Month: June 2019

You want nasty?

by digby

He’s got nasty:

In an interview on Nov. 4, 1997, not even two months after the princess was killed in a car crash, Trump bragged that he could’ve slept with her — but would have made her take a medical exam first.

What a disgusting asshole.

Trump claimed that she was attracted to him and, when asked if he thought he could have “nailed” her, he said he “could have.”

Stern asked: “Why do people think it’s egotistical of you to say you could’ve gotten Lady Di? You could’ve gotten her, right? You could’ve nailed her.”

Trump responded: “I think I could have,” adding, “She was actually really beautiful. I thought she was supermodel beautiful.”

He continued, “She had times when she didn’t look great and she had times when she looked better than anyone in the world. But she had the height, she had magnificent skin, she was a great beauty.”

Trump also claimed that if Princess Diana had “been dating him” instead of Dodi Fayed, she wouldn’t have died in the fatal crash.

He shared, “I know that tunnel in Paris. It’s got, like, a 30-mile limit. If you look at this tunnel — and I really know that tunnel well, I’ve been through that tunnel many times — you can’t go more than like 30, 40 miles.”

Princess Di was like 90% of women when it comes to Trump:

Princess Diana didn’t find Trump all that charming, it turns out, despite his boastful claims that he believed he could have had sex with her.

Trump reportedly pursued Diana when her marriage broke up, with broadcaster Selina Scott sharing in the Sunday Times in 2015 that he borderline was “stalking her” because he thought he “had a shot” at winning her over.

Scott wrote: ‘He bombarded Diana at Kensington Palace with massive bouquets, each worth hundreds of pounds.” She described, “They were accompanied by handwritten notes expressing sympathy, his great regard for her and the suggestion that they get together.”

She added: “Trump clearly saw Diana as the ultimate trophy wife. As the roses and orchids piled up at her apartment she became increasingly concerned about what she should do. It had begun to feel as if Trump was stalking her.”

Scott noted that she became close to Diana after meeting her in the 1980s and Diana had said of Trump, ‘“What am I going to do? He gives me the creeps.”’

Of course he did.

Royal biographer Christopher Anderson told The Daily Beast in 2017 that, in light of the comments Trump made about Princess Diana, the Royals aren’t impressed, sharing: “When it comes to the younger royals, especially given his crude comments about Diana after her death, it is hard to imagine that Charles, William, Harry and Kate will view Trump as anything but crass and overbearing.”

They would be right. He’s lowlife garbage. That medical test crack is right up there with “grab ’em by the pussy.”

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Can the GOP serve two masters?
by Tom Sullivan

The Sermon on the Mount is at the core of Christ’s teachings. Love your enemies. Give to the needy (quietly). Judge not lest ye be judged. Turn the other cheek, etc.

And another: You cannot serve both God and money (Matthew 6:24). Christ prefaces that by instructing followers not to obsess with laying up riches on earth, but to focus instead on heavenly things. “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”

The occasion for today’s sermon is news Republican lawmakers may move to block the president’s threatened tariffs on Mexico. Trump believes the Mexican government needs the proper inducement before they will do more to stem the flow of migrants through its territory to the southern U.S. border. To do that himself, the sitting president will need to invoke a second national emergency. This gives him authority to use trade “to deal with an unusual and extraordinary threat with respect to which a national emergency has been declared.”

Congress may override such a move by passing a resolution of disapproval or by clawing back tariff authority from the president. Sen. Patrick J. Toomey (R-Pa.) has introduced such a claw-back bill. Either effort would be “the GOP’s most dramatic act of defiance since Trump took office,” the Washington Post reports:

Republican lawmakers aren’t eager to be drawn into a conflict with the president. But some feel they might have to take action following a growing consensus within the GOP that these new tariffs would amount to tax increases on American businesses and consumers — something that would represent a profound breach of party orthodoxy. Trump has said he would put in place 5 percent tariffs on all Mexican goods as of June 10, rising by another 5 percent a month until October, unless Mexico stops all illegal migration into the United States.

Fawning over foreign strongmen, encouraging white supremacists, separating migrant families, overseeing children dying in federal custody, obstructing federal investigations, and insulting U.S. allies Republicans on the Hill will tolerate. If there was going to be a break between Trumpers and Trump, you knew it would be over money. It’s where their hearts are.

Republicans rarely have opposed the president in public in a way that would threaten one of his key agenda items. And the growing opposition by the GOP to the new tariffs marks a potential testing point between the president and his party. To date, Republicans have generally acquiesced as Trump has turned their traditionally pro-free-trade party upside down and imbued it with protectionist tendencies.

