The Donald Is Circling The Drain

It really does NOT look good for the Donald these days.  A formal impeachment inquiry has now been officially launched against him, and it looks like he will be impeached any day now.  This time, it is because Trump allegedly tried to pressure a foreign government, the Ukraine, to give him political dirt on Joe Biden's son.  That, and so many other things in Trump's laundry list of scandals are now coming back to haunt him.  And that is a VERY long list indeed!

With dirty tricks like that, he makes even Tricky Dick Nixon look like an angel by comparison!

Of course, the House can only charge him with such "high crimes and misdemeanors", and it is up to the Senate to actually try him and vote on whether or not he should be removed, which requires a two-thirds majority to do so.  But even if they don't have the votes to remove him before the 2020 election, it is just a little over a year away, and him having this sort of a dark and ominous cloud hanging over him would certainly NOT help him win re-election at all.

And now with his stupid trade war really starting to bite hard and wreak havoc with both the national and global economy, and his latest foray into the asinine War on Vaping, he is pissing off more and more of his erstwhile supporters, making it even more likely that he will be creamed in 2020 either way.

The jig is up, Donald.  Now go do us all a favor and RESIGN, yesterday.  Don't let the door hit you on the way out.  Or as you like to say, "YOU'RE FIRED!"

UPDATE:  It looks like Trump threw Pence under the bus as well.  So we may very well get a two-for-one impeachment special as a result.  Plus, if Trump eventually does a Nixon and pre-emptively resigns in hopes of Pence pardoning him, he will surely be out of luck now.  Hey, that's karma!

It's (Still) Mueller Time!

The Russiagate scandal, along with Trump's other myriad scandals, is not going away anytime soon.  And after Mueller testified to Congress, he made it clear that Trump was NOT exonerated, particularly for the high crime of obstruction of justice, though under current Justice Deparment rules a sitting president cannot be indicted.  Thus, Congress needs to impeach him.  And Nancy Pelosi really needs to stop dithering about it and get the ball rolling yesterday.

No War With Iran!

After the recent attacks on oil tankers in the Sea of Oman and Strait of Hormuz by an unknown attacker, Trump and his warmongering cronies are now hastily blaming Iran for these attacks.  But there is plenty of reason to believe they are being, shall we say, "economical with the truth".

The timing alone is suspicious, as Trump has every reason to "wag the dog" to deflect from his ever-mounting scandals including, but not limited to, Russiagate.  Also, the evidence is lacking and what little there is, just doesn't really seem to add up.  And we know that Trump has been hell-bent on provoking Iran ever since pulling out of the nuclear deal last year.  Time will tell, of course, but this really has "false flag" written all over it.

Besides, going to war with Iran would most likely be a disaster of epic proportions, and certainly not something to take lightly.   And even if Iran does somehow turn out to be the culprit, the fact remains that the ships attacked were not even American tankers (they were Norwegian and Japanese), and fully zero Americans were harmed in the process.  In fact, this was apparently a "property damage only" (PDO) incident.  So let's NOT fall for this would-be modern-day Gulf of Tonkin incident and get sucked into yet another decades-long quagmire again.

The best foreign policy can be summed up in four words:  "first, do no harm".  Seriously, this is not a game, and the stakes have never been higher now.

UPDATE:  Just a few days later on June 20, Iran confirmed that they shot down an unmanned American spy drone (again, PDO) that they claim was flying in their airspace, while the Trump administration claims it was over international waters.  Time will tell who is telling the truth, perhaps even both if, for example, it turns out that the drone entered Iranian airspace first but was subsequently shot down over international waters.  Maritime borders can be tricky and nuanced.  Regardless, this is still not a good reason to go to war with Iran.

It is exceeding unlikely that the Orange Cheeto in Chief actually wants a shooting war with Iran.  He himself has said as much.  He would rather just bluff to make himself look tough while distracting from his myriad scandals closing in on him in the late stage of his failed presidency.   And his puppetmaster Putin apparently doesn't want him to go to war with his buddy Iran, either.  But now that Iran apparently called his bluff, and Bolton and Pompeo are still itching for war, the United States is now in a very precarious situation thanks to Trump's stupid bear-poking saber-rattling routines, and a war may still happen inadvertently in spite of him canceling it at the last minute.  He is clearly like a crackhead playing with matches and gasoline, and every day he seems more and more unfit for the office of dogcatcher, let alone for the office of the Presidency.

