It is far past time Trump supporters do not give Trump a pass on his outrageous statements. Their excuse for him is that he makes these statements “just to get attention”, that he really “does not mean” what he says, that he is just a “promoter”. As a President, as a nominee for President, his words carry weight, they have consequences.
Here are two examples of where his supporters should not give him a pass.
First, within the last 48 hours Trump taunted Nikki Haley for her time as his ambassador to the UN. He castigated her performance and said the only reason he wanted her as his UN rep was to allow the then Lt governor to be made governor. But where he really crossed the line and should be held accountable was when he said, “Where is her husband? Where is he? He’s gone!” Nikki Haley’s husband is honorably serving this country in the National Guard and is on his second overseas deployment in Africa. He is serving this country and our security. This harkens to General Kelly – Trump’s chief of staff in the White House for over 18 months – stating on record that Trump when talking about soldiers and sailors that died in service or were maimed said, “What was in it for them? They were just suckers and losers.” Think about that statement – men and women who gave their lives and their bodies to secure our nation and our freedoms – just “suckers and losers”. How can anyone think this man would deserve a second term in the White House.
Second, within the last 24 hours Trump has made the following statement at one of his South Carolina rallies, “he would encourage Russia to do “whatever the hell they want” to any NATO member country that doesn’t meet spending guidelines on defense in a stunning admission he would not abide by the collective-defense clause at the heart of the alliance if reelected. Why is this so egregious? There have been several writings on how Donald Trump in his four years as President fractured the NATO alliance. His bruising meeting in Brussels at a NATO meeting, to published reports he wanted to remove the USA from the alliance. There have also been analyses on how Putin factored Trump’s impact on NATO and how Putin believed he had been given a “window of opportunity”, even a wink/wink from Trump for Putin to act in Ukraine. This was heightened by Joe Biden’s election where Putin believed he had to act before Biden could heal those factures. Bottom line, Putin’s invasion of Ukraine was impacted by Trump’s Presidency. It might also be good to understand why NATO was formed in 1949 – there were three reasons. First, to deter Soviet Union expansionism. Second, to eliminate militarism from growing again in Europe which had led to two disastrous world wars in the previous 35 years. And third, to create conditions leading to a more politically integrated and unified Europe. For 75 years NATO has been successful in those three. The Soviet Union dissolved in 1991, militarism within Europe ceased to exist, and within Europe arose a desire to integrate not just politically, but economically with the formation of the European Union. Trump’s statements on NATO, given Putin’s propensity to use military power to recreate the Soviet Union and its hegemony over eastern Europe (with a goal to dominate all of Europe) is dangerous. Extremely dangerous to the USA and our security. It might also be good to understand, given Trump’s outrageous statements on member nations military spending, since the fall of the Soviet Union every, EVERY, member nations military spending to GDP has fallen. Our own military spending has fallen since 1991 from 5.3% of GDP to 3.4%, a fall of over 39%. Germany’s has fallen from an average above 5% from 1960 to 1991 to about 1.5%. England’s from above 5% in that same time to just above 2%. Trump’s undermining of the NATO alliance has factored into Putin’s equations and view on reinvigorating Russia. Trump’s statements are dangerous…and have an impact. Again, how can anyone think Donald J. Trump is deserving of another term in the White House?
You know, I can not help but add this comment. “Where is Melania? Where is she? She’s gone!” Melania has made no public appearances with Donald Trump at any of his campaign events. Melania has made no appearances with Donald Trump at any of his depositions or court appearances. In fact, in the last year she has only been known to have dinner in public with Donald Trump one time, last November, in Mar-A-Lago. Vanity Affairs has reported that Melania is refusing to appear in public with Donald Trump as she is infuriated with him about his affairs (only one of which involves Stormy Daniels, the porn “star”). Perhaps Melania knows better than any of us about the character and the qualifications of Donald Trump to serve another four years in the White House?
Tag: politics
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Four criminal cases, ninety-one felony counts, four judicial districts, over 120 jurists found cause for criminal charges in four grand juries. More civil lawsuits are being pursued than you can count on the fingers of your two hands. One of which may cause the Trump Organization to be greatly dissolved and unable to do business in the state of New York, the center of their operations. They all lie at the feet of the leading candidate for the Republican party, Donald J. Trump.
