By Robert A. Vella
It must have been a very dark Sunday yesterday at Mar-a-Largo and in the White House as President Trump watched Scott Pelley interview former acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe for two full segments on CBS’ 60 Minutes show. Although the details of the interview were widely published last week including on this blog, there is something more tangible and perceptible about watching a face-to-face conversation than simply reading written text. Also, it certainly reached millions more viewers.
As predictable as a flatulent cow, Trump lashed out today in angry responses. I will not cover that here because it is irrelevant.
For the American people, and the weight of public opinion they wield, the McCabe interview added more exposure of Trump’s collusion with Russia on top of what has already accumulated. Regardless of what the government does in response, or what the criminal justice system does, or what the judicial system does, the indelible image of this president as a corrupt operative of Vladimir Putin and as a traitor to his own country has been branded into the American psyche. The only thing that matters now is whether or not the United States, as a constitutional republic and democracy, can survive this crisis.
Further reading:
Ex-FBI official: ‘Crime may have been committed’ by Trump
‘Evidence in plain sight’ of Trump collusion with Russia, Schiff says
Related stories:
Potential GOP challenger: Trump ‘showed contempt for the American people’
Hurd says 1,000 Texas farmers could have land seized for Trump’s wall
It’s become clear to me that the GOP and their backers want him to remain in power to fulfill their agenda. Another judge in the Supreme Court?
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It’s more complicated than that; but, yes, the Supreme Court is high on the GOP’s priority list.
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“Oh, take the keys and lock Trump up, lock Trump up. Take the keys and lock Trump up. He’s…a….traitor!”
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He is a traitor.
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Whether his supporters want to believe it or not, the “facts” continue to be put out there for any and all to see and consider.
Further, if nothing else, Weld (and any other potential contenders) will pull at least some support away from Trump when we go into the primaries. And if the Dems will stay fired up, we might see some good results in 2020.
Of course it still remains to be seen whether tRumpsky will still be around …
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Good assessment.
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Reblogged this on sdbast.
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Like so many succeeding Presidents have done, if tRump does get impeached and possibly indicted, Pence would pardon him exactly like Ford pardoned Nixon. There is no doubt in MY mind tRump must go ASAP or should NEVER win a 2nd term, but after what happened in his Electoral College election to the office in 2016 it seems if Mueller’s Investigation doesn’t completely sever the jugular vein on this OR at least make it so severe that the Electoral College cannot re-elect him in 2020, I’m not sure we can count on the Supreme Court for an impartial decision… now that Kavanaugh is a Justice.
There is another slight possibility. tRump could keep making utterly bone-head moves like continually shutting our government down. Then MAYBE his hardline delusional party-base would wake up? Maybe those hardcore GOP supporters will come out of their como? Maybe?
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Trump supporters aren’t going to come out of their coma because they are not sleeping. His base loves him and all that he does especially the xenophobic crap. And, yes, the undemocratic Electoral College is a concern; but, neither it nor Trump’s rabid base are insurmountable problems. Let’s examine some facts.
From a Pew Research Center report published last year:
Trump’s approval among registered Republicans has ranged from 77-89% since his election. This translates to no more than 23% of all registered voters. Add the numbers of non-Republicans who also support Trump and the percentage rises to about 33% or just one-third of the electorate. That isn’t nearly enough to win national elections as was evidenced last November when Democrats won a whopping 40 seats in the House of Representatives, several governorships, and hundreds of state legislative seats. Voter turnout, spurred by Trump’s egregious behavior and poor performance as president, rose to a record of over 50% – more than 13 points higher than the last midterm in 2014.
We must remember that the 2016 presidential election was marked by great populist angst particularly in the upper Midwest, that the Democrats made a poor choice in nominating the establishment candidate Hillary Clinton, and that Trump was a political novelty. Also, we don’t really know how effective Russia was in helping Trump win. Still, Trump barely won the Electoral College while losing the popular vote. Here’s how close it was:
Trump won the Electoral College 304-227
He won 46 Electoral College votes in Wisconsin (10), Michigan (16), and Pennsylvania (20).
He won those three states by a total of 77,741 votes – Wisconsin (22,745), Michigan (10,704), and Pennsylvania (44,292).
Such slim margins could easily have gone the other way; and, if they had, Hillary would’ve won the Electoral College 273-258.
Although it’s way too early to see how the political dynamics will play out for 2020, a repeat of 2016 is highly unlikely. Trump is now a known and disliked commodity, and Democrats won’t make the same mistake they did before. If Trump does survive to run again in 2020, he faces a very steep uphill battle for reelection.
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Trump was a political novelty
Kinda’ reminds me of a toy that a kid plays with for awhile and then tosses aside for something brighter and better. Let’s hope enough of the “kids” that saw tRumpsky as a novelty will eventually tire of him and he’ll be cast aside in 2020.
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