Tom Toles for December 13, 2019

Sorry little Donnie you can’t buy, bluff or bullstuff your way out of this one.

“Just put it on my tab…of criminal charges. What’s one more case of bribery?”

He does it by hook or by crook, well crook.

And now, Mike Huckabee is claiming to have been invited to head up Trump’s 2024 campaign for a third term. Huckabee may be joking… or this could be “fake news,” possibly originating from Trump allies. The claimed legal ground is that the Democrats sabotaged so much of his first term, that he’s due a “make-up” term.

None of this is too crazy for the Trump contingent. But it is terrifying even to contemplate for all rational beings.

Houdini – {limerick}

He thinks he’s a “Harry Houdini”

or maybe a magical “genie”, …

… escaping traps

like impeachment raps

{even with hands teeny weeny}.

. . . . . . . . . . . .

“Positive” and “negative” liberty explain how the resident behaves to some extent…

Charles Taylor sees Negative Freedom as an “opportunity-concept”: one possesses Negative Freedom if one is not enslaved by external forces, and has equal access to a society’s resources (regardless of how one decides to spend their time). Positive Freedom, says Taylor, is an “exercise-concept”: possessing it might mean that one is not internally constrained; one must be able to act according to their highest self – according to reason. Suppose a rich and powerful actor is also a drug addict. This actor may possess a great deal of negative liberty, but very little Positive Liberty according to Taylor. By Taylor’s definitions, Positive Freedom entails being in a mature state of decision making, free of internal or external restraints (e.g. weakness, fear, ignorance, etc.).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positive_liberty

And from Isiah Berlin:

Positive liberty “is involved in the answer to the question ‘What, or who, is the source of control or interference that can determine someone to do, or be, this rather than that?’ The two questions are clearly different, even though the answers to them may overlap.”

Negative liberty “liberty in the negative sense involves an answer to the question: ‘What is the area within which the subject—a person or group of persons—is or should be left to do or be what he is able to do or be, without interference by other persons’.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two_Concepts_of_Liberty

{Off-topic:}

His Base Gets Punked – {a rhyme}

His pronouncements get big-time debunked,

but he says ‘em and his base gets punked, -

- so his tenure’s not yet defunct, -

- so our nation’s well-being gets junked.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The song “Money, Money” from the musical “Cabaret” could be the theme song for DT and his co-whores, I mean, cohorts: “Money makes the world go around … of that we can be sure.”

Sam, just slam the lid closed, lock it tightly, and drop it into the Pacific Ocean over the Marianas trench…

Not that Jim Jordan wouldn’t defend him for trying.

trump has his stubby fingers crossed and hopes his crew stays loyal.. in spite of the evidence.

Oh Oh can he sell a few f-35s to pay his fine? What other Taxpayer bought stuff will Dumb Donnie try to use to keep him from removal and ultimately conviction.

Jan 21st 2021? The Day Trump gets indicted.

“It’s not impeachable.” From what I gather from the AAPT (All Aryan Party of Trump, formerly known as the GOP), murder is not impeachable, blackmail is not impeachable, extortion is not impeachable, acting on behalf of a foreign government is not impeachable. Only lying about a consensual sex act with a woman not your wife is impeachable, and then only if the offender is a Democrat.

The Trump ‘kids’ have been ordered to go to a class to be taught not to steal from charity.

This is Republican family values.

Uncle Putin will bail him out.

Once Trump undergoes impeachment, that stain is his, forever, and he will ALWAYS be identified as the “impeached” Donald Trump, along with William Clinton.

Looking on the ‘bright’ side, for a moment, at least Donnie John gets a shiny asterisk next to hiis name in the history books – something that his perceived bitter rival, Barack Obama, can never claim.

Big Baby “human scum” Trump steals from everyone.

After spending (wasting) a lot of time yesterday listening to the “mark up” of the Articles of Impeachment I have come to the conclusion that there is no loyalty to country by any of the Repugnicants; there are a lot of stupid people elected (and subsequently re-elected) to Congress; and the term for these “apologist congressmen” (to quote our little guy in the lower right-hand corner of the toon) is 2 years. They are up for re-election in 2020. The time is right for political action to be taken against all of the apologists who are betraying the people of the US. Vote blue in every contest, up and down the ticket. Let’s let it be known that we will not tolerate party over country.

Moscow Mitch and Leningrad Lindsey Soggy Grahamcracker don’t care where the money for their payoffs came from as long as there’s lots of it.

New York sent his whole Family to “Do Not Steal From Charity” School.

They all flunked.

The Fine he paid for stealing from the Charity was still Less than what he Stole.

The democracy I was born in/ two pieces is being torn in/ Trump will finish his term /while McConnell(that worm!)/ will wake up and crow ev’ry mornin’…