Tag Archives: John McCain

Sep 7 2018

Can Mueller Indict Trump or Can Only Congress Impeach?


Armstrong Economics Blog/Politics

Re-Posted Sep 6, 2018 by Martin Armstrong

QUESTION: Mr. Armstrong; You said the constitution forbids arresting a member of Congress on his way to the hill. I have never heard of that. Is this why you warn that trying to indict Trump is constitutionally risky?

Thank you for your education

HS

ANSWER: Yes. To Indict any president is really a risky adventure. This act can result in the complete nullification of the entire democratic process. It is known as the Speech or Debate Clause in the United States Constitution (Article I, Section 6, Clause 1). The clause states that members of both Houses of Congress

…shall in all Cases, except Treason, Felony and Breach of the Peace, be privileged from Arrest during their attendance at the Session of their Respective Houses, and in going to and from the same; and for any Speech or Debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other Place.

Members of Congress cannot even be interrogated and delayed to prevent the business of Congress. The Founding Fathers understood that an opponent could bribe some police officer to charge them or even delay them to alter the vote on the floor of Congress. We are really playing with fire here. Any opponent could conjure up some allegation to question a president and then indict him simply because they do not like what he proposes. They could have done that to Obama and his land deal in Chicago that simply looked like corruption. There were plenty of people who disagreed with Obama and his healthcare reforms. Obama’s polls were the worst since 1945. NOBODY tried to string together something to justify interrogating him and then try to charge him someway with a felony or perjury to remove him from office to stop his agenda. We have crossed all lines here this time and adopted a scorched earth policy to get Trump out of office.

The only way to remove a President is by Impeachment. The Constitution specifies under USCS Const. Art. II, § 4:

“The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors”.

Any official must be charged by the House and then tried by the Senate. There is no other process that would actually specifically authorize Mueller to indict Trump. That is not to say that they would not try to do so to influence political elections. There just seems to be some desperate movement here to overthrow Trump even if it destroys the Constitution. Normally, the Senate would have to impeach him and remove him from office and then Trump could be liable to trial and punishment in the courts for civil and criminal charges. We are dealing with a very risky attempt for if Mueller indicted Trump, it would forever alter the structure of government and probably end any democratic process. We are talking about impeachment of Trump because there is a 19-year cycle and the last was Bill Clinton who was charged in December 1998 by the House and led to a trial in the Senate for the impeachment on two charges, one of perjury and obstruction of justice.  These charges stemmed from a sexual harassment lawsuit filed against Clinton by Paula Jones. That is the precedent. Clinton was subsequently acquitted by the Senate on February 12, 1999. Therefore, 2018 is perfectly a 19-year cycle on the mark.

President Andrew Johnson found himself, like Trump, in direct confrontation with the Republican-dominated Congress who greatly opposed his Reconstruction program for the South after the Civil War. They called it the “Radical Reconstruction” by repeatedly overriding the president’s vetoes. Congress wanted to punish the south and grind them into the dirt much as the EU has been trying to do with Britain.

They could not remove Johnson from office but make any mistake about it, the calls to impeach Trump are because those who lost supporting Hillary just refuse to accept Trump regardless of what he does. (see Special Report on the Impeachment of Donald Trump)

This is the problem with the law. You can pass a law you cannot kill your spouse. You do and argue that you were never really married and are therefore innocent despite their death. Any attempt to indict Trump would be doing the same thing. It is the constitution forbid arresting a Congressman but it does not mention specifically a president. The Constitution is not a “collection of popular slogans. We are dealing with instruments of government.” Bridges v California, 314 US 252, 284 (1941). The Constitution is not to be interpreted as a means to an end to justify an immediate dislike for a President. It “is not the formulation of the merely personal views… ” Cooper v Arron, 358 US 1, 24 (1958).

We no longer appear to be a nation of laws. It seems we are degenerating into an angry mob and the danger is that such a twist of the law becomes precedent so any future president the opposition disagrees with can concoct a scheme to get rid of him. We then move into the danger of the collapse of Rome when leaders can be deposed at will. We are in danger of creating a really wild 2019 in the financial markets. Get ready. This is going to be really nuts. Proof of the Vertical Market of which I have warned about is just looking at the chart of the Venezuela share market. It has risen in proportion to the decline in the confidence of government reflected in the currency. We seem to be headed directly into a financial storm that few people will survive without understanding how markets even trade under such circumstances

Sep 7 2018

Trump the Person v the President


Armstrong Economics Blog/Politics

Re-Posted Sep 6, 2018 by Martin Armstrong

QUESTION: I know you do not support Trump as an individual. It seems most Americans cannot look at this political crisis as detached as you do. They seem to think anything that says Trump is correct is interpreted as total support for Trump. From the other side of the pond, it looks like Americans have lost their minds. Is it some virus?

