It's Not Politics

My politics are moderate, centrist, and I don’t often get too excited about political goings on.  As a political independent, I vote for Republicans, Democrats, or whoever else seems to be the best person for the job at the time.  I rarely talk about politics, although I do enjoy a good discussion about certain issues or candidates once in a while.

A big problem these days is that many people don’t want to talk about President Donald Trump, his family, administration, and his actions.  “Hey – no politics, please” is a common request from people who don’t want to deal with all the emotion, disagreement, and drama that those topics usually cause.  I understand, and generally agree that politics is one of those topics that’s generally wise to avoid.

But the thing is: What’s going on with Trump and all is, at least from my perspective, mostly NOT about politics.  Here’s why I say that:

Politics comes from the Greek word polis, for city or, in this case, affairs of a city.  It shares the same Greek root with policies, which in this case refers to what kinds of laws and actions a city (or county, state, or nation) decides to enact.  For example: shall we raise taxes; if so, how much, and on which group of people or which products?  Should we make immigration laws tougher or easier; should we build a wall, and if so, how do we pay for it?  Do we need more environmental protections, or shall we reduce them to help businesses?  What about mandatory universal health care – good or bad?  Should we spend more or less on the military?  Be tougher on trade agreements, and threaten big tariffs?  All of these things are examples of legitimate policies that need to be addressed through the discipline of politics, operating within the constraints of established laws and procedures.   

Overall, I don’t have a big problem the President’s policies.  Some of them have merit, while most of them aren’t wise, in my opinion.  But for the most part, they all represent legitimate political goals that a great many Americans seem to agree with.  And that’s fine.  Our American political system has clearly established ways to consider his policies, and to either approve and institute them, or else turn thumbs down on them.  If our political institutions deal with Trump’s proposals in ways that the Constitution mandates, then right on – may the majority view determine the results!

No – my beef is mostly not about Trump’s policies.  It is about how he, his Administration, and his Republican enablers have ignored, violated, and otherwise abused the constitutional system that is supposed to determine how the country is run.  Starting with the BIG one:

Donald Trump was elected with the help of the Russian government; nobody seriously denies that they interfered in the 2016 election to help Trump and to hurt Clinton.  Furthermore, there is overwhelming evidence that Trump and his crew cooperated with the Russians in those efforts.  Trump’s campaign manager (Paul Manafort) was widely known in our intelligence community as a Russian stooge; he has been convicted on a number of felony charges related to the election.  Trump’s national security adviser (Mike Flynn) has similarly been convicted on a number of felony charges related to dealing with the Russians.  Trump’s son (Donald Jr.) agreed to a meeting with the Russians after they promised to give him dirt on Clinton.  Trump himself helped his son write a false description of what that meeting was about.  His personal attorney (Michael Cohen) has been convicted on a number of felony charges that all connect to his only real client – Donald Trump.  Trump himself publicly lied a number of times about his connections to the Russians, e.g. “I don’t have anything to do with the Russians; I don’t know any Russians,” when hard evidence later showed that to be false.  And finally, former Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, has stated that he has non-public information showing that without the Russians’ help, Trump would have lost the 2016 election.  https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/russia-turned-election-for-trump-clapper-believes

That (working with the Russians, utilizing information they had stolen from the Democrats in order to win the Presidency) is not “politics.”  Or at least, it is dirty and treasonous politics that no American - Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Green, Independent, whatever – should approve of or accept.  To put a finer point on it:  Talking about how Trump stole the election with Russian help is NOT “just politics.”  It is NOT something that we should avoid talking about in mixed company.  It IS something that every American should be furious about.

Probably just as important is that by being falsely elected, Trump has been able to place two very conservative Justices on the Supreme Court.  That shifts the balance of the Court to clearly conservative, instead of the more liberal court we would have had if the majority of Americans’ will had been honored in the election.  To be clear: Two conservatives are on the Supreme Court now that should NOT be there, and they will likely keep the Court conservative for decades to come!  So, against the majority’s will, we will probably see legal attacks on abortion and LGBQT rights, attacks on immigrants, and protection of a President (Trump) accused of committing countless crimes – among other important national issues. 

Even if Donald Trump had legitimately won the Presidency in 2016, one of those two Justices should have previously been appointed and seated by President Obama.  For nearly a full year, the Republicans, who controlled the Senate, refused to allow any hearing to approve Obama’s Supreme Court nominee, Merrick Garland.  This violates the Constitution’s intent, and it also went against the will of the American people. 

Here’s what Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution says: the President “shall nominate, and by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, shall appoint ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, judges of the Supreme Court, and all other officers of the United States…”  The Senate used legal but dirty ways to deny President Obama their “advice and consent,” thus not allowing him his Constitutional right to “appoint judges of the Supreme Court.”  This chicken-shit action on the Senate’s part was seen as wrong by a majority of Americans, with “77 percent – including a whopping 62 percent of Republicans and 80 percent of independents – saying Senate Republicans were “playing politics” with the court vacancy.”   https://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2016-03-21/even-gop-voters-think-senate-should-confirm-scotus-nominee

The bottom line here is, that by illegal, treasonous actions that put him in power, Donald Trump was able to control the judicial branch of our government for decades to come.  And the Republican Party, using dirty and unpopular methods that even their own constituents opposed, played their own disgraceful role in allowing this to happen.  So from where I’m sitting, this also isn’t “just politics.”  ALL Americans should be outraged with how the Supreme Court was stolen by the Republicans.  If they claim to be actual patriots who want what’s good for the country in the long-run, even those who will benefit from future Supreme Court decisions should not stand for the way they got what they wanted.    

