Trump Moves To Drain Congress of Republican Swamp Creatures, but What about the Swampy DOJ and Lois Lerner

THE REAL NEWS TO BEGIN THE WEEK IS -- DO NOT UNDER-ESTIMATE DONALD TRUMP. American Thinker's David Zukerman said on Saturday : "Senate Democrat Leader Charles E. Schumer, quoted in the New York Times, September 8, 2017, on the agreement that he and House Democrat leader Nancy Pelosi reached with President Trump to fund government spending for three months : "'It was a really good moment of some bipartisanship...' "In the next to last paragraph of the story, readers learn that Republicans proposed "an 18-month deal on government spending and the debt limit only to run into resistance from the Democrats." The article then noted that the Republicans "proposed a six-month deal as a compromise, but Democrats insisted on a three months agreement. Mr. Trump then surprised the Republicans by agreeing with the Democrats." • Zukerman is not alone. The online media is full of woeful tales of Trump caving, not supporting his own party, and OMG -- becoming a Democrat. Not so fast, please. • • • THE OUTWARD SIGNS OF INWARD GRACE. Zukerman called the Trump debt deal with the Democrats "bipartisanship leftist-style." But, Zukerman also quoted a letter to the NYT editor, dated September 8, from Michael Scott in San Francisco, that encapsulated the Progressive daily Now-I-lay-m-down-to-sleep prayer : "While I am generally loath to say nice things about this President because his words and actions are usually beneath the dignity of the office, I have to give him credit for understanding one thing about Washington : If you want to get anything done, you have to deal with the Democrats." • Is President Trump caving to Democrat demands in order to "get things done?" Given the non-existence of GOP leadership in Congress since it was sworn in last January, it would not be surprising. After all, Donald Trump is not the 'chosen one' of the GOP, and if the #NeverTrump contingency of the Repulbican Party had a bigger voice in Congress, Trump would be chopped liver by now. So, if President Trump had concluded that to get ANYTHING done, he would have to work with the Swampocrats, we could understand. • But, that is just not what happened. President Trump has not jumped ship to the Progressive Left. He is not about to sidle up to the Swamp Creatures who have, and still are, mounting a vicious Hate Trump campaign of lies about colluding with Russia, lies about his political views, lies about his character and family, lies about his being more a demon-from-hell than a human being. President Trump, let us be clear, is now engaged in what Zukerman concluded to be "political rope-a-dope, lulling the left to be certain that he is now their -- not Putin's -- puppet...." The Swamp has not won, and Trump is not asking Americans to give up the fight and admit victory for the establishment elites on both sides of the aisle. • Niall Stanage wrote a Saturday article for TheHill that begins with the observation that President Trump’s shock deal with the two top Democrats in Congress was "a shot across the bows of his own party -- and the after-effects are reverberating." The deal, struck in a White House meeting and passed by Congress, funds the government and raises the debt ceiling for three months, exactly as demanded by Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. Trump backed them over the wishes of his own party, and his own Treasury Secretary, Steven Mnuchin. But, says Stanage, some in Trump’s GOP are scratching their heads as to what the President is hoping to accomplish by allowing those fiscal fights to re-appear in December, when Democrats are likely to have time-leverage to get concessions -- "By then, the holidays will be looming, while funds for relief efforts in the wake of Hurricane Harvey will already be on their way." • One aide to a conservative House Republican told Stanage that the GOP as a whole “did not have a game plan” to deal with the debt ceiling. The aide added that Trump’s deal seemed “short-sighted” because he has “given the Democrats another moment to argue for changes” without facing any obvious political downside. Others, says Stanage, see Trump’s actions as more evidence that he is not a conservative in a conventional sense, but a pragmatist who "zigs and zags depending on his own whims, and his assessment of how he can turn a situation to his advantage." Democrat strategist Tad Devine, who was a Bernie Sanders stalwart during the presidential campaign, said : “He is a guy whose success in politics has come from defying convention and protocol. I think he wants to get back to using the power of the presidency to his advantage, and it doesn’t matter to him if it’s to the Republican Party’s advantage or not. He’s not in it for the party. He’s in it for himself.” • Stanage summarizes Trump's relationship with the GOP rather accurately : "Trump’s propensity to go his own way has been sharpened because of his frustration with Republican leaders in Washington. Trump had an uneasy relationship with the GOP establishment during his campaign. After he won, he watched congressional Republicans fail ignominiously to repeal and replace the Affordable Act -- also known as Obamacare -- despite having promised voters they would do just that since the law’s inception in 2010. The President used his Twitter account to jab repeatedly at Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell after the legislative push ran aground in the Senate. Aides to the President have been expressing exasperation about Ryan