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You are here: Home / Politics / Republican Venality / The President Attacks The FBI

The President Attacks The FBI

by | 70 Comments

This post is in: , ,

This is worth a thread, so that we can celebrate Christmas cheer on Betty’s thread below.

Donald Trump is attacking James Baker, the top lawyer at the FBI and Deputy Director Andrew McCabe. McCabe has announced he is retiring.

Some responses:

And I expect there will be Republican congresscritters on the Sunday talk shows telling us it’s just fine for the President to attack particular individuals. Or maybe they’ll join in.

More background here.

Reader Interactions

70Comments

  1. 1.

    Hunter Gathers

    But my sister-in-laws cousin, who knows this guy who knows this girl who saw Ferris pass out at 31 flavors last night, saw some Blacks buying steak and lobster with food stamps.

    So there.

  2. 2.

    Trentrunner

    Boot’s point about McCabe/Baker testifying against Trump is likely not hypothetical: McCabe was likely a witness (via hearsay, but) that Trump had tried to obstruct justice via pressuring Comey to end the Flynn investigation.

    This is worse than Nixon, and it’s out in the open.

  5. 5.

    bluefish

    Guess we’re about to find out what we’re really made of. The men and women in our Congress, our Governors, and state officials — One can only hope that there is still some small vestige of the most basic honor left in enough of them to make a difference. And in our people — Getting out my walking shoes and ready to heed the call. We need to be in the streets, again. Every day and night if need be. It seems as though those that are meant to serve us, to lead us, need to be introduced to the quaint notion of good old fashioned SHAME. And told firmly, without fear, that the vast majority of folks in this country are not interested in living in the past, tied again to every anchor that brings us low, subject to this daily assault on our sanity. This crew is un-American. Where did they get the gall to imagine that the push back would not rise up in kind and then some?

  6. 6.

    Hunter Gathers

    @Sarah in Kingston: Nothing. Doing anything about it will force yet another Cletus Expedition by major press outlets. And since the Cleti are also Nazi sympathisers, going after their beloved Fuhrer is going to give them a major sad, and the Press will tut-tut trying to force the Nazis out of power, because it will hurt the feelings of the Cleti, who are the Voice of Real America

  7. 7.

    James E. Powell

    This is how Republicans are now. Just imagine how unrestrained they will be if they hold the senate and house in 2018.

  8. 8.

    N M

    I guess we now know that the meeting between the Presinutz’ lawyers and Mueller’s squad didn’t go well…

  10. 10.

    Lapassionara

    @Sarah in Kingston: Good question. All the plans so far have focused on taking action if Mueller is fired. I think we need to consider taking action sooner. I am not sure we have until November 2018 to change the direction the country is going in. We are headed to, if not already in, a full-blown authoritarian regime.

  12. 12.

    MomSense

    @Sarah in Kingston:

    Get a plan in place to hit the streets if trump interferes or stops the Mueller investigation. And we have to continue to call and write our Congress critters to tell them what we expect of them even if they won’t do the right thing.

  14. 14.

    ? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?

    I still can’t believe being shot at didn’t wake at least some of the goopers up. That’s a preview of their future if they continue on like this and next time they might not be so lucky.

  16. 16.

    tobie

    Where for the love of God is any, I mean any, Democratic leader right now? This unrelenting effort on the part of Trump and the GOP to subvert justice is starting to feel like a move to end democracy in this country.

  17. 17.

    Mnemosyne

    @JPL:

    I think the only time I was aware as a customer that someone was paying with food stamps was because she had grabbed a block of cheese that was not covered under WIC and someone had to go get the correct cheese. That’s why I find these “cheater” stories so implausible — if the cashier can’t even ring up pepper jack cheese when it’s not on the WIC list, how is someone buying steaks and lobster?

    And the people who whine about someone buying their kid’s birthday cake with food stamps are beneath contempt. Really, poor kids shouldn’t even be allowed a fucking BIRTHDAY CAKE?

  18. 18.

    Mnemosyne

    @tobie:

    Adam Schiff is on it, and I’m sure other Democrats are as well, but nobody can stop Trump from tweeting, including his family.

