Congress

Yesterday, we noted that it appeared Trump’s debts were coming due, he looked to be forced into checking off a list of “favors” owed to foreign leaders, while facing maximum political pressure from Republican politicians at home. Today, Trump faces that same gripping dynamic, only now vastly intensified. New polls show support for the impeachment probe shot sharply up over the last week. The latest Washington Post poll shows that Americans now favor opening the impeachment inquiry by 20 points. Link: The poll finds that, by a margin of 58 percent to 38 percent, Americans say the House was correct to undertake the inquiry. Among all adults, 49 percent say the House should take the more significant step to impeach the president and call for his removal from office. Another 6 percent say they back the start of the inquiry but do not favor removing Trump from office, with the remainder undecided about the president’s ultimate fate. The results among registered voters are almost identical. In today’s typical 50-50 political divide, that 20 point opening gap is a blinking red-light flashing danger over every Republican politician considering whether to continue defending Trump at all cost. Voters at home are noticing. And we are talking about “Republican voters,” too, because it isn’t just that “support” for impeachment is up, it is up everywhere and among everyone, including Republicans. Support among Democratic voters for an impeachment inquiry rose by 25 points since July, but also by 21 points among Republicans and 20 points among independents, too. The GOP opposition to an inquiry is still 71%, with 59% feeling strongly about their position, but that’s an erosion nonetheless. Independents now favor an inquiry by a majority 57/38, with 40% feeling strongly about it. That is devastating. Those first cracks in the Republican wall that we noted over the last couple of weeks now have daylight peeking through. If twenty percent of Republicans are “open” to hearing more in the impeachment inquiry, they are not under the full Trump sway, and will not accept “it was the perfect call” as the perfect defense. Of course, the poll would be reverberating even more ominously had the poll found just one percentage point higher favorability over the ultimate question, removal. As of this weekend, the cut-off date for the poll, 49% of Americans favored “removing” Trump from office, and that is stunning. One wonders what the dynamic might “feel” like had the poll integrated Trump’s betrayal of the Kurds, the cut and run from ISIS, and the public having absorbed Sen. Graham’s anger and Mitch McConnell’s rebuke. What would headlines this morning be if the poll showed “54% of Americans favor removal …”? Speaking of the Senate, each Republican senator now must see the clear trend, with each passing week, new revelations send Trump reeling, reacting in unpredictable and bizarre ways, and polls moving in one direction, and one direction only, against Trump. It was the end of August that we noted the unsustainability of the administration, and the pace of “chaos,” (if chaos has a pace). In the time period between then and now, political “approval” ratings have danced up and down some, but support for the impeachment process appears to be headed in one direction only. This poll, with the jumps across all sub-categories, will […]

Serving two masters sucks. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell publicly rebuked President Trump’s plan to withdraw U.S. troops from northeast Syria, saying that a supermajority in the Senate disagreed with the president’s abrupt announcement. “I urge the President to exercise American leadership to keep together our multinational coalition to defeat ISIS and prevent significant conflict between our NATO ally Turkey and our local Syrian counterterrorism partners,” McConnell said Monday in a statement. “Major new conflict between Turkey and our partners in Syria would seriously risk damaging Turkey’s ties to the United States and causing greater isolation for Turkey on the world stage.” Yes, Graham’s protest was more dramatic, but everything Lindsey does is drama-filled, one might call him a bit of a queen in that respect. More importantly, as critical as Graham remains as a Trumplican with respect to impeachment, Graham will always be a hawkish, foreign policy-oriented senator. But McConnell is the one who controls Trump’s procedural fate, every bit as much as Putin, if not more, he is the true political machine in the equation and generally prefers to keep his powder dry for domestic policy, where the money gets made. Yet here we are, McConnell clearly calling for Trump to reverse himself, again, and yield to a higher authority – Mitch. Trump has done this before. The last time Trump reversed his Syria policy, he “sort of” hid the reversal among other moves, and could cast it off as something that “upon further review” he – Trump alone – decided against pulling out. But, having done that once, if Trump reverses himself again this time, he will have signaled that he is no longer running the nation, McConnell is president in all but name. But if Trump doesn’t reverse himself, McConnell sees that Trump cannot