What do you make of this?

Here is a question for Trump supporters. Trump selected Paul Manafort as his campaign chairman at a critical stage in the campaign when he needed the GOP votes at the convention to win the nomination. Manafort delivered and also recommended Mike Pence as his running mate.

Now, Paul Manafort has run amok with the law for at least two decades. He has been active since Reagan and intimate with the Republican Party. Did anyone vet Manafort beyond his bank account? Apparently not.

Did Donald Trump vet his intimate campaign manager? Now, we know that Manafort was operating illegally as a foreign agent with Ukraine and Vladimir Putin's puppets there. That is a Russian link. Manafort failed to report foreign bank accounts and failed to pay taxes which is illegal. Even a modestly aggressive background check would have shown red flags. However, neither Trump nor the Republican Party leadership cared one bit.

Today, Manafort sits in jail awaiting trial because he was witness tampering that alone will keep him in jail for twenty years. That is the character on which Donald Trump road to The White House.

Donald Trump is one such flawed character who also attacks the rule of law and those enforcing it. The Republican Party leadership are accessories in Trump's attempts at obstructing justice and conspiring against the United States of America which is the first charge against Paul Manafort.

As a Trump loyalist, what does that make you? Do you call yourself a patriot? Are you a Christian? Or, are you just plain despicable?

Image: planetsave.com

Trump's Illegal Use of a Non-Profit

It is more than sleazy to use a non-profit to channel money to your private business. That trick is an old one for which State and Federal regulators are on alert. It is illegal and a crime to do so. The Trump Foundation committed crimes as did Trump University for which the latter was guilty and fined. Now, the State Attorney General in New York ordered the Trump Foundation closed. The prosecution will follow.

Trump actions are part of an in-depth history of Donald Trump disrespecting laws and regulations and paying fines when caught. A person who believes and demonstrates by his actions that he is above the law, should not be President of the United States. No person is above the law.

Impeach him.

"Trump's legal troubles pile up despite release of IG report 

President Trump’s legal troubles grew deeper on Thursday, even as his supporters took a measure of vindication from the release of a watchdog report critical of former FBI Director James Comey. 

For Trump, any political benefits to be gleaned from the highly anticipated report were diluted by a decision announced hours earlier in New York, where state Attorney General Barbara Underwood (D) filed a lawsuit against the president’s charitable group, the Donald J. Trump Foundation." 

The Hill Email

Image: Mankato Free Press

Trump, the Target

Former FBI Director, James Comey and some associates made mistakes in handling the Clinton Email Investigation, not in the actual investigative process, but in how and when the status was announced that violated FBI practices and protocol.

The IG report clearly identified five employees who overtly exposed their biases, including two who opposed Donald Trump. They were removed from the Russian Investigation resulting from that.

While the FBI's reputation was harmed by those making mistakes, there was no evidence of political bias.

The investigation into Russian Interference in the Election 2016 Cycle is warranted by intelligence and subsequent details that led to issuing charges and indictments.

The facts are that members of the Donald Trump Campaign were engaged in a conspiracy to cooperate or collude with Russians. Donald Trump was responsible for the actions of his campaign members that included his family and campaign manager.

The investigation will likely result in indictments and an impeachment referral to Congress. It is apparent to anyone with their eyes and ears open that Donald Trump did everything that he could to obstruct and deny an investigation into Russian interference that led to a meeting with Russian participants in the Trump Tower. His handprints are all over the place.

Trump's behavior while in office is despicable to most Americans. The American Political System must process the facts and citizens will cast their votes in the Midterm Elections indicating the way forward.

Trump is the target of an investigation by the American people whose job it is to evaluate his performance on merit and facts.

Image: Vox

Not the Nation of Trump

The majority of Americans have not sold their souls to Donald Trump. They did not elect Trump as their president by a majority. While his propaganda sways 25-40 percent of the population, the majority don't buy it. 

The Republican Party has become the party of compromised, greedy, and bigoted people, a sizeable audience that proves the danger of ignorance in America. Follow this leader, and you will soon see the consequences.

Aligned with totalitarianism, President Trump and his "brown-shirt" loyalists march in lock-step to undermine American democracy. They attack the free press and all of the institutions that protect citizens from tyranny. We are a nation under siege by an insurgency.

"Ignoring warning signs, GOP continues rebranding itself as the party of Trump 

The Republican Party appears united now not by fealty to ideas or policies but to a man, and ambitious GOP candidates agree: Success in the primaries demands the full support of the president. But many experts and some GOP politicians see peril in the general elections this November. 

By David Weigel, Robert Costa and Seung Min Kim" 

The Washington Post

Image: Tico Bull

Trump, the anti-truth

Sadly, Donald Trump continues to attack the pillars of democracy and truth including the press. The truth hurts Trump more than anything, and soon the facts will choke the regime to its conclusion as the anti-truth.

Not a single foreign policy expert can point to any details resulting from the handshakes and signatures from the Trump and Kim Jong-un meeting. There is nothing there, and the event is fake.

