Mr. Irrational finally signed the corona virus relief bill and the government funding bill!   We know he likes drama so perhaps this was just about creating drama or perhaps he really believed if he held the government hostage, everyone would just cave in and hand him the election.  Sometimes its very difficult to understand what goes on in that demented little mind of his.  In any case, the bills are signed and the government will stay open – for a while.  And millions of Americans will get a little financial relief, which they should have gotten months ago.

Now that the curtain is down on that one act tragedy, we are all left to speculate where Trump’s next grenade will land.  The next big date on the ‘election calendar’ is January 6^th when the Congress is set to ratify the votes that have already been taken by the Electoral College.  This exercise is usually more or less a formality which is presided over by the sitting Vice President – in this case, Mike Pence. 

It is already being reported that some Republican members of the House of Representatives are planning to challenge the electoral votes from some of the states that Trump lost.  For such an effort to go very far, they will need at least one Republican senator to sign on with them and it appears there might be one or two senators who are willing to play this game.  Mitch McConnell has been trying to persuade his Republican senate colleagues to not engage in this but he may not be able to keep everyone in line.

This effort is sure to fail because ultimately the House of Representatives would have to agree to the electoral challenges and since the House is controlled by the Democrats, that is highly unlikely.  Even though this effort is almost sure to fail, the members of the House and Senate who choose to play starring roles in this drama will no doubt be rewarded ‘Trump loyalty chips’ which they will be able to cash in for prizes such as endorsements and/or presidential pardons at a later date. 

The person who is potentially in the worst possible position is Mike Pence.  Trump seems to think that since Pence is presiding over this whole thing, he has the unilateral ability to just overrule the Electoral College and hand the election to Trump.   Just imagine the Twitter storm that will be unleashed when Mike Pence is forced to certify the election for Joe Biden.  Trump is likely to become more unhinged than he already is and Pence should duck for cover.  If I were Pence, I would sign on to the ‘witness protection program’ until things blow over!  Given Trump’s cult-like following, Mike Pence could be on the receiving end of all kinds of threats if Trump turns against him.   If Mike Pence has aspirations for a presidential run someday, I think they will officially end on January 6^th!

One could almost feel sorry for Pence being put I this position.  But, then again, it was his choice to take a ride on the Trump train and to be part of the enablers that created this monster.  So, given that, as they say, “you made your bed now lie in it.”  He will have a lot of company under the bus so at least he won’t get lonely!

So, what could possibly happen between now and January 6^th?  Perhaps there will be more controversial pardons issued.  I can think of a few names that would really stir things up – Bernie Madoff, Edward Snowden, Kyle Rittenhouse (the kid charged with murder at the Black Lives Matter protest in Wisconsin), his own kids, himself – I can see Trump having a field day of doing things just to piss people off.  We’ll see.

There is also, of course, Trump’s veto of the Defense Authorization Bill that is still unresolved.   This will be a real test of fealty for his Republican supporters in Congress.  This bill has passed with bi-partisan support for decades and been signed by the sitting president – but not now!!  The Republicans in Congress are faced with the dilemma of voting to override Trump’s veto or letting the veto stand and acquiescing to Trump’s demands for changes to the bill.  The Democrats are unlikely to cave to Trump’s demands so it will be left up to the Republicans to either put the country first or put Trump first.  It will be an interesting exercise to watch. 

Trump’s behavior reminds me so much of the various kings and queens who were claiming the thrones in the HBO series ‘Game of Thrones based on the books by George R. R. Martin.  Each of those individuals would demand that all of those around them ‘bend the knee’ and pledge unwavering loyalty to them.  Failure to do so would generally lead to all kinds of punishments ranging from banishment to beheading!  I think Trump would fit right in to George R. R. Martin’s fictional world.  He certainly has trouble living and relating in the ‘real’ world that the rest of us occupy. 

I hope everyone had a nice – and safe! – Christmas Holiday.  I took a brief break from posting anything to just enjoy some time with my daughter and her mom who are currently staying with me.  However, it’s back to the keyboard. 

Unless someone has been living under a rock for the last four years or ignoring (or rationalizing) what has been going on there is no way that Trump’s current actions can come as a surprise.  This was 100 percent predictable.  There should be no doubt left in anyone’s mind that Trump cares only about Trump and whatever collateral damage he causes to the country, ordinary citizens, his Republican ‘allies’, or anyone else on his way out the door is just par for the course.  And to put it bluntly, Trump just doesn’t give a shit!

There have already been 335,000 deaths in this country attributed to the COVID pandemic and models are predicting that number will continue to increase significantly.  At the current rate, one American is dying every 10 minutes from COVID.  You would think that a crisis of this magnitude would be enough to get the President’s attention.  Trump doesn’t give a shit!

The President is refusing to sign the COVID relief bill which is part of the budget bill that was negotiated by his own administration.  In addition, he is refusing to sign the Defense Authorization Bill.  The consequences of these two childish actions will have significant real-life impacts on millions of Americans.  Unemployment benefits will end.  Stimulus checks will not go out.  Protections against evictions will end.  Military personnel will not get well-deserved pay raises.  Small businesses won’t get the help they desperately need to try to stay afloat.  And states will not get much needed financial aid to help with the COVID fight and vaccine distribution.  Millions of Americans are paying the price for Trump’s temper tantrum.  Trump doesn’t give a shit!

