As someone who thinks that the American people deserve 100% transparency around the people we elect into office, I could be persuaded to support an automatic impeachment inquiry that is activated upon taking office, with a paid investigator to try and highlight any shenanigans or issues in the background and behavior of the person we're giving the nuclear codes to.
If you're a candidate and don't like that (or have something to hide)? Find a job doing something else.
Congress is supposed to keep a check on the president (something it’s done poorly), but I don’t think open-ended perpetual investigations are good for the country.
Perhaps I am mistaken, but wasn't Trump impeached at least in part for abuse of power? Didn't the New Orleans 5th Circuit Court of Appeals just hand down a decision stating that the executive branch engaged in a violation of the first amendment? Doesn't our president take an oath to uphold the constitution? And as such would failure to do so and in fact actively engaging in the violation, not qualify as an abuse of power? Why are you willing to give Biden a pass on this yet are so willing to condemn Trump? It has been found that the American public has been consistently lied to over the past several years regarding issues ranging from WMD, to 2016 Russian election interference, to Covid origin cover-ups and vaccine mandates, to the FBI's lies about the Hunter Biden laptop which could be considered by many to be election interference by our own government agencies. etc. Maybe these aren't grounds for impeachment per se, but they certainly seem like an extreme abuse of power and authority and outright violations of our constitution and if that was good enough to be used against Trump it seems it should be good enough to be used against Biden.
I agree with a lot of what you say, but there are key differences in the situation between the two presidents. For example, the ruling against the Biden Administration isn’t a ruling against Joe Biden himself.
In the ruling that you speak of, it was not Joe Biden who sent messages to social media companies asking (and sometimes apparently demanding) that posts be taken down. It’s unlikely that Biden ordered or was even aware of the specifics of the interactions, which were carried out by low-level employees.
For that matter, the Twitter files showed that similar interactions were carried out by Trump Administration officials. We don’t hear people saying that Trump should be impeached a third time for this sort of violation of the First Amendment.
I do think that some of the interactions violated the First Amendment, but some were probably okay. Notifying the site of problematic posts should be permissible, but demanding that they be removed should not.
Having said that, all presidents are going to screw up, but not all screw-ups should be impeachable. If the Biden Administration abides by the court ruling and allows the judicial process to play out, that makes a difference. That’s especially true since the constitutional questions about technology often cover unbroken ground. We’re writing new precedents here.
Contrast that with Donald Trump.
In Trump’s case, it was TFG who personally ordered congressionally appropriated aid for Ukraine to be withheld. Further, he did this not for what he perceived to be the good of the country but for the good of his re-election campaign, as then-Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney admitted. Trump then lied about what he had done and attempted to cover up his actions.
Beyond that, I think that people often confuse lies with being wrong. For a lie, there has to be intent to deceive. Sometimes deception is assumed but not proven.
You mention several issues. I’ll take those quickly:
WMD - an error based on faulty intelligence and the fact that Saddam was known to have had WMD (and in fact did have rotting stockpiles of the stuff)
COVID-19 origin coverups - We don’t know where COVID originated. If anyone is covering this up, it’s the Chinese. There is no consensus within the US government or the scientific community. People who tell you that it was definitely a lab leak are either lying to you (intentionally deceiving you) or are ignorant of the facts.
Vaccine mandates - Again, this was unsettled law. Vaccine mandates are legal for state governments and have been since Jacobson v. Massachusetts in 1905. Federal mandates were less certain, but companies can require vaccines for their workers and have long been able to do so. Some parts of the federal government, such as the military and healthcare organizations regulated by OSHA can require vaccinations.
Russian election interference - This was not a lie. Even Donald Trump’s intelligence officials acknowledged the evidence that Russia intervened in the 2016 election.
Hunter Biden’s laptop - Again, this seems to be an error rather than a lie. And I’ll point out that it was the FBI led by Donald Trump’s appointee during his Administration that we are talking about here.
