Is the country outraged about the soft coup…
…or is it only the right that’s outraged?
That’s a rhetorical question; I’m pretty sure of the answer, and it’s door #2. That in and of itself is disturbing, because it’s evidence of the fact that way too many people would—in the words of Sir Thomas More in “A Man For All Seasons” addressing William Roper—“cut a great road through the law to get after the Devil.”
The Devil, of course, was Donald Trump. What was his great crime? Nothing; he fired Comey, something he had every right to do. But the DOJ and the FBI didn’t like it and they didn’t like him, so these supposed guardians of our legal system decided to cut a great road through the law. And my guess is that most Democrats these days would approve heartily, because they are unaware (or don’t care) about what Sir Thomas More says to Roper next in the play:
Oh? And when the last law was down, and the Devil turned round on you — where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat? This country’s planted thick with laws from coast to coast — man’s laws, not God’s — and if you cut them down — and you’re just the man to do it — d’you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then?
Actually, I understand why the big muck-a-mucks in the FBI and DOJ who planned and executed all of this thought they would be able to stand upright. After all, they’ve got the power, and they were doing it in secrecy, and if they were successful, other people such as Hillary Clinton would be in even greater power and would almost certainly protect them. If their plans had succeeded, it would have been just fine for them. It was only the election of Trump combined with a Republican Congress that brought some of this out of the shadows.
The thing that’s more difficult to understand, although hardly impossible to understand, is why run-of-the-mill Democrats, the far less powerful, don’t see themselves as potentially vulnerable to that blowing wind. But I think it’s difficult for people in general to stand back and look at things abstractly, and then imagine a turn of events. Instead, if a particular approach harms a person you consider the enemy, it’s no-holds barred.
Or maybe they think that Trump really is the Devil or some earthly equivalent. Perhaps they really think he is Hitler, American-style. The fact that there’s no reason to think so doesn’t matter; let’s just say they really think so. Then, working clandestinely to bring him down in nearly any way possible—as in the real Resistance during World War II, and all the plots against Hitler—would be applauded by nearly everyone.
Which is probably one of the main reasons that it’s important to the left to label Trump as Hitler in the minds of as much of the public as possible. Then just about anything feels justified in working against him.
There are many articles I’d recommend in order to get up to speed on what we know so far about the soft coup. I’d suggest this one by Roger Kimball for starters:
The FBI didn’t like the President. so they plotted to remove him from office. That is the irreducible minimum, class, that you should take away from this whole sordid lesson.
For more detail, please go to Byron York’s piece, if you haven’t already read it.
And of course, Andrew C. McCarthy:
The reason for the collusion label is obvious. Those peddling the “Putin hacked the election” story have always lacked credible evidence that Trump was complicit in the Kremlin’s “cyber-espionage.” They could not show a criminal conspiracy. Connections between denizens of Trump World and Putin’s circle might be very intriguing, and perhaps even politically scandalous. But only a conspiracy — an agreement by two or more people to commit an actual criminal offense, such as hacking — would be a reasonable basis for prosecution or impeachment…
Because [Rosenstein] had written the memorandum originally used to justify Comey’s dismissal, congressional Democrats slammed him for complicity in what they portrayed as Trump’s obstruction of the Russia probe. Rosenstein wanted to appease them by appointing the special counsel they were demanding.
Special counsels, however, are not supposed to be appointed unless there is a solid basis to believe a crime has been committed. Rosenstein was lawyer enough to know that a president’s firing of an FBI director — a firing that Rosenstein himself had argued was justified — could not be an obstruction crime. And he knew that there was no proof that Trump had conspired in Russia’s cyberespionage. So . . . how to justify appointing a special counsel?
Easy: Make it a counterintelligence probe. That way, there would be no need for a crime, since such investigations are just intelligence-gathering exercises.
What’s that? You say there’s no basis in the special-counsel regulations to appoint one for counterintelligence? You say the Justice Department does not appoint prosecutors for counterintelligence investigations, which are the FBI’s bailiwick? So what? The special-counsel regulations expressly say that they create no enforceable rights enabling anyone to challenge the Justice Department’s flouting of them. Rosenstein knew he could ignore the rules and there was not a thing anyone could do about it…
What is “collusion,” then? Increasingly, it looks like the criminalization of policy disputes.
