Michael Cohen testified to the House Oversight Committee yesterday. What were some takeaways?
The worst thing he said was that based upon his knowledge of "Mr. Trump" there would be no peaceful transfer of power if he loses in 2020. I am afraid I would expect the same thing. If he had lost in 2016 he said he would not concede the result. It's just who he is. He can't admit a loss.
The saddest thing about Trump that he said is that Trump directed him to write threatening letters to his schools to not release his SATs or grades. We know that Trump has claimed to have a "very good brain" and "a very stable genius". Nonsense of course, and he is desperate to keep evidence of his intellect out of the public record. Just for the record, by the way, William T Kelly, a former Wharton professor said, long before Trump entered politics and was just a TV reality show personality, "Trump was the Goddamned dumbest student I ever had".
How about felonies? Max Boot listed at least five that Cohen outlined:
- Conspiracy with the Russians during the campaign when he coordinated with Roger Stone to get Wikileaks' document dump from Clinton emails
- Lying to the Justice Department and the FBI about coordinating with Stone
- Suborning Perjury when he directed Cohen to lie about his ongoing efforts to build a Trump Tower in Moscow prior to his inauguration
- Violating campaign finance laws by paying off mistresses to keep them quiet just before the election day
- Bank and Tax Fraud when he inflated his assets in order to get underserved bank loans and deflating the same assets in order to pay less taxes
What was the most important outcome of these hearings? Other names to be called for testimony, especially Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg. Do you think Trump financial info might put Mr. Trump in jail?
Are these impeachable offenses? Of course. Will he be impeached for them? Probably not because only the Republicans can impeach him, and the only way Republicans are going to impeach Trump is if there is a sudden revelation that causes the entire county to gasp in horror and disbelief. I gasp in horror and disbelief frequently, but I don't count and liberals and Democrats don't count. Only conservatives and Republican Senators count.
Should Trump be impeached? I am afraid that if he his impeached people will die by the hands of extremist white supremacist militia style crazies who will only see such as a coup.
Better that Congress just run the county and ignore this nitwit, and have both Republican and Democrat candidates run against him and defeat him in 2020.
Watching Trump is like watching a PBS docudrama about tyrannical kings of yore, but the roles are being played by the Three Stooges (actually Many Stooges)
I understand that Donald Trump campaigned on building a big, beautiful wall across the southern border of America to keep brown people out. And he got elected. So, what about today? Today, the House of Representatives and the Senate have voted overwhelmingly to keep the government open and provide about $1.4 billion for the president's wall. He wanted $5.7 billion and wanted it so badly that he shut the government down for over a month.
But he didn't get his wall funding.
So, what is he promising to do? Sign the funding bill which will keep the government open, which he has finally figured out he must do since he caught the bulk of the blame for his heartless closing of the government.
But, of course, since he is Donald Trump, he can't allow himself to lose a news cycle - he must give in to the real bosses of the Republican Party, Ann Coulter and Sean Hannity - he has to still prove what a magnificently masculine man man man he is. He has to Be Tough.
So, the solution? He promises to sign the bill (where he looks like a loser even though it is a rational thing to do) and simultaneously declare a national emergency to fund The Wall. Silly man.
Presidential nominees promise things all the time on the campaign trail and often actually try to get those things into law. But, the genius of the Constitution is that nobody gets to be a king. Presidential candidates promise, and then they get elected, and then they try to get the votes to deliver on their promises.
Trump couldn't get the votes to build his wall.
He had two years to get votes to build his wall when he had both the House and the Senate in Republican hands. But, he didn't.
Now that he lost the House to the Democrats he tried to get the votes. Silly man.
The House of Representatives controls the purse strings - they are the ones to assign spending, not the president. I don't see the Democratic controlled House letting this unconstitutional power grab by the president to go unchallenged. I expect the House to pass a bill preventing the president from arbitrarily declaring an obvious false state of emergency (presidents declare states of emergency during actual emergencies - floods, hurricanes, massive fires, etc - not for keeping political promises)
I expect that many Republicans will vote to overturn the president's false claim of emergency. The power of the Congress is being foolishly challenged by the man who wants to be king - the man who continuously pushes to become an authoritarian dictator and turn the country into Rule by Man rather than Rule by Constitution or Rule by Law.
It is appropriate that Trump's come-uppance could be over his signature inane campaign promise - The Wall.
He didn't get the votes, so he doesn't get The Wall.
Dems are fine with increased border security in exchange for Dreamer citizenship. Dems are fine with increased border security that includes humane treatment of refugees. Dems loathe The Wall. As do I.
There is only one rule when going for a Power Play - don't lose. He is going to lose. I deeply hope. Constitutional Separation of Powers is at stake.
