Trump didn't win the presidency and therefore can certainly be indicted and prosecuted

I am keeping this short and sweet: Donald Trump's claim to the presidency is fraudulent and thus he can indeed be indicted.

Trump stole the Oval Office. Trump is NOT a sitting president and therefore he CAN be prosecuted. By the sworn testimony of his co-conspirator and former attorney, Michael Cohen, Trump "directed" Cohen to break federal election campaign law so as to hide important information which could have influenced voters to vote against him. It was an extremely close election; only 77,000 votes in three states gave Trump the electoral college. By contrast Hillary Clinton out-paced Trump by 3 million votes nationally. Clearly Trump has no claim on a presidency he "won" by fraud. Under our laws, one cannot keep what he has stolen. Ill-gotten gains are not gains at all.

Let's hope Mueller sees it that way.

The Beginning of the End of Trump

So much has happened in the last two days that the best I can do is give this review in chunks. Like bulletins. Because that is how it happened. For example the Michael Cohen confession and the Paul Manafort conviction came at almost the same minute!

# 1. TRUMP HAS COMMITTED A FELONY! AND HAS BEEN RECORDED ADMITTING IT. Trump's  fix-it guy and sort of attorney Michael Cohen has now said in sworn testimony that in the weeks before the 2016 election, Trump directed him to pay off a woman who alleged an affair with Trump. Hushing her was necessary, Trump made clear, in order to protect his chances in the election. He thereby defrauded the public of knowing necessary information and also screwed up the way the hush money was paid so that he and Cohen committed a felony under election finance laws.  In addition to Cohen's sworn testimoney, he has previously provided the tape recording of Trump discussing the hush money payoff.

 #2 . TRUMP IS NOW EMINENTLY IMPEACHABLE. The grounds for impeachment are blatant and numerous, but now we have one that is virtualy inarguable, i.e.the payment of hush money to secure his winning the election. Here's an expert opinion:

"Does Trump's paying off the women constitute enough of an offense to warrant impeachment? The framers thought so. 'The campaign finance violation President Trump’s former lawyer accused him of on Tuesday — arranging to pay hush money to influence an election — may be precisely the sort of offense that the drafters of the Constitution meant to cover in granting Congress the power to impeach and remove a president.' " This quote is from a discussion of a book analyzing the framers views on impeachment:' "When Is an Offense Impeachable? Look to the Framers for the ...                     

#3. TRUMP'S SO-CALLED PRESIDENCY WAS A NULLITY BECAUSE OBTAINED BY FRAUD. Therefore all his supposed presidential acts are nullities, including his recent Supreme Court appointment and all the other federal judicial and other appointments he has made.  His attempts to do stupid things, like nullifying  environmental regulations and messing with tariffs, will be automatically reversed since he lacked the authority to launch such. Our allies can sigh with relief that the crazy man is gone, and we can repair our mutual defense groups and trade agreements. And someone else will head our government and make a super-strong effort to find the 600 children and get them back to their parents. Lots more good things will happen but that's for another time.

#4. PENCE WILL NOT BE PRESIDENT. He got into the office of Vice President on the same ticket as Trump and thus with the help of the same crookedness Trump used. His supposed election is therefore a nullity.

#5. IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE IMPEACHMENT, A DEMOCRAT WILL BE PRESIDENT. The Constitutional order of succession is President, Vice President, Speaker of the House.  If Democrats win the House in November, the Democratic Speaker of the House will succeed the impeached president and vice president. As the Bard once said, "It is a consumation devoutly to be wished". Getting rid of Trump only to then have been saddled with Pence would have been awful. But it doesn't it have to be that way.

Time out now for a good night's sleep before I survey more of the Trump crash site and try to make sense of the whole lot. And hopefully I can find answers to such questions as, "Will Trump pardon Manafort?"  (No. And I'll explain why not.)

I think it was Gerry Ford who said after Watergate and Nixon's resignation, "America's long nightmare is over." We can't say that yet. But at least it appears as if an ending is possible and perhaps is coming sooner than we have thought.

