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.

If Trump has told more than 10,000 lies, why do news media quote him so much?

Cartoonist Jimmy Margulies reduces Attorney General William Barr to President Trump's middle finger -- a royal F.U. to the American people. Both have tried to cover up the damning conclusions of the Mueller Report, which laid out Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. See more at JimmyMargulies.com.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

HACKENSACK, N.J. -- Donald J. Trump is a cold, calculating liar who has shown contempt for the truth over his many decades in public life.

"The president of the United States has exceeded 10,000 false or misleading claims since his inauguration on Jan. 20, 2017," The Washington Post's Fact Checker declared on Friday.

"Let that sink in for a moment," the newspaper said. "To be precise, that's 10,111 claims in 828 days, according to the Fact Checker's database tracking and analyzing all of Trump's suspect statements."

In the last 7 months, The Post said, "it's nearly 23 [false claims] a day."

Bald-faced lies

The newspaper's unwillingness to call the "suspect statements" what they are -- lies, pure and simple -- is bad enough.

But even worse is that none of its reporters or any reporter assigned to cover the president has had the courage to confront him, and demand:

"Mr. President, when are you going to stop lying to the American people?"

Instead, they continue to knock themselves out spreading all of the president's lies and lying Tweets around the world for the consumption of friend and foe alike.

'The Art of the Deal'

In July 2016, Tony Schwartz, co-author of the 1987 memoir, "Trump: The Art of the Deal," told this to an interviewer from PBS' Frontline documentary series:

"'Why does it matter whether the president of the United States tells the truth?' [Laughs.] Yeah, I mean, you didn't mean it this way, but it's a good question.

"In a civilized society, we operate on the assumption that what another person is saying to us is factual. If we lose that connection, we're in chaos.

"And I fully believe that Trump would pay as little attention to the truth as president as I observed he did 30 years ago when he was making deals to buy up property."

Humped by Trump: He's a Putin rootin' serial liar and tax cheat full of nasty tweets

Cartoonist Ed Wexler of PoliticalCartoons.com portrays President Trump in a hell of his own making, being manipulated by Russian dictator and war criminal Vladimir Putin.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

HACKENSACK, N.J. -- "He is a racist. He is a con man. And he is a cheat," Michael Cohen told Congress on Wednesday, describing President Trump, whom he served for a decade as a lawyer and fixer.

Imagine what he is saying behind closed doors today.

In a powerful closing statement on Wednesday, Cohen spoke directly to Trump, according to NBC News:

"I'd like to say directly to the president: We honor our veterans — even in the rain. We tell the truth even when it doesn't aggrandize you. You respect the law and our incredible law enforcement agents. You don't villainize them.

"You don't disparage generals, Gold Star families, prisoners of war and other heroes who had the courage to fight for this country. You don't attack the media and those who question what you don't like or what you don't want them to say and you take responsibility for your own dirty deeds.

"You don't use your power of your bully pulpit to destroy the credibility of those who speak out against you. You don’t separate families from one another or demonize those looking to America for a better life. You don't vilify people based on the god they pray to and you don’t cuddle up to our adversaries at the expense of our allies.

"And finally you don’t shut down the government before Christmas and New Year's just to simply appease your base.

"This behavior is churlish, it denigrates the office of the president and it's un-American and it's not you." 

Cohen described Trump's illegal acts during the 2016 presidential campaign and during his presidency, and said the president's goal was to make the Trump brand great:

"Donald Trump ... ran for office to make his brand great, not to make our country great. He had no desire or intention to lead this nation -- only to market himself and to build his wealth and power.

"Mr. Trump would often say, This campaign was going to be the 'greatest infomercial in political history.'"

Progressive officials, but not racist Trump, are targets of news media feeding frenzies

Cartoonist Daryl Cagle has fun with the sensational extortion charges leveled by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos against David Jay Pecker, publisher of the National Inquirer. That's the same rag that paid hush money to a Playboy bunny who allegedly had an affair with Donald J. Trump to boost his chances of victory in the 2016 presidential election. See more at The Cagle Post.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

HACKENSACK, N.J. -- Looking ahead to the 2020 presidential election, do I really care whether Democratic candidate Elizabeth Warren passed along family lore about her heritage as fact?

No. But I do care about what Warren will do to re-establish protections for the consumer the Trump administration dismantled, as well as her plans for taxing the rich and universal health care.

But whether Warren actually is a Native America is the subject of a news media feeding frenzy, and I'm sure I will hear about it nearly every day until the election on Nov. 3, 2020.

