As Mr. Trump continues to thumb his nose at congress, the American legal system and the American people, the time is continuing to approach when the ‘Trump’ card will be meaningless.  There is no doubt that as President of the United States of America Mr. Trump is an extremely powerful man.  It is also extremely unfortunate that, as president – the man who is entrusted with the capacity to wield this enormous power, he exhibits little to no respect for the high office that he holds.  Not only is he completely disrespecting this highly esteemed office by dishonoring and, in many cases, ignoring its long-held traditions, but he is also stealing away the long-held visions and dreams of it that all Americans have held and are desperately struggling to hold on to.  They are struggling to hold on to these visions and dreams despite this disrespect that must be brought on by Mr. Trump’s complete lack of ability to grasp the understanding of the deep and revered meaning that this great office holds for them.

Even setting aside political differences that exist between Mr. Trump’s supporters and most other American voters, as hard as I try, I still struggle to understand how those who support him can continue to do so in light of all of the negative things about him and his administration that have proven to be true.  And these things obviously do not include those negative things that, although they have not yet proven to be true, have more supporting evidence that says that they are true than indicates that they are not.

I am a staunch Democrat and I admit that I am likely more ready to condemn Mr. Trump for his antics than any Republican, supporter or not, might be.  But for the life of me I cannot understand why his backers continue to support him when it is all but completely obvious that Mr. Trump, for whatever reasons, is willing to promote the failure of Obamacare with no alternative plan available to replace it and blatantly ignore the negative impact that this would have on the health issues and concerns of the American people.  And as if that weren’t bad enough, all indications are that he is willing to sell America out to Russia in order to ingratiate himself to Russia’s president Vladimir Putin.

What has happened to us?  What has our country come to when Evangelicals are willing to suspend their principles and religious and moral commitments to God (for, according to some news reports, one election cycle) to achieve their secular goals?  Things are changing in America; and unfortunately, they are not changing for the better.  I do not know what can or should be done to stem this defection from religious principles to secular expediency by those who espouse their religious beliefs and are children of God.  But I certainly hope that America’s ministers and other religious leaders do.

Personality-wise and temperamentally, Mr. Trump is Mr. Trump.  He always has been, is now, and likely always will be.  But the problem is that he seems to be working hard to make an awful lot of other Americans after his own image; and that is scary!  Mr. Trump is an extremely tough and determined man who seems to have the capacity to wear down even the toughest of our elected officials.  And they seem to fear him more than they fear the American voters.  That, too, is scary!  As voters, we must decide whether or not we are going to stand up to Mr. Trump.  With his personality and being the narcissistic person that he is, he can completely wear his opponents down.  He can drain you!

But the ultimate prize involved in this great controversy is America and American values.  Therefore, we must continue to fight no matter how many times that we are knocked down.  When we are knocked down, we must get right back up and resume the fight.  And so far, Americans have done that.  Men and women from around the country – no matter how battle weary they might be, have stepped up to Mr. Trump and congressional Republicans and said an emphatic ‘no’ to their willingness to ignore Americans and their healthcare needs and what appears to be congress’s willingness to stand by and allow America to be sold out to Russia.

Americans, no matter how tired we might get, must continue to do this to show Mr. Trump and his administration that they do not run America and determine her path and future based solely on their vision of the path forward, but instead, that we the American voters must also participate; “We the people” must have our rightful input in this process.  There have likely been other times in history when Americans needed to step up and accept and carry out their responsibilities as voters.  But there has never before been a Mr. Trump ruling the White House.  There has never before been a US president who has shown such a great affinity for strongmen; and especially for one who is our enemy.

It is hard to fathom someone like Mr. Trump as president and, therefore, it is hard, and scary, to imagine where we might end up as a country if Americans and/or congress choose to keep him in office for a full term or more.  There has never even been anyone remotely like Mr. Trump in the Oval Office before and I hope that there never will be again.  I also hope that his ‘Trump’ cards will immediately be rendered useless via impeachment or, at the very least, when Americans vote in the 2020 election.  In essence, it would be a virtual bid of 7-no Trump where Mr. Trump could not use his ‘Trump’ cards to stop America’s efforts to heal herself and then sow his seeds of divisiveness to secure victory for himself.

And if America chooses differently and decides to reelect him , I hope that Mr. Trump will run out of ‘Trump’ cards sooner than later and that even if he does not, our elected officials will stand up to him and choose country over party.  Only time will tell how things will work out.  Until then, let’s keep fighting!  And let’s make sure that the harder he hits us, the more resilient we become and the faster we pop right back up and resume the fight!  Hopefully, that will scare the ‘Trump’ out of him and his supporters and he will somehow morph into a man worthy of holding this revered and highly-esteemed office.

