The Trump lawyers' strategy is to cooperate with Mueller on the inside game. The outside chorus tries to rough up Mueller, in case his findings are trouble for POTUS.
December 18, 2017
"President Trump said yesterday 'No, I'm not' when asked if he's considering firing Special Counsel Bob Mueller."
"Truth is, his high-level Republican allies don't think he will need to," Axios explains.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
104 comments:
Roughing up the independent counsel is a time-honored strategy. The Clintons and their surrogates savaged Ken Starr mercilessly.
I have to laugh when I hear people say the Trump administration is doing nothing to fight back against Mueller and his collection of Deep State/Hillary supporting staff. I am certain Trump has a plan. The tip-off was the leak of the Strzek text messages. More to come, much more.
Want some morning cheer? Read on.
http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2017/12/a_time_for_war_strike_and_counterstrike.html
All those stories last week about how Trump was considering firing Mueller and how he'd better not do it?
Fake news.
Obama fired an IG so even if Trump fired Mueller it would be within the norms of modern American politics. I would have mixed feelings, but he wouldn't be doing anything unprecedented.
Trump fired Comey (Good)
Mueller demoted Strzok (good)
Wray needs to fire McCabe.
Trump should reluctantly keep Rosenstein
Sessions should fire himself
One of Obama's czars said he (and presumably others) will take to the streets if Trump fires Mueller. It would be worth it for Trump to can Mueller just to watch that theater.
The outside chorus tries to rough up Mueller, in case his findings are trouble for POTUS.
There’s always some assumption that Trump is guilty of something. Just possibly, all of this dirt on the FBI is coming to light because they are such a filthy political organization. Maybe he is keeping his promise to “drain the swamp.” Not everybody who gots to Washington gets swamp fever and goes native. It’s like a zombie apocalypse, nothing the zombies hate more than somebody who won’t become part of them.
Trump can't have a plan, Nation Xanex Radio, on All Things Considered, had several political, economic, and foreign policy experts explaining how dumb Trump is.
-XC
Gowdy said in an interview last week that he would be surprised if McCabe lasts until this Friday. I like these little tests of credibility that predictions offer.
Don't fire Mueller. Just keep letting him have more rope until even Inga realizes he jas to go.
Make him so embarrassed he doesn't even need to be asked to resign.
At least not by president trump
John Henry
This Mueller Investigation implodes when this meme goes viral: Point Shaver Strzok and the Untouchables.
Go to Saturday’s post at neo neocon for the full story.
@Kevin "All those stories last week about how Trump was considering firing Mueller and how he'd better not do it?"
Isn't it possible that Trump was considering firing Mueller, but has been put off by all those stories about why he'd better not do it?
I'm planning on firing Mueller. Who pays him.
I think most rational people know this investigation is all a ruse. If there was collusion it would have been leaked long ago. Now the effort is to coax Trump to fire Mueller. This would end the exposure of further deep-state corruption and allow the MSM to continue to smear Trump with this nonsense through the rest of his term.
At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if Mueller wanted Trump to fire Mueller. Then he would still be considered a hero on the left despite having failed in his mission.
Stories about Trump firing Mueller have been around for months. This is not a recent development. It is a go to cudgel for the left when they want to avoid facing Mueller and his problems head on.
The truth is that Wray and Sessions can organize the new Untouchables and order them to investigate Point Shaver Strzok. Follow the money.
Please think about what this sentence means:
"The Trump lawyers' strategy is to cooperate with Mueller on the inside game. The outside chorus tries to rough up Mueller, in case his findings are trouble for POTUS."
Focus in particular on "...in case his findings are trouble for POTUS".
Does it seem right to discredit an investigator *in case* he finds something incriminating? Surely, if Trump knows he and his team are innocent, there is no need to discredit anyone. In fact, you would want the investigator to have a great reputation for when he inevitably issues his report exonerating you,
@Matthew Sablan "Stories about Trump firing Mueller have been around for months. This is not a recent development."
Yes, because it has been a possibility for months.
