Power Corrupts

We all know there has been a certain level of corruption in Washington DC for a long time. But now, thanks to Donald Trump, we’re learning a lot more about what that corruption looks like and how deep it runs.

We learned recently that Congress and Bill Clinton established a slush fund to pay off anyone who filed a sexual abuse complaint against any congressman or senator. How in the world do they justify using our money to pay for their misdeeds? It’s corruption of power at its worst.

Now, we are learning more about the illegal dirty tricks played by the DNC and the Clinton campaign to somehow trap Trump and those in his campaign. The facts are only now dribbling out about the extent of corruption in the 2016 campaign. And the Democrats are doing everything they can to make sure we don’t hear ALL the facts. Sadly, the Democrat duck-and-cover operation seems to have plenty of allies among holdovers in the FBI and Justice Department, along with the usual suspects in the mainstream media.  

It’s relatively easy to see how Obama appointees at Justice could be caught up in protecting Hillary. It’s harder to believe the leadership of the FBI would participate. But what would you call it when the FBI (James Comey) interviews a suspect in her own home, without swearing her in, without taking notes, and without recording the interview?  But that’s exactly what they did with Hillary Clinton during the investigation into her private email server. In fact, most all the interviews and evidence collection during that investigation was conducted in a fashion that violated clear FBI guidelines. Safe to say that had it been you or me, we would have been hauled into an FBI office, sworn in, the interview recorded, and — if we later recollected our testimony differently — we would have been tried for perjury.  

We got another look at how corruption in DC and damage our Republic and hurt the American people at the recent State of the Union address.

Almost regardless of what Trump said, Democrats sat on their hands. When Trump reported the lowest black unemployment in recorded history, we heard nothing but crickets from the Democratic side of the room. Trump talked about the violence of MS13, a huge and violent gang that has entered our country illegally and hurt and killed many people. Trump introduced a family whose son had been killed by these thugs, but when the grief-stricken family stood, the Democrats refused to even acknowledge the family’s grief. Similar examples went on all night.

Two events that night really stood out to me.

The first was when Democrat Senator Joe Manchin started clapping and standing when Trump made one or another policy recommendation. As Manchin started to stand, he looked around him at the angry stares from Democrat colleagues, and with a terrified look, fell back into his seat and sat on his hands.

The second was the constant attention Nancy Pelosi gave to her fellow Democrats sitting behind her. She kept looking behind her to make sure no Democrats were applauding anything President Trump said.

This is a clear abuse of power by both Pelosi and Schumer. It’s obvious that the word went out ahead of the speech that Democrats were “not allowed” to smile, clap, stand, or show any other support for anything the President had to say.

You might wonder how Pelosi and Schumer have so much power over their Democratic colleagues. This is how. They determine who serves on which committee, and whose legislation gets out of the committee to the floor. They decide who gets the nice office, and who gets the broom closet on the top floor. They also grant or withhold fundraising support for the re-election campaigns of their members. In short, if you don’t toe their line, they can make your life as miserable as possible in a hundred ways — small and large.

This is so wrong!

Joe Manchin is a pretty good guy; he occasionally votes with Republicans and even speaks periodically in favor of a Trump policy. But he is clearly terrified of the reprisal Schumer can wield. It’s just plain wrong. It’s UN American. Worst of all, it works against the best interests of the American people.

What’s even more worrisome to me though is that most political pundits and expert observers now project Democrats will take over the House of Representatives in the elections this fall. That means Nancy Pelosi will become Speaker. If that happens, America better watch out. Because her corruption will be in an even greater position of power.