Okay, I’ll answer them, but I’m afraid my answers won’t tell you much, because of how you phrased them:
Is there any quantity of certifiably true data, both in variety and in completeness, which would convince you otherwise?
Yes.
That is to say, do you believe that this is true because of reality or because your mind refuses to contemplate the horror of the reality of living on a planet where nearly everyone is slightly above the level of a talking dog?
I believe it is true based on what I know of reality by living in it. As to the second part, no, that’s not it.
“The centrality of Hannity to all of this is just bananas. Key decision-maker in Ukraine policy, top collusionaire, “client” of Michael Cohen.”
“Huh?”, you’re asking.
Ambassador Yovanovich, wondering why she was being fired, was told by Pompeo (through a messenger), was told that Pompeo, or a subordinate, was going to call Sean Hannity and ask that very question.
Couple points – one, I know you posted this with the explicit statement that it was “gossip,” and for all I know everyone else who’s posted in a place that was destined to hit my eyeballs (FB & Reddit, I guess) was similarly skeptical, but it’s a pretty shocking claim, and I can’t help but feel that more reliable publications would have (and maybe did) pass on publishing it. Ultimately anything that spreads like wildfire that is later proven to be untrue just adds fuel to the right’s “can’t trust the media” campaign.
Two, regarding your “ah well” above – can we just say for the record that it’d be a good thing if this story is untrue? Because it means at least one depth of depravity to which our executive branch hasn’t sunk? I know we all want Trump gone but I’d prefer if everything bad he’s done has already come out, I don’t want more bad things happening in the world just to get meat for an impeachment trial.
If it links up Giuliani’s FARA violations in Ukraine (alleged) with Trump’s admitted criminality in his Ukraine dealings at issue in the impeachment inquiry, oh, yes. It is something.
As in, it might show that Giuliani is being paid by pro-Putin Ukrainians to engineer Trump’s withholding of military aid in exchange for help with his reelection campaign in 2020, which simultaneously benefits Putin in a big way.
Yes, it would be a good thing if this wasn’t true. I would go further and say that in “normal” US policy it wouldn’t be true and we wouldn’t give a rumor like this a second thought.
However, stuff like this is the result of giving your know-nothing son-in-law a title and position of authority. Being born rich doesn’t make you good or smart at anything. It does however lead you to believe that you are both smart and good at things. Hence an American resident gets chopped up by Saudis. All the best people.
This guy has been Russian mafia since conception. There is no way anything true or useful is coming from him. I’m going to predict that within 6 months we start seeing evidence of Russian hits made on American soil.
I have no strong objection to most of Trump’s policy at a high level, if we’re talking about things like reducing illegal immigration and forcing China to obey the law and stop trying to promote authoritarianism around the world. If the man was competent and not criminal, I wouldn’t really care if he was a narcissist and bully.
That’s not the reality, though.
Your concern that real evidence of criminal activity by Trump is misplaced. If he or his family is being blackmailed into doing things that are against the American interest and endanger our national security then it’s paramount that that information come out.
Consider that, over the last two years, Turkey arrested an American consulate worker, started to buy Russian weapons, we put them under sanctions (yes, they were already under sanctions- the current discussion is about adding more), and they’ve been serving as a path for Iranian soldiers to move into Syria, to establish bases and take over territory.
When Khashoggi was murdered, for no obvious reason, Turkey raised a holy hell about it, making sure everyone knew that they knew everything that there was about it. But, notably, despite that fuss and purported outrage they didn’t say a single thing to Saudi Arabia, didn’t pull their ambassador back, nor anything, they just released all the information and angry statements to the American press.
Erdogan, to our knowledge has never done anything positive for the US nor Trump.
We are still in Afghanistan. We did not bring the troops back home from Syria, we just moved them South, when Erdogan asked us to.
But how do you square “always” with the fact that you used the words “if” and “might” above? Now, I’m not saying this isn’t possible, but I think it’s a bit hasty to say it as of now.
I know we have a trade war with China, but what actually started it? In all of Trump’s blathering about tariffs and trade policy, I’ve never once heard him say what he wants China to do.
There are certainly issues in our trade relationship, like pirating intellectual property and currency manipulation. But can anyone find, in Trump’s own words, what the whole dispute with China is about? Trump started it; has he ever said why?
Has anyone mentioned Trump’s approval rating recently? The drop as shown at Five Thirty Eight since Pelosi announced a formal impeachment inquiry is striking. A full 2 point decline since that day. And a new poll shows even Kamala Harris with a nine point lead over Trump in a head-to-head battle. To state the obvious, it’s not looking good for Trump.
I’m not convinced yet. I follow the RCP conglomerate poll - it has remained fairly consistent. If this poll of polls goes above 56% disapproval, I will start to take notice.
It surprises me that people are still overestimating the electorate.
A lot of these polls don’t matter since they tend to be national. The polls that really matter are in the battleground states, and at the moment they seem to favor the Democrats, but I still think the election is going to be razor-thin in the battleground states. Tens of thousands of votes are going to decide the 2020 Presidential election. Currently, we have no idea if there’s going to be one or more third-party candidates and if so who they hurt more. My gut tells me that they can only hurt the Democrats more since the Republican party has become cult-like with the election of Trump. They will never abandon him in his time of need. Donald Trump could be in prison, after losing an election and if he says “I’m still the legitimate president”, then his followers will still believe it. Every conspiracy theory that comes out of Trump even while wearing an orange jumpsuit would be the gospel. The GOP will never* be rid of Trump. Even after he dies his chosen prophet Ivanka/Don Jr. will take up the reins.
never is, of course, is a very long time so I don’t mean this literally but Trump and his family are going to dominate Republican politics for quite some time.