Below is my column in the Hill Newspaper on the Comey termination and comparisons to the Nixon presidency. Those analogies deepened this weekend after the President repeated that he thinks that they should just get rid of the daily press briefings that have been such a central part of White House operations for decades. What is most striking is how, again, the White House has engineered its own undoing. Many people had called for Comey to be fired, particularly Democrats. However, the timing and manner of the termination has created yet another scandal for the Administration. Only 27 percent of citizens support the decision according to a NBC/Wall Street Journal poll. The growing credibility crisis has made the appointment of a Special Prosecutor (or even the resurrection of the Independent Counsel Act) a priority for many. While I have been a dissenting voice regarding the need for a Special Prosecutor, the Comey debacle has changed my view. The public deserves an independent investigation into these allegations and related issues. Perhaps people will be satisfied with the FBI investigation under a new director, but the last week has been so damaging to public confidence that the need for an independent investigation is obvious. Having said that, I am still unsure of the major crime being investigated under the facts that are currently known. For the moment, this Administration appears intent of self-incriminating actions in the absence of an actual crime.
Here is the column:
Teddy Roosevelt once quipped, “When they call the roll in the Senate, the senators do not know whether to answer ‘present’ or ‘not guilty.’ ”
It seems this week that presidents can face the same dilemma. President Trump’s obsession with the Russian investigation has been widely taken as proof of his guilt. The night of the firing of FBI Director James Comey, CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin declared that the only explanation was that the investigation was getting too close to the president.
Echoing what has become a mantra in the media, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) declared that Trump’s conduct is “nothing less than Nixonian.” Of course, the difference is that the Nixon scandal cover-up began with an actual crime. The Trump scandal appears to be a cover-up in search of a crime.
History may ultimately be faced with one of the greatest curiosities in presidential politics: how the Trump White House convinced a nation that it was hiding a crime that was never actually committed. Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and others have expressly stated that they have seen no evidence of collusion between the White House and the Russians in the election. The focus of the investigation remains the Russian hacking of Clinton campaign emails.
However, that is not likely a crime committed by Trump or his associates. Indeed, no one is likely to seek the indictment of Vladimir Putin for the very same offense committed by our own government in hacking countless foreign accounts, including those of our closest allies like Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Thus far, the only clear criminal allegation centers on reporting or disclosure violations by former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn. However, the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) is rarely actually prosecuted. The Justice Department prefers administrative enforcement over criminal prosecution. The result is that there have been only seven prosecutions under FARA since 1966, when the law was revised, and only four such cases in the last decade.
Likewise, the Logan Act (which is often referenced) is a virtual dead letter. Passed in 1799, the act is widely viewed as unconstitutional. It makes it a crime for citizens to intervene in disputes or controversies between the United States and foreign governments. It has never been used to convict a single U.S. citizen and Flynn would have compelling defenses if it were suddenly resurrected. There could be false statement prosecutions to either Congress or federal investigators, but that is hardly worthy of Watergate analogies.
Yet, if there is no “noose closing around the neck” of the president, why does he constantly look like he is playing the perpetual bad guy George Raft in “Background to Danger” who, when asked what he was doing in Moscow, sneered, “We’re gonna cement Russian-American relations.” The irony is that the bizarre conduct this week could be the manifestation of paranoia rather than guilt.
Reports suggest that Trump was irate over the failure of Comey to support him on the Obama wiretapping allegations and to dismiss the allegations in the Russian controversy. Comey had been quoted by sources as saying that Trump was “outside the realm of normal” and possibly “crazy.”
Other sources allege that Trump demanded that Comey assure him of his “loyalty” as a condition of his retaining his position at the FBI. Trump himself admitted that he asked Comey to confirm that he was not a target of the FBI at a dinner where he said Comey was lobbying him to keep his job. Trump insists that Comey assured him that he was not a target of any investigation.
Ironically, if true, Trump finally came up with a bona fide reason to fire Comey. If Comey actually did repeatedly assure Trump that he was not a target, Comey deserved to be fired. It was a grossly improper question for the president to ask and an equally improper question for Comey to answer. Of course, the president’s account would contradict everything that we know about James Comey.
Trump actually embodies a harsher Nixon than Nixon himself — like Nixon without Checkers. He conveys Nixon’s paranoia without the pet. He tweeted today that “James Comey better hope that there are no ‘tapes’ of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!”
Where Nixon proclaimed after an election defeat that the media would not “have Nixon to kick around anymore,” Trump seems intent on out-Nixoning Nixon. Friday, he also threatened that “maybe the best thing to do would be to cancel all future ‘press briefings.’ ”
Of course, Trump may not have Checkers but, thus far, he also does not have a crime. He may have achieved the impossible in making a case for a special counsel without evidence of serious criminal conduct on his part.
The irony is that the only way that Trump can now clear his name would be the one thing that he seems most eager to prevent: a new independent investigation. He has succeeded in convincing millions of citizens that he is hiding his guilt. That view is not likely to be changed by conclusions of congressional investigations in the GOP controlled houses or an FBI investigation after he fired its director.