“The criminalization of policy disputes” is a great summary of what’s been going on—that, and the planting of false evidence to support that criminalization.
In other words, cutting a great road through the law to get after the opponent you’ve labeled as the Devil. And at least half the country is happily walking down that road that’s been cut.
[ADDENDUM: Here’s another article on the subject that’s worth reading.
And the intrepid Alan Dershowitz, likewise.
Dershowitz is practically alone among Democrats, however.]
Angry really doesn’t cut it. But at the same time I know that nothing, absolutely nothing will happen to any of FBI/CIA/Intelligence groups and the Dems around BO and Hillary.
Partisan Democrats dozed through decades of absurd judicial decisions, dozed through the IRS mess, dozed through the brazen lying and finagling in regard to Benghazi, and have been perfectly content with federal judges in obscure locations imposing absurd nation-wide injunctions. During the Kavanaugh imbroglio, they pretended to take seriously allegations made 36 years after the fact, in re an event no one supposedly present remembers, against two people in regard to whom there is neither documentary evidence nor any circumstantial argument in favor of the thesis that the accuser ever met them. Not only that, the accuser was demonstrably lying about ancillary matters. When that didn’t pan out, partisan Democrats began contending Judge Kavanaugh ‘lied’ about his drinking habits and adolescent trysts, or that he lacked ‘judicial temperament’ because of his raw emotion at his confirmation hearings.
You keep quoting Alan Dershowitz. Prof. Dershowitz is 80 years old. He’s the product of an era when the social strata which define the culture of the Democratic Party today was populated by people who had some residue of integrity. No more.
Society needs its referees. What we’ve been learning is that the opposition sees every kind of process regulated venue as just a collection of rigged games which exist to give them what they want. It’s when we figure it out that the opposition is properly recognized not as the opposition, but as the enemy.
The bureaucrats in the DOJ and FBI are mostly members of the D.C. establishment. They were horrified by the possibility that Trump might become president. How to ensure that he didn’t succeed? Aha, the Steele dossier was the instrument that allowed them to think that they could believe that Trump might be a Russian asset. This motivated them to begin a counterintelligence operation to surveil the Trump campaign.
After all, who would question their motives when the dossier gave them an excuse for their activities. They were patriots trying to unearth an unholy alliance between the Russians and Trump. Their dislike for Trump allowed them to believe the questionable tales in the dossier without reservation.
After Trump’s election, the investigation proceeded apace with the idea of gathering evidence for an impeachment. When Trump fired Comey, the cabal feared that their investigation would be compromised. What would happen now? In their panic they discussed trying to implement the 25th amendment to remove Trump from office. That was not practical so steps were taken to insure that the investigation would proceed unhindered. A Special Counsel was appointed.
It has been an unprecedented exercise in trying to overturn the results of an election cloaked in the idea that it was a patriotic effort to prevent a foreign agent from being our president. Had Trump not been hated so much for his personal demeanor they would have been more careful about examining the truth of the dossier.
Now we have members of the cabal, such as Comey and McCabe, outright proclaiming their distaste for Trump laying bare the personal opinions that motivated them to embark on such a nefarious plan.
The bias of the MSM has allowed these people cover. Only those of a conservative bent who have paid attention grasp the enormity of what has happened. For that reason I expect that not much more punishment is coming. Unless Bill Barr is up to bucking the establishment and doing what’s needed to reform the DOJ and FBI.
The Left likes to label everyone on the Right as “Nazis” or “Hitler.” Their side has “Uncle Joe” smoking his pipe like your grandfather did on the porch; Uncle Joe would never hurt a fly.
Someone on the Left has failed to get the word to prime minister Netanyahu that Hitler just moved the US embassy to Jerusalem.
As an aside, I love that smack in the middle of “Jerusalem” is our country’s name: “USA” – so perfect for these times!
