In a GOP fashion that brings back memories of Supreme Court decisions like Bush v Gore, Citizens United and Shelby County – which gutted the Voting Rights Act, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and his Republican colleagues sealed the deal on the SCOTUS nomination that they stole from President Barack Obama.  With cunning and prowess that far surpasses that of the world’s best thief in the night, Majority Leader McConnell and his band of modern day Robin Hoods successfully carried out the first step of their rob from the poor and give to the rich GOP agenda.  They will need the Supreme Court to remain stacked in their favor if they are to be successful in continuing to secure decisions like the three previously mentioned ones.

I completely agree with the opinion expressed by E. J. Dion, Jr. in the article that he wrote in the Washington Post on 4/5/17 where he mentioned Bush v Gore, Citizens United and Shelby County.  In the event that you would like to read that article just click on the title; it is ‘The Gorsuch filibuster is about far more than Payback‘.  In previous articles that I posted to this sight I questioned whether the senate should move forward with confirmation proceedings on a SCOTUS nominee selected by Mr. Trump while his administration is under the shadow of numerous scandals, especially the one involving Russia.  Further, although it is less ominous it is still important, the nominee was hand-picked by a hard-right organization and his nomination is supported by millions of dollars in dark money.  Why is this?  Under these circumstances, it is reasonable for senate Democrats to question whether this is a mainstream nominee.

There are Democrats who  openly asked prior to the beginning of the confirmation proceedings whether Democrats should take on this fight since there was little doubt that Neil Gorsuch would be confirmed.  The answer to that question is ‘yes’.  Because bullies will never stop conducting themselves like bullies unless they are forced to do so.  If there is never a price to be paid and nothing is ever extracted from them as a result of their behavior, they will always act this way.  But even when they win, if they are required to pay a price, despite how small – especially when it leaves a scar, they will be more likely to change their ways.

In this case involving the SCOTUS nominee, Republicans won but they received a scar.  That scar can be all but forgotten by them but it cannot be removed.  And from this point forward, each time that they contemplate bullying their way into imposing their will on Democrats simply because they are the minority party without first making a reasonable effort to find common ground, they will look at that scar and reflect on the fact that there will be a price that must be paid should they take that action.  They will realize that Democrats have finally realized that they have a backbone, know what its purpose is, and know how and when to use it.

Senate Majority Leader McConnell used the so-called nuclear option and he and his Republican colleagues are spinning it in such a way as to blame the Democrats for bringing it about.  They said that the Democrats started this fight when former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid used the ‘nuclear option’ in 2013 to allow confirmation of federal judges nominated by President Obama.  However, what Majority Leader McConnell and his fellow Republicans fail to mention is that Republicans and then Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell – who had vowed that his number one priority was to make President Obama a one term president, had said no to virtually any proposed legislation that President Obama offered up even if Republicans had previously supported that very same legislation.  They also failed to mention that Republicans continued to conduct themselves in this same vein until President Obama completed his second 4 years in office and that that is how they preserved the most recent SCOTUS nomination for Mr. Trump.

In a recent article in the Hill by Jordain Carney, Leader McConnell said “Our Democrat colleagues have done something today that is unprecedented in the history of the Senate.  Unfortunately, it has brought us to this point.  We need to restore the norms and traditions of the Senate and get past this unprecedented partisan filibuster.”  Hogwash!  He was being much too kind to himself and his band of merry men in his effort to justify their theft of a SCOTUS nomination and how they had to go about sealing the deal.  That scar will forever remain a part of Leader McConnell’s legacy and, hopefully, will serve to always remind the Republican majority that it was them – led by Mitch McConnell, who opted to change the senate rules without any effort to compromise, in order to secure a stolen SCOTUS seat and thereby hand Mr. Trump and his young administration a much needed victory.

History will provide Majority Leader McConnell and his Republican senate colleagues with an endless amount of time to contemplate whether or not their theft and that ultimate victory was worth it.  Rather than accept Majority Leader McConnell’s spin, I believe that Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley got it exactly right.  According to a Reuters article by Lawrence Hurley and Andrew Chung, Senator Merkley, ‘when referring to Republicans casting aside Obama’s nominee Merrick Garland, who would have tilted the court to the left for the first time in decades said; “Today, for the first time in history, the theft of a Supreme Court seat has been completed, profoundly damaging the integrity of the court.”‘

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

Speaker Paul Ryan, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Mr. Donald Trump and far too many congressional and senate Republicans do not care how the American Health Care Act (AHCA) will impact on middle class and poor Americans.  What they care about is helping large corporations to maximize their profits and giving the rich the largest tax break that they can possibly give them via the AHCA.  The healthcare insurance industry is moaning and groaning about the small profit margin that they earn (I use that word loosely) and providing misleading statistics to support their assertion while paying insurance executives huge salaries.

The assertion of a small profit margin for the industry fits in perfectly with the Republicans’ agenda and their effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act (a.k.a. Obamacare) so they are rallying around this assertion whether they believe the statistics or not.  Many of the people who voted for Mr. Trump will be hurt by the AHCA but he has said that he fully supports its passage and implementation.  This has earned him big time warm-and-fuzzy accolades from Speaker Ryan.  Neither Mr. Trump nor the Republicans who support the AHCA are concerned about whether it will be a better insurance plan to cover Americans than Obamacare is but, instead, are focused on the fact that they will finally be replacing President Obama’s signature healthcare plan.

