The coup story keeps unfolding day by day.
At this
time, Trump is pulling out from under by degrees but hasn’t defeated his foes
yet. His followers remain loyal, and this support is growing. This is alarming
to Democrats in office. Some of them, seeing the political liability, are
saying to move on and away from the Russia issue. Jared Kushner’s published statement is
detailed and open. Its detail is plausible and realistic, hiding nothing. The
collusion angle has no legs in this instance. The hacking attribution to Russia
has been degraded and demoted repeatedly, most recently by the coalition of
retired intelligence professionals named
VETS. The counterattack against the coup has gained some steam, its main spear
pointing at the instigators of the infamous dossier. John Brennan remains at
the center of that; more on his shifty position below. The issue of “unmasking”
is cutting against Brennan, Rice and Power. Loretta Lynch is in trouble.
Comey’s political machinations have been aired, bringing him down several
notches. Calls for investigating Hillary Clinton and the Foundation still have
legs.
Brennan now calls for government employees
to disobey the orders of their boss, Trump, under certain conditions (43-45
minutes in). This is a new direction for the coup. But he’s very nervous about
coming out into the open in this way. He’s breathing heavily. He’s not used to
being in the public eye. He’s propagandizing and he knows it. He’s actually showing
weakness, being on the defensive to resort to such a suggestion. Brennan’s
exact statement: “First of all, I think it’s the obligation of some of these
Executive branch officials to refuse to carry out some of these orders that,
again, are inconsistent with what this country is all about.”
This
statement’s legal grounding is that government officials have a right to
disobey so that they do not support war crimes or other high crimes and
misdemeanors or treason. Brennan’s belief is an accusation against Trump of
extremely serious crimes, but he has nothing concrete to say as to what these
crimes are. If he has something to say along these lines, why not say it? If
the matter is so serious, why not tell the public now? Why hold back if you
really know of or suspect some serious crimes that warrant disobedience in the
chain of command? Brennan’s beefs with Trump have been aired before;
but they are nowhere near the status of high crimes except in the eyes of a man
with a one-sided view of Russia. Sure, Russia cannot be accorded blind trust,
but does that mean one cannot find grounds for cooperation, as many past
administrations did when differences were far greater? Brennan’s now doubling
down in this poker game while Trump’s hand has strengthened. But unless Brennan
has an ace in the hole, he’s going to lose.
Brennan
can look to Mueller, who remains an obstacle to Trump. There is going to be a
spat over Trump’s tax returns. However, whatever Mueller does or threatens, he
is basically grinding his wheels and he knows it because Trump has waved the
power to pardon in his face. Furthermore, as long as Mueller keeps at it, Trump
can keep calling for the investigation of Clinton’s, Brennan’s, Comey’s,
Rice’s, Power’s, and Lynch’s misdeeds. Trump can keep scoring points against
Democrats and making people like Schumer nervous.
Michael S.
Rozeff [send him
mail] is a retired Professor of Finance living in East Amherst, New
York. He is the author of the free e-book Essays on
American Empire: Liberty vs. Domination and the free
e-book The
U.S. Constitution and Money: Corruption and Decline.
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