TRUMP AND CASSIDY HUTCHINSON - WHAT PRICE JUSTICE?

Former WhiteHouse aide Cassidy Hutchinson has to be the Whistleblower of all time eclipsing even the combination of John Dean and Alexander Butterfield of Watergate fame. She gave the January 6 Investigation Committee a road map to Donald Trump’s sociopathic behavior on the day of the insurrection and the maneuvering that led up to it. Also her testimony kiboshed any argument as to Trump’s corrupt intent with regard to the coup which culminated in the January 6 insurrection.

However the whole episode brought to light the high cost of legal aid and litigation and the ability of the rich and the powerful to weaponize the legal system. There has been no one more adept at the perversion of the justice system than Donald Tump whose legal connections represent many of the witnesses to the January 6 committee.

 The saga of Cassidy Hutchinson riveted the nation who are obsessed with legal dramas.The narrative also played into the myth that justice always triumphs. 

AMERICA’S OBSESSION WITH LEGAL DRAMAS

The January 6 Public Hearings which had the aura of a court trial, albeit there was no cross examination, was the object of wide public interest. Like the McCarthy hearings of the 1950’s and the Watergate saga of the 1970's vast numbers of Americans tuned in. Americans are captivated with Court room and legal dramas. They convey the myth that the good guys always win in the end and have taken the place of the Western movies where the highly paid hired gun always is downed by the public servant sheriff good guy..

The night time viewership of the expose of the Congressional Committee’s Investigation into the Trump coup was twenty million which is equivalent to the audience of a Sunday Night Football game. Cassidy Hutchinson’s appearance garnered a record day time viewership of nearly fourteen million. 

Part and parcel of the culture are endless TV soaps and a whole genre of movies that keep the nation enthralled. Celebrity trials such as the OJ Simpson drama which was televised live have held society spellbound as have seminal Legislative hearings. The depictions on the screens of all sizes bring warm fuzzies to the nation because their conclusions invariably reinforce the mantra that good conquers evil. But more of the American engrossment with court room productions and Congress hearings later. 

So back to Cassidy’s encounters with the legal fraternity and Trump’s direction of the American landscape via it.

HUTCHINSON’S PLIGHT - FIND PRO BONO INDEPENDENT LEGAL REPRESENTATION 

Ms. Hutchinson relayed to the sub committee of Congress her tortuous struggle regarding her search for legal representation. One of the nightmares anyone can face is litigation. Whether or not one finds oneself in circumstances where legal representation is needed, through no fault of one’s own or whether one has been wronged and requires redress, the costs can be ruinous.

 The former WhiteHouse staffer had been witness to the central political upheaval of post civil war American history. As the January 6 enquiry proceeded she was more than aware that she would be subpoenaed sooner or later. Her financial situation was dire so she needed representation that would be pro bono or at very low cost - facts that she was upfront with. She was anxious not to have to rely on Trump world for aid as that would require her to stick to the Trump narrative. She subsequently testified that she feared of crossing him as she had seen what had happened to those that had dared.

CASSIDY DITCHED BY AN INDEPENDENT COUNCIL SO SHE HAS TO SEEK REFUGE IN TRUMP WORLD 

Her frantic and prolonged search finally bore fruit. Alan White was a counsel at Silverman, Thompson, Slutkin and White with whom she felt comfortable. He agreed to represent her at no or minimal cost. For whatever reason, when the subpoena arrived White backed off. Well not really, the firm just asked for a hundred and fifty thousand dollar retainer, “as circumstances had changed”. (The firm by American standards is tiny with only forty three attorneys). So there she was subpoena in hand with only one option, the one she had dreaded, she had to rely on Trump world to give her the legal back up she needed to face her ordeal.

So enter one Michael Passantino, who had been Chief Ethics Lawyer in the Trump WhiteHouse, (no seriously, he had been). He had just been made a partner in a large legal firm Michael Best and Friedrich as their lead in their political law group. Michael Best LLC is based in the Midwest and their first Trump alum was Reince Priebus, Trump’s original Chief of Staff. They also added Justin Clark another member of the Trump administration. The legal firm has expanded with the advent of the Trump Administration. Their lobbying revenue has grown seven fold to over three million dollars. They also benefited directly from the Republican National Party to the extent of at least four hundred thousand dollars.

 Now since it all hit the fan Passantino  has been disowned, and has been put on leave from the Best firm. However he and Clark are partners in another Trump orbit legal firm, Elections LLC. 

Election LLC was formed in February 2019 and has already had some pretty big accounts directed their way. From the get go it was paid by the Trump Campaign five hundred and sixty thousand dollars. It has also had several clients in the 2022 Midterms, including Majorie Taylor Greene, where they weren’t acting pro bono. They also represented Trump in challenging  some County elections in Georgia. 

There has to be a ton more and who knows who paid him for his representation of Ms Hutchinson because Counsel Passantino refused to inform her. 

The entrapped young woman stated as she gave testimony as directed she could feel Trump leaning over her shoulder. She was instructed to answer, “I Do Not Recall” to questions that would implicate the tyrannical leader and his inner circle. “We just want to focus on protecting the President’, Passantino continued as he suborned perjury. “We all know you’re loyal. Let’s get you in and out and this day will be easy, I promise". 

She was fearful of Trump’s omnipotence. Besides being President of the USA he had utilized the legal system as an ally in his nefarious career. So she went along. As her just released transcripts reveal, even under the guidance of Passantino, she partially voiced damning evidence. Her deviation from script was such that her pro bono pro Trump lawyer had to intervene and clarify what she really meant.

