The realities of the Trump administration

[Sandy Shanks]

Former FBI director James Comey makes a good point.

He says Trump should not be criminally prosecuted for inciting Capitol rioters. Convicted in the Senate, but not indicted for violating our Constitution and federal law.

Comey argues it would give Trump a soapbox for three years.

“The country would be better off if we did not give him the platform that a prosecution would for the next three years,” Comey told British broadcaster Sky News.

“Instead, turn off the camera lights,” said Comey, who was fired from his role as FBI Director in 2017 by Trump while he was leading a probe into the President's 2016 Presidential campaign’s possible collusion with Russia, added.

"I'd like to see some of the lights go out and he can stand on the front lawn at Mar-a-Lago and shout at cars in his bathrobe and none of us will hear it," he said.

Interesting point of view.

 

[Sandy Shanks]

The Democrats want to convict a Republican President of inciting an insurrection. Someone tell me why in the world would Republican Senators would cooperate with the Democrats in an impeachment trial?

Someone tell why they think Trump will be convicted in the Senate so that the trial isn't a complete waste of extremely valuable time. Americans are dying at the rate of over 4,000 per day and the economy is going in the tank.

For once I agree with Senator Graham.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) asked Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) (soon to be Senate majority leader) in a letter on Sunday to support a vote to table Trump's Senate impeahment trial.

“We will be delaying indefinitely, if not forever, the healing of this great nation if we do otherwise,” warned Graham, a top Trump ally. “Our obligation to the people we represent is clear. History will judge us harshly, as it should, if we do not rise to the occasion of this historic moment in our history.”

Literally everyone agrees with me. The Democrats conducting a Senate trial in a losing effort serves no useful purpose. The Senate has no time for this.

Imagine this. Once again Trump will be able to say on national television, "I have been vindicated again!"

Do we need to hear that? He is the only President in American history to be impeached twice.

Let it go at that.

I don't hear anyone endorsing a Senate trial. The experts can only say it will happen. That isn't necessarily true.

 

[Sandy Shanks]

Biden needs to get his cabinet certified ASAP. Another 965,000 Americans filed for unemployment for the first time last week. The pandemic is setting records for new deaths, cases, and hospitalizations. The pandemic and the economy is at its worst right now.

“It’s far from ideal, no question,” said Senator Richard Blumenthal, Democrat of Connecticut. But, he said, “a dual track is perfectly doable if there is a will to make it happen.”

The Democrats want to convict a Republican President of inciting an insurrection. Someone tell me why in the world would Republican Senators would cooperate with the Democrats in an impeachment trial?

Someone tell why they think Trump will be convicted in the Senate so that the trial isn't a complete waste of extremely valuable time. Americans are dying at the rate of over 4,000 per day and the economy is going in the tank.

CNN reports, "While Biden has made it clear that he wants to split the day in half to allow his nominees to be confirmed in the morning ahead of the trial, that takes agreement from everyone. And it's not clear that all 100 senators are going to agree to it even if McConnell and Schumer could come to a consensus."

I have been following this issue for days, ever since the House impeached Trump. The Democrats are completely avoiding the ramifications of a Senate impeachment trial, and, of course, so are members of this forum.

I am right about the assessment of a trial. If anyone thinks differently, taking into account the issues mentioned above, please explain. Simply saying the trial has to happen won't cut it.

 

[Sandy Shanks]

A sprawling report released Tuesday by a Republican-controlled Senate panel that spent three years investigating Russia’s interference in the 2016 election laid out an extensive web of contacts between Trump campaign advisers and Kremlin officials and other Russians.

It provided an extraordinary set of facts: The Russian government disrupted an American election to help Mr. Trump become president, Russian intelligence services viewed members of the Trump campaign as easily manipulated, and some of Mr. Trump’s advisers were eager for the help from an American adversary.

G.O.P.-Led Senate Panel Details Ties Between 2016 Trump Campaign and Russia (Published 2020)

A nearly 1,000-page report confirmed the special counsel’s findings at a moment when President Trump’s allies have sought to undermine that inquiry.

www.nytimes.com

The American President incited an insurrection against the capitol.

The American capital looks like the Green Zone in Baghdad because of threats made by the supporters of the American President.

Because the American President refuses to recognize the President-elect, there will be no peaceful transfer of power on Inauguration Day in the American capital.

The new American government will be bogged down by an impeachment trial of the outgoing American President.

The despised American President leaves with the lowest approval rating of his Presidency.

The Russian dictator, Vladimir Putin, is extremely pleased by Trump's performance.

 

[Sandy Shanks]

Originally written on January 12.

The BBC reports, "There are reports of armed groups planning to gather at all 50 state capitols and in Washington DC in the run-up to his 20 January inauguration.

"Security will be tight for the event after a pro-Trump mob stormed Congress."

The media is going nuts over this warning from the FBI.

I don't believe it for a minute.

There is little doubt that one or more far right groups consisting of Trump's friends like Boogaloo, QAnon, and the Proud Boys are responsible for the threat.

Why do I not believe it? They want to drive the media nuts. They love publicity. Issuing threats is what they do. They have issued countless threats in support of Trump for the past four years.

And lastly, you don't start an insurrection by telling the target where and when the strike is coming.