The Mueller Report Is Out--And Even The Redacted Version Is A Lot More Damning Than Trump Wants You To Believe

Well, the much anticipated Mueller Report is out now, and even the redacted version is a LOT more damning than Trump or Barr want anyone to believe.  Seriously.  While it is ostensibly inconclusive about Trump's personal participation in the Russian hacking and interference, the three most important words in the entire 400+ page report are "does NOT exonerate", particularly in relation to the high crime of obstruction of justice. And even the inconclusiveness was largely due 1) important evidence apparently being deleted/destroyed by some of the major players in the Russiagate scandal, and 2) apparent duress, however subtle, to one degree or another, from the Justice Department under Trump.

I mean, this is the very same Donald Trump who unceremoniously fired FBI Director James Comey, then forced Attorney General Jeff Sessions to resign, and even tried to fire Robert Mueller himself--all because he wanted the ever-growing Russiagate investigation to just go away already.  Ipse dixit--he himself said it, after all.  If that is not a textbook example of obstruction of justice, and one that would make even Tricky Dick Nixon himself blush, in fact, I really don't know what is anymore.

And that is just the redacted version!  In other words, Trump is NOT out of the woods yet, if ever.  His fate now rests in the hands of Congress, as well as the Southern District of New York, who is now led by Attorney General Letitia James.  So Donald, if I were you, I would do us all a YUUUGE favor and RESIGN, yesterday.  Then pray that you don't ultimately end up behind bars, because I doubt they would take very kindly to the likes of you in the big house.

Desperate Donald Is Off The Rails

The Donald is even more chaotic than usual lately, as the government shutdown continues with no end in sight because he won't get his way with his stupid wall.  And he is even more off the rails than usual, since he knows his days are numbered with the Mueller investigation closing in on him as we speak.  Indictment and/or impeachment are looking increasingly likely every day that goes by, especially with the new Democratic majority in the House.  So now Trump is doing everything he can to cause as much chaos as possible to "wag the dog" and distract from his myriad scandals, especially Russiagate.

The jig is up, Donald.  Do us all a YUUUGE favor and RESIGN, yesterday.

Dear Trump and Congressional Republicans: YOU'RE FIRED!

Well, it's official now. Trump's third government shutdown to date has begun.  All because he couldn't get Congress to give him $5 billion for his stupid border wall.   Yes, really.  And while at first he bragged about "owning" the shutdown, he then had the chutzpah to blame it on the Democrats.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration is chaotic, dysfunctional, and losing officials left and right, the stock market is crashing as we speak, and Trump himself is under federal investigation for numerous crimes and will most likely be impeached and/or indicted any day now.  We clearly don't have anything close to a functional government now.   The only silver lining?  This, along with the new Syria controversy, may be the catalyst, the very last straw, for the GOP to finally Dump Trump for good.

Once again, in case we didn't make it clear already:  YOU'RE FIRED!  Now go clean out your desk and GTFO.  Goodbye, and good riddance!  Don't let the door hit you on the way out, Donald!

Why We (Partly) Agree With Trump on Syria (and Afghanistan)

Trump just announced that he will be pulling all troops out of Syria, and reducing troops in Afghanistan as well.  Predictably, this has earned him strong condemnation from both corporate duopoly parties that are invested in the military-industrial complex.  The truth, however, is more nuanced than that, even if Trump doesn't really do nuance.

It is obvious now that Trump is clearly Putin’s puppet and is pulling out of Syria for the very basest of ulterior motives: to appease Putin and Erdogan, to “wag the dog” and distract from his mounting scandals, and of course to nurture his own fat relentless ego. And he is doing it as abruptly and chaotically as possible, without so much as a heads-up beforehand to our allies, especially the Kurds who he seems to have no qualms about selling down the river to Turkey. Very base and cowardly indeed.  

