As the hysteria regarding the recent Ukrainian phone call continues to escalate, it’s clear who the first casualty is going to be, one Joseph Robinette Biden, perhaps the only Democrat who had a decent chance of beating President Trump in 2020.
So why did the Democrats do it?
The propensity towards autophagy by Leftists, in general, is one reason. It was LBJ who famously quipped: “You know what the difference between a liberal and a cannibal is? Cannibals only eat their enemies.” Ouch. There are other, more prosaic reasons as well.
But first, we have to understand one preponderant point: and that is that all things being equal, President Trump is well on his way to winning reelection. The economy is on fire, wages are up and black and Hispanic unemployment are at all-time lows. As for the Border crisis, Trump has bent the arc of the narrative to his way of thinking. Even liberals today are admitting that there is indeed a crisis on the Southern border. Equally as important, Trump has not taken the Establishment bait and gotten us into another useless war (this time with Iran). All of these metrics point to an Electoral College landslide.
And everything and the kitchen sink has been thrown at Trump. Remember Michael Avenatti and Stormy Daniels? Omarosa? Michael Cohen? The list is endless. Boredom invariably sets in. “This time we got him!” Only “this time” went the way of the wind. So, why not engage in a little premature impeachment? What else do the Democrats have in their bag of tricks?
There’s another, more nefarious reason for the Ukraine hysteria. And that is this: it’s becoming more clear by the day that Biden is displaying clear signs of physical and mental deterioration. Some smart guy at the DNC decided that they had better take him out now. Ukrainegate provided them the excuse they needed. Personally, I see the fingerprints of Obama all over this one, or maybe Hillary. (More on that later).
Most pundits feel that with Biden’s exit, the path has been cleared for Sen Elizabeth Warren. Probably so but she created her own Hunter Bidenesque problem when she was asked if she would forbid her own VP’s son from doing what Hunter did. She totally flubbed the answer. She went into John Kerry/2004 mode: look to the GOP to play that video of her incessantly. (Probably with the song “Half-breed” playing in the background or maybe “Cherokee Nation”.)
However, I think the path to the nomination will be deprived to her. Hillary Clinton is making stentorian noises lately, warning the commonweal that President Trump is “a clear and present danger”. And Sen Bernie Sanders was just admitted to the hospital with some cardiac condition. Personally, I think he’s toast. The situation as they say, is fluid.
The bookmakers in London have Hillary at 20:1 odds of entering the race. If so, she’ll steal it in a walk. But first, Biden has to go down and go down hard. He’s got to look like a mendacious old fool who drools when he talks. That way, she can present herself as the “savior of the American Republic”. And now Mark Zuckerberg has declared himself to be Warren’s bitterest enemy should she get the nomination. As for the oligarchs of Wall Street, they’ve already indicated that they won’t open their checkbooks should she get the nomination.
Thus, within a matter of one week, the Big Tech and Wall Street knives have already come out for Warren. Zuckerberg’s “hot mic” moment wasn’t a coincidence. And then there’s Trump who will be calling her “Pocahontas” 24/7 should she get the nomination. In any event, there is no way that Warren is going to be able to walk back to the neoliberal center because the Bolshies have taken over the Democrat Party lock, stock, and barrel. Wall Street and Big Tech can –and will–make common cause with President Trump as long as the Stock Market keeps its steady climb and stays out of impeachment territory.
So yes, Dear Readers, I stand by my prediction of last year. La Clinton will enter the race. She has to. She’s the only viable candidate that the Democrats have. But there’s another reason as well, a more personal reason.
Did you read that transcript between Presidents Trump and Zelinsky? Did you catch that curious verbiage about “Crowdstrike” and “the server being in Ukraine” somewhere? That is what is called “pay-dirt”. Ukraine is nothing but a tar-baby and the premature call for impeachment is nothing but a spoiling attack to prevent Attorney General Bill Bar and his minions from going to Kiev and finding out some pretty interesting things about “foreign meddling in our election”. Only it won’t be about the 2020 election but about 2016.
And Hillary’s name will come up time and again the more that Barr uncovers. And other oldies but goodies like the Brothers Podesta. And Adam Schiff. And more. The Ukrainian hysteria is a twofer in that it not only takes out Biden but inoculates Hillary from any further revelations. Yes, Trump violated an unwritten rule of presidential politics and that is you don’t sic the Justice Department on any opponent —or their families. But Trump did both. I imagine he did so because he’s confident that he’s got the goods on pretty much everybody in the Deep State. In other words, he’s war-gamed this out to the seventh iteration.
