Hey Trump fans, I understand. You are tired of the slick politicians. You’re tired of the infighting in Washington. If you are a blue collar Republican, you are probably tired of establishment Republicans catering to your socially conservative views in order to be able to vote for financial legislation that benefits only the rich. You also like Trump’s views which appear to represent your forgotten agenda. You like that he’s is totally unorthodox and that he’s disrupting everything in Washington you have come to detest. Yep, I get it.
Like everyone else, when you like a politician, you want to believe that he will always work in your best interests; that he is always on your side and would never lie to you. When others attack him, you fell feel impelled to come to his defense. We are all like that to one extent or another.
I am reminded of fans here in this football crazy State of Alabama where the rivalry between Auburn and Alabama is intense to say the least. I’ve seen several situations like the one where a prominent Auburn football player got in trouble with the law and the incident was soon all over the media. Alabama fans pounced on talk shows and social media proclaiming how terrible the incident was and calling for the player to be thrown off of their opponent’s team. Auburn fans rose in the player’s defense, making excuses for him and downplaying the seriousness of the incident. A couple of months later an Alabama player found himself in an almost identical situation. This time it was the Auburn fans who attacked with a vengeance, and it was the Alabama fans who defended their player with gusto. I thought was extremely interesting that the arguments used by the Alabama and Auburn fans in these two situations were nearly the same, almost interchangeable, just reversed.
While a case could be made that both sets of fans were being hypocritical, in my book they were just being fans, or more generally, just being human beings. Almost all of us have a tendency to jump to attack the “other side” and also bend over backwards to defend “our side”. However, we have to guard against the willingness of politicians and con men to use these normal human tendencies to encourage us to defend them even when they don’t deserve our support.
Would Trump take advantage of you, his supporters? Remember when Billy Bush (of the Access Hollywood fame) confronted Trump about continuing to falsely claim that The Apprentice was the highest rated TV show. Trump replied, “You can tell them and they believe. They just do.” Does Trump believe that you will continue to believe and support him even if he is lying to you? Remember when he said during the campaign, “I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose voters,” It’s obviously that he takes your support for granted, that he expects you to believe him regardless of what he tells you. And apparently so far he has been right.
However, from the outside looking in, it is apparent Trump is taking advantage of your natural desire to protect “your side” and blame the “other side” for any problems he is encountering. Ask yourself, with respect to the Russian investigation, is Trump acting like an innocent man? He repeatedly says that the Russian investigation is “witch hunt”, That the “Deep State” at the Justice Department and the FBI is seeking to discredit his presidency and remove him from office. While he praises the rank-and-file at the Justice Department and FBI, he blames their former leaders in the Obama administration for his problems.
I can understand if you’re inclined to believe this about the “other side”, but the leaders selected by the previous administration are no longer in charge of the Justice Department and the FBI. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, a Trump appointee and cheerleader during the campaign, saw fit to recuse himself from the investigation because he believed it was the right thing to do. Rod Rosenstein, another Trump appointee and a Republican who worked under Ken Star in the White Water investigation of Bill Clinton, took over the role of leading the investigation. Rosenstein decided to appoint a special counsel to head the Russia investigation because he believed it was the right thing to do. He chose Robert Mueller, who was previously appointed FBI Director by George W. Bush, to fill the role of special counsel. Yes, some of the attorneys involved in the Russian investigation have Democratic ties, but they were appointed and are controlled by Mueller, a registered Republican.
How can you possibly believe that Trump is being persecuted by some sort of “deep state” when he appointed the Justice Department Republican leaders currently making the major decisions with regard to the Russian investigation. Isn’t it logical to assume that Trump wasn’t stupid enough to chose potential enemies to run the Justice Department? Isn’t it logical to instead assume that once appointed these men are honestly doing the jobs to which they were appointed regardless of where the evidence leads them.
Trump has repeatedly called the investigation a “witch hunt”, but shouldn’t it be instead judged by its results? According to a list compiled by Vox, Muller has already indicted 22 individuals and companies:
1) George Papadopoulos, former Trump campaign Foreign Policy Adviser, pleaded guilty to making false statements to the FBI and agreed to cooperate with the investigation to avoid more serious charges.
2) Michael Flynn, Trump’s former National Security Adviser, pleaded guilty to making false statements to the FBI and agreed to cooperate with the investigation to avoid more serious charges.
3) Paul Manafort, Trump’s former Campaign Chairman, was indicted on charges of conspiracy, money laundering, and false statements, and later on additional charges of tax, financial, and bank fraud – all related to his work for Russian sponsored Ukrainian politicians before he joined the Trump campaign.
4) Rick Gates, a former Trump campaign aide and Manafort’s longtime junior business partner, was indicted on similar charges to Manafort. He agreed to plea deal, pleading guilty to just one false statements charge and conspiracy charge in exchange for more serious charges being dropped.
5-20) 13 Russian nationals and three Russian companies were indicted on conspiracy charges, with some also being accused of identity theft. The charges related to a Russian propaganda effort designed to interfere with the 2016 elections.
21) Richard Pinedo, a California man, pleaded guilty to an identity theft charge in connection with the Russian indictments and has agreed to cooperate with the investigation in order to avoid more serious charges.
22) Alex van der Zwaan, A London lawyer, pleaded guilty to making false statements to the FBI about his contacts with Rick Gates and another unnamed person based in Ukraine in order to avoid more serious charges..
A “witch hunt” doesn’t indict 19 individuals and 3 companies on federal charges, including 4 members of the Trump campaign – all four of whom were involved in some kind of contact or coordination with Russian agents or proxies. And keep in mind there are almost certain to be additional indictments of those involved in the hacking and discrimination of emails – certainly Russian individuals and companies and possibly other members of the Trump campaign. There are also possible obstruction of justice concerns.
In addition, despite Trump’s repeated complaints that Mueller’s investigation has gone on for much to long, other special council investigations took much longer. The Iran-Contra investigation during President Reagan term in office lasted almost three and half years. The special council influence peddling investigation while H. W. Bush was in the White house lasted for four and half years and White Water investigation into the Bill Clinton’s administration took over three and half years. By comparison the Mueller investigation could be just getting started.
Of course, we have no way of knowing whether the wrong doing in the Trump campaign will extend up to the President himself or his immediate family. Only time will tell. However, right now Trump is doing everything in his power to make you believe he is being persecuted by a politically motivated investigation. He is hoping to convince you, his supporters, to not believe the findings of the Russian investigation, regardless of the results. Trump’s intentions are clear. If he can convince enough of you to continue to support him regardless of results of the Mueller probe, fear of your retribution in future elections will keep Congressional Republicans from voting to impeach or convict him.
The only questions that remain are whether you will be able to see through Trump’s lies and misrepresentations, and if you do, will you continue to support him regardless of the results of the Russian investigation. In other words, will you be informed, savvy, and honest enough with yourself to recognize the truth when it is presented to you? And if you do recognize the truth, will your love of your country and justice or your tendency to defend “your side” prevail when you finally decide whether to continue to support Donald J. Trump.
I am afraid that for many of you the answer to the first question is preordained and so the answer to the second question is moot. There is another very human tendency which is controlling your behavior – the tendency we all have to listen only to what we want to hear. You have immersed yourself in the giant echo chamber that is Fox News and conservative radio talk shows and you rarely if ever venture out in where the truth is actually spoken. If you continue to listen only to propaganda which represents the truth as a lie, you will never be able to properly react to the truth when finally you hear it.
Cajun 5/29/2018