Author: BC

“Drain the swamp” is of course a ubiquitous term, different things to different people. That DC had come to support a status quo of pay-to-play access to decisionmaking by the lead up to Decision 2016 was simply a given. Few believed that money wasn’t critical to a place at the table inside the beltway, or in most all state capitals for that matter. Yet and still, the Trump campaign, and the full Fox/AM delivery system supporting it 24/7, employed a significantly more ominous definition of the “swamp,” imbuing it with monolithic nefariousness, centrally controlled by the Clintons and devoted to nothing less than totalitarianism geared to stripping all but their cadre of apparatchiks of anything other than toil and hardship.

In late October of 2016, as Election Day neared and he was all but conceding defeat, candidate Trump equated the swamp with “a rigged system” that was busy undermining his chances. “Either we win this election, or we lose the country,” warned the Donald in between hissing that the fix was in for Hillary. And while the Trump campaign put forward a generic list of policy prescriptions to address revolving door public service/lobbying practices, to Trumpism’s wretched core the DC establishment covered everything from Alex Jones’ pizza parlor pedophilia to Benghazi cover ups, Planned Parenthood infanticide to Vince Foster murder theories. The swamp was limited only by the imaginations of the Fox/AM “personalities,” all of whom were now echoing Trump’s dire warnings that electing HRC would surely constitute the end of days.

Looney right wing fever dreams aside, anyone who wants to get a bird’s eye view of what overt corruption looks like can begin with Trump’s Inauguration Committee. Headed by one of his very few actual friends, investment huckster Thomas Barrack, the enterprise was a sludge magnet from the start, literally viewed worldwide as the open door to access, not to just Trump Administration policy, but the now fertile landscape of government contract possibilities. Millions immediately began to flow in unabated, presumably for inaugural festivities, but with a subtext nobody needed their reading glasses to grasp.

Well over a $100 million poured into the committee, whose bookkeeping was Enron-like in its diligence to detailed transparency. Typical of the events the money underwrote was the opulent “Chairman’s Global Dinner,” the idea of Barrack, himself. The Washington Post provided an in depth look at how the shindig came together, and its distinct smarminess.

Originally not even slated to have the President-elect in attendance – he opted to attend at the last minute – the soirée was designed to bring together influencers from near and far, particularly the Middle East, Barrack’s networking comfort zone, with a stated emphasis on diplomacy. Billed as a start toward consensus and reassurance of Middle Eastern diplomats unnerved by Trump’s nasty campaign rhetoric, what it amounted to was a line-the-trough chance to gain the ear of incoming VP Pence and a host of Administration officials. Rick Gates, who later would be indicted on multiple felony counts and become a Mueller asset, was in charge of the dinner, which would ultimately cost $4.3 million for providing 550 guests the choice between filet mignon or black cod. Paul Manafort was also front and center, pressing flesh and surely taking requests.

Entertainment was a problem since no actual stars wanted anything to do with Trump. Finally, country band Alabama and Steve Wynn’s Showstoppers, a Vegas fixture, were lined up. But what really made one pause was the cash coming into the Committee, which made sure the guest list to the invite-only spectacle exuded the proper gratitude. Middle Eastern businessmen, who sent in donations starting at 500K were not forgotten, rewarded with a setting at one of the tables…. and a chance to chat with Rex Tillerson or incoming Energy Secretary Rick Perry. Right wing ATM Sheldon Adelson ponied up $5 million to the group and earned prime gala real estate to lay out his wish list, at the top of which was moving the US Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. And so it went.

The optics of a large group of incoming Administration officials dining away with a pack of deep pocketed donors looking for an edge did not escape many. Greg Jenkins, former director of W’s inaugural committee, no barebones operation by any stretch, was incredulous…. “This just doesn’t look good,” he observed, …” it just invites criticism.” Perhaps, but who was going to report on it, “fake news”?

Turns out there were other interested parties. Last month, federal prosecutors in New York issued a subpoena to the Inaugural committee seeking information on all of its donors and vendors. Another federal probe is looking into money laundering, conspiracy and false statements. Barrack himself has been asked to turn over documents, which he says he will be glad to do, no doubt bucked up by confidence that the pardon card will be available if needed. Elliott Broidy, a top RNC bundler, has been under investigation by the DOJ for outright selling White House access to China and other Asian interests. He, too, surely will bank on the President’s good graces… never the wisest of strategies.

The Trump Inaugural Committee, and its Chairman’s Global Dinner, were just the introduction to the torrent of slime imported from Mar-A-Lago to the nation’s centerpiece. Turns out this Administration has neither the will nor wherewithal to place any sort of checks or reconsiderations on its dirty dealings. From emolument outrages to porn star payoffs to census shenanigans to cabinet secretaries with a taste for high living on the tax payer’s dime, the list doesn’t seem to end, and worse, doesn’t seem to concern anybody throughout its entire grubby food chain. Why should it? The base of support they hang their hats on has been convinced they are doing nothing more than has always been done. It’s no biggie. At least they’re not pimping out little boys from pizzerias, or carrying out suitcases of cash on tarmacs to Mullahs! Those are outrages! You don’t see Trump eating popcorn while our people are being slaughtered in Bhengazi, do you?! Now that’s the swamp!

Trump lied near every sentence on the campaign stump and has spewed near 10,000 more zingers since taking office. Much of his fiction is dedicated to creating an alternate reality he and Alex Jones claim existed before he came to town. Fox/AM has fully embraced that narrative and continues to spin lies for no other purpose than providing the false equivalence it’s criminal champion requires to seem….. normal. Viewed from the lens of Sean Hannity’s imagination, the unsexiness of mere bribes for favors seems downright pedestrian. After all, didn’t you hear Rush thinks the New Zealand massacre may be a false flag orchestrated by Democrats?! Now that’s what needs to be drained!! BC

My son Luke doesn’t really know how to lie. The whole concept is something autism won’t permit him to employ. Luke Carey for President! There will be many awful legacies we will have to deal with should the nation survive Trump as a going democratic concern. Very high on the list will be reestablishing at least an abiding demand for the truth. Trump lies as he breathes and that doesn’t seem to be an issue any longer. “Hey, that’s just him” is being put forward now even by otherwise voracious critics. Instead of a horrified gasp, we now get knowing chuckles across our political spectrum.

