First-time readers, the dialogue in this blog is set in the future (sometime after the year 2020). Each entry assumes there has been a 5th revolution in the US — the Revenge Revolution. More about Revenge Revolution and author, Entry #1. List and general description of entries to date. Annual assessment if Revolution plausible.
Note: most characters appear in a number of entries, with many entries building on previous conversations. Profile of characters. You’ll catch on quickly. Thanks for your time and interest…and comments.
Scene: Jordan’s office in Washington a few days after the dinner meeting with Gelly, JC and Greenie. (Lead-n. Last comment in conversation, Entry #252, JC said, “Follow the money.”) (Series “Who Took Out the Donald?’ begins Entry #244.)
Greenie: “JC, I agree that a lot of people in Congress have been influenced by money. Trump certainly was, too. But…”
JC: “…but you think there’s more, right?”
Greenie: “I don’t want to sound as if I’m beating a dead horse but I want to come back to Jordan’s theory about the FBI.”
JC: “When you said dead horse, what popped into my head was the classic bedroom scene from the ‘Godfather.’”
Greenie: “Probably a good scenario. Think about the relationship between the movie director, aka Trump, and the mob boss, in this case the FBI. Not suggesting James Comey was a mob boss…well, you get the idea.”
Jordan: “We get the idea. The movie director sticks his finger in the eye of the mafia don, thinking he can intimidate him.”
Greenie: “The movie director’s problem? He was either too stupid to realize the potential consequences or had too much hubris. And look what happened to the director’s prized possession.”
Matt: “I’d never thought about Trump’s behavior that way. The comparison to the movie guy in the ‘Godfather’ is an interesting one.”
Greenie: “Think about it. Trump insults Comey publically. He also tries to convince Comey to drop any investigation into Trump’s cronies.”
JC: “Then Comey testifies in Congress about Trump’s behavior. How does Trump react? Trump and his lawyer claim Comey lied and Trump was completely exonerated by ‘Comey-the-Liar’s’ testimony. Apparently Trump and his high-priced real-estate lawyer didn’t listen very well.”
Matt: “In fairness to the Donald, there was no smoking gun in Comey’s testimony…at least his public testimony.”
Greenie: “Matt, c’mon. I know you’re a reporter and want to be fair, but you sound like you work for Fox News.”
Matt: “Since when did Fox News become a real news organization? Anyway, Comey’s testimony did not provide clear-cut evidence of obstruction of justice. Questionable behavior by Trump? Definitely, but no clear-cut evidence of obstruction.”
JC: “There was clear-cut evidence Trump did not understand how government works. You know the stuff we were taught in 8th grade civics class. Donald, were you asleep the entire semester?”
Matt: “What I think Trump failed to realize and certainly didn’t appreciate was the out Comey gave him.”
Greenie: “You mean the out that women use all the time? All Trump had to do was keep the Twitter account in silent mode and, then if he had any brains, say he was sorry that he stepped over the line that separates the responsibilities of different branches of government. I mean, how hard was it to make an apology?”
Jordan: “I hadn’t thought about that. An apology could have sucked most of the air out of the investigation. It certainly couldn’t have hurt.”
JC: “But, no, the Donald thought he was doing another episode of the ‘Apprentice.’ Scowl and look mean. For some reason he couldn’t apologize and took the opposite approach by ratcheting up the negative rhetoric.”
Jordan: “He also set up a no-win situation for himself – claiming yet again there were recordings of the conversation with Comey that exonerated him but never showing the evidence.”
Matt: “And then offered to testify under oath about Comey and other issues. Trump made some really stupid comments but still not enough of a reason for the FBI to take him out.”
JC: “Jordan, the FBI is your theory. What about Matt’s question?”
Jordan: “We’ve talked about this before. The FBI, in my opinion, considered Trump to be mentally spiraling more and more out of control. We’ll probably never know the entire story but according to credible reports, when Trump would watch TV in the living quarters of the White House, he would scream at reports he didn’t like.”
