Bacon's Rebellion

Democracy Thrives in Sunlight

PSSST! Trump Got Impeached

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Peter Galuszka
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By Peter Galuszka

You won’t hear much about this on Bacon’s Rebellion, but on Wednesday, Donald J. Trump became the third U.S. president in history to be impeached.

The vote in the House of Representatives split right down party lines with Virginia’s Democrats voting for impeachment and Republicans voting against.

Leading the charge were Abigail Spanberger of the 7th District and Elaine Luri of the 2nd District. The former CIA operative and former Navy officer showed considerable guts because they flipped seats normally safely held by Republicans who promise to come after both of them next year.

The strictly bipartisan impeachment vote is being mirrored in Virginia now that Democrats have taken control of the General Assembly. A number of conservative Republicans who had been running the legislative show for years have retired and the state GOP is in serious disarray.

Gov. Ralph Northam is pushing a big $135 billion budget that provides long-needed spending for mental health and education. The Trump fallout is fueling an atmosphere that will embolden Democrats to push ahead with such measures and raising Virginia’s ridiculously low cigarette tax.

Bacon’s Rebellion, meanwhile, has largely ignored Trump by pretending he doesn’t exist. The blog picks apart spending by revealing that it is a “progressive” budget. Of course it is. What’s the big discovery?

Virginia, however, is unlikely to become too leftist despite one especially silly blog post claiming the Virginia Democrats want to out-California California.

It’s time to wake up and realize that a sea change has occurred and the state is no longer what some bloggers imagine it to be or wish it still was. Get over it.

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22 responses to “PSSST! Trump Got Impeached”

  1. James A. Bacon Avatar
    James A. Bacon

    Psssst! Peter, the primary reason Bacon’s Rebellion largely ignores Donald Trump is that he is president of the United States, and this is a blog about public policy in Virginia. A secondary reason is that Trump is such a polarizing figure that saying anything about him, either pro or con, is likely to alienate one set of readers or another. A goal of this blog is to carry on a conversation across partisan and ideological lines. Once you make Trump the topic, any discussion rapidly deteriorates and meaningful communication ceases.

    There have been a few exceptions, mainly when federal policy impacts Virginia. Thus, I have written about Obama’s and Trump’s fiscal and monetary policies, the unsustainable federal deficit and the implications for the long-term governance of Virginia. And you have written about the impact of military spending on the Virginia economy. No problem.

    But you’re not going to goad me into joining the mutual skunk pissing contest going on in Washington over impeachment.

  2. Peter Galuszka Avatar
    Peter Galuszka

    Funny, but I seem to remember a lot more discussion about Obama. Also, you are taking my post too seriously. It’s very serious topic, I know, but it is amusing to see conservatives hide from Trump and only a few GOP politicians like Mitt Romney have the nerve to confront Trump

  3. TBill Avatar
    TBill

    I can attest Jim blocks me from from non-Virginia topics.
    I had one on social security outlook from hearing the head SS actuary give a talk, Jim would not take it.

  4. Dick Hall-Sizemore Avatar
    Dick Hall-Sizemore

    Jim has expressed well the reasons why this blog is so attractive to someone like me. I have no wish to get into extensive, emotional debate over Trump. I realize that, recently, I did get into a such a dialogue in one thread when I pushed back on an allusion to the “wonderful Trump economy”. I will refrain from such responses in the future.

    1. Reed Fawell 3rd Avatar
      Reed Fawell 3rd

      Yes, I refrained from responding to it for the same reason. It would not have been pretty.

  5. Reed Fawell 3rd Avatar
    Reed Fawell 3rd

    On the other hand, regarding Peter’s post, at long last good news. We have found a thoughtful, serious adult in the US Senate by the name of Mitch McConnell who just made a speech of profound historic consequence. Hopefully it will save our Republic for a while longer, at the least.

  6. TooManyTaxes Avatar
    TooManyTaxes

    I think we should try not to focus on national politics unless a particular policy has a direct impact on Virginia issues. For example, I think references to federal tax increases and decreases is material to discussions of the adoption or non-adoption of state conforming amendments to the SIT.

    And, Dick, I think you do a good job focusing on state issues. All of us slip from time to time.

  7. LarrytheG Avatar
    LarrytheG

    I did watch the floor debates – both sides and I listen to the interviews on TV – both sides.

    And the difference between the two sides on what the “truth” is – is pretty amazing and I do wonder how this will play out at election time.

    So for giggles and grins, I usually go look at what Congressional District in the State the speaking person represents, then I look at how many years they’ve been there and what the election results look like.

    And here’s what I get mostly: The rural guys are mostly Conservative and pretty much locked in for as long as incumbents want to remain. That’s true in Kansas as well as North Florida or West Virginia or the rust belt. The urban areas work similarly for the Dems.

    The suburbs are “in play” across a lot of the nation, as they say and some of them are Red and will likely remain that way. Spanberger in the 7th district Virginia, who got her seat from the GOPs Brat, did so pretty much on the suburban vote – rural counties in the 7th were solid Trump/Brat.

    So the country is split down the middle and the suburbs and independent voters may well decide the outcome.

    From that perspective, what happens in Virginia may reflect what happens elsewhere.

    Will the GOP State and National take back suburban votes in Virginia and turn those light blue districts back to Red?

    http://www.virginiaplaces.org/government/graphics/2012counties.png

  8. Steve Haner Avatar
    Steve Haner

    Every time I turned it on and listened for five minutes I heard the same talking points – on both sides- that I had heard a few hours before, and a few hours before that. Everybody had to have their moment on camera….for the Twitter feed, Instagram post or the local snooze. Now Pelosi is refusing to communicate the bill, so Trump will always be “impeached” but never have a chance to be “but acquited.” I cannot take this seriously. It’s a campaign gimmick. Peter is thrilled over absolutely nothing. An indictment that is not put to trial is worthless words on scrap paper. This may turn out to be an even better outcome for Trump than that acquittal would be.

