Score Another for Putin

‘Why’ has continually been the unstated question.

The news coverage on the Russian intervention into the 2016 US Presidential election and its possible connections to the Trump campaign has blanketed the Nation for months and the end is nowhere in sight. However, acceptable reasons for the Russian intervention have been absent.

Rather than speculate on a purpose for the political “attack” by Russia, the reason for Russia’s foreign policy has been discounted as business as usual.  1960s logic such as Russia is our enemy, Putin is evil, or why wouldn’t they (?) answer nothing.

Also to suggest that Putin merely wanted to undermine Clinton’s expected Presidency understates the motives of an authoritarian government in power for seventeen years. A handicapped Clinton might have been solace, but no prize. Now Trump…he was a prize!

Putin (et al) did not decide to cyber attack the US election, nor infiltrate Trump and his inner circle to gain “assets” as part of some grand scheme to ultimately befriend the US. The sensibility of such an assumption within the context of 200 years of western history defies logic.

Even a chipmunk brain like Trump’s would eventually be forced to understand that, other than cooperation regarding nuclear weapons, the US has nothing to gain from building a relationship with a country that is top-down corrupt. Russia is tiny relative to the US (see Pennyfound: http://pennyfound.blogspot.com/2017/01/manchurian-candidate.html ).

Conversely, Russia has little to gain from the US. So what is Putin’s long-term objective?

Russia today is the product of unregulated capitalism injected into a totalitarian government. The net result has been the systematic extraction of limited wealth held by the people and government into the hands of a few (popularly known as the Russian Oligarchs). Since Putin’s election in 2000, they have succumbed to Putin’s KGB-style of governance.  By using raw fear (of violence, disenfranchisement, or both), Putin has forced the Russian Oligarchy to give up political power (and a few $billion for himself) in exchange for safety.

When Jared Kushner or the Trump boys interact with Russian billionaires (i.e. Russian Oligarchs without political power) they are effectively dealing with V. Putin. Trump (et.al.), dealing for years in the smoke filled backroom world of real estate finance and thinking he was running with the big Russian wolfhounds, has probably been, as stated by former CIA Director John Brennan, on a path to treason without even knowing it.  

Russia’s interests don’t lie with the US, they lie with Europe. Putin knows that further secure advancement of his Country and his own power (and wealth) is in Russia having control over Eastern Europe. The great anathema for him is an expanded European Union and NATO. His foreign policy to date makes no bones about his desires. Georgia and Ukraine (including the Crimea) are obvious first steps.

The United States has been a critical adhesive in European unity for more than 60 years. Without it the Soviet grip on Eastern Europe might not have been broken when it did.

Putin is smart enough to know (and Trump dumb enough not to know) that by weakening that relationship, he hopes to find that taking aggressive actions in Eastern Europe might be met by only token resistance.  Even just the threat of expansion could equate to economic leverage for Russia over European natural resource markets or in relieving sanctions.

Trump has presented himself as no fan of the Western European nations and now European leaders are openly distancing themselves from Trump’s America.  Putin is scoring points and Trump doesn’t even know he’s out on the court.

Even with a Trump Presidency (and before the conclusion of Russian investigations) these two actions could help turn things around:

• The US Congress should pass a joint resolution supporting the European Union on both economic and territorial grounds.
• The damned stupid Brits (like the damned stupid American electorate?) should have a second Brexit referendum (the first was non-binding) to confirm the first, even if they required a 60% majority to change course.

In the interim, Americans need to flip Congress in 2018. It is so important!

Fox & Fiends

If in trying to nail something down you keep hitting your fingers with the hammer it’s time to give it up.

I have been diligently watching Fox & Friends weekday mornings for three reasons; first, to get a different prospective on the previous day’s political events, second, because our President has publicly declared it to be his news source of choice, and, third, because a significant majority of self-defined “Conservatives” view it as true information.

I have to stop…my fingers are all swollen.

It isn’t simply that I disagree with most of the premises they base their reporting on. I do, but that’s precisely why I’ve been following Fox News. I have watched a variety of other Fox News programs as well.

I’ve been troubled why I am someone who always thought of himself as a centrist finding myself pushed further and further to the Left. So I assumed I was falling prey to confirmation bias and I thought an ample dose of Fox News would even things out…at least a bit.

Instead what I’ve discovered is that Fox News generally, and Fox & Friends specifically, completely distorts the news they cover.  They do this by grossly altering conclusions by careful editing.  Oh sure, you knew that already?  No, you only assumed it.

