The Bottom Line on President Trump’s Alleged Ukrainian Offenses - And a Little Satirical Corruption Fun, Maybe.
On October 6th, ABC News captured the dilemma we as a country of ethics and laws face relative to President Trump’s actions with the Ukrainian President in their article: 2nd Whistleblower Comes Forward After Speaking with IG: Attorney” (Https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/2nd-whistleblower-comes-forward-after-speaking-with-ig-attorney/ar-AAIlO8i?ocid=spartanntp).
The article reports: “That original seven-page complaint alleged that Trump pushed a foreign power to investigate his political rival, Joe Biden, and Biden's son, Hunter, and that unnamed senior White House officials then tried to "lock down" all records of the phone call - opps! (emphasis added) (knuckleheads).
"This set of actions underscored to me that White House officials understood the gravity of what had transpired in the call," the first whistleblower stated, in a complaint filed Aug. 12.
It is illegal for anyone to receive something of value from a foreign national in connection with a U.S. election, according to the Federal Election Commission. While it is not immediately clear whether Trump or other U.S. officials broke the law in its handling of Ukraine, that might not matter. The Constitution allows for Congress to decide what constitutes an impeachable offense.”
So, it should be self-evident why such behavior is illegal, but I will try to explain for those of you who may be a tad fuzzy on this. If American political incumbents or candidates are allowed to ask foreign governments to help their campaigns, then we are allowing those foreign governments to shape, or worse - decide, who our leadership is and have a voice in deciding American policy, which of course would be policies that advances those foreign nations best interests - not necessarily American national interests. If you don’t get this, you don’t need to read any further. And, for you “deep state folks”, yeah, I know, you already buy that foreign governments, multinationals, and globalists, already are and have been doing this and have taken control of our country - lets tackle that in another article (P.S. I don’t make light of the latter position on external foreign string pulling in our affairs).
Joe Biden and his son may be as guilty as hell (and probably are). But that is not the point here in this piece. So, these are the questions: Are you okay with a foreign nation supporting a American candidate’s campaign because that foreign nation feels one candidate is more friendly to their foreign interests than another’s? No! Are you okay with a foreign nation shaping investigations and evidence that conceivably supports one candidate over another and better suits that foreign nations interests? No! Would it be healthy for the American people, and best serve our own transparent legal system, by trusting investigations of foreign nations over our own? No! So, we all get this, right?! If not, again, come down to The Mad Moose, have a cup of Rough Rider with me, kick my butt, and set me straight on why a foreign nations participation in supporting one political rival over another in our country is a good thing. Folks, this is why it is illegal (Hello McFly – Anyone Home?!). This is not to say leveraging our transparent legal apparatus to partner with foreign governments to curb corruption and investigate wrongdoings legally is off the table (now I have really blurred the matter - not really - so don’t jump on that).
If Congress finds the facts point to President Trump’s actions were illegal, then President Trump must be held accountable, just like you and I would be for breaking the law - right? I mean, we are all on board with nobody is above the law – aren’t we?! If we can’t agree on that, then once again, come down to The Mad Moose, have a cup of Rough Rider with me, kick my butt, and set me straight on why. In the current case, President Trump would have to be convicted by his own party, in the Senate, therefore this would not be a partisan coup as he asserts. Yup, for his dismissal to get legs and actually happen, his own party would be the deciding factor in firing him - not the democrats. A two-thirds vote would have to be obtained in the Senate, which currently has a Republican majority. So, the impeachment accusations and facts would have to be determined as not worthy of his dismissal by Republicans as “High Crimes and Misdemeanors” to fire the President, which, incidentally, are whatever Congress says they are. We tracking?
My sense is that the Senate should do what is right based on the facts - call me crazy! And, if the President is found guilty of “High Crimes and Misdemeanors” that rise to the level of removal from office by his own party, I would prefer voters having the choice at the ballot box in the next 52 weeks instead of an immediate firing of the President by Congress,. I have colleagues, however, who have a view counter to this, which I agree does have some merit: i.e that if he is guilty, he MUST be removed - I’m still a little on the fence on this given the proximity to the next election - so your advice is welcome. In this very short time, only 52 weeks away from the next Presidential election, the Republicans can also decide if they want to support President Trump, assuming they have not fired him, during their own Republican primaries that will occur between now and November 2020, or support another candidate. Of course, supporting President Trump, who they assumptively themselves agreed committed a crime in this hypothetical circumstance, would be a little problematic – i.e. supporting a convicted criminal to run our country as the highest law enforcement officer in the land – uh, yeah..! So folks, let nature take its course and lets follow the law transparently. There is nothing to fear here - let due-process be the order of the day.
A caveat on letting nature take its course. If the Senate takes actions to not take a vote on the impeachment facts as presented from The House of Representatives - through some legal hi-jinks and hocus pocus - this is assuming the House of Representative’s even finds enough merit in the facts to present them to the Senate in the first place - you will have to ask yourself why the Republican party fears taking a vote on the merits of the facts and findings. If the Republican Senators refuse to vote, they are essentially trying to protect their own butts finding themselves in a “Catch 22” (Could we be so bold as to say all the Republicans Senators would all then be involved in a conspiracy of obstruction of justice? Yikes! Am I sounding a bit extreme and like a conspiracy theorist – please somebody pinch me!)
If the facts are clear and the Republican Senate refuses to vote, or vote to ignore the facts, then aren’t they all participants in the President’s alleged illegal actions - which voters may take issue with and not re-elect them (not to mention the destroyed credibility of the Republican Party itself)? On the other hand, if the Republican Senate agrees with the facts and votes to fire the president, then they have of course laid into question the Republican Party’s legitimacy and ability to even select leaders and govern (um, this is kind of why the Utah Bull-Moose Party exists in the first place). This may compel voters to dump all of them at the next election cycle - as they should (Hello!). Hey, aren’t we all on board with limited term politicians anyway?
At the end of the day, the Republican party needs to “Get a Grip” as Former Secretary of State (a Republican) said in today’s article: Colin Powell: The Republican Party Needs To ‘Get a Grip’ and Stand Up to Trump (https://time.com/5693929/colin-powell-republican-party-trump/) Incidentally, Secretary Powell, in case you don’t recall, is a former 4-Star General, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and has identified as a Republican, though he has demonstrated his fickleness by flipping to the democrat side - hey, a good commander should have the right to change his mind if the facts so warrant - right? (Nonetheless, President Trump would have likely fired him too, just as he has fired all his Generals: Kelly, McMaster, Mattis, etc., etc.). Hm, who’s who in the effort to shape the battlefield for a coup attempt?! Don’t get me going…
Boy… these fellas have all really gotten themselves into a mess, haven’t they!
Finally, take heart… the Republican leaders you elected have the fate of this matter entirely in their hands – and, they get to decide what High Crimes and Misdemeanors are. If nothing smells here - The Boss does not get fired and life goes on – rock n roll!
So, Senator Mike Lee (R-Ut.), put that in your pipe and smoke it! I love’ya man… well, I probably can’t say that because I have not met ya. But if I met ya, I’d probably love’ya – just not as a U.S. Senator representing the interests of Utahans and Americans. Ouch… somebody stop me!
Utah Bull Moose Party 2022 (November 2022 election)! Yeah Baby!!! “Do-The-Right-Thing!”
www.utahbullmooseparty.com