More on why Trump may be impeached

Yesterday I made the statement in my headline "Why GOP may be planning Trump impeachment," and in the post I recovered the issues that have led the sane members of the public to wonder at this point just what is going on in Donald Trump's administration. His administrative staff and his closest advisers apparently don't, so the bungling idiot, who listens to no one, just goes stupidly on his way. Aren't we lucky that there has been no major crisis to contend with because it is certain that, whatever the dilemma, T-rump would screw it up, possibly even getting us into a war.

Here's what Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) had to say...

“Obviously, they are in a downward spiral right now and have got to figure out a way to come to grips with all that’s happening,”

Congress has not established a relationship with Trump allowing it to pass legislation that has been on the agenda since it scored both houses of Congress and the Oval Office. Unfortunately, the latter has not cooperated and their master plan to conservatize the country is in a constant case of chaos. And as long as there are die-hard T-rump supporters like Joseph Amodeo, age 19, of Staten Island, NY, the White House lunatic isn't likely to back down. Amodeo "...incorrectly praised the president for raising New York's minimum wage, something enacted by Democrats in the Legislature."

The Staten Island resident added...

"If you're wishing for him to fail, you're basically wishing for the pilot of the plane to crash. You just gotta stick by him and hopefully he does things that benefit everyone."

Joseph Amodeo, in a nutshell, showcases the sheer stupidity of those who support Trump. The dismal, out-of-touch world they live in allows this gang of poor souls to survive, much as the ostrich does when it puts its head in the sand. Pathetic but so true. Here's the Washington Post's assessment of Donald Trump's leadership to date...

"He has provided limited leadership on health care and limited leadership on taxes. He has offered direction that does not always conform to the preferences of conservatives in Congress. He has offered guidelines but no detailed blueprints. His priorities are not always those of congressional Republicans. He retains the power to sign legislation but in all other ways seems to frustrate or complicate efforts by congressional Republicans to bring those measures to his desk."

And they cap it off with the fact that T-rump is nowhere near the deal maker he professes to be. In other words, he falls short on just about every level of what it takes to be President.

So, what about a special prosecutor to investigate both Donald Trump and Michael Flynn, in relation to Russians interfering with the 2016 election, Flynn's relationship with Turkey and what Trump knew in advance of his appointment along with what James Comey is about to say before Congress? Republicans will stand by him until their constituents demand otherwise. That's when the shit will hit the fan and that's when Republicans will be forced to do something they abhor doing, the right thing. Backed into a corner, they will do the unthinkable to a Republican President. Impeach him.

Here's my reasoning. The 2018 midterms are fast approaching and the GOP has already lost ground in several races nationwide. A Republican Congress could easily lose the Senate with Democrats needing only 3 seats to take a majority. There's even talk of taking enough seats in the House to at least make it harder for the GOP to pass its legislation. I don't think Paul Ryan or Mitch McConnell want that. Their only option is to throw Donald Trump under the train which means this option will mean impeachment of the President of the United States.

Why GOP may be planning Trump impeachment

Trump and Flynn the Bobbsey twins

I am back after ten days of great vacation in the Prescott, Arizona mountains. We stayed at a small resort hotel there by the name of Forrest Villas. The service was exceptional and we plan a return trip in the future. I capped it off with a speeding ticket in Prescott Valley, receiving my ticket from one of the nicest cops I think I have ever met. However, I do need regular reminders that I drive too fast and this was my latest $100 one. The interesting thing is that when we both stopped and he got out of the car, my wife was more worried about the cop getting hit by traffic than the ticket I was getting.

Spent the time barely looking at news but couldn't avoid hearing regularly about what the current person in the Oval Office--the idiot doesn't act like a President so no sense calling him one--was doing. Now Prescott is heavily conservative and many of the residents are still supporting Donald Trump, but we have a friend there who shares our liberal views who welcomed talking to a couple of Progressives. It gave me some time to think about what has been happening and just where the whole political movement may be going. I have come to a conclusion.