 I have determined the “gross” part of this undermining intention of Fox News by using my DVR to capture pieces of news (notably interviews and testimonies) compare them to other news sources and then compare those to online transcripts.

Fox News is a travesty and moral crime upon the American Public.  I am disgusted.  

Although competent news persons have been jumping the Fox ship with abandon, it hasn’t resulted in any change of course for the producers and directors of that news network. Nor has the obvious fiddling with either the truth or multiple scandals had any affect.  

The only pressure to bear should be on any remaining actual TV journalists (Wallace, Baier, Smith e.g.), who could more effectively deliver a Conservative view not buried in bullshit if they joined those who have already left. Of course, that would require they place integrity on equal footing with money.

I have to assume that Rupert Murdock and company continue to allow the manipulation of reality because it is so tied up in the ratings (and associated dollars). They appear to have a monopoly on self-interested, ignorant (by choice) white Americans. It is just so sad and appalling that such a large sub-set of this Nation can be so easily exploited as to let this happen.

Other cable news sources (MSNBC, CNN e.g.) are not innocent of bias or intent. But nothing compares even remotely with Fox News. There should be a picket line at their studios on the Ave of the Americas 12 hours a day, 7 days a week…to replicate a funeral dirge for the death of American truth.

Impeach: Not a Low Hanging Fruit

The “friends” down at Fox Cable News have had a point. It does happen.

They have implied or inferred directly that the rest of US news media has been in the midst of a feeding frenzy. Pieces of Donald Trump are being carved off (mostly by Trump himself) and being tossed in the water. The desire for more and bigger chunks of the Donald have become so compelling that judgment is becoming warped.

 This is even true of journalists with laudable reputations for objectivity. Those who see Trump’s clumsy attempts at governing as de facto proof of his scurrilous nature became apoplectic as a result of recent events, beginning with the Comey firing.

Take the constant use of the crime Obstruction of Justice. It has been used to describe Trump’s firing of Comey, an action he took which itself violates no law. It is the intent to stop the Russian investigation, they say, that satisfies the scrutiny of Trump, and his intent was just so blatant…maybe too blatant.  

Trump literally admitted it in a TV interview, had his Deputy Press Secretary proclaim it, requested it of the Director of the FBI (on multiple occasions), and bragged about it to the minister of a hostile foreign nation. Can the red meat get any juicier for the frenzied sharks below?

It is fools flesh for the predators. They might as well be chomping into old tires.

It will not be hard for Trump (and his more grounded advisors) to argue that he fired Comey precisely because he wanted a more thorough investigation of the Russians and the exoneration of the Trump presidential campaign. The truth need not apply. Conjecture is just that.

Without physical proof of intent the Republicans will never move a finger toward impeachment for fear of alienating themselves from the Trump faithful.  It has always been reasonably argued that Nixon would never have had to resign or face impeachment if the tapes had not existed.

It won’t matter if Trump continues to trash good people, let slip National secrets, or any other bone-headed actions. As long as he can move a pen across a piece of paper he will remain GOP strong, or so Republican leaders think. But that’s the real danger.

Donald Trump is the Chevy Vega of politicians.  It didn’t matter that the Vega, introduced in 1970, had a host of bad technical reviews, blew rings like popcorn from its ill-conceived aluminum engine, and virtually rusted on the showroom floor.  It was successfully marketed as the answer to a gas starved nation.  Like Trump, what the Vega buyers got should have been a surprise to none of them. The Vega lasted eight years (1970-1977) before the Nation finally figured it out.

We can’t wait eight years, or even four to address the problem.

It is possible that the complexities of Trump’s business world, with all the illicit transactions common among people of Trump’s breed, will surface and have him undone. However, the transactions by themselves would take years to confirm his participation in illegal activity.  You would need people to turn on him and testify. Possible, but again it is no low hanging fruit.

The best approach is to begin to speak to the obvious. Trump’s mental capacity to govern needs to part of the public debate (see this blog at http://pennyfound.blogspot.com/2017/05/underneath-cracks.html ).  If he continues to decline, evidenced by paranoid behavior, increasingly erratic communications, and further isolation then pressing Mike Pence, his chief of staff, and Congress to take action under Article 25 Section 4 of the Constitution is in order.

