OrangeVerse (LXV): America's 250th Birthday

The weather-delayed main event on July 4th in DC was the detonation and launch of some 850,000 fireworks, the most bigly fireworks display (for entertainment purposes, anyway) in our nation's 250 years, maybe longer. 

Preceding that? A speech by the FOTUS; fortunately, the weather not only delayed his appearance, but shortened it to an almost tolerable 40 minutes, compared to the threatened dictator-like hours-long ramble.

Trump's speech featured heroes, patriotic imagery, and villains. The heroes, which I'll feature in a Sidebar, were impressive. The patriotism and the villains are where I found the poetry. Note that these are all his words, but not all of his words - it's not a transcript. Rather, it's my re-punctuated capture of his main themes.  

Free Verse, 250 Years in the Making

This country is the home of freedom. 

This is the land of liberty, 

and this is a flag

 that's the banner of the most extraordinary, 

most exceptional, most incredible nation 

ever to exist on the face of the earth.

 

And we're doing better now than 

we've ever done before.

No people have done more good, 

shown more courage, 

made more progress, 

righted more injustice or 

achieved more greatness 

than you, 

the American people.

For 250 years, the United 

States of America has been 

the hope, the promise, the light, and the glory 

among all of the 

nations of the world. 

All over the world 

they try and be like us. 

Nobody can be like us. 

Here on our National Mall, we're celebrating 

freedom's triumph over tyranny, 

liberty's conquest over oppression

 and the enduring victory of 

the American spirit 

from the July 4th, 1776 to July 4th, 2026. 

Big dates. That's big dates. Two big ones.

And tonight our country

is stronger, freer, richer, safer, 

and prouder than ever before.

But it all started 

with the miracle of history that lives 

forever in the heart of every single patriot.

In Philadelphia, our founding fathers 

summoned the courage of giants 

and the wisdom of centuries 

to boldly proclaim these timeless truths. 

They declared that all men are created equal.

That they are endowed with sacred, 

unalienable rights by the hand of our creator.

And that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

 

In signing their names to the roster of freedom, 

those 56 patriots put everything at risk, 

stepped onto the stage of destiny and 

seized a victory for the ages. 

And that's what it was. 

And this is an evening for the ages, 

I believe. This is something very special. 

This is bigger than if we didn't have the lightning blaring. 

We had lightning blaring, but this is bigger. 

Little more inconvenient, but it's bigger. 

I think in its own way 

it's more beautiful.

From the beginning, 

we were a nation that lived 

by the motto victory or death, 

and live free or die.

One out of every 100 

Americans gave their lives 

in the fight for independence 

to remind us of who these heroes were 

and what they gave us.

 These are the real flags.

These are flags that have seen a lot. 

These were the Stars and Stripes 

that flew triumphant when the British waved 

the white flag of surrender at Yorktown. 

That was a big surrender. 

Nobody thought that was possible.

They were the greatest power of the world,

and they surrendered, and that was the beginning.

Ever since, the entire world has been on notice

 that Americans will never let anyone 

take our freedom away. 

Won't happen.

And all these talks 

from the communists, 

they haven't got a chance. 

Not even a chance.

We don't want 

communists 

in our country.

Never worked, 

and it never will work. 

Americans must never forget 

that we are a historic and

 heroic people with a 

heroic spirit and a 

heroic purpose 

on this beautiful 

earth of ours.

We are 

made 

of the 

courage 

and the fire 

and the flesh 

and the blood 

of the best and 

the bravest people

this world has ever 

produced. 

Our founders not only won 

our liberty, they secured it 

with the most righteous 

political document

 ever conceived. It's called the 

Constitution of the United States. 

Very special.

And it's 

because of their 

genius that we remain

 the finest people on the planet 

after 250 years.

Unlike so many 

others in the world, 

in this country, 

we have freedom of speech, 

freedom of religion, 

equal justice under the law, 

although I wasn't treated that well, 

but we won't get into that.

 And the right to keep and bear arms. 

And for the almost six years 

that I was president,

I guarded very, 

very powerfully 

your Second Amendment, 

and they didn't do a thing to it, 

and it was not easy. 

But we guard your 

Second Amendment. 

We guard it very, very 

strongly and cautiously.

Across the generations 

Americans have 

fought, 

bled 

and 

died 

not just to secure 

those rights, 

but to expand them 

to citizens 

of every 

race, 

religion, 

color 

and creed 

because we 

are one people. 

We are 

one family.

And as our 

Declaration of Independence 

tells us, we are all made 

in the image of 

one Almighty God.

And a communist 

will never say that. 

Americans expanded

the blessings of freedom, 

and we have never stopped expanding 

our ambitions and our dreams. 

We had the American dream. 

