Trump as the “Law and Order” President? Hardly

I haven’t written anything in months. Truthfully, the Trump presidency has been such a train wreck that if I started posting my opinions, I would never stop writing. That does not mean I’ve taken my eyes off what Trump has been doing – and not doing.

He’s not doing anything constructive. His administration and the Republican controlled Congress hasn’t been able to get anything done. Their attempts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (AKA Obamacare) fizzled miserably. This was in part to the Republicans being tone-deaf as to what the people of the United States want and need. The fact that Trump's coziness with Russia plus his namesake son getting himself tangled in alleged illegal activity in June of 2016 and then lying about it hasn’t helped either. The steady drip, drip, drip of information which only revealed more lies on Trump Jr.’s part was bad enough, but today there are reports that Donald Trump – the president - has raised the issue to his legal team about pardons – for himself, his family and others related to the investigation. He's also expressed regret for putting Jeff Sessions in the job as Attorney General because Sessions recused himself from the Russia investigation.  So much for law and order!

A president simply cannot pardon himself; this would be what a dictator would do. And. it appears that if he pardons any member of his family, campaign staff, or administration, as it relates to the investigation of the Russian meddling in the election, those people would not be allowed to plead the Fifth Amendment when testifying and/or would not be protected from any other charges outside the Federal level. Again, so much for "law and order."

The bottom line is Donald Trump is acting like a guilty person trying to find any way to keep himself out of jail.

I can only hope at this point that the investigation into Trump and his campaign’s activity moves at light speed and impeachment proceedings take place with (hopefully) a quick decision on the part of Congress to boot Trump out of office. I don’t think this country can suffer the damage much longer. Trump’s “law and order” sounds like “NO law and order.”





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The Frequent Critic, here.

Trump’s Twitter Storm (Falsely) Accuses Obama of Wiretapping

President Donald Trump had a Saturday morning tweet storm on March 4, 2017. Here’s what he said, in five tweets:

“How low has President Obama gone to tapp my phones during the very sacred election process. This is Nixon/Watergate. Bad (or sick) guy! "

"I'd bet a good lawyer could make a great case out of the fact that President Obama was tapping my phones in October, just prior to Election!"

"Is it legal for a sitting President to be "wire tapping" a race for president prior to an election? Turned down by court earlier. A NEW LOW!"

"Just out: The same Russian Ambassador that met Jeff Sessions visited the Obama White House 22 times, and 4 times last year alone."

"Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my "wires tapped" in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism!”


Of course, Trump had no proof to back up his claims, which were quickly rebuked by an Obama spokesperson. 

These tweets show Trump’s ignorance. A president cannot order wiretaps; those laws have been on the books since the 1970s after the Nixon era. But Trump is now in a trap of his own making. He can’t prove his allegations, which make him seem even more paranoid and crazy. If there WERE wiretaps, they would have been initiated by federal investigators and been approved by a panel of judges who set the bar very high in order for a wiretap to be granted. This would mean that Trump and/or members of his campaign showed some signs of illegal activity. Either way, Trump loses.

I’m all for investigating Trump’s (baseless) claims, which could have the side benefit of uncovering the truth about his and/or his campaign’s ties to Russia. Trump’s Twitter rant should only expedite an investigation, something that I doubt he really wants. I am appalled at Trump’s apparent lack on control and also his desire to vomit his often wild opinions onto Twitter on a regular basis. He may think he is diverting attention from the issue of his ties to Russia, but his apparent insecurities have only drawn more attention to it. In my opinion, this is not the sign of a person with a stable mind. I encourage Congress or any federal agency to open an investigation into these claims that Obama wiretapped Trump, and when they are proven false, they can then open an investigation into President Trump’s mental ability to govern.

Check out my blog home page for the latest information, The Frequent Critic, here.

Trump’s ”Extreme Vetting” is an Extreme Disaster

President Donald Trump created another mess in his first week in the White House. His campaign promise of “extreme vetting” of immigrants took an ugly turn when he issued an executive order banning the entry into the United States for citizens of seven Muslim nations (Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen) without having any process or procedure in place.

Chaos ensued during the execution of the haphazard executive order. There was no advance notice or planning for the airports to enforce the order. Green card holders were blocked entry, some people with valid U.S. passports were threatened with deportations until judges intervened. Large numbers of protesters descended on major airports, as did lawyers there to protect the rights of those detained and to help them through the process.

It was a disaster.

The Trump administration has failed miserably in its first week. It seems that this group of people who have zero experience in running the government are just making things up as they go along. It’s unprofessional and it is frightening. In their desire to keep a campaign promise of “extreme vetting”, they completely forgot to actually come up with a process to vet people coming in to the country. There was no preparation before executing. Trump always touts his business prowess, but no smart business person would ever change their operating process or profile without having a plan in place.

It’s clear to me that Trump is just winging it. Same for his administration. I’m becoming worried that our government is in the hands of a madman, along with a staff ready and willing to enable him.



Check out my blog home page for the latest information, The Frequent Critic, here.

Donald Trump – The Twilight Zone President

After Donald J. Trump was elected president in November, the last few months felt like a never-ending episode of “The Twilight Zone”. I sometimes expected Rod Serling to appear as a ghostly apparition and give an opening monologue to every news cast. Not a day goes by without the press highlighting some of the lies and falsehoods that are coming from Trump and his administration. Not 24 hours passed after the inauguration, President Trump and his Press Secretary Sean Spicer made incorrect statements about the size of the crowd attending the inauguration. Spicer flat out lied, stating incorrectly that “This was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration, period”,  after which he didn’t take questions from the press. The full transcript is here:”Washington Post: Sean Spicer held a press conference. He didn’t take questions. Or tell the whole truth. “ .

The next day, on NBC's "Meet The Press", one of Trumps advisors, Kellyanne Conway, attempted to categorize the falsehoods as “alternative facts” (see the clip below). She also said she may have to “rethink our relationship”, a clear threat, in my opinion, to cutting off members of the press when the Trump administration doesn't like when the press calls them out for their lies.

The entire campaign has been full of lies, misstatements, falsehoods, and any other synonym one can think of for not being truthful.

Donald Trump and his support staff seem ill-prepared for the job. Their attitude continues to be hostile. I am embarrassed that these people represent the United Stated of America.

I’ve been silent for all these months;  if I wrote down everything that appalled me about this president’s and his staff’s behavior, I would be writing 24/7. I had to step back in the hopes that once inauguration day came, that I would see Trump and his administration grow up. Clearly, this won’t he happening any time soon.

It’s going to be a long, long 4 years… in The Twilight Zone.







Check out my blog home page for the latest information, The Frequent Critic, here.