The point is to get him to repeat the findings out loud. Most people haven’t read the report, but will see soundbites on TV and social media. There doesn’t have to be anything new.
He’ll claim Absolute Immunity (or whatever they claimed for Hope Hicks). Just y’all watch.
And then the Republicans will spin it as “This is nothing new, it’s been out in the report for months now. How sad that the Democrats are reduced to having Mueller narrate a report that’s already old news.”
I’m not happy about it, just not clear why the same old pattern wouldn’t successfully play out again.
It’s about baby steps and picking at the margins. Trump’s base is immovable, but there are others out there who just haven’t heard. And it’s already been working – opnions have, slowly but steadily, shifted on the findings of the Mueller report. This will help continue that.
We need to get over censoring ourselves over the fear of what Republicans might say. This kind of second guessing is self destructive. Democrats need to stand up for their principles without cowering from imagined spin from Republicans.
It’s not impossible.
Think of that woman who was interviewed recently, who said without rancor or guile that she got all her news from right-leaning sources, and she honestly had no idea that the Mueller report didn’t completely exonerate Trump.
So this hearing is for her.
Except there’s no guarantee she’ll watch the hearings. Most likely she’ll just watch whatever FOX has to say about them.
I fervently hope it works out otherwise, but I am not…optimistic.
Let’s hope Mueller’s testimony opens the floodgates.
This ^^^
Just read excerpts of the report out loud and get him to answer questions related to it.
Still, the seed has been planted. She’s already expressed awareness that she’s been using only “right wing sources” of news, and further that other sources have reported things they don’t. The seed may yet sprout.
I think that if the Dems play their cards right, this could be essentially the next best thing to an impeachment hearing. It may or may not lead to impeachment proceedings, but if nothing else it plants a seed in the minds of more impressionable voters. It could be devastating to his support among independents, which is already underwater.
I have no confidence that the Democrats will “play this right” nor that Mueller will reveal anything particularly groundbreaking, nor that the people who currently believe that the Mueller report exonerates Trump will be swayed in any way by this.
But one can hope.
I’d rather have the Mueller Report reading round table telethon than nothing at all.
Unlike others, I don’t hold out hope that any of Trump’s legal and ethical transgressions are going to move the needle in terms of his public support. People didn’t vote for Trump because he’s a good guy; they voted for him because they thought he’d be somewhat effective at jamming through right wing legislation. Considering he had two years of total control of the government and couldn’t really do that, I think what will eventually do him in is his inability to run the government and the cowardice (not to mention depravity and greed) of his fellow Republicans.
I agree. Democrats and Justin Amash have been floating the idea of impeachment for a while now, and Mueller’s testimony could be just what is needed to get independent voters all aboard with the idea.
Trump, in Fox Business interview, accuses Robert Mueller of committing a crime:
I’m sorry I missed the theatrical production at Riverside Church in New York. Kevin Kline performed Mueller’s lines. Jason Alexander as Chris Christie. Trump himself? John Lithgow.
Too bad I can’t watch this until I get home later today–“especially unhinged, even by his standards.” Sounds like an Instant Trump Classic.
Trump’s unhinged Fox Business interview illustrates how Fox News normalizes Trump
Hours after news of Mueller’s testimony broke, Trump called Maria Bartiromo and melted down on live TV.
And yet, according to some SDMB posters, we should not believe women who accuse him of rape, sexual assault, or sexual harassment. Because those women are making things up.
I think the last time he decided to bitch on live on TV, he also called in to Bartiromo. Poor lady.
I guess we know when it’s TV time for Trump.