GOP CONTINUES TO HAVE MISPLACED LOYALTY TO TRUMP’S QUESTIONABLE DECISIONS

The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman, Jason Chaffetz (R-UT)

 

For some reason, the Republicans in Congress are in lock-step with President Trump’s bizarre decisions

 

Can anyone imagine how either major party would have reacted if George W. Bush or Bill Clinton had grown children, and if these sitting presidents had attacked an American retail business for dropping their children’s name brand products?

 

In fact, just look at all the bizarre activities that have occurred in the first few weeks of the Trump administration that would never have been allowed for any other president.

 

>>> How about a president that due to him and his people’s lack of political experience, they improperly wrote and forced a roll-out of an executive order that would have allowed the president to undermine the independence of the federal judiciary?

 

>>> Or a president that compared the suspicious killing of a string of a strong Russian leader’s dissenters or journalists, with killings happening in the United States?

 

>>> How about a president that says he absolutely isn’t going to mess with the American people’s Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid, but then he nominates and is confirmed an HSS Secretary that has vowed to privatize all three.

 

>>> How about a president that nominates a Treasury Secretary that was responsible for purchasing a failing US bank at ten-cents on the dollar, that was later responsible for foreclosing on tens of thousands of mortgages unnecessarily?

 

>>> And then the nomination of an unqualified Secretary of Education that said that guns are needed in some schools to defend the children against grizzly bears.

 

Almost any former president in my life time would be dealing with yells of outrage, multiple congressional investigations and even possible talks of impeachment.  But with the government being run by these inexperienced Republican’s, the GOP congressional members are acting like this is just “business as usual”.

 

I was just listening to some of the Republican in congress being interviewed on TV and one of them was saying that everyday Americans just, “love president Trump and his Tweets”.  This idiot doesn’t seem to realize that Trump’s approval rating today among everyday Americans, (not just those that voted for him), is only 43%.  That is the lowest approval rating of any American president for their first 30 days.

 

As a comparison, the lowest former presidential approval at this same time in their presidency was Ronald Reagan at 51%, while Barack Obama was the highest at this time of 76%.

 

It is amazing that the Republicans have held themselves together, placing their misplaced loyalty above all else in the president. The “Party of Lincoln” has apparently sold its soul to the devil, and it is unknown where will it stop…?  Some people are saying that the president’s wheels are going to fall off before he makes it through his first year, much less his first term.

 

With the Democrats being in their weakest position since before the Great Depression, there’s not a whole lot they can do but make a whole lot of noise.  Trump will most likely get every one of his Cabinet nominees approved, even as weird as some are.

 

 

But the billionaire Betsy DeVos’ performance with her poor memory, was one of the worst in history for her confirmation hearing.  She had proceeded to display a level of ignorance that was shocking at best. But only two of the Republican senators, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, had the courage to actually vote against her. In fact, Vice President Pence had to break a 50-50 tie vote to get her approved, so now  Ms. DeVos is the Secretary of Education.  God help our children in public schools.

But in reality, those two dissenting US Senators were the closest example of a GOP revolt in these confirmations. Not one Republican voted against the confirmation of Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) as attorney general, despite his seriously ugly history on civil rights. The majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) went so far as to formally squelch Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) so she could not read aloud a letter criticizing Sessions written decades ago by the widow of Martin Luther King Jr., Coretta Scott King.

 

It was disgusting to see Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) being stopped from speaking on the Senate floor by the Majority Leader McConnell about Attorney General nominee Jeff Sessions.  Her comment was: "I am surprised that the words of Coretta Scott King are not suitable for debate in the United States Senate.” 

 

But as expected, Trump’s pick for the Labor Department, fast-food Hardy’s and Carl’s Jr. restaurant magnate Andrew Puzder, who has conflicts of interest and a nanny problem, he may face some serious pushback.  And there’s Ben Carson, who has zero qualifications to lead Housing and Urban Development (HUD). But as expected Ms. DeVos did get through...?  In these nominees, it’s hard to imagine who would ever be deemed unacceptable by the super-silent GOP Senate majority.

But over in the House, all that former interest for holding the executive branch accountable has totally disappeared.  Do you recall how the infamous House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) was so amped-up to investigate every real or imagined question about the Obama administration?  Do you remember how he went after Hillary Clinton over her emails? Suddenly this zealot against so called proper oversight, he now declines to launch any probe that might be seen as a “fishing expedition” on any nominee or the president. Hell, with Secretary Hillary and President Obama, he was ready to immediately start impeachment proceedings at the drop of a hat!

 

Trump’s has now attacked a private company, Nordstrom Department Stores, for no longer carrying his daughter Ivanka’s line of merchandise? (And Nordstrom’s stock has increased since they did this.)  ’That’s not that big a deal,” according to Chaffetz.  And regarding Trump’s hotel lease on the DC, Old Post Office Building, which makes him both landlord and tenant? Chaffetz is “curious,” but wants to wait for an official opinion by the General Services Administration, which now also reports directly to the US President Trump. The many potential conflicts of interest posed by Trump’s worldwide business interests? Chaffetz just continues to stifle his yawns.

 

Can you imagine what would be going on if this were Obama, Hillary or anyone other than Trump?

 

Only Republican’s like Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), have shown any interest in investigating the biggest question hanging over the Trump administration: “What role did Russia play in the 2016 election?”

 

This abdication of responsible duty is disgusting at the highest order….pardon me, it’s the lowest order!

 

But for a party that basically wanted to screw the American public for the last 8 years, the GOP’s lockstep support for Trump has been highly impressive.  This approach may eventually allow the party to achieve some of its long-held policy goals: cutting taxes, eliminating regulations, repealing the Affordable Care Act. But going there may also have enormous risks.

 

The response to Trump’s presidency has inspired an enormous increase in progressive activism around the country. The energy generated by the massive Women’s March on Washington and its satellite marches last month has continued throughout the country. Republican members of Congress are continually being deluged by phone calls at their offices and confronted by protesters in their home districts. “The women are in my grill no matter where I go,” said Rep. Dave Brat (R-Va.).

 

Let’s face it, if the opposition to Trump ends up uniting and motivating the Democrats the way that opposition to Obama did for Republicans, GOP strategists should start being very concerned.

There is a serious risk of blindly following a bizarre circus ring leader who continues to demonstrate his unfitness for the US presidency.

 

Trump shows no respect for real Americans, or American institutions or their traditions. He sees those who disagree with him as “haters” and he dismisses inconvenient facts as “fake news.” He deliberately stokes their fears and he continually bristles at constitutional checks on his power.  Donald Trump is more and more resembling the "Big Brother" image in Orwell's novel, "1984".

 

I was very proud when President Barak Obama had quoted another Republican President, Abraham Lincoln, who had said, we need to “summon the better angels of our nature.”

 

Based on what we are seeing today, I don’t vision that we will ever hear something like that from a President Donald J. Trump.

 

Copyright G.Ater  2017