THE LINCOLN PROJECT

[Pete F.]

There is life beyond Floridaman

Patriotism and the survival of our nation in the face of the crimes, corruption and corrosive nature of Donald Trump are a higher calling than mere politics. As Americans, we must stem the damage he and his followers are doing to the rule of law, the Constitution and the American character.

That’s why we are announcing the Lincoln Project, an effort to highlight our country’s story and values, and its people’s sacrifices and obligations. This effort transcends partisanship and is dedicated to nothing less than preservation of the principles that so many have fought for, on battlefields far from home and within their own communities.

This effort asks all Americans of all places, creeds and ways of life to join in the seminal task of our generation: restoring to this nation leadership and governance that respects the rule of law, recognizes the dignity of all people and defends the Constitution and American values at home and abroad.

Over these next 11 months, our efforts will be dedicated to defeating President Trump and Trumpism at the ballot box and to elect those patriots who will hold the line. We do not undertake this task lightly, nor from ideological preference. We have been, and remain, broadly conservative (or classically liberal) in our politics and outlooks. Our many policy differences with national Democrats remain, but our shared fidelity to the Constitution dictates a common effort.

The 2020 general election, by every indication, will be about persuasion, with turnout expected to be at record highs. Our efforts are aimed at persuading enough disaffected conservatives, Republicans and Republican-leaning independents in swing states and districts to help ensure a victory in the Electoral College and majorities that don’t enable and abet trumps violations of the constitution; even if that means Democrat control of the Senate and expansion of the Democratic majority in the House.

The American presidency transcends the individuals who occupy the Oval Office. Their personality becomes part of our national character. Their actions become our actions, for which we all share responsibility. Their willingness to act in accordance with the law and our tradition dictate how current and future leaders will act. Their commitment to order, civility and decency are reflected in American society.

Mr. Trump fails to meet the bar for this commitment. He has neither the moral compass nor the temperament to serve. His vision is limited to what immediately faces him — the problems and risks he chronically brings upon himself and for which others, from countless contractors and companies to the American people, ultimately bear the heaviest burden.

But this president’s actions are possible only with the craven acquiescence of congressional Republicans. They have done no less than abdicate their Article I responsibilities.

Indeed, national Republicans have done far worse than simply march along to Mr. Trump’s beat. Their defense of him is imbued with an ugliness, a meanness and a willingness to attack and slander those who have shed blood for our country, who have dedicated their lives and careers to its defense and its security, and whose job is to preserve the nation’s status as a beacon of hope.

Congressional Republicans have embraced and copied Mr. Trump’s cruelty and defended and even adopted his corruption. Mr. Trump and his enablers have abandoned conservatism and longstanding Republican principles and replaced it with Trumpism, an empty faith led by a bogus prophet. In a recent survey, a majority of Republican voters reported that they consider Mr. Trump a better president than Lincoln.

Mr. Trump and his fellow travelers daily undermine the proposition we as a people have a responsibility and an obligation to continually bend the arc of history toward justice. They mock our belief in America as something more meaningful than lines on a map.

Our peril far outstrips any past differences: It has arrived at our collective doorstep, and we believe there is no other choice. We sincerely hope, but are not optimistic, that some of those Republicans charged with sitting as jurors in a likely Senate impeachment trial will do likewise.

American men and women stand ready around the globe to defend us and our way of life. We must do right by them and ensure that the country for which they daily don their uniform deserves their protection and their sacrifice.

We are reminded of Dan Sickles, an incompetent 19th-century New York politician. On July 2, 1863, his blundering nearly ended the United States.

(Sickles’s greatest previous achievement had been fatally shooting his wife’s lover across the street from the White House and getting himself elected to Congress. Even his most fervent admirers could not have imagined that one day, far in the future, another incompetent New York politician, a president, would lay claim to that legacy by saying he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and get away with it.)

On that day in Pennsylvania, Sickles was a major general commanding the Union Army’s III Corps at the Battle of Gettysburg, and his incompetence wrought chaos and danger. The Confederate Army took advantage, and turned the Union line. Had the rebel soldiers broken through, the continent would have been divided: Free and slave, democratic and authoritarian.

Another Union general, Winfield Scott Hancock, had only minutes to reinforce the line. America, the nation, the ideal, hung in the balance. Amid the fury of battle, he found the First Minnesota Volunteers. They were immigrants. Many didn’t speak English. They were the very people the Know Nothings tried to keep out of the country.

