July 16, 2018: "One of the Most Disgraceful Performances by an American President in Memory."

 

7/16/18: Trump starts the new day in Helsinki by tweet-complaining: “Our relationship with Russia has NEVER been worse thanks to many years of U.S. foolishness and stupidity and now, the Rigged Witch Hunt!” 

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The puppet danced perfectly as Putin jerked the strings.

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If you started rubbing your eyes then and there, you’d be excused. Did our fearless leader just say our poor relationship with Russia was our fault? 

Did this poor relationship have anything to do with the fact that Russia invaded the Crimea in 2014?  Did it have anything to do with the fact Russia continues a low-level war (if you can call 10,000 Ukrainian dead a low-level war) along the Ukrainian border? Was it a problem when Russia shot down a civilian jet liner and killed everyone aboard? Were the hundreds of billions of rubles Putin and his cronies laundered through the world’s banks – often investing in U.S. real estate – an issue? Nope. 

It was us. 

What about Russian agents poisoning a Putin critic on British soil? What about all the critics of Putin who end up dead? What about Russian military forces propping up Bashar-al-Assad in Syria while the Syrian people die by the hundreds of thousands? What about the attack by Russian mercenaries in Syria on a U.S.-held military base? Perhaps the problems between our countries were exacerbated by Russia’s extensive meddling in our 2016 election? Nope. Trump didn’t care. 

The problem was the United States.

 

It only got worse as the day wore on. After sitting down (oddly, alone) for a two-hour meeting with Putin – not that President Trump has anything to hide – he and the Russian strongman came out, read prepared statements, agreed that their discussions had gone great, and took questions. What a proud day it turned out to be for Vladimir Putin. The puppet President of the United States danced perfectly as Putin jerked him up and down on the strings.

 

A reporter asked Trump if there was anything he held the Russians responsible for, in terms of our poor relations. Did Trump believe the Russians interfered in the 2016 campaign? 

Trump’s answer was stunning. “I hold both countries responsible. I think that the United States has been foolish. I think we’ve all been foolish ...we’re all to blame.” 

Asked whether he believed the U.S. intelligence community, that Putin was responsible for a campaign to undermine the election, the puppet pirouetted on his strings. Rather than answer directly, he attacked the F.B.I. for not confiscating the hacked e-mail server of the Democratic National Committee. Here, in view of the entire world, the President of the United States was peddling a convoluted conspiracy theory, that the Democrats hacked themselves and ditched the evidence. He was letting Vladimir Putin and the Russians off the hook. 

“Where is the server?” he asked. “I want to know where is the server and what is the server saying.” 

Yes, he admitted, his Director of National Intelligence, Dan Coates, “and some others” had told him “they think it is Russia,” they think Russia hacked the election. He was skeptical. “I don’t see any reason why it would be [emphasis added]. But I really do want to see the server. I have great confidence in my intelligence people. But I will tell you that President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today.” 

His response was so unexpected, so bizarre, that experienced reporters listening were stunned.

 

* 

YOU COULD EXPECT Democrats and probably most patriotic Americans to hit the roof. Many did.  

 

“He’s the best president that Russia’s ever had.” 

Let’s ignore Democrats and sample Republican reaction: 

Rep. Adam Kinzinger, a former Air Force officer: “The American people deserve the truth, & to disregard the legitimacy of our intelligence officials is a disservice to the men & women who serve this country. It’s time to wake up & face reality. #Putin is not our friend; he’s an enemy to our freedom [emphasis added here and below].” 

Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming: 

As a member of the House Armed Services Committee, I am deeply troubled by President Trump’s defense of Putin against the intelligence agencies of the U.S. & his suggestion of moral equivalence between the U.S. and Russia. Russia poses a grave threat to our national security.

 

Mark Lowenthal, former assistant director at the C.I.A., says of Trump: “He’s the best president that Russia’s ever had.”  

Chuck Hagel, decorated war hero, former Republican senator from Nebraska, former defense secretary under President Obama, said it appeared Trump had no real strategy in meeting with Putin. “This was not a golf outing. This was not a real estate transactional kind of arrangement. ... Engagement must be connected to a strategic interest, a strategic purpose. I don’t know what that strategic purpose was. I am now convinced we didn’t have one.” 

Sen. Rob Portman: The president “failed to stand up to Vladimir Putin on some of the most critical security issues facing our country and our allies.” 

Sen. Orrin Hatch, a key Trump ally, issued a statement backing up the intelligence community. 

