January 12, 2020

David Brooks had a recent op-ed piece titled “How Trump Makes Us All Stupid.” It appeared in the New York Times, and was reprinted in the Springfield Republican. Brooks maintains that this President is dragging us all down to his level. And that is why, unlike the President, I read books. Books remind me of what normal looks like, how great people behave, and how ordinary people can accomplish great things. Books give me hope, inspire me, and remind me that we have been here before.

Doris Kearns Goodwin, in her book “Leadership,” charts the history of four of America’s greatest presidents, Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt, and Lyndon Johnson. In each case, they had a hopeful vision for America, had a long-term plan for achieving it, and were willing to make enormous personal sacrifices to accomplish their objectives. Elijah Cummings said “we are better than this,” and these men prove him right.

Brenda Wineapple wrote a very timely book titled “The Impeachers.” It was recently cited in a New York Times piece. It is an historical roadmap for today’s impeachment proceedings. It covers the issues, biases, conflicts of interest, political calculations, and personal bravery that goes into impeachment proceedings. I am sure Trump’s impeachment will be no different. Hopefully, as with the Nixon hearings, ordinary men will aspire to do great things.

Lastly, “The Aviators” discusses the illustrious careers of Eddie Rickenbacker, Jimmy Doolittle, and Charles Lindbergh. All three were courageous fliers, pioneers in their field, and war heroes. They all came from ordinary backgrounds, but rose up to accomplish amazing things. Hopefully, this is still in our national DNA.

January 14, 2020

I have heard some of my conservative friends say that Biden has lost his fastball based on some of his debate performances. There may be some truth in the statement, but, as it turns out, they were just parroting a right-wing media talking point. Pretty lazy, I would say. Maybe they have lost their fastballs. However, if anyone has lost his fastball, it’s Donald Trump.

When was the last time Trump came up with a puerile nickname for an opponent that stuck. Remember the good old days with Little Marco, Low Energy Jeb, Lying Ted, and Pocahontas? What has he come up with lately? Sleepy Joe as a nickname is just that…sleepy. Crazy Nancy is more accurately Crazy Like a Fox Nancy. He calls Bernie a Socialist, but he actually is a self-described Democratic Socialist. He is now beta testing Mini Mike for Bloomberg. I would be careful about going after a real billionaire. He has come up with nothing for Buttigieg and Klobuchar. Apparently, they are not high enough in the polls. He will always have Pocahontas as an oldie but goodie. He better hope that the Democratic candidates don’t sink to his level, and start calling him names like The Teflon Don, Don the Con, Individual #1, Putin’s Puppet, The Biggest Loser, and so on. Ironically, his opponents won’t even have to steal signs to hit his fast ball.

January 14, 2020

Thank you to the editorial board of the Springfield Republican for pointing out that Trump’s Justice Department quietly closed its investigations on the Clinton Foundation, Uranium One, and Hillary’s e-mails without finding anything. There was no there there. I certainly missed the announcement. It was a Benghazi moment. It was an Obama wire-tapping moment. It is amazing how these false claims take hold, and then get repeated over and over again.

We are now dealing with another one of these false narratives that has led to Trump’s impeachment. The right wing media has pushed the Biden/Ukraine/e-mail server conspiracy theory ad nauseum. Rudy Giuliani and the President are still pushing this junk. Now we have reports that the Russians are hacking into Ukrainian companies looking for dirt on the Biden’s. When is enough enough?

January 13, 2020

“Andrew Johnson was not a statesman. He was a man with a fear of losing ground, with a need to be recognized, with an obsession to be right, and when seeking revenge on enemies—or perceived enemies—he had to humiliate, harass, and hound them. Heedless of consequences, he baited Congress and bullied men, believing his enemies were enemies of the people. It was a convenient illusion.” This is an excerpt from “The Impeachers” by Brenda Wineapple. As we approach the impeachment trial of another president, it is amazing how history does more than rhyme.

Horace Greeley said, “There is something grand to us in this spectacle of a great nation changing an incompetent ruler by the gentle and easy process of law.” Wendell Phillips followed with “Impeachment is the refuge of the common sense of the nation, which in the moment of difficulty says to the magistrate, you ought to have known by your common sense, and your moral sense, that this has unfitted you for your office.”

The mistake the impeachers made was to define Johnson’s transgressions too narrowly and too legalistically. What Johnson was guilty of was much worse than a legal infraction. He was guilty of failing to protect a highly vulnerable part of the population, and condemning thousands to their deaths. Today’s impeachers, similarly, need to look beyond the narrowly drawn up articles of impeachment, and look to the President’s utter disregard for norms, principles, and the integrity of our elections.

As we know, Johnson gets impeached, but is not removed from office. Trump has been impeached, and will probably not get removed from office. There is an old saying that you can judge a man by the company he keeps. I would say Trump is in good company. Unfortunately, Ulysses S. Grant is not waiting in the wings.

Will Trump’s impeachment be ultimately worth it? From her book, Wineapple says, “The impeachment verdict also protected the party, particularly important before a presidential election. As young Republican writer William Dean Howells conceded, while it had been “a serio-comic necessity…the impeachment of Presidents is hardly an ‘issue’ to inspire enthusiasm in their election.””

January 8, 2020

“Crazy like a Fox” Nancy Pelosi grew up in politics, and has had a long and distinguished career. I am sure along the way she picked her mentors well. Now, who would have thought that Mitch McConnell would be one of them? In January of 2016, at the passing of Justice Antonin Scalia, McConnell decided to break with centuries of Senate precedent and protocol, and deny President Barack Obama’s Supreme Court nominee, Merrick Garland, a hearing. He unilaterally decided that it should be up to the American people to decide the issue in the 2016 election. Ironically, Nancy Pelosi was watching and learning.

Now it is up to Nancy Pelosi to decide when to send over the articles of impeachment to the Senate. History and custom would say that they should be sent over immediately. Apparently, Pelosi learned her lesson well. She is withholding the articles until she gets a clarification of the rules for the Senate trial regarding witnesses and documents.

In my opinion, McConnell was and is wrong in both situations. He had no right to hold up a Supreme Court nomination, and he has no right to refuse to call witnesses in an impeachment trial. 77% of the American people agree on the latter. “Crazy like a Fox” Nancy Pelosi knows this, and Mitch McConnell knows he has net his match.

January 6, 2019

“Tax reform is the war between the estates.”

January 3, 2019

No one would ever confuse me with being an expert on the Mideast, or any other place in the world for that matter. However, as a layman, it seemed to me that the agreement with Iran that we had reached with our allies and the one that Trump walked away from was a good start on a long-term strategy to normalization. As I understand it, the agreement restricted Iran’s ability to develop nuclear weapons in exchange for the loosening of sanctions. Increased economic activity would reinvigorate Iran’s middle class, and bolster moderate factions. State-sponsored terrorism was still an issue, but you had to start somewhere. It wasn’t perfect. Iran and the United States have a tortured history going back to Mossadegh, the Shah, and the embassy takeover. There are legitimate grievances on both sides. In this environment, a multi-lateral agreement made sense.

Trump decided to change all this without putting in place an alternative long-term strategy. He ramped up sanctions, and has espoused regime change. This from a man, who, until recently, didn’t know the difference between a Qud and a Kurd. We are now on the verge of a major military/terrorist reprisal. This has been totally predictable, and totally unnecessary. I don’t believe this was done to deflect attention away from impeachment. However, given the President ‘s track record of lying all the time, I will be hard pressed to believe anything he says about what is to come.