Abuse Of Power

Tip Of The Iceberg? Some Republicans Warn Mueller Should Be Allowed To Finish Investigation

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It is interesting to note that some top Republicans have stated over the past weekend that Special Counsel Robert Mueller should be allowed to finish his investigation into Donald Trump and his administration on charges of possible Russian Collusion, Obstruction of Justice, and other charges, without any intervention or action by Donald Trump.

Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina made that very clear.

So did Florida Senator Marco Rubio, South Carolina Congressman Trey Gowdy and Arizona Senator John McCain. Also, Arizona Senator Jeff Flake has spoken up.

But notice that Graham and Rubio are not facing voters this fall; McCain is in the hospital; and Gowdy and Flake are not seeking reelection.

And a spokesman for Speaker of the House Paul Ryan issued a similar statement for Ryan. Ryan has all along proved to be a gutless wonder, who may yet decide not to run for reelection, but in any case, is not willing to stick his neck out too much.

One can be sure that if Barack Obama had dared to behave like Trump has for 14 months, the Republicans would be out to get his head immediately!

Is this “the tip of the iceberg”? Will the Republican Congress demonstrate candor and take their responsibilities of oversight of the executive Branch seriously, and the protection of the Constitution, or allow abuse of power by Donald Trump?

Hard to say, as other Republicans totally ignored the rantings and ravings on Twitter by Trump this past weekend on Mueller, and fired former Deputy Head of the FBI Andrew McCabe, and former FBI head James Comey.

At the same time, former intelligence officials such as former CIA head John Brennan and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, and former retired Four Star Army General Barry McCaffrey unleashed attacks on Trump as a danger to national security, with his continued unwillingness to criticize Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

There is no question we are in the midst of a massive constitutional crisis, far worse than Richard Nixon and Watergate 45 years ago!

Karma Is Coming to Donald Trump And His Family, And Their Greed And Selfishness And Massive Corruption Will Lead To Criminal Penalties

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Karma is coming, and soon, to Donald Trump and his family, as their greed, selfishness and massive corruption will lead to criminal penalties, with the strong likelihood of prison time for himself, his daughter, his sons, and son in law down the road.

This is not just from what Special Counsel Robert Mueller is engaged in investigating, but also New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, as financial crimes done in New York State cannot be willed to disappear, even for the President of the United States and his family members.

The evidence is rapidly building up against Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump, Donald Trump, Jr, and even Eric Trump.

And the crimes against them and/or the President include:

Russian Collusion
Treason
Money Laundering and Other Financial Crimes
Obstruction of Justice
Perjury
Abuse of Power
Violation of the Emoluments Clause
Nepotism Charges
Undermining of Intelligence Agencies, Justice Department, State Department And Defense Department (National Security And Law Enforcement Functions)
Sexual Harassment and Abuse

More people who have worked for Donald Trump will be indicted, convicted, and sentenced to prison than under any President, easily surpassing the over 40 number who faced charges under Richard Nixon’s Presidency.

More people will have massive legal bills caused by participation in evil with Donald Trump, and their reputations, as well as their wallets, will be destroyed by having chosen to work with the most corrupt, evil, and dangerous President in American history.

The day of reckoning is coming, and soon!

Speaker Of The House Paul Ryan A Total Disaster, Caving In To Donald Trump, And Undermining Congressional Authority Against Presidents

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Speaker of the House Paul Ryan has become a total disaster, caving in to Donald Trump, and undermining Congressional authority against Presidential abuses.

Ryan has helped to undermine the investigation of Special Counsel Robert Mueller into Russian collusion, abuse of power, obstruction of justice, money laundering, violation of the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution, and sexual harassment and abuse by President Trump.

There are rumors that he plans to retire from Congress this year, and not too soon, as he has failed to play the role of a Speaker who puts the good of the nation ahead of politics.

He also is despicable in his craving for cutting the Social Safety Net of Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, as well as cutting back on essential regulations of labor conditions, the environment, health care, and education.

He is presiding over a House of Representatives which is way out of the norm of American politics, caving in to religious extremists and the Freedom Caucus, which is anarchistic in its hatred of the federal government.

This author and blogger condemned Ryan back in 2012 when he was Mitt Romney’s Vice Presidential running mate, and his position on Ryan has not changed.

By comparison, John Boehner, with all his shortcomings, was nowhere as horrible as Ryan has been.

