MCCAIN AND TRUMP - THE GOOD VERSUS THE BAD AND UGLY

The last week in August should have been all about Senator John McCain but Trump managed to insert himself in that moment by being his usual petty mean self. But there was a lot else on his agenda including his escalating legal troubles, the looming midterms, bizarre trade negotiations, firing his Attorney General and the Whitehouse General Counsel, the announcement that the President underestimated the Puerto Rican tragedy by thousands of deaths, his former attorney  making further revelations about his colorful past, the fact that while he was praising his former campaign manager Paul Manafort for not cooperating with prosecutors he was trying to get a plea deal with Mueller’s team, attacking Google for not giving him enough positive coverage in their search engines threatening them with regulation and a few other sundry issues that got his undivided one hundred and forty character attention. 

All gloves are off as Trump realizes that to a large extent his future is bound up with the result of the midterms and is hopelessly unprepared for an impeachment proceeding and the deluge of legal problems he is facing according to 26 anonymous  Whitehouse sources. 

The battle with McCain represents the last desperate effort by the indefatigable flag bearer of Republican Establishment to cling to the values that had defined what was positive of the GOP - the party of Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan. It also illustrated the mendacity, narcissism and the pettiness of Trump and his belief that the affairs of America are really all about him in contrast to the humility of the highly principled, big hearted Senatorial campaigner. However even in death McCain would contrast his inclusive behavior with that of the divisive President. 

  MCCAIN VERSUS TRUMP

Looming over everything was the passing of an iconic national treasure, a figure who as much as anyone epitomized the American national spirit, Senator John McCain - politician, statesman, military hero, and upholder of human dignity and civility. With his shuffling of this mortal coil he officially ended the Republican Party’s commitment to civil liberties, democracy and guardian and leader of worldwide democracy. The GOP is now the unchallenged party of Trump. However what irked the man who should be the leader of the free world was all the attention, love and devotion showered on his nemesis. Some of the latter emanating from Republican legislators who are in denial as to the status of their Party. 

But back to the long standing feud between the POTUS and the now deceased Senator. To those who want a one liner as to what is at bottom of this life and death feud - Trump cannot tolerate the fact that anyone else can share the oxygen in the air with him. For those who want to know the genesis of what is playing out as the eulogy to McCain here are some of the highlights of the three year struggle  where the two contestants were the representatives of the new and old America.

06/15 and 07/15 ATTACKS ON HISPANICS: Following Trump’s Mexicans are “rapists” and drug dealers, McCain maintained, inter alia, that “…it is offensive to not only the Hispanic Citizenry, but other citizenry…”. Trump thundered his rejoinder at a rally in Arizona, “We have incompetent politicians, not only the president .. right here in your own state you have John McCain…he is very weak on immigration”. Trump also virtually backed McCain’s opposition in his Primary by stating that “If the right person ran against John McCain he will lose”. McCain countered that, the Republican aspirant had been hurtful to him and “ was firing up the crazies”. Trump ended this round by calling McCain a dummy. 

08/15 TRUMP DISTORTS MCCAIN’S VET RECORD AND SMEARS MEGAN KELLY: In spite of the fact that McCain was studiously avoiding further confrontation Trump maintained that he had done nothing for the veterans. This outlandish accusation took place at the same time that Trump lashed out at Megan Kelly. The senator pointed out that the vets had negated Trump's claim and set the record straight as to what he had done for those he had a special commitment to. He also criticized for his “offensive” remarks directed at Ms. Kelly.

03/16 - 05/16 TRUMP WINS THE NOMINATION: McCain wistfully criticized Trump’s foreign policy, his affinity for Vladimir Putin and his prejudice towards Muslims. He was AWOlL from the nominating convention. Nevertheless although he reaffirmed his Republican principles as defined by the progressive Teddy Roosevelt and conservative Ronald Reagan he would support the duly elected Republican nominee. Trump rewarded this gesture by calling McCain a hero.

07/16 TRUMP FLIPS AGAIN:  The future President once again illustrated that nothing he said had any lasting effect when he proclaimed, “He is not a war hero. He’s a war hero because he was captured, I like people who weren’t captured. "He is a loser". This brought a storm on the nominee’s head but it didn’t impact the base as the Republican Party was already Trump’s. As he had maintained he wouldn’t lose support if he shot someone in Fifth Avenue.

08/16 TRUMP’S ATTACK ON PARENTS OF DECEASED HEROIC SERVICEMAN. The attack on the Khans had to be a last straw in this up and down relationship between the Republican nominee and the still Primary candidate McCain. McCain reacted sharply but held back on withdrawing his support for the Republican. Trump initially withdraw his support of McCain’s candidature and four days later reinstated it!