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

What is Senator Mitch McConnell up to now? Where is he?  Things are not going swimmingly for the GOP right now, but they are still treading water (pun intended); so he is in whack-a-mole mode: no one knows when or where he will pop up next.  Although we have not seen or heard much from him lately, we know that he is leading the 13 guy Senators stealth team that is hard at work on the senate’s stealth healthcare bill.  This bill is so secret that he won’t even tell his fellow Republicans about it, let alone senate Democrats or the American people (Democrats, Republicans or Independents).

It appears that the senate Republicans, especially Senator McConnell, must have taken some kind of hypocritical (again, pun intended) oath that they are determined to honor.  For example, here is what Senator McConnell said according to an article in The Washington Post by E. J. Dionne Jr. dated June 14, 2017:

“Fast-tracking a major legislative overhaul such as health care reform or a new national energy tax without the benefit of a full and transparent debate does a disservice to the American people, ” McConnell said in 2009, referring to the two big issues of the moment.  Democrats using such means, he added, “would make absolutely clear they intend to carry out their plans on a purely partisan basis.”

What in the world is Senator McConnell thinking?  There is no doubt that it is far past time that congressional Democrats and Republicans and the American people (constituents/voters) get a drink with him and find out what the h**k – I might as well just say it, heck is going on.  But, as I have said in previous articles posted to this site, the man is elusive and he is quick!  When reporters spot him and think that they have him, he pops back down into his hole and pops up someplace else.  And whenever he comes out far enough so that someone can block his hole and reporters are lucky enough to surround him so that someone can try to restrain him so that they can question him on key issues (like healthcare), just when they think that they have him and reach out to grab him; poof, he is gone!  And by the time they spot him again, he is back in whack-a-mole mode.  Click here to read the whack-a-mole article.

I’m not so sure that I would want to be the one to crawl inside of his head and find out what is going on in there.  But I wish that someone could/would.  Wait; I am sure that I would not want to be the one to crawl inside his head.  But I still wish that someone would.  Senator McConnell is likely a decent guy but he is scary.  I mean, he is not the kind of scary that Mr. Trump is but he is scary.  Maybe sneaky is a better word to use to describe him instead of scary.  You know what I mean?  You know like, have you ever had people that you are around that seem to have a sneaky-type walk and overall body movements and every time that you look at them they are looking at you with sneaky-looking, stealthy-like eyes?  And the next thing that you know you turn around and they are in your personal space, right on top of you, and they are like; helloooo?  You know, like in a scary movie.  It’s that kind of scary.  But that’s still pretty scary when you are talking about politics; and especially when you are talking about Senator McConnell!

The fact that all of these Republicans are marching in lockstep with Mr. Trump and Senator McConnell speaks volumes about their hypocritical ways.  Their ‘hypocritical’ oath to Party belies what is supposed to be their true commitment to their principles and honor.  Times like these are prime examples of times when politicians principles and honor should be the dominating force that drives their thinking and drives them forward.  There are far too many Republicans with far too many good ideas to contribute that are worthy of reasonable discourse and debate for Republicans to allow them to be derailed by anyone – Democrat, Republican or Independent – who does not have America’s best interest at heart and who does not put America above Party.

Anyway, Senator McConnell is shepherding and fast-tracking a healthcare bill through the senate using his power as Senate Majority Leader to employ unprecedented control and stealth to push a bill through that is forged solely by him and 13 guy senators.  He is doing this without input from Democrats and without revealing what is in the bill to the American people although it will effect 1/6 or more of the economy.  He is doing this in an effort to make sure that the bill will receive enough votes to pass the senate before senators’ constituents can pressure them to vote against it.  Senator McConnell is a savvy politician who has been in his job for a long time and he knows how thing work politically.  The maneuver that he is trying to carry out now makes him a scary man despite your definition of scary.  Whether you see him as ‘Mr. Trump scary’ or ‘scary movie’ type scary it is important that you be aware of what Senator McConnell and the Trump Administration are doing to push through a GOP healthcare bill that they hope to make a healthcare law even if the majority of Americans are against it.

While Mr. Trump is faced with many problems that may be slowly dragging his administration down, we would do well to remember that the operative word is “slowly.”  In the meantime, Mr. Trump and the GOP are quietly pushing their agenda forward, below radar, in the field of healthcare, voter rights, immigration, environment and other areas involving the federal government.  Whether you are among those who agree with Mr. Trump and the direction in which he and the GOP are moving the country or you are among those who disagree, our legislative process should be transparent and we should be kept informed and allowed to participate to the degree that we are entitled to participate.  As constituents and voters, we should be allowed to know what is going on and have any appropriate input to bills and potential laws instead of just having them sprung on us by congress.  So let’s be sure that we always remain vigilant and assure that this is the case.

