Monday Morning

The tradkiti.on Institutional Overload open thread, as the Trump's Watergate Tweetshow engulfs us.

Comments

[-peter]

Honest historians will write about Obama's true legacy : Nixonian paranoia and abuse of power

[Neo]

I don't know what other Tweets Ben Rhodes may have done, but the tweet ...

No President can order a wiretap. Those restrictions were put in place to protect citizens from people like you.

... is curious that it doesn't deny that Trump may have been "tapped" but rather gives a "plausible deniability" defense of Obama.

[narciso]

Tom bowler has sketched out the playbook"

http://www.libertarianleanings.com/2017/03/the-comey-fitzpatrick-playbook.html

[Bubarooni]

No one ever remember who came in third...

[Bubarooni]

dang it!

or fourth......

[DebinNC]

I hope Team Trump learn some useful lessons from this. Not seeing any Trump tweets reported this morning makes me hopeful they have.

[Jim Eagle]

Neo,

He's right, its the AG who authorizes the DoJ application. And who does the AG work for? But to state that no POTUS can tell his AG to go do something is ridiculous on the face of it.

[Neo]

... but to go straight to "plausible deniability" ... ?

[Frau Steingehirn]

I'm hoping RG is correct about Comey, and that Comey is walking carefully, throwing a hand grenade to the Justice Department forcing them to handle Obama's treachery. It seems more logical that LoLy would be the one to trigger FISA warrants. She is closely tied to Obama and Clinton. (ewwwwwwww)

I made the mistake of reading too long at Politico and will need a bath with Lava soap. It's worse than reading the NYT.

[Sandy --First 100-- Daze]

"... tradkiti.on ..."

When did narciso take over from TM ?

Or, when did TM adopt narciso's style guide ?

[Sandy --First 100-- Daze]

DebinNC: what are you saying here, could you expand ?

I hope Team Trump learn some useful lessons from this. Not seeing any Trump tweets reported this morning makes me hopeful they have.

Posted by: DebinNC | March 06, 2017 at 11:05 AM

[Beasts of England]

Barack Milhous Obama

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

Great Bullwinkle reference in that first line Tom...Bowler, that is.

[Tom Bowler]

Thanks, Ig.

[Porchlight]

TM, you're so behind. :) The new immigration EO reveal is about to happen:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MtFX5CgFto

[narciso]

From the last thread, Murray does have a dry sense of humor.

[DebinNC]

Glad to, Sandy. Trump needs to speak very carefully, even in tweets, showing a command of the facts and of himself. BOzo didn't care about facts, but he always appeared cool, calm, and collected. Today's "Unhinged President Hot Head" meme wouldn't have a chance of succeeding without Trump's inadvertant help imo.

[Old Lurker]

Deb,

A. But for the tweets, no Trump message would penetrate the MSM in any recognizable form.

B. And don't think for a second that he would not still be "Unhinged President Hothead."

[Sandy --First 100-- Daze]

So, DebinNC, are you saying your 'disapprove' or regret his tweets on Saturday ?

[Porchlight]

I must disagree, DebinNC. Trump won because he didn't sound like Zippy von Pinhead IV. The tweeting goes right over the heads of the traitorous MFM, who subsequently reveal their true colors daily as they step on their own cranks in outrage dial-up.

Don't change a thing, Donald. :)

[Old Lurker]

C. I for one suspect he tweets with a lot more care than he wants you to think.

[Man Tran]

Buckeye,

The RVer will be in Springs in a couple weeks, so we can stroke his feathers a bit. He sent me that Foer article, but I have not responded yet. Right after the election, he was so despondent, he couldn't focus on anything. He damn near cried at breakfast. Don't know if he's back smoking MJ to take the edge off. :)

[Old Lurker]

Life is always better when OL and Porch are on the same page...

[Tom Bowler]

P.S. Ig, I confess I've been getting a lot mileage out that reference. Probably overworking it.

[DebinNC]

The BOzos step out smiling, relaxed, not a care in the world. Timed to show a clear contrast to the current "hyperbolic Trump" stories.

[Porchlight]

Truth, OL. :)

[Old Lurker]

BOzos are just thinking that a $65M book advance will fund many many hours of billings from Wms & Connolly.

[Tom Bowler]

An interesting observation on Instapundit:

"Hypothesis: The spying-on-Trump thing is worse than we even imagine, and once it was clear Hillary had lost and it would inevitably come out, the Trump/Russia collusion talking point was created as a distraction. Now it’s being rowed back because the talk of “transcripts” supports the spying-on-Trump storyline."