10/16 ACCESS HOLLYWOOD TAPE: It all became too much following the Access Hollywood Tape, and Senator McCain finally cut the cord, “When Mr. Trump attacks women and demeans women in our society, that is a point where I just have to part company. It’s not pleasant for me to renounce the nominee of my party…..  (women) cannot be degraded and demeaned." 

2016 - 2018 A ROCKY RELATIONSHIP.: There was a tension between the two that never ebbed in the first two years of the presidency. The dispute reached boiling point when McCain kiboshed Trump’s centerpiece legislative effort on ditching Obamacare. In rejecting the legislation the dying McCain let it be known that he despised how politics had degenerated under Trump - “the traditional order had been abandoned”. He would not just vote for this legislation with the pathetic argument that, “it was better than nothing". Trump never let up on his anger as there was only one other person who stuck more in his crawl than the maverick Senator and that was Barack Obama.

THE PASSING OF SENATOR MCCAIN ON AUGUST 25 2018: In his dying days McCain reflected his disgust at Trump’s Helsinki performance, which he called one of the most disgraceful performances by an American President. He bequeathed the nation a farewell statement where he expressed his gratitude at being abe to serve the country for six decades.

“We are citizens of the world’s greatest republic. A nation of ideals not blood and soil. We are blessed and a blessing to humanity when we uphold and advance those ideals at home in the world. We have helped liberate more people from tyranny and poverty than ever before in history. We have acquired great wealth and power in the progress. We weaken our greatness when we confuse our patriotism with rivalries that have sown resentment and hatred and violence in all corners of the globe. We weaken our greatness when we hide behind walls rather than tear them down, when we doubt the power of ideals rather than trust them to be the great force for change they have always been….But we have always had so much more in common with each other than disagreement……Do not despair of our present difficulties, we believe always in the promise and greatness of America because nothing is inevitable here.

McCain then invited former Presidents Herbert W. Bush and Barack Obama whom he had bruising Presidential battles with, the former in a Republican Primary and the latter in a Presidential election to eulogize him at his funeral. He pointedly made it quite clear that he didn’t want the current President there.

THE RESPONSE OF PRESIDENT TRUMP: While the country mourned and bipartisan moves in the Senate were apace to honor McCain in an unprecedented fashion, Trump predictably behaved like a jealous angry rejected teenage sibling. 

The POTUS’S initial response was a tweet, “My Deepest sympathies and respect go out to the family of Senator John McCain. Our hearts and prayers are with you”.

Then followed the hounding of Trump to respond further creating yet another news cause celebre. The Guardian notes and has video on its website of five separate occasions that Trump sat arms folded uncharacteristically saying nothing while he was bombarded with questions while sitting at his desk, walking to his car and meeting with an oversea dignitary. These included, “Any thoughts on John McCain?  A hero?, “Why won’t you call him a hero?’ and “Why won’t you say anything about John McCain.”

While every flag in the country official and unofficial hung at half staff the Whitehouse flag was back at full after a day. Every news channel showed a split screen with the flags of the Whitehouse and those at the Pentagon for example. Meanwhile pressure was building within and without the Whitehouse for Trump to act like a President. 

Finally on Monday, August 27, on day three after the passing of the old campaigner, following demands by the two million strong American Legion to issue a proclamation and lower the flag Trump, reluctantly responded reading from a prepared statement:

“Despite our differences on policy and politics I respect Senator McCain’s service to our country and I have put out a Proclamation to fly the flag at half staff till his internment.” 

 Then after McCain’s final statement was read Trump responded, grudgingly to another battering of Press questions: 

“We very much appreciate everything Senator Mccain has done for our country. So thank you very much”. 

To quote a word used so often by the distinguished leader of the USA;

“Sad”.

TRUMP : FIVE IN THE FELON SWAMP AS THE BAND LIE ON

The guilty plea of Michael Cohen, the POTUS’S former personal lawyer, to eight felony counts and the guilty verdict of Paul Manafort, the POTUS’S former campaign manager, who was found guilty by a jury of eight felonies, brought the number to five of Trump’s inner circle that are convicted felons. Also charged with felonies on the same day was Congressman Duncan Hunter for spending campaign moneys on personal matters. Hunter is Trump’s second biggest supporter in Congress and joins Representative Collins, Trump’s number one backer who was indicted a few days before for insider trading. 

The main defense articulated by the POTUS'S TV lawyer, is that there is more than one truth to all of this. As a result  nothing can be proved against the President. However as insurance Trump threatened his appointee as Attorney General for recusing himself from the Russian investigation.