We never had the American dream, 

however, like we have it right now. 

The American dream is 

back, very strong, 

beautiful.

Our rise

 to being the world's strongest 

and most powerful nation was no accident 

of history. We rebuilt our military in my first term. 

We use it a little bit in our... Well, actually, I should say 

third term, but I won't do that 

because I don't want any controversy.

But we use it and 

we've had tremendous success. 

You look at Venezuela,

 you look at Iran, 

we wiped it out, 

wiped out their military.

Americans 

crossed the Great Plains, 

scaled the Rockies, we just tamed 

the wilderness and conquered the frontier 

and built the empire, it's called the Empire of Liberty. 

We laid down the railroads, raised up the skyscrapers, 

those beautiful skyscrapers and dug out the Panama Canal, 

considered the eighth wonder of the world, 

which everyone said was an impossible thing to do. 

And by the way, 38,000 Americans died to

give us one of the greatest engineering feats of all time

 the Panama Canal.

This was the unstoppable spirit that created the world's

most powerful industries and built 

the strongest military anyone had ever seen. 

And today, it is stronger and more powerful than

 it ever was before.

Americans won the West and built

the modern world because America 

is a nation of winners. 

And today our country is winning again, 

and we're winning like never before.

America is back,

 and we want to 

keep America great. 

And we will do so by approving the Save America Act, 

which means all voters must show voter ID. 

All voters must provide a little thing called proof of citizenship.

And there will be no mail-in ballots, 

except for illness, disability, 

military deployment or travel.

And you won't have 

cheating on the elections anymore. 

It's very simple. 

Together, 

we are also reasserting the truth

that American strength and power is not 

something to be ashamed of. It is something that we 

are very, very proud of. This country has been

 the greatest force for peace 

and justice on earth. 

In the last century, we defeated tyrants, 

demolished evil and saved freedom again and again and again.

So, ladies and gentlemen,

these are the fighters and the banners 

of the greatest generation. 

They are the greatest generation. 

I hate to admit that, but they are. 

They saved the world and they made 

America very, very proud. 

We are very proud of you here us all. 

And after we vanquished fascism, 

Americans stood against the evil of communism in the Cold War. 

And as I said last night at the beautiful Mount Rushmore,

what a beautiful place where 

Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt loomed 

over my shoulder as I spoke.

 America will never be a communist country. 

Won't happen. Communism is a loser and it always will be.

The communist system is

the opposite of the American system

 and the communist system has never worked. 

Our warriors did not fight communism 

on battlefields across the world only to have that menace 

rear its ugly head right back here in America. 

We're not going to let it happen. 

We like to stop a threat like that immediately 

and before it begins. 

It's like a cancer. 

You got to cut it out. You got to cut it out fast. 

Congratulations and thank you

for being here very much. 

And from the now safe and beautiful capital of Washington. 

Think of it. Washington DC, our capital. 

Our capital is now safe, gleaming and beautiful again. 

It's safe again.

Went from a very unsafe place two years ago 

to one of the safest cities in the country 

and one of the most beautiful 

to the gleaming waters of the Gulf of America.

 

There is no challenge Americans cannot overcome. 

There is no place we cannot go. 

There is no goal we cannot reach and 

there is nothing that Americans cannot do. 

And we're proving that right now. 

Our stock market is the strongest it's ever been. 

We have $19.2 trillion being invested in our country, 

which is six times more than ever happened before. 

We're building more factories in the United States t

han ever before. Everyone's 401(k)s 

are at the highest number they've ever been.

And more people are working today in the United States 

than any time in the history of our country. 

But in this country, 

we can achieve the wildest 

and most impossible dreams. 

And no dream in history

 is bigger or more incredible 

than the one that started on July 4th, 1776. 

The war for independence was launched

 by minutemen, farmers, blacksmens, tradesmen 

who took up their muskets against

 the mightiest army on earth, 

most powerful army and 

unbeatable army until they met us. 

No one made them do it. 

They fought because they knew 

that a free people must have a free country over 250 years. 

The world has seen the great empires, vast kingdoms, 

mighty nations and terrible tyrants. 

They came and they went. 

But after two and a half centuries, 

this American republic still stands tall and strong 

and we love each other. 

That show tonight, you heard it was over and what happened? 

You came back. 

And this American flag still waves 

proud and free and beautiful. 

We have thrived and flourished 

because our founders were great. 

Our cause was just 

our people are brave. 

Our culture is exceptional 

and our destiny is written 

by God. 

And as we can see here tonight,
after 250 years, the spirit of 1776 still lives within us all. 

It still roars in the hearts of our nation's capital.

It still burns in the heart of every patriot,

thunders through every city and town and

 it still lights the entire world 

with the glow of American liberty. 

