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Trump’s Doomed To Fail Legal Circus
This blog post is a week late because I had some technical issues with my site, however it’s still relevant because Trump and his lawyer Rudy are still lying and making attempts to overturn the election. Stick around for the end of this post because I decided to write Trump a letter.
Joseph Biden and Kamala Harris won the 2020 Presidential election with 8 million more votes than losers Donald Trump and Mike Pence. They won decisively with an electoral college total of 306 to Trump’s 232. This election was not close at all. Biden and Harris won states and counties that democrats haven’t won in decades. The voters of America were very clearly choosing to fire Trump and hire someone who can do the job of a president without the constant lying, daily scandals, and embarrassing incompetence. But even though the election was fair and voters made their choice clear, of course the loser Trump wants to pretend there was mass voter fraud and actually wants courts to throw out the entire election and declare him the winner anyway.
His legal strategy was predictable. Claim fraud where there was none. Use the power of his office to pressure voting officials to co-sign the lie in front of judges he appointed, and declare himself winner. That strategy may have worked if the vote was close. But it was not close at all. No judge is going to throw out 8 million votes. There’s no way the Supreme Court is going to disenfranchise 8 million voters no matter how many justices he has appointed. The minute they do that is the minute our democracy dies. Trump’s shamelessness and appetite for corruption has gotten him very far in life thus far. But finally Judges around the country are saying HELL NO YOU ORANGE DIRTY LYING RACIST BASTARD YOU WILL NOT STEAL THIS ELECTION. Maybe not in those words but close enough.
Here are a few of the cases Trump and Giuliani have tried and failed at so far.
Trump’s lawyers filed affidavits from election challengers in Michigan saying they were not close enough in the 
ballot counting room to get a good view of the vote counting process. They said they felt intimidated when they raised objections and asked to move closer than the 6 feet Michigan law allows election monitors to stand. The judge asked the Trump attorneys were any of the witnesses claiming they saw fraud. Trump’s attorneys had to tell the truth and answered no. None of the affidavits presented claimed they witnessed any fraud. They were only claiming there could have been fraud. Of course the judge laughed and threw this case out citing a lack of evidence.
Then in Georgia Trump’s attorneys claimed the votes in the county with the largest percentage of African American voters should throw out all the votes because a poll watcher told them she saw a stack of 53 votes that arrived 1 hour after the 7pm election day deadline and she saw those ballots get mixed with the ballots that were on time. This was dismissed after democrat and republican poll officials all testified that all of the ballots they counted arrived on time and the poll watcher was either mistaken or not telling the truth. Even if the Trump lawyers got those 53 ballots thrown out, it still would not change the election results.
Then in Arizona the Trump campaign filed a lawsuit in state court alleging voters’ ballots had been rejected because they contained “bleeds,” splotches” and “stray marks.” Election officials have said these claims are false. That case was dropped when Trump’s attorney filed a notice of mootness, which acknowledges the lawsuit was unlikely to change the election outcome. That was before the serious attorneys quit so now that Giuliani is in charge maybe they’ll refile this one.
So far none of the cases have any legitimate evidence of a vast multi state multi county conspiracy to commit fraud and steal the election for Biden. To throw out the results of a presidential election you need more than just rumor, affidavits and testimony. You need compelling evidence. So far Giuliani and Trumps shrinking legal team has presented none. That is why all of his legitimate credentialed lawyers who specialize in election law have all quit. These guys were getting paid huge sums of money and they said no. They weren’t going to destroy their careers and good names by presenting conspiracy theories with absolutely nothing to back them up. That’s the only reason Giuliani is now leading Trump’s doomed to fail legal fight; because no one else with sense will.
I kinda wish the democrats were able to fix elections because we wouldn’t have lost seats in the house and we’d gain the majority in the senate and then we could fix the huge mess Trump’s administration is leaving behind. I’m joking of course. I want both parties to follow the law and keep our elections fair. When Hillary lost to Trump a lot of democrats didn’t want her to concede. They didn’t want President Obama to invite Trump and his team to the White House and help him with the transition. But Secretary Clinton and President Obama did what was right. It’s ashamed that Trump doesn’t understand that. He’s too much of a narcissist to even realize what the right thing to do is. Maybe I should write Trump a letter and give him some good advice (a concept which is totally foreign to his staff and advisers).
