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Gladiator Senate versus American Senate: We Are on Fifth Avenue Now

January 27, 2020
by Peter Feinman
Derek Jacobi as a Roman Senator in Gladiator

The movie Gladiator was an action-packed blockbuster back in the time when human beings still could be heroes. Physical action leapt from the screen in some high paced rock-em-sock-em scenes. Many of them abounded in high energy in the tradition of Spartacus and Braveheart.

One of the subthemes in the movie was the role of the Roman Senate. Supposedly, the Roman Senate would provide a check and balance on the unhinged emperor. It would return Rome to being a Republic and end the excesses of personal rule by people who thought they were gods or at least above everyone else.

Although the movie dabbled in actual history, it did not create an alternate reality. There was no resurgence of the Roman Republic. Rome continued on its imperial way until it couldn’t and then the Roman Empire was no more.

Senate has a special ring to it. It sounds more august than being the member of the House, an Assembly, or a Legislature. The stature of the Senate has endured in the centuries since the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire.

Certainly the Founding Fathers of the United States had high respect and great hope for this body. It wasn’t elected by the mob. It was supposed to be a place of one betters (just as the Electoral College was). Once the era of the Virginia Presidential Dynasty ceased, the Senate did achieve the heights once anticipated by the Founding Fathers. Henry Clay, John C. Calhoun, and Daniel Webster were giants who dominated national politics for decades regardless of what one thinks of any individual policies. Truly they were larger than life figures in American history. There even came a time when Daniel Webster could go face-to-face with Scratch, the Devil himself, and win despite a rigged jury.

George Bailey Triumphs in the Senate

Around the same time, the future George Bailey went to Washington and showed that a John Doe or Smith could prevail in the Senate with the truth on his side even against the corrupt.

The Senate today bears no resemblance to that Senate or the vision of the Founding Fathers. Quite the contrary. It has become a very small chamber devoid of any sense of the grandeur that the very word “Senate” once connoted.

Consider the words of Jeff Flake and Rick Wilson. According to the latter, the Republicans in Congress can be divided into three groups: Trumpican loyalists, Trumpican opportunists, and intimidated Republicans. Flake estimates that 35 out of 53 Republican Senators would vote to remove Little Donnee Waney if there were a secret ballot. These people know what world leaders know: the American President is an impulsive, immature, ignorant child who should be laughed at except for the power he commands. Supposedly, however, they would never vote in public to remove the Impeached One because of the hell there would be to pay from the infamous Trumpican base once their lord and savior, the chosen one, blessed be his name, unleashed them against the disloyal traitors.

True, there is no secret ballot for removal, but there are secret caucuses. Senators do meet in private. In theory, such meetings provide the opportunity for Trumpicans-in-name-only (TINOs) to voice their opinions. Presumably the TINOs know that not only should there be witnesses but that the Impeached One really did attempt to extort the Ukraine for personal gain, did attempt to cover it up, and has not told the truth. In numbers there is strength so the 35 TINOs should pack a powerful punch in the caucus. As best I can tell without being privy to “sources,” the TINOs have done no such thing. They have been cowed into submission. There are no profiles in courage. John McCain is dead.

The search for a few good men and women continues. Attention has been focused on Lamar Alexander. This senior senator is about to retire so there is nothing the Impeached One can do him. And in the roll call, he comes at the beginning. Couldn’t he get the ball rolling with a courageous vote?

Henry Fonda in Twelve Angry Men

It’s sad watching the desperate search for someone to be Henry Fonda in Twelve Angry Men, someone who through strength of character and firm resolve will resolutely lead the jurors to a just verdict. In the example of the movie it was to exonerate the innocent; in real life it is to convict the guilty.

Dream on! Consider Alexander’s fellow Tennessean Senator, Marsha Blackburn, who replaced Bob Corker. She is a far cry from Howard Baker.

American Hero and Trumpican Senator

When she attacked the patriotism and loyalty of Alexander Vindman who was living the American Dream and dared to tell the truth under oath, she unleashed the standard invective of the Impeached One. Truly she is a worthy recipient for the Nasty Trumpican of the week. She is more typical of the Trumpican Senators than the cowed TINOs.

