Could this be the reason why I and so many others are extremely frustrated?

[shockey80]

There are dozens of active investigations connected to Trump and all of them are in some form of limbo. Some are being blocked over and over again. Some we hear very little or nothing about them. Some of these investigations have been active for years. What are the odds of not one of these investigations not moving forward and giving us good news?

There are a half dozen House investigations and they are all being blocked. Even when the Democrats win a decision to move forward it is blocked again.

There are a half dozen investigations active in SDNY. We hear nothing.

There are investigations in The AG office of NY. We hear nothing.

Mueller farmed out a dozen investigations and we don't even know what they are about. I had a thought, Could this be the reason Mueller has been mostly silent. He knows what's coming. We don't know. We are in limbo on everything.

Gates and Flynn are still cooperating. Cooperating with what? How long will that continue? That's strange!

When Mueller wrote his report he did an excellent job in many ways but it fell short. There was a conspiracy and he was unable to charge anyone because people lied and destroyed evidence. That is frustrating to say the least. This has left so many questions
Unanswered and Mueller at this time does not want to answer them. The Mueller report when released came out of limbo and then went right back into limbo.

If just one investigation would move forward it would help our Moral. If the House got his bank records and tax records that would at least show us progress. How long will it be before we get a single break through with all these investigations? Will it happen this year, 2020, longer? None of us know. When will there be open hearings. Will they ever happen? We don't know.

On top of all this frustration, Trump continues never to pay a price for anything he does.

Dam, I guess we have a good reason to be frustrated.

What we all need is for there to be a single run put on the scoreboard. A grand slam would be great, but all we need is a single run to boast our moral, that there is hope we can win the game.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

1. Sick of the lyin sack o shit gettin away with everything... it's WAY past time for him to go!!

Impeach him already!!


Bernie & Elizabeth 2020!!!
Welcome to the revolution!!!

[procon]

2. Dems are in desperate need of a top notch publicist and

a Madison Avenue PR firm. TPTB don't seem to understand, or value, the power of communication in the information age where knowledge is power. Since they aren't willing to engage the public and the media on a daily (even multiple pressers a day) then shop it out to the professionals who will coordinate a comprehensive branding makeover and public awareness blitz.

[Cetacea]

4. +10000

This my main issue with leadership. GOP controls the narrative largely through TV, and not just on Fox. The election news editor for CNN is now a republican.

[JudyM]

5. +1000. That's what we need more than anything. I remain flummoxed that they're not pursuing this.

[ancianita]

13. + 100000 THIS.

[CaptainTruth]

21. +1000 I've been saying this for years.

I've run into people who can't name a single thing Barrak Obama did in 8 years in office.

Because Dems didn't talk about it.

Like it or not we live in the age of marketing, & the Right is kicking our butts in that department.

[pecosbob]

22. I agree one hundred percent

I believe the Democratic Party's big tent structure limits our ability to create a focused message. Our diversity lends itself to division when shaping our message and often these divides are easily widened by our opponents. When your caucus includes the spectrum from Dem-Socialists to blue dogs it not surprising that can be difficult to hammer on a theme the way the Republicans can.

What's imperative is that we require our Democratic officials, both blue dog and lefty to mind their comments judiciously so as not to aid our opponents. The upcoming election will now carry great portent for reproductive rights along with everything else it involved last go-round. What we definitely don't need is to 'move right' or 'move left'...we just need to remain Democratic.

This from an avowed lefty.

[greymattermom]

27. The message the important accomplishments one at a time.

Diversity is our strength.

[rampartc]

28. +1 it has disadvantages but as long as we work together .......

[Bettie]

3. Yes. A single win

a tiny victory would be good, but it all seems to be in a holding pattern and now all we're hearing is that the giant baby hasn't soiled himself or grabbed anyone's genitalia in public, so he's "presidential" while on his joke of a state visit.

[Locrian]

6. this is one of the main things they don't get...

That the game is not the same - that going thru the "normal channels" and process is NOT ENOUGH.

Like it or not, a lot of this plays out in real time through the media and increasingly on line.

You're feeling the exact thing that this new system feeds on. The gop seems to have "gotten" this somehow and are using it to their advantage to control the narrative.

[LiberalLovinLug]

7. Yes exactly

We are in a new age of social media + reality TV. Trump, for all his shortcomings, is adept at these two arenas. As well the GOP is ahead of Democrats.

But more than that, it is what the message is, how you frame the message. The "normal channels" are clogged up, old, and rusty. No one, or not too many other than the conservative old guard wing, believes otherwise. Unfortunately they steer the PR rules.

Its not that you don't still use the slow advance of procedural requirements, on an technocratic level, but what the Democrats lack is the publicity angle as a part of a two pronged attack. This fear of upsetting the applecart by getting too emotional on air, or risking being accused of exaggerating the threat, or still desparatly clinging to the failed "if they go low, we go high" strategy which they insist includes poltitely letting the GOP spokepeople talk loudly over top of them rattling off 5 or 6 lies about them in quick succession, and taking up the whole segment. Hoping beyond hope that viewers will watch and conclude that the spokesperson that was meek and polite must be the one that is right. Meanwhile the sensationalism of the explosive "alternative facts" that the R spokesperson implanted stays with them.

