Things worth harping on

While, as noted here before, too many cartoonists are going on about "the only shooting incident that really matters," others are attending to the nation's business, and there are issues that deserve continued discussion.

Above, Ann Telnaes comments on the presidents' rejection of our justice system, and the best part of this cartoon is its optimism: Trump is dwarfed by the statue and, the metaphor suggests, overmatched in his quest to halt the process, a message further telegraphed by his desperate expression.

From her pen to God's ears, and there is an element of backing for her somewhat cheerful approach in that the president's tweets indeed seem to echo that desperation, particularly yesterday's almost incoherent “I am being investigated for firing the FBI Director by the man who told me to fire the FBI Director! Witch Hunt.”

It took a little parsing to realize he was talking about Rod Rosenstein's having appointed a special counsel, thus making Rosenstein the one investigating him, which isn't entirely inaccurate though a bit strained. On the other hand, his declaration that Rosenstein "told" him to fire Comey doesn't sit well with his declaration that he'd already decided to fire Comey anyway.

I'm waiting for him to tweet "I meant to do that!" and blame his next misstep on bad advice from Chairy or Jambi.

Meanwhile, Rosenstein seems unruffled and Trump's furious tweet may have been prompted by what Rosenstein told Senator Susan Collins at Tuesday's hearing:

Senator, I'm not going to follow any order unless I believe those are lawful and appropriate orders. Special counsel Mueller may be fired only for good cause, and I am required to put that cause in writing. That's what I would do. If there were good cause, I would consider it. If there were not good cause, it wouldn't matter to me what anybody says.

Tom Toles comments on the rumors of Trump attempting just that move, and, if Rosenstein is a man of his word, we might finally have the parallel everyone was trying to apply to the Comey firing.

For those who were not present at the time, Richard Nixon did not fire Special Counsel Archibald Cox during the Watergate investigations, because he lacked the power to do so. He ordered Attorney General Elliot Richardson to do it, but Richardson refused and resigned. Then Nixon ordered Richardson's assistant AG, William Ruckelshaus to do it, and fired him when he refused.

Finally, the next AG in line, Robert Bork, agreed to take out the long knife. It was, technically, Bork who fired Cox, though Nixon was happy to take credit for the deed.

And, technically, Nixon was never impeached. As long as we're trying to straighten things out, note that, while articles of impeachment were approved in committee, they never made it to the House floor because Nixon resigned first.

And taking a student deferment -- or, as the children put it, "four deferments" -- was not draft dodging, but let us not get diverted, beyond noting that, while the people who do Drunk History may be drunk, there are perfectly sober people whose citations are far less accurate.

Now where was I?

Point is, there are things worth harping on and thing that aren't. As Drew Sheneman suggests, Jeff Sessions' looks are not the critical aspect of his testimony upon which we should focus, though I'll grant that personal ridicule has a place in politics.

To be valid, personal ridicule has to be grounded; it has to make a point beyond ridicule itself, and John Cole does an excellent job of doing just that.

I'm not sure anyone has ever proven that Donald Trump's hands are any smaller than average. This overwhelmingly popular assumption is based on his furious response to a Vanity Fair article in which his hands were described that way, and anyone who has ever been in middle school knows what happens when someone tosses a barb your direction and you fly into a rage.

But, as long as we all assume he has small hands, it's a brilliant metaphor to use in contrasting his lack of compassion with that of his predecessor. Cole needs to remember this one when he's assembling his portfolio at awards time.

The other point being that, whether it's done with personal ridicule or not, and whether it's laid at Trump's doorstep or that of his purported political party, the healthcare issue needs to remain visible, and the fact that the GOP proposal is being kept hidden should, as Steve Sack suggests, make us suspicious about what is in it.

It's also worth repeating the GOP's own attacks on the Affordable Care Act, when they said it was being rushed through, that nobody had a chance to examine it, and ridiculed Nancy Pelosi for assuring people that, once it was in place, they'd see that their doubts were groundless.

And then the GOP amended it to make sure that wasn't true.

However, there's no point in taking too long a slog through that latter swamp: The loyalists will never believe it, and you'll get no converts.

But you might get some by harping on the secrecy and on the way the GOP is rushing it through in lockstep.

As Brooks and Dionne noted in yesterday's All Things Considered weekly wrap-up, this secrecy is upsetting some Republicans. Brooks called it "crazy" and noted that people will eventually find out what's in it, and Dionne noted that those dissenting Republicans aren't showing much spine over it, since, if three of them confronted McConnell with a demand for openness, he'd have to give in.

Harp on that.

Finally, that appalling video of the Cabinet ass-smooch seems like something that would grow legs with wider distribution and commentary, and Rob Rogers uses an excellent foil, since even the deplorables who have suddenly lost their suspicion of and hatred for Russia remain opposed to Kim Jong-un.

Harp on that, too.

But don't waste time and ink -- or, lord, life -- on futile quarrels that don't matter.

 

Comments

[Hank G.]

Trump actually remarked on the size of his hands in an interview with the Washington Post before the election.

“My hands are normal. Slightly large, actually. In fact, I buy a slightly smaller than large-size glove, okay?”

In fact, he couldn’t admit that he wears a medium size glove.

In another article, the Post claimed that based on a cast at Madame Tussauds wax museum in NY, Trump’s hands were in the lowest 15th percentile for men and given that Trump is taller than average, they are probably even smaller for a man of his size.

Not that anyone cares, other than him. It’s the size of his brain that I worry about.