You Can’t Let That Happen to Me!
Donald Trump, advocating in Lexington for the re-election of Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin, on November 4, 2019:
The next step to victory begins tomorrow and it begins with all of you. You have to do this. Look, maybe you’ll be late for work. Maybe you’ll be late for whatever. I don’t want to know everything. Some things I don’t want to know, but you have to just put it off. You have to go vote. It’s so important. Tomorrow is so, because beyond even the governorship, and it’s so important. Because again, your state is setting records. In the history of your state, you’ve never done this well economically, job-wise, unemployment, employment, factories moving in, new factories open, expansion of your car plants. You’ve never done this well, but you’re sending that big message to the rest of the country. It’s so important. You got to get your friends, you got to vote. Because if you lose, it sends a really bad message. It just sends a bad, and they will build it up. Here’s the story. If you win, they’re going to make it like ho hum. And if you lose, they’re going to say, Trump suffered the greatest defeat in the history of the world. This was the greatest.
You can’t let that happen to me!
To “me.”
Kentucky Attorney General Andy Beshear pulled off an upset Tuesday night in an apparent victory over Republican Gov. Matt Bevin, dealing a blow to President Donald Trump, NBC News projects.
Bevin is apparently going to try to take it to a recount, Al Gore style. But he and Trump appear to have been rejected by Kentucky voters.
It looks like they let that happen to him.
[Cross-posted at The Jury Talks Back.]
I’m thinking this is a preview of 2020. Brace yourself. Incoming!
Patterico (115b1f) — 11/5/2019 @ 9:45 pmBecause if you lose, it sends a really bad message.
It certainly does, Donnie. It sends a message that you have no coattails. That there is no percentage in pretending to like you. That you may even be the kiss of death. And it sends it to your heretofore butt gerbils in the Senate.
nk (dbc370) — 11/5/2019 @ 10:16 pmI see we got the obligatory butt gerbil reference out of the way.
Munroe (dd6b64) — 11/5/2019 @ 11:10 pmWith An election months away, Matt Bevins again ranked least popular governor in U.S.
https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/politics/2019/07/18/kentucky-governor-matt-bevin-least-popular-again-morning-consult-poll/1764726001/
Beshear only won with 49.2% to Bevin’s 48.8%. A squeaker, but “a win is a win” as the saying goes; still ‘for the least popular governor the U.S.‘ that’s not exactly a margin to label a trouncing nor extrapolate into a national trend. As the dude was ranked the worst governor in America, even Reagan probably couldn’t have saved him.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 11/6/2019 @ 12:02 amOnly proves what Mitch McConnell truly wants, Mitch Mitch gets, party unity be damned. This was the down payment on a sincere defense in the forthcoming impeachment Senate proceedings.
urbanleftbehind (1d7af7) — 11/6/2019 @ 1:15 amThis result could also portend an all hands on deck Biden victory but with a tightening or reversal of the House and the Senate staying in R hands – Kentucky went R in all other statewide offices.Has no relevance to a Sanders, Warren or other race.
urbanleftbehind (1d7af7) — 11/6/2019 @ 1:19 amAloha happyfeet, yes Pierre Delecto was out scouting.
mg (8cbc69) — 11/6/2019 @ 2:46 amhttps://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2019/11/republican-daniel-cameron-wins-ky-attorney-general-is-first-african-american-to-hold-the-ag-office-in-history/
mg (8cbc69) — 11/6/2019 @ 2:51 amchew on this, racists.
When I get done reading this election annalysis, I’m off to a sothsayer, then get my tea leaves read, and still have time to stop by and see what the chicken entrails have to tell me.
iowan2 (9c8856) — 11/6/2019 @ 3:24 amhappyfeet (d0d145) — 11/6/2019 @ 1:25 am
Welcome back. nk kept a candle lit in the window for you.
felipe (023cc9) — 11/6/2019 @ 4:05 amhttps://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2019/11/republican-daniel-cameron-wins-ky-attorney-general-is-first-african-american-to-hold-the-ag-office-in-history/
chew on this, racists.