Russia interfered in the 2016 election. Our nation’s top intelligence agencies all agree on that point. From the President on down, we must do everything in our power to protect our democracy by securing future elections from foreign influence and interference, regardless of what Vladimir Putin or any other Russian operative says.

 

Mitt Romney: “President Trump’s decision to side with Putin over American intelligence agencies is disgraceful and detrimental to our democratic principles.” 

Even Milksop Mitch mustered a tidbit of courage. “I’ve said a number of times and I say it again, the Russians are not our friends and I entirely believe the assessment of our intelligence community.”

Sen. Lindsey Graham said Trump had handed Putin an easy victory. “This answer… will be seen by Russia as a sign of weakness and create far more problems than it solves. Bad day for the U.S.”

 

In a rare moment of levity, considering the disaster Americans had just seen unfold, Graham warned the president to leave a soccer ball, a World Cup souvenir from Putin, outside when he came home. “If it were me, I’d check the soccer ball for listening devices and never allow it in the White House.” 

In a lengthy statement, Sen. John McCain, chairman of the Senate Committee on Armed Services, let rip: 

Today’s press conference in Helsinki was one of the most disgraceful performances by an American president in memory. The damage inflicted by President Trump’s naiveté, egotism, false equivalence, and sympathy for autocrats is difficult to calculate. But it is clear that the summit in Helsinki was a tragic mistake.

 

President Trump proved not only unable, but unwilling to stand up to Putin. He and Putin seemed to be speaking from the same script as the president made a conscious choice to defend a tyrant against the fair questions of a free press, and to grant Putin an uncontested platform to spew propaganda and lies to the world. 

 

Republican Patriots: Where are you??? 

Former C.I.A. Chief John O. Brennan, who served both Republican and Democratic presidents, had had all he could stand. In a scathing tweet he blasted Trump. Let’s give Brennan, a man who devoted a long career to serving the United States of America, the last word: 

Donald Trump’s press conference performance in Helsinki rises to & exceeds the threshold of “high crimes & misdemeanors.” It was nothing short of treasonous. Not only were Trump’s comments imbecilic, he is wholly in the pocket of Putin. Republican Patriots: Where are you???

 

At least one member of the Trump administration had seen enough. Dan Coats, Trump’s Director of National Intelligence, issued a terse statement in response to the president’s comments. 

His office took the unusual step of noting that it was issuing this message without clearing it with the White House: 

The role of the Intelligence Community is to provide the best information and fact-based assessments possible for the President and policymakers. We have been clear in our assessments of Russian meddling in the 2016 election and their ongoing, pervasive efforts to undermine our democracy, and we will continue to provide unvarnished and objective intelligence in support of our national security.

 

This is Dan Coats we’re talking about. Coats served for a quarter century in Congress. He’s a lifelong Republican, not a charter member of the “Deep State.” He was picked by Trump to be the top intelligence official in this administration. Hillary didn’t pick him. “Muslim” Obama isn’t lurking in the shadows. This is the president’s guy, making it clear. Trump is full of manure.

October 6, 2019: A Bad Weekend for President Trump - But China May Help

 

10/6/19: It’s the weekend. President Trump is not happy. Evidence that supports the decision to pursue an impeachment inquiry accumulates. Even a few brave souls in the GOP are willing to admit it.

 

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“It strains credulity to suggest that it is anything other than politically motivated.” 

Sen. Mitt Romney

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While most Republican lawmakers chose to shelter in place last week, Sen. Mitt Romney made his position plain, after the president called on China to investigate Joe Biden. “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,” Romney said, “it strains credulity to suggest that it is anything other than politically motivated.” 

Of course, that meant Trump had to go ballistic on Twitter. At 6: 47 a.m. on Saturday, we had this:

Somebody please wake up Mitt Romney and tell him that my conversation with the Ukrainian President was a congenial and very appropriate one, and my statement on China pertained to corruption, not politics. If Mitt worked this hard on Obama, he could have won. Sadly, he choked! 

 

That was followed at 9:17 by this: 

Mitt Romney…is a pompous “ass” who has been fighting me from the beginning, except when he begged me for my endorsement for his Senate run (I gave it to him), and when he begged me to be Secretary of State (I didn’t give it to him). He is so bad for R’s! 

 

Meanwhile, multiple sources told Axios the president had spoken with GOP members of the House of Representatives. Trump told them that even though his July 25 call to Zelensky was “perfect,” he wasn’t to blame for making it. Energy Secretary Rick Perry made him punch the buttons! 

