Seriously. What they’re doing takes guts.
But the GOP Congress aren’t the only ones with their hands on the steering wheel.
The intel community and the media increasingly are now driving this. If there are more blockbuster revelations, the GOP Congress could lose control of the narrative and their ability to control how this plays out.
Not saying it’s a problem in itself. I’m saying special prosecutors have a way of finding that “further evidence” you’re talking about. I’m saying the brief of a special prosecutor investigating a president has a way of expanding and expanding such that it ends up covering every scandal associated with that president. It’s how a Watergate prosecutor ends up looking into Donald Segretti’s dirty tricks and the break-in to the office of Ellsberg’s shrink. It’s how a partisan zealot looking into an Arkansas suburb project ended up investigating the receipt of illicit hummers in the Oval.
We don’t actually know what McConnell was told in that briefing. We don’t know what he had already learned as a result of his being an ex officio member of the Senate Intelligence Committee. What we do know, however, is that in the face of whatever evidence was laid before him, he attacked it in exactly the same way Trump’s people wer: by attacking the veracity and reliability of the sourcing, and accusing the people telling him that of launching a political attack. He was exactly on message with them. And I find that highly suspect, in the sense that it reeks of coordination with TeamTrump, not merely Yurtle parroting the line he’d read in the papers.
And then, of course, Elaine gets another cabinet post.
And the other thing we know is that his holding that Supreme Court open until after the next election, even in the face of overwhelming evidence for most of the year that he was just giving the nomination to Hillary who might well have a Democratic majority, all on the longshot chance that Trump might win, made absolutely no sense.
And one other thing we know–McConnell isn’t ever going to be a bystander to whatever gets discussed at the highest echelons of Republican power and is utterly unscrupulous. As in he is either a real sociopath or he’s someone who behaves in a way such that he might as well be one. If October Surprises are being planned and there are things going on behind the scenes that make the election look far less hopeless than it seemed, he’s going to know what those things are and be in on it.
And those things being true, we have to accept that are off the map and through the looking glass. Time and again, the worst thing we could imagine has turned out to fall short of the reality, because the truth was beyond imagining.
Are those circumstances where you’re going to worry about what might turn up if a special prosecutor is appointed if you’re someone like McConnell, particularly if you have fond memories of how deeply politicized and political Starr was? Yeah, I think they are.
2 Likes
Gotcha, thanks, just wanted to be clear on that. I do hope McConnell gets what he damn well deserves and ends up playing Saruman to Trump’s Gollum.
1 Like
Reverse of this coin
Remember when John Boehner was the Orange one? Betcha his tan is natural these days with all the golf he’s getting in.
Lindsay is doing the world a favor though. Compare e.g. see-no-evil Jason Chaffetz!
1 Like
Interesting that Pence is the one with plausible deniability.
Yeah, been seeing the Tweets that were the source of that story around today. And the only thing that makes me suspicious of them it that they’re hearsay within hearsay and tend to confirm my prophecy about how the Trump Administration would meet it’s rapid end too perfectly to be true. He attacks the intelligence committee and dies the Death of a Thousand Leaks at their hands. It’s like they keep trying to signal to him that they’ve got the goods on him though structured escalation in the seriousness of the leaks, and he keeps ignoring them.
1 Like
I wondered why Comey wasn’t being scrutinized…
1 Like
Very challenging situation. The choice between borderline crazy (Trump) or a crazy conservative Pence. I believe that Trump might have some potential moderation tendencies if we can keep him from making a complete hash of the world. If republicans start to go against trump he just might screw the republicans by working with democrats (he is vindictive after all - and a guy can dream can’t he) Although I’m not sure that Trump could peel off any republicans to work with Dems, But, at this point gridlock would be welcomed. Pence and a republican congress would be a disaster as they would pass all the far right wing legislation they have been drooling about for years! They will take the chance because they will believe that they have safely gerrymandered their majority in 2018 (probably a good bet). So let’s be careful what we wish for in seeing Trump go down in flames!
Heads up for those interested
FEB 16, 2017 | 7:30AM EST | C-SPAN
Representative Tom McClintock (R-CA) discusses contacts between Trump campaign aides and Russian intelligence officials, budget issues, and the future of the Affordable Care Act.