TRUMP FIGHTS ON - MOVING FROM “NO COLLUSION” TO “NO QUID PRO QUO”.

One of Donald Trump’s undeniable talents is that he has the rare skill of being able to simplify his "policies" into a catchy slogan. He does not confuse the masses with facts, principle, morality or carefully researched arguments.  It boils down to just a crisp phrase which becomes the rallying cry. Examples include, “Build that wall”, “Lock her up”, “Crooked Hillary”….  

With regard to the Mueller Russian investigation which resulted in the uncovering of foreign interference in a Presidential election, widespread corruption, obstruction of justice, criminal convictions of Trump’s inner circle and which would have jailed him as well if he had not been President, the slick response jingle was “no collusion”. The fact that no such legal term as collusion exists and while there was plenty of what is colloquially regarded as “collusion” in Mueller’s detailed enquiry, it did not deter the POTUS one bit. He somehow emerged unscathed with his Attorney General’s collaboration, while spouting out “no collusion” ad nauseam.

The question therefore remains, why can’t “No quid pro quo” in the impeachment enquiry do for him what “no collusion” delivered in the Mueller Russian probe? The answer is it might but it is more likely that Trump will not emerge from this scandal unscathed - the only uncertainty being the extent of the damage to him. 

What, if anything, has changed in the Trump world, that initially allowed Trump to emerge with his base still intact from a swamp of deceit and lies, in what was labelled ”The Russian Enquiry”? Why does he now find himself in deep trouble over just one instance of the way he normally conducts business? One interaction with the Ukrainian President where he asked for a personal favor in return for releasing Congressionally sanctioned aid has supposedly changed the whole landscape resulting in what even his allies recognize as "dire trouble".  

Somehow the defense that the phone call “was perfect” and there was “no quid pro quo” is not resonating as well “collusion delusion”. This fact is underscored by that the normally cautious Nancy Pelosi believes the world changed the day the Whistleblower complaint saw the light of day thus moving her stance from never impeachment to all systems go.

When the history of this sordid period is written much will be made of the tactical genius of the Democratic leader of the House, Nancy Pelosi. In addition to her contribution will be the fact that the moral integrity of the American Constitution was salvaged by career non partisan public servants rather than those Republicans elected to do so.

THE MUELLER INVESTIGATION VERSUS THE IMPEACHMENT

The Mueller Investigation begun within only five months of Trump’s Presidency and the public had not as yet been engulfed by the ongoing toxic lying tweet storm and what it represented. Mueller’s shop was tight lipped and it was only what was happening in plain sight as well as press revelations for the public to feed on. The Trump WhiteHouse had not as yet experienced the avalanche of staff turnover and generally there was more of a mood to give the new POTUS the benefit of the doubt. Also while Mueller was being smeared off the face of the earth he remained mum. The enquiry dragged on for twenty - two months as Trump screeched “no collusion” and everyone became bored stiff. 

The most significant favorable factor for Trump in the whole saga was the entry of plausible, convincing, erudite and “respected” Attorney General William Barr. Barr, whose respectability was given the benefit of the doubt even by the opposition as he was judged to be an institutionalist. The bespectacled jurist whitewashed The President corroborating his mantra, specifically concluding that there was “no collusion”. Even though Mueller released a letter and public statement chastising the Attorney General for misconstruing his five hundred page detailed indictment, the dour Special Counsel was no public match for the suave Barr whose cover up prevailed. 

Barr stuck to his narrative even to re echoing Trump’s slogan “no collusion”,for a full month before releasing a redacted version of Mueller’s report. He thus firmly implanted his erroneous conclusion in the public arena. To this day he has fought in the courts to withhold from Congress the grand jury testimony and other supporting material of the report. Another major factor that helped to turn the whole ongoing saga into a gigantic yawn was the reluctance of Nancy Pelosi to proceed with impeachment and rather fight each Trump Administrative intransigence in never ending battles in the courts. 

This ongoing epic was taking place to the backdrop of Trump controlling both chambers of the legislature and the never ending improvement of the Obama initiated economic recovery, which the incumbent POTUS was naturally taking credit for. 

Then along came the 2018 elections where Trump’s invincibility received a shattering jolt losing over forty - one House Seats. However this afforded Speaker Pelosi a new argument not to proceed with impeachment. She had at least thirty new members who had won where Trump had majorities in 2016 and the POTUS’S base was still solidly against impeachment. She needed to protect her babes so she allowed the investigation into the POTUS to dawdle on in the courts while witnesses refused to give evidence out of fear of Trump, who with Barr was steadily holding off document production as well. “No collusion” had not only survived it was alive and well.

WHAT TURNED NO COLLUSION INTO NO QUID PRO QUO

Then it all changed, the newly elected Democratically controlled House of Representatives received a WhistleBlower complaint that alleged that Trump had attempted to shake down, for personal gain, an American ally, Ukraine, who deperately needed the military aid, promised by a bipartisan Congress, to counter Russia's aggression. The POTUS threatened to withhold the taxpayer money unless President Zelensky did him “a favor” by investigating his most likely 2020 political opponent Joe Biden, digging up dirt on Hillary Clinton and finding evidence that it was Ukraine not Russia who had intervened in the 2016 election. 

In the devastating aftermath of the release of the complaint Trump dumbfounded everyone by providing even more explosive documentary evidence confirming the essential burden of the WhistleBlower, (WB) account. In spite of what was evident in plain sight Trump argued that there was “no quid pro quo”.  You see the other defining skill Trump has is that like in Alice in Wonderland he argues, “That things mean what I say they mean”. 

