So, the time is ripe for asking the Republicans in the Congress at what point do they acknowledge the truth about Donald Trump. Listening this weekend to the legislators who pledged their allegiance to the Constitution try their best to put lipstick on their pig, it clearly has come time for them to choose. Will they choose their nation or its traitor?
The blockbuster NYTimes story which outlined the intelligence communities” fears that Donald Trump, the man we elected president in 2016, was a Russian asset. So they opened an investigation on the new president. This unprecedented step was taken based upon evidence collected from myriad sources--evidence buttressed by Trump’s own public actions and words in the days after his election to the office of president. For most Americans, the news was not so startling, since so much of Trump’s treachery was done openly:
- the changes in the Republican platform that favored the Russian annexation of Crimea
- Michael Flynn’s communications during the transition promising sanction relief one the new administration took over power
- Jared’s seeking a “back channel” to the Kremlin that would cut out U.S. intelligence oversight
- the firing of James Comey
- the Oval Office meeting with Russian officials two days after the firing in celebration of the Comey firing
The list only grew as the president appeased Vladimir Putin and the Russian oligarch’s at every turn as witnessed by the world in his embarrassing and tell-tale Helsinki faux summit. But even as the evidence grew, Republicans rationalized this president’s odd behavior with peculiar arguments which suggested that we shouldn’t believe our eyes or ears. His supporters among the base and in Congress argued uncomfortably that somehow the 45th president of the United States was simply a rough-hewn savant whose gut and instincts were far superior to our own plebian insights. Their counter-intuitive denials begged the question, why is this president so enamored with Putin’s Russia? Why were his administration’s policies so destabilizing for America? His attacks on NATO allies was both disconcerting and unaligned with reason. What motivated this behavior was a mystery. And still, Republicans in Congress were unquestioning of these signs of treason. Devin Nunes, the chair of the House Intelligence Committee halted inquiries into the strange behavior that was occurring in plain sight. He and his party taking on the role of confederates in the perfidy of their leader.
“ Though those that are betray'd do feel the treason sharply, yet the traitor stands in worse case of woe. ”
Shakespeare, from Cymbeline
With the NYTimes blockbusting revelations, the veil that has hung over this presidency has begun to rise. We are treated to the sight of an emperor undressed, the wizard exposed, a traitor unmasked. Republicans hold the nation’s future hostage even now. They seem decided to place their everlasting reputations on the line despite growing evidence of treason. They won't investigate for fear of what they might uncover. The party has so invested its own future on fears of losing Trump's vaunted base, it has lost its soul. Having passed a point of no return, they maintain their support, putting in question their own patriotism and loyalty to the oaths they had taken. Indeed, the actions of key Republicans like Lindsey Graham and Mitch McConnell have jettisoned themselves to the forefront of those who seem to have inexplicable motives for their blind support of Trump. The Senate Majority Leader has led his Republican conference like lemmings over a cliff by supporting his inane shutdown over a symbolic wall. The Senate has contributed to and energized Trump's curious dalliance with Russia. his arguments with the truth, and his antics at the border by their inaction and muted responses. They, too, are now compromised.
“My heart suspects more than mine eye can see.”
Shakespeare, from Titus Andronicus
Like most crimes, the truth is often far worse. In Trump’s case the level of duplicity and betrayal promise to be far more compelling in the final report of Robert Mueller than in the episodic revelations uncovered by the press. The news media which has been the target of the Trump family's ire are true heroes in this little morality play. Traitors are like parasites who cling to and weaken the bodies they attack. Truth is the first victim and the free press is only the most obvious mark. Like his Russian mentor, Trump has attacked the respected news media while supporting a “statist” interloper in Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News which seemingly has given itself over to his purposes. Murdoch is a native Australian who has become a naturalized citizen in order to satisfy U.S. requirements that only citizens could own television outlets. Murdoch’s empire includes The Wall Street Journal and News Corporation. both of which he acquired after running Australian and British scandal sheets. Trump and his base have chosen the interloper over the respected free press that has served the nation since its inception. Those who tune into the truly fake news emanating from the Murdoch brand, are soothed by its falsehoods which contravene the truth. The Fox audience chooses to disbelieve what has become a mountain of evidence to the contrary and make a choice to become allied with a cover story. In the words of a Founding Father whose championed a free and unfettered press,
“Wise men don't need advice. Fools won't take it.”
In the case of Trump and his serial betrayal of America, the evidence of his sedition is steeped in a lifetime of corruption. His dealings as a real estate developer are tainted by his cheating and outright stealing. His side ventures include a clothing line (defunct), a real estate “university” (discredited), and other ventures which only fed his greed at the expense of those who were caught up in his con. The Trump brand glitters with phony promises accompanied by the stench of criminal activity. Trump has been able to skirt prosecution and greater infamy through bribes and a generous supply of settlement fees to unsuspecting victims. The outlines of Trump’s capacity for double-dealing was evident in his DNA long before he became president. In addition, his courting of Russian favors goes back several decades as his need for Russsian “investments” in his various projects allowed one hand to wash another. In what appears to be a string of money laundering schemes devised by Russians, he has been ensnared by their plot their desire to compromise an American asset and by the magnitude his own greed.
“No, I will be the the pattern of all patience; I will say nothing.”
Shakespeare, from King Lear
The best hope of saving our democracy as we know it lay in the hands of SP Robert Mueller. While the cosmic forces of evil surrounding Trump and the Russians assail his effort, Mueller presses on in silence. His virtual leak-proof investigation grinds on slowly and in silence. In comparison, Trump tweets and rants in public almost daily, swinging wildly at a force he cannot see. Mueller and Trump are now locked in a titanic battle for the soul of a nation. Their antipodal methods serve up a classic deathmatch of contrasting styles-- Trump, the low-brow street fighter, versus Mueller the steady, confident warrior. One a scofflaw and a draft-dodger, the other a war hero and lifetime civil servant.
While we are unsure of how this will end. It has all the makings of a Shakespearean tragedy. Trump is a perfect foil for the Bard's rebuke of corrupt kings and princes. Like Macbeth and Othello, his treachery works for a time, and emboldened by early success, leads them to their ultimate demise. Trump has set his wiles against those of the quiet investigator whose patience we hope will be rewarded with a tragic fall for the American traitors who have highjacked our democracy. As we near the end of this foul presidency it is good to reflect upon a promise laid our in another Shakespearean masterpiece, The Tempest:
“Thus the whirligig of time brings in his revenges.”
So be it.