“President Trump”

Objecting to the Conduct of the President of the United States.

Objecting to the Conduct of the President of the United States.

115TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. RES. ll

Objecting to the conduct of the President of the United States.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Mr. COHEN submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the

RESOLUTION

Objecting to the conduct of the President of the United States.

Whereas, on January 20, 2017, Donald J. Trump swore to

‘‘faithfully execute the Office of President of the United

States’’ and to ‘‘preserve, protect and defend the Constitution

of the United States.’’;

 

Whereas the Constitution prohibits Federal office holders

from accepting emoluments of any kind from a foreign

state without the consent of Congress;

 

Whereas President Trump has refused to divest, place into a

blind trust, or otherwise give up his ownership interest in

his worldwide business holdings since becoming President;

Whereas President Trump has refused to release his tax returns,

in a break from the practice of United States

Presidents for more than 40 years;

 

Whereas, on February 14, 2017, the Chinese Government

registered a trademark to Donald John Trump for branded

construction services, following a 10-year legal battle

that turned in Donald John Trump’s favor after he declared

his candidacy for President of the United States;

 

Whereas, on February 27, 2017, and March 6, 2017, the

Chinese Government granted preliminary approval of 38

new trademarks to Donald John Trump and one of his

companies, and the director of a Hong Kong intellectual

property consultancy said he had never seen so many applications

approved so expeditiously, and the approvals

closely followed President Trump’s decision to honor the

one-China policy, in contrast to his earlier statements;

 

Whereas President Trump did not first seek or obtain the

consent of Congress before accepting any of these trademark

benefits from China;

 

Whereas President Trump owns approximately 77 percent of

the Trump Old Post Office LLC, which holds a lease

from the General Services Administration to operate the

Trump International Hotel in Washington, DC;

 

Whereas the Trump International Hotel in Washington, DC

has actively courted foreign diplomats for their business

and, according to public reports since the November 2016

election, diplomats have made plans to stay at the hotel

to curry favor with Donald John Trump and, whereas,

some diplomats have said spending money at Trump’s

hotel is an easy, friendly gesture to the new President;

Whereas, in late January 2017, a lobbying firm working for

the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia paid for a room at the

Trump International Hotel in Washington, DC, after Inauguration

Day as part of its effort to bring activists to

Washington to urge Congress to repeal the law letting 9/

11 victims’ families sue the Kingdom;

 

Whereas the Trump International Hotel in Washington, DC,

has reportedly taken in $270,000 in payments tied to

Saudi Arabia for expenses including lodging, catering,

and parking expenses;

 

Whereas, on February 22, 2017, the Embassy of Kuwait held

its National Day Celebration at Trump International

Hotel Washington, DC;

 

Whereas, on or about April 6, 2017, the Ambassador and

Permanent Representative of Georgia to the United Nations

stayed at Trump International Hotel in Washington,

DC;

 

Whereas President Trump did not first seek or obtain the

consent of Congress before accepting any of the benefits

from foreign states derived from their patronage of the

Trump International Hotel in Washington, DC;

 

Whereas President Trump owns Trump Tower, a mixed-use

skyscraper in New York City and at least two tenants of

Trump Tower are entities owned by foreign states, including—

(1) the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China,

which is owned by China; and

(2) Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority, which

is owned by the United Arab Emirates;

 

Whereas President Trump did not first seek or obtain the

consent of Congress before accepting any of the benefits

from foreign states derived from their patronage of the

Trump Tower in New York City;

 

Whereas President Trump owns Trump World Tower in New

York City and whereas, in 2001, the Kingdom of Saudi

Arabia purchased a floor of Trump World Tower and the

floor currently belongs to the Saudi Mission to the

United Nations;

 

Whereas President Trump has not sought or obtained the

consent of Congress for any benefits he has received,

such as monthly assessments, from Saudi Arabia due to

its use of Trump World Tower in New York City;

 

Whereas President Trump is an executive producer of ‘‘The

Apprentice’’ and the state-owned television station BBC

One in the United Kingdom pays licensing fees to broadcast

the show;

 

Whereas President Trump has not sought or obtained the

consent of Congress before accepting benefits from the

United Kingdom, or any other foreign government, in the

form of licensing fees for ‘‘The Apprentice.’’;

 

Whereas President Trump’s travel to resorts in which he has

an ownership interest, such as Mar-a-Lago in Palm

Beach, Florida, the Trump National Golf Club in

Bedminster, New Jersey, and the Trump National Golf

Club in Sterling, Virginia, costs taxpayers millions of dollars

while such resorts receive the benefit of publicity;

 

Whereas President Trump appointed Retired Lieutenant

General Michael Flynn to serve as National Security Advisor;

