Tag Archives: Treason

Dershowitz to the Defense

Ever since Mitch McConnell signaled his intention to herd the Republican caucus right over the cliff in supporting Donald Trump’s “perfect call” argument, the burning question has been what sort of defense was possible on the facts. This weekend offered a glimpse of where this might be going.  

(Appreciation to “The New Yorker for the accompanying illustration!)

Newly announced as a member of DT’s defense team, perennial camera moth, Alan Dershowitz  has been making the rounds of talk shows, insisting that he is representing the Constitution rather than the president.  His former student, CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin did perhaps the best job of ripping away that particular fig leaf, returning repeatedly to challenge this bashful conceit in their lengthy exchange last evening.  It was pretty obvious that Dershowitz already recognizes the stigma that will be forever associated with being another one of Trump’s stooges, so he is doing what he can to distance himself while still serving as the president’s defense attorney.  An impossible conflict?

He was at great pains to repeatedly insist that he is a “liberal” and voted for Hillary Clinton, and, of course, that he would be appearing on behalf of the Constitution, not Donald Trump. Toobin wryly asked if the Constitution had hired him and if he would be paid; a question he rather side-stepped.

Mr. Dershowitz’s argument is that the two Articles of Impeachment against Trump are not technically “high crimes and misdemeanors,” as specified in the Constitution.  This was a difficult argument for him to make, as Toobin reminded him that there was no criminal code for the U.S at the time the Constitution was drafted; so what precisely constituted “high crimes and misdemeanors” in the Framers’ minds remains a matter for interpretation.  Dershowitz kept saying that “High Crimes and Misdemeanors” were “things like bribery and treason.”  That suggests that even he acknowledges that chargeable offenses are not limited to bribery and treason.

Leaving aside for the moment the fact that Trump’s actions with regard to Zelensky seem for fall well within the parameters of bribery, not to mention it’s fraternal twin, extortion; and his overall behavior has at least flirted with treason on numerous occasions over the past three years; I would have liked for someone to ask Dershowitz  A) whether he thought the president’s phonemail with Zelensky was “perfect”, which apparently is the official position of Trump’s Republican defendersd; and B) What exactly should be the remedy for Trump’s bad behavior if not impeachment?

Undoubtedly, he would have countered that removal of the president should be left to the voters in the next election, but when the “crime” involved was an ongoing attempt to corrupt an election, surely such a toothless consequence as “leave it to the voters” is itself a danger to the Constitution.

I would have liked to see the mental gymnastics he would have to perform in order to defend his position on that one!

Dershowitz, who himself has an accumulation of dirty dark clouds over his head ought to eschew demonstrations of high-minded outrage at those like Toobin who dare question his motives.  The problem with “originalists” whether they be constitutional or biblical, is that they will deny the sky is blue if it isn’t so stated somewhere in the original document.

I wonder if Mr. Dershowitz, once again basking in the glow of klieg lights, is aware that, should he survive impeachment, Donald Trump is already planning on decriminalizing bribery, which he claims unfairly handicaps American businesses in the global marketplace.  

You can take the slumlord away from his gangster environment, but you can’t take the gangster out of the slumlord.

‘Tis the Reason to Say “Treason”

Kudos to BP for doggedly re-focussing us on Vermont’s timely issues.  These days, it is beyond me to do the job.  

I’m like the clueless cat who is so easily distracted by fast moving objects that he walks into walls.  Every morning I learn about some new outrage that Donald Trump has unleashed on basic American values and I’m off in hot pursuit.

So, please bear with me while I work through my indignity, time and time again.  

If you haven’t been surfing the underbelly of legitimate news sources, you may not have caught yesterday’s head-slapper du jour.  From The Washington Post and The Guardian, we learn that Russians are praising Scott Pruitt for removing restrictions on ASBESTOS(!) and showing their gratitude by marking bales of the carcinogen for export with Donald Trump’s face and name!!

Better than the Onion; you simply can’t make this stuff up.  In the story lie two reminders of the way in which the 45th president has so far managed to keep Republicans on his leash.

What, in any other administration, could singularly bring about ruin becomes nothing more than a forgotten anecdote when enmeshed amongst layer upon layer of daily scandal, violation  and incompetence.  Asbestos, the scourge of a healthy living environment throughout the late 20th century, has apparently been given one of Donald Trump’s famous pardons and is now poised for a comeback!!