And there is nothing like that. 

At 250 years old, we may be the oldest 

constitutional republic on earth, 

but our country is just getting started 

because the best is yet to come. 

On this 250th 4th of July

we declared just as they did 

two and a half centuries ago 

that for our country and for our children 

and for the cause of liberty, 

we are going to take our country to new levels,

to levels not reached. 

We're going to make it bigger, better, stronger, 

and we're going to love it even more.

Happy 50th Anniversary, Watergate

Today is the 50th anniversary of Watergate, the scandal that led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon. 

And I can't help drawing comparisons between that crisis and the one in which our most recent former president finds himself knee deep.

 For example, 

• Richard Nixon had a CREEP - the Committee for the Re-Election of the President; Donald Trump is a creep. 

• Nixon had criminals acting on his behalf; Trump had hundreds of criminals acting on his behalf.

• Nixon's scandal came to light with a break-in at the Watergate Hotel, a building in DC; Trump's came to light with the break-in at the US Capitol, a building in DC. 

• The Watergate scandal had Deep Throat, the long-anonymous source who fed reporters information they published in real time; the Trump scandal has deep voices: the dozens of reporters and former staffers who have written about his administration. 

• Nixon had the Saturday Night Massacre, in which DOJ folks quit so they wouldn't have to fire the special prosecutor investigating the scandal; Trump conspired to fire DOJ staff, and had a legion of people threaten to quit. 

• Nixon's secretary, Rosemary Woods, destroyed White House documents; Donald Trump has allegedly destroyed White House documents. 

• Nixon had the 'plumbers'; Trump was full of crap with his ideas of a stolen election.

• Nixon was overwhelmingly re-elected after the scandal; Trump continues to maintain that he overwhelmingly won an election he overwhelmingly lost. 

• Gerald Ford declared "our long national nightmare" to be over when Nixon resigned; Mike Pence prevented a constitutional crisis when he refused to follow Trump's directive that he not certify the election. 

• Nixon dealt with shady characters in support of his winning re-election effort; Trump had Rudy Giuliani, Steven Bannon, and countless others helping him try to steal back an election he lost. 

• It took a long time for Republicans to turn against Nixon; it's taking Republicans a long time to turn against Trump.

• Gerald Ford pardoned Nixon; Trump pardoned just about everyone.

• Richard Nixon famously said he was not a crook; Donald Trump said "No way we lost this election!"

Let's all raise a glass to the Republican who had the good sense to quit, shall we? 

OrangeVerse LVIII: He's Ba-a-a-ck!

After the US Senate failed to convict former president Donald Trump of the crime of incitement of insurrection, the twice-impeached president issued a statement. 

My guess is that only a couple of sentences - three, I think - were written by him. The rest of them? Maybe he went to Jared, or Ivanka. They're not crazy enough to have been written by either of the Millers, or Scavino.

Here it is, in full, for your reading pleasure. See if you can figure out which words are Trump's and which came from the professionals. 

Only the Best Lawyers

I want to first thank my team of
dedicated lawyers and others for their
 tireless work upholding justice and defending truth.

Anyone Seen My Pocket Constitution?

My deepest thanks
 as well to all of the United States
Senators and Members of Congress
 who stood proudly for the
Constitution we all revere
 and for the sacred legal principles
 at the heart of our country.
 
Impartial, Like Impartial Justice

Our cherished 

Constitutional Republic
was founded on the
 impartial rule of law,
the indispensable safeguard
for our liberties our rights,
and our freedoms.

SAD! BAD! BIGLY!
It is a sad commentary
on our times that one
political party in American
is given a free pass to
denigrate the rule of law,
 defame law enforcement,
cheer mobs, excuse rioters,
and transform justice
 into a tool of political vengeance,
and persecute, blacklist,
cancel and suppress all people
and viewpoints with whom or which
 they disagree. 

Honestly?

I always have,
and always will, be
a champion for the
unwavering rule of law,
the heroes of law enforcement,
and the right of Americans
to peacefully and honestly
debate the issues of the day
 without malice and hate.

 Which Witch is This?

This has been yet another
phase of the greatest witch hunt
in the history of our Country.
No president has ever
 gone through anything
like it, and it continues
because our opponents cannot
forget the almost 75 million people,
the highest ever for a sitting president,
who voted for us just a few short months ago.

I Want to Thank You
I also want to convey
my gratitude to the millions of
decent, hardworking, law-abiding
God-and-Country loving
citizens who have bravely
supported these important principles
 in these very difficult and challenging times.

Moving On and On and On

Our historic, patriotic and
 beautiful movement
to Make America Great Again
has only just begun.
In the months ahead I
 have much to share with you,
 and I look forward to
continuing our incredible journey
together to achieve American
 greatness for all of our people. 
There has never been anything like it!

