Presidential Abuse Of Power

Mitt Romney, A Profile In Courage, First Senator In American History To Vote To Convict President Of His Own Party!

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Senator Mitt Romney of Utah, the 2012 Republican Presidential nominee, was a true “Profile in Courage” yesterday, by voting to convict Donald Trump on the impeachment charge of “Abuse Of Power”.

This blogger and author was not a great fan of Mitt Romney in his failed 2012 Presidential bid, considering him a hypocrite for criticizing ObamaCare, which was based to a great extent on RomneyCare in Massachusetts. I did not want him as President, and think he lacked enough concern for the average American.

But that is the past, and Romney knows he will suffer attacks and condemnations from within the Republican Party for his action to be the first US Senator in American history to vote to convict a President of his own party in an impeachment trial. That took guts and also showed the true religiosity of Romney with his Mormon faith, whether one agrees or likes the Mormon Church and its teachings.

The accusation that he plans to run for President again is preposterous, and Romney may, very well, not run for reelection in 2024, but the future is not important as the present, to take a stand against the lawlessness and arrogance of Donald Trump.

The fact that Romney’s own niece, Ronna Romney McDaniel, is chair of the Republican National Committee, put her in an awkward position, and she did, indeed, make clear her objection to her uncle’s decision. But that does not matter, and whatever one thinks of Romney in the past, it is clear that his vote is based upon principle and courage, so it is proper to applaud and salute Mitt Romney for a decision that will live in history, and could be another chapter, updated, of John F. Kennedy’s famous “Profiles in Courage” book in 1956!

Romney will withstand the storm of criticism, and if moronic son Donald Trump, Jr is able to have Romney expelled from the Republican Party, as he called for in anger yesterday, the party will be the loser, not Romney.

If Romney is a true independent, he will be a greater Senator long term than being captive to a corrupt political party, so bring it on, is my thought!

Trump’s Impeachment Defense Team The Most Obnoxious, Obscene, And Crooked Imaginable!

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Donald Trump is employing Alan Dershowitz, a clearly demented, egotistical, unethical former Harvard Law Professor, who is totally contradicted by most prestigious law professors, including those at Harvard, to present his case in the upcoming impeachment trial.

Dershowitz has represented many of the most despicable criminals imaginable, and while he says he is a “Liberal Democrat”, he clearly has no principles other than his own economic aggrandizement and egotistical glorification. Dershowitz is a criminal lawyer, not a great constitutional lawyer, and he is undermining American democracy with his willingness to defend the abuse of power by Donald Trump.

Trump is also employing Ken Starr, the prosecutor who brought about the ultimate impeachment trial against Bill Clinton, glorying in providing precise sexual details about Clinton’s love life, and then, being President of Baylor University, which had a football player sex scandal which he handled terribly, and resigned in disgrace.

The worst of humanity is what Dershowitz and Starr are, and their ethical violations should lead to their disbarment and disgrace, as they are the most obnoxious, obscene, and crooked defense teams of lawyers ever conceived!

The Right Wing Supreme Court Seems Ready To Declare War On Abortion, Gay Rights, Gun Rights, Immigration, Separation Of Church And State, And Presidential Power

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The new session of the Supreme Court has begun, and the full effect of Donald Trump appointees Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh will now, likely, be felt.

While it is true that Gorsuch and Kavanaugh are not “twins”, to expect any major surprises in constitutional law in this 2019-2020 term are highly unlikely, as right wing law looks in the ascendancy.

What the Court decides ends up as the law of the land, and for progressives, it does not bode well on the issues of abortion, gay rights, gun rights, immigration, separation of church and state, and the growth of Presidential power.

The fulcrum of the Court, Anthony Kennedy, is now retired for a year, and the only hope to avoid extreme right wing judgments is if Chief Justice John Roberts, who has been a surprise a few times in his views on the Court in recent years, becomes the new “swing” vote on the Court this term.

Roberts might also preside over an impeachment trial of President Donald Trump, who he, clearly, has been critical of in a number of ways, and the Court could limit Trump’s Abuse of Power, beyond Roberts presiding over an impeachment prosecution.

Since Roberts is worried about the image of “his” Court, some surprises may be in the offing, and of course, progressives will be watching the health and stability of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, now 86, having survived a third and fourth cancer, and wondering if she will be able to continue on the Court into the next Presidential term in 2021.

The Disgraceful Sycophants For Donald Trump: Rudy Giuliani, Stephen Miller, Kevin McCarthy, Jim Jordan, Lindsey Graham, And More

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History will record in a condemnatory way the long list of disgraceful sycophants who have legitimized Donald Trump’s abuse of power and obstruction of justice.