    I too have been blocked from this topic by Jim, with a dead post with the name, photo and bio on the whistleblower, the least secret name in Washington DC…….Jim has been consistent.

    1. Jane Twitmyer Avatar
      Jane Twitmyer

      “An indictment that is not put to trial is worthless words on scrap paper.” Agreed BUT ….
      so is a trial run by the lawyers for the defendant, with rules defined by those same lawyers. and a defendant who produces no witnesses for the defense. Really!

      A question for Larry’s comment. I like your map and your conclusions seem accurate to me. My question is … what are those little blue dots? They look like they could be University towns, so are we looking at education levels rather than rural vs. urban, or are those labels the same? I am NOT saying rural equals dumb, just talking about the level of education.
      Or maybe it is age …. ?

      1. LarrytheG Avatar
        LarrytheG

        Jane, I don’t really know but my guess would be like yours – probably towns… University towns.. trying to remember if higher ed students vote where they go to school or where they live during summer….

        I tend to think the same way in terms of education levels also and it’s probably not far off the mark… and agree, does not mean uninformed per se – but more along values and culture. Though as soon as I say that – rural less-educated blacks tend to vote blue.

  9. Peter Galuszka Avatar
    Peter Galuszka

    Steve, You don’t need a criminal indictment to impeach.

  10. Fred Costello Avatar
    Fred Costello

    Everyone, whether you love or hate Trump, should be wary of the implications of this impeachment of Trump. The House can accuse the president of anything, whether justifiable or not, and impeach him on the basis of the opinions of witnesses. Because there is no requirement for concrete evidence, the Senate can find the president guilty so that the president is thrown out of office. The president thereby serves not at the will of the people but at the will of the Speaker of the House — at least when the two houses are of the same party. Such an outcome will have a huge impact on Virginia and the other 49 states.

    1. Steve Haner Avatar
      Steve Haner

      Agreed. Peter, you should need a criminal indictment to impeach. This is the first time no federal statute has been cited. It would be useful if the Senate were to dismiss on those grounds alone. Nixon was never impeached, of course, but had it happened they had a raft of statutes to cite. The most worrisome aspect is that the House is rushing forward before the courts have ruled on the disputed subpoenas and information demands. Nixon collapsed when the Supreme Court ordered him to release the tapes, etc. The damage this far less structured process has done, following the truly disgusting perversions of justice perpetrated by the disgraced FBI, is incalculable. One day even you may rue this precedent.

      1. LarrytheG Avatar
        LarrytheG

        And Clinton collapsed when he lied about his affair…to a grand jury… was not the original crime – but perjury….

        Trump is smarter than that, right? 😉

        1. Steve Haner Avatar
          Steve Haner

          Not a bet I will take. But it is always the lies/cover-up that brings ’em down. That’s the pattern.

      2. LarrytheG Avatar
        LarrytheG

        And if you need a criminal act to indict, you also need a subpoena that cannot be refused for witnesses.

        This is like a Mob boss crying “kangaroo” and at the same time he prevents witnesses and wanting to know the name of other witness against him.

        My prediction – this is going to end badly for several at the FBI and the POTUS team.

        1. Steve Haner Avatar
          Steve Haner

          ANY subpoena from any authority can be appealed to court. That’s not obstruction, that’s legal process.

  11. Jane Twitmyer Avatar
    Jane Twitmyer

    You call it “rushed forward” with “no federal statute cited”. I call it moving through in spite of delays caused by arbitrary obstruction.

    We all agree that some procedures used buy the FBI need to be investigated and fixed, though exactly what is not determined yet. “Disgusting perversions” is a bit premature without the facts, but please do explain what damage was done by the Nixon impeachment. The man abused the power of the Presidency and admitted it. No stature there. Just the Constitution.

    1. Steve Haner Avatar
      Steve Haner

      Oh, I corrected that. Wasn’t talking about the Nixon effort – that was done by the book, and the evidence eventually had his fellow Republicans taking up the call he had to go. That all started with felony breaking and entering and illegal wiretapping – no FISA court in that one! (The parallels to Nixon should be applied to prosecuting the FBI and anybody on the Obama team who made the same attempt to spy on Trump.) Two years ago his complaints sounded paranoid but lo and behold he was dead on right to scream.

  12. Jane Twitmyer Avatar
    Jane Twitmyer

    No…it is not “lo and behold” . It is not a fact that the Obama team instigated any ‘spying’ on Trump. You are promoting something not clear nor proven.
    The fact that Russians were meeting with the Trump team and were given voter data looks like a pretty valid reason to carry on some surveillance.
    We haven’t yet heard all of the Russian connections to the team through Manafort etc.
    I want to0 hear all the facts before I can make a judgment on ‘screaming’ from Trump, who does seem to like to scream.

  13. LarrytheG Avatar
    LarrytheG

    The IG says he’s going back and look at all the FISA warrants to see if this was a common practice or it just happened with this one case.

    Might be good to wait and see on that.

    If it turns out that ONLY this case it happened then I’m convinced of misdeeds… if not… then the whole FISA procedure needs to be overhauled.

    I remember the debates on FISA – there were warnings about this kind of thing being possible but the proponents said the FBI would never do such a thing.

    I do not think this had anything at all to do with Obama but it does Comey… he’s a fool… he ought to hush up for a while.. he looks worse and worse to both Trump and Clinton.

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