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

Mr. Trump and those Republicans who continue to enable him are making headway in their efforts to divide and conquer American citizens by splitting them into factions and pitting them against each other.  Although they might not be overtly doing this, those things that they subliminally suggest and/or imply work well to provoke Americans and encourage this hateful infighting in our country.  More hate crimes are occurring since Mr. Trump was elected.  He rode to victory like a white knight astride his trusty steed ‘Make America Great Again’, the namesake of his great cap-selling slogan, during the presidential primaries and general elections.

Speaking about white knight, the so-called Loyal White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) are working hard to revive the days of old that, based on Mr. Trump’s rhetoric and the people that he has surrounded himself with, easily dovetails with what appears to be the ideals of the Trump slogan ‘Make America Great Again’ and the days that he wants to take America back to.  Although he has referred to himself as ‘the least racist person that you have ever met’, his constant antics speak otherwise.  Instead of bringing us together, his actions and rhetoric seem to inflame Americans of all stripes.

The KKK recently applied for a permit to hold a rally near the Robert E. Lee statue in Charlottesville, Virginia on June 8, 2017.  This is two days before which a rally by a right wing group led by a local blogger, who was recently fired by a conservative website for his support of white supremacist groups, will also be held.  And it is less than a month after self-proclaimed white nationalist Richard Spencer led a night rally, attended by torch-wielding supporters, protesting the removal of this statue.  Mr. Spencer coined the term “alt-right” and he is also calling for a whites-only state.

Because of Mr. Trump’s campaign rhetoric, messaging tied to his ‘Make America Great Again’ slogan, his endless antics and faux pas, and the fact that elected Republicans want to protect him at all costs, want-to-be elected Republicans (e.g. Virginia gubernatorial candidate Corey Stewart and Montana congressional seat candidate Greg Gianforte) want to be like him and hate groups seem to be inspired by him, it is not hard to see why people associate these problems with Mr. Trump and are inflamed by him.   Again, this drives a wedge between Americans rather than pull them together.

Well, if ‘Make America Great Again’ means what it appears to mean, which is returning to the days in America when women could not vote and could not make decisions about their own bodies and health, when America discriminated against fellow Americans because of their religion or ethnicity and had her foot on the necks of African Americans simply because of the color of their skin; then I do not want anything to do with it!  And I suspect that the great majority of Americans, obviously some would like to return to those days, feel the same way!  It is completely unacceptable!

All the while that the “least racist person that you have ever met” and man who “could go out on Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and my numbers wouldn’t change” is applying his divide and conquer strategy on Americans; he is also doing everything in his power to prevent us from getting to the bottom of exactly how Russia was involved in the 2016 American presidential election and from getting answers to questions as to whether or not members of his campaign and cabinet and/or he colluded with them.

Further shenanigans surrounding this particular effort surfaced on June 7, 2017 when National Security Agency Director Michael Rogers, National Intelligence Director Dan Coats, Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe, and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein stonewalled Congress when they were questioned about Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election.  They refused to say whether or not Mr. Trump asked them to interfere in this investigation even though they did not have any legal basis for their refusal.

To make matters worse, when the Committee questioned former FBI Director James Comey the following day, Senator John McCain, who was the last to speak before the session was adjourned, went through a painful and convoluted effort to suggest that if Russia’s meddling in the 2016 presidential election is still open because, in the words of Mr. Comey, it is “a big deal” that a foreign government interfered in it, then the Hillary Clinton email investigation should also still be open because she was also a presidential candidate.  Huh?!  Go figure.

Throughout all of this, the Implicit question that Mr. Trump continues to pose to Americans is ‘are you going to believe me or your lying eyes, ears and dire situation that you are in?  Based on the way that things have gone for him so far since he made his announcement to run for president, it would be far from a sure bet to wager that people will believe their lying eyes, ears and dire situation that they are in.  So which of the two are you going to believe?  During his testimony former FBI Director Comey essentially called the president a liar.  Mr. Trump’s Deputy Press Secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, protested loudly after the hearings and said that ‘the president is not a liar’.  So once again I ask, who are you going to believe?

While Mr. Trump and his enablers are busy tearing America apart, disgracing her in the eyes of her allies and the world, and marching her in reverse as quickly as possible, Americans must not despair.  As Senator Elizabeth Warren has said repeatedly, this fight is our fight!  And she is right.  We must stay the course and, no matter how many times we are knocked down, we must get right back up and continue to fight.  Although our allies are confused and some are beginning to question America’s  willingness to lead and our commitment to them, an encouraging word has come from Emmanuel Macron, the newly elected president of France.  An article in Quartz by Roya Wolverson dated June 1, 2017 stated the following:

In a nod to Trumps bravado about US power, Macron reassured Americans that “the world believes in you.  I know that you are a great nation.”

In light of the fact that France is one of America’s closest allies and is respected by our other allies in Europe , this is an important statement that can help to convince other American allies to stay the course through all of Mr. Trump’s antics and negative rhetoric and that they can rest assured that America can still be trusted to abide by our commitments.

