kavanaugh and gorsuch should not have been confirmed.
permanent damage for years that will outlive his presidency has been done.
146
It’s a terrible shame. This has become less about Russian Collusion and ever more desepararely about anything to pin on the president. They will go after and destroy anyone who they think can get them nearer to their boodthirsty goal of dethroning the president. Pin on unrelated charges. Destroy good men like Michael Flynn who served this country for 30 years and was talen down by a sham interview. Anyone cheerleading this sham needs their selfish heads examined.
12
Still, true satisfaction .. for me .. can be realized only if every last person who voted for Trump gets down on their hands and knees .. and begs the world's forgiveness. A hell freezes over proposition ...
146
Michelle Goldberg reminds me of Charles Blow. Fresh when new but out of ideas fast. Flog that dead horse!
8
Tocqueville predicted that the US democracy would fail when impeachment becomes an acceptable tactic employed by political parties to attack their opponents. While it doesn't mean government would disappear altogether, I agree that any tactic that undermines the supremacy of the vote alters government and favors a minority, even as small as the number of white supremacists, over the voting public. So you'd have to include gerrymandering, super PACs, and foreign influence and those are already happening, so in a way we don't live in a democracy right now. In the last fifty years, we've had impeachment come up three times out of nine presidents. We have to include Ford too because without the threat of impeachment, he would not have been president. So four out of nine presidents. I don't think though that impeachment was merely a tactic of the opposing party. In all cases the evidence warranted the pursuit of impeachment. Clinton, Nixon, and Trump all deserved or deserve the attention paid. I read a line by Bertrand Russell that when people are given special status their behavior sinks below the average. If you tell people they are superior, they'll believe it and believe that social norms don't apply to them. What business or organization would succeed or even survive, if it continually had to fire top executives like Trump has? To understand Trump don't compare him to other presidents. Compare him to your neighbors, your sons and daughters. Vote accordingly.
15
Hooray for gravity. All the lies tossed are coming down. Just took awhile-The Arc of the Moral Universe Is Long, But It Bends Toward Justice
72
It will take years to recover from the Trump fiasco and I fear the worst is yet to come. His supporters still support him and I don’t know what it will take for them to accept the truth of Trump’s vileness. Some of his supporters are intentionally and willfully ignorant, others just don’t seem to care. I think Trump is capable of anything to protect himself and his family. Just how far he or his supporters will go is anyone’s guess, and it is truly frightening to think about.
98
@Linda Remember, his supporters are a minority.
27
Michelle’s article leads me to believe that Robert Mueller will be the 2019 Time’s Person of the Year.
54
I agree with your choice of words like "incompetence, venality and boorishness", Michelle. But "lowlifes"? Really not helpful.
5
In keeping with this hopeful theme, I believe that 2018 may also be remembered as "The Year Fragile Masculinity Was Outed!" Most people have always known that this absurd but horribly real syndrome was at the bottom of many social ills, except for those suffering from it. Now it's been called out, given a name, and connected via evidence to voting and politics. May this help us in combating its evil effects.
29
I'm trying, but I can't share the optimism.
All of this is great, especially Manafort and Cohen seeing real punishment.
But none of it seems to get us any closer to getting rid of Donald Trump, and I fear there's no road back from this degradation. And even if Trump somehow got ousted tomorrow, a terrifying number of our fellow Americans think ALL OF THIS IS OKAY. I don't know how we can recover, even if Trump and his close associates all go to prison.
Like I said, I'm trying, but it's hard.
65
@DW, I so understand what you are saying but I'm also trying really hard to believe that good will triumph over evil. I just can't get over that so many of Americans voted for this nasty person, Trump. He had a horrible record of past jobs, bankruptcy, womanizer, con man and banks refusing to loan him money. Hillary had emails, Benghazi that she was cleared for over and over again. As first lady she accomplished programs for children, women and military. As U.S. Senator, Secretary of State and than on her own she went doing more for the People of America. But people still voted for a corrupt person like Trump. Unbelievable!
111
What does not kill you makes you stronger. Trump may be what system needed to right itself. There were something like 4 million votes in the midterm election than it was in the general election. That on itself is phenomenal. Look at the diversity of new Congress and look at the statehouses won. So Trump may the shock we needed to get us off our rear ends and get involved.
52
@Steven McCain I meant less than in the general election.
I am surprised people haven't yet started chanting, "Lock Him Up!" at Trump's public appearances. The evidence is starting to pile up.
49
It isn’t over until it is over. With Flynn’s Defense attorneys claim in the sentencing hearing that Flynn was “tricked into lying” by the FBI the corruption continues. No one is going to go down easy.
Everyone who has been indicted will cry foul because they are so used to getting away with their bad and sometimes heinous behavior.
Mueller will have to prove Treason in order to stop all this craziness. Here is hoping he can.
56
Justice may or may not catch up with Donald Trump. The biggest question is will justice catch up with the Republican Party. When the Republican Party created Fox News as their propaganda apparatus did they know they were creating a monster that would rule them and help diminish if not destroy American democracy. Trump did not arise out of nothing. He is the pinnacle of Republican/conservative thought and action. We now have a political party and a Republican federal judiciary built 100% on lying. Everybody in the party lies. How can you go to the Supreme Court and trust that Republican judges are telling the truth. The quintessential man at the top lies constantly and they all lie for him and about him. They were all in 100% for birtherism and in Russia. They would do anything to win or at best diminish Hillary Clinton. These are very very dangerous people.
If the democrats impeach trump they will weaponize it against the Democrats. That is the strategy. Why do you think they are not holding trump accountable. The impeachment of Clinton was revenge for Nixon and Reagan. They had to criminalize the Democrats to hide their own real criminality. You see this play out on all kinds of levels. George Will the other night on MSNBC tore Clinton apart for losing to Trump. How absolutely idiotic. True conservatism — blame someone else for your problem.
The greatest threat to American democracy is the Republican Party and its leadership at Fox News.
126
The best people! Even better people vetting them! All forced to tell lies to embarrass the Big Guy by the FBI! These new lies are just better made up ones and so is any evidence connected to them particularly if it is just the words of liars. We don't want all of our best people to go to jail just because they won't tell embarrassing lies about our leader, do we? Somehow Hilary or that guy who really was not born here are at the bottom of all this with their secret deep state ninjas. All of the enemies of America- the press, most of law enforcement and the diplomatic corps, so many of our corporations, the National Football League (really almost all sports for that matter), Hollywood and anything popular calling itself entertaining and most of all people within our borders who are not citizens and mostly bloodthirsty criminals on the run. None of them deserve a Merry Christmas!
10
Randy Rainbow needs to do a year-run down number based on this list. I can't believe all of this happened just this year. Omarosa seems so so long ago...
22
Nonsense! Other than leaving office, absolutely nothing is going to happen to Trump. Prosecute all you want; convict all you want; he will not spend one day in prison no matter what crimes are uncovered by Mueller. Trump is our MbS. Embarrassment will be his punishment. Not only has Trump not been stood up to; his base has not been stood up to. I agree with him, his base will not allow his imprisonment. So, if out-of-office is your goal, you're probably right, Trump is on the way to being gone; however, if it's justice you're after—forget about it.
27
@Anthony Adverse A silly comment. SDNY could care less about Trump's base. They could whine, riot in the streets, shoot up wherever they live, or have any other kind of futile tantrum they'd like. SDNY will not give a damn, or even notice. They'll be too busy sending Trump up the river, right after he leaves office, for a longer chance to wear a jump suit and play checker with Madoff than Cohen has just gotten. Trump's base has delusions of grandeur even worse than their idiotic fantasy that Trump was great or would make America and them "great again" if they think they have the slightest hint of power to protect their Dear Leader from his fate.
33
Justice "caught up” with people in essentially political trials that accomplished nothing for the good of the nation. When I put the news of this “investigation” on in the morning, by the time I return to my seat someone has switched it off. This is revenge of the political class for its humiliation by Trump and his allies, it has nothing to do with justice.
2
@Mike Livingston
Well okay, if you don't think corruption, fraud, and treason are at all problematic in a president, then yeah sure it's all political. We'll wake you when it's over.
60
There will probably be another stooge to replace Trump in the near future. Long live the neoliberal oligarchy! Trump's problem is that he is a team player on a hit and miss basis. Clinton would have been all in for the billionaires.
5
Impeach, indict, convict and repeat. The severest crimes should carry the serverest penalties, not a white collar slap on the wrist.
39
Petty thieves getting rounded off is hardly a consolation. Normally I am an optimistic person, but in this case, please wake me up when big fish get caught. Until then, enjoy the xmas and holidays for consolation ...
5
Before get too complacent, today Wisconsin joined North Caroline and passed laws (which outgoing governor Walker signed) designed to embrace single party rule. Michigan is right behind. These are two of the key states that swung the last election to Trump. Can large scale disenfranchisement to assure Republican victories be far behind ? It would be nice if Trump were the whole problem, but the attitude of the entire Republican Party is "win, even if it means eliminating democracy"
81
It has been so interesting watching Mueller methodically build a formidable box around Trump. I have no doubt
7
@Baba
But. It's. Not. Going. to. Matter.
2
It's funny how in order to reveal this popinjay, he had to first get propped up to the highest elected position in the world. I don't want to jinx anything, but given all that was once speculated and is now known about this...caricature of a man most thought was phonier than a three dollar bill, it's the epitome of poetic justice he's now being scrutinized so publicly. Just when he thought he must be as smart as he likes to believe he is and was in position to wipe away his misdeeds and re-write his history for posterity - enter Mueller. I'm sure his family curses the day he took that campaign initiating escalator ride. It's not over and there's much that has to be done, but the elections of 2018 might go down in history as the turning point from certain ruin for the United States of America.
29
"this...caricature of a man most thought was phonier than a three dollar bill," was VOTED into office by the American people. Cry all you want. If Trump is phonier than a three dollar bill, what does that say about the American voter?
12
Happy New Year, everyone!
The beginning of the end of the national nightmare is here.
28
Finally, the penicillin is being injected into the diseased, body politic but if it is too late, it will soon become obvious. The U.S. will meet the definition of a banana republic. They use to teach more about such things in our schools about how such corrupt and immoral countries only feign democracy. And it affects all aspects of life of the citizenry in very negative ways.
9
2019 well be a fabulous year for the "whataboutism." 2017 and 2018 were warm-ups for this president but his targets were limited to Clinton and Obama. Already we are hearing this president warming up. In the past few days we have heard deflections such as "what about John Edwards?" and "what about Congressional slush funds?"
As Mueller works his magic, we are destined to hear more feeble efforts to put the spotlight elsewhere. By early spring, he should be asking "what about Nixons's plumbers?" By late spring..."what about Andrew Johnson?"
20
Thank you for helping to hope! But I wonder if those astronomers had been binge watching "The Expanse." (super great show, thankfully being renewed through Amazon, which then cannot be all bad)
2
There is a lot of fear about how Mueller can't go after the president but I'd be pretty happy with an indictment of Don Jr. and Ivanka. I'm certain that Mueller will be able to provide Ivanka with a much clearer understanding of the word "complicit." He's a very helpful man and apparently she's not sure what it means.
46
I’m with you. Jail the whole family and at least three cabinet heads, investigate that slimy INS head until his actual head falls off...then, send a squad of guys in blue windbreakers that say, “FBI,” onna back to stand across Pennsylvania Avenue, drink lattes, snicker regularly, and point two fingers first at their own eyes, then at the nearest window of the Oval Office.
13
You might say it was a matter of time with Trump, but corruption still rules in EPA appointees and Republicans still have a majority in the Senate. What really matters is that legislation to combat climate change has been put off indefinitely, and time is running out.
39
Countries need a functioning two-party system at least. I’m afraid that with the coming pushback against the Reds that the Blues will also overreach as in NJ. Where is the middle ground with politicians who at least try to APPEAR fair minded?
8
@BL Well said. This Republican, who is not at all happy with his party either, agrees completely.
5
"[W]hen you consider the events of the last 12 months together, it becomes clear how relentlessly justice has ground forward, and how much Trump and his flunkies have lost."
Have you ever wanted to know the sound of someone who is crazy?
It is before you. This "liberal" fantasy that justice is catching up with, or has caught up with, Trump is the largest barrier between "liberals" and their goal of unifying the country. Of course, when they think of unifying the country, they mean that everyone must accept their oppressive vision of it.
Notwithstanding this, it is an fundamental principle of Constitutional law that criminal statutes must be narrowly construed. Criminal statutes may not be stretched to include conduct some, such as over-zealous prosecutors or fanatics in the peanut gallery, might wish to redress in the criminal courts. That violates the Due Process Clause. People have the right to notice of what is illegal.
The drumbeat that "Trump is a criminal" equally offends the principle that we must not ignore the means, if the end is justified. What is required is equal justice; not show trials before an inevitable hanging.
Bottom Line: Trump paid a woman to shut up, so he would look better during the election, allegedly. Even if this is true, it is no different than if he had paid a barber for a haircut, so he would look better during the election.
To the New York Times: Please stop with this irresponsible propaganda. It is damaging the public debate.
23
@H. Torbet Then you were fine with Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky.
73
@H. Torbet
Comparing a payment that goes against campaign finance laws to a haircut is a good one, but honestly, if you believe that, then there really isn't much to say.
110
Actually, getting a haircut is not a campaign finance violation, and directing a lawyer to pay for a haircut is not conspiracy to commit a crime.
61
I have NEVER looked forward to the start of a new year more than 2019. May it be the year Trump is toppled, taking his horrid family and devious associates with him. May 2019 bring a refreshing level of sanity to our Congress, and may the silent Republicans have their hats handed to them. May our country find ways to unite again, free of cries of "lock her up" and "fake news." Please let 2019 be the year I watch Trump be led away from the Oval Office in handcuffs, while he shouts "witch hunt" to deaf ears. I'll settle for 2020 on that one if I must.
86
@MountainFamily Sanity in Congress - with the likes of Pelosi, Hoyer, Waters, Rangel etc in charge of the Housse? Surely you jest... or dream.
2
Pace yourselves. Brace yourselves. Mueller Time draws nigh. Its conclusions and its aftermath will likely redefine our country for generations to come, testing our spirit, our soul and our resolve as no time in recent memory, since each side will be adamantly and passionately convinced of its own rightness and the wrongness of its opponents. The results must be unequivocally proven to be true if they are to be believed, though those truths will probably be decried as lies and their proclaimers castigated and condemned as illegitimate while the opposite will probably be the actual situation.
Exceptional leadership will be mandatory to steer us through what happens next, yet that quality is sorely lacking in a complacent, complicit Republican-controlled Senate and with a totally corrupt president, aka Individual-1, in The White House.
Cooler, calmer heads throughout our government must prevail by putting democracy and country above selfish, partisan politics.
46
Interesting that U mention ‘since he rode down the elevator’-since that very moment-this was ALWAYS going to happen. Slow going perhaps-but this has been in the mail. I’ve wondered since that moment time & again why anyone around him let him take that ride down—not to mention hitch a ride. From that day people have scoffed as I stated w/certainty ‘He will stay in race & he will win. But the higher he climbs the further he will inevitably fall’. The 1st responses I got were of outright derision. Followed swiftly by laughter. Then worry. When he won-FEAR. then rage & despondency. Now that his final decent has begun my husband sits on the other end of the couch watching me out of corners of his eye wondering what I might know about him that would be best kept secret asking me for lotto numbers he will pretend not to play. He too is now certain how this all ends. It’s inevitable.
16
@Sarah Brender Absolutely wonderful.
5
@Sarah Brender seriously, do you have psychic powers? Hmm, I have met a few who do.
3
How arrogant can a person be that thinks if you can con your way to riches, you can be President and con your way to more riches.
40
@DSS
Right you are. But he did, and "we" let him. (At least the Faux News Network and those who dwell in that looney-tune unhinged carefully manufactured version of "reality" let him, so evidently megalomania has its rewards. :)
Question is: how do we repair the damage and stop it from happening again? The problem with Democrats so far is the unwillingness to step up & do the hard work needed to fix it.
We are at at a crucial moment here: if EVER there was an example of all that can possibly go wrong in an American presidency (BLATANTLY so) Trump is its poster child, and impeachment was the Founders' answer. Will we fail to right the wrongs and just let there be NO consequences for this corrupt, incompetent & venal man? So far, it's looking that way. It's incomprehensible to me that that could even be remotely true, but it seems to be.
14
How arrogant can a con man be? If you factor in Trump's hopeless derangement, there are no limits.
8
@DSS
Ah, but he has. It may end very badly. He may lose both his freedom and his "brand", but he will finagle for more money every step of the way. As Lenin said, "A capitalist is a person who will sell you the rope for his own hanging."
Money is to the wealthy what crack is to the ghetto: something that makes it all have meaning. Something irresistible. That without which there is only darkness.
4
thank you well said
9
My only slightly guilty wish is that Trumps fear of what is to come could be prolonged for eternity.
22
Can't wait to see Trump, ALL his family and the flunkies in orange jumpsuits.
37
One message: our kids are watching. Do we really want them to think we let a president get way with paying off a porn star to win an election? Impeach. Stand up for what is good, right and moral.
43
@PE When Clinton was advantaging a young intern in the Oval Office no less, Democrats told America it was a private family matter. Goodness the hypocrisy. The difference here is that Trump did not romp under the President's desk. His conduct is still inexcusable but it's not impeachable.
2
Finally, Giuliani lost all pretense for decency...there is no crime, he said...no one was killed or rubbed.
https://www.vox.com/2018/12/14/18140947/giuliani-trump-cohen-crimes
Here is the headline...
Remember when Giuliani was into cracking down on minor crime as mayor of NYC? Times have changed.
He used to send teens to jail for petty vandalism. Now he thinks felonies are “non-crimes.”
What gives,"Broken Windows" enforcer.
44
All of his life Trump has stuck it in everyone and anyone's face who he felt got in his way. He screwed over contractors, business associates, staff, friends, and wives. He boasted and bragged his way to the top and bottom, all the while daring everyone to just try and hold him accountable. This has been his "draw". Just like Mike Tyson, Trump will eventually run into his James "Buster" Douglas, and when he does it will be the real beginning of the end of his reign. What Trump failed to realize is that Washington D.C. doesn't operate like reality television or the real estate business. In D.C. you are under the largest microscope in the world and you cannot hide. Bluff, bluster and a foul temperament, carried him a long, long way, but it will only take him so far. In the end we will be thankful he didn't change his ways and trash this country even more while "acting" like a decent human being and politician. Because his ego wouldn't allow for that we might be saved from even more destruction and loss of face on the world stage. Let's hope he and his minions are gone sooner rather than later.
62
@Magan Bravo Magan!
5
“He doesn’t feel the ordinary human emotions most of us do,” he said. “For example, he’s free of shame because he has no conscience, nor any self-awareness. So while his behavior certainly suggests he feels increasing fear and isolation, he would be the last one to know it." -trump's ghost writer - Tony Schwartz
SO backed up by some 40 million americans with equally socipathic tendencies and a GOP with zero core values:
The damage from their incompetence and corruption will continue unabated until the coup de gras -hopefully in 2020.
BUT the christian old white trogs still have a generation or two before passing into complete economic and political irellevency. -AND by then climate change fallout will be creating disasters of epic local and worldwide proportions.
We may have missed our chance?
42
@dave
Yes, and then the evangelicals will claim it is all predicted in the bible: the apocalypse. There will be no acknowledgement of climate change and humankind's role in it; it will be seen as something the evangelicals knew about all along. Probably as a result of gay people or something like that. It boggles the mind.
18
Was there ever a more significant reason why punishing Trump should be both severe and unmercifull? If the country is to avoid future crises, from without and within, an example of the culprit must be made. The name Trump and the Trump brand should forever be sononimous with lying, cheating and defiling the oath of office of the President of the US. Ditto for VP, as Pence is equally as dispicable an individual.
62
There seems to be no bottom to the corruption of the Trump family and administration. The GOP who took in Trump seems to explain why they took him in they are as corrupt as he is. Lie cheat and steal to win elections and when in power cash in as fast as you can deny every thing with a spin look at Hillary. How long will the American people put up with all this corruption ,criminal behavior and constant lying. Trump could care less as long as devoted cult followers accept what ever lies he spouts. Two years will test the American people and then they need to say out with the rascals and prosecute the criminals including the ex -president.
42
2018. The year that ate itself.
13
I agree with Michelle Goldberg's limited optimism, but I think we need to push it on both sides- that is to mention that the 40 seat Demo blue wave is beyond anything anticipated, and shows the disgust the big majority of Americans have with Trump. But we also have to be aware that the forces backing Trump see themselves at war with anyone and everyone who stands in their way, and will resort to even more cheating, fraud and violence in support of Trump. Prepare for the political battles of 2019.
45
There are more of us than them, if we all stand up.
15
Please tell me more. I am in desperate need of constant reassurance. Most worrisome: even today Trump’s approval ratings—despite all that you catalogue here—remain, as they have for the past year and a half, in the low to mid 40s, not a bad spot for launching a re-election campaign.
12
Is this to good to be true or to bad to be false? In the age of tRump it’s hard to tell. He appears to be coming unglued and he needs to be removed before he causes irreversible harm to our nation.
22
Great recap, Michelle. Thank you. I can't wait to read Dave Barry's Miami Herald humor column on The Year 2018. He certainly has plenty of material.
12
Right on, Michelle! Excellent commentary. You express so well what more and more Americans believe. Think what you will have to write next year after House Democrats scrutinize Trump's tax returns, and Mr. Mueller and federal prosecutors continue their excellent work. Please let your colleagues at the Times know how much we appreciate their aggressive coverage of this corrupt administration. You and Mr. Mueller and federal prosecutors are going a long way to restoring my faith in America. My prayer is that justice and the rule of law will prevail in the end.
27
Yes, but...
Like so many crises of the Trump Era, the Trump Era itself is an invented, self-inflicted disaster. 2018 has provided some welcome remedy, but we are still so far below zero...
...and yet, for the first time since that "cursed" elevator ride, it seems as if karma is not completely broken.
8
I was just saying to my wife today that it feels like Trump is finally being overwhelmed by a precisely-orchestrated legal system. He's spent his entire life behaving unethically, and when things didn't go his way, he either declared bankruptcy or settled out of court and moved on. No big deal. I hope to see him facing actual criminal charges soon.
43
Hopefully, the juustice system and "rule of law" will eventuallu catch with Trump and his band of co-conspirators; the cowardly Republican Congress who has facilitated and turned a blind eye to his felonies
will eventually be voted out of office, although not soon enough.
But, what of the 46% of voters of this country who have been mesmerized and brainwashed by the Trump syndrome? How do you deal with their complacency and laziness, who would rather get all of their information from Faux news? What is to be done with them who to a great extent are the uneducated that Trump so much loves, who don't read, are totally ignorant of the Constitutionand, and watch and participate in what should be the political discourse of their country as though it is a reality show or a wrestling match between "Us" and "Them" ? Be very afraid, specially in light of Trump's predictions that if he gets impeached there will be blood in the streets.
24
I will feel safe once Trump is out of office or in jail.
14
It's always nice to see white collar criminals punished but we're far from totally discrediting Trump, Trumpism and maga. Until these things are synonymous with our country making a terrible mistake, it could happen again.
76
Though this is the season of year-end wrap-ups in the media, this column is more than usually welcome. It puts a lot of events into perspective, especially when it seems the Trump show has gone on forever.
Hopefully 2019 will see Trump in deeper legal trouble than ever and hopefully on his way to jail or at least obscurity along with many of his enablers.
15
The country will stay together for the sake of the children, but the hard feelings, on both sides, are mutual. All communications between the two parties will take place between lawyers.
11
I have to say that I'm sleeping much better now, knowing that certain norms that we've all depended on have either held or are returning. Thank you, Michelle, for putting it all into context.
Queen Elizabeth II famously referred to 1992 (a particularly difficult year for her, her family, and her reign) as an annus horribilis. Had she but known...
24
I frequently voice my own disbelief that a third of our fellow citizens are okay with this monstrosity of a president. I liken it to the first half of the 19th century when a third of the country felt that slavery was okay. So, maybe there's always a third of people who are willing to countenance evil as long as it benefits them?
But there is a difference now. Many of the thirty-odd percent that support the Stable Genius are hurting from job loss, community devastation, and non-representation.
I'm a lot more frustrated by my fellow citizens that fail to understand that.
I'm doing my best to communicate this to my elected representatives.
If we want to restore our democracy, we can't afford to leave millions behind.
32
@Steve W To quote Mr. Spock "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few". That 1/3 of America will have to wise up and wake up or be permanently left behind. I'm tired of listening to them complain about being forgotten. They represent the America still dreaming about the Civil War and the way things used to be. If they want to chain themselves to the corpses of Trumpism and the GOP it's their choice. Let them go.
18
if you belive that's possible, you should read Richard Hofstater's essays from the early 50s to early 60s, collected under the title "Ths Paranoid Style in American Politcs".
the same about 1/3 of Americans who supported slavery and that old time religion in the first half of the 19th Century now have physical and spiritual descendents singing Dixie in about the same proportion. seems they will always be with us.
8
Michelle:
I can barely remember what happened at the beginning of 2018 in the Trump saga. It seems like a lifetime ago.
Given that things related to Delusional Donnie are speeding up, I wonder what your review of 2019 is going to sound like.
12
I must humbly disagree. The Law is not Justice. But 'twill do, 'twill serve.
6
Can justice ever catch up to a guy who thinks that subterfuge, deceit and lies are the way to win an election? Our government is based on the consent of the governed. It is our consent to pay our taxes, live by the laws and treat others as we would like to be treated. Without that consent, we are not self-governed but merely ruled. Donald Trump doesn't get the difference even though it's not that subtle. DJT is an ends justifies the means sort of guy...Probably the last person you actually would want in the Oval Office...in control of a nuclear arsenal or the national treasury or the world's largest military.
A guy who thinks that women will let you grab their genitals because you are celebrity would certainly grab your government without your consent if you let him. What he doesn't know is that without the people's consent, there is no government.
It will take time and at some future point we may need to stop doing it but until then every bill, every executive order and every appointment of Mr. Trump's presidency needs to be reversed. He never wielded legitimate authority. He didn't have our consent. Duped voters cannot give consent.
36
Dear Ms Goldberg, just expressing my sincere appreciation for your writing. Ever so clear-headed. Ever so right. THANK YOU.
An admirer.
39
This litany of misdeeds and their judicial and political consequences reminds me of the opening line in mid-twentieth-century comedian Red Buttons´ standup routine: "Strange things are happening, all over town." To my mind the strangest is Michael Cohen´s assertion that Donald Trump caused him to lose his moral compass. The idea that this serial nogoodnik was equipped with a moral compass is hilarious beyond words.
12
To begin, Trump is not "packing" the courts, he is appointing judges who are duly confirmed. It's too bad you lost the election. It doesn't matter how many of Trump's acolytes you take down over the remaining 6 years he will be in office, there are more to replace them and overwhelm your consistently shrill and biased commentary.
3
@No
The Watergate break-in happened on June 17, 1972 and Nixon resigned on August 9, 1974, 2 years, one month and 23 days later.
Trump is a bigger criminal than Nixon (Watergate), Harding (Teapot Dome) and US Grant (Credit Mobilier), combined.
6 years in office?
At the rate things are going, more like six months. January 20, 2021 at the latest.
And then a long term in JAIL, courtesy of US taxpayers.
35
Except for how the Republican Congress wouldn’t approve any of Obama’s nominees or even let his Supreme Court justice get to a vote, so there are many more openings than there should be.
Remember your support for this as you get frustrated at the newly Democratic (despite rampant gerrymandering that made it such a stacked race against us) House’s obstruction, and remind yourself: “it’s too bad we lost this election.”
28
@No. We wouldn’t accuse Trump of packing the courts if the Republicans had confirmed the highly qualified and centrist Merrium Garland. And Obama appointed many other highly qualified judges that the Republicans refused to confirm. Yes, it is too bad we lost the electoral college contest, it it’s also too bad we can’t have fair play.
34
Today's GOP presents clear and present danger that could affect the country path to progress for decades.
Just check what just happened in Wisconsin.
Wisconsin’s Scott Walker Signs Bills Stripping Powers From Incoming Governor.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/14/us/wisconsin-governor-scott-walker.html
That has been a trend unfolding in several states.
I can only say it looks ugly, reactionary and absolutely undemocratic.
Today's republicans are all corrupt by their unsavory donors, who are demolishing whatever left of our country democracy.
Koch Industries, and the rest of them had focus their agenda for decades on overturning our fragile progress.
35
The man paid $25 million to settle a class action lawsuit that made a compelling case of blatant and intentional consumer fraud. He was seen on video bragging about committing adultery and sexual assault in the most vulgar terms. During debates, he squirmed, pouted, threatened, demonstrated a lack of basic knowledge and relied on playground taunts and insults to fill the gaps.
