Koko just passed away in her sleep at 46. She had a vocabulary of 2,000 words and communicated via sign language. A kind and gentle soul. Let’s consider an image of Koko and Donald Trump. You be the judge about who is the great ape and who is an animal. Who is kinder and gentler. Who has the bigger vocabulary. Who many people will honor Trump at his eventual passing? Fewer than those who will honor Koko, don’t you think?
To quote Corey “Loopy” Lewandowski, “womp! womp!” Seems like Melania has more clout in the White House than anyone could have guessed. Trump, with great fanfare and hostage DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen at his side, signs an executive order to reverse the policy that wasn’t (a policy, that is) to stop separating mothers (or fathers) from their children.
You’ve seen the videos and heard the crying of small children for their mothers or fathers. You know that there are three or four detention centers for children of “tender age”–with varying descriptors of that age might be. Like everything the Trump administration does, chaos rules. We know he likes it like that.
The chaos means that there are children still in one internment camp or another (location currently unknown for many, if not most, parents). Meanwhile, some of those parents have already been deported back to Honduras, Guatemala or elsewhere! The chaos means that toddlers, children with disabilities and even infants will be emotionally scarred. Listen to what the pediatric psychologists have to say about that. Then there’s the parents–undergoing enormous psychic trauma as well, with the enormity magnified with the knowledge of an adult.
Eventually, the whole process may be stopped completely–with intervention by Congress and the courts. Will the families be reunited? Will many–or any, receive asylum? Whether they are ever reunited or not, the families will have been harmed by the actions of Trump, Jeff Sessions, Kirstjen Nielsen and others. Harm that was reasonably foreseeable. Harm to people with the zone of the action. Harm that at best was negligent, but arguably was intentional–all the better to play on the political stage and prove to Trump’s base how much he wants to stop the “infestation” of America.
Legally speaking, what cause of action do those actions and harms lead to? Depending on what plaintiff’s lawyers allege and can get a court to agree: Either intentional infliction of emotional distress or negligent infliction of emotional distress. Those are torts, civil actions like the defamation case Summer Zervos is suing Trump for.
Cases for the infliction of emotional distress will be countless. I don’t know whether they might be combined into a class action (not too likely, in my opinion). The only question is how quickly will they be initiated and in court. I have no doubt, there are lawyers out there making preparations RIGHT NOW for suing Trump, et al. Only massive damages will fund the aggregate costs of therapy that those families will need.
Make no mistake about it–the financial damages in individual cases of this particular emotional distress are likely to be substantial. In the aggregate, for all those affected, the damages could be astronomical. Amounts so large that the total might drain whatever “wealth” Trump might still have after all the other suits currently pending. We can hope the emotional distress suits successfully proceed and Trump has one more bankruptcy–the biggest one of all!
In the midst of the “Zero Tolerance” concentration camp horrors, how can one find any humor–even if it’s biting satire? It takes a mind like mine. Feel free to retweet this if you like; I don’t tweet myself–it’s too risky a proposition given what I might foolishly say.
What's the difference between Trump and Putin ? Seven years. Trump is 72 and Putin 65. Trump may not achieve the authoritarian power of Putin, but that's not for lack of trying. Click To Tweet
So long ago, there was Vietnam and Watergate. Experiences that profoundly altered the trajectory of my life. With innocence lost and illusions shattered, I couldn’t just go to college to find that day job to backstop my goal of being a writer. Instead, I embarked on a quest to reclaim my ideals and find a way to make the world a better place.
I despised Nixon as I never had any man before (well, perhaps not including the M. Sgt who was the bane of my Vietnam tour existence). Not only that, I felt cheated of my future. In the end, it all worked out for the best. The 20th century Candide found the faith and practice that has ensured his happiness and his fortune (not just financial–but health as well). You can read all about that in Waiting for Westmoreland, my memoir.
Nixon’s malevolence pales in comparison to Trump’s. Now I have another disruption to my existence. I am sorely tempted to spend days and nights railing about Trump’s cruelty, his narcissism, his misplaced belief in his own competence, his pride in his own ignorance, his assaults on the rule of law, his racism, his rapturous adulation of despots and disdain for democracy. I could go on and on. Instead, I’ll offer just one token image of contempt. This post is not simply another polemic about politics generally and Trump specifically. Read on after this faux Vogue cover.
