Title : Can Mueller be saved?
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Can Mueller be saved?
We dodged a bullet in the House yesterday, but the rest of it was as depressing as predicted. The Trumper faction in the Senate has increased dramatically, making impeachment effectively impossible. Blocking any cabinet nominee or Supreme Court nominee is now unthinkable.Compare yesterday to the 1994 Republican tidal wave, in which the Rs won control of both the House and the Senate -- 54 seats in the House, 8 in the Senate, followed by a couple of high-level defections. What was the revolution based upon? Paranoia. Propaganda. Nonsensical anti-Clinton conspiracy theories. One bullshit pseudoscandal after the other.
Clinton actually did a fine job: He inherited a terrible economy and set the course for both a robust recovery and the eradication of the national debt -- a miracle that neither Donald Trump nor any other Republican could ever pull off. Clinton was hamstrung only by the restraints of being a Democratic president at a time when the mood of the country was essentially conservative. (He was also hamstrung by progs who insisted that he sacrifice every single speck his political capital on behalf of gays in the military -- a hopelessly unpopular cause at the time, whether you care to admit it or not.)
By contrast, Donald Trump really is a crook. The accusations against him are not bullshit. We know that he's been mobbed up for decades. The Russian connection has been proven beyond rational argument, for anyone who bothers to look at the evidence. His violations of the emoluments clause have been obvious. On top of all that, the man is vulgar, foul, racist, vile, intemperate, inarticulate, impulsive. A fascist.
Yet the progs still won't rethink their "hate white males" strategy. They still think that they can write off millions and millions of white males who feel insecure about their job prospects -- a constituency which ought to be solidly Blue, which would have been Blue if someone like FDR were directing the Dems.
Despite yesterday's dismal results, progs still think that they can make up the loss of white males with incessant GOTV efforts. Motherfuckers! I've come to hate Prog Purists almost as much as I hate Republicans. We should have had a blowout yesterday. If we had had a blowout, Trump would be on his way out.
Progs would rather see fascism triumph than get over their hatred of white males.
Y'know how Hitler won? He won because the far-left political party (the KDP) hated the centrists much much much more than they hated the Nazis. I'm glad Ernst Thalmann, leader of the KPD, ended up in Buchenwald. Bastard got what he deserved.
The secret name of every modern Prog Purist is Ernst Thalmann.
They say that Trump is depressed now. Why? He can handle the House. There will be some setbacks and humiliations, but Russia has kompromat on everybody.
Mueller. And now, of course, Trump got rid of Session -- unashamedly admitting that Sessions was insufficiently protective, a de facto admission of guilt. Trump replaced him with a shameless buttkisser named Matthew "Bork" Whitaker.
Of course Whitaker should recuse himself. And of course he will not. He will, in fact, be our worst nightmare. He will never, ever do the right thing. Bet on it.
I've already seen talking heads on teevee speak as though Whitaker were reachable and reasonable, as though Rosenstein can walk into the guy's office and talk sense into him. Bullshit. Bork II is not reachable; if he were, Trump would not have given him the gig. Rosenstein will be out of a job soon, perhaps before the week is out.
I received a notice from MoveOn to attend a "Save Mueller" protest rally in Baltimore tomorrow. I may go, if I can find enough change in the sofa cushions for transpo fare. The towering geniuses at MoveOn sent out a "GO GO GO" message that gave a place but not a time.
For Chrissakes. We've got to be more professional than that. This is serious business.
Asha Rangappa offered an important thread on the upcoming Whitaker disaster...
STEP DOWN FROM THE LEDGE (FOR NOW) THREAD. (Warning: This might be a SPOOL). OK, here are my thoughts on Whitaker taking over the Mueller investigation and why I think we need to see how things unfold before losing it. To be clear, I do NOT think this is an ideal situation. BUT:Is there another way to save Mueller? Not really, but consider the following thought experiment...
