Guest Post by Jim Kunstler
What is the canary’s purpose in life? Why, to sing, of course — at least from the human’s point-of-view. What is the canary trap? Why, to catch humans who are singing like canaries.
The latest occult dish served up by Democratic Party spirit cookers in the impeachment ritual is the release of “bombshell” news leaked to The New York Times late Sunday from a new book by Mr. Trump’s erstwhile National Security Advisor, John Bolton, purporting verbal evidence of a quid pro quo in the Ukraine aid-for-investigations allegation. Better hold the premature ejaculations on that one.
The canary trap is a venerable ploy of intelligence tradecraft for flushing out info-leakers. You send slightly different versions of an info package to suspected leakers in a leaky agency, and when the info materializes somewhere like The New York Times, you can tell exactly which canary crooned the melody. In this case, the agency was the White House National Security Council, the notorious nest of intriguers lately the haunts of impeachment stars Col. Alexander Vindman and alleged “whistleblower” Eric Ciaramella (on loan from the CIA, and now back there). Another bird in that nest is Alexander Vindman’s twin brother Col. Eugene (Yevgeny) Vindman, a military lawyer posted as chief ethics counsel for the NSC, of all things.
The info-package in this case was the manuscript of John Bolton’s book, The Room Where It Happened, relating his brief and tumultuous misadventures in Trumpland, slated for release March 17. Someone in the White House chain of command ordered a security review of the manuscript by the NSC — a curious detail. Why there, of all places, given the recent exploits of Ciaramella, Vindman & Vindman, Sean Misko, Abigail Grace, current or former NSC employees now in the service of Adam Schiff’s House Intel Committee, which kicked off the latest mega-distraction from the nation’s business? Why not give the manuscript to the Attorney General’s counsel, or some other referee to determine what in the book might qualify as privileged communication between a president and a top national security advisor?
Well, before you go tripping off on a tear about the suspect loyalties of William Barr, consider that the chief byproduct of the entire three-year RussiaGate flimflam and all its subsequent offshoots by the Lawfare Resistance has been to completely undermine Americans’ faith in federal institutions, including the DOJ, the FBI, the CIA. Perhaps what we’re seeing is the convergence of two perfect setups.
Surely Adam Schiff thinks that testimony from John Bolton was his ace-in-the-hole to corroborate the House’s impeachment case. Maybe his staff (of former NSC moles) had a hand in orchestrating the leaks from the NSC to The New York Times at exactly the right moment — hours before Mr. Trump’s lawyers would begin to argue the main body of his defense in the Senate, to produce an orgasmic gotcha. But what if Mr. Trump’s lawyers and confidents were ahead of the scheme and knew exactly when and how Mr. Schiff would call the play?
It’s actually inconceivable that that Mr. Trump’s team did not know this play was coming. Do you suppose they didn’t know that Mr. Bolton had written a book on contract for Simon & Schuster, and much more? After all, a president has access to information that even a sedulous bottom-feeder like Mr. Schiff just doesn’t command. Maybe the canary trap is only the prelude to a booby trap — and remember, boobies are much larger birds than canaries. Maybe, despite prior protestations about not calling witnesses, the Bolton ploy will actually be an excuse for Mr. Trump’s defense team to run the switcheroo play and accede to the calling of witnesses.
Perhaps they are not afraid of what Mr. Bolton might have to say in the ‘splainin’ seat. Perhaps what he has to say turns out to be, at least, the proverbial nothingburger with mayo and onion, or, at worst, a perfidious prevarication motivated by ill-will against the employer who sacked him ignominiously. Perhaps Mr. Trump’s lawyers are longing for the chance to haul in some witnesses of their own, for instance the “whistleblower.” It is also inconceivable that the actual progenitor of this mighty hot mess would not be called to account in the very forum that his ploy was aimed to convoke.
And from the unmasked “whistleblower,” the spectacle would proceed straightaway to Adam Schiff himself in the witness chair. That will be an elongated moment of personal self-disfigurement not seen in American history since William Jennings Bryan was left blubbering in the courtroom at Dayton, Tennessee, 1925, after he spearheaded the malicious prosecution of John Scopes for teaching evolution in a high school biology class… or the moment of national wonder and nausea in June 1954 when Army Chief Counsel Joseph Welch rose from his chair and asked witch-hunting Senator Joseph McCarthy, “At long last, have you left no sense of decency?”
