The NYT v. Trump
by Stephen Lendman (stephenlendman.org – Home – Stephen Lendman)
The self-styled newspaper of record NYT gives yellow journalism a bad name – sanitizing reports, suppressing what’s most important.
Featuring disinformation, Big Lies, and fake news on major issues, it long ago abandoned what journalism is supposed to be all about.
Fronting for powerful interests, it cheerleads US wars of aggression, bashing sovereign independent governments the US targets for regime change, aiming to advance its imperium, a scourge threatening everyone everywhere.
It’s waging editorial war on Trump for the wrong reasons, ignoring key right ones, furious for his triumph over media darling Hillary, waging a campaign against him – aiming either for his impeachment and removal from office or defeat in 2020 by an undemocratic Dem, perhaps with an agenda worse than his.
There’s plenty about Trump to scorn. I hold his feet to the fire repeatedly, pulling no punches on his ruthless agenda – for the right reasons, not phony ones.
He’s dead wrong on most issues, right about the Russiagate witch hunt probe, a diabolical scheme cooked up by Obama’s CIA chief John Brennan – to demonize the Russian Federation and delegitimize Trump for the wrong reasons.
Instead of exposing what’s going on, the Times endorses it to its shame. On Wednesday, it published a lengthy report on what it called “Trump’s two-year war on the investigations encircling him,” saying:
His “efforts have exposed him to accusations of obstruction of justice” by special counsel Mueller – conducting a witch hunt, not a legitimate investigation.
He never should have been appointed in the first place. Not a shred of evidence justifies his probe. His glaring conflicts of interest alone should have disqualified him. They make him a potential witness in his own investigation.
The lead paragraph in the Times report was all about “Trump’s role in silencing women with hush payments during the 2016 campaign.”
Anything related to his private sex life isn’t an impeachable offense. Nor are his views on issues – no matter how extreme, offensive and unacceptable.
No legal basis exists for charging him with obstruction of justice. No evidence suggests he or his team colluded improperly or illegally with anyone in Russia.
Declaring a national emergency for border wall construction, illegally circumventing Congress, is an impeachable offense, violating the Constitution’s Article 1, Sections 7 and 8, along with the Federal Anti-Deficiency Statute.
Congress alone has appropriations power, not the executive. Trump is highly unlikely to be removed from office over this issue by the GOP-controlled Senate.
Majority right-wing Supreme Court justices may uphold his action, no matter how illegal, if they have final say.
According to the Times report, Trump sought “to derail federal law enforcement through targeted political appointments and a public campaign to discredit” Mueller.
He’s entitled to appoint regime officials. Of course, he favors supporters, not opponents. All presidents operate the same way. Mueller’s witch hunt should be exposed and discredited.
When long over, Russiagate will be remembered as one of the most shameful political chapters in US history, McCarthyism on steroids.
The main points in the Times report are as follows:
“Mr. Trump wanted to put a perceived loyalist in charge of a federal inquiry in New York related to hush money payments made by his former personal lawyer.”
Sex, extramarital or otherwise, and matters related to it, are not impeachable offenses. It’s a matter between DLT and his wife alone.
The Times: “Mr. Trump’s public attacks on the Russia investigation have evolved from a public relations strategy to a legal strategy.”
The probe has no legitimacy, never should have been initiated, and should be terminated straightaway – the disgrace of what’s gone on exposed and denounced.
“Trump Has Publicly Attacked the Russia Investigation More Than 1,100 Times…opening him up to possible obstruction of justice charges.”
The probe should be slammed and discredited as long as it continues. Legitimate criticism is not obstruction of justice. It’s truth-telling on a major issue.
The Times: “White House lawyers wrote a confidential memo about misleading public statements after the firing of Michael T. Flynn, Mr. Trump’s first national security adviser.”
“Mr. Trump believed he put an end to the Russia investigation when he fired Mr. Flynn.”
Flynn’s guilty plea was much ado about nothing – relating to conversations he had during the transition period with former Russian ambassador to Washington Sergey Kislyak.
Many congressional members had personal contact with him, part of their job and Flynn’s as a key member of Trump’s transition team at the time.
Flynn technically violated the 1799 Logan Act, amended in 1994. It prohibits unauthorized citizens from negotiating with foreign governments – considered an attempt to influence bilateral relations.
The act remained unused since passage, no one prosecuted under the law in over 200 years. Legal experts suggest it’s unconstitutional. It’s been used more as a threat than justification for prosecution.
Flynn’s only offense was telling what amounts to a white lie, nothing warranting the witch-hunt investigation he was put through, resulting in his guilty plea over nothing.
The aim was trying to build a case for nonexistent Russian inference in America’s political process, along with anything suggesting illegal or improper Trump dealings with Moscow – no evidence supporting either phony accusation.
The lengthy Times report was an exercise in character assassination for the wrong reasons.
Trump should be slammed and impeached for waging illegal wars of aggression, for violating the Constitution’s general welfare clause, for pursuing police state harshness, for waging war on Muslims from the wrong countries and unwanted aliens of color, for his ecocidal agenda, for harming ordinary people everywhere to benefit privileged interests exclusively.
Nothing justifies the Russiagate witch hunt probe, the shame of the nation, along with its hostility to peace, equity, justice, and democratic values – serving all Americans, not just its privileged few.
VISIT MY NEW WEB SITE: stephenlendman.org (Home – Stephen Lendman). Contact at [email protected].
My newest book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III."
