Category Archives: American Politics

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Has President Trump Committed Impeachable Acts?

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Since the early morning hours of November 9, 2016, there have been declarations that Donald Trump has committed heinous acts that demand he be impeached. It did not seem to matter that this movement began before he took office, he had to be impeached. It appears that there were some among the crowd who believed that if they could do this then Hillary would become president. So lets look at the probability that Donald J. Trump has committed impeachable acts.

To start the discussion it must first be pointed out that impeachment does not mean removal from office. It is the formal process of leveling charges, to decide if crimes have been committed and if so do they rise to the level required for trial. To date only two presidents have been impeached by the House, Andrew Johnson in 1868 and Bill Clinton in 1998, neither was convicted in the Senate.  Richard Nixon was under investigation but resigned before the House took action. The attempt to remove a sitting president from office was intended to be difficult and requiring very specific reasons. This is were the problem with declaring, preemptively, that president Trump has committed impeachable offences.

The drama began during the debates last summer when Trump called out Hillary for mishandling classified emails and for leaked emails showing she had colluded with the DNC to manipulate the Democratic party primaries. Hillary’s response was defensive and said the real question was that Russia had hacked the DNC and that was the major issue. In all fairness it was and is an issue but I am not sure it was a bigger issue then her breaking the law and suborning the DNC’s manipulation, but there it started.

Once started the Russian bogyman morphed from an attack on the DNC to Russia attempting to influence the election toward Trump, to Trump and his campaign colluding with the Russian government to ensure a Trump victory.  All of this in an attempt to rescue the Clinton campaign that only a few knew was in trouble.  The major problem was that this campaign maneuver did not die with the election but was perpetuated by the so called resistance to  Trump and became not only an article of faith but the presumed first article of impeachment.

The problem is that currently there is not one shred of evidence to back up the claims. It is all rumor, innuendo and talking heads drawing unbelievable connections from just about anywhere they can. Such connections include, Mike Flynn was fired because he was a connection to the Russians. Mike Flynn was fired because he lied to the vice-president. Sally Yates was fired to stop the Russian investigation. Yates was fired for failing to follow the directions of the President, her boss and client. As an attorney she has an obligation to advocate for her side regardless of personal feelings.  Comey was fired to stop the Russia investigation. Comey was fired for incompetence and violations of long standard practices. In both of these cases the investigation continued. More recently Trump committed treason by giving the Russians classified information. Two points here you can only commit treason in time of war and as President he has the authority to declassify intelligence as he see fit. The last point is the now infamous Comey memo that says Trump asked him if he could see fit to not go after Flynn, obvious obstruction of justice, but its not. First Trump made it a request not an order and put no conditions on it. Second if it was obstruction of justice Comey was bound by law to report it and he did not. Lastly the White House denies it so it becomes hearsay evidence.

In the end we are left with the fact that to date Trump has not committed any impeachable acts, at least none that can be proved beyond a reasonable doubt. Many are trying however to compare this to Watergate and the eventual resignation of Richard Nixon, history however has a different, more appropriate lesson, Andrew Johnson. Nixon was guilty without a doubt and would have been convicted in the Senate. Johnson on the other hand was a victim of political intrigue and hated by the elites of Washington for standing up for what he believed to be in the best interest of the country. Johnson was vilified in the press and was a very unpopular president, but in fact had done nothing wrong or illegal. In the end the Senate failed to convict by one vote.

PLEASE THINK of the consequences of impeachment actions or the removal of the president, especially for what appears to be political grandstanding. The country can survive a Trump presidency but may not survive a coup d’état. Oh and for those who think Russia got what it wanted in a Trump win, they did not. They will get what they were actually looking for if the country continues down this road, a wracked political system and a powerless country.

 

 

American Politics

What Did Trump Say

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T&L

I have watched and read everything I could find on the Washington Post’s breaking story yesterday about the President revealing highly classified intelligence to the Russians that would compromise national security. I do now believe that national security was compromised, by the news media. Based on everything that was reported it is most likely that the Presidents discussions with the Russian Foreign Minister and the Russian Ambassador was wholly appropriate and disclosed nothing that would harm the US, but help in assuring Russian assistance on the war against ISIS. The leaks that seemed to come from unnamed sources and the information that was released pertaining to sources and methods were more harmful than what those inside the meeting said was discussed. The only people that were in the meeting and in the know say that the premise of the story was false. There are those that are taking the denials and parsing the words to try and make it seem like a coverup, but in the end the answer is nothing was revealed that shouldn’t have been.