Trump’s refusal to sign the budget bill could effectively shut down the government starting tomorrow.  Trump doesn’t give a shit!

Trump is lining up Republican House and Senate members to mount a challenge to the Electoral College vote ratification in Congress on January 6^th.  Since the House is controlled by the Democrats and Mike Pence, the President Pro Tem of the Senate, does not have the unilateral authority to override the results, this effort is doomed to failure.  However, it will likely lead to a political circus the likes of which this country has not seen in modern times.  The entire world will be watching this embarrassing spectacle which will surely further tarnish America’s reputation around the world.  Trump doesn’t give a shit!

In addition to the havoc that he is creating by refusing to sign these pieces of legislation, he is turning the Office of the President into an arcade where corrupt cronies of the President can go to cash in their ‘loyalty chips’ for things like Presidential pardons.  This is a huge abuse of the sweeping Presidential pardon power and undermines the integrity of the country and the office.  Trump doesn’t give a shit!

The list of people that Trump has thrown under the bus when they no longer served his purpose or said or did something, he didn’t like is a long, long list.  The ‘bus club’ started in the very beginning of his administration with Jeff Sessions, his former Attorney General, and is now being joined by Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell, and Senate Whip, John Thune.   Trump’s reputation for using, abusing and discarding people is legendary.  Trump doesn’t give a shit!

The behavior that we are witnessing now should come as no surprise to anyone.  It shouldn’t shock anyone.  This is the exact same behavior that we have been witnessing for the last four years and that has been coddled and allowed to flourish under a Republican Party that has failed to hold the President to account for anything.   Trump was Trump in the beginning.  But by failing to hold him accountable, the Republican Congressional leadership has allowed ‘Franken-Trump’ to flourish.   ‘Franken-Trump’ has now escaped and is wreaking havoc on the country and its citizens.  McConnell and his Republican cronies are now faced with the dilemma of trying to control the monster they created.

At the end of Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein, the Creature states that his crimes have made him more miserable than his creator, Victor Frankenstein, ever was.  The Creature is last seen drifting away on an ice raft never to be seen again.  Unfortunately, ‘Franken-Trump’ the monster created by the Republican Party, is not remorseful at all for all of the chaos he has brought, the crimes he’s committed, the people he’s hurt, and the damage done to this country.  Franken-Trump just doesn’t give a shit!

I read something really frightening yesterday.  The opinion piece was entitled, “The Real Reason Trump is Failing to Overturn the Election.”¹ I have touched on some of the points made in this article in previous posts, but Timothy Frye, the author, really distills it down.  It is not only frightening for what is going on now, but it is frightening when looking forward to future elections.   It’s hard to imagine someone being elected who is potentially more dangerous to American democracy than Trump has been, but what if someone more popular than Trump got elected and then embarked on the same type of effort to undermine American democracy?  As Timothy Frye points out, it has happened in Russia, Turkey, Venezuela, and Hungary.  These are just a few of the examples of countries where leaders were elected more or less democratically and then became the head of authoritarian regimes by using their popularity to dismantle democratic guardrails.  By the time people fully realized what had happened, it was too late.  Fortunately, Trump was not a widely popular president and that might have been the only thing that saved us.

One of the things that is most frustrating to me is that it seems like many people don’t seem to understand how close to the edge America is.  American democracy is sitting right on the brink of falling into the abyss of authoritarianism and it just seems like most people are just in the ‘Oh, that’s just Trump being Trump,’ mode.  And while most people are just tolerating him, ignoring him and hoping he will just go away, he and his little cabal of enablers (all of whom are white you might have noticed!) are actively working to undermine democracy in this country.   All authoritarian leaders have their own reasons for heading down that path, but I have no doubt in Trump’s case, the primary driver is to be in a position to save his own ass – at the expense of the country.  As I have pointed out more than once, he is facing a ton of legal and financial problems when he leaves office.

I found it extremely interesting yesterday when it was reported that Trump’s personal bankers at Deutsche Bank, Rosemary Vrablic and Dominic Scalzi, were resigning.  As a reminder, the Trump organization recently lost a law suit and a judge ordered Deutsche Bank to turn over records regarding the Trump Organization that have been subpoenaed by the AG of New York.² The timing is most interesting.  A few years ago, the commercial arm of Deutsche Bank stop doing business with the Trump organization and any banking was turned over to their private banking division.  Vrablic and Scalzi were Trump’s primary contacts there for years.   A judge ordered Deutsche Bank to comply with the subpoena, Trump lost the election (and his ‘presidential shield’), and just now Trump’s (and Kushner’s) bankers resign after being on the job for several years!

I’m sure it’s just a coincidence – not!  One of them resigning might be a coincidence but not both of them at the same time.  Something smells!  I suspect they both know that once the requested documents are turned over to the New York AG, the proverbial shit will hit the fan.  Perhaps they are concerned that when the documents see the light of day they will be fired by Deutsche Bank and this is a preemptive escape?  Or perhaps they are concerned about potential investigations and indictments waiting in the wings?  Will they sing like canaries in some sort of a plea deal to save their own butts?  That must be one of Trump’s (and Kushner’s) worst nightmares!  I would be willing to bet huge sums of money that they have both ‘lawyered up’ and are preparing for the next shoe to drop.  Stand by.  This story line is bound to get more interesting.