You putting us on, mg? It may be a first for Kentucky, like indoor plumbing was last year, but it’s not a first anywhere else.
nk (dbc370) — 11/6/2019 @ 5:18 amRead the transcript, not Gateway Pundit, mg!
nk (dbc370) — 11/6/2019 @ 5:20 amWell, on to next year, maybe this is how you have to beat the Squad:
urbanleftbehind (5eecdb) — 11/6/2019 @ 5:54 amhttp://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/incumbents-herbold-and-juarez-lead-sawant-trails-in-tuesdays-seattle-city-council-election-results/
Do not welcome back happyfeet. He has just given me another IP to ban. His attempted comment shows perfectly well why he is no longer welcome here.
Patterico (e680cc) — 11/6/2019 @ 6:02 amIt’s too bad, because I agreed with Bevin on most things. But Trump is a thing of defilement, like a cowflop in a milk bucket.
nk (dbc370) — 11/6/2019 @ 6:03 amDaniel Cameron seems like good people and the kinda candidate that should keep Dems up at night. More like him, Republicans. Fewer like Trump por favor.
JRH (52aed3) — 11/6/2019 @ 6:05 amI knew I remembered right. The first black state attorney general, Edward Brooke, was elected in your home state of Massachusetts in 1962, mg. And guess what? He was a Republican!
nk (dbc370) — 11/6/2019 @ 6:10 amurbanleftbehind (1d7af7) — 11/6/2019 @ 1:19 am
A reversal in the House with the Senate also reversing and turning Democratic is more likely. About to thirds of the Senate seats up are held by Republicans – the opposite of 2018.
Sammy Finkelman (2f3e32) — 11/6/2019 @ 6:17 amYeah, but Brooke was RINO, messed around with Barbara Wawa and actually got beaten by Paul Tsongas who was actually a proto-Trump economically (1978 was the blue dog Dem revenge year which also saw Ed King boot Dukakis in the D primary) – but hampered by the weird voice/wonky look and cancer.
urbanleftbehind (5eecdb) — 11/6/2019 @ 6:18 am“Kentucky Senate President Robert Stivers threw another wrench into the state’s razor-thin gubernatorial outcome late Tuesday night, saying that the legislature could decide the race.” Courier Journal
Oh yea. That would be fun. Just try that one.
If I know one thing about politics, it’s that voters absolutely despise…. their decision…. being overturned in some good ol boy underhanded fashion.
noel (f22371) — 11/6/2019 @ 6:18 amThe courts might not think much of it either.
noel (f22371) — 11/6/2019 @ 6:20 amThe title of this post is what happyfeet will be saying later today.
urbanleftbehind (5eecdb) — 11/6/2019 @ 6:31 amhappyfeet is the Ernest T. Bass of Patterico’s Mayberry courthouse.
JRH (52aed3) — 11/6/2019 @ 6:40 amTrump won Kentucky by 30 in 2016, and Bevin portrayed himself as the Trumpiest of all Trumpian governor in a Trump-heavy state in Trump’s America. And not only that…
Paul Montagu (00daa1) — 11/6/2019 @ 6:54 am* Virginia – Solidified it’s Dem status
* Mississippi – A Dem Governor candidate got 44% of the vote. IN MISSISSIPPI
* Utah – Elected a Dem (Latina) Mayor in the state’s largest city.
This all goes back to Trump’s temperament and divisiveness and unfitness. GOP Senators should take note, that if they hang on Trump’s really short coattails, they’ll face electoral disaster.
Well, don’t say the sort of things that get Patterico to ban you. But it is good to “see” you.
kishnevi (9ce8ca) — 11/6/2019 @ 7:00 amMississippi does illustrate a dilemma in that the Democrat gubernatorial candidate made clear to eschew not only national help but also to minimize his appearances with and receipt of help from the largely African-American slate of downticket Dem statewide candidates. Did that gain more votes from whites than lose more votes from blacks?
urbanleftbehind (5eecdb) — 11/6/2019 @ 7:06 amPatterico,
are you finally embracing your hate towards those who disagree with you about President Trump? You are now trolling on other sites?
NJRob (4d595c) — 11/6/2019 @ 7:10 amLet me reiterate what I have said here and elsewhere multiple times:
I believe that Donald J. Trump has the political wherewithal to win re-election in 2020. I also believe that if he does so, he will win re-election without my vote.
Gryph (08c844) — 11/6/2019 @ 7:16 amWell, don’t say the sort of things that get Patterico to ban you. But it is good to “see” you.
So you’re saying “happyfeet didn’t ban himself”? Seems like a meme.