Randy Bryce is running as the Democrat trying to unseat Ryan from his Wisconsin Congressional seat, if he chooses to run, and whether Ryan runs or not, hopefully, Randy Bryce can be part of the expected Democratic “Blue” wave coming in November 2018. Bryce is an Army veteran, a cancer survivor, and iron worker running to give American workers in the First Congressional District of Wisconsin an opportunity to have one of their own background representing them in Washington, DC.

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein And Special Counsel Robert Mueller In Danger Of Being Fired, Undermining Russian Investigation

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Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein is in danger of being fired by President Donald Trump, in order to stop the investigation of the Russian collusion scandal by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, appointed by Rosenstein after the firing of FBI Director James Comey last May.

If that were to happen, it seems likely that Trump would try to find someone else, maybe Rachel Brand, the next ranking person in the Justice Department, to fire Mueller.

Both Rosenstein and Brand are Republican appointments, and Mueller was the former head of the FBI, appointed by George W. Bush, so this is not an issue of Democrats being in danger, but rather Republicans, as Trump works to cover up his involvement in Russian collusion in the 2016 Presidential campaign, as well as money laundering, obstruction of justice, abuse of power, and violation of the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution.

This would provoke a situation similar to the “Saturday Night Massacre” under Richard Nixon in October 1973, when Nixon fired Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox, in the midst of the Watergate Scandal, the first step in the move toward impeachment of Nixon, and his eventual forced resignation in August 1974.

This would create a constitutional crisis greater than Watergate, and the American people must rise up to prevent what Trump is trying to do, create a dictatorship, in which a President is unaccountable for his illegal behavior, and a situation where his party in Congress is unwilling to take a stand against executive abuse of power.

Donald Trump has done so much damage already in so many ways, and he must be stopped now, before we lose our democracy and our image of ourselves as a nation based upon the rule of law and the Constitution.

Trump Tax Cuts Already Undermining Budget, And Threatening Social Safety Net Of Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid

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The Trump tax cuts are already, just as they are going into effect, causing a massive shortage of government funds, and threatening the stability of the Social Safety Net of Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, and as well as educational, environmental, consumer, and labor laws.

This is precisely what the Republican Party of Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, and the Trump White House wants, to destroy the entire social and economic reforms and regulatory laws of the New Deal of Franklin D. Roosevelt, the Great Society of the Lyndon B. Johnson, and the reforms of Barack Obama, along with lesser reforms of Harry Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.

The Republican Party is now an extremist right wing party controlled by the Freedom Caucus and evangelical Christians, who will not be satisfied until they take America back to the 1920s and the Gilded Age.

And this past week, the beginning of the end of what is now 88 months of economic expansion and job growth is evident, as today, the stock market collapsed with a 670 point drop, and a 1,000 point drop over this entire week. This is the biggest drop in two years, about 2.5 percent in the past week. It is also the biggest drop since the financial crisis of late 2008, which led to the Great Recession.

This was predictable, as no market or economic growth can continue to expand forever and already, the seven years and four months of expansion, since the last months of 2010, is an all time record.

We will go through very rough times from now on, and yet the wealthy top one or two percent will continue to gain massive tax cuts, while the rest of America suffers.

We are on the road to potential social uprising, as the American people realize that a President who lost the popular vote, and has engaged in illegal acts, works to undermine the investigation of Russian collusion, money laundering, abuse of power, violating the emoluments clause, and obstruction of justice, at the expense of the American people, but makes sure his class of wealthy people continues to benefit.

The Trump public opinion rating in the mid 30s is likely to collapse into the 20s at this rate, but will the Republican Party try to rectify itself in Congress, or will they continue to collaborate in treason and corruption, and destroy their historical legacy long term?

We shall see in the months leading up to a likely massacre in the midterm elections this November.

Growing Evidence Of Many More Trump Staff And Advisers Facing Prosecution In Most Corrupt Administration In American History

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So far, only four people surrounding Donald Trump have been implicated in the scandals of the most corrupt President in American history, bar none.

But Robert Mueller is, after eight months, clearly investigating many others for various violations of the law in many different areas

So far, Paul Manafort, Rick Gates, George Papadopoulos, and Michael Flynn have been brought to legal action by the Special Counsel.

But there is growing evidence that many more Trump staff and advisers are facing prosecution, and soon.

Expect criminal prosecution of Attorney General Jeff Sessions; Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke; Environmental Protection Agency Head Scott Pruitt; former aide Stephen Bannon; Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin; Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross; White House Counselor Kelly Anne Conway; White House economist Gary Cohn; former White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer; former White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus; among others. Some clearly will cooperate with Mueller to avoid prosecution or, at least, to have minimum liability legally.

