There is ample evidence that Russians were deeply involved in disrupting the 2016 presidential election.  Hackers stole thousands of emails from Hillary Clinton’s campaign manager, John Podesta and the Democratic National Committee. These emails were weaponized through Wilileaks and released at strategic times to damage Clinton during the summer and fall of 2016.

Russians were also involved in spreading disinformation through social media that disparaged Clinton and bolstered Trump’s erratic campaign.  During hearings before the Senate Intelligence Committee lawyers for Facebook, Twitter and Google admitted that Russian agents surreptitiously established accounts on their sites starting in 2015.  With these platforms they presented false advertisements and spread inflammatory messages during 2016 that reached millions of Americans.  A lawyer for Twitter stated that 2,752 accounts suspected of Russian connections had been suspended – after the damage had been done.

Like drops from a leaky faucet, one after another of the connections between Russians and President Trump’s family members and his campaign staff splashed across the evening news.  Last May the intensifying Russian scandal led Trump to fire FBI director James Comey.  Since Attorney General Jeff Sessions had previously recused himself from the Russian investigation, Trump’s abrupt action caused Assistant Attorney General Rob Rosenstein to appoint Special Counsel Robert Mueller.

Hearings by intelligence committees in the Senate and the House have been ongoing for almost a year.  Reports by these committees could be the only official source of information for the public on how deeply Russians were involved in the 2016 election and the Trump campaign’s complicity with these attacks.

Mueller’s investigative findings will only be made public when charges are filed against persons involved in criminal activities.  Two of Trump’s campaign staff have already pled guilty to lying to the FBI.  And Trump’s former campaign manager and his associate have been indicted for conspiracy and money laundering unrelated to Trump’s campaign.  These initial charges, however, could be just the tip of the iceberg if the investigation continues.

But after Trump’s former national security advisor Michael Flynn was indicted for lying to the FBI in early November it became more obvious that members of the Trump campaign — and perhaps Trump himself – might have been involved in criminal activity.

I believe that Flynn’s guilty plea was a wakeup call for many congressional Republicans.  To maintain control of Congress in 2019 they decided they must protect Trump.  So, Republicans have pushed to shut down the investigations in Congress and are openly trying to discredit the FBI and the special counsel’s team.  Some are even pressuring Trump to fire Mueller.

Trump’s constant haranguing about further investigations of the Clinton Foundation and Clinton’s emails defects attention from him but also raises huge red flags about his attempts to influence the Justice Department.  Sadly, the FBI seems to be complying.

Justice Department investigations are supposed to be independent of presidential influence.  But Trump thinks he’s above the law and that the attorney general has a duty to protect him.  Clearly when Justice bends to his will a precedent is being set that undermines the very foundation of our system of justice and the Constitution.

In an attempt to cast suspicion on Mueller’s investigation House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) issued unprecedented subpoenas for sensitive FBI investigative documents.  He is backed by House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.).   Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) have written the Justice Department seeking a criminal investigation of the ex-British agent who authored the damning Trump dossier.   After these blatant attempts to protect Trump — among others — every American should be demanding to know if Republicans are attempting to tip the scales in Trump’s favor.

The public also wants to know how the Mueller investigation will end.  Well, I believe there are several possibilities; and with Republican obstruction I don’t think the result will provide a satisfactory resolution of the issues.

If Trump fires Mueller – which I think is likely — the fate of the Russia investigation will fall to the public and to Congress.  After Nixon fired Watergate prosecutor Archibald Cox, public outcry forced him to appoint another special prosecutor.  There’s no way Trump would do that and Republicans in Congress would likely have his back.  They are already preparing for that possibility.

If Mueller’s investigation is allowed to run its course I believe it’s likely Trump will be charged with obstruction of justice and possibly criminal conspiracy in colluding with Russians during the election.  Whatever the charges, it appears that Republicans would refuse to impeach Trump in the House if they are still in control.  It appears they are in the process of making a case against impeachment.

The least likely outcome of Mueller’s investigation would be that no charges are brought against any other participants in Trump’s campaign so I won’t even go there.

Trump has Republicans on the horns of a dilemma and maintaining power is their overriding objective.  If he goes down, they fear they will go down with him.  If they can halt the investigations perhaps, just perhaps, they can keep control of Congress.  It is a risky gamble that I believe will leave this nation’s democratic processes in shambles.

In my opinion, the best outcomes – and those we should work diligently to effect – are that Republicans lose control of Congress in 2018 and that Trump either resigns in disgrace or is soundly defeated in 2020.

Exactly one year ago I published my first blog, predicting that 2017 would be a target-rich environment for bloggers.  That, of course, was a “no-brainer” and the year certainly lived up to my expectations.  This is my 43rd endeavor since then but now on the cusp of a new year it’s time to look ahead.

I believe we can expect a year when almost anything can happen, including a constitutional crisis requiring resolution by the Supreme Court, a change in control of Congress and President Donald J. Trump’s resignation.  Mind you, I’m not saying any of these events will occur; predicting anything in the age of Trump is a fool’s errand.

Still, there are a number of certainties that are on the horizon: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and the Republican-controlled Senate will confirm as many right-wing federal judges as possible this year.  McConnell will likely change the rules to speed this process just in case the GOP loses control of the Senate in 2019.

Another sure thing is that the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) will cause great confusion because the Internal Revenue Service is  poorly equipped to implement it.  I have been following the GOP’s war on the IRS for several years but many readers are probably unaware of the damage Republicans have done to this agency.

