AFTER THE 2018 MIDTERM ELECTIONS

Now that the mid-terms are over and as predicted the Democrats won the House of Representatives, the Republicans kept the Senate and even gained a few seats there, and of course Trump is still the president, where do we go from here? What the Democrats in the House do over the next 2 years might be more challenging and consequential than winning the House. Some think the House needs younger, more Left leadership, but I think Nancy Pelosi is an experienced old warrior and the right person for the job. The Blue victory in the house was not just a victory for Democrats, but rather for reason, truth, compassion, and real American values. It included not just Democrats, but also anti-Trumpism Republicans and Independents. The challenge is to promote those values and negotiate with Trump and the Republicans without giving in to Trumpism.

Since I wrote the above first paragraph, Trump fired Jeff Sessions (resigned at request of the president = fired by the president) and almost immediately replaced him with Trump’s lackey Whitaker who has stated that he opposes the Mueller investigation and is known as a hard line Trumper. I was going to say that the Democrats in the House of Representatives might work in a bipartisan way while staying firm on the important issues. Well, this is the most important issue. Polls have showed that the most important issues to Americans are first of all healthcare and second immigration, but above all we must save our American democracy and system of laws. For Trump, law is whatever he can get away with. Trump knows what misdeeds he has committed. He is desperate to hide what he has done (which might actually be criminal) and is now going over the line to obstruct the Mueller probe which equals obstruction of justice. This is the point at which we must protect our democracy. Trump appears to be at the point of trying to turn America into a Putin-style dictatorship.

Let’s hope that Mueller has anticipated this event and has a plan. What has Mueller found concerning Trump? (obstruction of justice? using his position for personal financial gain? acting as an agent for Putin, a foreign dictator?). Americans (Democrats, non-Trumpian Republicans, Independents) must stand up for Mueller and do peaceful protest. Things apparently are coming to a head. Will American justice, freedom, and honesty prevail or will we descend into a Trumpian/Putinian dictatorship?