That said, sometimes even a stopped clock is right twice a day. As we have noted time and time again, we need to get the hell out of out of not just Syria, but also the decades-long quagmires of Iraq and Afghanistan, the latter of which is longer than Vietnam at this point. ISIL, though still in existence as a terrorist group (kinda like al-Qaeda and the Taliban, etc.) is nonetheless defeated territorially compared to 2014. Time for other countries/actors to step up to the plate and do whatever remains of the heavy lifting now.   Long past time for that, in fact.

And we also need to stop suborning Saudi Arabia’s unconscionable mass-murdering proxy war in Yemen as well (though Trump seems cool with that for now).

"Endless war" is NOT a sustainable strategy.  In fact, it is not even a strategy at all, but a concept, and an absurd one at that.  The only people who benefit from it are the oligarchs and the military-industrial complex, as the late Maj. Gen. Smedley Butler once famously noted in his 1935 book War Is A Racket.  (Of course, WWII was the exception that proves the rule.)

Whether a war is a “wham, bam, thank you ma’am” kind of war like Libya or a decade(s)-long quagmire like Vietnam, Iraq, or Afghanistan, the end result is essentially ultimately the same sort of disastrous failed state that becomes a magnet for extremists.  And once it becomes Quagmire Accomplished like it is currently, whether we leave now, a year from now, ten years from now, or 100 years from now, the result on the affected nation(s) we invade and subsequently leave is basically the same.  Quick withdrawal is thus the lesser evil on balance.

In fact, Tom Englehardt (Tom Dispatch) and Peter van Buren had the best idea of all--quick withdrawal, after getting ISIL where it really hurts by taking out their OIL.  Such targets--wellheads and oil trucks--are not at all hard to find, and are fairly easy to take out from the air.  And put diplomatic and economic pressure on Turkey and other so-called "allies" to stem the flow of Daesh oil as well.  Because oil is their primary source of funding, and removing that will cause them to quickly collapse of their own weight, and when they are seen as a failure then few would want to join them.  And once we take it out, then GTFO and let Daesh fall on their own sword.  (And apparently, we ended up doing a modest version of exactly that sort of oil campaign, with a fair amount of success, albeit late in the game and minus the withdrawal.)

The TSAP agrees with that idea, and we would also like to add to that.  We have said it before, and we will say it again.   Before withdrawing, we should give every *woman* over there an AK-47 and tell them to take over their country and mow down anyone who stands in their way. Let Allah sort it out. Problem solved. But of course, the mostly-male powers that be would not be too keen on that idea. After all, they wouldn't want women in THIS country getting any ideas, now would they?  (Of course, the TSAP believes that women should indeed take over the world in order to save it, so that wouldn't really be a bad idea, come to think of it.) Honestly, it is certainly a better idea than arming questionable male "rebels" who end up turning traitor.  Seriously, think about it.

Look, we dig why the generals don't want to pull out anytime soon, especially not abruptly, and it's not just about job security either (though that is likely part of it too). No one wants it on their conscience if things go horribly wrong afterwards, and such consequences can in any way be linked (however tangentially and speciously) to such a withdrawal.  But Trump clearly has no conscience, and it was his decision, so we now get to let any potential adverse consequences weigh on his nonexistent conscience.  Thus, the generals should really see this as a golden window of opportunity to finally extricate ourselves from the quagmire of the Middle East wars--and even in a worst case scenario, everyone's hands will be clean but Trump's either way.  So what are we waiting for?

Like the song says, if we go it will be trouble, if we stay it will be double.  And those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

JANUARY 2019 UPDATE:  Looks like the other notorious loose cannon of foreign policy, neocon John Bolton, is trying to delay the Syria pullout by "months or years".  So much for that.   In the meantime, is always fun for genuine progressives like us to watch neocons, neoliberals, neoconfederates, and Trump supporters fighting against each other.

