A sack of impeachment for Trump’s chimney
Donald Trump is getting a stocking full of impeachment for Christmas, though I’d bet some coal will be in there as well, as his administration starts the holiday season by booting hundreds of thousands of poor people off food stamps.
I took one lousy week off from the Week in Review and the world kept getting dumber. So now I’m back, scratching my head and asking the always-relevant question: “What the (BLEEP) just happened?”
Santa Pelosi drops a big ol’ box of impeachment down Trump’s chimney: We now know Donald Trump’s presidency will be viewed as historic, and not just historically dreadful. (Rimshot!)
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday she has instructed Democratic chairmen in the House to begin drafting articles of impeachment against Trump, marking only the fourth time in history that Congress has tried to boot a president from office. “Our democracy is what is at stake,” Pelosi said. “The president leaves us no choice but to act.”
Through transcripts of closed-door depositions and from public testimony — all compiled into a 300-page report released by the House Intelligence Committee — Americans not under the sway of Fox News’ poop-hurling Trump defenders have seen a fact-based narrative that reveals Trump’s staggeringly self-serving behavior.
Simply put: He leveraged a U.S. ally’s congressionally-approved military aid to pressure that ally into launching investigations that would benefit him politically and potentially influence the 2020 election. Those investigations had nothing to do with U.S. national security and everything to do with validating the conspiracy theories that inhabit Trump’s addled mind.
So now he will all but surely be impeached by the House of Representatives. And in the new year, he will have a trial in the Senate, where the Republican majority will all but surely acquit him, as they’ve sold their oaths of office for a cult membership and a place on the wrong side of history. Trump will declare victory and likely go on using the levers of power to rig the 2020 election in his favor.
And even with all that, and with whatever chaos follows, Democrats will have done something Trump has never once considered doing: the right thing.
Trump administration goes full Scrooge for the holidays: In an attempt to further hone its uniquely cruel brand, the Trump administration announced a new rule that will take food stamps away from hundreds of thousands of Americans facing food insecurity. What a Christmas gift that will be!
The rule targets the Supplemental Nutrition Program, or SNAP. Technically, work-eligible adults have to maintain steady employment to receive SNAP benefits, but states have been able to issue exemptions.
The new rule sharply limits those exemptions, likely impacting about 688,000 SNAP recipients.
“The final rule would cause serious harm to individuals, communities and the nation while doing nothing to improve the health and employment of those impacted by the rule,” said James D. Weill, president of the Food Research and Action Center.
Weill also called the administration’s plan “deeply flawed and ill-conceived,” which could just as easily be the Trump administration’s motto.
Speaking of food insecurity, readers who hate me can chip in: As regular readers know, the Insult-A-Columnist Holiday Food Drive, which allows people to express their love or hate for me by donating to the Greater Chicago Food Depository, is in full swing. And there’s a weird thing happening: The RexRocks team is CLOBBERING the RexStinks team.
So far RexRocks has donated more than $17,000 while the RexStinks folks haven’t even broken $1,000. Surprisingly low energy from my haters.
Remember, if the RexStinks team wins, I get doused in ice water outdoors in January while wearing an “I STINK” shirt. If you disagree with everything I write, it’s an amazing opportunity to see me publicly embarrassed and partially frozen.
Please give until I hurt at: http://my fooddrive.org/#InsultRex.
Eddie Johnson will now have plenty of time to nap: Eddie Johnson’s career as Chicago’s police superintendent came to a swift end as Mayor Lori Lightfoot fired him, accusing him of lying to her. Johnson also officially retired from the Police Department on Wednesday.
At the center of this scandal is a nap — or something like that. In October, Johnson was found asleep in a running vehicle near his home in Bridgeport. At first he said medication was to blame, though he later told the mayor he had had a couple of drinks.
Citing anonymous sources, the Tribune reported that the superintendent had been drinking for a few hours with a woman who was not his wife. The woman was a Chicago police officer and a member of Johnson’s security detail, the sources said.
It’s possible Johnson will now be spending even more time sleeping in his car.
Federal investigators appear to be at least Madigan-adjacent: These might be sweaty holidays for Democratic Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan.
Four people interviewed by federal investigators told the Tribune they have been “asked about connections between Commonwealth Edison lobbyists and Madigan, lobbyists giving contracts to people tied to the speaker, and city, state and suburban government jobs held by his associates.”
During the fall legislative session, Madigan was asked if the feds are targeting him. He said: “I’m not a target of anything.” Yeah. And I’ve got a sleigh and some real estate up at the North Pole to sell you, buddy.