![]() ![]() Plus, candidates can lessen their own capital by backing losers. Joe Madadatz, shows less clout for 2020 and so forth. Suzy Creamcheese, D-Pa., lost her primary so that must mean that her backer, Sen. Race watchers say much about the track records of endorsers. If executive power continues to grow at the same pace it has since the 1930s, the legislative branch will be a comment box at the end of the White House driveway before too long. A source said to be close to Trump told the preferred destination for White House whispers, Axios, that Trump’s increasing use of executive authority isn’t alarming because he’s not inclined “to do anything that erodes separation of powers - at least, nothing that exceeds the historical rate at which executive power has expanded.” Talk about defining deviancy down for the imperial presidency! That would be like a fat man saying that he won’t eat anything to cause him to gain weight – at least nothing to gain weight faster than a busload of Weight Watchers refugees at a smorgasbord. But doing so less than a year from re-election would be a big no-no. The whole business is pretty cringey whenever they might do it since there’s no ostensible excuse other than giving the president the chance to glory in martial might. If the Pentagon keeps kicking the can on this, they will kick it too close to 2020, by which point it would be a $90 million re-election campaign kickoff. Speaking of executive inspirations that lead to administrative hangovers, Trump’s much ballyhooed military parade in Washington is going to be postponed until at least next year citing cost overruns. One would suppose that the current CIA director and others would reinforce the idea that further political gamesmanship on national security is unwelcome. ![]() The blowback he’s gotten from serious people in the intelligence community would stand as a strong caution against further moves. On those jobs, Trump does some follow up trolling but basically lets the matter drop. The question now is whether this will be like other such Trump gambits, like his ill-fated commission to prove right his claim that he actually won the popular vote. And it definitely hits a lot of good notes for Trump, since it 1) stokes partisan enmity, 2) causes odd contortions in his detractors and 3) gives him a symbolic way to swat at the investigation into his campaign. As he left for the weekend, the president seemed pretty pleased with what he hath wrought with his move to revoke the security clearance of former CIA Director John Brennan. ![]() Let the matter play out and do your best to be fair-minded, skeptical and patient in the meantime. We say it so often that we imagine you are well and truly tired of it, but here we go again: Rushing to judgements in matters like the Mueller probe is strictly a bad idea. And second, Manafort is facing potentially even more serious peril in his other federal criminal trial set to begin next month in the District of Columbia. But a couple of things to remember: The president can turn out talking points like Dunkin’ does donuts so whatever happens, he’ll call it a win. If jurors were to acquit President Trump’s former campaign chairman on all 18 counts it would certainly be a setback for Mueller and would give the president another talking point. Much of the overheated analysis the trial of Paul Manafort on tax evasion and corruption charges has centered on what the potential verdict could mean for the larger efforts of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into other Russia-linked skullduggery in American politics.
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