About that insurrection thing

Per ABC News on January 5, 2024:

“In the three years since the Jan. 6, 2021,assault on the U.S. Capitol, federal prosecutors have charged more than 1,265 defendants across nearly all 50 states and D.C. and secured sentences of incarceration for more than 460 people, according to newly released numbers from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in D.C.”

Further, 718 people have pled guilty, some of which are likely included in the 460 incarcerated folks.

But, of course, MAGA fans say the former president did nothing wrong. These fans still believe what his Attorney General William Barr called “bulls**t” to his face regarding the former president’s claims of election fraud.

Three things are certain:

-the former president has had ample opportunity to prove his claims of election fraud, but has failed miserably losing EVERY recount, audit and review and all but one of about 65 court cases.

-Fox News has settled two of their five court cases on defamation where internal emails show that many at the network knew the former president could not prove his claims, but aired them as fact, gaslighting their public. So far, Fox is out approximately $1.1 billion in restitution to those they defamed (and counting).

-Two months before the 2020 election, I read an article saying the former president had already hired over 1,000 attorneys to contest the election and also put someone in charge of the USPS to hobble the mail-in process knowing most of those ballots would be against him.

These three stories are all true. The following is speculation. The insurrection would not have happened if an accountable and responsible person was in the White House. The former president caused the circumstances, invited would be insurrectionists to DC, wound them up, then sicced them on the Capitol building telling them to “hang Mike Pence.” Per Cassidy Hutchinson’s book “Enough,” he also had metal detectors removed when he spoke to the crowd beforehand, so they stormed off to the Capitol possibly armed.

Former Republican Vice President Dick Cheney called the former president a “coward” for lying to people about the election fraud. Cheney says the former president knows he lost the election and lost big. I agree. In my view, he is also a traitor. Call me crazy, but we should not elect someone who betrayed our country. As his niece Mary Trump said “My uncle will burn it all down to avoid losing the election.” We should avoid giving him more matches.

Response to some ardent Trump supporters

Thanks for your response. I was a long time Republican, but have been independent since 2008. I am financially conservative, but tend to be more liberal on social issues. I think many folks cannot be pigeonholed as being in lock step with either party. Both sides have some good ideas, but both also have some god-awful ones, too.

To be frank, I would love to see a new slate of candidates on both sides. But, the differences between the two frontrunners is night and day. My former party has become Trump’s party which saddens me. As conservative Michael Gerson said, the Republican party is adrift untethered to the truth. Liz Cheney is the bravest person by far in the party and she was run out of dodge for telling the truth. Even Fox News, with two defamation losses totaling $1.1 billion had to defend Fox emails in court documents saying they purposefully gaslit their public lying for Trump. For the record, I don’t watch MSNBC either.

I see commercials saying border security is a problem, but it has been a problem for years and neither party has done a whole lot to remedy it. Just last month, per the Wall Street Journal, Trump got Republicans in Congress to vote against what was largely their own bill on border security. He did not want Biden to get credit. So, getting credit trumped doing something about it.

Biden is not perfect, but the Republicans have tried to paint him as corrupt to take the heat off Trump. Trump has 91 charges including the words sedition and election meddling that we must get to the bottom of. He also has been adjudicated as a financial fraud in three cases in the last five years and has lost two of his own defamation cases. Yet, it is everyone else’s fault, not the guy who is to blame. He took $1.6 million from donated money to his Foundation and was forced to pay it back. No one made him do it. His defamation cases are due to him not being able to shut up, especially the last one.

We had an insurrection where over 700 people have been charged and several hundred have been convicted that would not have happened if anyone else was president. People still believe his lies the election was stolen but he lost all but one of 65 or so court cases to say there was fraud and every recount, review and audit of vote counts many conducted by Republicans. He had his chance to prove his claims and lost badly. As his AG William Barr said to Trump in an open setting in December, 2020, Trump’s election fraud claims were BS, using the actual word.

I do agree we need to get to the bottom of Hunter Biden’s travails, but I am more interested in why the Saudis paid off the $1.2 billion balloon loan payment Jared Kushner was shopping while in the White House. What did we cede to get that for Jared? I am also more interested in the steering of government business or foreign guests to Trump facilities.

