Trump, the Lizard King

John Schindler -- one of the "spooks against Trump" -- predicted that a big break in what he calls Kremlingate would emerge yesterday. "The Lizard is coming," promised Schindler.

No lizard arrived. Moreover, in his latest batch of tweets, Schindler offers no explanation for the lizard's absence.

There was some big news yesterday -- but it was made by Trump himself, who ever-so-helpfully confirmed that the firing of Comey really was an attempt to squelch the Russia investigation. How convenient! Liberals no longer needed to prove the obvious to dolts who refuse to believe the obvious.

"In fact when I decided to just do it, I said to myself, I said you know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made-up story, it's an excuse by the Democrats for having lost an election that they should have won," he said.

Why did Trump blurt out this confession? I think that he has morphed into Jack Nicholson's "Colonel Jessup" in A Few Good Men. Remember this scene?

Lt. Weinberg: And now you think you can get him to just say it?

Kaffee: I think he wants to say it. I think he's pissed off that he's gotta hide from this. I think he wants to say that he made a command decision and that's the end of it.

Note that Trump admits that the Democrats should have won the last election. On some level, he wanted to make that admission as well.

Elsewhere in the interview, he talked about a dinner with Comey which allegedly occurred at Comey's instigation (as if an FBI Director would ever issue such an invite to a President). We've since learned that Comey was the one who was invited, and that this dinner party was akin to one of those movie scenes in which a mob boss extracts loyalty oaths from his underbosses. Within the great cinema of the imagination, the image of Trump-as-Colonel-Jessup vanishes, replaced by footage of Trump as Al Capone in The Untouchables.

As they ate, the president and Mr. Comey made small talk about the election and the crowd sizes at Mr. Trump’s rallies. The president then turned the conversation to whether Mr. Comey would pledge his loyalty to him.

Mr. Comey declined to make that pledge. Instead, Mr. Comey has recounted to others, he told Mr. Trump that he would always be honest with him, but that he was not “reliable” in the conventional political sense.

Within the great cinema of the imagination, the image of Trump-as-Capone vanishes; Trump has now become Mayor Mel Brooks in Blazing Saddles. He demands a "Hail Trump" from all present, but one voice remains silent. "I didn't get a 'Hail Trump' outta you," snarls Donnie-Brooks. "You watch your ass!"

Yet the Republican Senators still won't call for a special prosecutor. To the GOP mind, fluff and nonsense like Whitewater supposedly deserved an independent investigation, but not Kremlingate.

“I say, let’s see who he nominates to replace Comey,” Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), who tweeted after Comey’s firing that he could not find an “acceptable rationale” for its timing, said of a special prosecutor. “You never rule anything out, but I’m not going there. I don’t want to jeopardize the Senate investigation going on.”

The Senate investigation has become an all-purpose excuse for the prevention of a real investigation. Since the Trumpers are making no serious effort to discredit the Senate intelligence committee, then we must presume that it has been compromised. When will people start to take seriously the many stories we've read about kompromat? Everyone has secrets, which means that even the decent may be manipulated. I believe it was Miles Copeland who once admitted that the CIA tries to get dirt on pretty much everyone who serves on those committees.

For all the recent talk about the role of blackmail in Russian politics, we still prefer to hallucinate that such things cannot happen here. I will mistrust Trump's choice for the next FBI head no matter who gets the nod. Whoever the new person is, either Mercer or Putin will have a file on him (or her).

On the other hand, a Special Prosecutor might be uncontrollable. That's why we must keep pressing for that outcome.

Be forewarned: Even if an honest, un-blackmailable SP is named, the Trumpers will have much room for nasty hijinks. Some of you may know the story of the House Select Committee on Assassinations, which began life under the honorable and honest Richard Sprague. Sprague was forced out of his position by smears, deception, and the deliberate seeding of paranoia among liberals. Mark my words: The Trumpers will resort to exactly similar trickery if the "wrong" man is ever chosen to lead an independent inquiry -- and Kos will probably provide the launching pad for the smears.

Louise Mensch is usually much more measured in her longer blog pieces than when she tweets-from-the-hip. But her latest gets into some pretty wild areas...

Several separate sources with links to the intelligence communities of more than one nation, and with links within the US state and federal justice systems, have outlined evidence that exists against multiple men in the line of succession to the US Presidency, as it relates to Russia’s hack on America. I can also exclusively report a RICO case is being considered against the Republican party for laundering Russian money.

These sources say that Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah, who was the ‘Designated Survivor’ at the inauguration of Donald Trump (yes, really) is likely to become President if charges are pursued, according to the evidence, of illegal collusion with Russia, money laundering, and obstruction of justice.

Remember when Orrin Hatch was as far to the right as the American mind could conceive? Now he seems almost reasonable.

You may be wondering how Paul Ryan (third in succession) fits into this new Mensch schema.

On Paul Ryan, Speaker of the House, normally third in the line of succession, I can report as fact that sources say that Ryan has been legally intercepted, and is on tape, admitting that he knew Russian money was being laundered into the Republican party. Without co-operation pending resignation Ryan may find himself swept up into a RICO prosecution involving the apparatus of the Republican party who accepted laundered Russian money.

Does such a recording actually exist? I'll believe it when I hear it. At any rate, the phrase "I can report as fact that sources say" is not likely to convince anyone. I can report as fact that sources say Bigfoot is real.

When people tell you a story that you want to hear, be on guard. This yarns sounds about as over-the-top as Pizzagate and some of the other anti-Hillary fables we heard during the finale of the last campaign.

Ms. Mensch, if you're reading this: Even an intelligence source who has fed you good information in the past may be deceiving you now. Happens all the time.