I must be honest: there’s so much negativity, so many misrepresentations, outright lies and two-sided information coming out of Washington, I’m finding it pretty hard to “shut-down” mentally at the end of each day and get a good night’s sleep. I find myself late at night lying awake and thinking about all the political anguish being dumped on us all non-stop. Every day it seems like there’s a new scandal. What makes all this extra difficult is that as a journalist, I’m charged with ferreting out the truth hidden within every allegation, news story, interview, and press conference. Not getting much sleep has become an everyday event. Take last Tuesday for example.
It was 1:00 AM and I was wide awake. I couldn’t sleep. I had back surgery a couple of weeks ago. I don’t sleep a lot anyway, but in the aftermath of the Doc fishing around in my spine for an hour or so makes sleep a little tougher. What do I do when I can’t sleep? Write or watch a little television. That night I fired-up Netflix. I saw the series of The Andy Griffith Show and thought I’d check out a show or two. I did just that. It was the best decision I’ve made in a long time.
We all remember Andy, Aunt Bea, Opie, Deputy Barney Fife, Otis the drunk, and Miss Ellie. That first season (1967) gave America one of the few television series in memory in which every episode captured an everyday life dilemma for most Americans complete with a simple answer for each of those. It did all that without profanity, sexual innuendo, (certainly no sex on-set) and no blood and guts. It followed an actual small-town sheriff from North Carolina who taught his deputy, his son, all his neighbors in Mayberry and sometimes himself how to successfully puzzle through the common dilemmas they all faced.
I learned a lot. I learned a lot about interfacing with other people in my life: family members, friends, employers, neighbors, members of government, law enforcement members, fellow church associates, and pretty much anyone else I come in contact with. What I learned dealt primarily with creating a method with those groups and individuals with which I desire to communicate to concentrate on the messaging being communicated and not so much on anything to do with my emotions and/or feelings nor theirs. Communication should always concentrate on the content of what message is being handed off. If you don’t believe me, ask Opie Taylor!
“Messaging:” Communicating
Tuesday, September 17, 2019, marked a day that the U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee showed all of the U.S. and many other parts of the world that they disagree with my communication assessment detailed above and they certainly feel Opie had no clue about dealing with people in public forums. Of course, House Democrats claim they “own” the knowledge of how and right to do so unilaterally. That hearing was set to question former Trump Campaign Director Corey Lewandowski under oath about his position in any matters after the 2016 election in which he interfaced with President Trump. You may remember, Lewandowski was fired from the campaign months before the 2016 election and never held any position in the Trump Administration or in any capacity at all after leaving the campaign.
I seldom watch Congressional committee hearings. But sometimes they are of significant importance because of the purposes. House Democrats assured us all that this hearing was going to be mighty in content and would prove President Trump obstructed justice after his election. There are even some who — in spite of the Mueller Investigation findings — maintain Trump colluded in the 2016 election with Russia. In fact, in the hearing when Lewandowski in an answer to an asked question by a Republican member responded in part how egregious it is that Democrats though no Russian collusion by any member of the Trump Organization was found by Robert Mueller, Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) interrupted to say he still feels today that Trump “was an agent of the Russian government” and that “Trump colluded with Russia to affect the 2016 election against Hillary Clinton and in his personal favor.”
Swalwell and the badgering of Lewandowski by other Democrat members made it clear to the world if anyone still had questions as to Democrats’ direction moving forward: “Get rid of Donald Trump at all costs. Nothing that can aid in that effort is off the table.”
Remember this: Lewandowski was never a White House employee or advisor. He was, however, and still is, a good friend of Mr. Trump. Lewandowski is not a lawyer, and it was clear very early in the questions with which Democrats used they had and have no positive regard for him and their reason for bringing him in was to try and trip him up to provide evidence that would support their last-chance effort to create some real narrative to justify Trump’s impeachment.