We all knew who this man was well before the election. Nevertheless, as though hypnotized, 60 million Americans voted for the guy. And although 73 million Americans voted for Hillary Clinton and independent candidates - 73 million ‘NOT Trump’ votes — the man was elected by a fluke; because he won the electoral votes in three states by a margin of 100,000 votes in all three states combined. New Yorkers, who know the man best, overwhelmingly voted against him.
All of these supposedly new ‘revelations’ merely confirm what we have known all along. Trump is a liar, a con man, a misogynist, a racist, a know-nothing and proud of it. He surrounds himself with people of like mind. We all know it, and we have done nothing about it - other than put him in the spotlight 24 hours a day and anoint him President.
We are a nation with a pounding migraine headache, too dysfunctional to stop hitting ourselves over the head with a mallet to make it go away.
43
In '17 we had Trump in the role of the dog who caught the car it was chasing. '18 would seem to be the debut of Trump as a cockroach that actually managed to turn on the light switch itself.
9
I'm not so sure this is justice. Mueller was supposed to investigate the accusation that Trump colluded with Putin. According to Alan Dershowitz, that's not even against the law. One of Mueller's great achievement, touted by MS Goldberg, because of his nefarious crimes, was to send Papadopoulos to four days in jail. He indicted a bunch of Russians not in the country. What do they care? It just means they can’t go to Disneyland any more. He charged Cohen, who lied to Congress and investigators as well as betrayed his client’s confidentiality, and initially said the payment came out of his cash, and even more horrible crime. Then Cohen is offered a three-year sentence at a minimal security prison as opposed to possible decades in some prison like Attica. All he had to do is "Sign here". I wonder how long it took to hear the words, " Give me the pen." Mueller goes after Manafort for dealings years before the election and already looked at by the Justice Department when Obama was president. They felt it was not prosecutable. Along the way he decides to take a shot, so to speak at the NRA. But does anyone remember the last time anyone heard of the word, "Collude"? I can’t. This, so called justice, is just an attempt to reap vengeance on Trump for winning the election, bring about a popliteal coop, and disenfranchise the millions of people who put Thump in the Oval Office.
2
why is it Trump fans cannot even spell coup?
15
@Ron - Alan Dershowitz also seems to think that holding famous people to account for criminal behavior amounts to persecution. Cohen, Trump's longtime lawyer, says he committed crimes. Michael Flynn says Trump committed crimes. Trump's probable best friend (at least not named Sean Hannity) David Pecker says his company committed crimes at Trump's behest. And all of that is before you get to the physical evidence -- Don Jr.'s texts and emails that practically scream, "Hey, wanna defraud America? Because we're in if you are!". How much smoke do you need to see before you believe there's a fire? How many people does (lifelong resgistered Republican) Robert Mueller need to send to jail before you're convinced that this *might* not just be "vengeance on Trump for winning"?
15
Alan Dershowitz is wrong about collusion.
1
Brava! More, please.
8
Another great and informative column from Michelle Goldberg. She has now become my go to columnist at the NYT. I would wish someone with her wisdom and candor to be our next President.
10
It is beginning to seem entirely appropriate to say, at this point:
LOCK HIM UP!
21
"The truth is hard."
3
No matter how fast you are, you cannot outrun
the truth
Walter E. Oberer
Trump is trapped in his web of lies. No one will
believe his denials.
Word
11
Trump the Crime Boss Clown is primarily the front man for the Republican Party - a party that is owned and controlled by corporate right wing extremists that dictate the GOP agenda. Trump is the pathetic cover story and Mitch McConnell is the inside operator and implementer. These wealthy right wing forces have used massive amounts of dark money to distort both our electoral and legislative processes.
Trump may be impeached and eventually wind up in jail, but the danger to our nation's democracy will not cease until the right wing oligarchy including he Kochs, Mercers, Adelsons, Murdochs etc. can no longer buy politicians and spread lies and propaganda with no controls.
29
@Jefflz This will require overturning Citizens United, a big ask given the current makeup of SCOTUS (and why they were prepared to go through hell and high water to install Kavanaugh). The most pernicious court decision ever made.
10
Donald Trump - show us your tax returns.
15
"Nevertheless, this is the first year since 2015, when Trump rode down that cursed escalator to launch his bid for office, that is ending more hopefully than it began." When I saw that, I couldn't help thinking of Hitler's plane descending from the heavens in Triumph Of The Will. I have been wondering if Trump's handlers sought to imitate the same effect, so that people would perceive Trump as God, coming to Earth to save "the people."
Let's hope things work out better than the last time God, presumably, sent a strong leader.
6
Trump is no more corrupt, nor better or worse than any recent president that has gone before him. He is just more transparent in his lies.
BUT, no other recent president has had to put up with literal twenty-four hour a day, seven-days-a-week attacks from the media like Trump has. The fact that he's still standing is a testament to something, though I'm not sure what.
CNN has become the anti-Trump network. They don't report any other news. It's all-Trump, all the time.
The rest of the press is little better.
Maybe if the media reported anything - ANYTHING! - else, we'd be in a better place and less worried about stupid things that make no difference.
But, that's not going to happen, is it?
3
@Elfego. Trump is much more corrupt than other Presidents during my lifetime. When Jimmy Carter was elected, he sold his peanut farm that had been in his family for many years, and put all his money in a real blind trust, so there wouldn’t be even the appearance that he was profiting by his policies. And if Clinton or Obama went golfing for a weekend occasionally, the taxpayers didn’t pay thousands of dollars to their families. But we do pay every time the Secret Service stays at Mar-a-Lago or eats there or rents the golf carts to follow Trump around as he plays golf. These are only a couple of small examples of Trump benefiting financially during his Presidency.
16
The shoes keep dropping.
The question is, are they the shoes of a centipede or of a millipede?
3
Michelle, I believe you should change your name to Pollyanna. Really. Is any of this going to bring Heather Heyer back to life? Are there not troops, as well as armed vigilantes stationed at the US/Mexico border? Is the Supreme Court not in the hands of - I'll say it bluntly - a fascist majority? Are we not still hearing reports of children separated from parents at the border? Is the level of carbon decreasing?
I could go no. If you agree with Ms. Goldberg on this column, you are deluding yourself, donning your Pollyanna (or Norman Vincent Peale) costume, and blithely whistling past the graveyard.
3
People used to call Ronald Reagan "Teflon Ron." The metaphor was not entirely appropriate but I think proponents got their point across reasonably well.
Someone described to me yesterday an even better comparison for Trump, this time a simile rather than a metaphor.
Trump is like a cockroach. Grotesque, evasive, dangerous, and almost impossible to eliminate. I won't even joke about Trump's relationship to the nuclear holocaust.
I truly hope American Justice is a successful exterminator to this blight upon our nation. If only we could eradicate the vile pests in Congress. Trump defenders are even more disgusting than Trump.
12
I would love to walk in to a supermarket and see the
National Enquirer stuffed to the the gills.
People should consider not funding a corrupt tabloid.
Stick to shows where you are reminded ,every six seconds,
what you are viewing.Or someone with an oversized beverage
container.
Every day the same story in this paper, er, press release for Democratic Party: We got him now!
3
@M,
We did get 'em.
Cohen, papdopolous, gates, manaforte, van de whatever etc. all are doing, or have done, jail time.
5
Judge Sullivan at 2PM today will receive Flynn's 302s and any other exculpatory evidence Muller was ordered to deliver. The judge is suspicious that misdeeds are occurring in Muellers shop. The 302 at trial was signed 8 months AFTER the interview of Flynn?
He suspects the earlier one showed the general DIDN'T lie as Congressional testimony indicated...and the latter one was edited before the trial.
A related TV interview of Comey by MSNBCs Wallace yesterday, which I saw a few hours ago, had Comey saying "I sent Strozk to WH to interview the general". After McCabe told Flynn not to bring a lawyer (on tape). He continued "I did it because I knew I could get away with it. It was Trumps first week in office and they had no controls (laughing). I would never have tried it with Obama or Bush."
UNBELIEVABLE!! You can't make this stuff up.
So justice comes to those who control DOJ and the Special Counsel's Office.
Of course Oumuamua wasn't a probe sent by aliens to learn about Earth, just Earth that is. It was a probe sent to gather evidence about every planet it passed. (Now, don't you feel better?)
2
In O. Henry's short story The Ransom of Red Chief, The kidnappers were in a situation similar to any honest Republican, how to get rid of the monster.
The kidnappers gave the kids father $250 dollars and ran. What will the Republicans do?
6
Poor Republicans and Trump supporters. They are misunderstood, unfairly accused as being racists, called authoritarians, undemocratic, and maligned as indecent and unethical for supporting their President. All they really want is the one thing they're convinced democrats are trying to steal from them: liberty.
1
Trump presidency is getting everyday more and more loutish.
There is no hope Trump presidency can see any light next 2 years either.
A president couldn't find a Chief of staff and appointing his son in law, oh boy where we saw this thing before in Saddam's Iraq or Idi Amin's Uganda.
and
Solid 30% of American people certified as Tribal nuts.
For me damage is done horses out the barn.
5
"An awful menagerie of lowlifes was swept into power by Trump’s victory two years ago. In 2018, at least some of them started to fall back out again."
Perfect!!!
8
We ain’t seen nothing yet. This opera buffa will end with one final scene : the deranged Clown in restraints, very heavily medicated, on a stretcher, being “ medically evacuated “ from the Oval Office. I’ll give it two or three months, unless the entire
“ Family “ just runs off to Russia. Irony, MUCH?
8
Karma, if there is any such thing.
5
OK Michelle, where do I find the story about Harvard's discovery of a "strange oblong object"?
1
Uh, sorry Michelle, but the breaking news from Wisconsin puts a big dent in your thesis.
2
Great summary and perspective. It’d been quite a year.
6
I know that Donald T has done many bad things, told many outrageous lies, and hurt many decent people in his lifetime, and he has almost always avoided having to pay the consequences. Now it seems that there's going to be a reckoning, and he may even go to jail, and, should that happen, he will have only himself to blame.
There are many things he has done which make my blood boil, one that happened when he was in his early 20s and the other just recently, but they highlight both his cowardice and his wickedness.
In the later part of the 1960s our country was engaged in a feckless war against North Vietnam. The majority of Americans were opposed to this war, but our government wanted to support South Vietnam against the communist government of North Vietnam. Donald was called to his draft board in Queens, but he was afraid. He used his connections to find a doctor who wrote a letter stating that he had a bone spur in his heel (which was a lie). Donald was a coward to the bone.
He's still a coward, but he's added a streak of wickedness. Several months ago he had metal cadges erected for immigrant families looking to live in the U.S. When that didn't deter other immigrant families, he decided to show them who was boss, so he had cages built far away from the East coast, and parents weren't allowed to live with their children. Many of the children were less than 5 years old. He is truly a wicked man! There will be a space in the lowest level of hell for him.
34
In the interest of final closure of our long national nightmare, I would be in favor of bundling up into one package all of the criminal acts and violations of common decency that he could be charged with and dismissing them in their entirety in exchange for his banishment to a deserted island in the Pacific for the remainder of his life, without tweets.
It's not that I have anything against deserted islands in the Pacific, but enough is enough is far too much enough.
18
@A. Stanton
Usually I agree with you, but I am going to guess that the deserted island would object that you would be inflicting cruel and unusual punishment on it, that it is innocent, and that it isn't even under US administration.
3
@A. Stanton
Not an island, the giant trash heap. It would be poetic justice.
1
Ms. Goldberg,
Thank you for sharing your perspective. Have a nice weekend.
4
Thank you for this! It's quite like the lists you see on Dec. 30 of all the celebrities who have passed away during the year. Remember, the wheels of justice grind slow, but grind exceeding fine. In the long term, Mr. Trump will be seen not as the ultimate Anti-Christ, but just another incompetent Reagan Republican, remembered as the creators of slogan policy- Just Say No, the War On Drugs, Mission Accomplished, and Lock Her Up.
9
Michelle: Trump spent a lifetime amassing this collection of sleazy contacts, and he augmented it with money laundering, his main business.
Trump's nominal business, for he has always been a minnow in the world of NY Real Estate, connected him with a no more illustrious crowd. It's just that most of them viewed Trump as somewhat sloppy and dimwitted, while a tedious braggart.
Trump's 'friends' have always self-selected their dubious association for the most transactional of reasons. And the same holds true of Melania. Stephanie Alexandra Winston Wolocoff (Groucho might say anyone with that many names must be dodging subpoenas) is Melania's friend who took down tens of millions in fees for napkin arrangements and such at the infamous Trump Inaugural celebrations that kicked off American Carnage. She complained because it appears she was only compensated a few million for those and the rest might have kicked back into Donny's pockets and surrogates. Enter Michael Cohen and his digital recording, and that's how this latest SDNY inquiry got underway.
Justice cannot be relentless enough with the Trumps. In a way the whole Trump debacle was created by years of leniency and pardons with payoffs for the uber rich and connected, even if they are simply the grandchildren of mobsters at best.
If the whole Trump clan, McConnell and Ciao, Barack, and scores of other millionaires join Manafort, Cohen and the other flunkies in prison, only then will just truly prevail.
6
Well put. In addition, I can't wait to see what happens when Trump's tax returns are finally exposed to the light. Then we will really see a corrupt fraudster exposed for what he is, as this campaign finance stuff is kind of squishy legally and constitutionally. Tax evasion or fraud is what usually gets those in power in true trouble with the law.
9
I can hear it now: the Trump crew and his congressional flunkies responding to Goldberg's list: "Is that all you've got?"
7
My husband and I were talking about this the other night. We have endured other periods in our country's history where it seemed that sanity and goodness no longer existed, although certainly not at the level we've experienced with this administration.
Truth and the essential goodness of America have always prevailed. However, sometimes it sure seems like it takes an awfully long time for those qualities to come back around.
Thank you to you and everyone else at The Times for your excellent reporting and keeping them honest! Democracy requires all of us to work hard for it.
25
Well said, Ms. Goldberg. We are not out of the woods by any means yet, but in the last month I felt for the 1st time in the last two years that this national nightmare may have peaked.
18
First, how much money does one person need? It's mind boggling to think that much if not all of what Trump has done has been motivated by money.
Second, many readers wonder how so many Americans can still support Trump. It confounds me as well, but my best guess is that it is rooted in reaction to overreaching by the political left. I thus pray that going forward, the Democrats don't overplay their hand. They should ditch the race and gender identity politics in favor of an appeal based on improving the lives of the working and middle classes.
Third, I can't wait for Trump's perp walk. Lock him up! Lock him up! Lock him up!
17
@John
Blaming the left for the ultra- right's adulation of a grifter is like blaming an apple for the litter on the highway. Lock him up!
8
@John
'They should ditch the race and gender identity politics in favor of an appeal .'
Nah...We just need to ditch the Republican Traitors and their anti-American ideas.
5
more self congratulations! Friends, the fight has just begun. Get involved after the holidays in the nearest 2019 election- whether it is for dog catcher, county commissioner, or a judgeship. There is no time like the present to beat on the GOP and use 2019 as a stepping stone for 2020. Better believe the GOP and their funders will be back in strength.
25
While I do really hope that 2019 is the year that some of the disregard for the rule of law or common decency that the current administration has shown catches up with them, I doubt it. His supporters dont care. The senate doesnt care. Donald is good entertainment and who cares how badly he behaves and how badly this looks to the world as long as the left is upset and conservative judges are being appointed. And surely Hilary would have been worse, they say and point fingers to justify Donald. Who cares if he hurts those who support him through tariffs and trade wars because they stick with him regardless. I therefore hope and wish you were right. But, I doubt it.
3
Remember when the Republicans called themselves the"moral" majority?
23
@Peter Wolf
Yes. Unfortunately they are no longer moral. Fortunately, they are no longer the majority.
12
@Morgan,
If the rightists are moral then I'm trump.
1
The good news, if it comes, will be the total destruction of the republican party as it currently exists. The have been anti democratic and anti American for about one half century, and counting. It is possible that even the anti abortion voters will see their total corruption and look elsewhere for "righteous" candidates.
When the koch bothers and ALEC are finally exposed as the corruption they are We the People might finally begin to rebuild and correct many of the problems that exist in this Nation.
Loosening the grip of monopoly capitalism and returning to a real free market will unleash a prosperity that should lift the boats of the trumpistas, which might insure that this nightmare will never be repeated.
I can dream, can't I?
14
It's painful to hope that this latest info will be 45's undoing, as he has escaped many horrors so far. My fingers are crossed.
10
Thank you Michelle Goldberg! It is important that the U.S. and all the world hear your voice!
12
Politics has always been a nasty business, with backroom deals, favors, and corruption of varying degrees. But this President has brought it to a whole new level, and the fetid smell of his corruption and the betrayal of America has permeated Washington and the United States for long enough. Bringing justice through the RICO statute, and prosecuting everyone that aided in this corrupt criminal enterprise is appropriate and necessary. DJT's actions cannot go unpunished.
12
trump maybe on his way out, brought down by all the incompetent thieves in this crime family. But it is the Ruspublicans that should be getting all of our attention. I call them Ruspublicans because they prefer a single party system enabling the Oligarchs. They knew what trump was when he came onto the stage. Once it was clear that he had the ability to hoodwink large segments of the voters they took him in as a distraction. Sorta like putting an arsonist in charge of an area you want to get rid of to begin with. Now it is time to go after those that used this distraction for their own purposes, a single party system in support of Oligarchs. trump will be easy to get rid of but the Ruspublicans are entrenched like carpenter ants feeding off the fiber of our society. They must be stopped!
15
What you may not understand is that Trump trumps justice!
His main attraction is his heroic/villain comic book escapes.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Donald Trump defies everyone, including the law. This is what makes him seem unstoppable, as he dominates the daily media.
Thus, I suggest that sane Americans put our heads together and find ways to combat Trump in ways that stick, so we can defend democracy and sanity, right now... Why wait until 2020?
12
The Democratic landslide in the midterms proved that the laws of political gravity haven’t been suspended; Trump’s incompetence, venality and boorishness had electoral consequences.
one has to wonder how another two years of this administration is going to push the electorate well over to the Democratic side.
People are sick and tired of this buffoon's "incompetence, venality and boorishness" as well as the mounting evidence of illegality from top to bottom in this administration.
2020 cannot come soon enough.
15
Off topic: the "fully operational probe" can't even be imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope. It is a tiny speck of wavering dim light. The image you've seen, the one that fooled the Harvard folks, is an artist's drawing.
The dim light is oscillating in intensity, as if Sunlight is reflecting off an object that is rotating. That's all there is to it.
But, a wonderful prop for a wonderful column!
3
What is amazing to me is that 35% of Americans still approve of Trump.
How can this be?
The real problem is the American people.
23
@Independent
Those people have always existed, they're just more toxic now. That percentage of people would vote for Mickey Mouse if he had an R after his name.
9
@Independent
The overwhelming majority of us are fine with the whole truth....its the LIARS we are so tired of.... keep the faith, we will prevail ~
3
Many years ago, I worked in the white collar crime unit of the DA’s office. The section chief who mentored the young prosecutors advised that cases dependent upon paper trails were easy to prove. In more colorful language than I can put here, he likened a papertrail to human digestion; metaphorically, he stated that once the trail exits the body it cannot be put back.
Of course, Trump’s crimes would catch up to him. He cannot put back what he has done.
25
But wait, there’s more....when is Hillary going to be investigated for all that Russian money that found its way into the coffers of the Clinton Foundation?
1
@Shenoa...news flash for you: Hilary lost the election. She is presently irrelevant, politically speaking. A zero.
Trumpty Dumpty, on the other hand is a criminal, a liar, and inhabits the White House. That IS relevant.
81
@Shenoa --- All of that money was perfectly legal, properly reported in tax returns, and publicly known. So, what's the problem?
48
Rather than pass along made stuff up, why don’t you look at the Clinton Foundation’s annual IRS Form 990 and get the facts?
44
Michelle, 2018 is just the beginning of the end of the Trump administration. Think of it as a 3 act play. Act I was the emergence of just how deep the corruption of Trump's inner circle is, with the indictments, guilty pleas and cooperation agreements and sentencing of convicted felons obtained by the Mueller investigation or the US Attorney's Office of the S.D.N.Y. Act II will start in 2019 when the Democratic majority takes over the House and begins real investigations, and possibly when Mueller releases his report and probably indicts even more co-conspirators . Act III will finally be the end of our national nightmare, in 2020, when Trump is either, impeached, resigns or loses his re-election campaign.
14
@Seymore Clearly
Do we really need more investigations? Get rid of him now before he ruins anymore of our country.
3
The Year Justice Caught Up With Trumpworld and Fell Flat On Its Face!
2
Accepting the position of Trump’s Chief of Staff at this juncture in our nation’s history is tantamount to booking passage on the Titanic while the band is playing “Nearer My God To Thee.”
There is obvious need here to subject all candidates for the position to the rigors of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment prior to their approval for the position.
27
There is an obvious need here ....
4
@A. Stanton:Major problem with most comments is they are seldom based on issues, but merely ad hominem criticisms of the c-in-c.. Purpose of a comment is to (1) edify and (2) spark debate but 1 encounters few which meet the criterion. We who support the pres. back Kate's Law, opposition to open borders, overseas trade agreements like TPP which, instead of giving away American jobs to Mexicans, give them away to the Vietnamese! We back him on his opposition to the Climate Accord which is obligatory on us, but optional for other major polluters like China and India, and would cost us billions of dollars in reparations. There is either consensus on causes of climate change, impossible since "scientifiques r seldom in agreement on anything, or there is no point for us to be signatories. We dislike the elites, and that includes, "quant a moi," all those tenured academicians, many of whom r there, not because of merit, but because of identity politics.We r citizens who believe that other citizens, black , brown or tan, should COME FIRST!MG is a "social justice warrior," supposedly who, in a real crisis would not lend a hand, and I point to suggestion that Times newspaper columnists who preach to others set the good example, travel to California to help out in the crises there for a spell, join actions to their words.She hates Trump and his crowd, "Je vous ai compris(I get ur point,) "but Why specifically?I question her sincerity!
@Alexander Harrison
You Alexander, seem to me to live a complicated based on your evaluation of political issues, rather than the man.
I live a simple one and have no problem loathing Trump simply because he is a dreadful man.
4
Odd, that last sentence about "hope."
Indeed, it appears to still live inside me, but it is dormant, protected, reluctant to emerge.
A flicker of light at the end of the tunnel is not enough. I need a wave-like succession of revelations, indictments and convictions and -- yes, consequences -- to land squarely where they are deserved.
Should that happen, only then do we start the hard work of recapturing and nurturing our national values and finding people to carry them forward.
21
I concur!
3
Justice is TRYING to keep up with Trumpworld... !
9
Here's hoping that 2019 grinds the pathological liar and repugnant Mr. Trump to fine dust.
78
@Jaime Castor AMEN!!!
3
@Jaime Castor
Yes!
DUST in the navel of an earthworm.
3
There is part of me that hopes this is a moment of reckoning for both parties, or the rise of a viable third party to replace the feckless pair we have now. Justice has not come to Trumpworld in any significant way. Even if it has, there is reason to ask if it ever will come to Hillaryworld. In the end, neither party is doing much to govern well or even field strong candidates, especially for president. Half the country is waiting to see if we a two tiered system.
9
@TD
I understand your frustration. However, if you choose the third party route, in the short run you ensure that we'll never be free of the present mess.
6
@Phil Carson
It is hard to be clear in a single post, I sometimes find. But I do mean a party rising to replace one, not be a third. Or even two rising, to replace both.
1
@TD If it wasn't for the basically evil and for sale vanity of the Green Nader Party, we would have dodged the War in Iraq, Bush II, and most recently Trump. Third parties have been used by both Democrats and Republicans, but with greater success these last 25 years by the Republicans to subvert the popular will and sucker the casually informed and idealistic.
4
As the shoes drop, we now have clearer outlines not just of the dark-money forces that propelled Trump to power, but the strength of the case against them and the special counsel’s skill in building it and assuring its preservation. Those revelations give me hope. But regardless what happens to Trump we are still facing the battle for our nation’s democracy.
This is not Watergate—where there was not only a smoking gun audiotape, but a Democratic hold of both houses of Congress and a Republican leadership with some appreciation of truth, some semblance of spine, some willingness to put the national good over continued party power. None of those exist today, and while a few Republicans are ducking and running from the Trump stain, the party itself is doubling down on antidemocratic measures to assure its power regardless.
And the antidemocratic pressures of foreign money and power continue largely without resistance. Trump may well have sold our humanity for Middle Eastern cash and bought his election with promises to weaken the democratic alliance that restrains Russia from reacquiring the real estate lost in the breakup of the Soviet Union. But while the GOP may balk at a Saudi murder, it remains largely silent as our president helps Putin reduce the western democratic alliance to rubble.
The looming question is the public’s response to these enemies of democracy, foreign and domestic. Do we have either the strength or the will to keep our democratic soul?
62
@Steel Magnolia "None of those exist today, and while a few Republicans are ducking and running from the Trump stain, the party itself is doubling down on antidemocratic measures to assure its power regardless." The Democrats will have their chance for a clean sweep and real change. If they don't blow that opportunity with opportunism, there is a chance for hope.
6
These are hopeful words but justice is but a cog in the greater wheel of karma. This rebalancing feels good but it might be a very short-term trend. Fascism continues to goose-step around the world, the Trumpsters are still standing by their man, and the Republican politicians continue buying into Trumpworld. There are many cockroaches left in the woodwork.
We cannot even impeach. Meanwhile the Republicans continue to destroy democracy according to their plan, and with no effective opposition.
Justice and karma aside, the decades-old Republican project to destroy democracy, which seems to be global, has not been slowed. Big Oil and the corporations continue their destruction of everything in their way to above normal profits - at all costs to us. They are the enemy.
Democratic wins in the house may have been allowed. The Russians paused their activity, and the Republicans, who grab power in every way possible, lost many elections. Did they (who own the voting machines) strategically dial back their cheating to lull the Democrats to sleep for 2020?
The voting machines have still not been secured and are ready for the Republican takeover planned for 2020. (Think they don't have a plan??)
Trump (a red herring) has never been the problem - it's the Republicans, their corporate backers, and the very rich who own and direct the corporations.
Democracy is the antithesis of Corporatocracy. Big Money & Big Power will not let Justice or Karma or Voters stop them.
34
It's always important to give credit where credit is due. And Donald Trump deserves bigly credit for rounding up a not insignificant number of evildoers.
You need to have extensive contacts among the morally challenged. Then you must find them which is ofter quite difficult because you don't know exactly what rock they are hiding under.
Many would agree that finding and hiring incompetent and often crooked people is not a praiseworthy strategy if you are interested in advancing the country's interests. But, of course, Trump is not interested in advancing the country's interests and its values. He is solely interested in advancing Trump interests around the globe.
Alas, while Trump did succeed in hiring the worst of the worst, he never expected to meet a man named Mueller. Sad. That I can tell you.
26
What a year. The country IS pulling together. The House will shed some light. You cannot ignore the law, No mater who you are.
15
@slater65
The primary platform of the Democratic Party needs to be:
NO ONE is above the law, especially the POTUS.
5
It's rather incredible that given the ever-increasing list of criminal offenses committed by this Administration we have to wait for the Democratic majority House to take their seats in January to start hearings/impeachment proceedings. It's looking more and more like too many of our GOP leaders are either compromised or cowards. Or both.
43
Trump world reminds me of a Supperman edition.were the worlld, as we know it , is turned upside down. In Bizarro world bad is good, ugly is beautiful, a lie is the truth, corruption is normal and normal is not, etc. Trump has taken such a bizarre comic book storyline and brought it to life. Trump truly is our comic book anti-hero Bizarro Man.
Stan Lee ,if you can hear, us please write a happy ending for the Bizarro Trump storyline.
8
@KEOB
It would involve a form of blue Kryptonite.
3
"Trump’s incompetence, venality and boorishness"
Like the Washington Post has made a list of Trump's lies, I'd like to see someone make a list of the negative adjectives that apply to him.
8
@Don Wiss
Not enough time in the world.
24
@treabeton
Nor enough space in the universe.
4
@treabeton nor ink or pixels.
4
John Brennan's words appear to be more and more prophetic. Only the full extent of his corruption will eventually convince many that this Presidency must end. However, if Trump is the symptom rather than the cause, the core problems still exist. That it took eight failed years to show many that George W. Bush had no business being anywhere near the White House is rather instructive. Much of the electorate refuses to acknowledge their own gullibility let alone own it. That evangelicals were willing to sell their vote and their country's future does not bode well as long as they willing to continue the practice. Until and unless Americans are willing to vet their candidates at the highest level with dry open eyes that prize vigilence above all, they remain vulnerable to those who sell more and deliver less.
