During the movie and book “The Right Stuff” about astronauts and test pilots, when a pilot made a fatal error, it was often said “he screwed the pooch.” Unfortunately, the key word in the sentence is fatal. Although he won’t die from this, our President has just screwed the pooch with respect to his presidency. It will take several to many months for this to play out, but his presidency is toast. He will be impeached or resign.
Why do I say such a thing? Actually, I am borrowing from E.J.Dionne’s column noting the President has painted himself into a corner. After his furious internal response to Jeff Sessions’ recusing himself from a Russian involvement investigation and after his childish attempts to show Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer meeting with Putin years ago on the record, he took it upon himself to send a series of tweets accusing the former President of something he could not and would not do.
Trump ham-handedly said Obama had his office wiretapped before the election, without citing proof. Not only has Obama denied this, but so has James Clapper, the former Director of National Intelligence and James Comey, the Director of the FBI. Comey was said to be indignant over Trump’s claiming his people broke the law. These two would know if wiretapping went on and they denied it. Now, why would both of them deny something that could be easily proven in an investigation?
But, here is the corner Trump is now in. Senator Lindsey Graham will investigate this. If there, in fact, was a wiretap, a judge would have ordered it and would have had probable cause. That is not good for Mr. President. If it was not, then the President just showed horrible judgment and has accused the former President of something he did not do, plus he alienated further his intelligence community.
Yet, now Graham can open the can worms as he said he would and also investigate the Russian links. I hope that would include a subpoena of his tax records, because per conservative columnist David Brooks, Trump is likely beholden to someone for loans after his bankruptcies dried up normal channels of funding. And, unlike most other Republicans in Congress, Graham remembers he pledged an oath to uphold the constitution of the United States, not the Republican Party.
I have seen a lot of things in my time, but what I witness about the Russian involvement story, is this White House and people who supported Trump’s candidacy are doing a lot of lying, denial, apology for denial, and media bashing. I have felt for many months the American people deserve to get to the bottom of this dating back to late July when I first heard about Russian hacking. We are owed an explanation.
As a related aside, my wife and I watched Carter Page, one of Trump’s folks interviewed by PBS Newshour two weeks ago. He denied meeting with the Russians and was quite adamant about it. We looked at each other and said “he is lying.” Guess what? He admitted to lying last week. So, did Flynn and Sessions, no matter how much perfume he places on his explanation.
Trump has screwed the pooch because he cannot stay out of his own way. What is ironic is his fascination with pseudo news sites Fox News and Breitbart will be his undoing, as they are the source of his likely erroneous claim. I would be hard pressed to see Comey and Clapper lying over such an issue. I am not hard pressed to envision Trump lying about anything.
musingsofanoldfart 
Reblogged this on saywhatumean2say and commented:
I can’t say I believe the prediction but I will say that my personal opinions could not be expressed more precisely. Thank you Keith. ~~dru~~
Many thanks for the reblog. I fully understand the reluctance. We need a Congress with more chutzpah.
I Received this reblog from Dru and have to say you’ve got that aspect of “the problem” firmly handled. The next difficulty lies, not at 1600 Pennsylvania but at the Capitol Building, where the true scoundrels keep plotting to reduce our country to an unhealthy hell.
Thanks Anne. Apparently, the health of our bodies and the environment matter less than they should. My greatest fear for this President working with this Congress is the assault on our environment and backtracking on climate change. Fortunately, we see passed the tipping point on renewable energy and even these folks cannot stop it. Thanks for commenting, Keith
I think the GOP planned to impeach him from the start. They just needed to make sure they had the Presidency. They just needed the slot. He was a placeholder they banked on. And it paid off.
They will roust him – and they will know that rousting him early will help them most. They need the stain of it gone before 2020. So I figure we will be seeing the impeachment begin by June/July.
And while I am against nearly everything Pence stands for, I will be relieved to see the crazy man gone.
I am not sure if they were that prescient, but they should have been. Pence is no day at the beach, but he is far more sane than his boss. He is one of the five members of the Trump team apologizing for him to our allies and openly disagreeing with him.
The vast majority of Indiana residents were so glad to see him gone. We should find a way to get past Pence and Ryan.
Anne, my first exposure to him was the Religious Freedom bill he had to backtrack from. He is not an ideal choice, but he would bring needed sanity and hopefully fire Bannon, who has no place near leadership. Keith
The part that I can not stand about all of this is the money it will cost ll of us in the end. The time, money & effort that needs to go into this BS just to prove he is lying is ridiculous. I hope your prediction is true, because this is really getting frightening.
