Is Senator Mitch McConnell hiding something?  Why, especially since senators from both parties requested it, is he so against having a select committee investigate Russia’s meddling in our election?  Senator McConnell’s reluctance raises serious questions in light of the fact that it was a questionable FBI search warrant that resulted in FBI Director James Comey’s letter to congress that might have cost Secretary Hillary Clinton the election.  As if this wasn’t enough, President-elect Trump offered Senator McConnell’s wife a position on his cabinet and – according to a memo to the Pentagon, Russia is not even mentioned in President-elect Trump’s defense priorities.  If the Benghazi tragedy warranted a select committee to investigate Secretary Clinton’s potential culpability in that situation, doesn’t an overt threat to our democracy warrant at least that same amount of scrutiny?

It is reasonable to believe that the Senate Majority Leader would be near the top of the list of those who would want to get to the bottom of this Russia meddling while making every effort to assure that the investigation would not become embroiled in a partisan finger pointing battle that would taint its outcome.  The fact that the Majority Leader does not want to appoint a select committee to conduct this investigation does not make him guilty of hiding something but, given the circumstances, it does make his motives suspect.  And since he is in regular contact with the President-elect, wouldn’t it benefit both of them to be as transparent as possible to avoid even the appearance of corruption?

Many of the things that President-elect Trump has said and done thus far leading up to his inauguration have been pro Russia.  And as the march to his inauguration continues, he and Russia President Vladimir Putin seem to be regularly echoing one another’s policies.  America is very divided at this point and the President-elect is not doing much to try to bring the country together.  Half of the American people are concerned that America is in essence being handed over to Russia.  This unprecedented cozying up to Russia by an American leader who is soon to become president does not appear to be a problem for those who voted for him.  But these are very frightening times for those Americans who did not vote for him.  President-elect Trump needs to address this.  It does not matter that they did not vote for him; he will still be their president, even if in name only, and so is responsible to make an effort to calm their fears.

Based on his actions thus far, there is little doubt that times will be frustrating and very hard for all middle class Americans under a President Trump administration.  And to make matters worse, the Republicans now rule in America.  Come 2017 they will control the Executive, Legislative and Judicial branches of the federal government, 69 of 99 state legislatures, and 33 governorships at the state level of government.  They will have total control of government in 25 states and partial control in 20 states.  Democrats will have total control of government in only five states.

With this kind of dominance, even if Mr. Trump and congress should disagree on some issues, Democrats and all of middle class America will still be in for a rough ride.  When Michael Moore was on the Last Word With Lawrence O’Donnell show a few days ago he said that if you are among those who think that times will be bad under a President Trump administration, have a plan B; they will be worse.  This sounds ominous and extremely pessimistic but with the way that things are going while he is still President-elect, who knows what might happen once he becomes president; especially with a Christmas press release appearing to indicate that the GOP is crowning him as King Trump?

This is not the kind of article that I had anticipated posting just before or on Christmas.  I anticipated one that would be written under different circumstances and that would be encouraging, full of hope, and uplifting.  Unfortunately, that is not the case and it would be unfair for me to tell you otherwise.  So, if you will permit me to invoke the words of the late Walter Cronkite, that’s the way that it is on this Christmas Day December 25th 2017.

Eulus Dennis – author, Operation Rubik’s Cube and Living Between The Line