Martin Longman is the web editor of the Washington Monthly.
He is also the founder of Booman Tribune and Progress Pond. Before joining the Monthly, Martin was a county coordinator for ACORN/Project Vote and a political consultant. He has a degree in philosophy from Western Michigan University.
Yes, but probably not limited to the way we assume. It won’t be as easily dismissed as Hannity’s comment that this was the President’s right. Kelly’s head is likely on the chopping block sooner rather than later now. And that will be the end of ever seeing Graham’s “Tuesday Trump” ever again. Chaos. I’m thinking that Nunes and Fox haven’t done enough damage to the FBI, yet, for this news not to sink in and Congress just might be more inclined to pass a Mueller investigation protection Bill. This was a publicly stated red line for so many of the… Read more »
I don’t see how it could. I feel like that election-predition guy who bases everything on the fundamentals instead of the specific campaigns and candidates, but what could possibly matter other than the institutions themselves?
If the Republicans control the levers of institutional power, they will do whatever is possible to protect the Most Republican President Ever. If they don’t, they won’t.
Matter to whom? Elected Repub stooge apologists are already out with approved talking point that this proves “the system” (whatever that is) works, haha. The story is now morphing into the extraordinary level of denial and distraction the “conservative” movement and its wholly owned party are willing to undertake in the face of an obvious political criminal. The lack of a Dem leader or any respected or recognized party spokesperson is now catastrophic. There is no organized denunciation of the Repub party, its speaker/leader Ryan (who is running the interference) or its new barge of conspiracy theories. We have let… Read more »
You write: Far from “working”, the “system” is falling apart before our eyes… Yes. Precisely. This has been my point all along. Breaking this system has been Trump’s ultimate goal. he will not be happy until he is the boss of all bosses. That was how he amassed his fortune, and that is how he is treating his current position. Breaking the system was Bannon’s goal too, albeit for more…theoretical…reasons.. No matter whether Bannon is in or out of power, the same goal remains. Bannon’s sacking…whether it was real or just tactical…makes no difference. Like a starfish on an oyster,… Read more »
I could agree with much of what you wrote, AG, although my quibble would be that it is not idiot savant Trumper who is the prime mover of the plan to break the system, but the “conservative” movement and its plutocrat funders. They are the ones whose long term strategy has been to destroy the regulatory state, the US Congress, and American democracy. They are the architects of the Repub plan to rescind the 20th Century. Trumper is a more vulgar, undisciplined, weaponized, and stupider version of Cheney. Both were/are lawless, but Trumper is an actual professional criminal who entered… Read more »
You may be right, euzoius. I really have no idea who or what is directing this effort. That’s why I wrote: Like a starfish on an oyster, Trump (and whomever really directs him, be it Putin, people like the Koch brothers or his own cadre of so-called “advisors”) is slowly cracking open the U.S. governmental system. For all we know, it could be being directed by a confederation of AIs, a group of aliens (if that is not in itself an AI possibilty) or for that matter, the veritable Hand of God. What I do know is that it is… Read more »
“What’s The End
I don’t think there’s anything which would cause Republicans to impeach Trump (or Democrats, really, and certainly no way to get conviction in the Senate in any case), and so even if Mueller has the goods (and by the standards of Clinton impeachment, of course he does)…”
by Atrios at 10:12
Wow. People are going to roll over and just give up based on a lazy post like that from Atrios? If you give up, you have already decided the outcome.
Considering they are still holding out for massive “regulatory reform” bill, some major public sector privatizations, and a free-for-all public common grab dressed up as an Infrastructure Bill…I don’t even think Putin telling Mueller under oath he personally managed the collusion would matter much.
I know it’s annoying to say, but we have to face the fact that Republicans and much of the media would have utterly buried Hillary’s administration eight months ago over The Emails! alone.
Neither Rs or Big D are going after Trump in any serious way.
