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William Miller

Duped-by-Russia Hannity Again Duped by Russia – Will He Ever Learn?

December 8, 2019
by Peter Feinman
The Great Disappointment: Was William Miller America’s First Hannity?

Remember Seth Rich? He was the first 400-pound Ukrainian to be at the center of the most massive corruption scandal in American history. Night after night, Duped-by-Russia Hannity launched tirades against the murdered Seth Rich and his role in the most massive corruption scandal in American history. Duped-by-Russia Hannity’s ability to weave a coherent fictional narrative from nothing was astounding to behold. Suddenly everything made else. He had created order out of chaos.  The only shortcoming that threatened his steady stream of invective was the fact that there was no truth to it whatsoever. His story proved to be a complete fabrication straight from the alternate reality universe so beloved of Trumpicans. Duped-by-Russia Hannity’s story had absolutely no truth to it whatsoever beyond using the names of real people. Of course, that use of a real name and person, Seth Rich, is what got the network sued.

A little thing like a story with no truth to it did not bother Duped-by-Russia Hannity at all. In fact, it did not even stop him. The Deep State was responsible for the most massive corruption scandal in American history. He named the names. Night after night, week after week, year after year, even longer than the Mueller report itself took, Duped-by-Russia Hannity identified the perpetrators of the most massive corruption scandal in American history. There to flesh out the details of how it all worked was Sarah Carter, the greatest investigative reporter in American history who was ferreting out the details of the most massive corruption scandal in American history.

This time there would be proof. This time there would be a public accounting. This time the government itself would reveal how the most massive corruption scandal in American history operated. The guilty people whom Duped-by-Russia Hannity had named with reap their just punishment. The key was the Inspector General. Slowly, far too slowly for Duped-by-Russia Hannity’s liking, the Inspector General Report was documenting the most massive corruption scandal in American history. Starting last summer, Duped-by-Russia Hannity anticipated the imminent release of the report that would nail the Deep State to the wall and the hang those people out to dry. And he again named those people and spoke of how scared they were as the day of reckoning approached.

Finally, December 9, 2019, would be the day the truth was revealed. December 9 would be the day that Duped-by-Russia had been waiting for all those days, weeks, months, and years. The Inspector General report would be the vindication of everything Duped-by-Russia Hannity had said. Again and again he stressed how afraid all the people he had named were. Again and again he rejoiced in how scared they were. He used that word a lot. They were scared.

How did he know this? In the segments that I watched, he never revealed how he knew all these people were so scared. Did he interview them? Did someone else on Fox interview them? Did he watch them on some Fake News show writhing in agony over the pending release of the Inspector General report? Did he have second-hand information that these people were scared? Third-hand? Six degrees of separation information? Hearsay? Duped- by-Russia Hannity did not seem to have any source of information for his claim that all these people were scared of the about-to-be released Inspector General Report.

So how did he know that all the people he had identified as being part of the Deep State who would be exposed in the Inspector General report, nailed to the wall, and hung out to dry were scared. As best I can speculate his reasoning went something as follows:

All the people he had identified as being part of the Deep State were part of the most massive corruption scandal in American history.
The Inspector General report would identify them as being guilty.
Therefore they had to be scared.

This line of reasoning may not work in the real world but it works great in the alternate reality in which Duped-by-Russia Hannity lives.

Until it does not.

As the day of vindication drew near, Duped-by-Russia Hannity expressed some concerns. Oh, he still launched into his tirade as always but he began to hedge. Suddenly the Inspector General whom he had been touting for months became the “Obama-appointed” Inspector General. Those extra identifiers not previously used in all the weeks, months, and years of denouncing the Deep State, were a dog whistle to his viewers. Being “Obama-appointed” was code for the report might not contain everything Duped-by-Russia Hannity had been claiming it would contain. Perhaps it would not show the most massive corruption in American history. Perhaps it would only show that mistakes had been but there had been no conspiracy. Duped-by-Russia Hannity was left claiming that the Inspector General report did not do the math. It identified the facts but then did not add 1+1 to get 2. And the “Trump-appointed” Attorney General lacked the power to squash, alter, or skew the meaning of the report before it was released as he had done with the Mueller report. Had they Deep State gotten away with the most massive corruption in American history? Will December 9, 2019, be a day of the Great Disappointment?

