What If They Get Away With It?

There's no doubt we live in a topsy-turvy world, a real terra incognita, where everything that was once right is wrong. We passed through the looking-glass on November 9, 2016 and have been falling up and down the rabbit hole ever since. Most Americans hope a return to normalcy is achieved by January, 2021, if not much sooner.

But what if our current wild roller-coaster ride continues? What if an anticipated Trump Impeachment never materializes? What if Trump and the GOP succeed in their plan to take control of the very investigation that is investigating them? What happens when a constitutional crisis never materializes because there are no more checks and balances?

Our country is experiencing a Low-Grade Civil War for many reasons. But it's the decades-long control of propagandized information to a devout base that has tipped the balance over the last few election cycles.  A political Critical Mass has been achieved, whereby denigrated societal/cultural/governmental institutions and norms have eroded, enabling hyper-partisans to pursue their raw power objectives.

Nearly half of the country believes the Alternate Reality presented on State TV and Hate Radio. Conservative Media is supported by plutocrats like the Mercers and Koch Brothers as a cheap investment for their own towering ambitions. The "Fake News" trope that has become ubiquitous is crippling to our democracy but benefits them and their pocketed officials. The following influential article has seen wide currency within DC. It is REALLY good and explains a lot:

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/11/2/16588964/america-epistemic-crisis

"Say the entire right-wing media machine kicks to life and dismisses the (Trump Indictments) as a scam - and conservatives believe them. The conservative base remains committed to Trump, politicians remain scared to cross the base, and US politics remains stuck in partisan paralysis, unable to act on what Mueller discovers...we may just have to live with a president indicted for collusion with a foreign power."

Another voice that spoke about the dangers of truth-murdering and public apathy is David Frum, former Bush speechwriter. His chilling pre-Inauguration piece in The Atlantic seems horribly prescient. Here is a brief video of his talking points from the article, and it is Spot On:

https://www.theatlantic.com/video/index/515082/can-it-happen-here/

It can't happen here? Which brings us to the ongoing Federal investigation and possible prosecution of Trump, his campaign and his associates. At present, we have a Special Counsel, former FBI Director Robert Mueller, who is investigating a range of activities that would be considered High Crimes and Misdemeanors for Impeachment. By the way, if you have a cranky friend or relative who keeps yelling "Witch Hunt!" or some such, refer them to this article:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2018/03/07/what-we-believe-mueller-is-investigating/?utm_term=.d5cdb68ca926

The GOP understands the existential threat that Mueller represents to the Trump Presidency and to their party. There is a concerted effort underway to smear him and all other investigators as corrupt Deep State actors -  including former FBI Director James Comey, former Interim FBI Director Andrew McCabe, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, the FBI and the Department of Justice. They seek to poison the well of public opinion. To a large degree, it appears to be working.

Political opponents are characterized as treasonous criminals and national security threats. Trump routinely calls for the prosecution and imprisonment of those who stand in his way:

https://www.thedailybeast.com/james-comey-welcome-to-the-long-list-of-people-trump-wants-to-jail

But it will take every bit of enormously focused propagandized influence to blemish the integrity of  Robert Mueller. He prosecuted the former Panamanian strongman, Manuel Noriega. He was in charge of the Lockerbie bombing investigation. He took down the "untouchable" John Gotti and the Gambino Crime Family. Check out his modus operandi from one who interacted with him daily:

https://www.lawfareblog.com/what-i-learned-briefing-robert-mueller

Trump and GOP-ers like Devin Nunes and other tools will try their utmost to manipulate public perception against Mueller & Co. They've already forced Rod Rosenstein to release documents from an ongoing criminal investigation - unprecedented! The alternative would have been Rosenstein receiving a Contempt of Congress citation and a movement to impeach him; this would give Trump cover to fire Rosenstein and install someone who would, in turn, fire Mueller. In any other Congress, this would have been unthinkable for its partisan, unethical and possible illegal play.

So what happens when Congress refuses to check the possible treasonous actions of a Chief Executive? And, in fact, is complicit? It becomes a "full-steam-ahead" towards solidifying a permanent One Party Rule and Autocracy while ignoring the Constitutional Rule of Law.

