Since Trump has entered the White House, the Left has been spinning bizarre fantasies about how the Trump team is part of some super-secret Russian conspiracy. You cannot turn on the television without seeing a liberal nutter hooting “Russian hacking!” To date, no one has bothered to explain what that phrase is supposed to mean. The implication is that through some special magic, the Russians caused the voting machines to register results in favor of Trump. They don’t come out and say it, but that’s the game.
A big part of this lunacy is the fact that the Left was sure that Trump could not win the election. It’s not that they were sure they had the better choice. It was that they were completely convinced that there were no circumstances where Trump could become President. They were so sure, in fact, that they had all of official Washington convinced of this as well. A month before the election there was no one in either party talking about a Trump victory. In fact, the topic of debate was the size and scope of the Clinton victory.
This belief was so pervasive, that both parties spent the summer plotting how they were going to configure themselves after the disaster. Team Clinton spent the summer figuring out how they could use the landslide in order to steamroll the Republicans and enact their agenda. The Republicans were similarly planning for the onslaught and how they could somehow preserve themselves after the election. The day after the election, the stunned looks on the faces of everyone in the political class made this hilariously clear.
There’s another aspect to this that has become abundantly clear over the last couple of months. Both parties wanted to see Clinton win. The Republicans, at least the leadership, liked the setup under Obama. They got to pose as rock-ribbed conservatives fighting Obama, without ever having to do anything. Democrats liked that Obama was just issuing executive orders and bypassing the parliamentary process. The Washington ecosystem was at equilibrium as long as everyone on both sides played their part.
The proof of this is the fact that the GOP has no plans ready for the 2017 legislative session. They have been talking for years about ObamaCare and now we know they never planned to do anything. The same is true of taxes, which is the one thing Republicans like doing. They have no plans for anything, not even something symbolic. They not only have no plans, they are still staggering around in shock, not sure what they should be doing. Suddenly nothing makes sense to the people inside the bubble and they are scared.
In a world where the rules no longer apply, it quickly becomes every man for himself and that’s what is happening in Washington right now.The Left accusing Trump of colluding with the Russians is not just a reckless political attack. It’s war on the very system of governance. It’s the sort of thing that goes on when the political system is breaking down. Trump’s charge that Obama was spying on his campaign makes perfect sense in light of what see happening. The evidence of some sort of Nixonian skulduggery is pretty strong.
Of course, in a world where the scrupulous following of protocol is essential to maintaining the status quo, a break down in the rules puts everyone at risk. That seems to be Trump’s game here with the spying charges. The establishment has tossed out the rules in their effort to attack him, so he is threatening to further bust up the system, which works to his favor and to their disadvantage. it’s a foolish game the Left has decided to play as they have much more to lose in a world without rules.
There’s another aspect to this. Trump has fewer skeletons in his closet than any president in generations. In Washington, that makes him a very dangerous man. All of these guys have shady deals in their closet. All of them bend the rules to reward themselves and their associates. No one says anything about it because everyone is dirty. Washington is a lot like a corrupt police precinct, where everyone is on the take so no one dares rat on anyone else. Trump’s life is an open book so he does not have to play along.
That’s probably why he went nuclear over the weekend. He’s looking around at a city full of crooked politicians calling for investigations so he is turning the table and threatening to open the investigation up to everything. Imagine Trump coming out and asking for a special prosecutor to look into Obama, Clinton, the IRS people, the DOJ and maybe even the FBI itself. There’s a lot of people in Washington with a lot to hide and Trump certainly knows it, which is why he is going on the attack over the tapping of his offices.
A long time ago I pointed out that Trump was The Mule, the character from the Asimov novels. Trump is the destroyer of worlds, not because he has some grand vision of the future and wants to plow under the existing order to make room for his utopia. He is the destroyer because the old order can only exist if Trump does not exist. His rise to the White House is the nullification of the established order. It’s why Washington is going for total war to destroy him. They see it is a matter of survival.
It’s probably too late. The Mule has arrived.
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It’s worse than you describe. The federal government is the functional equivalent of an organic entity (a living thing), and it’s continued survival is it’s highest priority. When backed into a corner and facing an existential threat, it will lash out with ferocity and ruthlessness in the extreme. Inside the DC bubble, this is just a parlor game on steroids; but to the working class of middle America, this could well the match that ignites the inferno. Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell are playing a very dangerous game trying to straddle the middle and hope nothing bad happens. They are… Read more »
Perhaps our governmental ‘organism’ is an example of a-sexual reproduction. Have you ever been on the D. C. Metro during Rush Hour? Yeesh. What a bunch of sorry-ass drones headed to/from ‘work’! All
this after $100,000+ Ivy League edu-macations.
