The MEMO that Wasn’t
Perhaps no other (R) is going to say it. So, I, the Repentant (R), will say it. President Trump is indeed correct. What is going on in this country now is terrible. It is a disgrace. It is shameful. And I think I’ve figured out why he said it…
So about that GOP MEMO. Well, it’s out and it is a blockbuster. I’ve already gone out and purchased my tickets for The GOP MEMO II – The Donald v Rocket Man. (Front row, of course)
Always looking for a learning moment, the current episode in American politics – let’s call it ‘the Memo’, offers up a jewel. You cannot govern effectively when you are focused solely on the ends of the political spectrum and running on ideology alone. It just doesn’t work. It never has. Put another way, you don’t win the Cy Young Award by throwing nothing but pitches in the dirt. Eventually, we will just stop swinging, and take the walk. I suspect a lot of people are beginning to feel as I do. We’re insulted that both (R) and (D) leadership think us so naïve. Think us so without thought that we are going to continue mindlessly buying what they are selling.
Here are four of the high(low)lights:
First, it is out of context. Any honest, critical thinker will overreach to come to another conclusion. In fact, there is certainly so much more warrant-related documentation that was not revealed that it begs the phrase “misleading (lying) by omission.”
Second, on its face it proves nothing it set out to. What it does do, however, is prove the value of conflating issues, innuendo and editorial remarks if your goal is to create confusion and mistrust.
Third, at times the memo is its own worst enemy. Leaping out at the readers is the inference the surveillance of Mr. Page has produced evidence damaging to the Trump circle.
My fourth (and thankfully final) point, is that the author implies the lawyers, let’s call them the G-Men, who developed the underlying documentation were not simply biased, but also stupid on a cosmic scale. Stupid as in absent the semester they taught the law of evidence in law school. A warrant as bogus the one they conjure up here would make the evidence it produced inadmissible. Of course, it would make a heck of a Christmas present to Mr. Page’s lawyers. Those G-Men are such thoughtful gift givers.
In the interest of balance, I fail to see the horrific release of classified information foreshadowed by some (D)s. Though I might have missed the invisible ink part where that information appeared. They are, however, correct about the danger posed to our republic by the gross abuse of process that has taken place.
Here is a question for you – why in the world was any of this done in public? If someone is misusing the processes involved, there is a means to punish them. If wrongdoing occurred, then the people involved should be held fully accountable. If their wrongdoing produced something that ended up in the public space, make their guilt and accountability public. The only reason to put this into the public space is that a U.S. president and his allies are inappropriately trying to shape a public narrative.
As for the Freedom Caucus members rushing out to defend the GOP MEMO, I feel for you because it is tough to defend both a bad work product and idea. It is tougher still to explain why you supported allowing it to develop into such a public spectacle. Grab a beer and put the fire out. And please, stop working on the assumption that those who disagree with you politically, must be destroyed. Somewhere that became “what It is about.” It is not about that. It is about respecting those who disagree with you politically, and still being able to work with them to carry out the business of our nation.
It would be terribly remiss on my part not to mention one last thing. In this process, the president and his allies have been using public servants and their agencies as pawns and whipping boys. Some politicians owe a bunch of people at the DOJ and the FBI a public apology.
As an (R), I am still struggling to understand what the calculus here is. My message to fellow (R)s is that if destroying the Republican Party on the national level is the goal, press on friends. Otherwise, let us in the middle and anyone else who seeks leadership which will actually lead and govern, band together and move for change. Let’s save 2020 while we still can.
So why did he say it? In honor of Occam’s Razor, my theory is simple. He unexpectedly found himself staring into a mirror, just as the Muse of Truth struck him with the urge to speak. The video of that enlightened moment should be delivered overnight priority to the doorsteps of the White House and its most staunch Congressional allies. As for the Russians, well Putin must be laughing right now. His project manager just reported in and the project to undermine western democracies looks to be ahead of schedule and under budget.