When she received the letter, the Speaker realized for the first time how hurtful the impeachment process has been for Donald and immediately moved to shut the whole thing down. After all, keeping Donald happy is her ultimate mission in life.
Just kidding.
Back in January, the Speaker and the President had a power struggle over when he could give his State of the Union speech in the House chambers. This is what I said about Nancy Pelosi at the time:
Donald isn't used to dealing with a woman who's smarter than he is, stronger than he is and savvier than he is. Right now she also appears to be more powerful than he is. Donald sees women as either sex partners or subordinates. The women he interacts with most are employed by him and/or dependent on him. Speaker Pelosi is neither. He's not her husband, he's not her boss and he's not her daddy. She's not afraid of him and she's not intimidated by him. She's exponentially better at her job than he is at his.
It's still true. (Read the entire post here.)
Click the link below to read the letter:
This is Talking Points Memo's take on it:
In what reads as a six-page amalgamation of his go-to impeachment tweets, President Donald Trump sent House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) a lengthy screed to preserve his thoughts about impeachment in the annals of history.
“You have cheapened the importance of the very ugly word, impeachment!” he railed, accusing Democrats of being out to get him from the moment of his inauguration.
He called his conversation with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky “perfect,” as he has countless times before, and cited the final electoral vote count from the 2016 election, which he has also referenced ad nauseam.
He also brought up the Mueller report, claiming that Pelosi “completely failed” since there was “nothing to find.”
The letter is peppered with unorthodox capitalization and scattered exclamation points, much in the style of his usual tweets.
As he concluded the letter with his typical marker scrawl, he intoned that he wrote the letter so that people understand the situation in 100 years and ensure that it “can never happen to another President again.”
The letter comes somewhat late in the game for the House side of the proceedings, as the full chamber is expected to vote on the articles of impeachment on Wednesday. After that, they’ll be handed over to the Senate where the trial will be conducted. (This is the article in its entirety.)
Click here to read more about the emptiness of Donald's soul.
NEW: Letter from Trump to Pelosi re: impeachment https://t.co/2L3JxcVGT0 pic.twitter.com/YC11eUIsD2— Jason Leopold (@JasonLeopold) December 17, 2019
This is Talking Points Memo's take on it:
In what reads as a six-page amalgamation of his go-to impeachment tweets, President Donald Trump sent House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) a lengthy screed to preserve his thoughts about impeachment in the annals of history.
“You have cheapened the importance of the very ugly word, impeachment!” he railed, accusing Democrats of being out to get him from the moment of his inauguration.
He called his conversation with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky “perfect,” as he has countless times before, and cited the final electoral vote count from the 2016 election, which he has also referenced ad nauseam.
He also brought up the Mueller report, claiming that Pelosi “completely failed” since there was “nothing to find.”
The letter is peppered with unorthodox capitalization and scattered exclamation points, much in the style of his usual tweets.
As he concluded the letter with his typical marker scrawl, he intoned that he wrote the letter so that people understand the situation in 100 years and ensure that it “can never happen to another President again.”
The letter comes somewhat late in the game for the House side of the proceedings, as the full chamber is expected to vote on the articles of impeachment on Wednesday. After that, they’ll be handed over to the Senate where the trial will be conducted. (This is the article in its entirety.)
Philip Bump at the Washington Post points out that Nearly every thought he articulated over the course of six very Trumpian pages already exists on a server maintained by Twitter, Inc. Every point he makes is one that’s appeared before, in 280 characters on his favorite social media website. (Read more here.)
Twitter user The Hoarse Whisperer provides some context:
Umm. This is the most nutbag communication ever put to paper by a United States president.— The Hoarse Whisperer (@HoarseWisperer) December 17, 2019
This is the “Loco Lawn Sprinkler” of a severe narcissist absolutely untethered from emotional regulation as an unavoidable public shaming looms. https://t.co/kGj0vUZ0Lq
The sign-off tells the entire story.— The Hoarse Whisperer (@HoarseWisperer) December 17, 2019
Trump knows that he is 24 hours away from infamy. He is on the train tracks of history with the locomotive of impeachment bearing down.
This letter is so very Narcissistic Personality Disorder.
My lord, they’ll put this in text books. pic.twitter.com/puppUrEyDk
The most emotionally out-of-control time for a narcissist isn’t when they’re being publicly shamed or just after.— The Hoarse Whisperer (@HoarseWisperer) December 17, 2019
It’s when they know the public shaming is coming and they can’t do anything to stop it.
It feels like the last walk toward a firing squad to them. Excruciating.
Trump, like all narcissists, has no internal life. There is nothing inside.— The Hoarse Whisperer (@HoarseWisperer) December 17, 2019
His entire existence is dedicated to building a fragile, porcelain facade of what he imagines other people will admire, respect and adore.
Seeing a hammer swinging down is absolutely crushing.
Click here to read more about the emptiness of Donald's soul.
Barring his handlers keeping him away from his phone, expect an absolutely unhinged barrage of nutbaggery over the next 24 hours...— The Hoarse Whisperer (@HoarseWisperer) December 17, 2019
...right up until the House votes to formally impeach.