As we continue to fight we must remember that Mr. Trump is not doing this alone.  It would be impossible for him to do it without the help of those who are enabling him.  And come the 2018 and 2020 elections we must demonstrate to Mr. Trump and those enablers that we will not tolerate elected officials who chose to discard statesmanship to support any president at all costs and who refuse to step up and stand up for America by defending and protecting the Constitution, which they swore to defend and protect.  And if they persist in refusing to perform their sworn duty, let’s show them by way of our vote that we are serious about assuring that they stand on principle, conduct themselves as statesmen and always place country above party.  Let’s vote them out!

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

Congressional Republicans have completely lost their way and the Republican Party is in a downward death spiral.  To these Republicans “statesmanship” is a 13-letter bad luck word; everybody knows that the number 13 is bad luck, right?  They don’t even use it on elevators even if the building has more than 13 floors, do they?  I guess that we just have to pray that not all of our Republican elected officials are that kind of superstitious or we won’t have any Republican statesmen left in congress.  Wait; do we still have any Republican statesmen left in congress now?  If we do, where are they?

What Mr. Trump is doing as the leader of this great country is bizarre and embarrassing and his cabinet members and advisors are conducting themselves in a way that is just as bizarre and embarrassing.  (Gulp, gulp) Alternative facts, (gulp) falsehoods, – these three words have become key words in the press’s great cache of words since Mr. Trump was elected, and lies  have found a home in the White House.  And that is the last place that they should be welcomed and allowed to abide if we are to remain a great country and leader of the world.  Where are the checks and balances that are supposed to be in place to prevent the President from abusing his power?  What congressional Republicans have been doing since Mr. Trump took office and what they are doing now is spineless and shameful!

What does Mr. Trump have to do to get these Republicans to act?  What does he have to do to get them to seek the truth, whatever it may be?  What does he have to do to get them to step up and defend our great nation?  We all know that he has done plenty already that warrants seeking the answers to all of the questions which surround him and his cabinet and advisors that deserve to be answered.  These questions need to be answered in order to remove the ominous cloud that is hanging over America; especially since its epicenter lies directly above the White House.  And they especially need to be answered since they were generated by actions taken by his campaign, members of his cabinet, advisors – and possibly even him, that amount to a direct threat to our democracy.

Mr. Trump has done far too many things, whether they were done out of ignorance, lack of experience, or intentionally that call into question his fitness to lead America.  The more important question is that if these things are allowed to continue unabated without the proper checks and balances being applied, what will the ultimate impact on our country be and will we be able to fully recover from those things?  Republicans in the House and Senate have the power to decide whether or not these checks and balances will be applied.  From the time that Mr. Trump was installed as president this decision has been theirs and it remains theirs now.  If they decide to continue to support Party rather than country then voters should not reelect them in 2018 and 2020.  So 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

Why do so many politicians lie even when the truth would be better.  Why do they work so hard to make a job that already has a bad reputation maintain that reputation or make it even worse?  It’s mindboggling.  Is it just to keep in practice?  Is it because of the job’s reputation and because it is likely that they, like many of us, have watched other politicians lie on a regular basis that they might be constantly thinking; “someday I’m going to need to lie to my constituents and I don’t want to mess up when I do?  Is it that they want it to be a smooth and seamless lie so that it will be extremely unlikely that it will be found out if ever found out at all?  Has their continued exposure to politics and their close encounter with the mud in it caused them to come to believe that a lie is the same as the truth unless it is found out?

Either this manner of thinking gets worse when politicians make it to the big league in Washington (Washington politicians seem to be married to this way of thinking) or it is because political issues are more widely promulgated when Washington is involved so we are more aware of what is happening at that level than we are of the political tomfoolery at the local and state levels.  Or perhaps it is a combination of the two.  Either way, the more that one witnesses this kind of behavior the more disillusioned they become with those that they have elected to represent them and the harder they find it to believe anything that they tell them.  These elected officials have lost all credibility, that is what little bit that they had left, in the eyes of the American people and so are failing miserably at reassuring, comforting and protecting Americans under these current trying circumstances.

An excellent example of politicians lying in a situation even when the truth would be better occurred during a meeting among House Republican leaders shortly before Mr. Trump, who was then the Republican standard bearer, was elected.  According to an article in The Washington Post by Adam Entous dated 5/17/2017, the following exchange took place:

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy said, “There’s two people I think Putin pays: Rohrabacher [McCarthy’s fellow California Republican congressman] and Trump.”  House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis) immediately interjected, stopping the conversation from further exploring McCarthy’s assertion, and swore the Republicans present to secrecy….  Some of the lawmakers laughed at McCarthy’s comment.  Then McCarthy quickly added: “Swear to God.”

