Don's Tuesday Column

         THE WAY I SEE IT   by Don Polson   Red Bluff Daily News   12/10/2019

  They weave a tangled, duplicitous web

You are seeing a lot of certitude in the impeachment of President Donald J. Trump. About that there is, ironically, agreement on both the pro- and anti-Trump sides. What people are certain about, however, requires a calm, dispassionate and rational analysis of accusations and defenses that often lean toward beliefs, tribalism, even fanaticism.

This columnist would prefer to see advocates and principals act and assert with a good faith willingness to sort facts before standing firmly on principles and perceived truths. However, what is evident is that there has not been one single aspect of the investigations, revelations, interrogations, processes or testimony agreeable to both sides; anyone choosing to reserve judgement and forego side-taking is subject to attack and aspersions of willful blindness, if not closeted allegiance.

Readers know that I stand with President Trump, as a letter writer stated; that and a few facts were, unfortunately, salted into about a dozen complete fabrications that pass for delivered wisdom among the Trump-deranged left. Let this page welcome all sides; local Trump-supporting voters can  consider the truth or falsity in such attacks.

On Monday, President Trump tweeted: “Breaking News: The President of Ukraine has just again announced that President Trump has done nothing wrong with respect to Ukraine and our interactions or calls. If the Radical Left Democrats were sane, which they are not, it would be case over!” Implying insanity to his adversaries may be excessive but people against Trump should at least have the intellectual and political honesty to admit that this new assertion of “no wrongdoing” by Trump from Ukraine’s President Zelensky joins numerous other such testimonies from not only Zelensky but also Ukraine’s Foreign Minister.

That does not automatically rule out the possibility of impeachable acts committed by Trump. However, it should give pause to the impeachment crusaders to ask: How is it that legitimate, reputable and repeated absolution, from Ukraine’s leaders, of Trump’s supposed “pressure” over a “quid pro quo,” can somehow be construed to “prove” Trump’s criminality? Aren’t we being assured of that—Trump’s guilt?

Oh wait, we now know that there is not even an assertion of criminality, not one criminal statute or code cited by Reps. Schiff or Nadler, within the hundreds of pages of reports, let alone the tens of thousands of pages of testimony from mostly Dem-friendly or Dem-chosen “witnesses”—who haven’t personally witnessed much of anything. No one can cite the words from the phone call transcripts that provide the smoke, the smoking gun or even a scandalous hint of foul play.

They are down to a grasped-straw of an opinion by one of the hard-left “per-fessors,”—so neutral that they collectively gave generously to Hillary Clinton and the DNC and publicly proclaimed Trump’s impeachable guilt for years, starting with his election. That opinion was that when Trump asked Zelensky if he could “do us a favor,” he was using “us” in the royal sense meaning “I want a favor,” rather than in the same sense that Trump has used “we” literally hundreds of times in speeches, meaning on behalf of “we Americans.”

We’re supposed to ignore that Trump immediately said “our country has been through a lot,” which would, to a rational partisan, completely negate the point of Trump’s self-serving intentions. But we are no longer dealing with rational—perhaps even sane—partisans, “loyal opposition” or those who “agree to disagree.” They demand complete submission by, and denigration of, not only President Trump but also the entire electorate and political party that voted for and support Trump. Do not impute the slightest “good intentions” to what has clearly become their “jihad” to destroy Trump et al.

“Simply mind boggling that here we are, heading into year 4 of the Trump presidency, in a time of tremendous American economic prosperity and relative peace, and Democrats are *STILL* trying to ram Russia/Ukraine hysteria down the throats of normal American, like total psychos.” (Buck Sexton)

To summarize: With Trump’s full cooperation, a 2 ½ year, $25 million investigation by Mueller and company came up with zip, zero, nada collusion, conspiracy or coordination by Trump or his campaign with “Russia”; yet Ms. Pelosi boldly says that “all roads lead [from Trump]…to Putin.” The Washington Post is leading the charge to blithely apply the term “Russian asset” to Trump, his defenders and supporters. Actual collusion with, and use of, Russian sources by the DNC/Clinton cabal via the “Steele dossier”? Pay no mind; nothing to see.

Documented, sourced reporting (Politico, etc.) on the efforts by people and entities in Ukraine, to undermine Trump? We—the leftist media, Democrat party and permanent “Deep State” bureaucracies of State, Justice and other departments—find it inconvenient and undermining of our lemming-like stampede over the baseless cliff of Trump’s abuse-of-power vis-à-vis Ukraine. We ridicule you. Impeach on!

Trump, his supporters and defenders were right—and his enemies were wrong—before, during and after the Mueller Report; we have that record of credibility and they do not. You would expect just a little humility—hyoo-mil-ee-tay—from the collective left or at least from the news media, a smidgeon of “if this is true…we could be wrong,” but you would expect in vain. If Joe and Hunter Biden are innocent, they should welcome an investigation and exoneration.

“The Dems’ impeachment charade is a disaster for them, not the American people,” by Roger L. Simon, sums up the electoral and polling trend, and foretells the rout to come in less than 11 months. Dems don’t care because removing Trump doesn’t matter; creating such a hurricane of hysteria and charges—false or baseless may they be—will be used together with protests and sit-ins to pressure 4 squishy Republican U.S. Senators to vote “remove.” They will then use that “majority vote to remove Trump from office” to campaign against Republicans everywhere. It won’t work.