Reports are that Trump is preparing to do what Trump does where it involves Michael Flynn, a man Trump has repeatedly said “is a good man” and has been “treated very unfairly” but, is likely actually telling the truth where it involves Robert Mueller.  Michael Flynn recently pleaded guilty to LYING to the FBI regarding his meetings with the Russian Ambassador during the transition period in 2016 following Trump’s surprise victory in the 2016 election.  There’s no doubt to me that both Trump and Mike Pense knew exactly what Flynn was doing – in fact, it was done according to their directions.  He was telling the Russians not to get all worked up over President Obama’s sanctions due to the Russian interference in the 2016 election, they would reverse them once in office.  So, the LIE coming from Trump and Pense regarding what Flynn was accused of and caused him to be fired was that Flynn LIED to the Vice President.  That was absurd back then and is to this day!  Pense has since proven to be the LIAR.  (Flynn HAS be TRUTHFUL to Mueller, or he – and his son – could face enough charges to cause them both to get old in prison – and, I believe Mueller has a “plan B” in case Trump chooses to ABUSE his pardon powers)

Now, it’s reported that Trump and his LYING surrogates are prepared to hit Flynn “with both barrels,” pointing out he is a terrible LIAR.  Despite all the accolades Trump has given Flynn over this past year, evidently to encourage Flynn to “stay strong,” well, things are changing.  I always interpreted that statement (stay strong) as meaning “don’t talk” to Mueller.  Of course, Flynn was always vulnerable – probably before Trump hired him (he should have listened to President Obama who warned him about hiring Flynn), but the turning point, in my view, was when it was reported Flynn’s son was almost as vulnerable.  In my mind, protecting his son caused Flynn to decide he was FINALLY going to tell the TRUTH.  Now, we’re about to see Trump et al accusing Flynn of being a pathological LIAR (like Trump, himself) so that no one should believe anything he tells Mueller.  No one but Mueller knows how much Flynn actually knows about Trump and his connection to the Russians (well, besides Flynn himself), but Flynn knows about the LIES during the transition and the first part of Trump’s administration.  Personally, I believe Flynn will be key to bringing Trump’s administration to a premature end.

This is typical Trump – if someone is saying nice things about him they are wonderful people (Like Vladimir Putin, the expert at “playing people”).  As soon as anyone criticizes him – or in Flynn’s case, tells the TRUTH to Mueller, all hell breaks loose.  According to reports, Trump is preparing tweets that will take Flynn into Trump’s version of Twitter hell.  The attacks will be very nasty and, likely, will be coordinated with Fox “news” and all the minions in the House who are lining up to build a “firewall” between Trump and Mueller.  The sad reality is that these House members have no interest in protecting “we the people” from the Russian attacks on our nation.  To them, it’s more important to protect Trump than to protect us.  Trust me, the Russians are still here and our Justice Department is doing NOTHING to put it to an end.  It even feels to me, the Russians are involved in the attempts to protect Trump from Mueller.  And, now people like Mike Huckabee are comparing Trump to Churchill.  OMG, give me a break!!!

I just finished reading Lawrence O’Donnell’s book “Playing With Fire” which is about the election of 1968 where Richard Nixon showed republicans “the end justifies the means” strategy.  If you want to compare Trump to anyone, it would be more honest to look at some kind of combination of Nixon and George Wallace who were fighting for the right wing votes in the 1968 election.  They were both race baiting, they both were fighting for the right wing fringe vote, and they both were LYING to the white working class people in America that they were all about “law and order.”  Nixon claimed – well, actually a reporter made the claim and Nixon, in a sense, adopted it by not refuting it, that he had a secret strategy to end the war in Viet Nam – which was a LIE.  Nixon undermined LBJ’s attempts to broker a peace deal at the end of his term and the war lasted another 6 years at the expense of over 20,000 American lives, hundreds of thousands of Vietnam lives, and untold numbers of injured.  (I would HIGHLY recommend this book)

Nixon essentially committed Treason by encouraging Thieu, the president of Viet Nam, to back out of the peace talks Johnson was proposing after he had agreed to participate.  Johnson said NOTHING to the press at the encouragement of his advisors who felt it would be too damaging for the public to know about all the secret wiretapping devices they had placed in embassies all over D.C.  His advisors felt Nixon would still win the election, people would think he was just trying to help Hubert Humphrey, the democratic nominee, and then there would be, shortly after the election impeachment hearings – which Johnson’s advisers felt would be too detrimental to the nation.  Sound familiar?