Ryan instructed his Republican lieutenants to keep the conversation private, saying: “no leaks…This is how we know we’re a real family here.”  …When initially asked to comment on the exchange, Brendan Buck, a spokesman for McCarthy , said: “The idea that McCarthy would assert this is absurd and false.”

After being told that The Post would cite a recording of the exchange, Buck, speaking for the GOP House leadership, said: “This entire year-old exchange was clearly an attempt at humor.  No one believed the majority leader was seriously asserting that Donald Trump or any of our members were being paid by the Russians.  What’s more, the speaker and leadership team have repeatedly spoken out against Russia’s interference in our election, and the House continues to investigate that activity.”  Why couldn’t they just say this in the first place?!

The crux of the problem does not lie in the fact that a conversation like this took place.  It lies in the fact that these politicians chose to lie until they had virtually no other choice but to tell the truth.  And after they told the truth, even knowing what they knew about Mr. Trump, they still chose not to stand on principle and do what was in the best interest of the American people.  Instead, at that time, they chose to put party above country and pawn Mr. Trump off on the American people by supporting his election.  And now they are continuing to do it by protecting him and enabling him despite all of the red flags that have been raised regarding his bizarre behavior.  And they are doing this all in the name of the hope that he will help them in their effort to assure that their Republican agenda is implemented.

This kind of behavior by our politicians does not engender trust and confidence in them from their constituents but rather the lack of trust and suspicion.  The way that Mr. Trump has conducted himself as the leader of the most powerful country in the world and how he has governed across-the-board should by now have captured the attention of all Americans.  And his conduct should do more than simply raise eyebrows and give pause to those who are observing his actions.  We must hold him and those who are supposed to provide the checks and balances on how he wields his power accountable.

I do not believe that I am the only one who feels exhausted from Mr. Trumps antics and feels like a damp, cold blanket has been tossed over America and those things that we stand for.  That blanket seems to have dampened the spirit of the normally irrepressible feeling of pride that we normally can’t help but to exude in America and the exemplary leadership that we have persistently presented to the world.  Neither do I believe that I am the only one who feels that America’s enemies are feeling emboldened because they sense a weakening in America’s armor and that our allies are confused and have lost a great deal of confidence in us.

In the past, even when we have disagreed we have always been able to come together as Americans.  We have not acquiesced to the suggestion of dividing ourselves into impenetrable racial and religious factions even when encouraged to do so by our leaders or prodded to do so by our enemies.  And whether we are Democrats, Republicans or Independents, we should avoid dividing ourselves now and come together as Americans because we are stronger together.  The only thing that we will do by forming impenetrable factions and pitting ourselves against each other is make America more vulnerable to her enemies.  Think about it; who gains from that?  Therefore, we should be wary of anyone who is encouraging division instead of pulling us together as Americans.  Together, we can solve any differences that we might have.  We have done it before, we can do it again, and we will always be able to do it.  Why? Because “we have far more in common than that which divides us.”

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

As Republican members of the House and Senate continue to enable Mr. Trump and shield him and various members of his administration from public scrutiny, dark corners to hide in are becoming harder to come by.  These legislators are silently suffering and crying out for more dark corners to hide in after they transform into their Dick Dastardly character and perform their dastard deeds for Mr. Trump in the hope that he will help them in their effort to win their agenda fight with the Democrats.

The dark corners are not needed only for the transformation process but also as a hiding place from their constituents after they have transformed back into their respectable politician persona.  They desperately need these dark corners to serve as havens until the storm has passed over.   So don’t be shocked if there is a bill introduced by one of them soon that asks that significant and, at the very least, adequate funds be appropriated for more and darker corners.  They wouldn’t be asking for anything near the amount of the funds they are seeking in tax breaks for the rich so to approve their request should not be a problem.  And, of course, more is always better as long as it isn’t for the middle class or poor.

In the past when they have gone home on recess (vacation), most of these ambitious politicians have held town hall meetings to keep their constituents informed, listen to their concerns and get their input on the latest issues.  This time, however – if I recall correctly from an article that I read, only about 13 of them had actually scheduled town halls by the time they left on recess (vacation).  Whoa; what’s up with that?!  I think that it has a lot to do with the House passing the American Health Care Act (AHCA) and the Senates inaugural effort to do the old Washington Two Step while they try to figure out how to handle this toxic piece of legislation instead of following in the footsteps of House members and summarily approving it.

Although the crown jewel in this piece of legislation is an $800 billion cut to Medicaid (they need this money to help fund the tax breaks that they intend to give to the rich), House members are telling their constituents that the AHCA will not negatively impact those who are a part of this program.  They are also telling them that the AHCA will be much better than Obamacare and that those with preexisting conditions have nothing to worry about because they will be taken care of under the Republicans new plan.  It appears that the Senate is not buying in to this spin.  If they believed that they could just toss out the AHCA legislation and never speak about it again and there would be no consequences to pay, they probably would.