But first it is necessary to review just what has gotten this now identified moron into the mess he has created. It started with the suspected Russian intervention in the 2016 election that helped Trump beat Hillary Clinton. Then he fired Michael Flynn and now it has been learned that the administration knew all along of Flynn's ties with Turkey. Then he, for some stupid, reason gives up sensitive U.S. Data in a meeting with Russian officials. Finally, perhaps the stupidest of all, he fires FBI Director James Comey, supposedly re. Clinton emails but most likely to disrupt the Director's investigation.

Until the latest rash of idiotic moves, the Republican Congress had pretty much stuck with him, as the Washington Post explained it, "compartmentalizing" to help them ignore the facts. But recent events have seemed to overshadow the issues before Congress, like Obamacare and the tax bill. And then the shit hit the fan with Comey's firing combined with the WP's release that the dumb Donald had "shared highly classified intelligence with Russian officials." And if that wasn't enough...

"...on Tuesday, the New York Times published another stunner, reporting that in February the president sought to persuade Comey to back off the FBI investigation into fired national security adviser Michael Flynn."

It would appear now that WP feels that Congress is looking "beyond" the President, a statement I interpret as implying impeachment. As they put it...

"Increasingly, it will be difficult for Republicans to avoid recognizing the responsibility that comes with being the majority party in separate branch of government, rather than seeing events primarily through the prism of a political alliance, no matter how awkward at times, between members of Congress and a president who won the November election as their nominee."

There have been a number of reasons for GOP pessimism over the Oval Office with the zany things T-rump has done since being elected. There have been notable disagreements on the issues; even though he claims to be the big deal maker, he failed miserably with healthcare. And the insane tweets keep coming. Republicans don't want a special prosecutor but with pressure to do the right thing, they could cave on this. In the end, Congress must forego their support of Trump and do their job in providing a check against the Presidency.

Tomorrow, my reason for the GOP to impeach Donald Trump. 

DNC convinced it has right to rig Democratic primary

Not only are they convinced of this but the Democratic National Committee is using this premise as the basis for their defense in a lawsuit against the organization for Debbie Wasserman Schultz's bias toward Hillary Clinton in the 2016 Democratic primary. The DNC said in a court of law that the party is not obligated to run a fair and impartial primary election implying, "We rigged primaries. So what." Wasserman Schultz agreed, apparently, being the ringleader in the rigging and being fired in disgrace as a result. The losers, the American voters and Bernie Sanders.

The charges against the DNC and Wasserman Schultz include fraud, negligent misrepresentation, unjust enrichment and negligence. According to RT, "The suit has three different classes of plaintiffs - those who donated to the DNC, those who donated to the Bernie Sanders campaign and all members of the Democratic Party." I fit into the second class, those who contributed generously to Bernie Sander's campaign. It would be comforting to see Wasserman Schultz and whoever was in this with her go to jail. I am sure Bernie Sanders will agree.

It doesn't appear the DNC defense has much of a chance based on a comment by Tom Perez, the current chair. WND.com reports while campaigning to become the DNC chairman, he even admitted in February that the Democratic Party primaries were rigged in favor of Clinton. And on top of all this, Democratic influential Donna Brazile admitted she used her position at CNN to pass on debate questions to the Clinton campaign. It's beginning to become apparent why many in the Democratic establishment are trying to distance themselves from the Clintons.

Take a look at the following and then wonder with me just how this man was ever admitted to the bar. Here is DNC attorney Bruce Spiva's argument...

"...where you have a party that’s saying, ‘We’re gonna, you know, choose our standard bearer, and we’re gonna follow these general rules of the road,’ which we are voluntarily deciding, we could have – and we could have voluntarily decided that, ‘Look, we’re gonna go into back rooms like they used to and smoke cigars and pick the candidate that way.'”

God forbid. The man sounds like Donald Trump. This brings up once again my suggestion that we dump the Democratic Party and start all over for the liberals. This time we'll get it right because we'll populate Washington with Progressives and get rid of the McConnells and Ryans and the rest of the Republican riff raff. 2018!

Trump Associated Press interview full of lies

Cenk Uygur of The Young Turks did it best in his video dehumanizing Donald Trump for his rambling, incoherent interview with the Associated Press. He points out both the senselessness of this maniacal dufus and the number of times he is wrong, which is every time he opens his mouth. And now the Washington Post has done a Fact Check article that explores some of the most outrageous falsehoods and misstatements. In some cases, the Fact Check people point out just how many times Trump has actually made his false claims. Here's the first...