I'm a Working Man

We have so much work ahead of us,
and soon we will emerge with a vision for a bright,
radiant and limitless American future.
Together there is nothing
we cannot accomplish.

One is the Happiest Number

We remain one People,
one family, and
one glorious nation 

under God, and it's
our responsibility to
preserve this magnificent 

inheritance for our children 

and for generations
of Americans to come.

May God bless all of you,
and may God forever bless
the United States of America.

Did you miss him? Have no fear - there was another statement, and who knows how long it'll take before the next, and the next, and the next...

Highlights from the RNC: Day Three

And, here's the carefully curated highlight reel from night three of the Republican National Convention; you can check out nights one and two if you missed those.

There're only two speeches I'm highlighting. Oh, there were many more given, as you can see from the transcript linked above. There were politicians, first responders, people with pre-existing conditions, political candidates, sports heroes, and more.

There was even someone accused of insider trading, which I thought was pretty cool for the 'Law and Order' party, although I'm sure the arrest of the speaker earlier this month was all part of the grand deep-state hoaxspiracy to bring down the Chosen One, ,or something. What is it they say,W1GOTDEWAGOTDE (When One Goes Off the Deep End, We All Go Off The Deep End)?

There yet another Trump to take the stage - Eric's wife Lara, who I think is the fourth and next-to-last Trump to speak (first daughter Ivanka still on the docket, of course.)

There were lies, misstatements, misquotes, and stories galore to tug on your heartstrings, some of which had some connection to the president, and some where that connection was hard to find.

One of the former? Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany.

I’m Kayleigh McEnany. You may know me as a supporter of President Trump, but tonight I’m here to share with you how he supported me...

Actually, most of us regular Americans watching probably know her as his fourth Press Secretary, right? And most of us were not aware that she once called him a showman, a racist, a RINO - and even a progressive (!!!), so that was kind of enlightening, and you know, almost made poring over the transcripts and video clips worthwhile.

And there was the opening prayer, delivered by Rabbi Shubert Spero, formerly of Young Israel of Greater Cleveland.Or, was the opening prayer delivered by Rabbi Aryeh Spero, president of a Jewish group that speaks out for America’s “Judeo-Christian ethos," among other things?

Well, seems it was the latter - and the RNC feed had it wrong, and I almost had it wrong as a result. Honestly? Absent the dreaded red misspelled word indicator, I was right there with them accusing the wrong Rabbi of delivering the second of they two highlights I'm featuring. 

Here are a few of Spero's comments, which completely sum up the viewpoints and the platform of  Trump Republicans.

Oh Lord, you have granted us certain natural rights, such as the right to speak freely, life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, as well as religious freedom, the right to assemble and the right to self-defense.

Only in America have these God-given rights so flourished and been categorized as belonging to the people, embodying the very essence of our government. Father, we pray that this outlook and mindset, this form of government continues, as has been our history, especially now when to our horror, it is being challenged.

So, we pray that God gives strength and health to our President, who has splendidly demonstrated daily his determination to defend and maintain the God-given rights of our citizens as enshrined in our constitution, and in our declaration, eloquently passed down through our Judeo-Christian tradition.

President Trump has stood up fearlessly against those who are corrupting the term social justice, so as to deny Americans their birthright and these divine gifts. May God protect him. May God bless all those in government and among our citizens who seek to honor, defend and preserve our heritage.

I want to do those things, and I believe in social justice, but it would seem my ideas are different from Spero's. Does that mean God will ignore me? And I assume that Spero is fine with that, wouldn't you agree? There's I'm guessing yes, and there's quite a bit of evidence that Trump Republicans feel the same way, so forgive me for not climbing aboard the Trump Train just now, OK?

And in case you're wondering, I'll have Mike Pence's full acceptance speech, along with Trump's (coming later tonight), for you in Friday's TGIF.  That's the exact same treatment I gave to the remarks from Kamala Harris and Joe Biden - in full, without comment or snicker, even if those remarks are 'to my horror.'

I guess that means I'm "splendidly demonstrating my determination" to defend those rights about which the Rabbi waxed so eloquently.

Good on me.

Dear Nancy... Love, Donny

THE WHITE HOUSE

WASHINGTON

December 17, 2019

The Honorable Nancy Pelosi

Speaker of the House of Representatives

Washington, D.C. 20515

Dear Madam Speaker:

I write to express my strongest and most powerful protest against the partisan impeachment crusade being pursued by the Democrats in the House of Representatives. This impeachment represents an unprecedented and unconstitutional abuse of power by Democrat Lawmakers, unequaled in nearly two and a half centuries of American legislative history.

