Shot in the Dark

Standards

Joe Doakes from Como Park emails:

A friend complains that the Republican Congress has accomplished nothing worthwhile in the last two years and as Democrats take the House, gridlock is the best we can hope for.  He blames Trump Derangement Syndrome and says it truly is disgusting that a boorish, childish, selfish egomaniac is the best example of conservative leadership we have.

First, he’s judging the President by the wrong standard.  A wise, mature, gracious statesman was not on offer in the last election.  The alternative to Trump was Hillary. The correct standard to apply is: “Has Trump become Hillary yet?”  No?  Then he’s good to go.  Carry on.  

But he’s right about Congress.  We can’t have a border wall, we can’t confirm conservative judges, we can’t fill executive branch positions, because of people like Senator Never Trump And To Hell With The Nation Flake, to name just one.  

If Trump announced today he’s not running in 2020, which nationally prominent Republican would you pick to replace him?

Sorry to say, with Scott walker out of office and never nationally problem to begin with, I’m already out of ideas…

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16 responses to “Standards”

  1. Emery Avatar
    Emery

    It is not yet clear that there is a “smoking gun” directly linking the Russian conspiracy to Trump personally. Possibly Mueller has that proof. (Did Donald Jr for instance go speak with his father after the Trump Tower meeting with the Russians or before?) My guess is that it will take a “smoking gun” on the collusion allegation to make it become impeachable.

    The obstruction of justice charge may or may not gain traction with a majority if not preponderance of the American people. The charge seems clearly evident, but ….

    What has not been revealed is money laundering, which would also surely involve tax evasion (the failure to declare an item of gross income). But the Trump Organization has been involved with many, many dicey foreign ventures with exceptionally shady people. If money laundering occurred, it probably would involve large sums in the millions of dollars or more which are far above the American public’s understanding of tax chiseling. If the prosecutors in either Manhattan or Washington have this evidence, it would go thermonuclear in my opinion. The broad public would understand this.

    Most likely the blasting cap will be indictments of Donald Jr or Eric or other high level Trump Organization official. 

    Much of the Trump base would walk. 

    One suspects that the prosecutors want to eventually present a substantial amount of evidence that will convince a preponderance of the American public of Trump’s crimes and their seriousness and that this is not politics as usual by an even corrupt elite. 

    This is going to be a uniquely American and very large drama if not tragedy.

  2. TKS Avatar
    TKS

    “Much of the Trump base would walk.”

    The trouble with our Liberal friends is not that they’re ignorant, it’s just that they know so much that isn’t so. – The Gipper

  3. Prince of Darkness_666 Avatar
    Prince of Darkness_666

    TJ:E:DR

  4. Joe Doakes Avatar
    Joe Doakes

    Emery demonstrates why Democrats are having such trouble with Trump. Democrats are playing by the old rules. He’s not, and neither are his peeps.

    In the olden days, Republicans expected their candidates to be wise, mature, gracious statesmen, impeccably honest and law abiding. If Democrats could credibly accuse Republicans of having committed a peccadillo, the Republican base would walk away in shame.

    Trump’s supporters already know his peccadillos. We knew about the women, the bankruptcies, the bombast, the bragging, the real estate deals and the p***y grabbing. We knew all that when we went to the polls and voted for him anyway because HE WAS NOT HILLARY.

    Never Trumpers, RINOs, Liberals, Socialists of every stripe – they’re the enemy, they’re the people preventing us from having a great country again.

    Money laundering, tax evasion, Russian meetings – we don’t care. Build the Wall. Make Mexico pay for it. Lock her up. Drill, baby, drill. Make America Great Again.

  5. Joe Doakes Avatar
    Joe Doakes

    Liberals are counting on Americans having had such shoddy education that Americans don’t understand what the Founders meant by impeachment or when they intended Congress to use it.

    http://www.crf-usa.org/impeachment/high-crimes-and-misdemeanors.html

  6. Swiftee Pinochet Avatar
    Swiftee Pinochet

    99% of the blame goes to Paul Ryan. Yes, he had to deal with a couple of turncoat scumbags, but that’s the job. He provided 0 leadership, and no one respected him.

    The fact that we control Congress and can’t pass a miserable $5 billion funding bill, for a border wall every American wants, is an epic failure that will hang around their necks in perpetuity.

  7. Swiftee Pinochet Avatar
    Swiftee Pinochet

    I hope the reprobates do impeach Trump. And I hope they win.

    Then I hope President Pence’s first pile of Exec Orders remove every tranny and acknowledged homosexual from the military. Then move a dozen Army forts to the Southern border. Then set the DOJ to appealing the gay wedding dress up day decision, and challenging Roe; return both to the discretion of the states, where they belong.

    When Ginsberg goes tits up (any day now), I hope he nominates Roy Moore to the bench.

    And when he gets all that done, I hope he illuminates the White House in Red, White and Blue incandescent lights.

  8. Emery Avatar
    Emery

    Trump got as far as he did, because white collar crime in the US is only very selectively prosecuted, and because state attorneys prefer to settle with men like him. At this point, only the DoJ has the resources and staying power to take down a billionaire, and Trump knows that, which is why he was so desperate to avoid a DoJ investigation. He always understood that his crimes would come to the light of day if investigated, because they were never well hidden.

    The Trump saga really should make America
    think about criminal justice reform, esp. vis-à-vis white collar crime. After all, Trump is only under investigation because he is a hapless and incompetent idiot, who telegraphs his intentions on Twitter. Would a more disciplined president even have been suspected of collusion and obstruction of justice?

    I doubt it.

  9. bikebubba Avatar
    bikebubba

    Having been watching politics since 1980, there’s really not much new here. Politicians, especially on the port side, have always gravitated towards grandstanding instead of actual constructive work.

  10. Emery Avatar
    Emery

    During the campaign, Trump asserted “vote for Hillary, and you’ll end up with a President under continuous federal criminal investigation.”

    So, I did.

    He was right.

  11. J. Ewing Avatar
    J. Ewing

    What the Left will never understand about us MAGA people is that we elected Trump largely for one reason: he ticks off all the right people! Whether by word or deed. And the deeds are a bonus.

  12. bikebubba Avatar
    bikebubba

    Regarding the notion that the Republican Congress did nothing; even if that’s true, that’s a huge improvement over what the situation would likely have been with Hilliary at the helm, especially if Democrats had taken a chamber or two.

    Still not tired of winning!

  13. Emery Avatar
    Emery

    While other politicians were afraid to be caught in a lie. Trump made lies into his product differentiator. The further he gets from truth the more his base sees him as the only one brave and honest enough to say these things.

    Trump loves his red-hatted rallies, but much of the rest of the public is beginning to see these rallies as the face of the Trump brand and increasingly are becoming brand averse.

  14. Joe Doakes Avatar
    Joe Doakes

    Wishful thinking, Emery. Nobody is “becoming” brand averse. The people who hated him then, hate him now. The people who loved him then, love him how. The people who chose him over The Lizard Queen because he was the lesser of two evils, still think he was the lesser evil and are grudgingly coming to admit he might actually be doing a pretty good job, all things considered.

  15. MacArthur Wheeler Avatar
    MacArthur Wheeler

    Emery’s analysis can always be easily summarized: solipsistic!

  16. Emery Avatar
    Emery

    Talk about draining the swamp! Trump was right, but it’s all happening in spite of him — what irony.

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