Donald
J. Trump has never had a real job. He
was born a child of privilege and has lived his entire life in that vein. What many common folks only dream of, Trump
has lived every day of his life. This
type of personal existence has led Trump to become what he is; an arrogant,
ego-driven, and totally selfish person with absolutely no degree of self
discipline. Having been the recipient of
perhaps the most perfect storm in American political history and as a result of
that storm, having found himself President; one would have hoped that he would
somehow begin to realize that he has, in fact, led a charmed life and all of
his good fortune was not the result of his innermost brilliance. Alas, that hope was futile.
Having
hired and discarded people for his Administration with a governance of whim and
chaos, he was once again smiled upon by good fortune when he persuaded William
Barr to accept the position of Attorney General. Barr is that rare WDC occupant who has no ox
to gore, no bank account to pad, no compunction to impress, and has no doubts
whatsoever about his allegiance to right and wrong. In other words, he is exactly what our nation needs in the person that is America’s chief
law enforcement officer. He really didn’t
need this gig. And having accepted and performed this job out
of dedication to this country and in an attempt to bring order to a federal
department wracked by corruption and incompetence; he now has to endure the
behavior of a President who is not qualified to carry his legal pad and
pen.
Having
taken a firm step in the direction of uncovering and addressing the partisan
rot that the Obama Administration had fostered in the Department of Justice,
Barr finds himself stymied by the very person who benefits the most from his
thoroughly professional and non-partisan execution of his duties. Trump is so consumed with his own narcissism that he cannot grasp the
fact that his single best friend in the whole wide world is….William Barr, U.S.
Attorney General. If Trump’s juvenile
personal behavior and tweeting fetish leads to Barr’s resignation, it will
likely be the biggest mistake of his brief and explosive political career. Any reasonable person can understand exactly
why Trump might feel the need to tweet out of frustration for the ridiculous
treatment his Administration has received from the Democrats, the Mainstream
Media, and the WDC Deep State. But justified frustration is no excuse for
reacting in a fashion that both encourages your opponent’s bad behavior and is
counter-productive to your policy goals.
The public persona that might be effective in the halls of Congress and
K Street has absolutely no place in the halls of justice. Those tactics simply don’t transfer well in this
instance.
Anyone
who has been paying attention to the WDC political environment and the
corruption that has run rampant in our government for decades cannot be
surprised at the multi-tiered system of justice doled out to those fortunate ones who have power and
influence and those unfortunate ones
who lack in one or the other or both.
Trump and Republicans are focusing on Obama Administration acolytes who
have thus far escaped reckoning for their subversive shenanigans and how their
fate compares to that of Michael Flynn and Roger Stone. There is a delicate balance to maintain
between the parallel pursuit of uniformity in sentencing and the role of
extenuating circumstances in the committing of a crime. While it is pretty clear that both Flynn and
Stone committed crimes and deserve some punishment; it is equally clear that
their prosecution equates to killing flies with sledgehammers.
This
maniacal and partisan form of justice is
maddening in and of itself; but the frustration level is shoved through the
roof when the excessive sentences handed to some of the aforementioned unfortunate ones is compared to the lack
of accountability allotted to the fortunate
ones. AG Barr is attempting to restore a
sense of ethics and professionalism to the Justice Department that will begin
to address this institutionalized miscarriage of justice that currently
exists. If he were to give up that
effort out of the frustrations he is experiencing from both his political
enemies and his White House superior,
it will be a historic loss for our government.
This is the right man for the right job at the right time. His independence and credibility are
essential to his success.
If
President Trump cannot find the semblance of restraint and good judgment
required to responsibly utilize his
tweeting platform and bully pulpit for the effective furtherance of his
policies and ideals; he needs to take a good portion of his much ballyhooed
personal wealth and hire a damn phone coach to keep tabs on him 24/7. It is one thing for our loud-mouthed
President to destroy his own political career through idiotic behavior; it is
much more critical to sabotage a serious effort by the AG towards moving our
government back to respectability.
Don’t
miss the next post!
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For
some very good perspective on exactly what is transpiring with Roger Stone,
Andrew McCabe, and William Barr these days; I recommend the following articles:
The
shameful double-standard: https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/483338-a-tale-of-two-lies-stone-mccabe-and-the-danger-of-a-double-standard-for
.
How
the Resist Trump movement has
infected the very pillars of our justice system: https://jonathanturley.org/2020/02/17/152579/#more-152579
.
A
common sense explanation of exactly how this type of travesty might occur in
our courts: https://www.nationalreview.com/podcasts/the-mccarthy-report/episode-72-the-absurd-roger-stone-controversy/
.
And
finally, why it is so very difficult to get good people to serve in our
government (unfortunately, this one is behind a pay paywall): https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-trials-of-bill-barr-11581637977
.
President
Trump’s erratic personal behavior serves the highly effective dual purposes of
endearing him greatly to his avid supporters and driving his opponents out
their ever-loving minds. But there is
another effect from this cavalier attitude that flaunts the principles of
leadership and civility. That effect is
the unquestioned erosion it entails on the office of the Presidency. If Trump cannot somehow come to understand
the difference between his personal
behavior and his professional
behavior; that erosion will have serious consequences for both he and our
nation. He has been a lucky man to have
lived with the freedom to say and do just about whatever he chooses whenever he
chooses. When he decided to accept the
Presidential oath of office, he voluntarily
put limits on that freedom. He must now
come to terms with the necessity of differentiating between his off the clock personal behavior and his on the clock Presidential behavior. The rules that apply to one do not apply to
the other. Hire good people; then get
out the way and let them do their jobs.
As
long as times are good and his policies seem to be constructive and positive,
the American public will support a President and forgive their questionable
personal behavior (i.e. William Jefferson
Clinton). But the moment a crack
appears in the wisdom of those policies or the economy begins to exhibit leaks
around the edges; the American voters will turn on their President in a moment. What was once acceptable behavior in the quest
for better times will become a reason to limit an undisciplined ego-maniac to a
single term as Chief Executive.
A
quick observation on Trump’s use of Presidential pardons or commutations: He has not changed his stripes. As far back as I can see, Donald Trump has
promoted prison and sentencing reform. A
reasonable person can take issue with either side of this subject; but it is
patently unfair to paint Trump as a Johnny
Come Lately to this argument. He has
been, and remains, a strong advocate of justice reform in the areas of prison
sentencing and those who use his recent actions in those policies to attack him
are being deceptive at best and blatantly dishonest at worst. Furthermore, his executive actions in this
area have demonstrated absolutely no bias on the basis of race, income, or
social status. Take him or leave him on
this matter; he is what he is.
I
continue to believe that our government is larger than any of the inherent
problems it faces in today’s tumultuous political environment. But of all the negative issues we face today
in the administration of our nation’s business, chief among them is the miscarriage and abuse of power we have
witnessed in our justice system. When
citizens lose faith in a system of fair and equal justice for all, terrible consequences will
follow. As I have stated many times
before…power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. The most recent episode of corruption in the
Department of Justice brings our nation as close to governmental tyranny as
anything since the Nixon Administration.
The fact is that Obama chillingly accomplished
what Nixon was attempting to do. President Trump needs to leave the DOJ to
William Barr and focus on keeping the rest of the train on the tracks.
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