 

Two things of note to bring up. One is why is the press willing to subject themselves to the danger of proving they are not reporting the news but attempting to take down a government and two is there a connection to the timing of another story that indicates the young DNC staffer, Seth Rich, who was murdered shortly after a devastating email release. His computer shows major contacts with a British journalist and to WikiLeaks.

 

The press in its reporting continues to use inflammatory wording and statements designed to cause alarm and worry. The initial stories, with no attribution, said that the president had given the Russians Highly Classified Code Word intelligence and further that the way in which he did it exposed methods and sources as well as a foreign partner. What has come out is that the president may have given the Russians some sensitive information but did not expose any partners, sources or methods. Next, we need to discuss the difference between sensitive information and Highly Classified Code Word intelligence. We don’t actually, just let it be known that there is a huge gap between the two with a lot of different intelligence classifications between the highest and lowest. Even after it is established, or at least strongly suggested, that the information passed was not that sensitive. Even then all the news outlets continue to lead their stories with, “Sources say Trump gave Russia highly classified intelligence.” As this progresses we need to keep in mind that the stories are all highly suspect and attributed to unnamed sources while the people we know were in the room are denying anything wrong occurred.

 

PLEASE THINK of what is being said and use common sense and a large amount of skepticism for any story coming out of the main stream media regarding Trump. They have a great bias against the president and are showing an inability to report fairly.     

 

American Politics

Great Expectations, Clinton and Russia

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HRC

I had a thought while watching the news this weekend. The reports of collusion between President Trump and the Russian government have the underlying assumption that it is a fact. This is the same type of reporting that had declared Hillary Clinton to be the presumptive winner of the presidential election. This assumption lasted up until election night, with no major network showing any chance for the Trump campaign. By 3:00 AM the following morning the networks had to declare Trump the winner. None, save for FOX, did it willingly, in some cases very unprofessional, such as Rachel Maddow, but it was done. Almost immediately the resistance was born. Many Clinton supporters could not believe what had happened, there had to be a mistake or some occurrence. All the polls could not have been that wrong. There must be a villain.

It was then that the conspiracy was born. To be honest there were previous hints of what was to come. When the DNC was hacked President Obama immediately blamed the Russians. When candidate Trumps asked candidate Clinton to explain her mishandling of classified e-mails she immediately responded with a charge against Russian interference.  This was seen at the time to be a diversion away from the question. Trump, unfortunately for him, responded with a snarky comment about if Putin had her e-mails then he should release the missing 33000. This last gave the Clinton campaign an opening to falsely claim Trump was calling on Putin to spy on Clinton, and the media followed on.

We now have three ongoing investigations, the FBI, the Senate and the House are all looking into the claim that Russia attempted to interfere with the US elections. To-date nothing of substance has been reported and the former Director of National Intelligence has stated more than once that there currently is no evidence to indicate collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government. There is no indication of Russian interference having an impact on the outcome of the election, the states that swung the election to Trump were blue states that voted economic issues. There is little indication of any contact between Trump campaign officials and Russia, what they have shown is of little consequence.

Now comes the big question, what happens if all the investigations come up empty? In the end it is declared that there is no collusion and no connection between the Trump administration and the Russian government. Will the country be able to move forward and get back to business. If as I suspect there is no collusion and Trump won fair and square I doubt the resistance will end. There must be a reason Clinton lost. No DNC post-mortem has been done that has reached the conclusion that they put up a bad candidate and ran a bad campaign. The fact remains the people no longer had faith in the Obama administrations direction or the government in general and were looking for a change, any change. To that end they looked for an outsider, any outsider.