The White House itself has undermined any other path to exoneration for the president. This week, Principal Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders stated, “We want [this investigation] to come to its conclusion. We want it to come to its conclusion with integrity. And we think that we’ve actually, by removing Director Comey, taken steps to make that happen.”
In case such statements were not suspicious enough, the White House arranged for Trump to meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Russian Ambassador to the United States Sergey Kislyak in the Oval Office on the day after the termination of Comey.
As the public debated whether Trump was a puppet of the Kremlin, the president had his picture taken in the Oval Office with a grinning Kislyak — the very Russian at the heart of the collusion allegations. Not only did the White House admit that the meeting was held at the request of Vladimir Putin, the pictures of the meeting were taken by the state-run Tass organization because the White House barred U.S. media.
An independent investigation could reveal the evidence of criminal conduct that is so conspicuously missing today. It might also find nothing but a bizarre anomaly: a president who exhibited the most incriminating conduct in history without actually committing a crime.
Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University. You can follow him on Twitter @JonathanTurley.
JT, you’re really behind here. You say:
Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and others have expressly stated that they have seen no evidence of collusion between the White House and the Russians in the election.
Clapper was all over the TV this week making it clear that he doesn’t know if there was collusion or not because he wasn’t briefed. He said he only found out about the FBI investigation into the Trump campaign in March when Comey acknowledged it. If the investigation is about criminal issues, rather than national security, it makes sense that he wouldn’t have been briefed because it was outside his national security purview.
JT, you’re focusing too narrowly here. Trump knows he’s guilty of financial crimes and that’s what’s behind the bizarre behaviors. The meddling in our election is the small fish. The big fish is the one that is rotting from the head. Follow the money indeed.
https://twitter.com/DavidCornDC/status/864157464748535808
Since the CCCP “Corporate Controlled Conservative Press” has been working very hard and spent billions of dollars and years, and have gotten their monies well spent.. I’ll give you “The bullsh*t Asymmetry Principle” The amount of energy necessary to refute bullsh*t is an order of magnitude bigger than to produce it……Brandolini’s Law. ….Point of fact… Squeeky, former Presidents selling books and former SOS making money AFTER their service is NOT the same as current Presidents having their children sit in on meetings with heads of state to get copy-right protections.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bEdMuKq30I
An interesting Dutch documentary into Trump’s financial ties to Russia and Russian oligarchs.
I think the greatest hypocrisy coming from the HRC sore losers club is how unaware they are of how much a Neoliberal and a war monger she is.
Or maybe for whatever reason they’re just happy acting like spiteful, entitled, little children do when they don’t get their way.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/apr/15/neoliberalism-ideology-problem-george-monbiot
Whether Clinton was a warmonger is irrelevant to the investigation of Trump another warmonger. If he lied about those tapes or altered them his worries are only beginning.
What seems to continue to be overlooked is the inability of the political class (and their progressive constituents) to shift their paradigm of what a President’s methods would look like fighting against the established political order. Of course Trump ‘appears’ crazy, unhinged, out-of-control, etc., but that is measuring Trump against the establishment paradigm. He is fighting a century + of progressive American political tradition and it WILL make those unable or unwilling to shift very uncomfortable.
We were already on an unsustainable path long before Trump arrived on the political scene. $20 trillion in national debt is not an indicator of a government that has a sane grasp on monetary policy. The divisions in this country were growing well before this election cycle, once again demonstrating the malfeasance of our foreign and domestic policy. It would seem this election cycle has proven the We the People are far more sane, far more rational and absolutely at the end of their ropes with the ruling political elite’s unsustainable vision of what is supposed to be a more perfect union.
Instead of questioning the sanity of President Trump, it would be wiser to question the motives of anyone opposed to an overhaul of this administrative state and its hemorrhagic foreign and domestic spending. No one in their right mind would fund this “cash for clunkers” government if given a choice, but here we are questioning a constitutionally-elected President’s behavior at government reform. He is unconventional, but then again convention is what got us into this mess in the first place.
Excellent++
That was a really good comment! You are absolutely right! However, without some sort of cataclysmic disaster, I don’t look for anything to change, even with Trump as President. We might get 4 to 8 years respite, and a chance to build up food, and ammo supplies. But our decline is not stoppable without an apocalypse of some sort.
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
Thank you both.
In my opinion, there can be no greater indicator of the root cause of our decline than the immense opposition to the nomination of Betsy DeVos to head a rather benign Department of Education.
It always cracked me up living near DC and people would gripe about the government, especially the liberals in congress, but would never feel that their job was the one to cut.
We have a fatalistic entitlement mentality that should be listed in the DSM 5.
