Blue Skies?

Why Republicans shouldn’t be spiking the ball just yet.

Republicans could hardly contain their glee. The president’s approval rating is low. A bloody war is waging. Inflation and gas prices are threatening our economic stability.  There’s trouble at the border.  Covid is hanging around. The stock market has been in a free-fall. Biden’s economic agenda has been stalled. Gerrymandering has locked in Republican districts. These developments and more are pointing to a November blow-out. Even popular presidents see their party lose seats in Congress during the mid-terms.

All Republicans needed to do is hold on to the ball and run out the clock. A red tide would sweep the country. But sometimes there could be a bad snap, a fumble or an ill-advised penalty and suddenly victory, which was ostensibly certain moments earlier, could be in jeopardy.

The bombshell leak last week of the Supreme Court draft opinion that foretold the demise of the popular Roe v. Wade ruling was tantamount to a political earthquake. The most nervous person in the U.S. is Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who has expected to return to his majority leadership position, has been in the “let’s run out the clock camp.” Now he has seen the ball sail over the quarterback’s head.

So worried that the news of the likely overturning of the 49-year-old ruling could galvanize downtrodden Democrats—downtrodden because of the political headwinds mentioned above—that the Republican response was Trump-like focused on the identity of the leaker rather than the substance of the opinion.

GOP folks have attempted to downplay the impact by turning the subject back to inflation. In other words, change the subject and fast. But people don't like their rights taken away and will motivate them to act.

Importantly, the early indication of how SCOTUS would rule on Roe gave the Dems an extra month or so to mobilize the opposition and change their attitudes and strategies towards the mid-terms. Democrats received a new lease on life.

It’s hard to say at this point how this will play out. Democrats can wound themselves if protests at

Supreme Court justices’ residences get out of hand. Recall how Republicans turned largely peaceful protests over the murder of George Floyd into the radical left burning down cities narrative. They used this whataboutism technique in trying to explain away the riots and insurrection on January 6, 2021 and they will use it again to blunt the outrage over Roe.

Democrats stand to regain the allegiance of suburban women and independents based on overturning Roe. They could let that slip away if they don’t play their cards right.

The hope for Democrats as they scramble to do what’s necessary to protect a woman’s right to determine the well-being of their own bodies is that the fire and energy we see now will not dissipate come November. Clearly, they can use this highly emotional issue and bludgeon Republican candidates from the Senate to the state legislatures.

Potentially aiding the cause will be the onset of the bipartisan January 6 House Select Committee’s public hearings, which will occur next month. It is fairly obvious the committee will lay out methodically how President Trump not only inspired the riots of that day and did nothing to squelch them, but more significantly how he and his allies plotted to execute a coup. The public should also be reminded of which congressmen and senators voted to not certify the presidential election.

This one-two punch should give the Dems a major boost. They need to harness this energy to raise money and launch major voter registration drives and develop get out the vote strategies in all 50 states.

We won’t know the outcome until November as to which party recovered that bad snap. But right now it’s a free ball.

The Republicans’ Descent into the Party of Hypocrisy

The Republicans call themselves the “Law and Order Party.” Yet House Republicans overwhelmingly opposed the punishment of one of former President Trump’s thugs Steve Bannon for spitting on a lawfully issued subpoena to testify before the January 6 House Select Committee.

They like to call themselves the “Party of Patriotism.” But mostly all Republican officials and a vast majority of the party’s membership deny the results of the free and fair 2020 presidential election following the demands from their cult leader Donald Trump. They not only publicly believe Trump’s Big Lie but they have continued to propagate it.

These folks don’t want the facts from the run-up of the January 6 insurrection—the largest attack on our citadel of democracy in centuries—to see the light of day lest that would affect the midterms in 2022. Note that Republicans who were elected and re-elected last November had no such concerns of “voter fraud” in their own races stemming from the same ballots!

They like to say how much they revere the American flag. Of course, many do. But they seem to have no problem that such flags and their attached poles were used as weapons during the insurrection on January 6, 2021that was incited by Trump to prevent the certification of the presidential election.

In that regard, they call themselves the party that supports the police—the Blue Line, Blue Lives Matter, etc. Yet again, when hundreds of police were attacked by lawless criminals using an array of weapons on January 6, the Republicans in both houses succeeded in preventing the establishment of a nonpartisan commission to investigate the domestic terrorism as the FBI characterized it and have tried to delegitimize the January 6 committee.  They also overwhelmingly refused to award medals to police heroes who put themselves on the line during the Capitol riot.

The GOP prides itself as the “Party of Fiscal Responsibility.” But wait, under President Trump the national debt ballooned to nearly $8 trillion, the highest in our history.

The Republicans are all about freedom and liberty. Very cool. Nonetheless, dozens of Republican controlled state legislatures have passed or are in the process of passing laws that impose major roadblocks to voting. Much of these laws are targeting Blacks and people of color thus denying or at least impeding their freedom to vote. Republicans in Congress have stymied voter protection laws. So much for freedom.

They see themselves as the “Party of Family Values.” But they balk at or mock Democratic attempts to provide child care, health care, nutritional services and economic relief to working families—all measures that would strengthen and keep families together.

Republicans consistently maintain that they are the “Pro-life Party.”  Whether it’s the GOP elected officials or their voters, they have eschewed wearing masks in public spaces and peddle misinformation about proven vaccines intended to curb serious illnesses and deaths attributed to Covid-19. They overwhelmingly support the death penalty, too.

And don’t get me started on their being the “Party of Morality.” This article would triple in size if I delved into that topic.

To be clear, some of these examples of hypocrisy began before Trump.  But Trump is the Republican Party. He has taken hypocrisy to new depths.  And the hypocrisy will continue during the Republicans’ ongoing quest for autocracy while our democracy will melt away like an Arctic glacier. 

