As promised let's discuss last night's James Comey interview.

Here are some excerpts courtesy of the NYT.

Comparisons to a mob boss:

STEPHANOPOULOS: How strange is it for you to sit here and compare the president to a mob boss? 

COMEY: Very strange. And I don’t do it lightly. I — and I’m not trying to, by the way, suggest that President Trump is out breaking legs and — you know, shaking down shopkeepers. But instead, what I’m talking about is that leadership culture constantly comes back to me when I think about my experience with the Trump administration. The — the loyalty oaths, the boss as the dominant center of everything, it’s all about how do you serve the boss, what’s in the boss’s interests. It’s the family, the family, the family, the family. That’s why it reminds me so much and not, “So what’s the right thing for the country and what are the values of the institutions that we’re dealing with?”

Trump's impact on those around him:

The challenge of this president is that he will stain everyone around him. And the question is, how much stain is too much stain and how much stain eventually makes you unable to accomplish your goal of protecting the country and serving the country? So I don’t know.

Trump's bizarre response to news that Russia had interfered in the election:  

No one, to my recollection, asked, “So what — what’s coming next from the Russians?” You’re about to lead a country that has an adversary attacking it and I don’t remember any questions about, “So what are they going to do next? How might we stop it? What’s the future look like? Because we’ll be custodians of the security of this country.” There was none of that. It was all, “What can we say about what they did and how it affects the election that we just had.”

Are the Russians blackmailing Trump?

STEPHANOPOULOS: Do you think the Russians have something on Donald Trump? 

COMEY: I think it’s possible. I don’t know. These are more words I never thought I’d utter about a president of the United States, but it’s possible. 

STEPHANOPOULOS: That’s stunning. You can’t say for certain that the president of the United States is not compromised by the Russians? 

COMEY: It is stunning and I wish I wasn’t saying it, but it’s just — it’s the truth. I cannot say that. It always struck me and still strikes me as unlikely, and I would have been able to say with high confidence about any other president I dealt with, but I can’t. It’s possible.

How Clinton's inevitability convinced Comey that revealing the newly discovered emails on Anthony Weiner's laptop would not hurt her campaign:

STEPHANOPOULOS: At some level, wasn’t the decision to reveal influenced by your assumption that Hillary Clinton was going to win? And your concern that she wins, this comes out several weeks later, and then that’s taken by her opponent as a sign that she’s an illegitimate president? 

COMEY: It must have been. I don’t remember consciously thinking about that, but it must have been. Because I was operating in a world where Hillary Clinton was going to beat Donald Trump. And so I’m sure that it — that it was a factor. Like I said, I don’t remember spelling it out, but it had to have been. That — that she’s going to be elected president, and if I hide this from the American people, she’ll be illegitimate the moment she’s elected, the moment this comes out.

 Concerning his possible impact on the outcome of the election:

But a whole lot of me was thinking, “Oh my God, did we have some role in this? Did we have some impact on the election?” And it’s an incredibly painful juxtaposition, but also thinking, “I really wouldn’t have done it any differently.” 

God, I hope we had no impact. I hope we had no impact. But it — I know — I worry it sounds arrogant to say, but it — it wouldn’t change the result.

Comey also revealed that though he did not vote in the election, that his wife and essentially entire family were Hillary supporters, which must have made the days immediately after the election especially fun for him.

And finally on Trump's stunning lack of morality:  

I don’t buy this stuff about him being mentally incompetent or early stages of dementia. He strikes me as a person of above average intelligence who’s tracking conversations and knows what’s going on. I don’t think he’s medically unfit to be president. I think he’s morally unfit to be president. 

A person who sees moral equivalence in Charlottesville, who talks about and treats women like they’re pieces of meat, who lies constantly about matters big and small and insists the American people believe it — that person’s not fit to be president of the United States, on moral grounds. And that’s not a policy statement. Again, I don’t care what your views are on guns or immigration or taxes. 

There’s something more important than that that should unite all of us, and that is our president must embody respect and adhere to the values that are at the core of this country. The most important being truth. This president is not able to do that. He is morally unfit to be president.

I left out the more salacious information about hand size, Russian hookers, and the pee pee tape, because I think that has already been covered in previous posts.

My take away from this interview is that Comey is essentially reporting what most of us already know about Trump's unfitness to lead this country, but he is also demonstrating his own inability to admit his mistakes, and to recognize that he could indeed have made better choices.

At one point Stephanopoulos asks him if he thinks Trump should be impeached, and Comey say he does not because it lets the American people off the hook, and instead believes Trump should be voted out in the next election cycle.

I completely disagree with that because it would allow Trump several more years to damage the country, and also fail to send a message to future corrupt politicians that there are consequences for that corruption.

The articles of impeachment exist for a reason, and if this ain't it, then I don't know what would be.

Atlantic journalist lays out why Robert Mueller will never indict Donald Trump. Not what we want to hear, but he makes a good point.