President Trump said yesterday 'No, I'm not' when asked if he's considering firing Special Counsel Bob Mueller.
That's the form of a worst-told-joke construction from long ago, a rumination on a guy who was incapable of telling jokes owing to leaving stuff out and adding it later.
"No, I'd hit her with a brick," said the man, when asked if he'd hit a woman, if she was with a child.
Then again if Mueller did violate the Fourth amendment in scooping up the Trump's campaign emails... He kind of has to go.
KittyM:
Maybe it's time to leave the lollipops and sugar plums funland of "possible" and explore the less fantasy-friendly world of "probable".
Surely, if Trump knows he and his team are innocent, there is no need to discredit anyone.
Is there something that is coming out about Mueller and his “team” that isn’t true? Why shouldn’t we know it? Why shouldn’t we know that the FBI sold its soul to protect Hillary and had “a plan” to deal with Trump if he won. The FBI is not supposed to be political. They are discrediting themselves.
What’s happening is an investigation is going on, just like like the investigation of Trump, and it leads where it leads. You can’t blame the IG if what he turns up is stinking rot in the FBI.
I would rather have the squeaky-clean FBI that Efram Zimbalist Jr ran, than the rogue partisan FBI that Comey and Mueller seem to have run. But liberals would rather have the corrupt one, as long as they can count on the corruption being in their favor. It’s almost as if they can’t even hear themselves.
KittyM should read up on “persuasion” as Scott Adams writes about it. Nobody ever strictly listens to the words you are saying unless they are morons. They listen to the words, and integrate them with the context, and factor in your motivations, and how your words would play out in the real world. Using that process, I can claim you support the corruption of the FBI, and you, looking only at the words you wrote, would call me a liar. “I never said that!” But what you said inevitably leads to that conclusion.
This Mueller Investigation implodes when this meme goes viral: Point Shaver Strzok and the Untouchables.
Point Shaver???
Surely, if Trump knows he and his team are innocent, there is no need to discredit anyone.
Surely, if you are on birth control, there is no need to resist being raped.
This was a distraction, my guess against the damage of the texts mentioning insurance policy.
And it worked!
But, it damaged the lefts credibility more...
KittyM needs to read about the John Doe case in Wisconsin.
Pow erline has lots on it, including new info on how it had a Lois Lerner connection.
Isn't it possible that Trump was considering firing Mueller, but has been put off by all those stories about why he'd better not do it?
That would not be news. That would be speculation dressed up as news.
And when the news media does that, the people cannot distinguish between what actually happened and what people speculated might happen.
The media can then, by "just speculating" along with a few sources who are speculating as well (no one knows Trump's actual mind), get you to believe anything it wants you to believe.
For example, millions of people are waking up this morning believing Trump "changed his mind" about firing Mueller.
Are they correct? Or were they "informed" by the media into believing something that never was?
Such is the power of fake news and the inclination to engage in it by those who wish to influence.
Such is the creation of differing realities which is tearing our nation apart.
Not sure if it is intentional or not, but the Mueller/Russian collaboration investigation is doing a fine job at keeping the left distracted and looks no the wrong way. Dems, including the MSM, should be concentrating on other things that the Republicans are doing, like maybe passing tax reform this week. Esp Tax Reform, because much of Blue America is going to face a tax increase, as their subsidy for paying excessive state taxes is gutted, while Red America gets lower rates and all of us get higher employment, etc. TV talking heads should be hyperventilating about that, 24/7, but aren't (partially also because they sacrificed the moral high ground in order to pick up that Alabama Senate seat). And Tax Reform apparently includes repeal of the Individual Mandate, which will just hasten the continuing collapse of Obamacare. Trump and the Republicans seem to have accomplished quite a bit this year, with a very thin margin in the Senate, and both the Deep State anD MSM against them, and I think that much of that was by Trump keeping everyone focused everywhere except where he was "winning".
Blogger Rob said...
Roughing up the independent counsel is a time-honored strategy. The Clintons and their surrogates savaged Ken Starr mercilessly.
