Confessions of a ‘Never Trumper’
News Analysis
By Steven A Cohen
I’m a “Never Trumper.” I’m proud of it, and I don’t understand how so many Americans can support such a psychologically damaged individual as President Donald J. Trump.
One positive outcome of Trump’s “trial” in the Senate is that the lead prosecutor, Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., emerged as a politician in the mode of Abraham Lincoln, in courage and in speech, who could be the Democratic candidate for president that the times call for. He isn’t running, but maybe he can be drafted at the Democratic National Convention this summer. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi also would be a fine president, in my opinion, but at 79, she might be viewed by some voters as too old. Schiff is 20 years her junior.
Assured that he would be acquitted by the Republican-controlled Senate in party-line votes the next day, President Trump used his State of the Union address in the House chamber as a stump speech, claiming to have created a Panglossian society in America. Encouraged by Republicans who erupted in cheers after just about every sentence, Trump took credit for every alleged accomplishment that created this best of all possible worlds.
He claimed full credit for an economy that was well on its way to recovery before he took office.
He claimed full credit for an economy that was well on its way to recovery before he took office just over three years ago. He claimed to be an advocate for working people, despite the Republican tax bill that decimated the middle class and diverted $2 trillion to the richest Americans. He claimed to support people with pre-existing medical conditions, despite going to court to have the Affordable Care Act — the only law that protects patients with pre-existing conditions from discrimination by insurers — declared unconstitutional. That lawsuit appears likely to be successful, but not until after the November election, when an estimated 20 million Americans will lose their health care coverage unless the Supreme Court intervenes in their behalf.
Trump also continued to claim allegiance to lower prescription costs, despite House passage of a bill to do just that, which is lingering on the desk of “Moscow” Mitch McConnell, the Senate Republican leader, who proudly claims to be the grim reaper for legislation passed by the more liberal House. With the impeachment trial behind him, McConnell promises to redouble his efforts in seating Trump’s conservative judicial nominees, some of whom have been judged unqualified for lifetime appointment to the federal bench by the American Bar Association. The appointments require the “advice and consent” of the Senate, and McConnell already has pushed through more than 150.
Trump slammed Democrats and Republican Mitt Romney, who voted to convict the president on one of the two charges against him, at a National Prayer Breakfast the day after his acquittal. He complained that “our country and your president have been put through a terrible ordeal by some dishonest and corrupt people” who “badly hurt our nation.” He must have been projecting.
This is a president who is known worldwide as a liar. It’s interesting how the media especially used euphemisms for lies early on when fact checking what the president said. But now, a lie is a lie, and the Washington Post has documented more than 15,000 off them since Trump took office. That alone makes him unsuitable for the job. But his unsuitability was evident before he took office. What about his bizarre behavior in following Hillary Clinton around the stage and leering at her during the 2016 presidential debates? How about the corrupt scams perpetrated against students at Trump University?
Robert Mueller, the former FBI director who investigated Russian interference in the 2016 election, found 10 circumstances that warranted further investigation by Congress.
Since he became president, we’ve learned of tax scams that generated an inheritance of $400 million for Trump and his siblings and fraudulent activities by the “charitable” Trump Foundation, which has been shut down by regulators in New York State who said the president had used it as a political piggy bank.
It would be telling to learn how much money Trump has collected from the Trump International Hotel, which opened in 2016 down the street from the White House and across the street from the J. Edgar Hoover FBI Building. The administration scotched plans that were in the works for years to move the FBI from its crumbling headquarters to the suburbs in favor of rebuilding the current quarters at much greater expense. One effect is to protect the Trump hotel from a competitive one that could have been built on the large city block across the street.
Also, Robert Mueller, the former FBI director who investigated Russian interference in the 2016 election, found 10 circumstances that warranted further investigation by Congress.
“You’re impeached forever. You’re never going to get rid of that scar.”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi
Trump, in a speech to supporters and the nation the afternoon after what he called a “complete acquittal,” at trial in the Senate, said Pelosi and Schiff were “vicious and horrible people.” Pelosi said of Trump at her own news conference the day after the Senate vote, “You’re impeached forever. You’re never going to get rid of that scar.” She also took issue with Trump granting the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian award, to right-wing commentator Rush Limbaugh. Trump gave Limbaugh the award while delivering his State of the Union address in the House chamber.
The GOP majority blocked witnesses from testifying at the Senate trial. Trump was charged with withholding military aid to Ukraine, which is fighting a war with Russia, in order to force Ukraine’s president to announce an investigation into President Obama’s vice president, Joe Biden, a candidate for the U.S. Democratic presidential nomination. He also was impeached for obstruction of Congress by ordering his administration not to cooperate with the investigation. The idea behind limiting the impeachment to two charges was to make things simple, but it appears to have been a strategic error. Trump, who also doubled the membership fee, to $200,000, at his Mar-a-Lago golf resort when he became president, should at least be called to account over the money collected from foreign governments and others seeking favor by patronizing his Washington hotel. The administration’s decision to rebuild FBI headquarters across the street deserves exploration, as do many unanswered questions in the Mueller report.
We are assured by House Democrats that the investigations will continue, and we are still waiting to hear from Trump’s former national security adviser, John Bolton, who allegedly was told by the president about his plan to withhold the military aid to Ukraine. The Senate refused to subpoena Bolton despite his offer to testify. Bolton had refused to testify before House committees, but he has written a book, and publicity doesn’t hurt sales.
(I consider myself a Never-Trumper-Come-Lately, in the sense that Trump labels most people who disagree with him “Never Trumpers.” The Never -Trump movement actually was started by a group of Republicans prior to the 2016 election.)
