Mountain Views News, Combined Edition Saturday, December 14, 2019

9

OPINION: 

Mountain View News Saturday, December 14, 2019 

WHAT WE'RE ALL THINKING

By Christopher Nyerges


MOUNTAIN 
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CONTRIBUTORS

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Chris Leclerc

Bob Eklund

Howard Hays

Paul Carpenter

Kim Clymer-Kelley

Christopher Nyerges

Peter Dills 

Rich Johnson

Lori Ann Harris

Rev. James Snyder

Dr. Tina Paul

Katie Hopkins

Deanne Davis

Despina Arouzman

Jeff Brown

Marc Garlett

Keely Toten

Dan Golden

Rebecca Wright

Hail Hamilton

Joan Schmidt

LaQuetta Shamblee

In the looming impeachment trial, Republicans 
who are die-hard defenders of 
the party are having to defend that which 
they should not have to defend, but they 
are digging in their heels and pretending 
that the Democrats are just making 
a big deal out of nothing. I am certain 
that these very Republicans inwardly 
hate that they must contort their values 
and beliefs in order to defend the class 
clown and class bully who became the 
President.

The “perfect phone call” to the President 
of the Ukraine was legally impeachable, 
and yet, represents only the tip of an iceberg, 
only the final straw. Mr. Trump 
might have his ardent supporters, those 
who are willing to twist Truth in their 
own minds to defend him, but the simple 
reality is that he is not fit to stand in the 
office of the Presidency. There are many 
reasons for this. 

As background, I enjoyed Trump’s Apprentice 
show where the winner earned 
the most money after a few weeks of trying 
some new business. I realized that 
simply a short-term competition doesn’t 
really tell you what business is best for 
the local or national economy. But the 
Apprentice was a glorified game show.

I learned that the Trump University is a 
fraud, where everything you learn there 
can be learned at a junior college for a 
fraction of the cost, but the “business 
model” of TU is simply the old high-
powered carrot on a stick. Others have 
copied the TU model, which is a clever 
way to separate you from your money.

Before his election, we all learned a lot 
about the personal life and business 
dealings of the Trump organization. I 
won’t comment about whether he’s a 
womanizer, or a racist, as these things 
have been thoroughly aired in the media, 
with plenty of attackers and defenders on 
both sides.

One part that really bothers me is the 
way he dealt with contractors who built 
his resorts and hotels. Though they entered 
into legally-binding contracts for 
a set amount to be paid to do the work, 
Trump’s lawyers would tell the contractors 
(when the work was done or nearly 
done), effectively, “We know we agreed 
to pay you a set amount, but we don’t 
want to. We want to pay you this lesser 
amount, and if you don’t agree to this, we 
will just fight you in court.” My stomach 
turned every time I heard these many examples 
of the quintessential rich person 
turning the screws on the worker who 
didn’t have the means to pay lawyers for 
a long fight. It’s just one of many examples 
of Trump’s lack of ethics and character, 
a lack that is displayed all throughout 
his actions.

Then there are the tweets. If I were an inside 
advisor to Trump, I would insist that 
he surgically remove his tweeter. Trumps 
impulsive tweets have demonstrated 
that he is petty, that he feels slighted if 
he gets even the most minor criticism, 
and that he simply cannot control his 
impulses to fire back. Is that the kind of 
loose canon we want with our nuclear 
capabilities? And furthermore, am I the 
only one who’s wondered why he has so 
much time for idle tweets? Doesn’t the 
president of the United States have more 
important tasks before him?

I respect the Office of the Presidency, but 
I find it very hard to respect a man who 
so casually disrespects others, vainfully 
presuming that he always knows best. 
Though this is speculation on my part, 
I doubt that Mr. Trump would pass the 
basic citizenship quiz given to people 
who are applying for citizenship. Trump 
does not demonstrate that he knows how 
the U.S. system works, and that there are 
checks and balances. He seems not to 
know that he is not a king. 

It is time to let Trump know that he sits 
in the office at the pleasure of the people. 
He’s had plenty of time to learn on the 
job, but there’s no indication that he’s trying 
to learn. 

Colin Powell recently chimed in on the 
Trump situation. “Republicans need 
to get a grip on itself,” and stand up to 
President Trump. He said that that Republican 
leaders are "terrified of what 
will happen to any one of them if they 
speak out.” 