The President clearly lied about having business interests in Russia. He definitely lied about knowing Don Jr. met with Russian agents promising dirt on Hillary Clinton. It has been proven beyond question he lied about paying off Stormy Daniels as the general election approached in 2016. Of course,, he’s continued to hold ridiculously tight to the lie/delusion his inauguration crowd was the second coming. With the latest monstrosity of a White House budget, it’s clear he flat out lied about his determination to protect Medicare and Medicaid from deep cuts. The list is endless, and in fact, the Washington Post Fact Checker, probably journalism’s most important cottage industry right now, has cataloged near 10,000 flat out lies from the President’s yap since Inauguration Day. Needless to say, this is a practice that simply can’t survive his vile tenure if we are to continue as a pluralist republic.

Howard Schultz, the man who convinced us paying near $10 for a cup of joe is reasonable, wants to run for President. Yet and still, the Starbuck’s founder can’t be bothered with any party affiliation or, more importantly, the cumbersome nomination process such ties entail. So, like those of his 1/2 % ilk are prone to do, Schultz plans to use his money to forego such drudgery and run as his own entity. What does he have to offer? I suppose it can be called “common sense plutocracy,” gleaned from his “rags to riches” personal story. A filthy rich moderate with a heart; he’s one of us…. look at his bio.

Indeed, Schultz has created a personal brand that leans heavily on Horacio Alger to assure all he has the bona fides to empathize with struggles Americans at even the lowest rungs of the socioeconomic ladder confront. He may be a billionaire now, but unlike the gilded devoid we currently suffer, his roots are true and assure a just perspective.

Schultz has claimed a tough-as-nails upbringing in the Brooklyn projects, a hell few but the most focused and determined could escape. According to Schultz, he hails from “literally the wrong side of the tracks.” Fights were commonplace, Schultz has recalled, only the relative scarcity of guns compared to today kept them from ending much worse…. but, stresses Schultz, “they were tough in their own way.” Yes, to hear Schultz tell it, the Bayview public housing project he was forced to endure stacked the deck against any hopes for achievement and future prosperity. Only his tenacious resolve, and a football scholarship to a midwest university his on-field feats earned him, separated Schultz from his destitute peers, who surely suffered as adults the same fate their deprived childhoods ensured. Not so fast.

Some excellent, very in-depth reporting by the Washington Post clarifies a much different picture. Turns out the Bayview housing project was more Rockwellian than dystopian, more middle-class than poverty ridden. Schultz’s peers laugh and then grow irate at his claims they all grew up in desperation. Apparently, Bayview was designed and continually administered to make sure the poor and destitute were actually excluded! Residents had to demonstrate they were on the way up, not down.

Former Schultz running mates describe a working-class, white, largely Jewish enclave, complete with playgrounds, basketball courts… even an elementary school. It seems residents attended to hunger pangs by visiting two wonderful kosher delis just across the street, and sunset walks to bordering Jamaica Bay relieved the stress of the day’s toil. One former resident put it succinctly: Bayview was “…a shiny, wonderful world… Everything was brand spanking new.” Schultz called Bayview “an urban melting pot.” Data from the mid-60s pegs the demographic makeup at almost 95 percent white. Turns out the pot actually contained one big solid chunk of Caucasian.

And the football scholarship Schultz earned that provided his ticket out off the mean streets? Er, not quite. In a 2007 interview, Schultz confirmed “a football scholarship” to Northern Michigan University got him out of Brooklyn. Since then the story has changed. Its current incarnation is that the impressionable youngster “misunderstood” and “convinced” himself he had a scholarship. Really?! According to the latest version of past reality, Schultz left home certain he had a scholarship, but quickly realized he wasn’t college ball material and ended up scraping by financially on a myriad of jobs he worked to pay tuition. Blah blah blah.

While there is little doubt Howard Schultz is a self-made man, indeed an astonishing success story, to coin the well-trod maxim: it’s the lying stupid. That Schultz has, throughout his adult life, seen fit to, not embellish, but lie about his narrative is disqualifying. Trump’s ascension to high office was fully dependent on the fiction he turned a one-time $1 million, promptly-paid-back loan into gold. Similar reporting by the New York Times proved conclusively the Donald instead failed constantly and was bailed out by his father to the tune of more than $400 million in today’s dollars. Just another obnoxiously coddled rich kid acting badly time and again. Of course Trump, fully aided by Fox/AM, long ago convinced his wretched core the NYT was “fake news,” except when it reports a story he likes. Such BS needs to end yesterday. Whatever Schultz’s spinners put out won’t do…. it’s fiction. Period!

The most ruinous legacy of Trump will be the absurd scale of his misdeeds we accepted. All followers will succeed a man who set standards for ugly malfeasance no one else’s worst can come near. Thus, the temptation will be to allow a Trump grading curve that forgives far more than we should, in effect obliterating where the bar was before Trump came on the scene. It’s easy to hear the argument now: “well, if we crush Schultz, where does it stop? Everyone has peccadillos!” That’s true, and each case is different. Perhaps the test should be whether or not they are capable of owning up to their frailties, coming clean. That’s a metric Trump fails on the hour. Judging from the tongue-tied spin coming from Schultz flacks, it’s a standard he doesn’t appear concerned about meeting, either. Enough! BC

In Arthur Miller’s timeless Death Of A Salesman, Willy Loman suffers within the throes of dementia as his life circles the bottom of the bowl. Loman can no longer escape accountability for character flaws responsible for the wreckage of his most important relationships. Despite trying to delude a brighter picture, Willy faces his own failure, as well as his adult sons’ dysfunction, and is shattered by the reckoning. The moral is clear: the world’s agenda is often merciless, and not subject to alteration by the spin we attempt to apply… no matter how often we try to do so. Reality is not the servant of our imaginations, it’s consequences foist themselves on us whether or not we wish away their coming.

Since we suffer our own Willy Loman in the White House, constantly spinning his own facts in a relentless attempt to sell America an image of his Presidency that has little to do with reality, it’s prudent to remind ourselves that normalizing the crisis such fantasy represents is ruinous to our future prospects. Trump fatigue simply means accepting his lies because we’re tired of hearing them. Yea, whatever you say pop, time for bed.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi came out yesterday and announced impeaching Trump was not an option she favored. “He’s not worth it,” said Pelosi, admitting the exercise would be more trouble than certain Senate aquittal could justify, unless startling new revelations come forward. Say what?! Almost 10,000 public lies in two years, including denying payoffs to a porn star mistress weeks before he was elected, repeated assurances he never would have picked his first Attorney General if he knew he wouldn’t obstruct justice for him, and certainty he lied about knowing his son met with a Russian agent claiming to be in possession of damaging intel on Hillary Clinton, just for starters, isn’t a basis for seriously considering impeachment? What is, then? My Lord.

