America Only Won WW2 Because We Worked Together as a Team.
In WW2 we let FDR have a 3rd term because we knew we were at war and could not afford to be divided. We can’t afford this inner division today either – but we don’t seem to know that. Dems must show the American people they can unite their party if they expect the country to believe they can unite the country. Both sides will respect that. After all, if they can’t unite the “left” how can they unite the country?
We are at war in the USA. We are at war with foreign enemies that want to exploit our riches. We are at war with Trump’s GOP party selling our rights and assets to the highest bidders. We are at war with Mother Nature, who seems to want to get rid of us for our polluting ways. And at the same time, we are at war with each other, which makes it difficult for Americans to prevail at any effort.
I am old enough to remember first-hand the spirit of the WW2 generation. They were not the greed is good generation nor the it’s all about me generation. The greatest generation citizens resigned to do their parts to defeat German Nationalism with a spirit of teamwork and without ego. Now we have a combination of corporatism and American Nationalism to defeat. And they are about to shut the door on democracy. The moment the Senate acquits – it’s really over. Praying for votes in this rigged environment is not a plan. Hoping there will be a fair election is not a plan. It is a hope or a prayer.
Trump knows exactly how long he has to completely take this government over – from the justice department installations to the election fixing with our enemies. Trump is working every day to have our democracy be gone before the 2020 election. Why? Trump knows the term that follows his presidential term may be a prison term.
TEAMWORK
The two remaining viable candidates can meet in a room after the next debate and let’s settle on who will be the Democratic candidates for president, vice president, chief of staff and district attorney. There is a place for all the candidates in a new administration if they want it. If Biden prevails, Warren and Bernie’s message must not be ignored. They must set aside their egos. There is no place for someone who just “wants” to be president. We have that guy now. Mike Bloomberg has already signed on to being a team player to defeat Trump-ism. Thank you Mike!
MAGA people know they are being lied to. They still don’t know who will be there for them on our side because right now – we don’t even know. I used to think that was a bad thing. With Mike’s money, maybe it’s not so bad. Trump can’t attack both candidates at the same time quite so easily. But expect this to get real ugly in the last two weeks. That’s when he beat Hillary – and mainly in the last three days – just the way Biden surged. People have short memories for politics. Trump knows this. So expect shenanigans galore in October.
Each Team America player has a special purpose within this total teamwork concept. Biden – for his compassionate, people-person unifying style, but also for his experience in “being there”. Warren – for her progressive ideas on healthcare etc., and to keep Bernie’s grassroots energy in the game. Pete – for his brilliant, eloquent speaking, youth and appeal to servicemen. Kamala – to go after the crooks when this is all over – which will be crucial to making sure this does not happen again in our lifetimes.
Sometimes I think we, the so-called “Resistance” are all stupid. We all agree that Trump and the GOP are corrupt and a danger to democracy, the country and the planet. You would think that would produce a response that is as serious as those words. But we retreat to arguing on Twitter, social media and call-in talk shows about who might be best to take on that job. And since the Democratic Party’s format stipulates that we debate and campaign until July, it is virtually impossible that we will be united until July. And by then, our passions and energies will be exhausted, and our bankrolls diluted. We will then just have a few months to organize a team that can defeat Trump’s corrupt but organized team.
Vegas now shows Trump as a 3:2 favorite to win the 2020 election. Wake up folks. Every day we are not united, is a day Trump-ism is getting ahead.
So maybe we are all thinking about this wrong. Let’s ask ourselves why we got Trump. I hear a lot of Trump-ism was an extension of the Tea Party, HRC was secretly unpopular or Putin did it. And there is some truth in all those theories. But there was one defining event – one simple decision in the control of one person – that opened the door for the Trump fascist presidency. And though we can’t go back in time to undo that decision, we can recognize the error, learn from it and not make the same mistake again in 2020. What was the singular event that begot Trump?
In 2016, Hillary Clinton narrowly defeating Bernie Sanders who had tremendous grass roots support across this nation. The first thing she did after she won the nomination was make a totally unknown senator from Virginia, Tim Keane, her running mate. She ignored all the love, passion, and the investment that millions of Democrats had made in Bernie Sanders. And that was it. I can still recall me telling my wife, HRC just lost the election on that day. Of course, I only slightly believed it. But it turned out that was the defining moment, more than all the others summed, that got Trump in the White House.
Had Hillary Clinton chosen Bernie Sanders as her VP there is almost no way the Dems would have lostto Trumpin 2016. Can we all agree on that? I hope so. So now, let’s take away the names Hillary and Bernie and see what really happened from a bird’s eye view.
A Democratic centrist chose another centrist, ignoring the progressive wing of the party as if it did not exist. So that’s the simple thing we have to learn from and not do again in 2020. And then we will win in November because the vast majority really is sick of the division this presidency needs to survive.
We need our POTUS and VP candidates to be one from the center and one from the progressive wing of the Democrat party – and we win. Is that so hard to do? It’s not. It’s alot easier than all these impeachments and debating. Make one right choice and we are 75% of the way there. Enough with a president deserves to surround himself with like-minded politicians. That’s the fascist’s protocol. JFK chose Johnson, who he did not like, because he knew he had to unite the party to win. FDR chose Truman. Were they like-minded? Not.
Let me try to put this in pictures since no one reads much any more.
