TRUMP AND JEFFERSONIAN DEMOCRACY

It is fair to say America is in uncharted territory as each day a chaotic, dangerous President lurches forward creating crisis after crisis. In the process he has already damaged American democracy and its reputation in the world. While The Republic has faced its challenges over the past two hundred and fifty years as a result of the behavior of rogue Presidents, Administrators and Legislators, the current imbroglio is unprecedented in that the President has no pretensions of respectability and his actions indicate that he perceives he is above the law. While Nixon famously claimed that he was not a crook Trump infamously admitted that he was. He argued that qualified him to be President as he was best able to clean up “the swamp” that, by his own definition, he was part of. 

It is feared that Trump’s unbridled lying, deception and narcissism can threaten the integrity of the brittle democracy the Founding Fathers so painstakingly crafted. His behavior indicates that he wishes to dump the Founding Father’s Constitution in favor of some type of autocracy with him in charge. He will continue on his destructive path till he is stopped. 

The democracy with its checks and balances that Jefferson and the Founding Fathers, so painstakingly spawned, faces its greatest challenge.  

JEFFERSONIAN DEMOCRACY

America’s proudest claim is that it is the world’s oldest democracy. When Thomas Jefferson wrote in the Declaration of Independence that,  “We hold these truths to be self evident that all men are created equal….”, he set into motion a promise that America has attempted to fulfill over the past two and a half centuries. In the process laws have been enacted, courts have enshrined equality and a tradition of unwritten conventions have evolved that have enabled “all men” eventually to include black men, then all women and more recently those born with different gender preferences. 

In order to protect and sustain their lofty ideal Jefferson and his co founders cobbled together an original system of Government which would dissipate power among three supposedly equal and independent areas of Government - The Executive headed by the President, the Legislative, elected by the citizenry - itself a balance between people power and individual State’s right to equity and the Judiciary. Implicit in Jeffersonian and any democracy are the unwritten laws that make a democratic rule possible. These include behaviors, conventions and customs. For example, it is expected that there will be honesty and transparency in all branches of government. Some examples include that, nepotism is frowned upon, it is expected that the people’s representatives will tell the truth, no attempt should be made to unduly influence other independent branches of Government, personal benefiting from office is a no - no and showing your tax returns is a must.

THE PRESIDENT - NOT QUITE A MONARCH

The dispensation for the head of state that the Founding Fathers purposefully created differed from that of the British. The Fathers, however, were still entranced by the concept of a Monarchy so they defined a Presidency who would not be beholden to a political caucus like a Prime Minister although she could be a party nominee. However she could exhibit vast power which US Presidents have done throughout history. The wise legislators in 1776 were not about to create another King with absolute unchallengeable power so they instituted an elaborate process whereby she could be removed by the Legislative Branch for “high crimes and misdemeanors”. (In 1965 Amendment to the Constitution was passed by two - thirds of both Houses and ratified by forty - eight State Assemblies which allowed for a President to be replaced if she was unable to fulfill her duties). 

There is little doubt that it was envisaged that Presidents would be representative of the nation as are monarchs. This meant that once elected they would be the nation’s President and not just the figurehead of a political party. 

It is fair comment that Trump was not the type of character the Founding Fathers had in mind.

SO HOW DOES TRUMP SHAPE UP AS A JEFFERSONIAN PRESIDENT?

Trump shows scant respect for the triangulation of government. He is irritated beyond words at the failure of the Legislative branch to carry out his bidding. He fails to understand the process whereby legislation is crafted. He has attempted to influence what happens in the Judicial world as illustrated by his attempts to involve himself in the appointment of Attorneys General in the jurisdictions in New York and Florida where his interests are. That abrogation was in addition to firing James Comey and all the allegations surrounding that decision. He also wanted to axe his current Federal Attorney General Jeff Sessons for recusing himself from the Russian investigation, thereby allowing for the appointment of a Special Prosecutor. He claimed that America’s Chief Officer of the Court had no loyalty to him. His accusatory and abusive labelling as a hoax of a legitimate investigation into Russian interference into the Presidential election, which fact has been conclusively confirmed by all seventeen intelligence branches as well as both Houses of the Legislature, is yet another abandonment of convention of interference into the Judicial process.

