ALL THE TRUTH IN THE WORLD ADDS UP TO ONE BIG LIE

Dang, where did all these witches come from?  And what impact will Tuesday’s news have on the body politic?  To quote Bill Kristol quoting Winston Churchill: “Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”  I’ll take it.

Christmas morning may be ho-hum compared to the bonanza of goodies we got on Tuesday.  There was symmetry in the 8 counts that Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to, and the 8 counts Paul Manafort was convicted of.  Those two political earthquakes dominated the headlines, but the day actually brought us a trifecta. 

The third piece of good news was that Republican Congressman Duncan Hunter (and his wife) were indicted on charges of using campaign funds to pay their personal bills.  Hunter was the second congressional Republican to endorse Donald Trump.  The first?  Why it was Chris Collins, who was charged with insider trading two weeks ago.

Donald Trump sure seems to be a magnet for shady characters, doesn’t he?  Birds of a feather and all that.  Or as Rick Wilson says, “Everything Trump Touches Dies.” 

For me, Tuesday’s most intriguing news was the revelation in one of the charges Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to that he had an accomplice in committing one of his felonies.  An unnamed “candidate” conspired with Cohen to make an illegal campaign contribution to Donald Trump in the form of hush money to keep two women from spilling their secrets right before the election.  Gosh, who could that candidate have been?  Probably Hillary Clinton, right?  Lock her up!

But no.  Lanny Davis, Cohen’s lawyer, said straight out that the candidate was Donald Trump.  Davis then posed the key question: “If those payments were a crime for Michael Cohen, then why wouldn't they be a crime for Donald Trump?”  Indeed.

At a rally in West Virginia, Trump ranted “Where is the collusion?  Find some collusion.”  Lanny Davis obliged him.  Davis indicated that Cohen would be happy to talk to Robert Mueller’s team about “not just the obvious possibility of a conspiracy to collude and corrupt the American democracy system in the 2016 election, which is what the Trump Tower meeting was all about, but also about knowledge of the computer crime of hacking and whether or not Mr. Trump knew ahead of time about that crime and cheered it on.” 

Trump is now, for all practical purposes, an unindicted co-conspirator in the commission of a felony.  His partner in crime has already ratted him out on that charge, and appears to be ready to spill his guts to the Special Counsel about a lot more collusion and obstruction of justice. 

It won’t matter at all to the MAGA crowd. (“My Attorney Got Arrested.”)  They’re deep in denial, and their reflexive response will be, “I know you are, but what am I?”  It won’t matter much to congressional Republicans, who are terrified of the MAGA crowd.  But Tuesday’s news should further alienate independent voters and thus help Democrats in swing districts.  Maybe that’s the best news of all. 

It’s time for Trump to play his trump card.  Yes, Rudy Giuliani must go on TV and dazzle the nation with his rhetorical gymnastics yet again.  If truth isn’t truth, then maybe a felony isn’t a felony.  Collusion isn’t collusion.  Conspiracy isn’t conspiracy.  High crimes and misdemeanors aren’t high crimes and misdemeanors.  What have they got to lose?