The Party of Trump promises to go full banana republic for their ‘Dear Leader’

I warned you earlier this year that if Special Counsel Robert Mueller did not recommend action against President Donald Trump for obstruction of justice (here is a compendium of instances from the New York Times, Intimidation, Pressure and Humiliation: Inside Trump’s Two-Year War on the Investigations Encircling Him), that Trump would be unbound and feel emboldened to pursue his authoritarian dream of turning this country into a banana republic with him as its autocratic “Dear Leader.”

First of all: No member of Congress, nor the White House, nor members of the media have yet seen the Mueller report. The media have been incredibly sloppy in reporting. All we have is Attorney General William Barr’s letter summary, which presidential historian Michael Beschloss dismissed as a “press release” parroting his “no collusion, no obstruction mantra.”

MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell studiously noted that Barr’s letter did not even tell us how many pages are in the Mueller report, nor quoted one full sentence from the report in its entirety. For all we know, it is a voluminous report that lays out a “road map” of all the evidence intended to be reviewed by Congress, and William Barr improperly intervened to give the president what he hired him to do: absolve him.

Second of all: The Special Counsel’s investigation was both a criminal investigation, and a counter-intelligence investigation. As I have told you before, counter-intelligence investigations typically do not result in criminal proceedings, but rather the removal of compromised individuals from their government positions.

As Natasha Bertrand says at The Atlantic, “the wide aperture afforded by a counterintelligence investigation might be key to understanding some of the biggest lingering mysteries of the Trump campaign’s contacts with Russians in 2016—mysteries that, if solved, could explain the president’s continued deference toward Russian President Vladimir Putin and skepticism about his conduct on the part of the U.S. intelligence community.” The Critical Part of Mueller’s Report That Barr Didn’t Mention.

Trump and his sycophant cult followers are using this window between Barr’s letter and the release of the public version of the Mueller report to establish a media narrative, and just as they did with the GOPropaganda to falsely lead this nation into the Iraq war, the media is playing along and again failing the American people.

Trump and his sycophant cult followers are pursuing their “deep state” conspiracy theories and seeking revenge against his political opponents, federal law enforcement, and the media — all hallmarks of authoritarianism. What they are not doing is taking any action to protect the United States against foreign interference in our elections, as detailed by the Special Counsel.

The New York Times reported, Trump Blames ‘Treasonous’ Critics for Russia Inquiry:

President Trump went on the offensive on Monday a day after the special counsel investigation reported no conspiracy with Russia, suggesting that critics who pursued such suspicions were “treasonous,” guilty of “evil things” and should be investigated themselves.

Mr. Trump repeated his assertion that a collection of partisan foes had effectively conspired to try to disrupt or even end his presidency with false allegations about his campaign’s ties with Moscow in 2016.

“There are a lot of people out there that have done some very, very evil things, some bad things, I would say some treasonous things against our country,” he told reporters during an Oval Office meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel. “And hopefully people that have done such harm to our country — we’ve gone through a period of really bad things happening — those people will certainly be looked at.

“I’ve been looking at them for a long time,” he added, “and I’m saying why haven’t they been looked at? They lied to Congress, many of them, you know who they are. They’ve done so many evil things.”

On Tuesday, Trump insinuated that President Obama was guilty of treason. Trump again tries to pin the Mueller probe on Obama without providing evidence:

“You’re accusing the people who launched the investigation into your campaign of treasonous acts,” a reporter said to Trump.

“Yeah,” Trump replied.

“How high up do you think it went?” the reporter asked.

“I think it went very high up,” Trump said, then calling the investigation a “disgrace.”

“It went very high up,” Trump continued, “and it started fairly low but with instructions from the high up. This should never happen to a president again. We can’t allow that to take place.”

“Do you think it reached the West Wing of the Obama White House?” the reporter asked.

“I don’t want to say that,” Trump replied, “but I think you know the answer.”

We’ll note quickly that the assertion that there is, by definition, no conceivable way in which any even theoretically actions taken against Trump were treasonous. The more important assertion made by Trump is that Obama or his top aides were the ones pushing for an investigation, offering “instructions from … high up.”

