There are those among us who still hold dear the notion that the purpose of government is to serve the people. Sadly, the Trump administration and the feckless Republican congress has dealt yet another soul crushing blow to that Pollyannaish notion.
Lets’ start with Susan Rice.
Donald Trump, the President of the United States, publically accused President Obama’s National Security Advisor of criminal conduct. According to Trump, Susan Rice illegally revealed the names of US citizens that the intelligence community was illegally surveilling in order to gain a political advantage for the Obama White House and the Democratic Party. A charge totally debunked by every single intelligence expert and talking head not employed by Fox News.
Angered that his attempt to smear the character and distinguished career of loyal civil servant was not generating the desired outrage, Trump doubled down; leaking classified information which supposedly proved Trump’s claim to the Republican Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee so he in turn could make it public by reporting it back to the White House.
If this sophomoric laundering scam seems a bit unhinged it means you are paying attention.
The purpose of this bold faced lie was to distract the country and the press from Trump’s previous whopper; that President Obama had tapped the phone lines at Trump tower. The laundering fiasco was intended to give credence to the lie.
The result of this train wreck is that we now know that our serial liar of a president lied about Obama tapping his phones and made up another lie to cover up the first. We know that the White House illegally divulged classified information to support its fictitious narrative. And we know that the classified information leaked by the White House shows that while the Obama intelligence community was legally surveilling foreign operatives and persons of interest, it scooped up conversations between members of the Trump campaign and those foreign actors.
All of this to justify a wrongheaded, impulsive, baseless tweet that Obama was tapping Trump’s phones.
This exhausting charade created no jobs, raised no wages, rebuilt zero infrastructure and did not improve health care.
Let’s move on to the confirmation of Neil Gorsuch to fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court.
On November 30, 2013 then Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid invoked what is known in congressional parlance as the “nuclear option.” Tired of Republican obstructionist procedural tactics bogging down the Democratic agenda, Reid did the unthinkable. The highly controversial move did away with the filibuster and allowed the majority party to move legislation with a simple majority vote. The need for bi-partisan compromise to reach a 60 vote threshold a thing of the past. Reid left in place the 60 vote requirement for confirmations to the Supreme Court.
Conservative icon Antonin Scalia died on February 13, 2016. One month later, on March 16, 2016 President Obama fulfilled his constitutional duty and nominated Appellate Judge Merrick Garland to fill the seat. Garland had been previously vetted by congress and confirmed for his federal post by a 99-0 vote.
The Republican caucus, led by senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said they would not consider ANY nominations for the empty seat until after the election. McConnell disingenuously said: “The American people should get to decide who the next Supreme Court justice should be.”
Barak Obama still had 10 months left in his final term. Yet the Republican congress wouldn’t even give Garland the courtesy of a hearing.
McConnell said that there was historical precedent that presidents do not nominate Supreme Court justices during their final year in office and therefore Obama should have followed that precedent.
Unfortunaly Senator Ted Cruz revealed the truth behind the Republican scam when he said that if Hillary Clinton were to be elected president he would do everything in his power to stop her from filling any future Supreme Court seat for as long as she sat in the White House.
Fast forward to January 31, 2017. President Trump nominates Neil Gorsuch to fill the Supreme Court seat that has been held vacant for 293 days by Republican obstruction. Trump had contacted leading conservative groups like Heritage Action and Club for Growth to comprise a list of acceptable nominees. Trump picked Gorsuch off that list.
Democrats agree to hold confirmation hearings but after 20 hours of testimony they are unable to get Gorsuch to state his personal views on the controversial subjects plaguing the country.
Only three Democrats agree to join Republicans in confirming Gorsuch; leaving the Republican Majority well short of the 60 vote threshold needed to confirm.
McConnell had promised that one way or another Gorsuch would be confirmed. Keeping his word McConnell exercised his authority under the constitution and invoked the nuclear option on the Gorsuch vote: assuring that partisan politics would govern all judicial appointments for decades to come.
