I watch the Trump presidency in action and each new day brings an absolutely jaw dropping surprise. I’m no stranger to hard partisan politics but there is something different about the everyday experience of this administration compared to its predecessors, whether Democratic or Republican.
Every president prizes loyalty, and when you work in the White House you’re expected to take a bullet for the team if that’s what’s called for. But I can’t ever remember a time when the person shooting the bullets is actually the leader of the team, the president, and he’s aiming those bullets at someone in his own administration — in this case the attorney general. I’ll confess that I’m no great fan of Attorney General Sessions, who seems to me to be a throwback to AGs of 40-60 years ago, with all the racist and hard-line punitive attitudes that existed in those days. Still, the guy has been a team player, came on board in the very beginning when no other politician would touch Trump, gave up a safe Senate seat to join Trump, has stayed loyal to Trump and never spoken critically of his administration, even when these tweets by the president have undercut his authority and reputation. What did the guy do to deserve this, other than hooking up with someone for whom loyalty only seems to flow one way (that is, to him, not from him)?
I have this fantasy that when Sessions has finally had enough he’s going in to see Trump to tell him that he’s going to resign and after his resignation he intends to hold a press conference and tell it all truthfully, all the dirty little secrets that they’re trying to hide, and then somehow all of those incriminating documents they’ve tried to hide are going to make their way into the public, “So if that’s what you want, Donald, you have my resignation letter.” I believe Donald Trump is a bully and the only way to fight him is by his rules, which means there are no rules so you play dirty, because that’s the only way to play or he’ll eat you alive.
But this is more then just about an executive who bullies his people, or a leader who has some difficulty with anything even remotely resembling the truth, or a leader who has an unhealthy amount of paranoia. This is a battle that goes to the very fundamentals of our government and our constitution. It goes to the integrity of our institutions. The criminal justice system is separate from the political system. The threat of criminal cases is not supposed to be used as a political weapon — maybe in some countries, but not in the United States. That’s what’s at stake here: our justice system. President Trump wants the Mueller investigation shut down, as it regards him, his family and his administration. He’s angry at Sessions because he didn’t shut it down. That’s Sessions’ crime. He recused himself, which Trump apparently views as betrayal.
There are currently several investigations underway. Both the House and the Senate are holding hearings, but they look like nothing more than political theater. The real investigation is the Mueller investigation, which is proceeding, slowly, painstakingly and carefully. I’m sure they’re collecting rooms full of documents, financial information from all of the Trump and Kushner enterprises, bank records and money transfers, tax returns that have never been made public, recorded statements from all of the witnesses, thousands of emails, recordings and transcripts of intercepted phone and other communications, information and analysis from all of our multitudinous intelligence agencies, information from our allies’ intelligence agencies, satellite and drone data, and new technologies we only can guess at. They’ll then begin to work their way up the chain from the minor peripheral players to the major players. I’d guess that right now every possible defendant has got a criminal lawyer in there trying to negotiate immunity for their client.
Ultimately, they have to decide on a few basic questions:
1. Did Russia interfere with our political process, and if so, to what extent?
2. Did any Americans collude with Russia?
3. Is there dirty money in any of this, like Russian government money or Russian mob money?
4. Are any banks or financial institutions involved in this?
5. Have any of our laws been broken?
6. If so should criminal charges be filed, and against whom?
Or it may be there is nothing criminal and, as Trump says, it’s all fake news being driven by Democrats who are just sore losers. In time hopefully we will find out.