 Nevertheless she couldn’t look at herself in the mirror after her initial testimony. When she heard from other witnesses that questions pertaining to her were coming up she knew that she had not been believed. She needed the cavalry to come and rescue her. They did as they always do but that must wait to be discussed below. First to relay why Cassidy feared Trump vis a vis his utilization of the legal system for control and terror. 

DONALD TRUMP AND THE LAW AND THE MYTH OF THE TRIUMPH OF JUSTICE

All this would be irrelevant if the whole of America weren’t engrossed in legal dramas and this one involves the Forty - Fifth President of the United States, a former TV star, someone in the public eye for half a century and probably the biggest weaponizer of the legal system in the history of mankind. It is fair comment to say that The Donald was the best known personality in America. Now Trump was alleged to have engineered the first ever coup in an attempt to remain in power. Unlike Cassidy Hutchinson with him money was no object. The problem for those who sue him and whom he sues is the fact that he uses endless resources to run out the clock and his opponents check book.

Donald Trump’s legal strategy was influenced by Roy Cohn a notorious lawyer who had been chief counsel in the equally notorious McCarthy hearings, which were twentieth century witch hunts. He met Cohn in a bar and regaled him with the fact that he and his father were being charged by the Federal Government for discrimination against African Americans in their rental practices. Cohn, responded “Tell them to go to hell!”. 

Cohn then outlined his modus operandi,; “Never admit defeat; Never surrender: Counter Sue : Lie and Attack: Publicity no matter what and Win no matter what”. Cohn had an avid pupil as history has shown. Trump has used his financial power and his charisma to win battles he should have lost and declare victory when the decision was otherwise, All this resulted in him being involved in litigation a staggering four thousand times in the next four decades either as a plaintiff or as a defendant. 

Cassidy's financial struggle to obtain legal representation  brought into sharper focus Donald Trump’s life long manipulation of the judicial system. For example, vendors who claimed payment could be countersued for a poor job, doubling their legal expenses.

Cohn’s pupil had became the master. It also laid bare the impotence of the Justice machinery in that Trump’s fifty year satanic history had proceeded without him being criminally convicted of a single crime - If anything is an indictment of the system of Justice in America that is. 

None of this reality is portrayed in "LA Law" or “A Few Good Men”.” Erin Brockovitch" is the portrayal of a legal clerk staring  Julia Roberts who went on to win an Oscar for her leading role as the activist legal clerk. She  persevered against all odds and won against the polluting company. In fact the reason they made a movie about Erin Brockovich is because the outcome is so rare. Notwithstanding the rarity, the story reinforces the myth that through Justice good always conquers evil. The episode depicts an exceptional instance of real life as most disputes never even reach the court let alone a decided trial. Such unusual victories should occupy a place  in the Smithsonian Museum where a special section should be dedicated to similar outcomes.

There are exceptions to the rule. A lawyer may take a brief on a contingency basis. There she only charges for expenses and then if she wins she gets a cut, up to thirty three percent of the monetary award. It stands to reason these attorneys only accept case where the deck is stacked in their favor. Thus you will see adverts on TV for litigation against doctors or injury claims. Many of these litigations are meritorious but often they are concocted on the most cynical bases. The lawyers look at the outcome. If some one dies there must be something in the record that some expert will argue that was negligence or not "standard of care". Health care systems have become wary and often settle for a few hundred thousand dollars rather than face the high cost of litigation and the possibility of a large pecuniary award.

Another exception is a class action suit where attorneys represent a large number of litigants who have been wronged such as in Trump’s University fraud. Class action litigation, more often than not is meritorius. Again this is almost always on a contingency basis. 

 So bottom line what can this run an individual into? Cassidy Hutchinson, who was not a litigant or an accused, just a witness, was asked for a hundred and fifty thousand dollar retainer so that could shed some light as to the potential outlay of litigation. 

So What is it with America and their lawyers?

LEGAL PROFESSION IN AMERICA PROHIBITIVE TO ORDINARY INDIVIDUALS BUT CASSIDY FINALLY HITS THE JACKPOT

America has one million three hundred thousand lawyers. That is one for every thousand people. There are said to be eighty thousand registered in Washington. (That number is double the number of lawyers in France). The large firms have up to a thousand lawyers and they bill by the hour. Their offices put bank foyers to shame. There are an increasing number of lawyers that bill up to two thousand dollars per hour. All the firms do “Pro Bono”work. However they all report these in hours. So the amount has to be infinitismal compared to overall revenue. 

 So let us say you want to sue Donald Trump for payment. This will be the beginning of a long process that could push your finances to the limit. With Tump there will be the counter suit. There are the pretrial depositions, court filings and the like. If the other side has money well and good Trump might settle in the end and claim victory as he did with the students in his fake University.

 

If you look at Cassidy Hutchinson she was a good candidate for “pro bono” work for the legal firm that finally became the cavalry. Jody Hunt was Jeff Sessions counsel. Sessions was Trump’s Attorney General who he fired because he had recused himself from the Russia investigation. Four attorneys pitched up for Cassidy’s remedial depositions. There had to be hours of preparation, checking of facts, possible corroborative depositions and finally sitting behind her at the hearing. Then Cassidy needs representation for Justice Department enquiries, interviews and having her counsel at the ready while she is in Grand Jury proceedings. Conservatively a hundred hours times four attorneys at least a thousand dollars an hour for a hotshot Washington firm, equals four hundred thousand dollars. 

