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Now What?! A Suggested Approach to Pre-Inaugural Angst

The pandemic rages on with more victims than ever. The President of the United States cares only about convincing as many of his followers as possible that the recent election was stolen, while knowing it was not. OMG, what crazy, stupid, lawless thing will the President do next? If we find ourselves anxiously fretting over this, the Donald has us right where he wants us.

OK, so how is one to react to the latest assault on our country’s democracy? Matter-of-factly. The time has come to stop rewarding Donald Trump and his followers with howls of outrage, however deserved. With the possible exception of the inherent pleasure they derive from wrongdoing, nothing pleases Trump or a true Trumpster more than the apoplexy they elicit with bad behavior.

So, it’s not “You make me so mad I can’t sleep!” Rather, it’s time to shrug and say, “We expected nothing but the worst possible behavior from you, Mr. President. Someone willing to obstruct justice as you have is certainly going to obstruct a transition. Hire your movers and the best criminal defense team you can find. Pitch a reality TV show. Please excuse us, though; we have a lot to do, repairing the damage you’ve done to this country.”

We Saw This Coming, Right?

We were expecting, maybe, bowing to the will of the people? A gracious acceptance of obvious reality? Cooperative transfer of power in the nation’s best interests? An end, or even slowdown, to the barrage of lies? Doing the right thing?

We thought that after the election Donald Trump would urge all Americans to take reasonable measures to protect themselves and each other? Tamp down the politicization of the pandemic? Do something that actually would help the economy?

This Republican “leadership” (excuse the expression) was going to rein in Donald Trump? They were going to say harming the country with lies demeaning its democracy was going too far? They’re going to get interested in saving lives after a quarter-million lost?

C’mon. Seriously?  

This is not to suggest that dishonesty does not matter; quite the contrary. Honest, experienced election officials – Republican, Democratic, and Independent – are receiving death threats for doing their jobs and telling the truth. Exhausted health workers report patients using their dying breaths to deny the virus killing them.

The most famous current report comes from South Dakota, where nearly a half million bikers sneered at science with a super-spreader event in Sturgis. There is no doubt why the Upper Midwest became one of the nation’s hotspots this fall. Unmasked and undistanced partiers went home to every state, and, combined with smaller but similarly foolish gatherings everywhere, have made the whole country a hot spot again. Dishonesty matters, alright, especially when believed.

A Few Undeniable Facts – Election

By all accounts, regardless of political persuasion, 2020 was the cleanest election anyone can remember. That stands to reason, since everyone knew it would be the most scrutinized election ever. Elections generally are clean; our system works. But the chance of getting away with election fraud in this one was closer to zero than ever.

Joe Biden won. His 306 electoral college votes were the same number garnered by Trump in 2016. For four years we’ve been hearing from the Donald that this was a “landslide”, despite losing the popular vote by around 2.9 million votes. In contrast, Biden’s 306 electoral votes in 2020 saw a corresponding popular vote victory of over 5.5 million. It’s a clear, solid win.

Any assertion to the contrary is not only incorrect, but a knowing lie. Everyone with access to the facts knows this election was clean. To suggest it was stolen is a slander against our country, and all those who work hard and well on its elections.

Overturning any election in court requires compelling proof. In cases filed against this election, forget about proving anything – what’s being alleged is incoherent. If any specific fact is asserted, it turns out not only false but often the opposite of the truth. The suits filed aren’t just losers; they are frivolous.

Yes, He Knows

By the way, of course Trump knows he lost. He knew he was cooked when Biden won the South Carolina primary and then did so well on Super Tuesday. Why else would he be furious with Elizabeth Warren for not pulling out of the race and backing Sanders? Trump knew he’d have a chance against Bernie. Why else did he pursue that idiocy in the Ukraine before Biden was even the nominee?

If he knows he lost, why this behavior now? The easy answer is he’s just being the Donald. It’s no mere sore-loser petulance, however. The sad truth seems to include: (1) This keeps him the lead story, even as a lame duck, as long as possible. (2) Whatever can be done to hurt Biden, he’ll do. (3) He enjoys harming people in general, and our country and its core values in particular. (4) There are a few more items on the to-do list Vladimir gave him. (5) He is helping himself to one last fleecing of his adoring followers. As has been reported elsewhere, the small print in the current fundraising indicates that little or no money raised actually funds the baseless lawsuits.

A Few Undeniable Facts – Pandemic

COVID-19 is not just another flu. It is more contagious, more stealthy, and much more deadly. Its presence in a person days before symptoms manifest means that people unknowingly spread the virus everywhere, unless they take measures.

Transmission of COVID-19 is by personal contact, specifically most often by respiratory droplets. How long they linger, and under what circumstances, are still not fully understood. It’s easy to understand, though, that people breathing on each other spreads the coronavirus. Keeping a distance of about six feet, and knocking down droplets with masks, obviously help. So do circulating clean air, cleaning surfaces, and avoiding crowds.

At any time in our history other than the Trump Era, denying any of the above would have been regarded universally as sheer lunacy. Yet, one mask seen at a farm stand said “This Is What Tyranny Looks Like!” No. This is what common sense looks like.

The message from the White House has been “Ignore those fins of the great white shark. Everyone in the ocean!” (Indeed, not to beat the point to death, but the presidential response to COVID since March has been a real-world, large-scale rendition of the film Jaws, complete with mayor telling citizens to ignore the experts for fear of slowing an economy.)

The Need for Consequences

The expression is “No good deed goes unpunished.” The only thing worse than good deeds being punished, though, is bad deeds going unpunished. The wrongdoing recently, like that of the last four years, has been so voluminous and so serious as to require consequences. Otherwise, there will be no credible deterrent to future crimes and unethical behavior in high places. Don’t go after little stuff, but don’t ignore really bad stuff, either.

This is not for Joe Biden’s attention, by the way. He has even more important things to do. At every level, state and federal, we have good people who have made it their lives’ work to respond to bad behavior. Unfettered, these experts can be trusted to just do their jobs in various realms.

The Civil Case Realm

It is entirely appropriate in most jurisdictions to request both attorneys’ fees and sanctions in response to frivolous litigation. Without a shred of evidence, the suits being filed by or on behalf of Donald Trump are the epitome of frivolous. Every pleading in response to this nonsense should contain requests for sanctions and attorneys’ fees. It’s bad enough that gullible Trump supporters send their money in for this “cause”, only to have all or most of it diverted. Why should taxpayers have to fund the defense?

It is worth remembering that certain doctrines of law, like fraud and the RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) Act, operate in both the civil and criminal arenas.

One other thought: How about a writ of mandamus against public servants who refuse to do their job in critical areas? This tends to come up when dedicated professionals are fired in favor of political hacks and donors. There are very good reasons for the Hatch Act and for political appointees to be greatly outnumbered in the public workforce.

The Ethical Realm

It is unethical for any lawyer to file pleadings lacking any merit. (RPC 3.1: A lawyer shall not bring or defend a proceeding, nor assert or controvert an issue therein unless the lawyer knows or reasonably believes that there is a basis in law and fact for doing so that is not frivolous.)

It is separately and especially unethical to do so knowingly. (RPC 3.3: A lawyer shall not knowingly: (1) make a false statement of material fact or law to a tribunal; (2) fail to disclose a material fact to a tribunal when disclosure is necessary to avoid assisting an illegal, criminal or fraudulent act by the client… (4) offer evidence that the lawyer knows to be false… or (5) fail to disclose to the tribunal a material fact knowing that the omission is reasonably certain to mislead the tribunal…)

Attorney Ethics prosecutors, often called Bar Counsel, should prepare themselves for a wave of cases. The Rules of Professional Conduct are not limited to those in private practice, by the way; they apply to all licensed lawyers.

Lawyers aren’t the only ones with ethics standards. Other professions, like medicine, have them. All three branches of the federal government have offices to ensure ethical conduct. While Trump and congressional Republicans each consider whether there is any act whatever Trump could do that would draw condemnation, here’s a link to the Office of Congressional Ethics: https://oce.house.gov/learn/citizen-s-guide

The Criminal Realm

The enormity in volume, scope, and severity of the crimes committed by and on behalf of Donald Trump boggles the mind. And that’s just what we already know. History will teach that our President Law ‘n’ Order broke more laws than any other ever, perhaps more than all others combined.

Crimes (like perjury, fraud, treason) each have elements that must be proven. They either happened or they didn’t. They either can or cannot be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.

The topic of pardons would justify its own post. Suffice it to say (as I have been for a couple years) that on his way out, Trump will

  • Pardon a long list of bad actors who committed crimes at his behest or for his benefit and
  • Either resign and have Pence pardon him, or pardon himself – or both

Donald Trump may find one last constitutional crisis irresistible, so brace yourself for that self-pardon thing. I’m not aware of anything definitive on whether a president can do it, but there’s this from a memorandum opinion written in the time of Nixon out of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel:

“Pursuant to Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution, the ‘Power to grant…Pardons for Offenses against the United States…’ is vested in the President. This raises the question whether the President can pardon himself. Under the fundamental rule that no one may be a judge in his own case, it would seem that the question should be answered in the negative.”

As to Vice President Pence: he is not in Jerry Ford’s position; Trump is not in Richard Nixon’s position; and someday maybe we’ll count the number of Trumpian scandals that dwarf Watergate. Depending on how far Trump is willing to go with his treachery before January 20, the 25th Amendment, Section 4, might be the more to the point than Article II.

Finally, I’ve seen a suggestion that Biden should pardon Trump. I don’t think he should, and I don’t think he will.

A Quick Story

As an undergrad a long time ago at Rutgers, I bought an advance general admission ticket to a concert. I was excited because it was my first chance to see Archie Shepp, then as now one of my favorite tenor saxophonists. Excited enough was I to not pay attention as I approached the outside doors. Someone stuck out his hand and I handed him my ticket. While peering inside the lobby, I didn’t notice at first that the stub wasn’t given back to me. I looked back and the guy was gone, with my ticket.

At first, I was puzzled. Looking back inside the lobby, I realized they were actually taking tickets at the doors from the lobby into the venue. The ticket was gone, I couldn’t prove anything or identify the guy, and I couldn’t afford another ticket. I was almost as angry at myself as the thief. How could I have been so stupid? I hated the feeling of being “had”. (Indeed, until now, I haven’t told this story to very many people.)

It’s happened to most of us, one way or another, and we all hate the feeling of having been had. For at least two reasons, we don’t want to believe that’s what has happened. First, someone did something wrong to us. Second, we feel really foolish.

Millions have been had by Donald Trump. Some will never realize it; some will realize it, but never admit it. Some have realized it, or are beginning to realize it, already; for others it will take a while. It’s never easy, and it hurts. He’s quite the con man.

All cons are not the same, but it does feel better to learn from it and let it go. I’ve enjoyed many great events at Rutgers over the years. I’ve also seen Archie Shepp play three times now, worn out some of his albums, and loved every second of it.

So…

True and False.
Good and Bad.
Right and Wrong.

My parents taught me all about these concepts – which was which, and why the distinctions between them always matter. I’m eternally grateful. It’s time to fix the mess we’re in, preferably together. We’ve never needed these, our first principles and the building blocks of society, more.

To be effective, it’s better to skip the snark and the vitriol, but we must insist on fairness, and answer every lie with the truth. Investigate all wrongdoing, wherever the truth takes us. Prosecute proven crimes. Discipline breaches of Ethics. Do all this not out of spite or revenge, but simple justice. We can’t afford not to do it.

Matter-of-factly.

Ken Bossong

© 2020 Kenneth J. Bossong

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It’s Mueller Time, Now More Than Ever

The Mueller Report has grown in importance, not diminished, ever since it was published in March 2019. All that’s needed to grasp its crucial takeaways and the Big Question it presents is keeping in mind three key points.

I. Background For Understanding The Report

The Mueller Report was the most misunderstood big story of 2019. Its official title, Report On The Investigation Into Russian Interference In The 2016 Presidential Election, is hardly catchy, but the Mueller Report never was the non-event it was portrayed to be. Given what’s transpired since its release and the looming election, it is more relevant (and understanding it is more important) than ever.

People just didn’t get major aspects of the Report. Attorney General Barr’s misrepresentation of its contents before its release contributed mightily to confusion and misperception, as intended. Indeed, the fog was necessary to keep the Trump administration going. The hope was, and is, that Americans not read the Report for themselves.

It’s a shame. Grasp three key concepts, and how they inter-relate, and the significance of the Mueller Report is right there for the taking at any level of detail desired. The three points are: (1) Mueller believed he could not indict Trump. (2) Therefore, Mueller would not say whether Trump had committed a crime. (3) Underlying everything is the burden of proof in a criminal case, “Beyond a Reasonable Doubt” (BARD).

The first point is discussed but seldom fully understood. The most subtle, intriguing, least discussed, and useful point for understanding what puzzles and frustrates people about the Report is the second. It’s explicitly there, though, just like point #1 from which it flows.

Reading the Report is highly recommended. Yes, it’s long and the redactions are annoying. (Speaking of which, many of the redactions were about Roger Stone’s then-ongoing case. That debacle has played out. ISSUE AN UNREDACTED VERSION, NOW!)  The Report isn’t literature, but the content – what took place – is spellbinding.  The following is a relatively brief guided tour.

Key Point #1: Mueller Never Was Going To Indict the President

Robert Mueller was Special Counsel charged with handling the investigation and reporting to the Attorney General. As such, he was working under the Department of Justice. The DOJ’s Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) had issued an opinion finding that “the indictment or criminal prosecution of a sitting President would impermissibly undermine the capacity of the executive branch to perform its constitutionally assigned functions” in violation of “the constitutional separation of powers.”

Ordinarily, an investigating prosecutor has a binary decision to make: either prosecute or decline to prosecute. This being no ordinary investigation, Mueller determined not to make a traditional prosecutorial judgment. That’s because he adopted the OLC’s legal conclusion: It would be bad public policy and arguably unconstitutional to indict or prosecute a sitting President of the US. In his words, “we recognized that a federal criminal accusation against a sitting President would place burdens on the President’s capacity to govern and potentially preempt constitutional processes for addressing presidential misconduct.”

