Bye Bye Miss American Pie - They Drove You From Your Party Cause You Wouldn't Back The Lie

 August 22nd, 2022

My Dear America:

Well, it took a few more decades than George Orwell Predicted but 1984 has finally arrived in The United States in 2022.

2022 is the year that Black became White, Good became Bad and Truth became Fiction in the Republican Political Party in the United States of America.

And in Donald Trump's mind and the minds of many of his followers, the fact that Democrat Joe Biden was actually elected President of the United States by a wide margin with actual vote talleys in every state in the union suddenly didn't matter anymore.  Democracy didn't matter anymore.  American voters didn't matter anymore. Some Trump Supporters even felt compelled (With Their Leader's Encouragement) to storm the United States Capitol building while the Capitol was in session to certify the legitimate election vote totals of 2020.  

Although some members of The Capitol Police Force and the D.C. Police force died and countless others were seriously injured by Donald Trump's Goon Squad, many Republican Legislators who were visibly Shaken and Outraged at the time of the Capitol Attack now continue to bow to the Oathkeepers, Proud Boys ( Who have nothing to be proud of as far as I can see) and Three Percenters, as well as other Trump supporters who seem to be those who make up the Republican Party in America at this strange point in time.

Like the Taliban in Afghanistan the Republican Party seems to have completely become a Right Wing Supposedly Religious Movement anxious to enslave their Countrymen and Women in their Authoritarian Spirit of "We're right and everybody else is wrong".  Put succinctly The Republican Party has lost its collective mind and seems truly hell bent on destroying the Concept of Democracy in America and replacing it with something similar to what we find in Dictatorships in Authoritarian led countries.

Although Donald Trump certainly made a complete mockery of our Democracy during the Four Godawful Years that he was President, he has really gone and done it now in 2022.  Trump and what is left of his "Conservative Republican Party" seems to be simply focused on getting Trump  back into the Presidency so that he and his henchmen and women can keep him from being prosecuted by a United States Justice Department that, unlike it was when he had complete control of DOJ, is now rightly pursuing the Ex President who has always been in his mind above the law.

Into this land of lunacy  where the Republican Party seems to have completely gone off the rails and evidently are staying off the rails, has come Liz Cheney.  Liz has been in the past a Republican Party Leader but because she just couldn't put her principles aside and do the Wrong Thing like so many other Republicans and spread the "Big Lie" that "Donald Trump had actually won the Presidential Election in 2020" she just lost her Congressional Primary in Wyoming to Harriet Hageman, who had been a Liz Cheney Supporter and a Donald Trump critic until she found her Republican Spiritual Awakening in a Trump Endorsement for her Congressional Campaign.  Suddenly, although Ms. Hageman had no use for Trump Two years ago, she has been saved and has suddenly found God in Mara Lago.

Hageman was certainly not the only Republican Trump Critic who who found New Election Spirit in the 2022 Election.  JD Vance in Ohio had made a lot of noise and became a best selling author by criticizing Donald Trump back in the day.  But this year he made it clear that he had also found Jesus in Mara Lago and after getting Trump's endorsement JD also found himself caring more about Being Elected than doing the Right Thing.

It is becoming increasingly apparent that Republicans are so hell bent on Winning Elections that Principles and Truth in the Trump Republican Party are quickly becoming a thing of the past.

After Trump and his minions drive those who insist on continuing to maintain Genuine Conservative Republican Principles out of the party it is frightening to realize what we will be left with in what used to be a strongly principled two party system.

The Truth is that we just barely missed having our government being taken over by the Trump Goon Squad in January of 2021.

Although Donald Trump pressured Mike Pence unmercifully to torpedo the January Sixth Certification Pence turned out to have just enough Decency and Backbone to instead torpedo Donald Trump's plan to illegally reinstall himself into the Presidency.

Trump had other irons in the fire though.  

He thought that he could strongarm the Georgia Secretary of State and Governor to magically come up with the thousands of votes Trump needed for him to win the Electoral votes in that state.

It turned out that although Brad Rafensperger and Brian Kemp were Staunch Republicans who had voted for Donald Trump themselves in the 2020 Election that they were unwilling to bow to Trump's Unspeakable Requests to "Come Up with" enough magical votes to swing the election to Trump. 

Trump did find some Republicans willing to sign on as "Fake Electors" in several states but in the end the Fake Electors Scheme didn't work out and only made Law Enforcement Targets of those individuals foolish enough to sign on to that incredibly indecent scheme.

So now in addition to illegally taking Top Secret documents with him to Mara Lago and apparently refusing to give the documents back to the U.S. Archives where they belong, he is also trying his best to install people like himself to positions of responsibility in every state in the union who will, when the time comes, not be guided by principles like Pence, Raffensperger and Kemp were.

Donald Trump should never again be allowed anywhere near the White House ever again and if the January Sixth Committee and the United States Justice Department are successful in their endeavors he never will be.

But clearly Donald Trump has power aplenty in the Republican Party and he is already using it to eliminate and punish those individuals on his enemies list.

Apparently number one on that list was Liz Cheney, who did her best to alert the world and most assuredly her Republican Party to the dangers of continuing to follow the lead of Donald Trump.  While Liz was successful in her role as Vice Chair of the January Sixth Committtee in the end Liz was unsuccessful in her Wyoming Primary vote to keep her seat in Congress.  She was beaten by Trump Turncoat Harriet Hageman in a landslide.  Liz will continue to be in Congress for the rest of 2022 and possibly beyond if she manages to run a successful Independent Campaign to retain her seat.  

Although in normal times I would probably have little sympathy for Liz Cheney losing her seat in congress These are not normal times.  These are in many ways Strange and Terrible Times.  Liz Cheney lost badly in the Wyoming Primary Election and she pointed out that she could have easily won her election if she was willing to do what so many of her colleagues in Congress and the Republican Party chose to do, which was to Bow to King Donald and kiss up to someone who she recognized was not a King but a Criminal with no conscience whatsoever.

