Attorney General Jeff Sessions Is in a Buzz Saw -- Why?

THE REAL NEWS TODAY IS THAT SOMETIMES A GOOD "COMMENT" SAYS IT ALL . This comment was posted to a Newsmax article about President Trump thinking of naming Rudy Giuliani as Attorney General : "BigSkyTexan : "Gads I loved Sessions before he recused himself on Russia. Hate to see him go, but no choice. Lesson to all 'R's, never ever, NEVER EVER, cave to Democrat demands without legal requirement. It's war and it's for warriors, not boy scouts." • If we could make every Republican in Congress memorize and live by that comment, America would already be a much better place. • • • THE FACTS -- TRUMP ATTACK ON SESSIONS. The Attorney General, the former six-term Republican Senator from Alabama, was one of Trump's earliest supporters on Capitol Hill. After being confirmed in his office, Sessions recused himself from the Justice Department's Russia probe in March, though he lambasted accusations that he had misled Congress in not disclosing two meetings with the Russian ambassador last year. Last Thursday, President Trump gave an interview to the New York Times, in the Oval Office. In the interview, the President said : "Jeff Sessions takes the job, gets into the job, recuses himself, which frankly I think is very unfair to the President. How do you take a job and then recuse yourself? If he would have recused himself before the job, I would have said, 'Thanks, Jeff, but I’m not going to take you.' It’s extremely unfair -- and that’s a mild word -- to the President." President Trump also harshly criticized his Attorney General for not giving accurate statements to the Senate Judiciary Committee relating to meetings with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak : "Jeff Sessions gave some bad answers. He gave some answers that were simple questions and should have been simple answers, but they weren’t." Trump's disappointment with Sessions appeared again on Monday when he tweeted that the "beleaguered" Attorney General should be among those probing Hillary Clinton's "crimes" and "Russia relations" : "So why aren't the Committees and investigators, and of course our beleaguered AG, looking into Crooked Hillarys crimes & Russia relations?" • Sessions testified before the Senate panel in January, saying that he had not met with any Russians except as part of his duties as a US Senator, but not as part of his role as a Trump campaign advisor. • • • THE REACTION TO TRUMP'S ATTACK. The hugely influential conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh said Monday it was a bit "unseemly" for President Trump to publicly criticize Attorney General Jeff Sessions, especially since Sessions was an early and loyal backer. Limbaugh told his listeners : "Whatever you've read and whatever you've heard about the President being really, really mad that Sessions recused himself is true times two. He was genuinely livid over it." Limbaugh said that while there is plenty of blame to go around in Sessions' recusal, which led to the appointment of Special Counsel Robert Mueller, Trump needs people like Sessions on his team. Limbaugh gave a realistic description of AG Sessions : "Sessions is a by-the-book Attorney General, a by-the-book legal mind. That's, I think, one of the bones of contention here because it's arguable that he didn't need to recuse himself." Still, Limbaugh added, it's "a little bit discomforting, unseemly for Trump to go after such a loyal supporter this way. Especially when Sessions made it obvious he's not gonna resign." Limbaugh called the statement to the Times an invitation to resign, but Sessions didn't take it, instead doubling down on how much he loves the job and intends to keep doing it. For that reason, according to Limbaugh, Trump is likely going to have to fire Sessions if he doesn't resign on his own after the latest swipe. • On the openly anti-Trump side, CNN's Chris Cillizza wrote on Monday that President Trump clearly wants a new Attorney General but doesn't want to fire Jeff Sessions to get there -- he wants Sessions to quit....He wants to make Sessions' life so uncomfortable that Sessions throws up his hands and walks away." • Fox News' Judge Andrew Napolitano was the first to offer that analysis last week. But, Cillizza wrote on Monday : "Sessions hasn't responded to this latest Trump volley. But, at this point, it is very tough for Sessions to simply ignore the message coming out of the White House. And that message is : We want you gone. So, go." • Neo-conservative -- but virulently anti-Trump -- commentator Charles Krauthammer said Thursday that Attorney General Jeff Sessions' resignation was "only a matter of time" after President Trump attacked him in the interview with the New York Times. Krauthammer told Chris Wallace on Fox News : "He doesn't want to resign, but I think this limits his tenure. It's only a matter of time. There's a reason Presidents generally don't do that. Every time you look at Jeff Sessions now, in the back of your head, you're going to be looking at that guy and saying: 'He's just been attacked by his own President, the man who appointed him. He has obviously lost the confidence of the President.' You can't really do that, speak of the fact that Trump is unconventional. We knew that, but there's a reason for the conventions. And that is, an underling can't really function 'effectively' in such an environment -- and 'that's what's happened.' " • Another ostensibly conservative -- but seemingly 'sold out to CNN' -- former CIA officer Robert Baer on Friday told CNN's Don Lemon that Attorney General Jeff Sessions' conversations with a Russian ambassador last year on issues central to Donald Trump's presidential campaign were "treasonous and he should resign. All of these leaks from the Kislyak conversations back to Moscow have proven to be right. I think this is just horrendous. Colluding with a foreign power, a hostile foreign power -- it is treasonous....It is not technically indictable. But for a former intelligence officer, [I would say] it is treasonous and he should resign." Baer may be a little over the top, and factually unproven as yet, but it was on CNN afterall. • The Washington Post reported Friday Ambassador Sergey Kislyak told his Moscow supervisors that he and Sessions had "substantive" talks on Trump's positions on Russia and on "US-Russia relations in a Trump administration." Kislyak's telephone conversations were intercepted by US intelligence agencies, the Post reported, and the evidence flew in the face of early assertions by Sessions that he did not meet with any Russians during the campaign. • There have been few public comments from Democrat leaders in Congress. Senator Dianne Feinstein, ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, has spoken directly about the Sessions matter, saying he should come before the Committee to explain his position. • • • IS TRUMP SEEKING A NEW ATTORNEY GENERAL? • RUDY GIULIANI as Attorney General? Newsmax published a report on Monday stating that President Trump is considering former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani to replace Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Newsmax was quoting the political news website, Axios, report that cited White House insiders as saying Trump is "so unhappy" with Sessions that he has raised that possibility in "internal conversations." Giuliani, New York City's tough-talking, law-and-order mayor, who became "America's Mayor" because of his leadership in the aftermath of 9/11, was one of Trump's most vocal supporters during the 2016 presidential campaign. But, Axios noted, Giuliani would have "a tough time getting 50 Republicans Senators to vote to confirm him, exactly because of that support -- that is an enormously damning statement directed at the Senate GOP. Axios' Mike Allen said : "He was such an early and ardent Trump backer that he wouldn't be seen as an independent guardian of the department in these tumultuous times." Rudy Giuliani, battle-tested GOP warrior that he is, came to Jeff Sessions' defense Monday, telling CNN the Attorney General made the right choice in recusing himself from the federal investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election. Giuliani essentially told CNN that he has no intention of taking over as Attorney General. But, note that Giuliani said nothing about how Sessions' recusal had affected his ability as AG to serve the President and Cabinet. • TED CRUZ as Attorney General? If Attorney General Jeff Sessions resigns or is fired by President Trump, some observers say he could be replaced by Texas Senator Ted Cruz. The Washington Post is one of those observers, citing sources close to Trump, including White House officials. According to the WP report, people close to Trump have been discussing various scenarios as the relationship between the President and Attorney General has deteriorated. Cruz was a rival to Trump for the 2016 GOP nomination and appears to be gearing up to challenge Trump again in 2020. Cruz's spokeman didn't comment to the Washington Post, but the WP noted that Senator Cruz previously said he "did not think it was necessary to appoint a Special Counsel," but added that once Robert Mueller was given the job, Cruz called him "an excellent choice." Late Monday night, Senator Cruz himself weighed in, stressing that he was not interested in the job. Cruz said in a statement first reported by NBC News and The Hill : “Jeff Sessions is a friend and a strong conservative. I was proud to vote to confirm Jeff and to vigorously defend his confirmation, and I’m deeply gratified that we have a principled conservative like Jeff Sessions serving as Attorney General. The stories being reported in the media tonight are false. My focus is and will remain on fighting every day to defend 28 million Texans in the US Senate.” • • • A RECESS APPOINTMENT? If President Trump really wants to replace AG Session -- whether Sessions resigns or is fired -- Trump could use August's Senate recess to appoint a temporary replacement not requiring Senate approval before January. Given that Sessions has not yet taken Trump's invitation to resign, saying he is happy in his position and plans to stay, an outright firing by the President could be muted by doing it during the Senate recess to avoid a concentration in Washington of the sure-to-follow Democrat fake outrage and accusations of 'coverup' and 'collusion.' A recess appointment would also give the GOP Senate leadership time to organize their January defense of the new AG appointee. • • • JUST WHAT DID AG SESSIONS DO TO ANGER THE PRESIDENT? CNN's Chris Cillizza wrote