NBC News is reporting that a tiny low-wattage light bulb has flickered on inside President Trump’s brain.
Despite President Donald Trump’s public declaration that he isn’t concerned about impeachment, he has told people close to him in recent days that he is alarmed by the prospect, according to multiple sources.
Trump’s fear about the possibility has escalated as the consequences of federal investigations involving his associates and Democratic control of the House sink in, the sources said, and his allies believe maintaining the support of establishment Republicans he bucked to win election is now critical to saving his presidency.
The next obvious step would be to devise some kind of strategy for keeping establishment Republicans happy. He’s particularly going to need to satisfy members of his caucus in the Senate, because they will ultimately decide whether he survives the next year.
Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida rattled the White House with similarly cautious remarks Sunday when asked about Trump’s possible involvement in the violation of campaign finance laws: “If someone has violated the law, the application of the law should be applied to them like it would to any other citizen in this country, and obviously if you’re in a position of great authority like the presidency that would be the case.”
Rubio said his decision on how Congress should respond to federal investigators’ final findings on the payments “will not be a political decision, it’ll be the fact that we are a nation of laws and no one in this country no matter who you are is above it.”
Senator Rubio is sounding pretty unforgiving about some of the least serious of the allegations against the president. If he’s saying the president should be held accountable for covering up his extramarital affairs, what will he say about suborning perjury, obstructing justice, money laundering, or coordination with WikiLeaks and Russian military intelligence?
Remember, also, that Rubio publicly claimed in March 2017 that his own campaign had been targeted by Russian hackers in 2016. There are also personal and professional reasons why Rubio is unlikely to stick with the president for very long. There are lingering bad feelings from the rough and tumble Republican primaries, and then there’s the fact that no candidate for statewide office in Florida can afford to get on the wrong side of a major political dispute. Elections there are too close to call in the best of scenarios.
More than that, though, establishment Republicans have to believe that the president is capable of doing the job with at least a minimal degree of competence, and that he won’t lead the party off a cliff. Trump’s performance of late has been especially alarming in that regard. Taking the blame for any government shutdown was political malpractice.
Texas U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, the No. 2 Republican in the Senate, distanced himself Wednesday from President Donald Trump’s remarks welcoming a government shutdown over funding for a border wall.
“I’ve been here during government shutdowns,” Cornyn said. “When the government reopens, the same problem is staring you in the face, because the government shut down in the first instance. So I don’t understand the strategy. Perhaps the president has a strategy. I heard him talk about getting the military to build some of those physical barriers. That just remains to be seen. But I can tell you that right now I don’t see the benefits of a shutdown strategy.”
Siding with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman over his own intelligence agencies is not going over very well.
As the US Senate moved to vote on Thursday on a resolution condemning Saudi Arabia for its conduct of the war in Yemen and the assassination of prominent journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a bipartisan group of senators vowed to impose concrete sanctions on the kingdom in legislation next year.
Senator Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, and Senator Bob Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat, said on Wednesday that the group plans to advance legislation imposing financial penalties and prohibiting arms sales when the new Congress begins in January.
In some of their strongest comments to date, senators signalled they would like to see Saudi Arabia remove Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman from power.
“To our friends in Saudi Arabia, you are never going to have a relationship with the United States Senate unless things change. And it’s up to you to figure out what that change needs to be,” Graham, a congressional ally of President Donald Trump, told reporters at a Capitol Hill press conference.
“From my point of view, the current construct is not working. There is a relationship between countries and individuals. The individual, the crown prince, is so toxic, so tainted, so flawed that I can’t ever see myself doing business in the future with Saudi Arabia unless there is a change there,” Graham said.
It hasn’t inspired any confidence on the Hill that the president fired the supposed “only adult in the room,” chief of staff John Kelly, and now cannot find a replacement. And it has already been reported that “the president’s top lieutenants on Capitol Hill” are anxious that he has not assembled an adequate legal team or strategy to fight back against the incoming subpoena-armed House Democrats and the inevitable carpet bombing from Robert Mueller.
To kind of summarize here, the president is giving the Republican Party ownership of a government shutdown they do not want on an issue they do not support. His White House operation is in shambles and the one person people trusted to keep it on track has been fired and there is no comparable replacement in sight. Presently, the Senate is voting to essentially rebuke the president for his position on Saudi Arabia, and that disconnect will grow more serious next year. And, even if congressional Republicans wanted to fight to the death for Trump’s presidency, they’re not getting any information or guidance on how to perform that task because the legal and political teams in the White House are understaffed, uninformed, and incompetent.
