Caligula 2.0

I haven’t been watching the Peter Strzok hearing, but it sounds something like a ccross between a bad high school debate tournament and a demolition derby, with elements of the Battle of Agincourt thrown in.

It’s said a high point of the day was Louie Gohmert accusing Strzok of lying to his wife. This made me wonder if we could put House Republicans to work cross-examining every man in America who has lied to his wife. This would include each other. It would keep them too busy to do anything else. Oh, well.

Do read Paul Waldman, The Peter Strzok fiasco wrecks the GOP’s bogus conspiracy theory

You don’t have to like Peter Strzok, or James B. Comey, or Robert Mueller, or anyone else involved in these various investigations. But you have to ask, and you have to keep asking: What do Republicans think the FBI actually did to effectuate this anti-Trump conspiracy they say existed to deny him the presidency? Because the facts, here on Planet Earth, show that they did what they were supposed to do: They began an investigation into this profound threat to American democracy, but kept quiet about it so it wouldn’t affect the election.

Especially in contrast to how Clinton was treated, that was either an extraordinary gift to Trump, or it was them doing their jobs precisely how they should have. But it can’t be anything else.

Basically, we’re in Caligula territory, folks.

 

Having stunk up the NATO summit, The Creature trotted out today and declared that he had convinced European allies to boost defense spending beyond previous targets. The European allies prompty declared they had agreed to no such thing. The Creature also boasted about receiving a “nice letter” from Kim Jong Un. But Kim is apparently having great fun making Trump look like a fool. Today the North Korean delegation stood up American counterparts at a scheduled meeting about remains of American war dead.

Well, so much for the winning. See Paul Glastris, “Winning Is Not Enough.”