In a perfect world, Hillary Clinton would have been elected the 45th President of the United States on November 8th, 2016. And although our nation would benefit from the former Secretary of State seeking the Democratic nomination again...and then winning The White House...Mrs. Clinton has not indicated a desire...to make a go for it...for a third time. This column, therefore, is written with those thoughts in mind.
In a perfect world, Donald Trump would not be sitting behind The Oval Office desk today. With every breath he takes...Trump buries his presidency deeper in to the hole that he himself dug. So therefore...Americans must join hands in unity...to force Trump's resignation...or a Congressional impeachment and removal from office...before Donald's hands strangle our nation to death.
In a perfect world, there would be no need for an investigation by a Special Counsel, by the U.S. Senate and by the U.S. House of Representatives to determine the extent for which Russian interference affected the outcome of our 2016 presidential election...and whether members of Donald Trump's campaign - or Trump himself - colluded with Vladimir Putin and his spies...to meddle in the race between Trump and Hillary Clinton.
But we don't live in a perfect world. And because of that sad fact, Americans are suffering from a President who - as I wrote nearly two years ago - is unfit to serve our country as our head of state and Commander-In-Chief.
The above being said...circumstances and timing can sometimes - if not, at all times - be everything. With the problems that our nation faces - including possible espionage or even treason by one or more government officials - such issues have brought to the forefront of our republic...a man who, at this moment, may be one person who could bring America back from the brink of disaster. He's a highly respected Congressman who could turn the United States around and move us in a forward direction as our President. He is the Ranking Democrat on the mighty House Intelligence Committee. And with power unknown to most Americans until recently, Congressman Adam Schiff of California may be the superhero that America desperately needs...to take our country out of the dark abyss that Donald Trump has thrown us in to since January 20th, 2017.
In an interview with Politico - published on February 20th - Schiff labeled Trump "a real danger to the country and to our future prosperity...and to our place in the world...to how people view Americans...to whether people still look to America as the leading light and inspiration to the rest of the world...a place they hope one day to immigrate to."
Right now our country is being governed by a man who - during the campaign at a February 2016 rally in Nevada - took aim at a protester and shouted..."I'd like to punch him in the face." And in January 2016, let us recall when Donald Trump - at an Iowa rally - bragged..."I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue (in New York City) and shoot somebody and I wouldn't lose any voters." Yet Trump got elected... which still boggles my mind. It's no wonder that a U.S. Congressional candidate from Montana...who - on Wednesday, May 24th - assaulted a reporter...could also be elected the next day on Thursday, May 25th. And how did Trump respond while in Sicily on Friday, May 26th? "Great win in Montana." It is fact that the majority of ballots in "The Treasure State" were cast prior to the altercation. But how did others vote to elect a guy who, in most circles, would be considered a thug?
As for Schiff on Trump's fascination - and, dare I say, affection - for Russia and Putin...the 9-term Congressman from "The Golden State" expressed strong words to Politico, as he accused Trump of being a "President (who) has a pathological unwillingness to criticize anything the Kremlin does."
The year 2020 is closer than we think...and it's never too soon for Democrats to begin contemplating who we want as our Party's nominee for President.
I'm a Jew. If you're a regular reader of The Controversy then you are probably aware of that fact as I have mentioned it in a handful of columns over the last four-and-a-half years. But my faith is not my reason for writing today's commentary or for endorsing a Jewish politician to seek our nation's highest office. An Adam Schiff White House would be one of integrity, honor and patriotism. Adam Schiff's voice is highly influential in the Democratic Party on matters of foreign policy and issues of national security. With the 56-year old Schiff as President of the United States, our country would be implicitly represented by qualities of respect, honesty, incorruptibility, trustworthiness, human compassion, strength, leadership and overall goodness. Adam Schiff is someone who could get America back on track.
One "dream team ticket" would be Schiff-Schumer or Schumer-Schiff. But Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer of New York has always said that he will never run for President. The Senate Minority Leader is quoted as saying - not too long ago - that he absolutely doesn't want the job. And in a tweet from September 19th, 2013, Schumer wrote..."I ran for President of my class at Cunningham Jr HS (Junior High School). I lost. I swore I'd never run for President again and that's still true today." I suppose if the now 66-year old Schumer didn't choose to seek The White House earlier in his career, that he won't do so three years from now - on November 3rd, 2020 - when he'll be pushing 70. Of course I realize it's not realistic to think... that Americans would elect a President and Vice President who stem from the two largest "blue states" in the country. I also recognize that it's doubtful - especially in an imperfect world that is still faced with anti-Semitism and bigotry of all kinds - that two Jews would be elected President and Vice President. But for me...I'd be grinning from coast to coast.
