In a week of total Trumpian chaos including the POTUS openly stating that he would break the law, the Republican leadership wimped out. Trump had outright stated that he would accept foreign actors’ intervention in his favor in the 2020 Presidential election. As the calls, from the usual suspects, for impeachment magnified Trump’s base stood firm as the Republican Party legislators bereft of real leadership hung in, in silent acquiescence. At this point in time it is fair to say that Trump’s criminality and his disdain for the American Constitution is not a central part of the debate for the 2020 Presidency. Jay H. Ell believes that the reason for this indifference is that in the Republican constituencies their elected legislators are enabling Trump and condoning his behavior.
Of all the multiple scandals that broke the worst was at the hands of the Republican legislators, both in the House and the Senate, who refused to back the Democratic Party resolution that the failure to report to the FBI foreign actors’ interference into American campaigns and elections, is a crime punishable by law.
The week’s events added to the urgent need for a leader to emerge to salvage the Republican Party and its President from morphing into a third world cesspool. Someone needs to rise from the ashes to lead the GOP back to its principles. All this cannot be worth a tax cut and packing the Judiciary with fellow travelers.
IN THE WEEK THAT WAS THE TRUMP ENABLERS MAGNIFY THE CHAOS AROUND THE PRESIDENCY
Trump was promptly backed by his enabler in Chief, Mitch McConnell, who refused to act on his unconstitutional behavior welcoming foreign country aid with the lame excuse that “the matter was resolved”. McConnell had previosly refused to put to the vote a billion dollar appropriation to tighten up election security.
The slimy Republican head of the Senate, has become more and more tainted by his wife’s corruption making him more and more tied to his wayward President. Ms McConnell, aka as Elaine Chao, who is Trump’s Secretary of Transport, shunted money to the State of Kentucky thereby assisting her husband’s reelection effort. To make matters stink even more she appointed a specific civil servant just to oversea the Kentucky involvement. Then it was reported that she was knee deep in unethical activity, hanging onto shares central to the activities of her department while simultaneously favoring her family’s business in China.
Then there was Attorney General Barr who idly stood by as Trump declared that the FBI Director, who his Justice Department supervises, was wrong when he ordered all campaigns who had offers of foreign assistance to report them to his Agency. The unholy triumvirate of enablers in chief is made up by Congressman Jim Jordan who in the teeth of the swirling dysfunction claimed that the real issue was to investigate how the Hillary Clinton inspired Russian investigation was initiated. Jordan is on a fairy tale mission to prevent others from being victimized as Trump has been.
There are all the other apologists who for practical purposes involve the whole Republican legislature. Lindsey Graham made a feeble attempt at criticism and Minority Leader of the House Kevin McCarthy disagreed with Donald Trump that all Congressmen accepted foreign aid as a matter of course. Mitt Romney who is the Grand Old Party’s last white hope to salvage their dignity and integrity denounced Trump’s illegality but offered no leadership to stop the rape of the Party of which he was once the elected leader.
OTHER DISASTERS IN THE WEEK THAT WAS
To underline the enormity of the Republican hypocrisy and moral decay it is worthwhile to enumerate the other Trump disasters in the week that was. While secretly many of the GOP may wish for impeachment they know this can’t happen while Trump’s base aka the Republican base remains at forty percent. This number cannot budge till they support public hearings or they show the forty percent whom they represent that Trump is unfit for office. Will someone in a leadership position please stand up!
What almost passed unnoticed is that The Office of the Special Counsel took the unprecedented action of recommending to the POTUS that he fire Kellyanne Conway, one of his chief WhiteHouse counsellors. She had violated The Hatch Act which forbade Government employees to participate in party political activities. Conway it was stated “repeatedly and knowingly” used her position, (and the megaphone that goes with it), to mix into party politics by attacking Democratic presidential candidates. Trump predictably responded by telling the Office of the Special Couple to go and jump in the lake. Adding in an interview to Fox News that Ms Conway, “was a terrific person and a tremendous spokesperson who is loyal” and was being unfairly singled out. Conway also thumbed her nose at being charged by facetiously commenting, “blah blah blah … let me know when the jail sentence starts”.
While on the subject of Trump sycophants another blow was inflicted on the thin red line that forms a wall of lies around the President. The departure of Sarah Huckabee Sanders who spun anything that came her way was announced. The loss may not be felt that badly by the world at large because the Trump WhiteHouse had not held a Press Conference in months. Nevertheless it is one sycophant less in a world where they are becoming fewer and fewer.
William Barr and Secretary of Commerce, Wilbur Ross were in deep trouble for not providing the House Oversight Committee with documentation relating to why the Trump Administration was adding a question in the Census questionnaire which was allegedly designed to discourage the participation of Latinos in the census count. This motive was apparently documented in Departmental emails. Barr warned Chairman Cummings that if he issued contempt citations as a result of his refusal to handover the emails he would get the President to declare that the correspondence was covered by Executive Privilege. Cummimgs went ahead with the citations on Barr and Ross so Trump promptly obliged to protect his Consiglieri by designating the contents of the e mails privileged communications. (This failure of Trump and his Administration to respond to Congressional oversight has become almost total which has led observers to believe that he is inviting impeachment).
