Russia, If You're Watching

Dear President Putin,

I know you and your associates are toasting each other with glasses filled with Stolichnaya at the images of the U.S. being torn apart. Once again, a cold-blooded murder of a Black man at the hands of a white police officer has triggered unrest throughout our country.  The footage of the protests is heartbreaking to us because the anger was a result of this senseless tragedy, one that has been repeated for too long, but it must be heartening to you.

Your goal to sow discontent in the U.S. is working. So while the glasses in Russia are clinking now, please know it won’t last.  #hocopolitics

As you are well aware, you helped Donald Trump get elected as President. While he calls the “Russian thing” a “hoax,” we know better. Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III, though limited because of a bureaucratic impediment that prevents a sitting U.S. President from being indicted and whose investigation had been under a direct threat of abolishment by President Trump himself, confirmed what our intelligence agencies concluded. The Mueller Report found that the Russian government “interfered in the 2016 presidential election in sweeping and systematic fashion” and “violated U.S. criminal law.”

Accordingly, 26 Russian citizens and 3 Russian organizations were indicted. The investigation also led to indictments and convictions of Trump campaign officials and associated Americans for unrelated charges. The report relayed two methods by which you guys attempted to influence the election: 1) a robust social media campaign to damage Mr. Trump’s opponent Hillary Clinton and 2) the hacking of email accounts by your own GRU and the release of the consequential damaging information by WikiLeaks also to damage Mrs. Clinton. But you know all that.

Thus, Mr. Trump squeezed by with an Electoral College victory though the majority of voters preferred his opponent. With him in the White House, you have what our intel folks refer to as a “useful idiot.” You knew he would be so tethered to his business holdings so that he would put his own interests ahead of our country’s. You knew he would ensure that our Congress and related departments would not be too harsh on your country in retaliation against your interference in our democracy.

Many Americans believe that Mr. Trump as well as leading Senate and Congressional Republican leaders, such as "Moscow Mitch" McConnell, have been compromised by your government and/or have received laundered money in the form of donations for their campaigns. This explains their determined opposition to safeguard our upcoming election and allowing you to repeat the same operation with impunity.

You also helped install Mr. Trump because he is a divisive figure by nature and would cause chaos in our country. In the three and a half years in office, he has validated your assumptions.   

He has never attempted to unify our country; he only serves his base of support. President Trump vehemently attacks the opposition and attacks our free press. Sound familiar, President Putin?

President Trump has served you well by keeping the chasm in the U.S. deep and wide. At no time during his presidency did a majority of Americans approve of him as President.  This divisiveness has continued throughout the Covid-19 pandemic whereby he was slow to react to it, failed to develop a national strategy to address it, assumed no responsibility, and blamed everyone else.

The divisiveness is on full display during the protests concerning the murder of George Floyd. To be

Murder victim Goeoge Floyd

clear, the scourge of systemic racism has existed long before there was ever a Donald Trump.  But throughout his career, he has fomented racial animosity with his calling for the death penalty on wrongly accused Black and Latino men in the Central Park Five case, amplifying the birther crusade against President Obama, his reference to neo-Nazis in Charlottesville as “very fine people,” separating kids from their parents and placing those kids in cages at our southern border, and speaking down to African American journalists among other instances.

He has given a voice to extreme racist groups and individuals whereby they can display with pride their Confederate flags and symbols and at times, swastikas, without any condemnation from our President. White nationalists know President Trump has their backs.

During this sad chapter in our history, instead of rallying the country and attempt to heal it by promising vigorous police reform, he calls for “tougher” response by our state governors.

President Putin, with your puppet Donald Trump doing your bidding by keeping our nation divided and in the throes of chaos, I understand why you are celebrating. However, we expect Mr. Trump will be defeated by Joe Biden in November and with that, we hope the demise of Trumpism will also occur. Our country will slowly heal, come together through competence and a renewed determination, we will once again be the United States of America.

Then it will be our turn to toast with glasses of Stoli.

“Mr. President, please sit down with Robert Mueller”

An open letter to Donald Trump

Image: The Hill

Dear Mr. President,

Although I’m not one of your supporters, I have so much in common with you I feel there’s a kinship whereby I can offer you good advice.

For example, we both grew up in Queens.  We both have been unable to shed that horrific New York accent. We both lost money in casinos. Neither of us publicly revealed our tax returns. We both suck at golf though you have spent a quarter of your presidency on golf courses.

Yes, you avoided military service like the plague and I served, but we’re both civilians now, right? We both hold Jeff Sessions in low regard. We both have contributed to the Clintons.

