OpusculaWhy don’t Dems Attack Trump For Clinton’s crimes

I HAVE TO WONDER ABOUT Democrat mentality.

When Trump took office he did two things:

One, he told the fibbies to lay off Hillary and her illegal email servers

Two, he fired Obama appointee flip-flopping fibbie director James Comey

Actually, there was one other “first days” action that riled the Democrats: Trump fired U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara. Bharara, thumbing his nose at long-established protocol, refused to submit his resignation when the new president took office as all presidential appointees who serve at the president’s pleasure are expected to do. (This rolls downhill all the way to the municipal level. Usually the resignations are refused, but the formality remains.)

Now, whatever Trump – or his supporters – do is a grievous sin to be headlined in the media. Good grief, if Ivanka Trump stands in the same way the former first lady stood, that’s worthy of media contempt.

I’m not a “Trump can do no wrong” person; he can, and has, and assuredly will do things to which I take exception.

His knee-jerk reaction tweets (that seem to be more thoughtful lately)

His push to replace the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act without input from (a) Democrats who might have some good ideas – assuming they can actually think without attacking, and (b) the people who use the Affordable Care Act: patients and practitioners. I suppose he also must kowtow to the courts that seem to be making America’s laws.

The PROBLEM with replacing the Affordable Care Act is that Americans quickly became accustomed to the benefits. Once a benefit program is in place, it is very hard to cancel or modify.

Social Security, which the former president raped along with Medicare, was supposed to be “phased out” and replaced with – what?

We did not always have Social Security, the Railroad Retirement, of even the Federal employees’ retirement plan, (FERS) and when it was instituted – when Eleanor Roosevelt was first lady – it was not intended as a retirement fund. It became a retirement fund – for which I am grateful – but that was not its intent. Still, akin to Medicare, every working American paid into Social Security, sometimes willingly, sometimes not. How much depended on how much the covered American made; how much a covered American receives in his or her dotage depends on what they paid in. (There was a period when employers rewarded their loyal employees with pensions, but most pensions are gone now.)

There also was a time when employers funded the majority of the employees’ health and medical insurance – that was a time when insurance was more reasonably priced. Insurance is a business, lest we forget, and the cost of getting sick has risen greatly – faster than inflation.

I am not writing that “all Democrats are dummies and all Republicans are brilliant.” That is absurd. There ARE Democrats who should be tossed out on their ears and there are Republicans who should end up with them.

Trump and the GOP in congress should write off the “media” and focus on the jobs at hand – and that means working with the Democrats who use their brains. A better-than-Obamacare plan is possible, but it must be crafted with input from the Democrats and the end users – both patients and practitioners. A good start would be to force all those in government — elected and appointed — to depend on Obamacare and its replacement; THEN improvements would be made in short order.

While they are at it, those in Congress should vote to convert their Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) to Social Security.

Back to Hillary and her illegal server

When, shortly after Mrs. Clinton conceded the election, Trump said he would, as president, order the Justice Department not to pursue allegations that Mrs. Clinton violated a number of Federal laws when, as Secretary of State, she sent and received emails – some at least “sensitive” and bearing on national security – via her personal and private server, and there was no farther discussion of her role in the deaths of four Americans at the Benghazi consulate in Libya during a well-planned “spontaneous” uprising. Nor did Trump ask the fibbies to investigate the defeated candidate over her incendiary post-election comments that urged her followers to hit the streets; some of her fans making their point by destroying their own neighborhoods in Hillary’s name.

Interestingly, no Democrats objected to Trump’s decisions regarding Mrs. Clinton and there were no riots in the streets.

The media made little mention of Mrs. Clinton’s illegal and improper behavior, and quickly moved onto “Dump Trump” news as soon as the pressure on Mrs. Clinton was removed.

Almost everything the president or his associates – or even his family – do is scrutinized by the media in an effort to find fault. When there is no fault to be found, the media invents it – hence “fake news.”

TO BE FAIR, lately some “journalists” have been caught writing news they want to be heard/read, regardless of its veracity. A few have been fired. More interesting, some cartoonists – editorial and otherwise – are, it seems, trying to be more balanced; to admit maybe Trump has his moments. (I have no problems with editorials and cartoons that attack issues regardless of the party behind the issue.)

President Trump and his associates are fair game for criticism, but the media should treat all politicians – regardless of party – equally. So far, the media has been strictly in “Attack the President” mode.

Mrs. Clinton lost the election. Although Obama assured Americans that he could win, like FDR, a third and maybe a fourth term in the White House, the country was spared that threat.

The U.S. suffered through eight years of Obama; it can suffer through 4 to 8 years of Trump. Perhaps by then, the pendulum swinging from far left to far right will have settled someplace near the middle and we can elect people who will listen to the opposition and make – or unmake – laws that benefit all Americans, laws that won’t automatically be struck down by the courts.

Or perhaps that’s just wishful thinking.

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PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

 

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