Yep. And recent the mau-mauing she got at a commencement speech.
http://thefederalist.com/2017/05/15/black-graduates-americans-no-favors-booing-betsy-devos/
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
Lobbyists run DC and the teacher’s union contribute $$$$$$$$ to the Dems. Betsy DeVos wants to gut the destructive teacher’s union. The people want to gut the teacher’s union.
It’s a no-brainer for Democrats. Teacher Unions are a major supporter of Democrats, and help them get elected, while blacks are mostly sooo stupid they are going to vote for Democrats for a few freebies here and there. Why upset the apple cart???
If you support school choice, you weaken the Democratic Party, and if blacks start graduating high school smarter and better able to take care of themselves, you also risk weakening the Democratic Party. Where’s the percentage in that??? Democrats love poor, stupid, barefoot and pregnant people. The more the better!*
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
*To some theoretical point, where there becomes a decreasing ROI.
Lobbyists run DC and the teacher’s union contribute $$$$$$$$ to the Dems. Betsy DeVos wants to gut the destructive teacher’s union. The people want to gut the teacher’s union. Those black students who dissed DeVos do not represent black people who overwhelmingly support school choice.
Olly, I lost track of the exact number of dimensions in Trump’s dimensional Chess game when it surpassed the national debt. Good that someone is keeping count! 🙂
If you’re happy, at least someone is. And when the going gets tough, the fact that the toughie is not Clinton brings at least some additional relief.
BB,
I don’t see Trump playing multi-dimensional chess at all. While the political establishment is looking at the board for some complex move from this administration, Trump is simply reaching over and punching them in the nose. The political class has worked for generations at making good governance appear to be something so complex that “ordinary” people are too daft to get it. They’ve conditioned the American people to believe this IS a multi-dimensional game of chess, but the original rules only needed one dimension. So the elites are proving themselves to be not so bright. While they’re doing their best Rodin pose trying to think of some elaborate strategy, Trump is just making them look like fools. The best example of that is he’s got them calling for the rule of law and separation of powers. Yeah that’s right; the original rule book. 🙂
Must be fake news that Trump has filled his administration with elites and plutocrats.
Joe,
The system is designed for anyone to fill the various positions of power. It is by nature a very small segment of our population that will be in these positions. The fact many of these people are wealthy is a reality of government throughout history. And history has proven we (the people) should not empower people to govern and expect them to be virtuous in doing so. Self-government implies we the people remain ever vigilant over those we give power to govern. As Federalist 51 states, we are not electing angels. These people, by their very nature, should NOT be expected to do better than those that elect them. If anything, they will mirror the virtue of their constituents. They will be as honorable to their oath of office as their constituents demand.
The real question is why people are objecting to this President? It’s clearly NOT because of his violation of his oath of office; this opposition began long before January 20th, 2017.
Excellent post, hopefully your post won’t be viewed on blind eyes?
Olly,
I articulate well your position and it has merit, but the populist-president theme cannot carry Trum for four years at the rate he’s going. That theme must give way to bungled performance at some point. So, I prefer the following, particularly Articles 1, 3, and 5:
* * *
In his conduct while president of the United States, Donald J. Trump, in violation of his constitutional oath faithfully to execute the office of president of the United States and, to the best of his ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, and in violation of his constitutional duty to take care that the laws be faithfully executed, has engaged in conduct that resulted in misuse and abuse of his high office:
Article 1: Compromising the integrity of the presidency through continuing violation of the Constitution’s Emoluments Clause. From his first day in office, Trump’s continuing stake in Trump Organization businesses has violated the clause of the Constitution proscribing federal officials from receiving foreign payments. The true and full extent of Trump’s conflicts of interest remains unknown. For his part, Trump has transferred day-to-day control over these interests to his adult children and the management of the Trump Organization. However, he remains the ultimate beneficiary for these businesses, so the fundamental conflict of interest remains. These foreign business ties violate both the letter and spirit of the Constitution’s Emoluments Clause, and arguably provide the clearest basis for impeachment based on the facts and law.
Article 2: Violation of his constitutional oath to faithfully execute the duties of his office by disregarding U.S. interests and pursuing the interests of a hostile foreign power, to wit, Russia. L’affaire Russia began during Trump’s campaign for the presidency, during which several top aides reportedly had contacts with Russia and its intelligence service. His campaign manager also had reportedly worked either directly or indirectly for the Kremlin. These contacts continued, famously, into the presidential transition, when the president’s chosen national security adviser, Michael Flynn, had his ill-fated contacts with Russia. Beyond these contacts, Trump has substantively acted in myriad ways that benefit Russia, including dangerous diplomacy that has reportedly frayed relationships with our allies and allegedly put allied intelligence assets at risk. By offering classified information to the Russians, it was reported that Trump risked the intelligence assets of a Middle Eastern ally that already warned American officials that it would stop sharing such information with America if that information was shared too widely. In risking that relationship, Trump has opened up the possibility for the loss of that information stream for combating terrorism, and potentially put American lives at risk from the loss of intelligence that could inform officials about future attacks on Americans at home and abroad.
