If you are a real American, you should care that the Trump administration is corrupt to its very core

Who is the more patriotic and loyal to the ideals of this country? Soldiers who abide by the rules of war as enunciated by the Geneva Convention, or those who murder unarmed civilians or prisoners? This country hasn’t erased the shame of the My Lai massacre more than 50 years ago, in which 500 unarmed Vietnamese civilians were killed by an Army platoon on the orders of Lt. William Calley; then as now there was wide disagreement over whether such action was a crime or not depending on your political leanings; naturally those on the right saw Calley as “unjustly” crucified. By the way, the U.S. is not a signatory of Protocol II of the Convention, which prohibits torture and “outrages on personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment.”

But Donald Trump would have us believe that soldiers and sailors who are convicted or charged war criminals are more “patriotic” and loyal to the ideals this country allegedly stands for than the vast majority who did fight “by the rules.” That is just like Trump, who never plays by or respects civilized norms of behavior. The Navy has such a rigorous standard of discipline for Seals that it removed the Trident pins from 150 since 2011; Trump refused to allow the review process to go forward to see if Edward Gallagher should be allowed to keep his, and if Gallagher himself respected the code of discipline for Seals, he would not have gone on Fox News and whined about his predicament, but removed the pin himself. Oh, and by the way, one of those being charged with the hazing/murder of Green Beret SSG Logan Melgar is a Navy Seal; before Melgar was strangled to death, one of those involved admitted that they also intended to sexually assault him. Why? Because they felt he had "disrespected" them and was critical of their "juvenile" behavior.

Instead, Trump wants Gallagher and the rest of his storm trooping “warfighters” to go out and campaign for him as a return “favor.” Who are the kind of people who don’t buy in on the principles this country fought a war of independence and a civil war for? USA Today quotes an unnamed retired senior naval officer: “The larger issue for me is this ‘cable Cabinet’ at Fox News that seems to be able to unilaterally convince the president on issues they care about. He should be held accountable. But what do you do about Fox News? Who holds them to account for advising defense and foreign policy?” Trump often has taken a keen interest to Fox News’ latest far-right “cause celebre,” and Gallagher and his fellow war criminals were feted to such interest.

While the Trump Justice Department is ignoring thousands of clemency requests that have legitimate claims, Trump prefers to act on those cases in which he can benefit politically. USA Today quotes a law professor who notes that “He is doing it to reward political supporters to benefit those who would benefit him politically. What he is doing is serving up red meat to the base.” In other words, Trump and his Fox News-watching “base” don’t really have any moral or ethical “principles”; whatever issue that Fox News or far-right commentators like Ann Coulter suddenly decide has too much support from mainstream or “liberal” media, it is fair game for alternate universe “interpretation.” 

Note that Fox News likes to push the latest Ukraine conspiracy theories, and Venezuela is also a frequent target, mainly because its current government is considered “socialist.” But corrupt governments exist everywhere, including in this White House. Talking about corruption in Russia, where corruption is a way of life, is a non-starter because Trump likes Russia and is particularly fond of its current dictator, Vladimir Putin. During last week’s impeachment hearings, we heard a lot from Donald Trump and his Republican familiars about the “disloyalty” to America by Ukrainian-Americans Marie Yovanovitch, the ousted ambassador to Ukraine, and Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, an NSC official who was the first to come out publically concerning Trump’s July 25 phone call to the Ukrainian president in which he “asked” for an investigation of the Bidens. But why are the people who are allowing Russia to undermine American interests not considered the real “disloyal” and “unpatriotic” characters in this country? Because for Trump, Republicans and 100 million supporters in this country for whom words like “loyalty’ and “patriotism” are nothing more than code words and dog whistles for “America First” fascism and white nationalism? 

Let us remember that although the Mueller investigation claimed to have found no hard evidence that anyone in the Trump campaign “colluded” directly with Russian officials, there are outstanding indictments against three Russians companies and 25 total Russian operatives for interfering with the 2016 election on behalf of Trump, and that Julian Assange very likely received his Democratic email dumps from the Russians. The Roger Stone trial suggests that the Trump campaign did through a roundabout way collude with the Russians, and in any case the Mueller report stated that the principle reason why no collusion case could be made was that those interviewed either gave false testimony, or refused to talk. As we discovered this past summer, as soon as Robert Mueller in his public testimony refused to clear-up the collusion angle, Trump made his infamous July 25 phone call in which he basically asked the Ukrainian president to “collude” with him in investigating the Bidens. The difference here was that unlike the Mueller investigation, this time Trump was caught red-handed, and that there were public servants who were willing to tell the truth. Those people were the true “patriots.” 

Trump’s claim that he is only interested in rooting out “corruption” is as blatantly a lie as they get. First, the claims against the Bidens have thus far proven to be mere conspiracy theories first pushed by disgruntled Ukrainian officials ousted from power, and then picked up by the far-right media here; even the original “sources” of those conspiracies have now admitted that there was nothing to them. Secondly, Trump is only interested in the undermining Joe Biden, not against corruption as a concept. As long as polls suggest that Biden will be his principle obstacle to reelection, he will keep pushing this con until another “frontrunner” emerges to threaten him.

As noted, Trump has shown no interest in “investigating” the corruption of other countries engaged in much worse—including that of Putin. “Officially” Putin’s presidential salary is $133,000 a year, and he lives in a “small” apartment.  Yet Forbes suspects he may be the richest man in world, which is the only explanation for how he can own a brand new $1 billion palace and a $500 million yacht—and those are just the more expensive ones he owns. He also allegedly “owns” 58 airplanes. From once a lowly KGB agent with no apparent business acumen, estimates of Putin’s wealth now range from $70 billion to $200 billion. It also has been claimed that he has $40 billion stashed in a Swiss bank account. 

