CALLING PUTIN’S BLUFF

It has now been nearly a month since Vladimir Putin sent 190 thousand troops to invade the peaceful democracy that has been Ukraine for 30 years. Before he even began his illegal war, and before we were even discussing his “War Crimes,” and “Crimes Against Humanity,” he was loudly warning the US and NATO not to interfere because he has nuclear weapons and would rain destruction upon us.

Shortly after this, President Biden announced numerous economic sanctions against Russia, sufficient for Putin to claim that the West was waging “economic war” against Russia. We and other NATO countries have continued to supply Ukraine with weapons including both SAMs and anti-tank weapons as well as small arms and ammunition. What they have been begging for is a “No-Fly” zone to protect innocent civilians from Russia’s indiscriminate bombing, or at least to give them the aircraft to fight for themselves. We’ve given everything except the “No-Fly” zone and the aircraft, supposedly fearing that Putin could interpret this as an escalation.

All of the above is good, and President Biden has done a good job so far, but the time has come for an “Executive Decision.” Biden needs to show strength and resolve. He does not want the MIG-29s from Poland to enter Ukraine from a US airbase in Germany because Putin might interpret this as co-belligerency. Let’s get serious. When you exclude Russia’s nuclear weapons, they are massively outclassed in a conventional war against the US and NATO, both in weaponry, technology and manpower. As much as we do not want to fight Russia and begin WWIII, neither does Putin want to fight the US. He knows the end result of the use of even tactical nuclear weapons, and while his mental state is in question, he does not appear suicidal. Moreover, does anyone seriously believe Russia would launch an attack against the US or NATO simply because Ukrainian pilots flew 29 jets out of Ramstein Joint base in Germany? No! Therefore, let’s give them the jets and let them protect themselves.

The surest guarantee of WWIII is to have learned nothing from history and take the same path the Allies took before WWII; appeasing Hitler as he promised he didn’t want any more land after whichever country he had just invaded. Nevil Chamberlain returned to London to tell the British people that Herr Hitler had promised, “Peace In Our Time.” Let’s learn from this and stop Putin now, in Ukraine, before we have to do it everywhere.

WHEN A “DOCTOR” IS NOT A DOCTOR.

One of the more common topics currently being discussed is the rapidly spreading use of Nurse Practitioners (“NP”) and Physician Assistants (“PA”) in place of fully trained physicians. Before we get into the “weeds,” however, let me preface this with a disclaimer that I am NOT against NPs or PAs. When properly utilized they are valuable members of the healthcare team. I AM against them having practices independent of physician oversight. That is a dangerous direction to take, and is only being pursued by healthcare providers (companies and large practices) because they cost less. When asked whether he was nervous before his first space flight, Alan Shepard once quipped, “how would you feel sitting on top of the lowest bid?” The same applies in healthcare, but more so. The Mercury capsules that began our space program and the rockets they rode on were designed, tested, retested redesigned and retested even more. The same cannot be said of NPs or PAs.

NOT ALL “DOCTORS” ARE THE SAME

When you walk into a physician’s office or are in a hospital, you have a right to be seen by a physician (MD/DO); something that used to be automatic, but no longer is. In fact, nurses can get their Master’s degree in Nursing (“MSN”) and then take an online course dealing predominantly with administration and receive a Doctor of Nursing Practice (“DNP”) with no further training or patient care experience. Moreover, when the nice young man or woman walks into your room with a stethoscope around their neck and a white coat on and introduces themselves as “Doctor Jones,” you have no way of telling whether or not they are real medical practitioners who attended medical school and did a residency in their specialty or not unless you ask; so ASK! If you take nothing away from this today, it should be that one thing – you’re allowed to ASK so ASK!

MORE TO COME NEXT TIME

WHERE COURAGE GOES TO DIE

The United States is no longer “the land of the free, and the home of the brave.” In the age of Trump, Congress is where courage goes to die.