So there’s the answer in a nutshell. Trump’s abuse of power was personal and for his own benefit. When it comes to Biden, most of the discussion is about things that other government employees have done under his watch. And in some cases, Biden is even getting blamed for things that happened under Trump’s watch.
There should be a high bar for impeachment. Repeated, willful abuses of his office by Donald Trump met that standard.
Thanks for the detailed response. I sincerely appreciate your feedback. That being said, the ruling was against the executive office which Biden is in charge of therefore he should be held responsible for executive actions as he should be aware of what is happening in the executive branch. And yes the Twitter files did indeed show that Trump also made requests to remove posts and he should also have been made to answer for that, although in his case I don’t believe the requests were carried out and certainly were not made by the thousands (still no excuse). As far as intent to deceive I apparently don’t have as much faith in Biden as you do as I absolutely believe that he has lied about any number of things as all politicians do and I absolutely believe that he did it with the intent to deceive. No one has definitely told me that Covid was a lab leak however there was enough uncertainty to not rule it out completely, but this topic of conversation was shut-down before it barely had its legs which makes me wonder why. When discussions can’t be had and communications can’t see the light of day I want to know why. Mandates were used to stop the spread of Covid or so we were all told which of course was another lie and I believe another intentional deception. As far as I have heard, the 2016 Russia interference equated to about $100,000 spent on a campaign to disparage both parties and not to directly endorse Trump, but by your own Biden 1st amendment standards even if they did unless Trump ordered or requested it directly he should not be held responsible right? We also had two separate investigations that cost tax payers thousands of dollars and neither one found anything illegal. As far as Hunter’s laptop and David Weiss, the Trump appointed FBI attorney, according to emails from the IRS whistleblower, Mr. Weiss stated back in October of 2022 that he was not the deciding man so Trump appointed or not and directly from the horse’s mouth his hands were apparently tied.
As of now as you already stated in your article, the House has only announced the commencement of an impeachment inquiry which does not necessarily mean an impeachment will follow, but things to consider that can justify an inquiry includes what appears to be evidence that Joe Biden did willfully lie about his knowledge of Hunter’s business dealings; what happened to the $20M plus that was paid to members of the Biden family? Why the need for all the accounts and multiple companies if all this was above board? The timing of the firing of the Ukrainian prosecutor investigating Burisma seems pretty convenient at least for Hunter. There are also emails where Hunter Biden stated he paid his father as much as 50% of what he earned along with sharing same accounts and credit cards. Why would he do that I wonder? And lastly the White House counsel just sent CNN a letter telling them to ramp up scrutiny of House Republicans. So in case we had any doubt about MSM government approved narratives, this should help lay those aside. I whole heartedly support innocent until proven guilty, but it certainly appears to me that there are enough questions to justify an inquiry. I used to work for the government and we were required to take annual ethics training and had very strict rules about what was and wasn’t acceptable behavior and this was extended to even appearances of behavior. I just honestly don’t understand why after everything we have found out an inquiry would be consider as bass-ackwards.
I think part of the problem is, to paraphrase Ronald Reagan, a lot of things you take as fact aren’t necessarily so. For example, Russian election interference wasn’t just spending money. It was attacking and sometimes breaching our election infrastructure (https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/22/politics/russian-hackers-election-data/index.html).
As far as shutting down the lab leak talk, I have sympathy for those who want to limit misinformation. I have mixed emotions about how to handle it since I’m a free speech guy, but I do support the right of private platforms to set their own rules. I think the evidence points towards a natural explanation, especially with recent discovery of the virus in raccoon dogs.
COVID countermeasures we’re meant to slow the spread rather than stop it. A small but crucial difference. The idea of stopping the spread and normal life by Easter seems to have originated with Donald Trump, not medical scientists.
Rather than doing another point by point response, I encourage you to seek out some contradictory viewpoints on these subjects and look to see what the facts are, rather than how talk shows hosts and commentators spin the stories .
