Well, you could argue we’ve already seen it in practice. In 2000, George W. Bush won 25 electoral votes from the state of Florida, allowing him to defeat Al Gore. As Quartz reported in conjunction with the Sentencing Project, there were some 827,000 inmates and felons who weren’t granted the right to vote that year…

Yes, people would vote in droves for a Sanders/Warren ticket. Do you think that asking that question constitutes a solid counterargument?

If our politicians aren’t thinking in terms of the strategic value of their actions, then we shouldn’t want them representing us.

When I talk about “success,” what I mean is using the impeachment process as a stepping stone in removing Trump from office procedurally. If we can make that happen, then great, impeach away. But if we don’t think it will happen—and not many do at this point—then it will be a major win for Trump and only serve to…

My entire point is that, if we try this and we don’t win (which in this case means ousting him from the presidency) we will lose. And losing means increasing the odds of Trump winning in 2020. To not even try to deal with this as a matter of strategy is political malpractice.

What do you think is going to happen if Trump is made to submit to questioning in Congress? Do you really believe this will be the moment when he falls? If so, then great, at least you’re thinking strategically. But if not, you are just hoping, at best, for some bit of cheap catharsis, regardless of whether it…

If you’re not thinking strategically, then you really don’t care whether Trump is in the White House or not. Guess I’ll leave it there.

I know. And what I’m saying is that if the impeachment process doesn’t lead to an eventual booting from office, it will be a victory for Trump, and a failure for us.

I think that if we nominate someone who presses issues rather than “vote for me because I’m not the big orange cheeto,” or whatever, that person will win, and win fairly big. If we nominate somebody who plans, like Hillary did, on just sitting back and hoping the media will do the job by assassinating Trump’s…

Agreed. I think the media genuinely despises Trump on one hand, and sees the constant “negative” attention they give him as something that can’t help but move the needle at some point. Many of them think they’re living in a new Watergate moment, and believe that their legacies will be made when Trump is finally…

Question: do you think that impeachment will result in Trump being removed from office? If so, then that’s a fine reason to be for impeachment, obviously. And if I agreed that impeachment would result in his ouster, I would support it, too. But I don’t think that an impeachment would actually succeed at this goal, and…

Hope I am wrong but when I am not remind all those liberals that didnt vote that not voting has consequences too. For those liberals that protest voted against Hillary, etc., yeah you can continue to f*$# off.

I thought he could win the presidency, but wouldn’t have bet on it. However, I definitely saw, long before it became obvious, that he was going to win the GOP nomination. The sort of inverted effect the media had on him, compared to how it would have affected a traditional political candidate, was almost immediately…

Anyone who thinks they have a ironclad grasp on how this will shake out should have already put their money on Trump winning in ‘16, and be sitting fat and happy on a beach somewhere.

There is no “only correct answer”.

The only correct answer re: impeachment is one that addresses it as a strategic issue, first and foremost.

After reading these comments, I just feel like it needs to be said: there is never, ever, ever a time for snobbery when it comes to pizza. This is peasant food. All pizza (except CiCi’s ... I have to break my own rule for that shit) is more or less okay, at the very least.

Exactly. Literally nobody is going to be like, “Oh shit, I was totally ready to support the #BernieRevolution until I heard his stance on felons voting, guess I’m gonna vote for Trump now.”

Sanders actually has a value system underlying his views. Anyone who would be so shocked by his view on the voting rights of felons was never going to vote for him in the first place.

You’re correct, but just on a universal level, all people, not just reporters, tend to bitch about those that make their jobs harder to do. So the media’s reaction to being stonewalled by Russ is understandable in that sense.