For as long as I can remember all Republicans and a lot of other people regardless of their party affiliation, have expected Democrats to be the grownups in the room (a.k.a. doormats?) whenever there was a political disagreement and Republicans refused to budge from their position no matter the cost.  And that is still the case today.  Despite the fact that many American lives have been lost as a result of Donald J. Trump’s refusal to take the advice of medical professionals, scientists and other professionals that are advising him about how to handle the coronavirus pandemic and instead follow his gut, the Republican party continues to support him.

Even now with Mr. Trump suggesting to Americans that they should either ingest or inject themselves with things such as bleach or Lysol or to somehow introduce ultraviolet light into their inner body to rid themselves of COVID – 19, his base and Washington congressional Republicans still continue to support him.  While this coronavirus continues to wreak havoc on the United States, The Donald J. Trump of the United States of America is completely focused on himself: he is concentrating all of his effort on his reelection campaign.

Secretary Hillary Clinton got it exactly right when during the time that she was running against him to become president she said that Donald Trump would indeed run this country just like he did his businesses…he would run it into the ground!  She said that he would alienate us from our allies and destroy everything that the United States of America has worked hard over almost 250 years to build.  If we were to compare what Secretary Clinton said about Mr. Trump in 2016 to the things that he has done during his tenure up to this point in time (the date of this post) and the situation that he has America in today, it would appear that she was clairvoyant: she was spot-on!

America is reeling from Mr. Trump’s leadership (or more appropriately, the lack thereof) and world leaders throughout the world are shocked at how he is conducting himself.  As a result, America is disparaged by them and some seem to be reveling in the fact that our great country which has led the world for the past 246 years has come up woefully short during this challenging coronavirus pandemic.  To be clear, they are not reveling in the terrible economic and humanitarian damage that this pandemic has done but in the fact that the United States was totally unprepared for it, let alone prepared to lead the world in dealing with it.

Figuratively speaking, for far too long Democrats have brought knives to a gunfight as it relates to their relationship with their Republican colleagues.  It is one thing to be the adults in the room whenever there is discord and disagreement over various issues but it is another to let those with whom you disagree run roughshod over you every single time just to keep things moving.  It is obvious that Republicans in the House and Senate take these collegiate efforts by Democrats to help insure bipartisanship and keep things moving as a sign of weakness.  They have made this ‘weakness’ a part of their tactical arsenal.  Again, figuratively speaking, they have regularly pulled their suit coats back just far enough to show their Democratic colleagues their guns and remind them that they only have knives in order to intimidate them.

If there was ever a time for Democrats to get tough, dig in their heels and stand firm, this is it.  Mr. Trump has never simply pulled his suit coat back just far enough to show Democrats his gun, he has always brandished it.  Because he did this from the time that he was elected and still got away with things like ignoring longstanding traditions that previous presidents have followed such as honoring the emoluments clause and allowing up to 10 years of their tax documents to be made public, he decided to roll the dice with the Mueller Report and impeachment.  He got away with those things too when the Republican-led senate opted to acquit him despite the overwhelming evidence against him.  This further emboldened him and exacerbated the downward trajectory that led to America’s current situation.

There must be a robust bipartisan effort to save America from The Donald Trump of the United States of America and to put her back on the right track.  In light of the Republicans refusal to speak truth to power and subject Mr. Trump to the same checks and balances that all other American presidents have been subjected to, Democrats will have to take the lead to save America.  This is not the time for Democrats to dither with pundits’ label and definition of ‘the adults in the room.’  It is time to lead and go full speed ahead in doing everything that they can to save America and put her back on the right track.

The presidential election in November this year will illustrate how Americans feel about Mr. Trump’s and the Republicans’ leadership (or the lack thereof) and determine who will save and lead this great country on the long road back to where it should be; the best leader of the free world that it can possibly be: In the words of the late President Ronald Reagan, the “shining city upon a hill.”  Alas, what happened to the Ronald Reagan Republicans?  Republicans still love to quote him a lot…but they conduct themselves more like Trump Republicans whose only real goal is to destroy their party.

