"President Bolton" Gets a Nasty Gram Via Social Media

Former Trump National Security Advisor John Bolton has been the focus of question day at the Impeachment Trial. Democrats have claimed that Bolton must testify, but they never bothered to subpoena his testimony before the House voted to impeach the 45th President.

After the first day of the Trump Defense team presenting their case before the Senate, there was a convenient 11th hour leak from Bolton's political kiss and tell memoirs, which were being vetted by the NSC ethic office for classified clearance.  The leak of the salient snippets from Bolton coincidentally broke on the first day of pre-sales for Bolton's book, which is due to be released in March.

John Bolton had earned a sobriquet of "President Bolton" due to his penchant for autonomy, did nothing to quell the controversy, particularly since it shed favorable light from an establishment who often railed against him.  Moreover, the calls for him to testify probably boosted book sales.

President Trump, who is renowned for punching back and using social media to express his animus, seems to have gotten fed up with his former advisor and sent him a nasty gram via Twitter. 

On the Boons and Banes of Choreographed News

Some political junkies who sought answers during the Impeachment Trial question time got frustrated on social media because the first day of question time seemed so choreographed, particularly by Democrats.  Impeachment Manager Jerry Nadler (D-NY 10th) clearly was reading note cards when answering the supposedly spontaneous questions.  There were many instances in which Impeachment Managers had graphic readily available to buttress their arguments.

This situation is a reminder to savvy civic observers that many political events are choreographed.  

Astute impeachment observers have noted how the lessons of the Justice Kavanaugh confirmation appear to be echoed by those seeking to remove President Donald Trump from office.  For a controversial hearing, anonymous allegations are made during the process, there is a call for additional witnesses without much vetting and organized protests on Capitol Hill.  Coverage by the mainstream media is skewed that one party is hiding something and won't allow the truth to come out.  

One presumes this is intended to create a groundswell to quash the target.  People who don't prioritize following the news can be led down a primrose path to progressive conclusions.

This might lead one to believe that choreographed news is always objectionable.  Populist supporters of President Trump might deride it as "Fake News". However, there are instances when it can be quite satisfying and iconic.

On January 31, 2020, The United Kingdom will finally be leaving the European Union, (a.k.a Brexit) upholding the wishes of British voters as expressed in a referendum in 2016.  Nigel Farange is a Member of the European Parliament who was the vanguard of Brexit.  Mr. Farange gave his final remarks speech before the European Parliament, in which he gave a barn burner speech reveling in Brexit and shaking off membership in the European Union.




As part of his schtick, Farange led the British contingent to wave the Union Jack flag and walk out of the chamber in Brussels.   This not so fond farewell was certainly pre-planned and coordinated.  Farange's views were not novel, but his choreographed send off was iconic. 

  

Elizabeth Warren on Impeachment and Criminal Law

Alan Dershowitz on Impeachment Criteria

Kenneth Starr on the Age of Impeachment

Rudy Giuliani on Impeachment

Senator Mike Lee on Impeachment Trial

Pelosi's Procedural Ploys on Impeachment

The Democrat led House of Representatives broke light speed records in order to vote to impeach President Donald Trump before Christmas.  Yet House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA12th) has refused to name impeachment managers and send the Impeachment Resolution to the Senate. Inquiring minds seek to know why.

As the final impeachment vote was taken on December 18th, 2019, perhaps Pelosi hoped that it would dominate holiday conversations while the House was adjourned. This tactic did not achieve the tsunami of support for removing President Trump.  In fact, polling show that Mr. Trump increased his favorability ratings.  After the vote was taken, it was difficult for the mainstream media to keep up the clamor about impeachment, especially as it is procedurally stalled. 

Officially, Pelosi has proffered the rationale that she was withholding the Articles of Impeachment from a Senate to ensure a fair trial.  This is laughable considering how the Democrat majority ignored its own precedents on impeachment, ditched due process and achieved passage on a partisan nearly party line vote, with Democrat Presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbord (D-HI 2nd) voting present and three House Democrats voting “nay”, including Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-NJ 2nd) who switched parties after the vote.



Pelosi reportedly got the idea to stall sending the Impeachment Resolution to the Senate based upon a suggestion from Nixon White House counsel and MSNBC contributor John Dean. This may be a ruse to allow the leftist firebrands of the party to claim victory for getting Mr. Trump impeached without going through the formality of a trial which is destined to fail as it can not achieve 67 votes.  Or it may have been a delay tactic to try to tack on more articles of impeachment to accompany the rather weak tea “Obstruction of Congress” and “Abuse of Power” allegations.  However, the taking down of Iranian terror leader Solemani did not lead to an undeclared war, so that charge was for naught.

Surely the Speaker’s staff knows that having an outsider dictate how the Senate will take up an impeachment trial is unconstitutional. Article I Section 3 Clause 6 of the Constitution stipulates that:  “The Senate has to sole Power to try all Impeachments”.  

