A RESPONSE TO OBJECTIONS AND DOUBTS ABOUT IMPEACHING PRESIDENT TRUMP

©Wendell Griffen, 2018

Justice Is a Verb!

December 30, 2018

In my December 26, 2018 post I declared that the House Judiciary Committee should hold an impeachment hearing concerning whether President Donald Trump has committed “high crimes and misdemeanors.  I write now to respond to concerns about that position. 

President Trump’s supporters do not believe impeachment proceedings are warranted.  They object to his impeachment the same way they condemn and denounce the investigation by Special Counsel Robert Mueller concerning whether Mr. Trump and his associates engaged in criminal activity related to the 2016 presidential election.

Trump’s supporters also condemn and denounce the lawsuits filed against him in federal court.  Those lawsuits allege that he is violating the ban on emoluments expressed at Article I, Section 9.8 to the federal Constitution which declares that “…no person holding any office or profit or trust under them, shall, without the consent of the Congress, accept of any present, emolument, office, or title, of any kind whatever, from any king, prince, or foreign state.”  [Mr. Trump owns a hotel near the White House that is regularly patronized by foreign governments and others who seek favorable treatment from his administration.]

Others who either disagree with President Trump’s policies or who may be offended by his personal and business conduct hold serious reservations about whether impeachment is politically expedient.  Those persons doubt that the Republican majority in the Senate would vote to convict Mr. Trump even if the House of Representatives votes in favor of articles of impeachment recommended by the House Judiciary Committee.  Among other things, they are concerned that Trump would use the impeachment controversy and spectacle to stoke support for his re-election campaign in 2020. 

Another concern is that if Trump is impeached by the House and convicted by the Senate, Vice President Pence would become President, and then pardon Trump the way President Gerald Ford pardoned Richard Nixon after Nixon’s resignation in the face of impeachment proceedings surrounding his efforts to obstruct investigation of the Watergate scandal.  These observers prefer that Trump and Pence be voted out of office in 2020 rather than risk a Pence presidency.

Here’s my rejoinder to these and other objections to impeaching President Trump:  appendectomy. 

When the human appendix is infected with bacteria and inflamed, doctors know that an emergency exists that requires surgical removal of the infected appendix.  It is medical malpractice for a doctor to examine a patient, confirm that the patient has appendicitis (inflammation of the appendix), and release the patient with a prescription to relieve pain associated with appendicitis. 

Appendectomy, a common emergency surgery, is the long-recognized and accepted way to treat appendicitis. Patients recover from that routine surgical procedure and go on to live well for a simple reason.  The human body does not need an appendix to function normally or well. 

More to the point, the human body is threatened by an infected appendix.  A pus-filled appendix will rupture if it is not surgically removed.  The ruptured appendix then discharges bacteria into the abdominal cavity which requires emergency appendectomy followed by aggressive treatment with antibiotics to save the patient’s life.  In some cases, a ruptured appendix can lead to death. 

Donald Trump’s presidency is the political equivalent of appendicitis for the United States.  However much his supporters and detractors dislike it, Trump’s impeachment is the political equivalent of an appendectomy for the nation because Trump’s political incompetence and personal corruption has infected the presidency with pus-filled policies and practices that threaten domestic, national, and global well-being.   

The nation does not need sedatives from politicians and pundits, be they Trump supporters or Trump opponents.  We need surgery.  The infected appendix called the Trump presidency must be surgically removed before it ruptures and threatens our survival. 

We should stop hoping that heaven will deliver us from Trump’s poisonous presidency and personality.  In the Biblical account of the Exodus, God told Moses to use the staff in his hand when Moses complained that Egyptian chariots threatened his people as they stood on the shore of the Red Sea (Exodus 14:15-16).  Impeachment is the tool in our hand.  It won’t work unless we use it. 

That is why the House Judiciary Committee should schedule and conduct public hearings on impeachment.  If hearings demonstrate that President Trump has committed treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors, the Judiciary Committee should issue Articles of Impeachment.  If a majority of the House votes to approve Articles of Impeachment, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell must convene the Senate as jurors.  Chief Justice John Roberts must preside over Trump’s trial.  If two-thirds of the Senators vote for conviction, Chief Justice Roberts must declare President Trump ousted from office.  That process requires human competence and courage, not divine intervention. 

The U.S. House of Representatives and Senate must, like emergency room physicians, think about what is best for the patient.  Donald Trump is not the patient.  Partisan political loyalists are not the patient.  The 2020 election outcome is not the patient.  The patient is the democratic republic known as the United States of America. 

That patient is threatened by the pus-filled appendix known as Donald Trump’s presidency.  The nation can survive without that appendix if the House and Senate will act the way responsible doctors routinely act. 

We can’t survive if the medical team won’t use competent and courageous judgment and do their job. 

TREATING DONALD TRUMP LIKE A PSYCHOPATH

©Wendell Griffen

Justice Is A Verb!

December 26, 2018

During the first month of Donald Trump’s presidency I penned and posted an essay to this blog titled Explaining Donald Trump in One Word.  The word I used and defined in that essay was “psychopath.”  Here is a link to that essay:  https://wendelllgriffen.blogspot.com/2017/01/explaining-president-donald-trump-in.html.