Again, a consummation devoutly to be wished.

Good night now. I think we are all sleeping better these nights, right?

"Collusion"? "Conspiracy"? How about "Treason"?

[I'm still supposed to be resting my right arm and hand by not doing any typing, but I couldn't stay silent while such nonsense is afoot, i.e. Trump and Guiliani saying Trump didn't commit a crime because one term for it isn't in some of the penal code books. And at the same time hundreds of the lost children of Trump's "zero tolerance policy" remain lost.]

Hey, Trump and Rudy G, take it from this old law prof, under your beliefs such as  "collusion" not being a crime [Giuliani and Trump claim 'collusion isn't a crime'] "stealing" would  not be a crime either. Idiots and ill-educated that you are, you want the rest of your fellow citizens to believe Trump's possible wrong-doing can disappear just because some people have called it by a broad term — "collusion" — which isn't recognized legal lingo. In many jurisdictions, you can look up "stealing" and you won't find it analyzed as a crime either. Instead there will be the precise forms of stealing, e.g. misappropriation, robbery, fraud, etc.

Abraham Lincoln did an excellent job in one of his cases of explaining the crime of misappropriation. His analysis became the definitive one and established the action as a crime in its own right. "Stealing" just didn't do the job for this particular crime against property rights. Don't mistake me, however. I'm not saying that collusion and stealing are related; I'm merely pointing out that conversational terms for bad conduct aren't always adequate enough to be used as legal terms.

But, hey, Trump and Rudy, will it make you feel any better if we convict you, Mr. Trump, and your pals for "conspiracy" instead of "collusion"? No matter the term for betraying our country, we'll get you for it, and the correct terms will be used in your prosecution. 

Additionally we shall use the approriate term of "treason". 

Even now you are committing treason right in broad daylight and in front of everyone. And right in front of the TV cameras. You also did it in Helsinki. You are aiding and abetting our enemy Russia by refusing to protect us from Russia's electronic invasion into our elections. Russia Attacks America’s Election System. Trump Shrugs. This is a more damaging kind of attack than one wth guns and bombs because the Russians are blatantly trying to destroy our election system and thereby destroy our democratic system of government.

You took an oath to protect us and our Constitution. You are flaunty that duty, instead insisting that our own intelligence services are wrong in their assessing Russia's invasion.  No one could reach your conclusion if they had read the recent American indictments of the thirteen Russian military officers. But that's just it, isn't it. You  didn't read the indictments, did you? Either from laziness or indifference, you "don't read things". You didn't read the meticulouly detailed accounts of how these Russian military officers invaded us. Those indictments spell out who did precisely what and when and where they did it. They are damning. And just today Facebook reports that the invasion has resumed. Facebook uncovers disinformation operation ahead of midterm elections


Ignoring the indictments and instead blathering on about some 400-pound man on a bed somewhere may be the failing of a man of little intellect who is congenitally unfit for any responsible office.  Or it may be a clever distraction, waving nonsense under the noses of an electorate already exhausted and baffled by your daily menu of nonsense and outrageousness. No matter that perhaps you can't help being an idiot. You are still sworn to protect this country. The soldier who falls asleep at his post intends no harm but nevertheless his dereliction is such as to constitute an offense for which he may be duly and lawfully executed. 

We may pity that poor soldier but we can never pity you for anything. Not after you have deliberately terrified those seeking sanctuary here by ripping their babies and toddlers from their arms and then losing the little ones in an unplanned system so that they may never be returned to their famlies. That cruelty of yours, combined with your dereliction of duty, not only make you unfit for office but makes it incumbent on us all to seek your removal from office and your appropriate punishment.

Sadly the law may grind a bit slowly in punishing you. So let us pray that the return of those children is speedier. And let us also pray that the patriots in our military and intelligence services take it on themselves to defeat the Russian attack even in the absence of their Commander in Chief. 

And let us fervently pray that the likes of you is never seen in our political life again.