They charged, and many of them fell, suffering a staggeringly high casualty rate. They held the line. They saved the Union. Four months later, Lincoln stood on that field of slaughter and said, “It is left to us, the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced.”

We look to Lincoln as our guide and inspiration. He understood the necessity of not just saving the Union, but also of knitting the nation back together spiritually as well as politically. But those wounds can be bound up only once the threat has been defeated. So, too, will our country have to knit itself back together after the scourge of Trumpism has been overcome.

George T. Conway III is an attorney in New York. Steve Schmidt is a Republican political strategist who worked for President George W. Bush, Senator John McCain and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. John Weaver is a Republican strategist who worked for President George H.W. Bush, Senator John McCain and Gov. John Kasich. Rick Wilson is a Republican media consultant and author of “Everything Trump Touches Dies” and the forthcoming “Running Against the Devil: A Plot to Save America From Trump and Democrats From Themselves.”

This article was originally published in The New York Times.

Follow The Lincoln Project on Twitter @ProjectLincoln

[Sea Dangles]

🤡🍔🤡🙀🤡
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[The Dad Fisherman]

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[Jim in CT]

Pete, you quoted a guy who wrote "Everything Trump Touches, Dies".

Please tell that to everyone in the country who works as a wealth advisor. Tell that to everyone who is amazed at the quarterly statements about their 401ks and IRAs. Tell that to injured vets whose students loans he signed to forgive.

Hyperbole and fear tactics are easy. Can we try something different? Pete, without quoting a 10,000 word essay by someone else, can you tell me in your own words, which core principles of our nation, which fundamentally American institutions, which essential parts of our national fiber, exactly, has Trump either killed off already, or which are on life support thanks to Trump?

Because other then the debt (admittedly a big one), I don't see it. I see exactly zero evidence that America won't endure his term(s) just fine. Where am I wrong?

He's a narcissistic, egotistical, vindictive, vulgar, arrogant baby, and a pathetic excuse for a husband and a father. But what American institutions is he truly threatening?

The Supreme Court is still there, and has on more than one occasion struck him down when he went too far. Congress is still there, one chamber controlled by the opposition party, and they write the laws and budgets, not him. God knows the media is still there, telling us 24/7 that he is the reincarnation of Hitler, giving you fodder to post your anti-Trump manifestos three times a day. Trump can't stop any of that, plenty of people hate him and aren't shy about saying so, and none have gone to the Gulag.

So please tell us, what, exactly, is in jeopardy? Domestically, things are pretty good, except for the political divisiveness, of which Trump is a contributor, but he has plenty of company. Abroad, China and Russia are on the move, but have been since long before he got there. So we can debate the best policy to deal with these threats, but China and Russia surely didn't stop in their tracks from 2009-2016.

What is he on the verge of destroying, exactly? I keep hearing the idea, no one ever provides specifics. Presumably because they can't. The claim is all fizz and no gin.

[Pete F.]

The level of loyalty Donald Trump commands from elected Republicans seems qualitatively different from that offered to previous Republican presidents.

For instance: Republicans told President Nixon to resign his office. Ronald Reagan ran a vigorous primary challenge to President Ford. President George H.W. Bush was seriously challenged in the 1992 primary. President George W. Bush faced Republican revolts over a Supreme Court nomination, Medicare expansion, and attempted immigration reform.

President Trump’s policy ideas often diverge dramatically from Republican orthodoxy—on trade, executive authority, entitlements, foreign policy—and his almost daily drumbeat of scandals and misadventures have been a millstone around the party’s neck. He won the presidency despite losing the popular vote by a wide margin; lost the House in 2018; has been historically unpopular; and has been trailing his most likely Democratic 2020 rival by double digits for the better part of a year. He is now facing the prospect of impeachment.

If the normal laws of politics applied to Trump, this would be about the time that Republicans decided to cut and run.

But that isn’t happening.

There are four explanations as to why this is and they all add up to the fact that where previous presidents have been stewards of the party, Trump owns the GOP in a way that is unprecedented in the modern era.

In the Republican party, Trump is forever.


(1) The tipping point came early. A common fallacy of the Trump years has been that the tipping point is always close: That there is some action or event, just over the horizon, that will cause Republicans to finally abandon him once they understand the full costs.

