The Ongoing Constitutional Crisis

 

As it now turns out, the Mueller Report didn't absolve The Donald from any wrongdoing. The special prosecutor left it up to the Congress to take matters into their own hands - to do what the law and the Constitution mandates them to do. I thought it was revealing that Trump's reaction to the results of the long-awaited findings went from "vindicated" last week to "total bullshit" this week. None of us who have bothered to pay attention to this train-wreck of an administration for these past two, very long years, should be a bit surprised by the schizophrenia of the White House's position on a day-by-day basis. This is precisely what we signed up for on Election Day 2016. The demented chickens have come home to roost.

And now we have the spectacle of the president of the United States - in flagrant violation of the Constitution - is ordering that members of his administration (current or former) ignore congressional subpoenas requiring them to testify about what they may or may not know regarding this administration's behavior since taking office. This would seem to me to be an impeachable offence in itself. After all, on January 20, 2017 Donald Trump took an oath to "preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States".  This is all fairly straightforward as far as I'm concerned. What part of that oath are some people unable to comprehend?

Palmer

And while we're on the subject, if President Trump was as innocent as he and Attorney General Barr are implying he is, why were the two of them so determined to keep the non-redacted version of Team Mueller's report from the prying eyes of those nosey American people? When Barr held a press conference that coincided with the report's release, he proved himself to be Trump's willing stooge. That is how history will remember him. No matter what mountaintop accomplishments he is able to achieve with whatever life is left to him, he will never be able to shake this nasty incident from his historical reputation. As of this afternoon, J. Mitchell Palmer, John Mitchell and Ed Meese don't look quite as reprehensible as they once did. As they say, context is everything, you know?

The national train-wreck is still in motion. The untenable situation that the United States currently finds its poor self in is only going to get much worse before it gets half-a-molecule better. I often try to speculate how long-lasting the damage done by Donald Trump to this country will be. Coming as relatively soon as he did following the disastrous era of George W. Bush, between the two of these psycho-clowns, one would have to concede that the bitter fruits of their incompetence will still be felt generations from now. This is as it should be, I guess. The voters who sent these corrupt jackasses to the Executive Mansion will get what they deserve. It's their children that I feel bad for.

It's always the children. Have you ever noticed that?

Tom Degan
Goshen, NY

SUGGESTED READING:

The Man Who Sold the World:
Ronald Reagan and the Betrayal of Main Street America
by William Kleinknecht

This excellent critique of the fiasco of the Reagan Revolution was first published ten years ago. How it possibly evaded my attention then is anybody's guess. As good a book on the subject as I've ever read. Here's a link to order it off of Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Man-Who-Sold-World-Kleinknecht/dp/B00CAYM6H4/ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_2?keywords=The+Man+Who+Sold+the+World%3A+Ronald+Reagan+and+the+Betrayal+of+Main+Street+America&qid=1556298015&s=books&sr=1-2-fkmrnull

Happy reading!