We Wish You A Mueller Christmas, And Impeachment Next Year

As we noted in our previous post, the walls are now closing in on the Donald as we speak. Impeachment and/or indictment are both more likely now than ever before.  There is the infamous Trump-Russia scandal, of course, along with too many other scandals to count, but did you ever think that the porn star hush money scandal (which turned out to be an illegal campaign finance violation, who knew?) would be the one that would most likely finally bring him down?  Even if that itself is somehow not enough, it seems to have been the wedge that finally got his former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen to flip on him and sing like a canary--and he apparently has a LOT more dirty laundry on him that will soon be aired, most likely having to do with the Russiagate scandal.

And to make matters even worse for Trump, he doesn't just have Mueller to fear either.  He actually has even more to fear from Letitia James, the new Attorney General of New York State.  And he will not be able to pardon anyone for state-level crimes.

No wonder Trump is freaking out so much right now.  He knows his days are numbered.  One domino after another is falling as we speak, and it is only a matter of time before he himself is next.

Get your popcorn, this will get very interesting.  Donald, may you live in very interesting times indeed!

It's Mueller Time!

The Mueller investigation of the Trump Crime Family is now in its endgame, and it isn't looking good at all for the Donald or any of his cronies.  Michael Cohen and Paul Manafort, along with several others, are now officially convicted (or very soon to be convicted) felons at this point, and it looks like both the Teflon Don (and probably Don Jr.) will soon be next.

Ruh roh.  (Cue the Dragnet music, Maestro!)

There is no longer any reasonable doubt at this point about collusion between the Trump campaign and the Putin regime of Russia, all technicalities aside.  Now it's more like, "what did they know and when did they know it" for each of these individuals involved, and they have already been caught in several lies in that regard.  Both Cohen and Manafort, along with Flynn and others, are apparently singing like canaries and throwing Trump and Jr. under the bus to save their own skins.  It's only a matter of time now.

Let's see:  bribery, money laundering, racketeering/RICO, conspiracy to commit election fraud, and conspiracy to defraud the United States are all at least on the table now as charges related to the Trump-Russia collusion scandal.  And even if somehow none of these charges end up sticking for whatever reason, there is always perjury, obstruction of justice, and witness tampering as well, all of which are not only impeachable offenses, but also punishable by prison as well.  (All of which are easily proven, by the way, and in this case are so glaringly obvious now.)  And you can probably also throw tax fraud and tax evasion in there for at least some of the members of the Trump Crime Family as well.

The jig is basically up now, Donald.  And Pence will most likely be implicated as well, if he hasn't been already.  At the very least, they can likely get Pence for misprision of felony, if not conspiracy to obstruct justice (and aiding and abetting) in the firing of James Comey.  So Trump would be wise to resign right now so Pence can pardon him, but even that would only buy the administration a little more time before they are all "Out Like Flynn" if not behind bars for a very long time.  Hope you like orange, Donald, because for once your clothing and skin will actually match!

It's beginning to look a lot like TREASON, everywhere Trump goes....

The Beginning of the End for the Trump Regime

The 2018 midterm election results were a mixed bag overall, and while the Republicans kept control of the Senate and even gained a few seats, the Democrats got the biggest prize of all:  control of the House of Representatives, something they haven't had since 2010.  The House, as you may know, has the power to initiate impeachment against Trump, and launch all sorts of investigations of him.  And Mueller, who has been awfully quiet lately, will be dropping a major bombshell in his investigation of Trump within a matter of days.  You know, the Trump-Russia investigation?

No wonder Trump essentially forced Attorney General Jeff Sessions to resign today, and replaced him with a Trump loyalist, Matthew Whittaker.  He didn't waste any time, and also removed Rod Rosenstein from the investigation as well.  But this will likely backfire, as Nixon's infamous "Saturday Night Massacre" comes to mind.  Spoiler alert:  it didn't end well for him.

No matter how Trump tries to paint it as a victory for himself, the midtern election results overall favored the Democrats, who now have a majority in the House, while the Republicans are barely hanging onto the Senate with a slim majority that can still be filibustered and is no more than a handful of defectors away from failure.  And with a few exceptions, most state and local elections also tended to favor the Democrats this time as well, further making it harder for Trump to advance his vile and regressive agenda on the ground.