Liz Cheney may soon be gone from Congress and the January Sixth Committee and in fact the January Sixth Committee may itself be gone if enough Republicans are elected to the U.S. House and Senate in November of 2022.

Clearly Liz Cheney is presently giving thought to what her next move will be.  She admits to thinking about a Presidential run.  

At the moment, however, I think that those of us who are interested in preserving Democracy in the United States of America will be thinking hard about what Liz Cheney is going to do in the future and how her choices will affect us and will affect our Democracy.

I am sure, though, that Liz Cheney will be on the Frontlines of Preserving Democracy for the rest of her life.

Thank you, Liz for being there when we needed you and when our country needed you very badly. 

I sincerely hope that the sacrifice you have made for Truth and Democracy will somehow wake up those members of the Republican Party who have become willing members of the Trump Cult.

But to tell you the truth I am not counting on that miracle happening.

Sincerely Yours

Jerry Gallagher

 

 

Welcome To The Odd And Slightly Unhappy Celebration Of The Second Anniversary Of Podcast For A Lost Nation

 August 8th, 2022

My Dear America:

I feel that I have a lot to explain here.

Let me start with the oddly named title to this present Podcast Episode.  

Yes, I used the word "Unhappy" because of the fact that when I started this Podcast Two years ago this past July 12th I had one purpose in mind.  That purpose was to see a Democrat (Namely Joe Biden) Elected President and following that to see the Previous President, Donald Trump, move out of the White House and down to Florida and never to be heard from again.

Clearly one of my Podcast Purposes has happened.  Joe Biden was elected President in November of 2020.

Unfortunately, my other purpose which was to see the last of Donald Trump did not occur.  Trump, unfortunately tried every way he could to keep himself in the White House including instigating an attempted Coup.  I would have bet a lot of money, if I had it, that once Donald Trump left Washington for Mara Lago that we would have heard the last of Trump.  

I would have lost  a lot of money because the man from Mara Lago has shown and is continuing to show that even though he tried to do what we might have expected a Dictator to do (Namely To Keep Himself In Power Illegally) he still seems to be continuing to maintain a stranglehold on the Republican Party.

Trump Endorsed Election Deniers are presently on the ballot in important Positions in several major state races including Governors Senators and Secretary's of State in Pennsylvania and Arizona.

Donald Trump, who never showed much decency or self restraint before continues to wander around the country whining about how he is the most persecuted Ex President ever and apparently his lies have not caught up with him in the Republican Party.  just this past weekend C-PAC's Straw Poll showed him winning the Presidential Preference Poll by 69 Percent, while his closest challenger. Ron Desantis percentage was in the 20 Percent Range.

Anyway, before I get too far along on this rant I do want to say that I thought that once Joe Biden clearly won the Presidency ( And He Certainly Did) that I could relax and forget about Donald Trump and enjoy the fact that my Scranton Political Brother was in the White House and the Good Life could begin again.

I foolishly thought that Joe Biden's old Friend and Comrade in the Senate, Mitch McConnell would begin to cooperate with his old Democratic buddy and bring his Republican Friends with him.

Well that didn't happen and a lot of other unforeseen things did happen.

Who would have expected Russia to have the gall to invade Ukraine in the horrible and devastating breach of International Respect for Law and Borders that occurred.  

I am still convinced that Putin waited to invade Ukraine because he expected his buddy, Trump to win the election in 2020 and knew that if Trump won that he would have solidly supported Putin in the War with Ukraine.

I sincerely thought that after the Presidential Election in 2020 when Joe Biden won that I would quickly run out of Political Topics to discuss and could move on to other topics that I was interested in like Television, Movies and Books.

But of course that didn't happen.  Donald Trump did not go gently into that South Florida Night and as long as Republicans hang on to him like the Anchor that he is it seems as though we are all engaged in a downward spiral to God Knows What.

So, of course, I see no path at the present time to writing about those lighter and more fun topics that I would really prefer to write about.  Not as long as Donald Trump continues to rampage through Our Democracy like a dangerous Bull in a China Shop.

Unfortunately, the future of the United States looks very dim at the moment and everything the Republican Party does seems to make it look dimmer.

I want to end this rant on a high note.  

I know that most of the people who listen to this Podcast and read my "Letters To A Lost Nation"  Blog Posts are either Relatives or Friends.  To all of you I thank you for sticking with me over the past two years.  

For those other people who have listened in over the past couple of years I genuinely hope that it has been worth your while and that you will stick it out with me for as many years as I can stick it out.  

I appreciate all of you who listen and I promise that I will do my best to keep telling the truth to all of you who will listen in the future.

Sincerely Yours

Jerry Gallagher

  

The Donald Trump Stain On American History - The January Sixth Committee Wraps Up The First Phase Of Hearings

 Friday, July 29th 2022

My Dear America:

Well, the Eighth and what had been originally scheduled to be the Final Wrap Up Session of the United States House of Representatives January Sixth Committee Hearing is over.  What has happened, however, is that a great deal of new evidence has been shared with the Committee and as of now it looks as though new Committee Hearings will be scheduled, possibly as soon as September.

This does not mean that the Committee has failed in presenting their evidence so far.  Quite the opposite is true.  The January Sixth Committee has shown itself to be quite adept in their presentation of evidence, which to my mind proves, among other things, that Donald Trump is Guilty as Hell of High Crimes and should never again be permitted to darken any doorway in the White House.

The January Sixth Committee Hearings have been Interesting, Sensational and Successful, to my mind.  They have been presented almost like Regular Broadcast Television Episodes which were complete stories, in themselves but when you put them all together they present a stunning narrative of truly spectacular Political Intrigue emanating directly from the White House Oval Office.

Unfortunately, however, the people who need to watch these tales of political treachery the most will likely never watch any, never mind All of the January Sixth Hearings.  

Every phase of the hearings was powerful to me.  The fact that almost all of the witnesses were Republicans was stunning and made it difficult, if not impossible for critics to claim that the hearings were simply a Democratic Hatchet Job.  