that "the only reason Sessions is beleaguered is because the President keeps pummeling him." We can dismiss Cillizza's remark as that of a Progressive media lapdog, meant to drive one more nail in Trump's coffin. BUT, Cillizza is being very cynical, because he knows the story is deeper than that. • What did Jeff Sessions do? • First, he botched his Senate confirmation hearings by forgetting to mention that he had talked with Russian Ambassador Kisylak. He later corrected that by saying under oath to the Senate Judiciary that he had only talked to the Ambassador because of Senate duties and not as a Trump campaign advisor. In the meantime, he had also recused himself from being involved in anything as Attorney General that was connected to the Russian probes -- he did that without even informing the President, never mind discussing the move with him or White House lawyers before reaching his overly sensitive decision to recuse himself. Read again that comment at the head of this blog : "Lesson to all 'R's, never ever, NEVER EVER, cave to Democrat demands without legal requirement. It's war and it's for warriors, not boy scouts." Jeff Sessions violated Rule #1 about being Attorney General -- he is the President's lawyer and should keep him fully informed about administrative matters. UNLESS -- unless -- the Washington Post revelation that Sessions talked to Kisylak about Trump campaign matters and US-Russian relations after Trump's inauguration is true AND Sessions knew all along that he had talked about those matters. That would make his recusal a self-defense decision, with his deciding that it would be better not to talk ot the President and have to reveal the details of conversations that were at best ill-advised. • But, what most analysts forget about Jeff Sessions is that he is a 6-term Senator. He is a Washington political animal of the highest order. He is used to an environment where fudging the truth and wriggling around personally dangerous issues are the norms. He is, although certainly not a Swamp Creature, surely a past master at Swamp Survival 101. That means that he probably tried to wriggle this time, and it didn't work. Most commentators are now sympathetic to Sessions, not Trump, accusing Trump of 'betraying' his first Senate endorser. But, go back ot that 6-term Senator fact. What did Sessions carve out for himself during those 30+ years? Respect. Not much lese. So, we may assume that he latched on to candidate Trump in the hope of finding a better political future -- a legacy, as it were, to cement his Senate career. Of course, candidate Trump was pleased to have Senator Sessions' endorsement. But, Trump didn't 'need' it because, as he understood so well, his supporters were not from the Washington Swamp or the Senate. So, we might have a little less sympathy for a man who has finally not helped Trump, but driven the Russia 'collusion' charges a notch forward. • Second, AG Sessions has produced little since taking over the Department of Justice. Trump was right last week to tweet : "So why aren’t the Committees and investigators, and of course our beleaguered AG, looking into Crooked Hillarys crimes & Russia relations?” Why, indeed. We have no way of knowing what is actually being teed-up at DOJ under Sessions, but looking in from the outside, it appears that Sessions is doing what a "by-the-books" lawyer would do if thrust into the AG job, working of law enforcement, immigration, and all the other routine items that he could easily pass on the his deputies -- to give Sessions his due, those deputies are still mostly Deep State Obama appointees who are trying to destroy Trump by leaks about Russia and stonewalling his legal agenda. But, Rush Limbaugh was the only commentator to get it right : "Sessions is a by-the-book Attorney General, a by-the-book legal mind." And, believe me, that is exactly what President Trump does not need. • • • WHAT IS THE ROLE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL? While everyone expects an Attorney General to be the leader of the DOJ, the AG is appointed with the consent of the Senate to be the President's and his Cabinet's lawyer. The US Constitution does not provide for an Attorney General. The First Congress passed the Judiciary Act of 1789 which, besides other things, established the Office of the Attorney General. The original duties of this officer were "to prosecute and conduct all suits in the Supreme Court in which the United States shall be concerned, and to give his advice and opinion upon questions of law when required by the President of the United States, or when requested by the heads of any of the departments." The position of Attorney General was codified and appears in 28 U.S. Code § 503 : "The President shall appoint, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, an Attorney General of the United States. The Attorney General is the head of the Department of Justice." • Pretty bland stuff -- with no mention of the current Progressive Democrat buzz words "independent guardian of the DOJ" that are aimed at reducing the legitimate control the US President has over the Department of Justice and the Attorney General. • • • DEAR READERS, Attorney General Sessions should have been more thoughtful before he recused himself from the major issue facing the President who appointed him to be his top lawyer. There is little doubt that thus far the ProgDem cries of "Trump Russia collusion" are fake, and they have been from the moment Obama's national security team began illegally intercepting the Trump team electronic communications. Sessions has to appreciate that there was and is No Evidence. He should have weighed that against his sensibility to DOJ guidelines about recusal. He should have asked for legal advice, if not from White House lawyers, then from other legal counsel. And, in any case, Sessions should have consulted with his only client, President Trump, the Chief Executive of the United States, before making any decision about recusal. It was grossly unfair to the President who entrusted Sessions to lead the DOJ at a crucial time in America's history. • There are two kinds of lawyers. Most are the Limbaugh type -- "a by-the-book lawyer with a by-the-book legal mind." That describes most lawyers, and they do yeoman work in keeping the wheels of American courts and regulatory agencies running smoothly. But, there are also those rare lawyers who have exceptional legal minds and grasp legal issues in a vastly more sophisticated, intellectual and creative way. Think of Justice Antonin Scalia as Attorney General. There is no doubt that he would not have gone quietly before the barrage of Progressive Democrat calls for his recusal until he had had the intellectual legal battle about what recusal means constitutionally and why it would have been an acceptable or bad solution to the "Sessions question" as it relates to the unproven claims of Trump-Russia collusion. Sadly, there are not many Antonin Scalias ever, let alone several in any generation of lawyers. So, Attorney General Sessions took the yellow brick road to safety, probably hoping he would be saved from having to decide later about recusal in what might be an even more nuanced and hostile environment. • And, if we consider the names of Giuliani and Cruz that are being brandished about by the MSM without any confirmation from the White House -- except that on Tuesday, the President said he would decide about Sessions "soon" -- we can draw some conclusions about suitability and about style, in the best sense of that term. Senator Ted Cruz is a seasoned orator and trial counsel, who has an immense understanding of constitutional law and has often been compared to Scalia for his grasp of constitutional issues. But, he shirked from the down-and-dirty political tactics that characterized the 2016 compaign. Rudy Giuliani is a hands-on prosecutor who wins cases and uses the Constitution tactically for the most part. He understands the Department of Justice as an insider, something Ted Cruz cannot do because Cruz has never served in the DOJ. • But, both Giuliani and Cruz are demurring when the Attorney General job is mentioned. Why? Giuliani has a lucrative business that would have to be terminated if he became AG. Cruz is gunning for the presidency in 2020. And, they are both "political billionaires," without fear of or need to acquiesce in President Trump's job choices for them. They have 'political billions' to put on the table beside Trump's 'business billions' and title of President. If he really wants either of them for AG, he will have to court them, make a deal with them, give them free range to do what is needed at DOJ, support their decisions, and trust that at the end of the day, whatever they do would be for his advantage. President Trump would undoubtedly trust Giuliani in that position of power more than he would trust Cruz, who is a rival. • But, there are other possible choices. Nobody is talking about Chris Christie, but he brings all that Giuliani would to the AG job, except for the "America's Mayor' acclaim. There is also Michael Mukasey, the Bush AG who served as a federal judge for 20 years prior to his appointment as AG. Mukasey has a reputation for being a conservative straight shooter who respects the rule of law above all. An outside choice would be Ken Paxton, the AG of Texas, who brings Tea Party conservative credentials, and has the right conservative position on any issue anyone could name -- and he comes from the state that has led in fighting in federal court the unconstitutional orders and regulations of President Obama and his administration. • Newt Gingrich, a frequent Trump advisor, said that the President, with his criticism of Sessions, was simply venting and being "honest about his feelings. But that doesn't mean he's going to do anything," according to Gingrich. Still, he said the President's comments would have repercussions when it comes to staff morale. And, even if President Trump is publicly venting about the slow progress of his DOJ and the obvious kid-gloves treatment the Clintons and all Democrats have received at the DOJ for the past 8 years, it does not mean he will actually fire Sessions. But, as always, Newt had a bit of advice for President Trump : "Anybody who is good at team building would suggest to the President that attacking members of your team rattles the whole team." So, Mr. President, kiss and make up with Jeff Sessions, or cut the cord swiftly and move on. This indecision and public job performance evaluation of the Attorney General is not good for the Justice Department, or for you, or for America.