Consider for example the actions of Mike Pompeo. He already has launched his candidacy to succeed the Impeached One in 2024. He has chosen loyalty over fighting for the people in his department. He has chosen loyalty over telling the truth about his role in the attempted extortion and coverup. He has chosen loyalty in attacking the press, especially a female reporter, in classic Trump style. And he has chosen loyalty by being stupid by choice: when the President said he would bomb cultural sites he did not really say he would bomb cultural sites. Once someone has publicaly become a stupid-by-choice Trumpican there is no turning back.

By contrast, Secretary of Defense Mike Esper has told the truth. But then again, he has no political ambitions so the Impeached One has limited leverage over him. What would he do? Fire him so he could write a book!

Speaking of which, let’s compare two bombshells: Bolton and Iran both telling the truth. As one would expect, Iran naturally trumped (lied) when the Ukrainian airplane was shot down. Then there came of moment of truth when they could live the lie no longer.

Mr. Rouhani briefed a few senior members of his government. They were rattled.

Mr. Rabei, the government spokesperson who had issued a denial that morning, broke down…. Mr. Rabei was crying. ”Everything is a lie,” Mr. Rabei said, according to Mr. Abdi [a prominent critic of Iran’s clerical establishment]. “The whole thing is a lie. What should I do? My honor is gone.”

Mr. Rabei said the government’s actions had gone “far beyond” just a lie. “There was a systematic cover-up at the highest levels that makes it impossible to get out of this crisis, he said. (“Iran’s 72-Hour Lie, From Jet Crash to Confession,” NYT January 26, 2020, print)

Compare that reaction to the White House that has been sitting on the Bolton bombshell for weeks. They lived the lie and encouraged the Trumpicans to do so while knowing full well that sooner or later the truth would come out.

The state propaganda apparatus also was having a moment of truth.

Fallout over how the plane crash was handled also spread to the official news media…with several prominent state television and radio hosts quitting their jobs, saying they could no longer lie for the government…..”Forgive me for believing it too late. I apologize for lying to you on TV for 13 years.

The journalists’ union…also issued a public apology for helping spread the government‘s misinformation about the cause of the crash. “We are currently holding a funeral service for public trust,” the statement said. “The first coffins are for state broadcast company and all media and websites.” The union called on all Iranian journalists to no longer “amplify the coverups of officials” and to conduct their reporting with skepticism and independent investigations. (In Iran, Growing Indignation and a Push for Accountability,” NYT January 14, 2020, print)

Now compare these reactions to those of the Trumpican Senators (and Fox). You have seen the clips. The eagerness of Trumpican Senators to be stupid-by-choice on behalf of the Impeached One will define them for history. In an article about the last impeachment, Princeton historian Sean Wilentz who had testified on behalf of that Impeached One, recalled a line from Congressman John Lewis about his work in the 1960s: “history just tracked me down. History tracked me down.” (“Bill Clinton’s Impeachment: The Inside Story,” by David Graham and Cullen Murphy, The Atlantic [December 2018]). Now the TINO’s face the same judgment of history. Will they be stupid-by-choice for this Impeached One? Is that how they want to be remembered?

The same article quotes James Rogan, one of the House Judiciary Committee members chosen as a manager for the Senate trial:

Trent Lott did handsprings trying to make it go away…”We don’t care if you have photographs of Clinton standing over a dead woman with s smoking gun in his hand. I have 55 Republican senators, seven of whom are up for reelection next year in very tough races. You [Republican] guys in the House just jumped off a cliff. We’re not following you off that cliff.”

Sound familiar?

Even Saturday Night Live makes an appearance in the article with Darrell Hammond who appeared as a triumphant Clinton saying:

[He was] sort of a scallywag, but only on about a Daffy Duck level. He was the kid who’d been sent to the principal’s office but now was back, and he’s okay. He didn’t get a paddling, he didn’t get a suspension, eh didn’t get after-school suspension. He was sprung free.

And once that happened, the first thing we did on the show was have him walk out there and say, “I am bulletproof.”

Sound familiar?

Here we may also observe why our immature child president was so attracted to Slick Willie as someone he could be like before he later became submissive to alpha male Vladimir Putin.

Pelosi’s gamble has paid off contrary to the wishful thinking of Scott Jennings. Time has permitted additional evidence to be exposed. That exposure may lead to witnesses being called, but in the end the TINOs will be stupid-by-choice because fear trumps integrity even in the Senate.

