George Rebane
These thoughts are motivated by a letter2editor in today’s Union by Richard Van Steen. There this gentleman, who has graduated from TDS to TAD, tells us that all Americans who don’t want President Trump immediately impeached are traitors, pure and simple – kinda like the stuff he has between his ears.
Lately I’ve been a bit hard on our president’s foot-in-mouth twitter feeds and his tariffs derby (now beginning show some promise), so as one consigned to the nation’s population of irredeemably deplorable traitors, I should at least weigh in my ‘stubborn ounces’ to list some of the benefits we are enjoying in the new era of Trump.
Let me begin with kudos to Mr Bob Hren, Nevada County Republican Chairman, whose lead piece in the 30jul18 Union asks ‘Who is the traitor?’ and does an excellent job summarizing the president’s accomplishments, and offers a more plausible answer to the question. Regarding Russia, he points out that “Trump has been successful in almost completely reversing the failed (and listed) legacy of the Obama years regarding Russia.” The list of Trump’s Russia accomplishments includes –
- Deployed U.S. military forces in the Baltic states in response to Putin’s threats and to reassure our NATO allies (WSJ, Jan. 30, 2017).
- Deployed defensive Patriot missiles in Poland to counter the build-up of Russian forces aimed at Europe (Newsweek, July 6, 2017).
- Kicked 60 Russian diplomats/spies out of the U.S. in response to chemical poisoning of a former Russian spy living in Britain (AP, March 26, 2018).
- Signed an executive order for a major upgrade of U.S. government cyber defenses against pilfering of our sensitive data by Russia (Reuters, May 11, 2017).
- Repelled an assault by Russian mercenaries in Syria on a U.S. position (NBC News, March 15, 2018).
- Implemented a comprehensive modernization of the U.S. military to deter Russia and China after years of neglect by Obama (CNBC, February 12, 2018).
- Provided anti-tank weapons that Ukraine has sought for years to defend against Russian aggression (Chicago Tribune, March 1, 2018).
- Imposed additional sanctions on Russian companies and oligarchs who are Putin allies in retaliation for his digital assault on U.S. energy firms (Roll Call, March 26, 2018).
- Pushed NATO member nations to double their defense spending from less than 2 percent to 4 percent of GDP, in line with U.S. spending (CNN, July 11, 2018).
- Challenged Europe’s dependence on Russian natural gas, encouraging Europe to buy instead from the U.S. This would reduce Russia’s export revenues and ability to extract strategic concessions from Europe by restricting essential gas deliveries in winter months, which Russia already did to Ukraine (PBS, July 11, 2018).
To this I would add Trump’s continuing triumph with the Ugly Fat Kid who now sees himself elevated to a world statesman and is eager to show everyone how he is dismantling nuclear facilities, and more remarkably having pictures of himself taken in a farm field to show both domestic and foreign audiences how he is now devoting more attention to feeding his hungry hordes. (more here) This is an image that neither his dad nor granddad cared to cultivate for obvious reasons. Trump has given the UFK a new hope of rebranding NK and, in the process, increasing the likelihood that he will not be assassinated by his inner circle, all of whom live in hate-filled terror of their Dear Leader.
Additionally, Trump is cajoling Congress to revise the misnamed ‘farm bill’ so that its major food stamps component will require its dependents who can work, to seek jobs in order to keep some benefits coming in. The House passed a version of it that will encounter rough sledding in the Senate. (more here and here) The Dems are dead set against anything that motivates any of their most reliable constituents to get themselves off the plantation. That has been the foundation of progressive public policy since at least the Great Society days of the late 1960s.
And finally, any such acknowledgement of the president’s accomplishments would be incomplete without citing that our economy has finally broken the through the stagnant Obama years which liberal economists assured us was to be the new normal. Our leftwingers have conveniently forgotten that 2% growth was supposed to have become the best we could hope for, and today their embarrassment continues to be covered by a constant stream of claims that the tax cuts and regulation rollbacks have had no effect on the economy’s resurgence, which they continue to characterize as “a blip” soon to return to Obama’s legacy of max 2% growth. Now I don’t contend that if we did return to Obamanomics, we really would continue to suffer under a stagnant economy. (more here)
President Trump knows in his bones that the only path forward for the country, both domestically and in foreign policy, requires first and foremost a strong and robustly growing economy. Nothing will work well for the US and the world if we don’t put our economy back in order, and doing the same ol’ same ol’ ain’t gonna cut it. Trump is trying something different while all the naysayers can do is scream ‘it’s not gonna work’, and what about all the Russia allegations that make you a traitor? Today’s Left is no different from Lenin’s Lads for whom denouncing someone was sufficient evidence to march them to the wall. That’s the important stuff they want us to focus on as we head toward November.
[1aug18 update] President Trump tweeted his recommendation (not an order) to AG Sessions to end the endless Mueller investigation. The investigation has demonstrated no progress in matters it was commissioned to investigate, and seems to be going all over the place seeking to show off reasons why we should still consider that his scandal-ladened team should not have their plug pulled. Were I king, or even a Congress critter, I would demand of such off course, long running investigations to make the following representations.
- If they are currently following an evidential trail that has a reasonable terminus in settling the matter under commissioned investigation, then make a statement to that effect, and give an estimate of the time required to conclude the investigation one way or another.
- Document the detailed backup to the claim under #1, along with the evidence in hand that advocates continuation, and seal this information with a sworn affadavit in an envelope to be held by the commissioning agency or court until such time as the investigation ends or is ended.
- When the investigation is concluded, indictments will be issued and/or its termination status is documented (i.e. describing what they then were investigating) and given to the commissioning agent. The sealed documentation under #2 will then be opened to confirm that the investigation was continued as described and properly executed. If that is not found to be the case, and the investigation ended irresolutely, then the investigator will be held to account.
Through such a process the government and people will be assured that what went on was the targeted investigation and not an open-ended witch-hunt, which is what it appears to all Americans who don’t believe Mueller’s apparent policy of ‘we’ll keep looking until we find something to pin on Trump.’ Consider this as another part of Rebane Doctrine.
rebanesruminations.com 
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