October 30-31, 2017: Trump Campaign Manager Paul Manafort - More Bad News on Climate

 

10/30/17: This is not one of President Trump’s best days, even though he tweeted early in the morning that there was “NO COLLUSION” between Russia and his 2016 campaign. 

Say what you will, Mr. President, but Paul Manafort, 68, your former campaign manager, just got indicted for money laundering and lying all day, every day, and lying in his sleep. 

Also indicted was Rick Gates, 45, a Manafort protégé. Gates was a part of the Trump Team up to Inauguration Day, when he was part of the largest imaginary crowd ever to attend inaugural events. (See: 1/21/17.) 

Gates is young. He has a wife and small children to worry about. He cannot relish the idea of spending twenty years in an orange jumpsuit. That means he has reason to cooperate with the Mueller investigation. 

If I were a betting man, and I am, I’d bet he’s going to flip.

Rick Gates.

 

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IN RELATED NEWS, George Papadopoulos, now described by Press Secretary Pinocchio as a nobody in the campaign, pleads guilty to federal charges. Trump surrogates call the young man a “coffee boy,” of no import during the campaign. The president tweets about some guy named “George,” like he never laid eyes on the man. 

On the other hand, we know Candidate Trump had previously informed the Washington Post that “George” was a top adviser on his team. As late as August 2016 a campaign adviser (unnamed in the indictment) was suggesting “George” take a trip to Moscow and look into a deal with Russians to get dirt on Hillary Clinton. 

That means the next target of investigation may be that top campaign adviser mentioned in the coffee boy’s indictment. Different sources suggest “George” might have been talking to Sam Clovis, co-chair of the campaign. He might have been talking to Cory Lewandowski, another former Trump campaign manager. Lewandowski denies any wrong-doing, as you would expect. 

In fact, if we are to believe Sean Hannity, and the assorted liars on the Trump campaign team, all “George” was really asking about was did the Big Bosses want one lump of sugar or two?

 

We do know the F.B.I. interviewed Papadopoulos just seven days after Trump took office. Agents quickly caught him in several lies, leading to charges of obstruction of justice. If this sounds familiar it should. 

“George,” the coffee boy, lied about meeting with Russians.

(See: 12/1-2/17. When news breaks that Gen. Michael T Flynn has begun start cooperating with the Mueller probe, the White House suddenly starts referring to him as “a former Obama administration official.”)

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10/31/17: The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) announces that carbon-dioxide in the atmosphere spiked last year to levels not seen in 800,000 years. E.P.A. Administrator Scott Pruitt, tool of Big Coal and stooge of Big Oil, continues to push increased burning of fossil fuels. 

Pruitt won’t be satisfied till we drill for oil in the Rose Garden and in Hillary Clinton’s front yard.

February 27, 2019: First, They Came for Our Hamburgers...

 

2/27/19: “Disgraced felon” Michael Cohen is set to testify publicly before the House Oversight Committee. 

It’s interesting to note that the term “disgraced felon” is coming from Press Secretary Pinocchio and other White House aides. That makes me wonder. Aren’t all felons “disgraced?” 

Or: just the felons who might have dirt on President Trump, both before he took office and after?

 

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PERHAPS you are familiar with the famous words of Pastor Martin Niemöller. Having watched the rise of the Nazis in Germany he summed up their march to power and tyranny this way: 

First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out – because I was not a socialist.

 

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out – because I was not a trade unionist.

 

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out – because I was not a Jew.

 

Then they came for me – and there was no one left to speak for me.

 

This week, former White House advisor Sebastian Gorka decided to offer up his own variation of this tale, in an effort to scare the right-wing base. In Gorka’s eyes, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was a Nazi in waiting, because she wanted to address climate change (which, by the way, would be coming for us all.) 

“First,” he offered, “they came for the hamburgers.”

But he wasn’t a hamburger? Was that his message? 

“Then they came for our condiments?” 

Is that what he was trying to say? 

“Then they came for our sesame seed buns?”

 

Yeah. It was a stupid comparison to try to make. But this is Team Trump we’re talking about, so they’re always trying to scare the base.