So back to the ordinary individuals, even at the average non high powered Washington attorneys at two to three hundred dollars per hour (A lot more than the plumber!), - soon you are talking real money. You can control your costs but if the other side wants to depose twenty witnesses your lawyer has to prepare for them and sit through four hours at least of billable hours and stenographer fees.  

A Judge in Arizona ordered Kari Lake, the only remaining true Trump political cult member, who appealed her loss for Governorship, to refund her opponent thirty three thousand dollars for expert witness fees. Let that sink in just expert witness fees not in Washington but Arizona. 

JUSTICE TRIUMPHS ONCE AGAIN!

This story ends the way it is supposed to. At least for the majority of Americans who believe that Trump engineered a sustained and prolonged Coup attempt.

Not only did the young aide give first and second hand testimony on Trump’s state of mind she overheard him screaming at the Security detail, “I don’t fucking care that they have weapons, they’re not here to hurt me, Take the fucking mags, (Magnetometers) away. Let my people in. They can march to the Capitol from here; let the people in and take the mags away”. 

That with her first hand conversation with Trump’s consiglieri Rudi Giuiliani, as to what was going to happen on January 6, “We’re going to the Capitol, it’s going to be great. The President’s going to be there. He’s going to look powerful. He’s going to be with the senators. Talk to the chief, (Mark Meadows) about it” Which she did and he confirmed that on January 6, “…Things might get real real bad”.

Added to that Trump harangued at the Ellipse, “…. And after this, we’re going to walk down, and I’ll be with you.. Because we will never take back our country with weakness…” The coup de gras was her graphic second hand account of being told that Trump had a physical altercation with his security minders who refused to take him to the Capitol. A story she is sticking too and which her informants are unable “to recall”. 

AT THE END OF THE DAY

All's well that ends well. Cassidy to her relief could tell the real story with the protection she needed. The rest is history. (BLOG: The Fairy Tale of Cassidy Hutchinson and the Wicked President”). 

America can once again be convinced that at the end of the day good always triumphs over evil in the Justice system. 

 Jay H. Ell is more than mindful and aware that the legal profession has many ethical  practitioners who provide professional assistance to their clients. There are many not for profit agencies who also help but understandably are not available for common every day issues. Public defenders are appointed, under varying circumstances depending on the States they reside, for those facing criminal complaints.

 Jay H.Ell is not alone in noting the influence powerful legal firms and their clients have over society and the legal system. Ralph Nader and Wesley Smith authored, in 1996, a scathing expose entitled, “No Contest - Corporate Lawyers and Their Perversion of Justice.” They are but a few of many that have pointed out the injustice of justice. 

At this point in tine the enormity of the Cassidy Hutchinson story has not penetrated the punch drunk American society. Jay H. Ell cannot wait for the tv series and the movies that will follow when this is all over. 

Just in passing unsure why Trump and "GOP" are so angry at his tax return release. He said he would release when the audit was finished. Well it is"finished". 

BIDEN v TRUMP IS WHAT THE 2024 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION WILL BE ABOUT

 

Everything points to a rerun of the 2020 Presidential election in 2024. Biden has led the Democratic Party to a historic midterm performance in spite of rising costs and inflation. This has consolidated his support within his party should he elect to run. Meanwhile Trump’s core base will not budge as a result of the devastating exposures of his illegal behavior even if these result in prosecutions and convictions. 

The fact that Kevin McCarthy, the leader of the Republican majority in the House has swallowed the Kool-Aid and regards Trump's support as essential to his election as Speaker illustrates the MAGA boss's hold over the “GOP”. All the January 6 dramatic revelations will do is reinforce Trump’s and his cult’s belief in their victimhood. Moreover the majority of the “GOP” legislators will not cut him loose because they cannot win without his base. So once again, in 2024, in one way or another, it will be Trump v Biden, (or their surrogates), as it was in 2020 and the midterms. Jay H. Ell will outline what has led him to this conclusion. 

ZELENSKY’S VISIT TELLS IT ALL

If any historical event `illustrates the difference between Trump and Biden it is the Ukrainian - Russian conflict and the attitudes of Trump and Biden towards Russia’s Putin and Ukraine’s Zelensky. Trump supported Putin over his own American Intelligence personnel. He refused to release Congress voted funds to Ukraine unless Zelensky provided dirt on the Bidens leading to his first impeachment. Biden’s role has been central to Zelensky’s success galvanizing NATO support for him.  

Just in case anyone has any doubt where the Trump mob stand on Zelensky’s visit to the USA. Donald J. Trump Jnr tweeted that Zelensky was, “Basically an ungrateful international welfare queen”. For those who are not aware of the smear that Trump Jnr was alluding too, it was a depiction by Ronald Reagan, of those who were recipients of the Democratic Party’s welfare programs as being crooked freeloaders. 

The irony is that baby Don’s freeloading dad has been exposed as a grifter and a tax cheat, who had his Charitable Foundation closed down because he spent other people’s donations for his own account and his University shut down after settling twenty -five million dollars to the students he defrauded. 

There is little doubt that the Majorie Taylor Greene’s of the world agree with the Trump position and will make Kevin McCarthy’s position even more impossible much to the Democrats delight. The Freedom Caucus Squad made their feelings known at Zelensky’s speech to the Joint Congressional Hearing by literally sitting on their hands as their colleagues of both parties gave repeated and prolonged standing ovations.

For anyone with any political savvy the fact that the Republican leader of the Senate Mitch McConnell was a proud participant of the Zelensky visit while McCarthy was nowhere to be seen gives some indication that the “GOP” Legislators are not all one happy family.