PTw (894877) — 11/6/2019 @ 7:17 am28. Good question, Urban. Obviously, he believes it will be a net gain. I’m not so sure that’s the case.
Gryph (08c844) — 11/6/2019 @ 7:17 am”If I know one thing about politics, it’s that voters absolutely despise…. their decision…. being overturned in some good ol boy underhanded fashion.”
noel (f22371) — 11/6/2019 @ 6:18 am
Maybe they can conjure up a collusion angle.
Munroe (dd6b64) — 11/6/2019 @ 7:17 am20. Voters believe that they are far more important to the political process than they actually are. The 545 need some way to look legitimate and keep the plebes quiet.
Gryph (08c844) — 11/6/2019 @ 7:22 am”But he and Trump appear to have been rejected by Kentucky voters.”
I’ve heard somewhere that “our electorate is terrible”.
Munroe (dd6b64) — 11/6/2019 @ 8:00 amWho Hoo! Trump will lose in 2020 and we’ll get “Conservative” Biden or Bernie or Warren. Woo Hoo!
rcocean (1a839e) — 11/6/2019 @ 8:19 amInauguration Week with Bernie, then Weekend at Bernie’s, perhaps. Same could be said for Biden, though I think he would be slow agonizing cringe-inducing decline. Also saw Tim Kaine on CNN (not my choice, at the gym) and he looks bad as in H could outlive him.
urbanleftbehind (5eecdb) — 11/6/2019 @ 8:24 amFrom reading some background the R Governor was extremely unpopular before Trump stepped in. He can’t be blamed for the loss. R’s needs to understand that cutting State Spending on Education and Health Care isn’t going to win you votes. In fact the entire Libertarian agenda is an electoral disaster. People will support Left econ-left-social, or Moderate Econ – Right social, but Right econ- Right-social is getting less and less popular. Right-econ, Left-social is a big time loser almost everywhere outside of California and New England. People want entitlements, and spending on social programs.
rcocean (1a839e) — 11/6/2019 @ 8:24 amTrump has single-handily delayed the USA becoming one-party Dem with lots of Globalism and open borders on the side. One thing you need to understand about the never-trumpers. Most of them live in blue states or overseas, and they’re pretty darn happy there. So what if the R party is pretty much dead in those states, or just pushes back now and then on taxes? Obviously their concerns are elsewhere.
rcocean (1a839e) — 11/6/2019 @ 8:28 am36. Our electorate is terrible. That doesn’t mean they’re a bunch of dumb rubes, as you and Trump seem to think.
Gryph (08c844) — 11/6/2019 @ 8:34 amPerhaps now we can get rid of this awful orange man and get on with the Venezuelaing of this great nation. Everybody says socialism has never worked anywhere it’s been tried, but I believe in America and Americans and the American can-do spirit. We beat the British, we beat the Spanish, we beat the Nazi’s, we beat the Japanese – you’ll never convince me we can’t beat math and science and logic and reason and history and human nature if we put our minds to it. Excelsior!
Jerryskids (702a61) — 11/6/2019 @ 8:39 am@26. This doesn’t have as much to do w/Trump as anti-Trumpers wish it to be, though he is a catalyst of sorts. Bevin was an unpopular governor to start with but the rest reveal the shifting demographics of America in general. Virginia tells a story, Mississippi a signpost; Utah a fly in the buttermilk. Texas is on deck to go blue.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 11/6/2019 @ 8:45 amBreaking-
The House Intelligence Committee will hold the first public hearings in the impeachment inquiry next week.
House Democrats will begin convening public impeachment hearings next week, they announced on Wednesday, initially calling three marquee witnesses to begin making a case for President Trump’s impeachment in public.
The hearings will kick off on Wednesday, with testimony from William B. Taylor Jr., the top American envoy in Ukraine, and George P. Kent, a top State Department official, said Representative Adam B. Schiff, Democrat of California and the chairman of the Intelligence Committee. On Friday, Mr. Schiff’s committee will hear from Marie L. Yovanovitch, the former American ambassador to Ukraine, he said.
Rip Murdock (86020d) — 11/6/2019 @ 8:47 am……
@44. Theater.
