The Screaming Moderate

My president right or wrong?

10/30/2019

A couple of weeks ago, the President tweet-ordered Republicans in Congress to be more aggressive in their defense of him as a target of the impeachment inquiry. Like robots, about 30 or so of the Republican House members charged into the classified room being used by the inquiry committees demanding to be heard!

That delayed the hearings by a few hours. Also, about a dozen of those charging Republican elephants were on one of the three committees conducting the inquiry, meaning they already had access to the room. But that’s not my point.

For the last couple of days the President has been Tweeting that Republicans in Congress should stop criticizing the process and start defending him on the substance – meaning defend him against coming impeachment articles of abuse of power among other things, including that call with the Ukrainian president that so many now have testified about, confirming what the whistleblower said.

Here the Republican flock hesitates a bit because they don’t want to defend him on the substance, likely because many believe he has abused his office but they fear him.

This week, a decorated military man who is still serving took to the witness table before the impeachment inquiry testifying to behavior by the President that compromised national security. In response, the President and many in his Republican chorus criticized the colonel (who was criticizing his commander-in-chief - a huge deal). They called him an immigrant and implied his loyalty was to his birth country, Ukraine. He also is Jewish and to many Jews this “loyalty to another country” is a trope used against Jews for years because the anti-semitic trope implies Israel is their home country.

So, there are Republicans taking up the President’s knee-jerk instinct to attack anyone who crosses him.

Will the Republicans defend him on the substance?

Well, likely most will, yes, because they fear they will lose election if they cross Trump. Trump is the mafia boss in this scenario, and you don’t cross a mafia boss, ever.

All presidents, whichever party, want loyalty from their party’s members in the House and Senate. But none to the degree that Trump demands it. Literally blind loyalty because they have to trust he's telling the truth, something he has a bad record on. Cross him and his people find an acolyte to oppose you. Criticize him and you are attacked as an enemy of his.

Look at the record. South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham criticized Trump during the 2016 campaign in no uncertain terms. But Graham has come to heel at Trump’s knee. Just as Trump said the ISIS terrorist “died like a dog” that’s also how Trump likes his supporters – heeling at his command like the dogs they are.

The impeachment inquiry is about to enter the next stage -- the stage Trump and his followers have called for – open hearings where the President gets to question witnesses, exactly how the process has been carried out before.

This will be better than the best courtroom drama on TV, watching as witnesses testify to his misdeeds. The president probably will have direct feeds into his supporters' ears so he can orchestrate his defense. Will his defenders want to attack a soldier in uniform who is doing what he thought he could never do – testify against his commander? They already have in a personal, inappropriate way. But will they contest his version of the facts?

The whole situation has gotten very slimy, led by the slimer-in-chief. If any one of his defenders thought he had a soul, they’re about to see he has none. He will attack anyone who attacks him, even a witness who spilled blood for his country.

This from the man who claims to be an admirer and booster of the military. The man who boasted when he took office about “my generals.” The man who has attacked each of his generals as they tried to get the President to do the right things for the country.

Trump’s mission is to win. Not for the country, but for himself.

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If it quacks like a duck...

10/23/2019

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Yesterday’s testimony by the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine must be a turning point in Republican senators and House members’ blind loyalty – fear, really – of President Trump.

Other than those who believe in conspiracy theories or the existence of a dark state in the government, you had to have heard the testimony not only as another validation of the whistleblower’s report on Trump, but a frightening tale of a President of the United States clearly using his office as a private throne to honor him and only him, and to serve only his selfish and childish needs. Our country is of the people, by the people and for the people. Not for Donald Trump.

He thinks the Russia investigation was a hoax? He thinks the whistleblower is a made up person? He should try believing that President of the United States attempted to extort another country’s leader to help him win an election. Who’d believe that would ever happen?

But, with Donald Trump it’s always “you ain’t seen nothin’ yet,” so I expect we will be hearing even more tales of a man who thinks the presidency is like a mafia boss who’s power is unquestioned and whose orders are followed…or else. Trust me, there is more to the story involving matters other than Ukraine.