The Donald has repeatedly directly and indirectly made it quite clear that he disagrees with the iconic sentence in the Constitution, “….that it is self evident that all men are created equal”. He has labelled Mexicans as a sub species, denied African Americans freedom of expression and stated that he wants a ban on Muslims entering America. An American born Judge, because he was of Mexican heritage, he claimed was incapable of being impartial. In case there was any doubt as to his feelings on this matter he failed to outright condemn right wing segregationist extremists after their protests in Charlottesville. It took him forever to distance himself from David Duke and his Klu Klux Klan who stated that Trump’s policy met their objectives. 

George W. Bush, 43, no flaming liberal, recently, had these strong words to say about the American tradition that Trump was trashing,“Our identity as a nation, unlike other nations is not determined by geography or ethnicity or by blood or soil….. This means that people from every race, ethnicity, can be fully and equally American. It means that bigotry and white supremacy in any form, is blasphemy against the American creed”.

The only Amendment of the Constitution that Trump shows any commitment too is the widest possible interpretation of the Second Amendment. It is obvious that he and his entourage regard the freedom of expression, the First Amendment, as an impediment to government. He has, with a vengeance, abused and threatened the media. He has lead a demeaning campaign against an African American football player’s protest for “kneeling” during the playing of the national anthem, a behavior explicitly interpreted as constitutional by the Supreme Court. On several occasions his minions have claimed that Trump cannot be questioned and this dubious distinction was recently accorded to his Chief of Staff. His new Press Secretary punctuates her briefings by lecturing the media as to the inappropriateness of their challenges.

Nepotism is regarded by him as his right. His appointment of his daughter and son in law, who have even less political experience than him, as Chief advisors to his Administration have rocked convention. Leaving aside his connections with Russia and what quid pro quo might have been involved between him and his team, as this is currently under investigation, he is being sued in court for violating the Emolument’s Clause in the Constitution. The latter was specifically introduced by the Fathers to “shield the Republic against corrupting foreign influences”. It inter alia forbids any manner that foreign governments could influence government officials through gifts or titles. The case has a group of plaintiffs including hotel owners who claim that Trump’s breaking of the clause has disadvantaged their businesses. The action hinges around whether the plaintiffs have standing to sue the President. It is argued that only Congress could proceed. The Founding Fathers took this potential corrupting influence very seriously and considered its violation grounds for impeachment. Another glaring abuse of power is evident in this matter in that the Justice Department, at taxpayers expense, is representing him and not his own lawyers.

It is fair comment to maintain that Trump is hardly a President in the Jeffersonian tradition.

COMMANDER IN CHIEF

A US President’s other title is Commander in Chief as he is head of all America’s massive armed forces and he controls the codes that could unleash armageddon. However he has several other titles that have been alluded to over the ages. These include Comforter in Chief, Uniter in Chief and Mourner in Chief. Implicit in these titles is the belief that when elected the partisan candidate now, like a monarch, becomes the President of all the people. Trump has dramatically become Divider in Chief unashamedly favoring one group or State over another and carrying out individual vendettas against individuals, entertainers and politicians. The recent hurricane tragedies have lead him to pledge to do whatever it takes to make two devastated States, Texas and Florida, that voted for him, whole. However, Puerto Rico which has no Federal representation and is populated by Latinos has been served notice that they are on their own after he has given them enough help.

As for his management style with Congress and his Cabinet the Fox News Half Time Report calls it “Seagull Management”. - he flies in defecates on everything and then flies away.

It is fair comment to argue that Trump is Commander in Chief to his loyal base and not to all American peoples.

DONALD SAY AFTER ME……

“ I PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG OF AMERICA OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND TO THE REPUBLIC FOR WHICH IT STANDS, ONE NATION UNDER GOD, INDIVISIBLE, WITH LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL”.

AT THE END OF THE DAY

In spite of Trump’s patriotic claim, “Make America Great Again”,  he wants to change the very character of the Republic as it was enshrined at its Foundation. In addition he refuses to abide by the recognized customs and conventions that are characteristic of the Jeffersonian democracy. He would rather institute an autocratic state, with him as its leader, where all men are not created equal,. 

Jeff Flake, the Republican Senator from Arizona summed up the Republican Party’s dilemma when joining Senator Corker in announcing his retirement from the Senate, “We must never regard as normal the regular and casual undermining of our democratic norms and ideals. We must never meekly accept the daily sundering of our country - the personal attacks, the threats against principles, freedoms and institutions, the flagrant disregard for truth or decency, the reckless provocations. most often for the pettiest and most personal reasons…” He added what has to be on every Republican’s mind, “When the next generation asks us, Why didn’t’ you do something? Why didn’t you speak up? What are we going to say?”.

