May 23, 2018
The sinkhole that has opened up on The White House lawn is an apt metaphor for what is happening to our democracy. Like sinkholes, the crisis we are facing has been caused by the constant erosion precipitating what seems like a sudden collapse. In the last week, we have been alternatively confused and alarmed by a series of over the top accusations that the FBI “implanted” an informant in the Trump campaign, presumably to entrap them all into committing treasonous acts. Hardline Congressional Republicans, led by Devin Nunes, demanded to see the FBI’s case files. Over the weekend, Trump tweeted that the FBI’s actions were an effort to frame him and demanded that the DOJ commence an investigation into the FBI’s conduct.
The truth about the alleged informant was far more anodyne. The informant was revealed to be Stefan A. Halper, a retired American professor at the University of Cambridge in England. Halper was a veteran of several Republican administrations, dating back to Richard Nixon. Since 2012, Halper has had contracts with the Defense Department to provide research and development (Source: “Who is Stefan A. Halper, the FBI source who assisted the Russia investigation?” by Devlin Barrett, Tom Hamburger, Ellen Nakashima and Matt Zapotosky, The Washington Post, 5/21/18). Halper, who was never on the staff of the Trump campaign, had a couple of meetings with Carter Page, hired George Papadopoulos to write a research paper on the location of oil and gas assets for a fee of $3000 and had a brief meeting with Sam Clovis (Source: “How the FBI informant’s outreach to Trump staffers fits into overall investigation,” by Philip Bump, The Washington Post, 5/22/18).
Although all of this is normal investigative procedure, Trump and Nunes cranked the outrage machine up to 11. Rosenstein folded like a cheap suit and announced that he would allow Congress to see classified files on the investigation AND that the DOJ’s Inspector General, Michael Horowitz, would investigate the FBI’s alleged surveillance of the Trump campaign (Source: “DOJ asks watchdog to probe Trump campaign surveillance claims,” by Brett Samuels, TheHill.com, 5/20/18). The long vaunted independence of the Department of Justice appears to have vanished in an instant and Congress, far from acting as a check on Trump’s abuse of power, is serving as an enthusiastic “amen chorus” egging him on. There can be no doubt that these people are irredeemable and are dedicated to dismantling any semblance of democracy. Our only hope is to sweep the lot of them out of office.
On that front, yesterday’s results give us reason to be hopeful. The most momentous result was Stacey Abrams’ resounding victory in the Georgia Democratic gubernatorial primary. Abrams, who is the first Black woman to win a major party nomination for governor in the history of this country (!) won decisively, with 76% of the vote and carrying 153 of the state’s 159 counties (Source: “Can Stacey Abrams Change the Way Democrats Win in the South?” by Alan Abramowitz, The New York Times, 5/23/18). In Kentucky, former Marine fighter pilot, Amy McGrath, defeated the Democratic Party’s handpicked candidate, Lexington mayor, Jim Gray, in the primary for Kentucky’s Sixth Congressional District. The truth is that Republicans know that Democrats are poised to run the table in November, and will use every trick in the book to stop us. Be prepared to leave nothing to chance. The alternative is too ghastly to contemplate.
#Bluewave
#staceyabrams.com