World As it Currently Exists: MSNBCs Katy Tur Shreds GOP for Ukraine Conspiracies - Mediaite

Back in late September, conservative commentator Bill WhalenarguedinForbesthat the House Democrats should seek to censure President Trump rather than impeach and remove him from office. I found his reasoning flawed, primarily because Trump stands accused of a political crime and cant be trusted to run an honest and legal presidential campaign. This wasnt a concern in 1998 when Bill Clinton was accused of lying about a personal matter and had already won a second and final term.

Nonetheless, Whalen offered an important reminder about the impeachment of Bill Clinton. The Democrats were firmly opposed to impeaching Clinton over the Lewinsky affair, but they were very supportive of offering an official congressional rebuke of his behavior. Minority Whip David Bonior of Michigan spoke for the party leadership when he went to the floor of the House and said he wasnt interested in sweeping Clintons behavior under the rug. He wanted to censure the president, but the Republicans would not allow a vote on anything less severe than impeachment.

This House is out of touch. It is out of control. And it is so consumed that they have denied us a chance to vote on one option the only option that commands the support of the American people, and that is censure.

What Bonior was alluding to: for weeks, Democrats in the minority had pushed for a floor vote censuring Bill Clinton for his behavior and substituting a censure resolution for impeachment articles by sending the latter back to the House Judiciary Committee. The parliamentary tactic was rejected as non-germane; an appeal vote failed and House Democrats briefly exited the chamber in protest.

The Republicans did not want give the Democrats the comfort of condemning Clintons behavior without supporting his removal from office, but that doesnt mean that most Democrats were unwilling to go on the record as disapproving of a president having furtive Oval Office trysts with an young intern and then lying about it under oath.

I think its important to remember this in light of how the Republicans are responding to the far more serious charges that are being drawn up against President Trump. One reason the Democrats wanted to censure Clinton was that they acknowledged that lying under oath is not acceptable behavior. Another was that they wanted to support something that would have a deterrent effect on Clinton and any future president who might consider repeating his poor decisions.

I dont know if people were concerned that Clinton would simply continue to have extramarital sexual relationships in the backroom of the Oval Office. I think most people figured he had been adequately shamed and chastened in that respect, but the Democrats werent arguing that he had been within his rights or that his conduct had been perfect. They certainly would not have appreciated it if Clinton had suggested this and then tried tomonetizethe witch-hunt with merchandizing stunts.

Impeachment is bringing out President Trumps instincts as marketer in chief, as he seeks to turn a perilous, shame-inducing inquiry into an aggressive fundraising and mobilization tool,Axiosreports

Recent additions to the Trump campaigns merchandise store include Bull-Schiff t-shirts demonizing House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff, and Wheres Hunter? t-shirts mocking former Vice President Joe Bidens son.

The Republicans may or may not privately believe that President Trump has committed an impeachable offense, but I can guarantee that exactly none of them would see it as legal or fair play if a Democratic president withheld a White House visit and military aid from a foreign ally until they agreed to announce an investigation of a likely GOP nominee. For deterrence reasons alone, they ought to be looking for ways to signal their disapproval of Trumps Ukraine scheme so that no future president believes they can get away with doing something similar.

So far, however, they have been unwilling to even acknowledge that Trump deserves to be censured, let alone request the opportunity to vote on such an alternative measure.

For me, this shows why censure was never really an option. Even if it were offered as a solution, the Republicans wouldnt take it.

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Republicans are refusing to give Trump even a slap on the wrist and they may live to regret it - AlterNet

Former GOP lawmaker David Jolly charged that Republicans in Congress today are essentially "being used by Russia" because they don't want to acknowledge the truth.

"It's dangerous, it's gravely dangerous," Jolly told host Ali Velshi Monday night during MSNBC's The Last Word. Jolly served as the representative for Florida's 13th congressional district from 2014 to 2017.

"Through their own ignorance, negligence or maleficence, they are being used by Russia," Jolly said. "Republican senators and Republican members of Congress tonight are being used by Russia because they are unwilling to look at the truth."

