Tag Archives: Mitch McConnell

Senate in Wonderland

Philosophy, Politics, , , ,
Knave of Harts Trial

Today is the start of the Senate Trial of the Impeachment of Donald John Trump, President of the United States. An the American people have fallen down the rabbit hole into the trial of the Knave of Harts where we have the Verdict first then the trial. I say this because of the trail rules initially proposed by the Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell last night. With some thought and consideration given to quick mods made just before things got started.

Like Alice I expect most Americans who follow the Trial will be quite perplexed by what they see and hear. First because the Senate method of operations is often arcane in the extreme. This is especially true when many of the Senators are worried about their electorate and just what they will think. It is a grand old Senate tradition obfuscate in hope the people back home will not notice what just happened. The rules for the trial, as they currently stand, go a good way towards this goal. An just like Alice the American people just get to watch and wonder.

I do not envy Senator McConnell the job he is facing. He has to, first, keep Pres. Trump happy/pleased. If he doesn’t there is no telling what Pres. Trump might do but a roaring tirade is not off the table. Next he must insure that Pres. Trump is not only not convicted by 67 votes but that it is done in such away that Pres. Trump can say he was 1) exonerated and 2) found innocent. All the time making the trial look fair and honest. The one thing the GOP does not need is to go into the election year tarred with a trial seen as rigged and/or unfair. When you start a trial with the verdict already decided by the jury it is often quite hard to look fair, even when it is.

I wait with baited breath to see how this plays out.

The Orange KoolAid II

Politics, , , ,
Orange Koolaid

Well, it looks like the Senate Trial of the Impeachment of Donald John Trump is moving again with the vote to name the House Managers and to send the Impeachment Articles to the Senate scheduled for Tomorrow (15 Jan 2020). I can’t wait to see what will happen in the Senate. While I’ve been reluctant since 2016 to make any predictions in politics I’m going to make some now.

First an easy one: What every happens in the Senate in the coming weeks it is going to be historic. Yeah, I know, it is kind of a given but I don’t mean historic in the since of this being only the third trial of an Impeached President in our history. It is going to be historic because of the actions taken by Majority Leader McConnell. So on to my second prediction.

The use of Republican Newspeak is going to be on display before the general public like never before. Weather you support or oppose Pres. Trump it is very important to pay attention to what is being said and how it is being said. Unlike Pres. Trump and those around him most of the Senators do care about being caught in an out right lie. Especially on camera. Even those Senators in safe states and who aren’t up for re-election for four years from now care. This trial has a very long half-life and everything they say and every vote they cast will be fodder for campaign aids.

Majority Leader McConnell will do everything in his power to minimize the damage done to him and the Republicans in the Senate. An most if not all of his actions will be off camera and out of sight. Yes, I know there will be no way to check this for years to come but I like making it anyway.

My last prediction: No mater the outcome of the Trial every Senator, Republican or Democrat is going to have unholy hell rain down on them from Trump and his people. An not just the people in the US, I’m including in this everyone he, Trump, can convince to take action. This is because Donald J Trump is know not only for being a Golf Cheat, and lier, he is also know for someone who seeks retribution on any and everyone who he thinks wronged him. He even brags about it.

So that’s my predictions.

May you live in interesting times.

An people in high places know your name.

Be careful of what you wish for.

Politics, , , ,

In the coming year many many well known and famous people are going to get what they have wished for. Donald J. Trump has already got some of his this last year and 2020 promises to give him even more. So has Mitch McConnell. Just to mention two. But more will get there wish, an just like the wishes granted by the Jinn in the Lamp it will not be what you think it is.

Just looking as his past actions Pres. Trump has striven most of his adult life for recognition, for people to “know his name”. I think, like very many of our Presidents he also wanted to go down in history. Well, he is getting both. Like Joe McCarthy the current age will long be known as the Trump Era. An just like the McCarthy Era certainly does not stand for what Joe McCarthy would have hoped for the Trump Era too will stand for something Donald J Trump does not wish.

How can I say this? Easily, I do not believe in ‘storybook villains’ who knowingly, willfully commit evil acts because they are evil. To them their acts are for the good. Their own personal good, but still for the good. Like most accomplished hypocrites they lie to themselves. They are willfully blind to the harm their actions do and they do not feel any pain for their actions. This makes it easy for the Jinn to turn the wish on the master of the Lamp (or ring, or bottle).

Weather it takes a year or two or many many decades history will record the Trump Era as a turning point in the American experiment. I do not know if we are on a new age of building the American Dream or at the start of the Fall of the Republic but I do believe we are approaching, if not in, a Crux of American history as Portentous as the Civil War or the Progressive Era. I do think we are there, now.

So for my New Years wish to all who read or may read this.

May you have a happy 2020 and may you work to make everyone you meet this year happy they have met you.