-

Breaking Up is Hard to Do
By Hank Silverberg

Another week goes by. Another week of revelations in the investigation of Donald J. Trump, which is so bizarre it doesn’t even have a name that ends in “gate.”

Last week I wrote about the inability of anyone in the Republican party to openly call for Trump’s impeachment or even support the investigation into his behavior.

Then came Trump’s White House driveway news gaggle in which he indicated he had asked China to investigate Joe Biden and his son, because Mr. Trump said he wants to do away with all corruption. Never mind that the allegations are nonsense. An American President is still suggesting that TWO foreign governments investigate his political rival, Biden and his family.

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=Trump%2c+china%2c+biden+video+&view=detail&mid=862065B24498A01B682F862065B24498A01B682F&FORM=VIRE


Trump said it. We all heard it. But there are still many Republican leaders who deny it happened, say that he was joking or that the media edited what he said. They are lemmings and a few other things that my editor (my wife) won’t let me write.   

Last week in this space I chided the GOP for not having ANYONE who would stand up to Trump. This week there were a few, though I doubt they read my blog.  

That China comment was the straw that broke the camel's back for some Republicans—FINALLY. Most notable was the GOP’s  2012 presidential nominee and now Senator, Mitt Romney (R, Utah).

He wrote, “When the only American citizen President Trump singles out for China’s investigation is his political opponent in the midst of the Democratic nomination process, it strains credulity to suggest that it is anything other than politically motivated."

Romney and Trump have never been buddies, so it’s not surprising he broke ranks with his Republican colleagues. There have been one or two others who have expressed concern and called for the investigation to move forward, but they are few and far between.
Trump immediately went into a twitter attack--his usual Modes Operandi-- for anyone who criticizes him.



 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump
I’m hearing that the Great People of Utah are considering their vote for their Pompous Senator, Mitt Romney, to be a big mistake. I agree! He is a fool who is playing right into the hands of the Do Nothing Democrats! #IMPEACHMITTROMNEY
3:06 PM · Oct 5, 2019Twitter for iPhone

27.9K
Retweets

99K

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

There was more to the exchange which you can read about on this link, but you can get the gist of it.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/10/05/trump-calls-mitt-romney-pompous/3879564002/


 Trump later called for Romney's impeachment, unaware that you can't impeach a U.S. Senator. (We've known for the last three years that Trump has no understanding of the U.S. Constitution.) 


The bottom line after my details from last week: the crack in the Republican defense of Mr. Trump may be widening just a little bit. It's not enough to mean impeachment or removal from office, but certainly enough to provide hope that there are a few decent smart people left in the GOP.

I’m not particularly fond of Senator Romney either after some of the things he said in the 2012 campaign. But those issues look almost trivial in nature compared to what’s going on now, so I will give him credit for kicking the can forward a little bit.   


Then there's the latest poll on the issue. The Economist poll taken on October 4th revealed this:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Should the House try to impeach Trump?

 Yes  50%
No   39%

 If the House impeaches should the Senate remove Trump from office?

 Yes 51%
No 39%


https://today.yougov.com/topics/politics/articles-reports/2019/10/02/americans-believe-trying-impeachment

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
News Notes:

Mr. Trump also mentioned again this week that he would like to start a White House News Network and fill it with what he called  “really talented people and get a real voice out there. Not a voice that’s fake.” 

That, of course, is ludicrous. He gets mostly fair press all the time, he just can’t accept it. Fox News has stepped over the line in his favor so much since 2015 that it has been labeled by many "GOP TV." And the United States already has a  government financed news operation called "Voice of America," which already does a fine job broadcasting fair and balanced news overseas. It does not focus on the White House (see the link below).

https://www.rferl.org/a/amid-battles-with-press-trump-floats-idea-of-white-house-news-network/30199404.html



The attacks on the media are not just a White House thing. Every journalist in America shivered when they spotted the article posted here:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/journalist-ben-watson-customs-agent-withheld-passport-over-propaganda/ar-AAIkf6A?li=BBnb7Kz



It was a Customs Enforcement agent in the U.S. holding an American journalist’s passport until he admitted he wrote "propaganda."  The journalist later said he did say it just to get through the line. That’s the kind of thing you would expect in Russia or China, not at Dulles International Airport in Virginia.  


