"This Is Not a Drill"
This Is Not a Drill David Frum, 9 May, in The Atlantic:
"He could well resent the search for truth, even without being particularly guilty of anything heinously bad. But we all now must take seriously the heightened possibility of guilt, either personal or on the part of people near him—and of guilt of some of the very worst imaginable crimes in the political lexicon."
"The question has to be asked searchingly of the Republican members of Congress: Will you allow a president of your party to attack the integrity of the FBI? You impeached Bill Clinton for lying about sex. Will you now condone and protect a Republican administration lying about espionage?"
"The question has to be asked of all the rest of us: Perhaps the worst fears for the integrity of the U.S. government and U.S. institutions are being fulfilled. If this firing stands—and if Trump dares to announce a pliable replacement—the rule of law begins to shake and break. The law will answer to the president, not the president to the law."Twitter weighs in:
The Comey debacle calls to mind a paragraph from 'On Tyranny.' Democracy is rarely stolen, but given away in a democratic process. Chilling.
Snyder, Timothy. On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century (Kindle Locations 172-177). Crown/Archetype. Kindle Edition."Some of the Germans who voted for the Nazi Party in 1932 no doubt understood that this might be the last meaningfully free election for some time, but most did not. Some of the Czechs and Slovaks who voted for the Czechoslovak Communist Party in 1946 probably realized that they were voting for the end of democracy, but most assumed they would have another chance. No doubt the Russians who voted in 1990 did not think that this would be the last free and fair election in their country’s history, which (thus far) it has been. Any election can be the last, or at least the last in the lifetime of the person casting the vote."— beth can't with this (@bourgeoisalien) May 10, 2017
"no longer any serious possibility that he will respect the norms of conduct ... only questions are how far his fellow Rs...will let him go" https://t.co/dmOHUI3BqD
— Brendan Nyhan (@BrendanNyhan) May 10, 2017
Among the amazing things in this story [Politico: Behind Comey’s firing: An enraged Trump, fuming about Russia].— Jack Goldsmith (@jacklgoldsmith) May 10, 2017
- Trump thought firing Comey would help him control the Russia investigation.
- Trump was angry that Comey would not support his claims that Obama bugged him.
- The fallout from the firing took WH by surprise. It had no communication strategy.
- "Trump had talked about the firing for over a week, and the letters were written to give him rationale to fire Comey."
Sleight of Mouth
In recent days I realized I've been thrown off-track by DJT's wording.
The DoJ and Congressional committees are investigating possible financial ties between Trump and Russia. To this, Trump says (paraphrasing), "I don't have any investments in Russia!"
Eric Trump has said, "We have all the funding we need from Russia." The younger Trump reminds that "financial ties" encompasses not just investments by Trump, but also investments in Trump - among other things.