Article 3: Impairment and obstruction of inquiries by the Justice Department and Congress into the extent of the Trump administration’s conflicts of interests and Russia ties. The Trump administration has systematically impeded, avoided, or obstructed the machinery of justice to obscure its business relationships, its Russia ties, and the forces acting within the Trump White House to animate policy. The most egregious and visible examples have been Trump’s firings of Acting Attorney General Sally Yates and FBI Director James Comey. Each termination had what appeared to be a lawful pretext; subsequent statements or admissions have indicated each had more to do with obstructing justice than holding leaders accountable. Alongside these sackings, the Trump administration has also worked to starve Justice Department inquiries of resources and refocus investigators on suspected leaks instead of the White House’s own Russia intrigues. The Trump administration also interfered with congressional inquiries through attempting to block witnesses like Yates from appearing or selective leaking of classified information to House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes, compromising Nunes so badly he had to recuse himself from the matter.
Article 4: Undermining the American judicial system through felonious intimidation of potential witnesses. In his desire to continue Comey’s public humiliation, and ensure Comey remained silent about Trump’s possible sins, the president threatened Comey on Twitter with disclosure of “tapes” of their conversations. This follows a pattern of Trump roughly treating witnesses and litigation adversaries that stretches back for decades before his presidency. Since taking office, Trump has also used the bully pulpit of his office to threaten intelligence officials for purported leaks and badger former Yates before her congressional testimony. In addition to falling beneath the dignity of the presidency, these verbal assaults also constitute obstruction of justice, prohibited by federal statutes on witness intimidation, retaliation against a witness, and obstruction of federal proceedings. These attacks don’t just harm the individuals who are targeted; they assault and undermine the rule of law. As such, they constitute further grounds for impeachment of Trump and his removal from the presidency.
Article 5: Undermining his office and the Constitution through repeated assaults on the integrity of the federal judiciary and its officers. During the presidential campaign, Trump publicly attacked federal district Judge Gonzalo Curiel on the basis of his ethnicity, saying Curiel had been “extremely hostile to (Trump),” and that the judge had ruled against Trump because of his “Mexican heritage.” Since taking office, Trump has continued his unpresidential assaults on the federal judiciary, particularly after repeatedly losing court battles over his travel bans. At one point, he described a member of the bench as a “so-called judge,” undermining the premise of an independent judiciary. These statements also undermined both the dignity and power of the presidency, and threaten the rule of law by attacking the integrity of the federal judiciary.
Article 6: Demeaning the integrity of government and its public servants, particularly the military and intelligence agencies, in contravention of his constitutional duties to serve as chief executive and commander in chief of the armed forces. Trump swept into office with considerable disdain for the government and its military. Indeed, during his campaign, he insulted former prisoners of war, Purple Heart recipients, and Gold Star families; criticized the military for its performance in Iraq; and said today’s generals and admirals had been “reduced to rubble” during the Obama administration. Trump carried this disdain into the presidency, through his attacks on the “deep state” of military and intelligence officials that he believed to be obstructing his agenda. He also demeaned the military and its apolitical ethos through use of military fora and audiences as public spectacle—first to sign his immigration order in the Pentagon’s Hall of Heroes, and then to deliver rambling speeches at military and intelligence headquarters suggesting that pro-Trump elements in those agencies were grateful Trump had taken power. Trump has also continued to wage political war against his intelligence community, suggesting as recently as Tuesday morning that it was sabotaging his administration through leaking and other nefarious activities. In doing these things, Trump has undermined his constitutional office as president and commander in chief of the armed forces.
Article 7: Dereliction of his constitutional duty to faithfully execute the office of president by failing to timely appoint officers of the United States to administer the nation’s federal agencies. Shortly after taking office, Trump administration strategist Stephen Bannon articulated his plan for the “deconstruction of the administrative state.” During its first four months in office, the Trump administration’s neglect of governance illustrates how this strategy is to be executed: delay of political appointments, failure to reach budget agreements with Congress in a timely manner, and deliberate neglect of governance and government operations. These actions and failures risk the health, welfare, and security of the nation, and represent a dereliction of Trump’s constitutional duty to faithfully execute the office of the presidency.
* * *
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2017/05/here_is_a_draft_of_articles_of_impeachment_for_donald_j_trump.html?wpsrc=sh_all_mob_tw_ru
“[You] articulate well . . .”
Thanks Steve. I especially like #1. I will enjoy the debate in Congress and the bright light that will be shined on the whole lot of them getting rich off of their position. How many votes are needed in the Senate? Will they have a quorum after many are exposed and have to recuse themselves?
Olly: Good point. A supermajority at the Senate trial after recusals will be three of the four remaining Senators: Patrick Leahy, Bernie Sanders, Susan Collins, and Angus King.
OH, I am sooo glad you remembered this! Because in the midst of all your silly rants, I thought you had forgot!
and
Or, was it some of the other ones you were remembering??? Because there are more.