Here is what could happen:  Rosenstein and Mueller are fired and the scope of the investigation becomes severely constricted if not terminated, as well as the public release of any findings. Or, if Rosenstein and Mueller remain, the investigation brings forth a slew of charges against Trump & Co. But the GOP House of Representatives does not vote to impeach on the indictments.

Either way, Trump does not get impeached. But the story won't end there. In fact, the story may not even play out in DC at all.

One way that Mueller can protect his investigation is naming Trump as a co-conspirator in a sealed indictment. Trump can fire Mueller, but the sealed indictment will protect the scope of the investigation because it removes its supervision from the Executive Branch to the Judicial Branch, specifically to a Federal Judge:

https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/04/21/robert-mueller-russia-probe-protection-218065

Mueller has also been working with New York State's Attorney Eric Schneiderman, among other state AGs. There has been much speculation that Mueller has been providing Schneiderman with the means to pursue prosecution on a state level if the federal investigation is curtailed. In fact, one source - the much abused but strangely accurate Patribotics site - claims that Schneiderman had already been investigating Trump and provided Mueller with enough early evidence that a sealed indictment has been placed in the Eastern District Court of Virginia. And yes, there is a sealed indictment sitting there, waiting, from when Paul Manafort and Robert Gates were indicted last year. Hmmmmmm.

Therefore, it appears that Mueller is protecting his investigation. It will carry on, either at the federal or state prosecutorial level. Also, too, if it proceeds on the state level, Trump cannot pardon any indictees. In fact, if he really is named as a co-conspirator, unindicted or not, he cannot pardon any "co-conspirators".

Trump and the GOP are devious. But they are sloppy. Robert Mueller is extremely demanding in fine details. In the end, Trump won't get impeached despite overwhelming evidence. But he, and others, will get prosecuted and convicted - in a New York State courthouse. He, his family and GOP associates are going to crash down in the most spectacular pile we've ever witnessed.

Now to carry us forward on this crest of Resistance fervor, let's listen to the great under-rated rabble-rousers from the 1980's, The Call. Their lyrics are truly prescient for our time. Sharpen the pitchforks and grab your torches!! "The Walls Came Down":

Well they blew the horns

And the walls came down

They'd all been warned

And the walls came down

They stood there laughing

They're not laughing anymore

The walls came down

Sanctuary fades

Congregation splits

Nightly military raids

The congregation splits

It's a song of assassins

Ringin' in your ears

We got terrorist thinking

Playing on fears

Well they blew the horns

And the walls came down

They'd all been warned

But the walls came down

I don't think there are any Russians

And there ain't no Yanks

Just corporate criminals

Playin' with tanks

"An attack on our country... an attack on what we all stand for."

Kakistocracy, kleptocracy or encroaching autocracy? Why not all three? Let's take a slip on our banana republic's peel as we examine the dumb, the corrupt and the despotic.

 President Wandering Dick took exceptional umbrage the other night when he learned how the Department of Justice treated his consigliere/fixer, Michael Cohen. To Trump, the serving of these FBI search warrants on Cohen's office/home/hotel room was emblematic of all that is wrong with America, "an attack on what we all stand for." This is a great statement, one that begs the question, what do Trump and his sycophants stand for?

Today, Trump is preparing to pardon Scooter Libby, the four-time convicted felon and former VP Dick Cheney's Chief of Staff. Obstruction of Justice, Perjury, False Statements. You may remember him for his role in the 2003 "outing" of CIA covert field agent Valerie Plame, which led to her forced retirement and widespread danger/damage to her cultivated human assets and those of other agents like her. Trump is telegraphing to targets of the Mueller probe, "play ball with me and I will pardon you."

