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babylonsister

(171,070 posts)
Fri Jan 26, 2018, 03:52 PM Jan 2018

Charles P. Pierce: The Mueller Bombshell Proves Republicans Are Running Out of Time

http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a15893218/trump-fire-mueller-russia/

The Mueller Bombshell Proves Republicans Are Running Out of Time

History will not be kind to Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell, and others who stand by idly.

By Charles P. Pierce
Jan 26, 2018


It came with the wind through the silence of the night, a long, deep mutter, then a rising howl, and then the sad moan in which it died away. Again and again it sounded, the whole air throbbing with it, strident, wild and menacing.

—Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Hound of the Baskervilles, 1902.


So, if I read the state of play correctly, special counsel Robert Mueller is investigating the president* and the president*’s administration* for obstruction of justice, and Mueller has been running this investigation for seven months knowing that the president* came within an ace of firing him last June for the purposes of, ah, obstructing justice. He’s had this information in his back pocket every time a member of the administration* came before him under oath. I’ve never been a criminal defendant charged with obstruction of justice, but this seems to me to be a bad situation for an obstructor of justice to be in.

The major scoop in The New York Times that has shaken up the world can be read in a number of different ways that all lead to the same conclusion. Right from jump, the president* has been scared right down to his silk boxers of what Mueller would discover regarding his campaign’s connections to Russian ratfcking and regarding his business connections to freshly laundered Russian cash. This conclusion does not change even if you think that White House counsel Don McGahn leaked this story to make himself the hero or to cover his own ass. This conclusion does not change even if you think the ratlines off the listing hulk of this administration are thick with fleeing rodents. This whole thing remains a product of the president*’s guilty mind.

(And the story did shake up the world. The president* went before a gathering in Davos on Friday and began raving about “fake news” and the perfidy of the American media. He got booed. Many cats were called. No shoes were thrown, but George W. Bush set a pretty high bar there.)

The story does explain the curious frenzy over the last week: the president*’s saying that he’s “looking forward” to a chat with Mueller, and that he might even deign to have the chat under oath; the apparent rush to present the Congress with a half-baked “compromise plan” on immigration that has no chance of passing the House of Representatives; and the fact that the president* took every member of his inner circle except his wife to Switzerland. I suspect those folks heard the baying of the hound even before Michael Schmidt and Maggie Haberman did. More ominous is the possibility that McGahn—or whomever—leaked this story because the president* is thinking about firing Mueller now, or in the near future, and whoever the leaker was understands very well what a monumental calamity that would be for all concerned.

You would think that we would see the wheels turning now. You would think that Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell would find some slivers of patriotism between the cushions of their sofas and step up to fulfill the constitutional obligations of their respective offices. There is a genuine crisis on their doorsteps right now, and, next week, the president* is supposed to give his State of the Union address, and god alone knows what he’s going to say. They have not moved. They have given no indication that they will move. History will brand them as cowards and as traitors to the country’s best ideals. History’s not going to be kind to a lot of people who are living through these insane times.
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Charles P. Pierce: The Mueller Bombshell Proves Republicans Are Running Out of Time (Original Post) babylonsister Jan 2018 OP
Pit stop.... pbmus Jan 2018 #1
Hahaha that's great not fooled Jan 2018 #10
I doubt it. BobTheSubgenius Jan 2018 #12
No... Whatthe_Firetruck Jan 2018 #21
I think... kimmylavin Jan 2018 #22
all aboard that Orange Turd Blossom Special! alterfurz Jan 2018 #25
Maybe Ryan, McConnell, and the rest of the Rs don't care about what they do now Dark n Stormy Knight Jan 2018 #2
They may find some time for reflection and repentance lagomorph777 Jan 2018 #6
I very much doubt those bastards will see the inside of jail cells, as justice is hard won Dark n Stormy Knight Jan 2018 #9
There will be Justice Abouttime Jan 2018 #32
If what they're sold out this country for power & ducats, The_REAL_Ecumenist Jan 2018 #31
Just Maybe DownriverDem Jan 2018 #15
Nothing would surprise me at this point. Dark n Stormy Knight Jan 2018 #16
k+r Blue_Tires Jan 2018 #3
K N R-ed Faux pas Jan 2018 #4
Ryan and McConnell are complicit and are obstructing to cover their own asses. diane in sf Jan 2018 #5
+1,000,000 Amaryllis Jan 2018 #27
Or someone has already designed an escape hatch - F the constitution erronis Jan 2018 #7
+1000 BobTheSubgenius Jan 2018 #13
K&R smirkymonkey Jan 2018 #8
History will brand them as cowardsand traitors indeed mcar Jan 2018 #11
Kick and Rec for Chaz Pierce Hekate Jan 2018 #14
K&R! gademocrat7 Jan 2018 #17
Trump doesn't wear silk boxers, he wears tighty-whities (per Stormy). . . . nt Bernardo de La Paz Jan 2018 #18
He's now wearing extra large Depends mnhtnbb Jan 2018 #26
K&R. dchill Jan 2018 #19
I love that this is in esquire. Awesome. lindysalsagal Jan 2018 #20
K&R Scurrilous Jan 2018 #23
History will not be kind to..... HenryWallace Jan 2018 #24
In all fairness to the shoe-dodging Bush... Pluvious Jan 2018 #28
Ryan Has A Conflict Of Interest, ..... DoctorJoJo Jan 2018 #29
This message was self-deleted by its author OnyxSharpie Jan 2018 #30
History will brand them...blah, blah, blah... Perseus Jan 2018 #33
It's times like these I realize how out-of-step I am. malthaussen Jan 2018 #34
Uhh. Hayduke Bomgarte Jan 2018 #35

Dark n Stormy Knight

(9,760 posts)
2. Maybe Ryan, McConnell, and the rest of the Rs don't care about what they do now
Fri Jan 26, 2018, 04:03 PM
Jan 2018

causing history to brand them cowards and traitors to the country’s best ideals because it already has.

