What a difference a day makes.
Yesterday, DC was deep in the throes of impeachment fever. Today, the collective political temperature has plummeted all because of deputy AG Rod Rosenstein’s appointment of the highly-respected Robert Mueller as special counsel to oversee the investigation of possible Russian involvement in the presidential election.
As a marker of just how dramatically the mood has changed, consider these statements about Rosenstein on today’s Morning Joe.
The Washington Post‘s David Ignatius said that Rosenstein “went from the seeming fall guy to the defender of our republic.”
Joe Scarborough seconded the notion: “it sounds melodramatic; it’s not. Rod Rosenstein: defender of our republic, ensurer of our system of checks and balances.” John Heilemann similarly credited Rosenstein with “saving the constitutional republic.”
We don’t, of course, know what conclusions Mueller will reach. So the Trump administration is not off the hook. But at least for now, the atmosphere has lightened in stunningly fast fashion.
The Dems had been demanding the appointment of a special counsel. Now their wish has been granted. Yesterday, Dems were smelling blood. Today, they are obliged to join the chorus of praise for Mueller. Be careful what you wish for.
Note: during the course of the show, President Trump tweeted out what you’ll see below.
Scarborough’s reaction: “what’s so interesting about the appointment of Mueller is tweets, statements from the White House, firings, all suddenly become strangely irrelevant and become background noise to the man who is now going to be sitting at Justice with his head down, just getting the facts . . . Nobody on either side of the aisle will believe [that it’s a witch hunt.] So again, when Donald Trump tweets something like that, he only further damages his own credibility.”
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