Where Is the Congressional Republican Support for President Trump and America ?

THE REAL NEWS TODAY IS THAT THERE IS A COUP UNDERWAY AGAINST THE LEGITIMATE US PRESIDENT. It is taking many forms as the Progressive Democrat Socialist Globalist Leftists try to undo the 2016 presidential election and strip Americans of President Trump and their constitutional voice in choosing a President. • • • THE RUSSIAN COLLUSION CARD. The Russian collusion fake news was seen by the ProgDems as their best shot at toppling President Trump. A clue that the Russian Card is fake is that many in the media, Special Counsel Robert Mueller, and the investigating committees in the House and Senate don't seem to be interested in asking key questions despite a year of investigations. • If the Obama Administration, the FBI, and the intelligence community were / are really worried about Russian collusion, wouldn't they have spied on Hillary along with Trump, since they knew that the Clintons and the Clinton Foundation had accepted huge amounts of money in the pay-for-play that gave Putin 20% of US uranium deposits. And, why would Putin, a seasoned KGB spy, not have played both sides of the election, especially since everyone, including his US Embassy staff, expected Hillary to win. So why was, and is, there no interest in the possibility that Hillary was colluding with hte Russian government to defeat Trump?? If US Intel accidentally picked up conversations with Trump associates because of listening in on Russian officials, wouldn't conversations be accidentally picked up with Obama officials, people surrounding Hillary, and other members of Congress -- why was Sessions the only person whose conversations were intercepted by US Intel? • Isn't it frankly amazing that the only unmasking is of Trump people??? Well, no, actually it isn't, because Trump and his team were from the beginning the specific targets. Nothing was accidentally "intercepted." Trump was the target of a coup by Obama and his ProgDems long before he beat Hillary last November. • If you still have doubts, consider this. Fox News reported last week that Susan Rice is still expected to face questions on "unmasking" in House hearings. Fox says : "The number of people thought to be involved in the alleged 'unmasking' of American citizens under the Obama administration could be expanding, according to a source close to the House Intelligence Committee’s review." The source with knowledge of the review told Fox News that the records suggest the unmasking “goes beyond” key officials like former National Security Adviser Susan Rice, former CIA Director John Brennan and former US Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power. The source, according to Fox, said more than a half-dozen former senior Obama administration officials are now of interest to House committee investigators. Then-Committee Chairman Devin Nunes issued subpoenas in May to the CIA, FBI and NSA for records about the identification of American citizens in intelligence reports, also known as “unmasking.” The subpoenas covered 2016 and were issued after allegations that Rice and others unmasked associates of now-President Trump. Fox News was told the agencies have now “fully complied.” • Separately, the House Intelligence Committee has been preparing to hear from Rice in a closed-door session as early as this week, although indications are that her testimony may be postponed. The “unmasking” issue is likely to be a central focus of her eventual testimony. The source said some of the unmasking in question could be routine -- though other requests appeared “unwarranted” and will require “more explanation.” The source said House investigators are at the beginning of their investigation and described the paper trail as containing “a significant number of records.” Rice spokeswoman Erin Pelton previously told the AP that Rice is cooperating with House and Senate intelligence committees. Rice in March had told PBS she “knew nothing” about Trump associate unmasking. But, in early April, she admitted she asked for the identities of US citizens in intelligence reports, while defending those requests as routine and denying leaking any Trump-related information. Rice told MSNBC : "I leaked nothing to nobody, and never have." • And, why isn't the mainstream media covering all this news about unmasking? Because they are firmly entrenched with the ProgDems, trying to advance the coup against the legitimate US President, Donald Trump. It should be embarrassing to reporters that they are trashing and trying to destroy Trump instead of doing their job -- but they have an agenda, and they do not allow facts to get in their way. • • • THE MUELLER SPECIAL COUNSEL INVESTIGATION IS LEAKING. Breitbart reported last Thursday that the team charged with investigating whether there was any collusion between President Donald Trump’s campaign and Russia now appears to be leaking details of the probe to damage Trump. Breitbart was reporting on a Bloomberg story that stated “a person familiar with the probe” told Bloomberg that the Special Counsel is examining a broad range of transactions involving Trump and his associates’ businesses -- that is what is known as a "leak," and it came the day after Trump told the New York Times in an interview that delving into his business matters would be outside the bounds of the Russia investigation. A spokesman for the Office of the Special Counsel told Breitbart : “The Special Counsel’s Office has undertaken stringent controls to prohibit unauthorized disclosures that deal severely with any member who engages in this conduct.” • We can guess that the Deep State is not shaking in its Swamp Boots. • In the team led by former FBI Director Robert Mueller, four of the six attorneys donated to the Democratic National Committee or Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, according to Axios. James Quarles donated almost $33,000 to Democrats, including Clinton and former President Barack Obama. Jeannie Rhee donated more than $16,000 since 2008 to Democrats, including the maximum donation possible to Clinton in both 2015 and 2016. She has also donated to Obama. Andrew Weissmann donated more than $4,000 to Obama in 2008 and $2,000 to the DNC in 2006, and Elizabeth Prelogar donated $250 each to Clinton in 2016 and Obama in 2012. • These donations to Hillary and the DNC are one of the reasons Trump and Republican lawmakers have questioned the objectivity of Mueller and his team, which was created after former FBI Director James Comey leaked a memo to the media for the purpose of prompting a special counsel. • John Dowd, one of President Trump’s lawyers, told Bloomberg : “Those transactions are in my view well beyond the mandate of the Special Counsel, are unrelated to the election of 2016 or any alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, and most importantly, are well beyond any Statute of Limitation imposed by the United States Code.” • On Friday, Newsmax reported on a Newt Gingrich interview on Fox News' Hannity TV program. Newt Gingrich told Hannity : "I don't understand why the House and Senate Judiciary Committees aren't investigating a lot of this [Mueller] stuff....So who's leaking? Why is nothing being done about it? Why are people not being fired? I think it's very reasonable to say that this is a very dangerous witch hunt that Mueller keeps expanding because he can't find anything in the original charge." • But, Gingrich says the Mueller team will prosecute someone in its investigation into alleged collusion with Russia : "There are too many lawyers being paid too much money for them to go home having accomplished nothing." Gingrich also discussed the ties between members of Mueller's team and Hillary Clinton's campaign : "The Mueller investigation has so many conflicts of interest, it's almost an absurdity." Gingrich said the law firm Mueller came from gave 99.81% of its donations to Hillary Clinton's campaign. Gingrich added that several of the lawyers on Mueller's team have "questionable records." Gingrich added : "It's hard to understand why he would assemble such a team unless it was a deliberate effort to go after the President and the President's team." • • • POLICE STATE TACTICS?? American Thinker's Shari Goodman wrote on Sunday : "Never in American history has a sitting president (and his family) been hounded with unfounded criminal investigations as has President Trump. While still a candidate, the Democrats and their propaganda arm in the mainstream media brought forth the scurrilous charge of Russian collusion with not a shred of evidence to support their charge. It's a fishing expedition in search of a crime." Goodman wrote that every week a new revelation of an alleged meeting between members of President Trump's cabinet or family members with perceived Russian agents crops up -- General Michael Flynn, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Jared Kushner, Donald Trump Jr., and now Ivanka Trump, whose security clearance is now being challenged, have all been accused of collusion. Goodman says : "That and the recent announcement by appointed Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller of his intent to broaden the investigation into Trump's businesses is symptomatic of tactics used by police states to threaten their opposition into compliance, surrender or removal. It is un-American and a danger to our Republic." • Goodman cites the fake dossier created by Fusion GPS, a Washington firm that specializes in opposition research for the Democratic Party. Fusion GPS hired Christopher Steele, a former MI-6 British spy, to create a fake file to hurt Trump's candidacy and his Presidency. The plot was paid for by a reported Hillary Clinton backer. Although the dossier was unverified, John McCain, a vocal critic of President Trump, brought the unverified dossier to the United States and gave it to the FBI. Fusion then released the unverified dossier to the press and they along with Democratic operatives have been using it ever since to continue to harm the Trump administration. • Then came the plot to ensnarl Donald Trump, Jr. in a Trump-Russia narrative through an arranged meeting between him and Russian lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya, who was a paid Russian lobbyist, photographed at anti-Trump rallies and while sitting in the front row, behind US ambassador to Russia, Michael McFaul,at a House Foreign Affairs Committee just five days after her meeting with Donald Trump, Jr. last June. It should be noted that McFaul was a frequent guest on NBC and MSNBC during the 2016 campaign and after the election discussing the Russian conspiracy narrative. The meeting between Donald Trump, Jr. and Veselnitskaya was arranged by Rob Goldstone who, too, is associated with Fusion GPS. • Goodman also reminds us that we know that General Flynn's conversation with the Russian ambassador was illegally recorded