Why Did He Wag His Finger Now? – It’s Always about Him

January 6, 2020
by Peter Feinman
America Alone: No One Wants to Play with THE DONALD

Why did he wag his finger now? What was the reason why the President of the United States chose this moment to kill Qassim Suleimani?

Most of this presidency has been what I have called play time. He got to play golf. He got to perform in political professional wrestling arenas. He got to issue hissy fit tweets. Rarely was he called upon to rise to the occasion and be presidential due to a crisis. He even loves to mock the presidential look with his penguin walk. When such crises arose, especially Charlottesville and Puerto Rico, he failed and didn’t care or even realize that he had. Fortunately, he had no Pearl Harbor, no Cuban Missile Crisis, no 9/11. There was no international crisis that demanded a response on the part of the American President. He was able to get away with being an immature child out of his league passing himself off as an adult. Then he created his own crisis. Now he has a real world adult problem. So why did he do it?

NO QASSIM SULEIMANI MANHUNT

Let’s keep in mind that the assassination of Suleimani was not the climax of an extended manhunt. The situation is not comparable to that with Osama bin Laden or Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. We are not dealing with a person who was in hiding. The issue for previous administrations was not how to find him but whether or not killing would improve or worsen the situation. Once the decision was made to kill Suleimani, it did not take long to find him.

IT’S ALWAYS ABOUT HIM

No matter what the situation and in ways no one else can accurately predict, he always makes it about himself. When 9/11 occurred, his reaction was he now had the tallest building in lower Manhattan. It’s always about him.

If you think his extortion attempt in the Ukraine was about his concern for corruption in the Ukraine, think again or think for the first time.

If you think his cover up and obstruction of the extortion attempt in the Ukraine is about his concern for preserving the rights of future Presidents, think again or think for the first time.

If you think his decision was based on reports from the intelligence services, think again or think for th first time.

If you think the assassination of Suleimani was about an imminent attack and to make the world safer for America, think again or think for the first time.

The challenge here is to try to determine why the assassination of Suleimani was important right now to this one person who happens to be the President of the United. There is no geo-political thinking involved. There is no strategy involved. There isn’t even much thinking involved in this impulsive decision. What was going on inside his brain?

MAN-UP

When he was 13 years old, his father placed him in military school in the vain hope that this immature child would man-up. It didn’t happen. It never will. But it was and continues to be important to convey the illusion that it did happen. THE DONALD is a character he created to express his manliness. He loves acting as THE DONALD. Consider how he defines manliness as so often expressed in his tweets and in the political professional wrestling arena shows.

It means insulting and demeaning women.

It means insulting and demeaning people with handicaps.

It means insulting and demeaning people who are smaller than him or who he can characterize as smaller.

It means mocking people like John McCain as a loser while championing Hollywood-cast brutal killers like Edward Gallagher as real men.

It means falsely claiming that ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi died whimpering and crying.

It means having Hollywood-cast “my generals” reporting to him until they dare to think for themselves and be more educated, disciplined, and dedicated to the Constitution than he is.

It means having a parade with his action toys.

In short, it means the seventh-grade smart-aleck dumb-aleck is in his element being THE DONALD. The only arena he enters is a fake one where the confrontation is scripted. Oh, yes, in the real world he would have been a great soldier if it hadn’t been for this bone spurs. How can you expect him to remember on which foot he faked having them?

So in determining why he chose this moment to have Qassim Suleimani, one needs to keep in mind that first, it was about him, and second, it is about his need to be THE DONALD.

THE REAL WORLD

In the real world of adults, things haven’t fared so well for THE DONALD. World leaders don’t watch Fox and don’t attend his political professional wrestling arena shows. In the real world, the adult world leaders caught on pretty quickly that THE DONALD is an act. They know he is an ignorant, impulsive, immature child. But he is also a dangerous one because of the power he commands as President of the United States. The surreptitious tape of European leaders mocking him at a NATO summit was not as easy to deny as the laughter in the General Assembly at him. That tape is hardly likely to have been the one and only time that adult world leaders mocked the American child…and he knows it. The boy from Queens who always wanted to be accepted by the civilized world across the river in Manhattan learned that at the global level he is still the outsider the adult people look down on. Even for someone as skilled as THE DONALD at avoiding reality, he must have simmered over the exposure of his diminutive status as a loser. But he’s the President of the United States, so he will show them who is boss. Here have some tariffs.