The leading sycophants include:

Former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who has gone totally off the rails, and seems clearly to have lost all morality and ethics, amidst signs of dementia.

Stephen Miller, the 34 year old senior adviser for Trump, who has demonstrated his total lack of decency, compassion, and empathy, and is perceived by some as the new modern young Roy Cohn of the Joseph McCarthy era, a Jewish man who shows totally despicable and indefensible behavior, including racism and nativism to the extreme.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California, who makes Paul Ryan and John Boehner both seem far less objectionable than they actually were, and a total liar and phony who disgraces the Republican Party in the lower chamber.

Ohio Congressman Jim Jordan, a truly obnoxious, nasty and arrogant Tea Party activist who spews forth poisonous propaganda on a regular basis.

South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, who thought Bill Clinton should be impeached, but now sees no grounds for Donald Trump to be impeached. His former friend, the late John McCain, would be sorely disappointed with his behavior defending Trump,

The list is much more than these five, and now includes Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Attorney General William Barr, both of whom, by their lies and deception and unwillingness to cooperate in the impeachment investigation of Donald Trump, could face legal action and impeachment on their own.

Never has there been so many people willing to sacrifice their careers and reputations to defend a President who is the most unethical, immoral, and cruel person we have ever had in the White House, who now has the gall to say he will never leave the Presidency, implying the end of the 22nd Amendment and democratic elections in the future, as if he is an Emperor or King,

The threat of civil war enunciated by religious right wing fanatics must not prevent the rule of law, and the willingness, if need be, to remove Donald Trump forcibly from the Oval Office in chains and handcuffs if need be, to uphold the Constitution of the United States!

Donald Trump Self Destructing By His Maniacal Statements And Policies: Signs Of A Seriously Mentally Ill And Dangerous President

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Every day of his Presidency, Donald Trump has demonstrated signs of being a seriously mentally ill and dangerous President.

He is self destructing by his maniacal statements and policies, in a way that no past President has done so consistently.

Yes, Andrew Jackson made statements and took actions that he has been roundly condemned for in history.

Yes, Andrew Johnson was extremely nasty and confrontational and undermined his own Presidency, having long range effects on the office and worsening the racial situation long term in America.

Yes, Richard Nixon was a very dangerous and corrupt President, who abused power and brought upon himself the impeachment process, which led to his resignation.

But none of these three Presidents with major faults ever reached the pinnacle of instability and corruption of Donald Trump.

The difference is that there was a strong political opposition to Andrew Jackson, Andrew Johnson, and Richard Nixon, that kept them under a semblance of control and accountability.

But there is no counter reaction by Donald Trump’s Republican Party to hold him in any sense of control, and every day his utterances and his actions endanger both domestic and foreign policy, and his behavior gets regularly worse by the week.

The thought of a second term of President Donald Trump threatens American democracy and international peace, and must be prevented!

White Supremacists Emboldened By Trump Attacks On African American And Jewish Chairs Of House Committees Investigating Trump’s Abuse Of Power

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In the midst of recent white supremacist massacres in El Paso and Dayton, there should be growing concern about the House Committee chairs who are African American and Jewish becoming potential targets of hate mongers.

Elijah Cummings of the House Oversight and Reform Committee and Maxine Waters of the House Financial Services Committee are African Americans, and Jerry Nadler of the House Judiciary Committee and Adam Schiff of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence are Jewish, and all four are particularly in the center of controversy, and therefore, targets for hate, with a lot of verbal attacks by Donald Trump against them.

The investigation of the abuse of power of Donald Trump must go on, but extra security for these Chairs is essential!

18 Months Of Donald Trump Presidency, And Crisis Atmosphere Grows

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Today marks 18 months of the Donald Trump Presidency.

It has been 18 months of horrors, nightmares, disgrace to the office of the Presidency.

It has seen more corruption and abuse of power than any President in the past, including Richard Nixon.

It has put America into a massive foreign policy crisis, now marked by Trump’s invitation to Vladimir Putin of Russia to come to the White House this fall.

It has put America into a massive domestic policy crisis, as the the New Deal, Great Society, and everything good that Barack Obama did in eight years in office, is being systematically destroyed.

It has created the conditions for a potential Great Depression, with the imposition of tariffs about to explode into inflation of prices, loss of jobs and income, and alienation of all of our major trade partners with his crazy economic policies.

It has created the end of the post World War II alliance system of NATO that won the Cold War, but now the Russian government has declared a cyber World War on America, with a President whose loyalty is clearly with our rivals and enemies.