We’re all being manipulated by these major parties. Less than a year to the general.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 11/6/2019 @ 9:01 amIts Kabuki, DC – Bevin is an acceptable sacrifice for Mitch to be steadfast with everything else (Bevin challenged McConnell in the 2014 R primary, turtles have long memories as well).
urbanleftbehind (5eecdb) — 11/6/2019 @ 9:19 am47. Schiff is not going to focus on the “quid pro quo,” but argue that asking Ukraine to launch investigations, especially involving a politician who might run for president, was itself improper and illegal (regardless of whether they had merit or not, but he’ll try to show it was all wrong, while disallowing a defense that Giuliani et al thought they had merit or were at least worth looking into.)
Taylor is a good witness and Volker would be another one.
George Kent was not mentioned by Rush Limbaugh. These are details about him:
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/15/us/politics/impeachment-george-kent-state.html
Sammy Finkelman (2f3e32) — 11/6/2019 @ 10:16 amHere is Taylor’s earlier testimony:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/10/22/us/politics/william-taylor-ukraine-testimony.html
Sammy Finkelman (2f3e32) — 11/6/2019 @ 10:24 amnk (dbc370) — 11/5/2019 @ 10:16 pm
There;s one place where he does have coattails. But that’s a place where few people vote, and turnout maters, plus there is lots of repeat voting by the same individuals:
https://people.com/politics/donald-trump-tweets-vote-for-sean-spicer-dwts/
Sammy Finkelman (2f3e32) — 11/6/2019 @ 10:29 amAnother good witness will be Vindamann.
Rip Murdock (86020d) — 11/6/2019 @ 10:29 amThat’s as much a certain outcome as “Alabama” Idol had become.
urbanleftbehind (e0eaea) — 11/6/2019 @ 10:36 amRush Limbaugh said that the fact that Vindmann (and the whistleblower) are not the lead off witnesses means that Schiff has given up on making a case about the phone call.
Vindman doesn’t really have much to say, except for how some people in the White House thought that what Trump said in the call was extremely sensitive (because he alerted them.)
Now the safeguarding of that call transcript was really the basis of the whistleblower complaint, because a whistleblower complaint is supposed to be about someone in your agency violating wither a a law or an executive order. The complaint claimed that over protecting that transcript interfered with the ability of analysts to analyze foreign interference in U.S. elections, as they were instructed to do in an executive order.
This very weak legal hook to get the ball rolling, while giving the informant full whistleblower protections, was almost certainly dreamed up by Schiff’s staff or a lawyer he referred KC to after he got in contact with the committee.
Sammy Finkelman (2f3e32) — 11/6/2019 @ 10:46 amSammy @ 49. Heh!
nk (dbc370) — 11/6/2019 @ 10:53 amWell, if Rush says so, it must be true, obviously he has inside info. Vindamann, as a direct listener to the call, can testify as to what was left out of the “perfect” transcript (which isn’t a transcript at all).
Republicans don’t care about the depositions, they are more interested in complaining:
Rip Murdock (86020d) — 11/6/2019 @ 10:57 amMost Republicans on impeachment committees aren’t showing up, transcripts reveal
The way I build a wall
And I beat Hillary
I made a perfect call
no no you can’t let that happen to me!
They say my hands are yuge
and grabbed a pu$$y or three.
I’ll never get #metoo-ed
no no you can’t let that happen to me!
We may never never meet again, bumpy road of grift.
Still I’ll never never smell as bad as Schiff.
Ivanka’s looking great.
JRH (52aed3) — 11/6/2019 @ 10:57 amThey we share some genes.
Therefore we cannot date.
No no you can’t let that happen to me!
*on the bumpy road of grift.
JRH (52aed3) — 11/6/2019 @ 10:58 amI don’t know that this is a referendum on 2020. Maybe, maybe not. I think that Donald J. Trump has turned out to be very similar to Barack H. Obama. He can rally the voters to get out and support him when he’s on the ballot, but he can’t convince them to go out and support his party in off-elections, no matter how hard he tries. This is what happens when you elect a Cult of Personality leader rather than someone with a coherent agenda and a strategy for getting there.
In any case, if Trump is reelected in 2020 then I expect the 2022 midterms to be a bloodbath for Republicans, with the loss of the Senate and perhaps some key governorships (Texas? Florida?) as well.
JVW (54fd0b) — 11/6/2019 @ 10:58 amAwesome, JRH!