Remember, it always about him and that includes tariffs. Let see how these cultured high and mighty like having tariffs dumped on them by the rude, crude, outsider, whom they don’t want in their club. Maybe he will even destroy the club. George Bush, the father, rallied a Coalition of the Willing to join the war against Saddam Hussein. Now the American President who has alienated America’s allies stands alone and acts impulsively before a coalition could even be organized anyway.

IRAN EXPOSES THE DONALD AS A FRAUD

With Iran, the exposure of THE DONALD became even worse. When Iran challenged him with bombings of Saudi oil fields, he was all set to be THE DONALD in the real world. He’ll show those Iranians who is a real man. Then Tucker Carlson talked him out of it. How is that Tucker Carlson could talk him out of the bombing at the last minute while actual government officials could not convince him to release the funds to the Ukraine?

This time around Tucker Carlson’s admonitions did not work. Something else had happened. As a result of not acting against Iran, THE DONALD was exposed as a weenie. Even he realized that he looked weak. Iran did not fear him. Iran even mocked him in public. YOU CAN’T DO ANYTHING. WE ARE NEAR YOU. WE ARE THE MAN OF THIS ARENA, NOT YOU!

That was too much to take. After all his talk about how respected the United States is in the world as a result of his leadership, it turns out that the President of the United States was not respected at all. And unlike the European leaders who trash talk the American President behind his back, the Iranians did so to his face. That could not be tolerated. He could not risk a Libyan Embassy II. The image of THE DONALD had to be preserved. Kill Suleimani because I need him to die. It always about him.

PROVING HIS MANHOOD

As an example of his manliness, our Macho-Macho-Man President has announced he has selected 52 Iranian sites to be destroyed very fast and very hard if Iran tries anything. The 52 comes from the number of Americans held hostage by Iran beginning back in 1979. He is quite proud of making this connection. Remember when he said the father and son were both talking to Putin about ending the Russian freeze on American adoptions? He was so proud of himself for concocting that connection all by himself. He didn’t even need Hannity to do it for him! Now the targets included cultural sites which are protected by international agreement. What does he care about the rules? Why he is encouraging Iran to target American cultural sites is a mystery. Perhaps Iran should start with every Trump building or golf course anywhere and everywhere in the world. We are now at the 7th grade level of “OH YEAH! OH YEAH! OH YEAH!” negotiations. Maybe the adults in the room will stop him.

So what has this impulsive act to preserve the illusion of THE DONALD on the world stage and therefore to Trumpicans at home achieved. It is still too early to know how this self-imposed crisis will work. Some suggestions can be made.

1. The world is not safer for Americans.
2. North Korea will be more determined than ever to preserve and develop its nuclear arsenal.
3. Iran will move closer to Russia and to China, a prime oil customer.
4. The risk of Iraq dividing into multiple entities has increased.
5. America will not fight a land war in Iran.

Thanks to the anti-Obama President, Iran no longer has to observe the 15-year nuclear limit from the “worst deal ever.” What an accomplishment. It will probably be item #1 on the Trumpican Party platform to the cheers of all his fans and worshipers. Who knows what other surprises there will be as the immature child is forced to act in real world where he is out of his league.

The Trump Doctrine: Foreign Policy with THE DONALD Captaining the Ship of State

October 22, 2019
by Peter Feinman
(Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

“40 Wall Street actually was the second-tallest building in downtown Manhattan, and it was actually, before the World Trade Center, was the tallest — and then, when they built the World Trade Center, it became known as the second tallest. And now it’s the tallest.” [Donald Trump in radio interview with WWOR as reported by Timothy Bella, The Washington Post: it’s always about him]

From time to time, Presidents of the United States become known for their foreign policy doctrines. Washington had “no entangling alliances.” Monroe had the Monroe Doctrine. Teddy Roosevelt spoke softly and carried a big stick. Truman had the Truman Doctrine.