These next 24 hours will be his most miserable as president.
Affix thy helmet.
Because of Trump’s false swagger and bravado, people underestimate how emotionally devastating impeachment is to his fragile, eggshell ego.— The Hoarse Whisperer (@HoarseWisperer) December 17, 2019
A public shaming is like being burned at the stake to a narcissist.
Trump is writhing.
And there is no escaping this one.
There is no particular danger to us in this meltdown. It’s entirely egocentric. It is akin to an overtired toddler utterly unable to regulate themselves.— The Hoarse Whisperer (@HoarseWisperer) December 17, 2019
While Trump has the power to do great damage, this particular moment is just a toddler breaking their own toys.
Tomorrow's going to be an interesting day.
Update: The Washington Post's head fact-checker weighs in:
Update: The Washington Post's head fact-checker weighs in:
Re-reading this astonishing letter, it seems clear that all Trump appears to know about Biden and Ukraine is the surface-level information he gleamed from Biden's CFR clip and Fox News bits. Too many things are wrong in the letter to suggest otherwise. ...— Glenn Kessler (@GlennKesslerWP) December 17, 2019
It was not $1 billion in U.S. aid. It was a $1 billion loan guarantee. A big difference a president should understand.— Glenn Kessler (@GlennKesslerWP) December 17, 2019
The prosecutor was not fired for digging into Burisma. The IMF, Euros and US wanted Slotkin out precisely because he was not investigating corruption. Biden was carrying out U.S. policy objectives.— Glenn Kessler (@GlennKesslerWP) December 17, 2019
Biden did not say the firing "looked bad". He said his son taking such a high profile job at the same time "may have looked bad" but there was nothing illegal about it.— Glenn Kessler (@GlennKesslerWP) December 17, 2019
Trump without irony quotes from the conversation that he told Zelensky "our country has been through a lot and Ukraine knows a lot about it." This a Russian-fueled fantasy that apparently the president has swallowed hook line and sinker.— Glenn Kessler (@GlennKesslerWP) December 17, 2019
... and Politico calls the letter a "stream of consciousness" diatribe:
Crafted more like one of his signature tweetstorms than a legal document, the letter was written “for the purpose of history and to put my thoughts on a permanent and indelible record,” according to the president. Replete with grammatical errors, odd capitalizations and language rarely seen in official White House documents, it castigates Pelosi for “declaring open war on American democracy” and “offending Americans of faith” in what Trump called an “election-nullification scheme.”
White House official denied that Trump was “frustrated” and venting in the letter.
“What do you mean frustrated?” the official said. “Why would he be frustrated if there's not a single Republican that is going to vote for his impeachment? He won.”
“He's trolling her now,” the official added, referring to Pelosi. “We watched for a year and everybody said, ‘Oh she‘s so powerful now, she‘s so brilliant.‘ Show me one power move that she‘s made. Show me one action that she prevailed on this year. I‘m serious.“ (Read the article here.)
The Speaker herself says it's "really sick":
John Dean goes there: ...take him over to the Tidal Basin!
From Christiane Amanpour, Donald's friend Chris Ruddy urges him to testify:
Crafted more like one of his signature tweetstorms than a legal document, the letter was written “for the purpose of history and to put my thoughts on a permanent and indelible record,” according to the president. Replete with grammatical errors, odd capitalizations and language rarely seen in official White House documents, it castigates Pelosi for “declaring open war on American democracy” and “offending Americans of faith” in what Trump called an “election-nullification scheme.”
White House official denied that Trump was “frustrated” and venting in the letter.
“What do you mean frustrated?” the official said. “Why would he be frustrated if there's not a single Republican that is going to vote for his impeachment? He won.”
“He's trolling her now,” the official added, referring to Pelosi. “We watched for a year and everybody said, ‘Oh she‘s so powerful now, she‘s so brilliant.‘ Show me one power move that she‘s made. Show me one action that she prevailed on this year. I‘m serious.“ (Read the article here.)
The Speaker herself says it's "really sick":
Pelosi says Trump's letter is "really sick." pic.twitter.com/8HtOUPVVny— TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire) December 17, 2019
John Dean goes there: ...take him over to the Tidal Basin!
Trump merely wants “Witch due process” which per Hist. Ch: “... accused witches were dragged to the nearest body of water, stripped to their undergarments, bound and then tossed in to to see if they would sink or float.” Skip the Senate trial, take him over to the Tidal Basin! https://t.co/cwXV1sYWF2— John Dean (@JohnWDean) December 18, 2019
From Christiane Amanpour, Donald's friend Chris Ruddy urges him to testify:
Close confidant of President Trump @ChrisRuddyNMX addresses @realDonaldTrump directly: "Mr. President, if you're watching this show, please testify. I think it would be good, because I think you're your number one witness." pic.twitter.com/t0yk3FEmUg— Christiane Amanpour (@camanpour) December 17, 2019
Finally for tonight, Donald's not the only one who can write a letter. 750 American historians have jointly signed a letter in support of impeaching the current President of the United States. Some of the names I recognized are Jonathan Alter, Douglas Brinkley, Robert Caro, Robert Dallek, Elaine Tyler May, Jon Meacham and Ken Burns. (Click here to see the full list.)
