Tag Archives: Joe Biden

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Trump soon to be gone; others, such as Sen. Cruz, will remain

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

The tragedy of the riot that overwhelmed Capitol Hill this week will remain seared into our national soul for a long time.

What’s more is that even though the Perpetrator in Chief, Donald Trump, will be gone in (no more than) 12 days, many of his minions — those in power — will be on the job, manning their posts and perhaps trying to become the next spokesman for whatever cause Trump supposedly sought to move forward.

Truth be told at this juncture, I hope Trump is gone before President Biden’s inaugural on Jan. 20. He is a menace to the nation as he demonstrated by inciting the riot that stormed the seat of our government.

He’ll be gone. Soon!

Who will remain? The likes of Sen. Ted Cruz, the Texan who was among the ringleaders to challenge the Electoral College result that elected Joe Biden as president and Kamala Harris as vice president.

To hear Cruz say that “Democrats are playing politics” makes me want to scream at the top of my lungs. What in the name of bald-faced hypocrisy is he suggesting? That Republicans are pure and clean and filled only with righteousness? If there ever was a more political animal prowling through the halls of Congress, he or she would have to go a great distance to outdo the Cruz Missile.

I am ashamed to be represented in Congress by this individual. He has sickened me since the day he emerged out of nowhere to defeat Texas Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst in the 2012 Republican primary and then went on to be elected U.S. senator from Texas. It didn’t take much clairvoyance to determine immediately that Cruz had the White House on his mind when he entered the Senate. Sure enough, he sought the Big Prize in 2016, only to lose to Trump.

What slays me is how Cruz once referred to his GOP primary foe Trump as a “sniveling coward,” only to become that very thing as he lined up behind a president he once called a “pathological liar.”

Ted Cruz will be there after Trump exits. He will be joined by other sycophants. Make no mistake that I will think only of that riot and Cruz’s attempt to subvert the will of an electorate every single time I see his puss on TV or hear his voice.

national news

Trump makes hollow plea

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

I just watched a 2 minute 41 second video of Donald J. Trump declaring  that his fight to undermine democracy is over.

Yes, he acknowledged that President-elect Joe Biden will be inaugurated along with Vice President-elect Kamala Harris. The time for “healing” has come, he said.

How astonishing that he would expect viewers such as me to believe he actually means the words he read from a prepared text, that the man who incited a riot this week on Capitol Hill now wants us to believe that his “only goal” in clinging to power was to protect the integrity of our electoral system.

Unbelievable.

I do not accept this individual’s statement — which doesn’t contain a single word of contrition for the role he played in igniting the mayhem that erupted inside the halls of our nation’s Capitol Building. We all watched as Trump egged on the mob, urging the rioters to walk to Capitol Hill to take back the government. 

Donald Trump will, in the words of conservative columnist George Will, carry a “scarlet S” — standing for “seditionist” — for the rest of his life. That is his legacy … forever.

national news

Yes, there’s good news from Capitol Hill riot!

(AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

The drama we saw unfold this week on Capitol Hill as Congress sought to ratify the election of Joe Biden as president of the United States is a long way from its conclusion.

There will be more chapters to add to the tragedy we witnessed as Donald Trump incited a riot that threatened the men and women who sought to do their constitutional duty.

I am happy to provide what I hope is a glimmer of good news from the travesty. It is that any thought Donald Trump might have about running for the presidency in 2024 has vanished. Donald Trump’s political future is gone. Finished. He is toast. Stick a fork in him; he’s done.

Oh, I am sure there remains a radical fringe of Trumpkins who want Trump to seek the presidency in four years. They are beyond redemption, beyond hope, beyond any sort of revival.

There well might be a second impeachment in Trump’s immediate future. Or, he could be removed from office before his term ends in just 13 days if a majority of the Cabinet, along with Vice President Pence,  goes along with invoking the Constitution’s 25th Amendment. If either event occurs, that would end Trump’s political life.

However, if Trump manages to serve out the remainder of his term — which I venture to say is likely — he can kiss goodbye any thought he might harbor of trying to reclaim the office that President-elect Biden tore from his tiny hands on Nov. 3, 2020.

To be honest, I have sought to find signs of hope from the melee that erupted Wednesday. That is the best I can find at this moment. The rest of that drama has depressed me beyond all measure.

Donald Trump will continue to bloviate and bluster long after he leaves office. That’s fine. Let him bellow. He won’t matter to me or to anyone who takes seriously the future that awaits him.

He is finished.

national news

A new day dawns after a grim, tragic episode

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Good morning, everyone. Did you sleep well last night?

I did, to my surprise. What’s more, I awoke to the news  that Congress completed the task that was interrupted Wednesday by the rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol Building, vandalized our property, ransacked the offices of high government officials and generally brought heaps of shame onto the country they purport to love.

Congress had gathered to ratify the election of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris as president and vice president of the United States. Then he sh** hit the fan as Donald Trump incited the rioters to march to the Capitol Building and take back the government … from whom is a mystery to me.