Pelosi suggests we just wash Trump away in an electoral landslide instead. Sadly, that’s easier mused than done. The Speaker seems to have her own issues with wishing the best in an addled fog. After all, Trump got elected in 2016 after literally trying to lose. Now he already has $100 million in the bank and all the benefits incumbency bestows. Moreover, unhinged campaign rallies are the one Presidential activity he actually likes to do. After haphazard wack-a-mole forays in 2016, Trump/Pence 2020 is sure to have its act much tighter.

Trump 2020 is promising the most comprehensive data mining operation ever to uncover hidden coal within the GOP base to be shined into general election votes. And the message? Nothing new. Trump spinners call it “raw populism” put forward in “frank terms” by the “combative” President. Calling Trump “combative” is like calling a nuclear bomb “disruptive.” The GOP has normalized the worst civic crisis in our history and plans a campaign designed simply to further deaden the senses of the rest of America.

Brad Pascale, Trump 2020’s Campaign Manager, claims “on every metric” the new operation outpaces 2016 “by many multiples.” The campaign will proceed on three levels. First, uncover new votes from wretched core acolytes heretofore unwilling to get out of the recliner in swing states like Ohio, Wisconsin, Florida and Michigan. Of course, the subtext to any GOP voter outreach is the compliment of parallel voter suppression efforts at the state level. In Florida, Trumpie Governor Ron DeSantis continues his best efforts to undo the will of 2/3 of the state’s electorate and slow roll voter rights for convicted felons. In Wisconsin some of the harshest voter ID standards will couple with strategically underserving various polling stations to help stack the deck.

Next will certainly be an unhinged effort to fully smear whoever emerges from the crowded Democratic primary field. Everything possible will be thrown at the wall to see what sticks. Fox/AM will go full 24/7 to create and push this cycle’s email server and Bhengazi sagas. Frank Luntz will have his focus groups busy explaining why whatever peccadillo is selected threatens the future of US sovereignty. Like the cyborg miscreants of The Terminator, Fox’s prime time lineup simply will not stop until Trump’s opponent is rebranded as the enemy of all that is white Christian.

Finally, there will be Trump himself. Fully disenchanted with the work required by the job he will again seek, the President is in a rabid lather to get Air Force One in the air and hit the campaign trail. The CPAC monstrosity clarified “off script” is the only way Trump plans to go in 2020. It’s going to be full Jim Morrison day in and day out until November. How awful it will get is anybody’s guess… nothing will surprise. But it’s a sure bet everybody but those who actually want to hear his drivel will emphatically tune him out. That could very well mean talk will instead focus on Joe Biden as a retread, or Amy Klobuchar’s treatment of staff, Bernie’s commie leanings…. anything but the inferno blazing right in front of us.

Trump and his co-conspirators want nothing more than Election 2020 to become part of just another horse race paradigm. Hey, some colts act up in the gate, what can you do? Let’s get down to some serious polling and focus on the numbers. Newsflash! This is not a normal situation! Already Trump and his Capitol Hill minions are equating Mueller’s work and any other efforts to hold his corruption to account as efforts to rig 2020 results. Delegitimating the process will surely become a big part of his stump ugliness. Perhaps the most important quality we can look for in a Democratic standardbearer is a determination to circle the White House with troops loyal to democracy and show the ex-POTUS off the White House grounds after his inevitable refusal to accept results he doesn’t like.

Talk to anyone raised in a dysfunctional household and you’re likely to hear at some point they simply went numb and got tired of the conflict, acceding to the madness they couldn’t escape. Happy and Biff Loman ever humored Willy’s delusions to avoid his rage and rancor. Two years into the worst Administration ever given White House keys, the most important portion of American voters and politicians appear affected by a similar level of skittishness. Trump isn’t just the elephant in the room, he’s the Ebola on the fork at our national place setting. Ignoring his hourly menace in favor of tailoring messages that “reassure” the voters who foisted him on us in the first place their concerns “won’t be ignored” plays right into his grubby little hands. It also clarifies one thing above all else: the GOP and its base aren’t the only ones given to normalizing a pestilence far more concerned with surviving its own seditious corruption than any service to the national interest. Pretending otherwise, like his boss Howard’s refusal to keep Willy on as the firm’s “New England man,” won’t set our table. BC

There’s a great scene in the classic film Norma Rae, when the title character, played at Oscar-winning caliber by Sally Field, asks the pastor of her congregation to use the church for a union meeting. She makes clear a number of black folk will be in attendance, and declares if he refuses the request she will leave his flock. The pastor, busy adding a coat of paint to the facility, barely takes his eyes off his chore and matter-of-factly tells Norma how much he will miss her voice in the choir. What Would Jesus Do? That’s an inquiry many a theologian has pondered on a selective basis.

The vivid hypocrisy on display these days regarding support of perhaps US history’s least God-fearing President is nothing new. Sadly, up and down the line, throughout the seminal moral conflicts of our maturation as a nation, many an otherwise pious servant of the lord has been on the wrong side of history, often attending to the line laid to follow by their church leadership. Slavery had no problem finding warm comfort in the weekly sermons of southern preachers. Ditto Jim Crow a century later. Congregations throughout the US prayed for the souls of “savages” even as Manifest Destiny destroyed their way of life. The many charitable avenues of Catholic outreach prove inadequate to beguile the decent from a top-to-bottom cover up of crimes so despicable they discourage retelling.

Lately we see some of the ugliest inconsistencies yet, carried out in the name of protecting the unborn and ensuring “religious freedom,” not to mention reviling desperate immigrants with the temerity to believe our national story. Widespread as it is subtle, encoded as it is unmistakable, what bedevils us today is no different from prior bouts of wretched disingenuousness steered in full from the dais, and wholly supported by the collection plate.

The Falwell Jrs., Grahams and Jeffress are merely new names on an old list of nasty hypocrites. What’s new is how dependent the President they buoy with false acclimation has become on them and theirs. Take away evangelical devotion and Trump’s 93% of GOP voters becomes much softer. The moral majority may be neither, but within the Republican base they call the shots. Make no mistake, they could deliver us from evil…. if only they didn’t adore him. Like many of the President’s wretched core, born again Christians will swear it’s the agenda stupid when pressed to explain how a serial adulterer and Howard Stern’s all-time favorite guest gets a pass for behavior they’d disown their own kids for. In fact, Trump has delivered the culture war goods, his selection of Mike Pence as number two assuring the looney right gets more than its fair share of love from the bully pulpit.