If this was Trump’s attempt to throw Perry under the bus, Perry wasn’t ready to be mashed. He told the Christian Broadcasting Network  that, “as God is my witness,” when he talked to Trump about a call to the president of Ukraine, “neither Joe or Hunter Biden’s name ever came up.” 

Also, he said he would soon be resigning his post. 

Trump’s defenses continued to crack and crumble, including the claim the whistleblower had nothing but second- and third-hand information. We learned there was a third whistleblower – and the second tooting warning regarding Ukraine. This whistleblower had first-hand information that backed up the first. 

 

Democrats rushing to judgment. 

What about the idea that Democrats were rushing to judgment? Down that defense went too. We learned that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell wasn’t just “rushing” to judgment. He had his mind made up. In a video shot to solicit campaign donations, Mitch looked square into the camera and intoned, “Nancy Pelosi’s in the clutches of a left wing mob. They finally convinced her to impeach the president.” 

“All of you know your Constitution,” he continued. “The way that impeachment stops is a Senate majority with me as majority leader. But I need your help. Please contribute before the deadline.”

 

Even a far-right plot to smear Sen. Elizabeth Warren goes awry. The story explodes when a 24-year-old Marine, Kevin Ty Whelly, claims to have been having an affair with the senator, a woman nearly three times his age. 

That tall tale is blown to bits when the Marine Corps reveals that the young Lothario, who claimed to have seen combat in Afghanistan, had never been to Afghanistan. As for the Purple Heart Whelly claimed he proudly wore, the Marines noted that Whelly had never been wounded, either. 

So, we can safely assume he never won Sen. Warren’s heart.

 KTW  EW

 

Finally, a ray of sunshine pierced the darkening clouds over the White House. Rapper Kanye West once again defended his support for the man in the Oval Office. West explained that he never based his decisions on skin-color – an admirable position. 

Alas, the singer seriously undermined his own logic, pointing out that it was “the Republican Party that freed the slaves,” meaning he liked Trump because Republicans ended slavery 154 years ago.

February 5, 2020: An Impeachment Trial without Witnesses Ends - a Craven Display

 

2/5/20: The U.S. Senate has heard the evidence against Donald John Trump. Only two GOP senators, Susan Collins, and Mitt Romney, have voted to call additional witnesses and seek documents. 

With that the “Ghost Trial” fizzles to an end. Fifty one GOP senators vote to acquit Trump on both impeachment charges.

The House of Representatives called all these individuals as witnesses.

Mitch McConnell and the Senate Republicans went with none.

 

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“His personal interests do not take precedence over those of this great nation.” 

Sen. Lisa Murkowski

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Even Republican senators who vote to acquit realize Trump’s behavior was questionable. “It is clear from the July 25, 2019, phone call between President Trump and Ukrainian President Zelensky that the investigation into the Bidens’ activities requested by President Trump was improper and demonstrated very poor judgment,” Sen. Collins says on the floor of the Senate. 

“I have consistently said that Mr. Trump’s request for an investigation of Joe Biden and any effort to tie the release of military aid to investigations were improper and shouldn’t have happened,” Sen. Rob Portman ventures. 

Sen. Lisa Murkowski describes the president’s actions as “shameful and wrong.” “His personal interests do not take precedence over those of this great nation,” she adds. “Degrading the office, by actions or even name calling, weakens it for future presidents, and weakens our country.” 

Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) held out false hope. Of Trump, she said, “I think he’s learned that he has to be maybe a little more judicious and careful, the way he’s phrasing certain things.” She thought it over a moment and added, “Although he may not, because you know, as we’ve said, as was said, he is who he is.” 

Capito is right. He is who he is. The “trial” is over. And Trump never had to testify under oath.

 

It may go down as the most craven display by the U.S. Senate in the history of this great Republic.

February 6, 2020: Trump Vents after Impeachment Trial Ends in Acquittal

 

2/6/20: Having been acquitted by the Senate, President Trump attends the National Prayer Breakfast. This is normally a polite affair where politicians from across the spectrum gather and break bread in harmony.

 

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“You believe in Jesus! Follow his teachings.” 

Arthur Brooks, former head of the American Enterprise Institute

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The keynote speaker is Arthur Brooks, former head of the conservative American Enterprise Institute. He appeals to his audience, including faith leaders, to see the “polarization and contempt” in American society “as a mission field, as an opportunity to model Jesus’ message to love one’s enemies.” 

