Ship Seems Steady, But The Captain’s A Lunatic
March 24, 2018 at 1:21 a.m.
By Gary [email protected]
That certain level lately has been raised to new heights. Isn’t it odd how in the name of politics, folks can rationalize pretty much any behavior?
Generally, for a politician to turn on one of his own, there have got be some serious shenanigans going on.
But these are no ordinary times, are they, under one President Donald J. Trump?
There is a Republicans Against Trump Facebook page. There is a Wikipedia page devoted to Republicans who don’t support Trump.
It includes two former presidents, 65 current and former U.S. representatives, 18 current and former U.S. senators, 28 former state department officials, 24 former national security officials, 22 former cabinet officials, 28 state department officials, 16 former defense department officials, and 22 current and former governors.
And this list was compiled around the 2016 election. It almost certainly has grown since then.
At some point, Trump’s tomfoolery becomes just too much to bear for a lot of people – even Republicans. And who could blame them?
Just this week we find that an ex-Playboy model, Karen McDougal, claims she had an affair with the president. She, according to the New York Times, filed a lawsuit Tuesday to get out of her 2016 nondisclosure agreement.
(According to the Wall Street Journal, the National Enquirer paid her $150,000 for her story, but never ran it. The Enquirer’s chief executive, David Pecker, is a friend our presdent’s.)
This, of course, follows porn star Stephanie Clifford (a.k.a. Stormy Daniels) seeking to go public with details of her extramarital affair with the president.
The president’s personal attorney, Michael Cohen, said he paid Stormy $130,000 in October 2016 – two weeks before the election. In exchange she signed a nondisclosure agreement.
Apparently, the Federal Election Commission is looking into that transaction because it might have violated campaign finance law. The FEC?wants to know if the payment was made to influence the election.
In a court filing a week ago, the president’s lawyers said they intend to seek damages against Stormy for violating the agreement. That could cost Stormy $20 million if she loses.
Meanwhile, it looks like our president may be unable to avoid being deposed in a defamation lawsuit.
Yes, our president might have to respond under oath to allegations of sexual assault and mistreatment of women.
Summer Zervos was a contestant on “The Apprentice” in 2005. She sued Trump in January 2017 alleging he “ambushed” her on more than one occasion starting in 2007, kissing her, touching her breast and pressing his genitals against her.
On Tuesday, New York State Supreme Court Justice Jennifer Schecter denied the president’s request to throw out the lawsuit or delay it until he leaves office, according to reporting on Bloomberg.com.
"No one is above the law," Schecter wrote in an 18-page decision. “Nothing in the Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution even suggests that the president cannot be called to account before a state court for wrongful conduct that bears no relationship to any federal executive responsibility.”
At least 15 other women have accused our president of varying degrees of inappropriate behavior, including sexual harassment or sexual assault.
And this is just the tawdry stuff.
There is revolving door at the White House for cabinet members and staffers. There’s the tweets, my god, the tweets.
And then there’s Special Counsel Robert Mueller.
He may not find any “Russian collusion,” but can you imagine what he and his team of 16 or so professional prosecutorial hitmen will find after poking around 20 years’ worth of our presdent’s international financial transactions?
For his part, our president denies ever doing anything wrong and paints his accusers and critics as liars, unabashed opportunistic hustlers or witch hunters.
And a fair number of our president’s supporters believe every word of that and remain loyal.
Sometimes I have a hard time understanding how evangelicals – a stalwart part of Trump’s base – can so easily look past his vulgarities and apparent moral transgressions.
I will concede to those who unwaiveringly support our president that he has been treated unfairly by the system – and especially by the media.
Even former President Jimmy Carter recently was quoted in USA?Today as saying, “I think the media have been harder on Trump than any other president certainly that I’ve known about.”
Certainly the media are far too focused on the scandal, but then again, our president gives them tons of ammunition and repeatedly steps on his own message.
To be fair, there is a lot for a conservative to like about what’s going on right now – tax reform, economy, stock market, employment, deregulation, conservative judicial appointments, trade (even some unions are happy about his trade policy), energy, school choice, Paris climate deal nixed, ISIS on the run, tougher stance against Russia with troops to Poland and an arms package to Ukraine, NATO kicking in $12 billion, a “red line” air strike in Syria, etc.
Of course, any relative success gets overshadowed by the excessive level of dysfunction.
It’s a tough time to be a center/right kind of guy like me. While I generally like the direction the ship is being steered – aside from the ballooning deficits – I think the guy at the helm is a lunatic.