In other words, (a) An indicted president can’t govern; and (b) Since electing a president is a political process, removal should be political, too, rather than legal. Impeach, then indict. We know what happened with impeachment (see Senate Republicans, I Know What You Did Last Winter, post of 6/23/20). Thereafter, the proper order became: Elect someone else, then indict. We’ll learn more on Tuesday, November 3.

So, why bother to investigate, then? Mueller anticipated that question. Paring down his answer: The OLC opinion recognizes that (1) One does not indict a sitting president, but a criminal investigation of a sitting POTUS is permissible. (2) A POTUS does not have immunity after leaving office. (3) Individuals other than the POTUS may be prosecuted. Therefore, Mueller proceeded: “we conducted a thorough factual investigation in order to preserve the evidence when memories were fresh and documentary materials were available.” [See pages 213-4. All page references are out of the Report’s total 448.]

As it turned out, unfortunately, some memories were more flawed or fabricated than fresh, and important documents weren’t as available as they should have been.

Key Point #2: Mueller Would Not Say Whether the President Committed a Crime

Ordinarily, the threshold step in deciding whether to prosecute or decline is to assess whether a person’s conduct “constitutes a federal offense.”  Mueller believed fairness dictated that he not even reach that assessment, given that criminal prosecution was out of the question.

Why? Because the protections provided within a public criminal trial is how individuals get a chance to clear their name. “In contrast, a prosecutor’s judgment that crimes were committed, but that no charges will be brought, affords no such adversarial opportunity for public name-clearing before an impartial adjudicator.” (214) Such fairness concerns would be heightened in the case of a sitting president.

Get this, and you are on your way with the Mueller Report: It would be unfair to accuse informally, and not indict.

Key Point #3: BARD – the Highest Burden of Proof – Was in Effect

Parties in legal cases have one of three burdens of proof – i.e. the degree of certainty they must prove for their side of a dispute to prevail. For example, the most common burden of proof is the lowest, “Preponderance of the Evidence”. In effect in civil cases for damages, it means proving your version of the facts is “more likely than not” what happened. (Another burden, “clear and convincing” is in between the other two, used in limited instances not relevant here.)

At the other end of the spectrum, the highest burden of proof is in effect in criminal cases: “Beyond a Reasonable Doubt”. Prosecutors must show there is no reasonable doubt that (a) a crime was committed and (b) the defendant committed it. Note that it’s not Beyond All (or Any) Doubt. So, who decides which doubts are “reasonable”? The jury.

If defense counsel does a good job in arguing reasonable doubt, the judge instructs the jury properly, and jurors take their role seriously, prosecutors have their work cut out for them with BARD. Combine this burden of proof with the first two key points, and a prosecutor more interested in doing his job scrupulously than throwing his weight around, and what do you get? The highly nuanced Mueller Report.

Robert Mueller’s Uniquely Delicate Task

No one knew better than Robert Mueller just how unique and delicate his role was. Nationally renowned as he was as a federal prosecutor, Mueller was still a non-politician in a very public setting. He presented himself as a man determined to discharge his duties fairly and honorably. For example, I loved what he said to the press while conducting the investigation: nothing.

Robert Mueller was never going to indict a sitting president (key point #1). He was never going to even express an opinion as to whether his conduct was illegal (key point #2). Some “Witch Hunt”, wasn’t it? Had he bent over backwards any further to be fair to the president, Mueller would have broken his back.

Mueller took a lot of heat for it, too. Some thought him wrong with #1, that his authority in this assignment would have permitted prosecution of the president. Many thought him wrong about #2, if they even bothered to grasp the point. Displeasure with him was from all sides, the result of his being neither the avenging angel sought by Democrats nor the exonerator Republicans wished to portray.

In particular, we’ve heard a lot about how poorly Mueller “performed” in his congressional testimony. He was hesitating, halting, asking for questions to be repeated, relying on the report, refusing to opine or characterize beyond the report, appearing to stumble while searching for the correct words.

Perhaps a Mueller presentation may have been more fluid a decade earlier. In general, though, complaining viewers did not realize what they were seeing. Mueller said the Report was his testimony and that he would not go beyond it, then actually did what he said. He was absolutely determined not to prejudice other ongoing investigations, or go beyond the purview of this one. There was good reason to resist attempts to put words in his mouth that were not in the Report, or to give questioners a second chance to ask something coherent. Many pauses involved processing subtleties and complexities, while being exquisitely fair to all in a setting where an answer’s every nuance mattered.

My impression, then, was of a career prosecutor who came by his impeccable reputation honestly; of a life-long Republican who found this one of his most distasteful assignments; and of a patriot worried about the country he loves and serves. Getting Mueller wrong may have had something to do with how unaccustomed citizens became to seeing a person of stature inside the beltway behaving honorably on the big stage.

II. Takeaways from the Report

Armed with the three key points, one can delve into the Mueller Report and emerge with any number of important takeaways. Here are a few.

Russian Interference With the 2016 Election Was Massive and Undeniable

Volume 1 of the Mueller Report, 199 pages, is devoted to detailing the nature and extent of Russian interference in the 2016 election. It makes for astonishing and appalling reading.

The Report breaks Russian efforts into two broad categories: (1) a social media campaign led by something called the Internet Research Agency (IRA) and (2) a hacking and dumping operation by a Russian intelligence service known as the Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Army (GRU).

The IRA

The social media campaign, begun as early as 2014 to generally undermine the US electoral system, fell in behind Donald Trump as an early candidate and then as the Republican nominee. IRA created phony entities under Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Some of them sounded like they were invented for satire, but had hundreds of thousands of followers. All told, as many as 126 million Americans were reached with false information and divisive messages.

Posing as American grassroots activists, the IRA also created, promoted, and held rallies in the US. The Russians sent notice of an event through the phony social media accounts, then recruited coordinators for the event from those who responded enthusiastically. IRA operatives would claim a schedule conflict as the event approached, leaving the recruited American coordinator to promote the rally with the media and run the show. An early (2015) event was a “confederate rally”; from June 2016 on, they were pro-Trump and anti-Clinton. Page 31 of the Report displays an IRA poster promoting a “Miners For Trump” rally in Pennsylvania.

A glance at the names of some fake IRA-backed groups active on Facebook alone shows the breadth of Russia’s insidious efforts at sowing discord: “Stop All Immigrants”, “Being Patriotic”, “Secured Borders”, “Tea Party News”, “Blacktivist”, “Black Matters”, “Don’t Shoot Us”, “LGBT United”, and “United Muslims of America” [page 25].

The GRU

The second category of interference, GRU’s hacking campaign, began in March 2016. It started with the email accounts of Clinton campaign volunteers and employees, including campaign chair John Podesta. By April, the GRU had hacked into the networks of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC). Hundreds of thousands of documents were stolen.

Release of materials was timed to assist Trump and hurt Clinton. Example: the first dump of Podesta materials by WikiLeaks occurred on October 7, 2016, about an hour after release of the infamous 2005 “hot mic” video in which Trump boasted of sexual assault exploits to Access Hollywood’s Billy Bush.

There’s also this: On July 27, 2016, “candidate Trump announced that he hoped Russia would recover emails described as missing from a private server used by Clinton when she was Secretary of State (he later said that he was speaking sarcastically)” [page 5]. There’s that pesky sarcasm again; such a jokester, that Donald. However, “Within approximately five hours of Trump’s statement, GRU officers targeted for the first time Clinton’s personal office.” [page 49]

Information Warfare

The second sentence of the Report, on page 1, is this: “The Russian government interfered in the 2016 presidential election in sweeping and systematic fashion.” Elsewhere, it points out that the IRA referred to its own tactics as “information warfare”. In short, as said by former NJ Attorney General John Farmer, Jr. in a terrific piece in the 4/21/19 Philadelphia Inquirer, “Taken as a whole, those measures were a cyber invasion of our nation, an act of virtual war.”

In his testimony, Mueller said, “Over the course of my career I have seen a number of challenges to our democracy. The Russian government’s effort to interfere in our election is among the most serious.”

The Report Did NOT Say “No Collusion!/No Cooperation!/No Conspiracy!”

Far from it. It concludes that Special Counsel had not gathered enough evidence at that point to be confident of conviction.

This is the burden of BARD at work. In reviewing the Report, never forget that these are criminal law considerations. Note the use of careful language like “not sufficient to establish” throughout, in explaining instances where prosecution was declined. This is a prosecutor being careful not to charge unless very sure of sustaining the burden of proof. (His batting average for obtaining convictions on those charged was as high as it could be, thus setting the stage for disgraceful intervention in the cases of Roger Stone and Michael Flynn by Attorney General Barr and President Trump.)

The Report sets forth both an eagerness on the part of the Trump Campaign to conspire and numerous contacts between the campaign and Russian operatives.

Individuals were indicted for lying and obstructing, but no member of the campaign was indicted for conspiring with the Russians.

Three possibilities suggest themselves here. Either:

  1. There was no conspiracy because the Russians concluded from contacts with the Trump campaign – like the meeting at Trump Tower of 6/9/16 in which Donald Trump, Jr., Jared Kushner, and Paul Manafort were disappointed not to receive dirt on Clinton – that they’d do better helping  Trump get elected without them;
  2. There was a conspiracy, but the obstruction of justice laid out in Volume 2 succeeded in preventing Special Counsel from proving it beyond a reasonable doubt; or
  3. To borrow a concept from Antitrust law, conscious parallelism occurred. (Bear with me here, or just skip this part.) Without explicitly agreeing to fix prices, competitors in a market sometimes simply behave as if they had. With no smoking gun, it’s harder to prove, but conscious parallelism is an antitrust violation. The question here would be whether the parties had the sophisticated wherewithal to pull off such a nod-and-a-wink political conspiracy.

Before letting this topic go, I should mention that the weakest part of the Report for me, admittedly no expert on criminal law, was the explanation of why that Trump Tower meeting of June 9 did not constitute criminal conspiracy. Pages 184 to 188 contain a fine explication of the law but an unpersuasive application of it to the facts. Counsel fusses over his ability to prove, BARD, two elements of conspiracy, thing-of-value and willfulness. Yet, it seems incredible that (a) the anticipated dirt on Hillary would not be a “thing of value” and (b) individuals so high up in a major party’s presidential campaign could be held so ignorant of basic election law as to be incapable of willfulness.

Obstruction of Justice

Volume 2 of the Report presents a compelling case of breathtaking obstruction of justice by the President and others. The details are as comprehensive as they are appalling. As with the facts underlying the Trump impeachment, Nixon’s Watergate cover-up shrivels into insignificance by comparison.

Here is the Conclusion to the executive summary of Volume 2:

Because we determined not to make a traditional prosecutorial judgment, we did not draw ultimate conclusions about the President’s conduct. The evidence we obtained about the President’s actions and intent presents difficult issues that would need to be resolved if we were making a traditional prosecutorial judgment. At the same time, if we had confidence after a thorough investigation of the facts that the President clearly did not commit obstruction of justice, we would so state. Based on the facts and the applicable legal standards, we are unable to reach that judgment. Accordingly, while this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.

The only reasonable conclusion to draw from Volume 2 is this: There is only one reason Donald Trump was not indicted for multiple counts of obstruction – he was a sitting president. So why doesn’t Mueller just say so? Because Key Point #2, above, is just as important as Key Point #1. This was as far as Mueller felt he could go.

If you doubt my assessment of this as a non-expert in criminal law, please consider a Statement made public on May 6, 2019 (available here: https://medium.com/@dojalumni/statement-by-former-federal-prosecutors-8ab7691c2aa1) by a group who are certainly experts – former federal prosecutors. They describe themselves thus: We served under both Republican and Democratic administrations at different levels of the federal system: as line attorneys, supervisors, special prosecutors, United States Attorneys, and senior officials at the Department of Justice. The offices in which we served were small, medium, and large; urban, suburban, and rural; and located in all parts of our country.

Their conclusion, supported with analysis: Each of us believes that the conduct of President Trump described in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report would, in the case of any other person not covered by the Office of Legal Counsel policy against indicting a sitting President, result in multiple felony charges for obstruction of justice.

The Mueller report describes several acts that satisfy all of the elements for an obstruction charge: conduct that obstructed or attempted to obstruct the truth-finding process, as to which the evidence of corrupt intent and connection to pending proceedings is overwhelming. These include:

· The President’s efforts to fire Mueller and to falsify evidence about that effort;

· The President’s efforts to limit the scope of Mueller’s investigation to exclude his conduct; and

· The President’s efforts to prevent witnesses from cooperating with investigators probing him and his campaign.

The Statement is signed by 1,027 former prosecutors. That’s right – over a thousand experts put the lie to the “fake news, witch-hunt, hoax”. If he’s indicted for multiple crimes after leaving office, Donald Trump will get what he deserves: the opportunity a trial entails to clear his name. If not, it will be official: someone is above the Law.

On “Exoneration”

An interesting exchange during Robert Mueller’s testimony was then-Rep. John Ratcliffe taking him to task for the second half of the Volume 2 Conclusion above, especially the last sentence not exonerating the president. The essence of Ratcliffe’s point was that Special Counsel lacked the authority to exonerate or not exonerate President Trump.

Mueller could have been accused of setting up a straw man and knocking him down (a pet peeve of mine, by the way), except for one important thing. He knew Trump was the type to claim falsely that the Report exonerated him and felt the responsibility to head that misconception off at the pass. Sure enough, Trump couldn’t wait to prove him right by claiming total exoneration – and that’s even with the Report’s detailed explanation why it did not and could not have exonerated him.

This chirping about exoneration makes an interesting contrast with Trump’s now-famous response to hearing that Mueller had been appointed: “According to notes written by Hunt, when Sessions told the President that a Special Counsel had been appointed, the President slumped back in his chair and said, ‘Oh my God. This is terrible. This is the end of my Presidency. I’m f—-d.’ ” [page 78] He had every reason to believe that.

