Trump's Summer of Hell

 

Trump’s Summer of Hel

 Given the succession of events from Trump’s overhyped meeting with Chairman Kim of June 12th to the fiasco of his current war against the CIA, FBI, and DOJ, it is difficult to fathom how the president’s approval rating can be over 10%.  Yet, there it sits, hovering between 35-43% of the total population due to the machinations of Fox News, the dissembling antics of Trump’s TV lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, the gutter speak of the president, the compliant acquiescence of the hypocritical Republican-led congress, and the ever gullible (81%) evangelical sector.  His 80%+ positive ratings among Republicans is a telling reflection in how far the party of Lincoln, TR, Eisenhower, Ford, and Reagan have gone in becoming the servile party of Donald J. Trump, arguably, the most unqualified person ever to have occupied the White House.

 His caving to Putin in their July 17th meeting, as reflected in the accompanying news conference, was particularly telling. At the heart of this catastrophe was Trump’s obsequiousness in accepting Putin’s denial of any intrusion into the 2016 U.S. presidential election.  Accepting Putin at his word, Trump stated that he couldn’t see why Russia “would” have been involved despite the unanimity of 17 federal intelligence organizations in pointing directly to Russia, as recently confirmed by the president’s own national security team.  Under enormous pressure, Trump tried to clean this up by stating that his “would” was really intended to be a “wouldn’t.”  This rationalization is belied in the president’s continuing effort to label such charges against Russia as a hoax. 

 That “hoax” is linked to what the president insists is the bogus “witch hunt” known as the Mueller investigation, including possible charges of the president’s obstruction of justice and possible complicity with Russia on efforts to derail the Clinton campaign.  Several officials directly involved with the Trump campaign, including (General Flynn and Rick Gates) have pled guilty for lying to the FBI.  The first trial of Paul Manafort resulted in a conviction based on 8 charges. Meanwhile, Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to several charges, including two that directly implicated the president in efforts to silence two women toward the end of the 2016 race over sex scandals that would have cast Trump in a bad light.  Twelve Russian intelligent officers also have been indicted by the Mueller team for their role in hacking the DNC and the Clinton campaign and leaking the documents to the press.  Recall candidate Trump’s “Russia, if you’re listening” speech of July 27, 2016 and the meeting between Don Jr., Jared Kushner, and Manafort of June 9, 2016 with a Kremlin linked Russian lawyer for the expressed purpose of getting dirt on Hillary Clinton and the various prevarications of the Trump team in their efforts at spinning the story to exonerate them from any direct collusion with Putin operatives.

 The Mueller-led Russia investigation is multifaceted, designed to track Russian involvement in the presidential campaign and possible Trump team participation in that effort.  The investigation is led by a seasoned team of first-rate professionals, including Mueller, whose long service to this country underscores the widespread bi-partisan support he has garnered across the nation, which the president and his team have done everything they could to undermine.  As the president continues to daily consume hours of Fox News and has brought high level Fox officials into his administration, his ever-repetitive vitriols against the Mueller investigation have become increasingly unhinged, as evinced in the following diatribes—"Witch hunt,” “a national disgrace,” and most recently, “Disgraced and discredited Bob Mueller and his whole group of Angry Democrat Thugs.” 

 It should shock the collective consciousness of this nation that this type of irresponsible rhetoric is coming out of the mouth of the president of the United States, an office, who in his language and irrepressible authoritarian impulses, Trump has shamelessly disgraced, as reflected in the removal of security clearance for ex-CIA director, John Brennon. According to press secretary Sarah Sanders, action against Brennon was based on “a series of unfounded and outrageous allegations—wild outbursts on the internet and television — about this Administration”—in other words, because Brennon publicly articulated his unabashed critique of the president, which has nothing to do with divulging officially secret governmental information.  Not wanting to put too fine a point on Sander’s blunt-edged free speech stupefying rationale, Trump may have given the game away: “I think that whole – I call it the rigged witch hunt – is a sham. And these people led it. So I think it’s something that had to be done.”  That is, based on the president’s own words stands the assertion that those whose clearance is now under review were involved in the “rigged witch hunt.”

 

As a final concern, consider the president’s claim that the mainstream media is engaged in a conspiratorial effort to slander him through its perpetuation of “fake news.”  The sheer ludicrousness of this claim is truly shocking. Imagine the entirety of the mainstream press aligned in some conspiratorial scheme for the singular purpose of delegitimizing the Trump administration because of some ill-defined elitist jealousy that this “man of the people” has upset their wounded pride.  I suggest his attribution of “fake news” is, like so much of his “branding,” an external projection of his own manipulative intent.  In referring to the press in truly Stalinesque language as “the enemy of the American people,” perhaps the accusatory finger needs to point inward.  No need for subtlety or the rigorous pursuit of truth for this president of the United States.  Fox News infused talking points will do just fine. 

2018

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