Tag Archives: Trump Impeachment

Blog, Politics

A Trial In Need Of A Judge

Leave a comment

Chris Matthews just posed the question of whether what’s happening in the Senate is some kind of “jury nullification.” In other words, the jurors know what the law says they should do but they are going to vote for the opposite.

I think the problem is a bit different. Not only is the defense (the Republicans) threatening to nullify the law once it comes time to vote on the guilt or innocence of Donald Trump – they are also preventing evidence from being presented.

What is accepted into evidence, by way of both documents and witnesses, should be up to Justice John Roberts, not Mitch McConnell and the Republicans. The Democrats need to figure this one out and so does John Roberts. Without it there can be no trial, and without a legitimate trial our system of checks and balances, our Constitution, is no longer valid.

Without it, we will have a dictatorship, not just now, but going forward as well.

McConnell and the Republicans are trying to throw away everything that makes the Republic work. They are trying to throw away our basic freedoms. Our liberty based in law. I’m fairly sure the founders never envisioned one party or another stopping evidence from being presented during a senate trial. Simply put, you can’t have a trial without the relevant evidence, and it should be up to the judge to decide what’s relevant.

Blog, Politics

Trump’s Ties To Russia – Time To Stop Playing Silly Games And Get Some Answers

1 Comment

The amount of overt linkage between the Trump campaign (Administration) and the Russians continues to grow, and yet,  much of the media appears to be in denial about just how threatening this situation truly is.

The Guardian, has published an excellent piece connecting the dots on at least six individuals from inside the Trump camp, with contacts pointing back to the Kremlin.    The most recent, is the new Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, who had two meetings with the Russian Ambassador, while Sessions was a sitting Senator and “surrogate” for the Trump campaign.   Then there was Paul Manafort, who appeared from out of nowhere to take over the Trump campaign, only to be summarily dismissed when news surfaced of his ties to a Russian-backed government in Ukraine, where Mr. Putin went to war, sending troops into Crimea, seizing it militarily and presenting a whole new military threat to the Balkans and the European Union.

There is also former National Security Adviser, Michael Flynn, Foreign Policy Adviser, Carter Page and attorney, Michael Cohen, not to mention our new Secretary of State and former CEO of Exxon, Rex Tillerson, whose ties to Putin and Russian oil are now infamous.    A man with no experience in government diplomacy who is now, nevertheless, the chief diplomat for the most powerful nation on earth.

And then there’s Roger Stone.   A former Trump adviser who was also investigated by the FBI for alleged contact with Russia, and who, like Paul Manafort, was fired from the campaign.  Stone,  denies having any contact with the Russians.

If all of that isn’t enough,  a bit of brilliant reportage by Rachel Maddow the other night (please see preceding post) tied in Trump’s new Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross to the Bank of Cypress, where he is partners with Russian oligarch and former KGB agent and Putin ally,  Viktor Vekselberg.    Question:   To what degree is the Commerce Secretary of the United States benefiting from Russian money moving through his bank?   Where is the money coming from?Where is it going?  Does anyone even care?   Is our government now being run by the Russians?

Why, whenever he’s asked about Putin and the Russians, does our president act like they are beyond reproach, even going so far as to insist that America, with its democratic tradition, is no better than this current Russian oligarchy/dictatorship?

When questioned by Bill O’Reilly about the bloodthirsty ways with which Putin deals with his critics, Trump,  replied, “There are a lot of killers. We got a lot of killers. What, you think our country is so innocent?” 

That is ridiculous to the point of being asinine and  thoroughly un-American.  We do not deal with journalists or political critics by having them murdered or sent to a gulag.   We aren’t the country that had six diplomats die in four months.   That would be the Russians.

When listening to his repeated excuses and inexplicable ongoing defense of Putin and the Russians, it feels as though either A: Trump is being blackmailed, or he is B: being blackmailed.   Putin and his buddies are former KGB, not a bunch of diplomacy-first advocates for international peace and goodwill, and their operatives have an ongoing and abnormal connection to the administration of Donald J. Trump.

The White House is calling efforts to look into the Trump/Russia connection, “a witch hunt.”    Guess what the Russians are saying it is?  That very same thing, “a witch hunt.”    Almost like it was an agreed to talking point?    What the hell’s going on here?

There should be calls for impeachment.  Instead, Republican cowards continue making excuses for a growing pile of evidence showing a clear danger to the country from one of our oldest enemies, a Russian government that has already launched a cyber attack on our political process while possibly corrupting and to a degree,  maybe even controlling a sitting president.   How can we know,  when Mr. Trump continues his refusal to release his tax records?