How Dems May Surprise in 2022

Few pundits are giving the Democrats any chance of holding the House of Representatives or clinging to the narrowest of leads in the Senate as a result of the 2022 midterms. There are significant reasons for the long odds.

One, history is not on the Democrats’ side. The party that controls the White House almost always loses seats in the midterms regardless of how the president is polling. It makes no sense, but that’s just the way it happens. Secondly, with most states controlled by Republican legislatures, gerrymandering congressional districts will give the GOP a significant boost. They know this, and they act like they are playing with house money.

Furthermore, with COVID-19 still attacking our bodies and the economy in whiplash mode depending on how the pandemic plays out between now and next November, the uncertainty will clearly be blamed on Democrats and the Biden administration. Again, it makes no sense but that’s how it goes.

And with McConnell-led Republican obstructionism in full swing and two Democratic senators who are loath to change the filibuster rules, Biden’s agenda will have hit a brick wall, so the GOP will point out the failures of this administration to accomplish anything.

Then there is the decrease in turnout by voters of the party who controls the White House.

Despite these daunting headwinds, the Democrats still have a chance of not only holding the House but gaining seats in the Senate. There is one thing that’s going to help them in this unlikely quest that no amount of fundraising or good fortune from the economy could ever do: their Republican opponents.

The Republican Party is tethered to Donald Trump and Trumpism and the Big Lie about the November 2020 election that led to a violent and deadly insurrection on January 6 in an attempt to overturn the election results.

To be sure, gerrymandering could be a potent obstacle to success, but the Republican Party has not added new voters to their flock. In fact, many have taken flight from the GOP principally because of the Big Lie that continues to be perpetrated by Trump and his acolytes and the horrors of January 6. Control of the House will be determined by suburban voters in swing districts, and they are not too thrilled with the Republican Party writ large. Voter suppression laws passed by Republicans are not helping their image either.

The more Trump dangles his interest in running again for president in 2024, the more it will help Democrats across the board. Not only is a majority of people around the country disgusted by Trump’s clear incitement of the riots at the Capitol and his failure to do anything to quell the violence as he joyfully watched the events unfold on TV, they are sickened by a Republican Party whereby a vast majority of Congressmen opposed the certification of a free and fair election.

Moreover, McConnell and the Republicans in the Senate blocked a bipartisan commission to look into the run-up of January 6, what transpired, who may have coordinated the attacks and how such an episode could be prevented in the future. They obviously don’t want the truth to come out because all roads will likely lead to Trump, at least that’s what they fear. Trump is still the top dog of the GOP until such time he is indicted as a result of the multiple investigations still underway.

In the meantime, Democrats will benefit from the fact Republican candidates will be primaried by Trump-light crazies who will do anything to receive his endorsement. The MAGA base will turn out for these clowns and send them to the general election.

Keep in mind, at no time did Trump ever break 49 percent approval during his term in office. After January 6, it plummeted to 29 percent. Republicans just don’t get it. Trump is only popular among his shrinking base and nowhere else—not independents, not suburban Republican voters and certainly not Democrats. Thus, placating Trump to head to a general election with Trump-like candidates is a perilous venture.

In Deep South Georgia, two Democratic candidates for Senate prevailed in a runoff mainly because of exceptionally high voter turnout among Democrats and independents largely seen as a rejection of  Trumpism and the former president’s antics following his defeat. Key swing districts around the country could follow that model.

Yes, Joe Biden can succeed in getting an infrastructurebill passed. The economy can rebound. COVID can finally get under control. Democrats can and should tout any successes that manage to come their way. But it will take more.

“If Democrats want to prevail in 2022, good government won’t be enough,” Arkansas Times columnist Gene Lyons penned in the Chicago Sun-Times. “They need to turn the midterm elections into a referendum on the Trump cult and GOP sycophancy toward his alarming assault on democracy.”

They also need to make Matt Gaetz, Marjorie Taylor Green, Jim Jordan, Josh Hawley, Ted Cruz, Mitch McConnell, Kevin McCarthy and many others as well as Trump himself the faces of the Republican Party during the campaign.

They should run ads depicting McCarthy’s and Lindsey Graham’s initial outrage over January 6 and then display them reversing course and verbally dropping to their knees at Mar-a-Lago.

And don't EVER let Trump and the Republicans off the hook regarding Jan. 6.

For Democrats approaching the midterms, this is golden, and they can thank the Trump Republican Party for this opportunity. Dems can do this and surprise the experts if they manage to muster the courage and play some hardball. That, too, would be a surprise.

Please Leave a Message

 

Thank Goodness for Barack Obama’s “Hope and Change” slogan in 2008! Other than that, I cannot think of a consistent, punchy, winning message over the past few decades that Democrats came up with. Even Joe Biden’s “Restore the Soul of America” message was poetic, but I doubt it had any impact on the 2020 race.

To be clear, effective messaging doesn’t need to be limited to a slogan or bumper sticker.  But it seems that every time a slogan or a comment is put forth by a Democrat, Republicans pounce on it.

Look how “Defund the Police,” “Medicare for All,” and ‘Green New Deal” were used as weapons against congressional Democratic candidates in 2020. Data are inconclusive as to the impact they had on those races but anecdotally, some politicians claim they had an effect.

Look how the George Floyd murder protests, which were mostly peaceful, were allowed to be manipulated by Republicans to shift the message from needed police reform to the destruction of buildings and even cities. It was a classic case of “Whataboutism.”

The most recent example is Rep. Maxine Waters’ comments regarding the Derek Chauvin trial and what should happen (confrontation) if the verdict is not favorable. The GQP took it and ran with it, and a censure action by Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy had been organized though tabled.

