TRUMP: CRUNCH TIME OR IS IT?

While the Trump Presidency unravels - the latest disasters being the forced disbanding of his centerpiece corporate advisory panels and an unprecedented incursion into the civil domain by the military leaders - the Republican Congressional leadership dither on. The time has surely passed for the Republican Establishment and Congress not just to “be disappointed”, “disagree with his remarks” or merely state that all neo nazis are bad. The time has come to publicly disown the President by name if they don’t want their party’s takeover by Trump to be final. If this does not happen the Republican Party together with Trump will be relegated to the dustbin of history. 

The POTUS'S flagrant and defiant stance - equating a white terrorist, ISIS like, driving into crowds and murdering a young woman, screaming mobs carrying Nuremberg like torches, waving Nazi flags and shouting anti semitic remarks with civil right protestors, who are registering their abhorrence to what they are witnessing, - just has to be the last straw or is it?

IF YOU RANT AND BEHAVE LIKE A RACIST, SUPPORT RACISTS YOU PROBABLY ARE……

Trump has decided who is his most important constituency - the right wing militants. As he runs out of constitutional and legal options he will still has his “second amendment people”. He seems oblivious to the fact that his exhorting them to action is the equivalent to a declaration of civil war. The ostensible battle in the streets is over the symbols of the Confederacy who were fighting to keep slaves. Trump’s end battle, he fantasizes, will be a rerun of that fight. The fact that he is deluded is irrelevant. The fact that at the end of the day he cannot win will not deter him nor eliminate the destruction and havoc his megalomania and racist ideology will continue to reap in the process. 

For those who feign surprise at this turn of events they should objectively look back at the past six years which started with his hurtful racist “birther” campaign against America’s first black President. In this cowardly bullying exercise he illustrated his capacity to move from one lie to another without skipping a heart beat. The Republican leadership stood by then as they do now. In fact his dastardly cynical crusade coincided with the Congressional Republicans’ only stated policy for eight years - get rid of Obama or refuse to cooperate on anything with him. That was all that kept the Party from splintering - hatred of Obama.  

His Presidential drive was littered with racist acts and lies - Muslims cheering 9/11, Mexican wall to keep their rapists, murderers and drug dealers out, deporting twelve million “aliens”, most of whom were also rapists, murderers and drug dealers, attacks on the judiciary on racial lines, anti constitutional racist immigration and visa policies and so it went….. His obsession with totalitarian Putin, who has become the new poster child for racial purity, was and still is a central pillar of what passes for his world view. 

In nearly seven months of his Presidency Trump has done nothing to unite America - not even a gesture to the white Democrats. On the contrary he has merely exacerbated tension and division. This is his modus operandi. There are no rationalizations, excuses or mitigating circumstances. For practical purposes the Republican leadership has allowed him to continue on unhindered even though he has belittled them. In the process their credibility has eroded. (Blog: Trump’s Last Stand - A Civil War).

It is what it is

THE WATING GAME IS OVER

It is no use waiting anymore for the legal processes to play out and then “regretfully” have to follow the law and sanction him. Each day that goes past Trump, who has no affiliation to any party, sullies what is left of the GOP’S reputation. In fact Trump is going to commit more illegalities as the newspapers reveal more and the Mueller and Congress investigations roll on. There will be court challenges, pardons and whatever it takes for the Trump to survive. Currently the WhiteHouse and Fox News are working on a story that the real collusion issue is between Hillary Clinton and the Ukrainians not between the Trump campaign and Russia. The argument presumably is that the seventeen intelligence agencies missed Hillary’s treason and made up the GOP collusion. Nobody but his base will believe this garbage but as it should be obvious by now that they are the only audience he is playing to.  

In addition the forthcoming elections will render a devastating blow to the GOP. There are going to be massive losses. But whatever happens their needs to be a credible story on which to rebuild again. Not a demoralized group has to spend their time explaining why they supported Trump.

Pathetically standing around sanctifying and legitimatizing this madness in the hope that the Republican agenda can be passed is a pipe dream. Firstly, the Republican majority is a myth. As matters stand there are at least two Republican Parties who cannot agree on anything significant. It the GOP wants to live another day to resolve their internal issues now is the time to act. Secondly, there is no real Trump agenda and what there is need not necessarily mesh with the GOP. That is if they can unify on anything substantial. The answer is to do what is obvious in a bipartisan fashion with a veto proof majority as they did on sanctions on Russia. For example, let the leadership of both parties meet on the budget and hammer out a compromise on the understanding that all will vote for the compromise.  

So the leadership need to follow the other Republican constituencies, who admittedly have not the same problem of re election, who have told Trump, “Nada”. If the legislators want the  support of the traditional Republican constituencies they better earn it. Otherwise their only platform will be as independents or a moderate in the Party of Trump. 

The Neo Nazi right wing project for 2017 is to protect the Confederate memorials to those who fought for the right to buy and sell human beings. There are a ton of these memorials all over the show so this is the beginning of a protracted attempt to become a political force in the USA. This crowd is emboldened by the President and they need to know that that does not mean the Republican Party. As this sickly exhibition drags on with only Trump to defend it ideally the country should unite in condemnation. This cannot happen while Trump has still the legitimacy of the GOP and unchallenged continues to represent them. David Duke the head of the KKK has thanked Trump as has Robin Spenser the organizer of the alt right protest. Duke declared to Trump, “God bless you” while Spenser hailed Charlottesville as a success. It is quite clear that this crowd want a race war.  

Trump for his part appears committed to stay the course with chief staffers, Bannon, (don’t believe the hype that he is about to be kicked out), Gorka a Hungarian Nazi and Stephen Miller a close associate of Spenser. The fact that Bannon blurted out publicly, that he is involved in internecine palace  battles is indicative of Trump’s dysfunctional administration. He, more than anyone else represents the bizarre philosophy of Trumpism.

DOUBAJA, 43,  AND HIS DAD PRESIDENT 41

So to Presidents Bush 41 and 43 - no it is not just going to cut it just to issue a statement condemning racism. In this climate it is barely noticed. You need to condemn Trump and categorically state that he does not represent the Republican Party. While you are about it convince the Congressional Republican leadership to do likewise. You can point out to them that not only is there a pattern to Trump’s egregious behavior it only gets worse and worse each time, so there is no hope!  He is busy doubling down on the Confederate story as we speak, claiming to be mourning the loss of those “beautiful statues”. 

So Bush 41 and 43 articulate to the Republican legislative bodies, as a start, to allow motions of censure on the President. Then instruct them that they need to set up Special Committees to investigate the right wing violence and its implications. Finally, as Congress has shown such a penchant to investigate Hillary Clinton, they should institute another one to look at the genesis of the fake news that Hillary colluded with Ukraine and why the Intelligence Agencies covered it up.