The Rules of Politics

President Trump, at the Helsinki joint press conference with Russian President Putin, set the world on fire by saying “I can find no reason to disbelieve President Putin’s denial of Russian meddling in our 2016 election.” How could ANY U.S. President not throw Russian under the bus for disagreeing with U.S. intelligence officials? In saying that, the President opened Pandora’s Box of a U.S. media feeding frenzy on “all things Trump.” Forget about the meat of the President’s statement or any Helsinki accomplishments. The Media have totally ignored the facts as we know them to focus on one thing and one thing only: “Donald Trump is colluding with Russia!”

President Trump has on numerous occasions stated he’s certain the Russians have attempted to influence our elections and those of numerous other countries. But he like many Americans questions such meddling happened as political pundits claim. And even if Russians DID attempt to influence the elections, where is the proof of their doing so?

Should Americans, in this political climate in which the credibility of ALL U.S. Intelligence Agencies have been called into question, blindly accept everything those agency heads tell us? That is a silly suggestion, especially in light of the multitude of issues with American intelligence officials that have been exposed in the last year.

The questioning what those agencies tell us is against the rules of politics: doing so is simply not in the political handbook that contains all the Political Rules.

The “Rules”

Who makes the rules in Politics? Politicians and political hacks school us on what “is” and what “isn’t” acceptable in American politics. Someone is always saying this or that is unacceptable when it comes to saying/doing something politically. Who knows for sure?

But pay attention: Americans should not get caught napping when it comes to what our elected politicians are allowing and preventing to be included in political conversations within our government. After all: even though it is THEIR government too, they still work for us. We should spend some time and energy figuring all this out to determine what really is happening.

“The Book”

For sake of this conversation, let’s term the rules of Politics “The Book.” The use of that term comes from the decades old use of an informal list of unspoken rules of baseball taken from a mythical “Book.”

For decades, there have been situational unofficial rules of things that are supposed to happen (or not happen) in certain situations that arise during a baseball game. Those unofficial “rules” come straight from “The Book.” They’re not written anywhere and certainly are not included in the Baseball Official Rule Book, but they’re in “The Book.” i.e. With a 3-0 count, a batter is supposed to “take” the next pitch. (“take” means not to swing) With a runner at 1st and 2nd bases and no outs, a batter “usually” should bunt. Neither is really a “rule,” but both are in “The Book.” And, of course, there are times when what “The Book” says to do is changed because of another situation that comes up during the game. What controls THOSE changes? “The Book!”

If “The Book” contained all the rules of political operations, we have some questions to ask:

Who wrote “The Book?”
Who decided what was in the “The Book” and what is NOT in “The Book?”
When was “The Book” written?
Can any new rules be added to “The Book?”
Can we delete any old rules from “The Book” that aren’t applicable to today?
Have any rules already been added or deleted to “The Book?”
If so, who had the authority to add/delete those from “The Book?”

You may think I am nuts for posing these questions. But think about it: it is very obvious that someone IS deciding what is appropriate, correct, and allowed to be part of our political system. Obviously too is that someone must decide what is NOT appropriate, correct, and NOT allowed to be included in “The Book.”

I’m fairly certain there is no class at Yale, Harvard, Brown, Princeton, Columbia, or Penn with the title ““The Book — All Any Politician Wannabe Needs to Know About Politics.” There may be one, but I doubt it.

There are plenty of examples to illustrate “The Book” and its mandates in action. Want some?

(Chuck Schumer (D-NY) about Trump-Putin meeting in Helsinki) “Trump should cancel his meeting with Vladimir Putin until Russia takes demonstrable and transparent steps to prove that they won’t interfere in future elections,” Schumer said in a statement. “Glad-handing with Vladimir Putin on the heels of these indictments would be an insult to our democracy.”
(Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Cory Booker (D-NJ), and Jack Reed (D-RI) were among the others to echo this sentiment, with Warren urging Trump to) “Cancel your ridiculous Putin summit and get your butt on a plane back to the United States.”
It’s not just Democrats. John McCain (R-AZ) piped in on Twitter: “President Trump must be willing to confront #Putin from a position of strength & demonstrate there will be a price to pay for his ongoing aggression. If President Trump is not prepared to hold Putin accountable, the #HelsinkiSummit should not move forward.”

