Wednesday, June 19, 2019

Orlando Sentinel Endorses Trump...NOT!



AROUND THE BLOCK

I learned…


I learned last night that the Orlando Sentinel, a historically Republican-leaning newspaper, published a presidential endorsement editorial, over a year and a half ahead of the presidential election. Or, in this case, a non-endorsement: Orlando Sentinel editorial: Why we won’t endorse Trump for reelection. 

The editorial ran the day of Trump’s angry, fact-challenged 2020 campaign kick-off rally in Orlando. In case you didn’t read the Sentinel’s non-endorsement, here it is in its entirety.


Too bad most people in Orlando (or anywhere else, I fear) won’t read it. And I’m pretty sure the Fox folks, in their Trump coverage, won’t talk about it. Or, if they do, it will be to deride a well thought out, legitimate point of view.

Beyond the litany of Trump’s failures, lies and generally bad behavior, the Sentinel highlights two cringe-worthy points:

"Trump’s capacity for lying isn’t the surprise here, though the frequency is. It’s the tolerance so many Americans have for it."
 
"Through all of this, Trump’s base remains loyal. Sadly, the truest words Trump might ever have spoken was when he said he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and not lose his supporters." 

So, no collusion, no obstruction, no crimes, no misdemeanors.

And our Democratic leaders just mosey along pretending to be doing the people’s business while actually getting nothing done because of GOP intransigence. 

Doing nothing while Trump rolls back most environmental rules, denigrates our intelligence community, supports attacks on abortion rights, supports voter suppression ploys and encourages the undermining of our country's electoral system by incompetence and foreign influence. 

Democratic leadership doing nothing while moseying along with no consensus that impeachment, or at least an impeachment inquiry, is the most logical, no necessary, next step to rid the country of this horror show.

Is Democratic leadership waiting and hoping to simply rely on the next election to remove this Trump outrage?

Given how compromised, in so many ways, our electoral system is, that's a long wait and an uncertain hope.

If not now, when?

Monday, June 17, 2019

Impeachment Now - John Oliver gets it right!



AROUND THE BLOCK

I learned…


I learned last night that the best explanation of the impeachment process won't come from constitutional scholars; not from news media legal correspondents; and not even from the three stooges on Fox and Friends. No, the best explanation of impeachment comes from John Oliver, host of HBO’s Last Week Tonight

Not only does Oliver, in his inimitable style, explain impeachment, he persuasively argues why the impeachment process must begin now; begin now even if there is an infinitesimal chance Trump will be removed by the Senate – infinitesimal because of the unfortunate likelihood that 20 Republican senators would never vote for removal despite the overwhelming evidence that Trump committed, and promises to continue to commit, "High Crimes and Misdemeanors." 

Take heed America. Take heed Congressional Democrats. Take heed Nancy Pelosi. Listen to the funniest political commentator in America telling you what to do and why it should be done. No more waiting. No more equivocating. No more calculating the political consequences. No more resurrecting John Dean from the trash heap of history. Trump is a "Cancer on the Presidency." (OK, just one last John Dean resurrection). 

Just do it!

To watch the Oliver clip directly, click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxT8CM8XntA