My research was validated by a recent New York Times editorial board article.  It confirmed that the IRS budget has been cut by almost $1 billion and its staff reduced by 21,000 since 2010.  Another report revealed that the IRS lost 6,801 of its permanent staffers in the first nine months of this year alone.  At the same time, it is processing ten million more returns with “decrepit” computers that operate using ancient technology.  Worse yet, the IRS compliance staff has been cut by one-third.  This means fewer audits and billions less revenue recovered from tax cheaters.

Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Texas), one of the primary authors of the new tax law, was asked about more funding for the IRS to handle the changes.  He said: “[I]f they can make that case in conjunction with Treasury, we’ll listen.  But the assumption’s not, we’re opening up the pocketbook.”  Perhaps Brady doesn’t remember how President Ronald Reagan significantly increased IRS funding to cope with his 1986 tax reform.

Now, with precious little lead time and during its busiest four months of the year, the service must give guidance to employers in deducting withholding taxes next month and then write rules and design forms for a complete and complex overhaul of the tax code.  It will be a daunting task.

No doubt tax attorneys and accountants are spending this holiday weekend scouring the new law for loopholes they can implement for their clients.  Knowing that the IRS will struggle to do audits on 2018 returns, they will test the limits of the new regulations to the fullest.

The GOP tax bill was rushed through Congress, with changes made on the fly.  The inevitable mistakes will cause unintended consequences requiring technical corrections and perhaps significant revisions.  Complex legislation like the TCJA and The Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) always necessitates corrections.  Republicans have so far refused to take any action to improve Obamacare.  It will be interesting to see how Democrats react when asked to shore up the TCJA.

Regardless, I believe there will be a significant reduction in federal revenues next year and a much larger increase in the deficits than analysts have projected.  This will be Speaker Paul Ryan’s excuse to cut entitlements even though McConnell seems reluctant to touch Medicare and Medicaid in an election year.  Both, however, are eager to offset their tax cuts for the wealthy by cutting benefits for our most vulnerable citizens.

But entitlement reform will have to wait on other critical legislation that Republicans neglected in the panic to pass tax reform.  Bills to fully fund the government and raise the debt limit, among others, must be passed by January 19.  Look for a legislative free-for-all in both chambers next month.

While Congress wrestles with contentious legislation, Trump will likely retreat further into his alternative reality as the Russian investigation puts pressures on him and his family.  His impromptu interview with a New York Times reporter last Thursday is a prime example.

Although Trump has frequently demonstrated ignorance of most issues, he told the reporter, “’I know the details of taxes better than anybody. Better than the greatest C.P.A. I know the details of health care better than most, better than most.”  He also bragged, “I’m the one that saved coal. I’m the one that created jobs. You know West Virginia is doing fantastically now.”

The Washington Post fact-checked this interview and found that Trump made 24 false or misleading statements in just 30 minutes.  But perhaps the most disturbing claim was when he said, “I have absolute right to do what I want to do with the Justice Department.”  Does he mean he can fire Special Counsel Robert Mueller at will?  Does he think he can order the Justice Department to terminate the Russian investigation?  Perhaps we will find out before summer.

Yes, almost anything can happen this year with Trump in the White House.  The big question is, how will voters react come November?

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I hope your holidays were filled with happiness and that the New Year brings you good health and prosperity.  Please continue to watch this space.

It appears that the Republican-controlled Congress is on the threshold of finally passing a significant piece of legislation this year.  President Trump is eager to make a huge deal out this so-called accomplishment, surrounded by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and a gaggle of widely grinning Republicans.

There are around 239 GOP representatives in the U.S. House and 52 Republican senators in the upper chamber, plus thousands of staff members and more committees than I care to count.  Legislation and the legislative process are tightly controlled by the Republican leadership.  And there were some very important issues to resolve this year.

Let’s see how many were completed in 2017:  Opioid crisis relief funds legislated?  No!  Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) reauthorized?  Nope!    Undocumented “Dreamers” status resolved?  Nein!  Obamacare insurance subsidies passed?  Nyet!  Government funded and debt limit raised for fiscal year 2018? Not yet!  Hurricane disaster relief fully funded?  Maybe next year!

Well, how the heck did Republicans spend their time?  Trying to deprive millions of Americans of their health insurance?  Absolutely!  Pouring more money into our bloated, wasteful defense system?  Of course!  Working as fast as possible on a budget-busting, unpopular and unneeded tax cut for corporations and the rich?  Oh YES!

Sen. Orin Hatch (R-Utah), who worked so diligently to craft a debt-funded tax bill, said that CHIP was held up because “we don’t have money anymore.”  Can you believe that?

But Speaker Ryan knows where to get the money for the military and tax cuts.  He wants to loot Medicare and Medicaid funding and reduce Social Security benefits.  Ryan readily admits these goals in legislation he has proposed.  To him it’s the most obvious thing to do and he discounts the human consequences.  He’s like Willie Sutton, the famous bank thief.  When asked why he robs banks Willie casually said, “That’s where the money is.”

Well, Ryan is right; so-called entitlement programs also have a lot of money to steal.  And most Republicans are convinced it’s being wasted on the poor.  They believe that if someone needs help with food, health care or housing or if they don’t have a job. it’s because they won’t work and want to live off the government.

Sen. Hatch stated this mindset perfectly after complaining that we don’t have the money for CHIP funding:  He said, “I have a rough time wanting to spend billions and billions and trillions of dollars to help people who won’t help themselves – won’t lift a finger – and expect the federal government to do everything.”