Almost two years later, President Trump has demonstrated to people in the United States and throughout the world that he is mentally, socially, politically, and behaviorally unstable.  Granted, Trump’s fanatic followers (his “base”) of white religious nationalists, white supremacists, free market capitalists, and personal and political sycophants consider Trump a fit leader.  The rest of us recognize that Trump is corrupt to the core. 

President Trump is a classic example of “a loose cannon.”  He is a “loose cannon” about truth.  He is a “loose cannon” about ethics.  “He is a “loose cannon” when dealing with US politicians (including those from his own political party), US allies and competitors, his White House staff, and members of his personal inner circle.  It is well past time for the rest of us to treat him accordingly.

The first thing smart people do when confronted with a “loose cannon” is to stop and secure it.  “Loose cannon” people must be stopped and secured to prevent them from doing more harm.  By now the world knows that Trump’s family, staff, and political colleagues have either failed to stop and secure him or don’t want to do so. 

We cannot expect help from Vice-President Mike Pence, the heads of departments in the federal government, and leaders of the Republican Party in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives.  Only federal judges have honored their duties to uphold the rule of law and the U.S. Constitution.  Vice President Pence, executive department leaders, and Republicans in the Congress have not done so. 

No one seriously thinks that Pence and the Cabinet heads have enough sense, let alone honor, to certify Trump constitutionally disabled according to the Twenty-Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.  Only in a fantasy world would Ben Carson (Secretary of Housing and Urban Development), Mike Pompeo (Secretary of State), Matthew Whittaker (Acting Attorney General), and Patrick Shanahan (the in-coming Acting Secretary of Defense) possess that much honor and patriotism.

Because executive branch leaders are not honorable and patriotic enough to certify President Trump disabled, the House of Representatives must do its constitutional duty and conduct hearings on impeachment.  Yes, I used that word.  The word “impeachment” exists because from the beginning the founders of this nation realized that some people are morally and socially unfit to hold public office. 

Donald Trump is such a prime example of such moral and social unfitness that calling him a “loose cannon” may be too kind.  There is reason to suspect that Trump more closely resembles cancer, something much more dangerous. 

So because Pence and the Cabinet officers won’t declare Trump disabled, the House Judiciary Committee should begin the urgent work of holding public impeachment hearings after the new Congress assumes office on January 3, 2019 to determine whether there is evidence that Donald Trump has committed “high crimes and misdemeanors.”  Yes, impeachment hearings will involve painful work.  Yes, Nancy Pelosi (the presumptive Speaker of the House of Representatives during the coming session of Congress), would prefer that the House not address impeachment proceedings among its many other difficult challenges. 

Experienced leaders know that duty, honor, and loyalty to principles of truth and fairness override concerns about personal or political inconvenience and allegiance.  Outgoing Defense Secretary James Mattis demonstrated that when he resigned his post and stated his reasons for doing so in his letter of resignation.  Speaker Pelosi, Representative Jerrold Nadler (the presumptive incoming chair of the House Judiciary Committee), other members of the Judiciary Committee, and the rest of the House of Representatives (including Republican Members of Congress), should follow the example set by Secretary Mattis.    

Impeachment proceedings will not prevent House Members from considering and passing legislation on immigration, voting rights, and to repair the highways, bridges, tunnels, and other aspects of the nation’s infrastructure.  Impeachment proceedings should not prevent the House of Representatives from considering, debating, and passing legislation to protect Special Counsel Robert Mueller from political meddling by President Trump and his lackeys in the Department of Justice.   By appointing Matthew Whittaker Acting Attorney General, publicly suggesting that he might pardon Paul Manafort for the crimes Manafort has pled guilty to committing, and by his obvious attempts to intimidate Michael Cohen and cajole Roger Stone, President Trump has shown that he will sink to any depth and employ any tactic to interfere with, obstruct, and derail the Mueller investigation. 

If the House Judiciary Committee votes to issue Articles of Impeachment, and if that vote is upheld by a simple majority of the House members, then the issue becomes whether Senator Mitch McConnell (the Senate Majority Leader), Senator Lindsey Graham (the presumptive incoming chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee), and other Republican members of the U.S. Senate have honor enough, loyalty enough, and patriotism enough to follow the U.S. Constitution.  Unfortunately, that is an open question. 

The bottom line is that Donald Trump must either be declared disabled by Vice President Pence and leaders of the U.S. Cabinet (under the Twenty Fifth Amendment) or impeached by the House of Representatives and convicted by the Senate of committing high crimes and misdemeanors (according to Article II, Section 4) in the U.S. Constitution.  Procrastinating or denying that painful truth won’t make dealing with it less unpleasant. 

We, along with the rest of the world, know that President Trump is politically incompetent and psychologically, pathologically, and socially dangerous. It doesn’t matter whether one terms Trump a “loose cannon,” likens him to cancer, or thinks he is like a drunk driver.  Loose cannons, cancers, and drunk drivers are mortal dangers that demand prompt and decisive action.  The sooner we begin taking it the sooner we will put Donald Trump’s psychopathic presidency out of our national and geo-political misery. 

The Founders of U.S. democracy and the drafters of the Twenty-Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution foresaw that the nation might someday be forced to deal with a psychopathic or sociopathic president.  We will find out in the coming weeks and months whether current U.S. leaders have enough honor, loyalty, and patriotism to follow the course of action and procedures that the Founders painstakingly established. 

