Mes Haines: What Do We Want?

Donald Trump's head on a plate!

When your opponent won't play fair you don't cave in and say, "OK. have it your way." The question is, do you continue to try to keep the rules intact or do you say "To hell with it!" and pull out some dirty tricks of your own?

I wrestle with that question almost daily, and I'm sure I'm not the only one. There is no precedent in our history for the current situation: 

An ex-president who for four years openly flouted the laws of the United States, attempted a coup, sought to disrupt the country's rightful and legal electoral process, brainwashed his followers into believing he is right and everyone else is wrong, attempted, on recorded telephone calls, to suborn elected officials, sent unidentified troops against Americans, courted and encouraged vigilante militias, called cowardly killers heroes and decorated military heroes losers, falsely declared a national emergency in order to get funds to keep a campaign promise, routinely misused federal monies and campaign funds and used federal employees illegally, frequently tried to override the courts of justice, unilaterally renounced international treaties and obligations, improperly employed family members, sought personal political aid from leaders of inimical nations, committed perjury, incited insurrection, endangered the entire nation by ignoring a pandemic, received laundered money for his 2016 campaign, obstructed justice, and lied under oath--while taking the presidential oath.

That's just a partial list of Trump's misdeeds. I know that some items are just bad acts, but there are prosecutable crimes there. Trump remains a danger to us, to the Constitution, and possibly to the world.

He must be stopped: arrested, charged, tried, and put out of sight. There has to be a legal way.

Desperate times call for desperate measures.

 

--- Diogenes, 8 October 2021

 

Mes Haines: Disregarding Vox Populi

No, I am not complaining that this blog is being disregarded, but that the actual Vox Populi, the Voice of the People, is. 

The 2020 presidential election was clearly and widely understood to be a plebiscite on the 45th president. Every election is to some degree a vote for one person and against another, but in this case the vote was not just on the presidency of Donald Trump, such as it was, but on the man himself. Numbers are neutral, but in the run up to, during, and following the election it was clear that Americans wanted DJTrump gone.

Not just out of office. Gone.

It's not happening.

The 2020 election, in which 51.3% of voting Americans chose Biden, gave the new president one unambiguous mandate: Undo as many of Trump's policies as feasible and deny him any possibility of running for office again.

I appreciate the many challenges that face President Biden. Among many other things he had to start fixing the insane mess that Trump had made of the Executive Branch. There were treaties to repair, feathers to unruffle, hangers-on who thought Trump had appointed them for life to move out the door--the list may be endless.

Somewhere in there Biden or his advisors lost sight of the primary goal: Make Trump persona non grata in the government.

Along with many other Americans I voted for equal justice, freedom from willful governance, respect for civil rights and for the Constitution, and a nation free of Trump and his tyrannical madness.

I did not cast my ballot for multi-trillion-dollar infrastructure overhaul or more Congressional constipation. I voted for action and we're not seeing it: not in creating a Trump-free nation, not in protecting civil rights, not in bringing the nation together.

Presently the only significant criminal litigation against DJTrump is at county and state levels. If the FBI has something cooking they're keeping a cover on it. 

When I say I want Trump gone I'm not talking about whisking him off to some rendition facility. Article II, Section 3 of the Constitution gives the president the responsibility to "take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed, . . ." Sometimes vague statements can be useful. Laws are executed only when they are applied, and they are applied only when a person who has clearly broken them is charged and tried.

As a department within the Executive Branch the Department of Justice answers to the president. At his request they could and should open a number of investigations into Trump's activities.

With the evidence all over television news, social media, and podcasts, there has to be a crumb or two visible to the FBI, who should unquestionably be able to find laws that Trump has broken.

Who am I to complain about what the president is doing? 

I am no one and I am everyone; I am one of the 81 million people who elected him; I am America, as we the people are all America.

We are those who need to "Take Back America;" we need to take it back from politicians. They work on our behalf for our welfare and they need to be reminded of the fact.

Tell them.

--- Diogenes, 6 October 2021