Trumpian Peas In A Pod

I watched a speech that Mr. Trump made recently.  Vice President Mike Pence and Speaker Paul Ryan were sitting behind him during his speech and it brought to my mind peas in a pod. In this particular case, it brought to my mind rotten peas in a pod.  In order to prevent peas from rotting the soil condition must be almost perfect.  Even if the conditions are perfect there are still many different sorts of insects that at times attack the plants and fungi will take a shot at them as well.

Now, there are far more Republicans than Vice President Pence and Speaker Ryan that come to mind as proverbial peas in a pod and who could easily be included in the picture taken of Mr. Trump during the aforementioned speech.  Republican leadership and the entire Washington Republican party are rife with elected officials that have sold their souls for the sake of personal gain and/or party.  Among the other prominent members of the Republican leadership, aside from Speaker Ryan, that come to mind are Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Senator Chuck Grassley, Representative Trey Gowdy, and Representative Devin Nunes.  Every Republican seems to fear Mr. Trump and, as a result, have decided to bow down to him instead of carrying out their sworn duty to the Constitution and their obligation to the American people.

This whole scenario that has developed since Mr. Trump took office seems surreal and evokes the feelings of a horrible nightmare that, I’m sure, most Americans hold out hope that they will awaken from.  In the meantime, because of his enablers – the Republican party that now controls all three branches of federal government, Mr. Trump has become even more emboldened than before and is openly defying all of the norms and principles that all Americans hold dear.  He has no regard for the law that the ‘Rule of Law’ Republican party has so loudly touted for years.  He is doing whatever he wants, whenever he wants, and to whomever he wants to do it to without any fear of reprisal from this spineless current congress.  He has no regard for the high office that he holds and he completely and regularly disrespects it.

Although Mr. Trump is only one man against the American people and the many men and women in congress, though he might be stupid and uninformed, he is not crazy.  He has been around long enough to sense that he has these so called powerful congressmen with their backs against the wall, he can smell their fear, and he can see that they are running scared.  He is an apex predator so this is simply instinct for him; this situation is simply an unadulterated display of his street creds (“credentials”, for those who might need the word defined) coming through.  He has met them on their turf and beat them at their own game…and in their house!  There is little doubt that those on the street do not recognize his game.  Why shouldn’t they?  He is playing their game only at the highest level.

America is falling apart bit-by-bit and although congress knows this because they hold a front row seat as witnesses to what is happening, they continue to allow it to occur without taking any action to mitigate or, better yet, prevent it.  There is no doubt that things are tough but, as American people and American voters we must persist.  There is also no doubt that Mr. Trump is a formidable foe who is tough beyond what might be beyond many people’s wildest dreams.  But they must realize that this is because he is a narcissist who believes that the universe revolves around him and that all he knows to do is to persevere as long as it will keep him at the center of that universe.  And that no matter what happens to everyone else, no matter how bad that might be, as long as it does not happen to him everything will be alright.

Evoking a comparison of peas and what it takes to successfully grow them to our elected officials; at the beginning of this article, I talked about peas in a pod and the things, like insects and fungi, that can cause them to rot even when the soil and conditions are perfect.  The bottom line is that unless care is continuously taken to control the insects and to prevent the development of conditions that foster the germination and growth of fungi, insects will develop and prosper and fungi will also appear and do its part to stunt the growth of the peas if not totally destroy them by way of rot.  As much as it hurts to say this about an American who holds the Oval Office, Mr. Trump appears to be the ultimate fungus.  And he is rotting all of the peas!

I hope that I am wrong but if this is the case, as Americans and American voters, it is incumbent upon us to do everything that we can to assure that the soil remains perfect for the growth of peas.  And if insects and fungi have already begun to infect the crop, then we must do everything that we can to get rid of both.  We can wash the insects off of the leaves and we can work to assure that the soil is free of fungi.  As this relates to the situation with Mr. Trump and his enablers (our spineless congress) we can fulfill one of our chief responsibilities, which is to vote and, in effect, wash the leaves and decontaminate the soil.   So let’s do that by getting informed and voting.