Whereas, on January 26, 2017, Acting Attorney General

Sally Yates warned White House Counsel Don McGahn

that National Security Advisor Flynn had misled Vice

President Mike Pence about his communications with

Russian Ambassador to the United States, Sergey

Kislyak, and that, as a result, Flynn was at risk of being

blackmailed by the Russians;

 

Whereas Flynn was not asked to resign from the Administration

until February 13, 2017;

 

Whereas, on January 27, 2017, President Trump invited

FBI Director James Comey to a one-on-one dinner at the

White House, during which he told Director Comey he

needed loyalty;

 

Whereas, on February 14, 2017, President Trump told Director

James Comey, ‘‘I hope you can see your way clear

to letting this go, to letting Flynn go,’’ and, ‘‘He is a

good guy. I hope you can let this go.’’;

 

Whereas, on March 20, 2017, Director James Comey testified

before Congress that the FBI was investigating Russian

interference with the 2016 United States Presidential

election and whether there was any collusion with

the Trump campaign;

 

Whereas, on May 9, 2017, while the FBI was investigating

whether there was any collusion between the Trump campaign

and Russia, President Trump fired FBI Director

James Comey;

 

Whereas in his letter informing Director James Comey that

he was being terminated, President Trump said, ‘‘While

I greatly appreciate you informing me, on three separate

occasions, that I am not under investigation, I nevertheless

concur with the judgment of the Department of Justice

that you are not able to effectively lead the Bureau.’’;

Whereas, on May 12, 2017, while speaking in a nationally

televised interview about his decision to fire Director

James Comey, President Trump said, ‘‘And in fact when

I decided to just do it, I said to myself, I said you know,

this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made up

story, it’s an excuse by the Democrats for having lost an

election that they should have won.’’;

 

Whereas, according to a published report, President Trump

told Russian officials, ‘‘I just fired the head of the FBI.

He was crazy, a real nut job. . . I faced great pressure

because of Russia. That’s taken off.’’;

 

Whereas, on May 12, 2017, President Trump tweeted,

‘‘James Comey better hope that there are no ‘tapes’ of

our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!’’;

 

Whereas, on June 22, 2017, President Trump tweeted, ‘‘With

all of the recently reported electronic surveillance, intercepts

unmasking and illegal leaking of information,  I

have no idea . . . whether there are ‘tapes’ or recordings

of my conversations with James Comey, but I did not

make, and do not have, any such recordings’’;

 

Whereas, on March 4, 2017, President Trump tweeted, ‘‘Terrible!

Just found out that Obama had my ‘wires tapped’

in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found.

This is McCarthyism!’’ and, ‘‘How low has President

Obama gone to tap my phones during the very sacred

election process. This is Nixon/Watergate. Bad (or sick)

guy!’’;

 

Whereas, on March 20, 2017, at a hearing of the Permanent

Select Committee on Intelligence of the House of Representatives,

both FBI Director James Comey and National

Security Agency Director Mike Rogers both denied

there was any information supporting President Trump’s

allegation that President Obama had wiretapped President

Trump;

 

Whereas, on May 10, 2017, while hosting Russian Foreign

Minister Sergey Lavrov and Russian Ambassador to the

United States Sergey Kislyak at the White House, President

Trump revealed highly classified ‘‘code-word’’ level

information to Ambassador Kislyak, concerning information

from a United States intelligence partner;

 

Whereas President Trump prohibited American press from

witnessing his May 10, 2017, meeting with Russian Foreign

Minister Sergey Lavrov and Russian Ambassador to

the United States Sergey Kislyak at the White House,

but allowed a Russian photographer to have access;

 

Whereas, on April 29, 2017, while speaking by telephone with

Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte, President Trump

revealed that the United States had two nuclear submarines

near North Korea;

 

Whereas, in February 2017, while President Trump hosted

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at his Mar-a-Lago

Club, President Trump discussed a ballistic missile test

by North Korea in an unsecured dining terrace in view

of club dining patrons;

 

Whereas President Trump has appointed his son-in-law,

Jared Kushner, to serve as an envoy to foreign leaders,

despite having no diplomatic experience;

Whereas United States foreign policy has long been based on

both our nation’s interest as well as our values, including

democracy, freedom of the press, and promotion of

human rights;

 

Whereas, on April 3, 2017, when speaking about Egyptian

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, President Trump said,

‘‘We agreed on so many things. I just want to let everybody

know, in case there was any doubt, that we are very

much behind President al-Sisi. He’s done a fantastic job

in a very difficult situation.’’;

 

Whereas President al-Sisi rose to power in a coup, and in his

country antigovernment protests have been banned, freedom

of press and freedom of religion have been repressed,

some independent human rights groups have

been banned, and it has been estimated that 60,000 political

prisoners have been detained;

 

Whereas, on April 29, 2017, President Trump invited Philippines

President Rodrigo Duterte to visit him at the

White House, despite the fact that Duterte has been accused

of extrajudicial killings of drug suspects;