I hope you understand -- I expect that maybe you do -- that there is a sizable group of Republicans who have no hypocrisy problems n this regard. We supported the Ken Starr investigation; and we now support the Mueller investigation.
We had certain legal/procedural problems with the independent counsel statute under which Starr operated; but those were principled objections outside of politics or our attitude toward President Clinton.
But, it damaged the lefts credibility more...
No Ray, the left's narrative is:
1. Text messages found.
2. FBI guy fired.
3. Makes Trump think about firing Mueller.
4. Media warns him not to.
5. Trump changes mind.
The left saw nothing wrong. In fact, it saw the power of the media to "resist" Trump's inclinations.
KittyM: Please think about what this sentence means:
Please think about who wrote the sentence. And by that I mean, "who, objectively, wrote the sentences, as a simple statement of fact about who wrote the sentence", not "some partisan wrote the sentence so I'm discrediting it".
I know you have trouble with attribution sometimes, but I think you should be able to understand the difference between "stuff Trump or his allies said", and "stuff some pundit offering an analysis of what Trump and his allies are doing said".
KittyM said
Focus in particular on "...in case his findings are trouble for POTUS".
First off, this 'line' is irrelevant. WHO wrote that line? Mike Allan, not a member of the Trump Team. Not a Trump Lawyer. Someone about as outside and disconnected from actual Trump inner ruminations and strategies as...well...as you are.
I find the assumption that there are 'findings' to be quite a bit of bias on the part of the reporter. Granted, he gave the smallest of caveats in assuming that these (no doubt great) findings MAY not be trouble for the President.
Much like Climate Science, political theater and investigations are more honest when the Congregation of the Self Righteous actually have to answer to someone and have their evidence rigorously questioned.
At least if you are on a hunt for the truth, instead of YOUR 'truth'.
Tell me, is it acceptable to you if Mueller, save a few irrelevant procedural faux pax, finds nothing? Or would you feel that the investigation was just botched and stone walled?
If the later, how does that make you any different than those who feel that Hillary got a pass by the FBI, save there is much more evidence of that than Trump getting away with anything?
Text of speech by AG Sessions on December 27, 2017.
Now that Assitsnt Director Andy McCabe has been separated from the FBI, I have organized a new team within the FBI called the New Untouchables. Director Wray has personally selected the best and brightest of the FBI. All of these employees are untainted by political bias or prejudice. They are charged with uncovering the truth. They have been ordered to review Director Comey’s handling of the investigation of Secretary Clinton’s private email server. Special attention will be paid to whether standard DOJ guidelines were followed or whether there was so-called sandbagging or point shaving by employees of the DOJ and FBI.
A second prong of this investigation is whether a federal judge was duped via use of the Trump dossier in obtaining a FISA warrant. Use of the full electronic capabilities of the federal government to spy on political opponents is not who we are.
My overriding charge to the new Untouchables is this: Follow the money.
Happy New Year America.
We supported the Ken Starr investigation; and we now support the Mueller investigation.
They also supported an investigation into Benghazi and Lois Lerner.
They thought they'd get an honest accounting of Hillary's illegal server and the Clinton Global Foundation while she was in office.
But that shit wasn't going to happen. That's how we know this whole thing is a partisan charade.
There are two possibilities here
Mueller could be a Democrat stooge, bought and paid for and this is a fishing expedition. There is no conclusive evidence of this, but there is enough circumstantial stuff with leaks, illegal evidence and ignoring Congressional oversight to make this credible even to Democrats and the media.
Second, he could be trying to run a clean and fair operation, but he has a lot of people both left and right trying to joggle his elbow and very likely, he has some Democrat stooges in his operation that he is just as busy riding herd on as he is fighting with Congress to get evidence.
If it is the later, I feel sorry for Mueller, because this is his last hurrah. His legacy, whatever that is, is tarnished.
If the former, I want him in Club Fed in Minot ND.
"Such is the power of fake news and the inclination to engage in it by those who wish to influence.
