Posts tagged as “Donald Trump”

Trump Must Be Impeached and Convicted—and Legalistic Defenses Cannot Spare Him

Trump Must Be Impeached and Convicted—and Legalistic Defenses Cannot Spare Him

By John R Guardiano on January 10, 2021

Impeachment is not about punishing Trump. It is about safeguarding American democracy and protecting our Constitutional order.

Of course President Trump should be impeached and convicted. He incited a mob to intimidate Congress and the Vice President to steal the election based on baldfaced lies that he knowingly propagated. As a result, five people are dead, including two Capitol police officers.

As former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie put it, if this isn’t an impeachable offense, then nothing is.

The separation of powers within the federal government was one of the principal objectives of the American Founding Fathers when they drafted the Constitution.

By inciting a violent attack on the legislative branch of government, President Trump attacked one of the pillars of our Constitutional order. He must be held accountable for that attack. Impeachment and conviction are the only remedies available to Congress to ensure that justice is done.

This has nothing to do with punishment or revenge. Instead, it has everything to do with preventing a future president from trying to emulate Trump by launching a similar attack against the legislative branch of government.

Congress must lay down a clear marker now that such behavior will not be tolerated; and that there will be grave consequences for any president who even flirts with this idea.

And legalistic defenses of Trump won’t wash. The Founding Fathers deliberately made impeachment a legislative and not judicial prerogative. So whether Trump’s abhorrent behavior meets the strict legal definition of incitement is utterly irrelevant.

What matters is what Congress thinks and knows, not what a court of law might decide. And what Congress thinks and knows—what all of us think and know—is the the president blatantly egged on a mob to storm the Capitol.

Now, did the president know that the mob would turn violent? Maybe; maybe not. Who knows?

Again, that doesn’t matter. What we do know is that violence was a foreseeable consequence of Trump’s rhetoric and behavior; and that a responsible leader never would have behaved as Trump behaved.

As the New York Times reports:

“Big protest in D.C. on January 6th,” Mr. Trump tweeted on Dec. 19, just one of several of his tweets promoting the day. “Be there, will be wild!”

“We fight like hell, and if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore,” he told the mob Jan. 6.

You’ll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength, and you have to be strong… Our country has been under siege for a long time…

We will never give up. We will never concede. It doesn’t happen. You don’t concede when there’s theft involved…

Our country has had enough. We will not take it anymore, and that is what this is all about. And to use a favorite term that all of you people really came up with, we will stop the steal. …

You will have an illegitimate president. That is what you will have, and we can’t let that happen…

Yes, Trump made a passing reference to marching “peacefully,” but that reference was obscured by his obsession with being “strong,” “fighting like hell,” and “stopping the steal.”

More ominously, as the Times reports, “Trump insinuated that Republican officials, including Pence, would endanger themselves by accepting Biden’s win.”

The mob heard Trump, loudly and clearly; it understood its marching orders; and it acted accordingly.

For these reasons, impeachment is completely warranted and necessary. It is necessary not to punish Trump, but to safeguard American democracy for the next 250 years.

Let every tyrant and demagogue know that, in the United States of America, incitements to violent attacks on the legislative branch of government and Constitutional order will not be tolerated.

Patriots, both left and right, Democrats and Republicans, should see this. Let us hope and pray that, in bipartisan fashion, they do the right thing and vote accordingly. America is watching. So, too, is the world.

Feature photo credit: ABC News.

The ‘War on Christmas’ Shows Trump’s Fatal Political Shortcomings

The ‘War on Christmas’ Shows Trump’s Fatal Political Shortcomings

By John R Guardiano on January 4, 2021

Trump’s laziness and aversion to political and legislative grunt work have seriously limited his success as president.

One of the worst aspects of Trump’s presidency has been his failure to engage in the hard and difficult work of leading, governing, and policymaking.

Instead, Trump too often has been content with tweeting and bloviating—as if loudly and boisterously saying something somehow sufficed and nothing more need be done.