I have to say, Trump seems to deliver more well planned gaffes than anybody I've ever seen.

[Neo]

Why does everybody keep thinking that Comey is the bad guy ?

By asking DOJ to clarify, they will have to wrap their fingerprints all over this "adventure."

If I were in his position, I'd probably do the same thing he is doing.

[narciso]

I linked that totally vizzini ode to koskinen in bozos, you want me to repeat it.

[henry]

Deb, anyone check them for "medical" MJ?

[Man Tran]

BTW, I've been getting links to Clarice's wonderful post like epicycles of motion from my (usual) broadcast out to my pals first thing on Sunday. This one really rang some bells.

[henry]

From Chicago, another rake on the MSM role in this.

[Buckeye]

I think Trump's tweets from Saturday had exactly the effect he desired.

[joan]

In re the Politico article about meme's, what Charles Johnson is the article talking about in identifying him as an internet troll and expert who tried to buy 4Chan? Are they talking about Charles Johnson of little green footballs? Who despises Trump and conservatives?

[DebinNC]

So, DebinNC, are you saying your 'disapprove' or regret his tweets on Saturday ?

No, just some of the words he used which gave the msm jackels an opening. Trump and Comey then seeming to be at odds on the facts is very troubling imo. Today, it seems that someone in the WH failed bigly in getting all the vital ducks in a row before dropping such an obvious bombshell.

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

Nonsense Tom.
There is an almost total ignorance among the general public and even theoretical physicists about the world changing properties of upsidasium.
Even Elon Musk could make rockets that don't blow up if he only knew.

[narciso]

As they say neo, it saves time, inspector dreyfus is more overstretched than reed Richards

Trump was very civil, then Stuart smaller up chucked over the speech, and even the Gerald ford dedication didn't help.

[Clarice Feldman]

Thanks, Man Tran.

Tom, I am in full agreement with that Instapundit observation. Moreover, I think by October the Obama adminsitration was so desperate to cover its tracks by finally getting a warrant the application is supported by a false affiavit. Who prepared it--Clapper, Brennan? Isn't this fun?

[Porchlight]

Today, it seems that someone in the WH failed bigly in getting all the vital ducks in a row before dropping such an obvious bombshell.

How so?

Were people imagining that Trump would lay out documentary proof within a few hours? How would that advance his agenda?

It seems to me that Trump gets more mileage out of 140 characters than anyone in history. He can set the world on fire in minutes. Now opposition idiots are stomping over each other in their walkback haste.

Meanwhile, cometh the new immigration EO.

The dogs bark, but the train rumbles on.

[Jim Eagle]

As Trump signs new EO on temp halt to immigration from the 6 countries, we have this to sort of back it all up:

http://dailycaller.com/2017/03/06/the-fbi-is-investigating-approximately-300-refugees-for-terrorism/

[hrtshpdbox]

I think Trump's tweets from Saturday had exactly the effect he desired.

Agreed one hundred percent. It seems a huge majority of his "flubs" and "gaffes" end up working to his distinct advantage.

[Old Lurker]

And who cares what turd Comey throws into the punch? The price & risk of getting Comey on board before the tweet would have killed the entire undertaking. Comey is gonna do what at the moment Comey thinks is good for Comey.

The one thing I said was not handled well was the Session's thing.

[Sandy --First 100-- Daze]

Well, DebinNC, I agree with OL on this matter:

A. But for the tweets, no Trump message would penetrate the MSM in any recognizable form.

B. And don't think for a second that he would not still be "Unhinged President Hothead."

and particularly:

C. I for one suspect he tweets with a lot more care than he wants you to think.

We have been hearing for long time passing that Trump's tweets are wrong, unhinged, undisciplined, a liability, immature, reckless, unfounded, 'an insight to a disturbed personality' etc etc etc ad nauseum.

But over and over we find that not only are his tweets, in hind-sight, exactly on point, but he deftly steps over any media filtering.

In this case, not only did he change the dynamic of the dem lynch mob going after AG Sessions, but he once again took control of the conversation.

I make that:

WINNING.

[Tom Bowler]

Good point, Ig. I forget there are people out there who wouldn't know what to do with a rotary phone, transistor radio, or a record player.

[joan]

Tom,
Just read your article and it's clear and effective. However, I feel that Libby v. Fitzgerald/Comey/Plame/Wilson/Bush/Russert/media rage simmering again. Revisiting that miscarriage of justice isn't good for my blood pressure. I always thought 'right' would triumph in that investigation. However, guess that's just my naivety showing, as I always thought Bush should fight for Libby and Bush should have shoved the 'weapons of mass destruction' up the media's nose.