The fact that the AHCA, if implemented, will cost those who are covered by it far more out-of-pocket money than Obamacare does and will cause at least 24 million Americans to lose their coverage has no impact whatsoever on Speaker Ryan or his determination to repeal and replace (maybe) Obamacare.  He says that the important thing is that the AHCA will reduce costs.  Depending on your perspective – that is, if you are rich – it will reduce costs.  But if you are among the middle class or poor, your costs are more likely to go up.  Even if executives in large corporations do not know when to say ‘we have enough’, one would think that those politicians who were elected to represent all of their constituents and not just the rich would know when to say ‘they have enough’.  One would think, and hope, that politicians would have the insight to see and understand that the middle class is the backbone of America and that to decimate it is to decimate America.

It is hard to figure out what happens to politicians after they are elected to office.  As cynical as this question may sound, are things so corrupt in politics that once a person becomes involved in it that they are just somehow consumed by the corruption?  Does  ‘country first’ and statesmanship no longer matter?  Are these supposed prerequisites and others that are required to be a dedicated leader of people and a solid patriot to various degrees – depending on the elected official and their personal mental strength and determination, gobbled up by the inherent corruption encompassed in party and politics?

A good example of what could drive someone to wrestle with cynicism like that just mentioned above is what is happening right now with the committees that are investigating whether or not Mr. Trump and/or any past or current members of his administration colluded with the Russians in an effort to impact the recent presidential election.  Rather than taking this matter as a serious threat to our democracy, getting to the root of the problem and resolving it as quickly as possible, politics is dominating the investigation.  There is more concern about protecting party and Mr. Trump and his administration than there is about protecting America.  Where do politicians draw the line?!

Sure, it is the Republican party that is in the hot seat this time but what if it were the Democrats’ party that was in the hot seat?  Would Democrats respond to the problem in the same way that Republicans are responding?  Should a president who is under investigation by the FBI be putting together a cabinet – some of whom are also under investigation, or nominating someone to become a justice on the Supreme Court?  Do these politicians know something that the rest of Americans do not know and that is why they are so cool and calm under these dangerous circumstances?  Do they believe that they can fix the problem whenever they are ready to fix it and at a moment’s notice?

I would prefer not to be cynical and I would prefer that if we are going to fight over the issues based on party affiliation, that we fight about the regular old things that we have always fought about.  At least that way I could reasonably hold out hope that we will ultimately come to our senses, stop talking past one another, stop just listening to one another and actually hear one another.  And once we begin hearing one another, then I – along with the hundreds of millions of other Americans, could see the light at the end of the tunnel.  We could then at least hope that our elected officials will somehow find common ground and address America’s current pressing issues.  And we can hope that after that, they will use that milestone as a starting point to forge a system of bipartisan governance that will work for all of us.

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

No leader, no problem; no problem, no chaos…  Excuse me?  What chaos?  There is no chaos; this administration is a fine-tuned, smooth operating machine.  You don’t believe us?  Just ask our leader.  Oh, No leader?  No problem; no problem, no chaos…  Excuse me?  What chaos?  There is no chaos; this administration is a fine-tuned, smooth operating machine.  You don’t believe us?  Just ask our leader…  We’re caught in this ridiculous Trump administration spokespersons cycle, so the only logical deduction here folks – at least according to them, is that there is no problem.  Stop this endless searching; there is no ‘there’ there!  You’re wasting your time!  Even if Mr. Trump and some members of his administration did collude with the Russians; and even if they still are colluding with them, it’s not like the United States never tried to influence other countries elections or to bring down regimes, right?  Then why have we now become so consumed with righteous indignation?

That is a small part of the takeaway that I got from an article that I recently read in The Hill by Jonathan Turley.  Maybe Mr. Turley has a point and perhaps we should try not to be so indignant about the situation on the whole.  But that does not mean that we should step back and say that everything is hunky-dory because, after all, there is no denying that the United States has certainly done the same thing.  It might be easier to take that magnanimous step backwards if we were talking about someone other than Mr. Trump as our president; but we are not.  Even if we were talking about someone other than Mr. Trump, it would still be a tough pill to swallow because, despite what the United States has done, the thought of America possibly being controlled and manipulated by Russian president Vladimir Putin in his pursuit to change the world order is unbearable.

It is even worse when one thinks about the fact that we do not have an experienced politician as president who might have some nefarious scheme of his own in mind, since that is the way that the game is played, that has the best interest of America at heart.  And that this president, no matter how much we might dislike him and disagree with his politics and policies, is only luring Mr. Putin in.  And once he takes the bait, he can hook him and land him before he can break the surface, spin, twist and turn and throw the line because, once hooked, he has realized that he was duped: he knows that his plan has been foiled and that it is imperative that he breaks free before he is netted and served up on America’s terms.  We are Americans so it should come as no surprise  to anyone that we want what is best for America!  Sure, maybe we should lose the righteous indignation but certainly not our determination to get to the bottom of this Trump, Russia situation.