    Humiliating James Baker was probably a bad move. He’s the ultimate Republican inside guy and the consigliere for the Bush family. This could end up as all-out civil war for the Republicans now that the purges for insufficient fealty to Trump have begun.

  19. 19.

    MikeEss

    He gazed up at the enormous face. Forty two years it had taken him to learn what kind of smile was hidden beneath the dark moustache bizarre orange complexion. O cruel, needless misunderstanding! O stubborn, self-willed exile from the loving breast! Two gin- whiskey-scented tears trickled down the sides of his nose. But it was all right, everything was all right, the struggle was finished. He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother Trump…

  20. 20.

    Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.)

    @bluefish:

    Some of the Republicans governors will have something to say about this. There might be a few in Congress who claim to give a shit, mostly those who aren’t running next year. Overall, though, they’re going to stand by and let him do and say whatever he wants because they want shit from him and because they really don’t give a shit anyway. They’d be screaming to the heavens if a Democrat did this, but when it’s one of theirs, hey, have at it, Donnie.

    This is going to be up to us. We can’t worry about what the Republicans are going to do, since they won’t do shit. This is our job. We need to organize. We need to march. We need to send money to Democratic candidates and work for their campaigns, and most of all, we need to vote. That’s the only way we’re going to get through this.

  22. 22.

    tobie

    @Mnemosyne: maybe I’m being dense (likely) but I thought the former general counsel for the FBI James baker was different than the former Secretary of State James baker. Are they related?

  23. 23.

    dmsilev

    @Mnemosyne:

    And the people who whine about someone buying their kid’s birthday cake with food stamps are beneath contempt. Really, poor kids shouldn’t even be allowed a fucking BIRTHDAY CAKE?

    No. Because in the eyes of those complaining people, poor people deserve to be punished. Why? Because they’re poor, of course. A lot of the complainers tend to be the sorts that brag about their fervent Christianity, which makes it doubly assholish.

  24. 24.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @N M:

    I guess we now know that the meeting between the Presinutz’ lawyers and Mueller’s squad didn’t go well…

    Ah there we go, and Trump is bullying.

  25. 25.

    Schlemazel

    @Mnemosyne:
    My niece had a big whoo-haa on FB because the charity that allows people to pick up a wish from a poor kid for Christmas gave her a wish that was expensive. This somehow made the child evil. When I pointed out that poor kids see other kids with X-Boxes and iPads they would like to have one too and it is not the kids fault those things are expensive. Apparently she feels they should only be allowed to ask for necessities like socks & warm coats. SHe did not care for may reply

  26. 26.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Mnemosyne:

    Humiliating James Baker was probably a bad move. He’s the ultimate Republican inside guy and the consigliere for the Bush family. This could end up as all-out civil war for the Republicans now that the purges for insufficient fealty to Trump have begun.

    You mean the former Security of State. Oh this makes sense. Both GW and GH Bush have been critical of Trump so Trump is taking revenge.

  28. 28.

    Schlemazel

    @Mnemosyne: This could end up as all-out civil war for the Republicans now that the purges for insufficient fealty to Trump have begun.

    If only but I am afraid Gawd really does not love us enough for this

  30. 30.

    The Ancient Randonneur

    Congressional R’s now have the tax cut signed into law. Look for the rats to flee Trump’s sinking ship.

  36. 36.

    Schlemazel

    @Mnemosyne:
    I think her family can’t afford it but I told her to simply tell them that & ask for a different wish. Maybe the program should sort by cost range but, again, it is not the kids fault & there is no good reason a poor kids wants should be much different than middle-class. Mostly I think it was her wanting to be a saving angel helping those poor urchins. That would allow her to feel superior to them.

  38. 38.

    Cheryl Rofer

  39. 39.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    Ironic

    These FBI assholes fucked Hillary and the voters over because she had cooties and they wanted their white male supremacy reinstated.

    Now it’s blown up in their faces.

  41. 41.

    J R in WV

    @tobie:

    Gosh>! Ya think? End Democracy?

    They’ve been working on that since the mid 1800s. Treason on the part of the Confederates ever since the actual shooting wound down. First the Dixiecrats for 70 or 80 years and now the Republican racist haters ever since LBJ signed the first modern civil rights act.