While foreign policy is rarely central to USA elections the fact that the Trump “GOP” and its main barrel organ FOX NEWS  are against foreign aid for Ukraine does not help their cause. Zelensky has an approval rating of seventy - two percent in the USA and was TiME’s Person the Year.

THE MIDTERMS - BIDEN’S LEADERSHIP 

Jay H. Ell maintained that the underlying narrative for the 2022 midterms was Trump versus Biden. (BLOG: “The Midterms? They Are About Trump and Biden Stupid”, September 8, 2022). 

Biden, in spite of criticism within in the Democratic Party. (DP), made it clear that the 2022 midterm election represented a “Fork in the road” in the future of America.  To reinforce the enormity of the historical significance of the election, the Forty Sixth President chose as the venue for his election message, Independence Hall, Pennsylvania, where the original American Constitution was hammered out. 

Biden coupled his appeal with support for a woman’s rights to an abortion, the removal of which the “GOP’ had engineered. The abrogation of this right had been as a result of the decision by the Supreme Court to axe it. Trump had promised that his Supreme Court nominees would deliver this outcome. Moreover Justice Thomas, whose wife was active in the movement to “Stop the Steal”, has threatened LGBT rights and a couple’s right to contraception. 

Biden had been proved right with his message, (BLOGS, “USA Midterms: ‘We The People’ Deliver” and “Georgia Senate Run Off - For All The Marbles”, November 20 and December 1, 2022 respectively). The red wave that was predicted by the “GOP” and the media barely produced a trickle. In so doing Biden and the DP defied history as the average loss of the Party that occupies the WhiteHouse is twenty - six House seats as well as Senate losses. This electoral performance was in spite of the fact that the “GOP” made it more difficult for African Americans to vote and for Democrats to cast votes in their traditional way, prior to the actual election day. 

THE “GOP” LEGISLATORS UNFASED BY REVELATIONS ON TRUMP

The question facing the “GOP” Legislative leaders was whether or not they would recognize that Trump was the antithesis of every value their Party once supported or would they continue on the path initiated by Nixon to try and establish America as a White Autocracy. (BLOG: “Genuine GOP Leaders Please Stand Up - How The Hell Did We Get Here”, December 10, 2022). 

The verdict on the “GOP’s” central dilemma Is out. If we take, for example, the response of the “GOP’ members on the Ways and Means Committee in relation to the release of Trump’s taxes, they are loathe to cross the leader of their Party. Ironically the last President to try not to share his tax returns was President Nixon whom Jay H. Ell credits with setting the “GOP” on the path to negating the GOP’S historical mandate. Nixon eventually recanted and produced his tax reports. He was anxious to show the American public, “That their President was not a crook”. Trump and his Party have not such a lofty ideal. 

To further add to the “GOP” Legislators slavish commitment to Trump, “GOP” House Leader McCarthy has promised that his agenda for the next two years will be to attack the investigators of the Trump coup attempt. McCarthy will also take up Trump’s original quest to Zelensky and investigate Hunter Biden. While “GOP” Senate Leader McConnell has responded that, “The entire nation knows who is responsible for that day. I don’t have any immediate observations”. He refuses to answer whether or not he would  back Trump if he was the “GOP” nominee for 2024.

The question still remains as to what the evidence is as to where the American voter stands at the moment and where they might be in 2024.

BIDEN AND THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY’S CHANCES OF BEING IN POWER IN 2024

It is fair comment that in 2022 the “GOP” had everything in their favor yet they performed way below expectation. This was largely because the party is splintered. Even their attempt to maintain a united front in Georgia was shattered by Trump having dinner with antisemites and racists. 

High inflation and poor economy were supposedly the priority  for GOP voters for 2022 Midterms. While traditionally these are the factors that are central to decision making in elections, cultural issues, “stop the steal, democracy and a woman’s rights were crucial in 2022. The shadows of Trump and Biden thus overhung the proceedings. The Trump base was concerned with the “stolen election” of their cult leader. In the contested electoral contests these election deniers faired poorly, boding badly for Trump’s 2024 chances 

Biden and the DP have plenty to look forward prior to 2024. At the time of writing inflation has begun to recede, gas prices are down almost to precovid levels and unemployment is at record lows. The threat of a recession has to be outweighed by the impact that the Biden economic stimuli will have on senior voters who have traditionally been the preserve of the “GOP”. The seniors will receive an dight percent increase in their social security checks, a marked decrease in their Medicare payments, decreases generally in their copays for medicines as Medicare negotiate prices and a cap on the price of insulin. In addition their out of pocket medical expenses will be cut to two thousand five hundred dollars. 

Build Back Better and Infrastructure and Jobs Legislation.

A reduction of health care costs is in Biden’s “Build Back Better” legislation which is directed at improving standards of living of the middle class. The Act provides extensive home care support, expands opportunities for post school education as well as providing substantial funds for combating climate change. The Infrastructure and Jobs legislation which gained bipartisan support will provide an estimated two million jobs a year and the impact will begin to be felt in the next two years. It is aimed at creating Union Jobs as does the Build Back Better legislation. 

It is well recognized that the infrastructure such as roads, bridges, electric grids are in need of upgrade and or repair. Also there is provision to improve and increase the transport service from rail to buses and provide high speed internet for the whole country. Inroads will be made to install facilities to provide electricity stations for cars and to electrify buses.  Water purification has been a problem in certain areas and will be addressed as will be the devastation brought about by climate change.  

Every sector of the population will be impacted by these programs which will be largely funded by the abolishing of tax cuts for the rich which were introduced by the Trump administration. 

