Tag: white house

80 Reasons To Smile

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80 Reasons To Smile

D. S. Mitchell

The last two days have been full of drama and emotion. Jared Kushner is on Capitol Hill and talking to members and staffers from the Senate and House Intelligence Committees, behind closed doors. @POTUS spent 35 minutes last night giving a rambling disgusting speech to 40,000 boy scouts at their annual Jamboree. New Tweets from the president attacking Sessions hit the internet today, which brought significant push back from the conservative branch of the Republican party, including Rush Limbaugh and Breitbart News. The Senate is voting to bring TrumpCare out of committee today and I worry for the possible 30 million people that will lose health care.

I am jumping up and down and I am about to self-combust. But, I know that will not help. I know I need to keep up my efforts to derail TrumpCare. I have made twelve calls to Senators this morning asking a certain few Republican Senators to resist the White House and do what is best for the American people.

Calamity Politics is a political blog with a progressive leaning agenda. Calamity Politics intends to present relevant and engaging political conversation on a daily basis. Usually once a week I try to find something to smile about and share those thoughts with my readers.
As agitated as I am, I thought the best thing for my attitude and my blood pressure was to think of a substantially large number of reasons to smile. So, here are 80 Reasons to Smile, even on a day as disturbing day as today.

1.) Being part of a team 2.) Sunrises 3.) Sunsets 4.) Watching the turntable as an old vinyl plays 5.) Dimples 6.) Warm Apple Fritters 7.) Night games 8.) A checklist 9.) Arched doorways 10.) Search lights 11.) A day at the museum 12.) Finding a 4 leaf clover 13.) A loft for the little ones 14.) Antique claw foot tubs 15.) Sprinklers 16.) Popping bubble wrap 17.) Seeing a dream come true 18.) Baked potato “loaded” 19.) A “free month” of anything 20.) The sweetness of fresh corn on the cob 21.) Flipping pancakes 22.) Paper Airplanes 23.) Tic Tac Toe games 24.) Nervous energy 25.) Homemade onion rings the size of bracelets 26.) Cutting my own bangs 27.) Old perfume bottles 28.) Last nights spaghetti reheated 29.) Shari Lewis’ Lambchop 30.) Old things re-used and re-purposed 31.) Mozart 32.) Holding hands 33.) Salt water aquariums 34.) The caverns and mesas of Arizona, Utah and New Mexico 35.) A reading corner 36.) A secret admirer 37.) A talking parakeet 38.) Lingering over coffee with the Crossword Puzzle 39.) Persistence 40.) Celery filled with crunchy peanut butter 41.) Knowing you are appreciated 42.) Yes or No answers 43.) Floor to ceiling views 44.) Marinas and harbors 45.) Beachcombing 46.) Honeysuckle 47.) Ancient ruins 48.) History 49.) Jazz 50.) A window box garden 51.) Barge homes 52.) Potluck with family and friends 53.) A winning basket scored at the buzzer 54.) A weekly play break 55.) Sunday afternoon poker 56.) A lake cabin 57.) Black licorice 58.) Cobbled streets and tiled roofs 59.) Cast iron skillets 60.) Six layer cakes 61.) Magnolia trees 62.) The buddy system 63.) Old dolls and Teddies 64.) Caramel apples 65.) The Fusion of Tex-Mex 66.)Bead board ceilings 67.) Watching my grand daughter play hop scotch 68.) Loving what you do 69.) Koala bears 70.) Corner cabinets 71.) Elvis music 72.) The ability to change 73.) Tongue twisters 74.) Garden benches 75.) Losing weight 76.) Molasses cookies 77.) Nasturtiums 78.) Afternoon Croquet at the beach house 79.) Clean countertops 80.) Essential oils

Well by the time I got to the number eighty John McCain strode in to the Senate chamber, and cast a deciding vote to bring the Repeal the ACA bill out of committee. Some Republican Senator that I didn’t recognize came on Hardball and said he thought Kushner had been “open and straight forward and appeared to answer all questions thoroughly and honestly.”

I’m not in the mood to add a couple more reasons to smile, cuz I’m really angry and I think I need to take the dog for a walk.

