Wiretap: The surest take on the Nunes Memo is that there are many more memos to come

As some Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee seem to be backing away from the Nunes Memo — you know, the three-and-a-half page memo that Donald Trump insists “totally vindicates” him — Democrats are now pushing to get their 10-page rebuttal released. There could be a vote as early as Monday. Via The New York Times.

One of the big questions, raised in The New Yorker, about the Nunes Memo is why the Democrats and the FBI so strongly objected to it being released in the first place. We may know more soon. Whether or not Dems get their rebuttal released, Nunes says he has a few more memos on the front burner. Not surprisingly, The National Review is all in.

Historians, take note. Dan Balz explains that this was the week Republicans in Congress became Trump Republicans. You can start with the rapturous applause at Trump’s State of the Union speech to the embrace of the Trump-endorsed, smash-the-FBI Nunes Memo. And if Republicans are now all in on the Trump bandwagon, it’s hard to see how they’ll ever get off. Via The Washington Post.

There are those quick to say that if the Russia-probe scandal were really the new Watergate, then the Nunes Memo would have led to a Nixon-like Saturday Night Massacre. What they may have missed, writes David Graham in The Atlantic, is that a slow-motion version of a Saturday Night Massacre is well underway.

In the years beginning with the New Deal, there have been very few governmental institutions that Republicans haven’t been happy to attack. Except for the FBI. Until now. Via Politico.

A 7-year-old girl who saw her best friend shot and killed at her school in a small town in South Carolina wrote a letter to the president, asking him to “Please, keep kids safe from guns.” Trump wrote back saying that all children should be able to go to school without fear. He never mentioned guns. Via The Washington Post.

For years, many Savannah residents have tried and failed to rename the iconic bridge that carries Route 17 into their city. As of now, it is named for the rabidly segregationist governor, Eugene Talmadge, who died in 1946. And then the Girl Scouts — who else? — entered the picture. They want to name the bridge for Savannah’s own Juliette Gordon Low, who founded the Girl Scouts 105 years ago. Via The New York Times.

Nick Foles and the Philadelphia Eagles upset Tom Brady and the New England Patriots in what will surely go down as one of the greatest Super Bowls. But to find the essential truth of the Super Bowl, you didn’t need to watch a minute of the game. All you had to do was tune in to the Super Bowl commercial in which Dodge used segments from  Martin Luther King Jr. anti-capitalist sermon to sell pickup trucks. Via Vox.

In his review of Justin Timberlake’s Super Bowl halftime show, Mikael Wood writes in The Los Angeles Times that Timberlake had nothing to say and he just kept saying it. If only he had invited Janet Jackson back.

Photo by Steven Taschuk via Flickr: Creative Commons
He has covered Dr. J, four presidential inaugurations, six national conventions and countless brain-numbing speeches in the New Hampshire and Iowa snow.

11 COMMENTS

  1. Wow…it’s amazing that the Republicans have become so isolated in their Fox-fueled fantasy bubble that they’ve lost the ability to recognize just how bat-sh!t crazy their party has become.

    In the meantime, Nunes is quickly becoming the gift
    that keeps on giving for the Dems.

    Keep banging out those sophomoric, tinfoil-laden rants you crazy diamond.

  2. Left-leaning syndicated columnist Clarence Page is warning Democrats about the dangers of Trump Derangement Syndrome: “Democrats, don’t let Trump Derangement Syndrome stop you. You owe it to yourselves and your constituents to work with this president as much as you would want Republicans to work with the next Democratic president.”
    http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/page/ct-perspec-page-trmp-derangement-democrats-0204-20180202-story.html

    Despite Mr. Page’s warning Trump Derangement Syndrome is alive and well at the Washington Post. The Post changed its front page headline for President Trump’s first State of the Union address after its liberal readers, well, freaked out. The offending headline “A call for bipartisanship” was quickly changed to the more liberal-acceptable “A ‘new American moment’”. No word on whether future headlines will have to run the Liberal Purity Test gauntlet.

    http://dailycaller.com/2018/01/31/wapo-changes-trumps-sotu-headline-after-liberals-freak-out/

    Here’s a story guaranteed to fail the Washington Post’s newly established Liberal Purity Test: A CBS poll found that seventy-five percent (75%) “of Americans who tuned in to President Trump’s State of the Union address approved of the speech he gave. Just a quarter disapproved.” That’s a mandate!

    https://www.cbsnews.com/news/viewers-approve-of-trumps-first-state-of-the-union-address-cbs-news-poll/

    Was that CBS poll an outlier? Well, an NBC News/Survey Monkey poll found sixty percent (60%) felt President Trump “focused on the right things” in his SOTU speech. That’s mandate adjacent!