We both believe Rick Perry is the smart one in your cabinet. We both feel tall next to Kim Jong-un. We’re both bald.  Neither of us was invited to two high profile funerals and a royal wedding.  You think Ivanka is pretty; I think Jared is pretty.

I can go on but I know you’re busy with all that executive time.

Here’s my advice. If Special Counsel Mueller invites you to sit down for an interview, please go. What do you have to hide? 

Ignore your attorneys’ advice to avoid it. I mean, come on…Rudy Giuliani? You gotta be kidding.

You said many times there’s no collusion, no obstruction. Go with it.  We all know you never lie. All those negative stories about you from so many people can’t be true, right? So, go and show how honest you are under oath.

Yes, Mr. Mueller is a very intelligent, well respected individual and a war hero. But does he have his name on buildings around the world? I think not. Has he accumulated as many ex-wives as you? No way.

You can outsmart him with one hand tied behind your back. You went to the best schools and know the best words. It would be a piece of cake for you.

You don’t want to show that you’re weak and that you have something to hide. Your enlightened base would turn on you. They want strength, not weakness. The last thing you want to see is #TrumpScaredOfMueller trending on Twitter.

Go ahead, Mr. President. Make America great again and agree to an interview with Mr. Mueller.

A Way Out for Trump

Image: Daily Kos

Let’s stipulate that Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into President Donald Trump and/or his campaign successfully confirms that they cooperated with Russian officials to influence the 2016 election. A complex labyrinth of contacts with the Russians, documents, witnesses, emails, plea bargaining by key Trump campaign operatives, and other evidence make it an air-tight case that could lead to indictments for criminal wrongdoing.

This is not limited to colluding and conspiring with the Russians.  Trump’s past business dealings and possible money laundering with shady players including Russian oligarchs and Mafia-connected characters could bring criminal charges.  #hocopolitics

The powerful Mueller team is slowly tightening the screws on Trump and his family as key witnesses, such as Gen. Michael Flynn and George Papadopoulos are ready to flip in the investigation if they haven’t already. It is not looking good for President Trump, Donald, Jr., Jared Kushner, and others close to the top.

As the day of reckoning approaches (and that can be over a year away given the complexity of the investigation), Trump must move out of his state of denial and face reality.  Of course, he can have the acting Attorney General fire Mueller and consequently end the investigation before the findings are revealed.  The backlash from the country’s citizens would be so fierce and potent that even a Republican-led Congress would move to impeach the President for obstruction of justice, which such a firing would certainly be.

Image: Salon.com

If the findings by Mueller are damning as I expect them to be, articles of impeachments will be filed and should the Democrats re-take the House in 2018 as is quite possible given today’s political environment, Congress will almost certainly proceed.

There is a way out for Trump, though unlikely, given his ego, propensity for lying, and pride, and that is a mea culpa prior to Mueller’s release of the investigation’s findings.  What Trump values most is not his presidency but his brand, his business, and his family.  Clearly all would take a hit should he come clean and admit wrongdoing, but he and/or family members and top associates could avoid prison time.  It’s a long shot, but here goes.

Trump addresses the nation from whichever White House he calls home (where the TV ratings would be huuuge—another incentive for him) and could say the following:

My Fellow Americans,

As you know I have been the subject of a long, tedious and expensive investigation. This is contrary to what I’ve been told all along that I was not under investigation.  I come before you to announce that my attorneys have been in negotiations with Special Counsel Robert Mueller for some time in an attempt to spare the country from this distraction, which prevents us from moving forward with our agenda to make America great again for which the people elected me to implement. Accordingly, we have made a deal.

Before I discuss that, I want to admit that members of my campaign staff and with my approval indeed cooperated with Russian representatives to obtain information on Hillary Clinton to damage her during the election.  This was accomplished by hacking into various emails to get compromising information. 

In addition, I was aware that Russia was using social media to spread damaging fake news about her in the hope that Democrats already bitter from the primaries would either stay home or vote for me.  Several states that voted for Barack Obama wound up voting for me and that gave me the Electoral College victory.  They included Florida, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan.

Here’s the thing:  I didn’t expect the Russian involvement to turn into such a big deal.  Early on, members of my campaign were approached by Russian officials to play mischief with Hillary.  No one expected me to win. 

I shouldn’t have won the Republican nomination against a field of experienced politicians but I did so.  There was no way I should have defeated Hillary with the big Democratic machine behind her with money and organization and everything else in her favor. 