🙂
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
Oh, I remember when Hillary put her daughter in a very high post, and Obama made money from his business deals. I stand corrected.
The folks worship the emperor and his family. They don’t give a crap about the constitution.
When, just when are Trump supporters going to see the the crap is going to hit the fan? Ask yourselves a question if Obama or Hillary did one, just one thing that Trump has proved he already did. What would the reaction be? Showing up at town hall meetings with AR-15 on their shoulders? Spending millions of tax dollar money for countless investigations? And finding that Hillary puts her toilet paper over the top and not under, well that alone should demand a hearing at least. But with Trump all is well. Nothing to see here. As W.C. Fields said he only reads the bible for the loop holes, but this does stand out…. “And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brothers eye, but consider-est not the bean that is in thine own eye” By the way, that quote should apply to all Americans, Democrats and Republicans.
Your post would be laughable but people who believe what you’ve posted are the very problem the nation faces. “If Hillary and Obama did one, just one thing”, you must live in a vacuum.
Trump could just turn out to be a mildly obstreperous trouble maker and this may really blow up in the Democrats shrieking faces.
Wishful thinking
You should be careful what you wish for as well my friend.
The amount of energy the MSNBC HRC worshiping crowd has invested in The President’s demise could be for naught and in any case she will not be replacing Trump, Pence will.
Do you really want to go there?
You want Pence replacing the next 2-3 SC justices?
You want a professional to show you how the government can be run, from the Far Right?
Please reread my first sentence.
I’d sit back and keep one’s pie hole from frothing.
You can’t project logic on an illogical situation.
just saying.
This is so true.
The second in command is far more rabid Right than the first in command.
Take out the dictator, and you may be left with someone much worse.
Can’t stand Pence but Trump’s actions could very well have legal consequences
Has anyone forgotten Adam Schiff a few weeks ago in the press everyday claiming collusion? Then he see’s the same papers Nunes viewed and goes quiet. Rice is invited to testify and tells them “nope”!
There’s no there and it will be one thing after another with the Dumocrats and their followers until another election. The press is their right hand and will help the narrative all day long. The Republicans don’t have the ba*^s to fight back, ignore the Dumocrats and do the business of the people. They have been losing for so long they think winning is a loss.
https://twitter.com/OrinKerr/status/863846014284902404
I find it interesting JT still believes in polls, particularly one conducted by NBC. I would love to hear tapes of the NBC hack asking the question. Here is an example:
Q: Hello, my name is Jason, I’m calling from NBC, and conducting a poll on the former Reality TV star, now President Trump[said w/ incredulity and derision]. You don’t believe Trump fired Comey for good reason do you?
A: I’m not sure what you mean by “good reason?”
Q: OK, then can I put that down as a yes?
A: [child crying in background] I don’t care, I am busy!
Q: Thank you, watch for the polling on NBC and you’ll see Trump is a lying, crook.
LOL!!! That is probably pretty close to the truth. Nobody I know gives a hoot about Comey, one way or the other.
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
maybe they should wake up.
https://twitter.com/costareports/status/863397199694188548
Have the independent prosecutor and end this. It is absolutely insane for so many people to insist that having good relations with Russia is a bad thing. It’s not bad, it’s what is needed. We don’t need more wars.
The US is an out of control imperium! Trump is a very bad person. Comey is a very bad person. Most of Trump’s accusers in political positions are very bad people. None of these people are concerned with the rule of law or good governance.
What an independent counsel might help with is Democratic party insanity. The number one concern of Democrats is proving Russia stole the election from Clinton. This insanity needs to end. We need citizens who can actually focus on the real threats that we face–things we faced under Obama which they ignored. Things which have now passed to Trump. It would also be great if Democrats would start formulating real goods that they want for our nation and start working towards them. Those would be things like universal, single payer healthcare which both Obama and Trump and Clinton oppose(d), alternative energy, new infrastructure, a guaranteed living wage (something Nixon proposed), stopping wars, etc.
The open corruption in the FIRE sector, the MIC, and therefore in both parties, has reached a point of no return analogous to Hawking’s more general observations.
While many individual career employees in the various agencies still have remarkable integrity, the system as a whole does not; it’s more of a grab what you can as you can right out in the open before you can’t mentality of systemic and probably irreversible corruption, particularly on the part of our revolving door leaders.
Thanks to Obama, who thanks to Bush, who thanks To Clinton, going back at least to Regan, we have a president who openly colludes with China’s leaders in self interested business dealings for the President’s family as if not only is there nothing wrong with it, but on the contrary it proves the US President is a man of shrewd savvy. This passes unnoticed (and it’s hardly alone as an instances of self destructive governance) while we focus on the pathelogical way the Democrats deal with their hurt feelings about the election and the way the MIC seamlessly take up the resulting RussiaGate thread and uses it to further their own imperial ends.
No matter who might lead an independent inquiry, would it be someone you or I or anyone here or anyone anywhere for that matter, could trust; really trust? Doubt it.