We today are discussing the communication that is so important for us to use when speaking to each other. Andy Griffth’s boy Opie received a wonderful lesson from his Dad for doing so. But apparently House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jarold Nadler (D-NY) either didn’t watch those Netflix reruns that I watched or when he did watch, he disagreed with Opie’s methods learned. To give you an example of how NOT to do it when talking with others, here’s Nadler who, as Chairman, asks the first 5 minutes of questions to any witness and did so in that hearing with Lewandowski. It’s a tad over five minutes but will give you the picture of what Democrats were and are really up to:
To illustrate the hypocrisy in this hearing was Democrats revelation of their misunderstanding of effective communication. Surely they did not want for Americans to see their hatred and spite for this President. Yet they showed it all afternoon.
A new rule Democrats passed just for this and other Judiciary hearings let the second round of questioning be handled by Congressional aids or others. For Democrats, Barry Burke — titled as a “staff Democrat attorney” — questioned Lewandowski for 30 minutes. Though Burke is an attorney, he was also a very large Democrat contributor in 2016 and 2018. When Republicans took their turn to ask questions by an appointed Republican who serves on the committee, Chairman Nadler shot it down and would not allow it saying “Members have already asked their questions.”
In my honest opinion, almost without fail, members of Congress in most of these types of hearings are really terrible communicators. As was proven in the Lewandowski hearing, they all use scripted questions formatted in a way to make the person testifying look bad and inevitably all are attempts to put the President in a bad light. They made it effectively and abundantly clear that they are all set on the task. That task is to impeach President Trump. And they will.
Don’t be shocked: for two years we at TruthNewsNetwork have assured you again and again that impeachment was their ultimate objective for Mr. Trump. It didn’t and doesn’t matter to Democrats that he has achieved amazing results in his first three years as president. They certainly have given him little or no support in his dramatic and nonstop quest to fix so many of the issues that still exist in our nation.
Summary
On one of those episodes of The Andy Griffith Show, Opie Taylor showed up one day at the courthouse to see his dad at work. Opie told Andy he was going to pick up his skates. Opie didn’t have any skates and his dad asked how he was going to skate. Opie replied, “I’m gonna have skates because I’m trading my licorice seeds to Jeremy for his pair of skates.” And immediately told Opie “Licorice doesn’t come from seeds!” Opie replied, “I know Dad, but Jeremy doesn’t.”
The moral of the show was the importance of honesty with others and always telling the truth when dealing with others.
“Always telling the truth when dealing with others.” This is so applicable to Congress today. In politics, using a line, a narrative, a policy, or even an opinion, declaring whichever of those you use as a founding reason to justify what you think are certain results is exactly the lesson Opie was about to learn from Andy.
You see, Barney and Andy had committed to sell an old rundown cannon for the town of Mayberry. The cannon was literally a piece of junk. Andy “kinda,” told a potential buyer that the cannon “might” have been pulled by President Teddy Roosevelt when he stormed San Juan Hill. Of course, that was a lie. But Andy felt like it was OK for him to say so because it was for a good cause: to help Mayberry sell that old cannon.
Good causes or not, telling a lie is really a poor way to obtain acceptance in a deal or agreement in a political argument or any argument, for that matter. Certainly, Andy’s cause was a good one. But misrepresentation is never the right way to go.
House Democrats were exposed in that hearing. That was made clear because various Democrat Representatives pontificated about their desire to “hold the President accountable for his actions” because “no one is above the law — even the president of the United States.”
Even that lie has been exposed. Americans have watched as the single desire of this and other hearings and that of the 2.5 year-long Mueller Investigation: find dirt sufficient to justify the House of Representatives to file articles of impeachment against President Trump.
Andy tried to pull the wool over Opie’s eyes. But, in the end, “the truth will out.” In Mayberry, it certainly did. Andy did sell the cannon, but not for the ridiculous price that was willing to be paid by the collector wanting it because it was pulled up San Juan Hill by Teddy Roosevelt.
As is usual on the Andy Griffith show, it all worked out. The town sold the cannon and Opie told his friend the truth about those licorice seeds. The skates? Opie’s still looking for something to trade with Jeremy for the skates.
Will this impeachment cloud go away? Remember: for three years we have been promising the House will impeach President Trump. We still feel that way. Of course, that could change at any moment. But unless that happens, you can bet they’ll impeach Mr. Trump. I doubt the Senate will confirm whatever measure comes over from the House. They’ll give it a shot, not for Trump wrongdoing, but for the purpose of fulfilling their promises made to their constituents.
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