That’s what you get for sleeping in. President Trump’s on right now, declaring his “bin-Laden moment” with the reported death of al-Baghdadi. If it’s true, I’m glad he’s dead. I’m sorry the President can’t see the gravity of the moment, and needs to talk about what he wrote in a book in 1999. And I am confused – did we leave Syria, are we in Syria, or did we just say it was OK for the Turks to invade Syria?
The Warning
In the months leading up to the release of the Mueller Report, we were warned. We were told that the Trump Administration would do everything to distract from what Robert Mueller and his team found. They told us to expect anything: from personal attacks on the unassailable honor and decency of Mueller himself, to the honesty of the team his assembled.
We heard about “the seventeen angry Democrats” and the “lying” witnesses. And we were ready for all of that. But what we weren’t ready for was Attorney General William Barr. The man was presented to us as an “institutionalist”. He would defend the fundamental impartiality of the Justice Department, and was a “friend” of Robert Mueller. The two were compared to Special Prosecutor Leon Jaworski and Attorney General William Saxbe. They were friends who came to the Senate Judiciary Committee together to guarantee the impartiality of the Watergate investigation.
The Zealot
What we didn’t know then was that Bill Barr, at the end of a distinguished career, was a zealot. He believed so strongly in an aberrant Constitutional theory of the Presidency, that he was willing to throw his “friend” Mueller and his work “under the bus”. He lied about its conclusions, and hid the actual findings for almost a month.
What we didn’t know was that Bill Barr would put the full resources of the Justice Department at the disposal of the White House. Attorneys paid for by US taxpayers are going into court defending the President’s “right” to hide his taxes and ignore subpoenas. They not only are defending the absolute authority of the President, but they are claiming his absolute immunity from trial, indictment, or even investigation.
And what we really didn’t expect, is the Attorney General Barr would personally lead an investigation based on Russian propaganda and alt-right conspiracy theories. We thought this former AG, an “establishment Republican” couldn’t be sucked into that black hole. But he has travelled the globe trying to find any evidence he can to “prove” it. By lending credence to it, he gets the opportunity to threaten the President’s old enemies: Comey and McCabe, Strzok and Page, Brennan and Clapper. Not only does that make Mr. Trump “happy,” but it also distracts from the deep trouble he’s in.
Distract and Divert
But here we are. As the impeachment investigation into the President taking US military aid to extort Ukrainian help in the 2020 election goes on, we can now expect even more extreme actions. This weekend, it is the “free Flynn” outcry, claiming that convicted foreign agent and liar Michael Flynn was “set up” by the FBI. It only adds to their fury that one of the agents questioning Flynn was Peter Strzok, and that the questioning was under the direction of Deputy Director Andrew McCabe.
Reports from the hearings in the House note that Republicans are actively participating. They are asking questions and taking notes. More specifically they are digging into witnesses, trying to find out whether they “support” the President, and do they know who the “whistleblowers” are.
The next great Republican “revelation” will be the names of the whistleblowers, and why they are “tainted” by Democrats. They will be truly excoriated, their lives torn apart, and their careers in the government over. They will be sacrificed, even though the truth of the President’s own words and actions are all the evidence that’s needed to impeach.
Come Tomorow
Much of this is merely diversion and distraction. But his announcement of the Delta Force operation ending in the death of ISIS leader al-Baghdadi is real. It’s good that he’s dead, but the President has already given out more specific information and detail than US Forces would have liked. This gives Mr. Trump his “bin-Laden moment,” and he’s certainly allowed to enjoy it.
But by the end of the day, the President will be back to attacking Democrats. By tomorrow morning, the center of his universe will pivot back to a House “SCIF” where depositions are being taken. This won’t go away. And expect the President to “kick, scream and whimper” all the way to impeachment.