The televangelist, Pat Robertson, who has been a staunch Trump supporter throughout his administration come out publicly and said that the electoral college has spoken and its time to move on.  He said that Trump is living in an ‘alternate reality.’  Think about that.  Evangelical Christians have been one of Trump’s most loyal voting blocs (which still baffles me) and now one of the most famous televangelists is telling Trump that the gig is up.  If Trump’s evangelical Christian base starts to crack and abandon him, that’s a pretty big deal.

The Attorney General, William Barr, resigned after he incurred Trump’s wrath for not backing up the President’s false claims about election fraud – among other ‘sins.’  And he has broken with Trump more recently when he said he didn’t see a need for a special counsel to be appointed to investigate election fraud or Hunter Biden.   Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, broke with Trump recently when he said that the recent hack into government computer systems was most likely a Russian led effort.   Mike Pence has been quiet as a church mouse and certainly hasn’t jumped on the ‘the election was stolen’ bandwagon. 

I would expect a continuing parade of people trying to jump off of the ‘Good Ship Trump’ as it gets closer to January 20^th, Inauguration Day.   As people around him start to bail, it will only add to his desperation.  As it’s been said many times before, ‘desperate men do desperate things.’  It was reported last night that Trump, who has not been involved at all in the latest stimulus relief bill that Congress has been working on for months, is now threatening to veto the bill.  He is demanding that Congress increase the $600 stimulus payment to $2,000 amongst other things.  Any way you look at it, this would seem to be a completely irrational move on the President’s part given that the Congress has a veto proof majority of votes behind this legislation.  However, if Trump is trying to increase his popular support by dangling dollars in front of people, then it’s just another publicity stunt, that he knows will fail but will make for good TV. He has had months to weigh in on the negotiations for this bill and now that people are beyond desperate, he throws this ‘grenade’ into the punch bowl.  

This is just another example of Trump demonstrating once again that he doesn’t care about ‘real’ people at all, but is totally consumed with his image, his popularity, and his TV ratings.  There is no argument that people would prefer $2,000 to $600 but if you are about to be evicted, can’t buy groceries or are struggling in any way to provide for your family, $600 in your hand right now is going to be more welcome that $2,000 at some unknown point in the future.  This blatant attempt to buy popularity will more than likely backfire, but given that Trump’s strategic horizon is no further than the next Fox News broadcast, he continues to live in the land of the clueless.

Just how crazy will Trump get during the next month?  Let’s just say that if you’ve ever seen the movie, The Shining, with Jack Nicholson, Trump will likely make Nicholson’s character look like a model of tact and decorum!  “Here’s Donny!!!!”

1. Trump’s private bankers resign from Deutsche Bank – CNN

One of these days, this blog will resume talking about bicycling and other adventures.  After being locked down much of 2020, I’m itching for a little adventure in 2021 – assuming I am able to find a vaccination and the world becomes a bit safer with respect to COVID.  I’ve found a couple of bike rides I’m thinking about and a couple of other potential ‘adventures.’  I’ll update this blog as plans get finalized over the next few months.  In the meantime – the ongoing spectacle with Trump is just depressing and scary.

I always thought that it was extremely inappropriate for Trump’s most trusted inner circle to essentially be his kids and his son-in-law.  The outsized role that Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, took as ‘Senior Advisors to the President’ given their lack of experience in government and international policy was extremely disturbing.  And his two sons, Don Jr. and Eric, always seemed to be willing to shoot off their mouths before their brains really engaged.  However, and as distasteful as it for me to say this, I really wish the only inner circle that Trump was conferring with now was his kids.   Instead, they seem to have been replaced by a real, ‘Ship of Fools.’  The people that Trump is now listening to make the Trump kids and Kushner look like Nobel prize winners.  Let’s review.

Rudy Giuliani – one of Trump’s staunchest supporters and, of late, one of the propagators of some of the most outlandish conspiracy theories.  The Trump campaign, primarily under the direction of Giuliani, has filed about 60 lawsuits and all but 1 have been withdrawn or dismissed for lack of evidence.  Reputable attorneys around the country have called Giuliani’s performance ‘embarrassing.’  He should probably be wearing a tinfoil hat but it wouldn’t stay on his head because of the thick layer of hair dye.

Sydney Powell – Another crack attorney who used to be a Federal prosecutor and was recently bounced off of the Trump legal team because some of her conspiracy theories were just too far out there.  (Think about that!).  But recently, she has been spending more time at the White House egging Trump on.  There is even talk about Trump appointing her as a Special Counsel to investigate voter fraud – which let me remind you, no one has been able to provide any evidence for that would stand up in a court of law!!  Some of Trump’s associated have recently labelled Sydney Powell as ‘crazy.’

Michael Flynn – Retired Lieutenant General and admitted felon who was recently pardoned by Trump.  Flynn has continued to push the idea for Trump to declare martial law in those swing states where he lost, send in Federal troops and redo the elections under their direction.  Isn’t holding elections at gun point something that is done in Third world banana republics?  What the hell is wrong with this wingnut?

Steve Bannon – Bannon recently resurfaced at the White House and seems to be throwing gasoline on this fire as he as always done in the past.  Of course, now he is under Federal indictment for fraud and is no doubt fishing for a Presidential pardon.  He may or may not believe the BS he is spouting; he just needs to make it look convincing enough for Trump to issue the pardon.  I’m sure there is no conflict of interest here.