Of course, constitutional considerations might not prevent some grandstanding in a power play over the Christmas holidays.  Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had pencilled in a light legislative schedule for January 2020 in anticipation of an impeachment trial.  With Speaker Pelosi’s incalcitrance on sending the Senate the Articles of Impeachment, Leader McConnell proposed that the Senate might well take up the Impeachment even if the House fails to name Impeachment Managers, which would effectively dismiss the charges.  This move prompted Ms. Pelosi to indicate that she may take steps to move the resolution forward next week.

The reasons for holding the Articles of Impeachment from the Senate might been more political.  Former South Carolina Congressman Trey Gowdy suggested on Fox News that holding the Impeachment into the primary season might have caused tough votes for vulnerable Republican freshman Senators Martha Mc Sally (R-AZ) Corey Gardiner (R-CO) and Joni Ernst (R-IA).  That may be true but the politics may well have been more intermural. 

Democrats are engaged in an uncertain Presidential primary process with no clear leader before the Iowa Caucuses and New Hampshire Primary.  Several leading candidates (and a few also rans still in the race) are still in the Senate.  Impeachment trial rules require all Senate participants to attend all of the trial in order to vote, which effectively would take Senators Sanders (Socialist/Democrat-VT), Warren (D-MA), Klobachar (D-MN) and Booker (D-NJ) off of the campaign trial or reveal them as slackers of the current elective office.  Had the Articles of Impeachment been immediately been sent to the Senate in December, it is likely that it would have impeded the January 14th debate, which is the last debate before the Iowa Caucuses. 

Democrat Impeachment backers have argued for an expanded trial, which would include public witnesses which go beyond the nearly non-existent fact witnesses during the House Intelligence Committee Adam Schiff (D-CA 28th) Show and House Judiciary Chair Jerry Nadler (D-NY 10th) proceedings.  But if the witness list is opened up to President Trump’s defense, former Vice President and presidential candidate Joe Biden (D-DE) and his controversial son Hunter Biden may be compelled to testify, which could be messy and take a favorite of establishment Washington Democrats off the hustings and into the fire of tough invigilation.

Presuming that Pelosi is being procedurally political and tipping the scale to favor the only establishment candidate who consistently has a chance to beat President Trump,  it would be prudent for the Speaker to prompt a floor vote on Thursday January 16th and then adjourn for the Martin Luther King Holiday (oh, that’s right, District Work Sessions) and it would not be picked up until January 28th.  Even if House Judiciary Chair Nadler worked expeditiously in sending things to the Senate, it might not be received until the eve of the Iowa Caucus.  

That sort of scheduling would require Senators to be present in Washington and not canvass in the final days of the New Hampshire primary, which would give Joe Biden and South Bend “Mayor Pete” Buttigieg a leg up on the competition during opening arguments which may last about a week.    The next week is the South Carolina primary where (if polling is accurate), Biden has a commanding lead and Mayor Pete is quite weak.  That might give Biden the mojo to become the front runner. 

While it is highly unlikely that the Senate will muster the 2/3rds Super-majority to remove President Trump, the case may not be dismissed in a summary judgment like vote after opening argument.  In the even that Biden is requested to testify by the Senate, he may be able to stall until after Super Tuesday March 3rd, when he would either be the odds on favorite or an oddball also ran.

So Pelosi’s slow roll of advancing the Articles of Impeachment presumably are political but may well be partisan in inter-Democrat politics along with trying to take the Senate back into Democrat hands in the 117th Congress. 

Biden Should Host the Cornpop Challenge Invitational

While campaiging in Iowa,  Ex-Vice President Joe Biden (D-DE) took a hostile question from a Hawkeye voter.  The man asked Biden about setting his son Hunter Biden up for business with a Ukraine energy company  during his tenure as Vice President.  Biden responded to the allegation of selling access with indignation, calling the questioner a damned liar.

 

  This pointed question appeared to raise Biden's hackles.  In order to prove that the 77 year old Democrat presidential candidate was in shape for the Oval Office, Biden challenged the man to a foot race,  push up contest or even an IQ test.  Later, as he sought to end the colloquy, Biden said "Look fat...listen, here's the deal." What a way to win friends and influence people, man (sic).

Biden has long cultivated a "Lunch Bucket Joe" image, and feigning a tough guy may well be meant to appeal to rough and tumble working class voters.  Remember when Biden mused that instead of debating Donald Trump, Biden would like to take his opponent in back of the gym and beat the hell out of him.  This tough guy mystique may work well against his political opponents but it looks mean and out of place at a campaign rally meant to influence Iowa voters.  

Furthermore, Biden's odd obsession to physical challenges comes at the heel the video which Biden reminisced about his time as a life guard at an urban pool, when Biden was willing to fight Corn Pop and was fine about kids sitting on his lap and pulling at his leg hairs.  No wonder Biden's handlers wanted to restrict access to Biden for as long as possible during the 2020 Primaries.

Considering his presumed prowess at physical contests, maybe Joe Biden can inaugurate the Corn Pop Challenge Invitational.   These feats of strength could be held on Festivus on December 23rd  right after the Airing of Grievances.  Maybe they could add hair sniffing. 