With respect to questions like where the $20! went, that’s a question that Republicans should be able to answer before starting impeachment. An investigation was already underway which underscores how McCarthy rushed the process to pacify the radicals.
As I wrote in the article, it’s not that I have faith in Joe Biden, it’s that Republicans haven’t shown evidence that he’s abused his office. I will say that I don’t have faith in many Republicans these days to do the right thing.
The Russians did indeed butt into our elections and I seriously doubt that the 2016 election was the first time that ever happened, but again so what? Where is the proof that Trump asked them to do this? Is there any and if not as a presidential candidate, how is he responsible for what Russia does if Biden isn’t even expected to be responsible for what is going on in his own branch of government? As for Covid, both the DOE and FBI believe that Covid could have originated from a lab. Additionally based upon a 9/11/23 posted to Substack by Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, in October of 2021 the White House threatened social media companies with damaging regulatory action unless it censored scientists who shared demonstrable fact that Covid vaccines do not prevent people from getting Covid. This in addition to hearing on multiple news site night after night after night that the vaccine was necessary to stop the spread of Covid. Honestly Mr. Thornton to say to me that the facts I consider as true aren’t necessarily so seems a bit condescending as I can turn around and say the same about your “facts”. Also as it turns out I do seek out contradictory viewpoints and unlike yourself will allow you the courtesy to assume you do likewise. I am making what I believe are good faith rebuttals to your point of view. You were gracious enough to expand on your point of view, but I have to say that I do not appreciate your assumption that I get my news from talk show hosts and commentators. Have a great evening and thanks again for the discussion.
When the last President was facing an impeachment, the second thing he did after denying any wrongdoing was to release the transcript of the phone call that was being questioned so the American people could read it and understand that there was nothing wrong with the call. I am looking forward to the Briben's transparent explanation of the financial transactions for the 170 SAR's that have been filed by the Banks involved with the multiple Briben bank accounts. Transparency is really the best practice when it comes to the Political game.
Trump released an altered and sanitized version of the phone call. He tried to finesse the issue, then vilified Col. Vindman for correcting the record.
In addition to what Steve said, Trump did not act transparently. He stonewalled Congress for years and instructed aides to ignore subpoenas. Peter Navarro was just convicted for contempt of Congress for defying a subpoena and others lost court battles seeking to quash subpoenas.
With congress doing everything in it's power to derail the Trump administration, I don't blame him for confronting Nancy at every step. I am still waiting to see what the Briben's offer as an explanation for the SAR's and the bank accounts. Should be entertaining.
The tax notes link is very informative. Thanks. I could have done most of Joe's tax returns as a certified tax preparer for the low income and elderly. I learned that Joe's income as VP came from the US Senate. I suppose that's because of his role as President of the Senate. He received more than $220,000 per year as a retired civil servant before being elected President and then he received $400,000 salary from the US Treasury. I noticed he could afford mortgage interest of $59,000 one year when he was making a little over $200,000.
If his returns are to be believed, his income is relatively modest. Of course, the reported income most years is mostly that which is public record. It does not seem to match his lifestyle. I'm not sure where he got the money he must have spent on AMTRAK between DC and Delaware.
His income definitely went up after leaving office, as he wrote some books and of course could do speaking engagements. Historically, he was one of the least wealthy members of the Senate.
I have heard those rumors but have never seen the alleged unaltered transcript of the phone call and either did congress or it would have been entered into the record. Vindman is just part of the Swamp and was not believable.
I see what you did there with fishing and bass-ackward. Just subtle enough.
I don’t know if it qualifies as an old southern saying, but it it was a popular spoonerism when I was in high school that fit well here.
As someone who thinks that the American people deserve 100% transparency around the people we elect into office, I could be persuaded to support an automatic impeachment inquiry that is activated upon taking office, with a paid investigator to try and highlight any shenanigans or issues in the background and behavior of the person we're giving the nuclear codes to.