Biden sort of needs the plans and preparedness that Warren would bring to the table anyway. And I’m sorry I’m not putting a woman in the potus slot this cycle. I am trying to reach out to the other side – a side that does not even want women to control their own bodies. So not this cycle. 2024 is fine. Maybe even 2022. Maybe Joe would retire after two years and be happy knowing he defeated Trump-ism. Joe is running for potus as a patriotic duty more than a burning desire. We can all see that, and that’s fine. Amy said she liked Bernie just fine. Really all the Dem candidates should like each other just fine. Certainly they can all work together for Americans better than heartless Trump and his loyalist stooges.They don’t have to be clones of each other. They don’t need to be loyal to each other in that Trumpian way – just loyal to their oaths and the Constitution. These two together would be painted as communists even thought they are not. People scare easily and Trump knows ow to scare. The majority will choose to stick with the status quo if we ignore the center of the party. This ticket would have an issue exciting the Democratic progressive base. Expect Trump’s base to be excited and possibly violently excited. This summer has the potential to be like 1969. Trump clearly want chaos and will be telegraphing hate. Someone told me Warren and Bloomberg would fight like dogs and cats. I don’t buy it. I see both as having good hearts and wanting the best for Americans. I see both as being smart and accomplished. I admit I don’t yet know where Bloomberg is on all the important issues that affect peoples’ lives. But I hope we will be learning that soon. Still, this is center and left and a very hard to assail ticket. I’d sleep well with these two in control of the government. And Bloomberg is not asking for a cent from his supporters. That feels very good.
So this is easy folks. We need a Chinese menu ticket. One from column A, one from column B. I am not sure whether the centrist or the progressive should occupy the potus slot – but I know it has to be one of each.
TO UNITE THE COUNTRY, FIRST UNITE THE PARTY. TO DO THAT, MAKE SURE EACH SIDE HAS A DOG IN THE FIGHT. IS THAT SO HARD?
Even Trump knew he had to get a guy like Pence, with his religious right following, to balance his party, which Pence does in his own sick way. Certainly we can be as smart as Donald Trump.
Why don’t we do things a little differently and run as a ticket? Trump has a ticket and an entire team. We don’t have to waste the energies of any of the candidates. I see Pete as a potential Secretary of State. We’re going to need that to regain our standing in the world. I see Kamala Harris as the perfect AG to prosecute the GOP criminality we know is going on.
The sooner we have a team that engages all sides of our diverse electorate, the sooner we will see those odds in Vegas reflecting the will of the majority of Americans. Remember, 75% of all Americans wanted to see witnesses and documents. We have the electorate. I think we just have to do things a little smarter this cycle.
In the 1940’s, the citizens of the greatest generation resigned to do their parts to defeat German Nationalism with a spirit of teamwork and without ego. If we had fought WW2 the way we are running this presidential campaign, we’d all be speaking German here today.
If we think back to the 2016 campaign, there were strange sightings of Russians at the GOP Convention and trails of Russian money mixed with the NRC treasury. Now, in the rear view mirror, it all begins to make sense.
Putin realized that the GOP controlled the gateway to promote a 2016 presidential candidate. So first he had to form an alliance with the GOP and sell them on the idea of running Donald Trump. Reince Prebus didn’t go along with the Russian scheme, so he was the first to go.
McConnell, the most transactional US Senator in history, proved he would do anything to further his party’s interests when he held up Obama’s SCOTUS choice for one year. Mitch knows how essential he is for the GOP’s survival, so he leveraged a lucrative post for his wife Elaine Chao, who has many business ties to China, – Secretary of Transportation. So the McConnells are all in with the sellout.
The metastasis of the GOP sellout has spread to other positions of power within the US government. They are actively ousting anyone not 100% board and replacing them with lockstep loyalists. Comey, Tillerson and Mattis did not pass the loyalty test and were ousted for no good cause other than a president deserves to surround himself with whomever he wants. And yes, that is how the law reads.
Listen to what Putin said at a hockey game he plays in to a CBS reporter. “Trump is acting in accordance with ( the laws of ) his own government”.
Autocrats and criminals often leak out what’s on their minds when they think people are not paying attention. In Putin’s case, his power is so secure he could shoot someone in Red Square and not lose any power. He prefers poison these days. But view this interview, which you can listen to by clicking here, as a leaked statement of Putin’s state of information with respect to Trump’s actions to oust Comey. Putin was either in the loop, or more likely – calling the shots. Putin is a democracy takeover expert. Trump is taking orders, spreading lies – and golfing.
The GOP is and clearly has been aligned with Putin, and together they are trying to take over the United States by using the existing laws on the books. In a country of laws, there is really no other way to do it. That’s why they start with court appointees. That is Putin’s genius. Over time, they hope there will be less laws to fight.
The GOP is operating like a mob crime family, ignoring the will and interests of the American people they swear to serve. They focus on the steps needed to retain power for their uppermost members. They all have foreign entanglements and bank accounts where they can enrich themselves on the quiet.
The GOP is the process of forming a ruling oligarchy here in the USA, that will compare with what Putin has in Russia. That has become their primary goal now because once a faction has committed crimes, they must create and sustain an environment that keeps the crimes hidden forever. Hence the trial with no witnesses was necessary for the GOP. They are complicit with all or trump’s crimes, past and future now.
The vindication of Donald Trump in a Soviet-styled sham trial was an essential step in keeping the GOP’s crimes secret. Donald Trump knows that McConnell and the top GOP members are complicit in the crimes they have jointly committed. Trump has that dirt on the key members, so it was really impossible for the GOP senators to vote for witnesses and documents.
Really, they all need to be impeached. But Barr, Pompeo and McConnell for sure.
As for Trump, I say, IMPEACH HIM AGAIN in the People’s House. Get witnesses, documents and let the 75% of Americans see the truth during the election year. And I don’t care if there is an election coming – because they don’t care. The will call anyone who opposes this tyrant a criminal right up to the election day. And since people – here there and everywhere – are mostly meek and decent – enough of them will buy his lies to make it close and the cheating may get him over the line. But only if Russia is on the front page in October.
Let me end this short warning with math that should be very telling. Trump and his GOP party have just totally ignored the will of 75% of the American people who wanted to at least see the witness and documents in his impeachment trial.They are 75% along the way to a complete totalitarian rule here in the USA. After all, if 100% of Americans wanted to see a real trial and could not make it happen – that would mark the total surrender of democracy, which by definition means the people’s majority should prevail.
