SEND LAWYERS, GUNS, AND MONEY

When I was five or six years old, my parents gave me my first allowance – 25 cents a week.  If memory serves, I spent most of it on bubblegum cards – mostly sports cards, but also the Topps Wings series, which featured military aircraft from the Korean War era.  The image that accompanies this post, the Lockheed F-94, comes from that series.

On Thursday, Donald Trump introduced the CEO of Lockheed Martin, Marillyn Hewson, as Marillyn Lockheed.  "We buy billions and billions of dollars worth of that beautiful F-35,” he said.  “It's stealth. You cannot see it. Is that correct? It better be correct." 

There’s an interesting philosophical conundrum in Trump’s statement.  Can an object be both beautiful and invisible?  Beauty, of course, is in the eye of the beholder.  But how can we form aesthetic opinions about objects that can’t be beheld?  Indeed, are such things objects at all? 

Before we go too far down that particular rabbit hole, it’s best to remember that Donald Trump is a blithering idiot.  Stealth doesn’t mean invisible, despite Trump’s threat.  You can google “Lockheed F-35” and decide for yourself whether it’s beautiful.  This particular beholder prefers the design of the F-94, but that’s probably just nostalgia talking.

Meanwhile, there has been more turnover in Trump’s White House.  His lead attorney for the Mueller investigation has resigned, as has his National Security Director. 

On the first matter, I was one of a multitude who predicted that attorney John Dowd was heading for the door.  When your client is both guilty and stupid, there’s not a whole lot that you can do except bow out as gracefully as possible.  Dowd’s replacement, Joseph DiGenova, is a veteran of the Bill Clinton impeachment wars.  Twenty years ago, he argued that a sitting president could be indicted.  I’m sure he’s a man of principle and will continue to maintain that position now that he’s representing Donald Trump.

H.R. McMaster’s departure is also no surprise.  Alas, neither is his replacement, John Bolton, a man who never met a war he didn’t like.  Bolton also perjured himself in Senate testimony in 2005, but perjury is almost a prerequisite for service in the Trump administration.  Congressional Republicans, who are well practiced in the art of looking the other way, won’t hold that against him.  Donald Trump was initially put off by Bolton’s moustache, but allegations that he forced his first wife to participate in orgies more than made up for his unfortunate facial hair.  It’s the little things that count when you’re committed to hiring the best and brightest. 

What do these things add up to?  The change of attorneys won’t make much difference.  DiGenova will be more inclined to support Trump’s worst instincts, which will likely lead to worse trouble for his client down the road.   Mueller still holds all the cards, and if Trump is dumb enough to fire him, and/or to begin issuing pardons, I’m confident that there are backup plans in place to deal with that possibility.

Bolton is the guy to worry about.  He’s one of those G.W. Bush era “experts” who will tell Trump what he wants to hear, which is that we can attack Iran or North Korea and win a quick, clean victory.  Hey, it worked in Iraq, right?

All we can do is keep our eyes on the prize, which is the 2018 congressional elections.  Flipping the House looks doable.  The Senate will be more challenging, but it's not outside the realm of possibility.  In the meantime, root for Stormy Daniels and her lawyer, and pray that we make it through the rest of the year without a war.