Matt: “Sounds like Nixon but how about some more examples, please.”
Jordan: “Reacting to Comey’s testimony was the most obvious at the time. But two other critical areas were out of control.”
Greenie: “I’m guessing diplomatic relations was one. And for #2, I’ll go with defense.”
Jordan: “Greenie, you’re two for two. Take diplomacy. In short order, Trump managed…in the most polite terms…to give the finger to our strongest allies – Germany, England, France and Israel. Then he chastised Qatar for supporting terrorists. Did he realize the US had a major military base in Qatar?”
JC: “Probably not. Did he even know Qatar was a country…let alone where it was? And the country he supported instead of Qatar? Saudi Arabia. Mmm, the Donald must have forgotten about where the 9/11 terrorists came from.”
Jordan: “I think worse than the public chastising of Qatar was Trump publicly ignoring efforts and statements by the Secretary of Defense and Secretary of State.”
Matt: “He did make Tillerson and Mattis each look like a fool. Each had worked hard to convince NATO allies that the US was committed. Then during the meeting at NATO, Trump claims…incorrectly I might add…claims that US taxpayers were footing the bill for other NATO countries. Worse still, at the NATO meeting he refused to support Article 5…the key to NATO.”
JC: “Article 5 is the one where each country commits to defend other members, right?”
Jordan: “Yes and Article 5 is the cornerstone of NATO. Within a few days of insulting secretaries of Defense and State…and NATO allies…he throws the Attorney General under the bus. Why? Because in Trump-world the AG displayed ‘weakness’ by recusing himself from the Russia investigation.”
Greenie: “Can’t have the Attorney General following the law. Have to be tough.”
Matt: “I think it was the next week…maybe two weeks later…he started trashing the Robert Mueller, special counsel leading the investigation, and Rod Rosenstein, the second in command at Justice who was managing Mueller. Trashing those guys was not smart.”
Jordan: “This had Watergate written all over. In fact, and I hadn’t really thought about it until now, but as I recall, most of the Trump outrages against the special counsel and Justice occurred mid-June. I remember it was after Memorial Day and before the 4th of July. And when was the Watergate break-in?”
Greenie: “Mid-June. I remember because we’d just moved to Alexandria…Virginia, not Egypt.”
JC: “So the guys at the FBI, who have extensive experience analyzing bizarre behavior, look at Trump and concluded he was too dangerous to stay in the job.”
Greenie: “Then one of the FBI reps went to meet the reality TV star and make him and offer he couldn’t refuse.”
Jordan: “You mean ‘Donald, do yourself a favor. Resign and go play golf.’ And, oh, by the way, if you do resign we’ll also quietly drop all but the most egregious illegal money transactions with the Russians.”
JC: “But like the movie director in the ‘Godfather,’ Trump refused, which left the FBI no choice but to take him out and save the country.”
(Continued)
Greenie: “Think about Trump’s meeting with the Russians in the Oval Office. No reporters except for a Russian photographer. Only when the photographs were published by the Russians did the US public know who really attended the meeting.”
Greenie: “So Trump slobbers all over the Russian’s the Saudi’s and then a few days later trashes our allies in NATO. Trump was clearly not working for the best interests of the United States. His argument at NATO about the extra burden on US taxpayers was wrong. A week or so later his argument to drop out of the Paris climate accord was completely false. That’s why I believe there was lots of money funneled to the Trump family.”
Matt: “And you think Pence and Sessions were in on the deal, too?”
Jordan: “Let me jump in. Yes, the tax returns would have helped. Highly likely that most, if not all the foreign payments were never reported. Releasing the returns would have subjected Trump, and probably Kushner and other family members, to income tax evasion. In addition to tax evasion acknowledging payments from foreign governments would have violated the emoluments clause of the Constitution.”
JC: “Supporters claimed the events were left-wing hyperbole and the actions by Trump were meaningless or innocent. I don’t buy in. There was a pattern. Too many so-called “odd” events in such a short period of time not only doesn’t smell right…but it defies logic.”