Its NOT EDU-MACATION! Its indoctrination and development of credentials to enter the “social caste” of expert cloud people!
Education would infer knowledge and s the beginning of wisdom; credentialism implies no such things.
Paul Ryan and Reince are thick as thieves and Priebus’ appointment is the only misstep Trump has made.
love the Mule character
Bravo Z. I thought of the same aspect, never threaten an outsider who isn’t dirty. The police precinct meme is apt. That Trump went nuclear when he did speaks volumes. His instincts are excellent and he wisely assessed the Sessions-gate attack as a do or die moment for his agenda and his administration. Enough is enough! I am heartened that he is so often ridiculed and underestimated, and though the press and commentary is mostly dark, it is now time for some pain and thrashing in DC. I predict gnashing of teeth and scary stories, but Mr. Trump will prevail… Read more »
Whoa, DalyKos made the same Asimov’s Mule analogy over a year ago? Wth?
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/5/13/1526136/-Donald-Trump-is-playing-the-role-of-The-Mule-from-Isaac-Asimov-s-Foundation-Trilogy
I started using this analogy when the primary started so I have them beat, but the analogy is so obvious I would imagine it occurred to many people.
Z… yep. I like how they could see it, but thought for sure they could prevent it OR no-way Trump could possibly win. heh heh. Helps explain to me the added freak-out on the left.
Z Man; OK, I admit I don’t get the ‘Mule’ business or even less why it matters who came up with it first. I started reading Asimov after reading Heinlein and thought Asimov’s work tedious weak tea, so I quit reading it. So maybe not seeing subtlety is my problem in seeing the Mule analogy. But for the benefit of us linear thinkers out there, please spell it out more directly why the Mule is a good analogy for Trump. I get it that Trump looks to be a threat since he might just be able to blow up Beltway… Read more »
Nobody goes to National Review to read the columns. The smart people would read the comments, and you most likely influenced their thinking.
To the point of most of Trump and his team being “outsiders” to the DC establishment and the premature recusal by AG Sessions, I would urge Trump AND his entire cabinet get an immediate download/debrief on just what kind of swamp they are playing in and the creatures that inhabit such. I was so dismayed that Sessions would capitulate so easily, so quickly but knowing him to be an honest, good hearted man, he still wants to play by some kind of Gentleman’s Rules. He is in the wrong swamp for those kind of rules and if he hasn’t learned… Read more »
The moment of truth will come for the GOP in a month or two when all the dust has settled from the confirmations. Will they deliver on their conservative promises they talked so much about for so long? Or, will President Trump (who many of them claimed wasn’t a conservative at all) have to try them into action? If most Republicans in Congress still refuse to act, will the party split? Paul Ryan, Graham, McCain, etc… belong in a center-left party with the platform of the 1980’s Democrats. Cruz, Rand Paul, and few others can go with Trump to form… Read more »
Pretty confident the Republicans will show their habitual stripes — they will do little with legislation and what they will do will be more liberalism-lite. They certainly won’t move boldly on the Wall. Yet the True Conservatives over at NR and Weekly Standard will keep wailing that Trump Has Betrayed You And Isn’t A Conservative. The TruCons’ have a problem with being a beard intended to make the Republicans look like an opposition party. Now that the Responsible Repubs have come out of the closet and openly defy their own party’s president, there isn’t much need for the TruCon puppet… Read more »
Hat tip to Letsplay yesterday- by quoting Alinsky directly, he settled the question once and for all.
Is it incompetence or malice?
It’s deliberate.
It’s deliberate.
It’s deliberate malice.
There is no possibility of “compromise”.
Bring the Mule!
Taking a 30,000 feet view, I ask myself, how did this happen? Trump may not be a mentalic, but he is definitely the Messiah of the Dirt People. Maybe they’re the same thing. Maybe that was Azimov’s point. Until Trump came along, I thought evil was going to win hands down. Not now. I do not discount the spiritual component in all this.
I think Trump is a time traveler. He says something and everyone howls in protest, only to see Trump proven correct. It’s getting creepy.
well, keep in mind Trump is the guy flipping the cards, and the press is the chump with $20 sitting on the table
Funny, the press doesn’t know WHO the chump is!
When you don’t recognize who the chump is…. you’re the chump!
