8/18/17 Bannon’s Not Really Going Anywhere; Trump’s Still in Big Trouble

bannon plane

I don’t think this changes much.

It doesn’t change the Mueller prosecutions.

It doesn’t change the assured unraveling of Trump’s Presidency that started with his response to Charlottesville. It only slows it down. This will satisfy some Republicans until the next outrage.

Trump’s thieving Cabinet will keep ruining the world.

Trump will still talk to Bannon on the phone. No hard feelings — they are all still making money and enjoying the thrill of their nihilism.

Mercer and Bannon aren’t mad at Trump. They are still getting a return on their investment. When it serves their purposes they’ll knife him or praise him. Just like professional wrestling.

Bannon will still attack the “globalists” and the “deep staters” and promote fascism — just from Breitbart etc. and not the White House. Bannon got started this week with “the interview Bannon doesn’t want you to hear” that he wanted you to hear. He already knew he was leaving the White House (the decision was made 8/7/17, eleven days ago from this writing) and he was getting a head start on his new job of attacking his enemies in his own voice instead of shaping Trump’s performances i order to do the same thing.

Bannon will run a media empire — an expansion of Breitbart — which he and Mercer envisioned in the event that they wouldn’t have successfully stolen the election. Trump would’ve been the star on that network. Now he plays the part of President — sometimes a hero, sometimes a heavy.

Firing Bannon changes White House internal politics — Kelly and McMaster are happy. This was Kelly’s call; Trump just signed off.

And just plain white folks, the friendly fascists and racists down the street, will still get red meat from Mercer, Bannon and Trump. The partnership goes on.

And Mueller will most likely eventually get all of them. (Rich people are born with a get out of jail not-so-free-card , but can they use it on charges of treason? I hope not! We’ll see.) And the Republicans will eventually dump Trump. Getting rid of Bannon doesn’t get rid of Trump’s inner Nazi, and that will do him in.

Nazis and white separatists, mental illness, treason, criminal conspiracies, conflicts of interests — the beat goes on. Bannon just now talks long distance and attacks all of his enemies from Breitbart instead of the White House.

And people in power (including our collective power as American people) know about all of it. They have lost the element of surprise. Once people have your number, you can’t get it back. Republicans, for example, know now they can’t be afraid of the mind-controlled Breitbart zombies of the Trump base — they have to fight them. They know now that there is no sense of trying to stay on the Trump or Breitbart (they’ve become a little different now) good side. The smart play is to attack and defend yourself, not try to keep them happy.

I said Trump would never fire Bannon. I was wrong, sort of … but not really, because Bannon isn’t going anywhere.

This can’t end anything but badly for these people.

And after Charlottesville the pendulum swung toward our good fortune — a silver lining of the tragedy.

Bannon’s change of address doesn’t really change much.

Copyright 2017 Richard Thomas

Love Conquers Trump

Trump’s aid and comfort to Nazis and White Supremacists is treason, as is his criminal conspiracy with his collaborators and Putin. Once a traitor always a traitor. I have seen nothing in his entire public life — not a word or deed — that has shown any love for his country.

My Facebook feed, like yours, has been filled with outrage and struggle with the phenomenon of Trump’s political success and what it means. The words are often frustrated and confused, and at times inspiring and enlightening.

But each word expresses one common feeling. You all love your country.

And in the end, and this is as corny as it is true, your love has brought down this evil. Trump’s fall and the fall of all he represents is far from complete, but it will be.

Now it’s just a matter of execution.

Copyright 2017 Richard Thomas

The Republicans’ Psychotic Break and Sunrise

Turning on Trump will be the Republicans’ only way out. His biggest sin for them is that he yelled out the racism and fascism that they have politically exploited and believed in — but just obliquely pointed at, and subversively pushed into their policies whenever they could get away with it. This won’t be over when Trump is over. It is only beginning.

This is a great opportunity. We can reform something far more important than politics. We can reform our civic culture so that our politics, and everything else that we do together, has meaning.

Lighting candles not torches in the darkness.

To a more perfect union.

Copyright 2017 Richard Thomas

8/17/17 Required Reading: Trump – Russia Timelines by Steven Harper for Moyers and Co. GREAT RESOURCES!

moyers and co

Read these timelines. Great resources. Written by Steven Harper. Published on the Moyers and Company, Bill Moyers’ outfit’s, website. I saw these mentioned on The Lawrence O’Donnell Show. Useful!

Interactive Timeline: Everything We Know About Russia and President Trump

A Timeline: Pence’s Role in the White House’s Russia-Related Mess

What Don’t You Know About the Trump/Russia Connection?

Enabling a Dangerous President: The Jared Kushner Timeline

A Timeline: Everything We Know So Far About the Comey Firing (in One Place)

James Comey, You’re Fired: A Video Timeline

 

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8/17/17 3:38 pm — What if Trump Resigns?/Corker Begins the End of the Trump Presidency

trump resigns

Trump would have a hard time resigning.