Donald Trump Has Committed Treason

Some readers have asked me for my assessment now of the Donald Trump situation. Because of my broken arm I haven't been able to write this blog for quite a while. This pause has, however, given me the opportunty to take a longer look at Trump and his conduct.

This is my resulting conclusion at this point:

While virtually every commentator (*see footnote)  is fussed by Donald Trump's bratty behavior, ignorance and bullying, Trump's most important misconduct is being overlooked. Virtually no one dares say it but this fake president has committed treason and continues to do so. He will likely commit further treason this week in his private meeting with Russia's president Putin.

Two things this past week make this treason obvious. One is the detailed account by Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller in his indictment of twelve Russian agents who attacked our election process in 2016. By supplying precise dates and other evidence Mueller has made it possible to link Trump himself, as well as his staff and associates, to the Russian attack.  We now have a clear picture of Trump "aiding and abetting" a criminal act, which is itself a crime. In this case because he was, and still is, aiding and abetting an attack upon the United States, his crime is also treason as defined in Article III of the Constitution.

The second thing that happened this past week is that Trump did not cancel his "summit meeting" with Putin nor make any demands or invoke any punishments regarding the Russian attack so convincingly described in the Mueller indictments. He refused to take the details of the attack seriously. Either he is in collusion with Russia in the matter or is so criminally and stubbornly ignorant as to be in effect liable for deliberate and willful volation of his oath of office. Quite arguably such deliberate and willful violation of the oath by a president can constitute treason. He is, after all, ignoring an attack by an obvious enemy, an attack aimed at the very heart of our democracy, i.e. our elections.

My arm will heal soon, and I can then write about this topic in more detail. And get this straight: the topic is treason, which is a capital offense. It isn't enough any longer to talk impeachment, as other commentators are doing. At this time impeachment is too vague and too partisan. Treason is a clear-cut charge and one so serious that possibly the GOP members of Congress will suddenly stop protecting Trump and start thinking about saving their own skins.

Meantime, please work on voter registration and organizing a get-out-the vote drive for November's election. We need a functioning Congress now more than ever. You have the power to get us one.

* No sooner had I finished writing the above observations than I saw this Charles Blow column in the NY Times. Blow is one of my favorite writers so it is especially reassuring that he too sees what I do: Trump is commiting treason. Trump, Treasonous Traitor.  Also, my prediction has come true today that the GOP will back off from this latest treason by Trump. Even GOP Speaker of the House Paul Ryan todays disavows Trump's siding with Putin against our own intelligence service findings.

George Will Is The Saddest Man in the World, and It's Trump's Fault

You know who George Will is.

At least you know him as he used to be. The much-honored chief spokesperson of the conservatives. Winner of the Pulitzer and other awards.  Highly respected for his astute mind, insights, gift of expression. Columnist in the best newspapers in America. Frequent guest on discussion shows on MSNBC even though his politics were quite unlike those of his hosts.

Above all he was a self-assured, confident, almost cocky man. He was a man sitting on top of the world.

Not any more.

He was on MSNBC one night this past week, and he was the saddest man I ever saw. I kid you not. There was even a sheen of unshed tears in his eyes. His shoulders were bent over. His face sagged into weary lines of sorrow. This was a beaten and suffering man. For a man of words, he certainly wore his sorrow on his sleeve.

This sad spectacle is the work of Donald Trump.

It's become a cliche that anyone who works with or for Trump comes away damaged and diminished. In the case of George Will there was no propinquity. George Will never associated in any way with Trump that I'm aware of. Instead Trump just destroyed Will's world.

In his first year of campaigning and his first in the presidency, Trump took away all the ground that the conservatives once stood upon. His crass Trumpland now occupies the right of the political landscape. Its doctrines of recklessly increasing the debt, launching trade wars, breaking treaties, depriving people of their rights, attacking environmental protection, attacking our law enforcement branch of government  —  all of these defy true conservatism. The GOP has been so seduced by Trump that it has forgotten that Nixon was a fine environmentalist, in fact the best environmental president we ever had. To Nixon's credit: the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act, the Environmental Protection Act, Executive Order 11593 that protects historic sites. The GOP has forgotten that Ronald Reagan entered anti-nuke treaties with Russia. It has forgotten the strong Republican support for NAFTA, the Pacific trade agreement, elements of NATO. It has forgotten that in the 1960's the GOP leader in the Senate, Ev Dirksen of Illinois, fought for the Civil Rights Bills in cooperation with President Lyndon Johnson. All of this rich contribution by the GOP is gone with the wind, the destructive tornado that is Trump.

