Mark America

Time to Face the Music

I realize that there’s a sentiment in Washington DC that now that the whole Trump-Russia-Collusion hoax has been exposed as such, we conservatives and Trump supporters ought to just make nice with the Democrats and “let it go” for the sake of comity and bi-partisanship. That probably makes a great deal of sense to people who live and thrive in the swamp.  It probably seems reasonable to them.  Last evening, watching a few minutes of Tucker Carlson, he had Mollie Hemingway on and she mentioned that there might be some laws that would need to be re-written to prevent all of this from happening again.  I looked at my wife, an expression of stunned incredulity on my face, matched by a similar expression on hers, and we both exclaimed “re-write some laws?” Per the norm, I was somewhat more animated, but I then muted the television and went on a mini-rant about the reasons why all of the denizens of the swamp must be evicted. Ladies and gentlemen, I don’t care what talking heads in the swamp may think about it: There must be prosecutions and convictions of the guilty, followed by swift sentencing at the appropriate level, to whatever level it may rise. Screw “letting it go!” We mustn’t let anything go, and we mustn’t let the swamp-rats make it all go away, as it seems they are intent upon doing. There must be consequences, and they must be as severe as the law permits. Simply put, it’s time for the real conspirators to face the music.

Mollie Hemingway is a fantastic writer for the Federalist, and in most all cases, I urge readers to check out her regular articles.  Tucker Carlson on FoxNews can be entertaining, but at times, it’s very frustrating to watch his show because he provides a platform to such outlandishly foolish characters, and I’m fairly certain it’s intended to press all of a conservative’s hot-buttons.  He succeeds quite frequently, at least where I’m concerned.  In this case, however, I don’t think that was the intention.  The two of them seemed to be acknowledging that there was indeed a serious problem in our government and the weaponization of its intelligence and investigative agencies,  but both seemed satisfied that it would be addressed sufficiently that it never happens again.  Hemingway seemed to want a more thorough reckoning, but to suggest that a simple re-write of some statutes would suffice is absurd to me.  I don’t know if it’s because I’m sensitive to the tendencies of the swamp of DC to make conservatives go wobbly, or if it’s because I’ve become adept at judging when we’re about to have one put-over on us by the DC Uni-party, but it smelled of swamp-gas to me, certainly where Tucker was concerned.  Queue the video below:

https://youtu.be/pTRmXJ4kZMY?t=955

Again, while some may be satisfied if only we re-write some laws to make sure this never happens again, but the law already forbids the weaponization of our law enforcement and intelligence agencies, and conspiracy to commit treason is already covered under our existing laws.  While we might re-write some of the FISA law, and that might limit the extent to which that particular class of abuses might occur, there are already many clear-cut laws that make much of what occurred in this instance an unmitigated attack on our entire constitutional system.  One can find many statutes that apply, so I’m not sure why “re-writing law” is necessary to the sort of reckoning that justice in this case demands.

It’s really a fairly simple thing, from my point of view.  People who we’ve entrusted with incredible power over the affairs of our nation decided to abuse that power in a way that is well beyond corrupt.  It’s clearly treasonous, and while people like Brennan, Clapper, Comey, Lynch, McCabe, and others will continue to attempt to downplay or gloss-over what it is that they had done, it’s not satisfactory that we permit this to be dropped.  There’s also the very real possibility that the previous President was directly involved in this effort, and if so, that’s a conspiracy to high treason that originated in the highest office in the land.  While many will not permit this notion to be discussed, if there was treason here, and it surely seems there had been, we must be prepared to charge that offense and upon conviction, hand out its most terrible sentences, whomever the guilty may be.

It’s clear that at least for the moment, Attorney General Barr seems to get it.  In Congressional testimony yesterday, he made it clear that there was spying on the Trump administration, and that he intends to investigate it:

I certainly hope that AG Barr thoroughly investigates the matter, and while I still have some reservations about his swampy tendencies of the past, they’ve not yet surfaced in his current tenure as our nation’s Attorney General.  People in Washington DC don’t understand why it’s such a big deal, but I think it’s worth explaining what it means to me, out here in flyover country, that the elites who carried out the fraud and treason be punished.

Most of us get up each day and go about the process of providing for our families, earning a living, staying out of unnecessary entanglements with trouble, and obeying the law of the land, all while maintaining a certain reverence for the rule of law we’ve been raised to expect from our government, and the adherence to it that we expect from our elected and appointed officials. How many of you does that describe? Perhaps a few of you have gone on to retire after a lifetime of the honorable pursuits described above. The point is that we obey the law, we respect the law, and to an extent not common in most modern societies, we revere the law.  That means that for most of us, most of the time, we recognize the significance of what has been done in the case of the conspiracy to overthrow Donald Trump, and we recognize it as treason.  It doesn’t much matter what party we may be in, but what does matter is that we cherish our constitutional system, and we know that if Donald Trump can be treated in this way, a billionaire candidate, and then a duly elected President of the United States, then we average Americans out here in flyover country are in serious danger from the runaway government in Washington DC that has essentially decided to overthrow the rules we have set for it.  President Trump clearly sees it this way too, as seen in his brief statement to the press on Wednesday morning:

Treason indeed!  It’s time to investigate, prosecute, and punish the convicted upon a guilty finding, to the extent permitted under the law, and the more lofty the office, the more severe must be the punishment.  Only then is there any chance that this will be prevented from repeating in the future, or worse, being extended down to all we citizens who merely live our lives as honorably and honestly as we know to do, and who cherish the liberties with which we have been blessed.  More than that, we require a reckoning for those who have wasted our time, money, and opportunities.  We need a reckoning for those who have effectively demolished the first half of the presidency of Donald Trump.  McCain screwed us with his thumbs-down on the Obama-care repeal, and by helping to create the Trump/Russia-Collusion Hoax, he helped to make sure that we would not be in a position to advance our agenda.  Do you doubt but that this hoax helped the Democrats and other Swamprats to wreck the mid-terms of 2018?  Do you doubt it?  Do you doubt that Ryan and a number of other GOP members of the DC UniParty to make an early escape?  Think of how many high-ranking, or long-serving Republicans quit their House seats last year.  Why?  There’s always a reason, and I think much of it will come to light if there’s a thorough investigation of the Collusion Hoax and the treasonous attempt to overthrow President Trump.

For those of you who think that we ought to simply “let it go,” I must confess that I believe you’ve lost your minds.  We cannot and must not “let it go.” We must not let the Swamp make some nominal reforms but let the guilty go un-prosecuted or unpunished.  After all, that’s part of why we’ve landed here, isn’t it?  Wasn’t it the attempt to conceal and obfuscate Hillary’s crimes part of what went wrong?  Essentially, the swamp wanted to “let it go” where Hillary was concerned, and Obama wanted it that way.  We all know where this really leads, don’t we?  This whole thing lands on the desk of the President, but not President Trump.  It must all land on the desk of the chief executive who permitted, and perhaps even directed this treason. It is time now to ensure that whatever comes next, whatever issues the country faces, it does so on a foundation of an unadulterated rule of law. The American people must have confidence, or the republic will fall.  It is time now to see that whomever had been engaged in this attack on the republic, an attack I regard as potentially more consequential for the fate of our nation, had it succeeded, we must see to it that the conspirators answer for this crime. This time, there can be no letting it go.