Editorial from Christianity Today

https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2019/december-web-only/trump-should-be-removed-from-office.html?fbclid=IwAR3MHdhqOT2kewnkfTuQypI4KMeAeLRE_L5eMF20sxZdydEcZZRH68bD-dM

I'm glad to see someone from "inside" the base finally say what needs to be said. I don't agree with everything he says here, but I think the objections he has with Trump are well stated and align with why I think Trump is a garbage human being. I just wish prominent religious leaders and politicians would have the courage to say these things before they retire (this editor is retiring in 8 days). But that fact shows the poor state of the world; that while in a position of influence and power, people are afraid to rock the boat, which ironically, is the time they could actually effect positive change.

Trump Should Be Removed from Office

It’s time to say what we said 20 years ago when a president’s character was revealed for what it was.

MARK GALLIDECEMBER 19, 2019

In our founding documents, Billy Graham explains that Christianity Today will help evangelical Christians interpret the news in a manner that reflects their faith. The impeachment of Donald Trump is a significant event in the story of our republic. It requires comment.

The typical CT approach is to stay above the fray and allow Christians with different political convictions to make their arguments in the public square, to encourage all to pursue justice according to their convictions and treat their political opposition as charitably as possible. We want CT to be a place that welcomes Christians from across the political spectrum, and reminds everyone that politics is not the end and purpose of our being. We take pride in the fact, for instance, that politics does not dominate our homepage.

That said, we do feel it necessary from time to time to make our own opinions on political matters clear—always, as Graham encouraged us, doing so with both conviction and love. We love and pray for our president, as we love and pray for leaders (as well as ordinary citizens) on both sides of the political aisle.

Let’s grant this to the president: The Democrats have had it out for him from day one, and therefore nearly everything they do is under a cloud of partisan suspicion. This has led many to suspect not only motives but facts in these recent impeachment hearings. And, no, Mr. Trump did not have a serious opportunity to offer his side of the story in the House hearings on impeachment.

But the facts in this instance are unambiguous: The president of the United States attempted to use his political power to coerce a foreign leader to harass and discredit one of the president’s political opponents. That is not only a violation of the Constitution; more importantly, it is profoundly immoral.

The reason many are not shocked about this is that this president has dumbed down the idea of morality in his administration. He has hired and fired a number of people who are now convicted criminals. He himself has admitted to immoral actions in business and his relationship with women, about which he remains proud. His Twitter feed alone—with its habitual string of mischaracterizations, lies, and slanders—is a near perfect example of a human being who is morally lost and confused.

Trump’s evangelical supporters have pointed to his Supreme Court nominees, his defense of religious liberty, and his stewardship of the economy, among other things, as achievements that justify their support of the president. We believe the impeachment hearings have made it absolutely clear, in a way the Mueller investigation did not, that President Trump has abused his authority for personal gain and betrayed his constitutional oath. The impeachment hearings have illuminated the president’s moral deficiencies for all to see. This damages the institution of the presidency, damages the reputation of our country, and damages both the spirit and the future of our people. None of the president’s positives can balance the moral and political danger we face under a leader of such grossly immoral character.

This concern for the character of our national leader is not new in CT. In 1998, we wrote this:

The President's failure to tell the truth—even when cornered—rips at the fabric of the nation. This is not a private affair. For above all, social intercourse is built on a presumption of trust: trust that the milk your grocer sells you is wholesome and pure; trust that the money you put in your bank can be taken out of the bank; trust that your babysitter, firefighters, clergy, and ambulance drivers will all do their best. And while politicians are notorious for breaking campaign promises, while in office they have a fundamental obligation to uphold our trust in them and to live by the law.

And this:

Unsavory dealings and immoral acts by the President and those close to him have rendered this administration morally unable to lead.

Unfortunately, the words that we applied to Mr. Clinton 20 years ago apply almost perfectly to our current president. Whether Mr. Trump should be removed from office by the Senate or by popular vote next election—that is a matter of prudential judgment. That he should be removed, we believe, is not a matter of partisan loyalties but loyalty to the Creator of the Ten Commandments.

To the many evangelicals who continue to support Mr. Trump in spite of his blackened moral record, we might say this: Remember who you are and whom you serve. Consider how your justification of Mr. Trump influences your witness to your Lord and Savior. Consider what an unbelieving world will say if you continue to brush off Mr. Trump’s immoral words and behavior in the cause of political expediency. If we don’t reverse course now, will anyone take anything we say about justice and righteousness with any seriousness for decades to come? Can we say with a straight face that abortion is a great evil that cannot be tolerated and, with the same straight face, say that the bent and broken character of our nation’s leader doesn’t really matter in the end?

We have reserved judgment on Mr. Trump for years now. Some have criticized us for our reserve. But when it comes to condemning the behavior of another, patient charity must come first. So we have done our best to give evangelical Trump supporters their due, to try to understand their point of view, to see the prudential nature of so many political decisions they have made regarding Mr. Trump. To use an old cliché, it’s time to call a spade a spade, to say that no matter how many hands we win in this political poker game, we are playing with a stacked deck of gross immorality and ethical incompetence. And just when we think it’s time to push all our chips to the center of the table, that’s when the whole game will come crashing down. It will crash down on the reputation of evangelical religion and on the world’s understanding of the gospel. And it will come crashing down on a nation of men and women whose welfare is also our concern.