Trump's followers, like Trump himself, are cowards. It is one thing to attack an unguarded capitol building. It is quite another to attack targets that are guarded by armed troops and/or police. Trump's anarchists arm themselves for display purposes only.

How do we know they are cowards? Take a close at this thread. They can't even defend themselves. Like Trump, they reject reality and live by an alternate reality they cannot describe, which, of course, explains their silence and inability to defend themselves.

Relax, folks, nothing serious will happen on Inauguration Day. It's all talk.

 

[Sandy Shanks]

"While Biden has made it clear that he wants to split the day in half to allow his nominees to be confirmed in the morning ahead of the trial, that takes agreement from everyone. And it's not clear that all 100 senators are going to agree to it even if McConnell and Schumer could come to a consensus."

I have been following this issue for days, ever since the House impeached Trump. The Democrats are completely avoiding the ramifications of a Senate impeachment trial, and, of course, so are members of this forum.

Fortunately, House Democrats are beginning to make excuses as to why the transfer of the Articles of Impeachment may be delayed. Would it hurt if the delay was extended to 100 days? Of course not.

The Times reports, "The speaker called the impeachment of President Trump “urgent,” but did not send the charge to the Senate to prompt the start of a trial, nor commit to when she would do so.

"Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Friday that House impeachment managers were preparing to prosecute President Trump in the Senate, but she refused to offer a timeline for when they would move forward with a never-before-attempted trial of a former president."

Now she wants to go after the other bad guys, and it is possible some of the perpetrators may be called as witnesses, but, first, there has been no decision on a witness list or if witnesses will be called, prompting more delay.

The Times continued, "She also pledged to pursue the perpetrators of the rampage as well as far-right lawmakers if they were found to have aided in the assault."

Pelosi should listen to what the Democratic President and his team is saying. Under the dire circumstances caused by the previous administration, a 100-day delay would be advisable.

Pelosi should not allow Trump to interfere in the Biden government!

 

[Sandy Shanks]

A sprawling report released Tuesday by a Republican-controlled Senate panel that spent three years investigating Russia’s interference in the 2016 election laid out an extensive web of contacts between Trump campaign advisers and Kremlin officials and other Russians.

It provided an extraordinary set of facts: The Russian government disrupted an American election to help Mr. Trump become president, Russian intelligence services viewed members of the Trump campaign as easily manipulated, and some of Mr. Trump’s advisers were eager for the help from an American adversary.

The Times reports, "Senator Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader, said on Tuesday that the insurrectionists who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6 had been “provoked by the president and other powerful people,” stating publicly for the first time that he holds President Trump at least partly responsible for the assault."

“The mob was fed lies,”Mr. McConnell said, referring to attempts by Mr. Trump to overturn the election based on bogus claims of voter fraud. “They were provoked by the president and other powerful people. And they tried to use fear and violence to stop a specific proceeding of the first branch of the federal government which they did not like.”

"Mr. McConnell made the remarks on his last full day as majority leader, speaking on the eve of President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s inauguration and as the Senate was bracing to receive a single article of impeachment from the House charging Mr. Trump with “incitement of insurrection.”

With Trump leaving in disgrace as one of the most despised men in America, McConnell is now the defacto leader of the Republican Party. With Trump gone, McConnell will be an effective leader, and, speaking as a former Republican driven out by Trump's incompetence, stupidity, and super ego, I like him as the GOP leader. I believe he will be able to work with Biden, and positive things will happen in our government for the first time in four years.

 

[Sandy Shanks]

CNN reports, "Trump received an unsettling warning on his final Saturday night in the White House.

"Huddled for a lengthy meeting with his legal advisers, Trump was warned the pardons he once hoped to bestow upon his family and even himself would place him in a legally perilous position, convey the appearance of guilt and potentially make him more vulnerable to reprisals.

"So, too, was Trump warned that pardons for Republican lawmakers who had sought them for their role in the Capitol insurrection would anger the very Senate Republicans who will determine his fate in an upcoming impeachment trial.

"White House counsel Pat Cipollone and another attorney who represented Trump in his first impeachment trial, Eric Herschmann, offered the grave warnings as Trump, his daughter Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner listened. Other lawyers joined by telephone. They all told Trump he should not pardon himself, his family or any GOP lawmakers in a prospective manner unless he was prepared to list specific crimes."

Let's see if Trump listens to sound advice. If he does, that would be a first.

 

[Sandy Shanks]

This is my last entry on this thread.

Mercifully, Trump has only hours left in his forlorn Presidency. All of America is looking forward to sanity returning to the White House.

While writing for this thread I experienced the whole range of emotions, dismay, anger, sadness, anger, laughter, anger, confusion, anger, and, at times, numbness at the outrage.

Did I mention anger?

I got weary telling people Trump was the first ever President to do this, that, or the other thing.

In a very real sense I will miss Trump from a writer's standpoint. He was a fascinating character to write about who never ceased to amaze. Imagine our President leading an insurgency against the American capital.

That's the point. You don't have to imagine it. Trump did it.

It is only fair that I start a new thread entitled, "A report card on the Biden administration." I promise to be just as scrutinizing of Biden as I was with Trump. My style will remain the same, heavy on documentation and basing opinion on facts, not speculation.

I have to admit something, though. Biden will not be nearly as interesting as Trump. That will be okay. No doubt Americans are yearning for bordom and efficacy in Washington.