But let's go back to that..."perfect world"...that I mentioned at the outset of this column. In that perfect world, the then-Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, James Comey, would not have written that infamous bombshell letter to Congress on October 28th, 2016, which stated that the FBI had discovered new e-mails from Hillary Clinton that may be "pertinent" to the Bureau's probe concerning her private server. The fact is, those e-mails were duplicates of ones that were previously investigated by the FBI and there was no reason for Comey to pen such a memo.
In a perfect world...Comey would have adhered to the Department of Justice's policy, which explicitly prohibits employees of the DOJ - which oversees the FBI - from not only interfering with any election, but avoiding the appearance of interfering with any election.
It was in August 2008 when President George W. Bush's Attorney General, Michael Mukasey, issued an internal correspondence to everyone in the Justice Department. In that memo, Mukasey wrote..."Simply put, politics must play no role in the decisions of federal investigators or prosecutors regarding any investigations or criminal charges. Law enforcement officers and prosecutors may never select the timing of investigative steps or criminal charges for the purpose of affecting any election, or for the purpose of giving an advantage or disadvantage to any candidate or political party. Such a purpose is inconsistent with the Department's mission and with the Principles of Federal Prosecution." President Barack Obama's Attorney General, Eric Holder re-sent the letter to DOJ staff in 2012. And while the Mukasey and Holder memos were titled..."Election Year Sensitivities"...the body of the letters did not specifically include a time frame from January to November. That said, however...the protocol - that had been previously followed - noted not filing cases or commenting on investigations in the 60 days before an election. Therefore, James Comey was wrong with his actions by writing his letter to Congress just eleven days before the 2016 election. And that mistake eventually cost Comey his job. After all...since Hillary Clinton did not win the presidency...Comey was fired by Donald Trump on May 9th.
But why was Comey fired? That question is still being argued by Americans all across the nation. There are allegations by millions of people throughout the United States - especially by some lawmakers on Capitol Hill - that Comey was dismissed because Trump was a possible subject - perhaps a prime subject - in the FBI probe.
On Monday, May 22nd, The Washington Post reported that Trump tried to persuade Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats to publicly pulverize allegations of links between Trump, his campaign and Russia. The Washington Post also says Trump approached the Director of the National Security Agency Michael Rogers to announce to the nation that there is no evidence of collusion between Trump and Russia. Therefore, these alleged requests by Trump - along with the firing of James Comey as FBI Director - open the door to possible obstruction of justice charges against Donald Trump...and the demise of his presidency.
If Trump did terminate Comey to quash the entire Russian investigation... his plan has now backfired. There is no doubt in my mind that former FBI Director Bob Mueller - who is now on board as Special Counsel to oversee the Justice Department's probe - will connect the dots between Russia and anyone who might have colluded with Putin and his pals...to poison Hillary Clinton's chances of winning our presidential election. And now...with Trump's son-in-law and Senior Adviser Jared Kushner being under "FBI scrutiny"...we - as a country - will find out if Kushner...and/or former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn...and/or anybody else in the Trump campaign - including Donald Trump himself - were involved in a conspiracy with Russia.
On Tuesday, May 23rd, the former Director of the CIA, John Brennan, testified before the House Intelligence Committee. He was asked by Republican Representative Trey Gowdy of South Carolina if "evidence exist(s)...of collusion, coordination, conspiracy...between the Trump campaign and Russian state actors... at the time you learned of 2016 efforts?" Brennan's response is chilling. "I encountered and am aware of information and intelligence that revealed contacts and interactions between Russian officials and U.S. persons involved in the Trump campaign that I was concerned about because of known Russian efforts to suborn such individuals and it raised questions in my mind, again, whether or not the Russians were able to gain the cooperation of those individuals." Brennan went on to say..."I know that there was a sufficient basis of information and intelligence that required further investigation by the Bureau to determine whether or not U.S. persons were actively conspiring, colluding with Russian officials."
We are living through a tumultuous time...as we did about forty-four years ago. In what has been tagged "The Saturday Night Massacre"...on October 20th, 1973, President Richard Nixon fired the man at the helm of the Watergate investigation. But Nixon's dismissal of Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox blew up in our 37th President's face. Although Nixon had attempted to put a halt on the Watergate case, his efforts only made the scandal more intriguing to the American people and to two young reporters from The Washington Post named Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, who had been covering the Watergate story from the beginning. Strong public reaction to Cox's termination caused Nixon to appoint another Special Prosecutor. Less than a year later - on August 9th, 1974 - Nixon resigned in disgrace...before being impeached and removed from office by Congress...on what would have been charges of obstruction of justice. Sound familiar?