The real question is more self-interest as you say, Adam Smith. Do you think Trump’s fall will impact our markets in Europe as well beyond the United States?

JF, Frankfurt

ANSWER: People do not separate Trump the Individual from the President. They seem to think you can just chase him out of office and everything will be fine. This seems to be the brain-dead view on the Hill. But that is their self-interest speaking. They see Trump as an outsider and from that view they just want him gone and that includes many Republicans as well as Democrats. This crazy OP_ED illustrates the point. People hate Trump so much they look the other way entirely! This is very dangerous, to say the least. This view that if we just drive Trump from office everything will be back to normal is insane. We have crossed the Rubicon. There is no going back.

My concern is the OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENCY, not Trump!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Those who are so blind that they cannot distinguish between the two, that is what is really frightening. The way law is made is PRECEDENT. No president has ever been indicted and the question has been regarded as never decided. If you press this issue because you hate Trump, you then create the precedent that any president can be indicted and then you have destroyed the office of the Presidency. You will have to be crazy or purely corrupt where you own everyone as insurance to ever seek such an office. This is not good for the nation regardless who is in office. The Constitution forbids the arrest of any person in Congress on their way to the Hill. The Founding Fathers understood that you could arrest a member to prevent him from voting. The same principle applies to the President. This would be a case of first impression.

There is absolutely NO POSSIBLE WAY that Trump can be removed from office and there will not be a major disruption to the world financial markets. Removing Nixon set off the chaos of the 70s into the collapse in confidence of government that led right into 1980. Perhaps the fall of Trump is the final straw that brakes the confidence in government bonds. Certainly, career politicians will not curtail debt and they will probably increase it more. Interest rates will rise, that is certain and replacing the head of any state results in caution at the very least. Capital can just give up and run for the hills into equity and start selling government debt.

If we undermine the CONFIDENCE in the US government, with the rest of the world in a state of chaos, perhaps this is what the computer is projecting which honestly scares the hell out of me. We are opening a door that is not going to lead to a nice safe place. The future is absolutely not going to return to normal. Just not going to happen. What comes next? Authoritarianism? Historically, that is what follows. The People of Athens voted for Pericles. The Oligarchs hated him. They trumped up charges to put him on trial. They won and destroyed Athenian Democracy. Perhaps history will repeat?

Sep 6 2018

Nike Just Blew It.


Published on Sep 5, 2018

Does jumping on the social justice warrior bandwagon lead to corporate suicide? Nike becomes the latest to curry favor with the Left by offending a huge swath of America. Stephen Green leads Bill Whittle and Scott Ott to analyze this disease.
Sep 6 2018

Joe diGenova, Gregg Jarrett and Sara Carter Discuss the FISA Application, Rod Rosenstein and Bruce Ohr…


Re-Posted from The Conservative Tree House on September 5, 2018 by

Joe diGenova, Gregg Jarrett and Sara Carter appear with Sean Hannity to discuss the ongoing DOJ issues with: Bruce Ohr, the Carter Page FISA application and the institutionally corrupt DOJ and FBI.  The issue of Rod Rosenstein being under IG investigation and possibly recused from current FISA procedures is not really a big deal.

Since March 28th, 2018, Inspector General Michael Horowitz has been investigating the potential for fraud/abuse in the Carter Page FISA application; Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein signed-off on one FISA extension; so as a matter of investigative position Rosenstein’s activity is technically under IG investigation and he cannot participate therein.

Sep 6 2018

President Trump Responds To Media Questions About Anonymous Administration Official Op-Ed…


Re-Posted from The Conservative Tree House on September 5, 2018 by

Earlier this afternoon the New York Times presented an Op-ed claiming to be from an anonymous Senior Official within the Trump Administration [SEE HERE].