If the GOP members of the House and the Senate can just acknowledge that their souls are worth more than being tied to the death with a man with a death wish, we could rid the country of this criminal in the Oval Office. Yes, he is a criminal. If you don’t think extortion of another leader is a quid pro quo, it doesn’t have to be. It clearly is a high crime AND misdemeanor.

I never thought Trump would be impeached by the House AND found guilty by the Senate. But how can you not vote to convict a man who used his office to extort to gain a domestic political advantage. Not to mention deprive an ally of millions of military dollars to defend itself.

South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham said that if he could be shown evidence of a quid pro quo he would change his mind about the President being innocent. Lindsey, is this enough? A 50-year, respected man who has given his entire adult life to this country speaking on the record – does that do it for you? Along with the other evidence already on the table? If not, what the hell will?

And if it’s true that Trump tried to extort the Ukrainian president, what else has he done that we don’t know about? I mean besides getting wealthier by having foreigners stay at his properties? OR trying to award himself a big government contract? He blamed the Democrats and the media for that. No, it was his greed and belief that he is all powerful that did it.

Republicans, hasn’t this gone far enough? This is not a debate over whether we should have conservative or liberal judges. This is not a debate over how big government should be. This is not a debate about free education, or health care.

This is a debate over right or wrong.

Which side are you on?

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Neither stable nor a genius

10/14/2019

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The self-proclaimed “stable genius” is self-demonstrating that he isn’t.

His foreign policy, such as he has one, is failing all around the world and, as Donald Trump’s presidency has gone on, he has taken to making many of his decisions – especially on foreign policy – by himself, in a vacuum, despite having departments full of foreign policy experts. Of course, he doesn’t trust those folks because of his imagined opponent of a “deep state” conspiracy against him.

Trump is driven by today's and tomorrow’s headlines, not by any personal ideology – other than, maybe, his selfish personal interests which could range from personal enrichment to getting re-elected.

His latest stable genius moment was to move our troops out of Syria and away from supporting the Kurds, who helped us eliminate the caliphate. As pleased as Turkey is with this decision – the next day in effect they started moving into Syria, killing our former allies the Kurds - even the Republicans in Congress almost unanimously have voiced opposition to this move.

Let’s add into this foreign policy bonanza:

Trump announced a major agreement with China on trade. But the truth is there is no agreement at this point and the master negotiator probably gave China even more leverage since now he needs an agreement as negotiations continue.
Trump’s self-inflicted North Korea policy is flaming out in the aftermath of more nuclear testing by North Korea and his BFF Kim Jong Un basically telling the rest of America there will be no deal but leaving the out that our self-proclaimed “best negotiator in the world” is someone he wants to meet with to negotiate. That would be Trump who he obviously sees as easy pickings. For this failure, Trump thinks he should be awarded the Nobel Prize.
The Wall along our Mexican border that he repeatedly promised during his campaign (and would be paid for by Mexico) and during his presidency has seen not one foot of new wall built nor one dollar contributed by Mexico. Replacement of existing wall is going on and Trump points at those repairs as his building the wall. This way, he can lie on his campaign that he is building the wall.
While Trump caved to Israeli leader Netanyahu on moving our embassy inIsrael (to help Netanyahu win reelection, which he didn't), the long-promised winning Middle East strategy, being driven by his son-in-law Jared Kushner, has yet to be revealed though it has been in the works, we’ve been told, since Day One of his presidency.
Trump has threatened to pull our troops out of Japan and South Korea if those countries don’t increase compensation of posting them there. Of course that troop withdrawal, similar to Syria, would create a power vacuum at a time when North Korea is being as aggressive as ever with nuclear and missile tests.

There are more examples – the Paris Climate deal, NATO, NAFTA, relations with Russia, fighting the Islamic State to name a few – all of which (maybe with the exception of NAFTA) are putting America in a weakened global position.

Trump apparently is looking at a long list of promises he made on his campaign and is trying to show he delivered on every one. Now, many presidential candidates have promised much on their campaigns but when they got into office and learned more about the reality of certain situations, backed off for national security reasons.

Not Trump. He sees keeping his promises as a way he can campaign to a second term, whether those decisions are best for the U.S. or not.

