Catch 47, that's some catch, that Catch 47

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“Do you throw the Presidential Election Results of 2020 OUT and declare the RIGHTFUL WINNER, or do you have a NEW ELECTION? A Massive Fraud of this type and magnitude allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution. Our great ‘Founders’ did not want, and would not condone, False & Fraudulent Elections!”

That was a comment just last year by the former President on his Truth Social fantasy network. But, think about it for a minute. Aside from wondering why he put Founders in quotation marks, he is advocating throwing out the constitution to allow a "do-over," or actually simply installing him for another term, fully halfway into his successor's term.

The comment isn't exactly surprising given the events of this week in Georgia as the criminal charge count rose into the 90s. As an aside, I find it ironic that the former President claims this is election interference since that's the charge against him.

This, of course, after a grand total of no one has been able to dredge up evidence of some massive voter fraud scheme dreamt up by a guy they all claim can't tie his shoes. But, this rant is only the tip of a somewhat frightening iceberg.

My contention has always been that at his core, Donald Trump has no core. He is a shallow, and honestly, not terribly bright man. He doesn't read, has focused his life on his own pleasures and desires...

He is not religious and truth be told, not even gifted with the native cunning that would make him good at business. Bankrupting a casino is not an easy thing to do. If Trump had put his inheritance into an index mutual fund, he would be richer today than he is. Oh, he has made money, but is in debt for more. He is not a billionaire or even close. Forbes Magazine, a commie rag if there ever was one, did the numbers last year...

There are a number of observers who speculated that he ran for president as a public relations ploy and never really expected to win. He just wanted back on the radar after The Apprentice was canceled. I think that makes sense, and when he won, he, like Robert Redford's character at the end of The Candidate, asked his advisors, "Now what?"

So those advisors who told him questioning President Obama's birth was a great idea, hung around to act as his political fluffers for the first and only term. Being the prototypical blank slate, frankly blanker than most, the long-time Democrat turned Republican checked every box on a GOP wish list.

He cut taxes massively, and that led to the largest accumulation of US debt in any one Presidential term. He inexplicably cozied up to Putin and pissed off China. Since conservatives have always hated international organizations, he threatened to leave NATO (which was formed under President Eisenhower). National Security Advisor John Bolton made outrageous threats against the International Criminal Court, which holds people accountable for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide. Bolton went so far as to threaten the court’s judges and prosecutors with U.S. criminal prosecution as well as a travel ban and financial sanctions. Ironically one of those war crimes prosecutors was Jack Smith.

He pulled the US out of UNESCO, the UN Human Rights Council, and the Trump administration said that it would no longer provide aid to the U.N. Relief and Works Agency.

Now, does anyone in the audience think that Donald Trump ever spent one-second thinking about any of this when he was busy fake-firing people on TV? Of course not. He had "advisors" like Paul Manafort, who spent time in the big house for serving in government while lying about lobbying for and having financial interests in, ready now, Ukraine.

Then there's Stephen Miller, a noxious little dweeb who is the most unlikely NAZI you'll ever meet, being of the Jewish persuasion himself. He primarily wrote the Trump inaugural speech, you know the "American carnage" one. According to Wikipedia...

In November 2019, the Southern Poverty Law Center acquired more than 900 emails Miller sent Breitbart News writer Katie McHugh between 2015 and 2016. The emails became the basis for an exposé that showed that Miller had enthusiastically pushed the views of white nationalist publications such as American Renaissance and VDARE, as well as the far-right conspiracy website InfoWars, and promoted The Camp of the Saints, a French novel circulating among neo-Nazis, shaping both White House policy and Breitbart's coverage of racial politics.

And of course, General Michael Flynn, and the rest of the zany crew. Well, he has apparently gotten the band back together for a Presidential organizational document they title, Agenda 47. See, he'd be the 47th President, eh? We're not making any of the following up. It's on his website...

The most startling aspect of this is the plan to corral all independent agencies, the Department of Justice, the State Department, the intelligence community, the Federal Communications Commission, the Federal Trade Commission and every tentacle of the Defense Department would all be under the direct presidential control of Donald Trump.