by the Obama administration that routinely spied on the new incoming administration and the new President. The unmasking of that conversation was then illegally leaked to the press. The leaker has yet to be identified, but it is widely believed that Deep State holdovers from the Obama administration are leaking classified information within a highly politicized Justice Department and Intelligence Community created during Obama's eight year reign. • As I have written many times, there is No Evidence. Goodman agrees, saying : "The entire Russian collusion affair stinks to high heaven. There is no smoking gun to justify an independent counsel. Nada! Yet, Robert Mueller, best buddies with fired FBI director James Comey, who admittedly leaked classified information to ensure a special prosecutor would be appointed is now extending his investigation to include the Trump Organization. Mueller as a former FBI director purged all anti-terrorism training material at the request of the Council on American Islamic Relations, an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation terrorist financing trial here in the United States. In 2007 Mueller met with CAIR and ISNA (Islamic Society of North America), both Moslem Brotherhood front groups here in America and he caved in to their demands to purge material they deemed offensive to Moslems." Goodman says that today Mueller is "stacking his staff with former Clinton donors who are in search for a smoking gun which will lead to the removal of President Trump from office. This witch hunt could not take place without a complicit Republican Establishment in control of the House and Senate." • • • ARE REPUBLICANS IN CONGRESS REALLY SWAMP CREATURES? American Thinker published on Sunday an article by Don Bendell, a best-selling author, a 100% disabled Green Beret Vietnam veteran, and a 1995 inductee into the International Karate and Kickboxing Hall of Fame. Bendell says the RINOs are like the Viet Cong : "RINOs, (Republicans in Name Only) however are more akin to the Viet Cong guerillas I also had to fight against in South Vietnam. They could be more dangerous, because most of the time the VC, or Viet Cong, worked alongside us during the day as interpreters, members of our allied South Vietnamese Army, local farmers, merchants, and rice growers, or laborers. Friends we trusted, foreign nationals we employed. At night, they would, like serpentine predators, slither into their damp dark holes and hidden tunnels under their villages, secure their weapons, and come out to ambush the very men they had worked for and befriended during the day." Bendell says : "Similarly, RINOs in our government aren’t even on the same plane as Democrats, because they betray their own cause, their own party, in order to further personal agendas or dance to the dictates of the lobbyist special interests who put and keep them in power. They are, even more so than Democrats, the tap-dancing fools of puppet-masters like free enterprise-hating multi-billionaire George Soros, who has proudly bragged in interviews that he can and has changed the economy of entire nations. He uses the prostitution of power of our own Democrat and Republican politicians who sell themselves for votes, self-aggrandizement, money, and power. Some may have even started with principles early in their political careers but evolved into fork-tongued serpents along the way." Bendell says the Republican Party needs a "program now to rid ourselves by outing, expulsion, and confrontation, those in our party who have become like our own unarmed Viet Cong, serpent-like guerillas in our midst who glad-hand us during the day and fight against us behind our backs at night. So doing to further their own agendas while siding with our enemy, the Democrats, who at least have the courage to declare their intent. Real rhinos are powerful beastly animals that will attack you head on, not cowardly, beady-eyed, crooked serpents, with no testicles, and only attack from a shadowy ambush or when cornered. • It is hard to believe that the Republican Party is home to Swamp Creatures, but it seems to be true. Shari Goodman asks key questions about the Republican-controlled Congress : "Instead of Democrats standing together in front of news cameras with continuous new charges against President Trump, why are we not instead witnessing McConnell and Ryan center stage asking for an investigation into Obama's collusion with the Iranians or for spying on the Trump transition team? Why are Republicans not calling for an investigation into John Podesta's ties to Russia or into Comey's leaks while head of the FBI, or into Clinton's sale of 20% of our uranium to Russia which led to substantial kickbacks to the Clinton Foundation? Why are Republicans silent about former Attorney General Loretta Lynch's secret meeting with Bill Clinton while Hillary was being investigated by the FBI or why Lynch asked Comey not to call it an "investigation", but instead to call it a "matter"? Why is there no call for an investigation between the Clinton campaign and Ukraine? Why is there no call for an investigation into the corrupt Clinton Foundation? The silence of the Republican House and Senate in the face of evidence of real corruption speaks volumes about a spineless failing GOP. Police State tactics are commonplace in authoritarian Third World dictatorships, but not in the United States, a country once governed by laws and not men. Unfortunately, the left and their cohorts in the Democratic Party have become a criminal enterprise which poses an existential threat to our liberty and to our Republic. They must be stopped!" • • • WHY IS THE GOP CONGRESS NOT GOING AFTER OBAMA? Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich told Fox News last Tuesday that Congress should make Obama testify on Russia under oath -- about about when he knew Russia was meddling in the 2016 presidential race. Gingrich said Congress should be interested in the following : "Was it really last August, as the news stories say?...Who told him? It's going to turn out, yes, there's a big Russian story. It's [about] Barack Obama. Not Donald Trump. And you cannot make this stuff up." Congress has "an obligation" to call in Obama, Gingrich continued : "How can you be told the President of the United States knew last August that the Republicans were, in fact, involved in this and not ask him under oath? I mean, how can you be so irresponsible? The House and Senate are going to have to call Obama in and say 'who advised you? Why did you not decide to do anything? And then why did you keep quiet for six months while everybody looked at the Russians and Trump when you, in fact, had this information?' " • If there is a leader for the ProgDem coup to destroy President Trump and his family and oust him from the White House, that leader is Barack Obama. As President, Obama lied to America about Benhgazi, Obamacare, the IRS Tea Party harassment scandal, the Iran nuclear deal, the Fast & Furious debacle, Hillary's illegal mishandling of classified materials -- the list is endless -- why would he not lie about illegally spying on and unmasking Donald Trump for the purpose of defeating him? Why would Obama permit the continuing use of illegal unmasking of the Trump team unless he was determined to destroy Trump through innuendo and character assassination? • But, another question today is WHY the GOP Congress is doing nothing to uncover the Obama years of lies, illegal political spying, and protection of Hillary Clinton's illegal acts as Secretary of State and of the corrupt Clinton Foundation? WHY?? • • • DEAR READERS, the Wall Street Journal wrote in an editorial on July 18 : "President Trump cannot rely on Republicans in Congress to rally behind him...and most of the media want him run out of office." • Working to drive President Trump out of office has become the single goal of the Progressive Democrats, the media, the Democrat Party, AND their #NeverTrump allies in GOP circles, plus the Deep State permanent federal bureaucracy, including key intelligence agencies. • American citizens need to find out if congressional Republicans have joined the ProgDems in seeking to hijack the 2016 presidential election by a coup against the duly-elected President of the United States. Does this "collusion" explain the GOP's inability to end Obamacare or balance the budget or enact tax reform or address the ticking bomb of the national debt? • Socialist-totalitarian Progressives demand that the American people generally should 'have no choice," not just in healthcare, but in the election of their President -- that is the goal of Schumer, Pelosi and their allies. • If congressional Republicans care about honoring their oath to the Constitution -- and about serving the cause of American liberty -- they must rally round America's duly-elected President. If the #NeverTrump faction of the GOP really represents the Republican Congress and its leaders, then we know that the coup against President Trump is not just a banana republic mob-style coup. It is a concerted effort by the Washington elites to destroy the constitutional American Republic by proving that American voters are not the final deciders -- the elites are. • Scott Powell, a senior fellow at the Discovery Institute in Seattle, wrote for American Thinker : "We are in the midst of a wave of insanity and destructiveness that has tens of millions shaking their heads in disbelief. Mob behavior today is almost exclusively a phenomenon of the left. While there are so-called right-wing fringe extremist groups, they are small and have neither a base in the Republican Party nor favor from the media. There are simply no conservative or Republican mass movement analogs to Black Lives Matter, Animal Liberation Front (ALF), Women’s March, Peoples Climate Movement, Million Hoodies Movement for Justice...and countless others." Powell continues : "The coup against President Trump will not succeed in removing him from office. But if the opposition and obstructionism continue to delay nominee confirmations and confound the legislative agenda and Trump initiatives the people voted for, the coup efforts will have effectively accomplished their objective." • Outside the Beltway Swamp, there is little acceptance of the current stance of congressional Republicans. It’s time for Republicans serving in Washington to get over obsession with re-election and power and becoming rich; it's time for them to stop believing that business as usual is still acceptable; it's time for them to recognize that we are engaged in spiritual and political warfare to save the country. Because the enemy takes no prisoners, a GOP legislative failure is not an option." • It’s time for Republicans to unite, defend, and support President Trump -- and for those who refuse to be eliminated in 2018 and following elections, so that a real Republican Party can get on with Making America Great Again.

