Time again for Rabbi ESP’s New Testament scripture lesson of the week.  Today, the focus is on the importance of knowledge.

Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.

~John 8:32

There are two buildings on which I know this verse to be prominently displayed.  The first is Upham Hall at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.  For my first five years as a faculty member, I would see this message every morning on the way to my office on the second floor.  It was a constant reminder my primary job was not teaching students how to write a business plan.  Instead, the goal was enabling students to observe, dissect and analyze information and their own experience to better understand the world in which they lived.

The second place one can find John’s missive is on the wall in the lobby of the Central Intelligence Agency’s headquarters in Langley, Virginia.  Just as I had to face this directive every day, fortunately so did CIA director Gina Haspel.  Yesterday, when Haspel gave a closed door briefing to a select group of U.S. Senators about the role of the Saudi Crown Prince in the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, there was no doubt the message was received.

Do not EVER again say women are the weaker sex.  Haspel listened to the audio of Khashoggi’s torture, murder and dismemberment, something Trump, secretary of state Mike Pompeo and national security advisor John Bolton could not find the courage to do.  And having heard the screams of an American resident and journalist, she made a decision.  She chose not to carry Trump’s water as did Pompeo and defense secretary Jim Mattis.  Following their Senate briefing, these two cabinet members claimed there was “no smoking gun” to directly link Mohammed bin Salman to Khashoggi’s murder.

In contrast, upon leaving the Haspel hearing,  Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) told the press, “There’s not a smoking gun, there’s a smoking saw.”  Senator Bob Corker (R-TN), chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, added, “We know he (bin Salman) ordered it.  We know he monitored it.  If the case was submitted to a jury, he would be convicted in 30 minutes.”

The implications of Graham’s and Corker’s response go far beyond the Khashoggi incident.  One of the burning questions in the Nation’s capital is how long can Republican lawmakers stick with Trump.  Yesterday, we may have learned the answer.  When Gina Haspel shared the documented truth, she set Graham and Corker free to put country ahead of self-interest (playing to the Republican base) and ahead of towing Trump’s party line.

This morning Joe Scarborough shared the following observation by  General Michael Hayden, former director of both the CIA and the National Security Agency.

You can look and see who Donald Trump has gone to war against.  It’s the intel communities.  It’s the justice department.  It’s the courts.  It’s the media.  It’s the academy.  It’s the sciences.  Fact finders.  People whose entire existence is based on digging for the truth and letting Americans know what that truth is.  That is what we saw yesterday with Gina Haspel, and General Hayden would be so proud of her.

Last night we heard from another “fact finder,” special counsel Robert Mueller.  Although, much of the memorandum containing his office’s recommendation re: the sentencing of Michael Flynn was redacted, there was one line which should give Trump and his defense team pause.  “As part of his assistance with these investigations, the defendant participated in 19 interviews with the SCO (Special Counsel’s Office) or attorneys from other Department of Justice offices, provided documents and communications (my emphasis) REDACTED.”  It was the audio from within the Saudi embassy in Istanbul which gave credence to Gaspel’s testimony.  It was the tape of Trump and Michael Cohen talking about payments to a Playboy playmate which freed the district attorney in the southern district of New York to identify Trump as an unindicted co-conspirator.

Last night, Mueller informed the White House and the Nation his case is not based on circumstantial evidence or “they said, we said.” It is based on hard and likely indisputable exhibits. Maybe it’s time for John 8:32 to be etched into one more wall, in the Oval Office across from the Resolute Desk.  Except this time, I doubt the truth will set Donald Trump free.  It is more likely to land him in prison or in exile, living in what some late night comedian will surely call “the Trump Tower Moscow penthouse.”

For what it’s worth.
Dr. ESP

On the Friday following Veterans Day, our local paper published under my real name a version of “A Man, No Plan, Pandemonium,” the entry I posted here on November 11.  If you remember, I suggested if Donald Trump could not figure out how to get from Paris to Aisne-Marne Cemetery on a rainy day, should we worry he was equally unprepared for a major crisis.

We live in a very red county in Northeast Florida.  I anticipated, despite the fact this version focused on Trump’s actions and his own words, someone would find an excuse for his behavior.  I had no idea what was to come.  Yesterday the following appeared as a letter to the editor in the same publication.

