Sure Trump’s innocent, because what innocent narcissist wouldn’t want to destroy an entire legal system to protect himself, his wealth, and his privilege. The problem comes when he tries to destroy the public sphere by corrupting the press while continuing to hawk a poorly constructed CT.
The story that’s being spun is that Rod Rosenstein was interested in the idea of the 25th Amendment even if his office couldn’t do anything to initiate it and that he needed to “tapp” Trump. That’s the malarkey fronted by various flaks in the WH because the CT of FBI agents working against the WH needs to be propped up, even after that OIG report, because they needed to demonstrate that the FISA warrants were a witch hunt even though there was plenty of evidence of Russian interference. The dog continues not to hunt.
Various reporters decided that they would run with the WH meme, even if was peripheral to the realities of the “normal” chaos of the Trump WH and the #TrumpRussia probe.
What’s sad is how the NY Times, in its desire to remain subservient to its corporate ownership and its access to power, is spending far too much time defending its being manipulated by the WH in the matter of Rosenstein. Too many other NY Times reporters were vouching for each other. Weirdly defensive.
But we saw that in the TV series The Fourth Estate starring some of the same characters, that the NYT is far too willing to capitulate and in the case of some of its reports, defend the political status quo even to the point of retaining a reporter who clearly should have been fired for sexual harassment.
So the investigation is safe?
Mostly, but a particularly hostile overseer of the investigation could hobble it by forcing Mueller to justify every step. Rosenstein’s replacement could override one of Mueller’s decisions—but then the replacement, in turn, would have to justify the override to Congress, with reports for both the Senate and House Judiciary Committees. An unethical acting attorney general working against the investigation could also potentially leak Mueller’s plans to the White House in advance.
Possibly the worst threat to the investigation could come from the acting attorney general’s role speaking for the investigation. An acting attorney general keen on discrediting the investigation could, in testifying before Congress, convey a lack of faith in Mueller. That could turn Mueller’s remaining Republican allies in Congress.
slate.com/...
The problem of course is the brief moment of chaos on Friday where many sounded an alarm about some Saturday Night Massacre. And there was so much media piling on, because it was a relief from all that continuing Kavanaugh drama.
That bit of excitement can still occur (and we are prepared to hit the streets) but now that so much of #TrumpRussia has yielded indictments and convictions, we know we’re only at the end of the beginning.
When the WH makes up absurd pretexts about a 25th Amendment cabal and wearing a wire, we’ve become better prepared to see that there’s other agendas at work. Trump wants to fire someone, because he thinks that’s a personal signature of his brand.
Unfortunately the desperate and deluded Trump might do some clearly unwise things because he’s an idiot. But the NY Times will spin things to what he wants to hear to maintain their access. Expect more drunk tweeting and rationalizations.