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Samantha Bee

We are now officially tits-deep in the Trump impeachment trial, said Full Frontals Samantha Bee on the second night of Trumps Senate trial. The only thing standing between us and justice is 53 Republican Senators and the reality that this entire process is doomed lets get hopeless!

At issue in the Senate trial on Wednesday was the admittance of new evidence; Republicans voted along party lines to reject the appearance of witnesses such as the former national security adviser John Bolton or Lev Parnas, a former associate of Rudy Giuliani in Ukraine. Which is a shame, Bee said, because Parnas brought receipts to the table huge receipts, like CVS-level receipts that are 30ft long and come with a coupon for store-brand hemorrhoid cream.

Parnass evidence includes a letter from Giuliani to the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in which he says hes acting with the presidents knowledge and consent ironically, the presidents two least favorite things, joked Bee and texts exchanged with Ukraines then prosecutor general in which Parnas says hes prepared to [thrash] your opponent in exchange for firing the American ambassador to Ukraine.

Perhaps most damning is a note Parnas wrote on Ritz-Carlton stationery in which he explicitly stated his goal to get Zelenskiy to investigate Joe Biden. If that evidence were any more of a smoking gun, Don Jr would be holding it over a dead elephant, said Bee.

Republicans are setting themselves up for trouble by not hearing the evidence, Bee concluded. Look, guys, we know youre going to acquit Trump, but do you really think that will be the end? You think there wont be any more accomplices who snitch on Trump to protect themselves, or any more journalists who dig up proof of his guilt?

Even if Trump is re-elected, Bee concluded, this Ukraine story will haunt him until the blessed day when hes forcibly plunged out of the White House like a toilet clog.

Wednesday marked the first day of arguments in the Senate impeachment trial, and if Mitch McConnell has his way, this trial will go just like Donald Trumps dating career: quick and disappointing and no questions asked, said Stephen Colbert on The Late Show. Also, I would like $130,000 to forget I ever met him.

Representative Adam Schiff relayed the heart of the Houses impeachment case on the Senate floor, and it was gratifying to see someone take the constitutional responsibility of their office seriously, Colbert said. He laid out the case against the president clearly, passionately, cogently, and I believe courageously, because whether or not Trump is removed from office, history will not forgive those who look the other way at his abuses, or forget those who stepped into the breach at this moment of crisis.

Its thus no surprise, he continued, that the days No 1 trending topic on Twitter was Mr Peanut. The second was Gritty, the controversial Philadelphia Flyers mascot. Colbert reached a quick conclusion: Were doomed.

On party-line votes, Republicans rejected seeing records from the White House, evidence from the state department, documents from the Office of Management and Budget and defense department, and subpoenas for testimony by John Bolton and Mick Mulvaney. Which led Colbert to wonder: Why are you rejecting all information? Arent you the least bit curious about all the crazy shit Trump did? You dont even need to do anything about it, just vote to find out what it was!

Everybody wants to find out their bosss secrets. Take it from me you dont want to learn it from a Ronan Farrow article, Colbert said in reference to Farrows 2018 expose of alleged sexual harassment by the former CEO of CBS, Les Moonves.

And on the Daily Show, Trevor Noah paid particular attention to arguments made by Hakeem Jeffries, a Democratic congressman from New York, on Wednesday. We are here, sir, to follow the facts, apply the law, be guided by the constitution, and present the truth to the American people, Jeffries said, then responded to a question by Trump lawyer Jay Sekulow with lyrics from the Notorious BIGs song Juicy: That is why we are here, Mr Sekulow. And if you dont know, now you know.

The reference shows how far hip-hop has come, said Noah. Think about it in the 80s and 90s, it was considered gangster music, and now its being quoted in an impeachment trial.

Noah also analyzed the Republicans refusal to subpoena John Bolton for witness testimony, although he conceded that even if [Bolton] appears, theres a good chance that the senators wont hear what hes saying at all. Because based on yesterday, half of them are already checked out.

Several senators were spotted being, shall we say, unfocused at the trials second day: seven were seen with Apple watches, Senator Rand Paul did a crossword, and a sketch artist captured one senator from Idaho asleep in his chair. You know youve been sleeping for a long time when an artist has time to sketch your portrait, Noah said.

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Samantha Bee: 'The only thing between us and justice is 53 Republican senators' - The Guardian

Fox News personality Tucker Carlson is warning President Donald Trump and other Republican candidates running this year that they shouldnt assume theyre going to win just because the economy is booming.Beneath the surface, he said, there are warning signs that the core demographic that helped Trump win in 2016 isnt benefitting.

Carlson pointed to a Pew poll that found 56% of Americans rated the economy as excellent or good, but only 31% said their families had benefitted.Among lower-income Republicans, 47% believed they were being hurt in this economy, compared with 30% who said they were being helped.

