I have to tell you, I think this is evilly (I looked it up, it's a word, archaic) brilliant. It is a "boomerang" strategy: take your opponent's most lethal weapon and use it against him. It is the first coherent, thought out--Machiavellian--strategy that they've had and I do think it is in Trump's best interests legally and politically, which, and this is crucial, are merged. It ticks all the boxes and cuts the Gordian knot of, Fire Mueller, Don't fire Mueller: DON'T fire Mueller. His investigation is the greatest threat to you. Boomerang Mueller back on himself by dragging his investigation out.
America 2.0 is a mobocracy with a messianic Leader. For his mob the Leader is identical with the nation. Nazi Germany is unthinkable without Hitler. China without Mao. The Leader of a mobocracy is not a "caretaker" of the executive position as was said of presidents of the former United States. The government and all its apparatus, and the nation itself, are made identical with the person of the Leader. The key point here is to recognize mobocracy as a form of democracy, which is to say that ultimately the non-political supports of a democracy, the law, the administrative and bureaucratic structures, all have to bend to sufficient popular pressure. The Special Counsel will have to bend to the mob's will. A mob does not care about the legal superstructure of a democracy. It only cares about the Leader. If the law can help the Leader, it stays. If not, it is swept away.
The evil brilliance of this strategy is that, as Hitler did, as Putin does, it boomerangs democracy and its superstructure back on themselves. When you "dovetail" two of anything you destroy whatever separateness each had. Trump's new strategy "dovetails" the political and the legal, both get swallowed up in service to, and in the person of, the Leader, Trump.
For comedic relief however this is bad news: it means the end of Mistress Rudolphina. The reporting here is by ABC's Jonathan Karl:
With the shakeup of the president's legal team, he is now all-in on a new strategy to deal with special counsel Robert Mueller: fight, delay, vilify.
The legal strategy dovetails with the Trump team's political strategy: rallying the base with fear and loathing of the special counsel as a Democratic plot to nullify the 2016 presidential election....
"The only date that matters is November 6," a Trump loyalist deeply involved in both the legal and political efforts tells me, referring to the 2018 midterms.
The Trump team had been pushing for a quick resolution of the special counsel's investigation. Now they want to draw it out, attacking the investigating as a stalking horse for Democratic efforts to impeach the president.
"The only thing that gets the base out is fear of impeachment," the Trump loyalist says. "You aren't going to do that with tax cuts and deregulation."
With Emmet Flood replacing Ty Cobb, the legal team won't just end the strategy of cooperation with Mueller, they'll try to reverse it.
Among the steps the Trump team is considering, I am told, is to retroactively exert executive privilege to attempt to prevent the special counsel from using things they already have: testimony from key aides like White House Counsel Don McGahn and some of the million pages of White House documents the Trump team has turned over.
"Yes, you are going to lose," a source advocating this move tells me, but the battle would have to go the courts and it will take time, delaying Mueller's work.
As a corollary: Don't expect Trump to agree to an interview with Mueller, but look for him to draw out negotiations on an interview as long as possible.
America 2.0 is a mobocracy with a messianic Leader. For his mob the Leader is identical with the nation. Nazi Germany is unthinkable without Hitler. China without Mao. The Leader of a mobocracy is not a "caretaker" of the executive position as was said of presidents of the former United States. The government and all its apparatus, and the nation itself, are made identical with the person of the Leader. The key point here is to recognize mobocracy as a form of democracy, which is to say that ultimately the non-political supports of a democracy, the law, the administrative and bureaucratic structures, all have to bend to sufficient popular pressure. The Special Counsel will have to bend to the mob's will. A mob does not care about the legal superstructure of a democracy. It only cares about the Leader. If the law can help the Leader, it stays. If not, it is swept away.
The evil brilliance of this strategy is that, as Hitler did, as Putin does, it boomerangs democracy and its superstructure back on themselves. When you "dovetail" two of anything you destroy whatever separateness each had. Trump's new strategy "dovetails" the political and the legal, both get swallowed up in service to, and in the person of, the Leader, Trump.
For comedic relief however this is bad news: it means the end of Mistress Rudolphina. The reporting here is by ABC's Jonathan Karl:
With the shakeup of the president's legal team, he is now all-in on a new strategy to deal with special counsel Robert Mueller: fight, delay, vilify.
The legal strategy dovetails with the Trump team's political strategy: rallying the base with fear and loathing of the special counsel as a Democratic plot to nullify the 2016 presidential election....
"The only date that matters is November 6," a Trump loyalist deeply involved in both the legal and political efforts tells me, referring to the 2018 midterms.
The Trump team had been pushing for a quick resolution of the special counsel's investigation. Now they want to draw it out, attacking the investigating as a stalking horse for Democratic efforts to impeach the president.
"The only thing that gets the base out is fear of impeachment," the Trump loyalist says. "You aren't going to do that with tax cuts and deregulation."
With Emmet Flood replacing Ty Cobb, the legal team won't just end the strategy of cooperation with Mueller, they'll try to reverse it.
Among the steps the Trump team is considering, I am told, is to retroactively exert executive privilege to attempt to prevent the special counsel from using things they already have: testimony from key aides like White House Counsel Don McGahn and some of the million pages of White House documents the Trump team has turned over.
"Yes, you are going to lose," a source advocating this move tells me, but the battle would have to go the courts and it will take time, delaying Mueller's work.
As a corollary: Don't expect Trump to agree to an interview with Mueller, but look for him to draw out negotiations on an interview as long as possible.