Both Trump and his Republican enablers want to tackle welfare reform next year.  They claim their efforts will just involve “transitioning” people into the workforce.  What that means is they’ll cut entitlements in an attempt to force the “lazy” unemployed to get a job.  Problem is, many people receiving food stamps and Medicaid insurance already have a job; they just don’t make enough money to escape the poverty level.  And many others are children, elderly or disabled.

But like the Obamacare repeal and replace, when the public is apprised of how draconian the  GOP welfare reform legislation is and how it might affect them, they will oppose these changes as if their life depended on it – and it will fail too.  So not to worry; Democrats will sweep many of these right-wing radicals out of office before they can accomplish their worst objectives.  Most voters aren’t as naive and ignorant as Republicans think they are.

Even so, we are facing fiscal challenges for the next year or two and I’ve been giving a lot of thought to tax cuts and what motivates those who seek them.  During this ruminating something popped into my head that I hadn’t thought about in years – a quasi-religion called the “cargo cult.”

As I remember, the cargo cult evolved when a World War II twin-engine supply plane crashed on a remote Pacific island populated by a primitive tribe.  It was filled with amazing goods the villagers had never seen, clothing, food and wondrous metal tools.  They thought this largess must have come from a powerful deity and they developed a religion focused on encouraging the god to reward them again with more “cargo.”  This blessing never repeated, of course, but the sect flourished despite this failure.  I can’t be sure but believers probably ostracized doubters.

Now, I certainly don’t want to insult primitive peoples by comparing them to Republicans – although the two groups share some characteristics — but the GOP seems to have a cargo cult mentality on tax cuts.  Once upon a time — they can’t tell us exactly when – the GOP gave tax cuts to the wealthy and created an economic boom that flowed down to the middleclass and greatly benefited all Americans.  This “cut taxes for the wealthy and grow the economy” fairy tale — let’s call it the “tax cut cult” — became engraved on the political alter where Republicans worship.  And despite prodigious facts that dispute the cult’s validity their faith has been unshakeable.

So, even after this latest offering to the tax cut gods fails to produce results or causes a recession, the tax cut cult will regain prominence again someday.  Americans aren’t stupid, but they do have short memories.

Republicans are busy engineering a debt-financed tax cut.  That’s right; the federal government will be borrowing to pay for tax cuts that mainly benefit the wealthy and cash-rich corporations.  GOP politicians spent eight years lambasting President Barack Obama for deficit spending.  But they have no concern about running up huge deficits under President Donald Trump.  They just casually lie and say the tax cut will pay for itself with economic growth even though tax experts scoff at their claim.

This is what I want to know:  Why should our children and grandchildren be saddled with more debt in order to give corporations a tax cut?   Interest rates are relatively low.  If the demand for products and services is there, why shouldn’t companies be willing to borrow to expand their businesses?  I’m betting that House Speaker Paul Ryan and his caucus don’t have a good answer.

With unemployment around four percent and the economy perking along, Wall Street economists are concerned that more economic stimulus will result in higher inflation and Fed rate hikes.  This would increase interest payments on the national debt and add to the deficits.  But here’s the thing; runaway deficits don’t concern many conservatives.  They will use them as a pretext to slash spending on entitlement programs like Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.  But that’s another story.

Fortunately, the tax cuts can be fixed in the future; and unless the GOP is able to fill Congress with senators like Alabama senate candidate Roy Moore, I don’t think they will be able to accomplish their goal to decimate the social safety net.  But Trump’s Friday night speech in Pensacola, Florida raises concerns of a much higher level.  And it should chill all democracy loving Americans to the bone.

Trump’s ramblings were mostly to support Roy Moore. This is the guy who allegedly preyed on teenaged girls while he was in his 30’s.  If true, this alone should bar him from the Senate.  But there are many other good reasons to make sure Moore is never elected to Congress:

He was twice-removed from the Alabama Supreme Court for refusing to obey a federal court order and a law regarding gay marriage.  Over the years he has expressed his beliefs that homosexual conduct should be illegal, that kids in drive-by shootings are acting like animals because evolution taught them they come from animals, that Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) should not be allowed to serve in the U.S. House because he is a Muslim, and that Obama was not born in the United States.  Another statement he made mirrored one made by Trump; he put the U.S. on the same level as Russia in doing “bad things” and praised Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Of course, Trump didn’t highlight any of Moore’s faults.   But he did mock Hillary Clinton — which of course prompted the crowd to chant, “lock her up!  lock her up!”  In that context he told the crowd, “Look, it’s being proven we have a rigged system.  Doesn’t happen so easy. But this system, there will be a lot of changes.”

Referring to Washington he said, “They will lie and leak and smear, because they don’t want to accept the results of an election where we won by a landslide.”

He criticized the Democratic “resistance” to his presidency saying, “They’re resisting the will of the American people — that’s what they’re resisting.”  Later he said, “They are resisting progress. They’re resisting change. Because the only thing they really care about is protecting what they have been able to do, which is really control the country and not to your benefit.”

But worst of all was Trump’s disgraceful take-down of American institutions: “This is a rigged system. This is a sick system from the inside. And, you know, there’s no country like our country, but we have a lot of sickness in some of our institutions, and we’re working very hard. We’ve got a lot of them straightened out, but we do have — we really do — a rigged system in this country, and we have to change it. Terrible. Terrible.”