JVW (54fd0b) — 11/6/2019 @ 11:00 amI dunno, but I’m optimistic. I fired my dentist two weeks ago, and recurrent nagging toothaches I had for a year on teeth she had charged me several thousand dollars for went away. I think it will be the same when we fire Trump. The butt-gerbil bait is not fixing our country’s problem, he’s cultivating them. C-u-l-t-i-v-a-t-i-n-g them like a cash crop.
nk (dbc370) — 11/6/2019 @ 11:01 amWashington (CNN) “Defense Secretary Mark Esper will urge President Donald Trump not to dismiss or change the sentences of service members facing war crimes allegations.”
S.N.A.F.U.
noel (f22371) — 11/6/2019 @ 11:03 am@58 Thanks 🙂
JRH (52aed3) — 11/6/2019 @ 11:03 am#42
Amen brother.
In the last election, I said it was like a choice between constipation and diarrhea.
But this time, it looks like it is a choice between Archie Bunker and Joseph Stalin in drag.
I’ll take the guy from Queens.
Bored Lawyer (998177) — 11/6/2019 @ 11:13 amno no no. war crimes bad, donald.
noel (f22371) — 11/6/2019 @ 11:13 ampurple heart recipients… good
noel (f22371) — 11/6/2019 @ 11:19 am54. Rip Murdock (86020d) — 11/6/2019 @ 10:57 am
No, hedoesn;t. That was just a deduction, and agood one. A lot of other deductions are bad. I think he gets a lot from other people. Now he gets alot of facts wrong, when you get into details. Some other times he is alerted by some news story.
Schiff’s witness schedule had been announced an hour before.
Yes, he can. We already know from leaks what some of that was, and it wasn’t something nefarious. One addition that makes a great deal of sense is Trump referring to a recording of Biden right before he says “it sounded horrible to me.” This actually makes things somewhat better for Trump.
Schiff is NOT calling him first. That’s a further indication there’s nothing very bad, or different, that he heard on the call.
They are not very good at understanding things. This doesn’t mean that cross examination wouldn’t be worth doing.
Sammy Finkelman (2f3e32) — 11/6/2019 @ 12:29 pmVindman probably thought at the time that Trump was making it up about there being a recording of Biden.
What’s been sort of made up is the spin put on it – the supposed background – and a misrepresentation also of what was said.
One problem for Biden is that he probably made up the whole anecdote so he can’t explain what really happened.
It seems like he might share a characteristic or two with Donald Trump, only Trump is more careful when it comes to autobiographical lying.
Sammy Finkelman (2f3e32) — 11/6/2019 @ 12:36 pmTrump should release the actual call, not a half-assed summary.
Rip Murdock (86020d) — 11/6/2019 @ 1:22 pmThe Trump-era realignment is a death sentence for the GOP
Gov. Matt Bevin’s loss should send a message to embattled Republicans in Trump Country: President Trump is not going to save you if you’re drowning.
Republicans’ loss of both chambers of Virginia’s legislature should send a message to Republicans in the rest of America: Trump is going to drag you down like an anchor.
Since Trump’s shocking upset win in November 2016, the story of politics in America has been pretty simple: Democrats win, Republicans lose.
The explanation is pretty simple, too: Trump has made Trump voters, but not Republicans, out of working-class independents and Democrats, and he has made Democratic voters out of independents and Republicans. Trump has also motivated Democrats to unprecedented levels.
The net effect is a massive shift of the electorate towards Democrats. ….
There’s a bigger story here. In general elections, Trump’s popularity among the white working class translates into one thing only: votes for Trump.
Trump’s core supporters — the type of people he brought out of the political woodwork to give him victories in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Ohio, Iowa, and Wisconsin — still aren’t Republicans. They’re just Trump voters. And that doesn’t mean they’ll listen to Trump’s endorsements, either. It means they’ll vote for Trump, and that’s it. …
Rip Murdock (86020d) — 11/6/2019 @ 1:30 pmTrump suffered the greatest defeat in the history of the world. This was the greatest.
Dave (8f119a) — 11/6/2019 @ 1:31 pmI just noticed – everybody standing behind the criminal traitor at the rally is wearing T-shirts saying…wait for it…
“Read the Transcript”
This is a brilliant strategy, like Bill Clinton handing out “Check the Blue Dress” t-shirts in 1998…
Dave (8f119a) — 11/6/2019 @ 1:39 pm“This is a brilliant strategy, like Bill Clinton handing out “Check the Blue Dress” t-shirts in 1998…”
Funny. Very funny. Gonna get a hernia laughing.
noel (f22371) — 11/6/2019 @ 1:44 pmwat?