Yet, Trump now believes that he needs to hold onto the support of “establishment” Republicans to survive.
That would be a difficult thing to achieve in the best of circumstances considering how Trump came to power by trashing them. They’ve basically gotten what they wanted from him already–a big tax cut, two Supreme Court justices, and a bunch of relaxed or gutted regulation. They’ve just seen two score of their colleagues cut down in the midterm elections, largely as a result of backlash against the president. There’s no appetite for going into the 2020 presidential campaign with Trump as the Republican establishment’s standard bearer.
Only two things can keep them in Trump’s corner. One is fear of a primary challenge, and the other is a massive change of behavior by the president. But no one will mourn for Trump when he’s gone. Nixon’s posterity will look rosy by comparison, even in conservative circles. The fear that Trump’s base will spend their post-Trump time purging the party of those who held him accountable is a laughable idea. Trump’s ability to inspire fear is waning and will soon be completely gone. That leaves Trump with only one option, and it is an option he’d have to take anyway to adjust to a new political paradigm in which he must cut deals with the Democrats. Trump needs to start governing from the middle and stop trashing establishmentarian institutions like the FBI and Department of Justice, and the judiciary.
He’s incapable of making this transformation so it will not happen. Even if he attempted it, it would be too late for him politically. He now needs his loyal base just to keep the floor from falling out beneath him, so alienating them would cause his polls to crater. But to survive an impeachment battle with the establishment, he does need to start appeasing the establishment.
He’s telling people close to him that he understands this, but he can’t even get an establishment figure to serve as his chief of staff. The truth is, he burned his bridges and the establishment is just waiting for Mueller at this point, so they can clean out this mess.
You make a compelling argument, and diaries like this is why this is my `go to’ site.
But it’s hard, very hard, to not be cynical. For me it’s not really Trump. It’s what produced him. Like I have posted before,
Trump, his kids, and all the people in his administration, from the lowest intern, all the way to every cabinet position….Treasurer, Attorney General, Interior, etc, are some of the most corrupt, reprehensible, racist, and venal individuals in America. Many of the have no redeeming characteristics. This includes his Supreme Court appointees, where he prefers loyal rapists over neutral ethics.
Yet they have had, by any measure except morally, extremely successful lives. They have been, as a group, unbelievably financially successful. They have been educated in the best colleges, gone on to the best jobs, and been completely and totally accepted into the highest society, where they are celebrated as the best America can produce. In other words, America, as a cultural entity, has created, nurtured, and rewarded the worst of us, and then set them up as examples of rectitude.
Trump is not the cause of the above, he is the result. He is a symptom of a horrible disease.
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Gee nalbar!!!
You’re really beginning to understand!!!
What you apparently do not yet understand is the following:
That disease is communicable!!!
And it as infected almost the entirety of the U.S. government.
As Bernie Sanders so clearly stated yesterday:
Do you really believe that this greed…this rapacious, virally infectious disease…has not infected large parts of the Democratic Party as well?
Really!!!???
A cursory look at the major political contributors to the various high-level members of the Republican and Democratic parties is all you really need to see to understand this idea.
WTFU is not a slogan.
It’s a cure!!!
AG
He will hold some more rallies where the hard core MAGA crazies will show up in some of the locations where the senators might be wavering – Florida for example.
That will be enough to scare Rubio to fall in line.
For all the noise that Graham makes once in a while, he has completely become subservient to the Trump cause.
I still don’t see the Senate voting to impeach him.
Maybe like the then senate did with Nixon, they will ask him to resign so they can avoid the spectacle of a Republican controlled Senate impeaching Trump.
I am not as averse to Pence as president as some are. Pence has no personality, does not have the support of the MAGA crowd, and even though he is smarter than Trump, the Democratic House and Republican senate will be a better check on him than Trump. And he will have low probability of reelection in 2020.
I just don’t see him resigning. I suppose if he was given a blanket pardon…….but that would be, Christ…… giving a Russian agent a pardon? American would dead if that deal was made.
Our only hope is 2020, and him being voted out. And by the time the media gets done criticizing the Democratic candidate for the way they hang their toilet paper, and making that equal to being a Russian fluffer, Trump will be 50/50 on Election Day.
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Old grudges may become current grudges for the Rep’s who have had to endure Trump’s leadership. The growing leverage that Rep may have in putting Trump in a box will depend not just on Trump recognizing they are his sole chance at survival politically, his family’s get out of jail card and ultimately the slim chance his organization survives.