A PUBLIC FORUM ON RE-SEGREGATION, PRIVATIZATION, AND DE-FUNDING OF PUBLIC EDUCATION

On January 28, 2015, the democratically-elected and majority black board of directors for the Little Rock School District (LRSD) was dissolved by the Arkansas Board of Education (ArBOE).  At the time, the LRSD was the largest public school district in Arkansas.  Since then, the LRSD has experienced declining enrollment, closure of schools in neighborhoods south of Interstate 630, and other problems. 

In connection with the fourth anniversary of the dissolution of the LRSD school board on January 28, 2019, in recognition that 2019 will be the 100^th anniversary of the September 1919 Elaine Race Massacre and Land Theft, and because 2019 will be the 400^th anniversary of the delivery of African slaves at Jamestown, Virginia, New Millennium Church, the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference, and the Vanderbilt Divinity School Public Theology and Racial Justice Collaborative will co-sponsor a Public Forum on Re-Segregation, Privatization, and De-Funding of Public Education at New Millennium Church (21 Lakeshore Drive, Little Rock, Arkansas) on January 24, 25, and 26, 2019.    During the Forum, local and community public education advocates, activists, policy makers, and influence leaders will join respected scholars of history, sociology, ethics (moral theology), and psychology to address current and past realities surrounding segregation, privatization, and efforts to de-fund public education to the detriment of children and families in the LRSD.  Because New Millennium Church is a social justice ministry in keeping with the liberating gospel of Jesus, NMC is pleased to host and co-sponsor the Forum.  

I’m posting this message to inform you about the Forum, ask that you support the Forum with your prayers, presence, and contributions, and invite others to attend Forum sessions. 

The Forum will feature keynote presentations by the following distinguished persons:

• Iva Carruthers, Ph.D., General Secretary of the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference
• Teresa Smallwood, Ph.D., Associate Director of the Vanderbilt Divinity School Public Theology and Racial Justice Collaborative
• Terrence Roberts, Ph.D., Principal, Terrence Roberts Consulting
• Nancy MacLean, Ph.D., William H. Chafe Professor of History and Public Policy, Duke University

The objectives of the Public Forum on Re-Segregation, Privatization, and De-Funding of Public Education are:

1. Provide informed non-partisan analysis about the political, commercial, social, and moral issues surrounding the history and current realities of segregation in public education and their impact on children and families in the Little Rock School District.
2. Present perspectives of parents, guardians, patrons, educators, civic and faith leaders, and public education advocates and activists concerning the history,  status, and future of public education in the Little Rock School District.
3. Inform the public how capitalism influences public education policy and administration, and the effect of that influence on children and families in the Little Rock School District.

Here is the Schedule of Events (all at New Millennium Church):

• January 24 (Thursday), 2019, 6-8 p.m. – Re-Segregation and Transgenerational Trauma  - Dr. Iva Carruthers (keynote presenter) and Dr. Teresa Smallwood (facilitator)
• January 25 (Friday), 2019, 6-8 p.m. – Re-Segregation, Privatization, De-Funding and the Color of Law – Dr. Terrence Roberts (keynote presenter) and Rev. Wendell Griffen (facilitator)
• January 26 (Saturday), 2019, 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. – Re-Segregation, Privatization, and De-Funding of Public Education:  The Threat to Democracy – Dr. Nancy MacLean (keynote presenter) and local public education advocates Dr. James Ross, Dr. Anika Whitfield, Pastor Toney Orr, and Senator Joyce Elliott (panelists)

On Sunday, January 27, 2019, Dean Emilie Townes of Vanderbilt Divinity School will deliver a sermon at New Millennium Church during worship at 9 a.m., and will engage in an informal “town hall” conversation after the service.  The service and “town hall” conversation, while not part of the Forum, will be open to Forum attendees and the general public.   Dean Townes will also be the featured guest of the Barbershop Radio Program at 9 a.m. on Saturday, January 26, 2019, on community radio station KABF, 88.3 FM which airs each Saturday from 9-10 a.m. over the Internet at www.kabf.org, sponsored by New Millennium Church.  

A registration fee of $50 per person will cover all Forum sessions.  Online registration at www.newmillenniumchurch.us will commence December 12, 2018, and continue thru January 16, 2019. 

The Forum is made possible through generous support from the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference, the Vanderbilt Divinity School Public Theology and Racial Justice Collaborative, and New Millennium Church.  Persons interested in also supporting the Forum may send contributions to New Millennium Church online at www.newmillenniumchurch.us, or by mail to New Millennium Church, 21 Lakeshore Drive, Little Rock, AR 72204 (designate “Forum on Re-Segregation” on the memo of the check). 

I invite you to be part of what will be a historic, enlightening, and prophetic conversation.  Monitor the websites of New Millennium Church (www.newmillenniumchurch.us), the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference (www.sdpconference.info), the Vanderbilt Divinity School Public Theology and Racial Justice Collaborative (https://www.publictheologyracialjustice.org/), and community radio station KABF FM 88.3 – “The Voice of the People” – (www.kabf.org) for coming information.  Questions concerning the Forum may be submitted to info@newmillenniumchurch.us.