“I saved $725 million on the 90 planes. Just 90. Now there are 3,000 planes that are going to be ordered. On 90 planes I saved $725 million. It’s actually a little bit more than that, but it’s $725 million.”

Not true. Lockheed already had planned cost reductions. Lockheed’s CEO Marillyn Hewson, announced costs would come down “significantly before ever meeting with Donald Trump. This same clam was made 14 times. Next...

“President Xi [of China], from the time I took office, they have not been currency manipulators.”

In fact, China had not devalued its currency for about two years prior to Trump's election. And during the 2016 election, Trump repeatedly accused China of being a “world champion” of devaluing the yuan. Next...

“You live by the sword, you die by the sword, to a certain extent. But we create a lot of jobs, 500,000 jobs as of two months ago, and plenty created since. Five hundred thousand. … As an example, Ford, General Motors. I’ve had cases where the gentleman from China, Ma, Jack Ma (chairman of Alibaba Group), he comes up, he says, ‘Only because of you am I making this massive investment.’ Intel, only because of you. … The press never writes that.”

Trump likes to take credit for corporate decisions that were made before he was elected president, in most cases fabricated. Here's a list compiled by Fact Check. Ford and General Motors made decisions for expansion but both said they had nothing to do with Trump. Next...

“Oh, I’m seeing numbers — $24 billion [for a border wall], I think I’ll do it for $10 billion or less. That’s not a lot of money relative to what we’re talking about. If we stop 1 percent of the drugs from coming in — and we’ll stop all of it.”

Typical big mouth, Trump braggadocio with claims he should know he can't fulfill. He first quoted $8 billion for a border wall, then Fact Checker got estimates as high as $25 billion. Senate Democrats in April came up with an even higher estimate: nearly $70 billion, and that's before paying for land acquisition.

There's more and you should look at the whole WP Fact Check article here.

Arizona wants to give guns to criminals, domestic abusers, mentally ill and terrorists

Gabby Giffords with Mark Kelly

You read it right. Arizona's Senate Bill 1122, which has been approved by both the House and Senate, prohibits state or local governments from preventing the sale of personal property. Like gun show sales, or a friend gives or sells his gun to another friend, or just someone he met at the mall. If it sounds ludicrous it is, but just another notch on Arizona gun laws that haven't made any sense for years. The state slogan should be 'Put 'em on the street and they will kill.' Because that is exactly what they will do. Arizona ranks tenth in the nation in gun violence.

On January 8, this year, the state observed the sixth anniversary of the shooting of former U.S. Representative Gabby Giffords in a Tucson Safeway. Six people were killed, another 13 wounded, including Giffords. There has been speculation that if gun laws in Arizona were stricter, Jared Lee Loughner, 29, would never have been able to get a gun. The state legislature and the people of Arizona never seem to learn. On Friday, one person killed, seven wounded, some critically, in San Diego.  On Monday, one dead, one wounded in Dallas by gun violence.

Is the American public apathetic toward gun violence or are they just stupid?

Donald Trump in throes of imploding

Typical Trump supporters

Two more interviews by the lord and master of incoherence and Donald Trump nailed it again. Host John Dickerson on "Face the Nation" asked Trump if he stood by his unfounded accusations about Barack Obama's surveillance of Trump Tower during the 2016 election. Here was Trump's reply...

"I don't stand by anything. I just-- you can take it the way you want. I think our side's been proven very strongly. And everybody's talking about it. And frankly it should be discussed. I think that is a very big surveillance of our citizens. I think it's a very big topic. And it's a topic that should be number one. And we should find out what the hell is going on."

And then there was Salena Zito's interview in the Washington Examiner prompting this comment from Trump that Andrew Jackson was really angry about what was happening 1with the Civil War, that DT thinks shouldn't have happened. Here's Chris Cillizza's retort on CNN...

"Andrew Jackson died in 1845. It seems unlikely that he was "really angry that he saw what was happening in regard to the Civil War" since the war didn't start until 1861."

