Is Trump Regretful?

Jonathan F. Keiler  "During the presidential campaign last year, it seemed at times that Donald Trump was as surprised as the governing and chattering classes when he surged to the lead in the Republican primaries and secured the nomination.  During and after the convention, it also appeared to some that Trump was not intent on winningthe election, given some of his actions and comments and the disarray of his election team, until Kellyanne Conway took over.  This even led to speculation by some that Trump was an agent of the Clintons, convinced to run in a devious plot hatched by Bill to destroy the Republican Party and throw the election to Hillary.

"Obviously, if there was such a plot, it failed hilariously and spectacularly, and only a conspiracy nut or a fool would hold to it today.  But there may be a kernel of truth behind the idea that Trump did not really want or expect the presidency, as opposed to launching another fun (for him), ego-stoking, and publicity-garnering, if quixotic, executive run.  Correspondingly, he might now regret the decision.

"Compared with most other candidates, or anybody else, for that matter, Trump had little to gain by becoming president.  He was already extremely famous, wealthy, and powerful.  In terms of day-to-day comfort and luxury, the White House was a come-down, and let's not even discuss Camp David.  Trump's preference for his Florida estate as opposed to the venerable presidential retreat is understandable, considering his circumstances. " . . .

This morning's Comey report

Comey speaks!  A live blog by Thomas Lifson
"Senator Warner’s welcome to Comey was more like a prosecutor’s opening statement than a greeting.  Pure propaganda exploiting the big TV audience."

Andrew McCarthy demolishes the argument that Trump obstructed justice, or even did anything wrong in dinner talk with Comey
"In his trademark well-informed and lucid style, former federal prosecutor Andrew McCarthy took just over 4 minutes to explain to Tucker Carlson’s viewers why President Trump’s dinner conversation with James Comey, bandied about as “obstruction of justice” by many on the left, was not improper." . . .

Opening remarks pretty much about himself   . . . "Comey continued: “I was also confused by the initial explanation that was offered publicly: that I was fired because of the decisions I had made during the election year.” He had assumed that was “water … under the bridge,” he said." . . .

Comey said Loretta Lynch told him not to call the Clinton email probe an 'investigation'  . . . "Under questioning by panel chairman Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC), Comey said that he was uncomfortable with the unexpected meeting Lynch had with former President Bill Clinton on an airport tarmac last year. 

"Comey said that meeting convinced him that the independence of the investigation was tainted with regard to the Justice Department and led him to go public with the bureau's findings on Clinton." . . . 

Burning Down the House: the Threat and Strategic Incomprehension in the War on Terror

Vlad Tepes Blog

Emaze

Burning Down the House: A Strategic Overview of the Threat, the CVE, and Strategic Incomprehension in the War on Terror;  

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. -Hosea 4:6

" This strategic overview argues for how the War on Terror should be visualized alongside the processes that seek to obscure it and reflects analyses undertaken over the years to explain the nature of the threat in light of emerging Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) protocols, how the enemy envisions the war, and how he understands victory. The metaphor is a house engulfed in a crucible of flames. Where the people burning in the house see three players, it is long overdue to understand them as one. Where people see civilization jihad disassociated from assaults from the left, it is time to recognize alliance. The enemy believes he has enjoyed success in the war and, indeed, believes he is winning. This view has merit.

"The strategic picture painted by this overview is based on the enemy’s self-identified threat doctrine when mapped against the authorities he relies on to legitimize his activities and guide his operations. For this analysis, a decision was made to exclude all bureaucratic programmatics and academic models. It is based on who the enemy in the War on Terror says he is, not on how others define him. The enemy states repeatedly that he fights jihad to impose Islamic law (shariah) and to re-establish the Caliphate. He does not say he fights jihad to force conversion of non-Muslims to Islam. He never states that he fights in furtherance of “root” or “underlying” causes." . . .

Sessions Drama Grows as Comey Hearing Nears

Weekly Standard  "Is Jeff Sessions on his way out? That would be a reasonable interpretation of White House press secretary Sean Spicer's cautious response to a question during Tuesday's press briefing. Asked whether President Donald Trump still has "confidence" in his attorney general, Spicer said, "I have not had that discussion with him."

"Then there's a report Tuesday evening from ABC News claiming that Sessions spoke with the president about offering his resignation in "recent weeks— which the New York Times confirmed. (Trump, Maggie Haberman reports, declined to accept Sessions's resignation.) That offer reportedly came as tensions have grown between Trump and Sessions. The Times previously reported a growing discontent between the two men stemming from the attorney general's decision to recuse himself from the FBI's investigation of Russian meddling in the 2016 election. That investigation has since been taken up by a special counsel, Robert Mueller, at the request of Sessions's deputy, Rod Rosenstein. 

"A Justice Department spokesperson declined to comment on the ABC report, referring to it as a "palace intrigue story." But the issues are more serious than office gossip, particularly if another Tuesday Times scoop—that former FBI director James Comey told Sessions in February he did not want to be left alone with the president—is true. A Sessions resignation, just weeks after Trump fired Comey, would raise more questions about whether the president tried to quell any investigation into Russian meddling.

"All of which suggests that Sessions possibly won't be leaving after all." . . .

All We Need Is Love… And Deportations

If the Clinton administration had merely enforced laws on the books against an Afghani immigrant, Mir Seddique Mateen, and excluded him based on his arm-length list of terrorist affiliations, his son Omar wouldn't have been around to slaughter 49 people at an Orlando nightclub last year. 
If Secretary of State John Kerry, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson or anyone else in our vaunted immigration vetting system had done his job, Pakistani Tashfeen Malik never would have been admitted to this country to commit mass murder in San Bernardino a year after she arrived. Before being warmly welcomed by the U.S., Malik's social media posts were bristling with hatred of America and enthusiasm for jihad

 Ann Coulter  "In Britain, as in the U.S., when an Islamic terrorist is said to be, “known to law enforcement,” the translation is: “He is being actively ignored by law enforcement.” 

"After the latest terrorist attack in Britain -- at least as of this writing -- Prime Minister Theresa May bravely announced, "Enough is enough!" 

"What is the point of these macho proclamations after every terrorist attack? Nothing will be done to stop the next attack. Political correctness prohibits us from doing anything that might stop it. 

"Poland doesn't admit Muslims: It has no terrorism. Japan doesn't admit Muslims: It has no terrorism. The United Kingdom and the United States used to have very few Muslims: They used to have almost no terrorism. (One notable exception was chosen as the National Freedom Hero in this year's Puerto Rican parade in New York!) 

"Notwithstanding the lovely Muslim shopkeeper who wouldn't hurt a fly, everyone knows that with every tranche of peace-loving Muslims we bring in, we're also getting some number of stone-cold killers. 
. . . 
"Now we can't get rid of them. Under the rules of political correctness, Western countries are prohibited from even pausing our breakneck importation of Muslims, much less sending the recent arrivals home. 

"In defense of the poor saps responding to every terrorist attack with flowers, candles and hashtags, these are people who have no ability to do anything else. Western leaders are in full possession of the tools to end Islamic terrorism in their own countries, just as their forebears once ended Nazi Stormtroopers." . . .

The Liberal Response To Terror: Run, Hide, Blame Trump The twits tweet.

Bette Midler‏:Verified account More sorrow and grief at the hands of madmen in London. Men and religion are worthless.

  Sally Kohn: Political correctness is simple idea everyone should be treated

with equal dignity & respect. It's not cause of terrorism. It's antidote.