But also expect Donald Trump, Jr; Ivanka Trump: Jared Kushner–Trump family children—to face legal problems, and possible indictment.

And racist, white supremacist, nativist aide Stephen Miller, will probably be shown to be engaged in illegal activities as well, a gut feeling on the part of the author, as Miller comes across as more of a sleaze ball than many.

And Donald Trump will not escape charges, and will be forced out of office for his various crimes–including potential charges of obstruction of justice, abuse of power, violation of the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution, money laundering, treason, as well as the corruption involving payoffs to Stormy Daniels and other women he has engaged with in sex scandals.

And do not be surprised if his wife, Melania, the First Lady, becomes the first case of seeking a divorce from a sitting President, or even a former President.

Donald Trump And Libel Laws: Massive Number Of Lawsuits Could Be Lodged Against Him For His Constant Libeling Of Critics And Opponents

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Yesterday, Donald Trump called for a massive overhaul of America’s libel laws, so that anyone who lies about someone else, says or publishes untruths, can be sued for libel and be forced to pay large financial damages.

This would be done to silence critics in their public statements, and news media, journalists, and authors from freedom of speech and freedom of the press.

Any person or entity, including this author and blogger, could be hauled into federal court, costing vast amounts of attorney expenses, to defend the truth and veracity of his or her statements or publications.

Is there anything more unconstitutional or more a violation of basic civil liberties and the Bill of Rights, than this utterance by an authoritarian, fascist oriented disgrace of a human being?

It would effectively silence any exposure, revelation, or accountability for an abusive government leader, the kind of treatment one finds in authoritarian nations, such as Russia, China, Turkey, Egypt, the Philippines, Iran, and other nations around the world, and historically in the Soviet Union, Nazi Germany, and Fascist Italy.

It would destroy our democracy and rule of law, and promote intolerance and suppression of differing views of government as it affects the American population.

Ironically, though, Donald Trump could face thousands of law suits for all of his unsubstantiated attacks on his critics in the Republican Party during the 2016 election campaign, as well as while he has been in the White House, as well as Democrats, and all the news media and other critics who have correctly called him out for his abuse of power and his divisive, hateful rants in public rallies, in the White House and on Twitter.

Donald Trump has lied incessantly, an average of five times a day, over 2,000 lies since he announced his candidacy on June 16, 2015.

He should be sued under his own definition of libel for every one of these two thousand plus lies, and his defamation of individuals and institutions, and it would leave him impoverished after financial payments were imposed on him.

He is the last person who should bring up the issue of libel, and he could be, as a result, “hoist with his own petard”!

Magnificent Victory For Doug Jones In Alabama: Its Meaning

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Last night’s magnificent victory in Alabama for Doug Jones in the special election to replace Jeff Sessions in the US Senate has so many meanings.

It is a total repudiation of the despicable former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore.

It is a total repudiation of Donald Trump, who now has lost twice in Alabama, after doing so well in that state in 2016. He lost with Luther Strange and now with Roy Moore.

It is a total repudiation of Steve Bannon, and his continued assault on the “Establishment” in the Republican Party, and is likely to lead to a Democratic House and Senate in the 2018 Midterm Congressional elections.

It is a total repudiation of disgraceful talk show host Sean Hannity on Fox News Channel, who could end up possibly implicated in the Trump Scandals being investigated by Special Counsel Robert Mueller.

On a positive vein, it demonstrates that the forces of good are there, even in Alabama, as African Americans, Latinos, women, and young people came out and voted in an off year special election at much higher rates than projected.

It is also a tribute to conservative mainstream Republican Senator Richard Shelby of Alabama, who refused to endorse and support Roy Moore, and told his supporters that he had voted a write in candidate, and that they could do so as well. As it turns out, if all of the write in votes had gone to Moore, it would have been a victory for the combative former Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court.

It was also a sign of just how good and decent Doug Jones was and is, as a prosecutor who, almost 40 years later, was able to gain convictions of Ku Klux Klansmen who killed those four young African American girls in that despicable church bombing in Birmingham in 1963. It was wonderful seeing African Americans on the stage with Jones at his victory celebration, showing the race issue does not have to divide Alabama or America.

It is also a sign of the significance of campaign adviser Joe Trippi, who earlier had worked for Walter Mondale, Gary Hart, Jerry Brown, Dick Gephardt, Ted Kennedy, and John Edwards in their various campaigns. What a great adviser Joe Trippi is!

This blogger was emotional about this great victory last night, and more so than even the great victories in New Jersey and particularly Virginia in the November off year elections.