The January Sixth Committee Witnesses were not, for the most part, enemies of the Former President, looking to extract revenge for some political reason.  They were almost all Republicans who had pledged their support to Donald Trump and many had testified under oath that they had voted for Donald Trump in the Election of November 2020.

One reason that I think the Hearings were presented so powerfully was that the Committee had wisely hired a Veteran ABC Television Executive to guide the Television Production of the Hearings.  Granted that there might have been some hitches along the way but for the most part the January Sixth Hearings were pretty smooth and power packed Television Productions.

The January Sixth Committee Members seemed to give a demonstration of how individuals from two political parties can and should be able to get along with one another and work together for the benefit of the American People.  

Clearly Nancy Pelosi put a good deal of thought into who would be effective and would work well together when she set up the January Sixth Committee.  Jamie Raskin is a Constitutional Scholar and Adam Schiff is a former Prosecutor.  Clearly Kevin McCarthy was played for a fool by Pelosi when after his attempt to put election deniers on the panel and Pelosi refused he decided to refuse to cooperate further with the January Sixth Committee.  Even Donald Trump thought that McCarthy was stupid in that situation.

Unfortunately for Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger they have probably laid down their Political Lives for their insistence on Truth being told in the Republican Party about Donald Trump.  Liz appears to be on her way to being driven out of Politics by her Wyoming Republican Party because she continues to reject "The Big Lie" that Donald Trump is a victim of Voter Fraud.  She realizes that losing her House seat is probably in her future but she is unwilling to lie in order to keep it.

Adam Kinzinger has chosen to leave his House seat on his own rather than be tossed out by his party chiefs.  

Unfortunately for Cheney and Kinzinger their integrity is out of step with their Republican Party which these days seems to be made up of only individuals who are willing to sacrifice their integrity to keep their Congressional Seats and are even willing to give up Democracy so that their party remains politically successful.  It is truly a shameful state of affairs and one that should give every Republican pause before they ever cast another vote for another Republican for any office.

The issue of Adam Kinzinger and Liz Cheney gives me pause because for the most part I disagree with both of them regarding most issues.  They truly are Conservatives on most issues and have voted with Donald Trump during his Presidential Tenure most of the time.  Unfortunately for them, but fortunately for us, they, unlike most of their party, were unwilling to lie on the issue of whether or not Donald Trump was a "Loser" in the 2020 Election.  Cheney and Kinzinger were not OK with having people killed and injured at the Capitol just to soothe Donald Trump's Oversized Ego.

What is clear to me now and I think should be clear to any correct thinking American at this point is that Donald Trump was front and center in this plot to destroy the rule of law in the 2020 Election.  I believe that the January Sixth Committee has shown that.  Indeed, a tape exists in which Steve Bannon in a presentation prior to the 2020 Election announced that regardless of the outcome of the Election Donald Trump was going to claim that he won, whether or not he did or didn't legitimately win the Presidency.  Certainly Bannon's prediction came true and even now Trump is still refusing to admit that he lost the 2020 Election.

Trump was no innocent Doofus who didn't know what he was doing when it came to attempting to steal the election from Joe Biden.  Although clearly Trump was stupid in what he did and how he did it, correct thinking Americans should recognize that he was desperate to stay in office not because he wanted to work hard for the people of the United States but simply because he wanted to save his sorry ass from prosecution for God Knows how many numerous crimes that he committed during the four years he was in the Oval Office.  He was certainly not known to be a workaholic while he was in the White House and was not destined to be one if he managed to pull off his desperate scheme and remained in power.  He knows full well that while he is loose on the streets of Mara Lago, rather than Washington he is vulnerable to all measures of Legal Consequences including prosecution and will probably (Like his former Right Hand Man and present day Podcaster, Michael Cohen) eventually do some hard time for his crimes.

Although The January Sixth Committee is not a Court of Law they certainly have made their case, as far as I am concerned.  In a brilliant and measured manner the Committee has shown remarkable responsibility and restraint in their various presentations over the course of their Eight Hearings.

What appears to be occurring presently is that the United States Justice Department seems to have paid close attention to the January Sixth Committee Hearings and some of the same individuals who have given bombshell testimony to that group are now presently giving bombshell testimony to Grand Juries in Washington D.C. and Atlanta.  Although the New York City DA seems to have given up on prosecuting Donald Trump, the New York State Attorney General continues to investigate Donald Trump's Dirty Deeds.

The January Sixth Committee Hearings have laid out a case that should be easy for the Justice Department to follow through with.  It is ugly and distasteful to witness an Ex President of the United States being pursued legally for what he has done in office but Donald Trump has so desecrated the Office of the United States Presidency that Attorney General Merrick Garland truly has no choice other than to put Justice back into the Justice Department.

Donald Trump needs to pay for all he has done to all of us.  He has committed  countless crimes right out in the open for all to see almost daring us to hold him to account for his actions.  Representative Kinzinger has spoken eloquently about Donald Trump's "Stain on American History."  Indeed, some of that Stain is blood spilled on January 6th for no good reason.  Americans are dead and permanently injured as a result of the fact that Donald Trump couldn't handle the truth and admit that the was a Loser.

Our country has many more problems in addition to Donald Trump.  Our Congress was Somewhat Dysfuntional prior to Trump's Election to the Presidency.  

Now it is simply Disastrously Dysfuntional to the point where it is anybody's guess as to whether or not we will once again get to the point where we can function properly as a Democratic Nation ever again.

I hope that by making Donald Trump pay for his crimes we might actually "Make America Great Again"   

And by some miracle I hope that by flushing Donald Trump out of our system like flushing a turd down a toilet that we can somehow make Republicans see how out of step with Democracy they truly are before we actually lose our Democratic system for good.

I urge my Republican Friends, Neighbors and Relatives to Wake Up  and Save Democracy Now, Today, Before its too late to do it. 

In the upcoming elections vote for people who genuinely care about Freedom in the United States of America before we lose what we have learned to love about our country over the past few centuries.

