A few days ago I
watched our president ramble on TV for nearly an hour without a teleprompter or
using scripted notes. He was
extemporizing about a National Emergency that no one else can see. In talking
about it, he admitted that he didn’t need to do it. He essentially undid his argument by saying he was just trying to do it “a
little quicker.”
For 46 years
I have observed politicians, including myself, reacting to the pressures of
political life. As I watched Donald
Trump today, I couldn’t help thinking of a great and powerful Congressman whom
I knew from Chicago. Danny Rostenkowski was from Chicago where I was born.
When I came
to Congress, I wanted on to the Ways and Means Committee because I was
interested in establishing a National Health insurance plan for all. I asked
the Speaker, Tom Foley to appoint me to the committee. He said, “Danny never lets anyone on the
committee whom he has not had a chance to observe for a full session. There is
some one in line ahead of you but, in two years, you will get on the committee.
Two years
later I was appointed to the Ways and Means Committee and then Tom asked for a
favor in return. He asked me to be on the Ethics Committee. During my term of service on the Ethics
charges were raised against Danny.
Mostly his Ethics charges resulted from acting like a ward Politician
from Chicago in the era of the senior Daley.
In a variety of ways, he misused his Official Account for the running
his Congressional Office. To cut a long
story short he agreed to plead guilty to some small charges and was sentenced to
two years in the Federal Penitentiary.
I had become a good friend over the 6 years we
served together. We often went out to
dinner and since I had a car, I became his occasional driver.
On the night
before he reported for his imprisonment, we had dinner in DC. He asked for a ride home and as we got near
his apartment, he said “Doc, let’s have one last drink at the Democratic
Club.”
Over that
last drink he asked if I wanted to know why he finally plead guilty. I said,” Sure.
I wondered why you fought so long and, then caved in.”
He said,” I
plead guilty cause I felt so bad for Virginia, my secretary for years. The justice department was pressing her and
my whole staff to turn on me and she was falling apart. She’d been so loyal I
couldn’t stand putting her through this any longer. It wasn’t right so I agreed
to plead to take the pressure off my staff.”
You might
ask “what about today reminded you of Rosty.”
Donald
Trump, to my trained eyes, is falling apart under the pressure of the Mueller
investigation. He is talking in half
sentences and jumping from topic to topic with no apparent reason. He lies
endlessly and manufactures his own reality and statistics. As the investigation
gets tighter it seems the day is coming when there might be an indictment of
Donald Junior or Jared or Ivanka.
Imagine for a minute, the pressure a father will feel as he thinks about
watching his own children being tried and perhaps convicted. Children he raised
and got ensnared in the Justice system will face the future knowing that their
problems are the result of loyalty to a father who led them astray.
The only
defense Mr Trump has shown in the whole of his life has been to Attack and
bully anyone with whom he disagrees. He will be like a cornered animal who can
only attack. What fruitless and
destructive action he may take should be the concern of every person in a
responsible position from the Vice President on down.
Everyone is
absorbed, at the moment, with the nuances of the Constitutionality of the
Executive order. Mr McCabe’s book and
Jim Clapper’s book should be careful read and thought about. They express the
concerns of rational men thinking about a president who listens to no one
except those who tell him what he wants to hear.
Perhaps its
time to listen to the childlike wisdom of the mythical child who opined that
the emperor has no clothes before it is to late for us to stop some act that
has longstanding consequences. I am
reluctant to write this. I don’t want to raise fears, but I can’t ignore what
my eyes see.
