Monthly Archives: December 2019

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By golly, the state of our Union is strong

This will be one of the more intriguing State of the Union speeches Americans will have heard in a while.

Donald Trump has accepted U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s invitation to deliver a State of the Union speech on Feb. 2. The president well might be on trial in the U.S. Senate when he steps to the microphone before a joint congressional session. Or, the trial might be over.

Whatever the case, the president will have a chance to declare the condition of our Union. You know what? If he says it is “strong,” I will have to agree.

Yes, we are in the midst of a tremendous and terrible constitutional crisis. The president has been impeached for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. The nation is divided deeply over how this impeachment should conclude. Millions of Americans want Trump to be cleared. Millions of other Americans — including me — want him booted out of office in the wake of a Senate conviction.

Through all of this, though, it is good to reflect on the system of government that our founders created. A good part of the founders’ genius is that they built in protections to shore up our government in the event of crises such as this one.

The separation of powers is one such protection. The presidency isn’t nearly as powerful as Trump seems to suggest it is; the president cannot “whatever he wants.” The founders handed out equal doses of power to Congress and to the judiciary. So, whatever happens in the Senate trial, the nation will survive. Our Constitution will have done its job.

The president’s declaration, if he chooses to make it, that our “Union is strong” likely will draw catcalls and jeers from the Democratic side of the congressional chamber. Indeed, I await watching the body language that Pelosi will exhibit along with her Democratic colleagues gathered before her, the vice president and the president.

Such a reaction would ignore what I believe is quite clear.

Which is that despite the trouble we are in, despite the abuses that Donald Trump has heaped upon the presidency and the high crimes and misdemeanors I believe he has committed, our Union remains steady and strong.

religious news

Christianity Today: Trump has crossed moral line

My head is still spinning over the extraordinary condemnation of Donald Trump published by Christianity Today, a publication founded by the late Rev. Billy Graham and has become a leading voice for evangelical Christians who form arguably the president’s most reliable support bloc.

The editorial in the magazine takes Trump to task for across-the-board immoral behavior and asks his supporters how they can maintain their support of him while he continues to act with no moral compass.

It’s an extraordinary commentary. Editor-in-chief Mark Galli says that the impeachment inquiry was the deal-breaker for him and for his publication. He said the inquiry has revealed without question that Trump solicited personal political help from a foreign government; that act, Galli writes, is “profoundly immoral.”

Galli has expressed in eloquent and elegant prose feelings my wife and I have been expressing to each other for the past, oh, three years. It is that Donald Trump’s pandering to the religious right should be seen as an affront to those who actually believe in Christian theology and live by its teachings.

We have noted repeatedly that Trump, in our eyes, has violated practically every one of the commandments handed down by God himself. Christianity Today agrees, saying: That he should be removed, we believe, is not a matter of partisan loyalties but loyalty to the Creator of the Ten Commandments.

Will this be a decisive argument? That remains to be seen. He will keep insisting that he intends to appoint judges faithful to the issues near and dear to evangelical voters.

So far, Trump has managed to maintain that support, even while he behaves like a religious reprobate.

Mark Galli has written a superb essay. Take a look at it here.

 

media news

Biden to ex-WH flack: ‘It’s called empathy. Look it up.’

Sarah Huckabee Sanders has shown that she learned some cheap-shot skills while working for Donald J. Trump.

During a 2020 Democratic presidential joint appearance this week with six other candidates for the party nomination, former Vice President Joe Biden talked about how he overcame a severe stuttering problem.

He told of how he visits with children with similar issues, saying that a children might tell him “I-I-I-I can’t talk. What do I do?”

Sanders, the former White House press secretary, decided to tweet out a snarky message, saying via Twitter: “I I I I  I have absolutely no idea what Joe Biden is talking about.” Biden responded by saying that he was seeking to employ some “empathy,” and urged Sanders to “look it up.”

The smart-alecky response from Sanders drew the expected rebuke on social media. To her credit, she did apologize, saying she didn’t know about the former VP’s stuttering history and that she should have “made my point more respectfully.”

Indeed. But the problem with social media and with Twitter serving as a platform to deliver these messages instantaneously, the damage gets done and often is difficult to repair.

