Time to get back to sorting out White House chaos

After a brief pause to celebrate Thanksgiving and the things we are grateful for, Congress will be back in session to refocus and resume investigating a few things that don’t fill many of us with gratitude.

In the next phase of the impeachment hearings, Congress is now faced with the task of bringing a few of those “higher up” in the Trump administration’s food chain to share what they know and to disclose their participation in what seems a sordid state of affairs.

These are the guys who know how to play the system and many are expected to come kicking and screaming rather than feel duty bound to be forthright with the American people.

The plot now thickens with Rudy “Hand Grenade” Giuliani alleged to have pursued business dealings in Ukraine. John Bolton, the former national security adviser who gave Rudy the explosive nickname, declined a House invitation to testify, and awaits a court decision on whether he will ultimately address the hearings. Rudy’s name was mentioned so much by so many during the impeachment hearings, he is no doubt a central player in all of this.

Recently the president seemed to backtrack on his support for Rudy by publicly admitting that he had no idea what his “great and smart guy” and personal attorney was doing in Ukraine. How can everyone else know or at least have an idea why Rudy was there and not the president?

All of the president’s men were once “great” guys until they weren’t. More than a few fell hard and there are more who might be destined for the same fate. But don’t expect Rudy to be a casualty. He’s no dummy. He knows where the president’s great guys have ended up. When asked if the president might be trying to “throw him under the bus” by denying that he knew what Rudy was doing in Ukraine, Rudy replied that he has an insurance policy. Hollywood should have such plot twists.

So now comes the gargantuan task of quizzing the next line up of officials — those who got direct orders or are copping out by saying they were not privy or flat out didn’t know what was going on. A few are fighting subpoenas or are in the process of appealing court decisions that compel them to testify. Makes you wonder what exactly what they are hiding? Expect more fallout and folks not so transparently bowing out of the administration, like Secretary of State Mike Pompeo who is said to be mulling a run for Senate in Kansas. Next up in the revolving chairs of this administration are rumors that former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley could replace Pompeo as secretary of state or even replace Vice President Mike Pence on the 2020 ticket. Her major claim to fame seems to be that she has the president’s back — though I’m not so sure that’s the best position to be in right now. Her lack of loyalty to the colleagues that she outed in her new book, among them former White House Chief of Staff John Kelly as not having the president’s best interests at heart shows she’s mastered the administration’s habit of throwing others under the bus. What a team!

Questions abound about whether the president’s actions are illegal enough to rise to the level of impeachment. Lesser things in my opinion have been impeachable.

Meanwhile the president continues to wield his authority — his “new way of doing business” that was one of his campaign promises. Like pulling our troops out of Syria and leaving our Kurd allies to fend for themselves against a tyrannical President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, and giving the Russians more of a foothold in the region. Just what we need. Or strolling down the red carpet with his despot friend Kim Jung Un, who throws tantrums with his finger on a nuclear trigger. At an  unannounced Thanksgiving trip to Afghanistan to thank our troops, the president spoke of his intention of negotiating with the Taliban. A shiver went up my spine. As much as I believe in the power of negotiation and as much as I would like our fighting men and women home, I am most worried about the “trade-offs” in the negotiation that could severely impact our nation’s overall security.

We owe Congress a debt of gratitude for the hearings, which have uncovered what many feel is a chaotic administration, absorbed by self-interests that in no way serve the interests of the American people.

Joyce Ferriabough Bolling is a media and  political strategist and communications specialist.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/2Dvt6l2