Patrick Byrne – This is likely someone who is not well know but has now made his way into Trump’s inner circle.  Patrick Byrne was the CEO of Overstock.com but stepped down in 2018 after making controversial remarks about the ‘Deep State.’ i.e., essentially another conspiracy theorist.  The interesting thing about Byrne is that he had a relationship with accused Russian agent Marina Buttina, who was convicted as acting as an unregistered agent and kicked out of the country in 2018.  [another link to Russia – how interesting!]

The country continues to be ravaged by the COVID pandemic.  Numerous government (and potentially private companies) have been hacked by a foreign entity, most probably Russia, in the largest cyber attack on the US to date.  The economy is in shambles.  And, with all of these problems facing the country, the above group of A-list misfits, convicted felons and conspiracy theorists are who the President is choosing to spend his time with.  We can all sleep easier tonight knowing the country is in such good hands! 

If the consequences weren’t so potentially grave, this would really look more like a sketch from Saturday Night Live, than the true leadership inner circle for the United States of America.  The Republicans who have failed for 4 years to hold Trump accountable and were (and are) willing to turn a blind eye to his continued attempts to undermine democracy, undermine the Rule of Law, undermine the authority of Congress, and undermine the public trust will have to answer to the American people when Trump and his current brain trust finally cross a line during the next 30 days that even they can’t ignore.   Although hell will probably freeze over before that.

You know those times when you’ve been in a store or somewhere out in public and a little child throws a temper tantrum?  They start screaming and yelling and perhaps lie down on the floor and start crying and shouting things like, “You can’t make me,” or “I don’t want to.”  Some parents will just let the kid carry on.  Some parents will physically pick the child up and exit the store – much to the relief of others!  Regardless of how the parent deals with the situation, it’s always painful for everyone standing around to watch.  I feel like that is what is going on with this tantrum Trump is throwing over the election.  It is truly embarrassing and is creating long term damage to the image of the United States around the world, not to mention the undermining of the electoral process which has been the foundation of this country for over 200 years.

 When you add in the threats of declaring martial law, the plethora of baseless lawsuits that have been thrown out of court for lack of evidence, and the latest long shot lawsuit to the Supreme Court asking that the entire results of the Pennsylvania election be overturned (in essence, asking the Supreme Court to disenfranchise something like 2.6 million voters), it is a truly depressing spectacle.  The major difference between what is going on now and with the kid in the store is that the current tantrum thrower has all the levers of the US Government at his disposal (including the country’s nuclear codes).  Imagine the kid in the store, in the midst of his tantrum, getting his hands on a loaded 45 caliber pistol.    That is essentially the kind of situation we are looking at with the current president.  And it’s no less frightening.

One has to wonder why this man is so desperate to remain in office.  In a previous post, I pointed out that Trump appears to like all of the trappings of being president but he doesn’t care much for the job itself.  So, there are just some things that don’t add up.  I mean, if Trump is as rich as he claims to be, then he could certainly have all of the trappings without all of the hassle.  He does, after all, have his own plane.  It might not be Air Force One but it’s a good sized plane nonetheless.  He has his swank apartment at Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan.  He has all of his golf resorts.  He has his fancy place down in Florida, Mar-a-lago.  (Although it sounds like he is going to have a fight on his hands to make that his full- time residence). There is also the $200+ million that people have contributed to his leadership PAC since the election, over which he has broad discretion as to how it gets spent.  In any case, it’s not like he will be living in a cardboard box under the freeway overpass any time soon.   So, if he is as rich as he says he is, then he can surely live a lifestyle that most of us can only dream about.

There is, of course, the possibility that he is not nearly as rich as he says he is.  It has been reported that he has a debt coming due within the next 3 to 4 years to the tune of around $400 million.  That’s not chump change!   His taxes are being investigated because of a tax refund that he received a few years ago to the tune of around $80 million.  If that investigation goes against him, he will have to repay that money plus interest.  And there are all of the legal problems he faces for which he will have to foot the legal bills.  That could add up to some serious money.

It is well known that Trump does not like to lose.  However, even given that character trait, the desperation on exhibit here goes way beyond that.  This man is truly scared.  So, that would lead a rational person to ask, ‘Why?’  I personally believe there are three reasons why he is so desperate.

I think it is highly likely that Trump is not nearly as wealthy as he has made out to be and I think he is scared to death that the charade is about to be exposed. He has been a con man his entire life and has gotten away with it somewhat.  Initially his dad bailed him out of his bad business deals.  Then US banks bailed him out of his bad business deals.   That forced him to look overseas for capital which is why he has this upcoming debt of $400 million to some, as yet, unknown entity.  He lived off of ‘The Apprentice’ money for a few years.  And now he is living off US tax payer dollars!  And I think the balloon is about to pop.

He is facing serious legal problems on a number of fronts when he leaves office.  Right now, he has the ‘presidential shields’ to protect him.  When he leaves office, he will just be ‘Joe Citizen’ subject to the same laws as the rest of us.  He has surrounded himself with shady characters his entire life.  Just look at how many of his close associates were indicted, convicted or investigated during his term in office.  You are the company you keep.  I think Trump is scared to death that he will be exposed for the con man and criminal that he is.

Lastly, the continued deference to Russia and Vladimir Putin just defies all rational explanations.  I think once investigations into the Trump empire get going in full swing once he leaves office, I am absolutely convinced that there will be some link found between the Trump organization and Russia.  I think Trump is scared to death that this will be uncovered.

