Michael Cohen

The Gallup Organization reports Trump's rating for handling the economy, 56 percent, is the highest of his presidency and the highest of his approval ratings on any of 14 domestic and foreign issues tested in the latest Gallup poll. Americans' approval of his handling of unemployment is nearly as high, at 54 percent.

This was a thousand times more interesting than the partisan palaver in Washington and a million times more significant. What we are watching is a new form of diplomacy, more public than anything seen before, even though the crucial parts take place behind closed doors. Trump says this negotiation will take time. That makes sense and we should give him the space. The test for Americans of all political parties, indeed of citizens of all countries, is whether they actually wish Trump well in this endeavor. If they don't, they are truly evil.

To get the full impact of Cohen’s performance, it’s necessary to watch the entire hearing. If you’re a Democrat, a member of the “news” media, or just a random TDS victim, you’ll like it. If you have fears for the fate of the nation, it will not give you peace of mind. If you believe the Democrats have any agenda other than bringing down the President, it will cure you of your delusions. Cohen was Trump’s willing partner in everything he did for a decade. Wednesday, he cut the man’s throat and blithely discussed the book offers his perfidy has already produced.

GOP lawmakers had chosen to mount an across-the-board attack on Cohen's credibility. That left them with the dilemma of what to believe and what not to believe in Cohen's testimony. Could Republicans claim that they did not believe what Cohen said about Trump and the Stormy Daniels payments but did believe what he said about the dossier? The GOP strategy left the party in a position of having to pick and choose what to believe from Cohen. And that problem will only become more difficult.

Even in the unlikely event that he and Kim Jong Un announce a dramatic breakthrough, North Korean nukes will take a backseat to anything and everything Cohen says. Yet this too shall pass, for Cohen himself is just a placeholder for the Mueller report, which all of Washington thinks is coming soon, maybe next week. That will be the real Circus Maximus, the event that could make or break the Trump presidency on the questions of collusion with Russia and obstruction of justice. Next to all that, Michael Cohen will be just a footnote.

What the Democrats, the anti-Trump media and the #NeverTrump crowd don’t seem to understand is that most of Michael Cohen's claims were aired in one form or another during the 2016 campaign and people still voted for Donald Trump.

To put the Democrats’ hypocrisy on what is and is not an impeachable offense in context, our friend Ben Weingarten compared comments made by Rep. Jerold Nadler following the release of the sentencing memorandum for the president’s former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, with what Nadler said during the Bill Clinton impeachment.

Husband, father, billionaire businessman, and reality TV star Trump clearly would have reason to settle these tawdry matters irrespective of his run for office. Payments by Trump on behalf of Trump are in no way a corrupting influence on Trump. There is no reason for them to be disclosed to the FEC. This knowledge of law will not satiate the zeal of many who wish to put President Trump behind bars, but any attempt to prosecute him under these campaign finance theories would be irresponsible.

Democrats have convinced themselves that Donald Trump’s election was fraud, not a revolution against the Leftwing establishment consensus in Washington. So, while the narrative has shifted from Russian collusion to real or imagined campaign finance violations, the underlying concept that Donald Trump was “fraudulently” elected President hasn’t shifted at all.

We have Donald Trump trying to cover up a couple of consensual liaisons -- tacky, for sure, even creepy and morally repellent, but, as I said, humdrum. Nevertheless, they are trying to get Trump impeached (the obvious goal of the investigation, not anything to do with Russia) for using campaign funds for these payoffs. They do this in full knowledge of the obvious -- that the businessman himself had put millions of his own money into his campaign, so the funds were originally his in the first place.  Indeed the sums he donated to his campaign undoubtedly dwarfed the payments to the two women.

What the establishment media doesn’t seem to comprehend is that Donald Trump’s supporters, conservative, populist voters, not just white Evangelical Christians, stick with him because they want results, and Trump, despite his personal foibles is delivering them.

These voters knew who Trump was going in, they knew he was a thrice-married, Playmate-dating, Howard Stern regular who had the morals of an alley cat. They were willing to look past all of that because of how institutions had failed their communities for three consecutive presidencies. Right now the value of Trump to the Trump voter is he is all that stands between them and handing the keys to Washington back over to the people inside Washington. That’s it. He’s their only option. You’ve got to pick the insiders or him.

Deputy Attorney General  Rod Rosenstein's government within the government has now crossed a line that is unacceptable. Rep. Mark Meadows has drafted eight articles of impeachment against Rosenstein. We urge CHQ readers to call Rep. Meadows, the toll-free Capitol Switchboard (1-866-220-0044) urge him to file the articles of impeachment against Rosenstein immediately.