Trust is one of the extinct species in the US given what has been made of our Democracy these last 50 years by both parties. Not much to admire in any of this, except perhaps how equally and thoroughly our leaders have bent their backs to the task of strip mining the few remaining assets of their constituents.
BB,
I agree, there is not likely to be anyone trustworthy taking up the job. The system is far too corrupt.
That is why I wish everyone would just start concentrating on trying to right the really bad things which are happening. Not going to war with Russia would be a good thing!
I feel that the oligarchy has everyone right where they want us now. Democrats think they are “resisting” by focusing their energy on war with Russia. It’s Putin 24/7.
Meanwhile, Trump people aren’t seeing that he’s not doing what he said he would. He’s freaking surrounded himself with GS, a group which fairly defines SWAMP CREATURE! You’re correct to point out how corrupt the whole thing is. That’s the real problem.
P.S. Regarding the tapes. wikileaks is asking for them and I hope they get them!
That is why I wish everyone would just start concentrating on trying to right the really bad things which are happening. Not going to war with Russia would be a good thing!
Jill, I’ve always admired your ability to focus on the positive even when there is no positive. It gives a strength to your comments that’s particular. It’s, “Troll Resistant.” Yves Smith has a similar trait in the sincerity of her responses when ever she joins the commentariat.
A alternate title might be, Is it possible to have a cover up for the wrong crime, one that has not been committed when there are others that have? The answer is simple, Yes indeed, and the whole situation can be summed up in one sentence: Trump is being forced into a corner where he is digging his own hole for something he is almost certainly innocent of.
As John Steppling states in an excellent article summarizing the craziness surrounding Russiagate fantasy, The truth is that Comey should have been fired, and in fact one wonders why he was ever appointed, and second, yes, Trump is awash in all manner of shady dealings and has been for twenty five years.[…]
Trump almost certainly has shady dealings with multiple organizations in Russia, to name just one country, but none of that is what he is being investigated. The charge that Russia tampered with our election is almost certainly false and therefore the charge that Trump was complicit in this NON existent event, is equally baloney. Steppling quotes Robert Parry in a particularly salient passage:
http://www.counterpunch.org/2017/05/15/the-magic-liberal/
It is interesting to note, particularly on a site like this, the mess within a mess within a mess that successive presidents from both parties have created, building on each others legacy as if they were one and the same mason. Many self respecting right wingers have a deep ideological need to believe that anything that Russia does is bad, bad, bad… Little do they realize how much their belief system is shared by their arch rivals, the libtards. Anything the liberals believe MUST be false, so how can they too believe that anything Russia does is bad bad bad? An excellent instance of what Squeeky calls cognitive dissonance.
So here we are, the great orange genius (who, it turns out, can dig his own hole faster than any three previous presidents combined), is being held complicit with a crime that Russia never committed (or at least where there is a total of zero evidence of such a crime), and covering it up to boot? That there is a crime Russia didn’t commit is a dead certain 90 degree cross grain to our shared ingrained beliefs: ALL EVIL stems from Russia. Ergo,. Russia must be guilty… But, but but…
Alas the indigenes here can take little comfort in the fact that their libtard counterparts are in exactly the same boat with exactly the same beliefs.
https://twitter.com/Mattison/status/864111225386524672
I would support the engagement of a special prosecutor, but with the formal limitation that the prosecutor’s charter is to investigate ONLY the question of whether Trump and his associates colluded with the Russians to corrupt the campaigns and their process.
Otherwise you will have a witch hunt on anybody and everything of a possible crime, related or not.
And you could very well have the same debacle that happened with Bill Clinton, et al. — where the prosecutor started out with one rather clear purpose, and then drifted off into an entirely different area, almost creating the crime that eventually lead to Clinton being impeached, which was not the original crime being investigated.
Hilarious! It’s like Inspector Clouseau analyzing a crime scene: “FACT: Obama’s Secretary of State deliberately bypassed the secure server she was supposed to use and put classified info at risk. (Hillary: “Oh, my stars! Is THAT what the C stands for?!”) FACT: Russian intelligence did it’s job and intercepted those emails (just as we did Angela Merkel’s). FACT: Those emails revealed widespread DNC and media corruption and hypocrisy. FACT: The election showed that Americans hate liars and hypocrites even more than they hate crude, unsophisticated billionaires. Now all of DC is Clouseau: “Zese facts can only lead to one conclusion: The Russians and Trump are . . . taking over ze world!” So crank up the DNC-Media Outrage-Instigator 5000! Activate protests! Cue Toobin and other talking-head screamers: “The End is Near!” Career bureaucrats (GOP & DNC): wring your hands; tear at your hair; yell and scream and jump up and down! Louder, they aren’t buying it yet! LOUDER! Fortunately, outside the beltway and the left coasts, Americans know this is just the sound of the swamp being drained.
Most Americans have figured out that the swamp has not been drained but has become murkier.