The Articles of Impeachment introduced by the House Judiciary Committee are not recognizable under any standard of Constitutional theory, interpretation, or jurisprudence. They include no crimes, no misdemeanors, and no offenses whatsoever. You have cheapened the importance of the very ugly word, impeachment!

By proceeding with your invalid impeachment, you are violating your oaths of office, you are breaking your allegiance to the Constitution, and you are declaring open war on American Democracy. You dare to invoke the Founding Fathers in pursuit of this election-nullification scheme — yet your spiteful actions display unfettered contempt for America's founding and your egregious conduct threatens to destroy that which our Founders pledged their very lives to build. Even worse than offending the Founding Fathers, you are offending Americans of faith by continually saying “I pray for the President,” when you know this statement is not true, unless it is meant in a negative sense. It is a terrible thing you are doing, but you will have to live with it, not I!

Your first claim, “Abuse of Power," is a completely disingenuous, meritless, and baseless invention of your imagination. You know that I had a totally innocent conversation with the President of Ukraine. I then had a second conversation that has been misquoted, mischaracterized, and fraudulently misrepresented. Fortunately, there was a transcript of the conversation taken, and you know from the transcript (which was immediately made available) that the paragraph in question was perfect. I said to President Zelensky: “I would like you to do us a favor, though, because our country has been through a lot and Ukraine knows a lot about it.” I said do us a favor, not me, and our country, not a campaign. I then mentioned the Attorney General of the United States. Every time I talk with a foreign leader, I put America's interests first, just as I did with President Zelensky.

You are turning a policy disagreement between two branches of government into an impeachable offense — it is no more legitimate than the Executive Branch charging members of Congress with crimes for the lawful exercise of legislative power.

You know full well that Vice President Biden used his office and $1 billion dollars of U.S. aid money to coerce Ukraine into firing the prosecutor who was digging into the company paying his son millions of dollars. You know this because Biden bragged about it on video. Biden openly stated: “I said, “I'm telling you, you're not getting the billion dollars'...I looked at them and said: “I'm leaving in six hours. If the prosecutor is not fired, you're not getting the money.' Well, son of a bitch. He got fired.” Even Joe Biden admitted just days ago in an interview with NPR that it “looked bad.” Now you are trying to impeach me by falsely accusing me of doing what Joe Biden has admitted he actually did.

President Zelensky has repeatedly declared that I did nothing wrong, and that there was No Pressure. He further emphasized that it was a “good phone call,” that “I don't feel pressure," and explicitly stressed that “nobody pushed me." The Ukrainian Foreign Minister stated very clearly: “I have never seen a direct link between investigations and security assistance.” He also said there was “No Pressure.” Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, a supporter of Ukraine who met privately with President Zelensky, has said: “At no time during this meeting...was there any mention by Zelensky or any Ukrainian that they were feeling pressure to do anything in return for the military aid.” Many meetings have been held between representatives of Ukraine and our country. Never once did Ukraine complain about pressure being applied — not once! Ambassador Sondland testified that I told him: “No quid pro quo. I want nothing. I want nothing. I want President Zelensky to do the right thing, do what he ran on.”

The second claim, so-called “Obstruction of Congress,” is preposterous and dangerous. House Democrats are trying to impeach the duly elected President of the United States for asserting Constitutionally based privileges that have been asserted on a bipartisan basis by administrations of both political parties throughout our Nation's history. Under that standard, every American president would have been impeached many times over. As liberal law professor Jonathan Turley warned when addressing Congressional Democrats: “I can't emphasize this enough…if you impeach a president, if you make a high crime and misdemeanor out of going to the courts, it is an abuse of power. It's your abuse of power. You're doing precisely what you're criticizing the President for doing."

Everyone, you included, knows what is really happening. Your chosen candidate lost the election in 2016, in an Electoral College landslide (306-227), and you and your party have never recovered from this defeat. You have developed a full-fledged case of what many in the media call Trump Derangement Syndrome and sadly, you will never get over it! You are unwilling and unable to accept the verdict issued at the ballot box during the great Election of 2016. So you have spent three straight years attempting to overturn the will of the American people and nullify their votes. You view democracy as your enemy!