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There is not evidence, in fact, that points concretely to Obama having any role in the genesis of the investigation into Trump’s campaign. Perhaps Trump has seen some. Or perhaps he’s making an unfounded insinuation.

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Trump has done a remarkable job of convincing Republicans that the investigation was an unwarranted effort to railroad him. (A newly released Quinnipiac University poll finds that 83 percent of Republicans believe the investigation was “a political witch hunt.”) But it’s useful, with 2020 looming, for Trump to link that effort to Democrats than to the “deep state.”

The Littlest Rebel, Little Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Trump’s loyal lap dog, promises to carry out Trump’s revenge against his political opponents and federal law enforcement, pursuing his “deep state” conspiracy theories. Roll Call reports, Lindsey Graham calls for a special counsel investigation on ‘the other side of the story’ following Mueller report:

Sen. Lindsey Graham called for further investigation into “the other side of the story,” referring to a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrant allowing the Justice Department to surveil Trump campaign associate Carter Page.

“[It] is at a minimum disturbing,” that the FISA warrant may have been based on an unverified dossier of salacious allegations against the president, Graham said.

The Hill adds, Senate GOP eyes probes into 2016 issues ‘swept under the rug’:

Senate Republicans are preparing to relitigate some of the biggest controversies of the 2016 election as they look to turn the page from special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe.

After a two-year investigation into Russia’s election interference and the Trump campaign, Republicans say there are still lingering, unanswered questions about the FBI’s handling of the Clinton email investigation and the origins of the probe of President Trump and his aides.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) is signaling that he’ll use his high-profile panel to dig into areas he believes his colleagues have largely “swept under the rug” in the wake of the 2016 election.

Trump and his allies have argued for months that high-profile officials within the Department of Justice (DOJ) and FBI were working to undermine his campaign and used kid gloves on the probe of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s emails, a story that loomed over the 2016 presidential campaign.

“When it comes to the [Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act] warrant, the Clinton campaign, the counterintelligence investigation has pretty much been swept under the rug except by a few Republicans in the House. Those days are over,” Graham told reporters during a press conference on Monday.

Graham wants bipartisan support for his investigative plans, but his probes are likely to only widen the already growing partisan gap on the Judiciary Committee. He warned on Monday that he is willing to subpoena officials as part of his investigation.

Vox.com adds, Now that Mueller’s conclusions are in, Senate Republicans are ready to turn back to Hillary Clinton:

Rather than simply accepting the results of the Mueller report and moving on to other legislative priorities, Republicans seem determined to capitalize on this momentum to call out what they see as potentially unfair treatment toward the Trump campaign and administration.

As Graham broke down exactly what he was interested in investigating, it’s clear that Republicans want to refocus the attention on one of their favorite targets: Hillary Clinton.

Graham offered up a laundry list of questions he’s interested in examining, including how the FBI reviewed Clinton’s emails, the impact of potential anti-Trump sentiment in the agency, and the broader role the FBI and DOJ may have played in harming Trump’s electoral chances.

“What makes no sense to me is all the abuse by the Department of Justice and the FBI, the unprofessional conduct, the shady behavior,” Graham said. “Nobody seems to think that’s much important. Well, that’s going to change, I hope. I’ve been calling since the end of 2017 for a special counsel to be appointed to look at whether or not the FISA warrant process was abused for political purposes, whether or not a counterintelligence investigation was opened up regarding the Trump campaign as a back door to spy on the campaign.”

Many of Graham’s outstanding queries appeared tied to how then-FBI Director James Comey handled the probe of Hillary Clinton’s private email server, as well as the role that a dossier from former British spy Christopher Steele played in the agency’s scrutiny of the Trump campaign. This dossier contained information alleging a conspiracy between Trump and the Russian government.

“What was the conflict that made [then-Attorney General] Loretta Lynch so unable to preside over the Clinton email investigation? Was it just a tarmac meeting, or was it more? I believe there was more there, and I intend to get to there,” Graham said.