In any event, the old rules don’t apply anymore. Mainly because the body politic is like a wire that’s been stretched to the breaking point and is in danger of snapping at any time. We live in a horribly divided country in which each side sees the other as totally illegitimate. I imagine that our nation is somewhere along the lines of 1856. Civil war was on the horizon but the blood was so bad between North and South that there was no going back. Conflict was inevitable.
When Obama was President, we conservatives sucked it up and took it like a man. We believed in the Civics 101 mythology we were taught in junior high. And worse, like chumps, we believed that the other side played by the same rules. Unfortunately, we were suckers really. We didn’t notice that the other side stopped playing by those rules back in 2000 when they sabotaged the incoming Bush 43 Administration during the interregnum. We still held out hope that things would quiet down by about 2018 but then we got bitch-slapped by the Kavanaugh confirmation. What we witnessed then was nothing less than pure evil. And that’s why we’re going to the mattress on this one. Fortunately, this time, we have a leader who is willing to fight fire with fire.
Pelosi to her credit is up for the fight as well. Whatever else their faults, Democrats are always willing to fight dirty. And unlike Republicans, they always have. That doesn’t mean that they can’t make mistakes. I believe that the call for an impeachment “inquiry” is just such a mistake. Pelosi for some reason went against her better political judgment and caved to the Jacobins in her party. It is an unforced error but with the Democratic Caucus baying for Trump’s blood she felt she had no other choice.
But why Ukraine? Why now? Because there isn’t anything else. Ever since Trump and Melania came down that escalator four years ago, the Left has done nothing but scream “Orange Man Bad!” That is their entire message in a nutshell. Surely an immoral, thrice-married boor like Trump had serious skeletons in his closet. If not, his megalomania would force him to make criminal acts while in office. Maybe the Establishment could goad him into war. After all, it was pretty easy to do with Bush 43 and as for Obama, all they had to do to get that esteemed Nobel Peace Prize winner to cause more wars (eight as opposed to Bush’s two) was fawn over him. Surely an oaf like Trump would fall for the ruse as well.
Only he hasn’t. So how will this play out? Will Trump be impeached? And if so, will he be removed from office?
Here, your humble host will offer a prediction. Not only will Trump not be impeached but you will see several other Democrats and Deep-Staters take the plunge. Biden will be the first casualty. And don’t be surprised if Hunter goes to prison. If however, we begin to see other highly placed Democrats begin to lawyer up, then we will see a speedy end to the whole impeachment “inquiry” pretty darn quick. After all, we mustn’t forget, Speaker Pelosi did not call for a formal House vote on impeachment. It’s just an “inquiry” at this point. That makes it very easy to walk it back.
And then there’s Cocaine Mitch, the second-most-powerful man in Washington and Swamp Creature extraordinaire; he knows how to play the game. It was McConnell, more than anybody else who made Trump’s election possible in 2016 when he used the so-called Biden Rule (the irony!) to keep Antonin Scalia’s Supreme Court seat open. The “Murder Turtle” is both a master tactician as well as a master strategist and so it is along these lines that you have to discern what he said about holding a Senate trial. If Trump is impeached, the Senate will have “no choice” but to have a trial.
Those words seem noncontroversial, rather prosaic. After all, it’s in Article I of the Constitution: the House impeaches, the Senate tries. When spoken of by McConnell however, they most certainly are not. He’s telegraphing to the cognoscenti that the defendant, who has some of the canniest lawyers in the Union, will have the opportunity to call his own witnesses. Enter Jim Comey, John Brennan, James Clapper, Hillary Clinton, and who knows who else? Skeletons will come rattling out of closets faster than you can say “Jackie Robinson”. The last thing the Deep-staters want is to put their hand on a Bible and hope that they don’t perjure themselves. Pleading the Fifth will only make it worse for them. In such a scenario, the advantage goes to the defendant.
So what will happen? My guess is that the number of Democrats who are calling for impeachment (or an “inquiry”) is at an all-time high –right now. When the Republicans force the issue and demand a floor vote, then the actual number will somehow shrink from what it is today. And they will have to have a formal vote in order to empower the House to have subpoena power as well as actually impeach the President. Right now, they’re playing tiddlywinks. Nadler’s and Schiff’s hearings have as much relevance as brushing up on your Klingon in order to be ready for next month’s Star Trek convention.
Time is not on the Democrats’ side. That’s why they want this to be over before year’s end. Pelosi herself said that. Otherwise, it’ll suck all the oxygen out of their candidates’ primary fight. And then, if that happens, they will definitely lose the election. So if the Democrats have any hope at all of wrapping an impeachment vote up before January 1, 2020, they have to buck up and do the legal thing and call for a formal impeachment vote. Otherwise, Giuliani, Pompeo, Barr and anybody else whom they summon can just tell them to go pound sand. Delay, obfuscate, claim Executive Privilege, be out of pocket, and then delay some more. Trump’s plan is to make Nadler and Schiff beg for any scrap of paper day in and day out. Label every memo, e-mail, document, or even doodle that they request as “confidential” or “classified”. Make them go to the courts to force the President’s team to release them. Even paper clips. And the courts are notoriously slow. In short, drag out the inquiry phase for as long as possible.