They could catch Trump in bed with underage boys and dead people all around the bed with his bullets in their bodies, and Fox, Rush and the Talabangelicals will instanly come up with REASONS why it doesn’t matter.
My understanding is that last night when the story broke on the various nooz outlets, Fox was harping about Bill Clinton meeting with Loretta Lynch on the tarmac, followed by 20 year old photos of Obama meeting with Louis Farrakan.
It should matter because it means the donald and everyone in his WH has been lying when they say he does not want to fire Mueller. The WH is full of pathological liars.
I don’t think it will matter. It was funny watching a clip of Hannity backpedalling, though. The reason these elements won’t matter is sheer volume. In a normal presidency, a news cycle might include an event or statement every week by the president. With Trump, the volume of quotes and tidbits and controvery comes at us like water through a firehose. There is a new story every day, and usually more than one. The Friday News Dump is like a deluge and we still never get everything that has happened. I love Stephen Colbert and he tries to stay current… Read more »
It’s not going to cause Republicans to grow a conscience or any sense of social responsibility. It will have an impact only if it causes the scales to fall from the eyes of some of Trump’s supporters or those “neutrals” who haven’t until now understood what a danger the man is to our institutions. My guess is it makes no difference and the die is already cast in the sense that a large enough group is strongly aligned in opposition to Herr Twitler and his party. But it needs to be overwhelming opposition in order to overcome gerrymandering, voter suppression,… Read more »
Yes, it’s going to “matter” — it already matters, obviously (since, this is really a semantic question; what do we mean by “matter”?) Hitler was immune from lawsuits; his power was institutionally unchallengeable; the army swore allegiance not to Germany but to him personally; and he was (although this last part, at least according to Ian Kershaw, was problematic) incapable of breaking laws. Consequently his régime lasted twelve years and could only be ended through catastrophic world war. With Nixon and Trump things are already quite different, not just because of our American institutions but because the world has changed,… Read more »
Will it matter? I doubt it. Trump seems to have reached a floor on his approval rating, and this does not appear to moving it downward, just like so many other events. Evidence of paying off a porn star with campaign funds no less to cover up an affair would have been a death knell for most campaigns/presidencies. If the stuff that’s already come down the puke hasn’t shaken things loose in any meaningful way, I don’t see how this will.
Thanks for that link. That is turning into a big story. Why how nice: what a distraction from Stormy Daniels. To be completely fair, although Clinton didn’t immediately fire Strider, he did have his pay docked and he had to attend harassment training courses. The young woman he harassed wasn’t fired. Rather she was moved to a different job without losing any pay or benefits. Big deal, you say? Yeah, I get it. Again, to be completely fair, the incident happened in 2008. It was more or less standard operating procedure to give the guy another chance by slapping his… Read more »
Yes, this will matter. It doesn’t appear that Mueller learned about this yesterday. It matters because it adds to the motivation of voters to turn out and to get others to turn out to bring this terrible Administration and Congress down. I don’t know that it will matter enough to Ryan and McConnell to stop their enabling and get their thumbs out of their asses. But we can be ever more certain that our side will be more enthused to do electoral work this fall. It matters because it adds to the depth of the evidence before us that there… Read more »
And just to add on to this…it matters because Mueller isn’t a dummy, and knowing that his firing is not just a realistic but a probable eventuality means that he’ll put mechanisms into place to make his firing not really matter to the outcome of the investigation.
At this point, who fuckin’ knows. We live in an insane asylum,.
Yes, but probably not limited to the way we assume. It won’t be as easily dismissed as Hannity’s comment that this was the President’s right. Kelly’s head is likely on the chopping block sooner rather than later now. And that will be the end of ever seeing Graham’s “Tuesday Trump” ever again. Chaos. I’m thinking that Nunes and Fox haven’t done enough damage to the FBI, yet, for this news not to sink in and Congress just might be more inclined to pass a Mueller investigation protection Bill. This was a publicly stated red line for so many of the… Read more »
Yes. It shows that Trump is more than bluster. But it also shows that he can follow sane advice
Does your lawyer’s threat of resignation and refusal to follow your order qualify as “advice”?
