The “swamp” in Washington DC, as Trump proclaimed it during the campaign, is getting deeper.  Observing how this is all playing out is, at best, discouraging, at worst, alarming.  Many Americans were relieved the other day when the republican attempts to “repeal and replace” the Affordable Care Act went down in “flames,” due to republicans’ insistence on disguising their tax cut agenda as a health care plan.  Even republicans couldn’t get a unanimous vote on a bill that would reduce the insured in America by anything from 16 to 32 MILLION mostly lower socioeconomic class Americans.  The bill would have been especially cruel to women from what I could tell – but, of course, just like the members of the Senate, I was not able to read the bill so I’m basing my thoughts on commentary from those who had access to it (plus, the Congressional Budget Office which “scored” the bill)

Here’s the sad reality of that “hollow victory.”  Trump hates anything with President Obama’s name on it and he’ll do what he can to MAKE SURE that the Affordable Care Act implodes.  From what I understand, Trump can order the funds used to support the health exchanges to be withheld causing insurance companies to abandon the market place, thus causing “Obamacare’s” implosion.  The FACT doing so would essentially cause the loss of insurance for numbers of Americans in the neighborhood of the republican’s proposed legislation, apparently, is meaningless to Trump.  I’m sure what we’ll hear from his lips will be “I told you so” – and, he’ll be counting on “we the people” failing to understand why the markets are imploding and he’ll attempt to place the “BLAME” on democrats.  This will be another challenge to the intellectual capacity of the American public.

Honestly, I’m not a big fan of the democratic party in America – I’m not going to go into all the details why – but, let me just say that’s the other option to Trump and the republicans. Right now, aside from my concerns about them, they have basically  no power in Congress.   I keep hoping there will be republicans who will have the courage to “step up” and lead the fight against Trump, but apparently it will take a national disaster to get their attention.  The brazen disregard for our constitution and our laws, the issue with the obstruction of the “Russian thing,” and the demonstrated lack of knowledge about how our government functions – not to mention our history – has not been enough to get republicans’ attention.  Trump continues to “gin up” the “base” who voted for him, as shown through his reliance on campaign type appearances in “friendly country” – like West Virginia where his claims to be revitalizing the coal industry are a big hit.

What is really happening, from what I can find out, is that coal companies can now dump their sludge in local streams (overturning a regulation passed during President Obama’s term) and, with Trump’s blessing, there’s been something like 800 jobs created in the coal industry since he took office.  If you’re any good at math you know that’s a fraction of 1% of the jobs created this year.  And, worse than that, the coal being mined is apparently headed over seas to other countries who will turn it into steel.  Obviously, I’m no expert on the steel industry or the coal industry – other than to have observed what burning coal does to the environment.  If we don’t need to burn it, we shouldn’t be burning it.  And, there clearly are MUCH better options!

Last night I watched a segment on MSNBC by Richard Engel which showed how the Chinese are, in the words of an American executive working in Beijing, “killing” us – meaning the United States – in the advancement of clean energy technologies.  As a person who invested in solar panels on my own home (3 years ago) it’s apparent that MUCH energy can be produced via “clean energy.”  Clean energy is the FUTURE and Trump is encouraging people to live in the past.  My guess is that Trump, himself, has investments that would lead him to encourage more use of fossil fuels as opposed to the “clean energy” alternative.  India and China are working toward a future where there are NO gas powered vehicles on their highways in the next 10-15 years.  Under Trump’s leadership, the United States is falling farther and farther behind.

