As the sickening predictable train smash of the Trump Presidency thunders on it forces a revisit to the question of how on earth did this mean spirited buffoon and cheat become such a “very very rich” celebrity in the first place let alone the country’s first citizen. His life long behaviors, echoed in the Republican Primary and Presidential campaigns, presaged that once in Office it would be his way or the high way. He served notice from the get go that he either did not understand or care about the separation of powers between the executive, the legislative branch and the judiciary. He would bully, bluff and behave like a thug as he illustrated again and again on the trail. Most important he was the greatest deal maker of all time so he could Make America Great Again. His role model was strongman Vladimir Putin and he would reset American relations with the authoritarian dictatorship. How it would be done was all documented in his story, which was only second in popularity, to the bible - The Art of The Deal.
SIXTY MILLION VOTERS ENABLED TRUMP
In the final analysis is the Trump phenomenon just a reflection of America’s state of mind in that sixty million citizens cast their votes for him to be their President? Put another way all these voters entrusted him to make life or death decisions on their behalf and accepted his half baked economic plans and unrealistic proposals as to how he would unscramble globalization. More sadly they either supported or ignored his racist and xenophobic message and endorsed his leadership. Then in spite of his unashamed sexist behavior over fifty percent of women voted for him. Most significantly the voters were prepared to overlook his authoritarian tendencies apparently convinced by his sales pitch.
It can be argued that, in a disillusioned and frightened world, he promised nirvana. For example, in healthcare, he committed to give coverage with lower premiums for all Americans but the legislation he subsequently backed would eliminate over twenty million citizens who currently have medical insurance. He then would bring back millions of manufacturing jobs by several stratagems designed to boost American industry, These included, labeling China a currency manipulator, introducing a trillion dollar infrastructure job program, slapping a border tax on foreign made goods and eliminating the NAFTA trade agreement. He has done none of the latter. He”loved” coal and would reopen the coal mines - all this in the first 100 days. Then of course there is that ”beautiful” wall. He would clean the swamp unlike “Pay for Play” Hillary and on and on.
What also was apparently so seductive to the masses was he was his own man - self made he would have you believe. The Establishment shunned him and he shunned The Establishment. He was one of the masses - “The blue collar billionaire”. They just loved the way he told it the way it was - shot his mouth off with the first thing that came to his head! He was self assured so totally in control - a winner.
DONALD FAILS TO DELIVER TO HIS ENABLERS
Well what has he achieved? There have been his well publicized executive moves to ban Muslims from entering the country. Even this promise, which has been watered down to citizens of six Muslim countries, has been stalled in the courts. His wall has not only not been financed by Mexico, the Republican Congress has as yet not passed a penny for its construction. As far as the promise to deport the eleven million illegals in the country, all that has been seen on television is the tawdry and shameful expulsion of lawful ‘illegals’ who were going for their mandatory visit with Immigration Authorities to prove that they have not broken the law.
Healthcare “reform” limped through in the House of Representatives but it was not what The Donald promised. (The Donald carries on as if it his vision that was passed). The Senate Republicans, if they ever get round to it, have indicated that there is a long road ahead for “Repeal and Replace Obamacare”. There is literally no hope that 51 out of 52 Republicans in the Senate will agree on any one Bill. There are enough on the left and right implacable to a middle of the road agreement. One major success with which he can be credited - the election of Supreme Court Judge Neil Gorsuch. By so doing he,“the libertine sinner and pussy grabber”, has satisfied the Evangelical faction of the GOP as their only agenda is that Roe v Wade is overturned.
Now without repeal of Obamacare there is no money for his grand fiscal plans to reduce taxes and the like - not to mention the trillion he wants for infrastructure. And it is his fiscal approach that gives him his flimsy relationship with the Republican Establishment. Without that he is a political hybrid with no overriding philosophy other than meaningless slogans such as “America First” and “Make America Great Again”. His base incidentally has no connect with the Conservative Fiscal Policy of the Ryan Establishment. They want their Medicare and Social Security,
So the only promise he really has delivered on is improving relations with Russia. Needless to say he has delivered nothing to his base.
THE RUSSIAN CONNECTION
The only consistent behavior from The Donald is his touching faith in Russia and it’s leader. What makes this observation so startling was that in the process of his romance it was revealed that Russia had undermined American Democracy by destabilizing the Presidential election. Although all seventeen intelligence agencies in the United States lead by the FBI, CIA and NSA all agreed that Russia had in effect declared war, to this day he still will not accept that it was the Russians that perpetrated the hacking.
The reportage of his campaign’s contacts with the Russians are legion and just today Reuter’s broke a story which claimed that there had been at least eighteen additional undisclosed contacts between the Russians and the Trump campaign. Six of those were between Ambassador Kislyak and the campaign. One of the latter conversations involved General Flynn and dealt with the creation of a channel outside the regular security forums, who they didn’t trust, for chats between Putin and Trump.
In his dealings with Russia Trump has illustrated all his behaviors that he proudly displayed in the election campaign. He turned America into Trump Inc. He was the new boss and everyone in the Republican Party when asked to jump, answered, “How high?”
