In Trumpland, impeachment is a dirty, filthy disgusting word

AROUND THE BLOCK

I learned…

I learned today, courtesy of Donald Trump, the definition of impeachment: "a dirty word; a dirty, filthy disgusting word." No, really. I looked it up.

im·peach·ment

/imˈpēCHmənt/

noun

1.       the action of calling into question the integrity or validity of something.

"the prosecutor's detailed impeachment of the character witness"

British

a charge of treason or another crime against the state.

"the king cynically abandoned him, encouraging his impeachment"

 US  

a charge of misconduct made against the holder of a public office.

"the president is facing impeachment over the scandal"

Trump

a dirty word; a dirty, filthy disgusting word.

“Impeachment? I can’t see how they can impeach me – I did nothing wrong, no crimes, no misdemeanors; the courts would stop it.”

“The courts would stop it?” OK, if there was any doubt before, let’s be clear: Trump ain’t no Constitutional scholar.

If there’s anything Trump said today that I agree with, it’s this: Robert Mueller is “conflicted.” But not how Trump defines it – as someone who “doesn’t like him”; someone who is a “Never Trumper;” someone who “surrounded himself with Hillary lovers.”

No, Mueller is conflicted because he believes in process and the rule of law. His conflict, despite the evidence, is that in his role as a special counsel, he could not go against DOJ guidelines and indict a sitting president, despite his admonition, “if we had confidence that the President clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said that.” 

As Republicans remain mute and Democrats argue whether impeachment will help or hurt them in 2020 (recognizing that a Senate conviction is virtually impossible), it’s time for Bob Mueller to get real. Give up the Marine, Boy Scout stuff. Say what you really think – clearly, without nuance, in words that the majority of Americans will understand.

This is not business as usual and can’t go on. We’re beyond the political calculations. Trump is a disgrace. His toadies are a disgrace. Republican legislators (with the one exception, Justin Amash) are a disgrace. Bill Clinton was impeached because he lied about an illicit affair. Trump lies about everything. He is a danger to the country, no, the world. Something must be done. Take the ball, Mr. Mueller, and run with it.

Harriet Tubman, "What Me Worry" Mnuchin, and Bloody, Bloody Andrew Jackson

AROUND THE BLOCK

I learned…

I learned this week that the redesign of the $20 bill featuring abolitionist Harriet Tubman, who escaped slavery and led hundreds of other people to freedom, will not be unveiled in 2020. 

Tubman was slated to replace slave owner Andrew Jackson — President Donald Trump’s favorite commander in chief — as part of the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote. 

The announcement was made by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin who said the design process has been delayed until 2028. 

The decision to put Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill was first announced in 2016 by Obama Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, who, in making the announcement, knew it would be up to the next administration to implement the change. But, as the Washington Post wrote at the time, “it seemed highly unlikely that anyone would upend a plan to honor this great American hero with a currency redesign that would also include depictions of historic events such as the suffragist march on Washington.”

As Lew said, “I don’t think somebody’s going to probably want to do that — to take the image of Harriet Tubman off of our money? To take the image of the suffragists off?”

Lew obviously didn’t anticipate Donald Trump and his band of sycophantic toadies who will do whatever they can to not only reverse Obama-era initiatives but to extract revenge at groups who did not support our Foolish Leader in the 2016 election (see the Homeland Security Agency’s threat to send 1,000 illegal aliens a week to Broward and Palm Beach, Florida counties which voted overwhelming for Hillary Clinton).

But even more incredulous was the reasoning behind the delay.

“The primary reason we have looked at redesigning the currency is for counterfeiting issues,” Mnuchin said during a hearing before the House Financial Services Committee. “Based upon this, the $20 bill will now not come out until 2028. The $10 bill and the $50 bill will come out with new features beforehand.” 

Plausible? Not really. 

In the United States, the $20 bill is the most widely circulated and most frequently counterfeited note. (While the $100 note is the most frequently counterfeited denomination of U.S. currency outside the United States due to its broad circulation overseas, the “Benjamin” was redesigned with anti-counterfeit security measures in 2013). 

As the Washington Post editorialized this week, “it is more likely that Mr. Mnuchin feared President Trump would cause an uproar with an outright cancellation of a bill bearing Tubman’s image. As a candidate, Mr. Trump criticized the decision as 'political correctness,' and he has made no secret of his admiration for President Andrew Jackson, whose image Tubman would have dislodged from the front of the $20 bill."

So, the money man in Trump’s Gang Who Can’t Shoot Straight, Steve “What Me Worry?” Mnuchin, is not only a terrible Treasury Secretary, he's an obsequious flunky who doesn't have the imagination or resourcefulness to come up with a plausible excuse for the delay.