Newspapers (those that still exist) and TV have spent weeks and months detailing the rancor between Democrats and Republicans; first in the House of Representatives and now in the Senate. It is a process whose outcome was largely predetermined. The United States Senate has traditionally been a place where grand argument and debate has taken place and all sides were heard. More importantly, it has been a place where Senators of both parties have been able to stand up for what is right, even in dissent from their own party’s position. They were even known to “cross the isle” to make our government work and our nation a beacon of what democracy could be. When the nation was founded, most expected that the “Great Experiment” of government of and by the people would fail because the “masses” could not govern themselves. It’s been 244 years since our founders declared independence from Britain and it appears that they were ultimately right; our Great Experiment is finally failing.

We have all spent the last three years watching Donald Trump be an autocrat, cozy with other autocrats, who clearly stated that, in his opinion, Article II of the Constitution gives him the right to do anything he wants; a statement that would have been political sacrilege only a few years ago and political suicide only a few years before that. Today, we are at a nexus point in our history; a test which, as Lincoln so succinctly put it, will see “whether this nation or any nation, so conceived and so dedicated can long endure.” Others have failed this test, from ancient Athens and Rome to modern Germany, with large numbers of the population and legislators falling into lockstep behind an authoritarian figure. Today’s American legislators appear to be doing the same. While there is enough blame for both major parties, the Republicans have now effectively become the Trump party and appear to feel that their sole job is to protect and defend the president, not the Constitution. With all that is known about Donald Trump and his dealings, there does  not appear to be even four Republican senators, out of fifty-three, who are willing to stand up and just say that they would be willing to hear what first-hand witness have to say. I hope I am wrong.

IS OUR DEMOCRACY ON LIFE SUPPORT?

When the Constitution of the United States (“Constitution”) was drafted and ratified in 1789, what was presented to the world was a masterpiece of both government and compromise. The drafters were brilliant, and they produced a document for the ages, but like the people who wrote and voted upon it, it was not perfect; hence the ability to amend it when needed. It is said that when it was completed, a woman asked; “Dr. Franklin, what kind of government do we have, a republic or a monarchy?” His answer; “[a] republic, if you can keep it,” was prescient. Ours was the “Great Experiment.” Many people believed that the “People” were unable to govern themselves. The drafters did their best to anticipate future problems, but there were some things they simply couldn’t foresee. They passed the “Bill of Rights” which emphasized free speech and a free press, but could not have foreseen the Internet, Facebook and Twitter. They were patriots, and clearly could not foresee a nation governed by people whose only interest was in taking and keeping power and profiting from their office, not even caring how the “People” fared. In short, while they did their best to protect the fledgling republic, they could not anticipate the Donald Trumps or Mitch McConnell’s of the world. They even built in the Electoral College to, inter alia, protect us from an unfit individual becoming president (yes, I know there were other reasons, but this was one); it clearly failed, but more importantly, the Republican party has rallied around and defended outrageous acts by the president, spewing forth half truths and outright lies to protect an administration who has given up, even the pretense of adhering to the rule of law. We are living in a post-truth era of cult politics and a return to tribalism for reasons that would take volumes to even summarize.

Only a few decades from President Nixon’s own party being willing to condemn him and put country before party, we’ve reached a nadir where Republicans (AKA Trumpers) unconstitutionally obstructed a Supreme Court nominee to wait for one of their own, refuse to allow any Democratic or bipartisan bills to even be voted upon, refuse to condemn in public what they detest in private, and fear the wrath of one man even more than they fear the collapse of the Rule of Law that is the basis of all else in the U.S. When senators McConnell and Graham abandon their principles, their oaths of office and the Constitution to protect a would-be dictator, and more than a third of the American people get their “NEWS” from an acknowledged government propaganda channel; when people are OK with mass killings and attempts to lock up the President’s political opponents (like his best friend, Putin does), and the party of Trump (I can no longer think of them as the Republican party I’ve always known and was once a part of) refuses to even listen to facts that don’t fit with their leader’s[1] narrative; when refusing to obey the law has become the Trumper standard and not even fought back against by his party, then our democratic republic is in the process of mutating into dictatorship and oligarchy like Russia, China, Turkey and Saudi Arabia.