BAD DAY ENDING A BAD WEEK IN TRUMP WORLD

All in all a bad week for Trump especially if you throw in the other bombshell that the WhiteHouse Chief Counsel Donald McGahn spent thirty hours being debriefed by the Mueller team. The latter has been reported as having threatened to resign if Trump carried through with firing Mueller. Now McGahn would not have labelled Trump a felon but the significance of his testimony is that he is crucial to time lines such as who was at what meeting and when and all this helps Mueller connect the dots. Bit players in Trump’s week of woe were Omarosa who was still doing the rounds, the former Intelligence heads such as Mike Brennan who threatened to sue Trump, William McHaven, who lead the actual raid on Osama who like Michael Hayden told Trump that he would consider it a badge of honor to have his security clearance removed.

What Michael Cohen pleaded guilty too, what damage Manafort could potentially effect, what is about to follow in the courts - State and Federal, what will now materialize in the Senate Intelligence Committee, what is out there in the public domain and what Mueller must already know, marks August 21, 2018 as the beginning of the end of the Presidency of Donald J. Trump. This is all subject to one caveat in that Donald Trump is hoping against hope that the midterm electorate will return the spineless Republicans to the House of Representatives who will then ignore the Mueller Investigation. It was thus in sync with Trump’s world that the POTUS, on that very same day, 08/21/18, was on the campaign trail addressing his Nuremberg style rallies trotting out the same old lies and meaningless one liners such as the murderous Mexicans, the swamp in Washington and that there was “no collusion”. 

EVERYTHING HE WILL DENY AND TRUMP’S TRUTH IS THE TRUTH AMONG TRUTHS

The beginning of the week that was to signal the beginning of the end, Rudi Giuliani laid down the law as to what truth was for the POTUS. This the Trump lawyer did in two TV interviews to NBC and CNN.Trump is considered the most mendacious President in history and according to the Washington Post’s most rigorous Fact Checker he has told 4,229 lies in the first 558 days in office. The nub of Giuliani’s argument is that corroboratory evidence is irrelevant. All you need to do to defend yourself is state your different point of view.  Trump’s targeted audience is the forty percent who approve of his job performance and whom he believes are his insurance against impeachment. He needs them to come out in full force in the midterms.

CNN: Coumo’s Prime Time

Coumo: If fact checking is anything we never had a President with the mendacity he has. Not even close.

Giuliani: Its in the eye in the beholder.

Cuomo: No facts are not in the eye of the beholder. 

Giuliani: Yes it is. Yes they are. Nowadays they are. 

NBC: Todd’s Meet The Press

Rudi Giuliani “When you tell me that, you know, that he ought to testify because he is going to tell the truth and he shouldn’t worry, well, that is so silly because it is someone’s version of the truth, not the truth”.

Chuck Todd: “The truth is the truth”

Giuliani: “No no it isn’t the truth. The truth isn’t the truth”.

Todd: “Truth isn’t the truth? I think this is going to become a bad meme”.......

Giuliani: “Donald Trump says I didn’t talk about Flynn to Comey. Comey says he’d did talk about it. So tell me what the truth is?

 COHEN’S GUILTY PLEA IMPLICATING THE PRESIDENT IN A FELONY

Two of the criminal counts that Trump’s former fixer and personal lawyer plead guilty to were illegal campaign payments. In his sworn plea to the court Cohen claimed that he executed these crimes which involved payments to women who alleged they had affairs with Trump to keep them quiet, with the coordination with and at the direction of a candidate for a Federal Office, (Trump). ( The editor of the National Enquirer has been given immunity and apparently corroborates Cohen). This act was perpetrated with the purpose of influencing the election. 

Justice Palley who presided over Cohen’s guilty plea demanded from the prosecution evidence that they may have to back up the electoral charges.  In the back up court documents a host of corroboratory instruments were mentioned including tapes, encrypted material, memos, texts, e mails and the like. In this regard Cohen has already made public an audiotape where he discusses in detail how to effect and launder the payment money for Ms. McCaughlin.

While the legal damage Cohen can effect on Trump may well be far greater than this charge it strikes at Trump’s very legitimacy as President. These women had their silence bought on the eve of the election just after The Access Hollywood Tapes had shaken the Republican Party rigid. There is legitimate conjecture that this would have been the last straw for the very same suburban Republican women who have conspicuously absent in the special elections. It must be remembered that the combined majority that put Trump over the top in the three Mid Western States was only 78,000. Whatever the outcome was, Trump urgently ordered his fixer to cover up a scandal in order to win the Presidential election.