“The problem is: The devil is in the details,” he continues. “How do you do it in a country and world roiled by hatreds we can’t seem to bridge? Contempt kills. Ask God to give you the strength to do this hard thing. To go against your human nature. To follow Jesus’ teaching. You believe in Jesus! Follow his teachings.” 

The president strides to the podium next. Eyewitnesses notice that Trump kept his hand down when Brooks asked attendees to raise their hands if they loved anyone who disagreed with them politically. Trump says, in his opening remarks, that he isn’t sure he agrees with Brooks. “Jesus,” he probably wants to say, “was weak. Low I.Q. Jesus. I like Saviors who don’t get crucified.” 

Fortunately, he refrains.

 

Otherwise, he’s only there for the pancakes and a chance to vent. “When they impeach you for nothing, then it’s not easy to like them,” he says of his opponents. “It’s not easy, folks.” No one thought he could win in 2016, he explains, “except for the people in this room believed we were going to win. God was with them. God is with the people in this room.” 

Well: The people who support him in the room, he means. God is not with Nancy Pelosi and a few others, who are in attendance. 

True hate fuels the President of the United States. 

This blogger knows, from comments his conservative friends have made, that they are upset that Speaker Pelosi ripped up a copy of Trump’s State of the Union Address the previous night. 

Such a breach of decorum, they said!

 

* 

HERE WE HAVE TRUMP, 36 hours later. He doesn’t mention Sen. Mitt Romney, a devout Mormon, or Pelosi, a staunch Catholic, by name. But he unleashes the vitriol. “I don’t like people who use their faith as justification for doing what they know is wrong,” he sneers. 

“Nor do I like people who say, ‘I pray for you,’ when they know that that’s not so. So many people have been hurt, and we can’t let that go on.” 

Trump knows his campaign in 2016 had multiple contacts with Russians, offering him help to win. He said last summer that he didn’t see why you wouldn’t take help from a foreign country in 2020, if they had dirt on a political rival. He said he’d take it, hypothetically, from Norway. 

It seems, from the supine response of Republicans in the Senate, that they’d have been okay if he said he’d take it from North Korea. 

Then Trump asked Ukraine for a favor – a favor that numerous men and women working in his White House and for his diplomatic corps thought was wrong. But now he’s saying it’s not his fault. At the Prayer Breakfast, he rambles on for 20 minutes, spending a good chunk of that time attacking those who impeached him. The impeachment process, he says, was led by some “very dishonest and corrupt people.” 

“They have done everything possible to destroy us and, by so doing, very badly hurt our nation,” he fumes. 

* 

“Some very evil and sick people.” 

BREAKFAST WAS BAD. An afternoon gathering in the White House is worse. With top GOP leaders and members of his defense team gathered to listen, Trump speaks with the tone and phrasing of a dictator at the founding of a banana republic. 

He waves copies of several newspapers, with headlines like, ACQUITTED or TRUMP ACQUITTED. 

“Maybe we’ll frame it,” he says of one copy, before handing it to his wife. 

Trump lashes out, as only a man driven by hate can. He labels congressional Democrats “scum.” Those who investigated him (who, by the way, were not accused by any witnesses of having put U.S. national security at risk, as several testified under oath that Trump had), those investigators are “sleaze bags,” “vicious and mean.” Their actions were a “disgrace.” A better man, a man of even minimal character, and not a man fueled by venom and warped by a narcissistic craving for adulation, might have struck a conciliatory tone. Such a man might have promised to learn from his mistakes. 

Not Trump.

 

“I want to apologize to my family,” he says, “for having them have to go through a phony, rotten deal by some very evil and sick people. I just want to thank my family for sticking through it. This was not part of the deal.” 

It was “part of the deal” only because he himself held up aid to Ukraine. Because he sent a shady crew, led by Rudy Giuliani, to dig up dirt, and a good chunk of that crew has since been indicted. 

The people who tried to hold him to account? 

Sick. 

Evil. 

His hate is strong and the president continues to spew. “These people are vicious,” he says. “Adam Schiff is a vicious, horrible person. Nancy Pelosi is a horrible person.” (Neither has ever been accused of asking for foreign help in an election.) 

Trump did ask.

 

For some reason, he brings up former F.B.I. Director James Comey. He calls him a “sleazebag.” He starts talking about the Russia investigation. “Had I not fired James Comey, who was a disaster by the way, it’s possible I wouldn’t even be standing here right now,” Trump continues. “We caught him in the act. Dirty cops. Bad people.” He says it’s “almost like” the Democrats “want to destroy our country.” 