Yet and still, even more than Pro-Life extremism and the right to foist indignities on those whose sexuality they’ve decided deserves no quarter, let alone a wedding cake, the undertone of Trump’s evangelical support feels much like that of the rest of his wretched core… a disdain for those who populate his ever expanding enemies list. Whether it’s illegals, liberals, independent counsels or blacks ungrateful enough to protest getting shot by police while unarmed, turning the other cheek and loving the sinner appear to be on the back burner these days. It’s amen to MAGA intolerance as empathy now suffers at the border, a casualty to protecting our sovereignty from the invading hordes, the chaotic caravans. He’s keeping us safe, who cares if he paid off a porn star? God demands perspective, all things to their rightful importance… these are rapists and drug dealers we’re talking about! Pay unto Caesar and all that.

The surreality of Mr. pussy grabber signing the Bibles of those nature just tragically reminded she won’t be ignored dovetails with the preposterous dichotomy of flyover Christianity’s disdain for a good many things they know Jesus would do. Bigotry and xenophobia don’t get people to the head of any post-rapture line I’m aware of. Trump certainly never cared one way or the other, and now a solid majority of born-again America doesn’t seem to either. First things first, I suppose; let’s keep it white and right… worry about salvation once the job is done.

The worst number Trump polled among Christians was 66 percent in the midst of the government shutdown. Since then it’s been ticking back up as the President latches on to the infanticide lie Republicans pinned on Democrats for the gall of favoring a mother’s survival. This is a Handmaiden’s GOP and Trump is all in. However, even with Pence taking every opportunity to polish the Administration’s extremist bona fides on the Pro-Life front, the ugly attacks against most every group not on Roy Moore’s mailing list seems to really keep those awaiting judgement day enrapt. Don’t bother asking them WWJD when they’re in a lather over who Trump hates most at this moment… they’ll just tell you where to go. BC

Were one to poll Americans on human traits most important to, not simply leadership, but the role of a decent citizen, it would be a safe wager gratitude, humility and honesty would all be near atop the list. As far as Presidents go, it’s hard to cast an image of those we celebrate as our greatest without effortlessly imparting those critical characteristics upon them.

“Honest” Abe is more than myth or fable, any scrutiny of the record of his time in office quickly uncovers a man devoted to truth, and willing to pay a price for pursuing it. Harry Truman called his Chief of Staff, George Marshall, “the great man,” a testament to Truman’s own humble persona. FDR was stricken as a young man by polio, and fought tooth and nail his entire adult life against the disease’s destruction of his mobility, yet most always had a bright and cherry disposition for the world, and nothing in the way of self-pity, the plight of the ungrateful. Over and over we find through the history books these basic yet critical underpinnings threading through the record of great leadership. Hand in hand, peanut butter and jelly, one necessitating the others.

Conversely, the opposite more than often holds true and reinforces the initial premise. US history’s worst Chief Executives were near always the other side of the coin… morose, insecure and untruthful about their circumstances. Andrew Johnson by all accounts was petulant and intent on acting to erase the legacy of Lincoln without much worry for the nation’s interest. He even scheduled a national speaking tour to hold forth on just how fortunate the country was to now have him at the helm… sound familiar. By the time he resigned his office, Nixon had taken to the bottle and spent much of his time in seclusion, regurgitating his ever expanding list of enemies, darkly hosting his most bigoted inclinations. Bill Clinton figured the US was so lucky to have his brilliance, dabbling with an intern and outright lying to the cameras about it was an exemption greatness bestowed to him…. many disagreed.

“Common sense” seems always to pervade our national discussions. The answers are right there in front of us, it is often maintained, if only we brush aside the cob webs our predilection for complicating matters creates. Shades of grey don’t always need to be conjured for effective assessment. Oliver Wendell Holmes famously cut through the tomes of legalese to declare he knew pornography when he saw it. Ditto a President we can get a decent night’s sleep under. Newsflash.. the current White House occupant ain’t it. That this doesn’t appear obvious and “common sense” to millions clarifies a stark crisis and places us squarely in uncharted waters. The fact that so many readily acknowledge Trump possesses not an iota of gratitude or humility or honesty, yet is still acceptable, declares forthrightly a new disdain for the Presidency’s majesty in our national life, a shrug that utilitarian concerns rule the day and subordinate humanity when assessing the world’s most powerful job.

Voracious criticism of Trump’s frailties has become an annoying, repetitive cliche. Finding new words to describe his ugliness is now a cottage industry many have grown weary of; that’s called normalization. What he did two years ago was unprecedented and horrifying. He never stopped doing it, in fact does it more than ever. It’s all still there hourly, the lies, the unhinged rambling, the overt bigotry and personal attacks on opponents, and near every American institution; yet now it’s old hat and more often ignored as if it may go away… it won’t.

His CPAC diatribe last weekend was his longest yet, more than two excruciating hours. Same ugly themes, same ridiculous self-glorification, same lie after lie, just more of it for an audience that deserved every agonizingly dull moment they received. Yet and still, it’s even more of a national emergency than it was two years ago because then there was hope the GOP would exert its will on his worst… that went by the wayside, as the Cohen hearing sadly confirmed.

A new Quinnipiac poll finds almost 7 in 10 voters believe Trump was guilty of crimes before his election. One-third of GOP voters think the President was a criminal. Since more than 4 of 5 Republicans support Trump, it’s clear many do so despite accepting the premise they voted for a lawbreaker. Incredibly, only 32 percent responded yes to the question of whether they believe the President is honest. Any way one dices that figure, a substantial percentage of the GOP base backs Trump even though they believe he is a liar. To put that number in stunning perspective, Barack Obama’s figure on the same question, in 2015 near the end of his term and with a rabid Fox-incited GOP base, was 53 percent.

What does it say about where we are that so many seem prepared to toss basic decency aside as a Presidential prerequisite? Is the GOP wretched core ensconced in self-loathing, confident they deserve no better? Or perhaps Trump’s amorality is exactly what they’re looking for, the better to carry out the dirty work their nasty grievances and resentment require? Maybe his skill set is ideal for ugly tasks like displacing families and banning Muslims, telling allies to shove it and African-Americans to just do as they’re told and quit acting so street. Perhaps a nihilist, fully resistant to the peaceful transfer of power the world relies on our system to faithfully facilitate, is just who they want. Some have said the times make the man… maybe now, instead, it’s the mob makes the monster. BC

“I think it’s important to explain why calling Pence “a decent guy” is an affront to the real meaning of the word”

Cynthia Nixon

CPAC, the circus of Fox/AM stars, is the nation’s most toxic echo chamber. Once a year at the National Harbor, America’s true snowflakes meet to assure each other their pain is shared… and legitimate. They meet to draw the line squarely between righteous resentment and bigotry. They spend three days reminding each other over and over, the better to make it true, that the names they are called for expressing their beliefs are simply the sour grapes of those who have lost the argument. At CPAC all are vindicated because everyone agrees with one another.