In a deeply imperfect world, California’s 28th congressional district has produced a true marvel: the perfect scoundrel. Adam Schiff has been hurling false accusations and retailing mendacious narratives for three years. He deserves the most public disgrace that can possibly be arranged, on nationwide television, with all his many media enablers at CNN and MSNBC having to call the play-by-play. Then the nation needs to expel him from the House of Representatives. And then, maybe, the USA can get on with other business.
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So he brought a rat on board who then ratted him out. Big surprise.
It is unlikely that the Trump defense team did not know and prepare a strategy for whatever Bolton might say. My guess that the ‘revelation’ is not very serious, and that it will play out like the tales told by Michael Cohen and the ambassador, both on whom where touted as Trump-killers. When is came down to it, neither could testify that Trump told them to do anything illegal, that they just inferred or presumed bad intent on behalf of the president. At the worst, Bolton’s testimony would be a he said-she said situation; Bolton will reveal an incriminating conversation, Trump will said it never happened. On the other side, Bolton’s testimony might raise enough questions that would require testimony from witnesses the Democrat’s don’t want to hear from. With the possibility of Trump being removed being remote, the dangers to both sides of calling witnesses being is too great for either side to take the risk. No witnesses.
“It is unlikely that the Trump defense team did not know and prepare a strategy for whatever Bolton might say.”
if trump survived new york he can survive this too – ’cause it’s all the same trash from the same people for the same reasons pursuing the same goals in every generation.
It’s hard to believe, but half the country listens to Schiff and thinks he’s the epitome of an honorable public servant. They call Trump a dictator despite his being impeached and facing an election. They still cling to the fantasy that he’s a Russian dupe. It’s upside down world.
“half the country listens to Schiff and thinks he’s the epitome of an honorable public servant”
they don’t think any such thing. they don’t think, they feel. “schiff’s getting me what I want, therefore I like him. trump’s in the way of what I want, therefore I hate him.” that’s it. that’s the extent of their reasoning.
The only thing that motivates that set is whether or not the Checks and Hand Outs keep going out to them, and that someone might have more than them. They’re worse than Panem et Circenses.
Smoke, squid ink, all designed and intended to obscure and distract the many while the few pick their pockets, and worse. All of them are in on it and reading from scripts and re-writes. Kunstler (whose stuff I have enjoyed reading) would have us believe that THIS TIME Charlie Brown will kick the football that the entire Deep State is holding? Please. Not that one again.
Trump may be convicted and removed. That depends only on what the powers-that-be find convenient, not on truth, Adam Schiff, John Bolton or any other individual effort, heroic, truthful or not. Everyone in DC -Barr, Trump, Schumer, McConnel (no exceptions, and both sides) is in on this game. Some love it, some may abhor it, but they are all in on it, and will play the roles assigned them. Do you really believe Lindsay Graham or Mitt Romney? Do you believe ANY of them, about anything?? If so, please send all your money to me right away and I will invest it for your exclusive benefit. Trust me.
Enjoy the show. Eat some popcorn. Maybe get together with some friends and bet small sums (like pitchers of beer) on conviction, or the number of Chinamen dead in Wuhan, or the canonization of St. Kobe, or score changes in the Super Bowl. It is all a bunch of BS designed for you to not notice that your wallet is gone and there is a big dick in your ass.
I mostly agree with your comment, except that I don’t think that everyone is in on it. Many of the players on both sides truly believe they are fighting for a righteous cause, unaware that it is all intended to be a distraction. In fact I’m not even sure that Trump knows it is scripted. He definitely welcomes the impeachment because it causes the Right to rally around him and excuse him for all of his failures, but he might not know that it is scripted by his handlers.
Pie, Send those funds right over, pal. I will invest them for you. Really. Truly. No lie. I can be trusted. Nobody else, just me.
Righteous? You believe that, about any of them?? I don’t mean the minions, I mean the players. You think that ANY of the Reps, Sens, Cabinet members, senior administrators, Generals, Admirals, aren’t in on this transparently insane scam? Sure, Millie from Minneapolis or Bill from Biloxi may be righteous in their belief, and a hell of a lot of people will get fired if they don’t act sufficiently righteous, but NONE of the people that really matter are righteous. Not one. I would like to hang every last one of them, and leave them hang until their bodies fall apart, right down Constitution Avenue.
I didn’t say any of them are righteous. In fact most of them are definitely not righteous, in the way a normal person would understand the meaning of the word “righteous”. I said they “truly believe they are fighting for a righteous cause”. And many of them do truly believe they are fighting for a righteous cause, unaware that they are actors in a scripted play. That is precisely how compartmentalization works. Only a few at the top know the whole picture. Most of the rest of the players only know the small part they are performing, and many of them think they are doing it for a good cause. Just like most ISIS fighters think they are fighting for a righteous cause, unaware that at the top ISIS is controlled and funded by the U.S. and Israel.