Take better care, Sarah Sanders, when you decide to take shots at political foes. They tend to cheapen themselves rapidly.

national news

Bring on the witnesses, and then have that trial in the Senate

(Photo by Salwan Georges/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is not making an unreasonable demand on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

The House has impeached the current president of the United States, Donald Trump. The Senate is now slated eventually to hold a trial to determine whether he should be convicted of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.

Pelosi wants witnesses called and documentation offered. Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer agrees with the speaker. He wants a trial with witnesses, just as what occurred during the Senate trials of Presidents Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton.

Without them, the nation will get a show trial.

Let’s understand, too, that Democrats want to hear from former national security adviser John Bolton, acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, former White House counsel Don McGahn. What do they have in common? They’re all Trump allies.

Might they provide testimony that works in Trump’s favor? Sure. Might they have something damaging to offer? You bet. Trials need to include witnesses and documentary evidence.

McConnell mustn’t be allowed to stonewall this process the way Trump has done throughout the House impeachment inquiry.

Senators are going home for Christmas. They well might hear from their constituents who could demand they adhere to demands to call witnesses. If they listen to and heed those demands, then we might actually get a serious trial conducted under the rules of evidence.

If McConnell wants to shield these witnesses from public scrutiny, then I believe we’re entitled to presume that he has something to hide from the country.

religious news

Christianity Today delivers the goods

(Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

The Rev. Billy Graham would be proud … I believe.

Christianity Today, the magazine founded by America’s Pastor, has delivered a stunning rebuke of the current president who has courted the evangelical movement as if he actually believed the teachings offered in the New Testament.

The publication has called for Trump’s removal from office. Read the analysis here.

The essay is written by editor in chief Mark Galli, who declares that Trump’s ethical incompetence and “moral deficiencies” render him unfit for high office.

Galli’s essay does take Democrats to task for having it in for Trump all along and for the nature of the impeachment process. Still, the publication’s editor states: But the facts in this instance are unambiguous: The president of the United States attempted to use his political power to coerce a foreign leader to harass and discredit one of the president’s political opponents. That is not only a violation of the Constitution; more importantly, it is profoundly immoral.

Does this essay now mean that millions of evangelical movement votes will abandon the president? Hardly. It does, though, suggest a leading Christian publication has retained a significant sense of outrage over a man who pretends to be faithful to Christian teachings.

This individual isn’t faithful to anything other than to his own well-being, his own poll standing, his own political future.

It appears to me that Christianity Today has, shall we say, found some necessary religion.

The Rev. Billy Graham is looking down on this world with a smile on his face.

national news

Trump’s latest ‘worst’ event finally hits bottom … I hope

(Photo by BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)

There have been more “worst” moments of Donald Trump’s time as a politician and as president that I cannot keep track of them all.

He denigrated John McCain’s service to the nation; he mocked a New York Times reporter’s physical ailment; he chastised a Gold Star couple; he has issued insults left and right; his incessant lying; he most recently implied that a late congressman might be resting eternally in hell.

Well, the events that occurred in the House of Representatives I believe qualifies as the worst thing to happen to this individual’s presidency. The House voted to impeach Trump on two counts. It was a partisan vote, but it’s a vote nonetheless. Trump’s tenure as president is now marked indelibly with the label of “impeached.”

It could get worse. It likely won’t unless hell freezes over and the Senate actually convicts Trump either of abuse of power or obstruction of Congress.

Trump hit the campaign trail and at the moment the House was impeaching him, he was standing at a podium in Battle Creek, Mich., where he made the idiotic crack about the late John Dingell “looking up” at the world from, um, the depths of hell.

The day of Trump’s impeachment has been called historic, seminal, pivotal, monumental … all of the above and even some more superlative descriptions.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said the Democrats are motivated purely by “partisan” hatred of Trump. Ironic, yes? This comes from the guy who has perfected partisanship to an art form.

So, what now? House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is withholding the articles of impeachment until she learns the rules under which the Senate will conduct its trial. She wants it to be “fair.” Well, duh? My hope is that McConnell agrees to conduct a “fair” trial.