A serial womanizer, a serial adulterer, a serial liar, found to have sexually assaulted a woman by trial, found liable in defamation of that woman after trial and fined over $83 million dollars. Accused by another eighteen women who have gone public claimed he sexually assaulted them (sexual assault is defined as sexual contact without consent). Having sex with a porn star – currently under criminal trial due to alleged use of campaign funds as “hush money” paid to Stormy Daniels.
In the infamous “Access Hollywood” tape where Trump exclaimed “And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab ’em by the pussy. You can do anything.”And he confirmed this attitude and belief in a deposition where he responded to an attorney’s question:
Carroll’s attorneys quoted the video to Trump then asked, “That’s what you said, correct?”
“Well, historically, that’s true with stars,” Trump replied.
“It’s true with stars that they can grab women by the p—-?” Trump was asked.
“Well, if you look over the last million years, I guess that’s been largely true,” Trump said. “Not always, but largely true. Unfortunately, or fortunately.”
“And you consider yourself to be a star?” Trump was asked.
“I think you can say that, yeah,” he said.
In his own words, he confirmed that he believes he can do whatever he wants with women – and that lends considerable credence to the 18 women who claim he sexually contacted them without their consent…..sexual assault.
And now, two cases going before the Supreme Court as caused by the behavior and actions of a man who believes he is above the law. One case on his disqualification to run for office due to the Fourteenth Amendment. The other (on an expected appeal to the Supreme Court) due to a judicial court and now an appellate court ruling that as President Donald J. Trump was not above the law, and that he is not immune from prosecution. And likely more court cases yet to be appealed to the Supreme Court.
Donald J. Trump has been a disaster for this country – history will not be kind to him. Donald J. Trump has been a disaster for the Republican Party. Loser of the 2018 election, loser of the 2020 election, loser of the 2022 election. Donald will be taking the “Grand Ole” party over the cliff with him in November. Mark my words. A disaster from which the Republican party may need to happen for the party to recover and become what it once was…. the party of liberty, the party of law and order, the party of moral government, the party of fiscal responsibility. -
I have picked up a couple of books to read, about the founding of our nation, our republic. One book, “First Principles – What America’s Founders learned from the Greeks and Romans and How that shaped our Country” tries to provide the reader with insight into how our first four presidents were impacted by their upbringing, their education and how this shaped our Constitution and our government.
Within just the first few pages something leaped out at me, and struck me with the context of a single word and it’s meaning from the late 1700’s versus how that word is used today.
That word is “virtue”.Today’s definition often centers around morality, for example the “virtue of tolerance” or the “virtue of charity”. Or it may mean a trait of excellence including those of moral, social, or intellectual traits.
But, the word’s meaning in the late 1700’s through the early 1800’s had a different meaning, a different context. Virtue comes from the Latin term “virtus”. It is associated with character, valor, excellence, courage, and worth. Traits associated (rightfully or wrongly) with Roman emperors and leaders. For the people of the late 18th century “virtue” was essential to public life. It meant putting “the common good before one’s own interests”. It was the “lynchpin” of public life at that time.
Why is this important? “Virtue” runs constantly through the recorded words, the public statements of the Founders of our republic. It was repeatedly, in their written documents. As the book states “The word virtue appears over 6,000 times in the collected correspondence of the Founders and other writings of the Revolution’s generation, as compiled in the US National database – Founder’s Online – which includes over 120,000 documents.” The word “virtue” is found more often than the word “freedom”. The practice of “virtue”- of putting the public good ahead of self-interest was paramount in public life then and may explain why George Washington appeared so large in the post-revolutionary era. He was a man of “virtue”.I could not help but think of how that word was essential to public life during the formation of our country and how that word today would ill fit our “leadership” today. Rather than virtue (either that of the late 1700’s or of today’s understanding of the word) far too many in Washington DC misconstrue notoriety with virtue, with social media presence with character, with how they might benefit themselves rather than how they might benefit “the common good”. How have we gone from a society where our candidates asked us to pledge allegiance to our country to pledge allegiance to themselves, where candidates pledged themselves to bring the country together to solve the nations issues, to candidates who say, “Only I can solve these nations problems.”
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I have said this many times, that history is a great teacher and those that fail to learn from history are apt to repeat it. Here is something to think about as it pertains to factual past US history and factual recent history concerning Donald Trump.
