Posted on 08/15/2018 7:04:49 AM PDT by Kaslin
This week, President Trump went on a Twitter rampage -- rightly so -- over the firing of FBI agent Peter Strzok. Strzok, you'll recall, is the agent who was tasked with overseeing both the Hillary Clinton email investigation and the Russian election-interference investigation. The married agent was texting with his married paramour, Lisa Page, at the time -- and among their sexy texts was a bevy concerning their hatred for then-candidate Donald Trump. The Department of Justice inspector general report condemned Strzok's behavior, stating that it was "not only indicative of a biased state of mind but, even more seriously, implies a willingness to take official action to impact the presidential candidate's electoral prospect."
The only mystery is why Strzok's firing took so long.
Now, the common theory growing on the right is that Strzok, along with his like-minded allies in our nation's intelligence agencies, crafted a plot to stop the Trump campaign or oust Trump after his election. They cite Strzok's texts as evidence of motive, which it clearly is. They also cite the relationship between Fusion GPS, the opposition-research firm hired by Hillary Clinton, and Department of Justice employee Bruce Ohr, whose wife worked for Fusion GPS; the use of the so-called Steele dossier, funded by Fusion GPS, in the application for a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrant against former Trump campaign aide Carter Page; and the fact that Strzok maintained his employment with the FBI until now.
None of these accusations should be taken lightly. But there's another explanation that bears up under weight: Everybody sucks at everything. So, yes, Strzok was biased. But it's just possible that the FBI initiated the Russian election-interference investigation in good faith, and that the investigation went nowhere because the evidence never appeared -- and because most investigations pursue empty leads on a routine basis. It's possible that Strzok is a grandstanding moron with a penchant for grandiosity, particularly when texting his mistress. It's possible that former FBI Director James Comey was radically incompetent at his job.
Which is more likely: that a massive conspiracy took place at the top levels of the FBI and the DOJ to "get Trump" -- and that the most damning evidence of Russian collusion, the Trump Tower meeting between Donald Trump Jr. and a Russian government-backed lawyer, didn't emerge until months after the election due to intricate planning? Or that bureaucrats are generally awful at their jobs?
The comfortable thing about conspiracy theories is that they allow us to graft logic onto chaos -- they give us a feeling of security. In the words of the Joker in "The Dark Knight," "Nobody panics when things go according to plan, even if the plan is horrifying." But what if there is no plan? What if everybody is just bad at everything? What if the adults who run the most important institutions in the country were the children who picked their noses and put the boogers under the desks in school?
Strzok should have been fired. We should check out all allegations of corruption in government. But our first instinct should usually be to attribute malign acts in government to incompetence rather than malice, because that's usually more accurate.
Shapiro is generally correct in this observation, but I think that the talk about an “insurance policy” and “we’ll stop it” indicates that this was actually a conspiracy.
Then you have Somalia.
Shapiro ignores the obvious.
Incompetence in the Consprirators.
STFU, Shapiro. Weakling cucks like you are nothing more than useful idiots for the Left and the Deep State.
Both are true.
Ben, an old saying you probably should consider in your nice little bubble.
Once is chance, twice is coincidence and three times is enemy action.
“... incompetence rather than malice ...”
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Why choose one or the other. How about “both”?
“Which is more likely: that a massive conspiracy took place at the top levels of the FBI and the DOJ to “get Trump” — and that the most damning evidence of Russian collusion, the Trump Tower meeting between Donald Trump Jr. and a Russian government-backed lawyer, didn’t emerge until months after the election due to intricate planning? Or that bureaucrats are generally awful at their jobs?”
Occam’s Razor would agree w/Ben here....the simple rules. However, the latest news, that the Russian lawyer met w/Simpson before AND after the meeting to me shows something nefarious was afoot ...
It wasn’t a “twitter rampage”.
Ben Shapiro.
He talks too slow. He needs to talk faster.
Prima Fascia evidence indicates, at the very least, that specific leadership with the FBI bureaucracy did indeed maneuver to undermine Trump's candidacy as well as worked to undermine his legitimate succession to the Presidency. This does not meet the "massive" criteria but is nonetheless, a conspiracy.
False choice.
You can be both stupid and conspire against the President.
Shapiro shows his true colors. There is a truckload of proof that it was a conspiracy with a goal and not just incpmpetence.
This white knight act to protect the intel community is pure crap.
Ben is either a moron or dirty.
Shapiro gaslights on the side of the establishment. He can't handle the truth. The truth is it was a failed coup d'etat dammit.
What if Ben sucks at thinking?
The two are not mutually exclusive.
I was reminded recently of Sun Tzu's famous line that if you don't know yourself and you don't know your enemy, you will lose 100% of the time. We already know that the Deep State has no clue in Donald Trump with whom they are in conflict: they see him as a demagogic buffoon when he is a business-hardened chess master. But it is also true, I think, that people like Strzok don't know themselves: they think they are Plato's Guardians, the ultimate mental giants who alone have the talent to rule the world, when in fact they are the equivalent of the blind men trying to discern the elephant--in this case, the GOP elephant Donald Trump--in order to take him down.
There is only one way they can overcome Trump, and that is by assassination. For the sake of his life and for the sake of America, I hope they do not reach this conclusion until at least 2025.
“But our first instinct should usually be to attribute malign acts in government to incompetence rather than malice, because that’s usually more accurate.”
Bwaaa-Haaa-Haa! Bwaaa-Haaa-Haa! Bwaaa-Haaa-Haa! Bwaaa-Haaa-Haa! Bwaaa-Haaa-Haa! Bwaaa-Haaa-Haa! Bwaaa-Haaa-Haa! Bwaaa-Haaa-Haa! Bwaaa-Haaa-Haa! Bwaaa-Haaa-Haa! Bwaaa-Haaa-Haa! Bwaaa-Haaa-Haa! Bwaaa-Haaa-Haa! Bwaaa-Haaa-Haa! Bwaaa-Haaa-Haa! Bwaaa-Haaa-Haa!
*DEEP BREATH*
Bwaaa-Haaa-Haa! Bwaaa-Haaa-Haa! Bwaaa-Haaa-Haa! Bwaaa-Haaa-Haa! Bwaaa-Haaa-Haa! Bwaaa-Haaa-Haa! Bwaaa-Haaa-Haa! Bwaaa-Haaa-Haa! Bwaaa-Haaa-Haa! Bwaaa-Haaa-Haa! Bwaaa-Haaa-Haa! Bwaaa-Haaa-Haa! Bwaaa-Haaa-Haa! Bwaaa-Haaa-Haa! Bwaaa-Haaa-Haa! Bwaaa-Haaa-Haa!
The timbre of his voice certainly sucks.
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