Memories and the Reign of Felonius I

Felonious I

Memory can be wonderful. Memory can be painful. Memory can dredge up gob smacking irony.

This morning, as I was listening to the most recent scam by our president, Felonious I, my memory snapped into gear and laid this little gem on me. The scam is his “settlement” with his IRS over his lawsuit concerning the release of his tax returns. The possessive adjective “his” reflects the world view of Felonious I.

My memory was that ALL modern US Presidents have routinely released their tax returns to the public as a voluntary step in running for the office. Routine. Transparent. Open book.

Nixon, Carter, Reagan, George HW Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Joe Biden all released their tax returns. Every one.

As in so many other things, Trump became the exception.

Remember the excuse?

His returns were undergoing an audit and would be released when the audit was complete.

It was during a time when some of us thought he was lying but weren’t absolutely sure.

As the months and years passed and countless claims by Donald Trump were proven utterly false, the synergy between his talking and lying merged into a seamless whole. He talks. He lies.

So, if he’d done what every modern President before him had done, there would be no such thing as a “leak” of his tax returns.

The second element of irony was that it was a dude in his own first administration, his own IRS who leaked the return. The breakdown in professionalism, management, and oversight was in his own house, not in the administration of some partisan.

Thirdly, who was the President of the United States suing?

His own government.

Yes, he was suing himself.

If the CEO of a corporation had overseen a tragic wrong decision by one of his employees and then, while he was still the CEO sued his corporation for damage to his own reputation, it would only prove dangerous to one individual. The clerk of the Supreme Court of the State of New York might well injure himself when falling out of his chair as he read the filing. It would be thrown out in what is truly the definition of a New York minute and if leaked to the press would be the end of that CEO’s career.

I won’t add my disgust at the absurdity of the overall settlement to these observations. You have already come to your own conclusions on that matter.

Todd Blanche, the Presidents former attorney and his current attorney posing as the Attorney General of the United States, has announced that the slush fund deal is off. But what about the funds? And of course, immunity for Trump and his family from any negative findings in past audits does not go away. The whole slush fund debacle might just have been a shiny thing to take our eyes off the immunity deal.

And we learn this morning that Todd (one letter away from Toad) is going to be nominated by the President to be the permanent Attorney General. This proves once again that loyalty to Felonious I is the only qualification that matters.

On the eve of midterm elections, the US Senate Judiciary Committee will have the opportunity to hold confirmation hearings. Through a full examination of the actions of Bondi and Blanche, we will see that what was once an independent Department of Justice has become the law firm of Hate, Retribution & Incompetence, LLC.

Will the 92-year-old Republican Committee Chairman challenge Blanche on the IRS deal, the specious prosecutions of adversaries of the President, the refusal to investigate and prosecute the murders of American citizens by ICE agents, or the unprecedented direction of the Justice Department by a president? (Unprecedented with the exception of Nixon’s AG John Mitchell, also once known at Federal Prison Camp Montgomery Alabama as Prisoner No. 56834)

I doubt it.

So, it will be yet another reminder to Iowans of Trump’s complete ownership of Chuck Grassley and the Republican Party. Iowa farmers and small business owners are already furious with Trump over the impact of his tariffs and vanity war in Iran. Could Joni Ernst’s vacant Senate seat be in play for the Democrats? Felonious I continues to give oxygen to his political opponents as he clumsily sits on the air hose of his own party.

But, to just pick two recent quotes…the economic conditions of the average American are of no concern to him, and he doesn’t care whether he gets a peace treaty with Iran. In fact, the whole thing is pretty boring (his words, not mine).

And when you think this guy has already made the biggest personnel mistake imaginable, you wake up to find he has named Bill Pulte the acting Director of National Intelligence. Grandson of the founder of the PulteGroup (who was kicked out of the company three years ago), and currently the scheming, groveling director of the FHFA, he has illegally combed the files of his agency to find “chargeable” offenses against Letitia James, Adam Schiff, and Lisa Cook. None of the charges have been found to be credible, but the nuisance and cost to the targets have delighted the President.

As to national intelligence experience, foreign policy expertise, or even a scrap of evidence that this guy has the command and control chops to oversee the 18 intelligence agencies of the US Government, don’t bother looking because this guy could not qualify for an entry level post.

I had the honor of sitting next to John Negroponte, first Director of National Intelligence, at a meeting at the National Archives some years ago. Career diplomat with ambassador posts in Honduras, Mexico, Philippines, Iraq, and the United Nations; Deputy National Security Advisor to Ronald Reagan, Negroponte was a man who created, worked with, and protected national intelligence his entire professional life. He carried himself with an air of authority, confidence, and experience that defined the new role of DNI. The Senate approved his appointment 98-2.

Pulte is not only not in the same league, he’d be stopped at the door where they are having the tryouts.

Senator Cornyn has already pronounced him without qualifications and Senate Majority Leader Thune cautioned against “weaponizing” the intel community for political purposes. But who will publicly line up with them to call out FI on this obviously sinister move that literally puts our country in danger?

We’ve survived Hogsbreath and Little Marco you say?

Well, with competent leadership at DOD or State, we wouldn’t be at war with Iran, suffering from weakened alliances in Europe, or be a laughingstock for our adventurism in Greenland, Panama, and Cuba. Oh, and remember Canada as the 51^st State? That little move unintentionally elevated Mark Carney as the leading statesman in the Western Hemisphere. Nature abhors a vacuum and Trump’s selfish policies and vacuous statements have sent the world in search of new alliances.

And let me leave you with this.

Our Secretary of State was sent to Capitol Hill yesterday and today to once again tell lawmakers that “the war is over.” (oops, or the conflict, the excursion, or whatever other term you wish to use to downplay this utter defeat).

If there was a Liar’s Hall of Fame, this administration would take up all of the spots for the Class of 2026.