Speaker Pelosi, you admitted just last week at a public forum that your party's impeachment effort has been going on for two and a half years," long before you ever heard about a phone call with Ukraine. Nineteen minutes after I took the oath of office, the Washington Post published a story headlined, “The Campaign to Impeach President Trump Has Begun.” Less than three months after my inauguration, Representative Maxine Waters stated, “I'm going to fight every day until he's impeached.” House Democrats introduced the first impeachment resolution against me within months of my inauguration, for what will be regarded as one of our country's best decisions, the firing of James Comey (see Inspector General Reports) — who the world now knows is one of the dirtiest cops our Nation has ever seen. A ranting and raving Congresswoman, Rashida Tlaib, declared just hours after she was sworn into office, “We're gonna go in there and we're gonna impeach the motherf****r." Representative Al Green said in May, “I'm concerned that if we don't impeach this president, he will get re-elected.” Again, you and your allies said, and did, all of these things long before you ever heard of President Zelensky or anything related to Ukraine. As you know very well, this impeachment drive has nothing to do with Ukraine, or the totally appropriate conversation I had with its new president. It only has to do with your attempt to undo the election of 2016 and steal the election of 2020!

Congressman Adam Schiff cheated and lied all the way up to the present day, even going so far as to fraudulently make up, out of thin air, my conversation with President Zelensky of Ukraine and read this fantasy language to Congress as though it were said by me. His shameless lies and deceptions, dating all the way back to the Russia Hoax, is one of the main reasons we are here today.

You and your party are desperate to distract from America's extraordinary economy, incredible jobs boom, record stock market, soaring confidence, and flourishing citizens. Your party simply cannot compete with our record: 7 million new jobs; the lowest-ever unemployment for African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and Asian Americans; a rebuilt military; a completely reformed VA with Choice and Accountability for our great veterans; more than 170 new federal judges and two Supreme Court Justices; historic tax and regulation cuts; the elimination of the individual mandate; the first decline in prescription drug prices in half a century; the first new branch of the United States Military since 1947, the Space Force; strong protection of the Second Amendment; criminal justice reform; a defeated ISIS caliphate and the killing of the world's number one terrorist leader, al-Baghdadi; the replacement of the disastrous NAFTA trade deal with the wonderful USMCA (Mexico and Canada); a breakthrough Phase One trade deal with China; massive new trade deals with Japan and South Korea; withdrawal from the terrible Iran Nuclear Deal; cancellation of the unfair and costly Paris Climate Accord; becoming the world's top energy producer; recognition of Israel's capital, opening the American Embassy in Jerusalem, and recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights; a colossal reduction in illegal border crossings, the ending of Catch-and-Release, and the building of the Southern Border Wall — and that is just the beginning, there is so much more. You cannot defend your extreme policies — open borders, mass migration, high crime, crippling taxes, socialized healthcare, destruction of American energy, late-term taxpayer-funded abortion, elimination of the Second Amendment, radical far-left theories of law and justice, and constant partisan obstruction of both common sense and common good.

There is nothing I would rather do than stop referring to your party as the Do-Nothing Democrats. Unfortunately, I don't know that you will ever give me a chance to do so. After three years of unfair and unwarranted investigations, 45 million dollars spent, 18 angry Democrat prosecutors, the entire force of the FBI, headed by leadership now proven to be totally incompetent and corrupt, you have found NOTHING! Few people in high position could have endured or passed this test. You do not know, nor do you care, the great damage and hurt you have inflicted upon wonderful and loving members of my family. You conducted a fake investigation upon the democratically elected President of the United States, and you are doing it yet again.

There are not many people who could have taken the punishment inflicted during this period of time, and yet done so much for the success of America and its citizens. But instead of putting our country first, you have decided to disgrace our country still further. You completely failed with the Mueller report because there was nothing to find, so you decided to take the next hoax that came along, the phone call with Ukraine — even though it was a perfect call. And by the way, when I speak to foreign countries, there are many people, with permission, listening to the call on both sides of the conversation.

You are the ones interfering in America's elections. You are the ones subverting America's Democracy. You are the ones Obstructing Justice. You are the ones bringing pain and suffering to our Republic for your own selfish personal, political, and partisan gain.

Before the Impeachment Hoax, it was the Russian Witch Hunt. Against all evidence, and regardless of the truth, you and your deputies claimed that my campaign colluded with the Russians — a grave, malicious, and slanderous lie, a falsehood like no other. You forced our Nation through turmoil and torment over a wholly fabricated story, illegally purchased from a foreign spy by Hillary Clinton and the DNC in order to assault our democracy. Yet, when the monstrous lie was debunked and this Democrat conspiracy dissolved into dust, you did not apologize. You did not recant. You did not ask to be forgiven. You showed no remorse, no capacity for self-reflection. Instead, you pursued your next libelous and vicious crusade-you engineered an attempt to frame and defame an innocent person. All of this was motivated by personal political calculation. Your Speakership and your party are held hostage by your most deranged and radical representatives of the far left. Each one of your members lives in fear of a socialist primary challenger — this is what is driving impeachment. Look at Congressman Nadler's challenger. Look at yourself and others. Do not take our country down with your party.