Unfortunately for the country the so-called resistance, led by the senior democrats in congress, will never accept any outcome that does not lead to Trump being removed from office.  All I can ask is that the people PLEASE THINK about what is best for our country and call for an end to this division and ask our leaders to get back to governing the country

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American Politics

Please Think about how chasing a Russian Bogyman is hurting the country

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Russian Bogyman

While I do not know what, the outcome will be on the Presidents claim that his campaign was wire tapped, initial indications are that something was done. Per articles in the New York Times a FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) warrant was requested in June but denied and another with a more limited scope was requested and issued in October. There have been other reports about this activity by the HEAT.com and The Guardian as well as good analysis by National Review online, as well as a report by Bretbart. I mention Bretbart only because most of the media attention is on that one report being the impetuous for President Trumps twitter rants. The Russian boogeyman has been in play now since the Democrats began to use it to divert attention away from questions about Hilary Clintons use of an unsecured server in her home to store classified material. The problem is that this diversion has now taken on a life of its own and is overriding any attempt by either side to govern the nation.

What we know, not a lot. Director Clapper, Director of National Intelligence, had stated after revelations came out about hacking of the DNC computers, that it was not known who in fact had done the hacking at the time. The DNC, the Clinton Campaign and the White House all came out and said it was the Russians. This was not accepted by the Trump campaign and that led to the accusations that the Trump campaign was in collusion with the Russian government. Now the short line to today, the Intelligence Community came out with the conclusions after the elections that Russia had indeed hacked the DNC and its intent was to swing the election to Trump. Director Clapper also came out this weekend to say there was no evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government. Whether Russia intended for the leaked DNC emails to have an impact on the elections it is generally accepted today that the emails released had little or nothing to do with the outcome. That should have been the end but as we know it is not.

Refusing to let go politicians and news outlets continue to search for a Russian connection to the Trump camp. What they have so far is, nothing. LTG Flynn’s contact was not unlawful he was forced to resign because he lied to the Vice-President. AG Sessions was a Senator when he met with the Russian Ambassador once in an open meeting and once in his senate office on official senate business. The President is known for making statements that are not always technically correct and the left and the news media is quick to point out any mistake. The latest is that he claimed President Obama ordered the wire taps and it was rightly pointed out that a president cannot directly do that. We all know however if the president suggests to the AG that maybe the Trump organization has illegal contact with the Russian government I think the AG would get the point and see what could be done. Let’s stop parsing words and PLEASE THINK what is being said and meant.

Now to the heart of the matter, WOULD YOU ALL CUT IT OUT AND GET BACK TO DOING YOUR JOBS. There is not one shred of evidence that the Trump campaign had any improper contact with the Russian government so there is no reason for a special prosecutor to be named. There is nothing for a special prosecutor to investigate. Let us get off this Russian thing and work on the problems of the country. Let’s reestablish our foreign policy so that we are once again respected in the world. Let us look to help the victims of aggression like the Syrians in Aleppo and the citizens in Ukraine. Let us work to turn our economy to what it can be. Let’s work to fix real problems, there are a lot of them. Yes, racism still exists and we need to continue to march forward. Progressive policies are not in trouble just under review. If the people want them to stay they will stay.  PLEASE THINK about the real problems so we can all get back to the real world and our lives.

 

American Politics

PLEASE THINK: A Free Press is….?

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A quiz, who said – “Nothing can now be believed which is seen in a newspaper. Truth itself becomes suspicious by being put into that polluted vehicle.”, the correct answer is 1) Donald Trump, 2) Richard Nixon, 3) Adolph Hitler, 4) Joe Stalin, or 4) Mao. The answer is, none of the above. Thomas Jefferson said it in 1807 following his election victory and after he and James Madison set up their own paper to slander John Adams. 

Recently President tweeted that:

donald

Once out, many people decided that this was an indicator, one of many since the election, that Trump was a dictator or dictator in waiting. I was not shocked by the statement since I read it and then dismissed it as rhetoric. He used the term fake news, which has been a standard and called out 5 media outlets as” The enemy of the American People!” While I believe, a better phase could have been found to make the point that much of the main stream media has become beyond adversarial, the news media set itself up for this.

I have always believed it necessary to read and understand both sides of any issues so I was very put off when I opened the Washington Post online Sunday to see a glaring photo of Trump imposed over pictures of Hitler, Stalin and Mao. The story that followed read like a college paper with the theme “Write about the term ‘Enemy of the People’ and compare and contrast with recent uses of the term.”  The report and others like it, instead of highlighting Trump as Hitler are highlighting the editors of these outlets as Joseph Goebbels.  