Such is the creation of differing realities which is tearing our nation apart."
Not sure that is bad. The common reality that is breaking up was essentially created and maintained by the left. They controlled the government. They controlled the media, so that the only reality we could experience was the one they wanted us to. They controlled the school systems and colleges, so that they could program the next generations (and we see, on campuses how poorly that has worked out, with all the intersectional snowflakes demanding that any other viewpoints be brutally suppressed as being violent). Control over the national discourse is rapidly breaking up, and the competing view of the middle class is again being heard.
sn't it possible that Trump was considering firing Mueller, but has been put off by all those stories about why he'd better not do it?
There is always one more straw to grasp when one is wrong that would explain why one wasn’t really wrong, if it were only true.
Any one is the Hack D press (the press) asking how much this charade is costing tax payers?
Trump says...No, I'm not and if I was I wouldn't tell YOU!
Forgot to add to the Sessions speech.
I have today taken the extraordinary step of today releasing a redacted version of the FISA warrant application prepared by Special Agent Peter Strzok.
There is an overwhelming elite bias that makes them think the whole country agrees with them and Trump was a fluke. With Mueller it shows by his unfailing use of partisan, Hillary supporting flacks for his legal team. A more aware person would have balanced with an equal number of Republican donors (to Bush, Kasich, Rubio). Even better, he could have leaned on recently retired JAG lawyers for whom the Hatch act prohibited political activity.
Meh. As Clinton felt Ken Starr breathing down his neck, and as Bill was uncertain if any of his minions were going to turn on him, I bet HE considered firing the Special Council. He couldn't...I mean didn't. It would serve as verifying there was fire with that smoke. Lots and lots of fire.
Let's play a game. Let's assume Trump is NOT guilty and he is having this guy poking, prodding and trying to discredit him at every turn with FBI minions making his life a misery. Even an ordinary person with great self control would think about firing Mueller, much less Trump, who is...not an ordinary guy.
Yeah, I would think about axing this guy too. Thought is not a crime. Nor is firing a special council illegal, but very politically inconvenient.
Maybe he is talked out of it. That doesn't mean he is guilty, particularly if he feels he is being harassed by Partisan FBI hacking badgers.
Kevin don't give me any of your bullshit. To the extent that those investigations (Benghazi and Lerner/IRS) were fruitless and feckless, they weren't "GOPe" investigations at all. They were Obama DoJ investigations.
And of course since they weren't independent counsel or special counsel cases, they don't address my original comment, which was in response to the Starr/Mueller comparison.
why do McCabe and Strozk still have employment at the FBI?
were fruitless and feckless, they weren’t "GOPe" investigations at all.
Congress just looked the other way when they were lied to and held in contempt by the actors in those scandals. Meanwhile DOW looks headed to 25,000 today.
Who is monitoring the corruption within the FBI?
We need a swamp draining mechanism. So far Trump has not delivered on that promise.
To be fair to Trump, there is a hell of a lot of swamp to drain.
And any time someone tells me how horrifying America finds Trump, I point to the Dow. Obviously all those people investing in America don't feel that way at all.
YOU (generic) may be despondent, not buying anything but anti Trump books, tampons and cat food, but that does not mean that most of America shares your feeling.
Please note: the polling always seems to be 'do you LIKE Trump' instead of 'do you think America is doing better or worse than 5 years ago'?
I would like to see the poll on the later question.
Chuck: And of course since they weren't independent counsel or special counsel cases, they don't address my original comment, which was in response to the Starr/Mueller comparison.
And which was an irrelevant aside. "[T]hat there is a sizable group of Republicans who have no hypocrisy problems n this regard. We supported the Ken Starr investigation; and we now support the Mueller investigation" is neither here nor there re Rob's comment.
Everything in the world doesn't revolve around Muh Principled GOPe.
How did the GOPe let Lois Lerner claim that her reason for taking the Fifth was not self incrimination, but that Republicans would twist her words to make her sound guilty?
You can’t blame Trump for that one, Chuck.
