SCOTUS just tossed two lawsuits against Trump for using his presidential office to enrich himself.  He had lost in the lower courts, so appealed to the SCOTUS.  The cases essentially asserted (correctly) that companies and foreign governments who wanted something from the US government would patronize the Trump Hotel or one of his resorts to get favorable treatment.  Trump was well known for doing favors for people who filled his pockets with money.  Having lost in lower courts, Trump appealed to the SCOTUS last summer.  Roberts ran out the clock and tossed the lawsuits today.  The reason?  Trump is no longer president, so the case is moot.  That’s like saying, “Yes, Mr. Smith did, in fact, murder Mr. Jones over a business dispute.  But since Mr. Smith is now retired, and the business is closed, the case no longer applies.”  Sorry Ms. Jones.

In a shocking shift that is now appearing complete, the DOJ has morphed from law enforcement to protect the United States to DOP (Defense of the President) against the United States.  Starting under Jeff Sessions, and driven home under Bill Barr, the DOP has turned over 150 years of Constitutional law on its head.  Up until 2 years ago, the DOJ strictly interpreted the emoluments clause, even extending it beyond the president to others in the federal government from receiving ANY funds or gifts from a foreign government.  No more.  After several lawsuits were filed asserting that Trump receiving funds from foreign governments through his hotels and golf courses, his lawyers said that this is perfectly OK since those funds are received by his company in a “commercial” transaction.  They interpreted the emoluments clause as meaning direct payments to the president for actual action from the president; in other words, directly paid bribes.

The DOP has now adopted that very same position, turning 150 years of precedent on its head.  Now that the DOP is 100% Trumpland, along with the Senate, the courts are our only hope, but even that is now corrupted with the radical judges that Trump has succeeded in getting seated on the SCOTUS after McConnell stole a seat in 2016.  The result is that We the People are now completely exposed to Trump’s corruption.  The executive branch is broken; the DOP is corrupted and now representing Trump personally; the legislative branch is broken with the Senate in Trump’s pocket; the SCOTUS is corrupt with grossly unqualified judges political operatives sitting on the court.

What’s needed is nothing short of a complete overhaul of the laws, traditions, and statutes surrounding governance of all three branches of the federal government from campaign finance to ethics rules to term limits for EVERYONE.  Beto has just presented a plan for a constitutional amendment that limits house and senate members to 12 years, and SCOTUS judges to 18.  I would say that’s a good start.

Sometimes, the New York Times gets it wrong.  Take their unabashed support of GWB’s invasion of Iraq based on the blatant lie about Saddam’s possession of non-existent WMD.  In that case, the error was caused by poor or even dishonest reporting by individuals; in other cases it’s the Times’ effort to show “both sides” of an argument, even when there is actually only one side that is true.  Their problem, though, is that (especially with the current occupant of the White House) when there is no factual “other side” of an argument, they turn to opinion pieces manufactured by paid “analysts” at think tanks to present an alternative opinion, even when that opinion is either a blatant lie or twisted up exaggerations.  Such was the case this week when the Times published a remarkable piece of fiction written by a pair of fine fellows employed by the Hudson Institute, and The Foundation for the Defense of Democracies.

Both of these think tanks claim to be non-partisan, but, just like the Heritage Foundation, nothing could be further from the truth.  Both organizations are part of the billionaire-funded cabal of right wing messaging shops peddling bullshit as scholarship.  The Hudson Institute casts itself as mainstream thought on domestic policy, but is funded by the Kochs and other right wingers; the FDD is a pro-Israel think tank started originally in the ’60s, but transformed after 9/11 into a hawkishly anti-Saudi Arabia/Iran mouthpiece.

The Times piece, published Wednesday, came to the remarkable conclusion that Trump (even though crude) is right on Saudi Arabia, over looking the butchering of Washington Post columnist Jamal Kashoggi because Saudi Arabia is the only thing standing between Iran and WWIII.  The piece is full of nothing but manure and whataboutism, even calling Trump’s defense of Saudi Arabia “clear-eyed and right”.  This piece actually tries to frame Trump’s wild thrashing about as actual foreign policy and strategy.  They go after the Obama administration’s Middle East policy in Iran and Syria and raise the ugly head of an unbridled Iran torching the region while pursuing nuclear weapons (which Trump just unleashed by backing out of the international Iranian nuclear pact).  They try to equate Trump’s political weaving like a drunkard to Obama’s clear policies.  You may disagree with those policies, but they were clearly actual policies based on academic and diplomatic work, not random tweeting while sitting on the toilet.