They don’t. 

“We’ve been going through this now over three years. It was evil. It was corrupt,” the president concludes. “It was dirty cops. It was leakers and liars. And this should never ever happen to another president….We went through hell, unfairly, did nothing wrong, did nothing wrong.” 

Finally, he says, “It was all bullshit.”

 

* 

“Maybe people should pay for that.” 

SOMEONE asks Press Enabler Stephanie Grisham later what she thinks about the way her boss has been treated. 

“Maybe people should pay for that,” she replies, just what every press secretary in every banana republic in history would have said.  

Speaker Nancy Pelosi responds to the president’s diatribe and Grisham’s comment that afternoon. See if you notice anything different about her tone. 

“They say there’s going to be payback for us – for honoring the Constitution,” Pelosi says. “He’s impeached forever, no matter what he says or what headlines he wants to carry around.” 

Pelosi doesn’t talk about evil people, sick people, vicious people, sleazebags, or scum. She makes no threats.

May 17, 2020: Trump Says We're Doing Really Well in Defeating COVID - Also in Defeating Inspector Generals

 

5/17/20: President Trump is in a celebratory mood, tweeting about his success taming the coronavirus! “Doing REALLY well, medically,” he claimed incongruously, “on solving the CoronaVirus situation (Plague!). It will happen!” 

Time to check the numbers to see if we were “doing REALLY well, medically.” According to John Hopkins University, by Sunday evening, the United States of America had: 

1,486,423 confirmed cases of COVID-19 (roughly 1.2 million more cases than the next most infected nation –  Russia). 

We also led the world in deaths: 89,550, placing us first in a race where you want to finish last.

With the grim numbers piling up daily, Peter Navarro, one of Trump’s top economic advisors, spent Sunday morning trying to pass the buck from Trump to anyone else. If he thought Trump fans would fall for it, and they might have – he’d have blamed Cinderella. “Early on in this crisis, the CDC, which really had the most trusted brand around the world in this space – really let the country down with the testing,” Navarro complained. 

If that wasn’t enough – having the ballsy nerve to blame a government agency led by a Trump appointee, an agency of the government Donald J. Trump heads – HHS Secretary Alex Azar had another explanation for high U.S. death rates. Americans weren’t dying because he and Trump fumbled the ball. Americans were dying more than, say Canadians, or Germans, because they were fat. Azar cited “comorbidities,” or underlying conditions, as the reason for America’s high death toll. Just to be clear he ticked them off: Obesity. Hypertension. Diabetes. 

Really…what could Health and Human Services do about that? If you died from COVID-19, it was actually your fault.

 

*

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“It is a threat to accountable democracy and a fissure in the constitutional balance of power.” 

Senator Mitt Romney

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WITH THOUSANDS dying every day and millions unemployed, we might forget that Disinfectant Donald is still threatening the rule of law in myriad ways. Lately, he has made a hobby of firing Inspector Generals. If you’re not clear, the job of any IG is to make sure that people working at the federal agency he or she oversees don’t break the laws. 

The latest victim of a Trumpian desire to rule like a king – the fourth IG he has fired in two months – was the IG for the State Department, Steve Linick. According to multiple reports, Linick had opened at least one investigation into possible illegal actions by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. So, Pompeo recommended his firing. Trump agreed. 

(I can find only one example of President Obama relieving an IG in eight years as president. I also find one case where President George W. Bush was asked to fire an IG. Robert W. Cobb resigned instead.)

 

As usual, most Republicans are too cowardly to complain about the president’s assault on the rule of law. One U.S. Senator did show a dash of courage. A second protested, but we’ll have to wait to see if there are any results. A third expressed concern. 

Starting with the last of the three: Sen. Susan Collins, who finds herself is in a fight to retain her seat in November, went on record via Twitter: 

I have long been a strong advocate for the Inspectors General. They are vital partners in Congress’s effort to identify inefficient or ineffective government programs and to root out fraud and other wrongdoing.

 

…The President has not provided the kind of justification for the removal of IG Linick required by this law.

 

See! Concern! The president might be breaking the law…. 

Chuck Grassley, GOP chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, was blunt. But the question remains. Will he act? 

He made it clear to reporters that inspectors-general were “crucial in correcting government failures and promoting the accountability that the American people deserve.”  Congress, he pointed out, “requires written reasons justifying an IG’s removal [emphasis added]. A general lack of confidence,” which Trump had cited as his reason for dumping Linick,  would not “satisfy Congress.” 

