Why Donald Trump Would Regret Firing Robert Mueller

[kentuck]

by Karl Rove

https://www.wsj.com/articles/why-donald-trump-would-regret-firing-robert-mueller-1512601923

<snip>
The president loathes Mr. Mueller’s investigation. He feels abused and mistreated. Since he lashes out when he feels under attack, Mr. Trump may be thinking anew about firing Mr. Mueller. His hard-core supporters and conservative commentators are already pushing for it.

Memo to the president: Firing Mr. Mueller would be a terrible idea. Already, 49% of Americans believe “Mr. Trump himself committed a crime,” according to a November poll by the Washington Post and ABC News. Firing the special counsel would only make Mr. Trump look as if he has something to hide. Firing him would put Mr. Trump’s already pitiful approval rating—about 39% in the Real Clear Politics average—in the gutter, never to recover.

Even if the president fired Mr. Mueller, there would still be enormous pressure to continue the inquiry. Even if the Justice Department refused to name a new special counsel, the investigation and its consequences would not stop. They would move to other venues, namely Congress and the campaign trail.

Congressional Democrats would pursue the matter with every trick they could dream up, including subpoenas, hearings and lawsuits. The issue would dominate the midterm elections, with Democrats aggressively on the offense and Republicans unable to explain why Americans don’t have a right to know.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

1. It's not your fault but it's behind a paywall.

[kentuck]

7. Here is a third snip: I read it on Facebook

<third snip>
Democrats would almost certainly win back Congress and wipe out Republican candidates for state and local offices, too. Mr. Trump may not care about the GOP, but he should care about his place in history. A presidency crippled by scandal so early would be unprecedented.

If Mr. Trump has done nothing wrong—and so far there has been no evidence of collusion with the Russians—then he has nothing to fear. Mr. Mueller has indicted only people who created problems for themselves. Paul Manafort and Richard Gates were allegedly caught up by shenanigans in Ukraine and trying to bring their ill-gotten gains home without paying taxes. George Papadopoulos and Mike Flynn lied to the FBI.

The president should wall off the investigation and focus on his Oval Office duties. He should pay the legal costs for staff caught up in the inquiry or allow them to set up legal-defense funds. Most important, he should calmly express confidence in the outcome. Raging against the probe only deepens the belief that he’s guilty of something, while also burying any good news about his policy victories.

If Mr. Mueller wants Americans to trust his ultimate findings, he faces his own challenges. He must conduct himself in a way that builds greater public confidence. Firing Mr. Strzok was critical, but his staff of lawyers has too many politically active Democrats. He has irritated Congress by withholding documents. He must overcome the deep distrust of the FBI created by James Comey’s dramatic non-indictment of Hillary Clinton last year.

[David__77]

2. It would be politically smart to fire him.

He could use the power of the presidency to shut this down. He can only hope to win by “going big.”

[50 Shades Of Blue]

3. When Trump firest Mueller, Republicans will make sure he gets away with it.

[jrthin]

6. And as we have seen so far,

Congress is trying to squash this investigation and or put little or no effort into it.

[kentuck]

8. last snip of the article

<last snip>
Still, the next move is the president’s. Mr. Trump has shown himself to be impulsive and vindictive, often punching down at targets better ignored. But if he fires Mr. Mueller, he would ignite a political conflagration that would consume him, those around him, and his entire presidency.

Don’t do it, Mr. President. If you do, you’ll regret it more than you regret anything else in your life.

[jrthin]

4. Moving the investigation to Congress or the campaign trail does

not carry prison time, neither does it strip him and his family of their assets.

[kentuck]

5. Sorry...here is more of the article:

<first snip>

They came like rapid-fire rifle shots. On Friday, former national security adviser Mike Flynn copped a deal, pleading guilty to making false statements to the FBI and promising to cooperate with Special Counsel Robert Mueller in return for avoiding more-serious charges.

Then on Saturday, President Trump sent his most ill-advised tweet yet, saying he knew all along that Mr. Flynn had lied to the FBI. This was a change from the president’s previous explanation for ousting Mr. Flynn—namely, that he had misled Vice President Mike Pence about his contacts with the Russian ambassador.

This was followed Monday by news that Mr. Mueller had removed a top FBI investigator, Peter Strzok, from the probe last summer after Mr. Strzok exchanged anti-Trump texts with his mistress, an FBI lawyer. Mr. Strzok has been demoted to human resources.

On Tuesday, news broke that Mr. Mueller had recently demanded that Deutsche Bank turn over records of its dealings with people affiliated with Mr. Trump, though apparently this doesn’t involve the president or his family. In July the president indicated that it would cross a red line if the investigation turned to his personal finances. But he refused to declare then that he would fire Mr. Mueller in that event, saying, “I don’t think it’s going to happen.” How will Mr. Trump react if it does?

[dalton99a]

9. Regret is not in Trump's vocabulary

Link to tweet

[Miigwech]

10. trumps only tool in his tool box is fireing people

That's how he got famous on the TV and gained his ready made audience for his rallies.

[MatthewG.]

11. I hate to say it, but Trump probably should fire Mueller

I hate to say it, but I’m honestly starting to think that from a cold pragmatic perspective, Trump should fire Mueller.

The risks for him don’t seem all that high to me - some Republicans would wring their hands, and a few would loudly complain, but it certainly doesn’t seem like they’d actually break ranks and impeach him.

His supporters would back him, using endless “what about” logic : “what about Hillary’s emails/uranium sales/pizza connections?”, “what about Obama’s Muslim Brotherhood ties?”, “what about the FBI’s pro-Democratic biases?”

Then Republicans will circle the wagons, loudly saying that the FBI is a puppet of the Russophobic liberal Deep State and that there’s no reason to trust the FBI over Trump.

It would look bad if Trump fires Mueller, but it looks bad if there’s indictments and guilty pleas in his inner circle for the next year or three also. From a cold practical perspective, Trump may as well take the heat in one fell swoop.

[kentuck]

12. The risks?

The risks are involved in what they already know about him. The FBI and Intelligence are not going to surrender to a criminal if he has committed crimes.

However, I'm sure this is probably part of the discussion in the White House. But, could he keep a majority of Republican Senators if he were to fire Mueller? He only has a slim majority of two at the moment, plus Pence. They could vote to install an "Independent Prosecutor" whom the President could not remove and would have even more powers than Special Prosecutor Mueller.

It might happen but it might blow up in his face?