If he resigns he loses whatever leverage he has in Mueller prosecutions.

If he pardons himself and others and than resigns, he runs the risk of his own pardon being challenged by Mueller. If the pardons of his associates are not challenged — and they rest on clearer legal precedent than a self-pardon — then none of those associates would be able to plead Fifth Amendment rights when asked to testify against Trump since they couldn’t incriminate themselves in any way related to criminal charges related to Trump.

If he tries to negotiate with the Justice Department a resignation in exchange for immunity from prosecution, Mueller will surely oppose it. Sessions can’t make the call because he is recused from the matter. It would be tough to find someone in authority at Justice who would agree to the deal. If Trump made this proposal he would have little leverage. After someone was found to agree to the deal, the deal would be challenged in court. It is uncertain how the courts would rule in the matter. The circumstances described have never happened before, of course.

Trump is painted into a corner. His best strategy ( for his interests not ours!) is to keep doing what he is doing — trying everything he can to obstruct the prosecution and continuing to incite a fascist takeover of the government.

He may resign in spite of all of this if he is as unbalanced and exhausted as he seems. If Trump resigns, or is removed from office because of incapacity to serve under the 25th Amendment, or is impeached and convicted by Congress, many people worry about the ascension of a President Pence. These worries are not unfounded, but there are some considerations which could mitigate these concerns.

Pence may be impeached himself. He may have obstructed justice when he covered up when and what he knew about the felonious activities of Mike Flynn. But if that happened we would face the equally horrible specter of President Paul Ryan.

A final consideration gives hope and is a challenge. Getting rid of Trump and the other traitors is just the first step of this journey. We have to continue fixing our civic culture and government. In this area, we are making progress. We are working to honor the rule of law, ethics, civility and respect, diversity and equality, health care as a human right, the right to vote and on and on. If we just celebrate the removal of Trump, or worry about the next President we have missed the point.

Democracy and human decency have been assaulted. We have to defend them, assert them, broaden our thinking about them and make them more real.

We are not just responding to “breaking news.” We are making a commitment to do our part to further a more perfect union for the rest of our lives.

Copyright 2017 Richard Thomas

bob corker

PS. While I was writing this post Tennessee Republican Bob Corker made a statement setting a predicate for a call to remove Trump under the 25th Amendment. He basically said that if Trump doesn’t find the mental stability and professional competence to succeed — and he has to succeed for the good of America — then the nation will be in great peril.

That sounds like using the 25th to me, not impeachment. But if the 25th doesn’t work, they’ll find a way to impeach. I believe the dam has broken. Corker’s statement is a game changer. He gave a sliver for Trump to save himself with a change of demeanor in his words, but Corker’s own demeanor said that he knew that was impossible.

This is the beginning of the end of the Trump Presidency.

We will have to strongly oppose a Pence or Ryan pardon of Trump — not for reasons of vindictiveness but to protect the rule of law, recognize treason and not allow it to go unpunished, and destroy the influence of the fascist Nazi White Supremacist Right.

Copyright 2017 Richard Thomas

8/17/17 Mercer and Bannon, Bosses and Traitors in Charge

 

mercer and bannon

CNN reports that 3 of 4 Republicans approve of Trump’s response to the terror in Charlottesville.

The rank and file of the Republican Party is a hate group.

Robert Mercer and Steve Bannon’s Breitbart News is largely responsible for the propaganda that provides the pseudo-intellectual justification for the hate that already existed within the heart of the Republican base.

Mercer and Bannon have used the big stick of their ignorant army of exurban fascists to intimidate Congressional Republicans from taking enough action to stop “Trump” (Mercer and Bannon are the actual bosses of the administration. They’ve owned it since Mercer started financing the Trump campaign after he secured the nomination, and Bannon, Mercer’s top executive and business partner, started developing strategies to surgically use Trump’s demagogic performance art to manipulate sectors of the electorate in order to secure victory. Trump will never fire Bannon. He doesn’t have the authority.) Some Republicans speak up but few do anything concretely to stop the crime and madness.

The “alt-right” — a euphemism for Nazism, white supremacy and other fascist views, coined or adopted quite early by Breitbart — has started its emphatic move into the streets and beyond radio and the internet, most notably at Charlottesville. (Of course, it’s always been out there. But now is the time of the bold play.)

So Mercer and Bannon are executing their plan. Intimidation and dominance in the halls of government, terrorism in the streets for the purpose of destroying our democratic system, and controlling the government in order to seize wealth of Putin-esque proportions.

Trump is a spokesperson for the Mercer/Bannon (and has been discussed before — Putin) operations. A natural fascist, Trump’s improvisations are tactically used by Bannon after Trump utters them aloud. Trump “doubles down” on statements that Bannon determines further the conspiracy’s fascist agenda. Trump’s main job is to motivate the Republican base of haters through his performances. Bannon is the theater director who shapes the message. Trump comes up with the red meat raw material in front of audiences. He excels in the evil art before challenging press and at idolatrous rallies.