It is beginning to sink in with a few Republican legislators that the ideals of the Jeffersonian Republic are on the block. Fate has it that the future is largely in their hands. The alternative as the obsequious Ryan and McConnell have opted for, hopefully just for the moment, is that tax breaks for the rich are more important and nothing else matters. Jay H. Ell believes this is the beginning of the end because if the disintegrating Republic Party cannot deliver any legislation for Trump even chunks of his base will abandon him and this whole episode will be yet another painful episode in American history that everyone will want to forget. 

TRUMP AND THE GOP BURDEN

Donald Trump, lest we forget, is the Republican President. He represents the Republican Party as he overwhelmingly won their nomination and then went on to win the Presidency. Republican legislators may think they can just ‘use’ him to get their agenda through and otherwise disown him. But they cannot have it both ways. In fact if they don’t disassociate themselves from him fast he will permanently become the Republican Party.

The Party had lost it way following George W. Bush’s disastrous Presidency including the Iraqi war, about which he and his administration misled society, the incredible cost of his Medicare expansion which included a gigantic handout to the pharmaceutical industry and the cavalier attitude and incompetence that represented Katrina. All that coupled with the fact that the Republican controlled Congress had lost contact with its base allowed the dangerous opportunistic salesman Donald J. Trump to highjack a party that appeared to have abandoned it’s fiscal and moral principles, as well as the needs of its base. 

 America and the world is living with the results and it remains to be seen whether the GOP and particularly its legislators are going to put Party before country. If they cynically continue to pander to Trump it could lead the country into an abyss. To complicate the matter his Svengali, Steve Bannon, has even a darker vision for the Republican Party and the country. Bannon is threatening to metamorphosize the Party into an insular, racist, nationalist entity and replace current legislators with his clones. 

THE UNRAVELLING OF THE GOP AND THE ABANDONMENT OF THEIR BASE

The Republican Party has been disintegrating ever since the formation of the Tea Party and the GOP’s Establishment as opposed to taking a principled stand pretended that everyone was on the same page.

 Following the Obama victories the Party under the Chairmanship of Reince Priebus produced a manifesto that said the GOP would be a write off unless they become more inclusive of America’s diversity of people of color - the Latinos and African Americans. The demographics pointed to this observation. What Priebus and company missed out on was that their base - the white non college educated blue collar worker, the former coal miner and well paid factory worker was not really interested, in high fullutin trickle down economic theory and giving tax breaks all round. They felt they were being left behind economically and in every other way. Everyone else was being pushed to the front of the line. Affirmative action was giving a break to African Americans - how did Obama get into Harvard? What epitomized their feeling was an insane interview Bill O’Reilly had with Barack. He argued that the POTUS had a far more privileged life than he had. O’Reilly had come from a lower middle class white background and had to do it all alone. Obama had got handouts. Then there were the  social programs rewarded to those unwed mothers subsidizing them with their taxes and the Welfare Queens…. 

The GOP were moving further and further away from their base constituents. They didn’t get at their feelings of alienation and that couldn’t afford health care. They had become the Party of the fat cats. They were in bed with the corporations and the lobbyists - what Donald was to call the swamp. In addition they also took those social conservatives for granted. Who were they going to vote for anyway - the libertine Democrats?

DONALD TAPS INTO THE DISCONNECT

So enter the salesman Donald. He connected with the Republican constituencies. He added some more scapegoats to the angry base - the Hispanics and all immigrants period. They were also getting preferential treatment and the Muslim ones were terrorists to boot. He added another sector to his coalition, the right wing crazies, that he gave respectability to as they mobilized and came out of the closet. He attacked the women that were also being favored, a fact believe it or not the majority of the white non college educated women bought.  So this became the Republican Party. A party made of racists, nativists, social conservatives and economically aggrieved workers who Donald promised the world. Trump’s guru, Bannon, had identified this crowd but he had a darker agenda of creating chaos in government, making America white again and with his half baked nationalism isolating it from the world. 

