Mueller is now looking into ties between Russia and Trump's business transactions

Originally published at: http://boingboing.net/2017/07/20/mueller-is-now-looking-into-ti.html

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of course they think its “unrelated” and beyond the scope of Meuller…because it’s where all the bodies are buried.

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My reaction to any sentence that begins with

Trump’s lawyer says…

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Has anyone started the betting pool on when (not if) he’ll try to fire Mueller?

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Trump is a criminal, a traitor, and a con man. Don’t think about it, impeach him. Impeach him yesterday. If you disagree or don’t think it possible hand in your passport to the State department.

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3,2,1 Obstruction of justice!

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Roger That!

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It must be nice to be able to fire the prosecutor who’s building a case against you. The Short-winged Grippertwat is really following in Nixon’s footsteps to even consider it. Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein says only he can fire Mueller, but Trump could fire Rosenstein too, and order the next guy do it – and so on down the line till someone agrees to do it.

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I guess NBC wasn’t paying him enough.

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I disagree. Wait until middle of next year (which is likely how long it will take to assemble adequate evidence for any impeachment or prosecution, anyhow). This year is already almost entirely legislatively shot and an impeachment hearing will totally hamstring anything they may accomplish by the time midterms roll around.

Then cross your fingers that some truly left-leaning candidates ascend into electable positions within the Democratic Party. When President Pence is finally sworn in he’ll be a lame duck.

To be honest, I find impeachment by a GOP congress more likely than a sensible move left by the Dems. In other words, were screwed.

Edit: I totally agree with your assessment of Trump. It’s the timing I was referring to.

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I think you have it right.

Basically, it appears that most Americans aren’t particularly offended by President Trump talking to Eastasia China or Oceania Russia, or whoever it is we are all supposed to totally patriotically hate this week.*

But it’s a lot harder to defend ongoing ties to organized crime, regardless of whether it’s the New York mob, the Jersey mob, or the rossiyskaya mafiya, or all three.**

* it’s Mexico.
** it’s all three.

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Armageddon is here now. No time to wait.

Exactly this. If proven it would be straight criminality, no Kremlin involvement needed. (Though it’s important to know which Russian bratva is involved; there are lots and they are not exactly friendly to one another).

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I mean, Putin is an autocrat, and the election stuff is pretty shady, so I don’t agree that they’re just so much anti-foreign nothingness, but i do agree with your relative weighting of the issues. The domestic emoluments stuff alone bugs me more than the election bullshit, and the Russian business entanglements are like his domestic emolument issues on steroids, mixed with vodka-infused crack…

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The March For Truth folks and others are getting ready to stage protests and rallies if Mueller gets fired.

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That’s unlikely to happen. The further down the line he goes, the less personal loyalty anyone will have to trump because there will be no personal connection. Anyone who does fire Mueller is going to be made a pariah by the rest of the establishment. So there is less and less incentive to do trump’s bidding the further down the line he goes.

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Even though I know how tiresome it is, I can’t help asking, “Will any of this information—no matter how clear and well documented—break through the fake news wall of denial Trump’s supporters have erected around themselves?”

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The important thing to keep in mind is that whether we’re talking about the Russian oligarchs, bankers, diplomats, or gangsters he associates with, they all do continue to do business only at the sufferance of Putin. I’m sure that “their” suggestions to Orange Julius for the best and most luxurious advisors and appointees had their origins with their common boss.

Putin’s not all powerful. His position is predicated on the oligarchs’ support. He can take on a couple at any one time, but they could overthrow him if they organized a coup. So Putin has to keep them happy (and at odds with each other) just as much as they have to keep him happy. Being an autocrat isn’t everything its cracked up to be.

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