This is what you get when a political party is controlled by its propaganda machine, Fox News aka Trump TV, and Trump’s minister of propaganda, Sean Hannity. Hannity Urges Prosecution Of Trump’s Political Foes:

Not content to just declare Donald Trump vindicated by the unseen Mueller report, Sean Hannity weaponized it as an excuse to prosecute Hillary Clinton, Democrats, and “deep state operatives” via a rant undoubtedly meant as a message to the Fan in Chief.

In his monologue declaring the left’s “favorite conspiracy theory is dead,” Hannity dishonestly claimed that the still-secret Mueller report has proved Donald Trump’s innocence while, at the same time, Hannity also smeared the investigation as a “witch hunt.”

But once finished claiming exoneration of his Bedtime BFF, Hannity quickly moved to weaponize the report into an authoritarian tool for Trump. After portraying his usual foes as the real crooks, (including a reference to the bogus Uranium One “scandal” debunked by Fox News) Hannity, Trump’s unofficial chief of staff, began his dangerous drumbeat[.]

Folks, this is poison that, unfortunately, goes right into the ear of the man occupying the Oval Office. And since this was obviously a pre-prepared commentary, it was undoubtedly approved by a senior Fox News producer.

Hannity’s “Dear Leader” Donald Trump rips ‘Mainstream Media’: ‘They truly are the Enemy of the People’:

President Trump took aim at the “Mainstream Media” in an early morning tweet on Tuesday following a summary of the special counsel’s investigation that showed there was not enough evidence to conclude the president’s campaign colluded with Russia during the 2016 election.

The president resurrected his attacks on news outlets and journalists, calling them the “enemy of the people” and the “opposition party,” while accusing reporters of knowing that the Russia investigation would not turn up anything against him.

“The Mainstream Media is under fire and being scorned all over the World as being corrupt and FAKE. For two years they pushed the Russian Collusion Delusion when they always knew there was No Collusion,” he tweeted. “They truly are the Enemy of the People and the Real Opposition Party!”

Republicans are also attacking House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, whose committee has obtained much of the same evidence as the Special Counsel, and he believes that there is sufficient evidence of “collusion.” ‘Undoubtedly there is collusion’: Trump antagonist Adam Schiff doubles down after Mueller finds no conspiracy:

President Trump, emboldened by the special counsel’s determination he was not part of a criminal conspiracy to sway the 2016 election, has an early target as he seeks revenge from his critics: Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.), who maintains he’s seen evidence Trump colluded with Russia.

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[E]ven as House Democrats make a clear pivot away from the collusion question, they continue to rally around Schiff — who refuses to let the matter go until lawmakers can assess the investigative materials that informed Mueller’s findings.

“Undoubtedly there is collusion,” Schiff said in an interview this week, after Attorney General William P. Barr submitted a four-page letter to Congress summarizing key aspects of Mueller’s report. “We will continue to investigate the counterintelligence issues. That is, is the president or people around him compromised in any way by a hostile foreign power? . . . It doesn’t appear that was any part of Mueller’s report.”

A Justice Department official said Tuesday it will take weeks to make the Mueller report public. House Democrats on Monday gave Barr an April 2 deadline to provide Congress with a copy.

This week, the Trump campaign singled out Schiff, along with Intelligence Committee member Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.), on a list of people it urged media outlets to avoid booking for interviews after Barr announced Mueller’s findings, according to reports. The list includes House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) and former CIA director John Brennan, both of whom, like Schiff, have infuriated the president with their public scrutiny and criticism.

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Democrats maintain that Schiff is not wrong in saying there was evidence of collusion even if Mueller determined that the matter did not rise to a level that warranted criminal prosecution.

“It doesn’t mean there wasn’t an enormous amount of smoke there,” said Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.), a member of the Intelligence Committee. “This was a fine legal distinction Mr. Mueller had to make.”

The goal of the authoritarian Party of Trump is to silence its political opponents and to cower, if not silence, the critical news media. The authoritarian Party of Trump is undemocratic and un-American, and represents the single greatest threat to our American democracy. Trumpism is the new American fascism, and it must be defeated and consigned to the ash heap of history.