Month: November 2019

The Trump White House Reaches A New Low: Condemning Marie Yovanovitch and Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman

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Donald Trump’s White House has reached a new low, employing character assassination of public servants doing their job in reporting the wrongdoings on Ukraine to the House Impeachment investigation.

Trump has blasted both former Ukraine Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch and National Security Council member Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman, questioning their loyalty and their honesty, and putting both of them in direct threat of reprisal encouraged by right wing forces, including Fox News Channel and specific hate mongers in conservative talk radio, outlined yesterday on this blog.

Also Republican House members of the Intelligence Committee, including Jim Jordan of Ohio and Devin Nunes of California, were totally demagogic and despicable in their attempt to besmirch the reputation of both Yovanovitch and Vindman, as well as other witnesses, accusing them of espionage and dual loyalties. The lack of respect for Vindman wearing his uniform was shocking, and the fact that he came to this country as a toddler being seen as an attack on immigration was condemnatory.

We have never seen such behavior by any other President, and that should be another issue for impeachment, and now, even Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is in the “dog house”, as Trump is reported to be blaming him for the various witnesses testifying, many of whom are connected to the State Department, although Pompeo does not personally know many of them.

The Trump White House is deteriorating ever further before our eyes, and undermining American foreign policy, as well as destroying any progress on any basic issue, as Donald Trump flails in the wind in a crazy manner, added to by the chest issue he had that led him to go to Walter Reed Medical Center this past weekend.

It is time for mass marches to demand the resignation of this crooked, immoral, unethical, disastrous President, and his indictment, trial, conviction, and incarceration in federal prison!

Demagogic Right Wing Talk Show Hosts Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Dennis Prager, Hugh Hewitt All Distorting Truth About Trump

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Damagogic right wing talk show hosts, including most notably Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Dennis Prager, and Hugh Hewitt are all distorting the truth about Donald Trump in the impeachment hearings.

This has led to the outrage that conservative talk show host Craig Silverman in Denver, Colorado, was fired in mid show last week, when he leveled some criticism of Trump, someone he had voted for in 2016, but had become disillusioned recently with the vast amount of evidence that Trump bullied Ukraine’s President, and tried to tie aid to that president against Russian intrusion, to an investigating of Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden.

These despicable talk show hosts, and Fox News Channel’s Laura Ingraham and Tucker Carlson, along with Hannity, and Fox Business Channel’s Lou Dobbs, have no scruples, ethics, or morals, and are willing to destroy the reputation of good public servants who have done their duty in reporting the impeachable behavior of Donald Trump.

Corrupt Mitch McConnell Determines Republican Party Reputation Long Term

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Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has in his hands the future long term reputation of the Republican Party as evidence against Donald Trump builds up in public hearings.

He is fatally flawed as his wife, Elaine Chao, is Secretary of Transportation for Donald Trump, so in theory, he should not be leading the Republicans as they get ready to hold the inevitable impeachment trial.

How McConnell handles that trial, and whether he will try to impose unity among his Republican colleagues is a big question yet to be answered.

The sense is that a number of Republican Senators seem likely to vote to convict, and if McConnell interferes with their freedom to decide, he will likely doom those Senators and their reelection campaigns for those who are facing election in 2020, and long term reputations of those retiring, or facing election in 2022 and 2024.

Corruption Levels Of Democratic And Republican Presidencies Since 1963

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Fifty six years have passed since Lyndon B. Johnson became President, and in that period, we have had six Republican Presidents and four Democratic Presidents.

Republicans have held the Presidency thirty plus years since 1969, and Democrats have been in the White House for 25 years in that half century plus.

The record shows that Democrats have had a total of three executive branch officials indicted, with one conviction and one prison sentence.

Meanwhile, Republicans have had a total of 120 executive branch officials indicted, with 89 criminal convictions and 33 prison sentences.

To be fair, Gerald Ford and George H. W. Bush each had one indictment, one conviction, and one prison sentence each.

But Richard Nixon had 76 criminal indictments, 55 convictions, and 15 prison sentences, while Ronald Reagan had 26 criminal indictments, 16 convictions, and 8 prison sentences, and George W. Bush had 16 criminal indictments, 16 convictions, and 8 prison sentences.