Since 2016 Mike Pence has been the gathering’s true keynote speaker. While the President has appeared faithfully as well, his monologues can never be counted on to be coherent, let alone provide flesh to CPAC’s mission. It is left to Pence to stick to his script, first robotically rehashing Trump accomplishments in his patently servile manner, and then anointing attendees in the moral righteousness only his bible thumping can bestow, allowing them to fan out afterwards reinvigorated to kick some serious liberal, socialist, queer, illegal, climate changing, BLM, anthem kneeling, Caitlyn Jenner ass!

Pence doesn’t orate so much as hisses folksiness. He’s vanilla that has turned, exuding a faint acridness. At CPAC, like most other red meat gatherings he specializes in, the Vice President creates symmetry between his twin purposes. First, define the villain and then make sure everybody knows Trump is leading the charge against them. Coding and subtext are advanced and well understood at CPAC. Kicking the LGBT community back into the closet is not mentioned at all, it doesn’t have to be. The “war on religion” covers vast swaths of bigoted muck. Casting hate as victimhood is a Pence specialty, and he personalized it this year.

At Immanuel Christian School in Northern Virginia they take their demands for spiritual purity very seriously. Indeed, the contract for employment at the school spells things out clearly, particularly its 8th article:

“I understand that the term ‘marriage’ has only one meaning; the uniting of one man and one woman,” it reads, adding that certain “moral misconduct” would be disqualifying, such as “heterosexual activity outside of marriage (e.g., premarital sex, cohabitation, extramarital sex), homosexual or lesbian sexual activity, polygamy, transgender identity, any other violation of the unique roles of male and female.”

Tough love to be sure. Heroic Karen Pence had no problem signing away her privacy, and made no apologies for doing so. At CPAC, the Vice President, feted “mommy” as a heroine to the packed house, the whitest of snowflakes, withstanding the worst of MSM scorn with dignity and grace. One was reminded of Kentucky’s Kim Davis, basking in the prophood Mike Huckabee accorded after she stood bravely on the courthouse steps to deny sodomites marriage licenses, a culture warrior standing her ground.

CPAC used to be a curiosity, a gathering of extremist freaks without filters, unabashed Beck and O’Reilly groupies, a cautionary omen of the dystopian specter Fox/AM run amok could create. Of course, those of us too concerned about that possibility were ostracized as pseudo-conspiracists, obsessed with ghosts and frightened by fantasy. Now it’s real and Pence crystallizes how bad it has become, and how much worse it can get. What was nothing is still nothing…. but it now occupies the White House.

Anybody truly familiar with evangelical America is not the least bit surprised it can worship a serial philanderer; that was never part of its criteria for loyalty. Personal peccadillos may rule the day over at Immanuel Christian, but as far as Presidents go, it’s all about the womb. Abortion fanaticism is the Rosetta Stone of right wing obedience. Trump’s calculus has never considered anything else. Offending most American women never phased Trump. He is, after all…. offensive. But a full embrace of A Hand Maiden’s Tale sensibilities on a woman’s control of her body ensures a pass on anything as pedestrian as porn star payoffs or other seditious corruption. Last week’s House Oversight fiasco served notice the GOP will enforce such selectivity. Through it all will be steady Mike Pence, the nation’s leading homophobe and misogynist, ever ready to pound the good book and rally the zealots, just as he did Saturday.

Trumpism is a crisis at so many levels, but none more significant than this critical question: is overt bigotry against traditional Democrat constituencies such as women intent on keeping government out of their uterus; those interested in being allowed to enjoy non-heterosexual intimacy free from scorn and disdain by Puritan busybodies with nothing better to do; and brown-skinned immigrants classified as verminous interlopers bent on violent crime sprees, now simply a legitimate sector of our national discussion and quite naturally subject to rhetoric abided within other areas of debate? Trump’s ugly assault on near every White House convention has been fully normalized by the GOP; ascribing credibility to Trumpism’s nastiest policy sensibilities naturally follows. CPAC’s carnival barkers, keynoted by Pence and his unhinged hero, punctuated that desire this weekend. What boundaries? It’s all fair except calling us names.

Pence will keep at false equivalency because it’s in his wheelhouse. His is a constant whine of circular resentment. He announced long ago a sense of shame wasn’t a concept he pondered much. Now he uses his bully pulpit near exclusively to argue for the legal sanction of vast groups of Americans, legitimated by theocracy yet motivated by little more than fear and disdain… the foundations of Trumpism. At the end of the day Pence is simply vacant, a huckster with little to sell. He and his need to hear two words often… Get Lost! BC

Anybody with sense at all knew from the outset the Trump Presidency was going to be a slog. From sixteen sorry minutes of truncated dystopian gibberish passed off as an inaugural speech, to a disturbing visit to CIA Headquarters, where he unabashedly laid bare a dangerously ignorant worldview and served notice how fully disdainful he would be toward any actual preparation for carrying out his duties, Trump has only regressed with time’s passing.

For those of us invested in our nation as going concern, this Administration has provided not a moment’s pause from the worry of nihilism at the helm, complete with a near daily desire to offend the senses. Trump doesn’t simply fail, he flails and fails, exhibiting the wholesale insecurities of one certain he never stacked up, but cluelessly hostile to any notion the public could be in on the secret. After all, megalomania is simply an outgrowth of pathological fear of failure.

Yet and still, as bad as Trump showed he was capable of behaving, as low as he proved determined to descend, there was, at least in the beginning, faint hope the GOP would sooner or later lose its ability to dodge duty in favor of party. There was that glimmer of possibility Trump’s relentless assault on propriety would make the right thing harder to ignore. Alas, whatever flicker of light still shone on that fading prayer for decency was fully extinguished yesterday.

Michael Cohen devoted his best years to running interference for Trump, intervening like some rabid jackal whenever his boss’ manic amorality was challenged by a wider world predicated on reason and shared responsibility. Yesterday, Cohen was asked how many times he had to insinuate himself into situations for Trump, episodes requiring ugly threats and intimidation, relentless F-bombs and promises of nefarious litigation…. his unique skill set. Fifty times? More. One hundred? More. Two hundred? More. Five hundred? Sure, over ten years, yea, that’s sounds right. In other words too many times to count. Enough times for it to become second nature. Standard operating procedure.

And so we finally get to the center of Trump’s onion, the very heart of why he is so destructive to our system of governance. Fact is, it was there all the time, his nom du plume, the jist of who he is, the full extent of his frailty…. A clinical refusal to take responsibility for any consequences his reckless narcissism continuously mars the world with. He’s always been the kid who just wants to keep opening Christmas presents with no desire to actually claim ownership and nurture anything. Verucca Salt with bad hair and worse skin. Cohen was on-call for whenever the world had the audacity to demand Trump answer for some mindless action, pay for something he broke, a deal he welched on, a human he trampled in search of the next gift to hurriedly unwrap.

