What happened when the Bolton news broke yesterday. Long and short of it is that Trump plays to his voting base and abandons convincing other voters
Essentially it means that the GOP Legal defense team of Trump has to wing it, and will aim its presentation to motivate Trump's base, not win over non Trump base voters. This is, bluntly put not a winning strategy
What we will see in two hours is a Fox News lite do over of 2 hours of end time paranoia in which
A. The "deep state " will be brought up, AGAIN, with implications that Hunter Biden must be some nefarious CIA- Ukrainian governmental operative. I.e. the only thing battier than this one were 1980s KGB sponsored films which portrayed US Counter Intelligence agents as all hooked on Heroin and shooting up Heroin on the job. I.e. I saw some of those films. Brace yourself, we will see the kitchen sink thrown on the meme of poor pitiful Trump being victimized by some dark Ukrainian- CIA strike force, which of course terrorized the entire USA , except those (irony mode) "heroes" in 2016 who got Trump in POTUS
B. The implication will also be made that Bolton is a card carrying member of the Ukrainian - CIA strike force. That is if the Trump team has the balls to bring up Bolton at all
C. I.e. the final capstone will be memes brought up that Trump needs "expanded" presidential power to deal with the non existent Ukrainian-CIA strike force, which horror of horrors ALMOST took over America, which was "saved" by (faux) hero DONALD TRUMP.
This is complete NONSENSE. And if and when BOLTON testifies, this house of cards will come tumbling down
Quote
One subject they're anticipating is Republican senators' desire to bring up Hunter Biden, both as a line of questioning and as a potential witness.
"We know already this is going to be an issue," one source familiar with the ongoing preparations told CNN. There is no evidence of wrongdoing by either Joe or Hunter Biden.
Given the Bolton news, Democrats are now renewing their push for witnesses.
Stuck in Washington: Democratic senators trade campaign trail for impeachment trial
"There can be no doubt now that Mr. Bolton directly contradicts the heart of the President's defense and therefore must be called as a witness at the impeachment trial of President Trump," the managers said in a statement released Sunday night.
In reality, the Democratic managers are appealing to two audiences: the 100 senators sitting before them in the chamber but also the American public watching or listening at home. If a critical mass of GOP senators can't be convinced of the President's wrongdoing, the Democrats can hope to reach voters nine months before the next election.
Observations from the press gallery as well as interviews with eight sources on Capitol Hill reveal how the House Democrats prepared for a marathon stretch of arguments in the first week of the impeachment trial, and how their performances were perceived.
Like a federal criminal prosecution
Democratic Reps. Zoe Lofgren of California and Jerry Nadler of New York are seen in the ante room.
The Democratic team is a mixture of backgrounds and personalities. Among the managers are freshman lawmakers and seasoned veterans of the House. Four are men and three are women. All are lawyers except Demings, a retired police officer from Florida. Some hail from deep-blue districts while others occupy swing seats in red states.
While their diversity is apparent, it's been clear who has driven the strategy. The two chief architects of the Democratic approach are Schiff and his top counsel on the Intelligence Committee, Daniel Goldman. Both are former federal prosecutors -- Schiff in the Central District of California and Goldman in the prestigious Southern District of New York. Those who know Goldman say that pedigree is reflected in how House Democrats have conducted their case.
"They are doing this right out of the federal prosecutor's playbook," said Elie Honig, a CNN contributor and a former prosecutor in the SDNY who worked with Goldman as well as another attorney on the team, Daniel Noble. Honig pointed to the way the managers have presented videos and documents from the impeachment hearings to contextualize their arguments.
Daniel Goldman is the top lawyer for the House Intelligence Committee
"It's a hallmark of certainly the SDNY way," Honig said.
Danya Perry, another former prosecutor at the SDNY who worked with Goldman, told CNN that the Democrats' arguments during the trial "seemed to have his fingerprints all over them."
End of quote
This ONCE AGAIN, is what we will see in 2 hours of Trump team legal paranoia.
What we will see in two hours is a Fox News lite do over of 2 hours of end time paranoia in which
A. The "deep state " will be brought up, AGAIN, with implications that Hunter Biden must be some nefarious CIA- Ukrainian governmental operative. I.e. the only thing battier than this one were 1980s KGB sponsored films which portrayed US Counter Intelligence agents as all hooked on Heroin and shooting up Heroin on the job. I.e. I saw some of those films. Brace yourself, we will see the kitchen sink thrown on the meme of poor pitiful Trump being victimized by some dark Ukrainian- CIA strike force, which of course terrorized the entire USA , except those (irony mode) "heroes" in 2016 who got Trump in POTUS
B. The implication will also be made that Bolton is a card carrying member of the Ukrainian - CIA strike force. That is if the Trump team has the balls to bring up Bolton at all
C. I.e. the final capstone will be memes brought up that Trump needs "expanded" presidential power to deal with the non existent Ukrainian-CIA strike force, which horror of horrors ALMOST took over America, which was "saved" by (faux) hero DONALD TRUMP.
This is complete NONSENSE. And if and when BOLTON testifies, this house of cards will come tumbling down
Andrew Beckwith, PhD