THE PARAGRAPHS OF THE DAY

Today’s paragraphs come to us from Scott Johnson, writing for powerlineblog.com

In his just-released commentary, Mr. Johnson, who is as disgusted by the mueller investigation star chamber as I am – and the particularly ugly turn it has taken with Michael Cohen’s offices,and home, and Manhattan apartment being raided – has an idea about how to, and how not to, stop this sick joke in its tracks.

Here it is:

Can the problem Trump faces be resolved with personnel moves? I think it extremely unlikely. Sacking Rosenstein, for example, won’t solve the Mueller problem. Sacking Mueller won’s solve the Special Counsel problem.

What can Trump do to resolve the problem as he sees it? He can use his pardon power to shut down Mueller’s prosecutions and leave him on board to continue his collusion investigation. He could use it to pardon all of Mueller’s cases that extend beyond the collusion investigation. At this point, that is all of them. He could pardon Flynn. He could pardon Manafort. He could pardon Gates. He could pardon Cohen.

In doing so, he could cite the precedent of the six Bush (41) pardons that shut down the prosecution of Caspar Weinberger. The New York Times put it this way at the time in December 1992, as President Bush was preparing to leave office: “[I]n a single stroke, Mr. Bush swept away one conviction, three guilty pleas and two pending cases, virtually decapitating what was left of Mr. Walsh’s effort, which began in 1986.”

The virtue of this approach, or some variation of it, is that it would be effective. It might even have the least detrimental political impact. The sense of it is manifest and I can’t think of anything else that might do the job.

Interesting.

My distinctly non-judicial eye sees this “resolution” as causing a nuclear flareup that will infuriate Democrats and give mainstream media an apoplexy….

…which means he might as well do it.  Because that’s where they perpetually are anyway.

Funny thing about being in a perpetual state of nth-degree fury/apoplexy;  you have nowhere else to go.  The object of your fury/apoplexy has nothing to lose by doing whatever he/she wants, because there’s no downside he/she can fall to.

What would the New York Times and Washington Post do?  Write scathing editorials about what Trump did?  Try to find,  then immediately publish, new dirt on him?

What would Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi do?  Stand on the senate and house floor and condemn him, to applause by fellow Democrats and maybe a couple of Republicans?

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.  Business as usual.

I award Scott Johnson Paragraphs Of The Day honors, for providing President Trump with a perfectly viable solution to his problem – maybe not the single best one (I’m in no position to judge), but perfectly viable nonetheless.

I wonder if he’ll do it.