Thursday, May 23, 2019

The Elephant Dance

I'm sure you saw the crazy back and forth today between President Trump and Speaker Pelosi.  It was pretty raw and unprecedented.  At least in modern times that is.  Back in the "old days" it was pretty raucous, but in the last 100 years or so cordiality seems to have been the rule of the day between the Legislative and the Executive.  But today it blew up.  If you're not aware of the succession, the Speaker of the House is number 3 in succession.  So she is pretty high up in government.  But she's not number 1.  And she has a hard time remembering that.

Anyway, 3 weeks ago, Trump, Pelosi and Shumer met to discuss infrastructure.  They agreed to a 3 week delay to put plans on the table and get back together to "put some meat on the bones".  And today was the day.

For the last several weeks and since the Mueller report dropped, the Dems have been beside themselves to figure out how to get Trump since Mueller couldn't.  So they are going into full investigation mode.  They are pulling out all the stops to overturn the election of 2016.  They hate him and will stop at nothing to get rid of him.  Simple as that.  There are and will be for the next two years further investigations, hearing, subpoenas, and general harassment of Trump.  I think the strategy is to bring everything to a halt so there are not successes and the chances of him slipping up and doing something stupid increases.  Great way to run a country, huh?

Mueller spent 2.5 year, $35 million, had over 650 subpoenas, massive investigative power, and concluded there was no collusion with the Russians.  On obstruction he left it to Barr but basically said there wasn't anything that was provable.  So that is driving the Dems further over the edge.  They put all their eggs in the Mueller basket and he came up with nothing.  And let's face it..Trump is the kind of guy who will rub your face in it so he's been gloating.  And that further pisses them off.

So before she goes down to the White House today, Pelosi says in a news conference that Trump is engaged in a "cover-up".  Huh?  I don't know what he is covering up.  By all accounts the White House cooperated with Mueller to the nth degree.  They gave them hundreds of thousands of documents and sat for countless interviews.  But according to Pelosi he is covering up something.  So she trots down to the WH and walks into a band saw.  Now I don't know Trump's demeanor in a situation like this, but safe to say he was pissed and let her have it.  Who knows how much he was really mad and how much of it was theatrics, but it got her attention.  So then he came out and raised the bullshit flag.  He clearly has had it and said no legislative cooperation until their contrived, redundant, wasteful, spiteful investigations stop.  So she goes back to the Hill and tells reporters that Trump is unstable and needs an intervention.  And then he comes out with a bunch of advisors who confirm he was angry but not ranting and calls himself a "stable genius".  Ya gotta love it.

Of course, the media is sniffing Pelosi's butt the whole time and naturally takes her side.  They push the "Trump is crazy" story and most outlets spun it that way.  But it doesn't take a genius to see that these are to powerful politicians who are pissed and won't back down.  But I think Pelosi is on pretty thin ground.  She is walking a fine line between the impeachment idiots and the calmer wing of her party.  She's trying to accommodate all and it can't be done.  I don't know who will crack first, but my money is on Pelosi.

So it will continue.  Don't know what the tipping point is, or if there even is one.  Maybe we stumble along like this til the election.  That would suck, but it's not out of the question.

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