There two steps that remain for complete takeover of the US democracy: shutting down information media and rigging the election. PS. This is why Trump fears Bloomberg most. Mike owns a huge media outlet. This is why I am beginning to think Mike Bloomberg is our front man – but he should select and delegate positions to candidates like Bernie, Pete, Klobuchar and even Booker and Harris. If Bloomberg runs an inclusive campaign, that’s all we will really need. We can’t unit the country if we can’t unite our party. Whoever figures this out first, should be our man.
If I were in Schiff’s shoes, I would make a public plea for open-source encrypted voting software with paper trails for this year’s elections. Absent of that – which will never happen – the Dems must keep the investigation ongoing in the House, write new articles of impeachment for Trump and impeach McConnell, Barr and Pompeo – this time with a trial done in the House with witnesses and documents.
The primary meme that drives Putin and Trump is still “greed is good”. Don’t view these “statesmen” as politicians. View them and treat them for what they are – criminals with the titles of statesmen. They will view truth tellers in media and government as rats and leakers. That is the struggle we find ourselves in now –statesmen vs. criminals.
Will we allow criminals to keep the controls of our once democratic government and use our own laws to maintain their power and negate majority rule for all of us? What kind of world will we be living in when majority rule no longer applies in the USA at all? Ask the citizens of Russia and Venezuela how their authoritarian government is working for them.
These are links to my most relevant posts on Trump-ism. I sat in a class with Donald trump in ’67 at Penn and worked close enough to him in AC to see he was buying into a crooked lifestyle. I made a choice to get away from that meme. It just did not sit well with me. It still does not.
Fox News, CNN and other reliable polls show that slightly more than half of Americans want Trump impeached and removed. The average of reliable polls is 52% want Trump out. These are people who will never vote for him. So Trump starts at 48% of the popular vote as a maximum.
And it gets worse than that because some of the 48% wont end up voting for him as well. If 75% of Americans want witnesses and documents in the Senate Impeachment Trial, it is because they know there can be no real trial and no justice possible without witnesses and documents. And many of those 75% are Republican and Independent voters. This means 75% of Americans have at least some reservations about the honesty of Donald Trump and they want to see a real trial to resolve that uncertainty.
It gets hard to deny Trump’s ceiling for the national vote in an honest election can exceed 40% to 45% – which means though he lost the popular vote in 2016 by 3 million votes – Trump would lose the popular vote by 13 million to 18 million votes if the election were held today.
This bad math will drag the GOP senators and reps down in the House and Senate, resulting in more lost seats in November. So yes, the GOP should realize they are likely to lose all their power in November.
But it should also worry all Americans because of one big reason: Trump and the GOP now know for sure they can’t win an honest election.They know they will have to cheat to win. And Donald Trump has the appetite to step blindly onto that path because he really does not care what people think about him. If he did, he would have become a better person long ago. Trump also knows the term that follows his presidential term may be a prison term. So he will be willing to do anything to win.
The bad polling math means if we don’t find a way to remove Donald Trump, we should expect election cheating to be a big part of the GOP strategy in 2020.
If 75% of Americans want to see a trial that has evidence, witnesses and documents, and the GOP representative Senators do not allow that to happen, how are they even representing the public will?
In the years before the founding of the United States, the anti-British slogan was, “taxation without representation is tyranny”. Are we not paying taxes? This much is clear to this writer, as it should be to all:the GOP’s willingness to ignore the will of their constituents is a modern day form of tyranny.
The Senate trial of Donald Trump begins January 21. 2020. The GOP Senators control the balance of power. Although 23 of them are up for election, November is a long way off. Whatever happens in the next 30 days, during the trial, will not be the pressing issues when November rolls around.
Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, clearly partners in crime, are focused on stealing and holding the mantle of US government and democracy. If Trump is acquitted, they will spend the next six months sowing confusion and discord so this trial, which they hope to turn into a sham with no facts and witnesses, will be nearly forgotten by then. They know what all con men know. A voting public that is is struggling to keep ends met, has a very short attention span.
So it is up to we the people, those who want to conserve the US democracy, Constitution and rule of law, to treat the next thirty days as if our democracy depends on it. I’m sorry to use the “cancer” meme – being a rogue cell disease survivor myself – but it is appropriate. Trump-ism is metastatic now. It has its own enforcer – Bill Barr. The refusal of senators to even recognize the disease of Trump-ism resembles the way cancers fool the immune system. Waiting for November is a gamble that poses a high risk of death for the US democracy.
These are the states that house the senators that need to be targeted by their constituents. Sadly, they represent only 34% of the US population. But take heart. There are only 24 senators to petition, and they have shown us all they care about is staying in office. And if that is all they care about, that presents a path forward. And one of them, Doug Jones in Alabama, is a Democrat.
So in the next two weeks, we only need to show 23 people they have no chance of being re-elected if they will not allow witnesses, and documents and then, if the evidence is clear, vote to remove what all Americans know down-deep is a traitorous, uncaring, inept, greed-oriented, criminal POTUS, who is suborned by his past crimes and aligned with dictators, oligarchs and corporatism.
I am asking that the focus of groups like Indivisible, the Lincoln Group and others – start today. All focus should be on reaching the constituents in the states on this list. The rest of the country already wants the full truth to come out. No sense preaching to the choir.
Thank You
Below are links to my most relevant posts over the last three years of Trump-ism. They explain how we got here – and how we can get out this dark place. It begins with we the people. What are we going to do to preserve American democracy? Right now, our focus needs to be on 24 state senators.
Dear Nancy: This is the most important trial in American history. Do not allow justice to be obstructed within this trial. – Remember, this is also a trial for Trump’s obstruction of justice. The Senate trial should not proceed until it allows witnesses and documents – like any other trial. Full stop.
Wait for Mitch to see the light. He is up for election and his popularity is waning in Kentucky. Public pressure will increase after the Spring thaw. That’s just how the world works. Occupy Wall Street ended in the winter. Weather is a factor and hope is renewed and energized every spring. Don’t fight nature.