The Department of Homeland Security has announced it is compiling a database of journalists and "media influencers" under the moniker 'Media Monitoring Services'. It is "a plan to gather and monitor the public activities of media professionals and influencers and are enough to cause nightmares of constitutional proportions." Read on for how an American fascist state would begin its control of information:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/michellefabio/2018/04/06/department-of-homeland-security-compiling-database-of-journalists-and-media-influencers/#65b0943a6121

In a move that caused severe whiplash among economists and foreign policy dweebs, Trump told Larry Kudlow (White House Director of National Economic Council) to get the US back into the TPP!! Yes, the same Trans-Pacific Partnership trade alliance that Trump demonized throughout his campaign ("a rape of our country") and then, four days into his Presidency, pulled out ("It's a fraud"). Most knowledgeable folk have always said it is a great way to manage China... but no one knows why we've had to go through a year of nonsense to get back to it! Meanwhile, China plows ahead!

The Opioid Crisis continues unabated. Jared Kushner was the original Opioid Czar, tasked to take down this scourge. But he has been too busy staying out of jail and securing loans from Middle East states for his troubled NYC office building. So Kellyanne "Alternative Facts" Conway has stepped in, and for someone supposedly well-versed in communication skills, she really stepped in it:

http://www.miamiherald.com/article206521084.html

She really is a schmuck: "Eat the ice cream, have the french fry, don't buy the street drug. Believe me, it all works out." Ha Ha, she is a wit, at least half of one.

For restaurant owners, the Trump Administration has your back! The Department of Labor and Office of Management and Budget have paved the way for owners to skim up to $640 million in tips from their workers! It's more of the Trickle-Up-To-The-1% Theory that the GOP loves...

https://bnanews.bna.com/daily-labor-report/mulvaney-acosta-override-regulatory-office-to-hide-tips-rule-data

The ongoing effort to Drain The Swamp has not lost steam! Most know about HUD Secretary Ben Carson's $31,000 office dining set, which he courageously explained as being the work of his wife, though he approved it. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke spent nearly $140,000 on three doorways. This from the guy who has travel cost issues, and loves to let people know he's at the office by having a special flag flown when he's there. Then there is Scott Pruitt...

Yes, Scott Pruitt, head of the Environmental Protection Agency, something he's been busy destroying while not abusing its budget. Who leased an apartment from a lobbyist for $50 a night (a smart spender!). Who spent millions for extensive 24-hour security personnel, a "Get Smart" phone booth in his office, and first-class air travel.

Who demanded that all his travel be booked through Delta Airlines so he could accumulate travel points at the expense of taxpayers. And who removed the whistleblower staffer who issued the report on all his very questionable expenses. On the other hand, progress against clean air/water and climate change mitigation continues.

And there is the resignation of John McEntee, Trump's personal aide, who was discovered having a vigorous and unhealthy appetite for online gambling and subsequent tax issues. But the President likes him, so the next day he was hired by Trump's 2020 Re-Election Campaign, along with serial wife-beater Rob Porter.

Here is a Rogue's Gallery of Deplorables for your consideration. Kevin Sabo, the official Department of Interior liaison with Congress, said some nasty things about the Parkland Massacre survivors (they are Nazis). He even suggested it was a False Flag event designed to rile up anti-gun sentiment. Ximena Barreto, deputy communications director at HHS (Health and Human Services), unhealthfully flogged the demented Pizzagate conspiracy theory, called Islam "a fucking cult", and suggested "African-Americans are way more racist than white people." She seems nice. Jon Cordova, also of HHS, used social media smears against Gold Star father Khizr Khan and others (he's been placed on leave). And John Gibbs, a senior advisor at HUD, spread more false conspiracy theories that Hillary Clinton's campaign was practicing child-sex-ring-Satanic rituals. Hoo boy!

Yes, President Trump truly hires the best people. Then there are the ones who are trying to get a new gig, or working to repair an image. Wendy Vitter is seeking a lifetime appointment as a US Federal Judge. Her remarks to the Senate Judiciary Committee raised a few eyebrows. She seemed to not agree with the landmark civil rights cornerstone of anti-segregation, Brown vs. Board of Education:

https://twitter.com/civilrightsorg/status/984135758440263702

She went further, dissembling over her previous remark that 150,000 females die each year because of Planned Parenthood:

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/wendy-vitter-abortion-judge-trump_us_5ace68cfe4b06487677655eb?xjk

OK, she's a religious zealot. And a racist. But she's a strong Christian woman who is STILL married to former Senator David Vitter (R- Pervert), the guy who was outed by the DC Madam as a "john" who preferred sex wearing a diaper (ya can't make this stuff up) and may have a "love child" with another prostitute. She can forgive him, but not Planned Parenthood.