One of the reasons why the Senate would probably like to just toss this legislation out and never speak of it again is because they have seen the extremely negative reaction that their constituents have exhibited toward members of the House who voted ‘yes’ on it.  Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell put together a group of 13 guy senators to address the problem and was immediately criticized for not including any women in this group.  Of course Senator McConnell began to work his magic against such criticism by immediately playing it down.  Before all is said and done, he will likely include at least one women in the group.  And this probably is not a bad idea because, after all, women do make up more than 50% of America’s population and so also make up a large part of those who would most likely like to see America craft and espouse a meaningful healthcare policy.

Sensing that this poison-pill legislation wasn’t enough of a challenge for the Republican-led House and Senate that has been protecting and enabling him in order to prove their loyalty to him, the boss (Mr. Trump) suddenly tossed in an additional challenge for them to deal with by firing FBI Director James Comey.  Not only did he fire him but it appears that the way that Director Comey found out that he had been fired was when it flashed on the television in the back of the room while he was speaking at an event in California.  What makes this such a daunting challenge is that the FBI was doing a counterintelligence investigation to determine whether or not Mr. Trump and some of the members of his administration were involved in colluding with the Russians in meddling in the 2016 presidential election.

To make this daunting challenge even more challenging, the reason that Mr. Trump used to fire Director Comey was due to his mishandling of the Hillary Clinton emails investigation.  The odd way that the firing was handled by Mr. Trump was compounded by the fact that he did it based on a recommendation from Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who had recused himself from all things dealing with the Clinton emails, and a recommendation from  Rod Rosenstein – the recently confirmed Deputy Attorney General who would be acting in his place regarding the Clinton emails.  And last but certainly not least, During the course of his campaign and after he was elected, Mr. Trump had praised Director Comey for those very same things that he used as his rationale to fire him.  Surely if congressional Republicans continue to protect and enable Mr. Trump through this they will have proved their loyalty to him, right?  Right…?  What the heck; perhaps, like me, you fall in the ‘who knows’ category.  Because with Mr. Trump, you are always just rolling the dice: his promises and words have too often proven to be empty.

At the writing of this article, Mr. Trump was 109 days into his presidency.  As I have said in previous articles posted to this site, “It seems like soooooo much longer.”  Only time will tell if we will get to the bottom of what actually happened during the Russians meddling in our 2016 presidential election and whether or not Mr. Trump and/or members of his administration colluded with the Russians during that time and whether or not they are still colluding with them.  If the Republicans opt to prove their loyalty to Mr. Trump by continuing to protect and enable him even through this challenge, we may never get the answers to these questions.

I strongly believe that patriotism has unadulterated and bright boundaries for all Americans.  But when patriotism and politics are mixed, depending on one’s perspective, those boundaries, when they are placed adjacent to one another, can become blurred and the boundary lines can become almost impossible to decipher.  And whenever that happens, patriotism and politics can indeed become strange bedfellows.  Mr. Trump is a tough man and a master manipulator whose narcissism is only matched by his perseverance.  He can spin myths (alternative facts?) that he may actually believe to be true and quickly make those around him who are loyal to him believe them.

That notwithstanding and despite the fact that there will likely be those congressional Republicans who opt to prove their loyalty to him even through the firing of Director Comey, we must always hold out hope that principle, good hearts, and good sense will prevail.  So to reinforce that hope I leave you with the words of the late President John F. Kennedy and the late Dr. Martin Luther King:

President Kennedy said; “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.”

And Dr. King said; “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”

Let’s hope that House and Senate Republicans will consider and heed the words of these two great men and do the right thing.  Let’s hope that they will place loyalty to country above loyalty to party.

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

For me, FBI Director James Comey is an enigma.  Being a Democrat and avid supporter of Secretary Hillary Clinton now and during the 2016 presidential race, I was very angry when Director Comey stepped in with about two weeks left until the election and, in my opinion, singlehandedly ruined the election for Secretary Clinton.  He handed it to Donald J. Trump!  Although I have had the opportunity to calm down since the election, I am still upset and concerned that a person with Director Comey’s pristine reputation would take the steps that he took during that election.  I just cannot understand why he was so willing to disregard the norms when it came to Secretary Clinton’s case yet adamantly refused to disregard those same norms in Mr. Trump’s case; a case that had the potential to be exponentially more damaging to the United States as did the one involving Secretary Clinton.