 

Whereas, on March 17, 2017, President Trump refused to

shake German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s hand in an

Oval Office meeting;

 

Whereas, on May 25, 2017, President Trump pushed aside

Montenegro Prime Minister Dusko Markovic in order to

move to the front of a group of NATO leaders;

 

Whereas President Trump has been slow to fill critical diplomatic

posts including the United States Ambassadors to

Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, and other State

Department positions that are vital to our nation’s security;

 

Whereas, on January 27, 2017, President Trump issued an

executive order that banned nationals from seven Muslim-

majority countries from entering the United States

for at least 90 days, banned admission of all refugees for

four months, indefinitely blocked refugees from Syria,

and contained language prioritizing the admission of non-

Muslims from majority Muslim nations;

 

Whereas, on January 31, 2017, Homeland Security Secretary

John Kelly said, ‘‘This is not a travel ban . . . This is

not – I repeat, not – a ban on Muslims. . .’’;

 

Whereas, on January 31, 2017, White House Press Secretary

Sean Spicer said, ‘‘First of all, it’s not a travel ban.’’;

 

Whereas, on February 3, 2017, U.S. District Court Judge

James Robart in the state of Washington blocked implementation

of the travel ban nationwide;

 

Whereas, on February 9, 2017, a three-judge panel of the

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled against

reinstating the travel ban;

 

Whereas, on March 6, 2017, President Trump issued a revised

executive order that removed Iraq from the list of

nations from which immigration would be temporarily

banned, and no longer contained language indefinitely

banning Syrian refugees or calling for prioritized admission

for non-Muslims fleeing majority Muslim nations;

Whereas, on March 15, 2017, U.S. District Court Judge Derrick

Watson in the state of Hawaii blocked implementation

of President Trump’s revised executive order, noting

that when Mr. Trump was asked during the presidential

campaign if he was pulling back from a ‘‘Muslim ban,’’

Mr. Trump said, ‘‘I don’t think it’s a rollback. In fact,

you could say it’s an expansion. I‘m looking now at territories.

People were so upset when I used the word Muslim.

Oh, you can’t use the word Muslim. Remember this.

And I’m okay with that, because I’m talking about territory

instead of Muslim.’’;

Whereas Judge Watson also noted that Senior White House

Advisor Stephen Miller had told Fox News that the revised

executive order would have the ‘‘same basic policy

outcome for the country,’’ and that Rudolph Giuliani had

explained the origin of the original executive order by

saying, ‘‘When øMr. Trump¿ first announced it, he said

‘Muslim ban.’ He called me up. He said, ‘Put a commission

together. Show me the right way to do it legally.’ ’’;

 

Whereas, on May 25, 2017, the U.S. Court of Appeals for

the Fourth Circuit upheld a preliminary injunction blocking

President Trump’s revised executive order, saying it

‘‘drips with religious intolerance, animus, and discrimination.’’;

Whereas, on June 5, 2017, President Trump tweeted, ‘‘People,

the lawyers and courts can call it whatever they

want, but I am calling it what we need and what it is,

a TRAVEL BAN!’’;

 

Whereas, on June 26, 2017, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed

to hear a challenge by the Trump Administration to rulings

blocking full implementation of the President’s revised

executive order;

 

Whereas, on June 29, 2017, President Trump tweeted, ‘‘I

heard poorly rated @MorninglJoe speaks badly of me

(don’t watch anymore). Then how come low I.Q. Crazy

Mika, along with Psycho Joe, came…to Mar-a-Lago 3

nights in a row around New Year’s Eve, and insisted on

joining me. She was bleeding badly from a face-lift. I said

no!’’;

 

Whereas, in a February 4, 2017, tweet, President Trump referred

to a Federal judge with whom he disagreed as a

‘‘so-called judge’’;

Whereas, in a May 9, 2017, President Trump referred to the

United States Senate Minority Leader as ‘‘Cryin’ Chuck

Schumer’’ in a tweet;

 

Whereas, on April 28, 2017, President Trump referred to

United States Senator Elizabeth Warren as ‘‘Pocahontas’’

in a speech to the National Rifle Association;

 

Whereas President Trump has called press reports, ‘‘fake

news’’ and in some instances his administration has prohibited

video recordings of White House press briefings;

 

Whereas President Trump used Twitter to circulate a video

of him violently wrestling a man covered by a CNN logo,

which, according to the Reporters Committee on Freedom

of the Press, was a ‘‘threat of physical violence against

journalists . . øand¿ beneath the office of the presidency.’’;

 

Whereas free and fair elections are the cornerstone of our democracy;

Whereas, on January 6, 2017, the Office of the Director of

National Intelligence detailed Russian efforts to influence

the 2016 Presidential election, stating, ‘‘We assess Russian

President Vladimir Putin ordered an influence campaign

in 2016 aimed at the U.S. presidential election.