Grace and Peace,

Wendell Griffen

Author, The Fierce Urgency of Prophetic Hope (Judson Press, 2017)
Pastor, New Millennium Church

www.newmillenniumchurch.us

21 Lakeshore Drive

Little Rock, AR 72204

(501) 416-1917 mobile

Hope fiercely! Love boldly!

We will either find a way or make one.  Hannibal of Carthage

Love one another.  Jesus of Galilee

WATCHING FOR SIGNS OF REPENTANCE

©Wendell Griffen, 2018

Justice Is A Verb!

November 5, 2018

On November 8, 2016, 81 percent of white evangelical voters in the United States supported Donald Trump despite evidence of his personal and commercial racism, misogyny, fear and hatred of immigrants, and deceitfulness.  Their votes did not show that they see God in our neighbors who are immigrants, sick, and otherwise vulnerable. 

Since then, white clergy who say they are evangelical followers of Jesus have grinned, applauded, and lavished praise on President Donald Trump despite daily proof of his dishonest, boorish, racist, sexist, and xenophobic character and conduct.  White clergy who claim to being followers of the Palestinian Jewish fellow named Jesus – whose parents were forced to seek asylum with him in Egypt during his early childhood – have been silent as Mr. Trump has ordered military forces to prevent unarmed immigrants from Central America from seeking asylum in the United States.  White clergy were silent after President Trump referred to immigrants from Haiti and nations on the continent of Africa as being from “shithole” countries. 

Most white clergy were silent when President Trump urged Congress to repeal the Affordable Care Act that guarantees access to affordable healthcare.  If many white pastors reminded their congregants that Jesus spent most of his ministry healing people who were sick and poor and did so without charging anything – let alone requiring a co-pay – I suspect that would have been newsworthy.  I don’t recall seeing news reports that white clergy in Arkansas, or elsewhere for that matter, suggested that efforts to dismantle a system of affordable health care don’t square with the gospel accounts of the healing ministry of Jesus.    

After white supremacists, white nationalists, and neo-Nazi sympathizers attacked peaceful protestors in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017, President Trump said that there were “fine people on both sides.”  What do you recall white evangelical clergy saying in response?  If you attend a predominantly white evangelical church, what did you do about that response, or failure to respond? 

Evidence has been mounting over the past two years about efforts to intimidate, suppress, discourage, and disenfranchise people of color from voting.  Native American, Latino, and black voters have been deliberately targeted for gerrymandering, closure of polling places, and misinformation about voting requirements.  How have white clergy and congregations responded? 

I join those who are encouraging young voters, people from lower income households, women, and people of color to vote.  I hope young voters, people from lower income households, women, people of color, persons who are LGBTQ, senior citizens, and other people who are marginalized turn out and vote in record numbers. 

At the same time, I’m watching to see if white people who attend evangelical churches across the nation will vote the way they did in 2016.  I’m watching for signs that white people who call themselves evangelical followers of Jesus will turn away from the hateful, fear-mongering, bellicose, power-driven dishonesty of President Trump and his political cronies. I’m watching for signs of repentance from white evangelical voters.  

The proof of white evangelical repentance will not consist of people of color being invited to kum-ba-yah gatherings with white evangelicals to hold hands, sing “We Shall Overcome,” and exchange pleasantries during religious dinner parties.  The proof of white evangelical repentance will not consist of black and Latino preachers and congregations being invited to sing, pray, and preach with white evangelicals. 

I join others who question whether white evangelicals are followers of Jesus at all.  They often seem to confuse the gospel of Jesus with white supremacy and notions of U.S. empire.  White religious nationalism is heresy to the gospel of Jesus, not faithfulness to it. 

So tomorrow night, I’ll watch election returns to see whether white people who call themselves evangelical followers of Jesus will, again, prove that they prize white supremacy above the inclusive and liberating gospel of divine grace, truth, justice, and peace.  I’ll look for evidence that white people who claim to be followers of the Palestinian Jewish itinerant prophet and healer named Jesus are turning away from white religious nationalism.  I’ll be watching and hoping for signs of white evangelical repentance.  I don’t expect that election results tomorrow will support my hope. 

Yet, I hope for justice no matter how white evangelicals vote tomorrow.  White evangelicals have a long history of misrepresenting God and supporting injustice.   God has a longer history of proving them wrong.  

I hope for justice because I trust God, not white evangelicals.

LESSONS TO REMEMBER ABOUT THE KAVANAUGH SPECTACLE

©Wendell Griffen, 2018

Justice Is a Verb!

September 28, 2018

Now that the September 27, 2018 Senate Judiciary Committee hearing spectacle involving Judge Brett Kavanaugh and sexual assault allegation by Dr. Christine Blasey Ford has concluded, let’s consider a few things. 

Ponder white male privilege, rage and cultural incompetence.  The most controversial issue facing the nation surrounding Judge Kavanaugh’s nomination is whether allegations that he engaged in unlawful sexual conduct and bullying behavior as a high school, college, and law student disqualify him for confirmation as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. 

Although Dr. Ford’s allegation that Judge Kavanaugh attempted to rape her when they were high school students captivated national attention yesterday, Judge Kavanaugh has also been accused of exposing his genitals to Deborah Ramirez.  He has been accused of being present, if not complicit, when his male friends allegedly gang-raped girls who were impaired by alcohol and drugs.  Judge Kavanaugh has been accused of bullying conduct when inebriated.   