President Trump and Shakespeare's Julius Caesar : "There is a tide in the affairs of men..."

THE REAL NEWS OF THE DAY IS THAT SHAKESPEARE'S MESSAGES TO US MODERNS NEVER STOP. In "Julius Caesar," Brutus and Cassius kill Caesar because he had become a dictator, betraying the Roman Republic. Brutus says : "He would be crown'd : How that might change his nature, there's the question. It is the bright day that brings forth the adder." Today, we might call Caesar and his imperialist followers not "adders," that is snakes, but Swamp Creatures. But, Brutus and his republican band made the strategic error of letting Marc Antony plot their downfall. They believed Antony agreed with them about saving the Republic and allowed him to deliver the famous speech -- "Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears; I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him. The evil that men do lives after them." But, Antony's speech was meant to arouse the "low information" Roman masses who loved Caesar because he "bought" them with gifts of money and food and public entertainments. So, the rioting and mustering of an army by Marc Antony made it necessary for the republicans under Brutus finally to do battle with Antony and his ally, Octavius, who both wanted to be Emperor as Caesar was. Before the battle, Antony tells Octavius not to worry; they will win because he has spies in the camp of Brutus : "I am in their bosoms, and I know Wherefore they do it : they...come down With fearful bravery, thinking by this face To fasten in our thoughts that they have courage; But 'tis not so." Today, we might call the allies of President Trump the Republican elites who join him in trying to save the Republic, but do so with halfhearted conviction because they also like the perks of being the elite in a growing dictatorship. • Just before he went into battle, Brutus delivered the famous warning to his ally Cassius : "You must note beside, That we have tried the utmost of our friends, Our legions are brim-full, our cause is ripe : The enemy increaseth every day; We, at the height, are ready to decline. There is a tide in the affairs of men, Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune; Omitted, all the voyage of their life Is bound in shallows and in miseries. On such a full sea are we now afloat; And we must take the current when it serves, Or lose our ventures." (Julius Caesar, Act IV, Scene 3.) • • • THERE IS A TIDE IN THE AFFAIRS OF MEN. That brings us to today's battle for the soul of the American Republic. In a real sense, President Trump is Brutus, who has 'killed' Caesar -- that is, the Progressive Democrats and their leaders, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton -- not with knives but by an election. But, like Marc Antony, the Progressives will not admit defeat and are plotting to overthrow the saviors of the Republic by destroying Trump, not on a real battllefield, but with the arcane and convoluted insider rules that are used on the 'battlefield' of Washington DC's elite Swamp Creatures. And, all signs have been pointing to President Trump and his Republican supporters being overwhelmed by the Swamp Creatures who use insider rules to overpower the intent of the Constitution's election procedures. • But, in the past week, there have also been signs that President Trump is gaining ground and could win the battle to save American Republic. More important, it seems that Trump has realized that without re-inforcing and re-energizing his actions on behalf of America, he faces the likelihood of being defeated by the Swamp Creatures who despise him and the American Republic. Here are some of the signs that favor President Trump. • • • FUNDRAISING. "Follow the money." Well, the Republican National Committee set another fundraising record of $13.4 million in the month of June, bringing their total 2017 fundraising effort to an impressive $75.3 million. This is the highest sum the RNC has ever -- ever -- raised in a non-presidential election year. The RNC now has $44.7 million in the bank. RNC Chairwoman Ronna Romney McDaniel credited the figures to the RNC’s “loyal network of grassroots donors” supportive of President Trump’s agenda. RNC Finance Chariman Steve Wynn said : "Month after month, the RNC continues to break fundraising records, another testament to the overwhelming support this Republican administration continues to receive from Alaska to Alabama. It has never been more evident that Republicans are united towards a common goal of making this country great again.” • Compare this to the Democratic National Committee's results -- the Democratic Party had its worst April and May since 2003, raising $4.7 million and $4.29 million, respectively. AND, the Democratic National Committee is $3.3 million in debt, according to its June Federal Election Commission report. • Follow the Money -- and the polls. A poll conducted July 10-13 by the Washington Post and ABC News shows that while 37% of Americans believe the Democrats stand for something, 52% believe that the Democrats just stand against Trump. • • • THE SUPREME COURT. Despite the spin mainstream media lapdogs are putting on the latest short Court order, the US Supreme Court did not "deal a blow" to President Donald Trump's travel ban last Wednesday. The Court only expanded the list provided by Trump's executive order to include grandparents and the possibility of other "relatives." The three-sentence order by the justices -- who last month let the President start restricting entry by people from six mostly Moslem countries -- also gave Trump a partial win on a separate issue, temporarily blocking a lower court ruling that would have opened the way for potentially thousands of refugees to enter the country in the coming months. That portion of the Supreme Court order applies while the administration appeals on that issue to a federal appellate court in San Francisco. Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch dissented from part of Wednesday’s order, saying they would have let Trump also refuse entry to grandparents and other relatives while the case is on appeal. The Supreme Court plans to hear arguments October 10 on the travel ban. The latest argument centered on the rules that will apply until then. • President Trump now has the upper hand on immigration control and will need to follow through strongly in October's oral arguments and briefs at the Supreme Court. • • • ATTORNEY GENERAL SESSIONS. President Trump's attack on Attorney General Jeff Sessions in a New York Times interview last week shocked most of us, I know. Jeff Sessions was Donald Trump's first Senate supporter, stepping up at a time when the Washington GOP considered Trump a clown. So, when President Trump told the New York Times in an interview Wednesday that he never would have appointed Jeff Sessions as attorney general had he known Sessions would recuse himself from overseeing the Russia investigation, it was an extraordinary denunciation. The announcement that Sessions would step back from the investigation surprised Trump, who told the NYT that the attorney general gave him "zero" warning before recusing himself. Trump said Sessions' decision to recuse himself from all matters related to Russia was "very unfair to the President." That is certainly also something that we can all agree with. • Sessions seemed to be pushed aside by his finnicky attachment to what his former Senate colleagues would think of him, and he explained under oath to a Senate committee that he felt sure he should recuse himself because of the "appearance" of conflict in the Russian matter. • But, as we have come to understand, when President Trump strikes out at someone or something, he usually has more information than the public and the MSM know about. In the case of AG Sessions, many media outlets reported after Trump's NYT interview that intelligence shows that Sessions spoke to the Russian ambassador about issues related to President Trump’s campaign, despite his public denials about making such interactions, according to an Intel report. Sessions’ conversations with Sergey Kislyak were repeated by the ambassador in subsequent discussions with the Russian government that were intercepted by US intelligence agencies, according to the Washington Post. Sessions recused himself from any investigations involving Russia when it became public that he met with Kislyak. However, he insisted he never discussed campaign-related issues with any Russian officials : “I never had meetings with Russian operatives or Russian intermediaries about the Trump campaign." • Given the new information, a US official said Sessions has provided “misleading” statements that are “contradicted by other evidence.” It is called lying under oath, IF -- IF-- the allegations about the content of the Sessions conversation with Kislyak are true. I say "if" because the Intel report is not public and is being quoted by the Washington Post from intercepted Russian communications -- two big 'fake news' question marks. But, if President Trump knew about the Intel -- a very great likelihood -- when he spoke with the NYT, then he may have been giving Sessions a way out. Saying in effect that Sessions had lost his confidence would have made it 'easy' for Sessions to bow out as AG before the Intel report surfaced. • The other handle on the Trump attack on Sessions comes from Sessions' seeming timid management of the Justice Department agenda. We know of no FBI investigations begun, no grand juries called, no DOJ recommendations to Congress about possible investigations -- nothing to suggest that the Sessions DOJ / FBI is tracking the illegal activities of Hillary, the Clinton Foundation, the Obama White House, or even the Mueller Special Counsel investigation. Some of this is undoubtedly related to Sessions' recusal -- leaving Washington insider Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to call the shots on all Russia-related matters at the DOJ and FBI. That is absolutely "very unfair to the President,' who, as every President, must have his own counsel as Attorney General. Sessions has failed that fundamental test. Now, we could even ask if Sessions is actually so partial to the Swamp Creatures despite their vendetta against Trump that he is not a good counsel to the President. • • • THE MUELLER CARD. In the NYT interview, Trump also appeared to suggest that he has damaging information on former FBI Director Robert Mueller, who is now Special Counsel investigating Trump - Russia election collusion allegations. Trump told the NYT that Mueller's selection for the job was a conflict of interest because Trump had interviewed him to serve as the replacement FBI director. Trump also said : "There were many other