Election 2017 - The End of the Trump Presidency

            

           We shouldn’t have to wait until 2020, or even 2018, we need to have a new vote for the presidency of the United States this summer.

            The Trump administration is not going to last. It’s been nothing but a series of lies, stonewalling, bullying, unethical behavior, dishonorable actions, subterfuge, and mismanagement, not just by Trump, but almost the entire administration, and it has been going on since the moment Trump took office. Not even the three most corrupt administrations in the nation’s history; Warren G. Harding, Ulysses S. Grant and Richard Nixon’s combined, had this many scandals in just the first two months in office.

The investigation into Russian influence in the election is already drawing a noose around Trump’s neck. The latest shell game is the nonsense Devin Nunes has foisted on the American people by accepting supposed incidental intelligence gathered by the White House, not sharing any of it with his investigative committee, refusing to identify what information he had or how he obtained it, then had to go back to the White House to tell Trump what it was (even though Trump should have had it before Nunes did)…but it had NOTHING to do with his own committee’s investigation into the Russian impact on Trump’s campaign. Trump will not survive. And don’t look to his administration to pick up the reins of power and move on after Trump is gone. They are all just as complicit.

Trump and Pence cower before the truth - Pence rages about Planned Parenthood

A Mike Pence presidency won’t work. Vice President Pence has been part of the problem all along too. He was the head of Trump’s transition team. He was informed in writing and personally by Mike Flynn’s lawyers TWICE in November that Flynn was a foreign agent for the nation of Turkey. What kind of vetting was Flynn subjected to that THAT slipped by? Mike Pence was in charge of the vetting process. Also, Trump KNEW on January 26, 2017, when he was informed personally by acting Attorney General Sally Yates, that Mike Flynn had discussed US sanctions with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak on Dec. 29, 2016. Trump knew Flynn had lied about talking with the Russians. Does anyone believe he DIDN’T tell Mike Pence about it? Why would he keep that a secret from the Vice President? The retired lieutenant general was forced to resign as National Security Adviser in February after supposedly misleading Pence about the nature of his conversations with Kislyak during the transition. Initial reports about his departure said that Flynn decided to step down voluntarily. The next day, the story changed: Trump had ‘lost confidence’ in Flynn and asked for his resignation. Yet Trump to this day maintains Flynn didn’t do anything bad or wrong. It was all the dishonest media’s fault that Flynn was let go. Pence claimed he found out from a news report about Flynn’s lying on February 9^th. Trump knew on January 26^th but just forgot to mention it to Pence? Horse flop! Trump can’t let go of his lies even when they make his Vice President look like a burbling dimwit.

            Speaker Paul Ryan cannot be considered viable either. He is a Trump toady and essentially a one-issue politician…and that issue is getting rid of Obamacare. What he would replace it with, even HE doesn’t know. We need a president who has a broader more mass appeal idea for the country.

            Almost none of Trump’s cabinet picks can be honestly considered capable of doing even a slightly more credible job. Jeff Sessions? Mired in so much self-inflicted scandal he can’t even see to the end of his nose. Steve Mnuchin or Wilbur Ross Jr.? Pirates in business suits. Tom Price or Scott Pruitt? Up to their earlobes in proven-beyond-a-shadow-of-a-doubt illegalities and unethical behavior. Betsy DeVos? Probably the most ignorant person (and that’s saying something) on the cabinet. At that, she barely beat out Rick Perry who didn’t even know what his Department of Energy actually did…yet Trump STILL appointed him! Rex Tillerson? He doesn’t want the State Department job he has and he's doing a lousy job with that one. Frankly, I've seen smarter cabinets at IKEA.

            The one exception I would consider would be National Security Adviser General H. R. McMaster. He is the lone stand-out on Trump’s otherwise abhorrent cabinet.  But I doubt he wants to clean up the mess the Trump administration has made.

            They will most likely have to resort to the 25^th Amendment. Trump will need to be forcibly removed from office when it is proven he acted as an agent for Russia. He will not go willingly. I can’t imagine Melania, Ivanka, Jared or Steve Bannon convincing him to resign. He never admits he’s wrong so he will insist that everyone else is wrong, that the situation doesn’t apply to him, and will probably call for an insurrection. Don’t be surprised if people get harmed or killed when Trump is forced out of office.

If we are to get back the kind of nation as we ideally see it, there will need to be a two-month presidential campaign throughout the months of May and June, and then everyone votes on July 4^th. Absentee ballots should be sent out the first week of June and received back for counting no later than June 30^th. Each state should appoint trustworthy people to watch the polling places. There is to be no voter suppression. If that person has a valid US I.D. and/or is on the voting roll, they should be allowed to vote. If any are proven to have voted more than once, or that voter suppression actually took place, the full weight of the law should be used to correct that situation.

