There are a lot of assumptions in there and the chance of all of those assumptions being correct is relatively low.

If they don’t have the money, isn’t that fraud? 

He’s a couple of years too old to be a Boomer. He’s a member of the silent generation. 

If the whistleblower knows their cover is about to be blown, can he or she step forward and claim the $50K?

Well, you cannot have someone arrested without a warrant. For something like this, it would probably require convening a grand jury. And nobody in the CIA is going to kidnap a US citizen and risk going to prison.

It is going to be a difficult argument, because the is not a leak but rather a complaint reported through the proper channels.

I’m old enough to remember when Giuliani was widely respected for being the “tough guy” mayor who cleaned up New York and stood steadfast in response to 9/11.

Yeah, fuck him for running on a platform that is electable in conservative area. Fuck him for giving the Democrats an extra seat in the House. What a fucking asshat. 

The key phrase, “if the vote were secret”. Republicans know that Trump is bad for their party. They know he is bad for the country. But he has 80%+ support among Republican voters.

The only difference is that a formal impeachment inquiry creates the expectation that, at the end of the inquiry, the investigators are going to reach a formal decision on whether to draft (or recommend drafting) articles of impeachment.

Leakers are in violation of the law. Someone bringing up concerns regarding classified information to the Inspector General through proper channels is following the proper procedures that were put in place to provide congressional oversight to the intelligence community.

I mean, that is something that could theoretically happen, but barring a freak astroid or something, no way it actually happens.

TRUMP: I ordered this steak well-done and with ketchup. What the hell is this green shit?

The problem with that reasoning is that the President does not have to do something illegal to be impeached. The President has a huge amount of power. If he exercises that power corruptly or for his own interests or he is derelict in his duty to exercise his power, he usually is not breaking the law, much less…

Back in 2016, I thought that the Republicans would realize he was an albatross around the midterms and he would already be impeached and gone by now.

The 1/3rd or so of Americans who don’t believe Trump is hopelessly corrupt probably are not going to buy that it is a quid pro quo unless it is explicit, and maybe not even then. 

I mean, that is probably what his defense will be. The President’s abuse of his power in this case is more than likely not criminal. And of course, the standard the President of the United States should be held to is that any abuse of power that is not explicitly criminal is perfectly okay.

Are we sure that this is a political appointee? I got the impression that it was a career government intelligence officer.

Doesn’t Trump have a 400 pound person sitting on a bed on his staff? I mean, other than himself? I heard those type of people are excellent with the cyber.

Most of the competent Republican staffers either already resigned from the administration or are staying as far away as possible because they know that serving in the Trump administration will end up being more of a resume killer than a resume builder.