We aren’t dead yet, but we’ve been intubated and are on life support. We can still recover; it will take both time and bitter medicine to do it; but the clock is ticking.  Soon, our “Great Experiment” in self-rule will end and relegate us to “2^nd World” status as a client state of Russia or China if we don’t swallow our medicine, rid ourselves of the cancer that has metastasized at the highest levels of our government, and once more return to government “of the People, by the People and for the People” that so many have died to protect.

[1] Just FYI, the word “leader” translates to “Fuhrer” in German.

WILL WE EVEN HAVE AN ELECTION IN 2020?

If Donald Trump declares a National Emergency, will we even have an election in 2020? In theory, at least, Presidential Powers under such a declaration are so sweeping he could postpone the election indefinitely, thus effectively becoming what he already said to Kim Jung Un he would like to be – President for Life.

In the past two years, it has become something of a national pastime to compare Donald Trump to Adolph Hitler online. He is clearly autocratic and mingles more comfortably with others of his ilk such as Vladimir Putin, Kim Jung Un and Xi Jinping than he does with the leaders of free, democratic nations. Moreover, until this month, after being elected by only a minority of voters, he combined the “Unified Executive” with one-party rule in D.C. to act with impunity despite his actions being unpopular with “the people.”

Now that his absolute authority has been challenged by the Democratic takeover of the House of Representatives, he is about to take another step down the path of autocracy and announced that he may declare a National Emergency, and thus seize the power to unilaterally act on his border wall. If this were merely another Trump tantrum, it would be disgusting, and still leave hundreds of thousands of federal employees out of work, but temporary and nothing more. Unfortunately, it isn’t.

In 1933, in response to the burning of the Reichstag and Hitler blaming terrorists for the act,  Gesetz zur Behebung der Not von Volk und Reich (“Law to Remedy the Distress of People and Reich“), was passed giving the new Chancellor, Adolph Hitler, emergency powers. We all know that the next election was never held.

Today, Donald Trump threatens to invoke emergency powers as a remedy to his political crisis of not being able to convince any but his staunch supporters that a wall is needed. Frankly, if that were the end of the story, we would need not be worried, but it isn’t. With that declaration comes enormous power that, in the past, was only constrained by presidential self-control, patriotism, and dedication to maintaining our democratic republic. There has been no evidence, to date, that Mr. Trump possesses any of these personal traits, so there is no reason to expect presidential constraint.

A declaration of National Emergency carries with it the potential effect of unifying the powers of all three branches of our government (albeit less the Judicial branch) into a single branch – the Executive. In short, it nearly gives the power of dictatorship to a president under the guise of emergency necessity. Moreover, although such powers can last no longer than a year, under the National Emergency Act of 1976, it can be renewed by the President each year, indefinitely. It even allows for the suspension of Constitutionally guaranteed rights (Lincoln suspended Habeus Corpus during the Civil War).

It is now time for Congress to act. It is time for Mr. McConnell and Ms. Pelosi to re-assert Congressional power as an independent branch of government and circumscribe presidential powers before it is too late, and the United States, in 2019, goes the way of the Weimar Republic in Germany, in 1933. Anything less should be thought of as tantamount to treason.

DECLARATION OF UNITY

In the days and weeks following each tragedy or near tragedy in the US, there is always a constant offering of “hearts and prayers” from politicians of both parties, and usually Donald Trump telling everyone it was the Media’s fault, the Democrats’ fault, or the fault of the victims, and his court jesters in Congress agreeing with him.

It has been only days since the worst antisemitic slaughter in our national history, but nothing has changed. Regardless of whether your political leanings are Left or Right, Trump and the party he has shaped around him have become the antithesis of all that was good, honest and pure about America. After two years of the Trump Administration, we really do need to “Make America Great Again;” so let us renew our nation together.

