The Drama King brings more excitement to Cable News

Donald Trump’s TV show, The Apprentice, was big hit. Today he tried to reignite the excitement as he had television cameras in the oval office as he verbally spared with Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi and Senator Chuck Schumer. His supposed purpose was to obtain their support for a border wall with Mexico. He knew they would say no but his real purpose was obvious to me. He wanted all of his supporters to know that he is doing everything in his power to obtain the $5 billion in 2019. He told the world he would shut down the government to get his way. He actually said he was “proud to shut down the government for border security” telling Schumer you can blame me for the shutdown. “I will take the mantle. I will be the one to shut it down — I’m not going to blame you for it.”

The next step in this soap opera will be the days before the shutdown date, December 21. We can all expect more drama starting December 20 and beyond.

An interesting feature of the show was Vice President Mike Pence who said not on word during the entire program. He sat there like a statue.

Where is the great negotiator in this spectacle? He is nowhere to be found. Sadly we will be burdened with this president for two more years.

President George H.W. Bush dead at 94

This posting probably won’t win me a lot of friends but it is my opinion.

Born into privilege and a tradition of service, Bush was a son of a senator, celebrated World War II combat pilot, student athlete, Texas oilman, Republican congressman, national party chairman, pioneering diplomat and head of the CIA. After his own 1980 presidential campaign came up short, he served two terms as Ronald Reagan’s vice president before reaching the pinnacle of political power by winning the 1988 presidential election. His winning the presidency was the result of a nasty campaign against Michael Dukakis that implied Dukakis was sympathetic to criminals (Willy Horton was released from prison and committed a killing while on weekend furlough). His lack of empathy for the unemployed during his run for a second term resulted in his loss to Bill Clinton.

During his presidency, Bush skillfully handled foreign affairs during a tumultuous time for the nation. Just months into his first term, he responded to the dissolve of the Soviet Union and oversaw the U.S. military’s removal of Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega from power. Not long after, Bush responded to then Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait (August 1990), creating a national coalition and leading a military strike to drive Hussein out of the oil-rich country. Bush’s handling of the invasion in Kuwait is largely viewed as his greatest presidential success.

He will not go down in history as a great president for two primary reasons. His promise “No new taxes” was not kept and at the end of his term in office the economy was in tatters.

Democrats will control the House of Representatives – Now What?

It was definitely a Blue wave in Orange County California.

That county immediately south of Los Angeles was the bastion of the Republican Party. It was a mostly middle class (Anaheim and Santa Ana) to the ultra rich (Laguna Beach and Newport Beach). Then came the changing demographics of Latinos, African Americans, and Asians who had managed to save enough money to buy a home in those comfortable suburban communities of Orange County.

So while there are some members of the minority groups that have supported GOP philosophy, a growing number rejected the obvious bias against non-whites that is a hallmark of the Republican Party. Donald Trump is the personification of White supremacy. The image that Trump exemplified was rejected by a majority of voters in that county.

Most likely that image of White supremacy enabled the Democratic Party to win control of the House of Representatives.

Still, the well established Republican Party majority states, that are in the less populated middle America and southern regions, rejected some of their Democratic senators. Trump’s campaign of fear of minorities and immigrants worked well in those states. Everyone should read Bob Woodward’s book titled Fear to understand how successful Trump has been.

The question now is what will the Democrats do with their new found power? The many caucuses within the GOP prevented the passage of needed legislation when they held control of the House. If those kinds of groups do not compromise in the Democratic Party we will continue to see a lack of legislation in the coming two years.

The Führer is Coming – “Heil Trump”

Donald Trump seems to believe he has the power to override the United States constitution by executive order.

We are seeing a man trying to become America’s first dictator. He believes he can end birthright citizenship. By executive order he will decide who is an American. He is now putting soldiers on the border and soon will have them marching through our streets. He will soon decide that he alone has the power to appoint all judges without senate approval. He will soon determine abortions will be banned by executive order. He will decide your sex. He will decide what businesses will exist. He will have absolute power.