Those of faiths other than my own Buddhism, might say “this too shall pass.” For me, as with Vietnam and Nixon, it will do much more than that. I won’t be diverted from my writing of fiction. I won’t be diverted from enjoying the fruits of my labors enjoying travel and other retirement pastimes. I’ve cited these words of Nichiren here on Views before, in relation to optimism:
After Vietnam and Watergate, the American people accomplished great things. Laws were enacted to prevent the worst excesses of Richard Nixon. Decades later, there are those who forgot them. George W. Bush talked of “compassionate conservatism.” It turned out to be just as much of an oxymoron as could be expected. Now America has the party of Trump–a cult of personality that formerly was called the GOP. What will result after Trump? What great good will follow?
After the great evil–the lies and deceit, the children sent to concentration camps, the corruption of “all the best (sleaziest, stupidest, most incompetent, most criminal) people hired to staff the Trump administration–here is some of what will happen:
And then we’ll do it all over again. As someone has said, history doesn’t repeat itself but it rhymes. We must relearn and overcome again the mistakes made before. It’s all part of the human existence. But from 2025 to 2060 or so, America and the world will be a better place–in my opinion. What will you do to make a difference? Don’t stand idly by or be too disturbed by the ugliness of today in Trumpistan. Engage with others with compassion and concern. Have hope. Don’t let this simply pass–make something good of it!
The “Witch Hunt” is getting too close for comfort. Will investigators find the remodeled and expanded broom closet?
Will the true name of the Coven Caucus (publicly known as the Freedom Caucus) be revealed?
What of the Politburo Caucus?
Given Trump’s spelling challenges, did he confuse a Nobel Peace Prize with a Piece Prize?
What about those 49 questions that nonsecular Sekulow came up with from the meeting with Mueller’s team? How about this paraphrase of a popular Stephen Stills song:
Forty-nine answers, all in a row
All of them fake ones, all of them lies
OK, enough funny business, let’s get serious with some synopses of the whole Trump miasma (the short version). Bullet points with indents, based on early campaign analyses up through the present and on to the future predictions of potential outcomes.
So what will the political landscape look like this time in 2019? Who will be indicted, convicted or impeached?
Well, they released the memo–what a dud! The Keystone Kops were an early 20th century comedic farce. Fox News, Breitbart, Jim Jordan, Paul Ryan and the star of the Keystone Konspirators–Devin “Oleg” Nunes (AKA, numbnuts), couldn’t even conspire sensibly after months of preparation!
As James Comey, former FBI director tweeted,
That’s it? Dishonest and misleading memo wrecked the House intel committee, destroyed trust with Intelligence Community, damaged relationship with FISA court, and inexcusably exposed classified investigation of an American citizen.
Yes, months of preparation. The Konspirators have been attacking the Steele dossier for most of last year. They brought in Glenn Simpson, head of Fusion GPS (that hired Steele) for 21 hours of testimony by House and Senate committees. Did that disprove any of the findings by Steele? NO! The research was initially funded by an unnamed REPUBLICAN (presidential primary?) opponent of Trump and only later by Democrats. The dossier, unlike the Konspirator’s memo, wasn’t a piece of fiction, it came from interviews with sources by Steele.
As you know by now, the memo alleged bias on Steele’s part–he was desperate that Trump lose. Why? As Glenn Simpson’s testimony revealed, it was because of what he found in his investigation–the amazing number of connections by Trump with Russian mafia, Russian officials and oligarchs, etc.
The memo stupidly alleges that the FISA warrant against Carter Page was based, if not exclusively, at least primarily on the dossier. No, it undoubtedly wasn’t–given that the FBI had been interested in Steele since 2013 when Russian agents attempted to recruit him–two of which fled when charges were filed in 2015 and one remained and was convicted.