It is worth noting that, as in numerous other published accounts of President Trump’s misfeasance, the Report describes instances where underlings prevented further damage by ignoring, deflecting, delaying or refusing orders by Trump to engage in wrongdoing. Remarkably, it could have been even worse.

III. The Big Question

Taking a deep breath and a step back from all the technical details and legal arguments, we’re left with one Big Question. Oddly, it has received little public discussion.

We’ve seen the extraordinary lengths (time, effort, and expense) that Russia went to in aid of Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign. The Report makes clear there can be no doubt on this and that more detailed evidence than anyone has time to read is available to prove it. Indeed, no one but Donald Trump even pretends to doubt it.

The question of whether such efforts were enough to alter the 2016 election’s outcome has lurked ever since. At this juncture, though, we’re more concerned with what effect Russia’s continuing efforts are having on the 2020 election. Let’s set that aside.

The Big Question is simply “Why?”

Why did Russia in general, and Vladimir Putin in particular, want Donald Trump to be President of the United States so very badly? Why does that continue?

Forgive me, fans of Hillary Clinton, but it cannot be that Putin was quaking in his boots at the prospect of a Clinton presidency. One of the most concerning aspects of President Obama’s eight years was how Putin consistently had his way with him – and no less so while Clinton was Secretary of State.

Notwithstanding false denials, there was the prospect of building a Trump Tower in Moscow. But if any hanky-panky were involved, it would be your garden-variety corruption that could occur whether or not Trump were President. In fact, the project, with or without wrongdoing, actually would have been easier without the glare of the presidency.

Why does Donald Trump admire Vladimir Putin, one of the world’s truly evil men, so unabashedly, to the point of hero-worship? Why and how does a president behave as Trump did in Helsinki? Why did Putin want Trump to be President so desperately that no effort or expense was spared?

Why the Big Question Matters

With no satisfactory answer, the question keeps presenting itself as each episode of President Trump’s bizarre and otherwise inexplicable handling of our international affairs unfolds. The long list includes seemingly impulsive and erratic behavior in troop movements, withdrawal from negotiated international agreements, and treatment of allies as enemies and enemies as allies.

With few exceptions, such behavior leaves experts in the affected fields, including (one hopes) the president’s own hand-picked advisors in the White House, aghast and repulsed. More importantly, such actions withdraw the US from the international stage, leaving the world a worse and more dangerous place. Every lessening of American presence and influence creates a void. Guess who is eager to fill the vacuum that Nature abhors. 

Again, if Donald Trump were to be re-elected, does anyone doubt that he would seek to withdraw the US from NATO? Guess who would be thrilled with that development.

Note the consistency in Russia’s strategy; it’s the classic Divide and Conquer. Yes, they worked to bolster candidate Trump and diminish Hillary Clinton. The most striking detail, however, was Russia’s unrelenting effort to sow anger, confusion, and especially division among Americans. Arguably, we needed less prodding than we should have, but they’ve been more successful dividing us than they could have dreamed. Similarly, Putin’s clear path to restoring Russia’s prominence is to divide those nations whose freedoms and way of life threaten him.

Again, why does Putin want Donald Trump to be President of the United States so very badly? Why was he so confident that a President Trump would deliver as he has? And, what’s in it for the Donald?

Finally, who wants a President of the United States about whom such questions can be asked credibly, with urgent concern? Guess we’ll see soon enough.

Ken Bossong

© 2020 Kenneth J. Bossong

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For and Against, in the Election of 2020

Most presidential elections leave me grumbling how tired I am of voting against the worse of two evils, and longing to vote for someone. This is the year.

That is not to say there’s no compelling reason to vote against Donald Trump. There are many – and almost every day there are more. Happily, though, there are some good reasons to vote for Joe Biden.

Reasons To Vote For Biden

Breadth and Depth of Relevant Experience

With eight years as Vice President and many years before that in the US Senate, Biden’s background in two of the three branches of government is an enormous advantage.
Domestically and internationally, Biden knows the issues, the opportunities, the dangers, and the players. He has institutional knowledge and skill, a sense of what works and what doesn’t. Even mistakes and stumbles from the past can be teachable moments, for those, like Biden, open to learning.
The strongest resume of relevant experience since George H. W. Bush makes Biden a candidate ready to govern immediately upon taking the oath.

Devotion to the Constitution and the Rule of Law

Biden gets it; the reverence isn’t feigned. No policy position is as important. In matters large and small, he’s not the kind of guy to ignore his oath of office. It may not have seemed a big deal, but during last night’s town hall from Philadelphia, he eschewed presidential overuse of executive orders. He’d be the first president in a while with that approach.
So many offices and functions of the Executive Branch that must be apolitical to operate have been politicized blatantly. Restoring their integrity will be at or near the top of Biden’s essential to-do list.

Decency

Biden is a good person. In a better time, this would be a prerequisite, taken for granted in anyone seriously considered to be running for president. In these times, however, decency counts as a noteworthy advantage.

Integrity

(Ditto on this as normally a prerequisite.) Considering Biden’s worst moment in this regard ironically underscores his fundamental honesty. In an attack ad we’ve all seen countless times, it is telling that they had to go back 33 years for a clip of Biden responding to a question defensively, claiming academic achievement he hadn’t attained 20 years before that. It is cringe-worthy, but Biden’s worst moment wouldn’t have registered as noticeable if done by his adversary. More on that below.

Relationships

Few aspects of life are more important than relationships formed and nurtured. The significance is magnified on the national and international stages. Genuinely worthwhile relationships take patience and hard work, and this is where decency and integrity really count. Possessing all these requisite traits makes this factor Biden’s strongest suit.
Even better than his knowing the players in every realm, the players know and respect him. This consensus builder understands that the President’s most important power is the power to persuade (Presidential Power, Richard E. Neustadt, 1960).

Bipartisanship

When given grief for talking to the “enemy” across the aisle, Biden explains as patiently as he can that this is how things get done. It’s OK to shut up and listen once in a while, without giving up your fundamental principles. Not only is it possible to learn something – about their position and yours – but it can lead to discovering a better solution for all concerned.
If there is merit in anything that’s been done in the last four years, Biden is one politician who might just retain and build upon such items, rather than ditching them out of spite.

Deliberative Decision Making

Joe Biden knows what he doesn’t know, a key component of wisdom. He seeks expertise, listens, and carefully considers alternatives before acting. If anything, he’ll have to guard against being too deliberative before taking action. Given the enormous stakes involved in what comes before a president, this approach would be an important improvement.

Strength in Core Beliefs

Biden’s willingness to give and take for prudent problem solving does not extend to basic principles and core beliefs. Nice try with that “sleepy”, “weak”, and “Trojan Horse” stuff, but Biden would not be the Democratic candidate without HIS beliefs and principles defeating those he is accused of espousing.

Race and Social Justice

No Johnny-come-lately to these issues, Biden has earned trust in this area. It will take most of what he brings to the table in judgment, empathy, honesty, consensus building and experience, but the time seems right. It should be straightforward to get this done, but it just isn’t. He presents the best opportunity to take significant steps toward real justice. The fear-mongering ads against him are predictably false.

On Trump-Haters, Never-Trumpers, and the Like

It’s worth pausing to examine one of the least persuasive and most annoying tactics employed by defenders of Donald Trump. Point out anything done or said by the Donald that is clearly wrong – morally, legally, or factually – or criticize him for anything, and expect to be dismissed quickly as a “Trump Hater” or a “Never-Trumper”. (Other versions include “I get it; you don’t like the guy” or “Ignore what he says and concentrate on what he does”.)

The implication is that one must have suffered an affliction, or taken a blow to the head and awakened loathing Donald Trump. Worse, it’s as if that retort explains anything. The tactic is designed to accomplish two things. First, it is a condescending put-down. Second, it gives the Trump defender something to say without addressing the merits of what’s wrong with Trump.

This has cause-and-effect backwards. Observers of what Trump says, and even worse what he does, conclude based on overwhelming evidence that he is both a terrible president and a despicable human being. Disliking him as thoroughly as anyone ever encountered, while resolving never to vote for him, flow directly from rational analysis of observed fact. It’s not that he’s a bad president because he’s not “my kinda guy”.

Let’s use me as an example. I resolved on Inauguration Day to give him a fair shake, on the merits, cognizant of his having a personality I tend not to appreciate. Would he glance around the Oval Office, feel the gravity of the responsibility and the opportunity for accomplishment, and (at least attempt to) rise to the occasion? Well, no, apparently; not for an instant. That has proven tragic for countless reasons.

Reasons To Vote Against Trump

This section writes itself. It was tempting not to bother writing this as being too obvious, but it feels instructive to gather a number of the reasons in one place.
How can such a spectacular collection of character flaws and personality disorders have been amassed in one person? Niece Mary Trump points to Donald’s father, Fred. Other plausible explanations are lacking. A childhood impoverished in ways not financial is still cause for sympathy, but at some point people must take responsibility for the adults they have become. Unfortunately, Donald Trump doesn’t take responsibility for anything – other than credit for good things he had little or nothing to do with accomplishing.

Contempt for the Constitution, Ethics, and America’s System of Justice

Many of the reasons not to vote for Trump are disqualifying for the presidency all by themselves – but none more than this. Books have been written on the topic, with many more undoubtedly to come. Their remarkably consistent portrayals of Trump, as a man and as president, lend these books collective credibility, regardless of their angle.
Trump’s pursuit of self-interest has comprised an all-out assault on basic American principles – among them separation of powers, judicial independence, checks and balances, the integrity of elections, equal protection, transparency, and (soon to come) the peaceful transfer of power. Previously unthinkable conflicts of interest are to this president no more than the spoils of attaining the office, perhaps the main reason to run. Even more alarming is his yearning for, and pursuit of, autocratic power.

Hero worship of Vladimir Putin

Could there be a worse hero/mentor to an American president than KGB thug Vladimir Putin? The disgrace at Helsinki was the end for a fair number of people who had supported Donald Trump. (That more of them didn’t turn away then is disappointing enough to deserve its own post, as do many of the points here.) Much has been written elsewhere on the topic of Trump’s extreme and bizarre deference to Putin, most recently in his refusal to address Russian bounties on US troops. The personal fawning is embarrassing enough, but this is substantive; let’s address one aspect.
President Trump’s behavior in the international arena has been called erratic, puzzling and impulsive. It’s been all that and more with respect to American interests. When viewed through the lens of Russia’s ambitions, however, a clearer, more consistent picture comes into focus. When prosecutors finally get to sift through the wreckage of the Trump administration, this should be high on the list of items to probe. Anyone looking for reading material will find the Mueller Report more relevant than ever.

Abandonment of Allies

Nothing gladdens Vladimir’s heart more than Trump’s systematic weakening of America’s alliances and influence around the world. Vacuums created by our lessening presence are filled eagerly by the world’s bad actors, like Russia, China, Iran and Turkey. Our allies wonder what is left of the America they thought they knew.
It seems clear that a re-elected Donald Trump would waste little time withdrawing the US from NATO, for example. This would be the piece de resistance for Putin, the jackpot that makes his considerable investment of effort and resources assisting Trump’s campaigns a bargain.

Mendacity

Donald Trump is adept at every form and technique of dishonesty. He didn’t invent lying, of course, but the scope, the nastiness, the audacity, and the sheer volume of his lies are unprecedented. If they ever open a Dishonesty Hall of Fame, Donald Trump will be the Babe Ruth of its first induction class.
Prior to Trump, a good way of describing a compulsive liar was one who lied when the truth would serve him better. Here again, Trump is special. Simply put, it’s never the case that the truth would serve him better. Because of who he is and what he does, the truth has been Donald Trump’s enemy for as long as he can recall.
He has been lying so much for so long, he seems incapable of uttering a declarative sentence that is completely true. It’s fascinating to watch, actually. In the middle of a statement that might contain a kernel of fact, he catches himself just in time to salvage his words from the truth.
Before leaving the subject, two other aspects of Trump’s dishonesty are worthy of mention. First, he is a master at projection. That is, he falsely accuses others of the illegal or unethical acts he is actually doing or planning to do. As one of countless examples, Trump can guarantee the election will be “rigged” because he is doing everything he can to rig it.
This tactic is clever. It puts the falsely accused on the defensive; moreover, being the first to accuse serves to weaken any allegation of the same wrongdoing against the accuser, even if true.
Then there’s the cowardice with which he lies. The worst of Trump’s whoppers usually are presented in one of two ways. Either Trump pretends merely to relay what others are saying (“People say that…”, “Everyone knows…”etc.) or he’s merely asking a question (the lie followed by ???????). Leave it to Donald Trump to lie in ways that are themselves intellectually dishonest. It’s no compliment to observe that there’s never been a president like him.

Ignorance

No one knows all that is needed to be a good president. That’s not ignorance, but the reality of taking on a really tough job. But Donald Trump is proudly, willfully ignorant. Regardless of the expected participants, the setting, or the issues at hand, he doesn’t know and he doesn’t want to know. At this point, Trump’s rages against anyone trying to brief him in detail, or tell him anything he doesn’t want to hear, are legendary. Consider the caliber of people who’d be left willing to work for this man in a second term.

Business Dealings

One of the strangest myths about Donald Trump is that he’s a business genius. At a time when the only competition was 2,200 miles away in Las Vegas, Trump managed to go down in flames with casinos in Atlantic City. By all accounts, Trump University and the Trump Foundation were little more than frauds. Worst of all, his decades of dishonorable business dealings sent innumerable honest, hardworking small business people to ruin.
Living and working in New Jersey, I have heard dozens of first-hand stories of Trump dealings over the last 35 years or so. They’re all essentially the same; the next good one will be the first. By 2019, before COVID-19, it was dawning on some US industries – like steel – that Trump was bad for business (December 2019 Fortune magazine).