Then there is the legendary Ginni Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. People still speak of her early Sunday morning call to Anita Hill, nearly 20 years after Hill's testimony that Clarence was a big ol' perv. Since that failed attempt, Mrs. Thomas has been helming an ultra-conservative political advocacy group. Earlier this year she presented an award of "excellence" to James O'Keefe, the notorious video sting guy who was caught by The Washington Post trying to get them to publish a very fake story during the Roy Moore election. Recently, she volunteered a lovely tweet about Parkland Massacre survivor/student leader David Hogg:

https://www.thedailybeast.com/conservative-still-cant-stop-attacking-parkland-shooting-survivor-david-hogg?source=articles&via=rss

Weird stuff from a whole bunch of weirdos. The problem, of course, is that they are running the country. Many are just dumb. Some are motivated by our mendacious President to follow the corrupted path to Unrighteousness. And some are wannabe storm-troopers who loathe anyone perceived as getting something for nothing, particularly POC.

It's enough to really wonder about the future of the country. But then there are people like this, and the future doesn't seem so bleak:

Ladies and Gentlemen, for your consideration, Sally Yates and Preet Brahara, two real American heroes.

And we'll leave you with this bit of contemplation from the poet, Wendell Berry:

"Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?"

Yep, often it seems like we're "caught in a landslide, no escape from reality." But what is Real? What is Reality?

It is beyond tiresome to hear the propaganda term "Fake News" constantly spouted by the president and his allies in social media and the Fox News/Breitbart/InfoWars world whenever anything disagreeable to them pops up (every other hour). By now, most people understand the usage of this phrase is a way to dispute facts. If a news story features facts that one does not happen to like, it is Fake News, whether or not it is true or false. If you don't believe it, or even like it, it ain't true, even if it is quantifiable.

Although Trump plays up Fake News as something the Mainstream Media produces, it is his own tried and true tool from the KGB/Nazi fascist toolbox. Think of Steve Bannon declaring that "the media is the real opposition. And the way to deal with them is to flood the zone with shit."  Dear Leader creates confusion and doubt by attacking established sources of trusted information, thus setting up himself as the unilateral dispenser of truth. It's why they all loved Big Brother.

A recent study on the effects of Fake News in our free society is fascinating and insidious. Think of how Fox News, Twitter and Facebook can command attention and shape attitudes:

"The effect misinformation has on our minds is much subtler; it works on the margins. But in today’s world, where a few platforms dominate information sharing, the margins are huge, filled with millions, and influential."

https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2017/10/5/16410912/illusory-truth-fake-news-las-vegas-google-facebook

And it's nothing new. As mentioned above, fascists are well acquainted with this tool:

https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/the-ominous-nazi-era-precedent-to-trump-s-fake-news-attacks-1.5438960

Alarmist? Well, maybe. But maybe not. Consider the following from Margaret Sullivan:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/the-term-fake-news-has-lost-all-meaning-thats-just-how-trump-wants-it/2018/04/03/ce102ed4-375c-11e8-8fd2-49fe3c675a89_story.html?utm_term=.0e659d542b73

Huh. 3 out of 4 now believe traditional news organizations report Fake News. While this particular poll may have problems with framing questions and analyzing results, it's still pretty chilling stuff. If traditional sources of Truth are eroded by a demagogue, that same leader will strive to be the only source of "Truth".

Another chiller was a previous poll that asked Republicans, if Trump postponed the 2020 elections how would they react? Not well, it turns... More than half would support such a postponement if Trump said so:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2017/08/10/in-a-new-poll-half-of-republicans-say-they-would-support-postponing-the-2020-election-if-trump-proposed-it/?utm_term=.83d315d4a6e6

Not good.

