The hysteria that began when Donald Trump won the 2016 election has labored and brought forth a mouse that was dealt with today in the Senate. There are still a few blows to administer, as the State of the Union speech Tuesday before a humiliated Democrat Congress, and the final vote to end the farce Wednesday. The Mueller “Investigation” which ended the Russia Hoax, was anticlimax. Then came the Ukraine manufactured crisis.
The level of corruption by the Biden family, is explored in Peter Schweizer’s book, Profiles in Corruption. All the Bidens, not just Hunter the coke addled son, but the brothers and even the sister, are riddled with corruption. The Ukraine matter is just one of the tales in the book.
The Russia collusion was largely based on a “dossier” paid for by the Clinton campaign and probably the product of Russian disinformation. Thus, the political campaign that colluded with Russia was that of Hillary Clinton, not Trump.
I had my doubts about Trump in the beginning.
I am not a Trump supporter but I am intrigued at the steady progress he is making toward success. I have been a fan of Angelo Codevilla’s characterization of America’s Ruling Class.
The recent collapse of Republican Congressional resistance to the left’s political agenda as noted in the surrender of Paul Ryan to the Democrats in the budget, has aggravated the Republican base and its frustration.
Ryan went on Bill Bennett’s radio show on Tuesday to tell his side of the story, which involves the fact that he inherited from outgoing Speaker John Boehner an unfavorable budget framework, as well as some of the tradeoffs involved (especially defense spending). He also laid out the argument I’ve heard elsewhere, which is that he needed to “clear the decks” so that a real return to “regular order” budgeting next year will be possible. You may or may not be persuaded, but the contrast with Boehner is fairly plain, I think.
Ryan, after the election, was a disgrace.
In spite of Democrat and some Republican hysteria, Trump has moved along, cancelling crippling regulation and negotiating trade reforms with Mexico, Canada and China. Meanwhile the hysteria grew.
Then Mueller flamed out with no payoff for the millions spent.
Mueller’s anti-Trump staffers knew they were never going to be able to drive Trump from office by indicting him. The only plausible way to drive him from office was to prioritize, over all else, making the report public. Then, perhaps Congress would use it to impeach. At the very least, the 448 pages of uncharged conduct would wound Trump politically, helping lead to his defeat in 2020 — an enticing thought for someone who had, say, attended the Hillary Clinton “victory” party and expressed adulatory “awe” for acting AG (and fellow Obama holdover) Sally Yates when she insubordinately refused to enforce Trump’s border security order.
Next came the ridiculous Ukraine matter.
It seems that Burisma, a Ukraine oil and gas firm, was a piggybank for Democrats.
The memos raise troubling questions:
1.) If the Ukraine prosecutor’s firing involved only his alleged corruption and ineptitude, why did Burisma’s American legal team refer to those allegations as “false information?”
2.) If the firing had nothing to do with the Burisma case, as Biden has adamantly claimed, why would Burisma’s American lawyers contact the replacement prosecutor within hours of the termination and urgently seek a meeting in Ukraine to discuss the case?
Ukrainian prosecutors say they have tried to get this information to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) since the summer of 2018, fearing it might be evidence of possible violations of U.S. ethics laws. First, they hired a former federal prosecutor to bring the information to the U.S. attorney in New York, who, they say, showed no interest. Then, the Ukrainians reached out to President Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani.
The memos refer to Hundreds of pages of never-released memos and documents — many from inside the American team helping Burisma to stave off its legal troubles — conflict with Biden’s narrative.
It is clear that Ukraine participated in the Clinton/DNC efforts to defeat Trump in 2016 and damage his administration after the election.
In February 2014, the Ukrainian Euromaidan uprising finally forced the flight to Moscow of Manafort’s client, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych. With American attention intensifying as tensions boiled over in Kiev, Manafort reentered the FBI’s investigative cross-hairs, as did other American political consultants who did work that benefitted the Party of Regions.
Yanukovych’s abdication delighted the Obama administration, which was quick to back the new administration of President Petro Poroshenko. Kiev became so dependent on Washington for desperately needed financial support that, by threatening to withhold funds, Vice President Joe Biden pressured Poroshenko into firing Viktor Shokin, one of his top prosecutors. Shokin just happened to be investigating a natural gas company called Burisma, which just happened to have placed Hunter Biden, the vice president’s son, on its board of directors.
It was easy for the Obama people to force Ukraine to participate in the plot to take down Trump.
In 2014, NABU alerted the bureau to a ledger said to have belonged to Yanukovych, bête noire of the new Ukrainian government. The ledger purports to show $12.7 million in cash payments to Manafort. The FBI used the information to interview Manafort, but the authenticity of the ledger has not been established. Manafort dismisses it as fake, contending that the Party of Regions paid him by wire transfer, not cash. Ukrainian officials have conceded that they cannot prove the payments reflected in the ledger were made. The case was thus reportedly closed with no charges. (Perhaps not coincidental to the Obama Justice Department’s decision not to pursue the case: Manafort had brought influential Democrats into his Ukrainian work, such as former Obama White House Counsel Greg Craig and the consulting firm started by Obama and Clinton adviser John Podesta — a firm that is still run by Podesta’s brother.)