Anyway, instead of that experienced politician just mentioned – who would better understand Mr. Putin and his motives, we have the “if he says nice things about me, I’m going to say nice things about him” guy.  We are in a terrible situation!  Mr. Trump is just as mismatched in this situation as a politician with no real estate experience would be if they were going up against Mr. Trump in bidding for and negotiating a real estate deal.  It’s ridiculous!  Who do you think would win in that competition?  To top off the Trump versus Putin situation, the possibility exists that Mr. Trump has been compromised by Russia.  There is no proof that this is the case but there certainly is plenty of circumstantial evidence that it is.  That is why a completely above-board, bi-partisan, non-political investigation must be conducted to flesh out the truth.

Perhaps it is just a coincidence that many of the people that Mr. Trump is putting on his cabinet are somehow linked to and liked by president Putin.  Perhaps it is a coincidence that Mr. Trump does not want the American people to see his tax returns.  Perhaps it is a coincidence that Mr. Trump and Mr. Putin’s interests closely mirror each other and perhaps it is a coincidence that Mr. Trump steadfastly refuses to criticize Mr. Putin.  Be that as it may, it is a glaring distraction that needs to be cleared up so that Mr. Trump and the congress and senate can effectively govern.  There are many problems, domestic and foreign, that need to be addressed.

Those seasoned Republican politicians in the congress and senate who are now in full control of the government know this.  They know how dangerous the situation is that America is in yet they are willing to risk protecting Mr. Trump for as long as possible in order to further the Republican agenda.  It seems that they have worked out their political calculus regarding abandoning Mr. Trump just before he drives America off the cliff.  They have established their political calculus for implementing those things that the American people will find distasteful and possibly punish them for come the 2018 and 2020 elections by pushing the implementation of some out just beyond 2018 and others just beyond 2020 to avoid that punishment.  They are counting on voters to have short memories.

What if they are wrong in their calculus?  It will be bad for them if they are wrong about voters having short memories because they might not get reelected.  But it could be catastrophic if they are wrong about and have underestimated how quickly Mr. Trump will reach that inevitable cliff!  Whether or not they come to their senses and change course before it is too late, they should and must still be held to account for what has already happened to America and our reputation as a country.  We must not have short memories and fall for the same old political BS that too many of us have always fallen for.  It is far past time that we take our responsibilities as citizens seriously.  It is time that we get engaged, stay engaged, stay informed, have long memories and do our part as citizens to protect this great Democracy!

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!  So let’s hold our politicians accountable in all things but especially in putting America ahead of party and politics.

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

I have been watching in horror for the past month or so as many things that are close to the heart of all American patriots are treated loosely by Mr. Trump while Republicans, who now control everything in government in Washington, stand by and watch like helpless infants.  They are afraid to even offer him stern savory advice let alone challenge him.  I’ve watched these powerful men and women whom I once viewed as titans whose power should rightfully evoke some degree of trepidation in everyone, including one another, be swatted aside by Mr. Trump like a pesky mosquito looking for a meal.  Or even more so, like an irritating fly, which has no bite whatsoever but which one tolerates and endlessly shoos away simply because they are not quick enough to squash it and completely eliminate it from their life.

Mr. Trump has swooped in from out of nowhere and struck the fear of Trump into the hearts of all of these powerful men and women.  He has pulled back the Oz curtain and revealed the tiny man who is pulling all of the handles and manipulating the levers to blow all of the smoke and fire that makes the man in front of the curtain appear so angry, great and fearsome.  He has revealed a completely different picture of all of them.  He has jerked this tiny man from behind the curtain, grabbed him by the collar, threatened him and taken away – in some cases, his lunch and – in others, all of his lunch money.  He has done this time-and-again during this past 30-plus days and dared them to do anything about it: They have done nothing.

The terrible thing about this whole situation is that not only are our elected officials ignoring the American people like we are simply hazy figures in one of their bad dreams, but they are so intimidated by Mr. Trump and so driven by their political ambitions that they are failing to defend those things that are near and dear to all Americans’ heart.  That is what I see and fear and I believe that there are many other Americans who feel the same way.  I see things happening openly and more often today in America that I have not seen for a very long time.  Things like racism, xenophobia, anti-Semitism and other forms of raw hatred.  And these things appear to be condoned and encouraged by Mr. Trump and his administration.  I would be naive to say that these things were long ago dead and buried but, at the least, they have been kept simmering below the surface while our politicians work to mitigate the problem and, if possible, rid America of these debilitating cancers that are plaguing our social structure.

Republican politicians do not seem to hear us or see us and they seem to be incapable of feeling our pain.  This is scary because it is emblematic of how we got to where we are right now.  In other words, the potential problem that candidate Trump and Republican nominee Trump presented to America was, for whatever reason,  ignored too long; and when someone finally decided that it was time to strip away all of the politics and truthfully and sincerely challenge  Mr. Trump and the motives driving his campaign, it was too late.

This is not about liking or disliking Mr. Trump or preferring a Democratic president over a Republican one, it is about demanding that our president respect America’s core values and principles and that he not just talk about the rule of law but completely embrace it.  Men like Mr. Trump and Steve Bannon are extremely strong and focused although that strength and focus are fueled by different drivers.  Both men seem capable of handling and willing to tolerate almost unfathomable thresholds of all sorts of pressure and go beyond them to achieve their goals.  Therefore, both are likely capable of easily wearing down and draining ordinary citizens of all energy that they have to resist Mr. Trump’s effort to normalize himself.   And this, in effect, provides an avenue for Mr. Bannon to implement Bannon policies into American government.