Meanwhile, Bill Clinton had, after all the investigations and publicity by Republicans in Congress, a total of 2 criminal indictments, one conviction, and one prison sentence. Jimmy Carter had one indictment, and no convictions and no prison sentences, while Barack Obama had ZERO indictments, convictions, and prison sentences.

And then, there is Donald Trump, who already, in less than three years, has seen 6 major figures indicted and convicted and having prison sentences, including Michael Cohen, Michael Flynn, Paul Manafort, Rick Gates, George Papadopoulos, and now, Roger Stone, and many others Russian connected also facing criminal charges that may not lead to convictions because they are in Russia.

And this does not include the many past and present cabinet members and other significant figures who have been caught in corruption, and will, in many cases, face indictments, convictions, and prison sentences in the future, as this administration is likely to surpass all previous Republican Presidents in levels of criminality!

Deval Patrick Joins The Presidential Race Belatedly

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Former Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick entered the race for the Democratic Presidential nomination this week, further muddying up the waters at a time when we need fewer candidates.

Patrick is impressive in many ways, but being connected to Bain Capital, the company started by Mitt Romney, is not a plus, and it seems to this blogger that he has little chance to be a major factor in the race, in that sense joining former NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who has decided not to compete in the February 2020 contests in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada.

The concern is that by having ever more contenders, the Democrats will shoot themselves, and help Donald Trump to win the Presidency, even after he is impeached by the House of Representatives, but failing to be convicted in the US Senate.

The fact that there are still ten contenders in the MSNBC debate this coming Wednesday in Atlanta, cosponsored by the Washington Post, is not good, as clearly some of them have zero chance to be the nominee.

At the same time, other contenders, including Julian Castro and Steve Bullock, are probably now no longer to be seen as serious contenders.

But one cannot see Tom Steyer or Tulsi Gabbard as serious contenders, and they are in the upcoming debate.

Hopefully, the number of contenders will soon decline rapidly after this fourth debate.

The Most Lasting And Destructive Impact Of Donald Trump: 157 Federal Judicial Confirmations For Life Term!

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After nearly three years of President Donald Trump, the realization is that the most lasting and destructive impact he has had is the reality that he has seen 157 Federal Judicial confirmations to life terms on the federal courts, including two Supreme Court Justices.

This is due to the efforts of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who has made it his mission to make the federal courts as right wing extremist as possible for the next two generations.

That is about a little less than twenty percent of the total number of federal judges, now standing at 870.

Many of these confirmed judges are incompetent, inexperienced, and unqualified for lifetime appointments, but the nation is stuck with them.

These judges will promote the right wing agenda, including favoring corporations, the wealthy, and religious extremists, and working against women, racial and ethnic minorities, the disabled, the poor, and gays and lesbians.

They will also promote more Presidential powers, and undermine the environment, labor interests, and consumers.

This will become more and more a never ending constitutional crisis as the nation becomes a majority non white in 25 years, and as Democrats gain the edge in future elections with reapportionment of seats, likely winning the Presidency once Texas goes Democratic, but having a Supreme Court and other federal courts more conservative than ever since the Gilded Age and the 1920s, and holding back progress and reform.

This reality may lead to a move to add members to the Supreme Court once the Democrats gain control of the US Senate. It does not bode well for the future of constitutional government in the next 20-40 years.

Does The Ukraine Scandal Help Or Hurt Joe Biden’s Presidential Candidacy?

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The Ukraine Scandal, which has led finally to the impeachment move against President Donald Trump, with Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi terming it “bribery”, a specific impeachment charge contained in the Constitution, may help or hurt Joe Biden’s Presidential candidacy.

It seems clear that Hunter Biden, Joe Biden’s younger son, was not engaged in any corruption, and neither was his father, but of course, subject to potential revelations in the future.

If there is a real scandal, then Biden’s potential to be the Democratic Presidential nominee and have a chance to win the Presidency, will be harmed. It also becomes another burden, no matter what else is going on, for Biden to have to answer questions and deal with this for the next year if he gains the nomination.

But also, Biden could be harmed by just the image of illegality, and it could weaken the case that he is the best person to challenge Donald Trump.

