>RE: if *this* doesnt move the needle at all
>then we no longer live in a nation of laws.

I think the last three years have demonstrated that it isn't fundamentally a nation of laws. The laws can be overruled by the norms and the norms can change.

And then there's the question of whether the norms even have changed. Nixon would have easily skated past Watergate if there hadn't been masses of incriminating audio and a close insider saying loud and clear that he broke the law.

But then Nixon didn't go to jail and John Dean did. And then there's Fox News. WH staffers know very well by now what the path of least resistance is.


>republicans are clearly on their heels with this. they have
>no solid talking points clearing the president. no 'no
>collusion. no obstruction'. just throwing a bunch of easily
>disprovable darts at hunter biden that arent really breaking
>through the noise.
>
>i love the fact that dems have put repubs on the defensive for
>once and vulnerable repub senators (along with the prez
>himself) are gonna have to answer for this in an election
>year.

I'm HOPING this can hurt some vulnerable Republican senators. Susan Collins and Cory Gardner are the obvious test cases. But all that is dependent on whether this ACTUALLY becomes a political liability for Republicans. Before all this came out it seemed like the polls consistently showed significant unpopularity for impeachment, which means more trouble for Democrats than for Republicans. I hope this changes that, but it's also very possible this just becomes another swing in the news cycle.

The fact that we've been claiming (accurately) since day 1 that Trump's presidency was illegitimate has really hurt our rhetorical case. A lot of the public doesn't even need talking points. They just think the Democrats and the Deep State are out to get their outsider president.