Well, in the case of Trump, it will be interesting if republicans in Congress have the stomach to stand up to him once Mueller’s investigation is complete if he’s accused of criminal activity.  Obviously, all the other stuff Trump is doing – liking PROFITING from his office (and, that’s not including the tax cut which is going to funnel MILLIONS to him and his family) isn’t even raising a single republican eyebrow.  These are the so-called “law and order” people, the “family values” people, and the “balance the budget” people.  What the republicans in Congress are afraid of is Trump’s loyal base.  One thing Trump IS doing is packing the court system with right wing judges which excites all the right wing Christians who want to see Roe v Wade overturned.  They’ve proven over and over again that abortion is the only issue that matters to them – so, they’re perfectly willing to accept all the other stuff – including TREASON – to get their way.  I keep saying I’ll write about the abortion issue at another time – which I will, (and, I have to say, I don’t believe in abortion with the exception of the mothers life) but people were having abortions prior to Roe V Wade and they will be doing so after if it gets overturned.  I’ll leave it at that.  That one issue is not worth turning America into a fascist dictatorship!

Republican presidents have a history of “fraternizing with the enemy” – Nixon did it with the South Viet Nam government (OK, they weren’t the “enemy” – although in this case you could make the argument that technically they were.  They were violating an agreement made with Lyndon Johnson for peace talks with the promise of getting a “better deal” by waiting for Nixon – maybe the “deal” they got says it all as to why Nixon was called “Tricky Dick”) and Ronald Reagan did it (a couple times) with Iran.  There were hostages in Iran for over a year at the end of Jimmy Carter’s term, and Reagan negotiated with the Iranian government to hold them until he was elected – to prevent an “October surprise” – they were released the day Reagan took the oath of office.  At the time, people thought it was a coincidence.  That was technically TREASON.  And, Reagan was up to his eyeballs in the “Iran Contra” affair which sent several of his surrogates to JAIL.  He used a similar excuse to Jeff Sessions “I don’t recall” strategy when questioned about what was an ILLEGAL operation out of the White House to avoid what should have been impeachment.  Despite the republicans holding Reagan up as their “god,” he was very unpopular at the end of his administration.  (George HW Bush was involved in “Iran Contra” as well, and managed to avoid consequences – as a lifetime CIA operative, his specialty was avoiding culpability)

So, it really should surprise no one that now we’re wondering to what level Donald Trump “fraternized with the enemy.”  And, in this case, Russia is clearly our enemy.  They are busy using our open society against us – based on the “wedge issues” that have been clearly dividing Americans over the past 35 plus years. They know how to use entities like Facebook and Twitter (which, I have to admit, I know nothing about – other than just about everyone I know, besides me, uses them) to “sneak” into America and help Trump – they helped him in the campaign and, undoubtedly, they’re still “here.”  If Mueller finds “wrongdoing” by Trump which, come on, you’d have to be living under a rock to think a thorough investigation won’t find something wrong, you can expect the Russians to be attempting to confuse Americans as to how to respond.  They, as I said, have only one purpose: to use the openness of our society to bring our society down.  If you have a short memory, Ronald Reagan did much the same to the Russians back in the eighties – in a different way.  I believe Putin’s number one goal is to resurrect the Soviet Union – starting with Ukraine – which Trump’s “people” attempted to help him during the previous convention with the “plank” regarding Ukraine.  This slimy politics weaponizing the media all started with Nixon and his association with Roger Ailes.

