UPDATE I:
The post below is about the game-changing judicial and political events that occurred on August 21.
Comments have been made here about the tragic murder of Mollie Tibbetts by an illegal immigrant.
But, more important, the president used Tibbetts’ death –- on the same day that his former lawyer, under oath, “implicated Mr. Trump in a possible crime,” — to try to change the subject and to, once again, whip up anti-immigrant emotions.
Trump even went as far as to use an opaque reference to his own dastardly actions at the border, of separating children from their parents, by saying Tibbetts’ family had been “permanently separated.”
This author addressed some of the comments on Ms. Tibbetts’ murder.
A piece in USA TODAY provides “the facts on immigrants committing crimes in US.”
However, none of the articles I have read or comments that have been made on this issue are as poignant, heartfelt and yet hard-hitting as CNN’s Chris Cuomo’s comments last night on Trump’s latest “hijacking of grief for political gain.”
Watch and listen to him here.
UPDATE II:
It was not just Trump and Fox “News” who attempted to use the tragic murder of Mollie Tibbetts to distract from Michael Cohen’s guilty pleas and from Paul Manafort’s guilty verdicts.
According to The Independent, almost immediately after Manafort’s guilty verdicts were announced, there was “a flurry of activity among hundreds of pro-Kremlin Twitter accounts believed to be controlled by Russian government influence operations…[which] began posting thousands of tweets about Ms Tibbetts, the 20-year-old University of Iowa student…” focusing on her alleged murderer and highlighting the suspect’s “illegal immigrant” status.
Original Post:
I will not go as far as to call August 21, 2018, as a day that will live in “whatever,” but it certainly is a significant day in recent political history.
It is a day that will hopefully be long remembered as the day when America started to turn away from a fake, dark personality cult, away from a torrent of lies and from an evolving culture devoid of honor, morals and values.
A day when Americans began to make a sharp U-turn on a road that would have certainly led to the end of democracy as we know it.
As we watch Lady Justice slap the first of the President’s (guilty) men in the face and as she fixes her gaze on a second one, a huge weight is being lifted from America’s shoulders for it appears that the rule of law will once again rule the land and that “no man is above the law” will no longer be an empty slogan.
Looking back on the false promises, false values and the false idol many in America were chasing and worshipping, it may be worthwhile to see what the Constitution promises – and what it does not.
The Constitution does not promise jobs for all.
It does not promise a few more dollars in the pockets of many.
It does not promise riches for some.
It does not promise fame and outlandish wealth for a few.
It certainly does not promise unfettered power and its abuse to one.
The Constitution does promise, among other, equal opportunity for all; justice for all; freedom of speech and freedom of the press — all intended by the Founding Fathers to “promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity.”
Perhaps we will now, once again – as after so many crises — begin to pay more attention to that sacred document.
CODA: If the above sounds a bit melodramatic, sorry. It is the way this author sees today’s events.
