Did you catch Andrew McCabe on 60 Minutes last night? I didn’t understand why Trump was so unhappy with him. I thought it had something to do with McCabe flying Comey home in a government plane after Trump fired him. Or maybe it was that McCabe was too loyal to the FBI and not the president. I knew pretty conclusively that it wasn’t over some minor evasion on who told the press what. The reason for firing him should have been much more serious than that. If that’s all the IG could find on him after decades at the bureau then McCabe should sue.
As it turns out, it was something more serious than that. Andrew McCabe, lifelong Republican, was deeply suspicious and unsettled by the President’s behavior with respect to Russian interference in the 2016 election. So he made sure that the investigation was difficult to stop. He set up the Russia probe in such a way that the president couldn’t stop it if McCabe was fired. So McCabe sacrificed himself in a way and the investigation continued apace:
Lindsay Graham and a whole host of other Republicans think this is about Trump Hatred and overturning the will of the electorate. I don’t think they really believe this because they know who really won the election and it wasn’t Donald Trump. If anyone has a right to be angry about overturning an election it would be Hillary voters. But the talking point was no doubt hand crafted to infuriate the Trump supporter who has no right to be angry and is mystifyingly complacent about another country taking over our government. The will of the electorate was for Hillary Clinton. Three million additional votes don’t lie and they weren’t all located in California. I’m deeply suspicious about how Trump “won”, especially after so many strange comments he made leading up to the election about how he would challenge the result if he lost PA. Let’s just say my mind is open to the possibility of vote hacking.
As for Trump Hatred, I don’t like what Trump is doing on just about any topic or policy. You name it, he’s wrong on just about everything. But I would remind Trump voters that for years they have bought into the concept that racism, while immoral and repugnant, is not illegal. The meme creators seem to think that the rest of us will feel guilt and shame about hating Trump. Maybe they think we’re all women who were conditioned to think there is something wrong with hatred while the MAGA hat brigade stomp all over any tender feelings they might have had for the rest of us.
I would caution Trump voters who still look up to him that he’s probably caused you to violate every personal moral code you have in order to rationalize supporting him. That right there is a sign of something deeply wrong with the man and how he gets people to support him. I don’t have any respect for Trump or the voters who will jettison decency and compassion to walk in his footprints. But I don’t hate Trump. I COULD if I wanted to. There’s nothing illegal about that. He’s just a guy. He could be any guy. There’s nothing special about him. History is full of bad guys who have no scruples and give zero fucks about crossing the line.
No, the people I hate right now are people like Lindsay Graham and Mitch McConnell and Richard Burr and Susan Collins who will do nothing to stop Trump. As long as he is a Republican President, he is above the law. He can do and say anything with impunity, they will look away. Lindsay Graham is especially disgusting with his insistence that there is something illegal with an investigation bureau investigating the president, as if Trump enjoyed the divine right of kings.
Can you imagine how bad the intel must be for the acting head of the FBI and the Deputy AG to discuss the 25th amendment or wearing a wire during conversations with the president? All I can think of is they already stumbled onto information about Trump’s actions that made him a national security risk and an asset of a hostile foreign power. But the Republican Party doesn’t seem to have a problem with that. Or at least Mitch McConnell and the rest of the cabinet don’t seem to think it’s a big deal. It’s got to be extremely bad for FBI investigators who are themselves Republicans to even consider displacing one of their own.
But the rest of the Republican Party rolls over?
On this president’s day, it’s a waste of time focusing on Trump. He’s not really important anymore. He’s a symptom of the Republican Party. His power can be eliminated in short order if the other two branches held him in check.
From now until 2020, let’s forget about Donald. Let’s stop getting trolled by him and his witless tweets.
Let’s shine a spotlight on all those lockstep Republicans in the Senate and the House. They’re the ones who deserve our revulsion and they’ve gotten away with their act for far too long.
Filed under: General |
The Confluence 
Yes, I was thinking about that, how people are giving far too much “credit” to Trump, as if he were this brilliant manipulator of people. He was around for years, and no one paid much attention to him, except as a would-be flamboyant real estate guy who went bankrupt four times, but somehow kept coming back with more money. I actually heard him talk about political matters on the radio once, and he had no idea, sounded like some guy in a bar ranting about things and making no sense.
