# The Trump Impeachment Inquiry **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [September 24, 2019, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771 "2019-09-24T20:23:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 162
**Author:** ![carlb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carlb/32/5930_2.png) [@carlb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carlb)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2019, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/3221 "2019-10-24T12:18:25Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > Yes, he is a spoiled, over-entitled dipshit, a shameless showboat, a bully, and a smarmy, lawbreaking shit-stirrer with a mean streak who isn’t nearly as clever as he thinks he is. > > Frighteningly, he is also young, and millions of people now consider those qualities “presidential.” There’s a user over on [fark.com](http://fark.com) who tells a story about encountering Matt Gaetz sometime in the past. The story involves the phrase, “so I gas pedaled him right in the dick.” I will not swear to the veracity of the story, and I do not, on the whole, condone physical violence. It makes me giggle every time I read it, though, because it is basically a story of a self-important douchebag getting some comeuppance. If you are interested, [it’s in this thread.](https://www.fark.com/comments/10400365/Rep-Matt-Gaetz-is-mad-about-Parkland-victim-fathers-artwork-No-word-on-how-he-feels-about-getting-kicked-out-of-Subbys-bar-in-200506-having-his-nuts-curb-stomped-by-subby-in-process-Short-story-to-right#new) You’ll have to search the page for the words, “gas,” and, “pedaled,” or for the user name **His Mexcellency**. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2019, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/3222 "2019-10-24T13:48:57Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > They want to be arrested, so that they can get hauled off chanting “Attica, Attica!” I’m wondering if this was actually the case, that they wanted to get a response out of the Dems so they could argue … with b-roll footage of them being led out in handcuffs always rolling in the background … “unfair process, illegitimate investigations, etc”. I think the facts that: 1. Only 23 bothered to do this (over 170 House Republicans had other things to do, like nail appointments and shit) 2. The idiots forgot to remove their smart phones, _and then started lying about what they were doing even while they were doing it_. Tweets from staff, indeed! (This is my favorite, and I’m assuming the transmission medium was telepathy: [https://twitter.com/RepAndyBiggsAZ/status/1187041850286379009?s=20](https://twitter.com/RepAndyBiggsAZ/status/1187041850286379009?s=20) ) Pretty much put the kibosh into the whole thing. The group started to realize that they weren’t going to get arrested, then some idiot _ordered pizzas_ making this appear even more of a joke (Jeff Spicoli, anyone?), and about 4-odd hours after it began, it petered out under the sheer weight of embarrassment, boredom, and “shit, I’ve got things to do, guys”. ---
**Author:** ![MulderMuffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldermuffin/32/2862_2.png) [@MulderMuffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MulderMuffin)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2019, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/3223 "2019-10-24T15:00:20Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > I respectfully disagree. They looked like idiots, it was _horrible_ TV, they couldn’t even rustle up 15% of the House Republicans, and they all did it for a man whom over half the country _already want him out_, a President who will betray them in a heartbeat… and speaking of heartbeats, looks and sounds a fuckton worse than he did in 2016. > > This, literally, is their defense. They had their one shot, they couldn’t muster up support, and the Dems made them look like the spoiled asses they were. Hell, even my Uber rider tonight, an older white guy, brought this up negatively. I understand where you are coming from. They did make themselves look like idiots, but chiefly only to people who already thought they were idiots. Schiff did take the high road in ignoring their illegal conniption fit, but they’re crowing about how “Schiff _fled_ the room” and the FOX crowd is eating that up. Sane people see their stunt for what it was, an impotent flailing tantrum because things are going from bad to worse with the inquiry and they have no real defense, but their base is cheering their bold push for _transparency_ (as if that’s what they really want!). Heck, even FOX News reported: > [@](#): > > Some Republicans asked to be arrested by Capitol police officers, Fox News has learned, hoping that it would help them make their case that Democrats are abusing the impeachment process. I understand all of that. But just letting it slide, by being the parent who lets the kid kick and scream while ignoring them to prove that the tantrum won’t work, sometimes just results in a child with no boundaries and no manners. I know that I’m the one impotently flailing now, seething…how can we let them get away with this?! THIS is not how adults, especially Congresspeople, behave. If there are no consequences, it will just happen again next week when the inquiry resumes, and maybe more people will join since they weren’t stopped, or challenged, or punished. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2019, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/3224 "2019-10-24T15:47:57Z")
I don’t know, but when my 4yo had a tantrum at the mall, I just walked away. She looked up, saw my back 25 feet away, got up, ran in front of me, then flopped down again! So, I turned around, further ignoring her, and she got up and sullenly followed me. Sometimes, the best thing to do is allow the tantrum-throwers to look like the fools they are. Escalating this in any way would’ve given them legitimacy to act further - now they’re revising their stories, claiming they didn’t do what they were doing, and it’s all a big fuckin’ mess for the GOP except, as you say, those who will go down with the ship… and what do we care about converting them, anyway? ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2019, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/3225 "2019-10-24T15:52:22Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > I’m wondering if this was actually the case, that they wanted to get a response out of the Dems so they could argue … with b-roll footage of them being led out in handcuffs always rolling in the background … “unfair process, illegitimate investigations, etc”. > > I think the facts that: They have the persecution complex, they have the victim mentality, now they just need to become martyrs for their cause. Nothing would make them happier than to be able to play that video of them being handcuffed and led out of the “secret meetings”. How proud are protestors when they get arrested? Same thing, really, just that they are protesting against the process of law and order. > [@MulderMuffin](#): > > I understand where you are coming from. They did make themselves look like idiots, but chiefly only to people who already thought they were idiots. Schiff did take the high road in ignoring their illegal conniption fit, but they’re crowing about how “Schiff _fled_ the room” and the FOX crowd is eating that up. Sane people see their stunt for what it was, an impotent flailing tantrum because things are going from bad to worse with the inquiry and they have no real defense, but their base is cheering their bold push for _transparency_ (as if that’s what they really want!). Heck, even FOX News reported: And the benefit of Fox being a wholly owned asset of the far right is that the democrats are automatically wrong. If they had arrested them, they’d be resisting the jackbooted thugs, if they had gone to another room, they’d be fleeing transparency. No snark here, do you actually have an idea of what they should have done? I almost say, go ahead and let the hearings go public, at the republican’s insistence, and let any threats to national security be entirely owned by them. (other than, of course, I don’t like inviting threats to national security.) > [@](#): > > I understand all of that. > > But just letting it slide, by being the parent who lets the kid kick and scream while ignoring them to prove that the tantrum won’t work, sometimes just results in a child with no boundaries and no manners. I know that I’m the one impotently flailing now, seething…how can we let them get away with this?! THIS is not how adults, especially Congresspeople, behave. If there are no consequences, it will just happen again next week when the inquiry resumes, and maybe more people will join since they weren’t stopped, or challenged, or punished. It’s a bit different when the toddler has a PR firm that says he can do no wrong, and you can be voted out as parent. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2019, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/3226 "2019-10-24T15:57:25Z")
> [@Aspenglow](#): > > It’s a serious impeachment investigation covering serious subject matter, not a barroom brawl. Dems handled it fine. For as long as we’ve been waiting, I can give them an extra 5 hours. I think if Republicans want to delay the impeachment inquiry, the Democrats should let them. Draw out the inquiry and have the House impeachment vote in October 2020, and see how they like that. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2019, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/3227 "2019-10-24T15:57:34Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > … > No snark here, do you actually have an idea of what they should have done? > … I say lock the doors next time. Let the loony republicans make the next move after that. Do they go all “Here’s Johnny”? ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2019, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/3228 "2019-10-24T16:01:09Z")
> [@bobot](#): > > I say lock the doors next time. Let the loony republicans make the next move after that. Do they go all “Here’s Johnny”? You want to lock them them into the top-security briefing room alone with their cell phones?? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2019, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/3229 "2019-10-24T16:04:54Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Yeah, there were [del]guns[/del] cellphones out, I’m surprised nobody was shot. Maybe we could have got Tom Brady to start kneeling before games. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2019, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/3230 "2019-10-24T16:06:14Z")
> [@scr4](#): > > You want to lock them them into the top-security briefing room alone with their cell phones?? 🙂 I was thinking more like lock them out. ---
**Author:** ![Fiveyearlurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2019, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/3231 "2019-10-24T16:07:26Z")
I’m still struck by the fact that the Republican theory of the case is that there was a vast deep state conspiracy to swing the election to Hillary Clinton by spying on the Trump campaign and coordinating efforts to hurt Trump’s election, yet it somehow forgot to actually spring the trap before the election. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2019, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/3232 "2019-10-24T16:09:19Z")
Perhaps the room needs better security at the door. You don’t get in unless your name is on the list. Put some beefy Marine bouncers at the door and cops ready to cuff and stuff any miscreants. It seems these congresscritters have made it their purpose in life to stand up for this orange crook. Why? ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2019, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/3233 "2019-10-24T16:11:38Z")