A handshake might thaw a harsh relationship, but Trump is so eager for a public relations-win that he was willing to give away a prize without reciprocity.

Because the media and both Democrats and many Republicans are honest about the situation, he attacks them. He intends to rally his cult that is no longer the Republican party. Instead, it is jello-fed Trumpians.

Disgraceful and harmful is this President who should face impeachment and prosecution for crimes to be named soon.

"After meeting with North Korean dictator, Trump calls press America's 'biggest enemy'

by Brian Stelter   @brianstelter
June 13, 2018: 12:18 PM ET   

Trump touts trust with Kim in TV interview 

Hours after returning from a trip where he lavished praise on one of the world's worst dictators, President Trump declared that America's biggest enemy is... "fake news." 

http://money.cnn.com/2018/06/13/media/trump-tweet-media/index.html

Authoritarians

Twenty-four hour news cycle success

Here is an honest analysis of Trump's North Korean progress. Yes, a personal handshake is a sign of progress in this situation. That is for the 24-hour news cycle.

However, there are no details from the initial meeting except that North Korea says they will approach denuclearization and Trump gave away our military war games with South Korea with nothing in return. Those are facts.

Foreign policy experts report that nothing material has changed except that Trump torpedoed our allies and altered the balance of power that kept us safe since 1945. Those are also facts.

Flippant, reckless and feckless, Donald Trump appeals to Americans who are near-sighted and who cannot envision and measure the consequences.

In my books and academic work with Dr. James A. Rodger, Indiana University PA, we address predictive management and how to calculate the consequences of policies over the lifecycle of decisions, policies, and legislation.

American citizens who must survive beyond the next fifteen years should be concerned about Trump policies and decisions that will likely implode before then. If you are in the age group 18-50, you should be immensely interested and increase your knowledge about what you can do to improve your government.

"Summit gives Trump political boost — with risks 

President Trump is likely to get a political boost from his Singapore summit with Kim Jong Un, but experts tell The Hill the president also faces risks now that he “owns” any future challenges that arise from North Korea. 

Insiders from both parties cautioned that any gains by Trump could be short-lived, given that the politics of the Korean Peninsula are fraught." 

The Hill

Reading list:

Smart Data, Enterprise Performance Optimization Strategy by James A. George and James A. Rodger (c) 2010 Wiley Publishing

How to Select an American President by James A. George and James A. Rodger (c) 2017 Archway Publishing

Regenerating America with Sustainable Economics by James A. George and James A. Rodger (c) 2017 Archway Publishing

These books contain actionable solutions for improving America.

Take a Deep Breath

On a late night in America and on an early morning in Singapore, Amercian President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un met face-to-face to change the tone in a hostile relationship.

This attempt at transformation begins on a personal basis between leaders.

For the majority of the populations of the US and North Korea, most don't have a clue about the others.

Americans are divided between those favoring more social and environmental responsibility and those approving capitalism and smaller government.

Americans are conflicted between conservative religious values and freedom from religion.

They are conflicted by those seeking equality among all including gender, race, and beliefs versus those harboring bigotry and propensity to discriminate.

North Koreans live in a controlled dictatorship, by an authoritarian regime that was created under the influence of Communist Chinese and Soviets that made them proxies in a war with the United States.

North Koreans were indoctrinated to fight against their fellow Koreans in the South while becoming a nation-state isolated and dependent upon the Chinese for survival.

Fascinating is that the authoritarian system was able to develop into a considerable military force that resulted in a stalemate for more than fifty years with a truce, but no armistice.

An authoritarian regime, backed by another authoritarian regime is able to concentrate resources to develop nuclear weapons at an extreme human cost.

Americans have elected a leader whose personal character is grossly flawed for which citizens have every right to be concerned about trust and honesty from the incumbent regime.

An American bully president advances foreign policy, economic and military policy that out lies the democratic institutions and processes intended to check the abuse of executive power.

An American Congress became complicit with the authoritarian leader who is more comfortable dealing with dictators than with traditional allies.

Political parties in America are failing to produce superior qualified candidates for elected office because there are no standards for their performance and no standards governing the evaluation of candidates.

While the Republic of North Korea appears to be advancing toward a less hostile relationship with its neighbors and enemies, the American republic appears to be eroding in its Constitutional values and the rule of law.

Nation-states and their citizen populations will endure far longer than the leaders at a moment in history.

Sigh, at the prospect of denuclearization and know that the way ahead will be fraught with details and challenges that will test the leaders and the entire systems of governance on which they are founded.

North Koreans may be awakened by the prospect of progress made by their leaders and government engaging the world community.

Americans should be worried by the prospect that their leaders have eroded the democratic republic and are increasingly untrustworthy in the global community.

Human rights are lost in this discussion because the American leader didn't want to address the topic. Yet, human rights and economic sustainability are the primary considerations and the details that are the way forward.

Read: How to Select an American President by James A. George and James A. Rodger (c) 2017 Archway Publishing

Read: Regenerating America with Sustainable Economics by James A. George and James A. Rodger (c) 2017 Archway Publishing

Citizen education is the way forward.

