We might get the Mueller Report one day, but so far all we can work with is Attorney General William Barr’s four-page letter. As analysts spend time parsing the letter, the stranger it seems.
Amid the Mueller/Barr news, the story of Trump’s nomination of Stephen Moore to be a governor of the U.S. Federal Reserve is getting buried. This is a shame since this is a hugely consequential position, one of the most important appointments a president can make. Also, Moore is ridiculously unfit for the job.
I been trying to place the fallout from the Mueller Report in larger historical perspective. These tweets by Dave Weigel of The Washington Post has been clarifying:
I’ve thought for a long time that the working template for presidential scandals is not Watergate, but Iran Contra. Protect the president at all costs, and go to the base to say it’s a witch hunt. Worked for Bill Clinton eventually, too.
— Dave Weigel (@daveweigel) March 25, 2019
Watergate, not Iran/Contra: that is to say a President having to resign from scandals is very rare (it’s only happened once). More common is for a president’s underlings and associates to take the fall, sometimes to be rewarded later with a pardon.
The Nixon Foundation has announced the death of Fred Malek, former personnel director in the Nixon White House.
Fred Malek, dedicated public servant, counselor to presidents, and decisive, inspirational leader passed away yesterday at 82.
Statement from the Nixon daughters: https://t.co/j4oEShHOQw pic.twitter.com/1lggmmkM8K
— Nixon Foundation (@nixonfoundation) March 25, 2019
The man who self-interestedly objected to President Obama sounding the alarm on Russian meddling during the 2016 election is now blaming President Obama for not doing more to counter the meddling.
Part of the sadness of Donald Trump is that even in moments of triumph he can’t enjoy himself. This was true after his victory in 2016 and it’s true now. Instead of basking in vindication, he’s become even more vindictive.
Newly emboldened by the end of the Mueller investigation and claiming vindication, Donald Trump is returning to an ambitious policy goal that he had previously been defeated at: completely eliminating the Affordable Care Act. This is something that Trump failed to do even when Republicans had control of both houses of congress. But now the Trump Administration hopes to achieve this goal via the courts.
One of the difficulties in covering the Trump administration, which the media has yet to solve, is that it is breathtakingly mendacious and constantly willing to make up stories out of whole cloth. Here’s an example which got lost amid the Mueller news: outright fabrication about a failed attempt by Trump to unilaterally change policy on North Korean sanctions.
Mike Lee takes Senatorial iconology to a new level:
WATCH: Sen. Mike Lee uses Reagan, a machine gun, and a velociraptor to argue against @AOC's Green New Deal https://t.co/q30t3Johaq pic.twitter.com/hluEacyvNE
— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) March 26, 2019