   

Mulling Over the DNC Miami Mixup #1

Democrats held the first in a series of debates for prospective 2020 Presidential candidates in Miami.  Since the DNC qualified 20 of 25 candidates to take the stage, the debate was done over two nights with purportedly random match ups.  The first night mostly featured 1%-ers – no not the taxpayers that Democrats want to jack up their rate to 70% but those who barely qualified for the debate with more than blips on political polls.  The only first tier candidate that night was Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA),

In the 2020 election cycle, a gaggle of Democrats pandering for POTUS will march like ten left feet together, so their policy proposals will track a similar progressive path.  So political junkies enduring this exercise look for overarching themes which brand a candidate’s campaign and for break out moments which elevate or deflate a debater.

During the first third of the Miami Mixup, Warren came out strong with an anti-corporate aura.  It was interesting that in an era of a booming economy with record unemployment, her thesis is that the economy isn’t working for everyone so we must dismantle the system. 

Senator Warren was one of the two hands raised to eliminate private health insurance when reforming American health care.  But when the organizers lost their close control of the debate stage, Warren became a less dominating figure, particularly when the exchanges turned to abortion and immigration.


Former two term Congressman and failed Texas Senate candidate Robert Francis “Beto” O’Rourke (D-TX 19th) tried to make his mark out of the box, starting to answer his first question  to him in Spanish. Booker had a remarkable look at “Beto’s” bilingual blurtation, which gives the impression of “Damn, he beat me to it on that pandering gimmick”.

But the problem with Beto is that he offers an alluvia of words but never actually answering a question.  Granted, a time tested political media trick is to answer the question that you want, not the one that is asked.  But when O’Rourke could not clearly respond to a direct question on whether he supported a 70% federal income tax rate for the very rich, it highlighted how “Beto” was all style and no substance.  Or to put it in faux Texan terms for a faux identity politics Hispanix (sic)– He’s all hat and no cattle.

Many of the low polling Democrats in the first Miami Mixup clung to their bio as a crutch to define their campaigns as sometimes as a cudgel as they fight for the political spotlight against their comrades.  Some candidates seemed more successful in weaponizing their bio.  While it seemed tedious for Representative Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI 2nd) to keep referencing her military service, but it gave her gravitas when she verbally parried with Congressman Tim Ryan (D-OH 13th) over continued American military involvement in Afghanistan. This may be why Gabbard topped a Drudge Report instant poll on who won the debate.  That moment both may be a break out moment for Gabbard and a break down moment for Ryan.

Former San Antonio Mayor and  Obama HUD Secretary Julian Castro burnished his Hispanic identity politics credentials by highlighting his bio. Castro came prepared to be the immigration expert on stage and outstaged “Beto” on his immigration answer, with Castro chiding “Beto” to “do your homework”.

Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) garnered the most time in the spotlight that night, started nearly every exchange citing that he lives (or more honestly put– owns a condo) in a sketchy Newark neighborhood. Presumably, Booker is trying to swing some African American support away from former Vice President Joe Biden (D-DE) while appealing to social justice warriors.  But the repeated references became too obvious.  Inquiring minds might connect Newark’s persistent urban problems to his seven years tenure as Newark’s mayor before ascending to his Senate seat.

Governor Jay Inslee (D-WA) defined his campaign as being all about climate change.  Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) was a me too women’s candidate who fights for the total right to abort unwanted unborn children. Comrade New York Mayor Bill De Blasio (D-NYC) seemed to be about changing the character of the Democrat party to be union oriented and progressive.  In his four years running for the Democrat presidential nomination, ex Rep. John Delaney (D-MD 6th) has tried to steer a somewhat centrist course to his campaign. Delaney applied his campaign’s premise in disputing the wisdom of totally overhauling America’s health care system by qupping “We should be the party that keeps what is working but fixes what is broken.”  Wise words but such wisdom is unappealing in an unbridled pander-fest.

Perhaps the most egregious example of progressive pandering was Julian Castro’s reproductive justice tact for supporting abortion.

Castro’s invocation that men can have abortion too may sell well with convicted intersectional progressives but hardly seems like it would appeal to Trump Democrats in the general election.


This early in the campaign cycle, political promises are ambiguous and do not stand for close scrutiny.  But the rhetoric used during this Democrat Debate repeatedly invoked emergencies for climate; gun control and health care.  This may be the modus operandi for a successful Democrat President to impose unpopular progressive policies under the guise of “emergency action”, particularly if their nemesis President Trump cites in addressing illegal immigration issues.

President Trump had promised to live tweet during the Democrat debate.  He summed up his impressions of the debate with a one word critque: BORING!

But the real Donald Trump did not spare debate hosts NBC News for their five minute technical difficulties by not cutting the mikes of the first panel of interviewers.  For a network celebrating seventy years on the air, this TV Miami Mixup merits mockery.

Hopefully, President Trump will live tweet the second debate, with leading candidates socialist Senator Bernie Sanders (D-VT) and former Vice President Joe Biden (D-DE). Nevertheless, expect more live tweeting from @CalamityDC using the #DemDebate heading.