    Hard to say how this will work out. It’s like living in an action movie, only the boring parts aren’t cut out in editing. Hunt for Red Trump is going on all around us, in secret. Slow but sure. Scary as hell, too.

  45. 45.

    Trentrunner

    @Trentrunner: I hate being right:

    CNN:

    In his private testimony to Congress, FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe backed up James Comey’s claims that President Trump requested his loyalty

  47. 47.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Mnemosyne:

    Humiliating James Baker was probably a bad move. He’s the ultimate Republican inside guy and the consigliere for the Bush family.

    Surely that’s a different James Baker.

    (I could be wrong. But I don’t think I am this time.)

  48. 48.

    Cheryl Rofer

    @MomSense: From Brian Krassenstein’s tweet:

    Rep. Elijah E. Cummings would not elaborate but said:

    “Like Sally Yates, Robert Mueller and many others, Deputy Director McCabe is a guardian of democracy”

    Interesting that he included Sally Yates. We still don’t know her full story. Cummings has been paying close attention.

    I hope we’ll get something like the full story eventually. There is so much to it, though.

  52. 52.

    J R in WV

    Like living in a really good movie about real life…

    “The Hunt for Red Trump!!”

    Starring John Candy as Red Trump
    Tom Hanks as James Comey
    Sean Connery as MI6 operative Christopher Steele
    Representative John Lewis as himself
    James Earl Jones as Representative Ellijah Cummings
    Humphrey Bogart as Robert Mueller III
    AND
    Meryl Streep as Hillary Clinton

    with Boris Karloff as Steve Bannon

  53. 53.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    Too late to edit.

    @Mnemosyne:

    Humiliating James Baker was probably a bad move. He’s the ultimate Republican inside guy and the consigliere for the Bush family.

    Surely that’s a different James Baker.

    (I could be wrong. But I don’t think I am this time.)

    ETA: I see that thousands of others got there first.

  56. 56.

    West of the Cascades

    @David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:

    These FBI assholes fucked Hillary and the voters over because she had cooties and they wanted their white male supremacy reinstated.

    Some FBI assholes, mainly in NYC and James Comey. Not willing to tar the whole FBI with their misdeeds.

  58. 58.

    MomSense

    @Cheryl Rofer:
    We know she was so concerned about Flynn being compromised that she went to the White House to meet with Pence in person and even after that they kept Flynn in place. That intelligence must have been ?

    This is so beyond the scope of any previous intrigue.

  59. 59.

    mai naem mobile

    @Mnemosyne: different James Baker but I am betting he’s a Republican. I would bet most FBI ar. W GOPrs and are probably finding this shit stunning and disappointing.

  60. 60.

    Brachiator

    And I expect there will be Republican congresscritters on the Sunday talk shows telling us it’s just fine for the President to attack particular individuals.

    This line of attack will alternate with declarations about how Trump is the trumpiest trumper who ever trumped because of his bigly trumpian tax cuts.

    Mutha-trumpers

  61. 61.

    Redshift

    @Mnemosyne: Also Mark Warner making a speech on the floor of the Senate warning against these partisan efforts to undermine the investigation. Or the letter from 171 House Democrats opposing interference in the Mueller probe. This is one issue where I don’t think there’s much reason for complaint about the Dems’ public response.

  63. 63.

    Van Buren

    Just returned from a party with some true believers.
    “I give credit to Trump for standing tall against unprecedented attacks by the media ” was the line that made me get my coat and say my goodbyes. It was either that or go for the knife drawer.

  64. 64.

    Brachiator

    @Cheryl Rofer:

    “Like Sally Yates, Robert Mueller and many others, Deputy Director McCabe is a guardian of democracy”

    Problem is, too many of these guardians are leaving public service, or being pushed out.

  65. 65.

    Sherparick

    @tobie: Senator Warner made a speech that was covered far and wide on the impending Constitutional crisis & defending the FBI. So have other Democrats. I keep wondering about this belief that even in the minority the Democrats have some super power to stop all this. The people on the streets in the millions will stop this slide into autocracy.

  67. 67.

    fuckwit

    @Mnemosyne: what??? The James Baker III former secretary of state under poppy bush, served in the Reagan ADM? That’s wgi troll is attacking! Wtf!

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