The next few months will tell the story if Joe Biden is unable to overcome the attempt by Trump to damage his candidacy.

And with two more moderates suddenly entering the Presidential race belatedly–former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and former Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick–Biden will certainly have more competition in the caucuses and primaries beginning in just the next two and a half months.

Pete Buttigieg Soars To First In Iowa Caucus Poll

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South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg has surged to first place in a new Iowa Caucus poll, the Monmouth University poll, an amazing rise for a mayor of a small sized city in a red state. He has gained 14 points since the summer, rising from 8 percent to 22 percent, three points ahead of Joe Biden.

It is time to start seeing Mayor Pete as a serious contender, rather than as a curiosity.

His major negative is that he has almost no support in the African American community, which right now is smitten with Joe Biden, a surprise when one thinks that either Kamala Harris or Cory Booker would have a strong support in that community, and yet does not do so.

Mayor Pete being gay and having a husband will alienate evangelical Christians, who, however, would never vote Democratic in any case.

One might say that having an urban executive government record of 8 years in South Bend, Indiana, is not a plus, but actually, being a mayor is often more on the front lines of what is America than being a Governor of a Southern state, such as Arkansas (Bill Clinton); or as Georgia one term of four years (Jimmy Carter); or two years as Governor (Woodrow Wilson in New Jersey); or four years as Governor (Franklin D. Roosevelt in New York); or no government experience (Donald Trump); or a much shorter one year mayoralty as Grover Cleveland in Buffalo, New York, or Calvin Coolidge in Northampton, Massachusetts, or Andrew Johnson in Greeneville, Tennessee.

American history is full of surprises, so do not write Mayor Pete off, as he might very well be the Democratic Presidential nominee and the 46th President of the United States!

Nikki Haley Has Damaged Her Image Irreparably With Criticism Of Rex Tillerson And John Kelly Opposition To Donald Trump, And Her Laudatory Endorsement Of Trump

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Former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, earlier Governor of South Carolina, always had a good reputation, including her opposition to Donald Trump’s candidacy in 2016 for the Presidency.

When she agreed, however, to be his UN Ambassador, her image was harmed, although she came across as one of a very few Trump appointees not involved in corruption nor in unseemly advocacy of horrific policies.

There is no question that Haley has political ambitions, but her decision to criticize former Trump appointees Rex Tillerson and John Kelly for trying to recruit her to undermine Trump, makes her look totally unable to see the danger that Trump represents in both domestic and foreign policy, and on the issue of separation of powers.

It seems clear that Haley is trying to undermine Vice President Mike Pence, and possibly replace him as the Vice Presidential nominee in 2020.

This shows she has no principles, decency, ethics, morals, or scruples other than her own advancement. She is totally delusional, when she says Trump was always truthful, and that she had no doubts about his capability to be President, a mind boggling assertion on her part! How could she say that Trump listened well, and that she always enjoyed working with him, when we know that Trump is on a constant rampage of anger on Twitter and in public statements?

So she has lost a lot of decent Americans who wanted to believe she was a quality figure, a rare one, but now it is clear she has no concern except her own aggrandizement. She is willing to see the destruction of the Republican Party by her constant endorsement of the worst President in American history, a denial of all GOP Presidents of the past!

So Nikki Haley is just another typical disgraceful Republican who should be repudiated for future political office, as she is willing to accept the lawless, abuse of power, and obstruction of justice of Donald Trump!

Is Kamala Harris Indeed “The Female Barack Obama”? The Hype Seems Not To Be Happening For 2020

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California Senator Kamala Harris seemed to be on the road to becoming “The Female Barack Obama”, a person of mixed race, attractive appearance, and the potential to be the Democratic Presidential nominee in 2020.

But, surprisingly, Harris has languished in the background, seemingly faltering, while Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Indiana, has surged to number four among Democratic candidates, replacing Harris.

While it is too early to write Harris off, the feeling is developing that she will not win any early state in February, and might have trouble even in California on Super Tuesday, by the power of Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and Pete Buttigieg.

In theory, Harris could be a Vice Presidential running mate, but more likely, she will simply have a long career in the US Senate, and maybe pursue the Presidency in a later time in the mid to late 2020s.