In terms of not giving them the “Attica!” photo-op, I say let 'em take the “Here’s Johnny” approach if they’re dedicated enough. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2019, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/3234 "2019-10-24T16:15:00Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > I almost say, go ahead and let the hearings go public, at the republican’s insistence, and let any threats to national security be entirely owned by them. (other than, of course, I don’t like inviting threats to national security.) I’m not so much concerned with national security as the _personal_ security of witnesses and others called to testify. The Trumpists are keen to learn their identities so they can harass, intimidate, threaten, dox, “expose”, dig up dirt, create dirt, and otherwise to whatever they can to discredit and/or silence those opposed to Trump. Yes, Trump DOES have a right to confront the witnesses and evidence against him… in a TRIAL… which will take place AFTER he is impeached and is sitting before the Senate. I’d say someone needs to explain that to him, but he wouldn’t listen anyway. ---
**Author:** ![jasg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2019, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/3235 "2019-10-24T16:26:37Z")
Buried in a CNN [article](https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/23/politics/parnas-fruman-hustle-profit-access-giuliani/index.html) last night I this little gem… > [@CNN](#): > > Two weeks ago when they were arrested, Parnas and Fruman were preparing to fly to Vienna, Austria, to meet Giuliani and another key figure in the impeachment investigation, Ukraine’s former prosecutor general Viktor Shokin, according to four sources familiar with their trip. Shokin is the same Ukrainian official who former Vice President Joe Biden – along with other Western leaders – had pushed to have removed over concerns he wasn’t prosecuting corruption. > > While questions in Washington swirl around Shokin’s role in this controversy, Giuliani, Parnas, Fruman had specific plans for the former Ukrainian official up until the day of their arrest. According to those four sources, they told others they were headed to Vienna to help with a planned interview the next day: > > **Shokin, they said, was scheduled to do an interview from the Austrian capital with Sean Hannity.** The same day they were arrested at Dulles, AG Barr was meeting with the SDNY. That same evening, Barr met with Rupert Murdoch. I wonder what they had to discuss? It is also reported that the SDNY was monitoring twelve different cell phones. What are the odds Rudy or Sean were caught in a conversation? ---
**Author:** ![MulderMuffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldermuffin/32/2862_2.png) [@MulderMuffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MulderMuffin)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2019, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/3236 "2019-10-24T16:28:52Z")
k9befriender said: > [@](#): > > No snark here, do you actually have an idea of what they should have done? I was thinking of having them calmly escorted from the room by security, as they would do with anyone who was in a secure area they had no business being in, but I also realize as, k9befriender also said, according to their perspective > [@](#): > > …the democrats are automatically wrong. If they had arrested them, they’d be resisting the jackbooted thugs, if they had gone to another room, they’d be fleeing transparency. I’m just fuming at their unchallenged audacity. At least, _at least_, they should be facing sanctions from the House. ---
**Author:** ![Skypist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skypist/32/169_2.png) [@Skypist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skypist)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2019, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/3237 "2019-10-24T16:30:40Z")
> [@Fiveyearlurker](#): > > I’m still struck by the fact that the Republican theory of the case is that there was a vast deep state conspiracy to swing the election to Hillary Clinton by spying on the Trump campaign and coordinating efforts to hurt Trump’s election, yet it somehow forgot to actually spring the trap before the election. This right here. Very incompetent deep state if you ask me! Yet they ignore what Comey did to Hillary and the deep state that was so against trump let Comey do it. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2019, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/3238 "2019-10-24T16:34:26Z")
> [@jasg](#): > > Buried in a CNN [article](https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/23/politics/parnas-fruman-hustle-profit-access-giuliani/index.html) last night I this little gem… > > The same day they were arrested at Dulles, AG Barr was meeting with the SDNY. That same evening, Barr met with Rupert Murdoch. I wonder what they had to discuss? > > It is also reported that the SDNY was monitoring twelve different cell phones. What are the odds Rudy or Sean were caught in a conversation? I happened to be watching CNN when that was announced. My friend and I both laughed out loud at it. It probably won’t amount to anything, but it’s such a lovely little grace note. One can’t but help admire the symmetry of Hannity being involved. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2019, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/3239 "2019-10-24T16:39:11Z")
> [@MulderMuffin](#): > > k9befriender said: > I was thinking of having them calmly escorted from the room by security, as they would do with anyone who was in a secure area they had no business being in, but I also realize as, k9befriender also said, according to their perspective > > I’m just fuming at their unchallenged audacity. At least, _at least_, they should be facing sanctions from the House. That would be Streisand effect. Instead the Ds behaved like the adults in the room that they are right now, ignoring the toddlers tantruming to try to get their way … and if not that then at least some attention. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2019, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/3240 "2019-10-24T16:41:50Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > … > Yes, Trump DOES have a right to confront the witnesses and evidence against him… in a TRIAL… which will take place AFTER he is impeached and is sitting before the Senate. I’d say someone needs to explain that to him, but he wouldn’t listen anyway. My emphasis. And someone needs to explain that to the people on this board who keep bringing it up! :dubious: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771.md?page=161) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771.md?page=163)