The WB complaint and a few media revelations had been enough to immediately increase the poll figures on impeachment but more importantly the freshmen Democrats, who had the most to lose with an impeachment enquiry as they had won in 2018 in constituencies where Trump had triumphed, were the ones that gave Pelosi the push to initiate the enquiry. Many had been in the armed services and argued that betraying an ally made their oaths meaningless. They demanded an impeachment enquiry which the Speaker announced. Nancy was still gun-shy about going to the House floor for an overall vote so she decided to have the best of both worlds - an impeachment enquiry without exposing the freshmen congresspeople to a public vote.

Nancy also made the strategic move to stick to just one area for investigation - the July 25th Trump Ukraine phone call - however tempting it was to throw the book at Trump. She chose as her lead investigator the mild mannered Adam Schiff Head of the Intelligence Committee, whose approach was favored by the newbies. 

In the interim the Republican Senate who never really bought Barr’s support of “no collusion” and who were to issue their own bipartisan report that Russia interfered with the 2016 election in Trump’s favor, grew steadily more antagonistic towards the POTUS. They reminded Trump that there were veto proof majorities backing the implemention of Russian sanctions and were furious at the betrayal of Ukraine. 

Not directly related to the WB complaint, but nevertheless in what history will consider a turning point in McConnell's relations with the POTUS, was the Commander in Chief’s sell out of America’s allies, the Kurds, in favor of Russia, Syria, Turkey and even Iran. McConnell wrote an op ed in the Washington Post condemning the move. Rumblings in the Senate surfaced with Mitt Romney emerging as a potential leader against Trump’s leadership, while McConnell made it quite clear that he would run a full scale termination enquiry should the House come up with articles of impeachment.

THE IMPEACHMENT ENQUIRY PROCEEDS

Then there was a procession of witnesses to the Schiff led probe. While most of the evidence was behind closed doors, between released opening statements and the odd leak matters began to look worse and worse for Trump. A key factor in the rapidly deteriorating scenario was that the leader of the “no collusion” defense, William Barr was AWOL in the “no quid pro quo” scenario. The President’s personal lawyer Rudi Giuliani who was implicated himself up to his neck, took over the mantle of protecting the nation’s leader with disastrous results. Giuliani’s woes were multiplied when two of his assistants who were aiding him in the Ukrainian squeeze were arrested while it was leaked that he himself was under a counter intelligence investigation. To add insult to injury, the President’s Chief of Staff Nick Mulvaney who had been designated to quell the storm admitted that there was a quid pro quo in the Ukrainian scandal as that was the way the Trump Administration conducted foreign affairs. 

In one short month the the whole landscape had been altered. 

To help the Democratic cause the courts were finally showing some life and decision after decision was going against Trump in favor of the Legislature’s responsibility to provide oversight over the Presidency. Nancy however strategically had elected not to allow the court process to encumber the Schiff probe. If Trump defied document subpoenas or refused to allow witnesses to testify that would be evidence of obstruction of justice as it had been the case in the Nixon impeachment. She believed that there was more than enough evidence to impeach on the basis of abuse of power. This contention was to be proved over and over again as witnesses defied Trump in response to corroborate the WB complaint.

So without even a public enquiry with Trump’s disapproval rating remaining at fifty- four percent, in spite of a morale boosting successful raid on the leader of ISIS, Nancy was ready to make the next move, a House proposal to conduct impeachment proceedings.

REPUBLICANS BE CAREFUL FOR WHAT YOU WISH FOR 

It is fair to say that that citadel of Trump defense, the  Republicans in the House of Representatives, were shell shocked by the month’s blitzkrieg. As the old legal saying goes when you are beaten by the facts argue the law and vice versa. However when you are losing both the law and the facts pound the table and that was the House Republican legislators did. They hammered that the due process was not being followed. Sensing Nancy’s initial reticence at exposing her vulnerable caucus members to a floor vote they falsely claimed that the enquiry was unconstitutional because the Democrats had not ordered a House Vote to initiate the probe. They wailed further that the smear campaign was being conducted in secret as day long testimony was being held in camera. Republicans were not given an opportunity to question the witnesses they lied as there were over forty members that were in on the proceedings that were given equal rights at cross examination. 

There were no challenges to the facts that the WB had laid out. The only one to argue the issue was the defendant Trump, who against stark reality squealed “no quid pro quo”. 

There was vilification of the witnesses by the President, Fox News and some Republican Congressmen which just proved too much for the House Republican Leadership when those in uniform were being called traitors. Liz Cheney the number three ranking Republican in the House, flanked by numbers one and two condemned the action claiming that the witnesses were patriots and no way  should the Republicans go there. 

So amidst this all Nancy made her next move and gave the Republicans ostensibly what they wished for. There was a full House vote on an impeachment enquiry, there would be a release of closed door testimony transcriptions, there would be televised proceedings of public testimony and the President could be represented by Counsel. In so doing she took away the GOP argument on process, not of course that they admitted it. For those who took no note of history it was the public hearings that finally moved Nixon approval ratings from over seventy percent to twenty percent. Conversely it upped Bill Clinton’s from fifty plus to eighty percent. 

However the Republicans have to put up some sort of an arguement. Are going to have argue the facts? Alternatively are they going to have champion their bizarre interpretation of the law that Trump and Barr have steadfastly stuck to - namely that any enquiry into the President’s activities are illegitimate. They maintain that the Courts decided wrongly in the USA v Nixon and USA v Clinton in that they forced Executive heads to comply with Congress requests. 