Weren’t we told differently?
https://thehill.com/policy/national-security/469270-dems-release-latest-transcript-as-impeachment-turns-public
I thought Taylor’s testimony was clear cut QPQ… o.O
Am I missing something? Or did I get hoodwinked by Democrat/media dubious narratives…
whembly (fd57f6) — 11/6/2019 @ 1:57 pm#67
I doubt these things are recorded at all…
whembly (fd57f6) — 11/6/2019 @ 1:59 pmYes. You can’t let that happen “to me”.
Spoiled Donald. Millionaire since childhood. Party boy. Womanizer. Penthouse life. Limousines. Fame. Country Clubs.
Now, the whole Republican Party’s mission is to keep him from throwing another tantrum.
noel (f22371) — 11/6/2019 @ 2:05 pm“Am I missing something?”
Did you miss yesterday when Ambassador Sondland said there was quit pro quo?
Davethulhu (fab944) — 11/6/2019 @ 2:05 pm’This is a brilliant strategy, like Bill Clinton handing out “Check the Blue Dress” t-shirts in 1998…’
Dave (8f119a) — 11/6/2019 @ 1:39 pm
You mean when Clinton got booted from office and slaughtered in the midterms?
Munroe (f5f3f1) — 11/6/2019 @ 3:28 pmSondland said he later “presumed” that the aid “had become linked to the proposed anti-corruption statement.” But, Trump told him later that he wasn’t asking for QPQ.
At the VERY most the only question would be whether or not Sondland, by himself and without White House approval, tried to tie the military aid to corruption investigations and the 2016 election interference in order to “kickstart” the funding loose.
As far as I can see…there’s still no evidence Trump demanded a QPQ.
Furthermore, the just released transcript yesterday by Kurt Volker, U.S. Envoy to Ukraine, said in his Congressional Testimony under oath: “You asked what conversations did I have about that quid pro quo, et cetra. NONE, because I didn’t know there was a quid pro quo.” Had there truly been a QPQ, Volker would be the key personnel to facilitate that.
Hell, even former Amb. Yovanovitch admitted in deposition that she wasn’t aware of any official QPQ policy.
Throw in Taylor’s statement that it literally being a game of ‘telephone’ of getting his information from Morrison who said that Amb Sondland told him that the president told Amb Sondland AND some article from the NYT…???? (I think I have that right….right?!?)
It all seems very thin gruel.
The bigger issue, imo, is to call out Trump’s cavalier attitude on the call, almost as a throwaway line, to have Zelenski help investigate possible Biden corruptions. The proper channel for this would’ve been to engage the DOJ to take the lead on that with their Ukrainian counterparts, and stayed out of it. However, that isn’t no where near impeachment worthy.
whembly (c30c83) — 11/6/2019 @ 3:55 pmlawd… as if this doesn’t add fuel to the partisan fire…
whembly (c30c83) — 11/6/2019 @ 4:07 pmhttps://www.foxnews.com/politics/coup-has-started-whistleblowers-attorney-said-in-2017-posts-calling-for-impeachment
78 – fake news
mg (8cbc69) — 11/6/2019 @ 4:20 pm79- was a sarcastic remark, meaning to make one smile.
mg (8cbc69) — 11/6/2019 @ 4:22 pmFaux News.
nk (dbc370) — 11/6/2019 @ 5:13 pmLike hell it was an upset. Blevin’s approval rating was about 30%. If anything Trump helped him.
Kevin M (19357e) — 11/6/2019 @ 5:47 pm77. whembly (c30c83) — 11/6/2019 @ 3:55 pm
Yes he did. He was guessing, but he was also telling this to other people, like he was carrying messages from a higher authority.
That’s why I think that, in his initial testimony, there was so much “I don’t remember.”
That’s why I think that, while he might potentially be a very good (=informative and truthful) witness, it would take some very careful handling to get him to be forthright – and who there affiliated with that investigation is going to do that? Sondland didn’t want to confess as to what he had been doing. He even thought also, that what he was doing might be illegal.
