[mwfunk]

Your argument would be a lot more plausible had Trump not done absolutely everything in his power to look guilty as hell on a daily basis. This whole thing could've been shut down months ago with the barest modicum of transparency, integrity, leadership, and honesty from the administration.

Trump could have cleared this up in an instant if he had made even a token effort to behave like a responsible, competent, sane adult professional who cares about his his country and the people who live in it. Instead he has escalated this situation at every opportunity, culminating in this moment, which so far is the low-water mark for how low Trump is willing to sink.

None of what I wrote above has anything to do with whether or not Trump is guilty of treason- if he were 100% innocent and the victim of a political witch hunt, every scrap of the criticism above would still apply to him. However, if Trump is as guilty as he appears to be, this whole situation is infinitely worse- not just for Trump himself but for all Americans. I have often disagreed with aspects of my country's governance (under leadership of both parties), but the last 6 months and this moment in particular is a level of shame, embarrassment, and disgust that I have never felt in my 45 years as an American citizen. I love America and the principles upon which it (at least in theory) was founded, and this is just a fucking disgrace.

[rrggrr]

It was never getting shut down. This story is never going away. Regardless of the veracity - and I'm not taking sides - the alternative to the Russia narrative isn't up for discussion. HRC, etc. will never answer for having lost an election they had won.

[baakss]

> but the last 6 months and this moment in particular is a level of shame, embarrassment, and disgust that I have never felt in my 45 years as an American citizen.

I personally felt more disgust when we bombed a Doctors Without Borders hospital. But I guess Trump's kind of outlandish too.

[LyndsySimon]

> Your argument would be a lot more plausible had Trump not done absolutely everything in his power to look guilty as hell on a daily basis.

As a counterpoint:

"Appear weak when you are strong, and strong when you are weak" - Sun Tzu

[mwfunk]

That would apply if we were talking about a general in a war and his philosophy for dealing with his enemies. It might also be applicable to a metaphorical general in a metaphorical war, like when people use this quote when discussing competition in business. However if a public servant is thinking in these terms about his interactions with his own constituents and his colleagues after taking office, something is seriously wrong with that person. Running for office is a completely different activity than executing the responsibilities of that office after winning it.

When we're talking about not just a public servant, but arguably the public servant with more responsibility on his shoulders than any other human being in America if not the planet, the same principles apply a million times over.

[losvedir]

> This whole thing could've been shut down months ago with the barest modicum of transparency, integrity, leadership, and honesty from the administration.

That seems naive to me. This whole Russia smoke/fire thing is the left's version of the Benghazi scandal, IMO. Do you think Democrats are above a partisan stoking of fires to try to shut down their opponents, or is that just something Republicans do?

[gnaritas]

They are not remotely similar; Benghazi was investigated multiple times by republicans and each they time found nothing. It was a fake scandal. Dems are merely trying to have an investigation of something that actually happened; we all saw Wikileaks interfere with the election in a partisan manner only releasing things to damage Clinton. It warrants an investigation, it's not fake, it's not being investigated repeated times, they are not comparable situations.

[mejari]

Whether or not they're above it, there isn't any evidence that they've done it.