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“Be Naughty, Kids!”—Thune and Rounds Excuse Trump’s Lawbreaking and Lies

The United States Senate voted to acquit Donald John Trump of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress today. South Dakota Senators John Thune and Mike Rounds voted with most of the rest of the Trump party to ignore clear and largely uncontested evidence of high crimes and misdemeanors and tell our children that being naughty is o.k.

Donald John Trump broke the law. Donald John Trump hijacked money appropriated by Congress to assist a European ally in resisting Russian invasion. Donald John Trump used that money for his own personal, political purposes. Donald John Trump violated the law and the public trust as surely as a city finance officer who takes money allocated for public works and spends it on beer and perfume or gas and groceries.

John Thune and Mike Rounds told our children that breaking the law is no big deal.

Donald John Trump defied Congress’s authority to investigate the use of our legally appropriated tax dollars. Donald John Trump told his party to reinterpret the Constitution to mean Congress is powerless and the President is King.

John Thune and Mike Rounds told our children that ignoring the Constitution is no big deal.

Donald John Trump has lied to Congress, the press, the American public, and the world at a rate that has only increased in the past year.

John Thune and Mike Rounds told our children that lying is no big deal.

47 Democrats had the courage to send our children a simple message: even the most powerful person in the world has to follow the law, respect the Constitution, and tell the truth. One Republican, Mitt Romney, had the courage to join them on one vote:

In the last several weeks, I have received numerous calls and texts. Many demand that, in their words, “I stand with the team.” I can assure you that that thought has been very much on my mind. I support a great deal of what the President has done. I have voted with him 80% of the time. But my promise before God to apply impartial justice required that I put my personal feelings and biases aside. Were I to ignore the evidence that has been presented, and disregard what I believe my oath and the Constitution demands of me for the sake of a partisan end, it would, I fear, expose my character to history’s rebuke and the censure of my own conscience [Senator Mitt Romney, speech, Senate floor, 2020.02.05].

John Thune and Mike Rounds showed no such character, conscience, or courage. John Thune and Mike Rounds told our children to care more about partisan loyalty than about reason, law, and fact.

Senator Thune, we’ll come for you in 2022. Senator Rounds, your number is up this year. You deserve no vote, not to mention no respect, from any decent parent in South Dakota. Donald John Trump is a lying, lawbreaking menace, and you support that menace. It is time to replace you, Mike Rounds, with any decent person who promises to reject lawbreaking and lying and get back to teaching our kids the importance of following the law and telling the truth.

32 Comments

  1. mike from iowa 2020-02-05 19:16

    Wingnuts made a mockery of the constitution, the entire impeachment process, the Senate no-trial and the predetermined acquital, which has drumpf already tweeting he was totally exonerated.

    When the Nation demanded patriots stand up, wingnuts stood down and blamed Democrats.

  2. SDBlue 2020-02-05 19:20

    Once again proudly displaying their patriotism is as fake as their christianity. They deserve to rot in whatever hell they believe in. Cannot wait to replace these traitors.

  3. Owen 2020-02-05 19:25

    Anybody think either one will come home and have meeting to explains this? I doubt it.
    They’ll just show up unannounced. Neither one has any courage, unlike Mitt Romney

  4. Cory Allen Heidelberger Post author | 2020-02-05 19:29

    Owen, is there any point in talking to or listening to Rounds and Thune any more? They’ve demonstrated they no longer believe in honest hearings of evidence and witnesses. They’ve declared that all that matters is party and vote count. It’s now just a battle of numbers. Might makes right. If you have the votes, do it.

    We need to get the votes.

    (In what I can only hope they retain sufficient conscience to recognize as a bitter irony, the liberation of majority Thune and Rounds exercised today is really bondage to the most vile man ever to occupy the White House. They are prisoners of their own machine.)

  5. Cory Allen Heidelberger Post author | 2020-02-05 19:29

    SD Blue, you are right. Rounds and Thune are entirely fake, just like Trump.

  6. Debbo 2020-02-05 20:16

    Well stated Cory.