Instead, the Republican party establishment seems rather more supportive of Trump today than it was in January 2017.

Which suggests that maybe there was a tipping point, but that it went in the other direction and it came early in his tenure.

I would posit that in late 2018, after the scope of the midterm losses became clear, two things happened. First, the casualties of the midterm were precisely the Republicans who were most likely to rebel against Trump, so while the GOP lost the midterms, Trump emerged with a stronger hold on the party.

Second, with the midterm loss, Republicans tipped over into a place where the sunk costs were so great that they were no longer willing to challenge him on any matter.

And with every passing scandal since then, the cumulative weight of these sunk costs has made independence from Trump less, not more, likely. Because while the doctrine of sunk costs is a fallacy for economic actors, it’s very real for political actors.

(2) Trump primarily uses his political capital against other Republicans. One of the strange inversions of the Trump years is that unlike every other president of the modern era, Trump has treated his own party as his principal opposition.

Normally presidents endure intraparty griping because they need the votes. They don’t want to spend political capital fighting their own party because they need to conserve it to fight with the other side in order to win passage for legislative initiatives.

Trump has turned that dynamic on its head.

From the time he declared his candidacy, Trump has focused most of his attacks on other Republicans. Yes, he takes the obligatory shots at Nancy Pelosi and Adam Schiff. And there was his “go back” to where you came from attack on “the squad.” But Trump’s real passion seems to be fighting Republicans whom he deems insufficiently loyal.

So while Democrats have literally no reason to fear Trump—he has been so helpful to their electoral prospects that they have more to fear from working with him than opposing him—it is Republicans who have come to fear crossing their president.

This is an unusual situation.

The benefit of this arrangement for Trump is that by keeping a constant threat of retribution leveled against fellow Republicans, his party has fallen in line to a truly unprecedented degree. The cost is that, by spending so much time warring with Republicans he has weakened his party’s standing, frittered away his congressional majority, and seen nearly his entire legislative agenda stall.

In a normal presidency, this price might be seen as prohibitively high. But in a presidency that’s been in constant turmoil—veering from crisis to crisis and now climaxing with impeachment—it’s a bargain at twice the price. The grim reality is that Trump needs Republican solidarity much more than he needs legislative accomplishments.

And also, if we’re going to be candid, he has never seemed terribly interested in passing legislation in the first place.

(3) Trump is forever. In the normal course of the last century, the president has been only the interim head of his party. He appoints his people throughout both his administration and the institution of his party, but eventually he leaves office and retires to life outside the public realm. At that point, he may still exert some influence behind the scenes. He may be close to donors. His mentees might still consult his advice. But other political actors are jockeying for position; the world moves on.

It seems highly unlikely that Donald Trump will ever move on.

Either a year from now or five years from now, Donald Trump will step away from the presidency. Raise your hand if you think he will retire to Mar-a-Lago and delete his Twitter account.

It seems much more likely—maybe inevitable—that once he leaves office, Trump will continue to tweet and call in to cable news shows. Perhaps he will even attend political rallies, which is the part of the job he seems to enjoy most.

There is no reason to think—none at all—that he will discontinue his penchant for weighing in on American politics on an hourly basis. There is every reason to think that he will vigorously attack any Republican who was disloyal to him during his administration. Or retroactively criticizes his tenure. Or runs in opposition to one of his preferred candidates. Or jeopardizes any of his many and varied interests.

What this means is that there is no way for a Trump-skeptical Republican to simply wait out the Trump years. There will be no “life after Trump” because Trump is going to be the head boss of Republican politics for the rest of his days.

As I said at the beginning: Trump is not a caretaker of the Republican party. He is the owner.

Once you realize that Trump is forever, it’s easier to understand individual Republicans’ reluctance to stand against him on impeachment. If you’re a Republican with future political ambitions—even if you’re retiring from public life for the moment—you know that voting against Trump now means that he will come after you when you try to re-enter politics.

(4) There is another. The corollary to the idea that Trump is forever is the fact that he clearly has dynastic aspirations. Early on people suspected that Ivanka Trump would one day try to take over for her father. But the last three years have shown that Don Jr. is his logical heir.

Where Ivanka thought it smart to work in the White House and enmesh herself in governing, Don. Jr. understood that the real path to power was to go on Fox News and imitate his father. It’s working.