This delay is not hurting Democratic candidates. Just blame the delay on one word: OBSTRUCTION. Just say you are not going to allow Donald J Trump and his cult to conduct a sham trial in the US Senate. If Mitch has not budged by February, respond with if we have to wait for the election, then the voters in the USA and in Kentucky can have the final say on the fairness, witnesses, and documents in what is the most important trial in American history.
If the Senate trial begins and proceeds without those rules in place, we are saying uncovering the truth in Trump’s Senate trial, arguably the most important trial in American history – and maybe in world history – is lessimportant to us than any mundane trial. It’s ridiculous.
IRANIAN ASSASSINATION
The Soleimani assassination was an act of war done without consulting Congress. It’s clear the Iranians will look at this assassination as an act of war and will respond that way. What would we think if the Iranian Government sent a drone here and assassinated a general? People are the same everywhere.
Trump certainly stepped on Congress’s constitutionally ordained right to declare war, keeping them out of the loop. Angus King just said, Congress abdicated it’s right during the Reagan era and must now reclaim it. Congress. Do so and now. Nothing else will tell the Middle East we recognize the need to reign in our loose cannon POTUS like taking the steps to do so.
The man in the WH would blow the entire world up to save his small empire. We have been warned. Next time we won’t be so lucky.
To this observer’s eye, we have an inept, ill-prepared dolt in charge of our international affairs. American are losing with him at the helm in all arenas except the stock market which only measures how the top 10% of Americans are doing.
The president’s powers – including his war and pardon powers – are ceded to him by the people of the United States and they are his powers to use if and only if he is acting in the interest of the American Commonwealth. A president has no right to use those powers for his own self. Nixon made that error. So did Benedict Arnold.
It’s clear Trump no longer has the full trust of the majority of Americans. Once a POTUS violates his oath of office and is indicted and impeached should he still have those war and pardon powers? I don’t think so. It is certainly not in the interest of the Americans to allow a president to continue to serve if he is using his granted powers for his own self – which at every turn of events – seems to be the case with Donald J Trump.
Sequestering Trump’s pardon powers are just as important as overseeing his war powers. Why? Because Trump enrolls loyalists and entices them to break laws with the promise he will pardon them if they remain loyal.
Our biggest mistake in 2016 was allowing a man to run for president while concealing his taxes. Trump still won’t show his taxes. Trump’s taxes will not only reveal the nature of his financial dealings with Russia but also any other forms of cheating or gaming the system. He is already suspected of tax evasion to the tune of 500 million dollars, starting as far back as the 1980’s. His taxes would answer questions we need to be certain that Trump is not engaging in corruption, tax evasion, self-dealing and/or traitorous behavior. There’s so much we don’t know – and won’t know – until we have Trump’s taxes
Did Trump directly or indirectly pay Russians to hack our election?
Does he owe Russians money?
Is he trying to square a debt?
Does Trump have dealings with any foreign countries that hold sway over our national security decisions?
Why did we sell Saudi Arabia our nuclear secrets?
Why does his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, have security clearance in spite of warnings from seasoned security experts?
Why did he order Soleimani assassinated?
This is now way past the point of a crisis. Most Americans now deem the Trump presidency is our #1 national security emergency. Globally, Trump is now ranked to be the world’s most dangerous person – ranking more dangerous than Chairman Kim and Putin.
One thing is certain. Trump has not done all he can to be truthful, cooperative and helpful to the American people. Has Trump engaged in activities which, if done by any other citizen except the POTUS, would be indictable criminal behavior.If Trump was innocent of crimes, he would happily allow witnesses, docs, and show his taxes to put all the suspicion behind him. So his refusal to cooperate only adds to our collective suspicion.
And it is also certain that Congress has the right and the duty to be a check on presidential power. In order to do that task, the POTUS must be transparent and cooperative. IF POTUS will not be transparent – and this one won’t – that increases both the risk and the power of Congress to seize things like taxes and translator’s notes, etc.
Only 35% of Americans think Trump is honest according to a Quinnipiac poll. All Americans participated in that poll – both sides.
Remember these two things: Destroying the USA is a Putin Goal – Trump likes putin
And it gets worse. Every day Trump is in office, we are spending countless millions of taxpayer dollars – not to make healthcare better, not to make infrastructure better and not dealing with our real issues. Every day he has been in office – since day one – we have been wasting our energies and taxpayer dollars guarding his many homes, paying for his golf, paying our congressmen to squabble, fighting among ourselves and addressing the many indicted criminals and spies in his orbit. The endless discussions proceed ad nauseum for all Americans. Except for Trump. Trump loves watching others suffer and rigging his created fights.
So what do we do about our situation? These no cost steps will prevent a crisis.
Two Presidential Powers Must Be Taken Away from Trump
In the interest of national security and in lieu of the long process of impeachment – until Donald Trump allows witnesses to testify openly and shows his taxes our elected representatives should remove two of his presidential powers:
The power to declare war, shall reside solely with the Congress until we know “what the heck is going on” ( as Trump would say). Our current Congress may actually like this idea. They get war powers. And they are supposed to have that power anyway. Why should it reside with one man who is under so much traitorous suspicion?
The power to pardon anyone connected to Trump, the Trump Organization or campaign. It’s ridiculous to allow anyone to pardon the accomplices in one’s own crimes. He can pardon anyone not in his circle, that’s fine.
Trump asks our sons to risk dying for our country. What will he risk? So far nothing. Our presidents owe us transparency. If he won’t do these small things – show his taxes and allow transparency -to save us all time, money, energy and trouble, then it will be clear to nearly everyone that Trump has no loyalty except to himself. And that is not the role of the POTUS.
Trump has already shown us that creating an international crisis or suspending the constitution– is not out of his playbook. Like a cornered rat fighting for his life, Trump will stop at nothing to save his ill-gotten fortune. We don’t want to wait and find out how far he will go. Trump will go all the way – to the guns!
That’s really why we must take away his power to make war and pardon his friends. Trump must be forced to be open and honest for the first time in his life – to keep Americans safe!
