Month: May 2017

We badly want to understand Trump, to grasp him. It might give us some sense of control, or at least an ability to predict what he will do next. But what if there's nothing to understand? What if there is no there there?" ~ David Roberts, writing for Vox. 

It's called "Spot the Deplorable."

From Salon.com:

We've reached a magical time in the great story unfolding before us, the time when everybody knows that Trump is guilty, but the verdict is not yet in. I remember exactly how it happened in the Watergate story, when everybody knew Nixon was guilty of ordering the break-in at the DNC headquarters at the Watergate hotel and office complex and supervised the cover-up, but evidence sufficient to prove his guilt wasn't yet available. Guilty men lie, and lie repeatedly. Their early lies beget later lies; their little lies beget bigger lies; their implausible lies beget extraordinary lies; they tell more and more outrageous lies as their day of reckoning closes in. It was true of Nixon and now it's true of Trump. The lies multiply, they become ever more far-fetched, and finally the day arrives when lying doesn't work anymore. We're there with Trump. He lies practically every time he takes a breath, but his lies aren't working anymore. He's choking from lack of oxygen. He's a dead man lying.

(continue)

…it will work out the same way for him.

…of the legitimacy of what this article is reporting. It was forwarded to me last night by a friend and I'm unfamiliar with the particular source, so it could be nothing more than some fever-fantasy (one that, admittedly, is shared by millions of my fellow Americans), or it could be truth. I don't like spreading idle gossip on this here blog thingie, but this idle gossip made my heart flutter a little and gave me hope that our national nightmare may be coming to an end.

From Patribotics:

Several sources familiar with the matter say that Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah is being given security briefings to prepare him for the Presidency.

Sources close to the legal community indicate that matters are proceeding rapidly in the forthcoming proceedings to remove Donald Trump from office, and to indict the co-conspirators around him.

Sources with links to the intelligence community described a sense of both inevitability and urgency over the unraveling of the Trump-Pence administration over their attempts to obstruct justice. "Trump's presdidency ended May 9th," said one source, referring to the overtly politicized dismissal of FBI Director James Comey.

Donald Trump and Mike Pence have both violated their oaths of office in plain sight over the unconstitutional dismissal of Director Comey, these sources say, and elements of the Judicial Branch are asserting the separation of powers described in the Constitution. This matter is separate from, and additional to, the substantive charges of collusion with the Russian state, and of money-laundering, sedition, violation of the Logan Act, and other crimes with which both Trump and Pence may be charged. As I exclusively reported earlier this week, Speaker Paul Ryan, normally third in the line of succession, will be excluded as the intelligence community has an intercept in which Ryan openly admits that he knew Sergei Kislyak was washing Russian money into the GOP. This will convict Ryan on RICO charges; as I have also exclusively reported this week, a RICO case exists against the GOP as a body. The raids earlier this week on a data and consulting firm close to Paul Manafort formed part of evidence gathering in this RICO case.

Some of the violations committed this week by Pence and Trump include, but are not limited to, lying that Director Comey told Mr. Trump he was not being investigated; explicitly connecting Trump's firing of Comey to the investigation of his connections with Russian hacking; using White House spokesmen knowingly to lie to the public, for example, Sarah Sanders Huckabee claiming Comey "committed atrocities"; having the Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, involve himself on a matter on which he was recused; explicitly stating that the White House wishes a new FBI Director to bring the Russia investigation to a conclusion; and witness tampering with threats to Director Comey.

As a result, sources say, steps are being taken by aspects of the Judicial Branch to preserve the constitutional Separation of Powers and these steps include ensuring a smooth transition of power. In order that Senator Hatch, the fourth in line, be ready to assume the duties of the office he will shortly be undertaking, several separate sources with links to the matter, report that the Senator is receiving copies of security briefings he will need upon becoming President.

There will be further reporting on this breaking story later today.

Now admittedly Orrin Hatch would not be my first choice to replace 45, but if this is what is required to remove the rot in the White House, I'm all for it.