The irony isn't lost on anyone that what once brought Donald Trump so much success and the presidency, which would be firing people, now puts him in political and legal peril. The firing of then FBI Director, James Comey set off a chain of events, well-documented now, that has put the United States in a very precarious position.
We found out this week via The New York Times (https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/25/us/politics/trump-mueller-special-counsel-russia.html) that the president wanted to fire special counsel Robert Mueller, but White House Counsel Don McGahn ultimately threatened to resign rather than give that order. To be clear, the president initially did give the order to fire Mr. Mueller, but rescinded it due to the circumstances and we can only think cooler heads prevailing.
While certainly newsworthy inasmuch as it raised the questions of whether the president once again obstructed justice and if there should be legislative protections enacted to keep Mr. Mueller's investigation in place. Ultimately, you'd have to agree with Tom Brokaw who said that it's really a nonissue for the country at this point - six months ago the president wanted to fire Mr. Mueller but it ended up not happening. Also, fmr. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates made the point to question whether such legislative protections could even be done legally as the special counsel is an executive branch decision. How it goes is that the president, heading the executive branch, is going to do what he's going to do, and then Congress will act accordingly. That's where the real doubt comes in.
Chuck Todd posed the question to Congressman Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) that aren't Republicans going after the investigators instead of really paying attention to the investigation itself? Republicans don't like the way the facts are shaping up so they are going after the investigators' integrity. The House majority leader said that he had confidence in Mr. Mueller, but that there were some things that have been less than transparent, and that is what is most important. He said that he wanted government to be 'fair and open.'
This is laughable. Mr. McCarthy is providing cover to a president who hasn't been transparent since the day he declared his candidacy for office, never having publicly released his tax returns. The president wanted to fire Mr. Mueller and the question, same as it's always been, is why. The president says Russian collusion is a hoax, and maybe there was no collusion on his part. But what's there that the president feels he has to cover up, prompting all these indemnifying actions? Michael Wolff, in his book Fire and Fury, quotes fmr. Senior White House Strategist Steve Bannon as saying it was all about money laundering. The speculative short answer: most probably.
[Show Note: Good to see Mr. McCarthy in studio. Get more of these people in there, live. Literally being under the lights with the interlocutor right there in your face puts people on the spot, in a good way. More of that, please.]
With that said, Mr. McCarthy's comments and actions are tepid compared to the likes of Congressmen Matt Gaetz (R-FL), Darrell Issa (R-CA) and ringmeister Devin Nunes (R-CA) whose comments and actions carry the obstruction buckets of water for the administration. Not to mention Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) and his utterly stupid comments about a 'secret society' against the president. Actually Ron, I'm part of the society, what do you want to know?
What a goofball. But in all seriousness, these people are acting unseemly in their efforts to undermine this country's institutions, specifically the FBI in this case. Sadly, we've come to expect it from our president but not from members of Congress, particularly not a senator, who should always yield to facts and law.
Also, Devin Nunes is like a Leatherman, he's a multi-tool. He previously recused himself from the Russia investigation for making ill-conceived statements about the wiretapping Trump Tower, from in front of the White House no less. We come to find out that he's been causing trouble for the House Intelligence Committee by running side meetings putting together a memo that is rumored to discredit Mr. Mueller's investigation. It is also said that the memo in question cherry picks content from the classified documents and is misleading. Either way, Mr. Nunes has been a completely counterproductive individual for both sides of the aisle. In fact, he's a tool so big there isn't a shed to hold him.
Heather McGhee was correct when she said that these people, in twenty years, will find themselves on the wrong side of history for putting party over country.
Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) said that Mr. Nunes had 'neutered' the House Intelligence Committee's integrity and that the Senate's investigation will have to be the one that people should trust more. And though I didn't delve into immigration at all, Mr. Manchin in his response to a question about it and another used phrases like 'New York talk' and 'West Virginia talk' and that he didn't understand the former. Let's just say that this is the kind of rhetorical regionalizing that Senators should avoid because it just reinforces hopeless misunderstanding where there shouldn't be any. Beside, what the hell is he talking about anyway?
I could go on...
Panel: Kasie Hunt, NBC News; Heather McGhee, President of Demos; Rich Lowry, The National Review; Tom Brokaw, NBC News
A couple more things...
The least of Steve Wynn's problems is that he lost his gig as RNC Finance Chair. As Kasie Hunt said, Steve Wynn is at 'Harvey-level' type numbers. This story is only going to grow in attention so watch out. For those hoping for Republican political repercussions, stop.
As for the immigration debate, the current deal is not acceptable if you are anywhere from the center-right leftward. It limits legal immigration and prohibits family reunification which is counter intuitive if you want the people that immigrate here to succeed.
Oh, and the State of the Union is in 2 days!
Not sure what I'm doing for this... Definitely watching!... most probably a short column of some sort. Check back.
And it's revving up - @mtpopinion on Twitter.
No comments:
Post a Comment