The Senate Judiciary Committee is the body responsible for advising the United States Senate on the fitness of people who are nominated for lifetime appointments to the federal judiciary.  But what happened on September 27, 2018 didn’t resemble a sensible and competent effort by the Senate Judiciary Committee to hear any of the serious allegations about Judge Kavanaugh’s fitness.  Instead, we witnessed an unforgettable display of white male rage, wounded pride, and cultural incompetence. 

Reflect on Judge Kavanaugh’s visceral fury and evasiveness concerning why he refused to request that the confirmation process be suspended to permit the Federal Bureau of Investigation to investigate the allegations. 

Imagine how senators would consider it disrespectful had a woman or person of color witness or nominee shouted at Judiciary Committee members during a confirmation hearing. 

Imagine what the response might have been had a woman or person of color member of the Judiciary Committee shouted curses toward other Committee members as Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina behaved.

Imagine how parents of color would be condemned for allowing teenagers of color to engage in underage drinking. 

Imagine what would be said about parents of color if girls were sexually assaulted during house parties where parents were not present and alcoholic beverages were openly consumed.    

Ponder the white male rage, privilege, hypocrisy, and cultural incompetence displayed yesterday.

Ponder deliberate disregard for basic standards of credibility.  Trial lawyers and judges know that demeanor is a fundamental aspect of evaluating witness credibility.  Evasive, belligerent, insolent, and rude behavior during cross examination does not mean a witness is telling the truth, but that a witness is offended about the prospect of things being uncovered which the witness would rather hide.    

Judge Kavanaugh’s answers during questioning by Democratic members of the Judiciary Committee were evasive.  He rudely interrupted questioners.  He was flippant in responding to questions about whether he lost consciousness or forgot events that occurred when he became inebriated. 

No matter where Judge Kavanaugh attended prep school, college, or law school, allegations of sexual assault, offensive sexual conduct, complicity in sexual assault, and bullying deserve serious attention by anyone responsible for evaluating a judicial nominee.  But throughout Judge Kavanaugh’s fiery and sometimes tearful testimony, he repeatedly evaded questions about his willingness to have the FBI investigate the allegations by making self-serving and self-righteous claims about his academic rank in high school and college, his efforts as an athlete, and his friendships as if that information somehow should matter to anyone trying to learn the truth about the allegations.

Does anyone seriously contend that a woman or person of color who behaved as Judge Kavanaugh did during testimony anywhere would be considered credible? 

Ponder disregard for the rule of adverse inference.  It is universally recognized – meaning accepted law everywhere – that when a party with the power to produce information concerning a material issue fails or refuses to do so, that failure or refusal creates a reasonable inference that the information would be unfavorable to that party.  Trial judges and lawyers recognize this as the adverse inference instruction. 

That instruction is expressed in Arkansas Model Jury Instruction 106A as follows:  Where relevant evidence is within the control of the party in whose interest it would naturally be to produce it, and that party fails to do so without satisfactory explanation, you may draw the inference that such evidence would have been unfavorable to that party. 

Judge Kavanaugh’s refusal to consent to an FBI investigation and President Trump’s refusal to order an FBI investigation into the serious allegations about Judge Kavanaugh’s fitness creates an inference that evidence which might have been uncovered during an FBI investigation – which Judge Kavanaugh refused to request and President Trump refused to order – concerning those allegations would have been unfavorable to Judge Kavanaugh’s quest for confirmation. 

Whatever one may think about Judge Kavanaugh’s fitness to serve on the Supreme Court, one thing is obvious.  September 27, 2018 was not a good day for the Supreme Court, the nation, survivors of sexual violence, the rule of law, cultural competence, and justice. 

Thank you, President Trump.  

THIS IS ANOTHER TAMAR TRAVESTY

©Wendell Griffen, 2018

Justice Is a Verb!

September 27, 2018

As President Donald Trump, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley of Iowa, and Republican members of the Senate Judiciary Committee go through the motions surrounding the sexual assault and other allegations against Judge Brett Kavanaugh, I invite you to recall the Old Testament account concerning Tamar. 

According to 2 Samuel 13, Tamar was “a beautiful sister” of Absalom, King David’s second son.  She was also half-sister to Amnon, King David’s first son.  Amnon raped Tamar.  At 2 Samuel 13:21, we read that King David refused to punish Amnon because “he loved him, for he was his firstborn,” meaning the crown prince.  2 Samuel 13 offers important lessons about patriarchy, male privilege, objectification of women, and the ways powerful men mistreat victims of sexual assault. 

Judge Brett Kavanaugh denies that he sexually assaulted Dr. Christine Blassy Ford when they were teenagers.  He denies that he was present along with Mark Judge (his college roommate) when young women were plied with alcohol and sexually assaulted by other men.  He denies that he engaged in offensive sexual conduct toward women at all.  Then what makes the Old Testament lesson about Tamar relevant to Judge Kavanaugh’s confirmation? 

Like Tamar, Dr. Ford and the other women who accuse Judge Kavanaugh of sexual violence have been maligned by powerful men who are determined to shield Judge Kavanaugh.  President Trump, Majority Leader McConnell, Judiciary Chairman Grassley, and Republican members on the Senate Judiciary Committee seem determined to shield Judge Kavanaugh from an impartial and professional investigation concerning the accusations by Dr. Ford and the other women who have accused Judge Kavanaugh of sexual violence.  Judge Kavanaugh, like Amnon, is getting “crown prince” treatment from the very people who have the authority and obligation to investigate the sexual assault allegations. 