I have written before about how this activity connects to the Treason with Russia as well. (Mercer and Bannon’s Cambridge Analytica company teamed with Putin’s fake news operation in the general election phase of the 2016 campaign.) Mercer and Bannon are traitors by virtue of their conspiracy with Putin, and traitors because of their leadership of movements to overthrow our system of government that echo America’s two greatest historic enemies, the Confederacy and the Third Reich.

Aid and comfort to enemies foreign and domestic — and they ARE domestic enemies.

Copyright 2017 Richard Thomas

8/16/17 America’s MORAL Moment — Anyone Who Isn’t for the Immediate Removal of the Nazi/New Confederacy President Will Live in Shame

Benedict Arnold Wanted Poster

How can the politicians let the criminally insane President remain in the White House? His presence there gives aid and comfort and encouragement to the Nazi-New Confederacy filth that terrorized Charlottesville on 8/12/17. He has shown he is a traitor with Putin and that is a traitor with the Alt-Right.

Impeach him, use the 25th Amendment — get rid of him. It’s an emergency.

How can anyone work with him? Everyone in the White House should quit. Bannon and every other Mercer/Breitbart person are traitors. To be a member of the Alt-Right is to be a traitor. They lionize the greatest enemies America has ever faced — the internal treachery of the Confederacy and the inhumanity of the Third Reich. It is free speech in America to say words that hate America, not matter how disgusting or unpopular. It is treason against America to do deeds that reflect those words when holding government office in America.

How can any business person participate in any of Trump’s councils, boards etc?

And what of the generals who are supposed to save us? For example, the savior, Chief of Staff Kelly failed yesterday. He seems a highly professional soldier who went to work for a Nazi. If he doesn’t quit today he will show that he is exactly what I thought he was initially — a soulless highly skilled hack who will “serve” for his own self-aggrandizement instead of having any values himself.

How can any American stand with Trump this morning?

Any individual who stands for this compromises himself forever.

Copyright 2017 Richard Thomas

8/13 -8/15/17 Green Light to Alt-Right Is Part of Coup Master Plan

8/15/17 evening

This was written two days before Trump’s discussion with the White House Press about the “Alt-Left” which doesn’t exist and shared blame in his mind for the tragic events in Charlottesville, Virginia. I didn’t have to change the copy.

8/13/17 5:26 CDT

Charlottesville. This is a strategy coordinated from above. The “alt right” –— I hate that, they are fascists are “demonstrating” — I hate that they are in engaging in violent street intimidation whether they make mere threats or assault and murder. There is an end game here — they want to consolidate a fascist dictatorship and overthrow our democracy.

We’re into the third phase of the plan. First was Breitbart propaganda, then Trump’s fascist rallies and now widespread civic unrest.

What is really scary is that they are well-funded. Mercer, the billionaire who owned Breitbart and then bankrolled Trump’s campaign post-nomination is the money. Steve Bannon, Mercer’s top executive is the strategist and owns a piece too.

Trump is their willing puppet. Trump had a strategic reason for equating the Charlottesville fascists with the innocent anti-fascists. Because that is how he sees it. He is different than other Presidents for a reason.

Mercer and Bannon collaborated with Putin to steal the 2016 election — Russian fake news was hooked up with voting data analysis (from Mercer and Bannon’s Cambridge Analytica company) used to target the voters that they could get fraudulently.

The plan is to turn America into a fascist dictatorship that can do business with Putin’s fascist regime so that they can all make billions. That’s why Tillerson is there. A big portion of the world’s oil will allow them to be really dominant and they all make billions — personally. “They” means their cabal — a very small group of people, that’s why they want to gut the bureaucracy. They don’t want civil servants checking them out and asking questions.

Some Republicans are talking about cancelling the 2020 elections because too many immigrants who aren’t citizens are voting which is ridiculous of course, but might be enforced in the street …. by the rank and file Breitbart thought-controlled young white male American fascists.

This is a coup that they have been working on for years. Mercer is the boss. Trump came in late. He has pros and cons — he’s a diva, but he is actually a fascist.

Guys like David Duke are street officers. The conspiracy goes really high up the economic and political chain.

Mercer is nuts and he is the type of businessman who wants to do huge, previously unheard of things. Think Steve Jobs crossed with a Nazi.

This sounds like a novel you’d buy in an airport, but it is happening.

Who thought Trump’s election or a hundred other things that have come to pass in the last couple of years?

Breitbart has been poisoning young idiots minds so they can use them in the street phase that is just beginning.

If we want our systems of checks and balances to work we are going to have to defend those checks and balances. They want to destroy our democracy because they want all the power and money for themselves. That’s what they do — they’re fascists.

This not just a bunch of stupid people making a lot of trouble. They have a plan.

Copyright 2017 Richard Thomas