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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsCONFIRMED. Rosenstein kerfuffle was a deliberate attempt to distract.
From Vanity Fair:
For all the morning’s madness, there may have been an underlying logic. Over the weekend, as Brett Kavanaugh’s prospects appeared increasingly imperiled, Trump faced two tactical options, both of them fraught. One was to cut Kavanaugh loose. But he was also looking for ways to dramatically shift the news cycle away from his embattled Supreme Court nominee. According to a source briefed on Trump’s thinking, Trump decided that firing Rosenstein would knock Kavanaugh out of the news, potentially saving his nomination and Republicans’ chances for keeping the Senate. “The strategy was to try and do something really big,” the source said. The leak about Rosenstein’s resignation could have been the result, and it certainly had the desired effect of driving Kavanaugh out of the news for a few hours.
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According to the source, Trump allies are imploring him to cut Kavanaugh loose for the sake of saving Republicans’ electoral chances in the midterms. The argument these advisers are making is that if Kavanaugh’s nomination fails, demoralized Republicans will stay home in November, and Democrats will take the House and the Senate and initiate impeachment proceedings. The end result: Trump will be removed from office. “The stakes are that high,” the source said. Another Republican adviser told me: “Trump is very worried now, and is finally waking up that it’s the end of his presidency if he loses the Senate.” Trump’s outside allies are advising him to nominate Amy Coney Barrett and fast-track her confirmation before the midterms. “Some in the White House think you can only appoint a woman now,” a former administration official told me. An outside adviser added: “Democrats won’t be able to pivot fast enough to attack her, since she’s a woman.”
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As Kavanaugh’s poll numbers plummet, Trump is telling people in private that he was never a fan of Kavanaugh’s selection, sources said. According to two people who’ve spoken with Trump recently, Trump complained that establishment Republicans foisted Kavanaugh on him, because they reasoned Kavanaugh would unite the party in November. According to one former West Wing official, Trump’s first choice was Judge Thomas Hardiman, who served on the federal bench alongside Trump’s sister Maryanne Trump Barry.
Trump is keeping his distance from the nominee. A White House official said he hasn’t spoken with Kavanaugh in recent days. “This is Brett Kavanaugh’s fight,” the White House official said.
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2018/09/trump-wanted-to-nuke-rosenstein-to-save-kavanaughs-bacon?mbid=social_twitter
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elleng
(141,926 posts)How many???
Where are the children?
The Velveteen Ocelot
(130,516 posts)he didn't really want him in the first place, which is absolutely false. He chose him over McConnell's cautions because he wanted a guy on the court who might help save him from Mueller's investigation. As soon as it looks like there aren't enough votes to confirm him Trump will be all, "Brett who?"
Typical. He's your friend until you're inconvenient.
The problem with planned distractions, if that's what this was, is that they don't last. A few hours about Rosenstein this morning and now K. is back in the news with more women coming forward.
SkipG
(70 posts)
gopiscrap
(24,733 posts)SkipG
(70 posts)
lagomorph777
(30,613 posts)reload.
KenCol
(11 posts)He just released a defiant letter, rather than staying quiet.
Grasswire2
(13,849 posts)
BumRushDaShow
(169,708 posts)This is complete bullshit. The only way that would happen is if there is a GOP bloodbath in the Senate and most of the ones running lose their seats.
You need 67 members of the Senate to "convict" (and remove someone from office) after an impeachment and there is no way in hell that you would get that many GOPers to join Democrats to do that.
scheming daemons
(25,487 posts)...it will be very hard for Republican senators running in 2020 to vote to NOT convict in an impeachment trial.
The electoral math and strategy changes on the day after the election if Democrats take both chambers. The GOPers in congress will abandon Trump in droves.
zipplewrath
(16,698 posts)If I'm already a GOP senator, I come from something of a "red" state. Most of my votes come from Trump supporters of one degree or another. (His GOP support is something like 86%). I'm not gonna pick up alot of democratic votes by removing trump. I will piss off alot of GOP voters, and put myself squarely in a primary challenge. Any centrist or independent voters I might be hoping for won't match the loss of support from Trumpers who probably skip voting for anyone at all over voting for me.
Trump isn't going anywhere, unless he quits.
scheming daemons
(25,487 posts)The prospect of a Senate trial might make him quit.
The prospect of a Dem House getting a subpoena for his tax returns and making them public might make him quit.
zipplewrath
(16,698 posts)Or a deal that keeps his kids out of court.
Whiskeytide
(4,656 posts)... take the House and Senate, we control the investigations. THAT is how trump is forced out.
zipplewrath
(16,698 posts)Without GOP votes, there's no way to force him out. And it will take ALOT of GOP votes.
Whiskeytide
(4,656 posts)... but I suspect this one is most likely:
Once legit investigations begin, and trump no longer has committee chairs running interference for him, the actual truth(s) will get out. Trump’s tax returns, his vulnerability to blackmail, his money laundering, his connections with Russian intel. Imagine if the Stormy Daniels scenario were investigated the way Benghazi was? Or even the Lewinsky scandal? And then there’s the Meuller investigation and the vulnerability of his kids. Not having the protection of congress makes him, his family and what’s left of his businesses extremely vulnerable.
That will create a lot of heat. And with a dem Congress, the Republican agenda would be dead. Trump would no longer enjoy the support of republicans who just want to get repub things done. Suddenly he’s all liability and no benefit. I suspect many republicans actually loathe the man. Rendering him irrelevant would give them cover to speak their minds and show their disgust. This will be especially acute if congress flips because distancing ones self from trump might become the new strategy for republicans still on office.
So he resigns. Tries to make a deal and steps down to salvage as much face as he can. I’ve heard some say he’ll never leave voluntarily. But that’s because of the power. Cut off the power, and he’s just a raving maniac behind a big desk.
Understand that I’m not suggesting he would actually be impeached and removed. I just think that taking away his power would take the fun out of it for him, and he’ll quit.
I could be wrong. He’s defied predictions many times before. But I think flipping congress gets him out of office sooner than 2020
SkipG
(70 posts)better if Fat Donnie just has a stroke.
BumRushDaShow
(169,708 posts)but what has happened is that a number of teabaggers were elected to both chambers in 2010 and later, so there are a bunch of crazies there who will fight to the death or otherwise be forced to leave early in disgrace if some personal scandal happened to come up.
What we knew as the old time Senate "decorum" is gone. This is basically a "Custer's Last Stand" moment for them. We know how the real "Battle for Little Bighorn" went but in a sort of analogous case, we are going to be forced to go through watching them try to hang on as long as they can. They have had almost a decade of being emboldened and fed by Super PACs.
blogslut
(39,167 posts)Now there's a name I haven't heard in years...
0rganism
(25,642 posts)someday America's journalists will tire of being played like violins by lowlife Trump.
until then, the public remains at the mercy of the Neverending Reality Show Presidency.
Totally Tunsie
(11,851 posts)It's always the other guy's fault, in this case it was the "establishment Republicans".
There is no greater coward than Donald J. Trump.
ecstatic
(35,074 posts)That's why Kav is still in the running.
And yes, the Rosenstein thing is a huge distraction/stunt. trump doesn't want the media covering the hearing on Thursday. He wants the media to cover him and breathlessly wonder if he will/won't fire Rosenstein. And yes, the media will play along because when trump says jump, they all yell, "how high?" SMH.