The op-ed is titled: “I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration” and carries a bi-line saying:  “I work for the president but like-minded colleagues and I have vowed to thwart parts of his agenda and his worst inclinations.”

The tone, flow, construct and syntax of the article points to a very familiar “establishment republican” perspective.   The “resistance” criticism levied within the article is centered around the outlook of the professional political class, and their sense of importance.  If NRO’s Jonah Goldberg worked for the administration, he would be suspect #1 – that’s the dripping sense of superiority and elitism expressed.

The opinions expressed within the “anonymous” op-ed reflect the typical worldview of elitist republicans.  That is to say, a holier-than-thou neocon “establishment” GOPe type, who prefers crustless cucumber and mayonnaise sandwiches on white bread cut into little triangles.  From this world-view President Trump is an outsider; a vulgarian, a deplorable who needs to be managed by those who are much more important.

From the construct of the trade positions espoused within the writing; in combination with the voluminous praise for Senator John McCain; we can see the epicenter of this “republican resistance” is based on Trump’s withdrawal from foreign interventionism and his economic/trade policies which contradict with the customary globalist views of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Wall Street and the pontificating financial class.

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[Transcript] Q There’s anonymous op-ed in the New York Times that says, “I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration.” Just posted. Your reaction?

THE PRESIDENT: Hey, I’ll ask the sheriffs: Can you imagine? We have somebody in what I call the failing New York Times” that’s talking about he’s part of the resistance within the Trump administration.

Q This person works for the administration, they said.

THE PRESIDENT: This is what we have to deal with. And, you know, the dishonest media — because you people deal with it as well as I do — but it’s really a disgrace.

I will say this: Nobody has done what this administration has done in terms of getting things passed and getting things through. A article was just printed, just came out a few minutes ago: Trump breaks the record for budget gridlock wins, “scores big win.” So for 20 years — it’s a 20-year record — for a 20-year record — they call it “the ‘fouled up’ budget gridlock” and “scores big win.” Here is the thing. So this just came out. So in 20 years, it hasn’t been like it is now. It’s — we broke — we broke it. That’s just really positive stuff.

And then, in addition to that, point after point after point, if you look, almost 4 million jobs created since the election. (Applause.) More Americans now employed than ever recorded in our history. So we have more people working today than at any point ever in our history.

We’ve created 400,000 manufacturing jobs. Manufacturing jobs are growing at the fastest pace in more than 30 years. Economic growth last quarter was 4.2 percent. And as you people know, it was headed down. Big. And it was a low number. A very low number. It would’ve been — in my opinion, it would’ve been less than zero. It was heading to negative numbers.

New employment claims recently hit a — think of that — the unemployment picture in the country is the best its been in 49 years. African American unemployment, lowest in the history of our country. Asian American unemployment, lowest in the history of our country. Hispanic American unemployment, lowest in the history of our country.

I mean, I’m just looking at these — just point after point. Under my administration, veterans’ unemployment reached its lowest in many, many years. The — let’s see — almost 3.9 million Americans have been lifted off food stamps, just since my election. Then you go into all of the benefits that we got from the tax cuts. All of you people benefited tremendously from the tax cuts. (Applause.)

You go into regulation cuts. You go into Right to Try. Right to Try is where you have the right — if a person is terminally ill, you have a right to go and try, and see whether or not a drug that’s not approved yet can be used and utilized. They didn’t allow that.

Point after point: Getting rid of the individual mandate, the most unpopular thing there is in Obamacare. Coming up with new healthcare plans. We’ve never had a period — even if you look at the Olympics; got the Olympics. The World Cup just got — you just saw them; they were in my office. Got the World Cup. Nobody has — and we have started the wall. Nobody has ever done, in less than a two-year period, what we’ve done.

So when you tell me about some anonymous source within the administration, probably who’s failing and probably here for all the wrong reasons. Now — and the New York Times is failing. If I weren’t here, I believe the New York Times probably wouldn’t even exist. (Applause.) And some day — let me just tell you — and some day, when I’m not President, which hopefully will be in about six and a half years from now, the New York Times and CNN, and all of these phony media outlets, will be out of business, folks. They’ll be out of the business. Because there will be nothing to write, and there will be nothing of interest.

So nobody has done what this administration has done. And I agree, it’s different from an agenda, which is much different than ours, and it’s certainly not your agenda — that I can tell you. It’s about open borders. It’s about letting people flee into our country. It’s about a disaster and crime for our country.

