(Wrongo and Ms. Oh So Right are heading to Europe today. We will be gone for 10 days, so blogging may be sparse. Please keep America great while we are away.)
Happy Motherâs Day to all. A few more thoughts about BLOTUS (Big Liar of the US): Not only does he have the worst approval ratings of any president at this point in his term, but heâs also incapable of moving the needle of public opinion toward his positions. Ironically, for all of Trumpâs sycophantsâ talk that Trumpâs words ARE his actions, his tweets and public pronouncements are making his positions more unpopular.
For the past few days, it has been âAll Comey, all the timeâ, both in America and around the world.
You can count Wrongo as one of those who thinks that Comey made some huge mistakes trying to position himself after his take-down of Hillary Clinton, and her self-inflicted email disaster. You can also count Wrongo as thinking that Hillaryâs loss was mostly her own fault. That means that you can also count Wrongo as agnostic regarding whether the Russians were behind the hack into the Democratic National Committee, or that their intervention was because they wanted to help Trump win the election.
Democrats argue that Trump and/or members of his administration are âsoft on Russiaâ. Democrats have adopted a neo-con worldview that just a few years ago, they would have hated: That policies are either pro-America or pro-Russia. And, itâs in that pro-Russian box that Democrats are trying to stuff The Donald.
This makes Democrats blind to the possibility that people (even Trump!) could genuinely believe that itâs in Americaâs interest to be friendlier to Russia. That we could cooperate on certain issues without being agents of Putin. Perhaps you remember that Obama said just that in his first term.
Itâs the kind of game that has become acceptable in todayâs Washington swamp.
Wrongo isnât happy with Comeyâs performance as FBI director, but we now stand on the edge of a precipice without him. He ran into trouble because AG Loretta Lynch had to recuse herself during the Clinton email investigation. That led to his free-lancing, and his inexplicable testimony. Then AG Sessions had to recuse himself from any Russia-related investigation. And shortly thereafter, the tempo of the investigation changed, and Comey needed someone to approve additional resources for the Russia investigation. The WSJ reported:
Comey started receiving daily instead of weekly updates on the investigation, beginning at least three weeks ago…Comey was concerned by information showing possible evidence of collusion.
Now, the firing of Comey opens up the FBI and the DOJ, by custom and tradition an agency that is independent from politics, to outside political control, to a new director forcing a reduction in funding or other resources critical to the investigation.
Ostensibly, the issue isnât the fact that Comey was fired. Itâs about the timing. In turn, that is directly linked to the fact that the FBI is investigating Trump. Most think that the FBI Russia operation was breathing down the neck of the Trump campaign and their operatives. They think that the Comey firing is an effort to slow down, or wind down, the investigation prematurely.
The question is, will the new FBI director do either of those things? Wouldnât the FBI agents involved in the investigation revolt/go public if a new director defunded the effort, and/or reduced the commitment to it? And the FBI is not running the investigation by itself. Their investigation is overseen by prosecutors. We heard this week that there is a grand jury. We hear that they’re issuing subpoenas. That’s not being done by the FBI. Itâs being done by prosecutors in the DOJ.
And that’s where the ball sits. The American people have to rely on AG Jeff Sessions, who may be recused, but who guarantees that? Or it rests with Deputy AG Ron Rosenstein, who is in the job for a couple of weeks. Or it rests with a to-be-appointed FBI Director. Bloomberg is reporting that Trump is considering former Congressman and former FBI agent Mike Rogers, who is far too political, or former New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, who is all hat and no cattle.
There are hundreds of thousands of stories and millions of words being written about this. Trump shouldnât expect this to go away.
In fact, he should publicly support getting to the bottom of it, rather than acting like Richard Nixon. That didnât end well.
Some music: Here are the Waifs, an Australian blues/rock band formed in 1992, fronted by two sisters, doing âCrazy Trainâ. Itâs the train America is on right now:
Those who read the Wrongologist in email can view the video here.
Here we are, the Sunday before Tuesdayâs presidential election, and the time change just added another hour to our long national nightmare.
The contest between Clinton and Trump has become uncomfortably close since the FBIâs intervened in our political process.
Can we build a wall around the FBI? It will be the best wall, and we’ll get James Comey to pay for it.
The WaPo reports that it has moved Ohio from âtoss-upâ to âleans Republicanâ and moved New Hampshire and Arizona from âleans Democraticâ to âtoss-upâ. This leaves Clinton with 290 electoral votes. CNN, as of Friday morning had Clinton below 270 electoral votes for the first time in a long time.
