Thursday, July 30, 2020
Aid for the People and the FBI
The great problem of legislation is, so to organize the civil government of a community . . . that in the operations of human institutions upon social action, self-love and social may be made the same.
— John Quincy Adams, Society and Civilization
Herewith the questions of the week for savvy readers to ponder and, perhaps, answer.
What is, as of this writing, one of the trump-inspired provisions in the $1 trillion coronavirus relief bill that, to Mitch McConnell’s surprise, has been included? Here’s a hint: the location of a government building.
Here is the next question: which government building? Here is the answer: the FBI headquarters. They are now located catty corner across from the Trump International Hotel on Pennsylvania Ave. NW in D.C.
Here is the last question: what does the location of the FBI headquarters have to do with the $1 trillion coronavirus relief bill. The answer to that is not obvious so I will spare my readers’ puzzlement by telling them: everything and nothing.
The J. Edgar Hoover Building FBI headquarters is in a decrepit state. Long before the trump moved to Washington, it was accepted that a new headquarters was required, and considerable effort had gone into selecting possible new locations for the headquarters. By June 2017, federal officials had lit upon three “finalist” locations: one in Virginia and two in Maryland. Not only had the three finalists been selected, but Congress had appropriated $913 million for the project that, when completed, was expected to cost more than $3 billion.
The proposed new building was to accommodate the FBI personnel presently working in the capitol, would offer greatly increased security, and would get the agency out a building that was outdated and dilapidated. Enter the trump. He was reportedly “dead opposed” to moving the FBI headquarters out of downtown D.C. As a result, plans to relocate the FBI to the suburbs were abandoned. The trump decided the J. Edgar Hoover building should be torn down and a much smaller one erected in its place. The new building would be 2.6 million square feet, would cost $3.3 billion and would not be able to accommodate all the employees in the present structure. As a result, 2,300 employees would be given the opportunity to relocate to Alabama, Idaho and West Virginia if they wanted to continue working for the FBI. In addition, by keeping the headquarters in its present location, expenses would be double. The FBI would have to bear the expense of moving into a temporary location while the new building was being built, and when completed, bear the expense of moving back into the new quarters.
When the decision to keep the FBI in its present location was announced in mid-2017, many observers, including some members of Congress were puzzled. Upon sober analysis, however, the reasons became clear even though masked in the obfuscatory language favored by the trump.
In a press briefing on July 23, 2020, the trump was asked whether the issue of the FBI building was holding up the approval of the economic aid package that the senate Republicans appeared to be close to finalizing. In response he said there is not a better location for the FBI than its present site. He said it would be an incredible building with a running track on the roof because “FBI people like to work out a lot.” Others came up with another explanation for why the trump wants to keep the FBI in its present location.
The present location is one block away from the Trump International Hotel, a continuing source of income for the trump. If an FBI building remains in that location, the trump is assured that no competing hotel will be built there. From the trump point of view including a provision in the aid package to protect his income was as important as providing aid to the millions of people whose livelihoods have been demolished by the coronavirus.
When the proposed Republican coronavirus package was unveiled on July 27, 2020, it was observed by some that it included $1.75 billion for “the design and construction of a Washington, DC headquarters facility for the Federal Bureau of Investigation.” Since it was such a small sum it is no surprise that in response to a question, Mitch McConnell appeared to be unaware that funding for the FBI building was in the bill. When an aide assured him it was, Mr. McConnell responded to another questioner who asked why funding for the FBI building was part of the bill, saying the trump administration would have to “answer the question of why they insisted on that provision” since he, as Majority Leader, is apparently not required to know why provisions in legislation being sponsored by his party are included. He has learned.
In an interview with Judy Woodruff on the PBS News Hour two days later, Mr. McConnell said that funding for the FBI headquarters of which he had been unaware two days earlier, was in fact one of three provisions he would like to see deleted from the final bill because, as he astutely observed, it has nothing to do with the purpose of the proposed relief package. Perhaps he’ll suggest to the trump that it be removed. Don’t count on it; and don’t expect its removal.
Wednesday, July 22, 2020
Crime and Punishment?
There is no such thing as justice-in or out of court.