Sincerely Yours

Jerry Gallagher

   

The January Sixth Committee Hearings Continue In High Gear For The Latest Three Hearings

Monday, July 11th, 2022

 My Dear America:

To say that the last couple of weeks of Testimony at the January Sixth Committee Hearings have been Astonishing is putting it mildly.  

The Fourth Committee Hearing, like the first three, consisted of a good deal of  video taped testimony by a number of individuals who had already testified to the Committee and to their staff.  The Fourth Committee Hearing also featured Testimony under oath by four Individuals who were testifying live and in person in the committee Hearing Room.

Those Fourth Committee Hearing In Person Witnesses were Rusty Bowers, who is the current Speaker of the Arizona House of Representatives, Brad Raffensperger, Who is currently the Secretary of State in Georgia and his Deputy, Gabriel Sterling, the Chief Operating Officer in the Georgia Secretary Of State's Office.  The last but certainly not least in terms of Testimony Impact during the Fourth Committee Hearing was Shaye Moss, a former Election Worker who was employed by the Fulton County Elections Department before she was unfairly targeted by Rudy Giuliani and Donald Trump and their dangerous disciples in the state of Georgia.

The first person heard from at the Fourth Committee Hearing was Rusty Bowers.  Prior to this Hearing this was a name that I had never heard of and I don't think many other people had heard of.  Rusty was an older gentleman and it was evident through his testimony that he clearly took his role as an Arizona public servant seriously.  He had been contacted by Donald Trump and Rudy Giuliani, among others in an effort to possibly change legal Electors for Biden, who had won the state in the 2020 election.  Trump claimed that many dead people and illegal immigrants had voted in November of 2020 for Biden.  Rusty Bowers asked Trump and Giuliani if they had names of these illegal voters.  Rudy said they did.  Bowers asked to be given the names.  Trump told Rudy to do it and Rudy promised to get them to Bowers ASAP.  Bowers testified that he never received the names or any information that he could use to verify Trump and Giuliani's claims so that he could not legitimately cooperate with Trump in changing the Electors from Biden to Trump. Naturally, Bowers refused to cooperate with the Trump Electors scheme.  Trump followers harassed not only Rusty Bowers at his home where his daughter was living with him in her last days.  She was dying and did die in January of 2021.  While she was alive she and the family were constantly subjected to threats and harassment by Trump supporters.

Brad Raffensperger, whose disturbing phone call with Trump demanding that Raffensperger find over 11 thousand votes to tip the election in Trump's favor also refused to relent to Trump's harassment.  Raffensperger and his family were also subject to harassing phone calls at home and individuals trying to gain entry into his daughter in laws home.  She was a widow.  Raffensperger's son had passed away.

Gabriel Sterling told a similar tale of harassment by Trump's supporters and supported Secretary Raffensperger's explanation of what had been done by the Georgia officials to carefully count the ballots in their state as accurately as possible.  According to these two representatives from Georgia there was no way that Trump's claims of massive voter fraud was true.  

Indeed, the three officials that testified at the Fourth January Sixth Committee Hearing, two from Georgia and one from Arizona were dyed in the wool Republicans who had voted for Donald Trump in the 2020 Election.  

In Fact, Rusty Bowers, following his explosive testimony inexplicably claimed that if, in fact Donald Trump was the 2024 Presidential Candidate that he would vote for Trump again, as he had voted for Trump in 2020.

Shaye Moss ended the fourth Hearing of the January Sixth Committee with her heartbreaking tale of being a long time Georgia Election worker who was a sympathetic victim of Donald Trump's selfish obsession with denying that he was a Loser in the 2020 Election, which, of course he was.

This young lady's life and that of her Mother and Grandmother were shaken to the core by Trump's and Giuliani's lies due to Giuliani and Trump identifying them as being guilty of not only messing with the ballots (Which investigations proved was not the case) to passing drugs between each other ( Which turned out to be candies).  

These people had to go into hiding as a result of these desperate and despicable election lies which led to dangerous threats by Trump supporters.

Following Shaye Moss's testimony to the committee the Committee members lined up to shake Shaye's hand and hug her as well as Shaye's mother, "Lady Ruby"

The Fifth Session of the January Sixth Committee was primarily led by Republican Committee Member, Adam Kinzinger and concentrated on testimony with regard to Donald Trump's effort to bully leaders of the United States Department of Justice to participate in his desperate attempt to remain in the White House despite the fact that he lost the election in 2020.

Although a good deal of videotaped testimony was also included during this fifth hearing, most of this hearing's testimony featured three individuals who were, in fact, the leaders of the Department of Justice during the last days of the Trump Administration following the resignation of Attorney General, William Barr, following his advice to President Trump that the investigation by the Justice Department had not uncovered any indication of fraud that would have affected the fact that Joe Biden had won the November 2020 election.

The individuals from the Justice Department who testified at the fifth January Sixth Committee Hearing were the following:

Jeff Rosen:  Acting Attorney General

Richard Donaghue: Acting Assistant Attorney General

Steven Engel:  U.S. Assistant Attorney General, Office of Legal Counsel

All three Justice Department Officials testified to the fact that in the final days of the Trump Administration Donald Trump, despite all evidence to the contrary,  continued to claim that he, and not Joe Biden had won the November 2020 Election.  

The Three men testifying at the Fifth January Sixth Hearing described a meeting they had with President Trump in which he expressed an interest in firing Mr. Rosen and replacing him with a Justice Department Environmental Lawyer named Jeff Clark, who agreed to send a letter to many states announcing that Election Fraud had been found, which was not true.  In the end Clark was not appointed Attorney General because all of the Justice Department Officials in the meeting stated that they would resign if Clark was appointed Acting Attorney General. 

Following the testimony of the Justice Department Officials announcements were made that indicated that Public Televised January Sixth Committee Hearings would be on hold for awhile and would resume some time later in July.    

And Then Suddenly at the end of June came the announcement that an Urgent Emergency Hearing of the January Sixth Committee was scheduled for June 28th, 2022.  

Who was going to be testifying America wanted to know.  But no one except members of the Committee and their staff knew who the mystery witness was going to be until shortly before  the hearing began.

