Editor’s note: Each Sunday, the chattering class fills American airwaves with the thoughts and opinions of Washington’s most powerful Swamp-dwellers. Often these interviews make headlines and inform the public about what to expect in the coming week. If you want to stay informed but don’t have the time to devote to all the political punditry, there is hope. Liberty Nation author Kelli Ballard sifts through the shows for you and presents the high and lowlights in this weekly column.
This Week With George Stephanopoulos – ABC
Now that the Judiciary Committee has drawn up articles of impeachment and the outcome of the full House vote seems a foregone conclusion, the talk has turned toward what’s going to happen in the Senate. In true leftist media form, George Stephanopoulos interviewed two Democrats but only one Republican: Reps. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) and Adam Schiff (D-CA), and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX). The anchorman let the Dems have their say, but either interrupted or threw in little tidbits of Democratic talking points during the discussion with Sen. Cruz.
The left side of the aisle is portraying itself as the noble knight, doing its duty for God and mankind. Corruption, bribery, abuse of power: These are the words they throw around as if they were standing on a parade float tossing candy to eager children. Yet, as Cruz and other Republicans ask, where are the facts?
Stephanopoulos brought up a previous conversation with Mr. Nadler, from back when the latter first became chair of the Judiciary Committee in March. Nadler had said: “Before you impeach somebody you have to persuade the American public that it ought to happen.” Nadler was right then, and still holds to that opinion, but where’s the proof of all these allegations against the president? He also made this comment – and note the way he abruptly cut off his words to replace them with something a little more believable:
“You have to persuade enough of the opposition party voters, the Trump voters, that you’re not just trying to … that you’re not just trying to steal the elect – to reverse the results of the last election.”
Did he have it right when he said “steal?”
Rep. Schiff claimed – without proof, mind you – that what the president has done is far worse than even the crimes of Richard Nixon. He claimed the White House was blocking witnesses from testifying because the senators “don’t want the American people to see the facts.” Accusing Trump supporters of blindly following evil, he opined that the president “could shoot someone in the middle of the street and they’d [Republican senators] still support him.”
Cruz argued that the hearings were partisan and could not be fair when the White House was not allowed to question witnesses and the Republicans were not able to bring in any of their own witnesses. He said:
“This is fundamentally political opposition. The base, the far left, the House Democrats hate the president, and they’re mad at the American people for electing him. This is trying to undermine an election, and this is why it’s not going to go anywhere in the Senate. It’s not going to go anywhere in the Senate because the facts don’t back them up.”
Meet the Press – NBC
Chris Coons
This week, it was time to focus on a few things including the amazing feat of Congress being functional for a week, and during the impeachment hearings no less. Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA) suggested the compromise on the USMCA trade deal came out because the Democrats won’t want to go home to their constituents and say the only thing they’d accomplished was the impeachment of the president.
Speaking of the upcoming Senate hearings, Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) said that Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Chuck Schumer (D-NY) should have a sit down to discuss what needs to happen. Rules and guidelines need to be set and they should try to determine how long the hearings would last. “The American people deserve the truth not political theatre,” Coons said. Were truer words ever uttered?
The conversation then went to Rep. Jeff Van Drew (D-NJ) and how he’s likely to change parties. The assumption by Coons is that Van Drew would not be able to win an election within his current party and his only choice is to switch to a more favorable one.
Face the Nation – CBS
Finally, a little – and I do mean little – talk on the U.S.-China trade deal. United States Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer was a guest on the show but was shut down rather quickly when he kept saying the deal was a good thing. While he wasn’t a fan of every aspect, he confirmed the arrangement was much better than what we had before.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) claimed credit for the agreement, saying, “We ate their lunch.” She was obviously referring to the Republicans, as if the Democrats had just won a major battle. And while we’re on the topic of the left, a CBS poll showed the top Democratic nominee choices for president in 2020 were:
Joe Biden at 28%.
Elizabeth Warren at 25%.
Bernie Sanders at 20%.
Michael Bloomberg has been creeping up and is now in fifth place at 6%, likely stealing some of the votes from his competitors who are a bit too far left.
CBS released another poll that shows less than half of Americans think Trump deserves to be impeached:
Deserves to be impeached: 46%
Does not deserve to be impeached: 39%
Too soon to say: 15%
That’s it for the weekend roundup of what the left is talking about. Stay tuned next week for more.
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Read more from Kelli Ballard.
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