The next best result is to install a Democrat majority in both the House and the Senate in 2018 to neutralize the Executive Branch, which is about to snap in the unsuppressed wind that is Donald Trump.

Even the owners of Chevy Vegas got rid of them when they became obviously unsafe to drive. The Constitutionally empowered leaders of this Nation should do no less.

Underneath the Cracks

Donald Trump is ill.  This blog and a few other sites have argued that the diagnosis of a psychiatric disorder from a distance, a practice effectively banned after the 1964 Presidential election, needs to be constructively reconsidered.  What we are seeing evolve before our eyes is the progression of a high profiled individual with a Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) descending into a state of paranoia.

Running for a political office may top a list of ideal pursuits for someone with a NPD, however performing in that office, especially as a President, may be the worst possible position for someone with a NPD to hold.

It is both terrifying and sad simultaneously, but in no case should sympathy for the victim (Trump) be the primary response.  Nor should expressing diagnosis be restricted. This is the President of the United States and protection of the Office (dare I say it) trumps everything else, including the President himself.

There is no point in recounting the events that began Tuesday (May 9th) as jaw dropping news is surfacing so fast that the news media is having difficulty catching its breath. Watching it is like watching a pinball in action, you barely have time to consider a bell or buzz or light before the ball streaks across the table to set off another. Certainly you have no ability to look up and assess the score.

It is worth considering what to expect next in order to be prepared to formulate a reaction and reduce the shock.

As predicted in this blog, the Trump Presidency was destined to be opaque, logically one of the most opaque in history. Of course, that could be true of anyone who fashions himself an authoritarian leader (even in a democracy). However, Trump’s NPD exacerbates his need to continually isolate himself from opinion that contradicts his personal “reality”.

He cannot accept responsibility for anything that doesn’t exact a laudatory response. Further, he cannot express his opinion or observations in any way that doesn’t include superlatives or hyperbole. 

It isn’t just quirky behavior why Trump persistently adds adjectives such as the most, the greatest ever, and unbelievable (among many others) to describe even the most mundane of aspects of life (chocolate cake e.g.). He is expressing his “unique” ability to know more than the receiver of that information.

That same behavior accounts for the knee jerk responses he makes without any consideration of the consequences.  It isn’t that he doesn’t believe there are consequences; it is simply that because his opinion is flawless (to him) then the events that result from his words or actions are also without flaw. Any contradictory responses from any source (internal or external) are, in his world, wrong or even corrupt…big league. Think crowd size, Jersey City Muslims, or wire tapping.

This is not a choice for him, nor is it some contrived scheme on his part. In fact, it could be argued that he’s not lying, which implies intent. The man has a NPD, and it explains everything.  It also provides a clear window to view the oncoming storm.

The high visibility and high content nature of the American Presidency will become debilitating for The Donald. Out of necessity he will need to isolate himself from the Press (i.e. the American people), and his circle of insiders will continue to shrink.  It isn’t loyalty he seeks (needs), it’s receipt of positive affect, which he’ll happily take from anyone, friend and foe alike.

As he cannot mentally incorporate his own fallibility into the whirlwind which is his Administration, he will become more sullen and more erratic in his communications (as if you thought that possible).

It will consume the running of the Federal Government. The Republicans may have had a sigh of relief that the newly appointed Special Counsel is proceeding as a criminal investigation. That will take much (if not all) of evolving events out of the public arena, but no matter. Trump will continue to spiral toward characteristics associated with paranoia and the spectacle will continue.

I am disturbed by the media, the events as they are presented, and their lack of cojones to address Trump’s mental capacity.  It’s as if the news persons of America are watching a tornado passing but only reporting the various objects they see twisting in the air: …we are now seeing a Chevy Camero missing its side view mirror, there’s a cow looking unfed, there’s a loblolly pine losing its bark, there’s a Kenmore fridge with food spilling out, and so forth.  We really never hear about the damned cyclone, and, astonishingly, they’re constantly surprised with each new object they see.

A Narcissistic Personality Disorder is a real and relatively rare mental condition.  It resides at the end of a spectrum of narcissistic behavior in which all individuals are on. Donald Trump may be removed from Office by impeachment and Senate conviction as a result of his confounded incompetence and his financial complexities, but that would take a painfully long time to accomplish.

The proper place to remove Trump from office is Article 25 section 4 of the Constitution to create the least anxiety upon the Nation. However, that cannot happen until the nature of Trump’s mental condition merits open discussion.