Congress finished its task in the wee hours. After the cops cleared the Capitol, the Senate and House reconvened to receive the Electoral College tally of votes. Then Vice President Mike Pence announced to the world what we knew: that Biden and Harris will take office on Jan. 20.

We witnessed a shameful display of petulance gone utterly mad. Donald Trump lost an election but his refusal to concede fanned the fires of anger among his cult followers.

Oh, today Trump tweeted something about pledging an orderly transfer of power, which is his sorry way of admitting that President-elect Biden defeated him. We’ll have to wait with bated breath to see how this transition takes place. To be candid, I do not have faith in anything that flows from Trump’s Twitter account.

I remain fearful of what this evil individual can do over the course of the next 13 days. I am of the belief he needs to be reined in tightly. We have that constitutional amendment that allows for his removal. Yes, it’s a stretch to think that a majority of the Cabinet and Pence will go along with it. The House could impeach Trump again in the next couple of days if it had the guts to do so.

Donald Trump’s demonstration of his utter unfitness for public office was on full and ghastly display.

What must we do? We must hold the seditionists who sought to contest an election result on phony assertions of fraud accountable for their horrendous conduct. Texas, I am ashamed to say, stands at the front of that line of shame, with the likes of Sen. Ted Cruz and several members of the House joining in that charade.

Let’s all have a good day … shall we?

national news

Trump carves his legacy in stone

(Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Donald J. Trump has carved his presidential legacy into stone.

It cannot be covered up, or ground clean, or wiped away. He stood this morning before a crowd of Trumpsters and egged them on, urged them to march on the Capitol Building, the heart of our government.

The mob took him at his word. They marched on the building, stormed into the House and Senate chambers. They sent our members of both chambers of Congress scrambling for their safety.

It’s all on Trump. It’s all on him. This insurrection, which forced a shutdown of Congress, ended a constitutional discussion aimed at ratifying the results of the 2020 presidential election.

If there was a more graphic, hideous and profound example of Donald Trump’s unfitness for the presidency, the man himself showed it in all its ugliness.

A woman was shot in the Capitol and later died. Others were injured in the melee. The capital police, assisted by Virginia and Maryland law enforcement officers fought to restore order. They did so, but at a terrible cost to the nation’s international standing.

The rioters bred fear into the hearts of millions of us who were watching from afar, not to mention those who are watched it up close.

The person who deserves the lion’s share of the blame for this? Donald J. Trump, the lame-duck president of the United States.

He should resign the presidency. Or the House should commence impeachment proceedings immediately. Or, and this also is a possibility now, given the hideous riot we witnessed, the Cabinet should meet to invoke the 25th Amendment to the Constitution to replace him immediately. Let the vice president serve the remainder of the current presidential  term.

And spare me the “all sides are guilty” argument. No. This hideous demonstration of incompetence belongs solely to Donald Trump.

This man is a dire threat to our national security.

national news

Yes, I am surprised

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By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

National media are full of pundits, analysts and others who are proclaiming their lack of “surprise” at the horrifying events that unfolded in the District of Columbia.

I am not going to join that chorus. Instead, I am going to offer an apology to those I have spoken to privately that the tragedy we witnessed today caught me by surprise.

Maybe I am slow on the uptake. Maybe I just didn’t take Donald Trump as seriously as I should have when he continued to fan the embers of mistrust about the 2020 election’s integrity. Just maybe I overestimated the quality of the rank-and-file Trumpkin Corps of believers in this guy’s cult of personality.

I suppose my surprise makes the events that unfolded today seem all the more frightening. Having been blessed tonight with a bit of hindsight over what happened, I know understand more clearly that we all should have been more alert to what could happen.

The cabal of kooks who sought to challenge President-elect Biden’s victory over Trump in November have committed an act of sedition against the United States. I have no doubt about that.

As a member of my family said tonight, perhaps their being forced to lie face-down on the floor under their desks while protesters stormed the Capitol building will persuade them to cease this idiotic, moronic protest of the Electoral College tally.

One would think.

However, I am left now to ponder a reality I truly didn’t see coming. It is that Donald Trump is a Pied Piper who leads a horde of mindless minions who today proved their willingness to stop a branch of our federal government from performing their constitutional duty.

national news

It’s the context, man

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Context, like timing, is everything.

It shouldn’t be news that Vice President Mike Pence has pledged to uphold the law and the U.S. Constitution while he presides over a joint session of Congress to ratify Joe Biden’s election as president.

But it is news.

Nor should it be news that Republicans in the U.S. House and U.S. Senate are standing up “courageously” to support that same Constitution by doing their duty and refusing to contest the election result.

But, again, it is news.

Why is it news? Because of the context of a needless, pointless and self-serving fight to keep Donald Trump in power even though he lost a free, fair and secure election to President-elect Biden. Trump has been joined by a dozen senators and 140 House members who will contest the Biden victory ratification.