Yesterday’s House Oversight hearing was exactly as Chairman Cummings described it, a new chapter that would necessitate the President again face the world and answer for his ceaseless pursuit of a responsibility-free existence, even as he, incredibly, occupies the world’s most accountable office.

Yet and still, never let it be said the White House doesn’t kick things up a few notches. Now, instead of one wild-eyed hyena ready to tear the flesh off of anybody daring to hold Trump accountable, there are multitudes of such beasts. who Cohen, himself accurately decried as “doing just what I used to do,” even as they engaged in one frenzied attack on him after another, not a one caring an iota about the disturbing charges he backed up against the POTUS, each instead making sure their insults carried a personal touch, the better to make local Sinclair newscasts back home.

Jim Jordan, the ranking member, ever bent on distraction from scandalous recollections by former college wrestlers he coached of his indifference to sexual assaults by a now disgraced team doctor, seemed glad to lead the pack. After an opening statement straight out of a Sean Hannity monologue, Jordan constantly repeated the same set of attacks on Cohen’s credibility without ever once addressing the substance of his charges. He seeped in righteousness as he proffered again and again that the sanctity of the committee room had been forever tarnished for hosting such a scoundrel. “We’re better than this,” Jordan mourned as he ignored proof a sitting President signed checks to pay off a porn star, and used charity funds to noxiously reimburse a ringer to drive up the price of a self-portrait at an art auction.

Mark Meadows from NC made his bones as a birther. Indeed, there is footage of him on the stump imploring voters to help him send Obama “… back to Kenya or wherever.” Of course, a sense of shame has never been in vast supply within the Tea Party, and Meadows punctuated that point by literally providing Lynne Patton, a token black Trump staffer, for show and tell to illustrate how the President loves his minorities. It was deja vu of Trump campaign rallies… “there’s my black!” Meadows also had his own staffers busy looking for gotcha moments he could run with. Again, the fact none of it had the least bit to do with the plethora of charges Cohen proved against Trump didn’t bother Meadows… nor, he was certain, his target audience.

From creepy Clay Higgins of Louisiana – a cross between a very bad Gary Cooper impersonator and wingnut former Milwaukee Sheriff David Clarke – to unhinged Paul Gosar from Arizona, who actually taunted Cohen with “liar liar pants on fire,” Republican committee members couldn’t froth enough as each breathlessly awaited their five minutes. How many different ways can one be called discredible scum? The GOP Rottweilers did their level best to answer that question for the nation yesterday, along with serving the clearest notice yet that Trump’s infinite peccadillos are nothing they plan to consider as liabilities. Doesn’t matter how ugly he becomes, Trump is the date these nihilists are holding close and going home with.

Several weeks ago, throughout his State of the Union address, despite having just needlessly shuttered the US Government for more than a month over a moronic campaign promise Mexico was never going to pay for, Trump was cheered on like Reagan by a faceless group of rowdy GOP adolescents. Yesterday we met some of them, and became fully acquainted with the harm they are ready to foist even in a minority capacity. This bunch is the dregs of our barrel, who owe Trump whatever relevance they can garner themselves on his gilded coattails….. and they lead the GOP House Caucus! Their shameful actions yesterday leave no doubt, until they are further marginalized with decisive electoral rebuke, we will all suffer for their servility to US history’s laziest, most corrupt and relentlessly divisive President. It’ll get worse before it gets better. BC

In horse racing parlance there is a term used when a promising colt faces more established opponents for the first time… “tested for class.” Will the upstart be able to exhibit the enduring qualities necessary to compete at a level he hasn’t yet experienced? It is, of course, a question easily translated to the two-legged world as well, applicable to all of us when challenged with situations demanding our best. How we “class up” goes far in predicting our success in life… or as a nation. Implicit in the term is a type of behavior, a way of doing things that distinguishes one from those unwilling or unable to bring such qualities to the table. Much of it is not something one can practice, you either possess class or you don’t, and there are many opportunities life presents to lay bare whether one has it or not.

Matt Kuchar is a solid, world-ranked professional golfer. Until last November, however, he was too often embodieding the not-so-complementary label many who follow the PGA tour assigned him long ago…. “check collector.” This term applies to a number of otherwise top pros, who nonetheless find winning a tournament a bridge too far. Week after week they make cuts and play solid enough golf to finish in the top 20, or even the top 10, which with today’s stratospheric PGA purse structure means they are multi-millionaires and corporate billboards, yet and still victory most often seems to elude them.

This wasn’t how it was so supposed to go with Kuchar. He arrived on the scene with vast potential for greatness. A two-time All American at Georgia Tech, Kuchar won the US Amateur Championship in 1997. In 1998 he was the low amateur in both the Masters and US Open. By the time he turned pro in 2000 it was assumed by most he would join the PGA tour’s elite before long, several major titles certainly seemed attainable. However, Kuchar struggled out of the gate, and actually had to go through the indignity of requalifying to get back his playing card before he revamped his swing in 2008 and began to finally achieve some of his earlier potential.

However, 20 years later it remains accurate to term his career underwhelming from initial expectations. No doubt he is a fixture near the top of yearly earnings lists, won the 2012 Tour Championship and a World Match Play title as well, and is usually a candidate for Ryder Cup play, but the wins have only come in fits and starts with no major titles among them, and that surely couldn’t be what the angular Georgian had in mind back in 2000.

Yet and still, these days millions are won on the PGA tour without ever touching a trophy, and it only takes one to relight the relevance candle. Last November at the Mayakoba Challenge in Cancun, Mexico, Kuchar scored a solid victory worth a cool $1.3 million, turning a prosperous season into a winning one. That his regular caddie decided to take the week off speaks to the modest expectations Kuchar brought south of the border. When he hired local caddie David Ortiz to carry his bag, they apparently didn’t even discuss actually winning the tournament, but agreed to $4000 if Kuchar finished in the top ten.

Much of what defines class revolves around what a person doesn’t have to do. To simply cater to what is mandatory marks a bare minimum level for making one’s way through civilized society. Class involves an effortless grace exhibited by gestures one takes upon themselves, picking up a dinner check, complimenting people without fail when it’s important to them, treating those attending to you as customer with respect and gratitude, allowing propers to come one’s way without first fishing for them, gracefully accepting defeat…. and victory.