    We know that Liar-in-Chief and his GOP eunuchs will cheat in this upcoming election in every way possible. They are already openly bribing voters and they’re certain to remove 100s of 1000s of names from the voter rolls. All people of fair mind and good conscience must work together and vote in massive numbers if we’re to have any chance of saving our fair republic.

    Any chance at all.

  7. Donna K 2020-02-05 20:58

    A bunch of fat cat lying racist homophobic republicans. I have no doubt Putin & his cronies are behind the Iowa voting problems. We need to investigate Trump over this asap. BLUE WAVE 2020!

  8. Loren 2020-02-05 21:29

    I almost lost a TV tonight. Wanted to throw my shoe at Thune when I saw him on the news, stand there and speak of the House not proving their case. Trump blocked witnesses, documents and people ignored subpoenas at his request. John and Mikey had a chance to hear a first hand account when Bolton said he would comply with a senate subpoena, but noooooo! Hear-no-evil and See-no-evil stuck their head in the sand. Mikey made a statement that he would not vote to impeach before the House even presented their witnesses and then had the audacity to take an oath of impartiality. Might be time to take them out behind the barn and ‘splain things to them. Spineless!

  9. leslie 2020-02-05 22:45

    52 Republican senators and _____ Representatives sold out the United States to Putin.

  10. Buckobear 2020-02-05 23:13

    Like the saying goes, “watch what they do, pay no attention to what they say.”
    ‘Nuf said.

  11. Debbo 2020-02-06 00:19

    The Guardian has a good article summarizing our present predicament.

    is.gd/IUlscA

  12. Shirley Moore 2020-02-06 08:11

    Doug Jones may well lose his seat. He’s a Democrat from a red state than won his seat by a slim margin. He successfully prosecuted members of the KKK. He stood up for his beliefs yet no one talks about him. We need more people who will stand tall and defend our constitution. Romney will be okay because McConnell needs his vote.

  13. Francis Schaffer 2020-02-06 09:01

    I thought I had read somewhere that Senator John Thune wrote; ‘It is about getting to 51’. I thought it would have been better to getting to the truth. Also, I read in a letter from Senator Thune we received in the mail that he is the Republican voice for South Dakota in the Senate. So that means I am not represented. Seems like this country was started based on lack of representation.

  14. Donald Pay 2020-02-06 09:03

    The United States may have seen our last fair election for President in 2012. I expect our future elections, including 2020, will resemble those that occur in the Russian Federation. Certainly Trump won in 2016 due mostly to Russian dirty tricks, though Hillary hurt herself by not showing up in the Rust Belt. Citizens United ushered in foreign money to US elections. It’s not just the top races that are tainted. Republicans have been taking foreign money in order to, for example, set up hate fests run by several county affiliates of the South Dakota Republican Party.

    Already Trump has done a pretty good imitation of Putin, boldly violating the law and the Constitution to dig up dirt on Biden. He got impeached for that attempt, but others will be launched. In fact, the Iowa caucus results were delayed partly due to Trump supporters’ efforts to jam phone lines at the Iowa Democratic Party.

    I expect Trump will not limit himself to non-violent methods of cheating. Putin, after all, is his hero and master, and if there’s anything Putin knows, it’s how to get rid of opponents, by jailing them or killing them.

  15. o 2020-02-06 09:07

    During the State of the Union (and often during his presidency), President Trump characterized sanctuary cities as places worthy our our disdain, places that ignore the rule of law and, as such, places that allow criminals to act out in the most vile ways. He even proposed that such cities ought to be legally accountable for the harm caused by they who are given that sanctuary.

    Then the next day, the Senate of the US became a sanctuary city for the President of the United States. They ignored the laws of the land to allow a criminal to run amok.

  16. o 2020-02-06 09:24

    I am dumbfounded by how easily the United States degraded into this new paradigm – that elected officials, especially the President, hold absolute power. elected office is not about representation, but ascension to power. Party is absolute above nation. While many looked at Nixon with disdain for going too far, we missed the wave building of those who saw him not going far enough in what needs to be done to take power.

