Trump Impeachment

Donald Trump’s Attack On Bob Woodward, The Master Journalist With 45 Years Of Excellence, Falls Flat

Donald Trump’s attack on journalist Bob Woodward, famous from Richard Nixon and the Watergate Scandal, and author of 18 best selling books over four and a half decades, falls flat.

Trump has been exposed for who he is, not only by Woodward, but also by the “Anonymous” op-ed in the New York Times; by Omarora Manigault Newman’s book; by the Michael Cohen guilty plea; the agreement of Trump Organization Treasurer Allen Weisselberg to cooperate; and now, most recently, by the Paul Manafort guilty plea.

The evidence of how dangerous and unhinged Trump is, plus his criminal activity of Russian collusion, obstruction of justice, abuse of power, and violation of the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution, is magnifying, and when, as seems likely, the Democratic Party gains control of at least the House of Representatives in November, clearly shown in all public opinion polls, action will be swift toward impeachment and potential resignation of the President.

Trump is flailing at his “enemies”, but the nation has become clearly disillusioned with Trump, and particularly so with women, minorities, the young, and suburban educated people.

Bob Woodward is one of the greatest journalists and authors of modern times, and his new book will stand the test of time and veracity, without any question.

Woodward helped by his journalism, along with Carl Bernstein, to bring down Richard Nixon, four and a half decades ago, and now Woodward, along with others, will help bring Donald Trump down, and accountable to the justice system.

Law Professors, Lawyers, And Donald Trump: A Time For Patriotism Over Sycophancy

In the midst of the national and international crisis of Donald Trump’s “love affair” with Vladimir Putin, we are seeing law professors and lawyers who are acting like sycophants, and in the process harming their reputations, at a time when patriotism should win out over sycophancy.

Law Professors, including Alan Dershowitz and Jonathan Turley are finding ways to justify Trump’s illegal, immoral, and unconstitutional behavior, while Laurence Tribe is adding to his reputation as a respectable and legitimate scholar.

Meanwhile, well known attorney Joseph diGenova is promoting conspiracy theories about the “Deep State” and is undermining the FBI and the intelligence agencies, while Theodore Olson is showing how dignified, decent and credible he has always been.

And these are just the best known law professors and attorneys, splitting and dividing, as we learn who the legitimate law professors and lawyers really are, in this greatest of all constitutional crises.

Dershowitz, a former professor at Harvard Law School, and a renowned attorney in the O J Simpson case and many others, has said that Special Counsel Robert Mueller should never have been appointed, and that a “witch hunt” is being conducted against Donald Trump, using the exact language of the President. Dershowitz sees no evidence of any crimes by Trump, but also does not see it as likely that Trump would fire Mueller, although last June, Trump came close to firing Mueller, a month into the investigation. This is crazy legal judgment, and makes one wonder what Dershowitz’s whole purpose is.

Turley is a professor of law at George Washington University, claims there is no evidence of collusion by Trump with Russia, and he agreees with the idea of a second Special Counsel to investigate the FBI, a mind boggling example of sycophancy by Turley, undermining the ability to investigate the illegal actions by Trump. Turley has become a favorite to be on Fox News Channel, and it undermines his whole career as a law professor.

Tribe, a renowned professor at Harvard Law School, has been a strong critic of Donald Trump, and has advocated his impeachment, and is publishing a new book on that topic, out in May, but already number one on the Amazon list of best selling books. Tribe has been a credit to his profession and to the law school community for decades, and is not selling his soul to the Right Wing which has no problem with the disgraceful Presidency of Donald Trump.

diGenova has long been seen as an attorney who relies on conspiracy theories and undermining of respect for the law, so it is not surprising that he has now joined the Trump legal team, out to destroy the FBI and the intelligence community, and overlook the facts on the case against Trump.

And Olson is a well respected attorney, who defended George W. Bush in the 2000 Presidential election controversy; then lost his wife Barbara in the plane that crashed into the Pentagon on September 11, 2001; followed by joining fellow attorney David Boies, his rival in the 2000 election controversy in fighting the case for gay marriage in court, leading to the Supreme Court decisoin in 2015. Olson has rejected the idea of joining the Trump defense team, and adds to his stature by doing so.

This is a time for patriotism and justice over sycophancy and demagoguery, so Tribe and Olson are to be commended, while Dershowitz, Turley, and diGenova are to be condemned!