I will not bother to quote all those from the Left and Right who took little time to ramp-up their non-stop attacks on the President for his hesitation in Helsinki to damn Putin in person for Russian meddling in the U.S. 2016 election. (The President stated in their private meeting he confronted Putin in dramatic fashion about that meddling) I guess “The Book” has different rules for when and how he should have done that!

Let’s look at what “The Book” has to say about things other than Russia, Vladimir Putin, or other political rules:

For decades Mr. Trump railed against trade policies between the U.S. and China, the European Union countries, Canada, Mexico and others. He accused China again and again of unfair trade practices fueled by their manipulation of Chinese currency to their benefit in trade agreements. In the past month we’ve seen the President enact tariffs against these countries and several others to even the playing field on trade. The U.S. has paid hundreds of billions of dollars through the years in tariffs to other countries who simply want competitive advantages against America in trade. And our government has simply blinked while allowing those tariffs to go unpunished.

Enter “President” Trump with reciprocal trade tariffs. His violation of “The Book” brings Dems and Republicans out of the woodwork damning the President’s tariff policies.

House Speaker Paul Ryan on Trump tariffs violating “The Book:”

In scolding the President for thos tariffs, Ryan (R-WI) goes against his own governor — Scott Walker — who has voraciously attacked Canadian tariffs against Wisconsin dairy farmers which raise the price in Canada of a Wisconsin produced gallon of milk by $2.00! Ryan obviously sticks close to “The Book!”

Insanity!

I hate to overuse that word. But its use is so applicable today for so many things that happen in D.C. politics. Look at some of the infractions of today’s rules that we know are in “The Book:”

Did you hear any of the “keepers of “The Book” go after Hillary when Secretary of State for pushing that Russian reset button?
Did you hear any of the “keepers of “The Book” chastise Barack Obama when he on that open microphone sent word to Putin that he would be in a much better position to negotiate with Vlad after O’s re-election? (Negotiate what?)
Did you hear any of the “keepers of “The Book” fuss about Bill Clinton’s pocketing a reported $500,000 for one speech in Moscow following the Uranium One sale to a Russian government controlled entity? Or that while in Russia for that speech, Bill met with Putin?
Did you hear any of the “keepers of “The Book” demand the resignation of former Attorney General Loretta Lynch for that private meeting with Mr. Clinton at the Sky Harbor Airport in Phoenix while Hillary was under FBI investigation?

I could go on and on with examples of the hypocrisy of the selective use of “The Book.” I won’t, because I’m pretty sure you already get it.

Summary

The tragedy of this conversation is the sad revelation of who wrote “The Book,” who keeps “The Book,” and who adds and deletes rules from “The Book” as they change from time to time, and who decides when changes are appropriate. I’m pretty certain you are way ahead of me with that information. The Book was written, is kept, maintained, and edited by one group who somehow years ago won the title of “Keepers:” Coastal Potomac Political Elitists.

That group is not exclusive to Democrats and other Liberals. There are plenty of RINO’s — Republicans in Name Only — that number among those in that “Club,” and lots of “Never-Trumpers.” I’m pretty sure John McCain numbers among that group.

Yes, it’s sad that such a group exists, and especially a group that with no permission from their bosses — the American People — has taken from Us the rights of the determination of all the rules, guidelines, contents, and management of “The Book.”

But do you know what? It will only get worse unless and until American voters take it back from them. How?

There’s only one way: VOTE THEM OUT OF OFFICE!

Electing Donald Trump President was a start — but a really GOOD start!