All of a sudden, he is running for President. We know why now. Because the Russians promised him that they would get him elected. Look to Russia, not to Trump, for what happened in 2016. And I’m sure there was hacking. No one could be that certain that he would win Pennsylvania, when the Republicans had not won it for decades. And Manafort wrote, “Watch PA, WI and MI.” Because he was a politically prescient genius? Of course not. Because he knew what data the Russians had been given by him and others, and how it was being used.
What I was thinking, was that Trump was simply the person who epitomized what Republicanism had become. Buchanan was similar, but he was going against an incumbent President, and he didn’t have the Russians helping. Mike Huckabee, another. The Republican Party had devolved into a bunch of wackos; racists, no-government cultists, anti-science nutcases, along with the unending financial greed. The Tea Party rise was frightening enough, but it got worse. Impeachment of Clinton for having a consensual affair was another, slightly earlier, sign. Filibustering everything. Blocking lower court judges. And then the moment which perhaps spelled the end of democracy: when McConnell simply refused to hold a hearing for ten months on a Supreme Court nominee, because he would have been confirmed, if he had.
I do remember when there were some Republicans who were fairly reasonable. Not many, but some. But this party is now full of amazingly stupid people who rant and rave about everything, make no sense; are hypocrites in every way. They are never going to repent, or see reason.. They want a fascist religious state, though they would never say it that way. A permanent Republican majority, locked in through voter suppression, a rigged census, and stacked courts. Mandatory Christian prayers in schools. No unions. No taxes on the wealthy. No EPA or FDA. With the Russian backing, Trump has just carried it further than some of the Republicans would prefer, with his efforts to destroy the FBI, CIA, and DOJ. That makes them a little uncomfortable, but they love all the rest of it. And their base; we cannot let them off the hook for any of it, lives for making “libs” upset, it seems to be all they have to hold onto.
There are no good Republicans any longer, unless one wants to count Weld, who was still foolish enough to run with weed-addled Johnson. I’ve seen enough of Republican politicians interviewed on TV, to know that there is no moral or philosophical bottom there. I agree with you that this is not some kind of fiendishly masterful brainwashing by Trump, it is what Republicans have become, and would have been,, had the nominee been Cruz or even Kasich. It may be that the next one will simply be somebody who has all of Trump’s views, but hides some of them under a veneer of pretend decency. Come to think of it, that is what Pence is. It is the Republican Party which must be destroyed as a political force. Trump is just the current mouthpiece. And of course the Russians provided the missing element to assure their electoral victory. And Republicans know it, and they don’t care, because they want all of the things they want, and they’ll accept signing over the country to a foreign adversary, if they can get the tax cuts and the school prayers, and the permanent ruling power.
Ack, post “in moderation.” Hopefully can be fixed!
I saw a tweet today that said, “Are we at the point where Republicans think treason is ok if a Republican does it?”
We are at that point.
I don’t think that Republicans have any higher value than keeping power, and using it to get the things they want. Any way to win. We saw it with Watergate, Iran-Contra,, impeaching Clinton; the “Brooks Brothers Riot” to stop the vote counting in Florida ; then getting the recount case to the Supreme Court where partisan Justices would make one of the worst rulings in history just to reach the end they wanted. Outing Valerie Plame, a top CIA agent. and risking her sources’ lives. Gerrymandering like it had never been done before. Suppressing Democratic votes. Blocking Garland;, and then (McCain and Burr most vocally) stating that they would block any Hillary Supreme Court nominee for her entire term. It’s just one step after another. They think that Democrats are fiendishly evil, and so anything they do to defeat them, is warranted. I’m literally waiting for them to prolclaim that, yes, the Russians interfered, and we are so lucky they did, because they stopped Hillary from winning, so it wasn’t treason, but two great powers working together to save us from the liberals. Many of their partisans already say that; not quite the pols, but they will. Appealing to some higher moral principle in them, is of no value. Adhering to one on our side is admirable, but doesn’t necessarily get enough victories over them.
