TRUMP IMPEACHED!

The 45th president of the United States has been impeached! Maybe it’s shock, but DJT hasn’t yet come to grips with being impeached in the two weeks since the vote. Let’s admit that he just can’t. He lives in an alternative Trump-verse of his own making. It’s not just part of his Pied Piper mantra. He’s mentally incapable of admitting an error, of remorse, or empathy. He sees everything through a personal lens tinted with his own victimhood.

 “It doesn’t feel like we’re being impeached” the MAWAPresident crooned at a recent rally. Whoa. There is no we here, it’s he. As much as he’s conjuring up a group experience by imploring his Trumpophants to believe that impeachment is a repudiation of not just their votes but their very being, impeachment is actually a counterattack on 45’s insistence that he is immune from punishment for breaking his oath of office. Congress picked out only two of his most dangerous transgressions, but he’s left a pattern of behavior that began soon after his electoral college win in the 2016 election.  

There’s no “are being” impeached; it’s has been. It’s a fait accompli, done and dusted, over. Given his grasp of history and government processes, the RealityTVPresident may not understand that. Foggy as he is about Senate trials to remove a president from office based on articles of impeachment, he probably does believe that he can somehow undo the passage of the 2 impeachment articles. Remember he lives in an alternate universe where he is omnipotent unbounded by any rules or the law. He may believe that he can decree by executive order that impeachment by the House doesn’t count, much as he holds out pardons to underlings who have broken the law for him. Nope, no matter what happens in the Senate, impeached will always be associated with the name President Donald Trump until the end of humanity!

Of course he believes that the sham trial he’s cooking up with Mussolini Mitch will “completely exonerate” him because honestly, as an amoral man, he doesn’t think he’s done anything wrong. In his mind there is no wrong, only the best path to WHAT HE WANTS. That’s his North Star. Legal or illegal, moral or immoral, ethical or unethical, it’s all the same from his strangely transactional perspective meant to maximize the RealityTVPresident’s take away. This is how he’s lived his entire life; now he’s transformed what was a nation into a personification of himself, just as his Trump brand is the embodiment of his persona.  

From the alternative universe of Trumpland, Trump thinks a sham Senate trial can somehow undo Congressional impeachment by “complete exoneration”. Or perhaps he’ll pardon himself out of it. Or maybe, he’ll just rewrite history.

So when the Senate fails to remove him from office as foretold by McConnell and Lindsey Graham, the MAWAPresident will ascend any podium, be it a rally or in front of Marine 1, or sit in a chair in front of the press in the White House with some visiting dignitary, to shout as if from a mountaintop that he has been completely exonerated. He doesn’t understand that removal from office is a second, separate part of the constitutional procedure, again by ignorance and disbelief and that stubbornness to say it isn’t so. 

In this case, he doesn’t have his Roy Cohn, Bill Barr, to deny the findings of obstruction as he did with the Mueller Report and declare complete exoneration. And there’s only so much McConnell can do; he can wrangle his troops to produce no new evidence and ignore the old evidence completely for the speedy result desired by the party. Even in the La-La-Land of Trump World, a fake trial may not add up to complete exoneration for some dwellers. But even McConnell and Graham can’t wash Trump’s hands clean. The Senate will bolster his abuses of power by voting to retain the BullyPresident in office, but they can’t erase his impeachment or alter his continuing odious conduct. 

Perhaps the saddest and ultimately the most frightening part of this process has been witnessing the rabid ravings of these GOP defenders who refuse to see the truth of the nation’s betrayal by their false god. If they are willing to act like this, what else are they capable of? They have supported a lot of bad behavior, like the separation of children from their families; the caging of women and children; the dumping of thousands of asylum seekers in unsafe areas in Mexico; imprisoning thousands of others in detention centers; the approbation of the slaughter of Syrian and Turkish Kurds; the ban on immigration of Muslims and people of color. These are only the most cruel actions they have espoused and approved. The threat to our national security from the KGB and the propagation of this enemy’s propaganda across our media by the government itself are probably the most sinister and dangerous actions in which they continue to participate.   