Unless stopped by the congress in November, the congress will pass only the laws that he wishes.

It took just one year for Adolph Hitler to rise from chancellor to permanent dictator of Germany.

In an ever faster manner Donald Trump will, by executive order, dismantle this democracy. Sooner than you expect it to happen, he will declare himself president for life.

The sad thing about this is that a majority of Americans are in support of our coming Führer.

Building an Autocracy

The Atlantic Monthly October 2018 devoted most of the edition to the cover question: Is Democracy Dying?

David Frum’s piece titled Building an Autocracy is very troubling. Following is an abridged version is the first article in the magazine. For definition purposes an autocracy is a system of government by one person with absolute power.

Twenty-one months into the Trump presidency, how far has the country rolled down the road to autocracy? Yet measuring the distance traveled is vital.

Let’s start with the good news: Against the Trump presidency, federal law enforcement has held firm. As of this writing, Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s inquiry is proceeding despite the president’s fulminations. The Department of Justice is ignoring the president’s Twitter demands to prosecute his opponents. As far as we know, the IRS and other federal agencies are not harassing Trump critics.

Around the world, democracy looks more fragile than it has since the Cold War. But if it survives for now in America, future historians may well conclude that it was saved by the president’s Twitter compulsion.

Yet even as Trump ties his own shoelaces together and lurches nose-first into the Rose Garden dirt, he has scored a dismaying sequence of successes in his war on U.S. institutions.

President Trump continues to defy long-standing ethical expectations of the American president. He has never released his tax returns, and he no longer even bothers to offer specious reasons, like a supposed audit.

…the president continues to collect payments from people with a vested interest in decisions made by his administration, from foreign governments looking to influence U.S. policy, and even from his own party.

Perhaps the most defining characteristic of modern autocrats such as Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Viktor Orbán, and Vladimir Putin is the way they seek to subsume the normal operations of government into their cult of personality.

Apparently to punish the Washington Post owner and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos for his paper’s reporting, Trump has pressed the Postal Service to raise Amazon’s rates—thus warning other business leaders to be careful what they say.

Trump’s tariffs personalize power too. They enable him to privilege some industries and hurt others. Some losers—farmers, say—may be compensated; others, such as aerospace manufacturers, will be disregarded.

When Trump refers to “my” generals or “my” intelligence agencies, he is teaching his supporters to rethink how the presidency should function.

To protect the president—and themselves—from the truth about Russia’s intervention in his election, Republican members of the House Intelligence Committee have concocted (and the conservative media have disseminated) an elaborate fantasy about an FBI plot against Trump.

Many Americans want to believe that Democratic victories in November will reverse the country’s course. They should be wary of investing too much hope in that prospect. Should Democrats recover some measure of power in Congress, their gains could perversely accelerate current trends. As Republicans lose power in Washington, Trump will gain power within his party.

We cannot blame democracy’s troubles in the United States or overseas on any one charismatic demagogue. Free societies depend on a broad agreement to respect the rules of the game.

The distrust of free speech on campus is being carried by recent graduates into their jobs and communities. We see in other countries, especially the United Kingdom, the rise of an activist left nearly as paranoid and anti-Semitic, as disdainful of liberal freedoms and democratic institutions, as the so-called alt-right in the U.S.

Restoring democracy will require more from each of us than the casting of a single election ballot. It will demand a sustained commitment to renew American institutions.

The road to autocracy is long—which means that we still have time to halt and turn back. It also means that the longer we wait, the farther we must travel to return home.

Voting motivated by fear

There are 12 propositions on California’s November 6 ballot. California’s secretary of state mailed a 71 page Voter Information Guide to every household where there are registered voters. That is a good thing. The bad thing is that only the most diligent readers are likely to read the analyst reports and the arguments that are provided.

The actual laws themselves are not part of the mailed information. The major sponsors of the proposals are also not included. Instead readers are provided with website addresses for more information.

Most of us will not avail ourselves of that on line data. Instead we will be seeing the non-stop television commercials that will be coming with even more ferocity for the last two weeks before election day. Already I have seen commercials for propositions that I support that are obvious lies.