Whether or not Trump will follow through on his threat remains to be seen. He has threatened countless lawsuits he never filed, Michael Kruse observes. He uses “lawsuits as cudgels and prods and publicity stunts.” That pattern continues in his presidency with tariffs. Lawsuits are still his M.O.:

“It’s just another tool in his war chest,” said Jack O’Donnell, the former president of the Trump Plaza casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey. “He uses it to wear people out, whether it’s financially or emotionally.”

He’s all sticks. No carrots. Carrots are for stone cold losers.

Trump is likely to find considerable opposition among Republicans over Mexican tariffs. Politico reports Republicans are hoping they can talk him out of it:

“There are going to be concerns expressed about whether this is the right way to get Mexico’s attention on the border security issue,” said Senate Majority Whip John Thune (R-S.D.) in an interview. “It’s going to not be viewed favorably in my state, for sure.”

Unlike white supremacy, obstruction of justice, and dead children, Mexican tariffs put a lot of money at stake. We shall see how many Republicans find they cannot serve both Trump and money.

A George Nader Primer

by digby

The suspected pedophile the Feds arrested today has a very interesting checkered past, most recently including some rather suspicious interactions with Donald Trump. Here’s a nice short backgrounder from TPM:

The Lebanese-American businessman worked as a fixer for Arab leaders and US lawmakers until 2003, when he was convicted of sexually abusing minors in the Czech Republic and sentenced to one year in prison there.

Somehow, as the Associated Press documented, Nader’s career managed to stay intact. He became a military contractor in Iraq following the end of the 2003 war there. That’s where he linked up with Blackwater founder and fellow contractor Erik Prince. He subsequently moved to the United Arab Emirates and became an advisor to Abu Dhabi crown prince Mohammed bin Zayed.

Nader would later invite both Prince and bin Zayed to two key meetings that raised red flags for Mueller’s team.

The first was a Trump Tower meeting in December 2016, which included Nader, Jared Kushner, Steve Bannon, and bin Zayed. According to the New York Times, it was a strategy meeting that aimed to boost the Trump campaign.

Nader held a second meeting a month later in the Seychelles, this time with Erik Prince, bin Zayed, and a Russian banker named Kirill Dmitriev. The Washington Post reported that this meeting was meant to create a secret backchannel to the Russian government.

According to the Mueller report, Russian president Vladimir Putin had Dmitriev contact Nader in order to get connected with Trump transition officials.

And then there’s Nader’s partnership with Republican megadonor Elliott Broidy. Nader and Brody met each other at President Donald Trump’s inauguration, and they decided to work together to push anti-Qatar legislation through Congress at the behest of Saudi Arabia and the UAE. The reward? $1 billion dollars in military contracts from both nations.

Unfortunately for them both, the FBI intercepted Nader at Washington-Dulles airport in January 2018 and subsequently found child pornography on his phone. That’s when he became a key witness for Mueller, who was especially interested in the two meetings Nader had organized.

Someone on twitter quipped that this is like Pizzagate, only real life.

It is always projection on the other side. Always.

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Trump at church

by digby

I didn’t want to let this pass without posting it:

The White House lied, of course. He didn’t go there because of the Virginia Beach shooting when he actually just turned up to hear them pray for him because it was “Pray for Donald Trump Day.” They prayed for him. They didn’t pray for the Virginia Beach victims while he was there.

He came directly from the golf course (obviously, and didn’t even change shoes) and he must have borrowed a jacket from someone on the staff.

The hat hair actually looks a lot better than the weird stiff swoop he’s been sporting since 1972.

Oh Jared

by digby

Axios: “Does it not set off some alarm bells when you see an email that the Russian government wants to help the campaign?”

Kushner: “The email that I got on my iPhone said ‘Show up at 4’
I didn’t scroll down…”

Axios: “It had Russia in the subject line.” pic.twitter.com/Dwmz5APZhf

— Marcus Baram (@mbaram) June 3, 2019

Good lord this is painful to watch, in the sense of watching a infinitely prissy dweeb go into a feedback loop. https://t.co/ZY5iiBYbF1

— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) June 2, 2019

Jesus … this is just embarrassing

Jared Kushner on why the Palestinians would accept his Middle East peace plan:

“I’m not here to be trusted…They’re gonna judge it based on the facts and then make a determination. Do they think this will allow them to have a pathway to a better life or not?” @dctvny @hbodocs pic.twitter.com/JnpwsmWyM9

— Axios (@axios) June 2, 2019

Axios:

Discussing the horrific death of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi in an interview with “Axios on HBO,” White House adviser Jared Kushner was noncommittal on whether Saudi Crown Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) must account for Khashoggi’s body.