At the end of the day the Trump defenders will bandy neither the facts or the law. They may well agree with the facts and contend that what Trump did was neither “a high crime or misdemeanor” warranting termination of a President. Whatever they rationalize Jay H. Ell is prepared to underwrite that the outcome will not push up the Trump approval ratings. If you don’t believe him believe the chief Fox News analyst, Judge Napolitano. The latter said that the proof against the President was incontrovertible and the Republicans should be careful for what they wish for. 

THANKS TO THE BRAVE PUBLIC SERVANTS 

One of the most depressing outcomes of the impeachment enquiry is the self serving cowardice of those elected legislators to uphold the rule of law and the constitution in the face of the overwhelming evidence of the evil and sociopathy of the Trump Presidency. This behavior is juxtaposed with the patriotism and the courage of the public servants who risk their careers and future in fulfilling their responsibility to the values they believed they were serving. 

It is also right to acknowledge those Democrats who had the most to lose with an impeachment enquiry as they had won in 2018 in constituencies where Trump had triumphed in 2016. They were the ones that gave Pelosi the push to initiate the enquiry.

THE BEST OUTCOME

The best outcome of this whole sordid mess would be that both Trump and his accomplice in chief Vice President Mike Spence were thrown out of office and the third in line Nancy Pelosi was declared President and at her inauguration there was the biggest crowd in history!

MEANWHILE BACK AT THE ZOO

William Barr is running around the world trying to prove that Obama spied on Trump and that a bogus Obama agent told the Trump campaign that the Russians were backing him.  He is sticking to the “no collusion” Trump because even he has no stomach for the “no quid pro quo” fantasy. 

THE BUILD UP OF TRUMP’S THREE MONUMENTAL LIES

Donald J. Trump has in a thousand days in office spawned close on fourteen thousand lies. It is impossible to enumerate his life long total as the media only took score after he was elevated to the Presidency. Two of his great lies, which he developed into major themes, preceded his taking his oath. The third monumental lie is designed to get him re elected.

Trump's three grand lies which have become central to his narrative, are: Barack Obama was born in Kenya; Hillary Clinton’s e mails were a major breech of national security; and finally, the one in progress, is that former Vice President Joe Biden used his office to prevent his son going to jail in Ukraine. The Obama lie established him as a national political figure in the twenty - first century and thereby a potential presidential contender, the “crooked” Hillary falsehood helped his election to the Presidency and the latest on Biden, Trump believes will get him reelected. 

A confluence of factors produced the phenomenon of Trumpism including the fact that trust in the whole Washington political establishment had plummeted. Besides exhibiting the traits of salesmanship and showmanship to a tee, he exploited the digital communication revolution with unparalleled skill. In addition the traditional media gave him continuous exposure which they have continued doing to this day. In the main they deride him but have not desisted in providing the wall to wall coverage he craves and needs to remain competitive. They are still in the process of assisting him perpetuating his first two great lies and promoting his next humongous one, namely that Joe Biden is the corrupt participant in the 2020 Presidential election, not him.

HOW TRUMP SPREADS HIS GREAT BIG LIES

How on earth does Trump sustain these falsehoods perpetuating and elaborating on them again and again to become the central focus of the political narrative? The answer to that question is multifactorial. To begin Trump is the most powerful propagandist and demagogue since World War II. Added to that is his innate skill at sensing what is in his cult's gut, then converting their emotions into victimhood and finally pronouncing himself as their savior. 

Like all peddlers of hate there have to be targets they can attack as the scapegoats of the darkness. In these instances they are Obama, Clinton and Biden. The former two are still trotted out but the Satan du jour is Joe Biden. But if his garbage was not on every Cable News Channel 7/24 he would only have Fox News, his Nuremberg Style Rallies and tweets to rely on and he would not be able to control the national narrative to the extent that he does.

Trump’s message is initially generated by the communication revolution his rise to prominence coincided with. His outrageous assertions, lies, conspiracy theories are magnified, multiplied and recycled ad infinitum. Every kook and gullible follower with a computer and hand held printing press can now speak to the world. As Trump himself has argued a four hundred pound individual sitting on a bed can join in the game. The Donald can fan the flames non stop with his tweets which he shoots out on everything and anything. The irony is however that for whatever reason the garbage is reiterated, commented on ad nauseam with reports and panels in the traditional media where it then gains respectability as a subject of legitimate debate. 

“FAKE NEWS” ASSISTS TRUMP IN HIS PROPAGANDA INCLUDING FIRST ON HILLARY THEN ON OBAMA

His crackpot themes are thus given legitimacy by the “Fake News” he derides. They report each and every utterance and outpouring. Then panels discuss each phony lie he utters giving him more and more air time. In so doing they create moral equivalencies that don’t exist. This they did by following Hillary’s e mail scandal hit by hit, thereby helping him magnify this administrative misadventure into a national security crisis far worse than his decades of lawlessness. On the TV Channels experts that should have known better, to Trump’s glee, debated the political, moral and legal implications of Clinton’s ersatz problem. Now that four and a half years later the issue has officially been declared dead by the latest Governmental investigation which was initiated at Trump’s behest, the apologies by the “fake news” media are flying in - on page six.  Needless to say Trump ignored the outcome as he mutated the Hillary lie into another one.

The lie takes a new twist with regard to Hillary as the POTUS now claims that Ukraine assisted Hillary in the 2016 election. In addition he claims that her 33,000 deleted private e mails have been hidden in Ukraine and it was Ukraine not Russia that hacked the 2016 Presidential election. 

