First, this is the Pit. I’m entitled to have an opinion that public protest works, even if you disagree, without providing a cite.
Second, what kind of cite do you think I could provide? What evidence could there possibly be that establishes an absolute nexus between what the administration does/doesn’t do and the number of people who stood up to protest about it? No way to prove a negative. IOW, how many things didn’t happen because of protests?
Still, I can share the empirical observations that are the basis for my belief.
Protests over how refugees are being treated at the Mexican border seemed to cool the ardor of Trumpites to continue to separate migrant children from their parents and provided an impetus for agencies such as the ACLU to fight against this practice.
Protests over Trump threatening to fire Robert Mueller after Trump fired Sessions seemed to discourage this action from actually happening.
Protests about Republican tax cuts appeared to elevate the unfairness of their distribution to the point that Republicans are now trying to stay as far away from mentioning them as possible, whereas previously they had intended to highlight their tax cuts as a basis for their reelections.
The stark difference in the numbers of protestors for and against white nationalism seemed to dampen enthusiasm of white nationalists to openly pursue their agenda.
Most importantly, the visual nature of protests serves to inspire others to do what they can to register their displeasure with the administration’s policies. It demonstrates very clearly that people are paying attention.
In short, it gets people out to vote. Note the 2018 mid-term election voter turnout.
While there wasn’t exactly a public protest, the outcry from many corners regarding the funding cuts to the Special Olympics certainly caused the administration to scrap that idea in a hurry.
I am equally shocked that Trump who once said that the whole report should be released to the public has now apparently changed his mind. I never thought that would happen.
“But members of Mueller’s team have complained to close associates that the evidence they gathered on obstruction was alarming and significant.”
“It was much more acute than Barr suggested,” said one person, who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the subject’s sensitivity.
Notably the story also states that Mueller’s team prepared their own summaries for the public. Barr chose not to release those.
Or…Trump is the sort of person to watch handicapped people doing sports and thinks it’s hilarious, because “Looky them cripples pretending they’re real people.”
Of course, I agree that there are legitimate things that should be withheld from the public. But as I said earlier, I’d be surprised if anything at that level is in the Mueller report. I think there are really no surprises–that everything is something we already know or suspect, but it’s backed up by testimony, evidence, etc. I was just throwing a rock at a president who can’t stop shooting off his mouth, national security or no. Fortunately, Congress hasn’t consulted me for my strategy suggestions. It’s moot until we see the report.
I saw the headline last night about Mueller’s people leaking a teeny bit and saying the report was more damaging than Barr’s (lame) summary suggested, and like many here, my heart veritably leapt! I tried to post it, but I couldn’t access the board from about 7 PM on! AAGGH. I was gratified to come here this morning to see much happiness and gloating.
ETA:
This. And also, with the MAGAbots, even when the TRUTH and FACTS ultimately come out, the Barr whitewash concrete will have set and nothing will erode or dislodge it. The Barr Report will be fact and the Mueller Report will be more lies and slander that the Dems have cobbled together to malign thump. Hell, they’ll probably accuse Hillary of writing the Mueller Report. :dubious:
I saw a similar article earlier today and a close read makes me suspect that, actually, he got his belongings back from the SDNY, and so he’s able to offer them to Congress.
Nowhere does anything mention him offering to turn those materials over to the Feds and, obviously, they’re a better target to bargain with than Congress. SDNY can cut time off of his sentence. All Congress can do is delay the inevitable.
I’m not sure why Cohen would be the one to review the files on the hard drive in the first place. Surely at this point that’s for the various investigative/prosecutorial bodies to do? Unless, as some of you have suspected, they already have…
There will be plenty of shit in the redacted version for Dems to flay Trump with while they sue to get the whole thing. Having to wait a few weeks for the redacted version isn’t going to make any difference, it’s just posturing.
Barr’s statements aren’t influencing anyone, they just provide talking points. His opinion on criminal obstruction is irrelevant, except to Repubs in the Senate if obstruction was an article of impeachment.
Pelosi and Nadler may have to work overtime to keep a lid on the impeachment talk.
It would be fun if the Dems rang up Trump with article(s) of impeachment titled “Collusion With a Foreign Government.”
It’s moot until we see the report.