Having a Tremendous Time. Wish You Were Here.

Donald Trump & Melania enter the Oscar De LA Renta Fashion Show, New York (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

President Donald Trump and his family/entourage have just returned from their first overseas tour of Europe and the Middle East.  He declared the trip a great success, as is his wont, though to most observers it was anything but.  All this trip really proved was that American prestige can no longer be taken for granted.  Not with this guy at the helm.

First, the Trumps went to Saudi Arabia, where they were wined and dined by the sheiks in exchange for his take on Mideast foreign policy.  He responded by telling them the U.S. isn't going to harp on the Saudis and other Arab countries for their human rights abuses, or to tell them how to live.  That kind of sucking up should keep the oil flowing for a few more years.

Then the Trumps went to Israel, where they reiterated the U.S.'s lasting devotion to that country, whether they deserve it or not.  He also declared his hope that the Israelis and Palestinians can work out some kind of peace solution, but didn't offer details.  It was also rumored that Trump asked his aides to take the measure of the walls Israel built to keep the Palestinians confined to the West Bank, so he could build one of his own to keep out the Mexicans.  But that's so fake news.

Finally, the President and his entourage came to Europe, where he told NATO members to pay up or else, and to pick a fight with Germany over trade practises that he thought were unfair to Americans.  That prompted German chancellor Angela Merkel to declare that Europeans can no longer depend on the United States for much of anything.

The European leaders also tried to persuade Trump to continue with the Paris accord on global climate change, which would reverse a campaign promise he made to get the U.S. out of it.  The President said he's still thinking about it, but there are reports indicating that he's already made the decision to pull out.  If that's true, then what did you expect from a man whose exposure to nature is limited to the golf courses he owns?  Thanks to Trump, there will be bigger swamps to drain by the end of this century, if predictions of rising oceans swallowing up coastal lands comes true.

Now that the Trumps are home, the President can go back to being captain of a sinking ship.  The latest is that senior advisor Jared Kushner, who also happens to be Trump's son-in-law, is part of an FBI investigation into whether he and others colluded with the Russian government over last fall's election results.  With that going on, it should be real interesting to hear what former FBI director James Comey, former National Security advisor Michael Flynn and others have to tell Congress.  Oh, and Trump still has to name Comey's replacement.

In just a few short months, the reputation of the United States has plummeted to the point where anything President Trump says or does has the potential to do great harm to his country and the world at large.  A few days of alienating his allies on their home turf should have driven home the point.  If the President doesn't realize this now, maybe he never will.

Trump: The End, or Just the Beginning?

Official portrait of the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigations Robert S. Mueller. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In recent weeks, revelations about alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election and its influence on Donald Trump's campaign have made it sound like the beginning of the end for the man who is now President.  Or should it be the end of the beginning?

• Before Trump fired FBI director James Comey, he had asked the director to back off on his investigation of Michael Flynn, the National Security adviser who lasted only a couple of weeks on the job before details of his alleged collusion with the Russians did him in.
• After Comey was fired, Trump held a meeting in the Oval Office with two Russian officials, in which he claimed he had classified documents on how to handle the Islamic State.  He also told them that Comey was a 'nut job' whose removal helped to cool the investigation.  All this was reported by Russian state media who were in the room, not the White House press corps who were kicked out.  Now we know why.
• Robert Mueller, a former FBI director, was named special prosecutor by the Justice Department.  He is apparently well respected by almost everyone in Washington, but he might want to look over his shoulder.  Even though Mueller can't be fired by Trump, let's see how long it takes the President to undermine the special prosecutor.
• Is there a problem mentally with Trump?  Amateur psychologists and real doctors can only speculate from afar on his erratic behavior since taking office, and what it means.  It is also very dangerous to do so, since Trump has yet to release his full medical history for the same reason why he hasn't released his recent tax returns.

All of this is leading to talk of a possible impeachment.  Granted, this current scandal ranks just behind Watergate and ahead of Monicagate so far in terms of how damaging it is to whoever is in charge, depending on what Mueller turns up about the misdeeds (if any) of the Trumps and the Russians.

Impeachment would be difficult to pull off, no matter what the evidence, since (A) there's never been one that's removed a President from office, and (B) the Republicans have the numbers in Congress to beat back any attempt.  After working so hard the last eight years to undermine the legacy of the previous Democratic president, why should the GOP do that to one of their own?  Even if it is Trump threatening to louse up the party's 2018 midterm election chances, but that's doubtful.

The most likely scenario, if it happens at all, is for Trump to resign.  His ego might not permit it, but the daily crush of revelations from the investigations and the souring of his base just might change his mind.  Then it really will be time for President Mike Pence.

Tuesday Night Blindside

James Comey (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The firing of FBI Director James Comey by President Donald Trump came as a complete surprise to just about everyone.  What isn't clear is why it happened and what comes next.

Comey, it must be said, was not well liked by either Democrats or Republicans because he had a tendency to mess things up when it was least expected, and was known to say things he shouldn't have in public.  Having been appointed in the Obama administration in September 2013 with a ten-year position, he should have been above politics.

Instead, Comey more or less cost Hillary Clinton the presidency because of his late-October decision to reopen the investigation into what was in the private e-mail server of the former Secretary of State.

The removal of Comey came as Congress is investigating charges that the Russians meddled their way into the 2016 presidential election, and that Trump campaign staff may have been involved.  The most prominent victim thus far is Michael Flynn, who had only been National Security Adviser to the president for a couple of weeks before he was found to be colluding with the Russians during the transition period.  So yes, the timing is curious.

Congressional members, most of them Democrats, have been hollering about the need for a special prosecutor to handle this case.  With the dismissal of Comey, however, the President gets to pick his own candidate for not only the next FBI director, but also the special prosecutor if he chooses.  Which makes you wonder how independent this person is going to be, right?  As for Congress hiring its own prosecutor, what are they waiting for?  Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell's permission?