Not to worry, there was another report coming. This time the “Trump-appointed” Attorney General had launched his own investigation into the corruption of the Deep State using his own chosen investigator. This time the investigator would have subpoena powers and if there is anything the Trump Administration regards as holy it is the sanctity of the subpoena. This time the investigator would have the power to convene a grand jury. This time the investigator would be able to indict someone. Surely now the Deep State would be exposed for perpetrating the most massive corruption scandal in American history. Surely this time heads would roll. Surely now all the people whom Duped-by-Russia Hannity had identified would feel fear.

One example of the superior power of the new investigation was that it was not limited to the United States. Both Duped-by-Russia Hannity and Sarah Carter exulted in the trips to Italy to expose the truth of the Deep State corruption. These trips were not the conscientious effort of an investigator to tie up all loose ends by following any wild-goose chase the Trump State had concocted. No, not at all. Instead the European trips demonstrated how the entirety of the most massive corruption scandal was being documented. Just wait until that report is released and the indictments multiply!

As it turns out Duped-by-Russia Hannity was right to declare the most massive corruption scandal in American history had occurred. Nunes, the crooked clown, Ridiculous Rudy, attack mutt (is he the hero yet?), the indicted Fric and Frac, and John No-Wisdom, were part of the larger conspiracy to promote a fictional narrative involving the Bidens and the Ukraine. I confess while watching John No-Wisdom on Duped-by-Russia Hannity’s show, he made a compelling case. His low-key apparently fact-based narration made him seem like a Fox counterpart to MSNBC Chuck Rosenberg. Who knew that his publications on The Hill were part of a Russian disinformation campaign and that he was functioning as a Russian operative probably without realizing it? Duped-by-Russia Hannity had been duped by Russia again.

We have learned that the corruption scandal of the Trump State includes the

President of the United States
Vice President of the United States
Acting Chief of Staff
Secretary of State
Attorney General.

Trumpicans in the House and Senate are now repeating Russian talking points. Trumpicans in the House have voted to support Russian imperialism in the Ukraine. The Russian campaign is working.

As corruption scandals in American history go, the Trump State scandal may well be the most the most massive corruption scandal in American history.  How come Duped-Again-by-Russia Hannity has not been able to see this scandal?

P.S. Will this President be remembered as being more submissive to Russia, Turkey, or Saudi Arabia?

The 25th Amendment: The Failed “Hail Mary” of the Desperate (But 59-41 Senate Vote and 420-0 House Vote)

March 14, 2019
by Peter Feinman
The Great Disappointment (faculty.polytechnic.org)

Every once in a while, the 25th Amendment returns to the national spotlight for a brief moment. It does so because it provides a mechanism for the removal of a president from office in midstream. Instead of having to deal with the vagaries of the voting public or having to wait possibly years to do what is needed to be done because of the EMERGENCY RIGHT NOW, the 25th Amendment can be activated to resolve the current crisis.

The primary purpose of the amendment was due to medical conditions. There may be times when the president is physically incapable of performing the duties of office. The most obvious examples would be when the president is under sedation for an operation or in recovery. In these circumstances it is understandable that the world knows that someone, meaning the Vice President, is in full control and able to act as the president even though the president is still alive. To the best of knowledge the amendment was not designed or intended to address situations where an incompetent person had been elected either legitimately or illegitimately. It certainly was not designed to remove someone from office simply because you disagree with the person on everything or think the president has engaged in illegal and/or traitorous actions. For those concerns the proper course of action is impeachment.

