"If We Had Confidence That The President Did Not Commit A Crime, We Would Have Said So."

By Baxter

Robert Mueller's 11 AM statement today was consequential for many reasons — chief among them his imperative that the next step in abrogating the disaster known as Donald Trump is the responsibility of the US Congress.

It made us think of 1974, and Richard Nixon — who is looking more and more like a statesman every day. Nixon, at least, understood that when the smoking gun tape came out, he had been proven to have obstructed justice. And that it was Game Over. Nixon's resignation soon followed.

Trump, by contrast, has no such understanding of the law and is, in fact, defiant. So what's the difference between 1974 and 2019? Not just 45 years of history, but the very nature of the Republican Party itself.

See, in 1974 — which we cats, having nine lives, vividly remember — three GOP pooh-bahs marched up from Capitol Hill to the White House, to tell Nixon he was done. They were Senator Barry Goldwater, House Minority Leader John Rhodes and Senate Minority Leader Hugh Scott.

The difference between 1974 and now? A realistic versus a compliant Republican Party. In today's GOP, there is a pitifully short supply of Goldwaters, Rhodeses and Scotts.

However — here's an interesting point.

Think about Barry Goldwater. Yes, he was a right winger, and yes, we generally have a negative view of him. But he had credibility that most of the GOP quislings on the Hill don't have today. Goldwater was a true Libertarian. If the government interfered in citizens' private lives — even, say, in the matter of abortion — he was against it. And if a President interfered with an investigation against himself — even if it concerned a Republican President, Nixon — he was against that, too.

Barry Goldwater died in 1998. There are none like him left in the GOP. Except, perhaps — Justin Amash. Like Goldwater, the Congressman from Michigan is more purely Libertarian than any Republican these days.

Wouldn't it be interesting if the Libertarian Goldwater chased Nixon from the White House — and the Libertarian Amash ends up chasing Trump? We cats see the potential historical parallel, and we PURR.