Certainly, it is not incumbent on a President to develop a formal doctrine or set of principles by which he is guided in his foreign policy decisions. Sometimes it is only after the fact when outsiders seek to make sense of what has occurred can some semblance of a coherent doctrine be determined. On the other hand, sometimes people lurch from event to event as they occur simply reacting to the chance circumstances of whatever happens.

And then there is the Trump Doctrine. It wasn’t always clear that there was a Trump Doctrine. So much of his decision-making seems impulsive and happenstance devoid of any coherent principles. Perhaps the best known and most consistent policy has been his submissiveness to Putin and other alpha males plus his love of theatricality centered on him. He does love playing with his Hollywood-casted toy soldiers. At least until they think they are actual people with minds of the own with loyalties to the Constitution and have to be fired/resigned.

Foreign policy has not been a big part of his administration until now. As I have written, for THE DONALD except for Mueller much of his presidency has been playtime. Now he is operating in the adult world and he is out of his league. The continual revealing of his actions taken in the Ukraine and to cover up those actions are important for two reasons. One, they will lead directly to his impeachment. Two, they provide insight into how this President who eviscerated the State Department conducts foreign affairs. His actions in Syria are a beacon to the world: he can be rolled by dictators and abandons allies without any awareness of there being consequences to his actions – there are no adults in the White House.

What does this all mean?

MIKE MULVANEY

Let’s begin with Mike Mulvaney, a former adult who regressed into being a babbling baby. He actually was a pretty good predictor of his own situation.

Mulvaney added he believed Trump’s emotional appeals and cavalier attitude might prompt him to try going around the Constitution.

“I wonder who is more interested in going around the Constitution in order to get things done. Barack Obama or Donald Trump,” Mulvaney said. [CNN, December 21, 2018]

We all know the answer to that debate! We all know that once Mulvaney became a member of this administration he had no qualms about circumventing the Constitution. Of course there was a quid pro quo! Get over it – perhaps the very words that will define him for all eternity on his tombstone.

In my blog entitled Mick Mulvaney Parachutes onto a Ship in Chaos the Rats Are Abandoning, written at the same time as the CNN article, I wrote the following about Syria then:

The more the real world presses in, the more the immature child president will lash out without any concern for the consequences. He lacks the mental necessities to understand the concept of consequences or even to care. He must give in to the impulse of the hissy fit not just in his tweets but in his decision-making. Consider his decisions to withdraw from Syria and half-withdraw from Afghanistan. Far from being well-thought decisions carefully implemented, they are case studies in the decision-making process of our immature child president who feels more and more trapped by the real world. Look at what has happened in just a tweet.

– He has granted Recep Tayyip Erdoğan the coveted 00 O.J, license to kill previously awarded to Putin and MBS.
– He has shown no loyalty to the Kurds who put their lives on the line to fight with us as allies against ISIS.
– He has shown that the very concept of “allies” has no meaning to the transactional President – unless you can offer something to him he could not care less about you.
– He has no interest in America being a world leader and does not care who fills in the vacuum.

All things considered, I think I nailed that one. While I did not exactly predict the current situation, I think I described a reasonable facsimile of what has and is transpiring.

What I did not formulate was the Trump Doctrine of foreign policy that now can be seen more clearly.

1. Be submissive to alpha males especially if there is the prospect of a business deal with them.
2. Actions 7,000 miles away do not matter.
3. There are no allies, everything is transactional.
4. There are no alliances, everything is individually transactional.
5. We should only help people fighting for their land if they were with us at Normandy.
6. We should only help people fighting for their land if they cover our costs.
7. We will ask you to provide dirt on political opponents even if it is not true.

Hard as I may seem to believe, these guidelines one day will be studied in school along with the other doctrines previously mentioned. Students will even be tested on their ability to recall and recite the Trump Doctrine.

In the present, countries have no problem understanding what the Trump Doctrine is. They may have grave fears about what it means for them but they have no doubts that as long as the current President remains in office, these guidelines remain in place.

Saudi Arabia can afford us even though it was not at Normandy. And it buys Trump properties. Yet we did nothing when Iran attacked it. One has to wonder what our President will do even if our troops are paid for when Iran attacks again.

The Baltic States cannot afford us and they were not at Normandy. If Russia ever decides it has the resources to invade the Baltics, we will do nothing. In this regard, the Ukraine imbroglio works to the advantage of the Baltic States. The longer Russia is bogged down there and the sanctions remain, the less likely it is to attack any Baltic State.

