The Imperial President
By Hank Silverberg
The President of The United States! For much of the last hundred years that title invoked the most powerful job in the world. The American President sought peace among nations (Wilson), waged war against mass murderers (FDR), opened a new frontier (JFK), or demanded that the walls of oppression be torn down (Reagan).
It didn't always work
out that way, but our allies and foes alike learned to respect what the power of the United States really meant to world stability. And they learned that the person in the Oval Office usually wielded that power, aware that it was as fleeting as the next election and the will of the people.
Richard Nixon put a big dent in the respect for the office, but in the end he lost his power because of his arrogance and his contempt for the law. From then on, Presidents didn't automatically get respect from the American people--the men who followed had to earn it.
Post Nixon, the most powerful man in the world was only powerful when the majority of his people were behind him and his basic morality was sound. And the best of those presidents brought in people to work for them who would remind each president of that moral obligation if they went astray.
An American president could lead the country in the wrong direction at times, but to paraphrase what Israeli diplomat Abba Eban once said, "Americans will always do the right thing, after exhausting all the alternatives." (Note to readers, this quote is often attributed to Winston Churchill ,but there is no evidence he ever said it.)
All of this went out the window on January 20, 2017 when Donald J. Trump entered the White House. From that very first day when he obsessed about the crowd size at his inauguration, to today when he obsesses about a "rigged election," he has disrespected the Constitution he has sworn an oath to protect, and the people it represents.
As the Trump nightmare fades into the footnotes of history in his last few weeks, he has continued his assault on American ideals and basic fairness.
Some examples in the last week:
Trump attacked Jeff Mason, a reporter for Reuters who had a simple question:
"Just to be clear: If the electoral college votes for Joe Biden, will you concede?"
Trump went off talking about the rigged election, but when Mason continued to ask his original question, we all got this:
"I'm the President of the United States! Don't ever talk to the President that way!" (Here's the video:)
Sorry, Mr. Trump, you are only a President, not King George III or Louis XIV. Our Founding Fathers worried about such trappings of nobility. It's right in the U.S. Constitution.
Article 1, Section 9, Clause 8:
"No title of nobility shall be granted by the United States"
They also added the First Amendment to the Bill of Rights to GUARANTEE a free press, which Trump has trampled on since day one.
Trump had also planned to overhaul the Civil Service during his second term, removing many of the safeguards that prevents Civil Servants from being fired on Presidential whim in favor of patronage. Since Trump won't get a second term, he's moved the process forward in an attempt to change all the rules.
Critics Decry Trump Order That Makes Firing Federal Workers Easier : NPR
In an executive order signed last week, Trump would be allowed to remove people like lawyers and scientists who are NOT political appointees and serve from administration to administration. The Civil Service and it's 2.79 million federal employees give the government a sense of continuity and are enabling decisions based on the law and regulations rather than political whim. It doesn't matter which party is in the White House.
The Civil Service was set up specifically in 1871 to free the federal workforce from political shenanigans. They work in dozens of agencies from the State Department to the U.S. Postal service. This Executive Order will remove that protection and pretty much destroy the Unions that federal workers belong to and give politically appointed cabinet members or department members the power to fire anyone for political reasons.
I could go on with Trump's lame duck offensive , but this is probably the last time I will be using video of Trump in my blog. He will soon become irrelevant, and I would rather write about the future and the challenges facing President-Elect Biden as he enters the White House.
Then there is this:
One of those issues will be our relationship with Iran, which remains the biggest threat to our national security and world peace.
I noted this week that someone, probably the Israelis, assassinated Iran's top nuclear scientists.
Iran blames Israel for assassination of top nuclear scientist - UPI.com
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| (Courtesy,The Iran Primer) |
The killing of Moshen Fakhrizadeh is sure to spark retaliation from Iran, and it is possible they could take advantage of the transition of power in the U.S. to hit an American target.
Israel has not claimed any responsibility for the assassination, but The Times of Israel has reported that Fahhirzadeh has been a long time target possibility for the Mossad, Israel's intelligence agency.
Mr. Biden has indicated he wants to re-enter the Nuclear treaty with Iran that the Trump administration dumped soon after he took office.
There has been concern for more than a decade that Iran's drive toward nuclear power for civilian purposes can easily be converted to nuclear weaponry.
Iran's nuclear ambitions edge closer - NZ Herald
Israel would consider any nuclear weapon in the hands of Iran as a direct threat. And it won't be good for the United States, either.
Update:
Covid-19 cases continue to climb across the country, and the Thanksgiving holiday is sure to exacerbate the pandemic. The spike has been nationwide, and with people ignoring the warnings and traveling for the holidays, the numbers are probably going to get worse.
(As of 11/28 Source New York Times. These numbers have probably changed already so see the link covid 19 update - Bing ).
What irks me the most are those people who simply won't follow the rules by wearing a mask and social distancing. As I have written here before, it is NOT a violation of your Constitutional rights, nor is it any great sacrifice. Even after the recently developed vaccines are distributed, we will never get back to near normal until people comply with the rules. There is a strong possibility that we will all be wearing masks until an overwhelming majority of the population has been vaccinated, and that won't happen until sometime next summer, even if the vaccination program goes smoothly. Add to that the significant part of the population that will resist the vaccines because they have been listening to all the wrong people. The advisory to "wear a mask" could be around much longer.
Remember, it was just a few years ago we were reading stories about the revival of chicken pox and the measles because a significant part of the population was spreading false information about their efficacy.
Trump may be going. But the plethora of fake news and irresponsible, mostly right wing, news organizations remains.
I will say this flat out. Fox News, OANN and Newsmax are not just bad--they are dangerous. They fabricate information that most fiction writers would reject as bad plot lines because the information is so false. There are others to worry about, particularly internet sites, but these three have the widest reach. Avoid them like your life depended on it, because right now it actually does!
Monolithic Discovery:
With all the talk of recounts and vaccines, you may have missed this one. It seems a helicopter crew flying over the Red Rock desert in Utah literally counting bighorn sheep, spotted something else. It was a metal monolith about 10 to 12 feet high constructed in a remote part of the desert. No one seems to know how it got there or who built it. It immediately brought up comparisons to the movie
2001:A Space Odyssey even though there were no apes nearby. So was it E-T trying to phone home?
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| (From flixchatter.net) |
Nope, I'm not going there! The best theory is that it was the work of some local artist who wanted to make some unknown statement.
Utah monolith: The mysterious silver monolith in the desert has disappeared - CNN
And then on Sunday word came that the golden monolith had mysteriously disappeared. It was on federal land, so the people or person who put it there may have wanted to avoid trouble. Or, in this age of conspiracy theories, was this some government secret project? I'm not going there either.
Buyer Beware:
And finally yet another bizarre story from the bizarre election. North Carolina businessman and strong Trump supporter, Fred Eschelman, has gone to court trying to get a refund of $2.5 million that he contributed to a group in Texas called "True the Vote."
Trump Supporter Asks for a Refund After Fantasy Voter Fraud Scam — The Progressive Investor
That group was supposed to be using the money for lawsuits the Trump campaign filed in seven swing states over the fake "voter fraud" claims. Those lawsuits either were dropped or never went anywhere. Eschelman asked for his money back, but that didn't happen. So, Eschelman did what you would expect. He filed his own lawsuit to get a refund. Like many projects involving Trump over the last four decades though, the money from investors just seems to have disappeared.
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