Suddenly, out of the blue, a Perfect Storm that has been hanging in the skies over Washington D.C. erupted and came crashing down on our nation’s capital and the White House.
On the very same day, Tuesday, August 21, Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to 8 counts brought against him by Special Prosecutor Mueller. Then Paul Manafort was found guilty on 8 of 18 counts that the Southern District New York had charged him with.
This is an astonishing turn of events. On top of those stunning announcements three other Trump associates, George Papadopoulos, Rick Gates, and Michael Fynn previously pled guilty after being indicted by Mueller.
Next, the New York Times reported that Don McGahn, the presidential counsel, met recently with the Mueller team for over 30 hours, a very ominous sign indeed. The times indicated that “McGahn had grown concerned that Trump was preparing to set him up for a fall over the issue of possible obstruction of justice, prompting him to provide as much information as possible to Mueller’s investigation.”
So we don’t know for certain that McGahn did actually “rat” on Trump but it sure seems like he did just that. That, added to what took place involving Cohen, Manafort, and McGhan, says that Trump is not going to sleep very well for some time.
But wait, there is more yet. It’s just being reported that David Pecker, publisher of the National Enquirer and friend of Trump, has cut an immunity deal with Mueller. It’s said to be about the hush money that Michael Cohen gave to Trump’s two lady friends to silence them. What is the world is going to come out next?
As more and more revelations linked to Trump emerge, what is his reaction? Well, Trump puts on his standard act by which he pretends that he is not the least bit worried, and just repeats over and over, “no collusion, no collusion, no collusion.”
Congressional Republicans continue to act like his peasants and serfs, remaining silent, saying nothing. They are reacting to what is going very much as they did with Nixon and Watergate. Back then they just tried to ignore the entire matter, until Nixon was painted in toa corner by the Special Prosecutor, and then they met with him and told him he must leave.
By repeating history, Republicans are making a fatal mistake because, if they continue to stand with Trump as things get worse and worse they will be knocked out of office in November.
And what of Evangelicals who continue to forgive every one of his “sins” immediately after he commits them. Looks like they no longer adhere to “Thou shalt not” or “You shall reap what you have sown.” In their eyes, he can do no wrong no matter how vicious or sordid his actions and behavior may be. Perhaps they think of him as some kind of savior.
Why do these people who profess to be Christians strongly support a man of such poor character, who possesses such anger and disdain for those who he refers to as his enemies? Don’t they think he should show love instead, i.e., “Love your enemies?” Who can figure that out?
There has been continuing pressure put on Mueller to have him finish his investigation and submit his findings, but he has not budged. And with these recent stunning, shocking events of the last few days, now we know why.
While all this is going on the media, especially the TV news outlets, are simply ecstatic and are in seventh heaven. It’s like they have been given Christmas gifts in August. They are covering what is going on 24/7 and, doing everything in their power to bring down their nemesis, Trump.
Trump feels the intense heat coming from Mueller. He knows he is in massive trouble and that his presidency is in jeopardy; and he may well panic and, possibly, implode.
He is now trying to figure out if and when he needs to pardon both Cohen and Manafort to prevent them from making any further disclosures about him.
But if he pardons either of them or both it would cause a Constitutional crisis and Washington would come to a standstill, locked down completely. He will have written his own ticket out of town for good. Well, the good side of that would be that, if he returns to his real estate empire, he can always get back to doing what he does best; initiating bankruptcies for which his Russian oligarch friends always bail him out.
With these stunning revelations about Cohen, Manafort, and Pecker the impact on the November elections grows ever larger. And that means that the Republicans who have supported Trump no matter what he did may have to pay the price for their failure to act as they should have. They control a Congress that should be a check and balance to prevent the president from assuming too much power, but they simply refuse to do it.
So we now have a president who acts as if he is above the law, believing that he answers to no one. He is ripping and tearing at the foundations of our democracy. He gives every appearance of wanting to establish an autocracy, with himself as the sole possessor of power over all others
Trump is a living example of why this country most definitely should have a presidential vetting process, in which any American candidate for the presidency would have to take part. This would be a comprehensive test about a candidate’s knowledge of governmental affairs, understanding of the Constitution, his or her mental state, as well as other important facets of government and character.
This vetting process would be designed to, as much as possible, prevent a candidate who was incompetent, ignorant of governmental affairs, or was mentally unfit to hold the office. If such a process had been in effect prior to the 2016 election, Trump would surely have been disqualified.
Now as the end is near who and what shall we say that had a major role in enabling his departure? Of course, first and foremost it is Mueller. Expect him to, before long, present damning evidence of Trump; that he is either guilty of conspiring with a foreign government to interfere in our elections and/or being guilty of obstruction of justice; this seems like a slam dunk.
But who are the others besides Mueller?
*Enraged former, and some current, high-level government officials in various U.S. intelligence agencies, the FBI, the CIA, and the Justice Dept.
*US voters who will take out their anger about Trump by kicking Republicans out of office in November.
*Employees in his White House who are planning to jump ship to escape prosecution and might meet with Mueller to tell on their former boss.
*His once closest advisers, many of whom, have already turned on him.
Never in the history of America has there ever been such turmoil and chaos swirling around a president. There has never been a president like Trump and we better hope that we never see one again. This man has placed a dark stain on the office of the presidency that will be very difficult to remove.
Yes, the end is near, the walls are rapidly closing in on him. His presidential helicopter, Marine One, should be prepared to leave at any time, the last time for Trump. There is no way that he will finish out his first and final term. So, in the words of Arnold Schwarzenegger, “Hasta la vista, baby.”
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