“Fact: The election showed that Americans hate liars and hypocrites even more than they hate crude, unsophisticated billionaires.”
Actually Trump is the greater of all liars and hypocrites as well as being a crude unsophisticated billionaire. The real fact is that enough Americans are too easily duped to realize that. You have your garden variety liars and hypocrites: The Clintons, Rubio, McConnell, Ryan, etc. And then you have the Supra liar hypocrite never before seen so easily disguised to the average American dupe, that makes up, less than half the population, but insidiously dispersed re the electoral college. As the smoke, dust, whathaveyou clears it is becoming also clear that added to the mantle of emperor of lies and hypocrisy, is incompetence. The only bright light here is that America is strong enough to weather this imbecile. America weathered Bush and his handlers or ‘The Three Stooges’. America is way better off after the eight year repair job Obama oversaw-regardless of his shortcomings. The stage is being set for a new hero. The question is will America wise up and pick someone who is more whole and with more balls than Obama, or will it be more of the same old oligarchical spewed drivel that seems to lubricate our political system.
What is needed is not a stronger Barack. He’s only a servant for the 1%. What’s needed is a leader who can get Congress to do things that will increase the standard of living and quality of life for ALL Americans. A President that is so beloved that Congressional members will fear losing their cushy jobs if they refuse to enact progressive legislation.
What is needed is the institution of the plebiscite. What is needed is a President with balls that can simply advocate a ‘single payer health insurance system via expanding existing Medicare structures’, a President who can turn to the people directly through a plebiscite. The more advanced or real democracies such as Canada and Great Britain can do this. Why can’t the US?
-If the people wish to strip mine national monuments for coal then they should be the ones directing this travesty, not the oligarchs.
Etc.
It’s just reality TV. The issues are staged but the performances are real.
Good thing the U.S. and life itself go on just fine without leadership.
Here’s a scenario: The FBI or an independent group continue the research and find it necessary to subpoena Trump’s tax returns. Behind closed doors the tax returns are investigated which leads to more investigations, etc. Trump is such a crook, eventually enough dirt is turned to get him either flipping out on Twitter, charged, or both. The guy is mentally unstable, not Presidential material, must be turfed out, sooner the better.
issac – you have yet to recover from Trump’s election. The inability to accept the truth is a form of mental illness.
Paul
‘truth’, Don’t use words you don’t understand. The truth is that which is sought, without interference, etc. If Trump would simply shut the f*#k up for a week or two, he might be alright. However, he acts as if guilty and afraid; either this is the truth and he is guilty and afraid or he is playing his games. Either way Trump is not Presidential material, not even a local alderman of some dips*t county material. If ever there was a display of mental illness, it is Donald Trump.
issac – are you qualified to diagnosis mental illness? And are especially qualified to diagnosis long distance? Certainly, I am as qualified as you are.
Over 55,000 mental health care professionals certainly think Trump has a mental illness. I thought one was enough? https://www.change.org/p/trump-is-mentally-ill-and-must-be-removed
Regor – after a number of psychologists claimed that Barry Goldwater was mentally ill and unfit to run for President, the APA set a new rule, commonly called the ‘Goldwater Rule’ where you do not comment on a person’s mental health unless you have actually examined them. Right now, 55,000 mental health ‘professionals’ (an I use the term loosely) have violated the Goldwater Rule.
Well, Paul, you have a point as usual. After all Trump’s doctor said he is the healthiest person in the world….
You can get one or even a few doctors to say anything, something as ridiculous as Trump being mentally stable, but when 55,000 say he’s nuts, it is worth considering. Or, perhaps you are a member of the cherry picker society who listens to one out of ten thousand to hear your point of view and ignores the vast, vast, vast majority. It’s kind of like global warming. Paul Schulte says it is a hoax because he read somewhere that five scientists said so, and Trump. Misery and madness loves company.
issac – remember psychology was the pseudo science that declared homosexuality a mental illness and only took narcissism out of the DSM when Obama was elected.
PS,
The average American is far more concerned with the economic disparities that Trump’s actions are making worse: tax reductions for the 1%, more welfare for the M.I.C., cozying up to fellow sponsors of terrorism (e.g. Saudi Arabia, Israel) – and wasting money on threats to N.Korea – who knows Trump won’t do anything because he needs S.Korea and Japan to be allies if/when he decides to attack China).
The average American is far more concerned with the economic disparities that Trump’s actions are making worse[…]
I’m not sure that’s true, but it should be.
It must be a bit hard for a town chock full of by-the-book career professionals to have to put up with a business sleazeball whose substance is limited to 140 characters (although, for all his intellect, Obama sure liked bailing out Wall Street, war, and intervention in what seems like every foreign election that took place in his eight years there).
It’s extremely difficult for me to believe Comey would have asked for one-on-one time with the President about keeping his job. Subpoena the tape. If the President says he doesn’t have any tape or it has been edited, assign a special prosecutor.
