GOP Has A Choice: Fight Anti-Trump Coup Effort Or Surrender Government To Democrats

[OldBrownsFan]

GOP Has A Choice: Fight Anti-Trump Coup Effort Or Surrender Government To Democrats

Lay Down or Fight

Republicans have two choices for how to handle the Resistance’s latest attempt to undo the 2016 election through dramatic means. They can sit there and take it, or they can fight it.

Some Republicans can be counted on to sit there and take it. This approach entails allowing Democrats to hold secret hearings where they handpick snippets to leak to a compliant media in service of setting a narrative. After the leaks are published by the compliant corporate press, these Republicans can impotently push back on some of it.

The other approach is to learn something from the previous few years. Trump’s surprising election was followed by attempts to delegitimize the Republican victory in 2016 by claiming it was due to “fake news,” desperate efforts to overturn the Electoral College, anti-Trump riots in Portland and D.C., the Clinton-directed claims that Russia “hacked” the election, the Russia collusion conspiracy theory, the release of the completely ridiculous dossier alleging that Trump was a Russian agent, the whisper campaign that the truth of Trump’s collusion was so bad that he might not be inaugurated. Yes, all this was before the inauguration.

Within minutes of the inauguration, the Washington Post published that the “campaign to impeach President Trump has begun.” The primary impeachment effort was the Russia collusion hoax, in which the Resistance embraced — or pretended to believe — a patently absurd theory that Trump is a secret Russian agent who stole the 2016 election in a brazen act of sedition.

Corporate media outlets published and broadcast story after story supporting this theory, which was later shown to have been invented and secretly funded as a Clinton campaign operation alongside the Democratic National Committee. Foreign policy was put on hold, key administration advisors were fired and sidelined, investigations into whether former Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions was a Russian spy were launched. Following the firing of the mendacious and corrupt James Comey as FBI director, the Resistance forced the launch of an intrusive and unstoppable special counsel probe, ostensibly headed by Robert Mueller.

Years later — after the special counsel had stymied the Trump administration, fed the collusion conspiracy theory, rung up Trump associates for process crimes, and destroyed the lives and bank accounts of many Trump associates — the probe ended with not a single American, much less a single American tied to the Trump campaign, much less Trump himself, found to have colluded with Russia.

Just Keep Throwing Crap Until Something Sticks

So then the goalposts moved once again. The argument went that Trump, by being upset that he was falsely accused of being a traitor who stole the 2016 election by colluding with Russia, might have “obstructed justice.” Team Mueller couldn’t say, exactly. A report — clearly designed to be an impeachment report — was transmitted to Congress to get things going.

But then Mueller testified before Congress and demonstrated that he had very little understanding of the probe that bore his name. Mueller’s role had been used by the Resistance to silence any criticism of the probe or the Russia collusion theory in general. As soon as it was obvious to the world that he had not really participated in the probe so much as been its titular head, the goalposts moved again.

Following a few returning visits to the 25th Amendment fever swamps, where Resistance members fantasize that they could get Trump’s cabinet to undo the 2016 election, or speculation that Trump might resign, they have landed on something something Ukraine.

Corporate media is trying to spin the Ukraine story as if it is something other than what it is. As if it were legitimate and quickly moving. Mike Allen of Axios opined of impeachment that “It’s remarkable how fast it has gotten off the ground. You can see how quickly the Ukraine phone call came out of nowhere to become the all-consuming impeachment topic — way faster than the impeachment inquiries into Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton.”

Yes, this is a really good talking point if you ignore literally everything that has happened since November 8, 2016.

Again Republicans can either follow the Resistance, including Democrats and their corporate media supporters, or they can choose not acquiesce to the latest efforts to undo the 2016 election but somehow fight them.

Just as in 2000, the media screeching over Rep. Matt Gaetz and his colleagues fighting the secret efforts — which are literally being led by a man who lied to the public for years, falsely claiming he held evidence of Trump’s treasonous collusion with Russia to steal the 2016 election — is not an objection to what Gaetz and his colleagues did but anger that some Republicans have the audacity to fight back against what Democrats and the corporate media are doing. Complaints about decorum and process in 2000 were likewise complaints that Republicans weren’t sitting there and allowing Democrats to steal an election George W. Bush had rightfully won.

Using Bureaucracy to Overturn Elections Is Dangerous

Efforts to steal an election in 2000 or overturn one from 2016 should be met not with passive compliance but a righteous defense of the ballot box. And the Resistance members, whether in the bureaucracy, Congress, media, or the NeverTrump movement, need to know that they are playing with fire by trying to get around the ballot box.

Despite the belief of many career bureaucrats that elected political leadership works for them, our system is built on the idea that the permanent bureaucracy, such as it exists, works for the elected leadership, which in turn works for and represents the American public. While it is tempting to look at the three-year-long temper tantrum from the Resistance as being entirely about Trump, it’s about something much bigger. It is about whether our elected government serves the people or whether it exists to do the bidding of an unelected cabal of unelected, taxpayer-funded bureaucrats and smug partisans of the corporate media.

At some point it won’t just be marches on Capitol Hill from a few Republican congressmen that the Resistance will have to deal with. It is unclear what the proper reaction to an unrelenting campaign to overturn the result of the 2016 election should be exactly, but they should stop expecting people to be as polite as they have been in response.

What we are facing now is not partisan warfare, it’s not a mystery novel, it’s not politics-as-usual. We are facing an attempt to tear down the foundations of our republic by corrupt, unelected bureaucrats who have decided the will of voters is subordinate to their will to power. It represents a fatal threat to our system of government, and if this coup succeeds — whether through impeachment proceedings, or through an election that (if the last three years are any indication) the other side is clearly willing to steal by hook or by crook — the nation will cease to be a constitutional, democratic republic.