I disagree with Biden on some policies, but he has done a commendable job after Trump, who was voted by 152 historians as the worst president in US history. The same folks ranked Biden 14th best. I am sure Trump fans will dismiss this finding, but I personally don’t disagree with Trump being worst. I probably would have dropped Biden a few positions, but I am just reporting their findings.

We need a good conservative voice in this country, but my former party is not it. I would have loved to see Nikki Haley win the nomination as she could have started this return to truth. I am confident some won’t like my response, but I will conclude by saying what I tell staff of elected Republican officials. I will NOT vote for anyone who supports Donald Trump for president. Full stop.

Masters of War – Bob Dylan speaks to the war mongers

In responding to a recent post by our friend Jill about Pete Seeger’s anti-war song “Where have all the flowers gone,” I made reference to Dwight Eisenhower’s caution to beware of the “military industrial complex.” Bob Dylan wrote a song that also applies called “Masters of War.” These comments were to address that we will never learn how to stop war as beseeched in the Seeger song.

Per Bob Dylan:

“Come you masters of war
You that build the big guns
You that build the death planes
You that build all the bombs
You that hide behind walls
You that hide behind desks
I just want you to know
I can see through your masks

You that never done nothin’
But build to destroy
You play with my world
Like it’s your little toy
You put a gun in my hand
And you hide from my eyes
And you turn and run farther
When the fast bullets fly

Like Judas of old
You lie and deceive
A world war can be won
You want me to believe
But I see through your eyes
And I see through your brain
Like I see through the water
That runs down my drain

You fasten all the triggers
For the others to fire
Then you sit back and watch
When the death count gets higher
You hide in your mansion
While the young people’s blood
Flows out of their bodies
And is buried in the mud

You’ve thrown the worst fear
That can ever be hurled
Fear to bring children
Into the world
For threatening my baby
Unborn and unnamed
You ain’t worth the blood
That runs in your veins

How much do I know
To talk out of turn
You might say that I’m young
You might say I’m unlearned
But there’s one thing I know
Though I’m younger than you
That even Jesus would never
Forgive what you do

Let me ask you one question
Is your money that good?
Will it buy you forgiveness
Do you think that it could?
I think you will find
When your death takes its toll
All the money you made
Will never buy back your soul

And I hope that you die
And your death will come soon
I’ll follow your casket
By the pale afternoon
And I’ll watch while you’re lowered
Down to your deathbed
And I’ll stand over your grave
‘Til I’m sure that you’re dead”

It is a very different Dylan song as he directs his attention at the people who make money off war. His final stanza speaks volumes about his disdain for those making money off killing people.

Dr. Fiona Hill cautions all on civil unrest fomented by the outgoing president (still true after three years)

I wrote the following less than a week after the insurrection against the Capitol. It still holds true three years later.

Dr. Fiona Hill is one of the most credible public servants who risked a great deal by testifying of her concerns regarding the coercion of Ukraine to benefit the president.* In an article called “Former Trump official Fiona Hill: ‘President’s actions have put us on the brink of civil war’” by Justine Coleman of The Hill, she cautions of more civil unrest. Here are a few paragraphs along with a link below.

“Former Trump National Security Council member Fiona Hill on Monday said that President Trump’s ‘actions have put us on the brink of civil war’ after pro-Trump rioters stormed the Capitol last week.

Hill, who served as the senior director for European and Russian affairs on the National Security Council, called the Capitol raid a “coup” in a Politico op-ed, saying that a coup does not need to be a ‘sudden, violent seizure of power involving clandestine plots and military takeovers.‘

‘Trump disguised what he was doing by operating in plain sight, talking openly about his intent,’ she said. ‘He normalized his actions so people would accept them. I’ve been studying authoritarian regimes for three decades, and I know the signs of a coup when I see them.’

The former Trump official said Trump’s efforts to stay in power during his presidency amounted to a ‘self-coup’ that was ultimately unsuccessful. But she noted ‘the bad news is that his supporters still believe the false narrative’ that the president won reelection after he and other Republicans have promoted unfounded claims that widespread voter fraud led to his loss.

