November 19, 2019--Jack: It's the Senate, Stupid

"How are things in Sodom on the Hudson?" 

I heard Jack's snickering laugh. We were back in New York City and, unlike in Maine, I was enjoying not running into him.

I put the phone on speaker, set it on the end table, and went to make myself a cup of decaf. I thought I'll just listen to what he has to say and not engage him directly. It's crazy enough in the city and I didn't want to make it worse.

"I'll bet you've got MSNBC on day and night and are enjoying the impeachment reality-TVshow. I can only imagine what Rachel is saying. She must be having a  field day.''Trump did this and then he did that. Impeachment is not good enough for him. Blah, blah, blah.'" 

He ranted on, "The Dems must be drooling over the prospect of impeaching him. I bet half of you are having dreams where he's perp-walked out of the White House and, in leg irons, shipped north to New York where he'll be prosecuted and hauled before a firing squad."

Then he said, "Tell the truth, you and your New York friends are getting your jollies from the so-called hearings. By now you must be in love with Shifty Schiff running things with an iron hand, cutting the mics whenever a Republican raises a point of order or wants to have witnesses of their own. Admit it. It's a done deal, right? Wired? Nancy Pelosi's counting the days before calling for a vote. She wants to get it done before Christmas so her people can run home to their districts and tell their constituents what good boys and girls they've been.

"They must be all puffed up, convinced that the things they're uncovering is the truth about Trump's corruption though most of the testimony is second and third hand. All of it hearsay, which is not admissible. Yes, I know, this is not a conventional trial and trial rules do not apply. But one could say that what they're working on--trying to turn a president out of office--is a bigger deal than almost any trial. So shouldn't Schiff use only the most legitimate tools and processes?

"But your pals are forgetting one thing as they race ahead." I almost broke my vow of silence to ask him what that might be. But it wasn't necessary as Jack said--"It's not about the House which the Dems control, the House can only bring charges. The Senate is the ballgame. They hold the real trial if Trump is in fact impeached. And if this happens the process moves across the capitol, to the Senate, which the Republicans control and where they make all the rules. I should say, Mitch McConnell runs the show. And what do you think he'll do? Nothing that will make you feel good. It will be a full bore, all out assault on the Democrats. They'll be the ones begging for points of order. As good as you're feeling now, that's how bad you'll feel when Mitch is running the show.

"For example, don't be surprised if they subpoena the Bidens. I don't see anything constitutional getting in the way of that. Or, for that matter, Hillary. Expect to hear about her emails."

So, I thought, now Jack is seeing himself as an authority on the Constitution.

"How do you think that'll go down? I know you're thinking--though you're clearly not talking--that it was wrong for Hunter Biden to get so tangled up in the Ukraine, making tons of money, while his father was Vice President. How else would he have been qualified for a job over there that paid him $50,000 a month?

"What I'm trying to say it that it's not always good to get what you hope for. Like the impeachment of Trump. Even Nancy worried out loud about how doing that might help him get reelected. The public would feel that the Dems are wasting everyone's time and spending millions of taxpayer dollars on a goose chase."

"You know, Jack, I agree . . ."

Before I could complete my thought, Jack had already hung up.

October 22, 2019--Jack Sputtering

Jack, alone, was slumped in a booth, seemingly talking to himself when we arrived at the Bristol Diner. 

Rona poked me and mouthed that maybe we should leave him alone. 

She whispered, "I think he's unraveling."

"If he is then maybe we should sit with him."  She nodded and led the way. 

"What's up Jack? You seem all out of joint?"

"I'm sick of those assholes."

"Who might they be?" Rona asked.

"Senators."

"Senators?" I said, "All of a sudden you care about them? I thought all that interested you was your president."

"That's my point."

"I'm not following you," I said. "Though I assume you're bent out of shape about the Republican senators."

"You assume correctly."

"I don't see why you're so down on them," Rona said, "They've rolled over for him. They'd be among those who wouldn't care if he shot someone on Fifth Avenue. All they're interested in is covering for him so he doesn't sic his base on them. Primary them, for example. They'll do anything to get reelected and believe if they cover for him, if they look the other way he won't come after them."

"It may surprise you," Jack said, "that I agree with most of that. They're a bunch of slimy hypocrites."

"Of course they're hypocrites. But I'm not getting your problem with them. As Rona said they're protecting him. I assume that's what you'd want them to do. Protect him from the Democrats."

"My problem is that these senators don't care about him but only about themselves. They'd throw him under the bus if they thought they could get away with it. This means the protection they provide is very thin and that makes Trump vulnerable."