Negotiating/deal-making

Using bluster and bullying on our allies and a sort of inane flattery (that works only with him) on our adversaries, our master negotiator careens from one interaction to another, either not caring or not realizing how he’s being had. He single-handedly raised Kim Jong-un’s status on the world stage several levels without getting a thing in return. As a result, North Korea has accelerated their nuclear program during Trump’s watch.
Meanwhile, he would have you believe he has tamed China with his tariff war – the main effects of which have been to raise prices and hurt more American businesses. So intimidated by Trump are the Chinese that they are more aggressive than ever regarding Hong Kong, the South China Sea, and Taiwan. The world is more dangerous than it was four years ago.

Race and Social Justice

In effect, Donald Trump has been telling white supremacists and neo-Nazis to “stand by” for his entire presidency. He simply made it explicit during the nationally televised debate. We all know what that means, and no one more than the white supremacists and neo-Nazis. They have received the message loud and clear. A worse president for the healing needed in this realm, again, can scarcely be imagined.

Conclusion

For a while after it became clear that Biden would be the candidate, I joked that he would win because there were two reasons to vote for Joe: (1) He wasn’t Donald Trump. (2) He wasn’t Hillary Clinton.

I’ve come to relish the opportunity to vote FOR Joe Biden, though. His strengths are oddly, uniquely designed to address the mess awaiting him and to begin undoing the damage. Whether voting for Biden or against Trump, though, the person deserving the vote is the easiest decision of my lifetime. Not for nothing, as they say, was Donald Trump desperate to run against anyone but Joe Biden.

Like the rest of us, Joe Biden is far from perfect. Some mistakes will be made. Even if not a superstar, though, Biden has a real chance to be a good president, giving us what we need in a perilous time. That might make him the best we’ve had in a while.

Meanwhile, down the ballot: Over the years, whichever party wins the presidency, it has seemed desirable for the other party to have either the House or the Senate. Not this time.

The indefensible abuses of power by Donald Trump (and his Senate Republican enablers) deserve total, unmistakable repudiation. A presidential landslide combined with new faces in the Senate would send clear assurance, to both our emboldened enemies and our appalled and apprehensive allies, that America has lost neither its values nor its collective mind. That would be a first step in restoring order.

If the required no-doubt-about-it message is delivered, it also needs to be understood by the Democrats taking the reins. Elections have consequences, as they say, but we don’t need one batch of serial abusers of power replaced by another. After four years of unrelenting Republican wrongdoing, it seems almost unfair to ask Democrats to play by the rules, restore decency, and forego payback. Unless someone does it, however, what is to become of the erstwhile United States? It should be a badge of honor to right the ship.

Meanwhile, whatever real Republicans remain with their sanity and consciences intact have the unenviable task of taking back their party from the lunatic fringe and the craven enablers. Talk about needing to undo damage!

The message has to be: We don’t care who you are. The only way to attain power and then keep it is to deserve It – by behaving and performing well. That message must come from us (We the People) every election at every level, every time.

That’s our job.

Ken Bossong

© 2020 Kenneth J. Bossong

Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed—
Let it be that great strong land of love
Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme
That any man be crushed by one above.

From Let America Be America Again by Langston Hughes (1935)

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Joe Biden’s Opening Statement

With so much of the 2020 election season (primaries, selection of running mate, conventions) in the rear-view mirror, next up are the debates.

In case you were wondering what to do with your upcoming Tuesday nights, the first presidential debate is September 29; the other two are October 15 and 22. Mike Pence and Kamala Harris will square off on October 7. All are scheduled for 90 minutes, starting at 9 PM ET. (The end of daylight savings, with clocks “falling back”, is not until November 1.)

Other than Donald Trump in 2016, there has never been a candidate for president remotely like Donald Trump. Preparing to debate him presents unique, bizarre challenges. A standard opening statement just won’t do, for instance.

Here, then, is an approach Joe Biden might take with his opening statement next Tuesday night:

Good evening

“Good evening. I would prefer to use this time to make a traditional opening statement for a presidential debate. For reasons I believe are obvious, however, I need to explain what my approach to all the debates will be – as to both content and tone – and why.

After nearly four years of this presidency, we all know what to expect from Donald Trump in a debate: name-calling, bluster, bullying, coarseness, insults, rudeness, and above all a blizzard of dishonesty.

Content

There will be every kind of dishonesty: denial of obvious truth, fabrication, projection, misrepresentation, distortion of context, and outright lies. Gross exaggeration is as close to the truth as Donald Trump ever seems to get.

I speak of Donald Trump’s dishonesty from personal experience; nearly everything said about me and my positions in his campaign ads, for example, has been false.

Spending too much precious time in these debates reacting to an avalanche of lies would be a disservice. You deserve to know how I plan to serve as President. (And note: there is a plan. We actually have a platform. Not everyone is going to agree with every word of it, but that’s OK.)

You deserve to have the issues discussed on the merits; I will do that.

Therefore, I have directed that several policy experts on my campaign staff devote their time during and immediately following the debates to fact-checking. To keep the debates moving as smoothly as possible, I will generally just point out falsehoods without dwelling on their details. Within 48 hours of the conclusion to each debate, however, we will issue an explanation of what was false, how it was false, and why it matters.

I reserve the right, of course, to address a particular falsehood in some depth. This might be where the discussion requires immediate correction and failure to do so would leave a misimpression. On the other hand, there may be so many falsehoods that I won’t have time even to mention them all.

If that happens, my silence on a given falsehood will not mean acquiescence.

Meanwhile, if I get a fact wrong, it will be inadvertent; it will be corrected, with apologies, as soon as possible.

Tone

As to the tone of the debate – the name-calling, the belligerence, the coarseness, the bullying he will undoubtedly attempt – I will do my level best not to be drawn in by Donald Trump’s tactics, or to sink to his level.  I will not take the bait; then we will see what else he has to offer.

For the rest of these debates, I hope there is no need to address this topic again.

One (More Standard) Opening Statement Point

In the few moments left for this opening, here’s a brief overview of the choice involved in this election. The differences between Donald Trump and me couldn’t be more numerous or profound. For now, please note one important distinction.

In attacking our nation’s crises and challenges as President, I will: (1) surround myself with the best available experts; (2) direct them to tell me the truth, rather than what I wish were true; (3) listen to the experts; and then (4) do my very best for the country and all its people.

Donald Trump, on the other hand, will do what he always does – his very best for the benefit of Donald Trump – for as long as we let him. There’s no need for a President to bother with expertise, facts, careful deliberation, skillful implementation, or diplomacy when he cares nothing for anyone or anything but himself.

Please never lose sight of this basic, overriding distinction as we get into questions of public policy, character, and fitness for the office of President.

Thank you.”

This approach probably will not prevent the train-wreck the debates promise to be, but it might reduce the force of impact. At this point, any step lessening the ongoing damage to our democracy is worth taking.

Ken Bossong

© 2020 Kenneth J. Bossong

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Post Scripts #3: Of False Dichotomies, the Police, Whose Lives Matter – and a Correction

Thanks to contributions by readers (greatly appreciated), this post became a Post Scripts. That is, comments to Other Aspects spur revisits or supplementation of past posts.

I. “Good News About Lawyers: Client Protection Funds” (April 21, 2020)

With reference to this post – and after the killing of George Floyd – a reader wrote:

How about a policeman’s fund for innocent victims of police violence, paid out of dues or if necessary the police pension fund?

The reader was taking me up on my suggestion that professions besides law also consider creating remedies to protect victims of their bad actors. This got me thinking not only about that intriguing specific suggestion but also a much broader aspect: false dichotomies created in confronting wrongdoing. The amount of time and effort we waste fighting over foolish fallacies boggles the mind.

A. The Specific Suggestion: A Police Misconduct Fund?

It is intriguing. Any opportunity to right a wrong has appeal. While not saying it couldn’t be done, there are reasons a fund for victims of police misconduct would be more difficult to do well than a lawyers’ fund for client protection. Among them:

Relief anticipated from a fund: Lawyers’ funds replace clients’ money taken by a dishonest lawyer. The amount is usually clear. For police, would it be money damages? Who would decide and how would they arrive at a figure?

Threshold jurisdiction: A lawyer must be suspended, disbarred, or convicted of a crime for most funds to have jurisdiction. Requiring the equivalent for police officers would preclude many potential claims, including valid ones. This is one of the main reasons for protest, and what most needs to be fixed.

Contributory behavior: Where a lawyer steals, the client’s conduct seldom gives pause. While the victim’s innocence will be equally clear in some police tragedies, many cases will have difficult, contentious issues regarding facts and fault. The kind of fact finding done in litigation, including cross-examination, seems better equipped to deal with such issues than more informal claims.

The need for a fund: Civil suits against broke, disbarred lawyers are throwing good money after bad; without the fund, no remedy exists for victims. Not so against police departments.

In sum: where they exist, the problems with police misconduct – the need for prevention, accountability and consequences – require fixing before you even get to damages for victims. While state and federal law may need tweaking, civil remedies exist, if you can get to them. In both law and law enforcement, prevention of misconduct must be of paramount concern. Failing that, accountability must reign.

B. The Broader Issue – the Trap of False Dichotomies – When Members of Good Professions Go Bad

When either lawyers or cops go bad, the good ones must decide how to react. In both professions, generally, the good ones vastly outnumber the bad and abhor their serious misconduct. It doesn’t follow that the repercussions of such misconduct are always appropriate.

Lawyers

All the honest lawyers make the lawyers’ fund possible, but every now and then, there’s a bar leader who doesn’t get it. Invariably, this is a good lawyer who just HATES to admit there are bad lawyers. It would be nice if denial erased misdeeds, but if the denier is, say, a prosecutor disinterested in white collar crime, public outrage is justified.

Police Officers

The stakes are even higher – often life-or-death – in tragic encounters with police. Also different from lawyers is the layer of protection, and spirit of solidarity, afforded officers by unionization. As with any individual in our system, accused cops (and lawyers) are entitled to constitutional protections, like due process and the presumption of innocence. Sometimes, however, despite clear facts that are very bad, crimes are undercharged, aren’t brought at all, or are prosecuted indifferently. It doesn’t help at all when the following message emerges:

“You either support the Police, no matter what, or you don’t support the Police.”

This is a false dichotomy, a common tactic of those arguing a flawed or weak position. According to them, you have only two choices: agree with them or take a position you completely reject.

Beyond just support, one can respect and admire the police, of course, without endorsing rare instances of horrendous acts. Their job is hard, requiring much skill and courage to do well, and very important. That is why accountability is essential. Like lawyers, most cops are good to very good, but there are some really bad actors. Also like lawyers, no one should be more passionate about bringing bad officers to justice than the good ones.

Lumping all officers together and saying you’re either with them or against them in the context of horrendous misconduct is a terrible disservice to those whose dedication, hard work, and scruples make them above reproach. Taking the false dichotomy bait is a mistake for anyone, whether to countenance criminal behavior or to condemn all cops.

Ancient History

Two slogans from the 60s and 70s make clear that these foolish, false dichotomy arguments are nothing new: “America – Love it or leave it!” and “My Country, Right or Wrong!”

“Love it” meant unquestioning acceptance of what current governmental leaders did, it being said by someone who liked what the leaders were doing. Which, if you didn’t like, you had to leave. Expressing a contrary opinion wasn’t an option. Even as a young guy, I rejected this out of hand. Sez who, I gotta leave?

The second saying was clearer about the unfortunate message intended. Either you support a position espoused by your country’s current leaders, even when wrong, or you’re a traitor. But what if an elected official is the traitor? The more that true patriots love their country, the more they want it to be right – and the more they’re willing to do to help their beloved country get it right. The false dichotomies in use now may be slightly more subtle or disguised, but they’re the same old ridiculous attempts at intellectual bullying.

Another Current Example: Response to BLM

The common reply to “Black Lives Matter” never ceases to amaze me. It’s reflexive, almost automatic: “ALL lives matter!” And there’s indignation, at least – often outright anger, even rage.  

I’ve never seen a sign that says “Only Black Lives Matter” or “Black Lives Matter More Than White Lives”. Never. Nor is it implied. The clear meaning is more like “Black Lives Matter, Too” or “Black Lives Matter As Much As Anyone Else’s”.

As a matter of pure, simple logic, of course, it cannot be that All Lives Matter, unless and until Black Lives Matter. After centuries of we Caucasians – not every one of us, but as a group – seldom missing an opportunity to make clear that lives of color matter less, if at all, the response to “Black Lives Matter” is “How dare you!”?

The indignation and anger comes from two pernicious fallacies: (1) Lives mattering is a zero-sum game (see post of 4/2/19); (2) therefore, for Black lives to matter, Blue (or White) lives can’t, or must matter less – as false a dichotomy as there is.

Some people are earnest and sincere in saying “All lives matter.” More importantly, they live like they mean it, the anger and resentment missing. Indeed, for them, the saying BLM is a truism.

After John Lewis passed recently, a nun recalled how he’d been brought to Samaritan Hospital with a broken skull on Bloody Sunday in 1965. Run by the Sisters of St. Joseph, Samaritan was the only hospital in nine counties that would take Black patients. In the 8/7 piece for New England Public Media, Sr. Patricia Byrne closed with this: “All the questions of Selma are with us again. Sisters, much older and fewer, are asking ourselves just how we can be there now.”

That BLM needs to be said at all in 2020 is mortifying. That it is controversial is disgraceful, unfathomable. Has there been any progress? Yes, there has been glacial, begrudging progress. Once we behave as if All Lives really do Matter, though, genuine problem solving can begin. It’s a better use of our time, effort and energy to actually implement the “self evident truths” of 1776 than argue over false dichotomies.

Others

Here are a couple other false dichotomies that have been around a long time:

Sacred music vs. the Devil’s music – “If you love God, you can’t sing secular music.” It’s hardly surprising that some listeners find aspects of popular music off-putting, but strict adherence to this one can be tragic. One of the greatest singers of the Blues (or any genre, really) Chester Burnett, the Howlin’ Wolf, was disowned by his mother for singing the Devil’s music. Wolf didn’t write “Goin’ Down Slow” but he sang it with more conviction than anyone: Please write my mother/Tell her the shape I’m in/Tell her to pray for me/ Forgive me for my sins. (It’s said the Wolf’s mother declined to come to his deathbed.)

