Andrew Cohen: The Nunes Memo Kremlinology

[MBS]

http://www.nybooks.com/daily/2018/01/30/the-nunes-memo-kremlinology/?

On the day before President Trump was to deliver his first State of the Union speech, an event his furious, humiliated wife reportedly will attend only grudgingly, the rest of us were reminded that a state of undeclared civil war now exists in America. On one side is the president, his Republican allies in Congress, scions of finance and commerce who are cashing in on the administration’s widening corruption, white nationalists and their enablers, the resentment-nursing, swindled “forgotten men and women,” and the gleeful Russians. On the other side are the rest of us, including longtime public servants at the Justice Department and the FBI, and congressional Democrats who have the facts but clearly not the power on their side. It is a war that has been waged since the president took his oath of office with his “American Carnage” speech, designed to terrify and split an already-divided nation. . . .

In the addled world of conservative media, of dark conspiracies, which is to say the addled world of a president who gets his news from Fox News, Steele’s link to Clinton taints whatever information the FBI gleaned from his “dossier.” . . .. It’s a convenient theory—that would neatly tumble together all the officials who threaten the president and his tenure like bowling pins—but one entirely untethered to law or fact or reality. For the rest of us, the memo is nonsense. A distraction. A cheap stunt designed to give cover to the congressional Republicans while the president continues his assaults on the very structures of federal law enforcement. Actually, it’s not simply nonsense, it’s dangerous nonsense. . . The world no longer needs to rely on Steele or his dossier to understand how deep and abiding were the ties between Team Trump and the Russians. It need only note how many of that team are already under criminal indictment or are actively cooperating with Mueller and company.
. . .

The president evidently now sees no material risk in publicly ingratiating himself with the Kremlin even as Mueller and his investigators build their case that the Russians did the Trump team favors during the 2016 election. What the White House did on Monday, then—blowing off Congress on sanctions—is strong evidence of a quid in the quid pro quo, and it raises new questions about the extent of continuing undue Russian influence over the president and his administration. The White House tactic here is striking: rather than getting tough with the Russians to undermine Mueller’s case, they have intensified their Russian romance. There is no attempt at a cover-up, no remorse or regret; instead, the ploy is to discredit the tried and true cops who are investigating a potential crime.

On this black Monday, congressional Republicans undermined generations of legislative history and precedent to help a president who then, before the sun had set, undermined the will of Congress in its battle to rein in the Russians. Some will call this treason. Others, obstruction of justice. I’d rather call it giving aid and comfort to the enemy. The really bad news of the day was the inescapable conclusion that the real enemy America faces is not foreign, but domestic.

[democrank]

1. K & R

Powerful, sobering truth.

[niyad]

2. k and r

[Fred Sanders]

3. The military is also charged with protection from enemies both domestic and foreign.

They will never ever in a zillion years allow a Russian staged coup bear any more fruit than it has...I am confident of that. Absolute last protection for democracy, but there it is.

[tblue37]

5. You mean military "patriots" like Mike Flynn, John Kelly, Mattis, McMaster, Zinke, etc.?? nt

[RandomAccess]

4. Must read

... the inescapable conclusion that the real enemy America faces is not foreign, but domestic.

[BigmanPigman]

6. An "undeclared civil war" seems like an accurate assessment.

[Duppers]

7. K & R