Don’t be fooled because Senator Grassley has hired Maricopa County, Arizona prosecutor Rachel Mitchell to question Dr. Ford before the Judiciary Committee today.  Seasoned prosecutors and defense lawyers question witnesses publicly only after thoroughly investigating the background of those witnesses and the subjects the witnesses will testify about.  The FBI hasn’t investigated the sexual assault allegations about Judge Kavanaugh by Dr. Ford or anyone else.  The FBI hasn’t investigated Judge Kavanaugh’s denials of those allegations.  Why?  Because Judge Kavanaugh, like Amnon, is getting “crown prince” treatment from the people who can require FBI investigations into the sexual assault allegations.

Neither the prophet, Nathan, nor any other prophet spoke up for Tamar.  No religious leader denounced what happened to her, or condemned the way King David and other powerful men shielded Amnon.  Likewise, none of the religious leaders who brag about their access to President Trump and influence with Majority Leader McConnell, Chairman Grassley, and other Republicans on the Judiciary Committee have been quoted in the media concerning the sexual assault allegations made by Dr. Ford and other women.  Why?  Because Judge Kavanaugh, like Amnon, is getting “crown prince” treatment from religionists who claim to be moral counselors to Judge Kavanaugh’s political sponsors and allies. 

Amnon, as crown prince, was positioned to succeed David as king of Israel.  Judge Kavanaugh is positioned to succeed Justice Anthony Kennedy on the Supreme Court of the United States.  Like Tamar, Dr. Ford and other women who have accused Judge Kavanaugh of sexual violence are being patronized – but not protected – because they are viewed as disposable obstacles to the elevation of a privileged man to higher office.    

Privileged politicians and religious leaders – all men – are shielding Judge Kavanaugh and mistreating Dr. Ford and other victims of sexual violence in 2018 the same way privileged and powerful politicians and religious leaders – all men – shielded Amnon and mistreated Tamar in the Old Testament. 

I’ve written this essay to condemn the latest example of the Tamar travesty.  I’m also calling on Senators John Boozman and Tom Cotton of Arkansas to refrain from voting whether to confirm Judge Kavanaugh until the FBI has investigated and issued a written report to the Office of the President and the Senate Judiciary Committee concerning the accusations from Dr. Ford and other sexual violence victims. 

What are you doing to condemn and prevent the current example of the Tamar travesty? 

HAIL TO THE HYPOCRITES

©Wendell Griffen, 2018

Justice Is A Verb!

September 26, 2018

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you tithe mint, dill, and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law:  justice and mercy and faith… You blind guides!  You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel!  Matthew 23:23-24 (New Revised Standard Version)

Those prophetic words by Jesus concerned moral and political leaders in Palestine during his lifetime.  They also apply, sadly, to evangelical religious conservatives and national political leaders regarding the nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh for Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS). 

The Constitution of the United States vests authority in the President of the United States (POTUS) to nominate “Judges of the supreme court” (Article II, Section 2.2) “by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate.”  President Trump is the only person authorized to nominate Judge Kavanaugh to become Associate Justice of the Supreme Court.  He is also the only person authorized to request an investigative report, in writing, from the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the Justice Department concerning Judge Kavanaugh’s background for honesty, integrity, legal competence, and moral and ethical fitness. 

President Trump is the only person who can authorize the FBI to investigate the allegation by Dr. Christine Blassy Ford that Judge Kavanaugh sexually assaulted Dr. Ford when they were teenagers.

President Trump is the only person who can authorize the FBI to investigate the allegation by Deborah Ramirez that Judge Kavanaugh sexually exposed himself to her when they were students at Yale University. 

President Trump is the only person who can authorize the FBI to investigate reports by Judge Kavanaugh’s former schoolmates that Judge Kavanaugh engaged in boorish and offensive conduct during bouts of drinking when they attended high school, college, and law school. 

President Trump is the only person who can authorize the FBI to investigate whether Judge Kavanaugh's denials about the allegations are true.  He knows this.  Judge Kavanaugh knows this.  The members of the United States Senate know this.

Senator Charles “Chuck” Grassley and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of the U.S. Senate are the people can request that President Trump direct the FBI to investigate the allegations that Judge Kavanaugh sexually assaulted Dr. Ford, sexually exposed himself to Ms. Ramirez, and engaged in drunken and boorish conduct during his years in high school, college, and law school.  They refuse to do so. And they also refuse to subpoena people with knowledge about Judge Kavanaugh's background concerning the sexual assault, sexual exhibitionism, and intemperate drinking allegations.

President Trump despises the FBI and its investigative role because he despises the rule of law. Mr. Trump fired James Comey as Director of the FBI after Comey refused to declare personal allegiance to Trump.  President Trump regularly criticizes the FBI for investigating allegations about corrupt practices, dishonesty, and other misbehavior by Trump administration officials, by Paul Manafort (Trump’s campaign chairman in 2016), Trump’s personal attorney, and people involved in Trump’s business practices. 

President Trump is a notorious misogynist and self-admitted sexual predator.  He once described his daughter as “a fine piece of ass.”   He once bragged that his maleness, celebrity, and wealth enable him to forcibly grab women by their genitalia. 