Do you all recall how Trump childishly 
tried to insist that he was right that a 
hurricane was going to hit Alabama? 
Trump even drew a line on a map, pretending 
as if the weather service drew 
the line, to bolster his claim. Colin Powell 
stated that when he was serving in 
the White House, someone would have 
told the commander-in-chief that he had 
“screwed up." Has Trump surrounded 
himself with frightened yes-men that 
they can no longer speak straight to him?

For the record, I am neither Republican 
nor Democrat. Both sides have theoretical 
good postures, and both sides have 
deceitful crooks who are in office only to 
line their own pockets, so I content myself 
as an “independent.” 

Republicans who care about their own 
party are the ones who should be stepping 
forward, to clean their own house, 
to cut their losses, and to let the country 
find a more suitable leader for the 
highest office, one who is not constantly 
obsessed with himself and how great he 
believes he is.


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LEFT TURN/RIGHT TURN

MICHAEL REAGAN

IMPEACH R US

STUART TOLCHIN

Forget the phony solemnity about the Constitution and the 
rule of law.

Forget the malarkey about the president committing high 
crimes and misdemeanors.

We all know the real reasons Democrats are hell-bent on impeaching 
Donald Trump.

It’s because they hate him beyond reason and because they 
still believe their own hoax that he stole the presidency from 
Hillary Clinton.

But Nancy Pelosi, Adam Schiff, Jerry Nadler and the Democrats 
in the House are going to be very sorry someday 
for lowering the bar for impeaching a president to almost 
nothing.

Blinded for three years by Trump Derangement Syndrome, slobbered over and 
cheered on by the liberal media, thinking only in the political short-term, House 
Democrats have seriously hurt the country.

From now on, because of Pelosi and her motley crew, every future president will 
face the constant risk of being impeached for their executive decisions by a congressional 
body controlled by a different political party.

That means the next time a Barack Obama launches a foolish secret experiment 
like “Fast and Furious” that puts guns into the hands of Mexican drug cartels and 
then refuses to give Congress whatever information it demands, Republicans in the 
House could file an article of impeachment against him.

Likewise, the next time a president decides to please Russia by pulling U.S. anti-missile 
defense systems out of Poland and Czechoslovakia, as Obama did, Republicans 
could claim it’s a threat to national security that’s worthy of impeachment.

It’s been clear for a while that Pelosi and the Democrats have totally lost their minds 
over impeaching Trump.

They’ve known from the get-go that two-thirds of the Republican Senate will never 
vote to remove Trump, yet they have continued to pursue their impossible dream.

But let’s get real.

Even if by some miracle Trump is removed by the Senate, who do they think is going 
to replace him? Hillary Clinton?

House Democrats don’t seem to have thought very hard about how lowering the bar 
on impeachment might someday backfire on themselves.

They are fixated on damaging Trump’s chances for 2020 with whatever fake personal 
or weak constitutional crime they can invent – quid pro quo, bribery, cheating at 
golf, whatever.

If it takes Democrats two months of laughably unfair impeachment hearings and 
gridlock in Congress, so what?

If it takes lionizing a bunch of whining state department bureaucrats who disagreed 
with Trump’s Ukraine policies, so what?

If it takes making excuses for the shocking behavior of a rogue FBI, so what?

This week the Democrats and their Trump-hating allies in the liberal media fully 
betrayed what unprincipled hypocrites they are.

They showed they don’t give a hoot about the over-reach of a powerful government 
intelligence agency as long as the targets of its illegal surveillance and spying are 
Trump or his administration.

They Dems hardly blinked at the long list of lies, dirty tricks and abuses of power 
that Inspector General Michael Horowitz said the FBI’s bosses, agents and lawyers 
used to get federal judges to approve four surveillance warrants and ruin an innocent 
Trump supporter’s life, finances and reputation.

THE FBI HAS BEEN CAUGHT RED-HANDED SPYING ON AMERICANS, 
ENTRAPPING INNOCENT PEOPLE AND LYING ABOUT EVIDENCE – AND 
MANY MORE FBI WRONGDOINGS WILL be exposed.

This whole impeachment process has been very sad for America. The whole world 
is laughing at us for wasting so much time on it when there’s much work to be done.

Unfortunately, thanks to Democrats’ new low-low standards for obstruction of 
Congress and abuse of power by a president, we might soonbe holding impeachment 
hearings year-round.