always be corralled for team red. And if Trump cannot be corralled, that is a problem for that same red team, since no one – ever – needed a guiderail more than Trump. Senate Republicans have placed their fate into the hands of a man that will operate outside their parameters, and sell them out, if needed. Moreover, they all know they are risking everything by sticking with Trump even this far, never mind allowing Trump to proceed “alone,” unwilling to bend to their will. It would be clear to me that the only way that Senate Republicans will allow Trump to remain in office is if they know they control him. Then there is Putin, who may be the one who actually resolves this matter. Putin would weigh his options, and determine the role for each player going forward. We cannot know, Putin would have to get word to them, and that might be easier said than done. The stakes for getting caught would be awfully high. And perhaps Putin doesn’t hold quite the amount of power we think over McConnell, it is exceedingly difficult to tell. But here we are, the United States of America, and we citizens rather casually talk about Putin’s influence on our president and senate leadership in foreign policy decisions, amazing. But, no man can serve two masters, and no one knew the truism better than our Founding Fathers, who tried to preclude the issue by having everyone swear fealty to a document as “master.” Trump clearly never meant it, […]

First, there’s shock. And then, you hit yourself for not having seen this coming by an urban mile. All while working to drum up fake evidence of a fake conspiracy theory involving the Bidens and a Ukrainian gas company, Rudy Giuliani led a contingent of American business interests attempting to set up a similar business deal, access to the U.S. government for cash. Then he got caught, because he is Rudy Giuliani. We have the cliff notes from Rawstory: The Associated Press reported Sunday that Giuliani was trying to score major cash while manifesting a conspiracy theory to sink the Bidens. “Their aims were profit, not politics,” the AP reported. “This circle of businessmen and Republican donors touted connections to Giuliani and Trump while trying to install new management at the top of Ukraine’s massive state gas company. Their plan was to then steer lucrative contracts to companies controlled by Trump allies, according to two people with knowledge of their plans.” I ask again, how the fresh fffff .. did I not see this coming! The entire point of politics, to these “people,” and by “people,” I mean Republicans, is to profit, not “help people.” Dear dog above, how did I not … Meanwhile, Giuliani and Trump were trying to get Ukraine leaders to say the Bidens were the corrupt ones. The plan “hit a snag,” the AP reported, after Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko lost his reelection to Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who ran on a campaign of ridding the country of its corruption problems. Zelenskiy, however, is now caught up in a corruption scandal with Giuliani and Trump. “Hit a snag” is now code for “a legitimate, uncorrupted politician got elected.” But, apparently, Zelensky’s honesty and refusal to play ball with Rudy and Trump eventually drove the need for “muscle,” the need to withhold, even temporarily, Ukrainian military aid, the extortion. Regardless, Rudy had put the legwork in, well before Zelensky got elected. The only potential “benefit” that Rudy seemed to bring to the company was access to a very corruptible United States’ administration. “This helped the relatively unknown entrepreneurs gain access to top levels of the Republican Party — including meetings with Trump at the White House and Mar-a-Lago,” reported the AP. “During the same period, they were pursuing the Naftogaz deal, the two were coordinating with Giuliani to set up meetings with Ukrainian government officials and push for an investigation of the Bidens.” The report is quite detailed, but there is little question that U.S. interests, tied to Giuliani, and through Giuliani – Trump, attempted to wrest some level of control over this gas company. (This is where Perry is going to come in as fall guy, Trump must have known this would come out eventually). Like the political shakedown that resulted in the original whistleblower complaint, this proposed “gas deal,” in and of itself, caused officials in the area to suspect U.S. corruption, and report it. “The Trump and Giuliani allies driving the attempt to change the senior management at Naftogaz, however, appear to have had inside knowledge of the U.S. government’s plans in Ukraine,” said the AP. “For example, they told people that Trump would replace the U.S. ambassador there months before she was actually recalled to Washington, according to three of the individuals interviewed by the AP. One […]

