Impeach and Remove!

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Congress abdicated most of its power as a co-equal branch of government the day Donald Trump's second term in office began.   Our national legislature, which has the constitutional authority to tax and set tariffs,  handed Trump the power to set international tariffs, no questions asked, and he saw that as a way to make our treasury fat.  Trump quickly imposed  tariffs on imports coming into the United States from most countries in the world.  What a clever boy he was!  Happy days were here again!

Those of us who didn't fully understand how tariffs worked learned very quickly.  Import tariff's,  a.k.a. taxes on imports, are not paid by the countries sending their products and foodstuffs to America, but rather by the companies in America who are importing those goods.   They then pass those added costs on to consumers, chumps like you and me.  The "logic" is that by making it more expensive to import things, companies would start buying from American manufacturers.  The reality is that even if that principle worked, America does not have the manufacturing capability to replace all foreign imports, and American workers prefer a living wage when they can get it.

Long story short, American importers - a.k.a. American busineses and retailers - paid the import duties and then passed those increased costs on to consumers - you and me.  The treasury got fat - on our money!

Congress also gave up its responsibility to carefully review presidential appointments and quickly gave its stamp of approval to every hare-brained and incompetent nominee that Donald Trump put forward.  That is coming around to bite Trump and the rest of the country right now as he has removed three cabinet secretaries in the las two months and needs to pull (and will likely pull) several more.

Then there is the very important responsibility of Congress to be the branch of government to declare war.  Unfortunately, several recent Presidents - Reagan and two Bushes - have taken us into wars on their own and later asked Congress for approval, so Donald Trump had no qualms whatsoever about getting all blustery and patriotic and sending our troops off to fight in Iran.  Since the disastrous war began Democrats have tried multiple times to get Congress to exert its authority and set limits the scope of the war, but Congress keeps voting down those efforts along very narrow party lines, and leaves the conduct of the war totally in the hands of Donald Trump and his Defense Department which is headed by a former Fox News weekend host whom he appointed and Congress quickly rubber-stamped..

Donald Trump did not serve in the military and, in fact, actively avoided doing so five times during the Vietnam War, and Pete Hegseth, the secretary of Defense, served as an infantry officer in Iraq and Afghanistan and achieved the rank of Major with the Army National Guard (the lowest "field grade" officer rank), but had no experience commanding large numbers of troops or in running a business as large and complex as the US military.  Hegseth is faulted in the press for viewing the US military as being the equivalent of a crusading army advancing the cause of Christianity, something which undoubtedly makes many US military officers and troops uncomfortable.

Donald Trump has obvious issues with competence, impulsivity, and temperament.  He likes to be seen as being in control, and he has a lifetime history of being a bully - none of which lends itself to being an effective leader, yet Congress insists on standing aside and letting Trump conduct his egomaniacal war on Iran without adult supervision.   It all feeds into a very dangerous situation.

And while Congress refuses to see Donald Trump's obvious limitations, his own staff are painfully aware that the boss in not up to the job.  

The White House "Situation Room" is a five thousand square-foot highly secure room in the basement beneath the West Wing of the White House.  It is often the presidential command center when something dangerous is occurring in the world which could effect US security.  According to a report in the Wall Street Journal (a newspaper owned by Trump ally Rupert Murdoch - the same person who owns Fox News) - Trump's staff barred him from the Situation Room early this month when plans were being carried out to rescue two downed airmen from Iran after that country had shot down their fighter jet.  The news report said Trump "screamed at his political aides for hours," concerned about the political impact of the  situation, and that staff finally removed him from the room and telephoned him with updates about the progress of the rescue effort.  The story said that White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and other aides beieved Trump's impatience and behavior would not help the operation.

Ya think?

Trump's impatience and behavior are so extreme that his own staff had to remove him from the command center???   On Easter Sunday he banged out a tweet threatening to end "an entire civilization."   Those are not the actions of a rational human being.  Trump's staff knows it, and Congress damned well knows it, too!

The Untied States of America is adrift if treacherous waters without a rudder or a sail, and we are being pushed to and fro, with no plan or direction, by a very big wind!

Congress, do your job!  Impeach and remove!