Rudy Giuliani is out selling the new line, and it’s being repeated around the conservative networks like a wild fire…and it’s really disturbing. If we go back to right the early days, post election, the official line is that Russia didn’t meddle in the election, and Trump and team certainly didn’t collude with them to help that happen. NO COLLUSION. When the investigation into Russia’s interference began in earnest, a certain dossier was uncovered, and news of high level campaign staffers and cabinet members having connections and meetings with potential Russian agents, including but not limited to Paul Manafort and even Donald Trump’s own son, Don Jr., the narrative changed a little. Now it was, ok…we might have had some meetings, but nothing ever exchanged hands, nothing shady happened, and Donald Trump was certainly never personally aware of it. Also, still not convinced Russia did anything wrong. NO COLLUSION. Then indictments were made, statements came out, some of Trump’s confidants became willing to testify, and the narrative again made a subtle change. The people indicted were actually not really, truly, honestly THAT big a part in the whole campaign. They were small cogs doing their own thing. NO COLLUSION. In recent days, It’s become increasingly obvious that Trump himself WAS aware of certain events during the time they were happening, and as things are unfolding, the new line has been unveiled. Now the narrative is: If the WAS COLLUSION, then it’s fine. Collusion isn’t TECHNICALLY illegal. Anyone in Trump’s position given the chance would have colluded. Excuse me? Taking potential leverage from a hostile foreign power who could use that as leverage of their own? MMMMno. I don’t think so. I don’t think ANYONE would have colluded. Only insecure manchildren and supervillains, really.
I feel like the term “witch hunt” has taken on a new sort of resonance since the special investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 elections began. President Donald Trump uses the word publicly several times a week to refer to Special Counsel Robert Mueller III’s investigation because he has decided that it’s a liberal conspiracy to bring him and his administration down (OR he he’s trying to hide his malfeasance and/or criminal behavior…that’s a possibility as well). But you see, the term “witch hunt” is supposed to imply that you’re searching for something that isn’t there or doesn’t exist, and as a result, innocent people get burned. But it’s important to note that if you’re on a witch hunt and you find ACTUAL witches, e.g. You find exactly the bad things you suspected you might find, then it CAN’T be a witch hunt. In the case of the Russia investigation, besides uncovering Russian spies and several conspirators working with Russia who had key roles in Trump’s campaign, it also uncovered specific examples of Russia explicitly attempting to collude with Donald Trump’s campaign. Whether Trump or his campaign did anything wrong remains up in the air, but Mr. Trump! Your witch hunt has turned up witches! You can’t run from that anymore!
So, a few days ago, Rudy Giuliani came out and told everyone that Mueller was planning to wrap up his investigation by September 1. And most people, upon hearing that, probably thought “well that’s horsesh*%”. It just didn’t seem credible. But up until that point, Giuliani hadn’t really had a problem with lying. If anything, his issue was that he was probably a little too truthful. He couldn’t keep things under wraps. So it was a troubling statement to say the least. Of course now sources are coming out saying that it was a total fabrication, and it leaves me wondering what changed for Rudy to come out and play this tactic, which most think was just a ploy to put pressure on the investigation. I dunno. I think Rudy just may be a little short on the uptake.
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Trump’s legal team is saying one of the key reasons why Trump may not be able to give an interview to Mueller is because Trump simply doesn’t have the free time to give! After all, the day in the life of a POTUS is highly regimented and scheduled. Down to the minute! I mean, he has to keep his mornings wide open so he can watch Fox and Friends, and maybe call them and have a friendly chat. The truth is that if even half the reports we’ve heard regarding the day to day within the White House, the President shouldn’t find himself too hard pressed to find a few minutes to give an interview without giving up on some meeting that will determine the fate of the world.
So the New York Time released a possible list of questions that Mueller reportedly gave Trump’s legal team. Now of course, that situation has created a firestorm of stories and questions. Who leaked the list? Why? Who aims to benefit? How many tweets was Trump going to devote to it? How many times would he say “Collusion” or “Witch Hunt”? But what has been noted is the phrasing behind the question. Their design seem intended to appeal to Trump’s love of explaining things as opposed to short, succinct, yes or no answers. Now, critics of the investigation say that the point of these questions is to catch Trump in a lie. I say any question, no matter how it’s phrased, is likely to have that happen, because the man publicly lies, on average, 5 times a day, and that’s not hyperbole. The funny thing is, I wouldn’t be surprised if Trump went and answered these questions anyway, because all the people around him are almost certainly telling him not to, and Trump a) doesn’t like being told what to do, and b) thinks he’s too intelligent to be tricked. Gotta love his confidence, right?
Trump is now using a national tragedy and utter failure in addressing policy, to trash the investigation into Russia. He’s claiming that because the FBI was busy investigating Russia, they somehow missed out on preventing the school shooting in Florida. Beyond being an utterly disgusting way to shift the conversation away from his own misdeeds, it thoroughly, willfully disregards a lot of things, namely that the ENTIRE of the FBI, including the FBI agents in Florida, were focused on the Russia investigation, as opposed to a relatively small team lead by Robert Mueller.
So a fun political buzzword we keep hearing lately is “Nothing Burger.” I mean, It’s a term that’s been around for like 70 years, but in the age of “fake news” and non-stop information flooding every aspect of our existence, parsing the things that have real significance from the things that don’t is tangible problem. Take the infamous memo released this weekend. While Trump claims it completely vindicates him, eagle eyed viewers would recognize that it’s mostly just an accusatory document attacking the quality of evidence used to secure a surveillance warrant. In political terms, it can, and probably should be argued that it is the dictionary definition of a Nothing Burger. While I don’t think the Republicans are the only people in government utilizing the concept, they are certainly turning it into an art.
Mind the Exit 