We got Trump because we allowed someone to run for president without being transparent about his taxes. A smart option is for new Congress would be to create a law that says no one can run or serve as POTUS (or in Congress) without showing 6 years of taxes. This would help most get rid of the criminal elements in our government. If Trump had to show his taxes to run in 2020, he would not run. That’s why he works so hard not to show them.
A cyber war is a war of words. Our writers, reporters, techs and artists become our warriors in a cyber war. Raise our voices.
Joseph Aronesty
Joseph Aronesty graduated from University of Pennsylvania in 1971. He earned a merit scholarship to Wharton School but transferred to liberal arts in his junior year to focus on history, literature and music theory. He was in a class at Wharton with Donald Trump in 1967: International Finance. Trump paid for his homework to get done in that class.
When the internet became viable in 1995, Mr. Aronesty created what is arguably is the world’s first click and buy e-commerce website.
Joseph is also a published songwriter, with hundreds of songs in his catalog. He now writes with musicians in Los Angeles, where he makes his home. He is an activist and his songs often reflect his political point of view.
Imagine America’s future was riding on a football game. The election of 2020 is that game in this analogy. One team has a captain and coach and the other team has 20 could-be quarterbacks and coaches, all sparring with each other. I think the favorite would the team with the strategic advantages. There is only one way to take away those strategic advantages. – We need a quarterback and head coach and now – while the game is on. When the Senate votes to end nullify the impeachment that will put us on defense for the rest of the game. Not smart.
I have explained that there is no rush to vote on impeachment. The big vote is 300 days away and most Americans don’t focus on elections until the last few weeks. That’s when Trump won 2016. And that’s when Trump will be trying to cheat to win again in 2020. A vote in Spring is a wiser strategy. It provides a time for public to digest what they are witnessing. The Spring ushers in renewed spirits and the weather is better for protesting too. We keep pushing for testimony from Bolton etc – and for Trump’s taxes. It also gives Trump time to self-destruct – which is a real possibility.
A few days ago, I figured Trump would wait for the Senate acquittal before coming after the FBI, the Free Press and his enemies in general. But just like his call to Zelensky followed the Mueller Report, Trump’s criminal mind tells him not to wait even one day.
And so now Trump and Barr are coming after the FBI. Why not? Imagine if Al Capone had been able to fire Elliot Ness. Getting rid of the cops that come after criminals is ideal … for the criminals. Donald Trump has created a portal to the world we saw inBack to the Future IIwhen Biff takes over the world by … cheating to win. Life is imitating art.
So this is what we expect if the House lets the Senate acquit. Trump and Barr are partners in crime now. They have access to all the best criminal minds on the planet. But 52% of Americans are dug in against this Dystopian version of the United States. They won’t back down. But neither will Trump. He knows there is a good chance the term that follows his presidential term is a jail term. How does this not end like a Tarantino movie?
So 2020 will soon resemble a Civil War – a Cyber Civil War at first. Trump will continue to paint his opponents as “human scum”. They will bring out a phrase they have used very lightly so far: presidential harassment. They will state that coming after the president after he has been acquitted in the Senate is presidential harassment and is hurting the nation. Barr will arrest or indict some of his opponents and some reporters.
The fever pitch will rise as we approach the summer and the Democratic Convention. Security at the convention should be overly prepared because Trump and the Russians will have all their adversaries in one place for a week. This would be an ideal place for “an incident”. Those who cannot stomach Trump’s vile language and culture of hate will be in the streets protesting.
An incident at a Democratic street protest would also be ideal to break up the resistance. This is what Trump and Barr will be focused on during the run-up to the election. They will be focused on making decent citizens who want a better place for their children look like the bad guys.They will also focus on making Democrats look like the criminals.Lock them up may be their battle cry. We know it’s been Trump Barr and the GOP that are the bad guys. They have joined the criminals on the planet – like Putin – in an effort to subjugate the lives of everyday American and global citizens.
So yes. It was necessary to write and release Articles of Impeachment. Dems have done a great job. But they should not vote on them right away. Let it all sink in a few months. Set a date in late February or the early Spring, when the weather breaks. You never know when given time how Trump will shoot himself in the foot so bad that even his own base won’t like what they see. That is what we really need to happen, and it can – given time. Keep asking for his taxes and for the testimony he has obstructed. And then walk and chew gum for a few months.
In the gap between impeachment and voting for it, we totally change our strategy for the election of 2020!
America Won WW2 Because We Worked Together as a Team
WE NEED WW2 TEAMWORK AGAIN NOW
We are at war in the USA. We are at war with foreign enemies that want to exploit our riches. We are at war with Trump’s GOP party that sells our rights and assets to the highest bidders. And at the same time, we are at war with each other – which will make it very difficult to prevail in any effort.
I am old enough to remember first-hand the spirit of the WW2 generation. They were not the greed is good generation nor the it’s all about me generation. The greatest generation citizens resigned to do their parts to defeat German Nationalism without ego and with a spirit of teamwork. Now we have American Nationalism to defeat. And it’s not across the pond.
TEAMWORK
The viable candidates and those who really want to work to save this country should meet in a room and settle on who will be the Democratic candidates for president, vice president, chief of staff and district attorney.No one has to storm a beach. Then that team pools resources and gets to work – not only to beat Trump – but to show the American people on both sides what they can do for the citizens of the USA.
The above is where Amy can seal this all up with one or two calls. First Biden – who may say no. Then Bloomberg who should see its brilliance.
The optics are spectacular. Instead of 20 candidates telling undecided American voters why they are best for the top job – we present one well-prepared team, ready on day one to get the actual jobs done for all Americans. Even MAGA people will go for that. They know they are being lied to. They just don’t know who will be there for them on our side because we don’t know. Maybe they won’t like who we choose, so they stay with what they know – Trump. They will remain tuned out to our overtures until we decide. Till next July? Really?
We need the MAGA people to put pressure on their reps to break from Trump and Trumpism. The GOP reps are spineless. They will fold to pressure. The GOP will get smart and remove Trump from consideration. Romney will run. We’ll clean up the elections. The Russians won’t have a dog in the fight and won’t bother meddling. And democracy is saved!