Sen. Mitt Romney, who seems to be the only GOP senator still in possession of a pair of nuts, was more direct. He warned that Trump’s firings of multiple inspectors-general were “unprecedented” and “doing so without good cause chills the independence essential to their purpose….It is a threat to accountable democracy and a fissure in the constitutional balance of power.”

August 14, 2020: Second Nobel Peace Prize for Trump?

 

8/14/20: I’m not going to deny that President Trump sometimes gets policies right. It’s mostly dumb luck. 

But he does.

Attorney General Bill Barr - or a banana cream pie?

 

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Trump in line for second Nobel Peace Prize!

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The decision to stop a shipment of Iranian oil headed for Venezuela this week was a good one. The four tankers halted by the U.S. Navy were carrying 1.1 million barrels of oil. That sanctioned oil will be forfeit and sold, with proceeds earmarked to go to victims of Iranian terror attacks.

 

At first glance, it also looked like a good deal when Israel and the United Arab Emirates, with U.S. diplomats pushing for an agreement, moved to normalize relations. The UAE would recognize Israel’s right to exist. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin “I Am Not Corrupt Up to My Eyeballs” Netanyahu would pause annexations in the West Bank, keeping a two-state solution alive. 

Team Trump was so excited by developments that talk began of Donald Trump getting a second Nobel Peace Prize. 

National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien appeared on Sean Hannity’s show to make the case. The president “brought forth the...vision for Middle East peace to get an Israeli-Palestinian peace plan back in play and he’s brought peace to Afghanistan, at least between the U.S. and the Taliban,” O’Brien said. “We haven’t lost a soldier in Afghanistan since February 29 in combat and we’re going to be down to 5,000 troops in Afghanistan. And now he’s brought peace to Israel and the UAE.”

 

Alas, this award may prove as ephemeral as the one Trump “won” in 2018, when he convinced North Korea to give up all its nukes. 

(The North has since given up exactly 0 nuclear weapons. Rather, they built a few more for fun.) 

As always, diplomacy in the real world can be a bitch. Mr. O’Brien seems to forget. For starters, the U.S. might be getting out of Afghanistan. Our Afghan allies are stuck. The bloodshed is unabated. You don’t win a Nobel Peace Prize for quitting a war you can’t figure out how to win. 

Trump’s “vision for Middle East peace” also lacks an essential component: Palestinians. They took one look at the new agreement and accused the UAE of “betrayal.” To make that point clear, they recalled their ambassador to the Emirates and asked for an emergency meeting of the full Arab League. 

Netanyahu then cast a pall over the deal, saying that he had not agreed to end annexations in the West Bank – only to suspend them.

 

* 

IN OTHER NEWS, the president did manage to squeeze in a visit at the hospital, with his ailing younger brother. Then it was off to Bedminster, N.J. again. A round of golf, and a hard day as president was ended. 

The CDC reported another 56,397 new cases of coronavirus for the day. Friday, another 1,229 Americans died. Since the start of the pandemic, 134,397 healthcare professionals have been infected and 628 have perished. The national tally of dead, according to CDC has reached: 

167,546.

 

*

 

THE GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE announces that the two top officials at the Department of Homeland Security are not serving legally in their posts. Neither Chad Wolf, the acting head of DHS, nor Ken Cuccinelli, acting deputy head, has been confirmed by the U.S. Senate, as required by the U.S. Constitution.

 

Cuccinelli is actually serving in two positions, without being confirmed for either. He’s also acting director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

 

The virtue of ignoring the Senate and sticking whomever you like in top roles in government (if you can get away with it) is you could put suck-ups and sycophants in places of power and … oh … maybe break a few laws while they ignored what you were doing. You could reward toadies by giving them important positions and you could just say, f**k it, and appoint your son, Don Jr., as Secretary of Defense and appoint a banana crème pie to be the next Attorney General.

 

(Actually, a crème pie might not be as bad as Bill Barr, the current occupant of that position.)

 

 

POSTSCRIPT: Sen. Mitt Romney offered biting assessment of President Trump’s handling of the coronavirus crisis this week. “Short term, I think it’s fair to say we really have not distinguished ourselves in a positive way by how we responded to the crisis when it was upon us,” he said in an interview Friday. “And the proof of the pudding of that is simply that we have 5 percent of the world’s population but 25 percent of the world’s deaths due to covid-19.”

 

“And there’s no way to spin that in a positive light,” he added. (See: 8/16/20.)