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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsIn Matt Whitaker, the President has found his Roy Cohn.
http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2018/11/matt-whitaker-is-trumps-corrupt-partisan-attorney-general.htmlBefore the forced resignation of Jeff Sessions as attorney general, it was possible, however optimistically, to dismiss Donald Trumps authoritarianism as mere rhetoric and affect. It is not possible any longer. Sessionss departure, and his replacement with Matt Whitaker, is Trumps plan to corrupt the Department of Justice. It is the most dire threat to the republic since Trumps election itself.
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Of course, presidents have the leeway to choose their own attorney general. It is mere tradition that dictates that the attorney general, once selected, operate at arms length from the presidents political interests. There is simply no doubt that Trumps entire rationale for firing Sessions is his refusal to quash the Russia investigation, because he has not even bothered to conceal his motive. Trump has repeatedly lambasted Sessions for failing to stop this Rigged Witch Hunt right now. Sessions is an original Trump loyalist, an unusually committed believer in and effective implementer of the presidents ethnonationalist agenda on immigration and crime. Sessionss sole failure (in Trumps eyes) was having to recuse himself from the Russia investigation, and refusing Trumps demands to reverse the decision. Corruption is literally Trumps only motive for turning against him.
Whats more, he has frequently expressed the overarching ethos with which the Department should operate. Trump told the New York Times that President Obamas attorney general, Eric Holder, covered up what Trump claims to be multiple serious crimes by Obama and that this is the correct way for him to operate. Holder protected the president, he said. And I have great respect for that, Ill be honest, I have great respect for that. At other times, reaching for a more familiar example, he wished the attorney general would be my Roy Cohn, referring to the architect of Joe McCarthys notorious smears, who went on to mentor Trump.
Trump has every reason to believe that he has found his Roy Cohn in Whitaker. The archconservative new acting attorney general has run for office and appears to see his future in Republican politics. As a candidate, he publicly declared that judges should be people of faith who had a biblical view of justice. In practical terms, he has interpreted the biblical view of justice the way most of his fellow Christian conservatives do: a combination of stern, Old Testament punishments meted out to Democrats combined with New Testament forgiveness toward any sin by a Republican.
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In Matt Whitaker, the President has found his Roy Cohn. (Original Post)
pnwmom
Nov 2018
OP
greyl
(22,990 posts)1. Nah, just another Scaramucci. nt
pnwmom
(108,994 posts)2. Whitaker has been given far more power than Scaramucci. n/t
dem4decades
(11,304 posts)3. And hopefully far more rope.
greyl
(22,990 posts)4. I don't believe that will be shown to be true. nt
TeamPooka
(24,254 posts)5. gonna be hard to do it from jail.
duforsure
(11,885 posts)6. No Roy Cohn was very , very smart,
This new guy isn't , and is dumb enough to allow trump to corrupt him into breaking the law for him. I think he'll end up in jail when its over with, and a huge number of people from this administration , and from members of Congress. I think he'll turn on trump in a heartbeat when he realizes he's been caught.