We noted weeks ago that Trump would take the entire country down if he believed it would save him. He will pull a gun and put it to the nation’s head, daring Democrats and legitimate Republicans to “try it.” Today, we see the trigger point. The most prominent Republican willing to come on the Sunday Talk shows – or at least Meet the Press – Senator Ron Johnson, Republican of Wisconsin, took a single question to dive into the ultimate “defense” of Donald Trump: Burn the country’s legitimacy to ashes, all to protect one man. It was, one of the scariest scenes that I have seen on television in some time. It left Chuck Todd visibly shaken, it left Democratic Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut who came on after Johnson, palpably gut-punched. Without the slightest bit of hyperbole, it was horrific. I have only the little bit dribbling onto the net at this point: In a remarkably combative performance for Todd, he found himself shouting over the Republican and demanding he stick to the questions at hand. With Todd attempting to press the Trump defender on the president’s Ukraine phone call, Johnson instead rambled, “You’ve got [former CIA director] John Brennan on, you ought to ask director Brennan, what did Peter Strzok mean when he texted Lisa Page on December 15, 2016, quote—.” Todd had asked about an accusation that is all but “proven,” the Ukrainian shakedown, and Johnson brought-up Lisa Page and Peter Strzok. Yes, he did, and Todd had to angrily get Johnson to at least attempt to address the actual question. “I have no idea why Fox News propaganda stuff is popping up on here,” Todd insisted. “I have no idea.” “Because this is underlining exactly why President Trump is upset, and why his supporters are upset, with the news media,” Johnson exclaimed as both of their voices rose. It has nothing to do with Ukraine, nothing. It is apparent that the defense consists of: “If Trump is justifiably angry enough, he should be forgiven for doing whatever the fck he wants.” “Senator Johnson, please!” Todd snapped. “Cane please answer the question that I asked you, instead of trying to make Donald Trump feel better here that you’re not criticizing him?! I’m just trying to ask a simple question of what made you wince?” “Because I didn’t want those connected,” Johnson fired back, “When I asked the president about that, he completely denied it. He adamantly denied it. He vehemently, angrily denied it. He said, ‘I’d never do that.’” The term “gaslighting” is overused, but there is simply no other fitting description when one walks onto the most prominent TV news show in the country and spouts long-debunked conspiracy theories to defend the most earth-shattering impeachment accusation in our generation. A democracy cannot run on lies, and it cannot legitimately exist where there is no reality, no rules: The nation comes undone, it burns. Watch the match get lit. WATCH: @SenRonJohnson is asked why he winced & brings up a "conspiracy theory."@chucktodd: "I have no idea why we're going here. … Can we please answer the question I asked you instead of trying to make Donald Trump feel better here that you're not criticizing him?" #MTP pic.twitter.com/41i7WPHQlF — Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) October 6, 2019 There is a defense […]

It appears that this Sunday dawns on a Republican-America without anyone sure who is in charge, or what to do next. Chaos seems to be the theme going into the official day of “rest.” The “Sunday Shows,” the old-school, once-weekly, sit around the kitchen table and pretend to talk like things are normal, episodes on the actual networks, have been unable to book a single White House official, or anyone from congressional leadership. And no one in House or Senate GOP leadership. https://t.co/t97mkwfAOx — Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) October 5, 2019 We are still an hour from air time, but guests generally don’t magically appear within an hour, and they never do with a fully-formed plan. Knowing the critical timing, how the Republicans come upon a Sunday morning without a line-up to address the most penetrating questions in a generation is worth pondering. Perhaps the best thing available was ‘no plan” and sit it all out. Perhaps there was simply no one willing to defend Trump today, with all that is still unknown. Telling. Republicans are reeling, after all. Fox-talking head Tom Fitton suggested that Mitch McConnell “change the rules” so that the Senate doesn’t have to have a trial. Given that, in this case, “the rules” come from the constitution, apparently Fitton believes that McConnell can (and should) change the constitution to protect Trump. This is the Republican party, notice how readily they’ll give up the constitution? To keep Trump? They are on their heels in a way I haven’t seen them during this entire era. https://t.co/CbRao0Np2c — Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes) October 6, 2019 Meanwhile, we learned that a federal judge in Washington ordered the White House to preserve all presidential communications with foreign leaders. The order issued due to concerns arising upon hearing that the White House had preserved some phone calls on the “codeword” system that is not the system generally used to catalogue such calls. Jackson, an appointee of President Barack Obama, instructed the White House to preserve “all records of efforts by White House or other executive branch officials to return, ‘claw back,’ ’lock down’ or recall White House records” about dealings with foreign officials. ABC News