Think ahead. This plan can’t lose. An election that includes Donald Trump is way too risky. And no plan can’t win.
About the author: Joseph Aronesty was a classmate to Donald Trump in 1967 at Penn and worked close to his casinos in Atlantic City from 86 to 99. He created one of the world’s first e-commerce web sites in 1996, which he still operates. Joseph is a dedicated father of five and plays at songwriting and tournament poker. His book “Deciphering the English Code” describes how spoken language evolved from body-sign language in Stone Age Africa and how all the world’s languages are related in very tangible accessible ways. He hopes to do a book tour after Trump is no longer POTUS and wonders if that will be 2021 or 2025.
About the author:
Joseph Aronesty was a classmate to Donald Trump in 1967 at Penn and worked close to his casinos in Atlantic City from 86 to 99. He created one of the world’s first e-commerce web sites in 1996, which he still operates. Joseph is a dedicated father of five and plays at songwriting and tournament poker. His book “Deciphering the English Code” describes how spoken language evolved from body-sign language in Stone Age Africa and how all the world’s languages are related in very tangible accessible ways.
If there is going to be a death knell for the US democracy, it will ring on the day the Senate votes to effectively nullify Trump’s impeachment in the House. *
We all know Pelosi was wary that impeachment wouldn’t change the hardened hearts of the GOP in the Senate. She was 100% right about that. After truly stunning, undeniable evidence poured out over the airwaves during the televised impeachment, we can see the GOP just ignore anything that is untoward to their agenda.
What Trump wants now is for impeachment to get to the Senate as soon as possible – so McConnell can shut it down!
Word is the House will vote on impeachment about Christmas time. That’s about as bad of timing as Bugsy Segal had when he opened the Flamingo Hotel on Christmas Day. Trump is welcoming it. In his mind, he’s got this. He’s following a path paved by tutor Vladimir Putin who has done this all before. They even send emissaries to the White House for secret meetings so Donny doesn’t screw up. They have a payoff for all this too. And that comes from our pockets and our souls fellow Americans.
Strategically, there could not be a worse time than the Christmas season to vote on Impeachment. The public will need Christmas, especially this year, to chill with their families. The Evangelists certainly won’t appreciate it.
And the fact-finding part of the investigation is doing a great job. But facts need to register with people when they have the time to focus and let it seep in. Democrats will seem like the bad guys for muddying up Christmas. This is sort of the logic that Professor Turley presented at the trial. He did not say impeachment was invalid, he just said give it time to register with the public.
So why should that fact-revealing process end before Nancy thinks she has the Senate votes? The notion that we need to concentrate on the people’s issues and get this impeachment off our chests is ridiculous. People’s issues, like climate change and health care will not be addressed if Trump remains president. He couldn’t care less about other people and both sides know that.
The big plus of the impeachment process is the drip drip of damning evidence. Once there is Senate acquittal – the drip drip is over. In baseball terms, Trump will own the late innings – as we approach election day. Not smart.
Let’s imagine we don’t vote on impeachment until we are sure we have the Senate votes we need. What happens then?
Trump never gets the Senate acquittal he wants. The GOP accuses the Dems of playing games. Big deal. The GOP are not afraid to play political games. Comey. Gorsuch. Barr. We’d better not be afraid either.
And yes, we may never sense we have those GOP Senate votes, but this strategy at least provides a mechanism to put pressure on the GOP who are running in 2020. And it keeps Russia on the airwaves which is key. Because “noto Russia” is the one thing both sides agree on down deep.
So when the GOP says hurry up – we just say “we’d be happy to hurry up but the President is obstructing justice”.We need to speak with Bolton, Pompeo, Mulvaney, Kushner, Guiliane and Pence. And we want Trump’s taxes. And if Trump wants this all to happen fast (so it’s old news by election time), so do we! All Trump has to do is stop obstructing justice, let people testify and give up his taxes, like an honest person would. His honesty is not really the question here. Even his supporters know he is not honest.
Any of the Dem candidates can beat Trump if the election is fair and maybe none can win if it’s fixed again. Think on that, because Trump is. If Trump is still in office, the 2020 election is not going to be clean and fair. It’s how Putin wins in Russia. Trump and Putin will do anything to win. They even say it.
Ideally, democracy needs Trump OUT of office before the 2020 election. But the GOP won’t abandon him precisely because Trump will do anything to win. They get to ride his coattails without being in on the anything – which includes actual crimes. It’s like having someone steal for you. The GOP are okay with that.
The Vote in SpringStrategy puts impeachment in the Senate while GOP candidates are busy trying to get re-elected. Public pressure can sink in then. Public pressure is the ONLY thing that will get the GOP to turn. Public pressure is what got Nixon out. Public resistance takes time. Public resistance is easier to deploy in the Spring than at Christmas or in the dead of winter. Weather is a factor. Occupy Wall Street was put to rest in the dead of winter. When winter breaks there is a sense of renewal in the people. Be smart. Play with nature – not against it. There is no huge rush here. The election is far away. People have short memories for politics. Trump will do all the worse things in the last 2 weeks – knowing that. He won 2016 in the last 2 weeks.
OUR POST SENATE ACQUITTAL WORLD
There is another important thing to consider when you are 99% certain the Senate will turn this impeachment show off. What does our world look like post-Trump Senate acquittal? And now I want you to think about two words Barr and Trump have floated out there: presidential harassment.
I picture Barr declaring: the impeachment hoax has been put to rest and if the Democrats can’t accept that and continue to divide the country and engage in presidential harassment, they are hurting America. And it should be illegal to hurt America any more now that its all settled. When he starts arresting dissenting voices this place will start resembling Putin’s Russia. They will create an incident. That scenario is a very real possibility and it is also the way Putin got to be POTUS for life. Trump is in Putin’s dictator school now. We know he’s not that smart or strategic. But this is where this country is headed in early 2020 if we let him be acquitted in the Senate before Spring.
