Wiretap: The failed Corker-Flake rebellion, the deal on the dossier, and farewell to Fats

In the aftermath of the latest Senate attacks on Donald Trump, what seems to be clear is that the Republican Party is now the Party of Trump, with, as one GOP strategist put it, “zero appetite” for never-Trumpers. Trump critics, writes The New York Times, seem to be either giving in or giving up.

David Frum: The Flake speech on the disaster that is the Trump presidency won’t be the last straw. But it is the latest straw stacked on the camel’s back, and you can see the poor animal’s knees starting to buckle. Via The Atlantic.

Dana Milbank: Senate Republicans have made a straight-up trade — Jeff Flake for Roy Moore. For those keeping score at home, America loses. Via The Washington Post.

From The National Review, Jonah Goldberg writes that conservatives should be true to their principles and disavow Roy Moore, just the way William F. Buckley and Barry Goldwater disavowed the Birchers.

If there’s anything that can hold a fractured Republican Party together, it’s the prospect of major tax cuts. And yet, it looks like getting a bill passed and signed still might be a near thing. Via The New York Times.

Frank Rich in New York magazine: If you want to know what happens next in Trumpworld, the numbers to remember are these — three senators speak out against Trump; 80 percent of Republicans still back him.

Corker, Flake, McCain take on Trump. Senate Republicans respond to their colleagues by opening investigations into … Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Via CNN.

So here’s the deal on the Steele Dossier. It was first financed by some as yet uncovered anti-Trump Republican. After the primaries, the Clinton campaign and the DNC paid for the oppo research. The infamous dossier itself didn’t surface until after Trump was already elected. So, that’s the scandal, much of which was reported last year and will now launch a million GOP committees. Via The Washington Post.

The question that looms about Trump’s array of generals: Are they Trump’s generals or are they ours? Via Politico.

Elvis didn’t like being called the king of rock ‘n’ roll, especially when Fats Domino was in the same room. There was no one like Fats, who, if he didn’t invent rock, was in the room when it happened. He died, at age 89, near his home in New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward. Blue Wednesday. Via The New Yorker.

Hate speech is protected free speech, even on college campuses, writes Berkeley Law School Dean Erwin Chemerinsky for Vox. Not only is it protected, it should be protected.

Public domain photo of Fats Domino via Flickr: Creative Commons.