On China, Biden is Diet Trump
House Managers show dramatic footage during Day Two of Impeachment
Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign manager Steve Bannon once said that the next several decades would decide if China would establish hegemony over the globe. So, if that’s the level we were at in the previous administration then Joe Biden calling China “America’s greatest competitor” seems a bit tame.
Yet the policies put in place by Trump, including a Phase One trade deal, have yet to be reversed by Biden unlike many others that were evaporated by executive order. The latest news is a new task force set to investigate our military presence in Asia with an eye toward Beijing.
But that does seem to be a break from the urgency of Trump who viewed our Eastern frenemies with the urgency of a burning building. Biden seems to be taking things back to the way we used to do it, meetings to asses the possibility of another meeting which will happen after we schedule another meeting based on previous protocol. This is very good news for those who believe Trump’s slapdash handshake diplomacy destroyed American credibility.
However, if you are of the opinion that China takes advantage of our process-oriented Western diplomacy then this is certainly not good news. More so if you don’t have faith in international organizations that China clearly manipulates.
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I'm sorry, but what part of "I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard." is inciting violence?
Look, I find President Trump's actions after the election results as deplorable as anyone else, but incitement to violence?
I saw a soapbox preacher stirring up a crowd to make their voices heard to demand more transparency and accountability into the election process. And there were people who took advantage of that call to action to go do something stupid. - CHAD
The problem with watching SO MUCH TRUMP over the last four years is that none of what he said on the 6th was particularly different. He’s said some version of the “you gotta fight like hell or you won’t have a country” line a million times. Sometimes it’s about immigration, sometimes it’s about The Swamp and this time it was about the election. I have a hard time seeing that as “ordering the Code Red.”
His greatest sin was no understanding why candidates lay down their campaigns. He pushed it way too far and when he finally burned his hand on the stove he pulled back as fast as he could. He could have done it from a position of strength but he didn’t.
As I pointed out in the Trump Campaign Undertaker podcast, nothing with him ends quietly.
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Your 2 impeachment 2 furious quip was good. Do you think of this was 2 fast 2 impeachment it would be different? Had Pelosi moved fastest? - SEAN W
Eh, that’s a delicate balance. Would it have been a different political reality if it happened while he was still in office? For sure. The GOP couldn’t hide behind the “this is unconstitutional” defense for one. But that required the cooperation of Mitch and the Democrats didn’t have the working relationship there to make that happen.
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To be brief, I'm right and you're wrong! - HALFNORMAL
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In response to you saying that this impeachment trial will be forgotten instantly I ask: have any impeachment trials not been forgettable?
Trump's first vanished in a puff of 2020, Johnson's didn't stop him from being appointed senator after his presidency (and they were as close to calling him treasonous as they could squint and get away with,) and I don't remember Clinton's all that well, but I think most of what we remember is the salaciousness of the Starr report and not much about the actual trial, which certainly didn't hurt his numbers much.
The only trial that mattered was the one that didn't happen with Nixon because he knew he was going to lose. - AARON
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The January 6th impeachment montage reminds me of that common scene in superhero movies, the stand-off between a well-trained and equipped armed force against a single, super-powered individual. Perhaps the individual is a villain, perhaps a hero, or perhaps both. Clearly, the power dynamic should lean heavily in favour of the armed force, but the individual seems oddly confident and with a single sweep of the hand, a touching of a mystical MacGuffin, or the utterance of some powerful magic words, the tide changes and reveals the truth.
Whether the consequence was intended or not, January 6th was an awesome display of the power of one man. Did that power just evaporate? Do the powerless get posthumously impeached?
As I reflect on this, the ominous words of another super-powered man, one William Shatner, fills my mind with despair:
Has been implies failure. Not so.
Has been's history. Has been, was.
Has been...might again. - KEN
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You’ve often said that there is no power but future power. We’ve got guaranteed power in Cocaine Mitch, running against the potential power of Big Chungas. When it comes to the final impeachment vote, who do GOP senators vote with should Mitch declare his preference and vote is to convict? Whose level of future power is higher, in that case? - BEAU
Right now, Mitch is as powerful as a minority leader gets. If history is a guide then he could be majority leader in two years. But Trump could either be a kingmaker to congress at worst or the president again in four years. If Trump stays active he’s more powerful.
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In junior high, I lived in Phoenix during the impeachment/recall of Gov. Meacham. Due to a connection through church, my dad and I were able to sit in the courtroom during part of the trial. I think Rose Moffard ended up gov after that. I don't remember any details and can't be bothered to look them up. But it was one of my earliest political memories. The only earlier one is some kids in 4th grade telling me how bad Reagan was due to Star Wars which would cause the Russians to nuke us. - MATTHEW