Join the Resistance

Darlene

Deeply Concerned

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Deeply Concerned

By D. S. Mitchell

I am generally considered pro-active. I  tend to handle problems when they initially present themselves, not wait until I have a full blown emergency.  I learned this lesson from my mother, and it is a lesson that has served me well for my last 71 years of life. The Trump Administration, headed by Donald Trump, has not learned that lesson. And as such, we have a major set of scandals threatening to blow up this White House and its corrupt, narcissistic, Mafioso occupant.

Calamity Politics is a political blog bringing news to my readers with an often biting and sarcastic commentary that I hope is at least mildly amusing.  I pray daily for the Impeachment of Donald J. Trump and Mike Pence. Please join me in that prayer.

The last two posts from Calamity Politics have been about 1.)President Trump’s Conflicts of Interest issues in at least 30 separate cases, and 2.)Donald Jr’s. meeting with a Russian attorney in June of 2016

Although both scandals at first seem separate, after about a minute and a half  of thought,  I decided, No. These are very much the same story. The story of a family that believes they are above the law.  Corruption and coverup seem to come naturally to the Trump team. It must be in the genes.

Paul Krugman, writing for the New York Times on July 10, 2016 indicted the entire GOP, saying, “It’s not just Donald Trump: The whole GOP has become a post-truth party. And I see no sign it will ever improve.” Krugman continued, “Political spin used to have limits: Politicians who wanted to be taken seriously wouldn’t go around claiming up is down and black is white.”

In that same story, Krugman further asserted that “conservatives keep scaling new heights of dishonesty in their attempt to sell their reverse Robin Hood agenda, of tax cuts for the rich and pain for the poor.”

On July 13, 2017 Ross Douthat published an article in the NY Times veering back directly to Trump, blaming him personally for most of the negative press, “a good rule of thumb for dealing with Donald Trump: Everyone who gives him the benefit of the doubt eventually regrets it.”

The argument that Trump is a political neophyte and that he is still hanging onto the 1980’s vision of the two great powers co-operating and working toward a world of greater understanding has been dashed by the revelations of the last week from Donald Trump, Jr.

It is no longer arguable that there is a normal explanation for Trump’s seeming love affair with all things Russian.  Donald, Jr. in an admitted effort by the Trump campaign to gather negative information on Hillary Clinton met with Russian nationals.  Those attendees’ have now been shown to have serious links to the Russian government.  Several high ranking Trump campaign and family members were at the meeting, including Jared Kushner, Donald Jr., and Paul Manafort.

Donald Trump, Jr., Jared Kushner, and Paul Manafort had a meeting with “identified representatives  of the Russian government” in which, “it was explicitly promised that damaging information on Hillary Clinton would be supplied as part of Russia and its government’s support for Mr. Trump.”

So, we know that the Trump insiders were willing to meet with an adversarial government, a government that is actively working world wide to undermine the power and influence of the United States.  The Trump team had every reason to believe any information provided in that meeting was likely to have been hacked–more specifically, stolen–to have come into Russian hands, in the first place.

A direct quote from the emails between Rob Goldstone and Donald Jr., indicate that Junior was not skeptical, but rather eager, and in fact enthusiastically welcomed the encounter saying, “if it’s what you say, I love it.” Never seeming to question, why would a foreign government want to help a particular candidate? What will be the eventual cost for such support?

To make it look even worse, the emails and statements by Junior did not come out until the pending  release by a media outlet of the same emails forced his release of the emails.  His story, flipped and flopped and has to this day not settled on the whole story or the whole truth.

Everybody in that meeting lied, or conveniently forgot about their little get together.  Douthat’s article states, “So while this is not direct evidence that the president of the United States was complicit in a virtual burglary, perpetrated against the other party during an election season,  is strong evidence that we should drop the presumption that such collusion is an extreme or implausible scenario.”

Just imagine that the Watergate burglars had been foreign hackers.  Think about it, seriously, when viewed that way, there is an entirely new image. Why does it seem different when the burglar has a crowbar to jimmy a window, or a burglar attacking from behind the screen of a computer.  My private information is actually far more valuable to me than a television set, a stereo, or a gold bracelet.