Why can't we be the ones that knock? We should throw out accusations that aren't already stamped and proven in a court of law. Let them have to come on air bumbling, angry, red in the face at our absolute gall in accusing them of traitorous actions.

[Locrian]

17. it's really hard...

When you have had success in the past to see change happen at light speed.

I think a lot of the trusted "institutions" are breaking down and the power just isn't there. And the tactics have not changed to match the new landscape.

There just isn't the same level of control of the "message" that that there used to be in the past - and you cannot ignore that system dynamics have mutated due to the communications channels that now exist.

People talk AI and SOCI (self organizing collective intelligence) and while I don't know how much "intelligence" exists in gop / fake news - there's all these new "entities" that are challenging the old guard. And a lot of the old guard does not understand this.

Why are Apple, Google, Amazon, Facebook, on and on and on etc all now more powerful than the old "brick and mortar" factories? What medium and in what "space" do these companies exist? What is setting the pace and making the rules? What percentage of young vs old get any news on cable or old media? Like it or not - the communication is not on-way, and you can't run a party by meeting and strategizing and not fighting on the new battlefield.

[LiberalLovinLug]

20. Well put

I hope that we win the Presidency next time. And if we do, whomever it is, has to continue Trump's MO of using Twitter. Disgusting though that may sound. But it has nothing to do with following his ideas. Some may have laughed at this vehicle he used at the beginning, but its a way to propel any message, whether true or not, to a great audience. Over the corporate media who have their own agendas.

Heck, I don't even have a twitter account, but nothing significant said on that platform gets past me because I still use the internet, go to news sites like this, and others, where every tweet is discussed. I think Obama could have made use of that strategy of using social media more as well. Its a new era, I hope we don't snap back to assuming that voters prefer the old channels once again. Because Trump and Putin, and his army of deplorable trolls will be tweeting every day after the next election no matter who wins.

[Locrian]

30. the "internets" need to grow up...

and hopefully people learn how to deal with the medium

But right now it's a 12 yr old adolescent with delusions - complete with all the bad behavior. And it's very powerful and fast.
People need to learn how their brain works, how they're being manipulated (on line and by their own biases).
And there needs to emerge a way to better collaborate w/o trolls etc...

How that happens who knows - but we can't ignore it, lest that "system" grows up into an even more psychotic, sociopathic, powerful system.

[EffieBlack]

8. Do you really believe that Speaker Pelosi and the Dem leadership "don't get it"?

But you do?

[FrankBooth]

15. 1000x this

Who should we choose to put our faith in, when none of us are privy to what's going on behind closed doors?

Disgruntled, anonymous and often histrionic internet posters who may be sincere (or not) ... or Pelosi & crew? You know, those with the experience, incentive & proximity to do what's right for the country and the party.

Pretty easy decision in my eyes.

[EffieBlack]

16. Pretty much a no-brainer, isn't it?

[MasonDreams]

9. 1st.they came for the journalists, then I don't know what happened.

[gldstwmn]

10. Courts take time. Trump and his lawyers know this and they are running out the clock on purpose.

Part of the reason people are concerned he won't leave office is because he thinks if he doesn't leave he can't be charged. This is why impeachment should never be off the table and always part of the calculus. We should be watching televised hearings on tv every day this summer.

[watoos]

23. This is where the battle is being fought

in the courts. Trump/Barr only want to delay until the election and Dems want all rulings expedited.

Republicans have a pretty good argument to give the courts to not expedite, Dems are merely carrying on a witch hunt against Trump to make him lose the election. If Dems had evidence against Trump they would be impeaching him. That's not my argument, to be clear, but why wouldn't Republicans use that argument? We can't get anyone to testify, to honor a subpoena. We have Jr. coming in and he set the terms of the subpoena, set the terms of the questioning. Now we have John fucking Dean coming in to testify before a committee, what the hell is that?

I don't have to know what's going on behind the scenes, I have a calendar. Debates are starting, elections begin in February, soon it will be 24/7 Steve Kornacki time.

It may be too late to impeach now. I hope the heck I am wrong.

This thread talks about who controls the narrative and the importance of it, impeachment hearings would certainly change the narrative.

[gldstwmn]

33. I feel like the momentum has shifted in the last two weeks and

not in our favor.

[George II]

11. Check out today's news. Few, if any, of the investigations are "in limbo".

[Kaleva]

12. I don't allow others or events outside my control to control my emotions.

I choose not to be a slave. There's nothing to be gained by empowering others to control my mood.

[Leith]

14. I completely agree

a few crumbs once in a while would be greatly appreciated.

C'mon, Democratic Party! Throw us a bone once in a while. We've been living in an information desert for too long and we're dying of thirst.

