Double Jeopardy

 The President would be an awful contestant on Jeopardy. Instant recall and exact phrasing are not his strengths.  But presidents do not play foreign or domestic policy for 200.  They play it for real.

That requires deliberation, not flash card memory.  A president takes advice from a team of experts,  cabinet level on down, and tempers it with his wisdom and experience into steely policy.  

Biden has choosen advisers based on ability and experience, Trump favors loyalty.  Biden has background as a Senator and a Vice President before winning the Presidency.  Trump was a game show host, and ran a fraudulent family real estate business with 500 million in seed money from his father.

We somehow survived Trump's chaotic first term.  Do the American people really want to place the country in double jeopardy?

Mirror, Mirror

 It is often said that every Senator looks in the mirror and sees a president.  So too prosecutors see the reflection of a judge, even the judicial robes of a Supreme Court justice.  Certainly Special Counsel, Robert Hur has the credentials to make history as the first Asian American to so ascend.

He clerked for late U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist.  Hur is a graduate of Stanford Law School, where he was editor of the law review, and was an undergraduate at Harvard College. Hur served as top aide to then-Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein before his appointment as the U.S.attorney in Maryland by, then president, Trump. He is currently a partner with a prestigious, and politically connected, law firm.

As Special Counsel investigating the retention of documents by President Biden, Hur had a peek at an obstacle to his blind ambition.  The case against the President is weak and unwinnable.  But dismissing the case would anger the MAGA base of the Republican Party.  As a Republican, Hur's judicial goal rests in the hands of a future Republican president.

The ugly solution was to vindicate Biden, but issue a politically damaging report, replete with gratuitous insults and attacks.  Splitting the baby may be politically wise, but it demonstrates that Hur lacks the integrity and temperament to serve on the highest court.

Willy Go Round in Circles

For months Republican Senators have refused to provide aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, without concessions on border security. Democrats caved, and gave them what they wanted. Republicans voted it down. The Senate has now approved the aid package without the southern border provisions.

The only saving grace for the Republican circular firing squad is that they cannot shoot straight.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1TmIhddn0c

Lucy Pulled the Football Again

For months Republicans refused to authorize further aid to Ukraine without restrictions placed on immigration at our southern border.  The two issues are completely unrelated but, Ukraine is so important that the administration capitulated.  After months of legislative time, a bipartisan group of Senators crafted strict border controls.  The administration signaled a willingness to sign such a bill over the objections of the progressive wing of the Democratic party.

Aid to Ukraine is one of the best deals in diplomatic history.  Without risking a single American life, Russian aggression is stymied.  A possible confrontation between NATO and Russia, with nuclear implications, is averted.  Equally important, China learns that we stand behind our allies, discouraging the conquest of Taiwan.  

Republicans, at the direction of the former president, refused to declare victory.  Confronted with a bill that met their demands, they said, "Just kidding."  Lucy may be laughing, but the American people have fallen on their backs.