In the interests of full disclosure, I did NOT listen to Der Trumpenführer "State of the Union" address last evening. Why? First, I cannot stomach even hearing the man's voice, and second, everything he said is a lie and I did not want to feel the urge to vomit up my dinner. Simply put, I loath the man and believe that he is the most foul individual to ever occupy the White House. But perhaps more importantly, while Trump lied using the platform of the State of the Union address, he is waging a war against the pillars of America's national law enforcement agencies, all to hide and cover up his illegal actions be they collusion with Russia or more venial crimes such as money laundering. Sadly, many congressional Republicans are actively aiding and abetting in the trashing of America's institutions. Leading the charge is Rep. Devin Nunes who seem more focused on pleasing Vladimir Putin rather than upholding his oath of office to defend and protect the Constitution of the United States. A column in the New York Times looks the ongoing travesty , particularly the conspiracy lead by Nunes to undermine constitutional government. Here are excerpts:
First, a few words on the State of the Union address. There will be a lot of meaningless commentary about President Trump’s speech tonight. His critics will criticize him, his supporters will praise him and pundits will throw around the word “reset.”
You can safely ignore most of it. “State of the Union speeches have a celebrated history of not making much of an impact,” . . .
Here’s a challenge: Read the latest coverage about Rod Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general, and see if you can figure out what he is supposed to have done wrong.
The so-called Nunes memo — an effort by House Republicans to cast aspersions on the Russia investigation — evidently singles out Rosenstein for criticism. The memo, which may be released soon, suggests that he was wrong to extend a wiretap on Carter Page, a Trump campaign adviser.
The details are complicated, and you can dig into them in The Times’s coverage. The short version: There is no evidence that Rosenstein made a mistake. Page, after all, has had the kind of contact with the Russian government that should interest F.B.I. investigators.
Instead of evidence, the memo engages in the same dark and misleading conspiracy theories that have characterized other efforts by President Trump’s allies to discredit the Russia investigation. But the substance of the claims isn’t really the point. Distraction is the point, and the distraction campaign is having an impact.
Fox News ["Faux News" on this blog and "Trump TV" on the bogs of LGBT activist friends] other and some other parts of the Republican-friendly media spend hours repeating the conspiracies, and many voters now believe them. “The current moment is different from Watergate,” The Washington Post’s Greg Sargent wrote yesterday. “There is a massive propaganda apparatus out there — one that reaches deep into the right-wing media and into the Congress that has been pushing the alt-narrative.”
And Trump not only fired James Comey, the F.B.I. director once leading the inquiry, last year, but he has now succeeded in pushing out Andrew McCabe, the deputy F.B.I. director. In both cases, team Trump has justified the moves with dark, misleading suggestions of bias. Now, it seems, team Trump is on the cusp of accelerating a whisper campaign against Rosenstein, who oversees Robert Mueller, the special counsel leading the Russia investigation.
In truth, Rosenstein is a Republican — appointed by Trump — who built up a strong reputation over years in the Justice Department. His biggest career blemish was his brief willingness last year to bend to White House pressure and give Trump cover for Comey’s firing.
Since then, though, Rosenstein has chosen to back the rule of law over the rule of Trump. Rosenstein not only appointed Mueller to take over the Russia investigation; he has also defended Mueller — another Republican with a strong bipartisan reputation — against the similar charges of bias.
The smearing of both men, like the smearing of Comey, is a ploy. At the least, it is meant to call into question the ultimate findings of the Russia investigation. At the worst, the smearing is meant to make it politically possible to replace one or both with Trump loyalists who don’t believe in the rule of law.
Related: House Republicans voted yesterday to release the Nunes memo, a move that Justice Department officials have called “extremely reckless.”
Tom Nichols, a Naval War College professor, wrote: “The memo itself is far less important than the fact that GOP Congressmen are now at war with our own law enforcement and intelligence community, something in a lifetime of being a Republican I never expected to see. This will end badly.”
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