Science vs. Religion – This one is a double-header: (1) “Real scientists don’t, or even can’t, believe in God; (2) meanwhile, “if you believe in God, you can’t accept the findings of science.” As to the latter, God doesn’t want us to learn the details of His creation, and live accordingly? Sez who? Why? Regarding (1), science explains everything that matters? So, the beginning was the Big Bang – Nothingness exploded and then there was something: energy, which evolved into matter, and so forth. This is the intellectual explanation – nothingness exploded – but Thomas Aquinas’s God as the Uncaused Cause is foolish superstition? There can’t be a God who chose to utilize the Big Bang? Or evolution, or countless wonders we haven’t discovered yet?

If readers have false dichotomies they’d like to share, please do. There are also false equivalencies that can be equally galling, but that’s a topic for another day.

II. A Correction on “Senate Republicans, I Know What You Did Last Summer” (June 23, 2020)

Speaking of the police, thanks to the reader who wrote:

It was not the “police” (in the sense that we commonly use the term) that cleared Lafayette Square; rather, it was the federal forces over which Trump had authority–the DC National Guard (which he federalized), US Marshal’s Service, National Park Service Police, and several other agency “troops.” The DC police were not involved. Neither were [the] Arlington PD, which had been there in response to a request from DC Mayor Bowser, then abruptly came back home when Trump launched his assault.

Correct, of course. I should have caught my sloppy, incorrect use of the term ”police”. The fact that those clearing the square of peaceful protesters were unmarked, unidentified federal agents was one of the episode’s most troubling aspects.

While we’re at it, the federal statute mentioned in the post that could have and should have been effectively utilized in response to the pandemic is the Defense Production Act, not the Defense Procurement Act, as originally indicated.

III. “(Y)Our [Expletive]” (August 8, 2020)

In recommending A Warning by Anonymous, I meant to make this point: Isn’t it remarkable that the author right there in the White House is still anonymous? The desire of the president to identify this person and use the phrase that made him famous (YOU’RE FIRED!) must be extraordinary. Considering the detail in the book and the perspective of the devastating content, how can the author not be obvious?

There’s a simple reason – anyone could have written it. Let that sink in. Anyone in the administration could have written how shockingly and disastrously unprincipled and unhinged Donald Trump is. It’s the simple truth and everyone there knows it. Accounts from those departing the White House (the scene of last week’s spectacular RNC Hatch Act violations) continue to be clear, consistent and ever more disturbing.

According to recent escapee Miles Taylor, the great majority of professionals in the administration are beyond appalled and trying to decide what to do. If he’s correct, there might come a point before November 3 when Anonymous and dozens of colleagues resign together and hold a press conference no one will ever forget.

Again, thank you for reading – and writing to me at KenBossong@gmail.com.

Ken Bossong

© 2020 Kenneth J. Bossong


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(Y)Our [Expletive]

A True Little Story

As a young lawyer – therefore, a long time ago – I was the first associate for an established lawyer with a general practice. One day, he sent me to my first settlement conference in a civil case. Handing me the file, my boss gave me an idea what to expect – including the welcome news that the assigned judge tended to be favorable to the side we were on in this case.

Most of the details don’t matter, which is a good thing, since I don’t remember who the judge or the other three lawyers in the case were. I do recall that the other lawyers were well-known veterans and that two of the three were on the same side I was. That is, our clients had been in the same car, now plaintiffs suing the defendant, the driver of the other car in the accident.

The judge had each of us give our theory of the case before grilling us about our positions’ strengths and weaknesses. As predicted, he was noticeably tougher on the defense lawyer, with parting words urging him to have his insurance company find some real money to settle the case. After the session, I was pleased to accept an invitation from the veteran plaintiffs’ lawyers to join them for lunch.

Talk at lunch turned to what had just occurred, and I got a lesson on reading between the lines toward settling cases. At a pause, one experienced lawyer turned to the other, lowered his voice and referring to the judge said, “I’m glad he’s tough on the defense, of course, but you know, he is kind of an [expletive].” To which the other replied, “Yeah, but he’s OUR [expletive].”

Although I don’t remember who said it, I’ll never forget the line. That’s because it is (far too often, unfortunately) the only way to make sense of the otherwise inexplicable. Embracing our [expletives], no matter what they do, is an outgrowth of our seeming need for “Us vs. Them” conflict (see post of 2/19/19). It comes up in many settings, two of the most obvious being sports and partisan politics.

Sports

An obvious example from sports is the player on a rival team you love to hate. Ask sports fans to give an example, and be prepared for lengthy, passionate responses. Yet, those same fans usually have a player on their team they love all the more because rival teams’ fans hate him or her. That player is “our [expletive]”.

When our [expletive] does it, it’s daring, ingenious one-upmanship; when their [expletive] does it, it’s an OUTRAGE! Yours plays dirty; ours plays hard.

Ty Cobb and Honus Wagner

A famous story from baseball’s early days involves a time two of its greatest players met in a World Series. Shortstop Honus Wagner led his Pirates against outfielder Ty Cobb’s Tigers in 1909. Both are on almost everybody’s list of the best ten players ever, indeed on most top-five lists. While Wagner (he of the most valuable baseball card) was well respected and liked, Cobb was infamous on a number of fronts. One of the on-the-field reasons was his practice of sharpening his spikes in plain view before games and then sliding into bases with spikes high.

In the fifth inning of the Series’ first game, Cobb got on first base and yelled at Wagner. He was stealing second and coming for him. Wagner took the catcher’s throw, eluded Cobb’s flashing spikes, and tagged him in the mouth. It had to be especially satisfying for Pirates fans, and correspondingly bitter for Tigers fans: Not only was Cobb’s attempted intimidation reversed, but Wagner outplayed him as the Pirates won the Series 4-3.

Yours Becomes Ours

The transience of such perceptions is clear when [expletives] change teams. Len Dykstra was an irritant, a wacko, and an excellent player for the Mets before becoming a Phillie. He was all that and more for the Phils. “More” is meant literally, by the way. When I pointed out to fellow fans that Len seemed about twice the size he had been for the Mets (this being the steroid era, after all), the general reaction was “Shhhh!” He was our [expletive] now.

Partisan Politics

The phenomenon is not limited to fun and games, of course.

Gerrymandering is clever if it benefits your party, disgusting when the other guys do it. Lines designating voting districts have to be drawn somewhere; sometimes, where they should go is a legitimately close call. I’d like to think that gerrymandering started with officials figuring they might as well benefit their party in making the choice between two sensible boundaries.

In any event, there’s no defending the grotesque voting districts that have been created by both parties over the years to provide safe havens for candidates based not on performance but demographics. The maps for such districts can resemble spaghetti on a plate or the splotches of Rorschach tests. It’s part of the cynical spoils of having your [expletive] be in charge of redistricting.

Congress

Prior posts have taken Congress to task for dereliction of duty in various areas – among them judicial appointments (1/25/19), immigration reform (5/10/19 and 8/21/19), and impeachment (6/23/20). No abuse of power is shameful enough to elicit a response. Other than to mourn the obliteration of statesmanship by partisanship, I won’t belabor here.

The President

Then there is you-know-who, the man for whom “He can’t possibly go any lower” is the one challenge gleefully accepted and always met.

As pointed out by Anonymous in A Warning (highly recommended, by the way; a much better read than expected), Trump is neither a true conservative nor much of a Republican. He IS what some left wingers have falsely accused all conservative Republicans of being (see below).

So, the question to conservative Republicans who’ve been giving Trump a pass is this: Is he really your [expletive]? Granted, he has the [expletive] part down pat. But how is he yours? He could not be clearer that he cares nothing about anyone or anything but himself. That includes you and almost everything you believe in.

Embracing those in power because they’re in power rather than on the merits of their ideas, character, or actions entails costs and risks, including to one’s sense of integrity and judgement. What does it say about you if this [expletive] is “yours”?

This is of genuine concern for two reasons:

  • Some good, well-meaning Americans are going to rue the day they supported this man when the gravity and extent of his wrongdoing come fully into focus. Many already do, given the overwhelming evidence right out in the open, but the feeling we haven’t seen anything yet is inescapable.
  • Needless, long-lasting damage has been done to both the Republican Party and the conservative movement in this country by acquiescence in extensive criminal activity. As someone in neither camp, I can speak to the need for two viable parties and competing points of view. It’s going to be a long time before a large number of moderates vote for Republicans again after their disgraceful enabling of this wretched, embarrassing man.

The mythology surrounding delta blues icon Robert Johnson includes the legend that he sold his soul to the devil at the “Crossroads” for his astounding musical talent. It’s understandable that people had difficulty explaining Johnson’s otherworldly singing, composing, and guitar playing in more conventional ways. Why anyone would sell their soul to the devil, acquiescing in harmful, abhorrent behavior, for the likes of a Donald J. Trump – now that’s inexplicable.

The Boy Who Cried “Wolf”

My father loved the fable of the Boy Who Cried “Wolf”. I know this because he told me the story at least three times as I was growing up. As is often the case, the Donald Trump nightmare is the most extreme real-life example of the fable in memory.

For decades, those creating the orthodoxy of the Left in America have assigned anyone not in complete agreement with every detail of that orthodoxy a series of damning attributes. Question a current belief or policy, or even simply use verbiage no longer in favor, and out came the “-ists” and the “-phobics”. You were racist, fascist, xenophobic, misogynist, sexist, etc.

One day, a guy who actually is all of the above – and more – somehow (incredibly) becomes President of the United States. This time, when all the old “-ists” and “-phobics” are trotted out to condemn him, guess how a number of conservatives react: “Yeah, we know – he’s racist, he’s fascist, he’s xenophobic , he’s misogynist, he’s sexist, blah, blah, blah. Sure. Everybody not on the far left is. You’ve been telling us for decades.”

This matters. In seeking refuge from what they perceive as unrelenting political correctness, many conservatives who don’t like Trump a little bit have been contorting themselves into philosophical pretzels to reluctantly back him. (Yeah, I know there’s also a contingent who believes the wrong side won the Civil War. Trump’s their hero. They’re not the folks being addressed here.)

Thus, a remarkable phenomenon occurs: Some wonderful people – who  love their spouses and families, work hard, help others generously, tell the truth, seek knowledge, behave honorably, and serve their country and communities selflessly – find themselves supporting someone who is their exact polar opposite in every way. For all that matters most – character, morals, work ethic, respect, honesty, fair dealing, empathy – they would detest this man if they had any dealings with him.

A Suggestion

It must be exhausting and disheartening to concoct rationales under which Trump’s torrential outrages “aren’t so bad” – or at least “aren’t as bad as the alternative”. Here’s a suggestion: Do yourself a favor and give it up. Not your conservative principles. Give up the liar and his lies.

The country’s leading conservative columnist, George F. Will, who does believe deeply in conservative principles, has much insight to offer. His column is published by the Washington Post and appears in other major outlets. Among recent worthwhile pieces are those dated June 1 and July 29. The latter decimates some myths about Joe Biden the Trump campaign would have you believe, to consider Trump somehow not as bad as the alternative.

When the veteran plaintiffs’ lawyer delivered his memorable line at that long-ago lunch, it was with more of a world-weary sigh than a triumphant boast. We chuckled a bit, the mirth offset by unease. The conversation quickly turned to other topics, but the insight has been helpful ever since, especially in cases of truly bad behavior rather than simply a judge’s tendencies.

A recent reverie involved citizens filing a class-action civil lawsuit against Donald Trump under RICO (the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act), for conducting an ongoing criminal enterprise out of the White House. In sharing the idea with a close friend, I wasn’t completely kidding. (Establishing standing for citizens to seek damages might be a challenge, though.) Those thinking Trump is worth supporting because he’s their [expletive] are both deluding and demeaning themselves

Therefore, the Merits

Let’s go back to considering the facts and the merits of our important issues. Gerrymandering ill serves us, no matter whose [expletive] is doing it. One would think the Constitution forbids it in all but relatively benign manifestations. However, in June of 2019, the US Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that the flagrant examples before it were matters of politics into which the Court should not intrude. So it’s left to us not to put up with this nonsense. We better be vigilant. One-party redistricting authorities now have a green light; worse, there’s now extra incentive to attain such mapping power.

The same goes for legislators whose gamesmanship precludes serious deliberation on important congressional business. It doesn’t matter whose judicial appointments or meritorious bills never even get discussed. Wrong is wrong; the country suffers.  We’ll find out soon enough if Kentuckians are proud to have had their very own Mitch McConnell the senate’s majority leader and the president’s enabler-in-chief. Maybe it’s time to consider term limits.

Above all, let’s not have any [expletive] – yours, mine, or anyone’s – be president again. Ever.

Ken Bossong

© 2020 Kenneth J. Bossong

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Senate Republicans, I Know What You Did Last Winter

Dear Senate Republicans not named Mitt Romney,

You did this. You did this to us. Your craven dereliction of duty enabled the nightmare to continue and, predictably, get worse. We have almost four and a half more months before the voters pick up after you and seven months of peril to endure. Whatever evil Donald Trump perpetrates as a desperate candidate and then as a bitter lame duck is on you. This will be on top of the immeasurable harm he has done since you emboldened him with your vote on February 5 not to remove him.

It was right there before you: a lock-tight, unassailable two-article impeachment. It could have been twenty-two articles or two hundred and twenty, of course. Was the House’s inclination to keep it a simple, manageable, straight forward two articles understandable? Yes. I would have included more, the Mueller stuff at least, however, because it too was right there – fully developed, consistent, and equally compelling.

The Articles of Impeachment

The second article, for obstruction of justice, was particularly straight-forward. President Trump flatly and publicly forbade anyone in his administration from cooperating at all – with documents or testimony. Indeed, he boasted about obstructing justice. Retaliation for anyone who properly responded to lawful subpoenas was swift and severe. That these witnesses undoubtedly knew what the consequences would be for telling the truth not only makes their devotion to duty more laudable, but bolsters their credibility.