reports that a second whistleblower who has “first-hand” knowledge of the events has filed his complaint and spoken with the Inspector General. There are inferences on MSNBC that this same law firm represents “multiple” whistleblowers, meaning there are more coming forward. BREAKING: Attorney representing whistleblower who sounded the alarm on Pres. Trump’s dealings with Ukraine tells @ABC News he is now representing a second whistleblower who has first-hand knowledge of events. https://t.co/9FE7oei7pJ — GeorgeStephanopoulos (@GStephanopoulos) October 6, 2019 Were all that not enough, we also have #PerryMadeMeDoIt trending on Twitter, mocking – before it really takes hold – the anticipated Trump defense, “I called Ukraine because Rick Perry asked me to do it,” probably cooked-up by Jared. Sold out my country for like, a couple cases of Sudafed, not my fault #PerryMadeMeDoIt — Kevin ALLsenault (@kevinidge) October 6, 2019 I wore white after Labor Day. I knew it was wrong, but… #PerryMadeMeDoIt — Jo (@JoJoFromJerz) October 6, 2019 I didn’t want to buy Greenland, but . . . #PerryMadeMeDoIt pic.twitter.com/HdYLOnKTwW — Marq Goldbond (@MarqGoldbond) October 6, 2019 You get the idea. It would appear that everyone’s favorite Republican party is on […]

Proving once again that everything in Trump’s life is “transactional,” Donald Trump lashed out at Mitt Romney today. Of course Trump did. We could have written the headline yesterday. However, as per usual, there is an “only-Trump” angle that, well, “only Trump” could have come up with. He wants Romney “impeached.” I’m hearing that the Great People of Utah are considering their vote for their Pompous Senator, Mitt Romney, to be a big mistake. I agree! He is a fool who is playing right into the hands of the Do Nothing Democrats! #IMPEACHMITTROMNEY — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 5, 2019 Umm, dude? Never mind. Yes! Definitely, get someone on your staff on that. There must be a way for you to impeach Mitt, find it! Oh, and Trump wants you to know that he is correcting the record on who is interfering with the 2020 presidential election: Not only are the Do Nothing Democrats interfering in the 2020 Election, but they are continuing to interfere in the 2016 Election. They must be stopped! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 5, 2019 Let us set aside the question as to how one “interferes” in an election that occurred three years ago, in which one lost. According to Trump, it is the Democrats who are “interfering” in the 2020 presidential election, not him. Of course it is, because we all know that one of Donald’s favorite tactics is to take your accusation and accuse you of the crime. Hillary colluded with Russia, the Democrats are interfering with the 2020 election, and the Air Force is paying me to sleep at my house. Speaking of Hillary. She still lives rent-free in Trump’s pointed head. Breathe in this desperation, knowing how thoroughly puckered a guy’s gotta be to tweet shit like this on a beautiful October Saturday: So Crooked Hillary Clinton can delete and acid wash 33,000 emails AFTER getting a Subpoena from the United States Congress, but I can’t make one totally appropriate telephone call to the President of Ukraine? Witch Hunt! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 5, 2019 Yessss. That kind of presidential desperation is like crisp air, sunshine, colored leaves … beautiful. **** Peace, y’all Jason jmiciak@yahoo.com and on Twitter @MiciakZoom  

Backed into a corner, Trump’s last defense with respect to calling on Ukraine and China to investigate Biden is that he has an “absolute right” and/or “duty,” to investigate “corruption.” Clearly, Trump and his aides, Barr, Pompeo, and perhaps Trump-friendly allies around the globe, have determined that Trump must castigate himself as the anti-corruption president as the only way forward. Quote from Rawstory: “I don’t care about Biden’s campaign,” Trump said. “But I do care about corruption. His campaign, that’s up to him. Politics, that’s up to them. I don’t care about politics.“ He doesn’t care about politics, he cares about “corruption.” He cares about “Ukrainian corruption,” but doesn’t care about Russian corruption, perhaps the most corrupt country on Earth. Russian corruption sucks the lifeblood out of the global economy, because Russia’s only export is “lawlessness.” Trump cares about “corruption,” but gave cover to a nation borne of corruption, Saudi Arabia, that “corruptly” killed an American resident journalist in the most horrific manner, and has tortured and executed whistleblowers since MBS’s rise. Trump cares about “corruption,” but has overseen the most corrupt, grifting cabinet and “first-family” in history, and we’ve only scratched the surface. Think military spending at his Scotland resort, and the DOJ Christmas party at the Trump DC hotel. He cares about “corruption,” but when Jeff Session’s DOJ prosecuted two Republican congressman prior to the 2018 election for corruption, Trump criticized Sessions for the prosecution. I could go on. But, want to know who cannot go on? Can’t go on beyond: “I am against corruption”? Trump. On Friday, a reporter asked Trump to cite any other