Of course it’s not intentional, because he’s not smart enough, but all of this has successfully caused such whiplash among journalists and the rest of us … that we cannot focus on any one thing. Luckily, the Russia investigation is beyond egregious so that stands out - but the normal things that would bring down a president in an afternoon, are just thrown out the window. Like the fact that Jared Kushner is STILL WORKING in an official capacity. GOP? Meh, who cares. After all, Hillary’s emails and Benghazi were every bit as bad.
Oh yeah - and the fact that the sanctions are still sitting on his desk. Yawn.
See the history of Nixon’s White House lawyer, John Dean:
“All except Parkinson were convicted, largely based upon Dean’s evidence. Dean’s lawyer moved to have his sentence reduced and on January 8, Judge Sirica granted the motion, adjusting Dean’s sentence to time served, which wound up being four months.”
Yes, and we can imagine that if he approached McGahn and his fired former Chief of Staff about what he was asked in his FBI/Office of Special Counsel interview, that he has most certainly done the same, much more directly and less discretely with the likes of Hope Hicks, Sam Clovis and numerous others we still do not know about. In his business dealings and litigations and DOJ investigations of housing discrimination, I am sure he witness tampered all the time and forced people in his employ or under contract with him to lie. And he had an entire lifetime of getting away with it.
At this point, I think obstruction of justice is a given, and we’re going to keep learning of more examples of that as time goes on.
This business of Trump asking Priebus and McGahn about their interviews with Muelller seems to edge into abuse of power, taking advantage of his position at the top of the food chain and putting these people in the uncomfortable position of either (1) telling him what he wants to know, even though I’m sure both knew this was not appropriate or (2) telling him they weren’t comfortable discussing it and hoping Trump wouldn’t fly into a rage.
If they tell him they aren’t comfortable discussing it, that it’s not appropriate, they know Trump won’t understand and that Trump will conclude that they must have thrown him under the bus.
The man has no boundaries. There are no lines he won’t cross. He has no regard for rules, conventions, protocols, laws: he does what he wants, when he wants, and everyone else be damned.
It is exactly why he is up to his little piggy eyes in investigations of one sort or another: he deserves all of it.
For me, continuing to stay informed is starting to feel like death by a thousand cuts, and more and more I sometimes just have to turn it all off, and walk away.
Yes, and please write this to the media outlets of your choice. I think they are counting on the compliance and lassitude of the public. Let them know you expect better coverage.
I didn’t expect it, but this WAPO piece was a very interesting article.
Kelly seems to be a witness to evidence of obstruction and witness tampering. He was in the meetings with McGahn and with Priebus where Trump openly questioned them about their discussions with the Special Counsel and in McGahn’s case tried to frame a story to tell to prosecutors, which McGahn refused to do. In the McGahn case in particular, Trump made a real effort to change McGahn’s recollection of events and to get his own story straight.
We can see how weak Trump is within his own WH. No one wants to lie for him and people are now telling him to his face what the boundaries and rules are. He doesn’t like that sort of thing. Trump tried to use the now disgraced Porter to communicate a threat message to McGahn and it backfired.
Both Priebus and McGahn are in de facto cooperation with the Special Counsel. While McGahn has more independent legal exposure than Priebus, both basically report every conversation with Trump relating to the investigation to their attorney, and the attorney tells Mueller immediately. Their attorney doesn’t want to leave any risk that they’re hiding anything from the Special Counsel. The power has shifted within the WH to Mueller. This would also explain why Hope Hicks and Josh Raffel decided to leave.
the retention of business holdings that are utilized by power players both foreign and domestic that profit his personally at the expense of the american people.
the inability to find staff that don’t have shady financial dealings
the affair with another woman while his wife was pregnant
nope, all fine and dandy with the GOP and passed over as ho-hum items by the media.
The endless pathological lies
The endless incidents of OOJ
The endless red flags of collusion
The raging incompetence and self dealing
And on and on and…
[‘Donny from Queens, You’re on the Air’][1]
Excerpt:
Jamie Kirchick of the Brookings Institution wryly observes: “Everything Trump says makes sense when you just preface it with, ‘Donald from Queens, you’re on the air.’” I do not know if Kirchick intended his remark this way, but his joke actually splits the difference between the grand-design explanation of Trump’s ridiculousness and the he’s-just-an-ordinary-fool explanation. There’s a reason Trump sounds like your chemtrail-obsessed uncle or that guy at work who’s always going on about Q-Anon, trafficking in a poisonous mix of conspiracy theories, scapegoating, and resentment-driven politics.
[1]: https://www.nationalreview.com/2018/03/donald-trump-saying-stupid-things-rational-ignorance/
Can you imagine how pleased Rob Porter and Donald Trump both are, that Rob Porter is now going to be interviewed about how Donald Trump used him to convey a threat to McGahn? Trump without hesitating or thinking twice put Porter in legal peril of committing obstruction of justice. But when evidence of Porter’s wife battering forced his resignation, Trump lamented how his life and career were destroyed by “allegations.” Panicky, guilty person, this Trump.