Lessons From Impeachment
On this day, December 18th 2019 at approximately 8:45pm the 45th president of the United States Donald J Trump was impeached by the US House of Representatives. For some of us this was long overdue but inevitable when you examine the character of the man who has held that office for almost 3 years. I won’t go into his many scandals, crimes, and abuses of power because I’ve written plenty about those. Instead I want to share how I understand what is really going on with the republican party, because I think most are misunderstanding their motivations.
It’s a well-known fact that Trump is a compulsive liar. Even some of his supporters will concede that point. We all know how he treats and talks about women. We all know he’s an overt racist. We all know he’s notoriously thin-skinned. We all know he’s not that smart. But some will say how can republicans like and defend a man like that. Why does the entire party seem unmoved by the actions of this man when we all know he lacks integrity and has very poor character. So why does Mitch McConnell and elected republicans defend him? Don’t Republicans care about character anymore?
What I’ve come to understand is character only mattered when they were confident they could maintain power. If you look at the huge changes in the Republican party that began after President Obama won reelection, you’ll understand that the changes in the party didn’t start with Trump and aren’t going to end when Trump leaves office. It’s all about demographics.
According to US Census projections whites will become the minority in this country within the next 20 years. 
Right now whites under the age of 18 are already the minority. This demographic shift along with more new voters registering as Democrats and aging Republican voters dying off means the party has to do some really messed up undemocratic stuff if they want to stay in power. McConnell knows it, Republican governors know it and they see Trump as the way forward.
Past GOP presidential candidates like John McCain and Mitt Romney didn’t have the character defects needed to do the kind of underhanded illegal stuff like soliciting Russian help to win an election, or extorting Ukraine to manufacture dirt on your democratic opponent. It takes a special kind of person to look right at voters and lie about literally everything.
Fear of this demographic shift explains why Mitch McConnell has been so focused on confirming all of Trumps judicial nominees at a record-setting pace. These appointees so far has been 90% white and male and keep in mind there are no term limits for judges. This is also why McConnell refused to confirm President Obama’s pick for the Supreme Court. This is also why getting parts of the voting rights act struck down was such a priority for Republicans. This is also why immigration has consumed the Republican party for the past 10 years and also why Republicans have refused to call the alt-right what they really are, white supremacists.
So before you start to think all we’ve got to do is get rid of Trump and Republicans will go back to the party it use to be, think about how we got here. As that party continues to shrink, their belief in democracy will also shrink.
The electoral college and help from Russia saved them in 2016. What will they be willing to do when the electoral college isn’t enough? I think we’re going to find out in 2020.
I know it feels good to see Trump being held accountable in the House of Representatives through the articles of impeachment, but unfortunately it isn’t going to change anything. The Senate will acquit him and he’ll continue to find ways to cheat in 2020. Just don’t get solely focused on Trump because he isn’t the only problem we’ve got to worry about. The Republican party keeps hinting that democracy isn’t working for them anymore, and that is a lot more worrisome than the buffoonery of Trump.
Related posts:
Is Trump The New Model For American Presidents
In the closing months of the 2016 presidential campaign President Obama went to Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to see if they could release a bipartisan statement informing the public in detail about Russia’s intrusion into our election. President Obama wanted to send a message to Russia to let Putin know that their attempts to divide our country would not work. Unfortunately “Moscow” Mitch rejected President Obama’s request and told him if he went ahead with the Russian disclosure he would look at it as President Obama using his office to help Hillary’s campaign. President Obama was very sensitive to being seen as using his office to help Hillary so he decided to release a very vague low key press release with very little 
information about how large the Russian operation was and no information about which candidate they were trying to help.
