— Feature, Musings —09.06.2018 07:40 AM
The White House resister’s tale has saved thousands of jobs in Canada. Here’s why.
The I AM PART OF THE RESISTANCE INSIDE THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION story was shocking for this reason: it details a high-level mutiny against a sitting President of the United States. It describes what can only be fairly regarded as a constitutional crisis, one that will shake the world’s most powerful democracy to its foundations.
As a leak of Bob Woodward’s book Fear detailed the day before the resister’s tale was told, senior officials are now actively and regularly bypassing and overruling the decisions of the President. They are even snatching documents off the top of his desk in the Oval Office, so he doesn’t see them.
The ramifications of the New York Times’ bombshell will be felt beyond the United States. With the mid-terms just weeks away, with the Democrats maintaining a double-digit lead over Republicans, and with the Trump Administration falling apart at the seams, the resistance story will oblige Donald Trump to mostly give Canada what it wants in the byzantine NAFTA negotiations.
Ten days ago, Donald Trump was promising to exclude Canada from a trade deal, and mocking us. Ten days later – and after the revelation in Woodward’s book, and the Times’ account of the resister’s palace coup – Trump cannot afford to lose the few Republican allies he has left in Congress.
`The moment that leak was published, Canada’s trade ambitions were rescued.
“Now Trump HAS to do the reasonable thing” is not a prediction that’s worked out before. Not that I don’t agree with you. But if Trump’s brain worked like that… he wouldn’t be Trump.
Exactly. Besides which, his core supporters consistently want him to do the most obnoxious, belligerent thing possible at all times. A cursory look at any comment thread on Breitbart demonstrates that in spades.
Donald Trump is horrid in every possible measure, as a leader, as a person, as a human being.
But I cannot support a person or a group of unelected persons deciding for themselves what actions of the president, no matter how awful, they will or will not implement.
If they disagree with him that strongly, that’s what the 25th amendment is for. And they should have the guts to invoke it.
Otherwise, there isn’t anyone in charge, even nominally.
I partly agree with you, I loathe Trump but I don’t like some of the implications of that editorial. It also perfectly feeds into the Deep State narrative that Breitbart and the most hard-core Trump cultists have been going on about. In that sense, I don’t see how it necessarily helps out the reasonable anti-Trump cause.
Seems to me to be a demonstration of the fact that just because you can do something (in this case publish a scathing anonymous anti-Trump op-ed piece) doesn’t mean you should do it.
As you’ve said many times, Trudeau is the luckiest PM ever!
I’m thinking this memo might help Trump in the coming mid terms.
Could fire up his base to get out and vote allowing Republicans in close races to keep or pick up seats.
You have to ask yourself “who benefits?” when you read something like this, don’t you?
My first thought was that the story sounded like a complete fabrication (hey, it’s the New York Times…they’ve done it before). Just in time for Woodward’s book to end up on that bestseller list…what was the name of that, again? Oh yeah…the NEW YORK TIMES bestseller list, that was it. Coincidental, I’m sure.
Second thought was wow, that sure sounds like treason to me (the real kind, not the “too friendly with Vladimir Putin” kind). Who would ever admit to that, anonymously or otherwise?
That brought me to my third question on this: why are you now “outing” yourself if you’re a member of The Resistance? You’ve announced yourself and detailed your actions opposing Donald Trump…but now you *can’t do it anymore* because he’ll have hidden cameras everywhere and polygraph tests and private detectives following people and ‘bait’ documents and whatever else he can think of. You haven’t been caught and until now no one even knew you existed, but you’re throwing all that away to write an anonymous editorial and brag about the actions you were once able to take, and in doing so ensure that you can no longer get away with it? You were once able to sabotage the current occupant of the White House at will, but now you can’t…and you’re telling us this now because?….
(because you’re actually working *for* Donald Trump on this little ‘false flag’ operation, to boost his support ahead of the midterms?)
Sorry, not buying any of this. Doesn’t make any sense to me. I need a logical, reasonable explanation for this behavior and I’m just not seeing it here.
Some interesting new reporting by CNN about the South Korea trade document the Woodward reported offials pulled off Trumps desk before he saw it.
They obtained a copy of the letter which basically terminates a trade deal with South Korea, which would or at least could have affected national security.
His international trade advisor and someone else pulled the letter off his desk because, obviously they were very concerned about it’s contents and possible fall out, but also because they had no idea how the letter made it to or who put it on Trumps desk.
This raises another question for me…
Just who is putting these potentially dangerous documents on the Oval Office desk daring Trump to step off the cliff or do some permanent damage?
It’s like a game of chicken going on at the highest level of free world power.
That occurred to me too.
Is it Trump who ordered the letter be prepared as some kind of bargaining chip with South Korea?
Is it someone in the “steady state” trying to build a cache of evidence that Trump is doing things against the USA’s national security intrests?
Or is it someone who knows Trump doesn’t bother reading what he’s signing (or does read it but doesn’t understand what it’s saying) who will one day use it to try and blackmail him.
Who is Stephen Miller for 100, Alex?
