No longer can Trump dodge House probes leading to impeachment, defeat in election

From Bart van Leeuwen, a freelancer who lives in Amsterdam.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

HACKENSACK, N.J. -- Many Democrats who hate President Trump still oppose the House impeachment inquiry.

They claim the investigation will drown out discussion of the environment, health care and other issues in the runup to the 2020 presidential election.

But the news media -- especially the White House reporters for TV stations -- do such a terrible job of covering issues now.

So, even if the House doesn't pursue impeachment of the worst president in U.S. history, voters would be cheated of any intelligent discussion of which policies are best for the nation and the American people.

The reporters seem to be saying, "Our minds are too small for such weighty matters."

I say let's fully expose the traitorous, criminal behavior of Trump for the entire nation to see, and then turn out to vote in record numbers in 2020 to condemn him to the dustbin of history.

"You can't impeach a dictator," says a Trump supporter in this cartoon from Milt Priggee, a freelance political cartoonist who lives in Washington State. See more of his work at Cagle.com.

Dave Granlund of Cagle.com:  "Trump, do us a favor, get out!" 

"This guy makes me look good," says Granlund, invoking the ghost of President Richard M. Nixon. Nixon resigned rather than face a trial in the Senate after he was impeached by the House is August 1974 for the break-in at Democratic National Headquarters, a scandal and coverup known as Watergate. The impeachment process took about 10 months.

Another great cartoon from Dave Granlund. In 2020, voters will be telling Trump to go to hell.

Trump wages campaign to make America white again in image of his beloved Russia

From cartoonist Ed Wexler. See more at PoliticalCartoons.com.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

HACKENSACK, N.J. -- Thanks to satirist Bill Maher for reminding us how firmly President Trump has rejected the melting pot in favor of the despot, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin.

In fact, a popular drink in Putin's realm is the White Russian, made with vodka, coffee liqueur, cream or milk, the acerbic comic noted on his HBO show, "Real Time with Bill Maher."

Trump and other white Republicans are waging war on people of color, whether they live in the United States or just want to come here.

Nearly all of Trump's official actions have been to roll back laws and regulations enacted or adopted during the administration of Barack Obama, our first black president, many of which helped minorities.

Payback for tax cut

His one big legislative accomplishment -- the Trump tax cut -- is helping the GOP by "unlocking tens of millions of dollars in campaign donations from the wealthy conservatives and corporate interests that benefited handsomely from it," The New York Times reports.

"Billionaires and corporations that reaped millions of dollars in tax cuts are pumping some of that windfall into the Congressional Leadership Fund, a 'super PAC' ... that is flooding the airwaves ... with increasingly sharp attacks on the Democratic candidates vying to wrest control of the House [in the Nov. 8 elections]," according to today's Page 1 story.

For example, casino magnate Sheldon Anderson gave $30 million to the PAC after his company, Las Vegas Sands, reported a nearly $700 million windfall from the tax law this year, The Times says.

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev with Russian athletes -- all white -- who won medals in the 2018 Winter Olympics (Russian government photo).

From Steve Sack, editorial cartoonist for the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

From cartoonist Milt Priggee, a native of Anchorage, Alaska. The news media appear to be losing their titanic struggle with President Trump, who calls them the "enemy of the people." Despite the attacks, reporters are falling all over themselves to be the first to disseminate the president's latest lies, whether contained in a tweet or shouted over the roar of his helicopter. It's a sad day for the Fourth Estate.

U.S. fears meddling in the 2018 elections, but Trump grovels before Russian dictator

In this cartoon by freelancer Milt Priggee, President Trump uses the hammer and sickle to redecorate the exterior of Air Force One.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

HACKENSACK, N.J. -- Just when you think a single week of Donald J. Trump as president couldn't get more bizarre, the New York billionaire tops himself in all the wrong ways.

After last Monday's disastrous press conference with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin at his side, Trump spent days amending, correcting and trying to lie himself out his treasonous behavior.

The news media just sat there and soaked it all up for dissemination around the world.

Not a single reporter confronted Trump and urged him "to stop lying to the American people."

Grovels before Putin

Here is an essay by Graham West, spokesman for the Truman Center for National Policy and Truman National Security Project: 

"There’s no softer or more polite way to say it: President Trump groveled before Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, Finland. His display – and the conduct of his administration in the days since – sent a dangerous message to our intelligence communities here at home and audiences watching around the world, while also leaving some serious questions unanswered.

"The focal point of the presser [press conference in Helsinki, Finland] was when the president was asked point blank who he believed on Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election: his own intelligence agencies, or Vladimir Putin himself. It is a question Trump has struggled with many times before. Predictably, when asked at the presser, he whiffed; his answer was garbled per usual, but he ultimately said he “didn’t see why it would be” Russia who meddled.

"Every news cycle since has been dominated by the White House’s attempts to clarify (that is, change) the president’s statement, with the president qualifying his heavily scripted walk back, saying contradictory things in different interviews, and freewheeling on Twitter. This has all been complicated by contrasting statements from national security leaders within the Trump Administration. Director of National Intelligence Dan Coates maintains that the Russians are actively working to interfere in the fall midterms, while Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen still can’t admit that they were helping Trump in 2016.

"The net effect of all of this is a massive strain on the relationship between the White House and the intelligence community, which is self-evidently bad for our national security. It is also leading to a failure to respond to what Coates correctly identifies as an ongoing problem: Russian interference in elections to come. Perhaps because they felt the need to rally around their besieged leader, House Republicans blocked Democrats’ attempts to bolster funding for the Election Assistance Commission, which protects the critical voting infrastructure of states.

"There was also optical damage done at the Trump-Putin meeting, on which the eyes of the world were trained. President Trump missed an opportunity to call out Russia’s destructive behavior on the world stage. Instead of denouncing the invasion of Crimea, the downing of a civilian airliner, the poisoning of ex-pats on foreign soil, the killing of journalists, the arrest of opposition leaders, or the protection of murderous Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, he offered his classic ‘both sides are to blame’ take when asked about the source of difficulties in the U.S.-Russian relationship...."

(Copyright 2018 Graham West, distributed exclusively by Cagle Cartoons newspaper syndicate.

(Graham West is the Communications Director for Truman Center for National Policy and Truman National Security Project, though views expressed here are his own. You can reach West at gwest@trumancnp.org.)