Democrats, Republicans, Independents, put forth your best candidates.  Let them hold rallies wherever they’d like but no PAC or Super PAC money can be used in the process, Citizen’s United be damned. Have the candidates debate three or four times between the start of May and the end of June, let American’s hear their viewpoint, and then we vote.

This year’s Independence Day celebrations should truly reflect that America is not an authoritarian kleptocracy, oligarchy, ineptocracy, plutocracy, nepotocracy or a stooge for a foreign power. We can once again be the Constitutional Republic that answers to the people and is not beholden to Russia, Big Business or a lying sycophant who couldn’t tell truth from a hole in the ground.

The Rigged Election



Donald Trump was right…the election was rigged.

He warned us over and over for the past four months and we didn’t listen.

The election results would be fraudulent.

As the Orlando Sentinel put it on November 9, 2016, if there was a word of the year, it was “rigged”…Trump was the primary instigator. He spread conspiracy theories about rampant voter fraud and accused reporters of unfairly covering his campaign.

And Trump was right; reporters did unfairly cover his campaign in that they unfairly reported exactly what he said and what went on at the rallies; the assaults on dissenting voices, the shouts of “Jew-S-A” at the press, the made-up stories of an assassination attempt that the Secret Service TOLD Trump immediately afterward was just a man (a Trump supporter, no less) with a cardboard sign...there was never any gun, the crass bragging about his wealth while refusing to release his tax records to prove it, and disparaging minorities, women, and people with disabilities. The media constantly mentioned the huge crowds so Trump can’t complain about unfair coverage on that point.

But notice that Trump was the primary instigator of the rigging conspiracy.

He said the system was slanted repeatedly. When he projects things onto other people that HE is actually guilty of; how clear does he have to tell you that he’s really talking about himself?

One Pro-Trump supporter tweeted “There is plenty of evidence of voter fraud and machines flipping.” This was sent via Twitter on Election Day afternoon. Who was benefiting from that voter fraud and machine flipping?

Now that he’s won, will Trump apologize to the American people and admit the system wasn’t rigged after all?

Don’t hold your breath.

Trump will give them their privileged positions back

I continually wonder why anyone would vote for Trump, baffled by how his supporters can ignore his crude comments about women, where grabbing them by the crotch is somehow considered locker-room-talk-acceptable, where women are simply aesthetically pleasing objects, should be punished for having an abortion, or are dogs, pigs, slobs, and disgusting animals. Where promises made and then broken about Trump releasing his tax records doesn’t upset any of them. Where he demands to know, three times in less than an hour interview, if the U.S. has nuclear weapons, why we don’t use them? (Apparently forgetting we DID in August 1945.) I was still searching Friday night when I happened to have a conversation with a newscaster at one of the radio stations where I work. My co-worker is a reporter for the news/talk station. We had a 15-minute window to discuss the current election and he talked about people he interviewed at a Trump rally last week in Sanford, Florida. What he told me confirmed what I had long suspicioned but had no concrete proof until these Trump supporters out-and-out admitted it.

People are supporting Trump because he is promising them that they can have their privileged positions back.

It doesn’t matter that he can’t deliver on any of it. He verbally soothes their ruffled feathers to let them know that they will once again have those lofty places on pedestals, and receive the preferential treatment they deserve. Just elect him and he will make sure they get it all back.

A white male and two females the reporter talked to identified themselves as evangelical Christians and they were thrilled that Trump has guaranteed them they will have their positions of power and privilege returned. It would make for a better world where biblical law was the law of the land, where other laws would be re-enacted to secure Christianity’s unassailable position above all other religions across the country, where stores closed according to biblical dictates; like no working on Sunday, where school-led prayers would be everyday occurrences, ten commandment monuments and plaques would be commonplace in government buildings, and the Supreme Court would automatically strike down laws that went against biblical teaching, like same-sex marriage and women holding a position of authority over men, like, say, president. (Guess who that was aimed at?).They did say Mormons, Moslems, Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, Jews, and others would be free to worship, just out of sight, out of mind… where any Christian could not see them.(Although one woman did say she was not in favor of it because those people worshiped false gods) They were also sick of seeing caucasians pushed to the side. Trump would fix that.

