Over the past few days I have spent too much time following the controversy associated with President Trump’s telephone call with the newly elected Ukrainian President, Zelensky on July 25th. According to a leak from an unidentified intelligence source Trump pressured Zelensky to investigate the firing at the request of then Vice President Joe Biden of a Ukrainian investigator. The investigator was looking into a Ukrainian natural gas company that hired Hunter Biden, Joe’s son, for $50,000 a month ($600,000 annually). Mr. Biden threatened to withhold U.S. loan guarantees to the Ukrainian government that was engaged in a war against Russia. In brief, America’s political leaders are using updated gunboat diplomacy to interfere in the domestic affairs of foreign countries. We therefore can anticipate foreign countries interfering in our domestic politics.
Let me initially cite what the Wall Street Journal wrote about President Trump. “Mr. Trump’s greatest flaw is his political narcissism. Every decision boils down to how it affects him or his re-election prospects. Until getting push back on a bi-partisan basis, Trump held back military aid to the Ukraine.
On the other side of disrepute is Joe Biden. First of all, the Wall Street Journal claims that the Clinton campaign financed foreign accusations against Trump in the 2016 presidential campaign. While not proven circumstantial evidence does support WSJ’s claims.
Secondly, let us examine Hunter Trump. His receipt of, who $50,000 a month for being U.S. director of a Ukrainian company does not meet the smell test. Another example of questionable behavior is that Hunter Biden traveled with his Father in 2013 to China. On that trip, Hunter Biden struck a deal with China’s state-owned bank for the bank to invest $1 billion in a joint investment fund that he managed.
In 2011 Hunter Biden met with top Chinese government fund leaders alongside James Bulger, the nephew of notorious mobster Whitey Bulger who controls a Massachusetts-base consultancy firm. The meeting took place just hours before the vice president met with Hu Jintao, then China’s president.
Defenders of Trump and Biden say, “we need to get more facts.” As we have all learned, “getting more facts does not lead to clarity. Instead, we are bewildered by “he said, she said, etc.” While nobody can effectively argue against getting more facts, I will just state my belief. That is, Trump and Biden abused their powers to enhance personal interest. Furthermore, adult children (Trump, Biden, Clinton) traveling with their parents while the later are on official government business raises for me major ethical conflict issues.
Currently, we can anticipate that President Trump will be the Republican nominee. On the Democratic side, the likely candidates are Joe Biden and Elizabeth Warren. In brief, America can do better than any of these candidates.
While a third party is not a remedy in itself, it cannot be any worse than the current status quo. Democrats and Republicans have had a monopoly over our political system since 1856. We need a new brush!
Originally published in the Sarasota Herald-Tribune