Strozk and McCabe should be indicted.
Dickin'Bimbos@Home said...
why do McCabe and Strozk still have employment at the FBI?
I believe that it's impossible, or next to impossible to fire a government workers.
Which is something that I'd like to see Trump address.
INVESTIGATED, not automatically indicted. We are not Democrats, after all.
The rumor that Trump would fire Mueller over the Christmas Holidays was started by Democrats as a talking point for fundraising.
The left's plan was to de-fang Trump's DOJ and then go after Trump on crimes created as insurance polices by the very bureau investigating him.
Mueller should be told to go pound sand, but the tax payer funded charade must continue or Botox Nancy and her gang of fools will start yelling "Obstruction of justice" again.
So much corruption on the left that goes unpunished. Hack-D press there to sweep in all under the rug for their brothers in corruption.
This has little to do with law and order, but everything to do with partisan politics.
Trump cannot fire Mueller because the MSM and Democrats will yell WATERGATE!!!.
Nor can Mueller quit because that will admit there was no there there, and immediately collapse the bubble.
And there is no need to discredit the Mueller team and their "investigation" (that mysterious word!), since they seem to be making a fine job of that themselves.
So, just have a very merry Christmas and a happy new year and calmly await further developments.
I'm sure someone in the hack Chuck Todd(D) press will give us a tax payer tally of what this partisan D-hack "investigation" is costing tax payers.
any minute now.
The Democrats and GOPe live in the past, and think it will repeat itself.
Maybe so, but as farce, not tragedy.
Feckless Chuck supports the Mueller investigation -- a disgraceful abuse of investigatory power, set in motion by his heroes Obama, Hillary, et al. -- a political persecution with absolutely no underlying probable cause.
Trump on draining the swamp.
Positives:
- showed fbi partisan
- showed justice department partisan
- still President
- reduction in regulations
- downsizing of epa and state Dept
- reduction in credibility/trust of media
- showed hypocrisy of Hollywood
- recognized Jerusalem as capital
- huge tax changes coming
- changed narrative on immigration
- withdrew from Paris agreement
- restablished us military reputation - ie Syria bombing
I wish he had gotten more done, but congress...
“At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if Mueller wanted Trump to fire Mueller. Then he would still be considered a hero on the left despite having failed in his mission.”
Every day that Mueller flails at the air becomes part of the justification for turning the same weapon on Clinton, the Democrats, and other Swamp dwellers. At this point Mueller is, effectively, doing Trump’s bidding.
The Golden Shower Left cannot conceive that the tactics they’ve used and the precedents they’ve set can be turned against them. It’s one of the great pitfalls of hysterical self-righteousness.
On consideration, if the only thing Trump did was bust the union in the Federal Government, I would consider that a win.
"I believe that it's impossible, or next to impossible to fire a government workers."
they are as indispensable to law enforcement as public school teachers educating our children??!!
Obama fired an IG ...
@Matthew, only one? He fired every IG who tried to do his job.
I only remember the one (specifically, the one he then slandered as senile and unable to think or communicate clearly.) If there were more, that's my error.
FIDO
Win would be an understatement. It would be the Super Bowl/World Cup/Stanley Cup of winning.
Hopefully, Congress passes the tax cut bill this week.
Then, the Dems will implement Plans A,B,C of the Get Trump program:
Plan A: if economy falters, blame Trump, win the House. If economy improves, ignore it.
Plan B: push Mueller to find more perjury traps on the Russian-Hoax investigation; win House, impeach Trump
Plan C: find more Trump women to make sexual harassment charges.
Note: none of the Plans concern doing anything beneficial for the country, but that's how they roll.
Anybody besides me notice that every time there's a breaking story that reflects badly on the Democrats in general or the village idiot from Hyde Park in particular then someone floats the evergreen "Trump is about to fire Mueller" storyline as a distraction. In this case it seems to have been an article in Politico (Politico!!!) detailing how Obama and his cronies shut down an investigation into Hezbollah trafficking cocaine into the United States in order to salvage his treaty with Iran.