Another man was a former factory worker. He had completed 10^th grade but didn’t need college as he used to have a fairly good paying job on an assembly line in Michigan. He was angered about all the American jobs that were sent overseas and supported Trump because he would bring those jobs back. He was glad Trump would build a wall to keep all the Mexicans out. They were taking American jobs. The reporter asked him if his job was sent to Mexico…would it be returned by Trump…and did he want it back? The guy said his job was still in Michigan, but that his position has been automated. He had been replaced by a computerized machine. He was asked if he went back to get trained to work the machine. “Hell no,” the guy responded, “but we got to get our manufacturing jobs back. Those are American jobs!” What kind of pay would he want to do those old manufacturing jobs? He felt he was worth $25 to $30 an hour. The reporter didn’t mention that very same job in Mexico paid $8.50 an hour, nor was Jose coming here to take a job away.  

Another group holding up anti-gay signs said they were fed up with seeing LGBTQ people get so many rights that they didn’t deserve. They claimed the Pulse shooting in Orlando gave these people national exposure and changed the way they were seen in society. The reporter asked, “Should they be discriminated against?” “Well, they shouldn’t have the same laws and rights we have. It’s not right.” one man was blunt enough to say. Trump will repeal all those liberal laws so that his supporters are once again allowed to be politically incorrect and treat others with disdainful behavior and unethical actions. Hell, they’ve earned the right.

Trump's supporters are quick to condemn Hillary Clinton in the most derogatory and threatening manner possible. It gives them a fallback position. But it is because, like with religion, Trump makes one empty promise after another and his followers don’t need even a hint of evidence that he’ll deliver; he’s the only candidate who is telling them they can have their pedestals back and return to a lofty position of looking down on everyone else like it was meant to be in their dreams.

What a privilege.

The Coming Civil War

I hope I am wrong. I really, fervently hope I am completely off-base and that I’m worrying about nothing. But the signs are there that my worrying appears to be quite justified. I never thought this country could be threatened with ANOTHER civil war.

In the United States, we are about to elect a new president. Every other presidential candidate in past elections has gone along with the 240-year-old tradition that they would abide by the American people’s decision on Election Day. Even in the cases of very, very close elections like in 1876, 1960 and 2000, no candidate has, prior to this election, said that he would contest the outcome or even threatened to do so out of petulance, beforehand. And all of those candidates stayed within the framework of U.S. law.

Until now.

And what this will possibly lead to...is a civil war.

 On October 9, 2016, in his debate with Hillary Clinton, feeding on his assertion that the whole election system is rigged against him, Donald Trump refused to say whether he would accept the election results with “I will tell you at the time. I’ll keep you in suspense, okay?”  He followed it up on October 20th by stating he would accept them...if he wins.Those are not empty words to his followers. He is telling them ahead of time that only he should win. If he loses, it proves the system is rigged against him. And since he will leave us in suspense when that happens, his Schutzstaffel-like followers will know he was cheated and act out everything violent they’ve displayed at his rallies, only now on a national scale. Think I'm kidding?

Remember cowboy-hatted redneck John McGraw who climbed past several people to lash out and punch Rakeem Jones, a passing protester being escorted out of the rally in Fayetteville, North Carolina? This will become a weekly, then daily, and finally, an hourly event. It may get even worse since afterward Mr. McGraw said on live TV that “Maybe next time we’ll have to kill him…” Several White Supremacist organizations and right-wing fringe groups have come right out and said there will be an armed insurrection if Trump doesn't win. So expect shooting, burning, drowning, hanging…it’s all good because Trump has his crack legal team ready to defend them. Besides, someone has to stand up to those ISIS-sympathizin’,America-hatin’,non-older angry white, "libtards" who won’t kowtow to Trumpism, in whatever form he decides in best for the nation.

Remember Shirley Teters of Asheville, NC, the 69-year-old grandmother on oxygen who was punched by a Trump supporter as the guy left a rally? Police were later informed the same man had grabbed and punched several other protesters inside and outside the building before slugging Shirley in the face, knocking her to the sidewalk and bashing her head against her portable oxygen tank. This will become an acceptable way of dealing with those people Trump supporters don’t like. If you don’t love the leader, you don’t deserve to be here...at least not without fresh blood pouring out of some wounds.

 Remember Trump himself bragging to his audience that he could shoot someone and not lose any support? The allusion there was, no one would stop him before or after he pulled the trigger because everyone loves him. He is giving his followers an open invitation to do the same. Find some liberal SOB who most likely supported Clinton…and shoot them...on Fifth Avenue. Do you think Trump is going to stop them? 