Based on Mr. Trump’s policies and the cabinet that he is putting together – at this point, Mr. Bannon is still the brains of the administration.  Mr. Trump and Steve Bannon need each other in order for the Trump administration to continue to move forward with, at least, some semblance of organized purpose.  It is obvious that there are those in the GOP who disagree with Mr. Trump and the direction in which he is leading America.  And although it is painfully clear that their hearts are gripped by fear, I hope that our elected officials will see us, hear us, feel our pain and do something to mitigate our fears.  And I also hope that they will let Mr. Trump and his administration know that many Americans are afraid for themselves and America.  They should do this before it is too late.

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

I am a dyed-in-the-wool Democrat and I try but I can’t not like Senator John McCain.  I once told my wife that I thought that he would make a good president; I can’t recall if she said anything but she looked at me as if she thought I was crazy.  I didn’t say much to her along those lines about Senator McCain after that.  Most of the thoughts that I have had about him and his politics since then I have kept to myself.  But no matter how hard that I try to not like him I can’t do it.

Senator McCain might be disappointed if he read this article (fat chance) and found out that I still have a lot of respect for him.  I read in some article recently where he had gripped about Democrats trying to recruit him because of how he is standing up to Mr. Trump.  The article said that as he gripped he said “[Democrats’] agenda is certainly not my agenda!”  It probably would not mean much to him or affect him one way or another if he knew that I still believe that he could be a good president (don’t tell my wife that I said that).  There is no doubt that he would be a far better president than Mr. Trump is.  That might be a low bar upon which anyone should base praise but right now, Mr. Trump is president.

In light of the way that I have strongly rebuked Republicans for their political cowardice in many other articles that I have written because they refuse to stand up to Mr. Trump, one might ask why I feel differently about Senator McCain.  After all, Senator McCain has certainly exhibited political cowardice at times and he has also waffled back and forth on a number of issues.  I will tell you why I view him differently from the way that I view a lot of his Republican colleagues.  Yes, Senator McCain is a politician and he like all politicians weigh the political implications of their potential decisions and then act based on their conclusions.  But Senator McCain has a patriotic line in the sand that he has drawn and when it comes to choosing among political ambition, party and country, he inevitably puts country first.  In these times, it is apparent that many politicians do not do this.

I disagree with a lot of the policies that Senator McCain espouses and, to some degree, the way that he envisions moving America forward.  But I have no doubt that he is a patriot and is sincere in his visions as to how to move our country forward and preserve our democracy; even though I, and likely most other Democrats, disagree with him.  I also believe that he would work hard to be the president to all of the people and listen to and be fair to all Americans.

Finally, I suggest that the rest of the Republicans should look to Senator McCain as a strong example of how they should conduct themselves in these perilous times when America truly needs them.  So rather than abandon him and leave him alone out on a limb, they should find the courage to line up behind him.

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

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and his Republican colleagues are in a laid-back Donald Trump state of mind.  Majority Leader McConnell proved that when he whipped out a senate rule that hasn’t been used for 40 years or more to silence Senator Elizabeth Warren.  At the same time, he reinforced and flaunted the ‘boys club’ atmosphere that the senate has long been labeled with when he allowed a number of male senators to do the same thing that Senator Warren was banned from speaking for without challenging them.  It was kind of like they said – ‘okay, just because we have decided to allow gentle ladies, that’s what the boys club calls them at times, into the club does not mean that they are not required to know their place:  The senator from Massachusetts will take her seat.’

Whoa!  What just happened?!  Majority Leader McConnell and his colleagues are like – oh, don’t worry about it; we’re in a Donald Trump state of mind.  What are you getting all bent out of shape about it for?  You can’t do anything about it anyway.  And that is how the senate is operating now, at least in all matters Trump, under Senator Mitch McConnell’s leadership.  Senator McConnell is a savvy politician and tactician who knows what he is doing so he likely weighed in advance the odds associated with the potential positive vs. negative impact of what he did to Senator Warren would have.  Apparently, he determined that publicly putting the kibosh on her senate floor speech was worth the risk: he is playing the long game.

I can just imagine that it was after seeing the Senate Majority Leader put, in the words of former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, ‘a woman’ (emphasis on woman) in her place that, after having been out of the glare of the bright lights of the press for some time because he was trounced by Mr. Trump in the primaries, Ted Cruz’s mental wheels began to turn and he began thinking (like a scorned fifth grader who had recently been expelled from the clique and had a desperate desire to be reinstated) – yeah, and the Democrats are the party of the Ku Klux Klan!  He took those thoughts to the press and the bright lights were back on…at least for a brief moment.

The fact of the matter is that Republicans, led by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan, are ignoring the grave danger that Mr. Trump poses to America and the world for as long as they possibly can as long as he is advancing the Republican agenda.  They are content to ignore the implications of Mr. Trump and his administration’s highly questionable relationship with Russia and Russia’s president Vladimir Putin.  They are content to ignore the fact that America’s enemies are probing her for weaknesses and that Mr. Trump and his administration seem to be unorganized and confused as to how to respond.