conflicts that I haven't said, but I will at some point." We have learned never to underestimate Trump when he says something like that. • One of President Trump's warnings to Mueller was his advice not to investigate his family's finances beyond the Russia probe. President Trump told the New York Times : “I think that’s a violation. Look, this is about Russia." • Trump also said he wasn’t ruling out firing Mueller as Special Counsel on the Russia probe. He did not say that he would order the DOJ to fire Mueller or under what circumstances he would fire him, but he indicated Mueller's investigation of his family's finances would cross a line. Trump stated that Mueller’s office had several conflicts of interest, including Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein. Trump said Rosenstein was playing both sides in Trump’s decision to fire former FBI Director James Comey by recommending the firing but then appointing Mueller as Special Counsel. • Reports emerged last month that Trump was considering firing Mueller. The rumors drew criticism from both Democrat and Republican lawmakers. The White House pushed back against those reports, saying Trump had “no intention” of firing the special counsel. • But, ex-Trump advisor Sam Nunberg told Newsmax on Thursday that President Trump should "lower the boom" on Robert Mueller -- because the ex-FBI chief could topple the Commander-in-Chief and the GOP's hold on Congress. Nunberg told Newsmax : "Yes. I think he should. He should fire him. This is a cloud on the administration and this can result in not only us losing the Congress for no reason because of this kangaroo investigation going on, but it could result in possibly this administration going down." Nunberg, a New York City-based attorney with a hot-and-cold relationship with Trump, said Thursday on Newsmax that Session's decision, which put Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein in charge of the Russia probe : "did not serve the President well....Then [Rosenstein] summarily appoints Mueller, who is leading a kangaroo investigation. It's like Kafka-esque....[Rosenstein] apparently is part of the Washington, Georgetown elite -- and wanting to rehabilitate himself with them after writing the Comey memo to get Comey fired -- appoints Mueller." • If, as is being reported by the gloating MSM, Mueller is actually investigating transactions involving Trump's businesses as well as those of his associates, then President Trump is on solid ground to say that digging around in matters beyond Russia would be out of bounds. Trump’s businesses have involved Russians for years, making the boundaries fuzzy so Special Counsel Mueller appears to be taking a very wide-angle approach to his two-month-old probe. FBI investigators and others are looking at Russian purchases of apartments in Trump buildings, Trump’s involvement in a SoHo development with Russian associates, the 2013 Miss Universe pageant in Moscow and Trump’s sale of a Florida mansion to a Russian oligarch in 2008, a person familiar with the special counsel investigation told Newsmax. • Agents are also interested in dealings with the Bank of Cyprus, where Wilbur Ross served as vice chairman before he became Commerce Secretary, as well as the efforts of Jared Kushner, the President’s son-in-law and White House aide, to secure financing for some of his family’s real estate properties. This information also was provided by someone familiar with the inquiry but not authorized to speak publicly -- yet authorized to smear the President and his Cabinet, it seems. What is particularly galling about Mueller's actions is the fact that all these Trump business activities are a matter of public record, but before the Russia "collusion" fake news was concocted by the ProgDems, none of the activities was of any political interest. • AND, all this digging into old Trump business activities arises because Special Counsel Mueller has no effective supervision at the DOJ -- because recused AG Sessions cannot touch Mueller's activities, leaving the investigation in the hands of Rosenstein and other Deep State anti-Trump bureaucrats. That is what makes Sessions' recusal so unfair to the President, who has nobody in his own DOJ actually working to hold Mueller and his Progressive Democrat and MSM comrades in line. • President Trump now seems to have a handle on Mueller's overreach because of Mueller's conflicts of interest. It is time to use the conflicts of interest to topple Mueller. • • • FUSION GPS. And, in a development on the Russia front tailor-made for Trump, Fox News Politics reported on Friday that the co-founder of Fusion GPS, the company behind the sensational -- and ultimately proven to be mostly lies -- Trump-Russia dossier, will plead the Fifth Amendment, refusing to talk to Congress after being subpoenaed. Glenn Simpson, whose Fusion GPS firm has been tied to anti-Trump efforts and pro-Russian lobbying, will not talk to lawmakers, as confirmed to Fox News by the leaders of the Senate Judiciary Committe -- Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, and ranking member Dianne Feinstein. They subpoenaed Simpson to appear before the committee Wednesday as part of a hearing about the influence of foreign lobbying in last year's presidential election. But, Grassely and Feinstein said : "Simpson’s attorney has asserted that his client will invoke his Fifth Amendment rights in response to the subpoena." • During the campaign, Fusion GPS contracted former MI-6 agent Christopher Steele to look into rumors about Trump's financial and social connections in Russia, a move allegedly begun by the Hillary campaign. The resulting "dossier," which was leaked to the media following Trump's victory in November included a number of sordid allegations about the President's sexual activities. And, last week, Fox News reported that Fusion GPS had ties to Russian efforts to undermine US sanctions that were led by attorney Natalia Veselnitskaya, who became the center of a political storm earlier this month after Donald Trump Jr. made public a string of emails indicating that he had met with her on the promise of receiving damaging information about Hillary Clinton. Grassley and Feinstein also noted that both Trump Jr. and former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort, who sat in on the meeting, had agreed to be interviewed by committee members and staff. • Fusion GPS has said it had nothing to do with the Trump Jr.-Veselnitskaya meeting : “Fusion GPS learned about this meeting from news reports and had no prior knowledge of it. Any claim that Fusion GPS arranged or facilitated this meeting in any way is absolutely false,” the company said in a statement. • This story works particularly in President Trump's favor because Judiciary Committee Chairman Senator Chuck Grassley is asking top Trump administration officials to explain why Russian lawyer Veselnitskaya who met with Donald Trump Jr. last year was allowed in the country. Grassley is not accusing the Trump administration of wrongdsoing, but is asking for records from the Obama administration era. Grassely sent a letter to Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson asking why Natalia Veselnitskaya was allowed to stay in the country when, according to court documents, she had to leave in early 2016. Grassley wrote : "It is unclear how she was still in the country for that meeting despite being denied a visa beforehand and her parole purportedly expiring on January 7, 2016. This raises serious questions about whether the Obama administration authorized her to remain in the country, and if so, why?" Grassley is asking Tillerson if Veselnitskaya applied for a visa and for any details of a potential application, including whether she had to go through any additional procedures. He wants DHS to say if Veselnitskaya is currently in the United States. She previously said that she was granted a parole letter to enter the United States to argue a court case. Grassley wants to know about any restrictions or extensions of her parole, what agencies were involved in the decision, dates when she left or entered the country, and listed addresses. • The June 2016 meeting resulted in no information being given to Donald Trump Jr., and Veselnitskaya told the Associated Press last week that she did not represent the Russian government and "never had compromising information and could not have had." The New York Times reported Sunday that Veselnitskaya has advocated for the Russian government in the past and that her clients have included "state-owned businesses and a senior government official's son." The Kremlin has denied knowledge of the meeting and says it has no connections to Veselnitskaya. • The alleged Fusion GPS role in organizing the meeting raises questions about whether Donald Trump Jr. was "set up" by the Progressive Democrats and Hillary Clinton -- Fusion GPS has apparently done work for her campaign in the past. • This makes it a perfect mechanism for President Trump to use to turn the Russian fake news back against the ProgDems and Hillary's dirty tricks. • • • YES, DEAR READERS, there is a tide in the affairs of men. There are many indications that President Trump is at such a "tide" in his presidency and "must take the current when it serves, Or lose our ventures." Shakespeare knew from reading his history that Brutus and his republican allies lost the battle against Marc Antony and the imperialist elite that had overturned the Roman Republic because Brutus waited too long to attack. But, even Marc Antony had to say of Brutus, who died in the last battle : "His life was gentle, and the elements So mix'd in him that Nature might stand up And say to all the world 'This was a man!" • Brutus lost the battle and the Roman Republic was lost forever. The rest of the history of the Roman Empire was that of a string of emperors unfit to rule and of military and mercenary allies taking advantage of the weak Roman Senate to infiltrate and defeat Rome and turn it over to barbarians who led Europe into the Dark Ages. • Today, President Trump stands between the American Republic and its imperialist Progressive elites who are determined to destroy him and constitutional America. Like Brutus, Trump has "right" on his side, and like Brutus, he has an often weak and divided set of allies who cannot decide whether their own futures or the survival of the American Republic is more important to them personally. We Deplorables know the answer to that question. So does President Trump. So, now is the time for the President and us to seize the tide that is forming and ride it to victory for America, pushing the Swamp Creatures out as the Trump tide surges and takes the American Republic to a safe shore.

