We're Not Draining the Swamp But We're Restocking the Tank With New Clowns

(By American Zen's Mike Flannigan, on loan from Ari)

“Sitting here today, it seems unbelievable that I was so mesmerized by Donald Trump that I was willing to do things for him that I knew were absolutely wrong.” - Michael D. Cohen in his opening remarks.

As I write this, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, which is hearing Michael Cohen's testimony, is in recess. However, I wish to get these glorified thumbtack impressions out there before the lunacy resumes.

     I'd like to start by making some basic, sweeping observations before I examine Cohen's testimony and response from both sides of the aisle. First off, the Republicans have control of the Senate. Yet when Michael Cohen testified before it yesterday, it was a closed door session. The Democrats have control of the House, yet Mr. Cohen's testimony is open to all, with CSPAN happily broadcasting every word. The House Republicans have spent literally 100% of their time attacking Michael Cohen and his veracity. Democrats have spent 100% of their time seeking the truth to better enforce the rule of law, which, after all, is what the House O&GR is for.

     Having said that, Mark Meadows, the traitor who undercut Obama by drafting that laughable letter to the Iranian leadership right after President Obama signed the nuclear agreement with Iran, started screaming right out of the gate for unanimous consent and trying to postpone the hearing on account of Cohen giving his written statements before, he claimed, Republicans had a chance to read them. (Apparently, Meadows forgot all about Bret Kavanaugh's own last minute document dump that Democrats hadn't had the chance to read last fall.). Elijah Cummings, the Committee Chair, simply looked at Meadows and was probably suppressing a laugh.

     From that time on, Republicans were all over Michael Cohen like a swarm of beetles on a pile of fresh vomit, desperate to try to discredit Cohen's testimony on the grounds that he was a convicted perjurer. That he may be but what Republicans were notably skating around was the fact that Cohen perjured himself to protect the same crook they themselves were and still are in the act of protecting-One Donald John Trump. 

     Well, with nothing to lose, Cohen is telling all and at some point even called out the GOP for not asking a single thing about Trump. Good question, that. Chris Christie said around the same time on ABC that it was curious that Republicans, while clearly trying to defend Trump, were nonetheless failing to refute the charges Cohen brought against Trump and for which he had brought ample evidence.

     When the opening hysterics by wouldbe rapist-enabler Mark Meadows and pederast-enabler Jim Jordan were finally over, Cohen delivered his 20 page opening statement in which he called Trump a "racist" and a "con man." For those who have endured Trump in the center ring these past four years, this was hardly an epiphany. But it was the particulars of what Cohen had said that may have raised some eyebrows. Some of the more noteworthy ones were:

You Forgot Russia

Michael Cohen ought to serve as an object lesson to the Republicans on the committee of the fate that befalls anyone who tries to act as a fixer for Donald Trump. As Cohen said in his opening statements, Trump is capable of acts of loyalty yet is not loyal himself. And, given his behavior these last several years (or decades, if anyone cares to look for it), Trump is the kind who will praise you to the skies one moment then in the very next will savage your name and reputation the moment you've outlived your usefulness (or become a threat to him).

     Cohen can tell you all about that. And it's a hell of a state of affairs in America when a glorified mob lawyer like Michael D. Cohen, convicted felon and a fixer for quite possibly the most amoral man who's ever lived, is held up as an avatar of truth, justice and the American way simply because we have a common enemy in Trump. Cohen essentially told the GOP, "I was in the tank for Donald Trump for a decade. Now you are where I was. And look what's happening to me."

     Yes, Michael Cohen is getting pretty much his last intoxicating whiff of power before he heads off to prison for the next three years. And he's burning every last bridge on which he can possibly splash his potent gasoline. The man who'd pleaded guilty to perjury and committing campaign finance fraud proved that Trump had made 11 separate disbursements to Cohen, all of which coming from his personal bank account after his inauguration. That's proof that Trump is guilty of campaign finance fraud.

     See, here's one right here, featuring Trump's grand mal seizure EKG signature.

     And it was telling that the only time Republicans seemed to believe Cohen was when it suited their obvious agenda: When they asked him if he was ever in Prague. You may recall the Steele dossier allegedly said that Michael Cohen could be placed in Prague to act as a go between for Donald Trump and, presumably, Russian officials, during the campaign because his cell phone pinged off a tower in that city. Republicans acted as if taking Cohen's sayso that he was never in Prague invalidates the entire Steele dossier.

     But notably, not one of them mentioned Russia itself. They know better than to go there, even though Cohen said he didn't have any evidence definitively proving collusion between Trump's campaign and Russia. But Cohen said he had his suspicions. He happened to be in Trump Tower in Trump's own office in June 2016 when Don Jr walked in and told his father, "The meeting's set" and Trump signalling his approval and asking to be kept in the loop. Is it proof of collusion? No, it's hearsay and even Cohen would admit to that, But if Trump-Russia collusion needed any more plausibility, that would certainly provide it.

     Look, let's keep it real. Michael Cohen is an immoral scumbag who essentially threw away his legal career and a good piece of his life and freedom for perhaps the most amoral man who ever lived. He's no hero and doesn't even begin to rise to the level of an antihero. But this once proud man, at the very center of political power, one who was once bloated with hubris is now a broken shell of his former self. With nothing left to lose, he's finally climbed out of the tank he'd been in for a decade and is helpfully holding the lid open for his successors in the Republican Party.