It does show Der Trumper doesn’t have the balls of Dick Nixon, ha-ha!
I don’t see how it could. I feel like that election-predition guy who bases everything on the fundamentals instead of the specific campaigns and candidates, but what could possibly matter other than the institutions themselves?
If the Republicans control the levers of institutional power, they will do whatever is possible to protect the Most Republican President Ever. If they don’t, they won’t.
Matter to whom? Elected Repub stooge apologists are already out with approved talking point that this proves “the system” (whatever that is) works, haha. The story is now morphing into the extraordinary level of denial and distraction the “conservative” movement and its wholly owned party are willing to undertake in the face of an obvious political criminal. The lack of a Dem leader or any respected or recognized party spokesperson is now catastrophic. There is no organized denunciation of the Repub party, its speaker/leader Ryan (who is running the interference) or its new barge of conspiracy theories. We have let… Read more »
You write: Far from “working”, the “system” is falling apart before our eyes… Yes. Precisely. This has been my point all along. Breaking this system has been Trump’s ultimate goal. he will not be happy until he is the boss of all bosses. That was how he amassed his fortune, and that is how he is treating his current position. Breaking the system was Bannon’s goal too, albeit for more…theoretical…reasons.. No matter whether Bannon is in or out of power, the same goal remains. Bannon’s sacking…whether it was real or just tactical…makes no difference. Like a starfish on an oyster,… Read more »
I could agree with much of what you wrote, AG, although my quibble would be that it is not idiot savant Trumper who is the prime mover of the plan to break the system, but the “conservative” movement and its plutocrat funders. They are the ones whose long term strategy has been to destroy the regulatory state, the US Congress, and American democracy. They are the architects of the Repub plan to rescind the 20th Century. Trumper is a more vulgar, undisciplined, weaponized, and stupider version of Cheney. Both were/are lawless, but Trumper is an actual professional criminal who entered… Read more »
You may be right, euzoius. I really have no idea who or what is directing this effort. That’s why I wrote: Like a starfish on an oyster, Trump (and whomever really directs him, be it Putin, people like the Koch brothers or his own cadre of so-called “advisors”) is slowly cracking open the U.S. governmental system. For all we know, it could be being directed by a confederation of AIs, a group of aliens (if that is not in itself an AI possibilty) or for that matter, the veritable Hand of God. What I do know is that it is… Read more »
Nope. See Atrios today. None of Mueller’s stuff is going to matter a whit.
Agreed
You may very well be right. Which makes me sick to contemplate.
Is this what you are basing that comment on?
“What’s The End
I don’t think there’s anything which would cause Republicans to impeach Trump (or Democrats, really, and certainly no way to get conviction in the Senate in any case), and so even if Mueller has the goods (and by the standards of Clinton impeachment, of course he does)…”
by Atrios at 10:12
Wow. People are going to roll over and just give up based on a lazy post like that from Atrios? If you give up, you have already decided the outcome.
Only if the Powers That Be want it to.
Considering they are still holding out for massive “regulatory reform” bill, some major public sector privatizations, and a free-for-all public common grab dressed up as an Infrastructure Bill…I don’t even think Putin telling Mueller under oath he personally managed the collusion would matter much.
I know it’s annoying to say, but we have to face the fact that Republicans and much of the media would have utterly buried Hillary’s administration eight months ago over The Emails! alone.
https:/mashable.com/2018/01/21/jessica-chastain-snl-game-show-nothing-matters#90lHRg6r6kql
Nothing matters anymore.
Neither Rs or Big D are going after Trump in any serious way.
They could catch Trump in bed with underage boys and dead people all around the bed with his bullets in their bodies, and Fox, Rush and the Talabangelicals will instanly come up with REASONS why it doesn’t matter.
My understanding is that last night when the story broke on the various nooz outlets, Fox was harping about Bill Clinton meeting with Loretta Lynch on the tarmac, followed by 20 year old photos of Obama meeting with Louis Farrakan.