These are just the tip of an iceberg of hatred, violence, animosity, malevolence, and vengeance that will lead to a torrent of blood spilling. People who are not older white Anglo-Saxon Protestants (and even a few who are) yet have had absolutely nothing to do with Clinton’s success or Trump's failure will also be drawn into a fight or a battle just for living here...and they will pay dearly for it.

Trump commands not a group of supporters; he’s now their cult leader. They’ll follow him and do whatever he says as if he was Jim Jones, David Koresh, Charles Manson, Idi Amin, and Joseph Kony rolled into one. These men are or were demagogues. They thought they were the center of the universe; everyone else orbited around them and did their bidding. Trump will expect no less from his followers. And he understands what "low information" voters they are.

If Donald J. Trump loses the election...after whining and complaining that the deck has been deliberately stacked against him, the political polls and the media have been misrepresenting his support, the whole system is rigged, and that Hillary Clinton is a criminal, unfit to be president, and should be in jail, if not dead...his followers will not say “well, it was a tough election, but Hillary won. Let’s put aside our differences and work to make our nation the best it can be.”

They will want blood.

I hope I am wrong, but I am concerned that I am not. 

"Trump...command us. We will follow you!"

The Fallacy of Voting for the "Lesser of two Evils"

The following is a blog written in October 2012 by Jon Rappoport, a former candidate for the 29^th Congressional District in California and Pulitzer Prize nominee. His observations are even more succinct four years later.

For decades, disaffected Americans have been trudging to the polls and voting for the lesser of two evils. That’s how they register their preference for a presidential candidate.

Choices based on that dubious strategy seem to work for the short-term (at best). But in the long run, the law of diminishing returns sets in.

Term after presidential term, the lesser of two evils lowers the quality of life for everyone and keeps nudging the decline of the American Republic. The hole to dig out of becomes deeper, and successive presidents—each one the lesser of two evils—are less capable and willing to do the necessary digging.

That’s the story of leadership in America.

But prompted by new and more desperate created crises, citizens resort to the “lesser” strategy every four years, believing they must.

“I’m not that enthusiastic about either man, but I have to choose one. I have to go with the lesser of two evils because this country is in real trouble.”

Where does it stop? “Look, this time, I’m picking the lesser of two evils because the national crisis is so terrible. But next time, I promise I’ll do something else.” Really? What else will you do? Hope the sun comes out?

The voter who is chronically addicted to the lesser of two evils is like a man in debt who borrows to pay it off. Each time he borrows, the debt gets bigger. He says, “I know this is crazy, but what else can I do? Borrowing from Peter to pay Paul is the lesser of two evils. If I don’t do it, I’m sunk. I promise I’ll straighten this mess out—but not right now. I have a payment coming due. I have to borrow again.”

And just like the federal debt, which keeps swelling, the election of one lesser after another as the president keeps expanding the national misery. Finally, the idea that voters can step outside the two-party system to find a real president who actually believes in the Constitution seems like a pipe dream because all the prior lessers have screwed things up so badly, have sold so out badly, have trampled on the Constitution so crazily…the shell-shocked public accepts these lessers as the status quo.

At that point, people say, “Stop all this nonsense about a third-party candidate. Get real. We have to choose from the two candidates in front of us. That’s what life and elections are all about. Be an adult. Make your decision. Go for the lesser of two evils.”

A national poll might prove quite interesting. Ask people, “In the presidential election, are you voting for the lesser of two evils? Are you voting for the candidate who is “less bad” than the other guy?”

Better yet, let’s have a candidate who says, up front, “Hi, I’m Gil Fulbright, the lesser of two evils, and I’m running for president. Let’s not kid each other. You know, I know, and everybody knows that my opponent and I are both morons and sell-outs. We got where we are by lying and stealing. What else did you expect? We’re both puppets for larger forces. But at least I’m willing to admit it. And I believe, in my heart, that I’m the lesser of two evils. What do you say? Cut me a break. I really want to live in the White House and be the commander-in-chief. And my wife? Don’t get me started on what she wants.”

So the next time a “smarter, wiser” friend, who “really knows how the world works,” tells you you’ve got to choose the lesser of two evils, realize who’s smart and who the idiot is.

This fake political ad for Gil Fulbright is an example of what you get from voting for the lesser of two evils. Copy and paste address below in Google search.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQTqB5jZ4Lc


Politicians won't change if they know we'll vote for them anyway. Good candidates seldom receive the support they need to become viable. The problem of bad choices are thereby perpetuated, and the nation's political process continues to deteriorate until the day when our choices will be an Adolf Hitler or a Joseph Stalin.