Johnny Flash

NOT WHEN I SHIFT INTO

“Gotta go fast-”

ways to make carrie fisher proud 

One of the most frustrating things about having to deal with a Donald Trump presidency—and those frustrations are legion—is the fact that Trump and the party he now commands have managed to co-opt hysteria and use it as their own proprietary weapon. When I tell you, with all sincerity, that Trump represents a danger to the world, I know I sound EXACTLY like Alex Jones telling you that President Obama is a sulfur-powered sewer demon. I feel like Alex Jones telling you that, even though I know that my hysteria is far more justified than any hysteria coming from the right. They’ve cried wolf so many times that any dire warning from the opposite side just sounds like reciprocal hand-wringing.   This brings us to Mitch McConnell. I am not being hyperbolic when I say that Mitch McConnell is evil. The coming Trump Presidency is already an assembly line of shitty, apocalyptic consequences getting cranked out 24/7, and the fact that McConnell now holds near-total power over Congress is perhaps the most unbearable side effect of them all. Here is a man who made it his solemn oath to thwart a President who was elected fair and square—and by an actually huge, not-bullshit-Trump-YUGE, margin—and who then spent eight goddamn years doing exactly that. McConnell is a man who hijacked a Supreme Court vacancy and, barring some last-minute shenanigans that President Obama is probably (and unfortunately) too polite to pull, he will get away with it.   Now we find out that McConnell is basically a traitor. In the wake of an unprecedented breach in American cybersecurity, what did this guy do? He threatened the President that he would publicly discredit the (solid, non-partisan) intelligence just to fuck him, along with the American people. It worked, of course. Oh, and now McConnell’s old lady has a Cabinet post. This man has no morals, nor any respect for the rule of law, nor any respect for those who would defy him. For his own personal gain, he permitted Russia to continue manipulating the November election so that his party’s candidate could win—giving us a quivering mound of chili drippings for president. And God knows what kind of dirt Putin has on him.

If this keeps going in the direction it’s headed, this could stand alongside Watergate and Iran-Contra as one of the most important scandals in modern American history. It’s increasingly looking like a hostile foreign power run by a murderous thug tried to swing an American election, and may have succeeded — at least, in helping to tip it.

The CIA’s finding that Vladimir Putin’s Russia actively intervened in our election to help Donald Trump explains why many of us are not simply disappointed or unhappy that Trump won. We are genuinely alarmed. And Trump’s cavalier response to these fears only deepens them.   When The Post revealed the CIA’s conclusions about Russia, Trump’s response was to insult the CIA, tell a lie about the size of his victory and act as if an election still very fresh in our minds were some sort of historical event dating back to the Pilgrims.

If and when Republicans come out from hiding, enterprising journalists should ask them a series of questions:   If Trump continues to receive foreign monies in violation of the Constitution what will you do?   Republicans lambasted Hillary Clinton for coming to the State Department while her husband was getting paid for speeches and their foundation was accepting foreign money. Why are you not insisting on a similar standard for Trump?   Does it bother you that his children will be running businesses and he will be reaping the profits from all sorts of businesses that have matters before the federal government or are affected by laws and regulations? If Clinton attempted this wouldn’t you be calling for impeachment?   Do you favor hearings and/or legislation to address Trump’s conflicts?   Do you agree with the unanimous assessment of our intelligence agencies that Russia was behind the hacking? If so, are you concerned Trump and his aides are calling this “ridiculous”?   If the president does not act on intelligence that is factually beyond dispute in defense of U.S. interests is he fulfilling his constitutional obligations?   Donald Trump still has not released his tax returns so we do not know the extent of his financial ties, if any, to Russia. Does that concern you?   Trump’s pick for national security adviser traveled to Russia, gave a speech for which he was paid (how much we do not know), says Russia’s propaganda outlet RT is just like CNN and retweets attacks on all Muslims and “fake news” accounts. Should he be in the NSA position? Will you subpoena his financial records to determine his connections to Russia and whether those pose a national security concern?