Did the Democrats attempt to censure Marjorie Taylor Greene for her heinous comments or those Republican congressmen who have perpetuated Trump’s big lie on the 2020 election outcome? No. Or even those congressmen who spoke at Trump’s rally that incited the insurrection on January 6? Crickets.

It wasn’t that long ago when Republicans bludgeoned the Democrats for being soft on terrorism. In fact, the 2004 election cycle featured that mantra.  Is it asking a lot for Democrats to turn the tables on Republicans during the 2022 cycle by pointing out THEIR softness on domestic terrorism and white nationalism?

Even the establishment of a 9/11-style commission to look into the events surrounding January 6 can’t get any traction. Why aren’t Democrats beating the Republicans over the head with January 6? Yet, the Republicans Benghazi-ed the Democrats to death when they saw an opportunity.

We cannot ever forget what happened January 6, and we should not allow the Republicans to escape the linkage between the atrocities of that event, Donald Trump and those Republicans who voted to acquit the former president in the impeachment trial when he so clearly incited the attack.

The Democrats do not need a catchy slogan to inculcate this matter into the conversation during the 2022 cycle. Footage will do just nicely. Those horrific images of Trump flag-carrying thugs breaching our Capitol should be a staple in every Democratic ad against those Republicans who are apparently soft on insurrections. Pictures do speak louder than words.

We Don’t Know How to Quit Ya

 The GQP made what is likely to be a costly decision to let Trump off the hook.

The dust has settled on Donald Trump’s record breaking 2^nd impeachment trial, and the Monday morning quarterbacking, recriminations and speculation about the political future for both parties expectedly began. 

For his part, the former president by a vote of 57-43 was found guilty of the impeachment charge of “inciting an insurrection” for the deadly January 6 assault on the Capitol and democracy, but because of the Constitution’s requirement that two-thirds of the Senate is needed to remove and disqualify, Trump wriggled off the hook.

Keep in mind, if you win or lose and election by a 57 percent to 43 percent margin, that would be considered a landslide by many. So Trump’s feeling so good about the result or believing he was exonerated is absurd. The failure to convict was largely accomplished based on a technicality that Republicans believed or they say they believed that a former president cannot be impeached and removed from office despite historical precedent. That was the off-ramp for 43 Republicans including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

Trump issued a statement that said the impeachment was “yet another phase of the greatest witch hunt in the history of our Country” and that “no president has ever gone through anything like it.”

Trump is correct on the second part. No president has gone through anything like this because no president ever welcomed and accepted help from a foreign country to win an election (2016) and obstructed justice in the attempt to get to the bottom of it. No president ever pressured the leader of a foreign country in order to obtain dirt on his potential opponent, which happened in the lead-up to the 2020 election.

And no president ever incited a mob to breach, loot and defile the Capitol and to threaten the safety of the second and third people in the line of succession as well as other legislators and staff, and to kill one and injure over 140 police officers attempting to thwart the violent domestic terrorism that was unfolding. Moreover, Trump did nothing to stop the insurrection while it was underway and gleefully watched on TV as the rioters succeeded, at least temporarily, in halting the certification of Electoral College tallies.

The nine House Managers led by Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland were spectacular, compelling and proficient in laying out the case in a clear precise manner. The evidence had been overwhelming as was the video footage of police officers being beaten to a pulp by the Trump insurrectionists. (What happened to Blue Lives Matter?)

It was a decisive victory of fact presentation and style over the G team – the 7^th team of lawyers to defend Trump in this battle. This latest group mirrored Trump: incompetent, clownish and lying.

But the ever-shrinking GQP, a party that decidedly supports a congresswoman who ascribes to QAnon conspiracy theories, punishes competent representatives who vote their conscience and one that censures senators who vote according to facts and evidence, is still hitched to the Trump wagon.

Lindsey Graham, a senator who has lost all what remains of his credibility said after the Senate trial, “The Republican Party is alive and well.” Really?

Following the bloody insurrection, the attempted coup to overthrow our government by preventing the peaceful transfer of power—the hallmark of our democracy—the party lost tens of thousands of registered voters across the land. Unless you’re a hard core Trump loyalist, most people from both parties were sickened by the events of January 6—the third day of infamy for the U.S.

Yet, the Trump base is what Republican politicians must covet and fear to successfully ward off primary challenges as the base comprises the most reliable voters in primaries. McConnell doesn’t want any part of Trump but had to vote to acquit lest he lose his leadership position. His speech following the vote twisted him into a knot by condemning Trump in no uncertain terms for the January 6 coup attempt but used the escape hatch of “jurisdiction” as a means to justify his not guilty vote despite the Senate’s vote that rendered jurisdiction on a non-issue.

Always savvy and calculating, McConnell suggested that Trump is not out of the woods legally, which is true. But I think McConnell is trying to set a trap whereby the new Attorney General, most likely Merrick Garland, would be encouraged to investigate Trump for federal violations. If that were to occur, McConnell would cry “Democrat overreach” for investigating a former president and will fund raise and rally the GQP troops off of it.

Democrats must seize upon the Republicans’ failure to quit Trump even after the egregious January 6 event and the blatant lies Trump used over a period of months to whip his white nationalists, militia, QAnon and other components of his base into a frenzy. By no means, was the insurrection a surprise.

January 6 and Trump’s escape from any real punishment so far will not help expand the party and win over suburban and college educated voters. A break from Trump was needed by the party, but the lawmakers who supported Trump by choosing convenience over conscience will pay a steep price.

They didn’t know how to quit him, and they still don’t.

We the Jury

The case for Trump's conviction must be directed more for the public than the Senate.