How did he manage to “buy” all of this on his government “salary”? Maybe like Major Healey he stole Jeannie from Major Nelson for a while and got carried away, unable to explain how he could live in a mansion with servants and owned a yacht on his astronaut salary—except that, of course, in a country as corrupt as Russia is, Putin is the “genie” of corruption, and he is never required to explain himself. It is probable that Putin helped himself both to the nation’s treasury, and extorted a “price” from major Russian companies, principally in the energy sector, for “favors” he was in a position to give. Like any head of a criminal organization, Putin could and did “punish” those who refused to contribute to his “kitty” fund—and have assassinated journalists who tried to expose his corruption. What would Trump say about all of this? Well, naturally he would be “impressed,” and wished he could fleece the government coffers (like he tried with the G7 meeting) and extort “favors” if he could.

The level of corruption that Trump has introduced into government has not been seen since the Warren G. Harding administration. And it is not just of a political nature but of a moral and ethical nature. Policy seems never to be evaluated by its human cost, but by its “cost” to Trump. The passage of the Affordable Care Act cost the Democrats dear in the 2010 midterms, but there was no denying that Democrats had the well-being of the people in mind. Nothing Trump has done has been for the benefit of the country as a whole. As mentioned yesterday, his tax cut for corporations has not only not had a positive effect on the economy, but potentially may leave the country unable to right itself because the federal deficit is already at levels which would be expected if the government was infusing money into the economy to combat the effects of a major economic downturn. The UN’s report on climate change now says that unless drastic measures are done now, there will be no hope for the planet; what has Trump done to “combat” this global as well as national emergency? He rescinded Obama era regulations that led to yearly reductions in total CO2 emissions; in the past year, CO2 emissions have increased 2.7 percent in the U.S. But that isn’t the “worst” of it: Trump has managed to so divide this country into warring factions with his ignorant, inhuman behavior and pronouncements that have been transformed into literal “policy,” the “justification” of which appeals to the lowest, most “instinctual” element of the bigot’s psyche. Taking into consideration the humanity of others is no longer a part of the national dialogue.

The tentacles of Trump’s corruption have spread far and wide with the help of his familiars. Rudy Giuliani is perhaps the most notorious, with revelations that he not only is the most conspicuous of the conspirators, but apparently he has been enriching himself by providing “legal” advice to some shady characters. Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, who are currently under arrest for laundering foreign money into Republican campaign accounts, have close ties with Giuliani, and Parnas claims to have assisted Giuliani with digging up “dirt” on the Bidens—which of course constitutes “collusion” with foreign entities. The other day the Wall Street Journal reported more federal subpoenas were issued to confederates of Giuliani: among the potential charges: obstruction of justice, money laundering, conspiracy to defraud the United States, making false statements to the federal government, serving as an agent of a foreign government without registering with the Justice Department, donating funds from foreign nationals, making contributions in the name of another person or allowing someone else to use one’s name to make a contribution, along with mail fraud and wire fraud.

Parnas has also accused Rep. Devin Nunes and his representatives of seeking assistance from foreign entities in domestic political dirt gathering operations. Many in Congress and the media are mystified by the fact that Nunes “stupidly” keeps bringing the fact of Russian interference into the picture even as he tries to deny it as a “hoax.” And while Jeff Sessions left his familiar, Stephen Miller, to carry on his racist anti-immigrant fight in the White House, so too apparently has Nunes, whose protégé Kash Patek was accused by Fiona Hill as misrepresenting himself to Trump as the “go-to” source for NSC opinion on Russian and Ukrainian intelligence. Patek has very likely been feeding Trump the various conspiracy theories in regard to the Bidens and alleged Ukraine “interference” against Trump that Nunes has been pushing during the impeachment hearings. 

But does any of this “matter”? You have one-term Republican congressman Allen West, the senior advisor to the CREEP-like  Committee to Defend the President and Fox News’ Laura Ingraham quoting one of MSN News “pop quiz” polls to chide Democrats “I told you so” that the American people don’t care about impeaching Trump. This man is so patently unfit to be president that nobody “cares” except the “fake news” media? As Adam Serwer of the Atlantic Monthly is pointing out, “Trumpists are not operating from an ethical framework that even allows acknowledgment that the president is capable of being guilty. Trump is the nation, and the nation cannot commit treason against itself. On the contrary, it is Joe Biden who is guilty of betrayal, defying the tribune of the people by seeking to run against him, and it is Trump’s treacherous staff who convict themselves of treason with every statement that implicates the president. The more evidence of Trump’s misdeeds the Democrats uncover, the more they reveal themselves as traitors. For Trumpists, there is no higher patriotism than bending to Trump’s will, and no more base corruption than defying it.”

For those who simply do not care, Serwer would remind us that we “should not lose sight of why the president is being impeached, and it is not because of a good-faith dispute over Ukraine policy. Trump and his advisers conspired to rig the 2020 election on his behalf, scheming to defraud the American people of a free and fair election. A genuine republic cannot survive chief executives who utilize their powers to make anyone who might challenge their authority into a criminal by extorting weaker entities into leveling false charges at their political rivals. Indeed, the republic’s Founders foresaw such a circumstance, and created the impeachment clause as a last resort against it. The high crime that the president has committed is not against Ukraine, but against America.”