More trouble in wingnut paradise?
by digby
George Conway isn't just going up against his wife KellyAnn over Trump, he's also making moves against the Grand Duke of the rightwing legal community:
Via Axios:
Leonard Leo attacks George Conway's "Checks and Balances" group
In a rare public rebuke of an old friend, Federalist Society leader Leonard Leo is sharply criticizing a group of conservative lawyers called "Checks and Balances," helmed by George Conway, who argue President Trump is breaking legal norms.
"I find the underlying premise of the group rather offensive," Leo told me. "The idea that somehow they need to have this voice because conservatives are somehow afraid to talk about the rule of law during the Trump administration."
"And my response to that is, no, people aren't afraid, many people just don't agree that there's a constitutional crisis and don't agree with the people who have signed up with this group."
Leo spoke in a personal capacity and not on behalf of the Federalist Society.
Why it matters: Leo, who has known Conway for more than two decades, is one of the most influential figures in the conservative legal world. He is a key outside adviser to Trump on judicial nominations.
Behind the scenes: Conway's actions have irritated Trump, according to two sources with direct knowledge. Conway's wife, Kellyanne Conway, is a top White House adviser.
I asked Leo if he saw any merit in Conway’s criticism. For example, Conway told Yahoo News he was "appalled" that Trump attacked Jeff Sessions because the Justice Department indicted two Republican congressmen ahead of the midterms.
Leo's response:
"I measure a president's sensitivity to the rule of law by his actions, not his off-the-cuff comments, tweets or statements. And the president has obviously had lots of criticisms about former Attorney General Sessions and about the department, but at the end of the day, he hasn't acted upon those criticisms.
"He's allowed the department to have an awful lot of freedom and independence. ... He can say what he wants to say, but at the end of the day, words don't threaten the rule of law, actions do. I've been to 48 countries around the world. I know a constitutional crisis, and I know what a rule of law crisis is. Lots of countries have them. This country doesn't right now."
This is nonsense. The President of the United States' words are important in themselves. It matters what he says. People listen and they take signals from it.
And let's be serious here. Long before he installed his stooge Whittaker he's tried to impede the Mueller investigation. If the likes of Rosenstein and Mueller were people with less integrity he would have gotten the job done just with his tweets. For all we know they have had some effect. To the extent he hasn't been successful, it's simply a matter of incompetence and cowardice not intentions.
And in any case, he does use his twitter feed to fire people and announce directives that nobody has vetted and the White House staff has to scramble to make them happen. And his henchmen in Congress certainly hear what he's saying and have commonly taken action. Devin Nunes and the boys have done their jobs admirably. I don't think I have to mention that he fired the FBI director and his own Attorney General because they didn't adequately protect him from a counter-intelligence investigation based on evidence that he may have conspired with a foreign government and then covered it up.
This is happening. It's not just about Trump acting stupid on twitter.
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