Russia’s goals were to undermine public faith in the U.S.

democratic process, denigrate Secretary Clinton, and

harm her electability and potential presidency. We further

assess Putin and the Russian Government developed

a clear preference for President-elect Trump.’’;

 

Whereas President Trump has refused to acknowledge, unequivocally,

that Russia meddled in the 2016 Presidential

election, saying, instead, things like ‘‘I think it very well

could be Russia but I think it could very well have been

other countries. . . I think a lot of people interfere.’’;

 

Whereas, on June 6, 2017, while on foreign soil, President

Trump criticized former President Obama, saying, ‘‘The

thing I have to mention is that Barack Obama when he

was President found out about this in terms of if it were

Russia, found out about it in August, now the election

was in November, that’s a lot of time he did nothing

about it. Why did he do nothing about it? He was told

it was Russia by the CIA as I understand it . . . I think

what happened was that he thought that Hillary Clinton

was going to win the election and he said let’s not do

anything about it.’’;

 

Whereas President Obama issued repeated warnings to Russian

officials, including a direct warning to Russian

President Vladimir Putin, approved a cyberwarfare campaign

against Russia, and expelled Russian diplomats

from the United States;

 

Whereas, on July 9, 2017, President Trump tweeted, ‘‘Putin

& I discussed forming an impenetrable Cyber Security

unit so that election hacking, & many other negative

things, will be guarded. . .’’;

 

Whereas President Trump has not empaneled a commission

to investigate Russian interference with the 2016 United

States Presidential election, but has empaneled a commission

to investigate unfounded claims that there were

as many as 5,000,000 fraudulent votes in the United

States Presidential election, which President Trump has

claimed cost him the popular vote;

 

Whereas, on June 29, 2017, the United States Senate passed

S. 722, the Countering Iran’s Destabilizing Activities Act

of 2017, which included sanctions on Russia, by a vote

of 98–2;

 

Whereas President Trump’s Administration has sought

changes to S. 722 to make it more friendly to Russia;

Whereas, on June 1, 2017, President Trump pulled out of

the Paris Climate Agreement, a historic pact among

nearly 200 parties, including Russia and China, to reduce

emissions that raise global temperatures, put lives and

property at risk, and imperil the planet upon which we

live, and, Syria and Nicaragua were the only nations that

did not sign the Paris Agreement, and Nicaragua objected

because it felt the agreement did not go far

enough;

 

Whereas 97 percent of climate scientists agree that human

activity has impacted climate change;

 

Whereas, on May 28, 2017, after transatlantic meetings, German

Chancellor Angela Merkel concluded that President

Trump was not the kind of traditionally reliable partner

for Germany and Europe on whom they have been able

to depend in the past, saying that traditional alliances

were no longer as steadfast. Merkel stated that Europe

should, ‘‘really take our fate into our own hands . . .’’

and said, ‘‘The times in which we could rely fully on others

– they are somewhat over.’’;

 

Whereas President Trump’s opposition to the Paris Climate

Agreement put the United States at odds on climate

change with the rest of the G–20 at its July 2017 meeting

in Hamburg, Germany;

 

Whereas President Trump failed to secure an international

agreement at the July 2017 G–20 meeting to counter the

threat posed by a nuclear-armed North Korea;

Whereas President Trump’s first cabinet appointments had

the smallest percentage of women and nonwhites combined

than any since President Reagan;

 

Whereas the gender pay gap at President Trump’s White

House is more than double the national pay gap;

 

Whereas, on January 21, 2017, President Trump’s spokesperson

said, ‘‘Photographs of the inaugural proceedings

were intentionally framed in a way, in one particular

Tweet, to minimize the enormous support that had gathered

on the National Mall . . . That was the largest audience

to witness an inauguration, period. Both in person

and around the globe.’’;

 

Whereas in support of his assertion about the inaugural

crowd size, President Trump’s spokesperson said, ‘‘We

know that 420,000 people used DC Metro public transit

yesterday, which compares to 317,000 that it used for

President Obama’s last inaugural,’’ but transit officials

said that 570,557 riders used the transit system on January

20, 2017, as compared with 1.1 million trips the

day of President Obama’s first inauguration and 782,000

trips the day of President Obama’s second inauguration;

Whereas, on February 16, 2017, President Trump said his

2016 election victory was, ‘‘the biggest electoral college

win since Ronald Reagan’’;

 

Whereas Donald J. Trump received 304 electoral votes in

2016;

 

Whereas Barrack Obama received 332 electoral votes in

2012, and 365 electoral votes in 2008;

 

Whereas Bill Clinton received 379 electoral votes in 1996,

and 370 electoral votes in 1992;

 