While this was not exactly the Tea Party manifesto. They joined in as what they were rebelling against is that, under Bush the Party had abandoned its fiscal principles and spent like drunken sailors. They had become soft on costly social programs as well. The Iraq war and the extension of Medicare had stuck in the traditionalists crawl. So although Cruz or some look alike was their man, Trump was better than Jed Bush.

In fairness Trump promised everyone the world. There would be better paying jobs for all as he would keep immigrants out, throw those out that were illegally here and punish the companies that had outsourced. There would be better and cheaper health care for all. He would cut everyone’s taxes. He appealed to them as they misread his crudeness for abandoning political correctness. No double speak from him he told as it was. The Donald admitted that he was a crook but that put him in a better position to fix the degenerate swamp.

If it needs repeating the above description is what the Republican Party now is.

TEA PARTY

In the Obama years the Tea Party morphed into the Freedom Party and had split the House Republicans into two but the Establishment denial continued. Even after Eric Cantor the Deputy Leader of the House Republicans and really a pretty right wing guy had got axed in a Republican Primary by a little known Tea Partier David Bratt, the band played on. Nobody noticed at the time but Bratt was being cheered on by a scruffy editor, named, Steve Bannon from a little known Right Wing internet rag, Breitbart News. Next to go was John Boehner who was forced out of leadership of the House by the Freedom Party. 

The Senate has proved a tougher nut for the Tea Party but their rebel leader Ted Cruz rallied the House members and rendered the Party almost to a static in the House. 

However it is in the Senate where the Republican Party’s future is now being played out.

THE TRUMP MOVEMENT

The inescapable fact is that the GOP is being lead by a dangerous, some say mentally unstable President. Donald J. Trump shows very little concern about Party orthodoxy. He is looking for legislative victories, regardless of what the political content represents. Naturally he is more likely to look to the Republicans to deliver because after all they are his Party but more important they are in the majority so they should be better placed to bring home the bacon. However, he has not made his job easier by attacking them, axing every member of the Party Establishment that was in the WhiteHouse and by belittling members of his own Republican cabinet. He has attacked the leadership particularly Mitch McConnell, the Senate leader. 

 Steve Bannon, whether Trump likes it or not, is unashamedly using Trump to peddle his zany ideas. He has a limitless checkbook and has promised Primary fights against all the existing Republican Senators whom he claims are not supporting the American Fuhrer. This is a very real problem as the base that elected Trump are being persuaded that it is not that ‘moron’ Trump that has failed to deliver it is the Republican legislators. 

Speaker Ryan, who has to be the most spineless politician ever to be third in succession to the Presidency, seems to have had the Bannon spotlight removed from him. He has earned this dubious honor by responding to Senator Corker’s criticism of Trump that he and Trump should get together and resolve their differences!. This counter was at best inane bearing in mind that Crocker argued that Trump was kept in check by the fact that the WhiteHouse was an adult care center, that WhiteHouse staff McMaster, Kelly and Tillerson were in-between America and chaos and that Trump could start World Three. Then when the Speaker was asked what stood in the way of Trump’s fiscal agenda he joined the Bannon/Trump chorus and blamed the Republican Senate.

Jay H. Ell could go and on with evidence as to what Trump/Bannon think of the current Republican legislators and their transparent agenda to replace them. Bannon can claim success to date in that the leader of the Republican Party is Trump and in axing  Primaries establishment candidates.

WHAT NOW?

To a large extent the immediate future of the Republican Party hangs on what its elected legislators decide, particularly its Senate Representatives. There are two factors that are making them hesitate to abandon this lunacy. They are those that think they can use Trump and get their agenda through. Then there are those who are fearful of losing their Party’s nomination in the 2018 midterms. 

The Republican intelligentsia and pundits have already opted out of Trumpism. The Republican Establishment that joined Trump in the WhiteHouse have been axed and for the rest there is nobody around the center of power that can be identified as representing the old Republican Party. 

All that remains are the legislators. They can blatantly sell out like Paul Ryan but it won’t help them in the end. At the moment a few brave souls have told as it is. Senator Crocker has cleared the decks by announcing that he is not standing for election. He claims that most of the Republican Senators agree with him. John McCain too obviously feels he has nothing to loose and is giving the Trump/Bannon philosophy a full go attack. Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski are a big problem as they are AWOL on many of the Republican initiatives let alone Trump’s lunacies. Senators Flake and Sasse have been outspoken as well while Senators Graham, Gardner, Heller, Lee, Portman and Sullivan have registered opposition to a lesser or greater extent. 