Cillizza finishes his piece with two observations that show a President who does not know what he is doing, and what is worse, thinks what he is doing is good and the right thing.

1. He did zero preparation for these interviews.

2. He makes up his own reality.

Number one is very bad based on the office he holds but number two reeks of disaster in the future should a major issue arise needing judgment and diplomacy. Unfortunately, that is probably when this maniac would implode.

The Young Turks brutalize Trump's AP interview

Okay, after Bernie Sanders on Trump, here is Cenk Uygur, founder of The Young Turks humiliating a laughable clueless Donald Trump based on his Associated Press interview. If it wasn't T-rump, it would almost be embarrassing for even a Progressive to listen to. Uygur repeatedly refers to the fact that "this" is the President of the United States, the most powerful man in the world, as well as addressing the poor souls that elected him. If you are looking for one of the greatest put-downs of Donald Trump, based on facts, that has been done to date, the following video is it.

Donald Trump embraces tyranny for "his" Oval Office

The U.S. government was set up as a model of checks and balances to ensure that one branch of government did not usurp all the power of the land and become dictatorial. Like the office of the President. But Donald Trump has decided that this kind of government does not fit his personality, rather, he prefers that the power should be consolidated within his office. That's right, give it all to Donald John. There is nothing this maniac would like better than to be able to dictate his daily gibberish to the Congress and judiciary as the lord baron of America.

But wait, there are things in this Washington Post article I am quoting from that Trump says that I agree with. God forbid but it's true. He indicates the politics of Washington are archaic. TRUE. He says the rules of the House and Senate are archaic, and when you consider what this Congress has accomplished in the last few years. TRUE. He wants to get rid of the filibuster, some pissed off congress person ranting for days just because he or she didn't get his or her way. DUMP IT. In the end, though, what a switch from a guy who decried Obama's power grabs with executive orders.

Bernie Sanders being Bernie Sanders on Donald Trump

Have been busy trying to finish my animal novelette but could not resist this video I discovered on The Young Turks. It is an assessment by Bernie Sanders of Donald Trump's first 100 days and it is not pretty when it comes to accomplishments. There are none and what T-rump has done is to set this country up for a future where only the wealthy and corporations prosper while the 99% languish in the mediocrity of the leftovers. The Bern is right on when he talks about all the issues and promises of the Trump candidacy, with the reality of his failure to follow through with the working class.

The silver lining in all this as Bernie states is that it has brought Progressives together and we have realized the dangers too our country and what must be done. Now we have to do it. Listen to the video below and you'll see what has to be done.

Donald Trump could be impeached by Progressives in 2018

The People speak

American University Professor Allan Lichtman predicted that Donald Trump would win the 2016 election for President, and he did. Well, not the popular vote by a long shot, but the electoral College which is all that counts. Lichtman did it with his system, “Keys to the White House,” one that has called presidential elections in the past. Not using the "Keys" this time, he made another forecast that Trump would be impeached before the end of his first term. Lichtman has put all this in his new book,  “The Case for Impeachment,” publishing on April 18.

The author indicates there are eight ways in which the impeachment could happen, using former cases like Andrew Johnson, Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton to illustrate his conclusion. Lichtman points out guidelines that many people aren't aware of...

"You don’t actually have to commit a crime to be impeached. The House of Representatives basically decides what constitutes impeachment, and it could be any violation of the public trust, whether or not it’s a crime."

It was the Founding Fathers intention to put in place a mechanism that would allow Congress to keep checks and balances on the Oval Office and get rid of a "rogue" that saw fit to ignore the law. Nixon did and Lichtman believes that one of the reasons that...

"...Trump is vulnerable to impeachment is that he shares many of the same traits as Richard Nixon, and poses the same kind of threat to our constitutional system, our liberties and our freedoms."

But Peter W. Stevenson of the Washington Post reminds the Professor that Republicans control both houses of Congress plus the White House. Why would they want to mess with the balance of power by impeaching another Republican? Lichtman's reply is the people could demand it and since Donald John has no real connections in Congress, they could decide to cut him loose simply because he is a liability. It only takes a majority vote and since the Dems would no doubt be in favor, it would only require two-dozen Republicans to switch.