Courtesy of The Atlantic:  

Mueller will not indict Trump for obstruction of justice or for any other crime. Period. Full stop. End of story. Speculations to the contrary are just fantasy.

(Yes, I wanted to stop reading right about here as well, but I urge you to at least read to the bottom of the post.)

He won’t do it for the good and sufficient reason that the Department of Justice has a long-standing legal opinion that sitting presidents may not be indicted. First issued in 1973 during the Nixon era, the policy was reaffirmed in 2000, during the Clinton era. These rules bind all Department of Justice employees, and Mueller, in the end, is a Department of Justice employee. More to the point, if we know anything about Mueller, we think we know that he follows the rules—all of them. Even the ones that restrict him in ways he would prefer they not. And if he were to choose not to follow the rules, that, in turn, would be a reasonable justification for firing him. So … the special counsel will not indict the president. 

What can Mueller do if he finds evidence of criminality involving the president? He can and will (as authorized by Department of Justice regulations) file a report on his findings with the attorney general (or, since Attorney General Sessions is, in this case, recused, with the deputy attorney general, Rod Rosenstein). Rosenstein will then be faced with the important decision of whether and how to make that report public—whether to convey it to Congress or not; whether to release it publicly or not. The regulations are so vague (they say only that he “may determine that public release of these reports would be in the public interest, to the extent that release would comply with applicable legal restrictions”) that they, in effect, give Rosenstein plenary discretion to do whatever he thinks is in the best interest of the country. 

So, every time you read about the threat to fire Mueller, remember this—the critical actor in most future scenarios is not Mueller, but Rosenstein. Knowing Rosenstein personally, I have high confidence that he will make what he thinks is the best decision for the country—the same may not be true of his replacement (or of the replacement attorney general, should Sessions be fired). That, of course, is why the highly dubious “secret memo” prepared by House Republicans reportedly targets Rosenstein—even though he is a Trump appointee who advocated firing Comey, Trump supporters fear he will follow the rule of law.

Well that sucks.

It also could help to explain not only why Trump seems so convinced that the Mueller investigation will not end his presidency, but also why the Republicans are attempting to undermine Rosenstein.

If Trump replaces Rosenstein with his own guy, he could make sure that Mueller's findings, no matter how scandalous, will never see the light of day.

That means, and has likely always meant, that the only way to remove Trump from office is through impeachment.

And the only way to accomplish that is to flood the House and the Senate with as many Democrats as possible.

In other words it is up to us, the voters.

More Americans want to see Donald Trump impeached than are planning to vote for him in 2020.

Courtesy of Newsweek: 

Donald Trump is hemorrhaging support among the American people, and now more than 40 percent of them think it's time to start the process to impeach him, a new poll finds. The number is higher than the percentage of Americans who said they planned to vote for the president in the 2020 election.

The NBC News/Wall Street Journal survey, out Wednesday, carried very little good news for the president and put him on notice that 41 percent of Americans believe there is enough reason for Congress to hold impeachment hearings, even before the conclusion of special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation. 

The poll found that 70 percent of Democrats, 40 percent of independents and even 7 percent of Republicans The number of people calling for impeachment proceedings to get underway closely parallels the 38 percent of Americans who believe Trump colluded with Russia to win the 2016 election.are in favor of the hearings.

Americans' desire for impeachment wasn't the only bad news for Trump in this poll. If he does survive his first term without being impeached, his chances of re-election are looking extremely bleak. 

Just 36 percent of respondents said they would probably or definitely vote for Trump against a generic Democratic candidate. Conversely, 52 percent said they would probably or definitely "vote for the other party." Such numbers would clearly leave Trump with no path toward a second term. 

Damn! You know that is going to drive Trump a little further over the bend.

Six Democrats introduce five articles of impeachment. And here we go.

Courtesy of The Independent:

Six Democrats in the House of Representatives have introduced articles of impeachment targeting President Donald Trump. 

The legislators singled out five of Mr Trump's actions they say merit impeachment, including his decision to fire FBI director James Comey in May. 

They assert that Mr Trump obstructed justice by dismissing the top law enforcement official, who was leading a federal investigation into alleged ties between Russia and the Trump campaign. Mr Trump has insisted that there was no collusion between his campaign's advisers and the Kremlin.

“Given the magnitude of the constitutional crisis, there’s no reason for delay,” said Representative Steve Cohen, the sponsor of the resolution. Creating a constitutional crisis would mean the President has disregarded checks on the executive branch. 

Joining Mr Cohen in endorsing the articles are Democratic Representatives Luis Gutiérrez, Al Green, Adriano Espaillat, Marcia Fudge and John Yarmuth. 

“We believe that President Trump has violated the Constitution, and we've introduced five articles of impeachment,” Mr Cohen said at a press conference.

Well they said it was coming, and here it is.