It is difficult to know what Trump is talking about when he speaks.  His mashed-up logic and fractured sentences defy analysis.  At rallies like Pensacola he likely says whatever pops into his head.  And his mouth is as disorganized as his thoughts.  So when he talks about sickness in “our institutions” is he referring to the courts, the media, the Congress, what?  Well, I think he’s referring to any institution that challenges his will.

David Brooks, the well-known conservative columnist and talk-show guest, published a column last week entitled, “The GOP is rotting.”  In it he wrote, “There is no end to what Trump will ask of his party. He is defined by shamelessness, and so there is no bottom. And apparently there is no end to what regular Republicans are willing to give him. Trump may soon ask them to accept his firing of Robert Mueller, and yes, after some sighing, they will accept that, too.”

Brooks may be right about firing Mueller.  And if so, I think our only chance to remain a democracy is if the GOP becomes so rotten it crumbles.  Let’s pray that Trump and his Republican enablers don’t destroy our republic before that happens.

My last blog attempted to inject a little humor in the news, which admittedly is abysmal.  It is my sense that people are getting so depressed by the news that they can’t deal with it anymore.  But we can’t let a feeling of hopelessness prevail or Republicans will succeed with their egregious policies like cutting taxes for the wealthy and politicizing the federal judiciary.

Federal courts are the keystone of the Constitution’s separation of powers.  When the executive branch or the legislative branch infringes individual rights we citizens have the courts to redress our grievances.  But what if the courts become tools of the controlling political party?  That not only could happen, it’s already happening.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is an unscrupulous, power-hungry politician who will do anything to retain his leadership status and promote the Republican Party, mostly in that order.  After Barack Obama was elected in 2008 Minority Leader McConnell devised a plan to thwart everything President Obama attempted.

For years McConnell blocked many of Obama’s choices for executive branch positions and federal judgeships.  Finally, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) implemented the so-called “nuclear option” in 2013 for executive appointments and lower court nominations.  This prevented McConnell from using a filibuster to obstruct Obama from filling federal court vacancies for a time.

When Republicans took control of the Senate in 2014, however, McConnell had complete control of the agenda.  This culminated with his blocking of Obama’s appointment of Merrick Garland to fill the Supreme Court vacancy created by Justice Anthony Scalia’s death.  Some Republicans in Congress even threatened to block Hillary Clinton’s nominations to the Supreme Court had she won the presidency.

McConnell’s strategy paid off big when Donald Trump won last November.  President Trump has an unprecedented opportunity to appoint hundreds of federal judges, including several Supreme Court justices.  In fact, Trump’s only significant win after a year in office has been Neil Gorsuch’s confirmation to the Supreme Court.

Now Trump and McConnell are attempting to fill federal court vacancies ASAP and the primary qualifications seem to be white, male and very conservative.  The Trump administration no longer allows the American Bar Association to vet nominees before they are announced and several approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee under chairman Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) were evaluated by the ABA as “unqualified.”

Both Democrats and Republicans have tended to nominate justices that were more inline with their political philosophies over the years but never in such a blatant attempt to ensure that judicial decisions are based on politics instead of the law.  Moreover, today’s conservative objectives are less about small government, fiscal restraint and balanced budgets and more about outlawing abortions, quashing gay rights, preventing immigration and promoting so-called religious freedom.

Republicans have switched from controlling spending to controlling peoples’ lives and imposing their social conservative views on the populace.  That is a dramatic and ominous pivot and I believe they intend to totally use the courts to accomplish their objectives.

Loading the federal courts with unqualified, far-right conservatives is threatening enough but congressional Republicans may attempt a much more ambitious goal by expanding the number of judges on the appellate courts.  That would enable Trump to appoint conservative majorities on all of them.

Steven G. Calabresi, a law professor at Northwestern University and board chairman of the conservative Federalist Society, has authored an article entitled “Proposed Judgeship Bill.”  In it he recommends that the Republican-controlled Congress double or triple the number of judges on the federal appellate courts and add hundreds of federal district court judgeships.  Calabresi brazenly stated his objective: “undoing the judicial legacy of President Barack Obama.”

Conservative media is rife with conspiracy theories and no doubt there are some from the left too.  Well, here is one from the center — and I think it has legs:  Conservatives are conspiring to virtually eliminate the Democratic Party and all liberal influence on government policies.  They are seeking a one-party government of the wealthy, a plutocracy.  And there is ample evidence of this.

Republican controlled states used the 2010 census to engage in radical redistricting that almost guaranteed Republican control of state congressional delegations.  After the conservative majority on the Supreme Court substantially gutted the Voting Rights Act in 2013, Republican-controlled states enacted strict voter ID laws that make voting harder for minorities and other typical Democrats.  And now the Justice Department under far-right Attorney General Jeff Sessions has stopped challenging these states’ efforts to suppress voting rights.

The Supreme Court currently has a conservative majority but just think of what will happens to our constitutional rights if all federal appellate courts have conservative majorities?  The answer is quite clear.  Radical conservative policies will be imposed on we the people.

The political upheavals of the 1960s, with Vietnam and assassinations, were horrific; Watergate revealed corruption and criminality at the highest levels of government; and the costly invasion of Iraq was probably the worst foreign policy decision in the nation’s history.  But none of these past earth-shaking upheavals fundamentally threatened our democracy.  What Trump and the GOP are doing to undermine the Constitution by politicizing the courts definitely does — and it’s a clear and present danger.

So Don’t be anxious, be angry.  Don’t be depressed, be dedicated to challenging Republican legislative abominations; and donate to organizations that oppose them.  Now is a time for redoubled action, not resignation.

