The Trumps: Too Much Corruption to Count

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Because writing about how much I want Joe Manchin to go away would be too exhausting, I want to call your attention to a report just issued by the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis. I’m not sure that I knew this committee existed, but it appears they’ve been toiling away for awhile. The report is not long and worth a look.

Much of the report looks at all the many ways the Trump Administration screwed up last year. CNN provides a summary, mostly focusing on the way the administration gagged scientists from telling the truth about the pandemic. Other sections look at the administration’s incompetent response and the way doors were left open for fraud and profiteering.

Remember the test fail?

Remember back when supplies purchased by states and hospitals were being seized by federal agents and hauled off to parts unknown? There’s never been a reckoning of where all that stuff went. Remember Jared Kushner’s “The federal stockpile is ours, not the states'”? See Are the Trumps Engaged in Profiteering? from April 2020. Remember when Jared decided to let “the markets” respond to the virus, and if New York wasn’t getting the ventilators it needed, “that’s their problem”?

We’ve been focused on Trump’s attempt to steal the 2020 election; the corruption and self-dealing of his administration have yet to be reckoned with.

Now the government is sounding the alarm about Omicron. This is being ignored wholesale here in Trump Country. I fear we’re in for a rough winter. Get your boosters, people. Data so far shows that people who have been boosted may get a mild case, but they don’t need to be hospitalized. I recommend this clip from Maddow’s show a couple of nights ago —

15 thoughts on “The Trumps: Too Much Corruption to Count”

  1. Imagine this level of corruption: 

    You thought your RepubliKKKLAN gravy-train was about to end because you might break the country.

    And you realized that the gravy-train was actually being steered to fall off the broken bridge between the Cliffs of Corruption, and the Mainland of Gross Incompetence.   The US economy would crater with the train's crash.

    But until that crash happened, you came to grok that right now, during this once in a century pandemic, YOU and YOUR friends could actually make almost unlimited millions by STEERING A HEFTY CHUNK of the money and supplies destined to go from the feds to local schools/hospitals/etc…, Straight unto the hands of YOU and YOUR friends!

    And so, that's the likely story.

    Luckily, that crash hasn't happened.

    Yet.

  2. I just had a thought (which happens so infrequently, I just gotta tell those I love): 

    Maybe I'm crazy, but I'm thinking, what if when Moscow Mitch asked his fellow RepubliKKKLAN Senators to do a personal favor for him, and to decline to be on the Jan 6th Committee, it was because he didn't want RepubliKKKLANS from either the Senate or the House to muck-up the investigations?

    And he knew that the GQP House "Leader," the cowardly weasel, Kevin McCarthy, would follow his lead.

    Maybe Mitch wanted the actual truth.  With no "GQP Alternative 1/6 Committee" version to muck things up.

    And that 2 Republican House members jumped on board.  One of them the formidable daughter Satan, Liz Cheney, was a cherry on top!

    When the Committee releases the facts, and conservatives and Fascists (but I repeat myself) freak-out, Mitch can wash any blood off his hands by claiming that the Democrat's Committee report was full of lies.   "FAKE NEWS!"

    I think.Mitch figures that when the truth about that Cowardly Lyin', Donald J. tRUMP, comes out, all but the simplest of the simpletons, will see the former President as nothing but a grifting wannabe tin-pot DICKtator, and become former MAGAts.

    Can you see that, or am I nuts?

     

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    • The 1/6 Committee is a House committee; there are no Senators on it. McConnell didn't have to encourage or discourage anyone; it doesn't concern the Senate.

       

      I disagree about your larger point. I don't think McConnell has any loyalty to Trump (or McCarthy, for that matter). The Turtle got what he wanted: a packed judiciary. I think he'd be perfectly happy for Trump to be the villain of the piece (and McCarthy to twist in the wind) while McConnell plays statesman. I can see him sorrowfully proclaiming how sad it is that the great GOP was hijacked by such a terrible character as Donald Trump.

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  3. JAAAAAAAAYZOOS!!!!!

    Can Moscow Mitch be any more openly racist?!?!?

    I was watching a TV interview with Moscow Mitch just now, and it was shot in Mitch's office.

    And in the background, he's got both a basketball and a football on pedestals.

    AND THE BALLS ARE PAINTED WHITE!!!!!

    WHITE!!!!!

    Both balls (remember, we're on the topic of Mitch's sports equipment here) in their relative sports, are natural leather, and are shades of tan in color.

    TAN!  NOT WHITE!!!!!

    Oy!!!

     

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  4. Maha,

    I'm sure you're aware of the latest shenanigans by the MO state treasurer: his office will refuse to assist schools with bond refinancing if they attempt any sort of Covid controls (I generalized, but just a little).