So the question left is what do Rep’s need from Trump now? Immigration, tariff relief, infrastructure proposals…? We know the Rep don’t give a hoot about Climate Change but if the Dems were to strike a deal with Rep to be inclusive of climate change for whatever deals they struck with Trump he just might turn out to be a useful idiot.
I’m sure this is all too big a move for Reps to figure out, but maybe Pelosi can help them have a low wattage bulb moment as well.
The GOP is not going to help the donald. Go back to the Bush funeral video and look at the way Cheney glared at the donald. The donald nuked the bridge the establishment. He and his crime family are on her own.
The Dems do not need to make a deal. The donald has never kept his word about anything. Any deals should be made with the senate. Then on to the donald’s desk to sign or veto.
Not thinking really that the Rep will actually help Trump, especially after today’s revelations about Trump being in the room with Cohen & Pecker having discussions about how to hide stories, because in reality he is worse than a lame duck, he has little if any political capital left.
Instead, will Trump recognize that the Senate Rep members are the only thing keeping him from being impeached in the next 2 years where he’ll walk out of the WH into the waiting SDNY prosecutors’ custody? With that recognition comes the moment of leverage for the Sen Rep’s, as in we own you now sucker!
And I bet Cohen recorded it.
If the stories are true, that Cohen recorded many of his meetings, then this is one he absolutely recorded.
If the stories are true.
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New Cohen recordings reported of the inaugeration donors’ meetings with Trump and promises of favors.
Another report I read is that `normal’ Russian agents come in with diplomatic immunity, which prevents prosecution. But because Butina came in under a student visa, with no diplomatic immunity, it’s likely she was under FISA surveillance, and every contact she made was recorded.
Can you imagine?
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He will NEVER recognize that. That is the way normal people think.
And Cheney shoots his own friends in the face… Personally I’d love to see Cheney go ahead take the shot, have it ricochet of Donny’s hair product and kill Cheney and then Cheney’s secret service detail take out Trump. I’ve heard personally from a secret service guy that served Cheney that they are really loyal to the guy… I can dream, can’t I?
I will say this again…you write:
Why is almost no one mentioning the obvious…and in my opinion…inevitable third move?
Yes, “…Trump needs to start governing from the middle and stop trashing establishmentarian institutions like the judiciary, the FBI and Department of Justice, and the judiciary. He’s incapable of making this transformation so it will not happen.”
But then you write…”The truth is, he burned his bridges and the establishment is just waiting for Mueller at this point, so they can clean out this mess.”
On the basis of Trump’s observable actions over the past 40 years or more, do you not think that he will take any action or actions necessary to preserve his own welfare, let alone his current position at the top of the U.S. political food chain?
He is not just going to sit and wait for the lockup brigade, nor is he going to admit political defeat and try to heal the irreparable political and personal wounds that he inflicted upon the members of his own party in his insane search of power.
What’s left?
Roy Cohn’s dictum:
How?
I don’t know.
I truly hope that he doesn’t try to create some kind of war.
Not domestically, and especially not internationally.
But what other avenues are left to him except surrender on one level or another?
And one thing is abundantly clear…he does not surrender, nor does he negotiate from a position of weakness.
Watch.
Unfortunately for him, the Deep State has…as Chuck Schumer so presciently and correctly stated…”Seven ways to sunday” to get even, many of them very…regrettable. Trump has only one now, besides accepting eventual defeat.
I personally think that the denouement of this travesty is going to get very…nasty.
Watch.
When an apparently unstoppable force meets an equally apparently immovable object?
One of them is going to lose.
Which one has more power?
A silly question.
Ask JFK, RFK and MLK Jr.
Ak Nixon.
Watch.
AG
OK, I’ll “ak Nixon”, AG. Funny, I was 19 years old when Nixon resigned, and I distinctly remember that that venal son of a bitch was part of an actual conspiracy to obstruct justice. But I guess that’s not true and he was victim of a Deep State conspiracy. Those tapes were all faked, I guess.
Just noticed you had a diary from yesterday insinuating that a government shutdown would be a pretext, or a precursor perhaps, for a coup d’etat.
I’m sort of wondering about your, shall we say, batting average when it comes to forecasting assassinations and coups d’etat. Cuz you make such forecasts on a really regular basis.
Breathlessly awaiting your admonition to WTFU, Arthur.