At this point, I wish to return and update some previous blogs I wrote on this subject. I will do so by focusing on the op-eds of Ronald Feinman, no relation, who reflects the fervent belief of the desperate in the immediate need for deploying the 25th amendment.

Initially, I was drawn to his postings on the History News Network because of his last name. I was startled at first glance to see my name even though I had not recently submitted anything. I began to pay careful attention to him due to his post of November 4, 2016, entitled Who Will Win about the upcoming election. The highlights of his prognostications were:

This author’s projection has certainly changed as a result of events and controversies, and the growing evidence that Hillary Clinton should do better than originally predicted in May [bold added].

The final predicted Electoral College is 352-186, with 27 states for Hillary Clinton plus one electoral vote from Nebraska, and 23 states and one electoral vote from Maine for Donald Trump. In a few days, we shall see how accurate my forecast is. [Bold not added!]

And Hillary Clinton’s victory will propel the Democrats into control of the US Senate, with a projected gain of seats in Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina at the least, making for a 6 seat gain to 52 seats, and possibly winning Arizona, Florida, and Missouri, so a maximum of 55 seats or a 9 seat gain. The House of Representatives will remain in Republican hands, but not by 30 seats, but more likely by 10-12 seats, so from a present total of 247-188 to 227-208 or 229-206.

Obviously he was as wrong as wrong can be even with the then unknown Russian violation of the American election.
It did not take long for that Feinman to shift gears from the election results to the 25th Amendment. In my blog Impeachment: The Elitist Democrat Holy Grail, I surveyed his op-eds from 2017.

Why We Need a Crash Course in the 25th Amendment (January 22, 2017)

Even before the inauguration had occurred, that Feinman already was calculating how the new president could be removed from office.

He seems, clearly, to be living in a parallel universe, out of touch with reality, and obsessed with his own vanity. Fortunately, there is a constitutional remedy: The 25th Amendment to the Constitution, Section 4.

Feinman then detailed how Vice President Mike Pence and Speaker of the House Paul Ryan could lead this action. To be fair, the cabinet selected by Swamp Builder had not yet become the most corrupt and incompetent cabinet in the history of the United States – it had not even taken office! Nonetheless, that Feinman was preparing for what needed to be done:

It would take a lot of political courage and conviction for Pence and Ryan and the cabinet officers to agree that Donald Trump is unfit to be President, and for them to be convinced that Trump is so dangerous he shouldn’t have access to the nuclear codes or continue as Commander in Chief. This is a situation that must be monitored and evaluated on an ongoing basis. The fate of the nation depends on our political leaders exercising good judgment.

Feinman continued to monitor the situation and followed up with the blog

Donald Trump Is On His Way to Second or Third Shortest Presidency in American History (February 15, 2017)

Not even one month into the new administration and the person who was completely wrong about the election results, offered another presidential prophecy: the briefest term in office ever. The catalyst for the removal from office will be …are you ready for this?… Mike Pence.

The fact that Vice President Mike Pence played a major role in pushing Flynn out is a sign that Pence is already asserting himself with Trump, and it seems clear that Pence will not stand by and allow our foreign policy to be damaged, or our national security to be endangered. The American people, ultimately, would not expect anything less.

It is difficult two years later to read these lines without busting a gut laughing. And people say Kellyanne Conway lives in an alternate reality!

In any case, it seems likely that Donald Trump will be leaving the Presidency at some point, likely between the 31 days of William Henry Harrison in 1841 (dying of pneumonia) and the 199 days of James A. Garfield in 1881 (dying of an assassin’s bullet after 79 days of terrible suffering and medical malpractice). At the most, it certainly seems likely, even if dragged out, that Trump will not last 16 months and 5 days, as occurred with Zachary Taylor in 1850 (dying of a digestive ailment). The Pence Presidency seems inevitable.

