And one honest Republican Senator (if there is one)
Finally, a major breach
in Donald Trump’s wall of secrecy. But before America can rid itself of this
con artist one more development must occur.
For this to happen,
Americans who love their country must focus on making just two men act in the
national interest. These two are exceptionally sensitive to their own
commercial interests means that voters, who are also consumers, can have a lot
of sway provided they act.
The whistleblower
showed, beyond a doubt, that what we have been saying at DCReport from the
get-go is spot on: Donald is disloyal to America. He has to be. Donald is loyal
only to Donald.
The read-out of his July
telephone call with the professional comedian who is president of Ukraine shows
Donald soliciting foreign interference in our 2020 presidential election.
That’s illegal.
History will record that
Trump’s downfall began not with his imagined cabal of ‘deep state’ enemies, but
with a single honest soul, a mere cog in the national security machine.
Anyone who has read or
seen The Godfather can grasp that Trump made Ukraine’s president an offer he
could not refuse. Withholding American military aid, as Trump did, increased
the risk that Russian tanks would roll into Kyiv.
How ironic that what
broke through Trump’s wall of secrecy was a Central Intelligence Agency staffer
posted to the White House. He listened with care, meticulously gathering
information and then distilling it into a crisply worded complaint that
strictly followed complex rules and procedures required of whistleblowers.
History will record that Trump’s downfall began not with his imagined cabal of “deep state” enemies, but with a single honest soul, a mere cog in the national security machine.
Even timid creatures
like Mitt Romney have declared themselves “troubled” by Trump’s soliciting
Ukrainian interference in our 2020 election. Still, most Republican
officeholders say nothing.
The
House as Courtroom
After waiting patiently
for just such a moment, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi seized the opportunity to
launch a formal impeachment inquiry. This makes the House into a sort of a
court, one that need not run to the Article III judges to enforce its subpoenas
and compel testimony. While it hasn’t happened since 1935, we soon may see the
House sergeant-at-arms arrest people and conduct raids for documents.
As of Thursday, NBC News
counted 223 House Democrats and one independent favoring impeachment, five more
than a majority. That number will almost certainly grow. Depending on the
facts, and public reaction, it will likely include some Republicans. Perhaps,
as with Nixon, all of them.
But impeachment is only
a charge, a political indictment. As of now, all 53 Senate Republicans will, if
given the chance, vote to acquit Trump.
We the people have the
power to change that political calculus. Will we?
What remains for the
Trump secrecy wall to come tumbling down is for one United States Senator of
the Republican persuasion to step forward and say Trump must go.
We’ve known from before
Trump took office that some Republican senators were alarmed, dismayed and
shocked that a lifelong fraudster had become the leader of their party. But one
look at the polling data showing nearly 90% of Republicans support Trump turned
them all into towers of moral Jell-o.
Consider Jeff Flake, the libertarian Arizona senator who quit to avoid being Trumped in a 2018 primary. Flake could not develop enough courage to declare Donald unfit.
Just
one Republican Senator
So, the focus that
matters now is to cajole, persuade and maybe threaten — politically – just one
Republican senator to say that Trump must go. Getting two to do this would be
10 times more influential.
Once that wall of
cowardice, reinforced by Mitch McConnell, is breached other Republican
Quislings will also declare that Trump must go.
Anthony Scaramucci
offered a revealing comment on Friday on the BBC, which I watched from my hotel
in Hamburg at the Global Investigative Journalism Conference. Trump announced
that Scaramucci would be his communications director, but before he formally
started Trump dumped him.
Scaramucci said as an
entrepreneur when he makes a mistake, like agreeing to work for Trump, he owns
up to it and corrects. He said Trump must go. And he said he believes 30 or so
Republican senators would vote today to convict Trump if they could cast their
ballots in secret.
In criminal cases,
juries vote in secret. But impeachment is a political process, not a criminal
one. Senators must record their votes and live with the political consequences.
So, what will it take to
help the moral cowards in the Senate GOP caucus develop some spine so they
would vote openly to remove Trump?
New revelations from the
CIA whistleblower may do it. Getting others who worked on Team Trump to reveal
his perfidy may do it. More hidden read-outs of Trump’s telephone calls—buried
in a super-secret server reserved for our government’s deepest secrets—to world
leaders might do it.
The
Murdoch Family
But what is sure to do
it is making Trump so toxic that Republican senators no longer fear being
primaried. And that is where two people, a father and son, hold the greatest
power.
Rupert and Lachlan
Murdoch decide what propaganda gets sold as news on the Fox cable channel.
They helped create the false image of Trump the great leader. Their compliant and highly paid program hosts have sustained Trump, attacking anyone who challenges the president, riling up his base. But the relationship between the network and Trump has been fraying for months. Now may be the time for the Murdochs to finally let it unravel.
They helped create the false image of Trump the great leader. Their compliant and highly paid program hosts have sustained Trump, attacking anyone who challenges the president, riling up his base. But the relationship between the network and Trump has been fraying for months. Now may be the time for the Murdochs to finally let it unravel.
Rupert is a purely
commercial animal, his subordinates joking that he sold his soul to the devil
for riches and power. Lachlan, being much younger, thinks more about the future
of News Corp. and Fox News channel and is known to be uncomfortable about Fox
being called Trump TV.
If the Murdochs direct
the entertainer Sean Hannity to stop with his ludicrous assaults on Trump
critics, then Hannity will. If they give new scripts to the actors playing
journalists on Fox & Friends they will follow those scripts. If they
generally signal to Fox News and Fox Business hosts that Trump is persona non
grata they will get the message and repeat it.
That is what makes Fox
unlike legitimate news organizations where editors or producers who try to
issue such orders would at best be refused and at worst be forced out. This
Murdochian style can be adopted to benefit our nation.
The need is for
Americans to press the Murdochs to do the right thing.
Continuing anti-Fox
demonstrations will help. Telling Fox advertisers you will no longer buy their
products will get the attention of the Murdochs.
And for those in
Manhattan’s elite circles, treating the Murdochs as social pariahs will get
their focused attention.
The strategy is to make
the Murdochs see that their own interests no longer align with Trump’s. Keep in
mind that the Murdochs, like Trump, see the national interest in terms of their
own financial interest.
It will take persistence
to wring change, but it can be done. Think of a political variation of what
Professor Richard Armour wrote, riffing on Ogden Nash, long ago:
“Shake and shake the catsup
bottle.
None will come, and then a
lot’ll.”
Just one Republican
senator saying Trump must go will do it, likely a senator not up until 2022 or
2024. First one will come and then a lot’ll.