The MSNBC segment began with Velshi playing a clip of William Taylor's public hearing in front of the House Intelligence Committee earlier this month. Taylor was one of a dozen witnesses to testify as part of the impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump.

Taylor, the top American diplomat in Ukraine, told lawmakers that there was no good reason for Trump to temporarily block nearly $400 million in military assistance to the nation except for wanting to pressure them to help with his political campaign.

"It was counterproductive to all of what he had been trying to do. It was illogical, it could not be explained, it was crazy," Taylor added.

House Democrats launched the impeachment probe in late September following reports that Trump tried to pressure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter. Trump temporarily withheld nearly $400 million in military assistance to Ukraine to get the country to follow through with his request, according to multiple reports.

Velshi commented that before 2015, no Republicans on Capitol Hill would have peddled conspiracy theories to help defend the president. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has even been dubbed "Moscow Mitch" over his support of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"Lindsey Graham wouldn't have tolerated it, John McCain wouldn't have tolerated it, people like you wouldn't have tolerated it," the MSNBC host said.

Jolly replied that was has happened is that the GOP has "abandoned the truth and failed the American people."

"What I've learned these last three years is it wasn't a law and order party, just a party that hated Bill Clinton. It wasn't a constitutional party when Barack Obama was in office, it was just a party that hated Barack Obama," the former congressman said.

Jolly added: "What we're seeing now is a party embracing Donald Trump because they have a quest for power, proximity for power and they want within their reach the ability to self-deal."

More here:
Former GOP Congressman Tells MSNBC Republicans Are 'Being Used by Russia' - Newsweek

Fake-News "Exclusive"**: Over the weekend, I obtained a tape of a conversation between two Republican senators, one an obscure back-bencher and the other a prominent defender of the president and a regular TV presence. I transcribed it yesterday.

I dont know, ol buddy. Im really starting to waver.

Waver? Why?

Wellthat Times story last Friday. I saw what you said publicly. But you and I both know there wasnt a single false word in that whole story. We sat next to each other in that briefing.

So? What of it?

And now this DJ IG report isnt gonna say what we wanted. Strzok was telling the truth.

Ive known that all along. But one more time: What of it?

Well were lying! And were helping Russia!

Look at me while I say this to you, and I will speak slowly: The president is a reformer. He was only interested in Ukraine reforming its judicial system, and once that was accomplished to his satisfaction, he released

Oh, come on, you can say that on Fox, but weve known each other 30 years. Dont blow that smoke up my ass, pal.

the aid to the government, now run by a true reformer who happens to be an ally of the President of the United States, the greatest reformer of them all.

Oh come off it. Were helping Russia. Were helping goddamn Putin! Im starting to get spooked by it. The other night I had one of those dreams where youre back in college and its finals week and you havent gone to class all semester and you show up for the final totally unprepared and wearing your underpants, you know the one?

Have it all the time.

Well, in this one, Putin was the professor! And he was laughing at me hysterically, maniacally! I have your balls in a sack, he kept saying. Except he was speaking Russian, so I dont know how I knew thats what he was saying, but somehow I did, cuz, you know, dreams.

Theyre weird that way. But look. Shake it off. We need you to be strong.

Im trying. But the guy is indefensible. You know that. We all know that. Hes a fucking criminal. Hes guilty. Hes guilty of it all.

I know that.

What? You know that? You say the opposite every day on TV.

Thats correct. And if television bothered to ask you, you would say exactly the same thing. You know why?

Why?

Here are some things Donald Trump is not guilty of. Hes not guilty of raising taxes. Hes not guilty of socialism. Hes not guilty of wanting to give health care to people who havent earned it.

Cuz here are some things Donald Trump is not guilty of. Hes not guilty of raising taxes. Hes not guilty of socialism. Hes not guilty of wanting to give health care to people who havent earned it. Hes not guilty of putting liberal judges on the federal bench wholl rule that everybody and their brother can vote and that David Koch cant buy Congress. Hes not guilty of trying to kill coal and oil. Need me to go on?

I get you, I get you. But I dont know. There has to be a limit, doesnt there?

Let me explain something to you. Ask yourself this. If he loses, who wins?