This might not be a problem for 74-year-old Senate Majority Leader McConnell because he was recently reelected to another 6-year term in office and will be almost 80 years old when and if he decides to run again.  But it is a problem for many American people who are concerned about Mr. Trump’s antics and the fact that he does not seem to have any real plan in place as to how he intends to bring Americans together and move America forward.  And It is a real problem for many Americans who are concerned as to whether or not he has been compromised by Russian president Vladimir Putin.  And whether they themselves realize it or not, it is a problem for Republicans who are not in the comfort zone that Senate Majority Leader McConnell is in and who must run for office again  in the not so distant future.

The thing that is really sad about this whole situation is that these elected officials who have a sworn duty to protect America against enemies foreign and domestic and who were elected to represent American citizens regularly put their careers and party before America.  This is as discouraging as it is scary.  For Republicans to be willing to risk stretching things out until they can extract as much as is humanly possible from Mr. Trump no matter the cost before they impeach him in order to further their agenda is ludicrous.

And as unlikely as it might seem that a Republican controlled congress will impeach Mr. Trump, I believe that that is a part of their plan and that they will eventually do it.  If they do not impeach him, they will figure out something that will be equivalent to impeachment that will have the same affect.  Whatever that is, they will remove him from office because it is a part of their plan.  Then, they will move forward and hope that the American people will not hold them accountable because we have a short memory and will have forgotten how irresponsible they were by the next election cycle.  Even if we have not forgotten, they will shower us with expensive ads and sleek sound bites knowing that many of us vote based on ads and sleek sound bites rather than on a meaningful knowledge of them and the issues.

As regards the recent election you might ask, what happened to that great tide of Hispanic people that were supposed to come out to vote that would turn the electorate up-side-down and sweep Secretary Hillary Clinton into office?  Why did 29% of them who did turn out vote for Donald Trump?  Why would any Hispanics vote for Mr. Trump when during his campaign he referred to them as rapists, drug dealers, people who steal jobs from Americans and other degrading names?  Why would any Hispanics vote for Mr. Trump when he said that a federal judge, who simply because of his Mexican heritage, could not be fair to him so should not be allowed to act as a judge in matters adjudicated involving him?

Perhaps it would be convenient and easy to blame Hispanics for Mr. Trump’s victory.  But we have a Mr. Trump and a Trump’s America because far too many Americans failed to exercise our right to vote.  Where were the African American voters?  Where were the other people of color?  Where were the white Clinton voters?  Where were the young people?  Where were the women?  This would have been an historical moment for all of us but especially them; where were they?  All of those who failed to show up and vote are responsible for Mr. Trump’s victory.  So for those of us who are pointing fingers and blaming Hispanics, let’s stop it right now.

What makes things so bad though, is that although all of those who failed to vote contributed to Mr. Trump’s win, Hispanics are taking the brunt of his executive order signing spree.  They are the fastest growing minority in America and they were looked upon as the firewall that would assure that Mr. Trump would not be elected.  Ironically, as a result of that assumption by the rest of us not materializing, Hispanics are the group that is suffering the greatest negative impact because of his victory.

During his campaign, Mr. Trump said what his audience – whoever it was at the time, wanted to hear and promised everybody everything.  People then cherry picked the things that they liked and clung to those things.  Each group ignored the promises that he had made to the other groups that were in direct conflict with those things that he had promised them because they wanted and needed to believe what he had said to ‘them’.  And they wanted and needed to believe that he would not forsake ‘them’.  Although they were aware that it was not possible for him to do all of the things that he said he would do, they believed that he would do the things that he said he would do for them.

One can reasonably surmise based on the people that Mr. Trump has surrounded himself with and the things that he is doing now that he has been elected that, despite what he said during his campaign, these are the things that are important to him and they reflect the kinds of policies that he intends to put into place.  No matter how disillusioned and hurt that those who voted for him might be who are now concerned about his total distain for the intelligence community, American governing norms and protocol, and the direction in which he is trying to take America – if they are not in support of him, then they too are now the enemy.  In his mind, they are no better than those who did not vote for him, and – according to him, the press who are the most dishonest people in the world and the enemy of the American people.

If the American people intend to have our questions surrounding this presidency answered, if we intend to have any fears and concerns that we might have addressed, if we intend to maintain the integrity of our great democracy, then we need the help of our elected officials.  We need them to put America ahead of their political ambitions and their party.  Right now, we do not have that because it is obvious that they have chosen to put political ambition and party first.  The crowds of protesters and the demands that they are making that our elected officials meet with and talk with us indicates that we intend to hold them to account.  We must continue to do that and not forget how they responded come the 2018 and 2020 elections.

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

I am going to reveal something here that I never shared so publicly before.  I really like country music!  I guess that I am old school because I seem to enjoy the old country western stuff more than I do the more recent country stuff.  Don’t get me wrong, I like the current stuff too but I like the old stuff better.  Tired of hearing the word ‘stuff’?  Permit me to move on.

I have not taken a guitar lesson in my life so I do not consider myself to be a guitar player.  Instead, I am what I refer to as a trail picker.  To me, a trail picker is someone like those cowboys who used to strum their guitars and sing songs, perhaps, while they were on a cattle drive.  I think that it might have helped them feel better when they began to feel too lonely on those long drives.