Majority Leader McConnell and Chairman Grassley know these things about President Trump.  Republican members of the Senate Judiciary Committee know these things about President Trump.  They and other Republican members of the Senate are not requesting President Trump to authorize the FBI to investigate serious allegations of sexual assault, sexual exhibitionism, and intemperate drinking by Judge Kavanaugh.  

Those leaders know that President Trump despises the FBI. And they know the FBI is routinely trusted to conduct non-partisan investigations concerning the backgrounds of all federal judges.  Each member of the Senate could properly refuse to vote on Judge Kavanaugh's nomination unless and until the Senate Judiciary Committee has received an FBI report and had the opportunity to conduct proceedings concerning the allegations against him based on that report.  Any member of the Senate could publicly announce that he or she will not vote to confirm Judge Kavanaugh unless and until the FBI has investigated the allegations, issued a report concerning them to the Office of the President and the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Judiciary Committee members have included the report and any questions they have regarding it in confirmation hearings.  

It is telling that no Senator has announced that he or she will take that principled stance.  Their refusal to do so makes each Senator complicit with President Trump’s gross disregard for the rule of law.

Judge Kavanaugh denies the allegations that he sexually assaulted Dr. Ford, exposed himself to Ms. Ramirez, and engaged in intemperate drinking.  However, because President Trump refuses to authorize the FBI to investigate those allegations, Judge Kavanaugh knows the allegations will not be investigated by the only non-partisan investigative agency authorized to question him and anyone else about them.  

Make no mistake, Judge Kavanaugh doesn't want an FBI investigation into those allegations.  Otherwise, Judge Kavanaugh would have issued a statement along the following lines:  "In the interest of transparency, the integrity of the confirmation process and the integrity of the Supreme Court, and justice, I ask President Trump to authorize the FBI to investigate the sexual assault, sexual exhibitionism, and drunken misconduct allegations that have been asserted against me.  For the same reasons, I also ask the Senate Judiciary Committee to suspend further consideration of my nomination until the FBI has conducted that investigation and issued a written report concerning the investigation to the Office of the President and to members of the Judiciary Committee.  I pledge to cooperate with FBI investigators and look forward to speaking with them concerning the allegations." 

Judge Kavanaugh has the power to issue that statement.  One word - hypocrisy - explains why he has not done so and will not do so.   

Wealthy donors to Republican politicians and self-proclaimed evangelical religious conservatives are determined to get Judge Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court at all costs.  They want Judge Kavanaugh to overturn SCOTUS rulings that uphold reproductive freedom for women and girls.  They want Judge Kavanaugh to limit the power of federal agencies to protect people, animals, the air, soil, and water from health risks posed by corporate polluters.  They want Judge Kavanaugh to limit access to voting by people who have been historically disenfranchised.  They want Judge Kavanaugh to vote against protections for workers. 

Hail to the hypocrites!  One longs to see people who believe in justice, mercy, and faith denounce them the way Jesus did. 

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you ...have neglected… justice and mercy and faith… You blind guides!  You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel! 

MISOGYNY, HYPOCRISY, AND THE BRETT KAVANAUGH SCOTUS CONFIRMATION PROCESS

Justice Is A Verb!

©Wendell Griffen, 2018

To use the lyrics of a song by Stevie Wonder (You Haven’t Done Nothing), I’ve been “amazed but not amused” by the way people have reacted since Dr. Christine Blassey Ford’s allegation surfaced last week that Judge Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her when they were teenagers. 

It is amazing that people who profess to be “tough on crime” now seem willing to treat an allegation of attempted rape as mere horseplay because it allegedly was perpetrated by a drunken teenager named Brett Kavanaugh.

It is amazing that people who profess to support law enforcement – including members of the Judiciary Committee of the United States Senate – are unwilling to allow the premier law enforcement investigative agency in the United States, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, to investigate an allegation of attempted rape by a nominee to the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS).

It is amazing that the President of the United States, Donald J. Trump, is unwilling to direct the FBI to investigate the allegation that President Trump’s nominee, Judge Kavanaugh, sexually assaulted Christine Blassey when they were teenagers.

It makes no difference that other women consider Judge Kavanaugh to be a decent man.  The issue is whether he tried to rape Dr. Christine Blassey Ford when they were teenagers.  If he did, then the issue is whether attempted rape – even as a juvenile – is conduct that should be considered in determining whether Judge Kavanaugh should be confirmed for appointment as an Associate Justice of the United States. 

In short, the issue is whether the nation deserves an impartial investigation concerning an allegation of juvenile misogyny, and whether that conduct, if it occurred, should somehow be excused decades later when the alleged misogynist is a candidate for a lifetime appointment to the highest court in the United States.  Do we really mean what we say when we say that women and girls deserve to be safe from sexual assault?  Or are we only paying lip service to the belief that sexual assault is despicable conduct, regardless to the age of an alleged assailant? 

Chairman Charles “Chuck” Grassley of the Senate Judiciary Committee should formally request that President Trump direct the FBI to investigate Dr. Ford’s sexual assault allegation against Judge Kavanaugh.  After all, investigation of presidential nominees for key appointments in the federal government, including appointments to the SCOTUS, is what the FBI routinely does. 

