Things I’m Thinking About: Rachael Brand, Joe Scarborough, and the NRA


rachael brand

Things I’m Thinking About This Morning

Trump’s former bodyguard, Keith Schilling, is being paid $15,000 a month by the RNC.  Why?

There are people on Twitter attacking a CNN reporter for tracking down a woman who participated in a Russian organized demonstration for Trump in Florida.  I watched the clip and I don’t understand what the fuss is about.  The woman is the one who is overly aggressive and asserts repeatedly that she doesn’t “believe” that the Russians were involved.

Rachael Brand has given an interview to Fox News in which she tries to defend herself against the perfectly logical conclusion that she quit the Justice Department because she wanted to avoid being put in charge of the investigation of the Russian involvement with the 2016 election.  She says that she had no reason to ever believe that the Russia investigation would come to her.  Well, if she didn’t, she’s an idiot and I suspect she is just lying.  There has been a notable reluctance on the part of commentators to take her on about this.  Rachael Maddow is the only one I’ve heard comment that Brand might well have made the firing of Rosenstein easier by quitting.  Most of the people commenting on her resignation have said that they couldn’t blame her.  She was in a difficult position and being in charge of the investigation might well be bad for her career.  Her career?  Her career?  What happened to concern about the country?  People just assume that if something might be bad for your career you are perfectly justified in avoiding it.  Who cares about the Constitution?  The country?  Democracy?  The Rule of Law?  Marlene Dietrich was once asked whether she missed the war.  She said she missed what people were like when they were trying to be brave.  I do too.  Rachael Brand is a member of the Federalist society, an ultra conservative group that works to get extremely conservative judges and lawyers appointed to important positions.  So, who would expect integrity, courage, morality?  Not me.

Wayne Lapierre of the NRA, and that Lash woman are lunatics.  It says everything that needs to be said about the Conservatives that they were invited as speakers.  They are dangerous people and make no mistake, when Lapierre says that we should “harden schools” he means that we should sell more guns and security equipment.

On Morning Misogyny, Joe Scarborough fawned over Trump and Rubio for actually talking to and listening to (or pretending to) their constituents.  It’s their job, not a favor they do for us.  Trump hasn’t given a press conference in over a year.  He participated in a show with selected students and parents who were screened to make sure they wouldn’t confront him.  Rubio couldn’t even hold up his end of a debate with a teenager.  As someone else said: Rubio’s never brought anything to the  political scene except his ambition.