You might call it “fatalistic”, but for right now, we’re calling it “realistic”.
On Sunday evening, when William Barr indicated that the Mueller report exonerated Donald Trump in the 22-month-old investigation into possible collusion between his campaign and Russia, we didn’t mince words. It was a “big league” win for the president.
On Monday, we talked at length about the extent to which the public nature of Trump’s blatant efforts to obstruct the special counsel probe paradoxically shielded the president from obstruction charges (i.e., Is it really a “conspiracy” if it’s done in full view of the public?).
It’s possible to argue that the “war” (as it were) isn’t over, but from the perspective of Democrats and Trump’s most ardent detractors, the “battle” is lost. The impeachment bid is, for all intents and purposes, dead.
Again, you can call it “fatalistic”, but that’s the reality of the situation. Is it unfortunate? Well, yes. Does is suggest America’s institutions have been undermined, possibly irreparably? Yes, it does. And does it mean the whole concept of “checks and balances” no longer applies? Quite possibly, yes. But it is what it is.
Read more
His Victory Complete, Trump Faces A New Challenge: Defining ‘American Autocracy
Given the above, there wasn’t much point in Jerry Nadler, Elijah Cummings, Adam Schiff, Richard Neal, Eliot Engel and Maxine Waters issuing a “demand” to Barr who, according to a letter penned by the six committee chairs on Tuesday, is compelled to turn over the Mueller report (and all the underlying evidence) to Congress “no later than April 2”.
Read more
It’s not that Democrats shouldn’t keep up the pressure on the Justice Department. And everyone knows that the full report will get out to the public one way or another. It’s just that under the circumstances, and considering how far down the road to autocracy America has already stumbled, it’s not entirely clear that anyone can “force” Barr to do anything. The rules have seemingly changed in America. Nobody seems to be able to say, with 100% confidence, that there are any real checks on the president and those loyal to his agenda. Ostensibly, those checks still exist and theoretically, Barr shouldn’t be able to orchestrate a coverup when Democrats control the House. But all of these assumptions and assertions that rely on how American government used to work are seemingly no longer valid – or at least not entirely.
Cue Jerry Nadler, who spoke to Barr over the phone about the report on Wednesday. Spoiler report: Barr isn’t going to meet the April 2 “deadline”.
Why not? Well, because it (the report) is “very substantial”, which I suppose means figuring out whether it’s a good idea to let Democrats get their hands on it is going to take more than a week. Nadler declined to disclose the length of the report other than to indicate that it’s less than 1,000 pages.
And it gets better (or worse, depending on how you want to look at it). Nadler also said Barr “wouldn’t commit” to turning over the full report, effectively validating some folks’ worst fears as expressed during Barr’s confirmation hearing.
“I’m very disturbed by that”, Nadler told reporters on Capitol Hill. “We’re not happy, to put it mildly”.
Neither are a lot of people, but coming back to the points made above regarding the extent to which America is no longer sure whether it’s actually possible to hold this administration accountable, the question is what Nadler plans to do to remedy this “disturbing situation.”
Apparently, Jerry doesn’t have the answer to that right now.
“Nadler declined to say whether he intended to subpoena the Justice Department for the report”, Politico writes. Jerry did say that he “considers April 2 a hard deadline” and, in a rather sad attempt to come across as convincing, added “we mean it.”
Do you, Jerry? Because while America doesn’t doubt that Democrats really want the full report, what everyone is starting to doubt is whether it makes any difference. One more time: That’s what happens as autocracies take root – the public, exhausted, eventually just resigns itself.
Finally, when asked about his contention that Barr would be called to testify, Nadler said the Attorney General told him, during their brief phone call, that he intends to do so “reasonably soon”.
In other words, very much contrary to the impression one might have gotten from Nadler as late as Sunday evening, the House Judiciary Committee is on Barr’s schedule, not the other way around.
Once again, America finds itself stunned at the sheer audacity of this administration. And once again, a society with no experience in authoritarian rule is left to fumble around for answers to questions like “How is this possible?” and “Can he even do that?”
But don’t worry, given enough time, all that impassioned incredulity will shrivel up and be reborn as blissful apathy.
Calling all leakers. Uncle Sam wants you.
H, I think you’re right about all this. As has always been the case, who really is the enforcer in our system at the Federal level? The cops at the FBI? The military? Who is going to follow the “orders” of the House and make anybody do anything?
We’ve always relied on the general decency of people in power to eventually submit to the rules. That’s not happening now, and what can we do about it?
In his Congressional testimony, Michael Cohen told us Trump would not relinquish power gracefully. In this Administration, Trump and the the Department and Agency heads will do whatever they want.
Dark days for American Democracy
Trump is just one nasty human being. The sooner he is gone all of humanity will be better off.
Time for Wiki-L to stand up! Oh, hmm that’s not gonna happen.
He has set the playbook for all current and future administrations – on all sides. They will all be fools not to use it now that we know it works. Happens in all sports.
Barr’s summary confirms Mueller’s definitive finding that Russia did attempt to subvert the 2016 election.
Trump has always refused to acknowledge that fact.
So, how come nobody is shouting about this lack of “exoneration” of Trump. Was this not the first area of inquiry and now result?
The Dems (and all reasonable Americans) need to find one clear-thinking and articulate voice or they will lose it all to Trumpenstein and his rabid enablers.
Mr. Obama, where are you now that Americans (and the world) really need you!
The ‘fix was in’ as soon as Trump nominated Barr for A-G based on his published paper espousing why nothing would/could/should ever happen to Trump. The House and Senate are supposed to balance the power of the Executive Branch. The toady, subservient GOP-controlled Senate rammed through Barr’s appointment confirmation, knowing full well he would protect POTUS at the expense of the Constitution and the American people.