GOP/LEGAL/MEDIA/ROBERT MUELLER/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “As Donald Trump openly toys with the possibility of firing deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein or special counsel Robert Mueller (or both), the New York Times editorial board has published a striking and strident piece warning Republicans that the time is now or never to speak out against the sitting president…The Times editorial makes the case that while people like Hatch, a Republican senator from Utah, as well as Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Chuck Grassley of Iowa, have spoken out about the consequences for Trump of firing either Rosenstein or Mueller, the broader Republican party has been largely silent…The reason for that (relative) silence is simple: Republicans have zero interest in pissing off Trump (and his loyal base) for a hypothetical question about what they would do if he did fire either the special counsel or the guy who appointed the special counsel. Why engage about something that a) hasn’t happened and b) may never happen? Cross that bridge when you come to it — and all that.”
–Chris Cillizza, “The New York Times editorial board just drew a line in the sand for Republicans on Russia,” The New York Times online, April 16, 2018 1:12 pm