Mark Galli is editor in chief of Christianity Today.

Brilliant takedown of the GOP talking points re: the IG investigation

https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/473955-trump-cant-cry-foul-on-fisa-unless-hes-suddenly-a-civil-libertarian

Trump can't cry foul on FISA – unless he's suddenly a civil libertarian

BY MARIK VON RENNENKAMPFF, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR — 12/10/19 04:31 PM EST

With the release of a sweeping report on the FBI investigation of the Trump campaign, the Department of Justice’s inspector general eviscerated a litany of absurd right-wing conspiracy theories. For one, contrary to the falsehoods relentlessly peddled by the president and his enablers in Congress and the media, there was sufficient evidence to open a counterintelligence probe into Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. Given the evidence (and viewed through a slightly different lens), not investigating the Trump campaign would have amounted to criminal dereliction of duty by the FBI.

Moreover, the inspector general’s report concludes that the FBI’s probe into the extensive – and often highly suspicious – links between individuals in Trump’s orbit and murky Russian government cut-outs was not motivated by political bias, nor was anyone “spying” on the Trump campaign.

Perhaps most importantly, the report confirmed that the controversial Steele dossier was not relied upon to open the Bureau’s investigation of Trump’s campaign, demolishing a particularly pernicious fabrication relentlessly parroted in right-wing media echo chambers.

Ditto for the dangerously fact-free notion, disseminated ad nauseam by the likes of former Trump campaign aide George Papadopoulos (whose loose lips triggered the FBI probe), that Western intelligence agencies actively sought to “sabotage” or entrap Trump.

And just like that, five whopping right-wing conspiracy theories (as well as George Papadopoulos’ budding political career) are busted.

However, the Department of Justice did fault a handful of FBI case agents and a low-ranking department lawyer for errors and omissions in an application to surveil Carter Page, whom the Bureau – rightly – suspected of acting as an agent of Russia. Trump and his conspiracy-peddling cheerleaders have relentlessly pointed to the government’s surveillance of Page as proof that the campaign was spied on. But these assertions are utterly baseless.

For one, the initial application to monitor Page (whose suspicious links to Russia include attempted recruitment by Russian intelligence agents) was not submitted to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court until October 2016. But Page had left the Trump campaign several weeks earlier. This raises an all-important question: How could the government “spy” on a political campaign if the subject of the surveillance was no longer associated with that campaign?

Far more importantly, following revelations that Page’s highly suspicious mid-campaign travels to Russia were under federal investigation, the Trump campaign swiftly distanced itself from Page. Trump’s communications director succinctly summed up Page’s (non-)role on the Trump campaign: “Mr. Page is not an advisor and has made no contribution to the campaign.”

Trump’s lead communicator went on to state that Page “has never been a part of our campaign. Period.” Another campaign spokesman said that Page had “no role” and that the campaign was “not aware of any of [Page’s] activities, past or present.” According to the Trump campaign, Page was a nobody; certainly not anyone who would be in communication with high-level campaign staff. In other words, if the government sought to improperly snoop on the Trump campaign, Page would have made for a worthless surveillance target.

Indeed, if Page was not on the Trump campaign when the first surveillance warrant was approved, and he had “no role,” was “not an advisor” and “made no contribution” to the campaign, how on earth can Trump credibly claim that the government was spying on his campaign via a “nobody” like Page?

He can’t. And another dangerously absurd right-wing conspiracy theory is dismantled.

Ultimately, the Justice Department’s inspector general deserves enormous credit for meticulously documenting mistakes in the application to surveil Page. After all, in a liberal democracy where privacy and freedom from government intrusion are constitutionally and culturally sacrosanct, surveillance of a citizen must meet rigorous requirements. But there is zero evidence that Trump is concerned about Page’s (or anyone else’s) civil liberties. In short, it’s all about Trump.

Moreover, the baseless conspiracy theories and falsehoods peddled by the president and his most tribal supporters are dangerous. Repeating them over and over has consequences. Chief among them is an erosion in confidence in American law enforcement and intelligence agencies, where countless men and women work tirelessly to safeguard democracy and the rule of law from malicious influence by foreign powers.  

Perhaps worst of all, the continued propagation of falsehoods and lies for the sole purposes of deflecting and protecting Trump gives Vladimir Putin the last laugh.

Marik von Rennenkampff served as an analyst with the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation, as well as an Obama administration appointee at the U.S. Department of Defense. Follow him on Twitter @MvonRen.

IG Report on the Russia Investigation beginnings

So, this was meant to be damning for the Democrats and reveal some sort of Deep State conspiracy within the FBI. It didn't. But the GOP maggots are literally telling the media the OPPOSITE of what this report states, much like they did with the Mueller Report.

Low level procedural problems, but that the investigations were justified. Read for yourself:

https://www.scribd.com/document/439016375/Watchdog#download