No kidding, it’s getting difficult to write this blog without becoming depressed.  The news can drive one to drink – which isn’t all bad.  But like many folks, you’re probably avoiding TV and the Internet more these days.  So no offense if you just delete all political emails and avoid political blogs.  I understand.  But bear with me for a bit; I promise to keep it mostly light.

In reading news articles and researching the factual claims that politicians make it becomes obvious that some of them miss the bullseye on the truth target and some miss the target altogether.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) railed that the GOP tax plan is “kicking” 13 million people off their health insurance.  No doubt repealing the Obamacare individual mandate will cause some number of healthy people to voluntarily drop their insurance coverage and that will raise premiums for others.  It’s these less healthy people who find their policies too expensive to afford that are being forced out of the insurance market.  The Washington Post fact checkers gave Schumer two Pinocchio’s for this mislead.

On the other side of the isle, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), who supports repeal of the individual mandate, said: “One of the things I hope we do as part of this tax process is repeal the tax on poor Americans. Right now, about half of the people that pay the penalty under the individual mandate are people who make $25,000 or less”

Like Schumer’s comment this one begged for a fact-check and it wasn’t long in coming.  The debunk of Cornyn’s claim is too complex to provide in detail but the Washington Post gave Cornyn two Pinocchio’s because he used “an incomplete statistic that lacks significant context.”

Cornyn is a white-haired, sort of grandfatherly looking guy who appears quite believable.  But when talking about Obamacare or the GOP tax plan he lies with the best of them.  I prefer liars who clearly look like liars, say — for example — President Donald Trump.

The new numbers are out on Trump’s prevarications.  The Washington Post has documented 1,628 false or misleading statements from El Presidente in his first 298 days in office.  That’s an average of over five per day.  Wow, Trump really has set a new record for something.  Is there a Liars Hall of Fame?

Those who are turned off by the news may have missed a photo of Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and his wife Louise Linton – who was very expensively attired — holding a sheet of newly printed one-dollar bills.  They were the first to bear Mnuchin’s signature.   One sarcastic critic observed they were “picking up some toilet paper;” another chided that they looked like villains in a James Bond film.  I guess even the ultra-rich have bad hair days.

Mnuchin is just one of many billionaires in Trump’s cabinet but another one made the news last week too, Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross.  Evidently Ross – and I’m being kind here – didn’t tell Forbes magazine the whole truth about his wealth.  As a result, Bloomberg Billionaires Index lowered his net worth from $3 billion to $860 million.  The story is more sinister than just that slap in the face, but I’m wondering if Trump will boot Ross off the cabinet because he no longer meets the qualifications.

Trump campaign officials like Jared Kushner and Attorney General Jeff Sessions seem to have a bad case of amnesia.  They don’t recall anything investigators want to know related to connections with Russia until they get caught lying.  Trump seems to have a selective memory too.  It’s a good thing the nuclear codes are written down and carried by a military officer – or is it?

Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the difference between sexual harassment charges against Sen. Al Franken (D-Min.) and Trump is that Franken has admitted his harassment and the president hasn’t.  Yep, we all know that, but it’s a difference with considerable distinction – Franken’s honesty.  Sander’s comment should win a prize of some type.  The White House is all about winning things, even if they are outrageous.

The Washington Post has documented 31 times that members of the Trump campaign met with or corresponded with Russians during the 2016 presidential campaign.  I’m waiting for Press Secretary Sanders to claim they were only seeking a recommendation on where they could buy the best Russian borscht.  These people probably prefer caviar but that would come off as too elitist.

The U.S. Navy recently made BIG news in the skies over Washington State.  One of its pilots used the exhaust from his jet to draw the outline of enormous male genitals.  I’m not sure what he was trying to say with this maneuver but you have to admire his flying skills.

And lastly, I don’t think we are getting the full story on the playground nastiness between Trump and North Korea’s Kim Jung-un.  I’m surprised Trump has been so restrained in responding after Kim called him an old man.  In private I suspect he is saying something like: “Liddle Kim is not only short, fat and ugly, check the hair, but he has little hands — and for him that really means something, heh, heh, heh.”

House Republicans finally released their secret tax plan last week with great fanfare and a flurry of misleading statements about how great it will be for the middleclass.  They call it the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA).  This reminded me of a joke by one of my fishing buddies years ago.  He claimed he intended to publish a magazine entitled “Guns and Pickups.”  That title, he said, made it a guaranteed success with most people he knew.

The 429 pages of the TCJA will be voraciously analyzed by numerous tax experts.  To be sure, this is complicated stuff.  But the bill has already been scored by the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT), a nonpartisan group of experts whose purpose is to provide assistance on tax legislation for members of both parties in the Senate and the House.  The JCT estimates that this legislation will add $1,487 billion to the deficit over the next 10 years.

Although some Republican Senators are paying lip service to the national debt of $20 trillion and vowing not to “add a penny to the deficits,” I haven’t heard one of them discuss the actual deficit facts – and they are brutal.  The Congressional Budget Office projects that deficits over the next decade will be around $10 trillion under current law, raising the national debt to $30 trillion.  So Republicans want to add almost $1.5 trillion to that?  Really?

The right-leaning Tax Foundation and the left leaning Tax Policy Center will have significantly different estimates of the deficits created by the TCJA.  But I’m inclined to rely on the JCT nonpartisan results.  This is what those numbers and my somewhat crude analysis tell me about the proposed tax cuts for individuals.