38
@DB
"Much of the electorate refuses to acknowledge their own gullibility let alone own it. "
so very true: these people never take responsibility for their mistakes. They are invested in their rotten values. Just like the Rkons in Congress: they are too dug into lies to ever dig themselves out.
2
I have hope, America is now awake.
88
@KB
If the country were Awake, the same old Pelosi would not be elected.
@Fourteen Having read your comment above, I find it incongruous that you fail to credit Ms Pelosi for her contribution to the "awakening." Despite the GOP slandering of her and the misguided rebellion by Dems who used their slander as their sign of independence, Ms Pelosi remains the bedrock of (D)democratic ideals in congress. Her leadership rivals or surpasses that of Tip O'Neill given that she must navigate in a world that has lost its moral and ethical compass.
29
@Fourteen Ah, the old point fingers at Pelosi reply. Fox and Friends do a very good spin, but despite that, she has done a remarkable job and she deserves to be elected. But, facts dont matter these days.
27
This is a nice recitation of just a few of Trump's multitudinous plunderings, pillagings, pollutions and depredations.
I am really beginning to enjoy this.
20
Ignoring the fact free blow hards and sticking to the facts of our perilous political situation is almost a full time job these days, but thank goodness for you and others who help us keep the facts straight and, therefore, keep our hope alive. The results of the mid terms as well as all the indictments and convictions accomplished by SDNY and Mueller, keep me grounded in the reality of what America really stands for. We are a country of laws and most of us are grounded in reality.
9
Will Trump supporters and GOP politicians continue to ignore all of Trump's corruption and alliances with unsavory people within and without the United States?
Will they stop seeing the Trump Express as their personal magical train to political power, corrupt money or victorious bigotry against minorities, women, and immigrants?
The maze of lies continues to be built by Trump although with ever more dead ends. Law, truth and American principles are reasserting themselves from the small things like hidden affairs to the enormous ones like treason and bribery.
High crimes and misdemeanors--the Trump administration is a full service provider.
17
@smb I think some of them owe Trump something, or are in bed with the Russians. Was it Rand Paul who said he loves Russia? Something smells bad in the GOP.
10
@K Shields
Agreed. Follow the money NRA received from Russia and publish a list of all members of Congress and what they have received from the NRA. How simple is that?
7
Haiku
Mueller on Rushmore--
Lassoing alligators...
Trumps in Leavenworth.
15
If the indictments are not about Russian Collusion (which isn't a crime, but rather a pretext for investigating a person you don't like) then 1/2 the country will be angry that you uncovered misdemeanors or created perjury traps to entrap your targets. The Mueller thing disgusts half of us. It had better lead no where for the good of the country and democracy itself.
12
@PJ ABC two things : collusion with Russia to swing an election IS A CRIME, and Trump does not, and did not, have the support of “half of us” or “1/2 the country”.
His electoral victory was the thinnest in modern history. He lost the popular vote by 3 million, and squeeked by with 70k votes in three counties in three separate states.
And since his election his approval numbers have never exceeded 50% and his dissaprocnumbers have never been below 50%.
143
@PJ ABC
Collusion between two parties i.e. Trump & Staff and Putin & Staff if proven is indeed illegal.
Check the laws that govern election proceedings.
127
@PJ ABC
Russia is pointing almost 1,500 nuclear missiles at the United States. It did not help Trump get elected for any other reason than to harm the US and damage democracy. The crime has never been collusion. That is one of Trump's several thousand lies. The crime is conspiracy against the United States. Between 14 and 16 of Trump's associates, family members, and campaign staff have now been proven to have had some 100 contacts with Russia.
There are many indictments; men are going to jail for years.
This is no imaginary phantom. Trump committed crimes including campaign finance lies.
Reality bites.
185
"An awful menagerie of lowlifes," the perfect description of the Trump administration.
30
The lovely, NRA-backed, war weapon wielding Ms. Butina: "“We should allow them to express their gratitude now, we will put pressure on them quietly later.”
In case FOX didn't report this, THEY and THEM means the republican party. The republicans in 2016 accepting the help of Russian spies to secure an election, and opening opportunities for the U.S. to be 'pressured'.
And this STILL isn't enough to make trump followers hesitate. There are, after all, opposing teams in America now, right? Redgood, Bluebad, like trumpie says. Russia excels at exploiting divisions within another country. Putin loves to sneak in, giggling as he starts people fighting with one another. Now comes trump, the fool who will team up with him to divide citizens in America.
United we stand, Divided we what????? How does America work? Republicans, stop handing your institutions over to those who would grind them happily underfoot. Or move to Moscow, if you like that type of Oligarchy. Trump does, and he will not give two thoughts to you who supported him, if there's an opportunity for money and power for him alone. And if you think you'll get to own an assault rifle under trump's preferred style of 'government', I have a bankrupt casino to sell you.
Not very American.
38
Everyone wonders how we got here. It is not unlike the frog in the pot that is oblivious to its boiling.
The Republicans have been courting the uninformed Trump supporters for years. They presented themselves as the voice of law and order, family values, tradition, nostalgia, and Jesus.
They were masterful in exploiting these voters fears, prejudices, and their longing for a past that existed only in their minds.
They have convinced these voters that caring for anyone other than their tribe is un-American.
It has been so successful that all it took to get their candidate elected was to convince these voters that their candidate hated the same people they did.
In the meantime the party that used to be the voice of working people was too busy courting rich donors for their campaigns, getting carried away with identity politics, and pushing too hard on social/religious issues.
Now here we are with a total moron as President and the Democrats can't seem to focus. It seems Will Rogers was right when he said he didn't belong to an organized political party, he was a Democrat.
16
..laughable; he's still in the White House - beginning his third year in office.
Everyone know he was a sexual predator when he was running -the list of women was well publicized.
He's going to be in office for another two years mocking the process that's supposed to uncover Russian interference in the election.
Instead, we have felons like Manafort and Cohen who's real infractions were tax evasion not political espionage...
The media and Democrats will continue calling for his impeachment up until the next election....
….they should concentrate on legislating and finding a capable candidate to face off against the Republicans.
6
@JMS Yes the Democrats need to find a viable candidate for 2020. However, justice in our country is not a Democrat or Republican object it is the job of all parties and the Republicans have not done their part. Those that have either looked the other way or obstructed the process have committed a treason against our consititution. To name but a few: Nunes, McConnell, Graham etc.
6
Time for Wag the Dog?
2
Reading all comments I feel a bitter test - Democrats are preparing for the next congress of "Comintern". Sad and terrific!
Michelle Goldberg has written a spectacular summation for this year. It is actually uplifting. It will take the new House of Representatives to push investigations while legislating wisely for all to shed further light on trump's taxes, violations of emoluments, and high crimes and misdemeanors.
12
@Charlie Fieselman - did you read the same article as the rest of us?
We're still in danger zone...
Never mind the whole criminal enterprise is under investigation, he might want to make Kushner his corrupt son-in-law to be his new chief of staff, obviously he can't find decent people who would want to be associated with this corrupt bunch of gangsters.
So it's between fraud ridden son-in-law or Chris Christie, who also was never actually clear from Bridgegate.
8
We have been at this juncture before but normality seems to vanish after serious violations and accusations cease to
impact reality. The latest revelations might bring about the beginning
of the end--or not
2
The real scandal is all the GOP politicians and media figures who enabled all this putrefaction, looked the other way, and lied shamelessly to us all, every night. Of course they knew! All the enablers should be fired for dereliction of duty and treason to the constitution they swore to uphold. Much of this disgusting affair could have been prevented had they done their duty.
330
Republican deceit stretches as far back as Nixon and Reagan's Iran-Contra scandal, followed by Lee Atwater, Newt Gingrich and Karl Rove. How easy it was for Russia to influence the NRA and Republicans with the lust for money! Fox News has been providing cover for this weakness for decades.
24
Trumpville World's sins would have never been revealed if he had not been elected President. We should wonder how many of the other members of the 1% are supporting their lifestyle with similar shenanigans.
14
Before you wish for Donald Trump to no longer be president, think how dangerous he could be as an ex-president.
Whipping up his low-information base at gun rallies comes to mind. Without the counter-balance of the whole Trump administration, Donald's ego and his messianic followers combine to create a firestorm of armed grievances and lies.
How would President Pence handle this? Armed insurrection would be a convenient excuse for suspension of civil rights. Abraham Lincoln did it.
Don't think it can't get worse. It most certainly can. Babysitting Trump in the Oval Office could be the best case scenario. After all, the electorate did put him there.
8
This is a provocative and thoughtful comment. Trump and his supporters won’t simply disappear after he leaves office.
2
@Carl Hultberg
That's not quite right - the electoral college put him there.
4
@Carl Hultberg Well said!
1
I seriously look forward to the morning that I find the news to be horribly boring. As before, I will just skim over it and then proceed to doing more productive things with my life.
Trump and his whole cast of inept miscreants have been like watching brain cancer destroy several friends and relatives all at the same time. You can only wish for a peaceful, painless end. So, maybe, just maybe 2018 has shown that we can end this nightmare.
11
It has taken the Press three years to begging to catch on to Trump, it is about time the Press has found its voice and is beginning to do it’s job and fight back against Trump, call him the liar he is, stop tiptoeing around his insanity and stand up for normality. The beginning of the beginning begins with the Press, and justice will follow the truth.
1
It’s far past time to impeach Trump, but let’s do it now! Impeach Pence, too! And majority of top Republicans who are also part of undermining our justice system
Good riddens GOP!
1
Think about this: what worked? Approximately 1/3 of Rep primary voters went for this guy. The trash talking worked for them. Once he was nominated, the rest just preferred him to Hillary. Since his inauguration, have gotten what they want in spades. But that golden 40% is very brittle: just take 4% away and it’s 36% and he’s toast. A little counter-trash-talking could do that. The undeniable truth could come to the surface with the repetition of just two words, by a major Democrat (Warren?) willing to walk out on the diving board: “Deadbeat Don.” The banks, contractors, investors, students, tenants, and country (bone spurs) have all been burned. Repeat it day after day, with full explanation. It’s the birth lie, only with truth. In 2 weeks, he’d be toast.
3
OMG! is it possible that justice might prevail.? This rundown on what's already occurred this year gives one a little hope for the future.
4
Relentless justice?
You mean that FBI republican blue blood white patriarch Mueller is saving you?
Don’t count on it. Yes he is doing his job. No there are no guarantees he will be allowed to do his job and the republican senate has made it clear it will be for the coup rather than ever do it’s job and the republican super legislature in the Supreme Court will make all necessary excuses.
And no the, White Patriarchy Did It and Must Go and Then Utopia, cult is not helping but it is making things worse.
And which side is Michelle on? The make it worse side as best I can tell. Not pro democracy. You know Trump was elected. Democracy.
Thanks for this perspective. You're right that the justice that is being meted out does feel insignificant compared to the boot that is still pressing on our collective necks.
I will just mention that migrants aren't just being tormented; some are dying from Trump's attacks on them. It isn't just the environment that is being destroyed, but our collective, earthy future.
2
Even after detailing all the corruption, Trump's supporters will respond; That's all you got? What about the Clintons and that pizza parlor?
That's the strangest part of all of this.
6
I still want to see his financial and tax returns and why he has not put his investments in a blind trust.
Being the Bald Head Crook does not hack it.
7
Even though it is gratifying to finally see that Crime-does-not-pay among the elite, it is still disheartening to see the almost obscene leniency of the sentences.
Thug Richard Pinedo, seller of fake Id's and stolen personal identification;
"pleaded guilty to a count of identity fraud in February for helping online users circumvent PayPal identity verification to sell bank account and other stolen identify information." (NBC News)
Yet, this felony thief received a Six month sentence (with a voluntary surrender date) to a California State Prison; anyone else would have received several years here.
Until this thing called the U.S. Justice system is truly equitable, I cannot celebrate the current news.
1
Well said, Michelle. The candy store is closing and the bellyaches are beginning.
1
Yes to pack the courts that is the big one the GOP was after and second tax cuts as for Trump just a tool.
5
Some of these comments from The Bubble liberal crowd are almost funny. It’s been 2 years, no Russian Collusion, trump is going nowhere. Those people who were caught dodging taxes or lying are getting what is coming to them. Paying off women might disgust you but it is not an impeachable offense. Any justice you seek will not be what you are expecting it to and the only justice we need to see is the Democrats fail yet again because their whole world for the past 2 years has been trying to prise a president that they don’t like and who embarrassed their demi god Hilary Clinton (herself worthy of more scrutiny but hey whatever). Let’s face it, there is nothing there, It’s time to put up or shut up and get back to business or be shown the door.
3
The Democrats fail again? We just took the House in one of the biggest electoral turnovers in U.S. history.
7
@Andrew wohl yes so i think you’ll find that is not the case. This was anemic compared to the massacre that was Obama’s first mid term, I think you’ll find if you actually check.
Corruption gallore, seemingly a hallmark of 'our' crook and liar in-chief, remains a thorn in this suffering democracy. Witness the shady folks conforming his inner circle, and his ability to convince his clueless (by choice) base that his lies and exaggerations are the gospel truth. And further, Trump's expert demagoguery (devoid of facts based on reality, by a deeply ignorant, hence, arrogant, childish man) in controlling a cowed republican party to do his bidding. Justice will not be served until this consummate con man in the Oval Office is indicted.
3
We keep wringing our hands because we can't understand why approx. 30% and the Republicans in the Senate just won't stop supporting this train-wreak of a person who happens to be the President. No matter how awful, corrupt, incompetent, slimy, sleezy, idiotic, childish, boorish, vapid, and orange he is, many in this country don't care. His base likes to be associated with a "winner" because for once it makes them feel like "winners," too. And they want to stick it to the educated elite and the libs. They are reveling in our horror. The current crop of Republicans in Congress, the Senate, and the Supreme Court don't care either, many got there through questionable ways including gerrymandering, voter suppression, Citizen's United, and being the entitled 1%. They will never turn away from Trump on any sense of morality or decency. They never had either in the first place.
2
Whew! I think I needed this!!
3
As repulsive as the image of Trump in his pajamas and bathrobe is and as we learned how typically that is the garb of seduction worn by very powerful creepy men, the hush money was paid to silence two women with whom he had consensual sex with. Don't have much of a point here. Just that sex has taken a terrible hit this year. And I have sworn off it at least for the time being.
1
2019 will be the year justice is served or the beginning of the second Civil War.
@ted ......Pelosi 2019!
Yes, Ms. Goldberg, all points noted.
But let's not have any premature celebrations. I feel, at most, a very, VERY cautious... hope (not quite optimism).
It may be December 14, but the year is not over to declare how it is ending.
Nothing will be 'off the table' for the surrounded and increasingly desperate Donald Trump, up to and including martial law and nuclear war. Can anyone seriously doubt these as *possibilities* based on what we've already seen??
We have a long way to go yet before such dangers are past.
1
Any objective analysis of the apposite facts and law will conclude that Donald Trump has directed an association-in-fact consisting of businesses he controls and the various players orbiting about them in a pattern of racketeering, as defined in both the federal and New York RICO statutes.
Criminal prosecution may be appropriate, but no reason exists not to bring a civil RICO action (with its lower preponderance of evidence standard of proof) -- seeking treble damages, forfeitures, equitable relief, and attorneys' fees -- against Don Trump and his racketeering associates. Such an action would be consistent with long-standing Department of Justice policies. See, https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/usam/legacy/2014/10/17/civrico.pdf
4
You may be one of the youngest - but you're also one of the brightest columnists for the NY Times. Keep up the good work, Ms. Goldberg!
2
Yes, Justice is coming.
5
@A lawyer
You can tell by the heavy breathing, right?
Sex robots? So too the robot Republicans, both those in Congress and the ones who still vote Republican. Nothing human about them, only lockstep cruelty against anyone except the oligarchs, who get a free pass.
2
I find myself wondering if congressional Republicans are going to agree after some particularly egregious (and judicially actionable) revelation to pivot en masse to "What, Trump is corrupt?! We're shocked, shocked, I tell you, and the American people won't stand for it!" in a blatant but feeble attempt to redeem themselves (though voting for his impeachment in the Senate would be pretty redemptive), or if they're going to go down to the wire, counting on Trump's most troubling dog-whistle yet ("People will revolt" if he's impeached--that's right up there with "Are you listening, Russia?") and assume armed revolt by the 33% in defense of this terrible, terrible man.
5
This is less about Trump being shown as a criminal grifter and possible traitor, but a greater reflection on the gutless, soulless GOP who refuse to cede power by any means, even if it means the destruction of this nation.
6
Don't forget about the Russian money laundering likely to have occurred through the Trump organization real estate deals, and earlier, casinos, as well as the strong possibility that Russian money bailed Trump out when no other loans were forthcoming. They have leverage over him through both financial and informational kompromat. It's all about to spill out.
January 2019.
5
Trump's impunity has not come to an end. House and Senate Republicans have said not a word. The Senate will never impeach Trump, so he can go right on saying and doing anything he wishes, at least for the next 2 years. That is a long time.
3
"An awful menagerie of lowlifes." The ultimate perfect description of the Trump Administration. A spot-on summation of the Trump ethos regarding hiring. Only the worst. Only the dirtiest. Only the most dishonest. Only the most ruefully ignorant. Just like him. Just like his family.
Two years we've endured a staggering amount of deceit, corruption, and graft - all enabled by the President of the United States of America. It will end badly for the whole crew, hopefully as awfully as they richly deserve.
4
@Jonathan Rodgers Correction. All enabled by the Republican party.
4
Justice will not be done until Donald Trump is impeached by the House, convicted by the Senate, removed from office, indicted for conspiring with Russia and for paying off porn stars, convicted, and then sentenced to a federal super-max prison for the rest of his miserable life. I want to see Trump and his corrupt family stripped of every penny and possession. Trump has lied and cheated his way through life and gotten away with it a hundred times too often. I want to see the Department of Justice and several stated Attorneys General fall on Trump like the Wrath of God Himself. I want to see the light in his eyes go out when the cell door slams behind him. I want to see his arrogance, his vanity, and his cruelty snuffed out forever. Make him PAY for his crimes against this country.
4
Scratch the surface of this litany of evil and what do you actually have Ms. Goldberg?? Ricky Pinedo, the kid who sold fake IDs online to the tune of 40k over 3 yrs (6 months house arrest)? Omarosa's sleazy stash of secret recordings that exposed her attempt at self promotion? Elliott Broidy who (clutch pearls now) paid a woman to get an abortion that he got pregnant? Alex van der Zwaan, who, at age 28 in 2012, tried to better the repuation of the former Ukrainian president and subsequently lied about his conduct to the FBI (30 day sentence)? George Papadopoulos (2 weeks in prison for lying to the FBI)? Steve Wynn, Rob Porter and David Sorensen who have been accused of abuse and sexual harassment (can we add Keith Ellison to the list)?
Not to condone any of this, but surely these deeds do not call into question "enduring liberal democracy!"
How about comparing this year to 2012 when Obama's AG became the first sitting cabinet member to be held in contempt related to the administration's sale of guns to Mexixan drug lords ending in the murder of an ICE agent, and when his UN Ambassador produced fake talking points to cover up terrorism in Benghazi. Or compare it to 2014 when Obama's VA Administration was falsifying records to cover up wait times leading to deaths of our veterans, at the same time that migrant kids were being held at the border in cages.
Hate Trump all you want.....but twisting that emotion into the end of our Republic is Chicken Little absurd.
3
Ms. Goldberg gets it, "bigly".
"Deplorables" is too nice a word for the "Despicables" who decided to make the worst human being in America president of the United States. One thing I learned in years of studying Nazi Germany is that if you allow a monster to gain control, other monsters will gravitate toward him and decent people will be crowded out or killed. Then, you are living in a monstrous world. It's tragic that Trump supporters don't know that.
7
" whose writers developed a sudden fondness for Psilocybin. " Yes oh Yes .. it lines like that, My Dear, that make you the envy of all the op ed writers....
It used to be a favorite that silly cybin .. your's too???
1
@Doctor Woo Our country has been one long mushroom trip since November 2016.
2
Former Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal famously said the GOP had to "stop being the party of stupid." They have. Now the GOP is the party of stupid criminals.
3
Justice will catch-up w Trumpworld when he becomes Michael Cohen’s cellmate.
3
Ah yes! Nothing like a little Friday morning optimism, but yet the real world is not interested in our wants, wishes, hopes or illusions.
Outside of DJT's underlings, I've seen no concrete action. DJT is the risk to our democracy, not his underlings. The King survives.
Dems, and maybe with good reason, are already handwringing about removing DJT, for fear of a hillbilly reaction similar to the French yellow vests. These rural boys like to fight and are well armed. The military is loaded with them too.
At best, DJT will either not run or be beat in 2020 and then be allowed to drift into the horizon without an orange jump suit but with suitcases full of $$.
This is the world you live in.
1
Dear Michelle,
We love you.....keep up the good work and tell us the truth..
NYT is really the best paper out there and my admiration will never waver...
The yellow con man is on the way out...there is no other way about it....but, he did a lot of damage....some will be repaired, but some will not...
America and the free press will survive...
Out hats down...dont stop. Michelle....
3
Trump has spent his entire life screwing things up, but always surviving by lying, cheating, being bailed out by daddy, always having a group of admirers/followers who either fell for his con jobs or actually admire his mob boss values.
I still cannot believe that an Electoral College majority (and not the actual majority) decided that this lowlife should be our President. That some 40% of all Americans, that a majority of men, a majority of whites, an overwhelming majority of white Evangelicals, almost 90% of Republicans still support Trump - many passionately.
I agree with Michelle that it finally feels like we have turned the corner. That the Justice Department, FBI, Mueller are beginning to dismantle the Trump criminal enterprise. But Republicans remain craven and cowards, and fully put party above country. Fox News and right-wing media remain powerful propaganda machines that have fully brainwashed 40% of this country. Remember how Trump bragged “I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose voters” - a rare truth from Trump’s mouth. Trump is a survivor. There is no limit to how low he can go - remember, he is essentially a mobster. It is easy to underestimate him. He will do more damage to this country and to the world before he is done. We are not done with our self-created national nightmare yet - far from it.
But Michelle is right (she almost always is - a great NYT columnist), 2018 is ending far better than 2016 and 2017.
4
Haha sure, honey.
"Surely this new thing will bring down Trump, look how upset Rachel Maddow is about it! In peach, in peach! Hey hey ho ho!"
3
Yet in the past two weeks, we see stories about Trump opening up 9 million acres for oil and gas drilling, deregulation of carbon emissions for coal companies, and diminishing federal regulation of waterway pollution. One step forward, and a thousand steps back - while Fence Post Pence (whose proud Indiana legacy includes sticking his home state with a $20 million bill for his family's gas station pollution) is waiting silently in the wings to take over, pardon Trump, and unleash even more poisons into our air, land, water and freedom from religion.
8
Ms. Goldberg, I think the intent of your column was to provide a look back at 2018 and the progress of Mueller's investigation as encouraging for the rule of law. I am still saddened by the damage that the country I love has endured with the advent of President Trump. I liken it to the feeling I had post 9/11/2001. The only difference is that after 9/11, our country came together in our despair. Today, my despair is magnified by the angry division that I see in politics, education, religion, friendships and family. God help us heal.
5
Bannon got a conference on sex robots postponed? Again we see a reality much stranger than we could have imagined 2.5 years ago.
72
The day he came down the escalator he told two whoppers: The Birther issue and that on TV he saw thousands of Muslims on rooftops in Jersey City cheering when the towers fell. I was done with him that day.
11
Michelle - most of your article is wishful thinking. It gives the appearance that you are a "Trump Hater". He has been convicting of nothing, which makes your comments hollow.
Oh my, where have all the writers gone? We need news, not conjecture.
2
Felix, pop that bubble you are inhabiting.
5
@Cheryl - that bubble popped a long time ago! Do not misunderstand, I am not a Trump fan. Writers today have to stop writing on wishes and write on the facts.
Wishful thinking? Michele didn’t write a wish list, she stated actual events that happened in 2018.
3
>>An awful menagerie of lowlifes was swept into power by Trump’s victory two years ago.<<
BRAVO! Well said!
11
Three words, lock them up.
8
Still waiting for that photo of Colonel Bonespurs in shackles and wearing an orange jumpsuit!
9
Does a pig know it is a pig?
5
Michael Cohen is the gift that keeps on giving
4
Only 1 error in this article. The oblong "foreign object" seen in space was not a 'probe'; it was a bot, constructed to keep the Republicans in power.
It was felt that no human could match 6,000 lies (3000/yr), and there has to be a Republican backup for Leader.
2
A chillingly comprehensive chronology of the evil done by this Administration.
Now what is called for is for NYT and WAPO to stop repeating Trump's proclamations as headlines and to start preceding them with the words "Trump lied that ....".
Repetition without qualification lends credibility to lies.
8
Really?? You consider a kid in California who sold fake IDs to the Russians, a Dutch kid who lied to the FBI about what he did IN 2012(!), Omarosa and her sleazy stash of recordings that exposed nothing, a guy who paid a woman to get an abortion, and three guys accused of sexual harassment and abuse a "chillingly comprehensive list of evil" by this administration?? Quite a low bar, don't you think?!
1
This is the RIGHT WING DARK AGE !!
1
If economy is key to effective writing, I go with three words to describe Trump today: glub glub club. As in drowning.
1
We can all pause now and give thanks to Mueller who keeps on rolling along. There a lot more to fall and hopefully t-Rump will be unveiled for who he really is and we can get back to living in a democracy again. It will take time to assure our past friends that we are still capable of being a good friend and that trade pacts and agreements still mean something. Oh for the good old days of two years ago.
10
Another version of "uh oh, Trump's in trouble now." No, he's not. His voters are standing firm which means elected GOP representatives all over the country are too. So court packing will continue as will the rest of Trump's reign of terror. And Trump can continue to do and say anything and continue to hold his 40%.
77
@Ben I read it quite differently. The article is not so much about Trump’s oncoming troubles as it is about the recent past “troubles” of his enablers and sycophants. The point, I think, is that SOME, but not all, of the chickens have come home to roost, and perhaps far more then many of us have realized.
26
And perhaps the biggest change was voters created a Blue Wave that put 40 New Democrats into the House, which is now controlled by elected officials who will hold this Administration accountable over the next two years.
24
And through all this there was, "Be Best." What a year!
7
@Robert Perez
"Be Best."
As inane and meaningless the slogan is,the worst part is that it's not even grammatically correct
2
For his disciples, his base, Trump is the Messiah. He divides the waters to provide safe passage — of tax cuts for billionaires. He doesn’t just walk on water - he skates: past laws, decency, and the truth.
16
The Teflon Don.
1
Justice and accountability for at least some of those who foisted this administration on us? What about the 63M Americans who voted for him, even with all the information available that he would be a terrible choice for president? What about justice and accountability for them? Unless most Trump voters have some sort of mea culpa epiphany, I don't see this problem going away with Trump.
19
It's somewhat heartening to see that law enforcement and the justice department have done their job in the face of incredibly stiff headwinds.
Be that as it may, it still feels as if relying on them as a "last resort" to prevent a descending into apocalypse is not going to be a sustainable state of affairs. At some point, the corruption that permeates the executive and GOP controlled legislative branch (senate) will seep into the judicial branch and corrupt that too. Once that happens, we're toast.
The recent midterms felt more like a "stay of execution" than a re-imposition of political gravity.
Until Trump and/or McConnell are removed from power, we will continue to hang on by our fingernails.
14
Was I watching the orange episode of Twin Peaks?
3
This list of convicted criminals is a testament that the rule of law in America still works. But before you start a celebratory victory lap, keep in mind that when surrounded and backed into a corner, people become more desperate and dangerous. The Trump drama is not over until it’s over. The sooner the better!
11
I wonder if the bruised and bloodied political system and moral culture can ever return to what it was before?
America has been supremely humbled – by a chimerical monster of its own making. Trump is ultimately a reflection of the mentality that voted him in – and that's not going anywhere, in fact it's doubling down.
After all this upheaval, can America ever regain its former standing in the global community? Does it actually deserve to do so? Right now, I think not.
Such problems to face and yet perhaps there's a glimmer of hope. One thing, please don't knock psilocybin – maybe that's just the kind of disruption America needs to recover its shattered mojo.
