Tuesday, March 28, 2017

Saturday night's alright, alright, alright!



Distraction action, what's your faction?

In Watergate, it was the Saturday Night Massacre.  I was against Nixon early on, because I was against the war and convinced Nixon was lying about ending it (well, that started in '67, didn't it?).  I was also a wild-eyed liberal (and have only gotten worse with age), and Nixon was not.  OTOH, I was 17 when Nixon was re-elected in literally the greatest landslide in U.S. history, and only a few of my friends agreed with me, and I kept my opinions to myself, or them.

Then Archibald Cox subpoenaed the White House tapes, and all hell broke loose.  By the time the dust had settled, I still remember my father talking to a friend, and his contemporary, and saying that it sure looked like Nixon had something to hide after all.  I remember the friend was still unconvinced, but not my Dad.

If trying to silence Sally Yates isn't as dramatic as the Saturday Night Massacre, it's as panic-stricken an act.  But instead of ending up with Robert Bork as acting Attorney General, we have Devin Nunes simply closing the House Intelligence Committee hearings for the foreseeable future.  Why?   Because Sally Yates, being a good lawyer v. a lawyer who works for Donald Trump, knows the President doesn't enjoy attorney-client privilege from a DOJ lawyer like Sally Yates formerly was, and the executive privilege has no application in this situation whatsoever.*

And they can't afford to let her talk.

Which kind of undercuts the whole "fake news!" meme that Trump keeps screaming.  Unless, of course, Trump is part of the conspiracy against himself.....

*Just a reminder:  John Dean's last government position was as White House Counsel to Richard Nixon.  Nixon was a lawyer, too.  He knew better than to claim any privilege to stop Dean from testifying.

1 comment:

  1. It will be interesting to see who Trump pardon's to keep them quiet.

    I think the idea that Flynn might flip because they're throwing him under the bus - maybe they know he's flipping - is interesting. Of fun. We'll see.

    I'm wondering what there is to know about pence and Ryan because it's looking ever more like there won't be much more than a year or so for Trump.

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