The General US Politics Thread

Poor Al Franken. The Minnesota Democrat was kicked to the curb by a party that, until a few months ago, not only turned a blind eye to sexual misconduct but also lionized serial predators such as Bill Clinton and Ted Kennedy. So why was Franken a bridge too far for Democrats? Because he stood in the way of their effort to claim the "moral high ground" when Roy Moore was elected to the United States Senate.

Democrats were looking forward to spending the next year wrapping Moore around the necks of Republicans. They were gearing up for a Senate Ethics Committee investigation that would keep Moore in the spotlight for months and preparing to demand public hearings where his accusers could be paraded before the media. They were waiting with bated breath for the cavalcade of bigoted gaffes Moore would have made. They were looking forward to seeing Republicans squirm, as they were forced to court an increasingly toxic Moore for his vote in a narrowly divided Senate. And they were ready to pummel Republicans when, in the end, the GOP-controlled Senate would fail to expel him — knowing full well there was no precedent for removing a senator from office for actions he allegedly committed decades ago, before he was a senator, and that voters knew about before electing him.

"Sen. Roy Moore (R-Ala.)" would have been the greatest Christmas gift Democrats could have wished for. Instead, Santa left them with a lump of coal. Moore isn't coming to Washington after all. There will be no investigation, no public hearings. The voters of conservative Republican Alabama, in their wisdom, decided that Moore was not worthy to represent them in the United States Senate. Roll tide!

Of course, the idea that Democrats could have claimed moral superiority when it comes to the sexual abuse of women was laughable to begin with. Just last year, Democrats gave Clinton — who faced credible allegations of rape and other sexual misconduct — a hero's welcome at their convention in Philadelphia. They nominated Hillary Clinton, who rather than believe the women stood by her husband through the allegations, as their standard-bearer. And just a few years ago, they named a Senate caucus room for Ted and John F. Kennedy, both harassers as well.

Watching the party of Clinton, Kennedy, Franken, Conyers, Weiner, Condit and countless others excoriating anyone over sexual misconduct would have been rich indeed. But Moore's election would have given Democrats a credible pretext to do just that.

Instead, they got Doug Jones. Democrats never intended for Jones to win. After all, if they were serious about competing in Alabama, they would not have nominated a pro-abortion extremist in one of the most pro-life states in the country. Indeed, Jones would have lost easily Tuesday night if any Republican other than an alleged sex predator had been on the ballot. And he is virtually guaranteed to lose his seat in 2020.

Democrats will take the unexpected benefits of his victory, which narrows the GOP's Senate majority from 52 to 51, complicating President Trump's ability to pass legislation and confirm judges (including a possible Supreme Court pick) next year. They will try to spin it as a repudiation of Trump, which it was not. (Trump maintains a 59 percent approval rating in Alabama.) And they know it means they have one less seat they need to win in order to regain control of the Senate in 2018.

But all that pales in comparison with what Moore would have done for the Democratic Party as a Republican senator. That is why so many conservatives in Alabama either wrote in another candidate or stayed home, giving Jones the victory. And it is why Alabama's senior senator, Richard C. Shelby — possibly the most astute political mind on the Republican side of the aisle — came out publicly against Moore the Sunday before the election. They knew that Moore is the Democrats' caricature of a Republican come to life. Democrats are glad to gain a Senate seat, but with a Moore victory they might have gained a whole lot more.

Thank God for the people of Alabama.

You're going to enjoy this...

I've read the full letter Trump transition team attorneys sent to legislators re: Mueller obtaining their emails.

It has a delicious reveal.

https://t.co/gHZPrX3CVn (link is a download link to the letter mentioned)

As we now know:

1) Mueller obtained ALL of the emails sent to/from Trump transition team accounts
2) The Trump gang only realized this after Mueller's team seemed to know all about their emails
3) This made them quite... upset

4) Thier lawyers then wrote the letter in the link to congressmen complaining about just how upsetting all of this is.

Here's the classically amusing reveal in the letter...

Earlier this year, Trump appointed the top attorney at the office responsible for providing all the electronics and email accounts the Trump transition team used.

That attorney's name was Richard Backler.

Now, as background, Backler was a white collar criminal defense attorney before his appointment.

He helped rich criminals beat government convictions for a firm with a name you'll find familiar.

Bracewell & Giuliani.

So, Trump appointed Backler and then Backler went and ensured Trump transition team attorneys that he would not allow his org (the GSA) to provide any of their emails to investigators.

One problem: Backler fell ill and ultimately passed away.

So, until Mueller's crew started asking Trump aides about those emails, they had absolutely no idea Mueller had them because they thought Trump's guy on the inside was running interference for them.

Let that one sink in.

Trump and his flunkies thought their friend at the GSA had locked their emails away *literally* in a vault no one could get to...

They thought their bodies were all buried.

As a result, Trump's people walked into their interviews with Mueller and team with a completely false sense of confidence that he didn't know what he already knew in spades.

They thought he was fishing. He was just reeling fish in.

Can you imagine the freakout that must have occurred in Trumpland when they realized their cleanup guy hadn't actually done the cleanup after all?

Alllllllll of the things they thought they had buried were not only not buried; Mueller had them in writing!

While this is just conjecture, I suspect the entire Trump orbit just realized that Mueller has a trove that entirely hangs them out to dry AND brings them down for obstruction and lying to Mueller to boot.

Trump appointed a Giuliani guy to protect him from Mueller...

...and then the guy went and died just as Mueller was coming a'calling.

Trump must be losing his freaking mind...

...even more panicked: Jared Kushner.

Mueller is gonna roast them all.

Note: Trump team knew Beckler had died. They didn’t know he had failed to lock down their electronics and emails - and didn’t know GSA staff had produced them all without telling anyone.

One more note: as the letter in the link lays out, Beckler was incapacitated by August. He was hospitalized when Mueller’s crew came a’knockin’.