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Jay-Z and Beyonce are “Bey-Z,” Kanye West and Kim Kardashian are “Kimye,” Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez where “Bennifer.” The last 72 hours, however, belongs only to one celebrity couple unlike no other: Paul Manafort and Michael Cohen are “Manahen.”
The Manahen tsunami in unprecedented in its karmic justice. Think about this, within 45 minutes of each other, they became an “item” based on their shared “convictions,” Manafort was convicted of 8 counts of federal tax and financial fraud, while Mikey (“I will take a bullet for him”) Cohen took a plea deal admitting to campaign finance crimes (the operative word here is “crimes”) and implicated the now President of the United States as implicated in a criminal conspiracy. Michael Cohen said Donald Trump directed his crimes.
I lived through Watergate and literally watched Nixon resign, get on his helicopter and leave the White House. I never thought I would ever see something this sloppy, and this engaging at the same time. Half of the country wanted to take reality TV into the White House and they have not been sold short. It’s interesting, bizarre and full of all of the things that make Sex, Lies and Audio Tape. Word has it there is a video; folks, it just hasn’t been presented as yet. In this episode, timing is everything. One half of the country has literally drunk the Jonestown flavored Kool-Aid and will go down with the ship following the party line(s): “Fake News,” “There is no collusion,” and other assorted Trumpian sayings.
Poor Sarah Sanders doesn’t have a logical answer to the madness, and grimaces as the reporters ask the same questions 50 different ways. Sometimes I feel sorry for her, many times I don’t because your integrity should prevent you from lying and misdirection. No job is worth that.
The Law and Order Administration has a game book that spins wildly, they call the accuser a liar (while lying from all of their orifices). Yesterday the President praised the guy who didn’t rat on him (Manafort) and vilifies his former personal attorney. So much of this is the stuff of tabloids and the New York Times, CNN, and the Washington Post are having a feeding frenzy. Make no doubt about it, this administration has created enemies no sane person would ever want to make:
(1) The U.S. Intelligence Services, the FBI and the CIA. Really? Did these guys ever remember J. Edgar Hoover? He was the shadow President and told Presidents what to do. Rule 101 in your Presidential playbook: Never, ever piss off the guys who spy and investigate for you. It could backfire, and we are watching that happen in real time now.
(2) Don’t, repeat DON’T piss off the press. That’s all I need to say on that subject. They are not the enemy of the people they are the conscience of the nation and they ask the hard questions that keep the elected in line. Have you ever heard the phrase “Skeleton in the closet?” It’s a colloquial phrase and idiom used to describe an undisclosed fact about someone which, if revealed, would damage perceptions of the person; It evokes the idea of someone having had a (presumedly human) corpse concealed in their home so long that it had decomposed but for its bones (idiom). The press are experts at skeleton finding and spinning.
The press digs deep because, while the bones are falling out of your mouth during a speech, they already have interviewed the skeleton, and all they need is a statement from you before going to press. It’s like when a woman asks a man, “Honey are you cheating?” If she is asking she already has the answer or saw the evidence somewhere about your infidelity, so confess!
The press loves a good lie, and when you lie and conceal the lie with more lies and misdirections? It’s like feeding bloody meat to a shark, they only want more and if you don’t hurry, you may draw back a stump where your arm used to be. I am a news junkie, I love how the press is feeding off of this, and it’s a feeding frenzy.
As for the country? We made our bed and we are lying in it. Think about it, America is a pariah on the international stage. We have—in a short two years—pissed away years of diplomacy, angered every ally, jailed children, deported legals, vilified “sh*thole” (brown) countries, and have made it safe for the KKK to take off their sheets, put on khakis and polo shirts and rebrand themselves as the “Alt-Right”. It’s cray-cray and exciting at the same time.
It’s “Real-Reality TV” and we are in the audience and someday’s I don’t know if I should laugh, or take a bathroom break. If you are a red hat MAGA then you believe the hype and you’re having a blast (unless you need healthcare and are a coal miner) and your man is doing all right by you. I just ordered my own personal MAGA hat which will say: MAGA: Mueller Aint Going Away.
The word being tossed about since Manahen? Impeachment. The Dems are being coy and saying nothing, but Republicans like David Jolly, Republican FL, are talking impeachment. Jolly: “a judge has said that this is a crime….despite what the President says.”
Yesterday, President Donald Trump said “everybody would be very poor” and questioned how he could be impeached when he’s made strides improving economic conditions in an interview aired Thursday with his beloved Fox News. “If I ever got impeached, I think the market would crash, I think everybody would be very poor,” Trump said in response to a question from Fox News’ Ainsley Earhardt, who asked if he believes Democrats would try to impeach him if they win back control of Congress. “You would see numbers that you wouldn’t believe.”
The Presidents use of “Goodfellas” phrasing in describing his turncoats has people stumped so much so that the NYTimes recently reminded us of the Presidents core business steeped in the NY traditions of building, construction and mop influences telling people that Cohen “flipped” In reality they are the students, feeding on the teacher.
This week alone, Manafort is guilty, Cohen takes a plea, American Media CEO David Pecker is granted blanket immunity, and just this morning, The White House counsel, Donald F. McGahn II, has cooperated extensively in the special counsel investigation, Alan Weisselberg, Trumps longtime CFO (whom his father hired) has also been granted immunity.
Everyone is flipping like the House of Pancakes and the hard part? He doesn’t know what they are saying to the Special Prosecutor. My advice? Be careful folks: our President walks with the ability to launch a nuclear strike from anywhere in the world. State of mind will be important in the next few weeks.
The lessons? As I see it, lying, misdirection, Playboy Playmates, Adult Film Stars, tax evasion, hush money, fixers, and flippers are indelibly part of this soon-to-be-short-term Presidency. There is more, folks, so much more that we will learn because it ain’t over until it’s over and the guy driving the Presidential Bus is Bob Mueller. We have “admitted criminal behavior by the President of the United States” on our screens. It’s going to get worse before it gets better.
I believe that the universe requires balance, whether we recognize that our not. Recently, The Honorable U.S. Senator John McCain has decided to discontinue treatment for his brain cancer. While, as a Democrat, I haven’t always agreed with his positions, I honor him as someone whose integrity was clear, his sacrifice was without question, and his love of country unparalleled. In all this chaos, Honor, Valor, Integrity still means something. The Military is in mourning because they know their brother’s bravery and his fate. However, his legacy is cemented in heroism. Strange how in a week of madness coupled with unmitigated gall and unchecked ego…Honor still matters. Godspeed to John McCain and his family.
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Hi Franklin, thanks for this article. It’s actually a primer of all that’s been going on condensed in on piece. A bit of a Herculean task but you covered it all really well. Glad you gave a shout out to John McCain.