The Blare of The Trumpet

Climate Change

In what should become another major campaign theme as we head into the election home stretch, it is becoming more and more apparent that climate change is now upon us here in the United States just as it has reared its head in the Arctic, rain forests and Australia.  It is difficult to ignore the change in severity and patterns of hurricanes, the fires that are raging across the West triggered in Northern California by a bizarre lightning storm and fueled all over by the increasing dryness, and the increasing temperatures. And it will be ignored (and likely will be ignored if Trump is re-elected) at our peril.

And to reiterate another theme, if this were all happening on the East Coast instead of the West, it would be a much bigger story in the media.  But unfortunately it will become one.

Vote Early (Even If Only Once)

To reiterate the theme from yesterday (and you will be hearing it a lot from here and hopefully other places):  It is very important to send in mail-in ballots early and not wait until the last few days before the election, because they will get counted on election day that way which could have a major, if not determinative, impact on the election.

However, if you do end up going to vote at the polls, be sure and bring your mail-in ballot with you so the poll workers can confirm that you did not vote by mail already. In that way, your vote at the poll is counted that day rather than it’s becoming a provisional ballot which will be counted later or, in what could become a very chaotic process, maybe not at all.

The likelihood of a long drawn out election process appears greater and greater (see the following article) so voting early by mail which could avoid or shorten the process is extremely important.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/prepare-for-election-month-not-election-night/2020/09/10/c8ae8c16-f3a1-11ea-bc45-e5d48ab44b9f_story.html

Welcome to Trumpdom

In another of the seemingly endless bizarre moves of the Trump Presidency, Bill Barr has decided that the Justice Department should take over defending Trump in a lawsuit filed against him by a woman who has accused him of raping her in the 1990’s.  She apparently couldn’t sue him for the rape itself (probably for statute of limitations reasons), so when she came out with a book in which she made the rape allegation, Trump called her a liar and she has now sued him for defamation, that is, for damaging her reputation by falsely calling her a liar.

The basis for the Justice Department’s diving into this lawsuit, since it has nothing better to do (at least not while Barr is running the show), is the federal statute that says that suits against federal employees for acts “within the scope of their employment” must be brought against the United States (not the individual federal employee) and that those suits are to be defended by the Justice Department.  The idea behind the statute is that you want federal employees to be focusing on their jobs, not on lawsuits that name them personally for some decision they make while doing their job.  So the Justice Department is claiming that Trump’s denials of the rape allegation and calling her a liar were acts “within the scope of his employment” even though the alleged acts were about twenty years before he became President. On that basis, the Justice Department, rather than Trump’s private lawyers who have been handling the case until now, should take over the defense. At the taxpayer’s expense.

The “scope of employment” doctrine is broad and amorphous, but this would take it to new heights, or rather, depths.  There are literally thousands of cases about the meaning of the “scope of employment” in many contexts because it comes up all the time in lawsuits against people who are alleged to have done something that caused an injury during their employment, like a delivery truck causing an accident. The question arises whether the act causing the injury was within the “scope of employment” of the party causing the injury because that may make the employer, who often has both deeper pockets and better insurance than the employee, liable for the damages resulting from the injury.

But this would be a truly ridiculous extension of the doctrine.  It would essentially mean that the President’s opening his mouth and saying anything about anything, no matter what and no matter when it happened, is within the scope of his employment.  On the other hand, it appears pretty apparent that Trump and Barr do consider lying to be within the scope–if not the primary purpose–of Trump’s employment as President.  Anyway, the issue will be ruled upon by the federal court in Manhattan, which is spending a lot of time being entertained by the various lawsuits involving Trump.

Treason in the Toilet?

As we all know, you aren’t paranoid if they really are out to get you. Well, that may not be quite correct. It would appear that you can be paranoid about people that are not out to get you, but be right that certain people are out to get you. Welcome to the world of The Trumpet.

The anonymous Op-Ed in the New York Times is an event of potentially monumental proportions. Which is not surprising. Not because of what it says, which simply confirms what everyone has known, but rather for what it may trigger, particularly in conjunction with the publication of Robert Woodward’s book Fear. In a time of political crisis such as we are facing, as we did in Watergate, it makes sense that there will be new and startling events as the various potential actors, having different values, mindsets, levels of courage, thresholds for what they can put up with—i.e., simply different personalities—try to deal with the maelstrom they find themselves in. Some will resign. Some will remain in their jobs hoping that it will pay off some day (although one has to wonder whether working in The Trumpet’s administration will be something you want on your CV.) Some will take extraordinary steps as the author of the Op-Ed did.

The bad news is that it is unlikely to derail the confirmation of Kavanaugh—the Republicans will do everything possible to shove that through as fast as they can. The only hope may be if The Trumpet decides Kavanaugh is out to get him and withdraws the nomination. Yes, it would take something that far-fetched. One would think. But then before yesterday, who would have predicted that a senior Trumpet official would write an anonymous Op-Ed in the Times calling his or her boss “half-baked”? But Kavanaugh’s confirmation won’t be stopped. The Trumpet will leave his mark (or rather the Republicans will) on the history of the country through his judicial appointments that will probably last longer than the stain left by the other aspects of his reign.