Anyway, I like country music so much that I even regularly pluck out a few of the songs of some of my favorite old school singers.  Singers like Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Merle Haggard, George Jones and a number of other old school singers.  But I would be remiss if I failed to mention that I also like some of the other guys like Dwight Yoakam, Alan Jackson and Garth Brooks; Garth Brooks was my daughter’s favorite.

My guitar is 47-plus years old so when I miss a few notes, if I have an audience, I can usually blame it on the guitar.  I have another one but I seldom play it; I like my old one.  Maybe I like it because I have a better chance of getting away with blaming the missed notes on it rather than owning up to the fact that I’m just an old trail picker and not a guitar player.  Be that as it may, I like the old one and I call it Debbie.  I call it Debbie because…  Well, you’re probably not interested in why I call it Debbie so I will move on.

I must mention too that I like some of the lady country singers; singers like Loretta Lynn and her sister Crystal Gayle, Wynonna and Naomi Judd, Juice Newton, Tammy Wynette, Rosanne Cash, Bonnie Raitt, The Forester Sisters and more.  I guess that I like country music because my dad used to love it.  I think that his favorite singer was Merle Haggard although he liked a number of other singers like Lefty Frizzell, Hank Williams, Johnny Cash and some others whose names I can’t recall right now.  I can recall though that many times he would walk around the house whistling or singing country songs.  I think that he grew to love country music because he was born and raised in…  You’re probably not interested in that so I will move on.

Another thing that I am going to reveal is how thrilled that I would have been and how much I would have enjoyed the opportunity to shake hands with Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Merle Haggard and George Jones.  It is already too late to do that with Waylon, Merle and George but at least Willie is still around.  I hope that I will not just keep daydreaming about shaking his hand but that I will actually someday do it before it is too late.  My dad might have been disappointed if he knew that I never got the chance to shake hands with these singers but he would have been more disappointed if he knew that my oldest brother didn’t get a chance to shake hands with them.  That’s because he loved my oldest brother’s country singing and was intrigued by the fact that he sang…  You’re probably not interested in that so I will move on.

The final thing that I will publicly reveal is perhaps why I have not even had the opportunity to possibly shake hands with any of these four artists.  It is because I have never attended one of their concerts.  The major reason why I have not attended a concert by any of these artists is because I have been reluctant to do so because I felt that I would be uncomfortable in that I would feel unaccepted among that crowd and, therefore, feel somewhat fearful.  Feeling fearful, even if those fears are unwarranted and a result of my own doing, is something that I am somewhat embarrassed to admit but that is the truth.

My blog site is, for the greatest part, dedicated to political issues.  So after reading this article you might ask, what does this post have to do with politics?  The fact of the matter is that during the course of the recent primary and general election campaigns the theme to divide this country and pit Americans against one another was constantly hammered home.  The candidate that pushed that theme and continues to push it is now our president.  His victory and the way that he has governed during this first two and a half plus weeks of his administration, it seems like s-o-o-o-o…much longer, has caused me to reflect on many things.

The thoughts that I expressed in this article, especially in the two preceding paragraphs, are among those things.  And writing it, like those cowboys that I envisioned and mentioned on those long cattle drives who sang to help them deal with their loneliness, helps me to deal with the frustration and fear associated with what I perceive to be the all but irreparable damage that Mr. Trump is doing to America and the rest of the erratic ride that we have yet to experience.  What Mr. Trump is doing right now is dangerous so that makes him a dangerous man.

Hopefully, as I suggested in a previous post, we all braced for the impact of his win.  Figuratively speaking, I strongly suggest now that we have crash landed that all of us remain in that position until this horrifying ride under his leadership comes to a complete halt.  Literally speaking, now that Mr. Trump is president, we need all boots on the ground to help assure that we remain the world leader in protecting democracy and a country that always welcomes immigrants who are seeking a better life and the opportunity to fulfill their American Dream.

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

Based on the actions of the Republicans in the US congress, President Obama became a lawless president the first time that he signed an executive order.  And each time he signed another one after that, Republicans pushed their assertion that he was lawless and claimed that these signings simply supported their claim.  Now that Mr. Trump is signing executive orders whenever the mood strikes him Republicans remain quiet.  They remain quiet even though many of these executive orders are throwing America into chaos and confounding numerous world leaders who do not know what to expect or do.

The two top Republican leaders, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan, seem to be onboard with Mr. Trump and are supporting his agenda.  They are supporting his push to build a 12 – 15 billion dollar wall that will be funded by American taxpayers.  Do not worry though because Mr. Trump still insists that Mexico will pay for this wall although the President of Mexico, Enrique Pena Nieto, adamantly asserts that Mexico will not pay for it.

According to a CNN report in February 2016 by Tom LoBianco, Vicente Fox who was the President of Mexico from 2000 – 2006 verbalized his objection to Mr. Trump’s statement that Mexico would pay for the wall in no uncertain terms.  He was not diplomatic or delicate in the language that he used.  He said; “I’m not paying for that f***ing wall.  He should pay for it.”  So there you have it.  Mr. Trump says yes and the current and a former president of Mexico say no.  Based on Mr. Trump’s record and reputation, I doubt very seriously that Mexico will be paying for it.  If it starts with the American taxpayers paying for it, it will end with the American taxpayers paying for it.

