GOP First Or Country First

Bary Goldwater famously or infamously said “Extremism in defense of liberty is no vice. And moderation in defense of liberty is no virtue.” But liberty does not mean anarchy even to Barry Goldwater who also said: "Mark my word, if and when these preachers get control of the [Republican] party, and they're sure trying to do so, it's going to be a terrible damn problem. Frankly, these people frighten me. Politics and governing demand compromise. But these Christians believe they are acting in the name of God, so they can't and won't compromise. I know, I've tried to deal with them.”

We often see the lunatic right and the religious right as the same because of evangelicals supporting people like Roy Moore. While it is true that a large percentage of the right wing nut cases are religious fanatics, however, there is a significant percentage of those nut cases who are not that religious or are only religious when it is convenient to be so. There are also a large enough number of very religious people who are not right wingers. In other words, the religious divide is probably not as much of a problem as tribalism and an ideology demagogues market and sell in absolute terms and with a religious fervor that leaves no room for questioning or examining the underlying assumptions regardless of how obviously spurious those assumptions may be.

With nothing to sell but the bogus economic hypothesis of “trickle down” the Republicans have resorted to pandering to the tribalism of less educated white people who think their tribal values are under attack from those other, lesser people. And the federal government actually has the nerve to tax those white people in order to help those lesser people have a better life they do not deserve the Republicans say. That is the Republican cocktail – add one part xenophobia and one part anti government phobia, then shake vigorously. Ah, but fear not, the Donald will greatly diminish the state to create a new birth of freedom and liberty (read anarchy) where the virtuous majority can crush the undeserving minority to set things right again! Bleach those sheets and white hoods because the klan will ride again. It sounds a bit like communism with a peculiarly odious American twist? The dictator of the proletariat will destroy the government to free us! From what? From reason and a sense of social responsibility perhaps? Never in our history have we had a President as nihilistic and destructive as Trump, nor a political party as nihilistic and destructive as the Republican Party has now become! I would go so far as to say that with the help of his party Donald Trump is trying to install in this country the same sort of kleptocracy that the Russian oligarchs have installed in Russia. And yes, there is solid evidence of collusion and/or a conspiracy between Russia and the Trump Campaign to defeat Hillery Clinton.

Now that Special Counsel Mueller's investigation is coming ever closer to the White House, Trump and the diapers trying to cover Trump's butt are using the old fascist tactic of discrediting and smearing an impartial investigator they see as a threat. In this case they fear that the truth Mr. Mueller is likely to uncover will set them free of their political offices, and it damn well should! The right wing disinformation machine has been cranking out vile accusations against Mueller, the Department of Justice, and the FBI only to watch most of it slide down the wall into a putrefied heap. Ah but then! Then, much to the surprise and delight of people with an IQ of less than eighty, solid evidence emerged proving that FBI agents and investigators actually have political opinions and that some of those agents and investigators are not even mindless reactionaries. Oh, happy days!

Over the summer Mueller fired one of his investigators, Peter Strzok, who was on loan from the FBI. Mr. Strzok was fired because he sent and received text messages in 2015 and 2016 calling Trump an idiot and saying that the prospect of Trump's election is “fucking Terrifying.” News of the firing of Strzok and the text messages describing Trump in accurate but disparaging terms had the Republicans all a twitter and they pounced with both feet. During the hearing in which Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein testified the Republican members of the House Judiciary Committee assailed Mueller and his investigation regardless of the fact that Mueller had fired Strzok and that in one of his earliest messages Strzok had also called Bernie Sanders “an idiot like Trump...” As Mr. Rosenstein pointed out it would be unrealistic to think that investigators or agents have no political opinions. The real test is whether they can set those opinions aside to conduct a fair and impartial investigation. I might add here that if you say agents and investigators cannot set those political opinions aside you would be hard pressed to find anyone who could investigate any Democrat because an overwhelming percentage of law enforcement officers and investigators are Republicans.

But facts and/or the truth are not what Republicans on the house Judiciary Committee want. What they want is to cover Trumps ass and end the investigation, and they are more than willing to lie and dissemble in order to protect Trump. Hey guys, how about a renewed witch hunt? That is what the Chairman of the judicial committee, Bob Goodlatte called for when he told Attorney General Jeff Sessions to appoint a second special counsel to investigate a host of Clinton-related matters.  Now that will fix Trump's problem won't it.  Just yell “and so's your old lady” and all of Trump's culpability in the Russian hacking and interference in our election will go away.  Gee, I bet Trump will even stop acting like Putin's man ho!