So they don’t like Donald Trump, and I don’t like them, because they’re very dishonest people. Remember this also, about the New York Times: When I won, they were forced to apologize to their subscribers. They wrote a letter of apology — it was the first time anybody has ever done it — because they covered the election incorrectly. So if the failing New York Times has an anonymous editorial — can you believe it? “Anonymous” — meaning gutless. A gutless editorial.

We’re doing a great job. The poll numbers are through the roof. Our poll numbers are great. And guess what? Nobody is going to come close to beating me in 2020 because of what we’ve done. We’ve done more than anybody ever thought possible in — it’s not even two years.

So thank you very much. (Applause.)

END 5:15 P.M. EDT

Sep 6 2018

Epic – Republican Rep. Billy Long Uses Auctioneering Skills to Shut Down Committee Protester…


Re-Posted from The Conservative Tree House on September 5, 2018 by

This is epic.  Must Watch.  Missouri Republican Representative Billy Long falls back on his prior job skills to shut down a disrupting protester.  Then comes the best part:

“I yield back”…

Some days ya just gotta laugh. Thank you Mr. Long, that moment will be long remembered.

Sep 6 2018

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey Testifies to Congress About Social Media Platform Controls, Filters and Manipulation…


Re-Posted from The Conservative Tree House on September 5, 2018 by

These “executives” are nuts; simply bananas.  For some reason the corporate management and ownership of Twitter (CEO Jack Dorsey) and Facebook (COO Sheryl Sandberg) refuse to admit that people, employees of their companies, actually make the content decisions.

To defend the platform from critics who point out the ideological filtration, both Dorsey and Sandberg present a bizarro proposition that some created omnipotent, nebulous and invisible force has the decision-making power to determine content; and does so without consideration of view.  It’s just plain weird.  But that’s their story and they’re sticking to it.

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These people would have a lot more credibility if they were just intellectually honest. The hearing continues below:

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Sep 6 2018

Chuck Todd Says “Fight Back” Against Fox News – Two Days Later Unstable Man Drives Truck into Fox News…


Re-Posted from The Conservative Tree House on September 5, 2018 by

NBC News host Chuck Todd advanced a proposition in both his broadcast and a print article that Fox News was the source of negative opinion toward media.  In a September 3rd article written for The Atlantic Chuck Todd said it was time to “fight back“.

Two days later, September 5th, an obviously unstable man drives a pickup truck into the Fox News station in Dallas Texas while shouting “High Treason, High Treason“….

Sep 6 2018

How Long Can Trump Survive? The NY Times Aids the Deep State


Armstrong Economics Blog/Politics

Re-Posted Sep 6, 2018 by Martin Armstrong

There has never been a President of the United States who is so hated by the political establishment which is absolutely determined to remove him from office, destroy his empire, and imprison his family while they are at it. The claimed New York Times Op_ed which is supposedly by a high ranking official in the Trump Administration really says nothing and it appears on the surface to be a plot to undermine not just Trump, but the Republicans as a whole. The title says “I am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration” which offers absolutely nothing about what the writer claims to even resist. This person claims:

“We want the administration to succeed and think that many of its policies have already made America safer and more prosperous.

But we believe our first duty is to this country, and the president continues to act in a manner that is detrimental to the health of our republic.”

First of all, claiming to be undermining Trump from inside is actually declaring war on the very democratic process this person claims to be defending. He is placing his judgment about that of everyone else which is no different than the Democrats. The real disturbing thing is he cannot be that stupid that writing such a piece publicly which FAILS to even state what policy they are resisting is a direct blow to the Trump Administration as a whole. This would naturally means that Trump should trust absolutely NOBODY in the White House. It is designed to actually undermined the Trump Administration by not even stating what policy this person is acting against. This is clearly the DEEP STATE taking a position without saying anything to ensure that the Trump Administration will be destroyed. This is all about keeping the elite in Washington in full control.

Trump tweeted: “If the GUTLESS anonymous person does indeed exist, the Times must, for National Security purposes, turn him/her over to government at once!”