While the Nazis coined the term “Big Lie” in typical double speak they were the most effective practitioners of the form. Today most politicians practice some form of this while campaigning or in trying to convince us to support some program, However, it is the job of a free press to help the people understand what is being said and were the truth is found. Today however the press has become the more practiced and polished users of this form of propaganda. 

Since before the election the news media staked out a position and a candidate. In the beginning, Trump was left alone since the mass media did not consider him a viable candidate. On the other side, Bernie Sanders was treated like a comic side show. Both came under media attention when they began to be a serious challenge to the parties chosen candidates. Once it became apparent the two were serious and a threat to the established order the propaganda machines went to work. On the left Sanders was treated as an old man who was fun to watch but not a president. The DNC, we now know, even had plans to manipulate the primaries. Trump on the other hand was a different problem. Not of the political main stream and becoming very popular with the middle, which is where elections are won, something had to be done that was fast and spectacular. Along comes Russia. Almost immediately following the disclosure of the email hack Russia is identified as the perpetrator. This then became the big lie, a truth that could be used to deflect fact and attention away from Hillary Clinton exposing national security secrets by using an unclassified server. When asked about missing emails and her indiscretions the response was look at Russia they are interfering with the election.

All great lies begin with some truth. Russia probably did hack the DNC, as well as a lot of other hacks perpetrated by them. From there the news kept repeating that Russia was doing this to manipulate the election in favor of Trump. When Trump won, it was not by the choice of the American people it was Russia. Reports began to circulate about Trump’s campaign in contact with Russian intelligence agents. Russian elites where beside themselves with joy, etc. Even though there is no evidence of this the reports continue. I will grant most cover themselves by saying while this is believed to be true they admit there is no evidence. Trump said that most of the Mexican illegal immigrants are rapist and murderers, a big stretch and untrue, but it became Trump is a racist. In all this Trump became Hitler, Stalin or Mao. I will grant he is no Winston Churchill but to compare the elected head of a democratic country to mass murderers go beyond any form of journalistic integrity. It is the perpetuation of the Big Lie, said loud enough and long enough it becomes truth.

We are a free and democratic society and the press has the right to say what it wishes short of calling for lawlessness and armed rebellion. It cannot be proved that much of the violence of the anti-Trump demonstrations is instigated by the press they are not helping have a calm and rational discussion on the issues.

I call on the press to look at what they print or say and maybe to rehire some of the editors they let go in the past. The press is below Trump in the polls, once Walter Cronkite was the most trusted man in America. Before you say or print anything I ask the media to PLEASETHINK, What Would Walter Do.

American Politics

PLEASE THINK: News or Rumor?

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While I am trying to be fair and dispassionate in my opinions the news is making it difficult. About the news conference the President held for almost 1 ½ hours, the media has blown it up into evidence the President is mentally unstable and trying to destroy free press by calling them out. The press has set itself up in an adversarial situation, which is fine they should, but are upset that their adversary is responding in the same manor.

The biggest story pushed recently is the communications between the Trump campaign and Russia. This is being fueled by both sides of the aisle with calls of bipartisan investigations into the alleged connection as reported by several news outlets. The problem with this is that once the stories are dissected it becomes apparent that is all they are, stories. Even the latest report by the New York Times stays, in the fourth or fifth paragraph, that following investigations and speaking with intelligence sources there is no evidence to back up the claims. Let me repeat that “There is no evidence…” The president however had to withstand several questions on this rumor.

Then we go to the ridiculous. Again the New York Times puts out a report about twitter erupting over a report the President said he wants the women around him to dress like a woman. Social media went nuts even in the comments of the report on Face Book Trump was attack by all sorts of replies. The problem, if you go to the body of the report its says they cannot find where Trump ever said it or where the report came from.

Today AP put out a report that the Trump administration is planning to mobilize up to 100,000 National Guard troops to assist in immigration enforcement in several states. On its face, it does not make sense and the White House as well as the states identified have denied or said they have never heard of it. After the denials and obvious mistakes in reporting the AP went on as if it was a fact, citing unnamed sources.