And that’s the last thing that the Democrats want. Especially over something as trivial as a perfectly legal phone call. Pelosi may think she is Hannibal but Trump is definitely Fabian.
Trump is also the greatest, nastiest street-fighter who’s ever occupied the White House (at least since Old Hickory himself). Trump relishes the fight and his people are up for it. As such, there is no guarantee that this will be over before the year is out. In either case, the Democrats are going to have to try to peel some Republicans off in order to give impeachment any validity. If they don’t do that, then the Senate can simply vote along party lines and swat it out of the park if and when it comes to them. In that case, impeachment will be not merely an asterisk after Trump’s name but an asterisk by an asterisk and it will go down in the history books as a purely partisan hack-job. Essentially a nullity.
And worse, that will have been the Democrat’s only chance to take him out. As the old cliché goes, when you strike at the king, you must kill him. Otherwise he becomes stronger and he’ll turn on you.
Absent a party-line vote that would take all of two hours, the Senate has another option. It’s up to Leader McConnell to set the time and dates of the trial. As stated above, he could simply call for a floor vote and it’ll be over. Another nothingburger. Or, he could start the trial in February or March and let it drag out throughout the entire primary season. He could even schedule it during the Democrat Party convention. He could even table it.
So those are the considerations that the Democrats have to take into account. What does Trump have to take into account?
First, he’s got to make sure that all the Republicans are on board. So far, with his tremendous fundraising capabilities, I’d say he’s got them locked in. In addition, no Republican wants to go into the 2020 elections having gone against the President. Any vote against Trump will spell electoral doom for them. My hunch is that even cucks like Romney won’t vote for impeachment when and if the time comes. And then there’s all that money which has been rolling into the RNC coffers since Pelosi announced impeachment. Ronna Romney McDaniel (Romney’s niece) won’t give one penny to some GOP squish.
Second, he’s got to make sure that the few primary challengers he has (Bill Weld, Joe Walsh, Mark Sanford) die premature electoral deaths. Already many states have canceled their GOP primaries because they are on board with the idea that an incumbent President is the de facto nominee of the Party. Thus the minuscule number of votes that any of Trump’s erstwhile opponents get will be wither into thin air.
Third, he has to make sure he’s not dragged into another foreign quagmire and finally, he has to hope that the economy keeps humming along. So far, he’s played his hand well. I imagine that he has something up his sleeve which he’ll pull out when the time is right. Perhaps a formal peace treaty with North Korea or an end to the trade war with China. Maybe even an opening to formal talks with Iran. Who knows? Anyone of those events would derail the crazy train that the Democrats have put this country on.
In any event, Republicans are not nearly as civic-minded as they were in 1974. Back then, they let Nixon know that they would support impeachment. Foolishly, they thought that by standing on “principle” they would be rewarded at the ballot box. Nothing of the sort happened. 1974 was a bloodbath for the GOP and it paved the way for Jimmy Carter in 1976. I imagine –I hope–that they’ve learned their lesson since then. The Democrats certainly did during the Clinton impeachment. Not only did they stand by their man, they were rewarded for it at the ballot box. Instead of Clinton’s scalp, they got Newt Gingrich’s instead.
Of course, there’s always the problem of a third-party spoiler. Evan McMuffin prevented Minnesota from going to Trump in 2016 by siphoning a minuscule number of GOP votes. New Hampshire was lost to the Democrats by less than 1,000 votes because then-Sen Kelly Ayotte voted for some mild gun-control measure. But third-parties are equal-opportunity spoilers: Democrats to this day blame Jill Stein of the Green Party and Gary Johnson of the Libertarian Party from depriving Hillary of the votes needed for her to become President. Already Tulsi Gabbard, who has been treated horribly by the DNC, is making third-party noises because the Establishment is doing everything in its power to make sure that the Democrat Party remains a warmongering one. She’s not going to the take the “muh democracy” bait and provoke Russia just because Goldman-Sachs wants her to.
As far as the optics of impeachment itself is concerned, we must consider the last two Presidents who had to face that specter: Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton. Nixon had a growing bipartisan consensus against him, Clinton did not. Nixon also had a worsening economic situation, Clinton did not. Nixon’s poll numbers were in the toilet, Clinton’s were relatively robust. So far, Trump is far closer to the Clinton model than to Nixon in almost all these particulars.
