A Quiet Coup d'etat Has Taken Place in the U.S. Government

We have had a bloodless coup d’état in Washington DC if the anonymous New York Times op-ed author is to be believed. Men and women we didn’t elect are running things any way they want, and they corral Trump like he’s a five-year-old claiming they are protecting us by doing so. They are talking about Trump’s behavior and character as being childish and they must keep him 'cribbed' to prevent him from acting on his impulses.

PEOPLE WE DIDN’T ELECT ARE RUNNIG THE GOVERNMENT TO PROTECT US FROM TRUMP.

One of Trump’s earliest cheerleaders in the Senate, Bob Corker, less than a year ago described the White House as an Adult Day Care Center where they swipe things off Trump’s desk so he can’t sign them and he forgets they were even there, just like what happens with an easily-distractible five-year-old. Corker has not changed his view on that. This past July, Lindsey Graham had to scold Trump on TV that “Putin is not your friend” like he was talking to a kindergartner. Graham has not walked that back. Is anyone in the GOP concerned about the optics of this? The man elected as the head of that party is being handled like a little child, and the GOP basically is saying “Yeah, we know. It’s been that way since day one. But we work around it and we get as much of our agenda crammed through under his name until someone comes along and figures out what’s really going on.”

SO PEOPLE WE DIDN’T ELECT ARE RUNNING OUR GOVERNMENT AND USING TRUMP AS A SHIELD.

Trump, who is being described as an amoral dimwit, is being used by the Republicans so they can do what they want almost unchecked. Keep in mind, the op-ed letter writer is proud of what they’ve accomplished so far, which, all things considered, isn't much. But of course it includes the program to terrorize kids by separating them from their parents at the border, the tax cuts rammed through last December of which 83% of it will benefit the wealthiest 2% of the population - like Trump – and add almost $2 trillion (with a “T”) to the deficit, and are now attempting to rush through a Supreme Court pick who is on record as saying that a president should not be subpoenaed or even investigated. The GOP is going along with forcing through and putting a man on the Supreme Court who will most likely get to decide cases regarding Trump’s criminal liabilities, obstruction of justice, and possible violations of ethics, security, and political power. Because if Kavanaugh says Trump is above the law, then the GOP gets the Putin-installed childish puppet to continue to cover for them for the next 2 to 6 years. Thanks for putting party before country, GOP.

PEOPLE WE DIDN’T ELECT ARE RUNNING OUR GOVERNMENT SO PUTIN CAN’T RUN IT.

Every U.S. intelligence agency (along with warnings from our foreign intelligence friends) clearly identified Russia as having infiltrated and influenced the 2016 election. Who did Putin’s meddling get elected? Trump is indebted to Putin one way or another. 
        And from people inside this administration, there have been repeated whisperings to reporters, analyses of his speeches, and detailed information given to reputable authors about Trump’s unfitness for office. So the adults in the room - these are supposedly Trump’s “best people” - have gently pried the government away from Trump like you take a toy away from a five-year-old. And through this op-ed letter, they have assured us they are doing it to protect us from Trump’s worst inclinations, like, say, aiding and abetting a hostile foreign power or violating his oath of office to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution, the nation, and the people who serve it by saying he believed Putin over his own intelligence people. The GOP wants to protect this charade so they can continue to govern in Trump’s place because Trump doesn’t appear to know what he’s doing. The letter implies they did this for altruistic reasons because they can’t trust Trump’s decision-making. Like we're in a plane with a disabled pilot spiralling toward the ground and the anonymous resistance member is able to reach up and tap the rudder pedals or nudge the throttle every so often to delay the impending crash. 

We did not elect these people. Aren’t Trump supporters upset that there is a quiet resistance to Trump’s inclinations? Doesn’t it bother them that the president is described as, and treated like, an unruly five-year-old? Do they support a coup d’état carried out quietly by unelected people who are now making governing decisions for them? They’re not doing what Trump wants; they are doing what they want. Trump is not in control. He’s being treated like a child because he appears to be acting like a child. They say they are doing it to defend the republic, and make it seem noble that they get to make all the decisions instead of the five-year-old. If you’re a Trump supporter, is that what you want the government to do? Keep him contained in such a way as to minimize whatever damage he can do? If you’re a Trump supporter why would you tolerate that? Either one…that he is being kept from governing or that someone is having to corral him and govern in his place?

WE HAVE HAD A VERY QUIET AND HIDDEN COUP D’ÉTAT CARRIED OUT IN OUR GOVERNMENT.

If Trump is not capable of conducting the affairs and duties of the office of the presidency, then get him out of office legally. That's what you can do. That is what you must do. Don’t take over and then tell us you’re doing it for our own good to save us from what Trump is trying to do. Present your case to the American people. We decide. You don’t.

