Hope springs eternal among Trump’s enemies: now we’ve got him!
I used to read memeorandum every day. But quite some time ago I stopped looking at it. It seemed that every single day I’d read the same headlines: Trump is finished and Mueller’s finally got him; Trump’s administration is in complete chaos; Trump is going to be convicted of this that and the other thing; Trump did something stupid.
Most of the headlines didn’t pan out and some of them were based on false premises or quotes taken out of context. Some of them were exaggerations, for example treating any turnover in personnel as a huge mutiny. Every now and then something had predictive value, but not reliably and not all that often. So it became a waste of time to look there and try to sort out the wheat from the chaff.
The same is true now. Today Ann Althouse shows a screenshot of the memeorandum page, and it’s filled with highly ominous headlines that would have you think Trump is only one step from going to prison. One of them that we’ve seen over and over again goes like this (in this case from the NY Times): “Is This the Beginning of the End for Trump?”
Who has the time and inclination to wade through it all at this point? I confess that I don’t. I’ll just read the writer I’ve found over time to be most trustworthy on the subject (although not infallible; but who can be that?): Andrew C. McCarthy. Right now the latest he’s written on the subject is this, from December 1:
Rght after Special Counsel Robert Mueller racked up yet another guilty plea to a false-statements charge on Thursday, a friend asked me, “Doesn’t this destroy Michael Cohen’s credibility as a witness?”…
Cohen would have to have some credibility before it could be destroyed…
…[T]he flaw in my friend’s question was not the assumption that Cohen had some smidgeon of value as a witness until it was extirpated by his plea of guilty to lying to Congress…The real flaw was the assumption that Special Counsel Mueller is lining up witnesses and building a criminal case, as prosecutors do…
As a prosecutor, you build a case by having your cooperating accomplice witnesses plead guilty to the big scheme you are trying to pin on the main culprit. After all, what makes these witnesses accomplices, literally, is that they were participants in the main culprit’s crime. That’s the scheme you’re trying to prove. So, on guilty-plea day, the cooperator comes into court and admits guilt to the same conspiracy on which you are trying to nail the lead defendant…
…[Y]ou build a case by first establishing the foundational criminal offense. Juries do not convict people because they like or trust the prosecution’s witnesses. They convict because they are persuaded that justice demands redress for a real crime.
Much much more at the link. Please read the whole thing.
It’s pretty clear there was no underlying crime here on which Trump conspired. What’s less clear, now that the House is about to become Democratic, is whether there will be an impeachment for that crimeless crime. The impeachment will have no teeth in the sense that—unless a real crime surfaces—there will be no conviction and removal. But that probably won’t stop the Democrats from trying.
There is a possibility that the Democrats may, however, enjoy talking about impeachment and writing about how awful Trump is more than they will actually like impeaching him and then not convicting him.
[NOTE: Andrew C. McCarthy has also written on the Barr appointment to become AG, which he calls a “home run” by Trump. And remember, McCarthy—although a conservative—is not basically a Trump supporter. But McCarthy’s a fair guy who gives him his due when he sees reason to do so.]
[ADDENDUM: This is also worth reading.]
One definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. The accusation is about Cohen playing off two whores who claim to have had sex with Trump. My understanding is that both signed NDAs which are not illegal, then blabbed trying to sway the election. Paying blackmail was not illegal, last I checked. Neither whore has any evidence, other than one had her picture taken at a golf tournament with Trump. I had better check my golf tournament photos.
Mike K:
This isn’t about Stormy Daniels. It has to do with Russia. Here, for example, is a relevant quote from McCarthy’s piece:
I suggest reading the whole thing.
Who has the time and inclination to wade through it all at this point? I confess that I don’t. I’ll just read the writer I’ve found over time to be most trustworthy on the subject (although not infallible; but who can be that?): Andrew C. McCarthy.
neo: That’s exactly where I am.
I do notice with some disappointment that Jonah Goldberg and David French, two other National Review writers I like, are taking a less apocalyptic, but still somewhat ominous stance on the latest Trump chum to hit the media feeds.
Yes, I suppose it’s fair to hold one’s breath and wait and see. But how many times does Lucy have to take the football away, an apt metaphor neo employs, before Charlie Brown stops playing?