However, I doubt that will happen.  Chairman Grassley, his Republican colleagues on the Judiciary Committee, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell know how much President Trump dislikes – despises is probably the more accurate word – the FBI, the Justice Department, and the investigative process.  President Trump holds the wrong-headed belief that the Justice Department owes him, rather than the nation, personal loyalty. 

It is also rather unlikely, for another reason, that President Trump will ask the FBI to investigate Judge Kavanaugh regarding sexual assault.  President Trump has a less-than-favorable record when it comes to fair treatment of women.  He once bragged that his wealth, maleness, and celebrity allows him to forcibly grab the genitalia of women.

One is reminded of how King David, the second ruler of Israel, and other male leaders of his government failed after David's son and crown prince, Amnon, raped his half-sister and David's daughter Tamar (see 2 Samuel 13).  Tamar spent the rest of her life as an un-vindicated sexual assault victim because David and other male leaders were more interested in protecting Amnon than they were concerned about her.  

I hope Dr. Ford holds fast to her demand for an FBI investigation of her sexual assault allegation against Judge Kavanaugh.  Whatever the outcome of such an investigation might be, the nation can be sure that it will performed by qualified law enforcement professionals, including people skilled in performing investigations of sexual assault allegations. 

Professor Ford deserves to have her allegation investigated by the FBI.  Judge Kavanaugh also deserves it.  Above all, the nation deserves it.  It remains to be seen whether hypocrisy will cause Senator Grassley, his Republican colleagues on the Judiciary Committee, Majority Leader McConnell, and President Trump to try to fool the nation and wider world into believing they want a thorough investigation about whether Judge Kavanaugh engaged in a sexual assault – attempted rape.   

As Stevie Wonder put it so well in You Haven’t Done Nothing, “we are amazed but not amused by all the things you say you’ll do.”

IMBECILE IN CHIEF

IMBECILE IN CHIEF

©Wendell Griffen, 2018

Justice Is a Verb!

July 17, 2018

We’ve had vicious kings and we’ve had idiot kings, but I don’t know if we’ve ever been cursed with a vicious idiot for a king. Tyrion Lannister (from Game of Thrones spoken regarding King Joffrey Lannister, his nephew)

People familiar with the Home Box Office blockbuster Game of Thrones television series will recall that line spoken by Tyrion Lannister (the character portrayed by Peter Benchley) to describe King Joffrey Lannister (his nephew portrayed by Jack Gleeson).  Now the world knows the current President of the United States is a vicious idiot. 

It has been widely known for years that Donald Trump is vain, untruthful, and a rich fool.  Yet, President Trump’s behavior during his recent European trip shocked longstanding observers.  The poor fellow scolded U.S. NATO allies about not paying enough for their own defense, then praised Russian president Vladimir Putin for being strong.  Mr. Trump engaged in the feckless act of publicly extolling the veracity of Putin, a former KGB intelligence officer, over the unanimous findings of the entire U.S. intelligence community. 

Add “Imbecile-in-Chief” to Mr. Trump’s title.  Central casting could not have found a better person to portray the role of a fool.  However, Trump is not playing a theatrical role. 

In the last few days the world has seen what other people have known for decades.  Donald John Trump is an intellectual dullard, narcissist, pathological liar, and a fool.  His main competence (if not his only competence) is self-adulation and shameless showmanship.  Trump’s Fox News white supremacist and religious nationalist base can crow all they please about “let Trump be Trump.”  Donald Trump is not a comedy show or practical joker.  He is President of the United States.  His feckless behavior affects our lives and livelihood. 

Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina was correct during the 2015-16 campaign for the Republican Party presidential nomination when he called Candidate Trump a “kook.”  President Trump is intellectually, emotionally, politically, mentally, and morally unhinged.   The issue is how we will deal with that reality.

The United States House of Representatives could begin hearings on whether there is ground to impeach Donald Trump.  It won’t do so.  Most Members of Congress love their own political standing more than they love protecting the nation from the threats presented by our demented chief executive. 

The Twenty-Fifth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States authorizes Vice President Pence and a majority of the Cabinet Secretaries to report to Senator Mitch McConnell (President pro tempore of the Senate) and Speaker Paul Ryan of the House of Representatives “that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.”  They won’t do so.  Like Congress, they love their political standing more than they love protecting the nation from the disabled fellow occupying the Oval Office. 

Our situation reminds me of the Biblical account about King Saul, the first king of Israel.  Like Mr. Trump, Saul was a megalomaniac, emotionally unstable, and a threat to his allies and his nation.  Eventually, Saul was denounced by Samuel, the judge and prophet who anointed him to be king. 

Don’t expect Mr. Trump’s white religious nationalist cheerleaders to follow Samuel’s example regarding Saul, nor that of Tyrion Lannister regarding Joffrey Lannister in the HBO Game of Thrones dramatic television show.  White religious nationalists are Trump’s most faithful supporters. 

The unpleasant truth is that Donald Trump’s presidency is both a curse on the United States and a curse from the United States on the wider world.   Thanks to the election of 2016, the security of our nation, sanity of our world, strength of U.S. armed forces and our NATO allies, stability of our economy, tranquility of our society, and health and welfare of our population are threatened by one reality:  the President of the United States is a vicious idiot. 

We are cursed.  Welcome to the “new normal.”