Day 140: Comey's Testimony

Today's coverage was overwhelmingly dominated by Comey's testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee. There is so much coverage of the event out there; I've tried to cull down to a reasonable amount of reading.

• Here's a good overview of what happened. Long story short: Comey called Trump a liar at least five times, and otherwise held up under immense pressure. Plenty of mud was slung at Trump.
• Trump didn't tweet about the testimony, but the RNC and Trump's lawyer put out plenty of statements attempting to undercut the testimony. The best defense that Republicans could muster was that Trump is incompetent/"new at this". This is disingenuous; Trump knew exactly what he was doing. He was trying to live above the rules, like he has his entire life.
• The case has been made for obstruction of justice. Special Counsel Mueller will have to make that call, however.

As usual, Republicans have been covering for Trump like he can do no wrong. It was never Comey's job to hold Trump accountable; it is presently Republican's job to do exactly that. But, like climate leadership, they've abdicated that responsibility too.

In other news:

• The House passed a bill to unwind Dodd-Frank. Just what we need - to go back to the situation that created the 2008 global financial crisis. This one will make Wall St very, very happy, and is incredibly dangerous.
• Senate Republicans were quietly working to repeal Obamacare while Comey was testifying, using closed-doors meetings to pursue their agenda. It looks increasingly like they're going to try to make this slip through quickly, quietly and secretively. Be prepared to resist!
• So there was an election in the UK... It looks likely that they'll still be stuck with Theresa May (of "Let's loosen human rights laws to make policing easier" fame), but a hung parliament is all but guaranteed to stymie her somewhat.