Well, at least Goldberg provides some zany cinematic images of his own:
Meanwhile, Republicans across the Hill are grabbing everything they can to bunker-in and target-harden. Book cases full of the proceedings of the Senate? Slide those mofos in front of the doors! Studies showing the scope of the fiscal crisis ahead of us? We may need that for toilet paper. Hapless tourists from Osh Kosh or Eugene visiting the rotunda are knocked over and shoved aside, their selfie-sticks clanging on the cold marble, their Smithsonian shopping bags full of astronaut ice cream and miniature Washington Monuments sent flying, as young Republicans roll giant water-cooler bottles down the hallway to prepare for the siege. “Sorry, ma’am, I don’t think you want to be here,” one of the more polite kids from Orrin Hatch’s office yells as they barrel past. “This is going to be bad.”
For reasons no one knows, but everyone understands, an old lady is standing outside the gallery shouting, “Flores! Flores para los muertos!”
…In the hallway, Mike Pence barges past a meeting trying to catch a chicken. No one bothers even to ask why.
https://www.nationalreview.com/g-file/the-wars-to-come/
“Mueller is writing a report, not preparing for a jury trial. Convicted liars… will sound far better in the report than they would on the witness stand.” Andrew McCarthy
Mueller’s report is for Congressional democrats and RiNOs. As well as the media’s leftist propagandists. The hope is that Mueller’s report will be written skillfully enough as to give plausibility to impeachment charges, i.e. there’s so much smoke here that there must be fire somewhere.
Conviction in the Senate is highly unlikely, which dems well know. The goal is for the damage to effectively hamstring Trump, while also painting the republicans as after-the-fact unindicted co-conspirators with Trump in his criminality. They are trying to falsely paint Trump as guilty of the type of crimes of which Hillary herself is actually guilty.
This is now solely about the 2020 election.
But surely Geoffrey by now even the Democrats should have worked out:
1) You can’t tar Trump effectively with innuendo. It just washes off. He’s committed actual political “offences” (rudeness, sexual impropriety, boasting, etc) that would have crippled any other candidate, but he’s not any other candidate.
2) Since a lot of Republicans don’t like Trump, bringing down Trump doesn’t bring down the Republican Party. Two years of Trump didn’t bring any “blue wave”, so why would two more be different?
The current Democratic strategy isn’t working, and at the current rate Trump will be re-elected fairly convincingly. Trump hasn’t been hamstrung by the pathetic “Resistence” and won’t be hamstrung by rash impeachment talk that fails to lead to anything.
So I don’t think it is about the 2020 elections. I think it is about how people think politics should work.
The Left, and a few Republicans too, think candidates should be judged on their virtuousness and correct speaking. If a candidate, like Trump, doesn’t do that, then the whole underpinning of “how politics works” is broken. If politicians are allowed to say what they think, then a careful system that keeps them inside the permitted rails is broken.
Trump therefore isn’t just a Republican in power for four years — he’s a threat to the entire current system long beyond. So he must be resisted constantly. Over everything.
The process isn’t about Trump anyway. Any political party that suggests that the Left’s view on immigration is wrong is immediately labelled “far-right” by pretty much the entire political system, especially the media. Alternative views on immigration are not to be expressed — even when the country actually has quite restrictive policies in practice (see Australia), you simply can’t talk about them in “civilised” conversation.
Trump is only getting what Farage has got his entire political career, because he too went off the reservation.
They might get Trump some day but so far for the past couple of years the Trump is Done thing has not worked out. Russia was not the reason Hillary lost, Hillary was the reason she, as a terrible candidate, lost to a loud mouth, goofy orange-hair, obnoxious, New Yorker who so far seems to have done a decent job in spite of the media doing their best to destroy him every day. Undoing a lot of Obama regulations and appointing judges has certainly been worth my vote now let’s see what the next two years bring us, maybe by then they will have found something to charge him with.
This isn’t about Stormy Daniels. It has to do with Russia. Here, for example, is a relevant quote from McCarthy’s piece:
Sorry, it is about the 2020 election. There is no “there” with Russia.
I am concerned however with the possibility that the 24/7 media barrage of lies will influence enough voters to swing the election. 67% of Democrats now believe that the Russians manipulated the votes to elect Trump. No one has even alleged this.
Then we have Schlicter’s novels to live through.