Adding to his media attention is the coverage now provided for the preposterous decision by Trump’s lackey Attorney General’s decision to criminally investigate the Justice Department’s enquiry into Russia’s intervention in the 2016 Presidential election. The smear is that good old Obama, (who really was born in Kenya!), planted an agent to pretend that Russia was intervening on behalf of Trump. In addition Barr told a Senate Committee that Trump was spied upon. 

That is all such rubbish. Obama didn’t publicize the Russian intervention during the 2016 Presidential campaign because Mitch McConnell would not join him even though he agreed with the Intelligence agencies' findings. Obama without bipartisan support did not go ahead as he feared that this would be interpreted as intervening in the election on the side of Hillary Clinton. Without going into much detail the near five hundred page Mueller report detailed the Russian playbook and the Republican controlled Senate Justice Committee has just issued a bipartisan report that the Russians intervened in favor of Trump in the 2016 Presidential elections. 

 The eventual outcome of whatever Barr is pretending to investigate will be exactly the same as the enquiry into Hillary Clinton’s emails. The "finding" will be announced in 2023. If Trump is reelected he will ignore this finding in 2023 much as he is ignoring the finding that Hillary Clinton and her handling of the emails was never illegal. 

So the legitimate media must ignore Barr’s bogus enquiry. Jay H. Ell does not want to hear how honorable the investigator John Durham is and what a great big institutionalist he is. He has heard it all before in connection with William Barr. If Durham has any integrity he would have not taken this blatant political hit job at Barr's behest. 

LAST BUT NOT LEAST THE REPUBLICAN PARTY ENABLE TRUMP’S FAKE WORLD

History is not going to be too kind to the folding of the Republican Party National Committee, and legislators, who for expediency sold out their country and its constitution to this corrupt charlatan. The GOP leadership ran cover for this megalomaniac ignoring his corruption, self dealing, incompetence and his pathological lying, thereby risking this country’s national security and reputation. In the teeth of the exposing of his utilization of taxpayer’s money to get Ukraine to back his lie that Joe Biden covered up his son’s Ukrainian corruption, they even resorted to childish behavior to show their support for him. Lindsey Graham and Mitch McConnell are proposing a motion in the Senate Echo Chamber to condemn the Democrats for conducting the impeachment investigation. 

THE LATEST  SCAPEGOAT - THE POTENTIAL DEMOCRATIC OPPONENT IN 2020, JOE BIDEN. 

Trump has not let go of the  bogeywoman Hillary Clinton while the smears against Barack Obama have escalated into a criminal enquiry. These two scapegoats have now been joined for the 2020 contest by Joe Biden. This attack on Obama’s Vice President have been componded by Trump's abuse of power and an attack on the Constitution of the United States of America. 

Trump, for whom no depths are too low to sink, has used the power of his Office, decisions of Congress, the Pentagon, the State Department, the Attorney General and his personal attorney to assist him in smearing his most dangerous 2020 political opponent, Joe Biden. This flagrant unashamed abuse has resulted in the impeachment enquiry where evidence is piling up that he demanded that President Zelensky of Ukraine, assist him in his Biden smears. Failure to comply would mean that Ukraine would not receive moneys voted by the Congress nor would Zelensky gain a much needed WhiteHouse visit. The story becomes even more disgusting as Ukrainian lives depend on the military assistance needed to fight Trump’s newest best friend Putin’s aggression and seizure of Ukrainian territory. 

WHAT IS CHALLENGING THE TRUMP AGENDA?

Besides the damning daily evidence leaking from the Impeachment Enquiry there are legions of court challenges that are beginning to catch up with Trump. The DC Federal Court has instructed the Department of Justice to hand over the documents relating to the Mueller Report. Another Federal Appellate Court viewed the Trump refusal to provide documents on the basis that it was illegal to investigate let alone charge a sitting President, with "shock". Trump’s Counsel argued that not only could the President shoot someone on Fifth Avenue law enforcement could not even stop him! 

There are nearly two dozen court cases in process against the POTUS including civil actions arising out of his alleged sexual attacks on women. Ultimately Trump believes the Supreme Court will rescue him by reversing unanimous decisions forcing Nixon and Clinton to comply with congressional oversight.

Parallel to all Donald’s legal jeopardy are the criminal charges against two close associates, who were assisting his current personal lawyer Rudi Giuliani in the Ukranian project, and the fact that the latter is under a counter intelligence investigation. All of this activity relates to the quid pro quo impeachment enquiry into Rudi’s client the President of the United States of America.

The Senate firewall is showing cracks. McConnell denied outright that he confirmed to the President that his phone call to President Zelensky was “perfect”. The Press are reporting that as of this moment there are eight Republican waverers in the Senate who could vote for the President's removal if the evidence was there. Even backside licker in chief Lindsey Graham is hedging his bets and Trump is apparently furious that Graham is not investigating Biden in the Senate Judiciary Committee.

AT THE END OF THE DAY

The media have not focussed on the fact that the attack on Biden shows that Trump is terrified that in the 2020 election the former Vice President will beat him hands down. Also they must not create a moral equivalency of the ethically questionable business involvement of the Vice President’s son with Trump’s unprecedented corruption. 

The media too should not endlessly ruminate on the abuse of power by Trump and his sidekick Attorney General William Barr in initiating a criminal inquiry in the hope of proving the farcical conspiracy theory that Obama spied on Trump.

Hopefully, Trump’s third great lie will be his undoing. 