In 1943 in the heart of the USA’s war against Japan our nation’s submarine fleet was having great success against the Japanese merchant fleets. The Navy had determined that our latest subs, the GATO class, were able to submerge to a depth of just over four hundred feet which was one hundred feet deeper than the Japanese believed they could dive. Therefore, the Japanese set their depth charges to a maximum depth of three hundred feet. This diminished the damage they could do to our country’s subs. In that year, 1943, US Congressman Andrew May toured our Pacific fleet headquarters in Pearl Harbor Hawaii and was provided the information on the depth our subs could dive and how that benefited them when attacked by the Japanese. Representative Andrew May served as Chairman of the House Committee on Military Affairs in 1943. Afterwards Representative May held a press conference where he told the gathered press the Japanese were setting their depth charges to shallow.
Soon after this American sub losses increased in the Pacific. Vice Admiral Lockwood, commander of the U.S. submarine fleet in the Pacific, estimated that May’s security breach cost the United States Navy as many as ten submarines and eight hundred crew members killed in action. Loose lips sink ships, as the saying goes. Representative May was voted out of office in the next election.
How does this relate to current events?
In April of 2021, shortly after leaving office, Donald Trump shared classified information about US nuclear submarines with a billionaire Australian businessman at his Florida private members club, Mar-a-Lago. This has been reported by not just US news media (including Fox News), but also international news media.
The Australian businessman has been identified as Anthony Pratt, who heads one of the world’s largest packaging companies. It has been reported that Pratt later shared sensitive details about the US submarines with “scores of others, including more than a dozen foreign officials, several of his own employees, and a handful of journalists”.
American defense and intelligence authorities say this will endanger the country’s most critical defense resources, our nuclear submarine fleet, and endanger the country’s national security.
Federal prosecutors have now interviewed Pratt twice and he will likely be called by prosecutors to testify against Trump in Trump’s classified documents trial, which is due to start in May.
It is reported Trump revealed at least two critical pieces of information about the tactical capacities of US submarines, including “how many nuclear warheads the vessels carried and how close they could get to their Russian counterparts without being detected”.
For all of this…..Donald Trump swore in his oath of office to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic”. With his grandstanding for Pratt, Donald Trump has put our country’s security and that of our navy and our sailors at risk.
He is not worthy of another term in the White House where he can further harm our country, our citizens, our institutions, our agencies, our armed forces, and our allies. The saying “four and no more” was true in 2020 and even more true in 2024. -
What would you think if one of the political parties developed a plan to subvert home rule, seeking to have local officials appointed by the state rather than elected by the people? For clarity, “home rule” allows local governments the right to self-govern, to set their governance on taxes, education, health, etc. It also protects the local government from state intervention. Think about that.
What would you think if one of the political parties began circumventing legislation by taking over a state’s judiciary and adopting amendments to a state’s constitution, which effected widespread policy changes, including lowering the number of judges on the State’s Supreme Court and then putting the lower courts and local governments under the control of the state legislature? Think about that.
What would you think if one of the political parties began rescinding the votes of certain non-felony types of prior convicted criminals or mandating who might attend which schools, both private and public? Think about that.
What would you think if one of the political parties enacted laws affecting personal relationships, who could socially gather, or what might take place in the bedroom between consenting adults? Think about that.
What would you think if one of the political parties enabled a state legislature the power to modify or nullify any local government? Think about that.
I think, most of us, would agree these acts, if they took place, would be un-American and damaging to our democracy. These actions would directly undermine the foundations of our American democracy. These acts would violate our democratic principles of Representative Government, Rule of Law, Consent of the Governed/Popular Sovereignty, Justice, Liberty, and Equality.
There is a saying that those that forget history are apt to repeat it. For those of you thinking this could never happen in the USA, it has happened. From the 1870’s until the 1920’s, throughout the old Confederacy, these acts were manifest across the South. These are well documented having happened in North Carolina and duplicated elsewhere. Villages, towns, and cities had their elected governments abolished with the states taking over their governance, laws were passed outlawing interracial relationships, bills were passed taking away the right to vote from specific groups of people, schools were closed, schools were segregated, judiciary systems were taken under direct control of governorships or state legislatures with the courts then “packed” with political appointees. In hundreds of cases (thousands?) duly elected individuals were forced out of office by Governors or state legislatures.
You might say, “But this took place at another time, from one hundred fifty years to one hundred years ago. It could not happen today.”
