Philip Klein of the Washington Examinermay be playing the role of Captain Obvious, but he still should be commended for trying to talk some sense to his right-wing audience.
Republicans ready to go to bat for President Trump in his ongoing battle to deny the requests of House Democrats risk limiting the ability of Republicans in Congress to hold future Democratic presidents accountable.
Gee, you think? It’s possible that allowing a Republican president to establish that Congress can be treated with complete contempt might form the basis for a future Democratic president to continue the practice? What an insightful thought!
Klein spends considerable effort howling into the Idiot Wind, but I doubt that will have the effect it should.
Republicans should be aware, however, that any principles that Trump establishes in rebuffing Congressional investigators, could be used (or further built upon) by future Democratic presidents seeking to avoid scrutiny from Republicans in Congress. Republicans should not see defending Trump on every matter as necessary, even if they believe that the Robert Mueller report vindicated him on the Russia issue.
Klein defines two aspects to Trump’s defiance that he finds particularly “worrisome.” One is the refusal to allow the Treasury Department to turn over his tax returns to the House Ways & Means Committee. The other is Trump’s blanket statement, “We’re fighting all the subpoenas.”
Again, if Trump is able to set a standard under which presidents can broadly declare their intention not to cooperate with Congressional investigations, this standard will inevitably come back to haunt Republicans.
The standoff between Trump and Democrats should be viewed independently of current political considerations and seen as part of a much larger battle over the powers of Congressional oversight and the executive branch. Republicans need to consider what they believe the proper balance should be if a Democrat were in power, and act accordingly.
I don’t think Republican voters really care about the future repercussions here, but there’s at least one signthat Republican lawmakers are capable of being forward-thinking.
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff and the panel’s top Republican, Rep. Devin Nunes, have both made requests to the FBI and Justice Department to be briefed on the counterintelligence information gathered in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.
And now they are warning a subpoena is coming soon if they don’t get compliance.
As I’ve noted repeatedly, the real meat of the Mueller Report is not in the summaries the special counsel provided to William Barr. What we want to see is the counterintelligence report that assesses the president’s relationship with Vladimir Putin and other foreign leaders. That Devin Nunes, of all people, is pushing for this information to be released to the House Intelligence Committee is a sure sign that he think the Trump administration’s obstruction has gone way too far.
It may be faint flicker of self-respect, but it’s a flicker. It’s suggests that there is a limit to how far Trump can push the congressional Republicans.
Nunes wants the counterintel in order to turn the investigation towards the FBI, the Obama admin and other democrats. He doesn’t care how far Trump pushes the boundaries.
I think you are right. Pace Booman, I can’t believe that Nunes (of all people) intends to do the right thing here.
This relies on Nunes acting independently of the WH and ALSO being a moron. Only 50% of that is likely at any given time.
The constitutional order is collapsing rather quickly now, and it is wishful thinking to expect our patriotic Repubs to change course now, they have thrown in their lot. Having given up on (not to say perverted) all democratic elements of the republic, they apparently think that their electoral college strategy will continue to hold, as it did with Bushco and our National Trumpalists. As tribalists, they’ll deal with the expanded powers of a possible Dem prez if/when s/he exists, relying on the useless corporate media to spring into action to parrot their “outrage” if the shoe should ever be on… Read more »
Although Donald Jr. just got subpoenaed by Richard Burr and Devin Nunes is joining a subpoena on Mueller’s cointel report.
That Devin Nunes, of all people, is pushing for this information to be released to the House Intelligence Committee is a sure sign that he think the Trump administration’s obstruction has gone way too far. Devin Nunes. We’re talking about Devin-fucking-Nunes here?? Now, doesn’t this just peg the needle on your Bullshit Detector all the way into the red? I know it does mine, because from the historical perspective of his past behavior there is absolutely nothing to indicate this could be motivated by an real concern about actions undertaken by Donald Trump. Is there any shred of evidence to… Read more »
The evidence is this is the last thing that Trump wants Congress to see. And Nunes has been doing whatever he’s told from the beginning. The problem in this case, as in the case of Don Jr.’s perjury, is that the there is really no argument that Republican congressmen/committee leaders can make. They have to issue these subpoenas as an institution. I’d note that quite a few Democrats voted Eric Holder in contempt even though the whole subject matter was bullshit, most Dems walked out of the chamber rather than vote, and the courts laughed them out of town two… Read more »
Fair enough. Thanks for your take. There is no question that Trump has zero respect for any of the norms, laws, and Constitutional constraints on the Executive Branch. He, no doubt, believes that he should rule by fiat, and everyone else in Congress and the Courts should simply kiss his ring and bow down to whatever he wishes to declare each day. I still want to have confidence that there are enough Republicans within the co-equal branches of govenrment who will not allow Donald Trump to take the country across the bridge none of us ever imagined would be crossed,… Read more »
“most Dems walked out of the chamber rather than vote, and the courts laughed them out of town two years later”
Not sure I follow that.
As dismissive as they are of the Constitution, regular order and adherence to tradition and normalcy when it comes to Trump, I can guarantee that whenever a democratic president takes office, the republicans will shamelessly do a 180 and become defenders of the rule of law and the Constitution. They don’t care how far they have to go in either direction, when it comes to defending their own or going after a democrat. Impervious as they are to hypocrisy and shame, they have no problem reversing course when it suits their purpose.
Or, more simply, IOKIYAR and Democrats must Never be allowed to govern.