Timeline

On the eve of the 2020 election it’s fitting that we look at the present through the lens of the past

Countdown to 2022

A Blue Wave is Coming!

May 2018

Speaker of the House Is Concerned About Moral Relativism and Identity Politics?

24 May 2018

 “there is a deeply serious problem we see right now within our society…..we see moral relativism becoming more and more pervasive in our culture,” . “Identity politics and tribalism have grown on top of this.House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis)National Catholic Prayer Breakfast, May 24, 2018

I would laugh if only I could stop crying. Ryan is okay with prostituting the Presidency to the highest bidder foreign or domestic. He is okay with partnering with our adversary (Russia) to undermine our democratic elections. He is okay with Trump’s blatant disrespect of women and his obsession with the appearance of under age girls. He is okay with compulsive lying. He is okay with racism. He is okay with disdain for the rule of law by those whose job it is to uphold the law. He is okay with self service above public service in our public servants. He is okay with the unholy alliance between Trump’s cabinet heads and the industries they regulate. And yet he lectures about the dangers of moral relativism. He is Machiavelli to Trump’s Borgia.

Trump’s Nuclear Summit with North Korea Canceled

24 May 2018

Just two weeks before this Trump was touting his nuclear disarmament deal with Kim Jung Un ahead of the 2018 congressional elections. Here we’re told that the summit in which the leaders were expected to sign an agreement is canceled.

Trump never intended this to be a diplomatic initiative. Rather it was an “and the kitchen sink” move orchestrated by Putin to give Trump a decisive “win” before the inevitable day of reckoning in the Russia probe. Think. Kim does an abrupt about face on nuclear disarmament AND reunification shortly after meetings with Russia and China, reversing decades old policy. Kim credits fear of strongman Trump as the catalyst (laughable) and South Korea stops just short of nominating Trump for the Nobel peace prize (even funnier). Ideally these developments would have occurred after Trump’s meeting with Kim but the Cohen, Daniels and Cambridge Analytica scandals and the Mueller investigation are rapidly approaching crisis-level (for Trump). So fast forward: the outcomes of planned negotiations are announced before the negotiations themselves. But this does not have the desired effect so Putin out of disgust or capriciousness abandons the move and looks to his always-intended interference in our next elections to achieve his goal of 2 to 6 more years of his proxy President. Trump, set adrift with no (Putin) playbook, calls off the summit. Kim, at worse, loses out on Putin’s promised reward. Better, in his role of victim of an unpredictable Goliath, he gets a few sympathy points where they matter. China, in a win-win position either way, shrugs and exits stage left with the ZTE concession and the upper hand in the trade war. The South Korea leader, now more popular than ever at home and abroad, sighs at the lost of what could have been. The United States to the rest of the world looks like the indecisive and untrustworthy bungler we are under Trump. Meanwhile counting down to November, State has spent $0 of $120M allocated to protect the upcoming elections.

 

Trump Outmaneuvered by Kim Jong

16 May 2018

Trump praises himself as a deal maker extraordinaire but was easily manipulated by Kim Jong Un. If it seems like a lifetime ago when Trump was praising Kim and Abe was saying Trump should be nominated for a Nobel peace prize for brokering North Korea’s nuclear disarmament, it was, in Trump years at least. Another lie. Another distraction. Another promise not kept.

Neither Trump nor Kim Jong Un nor South Korea are the architect or puppet master in this political soap opera. Putin is – with an assist from China. Kim does an abrupt about face on nuclear disarmament and reunification shortly after meetings with Russia and China, reversing decades old policy. Kim credits fear of strongman Trump as the catalyst and South Korea stops just short of nominating Trump for the Nobel peace prize. Ideally these developments would have occurred after Trump’s meeting with Kim but developments in the Cohen, Daniels and Cambridge Analytica scandals and the Mueller investigation are rapidly approaching crisis-level (for Trump). So in a pre-emptive move the outcomes of planned negotiations are announced before the negotiations themselves. What Putin promised Kim or threatened him with or both I don’t know. China got a reversal on ZTE for starters. South Korea gets peaceful coexistence if not the majority position after reunification. Putin gets 2 or 6 more years of his proxy President. Why is Kim pumping the brakes now? 1) He realizes that Trump will be out before Putin delivers on his promised reward or threatened retribution. Or 2) Putin is dictating Kim’s back and forth to put more pressure on Trump to deliver on his demands. Or 3) Putin is abandoning Trump to his fate.