First, we must recognize that whatever our politics and religion, our cultural and racial heritage or our personal values, we are all Americans. We voluntarily share the values upon which this nation was founded. We who want to return to civility and moral rectitude love America and are willing to “suffer the slings and arrows” of political venom to make a difference. Secondly, we must summarize, in a clear manner, the reasons why we believe change is not only needed, but mandatory for our republic, indeed our nation, to survive.

 To paraphrase the Declaration of Independence, “the history of [President Trump] is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object, the establishment of a tyranny over the United States.” Although he had nearly three million fewer votes, he was thrust into the Presidency by an archaic system which was originally designed to protect us from those like him, making him a minority elected president. In fact, due to partisan Gerrymandering, it has been estimated that the majority in Congress represents a mere 18% of the population.

 In the two years since Donald Trump’s election to the Presidency;

He has called Mexicans rapists, murders and drug dealers, and implied that everyone else crossing our border from the south is either a gang member or Middle-Eastern terrorist.

He has called for a general ban on Muslims from entering the country.

He has appointed poorly qualified but wealthy, loyal Oligarchs to his cabinet to be sure there was no internal insurrection while leaving the nation incompetently governed.

He has watched children die in shooting after shooting, worshipers killed in church, synagogue, and mosque, but succumbed to the lure of NRA dollars rather than call for, or even allow the most rudimentary steps to curtail the problem such as universal background checks and a ban on assault weapons.

He has repeatedly attacked and attempted to repeal the Affordable Care Act, favored by most Americans, which brought lifesaving healthcare to millions, to fatten the pockets of his insurance industry cronies.

He has unilaterally withdrawn from treaties meant to protect both our security and our power, leaving us less powerful and more vulnerable around the world.

He has lied to the American people, with impunity, more than 5000 times since is inauguration.

He has intentionally created fractures among alliances it took the United States almost a century to build, and which made us the one indispensable nation in the world, to return to a pre-World War II brand of isolationism while courting despots and dictators; in at least one case in return for help in getting elected President.

He has repeatedly engaged in infantile ad hominem attacks and incited violence and insurrection with his rhetoric while blaming everyone else including Democrats, the Media and even the victims for the violence perpetrated against them.

against anyone or anything that stood against him politically and attempted to define the Media as the “Enemy of the People,” for merely telling the truth because it was not what he wanted to hear.

He has obstructed the administration of justice by firing, requesting the resignation of, or otherwise intimidating anyone who might get at the truth of charges against him, including one who was less than 24 hours away from collecting his retirement after many years of faithful service to our nation.

He has assaulted our intelligence and law enforcement agencies and favored those of other governments because of their constitutional devotion to independence.

He has trivialized the victims of sexual assault, at times even mocking them.

He has acted against the right of individual States to determine their own laws and standards in contravention of Constitutional guarantees.

He has decried as unjust, the ruling of a judge against him, merely because of his ethnic heritage.

He has abused his pardon power to nullify court decisions that affected those that stood with him and hinting that he would even pardon himself if needed, which would effectively make him a despot – above the law.

He has imposed unneeded and harmful tariffs against our allies and trading partners to benefit his corporate cronies.

He has espoused a brand of Nationalism, leading to the rise of “White Nationalism” and withdrawn our influence around the world to the point of increasing isolationism.

He has repeatedly denied Science, and empowered agencies to pollute the air and water, reduced federally protected lands, and attempted to stifle alternative energy growth in the U.S. so that his close friends in both the energy sector and Saudi Arabia can profit from their oil as long as possible, while virtually ignoring the brutal murder and dismemberment of a Washington Post journalist by the Saudis; undercutting our most basic American values.

He has been criminally negligent with the security of our nation, giving aid and comfort to our enemies such as Russia, North Korea and China, while insisting that he use an unsecured cell phone, knowing with certainty that China and others can listen in on his calls and glean access to national secrets, thus putting the lives of our intelligence and military assets at risk.

He has been willing to shut down the government to extort money to build a useless wall (which Mexico was supposed to pay for) on our southern border, that will protect us only from non-violent refugees seeking asylum, but continue to allow drug dealers and other criminals to use other methods to maintain their nefarious business.