Now it is time to move forward and force Donald Trump, who has divided America in so many hateful ways, to face the punishment he deserves, which is potential impeachment, with moral turpitude to be added to Russian Collusion, Obstruction of Justice, Abuse of Power, and Violation of the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution.

It is also time for the top people around Trump to show they have courage and to demand he resign or they resign en masse. This includes John Kelly, H. R. McMaster, James Mattis, Rex Tillerson, and Nikki Haley.

The time for the cancer of Donald Trump to be excised has come, and the Democrats must use Trump against the Republicans, if they refuse to take responsibility for the dangers and authoritarianism that he represents.

It is time for the Republicans to put nation over party.

The Nightmare Year Of Donald Trump, But Suburbia, Women, Minorities, White Collar Educated, Those Under 45, And Independents Are Organizing To End The Trump Presidency

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A year ago on this date, Donald Trump “won” the Presidency, with 26 percent of all eligible voters backing him, 46 percent of actual voters, and losing the popular vote by nearly 3 million to Democratic Presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, and having 8 million others voting for third party candidates, therefore having 11 million more people voting against him than for him.

No President who has won the Electoral College but lost the popular vote has done so poorly, as compared to John Quincy Adams losing to Andrew Jackson by 38,000 votes in 1824; as Rutherford B. Hayes losing to Samuel Tilden by 252,000 votes in 1876; as Benjamin Harrison losing to Grover Cleveland by 110,000 votes in 1888; or George W. Bush losing to Al Gore by 544,000 votes in 2000.

Also, Trump’s Electoral College victory with 304 electoral votes is only 46th of 58 national elections.

The past year, since his victory, has been a horror in so many ways, as Donald Trump has accomplished nothing in legislation, but has undermined a century of progress under Republican and Democratic Presidents from Theodore Roosevelt to Barack Obama in domestic and foreign policy.

He has abused his executive authority to declare war on the environment, promoted discrimination against immigrants and Muslims, advocated the end of government regulation of business, undermining on civil liberties and civil rights, disarray in our foreign relations with our allies and our enemies in the world, destroyed the concept of civility and common decency, and damaged the image of the Presidency itself.

But he has also demonstrated a level of scandal and corruption far greater than the corruption which took place under Ulysses S. Grant, Warren G. Harding, Richard Nixon, and Ronald Reagan.

His appointees, with a few exceptions, have been a total disgrace, making them the worst cabinet in performance and ethics we have ever seen.

Assuredly, Donald Trump will be the second President, after Richard Nixon, to be forced out office in the next year by the Mueller investigation of Russian collusion, obstruction of justice, abuse of power, and violation of the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution.

The reaction against him among intelligent voters is already evident from Tuesday’s off year elections, as suburbia, women, minorities, white collar educated, those under 45, and independents are organizing to end the Trump Presidency and punish the Republican Party that nominated him, have collaborated with him, and are conspiring to enrich the wealthy yet once again, as they did under Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush. In so doing, the Republican Party has declared war on the middle class, and shown no compassion for the poor, the sick, the disabled, and senior citizens.

A major wave election in 2018 is in the offing, as the goal is to destroy the cancer of the Trump Presidency, although some of the damage he and his party have done will take decades to eliminate totally from the nation’s domestic and foreign policy.

This is a major national tragedy, a setback that the nation will pay for long term.

Eight Months Of Donald Trump: Destabilization Of Domestic And Foreign Policy

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Today marks eight months of the Donald Trump Presidency, eight months of destabilization of domestic and foreign policy.

One wonders how much more of this America and the world can stand.

The good news is that Special Counsel Robert Mueller is steaming ahead in his investigation of the Trump scandals, including Russian collusion, obstruction of justice, abuse of power, and violation of the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution.

Mueller has his sights on Michael Flynn and Paul Manafort, and has gained a FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) wiretapping order that indicates evidence that can be used against many Trump associates and the President and family members as well.

This author published an article in February on HNN, picked up by Newsweek, that went viral, stating the belief that Trump would leave office between the James A. Garfield assassination death after 199 days and the Zachary Taylor natural cause of death after 492 days, which is matched on May 27, 2018.

Now this author would change the date to predict that by the Ides of March (March 15), the date of the assassination of Julius Caesar in 44 BC, that we will see Trump leaving office, which would be 419 days.

The clock is definitely ticking for Donald Trump, but meanwhile, there is great concern that Trump could launch a nuclear attack or declare martial law, and it is essential for the military people around Trump–John Kelly, H. R. Mcmaster, and James Mattis–to work to prevent such actions as the investigation continues toward resolution.