David Frum: Uncontradicted

[babylonsister]

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/02/michael-cohen/583783/

Uncontradicted
Republicans on the House Oversight Committee impugned the integrity of Trump’s former lawyer—but failed to defend the president from his key charges.
5:29 PM ET
David Frum


Michael Cohen’s testimony to the House Oversight Committee was uncontradicted. The former personal attorney of the president of the United States today accused him of a litany of crimes, improprieties, immoralities, and betrayals of national security. And not one Republican member of the committee breathed one word in defense of the leader of their party.

Those Republicans have learned the hard way never to trust President Donald Trump’s denials.

Did he direct payoffs to a porn star? Trump denied it. It was true.

Was the Trump Organization pursuing a hotel project in Moscow while he was running for president? Trump denied it. That was true too.

Did his campaign meet with someone claiming to be an agent of the Russian state to seek dirt on Hillary Clinton? Denied. True.

Was there fraud at the Trump Foundation? Denied. True.

snip//

The Republican case against Cohen was to reiterate over and over that Cohen is a convicted liar. As he is. As are Trump’s campaign chairman, Trump’s deputy campaign chair, and Trump’s first national security adviser. It’s bold to cite the criminality of so many of Trump’s associates—and maybe more to come—as proof of Trump’s innocence.

And obviously the Republican committee members know it. None of them would dare say that Trump is truthful in speech or honest in business. None would say it is impossible he said the things about black Americans that Cohen alleges he said. Even the allegations Cohen could not corroborate are all so hideously plausible that the most pro-Trump Republicans on the Oversight Committee shied from gainsaying them.

Cohen’s testimony may not all prove correct. But all of it is plausible—and not a word of it has been contradicted, let alone refuted.

[Wednesdays]

1. Well, they did parade one POC before the committee

to prove that tRump is not a racist.

[SunSeeker]

8. She was "Trump's black."

Ironically, their stunt only confirmed racism.

[Hekate]

2. Kick

[sinkingfeeling]

3. Let's read this into the committee record as well.

[keithbvadu2]

4. Jim Jordan Says He's Never Heard Trump Lie

Watch: GOP Congressman Jim Jordan Says He's Never Heard Trump Lie, Fumbles When Confronted With Evidence

https://www.newsweek.com/gop-lawmaker-jim-jordan-donald-trump-never-lied-889057

[Honeycombe8]

5. Smart man.

I can see why he and others write and give opinions about politics...because they're so smart, observant, and able to phrase things so well.

I hadn't noticed this, but I suppose it's true.

In a way, it's not, though...maybe. Because the Republicans take the position that what Cohen says is not true. So the implication is that when Trump denies he knew about the emails, that's true, because Cohen is lying when he says Trump knew about the emails.

I don't think the Republicans were effective. They didn't argue specifics. They just attacked Cohen's character, when everyone knows that Cohen, as a member of Trump's fixer, is dirty. But therein lies the problem. Trump's fixer is dirty because Trump is dirty.

[jimmil]

6. That is all they had to do

is attack Cohen's character. The base GOPer has no need for facts to have an opinion.

[Honeycombe8]

7. I was also thinking about all the possible crimes...

it's so complex, and there is so much evidence & different kinds of evidence, that the people who haven't been following these details all along will never understand it all. So they'll never believe it, if they don't know and understand the evidence.

[SunSeeker]

9. K & R