And if you think Trump will retire to the countryside to let his children make their own way in the world, then you have not paid any attention, at all, to the history of this family.

Hard-headed Trump-skeptical Republicans like to talk about how it’s important to preserve some room to maneuver so that when Trump eventually leaves the stage, the hard work of rebuilding the Republican party can begin.

I understand that sentiment. It sounds prudent. It might even be right.

But that view is predicated on the realities of politics as they existed in 2015.

Until Trump’s election, the working model for American politics was that parties were ideological organizations, not personality cults, and that ex-presidents were seldom seen and never heard.

The post-Trump future may be different: A world where the former president calls into cable shows while tweeting 150 times a day, settling scores, attacking members of his party who he deems insufficiently loyal and paving the way for his son to inherit the office.

If you think about the nature of political parties, the Trumpian view makes a certain amount of sense and what’s remarkable is that the old system lasted for long. Why is it, exactly, that former presidents have not chosen to actively maintain a grip on their political parties?

The only real explanations for the view of presidents as political stewards are humility, tradition, honor. Even Trump’s most eager apologists would never ascribe any of those traits to him. Why would he think himself constrained by such outmoded thinking?

Why would he voluntarily give up a thing of immense value?

When you look at Trump’s administration it is clear that he sees the GOP not as a political party which exists as a vehicle to execute policy visions, but an asset. And assets exist to be controlled and passed down to one’s heirs.

In such a world, the Republican party is a kingdom and GOP politicians are mere feudal lords who may only set up their own fiefdoms at the pleasure of the sovereign. Or, if you’d prefer a less benign metaphor, the Republican party is now a family-controlled syndicate which will run the business until either a rival gang takes them down or the feds catch up with them.

Whichever view you choose, the arrangement will continue as long as Donald Trump has thumbs and a smartphone.

Once you understand what the future of the Republican party must necessarily look like, the present makes a lot more sense.

Jonathan V. Last is executive editor of The Bulwark.

[Jim in CT]

Pete, now you're fostering fear of a Trump dynasty. But Kennedy and Clinton dynasties were nothing to worry about.

No one else named Trump is running in the next 10 years.

MSNBC did a segment this weekend, asking the very important question - what if Trump refuses to vacate the office in 2024? Yes, they are alresy assuming he wins, and also assuming (based on what, they didn't say), that he will force the nation to allow him a third term.

We are deep, deep into the twilight zone.

[Pete F.]

Conservatives will someday face the horrible truth that the Republican Party fought so hard to justify and excuse an amoral and self-serving president, and what he gave them in return was bigger government and erosion of the principles and values they once claimed to cherish.
Justin Amash
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[Jim in CT]

Pete for the second
time, any chance you can tell
us which core institutions of our republic, trump has killed
or is close to killing?
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[Pete F.]

If you can read that letter from Trump, including attacks on Pelosi’s faith and its open attempt to incite civil disorder, and still be an enthusiastic supporter of Donald Trump, you are a morally disordered person. it’s not about politics, it’s about your lack of character.
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[Sea Dangles]

Of course, Orange man bad.
Supporters....worse
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[detbuch]

Originally Posted by Pete F.

If you can read that letter from Trump, including attacks on Pelosi’s faith and its open attempt to incite civil disorder, and still be an enthusiastic supporter of Donald Trump, you are a morally disordered person. it’s not about politics, it’s about your lack of character.
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I read the letter, and you, "sir," are a slanderous liar. It was a solid letter that expressed what many Americans think about Pelosi and this impeachment. Trump did not "attack" Pelosi's so-called faith. The idea that she and the rest of the Democrats are praying for Trump, or that they are so terribly sad about what they are doing is worse than a mere joke. Are you praying for Trump? Are you sad that he is being impeached? Are the rest of the Dems including Pelosi better and more righteous than you? It is a bald faced lie in the face of the American public. Such a lie given to the people of this nation, who she supposedly serves, and to the God that she supposedly worships, speaks of her lack of character, to say the least, not Jim's.

And there was no "open attempt" to incite civil disorder. You show the deranged "interpretation" of everything Trump says or does, and you display your own lack of character when you say stuff like this.

The letter was "perfect," as Trump might say. Maybe too perfect, hinting that he may have had some help. Then, maybe not. Maybe he wrote it completely on his own. And it was meant, as he said, as a historical document so that future generations would have a better perspective on how his Presidency was attacked from the very beginning, with bogus investigations and baseless calls for impeachment.