Moreover, Trump has something that Nixon didn’t: an alternative media which is spoiling for a fight. While I sense a growing cuckoldry (I’m looking at you, Paul Ryan) at FOX news, the night line-up is solidly on Trump’s side and they’re not giving an inch. And they’re beating the pants off of MSNBC and CNN.
We are seeing the contours of the fight taking shape already in the Biden-Ukraine fiasco. Even hard-core leftists like Bill Maher see the stunning hypocrisy in the Hunter Biden/Burisma Holdings situation. And Trump is not shy about drawing attention to the Left’s hypocrisy and crimes. As mentioned, he’s a street-fighter, one not averse to hitting below the belt if need be.
While this may upset the country-club wing of the GOP, it’s just fine and dandy with the actual voters. Sure, he’s not “acting presidential” but where exactly did “acting presidential” get us so far? Unnecessary wars in Iraq and Syria? The destruction of Libya, the only sane, prosperous and stable regime anywhere in the Arab world? The destruction of Europe because of the refugee crises started by the neoliberal elites? I’m sorry, but Obama’s impeccably creased slacks did nothing for the American commonweal. He presided over the weakest recovery of all time and stood idly by while Al Sharpton poured gasoline on the fires of racial resentments which boiled over time and time again.
Trump has no problem in reminding people of this fact. He may beat his own drum but what other choice does he have? He’s not going to get a fair shake from the Corporate Media. Neither did Andrew Jackson in his own day. And yet Jackson not only fought off impeachment but kept his promises and closed the National Bank. He even survived an assassination attempt –the first President to do so. And he left office after two terms more popular than he was when he entered it.
It’s been a week since Pelosi announced impeachment and the Republican National Committee is rolling in the big bucks. Its counterpart, on the other hand, is dead broke. As for Trump himself, he’s raised 2 billion dollars already. But most importantly, the average Republican is now firmly on his side. They have seen what a rigged system it still is. And they’ve seen the abject hatred that the other side has for Mr and Mrs America. It’s beyond Beto O’Rourke saying “we’re going to take away your guns” or Kamala Harris wanting to forcibly reduce our hamburger consumption. The average Republican voter believes that the average Democratic office-holder hates him. And that goes double for their acolytes in the Media and Hollywood. And they’re right, the elites hates Middle America.
This is kill-ball. And if Trump doesn’t win, then it’s over. It’s that stark of a choice. If we don’t explode into a civil conflict then we’ll be well on our way to becoming a banana republic. Impeachment? Bring it on . . .
….and Andrew Jackson had to be pulled off his attacker so Jackson wouldn’t kill him.
Jackson always seemed a bit intense in his $20 portrait. Not like the placid Ben Franklin or nobility of George Washington. I would love to see a confidently winking and Wiley Trump on a $200 bill
FWIW, I am presently reading Jon Meacham’s excellent book American Lion. I highly recommend it.
Michael, here’s an excellent summation of what I was trying to say in the middle of the essay: the Democrats have lost all conception of “the common good”:
https://amgreatness.com/2019/10/01/democrats-have-given-up-on-the-common-good/
George, they have lost all conception of the common good because they have lost all understanding of real humanity, actual governance and authentic compassion. They are the epitome of the type of “man” Nietzsche describe in his work. Anything “common” is to be held in contempt as a remnant of the “herd” and must be eliminated except as an instrument of control over the dregs.
The parallels between Trump and Jackson are quite remarkable–both good and bad. I hope, if Trump is re-elected, that the parallels cease. The successor to Jackson, of Jackson’s party, was an incompetent party-man. Martin Van Buren was weak, uncreative and lacked knowledge. His failure as President doomed Jacksonian Democracy and began the paving of the road to the Civil War. The seven Presidents that followed, up to Lincoln, just kept adding paving stones. The eight Presidents between Jackson and Lincoln are arguably among the worst we have ever had especially since they came one after another over a period of 24 years with two of them dying in office after less than a year in office. Polk’s commitment to “Manifest Destiny” and his willingness to go to war to have it happen was dramatic, but only helped to create a cauldron of confrontation in which the Civil War started becoming an armed conflict.
The year 1848 was a real turning point in human history all across the globe and not a good one. I wish I had the chops to do a real history of that year and all of the revolutionary changes that were born then.
Michael, I heartily agree with you about 1848 being “a turning point”. I very much look forward to you writing something about it. Please do so if you can.
Bravo! This was so good I re-read it. This is of course resonates in the Orthodox Church’s world situation because in both cases we can see what stupidity raw political ambition leads people to. (E.g., the Patriarch of ex-Constantinople demanding rights over the new Orthodox Church in Pyongyang, North Korea, built in honor of NK-Russian cooperation, because the PxC owns the whole world and will not stand for a competitor.)
observer, what I left out of this essay is the Orthodox angle. We may see some Orthodox players (Fr Alex perhaps?) having to be sacrificed in order to protect higher-ups in Istanbul.
