Mitch McConnell is the problem

If you are a fiscal conservative like me I’m sure you share my frustration with the latest budget that was passed by a Republican Congress and signed by a Republican president. Not to give President Trump too much of a pass, but he was obviously frustrated when he signed it. He did so, he says, because the six-month budget gets much-needed funding to the military.

What’s disturbing is the glee which Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi took in voting for the bill. Any time those two are happy it’s a sure bet it’s a bad deal for America. But just who is to blame?

Many point to Speaker Paul Ryan who reached across the aisle to pass a bipartisan piece of legislation. Bipartisan sounds nice and fuzzy but it’s code for capitulation. The Republicans were sent to Washington to drain the swamp and stop the reckless spending. They failed miserably. And there’s one reason why. Mitch McConnell.

The senate majority leader has refused to kill the ridiculous filibuster rule. This is the arcane senate rule that allows the majority to threaten a filibuster and it takes sixty votes to override it. The minority never really has to actually filibuster. They just have to threaten to. Proponents of this insane rule claim that if the Democrats take control of the Senate they’ll dispense of it to pass their agenda if the Republicans do it to them. Fox News Alert: They’re going to ditch that rule the first time it gets in their way no matter what the Republicans do now.

Despite the spin from both parties, the filibuster super majority is not constitutional. The Constitution only requires a senate super majority when voting on impeachment, expelling a member of Congress, overriding a presidential veto, ratifying treaties, and proposing constitutional amendments. Requiring a three-fifths vote to stop a filibuster was a rule change in 1806, and even then was infrequently used until 1970. That’s when the Senate adopted the so-called “two-track” procedure intended to keep the filibuster from derailing all Senate business. It didn’t take too long before the actual filibuster itself became a mere formality and the Senate became a 60-vote institution.

McConnell and the Republicans changed the rule to exclude Supreme Court nominations. That’s after Harry Reid and the Democrats changed the rule to eliminate the filibuster on executive branch and judicial nominees. So it can be eliminated. McConnell just doesn’t want to.

Why?

My suspicion is McConnell actually wants a lot of the spending the Democrats want. Remember, McConnell is part of the swamp. This guy has become filthy rich thanks to the communist Chinese. As Peter Schweizer chronicles in his new book, Secret Empires, McConnell’s in-laws have deep financial ties to the Chinese government. China’s largest defense contractor set Elaine Chao’s family up in the shipping business. Elaine Chao is McConnell’s wife. She’s also the transportation secretary. Schweizer says McConnell’s father-in-law became filthy rich and gifted the senator between five and twenty-five million dollars.

Sounds rather swampish, doesn’t it?

What do you want to bet that an ordinary citizen like you or me wouldn’t get that sort of sweetheart deal from the Chinese government?

Trump’s tariffs on China are bound to be driving McConnell’s Chinese handlers crazy. Neither McConnell nor his wife seem to have any sway over the president on that issue. The Democrats focus on Russia but there is no doubt that China is the most dangerous country on Earth. And they have made our Senate Majority leader a multimillionaire. Can you say conflict of interest?

Phil Valentine is the host of the award-winning, nationally syndicated talk radio show, The Phil Valentine Show.

Is it time for Mueller to go?

Outlets like The Daily Beast are panting over prospects of impeachment for President Trump. What has them so excited? The firing of Andy McCabe, the former deputy director of the FBI. They believe the firing of McCabe means the dismissal of Robert Mueller is just a matter of time. Trump would be foolish to fire Mueller. More on that in a moment, but Trump didn’t fire McCabe. He was already being allowed a graceful way out by retiring. Jeff Sessions fired McCabe on the advice of the inspector general because McCabe leaked sensitive information to the press then lied about it under oath.

(Aaron P. Bernstein/Reuters)

We’re starting to see a picture of what McCabe was up to at the FBI. I won’t call it a conspiracy, but it appears McCabe, Peter Strzok, and his mistress, Lisa Page, coordinated to try and keep Donald Trump out of the Oval Office. When he won in spite of their efforts they attempted to bring him down. That’s nothing less than an attempted coup d’état.