Mazeltov to Trump on the killing of ISIS Leader Baghdadi. Like he tweeted in 2012 it was not Obama who killed Osama Bin Laden it was the Navy Seals. 

TRUMP - REPUBLICANS EDGE CLOSER TO THE BRINK

As the Trump Presidency hurtles out of control the Republicans are finally lining up to vote against him as a result of his outrageous actions on foreign policy. His sell out of the Kurds is a byproduct of his collaboration with the Russians as witnessed in the 2016 election and thereafter. His ludicrous rationalizations on his green lighting Erdogan's aggression resulted in Speaker Nancy Pelosi standing up in the WhiteHouse, responding to his taunts, with the devastating assessment, “All roads with you lead to Putin”. John Brennan, the former CIA Director, put the controversy in a historical context when he commented that when Trump was elected champagne corks popped in Russia where they forecasted that they now would have their way in Ukraine and Syria. 

The Middle East policy disaster was just one of the explosive setbacks that struck The Donald Presidency in the third of October. What is finally pushing the GOP legislators to the brink is that their great country has been dishonored and is the laughing stock of the world. Thus far the GOP response has been limited to unprecedented criticism and motions of censure. 

THE REPUBLICAN DILEMMA AS THE TRUMP SWAMP DEEPENS

The Republicans in their ongoing uncompromising and searing attacks on the President believe they are able to straddle the thin line between their increasing criticism of his foreign policy while not supporting his impeachment. Their problem is, as bad as the current situation is, that it is going to get worse. So sooner or later they have to remember their oath to the Constitution. The conventional wisdom is that the GOP legislators need the cover of the Republican base. However their responsibility is to lead and if they make the move it may just be the confirmation that their electorate are waiting for.

With regard to Trump’s abandonment of America’s word and trust, Mitch McConnell, the Republican Senate leader did the unthinkable - he attacked the POTUS in an op - ed piece in the “fake news”, specifically in his arch enemy Jeff Bezos’s Washington Post, which newspaper history will show played a central roll in exposing his corrupt Presidency.  

Adding to the President’s infamy in the third week of October was the damning corroboratory impeachment evidence leaked from the Congress hearings. Just in case there was any doubt as to Trump’s quid pro quo demand of President Zelensky for America’s military aid, his Chief of Staff, Nick Mulvaney, repeatedly confirmed that that was in fact what had happened. When pressed Mulvaney said that it was common practice to link political requests to diplomacy exhorting the incredulous press corp, “To get over it”. 

Just in case the news was not bad enough Mulvaney announced that Trump was awarding a massive contract to his struggling Hotel Doral in Miami which would result in millions being poured into the Trump Inc. coffers. (The storm this created resulted in a late night tweet reversing the decision). 

All this taking place while the impeachment enquiry was corroborating the WhistleBlower complaint.

TRUMP’S SELL OUT IN MIDDLE EAST CROSSES A LINE THE REPUBLICANS CANNOT STOMACH.

The betrayal of the Kurds and the abandonment of the US’s responsibility in the Middle East has stunned both sides of the aisle. This action which benefited rogue Russia, terrorist ISIS, and chemical murderer Syria’s Assad is a difficult pill to swallow even for enablers in chief Mitch McConnell and lap dog Lindsey Graham. In the process Trump has wiped out what he had not as yet mutilated of America’s integrity and reputation.  The Republicans that still remain in the House of Representatives - the hardcore that haven’t already lost elections or retired - revolted with a one hundred and twenty - nine joining the Democrats in a three hundred and fifty - four vote to sixty censure which was a wholesale condemnation of the Trump sell out. 

The scandal that shocked the nation to the core resulted in the POTUS’S  firewall of Republican Senate legislators being deeply penetrated for the fist time including by its enablers in chief. Most importantly the guardian of the Trump bunker, Mitch McConnell, on whom Trump depended on refusing even to hold a hearing on the impeachment articles, announced that the Senate would sit for six full days a week to meet the constitutional requirements. McConnell like every GOP Senator who opened their mouths voiced his gratitude to the Kurds adding that he was “sorry”. He maintained that the Trump action would “embolden our enemies and weaken important alliances”.

A distraught Lindsey Graham who has to be exhausted from carrying Trump’s water howled, “He is not listening to his advisors and the military tell him that it is unfair and dishonorable… biggest mistake of his Presidency”. Graham, like everyone was concerned about the outcome of the “cease fire”. The South Carolinian Senator backed the commander of the opposition Syrian Democratic forces who reassured that he and his supporters would never agree to the ethnic cleansing of the Kurds. Graham pledged that Congress would stay very involved and was “extremely sympathetic to the plight of the Kurds”. This is in stark contrast to Trump’s characterization of the Kurds being “no angels” and who backed the “cleaning out” of the area where the Kurds have their home in Northern Syria. Trump reminded Graham that he was the “boss” while Graham countered that he would hold the President responsible. 

The GOP Senator who represents the largest existential threat to the Trump Presidency, Mitt Romney, escalated the attack on the President. He claimed that Trump’s withdrawal was a “bloodstain on America”. The former Republican nominee for the Presidency challenged the POTUS”S leadership and queried his decision making. He called for a public hearing into the infamous phone call with the Turkish prime minister Erdogan. Romney claimed that Trump caved and set into motion Middle East chaos and a diminishing of American influence and power both in the region and in the world. Romney sneeringly asked, “Are we so weak and inept diplomatically that Turkey forced the hand of the United States of America. Turkey?”. In the light of the venal Trump Presidency becoming it is being openly suggested that Trumped rolled over because of his vast business interests in Turkey.