  5. Simmer down, Tex. Commemorative balls are often white; it allows for more legible signatures and inscriptions. There's plenty to get worked up about without seeing zebras when it's horses.

  6. apocalipstick*"

    Using humor to.put me down a bit is a sure way to make me a fan of yours! :-).   

    Truly.

    I agree with your comments, btw.  I was actually trying to make that same point about Mitch and tRUMP:  That Mitch has absolutely no love for the Mango Menace, and has absolutely zero sense of loyalty to Hair Furor,  Donald J. tRUMP.

    I just mangled that message somehow.

    I don't know how often you come to this site.  But when you do, please know that I'm the class-clown who tends to get hyperbolic.  Kinda, very hyper-hyperbolic.   Yes, very hyper-hyperbolic.

     

    *Great moniker!

    😉

  7. apocalipstick*"

    Using humor to.put me down a bit is a sure way to make me a fan of yours! 🙂 

    Truly.

    I agree with your comments, btw.  I was actually trying to make that same point about Mitch and tRUMP:  That Mitch has absolutely no love for the Mango Menace, and has absolutely zero sense of loyalty to Hair Furor,  Donald J. tRUMP.

    I just mangled that message somehow.

    I don't know how often you come to this site.  But when you do, please know that I'm the class-clown who tends to get hyperbolic.  Kinda, hyper-hyperbolic.   Yes, very hyper-hyperbolic.

     

    *Great moniker!

    😉

  8. To a peasant (which is to say, to a Republican voter, even those who live in suburbs and have never gotten any dirt under their nails), "corruption" is simply what "government" is and does.  The importance of this notion is two: (1) it goes back well into the 19th century, and would go back much farther if the echoes of memory had not faded; (2) it is self-serving, because it provides an excuse to reject government as a source of accountability, and, by extension, any other source of accountability.

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    • This is a particularly salient point. We cannot gas on about 'freedom' and 'self-government' if we refuse to be involved in the mechanics of same. l live in an area where the hatred of 'politics' is wired in early and deeply. When I taught HS government, I spent a great deal of time at the beginning of each semester hammering away at the idea that 'politics' is an integral part of human life. You like baseball? What are the rule book and the umpire but a form of politics ('the business of the people')? The rules and enforcement of same allows for a coherent, playable game. Argue with the umpire? You're engaging in 'politics': you know he/she won't change this call, but it might influence the next one. Saying "I love freedom and self-government, but I hate politics" is roughly analogous to saying "I love apple pie, but I hate flour, sugar, butter, and apples." 

      How do you respond to this statement: "Most people assume the government is thoroughly corrupt because those people engage in so much corruption in their own lives."

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  9. What a read.  A saga of corruption and incompetence unmatched in what I know of U.S. history.  What a mess to unravel and clean up.  At least we know what the motivation was to overthrow the election and stay in power probably was…that this information not come to light and the culprits remain unexposed.  

    For a government report this is probably the most readable and well referenced one I have ever seen.  They are usually way too lengthy and replete with jargon. 

    How we managed to avoid more poor outcomes is amazing, considering the scope and range of administrative dysfunction. 

    We are not out of the COVID woods yet.  It looks like the next month will test us hard.  We are still in a tight spot.  It is no time to relax or act carelessly. A bit of luck wouldn't hurt either.  

  10. IMO, the most important piece of legislation at risk now is the voting rights act. SO, what if Kamila Harris was to announce that in Jan, 2015, that if there is NOT a voting rights act passed that sets the rule for the succession of power and voting rights that end gerrymandering and voter suppression, that we’re' playing by TRUMP RULES in the next election. The VP will select the winner.

    And since the Democrats will be certain victors (without free and fair elections and a clear succession of power) we will do it again in Jan 2029. Since Congress is going to be deadlocked in perpetuity, the Executive will follow Trump's lead and govern without a legislative branch, re-allocating funds as Trump did, according to the president's priorities. 

    Don't like that plan, Republicans? Roll up your sleeves and give us free and fair elections. YOu can have fair elections and accpet the results of majority rule – or the Democrats are playing by YOUR RULES, TRUMP RULES. 

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    • Doug, Trump rules are an oxymoron like jumbo shrimp, periodic irregularity, or army intelligence.  We do, though, need to play a solid, fairly fair game of hardball on the voting rights issues for sure. 

      We will never be able to get to equal power for every voter, though that is a good ideal.   States get equal representation in the senate, which gives low population states disproportionate power.  We need to get more toward rules where one person gets one equal share of voter power.  If we don't get that done the Republicans will only continue to promote minority rule by their "chosen" minority.  That would make the term American democracy also an oxymoron.  

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