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Expansion of the military budget is the only one I have an issue with but USA has historically always been a grunt.
How The Republican Party Uses Donald Trump
Steve Denning
Senior Contributor
While much of the discussion in Washington, D.C. is about how Donald Trump has taken over the Republican Party, what’s more striking is how effectively the leadership of the Republican Party has used Donald Trump to enact its own long-held agenda.
With a tax cut for the wealthy that exceeds the dreams of avarice, the expansion of the military budget, two Supreme Court picks, multiple judicial appointments to other appellate courts, and the wholesale demolition of key regulatory protections, the Republican Party is exulting in results. It can afford to lose the mid-term elections, and even the 2020 presidential election, without excessive regret. Even with those setbacks, the steps already taken will require decades to undo. Is it any wonder why support in the Republican Party for Donald Trump remains so strong?
The structural gains made in implementing the Republican agenda over the past twenty months, with the help of Donald Trump, will endure for decades. The Supreme Court appointments are for life. The public sector deficit caused by the massive tax cut, combined with the military expenditure increases, will enable the Republican Party to suddenly rediscover their commitment to fiscal discipline and push for “necessary cutbacks in social programs.” Moreover, if Republicans manage to maintain control of at least the Senate in the mid-term elections, the Republican Party will be able to elude any significant undoing of what they have accomplished.
To be sure, the extraordinary accomplishments to date necessitated extraordinary patience and focus on the part of the Republican Party leadership. They have had to deal with a president, whom even his own appointees call “an idiot,” “a moron” and “someone with the understanding of a fifth or sixth grader.” They have had to tolerate presidential behavior that is “unhinged” and “narcissistic,” with lengthy rages, tirades and vicious insults. They have had to close their eyes to daily disregard of facts and accuracy, multiple racist statements, repeated attacks on free trade, democracy and the rule of law, ongoing interference in judicial processes, the demonization of the free press, and blatant disregard of the very premises of the U.S. Cons ution. They have had to set aside the growing evidence of electoral and financial malpractice in the President’s background. They have had to tolerate the President’s friendships with dictators, his abasement before foreign adversaries, his insulting of allies and the attempted trashing of international agreements and ins utions.
While history will not look kindly on these craven accommodations, the concessions have seemingly been made acceptable to the Republican leadership by the knowledge that there is within the White House and throughout the administration, a “Resistance” of officials who are committed to averting the worst tendencies of the president, and to doing whatever is necessary to prevent utter disaster. Such officials are willing to take such extreme actions as stealing do ents from the president’s desk (Trump’s top economic adviser, Gary Cohn) in the realistic expectation that the president would forget he ever intended to execute them or telling the president that the president’s wishes would be implemented while ordering subordinates to do the opposite (Defense Secretary James Mattis).
According to Senators Flake and Corker, the fact that this hidden government within the government has been in place since the beginning of the Trump administration is common knowledge among Senate Republicans.
What may change the situation is the publication this week of an op-ed in the New York Times by an anonymous “senior official in the Trump administration” confirming the existence of the “Resistance.”
Until this week, Trump could luxuriate in the illusion that he was running the country and implementing his own agenda, when in fact it is the traditional Republican Party agenda that is being implemented. The president could tell his adoring fans that he will “build the wall” along the Southern border at the very time the Republican Party leadership is explaining to him yet again why now is not the right moment to fund his top priority. The president can regale his rallies with the news that he is redoing our alliances to make America great again at the very moment that his own staff are secretly conniving with allies to preserve ongoing relationships.
In the eyes of Republican Party leadership, the crime of Anonymous in writing the op-ed is not so much that the writer is disloyal to the president. It is common knowledge that many senior officials are disloyal to the president. For the Republican Party leadership, the crime is that Anonymous has revealed the con that is going on.
The emperor has been publicly declared to be wearing no clothes. As in Hans Christian Andersen’s telling of the famous fairy story, the emperor’s supporters in the court continue to act as though the emperor is fully clothed: some 27 senior officials, including the vice-president, cabinet secretaries and even the president’s wife, have issued statements of loyalty and denials that they wrote the op-ed.
Yet the president cannot help being upset. As expected, his first response is extreme anger at the disloyalty, combined with calling for outing the author and shouting treason. He has launched an investigation and may use lie detector tests or sworn affidavits. Meanwhile he reassures himself at rallies by reliving yet again his 2016 victory, pointing to non-existent favorable poll numbers and even citing support from a friendly despot (Kim Jong Un, the leader of North Korea).