And finally there is this:

Two world leaders thought it was important that they attack or mock a 16-year-old climate change activist, Greta Thunberg after she gave an emotional speech before leaders of the European Union. She basically told them that half way measures would no longer work and we need more radical solutions to prevent permanent climate change in her lifetime.  

The science supports the need for something to be done. 

But two leaders of major polluters, the U.S.A. and Russia, didn’t listen.

https://www.usatoday.com/videos/news/nation/2019/09/23/emotional-greta-thunberg-chastises-world-leaders/2419362001/

Instead they mocked her.

Vladamir Putin: “I’m sure that Greta is a kind and very sincere girl. But adults must do everything not to bring teenagers and children into some extreme situations.”

Donald J. Trump mockingly: "She seems like a very happy young girl looking forward to a bright and wonderful future. So nice to see!"



Her speech followed a new report from the U.N. which says climate change is ALREADY causing major impacts on the oceans and ice-filled regions that make up more than 80% of the earth. The change
(Hurricane Dorian, courtesy NWS) 
is already killing coral reefs, fueling deadly storms and melting a record amount of ice. This is not science fiction. More than 100 scientists from around the world worked on the report. And in the report they warned conditions will get worse if nothing is done very soon to lower carbon emissions.
https://www.un.org/en/climatechange/reports.shtml


Greta may just be right.



                         (Your comments and suggestions are welcome) 

                                       

Copies of my book  "The Campaign"  can be purchased on Amazon.com, BN.com or by contacting me at hanksilverberg@gmail.com for details on a reduced price, signed copy. 
                  

Comments

Post a Comment

Reactive comments are welcome. Please keep it civil. Any direct attack on the blogger or those who post is not welcome and will be deleted.

Popular posts from this blog

-
Image
A Year After Insurrection                          #204 by Hank Silverberg At the end of this week we will mark an ugly milestone in American history. It will be one year since hundreds of people stormed the U.S. Capitol with the intent of overturning the fair election of Joe Biden and disrupting one of the main tenets of  our Republic: the peaceful transition of power.   More than 700 individuals have been charged with crimes for their participation in the attacks, and so far more than 50 have been convicted.    January 6 Capitol Riot Arrests (usatoday.com) At least seven members of Congress have been named for helping to plan the event along with some of former President Trump's staff, though none have been criminally charged. More disgusting: very few Republican members of Congress have even expressed outrage over the violence and the attempt to overturn the election even thought it actual...
Read more
-
Image
A Taxing Week By Hank Silverberg A few years back while doing a story on the financial stability of a local hospital, I was reading through the facility's annual report.   It kept referring to “negative patient outcome,” and it took me a few minutes to realize they were talking about the death rate among patients. Over the years, while covering numerous county boards and city councils, I often heard politicians talk about the need for more “revenue enhancements,” and it was clear that "revenue enhancements" was a code word for taxes.   So, I begin this week’s blog with an old saying slightly modified. There is nothing certain in life except negative patient outcome and revenue enhancements. It’s been a taxing week. I had to write a fairly large check to the U.S. Treasury to meet the April 15 th income tax deadline, and like millions of Americans, I am not happy about it.  Don’t get me wrong. I fully believe that each citizen should pay their fair share of...
Read more
-
Image
Tips For Watching Election Results !         #308 By Hank Silverberg Watching election results these days can be an up and down drama, distorted by political pundits, different counting rules in each state- and frankly--propaganda.  Many American's will skip the wall-to-wall play-by-play that starts an hour or two before the polls close and goes on ad-nauseum into the wee hours of Wednesday morning.  But the days of simply watching a movie all night and finding out the results on the 11 o'clock news just won't work anymore.  We will not know who the next president will be until at least Wednesday morning at the earliest, or maybe a few days or even weeks later.  Don't be confused by it all.   There are lots of votes to count. For example, more than 72 million people have already voted early, either in person, by mail or by absentee ballot.  In some states those votes have already been counted but won't be made public until the polls...
Read more

Contact Form

Name

Email *

Message *