If you're a candidate and don't like that (or have something to hide)? Find a job doing something else.
Congress is supposed to keep a check on the president (something it’s done poorly), but I don’t think open-ended perpetual investigations are good for the country.
This seems like a better thing to have happen as a pre-election requirement for access to the ballot, rather than a post-election action.
I wouldn't turn that down either. :-)
Perhaps I am mistaken, but wasn't Trump impeached at least in part for abuse of power? Didn't the New Orleans 5th Circuit Court of Appeals just hand down a decision stating that the executive branch engaged in a violation of the first amendment? Doesn't our president take an oath to uphold the constitution? And as such would failure to do so and in fact actively engaging in the violation, not qualify as an abuse of power? Why are you willing to give Biden a pass on this yet are so willing to condemn Trump? It has been found that the American public has been consistently lied to over the past several years regarding issues ranging from WMD, to 2016 Russian election interference, to Covid origin cover-ups and vaccine mandates, to the FBI's lies about the Hunter Biden laptop which could be considered by many to be election interference by our own government agencies. etc. Maybe these aren't grounds for impeachment per se, but they certainly seem like an extreme abuse of power and authority and outright violations of our constitution and if that was good enough to be used against Trump it seems it should be good enough to be used against Biden.
That’s a great question (or series of them). I'm putting this in today's post with some supportive links. https://www.theracketnews.com/p/a-constitutional-parable
I agree with a lot of what you say, but there are key differences in the situation between the two presidents. For example, the ruling against the Biden Administration isn’t a ruling against Joe Biden himself.
In the ruling that you speak of, it was not Joe Biden who sent messages to social media companies asking (and sometimes apparently demanding) that posts be taken down. It’s unlikely that Biden ordered or was even aware of the specifics of the interactions, which were carried out by low-level employees.
For that matter, the Twitter files showed that similar interactions were carried out by Trump Administration officials. We don’t hear people saying that Trump should be impeached a third time for this sort of violation of the First Amendment.
I do think that some of the interactions violated the First Amendment, but some were probably okay. Notifying the site of problematic posts should be permissible, but demanding that they be removed should not.
Having said that, all presidents are going to screw up, but not all screw-ups should be impeachable. If the Biden Administration abides by the court ruling and allows the judicial process to play out, that makes a difference. That’s especially true since the constitutional questions about technology often cover unbroken ground. We’re writing new precedents here.
Contrast that with Donald Trump.
In Trump’s case, it was TFG who personally ordered congressionally appropriated aid for Ukraine to be withheld. Further, he did this not for what he perceived to be the good of the country but for the good of his re-election campaign, as then-Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney admitted. Trump then lied about what he had done and attempted to cover up his actions.
Beyond that, I think that people often confuse lies with being wrong. For a lie, there has to be intent to deceive. Sometimes deception is assumed but not proven.
You mention several issues. I’ll take those quickly:
WMD - an error based on faulty intelligence and the fact that Saddam was known to have had WMD (and in fact did have rotting stockpiles of the stuff)
COVID-19 origin coverups - We don’t know where COVID originated. If anyone is covering this up, it’s the Chinese. There is no consensus within the US government or the scientific community. People who tell you that it was definitely a lab leak are either lying to you (intentionally deceiving you) or are ignorant of the facts.
Vaccine mandates - Again, this was unsettled law. Vaccine mandates are legal for state governments and have been since Jacobson v. Massachusetts in 1905. Federal mandates were less certain, but companies can require vaccines for their workers and have long been able to do so. Some parts of the federal government, such as the military and healthcare organizations regulated by OSHA can require vaccinations.
Russian election interference - This was not a lie. Even Donald Trump’s intelligence officials acknowledged the evidence that Russia intervened in the 2016 election.
Hunter Biden’s laptop - Again, this seems to be an error rather than a lie. And I’ll point out that it was the FBI led by Donald Trump’s appointee during his Administration that we are talking about here.
