Yesterday I listened to Trump speaking to Troops in his FIRST visit to those on the “front lines” of whatever the “war” is we’re fighting in Iraq and, as usual, I came close to regurgitating. Now, keep in mind, this “blog” was the result of Bush/Cheney LYING America into this ill-advised invasion of Iraq back in 2003 in the first place – apparently thinking the Iraqi’s would willingly give up their oil in return for the demise of Saddam Hussein. I graduated from high school in 1965, right at the beginning of the acceleration of the Viet Nam war (based on a LIE) , and Iraq, to me, was “deja vu all over again.” Trump, in his remarks to the troops, sounded as if he was speaking to one of his “rallies” – to a bunch of “ditto heads” who seem unable to think for themselves. I can’t imagine the troops are in the same place intellectually. (Although, many of them are in the 18 – 20 year old age group)

One thing you can count on when Trump’s mouth is moving and words are coming out is that he’s LYING! He said, right to the faces of the troops, that HE was responsible for their 10% pay raise – the biggest ever. Of course, the troops got the same “pay raise” I got on my Social Security checks and that is the 2.6% increase which matches inflation. You have to wonder if the troops went back to their quarters and rechecked their pay stubs to see if they were missing something. Trump even said “this is the first raise in over 10 years. The reality, and you would think most of the troops would understand this, they get a cost of living “raise” every year. As someone who enlisted in the Marines back in 1967 I have to wonder what it would be like to have your “commander in chief” LYING right to your face.

In addition to LYING to the troops about their pay (really, what would cause him to do that? Answer, in a word: Pathological) Trump went off on them (remember, these troops are in Iraq) in regards to his “wall” and the fact that not only is MEXICO refusing to pay for it, so are the “dems.” Somehow Trump is expecting “we the people” to “pony” up BILLIONS for this “wall” that few besides Trump see as necessary and that he PROMISED Mexico would pay for – and, incredibly he thinks troops in Iraq give a rip about his “wall.” (Actually, they pay taxes, so I guess maybe he was lobbying them to pay for it) Now, Trump and the sycophants who CHOOSE to align themselves with him are suggesting the part about MEXICO paying for the wall will come later. Like, for example, the NAFTA trade deal which was renegotiated – by most accounts simply renamed – will create additional revenue from Mexico, enough to pay for the wall. It must be true; Trump and his minions believe “we the people” are incredibly STUPID!

Now, every time I see Trump’s image I’m reminded of watching Vladimir Putin and Mohamed bin Salmon (MBS) giving each other an aggressive handshake at the G-20 Summit with a sh@t eating grin on their faces – leaving the impression they’re overjoyed at how they have the American president “over the barrel.” The reality, at least to those who are paying close attention, is that a so-called president who is likely in office due to illegal activity – even if it’s just the campaign finance violations which have been agreed in a court of law that Trump is “individual 1” – is undermining much of our government in ways that will have an affect for a generation. This will seem even worse if the Mueller investigation comes out with proof that Trump was working in concert with the Russians to get elected.

While I’m not a lawyer I took enough constitutional law classes in college to feel confident in believing Trump has OBSTRUCTED justice on multiple occasions during the course of his first two years in office. As I’ve said many times here Trump is acting like a MAFIA boss who believes the Justice Department should be protecting him instead of investigating him. He doesn’t seem to understand their job is to follow evidence wherever it leads, that their oath is to the constitution and not him, and the Mueller investigation actually began in July of 2016 as the Russian “meddling” into the election became apparent to our intelligence community during the campaign – and, at least a couple Trump surrogates were right in the middle of it. And Trump, along with his “lawyer” Rudy Giuliani, seem to make it worse every time they open their mouths (or push “publish” on their “Twitter” accounts.)

The Russia stuff is very real and alarming – and, Trump has managed to get focus off Mueller in curious ways – he’s got legal jeopardy coming from all directions and he continues to spew the LIES beyond most people’s ability to comprehend. To me, the Russia stuff is going to place Trump and his surrogates, as I’ve said, into the American history books right next to Benedict Arnold. I’ve actually heard Trump supporters say, “Collusion is not a crime” as if to say conspiring with the Russians to get elected is just business as usual. Well, to me, it’s unbelievable that someone would stoop to that level. I see it as TREASON!