So we accepted the Russian help as a lark, figuring, what the hell; I’m not going to win anyway and would have some fun trying.  Once we got involved with them, it grew out of control.  I eventually won and it surprised me.  I kept denying the collusion and I apologize for my misleading statements.

As a result of the agreement with Mr. Mueller and his team, I will step down as President of the United States effective tomorrow and plead guilty to an array of charges including obstruction of justice that I will not go into at this time.  Mr. Mueller agreed to drop any further legal action against me and my family.

I am sorry for any inconvenience and your loss of trust in me from this activity but it is best for the country that I take this action now. Please give Vice President Mike Pence your fullest support when he assumes the presidency.

God bless you and the United States of America.

This is not a likely scenario to say the least given Trump’s aversion to admitting anything but it does give him a way out.  Democrats would be ecstatic.  Republicans would be relieved. The world would rejoice.  And Trump can go back to the thing he loves more than anything—his never ending quest to make lots of money. 

Trump's War for Survival

Courtesy: NowTheEndBegins.com

Despite Donald Trump’s bellicose “fire and fury like the world has never seen” threat to North Korea, there probably won’t be a war.  I said, “probably” not “definitely.” 

Nothing would be gained from it, and both nations have been issuing threats to each other for over 15 years without direct military action. North Korean leaders over this time are just seeking relevance and respect on the world stage—that they are a force that no longer can be ignored.  They are not looking to be annihilated.

Of course, there is no guarantee that there will be no hostilities given the half-crazed leaders of the two nations.  Kim Jong-un already won the first round of the latest exchanges by baiting Trump to react.  His threats are likely to intensify knowing he has Trump in the palm of his small hands and will toy with him like a cat does with a mouse.     

Kim is aware that military actions may be on the table during high level security meetings in Trumpdom but reality has a way of interfering with such matters.  Kim is holding millions in South Korea, Japan, Guam and U.S. troops stationed in those areas hostages, not to mention portions of the U.S. homeland that could be targets of an attack.  With that grim prospect, I believe we will not be launching a strike on North Korea unless there is a direct attack initiated by Pyongyang.

Nonetheless, Trump needs a war to survive.  With approval ratings sinking and no ostensible hope they will improve in the near future, his oversized ego is taking a big hit. Sure, he will discredit the polls as “fake news” and that polling was off prior to the 2016 election (he’s right about that one), but deep-down Trump knows better.

His refusal to reach out beyond his base is a disgusting display of cynicism and clearly does not have the good of the country on the front burner.  Trump has a bunker mentality whereby he surrounds himself with similar-minded novices, charlatans, unqualified family members, generals he admires, and holds rallies re-litigating the 2016 campaign for those who stubbornly cling to him regardless of his performance.  Never mind that he has failed to deliver on most of his signature promises.

Donald Trump and Robert Mueller facing off  Courtesy: Salon.com

That’s a formula for 33 percent not being the floor but the ceiling.  He’s losing independents at a torrid pace and conservative Republicans are beginning to seep out of his domain.  To be sure, Trump stands no chance with Democrats though he had been one for most of his gilded life.

Then there is the Russia thing.  

With Robert Mueller casting a wide net around Trump, his finances, his family’s business dealings, his campaign staff’s ill-advised and probable illegal meetings with Russian officials, Trump must be feeling squeezed.  And most recently, the FBI’s raid on former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort’s residence should sound alarms.

He has been warned against firing the special counsel to prevent the investigation from proceeding further though he calls it a “hoax” and a “witch hunt.” Only his base, which includes his propaganda arm, FOX News and Breitbart, believe that spin.

I am sure Trump and his advisers are aware that the GOP has a good chance of turning over the House of Representatives to Democrats in 2018.  If that holds true, the “I” word would surface like a dead fish in the ocean especially if Mueller’s report ever sees the light of day.

But will it?  #hocopolitics

If the matter with North Korea escalates, it could have a profound effect on the investigation.  To be clear, I am not suggesting Trump would deliberately start a war with potentially tens of millions of casualties to protect himself and his interests.  That would be over the top; however, there are many folks on social media who cynically believe he is capable of such a hideous act.

But should there be a war of some magnitude, I suspect Trump would try to find a way to end the investigation.  He would go in front of the American people—not just his base—to simply state the country is at war and the ongoing investigation is a needless and harmful distraction for the Commander-in Chief.  It’s a matter of national security.

Getting the public to support a war if there is no direct military attack on the homeland or our allies can be dicey.  Generally, public opinion shifts to the president in times of war but as we have seen in the past 50 years, war divides the country.

As tragic as war would be, "fire and fury" could save the Trump presidency in the short term.