Trump is smart enough to know that his house of cards is about to come tumbling down.  He knows he lost.  I’d even be willing to bet that he doesn’t believe any of these conspiracy theories.  However, he’s smart enough to know that its important for others to believe these theories.  Just like he has done his entire life, he is using the people around him to further his own ends.  And he’s desperate.  Very, very desperate.  So, the real question that people should be asking is, ‘How many people will he take down with him?’  Will it just be those in his inner circle?  Or will it be the entire country? 

We only have one month to go.  How much damage can Trump possibly do in just one month?  Just think about the little kid in the store throwing a tantrum with a loaded .45 in his hand and that should paint a pretty clear picture!

I just want to make sure I understand what is going on.   The COVID crisis is continuing to ravage this country.  Over 300,000 Americans have died and daily infections and deaths continue to set records.  Numerous US Government agencies have been hacked and we are just beginning to assess the damage.  The prime suspect, once again, is Russia.  A COVID relief package has been stuck in Congressional gridlock for months while millions of Americans are out of work, losing their homes and struggling to put food on the table.   That would seem like more than a full plate for someone who is supposedly ‘leading’ this country.

However, our fearless leader, has assumed a bunker mentality and refused to engage on any of these issues.   Three major crises are crippling this country and Trump is spending his time sulking about his election loss and spewing baseless conspiracy theories about voter fraud and a rigged election.  If I were Vladimir Putin, I could not imagine a better ‘agent’ or plan to undermine America than the one that is currently sitting in the White House.  I would argue that this might be the most vulnerable the US has been since the famous Cuban missile crisis in the 60’s that occurred during Kennedy’s administration.

The real irony in this whole nightmare is that Trump seems to be fighting to keep a job that he is not interested in doing.   It has been apparent during his four years in office that he enjoys the trappings of being President. He can live a grandiose lifestyle without having to spend his own money.  He loves the adulation he gets.  He loves the sense of power he gets when he can pull the levers of government for his own personal benefit or to go after political enemies.  But he doesn’t really like the job.

He doesn’t regularly read the Presidential Daily Briefing prepared by the intelligence community.    He certainly doesn’t do anything to try to mitigate the divisiveness in country but rather continues to pour gasoline on these flames.  He has continuously tried to undermine every government agency in one way or another, usually by purging these agencies of professionals and installing Trump loyalists.  He has not been successful at all in the area of foreign policy as he has alienated allies, failed to engage adversaries, and ceded America’s stature and influence on the world stage.

How long do you think the CEO of a company would last if they came to work, hunkered down in their fancy corner office, spent much of their day watching TV and on phone calls with their friends, and refused to have regular staff meetings during a time when the company was being sued for millions of dollars, revenues were falling, the company was on the verge of bankruptcy, and a hostile takeover was being waged by a rival company?  You’re right, that CEO would be bounced out on his ass in a heartbeat.   So why should we tolerate such behavior in the highest office in the land? 

If you imagine that the Congressional Republicans have been kind of like the Board of Directors in the above example, they have enabled this behavior for 4 years.  They have failed to hold this CEO (Trump) accountable and now they are wondering why the hell the company (country) is teetering on the brink of disaster.  There is no doubt that Trump failed to do his job, but the Republican led Senate (the Board of Directors, as it were) failed to their jobs as well.   And what as happened in this country is that there has been a shareholder revolt.  Enough ‘shareholders’ in this country got together and were fed up by this systemic failure of the Trump government that they voted to oust the CEO because the Board of Directors would not do their jobs.  It’s just that simple.

The Boards of Directors in large corporations are generally made up of wealthy, powerful, (primarily white male) people and, in general, they do not like shareholder revolts.  They like to think that they alone know what is best for the company and they should have the final say on who the CEO is and what his/her tenure will be.  Boards of Directors are supposed to operate in the best interest of the shareholders, not the best interests of the CEO.  However, there are numerous examples in corporate American where the Board got corrupted and did not follow those guidelines.  That is essentially what we have witnessed over the last four years when the Republican Senate failed to hold Trump to account. 

 If Trump wishes to hide in his office and not deal with the crises facing this country for the next month, so be it.  Since he has abandoned his job, we should probably just ignore him.  If he doesn’t have the backbone to come out, face the American people and address these crises head on, he is unworthy of the office.  More than 80 million Americans have made this same assessment.  It’s well past time for the Republican-led Senate (the Board of Directors) to exercise their Constitutional duty and inform Trump that he has been relieved of his duties and he is free to pursue other opportunities!  Perhaps they should do it by Tweet!!

 “Effective leadership is not about making speeches or being liked; leadership is defined by results, not attributes.” –Peter F. Drucker

I’ve maintained for some time now that Trump is trying so desperately to stay in the White House because of all of the legal and financial issues that will be facing him when he leaves.   It turns out that there might be an additional reason that Trump is trying so hard to fight his upcoming eviction – he might not have a place to live in his new home state of Florida.  It turns out that his potential neighbors in Palm Beach aren’t exactly welcoming him with open arms.