Another controversy getting intense media attention also involves Democrats, this one focusing on Virginia's governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general.

Suspiciously, the official in line to take over in Richmond -- onetime capital of the Confederacy -- if all three Democrats resign, is a Republican.

Can you imagine how much damage this Republican could do by limiting instead of expanding Medicaid and suppressing voting rights until another gubernatorial election can be held?

Trumps get a pass

Yet, many of these same reporters seem to have forgotten all of President Trump's transgressions and hardly pay any attention to repeated calls for his resignation, impeachment or indictment.

Here is Trump, leader of the so-called free world, who was elected not by popular vote but with the help of a Russian disinformation campaign in the months leading up to the 2016 election.

Since he was sworn in a little over 2 years ago, a traitorous Trump has divided us more than at any time since the Civil War, and nearly every word out of his mouth is a lie.

Tax evasion, racism

He brought to the White House a history of tax evasion and cheating inherited from his father, developer Fred Trump, who denied apartments to blacks and once was arrested at a Ku Klux Klan rally.

Why aren't the news media focusing on any of this Trump history ad nauseum in the same way we are hearing about Democrats' flaws?

I'm still waiting for a White House reporter -- any reporter-- to confront Trump and ask, "When are you going to stop lying to the American people"

Trump is sounding even more incoherent at new low point for his insane presidency

The biggest news out of Washington, D.C., was how House Speaker Nancy Pelosi got President Trump to end the government shutdown without yielding an inch on authorizing more than $5 billion for a wall on our southern border -- as illustrated by cartoonists Daryl Cagle, above, and Adam Zyglis of The Buffalo News, below. 

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi showed how a strong woman can shame a shameless Trump

Here, Zyglis of The Buffalo News has another take on Trump's utter humiliation, portraying the president as Humpty Dumpty. Let's hope that like the nursery rhyme all the president's men can't put Trump back together again.

We're waiting for a reporter who asks Trump, "When are you going to stop lying to the American people?"

Cartoonist Ed Wexler has another riff on the Pelosi-Trump confrontation, with one GOP first responder declaring the president needs "some cojones STAT!!!" See more cartoons at The Cagle Post.

Trump's 'invasion' of terrorists and human traffickers came from a movie, not reality

Cartoonist Daryl Cagle has fun with Richard Nixon's declaration, "I am not a crook." He has the Nixon tattoo on Roger Stone's back telling it like it is.

Rick McKee, staff cartoonist for the Augusta Chronicle, zeroes in on Stone, the longtime confidant of Trump and a political dirty trickster, calling him the keystone of the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.

The Buffalo News' Zyglis hits hard at the Stone-Trump relationship, showing the overweight president with a tattoo of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin on his back. Trump kowtowed to Putin with his attempt to pull American troops out of Syria and by ending a big missile treaty.

 Indictment of longtime Trump confidant Roger Stone is closest Mueller has gotten -- so far

-- VICTOR E. SASSON

A powerful indictment of President Trump as a liar who has violated his oath of office

Cartoonist Rick McKee of The Augusta Chronicle in Georgia laying out the agenda of the Democratic majority in the House of Representative.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

HACKENSACK, N.J. -- The New York Times Opinion section doesn't carry the force of law, but Columnist David Leonhardt is as close as we'll get until the Mueller report is issued.

"The People vs. Donald J. Trump" is the headline over Leonhardt's column on the cover of The Times' Sunday Review.

"He is demonstrably unfit for office. What are we waiting for?" is the sub-headline.

The columnist lays out the case against President Trump in the first three paragraphs and fleshes out his argument over an entire newspaper page that follows.

Here are the introductory paragraphs:

"The presidential oath of office contains 35 words and one core promise; 'to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.' Since virtually the moment Donald J. Trump took that oath two years ago, he has been violating it.

"He has repeatedly put his own interest above those of the country. He has used the presidency to promote his businesses. He has accepted financial gifts from foreign countries. He has lied to the American people about his relationship with a hostile foreign government. He has tolerated cabinet officials who use their power to enrich themselves.

"To shield himself  from accountability from all of this -- and for his unscrupulous presidential campaign -- he has set out to undermine the American system of checks and balances. He has called for the prosecution of his political enemies and the protection of his allies. He has attempted to obstruct justice. He has tried to shake the confidence in one democratic institution after another, including the press, federal law enforcement and the judiciary."

To read the full opinion column-cum-indictment, see:

The People vs. Donald J. Trump

  

If you don't laugh, then you'll have to cry at twist, turns of worst U.S. president ever

Cartoonist Dave Granlund zeroes in on the Robert Mueller investigation (of Russian interference in the 2016 election) turning up the heat on President Trump, whose facade of lies and deception is slowly melting away.

