Running Out the Clock
It seems like some kind of “madman” strategy. Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani goes on multiple Sunday morning news shows, changing the narrative of the Moscow Trump Tower story. It went from nothing, to a deal no one cared about that Michael Cohen was “playing” with, to a deal they were involved with until spring of 2016, to something the Trump staff worked on until the election. Giuliani “accidentally” talked about tapes, and seemed to “give away” secrets of the Trump defense.
He sounded at times confused, occasionally deranged, and often unprofessional. It leaves observers with two choices: either Giuliani is incompetent and should be immediately fired, or he has a strategy that is so obscure that even the “experts” can’t follow it. The prosecutor of the mob, the mayor of 9-11, has either lost has skills, or…we’re not so sure what.
One of the great fears of the Trump White House was Democratic control of the House of Representatives. With Nancy Pelosi as Speaker, the President is faced with two years of investigation from multiple committees and their chairmen: Schiff’s Intelligence, Water’s Financial Services, Cumming’s Oversight, and ultimately, Nadler’s Judiciary.
Chairman Schiff particularly wants to get started; after the Intelligence Committees’ debacle under Republican Chairman Nunes, acting as a defensive wall for the Trump organization. Schiff wants to make things “right.” But Republican Minority Leader McCarthy has found another way to impede the investigation; he has failed to appoint Republican members to the committee. By preventing Republican participation the Committee is unable to reach a quorum of members, and cannot conduct any business. The stall is “in.”
As we approached Christmas of 2018, there was a clear “deal” to be made for the Southern Border. The current theory is that the far-right media, led by Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter, nixed a deal to keep the government open (I wrote an essay on it for Christmas – Merry Christmas Rush) and so portions of the government were closed for thirty-four days. The focus of the media, and the public, was on the impact of the closings: air travel in disarray, law enforcement working without pay, tax returns stalled, food stamps threatened, government workers in food lines. While the shutdown is temporarily over, the President still threatens its return in three weeks.
It seems like so much confusion and distraction, from Giuliani to Congress to shut downs. But there is a clear impact of each of these actions: delay, delay, delay: delay of Congressional action into the Trump Presidency, delay of impeachment.
Perhaps this is the real underlying strategy of the Trump legal team. This “band of fools” may actually be playing out a strategic long-term game. Judge from how the electoral calendar is established. It’s almost February, 2019, the first shots of the 2020 Presidential campaigns have already been fired. The Republican National Committee has pledged their fealty to the Trump Presidency, and multiple Democrats have already entered the race. We are on the cusp of the campaigns, the Iowa caucuses are just 371 days away.
Once the Iowa voters straggle through the snow to their meetings, once the counting has begun, the clock will have run on Presidential impeachment. Congress will not put themselves in the position of competing with voters for the power to choose the President. This is the ultimate argument of the Trump team, the same argument they made to negate the impact of Trump’s sexual dalliances. “Let the people decide if it’s important” they said, the results of the election adjudicates the issue.
It makes some sense. Even James Comey, with inside knowledge into what really happened in the 2016 election and no friend of the President, has called for the 2020 election to be the determining factor, not impeachment. Comey’s theory is that if the President is removed any other way than through the electoral process, it will leave a “rump base” that will forever feel they have been cheated. Only an election could convince them that it was “fair.”
That will become even truer as the clock ticks closer to November of 2020. The Presidential strategy may be much simpler than we thought. Delay today, delay tomorrow, delay this week and this month; find a way to stall and keep America distracted. It doesn’t have to be until November of 2020, it only has to make it for another ten months. Then the argument will change from what happened to 2016, to letting 2020 determine the outcome.
Democrats in the House are concerned that their actions not be seem as a “rush to judgment.” They want to make sure the Democrats can be seen a “governing,” not just investigating and attacking. But each day that President Trump is in office, another action is taken that damages our country and world. So while it might be easier to “wait for the people to decide,” there is an undetermined cost to be paid. The “meter is running” on the Trump Presidency: we will all have to pay the fare for his actions.
It’s all about time; and the clock’s running now.