THE TRUMP CAMPAIGN RESPONSE

The narrative has not changed. This is still a witch hunt. The focus is still to work up the masses at rallies, smear the “media as the enemy of the people”, “lock her up” and “drain the swamp”. As for 08/21/18 - “Manafort is a victim” and in any case Trump hardly knows him. The line from the Whitehouse is to signal to his former Campaign Manager, “Hang in there the pardon will come”.  Cohen gets the full treatment - the biggest liar ever. As far as the alleged crimes, Trump has done nothing wrong as he hasn’t been charged. 

Trump of course just carries on lying. He told Fox and Friends that he never knew about the payments. In the next sentence he says it is not a crime because he personally paid the money and it didn’t come from campaign funds. The cover up as to the creation of a dummy company and the false invoices from Cohen to repay him are ignored. Trump forgets that when asked about the payment to Stormy Daniels on Air Force One he pleaded ignorance and referred the media to his personal lawyer, Michael Cohen.

The inner circle sit and reassure one another. Rudi calls from Ireland whistles past the graveyard and states informatively that Mueller will wind up his investigation because he has found nothing.  Sarah Sanders tells the world that all is well and the chorus of lies is sung again and again. 

They will survive this one but not what is to come. This is not even a rehearsal for the extravaganza that is to follow.

WHAT COMES NEXT WITH COHEN AND MANAFORT?

Lannie Davis, Cohen’s TV lawyer, has stated that Cohen, with his tapes, memos, encrypted messages, texts and the like, has evidence on the POTUS’S prior knowledge of the June 16 Trump Tower meeting and the Russian hacking. Cohen was involved with dealings with Russia during the campaign for a Trump Tower in Moscow and on and on. 

As far as Manafort is concerned Trump is in a lose lose situation. If Trump pardons him for all Federal offenses he stops the September trial where there is far more on the Russian connection. However, Manafort then can be subpoenaed and cannot claim fifth amendment protection as he has been pardoned. Also there are potentially state charges which Trump cannot pardon. If Manafort has any sense he will do a deal with Mueller as he then knows where he stands. Also to rely on Trump delivering is taking a massive chance even though the Trump camp are signaling that that is what they are prepared to do. The former campaign manager’s counsel wisely stated, “His client is weighing all his options” 

There are sixteen Republican Senators that voted for Bill Clinton’s impeachment for lying in a civil deposition about a sexual relationship. They are ignoring this egregious behavior where the intent was to influence a Presidential election. They might well replay the videos of their high sounding, self righteous and sanctimonious rhetoric as to what constitutes Presidential behavior. But to quote Clinton out of context,”It is what it is’”

ITS THE RUSSIA THING - STUPID.

However at the end of the day if the Republicans lose seats in the midterms they might well find “The Russian Thing” just too much to stomach. What sticks in their and everyone’s crawl is the humiliation Trump inflicted on America by his fawning behavior at Helsinki where he favored Putin’s word over all his intelligence and security chiefs. The only time the Republicans have sent Trump a message is when they joined the Democrats in a 98 - 0 vote to stiffen sanctions on Russia. 

This is the area that Trump himself feels the most vulnerable. The lie, according to Fact Checker that he has repeated most often, one hundred and thirty times, is, “Collusion is not a crime but that doesn’t matter because there was No Collusion except by Crooked Hillary and the Democrats”. The evidence for “collusion” is out there in the public just to quote one example the June 16, 2016 Trump Tower meeting with his chief campaign officials and Russians. Even if he knew nothing about it, which according to Steve Bannon is inconceivable, it is a conspiratorial action by his campaign. What Mueller can ultimately produce is what is terrifying him.

TRUMP’S RESPONSE TO IMPENDING LITIGATION

With Cohen on a roll giving evidence left right and center to anyone and everyone, the Stormy Daniels litigation where he will be deposed, his Foundation facing court proceedings, the emoluments litigation moving slowly though the courts and the newest court case against him by protestors that were beaten up at his rally with his encouragement, Trump has plenty to occupy himself. He also believes, like the mob, that no one should assist the prosecution and they should keep to their oath of silence. 

His defense is uncomplicated. He just lies and denies. There is after all more than one truth and Trump's truth trumps them all.

UNHINGED TRUMP’S HOLD ON HIS BASE BEGINS TO SLIP

Amidst the growing chaos of his Presidency, with him lashing out at the media in an unprecedented fashion and even punishing the architect of Osama Bib Laden’s capture, the one factor that has allowed Donald J. Trump to remain on the offensive is his belief that his base will stand by him through thick and thin. Even though there are growing signs of  disaffection, as far as he is concerned, nothing has changed from the day he commented on the campaign, that even if he shot someone on 5th Avenue it would not lose him a jot of support. His ongoing assessment has resulted in him making no effort to be the President of all America because all he needs is his base. 