In spite of the reality of the takeover the Party they were elected to represent, on the surface it is business as usual. The Mad Hatter in this Mad Hatter’s Tea Party is Mitch McConnell. He is busy collecting votes for a Trump tax plan that nobody knows the details of other than it is going to give millions more to the likes of Donald, possibly disadvantage the Middle Class and go against the official Republican holy grail in that it will push up the deficit by trillions. 

THE DEMOCRATS TO THE RESCUE?

Former Republican Congressman David Jolly, who is now one of the many Republican office bearers and pundits who daily wring their hands as to what has happened to the Party, has mouthed the unthinkable. He has stated that as the Republican legislators won’t stop Trump the best outcome for the country will be their ousting by the Democrats. As each day passes this becomes more and more of a possibility. The Democrats have been chalking up local and state victories over the past few months. The marquee bye election that the country is watching as to the mood of the country is to be held in Alabama on 12, December. This is a state that Trump won by twenty - eight percentage points. The Republican on the ballot is a right wing loon who brandished a gun at a rally, believes that homosexuality should be illegal and Muslims should not be allowed in Congress. With Bannon’s help he ousted the current incumbent who had been appointed to replace Attorney General Jeff Sessons.  Currently the polls are incredibly close between him and the Democratic challenger Doug Jones who in the sixties prosecuted the Klu Klux Klan. If the over eight percent lead that the Democrats have in the Congressional races hold they will take the House and the Republicans will be hard put to keep their slender Senate majority.

Meanwhile the Mueller investigation is laboring on and it is becoming more and more evident that the Trump campaign was heavily involved with Russian operatives. This at a time when Russia has been shown to have had a deep involvement in the Presidential campaign to favor the Trump candidacy. According to the CIA Director at the time it is implausible that the Russians could have acted without American help. In addition the public record reveals a prima-facie case of obstruction of justice against the President. It has been Jay H. Ell’s opinion that this investigation will ultimately terminate this nightmare. However, if the standard bearers of the Grand Old Party want to rescue any of the values that they purport to represent they should act sooner. 

Whichever one looks at it  hasn’t this country had enough of this dangerous callous narcissistic lying President? There is the twenty fifth Amendment whereby a President, who is unable to discharge his duties, can be removed by the Vice President and the Cabinet. The legislators and the whole Republican establishment should egg them on and support them. Bush 43 has given them a good startrt.

NETANYAHU, LIKE TRUMP, IS IN CRIMINAL TROUBLE

A key litmus test amongst Americans as to whether they support Israel or not is their opinion of Prime Minister Netanyahu. If they disapprove of the Israeli Premier it is considered tantamount to an attack on Israel. There is very little awareness that Bibi and his Likud Party only received twenty - five percent of the vote in the 2016 election and that he is the subject of widespread criticism in Israel, most recently in relation to four ongoing criminal investigations.

AMERICAN MEDIA COVERAGE OF ISRAEL

The media coverage of Israel, America’s ally in the Middle East, is largely positive emphasizing their incredible economic strides and the marked improvement of the political position as a result of the changing dynamic in that region as the open warfare between the Sunni and Shiite Muslims escalates. Added to that is the good press that their biblical Tikkun Olim program, (Heal The World), generates where the highly trained Israeli disaster teams descend on catastrophes all over the world. Nevertheless it is strange that the media have all but ignored the serious legal problems Bibi Netanyahu and his family are facing. 

While the American media is focussed on the deepening drama surrounding the investigation by the Special Prosecutor into Russian involvement in the Presidential election and matters related to the saga including possible criminal activity, their Israeli counterparts are preoccupied too, on a daily basis, with their own leader’s longstanding “ethical” crises. The reassuring factor in both these disturbing circumstances is that both societies are in uproar about what is being interpreted as a threat to democracy and accountability. There is the belief and hope that the two Democracies have enough checks and balances to ensure justice. 