The ‘Great Wall Of Trump’ and all of his poorly vetted executive orders is not all that is receiving a lot of attention and discussion during these first two plus weeks of the Trump administration.  Another issue that people are talking about is the Supreme Court nominee, Judge Neil Gorsuch.  There are those, including some Democrats, who believe that Democrats should not try to block Judge Gorsuch’s confirmation.  There were three articles that I found interesting about whether or not Democrats should work to block the confirmation.  One, in Vox.com by Seth Masket, which suggested that (perhaps) Democrats should work to block it unless Republicans make President Obama’s nominee, Merrick Garland, the nominee to be confirmed was an article entitled ‘Why Democrats don’t have much to lose through obstructing Trump’s Supreme Court pick’.  Another, which said that Democrats should not work to block the nomination was an article in The Washington Post by Melissa Hart entitled ‘Yes, the GOP broke Supreme Court nominations.  But blocking Gorsuch won’t fix them.’  And the final one, in Vox.com by Ezra Kline, which suggested that Democrats should work to block the confirmation unless the nominee is aligned at the center-right, was an article entitled ‘The country deserves a compromise Supreme Court nominee.  Neil Gorsuch isn’t one.’

So above we have three different views articulated as to what Democrats should do as regards the confirmation of Mr. Trump’s  Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) nominee, Judge Neil Gorsuch.  I want to weigh in on Seth Masket’s side of this issue who argued from the perspective that the Democrats should filibuster Judge Gorsuch’s confirmation unless the nominee to be confirmed is Merrick Garland.  I hope that I can convince those who read this article to do the same.  This nomination is one that was blatantly stolen from President Obama and the Democrats by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and his Republican colleagues who willingly stood behind and supported their Leader even though they knew that he was wrong.  But just like the crowd that stands behind any schoolyard bully while they use brawn to pummel their lesser (for whatever reason) opponent, whether they loudly cheer them on or just stand by silently and watch – thereby tacitly cheering them on, they are just as guilty as that bully.

And just like the only thing that a schoolyard bully really understands is to be ‘hit in the mouth’, that is the only thing that these congressional Republican bullies will understand.  To the schoolyard bully, it does not matter if he still pummels his opponent into the dirt; if he is left with scars then he will be reluctant to select that same target again.  He will likely select an easier target.  And even if he does eventually select that same target again, that target must again summon the courage to fight back and make sure that they leave scars.  Who knows; ultimately, they just might defeat that bully.  Even if that doesn’t happen, they will have put that bully on notice that they will never just lay down and submit to being bullied.

Further, just like Mr. Trump has grown stronger and become emboldened because congressional Republicans have either openly supported him or tacitly supported him by standing by silently while he wreaks havoc on America because they are afraid of him and his bully tactics, the same thing will ultimately happen to Democrats if they do not stand up to Republicans and their bully tactics.  This SCOTUS confirmation fight is not about whether Merrick Garland or Neil Gorsuch is qualified to become an Associate Justice or who should nominate that person, it is about punching a bully in the mouth!  It is about punching them in the mouth so that they will not continue to bully you and become even bolder with each time that they are allowed to bully you while you passively accept it!

So to those who say that Democrats cannot win because Republicans have the ‘nuclear option’ and as a result Democrats should save their political capital for another time, I say ‘the hell you say’!  Judging by the mess that we are in at this point, our current leaders have not done such a great job so far.  Perhaps it is time for new tactics.  Punch um in the mouth; make them use the nuclear option.  At least then they will realize that Democrats have grown a spine and they will respect us.  If not right away, then eventually.  And until they do respect Democrats enough to stop bullying us?   Punch um in the mouth!  Republicans have always taken any efforts by Democrats to compromise and find common ground as a sign of weakness so they have exploited it.  It is long past time that Democrats realized that Democrats and Republicans need to play by the same rules and as such, if Republicans choose to continue to play smash mouth politics, the game must be played on a two-way street.

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

You are not being unreasonable and you are not alone if you feel frightened by what Mr. Trump and his administration are doing in their effort to change America’s policies and the direction in which our country will travel.  You are not unreasonable and alone if you find it hard not to believe that they are targeting you because of your race or religion or for other reasons that are not in any way associated with whether or not you have broken the law.

Even if you think that you may be paranoid or simply overreacting and try to mitigate your feelings by taking a step back and seeking some sort of reassurance from the Trump administration that your feelings are not justified, you cannot trust that reassurance.  Why?  Because Mr. Trump has told so many falsehoods, alternative facts, lies or whatever word(s) the press feels obligated to use now to describe the accuracy of his statements that one cannot decide what to believe.

In the meantime, many Republicans have gone dark and completely dropped from the news media grid while those that remain there are far more concerned about playing politics than they are about fulfilling their responsibility to the American people.  A good example of this is what was said behind closed doors when the GOP met, in contrast to what they are saying (or not saying) in public.  Here are a few of the comments that some of those elected officials made about Obamacare and Planned Parenthood behind those closed doors according to a recent article in The Washington Post by Mike DeBonis.

The article said that Representative Tom McClintock commented that “We’d better be sure that we’re prepared to live with the market we’ve created.  That’s going to be called Trumpcare.  Republicans will own that lock, stock and barrel, and we’ll be judged in the election less than two years away.”