Kushner said he’s still waiting for results of a U.S. investigation to assign blame, even though the CIA reportedly determined with a high degree of confidence that MBS ordered the murder, and the U.S. Senate unanimously declared that he was responsible.

Why it matters: Kushner, who shares the president’s view that Saudi Arabia is a crucial partner to counter Iran, has formed a close relationship with MBS and helped promote him as a great reformer. We see here that even eight months after Khashoggi’s death in a Saudi consulate, the White House still refuses to publicly hold the Saudi leader accountable.

Asked whether he would join Khashoggi’s fiancée in calling on the Saudi government to release his body (or identify where they put the body parts) so that his family might bury him, Kushner said: “Look, it’s a horrific thing that happened. … Once we have all the facts, then we’ll make a policy determination, but that would be up to the Secretary of State to push on our policy.”

Other highlights:

Kushner talked about how his grandparents came to America as impoverished refugees, after surviving the Nazis, and “they were able to build a great life for themselves.” He said, “It’s a great reminder of how great this country is, where my grandparents could be on the precipice of life or death and then come to this country and … 70 years later … their grandson’s working in the White House.”

I asked Kushner what he makes of President Trump’s decision to slash America’s refugee intake to the lowest level in 40 years. He defended that decision, saying the overall numbers are irrelevant given the scale of the global refugee crisis. Read Axios’ Stef Kight’s story on our exchange.

Kushner passionately defended Trump against Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s charge that the president is a racist. I asked him whether Birtherism is racist. He wouldn’t answer the question — saying repeatedly that he wasn’t involved in Birtherism and that he knows who the president is. He also ducked whether Trump campaigning on a Muslim ban was an example of religious bigotry. Watch the clip.

Kushner said history will remember President Trump for two things above all else:
Changing the types of people who come to work in Washington — “people who never would’ve been in Washington before who were not qualified by conventional standards … have brought great results to this country both economically and from a national security point of view.”

Changing “how we think about America’s place in the world” — from a post-World War II era where everybody took advantage of America, to a new era of “rebalance” in

trade and burden sharing. Kushner believes Trump has set America on a new course that will outlive his presidency.

The post-war era was one where everyone took advantage of America. Jesus Christ. We were the richest, most powerful nation on earth, for decades, the only one left standing after the carnage of the 20th century. And all these petty, tiny little minds understand is some primitive notion that we were being “taken advantage of.”

My God, these really are the most pathetically simple minded examples of American capitalism that’s ever been produced.

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The Ugliest American

by digby

OMFG:

He asked what the flooring was made of. At Lord Byron’s grave in Westminster Abbey.

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Mitch and Elaine, top oligarchs of the Trump era

by digby

This story in the New York Times about Elaine Chao’s corruption is mind-boggling:

The email arrived in Washington before dawn. An official at the American Embassy in Beijing was urgently seeking advice from the State Department about an “ethics question.”

“I am writing you because Mission China is in the midst of preparing for a visit from Department of Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao,” the official wrote in October 2017.

Ms. Chao’s office had made a series of unorthodox requests related to her first scheduled visit to China as a Trump cabinet member, according to people with knowledge of the email. Among them: asking federal officials to help coordinate travel arrangements for at least one family member and include relatives in meetings with government officials.

In China, the Chaos are no ordinary family. They run an American shipping company with deep ties to the economic and political elite in China, where most of the company’s business is centered. The trip was abruptly canceled by Ms. Chao after the ethics question was referred to officials in the State and Transportation Departments and, separately, after The New York Times and others made inquiries about her itinerary and companions.

“She had these relatives who were fairly wealthy and connected to the shipping industry,” said a State Department official who was involved in deliberations over the visit. “Their business interests were potentially affected by meetings.”

The move to notify Washington was unusual and a sign of how concerned members of the State Department were, said the official, who was not authorized to speak on behalf of the agency.

David H. Rank, another State Department official, learned of the matter after he stepped down as deputy chief of mission in Beijing earlier in 2017. “This was alarmingly inappropriate,” he said of the requests.

The Transportation Department did not provide a reason for the trip’s cancellation, though a spokesman later cited a cabinet meeting President Trump had called at the time. The spokesman said that there was no link between Ms. Chao’s actions as secretary and her family’s business interests in China.