RD,
Thank you for this article. I had hoped I wouldn’t live to see real treason against our country but I have with the republican party and their inexplicable support for trump. You brought it to light and you are a patriot for doing so!
RD, agree with everything you wrote, i wish i could say i thought of it first, but of course I cannot. I do depart on one small point, however: i hate the orange malignancy. He lies, he steals, he cheats and probably has done so since birth, maybe even before. He doesn’t have a shred of decency, a soul or a conscience. In his world view, we only exist to benefit him. Period.I would rank him below fleas, ticks, poison ivy and cancer, which i guess do serve some ecological purpose but I would rather live without. Dump on the other hand has not one redeeming feature. He destroys with a smirk on his face.
I hear you. But a narcissist once told me that the worst thing you can do to a narcissist is to feel indifference. In the end, Trump wouldn’t be able to lie, cheat and steal if the Congressional Republicans didn’t enable him.
So, hating Trump, while satisfying on some level, isn’t very useful. I want him out. I don’t have any feelings about it except resolution. I’m not interest in rationalizing or excuses or accusations of overturning what increasingly looks like a stolen election. They will fall on deaf ears. Not interested in Lindsay Graham or Jim Jordan flailing and screaming like flaming swamp monsters. It’s all a big haka as far as I can tell. I am unmoved.
They can shriek til the cows come home. I don’t GAF. They all have to go.
RD, I get it. But thank the gods that i will never be within spitting distance of this malignancy, therefore he will not grok my indifference. Therefore i take small, cold comfort by hating him from afar. I am old, i am jaded and I don’t think our politics will ever be swept clean, nor will enough of our politicians be the public servants they should be, working for ALL the people they represent.
So now we have to see Sanders on our screens every day again. While Hillary has been told that she must go away, stay out of public life, because she only won the popular vote by 2.8 million, in year where the VRA was not in effect for the first time in 50 years. Where the Russians interfered and hacked in a way that hasn’t even been completely revealed as yet. When the FBI Director violated historical norms twice, to her serious detriment. And where Sanders did just about everything he could to mock and besmirch her. Sanders is back, again, Hillary isn’t.
I am biased in this regard, but I think we are already seeing how the other candidates do not have close to Hillary’s ability to connect issues, and the consequences of various policies. At least most of them so far have no in-depth economic plan, while Hillary had it all mapped out with precise detail, it was just that no one felt like reading about it. None of them seems to have much interest in foreign matters, whereas Hillary knew all the players and options. Nothing we can do about any of this, of course. But I have no wish to watch any of the town halls or debates, because I’m not going to learn much about the issues, mostly just hear slogans. It is really too bad that Americans, and perhaps more precisely, the media, have no interest in depth of understanding of policy issues, they are happy with new faces and catchy phrases. Sanders is not even a new face, but he’ll batter ahead again, for reasons known only to him, and whomever is behind him. If Hillary utters one word about anything in the campaign, the reaction from the usual people will be immediate and furious. I actually think that they don’t care who is President, as long as they don’t have to listen to Hillary discuss issues. This gave us Obama and then Trump.
Hillary was too smart for the power elite. It was much easier to control GW, Obama and trump. She could run rings around them and they knew it, so the corporate controlled media had their marching orders to focus entirely on her e-mails, ignore her comprehensive policy plans posted on her website and fill the airwaves with innuendo, lies and out right accusations against her because they knew the public would accept such treatment of a woman, knowing that they would consider her guilty until proven innocent without giving her the opportunity to defend herself. They’ve already started nitpicking the women running that they would not nitpick the men about.
Sanders is just going to gum up the works AGAIN and get the support of the Russians AGAIN and not be vetted by the media AGAIN, while the women are nitpicked to death. The ONLY way we can beat this rap is for women to do what they’ve been doing since trump’s inauguration and band together and work for the best woman for the job and VOTE in massive numbers. I’m done with men this time around. It’s way past time to give women a chance to do the job. After all, women will be held to a higher standard than the men ever are, no one will make excuses for them and give them free passes. Otherwise, all we are going to get is a lot of talk and promises with no real plan and nothing will get done. Our country is in trouble and as Hillary said when Pelosi stared down trump during the government shut-down (while the men were willing to given in to him at least give him more money for his precious wall) – “it usually takes a woman to get the job done…” So true.