This is the presidents core. Its his base, Carlson said. For a lot of middle-class people, wages are not keeping pace with expenses. Child care, housing, education, health care, theyre all getting more expensive by the year.

He said the 2020 election will come down to one basic factor.

Improve peoples lives and they will vote for you, period, he said. Republicans ought to write that on their hands.

However, that could also open the door for Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). Carlson said:

If Sanders pledges to forgive student loans, he will still win many thousands of voters who went for Donald Trump last time. Why? Because debt is crushing an entire generation of Americans. Republicans need to make a plan to make it better, or they will be left behind.

Carlson wasnt endorsing Sanders by any stretch; the rest of his segment featured his usual claims that Democrats were waging the most aggressive possible campaign against everything normal people think is virtuous. He also claimed Democrats would empty prisons, undermine police and strip Americans of the right to defend themselves. Then he launched into a series of anti-immigrant talking points.

Despite all that, Carlson said a Democrat could win by capitalizing on the frustrations of the citizenry.

They just want things to get better, he said. The candidate who promises to make them better incrementally, but tangibly, will be inaugurated president a year from today.

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Tucker Carlson Issues Ominous 2020 Warning To Trump And All Republicans - HuffPost

WASHINGTON A few days after he ordered the airstrike that killed Irans top military official Gen. Qassem Soleimani, President Donald Trump did what he normally does in times of big domestic or international news: tweet through it.

On Sunday, Trump declared that a 263-character tweet would serve as his official notification for future military action against Iran.

These Media Posts will serve as notification to Congress that should Iran strike any U.S. person or target, the United States will quickly and fully strike back, & perhaps in a disproportionate manner. Such legal notice is not required, but is given nevertheless! he tweeted to his 70 million followers.

After reading the post on Tuesday, Sen. Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma said the tweet was sufficient notification to Congress. Yeah. I think so. Yep. Its pretty specific. Tweets arent like they used to be. This is a president of tweets and theyre all taken pretty seriously, he told BuzzFeed News.

Its unprecedented for a president to notify Congress and the American public of pending war strategies via social media. That same day Trump tweeted the U.S. was targeting 52 Iranian sites some of them cultural sites which would violate international law. He later walked the comment back saying hed like to obey the law. Republicans say the presidents messaging strategy is just a way to keep his millions of followers tuned in to national politics.

Sen. Kevin Cramer told BuzzFeed News the presidents tweet messaging was fine but added that there are more official ways of notifying Congress.

I always say about Donald Trump and his tweets and his communications style take him seriously, not literally. As he always says, if he didnt do this most of the national audience wouldnt know what hes saying, Cramer told BuzzFeed News.

"Oh, I dont mind, I guess. To me its the new normal, Cramer said when asked if hed like to see future presidents communicate the same way.

Sens. John Barrasso and Tim Scott said that hadnt seen the presidents tweet. When BuzzFeed News offered to show the tweet to Scott, he declined. Thats OK, he said before heading into an office.

Rep. Gary Palmer of Alabama called the tweet tongue and cheek.

Democrats disagreed with their Republican colleagues and some of them replied to Sundays tweet expressing their opposition.

Presidential notification of Congress about the need to exercise war powers cannot be satisfied in 280 characters or less, Joe Biden said during a fundraiser in New York City on Tuesday.

He should notify Congress with normal processes, Rep. Carolyn Maloney told BuzzFeed News, adding that the president should deescalate the tensions in the area.

On Tuesday night, after Iran had launched several missiles at US military bases in Iraq, Trump tweeted that all is well and made a statement the following morning that no US or Iraqi lives were lost. When Iran launched the strike, one of the countrys government officials let the world know who was responsible...with a tweet.

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Republicans In Congress Are Just Fine With Trump Tweeting His Way Through Conflict With Iran - BuzzFeed News

If anyone fails that test, they are unpatriotic at best, and potential traitors at worst.

| 6:00 AM

In the wake of the assassination of Qasem Soleimani, Donald Trump and his enablers have said a lot of ignorant things. But during an appearance on Sean Hannitys show, Nikki Haley installed herself at the top of the list.

It is both preposterous and offensive to suggest that Democrats are mourning the loss of Soleimani. The issue that has been raised is that his assassination has made Americans less safe, especially those serving in the Middle East. Given that one of the primary responsibilities of our federal government is to ensure the security of Americans both at home and abroad, those are important concerns to voice.

Meghan McCain pulled something similar when she questioned the words that Elizabeth Warren used to describe Soleimani.

First of all, Soleimani is both a member of a group that has been classified as a terrorist organization and a senior foreign military official. For McCain, he must be one or the other, because referring to him simply as a military official isnt sufficiently demonizing. Unless Warren uses the right words to describe him, she failed the patriotism test.

This is reminiscent of the time that Trump accused Democrats of supporting the MS-13 gang because theyobjected to his use of the word animals to describe undocumented immigrants. It is also similar to those days when Republicans suggested that, unless Obama used the words radical Islam to describe ISIS, he wouldnt be able to defeat them. Finally, the same issue came up during a debate between Mitt Romney and Barack Obama on the topic of Benghazi.