Open Letter To Republicans In Congress

Dear Representatives and Senators:

Your President is an insurgent autocrat who is conflicted by Russian influence. He is attacking our allies. He has attacked We the People with lies and propaganda. He has lured some of you, including leadership, to go along with him. He is undermining the nation, the rule of law, and our Constitution.

Where do you stand? Can you reaffirm your oath of allegiance to the nation or are you continuing to compromise your integrity by following Trump?

By many, if not most of your actions, you are accessories after the fact.

Please uphold the rule of law. Do not obstruct justice. Stop ignoring the facts. The evidence is overwhelming to the average citizen that this government is an insurgency.

Time/CNN

When It Goes Down, Ryan Goes Also

It isn't a question of if there will be indictments and prosecution for Russian interference in the American election process, many indictments and trials are in process. President Trump's campaign manager and associates are among them. That is a fact and supported by "guilty pleas."

The circumstantial evidence in the public domain spewed by Trump and his legal counsel reveal obstruction of justice, lying with intent to persuade citizens and members of Congress to go along with the authoritarian tyrannical President.

Facts, facts, facts bury the President.

Astonishingly, Speaker of the Houe Paul Ryan appears compelled or persuaded to disparage the Special Prosecutor. From his role and responsibility in the process, Paul Ryan joins Devin Nune as participants in the obstruction of justice.

Ryan must be informed as I do here, that he will not escape future prosecution for his negligence and participation in illegal acts.

Ryan can't walk away and go home to his family made wealthy by politics any more than Paul Manafort, being an accessory after the fact.

The small potatoes will boil while the big ones are fried.

Image: CNN

George III and Donald Trump

It is sad testimony that Trump's legal team have presented the argument that the President is above the law.

His attorney and PR man, Rudy Giuliani, stated that the President could assassinate the FBI Director in the Oval Office and get away with it.

That is how extreme and radical right-wing is this regime as a statement of absolute fact.

Where is the American Bar Association in this battle for democracy and rule of law?

Where are the freedom fighters in Congress?

You either stand for freedom or you capitulate and fall asunder to tyranny.

Where do you stand? In what do you believe? Do you think that tyranny is a joke, and not taken seriously?

George III was the last leader to lord over America with a declaration of absolute power. Citizens battled in Revolution to change that. Now, what are we to do with Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress who go along?

The path of legal resistance is in the hands of lawyers and the courts, and the nation can't wait for Congress because it is corrupted like the President.

"Mueller investigation being 'unfairly undermined,' American Bar Association chief says"

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/feb/1/american-bar-association-says-muellers-investigati/

ABA expresses concerns about Trump revised immigration order; federal courts declare order discriminatory, block enforcement

https://www.americanbar.org/publications/governmental_affairs_periodicals/washingtonletter/2017/march/immigrationban.html

YouTube

Trump In Charge and Conspired to Collude

The news this morning is about Trump's lawyers arguing that the President has supreme power over justice in America and can do as he wishes. The counter-argument is that "no one is above the law," and that the rule of law prevails. Citizens must demand that the matter is resolved in Court as this is the Constitutional crisis on which American Democracy depends.

The evidence is clear. Donald Trump ruled his campaign. Members of the campaign performed assorted illegal acts while under his command for which he is fully responsible.

In yet another instance confirming this, observe that Donald Trump dictated the misleading statement made by "Junior" about the Trump Tower meeting with Russian representatives. Donald Trump is at the heart of the insurgency that undermines our Constitution, the oath of office, and America's pluralistic democratic republic.

Without forgiveness or excuse, the US Congress must impeach Donald Trump and rid the government of those who participated in the obstruction of justice, and that includes the Congressional Republican leadership.

The facts are before you.

"CNN)In a confidential letter to special counsel Robert Mueller in January, President Donald Trump's legal team acknowledged for the first time that Trump "dictated" the first misleading statement put out about his son's controversial 2016 meeting with Russians at Trump Tower. 

"You have received all of the notes, communications, and testimony indicating that the President dictated a short but accurate response to the New York Times article on behalf of his son, Donald Trump, Jr.," the letter said, according to The New York Times, which published a copy of it. "His son then followed up by making a full public disclosure regarding the meeting, including his public testimony that there was nothing to the meeting and certainly no evidence of collusion." 

The acknowledgment was tucked away in the letter, which largely focused on defending Trump from a potential subpoena for testimony and asserted broad executive powers to avoid a high-stakes interview with Mueller. The letter, which CNN previously reported on, was signed by Trump's attorneys at the time, John Dowd and Jay Sekulow. Dowd left the legal team in March, while Sekulow continues representing the President. 

The misleading statement, issued in July 2017 to The New York Times, obfuscated the true nature of the June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower, which was attended by Donald Trump Jr., then-Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner, who is now a senior White House adviser, and a group of Kremlin-tied Russians." 

https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/02/politics/trump-lawyers-statement-trump-tower-russians/index.html

Image: The New Republic