… and he didn’t even have to kneel in the snow for three days. Color me not impressed!
This, from Billy Bush, on Trump & Bush's own personal reckoning, is remarkable: https://t.co/pkAOt9SiAh
— Robert Draper (@DraperRobert) December 4, 2017
NYT, two days from now: “Close friends of Trump have heard him suggest in recent days that Billy Bush might not be a real person…” https://t.co/YyctQpZxQr
— Daniel W. Drezner (@dandrezner) December 4, 2017
3) This is the same doomed-faustian bargain that many politicians have made since 2015 and making now, in enabling Trump as he violates every personal & patriotic standard they claim to believe in.
— James Fallows (@JamesFallows) December 4, 2017
6) BBush is now forthright about how calculating he was, and the damage he thereby both caused and endured.
— James Fallows (@JamesFallows) December 4, 2017
And let’s not forget he’s a Bush. Nephew of GHWBush and cousin of W.
— Steve Spaulding (@SteveESpaulding) December 4, 2017
In fact, Billy’s relationship to the Bush Crime Family is the only real point of interest, as far as I can tell. For all the vast social ineptness of various politically-oriented Bushes, they have demonstrated a keen sense of what the zeitgeist requires, whether that involves banking gold for the Nazi Party or volunteering to shoot down Japanese warplanes. If Billy thinks it’s time to make a public show of renoucing Donny and all his works, it’s a strong indicator that the Permanent Republican Party (such as it is, in these fallen days) still thinks it can shake off the Trump/”populist” (racist) stink with the aid of a few well-placed sacrifices. Since the Bushes have been intimately involved with the CIA since it was the OSS, one can but assume they have some knowledge of what’s been going on behind the Putin curtain…
mike in dc
I have some thoughts on c*ck-blocking Trump from firing Mueller:
1. There’s a government shutdown looming, unless a deal is made. There are bills in the House and Senate which would protect/insulate Mueller from being fired. Those bills, if possible, should be attached as riders to the Continuing Resolution…or else the resolution gets zero Democratic votes. To me, this is more important than DACA, because Trump is the ever-present threat to immigrants and the children of immigrants. If we get both, great, but this should be priority numero uno. Additionally, no Democrat votes for the CR, until there’s enough R votes in both chambers to guarantee passage with veto-proof majorities. Once it’s done, we’ve removed that bullet from the chamber.
2. If the Dems retake the House next year, once sworn in the House Judiciary Committee should immediately convene an impeachment inquiry, and the full chamber should pass a sense of the House resolution that, since an impeachment inquiry has commenced, and since the Mueller investigation is directly relevant to that inquiry, that the presidential pardon power with respect to any parties indicted or convicted by the Mueller investigating team shall be inapplicable. That’s another bullet out of the chamber.
3. In the event impeachment reaches trial in the Senate, say in 2019 or 2020, every R senator up for re-election in 2020 or 2022 should be subjected to enormous political pressure to vote for removal.
That’s pretty much it. The roadmap to removal, if you will.
T S
@mike in dc: Mueller’s probably fired before the shutdown deadline. It’s all on NY State then.
Mnemosyne
@T S:
IIRC, the shutdown deadline is in 4 days (12/8), so they’d better get a move on if they want to fire Mueller before then.
mike in dc
@T S: Then the bill in question involves re-authorizing the independent counsel statute, appointing Mueller, and the Dems should hold out as long as they can, even if Social Security checks get mailed late.
Elizabelle
This is why I don’t hang out much at Balloon Juice these days. Who wants to game out Mueller being fired? I sure don’t.
Ciao.
Gvg
@mike in dc: bills still need the Presidents signature. Attaching this to the budget would probably doom it either through Trump vetoing it or not enough GOP signatures. Then they could confuse the issues and blame the democrats. Plenty of tribal GOP voters want an excuse to comfortably blame dems again. Plenty of feckless GOP congressmen are still Trump supporters and tribalists fools themselves or maybe even afraid of being outed as Russian stooges too. We don’t have the leverage and we the responsible ones still have to keep the government running and the full faith and credit of America solid as we can manage.
The problem wouldn’t even be a problem if GOP Congress had the will to deal with this. Impeachment would be done by now. And this group of turkeys is full of a lot of votes that are as racist as Trump so I am not sure we can say Trump is the worst danger to DACA. Frankly our Democratic Party congress has impossible demands to balance and meet.
mike in dc
@Gvg: That’s a good way to rationalize our way out of even trying to do anything. Alternatively, since this will likely be a 3-6 month continuing resolution, we raise it next go around, and stand our ground.
Montanareddog
Billy Bush is minor data point in (I think) Josh Marshall’s “Dignity Wraith” thesis that Shitmidas sucks the soul from any one who comes into his orbit.
I oft see it debated here whether President Dunning-Kruger is a master magician throwing out distractions while he ratchets the United States into an autocracy, or just a festering slough of id and so incompetent that we should be grateful that Dense is not in charge. Ultimately, I don’t think it matters. He is both a Van de Graaf Generator of bullshit, and its own lightning rod, which is allowing the R Congress to get away with stuff that a Dense presidency would not.
In the end, he is President Matrix, consuming the energy of every sentient being.
mike in dc
@Elizabelle: This is more about finding ways to prevent that from happening.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Gvg:
Did they stop? They don’t need an excuse to blame the Democrats.
