For Christians, Christmas is perennially a season of hope, so it seems an appropriate time of year to offer a message of hope to conservatives generally. In the comments to recent articles regarding the ongoing Russia Hoax a note of resignation and even dejection has been noticeable. And yet even as the assault on our constitutional order continues (and I use this phrase advisedly) there are, I believe, positive developments--even reasons for cautious good cheer.
The most obvious positive result is to be found in the results of the midterm elections. True, the GOP lost the House, yet on the positive side Paul Ryan--who played a key role in slowing down the House investigations into the Russia Hoax and even, as it turns out, the initial dissemination of the Clinton campaign's "dossier"--is gone. That alone is a positive development, as is the emergence of a more unified Republican caucus.
On the Senate side the news is even better. The GOP majority has been expanded--an historically unlikely achievement. Traitorous members have been discarded--McCain, Flake, Corker--and replaced by either more conservative new senators or new senators who owe their election to Trump's remarkable campaign effort and who will therefore be in his debt. This bodes well for confirmations, both of judges--including very possibly another seat on the Supreme Court--but also for perhaps the key cabinet position: the confirmation of a new Attorney General to replace the feckless Jeff Sessions.
Already, in that regard, we have good news. Matt Whitaker, the acting AG, has been cleared by an internal ethics review at DoJ to supervise Team Mueller. Of course, emboldened by their success with Sessions, the usual Democrat suspects brought forward the by now standard demands for recusal, citing Whitaker's past criticisms of Mueller. Whitaker, despite anonymous DoJ sources suggesting recusal out of "an abundance of caution," wisely and out of a strong sense of principle, refused to recuse. The notion that anyone who has paid attention to ongoing events in the public life of the nation and who has both an opinion and the gumption to express that opinion, should recuse himself from a position of authority is too bankrupt for serious consideration.
The stage is now set for Whitaker to play an active role in oversight of Team Mueller. If the Democrats have a problem with that, there is a ready solution. They can try their luck with Bill Barr by allowing his confirmation as AG to proceed expeditiously.