Is America Going To Accept Russian Interference In U.S. Elections?

Douthat concludes his piece, “anyone presuming his (Trump) innocence at this point should have all the confidence of Chris Christie awaiting his cabinet appointment….”

Finally, the conservative writer, and political analyst Charles Krauthammer  wrote for the Washington Post a scathing article on 7/14/2017 lashing out at the Trump administration saying, “Bungled collusion is still collusion no matter how you spin it.”

Krauthammer recounted that the White House for six months has claimed the Russian scandal was a ‘hoax’, ‘fake news’, ‘democratic hysteria’, nothing more than ‘innuendo’. “Yes, there had been meetings with Russian officials, some only belatedly disclosed. But, that is circumstantial evidence at best.”

Krauthammer continues, ” The evidence is now shown. This is not hearsay, not fake news, not unsourced leaks. This is an email chain released by Donald Trump, Jr. himself.  The Kremlin  is willing to share troves of incriminating documents from the Crown Prosecutor (error: Britain has a CP. Russia has a State Prosecutor.)”

When Donald, Jr., emailed back his willingness to meet, “he was in.” Once you’ve said, “I’m in,” it makes no difference that the meeting was a bust, that the intermediary brought no such goods.  What matters is what Donald, Jr. thought going into that meeting, as well as Jared Kushner and then campaign manager Paul Manafort, who were copied on the correspondence, invited to the meeting, and attended.”

Donald, Jr.,  told Sean Hannity that the meeting was “just a wasted 20 minutes, which was a shame.”

Krauthammer’s article asks, “A shame? On the contrary, a stroke of luck. Had the lawyer had real stuff to deliver, Donald, Jr., and the others would be in far deeper legal trouble.  It turned out to be incompetent amateur collusion, this was keystone cops collusion,   comically failed collusion. That does not erase the fact that three top Trump campaign officials were ready to play.”

“It may turn out that they did later collaborate more fruitfully.  We don’t know.  But even if nothing else is found, the evidence is damning.’

Krauthammer goes on to attack the Trump apologists who are claiming such interaction between the Trump campaign and the Russian government is “no big deal.”  First, the Trumpites have been telling us for six months that no collusion ever happened, and now they say: Sure it happened.  So, what? Everyone does it.”

“What’s left of your credibility when you make such a casual about-face?, Krauthammer asks.

Secondly, he states, “No, not everyone does it. It’s one thing to be open to opposition research dug up in Indiana.  But not dirt from Russia, a hostile foreign power that has repeatedly invaded its neighbors, that buzzes our planes and ships in international waters, that opposes our every move and objective around the globe.  What Donald, Jr.–and Kushner and Manafort–did may not be criminal.  But it is not merely stupid–it is also deeply wrong, a fundamental violation of any code of civic honor.

I leave it to the lawyers to adjudicate the legalities  of  unconsummated collusion.  But you don’t need to be a lawyer to see that the Trump defense — collusion as a desperate Democratic fiction designed to explain away a lost election–is now officially dead.”

Trump Issued A Tweet Claiming Donald Jr Is A Good Young Man.

Their stories change daily and sometimes hourly.  Head spinning deceit and lies to an unheard of extent. In fact, there seems to be no limit to the extent of the deception. A surrogate lines up “the story” and then one of the Trumps runs their car over the surrogates foot with a tweet, a statement, or an interview.

Trump has sent a Tweet from Paris blamed Loretta Lynch and the Obama Administration for wrongly allowing the Russian lawyer, Natalia Vaselnitskaya into the country.  Krauthammer swung back at Trump Tweets, calling it a “red herring the size of a whale.”

Is it all pathological? Or, are the shifting stories just an attempt to cover up an ever growing ugly scenario, that could get uglier and uglier.  With the Trump group it is hard to know. In fact, the two could easily overlap.

I have lived through 13 presidencies. That makes me really old and I have seen a lot. Some presidents I could ignore, while others I could not. I have for the most part felt we could survive a bad president, out of the thirteen there were a couple really bad ones, but the country survived and kept moving jerkily forward.

