One of the pillars of advice in Sun Tzu’s ‘The Art of War’ is “The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.” Similarly, Napoleon’s (at least it’s attributed to him) advice to “Never interfere with the enemy when he is in the process of destroying himself,” is wise counsel Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer should follow.
As we wrote earlier, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is open to blocking whoever Trump’s nominee is to head up the FBI unless Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein appoints a special prosecutor to investigate links between the Trump campaign and the Russian government.
There are a couple of problems with going the route of a special prosecutor. First off, a prosecutor’s scope is very narrow. They are tasked with looking for evidence of a crime. It’s possible no crimes were committed. It is why the FBI is treating the investigation into Trump’s campaign and Russia as one of counterintelligence. It is not a criminal investigation. James Comey said the investigation would determine if a criminal prosecution is warranted. The FBI is doing their job.
Second, the role of the House and Senate Intelligence Committees is to provide oversight of the executive branch of government. They don’t have prosecutorial powers, so they are not conducting a criminal investigation. At some point, the creation of a special commission made up of intelligence experts and lawmakers to look into the matter may be warranted.
Unfortunately, Schumer, while possessing the necessary partisanship to make him come off sounding like a parrot with Tourette’s Syndrome, also possesses the tactical skills of Newman in ‘Seinfeld’ trying to beat Kramer in a game of Risk.
Donald Trump set off small nukes all week, burying himself in a deeper hole every day in the Comey affair. His lies along with the lies his underlings told at his behest regarding the Comey affair came after a new poll showed Trump’s job performance at an awful 36%. Then, here comes Chuck Schumer, like Regis Philbin, handing Trump a lifeline as if he was a contestant on ‘Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?’
One of the reasons Democrats freaked out over Comey’s firing is because they said it interfered with the ability of the FBI to function properly and do their job. So the solution is to block the appointment of a replacement? I know people think Trump did this so he could install a lackey such as Gary Busey in Comey’s place. The politics is so bad for Trump; he’d have to choose somebody Republicans and Democrats believes is a fair choice and who will not fall victim to Trump’s influence.
With the threat of blocking a nominee, the Democrats set themselves up to be the bad guys, particularly if Trump chooses somebody who would otherwise be a consensus choice.
It’s fascinating to watch. Donald Trump keeps shooting himself in the foot, and instead of sitting back, allowing it to happen, Schumer is grabbing the gun from Trump and firing shots into both of his own feet.
Odd as it may be, it is Democrats these days who are always overplaying their hand.
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