Think again. It is happening today…. only today in a groundswell……but how quickly could it turn into a tsunami. We have a governor in Florida who has removed locally elected officials; locally elected prosecuting attorneys and judges, a state legislature in Florida who has removed independent board of directors at public institutions of learning, new judiciary oversight boards created and populated by political appointees. There have been numerous state level voting district maps that have been determined to undermine specific group’s ability to impact local, state, and federal elections, all of these directed at Black voting districts. In the state of Texas, the state legislature passed a bill, House Bill 2127, that kneecaps the ability of cities to self-govern. The bill was primarily focused on “blue” cities, whose local politics have been dominated by Democrat party elected officials. The law is so broad that it takes away local communities’ ability to determine how they govern commerce, welfare, taxes, etc.
Where are we headed with all of this? History is a great teacher….and from that we should all be drawing caution signs. There are danger signals in these actions and we have a political candidate who has already stated his campaign will be one of “retribution and vengeance” and releases of plans being drawn up on his reelection show a designed purpose to further centralize power through a Federal government that will be organized to attack that candidate’s “political and personal” enemies list. Who is helping to forge the strategies and the plans? It is rumored that the Heritage Foundation has created a strategy paper called” Project 2025” where Trump would expand presidential authority over even nonpolitical levers of the federal government.
Think this would never happen in the USA? It is….………
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My entire life, even as a teenager, I have been a conservative and a Republican. Yet over the past thirty some years the Republican Party has moved away from the party of my childhood and the party of the majority of my adult life. Today it seems as if the Republican Party can only use political brinksmanship in it’s actions. It seems no longer to be the party of ideas, the party able and willing to put it’s proposals on the table and then negotiate outcomes that move the country forward. It seems to me it has become the party of “No”, the party against “things”, the party that has resolute “litmus” tests that it cannot breached. It also seems to be the party that cannot do anything without the use of brinksmanship, taking our economy or our nation’s security to the very edge of an abyss. This is happening again with the funding for Ukraine, and funding support for Israel.
The continual use of “brinkmanship” within Congress, more specifically, the Republican controlled House is reaching the level of self-destruction.
Sounds too alarming?
Think of the budget crisis that was manufactured by the Republican controlled House, even after their elected Speaker – Kevin McCarthy – had negotiated in good faith an agreement with the White House administration. The disruption that followed, including the expulsion of the Speaker from his role (never done before in the history of the USA) led to a downgrade of our country’s credit rating. No big deal you think? That downgrade made it more expensive for the government to borrow funds, the interest on those borrowings will haunt the USA for years to come, costing each one of us if we go to get a car loan, a home loan, credit card debt. Those costs will stay with us for years.
Now we face another act of brinksmanship concerning the funding and aid to both Israel and Ukraine. The Republican controlled House is refusing to fund either country unless they can wring concessions on border security. At least for some of the Republican House members. And that is understandable, to a degree. Our immigration laws are at fault here. Challenges in Central America to the populations in three countries in crisis are the basis for the extraordinary efforts for people to seek refuge in the USA. Yet for many Republican House members they blindly wish to cease any funding to support Ukraine. For those, they are ignorant of history, ignorant of the USA’s most critical security bulwarks (Europe’s security is a bulwark supporting US security, it is a barrier to dire security threats to our economy, our wellbeing, and a barrier to the threat of a much greater conflict which will put our military and our country on a path of direct engagement on the ground in Europe). What is worse, their ignorance is willful ignorance, intentional ignorance – and that ignorance puts all of us at risk. Putin wishes to reestablish the Soviet Union, by conquest or by dominion over the following states: Ukraine, Moldova, Hungary, Poland, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Romania, Bulgaria, Bosnia, Serbia, Montenegro, and Kosovo. This is not a short list and represents a reconstituted Russia and an expanded sphere of influence. If Putin succeeds in Ukraine, the likelihood of his success in all these other countries goes up exponentially. To this date not a single American service members has died in this conflict. We have provided Ukraine around FIFTY BILLION in military aid and another THIRTY-SIX BILLION in financial aid. Of that EIGTHY-SIX BILLION dollars sixty percent (60%) are loans to be paid back. Only THIRTY-FOUR billion is direct aid and that represents LESS THAN FIVE PERCENT (<5%) of our military budget of nearly NINE HUNDRED BILLION. In the meantime, the Russian military has seen their military capacity nearly cut in half. Should Putin succeed, even without direct involvement of US military, the USA’s military budget will expand to over ONE TRILLION FIVE HUNDRED BILLION within three to five years due to increased security threats and a weakened security structure in Europe. Imagine the cost to our economy, to YOUR TAXES to support that necessary increase in military spending. And all of this does not consider at all the China is watching and should the USA fail to continue to support Ukraine it will provide them a GREEN LIGHT to take military action against Taiwan. And another risk of USA direct military engagement – which would be sharp, and costly in men and material.This Republican brinksmanship on the continued support and funding of Ukraine is not just short sighted, but it is destructive of the most basic USA security arrangements that have stood the test of time over the past seventy plus years. Their current brinksmanship is a threat to each and every one of us.