Gerald Ford, The Right Person To Succeed Richard Nixon, But Is Mike Pence The Right Person To Succeed Donald Trump? NO!

On this day in 1974, the nation was fortunate that Richard Nixon resigned, and Gerald Ford became President of the United States.

We needed someone like Gerald Ford to heal the nation after the Watergate Scandal, and Ford fit the situation very well.

A respectable member of the House of Representatives for 25 years, House Minority Leader for the last nine of those years, and Vice President by appointment for eight months under the 25th Amendment to the Constitution, we were fortunate that he was next in line for the Presidency, instead of corrupt Vice President Spiro Agnew, who would have been a disaster in the Presidency, dividing the nation even more than Richard Nixon.

Ford was controversial for pardoning Nixon one month into his Presidency, and it helped to cause his defeat, along with the strong right wing conservative challenge of former California Governor Ronald Reagan, but he had the right personality and instincts, and as a moderate conservative, was able to work with both parties, considering that the opposition Democrats controlled both houses.

Ford was an honest, decent man, and his wife Betty was arguably the most accessible and decent modern Republican First Lady, sharing her private turmoil with alcohol and breast cancer with the nation.

Gerald Ford lost a very close race to Jimmy Carter in 1976, so was the fifth Vice President not to be elected President, the first since Chester Alan Arthur in 1884, but he came to be admired and loved as he aged, and he ended up as the longest living President, when he died at age 93 years and 165 days on December 26, 2006, the same day of the year as Harry Truman died in 1972.

The longevity of Ford will be surpassed by George H. W. Bush if he lives to November 25, just three and a half months from now, and Jimmy Carter will pass Ford’s age on March 15, 2018, although if Bush continues to be alive, it will not break the record of longevity.

Now, however, Mike Pence would be the successor if Donald Trump is impeached and removed, or resigns from office, but Mike Pence is no Gerald Ford. Pence is much more extreme right wing conservative, unlike Ford, and is a religious extremist, promoting church and state combination in government, which is against the spirit of the Constitution and Bill of Rights. The policies and programs under Pence, while certainly likely to be somewhat different than Trump, would be dramatically different from those of Gerald Ford.

So one could wish that Gerald Ford could come back from the dead to be available to succeed Donald Trump, but sadly we are going to have to live with a President Pence at some point in the near future.

We can wish him luck, but be prepared to oppose him vigorously in the promotion of his right wing agenda, with less chaos, anarchy, and craziness, but still out of the mainstream of the American people and what they want the policies of our government to be in the future.

Trump Tweet On Comey Meeting Taping: Now Trump Admits He Lied, But Tweet Led to Robert Mueller As Special Counsel To Investigate Obstruction Of Justice And Russian Ties

Donald Trump lied about having a taping system recording his meeting with James Comey, before he fired the former FBI head.

It took 41 days for Trump to admit yet another lie, but this time, it led to Robert Mueller being appointed Special Counsel to investigate charges of Obstruction Of Justice, and Russian Ties.

So, effectively, Donald Trump put himself into a legal quandary that likely will force him out office at some point in the next year.

And if he tries to fire Rod Rosenstein, the Deputy Attorney General who appointed Robert Mueller, or decides to fire Mueller directly, Donald Trump is a prime candidate for impeachment investigation!

So it could be that Trump has been “hoist by his own petard”, unwittingly undermining himself and effectively shooting himself in the foot, as the saying goes!

Rob Quist And Jon Ossoff Could Be Signs Of Democratic Advancement Against Donald Trump

The odds are growing that Democrat Rob Quist will win over Republican Greg Gianforte for the At Large House of Representatives seat in Montana this week, and that Democrat Jon Ossoff will win over Republican Karen Handel for the Georgia 6th Congressional seat race next month, flipping two House seats to the Democratic Party.

This is, to a great extent, due to the growing lack of popularity of President Donald Trump, and if the flip of two seats occurs, it could be a sign of a coming Democratic wave for the House elections in the fall of 2018, and would make Nancy Pelosi the House Speaker in 2019-2020, after having been Speaker from 2007-2010.

The odds of winning the Senate, however, are very long, and highly unlikely. as 25 Democrats must defend their seats, with only 8 Republicans facing reelection.

But a House of Representatives with a Democratic majority could move toward impeachment of the President, even though conviction in the Senate by two thirds is highly speculative, as right now it would require 19 Republicans along with the 48 Democrats, to be accomplished.

