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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe FBI probe into Trump and Russia is huge news. Our political system isnt ready for it.
http://www.vox.com/world/2017/3/21/14983550/fbi-russia-trump-hearing-partisanshipThe FBI probe into Trump and Russia is huge news. Our political system isnt ready for it.
Updated by Zack Beauchamp@zackbeauchampzack@vox.com Mar 21, 2017, 8:20am EDT
Imagine someone had told you, a few years ago, that the FBI would soon be investigating a possible plot by a Republican presidential campaign to help Russia interfere in the US election and that this interference had ultimately helped Donald J. Trump become president of the United States. You would have laughed in their face, or maybe accused them of confusing reality with a particularly lurid Tom Clancy novel.
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Our political system isnt prepared for this kind of thing
If you want to understand how ill-prepared we are for a national debate over these allegations, look at Rep. Trey Gowdys performance during the hearing.
snip//
In a normal hearing, it would not be particularly troubling to hear Republicans playing defense for a Republican president. But this isnt a normal hearing. This was convened to discuss what are, best case, demonstrated lies from the presidents team about its contact with a hostile power. Worst case, its an investigation into a political crisis without precedent in US history.
Yet in a political environment so defined by polarization, its hard for Republican legislators to think outside of partisan boxes. Thats how they approached the Benghazi investigation, when they were in the opposition and thus had an incentive to look for scandal; its how the party is approaching the Trump-Russia investigation now, when theyre in government and thus have an interest in turning a blind eye.
This is a very serious problem. The New York Times reports that FBI counterintelligence investigations can take years and dont often lead to criminal charges. A congressional investigation in which Republican lawmakers subpoena Trump officials and force them to testify under oath would be a vital way of providing the public with information about these extremely serious allegations.
But Republicans, judging by Mondays performance, seem to have no interest in providing this kind of oversight. Since theyre in the majority, they control whether or not theres an official congressional investigation and thus whether or not Trump officials will be forced to testify under oath. Partisanship may well be destroying our ability to get to the bottom of an issue of vital national concern.
Mondays hearing was stunning in more ways than one.
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The FBI probe into Trump and Russia is huge news. Our political system isnt ready for it. (Original Post)
babylonsister
Mar 2017
OP
underpants
(182,904 posts)1. Repubs are caught between their propaganda and governing/reality
Their believers are a rabid bunch and they know it. Their masses just want to hear what they hear all day on their TV and from the dashboard in the car, the "greatest hits". One small misstep or, dare to think of it, actual dissent will get them cast out never to return.
yeoman6987
(14,449 posts)2. Trump has been given secret hearings on russia
Yet he seems like he. Oils care less about it.
malaise
(269,187 posts)3. An excellent piece
It's always power over patriotism for ReTHUGs
L. Coyote
(51,129 posts)4. Rachel has historical context. Context is everything, and complexity isn't easy to comprehend.
Is Trump the Swiftboat Admiral?
We really need to see this in context, the larger geopolitical context, but especially the context of the cast of characters on the far rightist USS Swiftboat's long journey of impeaching Democrats, stealing elections, and corrupting the government. Time to sink that stinking Titanic of bullshit.
We really need to see this in context, the larger geopolitical context, but especially the context of the cast of characters on the far rightist USS Swiftboat's long journey of impeaching Democrats, stealing elections, and corrupting the government. Time to sink that stinking Titanic of bullshit.
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