Due in large part to his highly respected reputation on both sides of the aisle, I want to believe that Director Comey is an honest, hardworking and dedicated civil servant who is nonpartisan when it comes to doing his job and that his patriotism is beyond reproach.  That is why I continue to try to figure him out.  A recent article in The New York Times by Matt Apuzzo, Michael S. Schmidt, Adam Goldman and Eric Lichblau entitled ‘Comey Tried to Shield the F.B.I. From Politics.  Then He Shaped an Election.’ attempts to shed some light on why he made the decisions that he made during the 2016 presidential election.  But depending on your perspective, it raises as many questions as it seeks to answer.  Further, it causes one to contemplate the fact that even if Director Comey’s decisions were totally innocent ones that were not at all influenced by partisanship or other nefarious factors, they were bad decisions and he should be held accountable for making them.

Whether or not Director Comey’s decisions were directly responsible for turning the election that, even according to Director Comey’s projection Secretary Clinton would obviously win, into a victory for Mr. Trump, there is little doubt that they played a major role.  In the previously mentioned article, Director Comey said “We’re not considering whose ox will be gored by this action or that action, whose fortune will be helped.  We just don’t care.  We can’t care.  We only ask: ‘What are the facts?  What is the law?'”  It appears, however, that it did matter whose ox would be gored.  Because when it came to deciding whether or not Director Comey’s ox would be gored by way of either indelibly staining or ruining his personal reputation or that of the F.B.I. organization, Director Comey chose to avoid the goring of his ox at all costs.  Many Democrats remain angry that among the oxen that remained to be gored that Director Comey ultimately chose the Clinton ox as the one that would be the, so to speak, sacrificial lamb.  They continue to wonder what Director Comey’s rationale was in helping him to make this choice.

Director Comey made and stood by these decisions even though he knew that he would be bucking his boss and breaking longstanding norms of the Justice Department and the F.B.I.  He made them even though he knew that he was running the risk of shaping a momentous election.  Perhaps the ultimate choices that he made were innocent ones…or perhaps they were not.  Perhaps his choices were not at all unlike those that the head of any other department in government would have made…or perhaps they were not.  But the questions that surround those choices remain unanswered and may never be answered…  Perhaps.  Yet those are the very questions that beg to be answered because they are intricate ingredients in the mixture that comprise the substance of F.B.I. Director James B. Comey’s makeup; the DNA that can explain why he is an enigma and may always remain as such…  Perhaps.

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

Senator Elizabeth Warren is inspiring whether you agree with her politics or not.  I happen to be among those who agree with her on almost all of the political issues so when I listened to her speak during the course of her interview on the April 19th Rachel Maddow Show I took her message to heart.  I was riveted to the TV as she passionately spoke about how democracy has changed recently and what the masses need to do to assure that Mr. Trump will not ruin our country during his tenure in office.  She said that voters, whether they are Democrats, Republicans, Independents, or Libertarians cannot afford to sit back and just vote every four years.  She said that we must get informed, get involved, and stay informed and involved in order to help preserve our democracy.

I took the title of this article from the title of Senator Warren’s new book because based on the excerpts that Ms. Maddow read from it and the comments that she and Senator Warren made, it explains to voters what we need to do to get organized and stand up to Mr. Trump.  She further said that we will have to fight and that we will be knocked down and that we will lose some fights.  But, she said, we have to get up and keep right on fighting because by fighting – even if we lose, it develops an attitude; a positive attitude that will help us to always remain in the fight.  I plan to purchase her book and I hope that you will do so too; especially if you are among those who do not closely follow politics and tend to only vote during presidential elections.

Senator Warren said that we should not focus on what Mr. Trump says but on what he does because he is a dangerous man who continues to deal blow-after-blow to the middle class and poor and that many of the things that he is doing are having a negative impact on democracy as we now know it.  I agree with her 100%.  This fight is our fight and we cannot just stand back and watch someone else fight it for us!  Senator Warren also said that those who have been protesting against Mr. Trump and fighting back are not all Democrats; many are Republicans and Independents.

If this article strikes you as a promo for Senator Warren and her latest book, it is not meant to be that.  But I do want to do my part, no matter how small, to help her get the message out that all of us must continue to fight.  I want to do that because it is a meaningful message that all Americans need to hear.  It does not matter whether those Americans are Democrats, Republicans, Independents, or Libertarians; a meaningful and robust democracy should be the goal of all of us.

So no matter which team you are on, let’s suit up and fight for those things that are important to us; those things that are near-and-dear to our heart.  Let’s not be distracted from the fact that Russia interfered with our 2016 presidential election by Mr. Trump’s antics and smoke-and-mirrors tactics.  But instead, let’s remain focused and fight.  That way, although it might take more time than we would like for it to take to get to the bottom of this investigation of Russian interference in our election, we will get to the bottom of it.  We will find out which, if any, of those in the Trump administration colluded with the Russians in this nefarious intrusion into our politics.  Although it matters and is an important piece of the puzzle, the point is not whether they did it to help Mr. Trump win the election or to simply obfuscate to destroy the American voters confidence in our election system.  The most important thing is to find out if they actually interfered in the election and if they did, to amass as much proof as possible to support our conclusions.  Any consequences for those involved in this interference can then be determined and dispensed when and as appropriate.  No effort by anyone, foreign or domestic, to weaken America and our democracy should be tolerated.