Well, if its Biden, Joes not so bad. At least we know hes an honest guy. Even Elizabeth Im against everything she wants. Ideologically she scares the hell out of me. But shes a nice enough person, a non-horrible human being. And well block everything she wants to do anyway, I mean well just steamroll the shit out of her, and shell get nothing done and the left will be demoralized and well take back the House in 22 and the White House in 24, so whats so bad about that?

Im not even talking about the presidency. Thats important, sure. But youve gotta think bigger. Nancy Pelosi wins. Abortionists win. The gays win. The New York Times wins. CNN wins. MSNBC wins. Rachel Maddow wins.

I know, but

And who loses? You know who loses. You lose. I lose. Good patriotic Americans lose. The military loses.

The military! Mr. Fucking Bone Spurs!

Irrelevant. Jesus Christ loses.

Jesus Christ? Jesus Christ!

Yes. Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christs fortunes depend on a guy who fucks porn stars and lies about it?

Exactly! Now youre starting to get it! Lookit. Were at war. And in war, the ends justify the means. And the best mean of all is propaganda. Indoctrination. Works every time. I mean, how we got those dumbass evangelicals to buy into this guyso much easier than I thought it would be!

Im just telling you. My conscience is getting to me. I might vote to convict, if Mitch releases me.

Uh-huh. Let me ask you a question. You just started your fourth term. Thinkin about retiring, I hear.

Thinking about it.

Talking to some K Street folks, as I understand it.

You have some big ears there.

There aint no secrets in this town.

Apparently not.

Yes, thats a nice life. Nice life. What, six, seven hundred thousand to start, before distributions?

Bout that.

Id hate to see something disrupt that. I mean, Id hate to see you exposed as being a puppet of... George Soros.

George Soros? I wouldnt know him if he walked in this room!

And thats exactly how sneaky people like Soros want it.

But you wouldnt

No. I wouldnt. Im your friend. But not everybodys as nice as I am

**Obviously, this is not a real dialogue. Two senators wouldnt talk this way. But the reason they wouldnt talk this way is not that the above doesnt contain truth. No, the reason they wouldnt talk this way is that they dont need to. Its all understood.

Theres a quote from an old Boston ward-heeler named Martin Lomasney that is the greatest political quote ever: Never write if you can speak; never speak if you can nod; never nod if you can wink. I doubt Republicans speak to one another very much about Trump. They nod and they wink. And theyre nodding and winking democracy into oblivion.

Follow this link:
What Do Republicans Say to Each Other in Private? - The Daily Beast

When Sen. John N. Kennedy of Louisiana went with a group of fellow Republican lawmakers to celebrate the Fourth of July in Moscow (yes, Moscow) last year, they met with Russian counterparts in what the Russian press described as a secret room.Konstantin Kosachev, chairman of Russias foreign affairs committee, said Kennedy had promised to deliver a tough message about Russias interference in U.S. elections, but when it was his turn to speak he had absolutely nothing to say.

Now the Republicans have plenty to say, and most of it benefits the Kremlin. Indeed, the Republicans of Donald Trumps regime and the Russians of Vladimir Putins often sing in amazing harmony.

When Kennedy was interviewed Sunday by Chris Wallace on Fox News, he gave us a striking example of synchronicity. Kennedy, who was educated at Vanderbilt, the University of Virginia, and Oxford Universitys Magdalen College, and ought to know better, readily echoed a fable spawned by the Russian security services.

Who do you believe was responsible for hacking the DNC [Democratic National Committee] and [Hillary] Clinton campaign computers, their emails? Wallace asked. Was it Russia or Ukraine?To which Kennedy replied, I dont know, nor do you, nor do any others.

Wallace fired back: Let me just interrupt to say the entire intelligence community says it was Russia. Kennedy wobbled: Right, but it could also be Ukraine.

Gone are the days when the GOP dared to confront the Kremlin.

Nothing could better epitomize the ideal outcome of the Kremlins barrage of conflicting narratives, its dezinformatsiya, or disinformation designed to create a false impression that the truth is simply unknowable.