REMOVE THE CRIMINAL-TRAITOR-ETHICS VIOLATOR-CHILD KIDNAPPER-LIAR (TAKE YOUR PICK) FROM OFFICE

Michael Cohen indicates Trump ordered him to violate campaign finance laws to pay hush money to two women he has extra-marital affairs with.

Trump violated his oath of office by aiding and abetting Russia when he validated Putin’s denial of meddling in the 2016 election against the information he received from his entire intelligence apparatus.

Trump signs into law a Tax Bill last December that substantially benefits him and his organization, specifically it gives huge tax breaks to golf course owners and real estate developers, to the tune of billions of dollars after Republicans, and only Republicans, pushed the $1.5 trillion tax bill through the Senate without any hearings, testimony, or expert witness feedback. And on June 22, Trump signed an executive order to roll back environmental regulations to protect the world’s oceans thereby handing himself a business win in the process. It will “facilitate the economic growth of coastal communities and promote ocean industries” which will include most of Trump’s hotels and golf courses, increasing their profit margins. The order eliminates several regional planning bodies that were designed to keep an eye on local bodies of water and apply federal standards accordingly.

To date, 535 migrant children have still not been reunited with their families even after being ordered to do so by a federal court over a month ago. This is a form of terrorism endorsed by Trump to scare immigrants from coming to the U.S. by forcibly taking their children away when they cross the border. The children are innocent, yet they are ripped from their parents and put in cages in a detention camp. One has died while in ICE custody, and at least a dozen have been sexually or physically abused by ICE or HHS employees.

Immediately after Trump became the Republican nominee, the FBI provided him with high-level security information by high ranking counter-intelligence officers that the Russians were infiltrating the US election system and trying to spy on his campaign. They even warned him explicitly that the Russians were trying to contact his campaign and that if he was contacted or if he knew of any attempted contact, he should alert the FBI. This was AFTER the meeting Trump had in March with George Papadopoulos at the table who presented an offer to contact the Russians, after the Trump Tower meeting with Jr., Kushner and Manafort with at least 5 Russians on June 9^th, after Jeff Sessions first meeting with Sergey Kislyak, after Paul Manafort had offered a Russian oligarch close to Putin with a personal update on the Trump campaign, and after Carter Page had gone to Moscow at the behest of Manafort for the Trump campaign. Keep in mind this was BEFORE he became president. Yet he still claims there was no collusion. Was there a criminal conspiracy, then?

Trump’s lies? Did he ever provide his tax returns before the election which he vowed to do at least 16 times before November 8^th?  Was Don Junior’s meeting with the Russians at Trump Tower about adoptions like Trump wrote aboard Air Force One as an explanation? Didn’t Trump brag when he came back from Singapore that North Korea would de-nuclearize immediately? Didn’t the White House promise that 70% of the GOP tax cuts would go to workers when it is now confirmed that 83% has gone to the ultra-wealthy in this country? Didn’t Trump say he would hardly leave the White House to play golf because there was so much work that needed to be done? To date, he has golfed over 60 times in less than 2 years in office, far more than Obama did in 8 years.

Trump has been involved in over 1,300 lawsuits in the last 18 years, including one over his fraudulent Trump university that was still ongoing during the campaign. Nineteen women have accused him of sexual assault or misconduct, including ex-wife Ivana who once used the word "rape" to describe what he did to her in a court case. His businesses have repeatedly declared bankruptcy, including three casinos, an airline, vodka, a mortgage company, bottled water, steaks, a magazine, a dot com company, even a board game. He has told an average of 6 1/2 lies per day since taking office, for a total of over 4,000.

At the beginning of June, the Pentagon told Congress it estimates that nearly 500 civilians were killed as a result of US military actions in the first year of the Trump administration. "The Department of Defense assesses that there are credible reports of approximately 499 civilians killed and approximately 169 civilians injured during 2017." The report adds that "more than 450 reports of civilian casualties from 2017 remained to be assessed," meaning the number of civilian casualties caused by US military operations could go up. The report covers both US airstrikes as well as ground combat operations. The DoD acknowledged that civilian casualties have more than doubled since January 2017.

How many more reasons does anyone need to remove this criminal Russian asset from the Oval Office?

Hello, GOP. Anyone home?

WikiLeaks, Trump, and the Deep State

I’ll state at the very beginning of this post that I am neither a fan of Julian Assange nor a cheerleader for WikiLeaks. I understand what they’re doing, I know why they are motived to do it, but I am concerned about the cavalier approach they take in publishing what they hack and the timing of its release, their attitude that there is no “right or wrong” in what they do, not to mention that many times it appears WikiLeaks is a tool of Russian intelligence. It is meant to harm others in ways they never faced harm before. There are no checks and balances. Once the hacked information is exposed, there is no going back. We are all at the mercy of WikiLeaks which has the ability to smear anyone with selective leaking (as they did to Hillary Clinton last year) or call into question the very legitimacy of any organization they target.

