No…I’m, ironically, speculating about what you might be saying if things were different. Since you don’t get the joke, I’ll apologize about ‘just making shit up about’ you and move on.
I, again, disagree. Saying that there are 30,000 folks working for the FBI (or some other number) is just silly, unless you want to believe that, but for Trump all 30,000 of those folks would be turned loose on the investigation. I know YOU believe that if only the full might of the FBI were turned loose in a week they could get to the bottom of these 30 year old allegations in a week, but I disagree with your speculation.
I’m so sorry that I didn’t get your “joke” that involved making up shit about me and criticizing me on the basis of the shit you made up about me. Ha ha.
Now take a deep breath and think about it a little—if the FBI wasn’t going to find anything THEN WHY WAS THEIR INVESTIGATION DELIBERATELY HOBBLED?
Presumably McGahn had a reason for preventing the FBI from speaking to more than 6 people. What was that reason? (and don’t say “time”. Because he could have just told them: “complete your report no later than Thursday”. Instead he limited the people they could speak to. Why?)
Sure, there IS political theater on both sides. But the question is, what underlies it on either side?
Sure, Dems are partisan too, and we don’t want an ironclad conservative Supreme Court majority.
But that’s hardly inconsistent with the reality that most of us believe that Kavanaugh doesn’t belong on any court for reasons that have nothing to do with his ideology. The least the Republicans should be expected to do is come up with a nominee that’s less of a disaster for a pile of reasons that have nothing to do with being extremely conservative. That’s a legitimate motivation. It may be only part of what motivates us on the left, but it’s part of the mix.
But the Republicans, who could presumably come up with a nominee that’s less of a disaster for a pile of reasons that have nothing to do with being extremely conservative - you tell me why the fuck they’re not??
I’ve said my piece: for them, it’s all about dominance. Winning for the sake of winning, and making the other guys lose for the sake of owning the libs. That’s what their political theater is serving. There are no legitimate motives in their mix.
Exactly. As to why, I think my explanation of ‘they are stupid’ was a pretty good reason. Evil Economist wants to attribute 3 dimensional chess and wheels within wheels, but I frankly am not seeing it. Trump almost certainly put restrictions on things because, A) he thought it would play well to his base and B) he wants to give the appearance of an investigation while getting it over with as soon as possible, and, C) because he is a micromanaging asshole and always has been. I seriously doubt that he actually thinks they will find anything substantial, regardless of who they interview…but if they do, someone has probably pointed out to him that it would be better to get that out immediately so he can have someone tell him who he should nominate next. Plus, get him a cheese burger.
I think I’ve told you like 3 (now 4) times that Trump isn’t personally approving the interviewee list. Don McGahn (White House counsel) is. Don McGahn is an old friend of Kavenaugh’s.
I am having a hard time finding what I read now that backs this up but IIRC the White House made a deal with Kennedy that if he resigned they would appoint someone who clerked for Kennedy. (There is this which is suggestive: Donald Trump Made Justice Kennedy an Offer He Couldn’t Refuse)
That narrows the list a lot (I think there is only one other on the shortlist that meets that criteria…Judge Raymond Kethledge).
Then when you consider Kavanaugh’s expansive views on executive privilege and power it is not hard to see why he got the nod and why Trump wants him on the court no matter what.
Just so you know, I didn’t say they were equivalent. I just said this whole thing is political theater. I find what the Republicans are doing MUCH more distasteful, but what Feinstein did initially by sitting on the info was not a great thing either. However, even leaving aside the rape allegations and how that, alone SHOULD be enough to set Kavanaugh aside (just the question of it), the fact that they are in lock step about a guy who pretty obviously showed he’s unsuited has sullied what little reputation the Republicans had left at this point, IMHO anyway.
Neither side is coming out of this, in my mind anyway, looking good. But the Republicans are looking much, MUCH worse from my perspective.
Wonder what incentive Trump has to uphold his end of any deal now that Kennedy is gone. Based on Trump’s treatment of contractors, his word is worthless (also his paper contracts).
Perhaps you should consider the fact that I don’t find this great revelation by you (3-4 times now) either a great revelation OR pertinent. Since I’ve already said this several time, just take a moment to consider that I heard you the first time, knew this already, and don’t give a shit about it in the context of the discussion.
I think you need to keep those kinds of promises in Washington or you quickly find no one willing to deal with you and I suspect that is made abundantly clear to Trump by his staff.
There is always another contractor out there looking to make a buck, there are not many senators and judges you can screw over before none of them will talk to you.
I work in the Chicago Board of Trade and back when the futures pits were still a thing the mantra was, “Your word is your bond.” Anyone who reneged on a verbal deal would very quickly find they cannot conduct any business with anyone. I suspect Washington is similar on this count.
Trump is stupid but this is a whole special level of stupid even for him.
A) How would his base even know? I did not know the White House could hobble an FBI investigation of a potential supreme court nominee. Maybe you knew they could but I doubt Joe MAGA would know. The White House certainly did not advertise that so there is no bump to the base.
B) The initial investigation is pro-forma. All supreme court nominees go through it and it takes a roughly standard amount of time that is the same for all of them (give or take but close enough). So it can’t be rushed anyway. Not in any meaningful sense.
C) Even if he is a micromanaging asshole we know he will forget what he told you to do in a few hours. Plus there is no upside to micromanaging any of this.
The only reason to do what he did is to hide serious deficiencies in the candidate he nominated. Otherwise just let the process do its thing. If your boy is squeaky clean there is only downside to micromanaging the whole thing.
Plus Trump wouldn’t have any idea how best to limit the investigation even if he wanted to. He’s not Kavenaugh’s buddy. Kavenaugh isn’t going to say to him “hey buddy, make sure the FBI doesn’t talk to Jane Doe”.
McGahn *is *Kavenaugh’s buddy. Kavenaugh and McGahn could probably have a quiet conversation about how the investigation is going (and where it shouldn’t go…)
I only get it wrong in your own head. Like the joke you didn’t get, you don’t seem to understand why I don’t think it’s relevant.
The person limiting the scope of the investigation is Trump. Unless you think your guy is secretly the president, ultimately it’s Trump making the big picture decisions. Whether you understand that or not, it’s reality.
These conversations in your head…you know, they aren’t reality, right? You are connecting dots here and using them to speculate about conversations you think are actually happening, but just wanted to point out that, you know, they aren’t.
Or…cite? Can you give a citation for any of this speculative horseshit that doesn’t requiring someone to jump through hoops or connect the dots?
