A Bill Kristol tweet that you might find encouraging, after yesterday's House vote.

[Miles Archer]

Bill Kristol
@BillKristol

Having called around some, reassured in my judgment that those House Republicans open to voting for impeachment simply decided to stick with the party yesterday, and to save their dissent for the real vote. No point telegraphing the jail break to the prison guards ahead of time.

9:24 AM · Nov 1, 2019·Twitter Web App

Link to tweet

[NewJeffCT]

1. I hope he's right

if even half the retiring Republicans and a few others voted to impeach, it would be HUGE

[lastlib]

32. Well, they haven't called him "Mr. Wrong About Everything" for nothing......

I wouldn't bet my gold watch on anything Kristol says, but that's me. In fact, I wouldn't wipe my ass with his opinion

[Hortensis]

47. He does it himself, calling for complete change on the right,

and in literally the same sentence dismissing all our Democratic candidates as no better than Trump. Two-faced as SOP, protect with one, oppose with the other.

[bluecollar2]

56. +100...n/t

[Kurt V.]

67. +1

[marlakay]

69. Most of the retiring republicans

Will be planning to get jobs working for republicans or their causes so will stay on that side. I don’t think we can count on them to change.

[cab67]

71. When was the last time Kristol was right? About anything?

[hlthe2b]

2. While it is unlikely I will ever put any faith in Kristol, if I were a Trump-dependent Republican,

that is the tactic I would undertake. Why announce ahead of time that you might be a problem for Trump.

I hope he is right on this. I put little faith in it, but, we shall see..

[Miles Archer]

12. That's why I positioned it as "you may find encouraging"...

...I know who he is, I know what he's said and done.

When this is all over, Kristol, Rick Wilson and the rest will be eyeballing the exits, trying to figure out how to "get back to" something that has been obliterated by Trump.

I take it all with a grain of salt, but "if" he's on target with this, it makes perfect sense.

"If" Republicans have to live through the facts being displayed on TV, "if" it's the airtight case Pelosi and Schiff have been working on, they are gonna wear that stink forever if they decide to go down with the good ship Donald Trump.

I imagine McCarthy, Jordan, Nunes, Gaetz and their ilk will go down, no matter else.

Every other Republican? Not so much.

[hlthe2b]

13. No need to explain. I feel the same.

[erronis]

34. I think they should wear that stink forever. Even if they jump ship, swear allegiance to the flag,

even divorce the (R)epuglicon party 3 times. They've earned that malodor for their lifetimes.

Well, perhaps an indulgence. "If" one or more wants to play the role of Brutus.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

66. The problem is they don't give a shit.

All these Rethug politicians move on to cushy right-wing connected jobs in media, on corporate boards or R-W think tanks and probably earn more post civil-service. Plus, they get to keep the retirement perks for life at our expense not matter how evil they are.

They exist in a bubble that contains unlimited wealth and high-level connections.......

[Texin]

25. Yeah. This is the same guy who championed Palin's pick as Veep, after all.

[Johnny2X2X]

3. We need zero Republican votes in the House

Dems have the votes needed to vote to impeach and send it to the Senate for a trial.

Republican defections in the Senate is the only question left.

[Scoopster]

4. True, but...

Republican defections in the House, especially on the vote to pass articles of impeachment, would send a signal to Senate Repubs.

[Pacifist Patriot]

8. Yep

[genxlib]

16. Most importantly

Some Republican defectors would undermine the argument that this is a partisan witch hunt.

[AlexSFCA]

62. absolutely, bipartisan always sounds better to the sheeple

[hlthe2b]

11. So not the point. R votes in the House will show vulnerability, will cause some otherwise agnostic

voters to pay closer attention and might well open the flood gates for otherwise skeptical Senators to consider voting to remove.

[Hortensis]

50. Right. We need cracks in their wall. Most senators are

much harder to threaten to unseat than congressmen, even if more than just a few were up for reelection this time. Of those, only maybe 3 are at serious risk.

Most of those cracks in the electorate are going to show up in house districts where supporting Trump threatens reelection. And unlike the senate, every Republican congressional seat is on the ballot in 2020.

[asiliveandbreathe]

5. Okay, for me, Kristol has a long way to go to get in my good graces...

considering what he did to the Clinton Health care plan in the nineties..imagine how far along we would be with regards to healthcare had the plan at least got started....and don't forget he waved his pom poms for invasion of Iraq.....as Bush and Cheney lied to the American people....

[erronis]

37. Slithering slimy snake. No, that's just a meme. He's just lost his hustle. Can't lie as well

as he used to.

Part of the problem is that the M$M gets caught into contracts/relationships with these commentards. They get aired/printed over and over even if they babble gibberish and switch positions faster than Melania used to.