There are multiple lawsuits and criminal investigations under way, in a variety of jurisdictions, regarding Trump benefiting financially from being President.  There is no real precedent for this; all past Americans severed their business ties upon becoming President. The Constitution’s Article I, Section 9, Clause 8 forbids the President from receiving gifts or payments from foreign governments.  Yet Trump continues to do business and to profit from doing so while serving as President.  A key example: There is evidence that he benefits financially from foreign politicians and lobbyists staying at his (very expensive) Trump International Hotel in DC.  It is widely believed that those foreigners stay at Trump’s hotel as a way to curry favor with him.  But whether that last part is true or not, Trump makes many millions off of his businesses that deal with foreign governments, lobbyists, etc.  No American, regardless of their political views, should find that acceptable. 

It’s not “just politics” to have the leader of our country constantly lie to us.  Even his most ardent supporters can identify a time or two when Trump has told a whopper.  Politically-neutral sources have identified countless examples of the President not being truthful.  Meanwhile, some partisan investigators estimate that he has been untruthful more than 5,000 times since becoming President; another source says he averages 7.6 lies or misrepresentations a day.  https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/01/politics/donald-trump-mistruths-analysis/index.html

“Big deal – all politicians lie.”  That is true, but whatever the actual numbers are for Trump’s lies, the fact is that he is untruthful many, many times more than any other politician in our country’s history.  With Obama or Bush or any other national leader, we can always find times when they spun the facts or, much less commonly, told outright lies.  But all in all, a non-biased person would say they were basically truthful people.  For the most part, we could believe what they said.

But in Trump’s case, we simply KNOW he’s not going to be truthful.  That means that Americans just can’t trust what their President says, knowing that he’s probably lying to them.  What happens when there is a real emergency or disaster, and we need the President to lead us, tell us what’s going on and what to do?  How can we know what to believe with Trump at the helm?  That’s NOT “politics as usual,” and that’s not something Americans can tolerate; or at least, it’s not something any of us SHOULD tolerate.   

We could go on, but I’m going to end with just one more reason to oppose Donald Trump’s presidency that’s not “just politics.”  He clearly places people in important federal government positions who are grossly unqualified for them, often because those appointments will benefit and protect him personally.  A number of key appointees have turned out to be corrupt on a huge scale, and have been forced out.  Again – other Presidents have occasionally given a friend a good job in his administration, or chosen a less-qualified person over a better-qualified one for political reasons.  But Trump has done so on a grossly unprecedented level.   

There’s Betsy DeVos, Secretary of Education despite nearly zero educational experience.  Oh – but her brother was a big Trump backer!  Dr. Ben Carson, a noted brain surgeon who threw his support to Trump after ending his own campaign to be President?  Now Secretary of Housing and Urban Development – a brain surgeon!  Scott Pruitt, head of the EPA, after years of trying to reduce environmental protections, and now gone from the EPA, but with a dozen corruption investigations trailing after him. 

And on and on.  But the latest is the appointment of Matt Whitaker as acting Attorney General, after Trump fired Jeff Sessions for not shutting down the Mueller investigation.  Whitaker, a convicted fraudster, is almost universally considered grossly unqualified for the position.  Oh – but he has one particular qualification: He has publicly stated that the Mueller investigation is illegal and should be shut down, which obviously could save Trump’s skin.  And now we think we know who will replace Whitaker as Attorney General: William Barr.  His main qualification?  Well, he supported the President’s firing of James Comey, and has opposed Mueller’s investigation all along.  Barr would have the ability to shut down that investigation which, at this point, seems likely to completely bury Trump under a mountain of damning evidence.  There can be no reasonable doubt that both the Whitaker and the Barr appointments were about one thing only – saving Trump’s ass. 

Is the President within his rights in making these kinds of appointments?  Yes – he is.  But the real question here is: Do Americans want an Administration filled with unqualified, often corrupt officials whose primary qualification is loyalty to the President and a willingness to shield him from legal jeopardy?  We are not some banana republic, nor an authoritarian fake democracy. This kind of crap is not what the Constitution and our political institutions had in mind, and not “just politics” as we define the term in this country.   

Let’s recap.  Politics is a subject usually best left alone in conversation.  But the Trump presidency and all that entails is about much more than just politics.  There is massive, overwhelming evidence that Trump is unqualified, dishonest, a traitor who continues to act based on what’s good for Russia (latest example: Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis, a.k.a. the last adult in the room, resigned on December 20^th over troops being pulled out of Syria, which hugely benefits Russia).  Trump lies to the American people over and over, he chooses what’s best for him, rather than the country, he surrounds himself with unqualified, often corrupt people now in positions of great power.

This is not “politics as usual.”  Trump’s feckless “base” may never see the light, but the rest of us have an obligation to speak up, to speak truth to power, to not worry so much about offending someone and worry more about what kind of country we want to leave our grandchildren.