for even longer." • But, was it this that prompted Trump to deal with the likes of Schumer and Pelosi?? Some Republicans believe it was this animus, more than anything else, that moved Trump to side with the Democrats." GOP strategist Rick Tyler said : "I think he cut this deal with Pelosi and Schumer to punish Ryan and McConnell.” Tyler, who was communications director for Senator Ted Cruz’s presidential bid, said that Trump got nothing in return from the Democrats. • But, everyone who is trying to understand what just happened seems unwilling to put a definitive explanation out for public review -- the critics are the ones "zig-zagging." Some believe Trump is staking out a more centrist course so as to move more legislation. Others offer different suggestions. Tyler says : "You think he is going to move in one direction and then he shifts direction and goes somewhere else.” Brad Blakeman, a GOP strategist who served on President George W. Bush’s White House staff, said Trump was motivated above all by a need to expedite aid in the wake of Hurricane Harvey. But, warned Blakeman, Democrats should not do a victory lap over the deal, especially if they hope to forge bipartisan agreements in other areas, such as infrastructure spending : "My caution for Democrats is ‘Stop the gloating.' You got a good deal, the Republicans got a good deal, the country got a good deal. If you want another deal you have to act in good faith and stop this ‘I won.’ That is not healthy for future.” • Stanage wagers that : "Infrastructure would seem one obvious area where Trump might have the potential to attract Democratic votes. Tax reform would seem a less fertile area for bipartisan agreement. Either way, Democrats have their own pressures to deal with, from a base that largely loathes Trump and doesn’t want to see their party leaders work with him. At the least, however, the most unpredictable President of recent decades has scrambled the political deck of cards once again." • Where is the "inner grace" in all this?? Devine, the Democratic strategist, argues that Trump might ultimately be considering running for re-election outside of the traditional two-party system, gambling that his base would be big enough to prevail in a three- or four-candidate race. For now, Devine said, it looks as if Trump is trying his own brand of the “triangulation” practiced by President Clinton in the 1990s -- “It’s Trump-angulation.” • Or -- did President Trump agree to the Progressive Left's demand for a three-month deal on financing government because all he needs is three months to complete the probes that will reveal the truth about RussiaGate collusion, about illegal surveillance of American citizens -- including Trump and his team -- by the Obama administration, about the collusion by Obama's US intelligence chiefs and major media outlets to rig the 2016 presidential election and undermine America's governing processes by falsely accusing foreign powers of interfering in American democracy? For Republicans who are Swamp Creatures and supported the fake news lies about Russian collusion, and who have been quick to agree with Progressive attacks on the President for no reason except that he beat their candidate last November, President Trump's "deal" with Schumer and Pelosi provided a well-deserved comeuppance for the GOP's #NeverTrump establishment. That is a huge sign of inner grace coming from a President who has needed a lot of patience, tolerance and downright teeth-gritting to get through the first 8 months of his beseiged presidency. • • • SADLY, THE SEIGE IS NOT ALWAYS FROM PROGRESSIVE DEMOCRATS. There is one incident that shows just how Swampy the GOP establishment is -- THE LOIS LERNER NON-PROSECUTION. In April, House Republicans asked the Justice Department to take a second look at the possibility of indicting former IRS official Lois Lerner for her role in the targeting and harassment scandal that froze some conservative groups out of the 2016 election campaign cycle. On Friday, DOJ informed the House that it had determined that reopening the criminal investigation into Lerner's actions would not be "appropriate." The Washington Examiner reported : " 'The Department determined that reopening the criminal investigation would not be appropriate based on the available evidence,' Assistant Attorney General Stephen Boyd wrote in a letter to Kevin Brady, the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. Brady called that a 'terrible decision' that suggested political appointees are not held accountable under the law. 'I have the utmost respect for Attorney General Sessions, but I'm troubled by his Department's lack of action to fully respond to our request and deliver accountability,' the Texas lawmaker said in a statement. Peter Roskam, the Illinois chairman of the tax subcommittee, also criticized the decision, terming it 'a miscarriage of justice.' Previously, the lawmakers had suggested that the Obama Department of Justice had declined to prosecute Lerner in 2015 because it was taking political cues from Obama. In 2014, their committee had voted to refer Lerner to the Justice Department for prosecution for her role in the targeting scandal. From 2010 to 2012, Lerner led the division of the IRS that subjected some nonprofit organizations, including Tea Party and conservative groups, to added scrutiny when they applied for tax-exempt status, a controversy that she acknowledged in response to a planted question at an event in 2013. Brady's panel concluded that Lerner influenced the division to target right-leaning