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Wednesday, February 27, 2019

ANTICIPATION

Well, I have read Michael Cohen's opening statement, courtesy of the NY TIMES, and I must say, whoever wrote it for him did a masterful job.  As the old saying has it, butter wouldn't melt in his mouth.  If he were Catholic, it would contain enough contrition to buy his way out of a ton of Hail Marys.  He is bringing documents!  I plan to watch the whole thing.

3 comments:

Christopher J. Mulvaney, Ph.D. said...

Two things to note: Republican strategy is threefold: attach the Committee on procedural grounds, ad hominem attacks on the witness, and finally, badger the witness.

The funniest/most absurd thing I have heard thus far was a statement my Rep Mark Meadows (R) NC to the effect that he has never heard Trump say anything racist. Say what!?

David Palmeter said...

If you didn't see Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's questioning of Michael Cohen today, it's worth taking a look.It's all over the internet.

No speeches, no grandstanding, but just good solid questions getting information of use to the committee and providing a basis for their asking for Trump's tax returns.

This is the second time I've seen her in action like this. A couple of weeks ago it was in questioning of an official of NIH on how the research system works: the taxpayers fund basic research, hand if off without fee or condition to the pharmaceutical companies who then follow up and make all the money. Again, to tut-tutting, no grandstanding. Just getting vital facts on the record. Impressive.

Christopher J. Mulvaney, Ph.D. said...

The one certain thing we knew when Trump was elected was that now a criminal family enterprise occupies the White House. Ocasio-Cortez's questions about asset inflation/deflation (depending on whether one wants to get a loan or cheat on taxes, respectively) were sharp, to the point, and a new line of inquiry opened by the next to last questioner, a rookie at that. Her line of questioning leads to the criminal enterprise that is Trump, Inc. Tax fraud, bank fraud, wire fraud, insurance fraud, etc. will be the line of attack that SDNY can use to demolish the Trump business.

Republicans were desperate to at least create the impression Cohen lied during the hearing but they failed. Ranking member Jordan actually accused Cohen of answering falsely based on his misrepresentation of the question asked. So Jordan lies in order to accuse Cohen of lying.

Against Cohen's claim of Trump's racism, Meadows, a N.C. Republican, defends Trump saying he has talked with Trump 300 times in private and never heard him say a racist thing while ignoring Trump's numerous public racist comments. Meadows claims not to be a racist because he has African-American relatives. The embarrassing scene of an African-American Trump employee being trotted out to say Trump is not a racist followed by the claim that now we have confirmed Trump is not a racist, is absurd on its face, and it is, we know, the first line of defense for a racist to say 'I've got a black friend, Im not a racist."

The most significant distortion in the way we conceptualize politics is the belief that Trump, and the Republican Party are republican and/or Conservative. They are neither. Rather, both the man and the party are fascists but we seem to lack the ability to call them fascists. And you can't be a fascist if you are not a racist.

It was notable that only one Republican, Justin Amash, comported himself in a civil fashion.