Just a heads up, if anyone hasn’t seen it. Very disturbingly, CNN has said that Sarah Isgur, who is a far Right Wing person, is going to head their 2020 election coverage. It is possible that the corporate domination of the media will now leave us with all media as propaganda outlets for them. MSNBC is decent, but Andrew Lack runs it, and I think he is only suffering the more liberal hosts because they are getting high ratings.
One thing I always note is that when Trump attacks a particular media organization, like NYT or CNN, he is both trying to disguise that he uses them and benefits from them, while he is trying to push them further to the Right. He doesn’t really attack MSNBC or the Washington Post by name, because he can’t influence them. Jeff Zucker is clearly a Trump devotee. How a network could hire a virulent right-winger who once called CNN “The Clinton News Network,,” as the head of national election coverage, is incomprehensible from a news point of view, only understandable as evidence that the network and its owners want Trump and the fascists to rule, and will use their forum to shill for them. No one with liberal political views should ever watch CNN again, unless this changes in a major way, which it will not.
I recommend you stay away from Joe Cannon’s blog. I think the poor dude is losing it. 😮
I remember his name from maybe 2008? Or maybe last election. He was coming up with various conspiracy theories, but I cannot remember exactly what.. He said he had some inside information about something, a story to tell of some sort. But I doh’t know what it all was, or what side he was for, though I sort of thought he was for Hillary for a while.
Ivory,
I never go there. Wouldn’t waste my time.
I only read 2 political blogs. This one and Skydancing. That is it. None of the rest are even remotely worth my time. I used to read Cannon a lot and still do from time to time just to get a fresh or different perspective. But honestly so many political blogs are dug into just opposing everything that their political foes are for despite the merits of the ideas or the success of the program. Case in point is the Affordable Care Act which was working as intended but was opposed by Republicans even though it originated as a Republican idea. There simply was no rational reason why Republicans hated it except that Democrats implemented it. This is no way for a country that wants to move forward to be. In the end, we are all capitalists (though I am a true Liberal) and we all have a lot in common. And by the way Cannon is correct on some things. A lot of so called progressives are just as toxic as those on the right. Just because someone says they are for equality doesn’t mean they aren’t misogynistic or even racist in reality. There are a lot of “progressives” who live isolated into their own little suburban enclaves neatly snuggled away from people who think, talk, or look different from them. These same people brazenly call people like me racist because I am a heterosexual white male living in Texas. Doesn’t matter to them that I actually live in a predominately black neighborhood or that I went to a majority black university or that I once went to an all black high school or that I regularly mow my 75 year old neighbors lawn when he can’t (he has ms and had back surgery last year). Nope. If I disagree on any one thing they say then I am an evil, privileged white male. What am I saying? Liberals who call themselves “progressives” but don’t actually walk the walk are not worth my time because they live in an insulated bubble and are just hypocrites. These are the people who originally backed Obama and who hate Bill Clinton. They love Bernie but don’t understand or care that backing him means more regressive policies toward those who live in my neighborhood (real people) by insuring that Republicans remain in power. Sorry about the length.
Gregory,
Don’t apologize for the length…you made some excellent points that need to be said to remind us of what we are up against. I live in Texas too and being a liberal is not an easy thing to be here in the Lone Star State, especially if you supported that woman, Hillary! However, something is happening and I hope it continues…this past mid-term election I saw more Beto signs in yards and only saw 1 Cruz sign. I live in a very conservative county just north of Austin and seeing a liberal getting that much support is a rare thing.
Sanders is a fraud and I am convinced that the Russians are financing his campaign again in order to divide the vote and help trump, just like they did in 2016, which accounts for the incredibly large number of donations he received in 24 hours. Despite all of the help sanders received from the Russians, the media (who never vetted him) along with the free passes about his not disclosing his tax returns nor explaining his campaign manager, Tad Devine’s, connection to Manafort, plus his campaigns hacking into Hillary’s campaign list of supporters and contributors, Hillary still kicked his ass!