In any event, I imagine that before all this is said and done, the Democrats will wish they had never heard of the word Ukraine.
Bold attempt to re-brand a scandal daily growing in depth, breadth and severity as “hysteria”, I’ll give you that.
Because, of course, it was more that just the phone call. And the phone call in and of itself was plenty bad. And the Secretary of State and Attorney General are being caught up in the increasing web of wrongdoing.
Your theories of impeachment being driven by the DNC, Clinton and/or Obama are unrooted in political reality. It was always in the hands of the House Democrats, and since January the topic has been a contentious internal issue with lots of different opinions and factions. There has been no shortage of quality political reporting on the topic. As to why everything came together as rapidly as it did, this is a pretty good summary: (https://theintercept.com/2019/09/24/impeachment-inquiry-donald-trump-nancy-pelosi/)
I think it is absolutely fair to be critical of Biden’s perceived mental lapses on the campaign trail. But I also believe it is fair to be critical of Trump’s equally troubling mental lapses as the actual sitting President. A Biden/Trump debate next year would be like Reagan in ’84, only both men are struggling hard not to sundown too visibly on stage.
At any rate, saying Biden is the only contender with a chance of beating Trump in 2020 is not backed up by polling. Could Trump win re-election? Of course yes. Could any of the leading Democratic candidates beat him? Also yes. Insisting Trump is going to win in 2020 sounds an awful lot like the people insisting Hillary was going to win in 2016.
Also, for the Nth time: to think Hillary Clinton is going to enter the 2020 race is to fundamentally not understand how the process of running for president works.
The curious verbiage about “Crowdstrike” and “the server being in Ukraine” is not pay-dirt, it is hard proof that the President actually believes nonsense conspiracy theories even after his own people have tried to tell him they have no basis in reality. Now, it is one thing for George Michalopulos to believe ridiculous debunked theories, there isn’t really any harm in that. For the President of the United States to succumb to them is another thing entirely. Personally, watching Trump get more and more unhinged just makes it impossible to forget he is the Nuclear Command Authority. Not a recipe for sound sleep.
“Yes, Trump violated an unwritten rule of presidential politics and that is you don’t sic the Justice Department on any opponent”
That isn’t violating an unwritten rule, that’s called setting fire to the rule of law. Which is going to be one of several articles of impeachment!
And we absolutely disagree on this: you don’t think impeachment is actually going to happen. I think it almost certainly will.
Where we might actually agree is about the most likely outcome in the Senate: there is a trial and Trump is acquitted along party lines. But we will probably disagree as to which party benefits and which is harmed by this scenario in the 2020 elections.
“FOX news, the night line-up is solidly on Trump’s side and they’re not giving an inch.”
Ah yes, the alternative media responsible for things like only 40% of Republicans believing Trump asked Ukraine to investigate Biden, even though Trump personally admitted that he did. Trump standing a better chance than Nixon due to the sheer power of the reality distortion field of right-wing media is not good for the country, even if it is good for Trump.
“Foolishly, they thought that by standing on “principle” they would be rewarded at the ballot box.”
So you are essentially saying the modern GOP isn’t willing to do the right thing if they have to pay a political price for it. I actually agree with you on this.
Nate, you’re truly delusional. The phone call was “bad enough”? Are you serious? If it was that bad then why did Pencil-neck have to make a complete fool of himself the other day?
And what exactly constitutes “more than the phone call”? Are you now able to read minds? Please put away your Ouija board.
Dear George,
I’m going to chastise you, so I pray that you take no offense.
Using derogatory descriptions to identify people doesn’t strengthen your argument. I have no idea who “pencil neck” is. Name calling reflects more negatively on the person drawing the bow rather than the target.
Dismissing someone’s argument with blanket accusations of critical thinking impairment, ie, “delusional” adds nothing to the discussion.
George, you have an excellent mind and a gift for analysis and discourse. A clean sharp blade is the best for cutting!
None take, Tanya! I’ll take the reproof of a Godly woman any day of the week! (And seriously think about it.)
Just so y’all know, every now and then when it comes to political matters, I get my Irish up. (Even though I’m not Irish!)
No Ouija board necessary, just paying attention to public reporting and the the currently known timeline. More detail will be doubtless be filled out by additional reporting and the results of the impeachment inquiry.
The July 25 call was not something that happened in isolation, but was part of a broader pattern of behavior and direction by Trump. This included both him personally, his personal associates (i.e. Giuliani and others), and people in the US Government acting on his behalf.
