The Weekly Standard Gives Up On The WLB

[Minimalist]

Joins the WSJ in trashing Comrade Orange Turdfuhrer.

https://www.weeklystandard.com/the-edito...wer-tweets

Don Jr. now says that he was the victim of a bait and switch, and indeed it’s not difficult to imagine him as a dupe. We tend to doubt that Don Jr., Manafort, or Kushner committed any crime by holding the meeting. But there is no excusing the shamefulness of the thing. Political campaigns are often approached by people claiming to possess dirt on opponents, but Veselnitskaya’s presentation of herself as a tool of the Russian government puts this affair in a whole new class of loathsomeness.
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It’s clear that even these amoral operators understood the meeting was inappropriate. How else to explain the cascade of lies they told to cover it up? These include saying that:

• There were no contacts between the campaign and foreign governments.
  
• There were no contacts with Russians.
  
• There were contacts with Russians but they weren’t improper.
  
• The Trump Tower meeting was about policy matters.
  
• The Trump Tower meeting was about routine “opposition research.”
  
• The Russians never produced the material they’d promised.
  
• There’s nothing improper about accepting opposition research from a foreign adversary.
  

Each defense lasted until facts emerged to render it inoperative.
Among the more dispiriting aspects of this sordid affair is the untroubled, nothing-to-see-here-folks attitude of Trump surrogates, Republican officeholders, and most of the conservative media. Once upon a time, conservatives were keenly aware of the importance of norms. They are the reason a society does not need to spell out laws to govern all possible behaviors. It is precisely the normative pursuit of virtue that has allowed America to be a land of freedom and liberty. Rick Santorum used to make this point on the campaign trail all the time. Bill Bennett wrote an entire series of books about it.
Republicans ought to be castigating the president over the Trump Tower meeting, not covering for him.

[Fireball]

Joins the WSJ in trashing Comrade Orange Turdfuhrer.

https://www.weeklystandard.com/the-edito...wer-tweets

Don Jr. now says that he was the victim of a bait and switch, and indeed it’s not difficult to imagine him as a dupe. We tend to doubt that Don Jr., Manafort, or Kushner committed any crime by holding the meeting. But there is no excusing the shamefulness of the thing. Political campaigns are often approached by people claiming to possess dirt on opponents, but Veselnitskaya’s presentation of herself as a tool of the Russian government puts this affair in a whole new class of loathsomeness.
[url=http://subscribe.weeklystandard.com/?keyCode=ICARTSB&utm_source=article&utm_medium=sidebarlink&utm_campaign=sub_sidebar_link][/url]
It’s clear that even these amoral operators understood the meeting was inappropriate. How else to explain the cascade of lies they told to cover it up? These include saying that:

• There were no contacts between the campaign and foreign governments.
  
• There were no contacts with Russians.
  
• There were contacts with Russians but they weren’t improper.
  
• The Trump Tower meeting was about policy matters.
  
• The Trump Tower meeting was about routine “opposition research.”
  
• The Russians never produced the material they’d promised.
  
• There’s nothing improper about accepting opposition research from a foreign adversary.
  

Each defense lasted until facts emerged to render it inoperative.
Among the more dispiriting aspects of this sordid affair is the untroubled, nothing-to-see-here-folks attitude of Trump surrogates, Republican officeholders, and most of the conservative media. Once upon a time, conservatives were keenly aware of the importance of norms. They are the reason a society does not need to spell out laws to govern all possible behaviors. It is precisely the normative pursuit of virtue that has allowed America to be a land of freedom and liberty. Rick Santorum used to make this point on the campaign trail all the time. Bill Bennett wrote an entire series of books about it.
Republicans ought to be castigating the president over the Trump Tower meeting, not covering for him.

Indeed. I'll bet cheeto von tweeto has dirt on them all, and they're afraid.