No Confidence!

In parliamentary systems the Prime Minister can be removed from office by a vote of no confidence that does not require hearings or trials. Removing a President of the United States from office is not that easy, but make no mistake about it the Republicans in Congress have cast their votes of no confidence in President Donald Trump. In passing the bill regarding sanctions against Russia this Republican Congress has made it clear that even members of the President's own party have no faith in him when it comes to dealing with Russia or Russians. The financial ties Trump and the people closest to him have with Russian oligarchs combined with Trump's fawning admiration of Vladimir Putin are troubling to say the least. The few members of congress who did not vote to protect America from Trump's obsequious behavior are guilty of a dereliction of duty, and I stand by that statement knowing full well how unusual it is for a political party to limit the power of their President, particularly in the area of foreign affairs.

Now lets address the subject of the investigations conducted by the Special Counsel and by Congress. Those investigations are going beyond looking into Russia's interference in our election and who may have aided and abetted the Russians. Special Counsel Mueller is looking closely at the financial entanglements mentioned above because those financial connections are conflicts of interest that will probably explain why Trump seems so eager to do Putin's bidding. The question now is how far will the Republicans go to protect this country from an incompetent President who is determined to squelch the investigations and hide the truth. Many Republican Senators are telling Trump not to fire Attorney General Sessions, and at least some of them are also telling him not to fire Special Counsel Mueller. But are there enough Senators who are willing to toss Trump out of office if he does fire Mueller? And what about the House? How many Republican members of Congress are willing to impeach Trump for obstruction of justice if Trump does fire Mueller?

The vote of no confidence mentioned above is encouraging, but an anxious nation wants to know what it will take to get the Republican Party to do the right thing! Donald Trump is presiding over (some would say under) the most dysfunctional White House ever. The recent staff shake ups are not going to solve that because the problem starts with President Trump! In the very short time he has been in office he has already demonstrated an unwillingness to accept the responsibility for anything that happens on his watch. He praised the Republican Representatives for passing a health care bill that would have thrown tens of millions of people off of their health care plans, and then he called that bill “mean” when it became apparent that those millions and others vehemently demonstrated their displeasure. This is a President who has no loyalty to anyone or any institution. He has already thrown Jeff Sessions, Reince Prieibus, and every member of congress who voted for that horrible bill under the bus! In light of Trump's behavior it is difficult to imagine anyone placing Trump's self interest ahead of the interests of this nation. And the interests of this nation are served by the investigation being conducted by the Special Counsel.

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said “...he intends to introduce his bill next week with the support of 'all' the Democrats and some Republicans. It would require 'judicial review' if a special counsel is fired while investigating the president or his staff. 'Judges will have to look and see if the reasons stated meet the statutory definitions,' he said.”

The passage of Mr. Graham's bill would avoid the question of impeachment for now. The results of the investigation would then determine whether that question is revisited and whether impeachment is warranted! The problem is that Mr. Graham's noble bill will require a veto proof majority! I am hopeful but not optimistic about Congress passing the bill with the majority needed to override Mr. Trump's veto.

So get active my friends! We have dodged the repeal of Obama care bullet for now because of the protests. We must keep demonstrating and fighting. We must insist in the strongest possible way that our Representatives and Senators pass Mr. Grahams bill with a large enough majority to defend us from the dangerous behavior of this incompetent, imperial President!

Shaken Up Donnie Twists and Shouts!

In the Trump white house truth is an unwelcome transient that shows up at the most inconvenient times. For six months or so Sean (Baghdad Bob) Spicer has been loyally dishonest. Now Mr. Spicer has finally decided to pack up what is left of his shredded reputation and depart, not because of the damage done to his reputation but because of the bruising of his ego. He was being demoted from his position as Director of Communications. Enter the new Director of Communications, Anthony Scaramucci, throwing wet kisses to Trump and doing his best imitation of Susie sunshine. In his first press conference Mr. Scaramucci denied that the train was off the tracks, and, mixing metaphors, insisted that the ship was on course. If Mr. Scaramucci thinks Donald Trump's ship of state is on course, he (Scaramucci) must be mistaking it for a submarine.

This latest white House shake up is prompted by desperation. Like Nixon during Watergate, Trump is feeling besieged. The Special Counsel is following the money, and the people closest to Trump, including members of his family, are being hauled up in the investigative net. All of those people are going to have to testify before the Senate or Congress and/or the Special Counsel. So Trump is in a panic and is lashing out. He is attacking the Special Counsel and the justice Department, including his Attorney General. In particular, he is highly critical of his messengers. They should be able to turn public opinion in Trump's favor even if he does undermine their efforts by tweeting ever changing and inconsistent stories.

Trump is hoping that shaking up his staff and bringing aboard another huckster like Scaramucci will solve his problems and give him the room he needs to squelch the investigations. He thinks this might work because he believes he can get away with anything as long as his delusional base stays with him. The Republican Party would not dare to anger Trump's base by impeaching him, would they? Probably not, but the Republicans are likely to lose control of congress if they do not pass any legislation.

