By Gerald S. Manning. A modern day version of the Shootout at the OK Corral is coming to a political theater near you. Donald Trump, who is finally learning how to play power politics, is setting the stage for the biggest swamp drain yet. Beginning with Barack Obama changing the order of succession of authority in the Justice Department just five days before leaving office, the trap was set for incoming President Donald Trump. The goal of the swamp was the appointment of special prosecutor. Meet the swamp.
It succeeded beginning with Jeff Sessions’ recusal from the so-called Russia investigation in the betrayal to end all betrayals. It has been a downhill spiral as the Obama-Clinton-Comey-Mueller trap snapped shut on Trump. The swamp sucked everybody in…Comey-Mueller-Comey-Mueller…the definition of a closed Washington loop. Replace one who should be in jail for leaking information to the press through a university professor with one who was appointed to investigate such matters who happens to the other’s best friend and mentor. Meet the swamp.
So Mueller was appointed special prosecutor to look for “collusion” between Trump operatives and the Russians during the campaign. After almost a year of accusations and leaks from some of the toughest media and political sources around…nothing has been found. Nothing will be found. But wait a minute…Mueller appointed six lawyers to assist him. All of them have given money to the Clinton campaign or the Democratic Party. One of them gave $32,000.00. Another $13,000.00. Another was actually a lawyer for the Clinton Foundation (a money laundering scheme). Meet the swamp.
Guess what!!! These folks didn’t like the direction the investigation was taking because it led back to the people for whom they formerly worked. Don’t want to go there! No Trump/Russia collusion there! Now it has devolved into an investigation of Trump financial transactions going back twenty years. And the Washington Post is orgasmic as so called collusion investigators are now going after Trump’s tax returns. That has to do with collusion how? Meet the swamp.
Mueller, as Special Prosecutor, is violating several federal statutes relating to conflict of interest as well as the people he has hired. This was never about Russian collusion. It was always about political revenge for an election lost because of Hillary Clinton’s own ineptness, hubris, and corruption. Trump made the big mistake believing that by announcing the day after the election he would not go after Hillary Clinton for criminal activity while Secretary of State and beyond, they would go away. With the Clinton’s who have been corrupting American and Arkansas politics for thirty years…that is a fool’s belief. These people, and those that surround them, have no scruples. Meet the swamp.
Trump’s criticism of Jeff Sessions is absolutely correct. Trump has now learned there is no placating those who held the keys to the swamp for the last forty years. He is making major changes in his staff bringing in those who would serve him with dignity and loyalty just as Loretta Lynch and Eric Holder served Barack Obama. The former President used his position to increase the size of the swamp. The current President needs twice the strength and skill to drain it.
James Comey and Robert Mueller, both universally praised for being such honorable men, are nothing but political hacks who have gotten away with all sorts of nasty things over the past eight to twelve years. Now they will meet their match. Meet the swamp.
Gerald S. Manning