[Jim in CT]

Originally Posted by Pete F.

If you can read that letter from Trump, including attacks on Pelosi’s faith and its open attempt to incite civil disorder, and still be an enthusiastic supporter of Donald Trump, you are a morally disordered person. it’s not about politics, it’s about your lack of character.
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trying to incite civil disorder? then add that to the impeachment charges. or stop talking nonsense.

Your answer to my question, what american institutions is he destroying, is “ nothing.”

Who is inciting civil
disorder? republicans or democrats? When was the last time a liberal speaker
was rushed off a college stage by security, because conservatives were threatening violence? Black lives matter, Antifa, occupy wall street? All are motivated by liberal politics.

Everything trump touches, dies? Tell that to the S&P 500, Einstein.

If Trump is inciting civil disorder, where’s the right-wing civil disorder, exactly? you keep
saying that stupid conservatives obey his every command, so unless that’s a crock, where’s the evidence they are carrying out his orders?

You’re horrified that he won, you are enraged that he’s doing good things, and you’re too small to accept the possibility he might get re elected. that’s the issue. My moral character is as flawed as anyone else’s, but it’s not the issue. Your TDS is the issue.
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[Pete F.]

Trump's letter is his way of pleading innocent to the charges of impeachment on the grounds of insanity.
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[detbuch]

Originally Posted by Pete F.

Trump's letter is his way of pleading innocent to the charges of impeachment on the grounds of insanity.
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As it stands now, Trump is not the one that needs to plead innocent. On the other hand, some may be sweating the results of the Durham report. If you think otherwise, perhaps you're the one who is insane. You certainly do make a lot of deranged rants.

His letter was sanely spot on. That you don't see that is evidence of your derangement.

[scottw]

Originally Posted by detbuch

You certainly do make a lot of deranged rants.

His letter was sanely spot on. That you don't see that is evidence of your derangement.

leftists prefer victims that will stay still and not complain as they are being whipped to death

[scottw]

Originally Posted by Pete F.

If you can read that letter from Trump, including attacks on Pelosi’s faith

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she only prays that trump will drop dead

[Pete F.]

The line on prayer in Trump’s letter was such an insight into his psyche, not that we needed more at this point. He absolutely can’t envision even the idea of praying for someone with whom you disagree.
SAD
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[scottw]

Originally Posted by Pete F.

The line on prayer in Trump’s letter was such an insight into his psyche, not that we needed more at this point. He absolutely can’t envision even the idea of praying for someone with whom you disagree.
SAD
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pelosi only invokes faith when she is desperate and/or lying soooo....

[Pete F.]

Originally Posted by detbuch

I read the letter, and you, "sir," are a slanderous liar. It was a solid letter that expressed what many Americans think about Pelosi and this impeachment. Trump did not "attack" Pelosi's so-called faith. The idea that she and the rest of the Democrats are praying for Trump, or that they are so terribly sad about what they are doing is worse than a mere joke. Are you praying for Trump? Are you sad that he is being impeached? Are the rest of the Dems including Pelosi better and more righteous than you? It is a bald faced lie in the face of the American public. Such a lie given to the people of this nation, who she supposedly serves, and to the God that she supposedly worships, speaks of her lack of character, to say the least, not Jim's.

And there was no "open attempt" to incite civil disorder. You show the deranged "interpretation" of everything Trump says or does, and you display your own lack of character when you say stuff like this.

The letter was "perfect," as Trump might say. Maybe too perfect, hinting that he may have had some help. Then, maybe not. Maybe he wrote it completely on his own. And it was meant, as he said, as a historical document so that future generations would have a better perspective on how his Presidency was attacked from the very beginning, with bogus investigations and baseless calls for impeachment.

"It may be the most unpresidential presidential document ever written." -David Ignatius
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[scottw]

Originally Posted by Pete F.

"It may be the most unpresidential presidential document ever written." -David Ignatius
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well...it's in response to the most ridiculous impeachment effort ever soooo.....

