Mueller- The Next Chapter
Well, what do you know? Today we learned that last summer, Donald Trump tried to force the White House Counsel to fire Robert Mueller. It's early days in this particular episode in the abomination that is Donald Trump, but of course the press is already on it. I want to make two observations which I have not heard anyone make yet.
Of course, everyone is comparing this to the Saturday Night Massacre, in which the Attorney General and Deputy Attorney General resigned rather than carry out Richard Nixon's orders to fire the special counsel, who was in the process of uncovering the misconduct that destroyed Nixon. But there is another historical precedent that is equally important- the firing of Robert Fiske as the special counsel leading the bogus persecution of Bill and Hillary Clinton. Fiske had concluded that there was nothing to any of the myriad Republican charges against the Clintons, so he was removed and replaced by the corrupt hatchet man, Ken Starr, who was a right wing fanatic determined to precipitate the impeachment of Clinton, regardless of the falsity of the evidence. This isn't as obvious a comparison as the Saturday Night Massacre, because Archibald Cox, the victim in the Saturday night massacre, was busy digging up evidence against Nixon, while Fiske was fired for doing the opposite- concluding that the Clintons had done nothing wrong. But the same motive is at work here- to replace a fair prosecutor with a right wing tool not afraid to mangle our legal system to see that the Republicans win. God knows what kind of legal monster would have been appointed to replace Mueller, but it would have been ugly.
And here is a second thing that is absolutely essential to get straight. If we were dealing with anyone with a shred of decency, this incident would be a massive black mark against the clearly criminal Trump, but there is no such thing as decency in the Republican party. Here is what is going to be the universal, screaming reaction of Republicans to Trump's attempt at tampering with our legal process: Now that it is known that Trump attempted to destroy Mueller, it is impossible (for Republicans) to believe that Mueller can be impartial toward Trump, and this is just one more justification for kicking Mueller out of his job. Just wait a day or two and see if I am not right- this evil act by Trump will be, to Republicans, just a greater reason to destroy Trump's intended victim.
Of course, everyone is comparing this to the Saturday Night Massacre, in which the Attorney General and Deputy Attorney General resigned rather than carry out Richard Nixon's orders to fire the special counsel, who was in the process of uncovering the misconduct that destroyed Nixon. But there is another historical precedent that is equally important- the firing of Robert Fiske as the special counsel leading the bogus persecution of Bill and Hillary Clinton. Fiske had concluded that there was nothing to any of the myriad Republican charges against the Clintons, so he was removed and replaced by the corrupt hatchet man, Ken Starr, who was a right wing fanatic determined to precipitate the impeachment of Clinton, regardless of the falsity of the evidence. This isn't as obvious a comparison as the Saturday Night Massacre, because Archibald Cox, the victim in the Saturday night massacre, was busy digging up evidence against Nixon, while Fiske was fired for doing the opposite- concluding that the Clintons had done nothing wrong. But the same motive is at work here- to replace a fair prosecutor with a right wing tool not afraid to mangle our legal system to see that the Republicans win. God knows what kind of legal monster would have been appointed to replace Mueller, but it would have been ugly.
And here is a second thing that is absolutely essential to get straight. If we were dealing with anyone with a shred of decency, this incident would be a massive black mark against the clearly criminal Trump, but there is no such thing as decency in the Republican party. Here is what is going to be the universal, screaming reaction of Republicans to Trump's attempt at tampering with our legal process: Now that it is known that Trump attempted to destroy Mueller, it is impossible (for Republicans) to believe that Mueller can be impartial toward Trump, and this is just one more justification for kicking Mueller out of his job. Just wait a day or two and see if I am not right- this evil act by Trump will be, to Republicans, just a greater reason to destroy Trump's intended victim.
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