The political war currently raging is not now, nor will it become a zero sum game.
The elites at NYT, WaPo, NBC, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Hollywood, and the Universitariat are under the impression that Trump will soon enough be exiled to St. Helena, and the restoration of the Bourbons will quickly follow (forget about The Republic).
But there is not going to be a GND. White folks are not going to run around in hair shirts. There will continue to be biological entities called men and women. People will continue to enjoy hamburgers despite what Corey Booker says (see the current online issue of VegNews). Despite AOC, cows will not become an endangered species. Concentration camps will not be erected to house those found guilty of wearing blackface.
I look forward to the day when Ralph Northam will be free to Moonwalk, and Cardi B will recite the poetry of Wallace Stevens.
The Federalist take on McCabe and his fellow miscreants:
http://thefederalist.com/2019/02/15/7-big-takeaways-andrew-mccabes-planned-coup/
In China they would be paying for their own bullets, not working for CNN, or pushing books on Sixty Minutes. Lock em up already.
LeClerc,
Thank you for your assurance that everything’s going to be fine. Tell us, do those rose colored glasses create any eyestrain?
JJ points out the timeline of the investigation path.
Remember that McCabe claims that he was motivated by the conviction that the president was unduly influenced by the Russians.
he could only have been convinced by the Steele dossier he himself knew to be fraudulent!
Notice that Dershowitz does not mess around with words like “soft” when calling it a coup. I’m not trying to be bitchy and it’s fine if one wishes to use “soft.” It could mean “almost” or maybe “no bullets involved.” However, I think he amplifies Neo’s main point by omitting “soft.” This is really serious.
I haven’t followed the news developments closely, but have these people like McCabe lost their mind, or forgot what planet they’re on? He writes this 25th Amend coup stuff up in a book, then elaborates on it in a lengthy TV interview, and then he decides that maybe he made a mistake and tries to walk it back?
TommyJay:
By “soft” I mean no bullets.
“Is the country outraged about the soft coup…”.
We’ll know a lot more about that after the 60 Minutes broadcast. The interview will be the first time for millions that they’ve heard the story. Thanks MSM.
The MSM and the democrats have been active participants in the “soft” coup.
If a democrat becomes president in 2020, the destruction of the entire Trump family and all associated with it will be undertaken. And then the constitutional democracy of this USA will be next. This is the fruition of the Gramscian March through our institutions and the Clward-Piven strategy to break our nation. The republicans are weak ninnies who prefer the table scraps of second in command at the feet of the democrats.
Once again, Dersh fails to disappoint. *Shakes head in mock sadness.*
“…conviction…”
If only….
Well, one can always hope that the rule of law will prevail…
(Make that “convictions”. No one would be more deserving.)
The day when Americans wake up and realize that traitors are more dangerous than rag headed barbarians outside the gates.
Not that I hadn’t repeat that issue a number of times in the decades before now. The conscious mainstream tends to ignore that tree that is taller than the others, because they know it will be hammered flat first.
“A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself. For the traitor appears not a traitor; he speaks in accents familiar to his victims, and he wears their face and their arguments, he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men. He rots the soul of a nation, he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of the city, he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murderer is less to fear.”
Perhaps AMericans understood that on an intellectual level before. Now they understand it in their hearts now. True comprehension is feasible now.
People can understand that a benedict Arnold is bad, but it is a different thing when they have to decide whether to hang someone or not for treason. It is a different “game” then. It gets harder. See, intellectual games are played by everyone, not just academics.
In China they would be paying for their own bullets, not working for CNN, or pushing books on Sixty Minutes. Lock em up already.
In China they would be ordering others to pay for their own bullets and those obedient to Authority and systems of control, such as Om, will become their dutiful followers.
Geoffrey Britain on February 16, 2019 at 7:04 pm at 7:04 pm said:
LeClerc,
Thank you for your assurance that everything’s going to be fine. Tell us, do those rose colored glasses create any eyestrain?
Your bitterness and cynicism makes you an adequate disciple of Alinsky and the Fallen Watchers. Keep up the progress if you want to achieve Aleister Crowley infamy.