In other words, Defense Department decisions on procurement would be subject to presidential approval. Justice Department actions, again, only with the agreement of the President. Same with the FBI. Those who argue that these agencies are doing President Biden's bidding, are strangely silent about this plan to formalize the relationship.

Bruce Maiman of the Huffington Post gathered comments from the New York Times from some of the masterminds behind this plan.

The notion of independent federal agencies or federal employees who don’t answer to the president violates the very foundation of our democratic republic. — Kevin D. Roberts, president of the Heritage Foundation, who added that supporters are committed to “dismantling this rogue administrative state.”

What we’re trying to do is identify the pockets of independence and seize them. — Russell T. Vought, who ran the Office of Management and Budget in the Trump White House and now runs a policy organization, the Center for Renewing America.

Our current executive branch was conceived of by liberals for the purpose of promulgating liberal policies. There is no way to make the existing structure function in a conservative manner. It’s not enough to get the personnel right. What’s necessary is a complete system overhaul. — John McEntee, the White House personnel chief who launched Trump’s deliberate and methodical effort to remove officials deemed to be disloyal in 2020.

This plan falls under the rubric of something called the Unitary Executive Theory. The unitary executive theory is a theory of United States constitutional law which holds that the President of the United States possesses the power to control the entire federal executive branch. The doctrine is rooted in Article Two of the United States Constitution, which vests "the executive power" of the United States in the President. Although that general principle is widely accepted, there is disagreement about the strength and scope of the doctrine.

The comment by Vought is one that troubles me most.

"What we’re trying to do is identify the pockets of independence and seize them."

What could he mean? Like Russians talking about Ukraine? The Boston Tea Party? The French Resistance? Does the idea that this is one of the guys advising the almost certain Republican nominee in 2024 only bother me? And make no mistake, these ideas are not coming from the candidate. Does anyone other than the most faithful MAGA cultist believe that Donald Trump has spent the last two years contemplating US international involvement and constitutional theories about the Executive Branch? Yeah, go ahead, pull the other one.

Now, it would be easy to label me an alarmist because, well, I'm alarmed. But that's because of a few things. Firstly, the hold that Big D has on the party. Look at how Governor Short Trump from Florida was treated in Iowa this week. He couldn't even flip burgers at the food tent without hecklers. OK, he flipped them pretty badly, but that's not the point. He and the rest of the Keystone Kops don't have a chance unless the 90-some-odd (so far) charges against Trump actually derail his candidacy.

Secondly, President Biden has some genuine accomplishments under his belt, but his approval ratings are still roughly equivalent to the guy who wouldn't untie his pontoon boat in Montgomery, Alabama. He's 80 and will be 82 if he takes the oath again in 2025. Fair or not, that troubles a lot of folks, even Democratic ones. And it's not like Biden doesn't show his age. He does. He walks stiffly, falls easily, and even allowing for his childhood stutter, I wonder about his performance in debates next year. Look, as mentioned last week, I'm in that cohort age-wise, but even die-hard Dems have to face facts. And as I've also mentioned before, Kamala Harris is fairly or unfairly not considered a plus for the team.

Add to this, the joke candidacies of Cornel West, Marianne Williamson and perhaps, the DINO, Joe Manchin. Jokes they may be, but they could siphon enough votes to put the former guy back in, and these plans for a return to the royal rule we fought to escape around 1776, could be in the offing. And, as an aside, Manchin is the most serious threat and a particularly detestable simp. Without the courage to either really be a Democrat or a Republican lest he lose his seat and ability to help his coal investments, he straddles that fence and somehow still manages to be taken seriously by some in Washington.

This could be avoided for both parties if they follow my advice. First, if Trump is found guilty, that's all the excuse many need to go with DeSantis. Secondly, Democrats convince Feinstein to retire now, name Kamala Harris to the seat, and Biden then announces he won't run for a second term. That opens the way for Newsom and we have a real contest, not just a resigned shrug in the voting booth. Otherwise, there is this miserable rerun and the real chance of this authoritarian plan being enacted.

Agenda 47 is honestly scary, and if the cards fall the right way, could actually be something we all need to worry about. Donald Trump may be sweating over his legal troubles, as some have observed, but not enough to make his makeup run yet. And despite all of it, stranger things have happened. I mean, all it would take is one tank ride for Biden and it could be all over.