Dark n Stormy Knight

(9,760 posts)
9. I very much doubt those bastards will see the inside of jail cells, as justice is hard won
Fri Jan 26, 2018, 04:51 PM
Jan 2018

and seldom seems to come to the powerful, but I'm still holding out some hope. I don't like to see people suffer, but for all the suffering they cause others, it's what they deserve.

 

Abouttime

(675 posts)
32. There will be Justice
Sat Jan 27, 2018, 08:56 AM
Jan 2018

There will be tribunals, there will be a truth and reconciliation process. This is the equivalent of a civil war. We will win without a shot fired I bet but it doesn’t mean that the opposition, the traitors, the treasonous bastards must not be totally ruined.
We must destroy them and all that follow them to prevent this from ever happening again.
The way it sits now thousands, maybe tens of thousands are guilty and must go away. I am talking the entire apparatus of the Republican Party, right down to the local level, because they are all guilty of conspiring to steal a Presidential election.
Now, once tRump is removed if they decide to take up arms, then we’re looking at possibly hundreds of thousands of tRump supporters rounded up and sent away.
Unfortunately we are in the middle of a constitutional and civic crisis, it’s a civil war, the shooting just hasn’t started yet.

The_REAL_Ecumenist

(723 posts)
31. If what they're sold out this country for power & ducats,
Sat Jan 27, 2018, 08:32 AM
Jan 2018

GAOL will be a a kindness. THEY ARE TREASONOUS F#CKS!!

DownriverDem

(6,229 posts)
15. Just Maybe
Fri Jan 26, 2018, 05:30 PM
Jan 2018

they are part of those repubs who are trying to bring the end times. If so, they don't give a damn about how they look or what they aren't doing.

erronis

(15,303 posts)
7. Or someone has already designed an escape hatch - F the constitution
Fri Jan 26, 2018, 04:44 PM
Jan 2018

While most of the public face of this administration and congress seem like 4th grade imbeciles (and consequentially bullies), they may not know about the plans to "rescue" the US from the grips of supposed representative democracy.

The icing on the cake of "America" hides a growing infestation of internal corruption and infecting agents.

It is fixable, but first remove all the icing - all the platitudes about "melting pot" or "the land of milk and honey." First expose all of the faults, crimes, warts, misogyny, slavery, cowardice, incestuousness. Make every person, every family, every town, politician, official come clean. Not for punishment or justice, just for acknowledgment of our joint humanity.

 

HenryWallace

(332 posts)
24. History will not be kind to.....
Fri Jan 26, 2018, 06:44 PM
Jan 2018

Sorry Charlie, until we figure out how to win elections these guys get to write history.

This article could have just as easily have been about these guys watching "W" lead us into a make-believe war.....

Pluvious

(4,313 posts)
28. In all fairness to the shoe-dodging Bush...
Fri Jan 26, 2018, 11:00 PM
Jan 2018

IIRC that occurrence was in Iraq, a country he caused to be leveled.

I'd think if Donnie Two-scoops were to give a speech in a Puerto Rico, I'm sure he'd be dodging more than just a few shoes !!!

 

DoctorJoJo

(1,134 posts)
29. Ryan Has A Conflict Of Interest, .....
Fri Jan 26, 2018, 11:52 PM
Jan 2018

.... after all, if both The Orange Buffoon and his pitiful sidekick, Pensive, are disposed, he becomes President Ryan. And then he can begin his ultimate wet dream--ending Medicare and Social Security. Good luck with those vouchers!!

Response to babylonsister (Original post)

 

Perseus

(4,341 posts)
33. History will brand them...blah, blah, blah...
Sat Jan 27, 2018, 11:44 AM
Jan 2018

To continue to think that they care about what history will say about them, that they have an ounce of patriotism in them is a waste of time.

People like the man-child, Ryan, McConnell, and many others have no sense of consequence and because of that they cannot care less about history not being kind to them. If they had a grain of care in their souls they would at least think about the world they are leaving for their kids, about the horrible future their kids will also endure, but because they don't think ahead, consequences don't exist for them, they just move forward with their evil agenda.

I have to think that some writers use those lines "History will not be kind to them, etc." to try to get some reaction form them, but they really don't care, anyone who expects them to react as a patriot would, is loosing their time. We have to come to terms that the criminal mind woks in different ways. A murderer will go to a pub to meet his/her friends to drink a few beers right after committing a crime, as if nothing had happened, and that is the way these republican crooks act. The live in "the now", they don't think ahead, the don't even care if some of the people they are hurting live under the same roof as the do.

So please, stop with the "History blah, blah, blah", they don't care, they really don't.

malthaussen

(17,204 posts)
34. It's times like these I realize how out-of-step I am.
Sat Jan 27, 2018, 12:15 PM
Jan 2018

Try as I may, I cannot see why the current bombshell-du-jour is anything other than the usual damp squib. Everyone knows Mr Trump wanted to fire Mr Mueller, everyone knows he wants to obstruct justice, and the current revelation provides no proof with which to hang him. It might serve to demonstrate intent, but I reckon Mr Mueller has lots of goodies that can do that. What makes this demonstration of intent more glaring or significant than all the others?

-- Mal

Hayduke Bomgarte

(1,965 posts)
35. Uhh.
Sat Jan 27, 2018, 02:43 PM
Jan 2018
"You would think that Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell would find some slivers of patriotism"

No... I wouldn't. They could neither spell nor define patriotism.
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