"He would be both ashamed and afraid to bring forward, for the most distinguished or lucrative stations, candidates who had no other merit than that of ...being in some way or other personally allied to him, or of possessing the necessary insignificance and pliancy to render them the obsequious instruments of his pleasure. . . ." The founding father's never thought someone like Trump, who feels no shame, would ever be president. Remember, they also wrote that the Electoral College would override the popular vote if such a person were to sway the voters "thorough little artifices" (lies, in 18th century language).
While it's reasonable to maintain a capacity for skepticism about the wisdom and integrity of government agencies and officials, I will never comprehend the choice by so many people -- some of them well educated -- to place their highest trust in an obvious sociopath with an aggressively self-centered worldview and a pattern of transparently preposterous mendacity.
People who are smart enough to know better chose to redefine "corruption" as not being in lockstep with a man who is so ethically bankrupt that even Jeffrey Epstein noticed that he lacks a "moral compass." And they claim that he's a warrior against forces of evil.
Or more money. And for those who won’t get the more money. It’s punishment of the other. And for a few the message from them is ‘I’m going down and I’m going to take you with me.
By stepping down, as the conservative writer Erick Erickson observed, Wray has created a “legal obstacle to Trump trying to bypass the Senate confirmation process.”
Here’s why. According to the Vacancies Reform Act, if a vacancy occurs in a Senate-confirmed position, the president can temporarily replace that appointee (such as the F.B.I. director) only with a person who has already received Senate confirmation or with a person who’s served in a senior capacity in the agency (at the GS-15 pay scale) for at least 90 days in the year before the resignation.
Kash Patel, Donald Trump’s chosen successor at the F.B.I., meets neither of these criteria. He’s not in a Senate-confirmed position, and he’s not been a senior federal employee in the Department of Justice in the last year. That means he can’t walk into the job on Day 1. Trump will have to select someone else to lead the F.B.I. immediately, or the position will default to the “first assistant to the office.”
In this case, that means the position would default to Paul Abbate, who has been the deputy director of the F.B.I. since 2021, unless Trump chooses someone else, and that “someone else” cannot be Patel, at least not right away.
The bottom line is that the Senate has to do its job. Wray is foreclosing a presidential appointment under the Vacancies Reform Act, and — as I wrote in a column last month — the Supreme Court has most likely foreclosed the use of a recess appointment to bypass the Senate.
Yes, it is worthwhile to read Alexander Hamilton's Federalist No. 76, The Appointing Power of the Executive. I have read it and re-read it many times. My recent notes in the margins reflect the reality we face now that Trump has been re-elected president. For example, you quote this passage, "It will readily be comprehended, that a man who had himself the sole disposition of offices, would be governed much more by his private inclinations and interests, than when he was bound to submit the propriety of his choice to the discussion and determination of a different and independent body, and that body an entire branch of the legislature." The paragraph continues: "The possibility of rejection would be a strong motive to care in proposing. The danger to his own reputation, and, in the case of an elective magistrate, to his political existence, from betraying a spirit of favoritism or an unbecoming pursuit of popularity to the observation of a body whose opinion would have great weight in forming that of the public, could not fail to operate as a barrier to the one and to the other." My notes in the margins next to these passages say, "Not for Trump! C'mon! Are you kidding?!" I was going to address Federalist 76 in a Substack post I wanted to write on the appointment process, and I realized after reading it again that none of Hamilton's ideas/theories/perspectives apply in America post November 5, 2024. Yes, there are grounds for despair. This is our reality now. We have much work to do if we wish to save our democratic republic for our posterity.
All these words! Every day, seemingly every minute, pundits dole out sober observations upon a man who deserveth not.
As if logic plays a part! Just purposed insult after insult, absurdity after absurdity, ad infinitum. Why? From Vaudeville to burlesque to slapstick, cream pies comin’ up!
Hamilton clearly did not contemplate that one day a majority of the Senate might possess the necessary insignificance and pliancy to allow themselves to be seduced and corrupted to become the obsequious instruments of that magistrate’s pleasure.
Wray steps down? Of course! Another Trump nomination with backbone. Besides, look at what happened with l’il Jeff Sessions … wouldn’t want to go through that myself! Kash? The perfect lickspittle choice.
We have chosen sheep and cowards to represent us. An insecure, mentally disturbed, imbecile has again been chosen to lead us. We have chosen a path away from progress and enlightenment to a dark age.
Like always the institutions in place to prevent this has failed us. I place the blame ( and there is plenty to go around) squarely on the shoulders of Merrick Garland and Biden’s failure to replace him in 2021.