The good news—this may be an important event in turning enough voters to the Dems so they can carry the House, which would give them some leverage to attempt to undo at least some of the damage the Republicans have brought about and will try to extend while riding The Trumpet.

One thing is certain: It seems inevitable that this will provoke further actions, both by those who feel the same as the writer of the Op-Ed piece and those that will attempt to defend The Trumpet–there is no doubt that The Toilet is roiling.

In any event, The Trumpet will certainly withdraw even further into himself, trust no one (maybe not even his family—after all some of his closest circle have now pled guilty or sought immunity from prosecution), and take actions that are mercurial and possibly dangerous. Hope someone has disconnected the button.

Draining the Swamp/Flushing the Toilet

Been a quiet week around Trumpland. No convictions. No resignations because of ethical violations. No guilty pleas … oops. No guilty pleas by Trumpet appointees, but, just before everyone headed off for a nice long Labor Day weekend, Washington lobbyist W. Samuel Patten pled guilty to being an unregistered foreign lobbyist for the Ukraine, similar to one of the charges against Manafort in his upcoming trial in Washington DC.

Significance of the Patten guilty plea? This is the first charge by the Justice Department of money from a foreign organization illegally being funneled to The Trumpet Organization. Among the things Patten admitted was secretly arranging a $50,000 contribution from a Ukrainian oligarch to the Trumpet’s Inaugural Committee for tickets to the Inauguration. Michael Cohen has now admitted, of course, that he, at the direction of The Trumpet, arranged an illegal contribution to The Trumpet campaign as well, but, hey, he and The Trumpet are not foreigners.

Further, it turns out that Patten worked extensively and was allegedly partners in a business with Konstantin Kilimnik, a Russian with close ties to the Russian military intelligence group accused by Mueller of interfering in the 2016 election. Patten was also one of the alleged co-conspirators who supposedly helped Manafort hide his Ukrainian consulting income in foreign bank accounts according to evidence at the Manafort trial. And Kilimnik has been charged along with Manafort with witness tampering in a separate federal court indictment.

Like the Cohen prosecution, the Patten prosecution was brought not by Mueller, but by the Justice Department’s National Security Division. One thing you can say about The Trumpet—he and the other denizens of The Toilet are keeping the Justice Department busy.

So not much going on this vacation-shortened week. Other than what seems like a net slowly closing around The Trumpet (as he focuses on insulting John McCain and Canada).

Robert Mueller – An American Hero

It’s pretty obvious that Mueller is very smart and has shown incredible self-restraint in not responding to the baiting of both The Trumpet and the many Republican Trumpet lackeys who are doing their best to undercut the Mueller investigation, prop up The Trumpet and continue what they are accomplishing in terms of their agenda with him as their front man.

Not only is Mueller smart, but so far he has been very astute politically.  For example, he did not take on the Michael Cohen prosecution, but, after consulting with Rod Rosenstein (his “boss”), instead referred it to the US Attorney in New York.  Like with Manafort, Mueller could have sought authority from Rosenstein to pursue the Cohen investigation as he did with Manafort even though neither investigation at the beginning appeared to deal with Russian interference in the election.  But he didn’t, thereby insulating the Cohen investigation from the witch hunt and “no collusion” ranting, as well as a possible legal challenge that the investigation of Cohen was outside his mandate which, in the unlikely possibility that argument was successful, might undercut Cohen’s confession.

And, at the same time, incredibly important evidence has been developed through that investigation, not only with respect to actions by The Trumpet which are violations of federal election law and potential tax fraud, but also, the Blare predicts, will in fact become important in the investigation of the Russian interference in the election and the possible complicity of The Trumpet’s campaign organization and maybe even The Trumpet in that interference.

So Robert Mueller.  An American hero. Or at least Time Man of the Year.  Whichever is a greater honor.

So how important is it that, as the New York Times has been reporting, White House Counsel Donald McGahn has been cooperating fully with Mueller’s investigation, to the extent of approximately thirty hours of interviews so far? Unfortunately can’t say at the moment.

McGahn is not The Trumpet’s personal lawyer (like Rudolpho is), but rather the lawyer for the White House, i.e., the institution of the Presidency, and his job is to protect the institution, not the President. That can be tricky because of issues relating to whether the attorney-client and executive privileges apply to their conversations; but, in this case, for reasons that are controversial among The Trumpet’s supporters, the decision was made by Ty Cobb, brought in to handle the Mueller investigation on behalf of the White House, and John Dowd, acting as The Trumpet’s personal lawyer, to cooperate fully with the Mueller probe and waive the attorney-client and executive privileges for both The Trumpet individually and the White House. Based on that, Mueller has obtained a large volume of documents from the White House, and McGahn has cooperated with the Mueller probe by agreeing to be interviewed and not asserting the attorney-client privilege over his discussions with The Trumpet (which might have been futile anyway). Since McGahn was involved with the firing of Comey (a main aspect of the potential obstruction of justice charges against The Trumpet), what he has told Mueller about that is clearly critical, in addition to what he knows about the firing of Michael Flynn early in The Trumpet Presidency in which McGahn was also involved.

