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@hughhewitt has this to say about those of us who believe the president should be impeached.
"Whatever the impeachment chorus is, it isn’t principled, it isn’t concerned with justice and it isn’t concerned with the future."
Some thoughts
1/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/01/08/fast-track-trump-impeachment-pointless-revenge/
@hughhewitt has this to say about those of us who believe the president should be impeached.
"Whatever the impeachment chorus is, it isn’t principled, it isn’t concerned with justice and it isn’t concerned with the future."
Some thoughts
1/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/01/08/fast-track-trump-impeachment-pointless-revenge/
Hewitt writes that many impeachment proponents have “Trump Derangement Syndrome” and the claims to know what motivates them – and what doesn’t.
“Of concern for the country, well, concern for that part of the country they don’t inhabit, there is none.”
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“Of concern for the country, well, concern for that part of the country they don’t inhabit, there is none.”
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On Thursday morning, The Dispatch published our first-ever editorial calling for the impeachment & removal of President Trump.
It's a principled case, driven by a desire for justice & w/concerns for the future (immediate and distant) at its core.
3/ https://thedispatch.com/p/impeach-donald-trump-remove-him-and
It's a principled case, driven by a desire for justice & w/concerns for the future (immediate and distant) at its core.
3/ https://thedispatch.com/p/impeach-donald-trump-remove-him-and
People can disagree with our case. Some folks we respect surely do. We’ve lost some members over it – including of the Founding Lifetime variety at $1500 a pop.
We’d gladly publish the same editorial again today. It’s become more urgent – not less – that Trump is removed.
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We’d gladly publish the same editorial again today. It’s become more urgent – not less – that Trump is removed.
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Hewitt chose not to engage our arguments, opting instead to claim it’s all “a punitive mission based on cable talking heads ‘hot takes.’” He insists, w/o evidence, that to those who favor impeachment the views of Trump’s 74 million voters “do not matter.”
Well then.
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Well then.
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On June 8, 2016, Hewitt argued that keeping Donald Trump as the GOP nominee was like “ignoring stage-four cancer.” He said: “"You can't do it, you gotta attack it."
6/ https://theweek.com/speedreads/628816/conservative-radio-host-hugh-hewitt-likens-donald-trump-stagefour-cancer
6/ https://theweek.com/speedreads/628816/conservative-radio-host-hugh-hewitt-likens-donald-trump-stagefour-cancer
He wanted the Republican Party to change its rules to block Trump, suggesting that if the GOP nominates Trump, he could be the party’s last nominee.
7/ https://www.politico.com/story/2016/06/hugh-hewitt-trump-gop-convention-rules-224062
7/ https://www.politico.com/story/2016/06/hugh-hewitt-trump-gop-convention-rules-224062
A week later, to the day, Hewitt reversed himself. In a Washington Post column, he complained about “endless talk of a mutiny within the GOP” and portrayed Trump as the savior of the Republican Party.
8/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2016/06/15/hugh-hewitt-clintons-the-real-risk-if-we-want-to-stop-her-we-cant-dump-trump/
8/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2016/06/15/hugh-hewitt-clintons-the-real-risk-if-we-want-to-stop-her-we-cant-dump-trump/
Asked later about the abrupt reversal, Hewitt initially said: “I didn’t compare Donald Trump to stage four cancer.” He added that he was frustrated by Trump’s attacks on a judge, but Trump had stopped attacking the judge and framed the race as a “binary choice.”
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You can watch his full explanation, here:
10/ https://www.msnbc.com/weekends-with-alex-witt/watch/hugh-hewitt-on-his-switch-to-support-donald-trump-717514819882
10/ https://www.msnbc.com/weekends-with-alex-witt/watch/hugh-hewitt-on-his-switch-to-support-donald-trump-717514819882
Hewitt left out an important detail. He’d received an email from his boss, Salem Radio CEO Edward Atsinger, that was “a very well stated case for supporting the GOP nominee because we have to beat Hillary,” according to Salem’s SVP Phil Boyce.
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Atsinger said that his email to Hewitt was the basis of Hewitt’s Washington Post column. “"Wow he took a lot from my email to him and turned it into an article," he said, according to an email obtained by CNN.
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https://money.cnn.com/2018/05/09/media/salem-radio-executives-trump/index.html
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https://money.cnn.com/2018/05/09/media/salem-radio-executives-trump/index.html
Since Trump was elected, Hewitt's been an enthusiastic supporter, couching occasional criticism in a day-to-defense of Trump’s policies & a rationalization of his behavior. He’s an aggressive critic of Trump-skeptics who hold the views he did before the memo from his boss.
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Hewitt claims now he wants somber reflection and an end to the divisions of recent years. He was apparently less concerned about division when he had Kurt Schlichter regularly appear on and guest host his radio show.
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Who is Kurt Schlichter? One of the most divisive figures on populist right. Like Hewitt, he’s a onetime Trump critic who now argues with the passion of a convert. And then goes much further.
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For more than four years, Hewitt has normalized Trump’s reckless presidency. He played a major role in deceiving those 74 million Trump voters and now claims that it’s others who don’t care about them?
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The best way to show concern for Trump voters – for any voters – is to tell them the truth. While Hewitt is busy portraying himself as the spokesman for those voters, as the voice of their concerns, he’s been abetting the con.
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The president of the United States attempted to overturn an election based on a series of lies. He said the election would be rigged. It wasn’t. He told his supporters the election was stolen. It wasn’t. He threatened the GA SecState to change the certified results.
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The president and his lawyer were still trying to block the counting of electoral votes during and *after* the attack on the Capitol by his supporters. He worked to stop the peaceful transfer of power in the greatest representative government the world has ever known.
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We have an acting attorney general, an acting SecDef. Many top natsec officials have left their posts. Trump's team has blocked crucial military and national security briefings for the incoming administration. Top military officials are alarmed at our vulnerability.
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So, yes, Donald Trump needs to be impeached and removed as soon as possible. For reasons of principle and justice, out of concern for the present and the future.
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Contra @hughhewitt, making such an argument isn’t driven by Trump Derangement Syndrome. It isn't in any way “anti-American.”
And I’ll look elsewhere for lectures on principle.
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And I’ll look elsewhere for lectures on principle.
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Time to go fishing.
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For a response from @hughhewitt, see this. I stand by everything in my thread.
The fishing wasn't great, but I'm a crummy fisherman. https://twitter.com/hughhewitt/status/1348004875121033217?s=20
The fishing wasn't great, but I'm a crummy fisherman. https://twitter.com/hughhewitt/status/1348004875121033217?s=20
