"Trump reached the W.H. without a thorough vetting. Democrats have an opportunity to remedy this."

[Miles Archer]

Which Investigations Will the Dems Launch First?
They will have plenty of targets to choose from come January.
DAVID CORN JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2019

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2018/12/which-investigations-will-the-dems-launch-first/



And then there are Trump’s income tax returns, which he has steadfastly refused to make public. Under federal law, the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee has the power to request anyone’s tax returns, with no vote needed in the House or Senate. How will the White House respond to any of these investigations? Regarding the Mueller probe, Trump once said that any investigation of his family’s finances would be a red line. The day after the midterms, he threatened to adopt a “warlike posture” if Democrats launched investigations of him. He even vowed to counterstrike with Senate scrutiny of House Democrats. A defiant Trump might refuse to recognize the Democrats’ requests and subpoenas—which could lead to courtroom confrontation.

Trump’s strongman posturing has done nothing to stifle Democrats’ investigative plans. But the Democrats do want to make sure voters see them as working hard on subjects like health care and education, and not just as Inspector Javert obsessively pursuing Trump.

Trump, meanwhile, has no desire for such equanimity. Prior to becoming president, he often described his No. 1 rule of business as this: If someone screws you, screw ’em back—10 times worse. Crisis is his natural habitat, and he will have no interest in reasonable resolutions of any of these disputes. Given his volatile nature, he could at any time pull a move that would spur the House Democratic leadership to put aside restraint and consider impeachment.

To a large degree, Trump reached the White House without a thorough vetting. His taxes, his business deals, his overseas connections, and his mob ties received little scrutiny in 2016, and the excesses, conflicts, and scandals of his administration have been mostly ignored by his Republican handmaids on Capitol Hill. Now Democrats have an opportun­ity to remedy this neglect. Yet the effort to hold Trump accountable will test the workings of our checks-and-balances system and indubitably end up a wild ride—perhaps a constitutional crisis. And it remains to be seen if Trump and his White House can withstand the assault of scrutiny that is coming.

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2018/12/which-investigations-will-the-dems-launch-first/

[ffr]

1. Because the M$M's false equivalency that HRC's failed attempt at Health Care Reform

was somehow a black eye, at least as bad as tRump's mob ties, Russian ties, crooks within his inner circle, conflicts of interest, etc. Then there's James Comey's letter to congress 10 days before the election in violation of norms and the Hatch Act, without mentioning also that tRump was under FBI investigation on a far more sinister note.

Everything and everyone was working against Hillary and it worked!

[Charlotte Little]

2. A Little Aside

I follow David on Twitter and he makes me laugh every day he tweets:

[global1]

3. When The Dems Start Fielding Their Candidates For President For 2020, They...

need to make sure that they have criteria for the potential candidates and that each of these potential candidates meets that criteria or they won't be allowed to put themselves in the running for the job.

The Repugs didn't do their job of making sure that each of their candidates was qualified and met all the criteria (i.e., released their tax documents, etc). That's how we got Trump. I blame the Repugs from the get go.