For all his professing to be our military and veterans’ best friend, his foreign policy shows his disdain for the work they have done. Even Green Berets are being anonymously quoted (for legitimate fear of reprisals) saying what a disaster the decision for abandoning the Kurds is. And he says he respects the military but has ignored the commanders repeatedly when making decisions.

Republicans in Congress seem to be more willing to criticize Trump’s foreign policy than his domestic policy (which goes against the grain of GOP doctrine in many areas) probably because they know they can’t correct foreign policy mistakes as “easily” as they might correct his domestic policy decisions. Plus his latest decision on Syria, experts say, will allow ISIS to regroup and attack America again.

Prior to his election when asked where he got his knowledge of foreign policy Trump admitted that he mostly got it from the Sunday TV talk shows. Trump has demonstrated the truth of that as he prefers to take foreign policy advice from the likes of Fox News’ Tucker Carlson – a man who never served in the government nor is a foreign policy expert (though he was a contestant on Dancing with the Stars where he was voted off in week one).

Trump ignores counsel from his Cabinet or the thousands of public servants who get paid to gather information so decisions in foreign policy can be considered carefully and with the background of solid intelligence and from experts on each of the countries involved.

Our “stable genius” is neither stable nor a genius.

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The world is watching

9/30/2019

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Dear Members of Congress,

We are at a key moment in our country’s history.

President Trump during his campaign and his years in office has been offering up alternative facts, as his counselor likes to call them, or lies, as the rest of us call them.

He has pointed an accusing finger at legitimate news organizations who have done fabulous reporting during his Administration. Yet, Trump yells “fake news” simply when he doesn’t like their stories and while some believe him, you all, to a man and woman, know that he’s lying.

Facts, now, have two versions: the truth, and Trump’s truth. This cannot stand for our country to survive as the leader of the world.

Now, an impeachment inquiry has started. By its name, this is a search for facts, for the truth. Did the President ask his counterpart in Ukraine to investigate his political rival? If he did, was there a conscious and conspiratorial cover-up to hide what he did?

Seems to me an easy yes or no can be decided if a fair inquiry is conducted. One where facts rule. As the Democrats move to call witnesses and subpoena documents, will you Republicans be honestly looking for the facts? Or, will you continue to pretend to believe a president who has a lifelong history of lying and cheating because you fear for your own job?

And, will you Democrats stick to the facts and skip the political posturing?

A couple of Republicans have spoken up at least to say an inquiry should take place, a search for the truth. Republicans will you, though, actually participate in that search or pounce on talking points given to you by the White House? Democrats, will you spout talking point blather from the Democratic National Committee?

Impeachment is one of the most serious things the Congress can consider. Accusing and maybe convicting a President of the United States of high crimes and misdemeanors is serious business. Not only will your country mates be watching and listening closely, the world will be watching to see if our democracy still deserves the admiration we’ve enjoyed for hundreds of years. Or will we show them we’ve divided into camps, shouting and screaming rather than a democracy talking and debating? Will you blindly choose party over country or conduct an honest inquiry for the truth?

Republicans may already believe the president is innocent of any wrongdoing. Democrats may go into this inquiry ready to file articles of impeachment.

But, please, each of you -- stop. Consider the facts.

Please pay close attention to the inquiry to see if your preconceived notion is wrong. Pay attention and react honestly. You’re supposed to. It’s your sworn duty to the country and your constituents.

Just as President Trump may have violated the oath of office he took, you are being asked to be true to your oath of office, your pledge to preserve, protect and defend our Constitution. Will you? Can you put aside party and act on the facts presented? That’s what we elected you to do.

Why did the President use his private attorneys to try to get dirt on Joe Biden from Ukraine? He runs the biggest government in the world with agencies whose job it is to interact with other governments and which has folks on salary who investigate for a living. Did the President seem to try to extort a personal “favor” from the Ukrainian president?

This country unfortunately has been settling in camps, let’s call them Republican and Democrat. Please put that aside for this inquiry.

Please be honest in listening to and participating in the inquiry to assure it is done fairly and honestly.

Then vote based on the arrived at facts, not the Twitter accounts of the President or any of his opponents.