The origin of this behavior predated both Zelensky’s inauguration and Trump’s asks on Biden.
Anyway, at the end of the day, it boils down to: you do not believe that a sitting President calling on foreign governments to investigate a political rival is an impeachable offense.
Which, of course, Trump just did live on camera this morning.
Unfortunately for your paranoia, what Trump did on that phone call was a) not illegal, b) completely Constitutional (helpful hint: check out Article II of the Constitution, you may have heard of it), and c) perfectly within the parameters of the 1999 Treaty between the US and Ukraine –which was signed by (drum-roll please): Bill Clinton.
You know, I’m glad that JFK didn’t have any backbiters like you back during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Had y’all been whispering in his ear about how impeachable “secret back-channels” to the Kremlin would have been, the world would have been a smoldering, radioactive ruin and this entire kerfuffle would be academic.
Your a) is contradicted by, at the very least 52 U.S. Code §30121.
Your b) is contradicted by, well, the Article II of the Constitution you were citing. Hello Section 4. The key is the Founders understanding of what constitutes Bribery.
Your c) is contradicted by the text of the US/Ukraine MLAT. Under the MLAT, the DOJ would have to be conducting an investigation of Biden, and would have to request Ukrainian assistance in said investigation through the Central Authority, which is the AG. The treaty does not allow for the President of the US to call up the President of the Ukraine and ask him to investigate his political rivals.
Sorry, no bribery. No quid pro quo.
But while we’re at it, was the Steele Dossier an attempt by a political party to engage the services of a foreign power to interfere in our last election? If not, why not?
Be honest now. Because you know, there are countless US Codes broken by the Lightworker administration. When you add Hillary’s multiple breakings of the law, then you are like Abraham, looking at the “stars in the sky”.
Hey Nate, get a load of this: https://pjmedia.com/trending/is-joe-biden-turning-his-quid-pro-quo-into-an-obama-scandal/
Looks like Sleepy Joe is fixing to throw Pres Lightworker under the bus! I guess now we know why Obama told him several months ago: “Joe you don’t have to do this; really you don’t have to do this”.
It’s all starting to come into focus now, isn’t it?
Joseph, I am sorry.
It is your own choice, you are upset by the situation and you make an effort to present some new contrary evidence, but it happens to be self-evident and self-explanatory and no news:
.
“even the administrative offices of the Patriarch, one is not overwhelmed by the power and glory.”
Indeed, the power and the glory was before the Fall of the city in 1453.Did you really expect power anf glory NOW in a Muslim country and a tiny own congregation. I mean, really… BTW, did you know that EP has alternative buildings in very expensive Switzerland?
.
“This is a Patriarch who willingly lives in a country hostile to Christianity… etc”
Nobody obliged him to live there. He likes being called All-Most-Holy and try to be the boss in many other countries too.If he goes abroad he cannot manage that role any more. .
”
Contrast that with Moscow where the shining domes of churches”.
Contrast that with Constantinople before 1453!
.
“the magnificent churches in the Kremlin,”
The magnificent churches in Constantinople before 1453!
.
“In Moscow, Orthodoxy is accepted and even fashionable.”
in Constantinople before 1453 Orthodoxy was accepted and even fashionable.
“In Moscow, Orthodoxy is closely tied to the State. ”
In Constantinople before 1453, Orthodoxy is closely tied to the State.
“In Moscow, all the officers and personnel in the nuclear warhead divisions, who were formerly required to be members of the Communist Party, are now required to be Orthodox Christians.”
In Constantinople before 1453, all the officers and personnel in army and navy, were required to be Orthodox Christians.
“So we can all live rest assured that the guy who presses “the button” in Russia will be an obedient Orthodox Christian. Amen.”
In Constantinople before 1453, they lived rest assured that God would help them against the Muslims although they did not go to church any more and the churches remained closed for lack of congregation. Memory eternal,Amen.
I pop in briefly to offer a mea culpa.
I did not think that Trump could pull it off. In fact, until the last few days, I was still highly skeptical of the idea that Trump could kill the Democratic Party as a viable contender in a two party system, moving us to a dominant (single viable party) model.
I was wrong.
George’s summary is quite scathing re the American Left, but I wish to offer a short reminder of the absolute blackness of the abyss which the Democratic Party is facing when this all fails and Trump is re-elected:
Three points come to mind immediately.
First, Barr and Durham are still hovering out there pursuing what will effectively be a devastating, decimating assault on the Democratic Party. They will compile the evidence of what occurred in the 2016 election cycle and subsequently they will issue indictments against the leadership of the intelligence services under Obama and early in the Trump administration as well as other Obama officials and possibly those in the Hillary camp – perhaps even Obama himself. It depends on how far up and how wide they can trace this RICO cluster f*ck. And these men are motivated hound dogs who have become nothing other than more resolved to mete out justice by this bogus impeachment kerflaw calling their integrity into question.