action Trump had taken around the globe against “corruption,” and whether Trump had asked a foreign leader for assistance in rooting out “corruption” in any setting besides political rivals, just one example. Trump had none. “You know, we would have to look,” Trump responded. “What I ask for and what I always will ask for is anything having to do with corruption with respect to our country,” he continued. “If a foreign country can help us with respect to corruption and corruption probe, and — I don’t care if it’s Biden or anybody else. If they can help us.” “If Biden is corrupt, if his son is corrupt — when his son takes out billions of dollars and he has no experience. He just got fired from the Navy. When they do that, that’s no good. So — just to finish your question. Anything having to do with corruption, I actually feel I have an obligation to do that.” So, the answer is “No, but listen to all these bad things about Joe Biden …” This is just so god-awful dangerous. Want to know the constitutional extent of the White House’s obligations? Keep its nose out of criminal investigations of all types. I know it all sounds quaint, but at one point, it would have been considered “obviously impeachable” for the president to even pick up the phone and direct the A.G. to investigate anyone, never mind pick up the phone and ask a foreign leader to investigate someone. At one point, the one sure answer you would hear from the White House about “investigations” of any type, was: “The White House does not comment about ongoing official investigations.” Indeed, even in Trump’s White House, Don […]

Lest you worried that Trump would understand the seriousness of the charges against him, and invest in the swampiest of the experienced swamp-monster attorneys in DC, fear not. Trump got a public defender. Jared. From Rawstory: As reported by CNN on Friday, the president is relying on Kushner and chief of staff Mick Mulvaney to come up with a plan aimed at beating back investigations launched by House Democrats into the president’s efforts to get Ukraine to dig up dirt on his political opponents… Kushner has been the mastermind behind some of Trump’s biggest mistakes as president, most notably the decision to fire former FBI Director James Comey, which led to the appointment of special counsel Robert Mueller and the conviction of multiple Trump associates for a wide array of offenses. If someone attempted to impeach me for the presidential crime of the century, I would be lining up the absolute best attorneys in NYC and DC, with a minimum of thirty years experience each, people who have tackled serious issues before, and won. Thankfully, it is Trump that is accused of abusing the powers of his office, not me. I get abused by my office. The internet is having a great time with the inspired choice: This is unfortunate news for the world. Now, who's going to solve the Middle East peace problem? — Jeff Dannenberg (@jecrda) October 4, 2019 😂😂😂😂😂 Kushner and Mulvaney to head impeachment defense. To my knowledge, Kushner does not have a law degree. TRUMP IS SCREWED! — Sherrie Kaw (@89wunderlust) October 4, 2019 To my knowledge, Jared’s tuition at Harvard (for undergrad) was well over a million dollars, that was the amount his father had to give the university to get his son admitted. F’ing moron. And, to remind everyone here of the stakes, and the need to keep an eye on “Kush” because he’s been known to “do whatever it takes:” Trump has tapped son in law Jared Kushner to lead his impeachment defense. While Jared is a repulsive and inept creature, we should not be overconfident. He has friends with bone saws who carve up journalists. — Jim David (@ComicJimDavid) October 4, 2019 Still, it could be much worse. Trump could have tapped someone who might have formed a plan, based upon experience, legal principles, and intelligence. Instead, he went to Jared. **** Peace, y’all Jason jmiciak@yahoo.com, and on Twitter: @MiciakZoom  

Trump is coming unglued, as we noted yesterday, sent into a frenzy by the seriousness of the latest allegations and increasing support for impeachment. It is good to remember, this all started due to a whistleblower report compiled by a CIA agent. In short, our intelligence and diplomatic communities are convinced that the entire United States’ executive foreign policy apparatus, has been co-opted by an foreign asset, selling secrets, and, for the first time ever, selling foreign policy itself. The nature of the threat leads to a shocking dynamic, where the people normally seen as “the good guys,” our CIA agents, FBI agents, and international envoys, are “the enemy” according to Trump and his cult-followers. I want to share a reply that I received to a Tweet yesterday. I received this reply to a tweet that I sent whereby I noted that Trump might have called upon Chinese President Xi to investigate Biden because he had already asked Xi in June – over the phone – to investigate Biden. Here is the tweet and the reply: Chalk this under, paybacks are a bitch, ain’t that right Obama, Biden, Clinton, Lynch, Comey, McCabe, McCain, Clapper, Brennan and dozens more criminally corrupt DC swamp insiders (including the msm) who orchestrated the