Please. The world will be watching.

Let’s show them we’re still the model of a type of government that they should aspire to be.

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GOP cancels primaries; Bolton's White House pass canceled

9/11/2019

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When you’re riding 90-plus percent approval within your own party, why should a primary challenger concern you?

And, is three the lucky number for a former National Security advisor who will talk publicly some inside baseball as to what the President is really like behind closed doors?

At least three state Republican parties have cancelled their primaries next year. Yet, there are four announced candidates for the presidential nomination. President Trump has always polled more than 90 percent approval from Republicans. I challenge you to name two of the other three men who’ve announced for the nomination. I’ll wait.

Okay, that’s my point – Trump has little to worry about from those three. But, he does having something to worry about if they draw some votes. It will show he’s not a “unanimous” choice and anything less than perfect would destroy his self-perception that he is perfect, just like Mary Poppins.

Do primaries cost state parties money? Yes, they do. But we live in a democracy and while political parties are free to hold or not hold primaries, in this case it looks like just one more box checked on Trump’s way to a dictatorship. Remember when we read “the party” ran various dictatorships in the world? The Republican Party could lose that second word and be “The Party” if they keep up their kowtowing to Trump.

He portrays great confidence publicly. He never admits a mistake. He says his presidency is the best ever for blacks and Hispanics though I doubt the residents of Puerto Rico would agree; he’s talked more about the horrible conditions in the Bahamas – and they are horrible conditions – than he has about the conditions in Puerto Rico.

And, he has been protected by his appointees who even after they leave office basically maintain their silence (with one or two not very credible exceptions).

Which brings us to John Bolton who, until yesterday or the night before – who can be sure – was Trump’s NSC advisor. That has been an important role in past administrations. The NSC advisor is the one who is supposed to be the honest broker and manage the inter-agency process for presidential decision making in foreign policy. And, there is the problem. There is no inter-agency process in this administration. Trump has been clear that he doesn't trust the "deep state" he thinks exists only to disrupt his presidency. He trusts only those sycophants who tell him how handsome he is and how perfect his brain is.

Whoever replaces Bolton will have a non-job. He or she will not have the President’s ear and he or she will not manage an inter-agency policy-making process.

Bolton though is the type who just may talk about the inner workings of this Administration. He will feel, I’m guessing, no loyalty to a President who even at the end claims he fired Bolton while Bolton says he resigned. And he will feel no loyalty because Trump didn’t do everything Bolton wanted.

Bolton has never been well liked in DC. He is an ideologue with sharp elbows. Reportedly, though, he has been good for reporters throughout his many years in Washington, including his Trump years - giving background information to them almost in real time. He, too, has a big ego. And he wants to “control the narrative” on his service in this administration, likely the pinnacle of his career.

The hope is he doesn’t wait until writing tell-all book to spill his hawkish guts. We need to know now, before the next election.

Bolton has been getting credit for being the one inside voice who probably has keep us from caving into Kim-Jong Un. He probably was the one keeping Trump from getting fully into Putin’s bed, at least as far as we know. He probably stopped that ridiculous Taliban at Camp David idea.

If you really did do those things, please, Ambassador Bolton, help stop this would-be dictator from being re-elected. Spill your guts on the record.

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If you don't like the weather wait -- Trump will change it

9/7/2019

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President Trump’s more than one week focus on not admitting he was wrong about a weather forecast has bridged into a much bigger problem than a whiny President who can’t admit an error.

While he’s done this in many other areas, he has put the integrity of his own government – our government – into major question, once again putting his ego before the safety of the citizens who elected him.

Trump’s mistake wasn’t even that big – he’d heard in a days earlier briefing that Hurricane Dorian might reach into Alabama but that forecast was history hours later when the maps showed Alabama was in no danger.

Still Trump persists that he wasn’t wrong.

Seeing his mistake and knowing the panic that could result from the President of the United States reporting that Alabama was in the cone of danger, the Alabama National Weather Service office immediately put out a statement saying that Alabama was in no danger.

