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Whomping Trump could whomp democracy

Jay Ambrose

By Jay Ambrose

Published June 5, 2019

Whomping Trump could whomp democracy
Any stupidity will do. If it demeans President Donald Trump, rips him apart, stymies even his most positive objectives, possibly helps impeach him, it is permissible to slap the face of democracy through any deceptions, irrationalities, illegalities or other dubious tactics available.

So goes the leftist, Democratic mentality and seldom has it breached logic to the extent it is now in attacking his plans to uncover the truth about the Mueller probe.

This project must be scary stuff for at least a few of Trump's most dedicated enemies because they could then be in trouble. There's reputation to worry about, plus the demolition of their tall tales and something else: their status as officials who abided by the law.

The good side for the rest of us could be finding out how it got started, this unprecedented, two-year investigation that disrupted governance and could have illegitimately undone the results of a legitimate election, a case of bureaucratic betters displacing deplorable voters.

From the beginning, there seemed to be no evidence of the dominating, pronounced speculation that the Trump campaign had somehow worked with Russians to hack emails of his election opponent, Hillary Clinton. If a probe begins with a suspicious thesis, that's a danger – why, then, couldn't the FBI investigate anybody it wanted to for political reasons?

Please also know that varied disclosures point to use of a phony dossier paid for by the Clinton campaign to further spying that Democrats say was not spying mainly because they may not know how to use dictionaries. It seems to some this probe was rationalized more through high-up fretting than down-to-earth realities. Declassifying classified material could give us an answer one way or the other, and that's what Trump figures on doing through the able, honorable Attorney General William Barr. The Democrats and their media lovers aren't having any.

Even though Democrats have accused Trump of a cover-up, they want a cover-up. Even though they fought fiercely for Barr to break the law by giving them pointless grand jury revelations, they can't stand the thought of Trump abiding by the law in conducting this search.

As the nation knows, the Mueller probe drenched itself with blood, sweat and tears and still found insufficient reason to contend the Trump team conspired or coordinated with Russia or obstructed justice. Mueller recently said again that the report does not exonerate Trump on the obstruction question, but that was not this self-appointed god's job. Concerning obstruction, his report did say it “does not conclude that the President committed a crime.”

That has not stopped Democrats in Congress from making every accusation their partisan imaginations will foster in still preaching impeachment. It's true that Trump is in many ways an abomination, but that does not excuse disruption over constitutional duties and it certainly is not a case for saying Trump is now engaging in an autocratic witch hunt.


Please understand that, during the Trump years, we have had a thunderstorm of anti-Trump classified leaks either because intelligence agency leaders are not intelligent enough to stop them or have been complicit in the deviousness. There are all kinds of executive rules about what can be released and under what circumstances, and boy, are they ignored. There is also the Espionage Act under which leakers of highly sensitive, top-secret info can consider their mistakes during years in prison. President Barack Obama was tougher on this score than preceding presidents put together and was also tougher on jail threats to convince reporters to reveal their sources.

One threatened reporter, James Risen of The New York Times, growled publicly about Obama and also told us about Washington's lively, unsubdued “marketplace of secrets.” It was well-served, he wrote, by “current and former bureaucrats, contractors, members of Congress, their staffers and journalists” and by White House officials.

And so now Democrats are complaining about Trump using his clearly designated right to declassify materials that just may verify one of the worst scandals in American history and help prevent future episodes? Believe me, Barr can be counted on to be careful and fair, and let me say, too, that Trump does have major achievements as president.

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Jay Ambrose
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Jay Ambrose, formerly Washington director of editorial policy for Scripps Howard newspapers and the editor of dailies in El Paso, Texas, and Denver, is a columnist living in Colorado.

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