@Althouse, you aren't nearly cynical enough when it comes to the Democrats.
The untouchables were not DOJ/FBI
Elliott ness was dept of treasury. Specifically thebatf predecessor
John Henry
Double edit error is back, sigh. Just lost my post.
Somebody or somebodies told Trump not to make the biggest mistake of his Presidency. Maybe his son in law no longer has much sway over him.
@Althouse, you aren't nearly cynical enough when it comes to the Democrats.
Feel some sympathy. She knows a lot of these people in person or by reputation, and suddenly seeing that charming prosecutor she met at that luncheon 'suddenly' running that John Doe thing, those politicians she saw at that convention 'suddenly' acting this way to Conservatives...except publically displayed.
'Suddenly' she realizes the moral feet of clay her side has had for a long time but now she realizes she was squinting to ignore it.
That is a hard lesson to learn.
Obama is in the past as President, so anything he did is old news. What was done with Hezbollah is INCONCEIVABLE as was said in Princess Bride, but it goes along with all the other Obama scandals such as Fast & Furious, Benghazi it was a video that are all INCONCEIVABLE!
Unfortunately, the Insurance Policy Text by Strzok, one of the top FBI people, is even bigger. It shows a conspiracy to hobble the President of the US, and it does not matter what party that person the President is, this is wrong and Banana Republic Territory. Another thing I considered INCONCEIVABLE!
It is my understanding that Trump cannot fire Mueller. Mueller's "boss" as it were, and the only person who can legally fire him, is the Attorney General. Because Sessions recused himself, Mueller's boss is the DAG. Rod Rosenstein. And Rosenstein said last week to a congressional committee that he sees no cause at the present time to fire Mueller.
So the discussions about Trump firing Mueller - or not firing Mueller - whether you think that would be great, or foolish, or scary - is probably not relevant.
The question is: will Trump move against Rosenstein?
I kind of hope Trump paid hookers to pee on Obama's bed. It's pretty funny, and where is the harm?
Magic Eight Ball says: "Will he move against Rosenstein?"
You kids are doing this wrong. I remember following Watergate, and they moved the story with facts, not speculation. The really interesting story is the FBI, and you guys are loyalty bound to ignore it. Oh yeah, and the crooks who had access to the DNC and congressional democrats' servers, caught fleeing to Pakistan. Not to mention the huge tranches of money that went from the Russians to the Clintons. This is Teapot Dome level stuff you guys are being asked by your party to ignore.
I am sure though that there's nothing important the major media isn't telling you though. Just ask Juanita Broaddrick.
Oops! Almost read a post from Chuck. Another time waster avoided.
Maybe Trump is just doing his best to destroy the credibility of the Obama hold overs who are leaking on him.
On the conflicting edits problem- all you have to do to salvage your writing is to page back from the error message page- your writing is still in the comment box.
Blogger Inga said..."Somebody or somebodies told Trump not to make the biggest mistake of his Presidency."
LOL, you don't know shit.
Blogger Yancey Ward said..."On the conflicting edits problem- all you have to do to salvage your writing is to page back from the error message page- your writing is still in the comment box."
While pageback is the right thing to do, the comments are not always there.
I've been posting here from nearly the beginning. The "conflicting edits" problem has been occurring for many, many years, so don't expect it to go away. The frequency at which it occurs spiked badly recently, but fortunately it appears to be back to its normal frequency.
@Yancy, not always. Safest thing is to copy the comment before publishing.
Fortunately I followed my own advice because I got three “conflicting edits” in s row on my comment above. I do, however, know what a vehicle looks like.
All King DJT's men are not going to do a frontal assault on an entrenched position. Old Hickory redux will draw the corrupt cabal of traitors out and snipe them one by one using the NSA computers and the actionable intelligence from the Saudi Reformers and the Docs taken in Marine Corps raids on the CIA Headquarters and on Obama's Presidential Library.
If only Scott Walker had a similar set of resources the evil done to the GOP in Wisconsin would have been stopped.
