The Future of Plastics [View all]

[H2O Man]

“There's a future in plastics,” Mr. McGuire told The Graduate in the classic 1967 movie. “Think about it.” I thought about that as I watched Jared Kushner approach his discussion with Congressional aides on Monday. But when Kushner spoke to the cameras in front of the White House, I was reminded of a vampire, one of the leaders of a coven seeking to suck the life-force out of America.

Although the White House circus has been in high gear this week – especially from the middle to the end – it was Kushner's Tuesday interview that is most important. The Senate committee now has evidence suggesting that Don, Jr. and Manafort may have had follow-up communications (if not meetings) with at least two of the people at the “dirt on Hillary” meeting. (It is unclear if it was Kushner or Manafort who provided the “new” information.) Hence, the need to distract.

This does not mean the later events are not significant. Obviously, they are. Interestingly, the one that may have the most long term damage was the one that was an attempt at pure distraction : Trump believed that his cowardly attack upon the transgender community would be popular. Perhaps it is with a shrinking section of the population, but it has backfired. The majority of people found Trump's tweet disgusting. An associate with military background called me to say that many in the service are deeply unhappy with Trump's attempt to use them for political gain.

I also had an e-mail from another source, who said that the slow-motion version of the Saturday Night Massacre was set to begin. Hours later, Trump tweeted about replacing Reince Priebus with General John Kelly. Trump has been looking to replace Priebus since mid-May. He had originally considered tapping CIA director Mike Pompeo for the position, but had also spoke to Kelly about it.

As failure after failure came on health care, others in the White House lobbied Trump to separate from republican party influence. Hence, Sean Spicer and Priebus were removed., and pressure has been placed upon Jeff Sessions to leave the Department of Justice. Yet, the pressure on Sessions has reulted in some problems with republicans in Congress, which has worried others in the White House.

Thus, the plan – which is still being debated in the White House – to move Sessions to fill Kelly's position at Homeland Security, and then appoint a new Attorney General. This would save Trump from the anger of republicans, if he simply fired Sessions. It still would be a transparent attempt to derail the Mueller investigation.

It also raises a question as to why General Kelly took the new position. The media has hinted at this, by reporting that for about six weeks, Kelly has told Trump he was not interested in doing so. The on-going failures, plus the addition of the highly toxic Anthony Scaramucci, obviously makes the new position far less attractive.

Let's consider one possibility. To do so, we should consider the dog that hasn't been heard barking. To do so, let's start with global1's OP from July 19, discussing the potential naming of Jon Huntsman as ambassador to Russia:
https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=9344859


On this thread, forum member “Me” and I discussed my opinion that Huntsman might serve as the eyes and ears of the machine, which is highly suspicious of Trump & Co. Like with Nixon (especially in the second term), the machine has babysitters keeping track of an unstable president. It's worth noting that Nixon's chief of staff in 1973-74 was also a General, Al Haig.

As I explained to Me, a related role was assigned to General H. R. McMaster. Yet, in recent weeks, Trump has become increasingly paranoid about McMaster. Trump doesn't dare firer McMaster, but he has reduced his role in the White House. Thus, Kelly was encouraged to take his new position.

Now, back to the phone call from my friend. He noted that the military is concerned that Trump may try to spark the fuse to a confrontation with North Korea. It's not that they view North Korea as a stable, non-threatening state. Rather, they are fully aware of what a military confrontation would actually mean to humanity. And they are not looking to cause death and suffering to simply protect Trump from the legal consequences of the Trump-Russian scandal.

I do have concerns about Generals – active or “retired” – playing such influential roles in the federal government. For that matter, I have concerns with the expanded role the military and intelligence community plays in the media. Carl Bernstein warned us about that decades ago. And my concerns do not reflect any disrespect to them in their areas of expertise. Yet, in the current circumstance, I do appreciate their role, because our nation is absolutely confronted with an internal enemy of our constitutional democracy.

And, although I am very confident that we can come through this stronger – and I especially mean the Democratic Party and the Good that it must stand for – I expect the next two months to be highly unstable. And that is dangerous.

Be awake! Be aware! And keep on fighting the Good Fight.
H2O Man