Breaking News! Breaking News! This just in. We have just learned that President Obama asked Vladimir Putin for a “favor.” The quid pro quo would be the elimination of sanctions imposed due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in return for dirt of Joe Biden. Obama wanted to replace him as Vice President so the Democratic nominee for the 2016 could run as an incumbent Vice President and just move up one step in the natural progression. Putin agreed to the deal but was unable to concoct the evidence in time so he held onto into it until he could use it to manipulate Obama’s submissive successor to tear America apart. The delay worked perfectly, even better than the Seth Rich con.
Trumpicans were wild with joy when they heard this news. All Presidents regardless of political party have the right if not obligation to extort foreign governments to assist in the personal politics of the American President. Indeed, if Joe Biden becomes President, Trumpicans will champion his duty to investigate all the foreign transactions of the Trump family.
In my last blog I noted that I am not privy to “sources” and don’t know what the Trumpicans-in-Name-Only (TINOs) were saying behind closed doors in the caucuses. Little did I know that such a meeting had occurred that very day while I was writing. While Jeff Flake estimated 35 TINOs would vote to have the Impeached One removed in a secret ballot, Chuck Schumer now estimates up to 10 or 12 TINOs might vote for witnesses. McConnell acknowledges that the votes to curtail the truth are not there with the hope that they will be later this week. As things stands, anything written here can become obsolete even as it is being written.
Let’s consider a few items.
DID ANONYMOUS LEAK THE MANUSCRIPT?
There would appear to be no rational reason for a Trumpican to leak the manuscript. They had sat on it for several weeks keeping McConnell and others in the dark practically throwing them under the bus. Clearly the White House Trumpicans had no expectations that the information in the book would become public until after the Senate Trumpicans did their job and exonerated the Impeached One. So who beside Anonymous in the White House had reason to sabotage those plans? Anonymous had done it once before and had the ties to The New York Times. All things considered, the timing was perfect. Contra Scott Jennings, Nancy Pelosi’s s delay in sending the bills of impeachment to the Senate permitted there to be time for the manuscript to be delivered to the White House for review.
HOW MANY JOHN KELLY’S ARE THERE?
Sooner or later the entire story will be told. Kelly and Bolton show that once people are freed from direct control by the Impeached One, they are far more willing to publicly tell the truth. One should only anticipate that this will happen more and more. I am not suggesting that the three Mikes (Mulvaney, Pence, Pompeo) will ever tell the truth even under oath, but there probably are additional people within the White House whose names I do not know who somewhere along the line will decide enough is enough and tell the truth. Maybe they are near retirement. Maybe they are experiencing medical problems as a result of the oppressive work environment. Maybe they have kicked the dog once too many times. Maybe they are inspired by the people in Hong Kong, Lebanon, Iraq and Iran who are standing up to governments far more oppressive than ours. Maybe they remember that the Loyalists were the ones who supported King George III and not the ones who challenged him. [Remember the Declaration of Independence was our first impeachment.] Maybe they are willing to risk civil disobedience. Once the dam finally does break, it will be a floodtide.
WILL THE TEA PARTY FIASCO REPEAT ITSELF?
Once upon a time not so long Republicans had to look over their shoulders in fear of a primary challenge from the Tea Party. Those Republicans-in-Name-Only did a superb job of costing Republicans Senate seats. The Tea Party is back first as the Freedom Caucus and now as Trumpicans. As a result, incumbent TINOs need to be on guard for primary challenges from Trumpicans. The problem is exacerbated if the TINO is from a battleground state or one that has started to elect Democrats at the state level.
Between now and election day, more and more information will come out about how the President of the United States using illegal powers to withhold funding sought to extort a foreign government to do a “favor” to help the President discredit a potential foe because Vladimir Putin told him to. In this scenario, I am not sure which is worse: the President of the United States trusting Putin, the President of the United States falling for Seth Rich II – The Bidens, the President of the United States requesting a personal favor, the President of the United States seeking to defy the law requiring the disbursement of funds, the President of the United States covering up his deeds, or the President of the United States ordering staff not to comply with subpoenas. Even though he won’t answer those charges, Trumpican Senate candidates will be asked about them especially in battleground states. At some point Mitch McConnell may come to the realization that Trumpican Senate candidates threaten his majority rule if they are forced to defend untenable positions.
Consider some examples.
Kansas – The Trumpican who lost the state race for governor is now the leading candidate to be the nominee for the Senate. Even without the impeachment, the Trumpican candidacy put the seat at risk. How much more so will it be when he admits to voters that he is stupid by choice and doesn’t even accept that the Impeached One engaged in an attempted extortion or coverup? Imagine having the honor of being the first official Republican to lose statewide races in Kansas in consecutive elections.
Georgia – The Republican Governor recognizes that the state is in play. Who knows better how much gerrymandering and voter suppression aided the Republican Party candidates in Georgia than he does? When an opening in Senate occurred he reached out to a Republican in defiance of the Impeached One. He did so with the intention that a Republican candidate would better be able to reach out to voters beyond the base and win the highly contested seat than a Trumpican would. Now the passed-over Trumpican has announced his candidacy for the Senate. As a result there will be an expensive and bitter primary for the nomination. Because of the Trumpican candidate, the TINO will be hard pressed to support the call for witnesses now knowing that the fire-breathing Trumpican is ready to pounce on any sign of disloyalty. Georgia Democrats are ecstatic at the possibility of another Senate pickup and even Georgian Republicans recognize the Trumpican intrusion undermines the chances of holding the seats.
What can you say about Arizona, Colorado, Maine and others? The vaunted Red Wave can do to the Senate what it did to the House in 2018. Trumpicans will work very hard to ensure the loss of embattled seats…and maybe even put into play seats that should be taken for granted.
A simple way out of the quagmire, or at least to minimize it, is to adopt the strategy the Democrats did in the last impeachment: yes, he did everything he is charged with but it does not rise to the level of high crimes and misdemeanors. Of course, Democrats had the advantage that their impeached President openly admitted his wrongdoings. No such action is likely here. The Trumpican Impeached One will not admit to any wrongdoing. As a result the Senate candidates will be more and more obligated to be stupid-by—choice and deny that any of the actions did occur regardless of the evidence. They will follow the example of the Democrats in the last impeachment because their own survival is at stake. Except to hear more “So what, that’s the way the game is played.” That argument will resonate with Trumpicans who think politicians are corrupt anyway. This process is already underway with the “defense” by Jay Sunk-so-low and the OJ lawyer.
The strategy of keeping the Bolton book under wraps was the correct one. The gamble that it would remain hidden until after the speedy exoneration was the correct one. But the anonymous leaker upset those plans just as the whistle blower previously did.
