Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
Greg Sargent: Trump's impeachment trial will be a sham. Here's how to blow up his lies.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/11/25/trumps-impeachment-trial-will-be-sham-heres-how-blow-up-his-lies/
By Greg Sargent
Opinion writer
November 25, 2019 at 9:09 a.m. EST
President Trump’s coming impeachment trial in the Senate will be awash in Russian propaganda. Literally.
Senate Republicans are planning to use the trial to promote the conspiracy theory that Ukraine, not Russia, interfered in the 2016 election, in collusion with Democrats. They will do this even though intelligence officials have privately warned those same Republicans that this has been a central trope in Russian disinformation efforts for years.
But there may be an easy way to blow up this strategy, which will be absolutely central to Trump’s defense. Indeed, there may be an easy way to show that Republicans privately possess extensive concrete information that undermines this theory -- yet continue to push it, anyway.
<snip>
Republicans should be pressed on this point
In the coming days, Republicans should be pressed on what the GOP-controlled Senate Intelligence Committee has turned up in the way of evidence supporting this narrative. The answer to this is likely to be: Nothing.
Indeed, every Republican on that committee may well already know this to be the case. If and when they echo the Trump narrative, they should be pressed on that point as well. And so should Burr.
None of this, of course, will stop Trump’s defenders from continuing to make these wild claims. But hopefully it can be demonstrated to the American people that Republicans themselves possess extensive information debunking them.
</snip>
By Greg Sargent
Opinion writer
November 25, 2019 at 9:09 a.m. EST
President Trump’s coming impeachment trial in the Senate will be awash in Russian propaganda. Literally.
Senate Republicans are planning to use the trial to promote the conspiracy theory that Ukraine, not Russia, interfered in the 2016 election, in collusion with Democrats. They will do this even though intelligence officials have privately warned those same Republicans that this has been a central trope in Russian disinformation efforts for years.
But there may be an easy way to blow up this strategy, which will be absolutely central to Trump’s defense. Indeed, there may be an easy way to show that Republicans privately possess extensive concrete information that undermines this theory -- yet continue to push it, anyway.
<snip>
Republicans should be pressed on this point
In the coming days, Republicans should be pressed on what the GOP-controlled Senate Intelligence Committee has turned up in the way of evidence supporting this narrative. The answer to this is likely to be: Nothing.
Indeed, every Republican on that committee may well already know this to be the case. If and when they echo the Trump narrative, they should be pressed on that point as well. And so should Burr.
None of this, of course, will stop Trump’s defenders from continuing to make these wild claims. But hopefully it can be demonstrated to the American people that Republicans themselves possess extensive information debunking them.
</snip>
4 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
all of those Republican Senators whom went to Russia on July 4, 2018, one of whom, John Kennedy (R-LA) was on the news shows yesterday pushing this very hard. I'm not saying that there's a coincidence but...............