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

The impeachment and impeachment trial of the Mr. Donald J. Trump of the United States of America is over.  All of the Republicans in the House checked their so called honor at the door and not a single one of them voted to impeach Mr. Trump.  He was impeached, primarily, along party lines.  Over in the senate, all of the Republican senators, with the exception of one, also checked their so called honor at the door; all except two of them voted against allowing witnesses at the trial and all except one of them voted to acquit Mr. Trump of the charges leveled against him by the House in their Articles of Impeachment although the evidence against him was overwhelming.

The two Republican senators who voted to have witnesses at the trial were Senators Mitt Romney and Susan Collins.  Senator Susan Collins deserves no credit as it relates to honor for her vote to have witnesses because she likely voted to have witnesses only with the permission of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.  And Senator McConnell likely gave her permission to do this in order to provide her with political cover and in an effort to help protect his position as Senate Majority Leader: There was never even the slightest risk of losing the vote to deny having witnesses at this trial.  The one senator who voted to convict Mr. Trump on one of the Articles of Impeachment was Senator Mitt Romney.  All of these Republicans in both the House and Senate, with the exception of one, chose preservation over principle.  They chose their jobs – power, influence and money – over country, the Constitution and the American people.

Senator Romney has already paid and will continue to pay a great price for defying Mr. Trump for as long as Mr. Trump is the Mr. Donald J. Trump of the United States of America.  Mr. Trump demonstrated that this would and will be the case when he berated Senator Romney shortly after he was acquitted by the senate.  He further signaled his intensions to denigrate and, if possible, destroy those whom he labeled as his enemies when – also shortly after his acquittal – he verbally attacked Speaker Nancy Pelosi at the prayer breakfast.

After the prayer breakfast, he gave a rambling one hour speech at the White House in which he praised all of those that he views as friends and continued to denigrate those whom he perceives to be his enemies.  As if that wasn’t already enough, he fired Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Semyon Vindman, Director for European Affairs for the United States National Security Council and his twin brother Lieutenant Colonel Yevgeny Vindman and had them escorted off of the White House grounds.  Lieutenant Colonel Semyon Vindman was fired for testifying truthfully during impeachment proceedings about issues regarding Ukraine.  In the case of his twin brother, it appears that Lieutenant Colonel Yevgeny Vindman was fired for no other reason than he was Lieutenant Colonel Semyon Vindman’s brother.

Mr. Trump’s acquittal by the senate has put even further strain on the precarious tether that links him to the real world and as his enablers continue to cower in his long shadow the threat of him breaking free of all restraints and oversight loom menacingly large.  Out of their personal political ambition and lust for power these Republican senators who acquitted Mr. Trump, whether wittingly or unwittingly, have unleashed a powerful, frightening and unpredictable Mr. Donald J. Trump of the United States of America upon America and the entire world.  They have become complicit with him in all of his actions and will throughout history forever be tied to him in whatever he decides to try to do, whether he succeeds or fails, to our fledgling democracy – this republic, if we can keep it.  What these Republicans seem to fail to realize – even with all of the obvious warning signs – is that if they fail to acquiesce to Mr. Trump’s will even one time, if they make even one slight misstep that in his eyes makes him look bad, they too will without fail become his enemy.

Because the senate for whatever reason decided to make excuses to avoid doing the job that they swore an oath to do we, the American people, must do it for them on Election Day this year.  In November it is imperative that we all overcome any obstacles placed in our way, get to the polls and vote Mr. Trump out of office.  And while we are at it, we should also vote all of those Representatives and Senators who failed to do their jobs out of office.

Mr. Trump has proven time-and-time again that he is extremely adept at manipulating his opponents into the long game and using the system and all other means available to him to wear them down.  There are polls which indicate that some of us have already begun to succumb to this favorite tactic of his.  Although this “long game” is exhausting, it is incumbent upon us as American citizens to do our part to preserve our democracy.  Tomas Payne said that those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it.  Let’s do that!  And every time that you find yourself feeling discouraged and exhausted by Mr. Trump’s bullying, incessant lying and “long game” tactics, always remember, whether you are a Democrat, Republican or Independent, your vote is the most important one of all…unless you don’t use it!

