We Are at DEFCON F**k

By Dustin Rowles | Politics | April 13, 2018 |

By Dustin Rowles | Politics | April 13, 2018 |

Just as Trump and the Republican National Convention drew it up, Donald Trump has begun his pushback campaign on James Comey in the wake of newly released excerpts from his book, Higher Loyalty, which comes out on Monday and is already the top-selling presale book on Amazon.

James Comey is a proven LEAKER & LIAR. Virtually everyone in Washington thought he should be fired for the terrible job he did-until he was, in fact, fired. He leaked CLASSIFIED information, for which he should be prosecuted. He lied to Congress under OATH. He is a weak and…..

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 13, 2018

….untruthful slime ball who was, as time has proven, a terrible Director of the FBI. His handling of the Crooked Hillary Clinton case, and the events surrounding it, will go down as one of the worst “botch jobs” of history. It was my great honor to fire James Comey!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 13, 2018

Reality: Trump didn’t fire Comey when he took over as President because he thought Comey was on his side because had helped — unwittingly — him become President by selling Hillary Clinton down the river. Only after it became clear that Comey would not swear a loyalty oath to the President did Trump fire Comey, which everyone in the White House advised him against except Jared Kushner, who is basically a corrupt Bobby Newport.

Oh, and Comey thinks the pee tape might be real.

MORE: @Comey: “I honestly never thought these words would come out of my mouth, but I don't know whether the current president of the United States was with prostitutes peeing on each other in Moscow in 2013. It's possible, but I don't know.” https://t.co/3SsMllUjcT

— ABC News (@ABC) April 13, 2018

I mean, come on: Why would Trump investigate the “pee tape” to reassure his wife, when he’s clearly never given a shit what his wife thought before. Melania hates his guts, and we all fucking know it.

Trump wanting Comey to help convince Melania there wasn’t a pee tape is insane for two reasons:

1. His admission that even his wife questions his character.

2. His willingness to misuse the FBI for personal reasons.

— Adam Best (@adamcbest) April 13, 2018

Meanwhile, look around, y’all: Shit is getting real, and I know it has often felt like “shit is getting real” in the past, but right now, it’s more real than it’s ever been. The raid on Michael Cohen’s office kicked this all into a higher gear: The state of New York is involved (so no pardons). There are purportedly tapes — and Cohen just asked for a restraining order to prevent the government from using docs it found in his office (why would he do that if there’s nothing there that would incriminate him?). Cohen knows a lot, not just about potential Russian collusion but financial crimes. He’s probably facing years for various criminal activities and he’s probably got associates who can get dragged up in this, too, and he’s either gonna flip or he’s going away for a long time.

Meanwhile, Republicans in Congress are thawing, ever-so-slightly, to the idea of protecting Mueller, not that it will save many of their careers because Paul Ryan — and his ability to recruit new members and fundraise — is out because he fears he’ll be in the minority next year and, ironically, by leaving, he improves the odds that the GOP will be in the minority next year.

Meanwhile, Mueller has almost perfectly laid a trap for Trump by leaking that obstruction of justice is on the table, which means that if Trump fires Mueller now, he’s only bolstering the case for obstruction of justice and, as everyone continues saying, the investigation doesn’t stop if Mueller is fired. The investigation just grows a new head. The investigation is part of the fabric now. Manafort is in the system; Gates is in the system; Flynn is in the system; Cohen is in the system. Fucking Carter Page is in the system. Firing Mueller doesn’t end those trials; it doesn’t negate the indictments; it doesn’t end those investigations; it doesn’t magically make Gates’ testimony disappear. Trump can fire the head of the FBI, but he can’t fire the FBI, and the Senate — which is basically stacked against Trump when it comes to hiring an FBI director on the up-and-up — still needs to confirm any new head of the FBI. So they’re going to continue moving ahead on this, and Trump’s presidency — whether it lasts another three years or another three months — will forever be characterized by it. Russia, corruption, scandal, affairs, and payoffs will be Donald Trump’s legacy whether or not he ends up in prison.

Trump is fucked, and he can rail and fume and curse and name call all he wants. A significant majority of Americans are against him and for Mueller; the midterms are 8 months away, and calling James Comey a “slime ball” isn’t going to change a damn thing. The only chance Trump has to get out of this is to allow the investigation to run its course and hope to hell they don’t find anything on him. That’s about as likely as Jill Stein becoming President.

I hope that after reading the Comey, pee tape, and Stormy Daniels stories, Hillary Clinton is laughing hysterically on a beach somewhere, drinking a pina colada and enjoying life.

— Emilia (@PoliticalEmilia) April 13, 2018