Concerning “experience” for the job of POTUS

The issue of experience is interesting only because NOBODY has any when they take the oath of office as President for the first time. The real issue is what kind of experience makes the best president. 

In this, everyone is an expert. Business folk love the fact that Drumpf is one of their own, not a particularly great businessman, but can sell himself and "win." Liberals love Mr. Obama because of his experience as a community organizer, his Harvard law degree, his teaching of Constitutional law. 

The primary criterion should simply be, "Does the candidate have any bonifides as a public servant?" The office of the Presidency is, after all, the chance to serve the country and preserve and protect the constitution which guarantees the rights and liberties of us all. 

The danger of Mr. Drumpf's experience and that of the business types, moguls, and billionaires filling the jobs in the new administration, is simply that they have no experience in public service. They are great at capitalism, protecting the interests of their stockholders, and building their own wealth. That's a skill set that Mr. Drumpf is finding to be completely at odds with the job of President. Just holding the office will bring showers of cash to his holdings, enriching him and his family. This is unconstitutional.

Showers of cash, unfortunately for Mr. Drumpf, are the least of his problems. Even Rush Limbaugh has predicted the impeachment the new President. 

“They’ll be talking impeachment on day two, after the first Trump executive order.” 

Indeed the impeachment of Mr. Drumpf looks increasingly likely. Here's a list of impeachable offenses from Robert Reich:

• Taking money from foreign governments, in violation of Article I Section 9 of the Constitution.
• Colluding with a foreign power against the interests of the United States, considered treason.
• Using the presidency for private gain, in violation of federal law (5 Code of Federal Regulations 2635.702).
• Seeking to intimidate critics, in violation of the First Amendment.
• Undermining the freedom and independence of the press, in violation of the First Amendment.
• Attacking freedom of religion, in violation of the First Amendment.
• Undermining the rule of law through arbitrary and capricious statements and orders, in violation of the Due Process clause of the First Amendment.
• Suppressing the votes of minorities, in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment. 

Let the impeachment process begin. 

More work to do...


Brent Holl 

When is the President to be believed?

How important is it to believe what the President says?  Do we listen to his speeches and expect him to deliver on promises he makes? Do we listen to his words and expect them to be meaningful and true? Not according to Cory Lewandowski, a spokesman of the next President.

“This is the problem with the media. You guys took everything that Donald Trump said so literally,” Lewandowski said. “The American people didn’t. They understood it. They understood that sometimes — when you have a conversation with people, whether it’s around the dinner table or at a bar — you’re going to say things, and sometimes you don’t have all the facts to back it up.”

I suggest the media ignore the reality show that Mr. Trump expects to star in as President, or at minimum consign it to the Entertainment section of the news. Go straight to the policy makers he is choosing for his administration. Take him at his word that he will only go out and “make America great again” by basking in the glow of his followers at rallies around the country. Because Mr. Trump is not to be taken literally, the media must begin to dig a little deeper and report the machinations of the new administration from the actions and policies of those who have been delegated to govern. 

Mr. Trump should be treated as a figure head, a puppet, a pretty face to be trotted out at rallies as a rock star and summarily ignored. The media should take it’s collective eye off the shiny object attracting all the attention and concentrate on what is actually affecting the citizens of this great country. Will they?

Will they report on the cabinet that is starting to look like a Goldman Sachs board meeting?  Will they dig deep to find problems with the new Secretary of Education, a billionaire supporter of privatization who wants to gut public education? Will they look at the head of Health and Human Services who famously challenged the media to find even one woman who couldn’t afford an abortion? How about the new CIA director, Mike Pompeo, who would be happy to criminalize muslims across the country and torture suspected terrorists in violation of US and international law?

The media is in trouble. Nothing like this has ever happened in our country. We don’t have a leader, we have a corporate structure with a CEO. The CEO has delegated the sausage making of governance to his lieutenants. The media must learn to adapt and report on what is really happening in the government. Our country is at stake. 

Brent Holl - beatinpath@mac.com

Instead of an Olive Branch, Mr. Buchanan offers a "War."

I'm pissed. The editorial page  of today's local paper was given over (Viewpoint, 11/25) to one of the most notorious white supremacists in politics, Mr. Patrick "Pat" Buchanan. Mr. Buchanan doesn’t get much media attention anymore because of his racist rants. His forum has been limited to fringe websites populated by fellow ideologues. It's not surprising that he feels embattled as I'm sure that he feels the weight of history bearing down on him heavier than ever. His call for the losing side who didn’t vote for the winning candidate (the conceited cultural elite) to “accept its defeat” is disingenuous as is his cry of "arrogance."

The statement Mr. Buchanan referred to from the cast of the musical Hamilton was respectful and pointed out the diversity of America and the very real concern that the new administration is not showing much interest in protecting the rights of all citizens. For Mr Buchanan, and now the DNR Editor as well, any such dissent is a treasonous war cry. The Left (74% of the electorate, 49% of whom never bothered to vote because of the poisonous political environment) should just “get over it.” 

Look, everyone knows how the Electoral College works. Mr. Trump won by a razor thin margin. I don’t hear anyone really debating this except some fringe lefties whose job it is to raise such alarms. As to getting over it? I think Mr. Buchanan is correct, the Trump Administration is in for a battle. A newly energized left is just getting started.  It would be good for Mr. Buchanan and friends to remember that Mr. Trump was elected by 26.3% of the electorate, not even a plurality.

An historical model might be the Clinton administration was also brought into office by 26.3% of the electorate. The key differences are that Mr. Clinton's was a strong plurality (5%) and that Mr. Clinton soon realized that he would need to bend to the will of the defeated minority in order to govern effectively. The results are well documented. The "loyal" opposition achieved some significant accomplishments but never acknowledged Mr. Clinton's legitimacy. With Mr. Clinton and the vociferously loyal opposition, it came to impeachment.  Mr. Trump should expect the same level of loyal opposition now. He and his fellows are not victims, they are the leadership of our country. Perhaps it is they who should be asked to "Get over it."

Brent Holl - beatinpath@mac.com