There is little doubt that the impact of these projects will ameliorate any setbacks produced by the pullback in the economy and the increase in interest rates thereby blunt the thrust of the “GOP” to run against a Democratic Presidency. The impact will be on all voting sectors. 

The Prospects for the Swing States in 2024 with 2022 Midterms as a pointer

As a background to Biden’s and Trump’s approach to the 2022midterms they both mimicked their 2020 Presidential election scenarios. Biden was low key holding rallies in a few States and steering clear of any state where he might be a handicap to the DP Candidates. Trump was more than hands on. He dominated a host of Primary Races and in the subsequent closely contested midterm contests his candidates were literally thrashed. In the swing states of Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Nevada, Arizona and Georgia his much vaunted candidates were beaten. In fact in the eight key races in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Georgia and Arizona the “GOP” only won two, the incumbent Senator in Wisconsin and the Governor in Georgia who led the Republican Office bearers who refused Trump’s efforts to “Find me 7,800 votes).

The DP improved on Biden’s numbers in 2020 with the exception of Nevada where there were still much that could encourage the Party for 2024. If the demographics of the voters in 2022 are analyzed the reasons for Biden and a  positive DP outcome in 2024 become evident. 

VOTERS FOR 2024 SLICED AND DICED

The probability of senior citizens viewing Biden and the DP more favorably have already been discussed above. There is also an increase in benefits for the Veterans of various wars who have been struggling to obtain health care for problems such as exposure to Agent Orange, Burn Pits and other toxic substances. The act allows survivors and their families to claim. 

The youth voted in numbers greater than any other midterm In history. Their number one issue was abortion which as an issue will not go away in the next two years. The threat is also to contraception usage. The youth vote was up to thirty points higher for the DP in the swing states. In addition even in “GOP” controlled states, and the rural entities, the youth voted at least sixty to forty percent in favor of the DP. 

Fifty - two percent of the voters were women and they represented fifty - five percent of those that cast ballots. The DP were the beneficiaries of this over representation. Elaine Kamarck of the Brookings Institution remarked that, “Analysts and pollsters underestimated the impact of abortion rights in driving the vote.”. Jim Messina, former Deputy Chief Of Staff in Obama Administration claimed that, “Once again it is the women who saved us”. It appears that the former suburban Republican woman voter has permanently moved across the aisle. 

The Independent vote which is now is the key constituency with a third of registered electorate broke for the Democrats. This obviously played a crucial role in the swing states. Examples include,  Arizona, (55 - 45). Nevada, (48 - 45), Georgia, (53 - 47), New Hampshire, (54 - 46) and Pennsylvania, (58 - 42).

The Hispanic vote which the “GOP” believed they were winning over, other than in Florida  was still staunchly Democratic. According to NBC in Nevada, New Mexico and Colorado, Latinos have stuck with Democrats at a time when the Latino population growth has exploded. In Nevada there is no doubt that the Latinos delivered as sixty - two percent voted for the DP incumbent. There is myth that the Latinos are anti abortion. A Lake Research Project showed that seventy - four percent of Latino registered voters supported a woman’s right to exercise her own preference.. 

The trend is undoubtedly towards the DP. 

BIDEN v TRUMP 2024

Whether or not Trump is the nominee, whether or not he is indicted and or convicted, he will have still have a constituency that will make or break any “GOP” nominee. His following may be reduced but will still be twenty - five to thirty percent of the electorate. He will either win the “GOP” nomination if the Primary field is large, stand as an Independent candidate or tell his cult followers to boycott the election. 

One fact is for sure with all the exposes from the January 6 Committee as well as the exposure of his taxes will result in the Independents firming their support for Biden and the DP.

While the majority of the Democrats indicate they would prefer another candidate this is unlikely to happen as the Legislators want Biden's stewardship. Even the Leader of the Progressive Caucus of the Democratic Party in the House, Pramila Jaypal has pledged support. She maintained that Biden wasn’t even her second choice in 2020. The Progressive Caucus has over a hundred members.. 

AT THE END OF THE DAY

It will be a while before America is sanitized from Trump and the worst he brought out in America. 

For those who don’t believe that leadership matters write a short essay on the impact of Putin, Xi Jinping, Trump, Zelensky and Biden on the course of history. 

Biden’s genius of inviting Zelensky to America at this time was for the objective of gaining support for USA involvement in the war against Russia and to reinforce the values that America has stood for. 

Finally, Biden has restored America’s leadership in the world. His management of the Ukrainian war and the uniting of NATO members as well as increasing their membership has been masterly. "America is back" as he  proudly announced. The good news is they are probably back for at least six more years.

Merrick Garland is unlikely to prosecute Trump for any crime that would result in him not being able to run for office. The conservative jurist would probably consider that as intervening in the political process. 

GENUINE GOP LEGISLATORS PLEASE STAND UP: - HOW THE HELL DID WE GET HERE?

A desperate, but never to be underestimated Trump, operating from his Mar - a - Lago bunker, with yet another election rejection in red Georgia while the legal noose closes in on him, has become becomes more and more unhinged. He is embracing his foot soldiers who sacrificed their freedom for his wild fantasy of taking over America by force while calling for the suspension of the American Constitution to put him back in the White House! 

All this would be good and well if Trump was the leader of a fringe group but he is the leader of one of the two major political parties of America, the so called Republican Party, (GOP), - the once proud Party of Abraham Lincoln. The latter have morphed into the “Make America Great Again, (MAGA) and The America First Party. The last named having the same title as the celebrity pilot Charles Lindbergh, the friend of Hitler, gave to his Nazi movement in the 1940's.  