I don't think that there is much chance that this really has a real impact, and there are a lot of Democrats who think this is premature.

However it is the necessary first step in what will likely be the removal of Donald Trump from office at some point.

After all it's not as if there is not overwhelming evidence that he is unfit for office.

But that won't be this year, and it may not even be the next. But I really feel that it is coming.

Democratic Congressman pledges that there will be an impeachment vote before Christmas.

Courtesy of The Hill:

Rep. Al Green (D-Texas) announced on Wednesday that he will force a vote on the House floor to impeach President Trump before Christmas. 

“I now announce that before Christmas, there will be a vote on the chief inciter of racism, bigotry, hatred, xenophobia, sexism, ethnocentrism. There will be a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives on the impeachment of the president,” Green said in a House floor speech. 

Green had previously unveiled articles of impeachment last month. But he held off from forcing a vote at the time, citing a desire for the public to have a chance to consider them. 

The Texas Democrat did not offer a specific date for when he would force a vote, saying only that it would be before the December holiday.

The article goes on to say that of course the measure will not pass, but that it could really split the Democrats. 

I'm not sure that is precisely correct, and I actually think that by the time we get to around Christmas time that there may be a whole lot more support for Trump's impeachment.

There is also the possibility that the Mueller investigation will provide some heretofore unknown revelations that will take this right out of the hands of Congress and make it more of a situation for law enforcement.

All I know for sure is that something big is most definitely on the horizon.

Poll finds highest level of support yet for impeaching Donald Trump.

Courtesy of Public Policy Polling:  

PPP’s newest national poll finds a record level of support for impeaching Donald Trump. 49% of voters support impeaching him, to 41% who are opposed to doing so. This marks the 6th month in a row we’ve found a plurality of voters in favor of impeaching Trump, and it’s the closest we’ve found to a majority. 

Trump’s approval rating has declined by a net 7 points in the last month. In September we found him at a -11 spread with 42% of voters approving of him to 53% who disapproved. Now he’s at -18 with 38% of voters approving of him to 56% who disapprove. 

Trump claimed last week that he had accomplished more in 9 months than any President in American History, but only 25% of voters believe that claim to 66% who do not, although it’s a notable measure of the ‘Trump cult’ that 55% of those who voted for him do believe he’s the most accomplished to 32% who disagree. Voters actually put his first 9 months in a very different historical context- 49% already say they think he’s the worst President in American History, to 43% who dispute that notion. By a 54/40 margin voters wish Barack Obama was still President instead of Trump, and by a 48/42 spread they wish Hillary Clinton was in the White House rather than Trump.

I really think that as this Mueller investigation continues forward the momentum building toward impeaching Donald Trump may prove irreversible.

Even though it would likely mean allowing Mike Pence, a terrible choice for a variety of reasons, to take over the presidency, it still feels as if that is not enough to make people choose to allow Trump to stay in office.

I think that Trump will fight an impeachment every step of the way, and in the end the damage that he will do to the Republican party could fracture it for all time.

At this point I am not certain if that is a good thing, or a bad thing.

Billionaire Democratic donor to spend millions helping to elect officials that will work to remove Donald Trump from office. Now there's a worthy cause.

Courtesy of Newsweek:  

A billionaire Democratic donor is putting some of his vast wealth toward a campaign to impeach President Donald Trump by petitioning elected officials across the country to take a stand on removing him from the White House. Tom Steyer, a former hedge fund manager who has poured millions of dollars into Democratic candidates and causes, launched a television ad campaign this week together with a website titled "Need to Impeach" in which people can sign up to petition lawmakers. 

“Whether by the nature of Mr. Trump’s relationship with Vladimir Putin and Russia, his willingness to exploit the office of the Presidency for his personal gain and treat the government like a family enterprise, his conduct during Charlottesville, his decision to pull out of the Paris climate accords, or his seeming determination to take the nation to war, he has violated the Constitution, the office of the Presidency, and the trust of the public,” Steyer said in an open letter on the website. “He is a clear and present danger to the United States of America.” 

In the ad, Steyer again rolls off what he sees as the list of the president’s deep failings, including bringing the country “to the brink of nuclear war.” He then asks: “If that isn't the case for impeaching and removing a dangerous president, then what has our government become?”

\Well there's a good question for ya. 

I think we can all agree that this country, hell even this planet, will never be safe as long as Donald Trump has access to the nuclear codes.

Getting him removed from office should be the goal of every patriotic American.

I would hope that Mr. Steyer is only the first billionaire to recognize this.

Larry Flynt is offering 10 million dollars for information that leads to the impeachment of Donald Trump. Worth a shot.

3:30p FBN EXCLSV: @washingtonpost will run a Sun.Hustler Mag's @ImLarryFlynt offers $10m 4 info on @realDonaldTrump pic.twitter.com/6SgK1khFDi

— Liz Claman (@LizClaman) October 13, 2017

Courtesy of The Hill: 

Hustler Magazine founder Larry Flynt is reportedly offering a $10 million reward for information that could lead to the impeachment of President Trump. 