Got it? It. Doesn’t. Matter.
It should matter because it means the donald and everyone in his WH has been lying when they say he does not want to fire Mueller. The WH is full of pathological liars.
I’m shocked! Shocked!
I don’t think it will matter. It was funny watching a clip of Hannity backpedalling, though. The reason these elements won’t matter is sheer volume. In a normal presidency, a news cycle might include an event or statement every week by the president. With Trump, the volume of quotes and tidbits and controvery comes at us like water through a firehose. There is a new story every day, and usually more than one. The Friday News Dump is like a deluge and we still never get everything that has happened. I love Stephen Colbert and he tries to stay current… Read more »
No.
Thus endeth today’s episode of One Word Answers. Thanks for playing along.
It’s not going to cause Republicans to grow a conscience or any sense of social responsibility. It will have an impact only if it causes the scales to fall from the eyes of some of Trump’s supporters or those “neutrals” who haven’t until now understood what a danger the man is to our institutions. My guess is it makes no difference and the die is already cast in the sense that a large enough group is strongly aligned in opposition to Herr Twitler and his party. But it needs to be overwhelming opposition in order to overcome gerrymandering, voter suppression,… Read more »
no
Yes, it’s going to “matter” — it already matters, obviously (since, this is really a semantic question; what do we mean by “matter”?) Hitler was immune from lawsuits; his power was institutionally unchallengeable; the army swore allegiance not to Germany but to him personally; and he was (although this last part, at least according to Ian Kershaw, was problematic) incapable of breaking laws. Consequently his régime lasted twelve years and could only be ended through catastrophic world war. With Nixon and Trump things are already quite different, not just because of our American institutions but because the world has changed,… Read more »
Charlie Pierce gets into it (if you can overlook his perpetually bombastic style):
http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a15893218/trump-fire-mueller-russia/
. . . not a bug.
I guess one person’s “perpetually bombastic” is another’s hilariously snarky. (And boy howdy do we need some humor to slog on through this shit.)
Oh well, à chacun son goût.
Oh, I like it fine…I just always forewarn people before sending them his way!
Will it matter? I doubt it. Trump seems to have reached a floor on his approval rating, and this does not appear to moving it downward, just like so many other events. Evidence of paying off a porn star with campaign funds no less to cover up an affair would have been a death knell for most campaigns/presidencies. If the stuff that’s already come down the puke hasn’t shaken things loose in any meaningful way, I don’t see how this will.
“Do you think this is going to matter?”
Hell no. By the end of the day, this will be the biggest story.
What the fucking fuck is wrong with those two?
And I was correct.
Smdh.
Thanks for that link. That is turning into a big story. Why how nice: what a distraction from Stormy Daniels. To be completely fair, although Clinton didn’t immediately fire Strider, he did have his pay docked and he had to attend harassment training courses. The young woman he harassed wasn’t fired. Rather she was moved to a different job without losing any pay or benefits. Big deal, you say? Yeah, I get it. Again, to be completely fair, the incident happened in 2008. It was more or less standard operating procedure to give the guy another chance by slapping his… Read more »
A “faith advisor”, you KNOW he had to be a scumball.
Yes, this will matter. It doesn’t appear that Mueller learned about this yesterday. It matters because it adds to the motivation of voters to turn out and to get others to turn out to bring this terrible Administration and Congress down. I don’t know that it will matter enough to Ryan and McConnell to stop their enabling and get their thumbs out of their asses. But we can be ever more certain that our side will be more enthused to do electoral work this fall. It matters because it adds to the depth of the evidence before us that there… Read more »
And just to add on to this…it matters because Mueller isn’t a dummy, and knowing that his firing is not just a realistic but a probable eventuality means that he’ll put mechanisms into place to make his firing not really matter to the outcome of the investigation.
When did this become such a pessimistic place?
When Trump was elected?
Right?