This vote later strategy will result in the GOP candidates starting to feel the heat late in their games. -It has the best shot of moving them back into the realm of doing the right thing – even if it’s only to save their own hides. And that is optimal for the Dem cause – which is the cause of truth and democracy.
When and if Nancy senses she has the votes in the Senate, the Dems vote in the House – and not until. Don’t fire until you see the whites of their eyes rings true here. There is no reason vote to impeach only to lose the game in the Senate. Dems should just add time to the clock. Don’t let all the wind out of our sails.
SECRET BALLOT STRATEGY
There is one other smart way to gamble with our democracy’s future. At Karen Bass’s open house, there was mention that if they got four GOP senators, the House could stipulate the Senate vote would be done by Secret Ballot. If they can get this assured, maybe they give the GOP Senators space to secretly vote their consciousnesses. Without that assured, the fast vote is a fool’s game. And McCarthy just now, as I type this, has begun the exact talking points I mentioned above. They are damning those who demand an honest president.
A loss in the Senate is way worse than a win in the House. And this was Nancy’s original instinct anyway! She had this thought through. What she may not have figured is that she can have it both ways. The impeachment is dredging up facts and witnesses. The process is working. Let it continue as long as we can or until a real opportunity opens up.
The ONE THING that could allow GOP to vote their conscious – and not vote to save their own hides – is a SECRET BALLOT in the SENATE. So now I am amending my request to wait ONLY if you SECURE the 4 GOP Senators to agree to SECRET BALLOT. Then I would sleep comfortably knowing that this impeachment will probably work out okay.
There is still NO SENSE in VOTING TO IMPEACH if you KNOW it will be shut down in the SENATE.
I want to warn you again about BARR. If TRUMP is acquitted in the SENATE, they have already put out the meme PRESIDENTIAL HARASSMENT. BARR can try to make it illegal to HARASS the president. He can arrest some dissidents. And then this place begins to look like PUTIN ( and Stalin’s ) RUSSIA.
Thank You for your serious considerations.
These next three posts outline strategies to win back control of our country and begin to undo the loss we experienced in the Cyber War of 2016. Ignore at the peril of democracy. If you are a businessman, your biz and your way of life eventually go too. Putin now owns all the big businesses in Russia. He’s not been there so long either. How did that happen? Get it yet?
Until 2016, cyber warfare seemed to refer to something that could happen in the near future.
noun: cyber-warfare
the use of computer technology to disrupt the activities of a state or organization, especially the deliberate attacking of information systems for strategic, economic or military purposes. From KYBER (Greek), cognate with GOVERN
After World War II ended in 1945, a new world order was established. The United States assumed the dominant position in that new world order for having won the war and for having the biggest weapon, the A-bomb. Russia never fully accepted subservience to the USA. And so the Cold War era – with wars waged without bullets – was born. The main weapon of cold war was espionage carried out by spies. The 50’s-60’s cold war era cooled down over time, but it never fully went away.
Since the advent of the internet, the weapons of cold war have increasingly become more electronic. It’s now called cyber-warfare.Cyber warfare summons up visions like electric grids gone down, banks hacked and drained of cash reserves, and even cars that drive off cliffs. But until 2016, it always seemed to refer to something that was going to happen in the near future. Not any more.
Today, in countries that still have free and fair elections, non-democratic countries,and terrorist organizations have come to feel entitled to meddle in the elections of the democracies. There seem to be no punishment for trying to take a country by convincing a working majority of its electorate to vote against its own freedoms and end the constitutions that protect them.
The hacking of the US 2016 presidential election will be remembered as the first major attack in the"Cyber Warfare Era". Vladimir Putin will be dubbed cyber warfare's first grand master.
WHAT IS WAR?
War is a hostile and deadly means to an end. What is the objective when launching a war: the capture ortaking of resources or territoriesthat do not belong to the attacker. Starting a war is an attempt at some sort of piracy. It’s done for booty. The defensive response follows, and a two-way war is on.
The Russian election hack of 2016 was a war against democracy, – and it worked. We must defend ourselves once again just the way the WW2 generation did for us, laying down their lives in the 1940’s. This post explains why dictatorships seek to exterminate democratic countries.
Basically, we share one planet and two philosophies of governance: self-governance by the people, or governance by a strong man or elite class – as in kingdoms and autocracies. The common people or working class have less to say or do to better the arc of their lives in a dictatorship than they do in a democracy. In a full on dictatorship, there is often nothing at all they can do to better their lives. Democracies that are dysfunctional exist as well. Their laws may not represent the will of the people. We see that in the USA, with abortion laws and the lack of bans on assault rifles. This happens because representatives are not obliged to vote the way their constituents present their opinions. I have long argued that is a failure of duty on deaf ears: the word re-present should mean it is the job of the representative to re-present the will of their constituents.
However, these two ways of governance don’t coexist very well, especially in this internet social media world where information about free countries can easily get to the people who live in dictatorships. That’s not good or safe for the dictators. They need their people to be blind to the freedoms people have in democracies. That’s the main reason to eliminate the United States democracy. And they are trying to do it without shots fired. if we let the, they could get away with it. We do not “have to ” let them.
Putin/Russia effectively attacked the United Statesin 2016 via acts of cyber-warfare to get their chosen man, Donald Trump, elected as president of the United States. For that effort, Donald Trump owes Putin for life. If you don’t understand how certain it is that once a person makes a deal with Putin to gain power or money, he owes Putin for life, you are very naive. Think what happened to Prigozhin – and he was one of his best friends.
Putin eliminates those he perceives as his enemies, potential rats or traitors. It’s kept him alive and he’s not changing. Trump knows that. Add it up. Trump, a natural-born coward and spoiled brat, if elected, must do anything and everything that Putin asks of him. Trump knows he has compromised by the KGB master, and what for more specifically.
Putin effectively used his mastery of cyber warfare to help put Trump in as POTUS for reasons, – the lifting sanctions, acquiring resources, money and territories – the very same objectives desired in an offensive war waged with bullets and bombs.