By the way, I read McCarthy’s piece this morning.
The current Democratic strategy isn’t working, and at the current rate Trump will be re-elected fairly convincingly.
Chester Draws: As my old mentor, Noam Chomsky, said about the Vietnam War, just because the US didn’t achieve its “maximal objectives” in Vietnam, didn’t mean it was a failed effort. The US made it extraordinarily painful for Vietnam pour encourager les autres.
Well, I’m not so eye-to-eye with Professor Chomsky these days, but he had a point.
The Democrat strategy, which Mueller seems pleased to accommodate, most likely will fail to dislodge Trump. However, it has raised the costs for anyone involved with Trump or supporting Trump.
From what I read, Michael Flynn’s life has largely been ruined. Some say his acquiescence to Mueller is about protecting his son’s future. I get that.
Mueller has spared Flynn jail time, but in this case “the process is the punishment.” Others will surely take note. As they are meant to.
I do notice with some disappointment that Jonah Goldberg and David French, two other National Review writers I like, are taking a less apocalyptic, but still somewhat ominous stance on the latest Trump chum to hit the media feeds.
French is with scant doubt wishcasting. What the 2016 election revealed is that what animates Republican voters is not what animates much of the Republican punditocracy or the Capitol Hill nexus. Trump has deferred to standing constituencies sufficiently that the Capitol Hill contingent has either left town or reconciled themselves to the situation, leaving Ben Sasse giving his master classes at Congressional hearings.
As Alan Dershowitz says, Mueller and the progressives are criminalizing political activity. None of the contacts with Russians by Cohen were illegal. Nor were General Flynn’s contacts with Kislyak illegal. Paying hush money to blackmailers is not illegal. Employing an attorney who cheats on his taxes is not illegal. Process crimes of lying to investigators have been created by the Special Counsel’s perjury traps. Manafort’s FAIRA case and tax case happened ten years ago. Has nada to do with the campaign.
I read a long editorial in the local rag this morning about Trump’s lies. The piece claimed he lies about the caravan, about global; warming, about the economy, about tax policy, about immigration, about his wealth, etc. Every claim was an instance of not a lie, but a difference of opinion. This is the world we live in now. Accept my opinions and ideas or you are a liar. Well, I’m thoroughly sick of such utter bunk.
IMO, the Dems will talk impeachment and even try it if they think it will gain them any political advantage. The MSM will certainly back them, We’ll have to see how the mood of the citizens goes. If the economy softens, impeachment will definitely be on the table.
What the 2016 election revealed is that what animates Republican voters is not what animates much of the Republican punditocracy or the Capitol Hill nexus.
It’s about the Benjamins. If they say it’s not about the money, its about the money.
I read a long editorial in the local rag this morning about Trump’s lies. The piece claimed he lies about the caravan, about global; warming, about the economy, about tax policy, about immigration, about his wealth, etc
You must live in Tucson. We should have lunch.
Mike K.: “You must live in Tucson. We should have lunch.”
Nope. I live in the People’s Republic of Puget Sound. Sorry to hear that Arizona is that far gone. 🙁
… it’s not about the money, its about the money.
Mike K: That’s my favorite Bill Graham quote!
Not Billy Graham, the guy who professionalized rock concerts. He had a nice cameo in “Apocalypse Now” as the schlocky emcee who introduced the Playboy bunnies in the disastrous USO performance up river, when things started to get weird.
The MSM are unwittingly inflicting a shared experience for red and blue America: Trumpscandal fatigue. Hardly any of us have the monumental patience needed to assess the endless “we’ve got him now” pronouncements. Moreover, we have neither the time, the training, nor the inclination for legal thought. I leave that to Neo, Andy McCarthy, and Dershowitz. Pity those hooked to CNN’s 24/7 Trumpscandal IV fed by Jeffrey Toobin and their mindless talking head parade. When a source is dead wrong over and over again, rational people look for something more reliable. That path eventually leads here.
Sorry to hear that Arizona is that far gone. ?
Both Arizona major dailies are far left. It’s more understandable in Tucson since the U is here and the town is smaller than PHX.
“every single day I’d read the same headlines: Trump is finished”
That goes back to before the primaries. One of the early clues that Trump had staying power was the number of times he was supposed to be “finished”.