Trump has not repudiated it, nor have the House and Senate Republicans who voted against the Electoral College results, she wrote. ‘Millions of people still think the election was stolen. They still support Trump the person, not the Republican Party, and many are prepared to take further action on his behalf.‘

‘As in the case of other coup attempts, the president’s actions have put us on the brink of civil war,’ Hill continued. ‘Trump did not overturn the election results, but, just as he intended, he disrupted the peaceful democratic transition of executive power.’

Her voice is one of experience and reason. She needs to be listened to by all, but especially Republicans in position of leadership.

Former Trump official Fiona Hill: ‘President’s actions have put us on the brink of civil war’ (msn.com)

*Per Wikpedia, Fiona Hill is a British-American foreign affairs specialist and academic. She is a former official at the U.S. National Security Council specializing in Russian and European affairs. She was a witness in the November 2019 House hearings regarding the impeachment of President Trump. A PhD in history from Harvard University, she is currently a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington.

Inexcusable betrayal as Liz Cheney (and Wall Street Journal) bury the GOP for following Trump’s derelict orders

In an article in Raw Story by Brad Reed called “‘Inexcusable betrayal’: Liz Cheney buries her party for following ‘Trump’s orders,'” the following three paragraphs tell a powerful story:

“Former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) this week brought the hammer down on her party for blowing up a bipartisan compromise on immigration that would have also provided aide to help Ukraine defend itself from Russian military aggression.

Writing on Twitter, Cheney accused the GOP of sabotaging America’s national security interests simply to help former President Donald Trump politically.

‘On Trump’s orders, Republicans in Congress are rejecting the border security deal,’ she wrote. ‘They’re also abandoning America’s allies in Ukraine. Trump and the GOP are losing the war on purpose in an inexcusable betrayal that will strengthen America’s enemies for years to come.'”

In a related piece in the Wall Street Journal, the editorial board adds that Republicans are blowing up their own bill. The piece is entitled “WSJ Editorial Board Comes Out Hard in Favor of Border Bill: ‘Will Republicans Now Abandon What They Claimed to Want?’” and includes the following three paragraphs will tell he damning story:

“The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board published an op-ed on Tuesday not just urging Republicans to vote for the bill but giving them all the reasons why they should. In short, the bill — aside from a few bipartisan compromises — contains nearly everything they have been asking for. WSJ wrote: ‘Will Republicans now abandon what they claimed to want?’

But the piece also provides a reality check for the Republicans who are openly sabotaging the bill because former President Donald Trump doesn’t want President Joe Biden to campaign on a bipartisan victory on one of the biggest issues concerning American voters:

Do Republicans want to better secure the U.S. border, or do they want to keep what has become an open sore festering for another year as an election issue? That’s the choice presented to Congress this week with the rollout of the Senate’s bipartisan border security bill, and we’ll soon learn what the GOP really wants.”

I have called several Republican Senators, of course, with no expectations of resolution or political courage. A key message is Donald Trump is not president of the United States. He is a thrice adjudicated financial fraud in just the last five years, he has been twice adjudicated for defamation and once for sexual misconduct and is facing 91 legitimate charges in four indictments which include the words sedition, election meddling and classified documents mishandling. Note to Republican leaders – is this the person you want to destroy your party for and hurt the country? An illicit acting person who was voted the 4th worst president in US history by 142 presidential historians.

In closing, I ask US readers to join me in telling people, especially Republican elected officials, that we will not vote for anyone who supports Donald Trump for president. Full stop. Republican leaders fear this push back – they should.

Prosecutor Jack Smith speaks out

In an article in Politico by Josh Gerstein and Kyle Cheney called “Special counsel mounts forceful — and unusual — defense of Trump classified documents case,” a key pushback is noted. Here are a few paragraphs:

“Special counsel Jack Smith used a routine legal filing Friday to offer a forceful public rebuttal against Donald Trump’s claims that his criminal prosecution for allegedly hoarding classified documents has been infected by politics and legal impropriety…

‘It is necessary to set the record straight on the underlying facts that led to this prosecution,’ the prosecutors argued. ‘The government will clear the air on those issues … because the defendants’ misstatements, if unanswered, leave a highly misleading impression.’