In the ad, Flynt calls Trump an “illegitimate” president who “was installed only by the quirks of our antiquated Electoral College.” 

Flynt cites several reasons he believes Trump should be impeached in the ad, including Trump’s firing of former FBI Director James Comey and his withdrawal of the United States from the Paris climate change agreement. 

The adult magazine founder also ripped Trump for his “unconscionable defense of the KKK and neo-Nazis after the Charlottesville riots,” and argued that Trump’s “worrisome” ability to “trigger a nuclear world war” is one of the more “horrifying” reasons Trump should be impeached. 

“Impeachment would be a messy, contentious affair, but the alternative - three more years of destabilizing dysfunction - is worse,” Flynt writes in the ad. “Both good Democrats and good Republicans who put country over party did it before with Watergate.” 

Flynt writes that impeachment would require “unimpeachable evidence” and said that’s why he is offering a $10 million reward. 

“We need to flush everything out into the open,” Flynt wrote.

Flynt has been doing this schtick for decades now, and it rarely seems to have much effect.

However I have to admit that he makes some rather salient points.

So what the hell, if there is somebody out there with the smoking gun, who is only motivated by money, then maybe this will be the key to getting that information to the proper authorities.

Having said that I still think Robert Mueller is our best hope for taking Trump down.

Yet another Trump supporter warns that there will be a civil war if they try to impeach him.

Courtesy of The Hill: 

Televangelist Jim Bakker is predicting that Christians would begin a second civil war in the U.S. if President Trump were impeached. 

"If it happens, there will be a civil war in the United States of America. The Christians will finally come out of the shadows, because we are going to be shut up permanently if we're not careful," he said on "The Jim Bakker Show" in a clip highlighted by Right Wing Watch. 

He also warned that Christians are in danger of losing their voice in American society. 

"God says faith without works is dead. We have to do things, God has been standing with me, and I don't know about you, it's time for preachers like you, you've been doing it, to stand up and shout out," Bakker told a pastor on the show. 

I typically would not pay any attention to what Jim Bakker, who is a terrible person who spent five years in prison for fraud and was accused of raping Jessica Hahn, but this is not the first time that a Trump supporter has threatened civil war.

You may remember that Roger Stone, former Trump campaign adviser and the albino killer from "The DaVinci Code," said essentially the same thing just a few weeks ago: 

“Try to impeach him. Just try it,” Stone said. “You will have a spasm of violence, an insurrection in this country like you have never seen before. Both sides are heavily armed, my friend.” 

Boy the batshit crazy sure do like Trump, don't they?

The problem of course is that though these two folks might be nuttier than a fruitcake, they are speaking for a whole lot of angry folks who might actually be willing to start a shooting war in order to keep Trump in office.

Sure they are going to lose, and sure that could dramatically cut down on the number of dumbasses in the country, but still it's not....it's not.....okay what was I going to say about this being a bad thing?

No it is, it is a bad thing because many innocent people could be killed in the crossfire.  (See, I KNEW it was a bad thing.)

And that is why the government should round up these folks trying to instigate a civil war and throw them into a jail cell right next to the Crying Nazi.

Seems reasonable to me, just think of all they will have to talk about.

Donald Trump's advisers are now warning him about the looming possibility of impeachment.

New: WH releases pics of Trump's #HurricaneHarvery briefing today. Trump alone at Camp David. Everyone else w @VP Pence in WH Situation Room pic.twitter.com/Q9g49pbywC

— Christina Wilkie (@christinawilkie) August 27, 2017

(Just a tweet demonstrating how isolated Trump is now from those who are supposed to be working with him.)

Courtesy of Newsweek:

Donald Trump's presidency already has been one of the most controversial in U.S. history, and its ending could be just as action-packed and unpredictable as his first seven months in office. 

As the 45th president deals with his stalled agenda, his sinking approval ratings and the investigations into his presidential campaign's ties to Russia, White House advisers have reportedly been warning Trump about his potential political doom: the exhaustive impeachment process that could result in his removal from the Oval Office. And he isn’t doing himself many favors.

Republicans on Capitol Hill have become a subject of Trump's daily Twitter storms, with the president repeatedly denouncing Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell for the GOP's continued failure to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. He has also warned others to fall in line and help pass his campaign promises or face the wrath of his 140 characters.

His actions could spell disaster for Trump if special counsel Robert Mueller determines that his presidential campaign colluded with the Kremlin, or that the president attempted to obstruct justice at any point throughout his short tenure in politics. Either situation would swiftly encourage more Democrats to push for his impeachment—and if Trump doesn't have enough Republican allies, he could be ousted.

