Category: Politics

Donald Trump Admires Authoritarians

At a rally on Saturday August 3 the former president described Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin as “fierce” and “smart” before anticipating the reaction from the media. He called both leaders “fierce,” adding that Xi is “smart” to rule China with an “iron fist.”

“He rules with an iron fist, 1.5 billion people, yeah I’d say he’s smart,” he continued. “Wouldn’t you say he’s smart?”

Xi, whose authoritarian tenure has been marked by an increase in censorship and mass surveillance, has been accused by Human Rights Watch of starting a “broad and sustained offensive on human rights” since he became China’s leader in 2012.

Imagine what a second term for Trump would be like. He would be taking revenge on those who opposed him. There would be no guard rails preventing him from withdrawing from NATO. Military parades in Washington D.C. would be the order of the day.

Donald Trump dreams of absolute power and our system of government could permit him to obtain his objective.

Trumpism Menaces Democracy

The President clearly stated at a speech he presented at Independence Hall in Philadelphia that MAGA is an attack on American democracy. He pointed out that those supporting MAGA beliefs take the position that there are only two consequences of an election. Either they won or they lost due to a corrupt election.

In other words they do not accept any loss. That means there is no democracy. President Biden said American democracy remains in great peril and declared former President Trump and his supporters the biggest threat to American democracy. While it was a political speech meant to rally Democratic Party loyalists to go to the polls in November the point he made rang true.

When do the MAGA Republicans accept an election loss? Apparently the answer is they do not accept any loss. To me Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans are a threat to the very soul of this country.

NYT editorial board calls on Garland to seek indictment of Trump if there is ‘sufficient evidence’

The New York Times editorial board called on Attorney General Merrick Garland to seek an indictment of former President Trump if “sufficient evidence” exists to establish his guilt “on a serious charge.”

The board argued in a piece published Friday that, “Mr. Trump’s unprecedented assault on the integrity of American democracy requires a criminal investigation” following the Jan. 6 select committee hearings and news of the Justice Department’s search of Trump’s Palm Beach, Fla., home for classified documents.

“This board is aware that in deciding how Mr. Trump should be held accountable under the law it is necessary to consider not just whether criminal prosecution would be warranted but whether it would be wise.”

The board mentioned former President Ford’s pardon of former President Nixon for any crimes he may have committed during the Watergate scandal, with Ford justifying the decision as avoiding the “rousing” of “ugly passions” and polarization. 

The board stated that prosecuting Trump could entrench support for him and “play into the conspiracy theories he has sought to stoke.” They argued it could also allow future presidents to misuse the precedent set to go after their political rivals. 

But, the paper warned that doing nothing poses a much more significant risk and not holding him accountable for his actions related to the Jan. 6 insurrection would could set an “irresistible” precedent for future presidents. 

“Why not attempt to stay in power by any means necessary or use the power of the office to enrich oneself or punish one’s enemies, knowing that the law does not apply to presidents in or out of office?” the board wrote.

Donald Trump is Guilty of Treason

The Mar-a-Lago search warrant identifies three federal crimes that the Justice Department is looking at as part of its investigation: violations of the Espionage Act, obstruction of justice and criminal handling of government records. The inclusion of the crimes indicates the Justice Department has probable cause to investigate those offenses as it was gathering evidence in the search. No one has been charged with a crime at this time.

In 1951, Julius and his wife Ethel Rosenberg were tried and convicted of espionage for providing the Soviet Union with classified information. They were executed in 1953. Their trial remains controversial today.

What do you suppose Donald Trump planned to do with that classified material?  It is frightening to imagine what that classified information can mean to an adversary.

The politics of this situation could mean that Trump will never be tried for treason.  Millions of Americans still believe that the 2020 election was stolen.  The January 6, 2021 insurrection tells us that there are Americans who are willing to fight for Trump.

Can Attorney General Merrick Garland convince a majority of Americans that Donald Trump is guilty of espionage? Frankly I doubt it.

Trump should be executed but it probably won’t happen.

Today in the Los Angeles Times Garry Trudeau hits the mark. He correctly says “Now is the time to announce that the election is rigged.”

For those of you who are not familiar with Jim Crow (not Jimmy Crow). Jim Crow Laws were statutes and ordinances established between 1874 and 1975 to separate the white and black races in the American South. Thus the term “separate but equal” supported the idea of races being separate, so long as they received “equal” facilities and treatment to that which the whites had or received. In 1896, the Supreme Court ruled in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) that separate accommodations based on race was constitutional. 58 years later in Brown v. The Board of Education of Topeka (1954) the court ruled that separate accommodations based on race were inherently unequal and so unconstitutional.  

Trump’s Crimes Against the United States

The Los Angeles Times July 24, 2022 editorial defined some of Donald Trump’s crimes but not all. A Donald Trump trial could result in a civil war.

There is no doubt that Donald Trump is “guilty of conspiring to defraud the United States and conspiring to obstruct an official proceeding” but also plotting an insurrection, dereliction of duty and dishonoring his sworn oath when he took the office of president.  He ought to be tried and convicted. Sadly millions of Americans still believe Trump won the 2020 election as evidenced on January 6, 2021 and are willing to take up arms.  If found guilty, the country would experience a second civil war.  His followers have demonstrated their willingness to do his bidding. There are an estimated 393 million civilian-owned firearms in the US and 20 million of them are AR-15 style rifles.  Are those trying to uphold the Constitution prepared to go to war to retain this democracy?

An abridged version of this posting appears on the letters page of the July 26, 2022 Los Angeles Times.    

After Roe vs. Wade reversal, a new war between the states

It is accurate to say that the United States is in a period similar to 1850-1860 — the decade that led to the Civil War.  The president in 1850 was Millard Fillmore. By championing the Compromise of 1850 he can be credited with delaying an American civil war for more than a decade. The compromise admitted California as a free state, left Utah and New Mexico to decide for themselves whether to be a slave state or a free state.

The similarities today could not be more apparent.  Each state can now decide whether abortions are legal.  Likely same sex marriage and voting rights laws will also be determined by each state.

The words “a house divided cannot stand” come to mind.  California, Oregon and Washington State see the world through a different lens.  As an example it is clear that California and Texas have little in common. Texans are concerned with an invasion of illegal aliens and California accepts them as if they came to the United States legally.    

Without a civil war perhaps it would be best if we all went our separate ways.

Supreme Court’s Confusing Contradictions

Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. may not be the chief justice of the Supreme Court but he is clearly the leader of the majority conservative members of that court.

In a matter of just one day the Supreme Court has voted against human rights and for gun lovers. The Supreme Court overturned Roe vs. Wade. Then rules the rights of gun owners to carry a loaded weapon in public is legal in all states. They ruled that the 2nd Amendment right to “bear arms” overrides laws in New York and California that restrict who may legally take guns when they leave home.

The inconsistency of these rulings is mind twisting. Abortion rights should be determined by the individual states BUT New York and California gun laws cannot be enforced.