“The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie – deliberate, contrived and dishonest, but the myth, persistent persuasive, and unrealistic. Belief in myths allows the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.”
Remember how indignant the Republicans became when President Obama wore a tan suit to a press conference? The Republicans were really mad and they made public appearances to let American voters and the world know how disrespectful this was to the office of the presidency. Now that the current Donald J. Trump of the United States of America is trampling on the Constitution, dividing Americans into factions by stoking hatred and fear, belittling our allies and praising our enemies, destroying America’s reputation domestically and abroad, denigrating immigrants, separating children from their parents at our southern border and putting them in cages, giving the rich a massive tax break while giving the middle class and poor the crumbs off the table, calling climate change a hoax and digging his heels in on an altered map that he displayed regarding the path of Hurricane Dorian, trying to destroy all things Obama whether or not they are good for America; and the list goes on, the Republicans remain silent! Where are they and where is their collective voice?!
Oh yeah, before I move on I have to mention that many of Mr. Trump’s top-level cabinet members are under indictment or in jail, he just fired John Bolton – his third national security advisor (at least he says that he fired him although Mr. Bolton says he resigned) and Mr. Trump himself is faced with a truck load of legal problems. Further, according to an article by Nicole Gaouette of CNN, he “has plowed through a secretary of state, a defense secretary and an attorney general. He’s worked his way through an FBI chief, a director of national intelligence, a homeland security secretary, two White House chiefs of staff and five deputy national security advisers. He’s seen an ambassador to the UN come and go, as well as a Mideast peace negotiator.”
And recently the media has been talking openly about a person who lives in the Washington DC area who was extremely close to Russian President Vladimir Putin that was spying on Mr. Putin for the CIA. The kicker is that the media has also reported that this CIA asset was exfiltrated from Russia because of the fear that Mr. Trump might out him to Mr. Putin. With a normal president, the media would likely not even report on something like this because on its face it would be ludicrous; but not so with Mr. Trump. Why? Because Mr. Trump is not a normal Mr. Donald J. Trump of the United States of America. He has cozied up to Russian president Vladimir Putin since the day that he was installed into office, refused to say anything negative about him or Russia, refused to implement sanctions against Russia that congress wanted implemented, and publicly sided with Mr. Putin against his own intelligence agencies. And what have congressional Republicans done in the wake of all of this?! They have remained silent! Oh for the days of the Obama tan suit scandal!
Although Mr. Trump blatantly continues to lead America down a rabbit hole via his Kafkaesque style of leadership, if one can somehow muster the cojones to call it that, Washington Republicans continue to remain silent and enable him! All of these so-called powerful politicians that Americans have perceived as walking the corridors of power with their hands always on the lever of power in order to protect America against all enemies foreign and domestic is a complete myth: they have been exposed by a neophyte, Mr. Donald J. Trump, who has literally brought them to their knees. They are kissing his ring and anything else in the vicinity that he wants them to kiss while they are in this posture, in order to keep their job.
These Republicans and those in the news media continue to regularly talk about how Republicans need political cover so that they can do the right thing by carrying out their responsibility to apply the necessary checks and balances on Mr. Trump. And they are doing this while our democracy is in danger of being completely destroyed or, at least, damaged to the point to where it is unrecognizable. Please…give me a break! I’m sick and tired of hearing about ‘political cover’; how about talking more about the real responsibility of these politicians and saving our democracy?! The real responsibility of these politicians is to always hold the Donald J. Trump of the United States of America to account; not to curry favor with him unless political cover dictates otherwise. Their sworn duty is to protect the Constitution and fulfill their responsibility to the American people! And to do this does not require political cover; it simply requires a backbone and courage!
Mr. Trump has been successful in recruiting Attorney General William Barr and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to assist him in his quest to, as he puts it, “Make America Great Again” and it appears that he has successfully acquired the assistance of all of the congressional Republicans to assist him as well. It does not matter whether these Republicans were recruited or intimidated into helping him; they are still complicit with him in his attempt to destroy America and her hard-gained Reputation of being the leader of the free world.
I have no doubt that many Democrats continue to respect and support Speaker Nancy Pelosi even if they might be starting to question why she remains so determined not to impeach the Mr. Donald J. Trump of the United States of America. I am among those Democrats. Although I question why she is so reluctant to impeach Mr. Trump I continue to support her and her decision not to impeach because of her outstanding record as a competent and effective Speaker. Unfortunately, the decision not to move forward with impeachment is exacerbated by the confusing mixed messages that Democrats are sending. They are obviously not all on the same page in their messaging because far too many of them are saying different things about whether they have begun impeachment proceedings, whether they will wait until polls show that the public supports it or whether they will bother with impeaching Mr. Trump at all.
Whether you are a Democrat who supports Speaker Pelosi’s decision not to impeach Mr. Trump or you are among those who do not support her decision it is obvious that something must be done to hold Mr. Trump accountable now before he completely ruins America. The American people continue to be divided on what that ‘something’ should be and, as a result, it also continues to elude congressional Democrats.
Eulus Dennis – author, Operation Rubik’s Cube and Living Between The Line