Friday, September 27, 2019

Kurt Volker Gets Out of Dodge


That was quick. Trump's envoy to Ukraine, Kurt Volker, has quit.
His departure came just days after Mr. Trump’s efforts to pressure Ukraine’s president to investigate former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and other Democrats came to light and triggered a full-blown House impeachment inquiry. House leaders announced on Friday that they would interview Mr. Volker in a deposition next week.

12 comments:

Trailblazer said...

Makes me wonder; when will the Trump administration hit critical mass and have multiple defections?
When Trump was elected the GOP was hesitant to back him.
Upon seeing the benefits that is making easy monies they ,at first, slowly supported him.
As he bastardised the USA elected government and made power and influence acceptable they, the elected officials flocked to his side.
When the end game, that is Trumps demise, becomes inevitable just how quickly will the GOP run to the confessional?

TB

Anonymous said...

The GOP will never run to the confessional. They're already talking about an anonymous vote in the Senate. That'll allow them all to claim that they supported him, while sticking in the shiv. After that they'll flush the whole experience down the memory hole and blame the ensuing economic crisis on the Dems, just like they did after the Dubya disaster.

Cap

Northern PoV said...

The GOP will never run to the confessional.

They will unite behind tRump, call it all fake news and keep going.
If the House has the balls to actually impeach, it will fail in the Senate and possibly fire up tRumps base for the election.

Clinton was impeached for lying about a blow job was not convicted by the Senate.

The Mound of Sound said...


Public opinion carries the day. If the public want the bastard gone I doubt there'll be much sympathy to be had in the Senate. The MSNBC clip below cites three polls, conducted before the Ukraine transcript surfaced, as showing a 13% shift in opinion in favour of impeachment.

Numbers talk. Trump is the only president on record who has never hit 50% approval in the polls. His re-election numbers are in the tank. If the public want him gone the Repugs, having already lost the House, will be facing the prospect of risking their grip on the Senate all for a guy even they don't like with a dim future.

Northern PoV said...

Mound,
Perhaps these words are a little different but I know I read exactly the same thing on your blog before. (But not for a while.)

"Trump is exactly the creature this system was designed to produce. He is not a bug of it—he is its apotheosis—" ...Counterpunch

I hope you are correct and that they manage to grab Pense at the same time, otherwise he's the incumbent in 2020 and likely to win.

I predicted (to howls of outrage) Trump's 2016 victory. I think he'll be re-elected in 2020.

Sincerely hope I am wrong and you are correct.

Northern PoV said...

BTW, I was one of the one-hundred-thousand folks marching in Vancouver yesterday. I'll wager that all those folks are voters and I can guess who they will not be voting for: Jr & Dimples.

Trailblazer said...

The country seems to be heading toward a division based upon those that believe climate change is of our own doing and those that don't.
Could it be the end of party politics as we have known it?

TB

Northern PoV said...

Could it be the end of party politics as we have known it?

we should be so lucky

the salamander said...

.. everything is becoming muddled - addled is the term re Trump though. At this ludicrous stage of his 'arc' .. he is 'riding the tiger - but dare not dismount' .. Without a doubt he must feel fear of being criminally charged if he relinquishes the Presidency. I do think he feels he can bluster through that.. via denials, hordes of lawyers.. but at this point.. try to stay on the tiger, recoup an absolute fortune.. as all ex Presidents do.. and 'take it with him' .. He really is the penultimate & ugly loser cheater liar of American history.. and he will be savaged without mercy

'the blundering buffoon President'
'the bone spurs warrior'
'the President who knew nothing, lied about everything'
'the most environmentally destructive President in history'

In all fairness though.. its Trump who has revealed the depravity of the GOP.. the brazen smugness of Mitch McConnell. If not for Trump the world would not know how depraved, racist, greedy, conniving, lying a huge percentage of Americans really are.. and haha.. Trump is a poster boy for that disgusting reality.

By the bye.. did you catch the announcement from top US military the other day.. to military who may attend a movie theatre for an early screening of The Joker ? Warning them of armed groups of incels.. who may be plotting gun massacres. 'Run, hide, remain quiet' and if they escape, prepare immediately to fight.. Welcome to TrumpWorld.. where a demented & disturbed former actor, John Voight calls Donald Trump, 'the finest nobleman in the country..' I kid you not.

I am reading Deliverance - James Dickey currently.. have seen the film mebbe 4 or 5 times.. and I am struck by - how in so many ways.. it was prescient.. and so reflects the larger & contemporary shocking disaster.. the sheer backward inbred ignorance,. depravity, murderous intent.. its as if The River Runs Through It.. has zombies or rabid cannibals in most chapters or scenes. Society 'as we think we know it' is blowing in the wind.. root hog or die.. put your faith in The Lord.. but keep your powder dry.. and your ballistics tables.. and your tidal tables waterproof & triple bagged, buckle up Mound, batten the hatches, reef your sails.. as Bruce Cockburn sang.. 'The Trouble With Normal Is it Always Gets Worse'

The Mound of Sound said...


NPoV, well done. My daughter works downtown and called me to fill me in on the protests. Did you take the SkyTrain in? I heard that Friday was not automobile-friendly, especially in a core where 'normal' is gridlock.

The Mound of Sound said...


TB, do you imagine half the country doesn't believe the reality of climate change or could it be they want to believe in their perceived vested interests in keeping the petro-party going?

The Mound of Sound said...


Sal, so many points. Let's dispense with Voigt first. He's a raving nutjob, on the scale of Ted Nugent only without brandishing guns.

There are those who suspect that Trump Inc. is desperate to keep a lid on the family's wheeling and dealing these past three years. Impeachment could let his pursuers go through the dirt he's swept under the carpet.

Trump has indeed exposed the Congressional Republicans as a pack of the utterly corrupt from Moscow Mitch to Devin Nunes to Lindsey Graham. They're all rotten to the core.

As for society going all to hell, I just picked up a 2nd hand book on self-sufficiency. It's something of an encyclopedia on everything you need to do when the lights go out for good - planting an urban garden, how and where to raise livestock within town limits, health and hygiene. The stuff on hunting and fishing I already pretty much know. It's the sort of how-to book you just keep on the shelf in the unlikely case you need it at some point.