Stevenson makes the point that Republicans don't really trust Donald Trump, but they love Mike Pence, considered to be their Christian conservative dream for Congress. In some cases, Pence could be worse than Trump with his Tea Party ideologies that he would attempt to run the government with. I say attempt because I do believe the public would revolt as they have in the past when this radical faction gets too close to control. If the emails I get from this organization are any measurement of their sanity, Mike Pence is a part of a snake pit.

Lichtman alludes to past business dealings of Donald Trump and his many decades in the world of commerce. It's not pretty. He's flouted the law, been in trouble with the Department of Justice, broke the Cuban embargo in the 1990s, when that was a serious crime, and he has broken laws with respect to the employment of illegal immigrants, ironically contradicting his own campaign. Played fast and loose with the law, walked away from failed deals, and has had a serious problem with telling the truth, obvious in his campaign and in office, but also regularly before that.

Lichman makes a comment in closing that really sums up Donald Trump as a person, "His overriding pattern is Donald Trump first, and nothing else matters nearly as much." Yet today he is in the White House, put there by voters that I am not sure were informed enough to know what the hell they were doing; at least a vast majority of them. Donald John answered to no one in business but he has the American public trust to answer to today and that is what could bring about his impeachment. 

From bedlam to turmoil, a wrap-up from Trump Turbulence

A majority of Republicans think the economic status of black Americans is mostly their fault. The General Social Survey, a wide-ranging study of cultural and political attitudes done annually by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago, reports that 55% of white Republicans agree with this concept while only 26% of white Democrats do. This 55% feel black Americans experience more poverty due to their lack of motivation and willpower. This sounds to me like the general population of the South I grew up in. Apparently little has changed.

Not exactly last week, but recent and on-going. The Democrats have a way of getting the issues they are interested in done amongst a Republican White House supported by a Republican Congress. The GOP needs the Dems to avoid a government shutdown at the end of this month. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), said...

"Republicans are going to need our help putting together the budget, and that help means we can avoid some of the outrageous Trump proposals and advance some of our own proposals.”

Trump, himself, seems to have mellowed since the repeal of Obamacare was shoved down his throat, or elsewhere. I keep saying it but just wait until 2018.

 It was Tuesday of last week that Sean Spicer effectively erased the Holocaust from history with his statement that, "... even Adolf Hitler did not sink to that level of warfare and was not using the gas on his own people in the same way that Assad is doing.” This was followed by the typical controversy that seems to go along with most everything the man says. He realized, of course, what he had said, but it is always too late and the damage has already been done. During the 2016 campaign Trump attacked Hillary Clinton using a Star of David on top of piles of money.

A week of Trump flip-flops. First, I hate NATO, then I love it. Then, China is a currency manipulator during his candidacy, in the Oval Office, China is not a currency manipulator. During the 2016 campaign, he didn't like Janet Yellen, said, she "should be ashamed of herself.” Once in the White House, “I like her, I respect her.” Conservatives don't like the U.S. Export-Import Bank. Neither did Donald John in 2016. Then he found it helped small companies so he would let it exist. It was several flip-flops that tanked John Kerry's 2004 Presidential campaign but DT seems oblivious.

A ranking of least and most popular U.S. Senators comes up regularly in the media and it makes one wonder if the purpose is to get rid of assholes like Mitch McConnell. McConnell is always at the top of the least liked, and it comes straight from a poll of his constituents. So why the hell was he reelected? Stupid voters or a weak Democrat running against him? McConnell also happens to be one of the most powerful members of Congress, and that is dangerous when it is a person who thinks only of himself and the Republican Party. But Bernie Sanders is first, because he's always for his country.

Wealth without charity is obscene

While the United States holds the most private wealth in the world, over $60 trillion, it still has the widest inequity gap of 55 countries that were studied. That is because those with the money have no charity. Okay, maybe they give here and there to organizations like United Way, The Salvation Army, YMCA, St Jude Hospital, Goodwill Industries, among a few, plus their favorite animal shelter or rescue. But I am talking about real charity, sharing of the wealth. Sound Socialistic? Well it is, I am talking about Democratic Socialism of the Berne Sanders kind.