Jay H. Ell now puts the Grand Old Party in apostrophes, as the “GOP”, as the Grand Old Party no longer stands for the principles of Lincoln. Nor do they honor the integrity of the constitution,  openness to immigrants and fiscal responsibility that were their landmark principles. Nor are its fiscal modern day conservatism and limited Government much in evidence. All that remains is their outmoded social dogmas so as to ensure the support of the Evangelical Christians.

The fact that in the midterms Trump’s “GOP” under performed and Trump’s totalitarian response to the outcome has been ignored, almost totally, by those still in the "GOP" including the National Committee, bodes badly for the MAGA Party and the country. 

Newt Gingrich one of the original 1990's Republican revolutionaries and a former Speaker of the House, stated that the significance of what Biden had achieved had been completely unappreciated by all including the “GOP”. Gingrich warned that Biden has obliterated the "GOP”. He amazingly has joined the Liz Cheneys and Adam Krizingers of this world who have taken a principled stance against the constitutional hooliganism of their former colleagues. 

Two questions arise out of these surreal circumstances - How the hell did the Grand Old Party become the vehicle for Trump totalitarianism and will any of the now "MAGA GOP” majority stand up to the values that the Party once espoused? 

WHERE THE COUNTRY IS NOW

The reality is that that the majority of the country have moved away from Trump. As outlined in the Blog November 20, 2022 “USA 2022 midterms, “We The People Deliver”, election denial hardly raised a whimper. The overwhelming majority of Trump endorsed candidates in the contested seats lost. The leaders of Trump’s civilian army have been locked up, some as traitors to the American constitution.

 So nobody cares about Trumpism except the Legislative leaders of the "GOP”. The masses aren’t rising up as the investigation into Trump proceeds apace and the Attorney General reassures all that anyone involved in the attempted coup will be prosecuted. The judiciary, with a few glaring exceptions, are having no truck with the usual Trump tactic of running out the clock. So while the leader of the “GOP” in the House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy, and the right wing gang are backing the former President and all his MAGA, AMERICA FIRST dross, they are out of sync with the vast majority of Americans.

 

So McCarthy and the “GOP” legislators provide the leadership of the MAGA movement. Leaders matter. There would have been no holocaust without Hitler. Of course there is collective responsibility for those who go along for the ride as brilliantly researched By Daniel Goldhagen in his best seller “Hitler’s Willing Executioners - Ordinary Citizens and the Holocaust”. The Iranian and Chinese mass protests may effect some change in policy but they are leaderless and the outcome cannot be change in regime. 

HOW THE HELL DID WE GET HERE?

It is fair argument that throughout America’s two and a half Century History there has been prejudice against the “other”. In fact the Declaration of Independence and Constitution were aspirational. Right up to the twentieth Century it was the Democrats, (DP), mainly from the South that were the protagonists of segregation. This state of affairs lasted right up to the middle of the twentieth Century. 

After a period of “Reconstruction”, following the emancipation of slaves and the Civil war, over the objections and veto of President Johnson, the Republican Legislators enshrined the rights of the “Negros”. This was fought bitterly and negated by the DP Southern States. The advances of the "Negro" spawned the formation of the infamous Klu Klux Klan, (KKK), who were responsible for a hundred and fifty years of lynchings and harassment and discrimination right into the twentieth century. 

Although the KKK became inactive at the time of the Great Depression in the 1930’’s, segregation and the impossibility of the “Negro” to vote was endemic in the Southern Democratic States until the Civil Rights Movements in the 1950 and 1960's.

In the 1930’s right through WWII twenty three members of Congress were paid by the Nazi Party to thwart Roosevelt from entering the war. Bishop Cochran had a radio following of a fifth of the country’s population to whom he spewed out Fascist propaganda. This forgotten episode of history was vividly portrayed in Rachel Maddow’s podcast “DUAL”. Some historians claim that this was the beginning of the Republican Party’s modern day era of discrimination. There were a only a few members of the DP amongst this group. Also at Republican Party Conventions there was solid support for this position.

JAY H. ELL BELIEVES THE MODERN DAY REPUBLICAN ANTIPATHY TO BLACK VOTERS BEGAN WITH NIXON

Jay. H. Ell believes the MAGA of today was conceived in the sixties under the tutelage of President Nixon. President Lyndon Johnson, who preceded Nixon, knew that by pushing the Civil Rights Legislation that the DP legislators from the South weren’t going to buy in. In 1965 the percentage of whites in America  was eighty - four percent. Johnson was proved right. Nixon started on his Southern Strategy which was to herald a new Republican era as it morphed into the “GOP” of the nineties. 

Jay H. Ell has a personal anecdote about the state of the Republican Leadership in the Senate prior to the Nixon era. As a student leader in 1964 he was the guest of Senator Hugh Scott the future Republican Minority leader. Senator Scott told him that he and colleagues felt a duty to support Johnson on Civil Rights which needed a two thirds majority in the Senate to pass. (At the time of the actual vote the legendary Everett Dirksen was the Republican Minority Leader of the Senate). The filibuster was engineered by the Southern Democrats. The Senate debated for sixty days. The final vote that broke the filibuster was seventy - one to twenty nine. The two thirds majority would never have been attained without the Republicans support. Senator Scott was subsequently one of the three Republican leaders that descended upon Nixon and informed him that should he resign as the Senate would impeach him. By then Nixon had already implemented his Southern Strategy.