Gone are the days when the GOP dared to confront the Kremlin, and we should keep in mind that prominent Russian politicians and media figures rejoiced at the death of the late, great Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) last yearpresciently predicting that no one in the Republican Party would be able to live up to his legacy. Appearing on the Russian state television show 60 Minutes in 2018, Karen Shakhnazarov opined: Global empires like the United States are destroyed from within... The U.S. is deteriorating. They wont find other fighters like McCain. There wont be any others like him. This process is irreversible.

The Kremlin wagered its bets with stellar precision and the Republicans made the job easy. Instead of picking up the torch of democracy proudly carried by McCain, the GOP of Trump is clutching the tiki torch of Russian propaganda.

Fiona Hill, who served as the leading Russia expert on Trumps National Security Council staff, issued a stark warning during her testimony in the impeachment hearing: Some of you on this committee appear to believe that Russia and its security services did not conduct a campaign against our country and that perhaps, somehow, for some reason, Ukraine did. This is a fictional narrative that is being perpetrated and propagated by the Russian security services themselves. The Republican committee members who have intoned the phrase Russia hoax like a mantra feigned surprise.

President Trump did not heed the warning from Hill, nor did his Republican enablers. Calling into Fox & Friends, Trump again repeated the debunked conspiracy theory that Russia didnt hack the servers of the DNCand Ukraine was the real culprit. Then Russian state television immediately inserted the translated clip from Fox News into its news broadcasts.

The U.S. is deteriorating. They wont find other fighters like McCain.

Karen Shakhnazarov on Russia's "60 Minutes" in 2018

But weve come to expect that sort of thing from the president who took the side of Putin against his whole intelligence community at the Helsinki summit last year.

Its the capitulation to the Kremlin by the virtual entirety of the obsequious GOP that really draws attention now as Trumps impeachment by the House and trial by the Senate loom on the near horizon.

Last Thursday, South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham (once a close friend of McCain) launched a probe into former Vice President Joe Bidens dealings with Ukraine. His efforts were lauded almost instantaneously on the Russian state television program Vesti Nedeli. And lo and behold, that very same day Russian state media announced the alleged beginning by the Ukrainian parliament, or Rada, of an investigation into the Ukrainian energy company Burisma as well as Hunter Biden, who sat on its board, and his father.

Vesti couldnt hide its excitement with a segment entitled Rada FINALLY sits up... Opens Investigation of Hunter Biden! Vesti added: Its hardly possible to get back the money, but will likely mess up Joe Bidens election prospects.

The said investigation is in fact merely an audit. Ukraines Prosecutor General Ruslan Ryaboshapka has said repeatedly that there are no criminal cases or any other cases initiated against Burisma or Hunter Biden. But the mere announcement of such an inquiry could be used for political advantage. One recalls the testimony of Ambassador Gordon Sondland revealing that a public announcement of an investigation by Ukraines president would sufficiently serve Trumps political needs.

Multiple actors in the United States, Russia, and Ukraine have been promoting the idea of investigating Ukraines alleged election meddling, as well as the inquiry about the Bidens. The calls for such measures have been promoted especially by Ukrainian lawmakers known for their pro-Russian views, including Yuri Boyko, the co-chairman of Ukraines biggest pro-Russian party.

Russias influence over its largest European neighbor can be restored only by undermining the American involvement.

According to the English-language Ukrainian newspaper Kyiv Post, three other Ukrainian lawmakersOleg Voloshyn, Valentyn Nalyvaichenko, and Andriy Derkachare also doing Trumps dirty work to try to prompt the investigations he demanded from the Ukrainian president.

The Kyiv Post pointed out the lawmakers links to the oligarch Dmytro Firtash, discredited former Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko, and President Trumps former campaign chief Paul Manafort.

Voloshyn, who calls Manafort his friend, authored a flattering opinion piece about him in December 2017. At the time, Robert Muellers prosecutors argued that Manafort violated a gag order by heavily editing Voloshyns op-ed that attempted to whitewash Manaforts work in Ukraine.