Have a Nice Day

   With people like (my name) running around loose, who spilled his liberal thoughts in the Viewpoint of Friday, Nov. 16, it’s no wonder the country is in such political turmoil!  The Trump haters need to take a deep breath and smell the roses before the men in white coats come and take them away!  Enough of this ridiculous rhetoric that can only be attributed to poor losers the same as Bill Nelson and the not-so-great mayor of Tallahassee!
     Which political party to this day will not accept defeat?  That’s right, the Democratic Party!  Which political party will disparage a Supreme Court nominee with salacious lies and not blink an eye?  Again it’s Democrats!  Which political party attacks members of the government while eating at restaurants, walking through airports, leaving or entering a building?  You guessed it!  Which political party and its followers make sick threats against the children of the president and first lady of the United States?  You should get the picture by now.  So please, don’t spill your ugly thoughts by writing hateful messages that are old and tiring unless you wish to show just how ignorant you are!
     The last president who was obviously loved by the left and perhaps by the focus of this writing was a total loser to me and still is, but I didn’t go to the lengths that the crybabies on the left are today!  I knew that in time the voters would see him for what he is and that was proven in the outcome of the 2016 election.
     If we ever get a federal election without the fraud perpetrated by the left, yes the left, there would be no Democrat elected to any office which would be vindication for all the wrongs the “right” has had to face!  There are two systems of justice in this country, one against conservatives and the other for liberals!   Time for this to stop!
     To (my name), I hope you see the light, but whether or not that happens, have a nice day!

Rodger Woltjer
Fernandina Beach

I consider it a “badge of honor” when a Trump supporter chooses to “shoot the messenger” (in this case, me) than even try to counter the substance of the article.  For Mr. Woltjer to have spewed such vitriol, I must have really struck a nerve.  How dare a liberal, of all people,  be the one to point out Trump’s lack of respect for our troops.  There is a new  parlor game in Washington, D.C.  called, “What if Barack Obama had done that?”  During her current book tour, Michelle Obama admitted even she and her husband play it on occasion.  I can only imagine how high Mr. Woltjer’s blood pressure would have risen if President Obama had skipped a commemorative ceremony on Veterans Day.

I planned to take the response for what it was, the apparent rantings of an ill-informed resident of the area.  I did not for a minute consider wasting time addressing his hypocrisy.  I trust most people could figure that out for themselves.  However, last night, a loyal reader of this blog said he had done some research on Mr. Woltjer and found a similarly crazed letter to the editor in the Macon, Georgia newspaper during the 2014 mid-terms.  That reader turned my indifference into curiosity for which I thank him.

Are you sitting down?  Rodger Woltjer is a retired Air Force colonel who has been a college lecturer and written three books on the Civil War.  And yet, he was obviously more offended that someone would suggest the commander-in-chief should not have blown off a visit to a U.S. cemetery dedicated to American soldiers who had died in World War I than the fact the commander-in-chief actually blew off a visit to a U.S. cemetery dedicated to American soldiers in World War I.

Which brings me to the title of today’s entry.  Much has been said and written about what it would take for 2016 Trump voters to abandon their idol.  Well, it’s time for Democrats and progressive independents to stop beating that dead horse.  Did former Tennessee governor Phil Bredesen really think he would pick up votes from Trump supporters when he endorsed Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court?  Did soon to be former Senator Claire McCaskill pin her hopes on re-election to her tacit support for Trump’s immigration policies unlike “those crazy Democrats” (her words)?  How many times do we have to remind Democrats over 60 percent of Americans support a progressive agenda?  If they want to come along for the ride, great, but we do not need Trump supporters.  All we need to do is fight to make sure every American has the opportunity to vote and then make sure they go to the polls.

Which brings me to an inconvenient truth I avoided sharing during the mid-term election.  On September 6, when Andrew Gillum picked Chris King to be his running mate, I told my wife, “This will cost him the election.”  There were three reasons for my negative assessment.  #1: Chris King came in fifth among seven candidates in the Democratic primary with 2.5 percent of the vote, not exactly a ringing endorsement of his electoral acumen.  #2:  Three South Florida counties–Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach–are where Democrats win statewide election.  With Gillum being from Tallahassee, he needed to balance the ticket geographically.  King is from Orlando.  #3: King is an avowed evangelical.  And even though he campaigned as someone who professed true Christian values of compassion and charity, the likelihood of his flipping some if any of Trump’s evangelical support was dubious at best.  Gillum could have picked Jesus of Orlando as his running mate and the outcome would have been the same.

Whatever one thinks of Ron DeSantis, his selection of Jeanette Nuñez as his running mate sealed the deal. As the first Cuban-American woman* on a gubernatorial ballot, Nuñez’ presence on the GOP ticket made the difference in the only place that mattered.  Here are the numbers to prove it.  In 2016, Hillary Clinton garnered 63.7 percent of the vote in Miami-Dade County.  On November 6, Gillum polled only 59.9 percent.  A 3.8 percent difference of 790,000 total votes cast translates into a net loss of over 30,000 votes.  But that is just half the story.  The total vote for DeSantis in Miami-Dade county was 311,000 compared to 333,00 for Trump in 2016, a  decrease of only 22,000.  In contrast the Democratic deficit was 145,000 (623,000 for Clinton in 2016 versus 478,000 for Gillum in 2018).  Plain and simple, the Gillum/King ticket did not create the kind of excitement needed in Miami-Dade County to overcome the GOP margin in the state’s rural areas.