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

There is no doubt that there are many secrets that must be kept in order for America to survive and thrive in a challenging world that is rife with official secrets.  All countries have them.  These secrets are not just expected to be kept but, indeed, demanded to be kept with the threat of severe punishment being held over the heads of anyone who would dare to share them with anyone outside of authorized circles.  And even within those authorized circles there is a “need to know” stipulation that is closely adhered to meaning that anyone who has the required clearance level and happens to stumble upon information during the course of their work responsibilities is also expected to adhere to this “need to know” stipulation.

The weight of maintaining these secrets falls on those employed from the highest levels of government to the lowest levels; from the President of the United States of America to the janitor or laborer with a high-level clearance who might be passing through or working in the office of someone with the highest level of clearance and by chance sees communications in a secret or top secret document.  While the weight of maintaining these official secrets is weighty for all of those who hold or have ever held a government clearance, the weight of maintaining these secrets and making decisions based on them is unfathomable for the person leading our country; The President of the United States of America.

I do not envy any of those who hold those positions but I especially would not want to be in the position of the President because he or she is the final arbiter who must make life or death decisions based on these secrets which contain information that oftentimes may fall into extremely gray areas.  And although those decisions might be based on secret information that skirts the very outer edges of those gray areas – or go beyond them, he or she must consider the big picture and the long view of what is in the best interest of the American people and the overall free world.  He or she makes many decisions that – if we knew how convoluted his or her decision-making had to be to arrive at what was in the best interest of the American people, America, and the free world – likely most of us as laymen would find it distasteful and bitterly complain about it.  However, if the president did not make those decisions and as a result in the long run the lack of making those decisions impacted negatively on the American people and America, we would bitterly complain…and maybe even vote them out of office.

But these are among the kind of decisions that the President of the United States of America must make.  These would normally be agonizing decisions for any American president: But this does not appear to be the case with the current Mr. Donald J. Trump of the United States of America.  The President of the United States of America does not take these official secret so lightly that they would blurt them out to just anyone, let alone an adversary.  The President of the United States of America does not trash our allies and cozy up to strongmen; the President of the United States of America does not stand shoulder-to-shoulder with an adversary of the United States and take their side against the United States of America’s intelligence community; the President of the United States of America does not work tirelessly and relentlessly to tear down the great institutions of the United States which are an intricate part of the very foundation of our great, although fledging, democracy; the President of the United States of America does not trash the Constitution and thump their nose at co-equal branches of government and American people; the President of the United States of America does take joy in saying cruel things about American heroes, his fellow government officials and the American people at large just to get a laugh; the President of the United States of America does not spout Russian propaganda to the American people and encourage members of congress and others to do the same; the President of the United States of America does not spend every day in office working to divide the American people instead of to bring us together!  The Mr. Donald J. Trump of the United States of America does all of these things!

The impeachment of a president is a sad day in America even when such impeachment is necessary and well deserved.  And that is why it is so demoralizing and painfully sad to witness virtually every Republican in congress side with Mr. Trump and circle the wagons around him when they all know that he deserves to be impeached.  We know that they know this because none of them are trying to defend him based on evidence but, instead, they are defending him based on what they say they believe is an unfair process.  And even in defending him based on this so-called unfair process, it is painfully obvious that they are acutely aware that what they are engaged in is unadulterated sophistry.  The fact that the Republicans doing this only supports and advances what is clearly an existential threat to our democracy is sufficient reason as to why all of the American people whether they are Democrats, Republicans or Independents must come together and insist that our elected representatives vote to remove the Mr. Donald J. Trump of the United States of America from office.