Where Trump miscalculates is that his base’s backing may be enough to keep control of the Republican Party but not enough to reelect him President. His freak victory, with a minority of votes, needed, besides his base, another seven percent of the electorate which by all counts he has already lost. However, if the base remains firm it makes his impeachment highly unlikely. The key reason for that is that the current Republican legislators will stick by him if he still controls over eighty percent of the Party  - that is forty percent of the electorate. 

Two factors could dent Trump’s narrative and could cause GOP legislators to jump ship - a devastating Mueller referral coupled with a beating in the midterms. Trump would have cost them seats and that would be definitive evidence that even in safe Republican seats his base support has eroded. As they owe him no loyalty they will abandon ship in a heartbeat.

TRUMP: KEEP THE FORTY PERCENT BASE  AND SURVIVE

As survival is Trump’s principal objective and the biggest immediate threat in his mind is impeachment his strategy is geared to feeding his base a narrative that illigetimizes the Special Counsel and his probe. He has likened the probe to McCarthyism. Trump and his TV lawyer Rudi Giuliani, if their behavior is anything to go by, are expecting a scorching report from Mueller and consequently have abandoned any effort at maintaining a consistent story. They change the narrative with monotonous regularity. For example Trump initially argued that his injunction to Comey to drop the investigation against his National Security Advisor Michael Flynn was not obstruction of justice. Now he claims that he never even had the conversation. The smears on Mueller, Rod Rosenstein et al are escalating. This game plan holds only if Trump retains his base. 

The issue is, are there any pointers that Trump’s forty percent base is budging? The short answer is that his poll support remains firm but there is plenty to show that there are cracks in the cult leader’s following. Put another way when asked by the pollsters the Republican base are saying that they approve of the Trump Presidency but some, by their actions, are acting decidedly otherwise.

SPECIAL ELECTIONS AND MIDTERMS

 The State and National special elections have been a disaster for Trump. Most of his endorsements have come unstuck. The recent very poor showing in Ohio has pointed to the fact that the forty percent maybe saying yes to the pollsters but a large number either didn’t show up or voted against. This in spite of the fact that Trump took an unprecedented step for a sitting President by intervening in a local election with endorsements and holding a rally in support. The Ohio constituency has two Republicans registered for every one Democrat. Trump won the district by eleven percentage points in 2016 yet the outcome is still in the balance. At best the GOP will retain the seat with 0.5% majority. Trump’s base did not pitch up in the usual numbers. Ohio is a rerun to a lesser or greater extent of fifty such special elections. 

Other parameters point to a major midterm swing and an erosion of the base: there are seventy House seats that are more vulnerable than Ohio; a Presidential approval rating of forty percent historically predicts a big loss as does the large number of Republican incumbents not standing for election.

BACKGROUND PROBLEMS.

The President is beset with problems most of which impinge directly on the Mueller investigation. He could manage these singly but the additive effect is unhinging him as his tweets would indicate. Front and foremost are the threats posed by former insiders, Omarosa and Cohen, who have had a long time exposure to his inner workings. Both have tapes of conversations that could back up their attacks. Mueller’s prosecutions continue. The noose is tightening around his long term political associates, Roger Stone and Carter Page where there is public knowledge of their involvement with Russia. His swampy administration is riddled with nepotism, cronyism,  pay for play and a revolving staff door. The recent revelation on Omarosa’s tapes that Republican Party and Campaign money to the extent of a $180,000 a year per person is being paid to shut up those operatives who leave the WhiteHouse is sure to cause a backlash. 

His much vaunted tax bill is gaining no traction on the stump so he is left with immigration as his main election platform. The cruel separation of families may have firmed a section of the base but he has lost many Republican women as a result. Then there are those that are already cooperating with Mueller such as Flynn, Gates and Papadopoulos that add to his worries. While the Republican Legislature are very wary about censoring him they have made it quite clear, to date, that the Russian Investigation must continue. 

While none of this or anything else persuades the forty percent not to tell the pollsters that they approve of Trump they have obviously resulted in sections of the faithful faltering. What has to really concern the POTUS, however, is the new poll evidence that Giuliani and his campaign to denigrate Mueller and his probe is not taking hold.

THE RECENT CNN POLLS ON TRUMP’S HANDLING OF RUSSIA

• Only thirty - four percent of respondents answered that Trump is handling the Russian Investigation well. A similar percentage maintained that his statements have been true or mostly true.
• Seventy percent responded that Trump should agree to an interview with Mueller.
• The lowest percentage ever, for a Supreme Court confirmation,  thirty - seven percent, favor Kavanaugh’s endorsement.  (Kavanaugh doesn’t believe that Trump should be subpoenaed or indicted).
• In a generic poll the Democrats lead the Republicans by eleven points which puts at least seventy seats in play in the House of Representatives. 