The most remarkable argument they make is that Trump’s tweet storms and ranting on television are somehow some thoughtful set of principles and policies.  That notion is simply laughable; Trump’s Train Wreck is as random as the weather, with the only common thread being his hyper focus on his own ego and financial gain.  NOTHING else matters, not Saudi Arabia, troops deployed around the world, healthcare, human rights, constitutional rights, or security.  NOTHING.  Trump’s support of MBS and Saudi Arabia has nothing to do with Iran or Middle East tensions any more than it has to do with the price of bagels in Brooklyn or wildfires in California.  Trump’s “policies”, if you want to call them that, are all about filling his ego and wallet and shoring up his base so he can keep filling his ego and wallet.

Along that vein, the authors of the Times piece fail to even mention Trump’s financial ties to the Saudi royal family, including it buying millions of dollars of apartments from the Trump Organization, pouring millions into Trump hotels, or even prince Al-Waleed bin Talal bailing Trump out in the mid-90s by buying a 51% interest in the Plaza Hotel making a debt restructuring possible, saving Trump’s financial ass.

Think tanks like the Hudson Institute and the FDD are nothing but propaganda outlets using the likes of Newt Gingrich and other right wing talking heads to peddle manure as filet mignon.  The Times does no good by giving such manure a megaphone just to project “balance” where no true balance actually exists.  The Times should be ashamed of itself.

Yesterday, in true form, Trump sided with a foreign power against his own intelligence agencies; and no, at least this time, it wasn’t Russia.  This time, it is Saudi Arabia.  The Washington Post reported earlier this week that the CIA has concluded that Mohammed Bin Salman, the Saudi crown prince, ordered the murder and Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi dissident and columnist for the Post.  The Turks have provided audio recordings of the murder and other intelligence to the CIA and other agencies.  Trump, of course, downplayed MBS’s involvement, repeating the same lies that he told when the CIA concluded the Russians interfered in the 2016 election.  Defending his declaration, and addressing MBS’s involvement, Trump said, “Maybe he knew; maybe he didn’t”.  He defended his relationship with the Saudis, making a false equivalency that somehow condemning the murder was parting ways with Saudi Arabia.  He also falsely claimed that Saudi Arabia is a major exporter of crude to the US.  About 11% of the US’s crude comes from Saudi production.

One needs to ask why in the world would Trump once again side with a foreign dictatorship rather than his own agencies.  That answer is easy…he owes the Saudis A LOT…millions.  In the 90’s when he was divorcing Ivana, his casinos were down the drain and he owed over $900 million in debt on failing properties, Saudi prince Alwaleed bin Talal bought Trump’s yacht and bought a 51% interest in his Plaza Hotel in New York.  When bin Talal did that, Trump’s lenders forgave $125 million of his debt.  BTW, this is the same Saudi prince who owns a big stock position in News Corp, the parent of Fox Noise Network.  In the ensuing years, Saudis have poured millions of dollars into Trump properties.  Early in his campaign, His Orangeness boasted of his close ties to the Saudis, that, of course, was prior to the time he started denying he did business with them.
Once again, Trump has sided with a foreign power to which he is beholden to the detriment of the United States.  Let’s be crystal clear (as if the point needed to be made) – To protect his personal interests, the President of the United States continuously sides with foreign countries run by despots against the interests of the American people to who he pledged to protect.  This behavior is the very definition of his continuing violation of the Emoluments Clause in the Constitution, to wit:

No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State. – Article 1, Section 9, US Constitution.

Enough of this is enough.   The problem is that the invertebrates in Congress will continue to hide in dark corners rather than do their damn jobs.

A few days ago, MarketWatch posted an historical perspective of the Emoluments Clause in the Constitution.  Article 1, Section 9.  Specifically,

“No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.”

The Founders knew that corrupting the President would corrupt the entire US government, and gave Congress the power to remove that corruption.  Over 230 years ago, they envisioned a Donald Trump.  What they didn’t envision, though, was Congress being just as corrupt and complicit. The result is that Trump, a living, breathing, walking, and screaming violation of the Emoluments Clause is ripping the country apart while running the US government like it’s some gigantic reality television show.  He’s illegally sitting in the Oval Office, working full-time to honor himself, destroy Barack Obama’s legacy, appoint dozens of unqualified partisans to the federal bench, wage trade wars based on lies, collude with enemies, jail innocent children and undo regulations that protect health and the environment.

None of this should be happening, but it is.  And it will continue to happen until we change the Congress by getting people in there who will do their goddam jobs.  And THAT can’t happen too soon.

There is a place for anger, and THIS is it.