It has caused disarray among the two major political parties that have been our system since 1854, and now are in danger of total destruction, at least with the Republican Party.

It has demonstrated that the people who are elected and those who are appointed put their own jobs and wealth ahead of the interests of the vast majority of the American people.

It has shown us that our system of government, which allows a Supreme Court for life. It is guaranteed to create social and economic turmoil that will insure the danger of civil war, as the younger generation rebels against the future right wing extremist judicial system, packed with justices and judges who want to take us back to the Gilded Age of the late 19th century, and wipe out the 20th century social safety network that has made us great.

It has divided Americans, with many, including this author and blogger no longer communicating with former associates and friends, when we have discovered how disgraceful these people are. This also includes family members, relatives, who make one realize the old saying, that you can pick your friends, but not your relatives.

Donald Trump is clearly out to destroy the United States as we know it, determined to keep his ethical and moral issues, and his violations of the law a secret that only Vladimir Putin knows, and holds over the head of the 45th President.

The danger of a violent civil war, as we had in the 1860s, is becoming more a reality unless somehow we can turn the tide and excise the cancer of Donald Trump. But sadly, Mike Pence is, in many ways, even worse, with his right wing religious crusade in a nation that was based on separation of church and state, precisely because of the religious extremism of Puritanism in our colonial history. The threat of racial and ethnic and even gender conflict is real, and the power of the National Rifle Association, now shown to be allied with the forces of Vladimir Putin, can bring about violence in the name of profits.

It is hard NOT to have despair as to how this nation survives long term, without major damage to the republic!

Speaker Of The House Paul Ryan: A Failed And Disgraceful Figure In American Political History, And Total Sham!

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Back in 2012, when Paul Ryan was chosen by Mitt Romney to be his Vice Presidential running mate, this author made clear his total distaste of the Wisconsin Congressman, who had made his career on balancing budgets, and cutting social programs from the New Deal on through the Great Society. He has now proved once again that he is a failed and disgraceful figure in American political history, and is a total sham!

It was made clear that Ryan was a disgraceful choice to be a heartbeat away from the Presidency, had Mitt Romney won the Presidential Election of 2012.

As a result of my harsh criticism, I was bitterly attacked by the right wing, in a very vicious manner.

But I was correct in my assessment then, and since, and now, Paul Ryan is quitting Congress, and leaving the Speakership of the House of Representatives, at a time when he was facing a major challenge from Democrat Randy Bryce, an iron worker, who was totally disgusted by the hypocrisy and self serving of Ryan over his 20 year Congressional career.

Ryan set out from a young age, based on his Ayn Rand philosophy, to destroy the Social Safety Net of Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Food Stamps, and other programs to help the millions of poor, disabled, sick, children, and elderly in our society. And yet, when his father died when Paul Ryan was not yet an adult, he received Social Security benefits, but now wishes to destroy FDR’s signature program!

At the same time, his goal was to cut taxes dramatically for the wealthy, and he succeeded under Donald Trump, blowing a massive hole in the budget, and now creating a $1 trillion increase in the national debt by so doing.

Ryan has done more to harm the future of the nation economically than just about anyone, and he has been unwilling to take a strong stand, or any stand, against Donald Trump’s abuse of power.

It almost seems as if he gets sexual thrills from hurting people, and yet, he claims to be a “good Catholic”, which most decent Catholics would totally disagree with.

The best response to Ryan leaving is “good riddance”!

Lawless Donald Trump Challenged On Plans, If Elected, To Use Waterboarding, By Director Of CIA And Former Director Of CIA And NSA!

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A very alarming development is Donald Trump’s announced plans, if elected President, to utilize waterboarding and other torture techniques which were used in the Iraq War against terrorists, but have been banned since then.

Senator John McCain, who suffered from torture while a prisoner of war in Vietnam, and many others. have made it clear that torture does not work in gaining intelligence that helps win a war or to fight terrorism, but Trump is claiming that he will revive it.

But now, CIA Director John Brennan and former CIA Director and former NSA director Michael Hayden have come out strongly against such revival of waterboarding or other such torture techniques, with both making it clear that they would resist a President’s orders to implement such directives!

That is startling, but comforting, and it shows just how dangerous Donald Trump is, that he would become a truly lawless President, far worse than Richard Nixon!

And it would be great to hear other Republicans agree with the intelligence agency leaders, but do not count on it.

More reason to repudiate Donald Trump and the party which is against him, but seems unwilling to condemn his threat of an abuse of Presidential power!