10
Thank-you Michelle for encouraging us with this breakdown of how the Trump administration is being held accountable for breaking laws and not upholding and defending our Constitution. We are thanking God and much relieved by these developments, knowing now that our democratic institutions will do the job they were designed to do. All good people in leadership need to do their job now and explain to the American people how this happened and apologize for not doing more to restrain our 'so-called' president and inspire our 'better angels' versus the selfish greed of many in this administration. Our fellow countrymen need to take off their rose colored glasses and stop drinking the Fox koolaid and think for themselves, attempting to discern fantasy from reality, truth from all the lies. McCarthy finally went too far in calling everyone that disagreed with him "Communists". At some point, Trump fans have to be able to see that 2/3 of the country can't all be misleading them, along with the various legal teams prosecuting 6 different investigations, with 16 people having lied about over 90 contacts with the Russians. At some point, it has to be a 'bridge to far' to fathom Trump's inane explanations and simply blaming anyone and everything else for all his problems. The one thing everyone under indictment has in common is Trump and they are pleading guilty. Justice will be served. The day of reckoning is at hand.
8
Trump will leave. The issue will be whether he promoted violence on the way out. Stating people will "revolt" and others referring to a deep state and " coup" and his past calls for violence should be a real concern for all.
8
@terryg Yes, specially considering that there are 300 miliion lose fire arms in this copuntry (almost one per citizen) many of them in the hands of the segment of the population Trump appeals to. He will not go down quiety, narcicistic megalomaniacs usually don't. He will take revenge by encouraging shootings in the streets and stoking the fires of hatred that he so tenderly tended to during his mandate. The "carnage" that he referred to in his inaugural address, an omen of things to come, is the "carnage" that he will be leaving behind. Let's hope the military sides with the defenders of the "rule of law" and the Constitution when this time comes.
2
The year 2018 is not the year in which justice caught up with Trumpworld. 2018 marks the year that Trumpworld was exposed as a criminal enterprise. 2019 will be the year justice will have caught up, via impeachment, indictment, or both. The only two questions remaining are (1) if impeached, can Trump count on Senate Republicans to have his back and (2) if indicted, can Trump count on a Republican dominated SCOTUS to have his back?
6
Heartening, sort of. The other silver-lining is that one long-time political party has show it's true colors.
The Republican Party refuses to address
--election corruption (no, it isn't voter fraud we need to worry about, it is Republican Candidate Fraud)
--Presidential corruption, (see 2015-2018 plus) and
--judicial appointment corruption (see Gorsuch, Kavenaugh, et al).
No wonder people of integrity are bailing that party.
6
Gore Vidal said it only too well 43 years ago in an interview, while we were still putting Watergate behind us. He stated that soon most of us WOULD forget Watergate because 'they're used-car salesmen too.' And in the same interview he said, "Once you get anywhere near the truth with an American, black ink begins to fill the atmosphere as he tries to conceal what he's after, which is usually stealing your watch. Ditto the politicians--in spades."
Vidal was to some extent our time's version of the Marquis de la Tour d'Azyr (see 'Scaramouche') but he may well come uncomfortably close to an unhappy truth here.
4
My internal calendar has Mueller issuing final indictments by April 30, which will name Trump as an unindicted co-conspirator and issuing a report that may do little more than append all the indictments as Exhibits. The House will commence its formal impeachment investigation by May 15. The evidence will be so overwhelming that several Republicans will announce for President by July 1. By September 30, a Bill of Impeachment will pass the House. By October 31, at least 20 GOP Senators will say they will vote to remove Trump. Early in November a delegation of GOP senators and congressmen will prevail upon Trump to resign. Shortly afterward Trump will resign while continuing to proclaim his innocence and that he is a victim of a hoax and witch hunt. By Christmas Trump will be indicted on a variety of federal and state crimes. Pence will announce in an act of feigned loyalty that he will not pardon Trump because he feels that Trump deserves the opportunity to defend himself in open court. Thereafter, Pence will not mention Trump’s name in public as he serves out a lame duck presidency until January 2021. Trump will be convicted and sentenced to prison in 2020. America will have the decency not to rejoice but instead will issue a collective sigh of relief that despite its being under attack by Trump and GOP sycophants, the system worked. 2019 will be a very good but difficult year.
8
@M.i. Estner
If only.
2
@M.i. Estner....Pelosi 2019!
My goodness, this is quite a list of atrocities and scandals, and yet we know it is incomplete because it does not list Zinke, or the conflicted Wilbur Ross,or tariff wars, or pulling us from the Iran deal or the many thousands of lies, mendacity, or prevarications that trump uttered to throw justice off track.
The scary thing is that all the things that are listed were implemented by trump as part of his plan to "maga". It must become apparent to everyone in America that trumps success does not translate into a successful America.
It is apparent that nothing will change with trump until he is kicked out of office and sent to jail. When that happens, we can celebrate the end of bizzaro world and once again have hope for the future of out nation. I so look forward to the day when trump is forced to defend himself in a court of law for the unlawful and awful decisions he made that have brought infamy to the office of the Presidency.
America is a nation governed by the rule of laws that were enacted by the collective wisdom of our representatives to protect us from people like trump and his minions.
Lock HIM up! Lock HIM up! Lock HIM up!
6
As friends of mine said who when holding their noses and voting for Trump, “this may be the last chance to turn it around” it never being adequately defined. The other trope was “better than Hilary”. Now they are all forced to come up with “alternative facts” weak excuses for why Trump is destroying our institutions and agencies and relations with our foreign allies while aligning us with the worst of the worse and for whose benefit? Think Trump and his family.
Republicans kept Hilary in the news enough about emails Benghazi and Uranuim One that one had to hold their hold their noses while voting for her. Was it truly a Hobson’s choice so much that the 80 thousand or so who provided the winning margin for Trump were willing in their desperation to bet the farm on Trump, accept his lies and prevarications and prejudices, and participate in the what can only be termed the destruction of our democratic norms by a media savvy charlatan with absolutely no vestige of redeemable character or ethics.
As we watch this charade with growing anxiety one aspect becomes abundantly clear, once you break something it’s hard to put it back together again. This is not over and there are more cards to be played. At the end will it be the country I grew up in or something else, less defined, less ethical, less civilized. The Trumps have brought their vision of the future, if you don’t share it vote them out of office and into the dustbin of history next time around.
8
What planet was this written on? Yes some administration officials have come to a bad end, but Trump and his family have gotten away with insulting nearly everything we see as holy; subverting all notions of tradition, sobriety and decency in politics; committing all sorts of illegal, unethical or immoral acts; alienating allies and minorities; etc. The whole time, the needle on his approval rating hasn't budged from around 45% (and likely it's underreported by 5-10%). Trump and his family will continue to misbehave with impunity. There will be no negative consequences. The closer the Democrats investigate him, the more likely Trump's chances for re-election and for the GOP to make gains elsewhere. Even if Pelosi and her corwd back off and take the high road, the system-through gerrymandering and voter suppression-is rigged in favor of the GOP anyway.
3
@Marcko
"his approval rating hasn't budged from around 45% (and likely it's underreported by 5-10%)."
This is alarming because it implies that 45-50% of Americans are morons.
1
Perhaps 2019 will be the year that Justice also catches up with Clintonworld. And, when it does, Ms. Goldberg will hopefully write about that too.
1
@Maurice GatienDon’t bet on it. This is journalism by the elite for the elite.
1
So what’s your point worth? Individual-1 is still in the Whitehouse we’re still a nation of laws and not much common sense. Individual-1 has some serious psychological problems.
If the GOP weren’t for self interest, re-election and country, in that order, individual-1 would be out of the Oval Office. Instead, it looks like individual-1 will go the 4 years, maybe 8?
He’s turned the world upside down and is way beyond out of his depth. Each day Individual-1 seem crazier and crazier and steals the headlines.
You can have a nation of laws, but if you ignore mental health and it’s laws, what good is it? I’d hate to think what the military would do if individual-1 ordered a first strike!
6
"The mill wheels of justice may turn slowly, yet they grind exceedingly fine."
May I live to see Trump and his partners in crime turned to dust and swept into the ash bin of history for what they have done to our country.
10
America's democracy is being destroyed not so much by Trump as by congressional Republicans, in particular as led by Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.
McConnell owes his outsized ability to do lasting damage to America to his being seated from Kentucky, the perfect perch from which to hold power. As reported by the Lexington Kentucky Herald-Leader on January 24th, 2017, Kentucky is among the least educated of states, ranking 47th for percentage of adults 25 and older with bachelor’s degrees, and 47th for percentage of adults with associate’s degrees or other some college experience. By keeping McConnell in his senate office -- and he is Kentucky's longest serving senator ever -- Kentucky's relatively small population of poorly educated voters brandishes enormous but nonetheless ignorant, manipulated power over the course of America. Thank you, Kentucky.
Given his position in the Republican party and his connections in Washington, McConnell probably knows every fact that can leak from anywhere. He probably is fully aware, in unambiguous detail, of provable criminal offenses by President Trump. McConnell's silence is complicity in those crimes.
What does McConnell know, and when did he know it?
15
@Mark
The historian Christopher Browning called McConnell “the gravedigger of democracy.” The gravedigger still has a shovel in his hands with a full crew of shovels right behind him.
6
Great list of Trump and Trump administration travesties. Another of the many insightful columns Michelle Goldberg has written. I would also like to thank the dogged investigative reporters of our not-fake news, both print and cable, especially the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Rachel Maddow and all the analysts and reporters at MSNBC, and the expert panels of legal, historical and political analysts on their shows for insight, analysis and truth. They all help keep the flame of democracy alive during these perilous times.
8
@Barbara
Wall Street Journal? The dictate of high kleptocratic finance and the likes of the Koch Bros? What do you thank it for? It's a co-conspirator with Trump. It's one of the (f)actors that gave us Trump.
1
If Trump's base had known how corrupt he was in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, and on and on... Fox News won't report his misdeeds. Right wing talk radio won't report his misdeeds.
Some patriotic Republicans need to start running against Trump for the 2020 election. Start the GOP debates and resistance now. BTW, I doubt President Trump would even agree to any debates. Why debate when he can hurl insults via Twitter?
5
While some progress has been made, I suspect that the alien probe will conclude that it wants no part of Planet Earth.
8
It’s only justice when Trump is removed from the office he fraudulently stole, including Pence, if his cabinet and appointees, the justices he installed when he should not have had the power, are replaced; and the damage to American society, economy and global influence are repaired. And if Trump and his crime family are put into the cages they so cavalierly put others in. Law & Order!
5
Yes, it's a relief to exhale and hope that this national nightmare may be coming to and end. But still 90% of Republicans in a recent poll state they think Trump is doing a good job(?) What world do they inhabit? And they will still be with us.
If the Rs in the Senate do not grow a spine for representing the national interests, I hope they are soon swept out of power in a demise of the Republican party. Mitch McConnell, shame on you.
6
Unfortunately, we have the Clinton precedent. You can't be impeached and removed from office for lying and covering up about sex. And no, things haven't changed. To show actual change Pelosi, Shumer, and the rest of the Democratic party, together with the various feminist organizations that supported Clinton, would have to line up on the steps of the Capital, admit that they were all hypocrites and should have removed Clinton, and throw him out of the party forever; not gonna happen.
.
So we need something more than payments to prostitutes to remove him from office, whether or not those are illegal, and whether or not he might be charged once he leaves office. That will all be dismissed as personal shenanigans, as it was for Clinton. There needs to be something more, or else Trump's support needs to fall into the low 20s, which will likely only happen if there is a significant recession.
1
@Tom There is a large difference between what Clinton lied about and what Trump lies about. Conspiring with the Russians to win an election is a big no-no. All of his other lies are much worse than Clinton's lies. Stop sticking up for Trump. He does now know what the truth is.
4
I’m not too thrilled about pursuing justice “Comey” style. This whole Mueller special council is starting to smell like the Stephens conviction mess. In this country we still have a notion of what justice is, how it should be pursued, so I’m starting to think the way it is being handled is not right. It seems most of the real crimes, like Manafort’s, should have been found out by a real group of prosecutors doing their job instead of the way we stumbled onto them. Seems kind of Mickey Mouse. It will be interesting in the coming days to see what happens. Personally I think this Comey guy is not what we think, ala Hoover.
@Mike Perhaps we should re-evaluate the Republican strategy of starving the IRS of funding, that has resulted in a perilous drop in white-collar criminal investigations and convictions. The cause and affect of this reduction in priorities is not accidental or coincidental.
1
@Mike The single greatest failure of our FBI lies at the feet of Comey. Why was such an aggressive attack by an adversary on our nation state, carried out largely in plain sight, aided and abetted by countless Vichy quislings and traitors, allowed to progress to the point of installing a wholly owned asset of Putin in the White House? Why are we still questioning this when every single intelligence agency of the western world was sending warning signals to the FBI in 2015 and 2016? Why is the story not reported thusly rather than through innuendo and false equivalency using the traitors language (dodgy dossier).
The simple answer is the same as in 1999 the latter portion of Clinton's administration. There is only so much capacity of the bureaucracy to deal with issues. Republicans used up all the band width attacking the executive rather than addressing real issues confronting our nation. During the latter part of the Obama term republicans again were attacking the executive, particularly as weak militarily and with the bogeyman of muslim terrorism. Nevertheless distracting from the attack that they were complicit in orchestrating with Russia.
1
You know how sometimes when a tornado blows through one of those trailer parks in Oklahoma there's one trailer left standing, completely unscathed? That's what all this feels like, and that one unscathed mobile home is Donald Trump.
Here's hoping that the Mueller investigation is another tornado on the horizon, aimed right at that last standing trailer.
6
That Trump is still there is evidence enough that there are lots of people still there who want him. I don't know what that says about our country but whatever it is, I don't like hearing it.
9
Just think: Republicans and Evangelicals could have nominated normal people like Kasich and Jeb Bush. I disagree with their political positions, but I wouldn't be afraid to leave my granddaughter, or my country, with them for safe keeping.
It's not Trump who is off kilter. It's Republicans and Evangelicals.
45
Trump hasn't even made the trains run on time, that is unless you ask him. The economic and employment gains he claims to have produced are virtually indistinguishable from the trend lines established under the Obama administration. His trade 'policies' have, so far, done much more harm than good.
The stock market indexes, mostly reflecting the holdings of those already wealthy, went up early in his term because of expected tax cuts targeted to the rich. And no, tax cuts have never paid for themselves, witness exploding deficits when we should be creating a rainy day cushion.
Meanwhile, China's economy is slowing, our trading relationships are fraying, Britain may face a hard Brexit, France is in turmoil, our Saudi allies are committing genocide, regime change is our neocon strategy in Iran, and Putin still holds sway over Trump.
And none of this may matter because Trump is actively trying to destroy the world environment as a favor to oil interests that donated generously to his inauguration and whisper in Mike Pence's ear (i.e. the Koch's and friends).
House Democrats and the Justice Department may be all that stands in the way of oblivion. Imagine if Trump were to survive to the 2020 election and win another term. Republican actions in Florida, Georgia, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Ohio are trying to lock in those electoral votes.
Despite the advances of justice, our fate is still balanced on a knife's edge.
22
One of the frequently overlooked consequences of the possible Russian interference and of proven domestic felonious activity of Mr. Trump's cohorts to the 2016 Presidential election was the election of Michael Pense and his assuming the position of Vice President. Should Mr. Trump be forced to or elect to vacate the Presidency, Mr. Pense should not be rewarded with elevation to a position he obtained through the same fraudulent criminal activity as did Mr. Trump, though apparently through no active participation on his part.
26
When the majority of both parties are not actively waging war to keep the United States a democracy, we see how Trump came to power. I'm afraid the government needs to break completely before it can be fixed, and where that line is, and what it looks like we don't know yet. But perhaps we see a glimpse of what is taking us down the path toward the line as the Trump saga unfolds. This is a really big deal in our lifetime, and I feel certain our democracy is fading before our eyes. We don't have a choice but to take action to help our government become a more secure, more inclusive, more professional and compassionate body. There was a good start with the midterm elections where a balance of power may soon be restored, but that's not enough. We need to keep our government on a trajectory toward what makes us a shining example of democracy. Only the people can do that.
7
In the mean time, we the people can buy even more hybrid and electrical cars. Invest in more solar panels and companies that offer alternatives to fossil fuels. Our consumption can have even a greater effect than the vote---both are critical.
12
@James Mc Carten
Keep this in mind:
Tomorrow we will be better.
Then the day after better still. And so on and so on and so on.
never give up hope. Never give up trying to be better and making the world a better place by doing the right thing.
Eventually Mueller's endeavors will prevail and the nightmare that is the Trump era will be OVER.
Merry Christmas everyone!
3
Though reality may have caught up to Trump, the rest of us must face the facts as well: Trump will not give up without a fight that takes us down with him, and his “base” and GOP support will have few defectors. As the Democrats and prosecutors close in on Trumpworld, expect our democracy to falter. Career prosecutors must follow the evidence and the law. But Congressional Democrats should plot methodically, so as to achieve some degree Of governance.
For example Chuck and Nancy could have used their meeting with Trump to save the Dreamers, and give Trump Wall money (which first would be used for feasibility studies; even Trump acknowledged that not all of the border needs a wall.) Instead they defied him,
showing off for their perceived “base” but accomplishing nothing except participating in Trump’s world of reality tv.
Democratneed to establish themselves as the party of effective governance, while holding Trump and his minions accountable.
7
@Asher Fried -- no deal with Trump ever works; his word is worthless. Further, Trump cannot deliver the Republicans for anything the Democrats want.
There's no evidence that "saving the Dreamers" was ever on the table, in any reality.
4
@Asher FriedRight. Like Trump would honor such a promise. We’ve seen that game before; remember his promise to the Democrats after a particularly bad mass shooting that he’d come down for meaningful gun control?
5
I don't think that "Justice" has caught up with Trump, albeit those within the Trumpworld orbit have been made to pay for their lawlessness and malfeasance. As long as Trump uses the power of his office, and is enabled in the exercise of power by the GOP and the conservative media, Trump will continue to avoid any penalties for what he has directed other to do and for what he may have done. Things may look differently once Mueller completes his work, but even then, it will require action by the legislative and judicial branches to effect any meaningful legal remedy, and that is unlikely.
11
@Brian Ellerbeck
I completely agree Brian. Reagan and W both avoided any penalties for activities their underlings engaged in. Even HW was able to sweep the BCCI scandal under the rug consequence free. Highly unlikely the legislative or judicial branches will hold the Donald accountable. With his approval still above 40% I expect he'll win the electoral college again in 2020. Accountability for the rich and powerful simply doesn't exist in the good ole USA.
4
@Brian Ellerbeck Or the House democrats can run out the clock and then we can prosecute and incarcerate the whole treasonous, corrupt lot of them in 2021. Most of us will surely survive until then as the Russians and Chinese have always acted in their rational self interest to avoid nuclear annihilation.
@TDW
He's not going to win again. The so-called approval rating is deceiving. Old conservatives are dying off and every year post-Trump brings a new batch of voters who are overwhelmingly liberal. In addition, 3 of the 4 states that put Trump over the top electorally voted the Democrats in along with policies to get rid of gerrymandering and others. He's toast.
I believe there is reason for much optimism as we close out 2018. The electorate spoke volumes this past November by overwhelmingly voting support for a Democratic House of Representatives. These Democrats WILL perform their Constitutional duty to oversee this White House.
Prior to the mid-terms, I believe that Law Enforcement and the DoJ felt they were being left out to dry by the Republicans in Congress, but no more. Truth, justice and the American way will once again prevail.
19
A most illuminating chronicling of the falling chips. Notably absent is hints of return to sanity of the elected GOPers across the land. What I fear is that while Agent Orange might be neutralized, his minion-base might remain with concretized resentment and intolerance.
27
@SJ it will, and they are a breeding ground for future ugliness.
It is a pitiful thing, but their saving graces, such as they are, are their extraordinary incompetence and self-destructiveness, and that they are mostly old.
2
Ms. Goldberg is right, liberal democracy is unraveling before our eyes. But maybe it would be more accurate to say that many of our assumptions about democracy are being revealed for the charade that they always were.
We still have a republican form of government. That is we elect representatives. But we now see that this is very different from real democracy.
Academic studies have now verified what we already knew; our so called representatives are more responsive to corporations and lobbyists that they are to the people.
The corruption throughout the Trump administration simply lays this bare. Our entire system has been corrupted by campaign money. Our Supreme court has legalized bribery.
Trump has simply taken it to another level by basically selling cabinet positions to the corporations that the departments are supposed to regulate.
We don't even directly elect the president. One person, one vote. Think again. In the US Senate there are at least a half dozen states with fewer people than the District of Columbia. Yet they each get two senators and the people of the District get nothing.
Everyone else gets gerrymandered into one party enclaves while the two parties make sure that third parties never get standing in the electoral process.
Things are falling apart. But maybe as they do we can see beyond Trump and aspire to real direct, popular democracy, not the increasingly hollow form we have now.
50
@drspock
Thank you, for the truth, ugly tho it may be, about this country of ours, if it is even still nominally ours, for now.
Sad times...
1
This litany of malfeasance and its consequences actually gives me hope that our democratic institutions are still functional. This administration will end within or after two years and a new one will begin. One reads over and over that it will take years to unravel the damage that Trump has wrought. Perhaps it is my wearing of rosy colored glasses but I do not see it that way.
Trump came into office with a whiteboard of Obama initiatives, policies and accomplishments and systematically ticked each of them off from climate change to trade pacts, from clean air to nuclear detterence, from healthcare (attempt to so thwarted for now) to hope. The pendulum swings back and forth every four or eight years in our political history.
The positive side of Trump's influence on our civil life has been that he has awoken new found awareness in many ordinary Americans to participate more actively in the democratic processs at the polls. Let's revive hope in America in 2019 and rest assured that it will not take decades to get the nation back into the light once this aberration in our government has passed.
17
Trump's corporate and personal tax returns are suddenly taking center stage. And for good reason. We now see why he so strongly objects to their release and scrutiny. With all the indications of corruption surrounding this man, his organization and the presidency itself we'll have to wait to see how strongly the Republican party tries to block the Democrat's access to them. This will hopefully bring about the final chapter in the Mueller Report.
11
Well said. The last month or so has brought welcome relief to many of us who suffered daily from trumpism and his republican party. If the current pace of indictments, perp walks, blockbuster investigations, and noteworthy revelations continues, 2019 promises to be a very good year! America is still in mortal danger, but the majority has put republicans on their heels.
16
I worry that the anti environment policies, as well as the federal judges will come at record volume and speed, as Trump's policy suppliers (the man himself has no ideas) and the funding influencers see the writing on the wall.
5
Ms Goldberg, this column and all you covered in a few short paragraphs left me spinning. Your column also left me somewhat hopeful.
I look forward to 2019 as clarity about all the collusion, criminality, and collapse of long-held American values emerges, and our ship of state resumes its charted course as it was set down in the pledge of allegiance and the constitution.
I believe we are slowly emerging from an orange nightmare.
12
Thank you, Michelle, for your reminder that we have reason to celebrate approaching what I hope is the end of a very long, very dark tunnel. I look forward to emerging into ... environmental crises, humanitarian disasters, and other familiar upheavals without a lunatic at the wheel of the ship of the world's most influential state. We're not there yet, but at least we aren't getting further away.
21
And yet, all those judge-candidates clearing through the McConnell's Senate bode ill, I think, for justice for ordinary citizens, as opposed to our "citizen-"corporations. Justice is overseen and confirmed by judges, and we'll have to see how these McConnell Judges act. (Was tempted to write "the jury's till out," but couldn't go there unless inside parentheses!)
13
@JW Schumer signs off on these judge-candidates wholesale, does he not? It is a wholly bipartisan corporate coup.
To echo Tolkien: "The board is set. The pieces are moving." This tragedy is far from over as the Republican Party has not and most likely will not do anything but stand aside. May they pay a price for that eventually. But thank you Ms. Goldberg for your compilation of small but significant acts of justice and fairness which have already occurred. Let the pieces act in concert to corner the King.
39
If this is, indeed, the year that The Donald's chickens come home to roost, I have another subject area for all to consider, namely, his degree from the Wharton School of Business. Throughout my lifetime, the Wharton School has been justifiably touted as one of the, if not THE business school in the nation. It has become painfully obvious to everyone, save the 56 million followers of his Twitter account, that the current occupier of the White House is, to be polite, an intellectual lightweight. Yet, there he stands, a graduate of a premier business school.
How did that happen exactly? Is this a fair line of questioning? You bet it is, coming from someone who openly and notoriously demanded to see President Obama's Harvard Law School transcripts, to say nothing of his birth certificate!
I have long suspected the Ivy League credentials of some of the rich and powerful, without a shred of real evidence, mind you, but nevertheless, the suspicion has remained. Well, we now have a genuine Exhibit A! What about it, Ms. Goldberg? Care to have a look?
71
Unfortunately there may not be much too this. A likely explanation is that when tRump went to Wharton it was not the elite school it is today. Only the bottom of the high school class went to undergraduate business school, which is what he attended. Even today it is the Wharton mba that has prestige.
17
@TRA
Trump has an undergraduate degree from Penn. In 1968 the Wharton School was a graduate degree program. I do not believe it is accurate to say Trump graduated from Wharton. Trump does say it, but he lies about everything. Trump went to Fordham for two years, and he then transferred to Penn for two years where he graduated as a business major. I’d like to see his transcript. One of his professors has said Trump was the worst student he ever had. I’ve a friend who graduated from Penn also in 1968 who says he knows no one in his class who knew Trump.
10
@TRA:
I hear you. The 'business' of most Business School is SHADY business.
I realize it's not fair to say, without evidence, and I *may* be completely wrong. But. I personally believe that most business school graduate executives are as greedy and corrupt as a summer day is long.
And I believe, because it's obvious and seen all the time, that there are different rules (like, very few) for the rich than the poor.
But, c'mon you big money types and "rulers of the universe," SHOW ME THE EVIDENCE that I'm wrong! And have a nice time searching for it.
2
I was flipping back and forth to FOX news last night. They were running a bunch of human interest stories. Except for a little ranting about the wall, they were eerily quiet about all the investigations swirling around DJT. Now spinning the news is one thing, but ommission is another. Nothing to see here! Thanks FOX, for contracting to be the official network of the Trump Administration.
60
Which is why most Trump voters have no idea of the scope and level of his administration’s corruption, to say nothing of that of his “fellow travellers”, who have been falling one by one before Mueller’s oncoming legal thresher.
2
Without Fox, there'd likely be no "Tea Party" and no Trump. Rupert Murdoch and family belong in the same class of oligarchs as Trump and Putin.
4
Trump's approval rating of 40% is relatively meaningless. Any president with an R next to their name starts at 40%. Most people just don't pay that much attention. Bush finally cratered because people couldn't help to pay attention due to the financial crisis.
19
This crime syndicate was kept afloat by an expanding economy. But guess what? The expansion seems to be contracting. The stock market is weak. Deficit exploding. Housing prices dropping. The reason why Pence was so quiet at that meeting with Chuck and Nancy is he sees himself in the other chair as doing the negotiating next year. Get the popcorn.
29
@Jackie Geller. Pence is just another perp. He will not be sitting in any chairs on Pennsylvania Ave when this is over.
@Jackie Geller If Trump is illegitimate so is Pence. The Russians helped the ticket win. No one in their right mind would vote for a maniquin like Pence. He's likely dimmer than Trump. BTW Hillary was a flawed candidate incapable of delivering the South or Ohio.
I'm hopeful that, like most criminals, they are not nearly as smart as they think they are. They have guile and power [for now], but the wheels of justice are slowly grinding them up. Mueller seems much more relentless and intelligent and more patriotic than Trump and his swamp monsters, so I'm hopeful that justice will be served and that Trump and his family will be banished to an island... even if it's just Manhattan and not Rikers.
21
@East of Cicero: Trump's distinguishing characteristic is not his intelligence. It's his salesmanship: give him a product to sell and even if it's defective or dangerous, he can sell it--- and will, if there's money to be made. Salesmanship and a lot of luck (inheriting hundreds of millions, avoiding prosecution before now, etc.) explain his extraordinary and unmerited success in America.
But you're right to hope. His run is coming to an end. The focus of so many truly smart, hard-working, and honest Americans in the press and our judiciary is something that cons like Trump cannot stand up to.
3
@Lew...His only distinguishing characteristic is to identify weakness or fear in any audience or setting and to exploit it ruthlessly for personal gain in that moment. This is not salesmanship.
2
While this is all well and very good, what remains to be addressed is the reason a man like Trump was able to rise to the office of the presidency in the first place. Of course he brought his stable of corrupt geniuses with him and we should all be grateful they are now falling one after the other, hopefully taking their boss with them.
Perhaps America has been so thoroughly disgusted by what has transpired during Trump's tenure they will turn away en masse and elect Democrats no matter what their stripe, but that's not enough. The electorate has been screaming for both parties to start paying attention to them instead of the overlords of wealth who own the system. "That's just the way we have to do it if we want to win" will not cut it in the long or even mid term.
Trump was elected to be the destroyer of that system. Doesn't matter how unfit he was for that purpose. Doesn't matter he is not one of them. It only matters that he is shaking thing up. If in that shake up he and his people are the only ones who fall to the axe, it will not have served its purpose.
