Guest Post by The Zman
One thing about the Kavanaugh drama that did not get much attention, but warrants some attention, is how Trump leveraged the event to transform the Republican Party into his party, one that is looking to him for leadership. Just listen to some of the things GOP senators are saying now and it is as if they have gone through some sort of religious experience. Not only are they operating like a real political party, they are standing up to the Left’s morality play. It’s a remarkable transformation in just a few weeks.
Two moves by Trump seem to have set all of this in motion, as well as making it possible for Kavanaugh to get confirmed. One is Trump did not take the bait and get into a media fight with the Left over the fake charges. In fact, he remained remarkably quiet, even as the media tried everything to goad him. Maybe it is just his natural inclination to not go through the door his opponents open for him, but he seems to know that was part of the trap Feinstein, Katz and Bromwich had cooked up over the summer.
The other thing he did was put the whole thing on the Senate GOP, particularly Mitch McConnell. This was the key move. By explicitly saying he was leaving the issue to the Senate to resolve, the focus shifted from him to the Senate. More important, it put the Republicans in a bind. They could either face the wrath of the Left or they could face the wrath of their voters next month. Trump correctly figured out that survival still counts for something in the GOP, so McConnell had no choice but to get tough with the Left.
What this says is Trump is getting better at being president and better at using his brand as a weapon in Washington. I’ve said since the beginning that Trump is a very rare guy, who instinctively knows how others view him. He uses your perception of him as part of the sales pitch. It’s why many people find his boasting to be so amusing. When he does it, his supporters feel like they are in on the joke. They get that he knows it is boast and that it irritates the Left. He turns what his critics call a character flaw into an asset.
That’s the thing with understanding Trump, something a brilliant observer pointed out three years ago. Trump operates like a famous real estate developer. He is always looking to leverage his assets in order to take advantage of whatever opportunities that may present themselves in the future. In the case of the Kavanaugh hearing, his best play was to stand aside and let Mitch McConnell handle it. If the nomination failed, Trump had a card to play against his party. If the nomination went through, Trump could take credit.
This is not the 4-D chess nonsense the BoomerCons used to say. Trump is not a master strategist, in the sense that he is four moves ahead of everyone. It’s that his inclination is to always play the game, any game, in order to maximize his options when it is his next turn. That’s how the world of commercial real estate development works. You can never know what opportunities will present themselves next, so you make sure you are in a position to seize on whatever pops up. Trump’s applying this to Washington now.
You see this with the Rosenstein situation. The thorn in Trump’s side right now is Mueller, simply because he has the power to be a nuisance. Mueller is supervised by Rosenstein, who is clearly compromised in the FBI scandal. When Congress demanded the FBI documents be declassified, Trump was ready to leverage it. That gave him the excuse to review all of the requested material, without anyone claiming he was meddling in the investigation. It also forced Rostenstein to address what was in those documents.
At that point, Trump had leverage on Rosenstein. It’s why days after Trump decided to hold off on declassifying the documents, the left-wing media was running stories about how Rosenstein was going to be fired. Those stories most likely came from the camp of the conspirators. They just assumed that once Trump knew the facts, he would fly into a rage and fire the crooked Rosenstein. Instead, Trump put a saddle on him and is now riding him around Washington. Trump now controls Rosenstein and Mueller.
That’s unlikely the end game. I’ve always thought that Trump is waiting until after the election to make his next move in this thing. Instead, what he has been doing for the last year is maneuvering so that he has options no matter what happens next month. There’s a very good chance that what Congress has uncovered, what is in those secret files, implicates former Obama officials and maybe a few high ranking Democrats. That’s pretty good leverage for Trump if he is suddenly faced with a hostile House and Senate.
The other play if the election goes poorly is to simply dump all of it out during the lame duck session after the election. At which point he can fire Mueller and Rosenstein, while demanding Sessions appoint a second special prosecutor to handle the FBI scandal, including the role of Mueller and Rosenstein. That assumes there are some real bombshells hiding in those secret files. Given the panic in the FBI and DOJ about the effort to declassify them, it is a safe bet that there is some bad stuff in those files.
Of course, it is now looking like the brown wave the liberal media has been predicting is not going to happen. Left-wing outlets are now talking about maybe a very narrow House win and losses in the Senate. Given how the Left has fallen into a depression over the Kavanaugh loss, it is not out of the question that the GOP holds the House. Winning has a funny way of motivating the winners and demotivating the losers. If this momentum carries the GOP to victory next month, then the options for Trump multiply.
Songbird the Stain croaked too so that helped
What hold did he have over others,I really want to know.I really wonder if he had the equivalent of the hoover files on many folks.
McCain was executed.
Using your argument it was the nomination of a member of the Bush tree of the republican party that gave Trump the leverage over the GOP. Kavanaugh is one of their own.
A fine analysis. But the question still remains: Is it reality, or Reality TV?
The effort to topple the president has failed and everyone knows. Anything Mueller comes up with is legally tainted and he knows that too. He can write whatever he wants in his final report and it is worthless. He is probably more concerned now with his own legal predicament and reputation than ‘getting Trump’ as that opportunity is gone.
The good news is that Trump is hitting his stride as president. His oratory is miles ahead of what he could deliver in 2016. Now, just in time for the November election another mob of Central Americans is making its way to our Southern Border. Between them and Antifa holding the House doesn’t seem impossible and making the Senate Rino proof likely
Awesome analysis of things going on and insights into The Man, Zman!
The US is collapsing.
Americans say the US debt must be increased because debt worked out so well for Rome.
Americans scream that the US should have wars because the USA needs more refugees.
Americans say tyranny is the American way.
Americans think trade wars are good because Chinese products are too cheap and tariffs will fund US wars, debt, and tyranny while killing US exports.
Americans insist Obama was an asshole for destroying the US with wars, debt, and tyranny, but Trump is a god because he loves wars, debt, and the police state.
Americans are so retarded that they think government overlords should have rent control instead of getting rid of regulations that drive up housing costs.
Americans believe anyone who wears a costume, badge, and a gun is a saint.
Instead of losing weight, Americans think the government should make a decree forcing airlines to provide large seats that will drive up ticket prices.
Americans feel that bankers who committed fraud should receive billion dollar bailouts.
Americans say the US should build a wall to keep Americans IN because closed borders helped make North Korea rich.
Americans would rather beg for government job-killing decrees that raise the minimum wage instead of starting a business or learning a skill.
Americans believe fighting the British during the Revolutionary War was a huge mistake.
Americans say killing chickens to eat is okay, but eating cats must be illegal.
Americans insist that restaurants would have a vested interest in killing their customers if the government did not require businesses licenses.
Americans fought the Nazis, but have now become Nazis.
Americans are so stupid that they say baseball hats must be outlawed to help the state meet their private prison quotas.
Americans swear government decrees made the USSR successful.
Americans say George Washington was a faggot for supporting freedom.
Americans think the desires of neighbors are more important than the rights of property owners.
Americans believe withdrawing less than $10,000 from your own bank account should be illegal because you might use drugs.
Americans insist protests must be illegal because protesters might break windows.
Americans feel that the government must close newspapers to prevent fake news.
Americans say the government should shut down churches because there might be terrorism.
Americans scream guns must be banned because blacks might buy guns to kill white people.
Americans feel being groped by the TSA is good because they have nothing to hide.
Americans say NSA wiretapping is fine because it is just metadata.
Americans believe forfeiture is okay because the police have been doing it for years.
Americans insist torture is great because other countries do it.
Insanity.
The USA feels like it is committing suicide.
How can Americans sleep at night now or look in a mirror without feeling utterly disgusted and ashamed?