groups. Boyd wrote Friday that the department 'carefully reviewed' its original 2015 decision not to prosecute, and had new attorneys independently review the investigation. He said that to convict Lerner, it would be necessary to prove that she intentionally discriminated against the groups based on their political views." • If that sounds a lot like FBI Director Comey exonerating Hillary in 2016, it's because the same spurious argument is being made about Lerner that was made about Hillary -- a lack of proveable "intent.' The IRS claimed that overzealous minor bureaucrats in the Cincinnati office were solely responsible for hundreds of conservative groups being investigated. They weren't 'targeted,' according to the IRS. And, so the DOJ took the IRS argument and told Congress that without evidence of "intent," it is impossible to prove that Lerner was criminally liable in a court of law. • The DOJ, however, missed one KEY FACT -- any existing evidence of 'intent' was destroyed -- by none other than the IRS when it erased or destroyed thousands of emails and dozens of computer hard drives. But, not to worry, citizens -- the IRS claimed it just made another innocent mistake. Lerner was even held in contempt of Congress by the Ways and Means Committee that went so far as to send the Obama Justice Department a criminal referral with potential charges that could have meant 11 years in jail, but that ended with the Obama DOJ refusing to prosecute. Why didn't the Sessions DOJ roll the destruction of evidence into the possible criminal acts of Lerner and those of her IRS gang to build probable cause of intent to act illegally and then cover up the acts in another possible criminal act?? Lois Lerner and the senior officials at the IRS, especially the current head John Koskinen, should be brought to justice for their alleged participation in the cover-up involving destruction of records and emails, conveniently destroyed hard drives, and withholding evidence from Congress. • An impeachment resolution, introduced by then House Oversight chairman Jason Chaffetz, Representative James Jordan, and 18 other committee members, accused Koskinen of making false statements under oath, failing to comply with a subpoena, and failing to notify Congress that key evidence was missing or destroyed. They explained it back then to Fox News' Sean Hannity : "The heart of this concern is that they had in their possession documents that were under subpoena and they destroyed those. Imagine, Sean, if the IRS had asked you for those documents and you said, 'Well, I had them, but I went ahead and destroyed them.' What would happen to you?" The Washington Times noted that Koskinen was knee-deep in the IRS corruption and its cover-up : "Among the specific charges leveled by Mr. Chaffetz and 18 of his fellow Republicans on the committee were that Mr. Koskinen, appointed by President Obama in December 2013 after the targeting scandal broke, misled Congress when he said he had turned over all of former IRS senior executive Lois G. Lerner's emails and that he oversaw destruction of evidence when his agency got rid of backup tapes that contained the emails." • • • THE SESSIONS DOJ. Lying to Congress and destruction of evidence under subpoena are federal crimes. But, Koskinen, is just one more example of how being an Obama donor could -- and apparently still can -- can get you a good job with the administration that includes the freedom to break the law as you choose without fear of prosecution. To allow Lerner and Koskinen to get away with harassing Americans who were trying to exercise their constitutional right to participate in the political process is simply a dereliction of duty, and, we need look no farther than Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who is rapidly becoming the Head Honcho of the GOP Swamp Creatures. Will President Trump take action to bring Sessions into conservative order or resign?? The reason Trump probably will not act is that his own GOP leadership in Congress has threatened him with impeachment if he tries to fire the Attorney General. • • • DEAR READERS, with 'friends' like the GOP congressional leadership, no wonder Trump looked beyond his own party to try to resolve the looming debt crisis. • But, there are risks for Democrats in making a deal with Trump, a President despised by the Democrats’ far-left base. A number of lawmakers are skeptical that the fiscal agreement heralds a new era of bipartisanship. Democrat Representative John Larson noted that Trump and the Republicans simply didn’t have the votes to pass the debt-limit proposal on their own : “If he did, do you think he’d be talking to us?” asked Larson. • Speaker Paul Ryan and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell both downplayed Trump’s deal with the Democrats, saying the President wasn’t attacking Republicans so much as he was seeking to demonstrate bipartisan cooperation in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey and facing the threat of Hurricane Irma. Ryan said last Thursday : “The President made it really clear, and what he was aiming for in that meeting yesterday was a bipartisan moment, while the country is facing two horrible hurricanes." • The real fear for the conservative GOP group in Congress is immigration. They are worried the President's deal with the Democrats could presage an about-face on immigration -- the Wall, DACA, and other elements that Trump promised to champion as a candidate. Mark Kirkorian, the executive director for the Center for Immigration Studies that advocates for stricter