@FIDO, the mid-sixties is not to late to learn new things. Hard lessons are among the most important you can learn.
“It is my understanding that Trump cannot fire Mueller. Mueller's "boss" as it were, and the only person who can legally fire him, is the Attorney General. Because Sessions recused himself, Mueller's boss is the DAG. Rod Rosenstein. And Rosenstein said last week to a congressional committee that he sees no cause at the present time to fire Mueller. ”
Sorry, but any power to fire Mueller is delegated to Rosenstein from Trump’s Article II (first clause) Executive Power. Which is to say that if Trump wants to fire Mueller, he legally could. Sure, some liberal judges might temporarily get in the way, as they did with his immigration orders, but in the end we are talking Separation of Powers, with the President’s Power being at its highest point. The question, as with Comey is whether he would want to pay the political price to do it himself. Likely, he would just lean on Rosenstein a bit, who would likely oblige, in order to keep his job, just as he did with Comey. Indeed, with Sessions recused, Trump had to wait for Rosenstein’s confirmation to fire Comey. Rosenstein is an Obama Administration holdover who almost assuredly had to sell his soul to Trump to get his current post. I believe that it is very likely that, push comes to shove, he will do exactly as his bosses require.
I’ve been having very good luck by going to the preview box, copying the comment (just to be extra safe) and then hit publish from the preview box. Works 99% of the time. If you get a conflicting error message, just go back to the preview box and hit publish again. In my experience it always goes through the second time.
Blogger KittyM said..."It is my understanding that Trump cannot fire Mueller. Mueller's "boss" as it were, and the only person who can legally fire him, is the Attorney General."
You need to treat whatever source you got this "information" from with caution in the future.
"All King DJT's men are not going to do a frontal assault on an entrenched position."
Exactly. He is doing an excellent job of exposing the enemies weaknesses. Eventually their positions will crumble. He is getting some great advice from people who know how to play the long term game. Calls for Sessions to be replaced are shortsighted.
If only Scott Walker had a similar set of resources the evil done to the GOP in Wisconsin would have been stopped.
On the other hand, it allowed the left to go Full Metal fascist. This unmasking essentially killed the Democrat party in Wisconsin for at least a generation.
Thanks Inga!
>I’ve been having very good luck by going to the preview box, copying the comment (just
> to be extra safe) and then hit publish from the preview box. Works 99% of the time. If
>you get a conflicting error message, just go back to the preview box and hit publish
>again. In my experience it always goes through the second time.
Trump can fire Mueller, but that would be a mistake, politically.
So far, the people who come out look the worst in this investigation are the FBI and former Obama staffers. It's starting to look like the warrants they used for wiretaps (oh, that Trump is paranoid) were based on the Fusion GPS dossier the FBI paid for, at least in part.
It's a bit like the cops calling in an anonymous tip so they can get a warrant to search your house.
"It's a bit like..."
I'd say it's exactly like.
KittyM said... Surely, if Trump knows he and his team are innocent, there is no need to discredit anyone. In fact, you would want the investigator to have a great reputation for when he inevitably issues his report exonerating you,
"Only innocent people fight back! Your lack of love for Big Brother is proof enough of your guilt--if you were innocent you'd welcome the State's dangerous intrusion into your life."
Maybe you're not TRYING to sound like Stalinist...but it's an interesting coincidence in that case.
Kevin don't give me any of your bullshit. To the extent that those investigations (Benghazi and Lerner/IRS) were fruitless and feckless, they weren't "GOPe" investigations at all. They were Obama DoJ investigations.
And of course since they weren't independent counsel or special counsel cases, they don't address my original comment, which was in response to the Starr/Mueller comparison.
Please reread my comment Chuck. It wasn't attacking you at all.
I said that the people who supported both Ken Starr and Bob Mueller would have also supported special counsels for Benghazi and Lois Lerner, because they want the truth no matter the party.