— Clarence Darrow, 1936 Interview
A number of readers have asked me to explain the different ways the trump justice system impacts those who have been convicted of criminal activity. It is the mark of a truly just justice system that not every criminal is treated the same since it suggests that there is a concern for the individual and not a mindless imposition of punishment on those convicted of criminal activity notwithstanding their other virtues. And so it was that within a very short time we saw how a trumpian justice system furthers the cause of justice.
Of the recent examples the most notable is, of course, the commutation of the 4 year 4 month sentence of Roger Stone. Roger is a man who has, until recently, avoided the consequences that flow from lack of integrity, as brilliantly described in the Netflix drama about Roger’s career. Of course lack of integrity can sometimes have adverse consequences as Roger learned when he was convicted of 7 felony counts, including witness tampering and lying to investigators. And further adverse consequences can flow from such convictions as Roger learned when the judge in his trial imposed a sentence of 40 months in federal prison. Here is something else Roger learned. He learned that properly placed friends can be more important than avoiding the consequences of criminal conviction for unlawful activities. And no friend can be more properly placed than the man permitted by the people to live in the White House.
The trump has long been a friend and colleague of Roger. In an apt demonstration of how justice works in the trump world, the trump commuted Roger’s sentence meaning Roger would not have to serve any time in prison. Explaining the reason for the commutation Kayleigh McEnany, the trump mouthpiece, explained away Stone’s witness tampering and lying, saying: “Roger Stone is a victim of the Russia Hoax that the Left and its allies in the media perpetuated for years in an attempt to undermine the Trump Presidency.” In other words he was convicted of 7 felonies because of the investigation of corrupt activities involving the 2016 election. She concluded her remarks saying: “Roger Stone is a free man!”
A second example of justice in the trump era is provided by William Barr. William is the attorney general of the United States and a sycophant of the trump. In furtherance of his sycophancy nothing pleases him more than doing things that please the trump. The conviction of Michael Flynn afforded William the perfect opportunity to demonstrate his eagerness to please the trump.
Flynn’s career as a trump crony began on November 18, 2016 when he was named the trump’s national security adviser. During December 2016 he discussed with the Russian Ambassador U.S. sanctions on Russia imposed by the Obama administration. In describing those conversations to Mike Pence he misled Pence as to the nature of the conversations. When that was disclosed, the trump dismissed Flynn explaining that he did so because Flynn ”had lied to the vice president and the FBI.”
On December 1, 2017, Flynn pled guilty to lying to F.B.I. investigators about his communications with the Russian Ambassador. While Flynn awaited sentencing, the trump concluded that Flynn had been improperly charged. When the trump came to that conclusion Flynn had already twice pled guilty, In response to the trump’s concern, William took the unusual step of asking the judge in the case where Flynn was awaiting sentencing, to dismiss the charges, thus bringing an end to the prosecution of Flynn. The judge refused to dismiss the case and Barr then appealed to the next higher court to compel the dismissal. As this is written it is not known whether the case against Flynn will be dismissed or whether Flynn will be sentenced by the trial court.
Justice is, of course, not always deflected in the trump world. Daniel Lewis Lee and Wesley Purkey could attest to that were they still with us. The United States has not made use of the death penalty since 2003. The executions of Lee and Purkey on July 14th and 16th respectively ended that hiatus. Daniel Lewis Lee was executed on July 14, 2020 over the objections of the family of his victims, who sought a life in prison sentence for him instead of imposition of the death penalty. Wesley Purkey, whose execution had been put on hold by a federal judge to determine his mental competency, was executed on July 16 after the U.S. Supreme Court lifted the stay.
The reawakening of the death penalty as a tool to be used to punish certain convicted criminals was explained by the trump sycophant in response to one of Lee’s lawyers who said, after Lee’s execution, that it was “shameful that the government in the end, carried out this execution in haste.” Not wanting to permit that appeal to decency to go unanswered, Barr responded: “We owe it to the victims and their families to carry forward the sentence imposed by our justice system.”
As we now know, nothing is owed to a country whose national security advisor admits to lying under oath to investigators, nor is anything owed to the country when a sometime close friend of the trump is sentenced to prison following his conviction on seven felony counts. That is how justice in the trump-Barr justice system works.