Ms. Chao has no formal affiliation or stake in her family’s shipping business, Foremost Group. But she and her husband, Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, have received millions of dollars in gifts from her father, James, who ran the company until last year. And Mr. McConnell’s re-election campaigns have received more than $1 million in contributions from Ms. Chao’s extended family, including from her father and her sister Angela, now Foremost’s chief executive, who were both subjects of the State Department’s ethics question.

Ms. Chao with her husband, Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader; her father, James, a founder of Foremost; and her sister Angela, its chief executive.CreditStephen Crowley/The New York Times
Over the years, Ms. Chao has repeatedly used her connections and celebrity status in China to boost the profile of the company, which benefits handsomely from the expansive industrial policies in Beijing that are at the heart of diplomatic tensions with the United States, according to interviews, industry filings and government documents from both countries.

Now, Ms. Chao is the top Trump official overseeing the American shipping industry, which is in steep decline and overshadowed by its Chinese competitors.

Her efforts on behalf of the family business — appearing at promotional events, joining her father in interviews with Chinese-language media — have come as Foremost has interacted with the Chinese state to a remarkable degree for an American company.

That’s just the beginning of a very thorough investigative report. If you want to see the swamp, there it is.

Imagine that, say, Schumer's wife was tied up in family business with a foreign power like China, was also a Hillary Clinton Cabinet official, and State had to raise alarms about inappropriate requests about her foreign travel. GOP would be in Full Nuclear War Mode.— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) June 3, 2019

We don’t really have to imagine it. There is a parallel with the bogus Clinton Foundation scandal. This was an international charity that saved millions of lives which the right wing characterized as corrupt because some of the people who gave money to the charity were also people Hillary Clinton dealt with as Secretary of State. Clinton consulted with the ethics officials and they went to great lengths to ensure that everything was transparent and above board. Despite all the bogus caterwauling among the wingnuts (with the eager help of the mainstream media trolling for dirt on Clinton) they never came up with any evidence of self-dealing or corruption. They did manage to make a bunch of people think that Clinton got rich from the charity which was absolutely untrue so it wasn’t a wasted effort by the right wing and the New York Times. A lot of people came away thinking “where there’s smoke there must be fire” but it was nothing.

Here you have a story of such blatant corruption that in normal circumstances, not only would Elaine Chao be forced to resign, Mitch McConnell would likely lose his job as majority leader. But these are not normal circumstances and I would guess that absolutely nothing will happen. Democrats and Republican elected officials are as afraid of McConnell as they are of Trump — he is, after all, the true power behind Trump’s throne. So, whatevs.

Republicans are now operating openly as corrupt oligarchs. If you want to know why they love the current Russian leadership so much, this is it. They are their role models.

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He’s off to a great start …

by digby

Melania thought she was going to be an extra on Downton Abbey so she wore a costume

Awww. He misses his Fox and Friends:

Just arrived in the United Kingdom. The only problem is that @CNN is the primary source of news available from the U.S. After watching it for a short while, I turned it off. All negative & so much Fake News, very bad for U.S. Big ratings drop. Why doesn’t owner @ATT do something?

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 3, 2019

I believe that if people stoped using or subscribing to @ATT, they would be forced to make big changes at @CNN, which is dying in the ratings anyway. It is so unfair with such bad, Fake News! Why wouldn’t they act. When the World watches @CNN, it gets a false picture of USA. Sad!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 3, 2019

That’s nice. The resident on a state visit pressuring people to boycott a corporation to stifle the free press. Very inspiring.

He did have time to take a shot at London’s mayor before he landed:

….Kahn reminds me very much of our very dumb and incompetent Mayor of NYC, de Blasio, who has also done a terrible job – only half his height. In any event, I look forward to being a great friend to the United Kingdom, and am looking very much forward to my visit. Landing now!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 3, 2019

Fasten your seatbelts. I have a feeling he’s not going to like the protests and the press during this visit.

Update: Trump has been singing the praises of Boris Johnson for Prime Minister. Apparently, he was unaware that Boris was “nasty” too:

Update II: I am reliably informed on Twitter that Melania actually thought she was going to guest star in a revival of “My Fair Lady” or perhaps “Mary Poppins.” Very possible.