All Americans can and should be involved in deciding whether or not Mr. Trump is guilty of the charges that have been leveled against him and whether or not he should be removed from office.  This decision cannot wait until the 2020 election by virtue of the fact that an effort to rig the 2020 election in his favor with the help of a foreign country is among the charges leveled against him.  Even if Mr. Trump is removed from office there will still be an election in 2020.  But to help assure that it will be a fair one and be viewed and accepted as fair by the American people, it should not in good conscience take place without a final decision on Mr. Trump’s status.

Finally, no matter which side of this argument that you support, always remember, your vote is the most important one of all…unless you don’t use it!  So despite any roadblocks that are placed in your path you must be completely determined to surmount them and vote in the 2020 election.  The fate of our democracy is in your hands!

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

A democracy cries out for justice but will anyone hear her?  There are plenty of people listening but is anyone actually hearing and will anyone hear her?  America is listening, Democrats are listening, Republicans are listening and Independents are listening but will any of these listeners actually hear her?  Or are we – the American people, too busy with kitchen table items and other things in our daily lives to actually hear the cries of this fledgling (less than 250 years old) democracy?  Are the Washington congressional Democrats too busy thinking about getting reelected to hear her?  Are the Washington congressional Republicans too busy thinking about getting reelected to hear her?  Are the Washington congressional Independents too busy thinking about getting reelected to hear her?

States do not elect our federal politicians to go to Washington and check their brains at the door before they are sworn in as congressmen and congresswomen.  Sure they are supposed to represent their constituents but, since more often than not, they have access to information that we as their constituents do not have access to that allows them to be better informed on the facts of a situation than we are, they need to use their brains: we expect them to use their brains!  The American people do not expect these politicians to simply function as robots and act solely based on the polls; at least, I don’t.  And that is why they can’t check their brains at the door before being sworn in.  When we elect them we endow them with our trust and expect them to exercise good judgment, to the best of their ability, to do the right thing for our country and for us based upon all of the information that they have.

If our elected politicians fail to do this, if they fail to honor their oath and protect the Constitution and defend our country against all enemies – foreign and domestic – then what is the point; what is the point of them being there if they are not going to protect our democracy?  Far too much blood has been shed to sustain this democracy to allow anyone, regardless of their status or position in life, to undermine it.  That means that the impeachment of the Mr. Donald J. Trump of the United States of America is not about party, it is not about personal political ambition and keeping ones job but it is about our country and preserving our democracy as we now know it.

It is beyond disconcerting for me, and it is reasonable to assume for all of the American people, to witness what is happening in America right now; it is frightening!  People have circled the wagons of their chosen faction and retreated to their chosen sub-groups within that faction.  They are hunkered down and prepared for war.  What people are not prepared for is to engage in reasonable discourse and work together to save a democracy – our democracy – that is crying out for help; that is crying out for justice.  We are not prepared to do this because just like Mr. Trump has hollowed out the State Department and gummed up any other means of solving America’s problems short of war, he has divided the American people and hollowed out the hearts of far too many of them and rendered them incapable of thinking clearly.

The Mr. Donald J. Trump of the United States of America has proven and continues to prove that he is about dividing Americans, not bringing us together.  This is nothing new to him so he is extremely good at it.  He has so far lived his entire life this way and the odds are that he is not going to change.  This was not okay but it was to some degree acceptable for Mr. Trump as a private citizen.  But it is not okay for him as The Mr. Donald J. Trump of the United States of America and it is not to any degree acceptable.

Mr. Trump is the Mr. Donald J. Trump of the United states of America, yet his language and actions are more often like that of a street thug than that of the leader of America!  Court records suggest that Mr. Trump has committed multiple felonies and the fact that his once personal attorney, Michael Cohen is currently serving time for something that he did for “Individual One” serves to help substantiate that.  But for the fact that he is the Mr. Donald J. Trump of the United States of America Mr. Trump would likely have been charged with and convicted of multiple felonies and serving time in prison.

