DEMS/IMPEACHMENT/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “It was meant to be the moment when Democrats started to knit a narrative of presidential malfeasance that many of them hope will trigger impeachment. But it turned into an iconic Trump-era spectacle that served instead to show how the White House and its acolytes have made a mockery of the checks and balances of the Washington system. A farcical House Judiciary Committee hearing Tuesday [9-17-19] featuring Corey Lewandowski, President Donald Trump’s ex-campaign manager, emphasized how Democrats are struggling to hold Trump to account. Party leaders were left to explain why they had not been more nimble in questioning a witness loaded for bear, since everyone knew Lewandowski would show up with the intention of causing havoc. After hours of frustrating cross-examination that one of their number, Rep. Hank Johnson of Georgia, compared to ‘a fish being cleaned with a spoon,’ Democrats were left with a conundrum: how to use televised hearings to tease out damning passages of the Mueller report when Trump and his gang are determined to turn them into a circus.”
–Stephen Collinson, “Democrats whiff again as Lewandowski makes a mockery of oversight,” CNN Politics, CNN.com, September 17, 2019 2:01 am