[Sea Dangles]

Think of it this way Pete. Sure, he is going to cost you $100 by easily being re-elected. But if you hAve any money invested at all then you have been able to watch your savings increase exponentially. It will be a win given the big picture,just a loss for your psyche.
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[Got Stripers]

Originally Posted by detbuch

I read the letter, and you, "sir," are a slanderous liar. It was a solid letter that expressed what many Americans think about Pelosi and this impeachment. Trump did not "attack" Pelosi's so-called faith. The idea that she and the rest of the Democrats are praying for Trump, or that they are so terribly sad about what they are doing is worse than a mere joke. Are you praying for Trump? Are you sad that he is being impeached? Are the rest of the Dems including Pelosi better and more righteous than you? It is a bald faced lie in the face of the American public. Such a lie given to the people of this nation, who she supposedly serves, and to the God that she supposedly worships, speaks of her lack of character, to say the least, not Jim's.

And there was no "open attempt" to incite civil disorder. You show the deranged "interpretation" of everything Trump says or does, and you display your own lack of character when you say stuff like this.

The letter was "perfect," as Trump might say. Maybe too perfect, hinting that he may have had some help. Then, maybe not. Maybe he wrote it completely on his own. And it was meant, as he said, as a historical document so that future generations would have a better perspective on how his Presidency was attacked from the very beginning, with bogus investigations and baseless calls for impeachment.

Not surprising you would find it perfect, anything less would be a shock to us, the reality is it’s classic Trump pure projection.
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[Jim in CT]

Originally Posted by scottw

pelosi only invokes faith when she is desperate and/or lying soooo....

this is what i don’t get. Not trying to get into the merits of catholicism or
abortion, but the fact is, it’s a binding belief of catholics to oppose convenience abortions. Catholics are not allowed to disagree with this. So why does someone like Pelosi want to identify as catholic? why not choose any one of the many sects of christianity that welcome those who are pro abortion?

She’s obviously no Catholic...
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[spence]

Originally Posted by Got Stripers

Not surprising you would find it perfect, anything less would be a shock to us, the reality is it’s classic Trump pure projection.
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It’s perfect in that it’s pure Trump. Unhinged, erratic, narcissistic, dishonest, ignorant and loaded with victim hood.

Trump’s most valuable asset, his brand, will forever be tainted. Soon we will be able to start restoring confidence in our institutions.
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[scottw]

Originally Posted by spence

Trump’s most valuable asset, his brand, will forever be tainted.

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he will wear it proudly like a purple heart earned in combat with the forces trying to destroy America

[scottw]

Originally Posted by Jim in CT

So why does someone like Pelosi want to identify as catholic?

She’s obviously no Catholic...

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only when it benefits her politically

[spence]

Originally Posted by scottw

he will wear it proudly like a purple heart earned in combat with the forces trying to destroy America

I don’t think you meant it to write it that way
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[Pete F.]

Originally Posted by detbuch

I read the letter, and you, "sir," are a slanderous liar. It was a solid letter that expressed what many Americans think about Pelosi and this impeachment. Trump did not "attack" Pelosi's so-called faith. The idea that she and the rest of the Democrats are praying for Trump, or that they are so terribly sad about what they are doing is worse than a mere joke. Are you praying for Trump? Are you sad that he is being impeached? Are the rest of the Dems including Pelosi better and more righteous than you? It is a bald faced lie in the face of the American public. Such a lie given to the people of this nation, who she supposedly serves, and to the God that she supposedly worships, speaks of her lack of character, to say the least, not Jim's.

And there was no "open attempt" to incite civil disorder. You show the deranged "interpretation" of everything Trump says or does, and you display your own lack of character when you say stuff like this.

The letter was "perfect," as Trump might say. Maybe too perfect, hinting that he may have had some help. Then, maybe not. Maybe he wrote it completely on his own. And it was meant, as he said, as a historical document so that future generations would have a better perspective on how his Presidency was attacked from the very beginning, with bogus investigations and baseless calls for impeachment.

He's guilty, the evidence clearly shows it.
You're assuming and Floridaman's defense is that he actually cares about corruption.
If Floridaman truly was a corruption fighter, he would not have cut funding for corruption and instead attacked corruption in the world. If Biden was caught up in one of the many corruption investigations who could have complained.

That's not what happened.

Let’s imagine that investigating “corruption” isn’t just a convenient excuse for Floridaman to extort Ukraine’s new president into interfering in our elections by staining the character of his potential political rival Joe Biden, and absolving Russia of guilt for the 2016 hacks of the Democratic National Committee — possibly so Vladimir Putin will conspire to elect him, again.