Of course, the real reason Trump is out “ginning up” the base is because he knows what we don’t about what Robert Mueller is bound to uncover in his investigation of the “Russia thing.”  In Trump’s West Virginia speech he, again, referred to the “Russia thing” as a HOAX.  He’s busy convincing these willing audiences – that apparently rely on Fox “news” for their information (or people like Rush Limbaugh) – that the “media” is “fake” and that there were “no Russians involved in his campaign.”  By now, we all know that Trump is a pathological LIAR, but that statement could have been a sly “truth.”  (I have no idea if there were any “Russians” as official parts of his campaign)

What we do KNOW is that Donald Trump Jr., Paul Manafort (at the time, Trump’s campaign manager), and Jared Kushner (Trump’s son in law – and, apparently his senior adviser) ALL met with a group of Russians representing the Kremlin with information about Hillary Clinton that would help Trump’s campaign for president.  No matter what they say – THAT IS COLLUSION – just attending  that meeting with the intent to gather what is being referred to as “dirt” on his opponent.  This is no longer deniable.  Soon after the details of that meeting were made public (and, of course, the “details” evolved as Trump Jr. was FORCED to tell more because the NY Times had the info – although he still continued LYING) the right wing water carriers – ie Fox “news,” etc. – began a public campaign proclaiming: “Collusion is not illegal” or something like what’s wrong with colluding?  Yikes!  (Apparently, Trump, himself, dictated the original LIE about what took place at that meeting)

So, members of Trump’s campaign are in serious legal jeopardy as are his son, Donald Jr. and his son in law Jared Kushner.  Just attending the June 9 meeting under the circumstances made apparent by the series of emails leading up to the meeting was a violation of American election laws.  As I’ve said before, “I’m not a lawyer” but, that meeting has “conspiracy” written all over it.  (not to mention the other “C” word – COLLUSION)  The sad reality here is that Trump’s most fervent supporters are somehow OK with this COLLUSION evidently because it’s Trump doing it.  Can you imagine what all these people would have been saying if Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama had colluded with the Russians (or any other country) to gain an advantage in an election???? (just to be clear, another word for “collusion” is TREASON)

As is the usual with Trump, he’s attempting to “deflect” the information aimed at him and his surrogates regarding Russia by making baseless claims about Hillary Clinton and her “ties” to Russia.  All you have to do is “google” his claims to find out they are not based in fact.  Actually, this situation is making the relationship with the United States and Russia more tenuous than it was prior to Trump – meaning, the Russians’ attempt to influence the election in Trump’s favor – while succeeding in helping to get him elected – has caused a larger rift in U.S./Russian relations.  There are many in America – including, thankfully, many in Congress – including republicans – who don’t like the idea of foreign countries invading our elections.  This is a larger problem than the “Russia thing” – which I’ll touch on in a bit – but the Russians essentially attempting to create a “puppet” for them is more than even most republicans can stomach.

Except for those who are ardently supporting Trump “no matter what.”  I have a Christian friend who actually believes Trump is “conservative” (he watches Hannity on Fox) and said he supports Trump for “moral” reasons.  When I bring up the “Access Hollywood” tapes all he can do is say something like, “but, what about Bill Clinton” – evidently assuming I support Clinton’s misbehavior while in the White House.  When I ask him about the LYING he just says, “you can’t change my mind.”  I point this out because Trump, Fox, Breitbart, and others on the “right” are preparing Trump supporters for what appears to be the inevitable reality there will be indictments of some in the Trump sphere (we already know about much LYING both verbally (to “we the people” and maybe the FBI?) and on security documents that clearly require an “oath” when you fill them out) which could include impeachable offenses by Trump himself.  (Many respected lawyers already believe Trump has committed “obstruction of justice” among a plethora of other issues)

Not only Trump, but many of his supporters who have roles on Fox “news” and other right wing outlets are almost encouraging the most ardent of his supporters to revolt if he’s impeached or indicted – or any of his family members are indicted. These people, who, in the past, have been preaching the “constitution” as they attack anything they consider “liberal” and have based many of their positions on “law and order” seem to be suffering from selective amnesia.  It appears that, in the case of Trump, there’s no expectation he would follow the law – or that his surrogates would follow the law.  The numerous LIES on the security clearance forms, for example, are being excused as “forgetfulness.”  Despite the clear directions that false statements are PERJURY.