I believe strongly in a free and open press. I also understand for the press to do its job it must be adversarial with any government, a situation missing in the last eight years. It has an obligation however to work to confirm the facts before reporting. Does it take much to confirm fact vs. rumor? Last week the New York Times reported a tweet by LTG Flynn following his resignation that he had been scapegoated. This brought an press conference on the hill with Congressman Cummings and Leader Pelosi demanding that this be investigated and castigating Flynn for using such a term. As you likely know it was a fake tweet. How do we know it was fake, a quick click on the id showed up as “parody”

Next time you see reports that don’t seem to ring true, PLEASE THINK.       

 

American Politics

Please Think About Consequences

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Gen Michael Flynn (ret) has resigned (or was forced to resign) from the office of Director of National Security. It can be said that either he was sacrificed on the altar of politics or had to go since he lied to, at least, the Vice-President of the United States. In full disclosure, I worked for Gen. Flynn when he was Director of Intelligence (J2) for the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the Pentagon and again when he was Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency. He is an intelligent and fair man, but difficult to work for. As J2 he left early to become CJ2 for Gen McChrystal in Afghanistan and was forced into early retirement from DIA. At least in the later it can be said he ran afoul of entranced bureaucrats. Michael Flynn has a mind of his own and is not afraid to speak out on what he sees as right. This trait serves well for an intelligence officer and a general, but not for a public official.

 

As I said yesterday, the fact that he spoke to the Russian Ambassador prior to Trump assuming office is a nothing. The fact that he lied to the VP and others is the real problem. Yet we will continue to hear about the Russian connection in the Trump administration ad nosism. It is being reported that the White House was informed that Flynn was potentially a subject to Russian blackmail, yet blackmail does not work when everyone knows the secret. He had to go because of his lie, not because of anything else. He lost a high-profile job because of a lie.

 

Yet there are additional consequences of this drama. The world is a dangerous place and getting more dangerous by the day. The loss of someone with Flynn’s talents and the subsequent turmoil at the National Security Council leaves the President partially blind as to what is happening in this dangerous world. With Iran and North Korea playing with nukes and missiles and Russian continuing to threaten eastern Europe this is no time to play politics as usual. With politicians posturing and citizens demonstrating and in some cases rioting, we are playing into Russia’s hand. This is what they wanted by the reports of them interfering into the election and the planting of fake news. This chaos is exactly what the Kremlin wants. This is the consequence of party politics replacing a national agenda.

 

It is time to stop the hysteria over everything the President does or tweets. There are still over 3000 girls and women being held as sex slaves by ISIS, everyday women are stoned to death and homosexuals are hung or thrown off the tops of buildings. North Korea and Iran continue to flaunt the rules of the international community, and the response to all this by America is: Yesterday a group gathered in Chicago and “mooned” a Trump building.

 

PLEASE THINK.

 

American Politics

Please Think Why Trump Lost the Appellate Court Decision

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Listening to the reports on the recent 9th circuit court decision on the Immigration executive order, the reasons for the counts ruling are very clear. The courts are biased and the ruling is political with no base in law, or the executive order was a violation of the constitution and a reason to begin impeachment proceedings against the President.

 

The fact is, after having read the decision I can report that is a fairly typical court decision based on the narrowest principles they could find. The actual ruling is:

 

 “To rule on the Government’s motion, we must consider several factors, including whether the Government has shown that it is likely to succeed on the merits of its appeal, the degree of hardship caused by a stay or its denial, and the public interest in granting or denying a stay.  We assess those factors in light of the limited evidence put forward by both parties at this very preliminary stage and are mindful that our analysis of the hardships and public interest in this case involves particularly sensitive and weighty concerns on both sides.  Nevertheless, we hold that the Government has not shown a likelihood of success on the merits of its appeal, nor has it shown that failure to enter a stay would cause irreparable injury, and we therefore deny its emergency motion for a stay.”