But of course, governance involves a lot more than tweeting. It involves crafting public policies and legislation; cajoling lawmakers and the bureaucracy; forming and building political coalitions; working to communicate, explain, and persuade.

And here, Trump has been a dismal failure—mainly because he is too lazy and undisciplined to do the laborious grunt work required of any successful president.

Consider, for instance, the war on Christmas, which I discussed in my previous post. This is a serious cultural problem that transcends politics. However, there are certain things that a conscientious and serious-minded president could do to help make Americans less afraid to explicitly acknowledge Christmas.

For example, the president could issue an executive order explaining in detail that federal agencies have every right to acknowledge Christmas because Christmas is, after all, inscribed into law as a national holiday.

Thus government agencies that have Christmas gatherings or celebrations, or that wish their employees Merry Christmas, are not violating any federal law or policy.

The president, likewise, could give a major speech about the war on Christmas and why that war is antithetical to our history, culture, and political traditions.

He could explain why the Constitution permits public schools to have Christmas concerts and allows schoolchildren to sing Christmas carols.

The president could order his Department of Justice to examine the Constitutional questions involved in these and similar cases and controversies, which have arisen nationwide in recent decades.

Trump Is AWOL. In short, there are things a thoughtful and determined president could do to draw attention to this problem while helping to buck up Americans who have been cowed and intimidated by the militant secularists. Trump, though, has done none of these things.

What Trump has done is tweet—boastfully, impotently, and counterproductively. For example, on Christmas Eve, 2017, Trump tweeted:

Of course, this is a complete lie. Trump has led no such “charge,” and nothing he has done as president has made people more inclined to say “Merry Christmas.” On this issue, as on many others, Trump has been all talk (or tweet) and little or no action.

Unfortunately, Trump’s aversion to the hard and difficult work of leading, governing, and policymaking has not been confined to the war on Christmas. Instead, it has marred his entire presidency and undermined his ability to get things done on myriad issues.

Section 230. In the week before Christmas, for instance, Trump vetoed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). He said that one of the bill’s major shortcomings is that it does not include a provision to repeal Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996.

That law, Trump tweeted, “gives unlimited power to big tech companies.” Now, this may or may not be true; but what certainly is true is this:

Trump never made any serious or sustained effort to explain to legislators and the American people why Section 230 is a bad law that must be repealed.

Instead, Trump belatedly demanded that the law be repealed as part of another piece of unrelated legislation (the NDAA). A dictator can get away with that; a democratically elected ruler cannot.

The president’s job is to build public support for legislation through concerted political action. But the sad and lamentable truth is that Trump never has been willing to engage politically in a serious and sustained fashion. He’d much rather vent his spleen on Twitter.

The result: too many missed opportunities; too many initiatives never taken, and too many balls fumbled.

As a result, Americans today are no less afraid to acknowledge Christmas than they were before Trump became president—and Section 230 is no closer to being repealed either.

This is something GOP voters must recognize when, in 2024, they have to choose another presidential nominee. The party cannot afford to nominate someone like Trump—someone too lazy and undisciplined to lead and to govern.

To win politically and legislatively, the party needs a workhorse, not a showhorse or showman.

Feature photo credit: Dave Horsey, Seattle Times cartoonist.

What the Media Won’t Tell You About COVID

What the Media Won’t Tell You About COVID

By John R Guardiano on November 29, 2020

COVID data tell a different and more positive story than the fear and alarmism propagated by the media.

The media, the politicians, and the public health experts are all warning about a dark and dangerous winter ahead. The dreaded “third wave” of the virus, we are told, is about to crest and with potentially devastating consequences for us all.

“Wave Three of the pandemic continues its rise, and America continues to be blanketed with new cases of COVID-19. This month has seen a million new reported infections a week,” said Margaret Brennan on Face the Nation.