"From your mouth to God's ear," Rona said. "I am hoping, to be honest, that they do throw him under the bus. My fantasy is that Pence becomes president. As bad as I think he would be he'd be like a breath of fresh air."

"His own people hate Trump and that scares me."

"Hate him?"

"If you were a Republican senator . . ."

"What a nightmarish thought," Rona said.

"If you were a Republican senator wouldn't you hate him? I don't mean express that openly. No one in their right mind who wants to remain in the Senate or run for president in four years would openly criticize him. As I said, they depend upon him to get reelected. So they show support for him and he reciprocates. Talk about quid pro quo."

"But I don't get the hate part. Why do they hate him?"

"They, all senators from both parties think of themselves as being members of the world's most exclusive club. There are only 100 senators, and they pride themeless on their independence and like to pretend they're above the grimy fray. In their own minds they're statesmen and compare themselves favorably to members of the House where representatives are comfortable doing whatever their leaders tell them to do. For example, how to vote. Look at how powerful Nancy Pelosi is. If she says jump, they jump. These days she even has AOC under her thumb. She housebroke her. Pun intended."

"I'm with you so far," Rona said.

"So how do you think it makes senators feel when they find themselves jumping when Trump tells them to do so? Or when Trump's lackey Mitch McConnell tells them to jump? Not too good, right?"

"I imagine not," Rona said.

"If true, then, a whole lot of Republican senators are not feeling very good about themselves. They're not the independent-minded big shots they like to think they are. They're a bunch of lackeys too. And politically and psychologically that can be dangerous for Trump. It means support for Trump in the Senate is thin because it was coerced and therefore is ready to explode or collapse. If Romney or Lindsey Graham, both still wanting to be president like half the senators do, were to pull the plug on their support for Trump, his presidency could come crashing down. Again, because most of the Republican senators hate him for what he has turned them into. How he has diminished and humiliated them. They know he has contempt for them. He doesn't even make the effort to pretend to pay attention to them much less take them seriously."

"This is quite an indictment," I said, "Sorry, though, for the indictment reference."

For the first time that morning Jack smiled.

October 23, 2018--Political Slut

Midterm election day is just two weeks from today. 

Two weeks at the end of a campaign can be a lifetime in voter mood swings. And, if you agree that this is the most consequential election of our lifetime, I hope you will consider how I am viewing it.

More than anything else voters need to restore some check and balance to the current political situation. James Madison was right--our system is designed to have divided government in order to prevent the emergence of a totalitarian leader. We face that prospect today. It is aided and abetted by the fact that the president and both houses of Congress are in the control of just one party.

Since the president is not on the ballot (except as a self-nationalizing surrogate), it is essential to flip at least one House. I think, forget the Senate. If anything, Republicans are likely to increase their majority there by at least two seats. Three or four incumbent Democratic senators are likely to lose and at most two states will switch from red to blue. Thus, the Senate will almost certainly remain in Mitch McConnell's gulag.

The House, though, is another matter. There, I am projecting, that as many as 35 Republicans will be defeated but only two or three Democrats. Enough to return the House to Democratic control.

But with Trump, the unusual often turns out to be the new usual. He has made this election about himself and has demonstrated the capacity to bring about electoral surprises. For example, two years ago by winning the presidency.

So, I say, when considering who to vote for forget totally issues that may be close to your heart. Become the same kind of political slut I am--obsessed about only one thing: winning.  

If you are passionate about gun control (I am) ignore the fact that the Democrat from your district running for the House is against what you consider to be meaningful gun control, hold your nose and vote for him or her anyway. (The Democratic House challenger here in Maine is featured in his TV ads as comfortable at a rifle range.)

If you are committed to single-payer healthcare--Medicare for all--(as I am) and if your Democratic candidate opposes this because he or she sees it as a budget-buster, for the moment forget that and vote for her or him.

And if you feel so strongly about preserving unfettered abortion rights that in all other circumstances it would be a litmus-test issue for you (I generally do feel this way), for the good of the larger cause, take a few deep breaths and pull the lever for the Democrat running in your district who supports some limitations on abortion--say, late term abortions--because unless he or she does take this position, to line up with the will of her or his potential constituents, the Republican will win and this will undermine the larger agenda--the desperate imperative to win back the House.

You get my point.

After we win, we can go back to debating issues. To do so now is a luxury we cannot afford. 

Also, during this final two weeks get involved. 