The latest media actor to emerge as an agenda placeholder for the President is Sinclair Broadcast Group, the single largest owner of local TV stations in the nation, with 173 now and 60 more in the offing. To characterize Sinclair as being profoundly conservative over the decades is not an understatement. It specializes in broadcasting in markets where they are the only game in town (Trump Land).

Recently, Sinclair directed their local TV news anchors to read this "breaking news" on the air:

Thanks, Deadspin, for that terrific mashup. It clearly shows all these anchors spewing the same propaganda, word for word, across the country. What is scary about this is how its viewers, locals, watch these stations for local news. It's not like they are tuning into Fox News, where it's expected to have a barrage of right wing blarney. And here's the Sinclair Chairman, David Smith. He says that ALL print media has no credibility. None. But his group does!

http://amp.nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/04/sinclair-chairman-entire-print-media-has-no-credibility.html?__twitter_impression=true

"Print media is devoid of reality and serves no real purpose." It's no wonder President Trump took time during the White House Easter Egg Roll to pump the publicity for Sinclair! He also scared the poor kids there with remarks about Amazon, the US military's plush funding, NAFTA, DACA child immigrants, militarized borders, and how great he is. Even the Easter Bunny was speechless!

Encouraged, Trump went on to throw out the script at a "tax reform roundtable" to ramble about everything but. Mexicans are rampant rapists ("women are raped at levels never seen before"). Colossal voter fraud in California ("the same person votes many times... millions and millions of people."). ICE - Immigrations and Customs Enforcement - liberating Long Island towns from the MS-13 gang ("It's like a war!"). High level agitprop fantasies for his "base" without the slightest hint of evidence for any of it. Fake News.

So, you may ask, where does this all lead? The President is obviously unfit for office. He is a clear and present danger to our nation's well being. But short of having the Mueller Investigation drop a 16 ton weight of indictments on his orange ass, can he be removed? Esteemed Harvard University Constitutional Law Professor Laurence Tribe doubts it. No fan of Trump, he has considered the "unfit for office" argument and sees it failing to rise to an impeachable offense, or as grounds for removal through the 25th Amendment.

Therefore, unless Mueller delivers a slew of iron-clad charges that link the President with treason, or Trump exhibits clearcut signs of serious cognitive decline, we will be stuck with this unfit and terrible person. The GOP Congress won't move a lick, as they are paralyzed by fear and complicity. His style of improvised expertise-free and fact-free governance by tweet is already leading the US into a spiral of significant decline. Even if he lasts only a single term, it will take years to undo the damage.

Damage can be undone, usually. A couple of election cycles and voila! But what if...

Jane Jacobs, the late world-renowned expert on economics and urban renewal, observed some traits from past empires that apply to ours.  Her last work dug into the perils of allowing a democracy to languish. Read more here, it's a fantastic article. Here's a slice:

In her comparative study of fallen empires, Jacobs identifies common early indicators of decline: “cultural xenophobia,” “self-imposed isolation,” and “a shift from faith in logos, reason, with its future-oriented spirit … to mythos, meaning conservatism that looks backwards to fundamentalist beliefs for guidance and a worldview.” She warns of the profligate use of plausible denial in American politics, the idea that “a presentable image makes substance immaterial,” allowing political campaigns “to construct new reality.” She finds further evidence of our hardening cultural sclerosis in the rise of the prison-industrial complex, the prioritization of credentials over critical thinking in the educational system, low voter turnout, and the reluctance to develop renewable forms of energy in the face of global ecological collapse.

Yikes! It's like she saw the future, ours. Following on this theme, there was a sobering essay in The American Conservative that addressed this thought of national decline and the attendant "social pathologies of collapse."

http://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/underestimating-american-collapse/

Based on this pessimistic reading, cudgels like Fake News wielded by our Strongman-wannabe will result in a broken society, nihilistic, lacking simple trust in the very things that have kept us together. "Trust in institutions is collapsing. Trust between people is falling. Loneliness is rising... if social bonds are broken, then democracies, economies, and societies are more likely to become authoritarian, tribal, feudal places. The world plunges headlong into tribalism, division, hate, spite, anger, rage, and fear. " 

You flood the zone with shit.