If you truly cared about freedom and liberty for our Nation, then you would be devoting your vast investigative resources to exposing the full truth concerning the FBI's horrifying abuses of power before, during, and after the 2016 election — including the use of spies against my campaign, the submission of false evidence to a FISA court, and the concealment of exculpatory evidence in order to frame the innocent. The FBI has great and honorable people, but the leadership was inept and corrupt. I would think that you would personally be appalled by these revelations, because in your press conference the day you announced impeachment, you tied the impeachment effort directly to the completely discredited Russia Hoax, declaring twice that “all roads lead to Putin,” when you know that is an abject lie. I have been far tougher on Russia than President Obama ever even thought to be.

Any member of Congress who votes in support of impeachment — against every shred of truth, fact, evidence, and legal principle — is showing how deeply they revile the voters and how truly they detest America's Constitutional order. Our Founders feared the tribalization of partisan politics, and you are bringing their worst fears to life.

Worse still, I have been deprived of basic Constitutional Due Process from the beginning of this impeachment scam right up until the present. I have been denied the most fundamental rights afforded by the Constitution, including the right to present evidence, to have my own counsel present, to confront accusers, and to call and cross-examine witnesses, like the so-called whistleblower who started this entire hoax with a false report of the phone call that bears no relationship to the actual phone call that was made. Once I presented the transcribed call, which surprised and shocked the fraudsters (they never thought that such evidence would be presented), the so-called whistleblower, and the second whistleblower, disappeared because they got caught, their report was a fraud, and they were no longer going to be made available to us. In other words, once the phone call was made public, your whole plot blew up, but that didn't stop you from continuing.

More due process was afforded to those accused in the Salem Witch Trials.

You and others on your committees have long said impeachment must be bipartisan — it is not. You said it was very divisive — it certainly is, even far more than you ever thought possible — and it will only get worse!

This is nothing more than an illegal, partisan attempted coup that will, based on recent sentiment, badly fail at the voting booth. You are not just after me, as President, you are after the entire Republican Party. But because of this colossal injustice, our party is more united than it has ever been before. History will judge you harshly as you proceed with this impeachment charade. Your legacy will be that of turning the House of Representatives from a revered legislative body into a Star Chamber of partisan persecution.

Perhaps most insulting of all is your false display of solemnity. You apparently have so little respect for the American People that you expect them to believe that you are approaching this impeachment somberly, reservedly, and reluctantly. No intelligent person believes what you are saying. Since the moment I won the election, the Democrat Party has been possessed by Impeachment Fever. There is no reticence. This is not a somber affair. You are making a mockery of impeachment and you are scarcely concealing your hatred of me, of the Republican Party, and tens of millions of patriotic Americans. The voters are wise, and they are seeing straight through this empty, hollow, and dangerous game you are playing.

I have no doubt the American people will hold you and the Democrats fully responsible in the upcoming 2020 election. They will not soon forgive your perversion of justice and abuse of power.

There is far too much that needs to be done to improve the lives of our citizens. It is time for you and the highly partisan Democrats in Congress to immediately cease this impeachment fantasy and get back to work for the American People. While I have no expectation that you will do so, I write this letter to you for the purpose of history and to put my thoughts on a permanent and indelible record.

One hundred years from now, when people look back at this affair, I want them to understand it, and learn from it, so that it can never happen to another President again.

cc:

United States Senate

United States House of Representatives

Sunday School 12/15/19

Let's talk about impeachment, shall we? 

Making the rounds today: Chairmen Jerry Nadler (House Judiciary Cmte) and Adam Schiff (House Intelligence Cmte) on ABC's This Week; Senators Chris Coons (D-DE) and Pat Toomey (R-PA) on NBC's Meet the Press; Senators Lindsey Graham (R-Trump) and Dick Durbin (D-IL) on CBS' Face the Nation; Senators Rand Paul (R-KY/Canada) and Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Rep. Will Hurd (R-TX) on CNN's State of the Union. Let's see how much substance I can fit in today.

From This Week:

• Schiff: It was one thing with the president inviting foreign interference as a candidate, when he couldn't use the power of his office to make it so. It was another when, as president of the United States, he withheld hundreds of millions of dollars to coerce an ally, betray our national security, and try to cheat in the next election. That was not something we could turn away from. But it was one more fact, George, that I think made it inexorable. And that is the fact that it was the day after Bob Mueller testified, the day after Donald Trump felt that he was beyond accountability for his first misconduct, that he was back on the phone, this time with President Zelensky, trying to get that country to help him cheat in the next election.That told me, this president believes he is above the law and accountable to no one, and that this road was necessary. And I think it very much is.