Oh, I think he had White House approval for most of what he was doing, but that approval came from Director of the Office of Management and Budget and Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney without consulting Donald Trump!
And it most definitely did not have the approval of John Bolton (who wasn’t in any way “in charge of” any policy but was supposed to collect information and options and bring them to the president and make sure everybody worked together.)
Bolton later was instrumental in getting the aid released. When he found out that there was an official “hold” on the aid, he told Bill Taylor to send a cable to the state Department about how bad this idea of withholding aid was – and maybe also some more – and write it in the first person, and then later Secretary of State Mike Pompeo hand carried it into the white House and read it to President Trump – we don’t know yet on what day. (not necessarily August 30. This would have been when he judged Trump’s mood to be in the right frame of mind to be receptive to that. He was being treated kind of like a Persian king.)
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo doesn’t want to say anything about this.
Sammy Finkelman (a784d8) — 11/6/2019 @ 5:51 pmThis is still about people’s feelings about a phone call.
Steveg (354706) — 11/6/2019 @ 5:54 pmSometimes it feelings about the feelings others had about their friends feelings.
Presidents have lots of leeway on foreign policy. Trump could exhume Gengis Khans corpse and have iRudy Giuliani drop it off at the Ukrainian National Palace if he wanted
https://www.wkyt.com/content/news/Matt-Bevin-no-longer-most-unpopular-governor-in-America-in-latest-survey-563564481.html
WHat’s amazing is it was that close. Either Trump helped or Beshear is a turkey, too.
Kevin M (19357e) — 11/6/2019 @ 5:56 pmmg,
While I’m not surprised that you link to gateway pundit, I’m not about to click on the link.
Kevin M (19357e) — 11/6/2019 @ 5:58 pmI believe that Donald J. Trump has the political wherewithal to win re-election in 2020. I also believe that if he does so, he will win re-election without my vote.
I certainly will not vote for him, but it is possible I may find that the most effective way to vote against someone else.
Trump will continue to make a shambles of the federal government, but some of his opponents want to make a shambles of a government 3 times as large. Perspective.
Kevin M (19357e) — 11/6/2019 @ 6:01 pmDid you miss yesterday when Ambassador Sondland said there was quit pro quo?
Was he lying before, or is he lying now?
Kevin M (19357e) — 11/6/2019 @ 6:02 pmRight, right, exactly, exactly.
Except that Sondland did have the backing of, and was possibly recruited for the job, by Mick Mulvaney.
Mulvaney knew about Sondland’s tying the aid to a investigation of 2016 (after the Ukrainians found out on August 28 that there was a hold on the aid. Prior to that, the QPQ that Sondland wanted to put to the Ukrainian had been meeting for help with investigations with the real intent being that that would get Donald Trump to release the hold) Sondland didn’t want Ukrainians to discover this investigations for meetings like did not have the full backing of the White House – that’s why he felt compelled to mention it in a July 10 meeting presided over by Bolton in which some Ukrainian officials were present. It was this eeting, or possibly a different one, that Bolton cut short.
But anyway Mulvaney didn’t know about a link to that of Biden. Biden came up with Giuliani later, maybe because his pro-Russian Ukrainian informants feared Giuliani might have some success with that and then discover this was all a big big hoax – so they gave him something else to investigate.)
Biden was included only by Sondland, and he was still only hoping that would “kickstart” the funding loose. Text messages preserved by Volker say precisely that. It’s hope, nothing solid.
Sammy Finkelman (a784d8) — 11/6/2019 @ 6:11 pm88. Rush Limbaugh said he wasn’t lying either time – he did not contradict himself. But I didn’t listen to that part of the show where Rus explained this.
People are ignoring the timeline.
There were different quid pro quos proposed by Sondland at different times, and military aid was not part of them until the end, after the Ukrainians found out on August 28 about the hold on the aid.
Sondland then involved the aid in his proposed quid pro quos, which he pretended to other people, including U.S. diplomats, was official U.S. policy. But he only had he backing of Mulvaney for what he was doing, and that only in general. Mulvaney was not micromanaging Sondland.
But then anyway, after proposing a detailed quid pro quo in early September Sondland was asked by Ukrainians to confirm this. And he talked to Trump (maybe through an intermediary) and Trump rejected the deal.