The memo, even more stupidly, confirms that the entire counterintelligence investigation of the Russian intervention and the connection to the Trump campaign began in July of 2016. The FISA warrant against Carter Page came in October of 2016. Why in July? That’s when Australian intelligence officials alerted the US to George Papadopolous’s drunken comments to an Australian diplomat a few months later.
The memo, supposedly, is intended to serve as a pretext to fire Rod Rosenstein, Deputy Attorney General and Special Counsel Mueller’s boss. Rosenstein apparently signed off on one of the RENEWALS of the FISA warrant. Since Rosenstein wasn’t sworn in as DAG until April of 2017, he couldn’t have had anything to do with the original–only the SECOND renewal! The renewals are granted based not on the original application, but on what activity and evidence has been gleaned since. Yes, a Keystone Konspiracy.
More revealing, is that MSNBC showed tape of an appearance by Carter Page himself from October 2017, during which he expressed gladness that Paul Ryan would be releasing information on the “FISA warrant” and the “dodgy dossier.” So this memo had been in the works for some time AND to the knowledge of Page! So it’s not all just Nunes in the Keystone Konspirator Kadre, it’s Paul Ryan too!
As John McCain tweeted about the Konspirator’s actions,
The latest attacks on the FBI and Department of Justice serve no American interests – no party’s, no president’s, only Putin’s.
Both Steve Schmidt (Republican strategist) and Jonathon Alter (journalist and author) recently called those in the GOP attacking the FBI, the Justice Department and the US intelligence community “Banana Republicans.” (The term was used in 2004 as a book title by John Stauber and Sheldon Rampton). An apt epithet–implying the creation of a banana republic–where a dictator controls law enforcement, the legislature and the news media. Trump isn’t quite there yet, but he’s trying and his Banana Republican friends are doing the best to make it happen.
James Comey also recently tweeted,
American history shows that, in the long run, weasels and liars never hold the field, so long as good people stand up. Not a lot of schools or streets named for Joe McCarthy.
Senator Joe McCarthy was eventually censured by the US Senate and died in disgrace after a few years of claiming that Communists could be found everywhere in the US government. During the early to mid-fifties, McCarthy held a series of hearings on his claims, during the height of the Cold War. His chief counsel was Roy Cohn. Years, later, despite the association with McCarthy, Cohn became a fixer and power broker in New York City. He also became Donald Trump’s mentor and person attorney for some number of years in the 1970s and early 80s. Cohn did have his own legal problems and was disbarred in 1986, shortly before dying of AIDs.
In the spring of 2017, after AG Sessions recused himself from the Russian investigation, Trump reportedly called out, “Where’s my Roy Cohn.” Trump learned at the hands of a master manipulator in fighting back hard when attacked. Perhaps we should read between the lines of Comey’s comments about McCarthy?
Eventually, we can hope that Trump and many current and former members of his administration will be indicted and spend time in jail. It’s entirely possible that some of the Keystone Konspirators and the Banana Republicans will join them. Quite likely in numbers exceeding the members of the Nixon administration in the aftermath of Watergate.
Money laundering, obstruction of justice and conspiracy with foreign powers to subvert the American democracy are craven and reprehensible offenses. Perhaps “reprehensibles” should replace the Clinton term “deplorables” to describe Trump supporters–at least the ones that exert the power of office or media to destroy American institutions in support of Trump’s Banana Republic.
Happy New Year! Hope you had a great 2017 or at least survived it and look forward to a wonderful 2018. 😀
Like the blog itself, this will be an eclectic post. Often, the posts here are about my thoughts or opinions–it is my blog after all. 😉 In 2018, we’ll try to reach out and involve others more. What are friends for after all? 😛
Here’s what’s in this New Year’s first post:
Thank you
Getting more engaged with more fellow writers–a resolution that I didn’t make expressly clear in my own mind but succeeded at (somewhat) in 2017. So thank you to all that visited here or elsewhere among my blogs and websites. We helped one another this year. I will extend myself more in 2018. The value of that became evident to me as I launched The Fountain short story collection and a tenth anniversary edition of Waiting for Westmoreland.