Chester,
It is not innuendo per se upon which democrat hopes to unseat Trump lie but legal machinations. Which while they rest upon mere innuendo, that illicit base now lies under the cover of legal chicanery. Since impeachment and conviction are a political process, all rests upon perception rather than provable facts. Which is why I suspect Andy McCarthy now expects Trump to be charged in court. Guilty until proven innocent is the new paradigm for the right.
Bringing down Trump will absolutely bring down the republican party because it will bring down the republic itself. Like Caesar’s death it will signal to all on the right that the Left has gutted the rule of law. For if they can bring down a President on invented offenses, then laws are for those among the Left’s protected classes with a particular individual’s worth solely determined by their group identity and their usefullness to the cause.
The democrat strategy IS working. As Tucker Carlson disingenously pointed out the other day, Trump has been unable to make good on his three major promises. The dems and RINOs have effectively blocked Trump. The judiciary is the only area in which Trump has been able to effect anything beyond temporary change.
News flash! For the Left everything is about the next election… that applies only slightly less even when they fully dominate the political process.
Trump is indeed a threat to the power structure. But not long term. Where is his successor? Pence? Please. Pence is another George Bush. Just as with Bush Sr. to Ronald Reagan, we’ve seen this tactic before from the GOPe.
Labeling any fundamental opposition, especially if factually rational… to leftist propositions and the policies that extend from them as “Far-Right” is preparation for demonizing as ‘unhuman’ those opposed. Demonization is preparation for extermination.
Farage greatly disappoints in his apologia for the threat of Muslim hijrah… i.e. migratory jihad.
The judiciary is the only area in which Trump has been able to effect anything beyond temporary change.
Ryan engineered that. I suspect that the failure of the GOP Congress to pass any legislation is the reason the GOP lost the House. Plus cheating, of course.
I expect the Democrats’ insanity to continue but I don’t think they can impeach Trump. What will happen in 2020 is the next crisis. Nothing will get done, except judges, until 2021.
Trump reminds me of the roadrunner and the media reminds me of Wiley coyote. The coyote is always saying I have the roadrunner this time, but he doesn’t.
Goeffrey Britain
Listening to him speak, up until now Farage has seemed to have his head screwed on straight. But anyone who can’t see, forthrightly identify, and acknowledge the slow motion Muslim invasion and takeover that is taking place in many of the nations of Continental Europe, and in the UK, is pretty much useless.
Because, they are refusing to identify and deal with the event that will have the most dangerous, transformative, and profound–one might even say world-shaking and revolutionary effects–in those areas.
If a very radical, and very likely very violent, reaction by the “natives” doesn’t occur, this will be nothing less than the Muslim invasion and conquest of Europe that Islam has tried and failed to accomplish for more than a thousand years, made all the more bitter because the clueless, decadent, supine Europeans have just invited them in.
I guess they no longer teach the ancient tale of the Trojan Horse in their schools.
In a couple of decades–or perhaps even less–all of those happy, beaming, welcoming Europeans, holding up signs of “Welcome” we see pictured of on the Web, are going to be frantically trying to erase their incriminating images from the Internet.
I think some you are in serious denial here. I don’t think he will be convicted in the senate because I can’t believe 20 R’s will sacrifice their careers on this because I think it is highly unlikely that he will be reelected in 2020 anyway. The insane, irrational hatred combined with his not exactly broad based support and then what is looking like an economic slowdown coming late 2019 or early 2020 right when campaigning starts. Hopefully the D’s nominate the least crazy candidate so there is hope for the country but I have my doubts on that too.
I think the damage of this entire impeachment thing is going to be huge.
Hopefully I’m wrong and it’s just my sour mood with all the depressing news and dark, dank weather leading me astray.
To add to that last comment the main thing Trump has going for him is the economy and this China trade issue is a really big challenge to that in perception probably more than reality and unfortunately perception becomes reality in this media environment. Therefore I would cut a deal with China. China’s economy is hurting as they reported some not good domestic economic news this weekend and I think as the meeting a couple weeks ago shows they are willing to deal on some things. It is unrealistic to expect a communist dictatorship to give on all these things at once. It’s going to take a long effort to get these things done.
If he takes the trade issue off the table maybe the economy only slows and we avoid a recession and he has a chance in 2020. But he definitely needs to adjust his way of doing things now.