Taiwan can afford us but was not at Normandy. Even if it does not pay us now, China is probably too preoccupied at present to invade so there is no urgency to Taiwan paying us. However, if that moment of truth comes in the present administration, Taiwan better cough up the money fast if it wants our assistance.

Israel can afford us but was not at Normandy. Even if it does not pay us now, Iran is probably aware of what Israel would do in retaliation to an attack. In addition, Hezbollah is too busy trying to maintain control in Lebanon to attack Israel now even if it acquires sufficient precision missiles to eliminate Israel’s retaliatory ability.

The Trump Doctrine marks the end of the post-World War II era of international diplomacy. We have been in transition since the fall of the Iron Curtain and the “end of history.” Now a new doctrine has been implemented. Coalitions and alliances have been replaced by the rule of alpha males, transactional relationships, and foreign interference in American Presidential elections on behalf of the President. The old saying of “commander in chief and leader of the free world” is obsolete.

Allies are abandoned, enemies are emboldened. They don’t watch Fox, They don’t attend his professional political rallies. They don’t worship THE DONALD. They know the truth of the immature child masquerading as the adult THE DONALD. Trumpicans are still living the lie. Perhaps by the time of the impeachment and the trial to remove him, the Trumpicans finally will see the truth behind the act. Perhaps watching THE DONALD be rolled will achieve what the Mueller report did not. Perhaps the sacrifice of the Kurds will achieve what the Democrats have been unable to do. Perhaps the real world will expose the lie that is THE DONALD and bring this show to a close.

Playtime for The Donald Is Over: The Reality Star Meets the Real World

September 30, 2019
by Peter Feinman
The Wicked Witch of the White House Threatens Whistleblower Toto (https://parade.com)

Playtime for The Donald is over. For much of his presidency up until now it has been fun. He got to be the center of attention. He got to demean and mock people. He got to be the center of attention. He got to help rich people get richer. He got to be the center of attention. He got to reverse almost everything Obama had championed. He got to be the center of attention. He got to promote his resorts, hotels, and businesses to people who wanted to buy his favor. He got to be the center of attention. He got to perform in professional political wrestling arenas before adoring crowds of worshipers. He got to the center of attention. He got to play golf and watch TV to his ego’s content. He got to be the center of attention. And he got to throw rolls of paper towels at people clamoring for his attention. He really did get to be the center of attention.

The real world moments were few and far between. Yes, he thought the Mueller report would expose his entire sleazy tawdry life from being a corrupt slime ball real-estate developer to being a corrupt slime ball president. But that turned out to be a nothingburger. Yes, he has not built the wall but he keeps trying and may be making progress even if it is at the expense of national security and in violation of the Constitution. Yes, he has not denuclearized North Korea and won the Noble Prize. Yes, he has not eliminated healthcare. Still over all, he has taken pride in having the greatest first two years of any American President and undoubtedly deserving of having his face alone carved on the biggest mountain he can find. After all, how can he be impeached with the economy being so great? The sad part is that is actually how his brain operates.

The real world functions differently. There are limits as to how long you can deceive it. Eventually even the Soviet Union was exposed as not being the wave of the future. The same applies to our immature child president attempting to pass for an adult and struggling to maintain the con as the real world presses in. Two recent events have exposed the immature child behind the curtain as not being The Donald. The first was with Iran and the second was with the Ukraine.

IRAN

Iran provided The Donald with a major opportunity to reverse Obama. He kept his campaign pledge to withdraw America from the nuclear treaty that prevented Iran from developing nuclear weapons. Now Iran was free to develop them since there was no treaty prohibiting them from doing so. Take that Obama!

While withdrawing from the nuclear arms treaty, he ramped up the sanctions. His goal was regime change without military intervention. The sanctions would make life so horrid and stressful that eventually the people would rise up and remove the government for us. After all sanctions had a proven record of regime change and behavior modification in Cuba, Russia, and North Korea, so why wouldn’t they work in Iran as well?