If the existence of this “tape” becomes important enough to supoena, it will turn out, at best, to be digital. Almost impossible to prove tampering such as edits.
Of course, also impossible to prove ANYTHING, such as that Comey was even involved in the recording.
X: “Mr. Comey, is that your voice in the recording?”
Comey: I obviously can’t say for sure, but it sounds a lot like me.
X: “Mr. Comey, during your conversation with the President, did you say anything to him similar to what you heard from the recorded voice that you just testified sounds a lot like yours?
Comey: Why, yes, Senator.
X: Please tell me exactly, and you can paraphrase if you don’t remember exactly, what you said to the President that is similar to the recorded voice which you just testified sounds a lot like yours.
Comey: I told him we’ve got significant documentary evidence that several of his family business transactions are directly linked to organized crime in Russia, China, and the Philippines; that he’s under investigation for it; that the investigation could not be terminated at this point based on the number of agents who know about it, and that I could not permit him to lie under oath or else I’d have to resign.
X: And did the President respond to your statement?
Comey: Yes, Senator.
X: How did the President respond to your statement?
Comey: His face ballooned up and turned pomegranate red, and his lips puckered. His eyes bulged glaucomic. I felt like the waiter politely offering an after-dinner wafer in Monty Python’s “The Meaning of Life.” He said, “You’re fired!” and patted down the breast pockets of the suit coat he was wearing before locating a smart phone in his right front trouser pocket. Once in hand, he appeared to be tweeting. Then, he exploded.
Love it! 🙂
Brooklin Bridge – the tape is privileged. They will not get access to it.
Paul, did they get access to Tricky Dick’s tapes? What is the power of the Congressional subpoena?
Brooklin Bridge – if Trump claims executive privilege, Congress would have to go to court to get the tapes. That is what happened with the Nixon tapes.
Claiming executive privilege on tapes (digital recordings)? As good as an admission of guilt. Trump’s already digging overtime. We need to protect him from a heart attack, poor guy!
Brooklin Bridge – Obama claimed executive privilege on the Benghazi emails from Hillary and got away with it.
Now I’m questioning my own comment. If the WH bothers to record, it would seem only logical they would do so by a means that can be verified. Still, Trump, in fact all of them, would want a means that can be hacked but verified. Heh, heh.
Unfortunately, you and the socialist left continue to listen to the state media of the only source provided to the major non-cable networks, the AP. For years that stood for the Associated Press International, when it was known as the API and had a competitor in the UPI, United Press International. API was taken over and the name was changed to AP to represent American Pravda, to conform to the new voice of America that we see today leading the left down the socialist path to depravity. They have reshaped our education system, to ban religion in public school but allow the Islamic faith to be taught, as well as the faith of the communist nations and atheism.
The Constitution rightfully does not promote religion in government, yet our congress opens with prayer, but our warriors can’t pray in battle. Our students can’t pray in silence, but Muslims are given prayer rooms in public schools to practice their faith.
Burning our flag is a right of freedom of speech. But yelling FIRE in a theater is not!
No, we need Trump to turn this country around for communism does not work. Countries in South America and other nations have tried it and failed. Russia looks pretty, but the people have little, compared to what we have here. However, things that were done in the last eight years to our economy and country have turned us into the direction of living the same life, of being a future third world nation. Trump will turn that around as he has begun to in his first 100 days.
What did OBAMANATION do in his first 100 days to improve the economy and create jobs and end illegal immigration and restore ties with our allies and let our enemies know that we would protect our people and our allies, with whatever it takes?
OBAMANATION WAS A JOKE FOR AMERICA. HE WAS HALF BLACK AND DID NOTHING FOR HIS BLACK RACE, EXCEPT CREATE A STOKING OF THE RACIAL WAR IN THIS COUNTRY.
More blacks are in poverty than when he was first elected, due to his policies or lack thereof. Trump is working for ALL AMERICANS. Even those of you that hate him for beating one of the most corrupt criminal families in the history of American politics.
The Russian scandal is a sham. The snowflakes and their congressional flimflams are unaware of what is going on in the real America and that is why the DUMBOCRATS lost in November. Choosing a loser and then supporting her like they did, wasting all their money on a dead horse, when somewhere in that party there has to be one America patriot that could have shown America the way, the way Trump has and will. No, you can do all you wish to. But he will be there in four years to decide if it will be eight. And if you play your hand as you did last year, it will be 16 before you see any chance to go inside the PEOPLE’S HOUSE again, as American will have been shown the new direction that gives them wealth and security, allowing them to again open their doors and sit on their front porches without fear of a drive by bullet.
You had your chance for eight miserable years to LEAD FOLLOW OR GET OUT OF THE WAY. Now it’s time for the TRUMP TRAIN TO ROLL ACROSS AMERICA!!
GOD BLESS AMERICA!
Who said anything about communism? Did Obama ever claim he was a communist? Are the Scandinavian countries communist? Or do you think that the federal government has no role in anything?