Fast forward three years later, Trump was caught withholding $400 million in security assistance from the Ukraine until they agreed to help his reelection campaign. To get the aide Trump wanted the Ukrainian President to announce publicly that he was investigating Trump’s political rival and potential campaign opponent Former VP Biden for corruption.
To the detriment of our democracy “Moscow” Mitch McConnell and the rest of the Republicans are defending Trump and saying he did nothing wrong. But the Obama McConnell incident from 2016 shows how disingenuous he and his colleagues are. How can you say Obama wanting to alert the American public about the actions of Russia was improper during an election but Trump’s efforts to extort a country at war for personal political gain is ok?
Most voters are smart enough to see the hypocrisy in the arguments being put forth as a defense. Once again they have to try to defend the indefensible. Is this really what they want for American presidents? Are they going to let the next president who may be a Democrat engage in the same behavior?
What if Biden wins and instructs his attorney general to investigate Trump Pence and the former attorney general William Barr? What if Biden decides to give his son Bo a cabinet position and a top secret clearance despite the FBI’s recommendation to deny his application. Are they going to be ok with that?
What if Elizabeth Warren wins and decides to put pressure on the Chinese government to investigate Mitch McConnell and his wife’s family? What if Warren ask China to make a public statement about it right before McConnell’s reelection and in exchange we would ignore China’s human rights abuses and support their violent policing in Hong Kong? Would “Moscow” Mitch object to that?
What if Bernie Sanders wins and decides to divert money approved by McConnell’s Senate to help mid-western farmers and instead use it to combat climate change? Or holds the money until farmers make statements praising Sanders climate change initiative. Will they be ok with that?
What if Corey Booker wins and decides to sign a presidential order barring every executive branch employee from speaking to congress about anything. Barring them from complying with legal subpoenas for testimony and barring them from turning over any documents about anything? Will Republicans be ok with that? Will they say any attempt to investigate the executive branch is a partisan witch hunt? Will they call routine congressional oversight an attempt to overthrow the president?
What if Kamala Harris wins the election and decides to halt immigration from European countries because she thinks America has too many white people? What if she hires Louis Farrakhan to oversee this new immigration policy? Will they be ok with that? Will they say her immigration policy has nothing to do with race? Will they say she just wants the Europeans to come legally and wait their turn?
Republicans are going to be 100% fine with a Democrat president embracing the actions and ideas Trump modeled. And not only be 100% fine with it, but also defend it with their enthusiastic support and approval.
If the republicans believe everything they’ve been saying over the past 3 years there’s no way they would be against any of the actions I just used as examples. All of the hypotheticals I posed are things Trump actually did with the support of his party.
They’ve spent the last 3 years saying those same types of actions are legitimate and proper prerogatives of a president. When we elect a Democrat as president I suspect republicans will start to care about the rule of law and our image internationally again. But I also wonder if Trump’s corruptive influence will continue to shape the Republican party even after he’s no longer in office. Can we de-program the Trump cult and make them see right from wrong again or is this the new normal for them? Is Trump showing us the model of future Presidents to come?
I’m interested to know what you think. Leave me a comment below.
Impeach Trump NOW
We’re at the 56 day mark for President Trump’s first term in office. We all knew this wasn’t going to be a traditional presidency and from watching Trump during the campaign I knew he’d make a disastrous president but never in my wildest nightmares did I expect it to be this bad this soon. The incompetence, the secrecy, the mismanagement, the infighting, the irreverent disrespect of norms and tradition, the lack of leadership, the paranoia, the toxic relationship with the press, the nepotism, the staff’s lack of government experience, constant scandal after scandal, and worst of all the avalanche of lies from Trump and his administration that bombards us daily.
Never in our nations history have we had a president who lies so easily and then forces his staff to deal with the aftermath and clean up the mess he made. We’ve seen this play out over and over again with each new lie he tells. This damage control process has become very familiar to us:
When Trump sent that absurd untrue tweet 2 weeks ago accusing President Obama of committing a felony (wire tapping Trump Tower), and insulting President Obama by calling him “a sick guy” that should have been enough to get republicans to start questioning the President’s ability to serve his full term as President. How can they say their party believes in integrity, honesty, and leadership and still support Trump? If those values meant anything to them they would call a meeting with the democrats and hammer out a plan to remove this corrosive cancer who’s a bigger threat to our democracy than terrorism. Each day Trump is allowed to stay in office, he makes us weaker as a country.
