As Judd Legum points out at Think Progress, on May 10th Vice-President Mike Pence said that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein is “a man of extraordinary independence and integrity and a reputation in both political parties of great character.” Also on May 10th, Deputy White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said that Rosenstein “is a man of upstanding character and essentially the gold standard at the Department of Justice.” And on May 11th, President Trump said of Rosenstein that “He’s highly respected, very good guy, very smart guy. The Democrats like him; the Republicans like him.”
So, what does Trump say about Rosenstein now that he’s appointed Robert Mueller to prosecute any crimes related to the Trump campaign’s coordination with Russian meddling in our presidential election?
This is the single greatest witch hunt of a politician in American history!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 18, 2017
Then he added in the obligatory “woe is me” tweet:
With all of the illegal acts that took place in the Clinton campaign & Obama Administration, there was never a special counsel appointed!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 18, 2017
As everyone knows, you can identify a witch because witches are made of wood. Since wood floats on water, as do ducks, if all the allegations against Trump weigh the same as a duck, then this will be a very successful witch hunt. Those who are wise in the ways of science understand this.
For those of us who aren’t quite so rigorously reality-based, however, it seems odd that a good guy who is highly respected by everyone and is the gold standard at the Justice Department would authorize a former head of the FBI to prosecute crimes that not only do not exist but cannot possibly exist.
So, maybe “witch hunt” isn’t the best descriptor of what’s going on here.
Trump has tried to contain and obstruct this investigation in various ways, but he’s obviously failed in this just as spectacularly as he failed as a casino magnate and purveyor of third-rate vodka and steaks.
Of course only the “greatest” witch hunt would do for this president.
Stay classy, Bob Mueller.
Good question.
You write:
Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
Consider the sources, Booman.
Define the “everyone” who supposedly highly respects him. You mean the Beltway boys and girls?
Please!!!
Chico wants to know.
Me too.
AG
P.S. I’m a Marxist.
Here, you need this:
You mean…my snarky comment in response to yours was too far doubling down on your own snark to work?
Or…you think that I think that you were somehow…serious?
Or…ahhhhhh, nevermind. It’s all gonna go down the snarkhole into whatever fix the Intel boyz have set up anyway. It’s hard to stay serious when both sides of the mythical aisle…and I do not mean Mr. Roger, who had so many aisles set up that he had to rename himself in the plural…when both sides of the mythical aisle are populated by clowns of every stripe and variety.
Snark becomes useless when aimed to clowns. it just bounces off, like water off a duck’s back.
And here we are again.
Why a duck?
AG
LULZ
Schadenfreudegasm.
Love the article. Still don’t see an exit ramp for Republicans. Not until the base abandons Trump. They’ve backed themselves into a corner and are pretty much screwed.
I agree.
It’s incrementalism at its highest level. Except with Trump the incrementalism is expressed in leaps and bounds. The republicans have sold themselves to the Russians, and like all politicians, they sold themselves cheap.
.
Of course if one were to use the wayback machine to revisit the campaign we’d see that the term ‘witch hunt’ was introduced by RT and Sputnik last summer and then picked up by the Right Wing talkers and Trump within 24 hours every time they used it.
Rosenstein is doing his job. Much better option than resigning after Trump attempted to make him a scapegoat for the Comey firing. While I would have preferred a bolder choice than Mueller, it’s probably as far from a GOP flunkie that he could get without major flack from Congressional Republicans.
Trump is now boxed in. Nothing he can do to stop the investigation from proceeding. Oh sure, he could order Rosenstein to fire Mueller, but like Elliot Richardson, he would refuse to do so and either resign or force Trump to fire him. Then like Nixon, he’d have to find a creep like Bork to get the job done. Then Trump would be impeached and wouldn’t prevail in the Senate trial.
The poor whiny baby never knew that there were circumstances in which he can be fired. (Still not buying the Russia stuff, but there must be many financial skeletons in his closest. Dirty dealing that should have been exposed long ago if we had effective financial law enforcement agencies.)
Reuters – Brazil’s Temer refuses to resign in face of investigation
Wonder how long the betting pools are giving this thug — hours, days, or weeks — before he’s out.
You write:
You mean…we don’t have effective financial law enforcement agencies!!!???
I am shocked. Shocked, I say!!!
After 8 years of our saviour, our Peace President, Barack “Hopewell” Obama?
Oh.
Nevermind.
Yore freind…
Emiliy Litella
Goes back further than the Obama Admin. The obvious cracks appeared during the tenure of the senile one (aka St. Ronnie). Or maybe the structure was set up only to catch one. Good enough when the pool of crooks was less than two but no match for a pool that increased exponentially after the late 1960s.
Well, obviously a private email server is worse than whatever Trump does, and because it was a private email server that got Trump elected, then all this is Hillary Clinton’s fault.
.
Stop projecting your insane fantasies on me and what I’ve written. Apparently and unlike you, I don’t hold any crooks and killers in high regard and none are suitable for public office. Better would be that they’re indicted and convicted and received appropriate punishment for their crimes, but I’m not naive enough to expect such treatment for those of a certain stature and therefore, don’t bother repeating “lock ’em up” with every criticism I write.
Anything more on the Clinton Foundation? Before the election I looked forward to your comments and diaries on the Clinton Foundation and its obvious corruption (with even Chelsea involved!). I assume, because you have not posted about it in so long, that you are busy with research, and are getting ready to drop a bombshell about it, that will end the Clinton’s once and for all. Particularly Chelsea. Nepotism is a terrible thing, and I always appreciated you staying on top of that subject.
Thank god we dodged that bullet, amiright?
.
Marie3 is very, very, very….tense these days. Extremely hostile.
Wonder what’s got her goat these days? LOL
Aw, poor thing was so looking forward to four delicious years of savagely bashing every aspect of H. Clinton’s presidency. Now what can she do with all that backed-up bile?
A little sympathy would go a long way, it’s been a difficult year for many of them.
They had months and months of research go down the tubes, and a LOT of already written diaries on democratic perfidy had to be filed away. Then Ailes got canned, and then O’Rielly, and that leaves pretty much only Brietbart.com for Clinton talking points. Then Putin made it obvious, and ruined months of excuses.
And it becomes hard to maintain moral superiority when recommends are so hard to come by that fellow diarists have to use secondary accounts to keep their diaries on the recommended list.
It’s tough times at the Pond these days.
.
. . . a “sockpuppet”?
“Enquiring” minds want to know!
You seriously think that I am some kind of sock puppet?
Or is that just another kneejerk attempt at discouraging original thought?
You brand yourself with every post and every downrating.
AG
Carly says it best,
.
You and your cohorts have done serious damage to this site. It used to be a place for freewheeling discussions and it is not anymore. Now the centrist police rule here. One rf two-line posts about how great the Dems are followed by downratings of anybody who dares to think otherwise.
Too bad.
It used to be a great site.
Thanks loads.
AG
“They kept making up fake news about me having ties to Russia,” he told the Russian spy he invited into the Oval Office at Putin’s request.
And now it’s being reported that our Peerless Leader told his Russian visitors that Comey was a “nut job” and that firing him would take the pressure off.
As our host would say, “LULZ!”
It turns out that while the Russian were in the White House the CIA was able to plant a bug in their car.
The video of their conversation as they drove away has been leaked,
.