The misstatement by the President in this case was really no biggie. He merely was reporting old information that at least showed Dorian might affect Alabama. By harping on it for a week – while American citizens were in danger from the storm and Bahamians literally are fighting for their lives – and because he runs the government, the President has done a major disservice to the citizens he governs and to the meteorologists who work for him. They were merely doing their jobs.

Think, for a moment, what happened in those minutes (yes minutes) that the weather bureau office debated putting out the correction. They knew they were refuting not just their ultimate boss but a vindictive President who can’t admit ever that he’s wrong. What did they do? They put out the statement. They did the right thing.

Their bosses, from Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross on down (the weather bureau is within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) which is part of Commerce) caved to the whims of a self-perceived strongman – protecting him (over a tiny mistake) rather than their employees who held true to their oath of office.

I used to work at the Commerce Department. If this incident had happened then, no way that secretary of commerce, the late Malcolm Baldrige (a man of high integrity) would ever have gone along with this charade. He knew you had to back your employees especially when they're right.

The President, like a fourth grader, then marked up a weather map with a Sharpie to use to back up his false statement.

This is how focused this President is on his own ego than he is on the safety of the people of this country. And really, it was a small mistake in the scheme of things.

If this were the only mistake Trump has made as President, how happy we all would be.

But let’s see what happens when his self-described love affair with the dictator of North Korea who, despite the President claiming he trusts him, keeps shooting off nuclear weapon tests.

I’m sure this President thinks he can lie his way out of any self-inflicted wound (the Wall that Mexico would pay for, the elimination of the budget deficit, etc. etc.). If the minor weather error is an example of his stubbornness, imagine what happens when Kim bombs Japan or Putin annexes another country.

As he has done so many times before, he will lie to escape any responsibility.

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The most real reality show in history and we can't change the channel

8/27/2019

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(WARNING: I am not a doctor. Any claims made in the following are those of a layman and not intended to be a diagnosis.)

President Trump is unhinged. Just when you think he cannot be more out of control or less of a leader than other presidents, he takes it another couple of steps forward, uh, backward.

His performance at the G-7 was embarrassing.

He actually claimed everyone got along well (Tangent: That’s not what his peers were overheard saying), and praised his host the president of France. Very un-Trump like.

He claimed the meetings were a big success yet the only true accomplishment was agreement to give a combined $20 million to Brazil to fight the fires in the Amazon. (Tangent: the President of Brazil refused to accept the money because, well, apparently because he may be as nuts as Trump.) The communique, which normally takes months to negotiate and then be made final by the principals at the meeting was in effect scratched after Trump’s performances in his first G-7 meetings.

Among Trump’s “accomplishments: at the meeting:

He relinquished the USA’s role as the world’s leader
He flipped before he flopped on several matters including the China trade war, first calling the Chinese president an “enemy” of the United States and then saying he was a fabulous man. (Tangent: He also called the chairman of the Fed, a Trump appointee, an enemy of the United States and didn’t take back that insult.)
He pitched his failing Doral resort as the next site for a G-7 meeting, which the U.S. will host. He said it had “bungalows” that house 50-70 people. (Tangent: A “bungalow” is defined as, well, not something that holds 50-70 people but far more intimate.)
He touted Doral’s mass amounts of parking (Tangent: As if these G-7 leaders need parking).
In spite of his promises to not make money while he was president because he is leveraging the presidency for himself he pitched Doral as he did when he was a developer in the private sector. Likely which will lead to a violation of the Constitution, but the courts will decide that at some point.
He praised his trade war with China even though his Agriculture Secretary was meeting with farmers at about the same time and the farmers were not happy. Total American agricultural exports to China were $24 billion in 2014 and fell to $9.1 billion last year, according to the American Farm Bureau. Instead of running their farms and businesses, the farmers are being paid out of a fund Trump set up to make up for some of their losses. (Tangent: Who says his trade war doesn’t affect you and me?)
As the TV barkers say, “And that’s not all!” Now, the China Trade War is also affecting U.S. manufacturers that Trump claims to be saving. As farmers have to cut back on their business, Deere and Company, makers of farm equipment, are losing orders because the farmers don’t need equipment when their businesses are losing money.
Trump held a press conference for more than an hour where he lied, made up “facts” and when a black journalist asked him a question he said, “I know you like President Obama” instead of answering her question which was why he continues to lie about Obama’s alleged role in Russia taking (Tangent: Yes, taking as in militarily annexing) Crimea.
On top of that, Trump spent a bunch of his time at the meeting arguing for Russia to be let back into the G-7 even though the group unanimously banned Russia after the aforementioned taking of Crimea and Russia has done nothing to rectify the violations that led to its expulsion.
He praised his BFF North Korea’s Kim Jong-Un as a good man, not long after Kim violated UN sanctions by testing nuclear missiles, which Trump says is OK with him even though he claims to want North Korea to give up its nukes.

