Friday, July 24th, 2020
My Dear America:
Shortly before Donald Trump took over the reins of The United States Government in January of 2017 he posed a very odd question in one of his tweets.
"Are we living in Nazi Germany" was the question he posed.
It was a strange question, indeed, since at that point in time we were still living in Barack Obama's America, where the United States Justice Department still had a relatively good reputation and, for the most part, was widely respected.
Few people at the time that Donald Trump proposed this weird and inappropriate question knew what we in America know now.
Back in the early days of 2017 we had no idea of the extent of the cruelty and injustice that Americans and immigrants would experience under the Thinly Disguised Sociopathic Megalomania of Donald Trump.
Most Americans did not know that Donald Trump, a man who seemed proud of the fact that he read very little, did have a favorite book that he read over and over nearly every night. Ivanna Trump, his wife at the time, knew what book it was. She saw Donald reading it all the time and, I guess she thought it was OK for Donald To be poring over the speeches of Adolph Hitler every night before he went to bed.
We now know that Donald Trump's disturbing fascination with Adolph Hitler, as well as many other brutal Dictators, was not a good thing and, I suppose, that Donald's odd questioning of whether we were all living in Nazi Germany should have been a Bright Red Flag announcing that there were going to be some very Hard Times ahead in the United States Of America.
Looking back over the nearly four years of the Trump Administration it seems as though when Trump took over the White House he seemed to at first attempt to listen to reason from some of his advisors and appointed White House Staff, as well as Cabinet Members, at least partially on the basis of Merit.
One of Trump's First Appointed Cabinet Members was United States Senator, Jeff Sessions, an early and enthusiastic supporter of the Trump Campaign for President. Trump Advisors indicated that Trump liked and respected Jeff Sessions and throughout the Campaign for the Presidency constantly asked Senator Sessions for advice.
The close relationship between Donald Trump and Jeff Sessions didn't last, however. Almost immediately after the firing of FBI Director James Comey and the appointment by Assistant Attorney General Rod Rosenstein of Robert Mueller as a Special Prosecutor to investigate the relationship between the Trump Campaign and the extremely inappropriate efforts by Russia to assist Donald Trump to get elected, there were serious problems created for Attorney General, Jeff Sessions.
I never cared much for Jeff Sessions. I disagreed with many, if not most, of his legal views and his background was marked with clear evidence of his racism. Yet, when push came to shove in the matter of the Russia Investigation Jeff Sessions had the integrity to do the right thing and recuse himself from directing the Investigation as Attorney General because of his close association with the Trump Presidential Campaign.
When he did that, though, his good relationship with Donald Trump flew out the window and never came back. Donald Trump, furious that Sessions was complying with the law by recusing himself, saw that he had lost control of the possibility of killing the Russia Investigation and although Trump didn't have the guts to fire Sessions, Trump spent almost every waking minute of every day disrespecting Sessions on Twitter and on Television and suggesting that Sessions resign as Attorney General.
To Sessions credit he refused to resign and eventually Trump had to do the deed and fire Sessions, when Trump finally came up with someone he could appoint to be Attorney General who we would soon learn didn't have any integrity at all and would do anything Trump asked him to do.
Matt Whittaker, was a Republican Loyalist who had little to recommend him for the position of Attorney General, other than the fact that he was a Lawyer, and he was appointed Acting Attorney General by Donald Trump.
Whittaker did what he could to impede the Russia Investigation but he was a lightweight in comparison to Robert Mueller. Whittaker's Low Rent Resume and his arrogant and stormy interactions with Congressional Representatives and Senators made it clear that he would never be approved by Congress as a permanent Attorney General. So while Trump was OK with Whittaker as a place holder in the Attorney General's Office, Trump continued to search the swamp for an Attorney General, who could not only be approved by Congress but who Trump could absolutely control.
Although it took Trump awhile to find the right candidate Trump eventually found the right guy for the job of Attorney General.
William Barr was not only a Lawyer but he actually had previous experience working as Attorney General of the United States during the George H.W. Bush Administration.
