Corruption.
In every scandalous story, in every branch of the government, the one common theme is corruption.
People in power are being caught using their influence to shield themselves from the laws they either voted to pass or swore to uphold.
It seems like the dotted line of crimes, lies and cover ups are filling in every day and many of those lines lead directly back to President Donald Trump.
Recent proclamations from our Twitter Feed in Chief and his advisors try to encourage President Trump’s supporters — who he knew all along would still support him if he shot someone on 5th Avenue in New York City — not to give up their misplaced faith in one of the biggest cons in political history.
His supporters see the news reports and court actions but they are given plausible deniability with dodges like:
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"Alternative facts"
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"Facts evolve"
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"Truth isn’t truth."
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"What you are reading and seeing isn’t really happening."
And after his former campaign manager was found guilty on eight of 18 counts against him and his attorney pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations and implicated Trump himself in the crimes, the president tweeted, "Michael Cohen plead (sic) guilty to two counts of campaign finance violations that are not a crime."
Trump swore in front of cameras that he "did nothing wrong." He told a FOX News reporter who was granted access to the president for an interview on White House grounds that he knew about the payments "later on" and that they came from him personally.
He said he was glad they didn’t come from the campaign funds because that would have been "a little dicey."
A little dicey? It doesn’t matter whose funds you use to pay off marital infidelities with porn stars to influence elections, that’s more than a little dicey.
I know the FOX News apologists will try to show their viewers shiny things and talk about Barack Obama’s tan suit and Hillary Clinton’s emails while someone chants "lock her up" in the background. But there is no disputing the fact that more and more people from Trump’s inner circle are going to jail for what they did to get him elected and now his attorney has implicated the president directly.
This is the same man who has cheated on all three of his wives and bankrupted several companies. Yet, he has the full faith and trust of his supporters, many of whom consider themselves Christians.
All presidents lie, but none of them have ever done it with the intentional force that Trump has to distract people from other more serious controversies of the day.
That’s why I was shocked when listening to the Tony Perkins radio show this week when a woman called in and said she knew President Trump did a lot of things that were "questionable," but she "appreciates that he brings truth back into politics."
After I almost drove my pickup into a ditch, I tried to call 911 but they wouldn’t send anyone because they said irony was obviously already dead.
You want to throw Hillary Clinton in jail but all of the felonies Trump has been involved in personally are just "questionable." I hope this lady is on the jury if I ever get put on trial.
The first two members of Congress to endorse Trump’s campaign are both facing corruption charges. Michael Flynn, Paul Manafort and Michael Cohen have all pleaded guilty or been found guilty by a jury.
Yet, the Republican-controlled Congress still hasn’t forced Trump to show his tax returns so we can know that he isn’t compromised by one of America’s enemies. He is the first person to serve in the White House since Richard Nixon not to make his tax returns public. I doubt there is a three-year audit underway. Trump doesn’t want to show them and, truth be told, Republicans in Congress probably don’t want to pour more gasoline on the wildfire that appears to be consuming this administration.
Steve Schmidt isn’t blameless when it comes to the state of today’s Republican party. In fact, he was the member of the John McCain campaign that gets the most blame for bringing Sarah Palin onto that ticket — a person whose crazy antics and fake patronization of the religious right — opened the door for a candidate like Trump to be taken seriously.
Schmidt recently left the Republican party due to his disagreements with this administration and his frustration with senators and representatives who have compromised their morals and ethics to try to protect Trump. Schmidt said this week’s court action with Manafort and Cohen are proof that this administration is finally paying for its crimes.
"What it shows is a presidency in crisis, but also the absolute moral and character rot that meanders through American politics in this hour of our nation’s life," Schmidt said. "The bill is coming due for Trump with regard to his many years of lawlessness and arrogance."
It remains to be seen what the final chapter will be. No Republicans have stepped up to do anything about the Cohen charges or Trump’s literal admission that he paid off mistresses and lied about it.
I think voters are tired of this show. A Blue Wave in November would be a fast way to get the reality show that has taken over the White House canceled.
I go back and forth on whether I expect to see a Blue Wave on the horizon. But seeing Republicans staying sheepishly silent after these revelations could add to the momentum across the aisle.
Kent Bush is publisher of Shawnee (Oklahoma) News-Star and can be reached at kent.bush@news-star.com.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Republicans sheepishly silent after recent revelations