The Mystery Witness who was going to be testifying on June 28th was Cassidy Hutchinson.

Who was Cassidy Hutchinson and what was she going to say that was deserving of such Secrecy regarding her "Urgent" Testimony?

On June 28th, 2022 Cassidy Hutchinson was sworn in as the next witness to testify in front of the January Sixth Committee.

Cassidy Hutchinson was young and attractive.  She looked good in front of the Cameras.  

Cassidy Hutchinson was a former White House Aide.  She was introduced as an Assistant to Former Trump Chief of Staff, Mark Meadows.

We had already seen some of Cassidy Hutchinson previously when her videotaped testimony had been played showing her indicate that she was aware of the fact that several people had requested pardons in the final days of the Trump Administration including Rudy Giulani, John Eastman, Mark Meadows, as well as Congresspeople including Matt Gaetz, Mo Brooks, Andy Biggs, Louie Gohmert, Scott Perry and Marjorie Taylor Greene.

During much of Cassidy Hutchinson's testimony questions were asked by Committee Co Chair, Liz Cheney.

Although Ms. Hutchinson generally avoided saying the full curse word in her testimony when I quote her I will use the curse word that Ms. Hutchinson reported that President Trump used in his angry rants.

Cassidy Hutchinson was asked by Congresswoman Cheney about what she had observed backstage at the Ellipse before President Trump gave his speech.  

Ms. Hutchinson stated that President Trump was angry because a magnatometer had been set up by the Secret Service to prevent a number of people coming into the area who were observed to have guns.  According to Ms. Hutchinson President Trump became upset that the gun toting individuals were not allowed to join the Ellipse crowd and stated that he wanted the magnatometers to be removed and the gun toters to be allowed to join the crowd and also march to the Capitol with the crowd. Trump was angry that the Secret service would not allow the gunmen to join the crowd on the Ellipse.

After the speeches at the Ellipse according to what Ms. Hutchinson had been told by Secret Service Agents, Donald Trump demanded that the Secret Service agent driving the President's vehicle take him to the Capitol.  When the agent refused Trump tried to grab the steering wheel and stated "I'm the Fucking President.  Take me to the Capitol Now".  The agent told him "Sir, take your hand off the steering wheel.  We're going back to the West Wing."

Hutchinson stated that on the day that Trump found out that Attorney General, William Barr gave an interview to the Associated Press stating that the Justice Department had determined that there was no Election Fraud that Trump reacted to that by Throwing food at the Wall in the Oval Office Dining room.  

As the Rioters were storming the Capitol Pat Cippolone, the President's Counsel and Chief of Staff Mark Meadows went to talk to the President and came back to the office where Ms. Hutchinson was working and she heard them talking.

Cassidy Hutchinson testified to the fact that she heard the following Conversation between Cippolone and Meadows discussing the Rioter's chants that they were going to "Hang Mike Pence."

Pat Cippolone - Mark, we need to do something.  They're literally calling for the Vice President to be fucking hung.

Mark Meadows - You heard him, Pat.  He thinks Mike deserves it. He doesn't think they're doing anything wrong.

Pat Cippolone - This is fucking crazy.  We need to be doing something more.

Shortly after this discussion between Cippolone and Meadows while the Trump Supporters at the Capitol were continuing to threaten to "Hang MIke Pence" and had set up a scaffold outside the Capitol with which to do it, President Trump sent out the following Tweet.

"Mike Pence didn't have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution, giving states a chance to certify a corrected set of facts, not the fraudulent or inaccurate ones which they were asked to previously certify.  USA demands the truth."

When Cassidy Hutchinson was asked about how she felt about what she heard and saw on January 6th, 2021 she stated:

"As an American I was disgusted, Frustrated, disappointed."

She stated that the Capitol Building was being defaced for a lie.

To say that Cassidy Hutchinson gave bombshell testimony is putting it mildly.

She is a brave young lady who, unlike many other possible January Sixth Witnesses, has come forward and laid out some facts that she can attest to and which make what was already a deeply disturbing picture of what happened on January Sixth even more disturbing.  

To be honest, I thought that January Sixth was bad enough when I watched what happened on television and thought that Trump was simply too frightened to go to the Capitol on January Sixth.

I can only imagine the bloodbath that could have and certainly would have taken place if he had joined the mob at the Capitol on that day.  

Thank God for the fact that the Secret Service did him the favor of keeping him from the Capitol on that dark day in January of 2021.

Clearly, as of this time the January Sixth Committee has shown that without a doubt Donald Trump should not be allowed to run for office ever again and is certainly guilty of "High Crimes" which certainly should disqualify him from ever seeking the Presidency again. 

Sincerely Yours

Jerry Gallagher

The January Sixth Select Congressional Committee Comes Out Swinging Through The First Three Public Hearings

 June 16th, 2022

My Dear America:

We were Promised Bombshell Testimony by The January Sixth Committee and the Bombshells have been falling hard over the past week as the Committee has begun the Public Televised Hearings.

To be honest nothing that I have heard so far in the Three Televised Hearings was all that shocking or new.  What is new and certainly is bombshell testimony is the fact that almost everyone in Donald Trump's orbit after the 2020 Election results were known was convinced, unlike Donald Trump, that President Trump's awful and unlawful Presidency would be over in January of 2021.

Even the lowest of the low bottom feeders like Jason Miller and many other Trump Loyalists realized that it was all over for the Trump Administration.

Trump had very few Trump cards to play in the coming days after the election results were announced and regardless of how many Advisers and Family Members told him that he had lost he refused to accept the fact that they might have been correct in their assessments.  Even most of those Congresspeople who had aligned themselves with Trump and had supported much of his flawed agenda waited patiently as Trump's Legal team played out their doomed fight to prove the unprovable.  Namely, that Donald Trump had actually won the 2020 Election and was the Victim of Election Fraud.  Most correct thinking individuals were able to look at what was happening in the White House for two months after the election and realize that something was off, Way Off.