“In a demand letter delivered to the town on Tuesday—which was also addressed to the U.S. Secret Service (ex-presidents and first ladies get lifetime protection)—local residents reportedly said that once Trump becomes a former president, they expect Palm Beach authorities to once again enforce a 1993 agreement which changed Mar-a-Lago from a single-family residence to a private club controlled by a Trump-owned corporation. Under the agreement, members are not permitted to stay at the resort for more than 21 days a year or more than seven days consecutively. Additionally, prior to town officials voting to approve the club, Trump’s personal attorney assured the Palm Beach town council that he would not be living on the property”.¹

No doubt this whole agreement that Trump entered into way back in 1993 was part of some slick maneuver to avoid taxes or skirt some other regulation which now is coming back to bite him in the butt.  I think this will be extremely entertaining to watch how this plays out.  There will most certainly be lawsuits.  After all, litigation and golf are two of Trump’s favorite hobbies.  However, given that there are a lot of very well-heeled residents of Palm Beach, they will most assuredly have the financial resources to wage a legal battle with Trump.    And now that Trump no longer has the DOJ at his disposal, all the legal expenses for any kind of a fight will be borne by Trump himself.  He won’t like that at all!!

If he is not able to live at Mar-A-Lago, he is likely to have a couple of problems.  It’s unlikely that Melania will be happy.  That can’t be good.  And, he might have to buy another place to live in Florida since that is his new home state where he is registered to vote.  It is unlikely that he will be able to buy a place as posh and expansive as Mar-A-Lago so he might have to adjust his lifestyle a little.  However, since he is “really, really rich” [Trump’s own words] it probably won’t be a problem.  Unless, of course, he is not as rich as he claims to be.  But then, why would he lie?

In Trump’s favor, it is a good time to buy real estate.  Mortgage rates are at historic lows.  I just refinanced my own place.  Of course, there is the question about which bank would be willing to give Trump a sizable mortgage.  There are those pesky questions on loan applications about previous bankruptcies.  In addition, the fact is that US banks got to the point where they would no longer make loans to Trump and his company because of all of the defaults they suffered.  That is what drove Trump to start going overseas to places like Deutsche Bank.  He would probably have to also disclose the outstanding loan of around $450 million that is coming due in the next three or four years.  Finally, when you sign these loan applications, there is that little clause that says something to the effect that everything in the application is true under penalty of law.  Trump and his organization are already under investigation by the State of New York regarding some loan applications and he probably doesn’t want another state after him so he would have to tread carefully here.

It’s no small wonder this man is having a meltdown.  He is getting fired from his job and evicted from the White House.  It seems like he doesn’t really have a place to live in Florida that is ‘move-in’ ready.  And, he is certainly aware that he is unwelcome in New York City if he chose to move back into Trump Tower on Fifth Ave in Manhattan.  Not to mention that the New York Attorney General would have a lot easier time serving him with papers if he were to do that.

There are currently millions of Americans who are out of work and many who are on the verge of eviction due in no small part to Trump’s massive bungling of the national response to the COVID pandemic. Rather than focus his attention on trying to govern and help people who desperately need help, he has essentially abdicated his job in favor of chasing baseless conspiracy theories to try to overturn the election. 

So, Donald, you lost your job, you’re about to be evicted and you don’t know where you are going to live.  There are a few million Americans who would like to say, “Welcome to the club.”

1. Palm Beach Residents: Trump Can’t Legally Live at Mar-a-Lago | Law & Crime (lawandcrime.com)

The guardrails held and the Electoral College did their jobs.  Joe Biden is the official president-elect.  Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell, finally acknowledged Biden’s status after the Electoral College vote.  I guess it’s better late than never but by waiting this long and allowing this situation to fester, he has made the situation going forward even more difficult.  McConnell now has to try to keep the Republican Senators in line to avoid a major floor fight in the Congress on January 6^th when the results of the Electoral College vote are read and ratified in Congress.  If even one Republican Senator sides with any of the challenges which will no doubt be raised by some Republican members of the House of Representatives, it will lead to an ugly and embarrassing debate that is almost certain to fail but will tarnish American’s reputation and standing in the world even further.  The interference in the American electoral process in 2016 came from Russia.  The interference and biggest threat to democracy in this election is coming from Trump and his Republican sycophants.

It is extremely unlikely that the election results will change on January 6^th.  Biden will most certainly emerge as the next president in spite of all of the drama that will take place.  However, the longer Trump and his Republican toadies continue to propagate this myth that the election was fraudulent, more money will flow into his leadership PAC and the more radicalized his supporters (like the Proud boys) become.  You just wonder, with all of the ongoing rhetoric, when one or more of these heavily armed Trump supporters will actually cross the line and do something exceedingly stupid and someone gets killed.  One of Trump’s chief sycophants, Steven Miller, certainly seems to be doing everything in his power to pour gasoline on the fires of discontent fueled by kiln-dried timbers of misinformation stacked in large piles outside the studios of right-wing media outlets.  Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.

Regardless of what Trump says and/or Tweets, he certainly knows his days are numbered.  So, the real question is, how much damage will he do on the way out the door?  Or perhaps, how many and how controversial will the pardons be that we all know are coming?  Let’s look at the first question.

Trump has already been purging officials at the top level of the Pentagon and a couple of Pentagon advisory boards and installing Trump loyalists.   Since there is only a little over a month left in Trump’s presidency, there is no rational reason to do this other than to just give a big ‘middle finger’ to Biden’s administration.  There is no other possible explanation for purging the Defense Business Board and installing Trump loyalists like Corey Lewandowski and David Bossie, neither of whom have any defense experience at all.  He has made similar moves on the Defense Policy Board by purging the likes of Madeleine Albright and Henry Kissinger. 