AT THE END OF THE DAY - TRUMP’S SUPPORT IS ERODING

These polls confirm that there is a peeling off of support on the narrative that Trump and Giuliani are offering on the Mueller investigation. Particularly instructive is the fact that on the question of Trump, under oath, sitting down with Mueller seventy percent polled in the affirmative. This does not bode well for the prolonged fight that Giuliani is provoking when challenging Mueller to subpoena the POTUS. The sentiment relating to the Kavanaugh nomination, which is central to the Trump policy of fighting a subpoena, sends the same message - that Trump should cooperate with the Mueller investigation. This is taking place concomitant with election reversals that reaffirm a loss from the forty percent base.

Giuliani is sending a double message to Muller - complete your investigation within a few weeks and at the same time he is providing him with the wherewithal to prolong it by taunting him that he would challenge a subpoena up to the Supreme Court. Mueller should take the challenge, within three months he will have legislative backing and proving “collusion” has to be all but done. The more time Mueller has the better.

IN DESPERATiON TRUMP EXTENDS THE DAY 

The Donald desperate to reverse the trend, as a diversionary tactic, took the unprecedented decision to revoke the security clearance of former CIA Director, John Brennon. This resulted in fourteen former Intelligence Heads and overall seventy - five  CIA officials condemning the President’s restriction of free speech for political purposes. Trump responded characteristically by announcing the imminent withdrawal of another security clearance because of the “Russian Thing”. Two of the heads have countered that they would be honored if Trump withdrew their security clearances as well. It is not surprising that everyone he is threatening is related to that “Russian Thing”.

In response to nearly four hundred editorials written by newspapers big and small across the country condemning his attack on the freedom of the press by labelling them “The enemy of the People”, Trump doubled down by maintaining their combined protest was “collusion”.

Desperate too at what a Manafort conviction might mean to the Russia investigation he attacked the prosecution “witch hunt” and vouched for his embattled former Campaign Manager. This is jury tampering and in Western countries would be considered contempt of court. The Manafort jury now can relate to the fear engendered by foreign dictators when they threaten those who wish to maintain the rule of law. Imagine an anxious juror’s reaction to the President’s criticism of the prosecution coupled with his “punishing” political opponents? The Judge who has been liberal with his criticism of the prosecution should have saved some of his venom for calling out the President from the bench for jury tampering. Trump’s behavior is an affront to his court.

The fact that the Pentagon and Washington DC have rained out his military parade, which has gone the way of his wall, has incensed the thin skinned President. Predictably he lashed out with demeaning and false tweets directed at DC’s female African American Mayor. 

THE GOP LEGISLATORS ENABLING OF TRUMP

The Republican Party legislators who are hoping against hope that Trump can turn the tide would be better served by serving their country by censoring the President. There is little doubt that their spinelessness contributes to the base sticking to Trump. The irony is that the silent Senate Republicans are hard at work trying to secure the nomination of s Supreme Court Judge who is against subpoenaing or indicting the POTUS. The GOP legislators will go down in infamy as they have stood by and watched every one of their principles go down the drain supposedly because of a tax cut but really for their pathetic need to remain in Congress.

Trump will have his day in November when the midterms will be a referendum about him. Meanwhile hold onto your seats as America is in for a rough ride. As Trump believes he is America he could drag the country down with him. One outcome that is for sure till his last breath Trump will scream victory and victimization simultaneously.

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF TRUMP’S SWAMP

August 10, 2018 - a day in the life in Trump’s swamp: 

The following stories all appeared in the media on an ordinary news day in Trumpland. Trump on the campaign trail, to hysterical shouts and cheers, promised to drain the Washington swamp and substitute it with transparent honest government with administrators who believed in the rule of law. At his recent rallies his team dished out posters claiming “PROMISES MADE PROMISES KEPT”. 

To showcase the swamp created and infested by Trump in his five hundred and seventy odd days in office would take a tome so Jay H. Ell decided to examine just one day - 8/10/18 - the day when the idea hit him.

TEAM TRUMP AND THE SWAMP

Trump  explained to the screaming masses, most of whom were poor, why he wouldn’t put poor  people in his administration as rich people had no need to steal. He promised to associate only with the best in his campaign and in running the country. While this claim and the humungous turnover in his administration, largely dictated by their swampy behavior, has become the basic material of every late night comedian or comedienne, Jay H. Ell will just enumerate those who landed in the swamp on 10/8/18. Well there was his personal lawyer, his campaign manager, his deputy campaign manager, his Secretary of Commerce, his main defender in the Legislature, and the first legislator in the House of Representatives to support his candidature for President. There was his long time political advisor and several of his sidekicks . To complete the day’s dive into the swamp his former Apprentice associate and subsequent liaison with the African American community jumped out with a book.  

