Category: Politics

I don’t know whether Russian oligarchs own him financially or whether Russian spies own him personally because of alleged indiscreet behavior during his trips to Moscow. But Trump’s willingness to attack allies like Australia, bluster at rivals like China, threaten enemies like Iran and North Korea and bully neighbors like Mexico — while consistently blowing kisses to Russian President Vladimir Putin — cannot be explained away by his mere desire to improve relations with Moscow to defeat the Islamic State. And the Flynn ouster gives our government another, desperately needed opportunity to demand the answers to these questions, starting with seeing the president’s tax returns.

We need to know whom Trump owes and who might own him, and we need to know it now. Save for a few patriotic Republican senators like John McCain and Lindsey Graham, the entire Republican Party is complicit in a shameful act of looking away at Trump’s inexplicable behavior toward Russia.

 Thomas L. Friedman made the above comments in The New York Times op-ed pages today. These are concerns that need to be addressed. America deserves answers to the question is the president of the United States of America compromised in such a way that it renders him unable to conduct the affairs of the nation in a way that insures the interests of the nation and American people are properly served? 

With the resignation of Trump’s National Security Advisor republicans have the opportunity, as well as responsibility, to begin investigating Flynn’s activity with respect to Russian sanctions. As well the White House’s silence on the matter over the past weeks. We all know, or should know, what the reaction of republicans would have been had were the Obama administration and White House (or a Hillary Clinton administration) been involved in like circumstances.

As many republicans grow restive over the missteps of the Trump administration this could be the catalyst that was needed to start holding Trump and his administration responsible for actions that obviously are questionable.

Read full op-ed BELOW THE FOLD.

Since Donald J. Trump’s inauguration he has repeatedly shown use reason to be very concerned with his rise to power. After an 18 month campaign most already had a strong awareness of his deep and serious character flaws. His narcissism,   xenophobia, misogyny, bigotry, and lack of empathy was obvious to anyone paying attention. We mean really paying attention.

His closest and most influential advisor, Stephen Banning, is a self described Leninist who’s goal it is to destroy the establishment. Kellyanne Conway, like Trump himself is a liar, one who believe in presenting alternative facts to justify the administrations agenda. His cabinet picks are agenda driven right wing individuals who rather than move America forward are only interested in taking it back to the past. Presumably when privileged white men called all the shoots.

Of course then there is the biggie. Trump will likely have the opportunity to pack the courts with conservative justices, most notably the SCOTUS.

Donald J. Trump, in addition to all his other character flaws is an authoritarian. Already his use of executive orders, his constant dissemination of false facts, and his disregard for respect and proper protocol is giving us a glimpse into The Real Donald.

The following, excerpted from a conversation with Garry Kasparov in  VOX, makes the case why American’s who value their liberty and independence must make Trump look like a loser. We must do so using only the truth and we must be relentless in pursuing this objective.

Playing the calm voice of reason isn’t my strong suit despite my chess background, but it’s important to focus on what matters most so you don’t lose track in all the noise and chaos that Trump creates so effortlessly. During the campaign, even during the GOP primary, I wrote extensively about the menacing and, to me, familiar nature of Trump’s rhetoric. He used, and continues to use, the language of the strongman. Things are terrible and only he can solve the problems, we are surrounded by enemies and only he can protect you, etc. It’s very similar to the framing that Putin and other dictators use to justify their power.

The US president shouldn’t need to speak like a tyrant. But Trump’s still obsessed with legitimacy; hence his constant falsehoods about overwhelming victory and crowd size. You have an entirely unqualified president with autocratic instincts and dangerous advisers, who is quite possibly compromised by a malign foreign interest.

We gave Putin a chance in Russia, and it was the last free election we ever had. It’s far better to act and later admit you overreacted than to do nothing until it’s impossible to act. Still, the United States is not Russia; institutions are far stronger. They’ve just grown atrophied through lack of rigorous use, like an immune system that hasn’t been under a direct attack in so long it can’t respond to an infection.

SKIP

You have to reinforce the institutions, steadily and legally, and work through them. If you go too far, and react violently, it will only play into the hands of the Trump administration, which is already portraying all opposition as paid agitators and other ridiculousness straight from Putin’s playbook. When I talk about these things on Twitter or Facebook, I immediately receive a bunch of “Here too!” responses from people living in other authoritarian regimes, from Venezuela to Vietnam.

Riots will only frighten the “moderate middle” you will need as allies sooner or later. If Trump convinces them with lies that the opposition is controlled by dangerous thugs, you’re going to have eight years of Trump and another of his kind to follow. Stick to the facts, repeat them boldly and frequently, so his supporters see the would-be emperor has no bathrobe!

The courts are important, but things won’t really change unless enough Republicans start to see Trump as a liability to their fundraising and reelection chances. That could be quite soon if he can’t fulfill his many campaign promises. Making him look like a loser is crucial. Either the GOP will turn on him or he will be chastened and more likely to compromise. If a demagogue succeeds in claiming credit for wins and scapegoating his enemies for losses, he’s very hard to stop.

SKIP

Everyone must do what they can themselves and not wait for others to act. If you want change, you have to initiate action, even at a personal level that might seem insignificant. As the motto of Soviet dissidents went: “Do what you must, and so be it.”

GOP politicians are putting party over principles by supporting Trump so loyally, and by so doing, they reveal they don’t actually have any principles at all.

There are many levels with which to like or dislike Trump’s executive order, and on most of them, I’m a critic. As an immigrant, if not quite a refugee, to the US myself, I’m generally very sympathetic to people forced to flee their homelands, as my family and I escaped ethnic pogroms against Armenians in Baku, Azerbaijan, in 1990.

It should concern every American that Trump was so hasty to sacrifice security for a quick PR move with his base. Even the biggest fans of doing this should be alarmed by how incompetently it was handled.

Immigration has always been one of America’s greatest strengths, both for its reputation in the world and in practical matters of economic and cultural wealth. Being the destination of choice for so many of the world’s best and brightest has been a huge advantage, and anything that detracts from that “brain magnet” will hurt the US economically, including the workers who benefit from the startups and other jobs created by immigrants. Trump’s executive order has a big symbolic effect of making the US less attractive as a destination. Many Trump supporters will see this as a feature, not a bug, but this is ignorance and xenophobia.

Read complete conversation BELOW THE FOLD.