You would think that the House Democrats’ war with the Trump White House would be organized, united, and effective. It has been neither of those things. In fact, one could argue that’s it’s been lackluster. Of course, I’m speaking from the Democratic side. Yes, The Hill has a piece out today noting that Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY), chair of the House Judiciary Committee, has been weak sauce, perpetually being towel slapped like a whipping boy by the Trump White House. The communication with fellow Democrats hasn’t been the best and his strategy for taking on the White House has not been fully fleshed out. The publication added that some think Nadler needs to show more finesse. The problem is that the Democrats don’t have a smooth operator and that method might not be palatable to the base that wants Trump’s head on pike. Going slow and being strategic is not in the cards for some on the Hill. They want Nadler to be like Ulysses S. Grant at the Battle of Cold Harbor. The problem is that a) Grant lost that battle, and b) his troops were slaughtered with some 7,000 union lives lost reportedly in less than 15 minutes of the ill-fated frontal assault. But hey, Jerry fights right or something.
Trump has a monopoly on the “hammer” tactics thus far. The Democrats won’t win. This is a man who took on all of liberal America and flanked them time and time again, brutally, like Stonewall Jackson at Chancellorsville. The liberal media can’t land a blow to him. In fact, it’s the opposite; the boomerang they throw at Trump ends up clipping them in the face
The Hill added that the inability for Nadler to get his hands on the un-redacted version of the Mueller report remains a unicorn he has yet to capture. As one source told the publication, they need a pirate when fighting the Trump administration; Jerry is a “just a sailor”:
…some Nadler critics, who call Judiciary the “tip of the spear” of Democrats’ probes into the administration, say he’s failed to lay out a broad strategy and proven to be ineffective — at least so far — when it comes to landing a convincing blow against Trump.
Nadler’s response to the Mueller report has been sloppy, disorganized, too heavy handed in some instances, not tough enough in others, critics say. And some of his committee members say communication with them has not been great.
More than seven weeks have passed since the release of the 448-page redacted Mueller report. And despite a flurry of congressional subpoenas from his powerful panel, Nadler and Judiciary Democrats have had few clear victories they can point to.
Nadler has not yet secured the unredacted version of the Mueller report or any underlying evidence. He’s been negotiating for weeks to bring Mueller himself before his committee, but that hasn’t happened either.
And Attorney General William Barr and former White House counsel Don McGahn have ignored subpoenas from Nadler, even as Democrats prepare to take the rare step of holding them in contempt of Congress on Tuesday.
[…]
…some of these critics say Nadler, at the outset of the probes, should have spelled out more clearly specific consequences and penalties for Trump officials defying congressional subpoenas.
[…]
“They have all hammer, no finesse,” said the Democratic source, who requested anonymity to speak freely about Nadler. The Mueller report has been a “big missed opportunity and any of the other chairmen would have played it differently. Yes, they are in an impossible situation, which is why they need more finesse than hammer.
“You can’t come at it head-on. You have to be creative on how to get the information.”
A third Democratic source put it this way: “You need a pirate” when taking on Trump. “Nadler is just a sailor.”
[…]
Nadler’s battle against an unbudging White House could’ve been handled more cleanly, his detractors say, starting with the launch of his investigation.
The chairman bungled the start of his sprawling inquiry into the Trump administration, the anonymous Democratic lawmaker said, by issuing 81 letters to members of the president’s inner circle, current and former officials, former Trump campaign and transition members, and other associates with ties to Trump.
That gave the impression that the Nadler probe was a fishing expedition, not “tailored, deliberate and methodical,” the lawmaker said.
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But that’s the thing; it was a fishing expedition. It remains a fishing expedition. This is the secondary protocol. Democrats were probably confident that something impeachable would be found in the report. Instead, they got nothing. The no collusion aspect of the report that was head shot. The lack of evidence to bring formal charges of obstruction was like the coupe de grace, a beheading of the two-year crusade to get this president. The Democrats’ obsession with Trump-Russia could also underscore another thing: the booming economy and the powers of incumbency, coupled with a large but weak and in some cases, aging 2020 field, shows that Democrats are worried about Trump being re-elected. They see this as the only way to get rid of him. They all think he’s a danger to the public and to our institutions, while they themselves used institutional power to allegedly spy on Trump’s campaign. If there were no double standards, the Democrats wouldn’t have any.
Yes, the unredacted report may be released to Nadler, or not. What is happening is that some of the so-called “key evidence” will be released to the Judiciary Committee in a recent deal hashed out with the DOJ. Still, the damage is done. This is and will always be viewed as a fishing expedition, a pathetic exercise by congressional Democrats to throw everything against the wall to see what sticks, no matter how ridiculous. Remember that when 2020 rolls around, Republicans. These people—the Democrats—are not your friends. They’re the folks who would lace your drink with cyanide at parties if they could.
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