But if Donald Trump is still in office in 2019, such an impeachment trial might convince Trump to resign the Presidency, as Richard Nixon did in 1974.

Eight Republican Senators Possible Votes Against House Passed “Health Care” Bill, So Highly Unlikely That “TrumpCare” Will Become Law!

Senator Susan Collins of Maine

Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska

Senator Dean Heller of Nevada

Senator Jeff Flake of Arizona

Senator John McCain of Arizona

Senator Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia

Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee

Senator Rob Portman of Ohio

These are the 8 Republican Senators who are seen as likely to vote against the House passed excuse for a “Health Care” bill, making it highly unlikely that “TrumpCare” will become law!

Collins and Murkowski do not want Planned Parenthood defunded, and want to protect Medicaid patients in their states, both states with many poor people.

Heller faces a very tough race for reelection in Nevada, as does Flake in Arizona, and both have a very large senior citizen constituency in their Western states.

McCain, despite his often inconsistent statements and actions, is basically a moderate, certainly as compared to the vast majority of Republicans in the Senate and in Congress.

Capito comes from one of the poorest states of all, West Virginia, and many poor, disabled (such as coal miners), and senior citizens would be harmed by the GOP passed House bill.

Corker is one of the more reasonable Republican Senators, and seems very cautious as to accepting such a radical bill as the House passed.

Portman also comes across as one of the more reasonable Republican Senators, and Ohio is the state of Governor John Kasich, who extended Medicaid, and it is hard to imagine that Portman would wish to harm his state’s disabled, senior citizens and poor, in a state which went for Trump, not realizing that the President would not give a damn about those on Medicaid, and those who were willing to support him with no good reason to do so, except being ignorant of reality about what right wing Republicans would do to destroy the good parts of ObamaCare.

It is hard to imagine that ANY Democratic Senator, not even Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Joe Donnelly of Indiana, Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, or Jon Tester of Montanan would support any major change in the Affordable Care Act!

So do NOT expect any kind of legislation anywhere near what the House Freedom Caucus, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, or Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price want, and expect that the American people will react in 2018 by a Democratic takeover of the House, including a move toward impeachment of the most despicable President in American history, bar none, Donald Trump!

The 38th Earth Day: And Donald Trump Has Declared War On The Environment And Science!

Saturday, April 22, is Earth Day, first declared by Richard Nixon in 1970.

Richard Nixon turned out to be one of the great environmental Presidents, despite his Watergate Scandal.

So was Jimmy Carter, with the best one term record on the environment. Also outstanding on the environment was Franklin D. Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, and Lyndon B. Johnson.

Barack Obama reached the few on the top of the list with his magnificent advancements, which sadly, is being destroyed to a great extent by Donald Trump.

Ronald Reagan was a horrible person on the environment, but Trump is rapidly moving him from the bottom of the modern Presidents on the environment.

Trump has hired Scott Pruitt head of the Environmental Protection Agency, the agency created by Nixon and the Democratic Congress, and Pruitt is like putting a fox in a chicken coop, and is out to destroy and defund the EPA entirely in the next couple of years.

The American people must demand that this war on the environment be stopped, as for a government to be unconcerned about clean air, clean water, and safe environmental conditions at work is a crime against humanity, really equivalent of a war crime, as it indicates no concern about the health and well being of the American people.

Theodore Roosevelt, our greatest environmental President, would be furious if he knew what his Republican Party has done, declare war on nature for the selfish benefit of corrupt corporations only interested in making profits.

Donald Trump is criminal for declaring war on the environment and science, and must be held accountable for the damage he has wrought already.

It should be one of the impeachment charges brought against him in a future confrontation between the President and the Congress, hopefully brought about in 2018 by a Democratic controlled House of Representatives.

Even if that fails to occur, progressives must hold Trump accountable in history for his crimes against the environment!

25 Days, And Major Scandal Which Brings Likely End Of Trump Presidency, And Mike Pence As 46th President Of The United States!

Only 25 days into the Trump Presidency, and already a scandal, and it is looking as if Donald Trump will be gone before the 199 days of James A. Garfield, who was assassinated in 1881.

That would mean by August 7 that Trump will have left the White House.

It is six days until February 20, one month in office, the length of time of William Henry Harrison in the Presidency, before he died of pneumonia in 1841.