In fact, it was Roger Ailes, who perfected the “art” of using wedge issues to bring success to his candidates.  As I’ve said, the republicans have adopted the “end justifies the means” strategy of political operations since the days of Nixon and it has worked for them.  Ailes also worked as an operative for Reagan and pappy Bush before he was hired by Rupert Murdoch to start up Fox “news,” which was always intended to be the propaganda “arm” of the republican party.  (and, of course, it still is – now under the slimy leadership of Sean Hannity)  Fox has played a major role in DIVIDING Americans against each other in a way that furthers their own (the republicans and Fox) GREEDY ambitions .  Republicans have been FLEECING Americans since the first “trickle down” tax cut, and, obviously, it’s still going on today with the recent tax scam of Trump. (They’ll keep doing this until “we the people” put a stop to it) Fox has successfully got MILLIONS of Americans to believe they’re “conservatives” and to believe the word “liberal” should somehow be considered a “four letter word.” (I have yet to meet one Fox viewer who, when I ask them to define “conservative,” can give a cogent answer – and, I’ve asked MANY times) I’ve said it before on this site, Fox will end up in the history books along side Trump and Benedict Arnold.

Remember, Fox is part of the empire of Rupert Murdoch, a right wing Australian.  I still remember, when President Obama was giving his first state of the union speech, Samuel Alito, who was sitting in the front row, shaking his head as to say “no” when Obama pointed out the “Citizens United” decision opened the “flood gates” to foreign money coming in to affect our elections.  This, of course, has happened and it’s alarming, at least to me.  Well, having Murdoch’s “empire” so intrusive in our politics is even more alarming.  People don’t seem to understand who’s behind the Fox “empire” – and, I fault, to a degree, our so-called “liberal media.”  Murdoch not only owns Fox, he owns the Wall Street Journal, and, because I’m too lazy to Google it, I’m not sure what else, although it really is a communications empire.  The bottom line is Murdoch has a HUGE influence on American politics and he’s an Australian.  It’s almost as if he’s directing the republicans – like, in the attacks on Mueller, they seem coordinated between Fox, Trump, and the House republicans.  Like they’re all in a coordinated “Big Lie” strategy to protect Trump from his own misdeeds.

Everything about Trump and MOST of the republicans is based on LIES.  Fox “news” is based on LIES.  Occasionally, I try to watch it and can last only a few minutes.  It’s like LYING is just part of their DNA.  I have to wonder, “is Fox working in concert with the Russians?”  America is so different than when I was growing up that it’s almost hard to recognize.  Fortunately, there’s a ground swell of resistance to Trump and the “Russia thing” and, despite my concerns I’ve had over the years about our FBI, I believe Mueller will lead a fair and thorough investigation and won’t be intimidated by Trump.  However, EVERY person I know who watches Fox “news” is almost impossible to talk to about all this stuff.  They’ve been programmed to believe “collusion” is OK and that anything reported elsewhere is “fake news.”  Of course, the Russians are the perpetrators of the original “fake news” and, when I force myself to watch Fox I always come away thinking “that’s the epitome of fake news.”  As Kellyanne Conway once said about all the LYING, “we have our alternative facts.”  (I guess, at least once, she told the truth – a true rarity!)

Trump and his LYING surrogates will be using their “alternative facts” in their upcoming attacks on Mike Flynn.  Thinking they’ll get away with it is based on the republican history of the “end justifies the means” strategy.  It worked for Nixon, it worked for Reagan, and I’m sure Trump is expecting it to work for him.  However, I would remind Trump, it only worked for Nixon until it became clear to the public that he was covering up a crime.  Reagan got away with it because it was at the end of his term and people felt as if he was nearing dementia.  Trump won’t be able to LIE his way out of criminal activity, should Mueller come to that conclusion.  Either the republicans will end this nightmare or in 2018 “we the people” will send representatives to Congress who will solve the problem.