Remember when President Obama was in office and the Republican congress was constantly whining, complaining and tossing the phrase ‘rule of law’ around? Remember how they were always saying “this president is a lawless president” and then suddenly went silent after inauguration day? Doesn’t not talking about ‘a lawless president’ seem even more weird and that silence even an eerie quiet now that Trumpology has been introduced into the American political system, the virus has begun to spread and now has gotten hold to BLM (Bob Corker, Lindsey Graham, Mitch McConnell)? Speaker Paul Ryan probably should be included among these men (PBLM?) but, although he has been diagnosed with this virus, he does not appear to have become delusional yet like these other men have.
He has not yet said things like “I will not vote for [the tax bill] if it adds a penny to the deficit” and immediately turned around (without reading the final bill) and voted for an almost 1.5 trillion dollar addition to it. Or, he hasn’t said things like “…the man is crazy; he’s a kook” and then a few days later asked the press “why is the press constantly trying to label this man [Mr. Trump] as a kook?” Or…, what can’t I say about the ‘M’ factor in BLM (PBLM?); the Republican Senate Majority Leader, Senator Mitch (Whack-A-Mole) McConnell? He came out of his hole to work to help produce a Mr. Trump win and if successful, take a victory lap.
But right now, he has remained above ground for an extraordinarily long period of time. Instead of, while sporting his patented Cheshire cat grin, basking in this Republican tax cut win along with Mr. Trump and then immediately going back underground and occasionally popping up out of a different hole each time to take a peek to assess the surroundings before disappearing back into his hole if they are not favorable, he has remained above ground… Anyone who is familiar with Senator McConnell knows that he certainly is not at all opposed to avoiding the press when things are not favorable or to saying one thing about a situation when Democrats are in charge and then saying something about that same situation when Republicans are in charge that is diametrically opposed to what he said previously. What is he up to? Enough said, I hope that I have made my point.
This whole thing with the way that the Republican-led congress is conducting itself might actually be funny if the situation was not so dire, if we were not putting our democracy in grave danger. But America is already in serious trouble and Americans cannot afford to wait a minute longer before we begin to work to rectify this problem. Mr. Trump is attacking the very things that our democracy is built on and congressional Republicans are supporting him in those attacks. They are standing by silently and refusing to perform the ‘checks-and-balances’ function of their sworn duties. Instead of doing that part of their job, which they were elected to do, they went to the White House after the tax bill was passed and showered him with lackey-induced accolades that included telling him what a great leader he is and how filled with pride they were to have the privilege to stand on the same podium with him. Some among them even appeared to be on the verge of tears. It was shameful! Why are they so afraid of this man?! Fear is among the few things that I can think of that would cause them to conduct themselves this way under such dire circumstances!
In the meantime, Nikki Haley did her part in providing Mr. Trump with the warm-and-fuzzies by threatening to withhold money from members of the United Nations (UN) who might dare to vote in favor of denouncing Mr. Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capitol. Despite her threats, the UN voted overwhelmingly to denounce Mr. Trump’s decision anyway. After the vote, Mr. Trump responded with the comment “it will save us a lot of money; we don’t care.” Ms. Haley responded by inviting those who voted with the United States to a party. Is this what US diplomacy has come down to; threats and a snubbing for those who do not agree with us and a party for those who do? Are we really now going to be willing to resort to mob style and street gang style tactics to get our way in all things? Is Rex Tillerson a non-factor?
When a spokesperson for the State Department was asked about Ambassador Haley’s comments she demurred. The State Department did not appear to be in line with her comments. With past presidents, the White House, UN, and State Department have remained in constant communication to make sure that they were in lockstep with any statements that the UN Ambassador made. Ambassador Nikki Haley took some tough positions and did some courageous things while she was the governor of South Carolina and I mentioned that in previous posts to this site. Accordingly, I am compelled to mention that what she did at the UN in threatening to withhold money from those who disagree with us was at best the act of a dedicated lieutenant following the orders of her superior or, in an effort to empathize and be polite and as kind as possible to someone who is likely a dedicated civil servant, a naive act that should not be associated with her name.
Congress and Ambassador Haley appear to be operating based on the same premise; Trumpology. The Republican-led congress has proven time-and-again that they are not going to apply any form of pressure on Mr. Trump to force him to change his behavior. On the contrary, they are now constructing roadblock after roadblock to protect him, shut down any congressional investigations regarding him and shut down special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of him involving meddling by Russia in our 2016 election and possible collusion with Russia by Mr. Trump and/or his campaign. It appears that congress does not want Mr. Mueller to get to the bottom of Russia’s meddling in our election and they are willing to allow Mr. Trump to fire him to assure that he does not get to the bottom of it.
Most Americans do not closely follow politics so they are not aware of its nuances and usually do not know the details surrounding many of the things which occur that affect us as citizens. Therefore, they can be easily fooled by politicians who are masters at spinning almost anything so that it appears in a favorable light. Normally this approach to politics by citizens would be okay because there would be a strong congress in place that would be doing its part in protecting and serving its constituents by applying any required checks-and-balances in the checks-and-balances process. Obviously, that is not the case in Trump’s America so American citizens must determine that they are going to get engaged and remain engaged in order to guard our democracy. All of us should always remain engaged but since this is not likely, we must all determine to remain engaged at least until there is no longer a clear and present danger to our democracy.
So, as responsible Americans, let’s stop taking democracy for granted and get engaged in American politics now. Let’s do our part to guard our democracy and assure that it remains safe.
Eulus Dennis – author, Operation Rubik’s Cube and Living Between The Line