I confess that after this prophecy, I checked the calendar to see when the 199th day of reckoning would occur. Another way to check was with MSNBC The Eleventh Hour with Brian Williams. Night after night he intones the number of days into the presidency as if he is counting the number of days Americans were held in captivity in Iran. We are far beyond 199 days now. What will Brian Williams do when the number hits 1000? When if ever will Ronald Feinman return to the real world?

Can We Count on the GOP to End the Trump Presidency? (August 6, 2017)

He still had not by August, 2017. At that time he offered another prediction.

Expect the eventual abandonment of Trump by Republicans as the months go by into 2018. A Pence Presidency is likely coming sooner rather than later, with the best situation for Republicans being to resolve the matter before the midterm Congressional elections next year.

At this point, he seemed ready to abandon the 25th Amendment as a solution. Instead he turned to impeachment.

Just 43 Republicans Joining with Democrats Could End Donald Trump’s Presidency (August 20, 2017)

The crisis that Donald Trump represents cries out for movement toward impeachment and trial to remove him from the Presidency, unless he agrees to resign, or Vice President Mike Pence, in league with Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, Senate President Pro Tempore Orrin Hatch, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, and a majority of the Presidential Cabinet agree to remove Trump under the 25th Amendment Section 4, as mentally incompetent to stay in office. Neither of these seems likely at this stage, as we enter the eighth month of the Trump Presidency later in August.

Feinman then names names. He names names in both the House of Representatives and the Senate as possible candidates to vote first for impeachment and then conviction. He is thorough in his analyses even when they bear no relation to what will happen.

It’s not a matter of when Republicans are ready to turn on Trump,” the aide said. “It’s about when they decide they’re ready for President Pence.”
A Pence Presidency is likely coming sooner rather than later, with the best situation for Republicans being to resolve the matter before the midterm Congressional elections next year.

Those elections have come and gone. Now the Republicans lack a majority in the House of Representatives. Republicans still control the Senate.

There is one last blog by Feinman that deserves attention. It does so because it was the Number 1 op-ed on the History News Network for 2018. So even though he is never right, Feinman clearly has tapped into the mindset of that audience. The op-ed piece was:

The End of the Trump Presidency Now Looms (April 22, 2018)

The piece begins with:

The scandals surrounding President Donald Trump are metastasizing rapidly, much more than anyone would have thought just a few months ago.

It sounds very similar to what people are saying right now. He continued with:

With the midterm congressional elections now less than seven months away, and with the Republicans running scared about potential massive losses, and with more criticism emerging from not only respectable conservatives, but also from some of his own loyalists, Donald Trump’s time in the Presidency seems rapidly coming toward a sudden end.

The persistently wrong prophet then draws on his previous prophecy to update it:

So while it now seems likely that Trump will outlast the 492 days of President Zachary Taylor, to be reached on May 27, 2018, once thought by this scholar to be the end point of the Trump Presidency, it seems evident that Trump will leave office before the 4th shortest Presidency, that of Warren G. Harding from 1921-1923, a total of 881 days. This would be Thursday, June 20, 2019.

So with 15 months down in the Trump Presidency, the chance of his leaving in the next 14 months at the most is on the horizon.

I confess, I considered waiting until June 20, 2019, to write this post. Due to the recent flurry over the 25th Amendment and the constant chatter about impeachment by the Democratic House of Representatives, I decided to post it now. To be the best of my knowledge, as we approach the one-year anniversary of the June 20, 2019 prophecy, Feinman has not updated or revised his prediction. One should keep in mind, despite all the times his wrong about the 2016 election and the 25th Amendment in 2017, this op-ed piece predicting a June 20, 2019, termination was the most popular op-ed piece by hits on the History News Network. That popularity reflects the desires of the audience and undoubtedly a great deal of additional people praying or wishing for the end of days for the Trump presidency so Brian Williams finally can cease his count. Fortunately Ronald Feinman lacks the stature of William Miller so June 20, 2019, will not be the great disappointment October 22, 1844, was.