While many newspeople continued to ask Republicans what was going on, Many Republicans stated that they fully expected that Trump would come around to reality once He and Rudy Giuliani played out Trump's Legal Hand.

Gradually some Republicans, like Mitch McConnell recognizing the Clear and Present Danger that Donald Trump presented began saying the obvious truth that

In the Presidential Race of 2020 Joseph R. Biden had been the clear winner. 

Of Course when Mitch told the truth about the Election, Trump verbally savaged him.  So what else was new.

Last Thursday, although Fox News refused to carry the Initial Prime Time Public Session of the January Sixth Committee, every other Network News Division presented the program in its entirety.

The first night began with statements by Committee Chairman, Democrat Bennie Thompson and Republican Co-Chairperson, Liz Cheney.

Probably the most significant recorded testimony of the night was by Former Attorney General, William Barr.  Certainly William Barr's testimony is a bit tainted by the fact that up until the point he resigned, or got fired, depending on who you believe, Barr was a complete Toady to President Trump.

But according to the testimony of Barr that was played at the First Prime Time Committee meeting Barr claimed that he told Trump that after the Department of Justice investigated Trump's Claims of "Voter Fraud" Barr told Trump that his claims of "Voter Fraud" was "Bullshit" and "Nonsense".  Understandably, Barr was gone from the Justice Department shortly afterward. 

Oddly, Ivanka Trump when questioned about the results of the Election stated that she believed Barr.

Something that all three of the Hearings has shown is that the crowd of Trump supporters that, first of all, demonstrated at the Capitol and following that invaded the Capitol Building was made up of, for the most part, some of the dumbest individuals ever.  They proudly filmed themselves breaking into the Capitol, destroying property and threatening not only Vice President Mike Pence but Nancy Pelosi, Jerrod Nadler and AOC, as well as many others.

For God's sake, Broadcasting your crimes.  How freaking dumb do you have to be? Well, now that I think about it, they were just following the Dumb Donald Trump Playbook.  He, of course, broadcasted and bragged about his crimes often.  Why wouldn't his supporters follow his lead.

The two main witnesses who testified at the Thursday Evening Televised hearing in person were Nick Quested and Caroline Edwards.

Quested was a filmmaker who was making a film about the Proud Boys at the time of the January Sixth Insurrection.  He testified that in the course of making his film he had inadvertently filmed the Proud Boys meeting with members of other groups, including The Oath Keepers on January 5th in a D.C. Parking Garage.  The Committee showed that part of Quested's film.  Quested also testified that as he followed the Proud Boys around on January Sixth, 2021 that the group did not even go to Trump's Rally but instead at around 10:30 in the morning went to the Capitol and seemingly cased the building prior to breaking in when all the other Trump Fanatics came along later.  

Also appearing at the First Committee Session on Prime Time Thursday was Caroline Edwards, an attractive young Capitol Police Officer who described in detail her brutal treatment at the hands of the Trump Mob on January Sixth.

The Second January Sixth Session took place on Tuesday Morning of this week and in addition to featuring several actual witnesses testifying in person featured a great deal of filmed Committee Testimony by many individuals in the Trump orbit testifying that they told Trump that he lost the election, a message that he seemingly simply refused to accept. 

In person witnesses at the Second January Sixth Hearing included some well known Republicans including Chris Stirewalt, who was a digital expert with Fox News on Election night 2020, who stated with authority that Trump lost the election.  Republicans Al Schmidt, a Republican election expert from Philadelphia and Well Regarded Republican Lawyer Ben Ginsberg also testified that Trump clearly lost the 2020 Election.  Barr's videotaped testimony, as well as the videotaped  testimony of many others working with the President indicated that no one other than Rudy Giuliani or Disgraced Constitutional Lawyer, John Eastman believed that Trump had won the election of November 2020.  The In Person Republican Testimony was guided on the Second day of Hearings by California Congresswoman, Zoe Lofgren

Today on June 16th of 2022 The Select Committee Hearing Testimonies were conducted by Committee Investigative Counsel, John Wood and also by California Congressman, Pete Aguilar.  Once again much of the Hearing consisted of  Committee Video Testimony by many of those individuals who were closest to Trump commenting on the brutal bullying and ultimately clearly criminal pressure that Donald Trump was unleashing on his Vice President, Mike Pence prior to January 6th of 2021.

In addition to the video testimonies the Select Committee on January Sixth also heard from two important Republican witnesses.  In fact, most of the witnesses on video in today's hearing were also Republicans.  The two In Person Witnesses at today's hearing were Greg Jacob and Michael Luttig.  

Michael Luttig is well known to Republicans as a Leading Light in the Republican Party and a Conservative's Conservative.  In addition to his time as a Judge on the Federal Bench, Luttig  was also known to be an important member of both the Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush Administrations.

Greg Jacob spent time in 2020 and 2021 as a Counsel to Vice President, Mike Pence.  Jacob made it clear in his testimony, as did many others in their video testimonies that were also included in today's hearing, that although Trump pressured Pence to decertify the legitimate Electors from certain states whose voters had supported Joe Biden on January Sixth, Mike Pence refused to do it.

Michael Luttig made it clear in his testimony that in his legal opinion Mike Pence had no legal right to do what Donald Trump was demanding of him.  Namely, decertifying legitimate electors in an effort to support Trump's warped view that the 2020 Election had been stolen from him.

In essence, what the January Sixth Committee has been doing for the last three Hearings is making the case that Donald Trump knew very well that he had legitimately lost the election but refused to allow himself to be designated as a "Loser", which to Trump was apparently one of the worst things that could happen to a human being in Trump World.

Clearly Donald Trump was focused on keeping himself in office because he knew that once he was out of office he might not be able to count on his being President to keep him from answering to the many legal charges that might be coming his way in his future.

Clearly the January Sixth Committee is doing a good job of building a case against Donald Trump committing many crimes including Sedition, as well as conspiracy to murder his Vice President and many other serious offenses.  