    https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/national-international/Poll-Majority-of-Viewers-Give-Trump-a-Thumbs-Up-for-State-of-the-Union-Speech-472244003.html

    Trump Derangement Syndrome is not limited to the print media nor is it limited to only one member of the Trump family as CNN recently proved. CNN spent a few minutes speculating whether the outfit Melania Trump wore to the SOTU was designed to (wait for it) protest her husband. Seriously, you could look it up.

    https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/nicholas-fondacaro/2018/01/30/facts-first-cnn-speculates-melania-wearing-white-protest-her

    Michigan Democratic Rep. Brenda Lawrence was crushed by Tuesday’s State of the Union Address—-Candy Crushed that is. During the SOTU address Rep. Lawrence was caught playing Candy Crush.
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5340391/Democrat-played-CANDY-CRUSH-State-Union.html

    And in yet another (yes, one more) example of Trump Derangement Syndrome Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Ca) has called for a Parental Advisory warning whenever President Trump appears on TV.

    http://www.sfgate.com/news/media/Rep-Maxine-Waters-Calls-For-A-Parental-Advisory-1181919.php

    At another event the extremely paranoid Rep. Waters declared President Trump has committed “obstruction of justice,” and made the case for impeachment, also citing “possible collusion” with Russia. No mention was made of sedition.

    http://www.theamericanmirror.com/maxine-waters-russia-get/

  3. Thanks for the propaganda, Comrade Don. Putin and the Pravda would be proud. Maybe you’ll get the Cross of Leningrad.

    Speaking of polls…

    Polling shows that 3 out of 4 Americans believe Trump should be interviewed under oath. Polls have consistently shown that this president* is the least popular in modern history…with now only a third of the country approving of his performance.

    The math proves it’s not just dems either. There are a growing number of Republicans who have found their spines and have raised their voices to pushback against the treasonous seditionists, including good little Red footsoldiers like Comrade Don, who have infiltrated their ranks.

    It’s actually a sign that the Republican party isn’t dying. The Republicans now denouncing the traitorous actions of the most extremist conservatives, just might be able to build something important on the rubble after Mueller pins the asterisk on this administration and its complicit enablers.

    Or they could just continue being useful idiots for corporate and religious interests.

    Anyway, to those of us living on planet earth, these disastrous numbers come as no surprise, considering Trumputin lost the vote by nearly 3 million ballots. But one has to wonder about the motivations of those in the shrinking minority who feel differently than the vast majority of Americans.

    My guess is you’re not a fan of those polls….the polls that actually count…that actually reflect the views of the nation.

  4. Jay,

    Is your last name ‘Walker”?

    Did you serve in our military?

    You do realize the winner of a presidential election is determined by the Electoral College and not the popular vote, right?

    You do know that when determining the winner of a presidential election the popular vote is as relevant as your opinion of our president?

    I have tremendous respect for your opinion when it comes to assessing “bat-sh!t crazy” and “sophomoric, tinfoil-laden rants”. You’ve had a lot of experience with both.

  5. Well I guess you can’t deny that Comrade Trump took office without the consent of the majority of voters, and has remained the least popular president* in modern history.

    Makes you wonder what it took to turn you Red and adopt traitorous positions not shared by the vast majority of your fellow Americans.

    What did it take for you to forget the face of your father and forsake your honor?

    Racism? Extremist Religiosity?

    My guess is that it’s a mixture of both.

  6. You do realize how “bat-sh!t crazy” you sound when you go off on one of your numerous “sophomoric, tinfoil-laden rants”?

    And then accusing people who disagree with you of “Racism? Extremist Religiosity?”

    That accusation (like your comment) is beyond unhinged. It defies description especially coming from someone who never served the country he claims to be concerned about.

    Having said that I hope you continue to provide comments because I want nothing more than for you to be the face of the “resistance” to our president.

  7. That’s what I thought. Attempts to gaslight folks with points you can’t refute is straight Limbaugh.

    If you come here to disparage credible journalism or repost the latest crap from the Drudge report, you should probably be prepared for another intellectual spanking.

  8. Jay,

    Let me see if I got this right: you get off on seeing troll bellies?

    That’s a whole new level of weird but it’s consistent with your other views.

  9. Don, In all seriousness, I’ve been cracking skulls for so long that maybe I’m missing the forest for the trees. I think the readership would be truly interested in reading about the average Trump supporter’s motivations to stay on point despite obvious…let’s call them “headwinds”. You could certainly shed some light on a question I know the Independent’s staff have been pondering for a while now. At what point would Trump lose your support? Considering his…colorful…history, what would represent a red line?

Comments are closed.