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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsReport: Trump Cited GOP Senate Impeachment Pressure As Reason to Kill Soleimani
Source: New York Magazine/Intelligencer citing the Wall Street Journal
1/10/20 11:02 A.M.
Deep inside a long, detailed Wall Street Journal report about President Trumps foreign policy advisers is an explosive nugget: Mr. Trump, after the strike, told associates he was under pressure to deal with Gen. Soleimani from GOP senators he views as important supporters in his coming impeachment trial in the Senate, associates said.
This would not mean Trump ordered the strike entirely, or even primarily, in order to placate Senate Republicans. But it does constitute an admission that domestic political considerations influenced his decision. That would, of course, constitute a grave dereliction of duty. Trump is so cynical he wouldnt even recognize that making foreign policy decisions influenced by impeachment is the kind of thing he shouldnt say out loud. Of course, using his foreign policy authority for domestic political gain is the offense Trump is being impeached for. It would be characteristically Trumpian to compound the offense as part of his efforts to avoid accountability for it.
What kind of pressure could Trump have in mind? It seems highly doubtful that he is worried 20 Republican senators would vote to remove him from office. He could be concerned that one or two of them would defect, denying him the chance to present impeachment as totally partisan (as he did following the House vote.) More plausibly, Trump might be worried a handful of Republicans would join Democrats to allow testimony from witnesses, like John Bolton, Trump has managed to block.
This would not mean Trump ordered the strike entirely, or even primarily, in order to placate Senate Republicans. But it does constitute an admission that domestic political considerations influenced his decision. That would, of course, constitute a grave dereliction of duty. Trump is so cynical he wouldnt even recognize that making foreign policy decisions influenced by impeachment is the kind of thing he shouldnt say out loud. Of course, using his foreign policy authority for domestic political gain is the offense Trump is being impeached for. It would be characteristically Trumpian to compound the offense as part of his efforts to avoid accountability for it.
What kind of pressure could Trump have in mind? It seems highly doubtful that he is worried 20 Republican senators would vote to remove him from office. He could be concerned that one or two of them would defect, denying him the chance to present impeachment as totally partisan (as he did following the House vote.) More plausibly, Trump might be worried a handful of Republicans would join Democrats to allow testimony from witnesses, like John Bolton, Trump has managed to block.
More at link: http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/01/report-trump-cited-impeachment-pressure-to-kill-soleimani.html
Emphasis mine.
Little by little, we're moving closer to the truth.
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Report: Trump Cited GOP Senate Impeachment Pressure As Reason to Kill Soleimani (Original Post)
Mike 03
Jan 2020
OP
Lee and Paul and one or two others might be right in this particular situation,
totodeinhere
Jan 2020
#7
sinkingfeeling
(51,484 posts)1. Throw another article of impeachment on the barbie.
Cousin Dupree
(1,866 posts)2. There are no words that adequately describe what I think about this.
Heron5
(71 posts)3. Just a little quid pro assassination
dontcha know. Its all the rage in the swamp.
BKDem
(1,733 posts)4. It's good to get verification.
But we all know that everything he does, he does to help only himself.
Is he guilty of virtually everything he's ever been accused of? I think the odds are very good, along with many things we haven't heard about yet. There is no bottom to Donald Trump.
rickyhall
(4,889 posts)5. Bury the bastard in Articles.
maxsolomon
(33,432 posts)6. Doesn't seem like it pulled Lee and Paul into line.
I wonder: which Republics were willing to trade their votes for Suleimani's death?
totodeinhere
(13,059 posts)7. Lee and Paul and one or two others might be right in this particular situation,
but it won't matter to most of their colleagues. And of course Lee and Paul are wrong on a lot of other things.
duforsure
(11,885 posts)8. Just another excuse for blame?
Did Trump leak this out to blame republican Senators with now? It wouldn't surprise me.