Will the laws, traditions, citizenry and deep backbone of the USA resist with such solidarity that Putin’s attempt to put his man, Donald Trump, back in office, fail? That is the test America is about to go through.
Will we resist this Russian coupe of our executive branch? Will Donald Trump be exposed for espionage and indicted for the crimes he and his teams committed? Will those who comfort and aid insurrectionists be summarily unseated and removed from Congress and our judiciary in accordance with the 14th amendment? Will January 6th be remembered as an attempted coup, or will it become a National Holiday in a perverse second Trump administration?
It should be clear to all of us, if we don’t expose and indict the perpetrators of this cyber warfare attack, we are giving those same players a green pass to do this over and over again.
And if we swiftly don’t make 100% sure Jan6 cannot happen again, it will be the same as if we had lost a war waged with bullets and signed terms of surrender. Yes, less bodies. That’s a new age technology perk. I guess it’s historically cool – but maybe not for us.
It occurs to me that cyber warfare has come of age because our modern, high-tech nuclear and biological weapons are now so lethal that they really cannot be used. A need for warfare without death evolved – a way to get what one wants from war, without the fallout from actual war.
Citizens! Stop bickering about walls, gays, right-to-choose, who plays in high school sports and all the issues that, though important, can wait. What cannot wait is the ceasing of this infighting. It is exactly what Putin wants: a divided helpless America. Putin even said that in his acceptance speech.
You do know there is something not right about a man who praises dictators wanting to be president of the world’s first non-dicatorship or kingdom, right? So, when it comes to voting, do the right thing and vote against the man who praises our enemies and denigrates the 55% of Americans who don’t view him as one who should be trusted with our nuclear codes.
November 5th is a war that looks like an election. Harris has the majority. If she wins that plurality and the party that comforts insurrectionists wins the electoral college, Biden would be within his right to protect the country, its people and its traditions tond not allow anyone to take office who has previously and vigorously given aid or comfort to insurrectionists. That includes the two justices that have openly comfort insurrectionists, Alito and Thomas.
The hacking of the US 2016 presidential election will be remembered as the first major attack in “the cyber warfare era” and Vladimir Putin will be dubbed its first grand master.
Now please read these next posts. They outline a strategy to win control of our country back and take back the loss we experienced in the Cyber War of 2016.
Joseph Aronesty graduated from University of Pennsylvania in 1971. He first met Donald Trump at International Finance class in 1968. He also worked close to Trump in Atlantic City in the 1980’s. In 1995, Joseph created what is arguably the world’s first e-commerce web site with modern click and pay technology.
Joseph is a published songwriter, with hundreds of songs in his catalog. He is the author of a singularly unique book on etymology, Deciphering the English Code. (Amazon) It’s central theme is that English, and most widely-spoken languages evolved in the Stone Ages as a technological upgrade to the visual body/sign language we used as hunters.
He is a dedicated resister and father of five.
You may reach him at his name at gmail. He is available for speaking events and will also bring his famous “vote them out” guitar.
But How Does the Trump Era Not End like a Tarantino Movie?
Trump is a gangsterextraordinaire and America knows that now. That makes him too dangerous to be trusted with running our nation’s affairs, domestic or foreign. We gave him a fair shot. We see him as incompetent, divisive, dishonest and incapable of being a president for all Americans. The Trump Era is coming to an end.
The problem now is, how does this reality TV show presidency end? And to me it looks more and more like it ends like a violent Tarantino movie.
Trump has no quit in him. He has too much to lose now if he wanted to quit. He has said, “What does it all matter if I don’t win?”. In his dealings as a NYC real estate man, there was a lower level of scrutiny. He should have known getting into government would expose his past crimes. But the greed bug hit him just like it hit the gamblers who frequented his casinos. He used the greed trap to make a fortune and then fell in the same trap he had been setting all his life.
Dear US citizens “on both sides”,
Trump has been caught trying to shake down the president of Ukraine, who is battling Vladimir Putin in a hot war, by threatening to withhold 400 million in military aid dollars which the US Congress had approved, unless he provided dirt on Trump’s main rival in the next election, Joe Biden.
Trump’s reaction to getting caught was to threaten the lives of Americans who are conducting the Constitutionally approved oversight into his conduct in the Ukrainian affair.
Trump has told us who he is. We may not have known when he was a candidate, but both sides know who he is now. Both sides see he should’t be trusted with the serious responsibilities of the POTUS job any longer. Every day poses a risk for all of us. He is capable of anything and has said so.
Trump’s finances and his Russian ties both involve laundered money . It’s clear someone who engages in money laundering must keep that truth from ever coming out. We need to see Trump’s taxes asap.
Trump’s feigned loyalty to the American citizenry was never sincere, but the crime in Ukraine made that clear to both sides. The polls are closing in on Donald Trump. And he knows better than most, it’s all about ratings.
If left in power, Trump must and will continue to engage in more crimes, like what happened in the Ukraine, to cover up his past crimes and stay in power. He must hope the truth never catches up with him.
Trump has a lot to lose and clearly is not thinking in a stable enough manner to steer the US Government in a safe secure manner.
Trump should step aside while the investigation is ongoing or step down and make a deal – or just cooperate – which he will never do. He’d rather plead the fifth. If he won’t step down, the clauses that seem to protect him should be waived for national security reasons and hispardon and war powersshould be revoked.
Behind all this crime and pretending-to-govern presidency there is one main back story. It has nothing to do with serving or protecting the commonwealth. This map shows us: 50% of planet Earth is ruled by dictators. The USA is a tie-breaker. Read on:
After World War II ended in 1945, a new world order was established. The United States assumed the dominant position in that new world order for having won the war and for having the biggest weapon, the A-bomb. Russia never fully accepted subservience to the USA. And so the Cold War era – with wars waged without bullets – was born. The main weapon of cold war was espionage carried out by spies. 
THE ENGLISH CODE 