Lisa, he has taken a shorter time to get to this point than even I emvisioned. I was all for giving him a chance, then he started appointing Bannon, Flynn, Pruitt, Sessions then mixing equal doses of chaos, incompetence and lying into his ill-fated Presidency. It is shame we have to waste time and effort pursuing this man’s fantasies. Keith
Very nicely outlined. I can’t imagine that he will survive this one, but I’ve thought that before. If he is still in office at the end of the year, I’ll be very surprised. I’m not all that happy about Pence, though. He’s not crazy (except that bit about reprogramming gays), but he is fully behind the far-right agenda. What a mess.
Janis, if he still President after the end of this year, every Repiblican in Congress should resign. This man has made the world less safe and cannot be trusted with any major decision given his bent to not vet issues and be guided by BS pseudo news. Keith
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Thanks for the reblog.
After all the discoveries for his lying, I cannot get it that he keeps it up. He disqualifies himself over and over again for the position he owns. I am not a lot into politics but a president should be a role model and father for his nation. T simply is dangerously incompetent to fulfill that purpose! Sorry, I always try to zip it when it comes to politics but what happens here is unbelievable!!
Erika, you don’t have to follow politics to see the man for what he is. In less than two months, the world is a less safe place and he has changed the image of America. We are less reliable as an ally because of his posturing, but also because of his ego, thin skin and lack of good judgment. Keith
Yes, exactly! The image of the US is damaged most of all because of the reliability as you said. It is horrible what one single person can destroy in such a short time! I often think poor Obama must have a permanent fist in his pocket by watching what T does and how he talks about him.
Agreed. Erika, I felt Trump would be disaster, referring to him as apocalyptically bad President months before he won, but even my expectations have been shattered at how sudden he hsd accomplished our demise in global standing. Keith
I hoped it was one of those campaigns… and later they get reasonable or serious… but no… the shocking truth is that he is that way!!
His biographers warned us that the man you are seeing on the campaign is the real Trump.
I hoped they were wrong! But as I already mentioned somewhere I wonder if he makes it through the four years…
Erika, at first I felt he would not last four years. Depending on how quickly this moves forward, he may not last the year. Keith
Wow, that’s an even better thought!!
Its only been 6 weeks but the process can’t happen fast enough. Though if Pence comes out of it clean we might not have to hear crazy but we will still lose the EPA, ACA, Unions, Free school lunch and all the rest of the programs and offices that were for the American people.
Kim, the advantage of Pence is his sanity. The negative policy making of the current GOP, along with Pence, will be in full force. I will at least feel safer with Pence. This party could have had Kasich, but they picked the worst person they possibly could pick in The Donald. Keith
Dear Keith,
I want DT gone but if it is ever uncovered that DT and his team colluded with Russian operatives to influence this election, then all bets are off. I do not want any part of anyone who enabled/ helped DT to get elected and this includes the Vice President.
Ciao, Gronda
Gronda, we will get him by default and have to make do. Keith
Dear Keith,
He would be acceptable but it is my opinion, that the VP should not benefit if it is discovered that there was fraud committed on the American peoples.
Time will tell.
Ciao, Gronda
Time will indeed tell.
Note to Readers: As an update, several GOP leaders have not seen any support for Trump’s claim, with some asking to see what the President is basing his claim on. It should be noted his PR folks are having a hard time answering questions from reporters. Finally, I have seen more very credible leaders of various intelligence functions call Trump on the carpet for this and is other chaotic comments. One said it is akin to us being chaotic in pre game drills and we haven’t been tested yet by a foreign power.
I cannot help but think, and ask the question … what if? What if, President Obama had done even 10% of the outrageous shenanigans that Trump has done? We all know the answer … impeachment proceedings would already be in process. And thanks, Keith … I had not heard the expression ‘screw the pooch’ in decades. Made me chuckle! 🙂
Jill, David Brooks noted that President Obama had a scandal free presidency and raided his family with decorum and responsibility under scrutiny. What is interesting while this is going on, Trump’s budget is harmful to people in poverty. The ACA replacement plan endorsed by Trump is harmful to people in poverty and older Americans. All, to spend more on defense and do nothing about the debt. History shows us this leaders who lasted longer looked after their people. I think two guys named Gandhi and Jesus said something along those lines. Keith
Good points! And yet, Trump is being placed on a pedestal that Obama never even saw. I keep trying to understand, but simply cannot. Hopefully he will be gone before long … my sanity requires that I believe that!
Jill, while he deserved a chance, the man has been far worse than I could imagine and so quickly. He may want to be on a pedestal, but where he needs to be is on the witness stand. Keith
Yes, he got his chance, he blew it … now can we PLEASE get him out before he destroys everything that was once good about this nation? Like you, I believe he belongs on the witness stand … or perhaps behind some lovely iron bars.
With as many people he has exploited in his business and short political career, that would be deserved.
Note to Readers: Here is a link to E.J. Dionne’s article that I reference above:
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/opinion/opinion-the-trump-experiment-may-come-to-an-early-tipping-point/ar-AAnPXZo