Wilbur Ross - Secretary of Commerce.

The conservative Forbes Magazine published an expose of Ross’s theft, corruption and grifting to the extent of a hundred and twenty million dollars, lying to the Federal Government and shorting shares of a company based on his inside knowledge. Ross has been labelled the biggest creature in the swamp.  Not surprisingly Ross has had suspicious contacts and involvement with the Putin based oligarchs. Presumably all or most was known to swampy Trumpy as he had to have seen Ross’s background check.

Michael Cohen - Former personal lawyer and fixer.

Cohen has been in the news lately following the seizure of his documents. He is being investigated for multiple crimes and is desirous, according to reports, of cooperating with the Mueller Investigation. Cohen was involved in contacts with the Russians. His exposure to a long term jail time has been increased exponentially by reports that his partner in the taxi business, also an underworld character, has ratted on him and there is a ton of cash that no tax was paid on. Trump smeared Cohen as being a “lowlife”. A "lowlife" who Trump employed for years to clean up all his "lowlife" messes.  

Paul Manafort - Campaign Manager for four months.

Manafort’s extensive connections with Russia, his bank fraud and tax evasion spilled over into the court proceedings. On 8/10/18 his connections with Russian oligarchs close to Putin were in evidence. 

Rick Gates - Deputy Campaign Manager from 2016 and working in one or other capacity in the Campaign till June 2017

Gates was as implicated as Manafort but elected to receive immunity in return for joining the Mueller team.

Devon Nunes - Head of the House Intelligence Committee

Nunes has been the unashamed fixer for Trump in the House of Representatives even proposing the impeachment of Rod Rosenstein Deputy Attorney General, who is supervising the Mueller Probe. Nunes was taped at a private fundraiser arguing that the reason that the Republicans must retain the House was to protect Trump from the Investigation.

Republican Representative of New York 27th District, Christopher Collins

Collins was the first Congressman to endorse candidate Trump and has been rewarded handsomely. The Feds announced that he acted on inside information and shares were sold in a company that he was a director of. Footage of him making the illegal calls on the WhiteHouse lawn were featured.

Roger Stone - long time political advisor to Trump including his campaign

Stone came into focus when he recently predicted that he is probably going to be indicted by Mueller. He was mentioned in the indictment against the twelve Russian hackers. He has admitted contact with Julian Assange of Wikileaks prior to his Clinton document dump. His comments on the subpoenaing of his associates were all of the rage in the media on 8/10/18. Stone is thought to be one of those who put the “collusion” into “no collusion”.

Andrew Miller - long time associate of Roger Stone

Miller gave the Stone issue sunlight by refusing to testify to Mueller’s Grand Jury. This after a ninety - two page judgement ordered him to do so.

Kristen Davis - Stone’s Former Secretary

Davis gave evidence to Mueller’s grand jury being the fifth known Stone associate to be in Mueller’s notebook.

Omarosa - Trump’s Personal Assistant and decade’s long confidant.

This pretty normal news day for Trump was punctuated by the announcement of the publication of an expose by former Trump insider and confidant Omarosa Manigault - Newman. Always referred to as Omarosa she goes back a long way with Donald Trump matching him for outrageousness on his TV show “The Apprentice”. She had been cast as the villain in a number of the series starting on day one in 2004. She was the ideal foil for Trump relishing in the attention in being the female counterpart of the boorish host of the show. Then to all and sundry’s amazement, Trump appointed her as a close highly paid personal advisor in the WhiteHouse. She was considered the consummate insider, Ivanka only being that close for longer, so her  tell all slashing memoir, which has a host of salacious disturbing but mostly unconfirmed insights, will attract maximum media attention. Having been around this long and as Director of Communications for the Office of Public Liaison and serving as Trump’s go to person to the African American community where she was reviled, Omarosa is very much a recognizable controversial public persona. 

Besides labelling Trump as a racist and claiming that there were tapes where he repeated the N word multiple times she details incidents such as Trump asking her if he should take his Presidential Oath on “The Art of The Deal”. She justified her claim that Trump’s relationship with his daughter Ivanka was inappropriate by detailing touchings and verbal banter. There are also political allusions such as the real collusion in the election was between Fox News and Trump.

In a different age with a different President this book would have been a sensation. However it is just more slime in the swamp that is Trump’s. She is ensured of great sales as already Sarah Huckabee Sanders has attacked it. Trump ensured more attention to her claims by calling her a “lowlife”. Another “lowlife” whom Trump appointed to the access to the WhiteHouse in his effort to drain the swamp.