So thank you to Debby Gies, Sally Cronin, Chris “The Story Reading Ape” Graham, Nicholas Rossis, June Randolph, Tina Frisco, Byron Edgington and many more. For those I didn’t name, please don’t feel slighted; the memory isn’t what it used to be and time is running short to finish this. 🙄 Many of you launched new books this year as well. I will try harder next year to be of more help to you. I know the 80-20 prescription–I just need to follow it. 😉
2017 Revisited–i.e., mostly victories
Trump and the GOP
Just do a search and you’ll find 30 or so posts on them, just last year with more in 2016. I will try to restrain myself to one per month in 2018. Let’s do the first one right now–very short.
Make Your Resolutions Come True
2018 Goals, Determinations, Plans
It’s been so long since I posted a political diatribe. Been too busy being positive and working on books, websites and more. We’re overdue! Even as I busy marketing books, I must return to the field of political battle.
How apropos, how exquisite the timing of Time Magazine’s Person(s) of the Year Cover and Al Franken’s resignation. Franken noted the irony was not lost on him that a man who has bragged of his sexual assaults sits in the Oval Office while he, Franken, resigns for much lesser offenses. Still, Franken did resign and did recognize the gravity of the accusations against him. Time, of course, denied Trump’s assertion that he put them off in considering him for the Person of the Year. Fat chance, fatso.
The Greedy Old Plutocrats revisited (see this item on the GOP failed attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act). The GOP derisively renamed the ACA as Obamacare some years ago while the Dems accepted it as a compliment. Now, the Greedy Old Plutocrats have passed a so-called Tax Reform Act that is a deficit buster which robs from the poor to give to the rich, donor class. They had no shame trying trying to kill people by destroying the ACA. Now they have no shame increasing the deficit and screwing the poor and middle class.
Of course, as some expert commentators point out and Paul Ryan has already apparently confessed, deficits are part of the plan to “starve the beast” as Daniel Patrick Moynihan said decades ago. By that process, the only GOP approved way of dealing with a ballooning budget shortfall is to cut entitlement programs like Medicare and Social Security. Don’t just screw the middle and lower classes once, keep screwing them!
The Grand Old Pedophiles also have no shame in fully supporting (with very few exceptions) the credibly accused child molester Roy Moore. Well he denied it after all—as did Donald Trump. In the alternate, Bizarro World of the GOP and Orange Top there is no shame for those who deny their misconduct (no matter the number of credible accusers) but all ignominy to those who admit sexual assaults or harassment. Faultless logic for those without a moral compass. Meanwhile, such behavior is OK for their evangelical supporters–so long as they deny it.
They may not support terrorism like ISIS or Al Qaeda, but the Evangelicals warp the tenets of Christian faith just as much as the Islamic terrorists distort the teachings of Islam. Peas in a pod. Pro-life but child molestation is OK. Hey, at least those girls weren’t aborted. Can’t have fun with them if they’re aborted, eh? If Jesus were walking the earth, you have to know he would cast them out of their mega churches faster than he did the moneychangers from the temples.
Ever hear of dry mouth or throat causing a slurring of speech? Me neither. Trump may have had a stroke. Maybe we’ll know after he gets that physical at Walter Reed—or not, if the results aren’t redacted. He doesn’t smoke or drink (so he says; are they pouring grape juice in those glasses he toasts with at diplomatic affairs?). But the only exercise he gets is getting in and out of the golf cart he rides in during those 900 rounds of golf he’s played this year. Then there’s those 3,000 calories a day of greasy fast food he consumes. Collectively this doesn’t lead to healthy arteries. Will impeachment, Mueller or a medical event get him out of office get him out of the White House first?
He must be slipping mentally though. Consider the look of adoration that Pence used to give him (it’s quite similar to the lusty look that Melania gave him at the inaugural ceremony. I won’t be crass enough to remark what physiological process might be ongoing given that look, but one could be excused at thinking she was thinking he’d “get lucky” that night. Now Pence has a more concerned look. Check Pence’s face in the background while Trump bloviates about recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and slurs his speech. Pence has less love or admiration for Trump now. Or, just maybe, he’s just considering how Karen might want to change the drapes in the White House.