Several White House advisers have spoken with the president about his possible impeachment, and about how overcoming such proceedings would require friendships with the elected officials responsible for deciding whether he should remain in office.

Of course Trump is currently ignoring the advice of those warning him that he needs to stop pushing everybody away. Instead he just keeps right on pushing.

And this is being illustrated right now by a number of recent firings, and even more resignations.

Courtesy of The Hill:

A pair of top State Department officials, including the lead envoy to the United Nations, have announced they will leave their posts, Foreign Policy reported on Sunday. 

Tracey Ann Jacobson, a career foreign service officer responsible for overseeing U.S. policy at international organizations including the U.N., told her staff on Friday that she will continue in her post until early October but did not specify why she was leaving, a U.S. official told Foreign Policy. 

Also on Friday, William Rivington Brownfield, the U.S. assistant secretary of State for international narcotics and law enforcement affairs, told his department that he would leave by the end of September, according to the report.

And that is by no means the only folks currently jumping ship.

Courtesy of Fortune:

A quarter of the members of the National Infrastructure Advisory Council, whose purview includes national cybersecurity, have resigned. In a group resignation letter, they cited both specific shortfalls in the administration’s approach to cybersecurity, and broader concerns that Trump and his administration have undermined the “moral infrastructure” of the U.S.

That is seven members gone from a 27 member council whose focus is protecting us from cyber attacks by those who want to steal our information, blackmail powerful Americans, or shape our politics.

Exactly the kinds of people we should NOT be losing.

So to sum up Trump is currently losing support among Washington Republicans, and also losing members of his administration, at an amazing rate.

And this at a time when he most needs people to stay on his team, and to expand the size of that team.

However those are the drawbacks of being an arrogant, egotistical, toxic POS.

Instead of people rushing to help you in your time of need, they are perfectly content to sit back at a distance and gleefully watch as you crash and burn.

Former campaign adviser claims that attempts to impeach Donald Trump will result in a civil war.

Courtesy of The Hill:

President Trump's former campaign adviser Roger Stone told TMZ that any politician who votes to impeach Trump “would be endangering their own life.” 

“Try to impeach him. Just try it,” Stone said. “You will have a spasm of violence, an insurrection in this country like you have never seen before. Both sides are heavily armed, my friend.” 

Stone said members of Congress who are advocating for Trump’s impeachment need to “get over it.”

“The people who are calling for impeachment are the people who didn’t vote for him,” Stone said. “They lose. Their candidate had every advantage.” 

“Sorry, we whipped their ass,” he continued. “It’s over. You lost.”

Man I REALLY don't like this guy.

And yes he is clearly unhinged.

However having said that I am not completely sure is wrong about the response to an attempt to impeach Trump.

His followers are batshit crazy, and all it would really take to incite them to violence is one tweet from Trump.

Of course Stone is wrong to assume that this would be some battle between the armed Left and the armed Right on the streets of America. Instead these angry Trump supporters would be almost immediately wiped out by the US Military resulting in a one sided conflict that could see multiple Right Wing casualties.

Hey, I think I just came up with a silver lining here.

A higher percentage of Americans want Trump impeached than wanted to impeach Richard Nixon.

Courtesy of The Hill: 

Impeaching President Trump is more popular now than impeaching President Richard Nixon was at the start of the Watergate scandal, according to a Monmouth University poll. 

The poll, released Monday, found 41 percent of Americans support impeachment for Trump. In comparison, 26 percent supported Nixon’s impeachment six months into his second term, as the Watergate scandal was breaking. 

Monmouth University Polling Institute director Patrick Murray said the higher percentage of Americans wanting impeachment is caused by “the current epidemic of hyper-partisanship that was simply not prevalent forty years ago.”

Yeah right.

Or it could simply be that Richard Nixon was at least qualified for the job, while more Americans agree that Trump is too unqualified, unprincipled, and undisciplined to carry out the responsibilities of president.  

So does the Constitution have a provision to deal with a fraudulent presidential election? The short answer is "no."

Courtesy of FiveThirtyEight:  

For all the headlines about Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, no hard evidence has come to light, at least publicly, showing that President Trump or his team were involved. But suppose that such evidence did come to light — what would happen if it became clear that Trump or his advisers colluded with the Russians?1 This isn’t the only type of wrongdoing the investigations could uncover, but it’s among the most serious because it would cast doubt on the legitimacy of the 2016 result. So, is there a process for dealing with a finding that in essence invalidates an election? 

When it comes to presidential elections, the answer is: not really. The laws and processes around national elections have grown up in a piecemeal fashion over time, with state and local laws governing the administration of presidential elections. And the Constitution itself focuses more on ensuring stability than on administering elections. As a result, there aren’t clear procedures for how to handle questions of legitimacy after the fact — especially when those questions involve the presidency.

FiveThirtyEight dives deep into the whys and why nots, that the framers of the Constitution took into consideration when creating the document that is at the heart of our democracy.