Donald Trump spewed the biggest of all his many lies when he claimed he actually won the November 3 election by a landslide no less had not the Democrats stole it from him through fraudulent means. Trump’s loyal base of support that includes notably white supremacists, violent militia groups, QAnon conspiracy nuts and other far right extremists bought into that lie.

So when Trump tweeted that there will be a “wild” rally on January 6 to protest the “steal” and pressuring Vice President Mike Pence to violate the Constitution by overturning the election results that day, thousands of enraged, amped-up supporters—many of them armed—gathered at the Ellipse near the White House.

They listened to the likes of Donald Trump, Jr., Senator Ted Cruz and Rudy Giuliani who decried the stolen election and urged the angry mob to take action. Then they heard from President Trump himself.

“We’re going to walk down. Anyone you want, but I think right here, we’re going to walk down to the Capitol…Because you’ll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength and you have to be strong,” Trump said in the midst of a rambling speech dominated by lies about individual states’ voting results and other false grievances. The crowd had been whipped up to a state of frenzy and was frothing with a desire to take action.

As just about everyone in the world witnessed on that horrific January 6, the rabid mob attacked, desecrated and looted the Capitol. Five people lost their lives including a police officer who was bludgeoned to death. Members of Congress and Senate who were going through the process of putting their stamp of approval of the Electoral College results had to be escorted out of their respective chambers into a safe haven as their lives were in jeopardy. And for good measure, some of the mob were out to kill Mike Pence with a makeshift gallows erected outside.

From even before the election through January 6, Trump laid the foundation for the insurrection on our government by violent domestic terrorists with his false and ridiculous claim that the election was rigged against him. During the siege of the Capitol, Trump, his family as well as others watched the proceedings on TV (his major activity during any day of his presidency when he’s not out golfing) and yucked it up celebrating Trump banners replacing American flags and the numerous violent acts taking place during the riot. He also did nothing to stop it.

But here’s the sad upshot of this event: Trump will avoid conviction at his impeachment trial next week for inciting an insurrection because the overwhelming majority of Republican senators remain terrified of Trump and his supporters and the votes they represent.

The able Democratic House managers who will lead the impeachment trial against Trump will lay out all the evidence in great detail—Trump’s lies about the election results, his attempts to pressure state election officials to “find votes,” the footage from Trump’s inciting speech, the acts of violence perpetrated by the mob, and the on-camera comments from the rioters claiming Trump put them up to it. This damning evidence should not be directed towards the senators who will be serving as jurors, witnesses and victims. They have already made up their minds.

The case, in excruciating and dramatic detail, must be brought to the American citizens who witnessed in horror an attack on our Capitol—the people’s house—not seen since the War of 1812.

While Republicans argue dubiously that the trial itself is unconstitutional because Trump is no longer president, they are merely seeking an off ramp so they don’t have to judge him on the merits of the case. They want to “move on” unlike the way these folks moved past Benghazi.

Let them cower to the inciter-in-chief. The American people—heck, most of the world—witnessed what happened and understand that the violence was stoked by Trump with his lies about the election. The American people will ultimately be the jury.

Every Republican congressman who objected to the election results even after the riot and every senator who votes to acquit Trump should be branded as supporting sedition. The images from this manifestation of domestic terrorism, already seared into the souls of most Americans, must be included in every campaign ad against these Republicans up for election in 2022. The Republican Sedition Party, I call it.

It’s been said that Democrats tend to bring a ladle to a gunfight. The events of January 6 should be a millstone around the necks of those seditionists. If they do not punish those Republicans who put the party of Trump before our country then it would be clear political malpractice.

The Republicans' Idea of Unity

I know speaking of unity can sound to some like a foolish fantasy. I know the forces that divide us are deep and they are real. But I also know they are not new.—President Joe Biden from his Inaugural Address, Jan. 20, 2021

As a candidate Joe Biden made unity the centerpiece of his campaign to the chagrin of the left wing of the Democratic Party. It helped win over Trump-opposing Republicans, independents and suburban women in his quest to get elected. Though so many have been skeptical of the prospect of unifying such a divided country especially after the past four years, the concept of unity was the principal theme in Mr. Biden’s inaugural address.

Merely hours after the inaugural festivities, truncated as they were due to the pandemic and security concerns, Republicans across the board demonstrated they are not having any of it. A reporter from a right wing media outlet asked the new and refreshingly competent press secretary Jen Psaki if the Democrats are ready to extend an olive branch to the Republicans in the name of unity.The Democrats need to offer an olive branch to Republicans? What a joke!

Maybe if the overwhelming majority of Republicans in the House of Representatives and a handful of senators would acknowledge that Joe Biden won the election fair and square (which he did), that would be a good first step in unifying the country. Recall how over 150 of these legislators objected to the certified election results in several states and that was AFTER the insurrection at the Capitol on January 6.

Let’s also look at sore loser Trump’s behavior following the election. Through the moment he fled to Florida on January 20 as a disgraced twice impeached president, he never publicly mentioned Joe Biden’s name, never acknowledged he lost to Biden, delayed the crucial transition period, failed to cooperate during the transition and in fact, created unnecessary barriers, didn’t welcome Biden in the White House to confer as has been a long standing tradition, and refused to attend the inauguration. What an example of sportsmanship Trump sets for our young people!

Then there’s that pesky matter of a Trump-incited insurrection on our government with the express intent to thwart the peaceful transfer of power and to harm or even kill the first and second persons in the succession. That’s called sedition.

This incitement by urging a frothing, violent, angry mob of white supremacists and other pro-Trump believers to “take back our country” whereby they stormed and ransacked the Capitol earned Trump his second impeachment. Now Republicans, such as Trump supplicant Lindsey Graham, are pleading for the Senate to not try Trump on this article of impeachment if the Democrats want to truly unify.

