Since the inauguration of Donald Trump I’ve already pointed out multiple times how much “we the people” are going to need the press AND the democrats in the next 2 to 4 years – I should say four years, because, as my granddaughter so eloquently pointed out to me, Mike Pense is no great improvement over Donald Trump. However, the constitution says that officers of the government – meaning the president for sure – should be impeached for “treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.” There are many who believe Donald Trump has already violated laws that would fall into the “high crimes and misdemeanor” part of the constitution. His business interests are already showing startling “growth” around the world and you’d have to have your head in the sand, or have no idea what it is, to not understand where Trump is on dangerous ground with the emoluments clause in the constitution.
If you are unfamiliar with this, here is the “emoluments” clause in the constitution – designed to prevent national leaders from profiting from their position in government: “No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.” An emolument is a salary, fee, or profit from employment or office. As you can see, Trump is ALREADY on shaky ground. Already an untold number of people from “foreign states” have paid fees to stay in Trump hotels!
Of course there has been no indication there’s a republican with the courage to call Trump on anything – he’s already put our troops in Iraq at grave risk with his flippant suggestion that we might “still take their oil.” I’ve yet to hear a single republican even mention how dangerous that comment was (of course, he had repeated it numerous times on the campaign trail – and, I’m sure the Iraqi’s have recording devices and his comments are likely “the talk of the town” in Baghdad as I’m writing this. I credit Rachel Maddow of MSNBC for cluing me in on Trump’s latest bloviating on this terrible subject (what would you think if you were an Iraqi?) – but, if we lose one member of our military due to this brazen pontificating, I believe that would be enough to call Trump’s presidency a “failed experiment.” Honestly, it’s bound to happen (that is, Trump’s presidency a failure – God forbid the previous option). I lived through the Nixon years and he was a lightweight compared to Trump. I’ve been viewing Trump through the “he’s a fascist” lens – but, for a while today, I got the impression he’s more like a mafia boss. Either way, he’s a dangerous narcissist.
It was reported tonight that the entry fee for his resort in Florida has doubled from $100,000 to $200,000 since he took the oath of office. He has not divested himself – this is just step one in what appears will be an ongoing challenge by Trump of our Constitution and the “constitution” of the republicans who control congress regarding corruption and conflicts of interest. Should that change in 2018 I’m not feeling that confident the democrats will do anything – but, we can always hope. If you remember, the last time “we the people” kicked the republicans out of control in Congress was 2006 and the democrats proceeded to do NOTHING regarding ending the Iraq war and/or impeaching GW Bush for CLEAR “high crimes and misdemeanors” – which was their MANDATE. So, we’re on shaky ground depending on democrats – although I believe Trump’s pushing the limits is so brazen already – and, it’s bound to get more-so – that maybe we’ll see congress actually do their job. If no one REALLY is “above the law” in this country then Trump should be in trouble already.
In an interesting twist of irony, Chris Hayes, on MSNBC, tonight reported that Trump has been communicating on his PERSONAL cell phone since he took the oath of office. (Calls to Vladimir Putin?) In case you don’t remember, this is EXACTLY the same issue republicans had with “crooked Hillary” regarding the dangers of using personal communications devices for government business. There’s supposed to be a record of every message that transpires and, obviously. communications should not go through personal servers. So, is Trump soon to refer to himself as “crooked Donald?” Do you actually think Jim Comey and the FBI will be investigating this terrible breach of “national security?” How about Jacob Chaffetz and the House ethics oversight committee? Maybe they could have the Trump hearings at the same time as the Clinton hearings to save taxpayers the money they’re going to need to pay for the wall on the Mexican border.
Trump apparently wants to re-open the “black (torture) sites” where GW Bush/Dick Cheney so ruthlessly sent “enemy combatants” during the illegal invasion of Iraq and the fiasco in Afghanistan. He wants to authorize TORTURE and, I heard with my own ears tonight, that Trump believes TORTURE works – despite ALL the evidence to the contrary. Evidently, according to Trump someone at the CIA told him this (kind of like Bernhard Langer to told him there were people waiting in line to vote who didn’t look like they should be voters – therefore, 3 – 5 MILLION “illegals” voted for Hillary – of course, Langer, himself, is a German and ineligible to vote – not sure why he was in that line). Well, regardless of who we have at the CIA, TORTURE is ILLEGAL – it’s a WAR CRIME and it doesn’t work. This of course, (if I let it) would get me back to my major disappointment with our outgoing president Barack Obama who essentially made all this stupidity possible by blocking the investigations into the TORTURE authorized by Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld and others and committed by CIA agents who were very thankful when then President Obama said, “we’re going to look forward instead of back.”
