Lady Justice has functioned very well—for years, being blind, but now Donald Trump, William Barr, and Republican officialdom are rendering her mute. Last night, and for as long as Attorney General Barr does not collapse under the weight of a tweet, he publicly admitted the President is pulling away the wool he so proficiently tried to pull over our eyes. The four Department of Justice attorneys who submitted their sentencing recommendation to Judge Amy Berman Jackson in the Roger Stone case quit or were reassigned in protest. The memo to Judge Jackson was in complete accordance with the law and the guidelines set by the DOJ; the problem was that it ran afoul of Mr. Trump because it affected his toady, Roger Stone.
I am weary of “here we go again” moments orchestrated by the Republicans and gobbled up like chum off the bow of the Orca by Democrats. The Democratic hierarchy waited on Comey, waited on Mueller, waited on Bolton and entered a shark cage lowered into the water by Susan Collins and Lamar Alexander. After being bitten by all of them, supposedly I am now to believe a repentant Bill Barr. Until the Attorney General comes before the American people in a national address and says Donald Trump was wrong, pardon me if I have my doubts.
We are literally watching the frenzied dreams Republicans feared, during the Obama administration, coming to fruition in their chosen one. Donald Trump, with the blessings of Republicans, is a lawless President. He sold out America’s interest in both Russia and Ukraine for his own. He cozied up to North Korea tyrant Kim Jong-un in an effort to grab a Nobel Peace Prize. He trivialized the injuries to American servicemen calling their head injuries “headaches” after being bombed by the Iranians. He has been complicit or implicated in murder, blackmail, extortion, fraud and sexual assault, all while the Republicans say he’s “learned his lesson.”
Yesterday I watched a few minutes of an interview with Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy and when asked about Mr. Trump’s apparent interference in the Stone case he claimed he wears blinders and just plows straight ahead legislating and pays no attention to Trump’s tweets. Now it might be said that taking portions of his statement out of context, could be interpreted another way, but I heard enough when he said he looks at Trump’s antics ‘wearing blinders.’ That is precisely the problem; the blindfolded Lady Justice, that the current crop of Republicans swore to uphold, is overlooking an even more impaired Republican cabal.
Again, pardon me if I have doubts…
Yes, doubts about the latest crop of Republicans looking for a lifeboat, Sen. Mitt Romney, former White House Chief of Staff John Kelly, and A.G. William Barr. Doubts, about the same Mitt Romney who railed against Trump during the campaign, then ran to a dinner meeting with the newly elected President searching for a job. Doubts, about Gen. John Kelly, who issued an eloquent defense of Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, ““We teach them, Don’t follow an illegal order. And if you’re ever given one, you’ll raise it to whoever gives it to you that this is an illegal order, and then tell your boss,” Kelly said. Kelly has now rediscovered his conscience after advancing the President’s 2017 lie, in his dispute with Florida Congresswoman Frederica Wilson following the death of Army Sgt. LaDavid Johnson. My doubts continue with Mr. Barr who believes Mr. Trump is justified in his actions because the president has, “complete authority to start or stop a law enforcement proceeding,” according to Barr. Lady Justice is blind, but she is not stupid.
Vote in 2020 for Change.