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I cannot help but comment on the just completed (third) Republican Party Presidential Debate.
I started this blog as a way, quite frankly, to just externalize the internal discussions I would have with myself (lol) on topics that interest me – politics, science, environment, energy, space, society-well a wide range of subjects.
All parties (no pun intended) that watched the debate stated that it was substantive, the questions asked were on point, the responses illustrative of the candidate’s positions and points of view.
As the debate started, I could not help after hearing candidate Vivek Ramaswamy opening comments wonder how this individual continues to sit in these debates. He started by condemning the Republican National Committee Chair, Ronna McDaniel, to resign due to the dismal performance of the Republican party in recent election cycles. Literally asking her to come up on stage and resign in front of a national audience. Yet, he continues to praise the root cause of these failures, Donald Trump. He then took his caustic remarks on why a liberal news outlet, NBC News, should be allowed to host and moderate the debate. He spoke directly to the NBC News moderators calling them corrupt and the debate would be better served by Tucker Carlson as moderator (what???) moderating the debate. It should be noted that the debate was held in high praise by pundits, news organizations, and voters gathered by different news organizations to gauge their reactions to the candidates. Throughout the debate he threw out these choice tidbits – the leader of Ukraine is a NAZI – even though Zelensky is a Jew. Vivek’s assertation directly supports Russia’s claim as to why they invaded Ukraine – Ukraine was being taken over by “Nazis.” He claimed that the war that needs to be addressed is the “war” inside the USA. That US Army troops need to be directly involved in protecting our southern border (that is directly prohibited by our Constitution). He went on to talk about abortion, believing in a national prohibition – of course throwing all colors of grey over those thoughts. He called Nicki Haley “scum,” even attacking Haley’s twenty-five-year-old daughter. He claimed liberal news media “rigged” the election of both 2016 (?) and 2020. Vivek Ramaswamy’s campaign is designed to play on or to create voters’ fears, anger, incite their biases (or their bigotries). Is he really an example of this current version of the Republican Party? Sadly, he epitomizes a good slice of the Republican Party that is backwards looking, seeking to find who they can blame for their own failures, bereft of ideas on how to really address the nations critical issues.
Here are the key issues from this voter’s point of view for the Republican Party, candidate by candidate. Ron DeSantis has no coattails outside of Florida. Ron Scott has no coattails at all. Vivek is a disaster just waiting to happen. Nicki Haley could be viable but has a huge amount of baggage to carry from her time as Trump’s Ambassador to the UN. And finally, Chris Christie who last night was the only candidate who in every answer he provided gave clear insight into the policies he would pursue if elected, but due to his persistent vocal view of Donald Trump (as poignant as it might be) he is being shuffled closer and closer to being off the stage.
And finally, Donald Trump. – Since 2016, he has been a loser – in the 2018 election, the 2020 election, the 2022 election (no RED wave). In every court case seeking relief from a “stolen election.” As Ron pointed out, he was indeed an ineffective President…. not consequential as Senator Leahy would say. He failed to pass any form of infrastructure bill, he failed to build “the wall” or to have Mexico pay for it, his Tax Reform Act of 2017 has added trillions to the deficit and enriched corporations and executives through tax breaks they will keep into perpetuity unlike the tax reductions for 95% of income earners that lapse in the next 18 months. His withdrawal from the Trans Pacific Partnership opened East Asia to the Chinese as the significant economic partner. His withdrawal from the Iran nuclear agreement enabled Iran to fully pursue nuclear weapons again. He undermined NATO and critical allies of the USA for the past 75 years. For all of this though…. here is where the Republican Party is headed with Donald Trump. Just a fork in the road, just two paths this will take.
