Donald Trump

Is this trial about 2016? No.

Mickey Leave a comment

On the eve of the Senate impeachment trial against Donald J. Trump, many arguments are being floated in his defense. Most are thin. Some are untrue. One is that this trial is merely a continuation of the election of 2016. Kellyanne Conway reiterated this argument last night on Fox News. It is constantly posted on Twitter. Democrats are crying babies who cannot get over the fact that Hillary Clinton lost the election.

Hillary Clinton lost the election. She was lazy, and tired, and assumed things about her base that were not true, that they would vote Democrat no matter what, that they would never put a person like Donald J. Trump in office, that it was her turn. She was wrong, and we have her to thank for this administration.

Donald won the election. The impeachment has nothing to do with the seamy actions of this President. He violated his oath of office. He tried to bribe an official of a foreign government. He was looking for dirt on his opponent, Joe Biden. He withheld funds. He refused to allow any of the members of his administration testify about his actions, because he realized that what he did was a crime, and many of them realized it too. For that reason he obstructed an investigation. He misused his office for personal gain. You don’t do that.

This trial is about misusing the office of the Presidency for personal gain, and trying to hide that fact from Congress. It is about a leader who committed a crime. It is not about 2016. Donald Trump won that election. That does not mean he can commit crimes while in office.

Two Little Warriors

Mickey Leave a comment

Rand Paul has succumbed to the same disease as Lindsey Graham, a collapse of morals in the face of The Donald, a melting away of all the libertarian jive, the Ayn Randian individualism, the curly-haired rebel of the Senate. He now crawls on his belly to the beast, in the hopes that said beast will allow him yet another term in office. He plays the whistleblower card like Donny tells him, and stands before the public, his master looking on approvingly, but not like Gary Cooper, no, not even close. This is Ellsworth Toohey, leading the conservative mediocrity to perdition.

Likewise chicken hawk Lindsey, ‘Little Lindsey’ as Donny so often referred to him on the campaign trail, once all piss and vinegar about matters military, now just another weenie in the Senate bowing to his master. The strong man is now Rudy the second, making foolish claims about nothing, to please his new BFF.

We are watching men lower themselves to the level of Donald Trump. It is sad, and it is embarrassing.

Sure, they talk tough, and fold on demand. They play games with the press, making comments about how they disagree with the President on this or that, but when the rubber hits the road, they are the wheels on the shiny red Trump wagon.

What caused this betrayal of everything they both held sacred? Math. It does not matter how well you are loved in your district. Donny firmly holds his dirty thirty percent, and without them, there is no way to win. Alienate them and they will primary you, hate you, or worse, just not vote for you.

This is the quandary Republicans face right now. They only need to piss off one man, and the future becomes exceedingly bleak for them. And they are all in this together, and all in this alone. They face the President as individuals, and there is no way to band together and fight him. They may play as a team, but each one stands at the plate alone. Even the two little warriors, who war no more.

The New Innocence

Mickey Leave a comment

Republicans have put forth all manner of nonsense to defend President Donald J. Trump from the allegation that he did exactly what he said he did in his own transcript. They have no fallen to the worst excuse imaginable: The President did not succeed, in which case, he must be innocent.

This follows the failed ‘process argument’, in which it was argued that no matter what the President said in the transcript, Democrats were not giving enough light to the closed testimony in the SCIF room, which they painted as a sort of star chamber run by the worst of the worst, Adam Schiff, a man known to use Spanish Inquisition tactics when interrogating hapless witnesses. It did not matter that Republicans were also in the room, that everyone was given time to question each witness, and that the closed door sessions would be followed by full disclosure in the House. No, valiant Republicans like Matt Gaetz stormed the room, demanding what we are not sure, with the exception of a good media moment.

What could be more ridiculous? Insisting that failure to commit a crime makes the President innocent. That ignorance of the law is not a crime anymore. That is was a little, insignificant crime, not worthy of impeachment. Ever heard of venal sins?

Trail lawyers should be giddy. You drove drunk and no one was hurt? Innocent. You shot at your wife and missed? Innocent. You tried to influence a foreign nation to find dirt on your opponent? No dirt was found? Innocent.

“Your honor, my client did not know it was a crime, and anyhow, he didn’t succeed.”

Manafort-linked lobbyist admits using straw donor to buy Trump inaugural tickets for Russian, Ukrainian

Mickey Leave a comment

My bad, Donny was right. There were a lot of people at his inauguration. Granted, they reeked of Borscht and could not understand English, but they turned out for the man they loved. And perhaps owned?
:-)

Prosecutors say Sam Patten lobbied for a Ukrainian party called the Opposition Bloc, which was launched by Paul Manafort in 2014.

Source: Manafort-linked lobbyist admits using straw donor to buy Trump inaugural tickets for Russian, Ukrainian

We Pledge Our Eternal Support

Mickey Leave a comment

Donald Trump
Empathy is not one of Donald Trump’s strongest attributes. He generally flits from one tragedy to another, promising many things and delivering little. His remarks about every mass shooting are beginning to sound the same. His actions are few. Donald Trump is a tragedy butterfly. He lands, he speaks, mostly about himself, and he leaves. The subject is rarely brought up again.

“We pledge our eternal support. “My government will not rest until we have done everything in our power to reduce violent crime and to protect innocent life.”

After making these comments, Donald Trump jumped on Air Force One and headed to a Trump property in New Jersey to play golf for the weekend. He made his comments. He did his duty. Time to move on. Time for some relaxation.

Eternal support? Those are hollow words. The only things that are eternal for Donald Trump are his self adoration and his loathing for his predecessor.

Today’s Word Is Shutdown

Mickey Leave a comment

Shutdown

There is something strange about repeating the word ‘shutdown’ so many times. There are people who get things stuck in their head, and compulsively repeat those things. Or is this just Donald Trump’s idea of manipulating his viewers, or Congress? The reason behind his odd behavior may, like so many other oddities, never be known.

Just a double-dog dare?

There will be no shutdown. Too many people in Congress are very worried about how voters are feeling about their dismal progress on anything. Too many are seeing their first paychecks and realizing the beautiful tax cut is not going to pull them out of the hole they are in. Too many more are seeing jobs disappear. This is not a good time to get voters riled up. November looms.

What Causes Your Child to Become a Bully? | HuffPost

Mickey Leave a comment

What are we to do with the bully in the ultimate bully pulpit?
How did the president become the person who now insults and degrades everyone who does not idolize him? Where does this need to be revered come from? And most important, what is the correct response to this type of bullying?

Dr. Gail Gross looks at what makes a child become a bully.

Source: What Causes Your Child to Become a Bully? | HuffPost