My politics are a little extreme for day to day use, as it were. For example: I like the idea that the Chinese regularly execute businessmen and government officials that engage in fraud. It seems to me a little of that would go a long way here. In an age when the Secretary of State was the CEO of Exxon, the governor of Florida also participated in the largest medicare fraud in history and the president wrote a 25 million dollar check for getting caught running a phony university scam, I can see where that might be useful. I ain't saying, I'm just sayin.
That's why I try not to comment too much on day to day political affairs. By commenting on what's happening today you have a tendency to try to predict what will or should happen tomorrow.
That never really works.
So, naturally, today, I'm going to step a little across that line because what's happening is so plain it's almost funny.
First: Let me relate an axiom that is especially true right now. If you let a liar talk long enough they will tell you exactly what they are afraid you will find out. Most famously, Nixon did that. If he'd just kept his mouth shut to begin with, most of Watergate would have evaporated but he knew there was a lot to worry about people finding out so he felt compelled to get out in front of the issue with a few blatant lies. It was the lies unraveling that got Nixon. The other thing about Nixon is; it was the lies of his associates who knew he was lying that became so important and led back to him. This sure seems to be the mistake Trump has made and is making.
It certainly is the mistake Sessions made when asked point blank about Russian contacts. Had he known in his heart the contacts were innocent results of his position in the Senate he most certainly would have said so. He knew differently and lied point blank. That's problematic on a number of levels. It is hard to see how he could continue as Attorney General but that's an issue for the broader national debate and for Sessions' personal scruples. On that level the Attorney General's heart of hearts is his own and the national debate will settle itself as always.
On the level of the political health of the Trump White House it was also problematic. The late night firing of Flynn over essentially the same issue of inappropriate interaction with the Russians during the campaign and the transition period added to the drumbeat of outrage in some quarters over the obvious Russian interference in the election in support of Trump. There is nothing wrong with that interference per se. It's understandable and predictable. Why wouldn't a foreign power have an interest in the outcome of our election and even try to influence it? We do it all the time. Just look at Israel or Venezuala.
What is unusual and widely believed to be unacceptable is the embrace and cooperation with that interference by one campaign or the other. It's also unacceptable to have the appearance of a quid pro quo by the supported party. These people understand that. That's why Flynn had to go in such an abrupt fashion. There was interference and there was a quid pro quo. The Flynn resignation followed by denunciation of the leaks themselves and not the factual information was an admission of self-perceived guilt. That fact of self- perceived guilt is important. Sessions' recusal short of his resignation was an attempt to staunch the growing erosion of political support. His resignation following so closely on the Flynn resignation would have worsened that growing erosion of support. It would have been a further admission of what they would rather we didn't find out. They knew they shouldn't be there.
The political decision was made that a diversion of that growing chorus for Sessions' head was needed or maybe the Bannon/Breitbart justification involving President Obama just stood out to Trump and he seized it without thinking it through. Either way Trump was led to making preposterous allegations about President Obama. He apparently based those allegations on a screed by Mark Levin. That's pretty funny if you wade through what Levin actually said.
The thrust of Levin's case is the various intelligence agencies became interested in and concerned about Russian contacts and reciprocal contacts with and by the Trump campaign early on in the campaign. This caused those agencies to monitor more closely the products of constant surveillance of foreign nationals of note. This surveillance is constant and totally understandable. That the Trump people got caught in the surveillance net is as understandable as someone having an illegal conversation with Al Capone being overheard by Eliot Ness. Oddly enough, Levin doesn't reach that conclusion while all the time making it obvious. He does have a keen eye for the ridiculous.
The idea that President Obama had any heightened interest in what was a constant, apolitical stream of information is kinda funny. Three people were astounded by the election of Donald Trump: Trump himself, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.
Why would anyone who was convinced of the outcome of the election take any additional steps? They wouldn't. That's on top of the fact, since Nixon, the President can't do such a thing.
So, the preposterous lie was told and in the process further admitted the unhealthy nature of the Trump- Russian ties. Like Nixon, Trump in his certainty of his guilt, couldn't hear his own admissions in his denials. It's amazing how that type of thing can make a person deaf to their own voice.
To recapitulate; this is what we have learned from the Trump camp. There was heightened scrutiny of the Russians. That heightened scrutiny yielded evidence of unhealthy ties between the Trump campaign and the Russians. Those things are certain and on the public record, placed there by Trump. The resignation of Flynn admitted a quid pro quo. Sessions perjured himself in front of Congress. The behavior of members of the Trump camp seem to indicate there is much more to be found out.
So ,where do we go from here? I dunno. I know what I think will happen and I damn sure have convictions about what should happen but I'm not dumb enough to write those things down.
March 23, 2017 Update.
It is worthy of note that everything I said two weeks ago in the above post has been confirmed by no less than the House Republican's themselves.
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