Today will not change minds as some thought it would.

[wasupaloopa]

The Repubs will show their minutes on Faux news and viewers will be further lied to and they will believe every word.

No minds will change.

I think impeachment will fizzle too.

Only our votes can make a difference.

[Iliyah]

1. Nope .. .

[Drunken Irishman]

2. lol this played out exactly how every 'major development' has played out...

Everyone convinced themselves that when the Mueller Investigation concluded, we'd get the fireworks. It concluded, we got Barr's letter and the narrative set in that there was no collusion. Obstruction? Sure. Maybe. But no one cares about obstruction. I said this back then, and I'll say it now: obstruction is not sexy. They tried to get Bill Clinton on obstruction charges and failed miserably, despite controlling the US Senate - and Clinton's popularity went up.

Then we were told to wait until Mueller speaks and the truth will get out. Well, Mueller spoke ... and nothing.

Of course, all we had to do was really wait for him to appear in front of congress. He did.

Nothing new. No new bombshell. It's the same narrative. Trump likely attempted to obstruct justice. Is that enough to impeach? By the context of the law, yes - but is it worth the fight?

[DeminPennswoods]

3. No hardcore viewer of Fox News, but there will be

some who are hearing things for the first time and they are persuadable.

[wasupaloopa]

7. Where will they hear it? They only watch Fox. Fox will lie

and they will believe it.

[DeminPennswoods]

8. Fox News isn't censoring the broadcast

They'll hear it for themselves. Think of the woman at Amash's townhall who said what he told the audience was the first time she'd heard it since she only usually watched Fox News.

[groovedaddy]

21. Exactly. Which, in part,

may have been what this was about. The report is damning enough. But you do have to know what's in it to draw that conclusion. It's exactly why Mueller called out Barr for his "conclusions" on the report.

[JI7]

4. nobody's views world have been changed even if there was video of trump

partying with a child molestor.

[standingtall]

5. impeachment needs to happed or Democrats could be making a decision that could contribute to

voter apathy which is the last thing we need to happen in 2020.

[uponit7771]

6. IT has ... it has no doubt changed minds !!! I'll report more later !!!

[blogslut]

9. In November of 1972, Richard Nixon was re-elected in an historic landslide.

The Watergate burglary happened in June 1972, four months before. The house began impeachment hearings almost two years later. Nixon resigned three months after that.

[customerserviceguy]

11. A couple of differences here

First, there were Republicans with scruples back then. They no longer exist.

Second, there was no Fox News back then.

[elocs]

23. Nixon resigned only because Republican leaders told him the Senate would convict.

The Republicans in this Senate will never vote to convict Trump and some 20 would be needed to do that.
Reality is a harsh master, but it is what it is.

[customerserviceguy]

10. It may take a week or two

for that to sink in with people who are glued to the TV set waiting for a Perry Mason moment.

Hopefully, we will stop beating the dead horse of impeachment and get focused on nominating someone to beat Trump in November 2020.

[Joe941]

12. I think it might change congress's mind to start impeachment hearings.

[Lucid Dreamer]

13. This hearing is not going to be a mindchanger...

It's like Mueller is sitting in a boxcar rolling down the tracks and somebody tries to push it over on its side. Then five minutes later somebody else tries to push it over the other way. And then five minutes later...

And Mueller is still sitting in a boxcar rolling down the tracks.

[Demonaut]

14. it changed my mind, impeach the fucker

[Lucid Dreamer]

15. I wish your mind mattered...

but it doesn't.

I don't see this helping getting us any closer to impeachment.

[Demonaut]

24. of course my mind matters...you've lost all hope

[BlueIdaho]

16. I do not agree with this characterization... nt.

[Blue_Tires]

17. I've given up on believing Trumpers are going to have this

magical epiphany where they instantly "get it" and team up with Dems to restore order and rational thought...

There is no bottom; there is no leveling off -- Trump isn't going to soften up into a 'benevolent dictator' someday. His advisors, the Senate and the Supreme Court aren't going to "keep him in check"... This shit is going to get exponentially worse with each passing day until we deal with it ourselves.

[manicdem]

18. A failed impeachment is a Trump win

A failed or incomplete impeachment would enable Trump to win the 2020 elections. The best Dems can do at this point is close the case now and leave some possibilty if wrongdoing in voters minds, and moving forward with the elections.

[elocs]

26. If Trump were impeached and then not convicted by the Senate,

we would have to listen to him endlessly brag and crow about how he was totally exonerated of the fake charges.
Impeachment will make some on the Left feel good about exacting a pound of flesh from Trump, but in the end it wouldn't be worth it, not that anyone could ever get those who called for impeachment to ever admit that.

[Captain Stern]

19. If it changes any minds at all, it's going to change them in a way we don't want.

The whole thing was pretty much Mueller saying "I wrote a huge report about all this stuff...read it."

And, most people in this country didn't give enough fucks to read it. And, they still don't.

This ends up looking exactly like donnie two scoops hoped it would. It looks like we're hopelessly beating a dead horse.

It actually plays into his whole 'witch hunt' bullshit. trump's poll numbers aren't going to change one bit. Nobody's eyes are finally going to be opened. The public isn't going to wake up.

In my opinion, this whole thing was a mistake.....but, if it does nothing else, it should at least show everybody how well impeachment proceedings would go over with the public.

The only way to get rid of trump (I don't mean kill him..I mean just not have him as President), is to vote him out.

[elocs]

27. "The only way to get rid of trump is to vote him out."

That's too simple and obvious of a concept for those who want Trump to pay for what he has done. Just beating him in the election won't be good enough for them.

[Initech]

20. Their billionaire backers are busy preparing their talking points.

Which will be repeated through AM hate radio, Fox News, and megachurches throughout the country. The cycle of bullshit is complete.

[elocs]

22. Absolutely correct!

No minds will change, each side will claim victory.
Impeachment will never remove Trump, but we can do that with our votes. If the Left turns out and supports the Democratic nominee with no excuses, no pouting, no purity tests, then Trump will be defeated.
If Trumps wins reelection, this nation will never be the same again.
It's up to us.

[H2O Man]

25. No thank you.

Today opened the door for the Democrats in the House to have the federal courts compel "fact witnesses" to testify.

[SCantiGOP]

28. Agree with the OP

n/t

[Hoyt]

29. Doubt it, but Democrats and points made, far exceeded my expectation going in.

[Awsi Dooger]

30. We don't need minds to change

That was never going to happen. Only incompetent handicappers believed otherwise, the type who obsess over daily developments and project to the moon.

We need minds to remain where they are. As long as Trump's approval rating remains at this level, he is a small underdog for 2020. Given the status of the economy, and an incumbent whose party has been in power only one term, it is remarkable that the incumbent is currently a small underdog.

As someone who always evaluates big picture first and foremost, I don't care about these hearings, or who testifies at subsequent hearings. You'll have a plentiful allotment of posters here who overplay those situations and offer fanciful assessments of how it will play out.

Meanwhile in the real world we need Trump's approval number as compiled by 538 to continue to take one small hit after another -- like today -- kind of like a developing hurricane that runs across a mountain range. Once into free water there is no reason the approval number won't climb into dangerous territory.

[4139]

31. Two months tooooo late.

Not a happy camper! They should have forced mueller to testify immediately after the report was released.