Ironically, that’s where all this Russia investigation is leading. Liberals have been out of their minds with rage against this president ever since the election. They’ve been hanging their hopes on the Mueller investigation to right the perceived wrongs of the electoral process. What these short-thinking people don’t realize is a President Pence would be their worst nightmare. I’ve even seen surveys where an alarming number of these people actually believe Hillary Clinton would get to be president if Trump were removed from office. Their ignorance is breathtaking.

The further Mueller digs the more we realize that there was no collusion with Russia by Trump or his campaign. What we do learn is there was an insatiable desire by so many—including some inside the FBI—to make it so. That’s why it’s imperative that the president not interfere with the Mueller investigation.

Were Trump to fire Mueller he would forever be labeled a Nixonian character who used his office to keep the wolves at bay and cling to his power. If Trump does fire Mueller it will be because the investigation has dragged on ridiculously long with nothing to show for it. It’s a huge distraction to the White House and Trump’s agenda to get America back on the right track. There are still those Republicans in Congress who hold out hope that Trump will be impeached. They continue to stonewall on some of the more contentious issues like building a wall. With the Mueller investigation over they’ll be resigned to the fact that Trump will be in office for at least the next three years. Holding the ball for that long would no longer be an option.

Let Mueller finish, but finish he must. The only question is what is a reasonable timeframe? Trump is not known for his patience. That’s one of the traits that pushes him to get things done. I would think Mueller should surely be finished by the end of this summer. If he’s not, it may be time for Trump to make his case to the American people that Mueller either put up or shut up.

The liberals are lying in wait for him to do something foolish that they can hang around his neck. Firing Mueller prematurely would be one of those foolish things. If President Trump is confident that Mueller will never find anything illegal then he should have the good sense to let the process play out. Doing otherwise will create a crisis of confidence with his administration.

And imagine what November looks like if Mueller ultimately finds absolutely nothing.

Phil Valentine is the host of the award-winning, nationally syndicated talk radio show, The Phil Valentine Show.

Face it, there was no collusion

The House Intelligence Committee has concluded its investigation into Trump/Russia collusion during the 2016. They found there was none. They concluded that the Russians did try to meddle with the election process through propaganda ads and disinformation campaigns, but the 14-month long probe found no collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russians.

All it turned out to be was an extension of Hillary’s book tour of What Happened in which she tries to relive 2016 as if doing so will change the outcome. She was recently on a book tour in India where she stumbled down some stairs and essentially had to be carried to the bottom, emblematic of her whole campaign.

Reuters reported the Intel committee’s decision in frustration, citing the fact that the Mueller investigation seems to be heating up. They point to Paul Manafort pleading guilty as evidence. Manafort pled guilty to charges totally unrelated to not only Trump but to Russia. They also pinned their hopes on a grand jury questioning former Trump aide Sam Nunberg. Nunberg made the now-famous drunken round on the cable news shows climaxing when CNN’s Erin Burnett said she smelled alcohol on his breath. He seemed to have a permanent seat in CNN’s green room because he held bitter animosity toward the president. Despite his hatred of the man, once Nunberg sobered up he admitted after being questioned by the grand jury that, “I don’t believe it leads to the president.”

Oh, well.

Congressman Adam Schiff and other Democrats wanted to keep the investigation going even though there’s no evidence that Trump colluded with the Russians. Schiff said there were all sorts of questions left unanswered regarding such things as Russian money laundering. I’m sure there are, but none of this has anything to do with the fundamental issue the Democrats were pressing. They insisted Donald Trump and his campaign colluded with the Russians to steal the election. There’s just not a shred of evidence to back that up.

If they want to further investigate that Russia tried to involve themselves in our election process then they better be prepared for an endless investigation. The Russians aren’t the only ones. The Chinese routinely do exactly what the Russians have done and worse. And while we’re at it we may as well investigate how the United States tries to influence elections abroad. Anybody remember Obama’s efforts to defeat Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel?