Senator Bill Cassidy said, “It sounds like we are going to be raising taxes on the middle class in order to pay for these new [insurance] credits.”

Representative John Faso raised concerns about using Obamacare as a vehicle to defund Planned Parenthood when he said, “We are just walking into a gigantic political trap if we go down this path of sticking Planned Parenthood in the health insurance bill.  If you want to do it somewhere else, I have no problem, but I think we are creating a political minefield for ourselves – House and Senate.”

According to Mr. DeBonis’ article, House Speaker Paul Ryan dismissed the concerns about repealing Obamacare.  Speaker Ryan said, “We have a responsibility to work for the people that put us in office.  That’s the oath we take: to defend the Constitution, to fight for the people we represent, and [Obamacare] is a fiasco that needs to be fixed.”

Representative Tom MacArthur said, “We’re telling those [roughly 20 million Americans covered under Obamacare] that we’re not going to pull the rug out from under them, and if we do this too fast, we are in fact going to pull the rug out from under them.”

Finally, again according to Mr. DeBonis’ article, concerning defunding Planned Parenthood Representative Faso said; “we are arming our enemy in this debate…  To me, us taking retribution on Planned Parenthood is kind of morally akin to what Lois Lerner and Obama and the IRS did against tea party groups…”  He went on to say that “Health insurance is going to be tough enough for us to deal with without having millions of people on social media come to Planned Parenthood’s defense and sending hundreds of thousands of new donors to the Democratic Senate and Democratic congressional campaign committees.  So I would just urge us to rethink this.”

Although Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was not among those in this particular closed door meeting who were discussing the Repeal of Obamacare and defunding Planned Parenthood, it is no secret that he too is onboard with this part of the Republican agenda.  It is also no secret that he is among those who are struggling to decide how to handle any disagreement that they might have with Mr. Trump and, therefore, are handling him with kid gloves.  He is just as guilty as those quoted above in playing politics and shirking his responsibility to the American people by refusing to challenge Mr. Trump even when he believes that he is wrong and that he is deviating from America’s norms and everything that America stands for.  Observe how he responded when, according to an article in USA TODAY by Paul Singer, he addressed a question on Mr. Trump’s ban on refugees which basically amounts to a ban on Muslims.

Senator McConnell avoided directly criticizing Mr. Trump when he said; “We need to bear in mind that we don’t have religious tests in this country and we also need to remember that some of our best allies in the war against Islamic terrorism are Muslims.  It’s hopefully going to be decided in the courts as to whether or not this has gone too far.  I don’t want to criticize them for improving vetting.  I think we need to be careful.  We don’t have religious tests in this country.”

It is obvious by the comments from these GOP elected officials that, whether they are talking about Obamacare , Planned Parenthood, the refugee ban or their responsibility in general to shepherd America forward and protect our democracy as her elected officials, they will put political ambition and Party first.  Just like they were supposedly determined to uphold their fiscal responsibility to the American people by fighting tooth and nail to avoid lifting the debt ceiling during President Obama’s term in office but now seem willing to raise it for Mr. Trump in order to build a wall to keep people out; under Mr. Trump they are now willing to forego their fiscal conservative principles to destroy Obamacare at all costs.  It doesn’t matter what the impact will be on the American people or American economy.  It’s political ambition and Party first!

Mr. Trump may have built a dam to keep the GOP onboard and keep all of its members in line.  But it appears that a crack is developing in that dam.  Not only are Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham pushing back against him, but one of his most staunch allies just might be now trying to distance himself from him.  That ally is Rudy Giuliani.  Although Mr. Trump has said that his refugee ban is not a Muslim ban, Mr. Giuliani is publicly differing with him.  Mr. Giuliani said that Mr. Trump “asked for a Muslim ban” and wanted to know how to do it legally.  Based on that, Mr. Giuliani said that he put together a group to do it.  The interesting thing is not that Mr. Giuliani appears to be trying to distance himself from Mr. Trump; it is that he is doing it so publicly.

While Mr. Trump has built a dam to keep the GOP onboard and keep all of its members in line, elected Republicans throughout America have gerrymandered districts to keep their supporters dammed in so that they can assure for as long as possible that Republicans and not Democrats will be elected.  They have been extremely successful in their efforts but if Mr. Trump continues to operate like he is currently operating and those in the Senate and House continue to put political ambition and Party ahead of their responsibility to the American people, all of the gerrymandering in the world will not be able to keep them in office.

Whenever President Obama issued an executive order, the Republicans called him a lawless president and many of them held press conferences and went on cable news shows to drive their point home.  Now that Mr. Trump is governing almost exclusively by executive order, although he has repeatedly made mistakes and he and his team exhibit signs of complete incompetence, Republicans are remaining silent and hiding from the Press.  Representative Paul Ryan and Senator Mitch McConnell, respectively, are the leaders of the House and Senate.  While all Republicans in congress are responsible to step up and assure that the American people are properly represented and that America comes before their political ambitions and their Party, Speaker Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell are supposed to be the Party leaders so they should set the examples.  So far, they are not doing that.  Instead, they are doing what they accused President Obama of doing for eight years; leading from behind.

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