Opinion | Never Forget the Names of These Republicans Attempting a Coup – The New York Times (nytimes.com)

The context of this event has lent shame and disgrace to the men and women who have placed their fealty to one man, Donald Trump, over their allegiance to the U.S. Constitution. It also has placed unwarranted newsworthiness to officials doing what the law instructs them to do.

We live in a bizarre political environment.

national news

Doesn’t ‘feel right’?

J(Photo by Jeff Malet) (Credit Image: � Jeff Malet/Newscom via ZUMA Press)

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

“I mean, he couldn’t draw 12 people into a classroom when my father was filling stadiums. No one believes that this guy got 80 million votes. It doesn’t feel right, it doesn’t look right.”

So said the nation’s dimmest No. 2 son, Eric Trump, when talking about the results of the 2020 presidential election.

That was the contest that Joe Biden won by more than 7 million votes as well as scoring a substantial Electoral College victory, handing Donald J. Trump a defeat for the ages.

And yet, Eric, Don Jr., Ivanka and Jared and the Gang of Thieves/Thugs/Traitors surrounding the outgoing president of the United States suggest that Congress is actually going to subvert the Constitution to their wishes and declare Daddy Donald the winner of an election he lost bigly.

I agree that there is a handful of seditionists among the 535 House members and senators who make this decision final for all time. They include more than a few Texans, I am ashamed to say.

As for whether “no one believes” President-elect Biden got that many votes, here’s a flash for the young Eric Trump. I believe it and I was among the millions of Americans who cast their votes proudly for the next president.

My straight forward advice to Eric and the rest of the sedition caucus … shut the hell up!

national news, political news

Trump displays breathtaking ignorance

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By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Donald J. Trump displays a breathtaking degree of ignorance about a government he is about to leave behind.

Let’s ponder what is about to transpire.

Vice President Mike Pence is going to preside Wednesday over a joint congressional session that will ratify what we already know as stone-cold fact: that the Electoral College has certified that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are the president- and vice president-elect respectively.

They defeated Trump and Pence in the Nov. 3 election.

Yet we hear that Trump is badgering/hectoring/threatening Pence, ordering him to challenge the results he is about to receive while swinging the gavel over the joint congressional session.

Except for this: Pence cannot do a single, solitary thing about the result. He must accept the result and then declare to the world that Biden and Harris will take office on Jan. 20.

Axios and other media are reporting that Trump didn’t know about the vice president’s ceremonial role until just recently. Still, having learned that VP Pence cannot change a vote, he cannot alter a result per Trump’s urging, that he must adhere to the U.S. Constitution, Trump continues to pressure Pence to violate the law.

So help me, Trump’s rebellion against the government he took an oath to defend and protect has crossed the line into criminality.

He demanded that Georgia’s secretary of state change the outcome of that state’s presidential outcome. He has badgered election officials in other swing states to do the same. He has filed and lost lawsuit after lawsuit seeking to cling to power.

I have not yet tried to analyze to my own satisfaction why Trump cannot or will not do what is normal, which is to accept defeat like a man and move on to the next phase of his life. It must be that he isn’t really a man, that he is a petulant little boy disguised in a man’s overfed body.

But … good news awaits us in just 14 days. Just two weeks! Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will take their oaths of office. They will restore knowledge of government to the individuals who will run it. They will usher in an end to the failed experiment of being governed by a president who brought zero public service experience to — or knowledge of — the most exalted public office in the nation.

I am waiting anxiously.

national news

GOP exhibits stunning duplicity

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By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

The hypocrisy and duplicity among congressional Republicans as they prepare to challenge an electoral result is simply breathtaking in its scope.

Consider what Republicans were saying during the Donald J. Trump impeachment inquiry in 2019. They opposed impeaching Trump because, they said, the people deserve the right to be heard. Let the people decide at the ballot box whether Trump is worthy of staying in office.

Well, voters made their decision in 2020. They elected Joseph R. Biden Jr. president of the United States. He corralled more than 7 million votes than Trump. He collected well more than enough Electoral College votes to secure the election.

The GOP stance now? They don’t trust the vote. The election was rigged. Democrats stole the election from Trump. Widespread voter fraud erupted all across the nation. Now a handful of these nimrods want to challenge the Electoral College results on Wednesday when the House and Senate meet jointly to canvass the votes and ratify the result: that Joe Biden will take office on Jan. 20 as the 46th president of the United States.

What in the name of electoral integrity are these clowns trying to do? Whatever their aim, it will fail. GOP opposition to this insurrection is building, with key Republican senators voicing their intention to endorse Biden’s election when they get the chance.

Still, I am trying to catch my breath while watching the GOP congressional caucus wring its hands over what constitutionally is set up as a mere formality.

The moron cabal of the GOP is being led by a man — Donald Trump — who is totally ignorant of what the Constitution allows. They all deserve each other.