Yes, Democrats should look the other way and not hold Trump accountable for his attempt to overthrow the government. They should move on. Republicans who advocate this dereliction of duty should be reminded that 5 people lost their lives as a result of the riot.

That’s one more life lost than the Benghazi raid that killed 4 Americans in Libya. Republicans didn’t move on. They held some 10 hearings on the incident and dragged then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to testify at one of these for 11 hours. For years, obsessed Republicans screamed Benghazi! Benghazi! Benghazi! over and over. But a violent attempted coup? Not so much. Let’s just move on.

We should never forget January 6. It should forever be memorialized as 9/11 has been. But this tragedy, this national disgrace, was perpetrated not by foreign jihadists but by misinformed and conspiracy theory-obsessed American citizens who were provoked by a deranged, lying and unpatriotic president, aided by his kooky attorney and two rogue overly ambitious senators and a number of equally seditious representatives.

Within hours of the inauguration, Republicans and their agents on right wing media mocked Biden’s call for unity. The hashtag #ImpeachBidenNow trended on Twitter. Mitch McConnell already began playing games to hold off on finalizing his minority leader status and jeopardizing COVID relief legislation. Unity appears to be an elusive goal especially if it is not in the political interests of Republicans.

It’s a no-brainer for an incoming president especially from a different political party who had previously occupied the White House to ask for unity. And like he said, it could be seen as a foolish fantasy.

A degree of unity could only work if both sides are willing to pull together. One would think that the pandemic that kills Americans regardless of political affiliation would finally bring us collectively to fight the disease as a matter of patriotism.

President Biden’s realistic idea of unity is at least lowering the temperature of the rhetoric. The Republican idea of unity, however, is for Democrats to capitulate to their whims and take no actions to offend that perennially angry Republican base, who for the most part see Mr. Biden as an illegitimate president.

How Dems Could Win From Impeachment Trial

House  managers walking articles of impeachment to the Senate
Photo: Axios

Spoiler Alert: President Donald Trump will not be removed from office as a result the upcoming impeachment trial in the Senate. Nonetheless, if they play their cards with skill and determination, the Democrats could come out winners politically.

As we experience the third time in history that a U.S. President has been impeached, Trump has now assembled his made-for-TV lawyers to defend him in the Senate trial. Too bad Matlock and Perry Mason are unavailable because for Trump it’s all about the show. On one hand Trump wanted a quick dismissal. On the other hand he sought a theatrical display whereby he is completely exonerated and will blame the radical angry Democrats for wasting everyone’s time. At this point we still don’t know what he wants.  

For their part, the Democrats, need to be key players in the show as well. With the outcome a near certainty, the charge for the Democrats is to get their messaging on point to win the political battle—no easy task with the messaging skills of Trump, Trump TV, and his sycophantic supporters in Congress and beyond.

Trump and his cheerleaders have repeatedly labeled the impeachment a hoax. Democrats should continue to shoot back saying that his own phone call to Ukrainian’s President Zelensky plus the credible testimony by foreign service and other professionals point directly to a shakedown of the Ukrainian government by withholding nearly $400 million in military aid in exchange for announcing an investigation into Hunter Biden and by extension his father Joe Biden—a leading contender to oust President Trump in November.

While each senator swore an oath of impartiality, public comments by McConnell and Sen. Lindsey Graham declared just the opposite. This is a strong talking point for Dems to use to declare the trial was never going to be fair from the outset.

Armed with a mountain of evidence that is credible and clear, Trump has been charged by the House of Representatives in two articles of impeachment for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.  The question looming prior to the trial is will Senate Leader Mitch McConnell and his Republican minions allow witnesses and documentation as part of a trial.

If there is a deal whereby key witnesses, such as former National Security Advisor John Bolton and Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani’s henchman Lev Parnas are allowed to testify, their testimony could be explosive. Never mind that Vice President Pence, Acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, former Energy Secretary Rick Perry and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo are also key witnesses who could potentially be damaging to the president as they would testify under oath.  It should be noted that Trump had exerted executive privilege in blocking these characters from testifying at congressional committee hearings.

If the Republicans manage to win a vote that prevents fact witnesses and documentation, Democrats should (and probably will) declare the trial a sham and rightfully accuse the Republicans of being willing players in a massive cover-up. The Dems should exploit this to the hilt and wreak havoc on vulnerable senators up for re-election should they be a party to this act.

Trump’s defense team denounced the impeachment case stating, “The articles of impeachment submitted by House Democrats are a dangerous attack on the right of the American people to freely choose their president. This is a brazen and unlawful attempt to overturn the results of the 2016 election and interfere with the 2020 election, now just months away.”

The U.S. Senate: the scene of the impeachment trial

This is a paper thin argument and does not bode well for Trump if this is the best his dream team can come up with. For one thing, the impeachment is not taking the right away from the American people to freely choose their president. Of course, Russia’s indisputable (except by Trump and his allies) interference in the 2016 election must have been forgotten.  

Secondly, the action by the House is far from “unlawful.”  Impeachment is enshrined in the Constitution (Article I, Sections 2-4,)—a document that Trump never read and now I have my doubts about his legal team as well.

Moreover, if Trump was actually removed, the election would not have been overturned. Vice President Mike Pence would succeed him in office, not Hillary Clinton.

We are hearing rumors that the defense team may stipulate to the facts in the articles and instead try to convince the 100-person jury (the Senate) and the American people that what Trump did does not meet the threshold of impeachment and removal.  Trump, however, will not have any of it.  Under no circumstances will he allow his defense to admit that the famous call to Zelensky was anything but “perfect.”  Look for a shake-up of the team should that stipulation materializes.