Other Republican Senators are lining up to join the bandwagon including Marco Rubio, Lisa Murkowski, Roy Blunt, Joni Ernst and Jim Inhofe. There is also a bipartisan censorship motion pending in the Senate which also sanctions Turkey. 

Finally, Trump and Pence’s pathetic effort at putting the genie back in the bottle while, thousands die, Americans bomb their own facilities to avoid them landing in the enemies hands, nuclear weapons lodge uneasily in Turkey and ISIS prisoners escape, is not being taken seriously. The cease fire deal is said to have afforded Erdogan all that he demanded.

IMPEACHMENT PROCEEDINGS

In the third week of October witnesses continued to confirm the WhistleBlower’s narrative while Trump himself withheld documents emanating from his immediate circle. Also notable was the continued defiance of Trump’s injunction not to give evidence by a stream of public servants. 

The irony of the week was that the ostensible driver of Trump’s removal, the impeachment proceedings, never made the headlines other than on day one. Those revelations produced shockwaves that are destined to produce aftershocks in the weeks to come. On Monday,Trump’s retired advisor on Russia, Fiona Hill, unleashed a rocket when she detailed that John Bolton, the retired/fired National Security Advisor, registered opposition at the bizarre corrupt dealings with Ukraine which he labelled as a “drug deal”. Bolton instructed Dr. Hill to inform the WhiteHouse lawyers as to the illegal activity. The former security advisor was particularly critical of Trump’s lawyer Rudi Giuliani who had been designated the point man to conduct this bogus “foreign policy” with Ukraine.

 Hill labelled Trump’s EU Ambassador, Gordon Sondland “a national security risk”. The latter is one of the “three amigos” appointed by Trump to liase with Giuliani on wringing dirt out from Ukraine on his political opponents. Another of the trio, Energy Secretary, Rick Perry, defied a subpoena to produce documents while announcing his resignation. The third “amigo” Ukrainian envoy Volker who gave damning corroboratory evidence last week, also has resigned from the State Department.

The centerpiece of the impeachment week was scheduled to be Trump’s EU Ambassador, Gordon Sondland, whom Trump had given another assignment - Ukraine. In a publicly released text message that the Ambassador had sent to the  Charge D’ Affairs Bill Taylor he had reassured the latter that there was no quid pro quo in the Administration’s demands to President Zelensky. Trump had repeatedly quoted Sondland’s text as independent evidence of his innocence.  Sondland mercilessly threw the President under the bus stating that Trump was his source for the no quid pro quo assessment. Sondland criticized the whole Ukrainian misadventure being most critical of the President and his personal lawyer cum unofficial lead negotiator with Ukraine. By the time Sondland testified Chief of Staff Mulvaney had already spilled the beans relegating his testimony to the fourth lead in the media.

Next week sees Charge D’ Affairs Taylor who will give his reasoning as to why he saw Trump’s quid pro quo diplomacy ending in a “nightmare”. 

The proceedings have produced more than enough to impeach Trump but after the investigative efforts the Democrats aim to produce public testimony to increase the support for impeachment from the current bare majority to an overwhelming number.

CRIMINAL ACTIVITY OF GIULIANI AND IMPEACHMENT

Parallel to the investigation of Trump more and more criminal activity has been associated with the President’s lawyer who has publicly argued that everything he does is on instruction of his client, the President of the United States of America. Two of his associates are under indictment for funneling foreign money into American elections. The former New York Mayor is the subject of a counter - intelligence investigation by the Southern New York Attorney General. A counter intelligence probe implies that there may have been support of actions taken against America by a foreign agent. Giuliani has attempted to obtain a visa for the corrupt Ukrainian prosecutor who was forced out by the international community and whom he was relying on to get the goods on the Bidens.

AT THE END OF THE DAY

It is getting closer and closer to crunch time for the Republican legislators who up till now have enabled Trump. But the week that was, ending with Trump’s shameless naked self dealing, has to be too much. (His hurried withdrawal of Hotel Duval as the venue for the G7 meeting is too little too late).

The difference between Nixon and Trump is that the former humiliated and disgraced himself and the GOP while the latter has humiliated and disgraced himself, the GOP and America.

The shame Trump has inflicted on the once proud nation which till very recently strived, albeit imperfectly, to be the upholder of international morality and freedom, will not be ameliorated by op ed pieces by McConnell and fine speeches by Romney. They have to prove to the world and America that they have cut this cancer out. The time for grand standing is over. In case they missed Pelosi’s WhiteHouse moment, “All Roads lead to Putin”.

Trump is decompensating at a rapid rate and will strike out destructively while wallowing in self pity and claiming that the Democrats, the dark state and even the Republicans victimize him. The Republicans need to go into damage control mode.

TRUMP ON THE ROPES - OCTOBER 2019

While news breaks by the minute, the latest being Trump diverting from his impeachment mess with a destructive foreign policy move, an assessment is due as to his status three weeks after Speaker Pelosi initiated an impeachment enquiry.

WHERE ARE WE NOW?

It is fair to argue that in mid October 2019 President Trump’s position has weakened dramatically. True to form the POTUS has doubled down, his furious defense signaling that he would fight the process the same way he won the Presidency, politically not legally. He would go to his people with the aid of his echo chamber Fox News. In addition he still gains comfort from the fact that the Republicans control the Senate that ultimately will decide his fate. Mitch McConnell, the GOP Senate leader, who has delivered to date, is his legislative firewall against the Democratic powerhouse Nancy Pelosi who has outmaneuvered him in the House of Representatives. The POTUS appears more and more helpless against the House of Representative assault on his Presidency as he flails on at the mountain of evidence that grows by the minute. The question on everyone’s lips is, “How is this all going to play out?”.