The Russians Are Here

But now, I’m deeply concerned. Not once did I ever doubt the patriotism of any one of those presidents.  Never once, did I suspect that the sitting president had interacted with a foreign power to win election to the highest office in the United States.  But now, I’m deeply concerned.  Never once have I heard a President deny an allegation for months and then when the lie was exposed the President said, “It’s politics, it’s a dirty business and everyone does it, it’s called ‘opposition research’.  Anyone would have taken that meeting.”

How do months of denials from the Trump block pivot from “nothing Russian going on here”, to suddenly in one tweet, morph into “everybody does it.”

I’m deeply concerned and I hope you are to. Join the Resistance. Do your part, call your elected officials, email the same officials, call them again, make your voice heard. Neighborhood organizing, and protesting back up your words.  Don’t give in to exhaustion or disappointment. The road is long and the challenges great, but together we can remove this cancer from the White House, but it will take work and commitment and a hell of a lot of phone calls.

Even Fox News commentator Chris Wallace seemed to question the Trump campaign activities saying, “This should not be Pro-Trump vs Anti-Trump.  If you are a fair minded person you ought to be concerned about the fact that we were repeatedly misled about what this meeting concerned.”

Wallace didn’t stop with that but instead encouraged “anybody who has inside knowledge  should come forward with every single contact they ever had with a Russian. Come clean, tell it now, let the chips fall where they may.  And in fact, if there’s no crime you’ll survive it.  It will be embarrassing but it is better than this trickle, this daily drip” of new undisclosed Russian contacts.

Join the Resistance

DarleneC

Trump Dances Around Conflict Of Interest Complaints

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Trump Dances Around Conflict Of Interest Complaints

D. S. Mitchell

On 6/28/2017 Jeremy Venook wrote an interesting article for The Atlantic that pointed to serious conflicts of interest between Donald Trump’s business affairs and his job as President of the United States. I am going to review, comment, and regurgitate some of his points. Venook points to numerous questionable Trump dealings and created a list of what he has identified as conflicts of interest. I ask any readers to please go to the Atlantic.com site and read the accompanying articles addressing all the items of Venook’s list. The list is at the end of his 6/28/2017 article.

That list is as follows: 1.) Clean Water Rule 2.) Real estate development outside New Delhi 3.) Golf course in Westchester county, NY 4.) Russian Trademarks 5.) Trump Organization Event Planner 6.) Saudi Arabia lobbying effort 6.) Golf course in New Jersey 7.) Meeting in Brussels 8.) Tower in Toronto 9.) Condos for sale 10.) Re-election campaign funds 11.) Second hotel in Washington, D.C. 12.) Property in Azerbaijan 13.) Trump Tower penthouse 14.) Resort in the Dominican Republic 15.) Chinese Trademark 16.) Mar-a-Lago meetings 17.) Defense Department Trump Tower rental 18.) Red Cross Ball 19.) Washington, D.C. labor dispute 20.) Palm Beach estate 21.) Trump Organization planned business expansion 22.) Hotel in Vancouver, B.C. 23.) Reality TV show 24.) Pipeline 25.) HUD grants 26.) Golf course in Aberdeen, Scotland 27.) Other billionaire NY real estate developer 28.) Indonesian politician 29.) Emirati businessman 30.) Virginia vineyard 31.) Las Vegas labor dispute 32.) Kuwaiti event 33.) Certificates of Divestiture 34.) Carrier deal 35.) Blind trust issue 36.) Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac investments 37.) Phone call with Taiwan 38.) Deutsche Bank debt 38.) Properties in the country of Georgia 39.) Phone call and meet with Turkey’s Erdogan 40.) D.C. hotel 41.) Argentinian office building 42.) Companies in Saudi Arabia 43.) British Wind farms 44.) Indian business partners 45.) Envoy from Philippines.

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Trump Lives In A Facsimile Universe

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Trump Lives In A Facsimile Universe

D. S. Mitchell

Last week President Trump set off another Twitter firestorm when he began a vicious  attack against MSNBC TV hosts Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough. Trump’s bad behaviors and odd proclivities have made for interesting chatter on their early morning political news show, ‘Morning Joe’.  The Twitter attack came after several months of negative Trump coverage by the two TV hosts.