Trump once again conducted foreign policy by tweet moving from China to Iran, having already declared victory in North Korea. He also claimed that his aggressive winner takes all approach with Mexico had worked. However a report alleged that all Mexico agreed too was future discussions. It was also argued that what had transpired at the meeting between Mexico and the USA had been agreed upon long ago.
But back to Iran where Trump alleged that the Shia State was threatening world peace by attacking Japanese tankers. The owner of the tankers insisted that Iran didn’t do it but this did not stop Secretary of State Pompeo supported by a collection of disjointed facts that it had to be Iran. Both nationally and internationally there were demands for real proof as they had all seen this movie before with Iraq and were not desirous of a sequel. While many legislators thought this was just another Trump distraction they were irritated enough to suggest that it was about time Congress limited Trump’s ability to dish out tariff threats and remind him that he couldn’t declare war without their permission. Just before going to Press Trump said the attacks were very minor while his Secretary of Defense claimed they were very major and was sending a 1000 troops to the Middle East.
Then a whole stack of internal Trump polling results were leaked to the Press indicating that Trump was being thrashed in the polls by Biden while being appreciably behind all other Democratic candidates that he was being compared too. Needless to say Trump fired his pollsters for presumably “fake polls”. While comparisons are odious the only other politician in history that had a similar attitude to unfavorable facts and figures was “you know who” in the bunker in Nazi Germany who admonished his advisors for plying him with factual reports of the state of the war, by retorting, “Don’t bring me defeatist statistics.”
Another set back to business as usual was the fact that there are twenty - four Democratic Candidates vying for the media oxygen. Even Fox News, much to the chagrin of The Donald, is giving them the time of day. It has to be an ominous sign that Fox News echo chamber is beginning to hedge their bets - day time devoted to factual news and night time belonging to The Donald.
Trump’s greatest nemesis is mommy Nancy who is taking him and now Mitch McConnell to the cleaners. McConnell, who faithfully represents Trump, has been given the appellation of “The Grim Reaper”. So Pelosi at a Press Conference, with a visual behind her featuring nine gravestones, detailed nine pieces of legislation that had passed the House which McConnell refused to bring to the floor of the Senate for a vote. The stones represent the death of bread and potato issue legislation which was at the heart of the historic 2018 midterm Democratic victory. McConnell killing legislation is nothing new as he has being doing this since the days of Obama. His most notorious killing, however, was that of Obama’s nomination for the Supreme Court, Merrick Garland. Nancy received wide press coverage for her graphic presentation. This coverage coupled with Trump’s ongoing whining about Pelosi - “Nancy is a nasty woman” is detracting from whatever message he is trying to get across. He bemoans that she told her caucus that rather than be impeached he should be imprisoned for his crimes.All this has garnered media time which Trump feels he has the monopoly over.
The Republicans are frantically working behind the scenes to persuade the distracted POTUS to apply his mind to the budget appropriations bill which has bipartisan support. He is loathe to agree because it doesn’t contain the billions for the wall Mexico was going to pay for. If the Bill isn’t passed then there will be another government shut down with negative implications for Republicans. Another reported major disagreement that is desperately being played out behind the scenes concerns Trump’s desire to make health care ,which he and the party have bombed on for almost a decade, a centerpiece of his campaign. The Republican legislators know how badly that plays in their backyards.
All this and more in about a week yet there is no Republican luminary who is prepared to step up to the plate and lead the Party out of Egypt back into the Great Promised Land. They all should take an example from a Republican backbencher named Congressman Justin Amash.
IT IS ALL ABOUT LEADERSHIP
Congressman Justin Amash who is a part of the right wing caucus in the Republican Party and represents a profoundly Republican district in Michigan has called for Trump’s impeachment for obstruction of justice. He then convened a Town Hall Meeting for his constituents to explain his position as to why Trump was unfit to govern. The stunned Republican crowd questioned him and he steadfastly stuck to his guns as he explained the Trump perfidy. It all ended in a standing ovation for the Congressman. One of his bewildered constituents explained to the media that she only watches conservative news and believed Trump had been exonerated by the Mueller report. She like the packed meeting trusted their elected representative who is taking a principled stand. That is what leadership is all about.
Now plenty has happened since the Mueller report. Just glance above at what transpired just last week and yet no one in the Republican hierarchy is prepared tp lead and explain to the forty percent that this man is despoiling the name of the Republican Party and America. The obvious candidate to take on the task is Mitt Romney who surely in the autumn of his career didn’t stand for the Senate to be voting fodder for Trump and McConnell. What motivated him initially has had to have become that more pressing in the past two years. He was the politician who called Trump a “conman” exhorted the Republican Party to stop his nomination at all costs, and attempted to orchestrate a plan to effect this. He then backed an independent candidate to run against him in the 2016 election.
Where is Romney now that his party really needs him? Stand up and lead Mr Romney!
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