Investigation a Hoax?

Reactions to the completion of the Mueller investigation are all over the place. 

Trump says the entire investigation was a hoax.

That is a lie. It was a real investigation. 
Led by a man with far more character and honor and trustworthiness than Trump.
Investigating real actions committed by real people. 

• 199 criminal counts
• 37 people charged
• 7 people pleaded guilty
• 1 convicted at trial
• 5 sentenced to prison

While the crimes uncovered were not connected to collusion with Russia, that doesn't make the investigation a hoax.

Crimes were committed by people close to Trump, including people who served as his:

• National Security Advisor (Michael Flynn)
• Deputy Campaign Manager (Rick Gates)
• low-level Foreign Policy Advisor (George Papadopoulos)
• Lawyer and Fixer (Michael Cohen)
• Campaign Chair (Paul Manafort)

Attorney General William Barr quotes Mueller:
"While this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him."

Trump continues to lie, saying in tweets, speeches and interviews:
"It was a complete and total exoneration."

It is ridiculous that every day Trump calls others liars, while lying himself in the same conversations. over and over. 

Sexual Assault Accusations

Joe Biden has been accused of kissing a woman on her head, inappropriately. Disappointing situation. Democrats should respond and deal with it, and I think they will.

Trump supporters cannot speak to this. You gave up that right when you supported (and still support) a president with his history. When the President you support has been accused by multiple women of sexual assault, you don't get to condemn others who have been accused.

When you support a President who bragged about kissing women without their consent, and bragged about watching women change clothes during a beauty pageant, and bragged about grabbing women by the p***y, you don't get to say anything about anyone else accused of sexual misconduct. 

Bullying

The First Lady initiated a campaign to combat bullying, especially online bullying. Her husband doesn't seem at all concerned.

George Conway, often referred to as Mr. Kellyanne Conway by those who know him, is VERY jealous of his wife's success & angry that I, with her help, didn't give him the job he so desperately wanted. I barely know him but just take a look, a stone cold LOSER & husband from hell!
(Trump week 3-20-2019)

Ignoring that it is another lie among thousands of lies (Conway withdrew his name from consideration from the job to which Trump refers), think about what the President of the US is saying. Calling another person a loser. On Twitter. Textbook online bullying. 

Trump says he barely knows Conway, but somehow he knows that people who know him refer to him by his wife's name. 

I hear people say they like that the President fights back. I don't agree. The POTUS should take the high road. Be strong, but be a gentleman. He shouldn't waste his time on Twitter battles. 

Would we tolerate our teachers or pastors or local leaders calling others "loser" or "husband from hell"?

Would you allow your children to say such things to others on social media? If you would not approve of your children saying such things, then why are you OK with our President doing it? Don't we want him to be someone we can look to as an example for how to lead? We don't have to agree with him on everything, but we should expect his behavior to be appropriate, at the least. 

More on McCain:

He has good words to say about Putin, our adversary, he has good words to say about Kim Jong Un yet he disrespects our hero, he disrespects Senator McCain and his family. What a moment of shame for us to have such a commander in chief.

(Khizr Kahn, 3/21/2019)

Trump on McCain. again.

Hypocrisy.

Trump tweets that John McCain was last in his class at the Naval Academy (which is false; he was close, but not last).

At the same time, Trump's lawyers threatened schools that Trump attended if they released Trump's grades.

"He's not a war hero. He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren't captured."
(Trump about McCain in interview, 7-18-2015) 

I don't often agree with Mitt Romney, but I thought this tweet yesterday was spot on:

I can’t understand why the President would, once again, disparage a man as exemplary as my friend John McCain: heroic, courageous, patriotic, honorable, self-effacing, self-sacrificing, empathetic, and driven by duty to family, country, and God.
(Romney tweet, 03-19-2019)

I often disagreed with McCain politically. But he was a man of character. Trump is not. Trump is none of those adjectives Romney used to describe McCain. It is unbelievable that the President of the United States continuously disparages an American hero, from his own political party, out of spite.

I gave him the kind of funeral that he wanted, which as president I had to approve,” Trump told the crowd. “I don’t care about this, I didn’t get ‘thank you,’ but that’s OK. We sent him on the way. But I wasn’t a fan of John McCain.
(Trump speech, 3-20-2019)

Good leaders lead (and serve). They don't look around for thank you's.

There are certain things that are right and certain things that are wrong -- whether you are a Democrat, a Republican or somewhere in between. And attacking a dead man who spent five years as a prisoner of war and another three decades serving the country in elected office is simply wrong. That's true if Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Millard Fillmore, Franklin Pierce or whoever the next president will be did it. (None of them would have said what Trump did about a man with as decorated a past as McCain but the point still holds.) 
(Chris Cillizza, CNN Editor-at-large, 3-19-2019)

Why Todd on Trump?

I've gone back and forth when it comes to communicating about politics for the last couple years. I began posting my views of our President on Facebook, back when he first got involved in the race.

As our culture became strongly divided over Trump, I realized I had many friends and relatives on both sides of the divide. Good people. People I love.

I became more and more perplexed at how good, smart people could support a man who was (and is) a horrible, narcissistic, racist, misogynistic, dishonest, unethical, hypocritical bully.

I don't believe this about Trump because I don't like Republicans (many of my family and friends are Republican or very conservative). I don't believe this because Hillary lost (I wasn't crazy about her either). I don't believe this because I am a Democrat. I don't believe this because I want crime and open borders (let's be honest, nobody wants either). I don't believe this because I am against God (I am a Christian).

I believe Trump is all those things, and I am more convinced every day as I listen to his words and observe his actions.

When I listen to or read Trump's speeches, interviews and tweets; and examine his actions, both politically and personally, I see a person who embodies all the characteristics I listed above. I see a truly terrible person that I do not trust nor believe nor respect.

So I began expressing my views on Facebook. My left-leaning family and friends liked and loved and made nice comments on my posts. My right-leaning family and friends argued and accused and blamed Hillary and Obama and questioned my Christianity.

I rarely replied to comments, as my friends would often carry out discussions and debates.

I grew disappointed in how the conversations often went. Every once in a while I would vow to stop addressing politics on Facebook. I'd stick to family milestones and pictures of our kids' school and sporting events.

Then a few months would go by and Trump would do something that was so unbelievable I couldn't stay silent. I'd post about it, and soon I was right back into the posting and debating again.

I've been off the political posts for a few months. But I read something recently that got me thinking. I don't remember exactly what it said; it was one of those quotes about speaking out or staying silent. I thought about my kids. After observing what Trump has said and done over the last three years, and the negative impact he is having on our country and our world, I believe if I stay silent, then I am complicit in something very wrong and dangerous.

Sometimes it's better to stay out of a situation. But sometimes we have to take a stand, and be either for or against something. Or someone.

It does not make me happy to speak out against our President. I don't enjoy the debates. I don't want to think less of my Trump-supporting family and friends, and my inner child curls up knowing that many people I love and respect think I'm a liberal heretic.

But I owe it to my kids to be honest. To teach them right from wrong. To support that which is good, and speak out against that which is bad, or wrong, or evil, or harmful. And I believe strongly that Trump is all these things.

So I am going to write. Because it helps me process what I am seeing and reading and how it affects me. Because I believe we must work together to right this ship. Because I believe we need honest discussions about what is going on.

So I will write and express my thoughts, observations, reactions, etc. Feel free to comment and share (or not), but I want to keep the conversations here, or on email, rather than on Facebook. No promises on what I will and won't allow in comments; I'll make up some guidelines as we go along.

Have a great day!

Todd