Whereas George H. W. Bush received 426 electoral votes in

1988; and

Whereas when President Trump was presented with facts

about the size of his predecessors’ electoral victory margins

at a press conference on February 16, 2017, he responded,

‘‘I don’t know, I was given that information. I

actually, I’ve seen that information around.’’: Now, therefore,

be it

 

1 Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Rep2

resentatives that—

3 (1) based on the conduct described in the pre4

amble, the House of Representatives has no con5

fidence that President Trump is faithfully executing

6 the office of President of the United States; and

7 (2) President Trump should—

8 (A) release his tax returns;

9 (B) place his private business assets in a

10 blind trust or to divest from them;

11 (C) donate to the United States Treasury,

12 as he promised, any personal profit he has

13 made from foreign patronage of hotels in which

14 he has an ownership interest;

15 (D) refrain from taking any action that re16

sults in taxpayer money being spent on goods

17 or services from businesses in which he has an

18 ownership interest, such as Mar-a-Lago in Palm

19 Beach, Florida, the Trump National Golf Club

16

1 in Bedminster, New Jersey, and the Trump Na2

tional Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia;

3 (E) seek congressional consent for any and

4 all emoluments he has received from foreign

5 countries;

6 (F) refrain from using Twitter inappropri7

ately, including refraining from posting com8

ments that could adversely impact United

9 States foreign policy;

10 (G) support the First Amendment, support

11 freedom of the press, refrain from calling re12

porting ‘‘fake news’’, refrain from posting video

13 of himself wrestling with a press logo, and stop

14 limiting full electronic press access to White

15 House press briefings;

16 (H) promote democracy, freedom of the

17 press, and human rights in foreign policy;

18 (I) unequivocally acknowledge that Russia

19 interfered in the 2016 United States Presi20

dential election, and work to protect our elec21

toral process from any future foreign inter22

ference;

Source:  https://cohen.house.gov/sites/cohen.house.gov/files/documents/Resolution%20of%20No%20Confidence%20in%20Donald%20J.%20Trump.pdf

 

Published September 26,2020

Evangelicals Pro Life Stance vs President Trump’s Inaction

Evangelicals Pro Life Stance vs President Trump’s Inaction

Opinion

A lot of politics is dealing with values of one group and trade offs against another group.  Not only politicians but also the American public have to deal with weighing the interests of one group and maybe not another group.

Let us take brief snapshots of past and current political actions of national party members and their followers and possibly reveal the advantage for some but hurt, if any, for the “other” group.

The evangelicals believe in pro-life or banning abortions.   The reason?  To support the right to life of the unborn child.  This same group support Donald Trump who has allegedly failed to protect thousands of American citizens by his alleged incompetence at helping to fight the pandemic.  So we save how many expected babies come to life from the possible actions of a political group?   And then we see older people die, up to 120,000 from Trump’s inaction. 

Do you see the contradiction for the evangelicals that they support life and also death?

 

 

Posted September 22, 2020

Wall Street Journal Opinion “I Was Never Trump. Not Anymore.”

Wall Street Journal Opinion “I Was Never Trump. Not Anymore.”

I Was Never Trump. Not Anymore.

He has weaknesses, but his presidency has been successful.

By Michael I. Krauss

This opinion piece appeared in the September 3, 2020, print edition as ‘I Was Never Trump. Not Anymore.’

This opinion piece can also be found here:  https://www.wsj.com/articles/i-was-never-trump-not-anymore-11599087108

The Wall Street Journal offers good news reporting but their opinion section appears to be flawed.  

“… nearly 300 of The Journal’s news staff members sent a letter to the paper’s publisher, Almar Latour, condemning the opinion desk’s “lack of fact-checking and transparency.”

Following is just one example showing the problem that the WSJ has with their opinion section:

Claim:  the president has performed his duties and genuinely tried to keep his promises.

Answer: 

Over all? I think it is fair to say that he has in many respects tried to follow through on what he campaigned on, keeping in mind that his platform was unusually confused and contradictory. But I don’t think there’s any reason to believe that he’s anything special when it comes to keeping or at least trying to keep promises, and given his rambling campaign rhetoric, my guess is that he probably gave worse hints about his policy direction in the White House than most.

He is, however, unusually good at pointing out explicitly when he is acting in accord with his campaign rhetoric. That’s a real skill, and he deserves at least a bit of credit for it.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/22/opinion/trump-promises-campaign-2016.html

Claim:  He not only insisted that immigration conform to the rule of law, but advocated for and (where legally permitted) built a border wall.

Answer:

Why the Trump administration’s anti-immigration policies are the United States’ loss and the rest of the world’s gain

1. These actions will motivate companies to move jobs out of the U.S.

2. Entrepreneurial immigrants will start businesses outside of the U.S.

3. Investors will seek investment opportunities elsewhere.

https://www.brookings.edu/blog/up-front/2020/07/20/why-the-trump-administrations-anti-immigration-policies-are-the-united-states-loss-and-the-rest-of-the-worlds-gain/

 

Claim: The president has appointed more than 200 federal judges, most of whom are superb and committed to finding the law, not making it up.