I go with the compartmentalization angle. There are always plenty of useful idiots available to do their part unwittingly. Maybe a mixture of both in the know players and useful idiots. Whatever the exact mix, it doesn’t matter. It is just Theater for them and show for us to watch and be entertained. Grab some popcorn.
Whether a Hail Mary pass or a trap, the following is how it will play in the minds of many. From the article:
Another protestation from yet another Neocon.
“a perfidious prevarication motivated by ill-will against the employer who sacked him ignominiously”
sounds about right.
“John Bolton, purporting verbal evidence of a quid pro quo”
oh the tribe has warehouses full of evidence, all cataloged and prioritized for use as needed.
or they just generate it on the fly.
By now, even as new details continue emerging, I have to believe members on both sides of this issue are firm in their beliefs, of who is right, wrong, truthful, or lying.
Prescious few of the undecideds will have any kind of an epiphany that will change their mind to go 180 from where they were trending.
More saddening is the startling number of people who either don’t care, or remain incredibly ignorant to all the details, typically by design from those who routinely shade the truth, if not outright lie and conspire.
The longer it drags on, and justice is delayed, the more interest wanes.
That bodes worse for the D’s,
upcoming election risk for T aside.
Bolton is just a mouth piece reaching for a money grab He does not have to be truthful to sell a book, just create controversy. When there is no else in the room, you can report anything, only 2 people to dispute it. Destroying the pride and accomplishments of this country is high on the list for this new pompous group. MSM supporting them is more than sad. Truth be damned
I am no fan of Bolton. That said, I have trouble believing he would squeal on the president and tarnish his legacy, which in some circles is quite shiny, forever.
He could be doing this to trap the Dems. Guess time will tell.
I figure that Trump knows everything about all of the skeletons in Bolton’s closet, and has that Damocles sword hanging over his head until Bolton tells what he is told to say.
This whole thing is about only one thing. The mad desperate attempt to cover up decades of bribes and kickbacks laundered through fake jobs for friends and family in exchange for foreign aid and selling our jobs to other countries. They’ve been selling out America every single by G.d day. Never Trumpers and Democrat Socialists alike. Kerrys Romneys Pelosis Bidens and a host of others. Lying cheating stealing parasites on the butt of America.
I’ve said for some time that the Democrats were had once. Now, they’ve been had twice. The first set up was Trump’s call to Zelensky, upon which the Democrats acted on out of raw fear. The investigation of Pappy Biden and Sniffy the Son had been going on for 2 years, apparently under the Democrat’s radar, meaning there were no moles in that affair and they knew nothing about it. That phone call was a set up, and those rats went for the cheese not knowing it had been dosed in strychnine. This “illumination” about Bolten’s so-called bombshell is also a set up, as I’m sure Trump already knows all about the contents and probably even fed it to the moles. What this means is the Democrats will get their additional witnesses, who know nothing, and the Republicans will bring Guiliani and Company up to spill the beans on the Biden corruption. It will be extensive, exhausting, and before it’s over, there will be fist fights right on the floor of the Senate.
Would love to see this impeachment show play out as you have just outlined. While I have no illusion of seeing Biden’s corruption in his and his sniffling son’s dealings with Ukraine laid out chapter and verse on the floor of the Senate – It would be great entertainment to watch fists fly between Senators and Congresspersons on the Senate floor during this impeachment trial. Wouldn’t be the first time our legislators used non-verbal communication methods.
Back in May 1856, South Carolina Congressman, Preston Brooks, nephew of the elderly Senator Butler of South Carolina, avenged the coarse remarks made by Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner against his Uncle by beating Sumner with a heavy gutta-percha cane. They called Congressman Brook’s beating of Senator Sumner an act of Southern Chivalry.
If the impeachment circus turns into a rumble between the sharks and the Jets, I wonder what the public will call the ensuing fracas. Whatever they call it, any decline in decorum and honor that results in physical violence between the actors would be the obvious signal that the democrats pushing for impeachment have no real evidence and the republicans ran out of patience and the need to use words to respond. This whole impeachment circus is such an affront to the average American, seeing the emotional stunted, intellectually impaired and amoral immaturity of all the actors involved conclude in a school yard brawl is the only fitting ending. I expect nothing good to come out of this current political theater.
As I understand the NYT story is not a quote from the manuscript, but a statement from an unnamed source. The statement may not even be in the book.
Endless speculation concerning the motivations of the puppets.