Jimmy Margulies, onetime editorial cartoonist at The Record of Woodland Park, calls Trump's flunkies "Birds of a Feather." All have been convicted of lying wildly to cover up the dirty deeds they performed for the president.

Dave Granlund likens the job of White House chief of staff to babysitter.

Cartoonist Steve Sack of the Minneapolis Star Tribune refers to Budget Director Mick Mulvaney, Trump's choice for acting chief of staff, as the bottom of the barrel. That makes sense. Mulvaney is a conservative Republican from the South, having served in the South Carolina General Assembly before being elected to Congress. 

Jobs at the White House are as fleeting as fame. Cartoonist Ed Wexler of PoliticalCartoons.com has Mulvaney referring to himself as "the new temp."

Trump has vowed to shut down the government, if Democrats don't give him $5 billion to build the wall along the Mexican border. Cartoonist Rick McKee of The Augusta Chronicle sees a shutdown as a Christmas gift to Democrats.

-- VICTOR E. SASSON

Cartoonists say money and greed are root of all of Trump's evil, 2016 election fraud

Cartoonist John Cole of The Times Tribune in Scranton, Pa., exploring the latest evidence that Donald J. Trump was a candidate who personally directed an illegal scheme to manipulate the 2016 presidential election, and whose advisors had more contact with Russia than he acknowledges.

Cartoonist Steve Sack of The Minneapolis Star-Tribune illustrates a report that Trump promised a $50 million penthouse to Russian President Vladimir Putin as part of a Trump Tower deal in Moscow. He has Trump saying, "No pets," except me.

The red Christmas trees in the White House take on new meaning in this cartoon from Christopher Weyant of The Boston Globe. "I chose the [hammer-and-sickle] ornaments," Trump says

The murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi exposed Trump's cold-blooded view of U.S. relations with Saudi Arabia, as illustrated by cartoonist Steve Sack. The president exaggerated wildly about the amount of arms sales to the oil-rich kingdom.

The New York stock exchange tanked last week amid trade jitters with China, and Trump's tweets didn't help, as shown in this cartoon by Rick McKee of The Augusta Chronicle in Georgia. 

Cartoonist Randy Bish of The Pittsburgh Tribune Review exploring Trump's appearance at the funeral for George H.W. Bush, the 41st president of the United States. All of these cartoons and many others from around the world can be found at The Cagle Post.

-- VICTOR E. SASSON

Trump lies about everything under sun, yet the news media still love to quote him

President Trump pushed back against mounting evidence that Saudi Prince Mohammed bin Salman had ordered the murder of critic Jamal Khashoggi, the Saudi journalist who was writing for The Washington Post. Here, Cartoonist Kevin Siers of The Charlotte Observer and PoliticalCartoons.com shows Trump holding a bone saw.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

HACKENSACK, N.J. --  Whether at a combative press conference or in a quick interview before he boards his helicopter, President Trump can't help but lying.

Trump was so used to making false claims as a New York developer that he apparently saw no reason to start telling the truth during the 2016 presidential campaign or after he was sworn in as president on Jan. 20, 2017.

And now, even though reporters who cover the White House and accompany him on Air Force One know he is lying, they still quote him and his tweets extensively, and the electronic media send those infuriating sound bites sailing around the globe. 

The print media, notably The Washington Post and The New York Times, do a far better job than the electronic media in pushing back against the lies, but by the time their papers hit the doorstep, the damage has already been done, and Trump's supporters are howling with delight.

All of this might change on Jan. 3, when the Democratic majority and other House members are sworn in, and start investigating everything from Russian interference in our elections to Trump's finances to his ties to Saudi Arabia and other autocratic regimes.

Then, the president who loves to go on the offensive and insult world leaders, judges and just about everyone else will finally find himself on the defensive in the last act of his chaotic presidency.

Cartoonist Steve Sack of the Minneapolis Star Tribune shows Trump treating the people of California as cavalierly as he did residents of Puerto Rico, where he tossed rolls of paper towels to hurricane survivors. He blamed the California wildfires on poor forest management -- a complete and total falsehood.

Cartoonist Bill Day of Cagle.com returned to a familiar Trump claim for Thanksgiving: "No collusion!" 

Only 5 of 10 voters turned out, cutting into Democrats' big election victory on Tuesday

In this photo from The New York Times, casino employees lined up to vote on Tuesday in Las Vegas.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

HACKENSACK, N.J. -- The Blue Wave broke early -- much too early.

