Tuesday, December 5, 2017

The Winds are Shifting

During a hot week in summer it can often feel like reprieve from the cruel heat is just a fantasy. The weather forecasts say a cold front is due in. And then you feel it. A sudden uptick in the breeze that rustles the leaves and feels slightly cooler than it should be. It doesn't seem like much, but it's the first sign of what's to come: an intense storm followed by more pleasant weather.

The political world feels like that today. CNBC ran an article calling out all the media for being anti-Trumpers who are out to harm the president however they can. Some newspapers are calling for an end to the Mueller investigation, even the Washington Post! Granted, it was an opinion piece by one of their token quasi-conservatives, not an editorial, but still, that article couldn't have been printed a week ago. Not even two days ago. Something has changed.

No one has been sure what to expect from the Mueller fishing expedition. Theories have run rampant on both sides. On the right we hear nothing will be found, or they'll offer up a couple sacrificial pawns on both sides and move on, or that Mueller is "our guy" and the whole thing is a clever trap to prosecute Democrats, or that the whole thing is a coup and they'll find anyway to ring Team Trump up on bogus charges or so-called "process crimes." The last item is probably the most true, but the coup seems to have landed with a thud. And the blundering media has, as always, found a way to turn a minor victory into a stinging defeat. It should have been a nice trophy. They got one of Trump's guys. But then ABC ran with the bogus claim that Flynn had pled guilty to lying about Russian communications before the election. Suddenly this wasn't just a pawn, but proof of the collusion narrative! The media latched onto the story with a frenzy, the stock market took a massive dive. This was HUGE NEWS! The left-wing talking heads were giddy with euphoria. Finally, what they've been saying is proven true, and Trump is finished!!

Then ABC was forced to issue a "clarification." Actually, it wasn't proof of collusion. The crime was for neglecting to inform the FBI about perfectly legitimate actions of an incoming administration. This was barely even in the ballpark of what the Mueller team set out to investigate. Suddenly their big victory was just an Obama political appointee pleading to a minor charge after likely being caught in a perjury trap, for actions we've known about for many months. Had the media kept it's pants on the event could have been a nice bump for left-wing enthusiasm. Instead it became a depressing setback. Sometimes you almost have to wonder if these hysterical pundits aren't working for Trump the whole time. The left was taken to a soaring high and then swiftly brought crashing back to reality. What a beautiful thing to behold!

And the reality is this: the Flynn indictment is a strong indication that there is nothing in the realm of collusion, or any major found wrongdoings. It's just too far off the path of inquiry. Trump is surely safe. But the conspirators may not be. Attempting a coup is always dangerous, and the sheer magnitude of the deep-state machinations to remove the head of state say a lot. Why are they so afraid of Trump? We've grown pretty pessimistic at the notion that Democrat criminals will ever face justice. I'd say now is the time to dial that pessimism back a notch, or even two. The coup is up, and even Washington Post readers are being told it was all a big scam. People like McCabe are in the hot seat now, not Trump. Will we see actual prosecutions of deep state operatives as this fizzles out? I predict we will. Trump has shown great determination to keep his campaign promises lately. I think he'll go after them if the evidence is there (and surely it is). Trump is not a pushover. He's not operating from the beltway playbook; he's channeling the Art of War. (He actually tweeted some Sun Tzu quotes a few years ago.) If Trump is the political jiu jitsu master we suspect he is, there will be brutal retribution. You don't lure your enemy into a vulnerable position and then decline to counterattack. He has every reason to do so. Out of strategic pragmatism. For personal vengeance. To set an example to future foes. To deal the left so many punishing losses that they lose their will to fight. Oh, and look at what the left's response has been. To instead direct their rage towards the tax cut bills. Focusing on another major political defeat! Are you happy with your president yet?

There is still the open question of why the hell Flynn perjured himself to begin with. As before, theories run rampant. The left suspects there must be sinister motives. The right suspects he was caught in a perjury trap. But if he was, why plead guilty? If it was an honest omission then he'd likely prevail in court. The prosecution must prove willful intent to mislead. (And we know how those intent things can go.) Trump must have thought he lied too, since Flynn was fired. So what's going on? Some are saying the whole thing was a ruse, and Flynn was the bait. Now his NDA is lifted and he is free to talk about other crimes committed. But that doesn't hold water. You don't plead guilty to perjury to place yourself as a key witness, because your testimony then carries little credibility. It's certainly strange.

What's more clear is how ridiculous the situation was that put Flynn in a perjury situation to begin with. The FBI interviewed Flynn a mere four days after assuming office, and then compared that to his communications to prove he wasn't be completely forth rite. Well, why was Flynn being interviewed by the FBI, and how did they have record of his communications? The answer to both questions: the piss-gate dossier, the expose of absurdity that just won't die already! The dossier (as well as constant howling by the DNC and the media) were used to justify FISA warrants against the Trump team for alleged collusion and then to justify the special counsel. What a position! You can spy on your opponent, grill him over the his recorded activities, and then prosecute for any discrepancies. It's called a perjury trap because you could prosecute just about anyone this way. But in this case they were using the foreign intelligence powers of the state to attempt to unseat the elected president. Now that sounds like a coup to me! I think they genuinely believed they'd find something to hang Trump with if they could just get the surveillance. Establishment hacks naturally assuming their political opponent is a rampant criminal just sounds like petty projection. I believe Sun Tzu said something about not knowing your enemy or yourself.

Yes, the winds are shifting. Trump is carrying on with a lot of vigor and enthusiasm. He doesn't seem subdued by the unfolding events, but pleased that all the pieces are falling into place. The left is nearly out of ammo once the collusion hooey backfires. They'll go back to their old routine of just reacting to everything Trump with ever decreasing rage. And if the Prophesy of the Triggering holds, we'll see more and more start to act as if they had never even been radically anti-Trump at all.

No comments:

Post a Comment