It is assumed in our society that financial comfort affords those fortunate enough to enjoy it the time and opportunity to expand whatever predisposition they possess toward class. Certainly a windfall of $1.3 million for one fortunate enough to make millions playing a sport many can’t even afford to pursue would present a perfect opportunity for inner grace to shine. No doubt Kuchar was grateful to the local Ortiz for dutifully handling his bag and advising him on to a victory he didn’t count on and would present many welcome opportunities coming into 2019. If tour players are treated like sultans, tour winners are treated like gods.

Of course Kuchar was under no obligation to pay anything more than the $4K they agreed to, but regular tour caddies customarily received 10% of a winner’s share. So a range was established by which Matt Kuchar’s class quotient could be meticulously quantified… $0 to $130K. To be fair, one could argue a full 10% may have caused problems with his regular bag man, who was rueing his decision to stay home, but there was ample room to do the right thing and really share his good fortune, endowing a life changing windfall to somebody who clearly deserved it. What would Bobby Jones, the Georgian all others are measured by do?! How far up the ladder would the victor’s generosity go?…..Alas, Kuchar went low and decided a $1000 tip was sufficient. After winning $1.3 million the best he felt required to do by David Ortiz was an extra $1 grand. Cary Grant he ain’t! The genteel Jones surely turned in his grave.

As word got out about Kuchar’s stinginess, and questions began coming his way from both golf and mainstream press, he appeared genuinely mystified by the controversy. After all, a deal was a deal; he was under no obligation to give Ortiz anything extra. “For a guy who makes 200 a day, a 5000 dollar week is a really big week,” Kuchar declared, holding to his guns as he waited for the controversy to pass….. It didn’t.

Once the story went viral on line and social media waded in, it began to dawn on Kuchar he might want to rethink his position. For his part Ortiz made clear 10% was never an expectation, but neither was it unreasonable to hope for something far more substantial than what he had been offered. Kuchar’s agent offered 15K to end the issue; Ortiz had 50K in mind, about 4% of the winner’s share. Meanwhile, Kuchar, as vanilla and uncontroversial as any player on tour, was now taking relentless heat, while ironically playing some of the best golf of his life, beginning the 2019 season with yet another victory in Hawaii’s Sony Open.

Kuchar finally decided to accede to the 50K figure, hoping to put an end to a fully self-inflicted distraction. In addition, he made a sizable charitable contribution and issued a public mea culpa, admonishing himself for clueless cheapness he came to recognize and assured all would not repeat. Unfortunately for him, it will take a while for event galleries to forget the incident; derisive comments will linger in the air for months to come.

The entire episode is instructive because it illustrates a clear divide everpresent throughout our national discussion. Even a cursory look at social media comments and various op-ed pieces on the subject highlights two camps: a clear majority disdainful of miserly conduct from someone ungrateful for his outrageously great life; and a significant minority who fail to see what he did wrong, convinced living up to his obligation was more than enough. And there it is…. class vs. no class. Every hour we now see in the White House constant proof that material wealth in no way guarantees class. Matt Kuchar, and his defenders, clarify way too many in our nation have no idea why it should, and no concept of why that’s a problem. Our current national malady in a nutshell! BC

“It is an undeniable privilege of every man to prove himself right in the thesis that the world is his enemy; for if he reiterates it frequently enough and makes it the background of his conduct he is bound eventually to be right.”

George Kennan

The Post War economic and societal benefits America has derived from a peaceful Europe are immeasurable. For 75 years now we have enjoyed ever expanding markets for our exports and a political/military alliance that has not only embraced our leadership, but been willing to subordinate countless domestic political requirements to requisites we deemed necessary.

When “no nukes’ was the unifying rally cry of Europe in the early 80s, flooding capitals with hundreds of thousands of protesters, Chancellor Helmut Schmidt accepted US intermediate-range Pershing II missiles on German soil. When George W Bush was knee deep in the folly of Iraq, nobody was more unwavering in their support than England’s Tony Blair. And as Barack Obama agonized over his options in Syria, French President Francois Hollande offered staunch support despite his desire for a more aggressive approach.

These are but several examples of a long list, European leaders falling in line with the ebbs and flows of the US political landscape. No doubt plenty of contentious issues have arisen throughout the decades, but they were never permitted to poison the well of good will. Whether it be a conservative revolution or “hope and change,” NATO has faithfully danced with the partner that brung em….. Until now.

In Munich this week, the annual security conference of the Western alliance, until 2017 an opportunity to bury the hatchet and express genuine mutual gratitude for cooperation that has kept the peace for three-quarters of a century, exhibited how truly bad the vibes have become. Judging by the reception accorded VP Mike Pence, there to yet again upbraid Europeans for mooching off US generosity, and demand they mimic America’s war footing toward Iran, patience has been fully exhausted, and tolerance for Trumpian guff has waned to the point even basic cordiality seems a bridge too far. When manners give way to pride and self-respect, things are going south in a hurry.

The long overdue pushback was led by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, on her way toward retirement and no longer able to abide factless preening by American oafs. Merkel was as systematic as she was devastating in her criticisms of Trump’s destructive disengagement from global leadership. She made little effort to hide her disgust toward the President’s reckless withdrawal from Syria, categorically asserting it only benefits Russia and Iran. Merkel was equally disdainful of Trump’s mindless protectionism, how are BMWs made in South Carolina a danger to US shores, she wondered aloud. Moreover, she spoke for everyone when making clear allies will not follow blindly America’s annulment of the Iranian nuclear pact it negotiated just several years ago.

Pence was pathetic following the standing ovation Merkel’s presentation received. Absolute silence met the breathless announcement he brought all greetings from his master, who at that very moment was playing his 168th round of taxpayer funded golf. When Pence declared Trump “the leader of the free world”…. a dropped pin would have echoed throughout the hall. America first doesn’t mean alone, intoned Pence, and the US is “leading on the world stage once again.” Only Ivanka Trump was clapping.

Europe has had enough. Two years ago nobody imagined things could deteriorate so fast, but the icy stares and incredulous looks directed at Pence as he cluelessly kept to his John Bolton script, said it all. America who?!

It was later left to Joe Biden of all people to assuage the bad feelings Pence only reinforced. We’ll come to our senses soon, Biden promised the gathering. Just a blip on the screen. An ugly aberration I’ll work tirelessly to undo if my yet-to-be-announced candidacy bears fruit. Believe me, we won’t make this kind of mistake twice. Most in the hall wished they could believe him, but the assault Trump buffoonery foists on the senses sorely tests any inventory of faith. Four years is going to be very hard to do… eight an unimaginable specter.