As of October 2019 four questions remain: Will Pelosi expand the impeachment proceedings to include, for example, Trump’s request for China to investigate the Bidens. Will Trump be the first President to be terminated by the Senate or even resign and if he survives as the 2020 GOP nominee will he be reelected as President? Finally, what will influence any of these outcomes?

WHAT IS THIS ALL ABOUT?

 The essence of the abuse of power charge against the POTUS to obtain illegal foreign aid in an election campaign, is similar to the one pursued by Robert Mueller. While the latter showed that Trump and his campaign asked for, received and welcomed foreign aid in the 2016 Presidential election, (some of his team actually sat down with Russian foreign agents to “get dirt” on his opponent), this latest episode happened in real time in front of an incredulous public. 

The Ukraine narrative is easy to follow and is stripped of Mueller’s detail. In a country which is obsessed with viewing The Mob and their violent modus operandi in countless TV programs, (The Sopranos ran for six seasons being rated in the top hundred tv series ever) and movies, (The Godfather  the second greatest film of all time,) so the electorate don’t need anything spelled out to them - "the favor" that Trump asked for was one that "President Zelensky could not refuse". In the process he used the taxpayer’s resources for his own ends.

Trump has provided documentary evidence to corroborate what the whistleblower alleged - namely while withholding military aid from an ally Ukraine, he asked for favors which included investigating his most likely presidential opponent,  Joe Biden. Since his release of the reconstructed transcript of the Presidential call as well as the Whistleblower Complaint there have been daily corroborations of Trump’s intentions as well as the actions that he and his personal lawyer, Rudi Giuliani, effected to get Joe Biden smeared. As damning are the extensive cover ups that followed his behavior. Giuliani had virtually no response when two thugs who were assisting him in the Ukrainian shake down were arrested. To add to Giuliani woes The New York Times reported that he is being criminally investigated by the US Attorney’s Federal Office in Southern New York. 

Like Nixon the POTUS has involved several members of his cabinet who have to be consulting their lawyers. Chief among the enablers in the Ukraine saga are Secretary of State Pompeo and Secretary of Energy Perry. 

THE IMPEACHMENT PROCEEDINGS

Nowhere more than in the impeachment enquiry proceedings are the wheels coming off. At first blush Trump’s hope that this process would antagonize the electorate middle as well as mobilize his base has misfired. The number in favor of impeaching him has increased by fifteen points within three weeks. Those who have changed their opinions include independents, rural voters and even a few evangelicals. Republican suburbia left in the midterms. 

Trump’s tactic to date, backed by the Counsel to the Presidential Office and the Attorney General of the United States, is that the President cannot be investigated or impeached. Up until the start of his termination enquiry the POTUS ignored twenty - six subpoenas and frightened witnesses from appearing before Congress. This all unravelled when Pelosi declared an impeachment process. The latter is constitutionally enshrined resulting in the subpoenaed witnesses being more fearful of disregarding the law than the rage of Donald J. Trump. To date the former special envoy to the Ukraine has given ten hours of testimony corroborating the WhistleBlower complaint. More devastating was the testimony of the former Ambassador to the Ukraine, Maria Yovanovitch. She basically itemized the inside scoop as to why she was recalled for bogus reasons by the Trump/Giuliani/Pompeo troika. She maintained  that the objective was for Trump to be unimpeded in his corrupt shake down of the Ukrainian Premier. 

There is a ton more to come including most significantly the current ambassador to the EU who authored text messages pressuring US diplomats to assist the aforementioned troika in leaning on Premier Zelensky to deliver Biden’s head on a plate. EU Ambassador Sondland is reported to be going to testify that he was instructed by Trump to deny that there was a “quid pro quo” in his threats to Ukraine. Sondland will be pointing out that he had no idea if the POTUS was telling the truth. First up however is former Presidential Advisor on Russia, Fiona Hill, who will have the drama that unfolded as to how Vladmir Putin’s Russia fits into the picture. 

To add to the misery are other embassy staff including Charge D’ Affairs Bill Taylor who relayed in texts that muscling the Ukrainian Premier to do Trump’s bidding would create a "nightmare scenario". Then there are the string of subpoenaed witnesses from the WhistleBlower report, a number of Trump’s cabinet, the two Giuliani associated thugs that are presently in jail and a slew of other WhistleBlowers in the wings. 

Trump’s legal position can only worsen but for practical purposes he is not relying on Pelosi not bringing articles of impeachment against him, he is meeting the constitutional crisis by going to his people.

THE STATE OF TRUMP IN THE COURTS

Court proceedings slowly grind on. Most notably Congress’s demand for tax returns have already been decided against Trump in a Federal Court of Appeals. There is little doubt that the release of these will have a profound impact on the electorate. The conventional wisdom is that it would make a major dent in the Trump narrative and also outline his involvement with foreign entities. By the end of the week Trump lost a ton of cases relating to his wall and immigration as well. 