This will stain the Democratic Party for at least a generation or two, much more than Watergate stained the Republicans. It will be clear to the most ardent Democratic ideologue that the party is nothing other than a hopelessly corrupt Tammany Hall operation without any sense of restraint, conscience or common sense. They walked into this one out of pure hubris. Pride cometh before a fall.
But that’s not the half of it.
Secondly, they have galvanized and upset the Republican Party to an extent that will render it spitting venom at any and all elected Democrats for the foreseeable future. I mean pure, unadulterated, seething contempt. Wrath, if you will.
This matters because in all likelihood the Impeachment Inquiry will lead to the Democrats losing the House. This could make them completely powerless, pounding sand, on the sidelines for the remainder of Trump’s presidency. They will have lost the presidency itself, Congress and the Supreme Court as well as the lower federal courts due to Trump’s past and future appointments.
Republicans will make war on the Democratic Party until there is no such animal viable in the American forest. Probably a Labor or Libertarian Party will soak up some of the slack, but this may well be a transition away from the Democratic Party being one of the two governing parties. It has happened before. There used to be Whigs, after all.
And in case you think that I’m overstating the sheer hell that the Democratic Left faces as a prospect, let me add number three:
Trump will get re-elected, probably in a landslide, with all of the above in place and with the extra added bonus that he will be conscious of having been treated wickedly, viciously and dishonestly by the other side, the press and its minions AND he will no longer have to face the prospect of another campaign to be re-elected.
He will, in effect, be a king.
A vindictive king.
Who will stop him? The MSM press has been permanently discredited by their antics over the last three years. The right wing press has proven its ability to send leftist stories into remission. Impeachment will have failed. Congress will be in the hands of Republicans beholden to Trump for regaining a majority and the courts, including the Supreme Court, will be full of his appointees.
Nothing less than a revolution without firing a shot.
That’s impressive. I underestimated the man.
The tide in our world is turning. Here and in Western Europe authoritarian mixed market capitalism with a decidedly religious tint is taking over.
It’s about time.
Misha, from your lips to God’s ears! In the main, I think you have the emerging narrative correctly.
BTW, regarding the Federal judiciary, did you see how last month Trump passed a milestone? He had appointed his 150th Federal judge to the judiciary –more than any other president before him. And this includes all previous two-termers. Think of it, he did this in less than three years.
Kinda makes you wonder, doesn’t it?
At one point, George, he said, “It will be beautiful.” This was not the famous quote about the Wall but another time when asked about the effects of his policies and term(s). I can’t find the clip but I recall it clearly.
That was ominous. I think he had the judiciary and Congress figured out before he got into office or early in his term. This type of thing does not happen by coincidence. Many assumed that Trump actually wanted an impeachment in the House to seal their fate and was goading them into it.
He has been proactive and leading his enemies, whatever their reaction, by the nose. Of course, it could all collapse. I’m not saying it’s fate. But this narrative also explains why the Dems are so excitedly irrational.
They can see the 99 foot tidal wave a comin’. It’s not just losing 2020. It’s losing in such a pathetic way that they become emasculated. They had a taste of it before the 2018 election which gave them the House.
Some of them are very canny political observers despite their neurotic psychoses. Kissinger saw it clearly from early on. He remarked that this could be a “transformative” presidency.
Let’s pray.
Misha out.
Misha, one thing I have learned studying history is to never underestimate the resiliency of ideas, even bad ones. If the Democrat Party is disemboweled as you believe, the anti-human, tyrannical ideas they represent will only metastasize and possibly become more virulent. If the people they currently give voice too are denied a peaceful outlet, violence is far more likely.
It is possible that the current United States of America will remain intact at the end of all of this. We could be a bit like India after its independence. The tyrannical liberals in their bi-costal heaven separated as a different country while the rest of us are in the middle with enclaves of the liberals within.
A house divided against itself, cannot stand. At the very least the Democrat Party has managed to create a series of divisions that will be quite difficult to heal.
They no longer believe or practice freedom, believe in God’s Providence nor have any desire for union.
Non-Democrat politicians have tended to take much the same course unfortunately. Just with different ideology. They are no less haters of freedom, deniers of God’s Providence and seeking only their own power above actual government or belief in union.
May God forgive us.
Michael, you bring up a very interesting point. Just because a political party is dead doesn’t mean that it’s ideas don’t live on in some weird, memetic way. We see this for example with the occultic racial theories that coalesced into the Nazi Party. They have pretty much overtaken the progressive wing of the Democratic Party with their eugenics and racial spoils-system type of governance.