immigration policies says : “Selling out to the Democrats on nonimmigration issues isn't likely to hurt Trump much with his voters, since they hate Ryan and McConnell even more than he does. But if he sells out on immigration...then he'll be in big trouble. The blame will initially rest on Jared and Ivanka, but every day that he doesn't fire them will move him closer to becoming Amnesty Donald.” This angst exists even though President Trump continues to call for the building of a wall on the Mexican border, and it seems that he sees the legislative renewal of DACA as part of a broader bill that would include measures on border security. And, GOP Representative Mark Meadows, chairman of the conservative House Freedom Caucus who frequently talks to the President, sought to reassure grass-roots conservatives he said were confused by the President’s actions. Meadows gave a Friday interview on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” and explained : “They’re saying -- is this President going to cut deals with Democrats from here on out? I would suggest that’s not the case based on talking not only to the President but also talking to Speaker Ryan and others. This was a unique situation because of the devastation in Texas. Hopefully we can put forth some unique ideas soon.” • Representative Sean Duffy, a Wisconsin Republican, warned Trump in a Fox News interview to remember who his real friends are : “Chuck doesn’t want to make America great again. Chuck is never going to be with you to reduce taxes and fix health care and reduce government regulation, and Chuck will never be a good partner for you.” • The end of this tale may be that the palpable disgust among grass-roots conservatives for Ryan and McConnell means that anything Trump does to stick it to the GOP leaders is going to be popular. Jim DeMint, the former Senator and recently retired head of the Heritage Foundation, says : “Conservatives have been frustrated all year by congressional leaders showing no real leadership on the issues that won Republicans the majority : repealing Obamacare, cutting taxes, funding the border wall. President Trump’s administration has done what it can to implement conservative policies and push conservative nominees, but we’ve seen little progress in Congress. I’m disappointed but not surprised by the deal for a short-term debt suspension, because all Republican leaders were offering was a much bigger increase in debt with no policy victories attached. It’s time for Republicans in Congress to get serious about keeping the promises they made to get elected. Obamacare repeal reconciliation rules expire on September 30, so the clock is ticking." • American Thinker calls it the "Great Trump Wiggle," saying that "on policy questions we know he has been saying pretty much the same things for decades. So, his true beliefs probably haven't changed in just 230 days as POTUS. People who keep saying the same thing for 20 years don't flip on a dime....Why wiggle? Because by now Trump has been assailed on the Media-Left for so long, that he's publicly flipping to give out Good Guy signals to the moral retards of the left. His own ideological supporters have also hemmed him in. When Trump feels stuck that way, he seems to like to do a double backwards somersault, and then see where the other pieces are falling. If that's true, we are seeing a big tactical move, but not necessarily a strategic change. The long term objectives remain the same. We always have to remember that he's a businessman, and such people are pragmatic in their tactics. If one approach doesn't work, you try another one." • And, leave it to Pat Buchanan to call it with stark realism : "Donald Trump is President today because he was seen as a doer not a talker. Among the most common compliments paid him in 2016 was, 'At least he gets things done!' And it was exasperation with a dithering GOP Congress, which had failed to enact his or its own agenda, that caused Trump to pull the job of raising the debt ceiling away from Republican contractors Ryan & McConnell, and give it to Pelosi & Schumer. Hard to fault Trump. Over seven months, Congress showed itself incapable of repealing Obamacare, though the GOP promised this as its first priority in three successive elections. Returning to DC after five weeks vacation, with zero legislation enacted, Speaker Paul Ryan and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell were facing a deadline to raise the debt ceiling and fund the government. Failure to do so would crash the markets, imperil the US bond rating, and make America look like a deadbeat republic....Before year’s end, [Trump] and Congress will also have to deal with an immigration crisis brought on by his cancellation of the Obama administration’s amnesty for the “Dreamers” now vulnerable to deportation. He will have to get Congress to fund his Wall, enact tax reform and finance the repair and renewal of our infrastructure, or have his first year declared a failure. We are likely looking at a congressional pileup, pre-Christmas, from which Trump will have to call on Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi, again, to extricate him and his party." • In a recent survey, 72% of Americans expressed high confidence in the military; 12% said the same of Congress. So, President Trump may be taking the old advice : “Don’t get mad, get even.” Undoubtedly, Trump is once more speaking for the the grassroots -- the Deplorables. Congressional Republicans who are not getting on board with Trump’s legislative agenda are the real reason that