Proposition 6 that would repeal a recently raised gas tax for road improvements is a perfect example. I support the tax. But one commercial contended that repealing the tax would endanger fire fighters and police due to poorly paved roads. Many of the roads in my neighborhood are in need of repair but I have not seen even one situation where road conditions have impacted those services. Clearly that television ad was meant to create fear.

Other ads on topics related to subjects from taxes to dialysis may have similar fear mongering.

Honesty in providing accurate information is only in that 71 page circular. How many will read it?

I am quite certain that this situation is going on in every state and municipality.

An Angry Man

It is sad that the choice of a Supreme Court justice has turned into a circus. Judge Brett Kavanugh came across as an angry man at yesterday’s hearing. His refusal to answer many of the questions that were asked only made him look guilty.

The hearings to select a justice are really a job interview. Have you ever been to an interview where there is more than one interviewer in the room at the same time? I have and it is a stressful experience. I was peppered with questions about my background and my capabilities. One wrong word could end the hiring process. When one of those interviewers left the room and did not return I knew that I had said the wrong thing.

Coming across as angry will most certainly end the interview. Look at the picture. It reflects that anger. The other people in this photo are obviously horrified and they are his friends and family members.

Kavanugh’s behavior would have ended the interview process when I was doing the interviewing.

What is Brett Kavanugh hiding?

Brett Kavanugh nomination to the Supreme Court

Christine Blasey Ford’s accusations of attempted rape by Judge Brett Kavanugh have created a dilemma for the GOP that could easily change the November make up of both houses of Congress. The Republicans want Kavanugh seated on the court before October 1 when the next Supreme Court session begins.

The Democrats know that when all is said Judge Brett Kavanugh will be seated on the Supreme Court since they are in the minority. My guess is that the Democrats hope that is done before the November election because then they will be campaigning that Republicans are not interested in protecting women who have been sexually harassed or have been the victim of a rape. If that campaign issue is well promoted than Democrats could easily win some additional seats in the House of Representatives and maybe win another seat in the Senate.

Can there be a Coup in the United States?

The answer based on an anonymous Op-Ed in the New York Times is YES!

Democrats should not be clapping their hands with delight over this situation. The same insider behavior could have occurred during the Obama administration.

The single person that all Americans elect to lead the country is the president. Members of the House of Representatives and Senate are elected by the district or the state. We rely on the president to lead the entire nation regardless of political party or other affiliations.

There is nothing in the Constitution that gives anyone authority to countermand the president’s decisions except laws passed by the congress or rulings by the Supreme Court.

When other people attempt to undermine or delay the president’s decisions they are interfering with the process of government that has been the basis of the American democracy since its inception.

While I view Donald Trump as a bad leader who could cause a war or an economic catastrophe he is the person that our system of elections has chosen to be president. Unfortunately his faults are many. Trump has been a supporter of groups that sew hate and he has made many nations that were considered allies into enemies.

Despite his obvious failings, I am not comfortable with an inner circle of people in the White House who are attempting to control the decision making process in the White House. They may say their actions are to protect our country but they are unanswerable to the American people.

We do have three ways of removing president. 1) Not re-elect him for a second term, 2) Action taken by the Vice President and “principal officers of the executive departments” to remove the president from power, 3) Impeachment. All of those choices are better than undermining our system of governing.

Pointless Hearings to Approve a New Supreme Court Justice

Yes the hearings are vacuous. We all know what the outcome will be. Judge Kavanaugh will be confirmed. The judge is given the opportunity to tell us what the various articles and amendments are saying and to add to the drama he refers to the Federalist papers. So we know he is no dummy. The irony is that Senator Harry Reid, the former leader of a Democratic Party controlled Senate, can be blamed for today’s lack of bi-partisan support to consent for any Supreme Court nominee. He led the decision to change a Senate rule requiring a 60 vote for approval of a Supreme Court justice appointment.

This sad situation is the result of a two party political system where everyone and every idea of the opposing party is by definition wrong.