The problem is that the Republicans have spent eight years demonizing the government and making it as dysfunctional as possible. They have forgotten how to govern, and they are led by someone who never knew how to govern. Furthermore their lies about Obama care and pledges to repeal it have created the bog into which they now find themselves ensnared. The hard right wingers like Rand Paul do not care that 30 million people will lose their health care coverage if Obama care is repealed but not replaced. Other Republicans think they are being more reasonable than Rand Paul. They want to replace Obama care with a plan that would throw only 23 million people off their health care plans. They call this a deal, not a compromise, non dare to present it to the uncompromising base as a compromise. The governors, both Democratic and Republican, who took advantage of the expanded Medicaid funding stand to lose big if either of those options are chosen. But not to worry, the third option is to repeal now and replace later. “It is not as bad as it sounds,” the Republicans say. “Honestly, it is not.” The repeal would not go into effect for two years and that is plenty of time to come up with a replacement. But the ineptitude the Republicans are now displaying indicates that two years is enough time to pass an acceptable replacement for Obama care only if the Democrats regain control of congress in 2018 elections. Now that sounds like a plan I could endorse if most economists did not agree that the uncertainty created by that two year laps will cause the price of insurance to skyrocket. Unlike Trump who is sabotaging the insurance exchanges to make Obama care fail, I believe that profiting from the suffering of my fellow citizens is unacceptable!

The reason I brought up the health care issue is that even many of the dullards who voted for Trump are still smart enough to know what eventually happens to people who do not have health care coverage. There is no issue, other than a total economic collapse, that can determine an election quicker than the health care issue. By the way where are the jobs? And why aren't wages going up? Trump will blame the Russia issue for his lack of accomplishments, but that is an issue of his own making! It is not the investigators who have become Putin's man ho. Nor does that issue prevent Trump or his party from doing the work of the people. There will always be a large minority who will stand by Trump no matter what, but his support will fade as he tries to put the unkept promises he has made farther and farther behind him.

Wonder No More

I can explain it. I know why the Trump administration is holding so many press conferences off camera. It has taken them a long time but they have finally figured out how we know when Donald Trump, Baghdad Bob Spicer, and Huckabee Sanders are lying; its when their lips are moving! So now they are using the old no see no tell tactic.

Meanwhile there is an overwhelming stench arising from the soiled diapers trying to cover Donald Trumps butt.  I realize that most of those diapers come from places that are intellectually challenged, at least in regard to politics and government, but you would have to have the intellect of a retarded  turtle to think that working with Russia to win an American election is not an illegal and immoral act!  Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, and or Paul Manafort knew or should have known that meeting with a person purporting to be a representative of the Russian government in order to obtain information harmful to Hillary Clinton would violate campaign laws and very possibly the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution.

The fact deniers are telling us that there is only a possibility of fire where there is smoke, and they keep demanding to see the flames.  But if there is no fire why is the white house paint blistering from the heat!  I doubt that it is just because junior is playing matches.

A horrible Time Has Us All

The world is a mess. The North Koreans are threatening us with Nuclear weapons. A resurgent Russia is interfering in our elections and is posing the greatest threat it has posed to us, its neighbors, and the mid east since the cold war. It is little wonder then that as the G20 Summit begins there are protesters in the streets of Hamburg demonstrating in favor of a large number of causes and against myriad conditions. Many of the conditions causing those demonstrations, such as Donald Trump pulling the United States out of the Paris Climate Agreement, and an obscene wealth gap in which “...the richest 85 people in the world are worth more than the poorest 3.5 billion...”should be of grave concern to everyone.

But fear not, President Donald Trump always has secret plans to deal with all of this. He cannot tell you what those plans are because they are so secret that even he does not know what they are! They are great though. You know they are because he says so. “So great,” he says. “You're going to love them!” I bet you'll love them even more than you love the health care plans he supports. And the latest plan, the Senate Plan, has a whopping 17% approval rating by American voters according to the latest poll. Americans are not terribly impressed by the fraudulent panel of voter suppressors either judging by the fact that 44 states are giving that panel the middle finger rather than the voter information requested. Well, all right I guess some good things are happening.

Bromance is in the air. At long last Trump is going to meet Putin face to ass, no long range kisses this time. Putin says great things about Trump and Trump replies in kind. “Why shouldn't I?” Trump asks. Well, there is that invasion of the Ukraine, the annexation of the Crimea, and the hacking and interference in our Presidential election. But Trump benefited from the hacking and interference, and it is all about him, you know. Trump simply cannot let go of the fact that he is a minority President who was helped by the illegal activities of Russia. So he consistently denies the hacking by Russia or says that the hacking may have been committed by them or others. Forget about his teleprompted speeches; they are written by adults for the most part. It is his tweets and extemporaneous comments that tell us what he really thinks, if thinking is the right word for what Trump does in those unguarded moments. The one thing you can say with certainty is that he never lets an inconvenient fact get in the way of his comments and contentions. Obama did nothing about the alleged Russian hacking and interference according Trump. Well, I guess that is true if you don't count the seizure of property, privately threatening Russia with retaliation, fortifying our cyberdefenses, and publicly warning the nation about the hacking and the false news planted by the Russians. I might add that the false news benefiting Trump is usually propagated or perpetuated by the fake media, not what trump calls fake media, but the media that gives fact checkers carpal tunnel syndrome because of the sheer volume of lies. That is right, I am taking about Fox News, right wing blogs, and so called conservative radio blowhards. By the way, can anyone with an IQ above eighty tell me what Obama has to do with whether or not Trump should confront Putin over the hacking and interference in our election or whether we should keep the sanctions against Russia in place?

I cannot tell you how sad it makes me to have to say that the greatest threat the world faces right now might well be the incompetence, petulance and lack of control too frequently demonstrated by America's fake President.