You will be forgiven if you haven’t noticed, but Trump has gained an unshakable ally from the strangest of places. Trump picked up a loyalist from a group that used to be among his biggest critics, Lindsey Graham. The next question anyone should ask is why?
It is not an easy question.
In fact, authoritarian scholar and academic expert Sarah Kendzior appeared on AM Joy (MSNBC) this morning and suggested that Graham may not even have a choice.
What?
Well, something usual is going on. How else does one explain a man who was adamant that the Special Counsel’s office be left alone to freely investigate the Russia matter with no time constraints, suddenly, abruptly, even – call for the investigation to end, now, as if he had a gun to his head, or is allergic to polonium.
“These [FBI] investigations against Trump were corrupt to the core. They gave Clinton a pass, and we need a special counsel to look at all things at the Department of Justice and FBI when it came to the Trump investigation, particularly the counterintelligence investigation.”
What the hell is he talking about? Corrupt to the core? Graham was one of the ones stating that Mueller was as solid an American as existed, the right man for the job. And; “They gave Clinton a pass.” Excuse me? Trump has done far worse than “Clinton” ever did when it comes to compromising security, and having James Comey have a press conference calling Hillary Clinton “reckless” 10,000x, then violate FBI policy by releasing a letter he knew would be leaked regarding more emails, just a week and a half before the election, essentially giving Trump the win, is a “pass”? No one said a thing about the investigation into Trump, seems if anyone got a pass, it would be …
Jonathon Capehart – one of the brightest minds in the DC – confessed he can’t figure out what’s going on. He noted that on some days it appears that Graham wants to get at the truth, and some that Lindsey will do anything to protect Trump. He turned to the expert and asked her if she had any ideas.
Kendzior began by noting that most of Graham’s “statesman-like” approach, wanting an investigation, fully supporting getting at the truth, occurred prior to January 2017, when Trump was sworn-in. Since that time, Graham has gone back and forth, but as of late, there have been few who are more reliable in their defense of Trump.
Then she got real:
“There are a few things we should remember, ” she advised. “The RNC was hacked; no one knows what happened to those emails. Lindsey Graham personally was hacked and nobody knows who has those emails. The RNC is complicit financially and politically and broadly in what the Trump campaign has done in terms of illicit interactions with Russia.”
Sounds like she has a pretty good idea who has those emails. If Russia was hacking into the DNC, would there be any reason at all to not hack into the RNC at the same time? Remember, authoritarianism, grabbing and keeping power. is a well-studied science (It’s how you get academics like Kendzior in the first place.) One element would surely be to put the puppet in place, another would be ensure they have plenty “on” the side of the puppet to defend him or her. Anyone who has read me regularly knows that I’ve speculated that Sean Hannity and several others over at Fox, including some top producers, likely have either been wholly compromised through embarrassing material, or wholly paid off – which becomes embarrassing material the moment you accept. Why would Russia not cover the RNC as well?
Kendzor had more.
“We have tracked all of those financial ties and there’s pretty good chance that either voluntarily or involuntarily Senator Graham has gotten mixed up in the situation and cannot be an objective observer,” she explained. “I find that sad because in the past he has asked for a nonpartisan look at what Trump has done. He stood up against corruption and he should go back to that.”
At this point, unless it is a direct threat on his life – and no one can rule that out – it would almost not matter what Russia had on Graham, if he said: “Look, I took this money here, and did that there, and these are the crimes I’m guilty of, but I love my country, and I am coming out today to say this is the reach that Russia has within our government and it needs to end.” He might not be regarded as a hero by the MAGA crowd, but the majority of Americans would find the honesty so refreshing it might be a while before anyone remembered that Graham had anything to hide.
It has long been rumored that Lindsey Graham is a gay man – that cannot possibly be what is keeping him supporting Trump, can it be? Who could possibly care at this point, if the exchange was saving your nation?
In fact, who cares about much of anything if the exchange is saving your nation? I understand fear of direct threats on one’s life. I am not sure I’d be brave enough, either. But the stakes?
The stakes could not be higher, because this is how authoritarianism sets-in, and with Trump as president, we’ve given it a two year head start over anyone else who might have been elected. We would have had commissions, real congressional investigations, real sanctions, the real things that chase real challenges away. Normally we would have counted on Lindsey Graham as being really solid. We now have reason to really worry.
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