Nixon’s Southern Strategy was to unashamedly support the racism in the South to court the white votes that had formerly gone to the DP and would sustain the Republican Party for decades to come finally ending in Trump. (But stick around that comes later). In Nixon’s 1968 campaign he used code language and dog whistles for the Southern Democratic vote. He signaled in that campaign that he would ease pressure in the South on segregation. He won the support of Southern Democrat Strom Thurmond who began a procession of Southern DP legislative members joinIng the Republicans.

In the 1968 election an unsuccessful third candidate George Wallace an out an out bigot ran as well. Nixon courted those votes following the 1968 election. His adviser Kevin Phillips wrote that Nixon had to win over the Wallace voter because, “The negroes were beginning to seize control over the national Democratic Party in some Black Belt areas”. The Nixon administration went to court to slow down school integration.  

THE REPUBLICANS CONTINUED THEIR BELITTLING OF THE AFRICAN AMERICAN AFTER NIXON

In the years from 1968 to 1992 Republicans occupied the White House for eighteen of twenty - two years. Reagan, (1980 - 1988), who was known mainly for his disastrous trickle down economic policy, also spoke of an African American woman being "The Queen of Social Security" who used fifty names and  other deceptions to obtain a ton of Welfare money. Reagan when challenging Gerald Ford, then the Republican President, for the 1976 Republican nomination, launched an attack on welfare spending, assuming that African Americans were the 

beneficiaries.

Between 1992 to 2000 the moderate DP Clinton won an eight year term to be the followed by the second Bush, H. Dubbaya who had an eight year term till 2008. Put another way between 1968 to 2008 there was only a Democrat in the WhiteHouse for twelve of the forty years. And from 2004 to the present date, 2022, the Republicans only once received the majority of votes in a Presidential election.  

The Gingrich movement to MAGA in the 1990's

Between Nixon and Trump there was the 1990’s revolution started by Pat Buchanan and followed through by Newt Gingrich and supported all the while by Rush Limbaugh who was the George Coughlin of the 1930’s and the forerunner to Murdoch  media in the twenty first century. 

In fact many historians postulate that MAGA began in the 1990’s. That it was kicked off by Pat Buchanan who hobbled daddy Bush by challenging him in a Primary when he was due for his second term. William Buckley the Conservative Intellectual of that era wrote a forty thousand word essay criticizing Buchanan calling him out as an anti semite. George Dubbaya’s daddy was further kneed in the 1992 election by Ros Perot who stood as a third party candidate. However the real mover and shaker of who is considered the forerunner of MAGA was Newt Gingrich.

In his Book, “The New Republican Party”, Julian Zekzer, labelled Newt Gingrich as the person who set the Republican Party on a bitterly partisan and ruthless political path. His brand of warfare worked and in Clinton’s midterm he toppled the Democratic House of  Representatives by winning forty - five seats. He introduced “The Contract of America” very of little which was fulfilled. He shut down Congress, was behind Clinton’s impeachment and polarized the Republican Party into its take no prisoners approach. In the short term his star shone but in 1998 the new Republicans suffered a big loss as Clinton benefitted politically from Gingrich’s excesses, including his impeachment. But the ethically challenged Gingrich had built on the Nixon legacy and helped the rise of MAGA cult of Donald Trump.

THE AMERICAN DEMOGRAPHIC CHANGES AND SO DOES BOTH THE ESTABLISHMENT AND THE RIGHT WING OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY

The Republicans after their second loss to Barack Obama in 2012, when the white population had dropped to sixty three percent, realized they could no longer be a viable party or survive if it was predominantly a white party. They published a report that to survive it needed to attract African Americans and Latinos. What had to have shaken the Republican Establishment there and then was that the rise of Obama to the Presidency was not only by his mobilizing the votes of minorities he had catapulted into the Democratic nomination first by winning rural white Iowa and barely losing in white New Hampshire by a few thousand votes. 

However, the Republican Establishment movement was too little too late, as the right wing of their Party had formed the “The Tea Party". They were against the establishments in both the parties. The Tea Party articulated going back to the glorious past. They were for lower taxes as well as small government spending, code for dropping the welfare programs. They were the hell in with George Dubbaya Bush, (2000 -2008). They hated his immigration reform proposals and his foreign ventures to Iraq and Afghanistan for regime change to a democracy. The Republican McCain in the Presidential election of 2012 had to pick the Tea Party favorite Sarah Palin as his running mate. The Tea Party were the forerunners of the Freedom Party faction that is leading Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy a merry dance.  

And then came Trump and that black swan phenomenon that allowed him to win the 2016 election with about three million less votes than Hilary Clinton and in 2020 to lose against Biden by seven million votes. 

THE BLACK SWAN FACTORS THAT ALLOWED TRUMP TO BECOME PRESIDENT.

Donald Trump, a celebrity for decades, a supposed highly successful businessman and TV personality with incredible skills as aa salesman emerged as a candidate for the Republican nomination for the 2016 elections. Like all salesmen he could instinctively appeal to the feelings of his customers to clinch the deal. Serendipitously for him the anti establishment ground had already been laid by the Tea Party, Gingrich and Nixon's Southern strategy.

In 2016 the full impact of the deindustrialization and outsourcing of jobs had taken hold while the plight of the rural areas had worsened as was so empathetically explained by J. D. Vance. The 2008 economic disaster which robbed many of their homes and savings had not resulted in any accountability of those that profited adding to the anger of the electorate.

 Russia ran a successful cyber campaign in Trump's favor. While the Muller report never proved that he colluded with the Russians, they showed that members of his inner circle met with the Russians and the Russians intervened on Trump’s behalf.