But we don't get the truth no matter the party. We got nothing for the last eight years but wiped hard drives and taking of the fifth. And that is why many who would otherwise support Mueller (me, for example) feel like there is less reason to do so given the politicization of the DOJ.
If you think that's "bullshit", so be it.
FIDO said...Second, he could be trying to run a clean and fair operation, but he has a lot of people both left and right trying to joggle his elbow and very likely, he has some Democrat stooges in his operation that he is just as busy riding herd on as he is fighting with Congress to get evidence.
If it is the later, I feel sorry for Mueller, because this is his last hurrah. His legacy, whatever that is, is tarnished.
1.) I don't know Mueller personally and didn't know anything about him before the current contretemps (hopefully most people aren't that familiar with various gov employees!). I have to judge "him" by what other people tell me. The problem there is that other people--namely serious establishment GOP types--told me recently that both Evan McMullin & James Comey were both terrific, fair, smart, stand up guys. That...didn't exactly turn out to be true, you know? So when people tell me now that Mueller himself is a straight shooter, a straight arrow, just ramrod straight when it comes to honesty, probity, fairness, and the rest I just can't bring myself to take their word for it. I have to judge the guy on what I CAN see myself and that bring me to
2.) The people he hired on to the investigation sure as hell seem like the kind of people one would hire on if one were out to use the power of the State/Deep State to "get" Trump. I mean, did he really not know about his senior people's (people he himself hired!) many hugely apparent biases (partisan and otherwise) and conflicts (links to organizations like GPS fusion, prominent Dems and Dem operatives, etc)?? Did he know and then hire them on anyway? I'm not sure which is worse!
Anyway I'm skeptical. Frankly anyone who ISN'T skeptical at this point should be treated with suspicion.
"But we don't get the truth no matter the party. We got nothing for the last eight years but wiped hard drives and taking of the fifth."
Of course.
The entire system is completely useless and unrepairable.
This includes both the malevolent actors of the last couple of decades as well as the would-be reformers. Who managed to be utterly useless, beyond distracting the public, or some of it, with the notion that something was being done. When it wasn't.
Deliberately useless I think. Traitors and deceivers, in the pay of the bad actors.
KittyM said...
@Kevin "All those stories last week about how Trump was considering firing Mueller and how he'd better not do it?"
Isn't it possible that Trump was considering firing Mueller, but has been put off by all those stories about why he'd better not do it?
12/18/17, 6:59 AM
When I read people telling Trump he better not do something, or else ! I immediately think Trump wants to say fuck you and then do it. Dems want Trump to say fuck you and fire Mueller so they can "take to the streets" with their pussy hats again. Dems challenging Trump are in win win situation, now saying Trump is backing down because of their threats.
Remember when the Left was screaming that Comey needed to be fired, until Trump did, at which point firing him became outrageous? Who can forget Stephen Colbert announcing the firing, the audience applauding, and Colbert yelling (paraphrased) "No, you idiots, that was yesterday's talking point, today it's a horrible crime!"
Good times. I'm almost surprised the Left isn't reacting to Trump saying "I'm not firing Mueller" by demanding he do so.
Dems want Trump to say fuck you and fire Mueller so they can "take to the streets" with their pussy hats again.
And if they truly were hearing from inside Mueller's team that he had nothing, wouldn't this be the best outcome for them?
Of course he's not going to fire Mueller. That's not the game here. The game is the same one the Clintons played: delegitimize. Let your friends slime him, trash him, raised enough smoke that people will forget where the fire's coming from. It's the Ken Starr Sliming Playbook only this time it's "conservatives" running it.
To be fair, Strozk and Page both give more credence to bias than Starr every evinced, not to mention he actually WAITED for subpoenas before he started grabbing evidence...and one could grow old waiting for a Clinton to fulfill a subpoena
The Golden Shower Left cannot conceive that the tactics they’ve used and the precedents they’ve set can be turned against them. It’s one of the great pitfalls of hysterical self-righteousness.
The Cracker Emcee Activist: 12/18/17, 9:07 AM
Read this again and let it sink in. Spot-on
Post a Comment