He has kidnapped children, hardly out of the cradle, from their parents at the border, separated them, and never even kept records to make reunification a possibility.

He has refused to protect the lives of people, referred to as “Dreamers,” children who were brought to this nation as infants and know no other nation, from deportation; in some cases, deporting US service people after risking their lives in multiple tours of duty for our nation.

He has refused to accept ANY responsibility for the outcome of his actions, despite repeated calls to do so while abusing his power and taxpayer money to support his vacations and political travels.

Finally, having sworn an oath to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States,” he has repeatedly tried to ignore it when he found it to be an impediment to his personal power.

“A [President], whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.[1]” We, therefore, Democrats, Republicans and Independent citizens who love our nation and desire to see it prosper, hereby pledge “our lives, our fortunes, and out sacred honor” to returning to a civil but strong government that protects ALL Americans without regard to race, creed, color, and place of national origin, and to once again becoming the economic and moral center that leads the world; making the twentieth century merely prelude to the twenty-first.

[1] U.S. Declaration of Independence.

AMERICAN COUP

Yesterday, an incredible Op-Ed piece was published (anonymously) in the New York Times detailing a not merely dysfunctional presidency, but a truly dangerous one from which the nation and the world requires protection. When taken in the context of what was contained in other writings, such as at least three books (Robert Woodward’s “Fear” being the last so far), as well as the President’s frequently bizarre and conflicting statements and behavior, the article raises significant questions about whether Trump’s presidency should be allowed to continue, and why not a single Republican legislator is willing to stand against an executive who clearly believes his authority and power are unlimited. If Trump truly can pardon himself whenever he wants, there is nothing to stop him from doing anything he wants, legal or illegal including homicide or political prisons. This would radically alter our form of government from a Republic to a “Constitutional Monarchy” with Trump effectively acting as King Donald.  With all of that said, this piece is not about Trump. People, and history will make those decisions for themselves.

The issue in this article is not even about the call for the author of the Op-Ed piece to identify him or herself; the argument being that if they feel that strongly, they should resign and stand up for their position. Under any other set of circumstances, I would agree, but this is not “any other set of circumstances.” Most people in the United States (Trump’s consistent 36% not withstanding) agree that we need insulation from the excesses of this president and, given that the Republican Congress has abdicated its constitutional role in that regard, the author may need to stay anonymous to do so. While I agree we need protection and appreciate that we’re getting at least some, the content of the article remains deeply troubling.

What is it called when members of the Executive branch not only do not follow the president’s orders, but actively hide documents so that he doesn’t get to act on their contents? What does it mean when the military ignores orders from the Commander-in-Chief and does what they think is right? I have no doubt about their intent to protect our nation and our democratic institutions; their intentions and goals seem good, even noble. Still, there is one phrase that covers such a situation – coup d’état.

We need to change the players in November, and again in 2020, but to encourage a shadow government because we fear the actual one is as anathematic to our Republic as an “Imperial Presidency.” We will survive this episode in our history and, hopefully, learn from it and come out at the other end stronger than we went into it. What we must not do is dilute our republican form of government out of fear. Congress, do your job! More importantly, Voters, do yours. As Plato said, “[O]ne of the penalties of refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.”

ILLUSIONS

WE ARE IN A WAR!

Now that I have your attention, it’s not the war you’re probably thinking of. It isn’t about Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, China, North Korea . . . it isn’t even about politics. We are in a real and ongoing war for legitimate information. About 30% of the country follows Donald Trump, and disbelieves everyone but him, Fox News, Breitbart and the Sinclair organization. Often, they are lying but are told by Trump not to believe what they see, hear and read, but only to believe him. Another 30%, on the “Liberal” side, believes that everything Trump says is a lie, everything Republicans say is motivated solely by greed for money and power, and a fear of offending Trump. But, and this is important, the last 40% of Americans are open to proof.