Gvg
@mike in dc: no it’s not. It’s just my opinion as to why they can’t or won’t do what you suggested in the budget. They have managed some things by knowing the Congressional rules and I have hopes again.
This GOP congress has both houses. That is a serious handicap. Which means stalling is sometimes a good tactic. Polls say our chances are coming but the less damage the country takes till then, the better ground we will start from.
This GOP group is kind of nutty on budgets. They don’t actually like them nor think they should you know do what I think is their job. Getting them to pass one is a heroic accomplishment in the first place. Trying to get all you want on top of that is too high a bar for that one goal. What you wanted, protect Mueller, is going to have to be gained in a series of small forward movements not one big splashy win, ok? At least that is what I think. This actually will take more leadership and skill than just one victory but my team has managed prior wins and I think they can do it.
Mueller actually has some abilities and leverage to look out for himself luckily for us. I don’t think dems in congress are as nessesary for him as you suppose. Other groups like DACA kids are more vulnerable.
NotMax
@mike in dc
More like a two week CR rushed through by Friday, a subsequent several months funding CR to be done by late in the month.
Is this any way to run a railroad?
@Elizabelle
Agreed, the repetitious Chicken Littleism is both cloying and tedious. It’s an exercise which offers nothing much but wisps of fog. Have never quite understood why so many seem so convinced a firing is upcoming, even imminent. Yes, it’s a sword of Damocles over the special prosecutor (indeed one dangles above any such investigation since Archibald Cox got the axe), however each announced indictment adds sturdier strands to the rope holding it aloft and makes firing a less likely occurrence.
Aleta
Speaking of the C resolution, today I realized I don’t understand the finer things about how the resolution of the HR-S tax bills works. I’ve been assuming I know, but I’ve got no traction when I think scenarios. This makes for a worse anxiety floating on top of the disgust I already have.
THE fog comes on little cat feet. It sits looking over harbor and city on silent haunches and then moves on.
Well, I’m glad I can always find fresh reading material about current events and fascinating topics, even at 4 am.
Hi Anne!!
How crazy are they (Congress, the Rs, Trump and his minions, Kim over in DPRK) anyway??
I have a modern reinforced 8″ concrete root cellar attached to a modern concrete shop. Is it time to bury it deeper and add filtered ventilation and build a radiation shield in front of the door now? Just start a hobby-level activity level of accumulating material for use in case? Have on hand heavy wooden shutters that can be bolted over windows in the shop build itself?
patrick II
@THE fog comes on little cat feet. It sits looking over harbor and city on silent haunches and then moves on.:
I heard Lindsay Graham today saying it was time to evacuate civilian dependents from South Korea. Maybe he wants his buddy McCain to see one more invigorating war before he leaves us both poorer and unirradiated. China has said it will not stand idle for an unprovoked attack on the North, and who knows what the Russians will do. And in my current house, I don’t even have a basement, so can I visit your 8″ concrete wall cellar if I bring groceries?
Van Buren
@THE fog comes on little cat feet. It sits looking over harbor and city on silent haunches and then moves on.: I heard that you are not supposed to be wasting money on booze, women, movies, and fallout shelters.
Frank Wilhoit
@Elizabelle: Situational awareness ueber alles.
OzarkHillbilly
@Gvg:
They are going to blame DEMs no matter what. Worrying about that is just plain silly.
OzarkHillbilly
@mike in dc:
Try as a I might, I can’t find any such wording in the constitution.
MattF
Yeah, Trump is lying. I’m personally over the ‘indifferent to the truth’ explanation– even the ‘completely and absolutely indifferent to the truth’ explanation. He’s delusional.
Dr. Ronnie James, D.O.
Don’t forget that George and Barbara sent 3 of their 4 sons* to large states (Texas, Florida and Colorado) with the express purpose of having them go into politics and then use the assumed electoral votes to support each their brothers’ campaigns for President.
* (W, Jeb! and Neil, respectively – Marvin wouldn’t get with the program)
Starfish
I am having a hard time connecting with the amount of nonsense in this thread. A man who is completely unaffected by DACA is perfectly willing to sacrifice children in detention centers and in schools to save Mueller’s job. Mueller`s job is really important, but this proposition is monstrous. How many children’s lives are you willing to destroy to save Mueller’s job? How many families should be broken up?
Mike in DC
@OzarkHillbilly: “…except in cases of impeachment.” If the Judiciary committee is actively, formally considering impeachment, that arguably qualifies, as would related proceedings.
rikyrah
@mike in dc:
Not bad
Mike in DC
@Starfish: None. False dichotomy. I don’t want any of that. DACA should be saved. But if we’re going to use the CR to demand stuff that we want, why not demand protection for an investigation that needs to be continued, and bears on the integrity of the whole electoral process?
rikyrah
@Starfish:
They are not going to do anything about DACA. It’s not happening.
Starfish
@Mike in DC: It matters where I live a lot. In my school district, there are three bilingual elementary schools. About 8 to 10 percent of the population in most of the schools is Hispanic. Our Democratic Senator has a committee of people focusing on immigration issues. This is a citizens’ committee and not just people working in his office.
It is not clear what percent is here legally and what percent is not.