The Pace of Scandals
I had to laugh when I came across this photo, but doesn’t it seem like the end of this insanity is right around the corner?
As my mother astutely pointed out on the phone the other day, clearly a bit miffed, “Craig, you’ve been saying the same thing for a year and a half!”
Completely true. But the man is clearly deranged–so much so that he won’t take the advice that must be coming hard and fast from his legal team: Stop making their job (i.e., removing you and sending you to prison) easier with every asinine lie or piece of obstruction you tweet.
The only thing holding this together is the stark terror in which all GOP members of congress live day to day, where they have two options, both terrible:
Support and defend Trump, compromise the living hell out of whatever tiny bit of integrity you may have, and prepare yourself to live the rest of your life known to all as a person who failed to uphold his oath to his country, or
Be honest, do your sworn duty, buck the entire GOP, and recognize that you’re going to be looking for a new job the next time you come up for election.
Yet this balancing act can’t last much longer, as what we know about Trump becomes increasingly obvious. Remember that Nixon had great political support–right up to the time that he didn’t, and he immediately resigned.
I don’t like to throw around foreign phrases, because they can make the author sound pretentious. Having said that, my favorite applies so well here that I can’t resist: les carottes sont cuites (the carrots are cooked), meaning it’s all over but the shouting–not that there won’t be plenty of that; the people at the recent rally will be in a frenzy.
Craig,
Why do you feel it necessary to try and match rhetoric with even more outrageous rhetoric ?
With each of these little outburst you sound increasingly desperate, obsessive and deranged !
There’s no doubt the President’s Tweet’s are inflammatory, often crude and outrageous, but the are politically effective in countering what he perceives as media bias. His tweets and abrupt outbursts are skillfully designed for effect and drive his opponents like you into a frenzy of wild and excessively abusive claims.
When your claims prove to be just wild nonsense, the President’s tweets seem ordinary by comparison. The skill in his tweet campaign is provoking a reaction that “normalizes’ his rhetoric by comparison. It’s a trap, I’m sorry to say, into which you have fallen.
Not only is the President better at this sort of mad rant than his opponents, but he can counter-balance his more ludicrous outrages with shrewd policies and ‘official’ announcements in more presidential language.
As his press secretary points out, “it’s just the President venting his personal opinion”.
Each time the public reads and watches a storm of hysterical drama from the media and anti-Trumpites screaming one of the President’s tweets has broken the law or is grounds for impeachment, which turns out to be nothing more than the President exercising his constitutional rights, the public grows a little more weary and a lot more leery of the ‘outrage industry’, and hysterical critics.
There is no comparison between Trump and Nixon. Mike Pense is not Spiro Agnew, criticizing prosecutors or even the prosecution itself is not ‘obstruction of justice’. Objecting to vilification and attacking sections of the media is not a crime. (although in its arrogance the NYT would have you believe journalists should be exempt from critique).
Doubts about the conduct of the Mueller inquiry (or any inquiry) is not a crime, nor is it ‘obstruction of justice’ but essential in a democracy.
In the meantime, the problem for those who oppose or hate the President is many of his policies are clearly good for America.
It’s impossible to cry “I hope Trump fails in his Trade War”, without saying “I hope America loses” ! or ” Trump will fail with Iran and be humiliated”, without saying “I hope America fails and is humiliated” !
That’s the problem for the anti-trump forces, making it obvious you would rather see America fail Than trump succeed, doesn’t play well in the heartland.
This abomination of a human being that Americans of conscience have to call our present is toast. Watch.
Craig,
It’s good to see that in your moral fury, you can make typo’s like the rest of us mere mortal:)
President Trump isn’t an “abomination”, he’s very much an American. American Presidents aren’t Saint’s ! The people and situations they deal with are often beyond simplistic moral concepts.
Presidents are required to be effective. They need to act on realistic, pragmatic, enforceable policies.
The worst decision is no decision ! Screaming at a Presidential decisions when no viable alternatives exist, is no only pointless, but invites Presidents and other political leaders to invent nice comforting ‘moral’ fantasies, to avert criticism while weakening the nation.
Just as I predicted, Court after Court has thrown out the foolish, ill-conceived litigation against Exxon and other oil companies.
Circuit Judges have begun warning those cities, states and other parties initiating actions of the heavy costs and penalties borne by unwitting taxpayers as a result of losing the actions.
At least two Judges have expressed concerns State and Municipal officials both elected and appointed may find themselves in jeopardy of having lied to either the court, or bond holders !
These litigants may find themselves “hoist by their own petard” and should start worrying about facing civil and even criminal charges brought about by their own actions.
Puritanical rage and sanctimonious scalding, is not a substitute for workable policies.
President Trump’s unusual, but effective diplomacy and strategy, has proved more effective than President Obama’s indecision and weakness, and President Bush who embarked on jingoistic military adventures without any discernible effective strategy.
The Mueller Inquiry is now just a side-show, of little more real importance than a week old sensational headline in the National Inquirer.