Steve "What Me Worry?" Mnuchin

Talking about plausibility — it is incredulous that any person of color or any woman (or anyone, actually) can possibly continue to support this vindictive, spiteful excuse for a president and his minions.

And, by the way, regarding Andrew Jackson – he signed the Indian Removal Act in 1830 which called for the relocation of Southeastern Native American tribes to federal territory west of the Mississippi River in exchange for white settlement of their ancestral lands. Hmm? Indian Removal Act? No wonder Trump admires Jackson; can you say Latino Removal Act?

Surveys of Americans Show: Arab Numerals/Latin Letters –– Bad

AROUND THE BLOCK

I learned…

I learned recently that a poll taken by CivicScience, Inc. which asked 3,200 Americans, “Should schools in America teach Arabic numerals as part of their curriculum,” 56% of those surveyed answered “No,” 29% answered “Yes,” and 19% had “No Opinion.”

Subsequent to the initial publication of the survey, and aware that the majority of Americans are against Arabic numerals, CivicScience republished their findings in a way that most Americans would approve of:

“CivicScience, Inc recently asked MMMCC Americans, 'Should schools in America teach Arabic numerals as part of their curriculum.'” The results of the poll:

                        LVI%: “No”

                        XXIX%: “Yes”

                        XIX%: “No Opinion”

CivicScience, curious about the results, went back to some of the respondents who answered no to get a better insight into the reason for their answer. Here are some respondent replies: 

• “Do you want your kids to use the same numerals that Arabs use? I don’t.”
• “Letting some of them into our country is bad enough…now our kids have to use their numerals as well?”
• “What are numerals, anyway?”

While the genesis of CivicScience’s survey was to get more general information from parents about how they feel about math instruction, given the surprising findings, the company decided that perhaps they should do a second survey about English instruction. In this second poll, they put the following question to respondents, “Should schools in America teach the Latin alphabet as part of their curriculum.” The results, 61%: “No,” 23%:  “Yes,” 16%:  “No Opinion”

Again, curious about the results, CivicScience followed up with a few of the participants. 

• “I want my kids to learn the good, old American alphabet. None of that foreign stuff for me or my kids.”
• “The Latin alphabet? I thought Trump’s wall was supposed to keep out those Latins. 
• “I don’t think Americans should use Latin anything. If those Frisco people want to use Latin, let them…they’re not real Americans anyway.

America #1. Oops, I mean Америки #I.

After 4th of July Stunt, Trump Deserves a True Leader's Name

AROUND THE BLOCK

I learned today...Croatian Special Edition

I learned today, courtesy of the Washington Post, that President Trump has taken charge of the nation’s premier Fourth of July celebration in Washington, Fireworks on the Mall, intending to take a “starring role” in the event by addressing the nation from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

According to the Post, Trump’s role has the potential to turn what has long been a nonpartisan celebration of the nation’s founding into another version of a Trump campaign rally. 

The Post goes on to say “the revised Independence Day celebration is the culmination of two years of attempts by Trump to create a major patriotic event centered on him and his supporters, including failed efforts to mount a military parade modeled on the Bastille Day celebration in France.”

I’m writing today’s Around the Block while on a trip to Croatia; I haven’t heard a lot of “Trump love” from the folks I’ve been meeting here. This latest stunt will most probably harden the local opinions of our “leader.” (On a side note, I did take a one-day trip across the border to Slovenia, the native home of Melania Trump. I asked our tour guide if the Slovenian people would like to take Melania back. “Maybe, but only if he doesn’t come with her.”

I had a wonderful lunch in Zadar, a beautiful Dalmatian Coast city once run by Mussolini and his Italian fascists. Because of its strategic importance, Zadar was so heavily bombed by the allies, it’s known as the “Dresden of the Adriatic..” 

The restaurant had a charming “Art Deco” vibe and a TV over the bar screening Charles Chaplin movies. During lunch the Great Dictator was playing – Chaplin’s bitingly satirical condemnation of Hitler, Mussolini, fascism, antisemitism, and the Nazis.

History, satire and current events converged for me at this lovely restaurant. Watching Chaplin skewering Hitler in what once was Mussolini’s Croatia, reading about our self-described “favorite president’s” latest self-aggrandizing excess, I couldn’t help but think, what was missing? 

An appropriate dictator’s “honorific.” 

If Hitler was “der Führer” and Mussolini was Il Duce, what is Trump? What would be the best, most telegraphic description of our own not-so-great leader?

Given the lip pursing, the arm folding body language, the over-the-top gesticulations, the ridiculous self-importance, there really is only one choice:

IL DOUCHEBAG

Let's hope a latter-day Chaplin will be bringing Il Douchebag the Movie to a theater near you this fall.