BIBI’S WOES

Bibi Netanyahu, that energy bunny four term Israeli Prime Minister who has been bouncing around on the Israeli political scene forever, is knee deep in criminal investigations that surround him and his family. His wife, Sara, has already been indicted for diverting public funds for their personal use. The thrust of the accusations against her include using State resources for private parties and for household repairs.  Currently there are four probes being conducted by Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit which impact on the Premier. Like his American counterpart Robert Mueller, Mandelblit is proceeding ever so slowly, to the extent that opposition members are arguing that he is protecting the PM. There are four hot issues involving bribery, corruption and exerting undue influence in dockets labelled Case 1000, Case 2000, Case 3000 and Case 4000.

 Bibi like his soul mate, The Donald, is crying foul that all this legal attention is political. The two also continuously whine that the media are out to get them. Both, in addition also are facing political pressures that threaten their ability to get anything done while their approval numbers drop dramatically. The pair are also being thwarted and shackled by the judicial systems in their respective countries. 

The Israeli Premier too like the POTUS has a long history of skirting around the fringes of the law. In 1990’s an investigation into fraud and breach of trust resulted in a recommendation for indictment but the then AG declined to prosecute. Netanyahu is slightly ahead in the current criminal stakes as he has already been interviewed by the Attorney General’s Office.  

THE  CURRENT CASES

CASE 1000: This concerns allegations of ongoing pay for play rewards that Bibi collected over a long period from Businessmen Arnon Milchan, an Israeli Hollywood Producer and James Packer, an Australian Casino mogul. The charges include that the latter two on demand from Netanyahu provided thousands of dollars of champagne, cigars, plane tickets, hotel bookings and jewelry. Code words and couriers were utilized in their delivery.  Milchan’s quid pro quo is believed to be favors in the Israeli telecom industry and Bibi intervening to get him visas to America while Packer received permanent residency in Israel which is rare for a non jew. It is rumored that Packer benefited in that he avoided high Australian taxes. Packer has been AWOL from Israel for some months thus avoiding a date with the Israeli Justice Department. Bibi has acknowledged gifts but these were from friends who received nothing in return. This charge was probably the basis for the three hour interview by the prosecutors that the Israeli President recently endured. Following the latter they announced that they had upgraded their enquiry into a criminal investigation.

CASE 2000: Here the Israeli PM allegedly conspired with Arnon Mozes the owner of an Israeli daily, Yediot Acharonot, that consistently criticized Netanyahu. The newspaper circulation had decreased as a result of the success of another media outlet, Israel Hayom, which was given away free. Here the story takes on a more local flavor as the latter paper is owned by American billionaire, Trump and Bibi supporter, Sheldon Adelson. 

According to tapes that are apparently in the hands of the police Bibi offered either to introduce legislation that would prohibit the free distribution of newspapers and or discuss the matter with Adelson to lay off. This would in effect reestablish Mozes’s Yediot as the most read paper. For this favor the Yediot would cover Bibi more favorably. Once again the PM does no deny that these conversations took place but he claims he was trying to fool Mozes and didn’t intend to carry through with the quid pro quo. Haunting Bibi however is the fact that Adelson and his wife have given two interviews to the investigating team. The American magnate has maintained that the subject of the discussions was “economic”.  It has been reported that there were a hundred and twenty phone calls between the Israeli Prime Minister and the Las Vegas mogul.

THE BIGGEST CORRUPTION CASE IN ISRAEL’S HISTORY - CASE 3000

CASE 3000: This matter involves 2 billion Euro of public moneys. It is alleged that there was corruption in the purchase of three submarines and four patrol boats from a German Company ThyssenKrupp. While Bibi, hasn’t as yet been named many of his close associates have been in what is steadily escalating into the most serious corruption scandal in Israel’s history. There have already been ten arrests including some very prominent Israelis, so the enquiry is pretty far advanced. A close confidant of the Premier, who is said to be his personal lawyer, David Shimron, represented the German Company. Both Shimron and Netanyahu advocated that the bid process for the submarines be abandoned. Shimron is currently under house arrest. 

The arrests of the other individuals have varying connections with Netanyahu. The most troublesome detention is that of the PM’s Chief of Staff, David Sharan, who has an office right next to him and who is involved in every conversation and decision made by the PM. Another arrestee is Michael Ganor who attempted to bribe Government officials to be involved in the negotiations. He has been turned by the prosecution and will be giving evidence for the State. It stretches credibility that the Premier, who punted for a no bid contract, knew nothing about the criminality. As Haaretz, the left wing Israeli newspaper has maintained, “A clueless Netanyahu is just as bad as a complicit one”.

