Part One – Trump and Russia: A Toxic Marriage

There is a widespread cover-up going on throughout Trump world, which includes aides, pundits & his supporters in Congress along with the rightwing media.  It seems the House investigation is hopelessly corrupted so long as Devin Nunes keeps butting in, which is why the Mueller probe is key.  But Trump’s minions in Congress & the echo have no scruples.  They’re lying relentlessly in attacking Mueller since they sense his findings are increasingly pointing straight at Trump, along with his inner circle inside the White House & from the campaign, so trying to discredit Mueller with a highly exaggerated smear campaign is a last-ditch attempt to save Trump’s presidency.  It’s a preemptive strike to cast doubt among Trumpeters in the investigation’s findings, since it’s highly probable the evidence in the not-too-distant future will implicate Trump.

But despite echo-protests, some criminal acts are too despicable to justify, which would certainly be the case should the investigations find proof of an attack on our democracy through colluding with a foreign adversary.  In a nutshell, the Russians offered the Trump campaign help during the campaign to disparage Hillary, the campaign was interested in that dirt on Hillary, the Russians then released those emails & fake social media ads, whereas the Trump campaign & transition team offered to lift sanctions.  So the hordes of circumstantial evidence certainly point toward a quid pro quo, & should Mueller’s team soon provide concrete evidence of such a conspiracy having occurred, by comparison, it would make the Watergate break-in look more like a kindergarten Christmas party.  The Trump and Russia connection seems to be becoming clearer & getting hotter by the week.  He does remain the chaos president, perhaps as a way to distract attention away from the scandal, plus he’s obsessed with having his name in the headlines.

The Mueller team does a great job of avoiding leaks, which at any given time Mueller could announce his next big surprise we had no prior inkling of.  I fully anticipate some fateful day his target will go to the very top.  Months or years from now in hindsight, Russiagate could go down as the worst attack on our electoral process, & the biggest scandal, in our nation’s history!  So we’re likely watching in real time history in the making!  Once the legal side is complete, impeachment becomes a political issue.  I suspect the impending proof of illegalities will leave no choice.  But it can be helped along by Trump’s erratic mental state, numerous financial conflicts & low approval ratings.  Plus the sexual abuse stories have recently become a huge issue in the headlines & public consciousness!

Conservative New York Times columnist David Brooks ripped the GOP in a new column, writing that the party is “doing harm to every cause it purports to serve.” In an editorial titled “The GOP is Rotting,” published Friday, Brooks accuses lawmakers of bending to Trump’s desires, writing that Trump is “defined by shamelessness,” and that there is “no end” to what the president will ask of Republicans.

 

“First, he asked the party to swallow the idea of a narcissistic sexual harasser and a routine liar as its party leader,” Brooks writes. “Then he asked the party to accept his comprehensive ignorance and his politics of racial division. Now he asks the party to give up its reputation for fiscal conservatism. At the same time he asks the party to become the party of Roy Moore, the party of bigotry, alleged sexual harassment and child assault.” “You don’t help your cause by wrapping your arms around an alleged sexual predator and a patriarchic bigot,” Brooks writes. “You don’t help your cause by putting the pursuit of power above character, by worshiping at the feet of some loutish man or another, by claiming the ends justify any means.”

 

Brooks goes on to slam populism for abandoning the “intellectual excellence” of the GOP of decades past, writing that the current status quo of the party has alienated many people who no longer feel they can call themselves Republicans. “The rot afflicting the G.O.P. is comprehensive — moral, intellectual, political and reputational,” he writes. “More and more former Republicans wake up every day and realize: “I’m homeless. I’m politically homeless.”

In the articles where the Trump-Tillerson tag team is ravaging the State Dept, it’s terrifying the way our diplomacy & influence throughout the world are being dismantled.  Our shortsighted vision allowing our adversaries & enemy states to gain the upper hand, will unfortunately have huge ramifications to our national security going forward in an increasingly dangerous world.  In the bottom links, we again see signs of Trump’s sinking approval ratings, with the biggest dive not surprisingly among white women as he’s also dragging down the party.  But let’s focus more than ever on the Trump and Russia scandal.  With a president who so obviously lacks the competence, knowledge, temperament, mental stability, integrity & judgement to be our leader, we’d actually better hope he’s also proven to be a criminal, since that provides the exit ramp to constitutionally remove this prez before he causes irreparable damage to the United States & the world.  So stay tuned as proof of guilt may be just around the corner.