ENJOYING EVERY MOMENT OF "TRUMP: THE FINAL SEASON"

It is wrong to enjoy the suffering of others. I admit that.

But I, for one, feel comfortable making the occasional exception and I hope you do too. The Destroyer of American Democracy and his sidekicks, who have intentionally darkened our days for the past three years are currently in full panic mode and if you don’t admit to finding that satisfying, you are failing our central mission of surviving Trump.

You can tell me all you want that you have no interest in seeing Barr, Pence, Pompeo, and Giuliani in orange jumpsuits, but I will not believe you. “Ukrainegate” is glowing on Trump’s henchmen like the red dye that explodes in the money bag when the bank robbers are making their getaway.

Have you caught any of their stuttering, contradictory, self-incriminating attempts to explain themselves? It can be hard keeping a story straight when their boss keeps changing the story. Comical! Just comical!

We were warned by pundits from both parties that impeachment by the Democratic House would result in four more years of Donald Trump. We were told that impeachment would play into Trump’s hands, casting him as the underdog, being persecuted by the angry, radical left.

Impeachment would solidify the Trump base and alienate independent voters. Democrats, intent on winning the White House, keeping the House of Representatives, and possibly taking the Senate, had no real alternative than to be patient and work strategically to win in 2020.

This conventional wisdom was so two-weeks ago!

Madam Speaker had ordered her troops to hold their fire until she gave the order. For that, she was attacked from inside her ranks as being cowardly, or incompetent, or corrupt. But she knew what they did not. She knew that getting too far ahead of public opinion would end in certain failure.

And now, thanks to the frighteningly unhinged, unpresidential behavior (yes, even more unhinged and more unpresidential than we were used to) of Donald Trump, public opinion has gone from a murmur to a scream faster than Republicans learned how to spell Benghazi.

Prior to Madam Speaker’s announcement that made the impeachment inquiry (not actual impeachment) official, only 40% of the American public were for the impeachment inquiry, while 51% were opposed.

After she made it official, 51% voiced their support for an impeachment inquiry, while 44% opposed. 

Less than two weeks ago, 37% supported actual impeachment and removal from office, while 57% were opposed.

But the latest numbers tell a stunningly different story. Right now, 46% support actual impeachment and removal from office, while 45% oppose.

Have you spotted the trend?

Next week will bring more whistleblower news, more releases of phone and text message conversations, more subpoenas, more witness testimonies, more venomous tweets, more proof of crimes and coverups, and of course more attacks on the Constitution by the President of the United States, and by his deranged personal attorney, his corrupt attorney general, his spineless secretary of state, and his lying vice president.

And what will next week’s poll numbers tell us about the growing popularity of impeachment? I think they will tell us that the Trump Show’s ratings are plummeting fast.

He will suffer the indignity of impeachment by the House, forever branding his presidency, inflicting merciless suffering on his fragile ego until his final days on earth.

We can’t bet that, regardless of the damning evidence that surfaces, Senate Republicans will come out of hiding and do the right thing, but believe me − they too will glow with the red dye of complicity long after the Trump Show is cancelled on November 3, 2020.

I will enjoy watching their clumsy, futile grabbing for redemption.  

Bruce Coltin

Surviving Trump Two Minutes at a Time

A TALE OF TWO FIXERS (OR FIXERS WHO NEED FIXERS)

Ray Donovan is a fictional character. Please keep that in mind. Ray drives a cool Mercedes, wears expensive suits, and has a drawer full of Rolex watches. Maybe not every one of them is a Rolex. Maybe some of them are more expensive than a Rolex. I have no idea. The point is that Ray Donovan is just about the coolest tough guy you would ever meet.

Cool as he is, you would not want to meet him if you were causing problems for one of his employers, like a big law firm or a movie star or a rich professional athlete, etc. etc. etc. Ray gets hired by the rich and famous to make problems go away. He will do what his employer can’t do, which might mean a duffle bag full of cash, an envelope full of compromising photos, or a very convincing threat of bodily harm.

Michael Cohen dubbed himself Donald Trump’s Ray Donovan. Every kid should have a role model.

Presidential candidate, Donald Trump had a pesky little problem with a porn star. His lawyer and fixer, Michael Cohen made the problem go away. End of story!

Well, not quite!

The silenced porn star came strolling onto center stage, arm-in-arm with the lawyer from Hell. And now, Michael “the fixer” Cohen has an influence peddling problem, which happens to include – you won’t believe this -- a Russia connection!

Now the ex-fixer, himself, has been silenced and will likely remain silenced until he decides to sing like a canary to stay out of prison. Michael Cohen – a fixer no more -- will need to find a new claim to fame, not to mention a new fictional role model.

Fortunately, the president has found a new fixer.

Enter Rudy Giuliani!

Finally, the president has the defender he needs and deserves – a former legendary prosecutor and associate of Robert Mueller, a former legendary crime-busting mayor, and the hero whose strength and calm under fire guided New York in the aftermath of 9/11.

And more importantly, a combative personality who could go on television news shows with a big (and strange) smile, and slap down biased interviewers, who are on a mission to trick Trump surrogates into telling the truth.

Oh, and one more thing: a man who has perfected the skill of answering any tough question by adding the line “Hilary did worse and she didn’t go to jail.”

As you know, Rudy got off to a rather rocky start. First he contradicted the president’s claim that he didn’t know about the $130,000 payoff to Stormy Daniels. Then he tried to explain why the contradiction wasn’t really a contradiction. Then he explained that he was new on the job and wasn’t quite up to speed on the facts.

It was important for us to know that the president did nothing illegal and despite appearances, he was not trying to influence the election, and Hilary did a lot worse and didn’t go to jail.

So, seeing the mounting confusion and increased legal jeopardy, his employer had to step in and fix it, as only he could. Here’s what the great communicator said:

“When Rudy made the statements – Rudy’s great – but Rudy had just started and wasn’t totally familiar with everything.”

“We love Rudy, he’s a special guy. What he really understands is, this is a witch hunt. He understands that probably better than anybody … but when he made certain statements, he just started yesterday.”

And that pretty much explains it. Don’t you think?

Of course there is more. The Rudy Reality Show is still going strong. But that is for another two minutes.