Gregg Craig was later prosecuted for the same FARA violations that landed Manafort in prison. A DC jury quickly acquitted him. Manafort is still in prison.
The impeachment caper ended this week with the final end to be posted next week with the Senate vote but it is all over but the next attempt by Democrats to take down Trump.
According to Devin Nunes, that will continue with the next ginned up scandal.
The only thing that would really bring this to an end will be an electoral spanking similar to that administered to that of the Labour Party last fall after the BREXIT affair.
The only thing that would really bring this to an end will be an electoral spanking similar to that administered to that of the Labour Party last fall after the BREXIT affair
I do not think even a 50 state win by Trump along with a republican landslide win in the Senate, House, and all the state legislatures will bring demoncritter antics to a halt. It will make them worse, and probably violent.
Corbyn was a garden variety anti-western commie wannabe. He hadn’t corrupted the state to attack his political rivals. Electoral means are wholly inappropriate remedies for what has happened in America the past several years. People need to go to prison.
This example of stupidity by corrupt Democrats is merely an example of a wider phenomenon — the Reverse Midas Touch of the Leftists.
Think about it — every institution which has come to be dominated by Leftists has turned to dust in their hands. Congress has lost the respect of the people, as have the media, high school education, universities, FBI, CIA, IRS, and many more. This is an international phenomenon, as can be easily seen from the sad state of the BBC and the Church of England.
The overall result of Leftist hegemony and their Reverse Midas Touch is the steady withdrawal of the Mandate of Heaven from our institutions. The edifice still stands, but the foundations are now rotten. No-one can predict what will cause the inevitable collapse — but it will collapse. There will be hard times to follow, but we can hope that lessons will be learned and whatever emerges to take its place will put real teeth into the concept of Limited Government.
I agree with both of the above.
An outbreak of violence – not that the current elite class would do any fighting themselves, but would only tsk tsk in feigned sadness at the “understandable” violence by Antifa and others – would be a terrible thing, as innocent people would be injured or killed. I wonder what effect it would have on the independents, the undecideds, and the intrinsically moderate in personality. As with every human group, whether naturallly evil or no, such escalation would only harden them in their previous beliefs, I agree.
As long as leftism is fashionable, there will some that will embrace it. It is a social rather than intellectual phenomenon.
Now there are three. Agree with Gavin also.
The NY Post thinks it was a “waste of time.”
I agree.
The great retreat through the institutions has to begin somewhere. The democrat party seems a great place to start. On to higher education.
The Media seems unhappy with the monster they created.
Meacham said, “Donald Trump may well have now become the most powerful president in American history. There’s pause for a second. Think about that. He has the capacity, he has such a standing with his political base that senior United States senators have decided that though he is guilty, they are not going to risk the wrath of the people in order to follow through on what is clearly spelled out in the Constitution.
Of course, he was not guilty of anything but they are realizing that nobody believes them. I might even watch the State of the Union speech, something I never do.
The possibility of blunt confrontation in the State of the Union speech tempts me too, Mike. It may provide a litmus for what will transpire.
Put another way: all we’ve watched/heard/read re the shampeachment circus will amount to no more than sound and fury, signifying nothing absent some concrete, visible, identifiable, *personal* costs to those who ran that show.
Put still another way: the upcoming electorial defeat of said clowns will not suffice.
I wonder what sort of antics the DemonRATs are setting up for Tuesday night. Mass walkout? Antics scum in the gallery? Riot outside?
The Democrats are now in such a panic about Bernie winning that even John Kerry is volunteering.
“Reporting for Duty, Sir !”
It sounds like he is going to avoid direct confrontation and charter schools and vouchers will be part of the message.
I’m amazed that with all this crap the Dems have thrown at him, he just stays focused and gets things done.
As to the “Impeachment”
Was at a neighbors house – and friends but staunch Democrats.
She told me how awful it was that the Republican Senate wouldn’t even allow witnesses – as if that was the only time witnesses would be allowed.
Told her of the House’s duties and it went to deaf ears.
Then told her I would send some money to the Trump campaign with her phone number and adress – and she became a bit…excited ;-)
If the Dems had their way this charade would have dragged on for months.
Direct confrontation isn’t Trump’s style. He leaves the other guy enough rhetorical space to salvage a little dignity. It doesn’t change what he actually does. He stopped calling Kim names, he keeps ratcheting the sanctions tighter but he doesn’t crow about it. He’s done the same with Russia.
He’ll remain open to giving the Democrats something to advance his agenda, just not too much.
Last week I said:
“Do you think John Roberts knows how much the right hates him, and how much the left holds him in contempt?”
It was just as true about Mitt, and is now 100x as true.
I’m pretty proud I refused to vote for him. The one issue the base cared about was overturning Obamacare and the idiot couldn’t get on the right side.
Hell, Romney invented Obamacare. Massachusetts had Romneycare while Obama was still kissing Chicago alderman’s asses. I’ve lost what little regard I ever had for him. I’ve heard that the same is true for the state of Utah, we’ll have to wait for the next election to find out.