Obama pulled a zinger and proved Romney wrong: he had used the word terrorism to describe the attack in Benghazi. But what if he hadnt? Did the use of the word terrorism change the fact that four Americans died during the attack? Did it change how the administration responded? The answer to those questions is clearly, no.

The truth is that, for too many Republicans, the only issue that matters is the vilification of enemies, which is demonstrated by the words we use to describe them. If anyone fails that test, they are unpatriotic at best, and potential traitors at worst.

What is eliminated from that kind of conversation is anything related to context or strategy. It posits a black-and-white world where using the most incendiary words to describe an enemy indicates that you have taken the side of good against evil. Under those circumstances,Trump doesnt need to think through the ramifications of assassinating Suleimani. All he needs is some chest-thumping about how hes taken out a really bad guy and damn the consequences. Somehow that kind of recklessness is never deemed unpatriotic, even as it puts American lives at risk.

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For Republicans, Vilification of Enemies Is All That Matters - Washington Monthly

Recently, a close friend and fellow Republican told me he was personally shocked at what the evangelicals have been willing to stomach from Donald Trump. Im not shocked at all.

My friends sentiment a variation on the empty if Obama had done this, Republicans wouldve impeached him has become a staple of Democrats and Never Trumpers. Are you ready to turn on him yet? Republicans are asked over and over.

No one ever says yes. The Republicans who make a living hating Trump today hated him before he was elected. The rest of the party remains solidly behind him. The reason for that, as we enter this election year, is less granular than feeling happy or sad about a specific presidential behavior. Rather, it has to do with the general direction of the nation: Trump and whoever the Democrats nominate represent such fundamentally different directions for our country that it is almost unthinkable for a Republican voter to be seriously torn.

Imagine standing at a train station in Louisville, Ky., staring at the schedule board. You want to get to Los Angeles, and you have a choice of two trains one headed to San Diego and one headed to Washington, D.C. Neither gets you exactly where youre heading, but theres really only one choice as the alternative to San Diego is to go precisely the wrong way.

Even if the San Diego train sometimes hits bumpy tracks, and the conductor comes on the PA and says crude and dumb stuff, and there are people on the train you really wish would get off: It is still taking you basically where you want to go.

To the average Republican voter, like the passenger on that train, the destination is what matters.

I tried to explain this to my friend. I told him that, for Christian conservatives, the choices are Trump versus people who prefer full-term abortions and believe that that our country should functionally have no borders. To vote against Trump is to vote for a party that fundamentally believes Republicans are deplorable and racist.

The decision isnt hard.

But the porn stars! The crudeness! The immorality! my friend says.

To a Christian conservative voter, the individual behavior of an imperfect human pales against the importance of protecting human life. If the imperfect president appoints pro-life judges and takes your values into account when making policy, you dont worry so much about one sinners struggles with morality. You just pray for him, while also giving thanks for all he does to advance your cause.

Choosing any of the Democrats running for president isnt simply boarding a train headed in a slightly different direction, or one going the same way with a nicer conductor. It means completely turning around. For goodness sakes, Elizabeth Warren and Joe Biden have both proposed plans that would spend taxpayer dollars on gender assignment surgery!

And thats what has been so illuminating about this Democratic primary race: Because of their extreme tilt to the left, none of these candidates have a prayer of peeling off a statistically significant number of Republican voters. No matter what the Never Trumpers in your Twitter feed tell you, Trump win or lose will have the support of more than 90% of his party.

Some people used to argue that the two parties are basically the same. It wasnt true then, and its especially not true now. Most of Trumps governance has been what youd expect from any Republican president (conservative judges, lower taxes, deregulation, an embrace of pro-life policies), and the wild extremism of his would-be opponents is causing some center-right voters who were lukewarm on Trump three years ago to feel closer to him than ever before.

The exception to that is the cohort of suburban women who clearly abandoned the Republicans in the 2018 midterm and strongly disapprove of Trump now. But will losing them be enough to derail the Trump train?

I consulted the impeachment polling aggregator on Nate Silvers FiveThirtyEight website on Dec. 29, and it said that 48% of Americans prefer impeachment and removal versus 46% who did not. As has been true for three years, the polls say men basically want Trump and women basically dont.

Impeachment has become a political Rorschach test, and Trump might easily win reelection with a two-point deficit in the popular vote. The question isnt how Republicans can still vote for Trump, but how the Democrats became so radicalized as to present no viable alternative to huge swaths of nonurban America.

Scott Jennings is a former advisor to President George W. Bush and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and a CNN contributor. He is a contributing writer to Opinion. Twitter: @ScottJenningsKY.

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Opinion: Why Republicans will stick with Trump in 2020 - Los Angeles Times