I thought it turned out that Hillary Clinton had foraged the Nixon tapes, and she then got Obama to give them to the Special Counsel.
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You write:
Guess on. I don’t know whether they were faked or not, and neither do you.
The fact of the matter is as follows:
You can do pretty much anything that you want to do in the DC Swamp as long as you don’t try to cross the Deep State.
Do so at your own “Six ways from Sunday” peril.
The Deep State is an equal opportunity employer.
And an equal opportunity enemy as well.
The Clintons, the Bushes, Obama etc.?
Even Reagan.
Resist them?
As did…for whatever reasons, be they “moral” or simply self-serving…JFK, RFK, MLK Jr., Nixon and now Trump?
They comin’ after your ass!!!
Bet on it.
AG
Hmmmmmm….. What’s the best way to make people disbelieve in something?
How about keep proclaiming its existence in the most ludicrous, patently idiotic, over-the-top way?
Yeh, that’ll work.
So…. If the Deep State wants to obfuscate its existence, then it should send forth agents to….
Holy guacamole! Arthur is an agent of the Deep State!
Hey now, janicket!!!
It looks like you and nalbar are beginning to wake the fuck up!!!
What’s the best way to make people disbelieve in something?
You just described the last 2+ years of media-induced RussiaGate hysteria.
Congratulations.
AG
“The fear that Trump’s base will spend their post-Trump time purging the party of those who held him accountable is a laughable idea.”
Do you expect Trump’s base to react to Mueller’s findings by saying, “Gee, I guess he was guilty after all. Boy, I sure feel embarrassed for having cheered him at those rallies”?
No?
Then exactly how do you expect Senator Lickspittle (R-Alamissitucky) to reach the decision to break ranks?
This is not a rhetorical question. And it seems to me that your argument falls apart without a convincing answer to it.
True, but they didn’t want him in 2016 either. They have no choice. They can’t win elections anywhere without the Trumpites. Their Fox News watching base won’t tolerate any wavering or compromise with those they hate – the establishment included.
Logically, your argument is true. In a 2 party system there is always going to be a Republican party. It’s baked in, thus the GOP will long outlast Trump. They all wish he was gone yesterday, but what choice do they have but to support him all down the line?
Just look at what idiots like Mike Coffman (R-Colo) just said. He got crushed in the election because Trump’s ignorant racism and misogyny did not go down well in the Denver suburbs. But, there he is, saying, on his way out the door:
They will all toe the line, and that means sticking with Trump until Fox News calls for him to leave office, because without the ignorant Trumpites, their party would dry up and blow away tomorrow.
you’re really picking and choosing you facts there.
Coffman could just as easily be interpreted as saying, “Look at the hopeless situation the idiotic president put us in.”
Yeah, maybe, but I think Mr. Occam would interpret him they way Cugel did.
I don’t see why.
It’s a fairly simple explanation that a man who is explaining why he feels compelled to take a bad vote actually isn’t happy with the person who is responsible for his situation.
I’m glad you are acknowledging that DT will never take your advice about how to function…that he is incapable of it.
The reality is the GOP would be better off with Trump. Now that they’ve got what they wanted, and it’s a lot, everything here on in is just greed and gravy. Trump doesn’t have the emotional or intellectual ability to pull himself out of the tailspin he’s in. The only thing Trump knows how to do in response to trouble is lie about it, which only makes the situation worse as the shoes continue to drop. The longer they hang on, with Trump at the helm, the greater the risk of the entire party crashing and burning with him and his family. The base be damned, the GOP would be smart to initialize the exit strategy I know the establishmentarians must have had in mind from day one.
Speaking of the base, as powerful as the stupid/racist faction is right now under Trump, it is looking more and more like there won’t be much of a future for them. They’ve awoken a sleeping giant of an opposition that has come around to the reality that they need to get off their duffs and vote in off year and presidential elections. And if 2018 was an indication, then 2020 will likely be a blue tsunami. People are sick and tired of all of them.
Some songbirds are pretty good mimics of other birds. It’s puzzling why that behavior evolved, but one thing it effectively does is confuse the sharp listener about who’s around and where they are.
The truth is every one of them has joined the Trump flock. Mr Trump’s support is still high and there have been relatively few consequences that would move that support, so these Rep senators aren’t going anywhere.
Maybe they’re signalling their financial backers that they need a little more help staying put. Maybe it’s just noise. I don’t know. I don’t trust them, any of them, with the truth.