Think about it, if it proves to be true: (and, Trump is telling us it’s true in every one of his actions that have anything to do with Putin or Russia) The Russians very well may have what they call “kompromat” on Trump that is causing him to do Putin’s “bidding” – as many besides myself have been lamenting. If you remember, when Sally Yates came to the “White House” to warn about Michael Flynn “lying to the Vice President” the concern was him being subject to blackmail by the Russians. Well, if Flynn was subject to blackmail for LYING to the Vice President think about where that puts Trump for “colluding” with the Russians to get elected??? Yikes!!! (And, by the way, I in no way believe Flynn was “lying” to the vice president. I believe Trump and Pense BOTH knew exactly what Flynn was up to when he suggested to the Russian Ambassador not to worry about President Obama’s sanctions. They had orchestrated every word which came out of Flynn’s mouth – which, I believe, is why Flynn LIED to the FBI)

And, there’s likely much more that is going to come out that has Trump wishing he had actually lost the election so that he could be leading the “lock her up” chants as the republican Congress would have ruthlessly gone after Mrs. Clinton. One thing I always admired about Hillary Clinton was that she was willing to do that battle – for sure, she knew exactly what she would have been getting into. It would have been Benghazi, Benghazi, Benghazi, Emails, Emails, Emails, and republicans would have blamed all that on why nothing got done. (Of course, had Mrs. Clinton won, there wouldn’t have been the tax “scam” and Kavanaugh would not be on the SCOTUS.

Well, even though republicans had control of Congress along with Trump in the “White House,” essentially, still NOTHING got done – unless you consider the tax “scam” some kind of historic accomplishment. Personally, I’ve been watching these tax giveaways to America’s wealthy elite since the days of Ronald Reagan. At some point in time (and, I’m thinking it may have been 2018) Americans will realize the TRILLIONS we’ve been funneling “up” to the top “1%” NEVER “trickles down.” Republicans are so committed to giving tax dollars (even dollars that have to be borrowed – I guess those are the tax dollars of our children and grandchildren who we evidently believe ought to be paying this money back at some point in their life time) to the “rich” that after this “scam” was passed they all went out on the lawn of the “White House” for a picture session where the part I remember most was Orrin Hatch calling Trump the “best president ever.” My stomach quivered as I heard those words. (Of course, Hatch has been around “forever” and I’ve, personally, never considered him a sane human being – but, that was too much!)

Hatch was later quoted as saying “I don’t care” when asked about what he thought about our “so-called” president being an unindicted co-conspirator in two felonies, that is, being now referenced as “individual 1” in the FELONIES. Hatch said he didn’t care “because Trump’s doing a good job.” Well, how he came to that conclusion is beyond my ability to comprehend, but the reality is that there are still a lot of republicans who are “circling the wagons” around Trump which will be enough to keep him in office unless the Russian “collusion” becomes more than speculation. Republicans seem willing to destroy their party in the name of Trump.

Of course, Trump will be facing a plethora of investigations in 2019 and, I hope, we’ll be looking at a different democratic party in this next Congress. I’ve pointed out how the 2006 election provided us with a democratic House that was elected to stop the Iraq fiasco and they equivocated with the result being another republican “wave” in 2010. (Yes, I understand much of that wave was the result of a person of color being in the “White House” – but, many of the democratic base started staying home when they felt the democrats were “spineless”)

What I expect in 2019 is the oversight of maybe the MOST corrupt administration in American history – oversight which has been missing with republicans in control. It appears to me republicans have degenerated to the point where they protect each other no matter the circumstances. Can you imagine their response had Barack Obama been credibly listed as “individual 1” in two FELONIES? Or if Obama was blatantly violating the emoluments clause of the constitution on a DAILY basis? What if Obama paid off a porn star to help himself get elected – would republicans have been “ho-hum” about that? Or, what if President Obama was doing the “bidding” of Vladimir Putin? Can you imagine the response to that? (Do you remember Trump in Helsinki? What if Obama had done what Trump did in Helsinki???) How would republicans have responded to Obama LYING over 3000 times per year? I could go on and on – but, I hope you get the point.

Nothing surprises my anymore when it comes to Trump. I’ve accepted that each day I should just expect another “scandal” being uncovered. In fact, I believe there’s so much we DON’T know there will be further surprises down the “road” – remember, Trump has sycophants in charge of federal bureaucracies who are determined to destroy the institution they head. Slowly the DAMAGE caused by this assault on the fundamentals of our government will become apparent and, I believe, will add to the depressing feeling of what Trump is doing to America. Trump manages to screw up EVERYTHING he “touches,” and it’s getting to the point where he’s “touching” too much! For example, while I don’t know anyone who would criticize an American (so-called – sorry, I can’t help myself) president visiting troops in Iraq, It’s hard for me to stomach watching a (so-called) president standing in front of troops in a war zone and LYING to their faces! This has to stop! “All hands on deck!!!”