It’s all but forgotten today because Donald Trump has spent the past two days ripping the pins out from under NATO and all of your traditional alliances, and shows every indication that he will kiss Putin’s pinkie when they meet privately later this week.

IMHO, it is time to break out the “T” word.  Surely it is treason for any president to take advantage of his presidential privileges in order to serve the counter-strategic interests of our most powerful adversary.

Still, the GOP has made its deal with the devil and is clinging to him like stink to garbage.  Most are so complicit at this point that they must inevitably be touched by the “T” word as well.

I was interested to read yesterday in the Messenger that one-term Republican Senator Carolyn Branagan, who filled Dustin Degree’s vacated seat when he was appointed to a position in the Scott administration, and who had earlier announced that she would not run again in 2018, announced that she was now considering running as an Independent.

No mention was made of her reason for dropping GOP endorsement, but Branagan is known to be a moderate and I’d like to believe that she has simply chosen the moral high ground.

Being a woman must be additional motivation to run far, far away, even from the Vermont GOP.

One has to wonder how many Republicans in regional races have made a similar decision to leave the party’s branding (and funding) behind.  Just how toxic will the GOP label prove to be in the coming years?

Trump, Treason and “America’s Mayor”

As he rages through the Democratic process like King Kong on steroids, Donald Trump has few remaining national figures endorsing his behavior.

One of the most steadfast of these is Rudi Giuliani who was once-upon-a-time christened “America’s Mayor” in the national gush of emotion following 9/11.

He seemed the very model of a modern mayor-general, briefly symbolizing the resolution of all New Yorkers to rise from the ashes of the World Trade Center. A hero.

The rest of the nation didn’t really know him before then, so they warmly embraced the narrative.

Pausing in his rush to war with the wrong country, then President Bush addressed the nation and told us to go out shopping. The terrorists were enemies of “our way of life,” and we were not going to surrender that way of life, allowing the terrorists to ‘win.’

But they did ‘win’; not after years and years of resistance, but practically overnight. The transformation began with paranoia and the War Powers Act. It was all downhill after then.

Rudy Giuliani’s unblinking loyalty to Donald Trump, as he attempts to discredit the foundational process in our democracy, is testament to the terrorists’ victory over American ideals.

Giuliani and the hate filled “basket of deplorables” driving the Trump ‘movement’ have handed the 9/11 terrorists a victory beyond their wildest dreams.

Those terrorists only succeeded in killing people and destroying buildings. On the morning after, our time honored democratic institutions and tradition of generosity and civility were still intact. They had yet to be undermined by the enemy within.

Capitalizing on a decade and a half of festering ignorance, fear and xenophobia, Trump and his minions have ginned-up an angry mob that threatens the very foundations of our democracy.

By his example, he has given them license to hate, ridicule and intimidate virtually anyone who doesn’t look like them; and hinted darkly of Armageddon should they not succeed in carrying him to power.

Together they have sold this extremely suggestible sector the fiction that the historic first female candidate for president, with whom they sympathized in the 1990’s when her Democratic dog of a husband did her wrong, has somehow turned into Darth Vader and is about to destroy the Empire.

Donald Trump has so much contempt for the nation he fatuously claims to love, that he refuses to familiarize himself with even the most basic principles of checks and balances that serve as the framework to our democracy. His interest in the law is limited to how it can serve his selfish interests or be exploited for personal revenge.

The steady stream of vindictive hyperbole has finally become sufficiently toxic so that even some traditionally conservative media outlets are beginning to awaken to the danger they’ve unleashed by encouraging this dancing bear. But it’s too little and it may be too late.

Like Hitler planning the destruction of Berlin when the inevitable defeat loomed before him, Trump is readying his followers for schism and revolt by prematurely and openly challenging the legitimacy of the election process.

It surely is treason to sow distrust in the Democratic process among the electorate, tease at the idea of retribution and gleefully fan the flames of violent uprising.

…And Giuliani is aiding and abetting this treasonous madness!

“America’s Mayor” indeed!

Rudy Giuliani: “Voter fraud is this big!”

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