There were no material facts in issue. The obstruction was a blanket refusal to cooperate, or permit anyone else to cooperate, with the Congress in fulfilling its oversight duties. Nixon’s cover-up in Watergate, which Republican congressional leaders assured him was indefensible, was trifling by comparison. Your failure to convict weakened the Congress as a co-equal branch.

The first article was no less compelling.  The backdrop was a new president of the Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, desperately seeking US assistance in fending off Russian aggression. Official US policy to provide it was clear; an appropriation was in place. Zelensky was most anxious for two things, a meeting with President Trump to affirm to Russia and the rest of the world America’s support, and disbursement of the military aid. Each was withheld by a President Trump bent on benefiting himself.

Quid Pro Quo

The two main defenses, if they can be called that, seem to be that (1) There was no real quid pro quo and (2) Trump was concerned about corruption in Ukraine. Which of these is more laughable is a close contest, but I vote for (2). In fact, the depiction of Donald Trump as a crusader against corruption may be the single funniest thing ever said about him – unintentionally funny though it may be.

That is to take nothing away from the absurdity of the quid pro quo argument. In the infamous phone call of July 25, 2019, there comes a point where Ukraine’s President Zelensky brings up the topic of US military assistance for Ukraine. He refers specifically to the need to acquire more Javelin anti-tank missiles. President Trump’s reply is “I would like you to do us a favor though because our country has been through a lot and Ukraine knows a lot about it.”

The favor sought by President Trump: Zelensky was to announce and conduct investigations of two preposterous notions: (1) Ukraine, not Russia, interfered in the 2016 presidential election and (2) Joe Biden sought the removal of Ukraine’s Prosecutor General Victor Shokin because he posed a threat to a company (Burisma) whose board included Biden’s son, Hunter.

Anyone in Trump’s administration could have told him how ridiculous and thoroughly discredited these theories were; many in fact did. Russia’s massive interference in the 2016 election was a matter of voluminous, detailed record. And the truth regarding Shokin’s removal was exactly the opposite of Trump’s narrative. Biden’s position on Shokin as Vice President was official US policy, and that of America’s allies, precisely because Shokin did NOT prosecute corruption in Ukraine.

Hunter Biden may have been guilty of attempting to ride the coattails of a well-known father. This is something Donald Trump knows more than a little about – as both a son and a father.

When I hear that asking for a “favor” in return for desperately needed aid is not quid pro quo, a reverie comes to me. It’s a mashup of scenes from old gangster movies: [An Edward G. Robinson-like figure has a rival gangster tied up in a chair.] “Yeah, listen here, you, see? I unnerstand you got a pretty little daughter. If ya ever wanna see her again, you’re gonna do me a little favor, see?” For some reason, the point is clear without needing to add, “That’s the quid pro quo, see?”

Briefly, on Some Legalities

The hold itself was illegal under two federal statutes, regardless of reason, as increasingly frantic emails between OMB and DOD make clear. The Department of Defense realized it was becoming impossible to properly spend the money appropriated in the fiscal year ending on September 30. The Office of Management and Budget knew this, of course. They also knew the legislature holds the “purse strings” and the executive branch can’t just say “screw it”, but was not in a position to explain the hold or to comply with the law’s formal requirements to rescind. (See the Appropriation Act and the Impoundment Act of 1974.)

The reason for the hold was much worse; no wonder no one wanted to explain it in writing. It is a serious violation of federal law for (a) a person to (b) solicit, accept or receive (c) a contribution or donation of money or other thing of value, (d) in connection with a Federal election (e) from a foreign national. (52 USC 30121) If it’s illegal for anyone to receive anything of value from a foreign national in connection with any election, what is it for a president to solicit dirt on a political rival in an upcoming presidential election from a foreign nation – all in return for release of aid to which that nation is already entitled?

On Mens Rea, or “Guilty Mind”

I’ve heard it argued that Donald Trump could not have committed high crimes and misdemeanors because he is too dopey to form the requisite criminal intent. Among the serious problems with this, three stand out. First, being stupid and being evil are not mutually exclusive; one can be both. Second, what kind of defense is this for a president? Third, Mr. Trump has many serious flaws on constant display, but stupidity is not one of them. He is colossally and willfully ignorant, but not stupid. For years, he has said and done any number of stupid things – not because he doesn’t know any better, but because he wants to say and do them. The fact that he has gotten away with them so far makes him one of the greatest con men of our time.

Trump knew exactly what he was doing with Zelensky, alright. We all know exactly what he was doing. So did Zelensky, of course, who was loathe to becoming a pawn in US politics. In the build-up to the phone call of July 25, the single biggest point made by Trump’s people to Zelensky and his people was this: If he ever wanted the aid disbursed or his White House visit, he had to convince Trump in this phone call that Trump would get his investigations. In fact, it was critical that Zelensky make clear he was about to publicly announce the Biden investigation. The announcement mattered  more than an investigation everyone knew would yield nothing.

Another reverie: I find myself wondering whether Vladimir Putin was miffed to learn that his favorite protégé believed Russia alone wouldn’t be enough to overcome Biden in 2020. After all Russia did for him in 2016? While that weird Putin/Trump thing undoubtedly endures, it had to rankle a bit that Trump resorted to asking Ukraine.  Then again, Trump even asked China to investigate Biden. (Didn’t need Bolton for that; we saw Trump say it on TV.) When all is known, countries Trump has not asked to investigate Biden may feel left out.

Consequences of Your Vote

There will be many books, but it will take a treatise, someday, to adequately recount the harm that has resulted from your vote to acquit. For now, this brief summary will have to suffice.

Balance of Power

President Trump’s relentless attacks on checks and balances, and any restraint on his power whatever, have intensified. Two of the many troubling examples are letting inspectors general go when needed most and the ongoing politization of the Department of Justice.

An agency has an inspector general to have someone relatively independent of politics ensure that the agency conducts its affairs properly. They are on the lookout for the proverbial fraud, waste, and mismanagement. Honest leadership welcomes such overview. Firing IGs for looking into matters uncomfortable to those doing the firing is more than a bad look.

Trump said while letting intelligence IG Michael Atkinson go, “He took this terrible, inaccurate whistleblower report and he brought it to Congress”, thus setting in motion the impeachment. In other words, he did his job – one of two unforgivable sins in this administration. (The other is telling the truth.) The removal of Glenn Fine, Christi Grimm, Steve Linick, and Mitchell Behm all make for interesting reading, especially given what they were working on, including (for Fine and Behm)  oversight of the largest stimulus package in American history. 

The politization of the Department of Justice famously includes interference in actual cases (Michael Flynn and Roger Stone). Hot off the press, the firing of US Attorney Geoffrey Berman was a typical Trump operation. First AG Barr lied that Berman had resigned. Then he said Trump did it. Then Trump said Barr did it. There is no suggestion that Berman was doing a bad or even mediocre job in the Southern District of New York. With the merits nowhere to be found, speculation that Berman was doing too good a job fills the void, with talk of Ruby Giuliani or a state-owned Turkish bank and another international bad-boy buddy of Trump, President Erdogan. This should be great for sales of Bolton’s book.

The American Bar Association for years has been promoting the Rule of Law all over the world. It seems the focus should shift to the United States.

Pandemic

Petrified by what a pandemic might do to the economy and his prospects for re-election, President Trump resorted to denial and an absolute refusal to lead in any respect when it mattered most. The mind boggles at what might have been accomplished by way of coordination, information exchange, adroit use of the Defense Production Act, and so forth, to maximize an effective response.

Not content with mere inaction and epic mismanagement of the crisis, Trump went out of his way to make up or pass along dangerously false information, undermine medical experts and his own CDC, and “lead” by atrocious example. Just listing by bullet points the examples would take up an entire post on this blog. You knew better when Trump called COVID-19 a hoax by liberal Democrats, then later said the Democrats politicized the pandemic. You, too, had to cringe listening to such pronouncements as it’ll just go away, you could even go to work with it, and you’d benefit from ingesting disinfectant.

For those who find it amusing to have a POTUS say outlandish things, there is a recent CDC poll of 502 Americans representative of the US population. Thirty-nine percent reported intentionally engaging in at least one high-risk practice not recommended by CDC… including application of bleach to food items (e.g., fruits and vegetables) (19%); use of household cleaning and disinfectant products on hands or skin (18%); misting the body with a cleaning or disinfectant spray (10%); inhalation of vapors from household cleaners or disinfectants (6%); and drinking or gargling diluted bleach solutions, soapy water, and other cleaning and disinfectant solutions (4% each).

As mystifying as it is how anyone could believe a word President Trump says about anything at this point, you know as well as I that thousands more have died in the pandemic than needed to. From bemoaning cruise passengers docking to get treatment because it would “hurt his numbers” months ago, to creating a perfect pandemic storm with Saturday’s rally in Tulsa, Trump couldn’t be clearer. His only interest is in himself and his numbers. The irony is that doing the right thing right away would have lessened the economic carnage, as well.

The Economy

Ah yes, the economy. Donald Trump says he created the greatest economy ever, but COVID-19 ruined it. Unfortunately, there is good reason to believe that his policies had the economy heading for a downturn before the pandemic hit.

One of the cover stories in the December 2019 issue of Fortune magazine, not exactly a leftist rag, was “Why Trump Is Bad For Business”. The piece is a comprehensive analysis of how business’s gains from lower taxes and deregulation had been more than wiped out by two policy disasters. First, Trump’s immigration policies deprived the economy of badly needed workers. Second, his tariff war with China just made everything more expensive, hurting business. As demand dampens, recession ensues. The measurable confidence of CEOs, purchasing managers, and consumers had all hit the skids. Trump is said to have “lost the C-Suite” in 2018.

Similarly, in a 12/23/19 piece by Dan Clark in Law.com’s Corporate Counsel, Altman Weil’s survey of corporations’ top lawyers (general counsel and chief legal officers) indicated widespread planning for recession. Again, this was before the novel coronavirus was a factor.

Then there’s the national debt. What this “conservative” had already done to the national debt before anyone heard of COVID-19 involves truly incomprehensible numbers.

Presidents get too much blame and too much credit for swings in the economy, anyway. But things weren’t nearly as rosy as Trump’s campaign would have you believe.

Racism, the Police, and the Military

This part all but writes itself. It’s hard to imagine a worse person to be POTUS after the horrific killing of George Floyd than Donald Trump. He specializes in divisiveness while appealing to his base’s basest instincts . We all know what MAGA means to some of his followers. Not for nothing do white supremacists love him. Before leaving the topic, though, it’s worth saying something about the police and the military. That’s because the president managed to misuse both with one episode on June 1.

Trump set the police on peaceful protesters exercising the very sort of freedom of assembly and speech rights the First Amendment was created to protect. This for a chance to stand in front of a church and hold aloft the one document he apparently knows and cares even less about than the Constitution of the United States. To recap, the Bible and the First Amendment were abused as the police were misused to violently roust a peaceful protest against race-based police violence.

General  Mark Milley was in Trump’s entourage strolling across the recently-cleared Lafayette Square that day. His apology for participating seemed both deeply felt and carefully considered. As Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, he knows the dangers of politicizing the military in a free democracy. Anyone in Trump’s vicinity must be prepared for a request or demand to engage in activity that is illegal, immoral, or both.

Trump and some of his wackier supporters refer to the impeachment as an “attempted coup”. Since the impeachment inquiry was brought in accordance with the constitution, due process, and precedent, it was the antithesis of attempted violent or illegal overthrow. There is someone itching to set the military on US citizens, though. At times, he seems almost giddy at the prospect.

Consequences In Sum

Much of what really does make America great is under siege. When considering the many reasons for pride in America, at the top of the list is the Constitution. And among its ingenious virtues, at the top of that long list are these: checks and balances of the three co-equal branches of government; the First Amendment freedoms; Equal Protection of the Law under the Fourteenth Amendment; and Due Process under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments.

The president you would not remove has remarkable animus toward each of these first principles, and undermines them at every turn. This is a different kind of coup attempt.

Back To You

Deep down inside, you know as well as we do how despicable Donald Trump is as a person, and how dangerous and unfit he is to be president.

Some of you said these things, and more, publicly when he was merely a candidate, and you were correct. Many more of you have said so privately to your closest confidants – and to yourselves late on a sleepless night – since the 2016 election, as the certainty of such assessments became undeniable.

You also know, deep down inside, how meritorious the impeachment inquiry was.

Despite the compelling case for removal, everyone, literally everyone, knew Trump would be acquitted. The simple reason was the majority you Republicans had in the Senate. It was simply a given that you would not vote in good conscience. The only interesting question was whether any of you would.

Thank you, Mitt Romney.

Perjury?

Senators take office with an oath. Nonetheless, at the start of the impeachment trial, Chief Justice Roberts administered the following specific oath to each senator: “Do you solemnly swear that in all things appertaining to the trial of the impeachment of Donald John Trump, President of the United States, now pending, you will do impartial justice according to the Constitution and laws, so help you God?” 

One would think it impossible to overstate the gravity of the duty undertaken. In the weeks leading up to the impeachment trial, though, some of you made it clear you had no intention of doing impartial justice. Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell seemed particularly intent on getting the point across. A December 18, 2019 Vanity Fair article by Alison Durkee contained a gathering of quotes from McConnell – and Lindsay Graham: “I’m not an impartial juror,” McConnell said. “This is a political process. There is not anything judicial about it. Impeachment is a political decision . . . I’m not impartial about this at all.” That wasn’t all. “Everything I do during this, I will be coordinating with White House counsel,” [indicating there would be] “no difference between the president’s position and our position as to how to handle this.”

 “This thing will come to the Senate, and it will die quickly, and I will do everything I can to make it die quickly,” Graham said… “I am trying to give a pretty clear signal I have made up my mind. I’m not trying to pretend to be a fair juror here.”

Clear signal received. Now, under what conceivable argument, Senators Graham and McConnell, was your oath administered by the Chief Justice anything other than perjury? It’s acceptable to take a false oath in a proceeding if it’s not judicial? Lying in a “political process” is a given for you?