Answer: 

Trump’s high appointment numbers reflect not only an accommodating, filibuster-free Senate but also the over 100 vacancies that McConnell gave him by his unprecedented refusal to confirm more than only a handful of nominees in Obama’s final two years.

https://www.brookings.edu/blog/fixgov/2020/06/26/trumps-200th-judicial-appointment-less-than-meets-the-eye/

——-

“They are largely white and male,” said Vanita Gupta, who runs the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. “It is an astonishing lack of representation.”

“These are far more extreme judges than even President George W. Bush put on the bench, and we’re moving in the wrong direction,”

https://www.npr.org/2020/07/02/886285772/trump-and-mcconnell-via-swath-of-judges-will-affect-u-s-law-for-decades

Claim: He has followed through on his promise to reduce taxes and to begin deregulating the economy, creating a remarkable boom that reduced unemployment for minorities to the lowest rates ever recorded.

Answer:

where Trump goes too far is in touting this economy as the “best ever” and trying to portray the end of the Obama era as dire and himself as the hero flying in on the Trump jet to save the day. He has taken steps such as tax cuts to keep the economy growing and increase competitiveness, but he’s also inflicted pain. His tariffs have hurt U.S. manufacturing and agriculture. And his tax cuts and increased government spending have added substantially to the national debt.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/02/04/trump-touts-his-economy-best-ever-data-is-more-mixed/

Claim: the president promoted a historic peace agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates.

Answer:

But the agreement generated an immediate backlash in the region from opposite sides of the ideological spectrum. At least some Israeli settlers and their political allies were disappointed that Mr. Netanyahu would give up his plan to claim sovereignty over West Bank territory, while Palestinians felt abandoned by an Arab nation leaving them to remain locked in an untenable status quo even without the threat of annexation.

“This is a black day in the history of Palestine,” Ahmad Majdalani, a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization’s Executive Committee, said in an interview shortly before the Palestinian ambassador to the Emirates was recalled in protest. “This agreement is a total departure from the Arab consensus. The Palestinian people have not authorized anyone to make concessions to Israel in exchange for anything.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/13/us/politics/trump-israel-united-arab-emirates-uae.html?auth=login-google

Claim:  He formally recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and moved the U.S. Embassy there (as former presidents promised to do but never did).

Answer:

But none of the previous presidents followed through — one reason being that the move would appear to put the US squarely on the side of Israel.

As the country that has led the Israeli-Palestinian peace process negotiations for the past 25 years, the US is “supposed to be acting like the fireman,” he said. “Instead, we’re acting like the arsonist — we’re making things worse.”

The embassy move could also make the chances of a peace deal, already remote given that the two sides haven’t held serious peace talks in years, nearly impossible.

https://www.vox.com/2018/5/14/17340798/jerusalem-embassy-israel-palestinians-us-trump

Claim: Mr. Trump withdrew from the disastrous Iran nuclear deal, the signing of which was possibly the single worst act of the Obama presidency.

Answer:

British Prime Minister Theresa May, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged the U.S. to “do everything possible to preserve the gains for nuclear non-proliferation brought about” by the agreement “by allowing for a continued enforcement of its main elements.”

https://www.npr.org/2018/05/08/609383603/trump-u-s-will-withdraw-from-iran-nuclear-deal

Claim:The president eliminated Iranian terrorist mastermind Qasem Soleimani, essentially crushed ISIS, and neutralized its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

Answer:

NO Contradictions found

Claim: He signed the Taylor Force Act into law, cutting off aid to the Palestinian Authority as long as it pays support to the families of terrorists.

Answer: 

NO Contradictions found

Claim:  Mr. Trump recognized that a cold war exists with China, and he has taken concrete steps to counter that country’s efforts to weaken our republic.

Answer:

Nearly four years later, none of these goals have been realized, and it is hard to think of a single aspect of Sino-American relations that has evolved favorably for the United States.

https://warontherocks.com/2020/07/what-should-come-after-trumps-failed-china-policy/

Claim: signed an executive order combating anti-Semitism on college campuses.

Answer:

But not all Jewish organizations or activists celebrated the announcement.

Jewish Democratic Council of America executive director Halie Soifer instead attacked the president and said “he is partially responsible” for the rise in antisemitism in American and therefore “just three days after President Trump characterized Jews as money-hungry ‘killers,’ President Trump has zero credibility to take meaningful action to combat the scourge of antisemitism.”

