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.

Illegal caravan heads our way

Like a slow swarm of bees we watch the caravan of illegals move across Mexico toward the border with the United States. Now they have a list of demands. No, I’m serious. The group Pueblo sin Fronteras, which means Town Without Borders, demands that we respect their rights as refugees and their right to dignified work. They demand that we open our border because they are “as much citizens as the people of the countries” where they travel.

No, you aren’t.

And that’s the basic point in all of this. Look, I understand Honduras is, well, what President Trump said of some of those third world countries some time back. I’ve been there. Beautiful country from the standpoint of nature but it looks like a landfill. Trash and shanties everywhere. My gosh, you should see the spaghetti of wires wrapped around the utility poles. Obviously there’s nothing resembling a codes department there. The reason it looks like a dump is because it, like many other third world countries, is a corruptocracy. That’s my word, by the way. It ought to be in the dictionary.

This group also has some demands for Central American countries which really nails the problem. They demand an end to political corruption. They demand an end to violence against women and the LGBTQIA community. (Don’t ask me what all those letters stand for.) They demand an end to failures for victims of domestic violence, extortion, threats, and homophobia. They demand an end to corruption between gangs, the police, and the government, and an end to murder with impunity and gang recruitment of youth.

All that’s good stuff. Then why are you coming here? What if these corruptocracies meet your demands? You won’t be there to enjoy the fruits of your labor. You don’t need to march to America, my friends inside Town Without Borders. You need a revolution.

Let me tell you a little story about how we got all this cool stuff in America. Once upon a time we had carved a civilization out of a wilderness. We were pretty much self-sufficient. We had built our own cities, made our own laws, created our own businesses. It then dawned on us that we were paying taxes to a country clear across an ocean yet we had no representation in its parliament. We decided we didn’t want those people telling us what to do. So we took up arms and we fought them for our own country. We won, and we fought over a heckuva lot less than you folks are fighting over down there.

From our end, we need to cut off all aid to any and all of these corruptocracies. Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala receive $750 million in what’s called the Northern Triangle aid package. We buy $4.8 billion worth of goods from Honduras each year. Stop both of those until Honduras cleans up its act. Same for Mexico. Same for El Salvador and Guatemala and any country that keeps its citizens in poverty.

The interesting part is this Northern Triangle aid package is contingent upon their proving that they are improving “human rights, law enforcement, and justice.” If we have a thousand-plus caravan of refugees heading for the United States then apparently they have not improved much of anything.

So, turn the caravan around. Head back to Honduras. Demand change. We’ll help you apply the pressure. And if all else fails, do what we did. Take up arms and take your own country back. Because you don’t have a right to come in here no matter what you’ve been told.

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

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.

The lessons of Parkland

Interesting, isn’t it, how the Parkland shooting remains in the headlines weeks after it happened and the Vegas shooting, which killed over 3 times as many people, faded away in days. What’s different about this shooting?

The obvious is there were children involved. The other X factor is the kids, specifically David Hogg, who have taken the spotlight to advocate for gun control. Pardon my cynicism but I think it’s unseemly for Hogg and others to exploit the deaths of their classmates to further their obvious political agenda against guns. And shame on CNN for ceaselessly manipulating their audience with these kids for their own political gain.

As demonstrated in this space before, with a small fraction of one percent of the guns being used for evil, obviously the guns are not the problem. Crazy is the problem, and I applaud President Trump for having the courage to broach that subject when he suggested that we need more mental hospitals and more of these disturbed people in them. But solving that problem is a steep climb given the Supreme Court ruling and the large advocacy on the left for keeping these disturbed people on the street. Someone even told me there are brochures for the mentally ill to instruct them on how to find edible food in dumpsters. Don’t you think people dumpster diving would be better served in a mental institution that can tend to their daily needs and help them get well?

Given that we’re unlikely to win that battle anytime soon it is incumbent upon us to do what we can to save children’s lives. I’ve long advocated for a Designated Defender program in schools. Now we have a president with the guts to put that idea front and center. Meanwhile ‘Camera’ Hogg and his cohorts continue to blame Republicans. He actually said that Governor Rick Scott, the Republican governor of Florida, was responsible for the cowardly deputy who refused to enter the school and confront the shooter. No mention of Sheriff Israel because the good sheriff shares his views on gun grabbing.

These kids have now pressured companies like Delta and United along with practically every car rental company to sever ties with the NRA. What in the world does the NRA have to do with the shooting in Florida. It’s akin to blaming AAA for drunken driving deaths.

It’s time for good people to fight back. Google the list of companies that have cowardly bowed to the demands of the leftist gun grabbers and let them know how you feel.

Look, I have all the sympathy in the world for anyone who’s lived through the horror of a mass shooting, but that doesn’t make you an instant expert on guns or how to solve gun violence. The truth is the people on the ground in Parkland, Florida are largely to blame for this shooting. The sheriff’s department visited the killer’s home multiple times. The school didn’t want to report his criminal behavior at school for fear of blemishing their record. Nearly every student interviewed who knew this guy said they thought he was dangerous and would end up killing people. Did they say anything before he went on his rampage?

There are plenty of lessons to be learned from Parkland. We have to evaluate mentally ill people before they become dangerous. That is the primary lesson we should learn. We should also learn not to be complacent. See something, say something. Law enforcement needs to start connecting the dots. And the FBI needs to get off Russia and the NCAA and start protecting our kids.

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