Besides his own unashamed fawning of Russia he surrounded himself with fellow travelers that in the real world defy logic. Before even discussing his cabal one myth has to be dispelled that he is loyal to those that are loyal to him. Just witness what happened to the three politicians that unreservedly and continuously gave him a semblance of credibility in the campaign - Rudi Giuliani, who begged to be Attorney General, Chris Christie, who withstood humiliation after humiliation, and Newt Gingrich who with his good lady Callista bowed and scraped. Following his elevation to the Presidency, The Donald unceremoniously abandoned them. The Family of course is something different as they obviously believe that blood is thicker than water.
So onto the dramatis personae that make his relationship with Russia that much more questionable.
THE CO CONSPIRATORS, THE RUSSIAN CONNECTION AND THE RESPONSE
The figure that conjures up the most concern is General Michael Flynn, who informed the Trump transition team headed by Vice President Mike Pence, (who is running out of plausible deniability), that he was being investigated by the FBI. President Obama warned Trump not to hire him and Sally Yates, then Deputy Attorney General, repeatedly cautioned that Flynn had lied about his discussions with the Russians to all including Vice President Pence. It was also common knowledge that he failed to report that he was a foreign agent and had received moneys from Russia and Turkey. Then after Yate’s final dire warning Trump inexplicably retained Flynn for another eighteen days. Flynn is ready to sing. He claims he has a big story to tell and will only “come clean” it if he is given immunity from prosecution. He has to be Trump’s biggest nightmare.
Paul Manafort, Trump’s early campaign advisor has links up the ying yang to Putin’s allies and is also under investigation by the FBI. There are then are at least four other members of Team Trump, including his Attorney General Jeff Sessons, who had contact with the Russians.
Flynn is obviously the key figure. This is evident if one looks at the lengths The Donald has gone to protect and pander to him including having made him his Chief Security Advisor after learning that he was under FBI investigation. In addition to that:
* He fired Sally Yates.
* He asked FBI Director Comey to lay off investigating Flynn who was a good man.
* He set up the new Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein, to make it appear that it was the Deputy AG’s memorandum that was the cause of his firing Comey. Then the President left Rosenstein and his own WhiteHouse team hanging when he changed the reason he fired Comey from the memorandum on Comey to “The Russian Thing” (aka Flynn). Rosenstein, who was is now overseeing “The Russian Thing” investigation had originally publicly maintained that there was no need for an independent Special Counsel.
So The Donald thought that was that and the day after he met with the Russian Foreign Minister and Ambassador Kislyak, the chief Russian contact with his campaign team. Putin had asked him to hold the meeting was his explanation for this bizarre threesome. The American Press was excluded but Russian Tass was allowed in. They distributed the photo op pictures to the world. He gave his Russian guests top secret classified information, not even afforded to American allies. His explanation was as President he could do what he liked. When all hell broke lose Putin offered to be a character witness for him, having already backed him up on his firing of Comey.
THE AFTERMATH
Trump just didn’t realize, even if he is the President, that you just don’t do things like that when there is supposedly a separation of powers. More to the point there are consequences to his actions. He had offended Comey who has since spilled some of the goods he had on him.
In the aftermath and revelations following the Comey firing, the Deputy Attorney General changed his mind about a special counsel and nominated one to investigate “Russiagate”. He appointed someone even more distinguished than Comey, the former FBI Director Robert Mueller. While both are considered honest and competent, Mueller had not been involved in any controversies.
The Republicans in Congress were ecstatic as they were off the hook and suddenly joined the Democrats in saying what a jolly good idea a special counsel was. In addition the Republican Chairs of all the Congress Investigating Committees renewed their resolve to continue their own pursuits for the truth. They didn’t have to defend Trump anymore as the matter was sub judice. So let the chips fall where they must fall. They now could get on with legislation. In so doing they are putting distance between them and The President. What they are forgetting is that they still need Trump to sign into law their efforts and they have angered him big time by their unabashed glee.
Meanwhile Trump carries on interviewing for a new FBI Director. Two Republican politicians took themselves off the shortlist. The Senate, almost ad idem, have insisted that the appointee that they will ratify has to be totally independent.
Trump has the power to fire Mueller but Jay H. Ell believes that the unfolding of recent events, including the optics and the narrative of the meeting with The Russians would force the GOP to agree to impeachment proceedings for obstruction of justice.
Trump is screaming foul at the “unprecedented witch hunt” that has been unleashed on him. He can rightly maintain that just because he is paranoid doesn’t mean that everybody isn’t against him.
The current theory is follow the money. Real Estate deals and construction are favored ways for money laundering and corruption and that is the name of The Donald’s game. The pace is not going to slow down as revelations break daily from incredible teams of journalists in both the written and visual media. So watch this space.
Trump’s Art of the Deal tactics that require bullshit, bluff, lies, threats and bullying, but most of all being totally in control of the variables, don’t seem to working so well in this milieu. Come to think of it, they failed at least six times before in the real world and The Donald declared bankruptcy and started all over again. If you are axed from the Presidency there are no reruns.
However, Trump has one ace up his sleeve - his adoring base. This monolith does show early signs of cracking but while it remains in place, impeachment is a non starter. So there is still a long way to go. Trump has to be shown for what he is, an Emperor without clothes and a schlemiel. It can be done but it has to unfold, bit by bit, in the market place. The support of Nixon, who had been elected in a landslide, once he was shown to be a liar and a cheat, melted like ice. And Nixon was a saint when compared to Trump.
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