I feel like you guys know me by now, and you know my nature. My nature is cynicism, sarcasm, pessimism and negativity. I can always see the worst case scenario pretty clearly, and in the Age of Bigly, the worst case scenario is often the day-to-day world. So is it weird that my general feeling about this Rod Rosenstein story is just… unfazed? Don’t get me wrong, I can see how this is a big deal. I can see all of the worst case scenarios and I know that if Rod Rosenstein resigns or is pushed out, it will have major repercussions to the Mueller investigation and beyond. But I also just feel like… we’re in too deep. If Rosenstein goes, I actually have optimistic faith that we’ll figure it out?
The Rosenstein mess started last week, when the NY Times published a story about how Deputy AG Rosenstein said some sh-t about the 25th Amendment and how he suggested wearing a wire while he was meeting with Trump. It turns out that the NYT piece was… somewhat false, maybe. Rosenstein was being sarcastic about the wire, and he claims he’s never said anything about the 25th. But that article reminded Trump of how much he hates Rosenstein, and how he (Trump) believes that he could single-handedly shut down Mueller’s investigation. So the rumors started that Rosenstein was going to resign yesterday. Where did they come from? According to Vanity Fair, they came from the Trump administration:
At the beginning of one of the most consequential weeks of Donald Trump’s presidency, an enormous smoke bomb was detonated in the news cycle when Axios, deeply wired in Trump’s West Wing, reported that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein had resigned. Quickly, a head-spinning array of conflicting accounts were put forth: had he been fired? Was he heading to the White House to be fired—or was he going to a regularly scheduled meeting? Finally, Sarah Huckabee Sanders brought a measure of clarity by tweeting that whatever was going to happen to Rosenstein would happen on Thursday, when the president returned from New York.
For all the morning’s madness, there may have been an underlying logic. Over the weekend, as Brett Kavanaugh’s prospects appeared increasingly imperiled, Trump faced two tactical options, both of them fraught. One was to cut Kavanaugh loose. But he was also looking for ways to dramatically shift the news cycle away from his embattled Supreme Court nominee. According to a source briefed on Trump’s thinking, Trump decided that firing Rosenstein would knock Kavanaugh out of the news, potentially saving his nomination and Republicans’ chances for keeping the Senate. “The strategy was to try and do something really big,” the source said. The leak about Rosenstein’s resignation could have been the result, and it certainly had the desired effect of driving Kavanaugh out of the news for a few hours.
Yep, I believe this. The threat of Rosenstein’s dismissal came from Trumpers and the goal was to distract from the Kavanaugh shambles. The problem is that even Deplorables like Sean Hannity know that if Trump does follow through with firing DOJ officials, it will be an even bigger mess and a massive constitutional crisis just weeks before the midterms. All of this – the Kavanaugh mess, the Rosenstein threats – is about the GOP positioning themselves for the midterms according to what their suicidal, ignorant, racist base wants. You want me to look into my crystal ball? I predict that at the end of the week, Rosenstein and Jeff Sessions will still have their jobs and Kavanaugh will be out.
Photos courtesy of Getty.
This wacky White House will use anything as a shiny object to distract
I was thinking last night that two calamities at the same time must mean one is at least somewhat rigged to distract from the other. Then I got confused. I thought both situations were shiny objects and that there is something else entirely that we’re being distracted from.
Could be….
What a mess.
I think this is a good take. I am not confident about Rosenstein keeping his job, but I think he squeaks it out until after the midterms. Trump is so unstable that if he fires him on Thursday I won’t be shocked though. Trump’s a coward though and if they are meeting face to face, I think Rosenstein walks out still employed.
If I had to bet, I’d put my money on Kavanaugh not making it.
The face to face meeting is key. Trump has proven over and over again that he can talk sh%^ all day on Twitter but can’t seem to confront people in person with the same bravado.
I don’t think Kavanaugh himself will back down but my guess is the GOP will pull the plug on him.
I’m waiting to see what Avenatti has. I know the guy is a publicity hound, but he usually has the goods when he says he does. If there truly are gang rapes involved here, and they happened in MD, this guy could end up in jail, not the supreme court. Even if they didn’t happen in MD, he could lose the seat he already holds. But we’ll see.
It worked for about an hour.
Time to come up with a new script twist. Maybe he’ll turn to the family.
Nagini announces she “thinks” she’s pregnant? (Yawn.)
Barron runs away to join protesters?
Orange adopts a pet elephant?
Or dyes his hair bright red to show loyalty to his masters?
Christin this is very funny. It truly is a crazy reality tv show. What a time to be alive.
It worked until the evening news shows. They finally got it and reversed the coverage leading with the Ramirez accusations instead of the Rosenstein potentially firing. Trump always brings firing Rosenstein to scare liberals, same as coming up with a new deadline to meet with Muller to change topics. Fool me once….I bet they were all laughing in the WH!!
Trump is a coward, he would never have the balls to fire anyone in their face. The Ramirez accusation were too raw to lead the morning news and have his Supreme Court nominee survive. That’s another reason for the stand by your man interview on Fox.