The lesson.  Take that dying horse off life-support.  The exit polls in Florida (YES, FLORIDA) demonstrate an overwhelming percentage of voters support progressive policies.  Consider the following.

Health care in the U.S. needs major changes/68%
Sexual harassment in this country is a serious problem/85%
Support for stricter gun control/56%
More protection of the FL environment/60%
Climate change is a serious problem/67%

These are policies on which the Democrats can campaign and win.  Stop chasing a unicorn.  Stop asking what it would take for voters like Mr. Woltjer and his ilk to finally abandon Trump.  The answer is NOTHING.   More importantly, you don’t need them.

For what it’s worth.
Dr. ESP

* Based on exit polling, Florida voters by a margin of 74 to 23 percent said it was important to elect more women to public office.

As we are daily bombarded by the latest Trump manufactured crisis du jour, it becomes increasingly difficult to remember next Tuesday’s election is a referendum, not on any single issue, but on the 2016 presidential election and the first two years of the Trump administration.  It is for that reason I chose the title for today’s post.

But first a little history.  The phrase “Lest We Forget” has it origins in the Old Testament, Deuteronomy 4:7-9 to be exact.

⁷For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon him for? ⁸And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day? ⁹Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy son’s sons ….

Today, it is often used on commemorative occasions in remembrance of the sacrifice of those who perished in times of war and, of course, the fate of six million Jews during the Holocaust.

It would be easy to apply the phrase to the 11 congregants who died at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh or the two victims of the Kroger shooting in Kentucky or the targets of pipe bombs who escaped death or injury.  However, my decision to use this terminology is not in reference to the untimely demise of any human being.  Instead, I ask you to think about different casualties, the normalcy and values which have guided America for almost a quarter millennium.  Below are just a few ways, Donald Trump has tried, and on occasion succeeded, in invoking his alternative version of the founding fathers’ vision for America.

LEST WE FORGET…the country is led by an individual who has such disregard for the foundations on which this country was conceived, he believes the Constitution can be superseded by an executive order.

LEST WE FORGET…candidate Trump insulted the bravery of members of the armed services belittling the pain and suffering of an American POW who chose to stay with his fellow captives rather than use his father’s position to skip to the head of the line.

LEST WE FORGET…the commander-in-chief, just today, told the nation he has authorized the troops he is sending to our Southern border to open fire if confronted with refugees throwing rocks.

LEST WE FORGET…authorized the kidnapping of children from parents who sought asylum from political persecution and violence in the native countries and has failed to comply with a court order to reunite all the families.

LEST WE FORGET…faced with what could have been deadly domestic terrorism, chose not to condemn the terrorist, but went after the press because their coverage diverted attention from his rallies and messages of hatred.

LEST WE FORGET…given the opportunity after Charlottesville to remind Americans white supremacy and antisemitism have not place in our democracy, gave cover to neo-Nazis and bigots.

LEST WE FORGET…personally dictated a false statement to cover up the true purpose of a meeting between Russian operatives, his son, son-in law and campaign manager.

LEST WE FORGET…took the word of a Russian dictator and former KGB director over that of our own intelligence community.

LEST WE FORGET…calls for the incarceration of his political opponents and critics.

LEST WE FORGET…believes the protection of a free press under the First Amendment applies only to those who agree with him.

LEST WE FORGET…continues to claim he has no financial conflicts of interest with foreign powers but will not provide the best evidence to prove his point, his tax returns.

LEST WE FORGET…calls others crooked when he is the one who ran a phony real estate school and has been fingered as an accomplice in the payment of money to silence an adult movie star and Playboy model.

LEST WE FORGET…he promised better, cheaper health care for all Americans but solely concentrated on repealing the Affordable Care Act with no viable alternative which would have deprived 20 million Americans of health care coverage.

LEST WE FORGET…he shames women and the disabled instead of showing them the respect they deserve.

LEST WE FORGET…Trump believes the federal Department of Justice and the attorney general are supposed to protect him from criminal investigations.

LEST WE FORGET…he has reversed any progress we have made to protect the environment going back to Richard Nixon’s creation of the EPA.

LEST WE FORGET…he champions due process for everyone except his imagined enemies, opponents and critics.

LEST WE FORGET…characterizes every domestic and foreign policy action which preceded him as failed despite the fact such policies have resulted in American economic and military dominance for 80 years.

The list could go and on.  But, I will add just one more.  LEST WE FORGET…next Tuesday’s election is our opportunity to, as the Old Testament states, “diligently keep our soul” and to say, “NEVER AGAIN!”

For what it’s worth.
Dr. ESP