A second response is his recognition that there is no one around him he can trust. There is now a risk that the president may rouse from his delusion of power and renege on the deal that he gets to act as a kind of ill-bred ceremonial president. He may come to be dissatisfied with regaling his rallies with fatuities, while the real power is being wielded by the leaders of the Republican Party. He may be moved to assert his independence, break free from his restraints and implement ideas that even his own chief of staff, General John Kelly, calls “Crazytown.”
Expansion of the military budget is the only one I have an issue with but USA has historically always been a grunt.
http://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/...mpression=true
GOP destroyed oversight; Dems obligated to clean up mess if elected
BY KRIS KOLESNIK, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR
The least-discussed norms President Trump and his acolytes have blowtorched these 18 months is congressional oversight. Most discussions have been about White House, foreign policy, American ins ution, and rule of law norms. Oversight should be right up there, specifically related to Russian election interference.
There are no Republicans left in Congress, that I know of, who know what is or isn't credible oversight. Their ignorance prevents them from understanding the mess they have made. Oversight by Congress is a lost art. What Republicans have wrought is downright destruction. If Democrats re-take either chamber of Congress in November, they are obligated to resuscitate that function Republicans have allowed to atrophy in service to their president.
I entered Congress in 1982, working for Chuck Grassley. I was trained by post-Watergate staff, Republicans and Democrats, at a time when Congress was taking back power from the Imperial Presidency. We kicked some patoot during the Reagan years when corruption, greed and mismanagement were rampant. I was a Republican, but I worked with good-government members on both sides. We won. My boss was re-elected because of our oversight campaign against profligate defense spending. When we started, his approval rating in Iowa was under 50 percent; when we finished, he won re-election by 66 percent in 1986. He is still in Congress.
As a 34-year veteran of government oversight, I am horrified by the assault from Republicans on oversight norms. It has hobbled the credibility of the ins ution. Senate and House leaders are to blame for a Wild West approach by committee chairmen and staff.
Let's take a closer look. Congressional investigations need to command clear moral authority. We have not seen that. Even the Joint House hearing on July 12 of FBI agent Peter Strzok made Strzok seem a sympathetic, Ollie North-like figure confronted by a bunch of angry stuffed-suits attacking him for doing his job of saving America from the Russians. Right-wing media thought the hearing was a homerun. Everyone else was scratching their heads.
House and Senate committees investigating Russian interference have insisted on voluntary testimony. Subpoenas have been eschewed. Republicans are pitching softballs in a hardball game. Congress has vitiated its subpoena powers to compel not just testimony from reluctant witnesses but also Fifth Amendment pleas from scoundrels.
The Senate Judiciary Committee inquiry into the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting insisted that all witnesses be interviewed voluntarily. Whoops. What would happen if, under that rule, a crucial witness decided to not testify at all? That's what happened with Jared Kushner, who apparently got "spooked" because ranking member Dianne Feinstein released another witness's testimony. Paul Manafort also did not testify. The two highest-ranking campaign officials, both at that meeting, skated. That's softball. That creates future openings for witness lawyers to press for only voluntary testimony on their own terms.
House committees allowed witnesses to concoct their own privileges to avoid answering certain questions. In January, Steve Bannon was interviewed while his lawyer conversed with White House lawyers about what Bannon could or couldn't answer. Former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski used similar tactics. Both invoked privileges never heard before by a congressional committee. The committee let it go. The precedent has been set.
In January, Senate Judiciary Committee Republicans Grassley and Lindsey Graham sent a criminal referral to the Justice Department regarding Christopher Steele, author of the famous Trump "dossier." I could make a compelling case that their action violated 18 U.S.C. 1513, "Retaliating against a witness, victim, or an informant." Steele provided U.S. law enforcement officers information that he believed were crimes. At the very least, the referral is a chilling reminder to future whistleblowers that they may not be welcome before that committee.
Imagine the anonymous author of the NYT op-ed, or any of his like-minded brethren, trying to find protection from any committee of Congress. Perhaps that's why he/she is still anonymous.
Worse, that same committee received testimony from Natalia Veselnitskaya and Donald Trump, Jr. whose veracity is now being questioned, Veselniskaya for claiming she wasn't a Kremlin agent, and Trump for claiming his father was unaware of the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting. Neither received a criminal referral as Steele did. Future witnesses before that committee have a right to be confused about whether their testimony could get them prosecuted.