Indictments! Guilty pleas! The terror begins in what passes for Trump’s mind. What will Flynn say? What did he hear—plenty, no doubt. What will the financial documents reveal? What will happen with Junior (BTW: why does he appear so dark, Italian-looking—is he really Trump’s kid? What about Jared? Erik Prince and all the rest of the collusion cast of characters? Who will be going to jail? Too late to pardon Flynn–he’s already pleaded guilty and is cooperating!
Ah, but Trump buys Ty Cobb’s assurances that Mueller will conclude the investigation before year’s end and the nut job in the Oval Office will be exonerated. When that doesn’t happen, how high will the orange top blow? Oh, never mind. Sean Insanity, the rest of Trump TV (AKA Fox News) and the Reprehensible Republicans are already smearing Mueller, the entire FBI and everyone who attacks Trumpty Dumpty. Still, if Trump gets even more unhinged, smearing Mueller won’t matter.
Only once, in many decades of voting, did I ever vote for a Republican. I’m sorry I did, back in the 80s. I will never do so again in my remaining lifetime. Anyone who runs under that banner owns the behavior of the that party.
Yes, today is another free download book promo day, but how about a few short Trump doozies to go with that download deal?
Basically, it’s more troubles for Trump. Let’s do Russia first and then what people are saying about him.
Trump hasn’t talked to Mitch McConnell since August 9th. The conversation ended in a shouting match over McConnell’s failure to protect Trump from the Russia investigation by Senate committees. Sounds a lot like obstruction of justice (yes, it applies to Congressional committees too–not just the FBI, etc.) according to a US Attorney guest on Rachel Maddow’s show last night.
Meanwhile, Glenn Simpson, head of Fusion GPS, the company that paid for the Christopher Steele research and dossier on Trump, talked to Chuck Grassley’s Senate Judiciary Committee for TEN hours. The dossier, salacious details and all, was published on BuzzFeed in January. Grassley, of course, was hoping to find bias and who paid for the research in a failed attempt to help Trump, people like Rachel Maddow claim.
At the same time, dossier man himself, Christopher Steele, has apparently been talking with the FBI. He reportedly provided sources for the info that went into the report.
There’s undoubtedly more, but let’s move on to all the people saying Trump is unfit for office or otherwise incompetent.
First, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell doubts (privately) that Trump can save his presidency.
Senate Foreign Relations leader Bob Corker says Trump hasn’t demonstrated he is competent to lead.
Don Lemon, CNN anchor, last night in coverage of the Trump campaign rally said this,
“Well, what do you say to that? I’m just going to speak from the heart here — what we have witnessed is a total eclipse of the facts,” Lemon began, adding: “He’s unhinged. It’s embarrassing.”
From the same CNN article, Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said the speech made him “really question his fitness for office.”
From the New York Times article about Trump and McConnell , comes this,
“The quickest way for him to get impeached is for Trump to knock off Jeff Flake and Dean Heller and be faced with a Democrat-led Senate,’ said Billy Piper, a lobbyist and former McConnell chief of staff.”
So, as we all know, Trump is his own worst enemy. The real Trump is the one that’s NOT reading from a teleprompter. What he says at a rally, in a tweet, is not just posturing or crowd pleasing bombast–it’s his real feelings. It reveals how clueless he is. How angry he is. How unable to keep from shooting himself in the foot saying and doing stupid things not in his own self-interest. So yes, as the number and volume of voices calling him out grow, the end grows nearer and nearer.
The American Presidency will forever be stained by Donald Trump. We have had incompetent Presidents. We have had corrupt Presidents. We have had somewhat racist Presidents. We have never had all of the above in one man. Trump is not only dangerously incompetent, he now confirms and unreservedly validates the assumptions and charges of his deeply flawed moral character.
If the Republican party does not reject him, does not isolate him, they too will be stained. If those foolish people who accepted positions within his cabinet and the White House itself do not resign, they too will forever be stained.
Steve Bannon, Stephen Miller and Sebastian Gorka are not responsible for Trump’s positions on race and religion–he is. They may refine his narratives. They may inspire and facilitate. But they don’t initiate his outbursts–that’s all him. They declaim against the “deep state,” all the while propounding their own “dope state”–or perhaps I should say “hate state.”