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Trump’s big British Adventure

by digby

My Salon column this morning:

Almost from the beginning of his term, President Trump has been excitedly anticipating a fancy state visit to the United Kingdom. Unlike recent presidents Obama and Bush, who didn’t want to strain the security services, he particularly wanted to ride with Queen Elizabeth in the golden coach, as royal brides and heads of state do on such grand occasions. Normally, such visits happen early in a president’s term. Trump’s was postponed for a variety of reasons and he had to settle for that horrific short visit last summer during which he insulted Prime Minister Theresa May, yelled at the press, kept the Queen waiting for 15 minutes and then practically tripped the 92-year-old monarch while they were reviewing the troops.

That trip was around the 100th anniversary of the World War I armistice. I’m sure you will recall Trump’s petulant behavior in France where he refused to go outside in the rain and basically snarled his way through the ceremonies, with no apparent feeling for the event at all. This big state visit to England is timed for the 75th anniversary of D-Day, about which I’m sure he is equally clueless. But he will love all the pomp and circumstance. It’s his favorite part of being president. And he’s bringing the whole Trump crew — Jared and Ivanka, along with Tiffany, Eric and Don Jr., are reportedly tagging along.

Sadly, he won’t be riding in the golden carriage though. Perhaps the prospect of being out in the open with an expected 250,000 protesters and that Big Baby Trump blimp overhead soured him on the idea. Neither will he be staying at Buckingham Palace, as heads of state usually do. However, a formal white-tie state banquet at the palace will feature toasts from both the Queen and the president (which I cannot quite imagine).

Trump will also meet with business leaders and May — now the outgoing prime minister — as well as Prince Charles. One might have expected that he and Melania would meet with American princess Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, but it’s not looking good. She is a new mother and Trump described her as “nasty” for opposing his candidacy in an interview with the Sun tabloid a couple of days ago, so she will probably beg off. Trump’s people have since tried to claim that he didn’t say what he said, but their clumsy explanation was so hilariously inept that his unfortunate insult went viral.

Fake News CNN is at it again, falsely claiming President Trump called Meghan Markle "nasty." Here is what he actually said. Listen for yourself! pic.twitter.com/kLuPXBLMhf— Official Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) June 1, 2019

On Thursday, Trump will attend the big D-commemoration at Portsmouth, described this way by USA Today:

The event will tell the story of D-Day through musical performances, testimonial readings and military displays, including a fly-past of 25 modern and historical aircraft, and Royal Navy vessels in the Solent, the strait between the mainland and the Isle of Wight.

He’ll enjoy the flyover, anyway.

These are the sorts of rituals normally meant to solidify alliances and smooth out adversarial relationships. Since Trump is constitutionally unable to behave like a dignified statesman on foreign soil, we’ll just have to grit our teeth and hope he doesn’t start a war or something. So far, it’s not looking good. Aside from the “nasty” princess gaffe, he’s already stuck his nose into U.K. politics by giving wide-ranging interviews with British papers, telling them they should put his pal Nigel Farage in charge of Brexit and endorsing former London mayor Boris Johnson as the next prime minister. (May will resign June 7, as a direct result of her inability to make a Brexit deal that anyone will accept.) Trump also said the U.K. should just walk away from Brexit talks and stiff the EU for the agreed upon $50 billion “divorce payment.” (That figures. It’s how he does business.) He also repeated his daft idea that Britain should sue the EU because it’s been unfair and cost them a lot of money.

Once again demonstrating that he sees himself as a king (or a mob boss) rather than an elected official, Trump implied that the Labour Party should be nicer to him because he does a lot for the U.K. and he might stop doing so if they don’t behave themselves. He declared that the U.S. might not share intelligence with Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, if he becomes prime minister, until Trump “gets to know him,” as if such things are decided based upon the president’s personal feelings toward other leaders. (He has, you’ll recall, been enthusiastic about sharing cyber secrets with Vladimir Putin. He’s brought it up repeatedly.)

Over the weekend, the U.S. ambassador to Britain, Trump crony Woody Johnson, got in on the act. On Andrew Marr’s BBC show, Johnson said that every area of the British economy would be subject to American involvement if the two countries brokered a bilateral trade deal after Brexit. When asked whether Britain’s treasured National Health Service would be part of any such deal, Johnson said “I think the entire economy, in a trade deal, all things that are traded would be on the table.” Asked if that specifically meant health care, he said: “I would think so.”

Needless to say, this went over like a lead Trump-baby blimp. Labour’s shadow health secretary, Jonathan Ashworth, said, “The ambassador’s comments are terrifying and show that a real consequence of a no-deal Brexit, followed by a trade deal with Trump, will be our NHS up for sale. This absolutely should not be on the table.”

