GOP Rep. Justin Amash (R-MI) launched another well-deserved tirade against William Barr on Twitter Tuesday, calling out Barr for his false narrative and his self-serving ways. Before we get to that, please permit me an aside on Twitter itself. Twitter gets bashed as a cesspool, too frequently, and I believe, too unfairly. It is an outstanding communication medium when used to it’s fullest advantage. A few days ago, Virginia Heffernan of the Los Angeles Times wrote a piece, “Justin Amash cuts through Trump’s baby talk with A+ twitter eloquence” and I agree. He did it last week and he did it again Tuesday. First, read what Heffernan has to say about Twitter as a medium:
When Latin poetry gave way to English poetry among English speakers, it was derided as pop for the unwashed masses. Then poetry gave way to workaday prose, and the novel was considered an ignoble form for the unsophisticated.
Newspapers — forget about it. People who read disposable broadsheets and tabloids at the turn of the 19th century were clearly too dumb for books of philosophy, poetry or even fiction. Poor slobs, they were not looking for wisdom or moral instruction: just sports scores, job listings, and news of wars and elections that might be immediately entertaining or useful.
You can guess where this is going: Twitter. Twitter is clearly the vulgar vulgate of our time. It’s overcrowded; it’s slangy; it’s loud and addictively entertaining. But it’s also a place where freethinkers can pick and choose — across class, race, station, gender, geography, religion, politics — their intellectual teachers, sparring partners, nemeses and fellow travelers . And if, as Amash did, you produce a clear signal amid the noise, people listen and pass it on. Twitter is indispensable for making meaning in these chaotic times.
Justin Amash sent another clear signal through the noise Tuesday morning.
After receiving Mueller’s report, Barr wrote and released a letter on March 24 describing Barr’s own decision not to indict the president for obstruction of justice. That letter selectively quotes and summarizes points in Mueller’s report in misleading ways.
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) May 28, 2019
Barr’s letter doesn’t mention those issues when explaining why Mueller chose not to make a prosecutorial decision. He instead selectively quotes Mueller in a way that makes it sound—falsely—as if Mueller’s decision stemmed from legal/factual issues specific to Trump’s actions.
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) May 28, 2019
In noting why Barr thought the president’s intent in impeding the investigation was insufficient to establish obstruction, Barr selectively quotes Mueller to make it sound as if his analysis was much closer to Barr’s analysis than it actually was:
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) May 28, 2019
But Mueller’s quote is taken from a section in which he describes other improper motives Trump could have had and notes: “The injury to the integrity of the justice system is the same regardless of whether a person committed an underlying wrong.” None of that is in Barr’s letter.
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) May 28, 2019
Mueller: “There is now public confusion about critical aspects of the results of our investigation. This threatens to undermine a central purpose for which the Department appointed the Special Counsel: to assure full public confidence in the outcome of the investigations.”
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) May 28, 2019
Barr declined; he allowed the confusion to fester and only released the materials three weeks later with the full redacted report. In the interim, Barr testified before a House committee and was misleading about his knowledge of Mueller’s concerns:
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) May 28, 2019
Barr absurdly replied: “No, I don’t…I suspect that they probably wanted more put out.” Yet Mueller had directly raised those concerns to Barr, and Barr says he “suspect[s]” they “probably” wanted more materials put out, as if Mueller hadn’t directly told him that.
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) May 28, 2019
Barr notes that Mueller did not “find any conspiracy to violate U.S. law involving Russia-linked persons and any persons associated with the Trump campaign.” He then declares that Mueller found “no collusion” and implies falsely that the investigation was baseless.
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) May 28, 2019
In truth, Mueller’s report describes concerning contacts between members of Trump’s campaign and people in or connected to the Russian government.
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) May 28, 2019
It’s wrong to suggest that the fact that Mueller did not choose to indict anyone for this means there wasn’t a basis to investigate whether it amounted to a crime or “collusion,” or whether it was in fact part of Russia’s efforts to help Trump’s candidacy.