The Michael Flynn resignation as National Security Adviser puts Trump on the spot, as his “bromance” with Russian President Vladimir Putin, along with that of Flynn, endangers the national security interests of the United States.

Trump could be considered a traitor to the United States by many, and it seems very likely a move toward impeachment is likely in the short run.

It is also interesting that Vice President Mike Pence seems to have been the one to assert himself, and help to force Flynn out, so that is also a sign that Pence may be moving toward a possible challenge to his boss, which can be promoted by the 25th Amendment, Section 4, which I wrote about last month (January 22) on History News Network, with the article found on the right side of my blog.

One can now expect Mike Pence to be our 46th President of the United States before 2017 is over!

Is Donald Trump On Road To Being International War Criminal By His Stated Views On Torture, Oil, And Punishment Of Terrorist Families?

It looks, at least by Donald Trump rhetoric that the 45th President of the United States is on the road to being an international war criminal, if he were to follow through on his stated views on torture, the oil of Iraq, and punishment of terrorist families.

It is clear that waterboarding and similar tortures utilized by George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and Donald Rumsfeld a decade ago in the Iraq War was criminal activity against the Geneva Convention and international standards of proper behavior toward detainees in war.

The top people around Donald Trump–Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly, and Secretary of Defense James Mattis, have all stated their opposition to revival of this tactic, along with CIA Director Mike Pompeo.

But that does not mean that Trump would not order it be done, but if so, all of these people should make clear to him that if he does so, that they will resign. Otherwise, they would also be war criminals.

Trump’s statement that America might invade Iraq again, and seize their oil, is also an international war crime, no different than the tactics of Adolf Hitler.

And his idea that the families of suspected or actual terrorists should be subject to punishment, including bombing their homes, and imprisonment and execution, is also, definitely, a war crime.

We have a megalomaniac, a dangerous, mentally unhinged President, who is disgracing us before the world community, and he needs to be arrested and sent to the Hague to the International War Crimes Tribunal in the Hague, the Netherlands, IF he follows through on any of these threats.

And being an international war criminal is enough grounds for his immediate removal by impeachment, and if the Republican Congress refused to do so, they would be accessories to war crimes.

Republican “Firewall”, Added To Democratic Opposition In US Senate, Gives Some Hope To Control Trump Appointments And Initiatives

Dan Sullivan and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska
Jeff Flake and John McCain of Arizona
Cory Gardner of Colorado
Marco Rubio of Florida
Rand Paul of Kentucky
Susan Collins of Maine
Ben Sasse of Nebraska
Dean Heller of Nevada
Rob Portman of Ohio
Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania
Lindsey Graham of South Carolina
Lamar Alexander of Tennessee
Mike Lee of Utah
Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia

We must realize that Donald Trump is not really a Republican or a conservative, and is impossible to figure out what his agenda is, so that means that there will be a “firewall” of Republicans in the US Senate, who at least in some cases, can be added to Democratic opposition in the Senate, and give some hope that there will be control over Trump appointments and initiatives over the next few years.

Not all of the above list will cooperate and collaborate together on all issues, but they all seem to be likely to fight Trump on some issues, and if three or four work together with a united Democratic Party in the Senate, Trump will be unable to accomplish all his goals, and he is likely to bitterly denounce these Republicans, and cause, by his language, more stalemate and gridlock, and prevent the most grievous nominees and parts of his agenda.

The most likely to oppose Trump are the following: Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, John McCain, Lindsey Graham, Rand Paul, Marco Rubio, Jeff Flake, and Rob Portman in that order.

However, Ben Sasse and Mike Lee, as strong conservatives, are also likely to try to limit Trump Administration goals if they find them objectionable.

The others–Dan Sullivan, Cory Gardner, Dean Heller, Pat Toomey, Lamar Alexander, and Shelley Moore Capito–may, occasionally, join with the members of this group.

Remember that seven of this group—Murkowski, McCain, Rubio, Paul, Portman, Toomey, and Lee have a new six year term, so are not threatened by Trump as far as their Senate seat is concerned.

Only Flake and Heller face election contests in 2018, while the other seven –Sullivan, Gardner, Collins, Sasse, Graham, Alexander, and Capito face election in 2020.

So 16 Senators out of 52 Republicans, fully one third, could stand in the way of Donald Trump, and if he went too far in abuse of his powers, could, potentially, join in a possible move to promote impeachment, although even if all 48 Democrats joined in, would still fall short of the 67 needed to convict and remove him by three votes.