Democrats scored significant victories in the 2018 midterm elections on Tuesday, gaining control of the House of Representatives, but didn't do the same in the Senate.

The reason may lie in disappointing voter turnout -- whether from apathy or laziness -- one of the major factors cited for the surprising victory of Donald J. Trump in the 2016 presidential election.

"It looks like more than 113 million people voted, which would be at least 48 percent of eligible Americans," The New York Times reported on Friday, based on preliminary -- but incomplete -- data made available by the states and analyzed by Michael McDonald, a professor of political science at the University of Florida.

So that means fewer than 5 of every 10 voters cast ballots. 

"By percent of people eligible to vote, it was the highest turnout of any midterm election since at least 1970 and the first time midterm turnout topped 100 million," The Times reported, quoting Target Smart, a data analytics firm that studies voter data.

Races for governor

Democrats took the governor's office in Wisconsin, defeating conservative Scott Walker; Pennsylvania and Michigan -- the three states whose electoral votes provided the margin of victory for Trump in 2016.

Meanwhile, dysfunctional Florida began the first statewide vote recount in its history on Saturday to decide the contests for U.S. Senate and governor -- races Republicans appeared to have won.

And a record 35 new women won House seats, meaning more than 100 women will take their seats on Jan. 3.

Hackensack turnout

More than 23,000 Hackensack residents were registered to vote last Tuesday, and turnout in most of the city's 27 voting districts bettered the national average of 48%.

Turnout ranged from 43.03% to 59.94%.

Nearly 55% of the 567,568 registered voters in Bergen County cast ballots.

If more voted ...

You can only imagine how the 2018 midterm elections, the 2016 presidential election and other national contests would turn out, if more voters cast ballots.

What is turning off voters in states that don't have Republican officials trying to suppress the vote or disqualify voters, as well as gerrymandering congressional districts?

The news media's relentless focus on politics is a big factor when what voters really want is information on how candidates stand on a wide range of issues -- from health care to the environment.

And the media's addiction to sound bites means they spread Trump's lies without fact-checking or pushback, delighting his supporters.

News media do another awful job, wasting our time in trying to call midterm elections

A voter entering the Fairmount School in Hackensack around 2 this afternoon to vote in the 2018 midterm congressional elections, as well as on county races and two ballot questions. Voting machines were set up in the cafeteria. Hackensack schools were dismissed after a half day.

A voter using a cane as he approached the doors to the Hackensack High School gymnasium, another polling place where voting machines were set up.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

HACKENSACK, N.J. -- Nearly 2 years into the presidency of Donald J. Trump, not a single reporter has had the courage to confront him and say, "Mr. President, please stop lying to the American people."

Instead, they've covered every one of his partisan rallies, and spread his lies around the world with no fact-checking.

Then, days or weeks later, The Washington Post or New York Times thunder about all of the lies Trump has told.

Who will win?

Today is Election Day across America, and the news media have spent the past few weeks obsessing over who will win, and whether Democrats will be able to take control of the House and Senate.

Why not just wait for the results to come in after the polls close, and devote all that energy to laying out the issues instead of relentlessly focusing on politics?

Polls are notoriously inaccurate, yet their reports are filled with them, and updated every day, it seems.

Sensational ads

NBC, CBS and other networks accept the most sensational, deceptive or inaccurate campaign ads, signaling to viewers that only the bottom line matters.

It's no surprise there are so many apathetic voters in Hackensack and elsewhere across the nation.

The blame rests squarely on the news media, who seem cowed by Trump's campaign to portray them as the enemy of the people.

It's another sad day for the Fourth Estate.

Hackensack Councilman Leo Battaglia, in dark top and cap, in the Fairmount School cafeteria this afternoon.

Vote on Tuesday to help stop Trump lies, corruption, chaos and white nationalism

After President Trump claimed he could eliminate birthright citizenship from the U.S. Constitution, cartoonist Nate Beeler of The Columbus Dispatch adopted a Halloween theme, showing Trump cutting out parts of the constitution as if he were carving a pumpkin.

Cartoonist Marian Kamensky shows Trump rushing down to the border and tossing children born in the United States to illegal immigrants over the fence.

Jimmy Margulies, onetime editorial cartoonist for The Record of Woodland Park, has Trump using white-out on the constitution.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

HACKENSACK, N.J. -- I never thought I'd miss those idiotic car commercials on TV.

But the onslaught of sensational political ads in the runup to the midterm congressional elections has me squirming on my red-leather couch.