[lonely bird]

38. Switch positions faster than Melania...

Now I need a spork to scoop out my mind’s eye after visualizing Melania with Tangelo-Tinted Taint Tumor. (Thanks to TheFerret)

[McKim]

68. Yes, Do Not Forget!!!

Yes’m never forget that he promoted the War on Iraq where, according to The Lancet, about a million Iraqis died! He did this all comfortable from his think tank office while our soldiers and massive amounts of civilians died. He does not deserve our respect.

[irisblue]

6. I do not trust Bill Kristol to tell the truth.

[Wednesdays]

53. I might trust Kristol to tell the truth in this case

But the people he's interviewed, not so much.

[NNadir]

7. Wishful thinking Bill.

It's very clear that your right wing pals have no integrity, are in a Neo-Stalinist "cult of personality" and would in fact find nothing wrong with their modern day Stalin if in fact he openly murdered someone on 5th avenue.

The ease with which they abandoned the rule of law and the US Constitution gives lie to all the patriotic bull and law and order bull you've all handed out for decades.

[Cosmocat]

28. Yep - just like there was all this support to challenge him at the convention

they talk a big game, but roll over like nothing EVERY single time with him.

For all their bravado, they are some seriously sniveling toadies.

[UniteFightBack]

9. Extremely plausible and this has been brought up by others even before Bill called around. nt

[MineralMan]

10. Could be. Time will tell.

The game is afoot, though. It seems certain to me that Trump will be impeached. I just hope things look bad enough for him that enough R Senators decide it's time for him to go. That could happen if more crap becomes public.

[dware]

14. I hope he's not just blowing hot air!

This would send a powerful message to the R's in the senate as well as the general public.

[KG]

15. piss on bill kristol anyway.

[crickets]

17. Oh, I just had a great laugh over your comment. Thank you! nt

[Maru Kitteh]

18. No point telegraphing the jail break to the prison guards ahead of time.

If we can get even a tiny handful, it would be a very BFD, indeed.

[dware]

20. I think so too.

Think of the chaos it would cause in the Rparty, and how badly it would piss Trump off.

[awesomerwb1]

19. Hope it's true

but I don't believe him.

[nycbos]

21. This is his best tweet though

Link to tweet

?lang=en

[yellowcanine]

22. Might be something to it. And also for R Senators. More shoes will drop and these guys know it.

There are a lot of hovering shoes out there.

[Garrett78]

23. Maybe a handful of Republicans in the House will vote to impeach, but...

...how many in the Senate will vote to convict? 20? Not based on the Ukraine matter alone.

[Leith]

24. I'll believe it when I see it

We have no reason to believe that senators have been telling Kristol any of this and we have no reason to give him the benefit of the doubt. He was worse than a jerk to us and those we respect for decades. It will take more than one cheery tweet to change my opinion of him.

Don't forget that he gave us Sarah Palin.

[Cosmocat]

29. You are not going to see it

They will roll over on the next vote the same as they have rolled over 100 times already ready with this guy.

Most are straight up on board with him, and what few are not, are won't jeoparidize their career by breaking with the run away fascism train they are part of.

[Garrett78]

43. He isn't referring to Senators. And it doesn't really matter...

...if a handful of Republican Representives vote to impeach.

[Firestorm49]

26. Spoken like a true dictator.

[Grammy23]

27. We really need something to give us hope that people will ultimately rise to the occasion.

Since it never got to a real vote with Nixon, we don’t know exactly how that would have played out but the behind the scenes people knew that Nixon was done. And he resigned. Unfortunately with tRump, even if he is warned he will lose in the Senate, resignation is not a good option for him either. SDNY is waiting to get their hands on him when he is out. He is hoping Pence can save him with a pardon. Timing is everything.

So this drama has many possible endings but none are really “good” for tRump. Just bad and less bad. (Remember, even if he isn’t convicted, there is all that bad information out in the public that he will need to deal with...before the next election.) Let’s hope Kristol has some insight on how some of those senators really feel about tRump. Maybe they are as eager as any of us to see him taken down?? Hope is all we’ve got at this point.

[LiberalLovinLug]

30. That or like the cowards they are, they told Kristol one thing

but will never follow through when it counts.

[DallasNE]

31. I Don't Buy That

This does hold off a primary challenge for now but the final vote will happen before the window is closed for primary challenger. Depending on the district, you can bet that the democratic challenger will hammer on this vote rather than the later vote in the general election. They would be better off risking a primary challenge than the alternative so I just don't buy this reasoning by Kristol.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

33. Republicans lie

The ones he called lie and he may be lying, too.

[spanone]

35. K&R...

[hibbing]

36. Not going to happen n/t

[BlancheSplanchnik]

39. Hope the jail guards don't see this tweet! n/t

[frogmarch]

40. Thanks for nothing, Billy PNAC nt

[GoCubsGo]

41. I would really like to believe that.

But, considering the source...

[Joe941]

42. Who cares? We dont need any of there votes.

[wiggs]

57. Would DEFINITELY be better to have a bunch of gop house votes, for

extra pressure on senate, for election discussions, for message to the WH, for framing the articles as outside partisan politics, etc.