Let’s take Floridaman at his word that he’s very concerned about even the appearance of family members wringing cash from a president or vice president who shares their name.

Let’s pretend that the man going to the Supreme Court to hide tax returns he promised to reveal dozens of times actually cares about unethical behavior. Because if he did, he’d be so busy investigating his own administration that he’d have to give up all his favorite pastimes — being the friend in "Fox and Friends," yelling at women on Twitter and helping Republicans lose governorships in red states.

Where would Floridaman begin if he were truly bothered by the corruption closest to him?

For the sake of his marriage, let’s dismiss the fact that he has never explained how his wife became a citizen after working in this country without a visa and got an Einstein visa without a college degree. And let’s suppose that getting his daughter and son-in-law security clearances over the objection of almost everyone who cares about national security was an act of fatherly love.

Let’s skip his campaign, after noting that his former campaign chair and co-chair, along with two of his closest advisers, have been convicted of multiple crimes. And we’ll just submit for the record that he shut down his foundation after New York state filed a lawsuit charging "extensive and persistent" illegal conduct, including holding a political fundraising rally for veterans under the auspices of the foundation and he paid a fine of $2 million.

Let’s begin with Floridaman’s grown sons, the ones he didn’t want working in the White House.

“I wish my name was Hunter Biden," Jr. recently said. "I could go abroad, make millions off of my father's presidency. I would be a really rich guy.”

Don Jr. may not be aware of this, or of anything that requires self-awareness, but the company he allegedly runs is still owned by his father, who refused to clearly divest from it, in violation of 19 promises to do so.

The Scam Floridaman Organization has been implicated in money laundering, tax scams and the rampant hiring of undocumented workers.

You could make the case that a president's sons should not even get near a “corrupt company,” as Rep. Stefanik, did during impeachment hearings last week.

Of course, Stefanik was talking about Hunter Biden’s work on the board of the Ukrainian company Burisma — not Jr. and his brother’s employment at a company whose two biggest growth areas are generating conflicts of interest and using their dad’s influence to fuel a fundraising pyramid scheme. But boys in their mid 30s and early 40s will be boys.

Let’s move on to the strange case of Floridaman’s 75-year-old lawyer, former U.S. attorney and New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

First of all, since Floridaman isn't paying Rudy, who is? The onetime American hero needs the cash, if you believe his butt dials.

Floridaman also should find out what Rudy was doing with Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, who were trying to leave the country when they were arrested on charges of conspiring to violate bans on foreign and straw donors. Why did Parnas get a million dollars from a Russian Oligarch and just who else is he funding? Contributions from his corporation to many Republicans.

Floridaman also needs to examine what appears to be Rudy’s attempt to use connections to the president to cash in on the Ukrainian energy sector (in other words, exactly what Republicans accuse Hunter Biden of doing). Federal prosecutors looking into the scheme would surely appreciate the help.

Impeachment was made for Floridaman

Finally, if Trump truly cared about corruption, he could spend the next thousand years investigating Floridaman.

To do this properly, he would welcome an investigation into the vast allegations of tax fraud against him and his family that led his sister, a former federal judge, to resign rather than face an inquiry. At the very least, he should figure out why he owes $50 million to a business he owns, because it looks a lot like a tax dodge.

Then there are his possible mafia ties, his strange relationship to a very generous Russian oligarch, and his obvious conflicts of interest with Turkey and Saudi Arabia.

The truth is that if Floridaman cared about corruption, he would be a huge fan of impeachment. As House Intel Chairman Schiff said, the Founders put impeachment in the Constitution "because they wanted a powerful anti-corruption mechanism when that corruption came from the highest office in the land."

But Floridaman’s concerns here are far more sinister and obvious. If he’s looking into corruption, it’s for one simple reason. He wants to do more of it.

[Sea Dangles]

It is shocking to think he violated 19 promises.

Get to your safe space,quickly.
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[Jim in CT]

Originally Posted by spence

I don’t think you meant it to write it that way
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it’s going to be a badge of honor for him spence. and he’s probably correct to think of it that way.

When the left was clear that impeachment investigations started before the inauguration, you lose some credibility, regardless of the validity of what they ultimately find. They’d have been much better off not being so obvious about their intent to refuse to accept the election results.
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