Jordan: “I’d say the odds were well beyond 1,000,000:1 and likely well above 100,000,000:1.”
JC: “Let me guess. #1 is supporters didn’t really understand the issues. Recall Trump saying something like, ‘Who knew healthcare was so complicated?”
Matt: “I agree with one exception. People with a college degree who continued to support Trump after the first few months in office. It’s impossible…or at least I think it is…to go through college and not develop some understanding of how events are linked.”
JC: “Yes, Fox News. I’m not certain that was the intent of Fox News, at least when it was started.”
Jordan: “I agree the other channels could be a bit biased at times, but not like Fox. You know as well as I that Fox should have been called the ‘pants-on-fire’ network.”
JC: “That’s my point. Fox routinely made up stuff and presented as hard facts. Trump supporters actually considered Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity as serious journalists.”
Matt: “Let me go back and ask again. What about certain members of Congress…McConnell, for example. Was he brainwashed? Is that why he stonewalled any investigation of Trump? What about Pence and Sessions? Were they brainwashed?
Gelly: “No, and he never does. But, hey, he’s a reporter.”
JC: “…until she convinced me meeting with you would be more fun. Nice to see you Matt.”
Matt: “The book attempts to address and link, if a link exists, various events leading up to when Trump was taken out.”
JC: “And, duh, Kushner wanted to use the communications equipment in the Russian embassy. According to the article, even the Russian ambassador was taken aback by the idea.”
Greenie: “Look, the guy’s in his mid-30’s, which is ego time for many people. But he’s also from a family with two question marks. Maybe I should just call them marks. His father did time in prison for fraud. And, he’s Orthodox, although I must say his behavior sometimes made me question his commitment.”
Greenie: “OK, skip the Orthodox issue. Here’s a 30-something in the White House with no previous political experience…and he’s effectively running the country. Kushner pulls a string and the puppet Trump reacts, just like Howdy Doody. Just thinking of it is depressing.”
JC: “You mean running the running the government turned out to be more complicated than doing a real estate deal? Who knew? Seriously, what really baffles me is how could they have thought communications with the Russians were not being monitored?”
JC: “How could a, what 3-star general in the Marines, with some national security experience no less, not know about calls to the Russians being monitored?”
Greenie: “Mike Pence and Jeff Sessions were experienced politicians. Sessions had been in the Senate for 20 years and had been US attorney earlier in his career.”
Jordan: “Back to Pence and Sessions. Where did their money go?”
Jordan: “Gelly, good idea about ordering coffee. Waiter, when you get a chance, I’ll take the check, please.”
JC: “Get to the point, please.”
Greenie: “I recall Trump calling Comey a nut case…to the Russians no less…but don’t recall him claiming Comey was lying.”
Greenie: “Of course, Trump never produced the tapes. In fact, from what I understand from the few people I still know in the right places, the FBI was likely taping Trump’s conversations. I don’t know if the Donald ever understood how sophisticated the FBI technology was for listening in on conversations.”
JC: “Remember, he’s Trump. He’s the center of the universe and everyone else revolves around him. He probably thought Comey would act all the other munchkins Trump employs or calls a friend…do what the boss man wants and don’t ask question.”
Gelly: “Look, I’m not the brightest crayon in the box but I look like a genius compared to Trump.”
JC: “So instead of being adults, these guys played hide-and-seek behind some fence. In the meantime, Trump got more and more out of control.”
Sandy:
JC:
JC:
Greenie:
JC:
Greenie:
JC:
Greenie:
Gelly:
Sandy:
Greenie:
JC:
Greenie:
JC: “Maybe heads should have rolled at the White House sooner. Sorry, that was too easy.”
Sandy:
Waiter delivers a round of drinks.
Gelly:
JC:
Greenie:
Greenie:
Gelly:
Jordan:
Jordan:
