Comments on Thursday news
Wow. Another blockbuster day of news.
Among other things, the U.S. — and the Kurds — lost big to Russia and Turkey, who now have greatly strengthened footholds in the Middle East while ours is weakened. The President called it “a great day for the Kurds…. a great day for civilization.” I wonder if the Kurds agree as they are forced to give up northern Syria, the homeland they so briefly held. They had little to say in this negotiation, while Turkish dictator Erdogan got his strip of northern Syria and the likely eventual lifting of all U.S. sanctions – a wrist slap at best. Meanwhile, 300,000 people are instantly displaced, and we look like a bad bet as allies.
Also, White House chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, stated in a press conference that the money for military aid to Ukraine was held up until they complied with White House requests for assistance with corruption investigations. When asked by a reporter to clarify that this was, in fact, a quid pro quo, Mulvaney said, “We do this all the time,” and “Get over it.” Oh? Well, no, this actually is not normal at all, which is why Mulvaney tried hard to walk the statement back later. This, by the way, after the President has repeatedly said “NO quid pro quo,” for the past 2 weeks. Wait? What?!
Mulvaney also announced, amid all the other news, that the next G-7 meeting will be held at President Trump’s Doral golf/resort in Miami. Seven, possibly eight, countries writing checks to a Trump-owned resort. We are told that Doral is “the perfect place” although we don’t know what other sites were considered. Mulvaney said that the President absolutely will not profit from it, but did not explain how this could possibly be so. The publicity alone ought to be worth millions.
And I’m leaving out about six other monumentally shocking things that happened yesterday.
In that context, I read Dale Nelson’s letter to The Dispatch that afternoon. Nelson was responding to a previous letter attacking the administration’s refusal to comply with congressional committee subpoenas as part of the ongoing impeachment inquiry. Nelson objected to the seeming lack of rules for such inquiry in defense of the administration’s response but made no comment about whether or not the investigation was warranted. I could point to 200 plus years of legal precedence for Congress’ powers to subpoena, but that’s not my main concern right now.
What I want to know from Mr. Nelson are how he could possibly find this President’s actions within the law and in the best interests of our country — not what he thinks about the technicalities of congressional procedure.
Paul Mack
Columbus
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