Nov. 24, 2019
I can’t seem to find out who verbalized the very appropriate evaluation of Trump’s behavior as, “This is the Way Gangsters Operate”, during the testimony of Marie Yovanovitch, the now ‘ex’ Ambassador to the Ukraine, before the Impeachment Inquiry Committee last week. But, whoever first said that phrase should be given high marks for ‘descriptive excellence’ in word-choice. Now we can add the term ‘gangster’ to the ever-growing list of Trump’s defining qualities as the most: avaricious, braggart, bullying, con-artist, draft-dodger, egotist, fraudulent, gangster-like, greed-driven, hate-monger, jingoistic, liar, misogynist, white-supremacist, and xenophobic ‘President of the United States of America’ we have ever had. I’ve probably missed a few of his character traits and I tried but couldn’t find any ‘good’ ones. However, if and when I think of any more, positive or negative, I’ll insert them into the list before this blog goes out. When he ‘tweeted’ threats that “bad things were going to happen to her (Ms.Yovanovitch)” because of and during her testimony, I had visions of Trump telling Pompeo to, ‘Send his goons out with baseball bats to break her knee-caps! I’ll show her!’ Trump’s tweeted threats really are ‘gangster-like’! Trump tweeting threats about a person while she is testifying about his interference in diplomatic situations to a congressional committee also proves he is a total numbskull. Pompeo supporting Trump’s actions, words and deeds proves that Pompeo is a willing lieutenant in Trump’s gangster/numbskull organization. Oh, oh, I missed ‘numbskull’ in my list. If history is the forecaster of the future, Mike Pompeo had better watch out for the bus that seems to be coming around the White House corner under which he, just may possibly, be thrown. Our government is rapidly becoming a veritable two-man show—Trump the clown and Schiff the ring-master. I wonder, where is our Attorney General while all of this is happening? We haven’t even heard from Mitch lately—who, I suspect is very busy re-thinking his options and not exactly looking forward to his 2020 re-election run. And, what has happened to Rudy?
This week, another round of Impeachment Inquiry hearings will take place. I expect the ‘noose of impeachment’ will be drawn tighter every day. Fortunately, Donald is his own worst enemy. What the Impeachment Inquiry Committee forgets to do, Donald will remind them to do. He may even voluntarily come before that committee and indict himself by his own testimony, saving the Democrats from shooting themselves in both feet by screwing up the entire impeachment process. Nancy Pelosi has welcomed Donald to speak, and to testify under oath, in the hearings. That would do it. Her job would be done. The Donald would self-indict, self-destruct and resign the Presidency to escape the possibility of impeachment. Just what the Dems need him to do. The only negatives in this scenario would be that the media would be deprived of months of juicy subject matter and Congress would have to face up to repairing the damage to our country that Trump has done during his aborted term in office. Neither the media nor our Congress would like that.
I’m looking forward to Gordon Sondland’s testimony. I can’t imagine anyone dumb enough to pay One Million Dollars for tickets to Trump’s inauguration party unless there was a promise of a cabinet position or some position in Trumps government staff of equal value as a guaranteed ‘Quid pro Quo’ for that level of ‘tickets’. So, Gordon, our ‘Ambassador to the European Union’, is now on the hot seat in the Congressional Impeachment Committee’s inquiry into his boss’s—and his bosses’ friend’s—conduct in foreign affairs. Gordon is between a rock and a hard place. If he doesn’t tell the truth he will probably go to jail and thereby lose his job. If he tells the truth, Trump will take his job away. Gordon isn’t a professional politician. That means he doesn’t know how to lie professionally. What a waste of a Million Dollars! Fame and political appointments in the Trump administration are fleeting. Should we feel sorry for Gordon?
And, Wednesday night we get to watch and hear another round of democratic presidential hopefuls shout charges of incompetence at each other. Afterword, I expect we will hear the pundits say; ‘Pete is too young’ ‘Bernie is too old’, ‘Elizabeth really doesn’t have ‘A Plan’ for anything that will work’ and ‘Joe has a bad case of CRS’. I’m going to start cocktail time early this evening, watch and listen to the debate, and then tell you what I would like to see happen.
Well! Glory be to someone in the DNC who must have told the contestants to stop acting like teen-agers fighting with each other over a meth capsule found on a high school playground and try to look ‘presidential’ during the Wednesday night program. A debate it wasn’t but it was nice to see the candidates acting like adults and Rachel Maddow trying to be fair as a moderator. After the show and tell was over, I found that my ‘Presidential Requirements Personal Opinion Meter Indicator’ needle hadn’t moved a degree over 45 (on its’ scale of 0 – 100) for any of the candidates except (drum roll please) Amy Klobuchar! Amy moved the needle to a ‘51’ rating. My PRPOMI has a scale index of ‘96’ at which a candidate meets the minimum requirement for the position of POTUS. Just for reference, it gives Donald Trump a rating of ‘0’ and Mike Pence a rating of ‘6’. I’m afraid the Dems have a long way to go to find a qualified presidential candidate—and the Republicans should start looking for one, fast!
For those of you who have been reading my blogs or read the manuscript of my book Watching—The Destruction of the American Middle Class, you might remember that I believe our two-party system and our method of selecting our President is totally out of date. However, this is neither the place nor the time to go into that snake nest. The following is a very brief description of what I would like to see happen— given the players who are ‘on’ or ‘off’ the stage now:
Michael Bloomberg officially enters the race as an ‘Independent’ candidate, not a Democratic or Republican, for President. He picks Amy Klobuchar as his Vice President, Kamala Harris as his Attorney General, Pete Buttigieg as his Chief of Staff, Elizabeth Warren as his Secretary of Education, Cory Booker as his Secretary of Housing and Urban Affairs, Rex Tillerson as his Secretary of State, Andrew Yang as his Secretary of Commerce, Jim Mattis as his Secretary of Defense, (enter a name, I can’t think who I’d pick right this minute but this one is critical!) as Secretary of the Treasury and they all agree to drop their political party affiliation and join him as a ‘team’ in the 2020 campaign. Now, THAT would make history and—just might save our democracy!
Hubris read my blog this (Friday) morning and told me he thought I must have been smoking some really strong stuff! He was just trying to make a point because he knows I don’t smoke anything— anymore. We’ve got a trace of snow on the trails in the Rio Grande valley this evening and that should make for a brisk ride. So, after a shot of Uncle Jack’s finest to keep me warm, I saddle up Hubris and with a hearty shout of Hi, Ho, Hubris- Aawaay! we are off on the ditch banks for our evening ride. I’ll push the ‘send’ button on my Blog List message when we get back to the ranch.
Lou
Copyright Nov.24, 2019, Louis J. Christen, Jr