Failure to make the heads of the insurrection and those that planned it,the stealing of top secret documents, fake electors, election interference, and literally bribes from foreign governments accountable has brought us to this abyss.
Had he done his job, the democracy assassins would not be a threat. Even if they were found not capable they would know that their treachery has consequences.
Instead lawlessness, indifference to the law and constitution have been enabled to the detriment of the country.
They could have stopped Trump and his cult before it got to this point, just as if England and France could have stopped Hitler in the beginning had they not originally appeased him.
Now it’s too late. The fox is in the chicken coop and they is no farmer available to save them.
We now have a government open for sale. Step up and pay the man… not make America great again is this year’s theme.
The Senate could have convicted him even before Garland was placed in the DoJ. That would have prevented Trump running again. They share part of the blame.
That Senate conviction would not have criminal consequences. Garland is the one who dropped the ball big time by waiting so long to appoint Jack Smith. Smith tried so hard but Garland left him in a hole too deep to dig out of.
If the Senate had voted to convict him after the impeachment and then held another vote to prevent him from holding the presidency again that would have done the trick. Would it have led to court cases and Senators losing seats? Probably, but that could have been done.
When a lot of bad things happen in a row, it can be hard to bring a fresh eye to new events; it’s tempting to see everything that happens in the worst possible light.
This is not just an emotional issue; it’s also a cognitive one. New bad facts are coming thick and fast; to survive, we need to see a pattern; but to thrive and overcome, we need to apply the pattern flexibly. This is part of the challenge of the Firehose of Awfulness.{*}
As one example of the ways that the Firehose can bend our minds: Chris Wray’s resignation MAY not be a “surrender in advance”; it may not reflect either fatigue or self-dealing, but rather his best judgment on what he can do to protect the rule of law.{**} And senators’ demeanors might have been “grim and tight-lipped,” but their actual words (as quoted here) seem neutral to positive.
I have gotten this wrong (assuming that after 9 bad facts, the 10th is bad too) 10,000× in my own life, and every time it has given me a little {***} hole to climb back out of. It seems to me we are in a deep enough hole already, and we should be careful what we give energy and commitment to now.
Does it matter whether one more elite actor joins the rhinoceri? (or alternately, whether Wray is a misunderstood genius/patriot?) Is that where we should be putting our focus right now? Do we risk creating a sort of feedback loop of fear and frustration where we miss seeing a potential lifeline?
Andrew is literally my favorite writer at the Bulwark. One of the things I like best about his work is his occasionally asking the question “what are we not noticing?” If we focus too hard on this never-ending @$$hole parade, we could be missing events that are either more hopeful or even more dangerous --- probably both.
Regarding Trump's vow to look into the possibility of vaccines causing autism is proof of what I have been saying all along: RFK Jr. will become Secretary of MMR and polio. The schtick about vaccines and autism has been totally debunked and discarded except for ideologues like RFK Jr with the help of the Donald. But that is what ideologues do. They will always insist they are right in the face of overwhelming evidence against them. That won't change. Guaranteed.
In fact, the article that was the origin of the enduring vaccine/autism superstition, first published February, 1998, was promptly shown not to be repeatable. It took a while, but in 2010, it was shown to be fraudulent, and the lead author was "struck from the register", that is, had his medical license revoked. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lancet_MMR_autism_fraud?wprov=sfla1
If I was in my 20’s I’d be out of here. I told my son that he and his family should seriously consider leaving this country. It’s no longer the country we both served.
Yeah, too bad they didn't go along when the Democrats wanted to get rid of the filibuster. That was sarcasm. Dumbest thing the Democrats ever tried to do considering they are more than likely going to be in the minority in the Senate most years. But, hey, they have an ally now. Trump also wants to get rid of the filibuster so the Democrats can't stop his legislative agenda.
Nancy Mace's "assault" charge is the equivalent of someone fraudulently wearing a neck brace and showing off. The proof of this fraud is her publicizing it and tweeting about it 16 times.
"He would be both ashamed and afraid to bring forward, for the most distinguished or lucrative stations, candidates who had no other merit than that of ...being in some way or other personally allied to him, or of possessing the necessary insignificance and pliancy to render them the obsequious instruments of his pleasure. . . ." The founding father's never thought someone like Trump, who feels no shame, would ever be president. Remember, they also wrote that the Electoral College would override the popular vote if such a person were to sway the voters "thorough little artifices" (lies, in 18th century language).