There's a long way to go before you can celebrate a return to hope. Convicting low life scoundrels is a cake walk compared to challenging the high life ones.
43
Yes, Michelle, there is a Santa. In January of this year, I believed that all hope was gone in our system of law and order, justice, and, alas, even our democracy. I was overwhelmed by the merciless power spewing from Trump, his Cabinet, his Congress. Children being torn from their parents’ arms, all being separated and placed in cages. The word of a drinking, partying man-child praised by his fellow misogynists at the expense of abused women...further tainting a branch of government that could be our last hope. But most of all I underestimated a Constitution that has sustained several hundred years of the worst of times, and the majority of Americans who still aspire to goodness and fairness. We have not only seen the awesome work of Mueller and prosecutors at large, but also we have experienced - and lived - the passion and vibrancy of our “better angels” within us.
202
Justice, for the sake of American democracy, is critical. Pursuing justice with Trump & Co., as must be the case, comes, however, at a cost to American spirit. How in the world did we ever allow this with Trump & Co. to happen? And it did’t happen overnight ... it’s been a slide into. Could too many of us have bought into and got used to the lifestyle of having something for nothing ... in a way like Trump? Trump & Co. will get theirs; and when they do, we’ll have to get ours. Democracy, for example, is relational; and its failure is to some extent shared. And looking for a savior now to do the work for us is surely not the answer. Our hope is in having been awakened to the need for active citizen involvement, even to the extent of searching for ways of compromise when particular views are not the same.
10
Others have posted thanks to journalists, let me add mine for Ms. Goldberg, all of her colleagues at the hugely successful NYT, WaPo and other media who continue to seek the truth, facts and justice. Without your leadership 2018 might not have been as fraught for trumpworld as described. Please keep the pressure on relentlessly because at times it feels as if the Fourth Estate is the only thing keeping this country from teetering completely over the edge.
85
I am still bothered by approximately 30 or so percent of our citizenry who not only have turned a blind eye to Trump's moral depravity and corruptness, but energetically support his swamp mentality. In fact, they turn the tables on you by looking at all of this corruption and incompetence as a brillant political strategy for making America great again.
555
@ACJ,
I have learned to accept that's just the way it is, and now I am no longer bothered by it.
Trump has been traumatic for many of us because he shattered our illusions about what kind of country America is, about what kind of people Americans are.
But I believe that sensible people do (slightly) outnumber the not sensible people, and that they will show up at the polls in 2020. Not that America will be "made right again", but we will continue as ever to muddle through.
34
@ACJ
If you view Washington and national politics as irredeemably corrupt and venal, electing Trump is like sending in a suicide bomber to wreak havoc and ruin amidst a scheming elite that deserves all of the havoc and ruin that he can unleash. That's how Trump's base feels. You don't hold your suicide bomber to a set of high moral standards; you just hope he takes as many as he can with him when he blows.
.
This is the white working class that feels abandoned and despised; the deplorables. They support Trump because of the damage he is doing, not in spite of it.
37
@ACJ There will seem, to this 30%, to be an aggressive new "Reconstruction" afoot, with every remedy applied to their horrible deflection of this country from sound policy. Reconciliation will be challenged to find a way not to assimilate their resistance as remotely respectable, in the manner we tolerated Jim Crow horrors just to get the slave states back.
10
For years we have seen many politicians hang "for sale" signs on their necks and their parties have sold their ethics and morals also to the highest bidder.
Yet, we turn a blind eye to these actions, save for the allegations against the Clinton Foundation.
And, we meekly turn a blind eye to the corruption and collusion and few will complain to our lawmakers (as if that would end the corruption).
Trump and his campaign, and those of other power grabbers, have exploited the weaknesses in our system of politics, some bad actors have been cast aside, a "house cleaning" by the parties and candidates, so to speak, others, will languish in prison.
One cannot fault the campaigns, the candidates and the parties for exploiting the loopholes. Business is business.
We allow this to happen in our own gullibility and failure to remember these old adages: there ain't no such thing as a free lunch, and if it sounds too good to be true it probably is.
We, the voting public, must take our task seriously and "shop" the candidates. Look at their finances, their campaigns, and ask, where is the money coming from and will those candidates, if successful, work for our interests, their interests or the interests of their benefactors. At this point in time, I believe the latter two is what we see today.
8
Do you remember how Trump 'won' his election and gained his base? His blatant lies and intimidation of those who dared to bring up legitimate issues? His throwing corruption into our collective faces and expecting us to swallow it as so many did? His callous mocking of war heroes, women, immigrants and anyone that did not sport a 'white' skin color?
Yes, the illegality of the whole Trump mess is unraveling, but in the coming election if he survives til then all of the above and more will be on full display once again and anyone with a hint of conscience must gird themselves to refute the onslaught as his base once again condones corruption for the perks they think they receive. It seems the revelation of illegality is not enough. The GOP has led us into a situation where illegality is just about the norm. But some how we must reclaim the rule of law and our social conscience to win back our nation in the next two years.
22
If we presume that justice will prevail then the hard part will be not giving in to schadenfreude. It'll be very difficult to keep from ridiculing the supporters who have been repeating his catch phrases and twisting themselves into pretzels trying to deny the cognitive dissonance that is required in order to maintain their narrative. Despite their aggressive awfulness we must try very hard not to point out that they are rubes and suckers taken in by a ridiculous man who loves fire trucks.
7
I hear what you say, but I just don’t think I have that much “try” in me. A level of unprincipled ignorance is sad when a segment of the population damages itself through it, but it borders on unforgivable when the damage extends throughout the world.
@Melinda Mueller
I hear you. But in the USA these people are our neighbors and family members and unless things devolve into literal warfare we're going to have to move forward together.
That doesn't mean that we have to invite them to any of the good parties, though. And all future gift giving occasions for them will involve fire truck memorabilia.
1
@Albert Ross, why? Anyone who wears a 'proud deplorable' shirt is worth my respect? No one has a constitutional right to a good reputatin, especially after chanting maniacally at their dearleader's boastful lies.
Liberals generally don't herd MAGA types into concentration camps, so your concern seems a little unnecessary. Why not let them own their proud selves? When MAGA types put down their lies and help pull the country out of this mess, then they'll get some respect from me.
Thanks for the "better than sex" opinion column. I am breathless for the next edition. You write light into my life after two years of darkness. Mueller is our country's only chance. It has been feeling like Germany circa 1936.
17
And today is an especially hope inspiring day as it is witnessing a worldwide school strike for the climate, initiated by 15-year old, Swedish Greta Thunberg.
https://youtu.be/0TYyBtb1PH4
https://youtu.be/EAmmUIEsN9A
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greta_Thunberg
Trumpland is getting its comeuppance and obsolete, before it learned to read (the signs of the times).
6
@Blue wave? On the indigo wings
Thank you for sharing these links! Inspiring!
1
Flunked my comment by not properly advertising the links: the first is a very recommendable interview by Democracy Now's Amy Goodman with both the rebel girl who looks like she ran straight out of an Astrid Lindgren novel like another Pippi Longstocking, and with her father.
The second is a very impressive TED talk by Greta all by herself. The clarity of the urgency with which we need to act, that Bill McKibben evokes in his readers in long, thorough articles, Greta turns into a palpable here now experience with one short evocative, provocative speech. Now, that's a formidable feat.
The famous Gretchen question in Goethe's Faust tries to find out if the protagonist is on the Good Folk's Team or in league with the devil. Today the little Greta's of the world are asking us if we're on Humanity's Team or cutting deals with the climate devils. One of the fresh, daring central tenets of that now almost archetypal image of the Swedish youth, Pippi Longstocking, is: "I re-create my world, just like it suits me." Greta though is telling us, the grown-ups: that's what we do, adding up to disaster, and we need to change. Here. Now.
Trumpland is the exhibit A of the wronged, pouty, stewing, and self-justifying retreat into the dumbest and baddest path at being called out and admonished for its folly and cheatery.
Clearly, our Greta's are the grown-ups in the perplexing world of today. I learn this every day from my son who is as old as Greta.
Thanks for the thumbs up, Lee Miller.
The battle continues. MIchelle Goldberg, Charles Blow, and MSNBC notwithstanding, there is a kind of Republican allergy to truth, to common sense, to basic goodness and empathy.
Even at the Times, conservative journalists are bending and twisting to somehow remarkably compare the profound incompetency and malfeasance of our supposed current "President "with Bill Clinton's sexism or Barak Obama's foreign policy compromises.
There is, and has never been any "equivalencies" here. Trump is a dagger to the very heart of the American Project. He and his family deserve ruination and prison time for what they have wrought on this country and the world. On climate change alone.
It has been wonderful to watch the wheels of Justice turn. But Trump is occupying that rare space in the evolution of human civilization where good and evil are clearly defined. Stunning that so many evangelicals have revealed their racist and nationalist colors behind the dark shadow of this fraud President. Our founding fathers could not have imagined such a storm of violence to the values that were supposed to separate this great nation from the tyrannical history of Europe. Or perhaps they did.
35
Brooks and Douthat really struggle to stay rational while in the grips of their deep conservatism. Happily and often wittily The Times commenters won’t let their rationalizations go unchallenged.
I won't feel "good" until justice has caught up with Trump and family and they are sitting in jail.
14
"I will build the Wall, or shut down the Government."
Such threats should be labeled with the 6500 lies documented Trump has hand fed the American people.
Last: He has committed murder by supporting those behind murder as: "Attempted political bomber; Tree of Life killer of 11, and the Saudi Prince ("Who is an important ally of the US") and we should forgive that he ordered the savage murder and bodily destruction of a Washington Post reporter. "The Enemy of the people indeed."
Who has actually established himself as The Enemy of the People is the current POTUS. This latest shutdown attempt to close the border and build the Wall, or he will "Shut down the Government of the USA. is ill conceived. The Border Wall will do nothing as proven invaders will dig 100' under to enter. Those entering are not using the Border. They use air, truck and water ways. So, why the Border Wall? Because it will give a leading legacy to the builder; Donald J Trump.
My solution (A former Reagan Republican) to this: Dump and imprison Trump, now!
12
I'm going to go full nerdy Tolkien here and quote the film version of Gandalf: "I come back to you now at the turn of the tide."
The momentum has shifted. There is finally hope. This is the year to press our advantage and sweep this Liar out of office.
266
@Dan J.R.R. Tolkien via Gandalf - “Some believe it is only great power that can hold evil in check, but that is not what I have found. It is the small everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keep the darkness at bay. Small acts of kindness and love."
The Hobbit
269
@Dan
And let’s not forget Eoywn, the daughter of the king of Rohan, as she slays the Nazgil exclaiming “I am no man”.
That’s the image that came to my mind while watching the Women’s March early in 2017. It was obvious then to me that it will be women who bring down this evil (yes, evil).
21
I appreciate the positive spin here. It's something that we need to hear and remember exists. However... I'm still not yet optimistic about accountability. The President and nearly everyone around him has been shown to be corrupt. But it's only a small percentage of these people who have been brought to justice. For the majority of these grifters they seem to be clearly guilty of several misdeeds and yet they are still out there and free. Technically, it's circumstantial evidence that we can point to, at least at this point. Even worse is that all of the Republicans in Congress are covering for these evildoers. What they would never accept from a Democrat is AOK when it's immoral from the very core of their party. From my perspective accountability has not yet arrived. But I sure hope that justice does appear.
13
Just when I am in such despair over what this president is
doing to destroy our country, I read this article and know that
journalists are doing what we as citizens with no power cannot
do, expose this president for what he is. Thank you.
28
Well said! I am sleeping better. Look forward to 2019. Let hi have it! and his corrupt family and minions. Shame on the Republicans.
But will the American people in reaction to this attack on our democracy and democratic institutions learn the basics about how these work and why they are constituted? On the frieze of the Copley Square Public Library is written that the best defense of democracy is a well-informed citizenry. Are schools, all of them, making Civics a required course? What about history? if you don't know your history and traditions you don't know who your are.
12
@Alexander
Yes, but in 1972 Tricky Nixon won 48 states....
Unfortunately, many vote based on perception and emotions rather than intellectual consideration of the facts. Hope 2020 is different.
1
Shortly after the inauguration, Rachel Maddow started reporting on the financial mysteries of the funding of the inauguration. The Senate and GOP are just now starting to ask questions. Where did all the millions go that weren't needed for that day?
16
Trump campaigned as the "law and order" candidate, remember? Let not that irony be lost.
20
@Skip, for trump and his delighted followers, 'law and order' means putting black people in jail for drug crimes. It means making poor people sit in jail for months without being charged. Aren't all poor people bad anyway?
But for silk-wearing folk like trump? Not so much. For trump, the divide between him and us is so profound that he feels sorry for his criminal buddies and hates on law enforcement when it targets financial crimes. Too pathetic.
I'll say it again. For trump and his chanting followers, there is no irony. trump is above all. Uber Alles, if you will.
Yes, a tumultuous year for Trump and his administration; he is now "besieged," that word used for Nixon and then again for Clinton.
Nixon resigned. Clinton hung on through an impeachment, avoided removal by a squeak, though badly hurt politically and reputationally.
Can we guess what will happen to Trump, from here? It's risky, but I think we can make a reasonable bet that Trump will be the first president to be indicted for a felony before removal or resignation; that will be a new constitutional issue before the Supreme Court.
I think Trump, and potentially members of his family, will be indicted by the incoming AG of New York, Letitia James, by spring or early summer. Trump's payments to Cohen following Cohen's payment to Cliffords are tax fraud and money laundering. The AGs office is known to be pursuing Trump Foundation, and there are potentially other charges, but the payments to Cohen are a slam dunk now.
The incoming Democrats in the House will be slow to impeach Trump, looking at the obvious: the domination of the Senate by a GOP that appears ready to support Trump to the end. No president has been removed (though Nixon quit because he was convinced he would be). It would take 20 Republicans in the Senate deciding to do so. At the moment that seems unlikely; the question is when would the dam burst, and why?
A White House in shambles and Trump fighting felony indictments could make a year of Pence before the 2020 elections look good.
3
@Lee Harrison
Nothing would make a year of Pence, the theocrat, look good.
1
There should be a caveat attached to this headline, and it should read: "The Year Justice Caught Up With Trumpworld, Maybe." In no way is it a sure thing that Goldberg's litney of wrongdoing by Trump associates will have any effect on the man himself. More and more, I feel that Trump has been right all along, and he will retain the presidency and be reelected by millions of loyal followers even if the headline read: "Trump Shoots Man On Fifth Avenue."
I'm not yet convinced that the Mitch McConnell and his Republicans care about any of this. In fact, just last week when asked about the allegations, Senator Orrin Hatch said, “I don’t care, all I can say is he’s doing a good job as president.” (What he bases that claim on is anyone's guess.) Never mind that when he voted to impeach Bill Clinton, Hatch had this to say: “committing crimes of moral turpitude such as perjury and obstruction of justice go to the heart of qualification for public office. This great nation can tolerate a president who makes mistakes,” Hatch said then. “But it cannot tolerate one who makes a mistake and then breaks the law to cover it up. Any other citizen would be prosecuted for these crimes.”
So, yes a lot has happened, as Goldberg's listing shows so succinctly. Whether it matters is yet to be determined.
10
Excellent summary of the year in review of Trumpland in 2018.
Can't wait to see your review of Penceworld in 2019!
2
It feels like master media manipulator Trump got faked out a little. While he (and we) were watching Mueller and getting little trickles of information here and there, suddenly the SDNY dropped an anvil on the whole thing.
7
Casualties among Trump's minions amount to a cost of doing business for the President. As long as he and his oligarch cronies can keep stuffing their pockets, a few jail sentences here and there don't matter. And down the road, the real problem remains Donald Trump's hard core of support. If he is ever removed once and for all, there is another model, more polished, outwardly more benign, waiting to take over. Maybe it will be another Doofus....you know, the kind of guy you'd like to have a beer with. People have already forgiven him for Iraq and the Great Recession. And so we devolve, the American experiment reduced to yet another monument to greed and ignorance.
6
Recovery from this will never happen unless and until the criminals are fully-exposed and held to account for their crimes.
The biggest mistake this nation ever made was allowing Nixon to walk free when he should have served hard-time.
And remember this: These are the same people who have insisted that waterboarding is not torture and is an effective way to get the truth from a suspect. It seems to me that turnabout is "fair-play."
6
Even if one detests Trump, there is a disturbing short-sightedness to how the current series of investigations has been carried out, and which crimes prosecuted. The issue is not whether for example, Michael Flynn lied to the FBI, or whether Michael Cohen assisted in the payoffs of women with whom the president was sexually involved, or lied to banks regarding loans he applied for. Rather, it is that going forward, we can expect elected leaders and those in their inner circles (likely including family members) to be investigated by the FBI and then threatened with long sentences, which can only be mitigated if the person facing prison agrees to plead guilty to a lesser crime, and implicate a more hated target. Given that the overwhelming majority of federal prosecutions result in convictions, usually from plea bargains and not from actually being tried in court, this should frighten all of us.
Mr. Trump has a multitude of flaws, inadequacies and a history of shady business practices going back well over 40 years. He also may very likely have been engaged in back room dealings with the Russian government that sabotaged the election. If so, let's impeach for that. But short of that, consider that what we are seeing now is setting a precedent for future sitting presidents, who likely will not be as free of scandal as we might hope.
And all this trouble has come to Trump -- never mind us peripheral beings -- because he ran for president.
I've never been sure whether he launched his presidential bid simply as a vanity project, or as a scheme to attract attention to himself and money to his businesses, or as a scheme to parlay his reality-TV identity into big-time noisemaking in the public sphere; but I'm sure he expected to wind up in the safe position of a Washington outsider who could, if he chose, tell us what the "fools" running the country ought to do.
He could have dismissed the embarrassment of defeat easily enough by claiming that the election had been rigged against him. From there on, he'd have been on velvet -- making unfalsifiable claims about the things he'd have accomplished as president, the size of his never-to-be inaugural crowd, and so on.
There'd have been no fuss about his tax returns. No criticism of his hours spent in front of the TV set. No dealing with people who want to discuss things he can't understand and who ask him to read more than a page. No objection to his being owned by Russia.
All this and two scoops of ice cream, too. But no. He had to go and get himself elected.
7
@Longestaffe
It's also a possibility that he launched it to cover up his crimes and those of his organization and family and save them all from prosecution, a sort of shoot the moon attempt to stave off the inevitable. Just a thought.
I suppose this downward spiral was inevitable. The only question was how damaged we would be while the fiasco of the Trump adventure played out. We still don't know.
The opportunity costs of playing with this fire will never be fully calculated. The time wasted ignoring the very real problems that threaten can never be regained to say nothing of the real damage to human rights, the environment, global stability and economic benefit.
We haven't hit bottom yet. Brace for impact. Only then can we assess the true diminishment and begin to rebuild and reform. Hang on.
5
It has been sad to watch the destruction of the largest English speaking democracy by incompetent leadership. The failure of Republican politicians is historic and potentially irreversible insight of the polarization of the judicial system.
Looking forward to the next election will not solve the corruption of the judicial levers of power.
10
Beautifully penned, Ms. Goldman!
3
The first payoff I became aware of was the payoff to settle 3 lawsuits against Trump University, totaling $25 million. This scam in and of itself should have sunk a presidency. The fact that it is not even mentioned in Michelle's piece (because it doesn't represent a 2018 comeuppance) is downright amazing.
6
Misleading title ('Justice Caught Up ...'). A bit more hopeful; but until DJT is personally called to account - thrown out of office or into jail - justice will not have been served. Unlikely that it ever will: if DOJ's policy of not-indicting a sitting president is overturned (zero likelihood: this DOJ is a Trump-controlled DOJ), and were he indicted and tried (he'd never plead guilty), a single pro-Trump juror will result in a hung jury (as happened with most counts brought against Manafort). Alternatively, if the House impeaches, the Senate will not convict (regardless of the crimes). And either way - out of office or in office - he'll be running again in 2020, and his base will put him right back into office.
4
I agree with your list of events here and how some of Trumpworld is being held to account. But last night, there was the news of a seven-year-old's death in ICE custody at the border. She died from dehydration. Not in the six or seven hours that she was in this custory did no one notice her distress and offer her a drink of water? This is the part of Trumpworld that is still more than alive and well. We are and have been helping the Saudis starve children to death in Yemen. We countenance the demonization of journalists and the bomb threats, bombings and murders that follow. A black woman sitting in a waiting room with a child is manhandled, arrested, and then the charges are dropped.
No one is held to account. This dangerous and deadly part of Trumpworld is still alive and well. It has to go.
9
Crimes committed by Paul Manafort, Rick Gates, Alex van der Zwaan and Richard Pinedo had nothing to do with the Trump campaign or Trump administration. (Manafort also worked for the Gerald Ford, Ronald Regan and Bob Dole while Gates also worked John McCain.) Michelle Goldberg includes them in her column because the Mueller investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia has lasted more than two years and has produced only two misdemeanor indictments for crimes that, ironically, would not have been committed had there been no investigation.
George Papadopoulos received a 14-day sentence for lying to the FBI during a post-election interview about the sequence of his unsuccessful but lawful efforts to arrange a meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin. He was not a member of the Trump campaign at the time of the interview.
Michael Flynn is expected to serve no jail time for denying he told the Russian ambassador during the transition period that Russia should not overact to sanction. Since Flynn’s conversations with the ambassador broke no laws, no crime would have been committed had the FBI not questioned Flynn. (Calling Flynn, a distinguished Americans solder, a lowlife is despicable.)
One 14-day sentence is not much to show for more than two years of investigation.
Thank you, Michelle. I always enjoy reading your columns, and look forward to them.
A major problem in the country, besides the obviously corrupt and compromised Republican Senate, is the Fox Broadcasting Company, whose opinion shows have mastered the art of truth-twisting, conspiracy-spreading, and outright lying to a gullible population. Until they are held accountable for creating, aiding, and abetting outright fabrications, Trump’s ardent supporters will remain loyal.
And, Fox clearly inspires other right-wing conspiracy outlets, encouraging hate to emerge from the shadows.
Not until Fox - particularly Hannity – turns against Trump will we see any change in either Trump’s base or the Senate. Frankly, I don’t any evidence of cognitive dissonance at all in his base. All I see is a completely alternate reality, defending even the smallest, most minor offenses.
Despite justice being served – thankfully – we have a long way to go.
3
For the last two years I've felt like a person living through the world's longest earthquake. Then, after the midterm election, the shaking suddenly stopped. Trump is showing fear for the first time and looks for all the world like the madman he's always been. Unfortunately for him, there is no bankruptcy court or daddy's money to bail him out this time. If I were Trump I'd be talking to Bob Mueller right now about a comprehensive deal to keep himself and his kids out of prison in exchange for his immediate resignation. There is no other way out of this for him. The game is over.
5
I won’t rest easy until the Big Cheese stands alone and Mueller makes a fondue with him. He’s still a clear and present danger until he is removed from power.
4
The era of TRUMP as unsavory as it has been , may function as a way of purging our country of the lesser angels of our nature . Donald Trump and those who have blindly followed him have merely embodied what has been in operation covertly in this country for many years . While it does not excuse his actions it is important for us to see this so that we do not make such a great mistake again .
Perhaps this is a way for nature to take it’s course in cleansing us of these spiritual illnesses that have been laying dormant in our country for so many years . Now that Donald Trump has brought out the worst in some of us, it’s a lot easier to deal with, and as a result we are compelled to make a choice.
3
Although they are relatively few, the comments below indicating continued support for Individual #1 is disturbing. There are clearly people who are completely incapable of rational thought. I know that is not surprising, but it is still disconcerting.
6
Really? What's changed? Those of us who have understood from the outset who Trump is have only had our suspicions confirmed. And those among us who supported Trump as a wrecking ball, who believe that politics and politicians are corrupt and Trump's corruption is just a smidge worse than the rest, remain unmoved by investigations, guilty pleas and jail time. Republican power brokers smirk and dissemble, unafraid in their gerrymandered districts, untouchable by an opposition that has yet to reveal a cohesive agenda and whose bright, new members are already choosing sides within their caucus. Trump retains his 42% approval rating among registered voters, enough to get him elected last time and unless the wheels fall off the economy in the next 18 months, probably enough to get him reelected in 2020. In the meantime the very real and scary threats to us all, the decay of democratic institutions, economic and personal security driven mass migration, the environmental crisis, crushing debt, and a wholly broken health care delivery system, the underlying drivers of legitimate fears that divides us, that could and should, with able leadership be uniting us, fester as our political and cultural institutions continue to fall short. Justice may be running but it has a long way to go to catch up.
3
The media and Mueller are going through their version of "show me the man and I will show the crime" act. Maybe anyone who has just won the presidency should get the same scrutiny or just Reps. Still have not found that collusion though. I might have missed it but did the NYT report on the Comey interview at 92 Y. Just might be the start of the real conspiracy.
This list of con-men and other low-lifes is a good sign of progress. However, the hole in our democracy, created by the GOP and its funders, is extremely deep and it's filled with con-men all the way down. Mitch McConnell and his tribe of bitter old white male "leaders," shockingly still support Trump with their silence. They will continue to weaponize anti-democratic laws enabling voter suppression, gerrymanders, dark money and misinformation, well after Trump is gone. GOP funding, from the Kochs and other entities (foreign governments?) that practice pollution, denialism, and corruption, also need to be excavated by undoing Citizen's United and enforcing existing campaign finance laws.
Restoring American Democracy will take a long time. However, while keeping our eyes on the prize, it is good to look back and review recent progress. Thank you!
6
And, with 2019 on our doorstep, I think we ain't seen nothing yet!
3
Still don't see a collusion with Russia and the 2017 Trump election. Isn't that where the false claim started?
1
Mueller, the Dems leading Committees in the House starting in January and the SDNY are following the money into Trumpworld. 2019 will be the final chapter in the investigations.
3
Let me take you back to the Clinton-Trump debate on Oct 31, 2016;
"She's likely to be under investigation for criminality for a very very long time to come. We're going to be tied up in court for the rest of our lives with this deal if Clinton is elected."
Donnie what goes around comes around. You've never been held accountable for your rampant criminal and unethical behavior. The time has come. You'll have plenty of time to contemplate the worst decision of your life; running for President of the US.
10
With the events of the past couple weeks and now that the NY AG has chimed in with her plans, I truly believe we will see more than one Trump end up behind bars. Maybe Trump will make it to the end of his first term but, he won't have a second. Then the Trumps and their lawyers will be going up against the best in Federal and State Justice Departments.
More of Trump's "friends" will be jumping off this sinking ship, the next two years, as they head to prison. They will be turning on him to save their own skins. His lashing out at them on twitter will do him no good. Justice will be served.
1
And Ms. Goldberg had to work her much-needed article with a strict word count! This year, the list for truth, justice and, yes, give or take, the American way finally reared its beautiful face. We all deserve a stiff drink this weekend to celebrate the progress so far. Have two. One for yourself and one for trump since he doesn't drink. Maybe that's where the psilocybin Ms. Goldberg was talking about comes in. Can he really be so unconscionable and sober at the same time?
1
Could Newton have been right afterall? The laws of the gravity of reality can be challenged.. but not defeated? I think SO!
1
Judging by the number of rats either being caught or flipping it seems safe to say the ship is sinking. But sadly this boat is going to take a long time to go down.
5
Michelle, I don't know if I should thank you for reminding us of all the dirt and mud trump mob and sidekicks have swamped us with over the last 24 months or if I am so overwhelmed by it all I want to crawl back into bed.
Either way, great reporting on ya! You and the NYT opinion writers have done all of us a good service by searching for the truth.
3
“The world has felt continuously off-kilter, like a TV drama whose writers developed a sudden fondness for psilocybin.”
So this is what it’s like to live on that island from ‘Lost’...
1
The Democratic landslide in the midterms
You know what? I'm with you, as anti the current crop of Republicans as can be, but what landslide? There was no landslide! Republicans still control Governor's offices in almost 2/3 of the states and almost all of those legislatures and The Senate. Barely taking control of The House does not constitute a landslide. Having a vetoproof 2/3 majority in at least one of the houses might have been properly discribed as a landslide.
We are reminded that there is hope. Never give up.
3
Today the parents of Sandy Hook, whose young children were gunned down six years ago, are promoting a day to perform acts of kindness in memory of and in honor of their deceased children.
Would that in the near future the corruption, lack of truth and disregard for people and the environment by this administration be overcome and compensated for by a renewed commitment to forming a more perfect union and a better world.
2
Trump never had a moral compass. He has always been a film flam man, always for his self enrichment. This is how he has operated his entire life, rules or laws mean nothing.
What is happening now between Mueller and the Southern District of New York, is a very slow unraveling of trump world. They will expose decades a corruption, that is a simply truth of trump’s life. He has always surrounded himself by enablers and Mafia style gangsters, organized crime.