The question is whether The Deep State is sabotaging Trump’s relationship with Xi.
The Washington Post reports today: “”An unnamed senior U.S. official with direct knowledge of the matter told The Washington Post last week that Trump learned of the arrest [of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou] only after the meal had concluded and reacted with intense anger.” The Washington Post may not be the most reliable source on internal matters of the Trump Administration, but the story rings true, and it is frightening. On Dec. 6 I conjectured in Asia Times that the president’s enemies set him up. It’s looking more and more like a Deep State operation against the president.
Mike K,
I read somewhere that Bolton was aware the arrest was going down beforehand but Trump wasn’t and that is not good. This needed to be approved at the very highest level because of the issues and timing of this. I also read today that the arrest warrant for her was issued in August and she (and thus the Chinese gov’t) was aware of this and was avoiding the US thus her connecting flight in Vancouver on the way to Mexico. Also it could apparently take as much as a decade to get her extradited from Canada so lets be real that ain’t ever happening.
I still can’t figure out why the Canadians went along with this as now they are hearing hell from the Chinese also.
I saw some comments from Boston that looked an awful lot like weasel words. “Well, maybe I did and maybe I didn’t.”
As far as Tucker C pointing out that Trump has failed ‘his three major promises’ and is only succeeding at appointing judges. Well he has been immensely successfully at deregulating several areas of the bureaucracy that I’m sure causes Obama indigestion. Many of these stimulate business activity. The Tax Reform was a huge win. And rolling back Title IX was no small move forward. And he has caused some key job turnover at the FBI, CIA, and NSA. But really even if Trump couldn’t accomplishment anything he is better than any choice from the Democrats who would move forward aggressively on their own agenda absent Trump. I hope he runs in 2020 and wins.
Griffen, on China. We should hope Trump doesn’t come to a deal with China and the impact of his ‘trade war’ on our economy is far smaller and actually net positive even in the next two years leading up to the elections. China is in a lose lose situation and the longer this drags out the better for…everybody but China. China’s goal is to get Trump to sign a deal in which they can lock him into a resolution process, preferably a process that takes years. They will buy a lot of soybeans for such a deal. Then they can continue to steal IP at will. Better is to continue the higher level of uncertainty that Trump and his team has created by all this talk and threats on tariffs. Tariffs force the Chinese to pay attention. I doubt Trump give two shits about the tariffs. What his threats have done is raise the risk profile for investing in China considerably. There already was a realization by many in the international corporate community of the risks but inertia kept them there slowing their shift in investment. The WSJ has a good article that points to a peak in China investing by foreigners in 2010 and a gradual easing since. Trump has accelerating that shift away from China.
China’s growth in largely dependent on the massive capital inflows. It has achieved a great deal and won’t be collapsing anytime soon if these are removed, but it’s not just the capital. If foreigners pull back, in particular withdraw their best IP, it’s harder to steal. Also if the investment doesn’t go into China, or better if factories are moved, then that capital inflow will benefit somewhere else just as it did China the last three decades. Some of those alternative targets for investment will include the US/Canada/Mexico which will boost real growth (it may not show up immediately in GDP numbers but will boost business activity and show up as job growth). The more reactionary the Chinese get the more aggressive Trump’s response. Three companies are in his target sites now and their products are being banned here and Trump is working to get our allies to do the same. This hurts the Chinese a lot. Ironically if the Chinese just followed the rules e.g. WTO and didn’t steal IP they would be immensely successful and Trump couldn’t stop them, e.g. Taiwan.
Mike K on December 9, 2018 at 6:08 pm at 6:08 pm said:
The question is whether The Deep State is sabotaging Trump’s relationship with Xi.
* * *
Yes.
Next question.
Geoffrey Britain on December 9, 2018 at 1:40 pm at 1:40 pm said:
Bringing down Trump will absolutely bring down the republican party because it will bring down the republic itself. Like Caesar’s death it will signal to all on the right that the Left has gutted the rule of law.
* * *
It will signal that to anyone on the right paying attention, and able to see through the chaff spread by the MSM et al.
With all the spinning and lying done by the press (cf: Memeorandum, cited above), some, if not most, of the LIV-nominal-conservatives may be persuaded that Trump is actually guilty of … something.
