What to do about Mueller

How’s this for a theory? Robert Mueller is setting himself up as a kamikaze. He has nothing on Trump and is going to antagonize him until he fires him. Then the Democrats and the Never-Trumpers in Congress can cry “obstruction of justice” and they impeach and convict him.

Sound crazy?

The folks on MSNBC are already salivating over the dream scenario of Trump defying a Mueller subpoena to be interviewed and wondering out loud what happens when the U.S. Marshals show up at the White House gate.

In other words, there are plenty of folks in this country who would welcome even a constitutional crisis if it meant getting rid of Donald Trump. They hate him that bad. Let me tell you just how bad they hate him. They hate him so bad that they would rather have a conservative evangelical who opposes abortion and gay marriage in the Oval Office instead. For the left, that’s deep hatred.

Why?

There are myriad reasons, but his personality is the primary driver. He’s egotistical. He’s bombastic. He’s unapologetic. All of these traits play well in the celebrity world, but when you couple them with common sense conservative policy they become intolerable.

Donald Trump is no rock-rib conservative. What he is is a practitioner of common sense. That tends to lend itself to conservatism. You see an invasion of illegal aliens and you want to build a wall to stop it. Common sense. You see businesses being driven out of the country so you propose cutting taxes to bring them back. Common sense. The fact that he was for gay marriage before either Hillary or Obama is inconsequential. It’s these other issues that make him dangerous to the left.

They’ve been constantly disappointed for the last 18 months. First it was the shocking loss by Hillary Clinton. Then they pinned their hopes on a recount. Didn’t happen. Then it was the Electoral College not seating him. Didn’t happen. All they have left is impeachment. Robert Mueller was supposed to be the conduit through which all their dreams flowed, but after a year of fishing expeditions he’s got nothing.

Their only hope now is that Trump gets mad enough to fire Mueller. He has every reason to. By most accounts, he has the authority to. That doesn’t mean he has to. He would be much better served to ignore Mueller, but I’m sure that’s nearly impossible. Eventually one would think he’d blow. That might be underestimating Donald Trump.

So many people think he’s a loose canon, a guy who flies by the seat of his pants (or any other cliché you can think of). I happen to believe that every tweet, every off-the-cuff remark, every flaming response to an attack is carefully planned. One need only go back to his Twitter feed to see that much of what was lampooned in the press has come to fruition. Anybody forget his “Trump tower has been wiretapped” tweet? Me either. After months of ridicule, it turns out he was exactly right. And what must be extremely frustrating is there’s no special counsel looking into who was responsible. But they’re raiding Trump’s lawyer’s office looking for Stormy Daniels dirt.

It’s like People Magazine is calling the shots.

I think it’s safe to say there was never any Trump-Russia collusion. Despite the lack of evidence the anti-Trump forces want him out at an any cost. They’ve carefully set the perjury trap. They’ve even enticed him with the juicy lure of Robert Mueller’s head.

I just hope he doesn’t take the bait.

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.