If Donald Trump gains the nomination of the Republican Party, it will be a disaster for the party of Lincoln, the party of Reagan. At the end of the day, when voters put their X of their vote onto record – they will (the majority will) turn away from a vile, immoral, corrupt individual who by then may well be a convicted felon and put their faith and belief in the lesser of two evils (much like what brought Trump to power in 2016). Many of the downstream Republican candidates will pay a price due to this.
On the other hand, if the Republican Party rejects Donald Trump as their nominee the factures we have seen in the Republican House caucus will look like only scratches, only wrinkles. Donald Trump will declare a civil war within the party and tear the party apart. This will harm the party for years, decades during which the Democratic Party will control the House, the Senate, and the White House.
Not a good outcome, but years in the making….
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The Grand Ole Party, the party of Lincoln, the party of Reagan….it is a pittance of what it once was.
I have been stating to friends, and in writing, that the longer the Republican Party continues to be wrapped around Donald J. Trump’s axle, the more the party will harm and diminish itself. I have stated from before 2016 the “Donald” would harm this nation in ways that would take years, even decades to recover from.
The current state of the Republican Party is just one example of this. The Party of Lincoln is at war with itself. The Party of Reagan, the party of hope, the party of lofty aspirations has become the party of fear, the party of doubts. It was Reagan himself who said in 1989.
“Whatever else history may say about me when I am gone, I hope it will record that I appealed to your best hopes, not your worst fears, to your confidence rather than your doubts. My dream is that you will travel the road ahead with liberty’s lamp guiding your steps and opportunity’s arm steadying your way.”
Donald J. Trump plays to people’s fears, to their anger, to their bias, even to their bigotry. He has sought to benefit from the divisions within the country, even to further those divisions to his personal benefit. Ronald Reagan would reject Donald J. Trump with a vengeance, the truth is that today’s Republican Party would factually reject Ronald Reagan.
The current debacle within the Halls of Congress where the majority party, the Republican Party, has the inability to govern itself in naming a Speaker of the House shows its inability to govern the nation. Our civic classes have failed many of us, but without a Speaker of the House, a major branch of the government is rudderless, unable to govern, unable to prioritize what issues it will address and what actions it will take. The House then becomes parallelized and unable to respond to crisis, unable to protect and secure the nation as the House is mandated to do. Just yesterday a Republican Representative said the Republican caucus should reach out to Donald J. Trump as to what they should do. Think about that, a failed President, loser of the 2018, 2020, and 2022 elections, found liable both for sexually abusing a woman and for defaming her, with currently 91 indictments against him in four separate cases in four separate criminal districts, having been found at fault for fraud concerning Trump enterprises and likely to lose his ability to do business in New York, is who the Republican caucus feels they must reach out to for help in their time of need.
Yes, the Republican Party is wrapped around the Trump’s axle and until the party returns to its foundations, the party will continue to diminish itself, to fail in representing its constituency, to fail in its responsibility to the nation.
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I had thought that I would write about the number of cabinet members, White House staff, and others who were closely associated with Donald Trump and his four years in the White House as to their opinion of him and his qualifications to go back to the White House sit behind the Resolute desk and be the President of the United States. I had thought that would be my first blog. Believe me, that is a lot of material, lol.
However, instead of that, I had a conversation a few days ago with an individual that I know who has been a highly successful individual in his career, very intelligent, self-made in many ways who said that up until just a few weeks ago there was no way that he would ever vote for Donald Trump until all the evidence came out on the corruption of the Biden crime family. And now he will vote for Trump. He mentioned the “$30 million gained by the Biden family through corruption” that seems to have been bantered around within the Internet and online and by media. Money allegedly generated through corrupt acts with foreign governments
You know I have to admit I desired to respond to him in the conversation, but I didn’t go at length because quite frankly we’re not going to change anyone’s minds, more than likely no matter what the facts are.
Facts do matter. Truth matters. And the facts about the money Hunter Biden (and business associates) generated during the eight years that Joe Biden was in the position of vice president of the United states do matter. Facts matter.