While it's reasonable to maintain a capacity for skepticism about the wisdom and integrity of government agencies and officials, I will never comprehend the choice by so many people -- some of them well educated -- to place their highest trust in an obvious sociopath with an aggressively self-centered worldview and a pattern of transparently preposterous mendacity.
People who are smart enough to know better chose to redefine "corruption" as not being in lockstep with a man who is so ethically bankrupt that even Jeffrey Epstein noticed that he lacks a "moral compass." And they claim that he's a warrior against forces of evil.
One word for it is "Orwellian."
Or more money. And for those who won’t get the more money. It’s punishment of the other. And for a few the message from them is ‘I’m going down and I’m going to take you with me.
From David French in today's NY Times, FWIW:
By stepping down, as the conservative writer Erick Erickson observed, Wray has created a “legal obstacle to Trump trying to bypass the Senate confirmation process.”
Here’s why. According to the Vacancies Reform Act, if a vacancy occurs in a Senate-confirmed position, the president can temporarily replace that appointee (such as the F.B.I. director) only with a person who has already received Senate confirmation or with a person who’s served in a senior capacity in the agency (at the GS-15 pay scale) for at least 90 days in the year before the resignation.
Kash Patel, Donald Trump’s chosen successor at the F.B.I., meets neither of these criteria. He’s not in a Senate-confirmed position, and he’s not been a senior federal employee in the Department of Justice in the last year. That means he can’t walk into the job on Day 1. Trump will have to select someone else to lead the F.B.I. immediately, or the position will default to the “first assistant to the office.”
In this case, that means the position would default to Paul Abbate, who has been the deputy director of the F.B.I. since 2021, unless Trump chooses someone else, and that “someone else” cannot be Patel, at least not right away.
The bottom line is that the Senate has to do its job. Wray is foreclosing a presidential appointment under the Vacancies Reform Act, and — as I wrote in a column last month — the Supreme Court has most likely foreclosed the use of a recess appointment to bypass the Senate.
Yes, it is worthwhile to read Alexander Hamilton's Federalist No. 76, The Appointing Power of the Executive. I have read it and re-read it many times. My recent notes in the margins reflect the reality we face now that Trump has been re-elected president. For example, you quote this passage, "It will readily be comprehended, that a man who had himself the sole disposition of offices, would be governed much more by his private inclinations and interests, than when he was bound to submit the propriety of his choice to the discussion and determination of a different and independent body, and that body an entire branch of the legislature." The paragraph continues: "The possibility of rejection would be a strong motive to care in proposing. The danger to his own reputation, and, in the case of an elective magistrate, to his political existence, from betraying a spirit of favoritism or an unbecoming pursuit of popularity to the observation of a body whose opinion would have great weight in forming that of the public, could not fail to operate as a barrier to the one and to the other." My notes in the margins next to these passages say, "Not for Trump! C'mon! Are you kidding?!" I was going to address Federalist 76 in a Substack post I wanted to write on the appointment process, and I realized after reading it again that none of Hamilton's ideas/theories/perspectives apply in America post November 5, 2024. Yes, there are grounds for despair. This is our reality now. We have much work to do if we wish to save our democratic republic for our posterity.
According to one analysis, Wray's departure means he must be replaced by a previously senate approved candidate. Too bad for inexperienced Patel.
All these words! Every day, seemingly every minute, pundits dole out sober observations upon a man who deserveth not.
As if logic plays a part! Just purposed insult after insult, absurdity after absurdity, ad infinitum. Why? From Vaudeville to burlesque to slapstick, cream pies comin’ up!
Hamilton clearly did not contemplate that one day a majority of the Senate might possess the necessary insignificance and pliancy to allow themselves to be seduced and corrupted to become the obsequious instruments of that magistrate’s pleasure.
Wray steps down? Of course! Another Trump nomination with backbone. Besides, look at what happened with l’il Jeff Sessions … wouldn’t want to go through that myself! Kash? The perfect lickspittle choice.
We have chosen sheep and cowards to represent us. An insecure, mentally disturbed, imbecile has again been chosen to lead us. We have chosen a path away from progress and enlightenment to a dark age.
Like always the institutions in place to prevent this has failed us. I place the blame ( and there is plenty to go around) squarely on the shoulders of Merrick Garland and Biden’s failure to replace him in 2021.
Failure to make the heads of the insurrection and those that planned it,the stealing of top secret documents, fake electors, election interference, and literally bribes from foreign governments accountable has brought us to this abyss.
Had he done his job, the democracy assassins would not be a threat. Even if they were found not capable they would know that their treachery has consequences.