I think the Republicans are done with Trump now that they have everything they wanted assuming Kavanaugh is confirmed. It’s Pence time and they want their pound of flesh in place for 2020 because at the rate he’s going Trump will be doa by then and…
Is it me or is Trump looking more and more like Alec Baldwin with every passing day.
I disagree. There is plenty left to be done that the GOP will back trump on if he can help deliver it:
Immigration reform
Second stage of tax cuts/reform
Many more lower court judges
One or two more possible scotus appointments
Healthcare reform
It is highly possible that the GOP senate majority grows by up to five more rendering cinos like murkowski and Collins unnecessary. IF the GOP holds the house these and many more items can be accomplished.
All these things would be easier to do under Pence.
Regarding the Midterms: While the Midterms are looking good, the polls could be very wrong. Sample size etc. Also, Trump supporters are actively withholding their voting preferences in polling, again…but in greater numbers. Polling companies unable to adjust financially and hope that accuracy will “regress to the mean.”
Regarding Trade: Trudeau said months ago that NAFTA was about to be signed. Bilateral agreement was what I predicted 12 months ago. Looks more likely. Remember FTA is underneath NAFTA as a failsafe, ie bilateral agreement slots in.
Regarding No Support in Congress: that’s true and then not true at the same time. Trump is in a bind, he can intensify the partisanship and gamble on a win in November or sow the seeds for an escape route that Congress was is no on his side anyway; and wrangle with both sides. Although that didn’t work with the gun debate cabinet meeting in March: no results.
Harry,
Unless Chapter 19 and supply management are gone, Trump ain’t signing no NAFTA or bilateral.
Some reporting has it that they might settle for 10% American dairy sales up from the current 5%. If I was Trump I wouldn’t settle for that but we will see…
Much smarter people than I will ever be are betting the op ed was written by none other than Kelly-Anne Conway. Yup, I had the same reaction but I read the piece again and I can see it. The feminine slant and choice of words is pure Conway. And who would be better at shoving in a shiv far enough to get the job done but not so deep (anonymous) as to threaten her future prospects. Great way to leave a sinking ship.
The more I think about it the more it makes sense. Hmmmmmm
Pierre,
Ask yourself who in that administration holds the Times in as high a regard as Warren does? I also think it’s a woman, like Caputo does.
My money is on Jim gerahtys pick: Jon Huntsman.
Russian ambassador NOT part of trump team etc.
Gord,
You don’t find him a bit afield for that?
from an American friend.
you know you’re too deep into politics when someone asks you the time and you answer “quarter to Rachel” or “half past Hannity.”
Just curious warren, how optimistic were you two months out from 11/9/16 that HRC was going to win in a romp?
In today’s political environment 60 days is several political lifetimes.
And confidence in polls are deservedly at historic lows.
Two cards that the president hasn’t played recently are the Wall and Pelosi. And there are other winners.
Meanwhile the Dems are following the Palestinian model of never missing an opportunity to miss an opportunity- nominating candidates to the left of Eleanor Roosevelt (heck to the left of dalton trumbo and Alger hiss…).
The Wall is not really a winner of an issue for Trump. Immigration policy, played properly, is a winner — in the sense that the Democrats have let the Republicans paint the Democrats as the party in favour of illegal immigration. That abolish ICE thing is just plain idiotic, in terms of turning off moderate and swing voters.
Even msm pollsters say a majority support it https://abcstlouis.com/news/nation-world/cbs-poll-51-of-americans-support-building-or-trying-to-build-border-wall
Trump puts the left in a bind by making it conditional on a dreamer deal and blocks government spending authorizations and he calls the tune. A the support for a Wall is higher in purple states than national polling.
Doc,
ICE needs to be strengthened first and reformed second. Enlightened lights in the Democratic Party already know that. (We’re not talking the Sanders wing here.)
Gord,
The wall is a non-starter. Both Democrats and Republicans reject full funding. No one raises the bucks like Pelosi but she will be made to understand that the mantle passing time is now. Capiche, Nancy?
Pelosi is the best fundraiser the GOP has ever had.
If the government doesn’t get funding and DACA doesn’t get addressed if Americans don’t get their border secured with physical barriers costing and estimated 15 billion over four or five years – a relative pittance – I think the Congress would vote for it.
I wouldn’t get too excited based on polls with these sorts of response rates.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/upshot/elections-polls.html
Here is a great article about how corruption begets corruption.
Pet Theory. I don’t think the “Senior Administration Official” is in the cabinet and I think the phrase is a smokescreen to protect the identity of someone close enough to be privy to such high level hand-holding. So my two guesses, if you could bet on such things, is that it is either Sarah Huckabee Sanders or Kellyanne Conway.
CNN has a talley of who have publicly denied they wrote the op-ed.
Kellyanne Conway is not among them. Neither is Ivanka Trump. Nor is Jared Kushner.
And Trump should remember on thing – Mark Felt denied publicly denied being Deep Throat for 30 years until he finally admitted it in 2005.
Bingo:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6144837/Trump-says-use-MILITARY-build-wall-Congress-wont-fund-DHS.html