This might be my last blog post with Donald Trump as President of the United States. Chances are, its not. Regardless, the fallout from Trump's dismissal of FBI Director James Comey last week has been both dizzying and winsome. The revelation of Trump blurting out classified information to Russian officials, while not technically illegal, was certainly annoying to DC insiders but alienating to several key American allies. The narrative is less about cohesion with Russia the possibility of corruption and more about incompetence and ego. And yet, somehow Trump might still persevere.
Sadly, it doesn't surprise me that most Trump supporters aren't feeling too much buyer's remorse. The vicious cycle of conservative blogs, each regurgitating the same shallow bullet points while creating half-truths and exaggerations about their liberal opponents, are manna for angry fools. Let them blame the mainstream media for doing their job, or cast off late night comedians for their right to satirize and skew public figures. A former president attempted to censor the media via executive order, and it blew up in his face. (I'm aware that President Trump doesn't know his history, but the point stands.) The "bubble" or beehive mentality that might have cost Sec. Clinton the election works both ways. The sad thing, even if Trump goes his ardent supporters will not give it a rest, doubling down on the internet-born, nonsense conspiracy theories that attempted to hound --and still try to vex-- Presidents Clinton and Obama. Right-wing outsiders have cherry-picked Trump as their man, and they're backing him to the bitter end.
Regardless, the rural whites that saw Trump as a shining white knight 6 1/2 months ago must be seeing some sort of rust in the armor now. This was a man who both took advantage and navigated through a weak but excessively large crop of candidates for his party's nomination. He constructed his agenda in saying the things that other Republicans allegedly think but won't say out loud --more conspiracy theory-- and in the process dragged the GOP into the mud. Despite what some liberal bloggers have implied, the Republican Party is not built on racism and isolationism, but he dragged those two ugly ideas into the voting booths. His four months in office have matched his bluster, defined by a litany of executive orders in the early going, but only getting one bill (AHCA) passed through Congress. In blogs past, I letter-graded the Bush 43 and Obama administrations; in the very hypothetical situation that Trump leaves office before 2021 (or June), I don't know if I would give him a grade higher than D-.
Nearly four months in, the Trump administration's greatest achievement its the most scandal-plagued since Bill Clinton's, and at this rate it will eclipse Whitewater, Paula Jones, and whatever else our 42nd president deflected two decades ago. The people that feared and loathed "Crooked Hillary" are stuck with "Bungling Donald." It would make sense for President Trump to resign, but his pride and various past indicators suggest it won't happen. No elected Republican in either house will be breaking rank with Trump or their party anytime soon. The possibility of up to 11 1/2 years with a President Mike Pence (not a typo) may not seem palatable to many, but at least we can all concur that he would be a far more competent and even-keeled presence in the Oval Office. At the moment, for many Americans its just a pipe dream.
Next Week: my annual high school graduate "memory list."
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Showing posts with label James Comey. Show all posts
Showing posts with label James Comey. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 16, 2017
Wednesday, May 10, 2017
Random Notes, May 2017
April showers bring... May showers, I guess.
+ While some people have a right to be concerned about what AHCA entails, a fair number of people are also overreacting. It may have eked itself out of the House of Representatives, but the U.S. Senate is not nearly as favorable to President Trump, nor contains a clear Republican majority. That whole blasted mess could be totally rewritten. I guess House Republicans had a right to celebrate, if only because they had failed so many times before, but that adrenaline shot of victory will likely be short-lived.
+ Speaking of Republicans, it would be lovely if one of them broke rank and admonished the Trump administration for the firing of FBI director James Comey (not to mention the White House's pitiful reaction to the sacking). Its not going to happen soon, but someone is bound to break through. Though we still don't know in what way, shape of form the Russian government communicated with the Trump presidential campaign last year, Comey's dismissal still feels rather fishy. The last time a president fired a prosecutor who was investigating the administration was Archibald Cox in 1973... and we all know how that went.
+ Family Update: after nearly a month, my mother finally transitioned from the intensive care unit of Rush Medical Center and into a rehab facility. The insurance covers up to 20 days, and as of this writing she's making some progress but battling uphill against muscle atrophy. I'll keep you all posted.
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+ While some people have a right to be concerned about what AHCA entails, a fair number of people are also overreacting. It may have eked itself out of the House of Representatives, but the U.S. Senate is not nearly as favorable to President Trump, nor contains a clear Republican majority. That whole blasted mess could be totally rewritten. I guess House Republicans had a right to celebrate, if only because they had failed so many times before, but that adrenaline shot of victory will likely be short-lived.
+ Speaking of Republicans, it would be lovely if one of them broke rank and admonished the Trump administration for the firing of FBI director James Comey (not to mention the White House's pitiful reaction to the sacking). Its not going to happen soon, but someone is bound to break through. Though we still don't know in what way, shape of form the Russian government communicated with the Trump presidential campaign last year, Comey's dismissal still feels rather fishy. The last time a president fired a prosecutor who was investigating the administration was Archibald Cox in 1973... and we all know how that went.
+ Family Update: after nearly a month, my mother finally transitioned from the intensive care unit of Rush Medical Center and into a rehab facility. The insurance covers up to 20 days, and as of this writing she's making some progress but battling uphill against muscle atrophy. I'll keep you all posted.
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Monday, March 20, 2017
Comey 'Round the Corner
This presidency is turning into bad performance art. For every random declaration or misguided tweet Donald Trump delivers, the shortsightedness of his administration works its gears. This observation can be applied to a wide variety of executive orders and declarations, but it would be considered an understatement in regard to Trump's baseless allegation of wiretapping by the Obama administration. This act of unprecedented heresy proves President Trump's reliance on fringe-right "news" outlets like Alex Jones' Infowars and Breitbart.
Today's marathon hearing by FBI Director James Comey proved once and for all that our president is easily bamboozled. An exhaustive investigation proved no circumstantial evidence of wiretapping, and it only served to remind the public that the Trump campaign had some kind of contact with the Russian government during the 2016 election. (Whether that was in and of itself illegal remains to be seen.) President Trump has every right to apologize, but we won't; his supporters, gradually dwindling but still fervent, would never expect him to kowtow to anything, including the truth.
That is not to say, however that Comey is a knight in shining armor. His dangling around of Secretary Clinton's email investigation last October may have cost her the election. Conspiracy theories that suggest Comey is in cahoots with Trump are also baseless, but the ex-Republican still comes across as smarmy and self-serving. His revelations in recent months may not have redeemed him in his critics eyes, but unlike some Trump administration officials, Comey demonstrated that he is a civil servant simply doing his job.
Next week: my annual baseball preview.
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Today's marathon hearing by FBI Director James Comey proved once and for all that our president is easily bamboozled. An exhaustive investigation proved no circumstantial evidence of wiretapping, and it only served to remind the public that the Trump campaign had some kind of contact with the Russian government during the 2016 election. (Whether that was in and of itself illegal remains to be seen.) President Trump has every right to apologize, but we won't; his supporters, gradually dwindling but still fervent, would never expect him to kowtow to anything, including the truth.
That is not to say, however that Comey is a knight in shining armor. His dangling around of Secretary Clinton's email investigation last October may have cost her the election. Conspiracy theories that suggest Comey is in cahoots with Trump are also baseless, but the ex-Republican still comes across as smarmy and self-serving. His revelations in recent months may not have redeemed him in his critics eyes, but unlike some Trump administration officials, Comey demonstrated that he is a civil servant simply doing his job.
Next week: my annual baseball preview.
(546)
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