It’s time to pull our heads from the sand and demand that our elected officials answer the critical question on the degree to which the Russians have influenced and possibly continue to influence the President of the United States.    It’s not like the evidence isn’t there.

The time for denial is long past.  Barring the political will for impeachment, this calls for a complete and totally independent investigation, far removed from the reach of politics, as so many of our politicians have shown themselves to be without sufficient honor to do the jobs they were elected to do.

The Russian bear is standing in the middle of the room laughing at us, threatening the existence of our democratic way of life.   Foreign powers, like the Russians, now have the ability to funnel untold millions of dollars into our political campaigns thanks to an incredibly bad ruling (Citizens United) by the U.S. Supreme Court. We the people must demand a resolution.   This is not acceptable.

 

Blog, Politics

High Crimes And Misdemeanors?

Leave a comment

headshot

Four-twenty in the morning is as good a time as any to be surfing the web, looking up the legal definition of “high crimes and misdemeanors,” searching for any possible angle that might be used to stop Donald Trump from being sworn in.   I can dream, can’t I?

The Constitution provides for an impeachment process, but Trump will have to be sworn-in before an embarrassed and fearful Republican majority in both houses will be able to remove him from office before doing any lasting damage.   That would give them President Pence, which is undoubtedly what they really want.

Just how messed up and serious things truly are has been impressed upon us by Neocon David Frum, former speech writer for George W. Bush, who is arguing that we  should all be grateful if Mitt Romney or anyone of his ilk might agree to accept a position in the upcoming Trump Administration, because it might save us from the chaos of thinking that is sure to accompany Trump to office as he continues acting more like an angry teenager tweeting out missives against the nation’s newspaper of record, The New York Times.

Not only is this unbecoming of a president-elect, it might be considered downright bizarre.    Equally strange, is the announcement that Trump is now going to take a “victory tour” of the country, giving him an opportunity to fulfill the ego-gratification that comes with speaking to crowds of his supporters.   It’s not like he has anything else pressing that needs his immediate and undivided attention, like putting an administration together.   No, the ego trip that comes from interfacing with his supporters is obviously more  important.

The really frightening thing in all of this bizarro political world turned upside down, is that Frum is right.   Regardless of what you might think of Neocons and their entire socio-economic fascist philosophy,  in this case, he is absolutely correct.    The best we may be able to hope for at this point is for someone like Romney to get on board the Trumpist ship of state, ready and willing to strap down that big fat loose canon as it rolls with the waves between the far-right on one side and what appears to be some undefinable need to be accepted by the masses of Americans who were conned into voting for him, thinking he can actually relate to, or genuinely cares about anyone but himself, on the other.

One wonders if Trump knows what Trump wants now that he’s confronted with a position he possibly never really imagined he’d be able to obtain?     One wonders what goes on inside that golden domed comb-over.

At the very least,  considering the Trump campaign’s relationship with the Russians, his failure to establish a blind trust for his  businesses, his prior proclamation of a need to seek out revenge against his political opponents, Mrs. Clinton in particular once he is in office, not to mention legal issues surrounding Trump University and suggesting violence might be a viable alternative to reasonable and peaceful political recourse,  he may have already exhibited a gross incompetence to hold the office of President, possibly qualifying for the broad definition of “high crimes and misdemeanors.”

The problem, of course, is that Congress can’t act prior to Trump being sworn in, prior to the powers of the Presidency being turned over to someone with an agenda no one, possibly even the President-elect himself, can understand.

The only solution, prior to that taking place, would be for the electors to fulfill their obligation to the nation and refuse to cast their ballots for Trump when they meet in December.  And that, we are told by pundits and political luminaries, is highly unlikely to the point of being out of the question.  But is it even possible?

Short of an upset by the electors, perhaps our best hope, as Mr. Frum has suggested, is for Mitt Romney, or anyone with a more traditional outlook and less extreme political experience and no known financial ties to the Turks, Russians or other operatives eager to influence the oval office,  to swallow hard, get on board, and do whatever he or she can to influence our soon-to-be president to set  a reasonable course for the country – while we wait for Congress to debate the true meaning of “high crimes and misdemeanors.”

It could be quite some time before any of us gets a really good night’s sleep again.    What’s happening now makes the Obama years feel somehow distant,  nothing more than a dream of a time when more stable and sane political discourse was the norm – by which, of course, I mean that it was possible to understand what was being said.