I’m pleased (((Schumer))) is so eager to be the face of the war on Trump. The post-Kennedy order of post-WASP run America, and it’s progressive diminishment mirrors that of many once loved cultural institutions which were taken over by same, and their respect, earned through decades of hard work and objectivity, was turned into yet another implement of cultural destruction. The fact many refuse to acknowledge the war upon Whites by a hostile elite, even at this advanced stage of cultural cancer, is demoralizing.
Demoralizing yes, but necessary. It is time people; fish or cut bait.
Paper signs? Or hard steel???
I vote for, “Lock and load!” That “Mr. Nice Guy” stuff hasn’t worked for awhile.
An absolutely great Wall Street Journal op-ed by Shelby Steele today parallels this discussion: “The Exhaustion of American Liberalism,” showing a lame white guy holding a sign denouncing thought crimes like ‘white privilege’ and such. They needn’t have bothered to use a color photo for this image, as the fellow looks like he is about to faint from anemia!!
Not a reader of SF. I’ve been thinking about this in terms of card games. When I was a kid the adult missionaries used to play cards a lot in the evening. Nothing else to do. I wanted desperately to play, but my dad said I had to wait until I was older. During the day I would take the cards and play as if I was four different people, dealing out the cards and playing out the hands. I found that I could play out hands as if I didn’t know what was in the other hands, but could… Read more »
great insight teapartydoc. I’d wager the texts and phone calls and emails in the Democrat and media circles ( not to mention the GOPe circles) were burning and churning this weekend. Heh. They’ve NEVER had an opponent who fights back like this… and their mightiest weapon, the media, is discredited to a incredible extent and even they are floundering. Nice.
I am hoping that the next card that Trump plays is to re-open all investigations into alleged criminal conduct by Hilary. This will be the equivalent of a nuclear weapon and may bring the DNC/Big Media Complex to its knees.
My hunch here is that this latest gambit is to send exactly that message. Imagine Trump opening up the IRS case again or any number of shady deals in either party.
This is one of his biggest weapons if he chooses to use it. Issue an EO or memorandum directing the IRS to release every single email and memo pertaining to what happened during the IRS/Tea Party investigation. Direct the CIA, DoD, and State to fully disclose (i.e. declassify) anything having to do with our consulate in Benghazi dating back to the fall of Qaddafi. Ditto the Iran deal…just make the whole rotten thing public. He’s under zero obligation to keep that material classified once CIA black out the names of covert operatives or gets those people relocated to a safe… Read more »
Because they cannot remember a time when they did not have their way. If, and only if, Trump takes control at FBI and IRS the deep state will offer a deal. Will Trump be of a mind to take it?
What I puzzle over is why they are choosing to fight Trump. It would be so much easier for them to cut a deal with the guy.
EXACTLY what I was wondering…Like you, I believe Trump is ‘clean’ … and after being in the business he has been in, for soooo long, he KNOWS where many bodies are buried… and they know he knows, so it’s just confounding the games that are being played… I wonder if it’s about slowly sniping out all those around him that MAY have unclean hands….leaving him in open water with no bilge pump… one can only bail so fast and steer the ship.
It’s all they know.
If I am not careful and restrained I’ll run out of Popcorn by the end of next week.
Arrogance: Why would Chuckles Schumer declare/admit in public that “…the intelligence community can harm Trump six ways from Sunday…” if he fights them???
I sure the hell hope not.
Maybe Trump knows that We The People would be totally fricking furious if he even THOUGHT about cutting a deal with those bastards.
Well, I should hope he pursues those investigations. He’s not much of a president if he doesn’t. The president is supposed to make sure laws are enforced! People broke laws, and they should be prosecuted. The scandal would be if they’re NOT brought to justice. Are we going to just let big-time lawbreakers get away with it? WTF? Why the hell are Eric Holder and Lois Lerner still at large? They should have gone to prison years ago.
I’m hoping AG Sessions unleashes the Hounds of Hell on every front. After cleansing the DOJ of Obama operatives,of course. The caterwauling of the Dem Media is epic already,by summer they’ll be out of fresh Hitler invectives.
I think you guys are reading way too much into Sessions recusing himself. He was going to do that anyway. The Left knew it so they made a big stink so they could claim to have forced it on him, but that’s all bullshit. Sessions was never going to get that tar baby on him. It is not the hill to die on.
re: “I’m hoping AG Sessions unleashes the Hounds of Hell on every front.” Nori
The way Sessions caved last week demonstrates he has no fight in him, I fear. Why, oh why, did not Trump select an attorney general who possesses Fire In His Belly and not Sessions who has the earmarks of a Milquetoast.
Dan Kurt
It actually makes things easier for Sessions because now he can ignore questions about it, the crisis goes away (the Left has now moved on to some sort of “financial disclosure” wrt Sessions, so the Russia thing is now off his plate).