More than that, Republicans need to get on with campaigning to defend their dereliction of duty to both the Constitution and all the people in their districts they’re supposed to represent, whether they voted for them or not. And at least a few of them need to run for reelection. Over 60% of GOP Senators and 40% of Congressmen are in safe districts where a victory in the primary is a victory in the general election. That’s better than the Dixiecrats ever achieved in their heyday. But they also have to spread out to propagandize for their lord and master and of course, keep the judge approval gravy train going after its disruption by their show trial.     

45 will shout exoneration over and over again, marshalling his Trumpophant squad to try to erase history. Importantly, if he establishes a longer lasting MAWA reign of two terms or more, he will likely have some success in rescripting history, much like the Confederates reconstructed the history of the Civil War and American History since. We can only vote to ensure that the truth will out and the course of events that actually occur in the real world, not the virtual world of conspiracies and Russian propaganda, will be very different.

On December 29, 1956, a pregnant Black woman, Rosa Jordan, was shot in both legs by white people angry about integration while riding a desegregated bus in Montgomery Alabama. From the Equal Justice Initiative 2019 calendar.

It was a sad day for the United States and the future of our nation. The GOP had succeeded in comfortably ensconcing Russian propaganda in the Congressional Record. Who could have imagined that the Cold War, declared finished so long ago, would find its way here, with the premiere defender of democracy partnered with the Russian dictatorship to take down the US government. And yet here we are.

In his opening statement, the Republican counsel, Steve Castor, detailed the two fairy tales that buttress Putin’s propaganda talking points: Biden-Burisma collusion to favor Hillary Clinton’s campaign and Ukrainian interference in the 2016 elections. It would be sacrilegious to repeat them here and further spread these falsehoods, so I will not. But the damage is done. He provided a virtual feeding trough for Trump/FoxNews and conservative media platforms to recycle video clips ad infinitum. But the milestone here is that the Russian disinformation that Giuliani and GOP Trumpophants have plastered across the media is now enshrined in the Congressional record. 

It appears that the mainstream media has yet to grasp that the failure to demand the truth in real time, not at some other time or in some other venue, is to partner with liars, essentially abandoning the duty of the free press to truthfully inform the public.

 

The mainstream media has misguidedly assisted the dissemination of these same untruths in the apparent misbelief that somehow this represents impartial reporting rather than active support of a propaganda campaign. The fact that the man who questioned Biden said he heard it on MSNBC, no doubt in a summary of the GOP narrative illustrates the point. Their rationale is their attempt to keep their access to administration news sources viable. Without that, they will be unable to give their viewers a combative scenario that is sure to boosts ratings, what passes these days for entertainment. The obvious question is whether disinformation informs the public or simply pollutes the airwaves. For the media to adhere to a standard that states that challenging falsehoods is editorializing rather than reporting, the press refuses to confront GOP minions over their lies and innuendos. 

The mainstream media has yet to reckon with its role in the 2016 campaign where over 60% of their coverage advanced GOP talking points about Clinton’s emails. This is more than any coverage of Trump’s shady business past, birtherism and his racist remarks, misogyny or support of false narratives about Clinton’s state of health. Trump as a master of image control, literally yanked the media around by a nose ring.  Why was there little coverage of the Obama administration’s announcement of Russian cyber interference in August 2016 and Mitch McConnell’s response to Obama that the GOP would use any serious publicity about the intelligence findings as partisan slander in the campaign. Why was there no immediate alarm over the danger to national security across the mainstream media. Instead, the DNC email dump dominated the stories of the day. It appears that the mainstream media has yet to grasp that the failure to demand the truth in real time, not at some other time or in some other venue, is to partner with liars, essentially abandoning the duty of the free press to truthfully inform the public.

Selensky must be breathing a sigh of relief, at least for the moment. The RealityTVPresident doesn’t need him anymore; he’s too busy producing and directing his own anti-impeachment extravaganza. He doesn’t need Selensky to announce an investigation; he’s got Rudy and the minions singing the tale of Ukrainian election interference and Biden corruption from every mountain top. Selensky just has to sit tight in the denial that every victim of extortion must maintain. Something like, what, I’m not feeling any pressure from the pistol pressed against my kidney. All my actions are purely voluntary. It is also important for him to maintain this facade at home. He can not afford to be seen as a patsy for Trump as he presses forward with his aggressive anti-corruption reform program at the same time that he must retain the appearance of strong US support in negotiations with Russia. That task is made infinitely more difficult by vilification from the GOP, a clear signal of the loss of bipartisan Congressional support. Selensky is facing off against Putin on the same day as the impeachment travesty unfolds. 