As to the information released by the Congressional Oversight Committee led by Representative Comer? One has to look at the released bank statements. It seems Representative Comer and the Oversight Committee have multiplied the actual number, maybe multiple times. The facts are that Hunter Biden and his business associates, which included an uncle and Devon Archer his business partner, set up 12 LLC’s – limited liability corporations – through which they passed money from one corporation to another – not to launder the money but to move the money where they wanted it to be invested. That’s a common practice. My sons and I, business partners have done the same. If Hunter and his business partners moved $1,000,000 from one LLC to another LLC to another LLC that was just one million in total. However, in the released statements by the oversight committee, they seem to have added the same one million three times to report it as $3 million. My view is the reported $30 million that Hunter Biden allegedly generated while his father was in the vice president’s position is probably greatly overstated by Comer and the committee for political purposes, as it that would surprise anyone.
Did hunter Biden trade on his father’s name to generate income? Absolutely! There’s no doubt about that in my opinion. After all we’ve got Hillary and Bill Clinton’s daughter graduating from her university and immediately walking into a job at $970,000 a year. How many college graduates are able to do that? Or we could talk about Jenna Bush, President Bush’s daughter, who got a degree from college to teach elementary education and at once went into a job paying $250,000 a year with one of the major networks. Now both of those children probably are high quality, do a great job but they benefited from who their parents were. I know people I went to high school with that had done the same thing. Is that a crime? How many actors in Hollywood are in their positions simply because their parents were successful actors? That’s life, but the Republicans right now want to make that an alleged crime because they can gain political points with a large number of people. They want to create a “guilt by association” between Joe Biden and his son Hunter. As Representative Comer admits, they have no direct evidence of Joe Biden associated with any business activity of Hunter’s.
Well, be that as it may – the discussion with my friend begged me to want to say to him “what about Ivanka and Jared?” What I am now going to relate to, each and every case is factually backed up by reports, often from conservative media.
At a high level Jared and Ivanka’s financial disclosures say they made $157 million dollars while Trump was in office. In just four years. However, there are also reports Ivanka and Jared benefited in excess of six hundred and forty million dollars in business arrangements/partnerships/contracts they received during the four year Trump administration and while they both held official positions in the White House. Is any of this being investigated by the Oversight Committee and Representative Comer? Of course not!
So, now let’s look at details.
As reported by Forbes magazine (and other media) Ivanka Trump was given an official position in the White House in March of 2017. The day before the appointment Ivanka filed for trademark approvals with the Chinese government. These were for her wedding and apparel lines. In early May of 2018, ZTE, a Chinese electronics maker, said that it had halted “major operating activities” after being penalized by the United States Department of Commerce for breaking sanctions and selling electronics to Iran and North Korea. Yet, in mid-May, President Trump surprisingly reversed course when he showed a willingness to rethink the punishment and vowed to work with Chinese President Xi Jinping to prevent the collapse of the ZTE, which employs 75,000 people, with Trump tweeting, “Too many jobs in China lost. Commerce Department has been instructed to get it done!” That same month, May of 2018, amid tense trade negotiations between China and the United States, China approved seven Ivanka trademarks. It is reported the 18 trade marks approved by China were worth over 64 million dollars. Again, all of this while Ivanka held an official position in the White House.
From financial statements released by Ivanka and Jared through 2017, Ivanka reported earning over $15M through “consulting” contracts she had with the Trump Organization (which she, on paper, had left). The income was reported as “consulting” with the Trump Organization on the Washington DC hotel. In addition, as a partial owner of the hotel, she received $5M in profits. During the Trump years in office, it is reported that over 80% of the revenues from the Trump Hotel came from foreign governments, Republican party activities, or from Washington lobbyists.
While Ivanka was profiting from her relationship with her father, Jared was even busier. Jared became an official employee of the White House in March of 2017. In October of 2017 Kushner was reported to have a stake in a company called Cardre, which offered “investment vehicles” for the Trump administration’s “Opportunity Zones” program in 2018. Kushner’s original stake in Cardre was originally valued at $5 million, by 2019 this value had risen to fifty million dollars a tenfold increase in value. Jared also cultivated relationships in the mid-east as he was given the responsibility to lead diplomacy efforts there (although he had no experience in foreign diplomacy). Jared developed, as reported by the Washington Post and Forbes magazine, a close relationship with the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, MBS. On October 2, 2018, Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post reporter, was murdered and dismembered by agents of Saudi Arabia. US intelligence sources have named the crown prince as the one that ordered his murder. In Bob Woodward’s recorded conversations with Donald Trump, Trump stated he “saved MBS (crown prince) ass” from Congressional scrutiny. It was reported that Jared Kushner personally advocated for MBS in the White House with Trump. And this paid off handsomely for Jared and Ivanka. Soon after leaving the White House Jared formed an investment group (he had never led any type of investment organization), Affinity Partners. Within six months of his leaving the White House Jared’s investment company received TWO BILLION DOLLARS from the Saudi Sovereign Wealth Management Fund. These funds were objected to by the managers of this fund, multiple times rejected. These objections were overcome by none other than the Crown Prince, MBS, himself.