There are several odd things about this situation as it is unfolding. First, the Times reporting is that, when the issue first came up over a year ago, Cobb and Dowd were in favor of heavy cooperation with Mueller, while McGahn was against it. However, once the privileges were waived, he has been cooperating extensively (thirty hours of interviews is a lot), apparently because he became concerned that he was being set up by The Trumpet and his lawyers to take “the fall” on the Comey firing, i.e., that The Trumpet will say that he was just doing what McGahn, his lawyer, told him was legally appropriate. So McGahn has wanted to appear to Mueller as being as cooperative and forthcoming as possible. Thus, McGahn changed from a reticent attorney witness (originally opposing any cooperation at all) to what The Trumpet’s supporters now believe has been an overly helpful one, presumably to avoid the fate of John Dean, White House Counsel under Nixon, of himself being charged with obstruction of justice.

Second, the Times reporting is that the extent of McGahn’s cooperation is coming as a surprise to Cobb and Dowd. If true, that shows an unusual lack of communication among the lawyers involved in the various aspects of The Trumpet’s affairs and his administration. Lawyers are used to working together when on the same general side, even when representing different clients or the same client wearing different hats, so the lack of communication here is surprising. Or a reflection of the lack of trust among the various lawyers working in The Trumpet’s orbit. And Dowd and Cobb (now both out of their roles at the White House) are coming under heavy criticism from The Trumpet’s supporters (and others) for pushing their strategy of cooperation with Mueller. And it may turn out to have been a huge mistake from The Trumpet’s standpoint.

So far the substance of the interviews is not known (where is a good leaker when you need one?), and there has been no indication that what McGahn has been telling Mueller is particularly damning to The Trumpet so maybe there isn’t anything. But The Trumpet is apparently very nervous and angry about what McGahn may have said about their conversations. Not that The Trumpet would be likely to spout off anything carelessly. Or say anything that was untrue.

Dear Willie (Brown),

You don’t get it. Your article today (starting off of course about the award you won) in the San Francisco Chronicle about how the Democrats lost the last election because people didn’t get out to vote, blah, blah, blah is wrong. Don’t blame it on the voters. Remember, Hillary had 4 million more votes than The Trumpet. That should have been enough. Blame it on the Democratic bigwigs who strategically took their base for granted and didn’t understand the dissatisfaction of a major segment of that base with traditional politicians, even though every non-incumbent runs on being an anti-Washington insider. The Democratic power brokers who prevented any younger Democratic candidates from challenging Hillary for the Democratic nomination by telling those other potential candidates that, if they challenged her, they wouldn’t have the power structure support when they ran in the future. The power structure did this despite the fact that Hillary had proven herself not to be a good candidate (although, in The Blare’s opinion, she likely would have been an excellent President).

So it was cramming Hillary down your base’s throat and then taking them for granted that lost the election (and the courts and maybe the environment for decades to come.)

But congratulations on your award.

Maria Butina—a name we may become as familiar with as Michael Cohen or even … Stormy Daniels.

There are a number of interesting aspects to the arrest of Butina, the Russian woman who was indicted for being a foreign agent for Russia without notifying the Attorney General and is being held without bail as a flight risk.

First, despite apparently being involved in trying to impact the election and The Trumpet Administration, the investigation of Butina was undertaken not by Mueller, but by the counter-intelligence division of the FBI and US Attorney in Washington D.C. Which means, among other things, that it can go on regardless of what happens with Mueller although the Mueller investigation does not really appear threatened at the moment.

Second, she (or rather her Russian handler) allegedly made the decision that they could use the National Rifle Association to funnel money to the Republicans for the election and use the NRA as a back channel of communication between Russia and the Republican party. To the degree the funds were undisclosed campaign contributions, that’s a violation of federal law. (Thank you to one of The Blare’s confidential sources for that observation.)

Third, among the evidence gathered by the Justice Department against Butina are Twitter messages. How did the Justice Department get them? There’s nothing said about subpoenas of phone records or anything else, so it appears that she has been under electronic surveillance for some time. Points out what our government is able to do (the Russians aren’t the only ones who know about computers, phones, etc.) And who knows what else they have (as we are starting to see with what is coming out about the Michael Cohen recordings).

Fourth (but whose counting ….), she was very good at being photographed. Like with Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin, former governor Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, and former Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania. Not a Dem among them. Just good old conservative Republicans.

Finally, Butina asked the question at a Town Hall in 2015 when then-candidate Trumpet said (for the first time to my knowledge) that he would get along “very nicely” with Putin, unlike Obama. Quite an understatement (he left out the part about being Putin’s lackey).

Later: The Cohen Recordings.