Trump's days are numbered.  Will the Democrats have the intestinal fortitude to do what needs to be done to thwart his agenda and eventually remove him or force him to resign in disgrace?  Or will they snatch defeat from the jaws of victory as they have time and again in the past?  We don't know, but given all of the newer Democrats in office, they are more likely to prevail now than any other time in recent history--at least the past eight years.

The Jig Is Up, Donald!

Wow, today must be the Donald's very worst day ever, or least in a great while.  First, his former campaign chair Paul Manafort (of Russiagate infamy) was found guilty of eight out of 18 counts related to tax fraud and bank fraud (the rest were a hung jury), and is thus now a convicted felon.  Secondly, his former lawyer and personal "fixer", Michael Cohen, has just pled guilty to eight counts of his own as well, most significantly including two related to campaign finance violations. You know, that whole bit about illegally paying hush money to two porn stars to keep quiet about Trump's affairs with them, so as to influence the 2016 election in Trump's favor, turned out not to be a hoax after all--and it directly implicates Trump himself since the payments were about him.

So not only have both of these former associates of his now effectively joined the growing club of convicted felons in his orbit, but now they are in a crucial position to "flip" on Trump.  And there is a very good chance that they will both sing like a canary, if they haven't done so already.   It's only a matter of time.  Check checkity check check, checkmate!

The jig is up, Donald.  The mounting evidence of your numerous high crimes and misdemeanors can no longer be denied.  So do us all a YUUUUGE favor and RESIGN, yesterday.  Clean out your desk now, and don't let the door hit you on the way out.

Or, as you like to say, "YOU'RE FIRED!"

The Donald Is Going Down

First, the TSAP would like to give our deepest condolences to the victims of the horrible terrorist attack in downtown Manhattan (NYC) on October 31.  Regardless of what was going through his head when he did it, the monster who did such a cowardly and despicable act needs to be brought to justice.

As for Trump, he basically did what he does best--exploit a tragedy for his own gain and/or to push his toxic and racist agenda.  Yes, this attack was an act of radical Islamic terrorism (by a "lone wolf" inspired by what's left of ISIL aka the Daesh-bags), and the first known one on US soil since the Donald was inaugurated in January.  But this was NOT the first terrorist attack that occurred on his watch.  There were indeed several other attacks, some of them extremely deadly (Las Vegas shooting, hello!), committed largely (and predictably) by white American males.  And many of these attacks were done by white supremacists to one degree or another.  But Trump was predictably silent about these attacks for the most part, and sometimes even seemed to be praising (or at least tacitly condoning) the Alt-Reich terrorists.  And he practically goes out of his way to NOT use the word "terrorism" to describe such heinous acts, as long as they are committed by white, non-Muslim Americans.  Seriously.

Fortunately for us all, if there is any sort of silver lining to be found in such a horrible tragedy, the Manhattan terrorist attack occurred after the ignominious indictments of his buddies Paul Manafort and Rick Gates, as well as George Papadopoulos' infamous guilty plea.  That is, what would have likely been a major rallying point for Trump's base, and even many fence-sitters, essentially came two days too late for him.  And at this point, there is really no salvaging his presidency, no matter how hard he tries in vain to "wag the dog" or sweep the ever-growing Russiagate scandal under the rug.

He has already had his Benghazi (twice), his Katrina (three times), and now his 9/11 (in the same city no less, albeit on a much smaller scale).  And what will ultimately go down in history as his own personal Watergate on steroids will make even the original Tricky Dick himself look like a saint by comparison.  And his first year isn't even done yet.

The jig is up, Donald.  Please do us all a YUUUUGE favor and RESIGN.   Yesterday.