Then, from that point forward, always remember, whether you are a Democrat, Republican or Independent, your vote is the most important one of all…unless you don’t use it!  Be sure that you vote in 2018 and 2020.  And if you do not already do so, begin to vote in all of the elections in which you are eligible to vote.  And if you can’t vote in all of them, be sure to vote in as many of them as possible.

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

The Prospect Of Impeachment

America learned much from the impeachment process against President Richard Nixon and the impeachment of President Bill Clinton.  If Mr. Trump is subpoenaed by Special Counsel Robert Mueller and refuses to honor that subpoena, it reaches the Supreme Court and the Court decides that the subpoena is valid and Mr. Trump still refuses to honor it, then America will experience another learning milestone in presidential politics and law and order.  And with the way that things are going right now with Mr. Trump’s new legal team, that learning experience may come sooner than later.

Former mayor Rudy Giuliani, who was recently added to Mr. Trump’s ever-changing legal team, went on Fox and admitted to Sean Hannity that Mr. Trump was aware of the $130,000 paid to  Ms. Stephanie A. Clifford (a.k.a. Stormy Daniels), before he made the rounds at Fox and possibly put Mr. Trump in even more legal jeopardy than he was already in.  During the press briefing on May 3, members of the press pounded Ms. Sanders with tough questions about what mayor Giuliani had said, questioned the value of Mr. Trump’s word and even questioned whether Ms. Sanders herself had knowingly lied to the American people.

It was also revealed in breaking news recently that Mr. Trump’s lawyer, Michael Cohen’s, telephone had been wiretapped for a period of time prior to the raid on his office by the FBI.  This raid prompted an interesting discussion between Alan Dershowitz and another guest on the May 3 MSNBC show, which was guest-hosted by Steve Kornacki.  It is my opinion that, in essence, Mr. Dershowitz trashed the law enforcement system – as it relates to the wiretap on Mr. Cohen’s phone, was skeptical as to whether officials did not find a crime first and then fit it to the person – in this case Mr. Cohen – in order to secure approval to tap his phone, and then he also stated that he did not trust government or the judges and other law enforcement personnel.  He said that all Americans should be concerned about this.

It is also my opinion that countless numbers of everyday Americans have been surveilled, and many continue to be surveilled currently, via the aforementioned wiretap method and via many other methods.  We reluctantly accept this invasive prying into our lives by our government in the name of national security.  The government says that it is needed in order to protect us and keep us safe.  And when they find something that that everyday American is doing that threatens America and its citizens in any way and are able to prevent that planned act from coming to fruition, they hold it up proudly and say things like, ‘see, this is why we have this program in place.  It protects America and saves countless lives.’

Unfortunately, most Americans have come to realize and accept that things do not work the same way for the rich and powerful in America; the high-level, white-collar folks.  Far too many rich and powerful people, whether they are regular citizens or elected politicians receive special treatment.  Because if they do go to prison, the places where they serve their time and how they serve that time is far different from where that everyday American serves their time and how they serve it.  And this applies especially to politicians.  These are the people that have the potential to do even more damage to America than that everyday American could ever do.  And yet they too often are treated with kid gloves.  That should not be the case!

Further, this should apply especially to Mr. Trump who is the leader of our country.  No one should be above the law!  He is the one who should be leading the effort to assure that all of our laws are enforced…and enforced equally and fairly!  Yet he and members of the Republican-led congress seem to be doing everything within their power to prevent Special Counsel Mueller from doing his job to get to the bottom of this whole thing involving Russia.  Why are they doing this when there is so much evidence that indicates that something went terribly wrong during the 2016 presidential election and is threatening to continue to go wrong in the 2018 elections and beyond?

America is in grave danger and that danger needs to be confronted and addressed.  As American citizens, especially those that are of voting age, it is incumbent upon us to do our part to confront and successfully address that danger.  It is far past time to drop the partisan politics and address this grave threat as patriotic Americans.  We can always get back to the dogma, squabbling, and playing of politics; but we will only be able to do that if we first assure that our democracy continues to exist as we now know it.

So always remember, whether you are a Democrat, Republican or Independent, your vote is the most important one of all…unless you don’t use it!

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