One has to wonder, while we focus on “Sneaky Senator Feinstein’s” unprecedented actions, was it Chuck and Lindsey who actually pulled a quick one on Trump? Several things stand out:
1. We know Trump has complained in the past and recently that there was no (“Russier” Collusion) and Republicans were not doing enough to protect him.
On November 30, 2017, it was reported:
In a phone interview with Burr, the senator told The Times that Trump repeatedly prodded him to "move on" from the Russia matter, which Trump has previously complained has overshadowed his first year in office. "It was something along the lines of 'I hope you can conclude this as quickly as possible,'" Burr told the newspaper.
According to an unnamed Republican close to Burr, Trump was "very forceful" in his admonitions, The Times' Jonathan Martin, Maggie Haberman, and Alex Burns wrote.
Trump has reportedly spoken to multiple GOP lawmakers, some of whom are directly involved in the congressional inquiries, urging them to shut it down. The president in meetings with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee, expressed his frustration that Republicans were not doing enough to "lift the cloud of suspicion over Russia," The Times said.
2. Coupled with the release of “Fire and Fury,” mounting questions about Trump’s mental stability, terrible generic ballot midterm polling numbers, and most importantly, the passage of tax reform, the GOP Establishment may be readying to jettison Trump into trash bin of history in attempt to save face. Quinnipiac just released some devastating polling numbers and the perception of the President is steadily deteriorating despite robust economic numbers. 59% of Americans disapprove of Trump’s job performance. Additionally:
Quinnipiac found that 53% believe the president is intelligent, compared to 44% who believe he is not. That's part of an overall downward trend over the past year, according to Quinnipiac. In January 2017, prior to his inauguration, 68% of voters said the president was intelligent, while 27% said he was not.
Further, 69% of voters said they didn't believe the president was level-headed, while 28% said he was. The number of voters saying they didn't think the president was level-headed was up from January 2017, when 62% said they didn't think the president was level-headed and 33% said he was.
3. The flagrant partisan move over the weekend by Grassley and Graham to recommend Christopher Steele for criminal charges WITHOUT consulting with the Democratic members was stunning and puzzling to say the least. As we know, Trump hosted Congressional Leaders over the week and perhaps the recommendation of criminal charges against Steele was an attempt to appease Trump ahead of the gathering?
A source familiar with the committee's investigation said the referral stems from at least one statement Steele made to the FBI about the timing of discussions with journalists about the content of the dossier, which conflicts with what he told another source. The committee is not alleging that Steele intentionally misled federal law enforcement but that they believe the discrepancy needed to be reviewed nonetheless.
Legal experts claim the criminal charges recommendation to the DOJ is just that, a recommendation and the DOJ does not have to act on it. I’m prone to believe that they won’t because the assertion within is very weak. Could you imagine the fallout from the United Kingdom that would occur if the DOJ actually follows through on the criminal charges against a highly respected former British Intelligence officer?
4. That leads us to this week’s events and the unilateral release of the Fusion GPS transcripts by Senator Feinstein. The transcripts release throws cold water on the emerging Trump strategy to discredit Steele, the dossier, the FBI and subsequently shut down the congressional investigations and ultimately discredit Mueller. In my opinion, the actions of Graham and Grassley over the weekend is an ideal excuse to provide cover for Democrats to release the transcripts in “defiance” of the Republican lead committee. The transcripts have thrown gasoline on a smoldering fire notwithstanding Mueller's investigation which also appears to be getting extremely close to the President. It has served to increase media scrutiny and renewed public curiosity about what really went on. Oddly enough, establishment Republican Senators including Grassley and Graham didn’t appear to be too upset about the transcripts release and offered tepid rebukes of the the release at best.
Many of us wondered why Graham, dear friend of John McCain (Steele dossier confidant) and outspoken critic of Trump, publicly appeared to make an abrupt about face recently in support of the President. Well, Graham and Grassley get to appear as if they are doing everything they can to protect Trump knowing damn well that the writing is on the wall for Trump and clan. One way or another, Trump will be brought down by the Russiagate Scandal and the GOP will suffer massive midterms losses. The only question that remains is how hard the GOP will fall with Trump. The longer the Republicans placate and obstruct on behalf of Trump, the harder the fall will be. On the surface it doesn’t seem likely, but could this be the first Domino to fall in Republicans defense of Trump? We shall see.
With revelations about WH insiders leaking like a broken faucet and the ubiquitous questioning of his mental stability, while concurrently smiling in Trump’s face and kissing his @ss, I can only imagine this conversation occuring in Trump’s head if it isn’t happening already.