First, Whitaker has spoken and written publicly on the Mueller investigation. This clearly creates an appearance of a conflict of interest. He must consult with the ethics people as his former boss did and, if it is warranted, recuse. Period. But assuming he does not:
First, as a commentator/pundit, you're expected to have an opinion on a given issue. But as discussed in the context of Strzok, et al., keep in mind that there is a very strong culture in DOJ to not let these views infect decisions. As a former USA, Whitaker knows this culture
He is going to be operating in this culture. And he is going to have to articulate his decisions from other people -- career DOJ folks like Christopher Wray and Robert Mueller -- who understand this culture and will see through any attempt to inject politics into the inv.
Further, he has to document these decisions. The standard in the Special Counsel regulations for denying a request or recommendation of the Special Counsel is that it is "so inappropriate or unwarranted under established Departmental practices that it should not be pursued."
Whitaker would have to document and justify his decisions under this standard, knowing (especially with Dems in control of the House) that he would have to testify to them under oath. Flimsy or corrupt justifications would open him up to obstruction of justice.
Evenf he wanted to "starve the investigation," the SC regs state that the budget for the coming year must be approved within 90 days of the fiscal year. The fiscal year already started on October 1, and so the budget is in place until Sept '19. The next approval is in June '19
Another objection he made publicly is that going into Trump's finances would be crossing a red line. Remember that Mueller farmed out the Cohen case to SDNY. That is likely the thread that leads to the Trump Org, and it is not under Mueller. So that should not be an issue.
Important to keep in mind that his comments were made when he, like the rest of us, only knew what was public -- which, in summer '17, wasn't much. Since then, we've had indictments and guilty pleas on Manafort, Gates, Flynn, Papadopolous, Cohen, and a bunch of Russians.
The amount of evidence that has been accumulated in an investigation of this scale cannot be overstated. Which brings it back to how hard it will be for him to justify blocking further steps under the standard outlined in #4, above. Not happening.
Also, at a personal level, until now his loyalty as Chief of Staff has been to Sessions -- someone he saw get berated, insulted, pressured, and humiliated by POTUS. He may have seen more cray behind the scenes. I wouldn't count on his loyalty suddenly switching to POTUS.
Which brings me to: What would be the payoff? He's not going to be AG, this is temporary. If he has political ambitions he is much better off with Sessions as an ally and being respected in DOJ than hitching his wagon to Trump's (falling) star.
In short, the rules, culture, and incentives all point to just keeping what's happening on track, not going off a cliff, which would be professional suicide. I may be proven wrong, I hope I'm not. END
For the next couple of months, the Senate split will still be 51-49.
As some of you may have seen on the Rachel Maddow show just now, Mark Sanford of South Carolina has little reason to love Donald Trump. Jeff Flake also has little reason to love Donald Trump. There are a few other possibles.
A tweet from Jeff Flake:
Earlier this year, we passed S.2644, the Special Counsel Independence and Integrity Act, out of the Senate Judiciary Committee. The bill would safeguard Robert Mueller’s investigation. Leader McConnell should bring the bill to the Senate floor as soon as possibleThe votes may be there in the Senate -- now -- if the bill could somehow make it to the floor. The votes won't exist two months from now. (Thanks again, progs! Your "hate white males" strategy is really working!)
McConnell won't budge, of course. Is there any way to force a vote? Well...Flake and Sanford can switch parties at the last moment.
Yeah, I know. Kind of a long shot.
Even then, the House would not go along, and the legislation would be vetoed. I know that. But any serious or semi-serious effort might throw the fear of God into Trump.
One last point about Whitaker: He has made clear that his primary goal will be to indict Hillary Clinton on...something. Anything.
This will, of course, work to Trump's benefit, and help him win re-election. In a real sense, he is still running against the Clintons. If he can gin up a case against Hillary, he'll be the most popular man in America.
And the fucking progs will help him do it. The progs hate the Clintons as much as the Republicans do.
Seriously. Ernst Thalmann. His spirit lives on.
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