Trump is only the second President to fire the person who was launching an investigation against him.  The first was Richard Nixon.  Those of you with long memories will recall what happened on a Saturday night in October 1973.  Attorney General Elliot Richardson and his deputy William Ruckleshaus were both let go for refusing Nixon's order to fire Watergate special prosecutor Archibald Cox, who refused to accept the White House's version of summaries of the Watergate tapes.  It took the Solicitor General to deliver the bad news to Cox.  Days later, eight impeachment resolutions were introduced in the House of Representatives as Nixon said he would turn over the disputed tapes.

Times and scandals are different, of course.  One was a botched robbery at a rival's campaign headquarters that led to a cover-up, an investigation, and a President who resigned.  Another was the alleged interference by a foreign government of an American presidential election, benefiting the man who currently resides in the White House, which has also grown into a cover-up and a crisis months into his administration.

What happens to the investigations now depends on who President Trump nominates as his new FBI director, and whether the agency and others will find enough evidence to convict the people responsible.  If the politicians care anything about the country, the investigations should continue.  Otherwise, there will be more blindsides to come.

Trumpcare: Aiming For The Moving Target

Zoom and Bored (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Ever since the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) was passed in 2010, which despite its flaws enrolled millions of people in health insurance programs that were previously denied them, Congressional Republicans have been devising ways to "repeal and replace" the law with their own version.  Most of those efforts have had as much success as Wile E. Coyote's attempts to subdue the Road Runner in those Warner Brothers cartoons.

But now they've found a version of the American Health Care Act (aka Trumpcare) that actually passed the House of Representatives, without so much as public or governmental scrutiny, on a party-line vote of 217-213.  There was a celebration at the White House with President Donald Trump, who hasn't had much Congressional luck other than getting a spending bill passed that keeps the government in business for a few more months, high-fiving everyone who had anything to do with the health care bill.  That, folks, is like the New England Patriots celebrating a Super Bowl championship at the end of the first quarter.

The bill now goes to the Senate, where it faces an uncertain future depending on how much radical surgery they choose to do on it.  For now, in case you've forgotten, here's some of what's in the AHCA bill.

• It allows insurers to raise premiums on people with pre-existing conditions.
• It restricts expansion of Medicaid after 2020.
• No penalties for those who don't buy insurance, but will let insurers charge 30 percent more for those who waited until after they got sick to get insurance.
• No cost-sharing for low-income folks to help pay for their deductibles.
• States can apply for waivers of mandatory coverage, which includes coverage for maternity care and emergency room visits.
• No taxes on the wealthy and others who helped pay for Obamacare.

The public outcry over the latest sneak attack on their right to better health care has included veiled threats against continued employment for House GOP members who voted for the AHCA.  Democrats, many of whom voted against the bill, have been heard singing "Na Na Na Na, Hey Hey Hey, Goodbye" (the 1969 rock anthem by Steam) in the House chambers, as if this were a sports arena.

If this were the fall of 2018, all this unrest against an unpopular bill might have made a difference at the polls.  But this is the spring of 2017, a few months removed from the last election, which means there will be plenty of time for collective amnesia to set in.  At least the GOP hopes so.

The next few months will decide whether or not Obamacare really does get repealed and replaced by Congress.  For that to happen, the GOP should be timing their intentions just right so that they don't end up falling off a cliff.   Just like Wile E. Coyote.

Fun Facts About "Old Hickory"

English: Andrew Jackson - 7 th President of the United States (1829–1837) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Our current esteemed President considers Andrew Jackson, the seventh President of the United States, as a role model.  So much so that the President thought Jackson could have done something about stopping the Civil War if he was still in office.  And he very well might have if he weren't six feet under by the time the shots started firing in 1861.

We don't know how much of a student of history Donald Trump is, but there are a few things he should know about the man they used to call "Old Hickory".

• He was born on March 15, 1767 to parents Andrew Sr. and Elizabeth near the border of North and South Carolina.
• Joined the Revolutionary War at age 13 before being captured.
• Became an attorney, helped draft the Tennessee state constitution.
• Became national hero as a general during the War of 1812 when, with outnumbered American troops, defeated the British at New Orleans.  There he earned the nickname "Old Hickory".
•  Was briefly military governor of Florida before becoming a U.S. Senator from Tennessee.
• Owned up to 300 slaves at his Hermitage estate in Nashville, Tennessee.
• Lost contentious presidential election to John Quincy Adams in 1824, despite having won the most popular and electoral votes, but not enough for a majority.  The House of Representatives decides in favor of Adams.
• Defeated Adams in 1828.  He was President from 1829-37.
• His Inauguration devolved into a free-for-all after he invited supporters for a party at the White House, who then ransacked the place.
• Signed Indian Removal Act, which moved Native American tribes by force from their ancestral grounds to what is now Oklahoma.
• Faced down threat by South Carolina to secede from the Union due to a dispute over high tariffs on cotton, and economic policies that favored the northern states.
• Helped found the Democratic Party.
• Called for an end to the Electoral College.
• Became the only President to pay off the national debt.
• Introduced the spoils system, which gave government jobs to party members.
• Helped to shut down the Second Bank of the United States, moving the money to financial institutions run by cronies.
• Married Rachel Donelson Robards in 1791.  She died in 1828, shortly before Jackson took office.
• Died on June 8, 1845 at age 78.
• Jackson's face currently adorns the $20 bill, but is due to be relegated to the back when abolitionist Harriet Tubman takes her place on the front in 2020.

If you want to know more about Andrew Jackson, either go online or to your local library.  That goes for you, too, President Trump.