Mr. Trump should be bringing Americans together.  Instead, he has successfully led us into the alienation of our allies and the cozying up to strong men and our adversaries, he has appeared to advocate for white supremacy and successfully divided us based on race, he has been instrumental in furthering the polarization of America, he is arguably instrumental in emboldening racist and the rise in hate crimes and he is systematically withdrawing America from her leadership role in the world.

Mr. Trump is brazenly stripping America of her esteemed position of being looked upon by the free world as the beacon of freedom, justice, dignity and fairness.  He is in the process of smothering the torch on the Statue of Liberty in much the same way that he has smothered the meaningful, warm relationship that America once had with the ally that gifted that statue to us.  The American people must put a stop to the rotting of America; we must do everything in our power to assure that the politicians we elected and sent to Washington will impeach and remove Mr. Trump from office before he can do any further damage to this great democracy, America.

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

Which should prevail, “American official foreign policy” or “domestic political errand”?  And who should the American people believe, honorable hardworking employees who have worked tirelessly – many for decades – for the State Department while shunning partisanship or the Mr. Donald J. Trump of the United States of America and his cast of jailbirds, kowtowing Republican senators and congressmen and other cronies who compete to carry his water?  According to credible reporting, The Mr. Donald J. Trump of the United States of America has told more than 10,000 lies since he took office.

Normally, whether or not in a court of law, a person’s credibility is based on his or her character and their record.  For some reason, this does not seem to apply when it comes to Mr. Trump.  Why is that?  It is unfathomable.  But for some reason Mr. Trump is able to convince even normally honorable people into following him down any rabbit hole and to contort and twist themselves into pretzels to cheat, connive and lie for him even when they know that it is wrong to do so: even to the point of completely abandoning their principles, honor and their duty to their country.

I read the Mueller Report and, up to this point, have watched all of the witnesses who have come forward – despite Mr. Trump encouraging, if not ordering, them to refuse to testify voluntarily and defy congressional subpoenas that are issued – in the impeachment hearings.  Although American foreign affairs specialist Dr. Fiona Hill who is an expert on Russia and who is acutely aware that the narrative that it was Ukraine that interfered in the 2016 election rather than Russia is a false narrative, expressly requested that the members of this committee conducting the impeachment hearings not further this narrative by repeating it, Republicans on the committee did it anyway.  They repeated it despite Dr. Hill’s warning to them that this narrative was started and promulgated by Russia to hurt the United States and drive a wedge between America and her allies.  And Dr. Hill’s warning came after the entire American intelligence community had determined that it was Russia that interfered in the 2016 election and had even briefed all of the senators on this!

Unfortunately, congressional Republicans have made up their minds that they will put party over country and protect Mr. Trump at all costs.  Notwithstanding the assumption by most of those in congress that the Mr. Donald J. Trump of the United States of America will not be convicted by the senate and removed from office, the House Intelligence Committee has for all intents and purposes completed its impeachment hearings and is moving forward in passing evidence gathered during those hearings on to the House Judiciary Committee so that they can prepare Articles of Impeachment.  A formal vote will have to be taken in the full House before these Articles are approved and passed on to the senate.  The senate will then hold a trial to determine whether or not the Mr. Donald J. Trump of the United States of America is guilty or innocent of these charges.

In the meantime, due in no small part to the way that congressional Republicans are conducting themselves and the signals that senators are sending out to the public, Mr. Trump is continuing to lie and act out in ways that are extremely dangerous to our national security and highly detrimental to America’s reputation and ability to lead in maintaining world stability.  It remains to be seen as to whether or not the senate will convict or exonerate Mr. Trump.  With all of the evidence that has been amassed which points to his guilt and with the way that he continues to conduct himself, during normal times with a normal president the senate would have no choice but to return a guilty verdict.  However, these are no longer normal times and Mr. Trump is not a normal Mr. Donald J. Trump of the United States of America.  The normalcy of times changed as soon as Mr. Trump took office and since that time he has behaved in a manner that is beneath the dignity of the office which he holds and he has worked extremely hard every day to convince the American people to normalize this behavior.