We’re only 56 days in and Trump had to fire his National Security Adviser for lieing about his contact with Russian officials during the presidential campaign. His attorney General committed perjury during his Senate confirmation hearing and had to recuse himself from the investigation into the Trump campaign’s possible collusion with Russian officials who hacked the DNC to help Trump win. Trump’s first military mission was a failure that led to the deaths of a US service member and an American little girl. When interviewed about the disastrous mission Trump didn’t take any responsibility at all as commander in chief. Instead he blamed his generals. His executive order that issued a travel ban targeting Muslim majority countries got smacked down by 3 different courts. He lied about winning the popular vote. Has his family sit in on meetings and takes a vacation to Palm Beach every weekend to play golf, which costs US taxpayers $3.5 million for each trip. And his healthcare bill will fail in the Senate.
I just don’t see how we can live with a president who lies compulsively, who’s under investigation for collusion with a foreign government, and thinks he can take every weekend off. He spends more time speaking at campaign style rallies, flying back and forth between DC and his properties and playing golf than he does in the white house workingfor the American people.
HEY PAUL RYAN AND MITCH MCCONNELL, please put what’s best for our country before your loyalty to your political party and tell Trump to resign or get impeached. We can’t have this kind of cahos and incompetence bringing us down for the next 4 years. The way things have been going is absolutely unsustainable.
Why I’m Voting For Hillary
Socially Urban Blog is proud to announce our support and endorsement of Hillary Rodham Clinton for President of the United States of America.
As the founder and editor in chief of Socially Urban, here’s why I trust Hillary and think she’s exactly the kind of president we need. I know some people think this is a bad word but I am not one of those people. The word I want to reclaim as something positive is “politician”. Hillary is an experienced politician who does the duties of that profession very well. A politician listens to the country and her supporters and then decides what direction would satisfy the people most. For example, during her primary with Bernie Sanders she wasn’t talkimg much about trade policy at the beginning. But as that issue became important she listened and adjusted her focus to accommodate this. Some may call it a flip flop, but I think it was a good politican doing what the job required. I think it made her even more suitable for the job as president. We want a president who hears the people. Who looks at polls, who constantly adjust to the will of the people. That is who Hillary is.
I always say activist would make horrible legislators because they aren’t swayed by public opinion and they don’t adjust when an adjustment is needed. They have an ideology that must be adhered to and their actions rationalized as the ends justifying the means. Those are great qualities to have if you’re leading a movement or if you have one specific cause or issue that you’re passionate about, but those are horrible qualities to have when you’re trying to run an entire country and make decisions that are in the best interest of our country as a whole.
The job of president is about consensus building, and compromise. Bernie Sanders is a great Senator, and he is passionate about income inequality. But his myopic view wouldn’t have made a good president (in my opinion).
We have all seen how Hillary operates over the past 30 years. We’ve seen her under pressure. We’ve seen her deal with foreign leaders. We’ve seen her listen and change with the times. She’s exactly who we need as president for the next 8 years. If you think she’s not progressive enough, make your case, organize, push her in that direction. That’s our job as citizens, as activist. I promise she will listen just like she listened in the primary. Politicans care about their approval numbers, they care about how they are covered in the media. That is our leverage.
If you sit home on election day because Bernie isn’t on the ballot, you are contributing to the apathy and cynicism that lost the house and Senate in 2010. If you’re a hardcore progressive who thinks Trump and Clinton are just alike, you really need to do some research about Obama’s 2 terms in office. If he didn’t win that first election gay marriage wouldn’t be legal in all 50 states, we wouldn’t have avoided a war with Iran by getting them to shutdown their nuclear program through diplomacy. The economy would have continued to spiral downward. We wouldn’t have the Affordable Care Act that gave 11 million people health insurance who didn’t have any before. The Libbey Ledbetter act for equal pay for women wouldn’t have been signed into law. Osama Bin Laden would still be alive planning new ways to attack our country. Don’t you think this is worth your vote? All of this happened because we elected Barack Obama instead of his republican opponet.