    How did we miss – or worse yet allow – the prolonged GOP ground game of culture war, state media, election tampering and voter suppression? Now a Senate beachhead, judicial fortification, and Executive offensive on the democratic principals we thought were foundational.

    To Donald’s point, I seriously now ask if this is the new paradigm for this nation, or can we ever go back to that quaint idea of a representative democracy governed by the rule of law, of limits?

  17. Porter Lansing 2020-02-06 10:15

    Don Pay … Wondering if your daughter in China is OK?

  18. mike from iowa 2020-02-06 11:30

    We didn’t miss it, O, Democrats in congress just took for granted when they exposed the crimes and deceit of the wingnuts, the voters would automatically keep voting for the good guys.

    Meanwhile, wingnuts went all out to win statehouse races and thereby control the census and gerrymandering to ensure they get the majority of congressional seats even when Dems get the majority of congressional votes.

    One last thing, Dems are too diligent in following the constitution and wanting to make government work. What should have happened when Dems got control of congress for then last 2 years of dumbass dubya’s term is, they should have investigated him for war crimes and impeached his criminal arse. No more Mr Nice Guys.

    Wingnuts know Dems don’t have the stomach to criminalize wingnuts who deserve it. And they abuse that to wingnut’s advantage. And I am mad as hell about it. That damn pathological liar with impeachment albatross around his neck is running around claiming total exoneration again. My blood is boiling!

  19. kj trailer trash 2020-02-06 14:44

    It’s somewhat insane to go on FB and argue with wingnuts, and I try not to do it, unless they are male Trump-lovers being disrespectful to anti-Trump women, or they keep up with the tired old “if you hate it here so much why don’t you leave” crap. But, since Mikey and Johnny don’t really do town halls, and they wouldn’t listen anyway, I do go on FB, on Rounds’ or Thune’s pages, to go on record as refuting the lies that Mikey and Johnny put forth, excuse me, continually and constantly put forth. I love it when I see older women or older redneck-y looking guys putting Thune, Rounds or Trump in their places. It gives me hope for the older generation. Anyway, preach it, Cory!

  20. mike from iowa 2020-02-06 15:27

    Porter, first doctor in China that warned of coronavirus has died from it.

  21. Jason 2020-02-06 17:08

    Is there going to be a thread about the Iowa Caucus?

  22. o 2020-02-06 18:58

    Jason, to say what? Would you like to discuss how new tech botched getting the results out quickly – making the whole endeavor look like a fiasco that overshadowed the story of who Iowa chose or would you like to discuss how your favorite candidate did in the standings?

    Or should we discuss the GOP Caucus where President Trump received 92.1% of the 32,389 votes cast? I had hoped the Walsh would have done far better.

  23. Jason 2020-02-06 20:28

    Not following your line of rhetoric o. I am just looking for a discussion of the Iowa Caucus.

  24. o 2020-02-07 08:48

    Jason, and I was just asking what about the Iowa caucus would you like to discuss. It is a big topic.

  25. Kathyentwistle 2020-02-07 19:35

    Thank you…yes, truth and integrity SHOULD matter.

  26. Cory Allen Heidelberger Post author | 2020-02-08 10:31

    This thread is not about the Iowa caucus. The results of the Iowa caucus do not change our moral obligation to remove Donald Trump and all of his craven, unscrupulous excusers from office.

  27. Cory Allen Heidelberger Post author | 2020-02-08 10:34

    Donald’s warning about the possible demise of fair elections is important. We all have an obligation to focus on the real stakes in this election. We all have an obligation to read the news, call out lies, and vote en masse to re-establish the rule of law and the Constitution. If we screw this election up, we may not get another chance.

    Vote Trump out.

    Vote Rounds out.

    Vote Dusty Johnson out.

  28. mike from iowa 2020-02-08 16:56

    Read how doofus Facebook spokesweasel defends altered speech ripping video by ignoring the video and concentrating on speech, to wit…”Sorry, are you suggesting the President didn’t make those remarks and the Speaker didn’t rip the speech?” Stone tweeted.

    https://www.businessinsider.com/pelosi-trump-state-union-edited-video-facebook-2020-2

    Being naughty is affecting muy grownup 2 year olds.

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