What followed was a lengthy recitation of the events that led prosecutors to suspect Trump had been squirreling reams of classified records at his Mar-a-Lago estate. Rather than the bloodthirsty partisan endeavor Trump describes, prosecutors say federal officials from the National Archives, intelligence community and White House counsel’s office took ‘measures’ and ‘incremental’ steps to retrieve the documents — often in coordination with some of Trump’s own designated advisers — before escalating the matter as the former president continued to resist.”

Trump sycophants have tried to blow this case off as trivial, but it is representative of the “island nation” known as Trump. It is not uncommon for retired politicians to wind up with classified documents. But, they tend to work with the FBI to return them. In Trump’s case, the volume of documents is significant, he has gone out of his way to hide them from the FBI not cooperating, and he has shared confidential information with others.

What is an interesting parallel, Trump was notorious for not following document saving protocol while in the White House. A humorous and telling story is the wife of Trump’s last chief of staff, Mark Meadows, admitted to having to routinely dry clean her husband’s suits as they smelled of smoke from burning documents in the fireplace at work.

To be frank, Trump has only one allegiance and it is not to the country he swore an oath to protect. His allegiance is to all things Trump, his own Island Nation.

What an adult would say

I tend to read what the former president says because watching him speak the way he does is disconcerting. Seeing a wannabe leader name call, label, lie, bully, et al is not a recipe for the attributes of who I want in charge.

Unfortunately, too many believe what he says as gospel when the opposite would be more accurate. And worse, his more strident followers act on his threats and finger pointing at critics using tactics an adolescent bully might use.

What would an adult say when he sees these actions? He or she might say people, it is OK to disagree with someone, but don’t be disagreeable. It is not OK to threaten or conduct violence, swat people, or bully people. Full stop.

I am reminded of Senator John McCain stopping a woman at political rally in 2008 as she spoke very negatively of his opponent Barack Obama. McCain said something like ma’am, I know Barack Obama. He is a fine man, a good father and a capable public servant. I use McCain’s push back as it is an exemplar. Here is a man who fought for his country and was a POW speaking out for what he fought far.

When alive, McCain was the antithesis of the most recent former president. The latter has consistently ridiculed McCain for being captured, for voting his conscience, and disagreeing with him. McCain also wrote an op -Ed piece calling Trump’s actions in Helsinki when he sided with Putin over his own intelligence people as “traitorous.”

McCain was not perfect, but he was a fine man and good public servant. He was friends and worked with Democrats, Independents and Republicans, in particular Lindsey Graham, Joe Biden and Joe Lieberman. Kudos were also given to McCain for helping establish commerce with Vietnam years after the war. Mind you, McCain was captured by the Vietnamese. That speaks volumes.

These are the actions of an adult. These are actions that we need to emulate. We need more of adults in leadership acting in this manner. We need fewer acting like the Queen of Hearts in the animated “Alice and Wonderland” as the former president is prone to do.

Just a few insurrection facts

Per the US Attorney’s Office regarding the January 6, 2021 insurrection:

“Approximately 718 individuals have pleaded guilty to a variety of federal charges, many of whom faced or will face incarceration at sentencing.

Approximately 213 have pleaded guilty to felonies. Another 505 have pleaded guilty to misdemeanors.

A total of 89 of those who have pleaded guilty to felonies have pleaded to federal charges of assaulting law enforcement officers. Approximately 41 additional defendants have pleaded guilty to feloniously obstructing, impeding, or interfering with a law enforcement officer during a civil disorder. Of these 130 defendants, 116 have now been sentenced to prison terms of up to 151 months.
Four of those who have pleaded guilty to felonies have pleaded guilty to the federal charge of seditious conspiracy.”

Of course, Donald J. Trump says HE did nothing wrong and if elected HE will pardon all of these adjudicated people. Call me crazy, but that seems to be an affront to all the judges and attorneys who spent time and energy on this. I guess those Capitol police did not die either and Trump did not say that Mike Pence should be hung for not cheating for Trump.