That’s why you need to support Hillary. If she doesn’t win I can guarantee her republican opponent will not do anything to reform our criminal justice system. He wouldn’t do a damn thing about police shooting unarmed black men. He even said he’d punish women for exercising their constitutional right to make decisions about their reproductive health. These two candidates are not the same. The two parties are not the same. Hillary Clinton is the only intelligent choice to make. The ideal candidate you have in your head doesn’t exist. Hillary is the only logical choice and I’m very happy to announce my support for her candidacy. As the editor and creator of Socially Urban Blog and as a private citizen I’m happily announcing my endorsement for President of the United States, Hillary Clinton.
20 Donald Trump Lies
2016 republican nominee for President of the United States Donald Trump has a long disturbing history of lying about almost everything. Even trivial stuff that can easily be disproven. For example, Trump said he met Russian president Vladimir Putin when they both did a 60 minutes interview. Every journalist knew this was a lie as soon as he said it but he couldn’t help himself. Lying seems to be the only way he knows how to operate. This blog post would be way too long if I tried to list all of his questionable statements, so here are 20 Donald Trump lies that I find the most interesting.
1. The Mexican government is selecting criminals and rapists and sending them to sneak into the United States.
2. Undocumented Mexican immigrants commit more crime than native born United State citizens.
3. President Barack Obama is not a Untied States citizen and the birth certificate he produced was fake.
4. Trump said he hired a team of investigators and sent them to Hawaii where President Obama was born to obtain evidence that supported Trump’s unfounded theory that the President was not born in the United States.
5. Trump said his investigators found some unbelievable evidence that disputed the legitimacy of President Obama’s citizenship. Trump said he would release the information but 7 years have passed since those birther accusations, and in all that time he has made no effort to share the so-called “findings” with the public.
6. Trump claimed that President Obama never attended Harvard. Trump said he got the information from his investigators and they told him that no one remembered President Obama ever being on campus.
7. During the 2012 Presidential election Trump claimed that President Obama spent $4 million dollars to hide his school transcripts and conceal his passport information.
8. Trump claimed that the current unemployment rate is at least 42% and could be as high as 50%. The correct unemployment rate is 4.9% (5/2016). HUGE difference.
9. Trump said President Obama is accepting 200,000 Syrian refugees into the United States. The accurate number is 10,000.
10. Trump says he never supported the invasion of Iraq and warned people against it from the very start. In a taped interview in 2002 Trump seemed to support the invasion and said nothing against it in any interview until 2005.
11. Trump says he watched thousands of Muslim’s in New Jersey celebrate on television after the 9/11 terrorist attack.
12. Trump said the wives of the 9/11 terrorists knew what their husbands were planning and left the United States a few days before the attack. According to the 9/11 Commission report only 1 of the terrorists were married and none of them shared any plans with family members and none of their family in the United States left before the attack.
13. Trump said he predicted that Osama bin Laden was going to attack the World Trade Center 2 years before it happened. There is zero evidence that this prediction took place.
14. Trump says he’s a self made man who built a very successful company from nothing. This is untrue. His father was very wealthy and owned a lot of property in New York. When Trump wanted to strike out on his own, his father gave him $1 million dollars to start his company.
15. Trump claims he made $213 million for his NBC reality tv show “The Apprentice”. NBC said he was paid only $2 million for the series.
16. Trump claimed that the Russian president Vladmir Putin called him a genius in an interview. This is false. Putin called Donald “colorful”, not a genius.
17. Trump claimed to have met Russian president Vladmir Putin and got along well with him when they both did interviews on “60 Minutes” on the same night. This is false because Putin did his interview via satellite from Russia and has never even been in the same room with Trump.