But with that said, I can’t help but growl “How do YOU like it?” at the CIA and the American spying apparatus that has turned its attention and its microscope on the very people it is supposed to serve and protect.

With WikiLeaks publishing of thousands of documents this week that it says came from the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, and according to CIA insiders who’ve seen the released information it does appear to be legitimate, it represents yet another catastrophic breach for U.S. intelligence. So much for the agency's cyber professionalism. They've not only had their zipper pulled down, they've been de-pantsed. 

Now they know how the rest of us feel.

If someone hacks the CIA’s computer, it’s bad. If the CIA hacks someone else’s computer, that’s good because it’s the trade-off you have to have to feel secure in 21^st Century America. The CIA, NSA, FBI and other intelligence agencies are part of the Deep State - a shadowy conglomerate of industrialists, high-ranking military men, spies, legislators, and wealthy investors - and has been a threat to this nation and every president since Eisenhower. But they’ve successfully deflected any serious attention as to who and what they are by pushing the idea to compliant writers and reporters that such an organization is just a (wink-wink, nod-nod) conspiracy theory. Eisenhower didn’t have enough fear to cower in their presence but noted their existence in his farewell speech as he left office in 1961. John Kennedy wouldn’t cower either….we know how that ended. Richard Nixon made the mistake of thinking he could use them to his advantage and when he couldn’t; he tried to do an end run around them during his second term…and paid for it by being forced to resign from office for his stupidity. At least he can be thankful he wasn’t assassinated. Every other president since then has understood the ‘game’ and fallen into lock step with them. There would be no challenges to the Deep State operatives.

And then along came Trump who the Deep State didn’t take seriously. Thanks to Russian interference Trump became president. The Deep State knew of his staff’s involvement with the Russians, figuring Trump and his cast of characters would then be easy to manipulate but found out it is like trying to control a swarm of locust. And that’s exactly what the Trump administration is, a swarm of locust. They will pick the U.S. economy clean and afterward if they have enough momentum, a good portion of the rest of the world - if it’s okay with Putin. The Deep State was caught off guard by how inept the Trump people really are, which is why there is now a scramble going on behind the scenes as they try to understand the bizarre antics of the Trump team. The Deep State’s intelligence agencies are finding they have to play a weird game of ‘Whack-A-Mole’ every day with some new idiocy unleashed by Trump.

So when you read or hear about Trump and his minions complain that they are fighting the Deep State, they are correct. It appears at this point, the Deep State isn’t overly concerned because all they’ve seen is a thoroughly incompetent administration with massive ties to Russia and a bungling apparatus that can’t even keep their lies straight. The Deep State may forgive a lot that a new administration does, but they are not going to jeopardize current economics in the nation - which is based on crony capitalism, not free-market capitalism - for the kleptocratic totalitarian style of economics practiced in Russia. When the Trump administration begins to allow Russia the world dominance they seek, then the Deep State will retaliate forcefully.

Unfortunately, Americans will lose no matter which side wins. I do not trust any of our intelligence agencies. They lost that trust long ago due to their illegal activities. There may be good, decent, honest, and honorable Americans working for them, but they are vastly outnumbered by those who see the rest of us as annoying ‘soft targets’ and unwashed rabble. What WikiLeaks hacking of the CIA has exposed clearly shows how little regard they have for U.S. citizens or for the Constitution. So I now have no regard for them, But the alternative is the Trump clique wins. We can already see what kind of seismic damage they are doing to the country under the misleading cry of “Make America Great Again.” If the Trump bunch defeats the Deep State cesspool, America will not become "great again"...things are only going to get worse for us. Yes, the upper 1% will benefit no matter which side wins. The rest of us? Neither the Deep State nor Trump gives a damn.

The intelligence agencies operating in coordination with the Deep State military-industrial-legislative complex are now engaged in a mild but escalating death match with the Trump team. I want to see Trump and his ilk not just forced out of office, but completely pummeled, with torn out patches of hair, broken bones, black eyes, deep gouges in their skin, blood running from their ears, nose and mouth, teeth missing, and tossed in an unkempt pile at the base of the Washington Monument never to rise or threaten the U.S. again.

But that will leave the Deep State in complete charge and they do not care about America's interests. They are only interested in helping themselves and enriching their bank accounts at our expense…much like the Trump administration…only they’re slightly more competent, far more sinister, and have over 50 years experience of unelected "governing" as the shadow U.S. government.

There is no upside regarding who wins the fight. I have no doubt it will be the Deep State simply because the amateurs of the Trump administration have no idea what they are up against, or how to fight it. They are approaching it like a petulant eight-year-old. They will be spanked like one, too.

                Julian Assange and WikiLeaks have convinced themselves they are a force for good. Hacking the computers of the CIA amounted to a game to see if they could do it, and they succeeded. The consequences of that action are something I don’t think they considered very long or very deeply. We are all going to pay for it. And we will not like that bill.