Casing the Colors © Week 19

Casing the Colors © Week 19 • • • CHAPTER 34 • • President LeNoir and Secretary Stevens took the lead at the next morning's meeting. They suggested a new era of American and Russian world leadership based on economic cooperation to develop the entire world so that all people could live more meaningful lives, free of destructive poverty and encroaching terrorism. Bill Stevens appealed urgently for swift action to form a new world order to replace the one that had crumbled with the collapse of the Soviet Union. "The end of the Cold War was a cataclysm," Bill Stevens said. "We didn't recognize it then, caught up in the euphoria of 1991, believing that with the end of communism, all threats to world peace were past." "It is time," Jacques LeNoir added, taking up his agreed role, "for responsible leadership, collectively committed to mankind. The long recession, the bloody ethnic wars and their resulting dislocations during the past decade have weakened our dedication to humanitarian principles in favor of economic ultimatums and military action. The litany is long. Growing insularity based on racial and cultural fears. The elimination of immigration from the third world. The shabby treatment of non- Europeans living among us. It must stop," the old French statesman said, tapping his fingertips deliberately on the table for emphasis. "It is neither a flattering picture nor a safe position, gentlemen." Chancellor Gerhardt spoke first, his soft voice rhythmic in its condemnation of the past. "Germany has struggled almost alone with the flood of refugees from eastern Europe and the Middle East. You have given us little more than lip service as we tried to assimilate them. Germany has stretched its economic resources and its people's patience to their limits and our natural fear of being overwhelmed from the East is hardening into ugly reaction. What will be different if we agree to the Alliance? America is flexing its muscle in Italy and France wants to install itself once more within our country. What has changed?" "We have finally understood the problem," President LeNoir answered, using a stage whisper for effect. "If we in the West do not help the world join us economically and politically, others will seize our wealth and use it to destroy us. The world will be wrapped in absolutism once more and the West will be a closed chapter in history." "What about the Baltic states?" Prime Minister Moore asked pragmatically. "Russia must support the actions of Ukraine and Belarus, otherwise they wouldn't dare to act." Bill Stevens responded. "Russia cannot hold the countries of eastern Europe and central Asia together unless it is understood that the West supports Russia. If we refuse to play the Russian card, there is no other card left for us," he added somewhat wearily, thinking of hundreds of similar discussions, both inside US Administrations and with American allies, discussions stretching back thirty years, to the beginning of his work as a shaper of United States foreign policy. "No one ever wants to learn the hard truths," Secretary Stevens offered to the assembled leaders, "no one ever wants to take the first step. This time, we will either learn or be overrun by the rest of the world." As the difficult morning of discussion inched its way toward noon, news arrived of the first wave of Baltic refugees pushing into Poland. There was also news of Africans reaching Sicilian ports in small boats. The Italian government was taking them in, determined to be charitable, but it was demanding concerted allied action to remove the threat. As the day wore on, the boats became larger and the trickle of Africans became a sizable influx. Coming on the heels of the bombing of Palermo at the beginning of the week, it frightened many Sicilians into heading north toward Rome and safety. Late in the afternoon, amid conflicting reports from Italy and eastern Europe, the group recessed in order to consult their governments. Germany needed, more than the others, to poll its fragile coalition. President LeNoir waited with General Bennett, Kate Gordon and Bill Stevens while the others made their phone calls. "Did you know about Sicily before the meeting began?" Kate asked. "No," Jacques LeNoir said, "but something like this was inevitable. Palermo wasn't a random target. If the jihadists can complete their grip on the south, the rest of Italy will be unable to resist. Africans posing as refugees -- it is an obvious ploy by Raqqa to put his first ground troops inside Europe. We were very lucky that they chose to begin today when we are all together here. It has given us the frightening prospect we need to get Germany to agree to our plan." When the meeting reconvened, Chancellor Gerhardt took up once again the question of the American commitment to Europe. "I know we must act," he said, "before Italy becomes the launching pad for Raqqa's European invasion, but what precisely is America willing to do?" "The United States will continue to provide the umbrella of strategic air power, missile protection and naval control that guarantees European security, as well as its oil supply and access to the oceans of the world. We will continue to deploy our ground force in Germany. But," Bill Stevens ended, "America has a rather important domestic problem of its own and we need to reserve sufficient resources to defeat Miguel and Raqqa in the United States. If we fail to save America, Europe will be left to the tender mercies of Raqqa and his islamic fundamentalists." "If we do not cooperate with Russia," General Bennett said, "it is very probable that the former Soviet territories that still control nuclear arsenals will take the Russian territories they want and turn their warheads on us if we try to stop them. And let us not forget that Iran may already be a nuclear player and would certainly support the Republics. Such a scenario would make it even harder to contain and defeat the islamic terrorists." "Think about it," Bill Stevens added. "Surely President Katerinov and President LeNoir aren't the only Europeans who understand the seriousness of the situation. We are facing barbarians who have perverted their own cultural heritage to build a terrorist machine." The German Chancellor straightened in his chair. "Germany will agree to the Alliance but only if every French unit deployed in Germany is countered by three US units to guarantee our sovereignty." Prime Minister Moore was the next to speak. "Great Britain would prefer that the Alliance be expressed in universal terms, to recognize the contribution of each of us." There was a long silence as the allied leaders struggled with their separate and collective ghosts of the 20th century. President LeNoir represented the splendid republican individualism and intellectual collectivity of France. Chancellor Gerhardt was both bold and emotional, as was Germany's pursuit of its destiny between East and West. John Moore, Britain's latest repository of the West's ideals of fair play and personal responsibility, had bound everything together with the unending English need to create the world in its own image. Secretary Stevens was the epitome of America's powerful machine running on efficiency and compassion but tempered with the historic fear of being too tightly held in the arms of other continents. Yet, somehow each had failed. The glory had turned to dust and the dream of universal freedom had been drowned in the blood spilled by class and racial hatreds. It was President LeNoir who broke the tension. Everyone watched as he walked to the sideboard and brought back to the table a bottle of the wine served at lunch. He uncorked the Lafite-Rothschild and tasted the great wine, his hands and senses caught up in a uniquely French moment of appreciation. Then he poured the wine into six glasses and handed one to each person at the table. He raised his glass in a motion that requested them to stand with him. "My dear friends and children of the West, the great wines of France have nourished and united us for a thousand years. Let us drink together to our common history and to our common hope. Vive la Détente! Vive la France!" His voice was assured, although resonating with emotion. Everyone raised their glasses to one another and tasted the wine. John Moore took up the toast, "Vive l'Angleterre!" Very quietly, Chancellor Gerhardt said, "Vive l'Allmagne!" Bill Stevens added, "Vive l'Amerique! Vive l'Alliance!" President LeNoir refilled the glasses and led the group to the French doors, opening them to the deep English twilight. No one spoke, but their sense of shared tradition and destiny bound them together. The Alliance was de facto agreed. "I'm going to change for dinner," Bill Stevens said, his mundane remark breaking into the dignity of the moment. "We have had a long, hard day and a shower would feel good." As everyone followed his lead, Scott stopped Kate, taking her arm. "Stay and talk a little. We haven't had much conversation in the past twenty-four hours." She poured herself another glass of wine and offered some to Scott. "No thanks. I think I'll have a scotch. Kate," he began, "we both know what's coming. Europe doesn't realize yet what's going to happen to all of us. It's just a Mexican refugee problem and the latest round of islamic terrorism as far as they're concerned. If they had any idea of the likely battle ahead, they would never have agreed to the