CASE 4000: Again Bibi is not as yet a target of this sordid corruption case where all rules were dropped to favor a national telephone company Bezeq. The Premier was dealing with monopoly issues related to that company which had allegedly received favorable treatment from the Netanyahu government. The State Comptroller then charged that Netanyahu was a personal friend of the controlling shareholder of Bezeq, Shaul Elovitch, who has been an outspoken supporter of the Premier for decades. Following upon this contretemps Netanyahu was forbidden to deal with the Bezeq issue. The job now is in the hands of the Director General of the Communications Ministry, Shlomo Filber, yet another member of the Prime Minister’s inner circle. The saga becomes more odious when it emerged that Filber was a controversial Netanyahu appointment who replaced the former Director General who was instituting reforms that were not in Bezeq’s interests. Filber has been fingered by the State Comptroller as being an agent of Bezeq within the Ministry. 

OTHER WOES

Netanyahu is having a run in with the Supreme Court who are hardly being cooperative in helping him handle his political dilemmas with his coalition partners, the Religious Right. The latter have threatened to pull out of government unless two of recent decisions are reversed. One issue relates to compulsory military service for all - previously the ultra orthodox were exempted and the other a compromise he forged with the non orthodox jews so as to allow provision for worship at the Western Wall. Bibi had to consequently backtrack on both as a result of pressure from the Religious Right. Court challenges on his reversals have resulted in judicial injunctions against him to rectify the situation. Netanyahu also has been hammered both from the left and the right for his decisions regarding metal detectors on the Temple Mount, following the murder of Israelis. On top of that Bibi axing the Kol Israel Television News program was seen as an attack on the Freedom of Speech. Kol Israel has sentimental and historical connections to Israel as it was there before the State was formed. 

All this drama in addition to the controversies that are part of his daily life -  peace talks with Abbas, the expansion of settlements, the Iranian threats, terrorist attacks within Israel and the ongoing problems within his coalition. Also he is learning like everyone else that his newest best friend, Donald, is long on promises and short on delivering. There is the persistent report sourced to several informants that Trump, in a discussion with the Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, on the peace process between the Israelis and Palestinians argued that Netanyahu was a bigger problem than Abbas. The story persists in the teeth of denials.

The chickens are coming home to roost. He exploited right wing sentiment in Israel and now is being outflanked in every direction and is hostage to those very people for his existence. 

AT THE END OF THE DAY

 Even if Netanyahu somehow dodges the legal bullets his actions are a disgrace. The Israeli Justice Department put the previous Premier behind bars so that while they are in the same ambivalent situation as their American counterparts serving two masters - the Premier and Justice, there is little doubt as to their prime commitment. Nevertheless they are obviously proceeding cautiously. Case 1000 with records, tapes and witnesses of the pay for play might be the easiest to litigate. A successful prosecution in Case 2000 really depends on what Sheldon Adelson and his wife told the Attorney General’s Office. Cases 3000 and 4000 have massive political overtones and could bring down Netanyahu’s Government as well as himself. 

Israel’s politics are always in a state of flux with Political Parties going off the map while others suddenly emerge. The problem is exacerbated by the quaint form of proportional representation that exists in that country thereby making it well nigh impossible for any one party in this day and age to gain enough seats to govern outright. Coalition governments are the order of the day. Whatever happens Netanyahu will not serve another term as Prime Minister since even if should survive his leadership is being challenged even within the Likud Party let alone how the cookie might crumble in the next general election.  

THE VEGAS CARNAGE - ARE WE ALL GUILTY?

In the wake of the blood dripping scenes of the Las Vegas massacre with nearly sixty dead and over five hundred wounded it is salutary to reflect on the past decades procession of similar events. In case there is anyone who has missed any detail of the non stop media coverage of the newest carnage nearly fifty legally purchased weapons of various capacities and an arsenal of ammunition has been uncovered - all the property of the Vegas shooter Stephen Paddock.  

One of Jay H. Ell’s first blogs in January 2011 discussed a mass shooting in Tuscon, (Blog: “The Tuscon  Massacre and American Culture - Can There Be A Solution?”). It is obvious with a President who has assured his faithful that he is a Second Amendment President even claiming that the Second Amendment “people” could do “something” if he lost the “rigged” election, the latest Republican nominee for the Senate unashamedly brandishing a gun at a political meeting  and a succession of ongoing slaughters that haven’t even produced a semblance of condemnation of the present policy on arms, a solution is even further off than ever. 