Copyright 2019 Michael Reagan. Michael Reagan is the son of President Ronald 
Reagan, a political consultant.


If you hear somebody say something about something 
factual do you believe it or think the person is lying. This 
is an irritatingly frequently asked question today as our 
political parties are seemingly in the business of presenting 
the public with completely different versions of what they 
each claim to be the truth. Who are we to believe? Certainly, 
one would think that evolution, over many millions of years, 
should have favored people with the ability to pick up subtle 
signs of deception that would aid their ability to survive; but 
according to Malcolm Gladwell writing in his book Never 
Talk To Strangers it doesn’t work that way. He cites multiple 
scientific studies supporting his position and it is very difficult to disbelieve him.

 On NPR this morning I heard a discussion describing the ill effects to the public 
when they are not able to believe what they are hearing. Consequences of prolonged 
confusion, drug use and depression were described as predictable consequences, I 
don’t know if I believe that because it is a prediction rather than a statement of fact; 
but the prediction does fall right in line with what Gladwell describes as the Social-
Scientist Ted Levine’s Truth-Default –Theory or TDT. Basically Levine’s theory boils 
down to the fact that it is a lot easier to believe than to disbelieve. To believe a person 
is simple. You hear what they say and accept it as truth. To disbelieve is stressful—
why is the person not telling the truth? Are they trying to manipulate me in some 
way? Are they trying to hurt me and convince me to do something I don’t want to do? 

 If you think about any and all advertising or marketing, that is what is being 
done to you. The friendly smiling spokesmen on TV are not presenting factual 
information to you for their health—they are trying to sell you something. It is trade, 
commerce and easily managed consumers that is the backbone of our particular 
system. Even though we know we are always being lied to there is not much we can 
do about it other than endure the stress of continual disbelief and determine that 
everyone is lying all the time. The consequences of that kind of permanent disbelief 
may be the behind the scenes cause of our chaotic political system today where untold 
millions of dollars are spent disseminating obvious untruths in the belief (probably a 
correct one) that if lies are repeated frequently enough they will be believed. 

 Nothing I have said so far is probably new to you but today I have a personal 
reason for talking about our attitude toward truth. Many of you know that I have 
been a practicing lawyer for over fifty years and undoubtedly, some of you are familiar 
with the Shakespearean quote “The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers”. You 
might think I am offended by that quote but I am not because I believe I understand 
its intent and, in fact, mentioned the quote when I used to lecture on ethics. I use the 
quote to illustrate the function of lawyers; to be at war with the expressed truth of their 
enemy. You probably are unaware that the overarching obligation of the lawyer is not 
adherence to “truth” or “justice” or the Constitution but instead to zealously represent 
the interests of his client. The lawyer is prohibited from lying himself or putting 
his client on the witness stand to knowingly lie. This obligation, however, does not 
prevent the lawyer from making it appear that a person testifying is lying even if the 
lawyer has no actual doubt of the witness’ truthfulness. Remember the lawyer is not 
the judge nor the jury. His function is to ask questions of witnesses and to present his 
observations to the finder of fact. These observations are not required to be consistent 
with his own beliefs but must conform to his responsibility to represent the interests 
of his client. Am I telling you it is the responsibility of the lawyer to lie—no, not quite, 
but it is certainly his responsibility to pose questions in such a manner so as to make it 
appear that others are lying. It is a strange profession; a difficult one for non-lawyers 
to understand. Lawyers are trained to suggest and attempt to actually convince others 
of positions they often know not to be true—that is their training. The problem with 
our political system of today is that many highly trained lawyers have been placed 
in responsible positions where it is not intended that they act as lawyers. They are 
elected or appointed officials who presently have responsibilities to the public at large 
and foremost among those responsibilities is to be truthful and to act with integrity 
to perform their duties in accord with their Constitutional Responsibilities. Today as 
we watch lawyers in action (or non-action) it is clearly apparent that lawyers acting 
in non-lawyerly capacities are attempting to manipulate and hide the truth from 
the public. That is not their present job and as they continue to foment confusion 
and disbelief and the resultant chaos it is perhaps appropriate to remember the 
Shakespearean warning about the evils associated with this unique profession. 

Stuart Tolchin, Esq.

TRUTH OR WHAT PASSES FOR IT

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