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) May 28, 2019
The report says the president’s counsel was told that interviewing him was “vital” to Mueller’s investigation and that it would be in the interest of the public and the presidency. Still Trump refused.
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) May 28, 2019
Ultimately, the special counsel “recogniz[ed] that the President would not be interviewed voluntarily” and chose not to subpoena him because of concerns that the resulting “potentially lengthy constitutional litigation” would delay completion of the investigation.
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) May 28, 2019
Barr has so far successfully used his position to sell the president’s false narrative to the American people. This will continue if those who have read the report do not start pushing back on his misrepresentations and share the truth.
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) May 28, 2019
As Heffernan said last week, Amash beautifully uses the Twitter form, and this is a good thing. Twitter moves at the speed of light. It’s immediacy makes it a powerful tool. It’s good to see it being used properly, not as baby talk at 3:30 a.m. as our titular leader uses it.
There’s a distinction that Heffernan is missing in his comments, I think. Twitter is a media entity, not the medium itself. I’d think of the medium as short-form social network commentary. Twitter is one entity within that medium…and one that is trying to, and has to some degree, established a monopoly (as has happened with most of the 21st century new forms of communication).
So when I criticize Twitter, I’m not criticizing the entire medium or process of people going on to their social media network and making commentary that is broadcast throughout their network. That’s perfectly okay.
What I would criticize is the individual company, which asserts monopolistic powers, allows hate speech to exist on their platform, and shows little concern about anything that doesn’t benefit them financially.
That is not like saying that I don’t like newspapers…it’s like saying that the Main Street Times is running prostitution and drug adverts in their classified, and they’re doing jack crap to stop it because they like the ad revenue. And even if the front page article is about the city council passing an infrastructure bill, a newspaper filled with that sort of content is still a cess pool.
This is a complex issue and I don’t disagree with anything you say. The point Heffernan was making, and I agree, is that Twitter (and social media generally) is to this generation what the newspaper was to people of a different age, it’s the medium of the common man. But yes, as you point out, social media is not so terrifically maintained. And Facebook is an unregulated utility, to all intents and purposes. So, this brave new internet world we live in needs a lot of adjustments.
My only point is that the good that comes out of Twitter is very good indeed. I have read, and written about, some terrific Twitter threads, some very entertaining and some enlightening. That was my only point.
By way of for instance, Ursula, the Twitter user known as The Hoarse Whisperer has put out many such tweetstorms as it relates to a clinical understanding of Trump’s terminal narcissism in the framework of current events.
I follow Hoarse Whisperer (isn’t that a bitchin’ handle?) and Seth Abramson and others who do great, long threads on all this madness.
I sense an impatient wave building up, even the Republicans, those with use of their own minds still available, and are close enough, (being in the House), to actually see and hear actions from the phony AG to aggravate and stymy the intense scrutiny of Adam Schiff and his team, along with the other committees, taking apart the Trump criminal action team, one tricky Di*k Head at a time … the Trump/Barr kissing party would be entertaining if it was not so damn dangerous …
They are making themselves into a Kraken of enormous powers, a very short distance from, (King Donald), he IS we must remember, working out a whole new salute to himself in the July,4th fireworks he wants … He’s been shot down a few notches on his fantasy wall, his total disrespect for the Japanese people, and our own troops and their families rides AF-1 back home as we again shake our heads in shame for what he is doing to our former happy homeland …
He not only does not GET IT, he is so simple minded, he can barely read, probably has to have someone else tie his shoes, after making sure he has them on the proper feet …
This take-down by Justin Amash, is so deep and does not seem to show any giveaways to DJT, there must be a path opening up through some slime -infested hallways in the Senate office building, that may have left an opening for the brave and pissed off Repubs to speak …? The machine guns in McConnell’s front office may be losing the pressure needed to cap the House- (R’s) using his printed obstructions procedures … it’s official, we put down Barr, as the disease infected, fungus face he is, FIRST, then, with Trump having only a worthless Ghoul, to chat with, Boom, Adam Schiff and the other teams get together with Ms. Polosi, build all the papers of impeachment, evidence files, call the House together for a vote … reclass all the investigations into full frontal attacks of the Moron.
