The Beginning Of The End For Trump?
When Donald Trump was elected president, I wrote that I didn’t think he would serve more than two years because he’d be assassinated, impeached, or would quit. I said that neither assassination nor impeachment was as likely a scenario as that he’d become so frustrated with Washington politics getting in the way of his goals that he’d resign. This week’s firing of FBI Director, James Comey, may have changed the odds. Some constitutional experts are saying that impeachment could well be on the horizon.
Although legal experts seem to all agree that Trump had every right to fire Comey, those raising the impeachment specter seem to be basing their opinions on the following. Comey, as head of the FBI, was ultimately responsible for an ongoing investigation looking into whether there were ties between Trump’s campaign (possibly even Trump himself) and Russian government officials, and that’s the real reason Trump fired him. Those experts go on to suggest that if that is indeed the case (and particularly if he continues to interfere with the investigation) then Trump could be guilty of an abuse of power and obstruction of justice which, in turn, might rise to a pattern of “high crimes and misdemeanours,” which is the classic impeachable offense. I have no earthly clue whether they are right.
However, as I see it, there are two overarching political considerations that would likely prevent achieving the necessary votes for impeachment should it come to that. Some Republicans will be wary of losing the still-considerable and unwavering Trump voting base; and many Democrats will feel that they can regain control of both the House and Senate in next year’s mid-term elections if Trump is still president, which they might not be able to do if Pence is.
Again for two reasons, I’m now tempted to move impeachment ahead of resignation as the most likely scenario. First, Trump doesn’t seem to just get frustrated when thwarted, he also gets petulant and impetuous; and secondly, this petulance and impetuousness may lead him into doing something even more egregious than the firing of Comey.
In any event, this latest fiasco is not apt to quietly go away, causing one to wonder whether this is the beginning of the end, in whatever form, for Trump.
Bettman May Not Like This Year’s Cup Final
He would never admit it, of course, but NHL commissioner Gary Bettman is probably pulling strongly for Pittsburgh and Anaheim in their semi-final rounds.
I can’t imagine that he would be happy with an Ottawa/Nashville cup final. Were that to occur, it’s possible that the US television audience would be about 20,000, which is the probable number of die-hard Predator fans in the city of Nashville.
Pondering The Jays’ Woes
I seem to remember that during spring training Jays’ president Mark Shapiro, or maybe it was general manager Ross Atkins, possibly both, spoke proudly of a newly-installed “high performance” fitness team. I’ve heard rumours that in addition to the players’ fitness programs being dictated to them, the players are even being told what and when to eat.
At the moment there are six front-line players on the disabled list (Donaldson, Tulowitzki, Happ, Martin, Liriano, and Sanchez) and Kendrys Morales is on the limp. Since all but Sanchez are suffering muscle or joint problems, it’s easy to ponder whether the “high performance” folks really know what they’re doing.
But have you noticed that even with all their woes the Jays are only four games out of a wild card spot?
Questions I Never Heard As A Kid
Do you have your phone with you?
Did you get my text?
Have you downloaded your baseball schedule?
You won’t forget to PVR the game will you?A Political Observation
A Political Observation
It seems these days that the two favourite words of politicians are “investment” and “infrastructure,” two words that begin with the letter “i.” Politicians love the letter “i,” especially if it’s capitalized.
Memo to People Who Are Chronically Late
Think for a moment about the signals you send by being late. You’re telling people that:
You’re more important than they are
The things you have to do are more important than the things they have to do
You’re insensitive to their feelings
You’re not very well organized
You’re irresponsible
All of the above.