Of course Trump is the fighter we didn't have. Goodness, I pray for him every day.

I think that's why the venom is boiling in the left, they actually haven't been outsmarted in three decades.

[Tom Bowler]

Clarice, it is indeed fun!

[maryrose]

Yes Clarice, This is loads of fun because a bright shining light is being directed at the Obama administration.
We may even get the elusive transcripts which will reveal him to be dumb as a post.
His SAT and ACT scores should e telling since in his early years he wasn't raised here.

[maryrose]

If Mika is upset we are over the target.

[DebinNC]

Hope and pray y'all are right, because I don't think Trump is temperamentally amenable to correction.

[Old Lurker]

Disrupters disrupt, Deb.

[Old Lurker]

Just wake up every morning and try to think how much worse it would be had he lost. He can't possibly veer of the tracks enough to make that comparison even close.

MAGA

[Captain Hate]

I always thought 'right' would triumph in that investigation. However, guess that's just my naivety showing, as I always thought Bush should fight for Libby and Bush should have shoved the 'weapons of mass destruction' up the media's nose.

There was nothing naive in your expectations although ultimately you got a quick tutorial on GWB's lack of willingness to fight for a principle.

[Tom Bowler]

Thanks, Joan. It was a maddening time when Libby was under investigation, and for a moment I had a hope that Fitzgerald was going to do some good by investigating the handling of classified info. As I recall, Wilson admitted knowing things he wasn't cleared to know. Well that didn't happen.

The whole thing makes me wonder if things were always that corrupt and we just didn't realize it because pre-internet media outlets had the power and control to hide it. Or are things getting worse? A little of both I suppose.

I think the venom is boiling so hard now because the left sincerely believed the tipping point had been reached and they had lost their last presidential election. Legions of illegals would stream across the borders, lax voter screening would all but usher them into the voting booths, federal agencies would at first stifle and then just crush any opposition, and the media/academia axis would indoctrinate.

Then Trump came along.

[lyle]

Honest historians will write about Obama's true legacy : Nixonian paranoia and abuse of power

I think I spot the key word here...

[DebinNC]

Ugh: "Footage has emerged [Yikes!] of a heated row in the Oval Office on Friday that saw Donald Trump erupt into a 'ballistic' tirade against Steve Bannon and other senior advisors. ... The president reportedly unleashed his anger on Bannon and chief of staff Reince Priebus for failing to fight off the firestorm surrounding attorney general Jeff Sessions' recusal amid links to Russia. ... A furious Trump told Bannon and Priebus they weren't flying on Air Force One with him to Florida before reportedly storming out and heading down to Mar-a-Lago."

I'm for Trump firing every Dem appointee he possibly can asap.

[Captain Hate]

I think the venom is boiling so hard now because the left sincerely believed the tipping point had been reached and they had lost their last presidential election. Legions of illegals would stream across the borders, lax voter screening would all but usher them into the voting booths, federal agencies would at first stifle and then just crush any opposition, and the media/academia axis would indoctrinate.

Then Trump came along.

What those dimwits don't realize is that electing Trump was getting the country back the easy way. There was no way that at least half the country was going to knuckle under to the country being taken over illegally without a fight. I got increasingly frustrated with some of the comments in the last eight years that acted like the destruction of the country was a done deal. That isn't gonna happen as long as the side that says "oh hell no" has the vast majority of the firearms.

[Old Lurker]

Deb, did you look at the video of that alleged heated row? Whatta joke.

You are falling for the meme I think.

I can lend you the keys to the Ledge, but you will be lonely out there.

[RattlerGator]

C. I for one suspect he tweets with a lot more care than he wants you to think.

Posted by: Old Lurker | March 06, 2017 at 11:28 AM

Agreed, bigtime. Big.Time. And bigly, too.

Twitter has been his secret weapon and they can't figure out how to counter it.

* * *

I am holding firm in my assessment of Attorney General Comey's actions. Time will certainly tell but so far, so good. He may be a prime purveyor of Government, Inc., but -- as is the case with us -- I think the Clinton and Obama teams freaked many of those people out, too.

* * *

The Sessions thing threw me at first, then Saturday happened. Now, I definitely don't think it was a misstep at all.