If you want to talk about evidence of collusion then let’s look into Hillary and the Uranium One deal. Christopher Steele, the author of the now-infamous Trump dossier, admitted he was on a mission to keep Trump from getting elected president and we know he colluded with the Russians to spread lies about Trump before the election. Hillary also paid him for this smear campaign which is against the law. Does Adam Schiff want to go there? Not on your life.

Trump got his tax cuts and now Americans are seeing more money in their paychecks. Companies are hiring and giving bonuses. Jobless claims in the U.S. are at a 50-year low. Black and Hispanic unemployment are at all-time lows. The economy is going like gangbusters. The stock market keeps hitting all-time highs. The left-wing media keep trying to tell us it has nothing to do with Trump but we instinctively know better.

That’s why the Democrats are desperately clinging to Russian collusion. November is their last hope. If they don’t seize control of Congress then it may never happen again. It’s all they have. This I can tell you.

Phil Valentine is the host of the award-winning, nationally syndicated talk radio show, The Phil Valentine Show.

The real meaning of #MeToo

You’ve probably heard my rogue fireman story, right? This is the guy who surreptitiously sets the fire then comes back later as the hero to put it out. That’s what we’re seeing in Hollywood right now.

The Oscars were all about #MeToo and #TimesUp. This is the feigned righteous indignation from Hollywood over the likes of Harvey Weinstein and others who have had their way with the ladies on the casting couch. Those with attributes that allowed them to cut corners to stardom never complained until it became trendy to do so. Now, all of a sudden, these starlets are victims.

From Variety Magazine

Don’t misunderstand. I’m not condoning debauchery, and I’m certainly not condoning rape. One would assume a woman who had been raped would report it. If she didn’t report it because she really wanted that part in the movie then she wasn’t really raped.

These Hollywood types remind me of coyotes. Once they find a wounded animal they all jump on them and tear them to shreds. And it doesn’t much matter if you’re guilty or innocent. Ryan Seacrest was cleared by NBCUniversal of any wrongdoing after a wardrobe stylist accused him of repeated sexual abuse and groping. It didn’t matter that he was cleared. Most stars steered away from him on the red carpet before the Oscars.

This is the same crowd that called Harvey Weinstein God. This is the same crowd that gave Roman Polanski a standing ovation, a man convicted of unlawful sex with a minor after drugging and raping a 13-year-old girl.

This is the same crowd that cheered on Bill Clinton even after a parade of sexual harassment victims told their stories. Then they cheered on his wife, the same woman who tried to destroy the women who were brave enough to come out against her husband.

Then one of the vicious rabble becomes the wounded animal, like actor James Franco, and the rest pounce on him and tear him to shreds. They speak of courage then cower behind their publicists for fear that something in their sordid past will surface in People Magazine or the National Enquirer and their fragile careers will be over.

People like Tavis Smiley are fighting back with lawsuits to recover their reputations. I’m not going to sit in judgement of who’s guilty and who’s innocent. That’s for the courts to decide. My point is the #MeToo cause has become more important than the truth. Hollywood has always been about appearances. It’s all about trends. And right now it’s trendy to be a victim, even when you’re not. ‘I had to sleep with that director,’ they’ll say. ‘How else was I supposed to get the part?’ How about not getting the part? That never enters into the equation.

There are some great stations I’d love to have our radio show on. If the only way we get on the station is by my sleeping with the station manager then we don’t get on the station. Pretty straight forward. But I’m living in the world of scruples and standards. In the world where people do anything for a movie part there will always be other people ready to take you up on it. And don’t act so outraged when they do. 

If you’re not willing to sell your soul then you don’t have to worry about buyers. You’ll never have to panic when a reporter starts sifting through your trash. And you’ll never have to avoid Ryan Seacrest.

Have you ever aided and abetted a sexual predator? Well, now you know why so many Hollywood starlets are tweeting #MeToo.

Phil Valentine is the host of the award-winning, nationally syndicated talk radio show, The Phil Valentine Show.