This is a watershed point in the history of our country and it demands that our elected officials reflect on and adhere to the clarion call of the Constitution of the United States of America!  It demands that they put country above party and their personal political ambition!  All Americans and arguably the entire world are now struggling to maintain our composure while America’s House finalizes Articles of Impeachment to forward to the senate and then wait to see whether these senators will choose to side with “American official foreign policy” or “domestic political errand.”

No matter which side of this issue you stand on your opinion counts and is worthy of discourse and civil debate.  In order to help insure that your opinion will be a part of such discourse and debate, you should always vote.  So always remember, whether you are a Democrat, Republican or Independent, your vote is the most important one of all…unless you don’t use it!

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

It is painful for me as an American patriot to watch what the Donald J. Trump of the United States of America is doing to America and to witness the impact that it is having on the hallowed halls of congress.  And it is just as painful to watch those hollowed men and women who walk those halls and who swore an oath to defend America against all enemies foreign and domestic kowtow to someone who is – if not a domestic enemy, at the least, is trampling on the Constitution.  He is thumbing his nose at all of those in the legislative branch who are supposed to apply any required checks and balances to prevent him from doing exactly what he has been doing for more than three years now and saying so what, what are you going to do about it?  He is also thumbing his nose at the American people and asking us that same question.

What are we going to do about it?!  We will have an opportunity to make our collective voice heard in November 2020.  We will have the opportunity to decide whether we are going to be like those hollowed persons in congress that we elected to represent us or if we are going to stand up for what is right and do the right thing and defend America against all of her enemies regardless of our political preference.  To watch the Donald J. Trump of the United States of America use the United States Department of Justice to punish his political enemies and witness the United States Attorney General – the top law enforcement officer in this country willingly go along with such folly is astonishing and all but unbelievable!  And to watch him travel around the globe talking to our allies about an already completed investigation regarding Russia’s interference into America’s 2016 election in an effort to dig up dirt on the FBI, which he is in charge of, is breathtaking!  Many Americans must be asking themselves, is this really happening?!  I know that I have asked myself that question many times before and as Mr. Trump continues to become more bold and outrageous in his antics because the great majority of Republicans in the House and Senate continue to enable him, from time to time I can’t help but to continue to ask myself that question.

I watched recently as two past presidents, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, past First Lady, senator and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and many others spoke about the life of the honorable Elijah Cummings.  During that time, I could not help but to reflect on those hallowed halls of congress, the oath that all of our congresspersons take and how after they are sworn into office, from that point forward when they are formally addressed, “the honorable” prefix is included with their name.  Normally when one thinks about that job, the hallowed halls of congress and the sacrifice that those elected officials in those jobs make to provide this much needed service to America and the American people, it conjures up patriotic feelings and a sense of awe and it is hard to imagine that they could somehow not deserve this “honorable” title.  However, these are not normal times.  Why?  Because Mr. Trump is the Donald J. Trump of the United States of America and the things that he and his enablers are doing are not at all normal.

Even if Republicans by some miracle come to their senses and decide that they have been wrong to put party before country and support Mr. Trump at all costs and that it is now time for them to support impeaching him and removing him from office, Mr. Trump has already done an enormous amount of damage to America and her domestic and global reputation.  Some of this damage might be indelible so cannot be undone.  Even that which can be undone will likely take a long time and America’s reputation at home and around the world will likely never be the same.  Even so, we the American people are no less obligated to perform our civic duty by voting than we would be in normal times.  If anything, under these current circumstances, our responsibility to vote is exponentially greater and that should motivate us more so to get out and vote!  No matter how great the effort to suppress our vote by those who believe in winning at all costs, let’s commit now to overcome any obstacle that they put in our way and get out and vote in November 2020!

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

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

“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.”

