The current American presidential administration has been one like none other in American history. President Donald J. Trump, the 45th president of the United States, has been embroiled in controversy since before he won the 2016 election. He slid in office by dividing the country on a platform against Hillary Rodham Clinton and immigration. Regarding Clinton, his cult-like followers frequently chanted “lock her up” due to allegations that she misused her Secretary of State email account. Trump openly and brazenly asked the Russians to help locate Clinton’s emails. In addition to the foregoing, Trump has established a well-earned reputation as a liar, and has one of the greatest turnovers of staff in recent history. Special Counsel Robert Mueller was brought in to do an investigation to determine whether or not the Russians interfered in the 2016 elections in America. All while the investigation was taking place, Trump’s mantra was that there was no “collusion.” Never mind that the focus of Mueller’s investigation was not collusion.
The investigation started in 2017 and concluded this year. Attorney General William Barr had the job of reviewing the report results and releasing them. Both the Senate and the House, before the report was released, voted to have the entire report made available for review. After a dramatic buildup, and some resistance from Attorney General Barr, a 4-page summary of the report was released. The summary was extremely inadequate, and Barr’s conclusions were misleading. Some members of Congress were somewhat outraged by Barr’s handling and obfuscation of the Mueller Report. An outcry ensued wherein members of Congress insisted on the release of the entire report. It was subsequently released, but the 400-page document was so redacted that it resembled a huge block of paper swiss cheese. Of course, this has drawn the ire of Democrats. House Judiciary Committee Chair Jerrold Nadler sent Barr a demand to comply with the committee’s subpoena to have an unredacted report released by Monday, May 6.
The bottom line is that President Trump has operated as though he is in charge of himself and that he can do whatever he wants to do. The strangest thing of all is that he seems to get away with everything. His administration has changed the whole tenor of our country and has also seemingly influenced the rest of the world. Horrendous atrocities have occurred because of Trump’s rhetoric, which has emboldened crazies and white supremacists here and abroad. They seem to feel that they have an ally in the White House.
Donald Trump’s base, which is hopefully shrinking, apparently believes everything that he says, or, they just don’t care as long as he gives lip service to the things they desire. Ironically, many of the policies that have been put in place actually hurt members of his base, who don’t seem to care.
Trump has refused to release his tax returns, tells blatant lies to the press, and has expressed a strong admiration for dictators like Russia’s Vladimir Putin and North Korea’s Kim Jong-un. At press time, Mueller’s investigation has resulted in criminal charges against 34 Trump administration individuals with seven guilty pleas and one conviction. In addition, there is a call coming from many sectors of the government and the public calling for Trump’s impeachment. It is uncertain how this will play out because members of his party seem to have developed a case of limp spaghetti brain. Most of them appear to be bullied, which is surprising. People are questioning what he has over them. The answer is probably related to the psychology of “bullyism;” bullies know how to push people’s buttons. A side note: a lot of people write Trump off as being unintelligent. The fact, though, is that there are many kinds of intelligence, and Trump is a genius when it comes to controlling others.
A huge pool of candidates has tossed their hats into the ring hoping to unseat the wanna-be dictator during the upcoming 2020 elections. Hopefully, an appropriate candidate wins so that we can avoid being “trumped” by Trump, which is what might happen if Trump remains in office for four more years. In that case, the United States as we know it would suffer irreparable damage. A Luta Continua.