 

 In other words, for the rest of us, there is not enough evidence to prove the government would be harmed or that they will ultimately win in court. Other points to understand is that the court did not rule on the merits of the executive order but on whether the lower court had the authority to put in a temporary hold until a full hearing could take place.  All of this has had the effect of stopping the order from being implemented, not on the legality of the order. Courts, to be honest, do not make these stays lightly and only when they believe the plaintiff, in this case the states of Washington and Minnesota, have a chance of winning. I would have to say that, in my opinion, the order exceeds the authority of the President and the government would lose in court. The reason for this is the order included valid Green Card holders, legal residents, and stopped entry to people with valid visas issued before the order. These last where in fact walked back but it was too late. Once something is said it cannot be unsaid. Had the order been simply that the US would not issue new visa’s in those cited countries and put a halt on refugees it would likely not have gotten this far in the court system.  The order then was too broad in scope and rolled out too quickly and without proper vetting.

 

At this point the Trump administration has two options. The first is to continue to proceed through the courts with a likely result of losing, or to vacate the order, which makes any further court actions moot, and issue a more limited order that fits the current law. I hope for the latter but fear the former will be the favored action of the current administration.

 

I now return you to your regularly scheduled extreme mass media reporting.

 

American Politics, International Politics

The Trump Immigration Ban, Its Meaning and Impact

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trump

 

Donald Trump has now been President of the United States for a little over a week. Unlike other Presidents he has implemented many of his campaign promises without delay. Of those the most controversial is the enactment of a 90 to 120 day ban on visas and immigration from several nations , and denial of entry to those holding valid Green Cards, until there is a satisfactory process in place to screen potential terrorist from the US. Many in the US and others around the world have protested this ban and legal action has brought a suspicion to parts the order. The problem with the Executive Order is that it goes against everything America has stood for, except self-preservation.
As I write this I must in all honesty tell the reader that this is not the first time something like this has occurred, nor is it the first in modern times. The most recent was a pause in visas for Iraqi refugees by President Obama in 2011. While it is argued that the Obama ban was more limited in scope, only refugees, it was within the same context to stop terrorist from entering the country. Trumps is more wide ranging in that it stopped ALL visa applications, canceled those that were already approved and denied those granted permanent resident status, Green Card. Prior to this however were bans on classes of people that were longer and more dire.
Exclusion of the Chinese:
President Chester A. Arthur, Signed on May 6, 1882. The Chinese Exclusion Act banned “skilled and unskilled laborer’s and Chinese employed in mining” from entering the US for 10 years, it was the first significant law restricting immigration to the country. When it expired it was extended for 10 more years.
Jewish refugees during World War II:
President Franklin D. Roosevelt argued that German Jewish refugees posed a serious threat to the country’s national security. Drawing on fears that Nazi spies could be hiding among the refugees he limited the number of German Jews who could be admitted to 26,000 annually.

Anarchists banned:
In 1903, President Theodore Roosevelt signed the Anarchist Exclusion Act which banned anarchists and others deemed to be political extremists from entering the US.
Communists banned:
Passed by Congress on August 23, 1950, despite being vetoed by President Harry Truman.
The Internal Security Act of 1950 – also known as the Subversive Activities Control Act of 1950 or the McCarran Act – made it possible to deport any immigrants believed to be members of the Communist Party.

Iranians:
President Jimmy Carter cut diplomatic relations with and imposed sanctions on Iran in 1979. He also banned Iranians from entering the country.
Ban on HIV positive persons:
In 1987, under President Reagan, the US banned HIV positive persons from arriving in the US. The laws were influenced by homophobic and xenophobic sentiment towards Africans and minorities.

President Trump has issued a new ban to last from 90 to 120 days that is designed to give time to institute a new process for admitting persons from regions as designated. The problem with this new ban is that it is too broad and was poorly thought-out and executed. The agencies responsible for enforcing the ban were neither consulted nor informed as to the intent or implementation. I would offer the new president a word of advice, you are no longer a CEO of a company but the leader of a nation. While even most companies, preparing a new product roll out, look to get buy-in from stake-holders, it is more incumbent on the president to talk to congressional leadership and his cabinet. I understand from the experience of business this may have been considered a trial balloon or a Beta test but the division in the US today will not allow for this.

