Born To Run The Numbers on Hope Hicks' sudden decision to resign:

http://www.borntorunthenumbers.com/2018/03/hows-that-hopey-changey-thing-working.html

Excerpts:"Other than family members, Hope Hicks has been the closest, longest-standing associate of Donald Trump, and it is for a very obvious reason. When Donald Trump evaluates personnel, he cares about personal loyalty far more than competence, expertise, experience, knowledge, and wisdom combined. All Donald Trump wants to know is that you will unflinchingly have his back and that you will take his secrets to your grave. In a White House of toadies, Hope Hicks was the sickest of the sycophants, so ferociously loyal to Donald Trump that she made Ivanka look like a grousing outlier...

"Hope Hicks may simply be a young person who is in process of realizing that her deep and unmitigated trust in Donald Trump was misplaced. Perhaps someone has finally explained to her that this drama is heading to a place where there will be no longer be a 'President Trump' to protect her. Perhaps she is realizing that everyone who tries to escape the White House is suddenly a 'coffee boy' left to twist in the wind. Perhaps she is realizing that the cost of her loyalty is increasing by the day if not by the hour."

Born To Run The Numbers on Hope Hicks' sudden decision to resign:

http://www.borntorunthenumbers.com/2018/03/hows-that-hopey-changey-thing-working.html

Excerpts:"Other than family members, Hope Hicks has been the closest, longest-standing associate of Donald Trump, and it is for a very obvious reason. When Donald Trump evaluates personnel, he cares about personal loyalty far more than competence, expertise, experience, knowledge, and wisdom combined. All Donald Trump wants to know is that you will unflinchingly have his back and that you will take his secrets to your grave. In a White House of toadies, Hope Hicks was the sickest of the sycophants, so ferociously loyal to Donald Trump that she made Ivanka look like a grousing outlier...

"Hope Hicks may simply be a young person who is in process of realizing that her deep and unmitigated trust in Donald Trump was misplaced. Perhaps someone has finally explained to her that this drama is heading to a place where there will be no longer be a 'President Trump' to protect her. Perhaps she is realizing that everyone who tries to escape the White House is suddenly a 'coffee boy' left to twist in the wind. Perhaps she is realizing that the cost of her loyalty is increasing by the day if not by the hour."

Born to Run the Numbers shows its contrarian streak, hoping that the Mueller investigation does not reach its conclusions too quickly.

http://www.borntorunthenumbers.com/2018/02/btrtn-four-dimensional-chess-what-does.html

Excerpts:
"Mueller appears to have his plea-bargainers singing like regional semi-finalists on The Voice. He’s following more money than Standard and Poor’s. He’s got more email than Gmail and the guy wearing Mueller’s biggest bull’s eye has already confessed at least one crime to Lester Holt on national television...
"We all need to hope that Mueller is actually capable of playing four-dimensional chess. Three D, as we all know, is defined by width, height, and depth. The fourth dimension is time. As we consider all the elements in the investigation, the matter of how he manages the clock may be as vital to the outcome as anything.
"The minute Robert Mueller turns over his final report to the Department of Justice, he is no longer in control of the investigation. As soon as he turns over his findings to the Department of Justice, he has handed the authority for all subsequent steps to the Republican-led Department of Justice, then the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee, and then the Republican-dominated House of Representatives. The entire impeachment process could be shut down cold at any of these three stages… before it ever gets to trial..."

Born to Run the Numbers shows its contrarian streak, hoping that the Mueller investigation does not reach its conclusions too quickly.

http://www.borntorunthenumbers.com/2018/02/btrtn-four-dimensional-chess-what-does.html

Excerpts:
"Mueller appears to have his plea-bargainers singing like regional semi-finalists on The Voice. He’s following more money than Standard and Poor’s. He’s got more email than Gmail and the guy wearing Mueller’s biggest bull’s eye has already confessed at least one crime to Lester Holt on national television...
"We all need to hope that Mueller is actually capable of playing four-dimensional chess. Three D, as we all know, is defined by width, height, and depth. The fourth dimension is time. As we consider all the elements in the investigation, the matter of how he manages the clock may be as vital to the outcome as anything.
"The minute Robert Mueller turns over his final report to the Department of Justice, he is no longer in control of the investigation. As soon as he turns over his findings to the Department of Justice, he has handed the authority for all subsequent steps to the Republican-led Department of Justice, then the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee, and then the Republican-dominated House of Representatives. The entire impeachment process could be shut down cold at any of these three stages… before it ever gets to trial..."