The Tuscon slaughter should have shaken Congress to the rafters as one of their own, Congresswoman Gabby Gifford, was near fatally shot and among the six dead was the Federal Chief Justice of Arizona. But it didn’t and still hasn’t with what has followed. That blog extensively researched the carnage that the non regulated sale of guns has allowed. It even offered solutions. The piece ended, as so many have before and after, asking how many attacks of this nature were needed before society acted. The question has become rhetorical.

OBAMA’S MISSION ON GUNS

President Obama made gun control a center piece of his legislative agenda. It is history that he got nowhere. The signal event, in 2102, during his administration, in this sickening ongoing saga, was the shooting death of twenty children and six teachers at Sandy Hook Elementary School. The POTUS wrongly believed that this horrendous senseless evil might be the final catalyst for some gun control. He reminded all that the solution to this all, ultimately, was political. This was not a social ill per se with the answer out of control of the decision makers but rather the legislators and ultimately the electorate had responsibility.

The litany of mass shootings continued and Jay H. Ell was one of the many that dutifully chronicled the slaughters and the impotence of the politicians and activists that pleaded for action. In 2014 following the Santa Barbara attack, he blogged, “Obama wants to take away your guns Mr. Martinez”. The reference to the title of this piece was that “Obama wants to take away your guns” had become the mantra of the NRA. The Mr. Matrinez was the father who  asked why? In the interim since Sandy Hook Jay H. Ell had added, in futility, “Guns, Obama, the NRA = Stalemate” and “Obama vs NRA - a Win for Obama?“. 

A BEREAVED FATHER’S PLEA 

In the wake of the Santa Barbara tragedy the bereaved inconsolable father mourning his son Chris Martinez’s murder, summed up the whole sordid mess for posterity, “Why did Chris Die? Chris died because of craven irresponsible politicians and the NRA. They talk about gun rights. What about Chris’s right to live? When will this insanity stop? ‘Stop all this madness, we don’t need to live like this’. We don’t want politicians’ sympathies. We want action”.

Nobody has more poignantly stated the shame associated with these real life curses than Mr. Martinez. Nothing has changed as the river of blood deepens by the day.

MASS MURDER  DOESN’T MATTER UNLESS THE MURDERER IS A MUSLIM TERRORIST

In July 2015, following an attack on a military recruiting center with five dead, in Chattanooga, the theme was once again was revisited, Blog: “Tennessee, Colorado and all shootings - no hope to stop them”. The shooter was Mohammed Abdulazeez who after exhaustive investigation could not be found to have any connection with a terrorist organization. The  country heaved an audible sigh of relief at this finding. It appeared that the only event of this nature that could evoke any action would be if the shooter was a Muslim terrorist. 

Then of course there was the Charleston blotting out of nine black churchgoers and Orlando when close on fifty gays were slaughtered……..

The daily carnages are barely mentioned in the media. Between 2013 and 2015 there have been a 1000 mass shootings - the latter defined as more than four deaths an incident. Also forgotten is the wholesale murders in the streets, the suicides and the accidents. All in all thirty thousand dead a year from being at the wrong end of the barrel of a gun.

AT THE END OF THE DAY.

Unless the issue of gun control is tackled seriously Las Vegas will be just another statistic. Other unhinged individuals or psychopaths, loaded to the gills with arsenals easily obtained at gun shows, are waiting in the wings ready to break the newly established record by Stephen Paddock who notched up fifty - nine dead. 

The NRA can smugly hide behind their sickening mantra, “People kill not guns”, politicians can claim that the Second Amendment renders them impotent to do anything about it even if they wanted too, Presidents’ can proudly claim that they stand for that distorted interpretation of the Constitution and political candidates can wave guns at meetings in the knowledge that they are supported by their political party. Meanwhile the wall to wall coverage of the tragedy will continue with the same sickening videos played and replayed while the survivors', local officials' and first responders' interviews will be repeated again and again till the ratings drop and the anchors pack up and go home. The country that has “come together” in this upheaval will eventually return to their daily routine till the next time.

And of course citizens will continue to vote for those cynical shameless representatives, just regarding this violence as a way of life. They "the people" are the ultimate arbiters of whether this mayhem continues or not. They too bear responsibility.

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