What’s the “justification” for trying to derail Mueller’s investigation? Isn’t that admitting that they don’t think they can prove innocence? Hell, that they can’t even prove reasonable doubt?
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It is usually the case that the guilty don’t think that they are innocent, they just think that everybody else is as guilty as they are, and that it’s just that they were caught.
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Sure, that’s at least some of the rationale, but it’s not a viable public justification. How do they explain this in a press conference?
Trump’s been working these two angles on Mueller:
- A couple of people he hired to work the investigation donated to the DNC, so they must be biased against him.
- Apparently Mueller used to be a member at one of Trump’s golf clubs and he quit 3-4 years ago, so he must have a grudge against trump.
Its grasping at straws. But his base will accept any excuse, no matter how ludicrous, because they want an excuse.
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Actually yes, for 500 years they did resign …
… with only one exception and you probably know what happened to the one who didn’t.
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This is exactly right. They don’t care if he’s a liar, or if he doesn’t build a wall or repeal Obamacare. He won the election, which justified their feelings, nay, their very existence. And he continues to stick it to libtards, so they will never, ever repudiate him. Everyone who opposes him is evil incarnate. And if they ever speak against him, Witch Hillary will rise from, uh, wherever, and destroy America.
Seriously, this is how they think.
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I’m less concerned with what eventually may happen to a dictator than with
what precedes his downfall.
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The Trumps have collectively admitted that this Russian stuff happened. I don’t think the facts are in doubt. Its the legal interpretation which is still to come.
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Actual text of Gerald Ford’s televised pardon of Nixon:
I, GERALD R. FORD, President of the United States, pursuant to the
pardon power conferred upon me by Article II, Section 2, of the
Constitution, have granted and by these presents do grant a full, free,
and absolute pardon unto Richard Nixon for all offenses against the
United States which he, Richard Nixon, has committed or may have
committed or taken part in during the period from January 20, 1969
through August 9, 1974.
So (in that case) it was “all crimes” for the entire length of his Presidency. Liddy, Mitchell, Haldeman, Hunt, and others, they all went to jail, Nixon went to San Clemente to work on his memoirs.
It’s weird how Trump can make Nixon look respectable; no matter how much of a scumbag he was, Nixon did have that moment of clarity after Watergate where he showed regret for what he had done, whereas I can’t imagine Trump ever admitting wrong.
“I was wrong in not acting more decisively and more forthrightly in
dealing with Watergate, particularly when it reached the stage of
judicial proceedings and grew from a political scandal into a national
tragedy. No words can describe the depth of my regret and pain at the
anguish my mistakes over Watergate have caused the nation and the
presidency, a nation I so deeply love, and an institution I so greatly
respect” --R.M Nixon, Sept 1974
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Say what you will, but Trump does one thing really well: dulling Hanlon’s Razor.
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Perhaps he will retire to a little duma by the Black Sea. Read Aristophanes The Wasps.
It’s very difficult giving up telling a government what to do, so having a little private Parliament to boss about might be better than gardening.
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A Dictator in the Republic was elected for a short time to deal with a military crisis which required everybody to pull together. MacAulay describes this in his Battle of Lake Regillus. It was in no sense a “business as usual” post, so it isn’t really a valid comparison. The modern equivalent is some President declaring a state of emergency, and really post-Trump the US seems permanently in one.
The idea of the Roman Dictator, someone who serves his country in a crisis and then retires, persisted for a long time. During WW2 Alan Brooke was the Chief of Imperial General Staff (i.e. the profession head of the British Army.) After the War, while Eisenhower went on to be President, Brooke became fairly well known for his nature programmes on BBC television. Most people had no idea of his earlier career. During WW2 when he had time off he would go home and work on the toy cart he was making for his daughter. Whether or not he was doing so consciously, he was living up to the Roman ideal.
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True or not, the prototype:
A beloved bloody-handed dictator who crushed a movement for equitable civil rights for lower-class Romans.
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From Breitbart:
Trump has also reportedly discussed his authority to grant pardons in connection to the probe, although officials told the Post that he was only being curious about his authority.
“This is not in the context of, ‘I can’t wait to pardon myself,’” a close adviser told the paper.
Curious, riiight.
(The close advisor was probably Bannon.)
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Nixon was indeed powered by his greed and ambition. What he did with his life after Watergate is fairly interesting, seems that he was deeply embarrassed and humbled and focused his life on improving foreign relationships. I’m sure he was no poster boy for redemption but it does appear to me at first glance that at his core he had some morals. Trump on the other hand strikes me as someone with a complete lack of remorse and morals, even should he be impeached he’d probably believe himself to be completely faultless.
Reading through that link i posted it does seem that he held some rather… curious working relationships though. He was pro-China, attended a non-sanctioned visit to the funeral of a former Shah of Iran, was hosted by Margaret Thatcher and her party during a visit to London, etc. Considering the types of interests the GOP has today it seems that Nixon was actively pushing the party in that direction after his presidency.
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I read somewhere else that this was because their team couldn’t hire any DC law firm well versed in constitutional law. I believe the response from all of them was something along the lines of; “He doesn’t listen, and he doesn’t pay!” Source was reportedly Rachel Maddow (I couldn’t find the article).
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