Former President Barack Obama recently shared a quote from Nelson Mandela that has become the most liked tweet in Twitter history:
“No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin or his background or his religion … People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love … For love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.”
This tells us that there are a great many people who share Obama’s views of humanity–and reject Donald Trump’s perspective. Inferentially, we can conclude that Trump learned to hate from his father Fred, who was arrested during a KKK march in 1927.
Does Trump have RAHOWA tattooed across his buttocks where no one but Melania can see it? Perhaps he wears 88 brand Depends. There, we can’t have a post about Trump without some satire, despite the gravity of current events.
America will survive. The sooner Trump is forced from office, the quicker it’s recovery and reascendence can begin. You can help this along by recognizing that friends don’t let friends tolerate Trump–let alone support him. Difficult as it may be, we all need to communicate with friends and family–especially those deluded ones that have no problems with Trump. We need to urge them to tell their friends and coworkers (yes, I know, we’re not supposed to talk politics at work but this is a special case) to pass along the need to quit if you work in the Trump administration. That you need to demand he be removed from office, as soon as possible.
All right, one more satirical interlude. Trump’s slogan is Make America Great Again. He wants to harken back to America’s more seriously racist and misogynistic past. Why not go back even further. Remember, this is humor.
In Colonial America, miscreants might be placed in stocks. Shame meant something then and townsfolk could hurl insults, tomatoes or rotten fruit at them. That would be fitting for Trump, don’t you think? Of course the Secret Service wouldn’t allow that to happen to Trump–at least while in office. Besides, we’re too civilized now. But if it could happen after he’s out, maybe we could add tarring and feathering? For someone who lives in such a dark past, it seems fitting, doesn’t it? Alas, the courts wouldn’t permit such a thing. But Trump would most likely be fine with it–if it were done to someone else.
Yes, it’s official–to me at least. That Trump is the scarier guy than Kim Jung Un. But before we get onto that topic, note that we’ll also be talking about the totally unrelated pardon proffer today. A proffer that may already have been made.
First, North Korea. Could Kim and Trump be brothers of another mother? They seem so much alike in the way they saturate the media with their bombastic excursions into idiotic promises of consequences. If it weren’t so serious, one could compare their rants to WWE, or whatever the wrestling consortium goes by today. What if, stop and think about it—Kim thinks Trump is crazy enough to do what he says he will? Is it possible that this might actually work to scare off Kim from shooting missiles or artillery at us or South Korea? Wouldn’t want to bet the lives of everyone on the Korean peninsula and nearby countries. Not to mention Guam, etc. Still, I believe it’s possible. If somebody ever does a remake of “The Shining,” perhaps Trumpy could play the lead nutjob.
The more cautious and sensible route seems invoking Article 25, Section 4, of the US Constitution to remove Trump for being unfit to perform the duties of President. While the section doesn’t spill out all the possible details, being not one or two—but several sandwiches short of a picnic ought to be enough to get him removed. We can at least hope that sane military officers would resist a preemptive strike on North Korea. But why take that chance? Let’s start the ball rolling to get Trump out and committed to an institution where he can get the help he needs.
Onto the pardon prospects. Manafort, following the FBI raid on his home, has new lawyers. One specializes in the kind of financial crimes he might be charged with. The other has escaped the attention of most commentators—other than Rachel Maddow. She noted the other night that Manafort now has a lawyer who managed to get a pardon of an ex-CIA official from George H. W. Bush for a crime that would have had him serving serious time for various felonies. Maddow didn’t speculate, but here’s my take:
Special Counsel Robert Muller wants to flip either Michael Flynn or Paul Manafort—maybe both. In exchange for implicating Trumpty Dumpty, they could get off with light sentences (or none) for the various serious offenses both will face accusations of. But rather than ANY sentence, why not make Trump an offer (through each other’s attorneys) that they won’t rat him out if makes a binding agreement to pardon them? Why else would Manafort have hired Richard Hibey—the lawyer who got Clair George the pardon from Bush? Trump has already been investigating the prospect of pardons. Likely with good reason.