[Honeycombe8]

18. I wouldn't hope for a surprise from the Mueller team, if I were you.

He laid his cards on the table. Anyone but the Trump team was his decision. You say "he was unable to charge anyone because people lied and destroyed evidence." To the contrary, the evidence was there. He just chose to conclude it didn't rise to the level of a crime. As Preet Bharara said, someone else could have, and would have, reached a different conclusion.

Mueller is off the table. He's handed everything to Congress.

What you call "blocked" isn't actually blocked. The income tax return issue is working its way through the court system. We won the financial records from the accountant, but that's been appealed. Not blocked. It's being litigated.

They called Cohen before Congress. So we had that.

The appellate court will decide on the accounting records in July. If Trump loses, he'll appeal to the S.Ct. I don't know where the litigation on his tax records stands.

There's a lot going on. Mueller worked on his investigation for two years. The Democrats in Congress have been working on it, among other things, for four months.

Judging from what she has said, I don't think Pelosi wants to move forward with a paper impeachment. She is interested in impeachment only if there's a chance the Senate will also impeach, so he can be removed. She said if the Senate does not impeach, that may be viewed as absolving him of a crime, which would make it difficult to indict him later. That's what she said, so....

[watoos]

24. We have not seen the Mueller report,

that's what the right wing M$M keeps calling it. We have seen what Barr chose to allow us to see. We/Congress have not seen the entire Mueller report, Congress has not seen the grand jury testimony where all of the dirt is, Congress has not seen the FBI counterintelligence investigation report.

I really wish you would not claim that Mueller handed everything to Congress, he certainly has not, he handed everything to Barr. As bad as the redacted Mueller report was for Trump I can only imagine how much worse the rest of the hidden reports are.

[Honeycombe8]

32. Mueller turned in his full report with footnotes & evidence. And gave his conclusions.

Barr made redactions in the report and attached evidence. The administration and Congress will battle out the right of Congress to get the redacted references and the redacted evidence. (The original redactions have been scaled back; that report is viewable by Congress in a locked area.)

He gave Congress the path to impeach on obstruction.

I wouldn't look to anything else from Mueller. He's out of the picture, now. He did his deed and moved back to private life.

Getting the redacted evidence may help bolster an impeachment claim, but I think we've seen how the Senate reacts to Trump. Nothing short of a verified tape with Trump saying to Putin, "Let me aid & abet you with infiltrating our government and taking over our election," will drive the Senate to impeach. I'm not sure they would, even then.

Pelosi doesn't want to paper impeach. She's made that clear. IF there is evidence that she can't ignore and that the majority of the party insist on holding accountable, she might paper impeach then. She wants to "unify" the country; she said impeachment divides the country.

Mueller did not look at money laundering, money from Russia, and other money crimes by Trump. Congress is doing that. The Mueller Report is not related to that, unless there are some financial documents attached that Congress can use. Congress started requesting financial and tax records a while back. I think Deutsche Bank is in the process of producing records, unless that's in litigation, too.

[CaptainTruth]

19. We just had two wins in court. Trump's attempts to block the subpoenas of...

...Mazars, & Deutsche Bank & Capital One, both shot down in a big way by judges. If you read the decisions Trump's attorneys got their butts handed to them. What was especially delicious was how the judge in the 1st case explicitly ruled that Congress didn't have to have an investigative or legislative purpose to subpoena materials, they could be for future legislation, & it was not the court's place to question Congress' motives. That shoots down Trump's main argument in trying to block the subpoenas. Then, the judge in the 2nd case (decided 2 days later) cited the decision in the 1st case, so both judges united to tell Trump "sorry, your legal arguments are nonsense, you HAVE TO COMPLY WITH LAWFUL SUBPOENAS."

It's like the first judge shot him down, & after he crashed, the second judge poured gas over him & set him on fire.

This may not seem like a major thing, but I'm sure Trump wants to fight EVERY subpoena, & I expect there to be a LOT more subpoenas, so these rulings showed Trump that if he keeps bringing these challenges he'll just keep losing, & it will speed up the process going forward.

I had to go buy some yummy craft beer to celebrate.



Now I'm looking forward to some contempt of Congress votes!

[watoos]

25. I agree that we may get the accounting firm documents

before the election. I'm not celebrating until we get something more concrete that the average Joe/Jane can understand how evil Trump is. We don't need to win over Senate Republicans, that's a futile endeavor, we need to win over the American people.

[BlueJac]

26. That is right...

we all need a little something. I can not see why there is so much foot dragging, we must stay aggressive with these criminals or we will fail. This tip toe routine is driving everyone crazy! Those people that obstruct deserve to be punished.

[GulfCoast66]

31. There is no foot dragging. But unlike on TV things move slowly. Regardless of what the house does,

This will still be going on in 2020.

Trump will still be president in 2020.

The only thing that has ever mattered is the 2020 election. Trump is not going down unless the people vote him out. Our leaders understand that and are making what they think are the best decision to maximize the potential of him losing.

[smirkymonkey]

29. K&R