Understand Government

(c) thelibertarianrepublic.com

        Anyone else feel like it was a long month this week?  I mean, with the Trump Train rolling along with a few wheels off the rails, it's difficult to ever remember a time in America where the last few months seem like years.  To clarify, since the inauguration of Donald Trump as president, Americans have come to expect policy changes and issues advocating the views of the electorate that most recently voted in the election.   But did anyone predict the Trump Train would not only go "off the rails" so quickly, but so consistently?
        As any long-term reader of my blogs know, although not a supporter of President Trump, I was willing to give him a chance to prove himself the "business leader some felt this nation needed to move us forward."  Unfortunately, this view rather quickly devolved into an illusion, as Donald Trump's inability to appreciate the office of the Presidency was put on display front and center right from his inauguration speech all the way through this past week.  
        Can anyone possibly recall (in recent memory) a time when a former Director of the FBI testified to the Senate that the President of the United States cannot be trusted because he is a "liar?" Can anyone recall a sitting president respond with both threats of litigation or a claim to make the record straight by asserting a willingness to "testify under oath" in order to prove that former FBI Director is a liar instead?  That our Commander-In-Chief's main strategy to deal with adversity (inherent in the position) is to denigrate perceived opponents in a child playground game of "got you last?" (See: www.nytimes.com/2017/06/09/us/politics/trump-comey.html).  This is serious stuff folks, not some petty spat that can be mediated with mommy in the room.
         Now it appears Trump (and his lackeys) are attempting to paint Comey as some sort of criminal for his admission of passing off typed notes to a friend with the understanding he would in turn release it to the media.   His notes?  A personal memorializing of his conversations with the president asking him to let the Flynn investigation "go." Comey explained the basis for allowing his memos to be given to the press through a third party because he anticipated Trump would either mischaracterize their conversations regarding the pending Russian collusion investigation or just outright lie about what really was discussed between them.   One problem exists for those buying the Trump narrative - giving his memos to a third party relating to a conversation already discussed by the President on social media and on national television interviews, is not a revelation.  It is simply a presentation of the other side by the other participant to the conversation(s).  Moreover, nothing in the "leaked" memos were deemed "Classified" and therefore nothing was improperly released to the third party and eventually to the media.  Executive Privilege does not apply to individuals that are not employed in the government nor on matters already aired publicly by the president (or on any actions that may be considered criminal in nature, ie., Obstruction of Justice.  See: US v. Nixon, 1974 - www.oyez.org/cases/1973/73-1766). 
   In other words, claiming transparency by not invoking a privilege that does not exist is a clever propaganda move for the president's base, but it has no impact on reality.  Just another misinformation tactic from an administration put together with spit and glue without actual long-range planning. Haven't we witnessed enough evidence of this through the president's incessant and prolific use of his Twitter account? (See: abcnews.go.com/US/questions-raised-comey-admitting-leaked-contents-memo-trump/story?id=47918343, www.rawstory.com/2017/06/cnn-legal-analyst-eviscerates-trumps-illegal-leak-argument/).
         Ironically, Paul Ryan, GOP Speaker of the House response to Comey's testimony indicating Trump not only attempted to coerce a halt to the investigation into Micheal Flynn, but also Trump's considerable misrepresentations (aka LIES), had the chutzpah to claim Trump deserved some sort of break because he is "Just new at this."  (See: www.vox.com/2017/6/8/15762530/paul-ryan-comey-testimony-trump).  Huh?  When FDR died, Harry Truman was forced to deal with the immense pressure of prosecuting a World War and the fact America was completing the construction of two nuclear bombs.  According to historians, Truman immersed himself in the briefings provided by (then reluctant FDR aides) to learn everything he could in order to determine whether to use the new bombs in an effort to end the War in the Pacific. (See: www.history.com/this-day-in-history/truman-is-briefed-on-manhattan-project).  He invested his time to LEARN what Presidents need to know in order to proceed as Commander-In-Chief.  He did not ask for a mulligan because he was "new at this."  
         According to Article II of the US Constitution, the President of the United States is to "Take Care" of the country ("Take Care Provision").  It does not afford a learning curve and do-overs once an individual is sworn into office.  This learning curve must be completed by the end of the Transition Period between the election and the Inauguration.  Clearly, President Trump and the GOP Leadership somehow missed this lofty requirement of our elected leader.  Trump now continues to prove he was unfit to be considered President of the United States, let alone elected to serve as such. 
         So where do we go from here?  Unfortunately, we seem to be destined to careen from one guardrail to another heading up a mountaintop with the hope America does not go over a cliff.  As President Harry S. Truman once wrote; "A politician is a man who understands government. A statesman is a politician who's been dead for 15 years."  Clearly President Trump does not understand government, and he certainly is no statesman!  We can only wonder what this next week will bring us as the Trump Train continues to careen along the rails.  Have a great week!