But Watergate didn't involve international espionage. Nor did Watergate involve treason. Both crimes, however, may end up being possible results when all is said and done with the investigation of the Trump White House...or possibly with Trump himself. Hopefully, Special Counsel Bob Mueller will come up with answers soon, as some Americans fear we are in danger of having to learn the words to the Russian national anthem.
The 2017 White House has become the biggest traveling circus since Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey. But "The Greatest Show On Earth" was entertaining and fun. And although Donald Trump thinks he is succeeding as America's ringmaster... instead...he's nothing more than Peck's bad boy.
A Quinnipiac Poll - released on Wednesday, May 24th - shows only 37 percent of Americans approve of Donald Trump as President...while just 31 percent feel Trump is level-headed. However...the icing on the cake is that 54 percent of people throughout the United States believe Trump is abusing the power of his office.
On Friday, May 26th, The Washington Post published another explosive story. The newspaper says - and I'm going to quote their reporters' article...word for word... "Jared Kushner and Russia's ambassador to Washington discussed the possibility of setting up a secret and secure communications channel between Trump's transition team and the Kremlin, using Russian diplomatic facilities in an apparent move to shield their pre-inauguration discussions from monitoring, according to U.S. officials briefed on intelligence reports." The Washington Post further reports that such a meeting was held on December 1st or 2nd, 2016 at Trump Tower in Manhattan...and that "Michael Flynn, Trump's first national security adviser" was also in attendance at that meeting. Such covert communications with a foreign adversary is shocking... especially when it allegedly involved the son-in-law and perhaps closest adviser to the President of the United States. The question remains - as it has for over six-and-a-half months since the election - how much did Donald Trump know...and when did he know it?
So will Kushner throw his daddy-in-law under the bus? Earlier reports - from Thursday, May 25th - by NBC News say "multiple U.S. officials" told the network's journalists that Kushner is believed to have "significant information relevant" to the FBI's criminal investigation in to ties between the Trump campaign and Russia. Always remember that Donald Trump was the centerpiece and boss of that campaign, so any probe has to also include him. Everything that has been disclosed this week by various news organizations come down to one thing. Playing hardball with Ivanka Trump's husband may be the way Bob Mueller and the FBI get to Donald Trump...and evidence that will either prove...or disprove...any illegal involvement with Russia by the elder Trump.
And that brings me back to Congressman Adam Schiff. This graduate of Stanford University and Harvard Law School is quickly becoming the face of the Democratic Party, as he is smack dab in the middle of the Trump/Russia investigation. I admit that he is not the most liberal of politicians. In fact, Schiff has Republican roots via his mother and maternal grandfather. Thus it may raise some of your eyebrows that I would express an interest in a Democrat who has a history of being a bit hawkish. But after some Independents and moderate Democrats decided to vote for Donald Trump - or not vote at all last year - it seems to me that if liberals and progressives like me are going to get The White House repainted with blue fringe...we need to focus on a candidate that will bring back those individuals who, in 2016, jumped the fence in to the red zone.
Beyond politics...Adam Schiff is a decent family man...apparently with strong morals. He and his wife, Eve, have two children - a daughter and a son. And yes...if Congressman Schiff runs for President and wins..."the first couple" of our country would be Adam and Eve. You can chuckle now.
After America has been punished with a President who is the most narcissistic and egotistical in our nation's history...I surely hope voters will want a leader again who - like Barack Obama - cares more about other people than himself. Donald Trump proved once more - on Thursday, May 25th - that, in his mind, he's better and more important than even other heads of state. If you haven't seen it yet, I suggest you go on-line and watch the video of Trump at the NATO summit in Brussels Belgium...when he pushed in front of other leaders...and shoved aside the Prime Minister of Montenegro so that "The Donald" could be center-stage for a group photo.
Adam Schiff's focus is to help the citizens of our country and to do the work that is necessary to accomplish such goals. Schiff is genuinely concerned about making life better for ALL Americans...not just for the wealthy...and certainly not just for himself. With the cancer that is Donald Trump...Adam Schiff may be the cure.
And that's The Controversy for today.
I'm Gary B. Duglin.
"We'll talk again."
The Controversy is a publication of
GBD Productions. Founder and Editor-In-Chief of The Controversy is Gary B.
Duglin.
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