Hopefully, those agents got the message when Obama became president that their futures were in his hands. Had he allowed the investigations to proceed, not only would Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld have been in jeopardy but also all the agents who carried out the illegal orders as well. I said at the time, “looking forward instead of back is like saying it’s OK to the next republican in the White House.” It makes enforcing our laws impossible, you have to LOOK BACK to prosecute crime. And, here we are with a president who seems to be chomping at the bit to authorize TORTURE. I’m not sure who he wants to TORTURE because I don’t believe we’re rounding up Muslims based on complaints by their antagonists anymore. I hope this isn’t a sign of escalation in America’s “endless war.” I’m sure the “Military Industrial Complex” would love nothing more.
Here’s what I believe the democrats need to understand, and sooner rather than later. The so-called f@#^ing liberals, in the words of Rahm Emmanuel when he was the chief of staff for President Obama, are the BASE of the democratic party. We are not looking for democrats to be “republican lite.” We are tired of spineless politicians feeding from the same trough as the republicans for whatever is left after MOST of the corporate money goes to the GOP. We’re tired of wondering why issues with 75% public approval NEVER get enacted. We’re tired of endless WAR. We’re tired of politicians enriching themselves at the expense of “we the people.” (In fact, it appears the most brazen example of this will be the confirmation of Tom Price as HHS Secretary – where he’ll be leading the charge in repealing The Affordable Care Act – after making HUGE profits off of stock tips while a member of the House oversight committee on the health industry. He should probably be headed to court, but this is 21st century America) I could go on and on about what we’re tired of, but what we want are some courageous leaders who will FIGHT for the “least of these” in the words of Jesus Christ.
A couple days ago Trump asked many (most?) of the experienced lifetime public servants at the top of the “food chain” in the State Department to resign – preceding the apparent confirmation of Exxon-Mobil’s chief executive as our Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson. You can read Steve Coll’s “Private Empire, ExxonMobil and American Power” to find out all you need to know about Mr. Tillerson. This (the purging of the experienced State Department public servants) SHOULD get your attention. I can virtually guarantee you the sanctions put on Russia for their actions in Ukraine and Crimea (not to mention their meddling in our election) will soon be lifted. Tillerson (and Trump) will be easy targets for Vladimir Putin.
Couple this (the purging of experienced diplomats) with the attacks on the press – Steve Bannon (Trump’s senior advisor via Breitbart) was quoted in the New York Times – apparently, he asked them to quote him – that the press “needs to shut up.” He claims our “mainstream media” still doesn’t understand why Trump was voted into office and, apparently, he’s thinking we should all just be happy with whatever transpires. Here’s how I see it. He’s correct in that the media doesn’t really understand how Trump was voted into office because they are too busy trying to be “fair and balanced” to “get it.” Bannon represents the segment of the population who became enraged by the election of a person of color to the “White House.” And, make no mistake, there’s a significant number of Americans who still cling to the “white privilege” they’ve become so accustomed to over the past many years. President Obama’s election was a “wake-up call” to the White Nationalist movement in this country of which Bannon is, apparently, the chief spokesperson. You don’t have to read “Breitbart news” much to realize if that’s the mainstream in America, there’s a bunch of us in real trouble.
They’re purging the government of veteran public servants, they’re striking out at the media, and they’re coddling the intelligence community. These are the ingredients of authoritarian fascism – clear and simple! The parallels to 1930’s Germany, including the “conservative Christians” as the base, is – as I’ve pointed out many times since Trump became the nominee – is startling. The damage Trump is doing to this nation is HUGE and, if “we the people” don’t FIGHT against this agenda EVERY DAY – the future of the country I love is in grave jeopardy. I can’t even believe I’m saying this, but I NEVER thought I’d live to see the day when we would elect a president who was observably fascist and who was hell bent on “partnering” with Russia in some kind of authoritarian attempt to “rule the world.” I truly hope I’m wrong, but the evidence so far says otherwise. If the sanctions on Russia are lifted after Tillerson’s confirmation my worst fears will be confirmed. The world is on edge waiting to see of the United States of America is going to devolve into a fascist state. I, for one, am prepared to do whatever I can to prevent that from becoming the reality.
Suggested Reading: “Bonhoeffer, Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy” by Eric Metaxas; “The Family” by Jeff Sharlett; and, the above mentioned “ExxonMobil” by Steve Coll