BloggeRhythms

Several items today advance the premise that the concerted efforts of the mainstream media to denounce and defame the POTUS have reached a stage where they may not only backfire, but enhance Trump's image in the process.       

One subtle indication of potential future problems comes in a brief item about Fox News host Sean Hannity who came under fire for fueling a conspiracy theory about a murdered Democratic National Committee staffer, Seth Rich.

According to Michael Calderone yesterday @huffingtonpost.com, Hannity said: “There is an attempt, at this moment in time, to absolutely shut down the Fox News Channel and render it, frankly, a shadow of its former self. I’m like the last, sole remaining person there from the old guard.”

The core of Hannity’s observation likely arises from the channel's definitive trend toward the left as can be seen in an article by Judge Napolitano @FoxNews.com, headlined: “Is Trump in real trouble?”

The Judge opines in his piece that: “The bad news for President Donald Trump keeps coming his way, notwithstanding a generally bravura performance on the foreign stage this past week in Riyadh, Jerusalem and Vatican City. Yet while he was overseas, his colleagues here in the United States have been advising him to hire criminal defense counsel, and he has apparently begun that process. Can the president be charged with obstructing justice when he asks that federal investigations of his friends be shut down?”

Then, after explaining the legalities and exposures facing the POTUS, the Judge goes on to state: “Most legal scholars agree that the president cannot be prosecuted while in office and that the appropriate remedy for presidential criminal wrongdoing is impeachment.

“What is the case against President Trump?

“The short answer is: So far, nothing.”

And from there, the Judge divulges his own political preferences, writing: “Though I did not vote for Trump and though I differ with him on many issues and on his tone and manner of governing, he is the president, and I want him to succeed in shrinking the government and liberating the free market. Nevertheless, there are forces at work inside the government and elsewhere that have leaked a disturbing series of private communications involving the president. This leaked information can fairly be characterized as painting a picture of a president fearful of a criminal investigation, long underway by the FBI, and determined to impede it.”

All of which means that the Judge, like virtually all others on the left, readily admits that to date there is no case whatsoever against the POTUS. Yet he uses his expertise in legalese to place Trump in the worst light possible.

The theme was also picked up by columnist Charles Krauthammer who stated on Tuesday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “Special Report,” that while no one can find the crime in the Trump-Russia investigation,  the president “acts as if the there is everywhere.”

Krauthammer said, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a situation where nobody can locate the crime. There are all these accusations, collusion is thrown around all the time. We’ve had a year of investigations. We’ve had opportunity after opportunity for some official to say, here’s what happened. And there’s been none of that. Now there may be, we could get an avalanche of evidence of collusion. But so far there is none.”

And then, after presenting an almost perfect concurrence with Judge Napolitano’s conclusion that no illegalities have taken place, Krauthammer continued, “The president insists that there is no there there, but he acts as if the there is everywhere. And that, I think, is the origin of what’s happened here. He’s trying to get people — I can understand sort of the motive. He says, I didn’t do anything, so let me get the people who are in charge of some of these agencies to come out and say, as yet, we have no evidence. 

“I don’t see that as obstruction," Krauthammer continued, "but I think it is improper. It’s something you shouldn’t be asking these people to do. And that creates this firestorm. Up until now, it’s entirely self-created, and we could end up with an enormous issue, and it’s going to dog Trump and all of his associates, who are now lawyering up, even the president himself, until the end of time because, as you say, Mueller has an endless mandate, and he cannot be fired. That’s omnipotence and omniscience at once. He’s Godlike.”

Thus, here we have two major personalities from the formerly quite conservative Fox News channel going much farther than what would have been done in the past toward any Republican. And certainly not in regard to a newly elected president. 

What’s interesting, however, is that for the second time in a week Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward came to the POTUS’s defense again. This time addressing what he referred to as “smugness” in the press.

Pam Key writes @breitbart.com that Woodward said: “Yes. I think that is a giant problem. On television particularly, you will see a White House correspondent deliver a report and then say ‘the Trump White House said…’ and then there’s a kind of smug smile, which is the correspondent undermining what the White House says. And there may be grounds for that, but it should be reported. It should be straight.”

He added, “I think there are so many people that are treating the Trump presidency as if it’s a tryout—as if it’s provisional. I was reading a column this morning that said Trump half won the presidency because he did not get the popular vote. He is president. Odds are he is probably going to be president for a full term, four years and maybe even more. There is hyperventilation. There is this kind of sense of too many people writing things like—when is the impeachment coming, how long will it last, will he make it through the summer, and so forth. No, there may be stuff that comes out, but it has to be hard evidence. I worry for the business and I worry for the perception of the business by people, not to just Trump supporters, but people that see that kind of smugness that they are talking about. You know, he was elected, the Constitution says he gets a full term.”

Which means that Woodward’s one of a very few who sense, as does this writer, that not only will Trump remain in office for his full term, or more, but that it may be the left that’s facing a troubled future. 

And once again Rush may also be picking up on a theme much like the one underlying the left’s loss of the White House, despite their certainty of a win last November. 

Talking to a caller yesterday, Rush said: “Look, the way to address this, my buddy Andy McCarthy posted a piece at National Review today advising Republicans on the committee how to deal with what Brennan is up there testifying, and the Democrats and the attempts they’re making at establishing a connection between Trump and his campaign to Russia. And he’s like a lot of us, he’s frustrated, there’s no push-back, maybe a little from Trey Gowdy. But there’s no push-back. Andy wonders why aren’t these guys asking Brennan about the collusion between Russia and Hillary and the Clinton Foundation.

“And he’s suggesting a number of different ways the Republicans could get in this game and defend Trump and go after the Democrats much the way the Republicans are being sought by the Democrats here, turn the tables on ’em. But he’s seeing none of this happening. 

“I’ll tell you something else. There’s a legitimate reason to investigate any collusion between the Obama Department of Justice and the Russians in trying to affect the election. All this talk about collusion between Trump and the Russians? It was the Obama DOJ that was out there surveilling the Trump campaign — and then the unmasking and investigation into the leaks and the unmasking, which Comey said, “Oh, no, no, no! We’re not interested in that,” which really ticked Trump off. There’s all kinds of ways the Republicans on Capitol Hill could be returning fire here.”

And in that way, it’s highly likely Rush will keep the drumbeat going as well he should. 

Because, as regular readers know, there’s a mass of information available regarding the Clinton/Podesta/Russia connection. Much of it mentioned here in the past. Which may very well be what Bob Woodward sees coming for the left in the future.

Meaning that, it’s a virtual certainty that not only is this story far from over, but Trump’s probably not the one who needs a lawyer. Making one wonder if Bill Clinton’s disbarment’s expired. 

That’s it for today folks.

Adios