Attorney General Barr resigned after turning the Department of Defense into something resembling Trump’s personal law firm.  He fell out of favor when he wouldn’t publicly go along with the ‘wide spread voter fraud’ misinformation campaign.  Bill Barr’s resignation letter was pathetic.  It read more like an ‘Ode to Donald Trump’ than a resignation letter.  But now that he is gone and there are ‘acting’ people overseeing the DOJ, do you suppose it’s possible that Trump could put pressure on these people to start investigations into his political enemies?  He will surely try to exert pressure to have a special prosecutor named to investigate Hunter Biden.  And then, of course, there is the whole question of what role, if any, the DOJ will play in whatever pardons Trump chooses to dole out.

Trump will no doubt wreak as much havoc as he can on his way out the door, demonstrating once again that he cares nothing about American, but only about himself.  He has toyed with announcing another run for the presidency in 2024.  Personally, I hope he does.  The odds are not in his favor.  Only one president has successfully been president, lost the next election, and been reelected four years later – that was Grover Cleveland.  Three others have tired but all have failed.  And, Grover Cleveland actually won the popular vote but lost in the Electoral College for his second term.  And there is no way in hell that Trump will win the popular vote in 2024.  So, all in all, I hope he does run because the odds are stacked against him.

In addition, if Trump does run in 2024, it will basically sideline a lot of Republicans who have their eyes on the White House – Mike Pompeo, Ted Cruz, Nikki Haley, etc, etc.  Personally, I think there is no chance that Trump will run again in 2024.  I think he will keep that idea alive so he can continue his grift and get people to send him money, but I think he realistically knows the odds are against him.  However, he wants to stay relevant and he loves the adoration so he will try to stay in the limelight and continue to Tweet outrageous and inflammatory bullshit.

There are, however, all of the legal problems that the ‘Trump dynasty’ will face when Trump leaves office.  There is a plethora of investigations into the Trump organizations, not to mention a number of civil lawsuits.  And, we can’t forget that there is, according to the financial records that have been released so far, a debt of about $450 million coming due in the relatively near future.  I wish them well. 

Well, that’s not true.  I apologize.  That was a lie and we have had enough of lying.  I sincerely hope that the entire Trump family is held to account and that their days of being able to hide behind endless lawsuits, ignoring subpoenas and the ‘Presidential shield’ will come to an end.  I think its way past time that the ‘law and order’ President and his family, be ordered to comply with the law. 

Today will hopefully be the beginning of the end, although the beginning of the end should have happened weeks ago when it became obvious that Trump lost the election.  The Electoral College meets today and, although I do expect a few rogue electors, Joe Biden should emerge with an Electoral College majority to cement his win.  It will be interesting to see if the vote in the Electoral College, following Trump’s losses in over 50 lawsuits, including two in the Supreme Court, will be sufficient for some Republicans to finally acknowledge what we have all known for weeks – Joe Biden is the President-elect and Donald Trump needs to begin packing.

For a man who claimed, when he was elected, to be the guy who would ‘drain the swamp’ in Washington, I can’t remember a presidency during my lifetime that was so filled with mudslinging, convicted felons and other swamp creatures.  Trump didn’t ‘drain the swamp’.  He just made it his swamp by bringing in all kinds of ‘invasive species’ that wreaked havoc on the existing ecosystem.  The fact is that even if Washington DC was a bit swampy before Trump arrived, it now more closely resembles the La Brea Tar Pits.   And when historians and paleontologists comb through the remains in the coming years, they will be awed by all of the carnage that has been wrought.

I continually ask myself how people can so rabidly support this man.  When you look at the facts, the only thing that makes any sense to me is that Trump has been very effective at pushing the buttons of racism, xenophobia and ‘religious freedom.’  Some argue that it’s because of Trump’s strong record on the economy.  That is another myth that continues to be propagated by Trump, Fox News and other right-wing media outlets. 

The fact is Trump’s economic record is one of the worst of any president since World War II.  Trump will leave office with fewer Americans employed than when he came into office.¹ Economic growth under Trump has been smaller than the previous 12 presidents. 

“Trump’s economic record ranks near or at the bottom compared with other presidents,” concludes Moody’s chief economist Mark Zandi, who compared the economic results of all presidents from the last 70 years. “The economy under his watch has performed very poorly.”

To be sure, the deadliest public health pandemic in a century has devastated economic activity during this last year of the President’s term. But responding to unexpected catastrophe — from hurricanes to terrorist attacks to civil unrest to financial crises — represents a big part of the job. And, as Zandi notes, Trump’s bungled coronavirus response has exacerbated and extended damage to jobs and output.”¹

He did push through the massive tax cuts but that did not translate into investments in manufacturing jobs as promised.  The additional corporate profits went to things like share buybacks that benefited shareholders rather than workers.  Yes, the stock market is up and returns have been impressive.  However, that primarily benefits the wealthier citizens of this country. “Through the third quarter of 2020, Zandi says, the least wealthy 50% of Americans own just 1.9% of the nation’s net worth, while the top 1% own 30.5%. The surging pandemic promises make that disparity worse before Trump leaves office”.¹

When you add in the negative impacts from the trade wars, more restrictive markets for American products overseas, and the disastrous response to the pandemic, the economy under Trump has been a disaster for most Americans.