Senator Lindsey Graham, the protégé of the late Senator John McCain and person whom Senator McCain used to affectionately refer to as “Little Jerk”, is completely lost without Senator McCain here to guide him.  Unfortunately, since Senator McCain passed Little Jerk has done a complete 180 in the way that he views Mr. Donald J. Trump and in how he views his responsibility to his oath of office, America, and the American people.  He has completely cast aside the “affectionate” and “Little” title of the moniker that Senator McCain affectionately tagged him with and literally become a big jerk!  He has gone from being Dr. Jekyll to being Mr. Hyde…and it does not appear that he will be making the transformation back to Dr. Jekyll anytime soon.

There was a time when Senator Graham believed that Mr. Trump was completely unfit to be president and that he would only drive America into a ditch.  He believed that Mr. Trump was a conman and said as much.  On May 3, 2016 Senator Graham said on his Twitter account that “If we nominate Trump we will get destroyed…and we will deserve it!”  And according to a May 6, 2016 article by Dana Bash of CNN, Senator Graham said “I don’t think he’s a reliable Republican conservative…I don’t believe that Donald Trump has the temperament and judgment to be commander in chief.  I think Donald Trump is going places where very few people have gone and I’m not going with him.”  Say what?!  Based on what I’m looking at today, October 22, 2019, that was either a flat out lie or it depends on what the definition of the word “there” is.

Look at the things that Senator Graham is saying and doing to protect Mr. Trump despite all of the things that Mr. Trump has said and done already let alone the things that he is currently doing.  Would someone please help Little Jerk to find his bearing?  To be frank, Senator Graham cannot turn to any of his Republican colleagues in the Senate or House for help because they too have sold their soul to the devil: and he sure isn’t going to listen to any Democrats.  After all, Mr. Trump – “in his great and unmatched wisdom”, has labeled all Democrats as “do nothing and unpatriotic.”  And since he seems to be all of the congressional Republicans dear leader, they will stand by him no matter what he says or does.

Republicans demonstrate this every day as the list of high crimes and misdemeanors that Mr. Trump continues to commit gets longer: they continue to defend him no matter how obviously ridiculous their arguments are.  Just like Mr. Trump has always been a “me first” rather than an America first person, if congressional Republicans have not already become just like him they are perilously close to crossing that line.  They have to realize how dangerous the situation has become under Mr. Trump’s leadership and, therefore, must immediately stop placing their job above the Constitution and our democracy.  Until Republicans decide to do this America will remain in grave danger of losing our democracy as we know it if not losing it completely.

Impeachment seems to be the only way to stop Mr. Trump from completely destroying America and congressional Democrats need the Republicans’ help in order to impeach and remove Mr. Trump from office.  We, the American people, must accept the fact that we too have a responsibility to do our part to correct the situation that America currently finds herself in.  And if congressional Republicans refuse to accept their responsibility to step up and do their duty to protect and serve America then we, the American people, must send them a clear message in the 2020 election by removing them from office.  It is incumbent upon us to do our civic duty and vote.  So always remember whether you are a Democrat, Republican or Independent, your vote is the most important one of all…unless you don’t use it!

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

“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.”

Remember how indignant the Republicans became when President Obama wore a tan suit to a press conference?  The Republicans were really mad and they made public appearances to let American voters and the world know how disrespectful this was to the office of the presidency.  Now that the current Donald J. Trump of the United States of America is trampling on the Constitution, dividing Americans into factions by stoking hatred and fear, belittling our allies and praising our enemies, destroying America’s reputation domestically and abroad, denigrating immigrants, separating children from their parents at our southern border and putting them in cages, giving the rich a massive tax break while giving the middle class and poor the crumbs off the table, calling climate change a hoax and digging his heels in on an altered map that he displayed regarding the path of Hurricane Dorian, trying to destroy all things Obama whether or not they are good for America; and the list goes on, the Republicans remain silent!  Where are they and where is their collective voice?!