Yet and still, a “screw the US” mentality is beginning to grow, based on the idea that taking Trump at his word and proceeding accordingly is only prudent, preferable to sitting by the phone waiting for news of his ouster. Trouble is, European unity is itself fraying at the seams. Brexit and Trump wannabes in places like Hungary and Poland, who Secretary of State Pompeo happened to be coddling at practically the same moment Pence was bombing in Munich, make this the worst possible time for American-NATO estrangement. Given the fractures forming left and right, is a return to 19th century balance-of-power arrangements that far fetched?

Of course all of this couldn’t sound better to Putin, who’s name and country were conspicuously absent from Pence’s remarks. In fact, it’s become fair for Europeans to ask whether Trump’s America even shares their view of Russia as an adversary any longer. Certainly nothing from the President’s mouth or twitter account would allay that fear. Trump divides the world into two camps: those who “treat me fair” and those who don’t. Pep talks for Chairman Kim, perhaps the world’s worst dictator, are as appropriate to him as the ugly attack he will surely tweet out about Angela Merkel if anybody bothers to inform him of her criticisms in Munich.

Trumpist nihilism has no agenda; it merely seeks to wreck things in the name of nasty human frailties like grievance and resentment. The idea that only the metric of current defense budgets is relevant to assessing a country’s contributions to Europe’s collective security is as absurd as it is dangerous. However, this is the gist of US policy, which Pence made clear yet again to the incredulously hostile audience in Munich.

Aside from mindless MAGA deplorables, full throated support of this approach in Europe can only be found toward the Ural Mountains. Trump may be a wretched misanthrope, certain most all are his enemy, but he’s the best friend the Kremlin ever had. What happened in Munich this week clarifies Europe is adjusting to that reality with increasing haste. Putin couldn’t be happier. BC

It would be difficult to find a more stellar resume within the US national security community than that of Rolf Mowatt-Larssen. A US Army veteran and 23-year CIA stalwart, Mowatt-Larssen is a sort of Forrest Gump with regard to some of this country’s most critical intelligence operations since 9/11. Present at the creation of America’s response to the fall of the Twin Towers, Mowatt-Larssen personifies the non-partisan prototype of a career spy, focused on results, not politics.

Now a fellow at Harvard, Mowatt-Larssen surely owns culpability for the ugly overreach Dick Cheney’s 1% Doctrine necessitated. Indeed, he had a hand in the foundations of black site torture and wholesale round ups of innocents in the wrong place at the wrong time. Yet and still, nobody can question Mowatt-Larssen’s bona fides as a top intelligence professional and patriot. In fact, his mantle is resplendent with a wide array of prestigious national service awards, and his insights are much in demand within academic circles, his expertise unquestioned. When it comes to espionage, the career spy has keenly developed senses…. and these days he smells fire.

Mowatt-Larssen knows a sap ripe for compromise by Russian Intelligence when he sees one. To the trained eye it’s like a drunk stumbling through a crowd, hard to miss. Back in June, while clear he was making no specific claims, the former CIA operative pegged our President as a classic example of an individual the Kremlin would seek to groom as an asset. Trump checked off all the boxes, practically announcing his vulnerability. Persona non grata in America for the worst of business practices, most notably a despicable habit of stiffing vendors and creditors, Trump was busy blowing close to half a billion dollars of his father’s money entering the 90s. Notorious for bad faith and no integrity, Trump walked away from one costly failure after another. Add to this recipe for utter calamity a billionaire’s lifestyle, and the smell of desperation for any influx of liquidity would be hard to miss.

Over the years Putin has harnessed Russia’s oligarchy to create a potent one-two punch for espionage. Start with a robust state intelligence service anchored by Soviet holdovers, who honed their craft during the Cold War, add a fleet of kleptocratic Putin cronies, enriched from the state of nature Russia became in the chaos of communism’s fall, and the result is a formidable extra-governmental outreach in service of geopolitical objectives. It’s clear to any lucid analyst that, after coming within a whisker of total ruin in the early 90s, Trump stumbled into Russian crosshairs while canvassing European lenders for liquidity Americans no longer would extend. Sketchy Duetche Bank connections pointed him toward Russian oligarchs, and while few were paying attention then to a complete jerk getting his just desserts as he frantically sought to stay afloat, it’s now the critical start of a chronology that ended up in the White House, a genuine Manchurian Candidate.

The criteria for targeting and pursuing an asset follows an established progression, according to Mowatt-Larssen. But the critical cruxt of the issue is always the same… will they turn? On this Mowatt-Larssen is succinct:

“The key questions in this tradecraft are to determine if and how the target can be turned to serve another nation’s interests, rather than the interests of their own country. Espionage is a loyalty test, in the final analysis. Better put, a litmus test for loyalty and betrayal.

In the case of considering businessman Donald Trump as a potential target, as with any high priority target, the Russians would test the waters to avoid taking any undue risks. They typically begin by initiating mutually beneficial activity to test receptiveness to a deepening relationship. In the established business circles Trump and his associates run in, it would have been logical to test interest in lining one another’s pockets for mutual gain.”

Trump’s needs were clear and easy to address. Establishing opportunities for new revenue that no longer existed in the US, it seems obvious, could get the “big fish” on the hook. Initially, this being decades ago, it is reasonable to assume Trump could serve basic needs of the kleptocrats responsible for reeling him in… such as laundering millions through various schemes the Trump Organization was willing to pursue.

Viewed against this backdrop, top dollar sales of Trump condos to Russian billionaires, and illogical Trump Organization all cash $100 million buying sprees of failing golf properties raises a host of red flags. Add to that a steadily evolving cast of peripheral characters, most notably Carter Page, Roger Stone and Paul Manafort, up to their ears in Russo-Eastern European intrigue, and the dots get easier and easier to connect. No doubt Mueller’s team is doing just that, it’s painstaking and highly detailed work, which explains why the investigation still hasn’t wrapped up. For his part Mowatt-Larssen, though careful not to get out ahead of the facts, makes clear the numbers add up. There is nothing farfetched about the notion Donald Trump is a Russian asset. Let that sink in.

On the same day Trump falsely exclaimed on Twitter the Senate Intelligence Committee has declared him innocent of collusion, a federal judge was making former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort’s gloomy future darker still . Manafort had breached his cooperation agreement with prosecutors, the judge found, lying about his dealings with Russian agent Konstantin Kilimnik. Already facing a significant sentence even with full government good will, Manafort is now looking at serious hard time. Even so, it seems something else has him more scared than the rest of his life in federal prison. Moscow doesn’t play. So his last hope would be a pardon from the big grouper, himself. But that’s crazy…. right?! Nothing could be more incriminating; it would be the act of one just as desperate as Manafort. Don’t be too hasty ruling it out. Optics don’t mean much to wretched men. BC