{"id":136107,"date":"2018-04-13T07:49:15","date_gmt":"2018-04-13T13:49:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/?p=136107"},"modified":"2018-04-13T14:13:50","modified_gmt":"2018-04-13T20:13:50","slug":"the-politics-of-personal-attack-and-presidential-power","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2018\/04\/13\/the-politics-of-personal-attack-and-presidential-power.html","title":{"rendered":"The Politics of Personal Attack and Presidential Power"},"content":{"rendered":"

Comey’s book, from the advance leaks (and the GOP’s calculated smear campaign prepped against the author) doesn’t really give us all that much except a gloss on a story we already know (and, honestly, most people believe): that Donald Trump has no respect for the law except as a tool to use on his own, personal behalf.<\/p>\n

There is no \u201che said-he said\u201d here. Trump might officially deny that he pressured Comey to drop his investigation into Flynn. But he\u2019s made it perfectly clear that he thinks he had the right to do so. The substance of Trump\u2019s dispute with Comey is not about whether he has tried to compromise the independence of federal law enforcement; it\u2019s about whether federal law enforcement should<\/em> be independent of his will. For legal and political reasons, Trump\u2019s allies have tried to pretend they\u2019re having the former argument.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I disagree to the extent that they aren’t even having that argument (that the facts don’t support the allegation) but the argument that the accuser (Comey) is an evil, rotten, lying guy, and therefore any facts he discusses (even ones that are demonstrably true<\/i> and corroborated,<\/i> sometimes out of the President’s own mouth) should be ignored.<\/p>\n

It’s worthwhile to note that the point team on these smears is not so much GOP politicians, but the GOP political apparat.<\/i> The President, as head of his party, is happy to see them spending their time attacking someone’s character, as it distracts from the real issues at stake.<\/p>\n


\n
\n<\/a>
\nWhy the GOP\u2019s Campaign Against \u2018Lyin\u2019 Comey\u2019 Makes No Sense<\/a><\/span>
\nComey\u2019s credibility doesn\u2019t actually matter \u2014 Trump has already, personally confirmed the former FBI director\u2019s most damning allegation.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

View on Google+<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Comey’s book, from the advance leaks (and the GOP’s calculated smear campaign prepped against the author) doesn’t really give us all that much except a gloss on a story we already know (and, honestly, most people believe): that Donald Trump has no respect for the law except as a tool to use on his own, … Continue reading “The Politics of Personal Attack and Presidential Power”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":136113,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[106,358,1071],"tags":[1499,1078,1077],"class_list":["post-136107","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-plusposts","category-poor-citizenship","category-trump","tag-comey","tag-russia","tag-trump"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/comey.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":133630,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/06\/08\/more-on-the-comey-opening-statement.html","url_meta":{"origin":136107,"position":0},"title":"More on the Comey opening statement","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 8-Jun-17 7:07am","format":false,"excerpt":"I know we'll be hearing more from the man himself very shortly. But I need to commend this article, from someone who knows Comey and knows about the law:https:\/\/lawfareblog.com\/initial-comments-james-comeys-written-testimonyThis quote in particular, regarding Trump's repeated inquiries in to FBI investigations, including when the FBI was going to get around to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/170607192937-03-comey-opening-statement-exlarge-1695B15D.jpgimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/170607192937-03-comey-opening-statement-exlarge-1695B15D.jpgimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/170607192937-03-comey-opening-statement-exlarge-1695B15D.jpgimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":136116,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2018\/04\/13\/trump-is-his-own-worst-enemy-his-opponents-best-ally.html","url_meta":{"origin":136107,"position":1},"title":"Trump is his own worst enemy, his opponents best ally","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 13-Apr-18 2:44pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Donald Trump continues to do more to both publicize and lend credibility to Comey's memoir than any other imaginable factor. His tweeting and public rhetoric not only ignores the Streisand Effect, but validates every point that Comey makes about his personality. Comey says Trump is untethered from truth; Trump asserts,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/trump-across-the-table.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":133437,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/05\/09\/trump-plucks-another-thorn-from-his-side.html","url_meta":{"origin":136107,"position":2},"title":"Trump plucks another thorn from his side","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 9-May-17 7:57pm","format":false,"excerpt":"James Comey drew plenty of criticism from all quarters over the last several months, and with good reason, but his abrupt firing today from his job of FBI Director is noteworthy for a few things:1. Comey has been a thorn in Trump's side on repeated occasions. Though arguably his announcements\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":133505,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/05\/17\/has-donald-trump-obstructed-justice.html","url_meta":{"origin":136107,"position":3},"title":"Has Donald Trump obstructed justice?","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 17-May-17 10:35pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Another good article from LawfareBlog, examining what's known of the Comey memo and what the standards of obstruction of justice are in a federal court.But the article also notes that a federal indictment is not how such a case would develop. The question is whether the behavior and actions of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":133634,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/06\/08\/first-thoughts-on-the-comey-hearing.html","url_meta":{"origin":136107,"position":4},"title":"First thoughts on the Comey Hearing","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 8-Jun-17 11:16am","format":false,"excerpt":"So I was able to watch about 95% of the hearing. My immediate take-aways ...... Public hearings are largely to let Senators posture in front of the press. That was on display here as usual, though they actually did seem to have actual questions that they wanted answered. I'd give\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":133447,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/05\/10\/the-rage-of-the-president-toward-a-disloyal-servant.html","url_meta":{"origin":136107,"position":5},"title":"The Rage of the President toward a Disloyal Servant","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 10-May-17 9:25pm","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm always a little hesitant about \"insider\" stories that portray High Drama in scenes that can't be confirmed except through anonymous sourcing. But between this and the parallel multi-sourced WaPo story [1], it's pretty clear that Trump's simmering anger against Comey -- between failing to follow through on Clinton's email\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136107","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=136107"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136107\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":136114,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136107\/revisions\/136114"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/136113"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=136107"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=136107"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=136107"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}