How many of you Senate Republicans did the equivalent without being so brazen about it in public? Are you emulating the president you enable?

Meanwhile, the Fallout Is Actually Even Worse

Note that in the high crimes and misdemeanors charged and chargeable, plus the malfeasance since the failure to remove, the facts are generally clear and not in serious dispute. Witnesses are scoffed at and called names, but the facts stand.

Consider that all of the above wrongdoing is limited to what we know about, matters of public record. Imagine what we don’t yet know.

What does all this portend? If THIS wasn’t enough to remove, impeachment is a nullity when either the Senate or the House is controlled by the president’s party. If so, then the president really will be above the law most of the time. Or as The Donald likes to say, “I can do anything I want!”

In Closing

I know what you did last winter. Instead of giving a real-life horror movie the ending it deserved, you made it even worse. Whatever good you may have done in your career, your legacy is now tied inextricably to that of the worst president in history – the most incompetent, the most dishonest, the most hateful, and the most corrupt.

You’d be wrong to dismiss me as from the far left, by the way. Electorally, I’m your worst nightmare these days – a centrist/moderate who considers candidates and issues on the merits, who pays attention, and who votes. Millions of Americans who are more-or-less like me decide elections.

In addition to two special elections, thirty-three Senate seats are up for election in 2020. Twenty-three of them are held by you Republicans.

Whether or not you are up for re-election this year, I have a suggestion. If you’ve died a thousand deaths since February 5, and have come to regret your vote to acquit, you might want to share that sentiment well before November 3. Indeed, you should do it while staunchly and publicly opposing whatever constitutional crisis or other outrage Trump has in store for us next. It won’t be long in coming.

Respectfully,
Kenneth J. Bossong

© 2020 Kenneth J. Bossong

Posted on

I, Citizen

This pause in Other Aspects’ railing against those atop the executive and legislative branches of our government, however deserved the railing might be, focuses on an uncomfortable place: the mirror.

In allowing our supposed leaders to let us down to this extent for this long, we’ve been letting ourselves – and each other – down.

Do we have some excuses? Sure. In a fast-paced, high intensity time, it sometimes seems all we can do to work the job(s), raise the kids, put food on the table, pay the bills, do the errands and chores, and (perhaps) relax occasionally. It feels like a full-time job just to be a consumer in this society, fending off scams, bad deals, cyber-attacks, and other threats to our wellbeing and hard-earned money.

Participating in, or even paying attention to, public affairs may feel like a luxury, but it is not. Whether owing to exhaustion, inattention, ignorance, laziness, cynicism, resignation, or apathy, we citizens cannot afford to be asleep at the switch.

Say What?

We’ve all seen numerous polls in recent years that indicate the public’s mind-boggling ignorance of how we govern ourselves and order our affairs. These depressing reports cover different topics, but generally go something like this:

X per cent [typically well under half] of [citizens, high school graduates, college graduates, etc.] can: 
(a) say how many branches of government there are, name them, or explain what they do; 
(b) name any member of the Senate, the House, or the Supreme Court; 
(c) distinguish between the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution; 
(d) identify any of the amendments that make up the Bill of Rights; 
(e) name any of the protections provided in the First Amendment;  or
(f) explain the concept of checks and balances; balance of power; and so forth.

The Polling Stat that Matters Most: Turnout

Voter participation always is lower than one would hope or expect, especially given the struggle that people who don’t have the vote often must endure to get it. That goes for our ancestors, starting with that Declaration of Independence, through struggles for women’s suffrage and civil rights.

I wish I could say that’s all in the past, but battles over voter suppression are underway across the nation, as a quick Internet search will confirm.

When We Do Vote

Even as we grouse about our elected representatives, we must face the fact that incumbents are reelected so often that an incumbent loss is big news.

If our elected representatives are crooked, stupid, lazy, ignorant, unethical, or lacking in other important ways, whose fault can that be, ultimately, but ours? Who is sending them back to Washington (or the state capitol, or city hall) year after year, rather than home, where they belong?

It’s not just that we should vote them out; it’s our duty. It’s our job as citizens. 

When a political party puts forth an unworthy candidate for office, it’s an insult to all citizens. If the response is a shrug rather than a rebuke at the polls, our democracy suffers.

What’s To Be Done?

Start with education.

Every school district, private school, and library in the US must bolster its program on public affairs immediately, for kids and (especially) adults. Political science, philosophy, and business departments at colleges and universities should make speakers available to address timely, compelling topics for the communities they serve.

Hopefully, we have found better names for the field than “civics”, and more effective ways of presenting the information than whatever turned off poll respondents. Although every minute detail may not be exciting, the array of our interwoven liberties, rights and responsibilities is inherently interesting, at least because it affects all aspects of everyday life. It’s how things work, or don’t work.

The Constitution is one of the most magnificent documents in history. Everyone should understand why and what it means to live under it.

Other Educators

There’s hope if a musical about a “founding father”, Hamilton, is on its way to becoming the most phenomenally grossing play in history. Perhaps those infamous polls would come out slightly better now that so many have seen Hamilton. We’ll see.

Meanwhile, other creative approaches exist to inspire replication or new ideas. One example, (mentioned by a reader of Other Aspects): Recently about 1,500 third-fifth graders in Delaware got to see a live performance of the courtroom scene from Miracle on 34th Street acted out by judges, lawyers and court employees in county courthouses. Sean O’Sullivan, chief of community relations for Delaware’s courts, says in the December 6 edition of Coastal Point newspaper, “We hope to spread a little holiday joy and maybe give them a small bit of insight into the court system as they take in a holiday play.” Bravo! Plant those seeds.

Every bar association (local, state, and national) must redouble its efforts to educate the bar and the public in a non-partisan way. As a national example, the American Bar Association has worked for years to foster the rule of law all over the world. If the average American does not grasp what the rule of law entails, like the importance of checks and balances or an independent judiciary, we need that effort right here, right now.

Between Now and November

One of the most important things any adult will do in the next 12 months is vote. If we’ve learned nothing else from the election of 2016 (see this blog’s post of 4/18/19), the primaries are at least as important as the election.

The election, of course, is on Tuesday, November 3, 2020.

Know when your state’s primary is held. Is there any chance you will not be available to vote in person on either date? If so, what must be done to ensure you can vote in advance or by mail ballot?

Know also the rules: Are you registered to vote? Must you be registered as a member of a specific party to vote in the primary? In New Jersey, one must declare as Republican or Democrat to vote in that party’s primary. I disagree; we should be able to register as Independents and vote in whichever party’s primary we find more important. But I understand the argument. In a year when one party’s nominee is unopposed, that party’s members could vote en masse for the other party’s weaker candidate. As you’ll see below, I’m more incensed about the timing of the New Jersey primary.

Juniors and seniors in high school: How does your 18th birthday fit with the primary, the election, and deadlines for registering to vote? Voting should be a rite of passage at least equal to attaining a driver’s license. In some states, including New Jersey, I understand (thanks to another reader) registering to vote can be streamlined into the driver’s license process.

A Subtler Point

Even better than voting is voting knowledgeably.

We need to examine our sources for news and information critically. Who or what is vetting the reports we’re hearing and reading? Are these sources known for striving to convey factual information, or are they more concerned with pushing an agenda? If we’re getting slanted info, are we verifying or relying blindly?

There are such things as truth and falsehood, the distinction matters, and we deserve the former. Bias and spin are no substitute for the facts, even if they support our pre-conceived notions. Especially if they support our pre-conceived notions. That getting to the truth takes discernment and real effort makes it all the more important that we make that effort.

Reporters, tell us what is actually happening in the world – since we cannot observe it all first hand – not what to think, or how to feel, about it. Not so long ago, clear lines separated fact reporting, op/ed, and entertainment. Each has its place; blurring them has proven a slippery slope. This is another distinction worth restoring to prominence.

In George Orwell’s Animal Farm, the noble, hard-working and self-sacrificing horse, Boxer, accepted all the lies and foolishness of the pigs running the farm. His reward was a trip to the glue factory.

A Pet Peeve

By going first, Iowa’s caucuses on February 3 and New Hampshire’s primary on February 11 exert influence on the winnowing out of presidential candidates disproportionate to these states’ respective size. That is not my pet peeve, though; if we think it cute to have a couple of smallish states flex some muscle every four years, so be it. I suppose.

Super Tuesday, March 3, is where the action is. Fourteen states, including California, Texas, North Carolina, Virginia, and Massachusetts hold their primaries on this one day. Michigan, Washington and Missouri are March 10; March 17 features Florida, Illinois, and Ohio; and the last biggie is New York, Pennsylvania, and Maryland on April 28.  

New Jersey’s primary is on June 2. Yes, June. I guess we should be grateful they get it in before the conventions. For context, a front-page story in the December 8 Philadelphia Inquirer was headlined “Pa. primary just might be pivotal”. Below that: “It’s been years since the state had a real say. Next Year may be different…By the time the Pennsylvania primary rolls around in the spring, the nominating process can seem like a foregone conclusion.” This for a primary 35 days before New Jersey’s.

To put it succinctly: Never in my life have I cast a vote that mattered in a presidential primary . Everyone in New Jersey is effectively disenfranchised. Apparently, the timing of primary elections is set by state statute – NJSA 19:2-1. Why? Good question. In addition to following my own advice in this post for being a better citizen, I’m going to see if I can find out why anyone thinks this is a good idea.

The Citizens’ Job: Keeping It

Among the many roles we take on in life – spouse, parent, friend, colleague, mentor, adversary, volunteer, etc. – few are more important than citizen.

When asked what sort of government the Constitutional Convention delegates had created, Benjamin Franklin famously replied “A republic, if you can keep it.”

If we can’t keep it, or choose not to, I’ll see you at the glue factory.

Ken Bossong

© 2019 Kenneth J. Bossong

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Consider the Kurds and Weigh

This being Other Aspects, I’ve generally avoided writing what others have been writing and, to some extent, what others have been writing about. Today I must make an exception for the topic everyone is talking and writing about.

The welcoming post to this blog on January 13 indicated that I’d address things, both good and bad, that keep me up at night. Well, we’ve hit the mother lode – at least thus far – and it isn’t one of those under-recognized good things deserving to be highlighted.

Abandonment of the Kurds to the Turks in Syria is the single most despicable act of a president in my lifetime.

I can see both sides of most legitimate disputes. I can make an argument for many diverse positions. Not this. There is no argument for this. There is no defense for this behavior.

Two Tendencies

It’s hard not to notice two behaviors in which Donald Trump is remarkably consistent:
First, when called or challenged on a statement or an action, he always doubles down. Always. The more clearly he is wrong about something, the more vociferously he doubles down.

Second, when things are not going well in one area, he says or does something outrageous in another area to divert attention. In the war of attrition that is diversion by outrage, more is better.

Donald Trump did not invent these two tactics, but he has taken them to levels beyond anything I can recall. Each tactic is a close relative to another classic – the Big Lie approach. In telling a lie, tell one so huge that in denying it, your adversary will grant you much of the false impression you wished to create.

Trouble Looming

With the Ukraine affair on the heels of the Mueller Report, things most decidedly were not going well for Donald Trump. Any notion that the Mueller Report was no big deal because it did not seem to deliver what either Trump haters or Trump supporters wanted is greatly mistaken. I will get to this in a future post, assuming it remains as important as I think it is.

Mueller had been overshadowed, though, by Ukraine. Unless the phone call transcript released is simply wrong, there seems no doubt that Trump withheld military aid badly-needed by the Ukraine to resist Russian aggression pending assurances from its president that dirt on political rival Biden would be forthcoming.

Trump’s defense is that he was merely interested, as he must be, in rooting out corruption. What corruption? As VP under Obama, the argument goes, Biden pressured the Ukraine to sack their Prosecutor General (Viktor Shokin) who threatened a company (Burisma) on whose board Biden’s son, Hunter, served.

Aside from the hilarity of the notion that Donald Trump aspired to be a crusader against corruption, the only problem with the defense is that it is exactly the opposite of the truth. Joe Biden joined an international effort pressuring the Ukraine to get rid of Shokin because he was NOT going after alleged corruption, not because he was. (The allegation’s timing is also off, but no need to go there.) Once this became clear, the rumblings of impeachment grew louder.

Other Non-starter Defenses

Two arguments offered to suggest Trump’s behavior wasn’t so bad here are silly. The first, that there was no quid pro quo because he didn’t us those exact three Latin words in the phone call, I’ll assume needs no reply.

The other, that America often conditions aid on receiving something in return is nearly as bad. Are there really people who fail to grasp the difference between (a) requiring something in the nation’s best interest and (b) requiring something in the president’s own personal interest at the expense of a political rival?

If there is any doubt as to how badly this was going for the president, consider the whopper of a diversionary crisis he felt compelled to create.

Catastrophic Treachery

Where does one begin? Among the worst of it: If you’re willing to betray a people who have lost 11,000 men and woman battling ISIS, what ally can you be relied upon not to betray? What ally will you have left anywhere in the world?

An estimated quarter million Kurds and others have been uprooted and are now homeless refugees in grave danger of genocide. The latter is what Turkey’s Erdogan has wanted for years.

Even as this goes on, the recent elimination of al Baghdadi could not have occurred without essential information provided by the Kurds. Such assistance evaporates with the Kurds’ fight for their lives. .

The void we’ve left in Syria is being filled by Russia and Iran. Once again, some of the worst men in the world are delighted with the performance of President Trump. Once again, Trump has acted precipitously, without input from aghast U.S. experts, in a way that benefits the interests of Russia, and harms those of the U.S..

The rebirth of ISIS, once on the ropes in the region through the sacrifices of Kurds and Americans fighting side-by-side, is virtually assured. One thing not assured is that all future confrontations with these violent radicals will be thousands of miles from our shores.

Video is available of our troops hastily leaving the area, with our betrayed allies throwing things at our vehicles. Like many others, military personnel at all levels are so distraught by all of this that they don’t know what to do.

The Donald

How is all this even possible? How could any president blithely betray an ally like the Kurds?