18. Trump claimed that Ted Cruz’s father was somehow involved with the assassination of President Kennedy.
19. Trump continually claims that he is beating rival Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in every poll. This is false as of 5/13/16. There’s not even 1 national poll that shows he is leading Hillary.
20. Trump says President Obama will go down as the worst president in history because America has been in decline since Obama was elected in 2008.
Here’s the indisputable truth of President Obama’s term in office so far
This is what a successful presidency looks like. Donald Trump would destroy all the progress President Obama made because Trump is incapable of thinking about anyone but himself. How can republican voters put their faith into someone who lies as much as Donald Trump does? By no means is President Obama a perfect president but he sure isn’t “ruining America” (as Trump suggested). President Obama has been a public servant for the past 20 years with his integrity, beliefs and self-respect intact. Trump never had any of those qualities and it’s scary how close he is to the most powerful job on earth where every decision he makes can effect all of humanity. I’m pleading with republicans in hopes of getting them to see this man for what he really is. An insecure overcompensating egomaniac who looks you in the eye and lies, while flirting with elements of totalitarianism in every interview and rally speech he gives. After 4 years of Trump as president every single supporter he has right now will long for the good old days when that black family lived in the White House.
Donald Trump GOP Fools Gold
There’s no doubt in my mind that Donald Trump is the least qualified presidential candidate we’ve ever seen in our nation’s history. His high poll numbers continue to astound me because his campaign so far has no substance to it whatsoever. He hasn’t made any policy speeches. He has no policy papers available on his website. He promises things that aren’t a part of presidential powers (like imposing a penalty tax on a company who does something he doesn’t like). He says he wants to build up our military forces but hasn’t said how much he plans to spend on this or where he’s going to get the money for this. He thinks diplomacy is making demands under threat of war. He says he wants to get rid of Obamacare and replace it with “something terrific”, but hasn’t let anyone know what “something terrific” means yet. He says he has a plan to defeat Isis but it’s a secret he can’t reveal. His only reassurance when pressed on this issue is “I’m going to be so good at the military that it will make your head spin” (direct quote, I kid you not). He says he’s going to deport 11 million people even those who are currently legal citizens
Donald Trump Press Conference
I can understand republicans frustration with the establishment politicians because I feel that way about Hillary sometimes, but Trump isn’t the answer. He is not someone who has the mental capacity, thoughtful diligence, personal temperament or the selfless dedication needed to be the leader of the free world. He’s a thin-skinned attention addict who tries to mask his many insecurities by telling everyone how rich, successful, amazing, and smart he is. He’s shallow, vapid, and only wants to be president to add one more thing to his list of accomplishments. Running for president as a way to validate your greatness should be a disqualifier in the eyes of the American people. Again, Trump is not the answer… he’s entertaining at times, but still not the answer. Politics is a serious business. The job of president is a serious thing. Running for office is a serious commitment… not a role to play on a reality show.
Conspiracy Nuts Common
I received one the dumbest comments left on my blog, which I will not post because I have a strict policy about hate-speech. But there was one part of the comment I will address because it’s something I’ve heard over and over again. Below is a small excerpt of the comment I’m talking about:
“Your lawless president hates America and you’re too dumb to see it.”
– Anonymous Moron
The elegance of the commenters ignorance is astounding but I’ll attempt to respond anyway. It’s one thing to disagree with the policies set by the president or to criticize his effectiveness as a leader. That kind of critique is totally valid and understandable because opinions are very subjective. Especially when you have two sides with very different views about what needs to be done to make our country a more perfect union. I get that, but what I don’t get is the way a lot of conservatives frame their disagreements with the president. Most of the time they are incredibly condescending calling into question the president’s understanding or intelligence, or their attacks become very conspiratorial (like the one above). It’s the crazy insane conspiracies that bother me the most. This gentleman is suggesting that the president is purposely on a mission to destroy the country because the president secretly hates America. This kind of thinking has become very common among conservatives. For example, the fake Benghazi scandal (created by Fox News). Conservatives actually believe that President Obama ordered our military not to rescue the Americans in our consulate when they were under attack. Never mind this has been debunked by all 8 investigations into Benghazi and by every official account given after the attack. How can seemingly intelligent individuals believe that Barack Obama became president to destroy America and watch Americans die as a part of some nefarious plan? They weren’t saying he just dropped the ball due to incompetence, they were saying he made a conscience decision to let the American Ambassador and his staff die. A significant portion of American conservatives believes this wholeheartedly. It’s very important to understand the distinction here because it can explain why republicans refuse to compromise or work with the president on anything. A definite “no”, merits be damned has been the raison d’être of the republican party for the past 6 years. So Before we complain about the partisanship of Washington politics, I think we have to examine the flaws within our own views and throw away the divisive insulting conspiracies. I believe anyone who makes it to the white house has already proven their commitment to the country. That position isn’t easy to come by, and it’s even harder to win two terms (especially for our first black president). So their patriotism and love for their country as president should not be a part of any serious discussion. If you do not respect the man, at least have some respect the office he holds.
Impeach For What
US Congressman Lou Barletta is the latest republican calling for the impeachment of twice elected President Barack Obama. During a conservative talk radio interview Barletta said “President Obama wouldn’t survive an impeachment vote in the House of Representatives”. Barletta went on to say “the President is ignoring the Constitution, ignoring the law, and ignoring the checks and balances outlined in the Constitution.” He also said he believes there are enough votes in the house to impeach the president.
Since the beginning of President Obama’s first term in office we’ve heard the word “impeachment” from a lot of republican lawmakers and conservative pundits (see video clip at the bottom of page). I’ve heard this so many times that I’ve become desensitized to the weight and gravitas the word once held. Talks of impeachment use to be reserved for matters of extreme seriousness. Now it’s just another word republicans use to stir-up their base and capitalize on the far right’s hate and disdain for our TWICE ELECTED president. The problem is, the people they are pandering to aren’t realizing how disingenuous Barletta and others like him are. The hate they have for our TWICE ELECTED President Barack Obama blinds their ability to see logic. I almost can’t blame them because the right wing media money machine bombards them daily with a ton of misinformation and outright lies. Congressman Barletta’s comments aren’t unique by any means. Almost every single republican in the House and Senate have threatened or entertained the idea of impeaching President Obama at one point, but none of them are serious… and I can prove it. Here’s a small sample of quotes from republicans about President Obama:
Ted Cruz – “The president’s lawlessness and disdain for our constitution puts all American’s in grave danger.”
Michelle Bachman – “President Obama abuses power, assaults the constitution, declared war on business and energy, spends recklessly, creates divisiveness, and rules by executive order.”
Senator John Cornyn – “Under President Obama, inconvenient or unpopular legal requirements have repeatedly been swept aside by executive fiat”
Senator Orrin Hatch – “The president has put our entire economy in jeopardy in order to serve his own political interests.”
Grover Norquist – “Obama does everything by executive order. He’s made no effort to work with Congress”.
Represenative Kerry Bentivolio – “Who is going to stop Obama from everything that he’s doing against our constitution? Impeachment would be a dream come true if I could find the evidence.”
Senator Tom Coburn – “The administration is lawless and incompetent, and getting perilously close to impeachability.”
Congressman Farenthold – “What message do we send America if we impeach Obama and he gets away with what he’s impeached for and he is found innocent?”
Rep Bob Goodlatte & Jonathan Turley – Obama ignores the constitution. The danger is quite severe. The problem with what the president is doing is that he’s not simply posing a danger to the constitutional system. He’s becoming the very danger the Constitution was designed to avoid.
Notice how no one ever gives details on any specific laws that they think the president has broken. All they have are vague accusations and meaningless rhetoric. Conservatives and conservative media should ask themselves, are there legitimate reasons beyond partisan politics to have a discussion about impeaching the president. But something as rational as that seems like too much to ask for with them. Instead they engage in debate asking HOW can they impeach the president.
