TWS Editorial: "Republicans ought to be castigating the president over the Trump Tower meeting, not

[kpete]

TWS Editorial: "Republicans ought to be castigating the president over the Trump Tower meeting, not covering for him.

..........................

It’s clear that even these amoral operators understood the meeting was inappropriate. How else to explain the cascade of lies they told to cover it up? These include saying that:

There were no contacts between the campaign and foreign governments.
There were no contacts with Russians.
There were contacts with Russians but they weren’t improper.
The Trump Tower meeting was about policy matters.
The Trump Tower meeting was about routine “opposition research.”
The Russians never produced the material they’d promised.
There’s nothing improper about accepting opposition research from a foreign adversary.

Each defense lasted until facts emerged to render it inoperative.

...........

We suspect Republicans will come to regret their new “anything goes” rationalization. Will it be okay for Elizabeth Warren’s presidential campaign to seek copies of Donald Trump’s still-secret tax returns from hackers working for North Korea? Or for Bernie Sanders operatives to meet with Iranian regime cutouts for dirt on Trump cabinet officials?

It wasn’t long ago that Republicans were concerned about foreign meddling in U.S. elections. In 1996, when evidence surfaced that China was funneling money to the Democratic party, including the Clinton-Gore campaign—remember the fundraiser at the Buddhist temple in Hacienda Heights attended by Al Gore?—GOP leaders demanded an investigation. In 2015, when credible evidence emerged that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had used her position to enrich the Clinton Foundation, Republicans called it another indication that she lacked the character to be president.

But the fact that Trump and his closest advisers were keen to get their hands on opposition research generated by America’s greatest foreign adversary is no big deal for Republicans. How far we’ve come in just two years.


https://www.weeklystandard.com/the-editors/editorial-republicans-react-to-trump-tower-tweets

[CatMor]

1. I'm surprised with this coming from such a conservative source.

[ThoughtCriminal]

2. Loaded with the usual dose of false equivalance

Comparing phony scandals to their own very real ones.

[JHB]

3. "TWS" being The Weekly Standard, edited by Trump Base Creator Bill Kristol

Yeah, sure, he wasn't alone in creating the Trump Base, but he does try to pretend he had no hand in it.

And should be reminded of that fact at every opportunity.

[JI7]

4. the Trump base was there before Kristol

[JHB]

5. The Trump base was there when Buckley sidelined the Birchers...

...as the public face of conservativism, but not harshly enough that they wouldn't vote for Buckley's favored people. All conservative politics depends on what is now the Trump Base to do anything more than cry in their gin & tonics at the country-club bar.