Hillary was by far and away the best Presidential candidate in my lifetime. Intelligent, driven, efficient with lots of political experience and capital to spend. She would have fixed a lot of things that ails this country. We’ll never have another like her.
Andrew McCabe is very impressive, more so than Comey, at least from public istatements. I hope the House brings him over for public testimony, it could be the Joseph Welch moment of this period.
Yeah, but Comey is a disgrace. His was a poor appointment especially in light of the fact that he didn’t want to follow the chain of command at the Justice Department. He is one of those who thinks that his judgment and morality is superior to everyone else’s when in reality he was weak and easily manipulated. He certainly got his just desserts.
I agree. Another insipid Obama choice, who ended up costing the Democrats the election, and great damage to the FBI.
Oh, I got one in moderation. I think its pretty good as well. I hope you like the ideas contained in it.
I released you! Run free, commenter! Run free!
I wrote one yesterday about Sarah Isgur being made head of election coverage at CNN, and what a bad sign that is. I though I saw it get posted, and then it disappeared. Maybe it didn’t post. Oh, well, I am writing it again here, but not as lengthily (in depth!) as the other one.
Nicolle Wallace just had an excellent interview with McCabe and panel discussion after. McCabe portrays Comey as more “heroic” than Rosenstein in terms of holding the institution together. Again, we learn about the hair on fire in the FBI, DURING the campaign….the panel made it sound like McCabe and Comey ensured a SC national security investigation of 45* could be conducted to completion.
The one show which I try to tape every day is Nicolle Wallace’s. She is a grown-up, and she knows more about the inner workings of the system than the other hosts. The McCabe interview was excellent, she asked great questions. I always feel a little better after watching her show, whereas I usually feel worse if I watch Maddow, who seems to delight in painting ominous pictures, and then giving her nervous laugh. I saw some of her show last night, and she followed the, “They are going to shut down the Mueller investigation” segment with something on Bernie. Was there one person on MSNBC who fully supported Hillary in 2016? I didn’t see it. Maybe Ari Melber, who is not a fan of Sanders. But the rest are. Meanwhile, we’ve got a Right-wing hack heading election coverage at CNN, but CNN just promised the DNC that she would not control coverage of Democraticdebates. Which of course just further emphasizes that CNN knows that she is a Far Right operative, and are happy with that. I think that everyone should stop watching CNN; to do otherwise is to tacitly support their apparent attempts to compete with Fox, and to further propagandize news to Trump’s benefit.
I was just thinking the other day, that if I somehow won a billion dollars in the lottery (I don’t often buy tickets, so it is highly doubtful that I would!), I would try to start a TV network which expressed a solid moderate-to-liberal Democratic point of view. This is desperately needed, as the corporations come closer to controlling the entire media, print and broadcast.
William,
I really like Nicole too and for the same reasons as you. Rachel is a good investigator but, I agree, she allows her love for Bernie to get in the way of objectivity. All of MSNBC will fluff Bernie’s pillows but I do hope and pray that having to run against his female counterpart, Elizabeth Warren, he will not be given so much leeway as he was given in 2016.
Also, it’s almost too much to hope for, but I do hope the media will vet sanders this time around. He has too much he hasn’t answered for from the last time and the media has been silent about it…such as, releasing his tax returns, explaining why he said nothing when he knew that the Russians were helping his campaign at the “beginning” of the primary and not at the end as he said. In a recent interview, he admitted he knew to, ironically, Ari Melber! Any descent person would have alerted the FBI but sanders is a fraud and wants power by any means necessary. Also, he was fined by the FEC because he received donations from people from foreign governments and he knows you can’t do that (I will always believe Russia is behind the bulk of his campaign donations). Russia’s intent is to help give the impression that Sanders has more support than he actually does and create the same divisiveness in the democrat party that he did last time. Moreover, the FEC also could not follow who was making a bulk of these donations. That’s not something to be taken lightly but with Bernie, it’s business as usual and the media turns a blind eye.
Also, it should take more than an obligatory “apology” to the women who worked on his campaign and endured misogyny/sexism from his Bernie bros. Don’t tell me he didn’t know. Bernie has a problem with women and women should not give him a pass.
