Quick Facts on Politics

Iowa is small, overwhelmingly white, mostly rural. Voters don’t get a secret ballot.  Iowa is not very accommodating to handicapped voters.

Many defenses have emerged from the impeachment trial in the Senate but perhaps the most consequential was presented by Alan Dershowitz.

Rules for how the impeachment trial will proceed seem designed to produce a quick trial with no guarantee that either new evidence or witnesses will be considered.

Republicans believe that the flawed wiretap application started the investigation, and–since it was flawed–so was the investigation.

President Trump is accused of pressuring the president of Ukraine to investigate former Vice-President Joe Biden, who seemed likely to be Trump’s political opponent in the 2020 election. He is also accused of obstructing justice by blocking the testimony of witnesses, intimidating witnesses and refusing to comply with subpoenas.

Testimonies from key Ukraine experts to the House impeachment committee given in the same room at the same time have produced two different narratives.

President Trump tweeted references to the whistleblower over 100 times, calling him a “traitor” and a “spy.” Members of Congress have demanded that the whistleblower be required to testify. Don Jr. even leaked the person’s name.

Impeachment is not about finding the truth. Impeachment is about convincing the public to either continue to support the President, or not.

President Trump’s mention of Crowdstrike and Joe Biden to Ukraine President Zelensky is central to the launch of the impeachment process.

Is the absence of a quid pro quo from the phone conversation between Trump and Ukraine President Zelensky enough to exonerate President Trump? Or is the implicit “ask” enough?

If Trump DID use his office to pressure a foreign government to do something against a political rival, that’s likely an abuse of power.

The White House held a social media summit in order to discuss bias against conservative messaging. In attendance were conspiracy theorists and racists.

There was not “insufficient evidence” (of obstruction) as President Trump claims in his tweet. Rather, Mueller makes it clear that he did not charge the President because of Justice Department rules and a sense of fairness.

The Georgia governor’s election left Democrats fired up over voter suppression that, they say, swayed a close race between Brian Kemp and Stacey Abrams in favor of Kemp.