Consolidating the tax rates into four levels of 12, 25, 35 and 39.6 percent, establishing a 25 percent rate on so-called “pass though” income from non-corporate business activities, repealing the alternative minimum tax, and repealing the estate tax after 2023 mostly benefit wealthy individuals.  These provisions would reduce federal revenues by $2,404 billion over 10 years.

Doubling the standard deduction and increasing personal and child tax credits mostly benefit middleclass and lower income taxpayers and would reduce federal revenues by $1,553 billion.

To offset part of the lost revenue, Republicans want to repeal the personal exemption of $4,050 per person.  This provides $1,568 billion in added revenues but it eliminates a tax benefit that helps many middleclass and lower income folks with families more than the increased standard deduction.  Plus, the tax credits go away after 2023, causing some lower income folks to pay more in taxes than under current law.

To offset more lost revenue the TCJA repeals most itemized deductions, which recoups $1,253 billion of it.  But some of these deductions benefit upper middleclass and even middleclass taxpayers, particularly those who live in high tax states or those who have large medical expenses.   Sure, the wealthy lose deductions too, but the current law already phases out up to 80 percent of itemized deductions for them.

Republicans keep trying to put some middleclass lipstick on this pig but it’s still — well, pork for the wealthy.

House Speaker Paul Ryan, the seemingly nice guy family man from Wisconsin, claims a middleclass family of four earning $59,000 a year would pay $1,182 less in taxes in 2018 than they would this year.  But since the tax credit benefits in the TCJA phase out by 2024, this family would end up paying more in taxes according to David Kamin, a tax professor at New York University.

The TCJA and the GOP legislation to repeal and replace Obamacare were hatched in the same way.  Congressional Republicans established their nefarious goals and then cobbled together the legislation in secret to achieve them.  Like the Obamacare replacement, they want to pass a bill without Democratic votes so they won’t have to compromise.  Republicans are loath to agree with Democrats on much of anything, particularly taxes and health care.

So while President Trump is sabotaging Obamacare and driving up the cost of premiums, several conservative, billionaire-funded organizations are spending millions on TV ads to sell his budget busting tax plan to middleclass Americans.  According to the Washington Post’s Dana Milbank some of these ads claim that the average family will receive a benefit of more than $1,200 per year.  Hell, that’s not even enough to cover the rising premiums for one month on their health care plan.

Republicans are REALLY DESPERATE to pass a tax cut for their wealthy backers.  Imagine a Republican congressperson’s mother standing in the way of getting this legislation done. She would be mowed down like a stalk of wheat in front of a fast-moving combine.

Polls show that the majority of Americans oppose the House tax plan and six out of ten think it favors the rich.  Senate Republicans aren’t enthusiastic about it either and plan to draft their own proposal.  Isn’t that the way the Obamacare replacement started?

And looming in the legislative headlights is the December 8 deadline for funding the government and increasing the debt limit.   Will the three stooges of government — Trump and the House and Senate Republican’s — get their act together to accomplish this and tax cuts too?  Who knows?  Their slapstick comedy show would be funny if the issues weren’t so serious.

Ominous signals were emanating from the Republican leadership in Washington last week as they pushed to curtail the House and Senate investigations into Russian meddling in last year’s presidential election.  Although the Senate Intelligence Committee investigation appeared to start on a bipartisan footing, it may now end early next year with conflicting Republican majority and Democratic minority reports that leave many questions unanswered.

These congressional investigations differ from those being conducted by special counsel Robert Mueller.  Congress should uncover the full story of Russian cyberattacks and provide a comprehensive report to the public.  Mueller’s inquiry is strictly to determine if crimes were committed.  Consequently, we may not learn much about the Trump campaign’s involvement with Russians from Mueller unless someone in the campaign committed a crime in the process.  The recent indictments of Paul Manafort and Rick Gates do not involve the Trump campaign.

But there is another crucial question to be answered about Russian cyberattacks.  Is the government taking adequate measures to prevent future foreign government interference in our elections?   U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions was asked this question during an October 18 hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee.  He simply answered, “We’re not.”

I believe past presidents and congressional leaders of both parties would have demanded immediate action to protect our election process.  But President Trump and congressional Republicans have political reasons to sweep this issue under the rug — at the expense of national security.  I think this is a shameful violation of their oath to protect and defend the Constitution.

But affronts to the Constitution by Trump and his Republican enablers seem to be the trend.

Trump appointed Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach as co-chair of the President’s Advisory Commission on Election Integrity.  Kobach is one of the chief architects of state laws to disenfranchise minority voters and purge them from voter rolls.  Kobach’s mission is to show that Trump would have won the popular vote last year but for widespread illegal voting but I think he is also gathering information for more voter suppression.

What could be more fundamentally damaging to the Constitution than to discredit the media and threaten freedom of the press?  Republicans have long targeted the media as “liberal” and biased.  But Trump has taken these attacks to much higher level.  He calls unfavorable reports “fake news’ and the media “the enemy of the American people.”  Trump wants stronger libel laws that would make it easier to sue news reporters and he suggested that NBC should lose its license to broadcast because he didn’t like what they were reporting.   NBC is not licensed as such, but the threat is still very alarming.

Sadly, Trump must be achieving some success with these attacks.  According to a recent POLITICO/Morning Consult poll, 76 percent of Republicans and 44 percent of independents believe the media fabricates stories about Trump and his administration.  Does this mean the majority of these individuals will reject clear evidence that Trump colluded with the Russians or that he obstructed justice?   Will public doubt enable a Republican-controlled Congress to reject articles of  impeachment aginst Trump no matter what his crimes?