The Beginning of the End for Trump

The Donald had a really, really bad day today, and just in time for Halloween too.  Two of his associates, the ever-shady former campaign manager Paul Manafort and former aide Rick Gates, have now been indicted on charges of conspiracy against the United States, money laundering, unregistered foreign agent, and making false statements, and another former aide, George Papadopoulos, has pled guilty earlier this month to lying to FBI agents about contacts with Russian agents.  Specifically, such contacts involved attempting to set up a meeting between said agents and the Trump campaign, as well as attempting to get "dirt" on Hillary.   Thus, in other words, there is really no denying collusion between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin at this point, no matter how much Trump tries to "wag the dog" and sweep it under the rug.  And to top it off, Trump's outrageous ban on transgender people in the military was struck down by the courts.   All before 3pm today.

And Mueller's investigation of the ever-growing Russiagate scandal is just getting started.   No wonder the entire White House recently lawyered up, because it's clear that there really IS a "there", there.  Get your popcorn ready, because this is essentially the beginning of the end for Trump and his basket of deplorables in his administration.

So who will be the next domino to fall?  

Trump Is "Wagging the Dog"--But Will He Get Us All Killed?

As the Russiagate scandal is closing in on the Trump administration and it is becoming increasingly clear that the jig is up, Trump is getting increasingly bold in his attempts to "wag the dog", that is, to distract the American people from the ever-growing scandal.  His latest attempt to do so is to apparently provoke a war--even a potential nuclear war(!)--with North Korea.   And the (other) already-unhinged dictator, Kim Jong Un, is making threats against the USA in response to Trump's reckless "fire and fury" and "locked and loaded" threats against North Korea.  Clearly, he is playing a very dangerous game to say the least.

In other words, Trump is perfectly willing to literally risk getting us all KILLED for no other reasons than 1) so he can temporarily distract us from the Russiagate scandal, 2) to possibly extract favorable deals from China, and 3) to get to play "war" and "tough guy" (with other people's lives) at the same time.  This comedy of errors is clearly NOT funny anymore, if it ever really was.  I hate to say it, but suddenly the idea of a President Pence (shudder!) doesn't really look quite so scary anymore by comparison.

Bottom line:  The Donald absolutely MUST be impeached or forced to resign, yesterday. Otherwise, there may not even be a tomorrow.

Impeachment Or Resignation: It's Only A Matter of Time

Looks like any day now, Trump (and hopefully Pence and the rest of the administration) will be "Out Like Flynn".  In fact, former NSA head Michael Flynn apparently decided to "plead the Fifth" about the burgeoning Trump-Russia scandal.  But that's not all.

Just when you thought that Trump's really, really messed-up week (in which he fired former FBI director James Comey) was his worst, the past two got even worse still.  Most notably, Trump discussed classified information about a terrorist plot in a closed-door meeting with the Russian ambassador and foreign minister, Sergey Kislyak and Sergey Lavrov, respectively. That's right, he literally gave sensitive secrets to the Russians, and willingly.   And now, justifiably, Israel won't share intelligence with the USA anymore--especially since they were the source of the intelligence that Trump shared with Russia.  Oh, and an independent special prosecutor has been appointed to oversee the Trump-Russia investigation.  Just in time for recent revelations (from Kislyak himself) that Jared Kushner wanted a secret communications channel with the Kremlin.  I swear, you really can't make this stuff up!

But Trump didn't stop there, no.  On his recent trip to Europe, he just had to go and insult our NATO allies, especially Germany.  He just had to shove the Prime Minister of Montenegro out of the way just to get a quick photo-op.  If there were any doubts left that Trump was Putin's puppet on a string, those doubts are basically gone.  Ditto for anyone who still thought that he had any sort of class or decorum at all.

And the European intelligence community is supposedly prepared to leak some serious dirt on Trump in the very near future.  Whether that dirt is incriminating or merely very embarrassing, either way it does not look good for a president and administration that is already imploding at warp-speed.  There is already enough evidence to impeach him for obstruction of justice, abuse of power, conflicts of interest, and perhaps misuse of classified information as well.  Will these next leaks be enough to add TREASON to this list as well?

UPDATE:  As of May 30, it looks like Michael Flynn is finally ready to break his silence and basically roll over on his former boss. Not like Trump needs any help self-destructing, as he seems to be doing a pretty good job of that already.  BIGLY.  Believe me.