Boghul & Acephale

November 12, 2019

What are the odds that at least 19 GOP senators, in the spirit of justice, patriotism and fair play, vote to convict President Donald Trump (aka #Tweety, aka #PutinsBitch) when the House sends over the articles of impeachment based on a single alleged crime, of which the Prez and Republicans have already poisoned the narrative?  Will the Dems include real crimes like obstruction of justice? Is Mueller’s work in the toilet? What about the crimes of Individual 1? What about money laundering, crimes of corruption, conspiracy, campaign felonies, abuse of power, failure to uphold his oath of office, emoluments violations, violations of human rights, contempt of Congress, of the courts, all the contacts with Russia, anyone sane can add to this list. Do I need to go on? Damn! One fucking crime? Tweety used his office to denigrate a political opponent, then. That’s it. House Dems need to draw up a list of his crimes on a piece of butcher paper 20 feet long to present to the American people.

It doesn’t matter if 58% of American citizens, or 88%, are convinced that Tweety is guilty of numerous crimes and violations of the Constitution. The only people whose mindset counts are the 53 GOP senators in the US Senate and one Supreme Court Chief Justice.

Everybody in Tweety’s troika, the apparatchiks, weasels, toads, mouthpieces, MAGAts, psychopaths (whew!) et al, is a liar and a scofflaw. Every single one. The GOP representatives and senators are bought and paid for somehow, probably with kompromat. Behold Lindsey Graham, Geitz, Gym Jordan etc etc etc. who all say and do stupid shit every day.  Not one will buck his or her master. The consequences are probably pretty damn dire. They won’t vote to impeach their Wolf King in this life on penalty of death or worse.

Content creators are always saying ‘unprecedented’ about Tweety’s actions but they’re not unprecedented at all, only in America. In every authoritarian state and dictatorship today and forever, they’re as common as spit.

Anyone exposed to the American system of justice has good reason to expect consequences for ignoring a summons or subpoena, even the lawless scum in Tweety’s orbit. It’s simply how things are done here in the good ol’ USA. Every dirtbag who refuses a Congressional subpoena or summons knows there are consequences for this type of contempt. In fact, they call it Contempt of Congress. The villain “shall be guilty of a misdemeanor” and subject to a maximum of $1000 fine and a 12-month imprisonment. The steps to enforce such conduct are lugubrious if they must pass through William Barr’s Justice Department, which to you in the future means they’re as doomed as a House bill on Mitch McConnell’s desk or a fly at the trout farm.

Kia Rahnama wrote in Can Congress Fine Federal Officials Under Its Contempt Power? (Lawfare, June 11, 2019) that “any thorough review of the history and legal precedent behind congressional investigations of power in America would suggest that Congress will prevail” for the following reasons, in part.

Courts would rather not be involved in enforcement of legislative issues, in fact the Supreme Court has ruled that Congress has the same power to impose fines as the judiciary, so Congress can resort to its inherent contempt power to levy fines, taking the burden out of the courts, which don’t want the work to muddle up their dockets if it isn’t necessary.

“The Supreme Court has already directly borrowed this principle in analyzing the scope of congressional contempt power, stating in Anderson v. Dunn (1821) that it expects Congress to exercise its contempt power by utilizing “the least possible power adequate to the end proposed.” There, the court was fashioning an argument that the power to investigate itself may be a lesser power derived from the greater power to impeach. Given the close ties between the reasoning adopted to determine the scope of judicial contempt power and the congressional contempt power, it is sensible to assume that the courts will find the congressional power to fine in line with their own precedent. But in addition to the direct references in the Supreme Court’s opinions, there are other independent constitutional justifications for granting Congress the power to directly issue fines.”-Kia Rahnama, Can Congress Fine Federal Officials Under Its Contempt Power? (Lawfare, June 11, 2019)

Congress’s investigative power is also intrinsically linked to its duty to prevent waste and fraud in government. A delinquent Trump dirtbag costs the government money, for which his/her wages can be garnished by the sergeant-at-arms. John Roberts knows that Congress possesses the power of the purse, so if it’s “denied an effective way to punish executive officials who stonewall investigations, the executive will effectively be able to dismantle” that power. We shall see if such a thing matters to the Chief Justice, but it’s pretty clear that the courts won’t mind being left out of legislative enforcement.

So, where are the freakin fines?