I know I’m missing a few other matters involving Trump at the meeting. Oh, but I can’t forget that Trump claimed to get a couple of calls from senior Chinese officials regarding getting back to the negotiating table. (Tangent: That didn’t happen. Trump was conflating a few things. Oh, and by the way, it’s not typical for senior officials of any government to call the leader of another country.)

So, remembering the warning that leads this post – President Trump is around the bend, over the hill, loopy, maybe mentally unstable. And if you didn’t believe it before you have to at least begin to wonder now if he’s stable enough to lead this country and have the keys to our nuclear arsenal.

This isn’t funny anymore (Tangent: It never was funny.)

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The most important election in the USA's history

8/9/2019

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There is only one goal in the 2020 presidential campaign: Defeating Donald J. Trump.

Therefore, there is one issue in the 2020 presidential campaign: Donald J. Trump.

While I do not agree with the policy solutions offered by senators Elizabeth Warren or Bernie Sanders, if they become president I will find ways to oppose their solutions and offer better ones. That’s a better fight to me than fighting against what could be the ruination of this country as we know it under a second term of Trump.

Former Vice President Joe Biden so far seems to be fighting the battle on the issue of Trump. Sure he will have policy positions but, again, I’d rather fight over policy than over whether the President of the United States is a racist. Even though I think she is totally unqualified to even be a candidate for President, I’d rather get mad about Marianne Williamson’s focus on spiritualism as president than on arguing over Trump being in the pocket of the NRA.

Now that I think of it, I’d rather argue with a piece of gum over whether its flavor is spearmint, peppermint or bubble than argue about Donald Trump’s racist statements and splitting families apart on our southern border.

Don’t assume Trump can’t win election. He can.

If the battle is fought on issues, he could win because he has some good things to point to (the economy, regulations) and he will lie about anything if it helps him politically. If the battle is fought on how bad he is at appointing senior officials, he will blame others for their selection. If the economy peters out, it will be the Fed’s fault. If we can’t get a trade agreement with China, it will be because China won’t give us fair treatment. If it’s over crime, it’s because we let too many immigrants in or mental health. If it’s over gun control, it’s because guns don’t kill people, people kill people.

In short, he has an excuse for everything even if history or science or facts show otherwise. Example? Climate change. Every legitimate scientist in the world agrees climate change is happening and, despite what the President says, it will not change on its own like the weather.

He has enough that he can give shade to his record and maybe, again, fool enough of the people enough of the time.

But if the battle is fought on Donald Trump the Man, he loses. Most of the country has never approved of him personally, according to the polls. But if the question is job approval, according to pollster Nate Silver, Trump actually is climbing. His personal favorable ratings have always been low, well under 50 percent, but his job approval rating (a subtle but huge difference) has been sneaking upward lately. Silver says his job approval rating is up by about 10 percentage points since 2016. It’s still below 50 percent but don’t assume he’s hit his ceiling yet.

Why? Probably perceptions that the economy is doing well during his term (forgetting about when the improvement really started). The economy has remained strong though some say it’s showing signs of weakening, likely a result of Trump’s failed trade negotiations with China. But you’ll never hear that reason from Trump, who even believes, or at least says, China is paying his ridiculous tariffs. We are paying, through higher prices. Don’t believe it? Keep a close watch on the prices you pay for things. You’ll see.

We should have learned, and most of us did, about the destruction tariffs do to our economy with when the Hawley Smoot tariffs were enacted last century.