And Sondland’s quid pro quo (His offer to release the aid in exchange for Ukraine announcing the stat of two investigations)Was withdrawn.
Sondland, I think, had wanted approval of the speech, too.
Sammy Finkelman (a784d8) — 11/6/2019 @ 6:23 pmOne thing Schiff said was the truth: There’s really very little dispute about most of the facts are.
Now what he’ll say was not in dispute might include somethings that are. (or are not disputed because it hasn’t been noticed by some parties concerned that they’ve been asserted)
whembly @ 77:
None whatsoever. Quite the opposite actually.
Whenever this was brought to Trump’s attention, he rejected the deal.
Both when Ron Johnson asked him and later, when Sondland, prompted I think by someone on the Ukrainian side whether or not there was a quid pro quo, telephoned Donald Trump around September 7, and had to report back, no.
And the offer made by Sondland to Ukraine to release the aid in exchange for Ukraine announcing investigations was withdrawn.
Because Trump wasn’t willing to settle for that.
Everybody in Washington seems to be assuming that Trump was comfortable with aid to Ukraine and was deliberately withholding it in exchange for something. But Trump in reality, had a lot of hesitation about it – which got worse as a result of Russian disinformation efforts passed on by Giuliani and possibly others.
The aid stayed on hold for a few days more after Trump rejected the quid pro quo, as pressure from Congress rose, and finally it was released on Wednesday, September 11. (but too late to be spent within Fiscal 2019, and some of the appropriation had to be transferred to Fiscal 2020 in the continuing resolution.)
Sammy Finkelman (a784d8) — 11/6/2019 @ 6:29 pmKevin M @8:
Rush Limbaugh:
https://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2019/11/06/dont-fear-public-hearings-remember-the-mueller-disaster/
I think Rush makes a valiant effort to explain but he’s not really saying anything.
Sammy Finkelman (a784d8) — 11/6/2019 @ 6:51 pmI recall Patterico’s brilliant prognostications during 2015-16.
DN (623ef5) — 11/7/2019 @ 7:51 am#92
Sondland using the word “presume” regularly is a problem for me. It means he doesn’t really know or that he does know a few things about it, but not enough to make a definitive statement or possibly he knows enough to make a definitive statement but is weaseling.
If I am sitting in judgement on someone, I’d be putting a discount on testimony from a witness that is constantly presuming.
There is an article over at the Federalist about witness Taylor. Turns out Taylor is relaying to Congress his direct knowledge of his feelings about what Tim Morrison told him.
“But if I understand this correctly, you’re telling us that Tim Morrison told you that Ambassador Sondland told him that the president told Ambassador Sondland that Zelensky would have to open an investigation into Biden?”
“That’s correct,” Taylor admitted.
Under questioning from Rep. John Ratcliffe, R-Texas, Taylor also testified that the Ukrainian government wasn’t aware U.S. military funding had been temporarily suspended until late August, and then only after the information was leaked to the news media, meaning an alleged quid pro quo would have been impossible.
“So, if nobody in the Ukrainian government is aware of a military hold at the time of the Trump-Zelensky call, then, as a matter of law and as a matter of fact, there can be no quid pro quo, based on military aid,” Ratcliffe, a former federal prosecutor, said. “I just want to be real clear that, again, as of July 25th, you have no knowledge of a quid pro quo involving military aid.”
“July 25th is a week after the hold was put on the security assistance,” Taylor testified. “And July 25th, they had a conversation between the two presidents, where it was not discussed.”
“And to your knowledge, nobody in the Ukrainian government was aware of the hold?” Ratcliffe asked.
“That is correct,” Taylor responded.
I realize the host has scorn for writer Sean Davis so I stuck to his quotations of others and posted the link here at the bottom
steveg (354706) — 11/7/2019 @ 8:45 amhttps://thefederalist.com/2019/11/06/testimony-transcript-shows-william-taylor-never-talked-to-trump-wasnt-even-on-july-25-phone-call/
The person who should be saying, “You can’t let that happen to me!” is Lawrence VanDyke, the 9th Circuit nominee who was railroaded and smeared by the American Bar Association.
Paul Montagu (00daa1) — 11/7/2019 @ 10:36 amLoad up also nearby fluctuating alternate rise buying prescription drugs from canada
pjgetinqre (ee61fa) — 11/13/2019 @ 6:23 pm