So, why does this myth continue to prevail?  It is just another part of the ongoing misinformation campaign waged by Trump and Fox News.  I am currently reading a book entitled, “Hoax; Donald Trump, Fox News, and the Dangerous Distortion of Truth,” by Brian Stelter.  The incestuous relationship between Trump and Fox News is really quite disturbing and unprecedented in modern American history.  Although a lot a people religiously watch Fox News to get their ‘news’, it has really become nothing more than a propaganda machine for Trump.  It’s difficult to tell if Trump tells Fox News what to say or if Trump listens to Fox News to decide what to say.  In either case, it’s a dangerous thing for American democracy.

If anyone on Fox News says anything that displeases Trump, he is on the phone immediately and /or will launch a vicious Twitter attack against that person.  Thus, you don’t have objective news coming out of Fox News, you have Trump-approved propaganda. That’s how this myth about Trump’s economic performance perpetuates.  That’s how this whole nonsense about how the election was ‘rigged’ perpetuates.  Unfortunately, a lot of people think they are getting the ‘truth’ from Fox News.  Nothing could be further from the truth.

With any luck, the Electoral College will do their jobs today and reaffirm Biden as the President-elect.  So, once that’s done, Biden will be sworn in on Jan. 20^th regardless of the bullshit Trump, Fox News and all of his supporters try to say and regardless of how much noise they make.  Jan. 20^th can’t come soon enough for me – and that’s the truth.

1. US economy: Trump will leave office with a historically bad economic record – CNNPolitics

Now that the Supreme Court has rejected the lawsuit brought by the Texas Attorney General, Ken Paxton, to essentially overturn the election results, and the Electoral College is set to vote on Monday, Trump is rapidly running out of options.  That’s both good and bad.  It’s good in that if the country can get through another 40 days or so with minimal damage, Trump will no longer be able to pull the levers of government for his selfish and vindicate purposes.  The bad thing is that he is probably beyond desperate and that is scary.  It’s like cornering a wild, crazed animal.  You just have no idea what he’s going to do.

There are some who think he might declare martial law.  I found a recent article about this very issue and the link is below.¹ I take some solace in the concluding sentences of this article, “A really important limitation in the event that there is martial law is that it’s highly unlikely to be tolerated in a situation where our civilian institutions are working,” Banks noted. “Martial law requires a complete meltdown. It requires the inability of our civilian institutions to manage government. It’s hard to imagine that.”  Nonetheless, you can’t put anything past Trump.

It is a well-reported fact that he and members of his family are facing some legal exposure at the state level after he leaves office so he has nothing to lose by trying every possible thing he can to remain in office.  That said, I sincerely doubt that Trump has sufficient support from the military and the intelligence agencies to become a one-man coup, even if he continues to have the unquestioning support of some sycophants in Congress

I think Trump knows that he lost and the game is pretty much up.  There will be a lot of bluster, lies and unfounded allegations thrown around and, no doubt, his toadies in Congress will try to throw every monkey wrench they can into the process when Congress meets to count the Electoral College votes January 6^th.  However, I think deep down, he and his family are starting to think about how they are going to protect themselves once the ‘Presidential shields’ come down.   

It will be interesting to see how long Trump and his kids can keep hold of their rabid base of supporters once they are out of office.  The American electorate is pretty fickle and demographics continue to change so without their daily free news coverage, they may have trouble staying relevant.  Or perhaps they will be so consumed with trying to defend themselves from civil and criminal prosecutions that they won’t have time to ‘play politics’ very much.

This loss is particularly hard for Trump to swallow because he ran up against something that he doesn’t understand – integrity.  He has moved through life and certainly much of the last four years believing that if he could just get Trump loyalists in all the right places, he could do pretty much as he pleased.  He just assumed that all of those hand-picked Trump people would be willing to lie, cheat and bend the rules to service Trump’s desires.  And then the election happened.

The Republican and Democratic election officials in all of those battleground states exercised integrity in refusing to bend to Trump to toss out legitimately cast ballots so that Trump would emerge victorious in their respective states.  They did their jobs with integrity.  Trump called the Republican governor of Georgia to ask him to personally intervene, call a special session of the state legislature and elect a complete slate of rogue electors who would vote for Trump.  Brian Kemp, the governor, refused.  He acted with integrity – and now he is on Trump’s ‘hit list’ because he is up for reelection in 2022.

Trump signed on to the lawsuit filed by the Texas attorney general asking the Supreme Court to essentially overturn the results of the election.  No doubt Trump figured that since he had appointed three of the justices now on the court that they would side with the other three conservative justices and do his bidding.  All nine of the Supreme Court justices did what they are supposed to do – they acted with integrity and tossed the lawsuit out of court. 

Since Trump has never, in his entire life, acted with integrity, he has a difficult time understanding those people who do.   He does not understand the concept that there are times when there are principles larger than yourself.  Trump doesn’t understand that it sometimes takes real courage for people to act with integrity.  And, in spite of all of the bullying, threats, baseless conspiracy theories, and deluge of misinformation by elected officials that should know better, the election officials and the Supreme Court stood their ground and acted with integrity – and American democracy will survive a bit longer because of it.

“The soul is dyed the color of its thoughts. Think only on those things that are in line with your principles and can bear the light of day. The content of your character is your choice. Day by day, what you choose, what you think, and what you do is who you become. Your integrity is your destiny … it is the light that guides your way.”   [Heraclitus]

1. How the president could invoke martial law (militarytimes.com)