Earlier, in a Federal Court ruling, Judge Mareo, in response to Attorney General Barr’s revival of Nixon’s argument that a President cannot be the subject of any criminal investigation, reminded the President’s counsel that the Supreme Court had unanimously ruled in Nixon versus the U.S. otherwise. Trump however contends that the Supreme Court ruled wrongly on US v Nixon. He is aided and abetted by his slime ball Attorney General who mislead US public on the Mueller Report. The two of them incoherently claim that the American War of Independence against a despotic king was to uphold the right of the new country’s President to continue to be above the law! The jury, to coin a phrase, is still out on the question as to how the currently constituted Supreme Court will rule on the issue. However the recent declaration by seventeen legal doyens of the Conservative Republican establishment arguing that Trump should be removed from office is a really big deal and does not augur well for the President.

Trump reflexly following the advise given to him by his disgraced counsel, the late Roy Cohn to attack and litigate has threatened to sue Nancy Pelosi and Congressman Schiff the leader of impeachment. According to a USA report, as of 2016 he had already been involved, either as a plaintiff or a defendant, in three and a half thousand litigations, so what is another few between friends.

THE ROLE OF REPUBLICAN SENATORS PARTICULARLY MCCONNELL AND ROMNEY

The Republican Senators are between a rock and a hard place. They are more than mindful that Trump still controls their base that pitch up to vote in a Primary. Thus backing impeachment might well be curtains for their careers in the Senate. At the same time they are being more exposed to the limelight and are the target of the attacks by the Republican intelligentsia and pundits. Currently they are AWOL, particularly those up for election in purple states. 

Trump more than ever needs a solid Republican legislative wall behind him  He peculiarly exacerbated his wobbly standing by his abandonment of American allies, the Kurds, who were crucial allies in the war against ISIS. He backed Turkey in its militaristic aims for the region. There is little in the local press but being screamed about in the Israeli news media that Trump's action constitutes a threat to that country. His legislative defender in chief, Mitch McConnell was highly critical pointing out that this decision would assist Russia, Syria and Iran. This impulsive behavior as the Turkey crisis escalates may well be the issue that finally gets the Republican senators to revolt. McConnell has warned him that there is a veto proof majority against such actions. 

The public anger of the Republican Senators at Trump’s foreign policy on Turkey, Kurdistan and Syria is in part a reflection of their frustration at not being able to attack him on the UkraInian scandal. McConnell who will one day have to answer as to his enabling of what will prove to be the most corrupt president in history, is currently in a perilous position. He represents a State that Trump won with sixty - two percent of the vote. McConnell’s current approval rating is thirty - six percent. Although, when push comes to shove, not even the most optimistic Democratic pundit is forecasting his downfall he doesn’t need Trump backing a Republican opponent in a Primary. Trump is reportedly calling him three times a day for reassurance as the spineless head of the Senate will be in charge of the articles of impeachment. There was an argument that McConnell could even refuse to hold one. To Trump’s apparent dismay McConnell stated he had no choice. However he could  limit proceedings that would shield El Presidente from excess toxic exposure.

Trump’s biggest problem in the Senate is Mitt Romney who has finally come out in full force attacking him for abusing his office to get dirt on his opponent. Trump tweeted up a hurricane against his nemesis who really couldn’t give a damn. Most significantly Romney, who has a vast war chest as well as the support of many moneyed establishment Republicans, made it quite clear that he would support and run cover for vulnerable Republican Senators. That is code red for Trump because if they support his termination it will slash his election chances whether they win or lose their seats. 

In brief Trump’s unanimous Senate support is a thing of the past. Nevertheless the controller of the Senate is still in his corner but undoubtedly is about as loyal to Trump as the latter is to him.

WHAT IS GOING FOR TRUMP?

Although there is a big bohaai at the rapid change in the poll numbers for impeachment and removal for Trump the numbers, although a majority, coincide with his current disapproval rating of his presidency. Trump still has his base who are stepping up in the tens of thousands at his Nuremberg style rallies. He has held three of these in the past four days. In case anyone needs reminding the last time round he won the Presidency with a minority of the electorate. 

For the moment he seems to have come out tops in the fight within his propaganda arm, Fox News. Shepherd Smith the newscaster who was more and more laying it on the line that Trump was a disaster resigned. This doesn’t solve all Trump’s problems with the news organization, who still are producing unbiased polls chronicling his falling support, but it is a battle victory in his war.

The fact that Trump is at the end of his rope doesn’t impact his cult following. In fact they welcome his lunacy. For the moment they are solidly behind him. He is openly warning all that should he be axed they will be his army in civil war number two.

AT THE END OF THE DAY

Pelosi need not make a decision about expanding the impeachment scope the witnesses are doing it for her. Jay H. Ell believes that the chances of Trump not being the GOP candidate in 2020 are increasing. What however is uncertain is that should he survive to run again whether he can gain a second term or not. Biden’s response to the Ukrainian episode till now has been sub par and he is, as Trump has worked out, the Democrat’s strongest candidate to run against him. 

The POTUS’S most onerous hurdle is survival to run in 2020. If he does it will mean that the mountains of his illegal and corrupt activity being exposed have not forced at least another twenty - five pecent of his base to abandon him. That fact would have allow him a fifty percent shot at reeelction. As each day passes whether it be in Congress or the courts the odds increase against such an outcome. One parameter McConnell will take note off is the polls because to him principle and patriotism are not relevant factors in political decisions even when the country faces the greatest constitutional crisis in a century. Another looming obstacle at wholesale support from the Republican Senate is Trump's bizarre foreign policy. 

One matter for sure is that the constitutional lawyers, Republican or otherwise, are almost ad idem that Trump is trashing American democracy by claiming supremacy over the other two co - equal branches of government - The Congress and The Judiciary. He should be removed from office.