You can call it resistance or obstruction, but the effort by Democrats to take down or at a minimum impede the Trump presidency really amounts to political espionage.
The party is still in denial that Donald Trump defeated Hillary Clinton despite its all-out effort to derail his bid for the highest office. It is clear that a number of Obama holdovers do not want Trump to succeed, evidenced by the thousands of civil servants who have signed-up for civil disobedience training.
Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn (Ret.), selected to be Trump’s national security advisor, was initially a prime target by Democrats, despite the fact that the position did not require senate confirmation. Loyalists of President Obama saw his selection as a reward after being fired by Obama in 2014 for being outspoken on how to face the ISIS threat. In the end, however, it was Flynn who did himself in for not being truthful to the vice president.
Since the campaign days, Democrat operatives have also targeted Steven Bannon, an advisor to Trump. Despite an appearance by Bannon at the CPAC conference, which was generally viewed positively, you can be assured that he is still a target.
Senate Democrats continued during the delayed cabinet nomination hearings that saw Andrew Puzder withdraw from labor secretary consideration. As I write this – five weeks into the Trump presidency – several cabinet appointees have yet to be confirmed due to Democrat slow-walking.
Now, with Democrat obsession with the Russian interference in the election, they are seeking the resignation of newly confirmed Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Head hunters Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) are joined by Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) of the House Intelligence Committee.
Just as he said during his confirmation, Sessions said in a press conference Thursday that he intended to recuse himself from any Justice Department investigation into the matter of Russian contact.
It was Schiff who referred to the Republican-led Select Committee on Benghazi as a “partisan tool to influence the presidential race, a dangerous precedent that will haunt Congress for decades. The Select Committee’s leaders appear no longer to have any interest in Benghazi, except as the tragic events of that day may be used as a cudgel against the likely Democratic nominee for president,” he added, referring the “committee’s obsessive focus on Mrs. Clinton.” *
Schiff had to be dragged kicking and screaming by Pelosi to join that committee, but he has now eased into the position of attack dog, his party’s partisan tool, to effect revenge for and continue the effort to torpedo the Trump presidency.
Obama’s two attorneys general, Eric Holder and Loretta Lynch, escaped resignation; Holder for being held in contempt of Congress and Lynch for meeting with former President Clinton while Hillary Clinton was under investigation. Where was the outrage?
Of course, Dems hope the Sessions matter will be a distraction from work on the bills promised on the repeal and replacement of ObamaCare, tax reform, infrastructure and immigration progress.
House Speaker Paul Ryan said the Democrats have their “hair on fire” over the Sessions issue. Too bad a number of Republicans (RINO’s) have joined them rather than show unified support.
*Adam Schiff op-ed, The New York Times, “Disband the Benghazi Committee,” Sept. 4, 2015.