Soifer said that, “If President Trump truly wanted to combat antisemitism, he would accept responsibility for his role in perpetuating antisemitic conspiracy theories and emboldening white nationalism.

https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/antisemitism/trump-expected-to-issue-executive-order-against-antisemitism-on-campus-610540

Claim: promoting school choice to advance poor communities, despite unrelenting opposition from teachers’ unions.

Answer: 

Trump’s budget also includes massive cuts to federal education programs — some $9.2 billion from the current level of $68 billion in federal K-12 education spending. “To boost funding for charter schools while reducing it for other vital programs that help our students.

https://edsource.org/2017/trumps-proposed-cuts-to-education-funding-creates-friction-in-charter-school-community/583796

Claim: the president has named many excellent cabinet members.

Answer:

“Ethics Be Damned: More than half of Trump’s 20-person Cabinet has engaged in questionable or unethical conduct“

 

 

 

Posted 9/7/2020

President Trump and Republicans Allegedly Fail To Save US Citizen Lives

President Trump and Republicans Allegedly Fail To Save US Citizen Lives

OPINION

With all the recent mass killings in parts of the United States it would be instructive to examine the statistical difference between the number of people killed when President Obama was in office and compare those numbers to those of President Trump to see if we can learn anything.

A pretty good source for this comparison is to examine the data within the study conducted by Mother Jones. It is called US Mass Shootings, 1982-2019.

To properly make a honest comparison, we need to only look at the same number of years both presidents were/are in office. Because President Trump is currently serving his third year in office, this analysis will only compare Obama’s first three years even though he served eight years in office because he was elected to two terms.

When comparing the administration of Barack Obama to that of Donald Trump, with regard to the number of mass shootings in the United States, we can see a huge number of deaths during Trump’s time in office.

  • Obama’s first year in office = 88
  • Obama’s second year in office = 11
  • Obama’s third year in office = 40
  • TOTAL = 139

 

  • Trump’s first year in office = 704
  • Trump’s second year in office = 152
  • Trump’s current year in office = 135
  • TOTAL = 991

 

Obviously, the president of the United States is not normally, directly, responsible for mass shooting deaths.  But, President Donald Trump shows huge number increases for every year he is in office.  So why the huge numbers? Is this just a national trend that he carries no responsibility?  Is the United States just getting more violent?

The answer for some of these deaths increases appears to be President Trump and the Republican Party.   Let’s list some possible factors:

As a result of the latest two mass shootings just one day apart, El Paso Texas and Dayton Ohio, the news media have put the blame on Donald Trump for his lack of clamping down upon white supremacy groups and his racist remarks to embolden white extremist individuals. The leadership of this country, Donald Trump and the Republican Party, just might be responsible for some of our citizens dying.

 

Recommended web sites:   Annual Gun Law Scorecard

Continuum Of Treason

Continuum Of Treason

Continuum is a mental realization, a mental tool, that we use as a means to realize natural and man made things we view in life. It is a really interesting intellectual way that we can visualize, in our minds, some opposite situations that are related. We are, in effect, placing a mental ruler of varying length between two opposite situations that we see, when those situations lend themselves to be measured together.

For a continuum to work there should be two opposite extremes but they are connected typically by degree. We typically “see” or realize the connection of the two extremes because they shout at us that they are opposite and connected in some way. But, there should be a factor of degree or how much of one side or the opposite side we are looking at and set a value on that point. The word I used is “degree” and that is vitally important to appreciate because it is a concept that will link the two opposite extremes. Typically there is more or less degree of something. There are an incredible number of continuum’s.

Let me offer some simple continuum examples followed by how each can be measured:

  • Light to Dark (Light meter)
  • Happiness to Sadness (Expressions on a person’s face)
  • Dry to Wet (Rain gauge)
  • Still air to Hurricane (Anemometer)
  • Short to Tall (Ruler)

The word “to”, in the above examples means that there can be a transition or movement from one extreme to the opposite extreme or one side to the opposite side. This transition can be short or long or any length. It is up to the person telling or writing where on the continuum scale we are concerned.

A really good continuum is one where the two opposite extremes are far apart because we are more likely to notice the differences. A really good example is the change of seasons. When this takes place in the northern hemisphere where the trees change color and plants go dormant the continuum process is very slow but unmistakable.

Some continuum’s lend themselves to be shown in graphic form.  When showing a continuum graphic, there are some common standards that some people use. Usually a line is used and the end points are labeled as to the minimum at one end and maximum at the other end. Typically the graphic continuum line is horizontal but for some measurements like height it is usually vertical. Let me show you a continuum line for treason (see below).