• Nadler: This is a crime in progress against the constitution and against the American democracy. We cannot take the risk  that the next election will be corrupted through foreign interference solicited by the president, which he is clearly trying to do. It goes to the heart of our democracy. It was the heart of what the constitution meant by high crimes and misdemeanors for the president to engage in self-dealing for his own benefit to put himself above the country and to threaten the integrity of our elections, upon which everything else depends. It is a total threat. And we must meet that threat.

• Schiff: I don't think any of us have any question that had Barack Obama engaged in the activity, the conduct which is the subject these articles of impeachment, every one of these Republicans would be voting to impeach him. And you know something, I have to hope to hell, George, if it were Barack Obama, I would vote to impeach him. 

From Meet the Press: 

• Toomey: I think it's appropriate to make sure that the president gets a fair trial here, and I think that's the idea. I think it would be extremely inappropriate to put a bullet in this thing immediately when it comes over. I think we ought to hear what the House impeachment managers have to say, give the president's attorneys an opportunity to make the defense, and then make a decision about whether and to what extent it would go forward from there.

• Coons: The only reason that Speaker Pelosi changed her position and supported moving ahead with an impeachment inquiry was because what Donald Trump is alleged to have done, and all evidence points to him having done it, which is to invite foreign interference in our next election, undermines the very core of our democracy, which is free and fair elections where foreign parties aren't influencing the outcome. If he is ultimately exonerated in the Senate, if the Senate Republican majority refuses to discipline him through impeachment, he will be unbounded. And I am gravely concerned about what else he might do between now and the 2020 election when there are no restrictions on his behavior.

From Face the Nation:

• Graham: Yeah, well, I'd tell the president, if somebody is ready to acquit you, I'd sort of get out of the way. If you start calling the witnesses the president wants and they're are going to start calling Mike Pence, you know, the secretary of State Pompeo, I don't think that's good for the country. I don't think it's good for the Senate. You need 51 votes to get a witness approved. I want to make my decision based on the trial record established in the House as a basis for impeachment. That's just me, one senator. But I think there's a general desire by a lot of senators to not turn this thing into a circus. I understand the president's frustration by being shut out of the house but I need to do what I think is best for the country.

• Durbin: I could just tell you, we-we present the evidence and let the American people follow this trial in the Senate. You know, it isn't a question of political popularity as far as I'm concerned. For the longest time, many of us said which Republican is going to defy the wishes of their political base and come forward and do the right thing for the country? Same thing applies to Democrats. Will we ignore our political base and look at our Constitution? That's what should guide us.

From State of the Union:

• Paul: You know, we have seen the evidence. We're going to hear the evidence repeated, but we're not going to see any new evidence. So I think all of America has seen this. What we have found is, this is a very partisan exercise. There's not going to be any Republicans in the House. In fact, there will be a handful of Democrats who will vote against impeachment in the House. In the Senate, I think all Republicans will vote against the House. And I think two Democrats have a very good chance of voting against impeachment also. So I think what we have seen is, it is just a partisan thing.This is a disagreement. People on the Democrat side don't like President Trump. They don't like his demeanor. And so they have decided to sort of criminalize politics. But I don't think it is a good thing. And I don't think it's a good day for the country. I think it is a sad day, because I hope it doesn't devolve into that every president, like in different parts of Latin America, we either impeach or throw presidents into jail just because we don't like their politics. I think that will really dumb down and destroy the county.

• Brown: I mean, I have very strong feelings about this president. I supported impeachment. He did things that Richard Nixon never did. He solicited a bribe from a foreign leader. But I don't know if it rises to the level of high crimes and misdemeanors, to the level of conviction and removal, until I see the evidence, I hear the prosecution, which is the House managers, until I hear the president's defense. Then you make the decision, based on the evidence. And for the leader of the United States Senate, Mitch McConnell, to say he's coordinating with the White House to make sure he's not convicted and removed is -- I just -- it really is part of this see no evil, hear no evil. It's why I'm so disappointed in my colleagues, this see no evil, hear no evil attitude, that they don't want to look at anything to -- that might disagree with their world view of Republicanism and this president.

• Hurd: The only thing bipartisan about this process is the opposition of impeachment. We're going to have at least two Democrats voting against this.  And my fear is that you weaponize impeachments for political gains in the future, just like now we have budget debates that become weaponized, voting for Supreme Court justices have become weaponized. And, for me, my standard for impeachment has always been a violation of the law. You have 435 folks in the House, 100 senators. That means there's 535 different definitions of impeachment. And I have sat through those hundreds hours of depositions and hearings, and didn't see any evidence presented of bribery and -- or extortion.

I'm going to leave it there, as they say. Coming up in this week's Sunday School Extra Credit, we'll talk about the FBI, and maybe slide a couple of other things in there, too.

See you around campus.