The politically motivated investigations of the Bidens and Ukraines alleged interference in the U.S. elections would play right into President Vladimir Putins hands by jeopardizing bipartisan U.S. support for Kyiv. The Kremlin, which seized and annexed the Crimean Peninsula in 2014, sees Ukraine as the highly coveted jewel of the post-Soviet region. But Russias influence over its largest European neighbor can be restored only by undermining the American involvement. Putin personally pitched in to paint a negative picture of Ukraine, when President Trump inexplicably sought his guidance on how to deal with President Volodymyr Zelensky.

The Kremlin has strived continually to drive a wedge between the United States and Ukraine in order to get the country back firmly into Russias sphere of influence. Russian state media repeatedly urge the Ukrainian government to go along with Trumps demands, no matter how humiliating, or else lose any hope of continued U.S. support.

The host of Russian news talk show 60 Minutes, Evgeny Popov, warned: If Trump gets re-elected, and you dont investigate Biden... [Ukraine] wont get anything from America. Not a thing. The co-host of 60 Minutes, Olga Skabeeva, scoffed: With respect to mutual American-Ukrainian love, as we know, nothing lasts forever, adding, Trump could spit on Ukraine.

The leader of a pro-Russian group of Ukrainians, Yuriy Kot, picked up that refrain: Trump could spit on Ukraine! Kot added that if Trump is re-elected, Ukraine can expect four more years of hell from the United States of America. You dont even understand the horror that is coming your way. Skabeeva summed up: For Ukraine, this is a catastrophe... Americans are directly telling you theyre sick of you. Nobody needs you.

Trump could spit on Ukraine.

Olga Skabeeva, co-hose of Russia's "60 Minutes"

Such demoralizing drivel from Russian state media is, of course, designed to push the fledgling democracy away from the U.S. and back into Russias orbit.

Trump, for his part, has been in the blame Ukraine camp for years as a way to diminish or discredit the consensus of the U.S. intelligence community and many of its Western allies that, as Fiona Hill pointed out, Putin had waged a systematic effort to undermine U.S. democracy, with support for Trump a part of that strategy.

Putin and Trump reportedly have discussed allegations of Ukrainian interference in U.S. elections. In a 2017 Oval Office meeting, Trump told Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak that he was unconcerned about Moscows election interference. At the G20 in June of this year, Trump grinned and playfully wagged his finger as he told Putin: Dont meddle in the election."

One month later, during Trumps now infamous July 25 call with Ukraines Zelensky, Trump urged him to investigate Ukraines alleged meddling in the U.S. electionsand the lesson drawn from all this by Putin? Appearing at the economic forum Russia Calling, he smirked: Thank God no one is accusing us of interfering in the U.S. elections anymore. Now theyre accusing Ukraine.

But heres the fact of the matter. Russias unprecedented interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election has been described, with reason, as the most successful influence campaign in history, one that will be studied globally for decades, and it is far from over.

Instead of counteracting Russias malign influence, American foreign policy under Trump is seemingly being guided by it and leaders of the Republican Party are doing their best to aid and abet that program.

The wave of Kremlin disinformation started with faceless workers at the St. Petersburg troll factory banging away at their keyboards, striving to reach everyday not-very-well-informed Americans who would in turn misinform others within their sphere of influence.

The operation surpassed Putins wildest dreams when ripples of disinformation surged into a tsunami as Candidate Trump and then President Trump started openly to recite Russias fictive talking points. The range of dissemination was then magnified by Trumps Republican supporters, along with his 67 million Twitter followers, and media outlets hanging on to every word uttered by the leader of the mightiest country in the world.

In sum, theres no question the presidency of Donald J. Trump has proved to be enormously beneficial for the Kremlin, and supporters of the Russian president are openly rooting for Trumps re-election.

Russian state television channel Rossiya-1 has dispatched its reporter Denis Davydov to broadcast directly from the impeachment hearings and, probably this should not be a surprise, Russian state-media coverage sounded eerily like much of Fox News, echoing the disingenuous claims by Trump supporters that there was no pressure against Ukraine and no quid pro quo.

For the first time in modern history, in the era of Trump, Russian state television is more than happy to support the Republicansand for a good reason.

See the original post:
Why Are Republicans So Anxious to Play Putin's Game on Ukraine? - The Daily Beast