implications of the Alliance so quickly." "If we can save ourselves, we can save Europe," Kate said. "Did you notice today that no one asked about the possibility of American or Mexican casualties. We are preparing for a massive military sweep through America's inner cities and Europe is worried about a few Africans in Sicily." "The Africans are Raqqa's terrorists, Scott. Be fair," Kate said. "Be fair. My God, we've started to fire into Mexico beyond the refugee camps along the Rio Grande to prevent Miguel from using the refugees as shields to enter US territory. When the world finds out that refugees are being killed in the process, it's a damn good bet that America will be bullied to stop." "But the American public supports you," Kate responded. "The country has backed our military effort one-hundred percent." "I hope you're right, Angel," Scott said, opening the doors to walk out over the lawn. "If we lose the Mexican border, we've lost the war." Kate followed him into the early evening chill. They walked to the ancient stone wall at the opposite end of the lawn. It was part of the abbey's original perimeter, wrapped around the village to keep out the unknown terrors of the medieval forest. They turned, leaning against the wall to look back at the abbey silhouetted against the darkening sky. "Why can't we hold back the wilderness the way this village did?" Kate asked. "Why can't we make ourselves safe behind a wall?" "Because," to quote a tough old soldier we both love, "it just isn't that goddamned simple." They laughed together, united as they had always been by their devotion to Jim Gordon. "Scott, do we have a real chance to save America?" The awful question fell from her like an ancient curse that couldn't do any harm as long as it had been left unspoken. "We're going to give it everything we've got," he replied, "but don't ever forget that if enough people come at us, nothing will stop them. Neither sophisticated weapons nor men and tanks. If enough of them pour in, determined to ruin us, we can only pile up bodies until we run out of ammunition." A terrible vision filled Kate. She saw Scott and herself leaning against a wall at the edge of history, trying to keep the blackness of the future from devouring them. She shook her head slowly to clear the nightmare vision. But the vision lingered. "The prospect of being slaughtered by a bunch of drug runners and terrorists doesn't appeal much to me, either," Scott said, watching her face. Her fear of the encroaching unknown was a fear he had felt and conquered many times. He put his medal-laden jacket around her for comfort. "I suppose, when I think about it objectively," she said, "I don't expect the next century to be led by Europe and America. But, we have a lot of talent to offer if only the rest of the world will let us contribute. These endless rounds of discussion and compromise wear thin when I think of the suffering outside our safe compounds." "Kate, your father and I need you, here in these meetings and in the White House. Bill Stevens is great, but he's not an Army brat like you. He doesn't speak our language and, despite your faith in Stu Wellford, I'm not sure he has the stomach for a fight against his own race. And George Morrison gives us a hundred reasons to give up for every reason to fight. Kate, hold on with us, please." "General Bennett, sir," she said, snapping to attention and saluting to bolster his spirits, "Lieutenant Gordon reporting for duty." "I'm serious, Kate," he said quietly. "We're standing on the edge of the last battle. Only darkness exists beyond our defeat. Our political leaders have brought us to the precipice, and now the US military must save us from falling into the abyss." He stood away from the wall and turned to face her, putting his hands on her shoulders to keep her leaning in place. She could see his face in the English evening light. His intense blue eyes reflected the night sky. "Damn, Kate, I'm a soldier. I've slept in trees in jungles to keep from being killed by enemy patrols. I've crawled on my belly through the rain forests of Central America without even so much as a US military identity card to help me if I got caught. My orders have led to thousands of deaths. You'll have a better life without me, without having to wonder if I'm coming back in a body bag." Kate touched his shirt and then let her fingers settle over the ribbons on his jacket. "Do you think a body bag would hurt less because we're not married?" she asked. She turned away from him. Don't let me lose my courage now, she thought. Let me be as tough as my father for just one more night. She heard Alexei's voice saying, 'I need you.' How different was her image of the man she had married. His passion reached across half a world, through a universe of separate experience, to offer strength . Scott offered the specter of a body bag as his excuse for remaining apart. In that instant, she knew where her future lay. "Scott," she whispered through her emotion, "we had better get ready for dinner." • • • CHAPTER 35 • • Sheila Wellford, elegantly dressed in a pale peach silk dress and jacket, slipped quietly out of the ABC Entertainment TV studio and into her BMW parked in the underground garage. It was Thursday afternoon. She had spent the morning taping her next show. She saw the Secret Service detachment fall into place behind her as she left the garage and turned onto the Boulevard of the Stars. Hell, she thought, even demanding that she be left alone didn't stop the White House security network. They became nothing more than an occasional tick in the back of her mind as she sped along toward her rendezvous in the hills overlooking Los Angeles. The taping of her talk show had gone particularly well and she was ready to unwind and spend an evening out of the spotlight. The BMW stopped to let the security gate open before accelerating along the lane leading to the parking area in front of a sprawling white brick mansion. She slammed the car door and hurried inside, breathing deeply as the cool interior enveloped her. In the bedroom, she changed her TV clothes for a swimsuit and caftan and went to the poolside terrace where a handsome, slightly younger man was waiting. They kissed and laughed together as they poured themselves a glass of white wine and settled into lounges. "They'll sit in the car all evening," she said, wondering what her Secret Service detachment reported to Stu when she disappeared into the same house so often. Well, she thought, at least Ricardo Pelluci is a successful producer who knows everybody and looks out for me. "Don't worry about them, Darling. Let's have dinner," he said motioning toward the butler. Sheila loved her evenings with Ricardo, just as she loved her Hollywood life, far away from Stu and his idealistic hope that America's racial issues could be settled by the conservative politicians he had joined, hoping to turn his personal dream of America into something more concrete. Sheila wondered if Stu ever stopped to imagine what his real value was to his friends in Washington, his black face and integrity smiling reassuringly out of TV screens into the homes of Americans willing to give the idea of America one last chance. She knew better. Black outrage and despair shouted back at her every time she taped a program, every time she suggested that her husband was going to make it all work. It wasn't working and it would never work, and she was content to be a continent away, free to voice her own opinion and to let others do the same. If Ricardo helped, if he made the deals that let her accumulate enough money to be independent of Stu's sophomoric desire to be the black Abraham Lincoln, that was just fine. If she and Ricardo had a little fun while they made a lot of money together, that was fine, too. Ricardo didn't need the money. He put it into her account most of the time anyway. It felt good to be looked after, to be pampered by a rich Hollywood producer, a major player, whose only goal was to help her. Dinner was a light chicken salad and a perfectly chilled chardonnay served on the terrace beside the pool. They laughed together about the foolishness she encountered as a Hollywood talk show host and lamented the current state of affairs in Washington and along the Mexican border. Sheila was not at all convinced that her husband's sincere efforts would work and even less convinced of their value in healing America. "This nonsense about joining forces with Russia to save the world is insane," she offered. "Even if the Europeans agree, what can it accomplish except to drain resources from the real needs here in the United States. Stu can't understand that he's being used by the military to achieve their own goals without any assurance that they'll finally provide the things he expects for the minorities of America." "You can tell me all about it later," Ricardo said, finishing his fresh strawberries. He took her hand and they strolled to the opposite end of the pool. A blue and white cabana with lounge chairs and a large pillow-covered couch awaited them. In seconds, they were installed on the couch and he was undressing her. Their lovemaking was swift and energetic, accompanied by music from Ricardo's latest film blockbuster. Afterward, they snuggled into each other. "Tell me all about your husband's stupidities," he said softly. "I promise to agree with you that he's being used. Maybe we can find a way to help him."