However for the purposes of this post I will skip all of that detail and just get to the rather disappointing punchline:

In most of the historical cases, the main question was how the Electoral College votes would be allocated in each state. Once those have been cast, the case for questioning a presidential election or gauging which side really won becomes a lot more difficult. Of course, the Constitution does have one mechanism for undoing the results of an election: impeachment. That process, however, is focused on individual wrongdoing (or, through a separate process, inability), not electoral irregularities. In that sense, even if collusion revelations did lead to Trump’s impeachment and removal from office, the process wouldn’t really address the question of whether his election had been legitimate in the first place. 

The lack of an established process for reviewing elections points to a larger issue: The structures established by the Constitution assumed a world in which the presidency and the Electoral College were not fully absorbed into a contentious national party system. That vision has long since been replaced by one in which presidential elections are national contests over policy agendas and ideas. The text of our Constitution has never been changed to reflect this reality. Instead, the Electoral College remains the final word on who gets to be president. When it comes to the possibility that the winning side colluded with a foreign power to influence the election outcome, the Constitution doesn’t offer much in the way of a plan.

This is probably something that Vladimir Putin understood better than your average voter.

There are no do overs in presidential politics.

Once into the Oval Office a bad president can be like an intestinal parasite latching on firmly, too far out of reach for easy removal.

Perhaps we can impeach Donald Trump, that does not mean that we can replace him with anyone better, or that we can stop the destructive policy decisions that he and the Republicans are putting in place as we  speak.

We often hear that elections have consequences, and perhaps that has never been more true than the election of 2016.

For this Fourth of July weekend Americans were protesting for a new kind of independence, from Donald Trump.

Happening Now. Impeachment March at Piedmont Park coincides with Anti-Trump marches nationwide. #fox5atl pic.twitter.com/jx3lgjlPd3

— Aungelique Proctor (@aungeliquefox5) July 2, 2017

Courtesy of NBC News: 

People gathered in cities across the United States on Sunday, two days before Independence Day, to call on Congress to impeach President Donald Trump. 

In Los Angeles, they carried a black coffin draped in red, white and blue flowers, topped with a hand-written sign: "The Presidency 1789-2017." 

In Austin, Texas, they marched from the state Capitol to City Hall, tussling with counter-protesters along the way, and in downtown San Francisco, a chant made their goal plain: "What do we want? Impeachment! When do we want it? Now!" 

As in many other cities, protesters were greeted by supporters of the president in Austin. 

"There's no reason at this point to impeach the president. He's committed no crimes. There's no reason," Jake Lloyd, who backs the president, told NBC station KXAN. "I don't think they understand what impeachment is." 

The "impeachment marches" added to the fledgling effort among lawmakers who have invoked the "I" word. 

Among them is Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, who first called for Trump's impeachment for obstruction of justice on the House floor on May 17 and who repeated his call to hundreds of protesters Sunday in Austin.

statesman: UPDATE: Verbal confrontation but no arrests at ‘Impeachment’ march https://t.co/0CJnf7iHia pic.twitter.com/Eqz8vSmCPX

— Austin Fox. UT (@myfoxaustin) July 2, 2017

 Boy that Donald Trump rally knows how to energize Americans, doesn't he?

By the way I USED to think that the idea of impeachment was frivolous and unlikely, but the further we get into this catastrophic presidency the more I think that he may not only be possible, but also necessary.

There is also talk of invoking the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office.

Section four of which states the following:

Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President.

Up until this point nobody has ever pulled the trigger on this, and the 25th Amendment has only come into play after an assassination of a sitting president, so this would be breaking new ground for sure.

But then again Donald Trump is clearly mentally ill, and if there were ever an appropriate time for something like this, now would be it.

Vice President Mike Pence reminds us why we may not be in such a hurry to impeach Donald Trump.

Courtesy of Vox: 

Vice President Mike Pence popped into the 40th anniversary celebration of the conservative Christian group Focus on the Family to remind members he’s a devout Christian politician who has his back. And, he says, so is President Donald Trump. 

After the group’s president Jim Daly introduced Pence as “one of us,” the vice president spoke for 30 minutes on Friday, on both foreign policy and domestic issues. Unsurprisingly, Pence focused quite a bit on abortion, reiterating the Trump administration’s commitment to what he characterized as the "timeless values” Focus on the Family advocates first. 

He repeatedly referred to the president himself as both an “unwavering ally" of Christian evangelicals and a believer himself — calling him “a leader, a believer, a timeless defender of the values that will make America great again.” He described Trump as someone who “advocated in the public square for values our public needs to hear, now more than ever.” 

Pence’s comments are hardly surprising: after all, his evangelical faith and religiously-motivated stances on abortion and LGBTQ rights are well-known. But the intensity in expressing them on Friday was striking. Pence announced that he would donate an ultrasound machine in his own name to a faith-based crisis pregnancy center. (These centers, which are marketed like typical abortion clinics, but are set up to persuade women to avoid abortions, make up a major part of Focus on the Family’s efforts).