This isn’t about Trump, or Republicans, or conservatives. It is about Washington needing to learn that political differences have to be settled at the ballot box lest they instead be settled with an undermining of our constitutional norms and institutions.

Mollie Ziegler Hemingway is a senior editor at The Federalist. She is Senior Journalism Fellow at Hillsdale College and a Fox News contributor. Follow her on Twitter at @mzhemingway

Photo Scott Thurman / Twitter

[calfoxwc]

I've said half our gov, the dangerously corrupt half, is at war with the good half.Mostly, un-elected arrogant power players/wealth makers are the deep state. The deep state  just grows over decades. They tell themselves they are protected our Constution, etc.

But they are really only perpetrating their own power. And any threat to their continued power...is the enemy. They will manipulate who gets on the Supreme Court if they can, who gets to run for president...who rises in the ranks of our fed government...

  There was a show on TV - "Shooter". who knew one of the "deep state" when they were both in the service. On the show - they called it "Atlas" ... a secret organization that RAN our gov. In the end, they had to murder some people who were a threat to their existence.

The show was cancelled. But Atlas? was similar to the current deep state, except right now, it's only character assassinations and set up frames for crimes that were never committed.

and the show has been cancelled. go figure... The GOP had better get tough and fight all this corruption, or we lose our country, our freedoms, honest elections, Constitution/Bill of Rights, ...

   I mean, you listen to the sick arrogance of the likes of strzok, page, brennan, comey, rice, holder, obamao, the list keeps growing...

look at the weird arrogant look of strzok when he testified. He looked like Jack Nicholson in "The Shining" because he knows he is far from being alone.

So much dangerous corruption. Honest judges and the GOP are the only fighters in the AMERICAN half of this battle for power and wealth ...globally - as the deep state would have it.

 

[OldBrownsFan]

Michael Goodwin: Why are Democrats acting like they have something to hide?

With no end in sight to the madness gripping Washington, it is wise to seize on any possible sign of humor to brighten the day. In that spirit, a statement by Reps. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., qualifies as the mood booster of the week.

Responding to reports that Attorney General William Barr’s investigation into the 2016 spying on Donald Trump’s campaign is now a criminal probe, Schiff and Nad­ler laid down their thumbscrews and emerged from their impeachment dungeon to express outrage. In unison, the twin Trump tormentors declared that partisanship has infected the Justice Department and “the rule of law will suffer new and irreparable damage.”

Despite stiff competition from two centuries of congressional hypocrisy, that is a first-rate howler. If you can’t laugh at Schiff and Nad­ler accusing anyone else of damaging the rule of law for partisan purposes, you don’t have a sense of humor.

 

They have violated every historic precedent, not to mention simple decency, by conducting their impeachment probe in a secret star chamber. They leak juicy fragments to the media echo chamber, which would be a federal crime for real prosecutors.

Then they squeal and gnash their teeth when the worm starts to turn. Come on, people, this is hilarious!

Finally and thankfully, the other side of the story is about to be ­revealed.

Barr’s decision means US Attorney John Durham, after months of interviews, believes crimes were committed by government officials during and/or after their probe of Trump’s campaign. The designation gives Durham the power to empanel grand juries, issue subpoenas for testimony and documents and send target letters to potential suspects.

“It’s all the stuff that scares the crap out of people,” a former prosecutor told me. As for the significance, he put it this way: “We may find out that the people entrusted with our most sacred powers are criminals themselves.”

Possible charges could include perjury and illegal wiretapping, and the public is likely to learn more very soon about where Durham is going. The separate report from the Justice Department’s inspector general on how the government secured the suspect wiretapping warrants on Carter Page is almost ready for release and any criminal referrals in it would be made to Durham. Although there is no certainty, logic suggests that Barr authorized the switch to a criminal probe because there are, in fact, prosecution referrals in the IG report.

In addition to the review of the wiretapping issue, Barr and Durham also interviewed foreign intelligence officials who may have been recruited by the Obama administration to meddle in the campaign and help spy on Trump.

The New York Times, CNN and the rest of the Democratic propaganda outlets are furious that the public may finally learn the whole sordid story about one of the most disgraceful episodes in presidential history.

And so they have joined forces with Comey, Brennan, Clapper, Schiff, Nadler and Pelosi in attacking Barr for daring to hunt for the truth. In effect, the left-wing media, instead of leading the search for truth, has become the errand boys of those trying to hide it.

This is the ultimate irrationality of the anti-Trump zealots, in and out of the media. Their hatred for him has distorted their judgment so much that they are willing to help cover up potential crimes and turn Barr into a villain for seeking to enforce the law against corrupt officials.

SEE ALSO

 

Justice Department review of Russia probe is now a criminal probe

Of course, this is the same corrupt alliance that sold Russia, Russia, Russia as the crime of the century before it was exposed as much ado about almost nothing. Now they tell us never mind Russia, Ukraine, Ukraine, Ukraine is the crime of the century and Trump must be removed immediately.

What if it’s all a head fake? What if the Russia-collusion narrative was created by the FBI and CIA to steal the election? What if Ukraine is the same thing by ­another name with a separate group of rogue agents?

The mere possibility that “yes” is the answer to any of those questions should shake every American to the core.

Remember, too, that none of this would have come to light if Hillary Clinton had been elected.

Indeed, the assumption that she was a sure thing for the Oval ­Office helps explain the arrogance of the plotters. They thought they were immune from suspicion and, ultimately, above the law.

In that case, it is worth repeating again Sen. Chuck Schumer’s infamous warning to Trump: “You take on the intelligence community, they have six ways from Sunday at getting back at you.”

Pay attention. The curtain on the real crime of the century is about to be lifted.

https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/michael-goodwin-democrats-acting-like-they-have-something-hide