As for North Korea, pretty much what I assessed of their fate and future ended up happening. Their testing of missiles and detonating them in the air.. serious breach of the Test Ban issue between Russia, China, and USA. The world does not care about starving people or bankers getting rich, but they do care about Antarctica and high altitude test detonation bans.
Yammer wakes up, makes one miss the crickets.
“The special-counsel regulations expressly say that they create no enforceable rights enabling anyone to challenge the Justice Department’s flouting of them.”
Who wrote the Special Counsel regulations ?
The DOJ !
Surprised?
The headline should be corrected to some on the right. Many on the right from those who were NT , seem to a) say this will only fuel Trump ie downplaying the seriousness of the actual act or b) silence. It’s especially galling when those who claim to be principled , are silent. Some of these same say the FBI had to investigate based on page or papadopolus , but now just disregard mccabes coup talk
I am utterly demoralized. In addition to the 24/7 hyper-hysteria of the media, every day brings accusations and development I despair about — attacks against the rule of law, the judiciary, the Constitution, the President, states’ rights, individual freedom. I have retired overseas because I can’t stand it – the atmosphere in the US is so poisoned and there is no avoiding it. I don’t watch the news on tv, and I don’t read the newspaper. I read a smallish selection of news websites – that’s it.
I don’t care about Trumps character flaws, I care about his actions and results. I know he was elected because the majority of Americans were sick of being ignored by Washington, NY and Hollywood. Thank God for the Electoral College, which worked exactly as it was designed — just look at any electoral map and see the sea of red practically everywhere except the coasts.
Some days I think Trump is doing a great job, other days I think he has really blown the crise du jour. He fights back against the crap the Dems and the media throw at him, but with the GOPe stabbing him in the back, I doubt he will be able to clean house the way he should. Will he be able to drain the Deep State swamp or make Congress do its job to represent its constituents, pass annual budgets and cut outrageous spending? I doubt it at this stage. I pray for a 2020 landslide, a Republic Congress that supports POTUS so We the People can take back our country.
the atmosphere in the US is so poisoned and there is no avoiding it. I don’t watch the news on tv, and I don’t read the newspaper. I read a smallish selection of news websites – that’s it.
I buy ammunition.
The GOPe had the Tea Party which was polite, did not swear, no talk of grabbing pussies and they helped Obama gut it with the IRS.
Trump is the Scarlet Pimpernel. He has money which immunizes him from the donors. He is rude, crude and does the job we want done. I don’t know if he can survive but, if he doesn’t, I might get to use my ammunition.
For Mike K:
They seek him here, they seek him there
Those Frenchies seek him everywhere
Is he in heaven or is he in hell?
That demned elusive Pimpernel
–Baroness Emmuska Orczy, “The Scarlet Pimpernel”
“Trump is the Scarlet Pimpernel. ”
I thought he was supposed to be the Orange variant?
It’s a Talent.
Trump has managed to make all of those who are against him become increasingly bat shit crazy; many of them are rabid, practically foaming at the mouth and many of their criticisms of Trump have passed beyond the bounds of believability.
I’m actually surprised that we haven’t seen a noticeable rise in the number of strokes and heart attacks among Trump’s enemies as a result.
As they say, you know you’re over the target when you encounter the thickest flak, and boy, is Trump over the targets that Leftists just can’t see threatened or destroyed.
In fact, their frenzied hatred has so blinded many of his critics, that it has made their aim less and less accurate, and Trump–with his taunts and media savvy–has often played them like a violin.
Read it…and weep:
https://amgreatness.com/2019/02/17/autopsy-of-a-dead-coup/
And then rejoice that these b*******, while destroying as many people as they could, didn’t quite snatch the ring.
Barry – so, now we proceed to the Zombie Apocalypse Coup, because Leftists have never learned to say “we were wrong” and move on.
Sit back down America. Pay your taxes. Watch your Superbowl. The Deep State requires nothing more from their serfs, peons, and sex slaves.
Just Obey. Like good little slaves in a livestock farm.