This election reminds Wrongo of 1988. That was George H. W. Bush vs. Michael Dukakis. In July, Dukakis led Bush by 17 points in a Gallup poll. In fact, Dukakis led Bush by comfortable margins into August, but things went badly for the Democrat. A number of false rumors were reported, including the claim Dukakis had been treated for mental illness. Then came the ridiculous picture of Dukakis in a tank, and the Willie Horton ad, and Dukakisâ goose was cooked. Bush took the popular vote by nearly 8 points, winning 40 states and 426 electoral votes.
Letâs hope we are not witnessing the second coming of a Dukakis loss in Hillaryâs inability to close out Donald Trump.
This means we need an extra helping of cartoons. Something has to give us a smile before the crying starts on Tuesday. Face it, one team or the other will be crying.
Cubs win, Cubs WIN:
Some voters will definitely have some âsplaining to do:
When you think that all the choices are bad, what are ya gonna do?
Views differ on Comey:
FBI Director takes on a new meaning:
If Trump wins, some are going to Canada, others are just going:
When itâs all over, weâll call it a âWave Electionâ:
As we go down the stretch to Tuesdayâs election, the political dynamic has switched from being a referendum on Donald Trump to a referendum on Hillary Clinton.
It seems fitting that in the final stretch of a presidential campaign that has been completely indifferent to policy issues, from Russia, China, and the Middle East, to jobs and income inequality at home. Our news outlets are now focused on an apparently impregnable story about the Pant Suitâs private e-mail server, and the Clintons generally.
Since FBI Director James Comeyâs announcement, weâve seen the drip, drip of musings by the cableistas about whether Clinton can hang on to her lead, or if Trump can win on Tuesday.
There have also been a series of leaks by the FBI that appear to be designed to damage Hillary Clinton and benefit Donald Trump. An anonymous source leaked to the Wall Street Journal that there was an FBI investigation âââincluding âsecret recordingsâââ âinto the Clinton Foundation.
Fox News reported on Wednesday that the FBI is intensifying an investigation into the Clinton Foundation over allegations that it traded donations for access to Hillary Clinton when she was Secretary of State.
And thereâs more. Judd Legum reports that the FBIâs Inspection Division is launching an investigation into why its FBI Records Vault Twitter bot re-released the files on Bill Clintonâs pardon of Marc Rich.
The FBI Twitter account was inactive from September 2015 until October 8th. Then there were a flurry of tweets, concluding with the Marc Rich tidbit. It has not been active since that tweet, so:
Candice Will, Assistant Director for the FBIâs Office of Professional Responsibility, said she was referring the matter to the FBIâs Inspection Division for an âinvestigation.â Upon completion of the investigation, the Office of Professional Responsibility will be referred back to the Office of Professional Responsibility for âadjudication.â
According to Marcy Wheeler, the Inspection Division and the Office of Professional Responsibility doesnât have statutory independence from the rest of the FBI, which means their investigation can be influenced (or quashed) by FBI executives. So, nothing will be done, despite the fact that Federal law and FBI policy prohibit employees from using the power of the department to attempt to influence elections.
Deep antipathy to Hillary Clinton exists within the FBI, multiple bureau sources have told the Guardian, spurring a rapid series of leaks damaging to her campaign just days before the election.
Current and former FBI officials, none of whom were willing or cleared to speak on the record, have described a chaotic internal climate that resulted from outrage over director James Comeyâs July decision not to recommend an indictment over Clintonâs maintenance of a private email server on which classified information transited.
âThe FBI is Trumpland,â said one current agent.
This was also confirmed to Wrongo recently by an in-law who used to work for the FBI. Itâs as if the ghost of ole J. Edgar showed up early in October, and has decided to hang around for a while, even though Halloween is over.
The FBI has now entered parlous political territory. This is law enforcement trying to force its will on civil authority. We need to put a choke collar on this dog, before it tries to bite us all.
We all should care about how FBIâs apparent misconduct is affecting the election.And if the FBI is this politicized, it is an enemy of We the People, and will remain an enemy, even if Comey is ousted as Director.
Wrongo is now beginning to think of Comey as another John Boehner, a guy with decent instincts who is completely ineffective at controlling his team, with disastrous results for the country.
Imagine how The Donald as president, would use a vast public police force that is comprised of Trump true believers.