And don’t underestimate Trump’s ability to lie and have an impact. He’s very good at that. Not every American pays as close attention to the daily shocks that come out of the White House – they have lives to lead, jobs to focus on, and families to protect. Folks like me, and probably you, are very focused on his daily mistakes or his sidling up to dictators while turning his back to allies. Or his constant lying.

Nothing is more important right now than defeating Trump. You can debate over Biden or senators Kamala Harris or the others, but don’t get too attached. I know in your heart of hearts you want whoever runs against Trump to win.

And we’ll deal with whatever those consequences come along if the Democrat is elected. At least we won’t be fighting over the values that this country has shown to the world for more than 200 years. That is what gave America its strength and made it a magnet for people from all countries who want to better their lives, and their children’s lives.

That’s why if I were advising a campaign right now I’d be focused on one issue only – reminding voters what Donald Trump has done to this country. Reminding them he promised to release his income tax records but now says he’s not going to do it. If he released those records I have no doubt the American people would learn how he really makes or doesn’t make his money, how much money he really is worth and to whom he is beholden with loans.

Donald J. Trump is a very bad, nasty man – and I know I have Trump supporters who read this but please take an honest look at this man and his lack of empathy for anyone but himself. I know you like that he gives the finger to "the establishment." But just remember how many of his own appointees he has blamed for problems they did not create. And remember how he gave them the finger as they left. And, if he needs to, to build himself up, he'll give you the finger too. Loyalty is a one-way street in Trump's world.

Standing in front of the medical staff that just had gone through the worst few days of their lives, working long hours trying to save victims of a mass shooter in El Paso, Trump stood there quickly thanked them for all they did then pivoted to a riff on how big his … crowd was when he spoke in El Paso a few months ago.

And, by the way, he lied about the size of his … crowd too.

This is the most important election in the history of our country. And I do not say that lightly. In fact, if I were running any of the Democratic candidates campaigns, especially one of the leading ones, I would call a meeting of my counterparts and suggest we not criticize each other’s candidates except on policy. Not only should we all be putting country ahead of party, the candidates should put country in front of their campaigns.

The election is that important.

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Are these debates just made for TV? What about the election?

8/1/2019

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GPut aside, for the moment, the substance of the Democratic debates. CNN over-produced them, over-dressed them up and over-prettied up the Fox Theater.

From the veteran filled honor guard (with all due respect to their service) to the over-done stage makeover (of a really nice historic theater to begin with) – the production was, simply, over-done.

Understanding the challenges of developing a format that gives 10 candidates a fair shot at free air time to give the viewer an idea of what he or she stands for and the no-win situation of trying to stop them from going over those limits, it’s hard to figure out just who can beat Donald Trump from those debates. Which means, probably, Trump won the debates without even being there.

Dana Bash did the best job of trying to keep within the time limits by simply saying thank you while the very competent Jake Tapper failed at it, as did Don Lemon. I don’t know why that was. All three are very capable TV folks. But then again, maybe that shows the format doesn’t work.

The point of these debates, supposedly, is to give the voters a sense of who is their preferred candidate. Is it former Vice President Joe Biden, who looks tired on the stage and in his answers but still seems the best bet to beat President Trump, or Andrew Yang who chose not to wear a tie and noted that’s what we probably would remember about him. And he was correct about that.

On the substance, I’d have to say Sen. Elizabeth Warren (not my favorite candidate but you have to give that she clearly was the best prepared) “won.” But should these debates be about who “won” and who “lost.” Or should they be about determining who is the best candidate to run against Trump? They are not the same thing.

I must confess that I did not watch all of either debate. It almost hurt to watch as the candidates seemed to be playing verbal bumper cars rather than explaining why they are the best candidate.

I mean, how much can you stuff into a one-minute answer or a 15-second rebuttal? And why, anyway, does that qualify you to lead the free world? At one point I thought the goal was who would shout the loudest.

Also, how much time did their staffs spend trying to come up with the words that would give their candidate "a moment?" We are to decide who will be President based on a "'moment"?