Currently, this is a continuation of the only world he knows. So corruption comes to the White House. These are the men he surrounds himself with, his Adminstration.
This has occurred at the same time as the GOP’s quest for maintaining their power via re-election by rewarding their donors, the 1% and Corporations. They have even gained control of the Judiciary to guarantee their position. Today’s GOP have cheated and stolen, all in the name of total power.
Welcome to the swamp of today’s America.
6
Having been around for Watergate I really believe that history is repeating itself. I think Trump will resign in 2019 and while I have no love for Pence at least he is not INSANE!
1
Your column Ms. Goldberg shines a bright light on the criminal justice system, DOJ and judicial appointments by the Republican controlled Senate. Every American should be 100% focused on the Senate and McConnell. The Republican Senate's appointment of unqualified judges for life time, refusal to protect the Mueller investigation with legislation and appointment of racists AG demonstrates how low the Republican Party holds the concept of justice for all. If American want to have impunity to really come to an end put pressure on their Senator to stop all their disregard for justice and pass a protective legislation for Mueller, stop the appointment of unqualified judges and of course criminal sentencing reform. Justice has protected us for now but the future counts.
3
Amen and thank you. No rest for the weary. Each of us need to take heart and renew our energy to restore our democracy. The first steps to salvation have begun but until EVERY republican racist abettor of treason is removed from office our nation, the planet and humanity are in peril. There can be no reconciliation without truth. Vote them all out. Prosecute those that do not confess to their crimes against humanity to the fullest extent of the law. We are the VAST MAJORITY seeking liberty and justice for all in pursuit of life and happiness.
1
Ah, the litany of sins.
The list, as Ms. Goldberg notes, is long. It will only get longer.
It is pretty clear to me that Trump is toast, he just may not know it yet. His kin will pay dearly for their father's reckless abuse of the family name in his vain and self-indulging ego fest to be President of the United States of America. I ask who will want to live in a Trump labeled apartment, hotel or buy a pair of Ivanka shoes? Somehow I doubt the Maga crowd are key demographics for these luxuries, especially once they realize the tax break they might be getting is terribly short-lived.
So my thoughts turn to McConnell and what he is thinking. While I might underestimate Trump, I don't for a moment underestimate the Senate majority leader. We know the short-game, but what is the long-game? Specifically, how does this man think he will hold onto the gavel come 2020? How will this lover of power at all cost, maneuver a party that has proven itself to be ready to shoot itself in the foot during the primaries and a president that is a dead-stick but who still has a big mouth and the audacity to use it to burn the whole house down.
My guess is that McConnell will slowly turn on Trump - this weeks Senate censure vote is a good clue. And my guess is that how McConnell bends, so will Fox, the Joseph Goebbels arm of the GOP. I think McConnell knows that he can't save Trump, but he most likely hopes he can save the Senate. That's all he has left.
5
The Times should be printing retrospectives on Trump more often.
For example, next time when he fusses about funds for his border wall, you should play back the campaign promise where he said the wall wouldn't cost the US a cent because he would make Mexico pay for it.
3
Okay, I could use some hope. Donald Trump is a grifter, a con man.
Who knew that running for and being elected to the office of POTUS would present so many opportunities to make money!!!
So many perfectly lawful ways to raise money (Citizens United) and just squirrel it away.
Increased scrutiny of Trump and his henchmen represents an American awakening to white collar crime which will be fiercely fought. Why has Trump not paid taxes for years, decades even and No One Noticed? America's two tierred justice system has to date given passes to white collar corruption on an epic scale. This bias will not go away without a backlash of well funded lawyering.
Odd that the man who craves the spotlight as air thought that being POTUS would shield him from the spotlight into his money.
His ego may in fact be the vehicle which brings the con to an end.
2
Trump is just one bad cog on a wheel of bad cogs. He is however the cog that finally stopped the wheel long enough that it could be studied and exposed for what it really is. A wheel designed to redefine democracy in the name of wealth and authoritarian rule. A product of the GOP meant solely to crush democratic principles in effort to allow free reign to dirty money powers. A revolution of sorts led by dishonorable people who choose party over people. The truly sad thing here is that it is all real. That we were complacent and comfortable enough to lose sight of those who would destroy democracy in the name of one party rule. Shame on us.
3
To begin, Trump is not "packing" the courts, he is appointing judges who are duly appointed. It's too bad you lost the election. I would also point out it doesn't matter how many of his acolytes you take down, there are more to replace them and overwhelm your consistently shrill and biased commentary.
1
Shrill is a great word. You must have enjoyed the chants of “Lock Her Up”. Flynn and Cohen and others in Trumpworld will probably think about that chant when they hear the jail cell door slam shut.
1
Nixon’s crimes pale in comparison to Trump’s crimes because unlike Trump, Nixon didn’t cozy up to the Commies nor Saudi Terrorists.
Nixon abhorred Communism; whereas, Trump and his comrades in the republican senate and house seem to embrace it.
3
Wait a minute. Is Putin a "Commie" simply because he's Russian?
What does that say about TRUMpp, the GOP and the NRA?
"this is the first year since 2015, when Trump rode down that cursed escalator to launch his bid for office, that is ending more hopefully than it began."
And that hope will change to happiness in 2019, when the Trump nightmare is finally brought to an end.
Let the Pence nightmare begin!
2
What will it ever take for "so called good christians" to finally abandon Trump? I write this as a 72 year old christian! How do these folks live with themselves?
6
The rot and criminality under trump continues to grow. Here's a headline in The Guardian: "Trump science adviser casts doubt on links between pollution and health problems" and that is only part of the EPA's destruction, which seems to be a trump priority. Well, not trump's. trump is way too absorbed with his image, with Fox News, the Wall, with grifting, and the like. Such details as the environment are way too boring for him. And this is repeated throughout the "administration". His "administration" is one of utter corruption throughout. Once he is gone, we will have to undo everything since January 2017. Literally erase it all, fire all people who he appointed (including their minions), reverse all executive orders. He is only a criminal. He's like a deranged and extremely vulgar godfather sitting at that kitchen table in "Casino" with the other capos.
One thing that I fear: Once we enter the full punishment phase, will all these criminals get what they deserve? Our DA's have no problem sending minor criminals to prison for decades. Like the bankers under Obama in 2008, will they get a walk?
2
Oh, Ms. Goldberg. Sounds good. Thanks.
And yet. . . .and yet . . ..
Okay, former Latin teacher talking here. Bear with me.
But I have read accounts of the Roman Empire. In, say, the last century or so of its existence. And my! they had problems. Enormous taxes (and no! this is NOT a covert plug for the Koch brothers)--monies exacted to pay for
(1) an enormous government bureaucracy
(2) an enormous, increasingly incompetent military.
And there was other stuff. Vast disparity between rich and poor. And barbarians--well hey! That was the biggie. Hordes of barbarians--well-organized, pouring into the Empire--constituting (in effect) mini-states within a state. (And no! this is NOT a covert plea for any kind of wall.)
Well gosh--what WAS my point? Simply this.
Nobody REALIZED what trouble the Empire was in. Nobody. Amazing!
It's so easy for countries and empires to fall apart. Slowly. Almost imperceptibly. And no one notices.
Which is why: I read your column, Ms. Goldberg and exclaim, "Yes. Oh YES!" All that stuff is true. And yet--
--even if it IS true, we have come so close to the brink. We have been made to realize: the strength of our country lies NOT in the FBI, the CIA--soldiers, policemen, et cetera.
It lies in the patriotism and integrity of our leaders. And the citizens that support them.
That faith has been severely shaken lately.
Will it ever come back?
I wonder.
2
More to come with the investigation of former RNC deputy finance chairman Eliott Broidy, one of Trump’s—and the GOP’s—biggest campaign fundraisers. Broidy is under investigation by the Justice Department over whether he attempted to sell his influence in the Trump White House to Chinese and Malaysian officials. The same Broidy that failed to pay the entire $1.6 million outlined in a agreement—arranged by Michael Cohen—to keep his affair with former Playboy model and the abortion he pressured her into--secret.
https://splinternews.com/ex-playboy-model-accused-trump-donor-elliott-brody-of-s-1828910217
Broidy Ending Playmate’s Hush Payments Doesn’t Add Up — Unless He’s Covering for Trump
http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2018/07/broidy-ends-hush-payments-trump-cover-up.html
Here’s a Theory About That $1.6 Million Payout From a GOP Official to a Playboy Model
http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2018/05/theory-playboy-model-had-affair-with-trump-not-broidy.html
3
There are many causes to Trump becoming President, but the one biggest cause is too often overlooked. Too many people didn’t like either candidate and stayed home. Effectively, a de facto none of the above came in first.
The result was the candidate who had the least number of votes came in first in the electoral college.
6
Thank you for an excellent article, Ms. Goldberg. It summarizes the most mind-boggling events that have taken place since The Con Don was planted in OUR white house. I'm going to forward it to everyone I know because it paints a clear picture of the corruption that has invaded OUR U.S. government.
Good Job, Good People of America. If we have learned nothing else it is that OUR votes DO COUNT and democracy is not a spectator sport. Every single American who values the lives we have lived since Teddy/FDR/Elanor Roosevelt created social safety nets to protect 99.9% of us must participate. Every single Socially Conscious action counts - taken together WE THE PEOPLE will decide the country WE want to live in.
Now is not the time for complacence. The Con Don is nothing but an inherited/stolen wealth spoiled brat. He has no social or moral/ethical conscience. He would start WW3 to try to maintain his stolen position. We must enjoy the holidays and celebrate the things we have done collectively to preserve OUR country and at the same time keep the pressure on.
Better days ahead!
8
@njglea Thought for reflection over the holiday break: "Justice delayed is justice denied."
1
Yes, 2018 has produced some isolated victories in the war against political insanity. More will follow in 2019. But that war will not be totally won until until those tens of millions of marks of the Trump/GOP/Fox News con game finally awaken to the reality that there isn't a pea under any of the three shells.
Let's face it: America in the 21st Century, with its growing antipathy to education and its aversion for intellectual pursuit, represents a target-rich environment for con artists both foreign and domestic.
5
For those of us who could not believe that Trump was elected, and wake up every morning struggling with the reality that he’s still president, we really, really want to believe that the events of 2018 will lead to Trump not finishing out his term. The reality is that the ONLY way that will happen is if his approval rating drops so low that 2/3 of the Republican controlled senate decides that their personal political prospects are hampered by continuing to support him. According to fivethiryeight.com’s, summary of polls, Trump’s approval rating on January 1 2018 was 38.1% and his disapproval rating we 55.5% and today it stands at 42.5% and 51.6% so in the midst of all this chaos, indictments and clear evidence of criminal behavior, his numbers have actually improved. Justice may be “catching up” to Trump, but so far, it hasn’t laid a glove on him.
8
Mr. Ward the way it will happen is by WE THE PEOPLE using OUR votes and voices, as we have done since the sham 2016 "election" and in this year's midterms, to bring the change WE want.
Have faith - WE THE PEOPLE are a smart bunch.
2
@Matt Ward -- It would take ≈20 Republican senators to vote to remove. That seems an impossible bar now, but I think it may come to that.
What it will take is for Republicans looking ahead to 2020 concluding that they need to get the Trump disaster behind them, show the country they are responsible, and perhaps have at least a little peace under Pence before the election.
The Republicans have a lot to lose in 2020; governorships and state legislatures are critical to the next redistricting. The Republicans are defending 22 seats in the Senate, though most are in safe states. But Republicans face the potential of wipeout in 2020 if they lose the Senate.
The GOP is on the verge of becoming a regional party only. Women are bailing out of the party in states that were strongholds. Barbara Bollier (state senator in KS) just switched parties, and it's clear that other moderate women in KS are thinking about following.
Trump is killing down-ballot fundraising, and he's killing all party messaging about anything other than Trump. Trump is turning the GOP into a pup-tent party with no room for any but angry white downwardly-mobile males and right-wing zillionaires.
The evangelicals would be a lot happier with Pence anyway.
Trump's bubble can burst in an instant when enough Republicans conclude he won't win reelection, and he'll be a yuuge drag on anybody else winning too.
Judges, judges, judges. The fallout in a nation of ‘laws’ will last for decades.
The laws of the U S are manipulated and massaged for the corporation and the 10%. The new Trump Judges are there to continue the distortion. Soon debtors courts will be here along with billion dollar handouts to the ‘job creators’.
Where is the justice?
12
That justice caught up with Trumpworld is not the end of the story but only the beginning. Harken back to 1776 when the founders pledged their lives, fortunes and sacred honor and went about the riskiest and near impossible period of revolting against England and establishing a constitutional republic. It was quite simply the most grueling period in our country's history which eventually included the Civil War.
Yet the country's recovery from what we have been experiencing the last 3 years (which includes the campaign for president) will make the effort to establish the country in the first place seem like a walk in the park. One thing we have never considered was that a single individual, backed by the millions who voted for him could bring our country to its knees.
27
@Tom Osterman True, but the framers did. They didn't count on the branches working together to destroy checks and balances.
Michelle, another counting of chickens before they are hatched. Or chickens coming home to roost. Or Senate chickens. The thing with would-be-dictators is that they repeat on us, like a bad meal. And the moral indigestion the last two years suffered by not only us, but all of our known allies is not the end of the story.
I had a flying instructor years ago who wrenched the controls over after I touched down, and relaxed. The lesson was, you’re still flying the plane until it’s stopped and tied down. Our national flight hasn’t come near landing yet.
9
Thanks for this pick me up, Michelle, even better than my morning coffee.
We might end up being glad that Trump was elected. The whole Republican project is being exposed. Its leaders have been shown to be no better than a tinpot fascist's sycophants, who respond to criticism by attacking the press and posing for pictures with the monster in the White House.
Young Progressives have been elected to Congress and state offices, and there are likely to be more on the way.
Stock up on popcorn. Watching Trump and the whole Koch controlled Republican Party go down the drain is going to be fun next year.
25
Wonderful article; it gently reminds me of all the things I've been trying (subconsciously) to forget in order to maintain some semblance of sanity in a world where "donald trump is president."
Hopefully our nation will survive this historic onslaught, but not while 40+% of my countrymen still think trump is a good thing in the White House. Therein lies the real rub, and the existential threat to our way of life.
16
Thee sad part is that the 40+% you speak of will likely never diminish significantly. I often wonder - what exactly would finally be despicable enough behavior by Trump to make that number go down ?
I actually think if he was caught on camera, over a body with knife in hand, dripping blood - that a significant number of those true believers would Still support him. They would say the film was faked or ... ? They would give him cover. No matter what !
It just boggles the mind. I expect more to be uncovered. Much much more to be revealed but will it be enough ?
1
I certainly wouldn't be holding my breath on impeachment. I suspect the current charges against Trump will have the same effect as they have in the past, namely, none at all. He truly is the "Teflon Don." The only way to get Trump out is at the ballot box, and if history is any reminder, the Democrats will nominate someone far to the left (a la Mondale or McGovern), and the Republicans will win in a landslide.
Think of the bright side: Only 6 more years!
4
@chip trump will be gone by the end of 2019, one way or another. Even the Republicans are turning on him.
I agree with Garden Girl's comments below. One way to begin to restore competency in the presidency might be to re-invigorate the political parties so that they are truly coalitions offering meaningful (competing) visions of the nation's best interests. When candidates need nothing more than a bankroll, a lot of dark money, and jumpy Twitter fingers, we will never be sure of obtaining people with the kind of experience and judgment needed to govern.
12
The past few months have felt like "It's morning in America." It may still be very early morning, when Venus is still shining on the eastern horizon and peeking through clouds that are still pinkish-orange, but it is still morning. We have a whole light to day to look forward to, and I have felt a stirring of hope that I haven't had through this long two-year night.
11
Much is made of how the simple majority House Dems will enjoy next month is enough to file articles of impeachment on this spectacularly criminal regime, but not nearly enough to meet the 2/3rds threshold needed in Senate to convict and remove DJT from office. History, however, should remind us that we don’t need 67 senators including at least 20 Republicans. In fact, we only need 2 or 3 Republicans to realize that they have hitched their wagon to their own electoral abyss to start the dominoe effect that Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater explained the Richard Nixon in August, 1973.
I’ve been resisting - steadfastly holding out hope against hope- that somehow the death of a thousand cuts could mean the end of this aberration of the Electoral College and wake us from this national nightmare. But resistance is weakening, as Ms. Goldberg’s sober accounting of 2018 makes it obvious that 2019 will surely bring us cut number 1001.
19
@SLE I would love to see the end of the Electorial College but i fear it is here to stay. Why would any candidate ever visit Wyoming or The Dakotas if they did not have their 3 votes?
6
@Cancun Charlie
With all due respect to the people of the Dakotas and Wyoming, they are insignificant. We should take care of them because they are part of our national family, but don't let them have a say that they haven't earned. Most of them want to be left alone anyway, so leave them alone. But feed them and make sure they're warm and safe.
And, four senators to represent how many people in the Dakotas? Time for a change to our system of governing - trump at least has shown us that.
5
Do not despair the Electoral College’s undemocratic wrath. Check out the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact and lobby your state legislators. Once it reaches 270 votes, the EC will be rendered useless; and we’re a lot closer than you may think.
1
As Willian Ophuls wrote in his excellent short book titled "Immoderate Greatness Why Civilizations Fail", every civilization is irrefutably exposed to the second law of thermodynamics. That is, aa civilization's order will decrease and turn into further disorder with the progression of time.
America has been at the forefront of the knowledge-based civilization for the past 200 years. It has survived, and thrived, by containing the disorder to some extent. This happened not because America was a technological powerhouse. This was because America became the nation of laws.
That is why Trump poses such a huge threat to the American civilization success story. He seeks to upend the very norms that contained disorder. If laws become secondary to political considerations, the nation loses its moral compass. Democracy, without the rule of law, becomes mobocacy.
2018 is indeed a welcome year where America seems to be regaining its rule of law focus. It is disturbing to imagine that had Robert Mueller not been appointed in the first place, where America would have been otherwise in 2018.
After all, Trump has shone a bright light on an inconvenient truth: A rule-of-law governed democracy is as strong as it is fragile. American system of governance must evolve to apply checks and balances on future demagogues. It's a shame that Trump has made it look all too easy.
45
@Areeb Faras
Great comment! I've been struggling to figure out what happened to land us in the predicament. The disorder that was contained over the years - the willful (and sometimes not) ignorance of the "masses" - was effectively unleashed starting with the election of Reagan and his empty but "sunshiney" rhetoric delivered by a gifted actor.
It was stoked by George W. Bush when the ignorant masses realized that one of their own could be elected President, and they were empowered by the notion. Then throw in opportunists like Gingrich and Bannon and we end up with president trump.
The simple truth is that disorder has always existed in the USA, but the genie is out of the bottle now. Can we put it back in with a full-on revolution? I think we're gonna find out.
2
Yes, the ground is a little firmer, the water a little clearer, and my immediate fears of dystopian have subsided. Now, can democrats, independents, and Americans in general right the ship that has been listing severely for the past two years, but has been taking on water for the past 40.
15
There is a legitimate debate to be had as to whether we are ending the year in a better place than we began it. It's sort of like claiming that since a tsunami itself is over, we can all go back to our normal lives. Clearly, that is not the case.
The devastation that an administration like Trump's leaves in its wake is as bad, if not worse, as any one transgression itself. Just as much, the totality of his bad behavior has lowered the expectation of many Americans as to what is acceptable presidential behavior.
We can certainly hope that the worst is over, but as the late Karen Carpenter famously sang, I fear that "We've Only Just Begun."
Hum that for a while.
25
@Quoth The Raven Maybe Leonard Cohen's "You Want It Darker" is more appropriate.
1
Shocking to find out that there are wealthy businessmen and companies that are breaking the law. For years there have been no perp walks just settlements with the government with no one admitting any illegality. Anyone surprised by this hasn't been paying attention.
10
Thank you so much for this article.
I really needed it, and I suspect many other Americans did, too.
53
@Mary K Hopefully it isn’t just preaching to the choir. I have friends who need to read this, but would most likely still consider it “fake news”. I’m not sure how you reach those people.
2
If the momentum continues 2019 could be a very good year. A year when the malignant Trump presidency wanes and the restoration of American values begins.My New Year’s resolution for our American friends.
45
@Milton Lewis
I appreciate your optimism. I see no elegant way out of this quagmire. No matter what evidence surfaces to incriminate Trump and deem his removal from office necessary, he will not go quietly. And neither will his legions of deluded followers.
2
@Milton Lewis: Throughout this ordeal, it's been reassuring to read the many supportive remarks from Canadian commentators. It's sort of like being sick, and having your next door neighbor come over with a bowl of chicken soup. Thank you all.
5
The best thing Donald Trump has done for this country is to have given us the wake-call we've needed for a while and shown us just how fragile democracy is, something Americans have taken for granted. He has shown us how easily American principles, civil, and democracy can be eroded and even wiped out when bad-faith actors are put into positions of power, when one party abuses the full power granted it by abandoning its Constitutional responsibilities of performing checks and balances and does the opposite by showing fealty to a corrupt and criminal president in service to party power rather than their oaths to defend the Constitution (why has Nunes not been hauled in for obstruction of justice?; and when American citizens themselves are willing to throw the Constitution over in favor of inchoate partisan warfare. Trump has given us this gift. The problem that so many Republicans and Trump supporters are so entrenched in their partisan hatred and warfare, they cannot seem to even see the walls of democracy crumbling around them. They'll stand on top of the rubble and declare victory.
137
@Virginia
Have faith and patience. It'll eventually be over and sanity will once again reign supreme.
Yes, Virginia! There is a Santa Claus and his name is Robert Mueller.
( sorry, I couldn't resist ) ;-)
6
Michelle has listed for us a stunning array of corruption that surrounds this administration, any one or two of which would bring down a normal administration. But this administration seems to get a pass on corruption. Trump's base seems to have recognized all along that Trump is dirty, and they are OK with it. That is the saddest part of this whole ordeal: learning that a large chunk of the American electorate is devoid of a moral compass. We may yet survive Trump, but his followers will always be there, ready to take America down the road to perdition.
1283
A bright spot in all of this is that young evangelicals are leaving their religious ties because the young ones, at least, KNOW their elders are behaving badly.
168
@Jim Dennis
Orrin Hatch summarized the Trumpian position quite accurately this week, saying "I don't care; he's a good President." That's Trump supporters in a nutshell. The average citizen is left wondering what qualities could Hatch possibly think make a good president. The mystery still baffles me. I think this will become the defining question of my generation. What are these people thinking? From where I'm standing, they might as well exist on different planet.
281
That's a very important point.
20
As an Englishman, with all of our current political disasters ongoing it's tempting to be reassured that we're not the only ones to have messed up so royally.......... but then I remember that the US is the leader of the western democracies and the most powerful nation in the world and I look at Trump and his entourage and I'm suddenly about as far from reassured as it's possible to get.
827
@Colin
Prime Minister Churchill got it right;
Americans always do the right thing....eventually.
28
@Colin
Indeed, the UK has messed up royally with the whole Brexit kerfuffle. Were the referendum about leaving the EU repeated right now, the Brexisters would lose bigly - to use Trump's favourite word.
On the others, since the ascent of Trump to the presidency of the US, other country's leaders and population hardly consider him the "leader of the free world" anymore, but being in bed and adoring every dictator known to men.
35
While I agree with Ms. Goldberg, I get little relief from the knowledge that within the next two years our long national nightmare will - probably - be over. The damage done by this man and his cohorts will take decades to undo. In the meantime, the icecaps continue to melt.
1191
@thebigmancat
No doubt, this is precisely what GOP reps thought about Clinton in 1995.
4
@meloop and then five years later they corrupted the judiciary (perhaps irreparably) to select their own miscreant to reverse our own wealthy surplus, global prosperity and peace. Facts continue to be troublesome, painful and in often deadly to innocents.
44
@thebigmancat
"They sky is falling the sky is falling!"
I look forward to your hilarious histrionics in November 2020!
2
In the future, will the US demand more stringent requirements for presidential candidates? Can we expect background checks, drug testing, tax returns, independent psychological and physical exams and a passing grade on a basic civics test? Mid-level managers must present more qualifications (during a 90 day trial period) than someone who decides to run for the highest office in the land.
128
@Gardengirl
I think requiring a basic civics test would have been enough to filter out Trump .
9
@Gardengirl
Trump is an aberration.
Too many people voted against Hillary without recognizing that that were voting FOR a Trump to take office and run the country with his venal and corrupt minions.
We need, as a nation to choose carefully on the candidate rather than petty issues.
3
This holiday season, I feel soooo much better than I did last year at this time. I think that journalists around the world (or "The Guardians" as Time magazine has dubbed them) should be lauded by all of us for the outstanding journalism of these past few years. And for their courage. They have not backed down in the face of tyranny, imprisonment and even torture. I thank them from the bottom of my heart.
175
@Joanna Stelling Those of us, and there are many, who dug in and worked to effect the Blue Wave in November also deserve some of the credit for the appreciable sense of relief we're feeling right now. I got all the validation I needed for my efforts when I saw that picture of Nancy Pelosi leaving the scorched earth of the White House in her shades and red coat. It's a new day dawning.
8
@Joanna Stelling
Trump has sold more newspapers and magazines than any political figure in history. The NYT, the Post, MSNBC, and countless other journalists rely on Trump to keep them afloat. The attention given to him by the media got him elected. The attention given to his every utterance and tweet keeps him powerful despite his unpopularity. Look a little deeper before thanking the news media. If they didn't have Trump, they'd have to invent him to survive. This battle between the media and our President is the biggest scripted realty show ever. The media is truly addicted to the man.
3
Trump’s fall is inevitable because he’s incompetent and he attracts and promotes incompetent people. On his own, Trump broke some of Grandma’s china but not much else. The real damage to our democracy was done by congressional Republicans, led by Mitch McConnell, perhaps the most competent, and cynical, legislative mechanic since LBJ. McConnell is the real villain in this story. The Republicans, by their action on some things, and inaction on others, have deeply damaged and undermined much of what has made this nation work. It will take a generation, or two or three, to recover from the damage.
1847
@Ralph Averill
Agreed, though it must be said that comparing McC to LBJ may be taken as an insult to LBJ.
364
@Stephen Whiteley
LBJ cared about improving the lives of those at the bottom. His downfall was Vietnam, but he was not the venal man that McConnell is. I think eventually we'll get McConnell From Russia, with love, NRA contributions.
470
@Ralph Averill It may take one, two or three generations to undo the damage. It will take patience and skill and the rolling up of our sleeves, and a concerted effort on every front. This is the forged-in-fire moment, and I think that most Americans know exactly what it at stake. It won't be a quick fix, but we can do this. We have done it before, and we can do it again.
95
We are all too eager to congratulate ourselves for the quelling of a tyrant; yet, what has happened to his powers? He has been rebuked, and his public relations have been growing somewhat strained. Yet he maintains all the powers of hi office. His hold on a political party which can claim one half of our population to be enrolled in it’s ranks is largely undiminished. He maintains an immense popularity among the ranks of our standing army, our police forces, and the disorderly and zealous extrajudicial militias scattered across the states. Checking a tyrant is no cake walk; and we have barely begun the work.
79
@Benjamin Davidson
Justice relentlessly advances as the waves crashing to the shore. Everyone will ultimately be held to account.
@Allen82 I pray it will prove so. But this is by no means an inevitability; it must be worked towards, assiduously and collectively. We — citizens and members of the Congressional opposition alike — have not yet been doing enough to make clear the retribution which we must demand be exacted on all those who have aided a foreign adversarial power’s installation of a criminal in the highest office of the land. The way we have been progressing, I expect all participants of this administration expect the worst that could possibly happen to them would be their being talking heads on morning shows for a few election cycles. We are staking no position on the repercussions of engaging in what could well be considered the treasonable assistance of a foreign power’s rigging of a national election, and I fear the guilty party’s expectations of purgatorial-talking-head-status may prove to be all too right.
"Last month astronomers at Harvard wrote that a strange oblong space object “may be a fully operational probe sent intentionally to Earth vicinity by an alien civilization,” and it barely made a ripple in the news. There was simply too much else going on."
This is a classic paragraph, Michelle Goldberg! Long may you write.
I get the feeling that possibly something has shifted in the hellish political landscape we've been living. You know, that sort of feeling you feel in your gut when the air or sky changes, and with it, brings promise.
So far-- cross my fingers, or hope I die--Matt Whitaker seems constrained, by what don't know, but remember, he's under investigation for fraud and harassment too. Ever think an AG, even "acting" would be an FBI target?
We're not seeing much of Rosenstein--I think he's still at his desk. Congress is lame but the Senate still managed to rebuke the president . The holidays will usher in a period when people in Washington will exit, some more abruptly than others.
