I thought Bernie Sanders would have been a far more appealing Democratic nominee than Hillary Clinton for the 2016 presidential election.
But the way Donald Trump exploited the private e-mails of staffers at the Democratic National Committee (DNC) to undermine Hillary’s campaign reeked of cynicism and hypocrisy. This is why I condemned the media for blithely enabling him to do so.
Yet all of that pales in comparison to the cynicism and hypocrisy afoot. I am referring to the way Republicans are exploiting the private text messages of agents at the FBI to undermine special prosecutor Robert Mueller’s investigation into the role Russia played in helping Trump get elected.
For a little explanation and context, here is an excerpt from “Hey Media, Wikileaker Assange Is Still a Self-Promoting, Bail-Jumping Rape Suspect!” August 29, 2016.
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It hardly mattered that the leaked e-mails merely showed staffers rooting for Hillary Clinton over Bernie Sanders to win the Democratic nomination. This, after all, was always as obvious as staffers at the RNC rooting for anyone but Donald Trump to win the Republican nomination.
Not to mention that leaking e-mails about granting favors, peddling influence, and shifting alliances in Washington, is rather like leaking e-mails about political corruption, casino gambling, and street prostitution in Macau (all of which are legal, mind you).
Yet, like a self-appointed messiah of transparency, Assange is sharing his hacked loot with any news organization prepared to facilitate his self-aggrandizing crusade. And far too many news anchors and political commentators are playing along — like disciples spreading his gospel. …
This is what is passing for ‘Breaking News’ every day now — as Assange leaks a new cache of hacked e-mails like manna from heaven for lazy, unconscionable and myopic journalists. But what do you think CNN, Fox News, the BBC, the New York Times, the Guardian, and other news organizations would do if Assange were leaking hacked e-mails of their anchors and reporters — purportedly to expose bias in the media? The obvious answer only hints at why my disgust with the news media compelled me to write commentaries like “Journalism Is ‘Having a Very, Very Pathetic Moment,’” November 13, 2013.
Remarkably, no news organization is bothering to question the prurient nature of Assange’s leaks. Worse still, none of them appear to have any qualms about facilitating his cyber crimes, which serve no compelling public interest and are devoid of any socially redeeming value.
But I cannot overstate that, for every embarrassing or compromising e-mail hackers can hack from the accounts of Democratic officials, they can hack equally embarrassing and compromising e-mails — not only from the accounts of Republican officials, but also from those of other political parties, civil servants, corporate employees, and private citizens … worldwide.
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With that, here is the prurient fodder House Republicans are making of the private text messages of FBI agents in the name of government oversight.
A senior FBI counterintelligence official who had until recently been part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation spent months sending text messages to a colleague in the run-up to the 2016 election that derided President Donald Trump as a ‘douche,’ an ‘utter idiot,’ and a ‘loathsome human.’
The release of the texts from Peter Strzok, who had led the FBI’s investigation of Hillary Clinton’s private email server before joining the Russia probe, is giving new ammunition to Mueller’s conservative critics. The Trump defenders say the texts provide clear evidence that the former FBI chief isn’t running an impartial probe — and should be removed from his post.
(Vox, December 13, 2017)
On Wednesday, the House Judiciary Committee spent hours questioning Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein about these text messages. But the questions Republican members posed gave the impression that the agents involved were hatching a conspiracy to overthrow the Trump administration.
Of course, nothing could be further from the truth. Not to mention that Mueller summarily fired both agents – not because they did anything wrong but because he wanted to rid his investigation of any hint of bias or impropriety. Any fair-minded person would consider this demonstration of impartiality commendable and reassuring.
This is why the Republicans questioning Rosenstein came across like a bunch of Chicken Littles.
Rosenstein told the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday he has seen no reason to fire Mueller thus far.
‘If there were good cause, I would act. If there were no good cause, I would not,’ Rosenstein told the committee. …
During the hearing, Rosenstein praised Mueller for his work in the special counsel, saying there was no one better qualified for the job.
(CNN, December 14, 2017)
This, of course, is the last thing Trump’s flailing defenders wanted to hear. After all, they are part of an open conspiracy among Republicans to undermine Mueller’s investigation. Which is just the latest example of them sacrificing what little principles they had at the altar of Trump’s presidency.
Even worse, these erstwhile chest-thumping, law-and-order patriots seem deliriously unconcerned that they are helping Trump not only propagate a false equivalence between the FBI and the (old Russian) KGB, but also erode public confidence in the integrity of all democratic institutions.
Except that these Republicans are fatally undermining their efforts by asserting that this investigation is rife with pro-Democratic bias. After all, Mueller, Rosenstein, and most of the other top officials involved are Republicans.
What’s more, Rosenstein put the nail in their coffin in this respect when their partisan badgering compelled him to school them on the difference between agents venting personal opinions in text messages and showing professional bias in a criminal investigation.
Apropos of which, just as it was with the private e-mails of DNC staffers, nobody at this hearing seemed bothered by airing the private texts of FBI agents that have no bearing on any public business. Moreover, I’d bet my life savings that an airing of the private texts of these Republicans would reveal they were saying the same kinds of things about Hillary that they are hurling political indignation at these agents for saying about Trump.
Hypocrisy has always been redolent in American politics. But USA Today had just cause to headline its December 13 editorial “Will Trump’s lows ever hit rock bottom?” Because the defining feature of his presidency is the way he is inducing other politicians to lower their already low standards of political conduct and debate.
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