The question Republican’s are asking; doesn’t the President have the right to fire Comey, Rosenstein or Mueller? The simple answer is, “yes.” But nothing is ever simple in government, politics or the law because if he fired any of them to conceal a crime or to obstruct the investigation of a crime, he has then committed a crime. That is specifically what the various accusers of Trump claim. He and his lackeys conspired with the Russians to interfere with the 2016 elections, fired Comey, and then wanted to fire others to cover it up. That is definitely a crime but only one of many in the history of the worst President in U.S. history.
Based on a Justice Department ruling that is not a law, Robert Mueller seems to have already decided that a sitting president can’t be indicted for criminal activity. That doesn’t mean he can’t be impeached, a political not a judicial process, nor does it mean he can’t be indicted the moment he leaves the White House. Will any of that happen? Looks like we’ll just have to wait and see.
******
Rudy Giuliani announced that he would not, after all, be going to Ukraine to seek dirt on the son of Joe Biden for a relationship he had with a Ukrainian gas company that paid him a significant salary. Then the intellectually confused Giuliani tried to sell the notion that what he was doing was not meddling in an election but in an investigation. Really? What investigation? As far as this commentator can see no investigation currently exists. It’s no wonder that Jimmy Breslin, chronicler of NYC and its political scene, once referred to Giuliani as a small man looking for a balcony. It’s time for Rudy to book a room at the home and sit back on his unearned laurels as America’s Mayor.
******
At some point the GOP voter must be asked; How far will you allow the basic components of our government structure to be destroyed just to keep a man in the White House who has lied to you repeatedly and promised you things he will never deliver? Are you willing to see our whole constitutional structure undercut to keep a criminal and a con man in the White House. Do you understand that none of the things you need your government to do for you will ever be achieved if you keep him there?
These are the basic question that all former Trump voters must answer before the next election but the only way they will even face these questions is if the Democratic Party has the intelligence and organization to force them to the fore.
They will be able to do that by structuring presentations like those of Elizabeth Warren, who has intelligently laid out one important platform after another dealing with significant problems in our country. But they will be unable to deliver that information if, like Warren, they refuse to appear on Right Wing networks like Fox News. That’s where the conservative voters live. You can’t reach them if you don’t face them.
Pete Buttigieg attacked that problem when he was the guest on a Fox News Town Hall in New Hampshire hosted by Chris Wallace. The audience was surprisingly receptive so maybe they weren’t a Retrumplican group but that didn’t stop Buttigieg from going after a couple of the Fox News more repulsive hosts and skewering them.
Pete showed that he had the answers to every question from the audience and the host. He was precise, informational and just smarter than anyone in the room. This is exactly what the Democrats need to do. Unfortunately many of them can’t, but Warren sure can – if she decides to.
******
People keep asking why it is that Trump has taken such a staunch position of non-cooperation on every matter that the House is investigating. It seems obvious that he must cooperate on some things, just to keep the government functioning, yet he has stonewalled everything.
The reason is obvious. Trump wants to be impeached. Almost every action he performs begs for impeachment. He believes that impeachment will take up so much media space that it will drive all his other shortcomings from the news and present him as a martyr, despite the fact that the Senate will never convict him. It’s a strategy of diversion he has used all through his Presidency, and before.
He understands that impeachment will be uncomfortable but it will make all his shortcomings disappear. What do the American people care about most? Healthcare and lifestyle! Right after that comes climate change, infrastructure, taxes and education, followed by immigration, abortion and criminal reform. Trump is failing miserably on all of them. If he can make the American people ignore these failures and concentrate on how he’s being unjustly attacked by he Democrats he may have a chance in the next election.
*****
Donnie Deutsch is right! The way to beat the GOP & Trump is to say again and again that the system is rigged to keep the rich rich and you poor. Say it again and again and keep saying it until it sinks in because that’s the key to victory. Hitler proved it in 1939 and his disciple, Donald Drumph is making it work again. “Lock her up!” worked in 2016 even if he could never realistically establish exactly what he wanted to lock her up for.
******
Rand Paul was on This Weekwhere he blurted out a series of lies worthy of Donald Trump. This is after he spent years attacking Trump time after time about almost every aspect of his actions and personality. Now Paul has learned how to find the right ass to kiss. I still hold with the opinion that Paul’s neighbor just didn’t beat him even close to badly enough.
In fact he talks so well he completely rolled over George Stephanopoulos; I don’t understand why the only host on this show with any balls is Martha Raddatz.
****
The Sunday cavalcade of Retrumplican liars continued with Kevin McCarthy on Face the Nation,where he whined about Trump junior being called to testify before the Senate investigative committee and how the Democrats are going too far. Hold it Kevin! The Senate committee is a Retrumplican committee headed by GOP Senator Burr. How the hell did the Democrats get involved in this? Well, the answer is simple. Kevin has such a twisted mind and he has lied so often that he can no longer recognize friend or foe.
Marco Rubio said that the intent of this committee was to establish the Russian interference and how it was manifested in our elections, but McCarthy isn’t anywhere near bright enough to understand that. All he’s interested in is nailing down his Retrumplican orthodoxy.
What no Retrumplican seems to understand is; just going along with the investigations, cooperating and getting them over with, is the way to make them go away. Unfortunately they can’t do that because they are unable to recognize what the Mueller report says. The GOP mantra is “No collusion, no obstruction.” No one else is talking about collision because even though no Retrumplican understands this, it isn’t a crime. Obstruction is a crime and the Mueller report clearly states that the President was involved in obstruction, just not to the point where it could be proved in a court of law, which requires proof beyond a reasonable doubt.
Unable to make any kind of coherent point about obstruction, McCarthy went on to the economy, but the only things he can come up with there were, the market and GDP. He failed to recognize that the market doesn’t really reflect the situation of the average guy who is trying to feed his family, live a good life and send his kids to college. He doesn’t recognize this because he has no experience with it. All he understands is the bullshit being spread all over the tube by the likes of Larry Kudlow, Steve Mnuchin and the Liar-in-Chief.
******
Watched an interesting discussion with former Defense Secretary and CIA director Bob Gates in which he brought up the ages of the three currently principal Presidential candidates, Trump, Biden and Sanders.
Gates worries about all of them approaching senility. He accurately points out that the job of President, when done correctly, is unbelievably tough. We have seen the physical decline of all the previous presidents who aged far faster than normal while in office. The demands of the office are extreme, unless you slough it off the way Trump does. Even Trump has aged somewhat, albeit not as visibly as other presidents, but then Trump hasn’t done the work that other presidents did while in office. Even George Bush, who was as lazy as a sloth, did more than Trump. Of course we may have been better off it he had done less. We’ll certainly be better off if Trump does less.
This is a serious problem and must be a consideration for any of the elderly trio running. A young and vibrant vice-President is an absolute necessity for either Biden or Sanders if they get that far. Trump is stuck with the loser he already has.
******
And for those of you who get mad when I state that in my opinion a predominance of American’s are dumb; consider this. A recent poll on math asked the question: Should Arabic numerals be used in the teaching of math? 56% of the responders voted “NO”. And what kind of numerals do these people think we use now… Roman? So they’re either dumb as posts or bigots.