It is not disputed, due the release of financial records, that Jared and Ivanka made $157 million dollars while Trump was in office, and while they both had official jobs within the White House. Again, there are reports they received financial benefits that exceeded six hundred million dollars in that four years. And it is not disputed that Jared’s investment firm received the $2 billion from the Saudis’, or another billion from two other mid-east nations (THREE BILLION IN TOTAL).
Biden family corruption? $30 million. The Congressional Oversight Committee and Representative Comer admitting they have no direct connection between Hunter Biden’s business activities and Joe Biden? “Guilt by association”? Biden Crime Family?
All of that just makes me shake my head given all of the factual evidence of how the Trump family used the White House as their personal piggy bank. Literally hundreds of millions, billions of dollars over just the four years Trump was in office. Facts matter, truth matters…….
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First some context as to who I am before getting into the reasons behind the blog.
I have always been a conservative, been in the Republican party until just a few months ago for over 54 years. I believe in the four cornerstones of conservatism: liberty, tradition and order, rule of law, and moral government.
Liberty means political liberty being able to freely speak your mind on matters of public interest. Liberty means religious liberty to worship as you believe or to not worship at all. Liberty means economic liberty in the pursuit of your own property and participation in a free market society. And Liberty most importantly means freedom from government oppression and arbitrary use of force, however this also means for the common good individuals give some of their “rights” to their government.
Tradition and Order, simply means Conservatives believe society has evolved values over history that have led to an orderly society. These values have been based on human nature, belief that societies have been built that respect human rights and that can repel attacks on these rights. Conservatives’ belief that society changes through evolution over time, not revolutionary actions.
The Rule of Law provides a means to preserve life, liberty, and property. The Rule of Law also evolves over time but provides society with an ordered approach in how to support Liberty, Tradition and Order, and a Moral government. The Rule of Law puts no one above the law, no group and no individual.
Moral government means for a government to exist it must – to be just, to be valid – the government must be based on a moral foundation. These morals are not unique to any religion but are part of human nature and reflected by cultures around the world.
I was born in Kansas, to a coal miner’s daughter and a tradesman father. My father was a lifelong union member. I was raised to respect others for who they were as individuals, not as members of a race nor what economic station they may have had. I grew up in a time where political parties fought each other over policy, but understood effective government had to take place in an environment of respect, honorable debate, and ultimately cooperation and collaboration for the good of the nation. I saw in the 80’s where President Ronald Reagan, Democratic Speaker of the House Tip O’Neal, and Republican Senate Leader Bob Dole would fight tooth and nail during the day, and then at night meet in the White House over a beer and work out their differences. Just three Irish boys doing the work of the government.
Today, I believe both political parties have moved to their respective extremities……the Republicans to the right, the Democrats to the left. I believe that both parties have become entrenched in their political positions believing the nation’s constituency sits behind their lines, with no voters sitting in the middle of the political spectrum.
And that brings me to why I am creating this blog. I believe the majority of Americans, whether Republican, Democrat, or Independent voters find themselves sitting in the “middle of no man’s land” politically. It depends on individual issues, but on most issues the extreme positions of both parties do not respect the positions of the majority of votes. The largest voting block today are independent voters, belonging to neither party – the block I now belong to after 54 years as a Republican.
My intention with this blog is to represent this “view from the middle”. My perspective on what is happening politically – and that will include topics on which politics, public policy touch on – so it may well include topics on science, environment, society, law, and political campaigns. I need to also state my perspective will be colored by my view of a Republican Party that currently is not the party of my youth, nor the party of the majority of my adulthood, and therefore I may write at times my viewpoint of what is happening within the Republican Party (and at times also true for the Democratic party).
I will welcome any comments added to my blog, my commentary. One reason I am doing this is at the suggestion of many friends who have seen my postings on Facebook and likely would want to add commentary, but not in as open a forum as Facebook represents.
So, with that, let’s see where this takes me……if you would like to go along for the ride, please do.
Sitting In No Man's Land 