2015 was America's most generous year of giving ever, with donations from America’s individuals, estates, foundations and corporations reaching an estimated $373.25 billion. But here's the shocker. Individuals gave over 14 times as much as corporations did. And from my experience in junk mail fund raising, the single giver is often those who can only afford small amounts. All fingers point to a corporate world where CEOs are pushed for maximum profits and paid generously to get the job done. In many cases a lot of these reach the obscene level of common sense.

Corporate participation is one of the kinds of charities I am talking about and with profits over $6. One such individual is Warren Buffett, the head of Berkshire Hathaway and a legendary investor, who in 2013 complained that he was paying a lower rate of tax than his secretary. But this is offset by the fact that he gave $2.86 billion to charities in 2016. He had given $2.84 billion in 2014.

Bill, Melinda Gates in Africa

trillion annually, you'd think they might have a couple of bucks to spare. The other is wealthy individuals, that 1% that Bernie Sanders talks about.

Bill Gates of Microsoft is another billionaire who is a giver, especially with his Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. It occurred to Gates in 1997, that rather than making sure the world had computers, make sure the world is healthy enough to use them first; that's when he saw the impoverished living conditions of Africa. Back in 2013, Gates said, "I have no use for money. This is God’s work." He was referring to his intentions to eradicate polio. At the time he had already given away $28 billion to charity, and this would continue through the foundation in years to come.

There are others you can see here. But as long as there are 564,708 homeless on the streets of the United States, and over 43 million people are living in poverty, we're doing a lousy job. It seems to me that the corporations of this country should concentrate on these two issues as a goal to bring the U.S. to where it should be. New York and Los Angeles rank in the top five of homelessness worldwide. And the U.S. poverty rate is the highest in the developed world. C'mon America, we can do better than that, and it all starts with wealthy Americans and rich U.S. corporations.

We need more "healthy" wealthy people like Warren Buffett and Bill Gates.

Democratic Party last dinosaur of politics

The Democratic Party still does not understand that it is a has-been. Like John McCain. They are so far out of touch that they don't even realize that they almost won a recent election in a heavily red section of Kansas...and with a Progressive candidate. It was "Berniecrat," James Thompson, a guy who was formerly homeless, joined the army and went to college on the GI Bill and got his law degree. Thompson was inspired to run by Bernie Sanders and "... talked about 'progressive values' like universal healthcare, education, and a $15/hour minimum wage."

He beat an establishment Democrat in the primary to run against the seat vacated by Trump's new CIA Director, Mike Pompeo, against the GOP candidate, Ron Estes. When it became obvious that Thompson was gaining in the race, the National Republican Congressional Committee poured in money as did big business. Thompson struggled on his own to raise $292,000 without the Party's help, 95% from individuals. The Democratic National Committee finally kicked in a measly $3,000. "His campaign requested $20,000 from the state Democratic Party and was denied."

Tom Perez did as many flip-flops as Donald Trump has lately, first stating that the Kansas race was one that they could win, then refusing to back Thompson until the last minute, and then with a miniscule amount of money. And then there was the laughable statement from the DNC that, "...giving Thompson money would have actually hurt his chances of winning, because then everyone would have known he’s a Democrat, and Kansans hate Democrats." I thought the double-digit IQs were all in the Republican Party. Thompson lost by 7 percentage points.

Bernie Sanders and DNC chairman Tom Perez are on a multi-city tour to "...rally Democrats around building a stronger party." Maybe I am overreacting but that appears out of line with the Bern's earlier statements on the DNC, especially since Perez was selected on Progressive Keith Ellison. Here's what Sanders told The Hill about his hopes for the DNC and a new Party...

"The best formula, in my opinion, is an updated version of the Kennedys. Jack, Bobby and Ted all combined an insurgent style of mobilizing grassroots workers and voters behind a progressive agenda that appealed to both minority voters and white ethnic and working-class voters."

I did a post earlier to indicate a need to get rid of the Democratic Party: "We need to say goodbye to the Democratic Party." It pointed out that Franklin Delano Roosevelt was a Democratic Socialist, like Bernie Sanders and he is considered at the top of the list of great Presidents. I believe that Bernie Sanders should snub the Democratic Party, and make Our Revolution a movement that can't be ignored.