Even more so the Marxist world view. Though the Comintern and its nationalistic vehicles no longer exist (i.e. USSR, Warsaw-Pact countries, etc.), their soul-destroying ideas have essentially destroyed what remains of the West. No institution in the West today has escaped the corrosive acid of Marxism: the entertainment industry, organized religion, academe, etc.
Basically, the commies won without firing a shot. (OK, I get it, we fought them on the Korean peninsula and Indo-China, the Marshall Plan, etc.) but in the end, the US –except in the economic sphere–has become dominated by Marxism. (For now. All the energy in the Democrat Party is in the bat-sh!t craziness of AOC who has single-handedly pushed that party to the extreme left.)
George, it is not just political ideas either. Every single one of the major heresies that have been “anathematized” are still around and quite well. You name it and you will find it somewhere in the Church or in other religious expressions.
Guarding one’s heart is always the key.
There is a saying: “Choose your enemies carefully because you will become like them.” This is true for so-called winners more than losers.
Gives substance to the command from Jesus: Resist not evil, but do good. Mt 5:39. Purity of heart seems to require that we praise God for all things, do not do evil ourselves and love or enemies as we follow the path of deep repentance even in the face of our enemies.
Joy in the presence of all that this world throws at us seems to be what God wants for us and the most effective “weapon” . Perhaps “heaping coals of fire on their heads” (Rom 12) as we are simply free
Yeah, pretty much every heresy birthed in the first 5 centuries is being upheld in some way by any number of the thousands of denominations.
i liked authoritarian mixed market capitalism back when they were called fascism
the original drummer was better too
Boy, you really don’t know your history, don’t you?
Couldn’t all this be a smokescreen to get us to stop talking about Epstein? If Hillary is running again in 2020 (and I believe you’re right about this), the LAST thing she’d want is to have anyone uncover what Epstein has hidden. She and hers may think they’ve got it all and silenced him for good but Epstein’s the kind of guy who would keep information in multiple places in the eventuality that someone takes him out. If Hillary thinks she’s good to go, she’s a fool. Epstein will have the last laugh and the laugh will be on her.
Gail, I do believe that the “Ukraine/impeachment/inquiry” kefuffle is as you say it is, a “smokescreen”. A distraction which hopefully will prevent Barr and Durham from going into Ukraine to find out all the dirt on 2016.
Will it work? Before yesterday, I thought so but then I saw the Trumpster’s press conference in which he laid the smack down. If he goes down, he’s going to go down fighting.
PS, I overlooked your reference to Epstein. To my mind, the whole Epstein “suicide” has withered entirely. However, Ed Buck, a notorious homosexual predator and mega-Dem donor was arrested just before the Ukraine “impeachment” inquiry broke.
Buck is a constituent and “friend” of Adam Schiff. Schiff himself is a great-grandson of Jacob Schiff, a wealthy American banker who helped finance the Bolshevik revolution. I believe he was also married into the Soros family.
Curiouser and curiouser.
Anyway, this time the Feds are going to make sure that Buck doesn’t commit Arkancide.
Best one yet: courtesy of The Babylon Bee.
https://babylonbee.com/news/staffer-gently-informs-hillary-clinton-she-lost-election-three-years-ago
That’s too funny!
Question: how in heck do I become a Ukrainian oligarch? I mean, I’m Greek, Paul Pelosi, Jr is Italian, what’s s the difference?
https://twitter.com/HowleyReporter/status/1179893713214025729?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1179893713214025729&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fnationalfile.com%2Fbreaking-nancy-pelosis-son-was-exec-at-gas-company-that-did-business-in-ukraine%2F
Oh, yeah, I forgot: my mother wasn’t a kleptocrat., who was married to a plutocrat.
Darn.
D’ya think that maybe we should just scrap that whole Constitution thingie and go straight to the banana republic phase?
George,
I know enough Ukrainians that I could hook you up and make it happen. But I wouldn’t want to help endanger your salvation. I’ve endangered mine enough, as it is.
This is an excellent summation on why the establishment wing of the GOP can never again win another presidential election. Totally worth 5 minutes of your time:
https://spectator.us/romney-republicanism-never-win/
Forgive me, but this story doesn’t really belong in this thread but it shows that patriotism is not dead yet (no matter how hard the globalists try). Looks like two Texas football teams decided to sing the National Anthem before their football game. They decided to do this when they found out it wasn’t going to be sung.
https://www.breitbart.com/local/2019/10/17/texas-football-players-sing-national-anthem-after-being-told-would-not-played/
There is nothing wrong with a little defiance every now and then. It’s too bad the Greek people have lost this spirit. Oh well.