Now to the upside to the ban. For too many years the immigration system in the US has been broke, and I do not mean only on the Mexican border. I have friends from the Middle East, especially from Kurdistan, who wait far too long to get visas either for themselves or family, for no other reason than the draconian rules and regulations that make the process glacially slow. For far too many years the congress has bemoaned this fact and failed to do anything about it. The reaction to the ban may be the stimulus needed to “Reboot” the system. Are there legitimate concerns with a too weak or open border process, yes. My maternal grandparents immigrated from Italy when Italian immigrates where not welcomed. My mother-in-law was a refugee from Nazi Germany after the war and even though she was living in a refugee camp the vetting process took a long time and she had to have a relative in the US vouch for her and a job waiting. While she was going through the process many actual war criminals where let into the country. This last is important as we analyze further.

The cause of the ban put in place by President Obama was the discovery of two Iraqis who had made it through the process and were in the US planning to send support to Al-Qaida in Iraqi. The two were in the US as asylum seekers and had been bomb makers in Iraq and their fingerprints were discovered on a piece of an IED. In other words, they should never have been let in. With the individual attacks over the years such as Ft. Hood, San Bernardino, Boston and Florida as well as the problems seen in Europe coupled with a lack of any concrete actions by the Obama administration to act, Donald Trump acted.

The actions taken on the ban, in my opinion, were too harsh, too wide spread and implemented without thought as to impact and consequences. I give thumbs up to intent, protecting the country, but thumbs down on implementation. In business, there is always time to correct a mistake, not always in government actions. In this case, there is time to repair the damage and continue to move forward. Donald Trump is a far different person then was Barack Obama, or most other politicians. He will move too quickly and make mistakes so we need to get used to it. The makeup of the US government with its checks and balances will hold most of the executive actions in place.

As I have said before I was not a supporter of Trump during most of the primaries but did support him in the end as being the best of the chooses given us. No this is not a resounding endorsement but I am confident that his ability to learn far exceeds others and that given time he will find the middle ground that US policy so desperately needs. In the meantime, it’s going to be a wild ride

 

 

 

American Politics

2016 Another Political Upheaval in America

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My country, the greatest in the world with an unbelievable diversity in culture and citizens will soon be faced with an impossible choice for its next leader, or so it would seem

The Republican Party started out with 17 candidates running for the nomination. Five withdrew before the primaries even started while another 11 have since dropped out of the race. This leaves Donald Trump the presumptive nominee. On the Democratic Party side, we started with what could be called five viable candidates and are now down to two. Of the two, Hillary Clinton, is the choice of the party elite, and barring unforeseen problems or an indictment, likely the nominee.

Donald Trump was considered a side show and a joke. Coming with what many considered a ton of baggage and no political background, all he had was name recognition and a lot of money. The power elites and the political pundits saw no future in his candidacy and down played early victories. Hillary Clinton on the other hand was the anointed one.  In the beginning she had what was seen as a clear path to the nomination, since none of her announced opposition had the money, standing, name recognition or power base that she did.  

So what went wrong? Trump beat all of the political professionals while Clinton faced, and may still face, an unexpected challenge from an unlikely source, Sen. Bernie Sanders. Following the primary in Indiana Trump defeated Sen. Ted Cruz, his closest rival, by double digits, Sanders then beat Clinton. Up until the week before, the polls had Cruz winning and up until the day of the primary Clinton was in a tight race but still leading. Even with this victory Clinton is still on track to win the nomination based on her past wins and a large number of “Super Delegates” in her pocket. Still it was not the cake walk/ Coronation she was expecting.

Again, what went wrong? While the main stream media ignores the plight of the democrats there is no end to the death notice for the GOP. Within its own ranks there is talk of the end and the need to find the soul of the party. Maybe this is not the end of either party just a restructuring and/or an update.

From time to time there are upheavals in the body politic, such as the recent advent of the tea party on the right and the new progressive movement on the left. In the tumultuous ‘60s we saw Barry Goldwater on the right and George McGovern on the left rise, and then go down in flames.  The existence of political splits is not new in America. The Progressive Party of the US, better known as the Bull Moose party split from the republican party over policy difference between Teddy Roosevelt and William Howard Taft. Then there was the Native American Party also known as the Know-Nothing-Party, which formed to oppose immigration. The immigrants where mostly German and Irish Catholics. Any quick study of these parties will show that many of the issues then are the same as now.