On that score, he is absolutely correct. This is a National Security issue particularly because the person fails to state what specific policies they are undermining. This is clearly a treasonous act and if the Russians pulled it off, it would be a declaration of war. Indeed, the person may be trying to sabotage the Trump Administration and that would be a Watergate that warrants investigation to see where it leads for it could lead to a foreign power or the Democrats. This was really brain-dead for the New York Times to publish something that does not even say what policies the person is undermining. That really is a question of National Security and Congress should investigate.

 

Where does this all end? Trump’s polls are in the mid 40% range in general. Obama’s first midterm election in 2010 saw the Democratic Party suffer the greatest defeat for a newly elected president in a midterm since the Republican Party under Warren Gamaliel Harding in 1922. We will answer that question soon if Trump will see the same fate in 2018.

In my entire life, I have NEVER witnessed such an all-out assault on the President by the establishment be it left or right. These people are clearly destroying the country for there is a significant percentage of the population who will just not accept another career politician. This has been my concern – what comes after Trump?

Sep 5 2018

Justin Trudeau: No Trade Deal With U.S. That “Doesn’t Continue Exemptions for Canada’s Cultural Industries”…


Re-Posted from The Conservative Tree House on September 5, 2018 by

All our propaganda are belong to us…

In comments yesterday about the likelihood of Canada joining the U.S-Mexico trade agreement, Justin from Canada stated emphatically that his country would not join any trade agreement that removes Canadian protectionist policy on “cultural industries”.

What are Justin’s “cultural industries“? Well, that would be control over media and telecommunications. In essence, Canada wouldn’t want any of that pesky free-market media stuff interfering with the state-run propaganda broadcasts.  Yup, you can’t make this stuff up folks…

CANADA – […] The prime minister also said his government won’t sign an updated free trade accord with the U.S. and Mexico if the deal doesn’t continue exemptions for Canada’s cultural industries, which aims to protect Canada’s publishing and broadcast industries.

That too was entrenched in the original Canada-U.S. free trade deal that preceded NAFTA. Giving up the exemptions would be tantamount to giving up Canadian sovereignty and identity, Trudeau said.

“It is inconceivable to Canadians that an American network might buy Canadian media affiliates, whether it’s newspapers or TV stations or TV networks,” he said.

“So we’ve made it very clear that defending that cultural exemption is something that is fundamental to Canadians.” (read more)

Nice to see it all out in the open.  Canada can’t have that pesky free-market speech stuff getting in the way of the progressive state-run media. Rather hilarious, and simultaneously reaffirming of progressive ideology when you think about it.

The far-left worldview has always been reliant upon on control over the thoughts of the citizens under their authority.  This open admission by Justin Trudeau is a direct affirmation of all criticism levied against the political left.

Whether it be in the authoritarian control over social media, or in direct state control over broadcast and print media the progressive worldview simply cannot compete on an open field of ideas. Deploying a fancy catch-phrase like “cultural industries”, is only meant to obfuscate the inherent hypocrisy between what is espoused and what is actually true.

In related matters, the U.S. and South Korea trade deal (KORUS) has been finalized by U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer.  Additionally, the U.S. agreement with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is progressing as an alternative to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).

Washington, DC – Today, the Office of the United States Trade Representative and Korea’s Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy published the agreed outcomes of the negotiations to amend and modify the U.S.-Korea (KORUS) Free Trade Agreement.  These outcomes include amendments and modifications to KORUS as well as additional agreements and understandings to improve implementation of the trade pact. (continue reading press release)

More in-depth details of the KORUS Agreement Available HERE.

A joint media statement between the ASEAN Economic Ministers (AEM) and the United States Trade Representative is AVAILABLE HERE.

A general reminder/explanation.  CTH focuses a great deal of time and attention to the trade and economic side of political policy because almost all of the issues that matter are founded upon the economics of political policy.  If you drill down through all moonbat political opposition to President Trump and his U.S. economic agenda you will discover the root cause is based around economics, financial interests and control therein.

As with the Canadian example above, the ideology of progressive, democrat-socialists is an ideology of authoritarian control that is only possible if the same entities control the economic constructs that enable them to exist.  Remove their control over the financial aspects, and you deconstruct the foundation that supports the ideology.

“It is inconceivable to Canadians that an American network might buy Canadian media affiliates, whether it’s newspapers or TV stations or TV networks,” Trudeau said.  This same sentence could be repeated by any number of communist authoritarians.

Think about it… and discuss/share with your family.

There are, quite simply, trillions of dollars at stake.