Supporters of Brexit have been saying that a magical new bilateral trade deal with the U.S. would be one of the big upsides of breaking away from the EU. Trump and his ambassador’s big mouths may just be making some of them feel a bit queasy about that this week.

As well they should. Trump is throwing around tariffs willy-nilly now, and nobody can stop him. His trade war with China has become increasingly serious, with talks breaking down and no end in sight. His impulsive declaration, under a specious definition of “national security,” that Mexico must stop all illegal immigration and drug smuggling or face tariffs on all goods entering the U.S. is just the latest example.

On Friday, Trump announced that he would end special trade treatment for India, saying, “I have determined that India has not assured the United States that India will provide equitable and reasonable access to its markets.” The New York Times reported on Sunday that the administration nearly imposed tariffs on Australia last week and was only stopped, at least temporarily, by strong opposition from the military and the State Department.

Trump plans to play golf at his course in Ireland and naturally, he managed to created another diplomatic faux pas. Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar did not think it appropriate to meet the U.S. president at his private golf club. Trump was miffed and threatened to go to his club in Scotland instead. He and Varadkar have now agreed to meet briefly at the airport. Trump will then travel to France for more D-Day commemorations after the U.K. visit. Let’s hope it doesn’t rain again or he might decide to slap more tariffs on the EU until its bureaucrats agree to only have sunny days whenever he is visiting.

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Moving public opinion or waiting for it?
by Tom Sullivan

Robert Mueller’s job is not finished, House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) told ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday. Mueller’s reluctance to answer questions in public about his completed investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and Donald Trump’s interference in that investigation leaves unanswered questions. Where Democratic National Committee chair Tom Perez simply insists there are “many questions” to answer before impeachment can begin, Schiff spelled out a few:

We want to find out what happened to those counterintelligence findings that were sent back to headquarters. What other things did you learn during the investigation that ought to concern us in terms of whether the president is vulnerable to influence from Russia. Does the president still — did you find evidence whether the president still intends to build a Trump Tower in Moscow? Is that why that financial inducement why the president can’t criticize Putin or take adequate steps to protect our elections?

Indeed, any counterintelligence background to Mueller’s investigation deserves airing out in as public a forum as security concerns allow. If it did not pertain to the election hacking, Mueller left it out. That information may still speak volumes to foreign influences behind the president’s conduct in office.

E.J. Dionne pleads with Mueller to clarify his oblique remarks about evidence the sitting president obstructed justice. Politico stated Mueller “all but said” the president’s conduct merited impeachment. Not good enough, Dionne writes:

You are dealing here with a president happy to tear the law and the truth — and, for that matter, you — to pieces. Do you feel no responsibility to set the record straight when Trump distorts it day after day? You claim that, under the rules, it would have been wrong for you to say Trump broke the law. But that’s not what your boss, the attorney general, says.

The public has a right to know, Dionne insists, and Schiff agrees. Mueller has a duty to explain to them. A subpoena is an option if Mueller will not testify voluntarily, Schiff told ABC. But when?

Mueller’s shyness is perhaps more than just institutionalist reticence. Mueller wants to avoid involvement in a political sideshow, but he is too late for that. One rule of politics is define yourself first or your opponents will do it for you. That is happening already. If Mueller appears in public before Congress, Trump’s House Republican allies will take aim at him like a duck in a shooting gallery. But there, at least, he might fire back.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi insists “nothing is off the table,” but first the case must be “very compelling to the American people.”

Pelosi’s number three, House Majority Whip James Clyburn of South Carolina, tells CNN Trump will be impeached at some point. “What I have said time and time again is, Mueller has developed the grounds for impeachment. The House has to determine the timing for impeachment. There’s a big difference.”

“We’re trying to make sure that we do what is necessary to educate the public, make sure that the public understands exactly what we’re doing, why we’re doing it,” Clyburn said, “so that people won’t misinterpret this as being a political move on our part.”

Impeachment is an inherently political process. Mueller recognizes that if Clyburn does not.

Clyburn says moving forward on impeachment is about timing. Pelosi first wants to make a case to the American people. But as Trumpism soils America’s image worldwide, how much time have they and the country got? If Democrats in leadership feel any urgency to perform that educational service, they are not showing it. They appear to be waiting for opinion polls to turn in their favor before moving aggressively to rein in an increasingly monarchical administration. Somehow, opinion will move on its own and allow them that freedom. Chicken and egg?

“Democrats rely on polling to take the temperature; Republicans use polling to change it,” messaging specialist Anat Shenker-Osorio wrote in 2017. Leaders shape public opinion. They don’t wait for it.