The Constitution is all about the rule of law.  But Trump attacks judges that displease him and brands Clinton and others as crooks with no evidence that they committed a crime.  What type of jurists will he choose for the hundreds of federal judges he will appoint?  Trump’s former chief advisor Steve Bannon will no doubt help him find judges who are clones of former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore.

Moore recently secured the Alabama Republican nomination to run for the U.S. Senate in an upcoming special election despite the fact that he was twice removed from the Alabama Supreme Court for violating judicial ethics.  Moore has refused to take a stand on whether homosexual Americans should be executed and he has claimed that duly elected Muslims should not be allowed to serve in Congress.

Yet Moore received enthusiastic endorsements from Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who lauded Moore’s integrity and his commitment to the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.  Retiring Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Az.) may be the only Republican senator who has spoken out against Moore’s opinions saying “that’s not our party, that is not us.”  But Flake will be out of the Senate in 2019 and Moore will likely be in.

Even normally level-headed Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) endorsed Moore saying he will be “a tireless advocate led by principle rather than politics.”  Senators like Cornyn are either putting party before country or they fear attacks from Trump’s rabid supporters like Bannon and Fox News’ Sean Hannity.  Either way endorsements or tacit approval of a radical like Roy Moore should tell us volumes about where the GOP is headed.

I believe Trump, along with his supporters in Congress and the right-wing media, is pushing this country toward a critical crossroads.  Will this nation adopt the bigotry and white nationalism that they are advocating?  Will Trump further subvert the First Amendment and voting rights with the help of Bannon and far-right zealots like Roy Moore?

How many will follow as Trump and the Republican Party recklessly diverges from the path that the Founders established?  For now, voters have a choice.  The direction they take will make all the difference for our democracy.

The real challenge in blogging these days is to provide helpful commentary on what’s going on in Washington.  It’s like someone – I wonder who? – placed all parts of the major issues in a cannon and blasted them into the sky.  Are we moving toward war with North Korea?  Will the insurance markets collapse as President Trump undermines Obamacare?  Will the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) dissolve?  Will the Iran nuclear agreement unravel as Trump tries to weaken it?  The pieces will continue to fall over the coming months and no one can be sure how or where they will land.

One thing is for sure; Trump’s first priority seems to be pleasing his base.  One recent poll found that a majority of Republicans favor a preemptive strike against North Korea.  Don’t they realize there are thousands of artillery pieces and rocket launchers pointing south along the 38th parallel? Massive destructive forces are within easy range of Seoul, South Korea with its population of almost 10 million people.  Even if Kim Jung-un is unable to launch a nuclear tipped rocket the carnage that would follow this U.S. act of war is unthinkable.

No doubt many of Trump’s supporters hate the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), if for no other reason than its name.  But research by the Associated Press shows that 70 percent of those who benefit from insurance discounts on deductibles and co-pays that the federal government subsidizes are in states that helped elect Trump.  Of the top 10 states that benefit the most, nine voted for Trump. No matter, Trump carelessly refuses to fund the subsidies.

These folks will continue to receive this support because insurers are required by law to provide it.  But without the offset of federal payments the companies that don’t exit the markets will be forced to raise premiums for other insureds, potentially making coverage for them too expensive.  Trump has punted this thorny problem to Congress, perhaps to spitefully punish congressional Republicans for failing to repeal and replace Obamacare.  .

NAFTA is considered to be a bad deal by many workers in the rust belt who voted for Trump.  But if you talk with farmers in the heartland where Trump scored big with the voters you might hear a different story.  Farming economies depend on exports and American farmers are among the most efficient in the world.  Reports indicate that many Mexican corn farmers were put out of business by NAFTA.

Plus NAFTA has helped the U.S. manufacturing sector be more competitive with Asian and European competitors.  Actually it is surprising that more free-trade Republicans haven’t pushed back on Trump’s initiatives to renegotiate trade agreements and his rejection of the Trans Pacific Partnership.  Perhaps they prefer to avoid his wrath.

We can’t speculate on how Trump’s action to decertify the Iran nuclear deal will play out.  Like his decision on Obamacare subsidies, Trump has tossed the contentious Iran issue into the hands of the Republican-controlled Congress.  Congress must now decide if sanctions are to be imposed.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was left to clean up some of Trump’s mess.   On CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday he was asked if he agrees with Defense Secretary James Mattis’ who prefers that Congress not immediately impose sanctions on Iran.  Tillerson said “I do agree with that, and I think the president does as well.”  I am no fan of Tillerson, but if he and Mattis resign or are fired the country will be in much deeper trouble.

With less than 28 legislative days left in 2017, however, Congress already has more than it can handle.  I seriously doubt if it will take any action to renew sanctions on Iran.  The big question concerns the payment of Obamacare insurance subsidies.  With so many Republican voters likely to be damaged by Trump’s refusal to pay subsidies, will Congress intervene?  Who knows?

Meanwhile congressional Republicans are desperate to pass some type of tax cut.  They believe their control of Congress depends on it.  Senate Republicans are to vote this week on a budget resolution designed to facilitate passage of tax legislation without Democratic votes.  They have scuttled a rule that would delay voting on a bill until 28 hours after its official budget impact has been completed.  In other words, don’t worry about how the tax bill affects the budget, just get it done.

In order to speed the progress on tax legislation, the deficit-hawkish House Freedom Caucus is no longer demanding the $200 billion in mandatory spending cuts that were included in the House budget resolution. Consequently it seems likely that the final budget resolution to be voted on by both the House and the Senate will simply authorize a tax plan that could add $1.5 trillion to the deficits over the next decade.  Still, there is no assurance that both chambers will get it done.