Naturally, as an immature child he lacked the mental necessities to think things throw. He was unable to recognize the possibility of consequences other than the collapse of the country. Another possibility was that Iran would lose patience with the efforts of European nations to circumvent the American sanctions and instead would take matters into their own hands. To no surprise to anyone who stopped to think about it, that is exactly what Iran did. It initiated a series of escalating attacks that culminated so far in the bombing of Saudi Arabian oil facilities. Each action provided the Iranians with the opportunity to gauge the mettle of The Donald. What would Bonespur Boy do in the real world when confronted with a direct assault on his manhood?

The Iranians were quick to expose the truth of The Donald. What did they learn from seizing ships, shooting down drones, and bombing oil fields? They learned that he is a warrior on Twitter and in professional political wrestling arenas but not on he field of battle. As Ali Bigdeli political analyst in Tehran put it: “He is not a lion, he is a rabbit.”

It may even be said that the Iranian officials boasted after the attacks about the leverage they had gained. Iran could give Little Donnee-Wanee the finger and pay no price in the global arena.

The world was watching. “If we were to believe everything Trump has said for the past three years, there would have been war with China, North Korea and Mexico,” said Joseph Fahim, an Egyptian film critic back in June. “The guy’s a joke, he’s not serious. We don’t know if these threats are something to believe in, or just another of his many stunts.”  Abdulkhleq Abdulla, political scientist United Arab Emirates said: “Trump, in his response to Iran, is even worse than Obama.”

The unfavorable comparison of The Donald to Obama for his lack of manhood is low blow indeed. Now everybody can see The Donald as a weeny. No matter how he is provoked he will not respond beyond sanctions and tweets. That is his limit. Iran knows it. North Korea knows it. China knows it. Russia knows it…not that it was ever worried about what its asset would do. Our allies know it too. Of course, thanks to transactional relationships on trade, The Donald has done such a superb job of alienating allies that he has created a world of America Alone. What ally would rely on the United States to come to its aid if under attack as long as Donald Trump is president?

IMPEACHMENT

The new question is how much longer will be President? Here we once again can see how quickly the scandal of the day moves on. Remember Greenland. Remember Alabama. Remember Corey Lewandowski. Remember Kellyanne Conway:

“Blah, blah blah. If you’re trying to silence me through the Hatch Act, it’s not going to work. Let me know when the jail sentence starts.”

Answer: it starts when there is a Democratic president and the rule of law returns to the White House.

The Ukraine is a whole new ball game. Ironically it was the Mueller report and the Mueller testimony in Congress that gave The Donald the green light to go forward in the Ukraine with its new administration. Now he would prove that Seth Rich really was behind the hacking, I mean that the Ukraine was. Now he would prove that the witch hunt really had been a hoax. Now he would prove that the wrong people had been targeted and that the real villains had gotten off scot free. Now he would prove that conspiracy theories exposed by Fox were true. Now he would have his revenge.

“You’re a bad man. You’re a very bad man.” The unleashed child in a Twilight Zone classic (CBS) See MAD DOG BANISHED TO THE CORNFIELDS: TWILIGHT ZONE EPISODE BECOMES REAL blog (12/25/18)

So far … and the story is still unfolding… things have not worked out as he had hoped. There turned out to be a whistleblower who deserves a medal unless Putin, Saudi OJ, or the 2nd Amendment boys get him first. There turned out to be an acting intelligence chief who has integrity. The now-resigned- Ukraine envoy probably has integrity too. There turns out to be more hidden phone call transcripts that will expose The Donald. More and more will be revealed as time goes by. The impeachment might even include obstruction charges!

The real world is not like Hollywood. For a child to pass for an adult is not easy. It is not like 13 year-old Tom Hanks becoming big. It is not like Jennifer Garner going from 13 to 30. It is not like teenage Lindsay Lohan becoming Jamie Lee Curtis. As the pressure mounts, the challenge to cope with the adult world will increase. Instead of being a comedy, we are watching a person go off the rails. As David Axelrod suggests, let Trump be Trump. Who knows what he will tweet next that only amplifies his political and legal jeopardy.

At this point, the issue of impeachment seems more of “when” and not “if.” What remains open is what will happen in the Republican Senate now that The Donald has been exposed as a combined Mafioso little-bunny-wunny Rabbit.

The story continues.

Will Mike Pence Become a Profile in Courage?
Will Sean Hannity Become a Profile in Courage?