The warnings about Trump and his nefarious band of enablers are growing and becoming more ominous
“The biggest crisis we have right now is in the Oval Office,” three-time Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman declared to CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on Friday in a candid, guns-blazing, take-no-prisoners interview that unfolded on Blitzer’s program, The Situation Room.
Undeniably, Friedman’s scathing critique of Donald Trump’s presidency is justified after Friday’s New York Times bombshell report that in May 2017, just days after the ousting of its former director, James Comey, the FBI investigated whether Trump was working as a Russian agent. However, insofar as Friedman declared that Trump has no remaining moral authority to lead this country, that became even more apparent when Trump articulated his fantasy that the 800,000 government workers, who remain unpaid into the third week of his government shutdown, support his holding the U.S. government to ransom to extort funding to erect a southern border wall.
The current cost to the U.S. economy of this government shutdown now stands at $3.7 billion. In fact, if this shutdown lasts another two weeks, the cost to the U.S. economy will have exceeded the $5.7 billion that Trump demands for this stupid wall. Logistic experts have been unequivocal: The border wall makes little sense. Moreover, a clear majority of Americans don’t want it. Therefore, the only thing that has become evident in this government shutdown crisis is that Trump’s goal is not to facilitate a bipartisan negotiation but to win, even if he ruins the lives of another 800,000 people and the respective family members who depend on them. Thinking America understands the complete lunacy of building this border wall. Trump, however, is completely in his element — chaos is his comfort zone.
Trump promised on the campaign trail that his proposed border wall would be funded by Mexico, a promise he now denies, despite irrefutable evidence, like so many other promises he has been incapable of keeping—personally and professionally, which he subsequently lies about. That Trump is the quintessential, Bottomless Pinocchio has been established to the world. However, when, in his inexplicable zeal to build this inevitable white elephant, the President of the United States again says that thousands upon thousands of terrorists are entering the U.S. from the southern border—a clear lie, according to records released in September by his own State Department —and when the President of the United States threatens to declare a state of emergency to grant himself and his already fascist-leaning government the ability to usurp additional powers reminiscent of The Enabling Act, which allowed the Reich government to issue laws without the consent of Germany’s parliament, thereby laying the foundation for the complete Nazification of German society, Friedman’s observation that “Trump has entered the lying stratosphere” constitutes a dire warning.
Trump, according to Friedman is a “disturbed” president who lies so often now that “no one trusts this man.” Friedman lays out his case methodically to support his statements. His arguments are precise, compelling, and undeniable.
Trump has told “one too many lies,” Friedman said. “I don’t know whether it’s lie number 6,000 or 7,000 — The Washington Post has been keeping tab — but … we’re in a moment now where people simply don’t believe a word out of his mouth. When he can stand up and say, ‘I never said Mexico would pay for the wall,’ we’re through the looking glass.” The core problem, Friedman said, is that “we have a president without shame who is backed by a party without spine that is supported by a network called Fox News without integrity.”
Friedman called Trump a president with “formal authority but no moral authority.” And indeed, the uppermost question on the minds of the majority of Americans regarding Trump’s impeachment or possible indictment based on findings of the Mueller-Russia investigation is, “Are we there yet and, if not, why not?”
”We have a disturbed man as president – that’s very clear,” Friedman said. “We have a party that is not ready to stand up to it. What worries me is now we’re threatening our institutions.” The most frightening thing, Friedman noted, is that the Republican Party will do nothing to stand up to him.
We have a president without shame who is backed by a party without spine that is supported by a network called Fox News without integrity.
Thomas Friedman
The warnings about this president and his nefarious band of enablers are growing and becoming more ominous. The 2020 election cycle will soon crank into gear. And even as Democrats have retaken the House, we must recognize, also, the limited scope of their influence without the support of a majority in the Senate. And the question, therefore, remains: What will it take to mobilize—or remove—the current Republican Party, which has clearly lost its moral authority to an illegitimate president? What will it take for them to participate with any sense of integrity in the checks and balances that were Constitutionally afforded the legislative branch of our government?
Friedman’s advice? “Fasten your seat belt.”
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A very timely article
Thanks. 🙂