The Truth Is Out There The X-Files
Good afternoon Senators. I’d like to begin my opening statement with a question. Do you people have any idea of who I am? I’m Brett fucking Kavanaugh! I was so pure in high school that my name was put forward for sainthood in my sophomore year. The Vatican is going to get back to me on that. I staggered, I mean sailed my way through Yale law school, and proved my judicial bona fides with dirty tricks in the Starr investigation, and the Bush White House. And now, because a bunch of whiny women, who weren’t cute enough for me to remember even if I had been sober, wanna take me down, you plebian assholes want to take my birthright away from me?!? This is bullshit!
Well, here we are, firmly in the 7 day “window of suspense.” It’s all the rage right now to guess how badly the White House will hamstring the FBI investigation. And while Trump and his GOP cronies will no doubt push where they can, there are limits. And in fact, it might not make the final difference.
For starters, I think Trump and the GOP hierarchy have badly misunderstood Jeff Flake. Trump, McConnell, Grassley et al, are immoral, double dealing, unethical bastards. They automatically view every event through a partisan, political lens. They are taking for granted that Flake pulled his little stunt as a power play, to maximize his visibility. Whether it was his friendship with Chris Coons, or those two powerful activists in the Senate elevator, or just his own conscience, Flake made his decision for personal, moral reasons. If Flake honestly thinks that the White House and Grassley are simply putting on a sham show, a pro forma faux investigation, he can still sink Kavanaugh on the floor vote, and would likely take Collins and Murkowski with him. And Flake would not showboat on this, because it would only be seen as such, and make him a partisan hack. This is personal for Flake, this investigation, and the insistence on fairness and due diligence is his legacy of his Senate time. The FBI has to be allowed to investigate within reason, whether Trump likes it or not.
The White House, or Grassley, may be able to somewhat control who the FBI talks to, but they can’t control what those people say. Anybody the FBI interviews now has a personal stake. They don’t know who else the FBI will interview, or what they will say. These people can’t afford to lie, it will be their asses in the sling. An d while Kavanaugh may have a wide “social circle,” it doesn’t seem to me that he has very many actual close friends. His supporters seem to be largely pro forma, coming forward in blocs and mass signature letters, while both Ford and Ramirez have had individuals step forward in numbers to defend them and their good name. All it takes is one person to state that they remember Christine Blasey Ford at that July 1st gathering, and corroboration is achieved.
The second problem is Mark Judge. I know Mark Judge, and so do you. He’s a fuck up. We’ve all seen or known a Mark Judge, you could hand him a steak dinner, and he’d drop the plate and step on it on the way to the table. Even Kavanaugh’s over the top, sympathetic description of the sad life of Judge could work against him. Judge needs an FBI interview the way he needs a free pass to Studio 54. Again, Judge has no idea of whom else the FBI will interview, and what they’ll say, so he can’t afford to lie. And if, in retrospect, which I’m sure that Mark Judge has had ample time and therapy for, he feels that Kavanaugh may have had a hand in his formative demise, he may not be very well disposed to protect Kavanaugh.
Also, while Trump and Grassley may be able to control who the FBI talks to, what they can’t control is who talks to the FBI! What’s to say that somebody doesn’t very quietly come forward and tell the FBI that they remember, at the time, how odd it seemed to them that Dr Ford came flying down the stairs, and ran out of the house on July 1st? Or what happens if a man comes forward, and admits to the FBI that he was the one that ran down the dorm hallway freshman year, yelling to everybody how Brett Kavanaugh had just shoved his schlong in some poor girls face? What is the FBI supposed to do, ignore them because they weren’t on the interview list? Brett Kavanaugh went too far by half in his outraged denials of any inappropriate conduct, of any kind, at any time in his high school and college years to not have left a vapor trail of potential disputing witnesses behind him.
One more thing to remember, and it’s important. The FBI doesn’t have to conclusively prove the sexual assault against Dr Ford, there’s a wild card n the deck. During Kavanaugh’s original hearing, the Democrats did a great job of highlighting possible lies and mistruths from Kavanaugh to the Senate committee in his previous hearings. Flake and Collins both bluntly asserted that if Kavanaugh had lied to the Senate in any hearing, it would be disqualifying. Kavanaugh has already testified that everything negative that has been said about him is bullshit. If it can be proven that Kavanaugh lied about falling off of the bus, or actually was so drunk that he was incoherent, or physically incapacitated, or that he was aggressive and abusive when intoxicated, it can fairly be argued that he has lied to the Senate. Kavanaugh was an unpopular choice to start with, and he has rapidly deteriorated to the point where he’s getting to be much more trouble than he’s worth. This delay is going to allow more polling to come in to show just how unpopular he is with the public. If he doesn’t come out of this smelling like Chanel no 5, the lies to the Senate would be a convenient off ramp for Senators to use to get rid of him, and while Trump may still publicly support him, he also tempers that with “But we’ll have to see what happens.” Not exactly a death pact.
It’s still a dicey proposition to stop him, and likely an uphill battle. But just like with Bill Clinton, here an AR land deal turned out to hinge on semen on a dress, once these things start, you never know where they’ll end up. And Senators that really don’t want to do something have proven to be rather inventive with their excuses for not doing it. Don’t touch that dial.