 Trump made a direct appeal to the Evangelical Christians backed their agenda and claimed to be a reformed sinner. He promised them Supreme Court Judges who would axe Roe versus Wade thereby restricting a woman’s right to health care decisions. The other major Evangelical objective was to ensure the stability of Israel. Their rationale for that was not the love of Jews but rather without Israel the Messiah cannot return. In fact if the Jews do not recognize Him when he does arrive they would be killed. Trump claimed he would axe ObamaCare and provide a superior health care plan which he never quite got around to announcing.

The final shoe to fall in this scenario was when a few days before the Presidential election, the megalomaniac James Comey of the FBI announced that he was reinvestigating Hilary Clinton for her emails. This was completely against Justice Department Policy, which has as a standing rule that for sixty days prior to an election, no investigation, indictment, or statement should be made that could impact the outcome. Candidate Clinton stated from that moment her internal polling showed a dramatic turn against her. With Trump's victory the MAGA “GOP” was entrenched.

All this resulted in the black swan outcome that inaugurated President Trump as the forty fifth Commander in Chief of the USA.

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WILL THE REAL REPUBLICANS PLEASE STAND UP!

So the USA has experienced a triple electoral rejection of Trump, whose election denialism has come down to one county in Arizona which eventually caved under threat of legal action. All that is left of the individuals that scream vote fraud is one former TV anchor in Arizona and Trump has earned the title he despises most - Loser.

However, the Republican leadership in The House of Representatives is backing the MAGA ex President to the hilt. The latter to the extent where Kevin McCarthy the "GOP" leader in the House, responding to Trump’s call to dump the Constitution, stated that he will read the Constitution again. McCarthy and The Freedom Faction Caucus are providing the leadership for the Trumpist electorate now that the lay leaders are locked up and the Murdoch media empire have dumped him. McCarthy is a slave to the Freedom Faction Caucus, (the old Tea Party in disguise). He has pledged to back the most bizarre agenda to get some of their votes for Speaker.

These are some of the promises McCarthy has made to the way out members such as Majorie Taylor Greene and Jim Jordan who are conspiracy theorists and Qanon believers. He would make them both Chairpeople of key Committees, investigate Nancy Pelosi for failing to secure the Capitol on January 6, investigate the January 6 Committee for crimes they committed during their investigation even grandstanding that they must keep all their paperwork for possible prosecution and hold hearings on Biden's son Hunter a confessed former drug addict with mental problems. They have Hunter's labtop where there are photos of him in the nude and on and on. All this will supposedly will show the country what phonies the DP are and how Biden benefitted from Biden's son's inappropriate ways of earning a living.

Mitch McConnell leader of the "GOP" Minority in the House made a Faustian bargain with the MAGA President whom he regarded as the devil incarnate. He is at odds with McCarthy on Trump but in a way more culpable as he has claims to respectability and used Trump to further his agenda. Furthermore, he has refused to commit to not support the “GOP”candidate in 2024 who may well be Trump with a minority of the “GOP" electorate. 

The only leader of note in the “GOP”, Mitt Romney, their defeated 2012 Presidential candidate against Obama, warned McCarthy that this approach is crazy. However McCarthy is so power hungry that he would change religions if that was necessary!

GET REAL “GOP”

Now Jay. H. Ell believes that the “GOP” legislators need to get real because the following is going to happen one way or another in the next six years:

• Biden will retain the Presidency if he so choses. Otherwise for four of those years another DP candidate will step in: Likewise the Department of Justice, for that period will be in Merrick Garland’s purview or some one else in his ilk; All this garbage about Judicial referrals is just that - so much garbage that it barely needs refutation. 

• Trump will never be President again because if he runs there will be a third party candidate, such as Liz Cheney, to siphon votes away from him and if he is not the nominee he will run as a third party candidate splitting the vote between him and the “GOP” nominee. 

• *Nobody will beat a Democrat even if they don’t pass another piece of legislation as all that money from the Infrastructure and Jobs Act hasn’t hit the American economy yet. It is aimed at all America. Those benefiting most live in the rural areas where construction will provide high paying jobs and broadband and whatever. 

• In Biden’s first term he passed monumental legislation and reversed most of Trump’s Executive orders and just to add one further point he has advocated the rotation of the Democratic Primaries in a fashion to nominate a Presidential candidate that is reflective of the country’s minorities and purple States - hence one two and three are South Carolina, Michigan and Georgia.

So Jay H. Ell appeals to the “GOP” leaders to lead for heaven’s sake  - stand up and repudiate Trump. Get back to the fiscal conservatism and small government. No one believes the baloney that they are the “worker’s party”. They voted against the DP Bill to give the Rail Workers five days sick pay leave a year.   

 

AT THE END OF THE DAY

The biggest loser in the Georgia run off was Governor Kemp supposedly a non Trumpist who joined the unholy "GOP" coalition, sharing his ground game that won him the Governorship by two hundred thousand votes, with Walker. The latter being the Trump nominee whom he had shunned in the midterms. The Georgia swing vote defied Kemp. 

The biggest winner was defeated DP Governor candidate Stacey Adams who was responsible for moving red Georgia to just leaning red. Next time round she will be the first Black Female Governor. 

The DP won All The Marbles in the Senate Run off Race in Georgia.

DP Senator Sinema’s move to become an Independent won’t make a jot of difference because that is the way she has behaved for the past four years. If she doesn’t join the DP Caucus like other Independents have, such as Angus King of Maine, she will be a lame duck and have no committee positions. 

In 2021 the percentage of white voters in America had decreased to just under sixty percent. Another reason for true Republicans to stand up now if they feel they have any contribution to make to the national debate.