whole Trump Russian tooth fairy conspiracy, suck it.. — Right Spin (@RightSpin1) October 4, 2019 Forget the “Obama,” “Biden” and “Clinton,” reference for a moment, those are politicians for whom the Right has a genetic-based hatred. Look at the other names on the list, Attorney General Lynch, FBI Director McCabe, “McCain,” (?) and the intelligence officials. All law enforcement, all invested in the security of the United States from foreign manipulation, and all put their loyalty to the United States, not Trump. Trump knew from day one that the foreign intelligence community would become aware of his compromised position, his personal deals, and conflicts. He set about to make the good guys, the bad guys, and it has worked. From Rawstory, today: This is the traditional way of Washington politics, now whipped to a froth by the convulsions of a dysfunctional and deregulated political system. Not only do U.S. intelligence agencies see the American presidency is vulnerable to manipulation (or capture) by pro-Trump intelligence services in Moscow, Riyadh, and Jerusalem, but the president himself is viewed as a threat to the national security process. The crisis runs even deeper than Watergate, which had the effect of empowering Congress and reining in the intelligence agencies. As in Watergate, the Trump crisis pits a president who says there are no limits on his freedom of action against the institutional forces of the CIA and FBI. These agencies were, and are, adept at defending their interests in the Washington press corps. As in Watergate, the interests of the agencies and the Democrats overlap—they both seek to curb and remove a lawless president. The tweet, along with those two paragraphs lead to a terribly depressing conclusion. Any evidence obtained about Trump’s crimes will spring from an investigation done by the FBI, CIA, and State Department, and the dynamic dictates that the stronger the evidence, the more likely Trump supporters will believe it is all the product of a vendetta by the “Deep State.” They made it all up, or it’s not a problem to begin with. Trump didn’t […]

See-Saw, Marjorie Daw, Jackie shall have a new master   English nursery rhyme July 25th, 2019 Ukrainian President Zelinsky tells President Trump in a phone call that Ukraine is almost ready to buy more javelin anti tank missiles from the US to defend itself from Russia. To which Trump replies, “We’d like you to do us a favor though,” and lays out a quid pro quo that Ukraine reopen the investigation into Joe and Hunter Biden, and presumably find something as juicy as a T-Bone. September 3rd, 2019 In response to a question from a reporter, Trump says that trade talks with Chine will be resuming soon, and that if China doesn’t do the right thing, “We are in a very strong position and there are many things we can do.” After which, the next words from Trump’s pie hole are, “But if China were smart, they’d open an investigation into the Biden’s.n” Apparently His Lowness figures that if a whistle blower can’t get the syntax right, he may as well just lay it all out himself, on national television. It’s true, trade talks with China about ending the trade war are supposed to resume shortly. But did Hair Furor just reprised one of his greatest hits, That’s a nice little economy you got there, be a shame if anything happened to it? This is the kind of blazing stupid that you can’t even learn at Trump U, you have to be born with it, kid of like a drop-from-the-table slider. Here’s why this goes beyond being criminally stupid, and enters the realm of Hannibal Lecter stupid. Ukraine was a traditional patsy. Ukraine had two choices, they could comply with Trump, or go back to borscht six days a week. Ukraine had no discernible pressure that they could put on Trump in response, nor any way to exact any effective revenge for Trump’s extortion. China on the other hand is a legitimate super power, not only nuclear armed, but an economic power almost equal to the united States. If Trump decides to slap more sanctions on China in a fit of pique for China not complying with Trump’s demand for dirt on the Bidens, China can slap back just as hard, and the US economy is already showing steady signs of weakening. Trump could literally start a recession in the US as punishment to China for refusing to pay up. But more importantly, China is in a position to turn the tables on Trump. There are things that China wants too, and they can use those as bargaining chips in return for dirt on the Biden’s. Let’s just say that China cobbles up some manufactured bullshit to please Trump. China can tease the dirt to Trump, and then turn around in the negotiations and say, “Now, about this little ‘intellectual property’ nonsense you keep droning on about. Do you agree that maybe it’s not such a big deal after all?” Trump would almost certainly sell U.S. entrepreneurs and companies down the river to China in return for the manufactured dirt on the Biden’s. This is unbelievable. I’ll tell you something. If I’m running some crappy little authoritarian country somewhere, and anybody with the name of Biden has ever set foot in the place, I’m telling my best forgers to start inventing shit, and don’t […]