By the way Pence's assertion that Trump is an "unwavering ally of Christian Evangelicals" is the very definition of fake news.

Donald Trump is the unwavering ally of Donald Trump, and ONLY Donald Trump.

Mike Pence on the other hand is a tent revival attending, evangelizing, self proclaimed warrior for the almighty, and he would love nothing more than to return this country back to the days when women stayed in the kitchen, black folks stayed in the fields, and gay people stayed so deep in their closets that they needed to stuff mothballs down their pants.

I mean the man donated an entire ultrasound machine just to stop women from aborting their babies for fuck's sake.

That is why Senator Al Franken suggested that folks might want to think long and hard about trying to get Trump impeached.

Courtesy of the International Business Times:

“Pence ran the transition and some of the very worst nominees, I felt — [EPA chief Scott] Pruitt, [Education Secretary Betsy] DeVos, [HHS Secretary Tom] Price, [Budget director Mick] Mulvaney — were Pence selections, clearly, I think,” Franken told IBT. “He's ideological, I consider him a zealot, and I think that in terms of a lot of domestic policy certainly would be worse than Trump.”

Look I still think that Trump is a criminal, who had help in stealing this election, and I want him to either quit or be impeached.

But if we don't come up with some way to take Pence down with him, I fear that we may well go from the frying pan directly into that fire and brimstone.

Let the impeachment marches begin!

Courtesy of Mic: 

On July 2, there will be marches demanding Trump's impeachment in at least a 20 across the country. Organized by a group of activists based in Los Angeles, the nationwide demonstration will demand Democrats take immediate action — that is, if impeachment doesn't come first. 

"We want impeachment," Stephanie Tatro, one of the central organizers of the Impeachment March, said in an interview. "A handful of our reps haven't been shy about speaking out against Trump, and we support them, we want them to continue to take strong action toward impeachment." 

So far, the biggest march will be in Los Angeles where Tatro and her fellow organizers worked on the Tax March. They also worked with Indivisible, the grassroots protest group leading the disruptions at Republican town halls over the past three months.

But even without much promotion, there are already a number of sister marches in the works in cities like New Orleans, Phoenix, Cleveland and San Diego. It's a young project, and the organizers are seeking out larger left-leaning partners to help grow their small movement. They hope to see local groups across the country glom on and start their own marches. 

Oh yeah I think I can manage to free up some time for an impeachment march or two this summer.

Reminds me of those rallies demanding that Sarah Palin quit her job as governor.

It worked back then, and remember she was not being investigated for colluding with the Russians to steal an election.

I love the smell of impeachment in the morning.

Okay so many of us on the left have been talking impeachment since even before Trump was ever sworn into office.

Let's face it at that time it was just some wishful thinking by a bunch of lefties who were angry and confused by the outcome of the 2016 election.

But that is no longer the case my friends.

Courtesy of The Hill: 

Restive Democrats urging the impeachment of President Trump are amplifying their case Wednesday following new reports suggesting Trump pressed the FBI to drop a probe into former national security adviser Michael Flynn. 

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) spoke out at a closed-door Democratic Caucus meeting Wednesday morning, underscoring the urgency of removing Trump, whom the Democrats increasingly see as a national security liability. 

Also Wednesday morning, Rep. Al Green (D-Texas), who joined the impeachment push earlier in the week, took to the House floor to trumpet that call, characterizing his decision as a ”position of conscience.” 

"This is where I stand; I will not be moved,” said Green. “The president must be impeached."

Okay well this is a little more official since it is coming from actual Democrats in the House, but let's face it without Republicans on board there is no way to remove Trump from office.

But wait....

Courtesy of Mother Jones: 

For the first time, Republican members of Congress have gone on record suggesting that one of the scandals engulfing President Donald Trump could be an impeachable offense. Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.) said Wednesday that if Trump did indeed ask former FBI Director James Comey to drop the bureau's investigation into former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, then that would constitute grounds for impeachment, according to the Hill's Cristina Marcos.

Amash was actually the second Republican lawmaker to suggest that Trump's alleged effort to shut down the Flynn probe could be an impeachable offense. "Any effort to stop the federal government from conducting an investigation, any effort to dissuade federal agents from proceeding with an investigation, is very serious and could be construed as obstruction of justice," said Rep. Carlos Curbelo (R-Fla.) on CNN Tuesday night. He added, "Obstruction of justice—in the case of Nixon, in the case of Clinton in the late 90s—has been considered an impeachable offense."

Now only two House Republicans making these statements certainly does not constitute a groundswell, but it IS the first step.

And in my opinion it is a step on a path that many other Republicans will soon find themselves on as well.

In less than four months Trump has suffered one self inflicted wound after another, and the wounds just keep getting deeper and deeper.