This is the letter:
We are American historians devoted to studying our nation’s past who have concluded that Donald J. Trump has violated his oath to “faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States” and to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” His “attempts to subvert the Constitution,” as George Mason described impeachable offenses at the Constitutional Convention in 1787, urgently and justly require his impeachment.
President Trump’s numerous and flagrant abuses of power are precisely what the Framers had in mind as grounds for impeaching and removing a president. Among those most hurtful to the Constitution have been his attempts to coerce the country of Ukraine, under attack from Russia, an adversary power to the United States, by withholding essential military assistance in exchange for the fabrication and legitimization of false information in order to advance his own re-election.
President Trump’s lawless obstruction of the House of Representatives, which is rightly seeking documents and witness testimony in pursuit of its constitutionally-mandated oversight role, has demonstrated brazen contempt for representative government. So have his attempts to justify that obstruction on the grounds that the executive enjoys absolute immunity, a fictitious doctrine that, if tolerated, would turn the president into an elected monarch above the law.
As Alexander Hamilton wrote in The Federalist, impeachment was designed to deal with “the misconduct of public men” which involves “the abuse or violation of some public trust.” Collectively, the President’s offenses, including his dereliction in protecting the integrity of the 2020 election from Russian disinformation and renewed interference, arouse once again the Framers’ most profound fears that powerful members of government would become, in Hamilton’s words, “the mercenary instruments of foreign corruption.”
It is our considered judgment that if President Trump’s misconduct does not rise to the level of impeachment, then virtually nothing does.
Hamilton understood, as he wrote in 1792, that the republic remained vulnerable to the rise of an unscrupulous demagogue, “unprincipled in private life, desperate in his fortune, bold in his temper, possessed of considerable talents…despotic in his ordinary demeanour.” That demagogue, Hamilton said, could easily enough manage “to mount the hobby horse of popularity — to join in the cry of danger to liberty — to take every opportunity of embarrassing the General Government & bringing it under suspicion — to flatter and fall in with all the non sense of the zealots of the day.” Such a figure, Hamilton wrote, would “throw things into confusion that he may ‘ride the storm and direct the whirlwind.’”
President Trump’s actions committed both before and during the House investigations fit Hamilton’s description and manifest utter and deliberate scorn for the rule of law and “repeated injuries” to constitutional democracy. That disregard continues and it constitutes a clear and present danger to the Constitution. We therefore strongly urge the House of Representatives to impeach the President.
Update #2 on Wednesday morning: Historians continue to sign on to the letter:
This is the letter:
We are American historians devoted to studying our nation’s past who have concluded that Donald J. Trump has violated his oath to “faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States” and to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” His “attempts to subvert the Constitution,” as George Mason described impeachable offenses at the Constitutional Convention in 1787, urgently and justly require his impeachment.
President Trump’s numerous and flagrant abuses of power are precisely what the Framers had in mind as grounds for impeaching and removing a president. Among those most hurtful to the Constitution have been his attempts to coerce the country of Ukraine, under attack from Russia, an adversary power to the United States, by withholding essential military assistance in exchange for the fabrication and legitimization of false information in order to advance his own re-election.
President Trump’s lawless obstruction of the House of Representatives, which is rightly seeking documents and witness testimony in pursuit of its constitutionally-mandated oversight role, has demonstrated brazen contempt for representative government. So have his attempts to justify that obstruction on the grounds that the executive enjoys absolute immunity, a fictitious doctrine that, if tolerated, would turn the president into an elected monarch above the law.
As Alexander Hamilton wrote in The Federalist, impeachment was designed to deal with “the misconduct of public men” which involves “the abuse or violation of some public trust.” Collectively, the President’s offenses, including his dereliction in protecting the integrity of the 2020 election from Russian disinformation and renewed interference, arouse once again the Framers’ most profound fears that powerful members of government would become, in Hamilton’s words, “the mercenary instruments of foreign corruption.”
It is our considered judgment that if President Trump’s misconduct does not rise to the level of impeachment, then virtually nothing does.
Hamilton understood, as he wrote in 1792, that the republic remained vulnerable to the rise of an unscrupulous demagogue, “unprincipled in private life, desperate in his fortune, bold in his temper, possessed of considerable talents…despotic in his ordinary demeanour.” That demagogue, Hamilton said, could easily enough manage “to mount the hobby horse of popularity — to join in the cry of danger to liberty — to take every opportunity of embarrassing the General Government & bringing it under suspicion — to flatter and fall in with all the non sense of the zealots of the day.” Such a figure, Hamilton wrote, would “throw things into confusion that he may ‘ride the storm and direct the whirlwind.’”
President Trump’s actions committed both before and during the House investigations fit Hamilton’s description and manifest utter and deliberate scorn for the rule of law and “repeated injuries” to constitutional democracy. That disregard continues and it constitutes a clear and present danger to the Constitution. We therefore strongly urge the House of Representatives to impeach the President.
Update #2 on Wednesday morning: Historians continue to sign on to the letter:
Update: Now over 1,500 and counting.https://t.co/HwpkJyaBdh— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) December 18, 2019
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