Let’s get the big news out of the way first: Last week, the one everyone just wrapped up, will likely go down in history as the moment in time where, on All Hallows’ Eve, the US House of Representatives voted to formalize the rules of the impeachment proceedings against President Trump. It was a big deal. But it was only the beginning. It was also the week during which Senator Elizabeth Warren released her Medicare for All plan, the site Deadspin basically died after its writers resigned en masse in protest against management, Google misunderstood its shopping list and bought the company Fitbit instead of just getting itself a fancy wristband, and Twitter banned political advertising. All things considered, that might actually count as a quiet week given the state of things lately. Here’s everything people have been talking about online over the past seven days, Halloween costumes excluded.
The Vote Is In
What Happened: Well, now it’s officially official: The House of Representatives has voted in favor of an impeachment inquiry of President Trump’s behavior with regards to Ukraine and other foreign policy decisions.
What Really Happened: The ongoing question of whether or not the president committed an impeachable offense in his dealings with Ukraine has been the subject of a formal inquiry since the end of September, with that investigation including many closed door testimonies. Faced with this information, Republicans have responded by questioning the process itself, complaining that there was no vote to formally authorize the inquiry—even though there didn’t need to be one.
Then, this happened.
Yes, the House has voted for the impeachment inquiry, removing one of the Republican roadblocks to actually investigating what’s going on at the White House. But what does this actually mean?
The White House, of course, was prepared to declare the process invalid.
As was (checks notes) the subject of the impeachment inquiry.
Once again, you’d think certain citizens of Salem, Massachusetts, would disagree, but we digress. As it happened, the president actually met with Republican senators, promising them campaign financing if they spoke out against impeachment—despite the fact that they will, ultimately, be his jurors when the matter reaches the Senate, leading many to accuse him of attempting bribery in the process. Things really weren’t going his way. If only there was someone else to defend him. Someone like, say, his daughter Ivanka. Could reality’s Shiv Roy make things better? Well…
As Ivanka Trump seemingly compared her dad to Thomas Jefferson, Twitter watched, agog. Still, one good quote apparently deserved another.
Others, meanwhile, acknowledged the similarities between Presidents Trump and Jefferson.
Well, at least no one on the president’s side marked the vote with a prank that entirely backfired.
The Takeaway: What’s next is likely going to be quite a thing to watch.
Take Me Out at the Ballgame