Oh yeah, before I move on I have to mention that many of Mr. Trump’s top-level cabinet members are under indictment or in jail, he just fired John Bolton – his third national security advisor (at least he says that he fired him although Mr. Bolton says he resigned) and Mr. Trump himself is faced with a truck load of legal problems.   Further, according to an article by Nicole Gaouette of CNN, he “has plowed through a secretary of state, a defense secretary and an attorney general.  He’s worked his way through an FBI chief, a director of national intelligence, a homeland security secretary, two White House chiefs of staff and five deputy national security advisers.  He’s seen an ambassador to the UN come and go, as well as a Mideast peace negotiator.”

And recently the media has been talking openly about a person who lives in the Washington DC area who was extremely close to Russian President Vladimir Putin that was spying on Mr. Putin for the CIA.  The kicker is that the media has also reported that this CIA asset was exfiltrated from Russia because of the fear that Mr. Trump might out him to Mr. Putin.  With a normal president, the media would likely not even report on something like this because on its face it would be ludicrous; but not so with Mr. Trump.  Why?  Because Mr. Trump is not a normal Mr. Donald J. Trump of the United States of America.  He has cozied up to Russian president Vladimir Putin since the day that he was installed into office, refused to say anything negative about him or Russia, refused to implement sanctions against Russia that congress wanted implemented, and publicly sided with Mr. Putin against his own intelligence agencies.  And what have congressional Republicans done in the wake of all of this?!  They have remained silent!  Oh for the days of the Obama tan suit scandal!

Although Mr. Trump blatantly continues to lead America down a rabbit hole via his Kafkaesque style of leadership, if one can somehow muster the cojones to call it that, Washington Republicans continue to remain silent and enable him!  All of these so-called powerful politicians that Americans have perceived as walking the corridors of power with their hands always on the lever of power in order to protect America against all enemies foreign and domestic is a complete myth: they have been exposed by a neophyte, Mr. Donald J. Trump, who has literally brought them to their knees.  They are kissing his ring and anything else in the vicinity that he wants them to kiss while they are in this posture, in order to keep their job.

These Republicans and those in the news media continue to regularly talk about how Republicans need political cover so that they can do the right thing by carrying out their responsibility to apply the necessary checks and balances on Mr. Trump.  And they are doing this while our democracy is in danger of being completely destroyed or, at least, damaged to the point to where it is unrecognizable.  Please…give me a break!  I’m sick and tired of hearing about ‘political cover’; how about talking more about the real responsibility of these politicians and saving our democracy?!  The real responsibility of these politicians is to always hold the Donald J. Trump of the United States of America to account; not to curry favor with him unless political cover dictates otherwise.  Their sworn duty is to protect the Constitution and fulfill their responsibility to the American people!  And to do this does not require political cover; it simply requires a backbone and courage!

Mr. Trump has been successful in recruiting Attorney General William Barr and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to assist him in his quest to, as he puts it, “Make America Great Again” and it appears that he has successfully acquired the assistance of all of the congressional Republicans to assist him as well.  It does not matter whether these Republicans were recruited or intimidated into helping him; they are still complicit with him in his attempt to destroy America and her hard-gained Reputation of being the leader of the free world.

I have no doubt that many Democrats continue to respect and support Speaker Nancy Pelosi even if they might be starting to question why she remains so determined not to impeach the Mr. Donald J. Trump of the United States of America.  I am among those Democrats.  Although I question why she is so reluctant to impeach Mr. Trump I continue to support her and her decision not to impeach because of her outstanding record as a competent and effective Speaker.  Unfortunately, the decision not to move forward with impeachment is exacerbated by the confusing mixed messages that Democrats are sending.  They are obviously not all on the same page in their messaging because far too many of them are saying different things about whether they have begun impeachment proceedings, whether they will wait until polls show that the public supports it or whether they will bother with impeaching Mr. Trump at all.

Whether you are a Democrat who supports Speaker Pelosi’s decision not to impeach Mr. Trump or you are among those who do not support her decision it is obvious that something must be done to hold Mr. Trump accountable now before he completely ruins America.  The American people continue to be divided on what that ‘something’ should be and, as a result, it also continues to elude congressional Democrats.

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