Make get-out-the-vote calls. Especially to Hispanic voters. Even if you are agoraphobic or have medical issues, you can do this from home in your pajamas. There is no excuse just to vote. Get directly to work. It is that important. 

There is no underestimating how empowered Trump and his people will feel and be if the Republicans retain control of all three branches of government (also, add the Supreme Court with its 5-4 conservative majority to this list). Unless some limitations are imposed on Trump's power by defeating him in at least the House (where serious investigations can take place as soon as January 1st) it will be a dangerous and depressing two or six more years.

Trump needs to be deflated. Right now. In two weeks.

December 18, 2017--A Corker

What did it take to get Senator Corker to switch his vote on the so-called tax reform bill?

Not much.

Fending off criticism that he flipped from opposing it to supporting it for mercenary reasons, he claimed he did so in part because John McCain's illness is preventing him from participating in the final vote. Corker suggested he became a supporter to, in effect, offer his vote in place of McCain's. A supporter, in McCain's case, largely because of huge tax advantages it offers to the Arizona senator himself and his family. Specifically his heiress wife.

Then Corker, to defend himself, expressed outrage that he had anything to do with provisions added to the bill that would be of significant financial benefit to him--a technical addition that provides a "carve out" that will allow certain kinds of real estate investments to become part of the pass-through provision of the bill and thus make them more valuable to large investors.

Large investors such as Corker, with a net worth of more than $50 million. Much of it in real estate.

He claims he knew nothing about this and it wasn't part of a deal to get him to flip. As a congressional insider for 11 years he certainly would know how these kinds of deals work. Here's how it worked in his case, something I know about as I used to do this sort of thing with Congress--

To provide Corker and his ilk plausible deniability staffers search around in a major bill to find things they could expand and, without having to be asked or prompted, slip into a bill to please someone whose vote they are looking to secure.

This is clearly what happened in Corker's case. He didn't need to wink or ask for the bill to be sweetened for him and, in spite of the fact that he hates Donald Trump, who has publicly humiliated him, he is going along with the bill because it is just too bountiful a deal for him and his family. It is so good that, deficit hawk though he is, because of this covert process, he could pretend his vote did not contradict his alleged passionate concern that the GOP bill will add at least $1.5 trillion to the national debt.

Cash is cash and his vote is for sale.

October 27, 2015--Poor Marco

Poor Marco Rubio.

Like so many Americans, he hates his job.

He literally told that to a friend.

That he hates his day job as senator.

On Sunday he said that he's seen enough and thus won't run for reelection. He failed to note he would not be able to run concurrently for the Senate and the White House--it's against Florida law.

But he apparently doesn't hate it enough to quit. He must like pulling down that $174K a year Senate salary.

And it's unlikely he'll get fired even though for at least the past two years he pretty much stopped showing up for work. Apparently senators get paid by the taxpayers even if the are AWOL. No one clocks them in or out. No one supervises them as they would be if they had a real job.

It not that he hates being in DC. Quite the contrary.

He hasn't been seen in the Senate because the job he wants, also in Washington, is the presidency and he has spent all his waking and dreaming hours campaigning for it. Not at his own expense, mind you, but supported by campaign contributions and as a result of the largesse of his principal backer, Norman Braman, a south Florida car dealer and billionaire.

Norman's been slipping cash to Marco and his wife for years and in return, as he had said publicly, when he telephones his protégée, he gets his calls returned pronto.

You bet.

When pressed last week by Matt Lauer about his no-show job on Capital Hill, Rubio, with moral indignation and a straight face, said, "I'm not missing votes because I'm on vacation. I'm running for president so that the votes they take in the Senate are actually meaningful again."

Clever boy.

Still with a straight face, he went on to say, "My ambitions are for the country and Florida. [If I'm elected] we can begin to fix some of these issues that I've been so frustrated we've been unable to address during my time in the Senate."

He isn't frustrated enough about life in the Senate to motivate him to say--

"Enough. I've been in Washington now for four and a half years years and from the inside I know how things work. I am so disgusted [are you listening Tea Partiers?], and so I quit.  You might wonder," he could add, "why I am running for the presidency, the most Washington-establishment job there is. Good question. I am doing it to shake up and change everything. To scale back the government we all hate."

And, he might add, he's not doing it just for the money. Though the president gets paid $400K a year, pockets another $175 more for expenses, and has that wonderful big jet to fly around in.

This is a lot more than Rubio's been getting from Godfather Braman.

But that would require more integrity than he has thus far displayed.

In the meantime, he's planning to keep depositing his Senate salary checks and not showing up very often.

Norman Braman and His "Boy" Marco Rubio