Well, Donald Trump doesn’t need any allies. Why would he? He is the best negotiator ever. He is the greatest deal-maker ever. He is both charming and brilliant. He has no need for briefings from experts because he is the expert. He is the best president ever. He is the best everything ever. He draws the biggest crowds ever. He sifted through the toxic 9/11 rubble with the first responders. The El Paso shooting victims of a madman (whose manifesto quoted Trump slogans) showed him love and respect in a visit. (He wished the reporters he banned could have been there to see it.) The Kurds are no angels, but he has done them a favor, and they are grateful. He is The Donald.

The Worst of Many Flaws

In answer to the question, “How could he do this?” I pose another question, seriously, for your consideration. Have you ever known, met, or even heard of, a person with a case of narcissism as extreme as that of Donald Trump? I mean ever.

He is incapable of empathy, or of introspection, or of compassion, or of remorse, or of grasping the notion that any human being other than himself matters. He cannot learn from his mistakes because he does not make mistakes. (My father used to joke that he’d never made a mistake; he once thought he had, but he was wrong.)

The only note on the musical scale Donald Trump’s can hear or sing is Mi – glorious Me. A repertoire so limited is crippling for a president.

Revulsion, not Glee

I take no pleasure in writing about a President of the United States this way, but there is no choice. If it seems that he is unraveling before your very eyes and ears, that’s because he is. All is the result of combining his two tendencies, above, with the narcissism out of which they are born. The crises he creates are ever worse because he always doubles down. He is always doubling down because he has always just created a senseless crisis. The spiral downward is accelerating.

I’m a little surprised that an instinct of self-preservation hasn’t kicked in to help Donald Trump notice this pattern isn’t working for him very well anymore. By now, most Americans have had one, or many more, of those moments when you wonder to yourself: “What manner of man says (or does) something like this? This is the President of the United States?” Anyway, with Ukraine and the Kurds, Donald Trump seems finally to have hit a low too low, even for him.

From the first announcement of Trump’s candidacy for office, I have found questions regarding his positions on issues amusingly inapt. Donald Trump has no “position” on anything – he barely has coherent slogans – with one exception: he is for anything that feeds his needy and insatiable ego, especially if it does so by increasing his wealth. Nothing else exists. That is Donald Trump’s position on everything.

An analogy comes to mind: Donald Trump is to a common self-centered politician as the compulsive gambler is to the problem gambler. While the latter two (politician and problem gambler) “merely” behave poorly, the former two (Trump and compulsive gambler) are addicted to the rush from doing so. I could almost feel sorry for him, but I’m too busy feeling sorry for us and for our country.

What is to be done?

Consider the Kurds and weigh the options. If inviting genocide for our staunchest and bravest allies in one of the world’s worst trouble spots isn’t enough for the Vice President and cabinet to invoke section 4 of the 25th Amendment, impeachment must proceed. The articles of impeachment should be direct, straight-forward presentations of the gravest high crimes and misdemeanors committed.

Every step of the process must be conducted professionally and ethically by serious, expert adults. It must be strictly on the merits. This includes affording the President impeccable due process. Why? Because (a) it’s the right thing to do; (b) it preempts any reasonable charges of unfairness; and (c) we want the just and correct outcome.

If I’m somehow wrong and the case against Trump isn’t that compelling, don’t impeach him. Bad behavior in pursuit of an alleged wrongdoer doesn’t strengthen the case against him. It’s just bad behavior. Anyone who just wants Trump removed through impeachment, whether or not it is the just and correct outcome, needs to look in the mirror as much as Trump supporters do.

From what we know, though, there’s little risk that’s the concern here. It’s time to take a vote and see who in Congress, if anyone, really is as craven as Trump is. Regardless of party affiliation, those not working tirelessly to limit harm by reversing atrocious policy has blood and irreparable damage to American interests on their hands.

Until recently, I was thinking we could get by just waiting for the voters to deliver the necessary message in 2020. Time is now of the essence, however; what could the next manufactured crisis be, if it is doubling down yet again, from THIS?

Not the Same-old Same-old

Make no mistake: this is not the usual left vs. right, progressive vs. conservative foolishness. It is no embrace of political correctness to know the madness must end. Republicans and true conservatives should be more appalled by Trump’s actions than anyone; many are. Indeed, how dare he bring the party of Lincoln down to such depths? While one does not lightly abandon an incumbent of one’s own party, nothing light occurred here. The damage being done to the Republican Party is enormous and likely to last.

Who’s Watching

Millions of Americans who are independent centrists are noting with disgust the behavior of congressional Republicans enabling these escalating outrages. They cannot be dismissed as the far left. Recognizing Trump’s presidency as dangerous, untenable and indefensible does not make them fans of Elizabeth Warren or Bernie Sanders, either. Far from it. They are the votes needed for anyone looking to win an election, and they are not happy with anybody.

For the system to work, America needs two major parties that are smart, principled and effective in presenting candidates who are honorable and have a clue. Right now, one such party would be a step in the right direction. Shame on us all if 2020 ends up a rerun of 2016, with most Americans (who don’t skip the election) voting for someone they can’t stand. Meanwhile, unfortunately, there’s serious work to do before the election.

Right now, in fact. That’s unless current Republican congressional leaders reduce their infamy by having with Trump the sort of discussion Hugh Scott, Barry Goldwater, and John Jacob Rhodes had with Nixon shortly before his resignation on August 9, 1974. Even if they do the right thing and have such a discussion, is President Trump likely to resign? Probably not; he is The Donald, after all. The more comprehensively his conduct is examined, however, the more Nixon’s conduct is going to resemble child’s play.

Ken Bossong

© 2019 Kenneth J. Bossong

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Immigration – Governing With Nods and Winks

Dichotic Listening

One of my memories from college days at Rutgers a long time ago is of occasional participation in studies for nominal pay. One in particular that I recall was conducted by the Psychology Department involving dichotic listening. Through headphones were piped audio tracks from two different sources. The content in the left and right channels had little or nothing to do with each other. I would listen for a while and then answer written questions about what I had retained. Then there’d be more. This went on for an hour or two. It was an interesting enough way to grab a little pizza money.

I mention this because it reminds me of what I experience when listening to the debate we are having, if you can call it that, about immigration. Immigrants are hordes of rapists, murderers and thieves. Turn them away and expel the ones already here.  No, no, they are virtuous, law-abiding, victimized saints. All must be welcomed unreservedly. What’s the problem? As someone with no ties either to the left or the right, as such, I don’t need this dichotic listening. You can’t pay me enough.

Meanwhile, the most important big-picture issue is not being addressed: the disaster that ensues when governing with nods and winks. Refusing to say what we mean and mean what we say when formulating and implementing public policy leads to major, if predictable, problems in this or any area of law.

Nods and Winks

The mess we are in is most attributable to the intellectual dishonesty with which we have approached immigration for decades. We have been governing in this field with a series of nods and winks, which is always a bad approach.

“So, the harvest is over. Before you go back home, do you think you could stick around for a little while? OF COURSE, we all believe in obeying the law [wink, wink] but you’re a good worker and I’ve got this other little project I’d like you to help me with. If you’ll do that for me [nod, nod], I’ll take care of you.”

Then there’s another little job, and another. The next thing you know, it’s harvest time again. Hey, the work got done well, inexpensively, and on time; the workers fed their families; and everyone behaved themselves. Where’s the harm? Let’s do it again.

It’s my understanding that the great majority of “illegal aliens” are people who entered legally but overstayed their visas, rather than those who sneak into the country. As a people, we are less than eager to enforce the letter of the law – until something embarrassing happens. (Those presenting themselves to seek asylum aren’t illegal anythings, by the way, unless they’re turned down and stay.)

One of America’s great contributions to the world is the Rule of Law encompassed in our Constitution. Saying one thing and meaning another in governance is inimical to the Rule of Law.

It is not easy to get a green card legally, and attaining citizenship is downright arduous. Indeed, one of the arguments against creating a shortened path to citizenship is “What about all these good people who took years to do it the hard, but legal, way?” This concern is far from frivolous. It needs to be part of a serious, detailed discussion on the Immigration Policy that is best for the United States.

The problem is that no one seems interested in having the debate we so badly need. Arguing the merits on the complexities of immigration policy is hard work. It is for adults. Expertise would help.

I am far from an expert on Immigration policy. Good arguments can be made on both sides of its many complex issues; that’s what makes it a tough area.

Honing in on Some Realities

General Principle

Like any country, America has a right to determine a policy on immigration in its own best interests, to secure its borders, and to enforce its laws. “Let ‘em in!” is not much of a policy.

Yet, I also agree that we are a nation of immigrants. I’m pretty sure there were no Bossongs on the Mayflower. And, by the way, those on the Mayflower were immigrants.

In truth, we have allowed people to stay because we want them to stay, kinda. We don’t really believe it’s in our best interest to kick these people out, regardless of our stated immigration policies – except when it’s convenient to pretend we do. Then, it’s Law ‘n’ Order, damn it. The nods and winks do not amount to precedent; they can be withdrawn at any time. That’s why they are the opposite of the Rule of Law. What makes nods and winks tempting is what makes them wrong. The phrase “arbitrary and capricious” comes to mind.

The Economy

Our actual collective opinion seems to be that immigrants are good for our economy. The cost of planting, harvesting, cleaning, preparing, and serving food has been considerably less for all of us than it might have been, for example. I gather that there are industries that would verge on collapse in the absence of undocumented workers. For years, I’ve heard people joke that if the (then) INS drove down the middle of Main Street in Anytown, USA with a bullhorn announcing their presence, the town’s restaurants, hotels, dry cleaners, and construction and landscaping businesses, among others, would empty out each business’s back door.

It’s hard not to notice that the President’s business holdings are in industries particularly dependent on such labor for both construction and ongoing operation: hotels, country clubs, restaurants, etc. He is not alone.

While there may be some jobs for which the undocumented provide unwanted competition, the notion of Americans clamoring for the chance to, say, pick fruits and vegetables in the hot sun strikes me as far-fetched in an amusing sort of way. [How’s your son? He’s home from college for the summer, but he couldn’t get that job picking turnips that he wanted.] The job market is generally not the zero-sum game (see post of April 2) presumed to exist at times.

Interestingly, two different columnists in the April 14 edition of the Philadelphia Inquirer, one conservative and one liberal, made the same point: Our economy is being held back right now by a scarcity of labor at all levels of skill that, given our birthrate over the last few decades, can be satisfied only by immigrants. Trudy Rubin and Marc Thiessen would not agree on much, and they wrote their columns that day for very different purposes, but they agreed completely that the country is not “full”.

Crime

Then there is the criminal behavior issue. Most studies indicate that immigrants are somewhat more law-abiding on average than American citizens. This is hardly surprising, if for no other reason than immigrants are looking to avoid deportation. “Tell that to the family of a person slain by an undocumented immigrant” goes the argument. “Any crime by an illegal alien should not have happened because the perpetrator should not have been here.”

One problem with such argument is that it begs the question of whose presence in the country should be legal. My thesis is the need for policy we believe in enough to enforce. Illegal status is a relatively minor count in the indictment of a murderer – in a minuscule percentage of our senseless murders.

The Discussion We Really Need

Give all interests a seat at the table. Invite the best and the brightest, not the most extreme. Hammer out an Immigration Policy we can enforce with a straight face. It won’t be perfect, and not everyone is going to love it. If it is fundamentally fair and (can I dream?) even a bit wise, we’ll all be better off.

Here’s a proposed outline for an agenda:

  • In general, turn what we really believe and really want into fair, clear, coherent, and enforceable laws and public policies. Sweat the details.
  • Arrive at some reasonable level of consensus on the following: How many new people can this country do a good job of absorbing? Are the categories and priorities of persons considered for admission to the US in the best interests of this country? [Same questions for staying and for ultimately attaining citizenship] What is a fair, humane, and appropriate approach to considering requests for asylum? How arduous should the conditions and process of attaining citizenship be? What are the facts about the danger posed by criminal behavior of immigrants? Is there any reason not to deport or deny admission to genuinely bad actors? (Where do we draw the line between significant and trivial misbehavior?)
  • (Assuming we change laws substantively) create a smooth and rational transition from the old ways (the nods and winks) into the new laws
  • Anticipate, prevent, and solve problems inherent in enforcing the law.
  • Effectively address any genuine security concerns at the borders, or anywhere.
  • Determine if there is ever a reason to separate families. Indeed, is there reason to insist we deal only with entire families when possible?
  • How can we assist newcomers with assimilation (which, notwithstanding the rough ride given to Joe Biden on this subject, remains desirable for all)?

The Discussion We Really Don’t Need

See “Dichotic Listening”, above.

Worth the Effort

If the policies inherent in our current Immigration laws are found to be the best for our country after careful expert consideration, so be it. Let’s set about enforcing them in a fair, even-handed way. That result would be surprising, though, given that our collective behavior has evinced a need for immigration reform for years.

There have been some bad episodes in America’s past regarding immigration. Two immediately come to mind:

  • Being, inarguably and inexcusably, insufficiently open to European Jews seeking asylum from certain death in the 1930s and 40s; and
  • Our mad scramble to handle the Mariel Boatlift in 1980, when Castro unexpectedly announced that any Cuban who wanted to leave could do so. The perception that Cuba emptied its prisons and mental health facilities may have been overstated, but the impression persists that Castro badly outmaneuvered President Carter.

If doing the right thing for its own sake is not enough to motivate us, at least we should look to avoid deep future regret.

We have behaved as if we do not believe in our own Immigration laws for decades. Perhaps we’ve been too busy enjoying the benefits of inexpensive, reliable labor to worry about the niceties of governing with integrity. Or maybe we just haven’t gotten around to fixing this mess we’ve created. Make no mistake, though: the real issue is whether we are going to govern with integrity. However irresistible the posturing may feel, we need to stop this “Us vs. Them” nonsense (February 19 post). Now.

There’s too much at stake.

Ken Bossong

© 2019 Kenneth J. Bossong