The Rosenstein story created a flurry of Maggie Haberman defensive and justification tweets. She even said the reporters had taken over a year to work on it. And then Jonathan Swan, who used to be independent but now is thrilled to be another drump and Don Jr favorite, got into it.
When it was revealed that drump set this up, Maggie lectured Twitter that we need to be more careful about assumptions. What? She is such an officious jerk.
And she ignores legitimate questions about her family’s financial connections to Zero and his clan.
She’s more PR than journalism. NYT and Axios got played with the wire/resignation stories.
It’s possible that the WH ran this story as as a trial balloon. Then they could assess what the response would be if they actually did sack RR.
I’m not worried at all either way. When RR asked Swan Mueller to be SC, the first conversation they had covered the possibility of RR’s demise.
The SC has spread his seeds all over the East Coast and if need be, DEFCON 2 or 1 will be engaged.
Who is throwing the party when Jr is indicted?
@ Eric : Who is throwing a party when Jr is indicted?
I won’t throw a party myself but I will bring nachos to YOUR party as well as some multi-layer dip.
Haha. I’ll bring brownies. I’ll even dance and do karaoke for the first time ever.
“Who is throwing the party when Jr is indicted?”
A group of us in my office have plans to immediately call in sick if this happens and head straight to the nearest pub. I can’t wait.
And we don’t live in the US nor are most of us Americans, for what it’s worth. What I’m saying is: your party just gained an international chapter.
I’m bringing mushrooms and Mario Kart!
I hope you are right, Kaiser!
Isn’t 45 supposed to speak to the UN general Assembly this week? Let’s see what he will say to distract everyone from the turmoil in Washington. Distraction is the key word in this administration and the media falls for it
I don’t think Rosenstein will resign. I think he’ll force Trump to fire him and to test the Vacancies Act re: appointing his successor. My guess is the Trump administration agrees with the general thinking that the Vacancies Act does not allow you to just fire people and then replace them with other senate confirmed people, because I think if they felt differently, the administration (Trump) would have fired Jeff Sessions a long time ago.
I think firing Rosenstein may take enough heat away from Kavanaugh to get him confirmed. Maybe. But then I think it will just be a bigger problem and bigger scandal for Trump, and one that most republicans would prob not want to deal with shortly before the midterms.
As long as Rosenstein is there, with Mueller in place, the Rs can just put their heads down and say the “special counsel is handling it.” IF Rosenstein is fired, and his successor fires Mueller/otherwise ends the investigation, then all the talk about “we don’t need to pass a law protecting Mueller and the SCO because they aren’t in danger” becomes wayyyy more of an issue for the Rs. So I imagine many congressional Republicans are going to put pressure on Trump to keep Rosenstein in place.
I completely agree. Drumpf is stuck between firing him and suffering the consequences or he will come up with some ludicrous lie that RR resigned, but was forced to do so. I am surprised that they have not installed a revolving door at the WH given the firings and the staff quitting.
Another day living in The Twilight Zone.
Rod Rosenstein knows that, as the one who appointed Mueller, he can’t make himself a material witness in the case by wearing a wire in order to collect evidence on Mueller’s behalf. It would be immediate grounds for recusal. It is a dog and pony from Trump to distract from Mueller investigation and Kavanaugh confirmation.
Orange Turd is stupid enough to think that getting rid of RR will just make this all go away. Newsflash: ouster of RR will turn the blue wave into a Tsunami.
Thank you. I appreciate your translations. I’m a sucker sometimes and the dog and pony show can be distracting.
One of the Morning Joe guests pointed it out well. Drumpf is starring in a global tv show, he is the point of attention for billions, and that is exactly what he wants. He’ll yank chains whatever direction he wants so no one find the facts behind the games.
This may sound naive/odd but I think what will ultimately bring down Trump is the non-stop drama. People are sick of it. Even people who are not engaged politically (e.g., busy with work, kids, etc). We’re sick and tired of it. Trump & his minions can try to spin it as the big bad Deep State and “godless” liberals trying to destroy him but I think most people can see through that bullshit. It’s him. It’s all him. He’s a narcissistic POS that will lie, cheat & steal to save his own ass. Nothing comes before himself, even what’s good for the United States. Bottom line: I think most Americans are desperate for some damn stability in the Oval Office.
Do you think the UN will be listening to Drumpf or wondering about his pubes and mushroom dick???
It’s not just the WH, Micheal Schmidt from the NYT is working with the WH to take down Rosenstein and smear BK’s accusers, just like he worked with the WH when he was writing all those articles about Hillary’s emails. Who is feeding Schmidt these stories about Rosenstein? Nunes, Rudy, or john Kelly? It’s so disappointing to see the press and hosts falling for Micheal’s con. They repeat his stories and don’t even bother to cover the corrections that are coming from other outlets. Only Rachel Maddow had enough sense to question the validity of Micheal’s claims. What did the WH promise Micheal Schmidt because he is working hard to take down Rosenstein and BK’s accusers.