[Jim Eagle]

New York Times Trashes Its Own Reporting on Obama Administration Wiretapping:

http://www.breitbart.com/big-journalism/2017/03/05/new-york-times-trashes-its-own-reporting-on-obama-admin-wiretapping/

[Tom Bowler]

Agreed, CH. I thought the election of Hillary would ignite an honest to God revolution. Now I'm a little relieved to see the price of ammunition going down.

[RattlerGator]

That CNN report is a desperate joke of an attempt to set a narrative.

#NotWorking

[Rocco]

He called Trump a liar

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/05/us/politics/trump-seeks-inquiry-into-allegations-that-obama-tapped-his-phones.html?action=Click&contentCollection=BreakingNews&contentID=64989981&pgtype=article&_r=3

[Dave (in MA)]

If Mika is upset we are over the target

Poor Mika, she hasn't tasted Presidential nether regions for a month and a half now.

[DebinNC]

Rocco's NYT piece reads like a desperate, evil joke too. The Senate Intelligence Committee who'll hear the FISAgate facts is headed by Richard Burr-R-NC and Mark Warner-D-VA. Burr won in Nov. and announced he wouldn't run again. I hope Warner doesn't try to jumpstart a 2020 POTUS bid via this investigation.

[daddy]

Peter's 5:13 link is good.

Posted by: Janet 🚬

Janet,

I'm doing catch-up but cannot find a link from Peter at 05:13 Help!

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

Comment at PJM;

What do you want to bet that the FISA warrant was requested by some rogue employees in the Cincinnati office?

[daddy]

Never mind. Found it.

[narciso]

So they say, deb, but they don't show they just tell

[RattlerGator]

Comey is not quoted in that New York Times piece.

We are done automatically presuming these anonymous sources are knowledgeable and accurate in what they present -- correct?

Rocco, I'll wait for better and more definite information before I say Comey called the President a liar.

If the Trump Administration needs to smoke out Comey, well and good. To me, though, it looks as though everything is pushing not toward an FBI focus but a Department of Justice focus. A Loretta Lynch focus, along with her cadre of Brooklyn AUSA's.

YMMV, of course.

[Captain Hate]

New York Times Trashes Its Own Reporting on Obama Administration Wiretapping:

Maybe they're so used to covering for Zippy's witless "I first heard about it in the papers" crock that they've become autistic to the fact that a President has many sources of intelligence that other people don't. Right now I'm evenly torn between believing they're really that dumb or that they're willing to look like idiots to advance their ideology.

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

This Roger Simon column at PJM is getting trolled big time as well.

A swarm of stinging progs = contentment.

[Clarice Feldman]

I pretty much agree, RG--I'd say Lynch at the top with Clapper or Brennan providing the fake affidavit to FISA..maybe even citing news accounts of leaks they thenselves peddled.

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

-- Comey is gonna do what at the moment Comey thinks is good for Comey.--

Bingo.
Rat; meet ship.

[Porchlight]

Where did people imagine all the IC info and "transcripts" were coming from?

I guess these are the same people who think money grows on trees, so why not intelligence data, too?

[lyle]

https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-exhaustion-of-american-liberalism-1488751826

White guilt is not angst over injustices suffered by others; it is the terror of being stigmatized with America’s old bigotries—racism, sexism, homophobia and xenophobia. To be stigmatized as a fellow traveler with any of these bigotries is to be utterly stripped of moral authority and made into a pariah. The terror of this, of having “no name in the street” as the Bible puts it, pressures whites to act guiltily even when they feel no actual guilt. White guilt is a mock guilt, a pretense of real guilt, a shallow etiquette of empathy, pity and regret.

It is also the heart and soul of contemporary liberalism. This liberalism is the politics given to us by white guilt, and it shares white guilt’s central corruption. It is not real liberalism, in the classic sense. It is a mock liberalism. Freedom is not its raison d’être; moral authority is.

This is worth the browser work-around. (I refuse to reference a certain company whose name has become synonymous with internet searches.)

[Porchlight]

That WH video shows zip.

I think it's possible that Trump, Priebus and Bannon were all together royally pissed off at several things, perhaps even new evidence of wiretapping. Flying separately to FL means nothing; maybe they were needed in DC to hold down the fort an extra day. Especially since Trump would be issuing some major tweets early the next morning.

[henry]

Porch, they think intelligence data is made up... kinda like their "news" stories.

[lyle]

Insty sums it up:

Press: Leaked transcripts of Trump wiretaps show Trump was being investigated by the Obama administration.

Trump: Obama wiretapped me!

Press: Transcripts? What transcripts?

