Mark Dixon, DC Climate March
Update 3/19/19—the latest from His Twitterness:
“WITCH HUNT!”
That was what Mr. Subtle tweeted the other day. If he is correct—and why wouldn’t he be?—he has uncovered a conspiracy so vast as to boggle the mind.
Think about it: If you wanted to run a witch hunt, especially against the most powerful person in the world, you’d need someone that no one would ever suspect would run a witch hunt.
First, it would be great to find a genuine war hero. Someone who really did run toward gunfire and put his life in danger to save his fellow soldiers’ lives in Vietnam, not once but, twice—even getting shot in the leg while doing it.
Next, make sure the person is a lifelong Republican, was first appointed to be an interim U.S. Attorney by Ronald Reagan, then became an assistant U.S. Attorney General under George H.W. Bush, and then was tapped to be director of the FBI by George W. Bush.
Then, make sure this guy is a real Dudley Do-Right type. In fact—if his nickname was, say, Bobby Three Sticks, in partial reference to the three finger Boy Scout salute—that would be perfect.
How about if this person had a reputation among defense attorneys for not performing witch hunts and even pulling back if he was presented with evidence that his office was wrong.
OK, now here’s the best part: You get the Trump Administration itself to hire the person to do this witch hunt as a Special Counsel!
When Richard Nixon called The Washington Post’s Watergate investigation a “witch hunt,” many could plausibly argue that the left-leaning paper did indeed have it in for the Prez. But with the Trump Administration and Robert Mueller, it’s like hiring a well-regarded accountant to look at your books and screaming “Witch Hunt!” when he asks where the Ferrari came from.
Not only does Mueller as a person have a relatively pristine reputation, but the facts in this case—like Donald Trump Junior saying in an email that he would “love” to get campaign help from the Russians—make it clear to any reasonable person that this investigation holds water.
Strangely, Putin is also saying that the investigation into Trump-Russia collusion is nothing more than “hysteria.”
And even more strangely, Trump’s own head of the National Security Agency has just pointedly stated that the President has done little to deter the Russians from tampering with the 2018 elections.
Whoever is running this witch hunt is sure doing one hell of a job.
Jud Lounsbury is a political writer based in Madison, Wisconsin and a frequent contributor to The Progressive. He also blogs at uppitywis.org and you can find him on Twitter @judlounsbury.