I don’t believe that there has been a time during my adult life when the country has been so adrift and rudderless.  Trump is not a leader; he is a divider and destroyer — a wrecking ball without morals, conscience or integrity.  I see him as the modern day equivalent of Nero who fiddled while Rome burned — except it is the credibility, the values and the ethics of the United State of America that are being destroyed — while he plays golf.

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Ia.) has been in Congress 43 years, 37 of those in the U.S. Senate.  When asked about the Graham-Cassidy bill to repeal and replace Obamacare he said: “You know, I could maybe give you 10 reasons why this bill shouldn’t be considered.  But Republicans campaigned on this so often that you have a responsibility to carry out what you said in the campaign.”  Really?  A campaign promise outweighs people dying for lack of health care?

Republicans obstructed President Obama every way they could, creating crisis after crisis on critical issues like funding the government and raising the debt limit.  They unfairly blamed him for the deficits, which they claimed were the nation’s number one problem.  Members of the House Freedom Caucus and other conservatives even voted for a catastrophic default on the nation’s debt over this issue.

Now the GOP is enthusiastically promoting an irresponsible, budget-busting tax cut for corporations and the wealthy.  But deficits no longer seem to matter to Republicans, including the Freedom Caucus.  They promised tax cuts and now they must deliver regardless of the consequences.

What could be more outrageous than Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senate Republicans crafting major legislation on health care and taxes with limited hearings and little input from experts, Democrats or the public.  GOP policies don’t hold up in the light of day so legislation is fashioned in secret and presented for a vote with limited time for review.  This is a terrible precedent that weakens our traditional democratic processes.

Candidate Trump talked like a populist, the voice of working Americans.  He was going to challenge the establishment and “drain the swamp.”  But he and his billionaire cabinet members operate most comfortably in the swamp.

President Trump is lining his pockets by promoting his properties as THE places to have contact with him and influence the government.  The Trump hotel in Washington, DC has become a magnet for those seeking favors from his administration.

Fabulously wealthy Sec. of Treasury Steve Mnuchin requested government jets for his honeymoon to Europe.  Former Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.) — already under a cloud for insider trading in stocks he influenced with legislation – used his position as Health and Human Services secretary to fly on chartered and government jets for both domestic and foreign trips.  The taxpayer’s bill was estimated at around $1 million.

Price has resigned but he’s not the only cabinet official charging the taxpayers for their excessive, luxury accommodations.  Environmental Protection Agency head Scott Pruitt reportedly spent $25,000 for a secure, soundproof communications booth in his office.  (This made me think of bumbling detective Maxwell Smart’s “cone of silence” in the TV program “Get Smart.)  Pruitt must be concerned that someone will overhear his conversations with oil industry buddies and discover the terrible things he is trying to do to the environment.  He too flies on chartered or government jets when commercial travel would suffice.

Pruitt also has an unprecedented 18-person, 24/7 security detail at the cost to taxpayers of over $800,000 for just three months.  He must be paranoid – or perhaps he’s afraid of the American public.  When they discover how his decisions are exposing them to increased industrial pollution, they might get really angry.

But there are numerous other reasons for public anger.  Strong evidence shows that Russia conducted a cyber-attack to influence the 2016 presidential election; but Trump and congressional Republicans can’t be bothered with taking defensive actions.  I don’t hear them demanding a strong technical barrier to defend against Russian hacking.  Russia is trying to destroy our free society, our democratic processes and our faith in the government but the Trump administration and Congress do not appear to be doing much to prevent it.

Another outrage was the primary in Alabama to select a candidate to fill Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ seat in the Senate.  Republicans selected Roy Moore, an evangelical, homophobic radical.  Most Senate Republicans just shrugged, but not Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.).  He called it like it should be called: Referring to Moore’s unbelievable insistence that Muslim Americans shouldn’t be allowed to serve in Congress, Flake said, “I think that when we disagree with something so fundamental like that, we ought to stand up and say, that’s not right, that’s not our party, that is not us.”  I’m sorry Jeff, that may not be you — but that is your party.

For years Republicans have demonized the media and the federal government.  As a result, their base and millions of other Americans are losing faith in the basic institutions of our democratic republic.  Many people don’t know who to trust.  No country can progress — let alone prosper — when this happens.  And Trump compounds the problem with his pathological lying.

The examples are too numerous to chronical, but perhaps the biggest outrage is how Trump is dividing our nation — how he is being enabled by many Republicans in Congress — and how millions of Americans don’t seem to care or think it’s ok.

I believe it will take a long time for the nation to recover from McConnell, Trump and the ideologically driven right-wing.  Hopefully a clear majority of voters will put a stop to some of their outrages in the 2018 elections.

Footnote:

Last Sunday our son-in-law Ed and I completed a 2,700-mile drive across most of this great country from the east, through the heartland where I was born and on to the west coast.  I was reminded that very few people live in this vast expanse of land.  We spent hours traveling across flat, endless prairies, passed farmlands with few houses and through fields of corn and wheat that stretched out beyond the horizon on both sides of the road.  We met many great folks along the way but in a small, windy Wyoming town we experienced some particularly friendly, helpful clerks in a combination gas station, general store and pizza parlor.  I kept wondering why these good people would help elect a slick, lying, New York City real estate developer like Donald Trump.  They no doubt knew Trump is a jerk; but perhaps they thought he would be their jerk.  I think they were wrong.