And This Year's Profile In Courage Award Goes To... Nancy Pelosi?????

This morning, Mitt Romney told Jake Tapper on CNN that he doesn't feel the Senate is ready to remove Trump but that Justin Amash was courageous when he called for Trump's impeachment. "I respect him. I think it’s a courageous statement. But I believe that to make a case for obstruction of justice, you just don’t have the elements that are evidenced in this document... The American people just aren’t there. And I think those who are considering impeachment also have to look at the jury, which would be the Senate. The Senate is certainly not there either." Romney also noted some non-impeachable offenses. "I think young people, as well as people around the world, look at the president of the United States and say 'does he exhibit the kind of qualities that we would want to emulate?' And those are qualities of humility, of honesty, integrity. The president has distanced himself from some of the best qualities of the human character." Romney is confused. He sounds like Pelosi.

As they both know, "impeachment" is not removal. Impeachment is an investigation-- one that would be meant to persuade the nation of Trump's guilt-- and a vote to recommend removal to the Senate. That's a whole different process. The Senate isn't ready to remove him now. Why should they be. It would be up to the impeachers to persuade them to.

Why does Romney think Amash is courageous instead of just "crazy" or "treasonous" or, as Trump tweeted today "a loser... and a total lightweight?" Romney himself, on reading the Mueller report, went on record to say that he was "sickened at the extent and pervasiveness of dishonesty and misdirection by individuals in the highest office of the land, including the President. I am also appalled that, among other things, fellow citizens working in a campaign for president welcomes help from Russia." But that's not enough for an impeachment investigation? Really? What would it take? This?

A former colleague of Amash's, Orlando Democrat Alan Grayson, a big proponent of the House impeaching Trump himself, told us that "That’s political courage, and in Amash’s case, he paid for his political courage in advance. In 2014, the GOP funded a primary challenge against Amash, propelled by Kremlin/Trump toady Devin Nunes calling Amash 'Al Qaeda’s best friend in Congress.' This is what both parties are prone to do to anyone who exhibits honesty and independent thought."

Today JFK's daughter, Caroline Kennedy, announced that House Speaker Nancy Pelosiis being honored with the 2019 John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award. "Pelosi is being recognized for her efforts to pass former President Barack Obama's 2010 health care law and for helping Democrats reclaim control of the U.S. House during last year's elections. Those are good things but neither rises to the level of a profile in courage.

Kennedy said Pelosi, who has served in the House since 1987, "leads with strength, integrity and grace under pressure."

That's not profile in courage stuff either. Casting aside partisan, electoral considerations and beginning the impeachment process... that would be something for a profile in courage award. Perhaps they should give it to Amash instead.

And speaking of Pelosi, the courageous progressive Democrat primarying her this cycle, Shahid Buttar has this to say about her award:

I’m glad to see female leadership enjoying a long overdue celebration, but anyone giving Pelosi a ‘Profile in Courage’ award must ignore the facts to justify it. That’s not without precedent: President Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize despite sweeping torture under the rug, escalating deportations, and pioneering new forms of human rights abuses in robotic remote drone strikes that killed at least 20 times as many civilians as targets.

For her part, Pelosi has ignored opportunities to hold Trump accountable for his litany of high crimes and misdemeanors, unilaterally adopted Republican fiscal austerity rules and continues to actively support our Kleptocrat-in-Chief’s corrupt and militaristic foreign policy from Venezuela to Palestine. The Profile in Courage award should go to someone advancing Dr. King’s legacy in the world, rather than a powerful career politician who has done so much for so long to undermine it.

If you agree with Shahid's sentiments and would like to see him replace Nancy Pelosi in Congress, please click on the DWT ActBlue thermometer on the right and contribute to Shahid's very grassroots campaign.

Meanwhile, Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), reports that her impeachment petition drive has resulted in over 10 million signatures, the largest petition delivery in U.S. history. "Back in January," she said, "I was one of the first members of this Congress to call for the impeachment of Donald Trump. Well before the Mueller report’s release, we already had all the information we needed to begin impeachment hearings, just based on what Trump had done in plain sight during two years in office. Now, with the evidence from Robert Mueller and with Trump’s rampant abuses of power to pursue his hateful agenda, I have introduced a resolution calling for Congress to begin an inquiry investigating whether grounds to impeach Donald Trump exist and, if so, to act... It can be easy to be desensitized to big numbers here in D.C., so I want to just take a moment to appreciate how historic this petition delivery is. Ten million signers is more than the entire population of the cities of Los Angeles, Chicago, and Houston... combined! Whenever anyone tells you that impeachment is not politically possible, you can tell them that the largest petition in U.S. history, as far as we know, says otherwise! Every day brings new obstruction and abuse from the Trump administration-- as they defy subpoenas, stonewall Congress, and continue to trample on our rights and liberties. The fact that last week was the anniversary of Trump's family separation policy-- for which nobody has yet been held accountable-- is proof of the high stakes of our fight to confront and stop this administration’s hateful and illegal agenda."