I don’t know the answer other than to wait until the field is whittled down enough so we can get a good feel of each candidate. I read several of Marianne Williamson’s books years ago when I was trying to figure myself out. I found the books quite compelling. I do not see what makes her think she should be President of the United States. Or, for that matter, why ex-Cong. John Delaney thinks he should be commander-in-chief? Ego? An opportunity to build name ID so he can succeed again at something else? I don’t know…but he is not qualified to be the President, nor are many of the other 19 candidates.

If we believe the talking heads, and why not for sake of argument, Biden didn’t lose the debate, Sen. Kamala Harris held her own, etc. etc.

Personally, I want to learn who can best beat Donald Trump. The demographics are there for a Democrat victory, the public opinion polls indicate Trump will lose and has been deemed "unpopular" since the day he was elected, and those of us who want a President we can look up to are motivated to vote against him.

All we need is the candidate.

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Defeating Trump is paramount

7/30/2019

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In his two-plus years in office, President Trump has stomped on just about every institution in America, lied to the people and the world multiple times a day, tried to bully his enemies, bullied his “friends” in Congress into complete servitude and sullied the Office of the President. He has demanded loyalty from his appointees but not given loyalty in return.

This is not a good man.

He has been beholden to no man or woman but loyal to his base who accepts his behavior as taking on The Establishment, which they feel has ignored them for years and like his speaking “truth” to power.

He has not expanded his “base” at all and in fact may be losing some of those who voted for him but don’t like what they’ve gotten from his behavior and lies.

Imagine he wins a second term when: if he was beholden to no one in his first term – who would be a check on him in a second term?

So far, our American institutions have held. Courts are so far issuing justice and/but Trump and his cronies have been stacking the judiciary with their people, and without much media coverage. Voters flipped one House of Congress to be a check on the President in 2018 and now he ignores oversight requests, refuses to let his people testify in situations that likely would do him great harm, withholds records from Congress, which has a legal right to see them.

Still, the Senate is there to watch his back, and watch it they do – fearful that any opposition to him would cost them Trump’s base and, thus, their re-nomination to office. In a way the branches of government are split: the Judiciary and the House serving as a check on Trump; the Executive and the Senate controlled by a narcissistic man with no morals and who lies like the rest of us eat potato chips and who angers our allies and bows at the feet of the world’s dictators.

This morning, he claimed that he is getting “many” calls from the black community over his recent racist attacks on Congressmen of color and claims of Democrats “stealing billions of dollars” of federal money intended to help their constituents. Those calls, he claim, praise him for his telling the truth! Of course, he provided no proof of either the calls or the alleged theft of billions of dollars. One would think that if the theft were true, Trump would order his Justice Department to investigate. But, there is no such investigation.

Imagine, if you will, Trump winning a second term. Who would be a check on him then? He wouldn't need to worry about votes and he could consolidate power even more than he has, acting more like an authoritarian dictator than a democratically elected President of the United States.

And, he could win a second term. David Wasserman, an editor at the highly respected Cook Political Report, did an analysis that shows Trump could lose the popular vote by as many as 5 million – about twice the number he lost it by in 2016 – and still win reelection via the Electoral College if he drives his supporters to the polls in swing states.

Now, do you wonder why he plays to no one but his base? Without them, he has no chance to win re-election. His base is not racist but a sufficient amount (white nationalists for example) are that he plays the race card lately whenever he can. It’s only 2019. Are you ready for another 18 months of such behavior?

A second term would mean Trump would be accountable to no one.

He knows his base has to be brought out for him to win.

The rest of us (a majority of the population) need to adopt the same attitude. Not only do we need to coalesce behind a Democratic candidate to make sure he or she wins the nomination. The battle for the nomination shouldn’t be over progressive or moderate solutions to the nation’s problems but over who can defeat this monster of a president and provide leadership for the entire country to get behind. Likely that means a more moderate candidate, but the nomination process is just at the beginning. Time will tell.

The fact, though, is we should not assume that Trump will lose the election. We should do whatever we can – including, most importantly, going out to vote -- the foundation, today, of our democracy – to make sure his is a one-term presidency.

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My president right or wrong?

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Neither stable nor a genius

The world is watching

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Are these debates just made for TV? What about the election?

Defeating Trump is paramount

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