So there’s the answer in a nutshell. Trump’s abuse of power was personal and for his own benefit. When it comes to Biden, most of the discussion is about things that other government employees have done under his watch. And in some cases, Biden is even getting blamed for things that happened under Trump’s watch.
There should be a high bar for impeachment. Repeated, willful abuses of his office by Donald Trump met that standard.
Thanks for the detailed response. I sincerely appreciate your feedback. That being said, the ruling was against the executive office which Biden is in charge of therefore he should be held responsible for executive actions as he should be aware of what is happening in the executive branch. And yes the Twitter files did indeed show that Trump also made requests to remove posts and he should also have been made to answer for that, although in his case I don’t believe the requests were carried out and certainly were not made by the thousands (still no excuse). As far as intent to deceive I apparently don’t have as much faith in Biden as you do as I absolutely believe that he has lied about any number of things as all politicians do and I absolutely believe that he did it with the intent to deceive. No one has definitely told me that Covid was a lab leak however there was enough uncertainty to not rule it out completely, but this topic of conversation was shut-down before it barely had its legs which makes me wonder why. When discussions can’t be had and communications can’t see the light of day I want to know why. Mandates were used to stop the spread of Covid or so we were all told which of course was another lie and I believe another intentional deception. As far as I have heard, the 2016 Russia interference equated to about $100,000 spent on a campaign to disparage both parties and not to directly endorse Trump, but by your own Biden 1st amendment standards even if they did unless Trump ordered or requested it directly he should not be held responsible right? We also had two separate investigations that cost tax payers thousands of dollars and neither one found anything illegal. As far as Hunter’s laptop and David Weiss, the Trump appointed FBI attorney, according to emails from the IRS whistleblower, Mr. Weiss stated back in October of 2022 that he was not the deciding man so Trump appointed or not and directly from the horse’s mouth his hands were apparently tied.
As of now as you already stated in your article, the House has only announced the commencement of an impeachment inquiry which does not necessarily mean an impeachment will follow, but things to consider that can justify an inquiry includes what appears to be evidence that Joe Biden did willfully lie about his knowledge of Hunter’s business dealings; what happened to the $20M plus that was paid to members of the Biden family? Why the need for all the accounts and multiple companies if all this was above board? The timing of the firing of the Ukrainian prosecutor investigating Burisma seems pretty convenient at least for Hunter. There are also emails where Hunter Biden stated he paid his father as much as 50% of what he earned along with sharing same accounts and credit cards. Why would he do that I wonder? And lastly the White House counsel just sent CNN a letter telling them to ramp up scrutiny of House Republicans. So in case we had any doubt about MSM government approved narratives, this should help lay those aside. I whole heartedly support innocent until proven guilty, but it certainly appears to me that there are enough questions to justify an inquiry. I used to work for the government and we were required to take annual ethics training and had very strict rules about what was and wasn’t acceptable behavior and this was extended to even appearances of behavior. I just honestly don’t understand why after everything we have found out an inquiry would be consider as bass-ackwards.
I think part of the problem is, to paraphrase Ronald Reagan, a lot of things you take as fact aren’t necessarily so. For example, Russian election interference wasn’t just spending money. It was attacking and sometimes breaching our election infrastructure (https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/22/politics/russian-hackers-election-data/index.html).
As far as shutting down the lab leak talk, I have sympathy for those who want to limit misinformation. I have mixed emotions about how to handle it since I’m a free speech guy, but I do support the right of private platforms to set their own rules. I think the evidence points towards a natural explanation, especially with recent discovery of the virus in raccoon dogs.
COVID countermeasures we’re meant to slow the spread rather than stop it. A small but crucial difference. The idea of stopping the spread and normal life by Easter seems to have originated with Donald Trump, not medical scientists.
Rather than doing another point by point response, I encourage you to seek out some contradictory viewpoints on these subjects and look to see what the facts are, rather than how talk shows hosts and commentators spin the stories .