Why then is the world coming to an end for the Republicans and what are the problems being faced by the Democrats. Historically these types of movements die out quickly. Neither of the parties above lasted long and neither of the reform movements of the left or right held power come the next election cycle. The difference today, if there is one, is 24/7 news coverage and social media. The political elites and the talking heads/pundits have not caught up with the change. The ascendance of Trump and the intransigence of Sanders campaign have caught those who should know better off guard. Rather than the party controlling the people the people are controlling the party.  I am very concerned about the reaction of the power elites. From the beginning the Democratic National committee has made no secret about their desire to see Clinton the nominee and has manipulated the process to ensure that outcome. Sanders has managed to challenge the status quo and has made a fight of it. The advantage the Sanders insurgency has over Trump is that he cannot be challenged over his position relative to the political spectrum, he is a liberal. The republican leadership however is having a hard time reconciling their definition of conservative and Trump. Sen. Ted Cruz continued to tout that he was the only “true” conservative in the race. Going so far as to call Trump a New York liberal.

Since Trump has apparently vanquished all others he is now facing a revolution of the republican leadership because he does not fit the ideal. Recently Speaker of the House Paul Ryan said in an interview the reasons he is having trouble backing Trump is that he does not understand “conservative values.” Among these values and principles Ryan pointed out was limited government, the role of the executive, and adherence to the Constitution. These points and some others have been used to show Trumps lack of orthodoxy. I would point out to those conservatives gathering feathers and melting tar that the one overriding principle of the country is the voice of the people. I must tell the Republican elites that Trump won the primaries and the people may be changing the definition of conservatism. 

Jonah Goldberg, a senior editor for the National Review in a past article quoted a conservative stalwart of the past, Russell Kirk, author of such books as “The Conservative Mind: From Burke to Elliot,” stating “Russell Kirk, who could not define conservatism in a paragraph, much less a sentence, would consider it folly to even try. Kirk wrote, “Conservatism is not a fixed and immutable body of dogma.” Rather it is a recognition that life often pits some values against others, and that men are not always brilliant at sorting out which value should trump which in any given situation. As Edmund Burke noted, “The nature of man is intricate; the objects of society are of the greatest possible complexity; and therefore no simple disposition or direction of power can be suitable either to man’s nature or to the quality of his affairs.”

In a similar vein William F. Buckley was asked in an interview if he agreed with the following:   Q. Book publisher Henry Regnery once said, “Conservatism is not a fixed and immutable body of dogma, and conservatives inherit from Burke a talent for re-expressing their convictions to fit the times.” Buckley agreed whole heartedly. So what’s up with today’s conservatives?

Nothing is the answer, it’s the so called conservative leadership that is the problem. While Clinton fights the “true” liberals of her party in her march toward the nomination we hear of many on the left bailing out and promising, at the least, not to vote. The well-known conservatives are doing the same and much worse, they are actively seeking an alternative candidate to run as a third party conservative. In other words, they are doing everything in their power to elect Hillary Clinton. The logic is that she will be so bad that they get to pick the candidate in 2020 after a disastrous four years of Clinton.

The irony of this is that major conservatives such as Bill Kristol are talking to Mitt Romney as a possible savior of the conservative cause and third party candidate. You remember Romney, he lost as the republican party candidate four years ago because 3 million conservatives sat out the election, as they are threatening to do this year. Romney is also the person who refused to run during the republican primaries. The Romney who held so much sway over the republican rank and file that after he came out and attacked Trump no one listened and Trump just continued to roll forward.

Many writers are asking what has happened to the party of Lincoln and saying things like Clinton is more conservative than Trump. I will remind those that the party of Lincoln was a third party that was considered the left wing progressive party of the time and stayed in power until FDR. The democrats did not begin there swing to the left until FDR and still were mostly conservative until JFK in the 1960’s.

What we are seeing today then may be nothing more than another swing and realignment of ideals. The stance conservatism of Goldwater day’s finally giving way to a more pragmatic branch of conservative. The beginning may well be traced back to Reagan and the Bush’s. The democrats on the other hand are holding to dogma at least 50 years out of date. What we are then actually seeing is what has always made America great, the people are taking charge and making changes. Power elites should not worry, they will adapt to the changes and once more be in charge as the people go back to their lives, with the warning that they can do this again, as they have done before.