I've been squealing with delight when I can fast forward through them on recorded programs, as I do with all the stupidity used to sell Chevys and Mercedes-Benzes.

Well, we've got only two days to go before Election Day on Tuesday. Don't forget to vote.

My wife and I, as well as our college-age son, have already voted a straight Democratic ticket, and sent in our mail-in ballots.

Voting for Democrats is the only way to stop Trump, as I wrote last November: 

Read: Only way to beat Trump

 is to always vote for Democrats 

U.S. Senate race

The choice for U.S. senator from New Jersey is so depressing the Star-Ledger and NJ.com noted in an editorial, "...Both candidates are slippery characters, even by Washington standards."

Another news site called the contest a choice between "Crooked Bob" and "Greedy Bob."

The NJ.com editorial noted, "Before he was caught in 2015, Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., broke Senate rules by routinely accepting expensive gifts, including private jets to luxury resorts abroad.... He then used his office to promote the personal and business interest of the man who paid the bills.

"It's a miracle that Menendez escaped criminal conviction, and an act of profound narcissism that he stayed in the race ... putting a Democratic seat at risk while Donald Trump sits in the White House."

But the friend he freeloaded off, Dr. Salomon Melgen, a prominent South Florida eye doctor, was convicted of defrauding Medicare of $73 million, and since February, has been serving a 17-year sentence in federal prison.

He also was ordered to pay $42.6 million in restitution to Medicare, and could be ordered to pay more, the Sun Sentinel reported in February.

GOP challenger

Menendez's Republican challenger, Bob Hugin, "estimates he earned up to $200 million at Celgene, a pharmaceutical firm known for its vigorous fight to keep cheaper generics off the market so it could repeatedly hike the cost of expensive cancer drugs," according to NJ.com. 

Celgene also paid $280 million to settle a whistleblower lawsuit alleging the firm covered up potentially fatal side effects of its cancer drugs, and defrauded Medicare, the Oct. 28 editorial said.

"Our hope is that voters remember Trump is on the ballot, that they choke down their reluctance and vote for Menendez. He's no gem but he's better than Hugin," NJ.com said.

In a broadside paid for by the New Jersey Democratic State Committee, John McCann, the Republican candidate for the House of Representatives from the 5th District, is being portrayed as a "Tea Partier" who "failed to pay more than $100,000 of his own taxes." The campaign material also says he raised "local taxes four times while on the Cresskill Town Council and voted for higher property taxes."

GOP controls all branches of government, answers to an unhinged President Trump

Jimmy Margulies, former editorial cartoonist at The Record of Woodland Park, suggesting the wild week on Wall Street and Kanye West's visit to the White House weren't unrelated (Margulies calls it "the Trump-Kanye West merger"). You can find more Margulies and other cartoons at The Cagle Post.

VOTE ON NOV. 6 TO RESTORE

DEMOCRACY'S CHECKS, BALANCES

By VICTOR E. SASSON

EDITOR

HACKENSACK, N.J. -- The only time President Trump seems sane is when he invites a wacko like Kanye West to the Oval Office.

Last week, West's rant silenced Trump in a way we haven't ever seen.

One pop music critic claimed West was "sucking up" to the president. 

And did you see how uncomfortable Trump looked when West, in his red MAGA baseball cap, stood up, walked behind the president's desk and bent down to hug him as he remained seated?

GOP and 1%

Still, the Republican Party continues to allow Trump to destroy our democracy and dismantle the legacy of former President Barack Obama -- while so-called tax reform lines the pockets of the 1%.

The GOP controls all three branches of government.

Meanwhile, with the Nov. 6 mid-term congressional elections fast approaching, "many ... Republicans -- including those on the Supreme Court -- have engaged in a deliberate campaign to make voting harder," says Op-Ed Columnist David Leonhardt at The New York Times.

"They've reduced voting hours and added cumbersome identification requirements, among other things," Leonhardt wrote last week.

Obama weighs in 

Also last week, Leonhardt quoted Barack Obama saying:

"My message in this upcoming election is very simple: It's vote.

"This isn't really a 50-50 country. It's like a 60-40 country," Obama said, adding:

"Democrats could and will do even better, if everyone ... not only votes but makes sure that all your wishy-washy, excuse-making, Internet-surfing, TV watching, grumbling-but-not-doing-nothing friends and family members get to the poles. Vote."

Your vote to shift control of Congress to the Democrats could restore the checks and balances laid out in the U.S. Constitution.

Cartoonist Joe Heller of the Green Bay Press-Gazette in Wisconsin refers to an alarming report on climate change from a United Nations panel of scientists. "Do you smell something burning?"