Law makers in both houses have a responsibility to uphold the law and balance the power of the executive branch. If they think the president is breaking laws and not following the constitution they are duty bound to start the process of impeachment. If they honestly believe everything they are saying about president Obama then they can’t say I would vote to impeach but I know it won’t pass the senate. The oath of office they all took does not allow them to ignore acts of treason and high crimes committed by the president just because it may hurt them politically. That would be an abdication of duty and it would make them just as guilty as they claim the president to be. Republicans hold the majority in the house. If they felt their reasons were just, they’d bring the issue to the floor for a vote. But they’re not going to do that because they know they have NOTHING. They know the president isn’t guilty of anything. When you see them on FOX or hear them on talk radio calling for impeachment, it’s all a performance. They get an opportunity to bash the president which makes the base happy. The more outrageous their rhetoric is, the more attention they get. They get invited for Hannity and Glen Beck interviews. They get their name in the paper. It’s a chance to raise their political profile. Even if they lose their office, they can make a lot of money within the conservative media money machine (books, radio show host, speaking engagements, lobbyist, think tank advisers, tv punditry, etc.). The incentives to engage in this type of behavior and practice this type of politics are huge. They are putting personal gain ahead of what is right for the country. The democrats aren’t perfect by any means but they have never been careless with words as powerful as impeachment. While George W Bush was president the democrats always showed respect for his title even when they may not have respected the man. Yes, there were a few democrats who talked about impeaching President Bush, but it was a very small minority and they actually had good detailed reasons for that discussion. Some dems wanted to press criminal charges against Bush and his administration, but Speaker Nancy Pelosi (the most powerful democrat at that time) got her fellow democrats to move on and focus on fixing the economy. That’s what real leadership and integrity looks like. More times than not democrats are the party who puts the countries interest above their own. The republicans in office right now have forgotten how to do that.
So, to all of the conservatives reading this blog post right now, I just gave you a sure-fire way to test your party’s elected officials truthfulness (especially in congress). If they are constantly screaming impeachment and saying President Obama is lawless, ignoring the constitution, and taking freedoms away, then they need to back it up with action. Tell them to take it to the floor of the house for a vote or shut the hell up.
Mandela And Ronald Reagan
Conservatives like to present a skewed version of Ronald Reagan and his presidency. The right has built an entire mythology around Reagan that rarely touches reality. The passing of Nelson Mandela brings back a very hard truth that Reaganites would like to erase.
During Mandela’s incarceration and the fight to end Apartheid in South Africa, the US Congress wanted to impose sanctions on South Africa to push the oppressive regime to free Mandela and end the brutality of Apartheid. Reagan strongly disagreed with imposing sanctions and likened Mandela to a terrorist. President Ronald Reagan appeared on TV before the house and senate’s scheduled vote on anti Apartheid legislation, to warn Americans against the Anti-Apartheid Act, decrying it as “immoral” and “utterly repugnant.” Congress disagreed, and one month later, it produced the two-thirds majority (which included both democrats and republicans) needed to override Reagan and pass tough new measures against South Africa’s apartheid government. These measures included a ban on bank loans and new investments in South Africa, a sharp reduction of imports, and prevented most South African officials from traveling to the United States. The Act also called for the repeal of apartheid laws and the release of political prisoners like African National Congress (ANC) leader Nelson Mandela, who had spent the last 23 years in prison.
It is difficult to fully comprehend the evils of apartheid today. Blacks were denied citizenship and the right to vote. They were forcibly relocated into impoverished reservations. People of color were barred from operating businesses or owning land inside white areas, which comprised most of the country. Sexual relations or marriage between people of color and whites was strictly forbidden. Racial segregation was enforced in public areas, including schools, hospitals, trains, beaches, bridges, churches and theaters. To enforce apartheid, the government often resorted to police brutality, the imprisonment and assassination of political dissidents, and the murder of black protesters. In 1960 the South African police opened fire on a crowd of 7000 Apartheid protesters wounding hundreds of them and killing 69.
So the next time someone comes to you talking about how great Reagan was, remember his support for Apartheid, a racially unequal system of government, and every brutal racist oppressive element that came along with it and offer these facts as a much needed reality check.
D5 Creation