Putin probably knew more about Selensky’s predicament before he did, what with the freewheeling use of unsecured communication devices by US State Department officials in a country infamously saturated with KGB listening paraphernalia. 45 himself is notorious for using non-government issued phones for communication in every sphere, so fearful is he of leaving a government record of his conversations. For all we know, he could be leaving a trail of direct communications to be overheard by his Russian best bro. Without witnesses, we will never know, unless the NSA has got wise to the jig. Fingers crossed that there’s some “deep state” operatives on the case for future historical research and exposition.

Of course Putin must be over the moon. He’s probably relaxing after his meetings with Selensky in a hot tub amid an assortment of luscious Russian beauties drizzling vodka down his throat. He’s got GOP stalwarts peddling his propaganda 24/7, he’s got Ukraine taking the fall for his machinations in US elections for over 40% of Trump/FoxNews viewers, all without lifting a finger. It only took a little whispering in 45’s ear with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban chiming in to reinforce Giuliani’s quest to produce an alternative defense against the Mueller investigation. (Yes that’s what Rudy has said on Trump/FoxNews.) It’s cheap and extraordinarily efficient.

With Lavrov’s White House visit hours after the Articles of Impeachment were announced, it looks like Agent Orange has put his thumb on the scale for the Russian bear. Tata Mr Selensky.

45 added another feather in Putin’s cap by hosting Sergei Lavrov, the Russian Foreign Minister, in the White House hours after the Articles of Impeachment were announced. It looks like Agent Orange has put his thumb on the scale for the Russian bear. This visit was unusual for a couple of reasons. Foreign Ministers are not usually received by the president alone in the Oval Office and this is Lavrov’s second time. Last time, the chief executive passed on classified information from Israeli intelligence. And who can forget Jared Kushner’s attempt to set up a back channel in the Russian embassy with Lavrov during the Trump parallel government phase in December of 2015 while Obama was still in office. And the Flynn message to Putin not to react to the expulsion of Russian diplomats, seizure of property and new sanctions imposed by Obama for ah, Russian interference in 2016 elections. We’ve come full circle. There are conflicting reports of whether Russia was warned off interference in our 2020 elections, but Lavrov said it didn’t come up. That would be consistent especially as the buzz about Ukrainian interference was in the air.

The event contrasted sharply with the arm’s length at which Selensky is being held. Now Putin is free to doddle through negotiations brokered by Macron of France and Merkel of Germany with the weakened and betrayed Selensky, while ramping up a more aggressive assault in Ukraine. He got away with it in the Crimea and he’s betting reaction will be less than a whimper this time around. With his US bonbon in his cheek, what can NATO do? Europe is a sitting duck.

The European Union and therefore France and Germany are going to be the first affected. And yet, Merkel and Macron have not shifted into some higher defense gear; maybe they don’t have one.  This is just one more arm of current Russian interference in their elections as well as Britain’s. It should be increasingly clear that under Agent Orange’s leadership, NATO is not going to be there. DJT is transactional, much like an insurance company demanding payment but loathe to pay out.

It is clear from the hearings that Republicans are mounting a coordinated attack to present an alternative reality with as much viciousness as they can muster. They bring to mind a pack of wolves circling with teeth bared, growling, drooling saliva, closing in on their victim, the republic as we know it. No, that’s the wrong analogy because wolves are instinctual and instinct is not what drives Trumpophants. They are more like German National Socialists or Stalinists, marching in goose step to orders from their leader on high, each move precisely orchestrated and prescribed.

Tragically, the canvas unfolding is reminiscent of the dissolution of the Weimar Republic into Nazi Germany as little by little, Germans seeded their government and their lives to the charisma of the most heinous dictator at that point in history. At first, the allure of power, real or vicarious, mesmerized supporters to be subsequently reinforced by the terror of exclusion and finally elimination. The first signs of exclusion are here; those who step out of line are vilified and ejected from the party ala Justin Amash or positions in government. Many others are opting to get out rather than be sucked into the funnel that ends in the imperative to goose step. If it seems far fetched, look at the growing number of retiring GOP Congressmen and Senators stepping back from the precipice.