Trump could have consulted with Democrats prior to the hearing to find a candidate both parties could support. He didn’t. McConnell could have put Gorsuch name on the floor under normal order for a vote and let the cards fall where they may. He didn’t. McConnell finished what Harry Reid started.
McConnell gambled that a Republican would take the White House and he won. Republicans won as well. Republicans now control all three branches of government.
The losers…the American people. Partisan politics triumphed over compromise. That is never good for the American people.
Also…this year long political fight created zero jobs, raised zero wages, rebuilt zero infrastructure and did not improve health care.
Finally we examine Trump’s foreign policy; specifically his decision to bomb a Syrian airfield in retaliation for Assad’s use of chemical weapons.
Trump authorized the military to launch 59 Tomahawk against the airbase identified as the origination point of a sarin attack ordered by Syrian President Assad against his own people. Trump was said to have been moved by the horrific pictures of young children and babies struggling to clear their lungs of the sarin toxin.
Trump had spent the better part of the last 5 years telling Obama that to intervene in Syria was to repeat the same mistakes made in Iraq and Yemen. He spent 18 months on the campaign preaching the same isolationist, nationalist message. Suddenly he is ordering military strikes into Syria. Why the change?
It is possible that Trump was actually moved by the videos of the dying children. If so then it will be the first sign of empathy ever displayed by this president. If Trump was so moved by these deaths then why has he sat back allowed Assad to kill tens of thousands of them with barrel bombs and conventional weapons? If he is so moved why has he banned them from our borders?
As a tactical move this strike sends a political message; that use of chemical weapons will not stand. It make Trump look like a tough guy. Obama had the same opportunity and drew a similar line in the sand. Obama didn’t back up his words with actions. Obama…weak. Trump…strong. Message sent.
Congress of course is thrilled. Obama had challenged congress to stop bitching about his unwillingness to enter into another military conflict. Only congress has the power to declare war. Obama challenged the Hill…if congress was so adamant to pursue ISIS into Syria and take out Assad in the process; Obama asked them to vote on a resolution authorizing him to go to war in the region.
Congress of course declined because no one in congress wants to go on the record as being for or against a military conflict whose likelihood of success is 50/50. Job preservation is always job one. Trump’s action gets them off the hook.
So what’s next? Trump’s military action certainly didn’t change conditions on the ground in Syria. It didn’t even change operations at the airbase targeted by the attack. Reuters reported that Syrian fighter planes had resumed operations that same night; presumably hauling more barrel bombs to drop on those helpless Syrian children.
So what was the point? Does this mean that Trump has abandoned his isolationist rhetoric in favor of regime change? The word from high ranking Trump officials is confusing at best.
UN Ambassador Nikki Haley says Assad must go and we will work with our allies to make that happen. She says this air strike was a limited response to Assad’s use of chemical weapons “But we are prepared to do more.”
But Secretary of State Rex Tillerson says no. Tillerson says that the duration of Assad’s rein “will be up to the Syrian people.” Tillerson make it clear that this was a “one off” attack and that the US isolationist policy remains in force.
So which is it?
What we know for certain is that this military operation did little to hurt Assad and was orchestrated to avoid any inflicting harm on Russian assets in the region. It made Trump look like a decisive tough guy and distracted the country and the media from the scandals and rank incompetence that has enveloped this White House in its first 100 days.
Maybe that’s all it was ever intended to be…at distraction…that cost American taxpayers over $100 million dollars.
And while America was focusing on Navy video of those rockets’ red glare…Trump was working on legislation that imposes tariffs on imports that will make products more expensive for Americans to buy, allows the use of lead back into manufacturing processes, rolls back the mandated 55 MPG standards for the auto industry, eliminates school lunch programs, legalizes the use of a pesticide proven injurious to small children and endeavors to resurrect a draconian failed health care bill by removing the requirement that health care insurance companies keep people with pre-existing conditions on their rolls.
The Trump administration…working tirelessly for the American people.
Comments on this entry are closed.