What we’re seeing is that Donald Jr. appears to have inherited the LYING gene from his father and he’s on shaky legal ground regarding his meeting with Russians on June 9, 2016 (and, who knows about any other meetings – if they happened, they won’t come out until the “media” finds out about them).  Jared Kushner is probably on more “shaky ground” – because he filled out at least three Security clearance forms – which require an oath to the truth on the consequence of perjury for LYING – because he ONLY disclosed various meetings with Russians after the “media” found out about them.  Personally, I don’t find the “I forgot” excuse very convincing.  And, Kushner’s defense of his attendance in the June 9, 2016 meeting defied common sense – to me, it was like Swiss cheese – full of holes. (I’ve written about this in a previous post)

So, if we truly do live in a country that is bound by a constitution and the rule of law, there is soon to be what many are calling a “constitutional crisis.”  Will Congress uphold its solemn duty to defend the constitution – in this instance from a person who thinks like a dictator, is a pathological LIAR, has no idea how to do the job he’s been elected to do, who may have committed treason – but, regardless, is apparently attempting to block “we the people” from finding out the truth?  As I mentioned above, I’ve been waiting for a republican, or republicans to “step up” and do the right thing in regard to Trump and stop the DAMAGE he’s doing to this nation sooner rather than later.  Until the republicans decide to act, nothing will change – because they have the control on whether or not Trump is impeached.  I don’t believe Trump will resign – as Nixon did.  If he goes down, it will be in flames – and, he’ll be encouraging a revolt in the process.  (remember Cliven Bundy?  His followers are Trump’s “base”)

And, maybe in this regard there’s a “light at the end of the tunnel.”  Just the other day I listened to a senator from Arizona, Jeff Flake talk about how Trump is no conservative.  He just published a book with the same title as one of the first political books I ever read – “Conscience of a Conservative.”  Evidently, Flake is a “mentee” of Barry Goldwater, the author of the original book (which I still have – and, still disagree with much of).  I was totally encouraged by Flakes’ COURAGE to publicly express his frustration with Trump and his administration – enough that I will purchase and read his book.  Additionally, republicans created a situation that prevents Trump from making a “recess appointment” – should he still be trying to replace Jeff Sessions as Attorney General – in his attempt to stop the Mueller investigation, during the August recess.  To me, this is encouraging.

There’s more – I’m no fan of John McCain, but I have to say that I was further encouraged when I listened to him make a plea for a return to “regular order” in the Senate.  Now, I have to admit I don’t understand what “regular order” truly means, but in my naive mind I’m thinking maybe that means republicans and democrats working together to solve problems.  I realize that is idealistic thinking – but, I can hope.  Of course, to make this work, there would have to be a mechanism to stop the FLOOD of money going to members of Congress from lobbyists and special interests – for example, Citizens United would have to be repealed – but, anyone who can get the money out and get Congress to solve problems on a bipartisan basis will be the hero/hero’s we’re all looking for.  And, personally, I don’t care what party they “belong” to.

I’ll end this by saying MOST Americans understand Trump is a disaster as president.  Unfortunately, I don’t think most of us understand fully how much DAMAGE he’s doing to this country – both domestically and internationally.  We just know it’s BAD, and MOST of us are sickened at the thought a foreign country may have influenced the outcome of our most BASIC principle – the right to decide our own leaders.  I’ve been lamenting the republican’s drift to the right since the Bush/Cheney regime (motivated by the invasion of Iraq) but, the reality is the place we find ourselves REQUIRES republicans to have the COURAGE to do the right thing and SAVE us from Trump’s agenda (whatever it might be).  I give credit to Jeff Flake (I really am going to read his book – I’ll probably disagree with much of it – but, he’s clearly putting his beliefs ahead of his political future – he will undoubtedly get “primaried” – and, I have to respect that) and, I’m looking for more republicans to step up and do the right thing in regard to Trump.  Here’s the ultimate irony:  If the “swamp” in Washington DC is to be drained, Trump has got to go!