The worst culprits are House Republicans. They have unabashedly interfered in the on-going special counsel Russia probe and have turned DOJ and the FBI into political witch-hunt central. Think of the impact that would have on future cases if agents and prosecutors constantly second-guess their every move for fear of political retribution from rogue congressmen.
Were Democrats to regain control of Congress, the incoming leaders would need to recognize and assess the oversight damage inflicted by Republicans. A wall should be erected immediately between politics and ins utional preservation. They can solicit the help of the Senate and House legal counsels, who maintain the historical ins utional knowledge of committee and chamber precedents. They can also work informally with present and past oversight prac ioners.
The resulting "autopsy" could be a report to inculcate members and staff. Oversight specialists could augment legal counsel staffs. Leader offices could keep tabs on committee oversight activities to preserve oversight norms, credibility and integrity, and avoid politicization of on-going cases.
Congress also should make DOJ/FBI whole by exterminating all vestiges of Republican political abuse. In my experience, a mere request from Congress of affected agencies for abuse examples will turn up piles of responsive do ents, with the most egregious on top.
Finally, the ethics committees need to investigate obstruction by members of Congress and their staffs. At least one head needs to be displayed on a pike for deterrence. The FBI prosecution of former Senate intelligence committee staffer James Wolfe won't deter political influence, but it's the kind of prosecution that should be done to deter it. The ethics committee results should be referred to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Washington for obstruction of justice. (A referral to Main Justice would be DOA, as they are too risk-averse.)
These steps would go a long way toward restoring ins utional integrity and public confidence in congressional oversight. It all starts with - and cannot be done without - leadership. Republicans have demonstrated they have none. Let's see if the Democrats get their opportunity. If they squander it, I'll be on their case, too.
Kris Kolesnik is a 34-year veteran of federal government oversight. He spent 19 years as senior counselor and director of investigations for Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa). Kolesnik then became executive director of the National Whistleblower Center. Finally, he spent 10 years working with the Department of the Interior's Office of Inspector General as the associate inspector general for external affairs.
silly, naive articles
Not even sure what that even means.
baseline bum
I take it you're happy about Trump calling out NATO nations and Japan for not paying their fair share in military expenses.
Not really since it's all talk and he raised our military budget farther.
So, you like cost saving measures except you don't.
What cost saving measures? He runs his mouth about how expensive it is and then still increases our military spending anyways.So, you like cost saving measures except you don't.
You want to about Trump. I thought I'd see if you had a razor focus beyond TDS. You don't.
Trash chastizing Europe to spend more on defense isn't about USA saving defense $$$
It's about disengaging USA from Europe and NATO, just as Pootin dictated.
Clinton gave millions to Russia
Former president billions to Iran at night without congress approver
He's a useful idiot for Ryan and McConnell
You got TDS, bruh. Come to terms.
TDS is believing any of the constant stream of lies coming out the mouth of Benedict Donald.
Full-blown TDS
Putin would like the EU to break apart. This would push some European nations into the arms of America.
On the topic of Putin/Russia, you look at it too broadly. USA and Russia aren't Saudi Arabia & Iran or Israel & Palestine. There are events/issues that overlap in benefit. EU breaking apart benefits both USA and Russia.
It's pretty ironic since the party for the most part really tried to disavow him pre-election... they also did a good job of cleaning up his entourage of some de ables (ie: Bannon) post-election.
But yeah, one would surmise that it shouldn't take much strategizing to convince a vacuous person like him to carry certain flags for the team. I mean, you can blame him for being a compulsive liar and a man-child, but it's not his fault he ended up in the White House on a job he's wholly unqualified for.
Another BIG WIN!
Even increased tax revenues (from the non-oligarchy) from increased economic activity can't offset the tax cuts for the oligarchy.
Safety net destruction will be the Repug priority after the election. and the neoliberal corrupt Clintonian Dem establisment will go along.
Turn 'em on, turn 'em on
Turn on those sad songs
"a conservatism that can
tackle soaring social and economic inequality as a way to save capitalism,
restore the financial sector as an aid to free markets and not their corrupting parasite,
a conservatism that will end our unending wars,
rid the criminal justice system of its racial blind spots,
defend liberal education and high culture against the barbarians of postmodernism and the well-intentioned toxins of affirmative action,
pay down the debt,
reform the corruption of religious faith,
protect our physical landscape,
invest in non-carbon energy, and
begin at the local level to rebuild community and the spirit of American civil association."
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer...servatism.html
That's some HEE LARRY US , Andy!
which true red/white/blue card-carrying conservatives want to achieve your laundry list?
literally no one gives a what you think
Settle down princess
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