This is the paragon of virtue his followers want elected. Some even say God himself sent this person to save us. Really? Talk about an affront to religious people and a discredit to their religion.

And, for all this advocacy for the alleged seditionist, we should take note that 142 presidential historians voted Donald J. Trump the 4th WORST president in US history. Note that seems to run counter to his own chest beating on his greatness.

Opportunity missed to protect America

Oh, Senator Mitch McConnell. You had a chance to be the leader we needed. You could have saved America from a vindictive, childish autocrat and saved your own party in the process.

Instead, the Senate Minority leader in a 51-50 Senate counting Vice President Kamala Harris’ tie-breaker vote, chose not to push for the Senate conviction of the second impeachment of former president Donald Trump. His rationale was politically calibrated as every decision he makes is. He did not want to offend the offensive acting MAGA base.

Seven Republican Senators said to convict Trump making the vote 57 to 43 to convict. But, they needed ten more Republicans to make it a 2/3 vote. McConnell said he would not convict as Trump was no longer president. Yet, a vote to convict him of impeachment could have precluded him from serving in a public office again.

He could have pushed others to vote to rid the country of this seditious person and tell Republicans we had no choice. For opening Pandora’s Box, Trump has thanked him by denigrating McConnell and his Asian-American wife whenever possible. As a Trump attorney once wrote, if you are on Trump’s good side, don’t get used to it as you won’t be there for long.

Now too many Republicans believe the January 6 insurrection was contrived to discredit Trump. Too many Republicans choose to instead believe someone well documented as untruthful, who has been adjudicated as a financial fraud three times in five years and who is facing 91 charges under four indictments some of which include the word sedition.

McConnell missed a huge opportunity. Other Republican Senators misplaced their spines and missed the same opportunity. Now, we have to deal with this mess that these 43 spineless Senators chose to avoid. Note to Republicans, the key person to blame for the insurrection which put all of you in danger looks backs from the mirror when Trump shaves.

It is not too late to find your courage, although you made it harder for yourself. Do something good for your country. Your own party would benefit as well.

Three prominent conservative attorneys say second Trump term would be a constitutional crisis

“Prominent conservative lawyers band together to fight Trump threat” is an article in The Guardian by Martin Pengelly that speaks volumes. The subtitle adds some specificity – “George Conway, J Michael Luttig and Barbara Comstock create new legal group to ‘speak out against the endless stream of falsehoods.’”

Here are some select paragraphs which tell the story:

“Three prominent US legal thinkers have announced a new organisation to champion conservative legal theory within the rule of law, to fight the threat of a second Donald Trump term.

‘Our country comes first,’ the three wrote in the New York Times, ‘and our country’s is in a constitutional emergency, if not a constitutional crisis. We all must act accordingly, especially us lawyers.’…

The authors also rebuked prominent rightwing groups including the Federalist Society for not resisting the former president and his authoritarian ambitions.

Their new group, the Society for the Rule of Law Institute, would ‘work to inspire young legal talent … focus on building a large body of scholarship to counteract the new orthodoxy of anti-constitutional and anti-democratic law … [and] marshal principled voices to speak out against the endless stream of falsehoods and authoritarian legal theories … propagated almost daily.’”

Luttig and Conway have been consistent conservative critics of the relentless onslaught by the former president on the truth, civility and rule of law. As more conservatives find their courage and condemn the actions of the former president, a legitimate question is what took you so long?

This a key reason these three and people like former Reps. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, Senators Mitt Romney and Lisa Murkowski, and Trump staff member Cassidy Hutchinson deserve so many accolades. These Republicans spoke out early on against the illicit acting former president.

What also frustrates me is when elected Republican officials endorse the former president who has 91 legitimate charges staring him in the face, including sedition. Not to mention, the loss or settlement of three fraud cases and one defamation case in the last four years. So, the question to ask these politicians is how can you declare support for him right now?

As an independent and former Republican, the party is adrift untethered to the truth. It is a cult based on a Kool-aid drink made by Trump. To restore a modicum of credibility, the party must move in a different direction. Trump has proven on the last two major elections to be an anchor. He has only gotten heavier since that time.