[Sandy --First 100-- Daze]

Here's what the tweets have done:

DJT's tweets on Saturday took information that was already out there for all to see, multiple reports in the NYT, NRO, the Guardian, Heat Street, and elsewhere, and simply highlighted what was already known.

ALL OF THIS INFORMATION WAS THERE already.

The POWER of the POTUS tweet.

Heck, JOM could have broken this story, but it took the power of a POTUS Tweet to engage everyone.

This is not undisciplined.

This is fire for effect. Devastating effect.

I repeat, all of this information was ALREADY out there. ALL OF IT.

[Dave (in MA)]

Mikey Adams‏ Verified account @MikeyAdams420 12h Can't sleep. Worried sick about #Russia

.

[Rocco]

RG, I love reading your posts and 99.9% of the time I think you're spot on. But I think Comey's dirty.

[lyle]

From a notorious #neverTrumper:

http://www.weeklystandard.com/trumps-wiretap-claims-what-we-know-and-what-we-dont/article/2007096

[-peter]

Shorter Ron Radosh: so far Trump doesn't impress me. All he's done is very elected POTUS.

[Dave (in MA)]

Footage has emerged

of CNN putting Bannon in their crosshairs.

[Another Bob]

RattlerGator | March 06, 2017 at 12:52 PM

Another one in agreement with you on this. Surely looks like Lynch is being set up for the fall.

I want to know conclusively if the wiretapping has been shut down.

[lyle]

http://money.cnn.com/2017/03/06/news/companies/espn-layoffs-talent/

Dear God: please let the insufferable Doug Gottlieb be one of them to get the axe. TIA.

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

Hello all! Been working today on taking stuff tot he auction house and then going down to the old house for another load. Thankfully, I should be done by the end of next week.

On my drive I listened to the unpleasantly sure-she-is-right-about-Trump Laura Ingraham, who ably demonstrated why she is not press secretary.

She was fulminating on those tweets and said they had taken him "off message" totally ignoring the fact that the Sessions thing was the off-message culprit, and that Trump was stealing the narrative back.

Then she proceeded to lecture Trump like he was naive or stupid about the Swamp of DC.It was really off-putting.

She did have Chris Ruddy on, though, and he said he had read the stories bu no one at Mar-a-Lago seemed upset at all, and no one including Trump said anything about his "rage" at Priebus and Bannon.

[Captain Hate]

It took me a while but I agree with RG that Comey has done a masterful job of herding cats while juggling scimitars. If he was dirty Trump would've canned him already imo.

Tammy Bruce: activist judges like that clown in Seattle still have to be dealt with.

[lyle]

Pro tip: If you, like I, regularly read Powerline, I'd suggest eliding anything written by Paul Mirengoff. I think he's trying to out-Rubin Jenn Rubin if you catch my drift...

[Porchlight]

Ingraham was seriously annoying me this morning, too, MM.

You can tell she really wanted that job - lol.

[Janet 🚬]

henry's 11:35 link is good too.

[Captain Hate]

Laura goes incredibly tone deaf from time to time, which is why I stopped listening to her. Tammy is ridiculing Meeka's "open mind".

[jimmyk]

"Honest historians will write about Obama's true legacy : Nixonian paranoia and abuse of power"

I don't think it's paranoia, more like the opposite. A sense of invincibility due to protection of the MSM and wispiness of the GOPe.

Great piece Tom B.

[DebinNC]

Timeline of the the Trump-Russia "dossier": I didn't know that dossier creator Christopher Steele was hired by the Dems to track down the June 2016 DNC Russian hackers. He investigated through December. He didn't trust the FBI, especially the NYC office with ties to Guiliani. Did some of Steele's bilge make it into the successful Oct. FISA application? Very likely imo.

[lyle]

Do "honest" historians actually exist?

[Porchlight]

"Honest historians will write about Obama's true legacy : Nixonian paranoia and abuse of power"

I think it should be "Johnsonian" not "Nixonian." LBJ was far more paranoid and bullying than Nixon and a much more horrible human being.

[Buckeye]

Don't know if he's back smoking MJ to take the edge off. :)

I would bet cash money:)

[Janet 🚬]

I'm doing catch-up but cannot find a link from Peter at 05:13 Help!

Here. from the last thread -
http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2017/03/the_enablers_of_obamas_wiretapping_scandal.html

[RattlerGator]

Lyle, Gottlieb doesn't work for ESPN. He's a CBS guy, I do believe.

I can enjoy him in doses.