When it comes to absurdly assailing Mr. Mueller and the FBI in total disregard for the safety of this country, however, it would be hard to beat Rep. Jim Jordan. While performing a very credible imitation of the late Joseph McCarthy Tail Gunner Jim Jordan (R-OH) used the Strzok's texts

“...'to assert, without any evidence, that the FBI both paid for the Fusion GPS dossier on Trump and used it as the basis for a foreign-intelligence surveillance warrant. Jordan portrayed Strzok as a rogue “James Bond” and revived a failed congressional GOP effort to fire Mueller – with the twist of assembling a new probe to go after Mueller’s team.

'You can disband the Mueller [probe], and appoint a special counsel to look into this,' said Jordan, his voice raising.”

You would have to be deaf, dumb, blind, and stupid not to see where the Republican Party is taking us. It is far away from anything resembling truth, reason, or patriotism. Our country and its political system came under attack from a foreign adversary that is still using those tactics against us. We must have the truth about the culpability of a president who appears to do the bidding of Vladimir Putin and appears to have conspired with Russians to defeat Hillary Clinton. We need that and other information to protect ourselves!

The shell game the Republicans are playing in regard to investigating the Russian matter is indicative of the way they approach everything because what they are doing cannot stand the light of day. Just look at the way the Republicans are trying to rush through their tax cuts and hose jobs bill without allowing time for debate or a proper examination that would reveal just how badly the middle class is getting screwed. It is not unlike like the FCC removing the consumer protections of net neutrality without any proper hearings or the approval of congress. If 2018 does not see the voters expel from the body politic the debilitating and life threatening cancer that has become the Republican Party than American democracy will deserve to die from the terminal stupidity of the voters and/or the people who did not bother to vote!

Crimes Were Committed

Alan Dershowitz is far more impressed with his own brilliance than I am. He has lately been hitting all of the right wing disinformation outlets in defense of the indefensible acts of Donald Trump et al. Last Friday Ari Melber gave Professor Dershowitz a forum that is very familiar to any law school Professor. It was a moot court setting, but the arguments would begin and end with opening statements that could be no longer than four minutes. This greatly favored Mr. Dershowitz because as the defense attorney he did not have the burden of proof. But lets look at what Mr. Dershowitz argued about Russia's interference in our election and the collusion of Trump and his campaign because Mr. Dershowitz'  argument is both instructive and potentially destructive!

Mr. Dershowitz did not try to deny that Trump colluded with the Russians, instead he admitted it. His stated reason for admitting it is that a denial of the collusion would not be credible! On that point he is obviously right. The public record alone makes Trump's denials about the hacking and his collusion with the Russians patently absurd. So how do you defend a guilty client. If you are Alan Dershowitz and your client is the President you argue that there is no law that protects “we the people” from the President's dangerous and unethical acts even when those acts involve colluding with an adversarial foreign power!

One of the things Mr. Dershowitz is ignoring in making this argument is the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution, which states in part that “...no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.” There is now pending a civil lawsuit filed against Donald Trump by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. This suit alleges among other things that all of the conflicts of interest created by representatives of foreign governments patronizing Trump's hotels, golf courses, and other businesses are in violation of the Emoluments Cause.

Whether this suit will succeed or not I cannot say, but the fear our founding fathers expressed about the corrupting influence of foreign powers makes it very clear that the Emoluments Clause is to be interpreted broadly. In fact I agree with the attorneys who argue that colluding with Russian hackers and trolls to use the materials stolen through hacking is a violation of the Emoluments Clause. The hackers stole emails because those emails and the information contained therein have value. Indeed, candidates spend tens of thousands of dollars for opposition research. What was the price Trump paid for the benefits he reaped from the use of that information? I fear that it may be higher than any of us suspect. And yes, I believe that conspiracy laws and laws about knowingly receiving stolen property may also apply to the case at hand regardless of what Mr. Dershowitz contends.  Furthermore, Mr. Dershowitz' likening of the Trump campaign's use of the stolen information to a news paper publishing something like the Pentagon papers is utter nonsense; the Emoluments Clause applies to office holders not to the news media!

Not argued at the Ari Melber's moot court are the obstruction of justice allegations, and it is the obstruction of justice and abuse of power allegations that may prove to be most dangerous to Trump. The purpose of any legitimate investigation is to uncover the facts. Whether those facts indicate that a crime has been committed is for a prosecutor and then a court to determine. It is illegal to interfere with or obstruct an investigation conducted by a government agency or prosecutor regardless of whether or not the investigation would have uncovered criminal or illegal acts. Therefore, even if you accept Dershowitz' contention that Trump did nothing illegal in regard to the hacking and Russia's interference with our election, Trump's firing of FBI Director Comey and other acts he has committed in an effort to interfere with the investigations of him and Russia were and are criminal acts.

I might add here that it is not for Mr. Dershowitz to tell a jury what the law is, that is done by a judge who reads the jury instructions to the jury. So a moot court as constituted on the show may not have been the best forum for an argument that should be made in a summary judgment motion or some other motion to dismiss.