Wednesday, July 8, 2020
The Oratory of the trump
The arts of power and its minions are the same in all countries and in all ages. It marks its victim; denounces it; and excites the public odium and the public hatred to conceal its own abuses and encroachments.
— Henry Clay, 1834 speech in the Senate
It’s hard to pick out the highlights of the trump’s endless production of verbal flatulence. Two recent examples offer the opportunity.
The first is his appearance at a gathering designed to assist the coronavirus in its continuing effort to infect the maximum number of people living in trumpland. It was the speech delivered on June 20 in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Although there were many highlights in the 1 hour 41 minute 20 second speech, the most enlightening was his 11 minute 43 second explanation of events that took place during his June 13, 2020 appearance at West Point to deliver the graduation speech.
In reviewing the speech many in the media world observed that the trump appeared to have difficulty drinking from a glass of water and at the conclusion of the event, descending the ramp from the podium. The trump decided to dispose of any speculation about his health by addressing those issues head on at the Tulsa rally.
At the 21 minute 55 second mark of the Tulsa speech, the trump introduced his explanation of difficulties he encountered when the time came to descend the ramp saying: “[W]e have a great heritage. We’re a great country. You are so lucky I’m president, that’s all I can tell you.” That was followed by a 10-minute description of attending the West Point ceremony: “They make speeches, then I make a speech that lasted a long time. I don’t know, maybe 45 minutes, maybe longer. . . . The sun is pouring down on me, okay. . . .Would you like to salute? Like this? Yes, like this almost 600 times. You know what that is? 600 times. . . . . you do that 600 times, you go home, and you say it’s like a workout without a weight, right? 600 times. . . . I salute for probably an hour and a half, maybe more. ..Think of it, so essentially 600 times.”
That mesmerizing description of raising and lowering the trumpian arm 600 times was followed by a description of his descent from the stage by the steel ramp that was, he said: “like an ice skating rink,” Of the general at the podium with him who was not reluctant to descend the ramp the trump said: “Now he’s standing there, big strong guy and he’s got these shoes but they’re loaded with rubber on flat bottoms because I looked, the first thing I did, I looked at his shoes. Then I looked at mine. Very, very slippery.” As is now well known, the trump got down without incident and as he explained to the Tulsa fan club, “I looked very handsome.”
A few minutes later he addressed the water issue saying, among other things: “I see we have a little glass of water. Where the hell did this water come from? . . . .I look down at my tie because I’ve done it. I’ve taken water and it spills down your tie, doesn’t look good for a long time and frankly, the tie is never the same.” Describing the aftereffects of these two episodes the trump concluded saying: “I have lived with more the ramp than the water, but I have lived with the ramp and the water since I left West Point.” With that the trump went on to other matters to entertain the Tulsa crowd.
Although shorter than the Tulsa speech, the Mt. Rushmore speech was equally inspired. It lasted a mere 41 minutes and 24 seconds. Lest anyone fail to appreciate the joy of living in the United States in these trumpian days, the trump began by saying that the attendees at the event were there to “herald the most important day in the history of nations. . . . every American patriot should be filled with joy because each of you lives in the most magnificent country in the history of the world and it will soon be greater than ever before.” He went on saying: “No nation has done more to advance the human condition than the USA and no people have done more to promote human progress than the citizens of our great nation.” Of course praise for the country was accompanied by condemnation of those who don’t think like the trump. What he calls the left-wing cultural revolution is “designed to overthrow the American Revolution” and “destroy the very civilization that rescued billions from poverty, disease, violence , and hunger, and that lifted humanity to new heights of achievement, discovery, and progress. . . .We will state the truth in full without apology. We declare that the United States of America is the most just and exceptional nation ever to exist on earth.”
Readers can decide for themselves which trump speech they prefer. Sad to say, each is equally authentic trump and each describes a country that only the trump and his benighted followers can see. The rest of us can only mourn that the country the trump describes is not only aspirational, but unattainable, so long as the trump is in the White House. Following his departure, it will take years to restore it to what it was before he took office, and even longer for it to become the place he describes.