“For the next two or three months, we’re in the fight of our lives,” declared New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy on Fox News Sunday. “There’s a lot of private-setting transmission [of the virus] going on.”

“In the two days since Thanksgiving, there have been 346,000 new confirmed COVID cases in the United States and 2,700 deaths.

“Of course, we won’t know for a while how bad the surge of cases and deaths due to Thanksgiving weekend travel will be,” said Chuck Todd on Meet the Press.

Progress. Of course, no one wishes to downplay the pandemic, which has killed far too many Americans (an estimated 266,000, according to John Hopkins’ Coronavirus Resource Center). But as the old English proverb has it, it is always darkest just before the dawn.

A review of the data suggests that maybe, just maybe, things aren’t as bleak as the media, the politicians, and the public health experts suggest.

After all: since COVID hit our shores last February:

we have developed more effective treatment regimens and therapeutics;

increasing numbers of patients have been treated on an outpatient basis and correspondingly fewer, relatively speaking, have been hospitalized; and

the holy grail—safe and effective vaccines—are just a couple of months away from becoming widely available.

Perspective. No, this doesn’t mean all is well and that we’re “out of the woods,” as they say. But neither does it mean that that fear and alarmism should guide us.

What it does mean is that perspective is required; and that the assumption of reasonable risk is a necessary and integral part of life—with or without a pandemic.

President Trump has been a weak and inept leader, but he got many things right. He was especially right when, in October, he implored Americans not to let COVID-19 dominate them and ruin their lives.

“Don’t let it dominate you. Don’t be afraid of it,” Trump said.

You’re gonna beat it. We have the best medical equipment. We have the best medicines, all developed recently. And you’re gonna beat it…

Don’t let it take over your lives. Don’t let that happen. We’re the greatest country in the world.

We’re going back to work… We’re gonna be out front… I know there’s a risk; there’s a danger, but that’s OK…

Don’t let it dominate your lives. Get out there. Be careful. We have the best medicines in the world… and they’re all getting approved. And the vaccines are coming momentarily.

Admittedly, Trump blows a lot of smoke; but as the data shows, he’s not wrong. If you’re young and healthy, you have little to worry about. But if you’re older and have underlying health conditions, you are at heightened risk.

Either way, though, the mortality rate is remarkably low. Consider:

COVID-19 case fatality rate in the United States: 2.0%, according to John Hopkins’ Coronavirus Resource Center

COVID-19 case fatality rate in Germany: 1.5%

COVID-19 case fatality rate in the United Kingdom: 3.6%

# of vaccines now being fast-tracked into development: 6

The following three charts are equally illuminating. Their source:

Risk Factors for COVID-19 Mortality among Privately Insured Patients: A Claims Data Analysis of 467,773 patients diagnosed with COVID-19 from Apr. 1, 2020, through Aug. 31, 2020

—Published Nov. 11, 2020, by FAIR Health, Inc., in collaboration with the West Health Institute and Marty Makary, MD, MPH, from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

COVID Mortality Rates

Age	All COVID Patients	COVID Patients With No Comorbidities
0-18	0.01%	0.00%
19-29	0.03%	0.02%
30-39	0.08%	0.06%
49-49	0.21%	0.14%
50-59	0.55%	0.40%
60-69	1.23%	0.97%
70+	5.19%	2.74%
Overall Mortality Rate Irrespective of Age	0.59%

COVID-19 patients who died w/a preexisting condition: 83.29%
COVID-19 patients who died w/out a preexisting conditions: 16.71%

COVID-19 Diagnoses v. COVID-19 Deaths

Age	COVID-19 Diagnoses	COVID-19 Deaths
0-18	6.61%	.11%
19-29	18.15%	.94%
30-39	17.35%	2.40%
40-49	18.51%	6.72%
50-59	21.43%	20.05%
60-69	13.13%	27.35%
70-79	4.82%	42.43%