If we want to override Russia’s interference again and keep the corporate patriarchy from undermining those candidates who are truly for the people, then we have to get women, in particular, and all enlightened men to get involved and VOTE like they did in the mid-terms.
Yes, it is quite striking that Sanders is the one political figure whom the media does not delve into. I’d love to know where he gets his money; I am sure that it is not all from $27 donors. I did not see anyone on TV criticizing him for continuing to attack Hillary even after he had zero chance to win the nomination. No one notes that his incessant criticism of the Democratic Party helps Republicans. Or that the Russians favored him, if Trump did not succeed. Or that he was one of only two Senators to vote against Russian sanctions. Or that he is championed by the NRA. These are not invented things, but the media chooses to ignore them. Because they think that he makes the race and thus their coverage, exciting? Because they like when someone on the Far Left attacks Democrats? Because he helps Trump? Because some of them are so obtuse than they cannot perceive that none of his “proposals” are backed up with any plans to implement them, and/or cannot possibly get through Congress? Hillary worked out a plan where families making less than $125,000 could get free tuition for their child, and she worked out how it was going to be paid for. But of course the media and everyone else ignored it. Sanders yells about “free tuition for all!” and people love it, even though it is completely unfeasible. It’s just a matter of how much damage he does to Democratic chances this time. And it’s very possible that this is exactly what he is in there for.
William,
I have no doubt that sanders is back in this election precisely to harm the democrat candidates. I can’t help believing by design on those power elites who hang in the background and play chess with our lives. With the media’s total dead silence about issues involving sanders which were far more egregious than Hillary’s e-mails, I’m beginning to believe they, too, are Russian assets.
We will not win this war depending on the media nor the politicians, it will be up to the people themselves. Unfortunately, far too many of our fellow citizens have been conditioned by reality shows which have totally destroyed any critical thinking or willingness to question those like trump and sanders who promise the world and never deliver.
Wynne05, yes, we are depending on the American voter to save the democracy, but of course not too many people really understand the implications of policies, plus many Americans have a deep-rooted anti-intellectual bias, which is why we got Eisenhower instead of Stevenson, Bush instead of Gore,, and why Trump had so many voters. I read a good earlier article by Dahlia Lithwack about how foolish it is that people look for (faux) “authenticity” in their candidates, above other more important factors. I have been very upset at all of the mainstream election coverage for decades, but 2016 was undeniably the worst, a complete abdication of all journalistic responsiblity, in favor of a carny show featuring uninterrupted coverage of Trump rallies, and the ignoring of all of Hillary’s complex policy proposals, in favor of incessant coverage of the ridiculous made-up “email scandal.”And that is not even to mention the relentless invented stories on Facebook and Google and other such sites, all manipulated by a cabal of Russians and Radical Right people. Sometimes something heartening breaks through, like the Wallace interview with McCabe yesterday. Most of it, though, is just carnival barking, trying to get eyeballs on the screen through bombast or bothsidesism or hyped-up misdirection. And somehow people have to wade and see through all of that, quite a task for most.
Must-miss TV tonight: Sanders devotee Chris Hayes holding an interview with Bernie on his show tonight. He has probably interviewed Sanders fifty times over the last three years. The adulation of Sanders from several of the MSNBC hosts was another factor in the damage that he did to Hillary and the country.
William,
I do not watch Chris Hayes not only because of his love of bernie but because I see him to be a closet misogynist, not to mention, boring and a lazy journalist. There is just something about him that doesn’t ring true and, like bernie, he has a problem with women.
Hillary 2020! There I said it.. because I reject a world where Bernie who lost by millions and Trump who lost by millions and was installed by Russian propaganda get to run again but consensus reality tells us it’s not possible for woman who beat both of them to have another go. Well it’s possible. They say dreaming of it is the first step of manifestation… so come and dream with me – Nancy Pelosi 4 Prez 2019 and Hillary 4 Prez 2020 👅 👅 take that bros and media pundits
I’m all for it. We just need to convince Hillary. It would be harder for her to win this time, because of all the new faces, and the average voter’s attraction to the new thing. Who actually would make the best President is not something that most think about, since they do not understand how governance works. I am certain that Hillary would make a better President than anyone who is going to be in this race.