Remember, this is not about political ideology. You can be as Liberal or Conservative as you like, but either way, wouldn’t you like to know the truth? So, in today’s world, with “facts” (and I use the term very loosely indeed) being thrown about by both sides, how do we know what is true, what is a lie, and what is simply inadvertent dissemination of misinformation? Let’s see if we can divine a method to figure it out.

1. First question to ask: “Is it possible?” Clearly, if the answer to this is “no,” the remaining questions are irrelevant, and we can stop here. Unfortunately, there are very few issues for which the answer is a definitive “no,” so we must go further.
2. The second question to ask is, “Is it probable?” Please understand that if the answer to the first question is “yes,” then there is no statement, idea, or averment for which the probability is zero. So, the follow-up question needs to be, “how probable is it?” Let me give examples from both sides of the political spectrum. Right wing groups (or perhaps Russia) circulated a rumor during the 2016 election that Hillary Clinton was running a human trafficking ring from a pizza shop. Is it possible? Sure. Is it probable? Hardly, and as such can be discounted unless proof is offered. On the other side, Bill Maher once stated that Donald Trump’s father(?) was an orangutan. Is it possible? No, so the discussion ends there despite Trump’s multi million dollar lawsuit against Maher. Remember, probabilities range from 0% through 100%, so we must be careful to assign a reasonable probability to our possible “fact.”
3. The third question, then, is “where did the statement come from;” with the corollary being, “is there a likely agenda behind it?” Here is where we, most certainly, get into the realm of Social Media. There is one fact that neither side can deny; anyone can post anything on social media, whether there is even a hint of truth in it or not. Does that mean that we cannot accept what anyone posts? Believe it or not, the answer to this is a resounding “YES!” No one should accept ANY statement, from any SOURCE about ANYTHING, EVER without evidence to back it up. PERIOD! Now it gets hard, doesn’t it? If we can accept nothing, how do we know anything? Carl Sagan, many years ago, argued that; “Extraordinary Claims Require Extraordinary Proof” (which has come to be known as Sagan’s Standard). The more extravagant the claim, the more proof is needed, and nothing less should be accepted. As the inimitable Daniel Moynihan said so many years ago, “we are all entitled to our opinions, but not our own facts.” More on this later.
4. Can it be verified? Once we have a statement that is not impossible, and to which we’ve assigned a reasonable probability, we now need to verify it, if possible. How? We must take the time to check multiple sources on both sides. If I read a statement about the Middle East in a tweet or a Facebook post, it’s time to see what both sides are saying about it. Check the Jerusalem Post, perhaps, for the Israeli position, but also read about it in Al Jazeera with CNN being the middle ground.  We won’t know if any one is correct, but we can be reasonably sure that they are likely to take different sides so if they agree on the “facts,” they’re more likely to be correct. Likewise, for current American politics, you may hear or read one thing from Fox news, and another from CNN or MSNBC. If they agree, the statement is likely to be true. If not, continue checking and at least use a consensus from each side. Suppose you end up with multiple sides disagreeing? Then you have opinion, or interpretation, not fact and it should be treated accordingly.
5. Finally, seeing and knowing IS believing! When BP said that the oil spill in the Gulf was not as great as it seemed, we could look at our TVs and see they were lying. When Donald Trump states that he had the largest turnout for his inauguration of any President, we can see from the photos that he was lying. When every government agency involved reaches the same conclusion (e.g. Russia interfered with our elections and is doing so again) but one person continues to deny it and do nothing; when that person calls an investigation a Witch Hunt yet we end with multiple indictments, plea bargains and convictions, it is clearly NOT a Witch Hunt. When nearly everyone who has criticized the President is either fired, their security clearances removed, or attacked via Twitter and the Media with no other rationale for the actions, the problem lies (pun intended) with the source of the attacks.

The answer to all the above can be summarized in a simple directive; Challenge EVERYTHING and accept NOTHING without verifiable proof because if it can’t be proven, it’s simply opinion.

CALIFORNIA OR BUST!