But most important, headlines keep coming, breaking news seems more urgent, and in his wisdom, Robert Mueller has spread the fruits of his labors all over DOJ.
Thanks Michelle. I needed this.
135
I'm sill holding my breath until year's end. With this GOP crew one never knows what's going to happen until it's over...
6
Republicans are complicit in evil. Reality tells me this. They are corrupt and backed McCarthy (a Republican) and Nixon (a Republican) and Trump. Criminals.
Americans are mediocre because they never learn from history.
115
@Mogwai Please don't leave out Reagan and Bush ( 1 and 2). Iran Contra and the Iraq debacle were historic in the levels of skullduggery, political farce, and bald-faced lying to the public.
4
May the New Year bring an end to an America tortured and damaged by a cornered controvertist who is contesting irrefutable truths in a desperate attempt to survive.
19
People in Corrupt Donnie's world who will be included in 2019's version of this article:
Jared Kushner, Roger Stone, Jeff Sessions, Mike Pence.
64
@JMM Yes, I am hoping Jared will face the music in 2019 for apparently advising MBS on how to mitigate blowback from the Khashoggi murder.
3
@JMM. Don’t forget Ivanka, smiling in her pink suit.
1
@JMM Probably true but all for naught as POTUS will most certainly pardon this scurrilous bunch. And... you omitted a big player, dimwit Donald Jr., and perhaps princess Ivanka should also join the gang.
It's all so exhausting .
To have to see trump's face and name every single day.
It's 100% clear he is a criminal.
When will he be locked up ?
When will we see our rightfully elected president
Hilliary Clinton in office?
Or is democracy truly dead?
In other news , a seven year old girl died of dehydration yesterday.
That makes trump guilty of murder now too.
31
@Carla . Cages. Kids in cages. Wash, rinse, repeat. Nobody brings this up enough!! Slap Kellyanne with this! Slap Sarah with this! Slap 'em all! No matter their answers, their denials, their lack of concern, they should be slapped with this daily.
1
“You shall know the Truth, and the Truth will set you free.” Truth and Facts are like Evolution; it takes time to evolve, but in the end, it’s terribly effective.
Trump is like an infectious disease. Everyone around him becomes infected and takes on “his” characteristics.
Thank God for antibiotics like “The Free Press”
64
I'll thank the Enlightenment if you don't mind.
I had forgotten that Elliott Broidy was a deputy national finance chairman of the RNC and never completely understood the relationship between sex robots and Steve Bannon. It is truly amazing how Michelle Goldberg keeps track of all things Republican and sacrifices her larger interest in the strange oblong space object that “may be a fully operational probe sent intentionally to Earth vicinity by an alien civilization,” Goldberg really understands how these selected events of 2018 prove that the President of the United States of America represents “incompetence - [Goldberg holds herself as an expert], venality – [a vice associated with being bribeable] and boorishness - [that which violates in some way the generally accepted canons of polite, considerate behavior]”. I only wish that 2019 could be a new start and we could be more polite and considerate when describing our political actors on both sides of the aisle. I refuse to believe that the New York Times pays [bribes] its people to say bad things about the president in creative offensive ways.
4
@Eugene Patrick Devany
I suppose that the boy who shouted that 'the king has no clothes' was himself simply guilty of adolescent lewdness
...and should simply have declared that he did not share the king's taste in apparel.
Seriously. Michelle has to be an "expert" in incompetence to recognize it?
The two take aways for me are:
First, The sheer number of scandal-ridden, drama-queen, incompetent, Russia related people that have left the trump administration. This of course does not even count the rest of the trump Cabinet whose only qualification seems to be the gutting of the agencies they are running. Added to this is the number of GOP congresspeople who seem to have forgotten the wishes of the American people who put them in office.
Second, Is this editorial's last paragraph..."America is still in a perilous place, and even a weakened Trump can torment migrants, pack the courts, wreck the environment and suck up to tyrants."
I say "When will this corrupt Clown Car with all of it's conflicted actors finally be driven out of town?"
52
So many crimes in so little time. Another Trump record to boast about.
32
@Andrew
So much "winning"! I can hardly bear it
It would not surprise me that not an alien probe, but ship would visit here. I think Earth is the mental hospital for aliens.
15
Ms. Goldberg overlooks one small matter — impeachment.
2
Trump is the gift that keeps on giving. The rats will fall off the ship as they are making too much $ to jump. Besides there are no lifeboats.
but it will end and Fox st so will pay for aiding and abetting
And individual 1 will wind up in prison ......finally.
10
I wouldn't be popping any champagne corks.
Justice won't be served until it gets to all of his enablers and the Don himself.
15
The mis-labeled "swamp" so stridently condemned by President Trump and his merry troupe of acolytes during the presidential campaign has drained into a correctly-labeled cesspool of stench.
What might we call that "awful menagerie of lowlifes" mentioned by Ms. Goldberg? the word "deplorable" pops immediately to mind, but that word became politically incorrect during the autumn of 2016.
Pump the cesspool!
21
@John lebaron. As it turns out ‘deplorable’ is (was?) correct, politically and otherwise.
Michelle, if 2015 heralded Trump's ascension to power, the end of 2018 will prove to be the beginning of his divestment from all political powers.
Trump, who didn't want to divest his personal wealth from the presidency on Jan 20th, 2017, rode through a parade of money making schemes milking his presidency.
With only two companies in U.S, Apple and Amazon in the trillion dollar status, Trump Org. will be the third corporation that will surpass all the companies in U.S. and the world if Trump gets his four years of reign.
But the question that comes to everyone's mind is,"Will Trump's presidency survive beyond 2018 ?"
Trump thinks it'll.
The Republicans in congress think he'll survive the bloodbath that is going to follow him as the New Year heralds.
With very young and diverse members of the Democratic party heading many of the congressional committees it'll be worth noting how long Trump's personal lawyers will keep on sending the subpoenas back to the House Committees.
But what Trump has to worry most is the House Ways and Means committee Chairwoman Maxine Waters.
The House member since 1991 from 43rd District of Los Angeles, California, Ms. Waters will wield the most coveted powers on Jan 3rd, 2019.
We can bet that she'll send a subpoena to Trump right on her first day of business asking him to show his tax returns for the last ten years.
So if 2018 ended with a sour note for Trump, just imagine what the beginning of 2019 will mean for Trump : A Total Disaster.
15
2019 should be even more interesting and painful to the NRA, the Trump campaign and inaugural committees.
Maybe the guy with the sex robots could have saved the whole year for the Republicans if he had the idea before all the sex scandals .
The NRA may have been saved the embarrassment if the guy with the sex robot came on the scene before the pretty Russian foreign agent appeared on the scene.
1
This may be The Year of the Glimmer of Hope, but I, for one, will not sleep easy until the scourge of Donald Trump is lifted from the land. We now have a criminal in the White House as revealed in the indictment and conviction of Michael Cohen whose crimes are already the equal of Richard Nixon's in Watergate. And yet, the Republican-controlled Senate still seems intent on stubbornly aiding, abetting and defending Trump. That has to change or the Justice Department has to change its policy against indicting a sitting president. "Winter is coming" and I'm hoping for a Chanukah/Christmas miracle.
27
Surely I'm not the only one who is far more afraid of Pence than Trump? The former might actually get things done. Furthermore, Trump is and always has been a symptom of deeper systemic shifts than won't disappear with any impeachment. In any case, I doubt the Democratic Party has learned its lesson and we can be ready for another unlikable dynastic candidate in 2020.
5
@Virgil T.--Should Pence ever take the top spot, it's likely he'd be The President Who Wasn't There. Judging from his fade-into-the-chair-cushions performance at the Trump-Pelosi-Schumer meeting, Pence hasn't the fortitude or the ability to stay conscious that's required of most presidents. His administration might just be sleepy-time.
4
@Virgil T. Pence's political career was over before the Koch brothers recognized in him a useful vessel. While Pence himself is a hollow man, the Kochs are pulling the levers behind the curtain and as such still manage to have significant influence on this administration (e.g., the weekly dismantling of environmental protections). Under Pence, environmental, public health and labor deregulation would likely only accelerate, and then there's his extremist religious beliefs that pose a very real threat to women, gays and religious minorities. The GOP in its current form represents a clear and present danger to America and must be banished to the political wilderness in 2020, and for decades to come.
2
@Virgil T. Yes. We should certainly turn away any viable and supremely qualified candidate because of their surname. For how many generations, and what particular relationships, should such a name disqualify them?
And likable (not at all a subjective quality) is certainly as important, if not more so, as being qualified. I remember way back when W was in his first primary in NH a woman told a reporter she was voting for him. Asked why, she replied, "I like his mother's hair". Then, after he plunged us into an illegal and unnecessary foreverwar, which we will never win, the big question was, "Would you rather have a beer with Bush or Kerry?"
With politics like this, there is little to wonder about how we got to this place and little viable hope we'll be able to dig out of it.
Thanks for the excellent summary. And thank god for Mueller. I pray for his protection.
16
So the leader of the free world has been exposed as a corrupt criminal. And the attitude of his Republican enablers is best expressed by Mitch McConnell's silence and Orrin Hatch's "I don't care." As far as I'm concerned they should all be indicted as coconspirators.
342
Sometimes there is justice, even if it takes 50 years - that is how long Trump has been scamming America. I personally do not want Democrats to push for impeachment. Let him finish out his term, then be primaried out by a respectable Republican or just lose the election. Impeachment would dirty the waters and give us Pence (Yuk!) for 6-10 years and women would not survive that.
36
There will be perhaps one nanosecond (possibly less) between the moment when Republican senators who will be up for reelection in 2020 realize he may cause them their jobs, and the moment they turn on him like a pack of dogs. This will drag on, but it will end abruptly.
15
While I agree with Ms. Goldberg that "when you consider the events of the last 12 months together, it becomes clear how relentlessly justice has ground forward, and how much Trump and his flunkies have lost," I can't fully share in her optimistic conclusion that "this is the first year since 2015, when Trump rode down that cursed escalator to launch his bid for office, that is ending more hopefully than it began."
Don't get me wrong: As the poster on Agent Mulder's office wall proclaimed back in the 1990s, "I want to believe."
Alas, for me, not even 2018's incisive exposés and glimmers of approaching justice dispel the troubling reality that earlier this week, when Pres. Trump quipped that his supporters would "revolt" if he were impeached, neither the press nor the public considered his dangerous dog-whistle the least bit hyperbolic.
Indeed, that the full year of developments that Ms. Goldberg outlines has only deepened the ardor of the millions of Americans who remain in thrall to Pres. Trump and credulous of even his most truth-challenged Right-Wing-Media defenders is sobering in itself.
8
Ah, Ms. Goldberg, that's quite an impressive list of anti-Trump developments that began nearly a year ago. Some caveats if I may.
(a) The president's most recent approval ratings remains around 40%. Donald Trump remains a powerful magnet for the off-kilter, through-the-looking-glass segment of the American voting population. I'm discounting the 93-millions who sat out 2016 because they had better things to do. Like not vote.
(b) Name a single Republican who has sworn to protect the Robert Mueller investigation. Wishy-washy Jeff Flake and Robert Corker don't count, and while they were in office, they ended up siding with the party line. And besides the families of G.H.W. Bush, John McCain and James Baker, what Republicans of stature have publicly denounced him?
Both major cable networks (MSNBC and CNN)--major, I emphasize--have been running banners that indicate that the president is anxious that the current tide is turning against him and he now "fears impeachment," which brings me to
(c) Many ex-Trumpians (the list is long and undistinguished) are at the mercy of the courts but the Senate is not. The smelly upper chamber is his final bastion; his last bulwark; the gated ramparts against the president's ultimate humiliation of disapproval and removal and rejection, three deep strikes against his emotional and psychological well-being.
(d) There may be many Senators who have taken money under the table from the Russians via the NRA. They're invested in their president.
39
@Red Sox, '04, '07, '13, ‘18, Yes indeed, esp. to (d). Not only Senators, but Congressmen; incl. Devin Nunes, whose sources of income - and possible offshore accounts - should be called into question.
15
@Red Sox, '04, '07, '13, ‘18,
Trump's approval is at 40%. You say that like it's a good thing. That 40% is from a Rasmussen poll, which is known to favor right-wing politicians and candidates.
4
@Cynthia
The Rasmussen poll had him at 48%. The current 538 average has him with 42.4%
https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/trump-approval-ratings/?ex_cid=rrpromo
Love reading your article. Boorish, incompetent, venal and cruelty convey what has been foisted on the US. We will endure because a plurality voted against Trump and his band of criminals.
9
It will be extremely pleasurable to watch the downfall of the House of Trump. No group of people in American politics deserve the hammer that's coming down on their collective heads.
These Republicans that are enabling Trump are complicit now in the corruption, the cover-ups, the assault on the Rule of Law.
Slowly, slowly it's all unraveling for Trump and his criminal cohorts.
Yesterday was a good day. There will be many more good days coming for American democracy.
19
@sophia: Correction: "No group of people in American politics deserve the hammer that's coming down on their collective heads, more than the Trump criminals."
Sometimes my fingers jump ahead of my brain. I didn't finish that sentence in my previous post. Apologies!
1
Thank you for this summary. Unfortunately the Monster-in-Chief remains in the Oval Office and will continue to be there until 2020 as this country continues in free-fall away from being a democracy into a kleptocracy.
10
Here's something much more important than Trump's and his suck-ups' comeuppance: public exposure of the Republican Party as a clear and present danger.
In 2018, we learned with absolute clarity that Republicans at all levels of government mean us harm. The post-2018 election shows Republicans in state governments not just ignoring voters but refusing to respect the democratic principle that elections are the voice expressing the will of We The People. In blatant exhibits of totalitarianism, Republicans in Wisconsin and Michigan decided to follow North Carolina Republicans in dictating their will over the will of We The People by taking powers away from newly elected Democratic governors. But that's just one way Republicans have shown us they mean to harm us.
In the US Congress Republicans have striven to take health care away from the most vulnerable. They passed a tax giveaway to the wealthy driving up the national debt and are now trying to use that as an excuse to take Medicare and Social Security away from We The People.
Of course, Republicans ultimate show of intentional harm was during the Obama Administration when Republicans united to thwart anything and everything President Obama did, including leading America out of the Great Bush Recession. They want America to fail so they could blame Democrats.
We know beyond the shadow of a doubt that Republicans mean harm to We The People, to our very democracy. The question now is, What will We The People do about it?
96
Ever the cockeyed optimist Ms. Goldberg.
Here is what Voltaire had to say about optimism:
"Optimism is the madness of insisting that all is well when we are miserable."
How optimistic does 2018 make you?
4
Great summary of 2018, but its contents must give all Americans pause to realize how far our great nation has fallen in the political realm.
Also, it might seem rushed but it would be nice if Mueller delivered at least an interim report as a Christmas gift to the American people.
Finally, out of respect to the office, will the Justice Department allow a presidential perp walk to happen on the White House driveway?
7
Maybe just maybe, tRUMP, will have one 1st from his presidency, most corrupt president and administration. He’s trying hard to replace Warren G. Harding on this account.
2
Stock market going up (or at least treading water) = Clinton impeached by House but not removed from office by Senate
Stock market going down = Nixon resigns the presidency under threat of impeachment
I predict scenario two, with Mike Pence playing the role of Gerald Ford, i.e., pardoning Trump and then narrowly losing the 2020 election to a ticket of Bernie Sanders/Tulsi Gabbard
3
@Earl W.
Your crystal ball may need a bit of polishing.
@W. Fulp Talk to me in six months and we'll see. Regarding the Democratic ticket I proposed, it's the dream team for many of us who felted abused by the Hillary nomination (and her subsequent choke). I mean, losing to Donald Trump; how lame does your candidate and/or campaign have to be to pull that one off?
1
I'm sorry Ms. Goldberg, but if your assertion that "impunity came to an end" is something more than a rhetorical device and expresses your actual belief, you could not be more mistaken.
3
I think the root of the problem is with the Republicans in Congress (Hatch admits he doesn't care of Trump committed felonies and corrupted our democracy because "he's doing a good job as president") and Trump supporters and Republican laypeople. Here we have a group of tens of millions of Americans, lawmakers, and a president, who shriek daily about what is a misdemeanor, crossing into the US illegally. Oh, their argument is, "Do it lawfully" (yeah, right .Anyone buying that argument?). But then they turn their head to felonies committed by the US president. As usual, we see that the Trump Cult and Republican party is rather selective about their own stated "principles", in this case following the law.
10
@Virginia: I wish someone would press Hatch (formerly one of the few intelligent Republicans) to explain in detail how Trump is doing "a good job". He has put forth not a single real legislative proposal other than the wall, which even Republicans don't really support. He's made a complete mess of international affairs and led his party to ruin in the last election. And his immorality flies in the face of Hatch's LDS faith. Put Hatch in the spotlight and make him explain himself.
In my mind's eye there's a picture of Uncle Sam just as he realizes he's stepped in some trump, and wondering how he'll clean it off his shoe... maybe with some new, improved, extra-strength Rule of Law.
8
No smocking gun?
He must be jocking.
The gun was a cannon that blew holes in all the stories and cover-ups devised by Trump and his co-conspirators.
4
"... 2015, when Trump rode down that cursed escalator to launch his bid for office,..." Folks forget (in the tsunami of untruths surrounding the Fake President) that at the bottom of the escalator that day were lots of "fans" who turned out to have been paid actors, purchased for the event. Fake news! Except then we didn't realize just how frequently Mr. Fake himself was going to hurl this accusation at others.
J
5
It’s a fine little holiday story, with penitential ghosts shaking their chains, but you forgot to close with “God bless us, every one.”
2
I think the biggest damage is that the de facto normalization of the GOP's behavior by anyone under pressure. This morning driving in to work on this rainy morning I had a bad tailgater, so bad I put my emergency flashers on and slowed way down to match the speed warranted for how close they were. They passed me on a double stripe stretch so that I got to watch them bully the person on front of me and when they turned off the one before them.
I can't help but think that this is a result of creepy behavior seeping into everybody.
5
A very important question is: How much Russian NRA money did Mitch McConnell take?
23
So the weals of justice turn slowly. So as this year ends I am looking forward to more of these time line articles. Trouble is I am not sure if the Times has enough room on there pages to list them all.But please try!
1
The avalanche has started and it cannot be stopped. Let them all be swept up in it!
3
And don't forget those two congressmen, from NY and CA, who were caught doing naughty things.
And, surely by coincidence, they were the first two congressmen to endorse T for president.
How embarrassing for this administration.
4
I don't see any justice in the past year--just same old--same old privilege of powerful white men. Cohen will go to a country club jail (no poor black kids busted for minor drug charges there) for a bit--maybe. Is anyone fool enough to believe that any of the Trump clan will spend a minute in prison?
Most millennials have only a vague idea of what Nixon did wrong. After all, it was nothing bad enough to put him in jail.
For US, justice is still a cruel joke.
4
This compliation is amazing. We are a law abiding society so this looks like a Saturday Night expo which unfortunately for the world it is not an exaggeration at all. Free press wins again!
Thanks Michelle!
CRW
5
I had given up hope, but it's great to hear that the Obama/Holder Justice Department will finally prosecute massive corporate control frauds and pursue criminal charges against the financial officers, corporate boards and CEOs.
Oh.....
Yeah, but the real story here - the one that in one hundred years will be the main point emphasized in history books - is that the Republican controlled congress would not hold Trump accountable. Because Trump was promoting their agenda, congressional Republicans openly displayed indifference to the laws of this land, and downplayed the importance of crimes revealed. And thus, we are in the era when the American constitution and system of government failed miserably. It remains to be seen what this means for the future of our nation and the world, but significant change would be a sensible result.
17
Yes, perhaps. And, things will never be the same. I will never be the same. In my 58 years I have never seen the wholesale evaporation of any moral compass from so many people in such a short period of time. I have never seen so many people - and I'm sad to say, some friends - fall in line to follow someone so hopelessly unworthy to be followed. Our democracy may emerge from this test, but many failed - and I will always remember that. Someday it may not be a test, and I now know who I cannot trust.
18
2018 is the year when we all get to contemplate how much we wish to tolerate the seamy side of government and government officials. By 2020 we will see what we are willing to do about it. We need decades of reform and it needs to begin now in order to preserve democracy, our humanity and in the case of climate change, life itself.
8
Michelle is a lot more optimistic than I am. The damage to environmental regulations will take years to reverse. Also, the damage to the U.S. fiscal system from the tax cuts, wild fires and hurricanes should not be forgotten.
28
I share Ms. Goldberg's optimism. Our disastrous worship of individual wealth without regard to social consequences has never appeared in clearer relief as in these last horrible years. This could be remembered as the time our national fever finally broke, but we must act quickly. We need energetic action to ensure our legal, ethical and moral guardrails are restored and strengthened, and some needed new ones put in place. There has never been a better opportunity to refresh and reinvigorate our nation, with a renewed focus on human values and fairness. Democrats have shown that they are ready to lead. Some Republicans have signaled that the days of complicity are over. Let's encourage them all to learn from these years.
32
Thanks for a great article. But trump has his fans like Orin Hatch who, when asked a question about trump, said “I don’t care.”
22
@Jordan Davies
Attrition will rid us of the Hatches, Grassleys and the rest of the carved - in-stone old men.
Patience; the youngsters are taking over.
10
@Jordan Davies-The professionally sanctimoniously holier-than-though Orrin Hatch too is complicit. He's had his hand out for lobbyist cash for years and received the most of any politician. He filed an amicus brief in the Gamble case on the Supreme Court docket which if succeeds in the GOP's favor would enable Trump to pardon people convicted of federal crimes and prevent state prosecutions of the same crimes.
This Supreme Court Case Could Impact The Mueller Probe And Boost Trump's Pardon Power
https://www.npr.org/2018/12/06/673449144/this-supreme-court-case-could-impact-the-mueller-probe-and-boost-trumps-pardon-p
3
And thank you for your insights throughout the year. I have come to look forward to your columns to gain a broader perspective. I have to think that you have helped younger people to become participants in the political process, which is essential.
38
@Hal
FINALLY FINALLY FINALLY..
Trump is a despicable being. I can't even call him human.
He should spend the rest of his sorry life in jail for his life time of crimes.
He and his whole rotten, CROOKED family.
Thank you Santa!!!!
1
Once Mueller's report is issued (if ever released) and the facts prove out the truth, what do we do about the Republicans who betrayed their offices and trust of the American people? How do we deal with Devin Nunes, Jim Jordan, Trey Gowdy, and the rest, even Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell? Betrayal of nation is a serious matter for serious measures.
972
@JLM-Hopefully their investigations are up next. Betrayal, indeed:
https://www.palmerreport.com/politics/portugal-devin-nunes-russian-government-portugal/2244/
https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a23471864/devin-nunes-family-farm-iowa-california/
‘A cesspool of deviancy’: New claims of voyeurism test Jordan denials
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/07/06/jim-jordan-harassment-ohio-state-wrestling-699192
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/370037-charles-koch-donated-500k-to-ryan-days-after-gop-tax-plan-passed
http://realkochfacts.com/the-koch-brothers-and-americans-for-prosperity-in-wisconsin/
40
@JLM
Identify their illegal maneuvers and prosecute them all too.
68
@JLM: They, too, will have to face the voters. There will still be a lot of people who have bought into the witch hunt trope, but there will also be a number of people who will feel betrayed. Karma, after all, is a "beach."
21
To paraphrase an old proverb, the wheels of justice grind slowly but grind exceedingly fine.
42
The political problem for Democrats in Congress is, well, they think with all this corruption exposed they can beat Trump
In the next election; and thus are not too excited about perhaps running against a President Pence or a former ambassador Haley who can say they had nothing to do with it. Gerald Ford nearly was re-elected after he replaced Nixon. It really is Republicans who are going to have to pull the plug on Trump here, and they just might.
16
@Michael Smith-The wakeup call for Americans who aren't woke yet is coming:
The Trump tax cuts are putting America in a hole
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/trump-tax-cuts-putting-america-203051912.html
2
michael smith,
It is the Democratic house that is going to start investigations into all things Trump. A very strong case for impeachment will be made. The house will impeach him. Then the GOP will be under tremendous pressure to impanel the trial of Trump in the Senate. It is unacceptable to suffer a felon in the white house.
@Michael Smith There is no chance that Mike Pence wins a national election with his own name at the top of the ticket. He's got about as much personality as a piece of bread, and he's even less interesting.
Haley might be a more serious contest, but I somehow doubt that a majority of conservatives would end up pulling the lever for a female President.
5
Excellent commentary with a clear summary of Team Trump's downhill slide. I hasten to add a caveat, however. The corruption led by the guy in the Oval Office is apparently so deep, the criminal behavior so insidious, that we can lose sight of the need to expose the core: Russia. While his frolicking at the Moscow Ritz in 2013 has taken a backseat, it is emblematic of how easy it has been for thugs, despots and dictators to win Trump's favor.
The confrontation last week with Pelosi and Schummer at least was a shot across the bow that the days of bullying Democratic lawmakers has needed.
Now, America is holding her breath, awaiting the service of subpoenas requiring Trump to produce those tax returns.
88
@Doc Should read "ended."
Each day I rise early to read which new Trump crony, organization, or even family member, is being investigated, indicted, tried, or sentenced. Maybe there is hope for justice and decency to prevail.
16
The fact that Trump's crooked crony cabinet appointees are still doing untold damage is not a hopeful sign that things will get better. By the time they are out, much of the results of their malfeasance will be permanent.
12
Best Holiday Season Letter Ever!
One small victory that might have been overlooked: the line,
"a former Playboy model who said she’d had an abortion after he got her pregnant," the word, 'he' should probably be 'they' although she says that he had impregnated her. Nowadays, both parties having consensual sex are active participants. It underscores something the nation learned from Trump in since 2016, the significance of the phrase from the Declaration of Independence, "the consent of the governed." The relationship between Trump and Americans is that they are consensual to everything he does to them and for somethings, the consequences are as easily reversed as they were with the Playboy model. We are becoming more aware of our complicity, thanks to your good work.
8
I look forward to the day that our country is rid of trump and his crime family. It has been torture to witness the destruction he haswrought on us. It is hoped that sanity will prevail and honest, hard working people will again return to govern us.
78
You're correct Ms. Goldberg, that there is some positive movement toward justice, and also that we still have plenty to worry about. Aside from the elephant in the room (climate change) I worry most about the intersection of politics and media. Most news outlets and reporters don't understand trump's game and report as if he's a legitimate president. He's using classic pro-wrestling tactics to bully and intimidate and this needs to be exposed. When he says outrageous things he should either be called out or simply ignored. I'm tired of seeing his tweets in print every day - and this would be a good place for media to start - just stop reporting those stupid tweets!
14
@Marilyn
Like they should stop reporting on earthquakes and fires? The insanity of our President is a definite news story.
2
@klm - you miss the point! trump tweets ridiculous or nasty things just to "get a rise" out of the media. Deprived of this outlet he would not know what to do.
@Marilyn
Like it or not, the President's words are news.
1
Yes! 2018 showed that, as MLK said, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” In this case it is at least two years long. And it may be even longer if we are to see Trump get his comeuppance. Sadly, erasing the corrosive effects of electing Little Donnie will take even longer.
7
Because Murdoch does not care about politicals parties and ideologies. Murdoch’s god is money, so he panders to different
audiences, getting sponsors and making a profit in the process.
7
And, as always with immoral businessmen, he has one finger to the wind calculating how long he can keep promoting Donald Trump.
Here's hoping that 2019 brings the release of the Mueller report and with it, sufficient information to cause Congress to act.
10
I hope your optimism is rewarded. However, this outrageous episode has outstripped any sense of normality. Its difficult to see how things can re balance.
(May I take small issue with your use of the following terminology:
"...she’d had an abortion after he got her pregnant".
"He got her"??? Surely, THEY got her pregnant. (Unless it was rape.?)
I sometimes feel the need to remind some of us that if we are going to be sensitive to traditional attitudes and terminology, then lets do that but please make sure that it goes both ways.
Best wishes for a great New Year
Thanks again
5
@iain mackenzie You mean Brodie? Apologies for being looksist, but have you seen a photo of the man? A photo of the woman? There is no way that "HE" (to use your articulation) participated in that maculate conception, certainly not if "SHE" had any say over the matter. (I believe the general consensus names one David Dennison as the proud papa.)
I remain hopeful I will outlive Mr. Trump (we are nearly the same age) or at least live long enough to see him retire to a dacha on the Crimean peninsula and to see his minions dispersed like cockroaches when the light is flipped on.
We are getting there. One fact from geoscience applies here: there is no known limit to the size of objects which can be carried by a glacier moving downhill. The Mueller/SDNY Glacier may recede but the terminal moraine it leaves us will be great indeed.