I remember watching one of Barr's Senate Confirmation Hearings and thinking "
"Wait a minute. What is going on here? Can Donald Trump actually be nominating an appropriate Candidate for Attorney General?"
I wasn't wrong to think that. Barr made a good impression and said the right things in the Senate Confirmation Hearings. To listen to Barr tell it he and Robert Mueller were Good Buddies who spent time with each others families. I have to admit that after the Senate Confirmation Hearings I thought that we had dodged a bullet and found an Attorney General to be proud of.
Clearly all of us who were impressed with William Barr should have read the letter of application he had sent to Donald Trump indicating that as Attorney General he would follow any and all orders given by the President.
Donald Trump had found his man.
Since becoming United States Attorney General for the second time Americans have watched in horror as the real William Barr has emerged onto the scene and has begun to dismantle and destroy whatever Justice was left in the United States Justice Department.
First order of business for William Barr was to put the screws to the Mueller Report. Barr shut down his supposed good buddy, Robert Mueller and his Russia Investigation team almost immediately and indicated that he wanted a very quickly produced Mueller Report. When Congress demanded copies of the report Barr refused but put together what he termed were a summary of the highlights of the report. Later on when Barr was forced to turn over the actual redacted report to Congress it was clear that Barr's highlights of the Mueller Report were disturbingly skewed in favor of the President.
Barr has had to be constantly reminded that although he was appointed by President Trump he was meant to be the "American Peoples Lawyer" not the "President's Personal Lawyer." Despite his previous experience as Attorney General, William Barr does not seem to have mastered that concept.
Barr has ripped through the Justice Department throwing almost all norms out the window. He has killed the prosecution of Michael Flynn, who had pleaded guilty twice of lying to the FBI. With regard to the FBI Barr seems to have put targets on the backs of those FBI Agents who had the gall to follow the law and investigate Donald Trump and his campaign links to Russia in the 2016 Election. Barr interceded in the Prosecution and sentencing of Trump buddy, Roger Stone in an unprecedented and clearly inappropriate way to try and get Stone's sentence reduced. Following this disturbing move by Barr, Donald Trump, just days prior to Roger Stone's reporting to prison following his conviction Stone was brazenly pardoned by Donald Trump.
When Trump wanted to clear out protesters in Lafayette Park across the street from the White House so that he could hold a bible upside down in front of St. Johns Church in Washington, Barr was in charge of clearing out the protesters while Barr, The President and other Trump Administration Officials followed the President to his destination and looked as foolish as Trump, as they did it.
In a recent Friday night "News Dump" Barr announced that Geoffrey Berman, U.S Attorney for the Southern District of New York was stepping down from his position as U.S Attorney and Barr was appointing a golf buddy of Trump's who had no relevant experience to take over as U.S. Attorney. There was one problem, though. Berman had never told Barr he was stepping down. Berman learned that he was stepping down from a news report. When asked about it Berman, who was in charge of several Trump related investigations, stated that he had not resigned and had no intention of stepping down. Berman was eventually fired but before his departure he negotiated that one of his trusted Assistant U.S. Attorneys would be the one to take his job, at least at first.
The latest Outrages produced by Barr and Trump seem to be a rather diabolical plan by the duo to kill the Black Lives Matter and George Floyd Murder protests in Portland, Oregon by flooding the streets with unidentified Federal Secret Police in unmarked vehicles and arresting innocent people on the streets of Portland while using Gestapo tactics to do so.
Donald Trump and William Barr are making it clear that in the near future the Trump - Barr Gestapo may be on their way to your town to spread their terror to innocent protesters and bystanders just like they have done in Portland.
Perhaps Someday Justice will return to the United States Justice Department but in the near future Trump and Barr will be trying to scare the hell out of Average Americans in an effort to keep this Disastrous Duo of Trump and Barr in power for four more years.
The truth is that there will be no guarantees of Justice in America as long as Donald Trump is in the White House and William Barr is in the Justice Department.
Sincerely Yours
Jerry Gallagher
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