Civility is gone too. Conservatives knew how to be civil. Now Trump has reduced politics to a nasty name-calling brawl, full of threats and pseudo-tough guy talk. This brawl has come out of the mob gutters of New York and into the almost sacred halls of our Congress and the White House.

And the corruption! It mounts daily. The latest this past week was revelation of the $4.5 million that has been paid by corporations to Trump's "personal attorney" for the strange task of providing "insight" into the Trump administration.

George Will has no home any more in the political landscape. Will he and the other exiled conservatives and moderates in the GOP creat a new home for themselves? Or will they fight to take back their old party? I have no idea. Ordinarily I would say that creating a new party is virtually impossible, but the alternative is even a dimmer prospect, i.e. taking back the GOP from the Trumpies looks nearly impossible.

Well, it's not my problem. The Democrats' big problem is getting Nancy Pelosi to shut up about impeachment. Her babbling on about it may inspire the uninspired GOP ranks to turn out for the midterms and in 2020 so as to protect their poor picked-on Donald Trump.

Also the plight of the GOP is their own problem because they made all this bad stuff happen. George Will has lost his home because his party created a monster faction in order to stay in office. There is some justice in life: they may be in power now but they are in terrible, terrible trouble as a party. (More soon on how the GOP fatally wounded itself.)

Is America also in terrible trouble because of Trump? I don't think so. More on that also another time.

As for George Will he is a well-read man and surely he is familiar with the saying: "When you sup with the Devil use a long spoon."

Too bad that warning slipped his mind.

I'm Back!

My broken knee has healed and my two new hip replacements are working great. I can once again sit at the computer and write. And in a couple of weeks I will be walking without the walker, cane or whatever.  Freedom and joy!

Meantime we have lots to reflect on. Let's not spend all our time on the clown car and its driver Trump. We have seen all his tricks now, including his one today in cancelling the Iran nuke agreement. He's an ignorant and dangerous jerk. But the world and our future and the strength of our nation are each bigger than Tiny Trump. Indeed, he's so awful that he has prompted a great new wave of political activity. (More on that later.)

For now, I'm moving my books back to my office and organizing the mess that results from eleven months of life in a recliner chair.

It's wonderful to be able to work. To move about. And soon to drive!

May blessings as big as these now come into your life too.

Let's watch the Congressional primaries tonight. They sure look to be interesting.

And rejoice in the newest polling that shows only 29% approve of Trump withdrawing from the Iran nuke agreement. About one-fourth of his little base isn't in on this one.

And thanks for all your good wishes through my long year of waiting in doctors' offices!

Time Out for Surgery, Please

No, I haven't been goofing off. Just getting ready for another surgery in the next two weeks. All kinds of tests, etc. This is the third in about 7 months.

The first two were hip replacements and they have worked out great.

This third one is smaller but a bit spookier. Geting something done about an aneurism on my aorta. These last three words sound like the lead into an old-fashioned and really corny song: "She was only an aneurism on an aorta but she was all the world to me."

Keep an eye on Trump while I'm messing with the medicos. But don't let him eat your life. He is mostly a sound and (lately) a fury, signifying nothing. He wants your attention.

Say a prayer, or whatever you say, that I come through this ok. Got to finish the book I'm writing and got to get back to this blog. This is such a great year in politics!

Like those kids this weekend! Wasn't that great! They are wonderful.

So are you. And together you and 82-year-old me, and the 1500 woment who are running for offices, and those 800,000 kids are going to boot Trump and the Trumpists right over the pasture fence.

Like Michael Moore said early on, "There's more of us than there are of them."