With rank and file Republicans now in lock step behind Donald Trump's efforts to undermine the FBI, the Mueller investigation, and the rule of law, BornToRunTheNumbers finds it unconscionable that the most senior GOP leaders are standing idly by and allowing this assault on our democracy to proceed. Where are Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan?

http://www.borntorunthenumbers.com/2018/02/btrtn-appeasement-of-eunuchs.html

Excerpts: "Yes, other than Donald Trump, Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan are supposedly the two most powerful government officials in the nation, and both appear to be about as essential to the national dialog as Rosenkrantz and Gildenstern. They are as integral to the functioning of our democracy as the Cleveland Browns are to the Super Bowl. If our impending constitutional crisis were staged for Broadway, it would be called “Two Farinellis and the King..."

"There’s a new term entering the vernacular, which I heard for the first time from a brilliant young Ph. D. candidate who is studying American History. He told me that the likes of Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell are now being referred to as the “Vichy Republicans.”
Is there any person of character, courage, and principle in the Republican Party today who will play the role of Victor Laszlo in this movie, and inspire the Vichy Republicans to sing "La Marseillaise" in front of Major Strasser? Is there any Republican who is willing to stand up and say that destroying the FBI to save Donald Trump is a devil’s bargain?"

With rank and file Republicans now in lock step behind Donald Trump's efforts to undermine the FBI, the Mueller investigation, and the rule of law, BornToRunTheNumbers finds it unconscionable that the most senior GOP leaders are standing idly by and allowing this assault on our democracy to proceed. Where are Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan?

http://www.borntorunthenumbers.com/2018/02/btrtn-appeasement-of-eunuchs.html

Excerpts: "Yes, other than Donald Trump, Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan are supposedly the two most powerful government officials in the nation, and both appear to be about as essential to the national dialog as Rosenkrantz and Gildenstern. They are as integral to the functioning of our democracy as the Cleveland Browns are to the Super Bowl. If our impending constitutional crisis were staged for Broadway, it would be called “Two Farinellis and the King..."

"There’s a new term entering the vernacular, which I heard for the first time from a brilliant young Ph. D. candidate who is studying American History. He told me that the likes of Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell are now being referred to as the “Vichy Republicans.”
Is there any person of character, courage, and principle in the Republican Party today who will play the role of Victor Laszlo in this movie, and inspire the Vichy Republicans to sing "La Marseillaise" in front of Major Strasser? Is there any Republican who is willing to stand up and say that destroying the FBI to save Donald Trump is a devil’s bargain?"

Born to Run the Numbers on the Numbers on yet another example of Trump seeming to squander political gain in his obsession to undermine the Mueller investigation:

http://www.borntorunthenumbers.com/2018/02/btrtn-is-trump-on-rise-or-did-he-just.html

Excerpts:

"One might have thought that a rational politician with an experienced communications team would have allowed the SOTU lovefest to endure over several news cycles, but Devin Nunes took care of that. And Trump, of course, is the real source of the stomp-over-myself strategy, for he was the one who insisted on the release of the memo – indeed, such a release requires his authorization -- and he could have certainly delayed the timing.

We’ll have to wait for next week to see how much of Trump’s approval gain he gives back by desperately championing this ridiculous gambit and absurdly claiming, as he did this morning, total “vindication.”

Born to Run the Numbers on the Numbers on yet another example of Trump seeming to squander political gain in his obsession to undermine the Mueller investigation:

http://www.borntorunthenumbers.com/2018/02/btrtn-is-trump-on-rise-or-did-he-just.html

Excerpts:

"One might have thought that a rational politician with an experienced communications team would have allowed the SOTU lovefest to endure over several news cycles, but Devin Nunes took care of that. And Trump, of course, is the real source of the stomp-over-myself strategy, for he was the one who insisted on the release of the memo – indeed, such a release requires his authorization -- and he could have certainly delayed the timing.

We’ll have to wait for next week to see how much of Trump’s approval gain he gives back by desperately championing this ridiculous gambit and absurdly claiming, as he did this morning, total “vindication.”