Yesterday, Donald Trump, vowed to fight to make California, the state with the strictest auto emission standards, reduce them to meet his own lowering of national standards to increase the use of fossil fuels and ramp up pollution in the United States (not to mention climate change, which he continues to insist is a hoax). As both a physician and an attorney, I have two separate but connected opinions on this.

First, as a physician, I can virtually guarantee that with decreased emission standards in the US, the rate of lung cancer and especially debilitating COPD (“Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease”) will dramatically increase. It will be like mandating that people start smoking again because quitting is hurting tobacco company profits. This will not only kill people (not a concern of Trump’s), but make people sicker, requiring increasing health care and hospitalizations which will substantially increase the cost of health care and thus insurance in the country. Moreover, without the mandate for coverage for pre-existing conditions that Trump wants gone, many more people will be bankrupted by their illnesses and severely limited in their lifestyles.

Secondly, as an attorney, I have no doubt that we are in for a flurry of expensive litigation regarding this move. We live in a country guided by a constitution which wisely established a federal system of government. It states, simply, that whatever power not specifically granted to the federal government is specifically relegated to the states, because they had just thrown off the yolk of a king and were wary of a strong central government. In most cases, therefore, while the federal government can establish national standards, states are mandated to meet them, but may exceed them if the wish. Plainly put, the issue is whether the federal government can set the floor, but not the ceiling for emissions. I firmly believe that to be the case.

When the Clean Air Act (“Act”) was passed, it “preempted the field,” meaning that states were not free to pass any other standards (presumably lower ones) without a “waiver.” Thus, it would seem that the federal government could withdraw the current waiver at its discretion. I do not, however, believe this to be true in this case. Within the Act it clearly states in section 209 that the EPA SHALL grant such a waiver unless it finds that the California standards:

• was arbitrary and capricious in its finding that its standards are, in the aggregate, at least as protective of public health and welfare as applicable federal standards;
• ​does not need such standards to meet compelling and extraordinary conditions; or
• such standards and accompanying enforcement procedures are not consistent with Section 202(a) of the Clean Air Act.

Having read the applicable portions of the ACT, I do not believe the EPA, under Trump control, could reasonably establish any of the above and therefore should be unable to withdraw California’s waiver. If you have another opinion (based upon fact or legal opinion, not just love of Trump), please comment.

AID AND COMFORT

On January 20^th, 2017, Donald John Trump took an Oath of Office which obligated him to protect the United States from all enemies, foreign or domestic, and preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. Yesterday, July 16^th, 2018, “a day which will live in infamy,” Donald John Trump did the one thing no President of the United States has ever done; gave “aid and comfort” to an enemy, Russia, which has been engaged in a cyberwar against the United States. It isn’t necessary to detail the myriad other things Trump has done to destroy everything this nation has stood for since its inception. It isn’t necessary to decide whether one likes or hates Mr. Trump, It is only necessary to read the Constitution, as it was adopted in 1789:

“Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court.[1]”

Since most of the world was witness to Mr. Trump’s “aid and comfort” to Vladimir Putin, the President of a nation which declared itself our enemy when it committed an Act of War against the United States in 2016 (an act of which we have amassed ample proof), his behavior falls squarely within the shadow of that definition. The only question now is what can and must be done to try to reverse the damage to the United States and the world.

That answer, also, is given by the Constitution when it declares:

“The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.[2]”

Since both houses of Congress are controlled by the President’s political party (Republican), and they have previously given in to his every whim as if they were a king’s parliament rather than the US Congress, will they fulfill their duty to act? Time is short and neither History nor the voters will look kindly upon legislators so filled with fear of the President that they, too, abandon their oaths of office. This is not a partisan issue. I am a Democrat, I am a Republican, and I am an independent and I call for the immediate action of Congress to rid the United States of the pestilence that is Donald John Trump. The last national leader to commit a similar act was British Prime Minister Nevil Chamberlain who, after meeting with Adolf Hitler in September, 1938 returned to England to declare that “Mr. Hitler has assured me that we will have peace for our time;” and we all know how that movie ended.

[1] Constitution of the United States, Article III, Section 3

[2] Ibid, Article II, Section 4