COVID-19 Mortality and Hospitalization Rates February-August, 2020

Month (Year 2020)	Mortality Rate	Hospitalization Rate	Percent of Total COVID-19 Cases (Feb.-Aug. 2020)
February	4.9%	35.1%	0.5%
March	3.5%	20.5%	11.7%
April	1.9%	9.2%	23.6%
May	0.6%	5.8%	16.5%
June	0.4%	5.4%	22.7%
July	0.2%	3.7%	20.8%
August	0.0%	1.1%	4.2%

Even though the percentage of COVID-19 cases was lowest in February, the mortality rate (percent of individuals diagnosed with COVID-19 who died) and hospitalization rate were at their highest.

Those rates declined in March but were still high compared to the months that followed.

In other words: the hospitalization and mortality rates have been decreasing even as COVID caseloads have been increasing. This suggests, clearly and compellingly, that the worst is behind us and better days lie ahead.

Feature Photo Credit: WUSA-9 (CBS Washington, D.C.)

Trump Must Move On or the GOP Will Lose the Senate and the Country

Trump Must Move On or the GOP Will Lose the Senate and the Country

By John R Guardiano on November 21, 2020

Trump’s failure to acknowledge that he lost jeopardizes GOP chances in Georgia and risks handing control of the Senate over to Chuck Schumer and the Democrats.

President Trump lost his bid for reelection by being a weak and incompetent leader who failed to provide leadership when it mattered most, during the pandemic.

Now, by failing to show grace and magnanimity in defeat, he is in real danger of causing the Republican Party to lose two critical Senate seats in Georgia.

Catastrophe. As we have reported here at ResCon1, this would be a catastrophe for the United States.

That is because if the Democrats win these two Senate seats, they will control the Senate and thus have the ability to enact a host of radical legislative proposals that would effect an irreversible transformation of American politics and our very system of government.

Think D.C. statehood, the end of the filibuster, packing the courts, repeal of corporate tax reform, new tax hikes, “Medicare for All,” the “Green New Deal,” compulsory unionism, et al.

Indeed, the stakes could not be greater than they are right now in Georgia.

Yet, Trump seems not to care. Instead, his focus is on himself and his failed presidential bid.

Weak Leadership. Trump, of course, is too weak and insecure to admit that he lost. Consequently, he and his toadies are concocting ludicrous conspiracy theories to explain his defeat.

This wouldn’t matter except that Trump is consuming all of the political oxygen that otherwise would go to these two critical Georgia Senate races.

As Kimberley A. Strassel explains in the Wall Street Journal:

The biggest risk is that Republican base.

The GOP is optimistic it can win back suburban and older voters who feel conflicted about Mr. Trump but still want a check on progressives.

None of that will matter if GOP voters in rural and exurban areas stay home, angry or frustrated by the presidential election.

Adds the Washington Examiner:

At this point, Trump’s efforts are more likely to damage the Republican Party, and more specifically, undermine its chances of winning the Jan. 5 runoff elections in Georgia for the two Senate seats that remain undecided.

GOP control of the Senate rests on those races; the party must win at least one of them to retain its majority. And that majority is all that stands in the way of a Congress dramatically more capable of passing damaging and extreme left-wing legislation after Jan. 20.

The president’s efforts to reverse the election result and stay in office for a second term are not going to succeed. Without a chance of succeeding, they have become distractions from the really important task of keeping the Senate in Republican hands.

In Georgia, Trump is setting Republican against Republican.

“The largest shadow hanging over Republicans,” reports McClatchy’s David Catanese, “is what the outgoing president will do.

Trump, who has been almost entirely consumed with his campaign’s far-fetched legal challenges to his own election defeat, briefly praised [David] Perdue and [Kelly] Loeffler in a Tuesday evening tweet.

But GOP officials don’t expect Trump to get more directly involved—if he chooses to at all—until the presidential election result is finalized and his court battles are exhausted.