Barring a development of nuclear proportions, Trump will remain in office after this proceeding.  This is all about the 2020 election now. For Democrats, the mission is to zealously prosecute the case and remind voters that the president put our national security on the back burner in order to gain a political advantage in the upcoming election.

They need to pound the message home that Republicans again put devotion to their party and their fealty to Trump above the national interests. The Dems need to emphasize, regardless of the outcome, that nobody is above the law and our democracy is at stake.

If they do this right, the Democrats can win even by losing.

Rooting for a Recession???

The desperate GOP accuses Dems, media for craving an economic downturn.

You have to hand it to the Republicans for their ability to create excuses when things aren’t going their way.  President Trump, seeing his re-election prospects dimming by the findings from a FOX News poll,  has started to re-launch one of his favorite B.S. excuses: voter fraud.  It is a metaphysical certainty that should Trump go down to defeat in 2020, he will state without equivocation and without evidence that voter fraud turned the election against him. And Lord knows what else he might do or say.

Following the recent gargantuan stock market drop that included a striking 800-plus loss from the Dow, talk of the R-word (recession), started to surface.  The prospect of a recession in the not-too-distant future emanated from numerous well-respected economists. But because the media covered these alarm signals, the media as well as Democrats and other opponents of Donald Trump are being targeted by Trump supporters for as they see it, rooting for this to happen.  Why? A recession would hurt the chances for Trump’s reelection.  #hocopolitics

Simply put, a recession is an economic phenomenon when there is negative economic growth for two consecutive quarters.  Consumer confidence is down; consumer spending, which is the principal driver of the economy, is sharply reduced; the stock market heads south; the national debt heads north; and businesses tend to lay off workers . 

Coincidence or not, according to MarketWatch, every Republican president since Teddy Roosevelt has had to deal with a recession in his first term.  These are cyclical events that follow years of robust economic expansion. 

A recession or a significant downturn in the economy would eliminate the main rationale for Trump’s re-election. He has prided himself and has taken all the credit for what has been up to now--a strong economy.  Yet, as the New York Times explains,  Trump’s on again, off again trade war with China has exacerbated the uncertainty among business leaders and that has sparked the talk of a slow-down.

Knowing that, his supporters are accusing Democrats with the help of the liberal media of creating a fertile environment for a recession by rooting for it to happen. Here’s a sampling from Twitter:

The left-wing media is hoping for a recession. They know Democrats' economic policies can't win against @realDonaldTrump's so they keep trying to convince Americans that a recession is coming. pic.twitter.com/UjlrE2hFw8

— Newt Gingrich (@newtgingrich) August 19, 2019

Democrats are rooting for a recession. The media is cheerfully reporting that steel workers are being laid off. WTF, people. They want America to fail.

— Lew (@lewsmuse) August 21, 2019

To be fair, anti-Trump comedian Bill Maher has indicated on several occasions that he is rooting for a recession to hurt Trump in his re-election bid. But Maher is in the minority and he is unlikely to be severely impacted financially from such an outcome.

However, millions of other Americans will suffer.  A recession is not something to long for even if makes you feel better politically. It’s like hoping to catch the flu to avoid school or work. Recessions are caused by myriad domestic and global factors but cheering them on is not one of them.

The point is, the GOP strategy is to preemptively pin the blame of a possible recession on the Dems and the media to mitigate the political damage it would cause the president in his reelection chances.  For his part,  Trump has primarily pointed his fingers at the Chairman of the Federal Reserve for his monetary policies as the cause of a potential recession. 

From Trump's corruption, to incompetence, to racism, to whiplash reversals of policy statements through tweets, the Democrats have seemingly unlimited ways to make the case against Trump.  They shouldn't need a faltering economy to win in 2020, and they are certainly not wishing for one. 

Democrats Must Play the Trump Card

Some pundits have said that for the Democrats to win big in 2018 they should not run against President Donald Trump and instead provide a positive message.  A positive message to be sure and that should include appealing to working class Americans of all stripes. But they should also definitely run against Trump Republicans in every contested seat from the Senate and Congressional races to the governors’ contests and state legislatures down to the local level.

Why?  Because the Republican Party is now the Party of Trump, and the Dems must run against HIM to run against THEM.

With very few exceptions, Republicans have been sucked into the Trump horror show mainly as a result of fear—fear of Trump’s self-destructive but weaponizing tweets, fear of being “primaried,” and the fear of Trump’s base not turning out in November.   #hocopolitics

What used to be a party of chest pounding bravado, they have turned into a squishy band that is weak on Trump. They brag about their “patriotism” yet patriotism does not mean it is okay to allow a foreign government to install a U.S. president of their choice. 

The Republican Congress' steadfast support of Trump is certainly not as a result of principle or ideology.  Recall how the GOP including its evangelical supporters backed Roy Moore in the Alabama Senate race –an accused child molester and sexual assaulter—and in doing so, put party over country. 

They support Trump despite his clear incompetence, his complete lack of morals, his corruption, his extreme narcissism, his lying as much as he’s breathing, and his reported cheating on his wife then paying off a porn star to keep her mouth shut.

Yes, the Republican Party and Donald Trump are intertwined.  Every Democratic candidate must couple the words “TRUMP REPUBLICAN” at every turn.  Despite a pre-Rob Porter controversy tiny uptick in the polls, Trump is reviled and remains profoundly unpopular.

Women, young people, and minorities will see this opportunity to repudiate the misogynous and racist president who has churned up the energy and enthusiasm in these key voter blocs. 

Democratic candidates must remind voters about the Charlottesville tragedy when Trump said “there were very fine people on both sides.”   Those fine people included neo-Nazis and members of the KKK.  That should motivate African-Americans and Jews to vote.