The heat of the outrage following Trump’s disgusting attack came from a wide swath of the public, Capitol Hill and the media. At the height of the Kerfuffle, Joe and Mika came on their own show as “guests”. The pair answered  a slew of questions from their regular panel.

In short order,  I watched the story shift from Trump’s questionable  mental capacity to an even darker and more sinister sets of behaviors. Behaviors that support the James Comey’s recent testimony; threats and bullying being standard practice by the thug from Queens.

Joe and Mika told a hair raising tale ‘on air,’ of being excessively pressured, or  “blackmailed”, by several White House officials.   The staffers were demanding Joe and Mika call and apologize to the President, for their recent unflattering reporting of Trump on their show.

The pair described many ominous phone calls being made to their children and other family members threatening publication of an ugly National Enquirer story.  Mika stated that White House staffers made frequent phone calls to her, telling her to back off  the negative reporting of Trump.

Not only was there pressure to change reporting, but also to call the president and apologize.  All they needed to do was cave to the threats by the White House thugs.  If Joe made that apology call he was told the negative National Enquirer story would be scrapped.

Joe told his television audience that he had called Jared Kushner directly.  During that conversation  Kushner, confirmed, “All you need to do is pick up the phone and call and apologize, and the National Enquirer story will disappear”.  Joe said he refused to apologize, and things deteriorated into Trump making the subsequent disgusting tweets attacking the two TV hosts.

The Trump attack against the commentators soon segued to how can Trump control what is published in the National Enquirer and how is he using that power to control and manipulate reporters and the news itself?

It is well-known that National Enquirer, CEO  David Pecker has been friends with Donald Trump for decades. Despite Pecker denials of biased reporting favoring Trump it has been obvious for many months that The National Enquirer and TMZ are having a print love affair with Trump. And Pecker has been allowing his personal relationship with Trump to effect editorial decisions at the tabloid.

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Proud to

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“Proud to Say I’m a Liberal,” JFK

D. S. Mitchell

Calamity Politics is a progressive political blog where I address and comment on U.S. political  shenanigans and bullshit that happens everyday in Washington, D. C. Calamity Politics is coming to you today from hotter than hell Grants Pass, Oregon where it was a melting 107 degrees yesterday, and we are expecting more of the same for the next couple days.

Sadly, it seems to me, that “people” never vote for policy. Which is what effects their every day lives.  Instead, politicians have figured out that “people” vote for hot button issues, the candidate’s appearance and stage comfort being other factors.  There seems to be a total disconnect for many people.  The individual political party platforms state clearly the values and direction of that party.  Furthermore, the history of the individual parties actions when in power are a pretty reliable predictor of how they will govern.

Characters like Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Newt Gingrich are continually ginning  up the right wing base with attacks against any and all “liberals” “lefties” “progressives”; and the “Democrats” specifically.

I’m proud to be a liberal if that mean, in the words of JFK, ” Someone who looks ahead and not  behind, someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions, someone who cares about the welfare of the people—their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights and their civil liberties—someone who believes we can break through the stalemate and suspicions that grip us in our policies abroad. If that is what it means to be a ‘Liberal’— then I’m proud to say I’m a liberal.”

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Another Beach Day

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Another Beach Day

D. S. Mitchell

I have been trying to stay calm.  Morning meditation, a 3 mile walk on a misty beach, background acoustic guitar played today while I worked on my *novel.  No cable news.  Just me, and steady controlled breathing.

There are two special elections in the South today.  The South, since the late 1960’s has been  Republican red.  When I was a kid, the Democrats owned the South.  But, strangely enough in reaction to Civil Rights Legislation backed by the Democrats the South moved lock, stock and barrel to the Republican party.

I donated to both Democratic candidates, Archie Parnell in South Carolina, and Jon Ossoff in Georgia. Not much money, because I’m a pensioner, but I felt I had to at least put something in the pot. Not that I expect the Dems to win, but I have hope.