As for the president, he will have the indelible mark of being an “impeached” head of state. It’s a designation he has earned. Of that I have no doubt.

national news

Defending the indefensible?

White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham has inherited the toughest job on Earth: trying to defend the indefensible snarkiness from the current president of the United States.

Grisham gave it a shot this morning, saying that Donald Trump is a “counter puncher” in her effort to defend Trump’s hideous insult last night that implied that the late U.S. Rep. John Dingell is in hell.

Maybe you heard Trump say it. He was talking about Dingell’s wife, Debbie, who voted in the House to impeach Trump. Trump rambled on about Dingell “looking down” on his wife, then added, “maybe he was looking up. I don’t know.”

You could hear the audible groan from the rally crowd gathered in Battle Creek, Mich., in the home state where John Dingell served in Congress longer than anyone in U.S. history.

Trump didn’t back off.

Neither did Grisham this morning on “Good Morning America.” But really? Declaring that Trump is a “counter puncher” as a defense against the latest utterly tasteless, crass and reprehensible remark to flow out of POTUS’s pie hole?

Disgraceful.

national news

This is what you get from this POTUS … shameful rhetoric

Donald J. “Comedian in Chief” Trump is now an impeached president of the United States.

While the House of Representatives was voting to impeach him, the president stood in front of a campaign rally in Battle Creek, Mich., and riffed on all the folks who did him wrong, in his eyes.

Then the president stooped way down low. He brought up the memory of the late U.S. Rep. John Dingell, a Michigan Democrat who served in World War II and then held a House seat longer than anyone in U.S. history. He died this year. His wife, Debbie, is now serving in Congress and, yes, she voted to impeach Trump.

What did the president say about the late, great, Rep. Dingell? He talked about the military funeral he received; Dingell is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

Trump said this: She (Debbie Dingell) calls me up. ‘It’s the nicest thing that’s ever happened. Thank you so much. John would be so thrilled. He’s looking down, he’d be so thrilled. Thank you so much sir.’ I said that’s OK, don’t worry about it,” Trump said, relaying the call.

“Maybe he’s looking up, I don’t know. Maybe. Maybe. But let’s assume he’s looking down.”

“Maybe he’s looking up.” Did you get that one? Yep, the president of the United States implied that the late Rep. Dingell might be in hell.

Debbie Dingell responded with this tweet: “Mr. President, let’s set politics aside. My husband earned all his accolades after a lifetime of service. I’m preparing for the first holiday season without the man I love. You brought me down in a way you can never imagine and your hurtful words just made my healing much harder.”

I will not offer a comment on that idiocy, other than to call it utterly heartless.

Doesn’t he just make you so damn proud? Me, neither.

national news

Where was the defense of POTUS’s character?

I might need therapy after today’s impeachment activity. I sat through much of the back-and-forth on the floor of the House of Representatives. I listened to Republicans and Democrats talk past each other.

Then came the vote. The House voted to impeach Donald Trump on abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.

What I did not hear from any of the Republicans who argued against impeaching the president was a single statement in defense of Trump’s character. No one on the GOP side of the aisle said a single word defending the president against allegations that he extorted a foreign government for a personal political favor; no one argued on behalf of the president against allegations that he obstructed Congress in its pursuit of the truth.

They all attacked the process. They attacked the motives of the president’s critics. They were bizarrely silent on the issue of Trump’s character. No one said Donald Trump would not do these things.

Does that tell you anything at all about the man who now stands impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors? Or does it tell you anything about his standing among those who continue to resist efforts to hold this man accountable for the behavior for which he has been impeached?

national news

Rep. Gabbard chokes on impeachment vote

Man, I hate thinking this about a military veteran who is running for the presidency of the United States … but it looks as though Rep. Tulsi Gabbard exhibited a cowardly trait in voting “present” on whether to impeach Donald J. Trump.

Gabbard’s vote will need some explanation. I am sure the media that are covering her presidential campaign will be primed to ask her about that non-vote.

I don’t even know what a “present” vote is supposed to mean. Was she unwilling to vote on either side of the two impeachment articles? Was she undecided? Why not just, um, not vote?

I might have been willing to give Rep. Gabbard some serious consideration as a Democratic candidate for president.

Until tonight.