Illegal immigration law enforcement is why Sessions got hired. And I guess we can add to his job jar: find out who authorized continuing wire taps against the Trump campaign and pre-inauguration team. And, finding out if those wire taps continued into his administration in the White House.
I’m hoping that the real reason Sessions recused himself from the stupid, time-wasting Russia silliness is so that he could devote all his time and energy to building cases against and bringing down the Washington elite pedophile rings.
The recusal leaves Sessions free to fight on other fronts without looking like he’s seeking out reprisals.
I prefer the biblical example. In the times of the judges when “every man did what was right in his own eyes,” when the people would fall into great oppression, God would raise up judges like Samson to deliver his people, and Jehu somewhat fits our situation. God commanded Jehu to destroy the family of Ahab, and in the middle of his grisly task, as he approached in the distance, the watchmen reported: “and the driving is like the driving of Jehu the son of Nimshi; for he driveth furiously. (2 Ki. 9:20 ASV),” “And when Jehu was come to… Read more »
To all those IDIOTS who claimed TRUMP had “No political experience: I’ve been saying since Day One of the Republican primary campaign:
Trump learned more about politics on his first real estate building development in NYC, than all his opponents combined in all their years of “politics.” When its your skin in the game, you pay very close attention to the political details!!!
Per the British tabloids through Drudge, Trump had a busy weekend dressing down Bannon and Prebius. So The Donald is the force here, not anyone else. He is the guy that makes it all happen. I am encouraged, he is doubling down again, no matter who needs to be shaken up.
Also it looks like training cameras on the Oval Office is done now. Things are about to get much more interesting…
In other words, Trumo is saying no more mister nice guy, bring it on!
Bare with me guys. Z, so I read that DalyKox mule anaolgy. In May of last year they mention defeating him. The comments are closed, but what a tidbit I found there. One guy was prescient : ” Visceral May 13 · 08:57:16 AM I would be wary of this analogy. From what I know of Trump’s supporters, they’d welcome the idea that Trump is the Mule, while regarding any real-life equivalent to psychohistory, Hari Seldon and his Foundations, and their Plan as exactly the kind of vast, pervasive, but impossibly subtle “elite” conspiracies that supposedly shape every aspect of… Read more »
I wish we could repost comments to the top. I’d do that in this case.
Vote it up and sort on most voted
Your the first person I’ve heard mention “the Mule”. I’ve been thinking of him in that way for a long time. I really liked that book.
I often wonder if Trump is super competent and thinking three steps ahead of his enemies or…is he just lucky? Don’t snicker at luck the ancients held Men with luck in great regard.
This was a plot feature in the HBO Rome series but it really existed to our forefathers.
Agree, and too… really.. Trump is blessed by his enemies. The political class really isn’t that clever. VDH’s recent “elite” column comes to mind too. We’re witnessing what happens when a business person goes to DC. I wish him well. He’ll either be victorious, or destroyed. No middle ground in this.
“We’ll either be victorious, or destroyed.”
FIFY
The Ancients recognized LUCK happens when “preparation meets opportunity!”
Ain’t nobody MORE PREPARED than POTUS DJT!
Using Asimov’s “the Mule”, great analogy.
I thought it was a Larry Niven analogy at first and was ready to get my geek on.
Reading this article and everyone’s comments is almost as exciting as waking up on November 9, 2016, to learn that DJT was elected President!!
The Zman has put forth a new “Unified Field Theory”!! ‘Destroyer of Worlds’, from the original Sanskrit, is of course how Robert Oppenheimer described himself and what he did in developing the atomic bomb. He got cold feet along with some others when they learned that the US was going to use it against Japan, not Germany, and ended up losing his security clearance. An early case of Russian hacking;-)
Oddly enough, I just finished re-reading the entire Foundation series, all 7 books, some not so good.
Tales of the third world……
From everything I have seen and read lately, the American political landscape has turned from a two-party system of Democrats and Republicans, into a two-party system of Pro- and Anti-Trump. This is a first! Even Mr. Obama was unable to create such disparity which polarized both parties against one person. To consider the Russians as the “bad guys” is to dig so deeply into what I would call the “Vault of Villains” that it is laughable. I keep waiting for someone to say that Trump wants “…sharks with frickin’ laser beams attached to their heads”. It’s that ridiculous.
Substitute “establishment” or “elite” for Trump and you are correct.