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Senate Death Panel: Thirteen, Old, White, Men

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Senate Death Panel: 13 Old White Men

D. S. Mitchell

It’s nice to say, “Hi,” when you pass a person in the hall, or when seated next to each other at a luncheon, but what would really be a good thing is for the Democrats and the Republicans to stop the bullshit, and hold their noses if they have to, and come together for the benefit of this country.

If it is a big piece of legislation such as the health care law, let’s take our time, let’s have some hearings, let’s find out who will feel the brunt of this new proposed bill.  The looming behemoth TrumpCare legislation will effect 1/6 of the United States economy and reportedly force 24,000,000 or more people completely off of health care.

The Republicans screamed that the Dems shoved the ACA down their throats.  That is an absolute lie. There were months and months of hearings, all the while President Obama and his surrogates stumped the country selling the program. So, if you don’t believe me, go back and check the records yourself. With the 24 hour news cycle, we often forget what happened just a few days ago, much less 7 years ago. In fact, I truly believe a little less conversation would have been beneficial for the ACA.  There was fatigue, overwhelming fatigue, by the time it was all said and done. Hell, it wasn’t until the Republicans threatened to repeal ObamaCare that people even figured out what a great deal it was.

Now that the Republicans are in power, Mitch McConnell has picked 13 old, white, men to his own secret Death Panel. I use that term with caution. But, quite honestly, I can think of no more appropriate name.  If you collapse in the street they will haul you to the hospital and they will do emergency care. Period.

I worked as an RN for thirty five years and have seen the situation pre-Obama and post-Obama, and I would not be able to work, ever again, in a system that tells people their cancer won’t be treated because they have no insurance. Or, to know that a child’s broken leg could literally be the straw that sends an uninsured family that is already financially challenged toward a spiral of bankruptcy.

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Trump Wants to Keep Ethic Waivers Secret

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Trump Wants To Keep Ethic Waivers Secret

D. S. Mitchell

Calamity Politics, a West Coast based progressive political blog, attempts to shine a light into the murky world of U.S. political dog fighting

I have been silent for a day or two while I did some archive updates and computer housekeeping. I added lots of new pictures. If you haven’t taken a look at the site for a while, I welcome you back and hope you take a few minutes to look at some of the old stories. As I was adding pictures I was surprised to note that most of the same issues that were shocking me six months ago are still shocking me, today.

Now that the house cleaning is complete I am back. My storytelling fingers have been itching to get back to covering the hot button current events of our day. This White House has dropped a shield around itself. There is not even a pretense of transparency. Dozens of former lobbyists and industry lawyers have been hired by the Trump administration. In late January President Trump signed an executive order that “barred lobbyists and lawyers” hired as political appointees from participating in “particular” policy issues that involved former clients for two years. Trump of course, like previous presidents, reserved the right to “issue a waiver” to anyone he wanted to hire. This action is not new. What is new is that the Trump White House has been steadfastly refusing to release evidence of any such waivers, or acknowledgement of who waivers were granted to, or disclosure of any accompanying documents.

    1. Walter M. Shaub Jr., head of the Office Of Government Ethics has asked every federal agency for copies of all waivers and accompanying documentation issued by Trump be returned to his office no later than June 1, 2017. In response the White House challenged Shaub’s “legal authority” to demand such information. Mick Mulvaney, chief of the Office of Management and Budget requested more time to review “the scope of OGE authorities”, without specifying what those questions were.

In a statement provided to the NY Times, Mulvaney switched tactics, and accused Shaub of “playing politics” and attacked the “expansive scope and breathless timetable, demanded that we seek further guidance”. The reason for the “expansive” scope is because Trump has hired innumerable former lobbyists and industry lawyers for the administration, many of whom the administration has attempted to conceal from public scrutiny. For every minute the waivers are kept secret the Trump appointees are able to potentially advance their own financial interests.

A week after attempting to further stonewall the requests by the OGE, the White House announced it will comply with the OGE request and will publicly disclose all waivers that the White House has quietly given out since January that allow these former lobbyists to work in the administration. The White House position was drawing heavy fire from ethics watchdogs. These waivers are given on a case-by-case basis, and in effect, allow appointees to work on policies that may overlap with issues they worked on with former employers.

