Ashok Dhillon
Sep 30, 20195 min
In repeated extraordinary displays of brazen denials, the Republicans have turned the US government into a crime syndicate, whose chosen Boss is obviously Trump, but whose Republican Senators and Congressmen Lawmaker’s secret oath to protect the 'Boss' with straight-faced lies, and repeated stubborn denials of reality, would turn the most hardened Mafia Boss green with envy. Republicans now belong to Trump, and except for a very few, they dare not cross him in fear for the political lives, as their constituents are more for Trump than for them.
So, unrelentingly protected by the Republicans, Trump has gotten bolder and more reassured even as he continued with every misdeed, and with every crime.
Trump’s short and sorry political history as Presidential Candidate and then as President has been - during his Campaign, Trump, his closest advisors, and members of his family, clearly worked with Russians every chance they got. The Russians on their part did everything possible to meddle in the presidential election and help Trump win, which he did. As a reward, Trump openly invited two of the highest ranking Russian officials, Russian Ambassador and the Russian Foreign Minister to the Oval Office in the White House, right after becoming President, and, is embarrassingly and openly deferential and subservient to Russian President Vladimir Putin, every time they meet in international settings.
When enough evidence of Russian interference in the presidential election on behalf of Trump became too much to deny, and a ‘Special Counsel’, the extraordinarily up-right and taciturn Robert Mueller was appointed by the then US Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, who had to recuse himself because he himself was compromised with the Russians on behalf of Trump, the Republicans denied everything, and insisted the Mueller Russian Investigation was a 'nothing-burger'.
As Mueller’s Investigation progressed, all the meetings, phone calls, e-mails, documents, conversations, photos and television coverage, show Trump’s operatives, family members and go-betweens planning and plotting to make Trump win with the help of the Russians. Heck there are also, on record, admissions and confessions that ultimately led to 34 indictments and convictions that landed some of Trump’s closest advisors in jail!!
But the Republican sycophants denied all of it ever happened! And denied and denied! Even with 34 court indicted Trump advisers most of who had pled guilty, the Republicans denied there was anything wrong!
When Trump disclosed classified information on an Israeli secret agent to Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Republicans obfuscated and denied, and denied.
When Trump fired FBI Director James Comey for the Russian meddling and possible ‘collusion’ investigation, and admitted it on a television interview, the Republicans denied and denied!
When allegations of Trump paying off a Porn-Star and a Playboy Playmate surfaced, the Republicans denied those allegations. When it was finally proven that payments of $130,000 were made by Trump, to each, through his personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, in violation of the election-finance-law, the Republicans denied and denied! (Now Michael Cohen, Trump’s ‘personal fixer’ sits in jail.)
When after two years Robert Mueller tabled his 400 plus pages long Report, densely packed with extraordinary details of all the malfeasance of Trump and his team, the next US Attorney General, William Barr (a Republican) blatantly misrepresented it in a highly misleading memo, and the rest of the Republicans went on the offensive, shamelessly attacking Robert Mueller (a Republican), the decorated war hero, distinguished former Director of the FBI (under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama), claiming he was biased, and denied and denied.
When it became clear from the Mueller Report that not only were Trump and his team more than willing to work (collude) with the Russians (or anyone else for that matter) to subvert the election, but that Trump had tried his damnedest to obstruct the investigation repeatedly, clearly a crime of ‘Obstruction of Justice’, the Republicans denied and denied there was any crime committed, when the investigation clearly documented Trump’s repeated attempts at obstruction.
The fact that 'by-the-book' Mueller chose not to break with tradition and charge a 'sitting President' did not ‘exonerate’ Trump, and he could still be charged with the crime of ‘Obstruction of Justice’, when he leaves office, yet the Republicans denied and denied that Trump obstructed justice. Even though Trump himself admitted it!! Yet the Republicans denied the recorded facts, and reality itself.
And it’s happened again, Trump couldn’t help himself, never exonerated but never punished either, he got bolder and openly talked to the newly elected President of Ukraine, asking for ‘dirt’ on his political rival Joe Biden in exchange for critical US Arms, already promised and cleared, but held on Trump’s orders till a ‘favour’ was reciprocated in return. This latest action of Trump’s, asking a foreign government to help in the US election, is a crime under US Law.
But for Trump it was just a continuation of his criminal behaviour from the day he entered the Presidential race in 2016. The fact that in spite of all his open and hidden transgressions, that later were uncovered by a multitude of investigations, he suffered little in way of damage not only emboldened him but also his enablers the Republicans, as they have also stuck to their brazen game-plan of blatantly denying facts and reality, as Trump carries on as a wrecking-ball through America’s Constitution, and its image as the leading democracy abroad.
Till now, there has been a lot of outrage and investigations that resulted in no direct punishment or repercussions for Trump and the Republicans, emboldening them both as a criminal syndicate that have each other’s back, at the cost of America’s rule-of-law.
But, this particular telephone call with the Ukrainian President was recorded and listened to by a number of people in the White House, alarming one person to a degree that it was filed officially as a ‘whistle-blower complaint’, finally triggering an ‘Impeachment Inquiry’ by Congress, in its role and Constitutional Duty as a ‘Check’ on Presidential wrongdoing.
Well, once again the Republicans have shifted into high gear of denials, even in the face of written transcripts and recordings that prove the crime. They are compelled by the sheer need to survive, in a time when Trump owns them.
Once again in running aggressive interference for Trump, the Trump-whipped Republicans will stick to their well tested defence of his actions – deny and lie repeatedly and determinedly, even in the face of clear proof, and through Trump’s and his personal lawyer’s (now Rudy Giuliani) own repeated admissions on Television, till truth gets buried under a mountain of repeated lies, and the lies become the truth in the minds of their supporters (and they remain safe in their own constituencies). And that is enough to hold on to power – at all cost.
Considering the fact that Trump has been a monumental and embarrassing failure as a US President, with most of his signature policies unfulfilled and in tatters, and his boastful claims of the 'greatest negotiating skills’ now debunked as pathetic self-delusion, and his much touted ‘strong economy’ (a legacy of Obama’s two terms) now showing signs of distress from his tariff and trade wars, one wonders what ultimate price Republicans are willing to pay to keep Trump in power, even as he methodically destroys America’s essential character and its global credibility as a country of the Rule-of-Law.