I’m hoping this piece by a republican is a sign there could be some REAL pressure on McConnell do-nothing … because of party swing close to elections.
I’m sure McConnell is nervous right now, because if he loses the Senate in 2020 that will not help his plans. Amash may be trying to rally other House Republicans to take back the House. I have no idea what he’s doing. Maybe he’s prepping himself as a future presidential contender. I’m just glad that he’s making noise.
I wonder what organized sports were being played at the turn of the 19th century that Heffernan said readers of broadsheets were interested in catching up on…..*scrathes head*
Concerning Amash, Trump must be polling badly in his district, otherwise, he would be nose deep in Trump’s azz like the rest of them.
Or just maybe he is that unicorn, the principled Republican?
I think that species became extinct when McCain passed away…..not that I am a fan, but he did vote his conscience over party once or twice.
Beautiful way to put it. The principled Republican is as rare as a unicorn.
Far as I know, soccer and boxing matches have been around forever — God knows horse racing has. People bet on anything, cock fights, dog fights, you name it.
In the back of my mind, I hear the most famous version of the old blues tune “When The Levee Breaks” as performed by Led Zeppelin. Amash may be the first GOP rep to come out and say it. He will be far from the last.
From your lips to God’s ears. Because I’ll tell you what occurred to me the other day, and if it occurred to me, it had to have occurred to some Republican: Mitch McConnell is close to retiring, or even possibly getting voted out. He’s done his bit and he may not give a damn about the future of the party. He’s always been Mitch first, party second, and he understands politics and power as well as anybody who has ever been in the political arena. He may be just at a point where he says, “Screw it. I did my bit. I stacked the courts. Let somebody else take the wheel.”
If I was a Republican right now, seriously, especially a young man or woman, I would be saying, “Wait a minute, guys. We’ve got to think about the future of the entire party after this Halloween horror movie fest of Trump is done.” I would seriously be thinking about damage control. Because this shitshow is absolutely not going to last forever. I’ve seen the pendulum of politics swing too many times, and predictably so. Even if Trump would get re-elected (heaven forfend) the Democrats will take back the White House in 2024 — assuming it’s still standing — and there will be a tremendous backlash.
I’ve seen a lot of things come down in the past sixty years (although I must say, I never thought I would ever live to see anything like this cartoon) and the only thing I will say about politics, with absolute certainty, is that the pendulum always, always, swings back. A lot of what happens to a candidate is where s/he is when the pendulum swings.
John McCain had the bad luck of following Bush. They should have nominated McCain and not Bush back in the day, I don’t think McCain would have driven us over an economic cliff. Probably would have gotten us into an unnecessary war, but he wouldn’t have effed up like Dubya.
Hillary had the bad luck of the draw to be the establishment candidate in the year of the populist. Most unfortunate. She would have done an outstanding job as president. It’s not always about the merit of the individual, it’s that plus timing — and a lot of other factors. Murphy’s Law is the rule of law in politics.
Unfortunately, timing is everything in life. And back to my original point, the GOP better start thinking about saving the GOP, because I don’t think old Mitch really gives a damn, my dears.
Of course, Ursula, that leaves an interesting question left unanswered: who do they have left who can truly carry on once Mitch and Trump are out of the picture? Near as I can tell, there’s nobody but nonentities left on their way to becoming full-fledged nobodies. Even Mitch is little better than a middle manager. One devastating effect both W and Trump have done is gut their party of any true leadership prospects, as neither refused to suffer any rivals. I don’t see that changing anytime soon.