Consider that not a single one of these people understood and/or was able to stop Trump from action that would raise the specter of obstruction of justice, get up the hackles of the FBI and create a public backlash. We should no longer be stunned, but the absence of a single competent person who could prevent Trump from taking a step damaging to Justice Department, the FBI and himself nevertheless stuns observers who would assume that any sentient being would know this was a horrible idea.

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Then there is Vice President Pence, sent up to the Hill to tell the false story that this was all Rosenstein’s idea. You would think that after Michael T. Flynn lied to him, Pence would have learned not to vouch for White House colleagues, but he is apparently the go-to person for lying. Is he so passive that he does not bother to determine for himself what the facts are — or so mendacious that he relishes his role as dissembler? Republicans who thought Pence would bring stability, experience or rectitude to the White House must be sorely disappointed. If Trump leaves office in 2020 — or before — Pence will not be seen as an innocent, conscientious bystander. He’ll be part and parcel of a crew of dishonest schemers whose contempt for the truth is unparalleled, at least since the Nixon White House.