Voters must be reminded how Trump has defended all those high profile men who have been accused of sexual assault, sexual harassment and wife beating by insisting they denied it—never exhibiting empathy towards the victims.  And let’s not forget his Access Hollywood admissions. These should further motivate women to vote.

They should remind voters how Trump has played politics with DACA and the Dreamers as well as his vile anti-Mexican comments. They should remember Trump's lack of concerns for Puerto Rico and the degrading paper towel toss.  That should motivate Hispanic voters.

They should remind voters of how Trump mocked and insulted the Gold Star Khan family as well as his Muslim travel ban.  That should motivate Muslims.

They should be reminded how this administration has attempted to roll back key gains and rights for LGBT individuals.  That should motivate that community, their family members and their friends to vote.

Because of their refusal to stand up to Trump and vigorously denounce him publicly, just about every

Republican is complicit with these stains.  While many of them privately do not agree with Trump’s policies and actions on these fronts nor care much for his character, they still must be linked to him because of their reticence.

There is no question that Republicans will label a Dem candidate as a “Pelosi Democrat,” That strategy already worked against Jon Ossoff in the ballyhooed GA-06 race last year.  That is their big weapon plus their overblown tax cuts that mainly benefited the highest income earners and corporations and which have filled the coffers of their donors. That increased the deficit by $1.5 billion paving the way to cuts in Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.

What Democratic campaigns must avoid is playing the impeachment card. Impeachment is both a legal and political process, which should unfold if and when the circumstances arise. By urging voters to come out to vote for a Democratic candidate because it will make it easier to impeach Trump will also being out rabid Trump supporters, when otherwise may have been dispirited to vote in the mid-terms.   

Play the Trump card: “Trump Republican.” Use that phrase and perhaps Democrats can help make America sane again. 

Patriot Games

Trump’s words and actions continue his march towards authoritarianism

President Trump has yet to see the distinction between running a family business empire and being president of the United States.  Whereas in the past he could call the shots, he has been frustrated by those pesky checks and balances, which are contained in our Constitution—a document I’m willing to bet he never completely read. #hocopolitics

Starting with a flood of executive orders (legal) at the outset of his presidency he has taken it upon himself to do things on his own.  As he has achieved some footing, his autocratic posture seems to be gaining, and he’s been using “patriotism,” “love of country,” and most recently “treason” to stomp on those with whom he disagrees.

These tactics are becoming alarming.  It was manifested this past fall when he bludgeoned NFL players for taking a knee during the national anthem as a means to protest social inequality for African-Americans.  He twisted the protesters’ message to make it sound like they were criticizing the military, the flag and what-not.  Unfortunately, Trump seemed to have won that messaging battle, conflating the first amendment right to protest with sticking a finger in the eyes of our troops.   This has emboldened him to go all-out patriotic.

This past Monday, he derided Democratic lawmakers who attended the State of the Union Address for not cheering and clapping his Stephen Miller-written words.  At a speech in a plant outside Cincinnati where he was touting the economy that he produced and which the plunging stock market values were juxtaposed on television screens, Trump complained half jokingly but also half seriously that Democrats didn’t cheer like the Republicans did.

“They would rather see Trump do badly than our country do well," the president said of Democrats’ response to his speech last week. “They were like death. And un-American. Somebody said treasonous. I mean, yeah. I guess. Why not?” 

“Can we call that treason?” he asked the crowd. “Why not? They certainly didn’t seem to love our country very much.”

His frequent Kim Jong Un-ish self-applause seemed to have made up for the lack of Dems' enthusiasm.

Nonetheless, imagine if President Obama had called the Republicans treasonous when they sat in stone cold silence as he enumerated his vision for the country.  The Republican noise machine would go off the charts.

The White House said he was saying it “tongue and cheek.” But as the president, words matter.

To be responsible, “treason” should be used only when referring to a person “levying war against [the United States], or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort.”

His base may not understand the seriousness of the term, and it was unwise for the president to say it, displaying his ignorance, just for a few yucks from his cultist supporters in attendance.

Sadly, except for a few Democrats like Sen. Tammy Duckworth, the Dems were too silent on Trump’s accusations.  Where are they? The GOP was even more quiet except for Sen. Jeff Flake.

If that wasn’t enough, the Washington Post reported that Trump wants a military parade down Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington.

To be clear, when countries put on such displays, it is mainly to show off to the world their military might, should there be any doubts.  The U.S. rarely has had to go through this garish exercise since the world already is aware of our military power.

But the need to feed Trump’s ego will probably be enough to appropriate funds for this costly spectacle.  I wouldn't be surprised if Trump invites “patriots” to march following the procession of military vehicles, armaments and matériel. Expect to see a few confederate flags to pop up held by some very fine people, maybe a swastika or two, perhaps a march with a goose step. 

That’s how it starts.

Republicans Must Break From the Shithole President

The GOP is heading off the cliff with Trump.

MILKOS/ABADONIAN/TIM BRADLEY/
EDUARADO MUNOZ ALVAREZ/GETTY

Election Day 2018 is less than 10 months away.  On a national level, midterms are usually perilous for the party in power as voters have little other choice but to vent their frustration against those holding offices. This cycle is shaping up to be a doozey against the GOP fueled by the revulsion towards President Donald Trump who remains the most unpopular president in modern times.

Voter surveys have shown a marked preference for a generic Democratic candidate over a Republican in Congress.  GOP representatives are retiring at a record pace that now give hope to Democratic candidates to seize the opportunities presented and re-take the House.  While it is true Democrats need a strong message during this cycle to win over voters and as importantly, stoke the needed enthusiasm to get out the vote, disdain for Trump will be the party’s guiding star.

