Doug Schoen, the Fox News “Democrat” who loves to endorse Republican talking points, declared that the Mueller report, which almost nobody has seen, a “big win for Donald Trump as well as “vis-à-vis 2020.”
In my last post I noted – along with just about every responsible analyst – that just because special counsel Robert Mueller is not recommending any further indictments, that's no reason for Trump or anyone associated with him who is left unindicted to breathe easy.
Don’t believe me? Even Trump shill Alan Dershowitz says so. He was asked on Special Report what he took from the fact that no further indictments were recommended in the report. After demanding that Trump have an opportunity to present to Americans “the other side,” because Mueller will present a prosecutor’s perspective, only, Dershowitz said this:
“Well, I take from it that we may still see indictments coming out of the Southern District of New York or Washington or Virginia. We may see, actually, in this report a roadmap for other and further investigations by U.S. attorneys offices or by Congress. What we see is there are no further indictments, unless there are sealed ones, from the special counsel, himself. I think that’s very significant but that doesn’t mean that the president’s problems are over.”
However, “Democrat” Dershowitz sounded a lot like Schoen when he added, “If the report does conclude, as the president has said, that there’s no collusion and there’s no obstruction of justice, it will really take the wind out of the attack on the president, himself, though many of his colleagues are still now facing indictment, sentencing, imprisonment.”
Well, that’s still a big “if” that Dershowitz neatly downplayed. But Schoen took it to a whole other level. Appearing on Hannity tonight, Schoen’s idea of Democratic advocacy was to play right into Republican hands. First, he gave them grounds for partisan celebrating, then gave them grounds for demonizing any further investigations (some of which are ongoing) and all but urged them to give Trump a pass on any criminal behavior:
SCHOEN: This a big win for Donald Trump, but it's also a big win for him vis-à-vis 2020. It proves his case... Bad news for the Democrats. My advice, give it up, stop. Move to issues, not Russian investigations or corruption.
Sean Hannity couldn’t have looked more delighted.
Watch this pathetic excuse for a Democrat below, from the March 22, 2019 Hannity, via Contemptor. Underneath, watch Schoen’s soulmate, Dershowitz, acknowledge that Trump has not won anything at this point.
Former Clinton pollster on submission of the Mueller report to the DOJ: "This a big win for Donald Trump, but it's also a big win for him vis-à-vis 2020. It proves his case... My advice, give it up, stop. Move to issues, not Russian investigations or corruption." pic.twitter.com/fDHuZVMJ5i
— Contemptor (@TheContemptor) March 23, 2019
But I suppose Shoen feels the financial pinch to prostitute himself out to Trump TV. Apparently his $40,000/month retainer to Russian oligarch Victor Pinchuk ran out. 🤑
I note that it’s a little early for Schoen to be doing an end zone dance for the Pence White House and the 2020 election. In reality, this is an extremely unpopular presidency, and potentially the most incompetent one we’ve ever seen. (It’s possible that the W/Cheney White House was more inept, but that remains to be played out.) Most Americans are increasingly unhappy with the way that Pence has been governing and extremely unhappy with the constant tantrums from Pence’s spokesman. Most Americans are unhappy with having been lied to about the massive tax increase many of them received. Most Americans are unhappy with the childish tone the Republicans have been taking over the past decade. And the only reason that the Pence White House is even in existence is because 2-3 million Dems in the swing states failed to show up in 2016. If those Dems show up in 2020, as a few of them did in 2018, that’s it for Pence and his spokesman. Granted, if the Dems stay home again in the swing states, then Pence will get another 4 years to romp. But it’s not a guarantee that things will go Pence’s way.
There are plenty of reasons to criticize this incompetent White House, and they go far beyond whether anyone wants to impeach them. Although it’s touching to see the Right Wing showing such concern for any Democratic politician or voter wanting to see an impeachment. Time after time on Fox News, we keep hearing these GOP pundits intoning with a sigh about how it was such a mistake for them to impeach President Clinton and how they just want to make sure the Dems don’t make the same mistake today. Riiiiiiight. In reality, the Right Wing is DELIGHTED that they impeached President Clinton. They’d do it again today if they could. They’re overjoyed to have put that asterisk onto his presidency. They can always say (and they always do) that Clinton was impeached as part of any first sentence spoken about him. I’d buy their crocodile tears here a bit more if they weren’t so obviously full of something else.