A CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER

For the first year of his presidency, Donald Trump was listening to the Republican establishment.  They urged caution in dealing with Robert Mueller. They recommended cooperation and to avoid even the appearance of being defensive.  That did not work.  That never works.  The same people recommended negotiating with Kim Jung-un, although that had no chance of working either.  The same people urged him to keep the nuclear deal with Iran, even though it wouldn’t prevent Iran from getting a Nuclear weapon and Iran was literally funding terrorism all over the globe thanks to the general donation by Barack Obama.

Trump did not follow their advice.  Instead of begging North Korea, he simply told them the truth. We will not let you have a nuclear weapon. We are capable of destroying you.  If you continue on your current course we are prepared to do whatever it takes to defend ourselves. This is remarkably similar to how Eisenhower obtained peace in Korea. He advised China that they could have peace or they could have war, but if it was war it would not be confined to the Korean peninsula. China wisely chose peace.

Instead of extending the Iran deal, Trump cancelled it. Instead of continuing to let China and other countries take advantage of our free trade policy, he hit them with tariffs.  He sent a message, strong and clear.  This president is not only able to take the action to defend the country, he is willing to take action to defend the country.  What’s more, he does not care whether or not this is politically correct.

The world has sat up and took notice. North Korea is releasing hostages, has verbally agreed to denuclearize the Korean peninsula and had agreed to cancel its ballistic missile program. Kim Jung-un is meeting with Trump next month in Singaphore.

China is negotiating with us on trade.  Both France and Germany came to the United States to try and intimidate Trump into staying in the Iran nuclear deal.  He turned them both down.

Trump is looked around and Robert Mueller showing no signs of slowing down his witch hunt. His detractors even lined up someone to take the reins in investigating Trump if Mueller is fired. The White Knight waiting in the wings was Eric Schneiderman, Attorney General in New York.

Trump hired Rudy Giuliani. Giuliani tells the world that he doesn’t really care what they think about Stormy Daniels or whether or not she was paid off to be silent. Time to move on. The media and the establishment in both parties thought this is a major mistake. It was not. Instead it announced the establishment of a war cabinet with the mission to end a clear and present danger, an illegal attempt to remove a duly elected President from office.

Think about what has happened since Rudy hit the ground running.  Eric Schneiderman was taken down in a matter of hours.  He didn’t even get to finish his shift.  Was it a coincidence, after all these years, that these women suddenly went public?

Michael Avenatti got his hands on confidential bank records for Michael Cohens.  He promptly waived them on TV and made wild accusations.  Oops.  It turns out some of those records are for another Michael Cohen, unrelated to Trump’s attorney. Avenatti may have committed a serious crime and self-documented it on National Television.  Within minutes the Treasury Department announced an investigation.Was that another coincidence?

A Federal Judge orders Robert Mueller to turn over the unredacted version of his authorization memo.  He publicly questioned whether Mueller has authority to investigate the personal business dealings of Paul Manafort. Another coincidence?

The IG for the Justice Department is getting ready to release another report.  He extended the time because he wanted to address how the Clinton e-mail scandal was handled. James Comey has suddenly gone silent. Coincidence?

Rudy Giuliani is meeting with Mueller but don’t assume that he is defensive or conciliatory. That is not his style. He is more likely making an offer to Robert Mueller than he can’t afford to turn down.  Vice President Mike Pence publicly told Mueller to end this and move on. So did Trump. I don’t think these are threats, I think these are promises. I believe that Trump has decided that the Mueller investigation and the organized resistance to him is a clear and president danger to the Presidency. The rest of the world has already learned that it is dangerous to underestimate Donald Trump.

Early this morning, around 3:00 a plane carrying three former hostages held by North Korea arrived at Andrews Air Force Base.  They were met by President Trump and Melania Trump along with Vice President Pence and his wife and Secretary of State Pompeo.  Trump and Melania went up the steps to the plane by themselves and visited for several minutes with these men, to welcome them home. Then, Trump and Melania walked down the plane with these men. It was pure theatre. The news media, as expected shouted out questions, but not about Robert Mueller and certainly not about Stormy Daniels. Instead the questions were about the possibility of peace with North Korea.

What was that again Bob?  I didn’t hear you.

TDM