One thing is for sure, however self serving Omarosa may be, her claim that Trump was a racist was supported by Trump himself as on that same day reference was made to the POTUS calling Lebron James, Maxine Walters and Don Lemon “low intelligence”. Her greatest ally is the fact that the WhiteHouse has zero credibility.

TRUMP’S GOOD GOVERNMENT AND THE SWAMP

There was a litany of cronyism, nepotism, authoritarianism, racism and lies in evidence on 8/10/18.

That’s what friends are for.

Trump in his bizarre trade war fight created another situation ripe for graft. The aluminum tariffs is one such an example as companies are entitled to file for an exclusion from the tariffs. Exclusions were to be granted for products that could not be produced in the USA. The New York Times, on 8/10/18, reported of an exclusion granted to a close Putin associate, Mr. Deripaska. The latter is the major shareholder in a company called Rural. The Russian oligarch had been blacklisted in response to Russia’s interference in the 2016 election. He had another red flag item in his resume, he was the oligarch that Trump’s campaign manger Paul Manafort offered briefings to on the 2016 election.

If you can’t help family who can you help?

Keeping America safe and pure was his promise on immigration. The ideal solution would be to curtail immigration totally and throw out of the country the approximately eleven million who were “illegal”. One of the other stratagems was to ban “ chain” immigrants, who were defined as close relatives of other immigrants who had become citizens. As anyone who has applied for a parent or a sibling can attest to the wait is very long as only a limited number of entries are allowed of per year. While Trump was attacking “chain” immigration mercilessly having characterized it as NOT ACCEPTABLE his in laws were being processed. 

It takes forever to obtain a green card and once that arrives there is a five year wait. If then one applies for citizenship there is yet another wait for the ceremony. All in all on a fast track, if someone’s application is accepted to settle in America it would take seven to ten years to become a citizen. The parents of the POTUS’S wife, First Lady Melania, citizenship was announced on 8/10/18. Nobody knows how long it took the Knavs whose application was based on “family reunification”, (a.k.a. “Chain” immigration). What is known that while he was making the axing of “chain” immigration a key plank in his policy pitch his in laws application was being  successfully processed.

Trump’s Zero Tolerance policy and the abrogation of the rule of law

One of Trump’s big arguments on resolving America’s immigration mess was that America was a nation of laws. Apparently Trump and his administration believe that this only applies to laws that they agree with. Trump and Sessions have been hammered in the court of public opinion for months now for their base cruelty in splitting up families and holding children in detention often in shocking conditions. There are also laws relating to the processing of those without papers who reach and or cross the border. These laws have been flaunted in the Zero Tolerance policy and the Trump Administration have had a torrid time as the Courts have ripped them apart for their transgressions, inter alia, demanding that they reunite the broken families. 

On 8/10/18 the Trump Administration deported a mother and daughter while their case for asylum was being heard. Federal Judge Emmet Sullivan, opined, “This is pretty outrageous that someone seeking justice in a U.S. Court is spirited away while her attorneys are seeking justice for her. This is not acceptable”. The Judge then ordered the plane they were on to turn around and threatened to hold the Attorney General Jeff Sessions in contempt of court should his order not be carried out. Sessions complied. The same morning papers were filed in Federal Court that the Court’s order to reunite all the children with their parents had been defied, hundreds of cases were still in abeyance. 

Trump takes on NFL players again - lying in his tweet

“The NFL players are at it again - taking a knee when they should be standing proudly by the National Anthem. Numerous players from different teams, wanted to show their “outrage” at something most of them are unable to define. They make a fortune doing what they love.” - the POTUS tweeted

There are two palpable lies in that tweet. The players have made it abundantly and repeatedly clear that they are not protesting the National Anthem but rather racial injustice. The second lie relates to the fact that the players are unable to define why they are taking a knee. They have spelt out the reasons which include the high number of African Americans that are incarcerated for minor crimes including five thousand children in adult facilities. The initial issue related to the deaths of unarmed blacks at the hands of the police. 

Trump will hammer this issue into the ground even though he has reportedly been asked to cease and desist by the owners who by and large are his supporters. It is a cultural issue that stirs up his base. To quote Le Bron James, “He is using sport to divide us”.

Anniversary of Charlottesville.

The right wing groups decision to “celebrate the anniversary” of their carnage at Charlottesville by holding a “Unite The Right” rally next to the WhiteHouse, resulted in the resurfacing of Trump’s remark following the death of one of those protesting against the racists and Neo Nazis that there was wrong on both sides of the divide, thereby sanctioning a moral equivalency between the racists and the counter protestors.

ALL IN A DAY’S WORK

 Trump himself was front and center of the Trumpy swampy news of 8/10/18 being the dinosaur in the swamp.