Accident        Collude        Coordinate         Conspire         Treason
X_______________________________________________X

In the Mueller Report there is a continuum that is revealed in the Introduction To Volume I. This continuum is explained as the degree that the Trump administration worked hand in hand with the Russians. At one end of the continuum is low criminal level called helping, which might be done by “accident”. Next serious might be helping Russia on purpose, called “collusion”, for some implied gain by one or both parties. The next, more serious degree is to “coordinate” with Russia. This third to last degree, coordinate, is considered illegal in the United States. The Mueller Report hones into two points on the continuum, collude and coordinate. For some reason collude is not illegal. Obviously coordinate is illegal because it implies BOTH parties are working together for a single purpose. But, I propose that coordinate might also mean that BOTH parties were working together but avoided detection.

Conspire, second to the last right side continuum point, is definitely a crime.  The Mueller Report failed to establish this activity took place by the Trump administration.

The last, far right, point on the continuum is treason and this is definitely illegal. It is a bit different in that it specifies that individuals actually work against the interests of the country.  The Mueller Report did not show examples of this continuum extreme by the Trump administration.

Let me state this again. In the Mueller continuum he talks about three out of the five main continuum measure points:  collude,  coordinate and conspire. The continuum begins with less formal and works toward more formal working together between Trump administration and Russia. Let’s read the definition of all five continuum points:

Accident: “an event that happens by chance or that is without apparent or deliberate cause”. Obviously we have no concern for individuals in the Trump administration helping Russia by accident.  This is the low end of the continuum, non criminal.

Collude: “cooperate in a secret or unlawful way in order to deceive or gain an advantage over others”.  This sure sounds like we are getting close to criminal activity.

Coordinate: “negotiate with others in order to work together effectively” implying, in this case, that the Trump administration was working with Russia toward some nefarious end.  But, “”coordination” does not have a settled definition in federal criminal law”.  The Mueller Report states that coordination requires an agreement – tacit or expressed – between the Trump Campaign and the Russian government on election interference.  The Mueller Report failed to support the view that the Trump administration came to this level on the continuum.  (The Mueller Report goes on to state “That requires more than the two parties taking actions that were informed by or responsive to the other’s actions”.  I think this is a mistake in the report because it states “more than the two parties”.  Coordination typically implies two or more parties.  Two is enough to make coordination!)

Conspire:  To make secret plans jointly to commit an unlawful or harmful act.  The Mueller team used this threshold on the continuum to trigger a response that the Trump administration broke the law which they did not reach.

Treason: the action of betraying one’s country, the United States.  There are no reports that the Trump administration approached this level on the continuum.

One definition of treason uses the word “betray’ which has further meaning of “expose one’s country to danger by treacherously by giving information to an enemy.” Think of the number of times Donald Trump had private consultations with the ruler of Russia and no one was allowed to record what took place.

Looking at the above continuum points, I find it impossible not to categorize “collude” as a crime. But, collusion, itself, is not a specific federal crime. The dictionary definition comes close to saying that the Trump administration did commit a crime. The Trump administration did collude with the enemy of the Untied States, Russia, as outlined in the Mueller Report. Russia wants a weak United States and Putin viewed Trump as acting toward that end. Donald Trump received help in getting elected and possibly received more secret benefits from Russia. That should be illegal and a punishment should be handed out to those who participated in those acts..

References: https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/07/12/what-is-collusion-215366

Posted: May 14, 2019

 

Fox “News” Allege Treason

Fox “News” Allege Treason

Attention Fox “News” lawyers:

Fox “News” may be approaching the violation of the United States Constitution Section 3 defining what constitutes treason against the United States. There are two separate triggers meaning that it only takes either one or the other to achieve this high crime.

Trigger #1 Levying war against the United States.
Trigger #2 Adhering to US enemies by giving them aid and comfort.

The word “Adhere” means “believe in and follow the practices of”. In this current case we now experience in the Untied States, it would be “believing in and follow practices of Russia. This means that Fox “News” should not believe, follow, promote the practices, and purpose of Russia to harm the United States!

Recently, Fox “News” has attacked Robert Mueller for his investigation of the alleged Russian interference of the 2016 Presidential Election process. In particular, the investigation is tasked to look into ties between President Trump’s campaign people with Russian officials and following their “orders”. A possible investigation result may find that some members of Trump’s election people working for the election process for becoming president may have worked for the Russians. It only takes one person to be found working for Russia to qualify for treason. A legal argument might be made that anyone working to protecting a person conducting treasonous activities might also share the same legal arguments that they too are fellow travelers and should be prosecuted for treason.

The owner of Fox “News”, Rubert Murdoch, has been reported being in close contact with President Trump. If President Trump is found to be guilty of treason, Rubert Murdoch might also be in jeopardy for allegedly protecting the alleged treasonous activity. If Fox News employees are also found out knowingly helping alleged treason activities, they might be prosecuted.

The above situation, one can argue, is in a gray area of freedom of the press. Fox “News” has the duty to report the news. But, freedom of the press implies the ABSENCE of interference from an overreacting state. Already, Fox “News” has stepped past this threshold by supporting President Trump and violating balance. This overstep seems to be suspicious.