That certain level lately has been raised to new heights. Isn’t it odd how in the name of politics, folks can rationalize pretty much any behavior?
Generally, for a politician to turn on one of his own, there have got be some serious shenanigans going on.
But these are no ordinary times, are they, under one President Donald J. Trump?
There is a Republicans Against Trump Facebook page. There is a Wikipedia page devoted to Republicans who don’t support Trump.
It includes two former presidents, 65 current and former U.S. representatives, 18 current and former U.S. senators, 28 former state department officials, 24 former national security officials, 22 former cabinet officials, 28 state department officials, 16 former defense department officials, and 22 current and former governors.
And this list was compiled around the 2016 election. It almost certainly has grown since then.
At some point, Trump’s tomfoolery becomes just too much to bear for a lot of people – even Republicans. And who could blame them?
Just this week we find that an ex-Playboy model, Karen McDougal, claims she had an affair with the president. She, according to the New York Times, filed a lawsuit Tuesday to get out of her 2016 nondisclosure agreement.
(According to the Wall Street Journal, the National Enquirer paid her $150,000 for her story, but never ran it. The Enquirer’s chief executive, David Pecker, is a friend our presdent’s.)
This, of course, follows porn star Stephanie Clifford (a.k.a. Stormy Daniels) seeking to go public with details of her extramarital affair with the president.
The president’s personal attorney, Michael Cohen, said he paid Stormy $130,000 in October 2016 – two weeks before the election. In exchange she signed a nondisclosure agreement.
Apparently, the Federal Election Commission is looking into that transaction because it might have violated campaign finance law. The FEC?wants to know if the payment was made to influence the election.
In a court filing a week ago, the president’s lawyers said they intend to seek damages against Stormy for violating the agreement. That could cost Stormy $20 million if she loses.
Meanwhile, it looks like our president may be unable to avoid being deposed in a defamation lawsuit.
Yes, our president might have to respond under oath to allegations of sexual assault and mistreatment of women.
Summer Zervos was a contestant on “The Apprentice” in 2005. She sued Trump in January 2017 alleging he “ambushed” her on more than one occasion starting in 2007, kissing her, touching her breast and pressing his genitals against her.
On Tuesday, New York State Supreme Court Justice Jennifer Schecter denied the president’s request to throw out the lawsuit or delay it until he leaves office, according to reporting on Bloomberg.com.
"No one is above the law," Schecter wrote in an 18-page decision. “Nothing in the Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution even suggests that the president cannot be called to account before a state court for wrongful conduct that bears no relationship to any federal executive responsibility.”
At least 15 other women have accused our president of varying degrees of inappropriate behavior, including sexual harassment or sexual assault.
And this is just the tawdry stuff.
There is revolving door at the White House for cabinet members and staffers. There’s the tweets, my god, the tweets.
And then there’s Special Counsel Robert Mueller.
He may not find any “Russian collusion,” but can you imagine what he and his team of 16 or so professional prosecutorial hitmen will find after poking around 20 years’ worth of our presdent’s international financial transactions?
For his part, our president denies ever doing anything wrong and paints his accusers and critics as liars, unabashed opportunistic hustlers or witch hunters.
And a fair number of our president’s supporters believe every word of that and remain loyal.
Sometimes I have a hard time understanding how evangelicals – a stalwart part of Trump’s base – can so easily look past his vulgarities and apparent moral transgressions.
I will concede to those who unwaiveringly support our president that he has been treated unfairly by the system – and especially by the media.
Even former President Jimmy Carter recently was quoted in USA?Today as saying, “I think the media have been harder on Trump than any other president certainly that I’ve known about.”
Certainly the media are far too focused on the scandal, but then again, our president gives them tons of ammunition and repeatedly steps on his own message.
To be fair, there is a lot for a conservative to like about what’s going on right now – tax reform, economy, stock market, employment, deregulation, conservative judicial appointments, trade (even some unions are happy about his trade policy), energy, school choice, Paris climate deal nixed, ISIS on the run, tougher stance against Russia with troops to Poland and an arms package to Ukraine, NATO kicking in $12 billion, a “red line” air strike in Syria, etc.
Of course, any relative success gets overshadowed by the excessive level of dysfunction.
It’s a tough time to be a center/right kind of guy like me. While I generally like the direction the ship is being steered – aside from the ballooning deficits – I think the guy at the helm is a lunatic.
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