Do We Deserve Democracy?
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| P.O.S. |
The P.O.S. (I’m back to that
now; no other expression so well describes him) in the White House is throwing
the word “corruption” around lately, and without making specific accusations,
is trying to associate it with Joe Biden, whom he thinks will most likely be
his opponent in 2020. Those who support
Trump are gullible, if not ignorant of facts, and in their minds his repeated use
of the words “corruption, Ukraine and Biden” even if not true and not based on
anything factual, will stick. That’s why
he uses it repeatedly. The same thing happened in 2016 when he repeatedly
talked about “Hillary’s emails and Benghazi,” without providing real facts. (I know some of these people who bought these
lies and innuendoes and treat them with pity rather than scorn, like some of the
anti-socialist Jews of 1932 Germany who supported Adolf Hitler but had never
read Mein Kampf.)
Corruption? What can be more corrupt than a president who
makes money personally from his office by shilling for his hotels and golf
courses, which are ostensibly run by his family but which he will resume
running the day he leaves office? And
what can be more morally corrupt than a man who engages a mistress during his
wife’s pregnancy and who boasted on TV that being in a position of power
enables men to take advantage of women, and who pays off his whores to keep
quiet during election campaigns. And
what can be more corrupt than a man who preaches freedom of religion out of the
same mouth that preached suspicion and intolerance of Muslims in this country a
year earlier? And what can be more
corrupt than a man who lies about wanting better health care for Americans
while trying to take it way from them at the same time.
Could it be that the Americans
who elected this P.O.S. to office, and may do so again, do not deserve to live
in a democracy and would be more comfortable in a dictatorship but wouldn’t
recognize the difference anyway? A
nation gets the government it deserves.
Pelosi Swings Into Action
And now to the “whistleblower.” It is clear that House Speaker Pelosi is moving
forward step by step, now endorsing an impeachment “inquiry” but still holding
off on moving to a full-blown, no holds-barred, bill of impeachment because she
worries that losing the votes of those Democratic Representatives from conservative
districts which they won by tiny majorities, which together with the expected
G.O.P. “nays,” would be enough to defeat it.
That may change if a ‘quid pro
quo’ relationship is found between the President’s talking to Ukraine’s head of
state about reopening a closed Ukrainian investigation into the business
dealings of Joe Biden’s son, Hunter (in which he “came up clean”) and a delay in
our sending sorely needed financial aid to help in Ukraine’s military
resistance to Vladimir Putin. With this connection tied down, she might move to full blown
impeachment. This might happen Thursday at the earliest, or
whenever the House gets the information it seeks, if the Administration stalls.
Failure of the Director of National Intelligence to deliver the full "whistleblower" information about this matter to Congress within seven days is against the law. Supposedly, the “whistleblower’s complaint” to that agency’s Inspector
General involved more than Trump’s phone call to the Ukrainian leader and all of that, not only Trump's phone call, must be turned over. Not doing so would be a crime of which the Director of National Intelligence, a Trump appointee, would be guilty. Complicating this issue is that Director's contact with the Attorney General, who in no way should be involved in this, for advice, other than in his clearly illegal role as the protector of the President.
Actually, even without this “quid
pro quo” relationship, merely asking a foreign government to provide negative information
to use in an American election is a crime. Trump got away with this in 2016,
even though the Mueller Report, sanitized by his subservient Attorney General,
confirmed it.
In any event, it’s time for Nancy
and the rest of Democratic leadership to convince all members of their House
majority to support and vote for impeachment and to stop worrying about their
next election. Just as I always advise Republicans to put country before
Party, I advise Democrats similarly. Every
day of delay in instituting formal impeachment proceedings is like a monetary contribution
to Trump’s campaign fund. He would like to stall until November 3, 2020.
A word about impeachment: Between the "whistleblower" complaint discussed above and the many other causes justifying impeachment (paying off his women to keep quiet during his election campaign, accepting aid from Russia in running his 2016 campaign, profiting personally by steering government and foreign money to his family's businesses, and obstructing the legally constituted Mueller investigation), there are many avenues which an impeachment proceeding might follow.
Proceeding on all of them, or even several of them, would complicate the process giving the President many different approaches of resistance. Therefore, when the President is impeached by the House ... and he will be ... (the corrupted Senate will never go along with it, but the American public will do so on Election Day, once aware of the facts), the bill of impeachment must be limited to one or perhaps no more than two of the President's most blatant illegal actions.
John Kerry Provides a Contrast
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| Kerry |
I don’t know who will be the
Democratic presidential nominee next year but I saw something disturbing on TV
the other morning. Seventy-five year-old
John Kerry, long-time Senator, 2004 Democratic presidential candidate and
Secretary of State was being interviewed about the current state of affairs and
his comments were clear, precise and forcefully delivered. What he said did not matter so much as the
contrast I initially saw between his delivery and that of Joe Biden, a year
older, whose excellent positions are sometimes made less clear by his
delivery. Biden’s “electability,” one of
the major reasons he is polling so well, may be hampered by this as the
presidential campaign progresses. This
is something on which Democrats, particularly those who support the former Vice
President, must keep their eye.
JL
Letter to my Congresswoman
Although it duplicates much of what today's blog posting has already said, here is a copy of the email I sent to my Representative in the United States Congress last week:
Every day that the Democrats in the House delay introducing
formal impeachment proceedings is like a contribution to the President’s
re-election campaign. Protected by a
loyal Attorney General and Administration willing to support his lies, he is
happy to spout unfounded statements, which even after being disproven, still
remain fixed in the minds of some voters. They neutralized the Mueller Report,
which contained evidence warranting impeachment. Not releasing documents to Congress, blocking
the appearance of witnesses before its committees and other illegal acts of
obstruction are some of Trump’s tools. If Congress takes him to court over these
things, they probably will win, but the victory will come long after the 2020
election, so it will not matter. The President is like a quarterback using up
every possible second on the play clock to leave as little time as possible for
the other team when they get the ball. Notice that every time he or one of his stooges
like Secretaries Mnuchin or Pompeo is asked a question, their responses involve
an accusation of his opponents, or the press, changing the subject and taking
up time for a response. Impeachment proceedings would short-circuit this circus
and bring out the facts for all to see. Once that happens, and the House moves
to impeach the President, I still would not expect the hand-cuffed Senate to
convict him, but the American people certainly will in 2020. Delaying
impeachment even one day is like a campaign contribution to the Trumpublicans.
JL
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