Each piece of information that confirms our own opinions gives us a shot of dopamine, our own natural high. The world wide web that was supposed to open up the world has narrowed it to a slit. 

Democrats on the other hand seem to naively believe that good will triumph over evil and the truth will win out, without understanding that the truth in the topsy-turvy world of misinformation is doomed without intensive nurturing. As reported on MSNBC, Republicans are running over 4500 ads across districts since the impeachment hearings were announced; Democrats have run one. Announcements from a podium surrounded by flags are not going to disseminate the truth to the general public, nor will airing the hearings alone since the vast majority of the public is not in those spaces. Obviously, the mainstream media will not be helpful either. Forty-one percent of Trump/FoxTVNews viewers believe that Ukraine meddled in the 2016 elections, a testimony to the adage that repeated messages become fact, no matter how dissimilar they are from the truth. Isolated self enclosed information systems similar to North Korea and China have bubbled up here, driven by choice and social media algorithms that feed people more of what they’ve seen across multiple platforms. Each piece of information that confirms our own opinions gives us a shot of dopamine, our own natural high. The world wide web that was supposed to open up the world has narrowed it to a slit. 

Democrats need to get serious about getting the message into Facebook timelines, particularly for older members of the public who tend not to engage in other social media, as well as Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. This effort must be a concerted coordinated strategy, not a spontaneous evolution. Nancy Pelosi has said she doesn’t want to politicize what is a principled constitutional duty. It sounds good but the other guys are both completely partisan about everything and totally amoral, as they have aptly demonstrated. 

All impeachments have been political; the framing of the allegations has arisen from a partisan perspective. The exception is Watergate where the articles of impeachment didn’t get beyond the committee vote to bring it to the floor before Nixon resigned. Since a clandestine break-in is an actual crime, both parties agreed that such activity was out of bounds. The difficulty came in following the breadcrumbs to chief architect Nixon and once they did, Republicans were willing to vote the facts. Nixon self incriminated, just like Agent Orange, but Nixon’s GOP lacked the idolatry of the PiedPiperPresident mindmeld that leaves party members deaf, dumb and blind. 

Perhaps Speaker Pelosi can see into the future, sensing that Democrats are too far behind the eight ball to have much hope of rescuing the country from the clutches of a self absorbed minority without accountability or shame. She’s counting on her rosary prayers to bend the arc of history toward justice. The GOP is putting on a good show in the hearings; there’s nothing happening there that will strip the emperor of the illusion of clothes. Even if the show wasn’t good, the die in the Senate has already been cast. There’s not a single GOP Congressman whose listening to the evidence; they’re punching holes in the evidence with half truths that expound their KGB inspired parallel universe. They’re looking forward to the big show in their court, the Senate. One and a two and one and a two. . .

Speaker Pelosi is counting on her rosary prayers to bend the arc of history toward justice.

Whether it’s a short trial or Mussolini Mitch deviously wants to drag it out by demanding more subpoenas and/or testimony that will drag it out to prevent Democratic presidential candidates in the Senate from the campaign trail and a high priority on Democratic campaign issues in news cycles. It’s so congruent with his vengeful vision that he would aspire to impact the choice of the RealityTVPresident’s 2020 Democratic opponent by orchestrating Democratic campaigning.

The dark side of a failure to remove 45 from office is expanded Russian interference (beware Facebook) and God knows who else he can recruit into rigging the 2020 election. The defeat alone will keep many from the polls no matter who the Democratic candidate is, reeling under the hopelessness of a government by a corrupt racist minority for a corrupt racist minority, catering to the morally bankrupt 1%.  State level GOPs will be voter suppressing their hearts out, inventing new ways to narrow the electorate to their own voters. They’re will also be stacking their state legislatures to ensure they can apply their gerrymandering computer programs to the 2020 census results. And McConnell will continue to stack the courts to shut off that alternative to resolution of disputes. Everything seems pretty well in hand.