Trump has demonstrated an inordinate capacity for getting himself in trouble with his tweets and his verbal comments—the latter exemplified by his reported racially charged characterization of African nations and Haiti as “shithole countries” in reference to immigrants.  He needs this controversy like a hole in the head following the publication of mega-seller Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House by Michael Wolff where his fitness for office, his mental capacity and stability are allegedly questioned by those who are around him. #hocopolitics

From Charlottesville to Ghana, Trump has displayed his inner bigoted self, substantiated by a history of racism from his real estate development beginnings and birtherism to his anti-Muslim, anti-Mexican rhetoric.  Now the “shithole” mess that validates the charges of racism.

Throughout these episodes, Republican lawmakers have been tepid concerning Trump’s actions and overt racist words, the hovering Russia investigation, and the cavalier saber-rattling handling of the stalemate with North Korea.  While privately they raise their eyebrows and shake their heads with respect to Trump (even calling him a moron or worse), publicly they are latching on to him without any fissures of this alliance to this point.

Trump with his pardoned pal Sheriff Joe Arpaio

Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) who was once a strong critic of the president and gave hope to Americans that the preservation of democracy is far more important than party loyalty has exercised a rather suspicious whiplash reversal since a golf outing with Trump and now seems to be an ally. Even retiring Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) who had criticized Trump and questioned his stability appears happy now that the new tax law has been signed, which will benefit Corker (and Trump) mightily.

For GOP electeds who will be facing a likely prodigious blue wave, it’s not enough to “distance” themselves from Trump; they need to strongly condemn him when appropriate.  This applies to moderate Republican officials—local and national—who don’t agree with Trump on many if not most instances but somehow feel obliged to keep silent about him lest they lose Trump’s shrinking but noisy base.  This is a false calculation because those Trump supporters have nowhere to go but to back a Republican.  Voters in Alabama who supported Roy Moore preferred a sexual predator of underage girls to a Democrat.

Picture GOP elected officials in a line, locked in arms with Trump in the center, heading for a cliff.  If they don’t break from that linkage with Trump, Democrats will remind the voters that Republicans are the party of Trump, Moore and Sheriff Arpaio, and the Republicans could plunge into the abyss with him. 

Republican strategist Steve Schmidt has been hammering Trump for his debasement of the office of the presidency.  His tweet below sums up accurately the challenge facing Republicans.

The corrupted, rotten and complicit Republican majority that is abetting this Presidents damage to our institutions, national security and domestic tranquility must face electoral anhialation.  A massive coalition of Democrats, independent and appalled Republicans must come .

— Steve Schmidt (@SteveSchmidtSES) January 12, 2018

Hold off on Impeachment

The latest attempt is ill-timed and ill-advised.

Six Democrats on November 15 signed a resolution to introduce five articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump. According to Politico, They “charge that Trump obstructed justice when he fired FBI Director James Comey; that he has violated the Constitution’s emoluments clause by continuing to frequent and profit from his businesses; and that he has undermined the federal judiciary and freedom of the press.”  #hocopolitics

A Republican House Judiciary Committee aide said in response, “Under the Constitution, impeachment is an extraordinary remedy to remove certain elected officials from office who have committed high crimes and misdemeanors. It’s the policy of the committee to consider impeachment articles if and when the constitutional criteria for impeachment exist.”

For those Democrats, this may have been a cathartic move for their constituents or the 40 percent of the country that would want to see the president impeached. 

Moreover, California billionaire and Democratic mega-donor Tom Steyer has launched an impeachment drive and is demanding that every Democratic candidate make impeachment the centerpiece of their 2018 campaign.

Trump “is a threat to the American people,” Steyer said last week in an interview with ABC News. “Why aren’t people willing to stand up and say that? I don't understand it.”

Democratic leadership has put the kibosh on that. “I’m not making [impeachment] a priority,” Pelosi told LA Times columnist Doyle McManus last week. “If you're going to go down the impeachment path, you have to know you can do it not in a partisan way.”

Democrats may want an impeachment effort to go forward but independents aren’t on board yet.  A Politico/Morning Consult Poll this month found that although 40 percent of voters believe the House should begin impeachment proceedings, 49 percent disagree.

While many in the country see Trump as unfit for office and a national embarrassment—his mental instability, incessant lying, lack of intellectual grasp of policy, unqualified appointments to the cabinet and judiciary, the nepotism in the administration, his affection for world despots especially Russian president Putin, his unhinged obsessions with Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, and, of course, his childish and his reckless tweets—the impeachment process must meet a high standard, and proponents of impeachment should systematically try to gain bi-partisan support for it to work. Pelosi is correct.

Democrats do not control either body of Congress, and while most Democrats and a good number of Republicans would prefer that Trump not remain in office, nothing will come of an impeachment effort now.  To be sure, Republicans are terrified of ticking off Trump’s base and would like nothing more than to avoid a Bannon-led primary to unseat them. Therefore, you can’t count on them.

If Democrats make impeachment the focus of their 2018 campaigns without offering a positive rationale for voters to support their own candidacies, all they will accomplish is bringing out the Trumpsters to the polls in droves as their loyalty to him though faltering slightly is still strong. It would accurately appear as a politically partisan effort.  This would compromise the Dems’ efforts to regain control of the House, if not the Senate.

The dilemma of whether to impeach or not to impeach should find a solution with the Robert Mueller probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 election, possible collusion with the Trump campaign to aid that effort, and obstruction of justice among other criminal charges to Trump’s associates and even his family members if not the president himself.

Mr. Mueller, one of the most highly respected (and feared) prosecutors in the country, is methodically building a case so strong that it will shake the world.  When the findings are revealed—and they will be damning—only then will bi-partisan impeachment and conviction by two-thirds of the Senate be probable because the country will demand it. 

Of course, if Trump finds a way to fire Mueller beforehand, that is an impeachable offense in its own right.