Mr. Donald J. Trump’s credibility is already at zero and with him in charge of America, America’s credibility is waning steadily. Although it has been publicized that Mr. Trump told 2,000 lies during his first year in office it is highly likely that he told countless more than that. Our country is now embroiled in a shutdown and Mr. Trump is doing more to hurt any potential resolution than he is to help it. Why? Because he is an out of control liar who finds it hard to make decisions or honorable agreements and when he does manage to make any, he is subject to change his mind and reverse that decision as soon as the party that he made the agreement with walks out of the meeting. And because he occupies the Oval Office and in essence is the personification of America’s word, he is pulling America down with him.
Should they choose to do so, the Republican controlled congress could put a stop to this progressive draining of America’s credibility or, at the very least, stem its flow until the problem can be corrected. Instead, they have chosen to enable Mr. Trump and have done nothing to even try to help America retain its honor and credibility in the eyes of American citizens and the world.
Unfortunately, this credibility problem also has a direct impact on congress and its ability to function properly. It is obvious that Mr. Trump is continuing to soil all of those whom he touches as far too many of them, apparently including Republican members of congress, have abandoned their sworn duties to the Constitution and now have sworn allegiance to Mr. Trump. They have become his minions. Surely they must know that no matter how hard they try to hide it that the truth will ultimately be revealed. But they have not yet realized this and if they have, they are not letting that deter them. Therein lies the problem. There is no longer trust among members of congress so that makes it all but impossible for members to do their job and represent the people who elected them to office.
Since Mr. Trump was elected, Republicans have taken a hard right turn and they have promulgated their intentions to ignore the minority party if they will not agree with them on the Republicans’ agenda and act simply as a rubber stamp, and pass legislation that addresses the Republican agenda without the agreement or help of congressional Democrats. The only major case so far where they have been successful in running roughshod over Democrats is there tax cut bill. They managed to give corporations a gigantic tax cut on the backs of middle class and poor Americans and distribute the great majority of those proceeds to rich Americans, the majority of which went to the top one tenth of a percent. After the tax cut became law, the Koch brothers made a $500,000 contribution to Speaker Paul Ryan, which was likely a reward for him working to assure that the bill was passed.
After Mr. Trump was elected, among other things, he rescinded the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program and set an arbitrary date of March 5, 2018 for congress to resolve the DACA problem. Because congress had continually refused to address the issue and the March deadline is fast approaching, in order to address this problem before the deadline and prevent those in the DACA program from being haphazardly deported and possibly prevent the need for them to be deported at all, congressional Democrats asked that a solution for DACA be included in the latest continuing resolution (CR) to fund the government for the short term.
The Republicans refused this request and continued with their bullying tactics so Democrats refused to support the CR. A number of Republicans refused to support it as well. Now that the government shutdown has occurred, all the while that they are blaming Democrats for it, they are asking them to help them to reopen the government by promising them that they will give serious consideration to DACA by its deadline on March 5, 2018. Promise?! They have got to be kidding, right?! There word has to be worth almost as much as a bucket of spit!
In order for America to get back on track and for congress to be able to properly do its job, trust and credibility must first be restored in congress and in the White House. This cannot be done if the Republican controlled congress continues to refuse to confront Mr. Trump and hold him to account. Congress is not a subordinate to Mr. Trump it is his equal and members must act accordingly and do their job. Among the numerous allegations that have been leveled against Mr. Trump is one that says he is a racist. Senator Lindsey Graham said that Mr. Trump is ‘definitely not a racist’ and cited seriously flawed rationale as to how he came to this conclusion. It is extremely hard to believe that Mr. Trump is not a racist in light of his record before and since he was elected to office.
If a fruit grows on an apple tree, has an apple peel, the fruit beneath the peel looks and tastes like an apple then whether it is red, yellow, green or some other color, it is an apple. Despite any other name that anyone else might call it and no matter how many times they call it by another name, it is still an apple. Everything about Mr. Trump including his record says that he is a racist; therefore, he is a racist. Democrats must continue to stand against Mr. Trump’s efforts to rid America of people of color for nefarious reasons and all Republicans should join them. If they value the oath that they swore to the Constitution and are true statesmen, then they will do this. Let’s just hope that they will do it sooner than later.
Eulus Dennis – author, Political Pawns And Puppets and Living Between The Line