Certainly Donald Trump is a Dangerous Sociopath capable of continuing to commit crimes of epic proportions if he was allowed to return to the White House.  

Just look at the situation in Ukraine and how things would be so horribly different if it was Donald Trump rather than Joe Biden in the White House.  Trump would have the United States, instead of helping Ukraine, entering the war on the side of the Russians and Trump's "Genius" buddy, Vladimir Putin.

Clearly Federal Law makes it a crime to commit sedition and makes it impossible for Federal employees to work for the United States Government when they have committed Treasonous Crimes, which Donald Trump has clearly done.

I know that it may be a burden for the January Sixth Committee to complete their investigation, report and hearings if they hand over all the evidence that they have dug up on Donald Trump.  

That being said, although it is very important for the January Sixth Committee to complete their investigation, it is time for the Committee Members to quickly pass on all of the information that they have gathered so that Attorney General Merrick Garland and the Justice Department can use the information gathered to prepare a Serious Case that will result in keeping Donald Trump from returning to work in the Government of the United States of America ever again.

The clock is ticking and there may be serious statute of limitations issues which make it important for the Committee to wrap up their hearings and turn over everything they have to the United States Justice Department As Soon as possible.

Sincerely Yours

Jerry Gallagher

 

Echoes of Watergate: Part Two - Today Is The 50th Anniversary Of The Watergate Break-In

 June 17th, 2022

My Dear America:

It doesn't seem like 50 Years have gone by since the break in at the D.C. Watergate Complex but the calendar doesn't lie, although I wish it would sometimes.

Although I was more than halfway through writing about the start of the July 6th Hearings I could not ignore the significance of todays date, June 17th.  

It was 50 years ago today on June 17th of 1972 when 5 men were arrested in the Democratic Party headquarters in the Watergate Hotel, Office and Apartment Complex in Washington, D.C..

Luckily for Bob Woodward, a reporter for the Washington Post, he was given the assignment of going to check on the court appearance for the burglars who were arrested at the Watergate Complex.  While at the court appearance Woodward found out that one of the burglars, James McCord, had worked at the CIA and was now working with (CREEP) The Committee To Re Elect The President (Nixon)

What the hell was this guy and four Cubans, who he would find out later were also CIA, doing in Democratic Headquarters. 

Well, Unlucky for Richard Nixon and Company, Bob Woodward and his Reporting Partner, Carl Bernstein, were now on the job of uncovering what was at that period of time the most incredible political scandal that anyone could conceive of, never mind remember.

Woodward and Bernstein were guests on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert this week celebrating their their Seminal book on Watergate, "All The Presidents Men" 50th Anniversary Edition.  

Speaking of celebrating books on Watergate my first Published book was "Letters To A Lost Nation: A Watergate Chronicle".  Like "All The President's Men" my book is also available in Paperback and E Book Format on Amazon.com. It is also available in several E Book Formats on Smashwords.com.

Quite Frankly anyone who is not familiar with Watergate may find tons of books available on Amazon on the subject.  Almost every one of the President's men who went to jail wrote a book about Watergate.  Judges and Prosecutors also wrote books on the subject.

Many of those individuals who were locked up as a result of the Watergate Scandal ended up doing OK later on in their lives.  I have already written about G. Gordon Liddy in a Previous Blog Post and Podcast.  Liddy has passed on but not without an odd but interesting and successful career as an Actor and Radio Host, among other things.

John Dean, the Young White House Counsel who Richard Nixon and his advisors, John Ehrlichman and H.R. Haldeman clearly tried to set up as the Watergate Patsy turned the tables on Nixon, Ehrlichman and Haldeman and testified truthfully to the Senate Select Watergate Committee and to Federal Prosecutions of others involved in the scandal.  Although Dean still went to jail his sentence was much briefer than it would have been had he not cooperated with the Justice Department's prosecutions of many of the President's men.  

As I have said before The CNN Series on Watergate  featuring John Dean as the Narrator and Producer is excellent.  The Paramount Plus Series "Gaslit" also gives an interesting perspective on Watergate through the Nixon connected couple, John Mitchell and his Wife, Martha Mitchell.  John Mitchell was a Law Partner of Richard Nixon, who became United States Attorney General and the 1972 Campaign Manager of the Committee To Re Elect The President.  Mitchell went to jail while Richard Nixon went to his home in California after his resignation.  Martha Mitchell was known to cooperate with journalists including Woodward and Bernstein and apparently revealed to those Journalists quite a lot about what she knew about Watergate.

The History Channel is also featuring their 6 part Watergate Series today starting at 6:00 PM.  One more perspective on Watergate has been featured prominently on the excellent Showtime Series, "The First Lady".

As we watch the shocking revelations regarding Donald Trump during the January Sixth Committee Hearings Richard Nixon seems to be a bit more palatable in comparison.

Neither of these two bastards should have ever seen the inside of the White House, never mind been elected.  But they were elected and as Republicans seem to be hell bent on altering the political playing field all over the country it is time to remember the lessons of both Watergate and Treasongate.

Nixon is gone.  He will never be back in the White House again.

Trump is still around and he is poisoning the political system and getting ready to re enter the White House again in 2024.  

It is time to learn the lessons from the January Sixth Committee Hearings, as well as the Senate Watergate Hearings and keep the Monster From Mara Lago from rising again. 

Sincerely Yours

Jerry Gallagher

Echoes Of Watergate As The January 6th Committee Hearings Prepare To Begin

 Wednesday June 8th, 2022

My Dear America:

This Thursday Night at 8:00 PM The January Sixth Committee will begin a Prime Time Review of what they have uncovered through over a years worth of investigating what in the hell happened in and around The Capitol Building in Washington on January 6th, 2021.  Unless you have been living under a rock for the past year and a half it is likely that much of what the Committee has to say will be old news to most of us.  The Committee has promised, however, some breakthrough, bombshell revelations and I, like most of us in the world of reality, look forward to finding out what went on and why.  

Clearly Donald Trump and his Republican Allies, including Fox News are not nearly as anxious to have Trump's Dirty Laundry aired in Prime Time or in any time period on Television.