“If Donald Trump did not exist, something like him would have had to be invented.” – VDH
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2017/03/02/is_the_american_elite_really_elite_133228.html
Pretty much. In reality, we had a mono-party for a long time. It had two faces, but one brain. Parliamentary systems abhor such arrangements so we are seeing a second party emerge.
My first, visceral reaction to your last line was : Fukkin – A !!
My 2nd thought : From your lips to God’s ears!
I want to see Samson pull down the pillars of the temple.
More than that – I want to help!
Question is: Do you do it with signs? Or something more metallic and substantial???
My first thoughts as well. May it prove to be so.
Your best column in months. You’ve been using the Mule description for almost as long as Trump has been running way back in mid-2015. What is going to be very fun to watch is whether Trump’s allegations that Trump Tower was wire tapped hold up. If reporting is accurate about the FISA court rulings in June and October, then there are some very powerful people who have a lot to lose. So, you’ll see them switch tactics. “We had no choice but to bug Trump,” will be the fallback position. Hence Obama’s non-denial, denials, over the weekend. They left themselves… Read more »
>> The problem the Obama DOJ has is that it is now the Trump DOJ At this point in time, this statement is absolutely not correct. This was the entire thrust of my comments on the previous post. You seem not to be grasping the way the DoJ works. To be clear, Sessions has recused himself on any investigation related to whether the Trump campaign had communication with the Russians. Since Sessions has recused himself, the sole responsibility for the decision regarding whether to appoint a Special Prosecutor falls to Acting Deputy Attorney General Dana Boente, an Obama appointee. It… Read more »
The DOJ cannot appoint a special prosecutor. That’s not how it works.
Beware of the paranoid rantings from many on the Right. It’s just attention whoring.
Zman, that’s not correct. A special prosecutor may be appointed by the Attorney General or by Congress. This article does a good job of explaining how a special prosecutor can be appointed: http://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-special-prosecutor-trump-russia-jeff-sessions-congress-2017-2 With Sessions’ decision to recuse, authority falls to Acting Deputy AG Boente, as described in my comment above. I don’t disagree with your previous comment that Sessions would have eventually recused himself. Had he simply waited until Rosenstein was confirmed this whole debacle would have been a non-issue. Instead, Sessions recusal just handed the Democrats precisely the leverage they need to get a special prosecutor appointed, either… Read more »
Guest, I am thinking that is exactly why Trump went nuclear Saturday morning. The Donks and the deepstate have NOTHING to gain now by a SP. A SP, even appt’d by Boente, would be inherently political now… and good luck avoiding the elephant in the room… FISA tap or was it? Etc. Trump called their bluff. We’re in uncharted waters as far as political gamesmanship in DC goes. High stakes; first time EVER. Trump threw a wrench into conventional political warfare. Heh.
I agree re: Trump going nuclear and uncharted waters. My only response otherwise is: when have modern Democrats ever cared about subverting the judicial process by being inherent political? Acting Deputy AG Boente is not a democratic party operative and I don’t think he will take the bait, but I could be wrong. I believe Rosenstein will have to commit on the stand to appoint a special prosecutor, and he will do so. Look at the smirk on Schumer’s face. It’s the same smirk he wore when he convinced idiot Rubio to support comprehensive immigration reform, thereby ruining his political… Read more »
They have a hand. You make it sound like they have the whole deck.
The evidence is compelling. We know someone from the government or a government was listening to Flynn and then distributing that information to the press. The list of people able to listen to a Russian ambassador’s phone is very small.
Not just that, but the fact that they picked Flynn out of what is probably a whole lot of wire taps. That means they were looking for people, particularly considering the way it was leaked. Nothing illegal happened, but they collected intelligence of a Trump guy on the phone with a Russian guy, and knew the media would run with it. The quote from Ben Rhodes (one of Obama’s flacks) is telling, “No President can order a wiretap. Those restrictions were put in place to protect citizens from people like you.” That potentially tells us three things: That they considered… Read more »
Never write when you can call. Never call when you can meet.
Never talk when you can nod.
My hunch is that the Dems were so sure Hillary was going to win they started acting as if it had happened. They stopped wondering if anyone would find out what they were doing, because they just assumed Team Clinton would be in for eight years. The assault on Trump with the Russian stuff was intended to be a warning, but may have backfired.
I think that is exactly right. They expected to be able to make all these little problems “go away”. With Clinton in the WH, maybe some of this stuff leaks out, but Clinton just declares executive privilege, and everybody takes the 5th.
Awesome post. Dead on. Sharing broadly today.
Trump’s idea that gov’t agencies will self-police to reduce the bloat is pure fantasy, so much so that I wonder who fed it to him.