Day 855 Saturday May 11, 2019
541 Days to the 2020 election and 619 Days to Inauguration Day
Liars are lying and the time to choose is drawing nigh.
A few days ago I caught a bit of an interview with Chris Christie. It was hard to watch, because Christie is such a despicable human being. Eventually, I turned it off. No, not eventually, I turned it off after a minute, maybe two. He was asked about something involving a statement Andrew McCabe made. Christie said he wouldn’t believe anything McCabe said because McCabe was a liar. “What about Trump?” was the next question.
And here is where the interview turned into the classic kind of Christie bullying and lying that makes him so despicable. His autobiography is aptly named, “Let Me Finish,” which is what his style of argument seems to be most, if not all, the time.
The response of Christie went like this: “What about Trump? McCabe is a liar. He was found to be lying by the … I wouldn’t trust anything Andy McCabe said. Trump is a totally different situation. It’s up to the American people to decide…”
He reiterated these points over and over again. He wouldn’t move off of it. I turned off the TV.
I read McCabe’s book. I had to think to myself, “Did McCabe lie?”
It took awhile to recall, and there is a difference of opinion, based on the recollections of McCabe and James Comey, of exactly what was said and how it was interpreted with a legal entity accepting Comey’s opinion. (I don’t remember the name of the legal entity. It was one of those titles like Office of …) But the circumstances I remember. A newspaper was getting ready to publish a report. They asked the FBI for comment. The report was incorrect in a number of places. McCabe’s job at that time was to interact with the media. He was in a difficult position in this case because the story was incorrect and it was about an ongoing investigation. He couldn’t tell the news anything about the ongoing investigation, yet the report was factually incorrect. He had to steer the conversation and the report in such a way so as to make sure the reporter understood. Whatever he did, Comey had one opinion and McCabe had another, as to what was said and how it was interpreted. A review of the matter agreed with Comey. In other words, this was a difference of opinion, hardly a lie, but Christie took this as reason to never trust anything McCabe said.
What is becoming all to common is this kind of argument by conservatives, Republicans, Trumpers, and their enablers and their sycophants. When I listen to people like McCabe, Comey, Bharara, Chuck Rosenstein, James Baker (the former FBI legal counsel) I am struck by their sense of duty, of fairness, of commitment to doing the right thing.
When I listen to people like Christie, Trump, Gulliani, or any of a host of others that support Trump I am struck by the casualness of their lying, prevaricating, and dishonesty. The lack of genuineness is so apparent.
In the same week I listened to Christie say McCabe was a liar I listened to Christie’s former deputy chief of staff Bridgette Kelly speak about her role in what is called Bridgegate. She wrote the infamous email saying, “Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee.” For this she is going to serve 13 months in prison.
When I heard Kelly speak, I was struck by her genuineness and how she had been set up. Christie had something to gain (in his mind) by causing traffic problems in Fort Lee, and Kelly who had nothing to gain and seemed to only be carrying out the wishes of her boss. She was told that it was a traffic study and she understood very well that this would cause huge traffic problems in Fort Lee and was engaged in friendly banter with the guy behind the real scheme, hence her email message. To bolster her evidence as to that thinking on her part you have only ask why a good friend of Christie offered to be her lawyer and then backed out after gathering all the information she had in her defense. Now Christie knew he could lie about saying he knew nothing and Kelly didn’t have absolute proof that he did know. How slimy can you be? How does Chris Christie sleep at night? What mental hurdles and hoops do you have to go through to convince yourself that this is okay?
Meanwhile, Congress’ head of The Ways and Means Committee has issued subpoenas for Trump’s tax returns of the last six years to the treasury secretary and the head of the IRS. It is coming to a head and either the rule of law will prevail, or it won’t. There is no other course that I see. It is a sad time that it has come to this.
Trump and McConnell have rammed through many conservative, and unqualified, judges. Will there be enough sycophants to overturn the rule of law? We’ll have to wait and see.
It is now plainly evident to anyone who still gets real news and not fake news littered with lies that Trump is a terrible businessman. Perhaps, one of the worst in U.S. history. He has done a great job of covering that up and hiding it, all the while burnishing the opposite image. He is the original “media influencer.”
Will his lies, distortions, bullying, and criminal behavior be enough to protect him from the truth?
Once again, it’s not clear.
541 Days to the 2020 election and 619 Days to Inauguration Day
PS Let’s be Fabulous
Leave a Reply