Trump’s legislative agenda is stalled. They need to be "primaried" out of Congress, starting with Jeff Flake. That's the conservative grassroots goal in 2018 -- defeat as many GOP obstructionists as possible. And, seen in this light, President Trump has just put Ryan and McConnell on notice that their leadership jobs are at risk. McConnell’s job especially. No tax reform and wall funding legislation this autumn means they’re fired. In business, they’d be gone faster than they could say, “The Apprentice.” • The US is at a critical crossroads. Going back to the Democrats’ agenda leads to the end of the constitutional Republic. And, #NeverTrump Republicans like McCain, Flake, Graham, Corker, Murkowski, and Collins are joining hands with these Democrats. They share Globalist Progressive worldviews -- trade agreements that hurt US workers and business; open borders; government-controlled nationalized healthcare; climate change; the dominance of the UN and its anti-Semitic stances against Israel. But, as we have discussed in recent blogs, most Americans are center-right. Trump has the opportunity to create a center-right majority of the middle class and those who striving to be middle class that will endure for generations, if he can free himself of the Swamp that is full of both Democrat and Republican elites. Trump’s election started the GOP remake. • The 2018 mid-term elections will provide another opportunity to liberate the GOP from Swamp Creature Republicans. It’ll take more than one election cycle, but Trump is on the right path. And, his kick in the tail to the do-nothing GOP congressional leadership is his vote of confidence in the Deplorables, the Tea Partiers, the middle class, the "Silent Majority" who are ready to roll. They just got their marching orders from the Chief Deplorable -- President Trump himself. Steve Bannon heard the call, and led a meeting of “President Donald Trump’s closest allies" who are planning "a slate of primary challenges against Republican Senators.” On Thursday, Bannon “huddled with” 2016 Nevada Republican Danny Tarkanian, who is challenging Nevada GOP Senator Dean Heller, and made it clear that “Tarkanian had his full backing in the race.” Bannon is also “intent on unseating” Arizona Senator Jeff Flake -- Trump’s 2016 deputy campaign manager, David Bossie, “has embarked on an effort to recruit several potential primary challengers,” including former Representative Matt Salmon. “Behind the scenes, Bannon has proposed the possibility of targeting” Tennessee Senator Bob Corker, “and those close to the former Trump chief strategist are talking about the prospect of a challenge to” Senator Roger Wicker in Minnesota. Interestingly, Corker “is weighing whether to call it quits next year. Corker told CNN last week that he has not made a decision about his future, and appeared to confirm Trump's tweet that he asked the President for political advice about whether to run for reelection.” And, in Utah, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney will run for Senate, if Senator Orrin Hatch decides to retire, sources close to Romney said. Hatch may not decide on his plans until December -- but, we can be that Trump friends will be fielding a primary opponent if Hatch retires and Romney runs. • Most Trump voters, says Rush Limbaugh : view Trump less as someone who is perfect and more as one who is in the foxhole with them trying to fight the forces determined to dismantle America as founded, piece by piece...Until our side recognizes the gravity of our situation and unifies to fight against the left with the same commitment the left brings to this fight, you can be sure that at least a strong plurality of the political right will continue to rally around unorthodox figures who at least have the brass to fight back." The fate of the Republican Party and the success of the Trump agenda are inextricably linked, says Limbaugh, whether Swamp Creature #NeverTrump Republicans like it or not. Unless establishment Republicans begin to follow through on the Trump agenda -- and their own promises -- the movement that elected President Trump will offer in GOP primary races opponents to confront do-nothing incumbents. These are the voters who have languished under GOP inaction for too long. Now, they have a real leader and they will not miss the opportunity to elect Republicans who have not lied to them. • And, it would be so easy, if only Mitch McConnell had the guts -- and more importantly the desire -- to take control of Congress and pass the Trump legislative agenda items. Earlier this year, McConnell recognizes this -- he chose to reform cloture for Supreme Court nominations, but not for the legislation absolutely vital to the interests of the Republic. McConnell's failure to eliminate the cloture rule and its filibuster cannot be seen solely as his longing to preserve the Senate's "purity." By failing to reform cloture, McConnell has effectively given Chuck Schumer operational control of the Senate. He has stated by his refusal that he does not care about Trump or his agenda or the American majority who elected Trump. • So, are we surprised that Trump just used the operational head of the Senate to save the Republican Party from an abject defeat on the debt ceiling and hurricane relief funding. Wake up or be cast into outer darkness -- that was Trump's message to Ryan and McConnell. America understands that message, despite mainstream spin. Forget about the MSM idea that President Trump is working with the Swamp ProgDems. He was, is, and always will be, working for America.