[Former Georgia Senator Saxby Chambliss, a Republican], indicated that Trump likely wouldn’t be helpful to Perdue and Loeffler if he hasn’t conceded his own defeat.

Enough is Enough. President Trump’s failed reelection bid is now history. For the good of the Republican Party—and more importantly, the good of the country— Trump needs to acknowledge this and move on.

He needs to focus his efforts on the future, not the past.

Trump needs to help mobilize the Republican Party for this Battle of the Bulge moment to defeat the forces of progressivism, which are threatening to take the Senate and, in the ominous words of Sen. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, thereby “change America.”

Trump’s legacy, such as it is, hangs in the balance. More importantly, the future of our country is at stake.

Feature photo credit: GOP Senate candidates Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue, courtesy of 41NBC.com.

Trump Lost Arizona—and the Presidency—in 2020 When, in 2015, He Gratuitously Attacked John McCain

Trump Lost Arizona—and the Presidency—in 2020 When, in 2015, He Gratuitously Attacked John McCain

By John R Guardiano on November 4, 2020

Trump won Arizona in 2016, but lost the state in 2020, and it looks like this loss has cost him the presidency. Yet, Arizona was eminently winnable for Trump—if only he hadn’t made an enemy of John McCain.

As I write (at 1:30 p.m. EST, the day after the election), there are six states—Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Nevada, Georgia, and North Carolina—that are in neither the Trump nor Biden column; and so, we still do not know who will be president Jan. 20, 2021.

However, barring a major counting error or other surprise, we know that Trump has lost one important state—Arizona, with 11 electoral votes—that he won in 2016. And Trump’s loss of Arizona could well be the reason Trump is denied a second term.

Electoral Math. Indeed, Trump could win Pennsylvania (20 electoral votes) while losing Michigan (16), Wisconsin (10), and Nevada (6), and still win reelection—but only if he retains Arizona.

Otherwise, Trump falls an excruciating three electoral votes short of the requisite 270 needed to win.

This interactive map from 270towin.com spells it all out:

Arizona matters because I believe Trump will win Pennsylvania, Georgia, and Noth Carolina while losing Michigan, Wisconsin, and Nevada. Which means that, because he lost Arizona, Trump has lost the presidency.

Yet, Arizona was completely winnable. Although it has become more competitive in recent years, the state has voted Democrat for president only one time since 1948, and that was in 1996, when Bill Clinton was cruising to reelection against a lackluster Republican opponent (Sen. Majority leader Bob Dole, R-Kansas) just as the Internet-fueled economic boom was heating up.

And why did Trump lose Arizona? In large part because he stupidly made an enemy of the late John McCain.

Political Feud. Enmity between the two men dates back to 2015, when Trump said that McCain is “not a war hero… because he was captured” by the North Vietnamese during a bombing mission over Hanoi.

This was a stupid and wrong-headed attack. McCain, after all, spent five-and-a-half heroic years as a prisoner of war in the “Hanoi Hilton,” where he was tortured and often placed in solitary confinement.

All Americans owe McCain a debt of gratitude for his courageous wartime service on behalf of our nation. Trump should have said as much and moved on.

Instead, he lashed out at McCain. As a result, McCann’s wife, Cindy McCain, agreed to be featured in Biden campaign commercials that figured prominently in Arizona.

https://twitter.com/marklevinshow/status/1323843582369894400?s=20

https://twitter.com/HotlineJosh/status/1323844269124313088

https://twitter.com/MSNBC/status/1323850146069860353?s=20

Political Lessons. Trump’s loss of Arizona and its 11 critical electoral votes reminds us that in politics, as in sports, the team that makes the fewest mistakes—even if less talented—typically wins. And the team that is more focused and self-disciplined typically makes the fewest mistakes.

Trump, unfortunately, is the antithesis of focused and self-disciplined. Consequently, he made a major mental error by gratuitously going after McCain. That cost Trump Arizona, and, it looks like, a second term.

Feature photo credit: CNN.