I would be more hopeful about Barr, per McCarthy’s report, if he hadn’t printed equally laudatory ones about Comey and Mueller back in the beginning.
And Barr being a friend of Mueller could be good or bad.
The proof of the prosecutor is in the pleadings.
We’ll see.
Hate to be a “Debbie Downer,” but my conclusion from reading the news–especially political news–over these last couple of years?
Our government today bears practically no actual resemblance to the government that the Founders set up; that it is taught and portrayed as being and functioning.
The “checks and balances,” and “three co-equal branches of government” that we were all taught existed and supposedly functioned—just happily chugging along, doing their best and doing their business—have long since been ground down, eroded, changed.
They’ve been “fundamentally transformed” under the influence of many decades of decisions and actions; they are a joke, and a bad one at that.
Our Ship of State is no longer in a safe harbor. It is, in fact, on a totally different and radical course, and way out of sight of land.
To make matters worse, a staggering and increasing percentage of our elected representatives—call them the crew—are either clueless and/or are weasels.
Our Republic, as I naively believed it still existed, appears to have been lost a long, long time ago, and what has taken its place is not pretty, not pretty at all.
The Romans had their Republic and initially, so did we.
But, for us, that time—and our Republic—appears to have slipped away, while we were all lulled to sleep; told that–while there might be a small problem here and there–in reality everything was as it should be, and things were just fine.
That facade having been ripped off—especially over these last few years—it appears that what we actually have today, underneath that calming, meretricious, textbook facade is just a mad, lawless, vicious scramble by people and organizations in various positions of power and influence, who are each trying to grasp even more power, influence, and wealth.
As they used to say, trying to climb the greased pole, and trying to stay at the top of it.
The members of this “power elite,” all the while, acting in ways that, and saying whatever will make the public believe the myth that we still live in a Republic; one in which traditional American values, our Constitution, the rule of law—and equal protection under it—still hold sway, still rule the land, and us.
But, as we have increasingly seen—especially in these last few years—this is a lie.
There are no rules, people obey no rules, and if you have enough “juice,” and are “on the right side,” you can get away with anything.
And, if during your struggle for influence, power, and wealth you happen to crush a few, or a whole lot of the “little people” along the way, or even have to, to gain your goals? Well, so be it.
There are still some courageous officials–including judges, here and there, who are faithful to the old, traditional idea/ideals of the Republic, and who are trying to do their jobs, but they appear to be becoming an increasingly rare breed and, I fear, they are fighting a rearguard action; a losing battle.
As far as I can see or sense, there is no new “Great Awakening”—political or religious—on the horizon.
The forces of the Left have now conquered and just hold too much territory, are just too strong—in our day and age—to be defeated, and “we can’t go home again.”
The major takeaway from the 40-page sentencing memorandum filed by federal prosecutors Friday for Michael Cohen, President Trump’s former personal attorney, is this: The president is very likely to be indicted on a charge of violating federal campaign finance laws.
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/andrew-c-mccarthy-why-trump-is-likely-to-be-indicted-by-manhattan-us-attorney
–Andrew McCarthy
McCarthy is not the Fat Lady, but he is singing. I’m not sure how serious it is for Trump “to be indicted.” It is something, I suppose.
Things are gonna get messy. I believe Trump will counterattack with much of the obvious dirt on Hillary, Obama, the FBI and the DOJ plus who knows what.
Huxley–
I note that former FBI director Comey gave closed door testimony this week on Capital Hill to the House Judiciary Committee.
To quote the outgoing Republican Chairman of that Committee, Bob Goodlatte–
“The biggest takeaway is that former FBI Director James Comey, with regard to the two most important investigations… into the Clinton email matter and into the Russia collusion matter, said, as you noted, I don’t recall, I don’t remember or I don’t know, 245 times,” Goodlatte, a Republican from Roanoke, Va., said.
Comey was reportedly asked around 250 total questions.
Odious Democrat Congressman Gerald Nadler has said that when the Democrats and he–as the new Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee–take over in the new Congress, the current investigations into the DOJ and FBI and their conduct will cease, since, to quote Nadler, “there is no bias in the FBI.”
I should also add that Comey testified the way he did–with the assistance of and at the advice of an FBI lawyer–who accompanied Comey into the Hearing.
But, “there is no bias” or corruption in the FBI, no siree.