Trump Timeline ... Trumpocalypse



In August, when the Trump administration formally declared Russia responsible for the poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter, it invoked a decades-old law designed to punish countries that use chemical or biological weapons.

As required by the law, the administration imposed an initial round of light sanctions—a warning shot, in essence—with a requirement that if, within 90 days, Russia did not admit responsibility for the attack and provide assurances that it was mending its ways, a far harsher round of sanctions would take effect.

That deadline came and went in November with Russia continuing to deny the accusations, and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that the second round of sanctions would be imposed imminently.

But two months later, nothing has happened.
 


At the heart of a criminal conspiracy are two basic components: An agreement by two or more people to pull off something illegal, and then a clear step toward actually doing it — in legal terms, the “overt act.”

“If there were a conspiracy, then the order to reach out to Roger Stone might be an overt act that would make the conspiracy complete,” said Paul Rosenzweig, who was a member of Ken Starr’s investigation into former President Bill Clinton.

But there’s also a special type of conspiracy charge — one that doesn’t need to be based on an underlying crime. The dramatically titled “conspiracy to defraud the United States” is particularly well-suited to Mueller’s purposes.
 


If you’re still working for Trump, his stink won’t ever wash off

Twenty months ago — four months into President Trump’s tenure — I tried my best to warn members of his team that even at that early stage, if you worked for Trump, it was time to quit. Whatever initial enthusiasm you had for the man, whatever your ambitions, however indispensable you thought you were in the attempt to smooth his rough edges, the smart move was to get out.

“https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2017/05/18/if-you-work-for-trump-its-time-to-quit/?utm_term=.5bdaa52ff0b9 (Do it now),” I wrote, to preserve your professional reputation or a semblance of dignity.

But if, at this stage, you’re like former White House aide Cliff Sims, recently out with a book about Trump’s discombobulated “Team of Vipers” — but still telling interviewers how “proud” you were to work for him — you’re too late.

If you’re former New Jersey governor Chris Christie (R), currently on the talk-show circuit, regaling us with tales of Trump’s hubris — mere weeks after interviewing for the White House chief of staff job — you’re too late. If you’re former congressman Mick Mulvaney (R-S.C.), and you just accepted the job of acting White House chief of staff — your third Trump administration gig — the word “acting” in your title is an insufficient fig leaf. You’re definitely acting, just not in the way you think.

There was a window of time during which giving Trump a chance was justifiable out of a sense of duty to country. You might have been vindicated for doing so if Trump had surprised us all and made good on his https://www.washingtonpost.com/video/politics/trump-i-can-be-more-presidential-than-all-us-presidents-except-lincoln/2017/07/25/d416d2ea-7193-11e7-8c17-533c52b2f014_video.html?utm_term=.2081a39c597d (boast) that, “with the exception of the late, great Abraham Lincoln, I can be more presidential than any president that’s ever held this office.”

But that window closed. You had ample opportunity to see, up close, the capriciousness, vainglory and allergic reaction to facts that the rest of us saw from afar. If you’re just now disavowing Trump, or explaining away your support for him, don’t bother. You own it. Leaving 2016 to 2019 blank on your LinkedIn page won’t save you from disgrace.

In the words of Ed Lover: C’mon, son. Lack of self-awareness is a terrible quality, even for a toady.

From this point on, any freshly departed Trump staffer’s public postmortem will only help fill in the blanks. It will add nothing to the by-now-plain-as-day big picture: Trump is the worst president ever. Only a suck-up won’t admit it.

If you’re the next press secretary, policy adviser or White House counsel contemplating a melodramatic, self-absolving throwing-in of your Trump-caddying towel, don’t expect hosannas from the public in return for your pseudo-courage. You might hope Trump’s stench will fade, but I’ll still smell it. If there’s any justice left, everybody else will, too. Like a bad ‘80s haircut, your political cowardice will be forever preserved on the Interwebs. Your 15 minutes of shame won’t rehabilitate you, because selling out your Trump-world cronies can’t erase your original sin: selling out your country.

So peddle your fictional nonfiction. Write your anonymous op-eds. It won’t matter. For a year, or two, or more, you stood athwart history yelling: “Thank you, sir! May I have another?” You served a man bent on division and distraction. You helped him make America grate again. Even after he leaves office, you won’t be able to live it down.

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