Another winter snowfall – The impending impeachment – Lawsuits against Donald Trump – What the Democrats should emphasize during the trial – Demonstrations in Myanmar – Residual loss of taste from COVID patients – Evening statistics
The snow has come and gone, and the predictions of 3-5 inches of accumulation have proven completely off the mark. By the time the snow had stopping falling, only about ½ inch of snow was on the ground, and rising temperatures and emerging sunlight contrived to melt a good deal of it during the afternoon. We may not even see much ice tomorrow, for many of the roads are not only clear of snow, but dry.
The nation is now preparing for the impeachment starting on Tuesday. Biden has sought to distance himself from it to the greatest extent possible, for a variety of reasons. In the first place, it can never be agreeable for any President to have an impeachment trial of another President to take place during his administration, no matter how great a political enemy the latter might be. Then, too, Donald Trump is quite a divisive figure, and focusing attention on him will be detrimental to the spirit of unity that Biden has trying to evoke ever since he assumed office. Finally, there may be a personal element involved: I have no doubt that Biden is heartily tired of Trump and wishes to hear the last of him as speedily as possible.
With all of these motives I can heartily sympathize. Nonetheless, the impeachment is necessary. Even if Trump is not convicted, the publicity that focuses on the role he played during the January riot must be detrimental to him in the long run and should aid in preventing him from running again in 2024. I hope that the Democrats do not make a mess of it. If it is poorly managed it may easily come off as a personal vendetta in the eyes of many. The Democrats must emphasize the motivations behind Trump’s continual refusal to concede, behind the dozens of lawsuits he filed, and behind his maneuvers to incite rioters into storming the Capitol.
Trump is in dire financial straits. He is in debt to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars, none of which he has the slightest intention of paying. He is also besieged by defamation suits from people he has slandered in the past. There are at least ten major lawsuits currently pending against him:
- A lawsuit from Summer Zervos, a contestant during the 2005 season of Trump’s reality-TV show. She is suing him for defaming her by denying her allegations of sexually assaulting her in 2007.
- A suit brought by Attorney General Karl Racine in Washington, DC, against the Trump Organization for using nonprofit funds to enrich Trump’s businesses.
- A lawsuit from advice columnist E. Jean Carroll for defaming her by denying her allegations of his having raped her in the mid-1990s.
- A lawsuit from a group of men who protested outside the grounds of Trump Tower in New York in 2015, accusing Trump’s security guards of assaulting them.
- A lawsuit by Letitia James, New York Attorney General, against Trump Organization and against Eric Trump as part of an attempt to enforce an investigatory subpoena. The investigation is to determine whether the Trump Organization inaccurately valued real estate on financial statements used to obtain loans and economic and tax benefits.
- A lawsuit from Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer (now disbarred), for $2 million of legal fees owing to him.
- A class-action lawsuit alleging that Trump, his adult children, and an affiliate of the Trump Organization misled people into selling products for American Communications Network that were worthless.
- A suit from Mary Trump, the President’s niece, against Trump, his brother, and his sister, alleging that she has been cheated out of an inheritance from Trump’s father.
- A suit from Orestes Fintiklis and his fund, Ithaca Capital Investments, which took control of Ocean Club International Hotel and Tower from Trump International Hotels Management in 2018, accusing Trump of mismanaging the Panama hotel and seeking $15 million in damages. A judge has ruled since the initial filing that the plaintiffs were entitled to amend their suit to add claims of fraud and breach of contract.
- A lawsuit from former Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan against the Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago for violating environmental protection regulations by diverting water from the Chicago River to cool the hotel. This suit has already been settled in favor of the state of Illinois, but the amount that the hotel pays in penalties is to be determined at a later date. The office of the Illinois Attorney General asked that the judge impose the maximum possible fines: $50,000 for two violations plus an additional $10,000 per day for each day the hotel continued to cool the building using water from the river. With violations occurring since 2017, the hotel chain could be ordered to pay as much as $12 million in fines. This is perhaps not likely, but the penalty will still amount to several million in any case.
Note that this list does not include any potential suits from the IRS to collect what Trump owes in back taxes. None have materialized yet, but they may come about in the next few months.
The point must be emphasized during the impeachment trial: Trump clung onto his status as President and incited a riot not because he is an ideological reactionary who fervently believes in the righteousness of his cause. Nor did he file lawsuit after lawsuit challenging the election results on account of an honest delusion that he was the victor. He had no other motive than sordid financial ones. He has spent his life acquiring money through dishonest means; and as long as he was President, he could hope to shelter behind his office and elude the consequences of his defalcations. He was prepared to use any means to remain in office, even it involved defiance of our electoral system. This is the reason, incidentally, that I disagreed with several of my friends who exclaimed “He must be insane!” during the riot of January 6th. He knew exactly what he was doing.
If it is stressed that Trump looked upon the entire nation simply as a cash cow, the revulsion against him may be sufficiently widespread as to render his running for office again an impossibility. Already the tide is turning against him to some extent. In late January, only 47% of Americans said the Senate should vote to remove Trump from office and 49% said he should not be removed. But in a new poll released today, 56% of the respondents said that Trump must be prevented from running again. So an increase in the forces to oppose the idea of Trump’s returning to the political scene is possible, but the impeachment trial has to be managed carefully for that to happen.
Demonstrations are surfacing in Myanmar against the new military government. In Yangon, the largest city, some residents have been banging pots and pans at night, and some essential workers like teachers and doctors have refused to work. So far the demonstrations have been peaceful and the government has responded chiefly by restricting access to Internet and social media. Both Biden and the United Nations have called on Myanmar’s military leaders to relinquish power and release activists and officials. That is not likely to happen, of course, but the threat of sanctions may at least deter the military authorities to the extent of keeping their oppression within certain limits; more than that is not to be expected.
People who have recovered from COVID are in some cases reporting residual symptoms with regard to their sense of taste that are particularly troubling. Onions, for them, have become thoroughly unpalatable. Meat products taste like gasoline and wine tastes like oil. I know that there are some people who still imagine that the COVID virus is a gigantic hoax; but surely the threat of no longer being able to properly appreciate the taste of wine ought to bring them to their senses.
Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 106,676,179; # of deaths worldwide: 2,326,773; # of cases U.S.: 27,611,403; # of deaths; U.S.: 474,933.