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Trump Derangement Syndrome

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Trump Derangement Syndrome

D. S. Mitchell

The first place I ever saw the term ‘Trump Derangement Syndrome’ was in a December 2016 LA Times Op Ed, written by Justin Raimondo, the editorial director of Antiwar.com. Justin Raimondo, a Republican, is a self described “conservative-paleo-libertarian” whatever that is supposed to mean. Wikipedia calls it a philosophy that is “in opposition to social progressivism”. I give you this little tidbit to allow you to appropriately weigh his comments.

In his Op Ed, Raimondo states the Trump Derangement Syndrome disorder developes in stages. I will briefly outline those stages of development as Raimondo describes them:

In the early stages of his described ‘disease,’ the victims “lose all sense of proportion.” In Trump’s case, “every tweet arouses a firestorm” of reaction.

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WEST WING WARFARE

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West Wing Warfare

D. S. Mitchell

Staff Shuffling

The Daily Beast reports this week that political warfare has indeed broken out at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, D.C. Reports from the White House indicate they are undertaking a major reshuffling of staff. Steve Bannon seems to be the center of most conversation. Over the weekend Steve Bannon was fired from the National Security Council. To date, Bannon continues as Chief Strategist to the President.

McMaster Rejects politicization

There are signs that there are deep divisions in the West Wing. General H.R. McMaster seems to be asserting control over the NSC and solidifying his relationship with President Trump. McMaster is adamant that there is not going to be a politicization of NSC as long as he is at its head. The appointment of Bannon to the NSC had drawn criticism as inappropriate.

Nunes At The Center

The firestorm began when it was learned that 3 NSC officials have been linked to the distribution of classified documents to Devin Nunes. Nunes, a Republican is the Chairman of the House committee investigating Russia and the Trump 2016 campaign. The Chairman is now under ethics investigation for his conduct in the Russia probe. The discovery of the leaks to Nunes has created an earthquake within the administration. There has been fiery accusations against Bannon. Steve Bannon is suspected of releasing documents to Devin Nunes.  The intent attributed to Bannon was to deflect attention away from the Russian “collusion” investigation.

Reliable Sources

Furthermore, reliable sources indicate that Bannon and the president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, are at each other’s throats. Kushner apparently drew Bannon’s wrath when he spoke against separating children from their parents at immigrant internment camps. Kushner’s sentiments caused Bannon to label him a “left-wing radical.” Not terms that this Republican administration wants thrown around.  Bannon and other right-wing idealogues are signaling open fear that Trump may be leaning toward what they consider the more liberal influence of his son-in-law.

Talk Radio

Mark Levin, is a right-wing radio host. On his Wednesday night show he said the liberals in the administration are trying to increase their influence over Trump.  He was pointing to Jared Kushner, Gary Cohn, and Dina Powell.  Roger Stone, a long time gadfly and right-wing operative stoked the political warfare. He told “InfoWars” firebrand Alex Jones, that the leaks from the White House were coming directly from Kushner. In fact, Stone accused Kushner of feeding morning TV host Joe Scarborough insider information.

Name Calling

Bannon has called Kushner a “cuck” (cuckservative) “globalist” and “worse than a Democrat”. Reports suggest that Bannon worries that he is slipping in favor and that Jared Kushner is increasingly more important as an advisor to the president. Bannon has a vision to de-construct the government and he see’s Kushner as an impediment to the realization of that dream.

McMaster Tightens Control

As McMaster tightens his control at the NSC, Deputy NSC advisor K.T. McFarland was asked to step down. K.T. was at NSC for only 3 months. McFarland had been appointed to the NSC by Mike Flynn. K.T. is a political commentator and author. McFarland will be assigned as the Singapore Ambassador if she is able to clear Senate confirmation.

Waiting For The Crash

As fast as things happen in this White House we will probably watch it all play out on the political talk shows, next week. As such, I’m here in the CNP office waiting for the sound of crashing metal and glass. My hope is that, after the crash, the American people still have a political system they can count on. I guess, we will just have to wait, and see.

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