Instead lawlessness, indifference to the law and constitution have been enabled to the detriment of the country.
They could have stopped Trump and his cult before it got to this point, just as if England and France could have stopped Hitler in the beginning had they not originally appeased him.
Now it’s too late. The fox is in the chicken coop and they is no farmer available to save them.
We now have a government open for sale. Step up and pay the man… not make America great again is this year’s theme.
The Senate could have convicted him even before Garland was placed in the DoJ. That would have prevented Trump running again. They share part of the blame.
That Senate conviction would not have criminal consequences. Garland is the one who dropped the ball big time by waiting so long to appoint Jack Smith. Smith tried so hard but Garland left him in a hole too deep to dig out of.
But the Senate conviction would have kept Trump out of office. Criminal consequences can follow.
If the Senate had voted to convict him after the impeachment and then held another vote to prevent him from holding the presidency again that would have done the trick. Would it have led to court cases and Senators losing seats? Probably, but that could have been done.
When a lot of bad things happen in a row, it can be hard to bring a fresh eye to new events; it’s tempting to see everything that happens in the worst possible light.
This is not just an emotional issue; it’s also a cognitive one. New bad facts are coming thick and fast; to survive, we need to see a pattern; but to thrive and overcome, we need to apply the pattern flexibly. This is part of the challenge of the Firehose of Awfulness.{*}
As one example of the ways that the Firehose can bend our minds: Chris Wray’s resignation MAY not be a “surrender in advance”; it may not reflect either fatigue or self-dealing, but rather his best judgment on what he can do to protect the rule of law.{**} And senators’ demeanors might have been “grim and tight-lipped,” but their actual words (as quoted here) seem neutral to positive.
I have gotten this wrong (assuming that after 9 bad facts, the 10th is bad too) 10,000× in my own life, and every time it has given me a little {***} hole to climb back out of. It seems to me we are in a deep enough hole already, and we should be careful what we give energy and commitment to now.
Does it matter whether one more elite actor joins the rhinoceri? (or alternately, whether Wray is a misunderstood genius/patriot?) Is that where we should be putting our focus right now? Do we risk creating a sort of feedback loop of fear and frustration where we miss seeing a potential lifeline?
Andrew is literally my favorite writer at the Bulwark. One of the things I like best about his work is his occasionally asking the question “what are we not noticing?” If we focus too hard on this never-ending @$$hole parade, we could be missing events that are either more hopeful or even more dangerous --- probably both.
Don’t let the b@stards set the agenda.
-----------------------------------------------------
{*} And no, it’s not fair that one side just has to point a firehose and the other has to keep up fancy footwork for years; but it’s reality.
{**} See links in the comments to David French’s take in the New York Times, for example.
{***} or big 😵💫
As you've undoubtedly seen, NYT columnist David French has a different view of why Christopher Wray resigned. I think French makes a good point.
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/12/04/opinion/thepoint
Regarding Trump's vow to look into the possibility of vaccines causing autism is proof of what I have been saying all along: RFK Jr. will become Secretary of MMR and polio. The schtick about vaccines and autism has been totally debunked and discarded except for ideologues like RFK Jr with the help of the Donald. But that is what ideologues do. They will always insist they are right in the face of overwhelming evidence against them. That won't change. Guaranteed.
In fact, the article that was the origin of the enduring vaccine/autism superstition, first published February, 1998, was promptly shown not to be repeatable. It took a while, but in 2010, it was shown to be fraudulent, and the lead author was "struck from the register", that is, had his medical license revoked. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lancet_MMR_autism_fraud?wprov=sfla1
But that all will never matter to ideologues like RFK Jr. (facts rarely do )
Time magazine, Chris Wray ---- all obeying in advance of the orange fascist. I hate it here.
If I was in my 20’s I’d be out of here. I told my son that he and his family should seriously consider leaving this country. It’s no longer the country we both served.
Bulwark-darlings Manchin and Sinema at it again.
Yeah, too bad they didn't go along when the Democrats wanted to get rid of the filibuster. That was sarcasm. Dumbest thing the Democrats ever tried to do considering they are more than likely going to be in the minority in the Senate most years. But, hey, they have an ally now. Trump also wants to get rid of the filibuster so the Democrats can't stop his legislative agenda.
I agree, but I am not sure why they tanked this vote.
RE: the Wray resignation - gentlemen always defer to thugs. Nothing to see here, move along.
Nancy Mace's "assault" charge is the equivalent of someone fraudulently wearing a neck brace and showing off. The proof of this fraud is her publicizing it and tweeting about it 16 times.