As we prepare to watch the January Sixth Hearings I am having some feelings of Deja Vu as I think back to what I felt was the most exciting Television Spectacular Series that I ever saw during the 1970's, The Senate Watergate Hearings.

I wrote a lot at the time during the Watergate Hearings, which I was lucky Enough or unlucky enough, depending on how you looked at it, to get to watch nearly every day.  I was recovering from surgery at the time and the Watergate Hearings were pretty much the only Television Programming on during the day for a lengthy period of time.  I became hooked quickly and the more that was revealed during the Watergate Hearings the more horrified I became.

I began reacting to the Watergate Hearings by copying a technique that I had learned from a book by Albert Camus'.  I began writing letters addressed to "My Dear America" commenting on what I was seeing, hearing and feeling during the daily hearings.  

(Let me stop here and advise the readers of this Blog that I turned my largely emotional reactions to the Senate Watergate Hearings into a book titled "Letters To A Lost Nation: A Watergate Chronicle".  My book is probably not the most comprehensive book on Watergate.  Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein's Books, "All The President's Men" and "The Final Days" would probably fit the bill on that score.  My book does, however, give a fairly sincere reaction of an average American to the Incredible scandal that was Watergate.  For anyone interested in buying my book it is available in Paperback and Kindle on Amazon.com and in several other E Book Formats on Smashwords.com)

I do recommend my book for anyone who wants to read  the details of "A Brief History Of Watergate" and a comprehensive listing of Major Figures involved in the Watergate Scandal, as well as my reactions to the testimony of many Watergate Figures and an effort to follow up on what happened years later to those Major Watergate Figures.

To make a long story very short "Watergate" was essentially the following:

A Security Guard at the upscale Washington D.C. Apartment, Hotel and Office Complex called the "Watergate" discovered during the morning of June 17th, 1972 that one of the doors to the Watergate had tape on the lock and he called the D.C. Police who while checking the Watergate Complex discovered 5 Individuals in the offices of the Democratic Party.  One of the individuals arrested was James McCord, who was a retired CIA Officer.  The other 4 individuals arrested were Cubans who also had ties to the CIA.  Through dogged investigation by Woodward and Bernstein and other Journalists, the D.C. Police and the FBI the Watergate "Burglars" were tied to E. Howard Hunt (Another Former CIA Officer) and G. Gordon Liddy (A Former FBI Agent).  Both Hunt and Liddy had connections to the White House and also connections to the Committee To Elect The President (CREEP).  What followed the Watergate Break in was a shit show of epic proportions which led to numerous individuals connected to the White House and the Committee To Re Elect the President, not only getting fired, but also going to jail.

The Watergate Hearings were televised on every Network live for a good length of time.  The Senate Watergate Committee was made up of some of the most interesting individuals in the United States Senate on both the Republican And Democratic sides.  The hearings became a national obsession and were almost addictive to me.

During a discussion with Lawrence O Donnell following her MSNBC Program on Monday Night Rachel Maddow discussed the fact that she was an infant during the Watergate Hearings.  Listening to her discuss this with Lawrence O Donnell made me realize that many people might never have seen or even heard of The Senate Watergate Hearings that consumed much of my life during the Seventies.  

I don't know how addictive the January Sixth Committee Hearings will be.  It seems to me that many people in the United States have already made up their minds about Donald Trump and his Republican Supporters and, quite Frankly, if they haven't seen the light about Trump by now I don't think that they are going to pay much attention to what is coming in the Hearings.

I think that Watergate was a lesson for many and should have been a lesson to us all but obviously wasn't.  

Watergate was, for the most part, a corruption of the Nixon White House that spread from the top into various Government Agencies.  At the end of it Richard Nixon finally had the decency to resign.

Donald Trump also corrupted every Government agency he touched but even though he was impeached Twice he still attempted to hold onto power by means of a violent insurrection and an attempted Coup. We should have learned our lesson long ago from Watergate but apparently the lesson didn't take.

I would like to advise Anyone interested in watching some interesting Television and learning about Watergate at the same time to check out two very interesting Television Series.  

CNN has just begun broadcasting a Series on Watergate on Sunday Nights that is being produced and hosted by John Dean, who those who remember Watergate will recall was the man who was targeted by the powers that be in the Nixon White House to be the Patsy for Watergate but instead turned the tables on Richard Nixon and Company.  In the Watergate hearings Dean blew the doors off the White House.  Dean has been a contributor to CNN for years now.  It is about time that he got around to telling the Watergate Story.  So far it looks as though Dean and CNN are doing a good credible job in telling the true Watergate story.

Another take on Watergate is currently being presented on the Paramount Plus streaming Network.  The Show is called "Gaslit" and tells the story of Watergate and the Nixon White House from the perspective of Martha Mitchell, who was the wife of Attorney General and Committee To Elect the President Leader, John Mitchell, who was in the end also sacrificed by the White House in order to save Richard Nixon's Ass. This series stars Julia Roberts as Martha Michell and Sean Penn as John Mitchell.  I have to say that Sean Penn's makeup is incredible and so is that of Julia Roberts.  They both do an awesome acting job in addition to looking so much like the characters they portray.

It is interesting to me to watch these Television Series just as the shit is ready to hit the fan on Thursday night.  

It drives me crazy to see so many Republicans continue to stand with Donald Trump as he lies his ass off about how he was shafted out of his "Landslide Victory" in 2020.  Clearly no Republican in their right mind still believes this Bullshit Story.  But they continue to parrot Trump.  

I have a dream today that after watching the January Sixth Committee Hearings that Republicans everywhere will come to their senses and stop lying about Donald Trump's Landslide election victory.

I will continue to have this dream but I don't really have much faith that this dream will come true.

What I hope will come true is that every Democrat watching the January Sixth Hearings will get motivated enough to get ready to vote in the November Election for the Democrats who are running and telling the truth about January Sixth, 2020.

That Dream has a better chance of coming true.

Sincerely Yours

Jerry Gallagher