Last week we learned that in a phone conversation, the President responded to the Ukrainian president’s comment that he needed military aid (particularly anti-tank missiles to defend against Putin’s current hot war in Crimea) with “I need a favor, though.” That favor turned out to be a request/demand that Ukraine investigate Joe Biden’s son and Joe Biden. And he asked for that favor eight times in that conversation. Eight times.
The president used the power of his office to solicit from a foriegn power, information he could use for his own personal gain against a political adversary.
Another way of seeing this is that the President, seeing that the Mueller investigation would not result in an impeachment inquiry, got busy seeking foriegn intervention in the 2020 election.
Sounds crazy.
When Trump sent his personal attorney and dementia proxy, Rudy Giuliani to the Ukraine, it was initially to chase down a rumor that the DNC was never hacked by the Russians. That, in fact, the DNC hacked their own emails and hid them in a server somewhere in the Ukraine.
Sounds crazier.
Now we are learning that Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo listened in on that call (and lied to the media about it) and that he is instructing his people not to cooperate with the impeachment inquiry.
Sounds bat shit crazy.
We’ve also learned that Attorney General William Barr has spent time and your money investigating the wildest conspiracy theories and allowing the Department of Justice to become a political tool of the President.
Sounds bat shit crazier.
How is the White House responding to this? By saying Joe Biden’s forced a former Ukranian prosecutor to drop an investigation into an energy company on which his son was a board member.
I may address the actual facts and nuances of the whistle blower complaint at a later date, although I feel it’s a story that everyone will know backwards and forwards in a week or so, if not already. But today I want to write a bit about a few things we need to remember that we’ve forgotten about the Trump family and their apparent allergic reaction to ethics. Think of this as a bit of a “Let Ye who have never sold your soul cast the first stone” rant.
Let’s take a look at the Trump little ones.
Around 100 days into Trump’s presidency, we learned the Kushner’s were selling Visas to the Chinese for $500,000 a pop. Jared’s sister made the sales pitch: If you invest in Kushner real estate, you have a pretty good chance of getting a Visa and being on your way to American citizenship. Before you leap to the conclusion that this was an overt attempt to sell Visas in exchange for giving the Kushner’s money, take a look at this ad:
That’s not a joke. That is exactly what was advertised at the Ritz Carlton where Jared’s sister made her sales pitch.
It’s worth remembering that Trump had taken a hard stance against immigration and loose work Visas. Nicole Kushner told Chinese investors how the CEO of Kushner Failing Real Estate was now working at the White House and during a creepy Halloween-like slide show, President Trump’s Pumpkin face appeared as a “key decision maker” on the EB-5 Visa program.
Jared and Trump’s daughter were and are part of the White House now, and it doesn’t take a rocket ethic scientist to see that Jared’s sister selling a pathway to citizenship, stinks worse than the last five Chevy Chase movies.
GOLF!
Some guy named Dodsen was golfing with Eric Trump a few years ago. The game got rained out and the Frozen DVD was too scratched up to play on the golf cart, so the two got to talking. Dodsen asked how Eric was able to pay for the golf courses, as banks were not investing in that stuff at the time.
Unbelievable, you say? Not any more! Eric’s respose was “Liar, liar, pants on fire.”What he did not say was, “Here are the financials for the golf resorts. See? No Russia here!”
BUT WHAT ABOUT IVANKA?
Good question. When she became a senior advisor, Ivanka announced she was closing down her clothing business in Ireland because it would look bad for a President’s daughter and senior advisor to the President to be doing business in a foreign country. Don’t laugh! She did the right thing! Then, three months later Ivanka got approval for 16 new trademarks from China. Don’t cry! You didn’t expect anything less, did you?
A cynical liberal like myself might look at this and think: “Wow, Trump started a trade war and China gave his daughter trademark approval to affect the President’s decisions.” But that’s just me.
Just last week the Chinese government awarded Ivanka’s company four new trademarks A cynical liberal like myself might wonder at the timing, since Trump has begun another round of trade negotiations with China.
I wonder when Giuiliani will be whisking off to China to see what is going on there.
I could go on, but you get the idea. Trump’s defense against a perfect phone call where he solicited a foreign leader to provide dirt on his political opponent, seems to be that Joe Biden’s son did something illegal. He offers zero proof for the allegation, but that’s no surprise. And when it comes to ethics, Trump and his family do not seem to have a moral leg to stand on among the whole lot of them.
In a normal world…
POLITICAL BREAKDOWN 