That's what Maria Bartiromo says her sources are telling her. Susan Collins said: "He [Ratcliffe] was awful hard on Mueller." And McConnell and Burr wouldn't even meet with Ratcliffe.
I won't claim to know everything that might be behind this. Perhaps Trump--and VP Pence--didn't do the necessary preparation? I don't know. But the story seems to be that GOPer senators want Deep State creature Sue Gordon--a close protege of John Brennan--to be DNI.
One thing seems very clear. While the Republican base tends to view this country as remaining in a state of crisis in the aftermath of a coup attempt that is far from over, the GOPe has a different view and a different set of priorities.
Does this tell you something about what Barr has to deal with? Nothing will be easy.
I told you the other day- the solution is to fire Gordon, too, and keep firing until you get to someone you can trust. You can determine who that someone is when the Senate then complains about that person being the DNI, and encourages a new selection.
ReplyDeleteYes, you did tell me that, but few things are really that easy. Trump has to try to get along at some minimal level with Senate Republicans because he needs them for all sorts of other important things that require their help, primarily confirmations of nominations. What happens if a SCOTUS vacancy comes up tomorrow?
DeleteI don't like being so negative but I see nothing from the minions of Republican Inc. to assuage my pessimism. I still feel that if the House sends a Bill of Impeachment to the Senate that enough Republicans of 'conscience' will step forward to convict. God save me and mine from experts and the 'High Minded'.
ReplyDeleteTom S.
I don't think that would happen, but that doesn't mean I'd be happy about the number of GOPers who might vote to convict.
DeleteHow in the world does a John Brennan protege still hold that office at that level? What in the world was Dan Coats doing for 2.5 years?
ReplyDeleteProtecting Deep State interests?
DeleteThis is all part of the problem. Trump, as an outsider, had to rely on advice in making appointments. I'm sure fellow Hoosier Mike Pence told Trump, hey, I've got just the right guy for DNI. Senate Intel Committee alumnus, etc. That's surely how Trump wound up with Rosenstein and any number of other creeps in his administration, and now he's got the job of weeding them out and finding replacements. Who does he have to give him advice he can trust and who also have real insider knowledge? Not many people.
Exactly. The Deep State Deep States. That is what it does. It exists to exist; not necessarily to govern or advance an agenda. Institutional cultures like this only have three rules: 1) defend its existence, no matter the cost/compromise, 2) grow larger, increase power, at every opportunity, 3) when in doubt refer to rule #1. Nothing more subtle or complicated, there is no overarching ideology or plan. There are no Caesers, though it might be leveraged by a Napoleon, its existence depends upon the self-serving cunning and ambition of hundreds of "little Eichmans", to borrow a phrase from Ward Churchill, Lois Lerner reproduced a thousand times.
DeleteTom S.
Well put!
DeleteIn the meantime the pressing questions facing are:
How do we keep guns out of the hands of Democrats and how do we get them the mental help they need?
Same fix for both, but it entails buying Thorazine by the supertanker load.
DeleteTom S.
Well, the Queensberry Rules (squish) Republicans are raising their hands.
ReplyDeleteHow did Collins manage to vote in favor of Kavanaugh with that attitude (Ratcliffe hard on Mueller)? Were they supposed to toss softballs to Mueller?
What is it with these women? Sally Yates had to be fired for defying a president. CIA Director Gina Haspel was London CIA station chief during 2016. Brennan protégé Gordon still in ONI position. Lisa Page as FBI Deputy Director counsel. Former AG Loretta Lynch factors large in Russian Hoax/Coup oversight. Susan Rice/Samantha Powers involved in the un-maskings. Equal Opportunity employment all-around.
"How did Collins manage to vote in favor of Kavanaugh with that attitude (Ratcliffe hard on Mueller)?"
DeleteYes, that's exactly why I said "few things are really that easy." How Trump manages to remain so upbeat when faced with such idiots--supposedly on his team--is a wonder.
Norman Podhoretz on Trump:
Delete"He had the qualities that all those guys had in common, and you might have thought, other things being equal, that he was one of them. And in a certain sense he was, but not entirely. I know a few of those guys and they're actually very impressive. You have to get permits, and you have to deal with the mob, and you have to know how to handle workers who are very recalcitrant, many of whom are thuggish. You're in a battlefield there, so you have to know how to operate politically as well as in a managerial capacity, and how to sweet talk and also how to curse. It's not an easy field to master."
http://www.claremont.org/crb/basicpage/an-interview-with-norman-podhoretz/
"He [Ratcliffe] was awful hard on Mueller."
ReplyDeleteThis is utterly infuriating. Doesn't Senator Susan Collins...and don't the rest of these GOPers...appreciate what is at stake? This isn't business as usual. This is a war...this is existential.
She doesn't think Schifty and Nadler are being just a little hard on Trump? She doesn't think that Mueller was knowingly at the epicenter of an utterly corrupt coup attempt?
She of all people, who was at the center of the Kavanaugh debacle, should know that we are well beyond Queensbury rules and this game is for all the marbles.
And ultimately the target is not Trump, it's us. As the Donald Trump poster says, "In reality they're not after me, they're after you. I'm just in the way."
This is about the meaning of the American way of life. If the Dems are able to destroy Trump (metaphorically or otherwise) Big Government wins and individual freedoms lose.
Hello political courts, overwhelming regulation (and strangulation) of business, upside down guilty until proven innocent, confiscatory taxes on productivity, DMV-style health care, open borders, sanctuary cities, citizenship and voter fraud, income transfers, Clinton-style crony capitalism, redistributed wealth, and Big Brother limited speech. I'm sure I didn't get everything.
Don't the GOPers see this?
Or do we not in fact already have a de facto one party system leading us inevitably down the road to bigger and bigger and less and less accountable government.
I suppose Occam's Razor suggests the answer.
Especially in the Senate the Republicans to a great degree seem to regard themselves as the managers of the revolution. No doubt about it:
Delete"And ultimately the target is not Trump, it's us. As the Donald Trump poster says, "In reality they're not after me, they're after you. I'm just in the way."
Absolutely! To Collins & Co. things were just Honki-Dori until Orange Man stirred up the Proles.
DeleteThe sooner they get rid of him the quicker things get back to normal and they can relegate the uppity Deplorables to the political wilderness where they belong.
Tom S.