[Imperialism Inc.]

44. "And the Iraq war is going to be amazing," he added.

[FakeNoose]

45. I believe he's telling the truth on this

At least some of these GOP-ers know the score and plan to dump-Chump when the time comes. No names yet, but I believe Bill Kristol is correct in being optimistic on this. I have believed the same for quite a while.

Not all the GOP incumbents have a secret death wish, so to speak. They can see what's happening to their Party and they mostly blame Chump for it.

[calimary]

46. Bill Kristol: YOU built this.

Over YEARS of your damn editorials and your smug wrong-wing propaganda and your damn superior I’m-smarter-than-you attitude.

YOU were one of the main architects of the shit that even you now have to wade through while presuming you won’t get any on you, thinking you can tsk-tsk at it now and SOUND like you’re one of the good guys (or maybe like you’re one of the redeemed who’ll be forgiven and whose complicity will be forgotten. You probably think that’ll allow you to get away with helping to start and then nurture it without having to pay for it.

[Miles Archer]

52. He did, and so did Rick Wilson.

I didn't "follow" these guys...all I know is that I remember seeing / hearing Kristol with regularity during the Bush years, and the first time I remember hearing about Wilson was when he became an anti-Trump voice. So as far as culpability goes or who built what, they're not my heroes.

But in 2019, I'll take what I can get.

Kristol didn't burn his bridges, he didn't scream and howl like Corky St. Claire in "Waiting For Guffman" and tell the Republicans that they're bastard people, and the hates their bastard faces.

As I said above, he's a Republican, and if...against all odds...there's anything left but the stink of Trump, when Trump leaves, he's going to attempt to return to "normal." It won't be there, but he'll poke among the ashes.

What matters is that there's no one more qualified to tell you what's going on with Republicans than a Republican.

It doesn't mean we have to BE Republicans, LIKE Republicans, RESPECT Republicans, or wipe the slate clean for Kristol's past...or Wilson's.

They're the same people they were before Trump hauled his fat ass down that golden escalator.

They also probably feel they have more at stake than we do.

We look at the destruction and implosion of the Republican party via Trump and think "Hand me the weenies and marshmallows!"

They feel like they lost something.

We thought that Bush and Cheney were the last straw.

Trump rocketed right past the worst the two of them had to offer. And while "revisionist history" has tried to paint GWB in hindsight, we know that's crap...he WAS that bad. But eight years of Obama got us back on the right track.

Then came Trump.

We won't have eight years of a Democratic president and then a Republican president who's worse than Trump.

I agree with what Steve Schmidt said on Nicolle Wallace's show yesterday...if Trump is impeached by the House and then given a pass in the Senate, then gets re-elected, God help us all.

But if he is removed by the Senate...STILL a long shot...OR is voted out of office...it's going to be a LONG fucking road back for the Republicans, one I might not see in my lifetime.

I don't like or trust Kristol either, but on this specific issue...and other Republican-related issues to come as impeachment advances...just like Rick Wilson, he might be worth listening to, at least as a window into the ongoing acts of self-sabotage among Republicans.

[YOHABLO]

48. Kristol just hates Trump. When a Dem is president he'll be changing his tune.

[Wounded Bear]

49. We can only hope...nt

[aggiesal]

51. Kristol just wants, back into the game ...

and he'll say or do whatever it takes to do that.

[Skittles]

54. I'll believe it when I see it

NEVER trust repukes

[Grasswire2]

55. Having watched Kristol wig out the other night when someone predicted Pence will not be president..

...I know that Kristol is only treading water while Trump flames out and he fully intends to resume hard conservative attack on America.

[zentrum]

58. Then why is he telegraphing it?

He's a wolf in sheep's clothing. Always has been.

[dlk]

59. Right....

[Laura PourMeADrink]

60. Great analogy on the jail break !

[caraher]

61. And very telling about their party

[Polybius]

63. He hates Trump for the wrong reasons

He hates him because he hasn't started as many wars as Kristol wants, like Bush did.

[MrModerate]

64. Hmm. Kristol might just be smelling his own farts again. n/t

[Garrett78]

65. GOP Senators are more likely to vote to convict than GOP Reps are to vote to impeach. But if...

...no GOP Reps vote to impeach (or if only a few who are retiring do), then it's probably safe to say we aren't going to get anywhere close to 20 GOP Senators voting to convict.

Anyway, Never Trump Republicans are in denial about their own complicity in making Trump possible, and they're in denial about how ethically bankrupt their party is. Kristol is still an asshole.

[OliverQ]

70. Sorry but I don't believe this.

I see absolutely no evidence any Republicans will turn on Trump.

[pintobean]

72. Kristol is a never trumper

who has been beaten to a pulp. Looks like he's still trying to take some swings. Take it for whatever you think it's worth.