With respect to questions like where the $20! went, that’s a question that Republicans should be able to answer before starting impeachment. An investigation was already underway which underscores how McCarthy rushed the process to pacify the radicals.
As I wrote in the article, it’s not that I have faith in Joe Biden, it’s that Republicans haven’t shown evidence that he’s abused his office. I will say that I don’t have faith in many Republicans these days to do the right thing.
The Russians did indeed butt into our elections and I seriously doubt that the 2016 election was the first time that ever happened, but again so what? Where is the proof that Trump asked them to do this? Is there any and if not as a presidential candidate, how is he responsible for what Russia does if Biden isn’t even expected to be responsible for what is going on in his own branch of government? As for Covid, both the DOE and FBI believe that Covid could have originated from a lab. Additionally based upon a 9/11/23 posted to Substack by Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, in October of 2021 the White House threatened social media companies with damaging regulatory action unless it censored scientists who shared demonstrable fact that Covid vaccines do not prevent people from getting Covid. This in addition to hearing on multiple news site night after night after night that the vaccine was necessary to stop the spread of Covid. Honestly Mr. Thornton to say to me that the facts I consider as true aren’t necessarily so seems a bit condescending as I can turn around and say the same about your “facts”. Also as it turns out I do seek out contradictory viewpoints and unlike yourself will allow you the courtesy to assume you do likewise. I am making what I believe are good faith rebuttals to your point of view. You were gracious enough to expand on your point of view, but I have to say that I do not appreciate your assumption that I get my news from talk show hosts and commentators. Have a great evening and thanks again for the discussion.
When the last President was facing an impeachment, the second thing he did after denying any wrongdoing was to release the transcript of the phone call that was being questioned so the American people could read it and understand that there was nothing wrong with the call. I am looking forward to the Briben's transparent explanation of the financial transactions for the 170 SAR's that have been filed by the Banks involved with the multiple Briben bank accounts. Transparency is really the best practice when it comes to the Political game.
Trump released an altered and sanitized version of the phone call. He tried to finesse the issue, then vilified Col. Vindman for correcting the record.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/29/us/politics/alexander-vindman-trump-ukraine.html
In addition to what Steve said, Trump did not act transparently. He stonewalled Congress for years and instructed aides to ignore subpoenas. Peter Navarro was just convicted for contempt of Congress for defying a subpoena and others lost court battles seeking to quash subpoenas.
With congress doing everything in it's power to derail the Trump administration, I don't blame him for confronting Nancy at every step. I am still waiting to see what the Briben's offer as an explanation for the SAR's and the bank accounts. Should be entertaining.
In the meantime you can go through the last 25 years of Biden's tax returns at https://www.taxnotes.com/presidential-tax-returns.
Trump only has 2005 and 2015-2020 released.
The tax notes link is very informative. Thanks. I could have done most of Joe's tax returns as a certified tax preparer for the low income and elderly. I learned that Joe's income as VP came from the US Senate. I suppose that's because of his role as President of the Senate. He received more than $220,000 per year as a retired civil servant before being elected President and then he received $400,000 salary from the US Treasury. I noticed he could afford mortgage interest of $59,000 one year when he was making a little over $200,000.
If his returns are to be believed, his income is relatively modest. Of course, the reported income most years is mostly that which is public record. It does not seem to match his lifestyle. I'm not sure where he got the money he must have spent on AMTRAK between DC and Delaware.
His income definitely went up after leaving office, as he wrote some books and of course could do speaking engagements. Historically, he was one of the least wealthy members of the Senate.
Better breakdown on timing here: https://www.forbes.com/sites/michelatindera/2020/10/22/how-the-bidens-earned-167-million-after-leaving-the-white-house/?sh=7b93e0841e42
I have heard those rumors but have never seen the alleged unaltered transcript of the phone call and either did congress or it would have been entered into the record. Vindman is just part of the Swamp and was not believable.