It does not seem possible that leaking that classified information to the Russians, and having it revealed that he attempted to get the FBI Director to drop that Russian collusion investigation, is survivable even by Donald Trump.

And we know for a fact that there are still more scandals to come. 

Right now the Trump White House has zero credibility, so even if there WERE a false story printed by a news outlet very few people would believe a denial coming from the Trump Administration.

With a seemingly endless supply of gaffes and no credibility with the American people it feels like it is all done but the crying.

But here's the rub.

The first in the line of succession after Donald Trump is VP Mike Pence, who is perhaps in many ways even more dangerous to the country than Donald Trump.

Mike Pence does not believe in a woman's right to choose, does not believe in marriage equality, does not support legalized marijuana, is pro-school vouchers, is not a supporter of clean energy, and plays just as fast and loose with the truth as Donald Trump.

Replacing Trump with Pence might seem like a good trade, but in fact it is not.

However if by some miracle Pence were also impeached, or forced out of office right along with Trump, that would leave Paul Ryan as the next in the line of succession.

I think we all know just what is wrong with having Ryan in the Oval Office. (The man has never met a social program that he thinks should last one more day.)

So even though it seems more likely than ever that Trump may be impeached what exactly does that solve for the Democrats?

Not a whole hell of a lot.

But there is one somewhat comforting thought. Donald Trump is a scorched earth personality type, so when the effort to remove him from office actually kicks off he is going to go on the attack.

By the time they pry Trump's stubby orange fingers from the doorjamb of the White House front entrance, he may have so damaged his named successor and the Republican party that the Dems could run Anthony Wiener in 2020 and still take back the presidency.

In the meantime I suggest all of you stock up on popcorn, because this three ring circus is just getting started.

Well let's see, shall we?

I swear it is like Trump spent the last several years tweeting about his own presidency, without even knowing it.

The message is spreading. Even to ballparks.

Protesters unfurl giant "Impeach Trump" sign at Washington Nationals game https://t.co/GPz6JpXn0Q pic.twitter.com/xn5Hw5C4yJ

— The Hill (@thehill) April 4, 2017

By the way Massachusetts city became the latest municipality around the country to call for an impeachment investigation into the Trump presidency.

And again, the noose gets a little tighter. 

New poll is very bad news for Trump administration.

Courtesy of PPP:

PPP's new national poll finds that Donald Trump's popularity as President has declined precipitously just over the last two weeks. On our first poll of his Presidency voters were evenly divided on Trump, with 44% approving of him and 44% also disapproving. Now his approval rating is 43%, while his disapproval has gone all the way up to 53%. If voters could choose they'd rather have both Barack Obama (52/44) or Hillary Clinton (49/45) instead of Trump.

Ouch!

That is not the only place where Trump is having a hard time.

For instance the Muslim ban:

66% of Americans consider the United States to be a safe country, to only 23% who consider it unsafe. Perhaps as an outgrowth of that sentiment only 45% of voters support Trump's Executive Order on immigration, to 49% who are opposed to it. 

Of course those numbers are higher among Trump voters, who also identify another factor as convincing them of its necessity:

By a 51/23 margin Trump voters say that the Bowling Green Massacre shows why Trump's immigration policy is needed.

Well that certainly explains some things.

Americans are also not terribly thrilled with the people that Trump surrounds himself with:

Betsy DeVos may have been confirmed this week, but she made a horrible impression on the public. Only 27% of voters see her positively to 49% with a negative opinion of her. Clinton voters are almost unanimous in their distaste for her (5/83 favorability), while she doesn't generate nearly an equivalent amount of enthusiasm from Trump voters (53/12 favorability.) Other people close to Trump have come off poorly as well- Steve Bannon has a 22/45 favorability rating, Kellyanne Conway's is 34/47, and Sean Spicer's is 32/41.

They also want to see his taxes:  

58% want him to release his tax returns, to just 31% who don't think he needs to. In fact by a 53/32 spread, voters would support a law requiring that candidates for President release 5 years of their tax returns in order to appear on the ballot.

That of course is exactly the opposite of what Trump believes to be true, which of course is in no way unusual.

However with all of this negative news Americans are still a little ambiguous on whether it is time to start talking impeachment yet:

Just three weeks into his administration, voters are already evenly divided on the issue of impeaching Trump with 46% in favor and 46% opposed. Support for impeaching Trump has crept up from 35% 2 weeks ago, to 40% last week, to its 46% standing this week. 

Unsurprisingly Clinton voters are far less ambiguous:

While Clinton voters initially only supported Trump's impeachment 65/14, after seeing him in office over the last few weeks that's gone up already to 83/6.

I think I would be more on board with these last respondents if it did not mean facing the reality of four years of a Mike Pence presidency.

All in all this is a very bad poll for Donald Trump.

Which of course means that it has now earned the title of "fake news" within the Trump bubble.