18
The last glacier hereabouts left us Long Island. I’m struggling to equate Mueller’s Morain debris field with my old home, but I’m working on it. Something in there makes sense.
I bet Trump is wishing his worst deed was a legal, never-hacked private email server. But then again, for that he'd demand he be locked up, I guess. Donald Trump has always had "criminal" written all over him. This cascade of crimes doesn't surprise me in the least. Ms. Goldberg said it early on in an interview on TV: "This is a gangster family." What has always stumped me is how it could be that so many Americans could not see it; worse, still can't or don't care; and gasped over a stupid, legal email server while excusing an admission of serial sexual assault and a payment of $25 million for having defrauded Americans via the scam "Trump University", both of which occurred during the campaign, never mind all of Trump's legal but truly grotesque and vile insults directed at others, as well as his overt and disturbing narcissism and megalomania. Trump doesn't confuse me. He is everything I always thought he was. I am confused by half of the American electorate.
313
@Virginia: Well said. I am also confused, but even more depressed. I still engage in the speculation that most of the 40+% will, in the coming months, realize what they have done by keeping his poll numbers high enough that he still thinks he's got enough support to bully and contaminate (or at least attempt) everything and everybody and send a clear "enough is enough" message, but I do so only to try to alleviate my depression (not with much success).
18
@Virginia
Because all are gangsters ...don't believe that political opponents are angels. Turn over your "coin" to see both sides. All are the same. Money and politics don't have one side good and other side bad, only if you look with a single eye.
5
@Virginia
"Barnum said it, one bright morn:
'Every minute, a sucker is born.'"
And it takes a lot longer for those taken to realize they've been took if their prejudices and fears are part of the structure of the con. And--some will never get to that point; they can't allow that degree of self-humiliation, so they'll ignore the cognitive dissonance. (And probably fall for the con again.)
22
Thank you so much for your clear and fearless analyses in these columns. Still -- let's hope Trump isn't just the fall guy while GOP "achievements" persist -- e.g. Kavanaugh, tax cuts, and children in cages... These too must be undone...
13
All true Michelle, but even if every single horrible thing Trump and his cronies and acolytes have done to weaken and poison America (indeed, literally poison America in the case of our clean air and water) were to disappear tomorrow, we are still irrevocably changed, for the far, far worse.
I do not see how we ever go back to what I'll call the Normal Age -- you know, the age: when actual facts were unquestioned; when government by Tweet would have been considered appalling; when open and malicious attacks on our free press, our FBI and our CIA would have been unthinkable; when family members with differing political views could have sat together around the dinner table, talked politics, and still been able to maintain their familial relationships; when we had trust in our government to at least try to do the right thing for our country (e.g., approving Part D drug insurance for seniors during the George W. Bush administration, supporting our traditional allies); when the Senate, as required by the Constitution, always undertook to advise and consent on all presidential nominees; when white supremacist marches in Charlottesville would have been inconceivable, as would separating children from their parents at our southern border; when common discourse wasn't rough and strident; when we could all come together in critical times.
Some kind of truly evil genie escaped in on Inauguration Day 2017, and I don't believe it can ever be shoved back into its bottle.
30
@ALB
Some kind of truly evil genie got elected, and the people who voted for the genie will never abandon him.
@ALB That evil genie was on extended release an has been leaking out of the bottle since 1994 if not earlier.
Keep in mind that this aberration is a Cult of Personality.
It cannot be duplicated nor sustained.
2
Perhaps this nightmare is ending more hopefully than it began. And at some point, the Trump era will end.
But then what? Back to normal? What's normal going to look like after Trump?
9
@Questioner
Nothing. We'll live in their " imoral normality" happy and smiling.
The GOP COngress in the CLinton administration(among many Democrats-including Michael Moorre who was outraged that Clinton would "lie" and wanted him to resign or be impeached), thought that they "had" Mr Clinton.
He lied to the TV reporters, to his wife and to the people. But, as it turned out, Monical Lewsinsky was the best thing to happen to CLinton-and the worst to the GOP.
Most Americans-of all striped-were undaunted at Clinton's adult and slightly ab normal but not "illegal" relationship with the child-woman, Lewsinsky who saw herself as both victim and owner of CLinton. She apprently still sees herself a badly used , even a she took the nation to the bank and left a millionairre.
It needs for the Democrats to stay away from Mr T's personal sexual relations and to only make an issue-if they can-of illegal acts-not badly executed personal hush money which-as I recall, even Teddy Roosevelt paid to keep his alcoholic brother's affair quiet in Victorian times.
So far, what is more lifely, is we will have a cat fight that benefits only the Republicans and may all but ruin the Dems congress and any hope they had to act.
We need for the President to resign or be declared incompetent(25th amendment?), so we may all return to the job of sticking bandaids on our severe climate and hydrocarbon abuse problems.
Another he said -she said between President and COngress will waste time and money and sell media while doing and achieving nada.
2
Laws were broken. Period. It is NOT a case of "he said-she said". The prosecutors have the facts and already one of the conspirators is going to jail.
10
meloop nyc,
Trump will not resign unless he is forced to. The man thinks he can get away with anything! The Democratic house will empanel a complete investigation of Trump. They will then vote to impeach the accused felon, Trump. The GOP Senate will be under enormous pressure to try Trump in the Senate. They will be smart to convict him, they are better off without him. "We had no choice," will be their motto.
The Person of the Year, right up there on the podium with you journalists, should be Robert Mueller and his colleagues who have dauntlessly, methodically and with integrity and adherence to the laws of this land have provided a great ray of light after a bleak and stormy period which still is by no means over. Many scurrilous incompetent crooks and ignorant self-serving lackeys have left town but the biggest deviant remains, and it will not be a moment too soon when that marine helicopter leaves the south lawn of the White House with Trump on board, never to return. Not a moment too soon. Thanks to people like yourself, your colleagues and to Robert Mueller et al. for your pursuit of truth and justice.
32
@Horseshoe Crab
Mueller for President in 2020? Who might be his Vice- President?
@Angela Preet!
Hmm. Isn’t Trump still president? Has he been impeached or indicted? I will call the end of impunity when I see it.
4
@Francois: The end has to begin somewhere. Michelle Goldberg calls the start of it.
Indeed. Justice can not and must not operate a the speed of twitter. The election gave the democrats the tools to hold the fort while Justice works. Perfect? No. But hopefully good enough.
7
2020 is when all that really matters takes place. Unless both houses of Congress turn blue, Replubicans will continue to pack the courts with so many conservatives, we´ll be living under Biblical law in no time and big business will be free to run the country into the ground.
10
I'd also like to see all Trump voters go to jail, for abdicating their civic responsibility by deliberately putting a criminally insane person into the U.S. presidency.
10
@MickNamVet Only if they are joined by the swing-state Bernie dead-enders who out of pure spite stayed home or voted for Jill Stein. They are worse than Trumpers because they were smart enough to understand the consequences and did it anyway.
This is how revolutions start, I.e. the non-violent kind. Grass roots, seemingly unconnected acts and events converge into a wave.
7
Well, it’s Friday, the day Mr. Mueller announces another indictment or a sentencing memo. A day he’ll cause someone else another sleepless night, although I’m sure Mr. Meuller has had his share.
Perhaps today the big guns will be pointed at some big guns. Perhaps today Mr. Mueller will wipe the smile off of trump’s face.
5
Yes, progress but it isn't that pleasing when you consider that he is essentially a symptom of much deeper problems in our society.
15
@Charles
Exactly. They expose only one side when both side of
political spectrum are the same.
I'd cautiously agree with Ms. Goldberg. 2018 is ending as a year in which some of the rules of the road, or, to be more blunt the law caught up with Trump and his criminal coterie.
There is still much to be done though. I'm wondering if 2019 will bear out a lens through which I try to view the slow-moving downfall of the Trump administration.
For most of his professional life, Trump has been able to avoid or slickly sidestep his difficulties by throwing money, bluster or both at a problem. Failing which, he would declare bankruptcy. Trump's current difficulties do not neatly parallel his prior experience. Now he is facing a closing vice, squeezed by seasoned law enforcement professionals - immune to bluster, unpersuaded by mountains of cash. It is slowly dawning on him, I think, that his go-to survival tactics will not get him out of his current pickles. He is running out of road.
Which brings me to this - what is the Presidential equivalent of bankruptcy, resignation?
25
@sandgk,
The presidential equivalent of bankruptcy is starting a war.
Agree with everything you say, but I don't feel much better. In two short years the GOP went along with this illegitimate president and refused to investigate anything. Instead they took advantage of Trumps ignorance to solidify their agenda. In a few years we will be debating the affordability of Medicare, extending that age of social security and cutting what's left of the safety net for those most in need. That tax cut will turn into the GOP holding the county hostage over the deficits they created unnecessarily. Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh and the appointment of federal judges at record numbers will protect their illegal legislation in rigging election laws and redistricting, protecting their shrinking, but powerful minority. The effects of the last two years of government will be lasting (not to mention the assault on the planet). We could go on and on. Trumps crimes will be a blip and pale in comparison to the damage done.
34
While I agree that it appears justice has come home to roost in 2018, let us not celebrate the endurance of our legal system just yet. The GOP has had one major initiative ever since the last months of the Obama presidency: political control of lifetime appointments to the federal judiciary. From denying Judge Garland a confirmation hearing to the wanton appointment of unqualified, hyperpartisan and reactionary lifetime federal judgeships, the Trumpian GOP have been relentless in shaping and controlling our country’s legal system for decades to come.
52
@DJ We should bear in mind that funding for federal courts comes through the legislature. The number of Supreme Court justices is also set by the legislature. A strong Democratic Congress is not powerless to mitigate the the damage inflicted by the current regime.
3
@Dale
Hopefully that “strong Democratic Congress” would work to impeach unqualified federal judges (as evaluated by the ABA) that have been foisted on our democracy.
Ms. Goldberg’s columns generally are quite incisive. And while I certainly agree with her that 2018 has been a year of reckoning for the Trump administration, she, like most journalists based on the coasts widely misses the point believing these revelations will somehow make a dent in Trump’s support among his base. Trump has masterfully conditioned his base not to believe anything the press, the FBI, the courts, or anybody not connected to Trump says. Their man is under siege, and this belief is shared by the base no matter how educated or financially successful they are. And because Republicans in Congress do nothing to call out Trump’s lies, their inaction simply reinforces their belief the “deep state” is out to get Trump.
I honestly do not know what will finally break their cult-like adoration of Trump. And my fear is that the majority of them may be armed to the teeth and will rise in arms to defend their leader. Trump himself already forecasted such an uprising in his recent interview with Reuters. Will 2019 bring a civil war?
33
Keep in mind that his base is fracturing daily and getting smaller. I have seen reports that young evangelicals are not going along with their elders in supporting Trump without question. And women are leaving his base as well.
Keep in mind that only 27% of eligible voters selected Trump in 2016. For such a small minority to "rise in arms" would not only be foolish but implausible.
3
@CEA
Given the state of the typical American waistline, the effort to rise up from the couch will exhaust many a would-be torch, pitchfork & AR15 bearer. Like Trump, covering distances similar to that between the White House and the Blair House would be monumental efforts.
2
Remember that there will always be those who measure Trump's success by one simple standard: the degree to which he is angering Democrats. Don't wring your hands about how to win them back for 2020, because they will refuse to admit defeat even if their leader ends up in jail. Keep the wheels of justice turning forward.
65
@Mark Lebow: This was perfectly illustrated last night by Kellyanne Conway on Chris Cuomo's segment on CNN. She alternated between "nyah nyah", thinking her recital of false equivalencies somehow scored points and just flapping her lips and making noise. It was essentially her covering her ears and screaming "I can't hear you", or sticking her head in the sand. She pretended to be in high dudgeon because Cuomo and others have insulted or maligned the president of the USA. Others like her use this tactic a lot. But when confronted with the reality that Trump is the insulter and offender in chief, they change the subject and accuse their interviewers of some other horrific offense. There is no room for concession, they insist on victory, dominance, their version of the "facts", which Ms. Conway has taught us can be very alternative at will. Leave them to their devices, let justice march forward. It will be interesting to see how many of them jump ship or take deals as the S.S. Trump founders and they find the lifeboats are made of cheesecloth and hairspray.
To some large degree, Conway is playing a part, they all are. But you can't sustain a production on ad-libs alone, winging it only goes so far. Unfortunately for them, what writers they do have seem to have "developed a sudden fondness for psilocybin" or some other mind altering substance, that kind of gibberish can't be what's on thee teleprompters.
7
With everything breaking just why
Are my expectations not more high?
Trump's base is full of hate
Not a one is cognate
And will they give violence a try?
137
@Larry Eisenberg. Another gem from the commentariat’s poet laureate. Surely, Mr. Eisenberg, there must be a special star for you in heaven.
12
@Larry Eisenberg
I wonder Larry, and hope not. In Paris the 'gilets jaunes', who have legitimate grievances, have been infiltrated by the 'casseurs' (the breakers) from the far-left and the far-right who advocate anarchy. Steve Bannon thinks this is the future of his movement in Europe. My neighbourhood near Saint-Germain-des-Prés is getting ready for Christmas today by boarding up shop windows and putting cars in parking garages ahead of Staurday's "protest". Potential projectiles, including holiday decorations, are being removed from the streets. Happy Holidays indeed.
10
Until Trump wears a jumpsuit the color of his hair I will be uneasy for the country, the economy and my future. I have no faith that Trump will ever do anything that benefits the country instead of himself.
191
@Nb, ah, let me dream. Orange is the new gold.
9
@Nb There is no doubt in my mind that trump would throw his children under the bus before he admits any guilt.
18
This list appears to be a tipping point that any sentient person could agree to. Unfortunately, there is a vast swath of the population who has been hypnotized by the relentless Trump/Fox echo chamber and accepts their alternative facts.
What I'd really like to see is a list of the times that high profile Trump supporters (and mouthpieces) start to publicly doubt him. Only when that list starts to accelerate - as happened during the Watergate era - will I believe that we are nearing the end of this nightmare.
75
@HN
The "vast swath of the population" was made up of 63 million Americans including 58% of white American majority that voted for Trump. Trump won 62% of white men and 54% of white women. They were not "hypnotized" nor deceived. They voted for Trump knowing full well who he was and was not.
You are not " any sentient person" since you clearly cannot deal with any facts and simple reality regarding Trump's supporters.
It's become apparent from the recent news that the Arabs who Trump have lavished praise upon, have been filling his coffers with money. Trump has been illegally using his office to line his pockets. There is a silver lining here. Money always leaves a trail. Forensic financial crime investigators can piece these complicated transactions together and prove what happened and when. This is hard evidence that cannot be denied.
We have already seen Trump's defense. He is going to claim that he didn't know anything about any of it. Yeah right. Mr. Money Man doesn't know where the green stuff comes from. As we are finding out with Cohen, Trump sits at the top and was involved in all of it.
We keep hearing that the crime here is the coverup. No it's not. The crime is the crime, not just lying about it. Trump did both, but he is going down for selling out America for personal profit and political gain.
417
@Bruce Rozenblit At least these criminals are blatantly, wildly stupid. A 3 star General and former Director of Defense INTELLIGENCE just pleaded "I am ignorant, I didn't know the FBI could catch me in my own lie". Cohen, a graduate of America's worst law school, thought he could take credit for cooperating with feds on odd days only. (I am thinking after the Feds took his one million documents and all his recordings, his cooperation was uh, less than crucial.) Or the brazen Manafort who once created a fraudulent paper trail whilst failing to turn a .doc into a .pdf - tried to make his last con, the Mueller team. I am only sad that Detroit's greatest novelist of low lifes and rich idiots, Elmore Leonard, is not alive to write this story.
18
@Bruce Rozenblit
Exactly...the crime is the crime. We now find out that Cohen and Pecker met to discuss the payoffs before the election with a "third person". Guess who person #3 is...the same as individual #1. Trump.
Conway is saying it's a slur to call Trump a liar. I think it's calling a liar a liar. Mueller may soon have some legal terms for it.
Time for truth telling.
20
@Bruce Rozenblit
The Chinese, the Egyptians, the Israelis, the Russians, the Turks and the Saudis have been lavishing money on the Trump Organization.
So have Sheldon Adelson, Haim Saban and Jared Kushner and they are not Arabs nor Muslims.
7
I would submit that the real year that justice starts to prevail will be in 2021. (starting in January to be precise)
That is when this President shall be officially out of office, and no longer under the protection from it. All of the legal maneuvers within this administration and justice department will be exhausted - especially the roadblock in the Senate by republicans to not convict.
There may everyone around the man paying some sort of price to the law by then, but also by then it will be his turn.
39
@FunkyIrishman He will be out of office sometime in 2019.
Count on it.
3
In 2016 I was nauseated by Trump's "victory" for any number of reasons, but ultimately because I just could not get past the vulgarity and classlessness of the man.
In 2017 politics became personal. I was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer when the "debate" about healthcare was going on. I realized that I now had one of those pesky pre-existing conditions that the Republicans no longer wanted to cover.
By 2018 I was convinced that there was no line too far for Trump and anyone associated with him. Each day's news became more oppressive and more depressing. It was having not only a visceral effect, it was clouding my mental and physical well being.
The sheer volume of his orbit's transgressions hid the truth of this column. We are fighting back. We may not exact the complete justice or revenge Trump and his minions deserve but we're starting to make a dent.
Thanks for the reminder Michelle.
188
@SMKNC wishing you renewed health ....and that you live to see him in prison.
6
@SMKNC The internet produced this little gem in 2018:
#fitnessgoal: live long enough to see a Trump face real consequences for his/her crimes.
You did not say how your treatment is going for stage 4 cancer, but I hope you get better and get to celebrate with the whole world when the Trump crime family goes down. And those other deplorables who rode in with them!
6
People like me owe a huge debt of gratitude to the lawyers who worked away quietly grinding out the evidence against Trump--because despair was not far away. We had our opinions, but knew that opinion comes in many shades and flavors. Law and facts, long may they prevail.
231
Having lived through Watergate and having watched the hearings, it was only after the revelation of "the tapes" that there was a sense that a tipping point had occurred.
Fast forward to today. The Mueller revelations have been coming as individual episodes of a bad TV program for Trump until yesterday when, the day after Cohen was sentenced and AMI admitted that it conspired to fix the election of 2016, it was revealed that Trump was actually in attended at a Peker-Trump-Cohen meeting AND then the flood gates opened with the revelation of pay-for-play involving the Trump Inaugural Committee. Now the NYT reports the "Middle Eastern" Countries were in "play". A tipping point occurred yesterday for trump.
Putting to one side the Mueller Probe, the focal point from this point forward will be New York City and the State of New York for some time to come. We will witness, in real time, New York eating one of its own and reveling in the pleasure of humiliating trump as only New York can do.
Stay tuned.
430
@Allen82 . there will be no tipping point until "mitch" decides there will be one. vote every nra/russian stooge out.
10
@Allen82
Would that the 'tipping point for Trump' narrative were true. But we have had a series of 'tipping points' and nothing has tipped.
Trump is still in office. But who wants a President Pence?
Actually, I think Pence is in this up to his neck as head of the Trump transition, and the moral and ethical and legal train wreck of the Trump crime family has sucked up all the oxygen -- for now.
13
@Allen82. "It's up to you, New York, New York!" Cue the music, grab the popcorn, and enter Letitia James.
12
This is a stunning list, and I’m not sure that it’s complete. Wasn’t/isn’t there an investigation into Trump’s philanthropic organization and whether it’s just a tax avoidance scheme? And did Trump’s father break the law by funneling payments to Donald in a way to avoid taxes, allegedly?
At what point, though, does this stop being about the Trump mafia and start being about the Republican Party? Even if the scope of Trump’s bad behavior wasn’t fully understood Trump’s past was well documented. The Republicans went into his presidency with eyes wide open.
There have been commentators who have been talking about Republican complicity but it’s been hard to hear above the noise. Can we get more articles from the NYT about all the things President Trump did, all of his associates, friends, and business partners who are going to jail for what they did to get Trump elected, and all the millions of Americans who supported and abetted his lawless rise to power?
Approximately 39% of Americans still think Donald Trump is doing a great job. That’s the story we should be concerned about.
532
@M: Hear, hear! I totally agree. While Cadet Bone Spurs continues his non-stop distraction show, no real feet-to-the-fire moments of the media hounding prominent GOP members like McConnell, Ryan, Hatch, Jordan, Meadows, et al. about their Constitutional duty to uphold the laws set forth in our venerable Constitution and that they swore to protect and defend. Time is well past due to hound them all day, every day, about their dereliction of duty and complicity in allowing this thoroughly corrupt misadministration to continue unchecked.
21
@M..trump's father broke the law...no trump broke it by setting up an LLC to funnel his inheritance thru.He paid 50mil. in taxes on a 415mil.inheritance.Now that's called tax fraud Bigly.
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2018 affirmed that some rules still apply.
One rule, which I equate more to a law of physics, is that all cons eventually run their course. The extent of Mr. Trump's con is spectacular in its deviousness and fraudulence, but it will run its course. Exposure, the greatest fear of Trump's existence, is imminent.
Bernie Madoff knows that fact. Perhaps he could advise Mr. Trump in the next phase of his life, post-collapse. Leave the light on, Bernie.
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@Alan R Brock
I can’t speak for this particular Bernie, but I would think Madoff wouldn’t want his current reputation further sullied by being involved with Trump.
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@Alan R Brock Thanks, love this comment.
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Madoff would still be going at it if he didn't turn himself in. Do you think Trump would ever do that? Madoff the crook, has more integrity than Trump ever will.
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2018 may have been "a year in which things started to make sense again."
But the one thing that still doesn't make any sense to me is how The Wall Street Journal, owned by Murdoch's News Corp, keeps publishing articles detrimental to Trump, whereas Murdoch's other news outlets, such as Fox News and NY Post, are completely in the tank for Trump and the GOP.
While CNN was covering the latest softball interview of Trump by Fox News ("The 29 most surreal lines from Donald Trump's Fox News interview"), including the "Obama did it too" Trump defense, about running afoul of FEC rules, the WSJ was publishing a story about "Trump Inauguration Spending Under Criminal Investigation by Federal Prosecutors."
Let's hope the Journal keeps it up.
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@RK
While WSJ op/eds are still surprisingly pro-Trump, I agree that the elevator the reporters use does not seem to stop at the editorial floor. Still subscribing after 40 years.
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@RK I knew someone who worked fairly closely with Murdoch, first in Australia, and then for him in NYC. Her take, years ago, was that Murdoch was not an ideologue, but rather an opportunist, who tried to figure out the culture of large groups of people (or even countries like China, where his organization was the first Western communications entity to be allowed to operate) and then construct something that they would eagerly follow.
She claimed his only concern was whether he could profit financially. I guess that may explain him (and many others who "lead" us today).
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@RK Speaking of Fox, I still wonder what Michael Cohen did for Sean Hannity.
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"this is the first year since 2015..... that is ending more hopefully than it began."
On the surface maybe so. But one statistic remains constant, Trump's average approval rating of 39%. Hasn't moved that much from his first entering office in 2017.
So upwards of 50-60 millions of voters approve of his performance. For me, that's not very encouraging.
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Perhaps the NYT can do some digging here on Nixon’s popularity ratings in 1973 and 1974. A monthly graph based on data from his second inaugural would be just perfect. From what I remember, Nixon continued to receive good support right up in till his resignation. Not saying he was over 50% the whole time, but there remained a core of support up to and even after he left office.
The point for the current crisis is that Trump has that same kind of foundation of support. What made a difference then was the Republicans in Congress - in both houses. I don’t see the Senate putting country above party this time without a change of heart.
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@cherrylog754
Keep in mind that 50% of the population has below-average intelligence.
The same is true for morality.
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@Samm
Every Bell Curve has a left side populated by the miscreants.
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As Sun Tzu said: "The wheels of justice turn slowly, but grind exceedingly fine."
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@D Price
Most probably Sextus Empiricus, not Sun Tzu. The original quote is "The mills of the gods grind slowly, but they grind small."
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@misterarthur
Pedant on the line here.
"...but they grind exceeding small,
Though with patience He sits waiting,
With exactness grinds He all"
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Watergate was a two year nightmare and for part of that time there was an active investigation in Congress.You are right that this year the Court’s have given us some hope that our rule of law will survive.However, the lack of concern by the Republicans has prolonged this torturous process.Time after time they have passed up opportunities to condemn Trump behavior which is antithetical to American values.They have not objected to Trump trashing the press and criticizing the FBI and CIA and even the Federal Reserve.They are complicit on the assault on our institutions.Let’s hope that there will be even more progress in 2019 .There are already “tapes” which were what ended Watergate.Mr.Mueller’s report cannot come soon enough.
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@JanetMichael-Republicans have reasons to worry. They're a minority party that won't be able to hold their seats without gerrymandering (PA, NC, SC, WI, etc.), punitive voter ID laws (24 states), closing polling sites (70% in AZ's most populace county), purging voters from the polls (GA, AL, WI, OH, KS, TX, AZ, PA, MI, FL), and more. The GOP--by design--made sure they controlled 70% of E.C. votes going into the 2016 election. Ignoring voters will (WI, MI, PA, NC, TX, FL, GA) and rushing through confirmation of conservative judges is their latest thuggery. This is what we need to stop.
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@Ann This is the work of the Koch Brothers and their organization, ALEC, and Americans for Prosperity. There is no more real Republican Party.
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This was comforting, and true, but I worry that all of it will only get us back to where we were ten years ago, when all we did was complain about how terrible things were.
Oh well, the past isn't what it used to be.
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@Sera
As Wm. Faulkner said once: "The past isn't even past."
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Well said. While things felt quite hopeless at the end of 2017, the outlook is definitely brighter today. In addition to all of the new developments in the various investigations into trump and his circle, another thing to look forward to is the Dems being in control of the House. It really does feel like things will get better. Something I would have been incapable of saying a year ago. Well done, justice.
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The electoral consequences have not been different from those of other presidents, though. In terms of results, Trump fared similarly to normal presidents. An extraordinary electoral response would have meant losing the Senate too, red states or not.
The reason for that is the Democrat's obsession with Social Justice issues and the dominance of the activist fringe in the party. That excites the hard-core base and most journalists, but is not popular with most of the electorate. Many voters still prefer a criminal over zealous ideologues.
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@GS Your argument that a large chunk of Republican voters are amoral is quite valid.
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Either or ....
When are we going to learn that truth and comfort are right in the middle?
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@GS@GS
In fact, the GOP losses in the House were on the large side by historic standards. The average switch in middterm elections (going back to the Truman administration) is 28 seats and the GOP lost 41 here.
The Senate results were expected and a result of a Senate election schedule that left Democrats particularly exposed.
The so-called "obsession with Social Justice issues" is refuted by the fact that Democrats ran on health care reform and immigration.
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As usual, well said Michelle. I felt the same as you last night after watching the news. The US may be scorched but is not yet burnt to the ground. Our laws are still standing and working. Thank goodness for the multilevel structure of our legal system. Yesterday was the first day in two years I felt reason and justice might actually be a part of the national dialogue. Thank-you Mueller and the Southern District Court for doing their job so well.
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@DC
Yes laws are working but the criminals, if rich enough, do not suffer much. Cohen's three year sentence for flouting electoral law seems to have been used to gather up all his other crimes in one punishment. Do you think a poor man would get a jail sentence for stealing a TV and have the sentence also cover a bank robbery without being extended?
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@DC:
Please, no premature celebrations.
You'll just feel silly and all that much more bad when the Rich, as usual, end up with little or no real punishment because They have a different set of laws apply to them.
If you're black, you'd easily get three years for shoplifting - if not shot dead on the spot.
I'm sorry, but the USA completely sucks at the whole "rule of law" concept, and it will take a LOT of forthcoming ACTIONS to convince me otherwise.
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If Trump does not get indicted for his crimes then we have put the final nail in the coffin of rule of law. Restore my faith in our constitution and laws by indicting Trump and his family. Anything short of that is a sham and a crime.
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The shade is nice, but to really counter Trump support needs to be extended to the economically decimated areas that support him. Education, infrastructure and hope for participating in the jobs of tomorrow. That said those are also the areas of home schooling, science deniers. Not easily resolved. But outreach is needed.
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@Elizabeth Landsverk MD,
Please don't conflate home schooling (really home based education) with science denial. And by the way, lots of people with academic credentials are science deniers.
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@Elizabeth Landsverk MD: Economically depressed areas do deserve support, as Hillary Clinton had planned. But you seem to suggest that such areas provide Trump's main support. I don't think Rudy Giuliani or Chris Christie live in such areas, nor do the many bankers, traders, lawyers, cops or firemen who support him.
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@Mark V.
Many home schooled children learn little science and the fear of science is often a reason for home schooling. I’ve seen it.
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