Are you ready to fight?

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

I have said it many times before, I will say it again now, and I will continue to say it as long as he continues to do it.  Mr. Trump continues to thumb his nose at congress and all voters whether they are Democrats, Republicans, or Independents.  He even thumbs his nose at those voters who voted for him when they dare to ask him to explain anything that is not in line with his thinking on how those things should be handled.  Things like his income tax returns, who is visiting the White House, who is visiting him at Mar-a-Lago and other – perhaps less ominous – things like why is he visiting Mar-a-Lago so often and playing golf so much since he complained about how much President Obama’s travel was costing America and how much time he was spending playing golf and then saying how he, if elected president, would just stay at the White House and “work my ass off for the country”.  Mr. Trump is conducting himself more like a king than a president.

While he is making a mockery of the Emoluments Clause and laughing off the longstanding norms regarding the avoidance of nepotism – which his son Eric says is a beautiful thing, he is continuing to busy himself with destroying the State Department, dragging down the Justice Department, ruining America’s reputation and to the greatest extent possible, dismantling everything that President Obama implemented during his term in office.  During the whole time that he has been doing this, the Republican congress has been protecting him.  They have continued to protect him despite the fact that their constituents have been demonstrating against Mr. Trump and demanding that he release his tax return information and demanding that congress not repeal Obamacare.

Mr. Trump’s business dealings and the fact that he continues to refuse to divest himself of his many businesses raises many questions as regards how those businesses impact on him personally: can he be compromised by domestic or foreign enemies as a result of those business ties and/or dealings?  Has he already been compromised?  These are things that we do not know and that is why these questions and others like them need to be answered.  And they need to be answered quickly.  Because Mr. Trump refuses to cooperate and help America to get the answers to these questions and do it as expeditiously as possible, it might be necessary to force him to cooperate.

One way to force Mr. Trump to cooperate is via the Emoluments Clause.  But in order to effectively use this clause as leverage, Mr. Trump will likely have to be sued.  Not just anyone can sue him using this clause; whoever sues him must have standing.  In other words, they must be able to prove to the court that they have been harmed as a result of his shunning of the Emoluments Clause.  That generally means that not just any American citizen, like you or me, can sue Mr. Trump based on this clause.  And it further means that there is a relatively small number of people or entities that can sue him.  Congress is among that number that can.  But with the way that they have been protecting Mr. Trump, the chances of congress investigating him at all, let alone suing him to augment the chance that such an investigation will actually occur, are slim-to-none.  There are some businesses that likely have standing.  And at this point – should they choose to sue him, that is about the best shot available to American voters who want to see this matter cleared up to attain an investigation that is based on Emoluments.

It seems that Republicans believe that because they hold so much power at the federal and state levels and because of all of the gerrymandering that they have done recently that they are invincible.  They have been emboldened by Mr. Trump’s baseline constituents to the point that they feel that they can even ignore the demands of their overall constituents.  This is due in part to them depending upon voters in general to have their usual short memories; especially if come election time Republicans have had some victories and candidates shower voters with sleek sound bites and ads.

I would venture to say that for many years now, far too many of us have opted to base our vote on the sleek sound bites and ads; and especially during the 2016 presidential election.  Look what we got.  A lot of voters are obviously happy with what we got but the majority are unhappy with the results.  Many of those who thought that Mr. Trump was who they wanted to be president based on all of his glowing promises now realize that those were empty promises.  They realize that his promises, just like his word, are not steadfast; both things depend on how much positive attention it will bring him and how popular it will make him if followed through upon.  And because he has failed to deliver on many of his promises because they proved to be unpopular and because he went back on his word for the same reason, those supporters are having voters’ remorse.

So voters, the time will arrive in 2018 and 2020 when we once again will have to decide whether or not we will hold our elected officials accountable.  And once again we will have to decide if we will vote based on candidates voting records and accomplishments or on their sleek sound bites and ads.  We seem to have developed a reputation for voting based on the latter.  If this were not the case, politicians would not spend boatloads of money and time on sleek sound bites and ads during each election cycle.

Let’s surprise them this time by stripping them of their longstanding ability to play political games with us voters.  Let’s get informed now and stay informed.  Let’s take some time to think about the situation between now and the elections in 2018 and 2020.  Then, during each of those election cycles, let’s show our elected officials that we have not forgotten how they have treated us and that we will hold them accountable.  If they have done the job that we elected them to do, then let’s reward them by way of our vote; if they have not done it, then let’s punish them by way of our vote.  And whether you are a Democrat, Republican or Independent; and whether you decide to reward them or to punish them always remember, 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