Absence of trust.

There are two institutions in our country that cannot operate effectively in the absence of public trust. Both institutions – acting almost as if in concert – have aggressively forfeited that trust.

Let’s take them in order.

The United States Department of Justice has allowed itself to be used as a tool in what is arguably the single worst political scandal in America’s 231-year history as a constitutional republic. In the days following Donald Trump’s upset victory in 2016, the outgoing administration set out to negate that election. Toward that purpose, a narrative was concocted along the lines that Trump won because of Russian interference in the election. A desperate quest for evidence to support that narrative was set in motion and any connection whatsoever between Donald Trump and Russia – no matter how innocuous or tangential – would do.

One such connection was a phone call between Michael Flynn – whom Trump had named as his National Security Advisor – and Sergei Kislyak, the Russian ambassador to the United States. Four days after Trump took office, having been set in motion by the outgoing Obama administration, FBI agents who knew what was said in Flynn’s phone call with Kislyak, arranged what they characterized as an informal meeting with Flynn to discuss that call.

The meeting was, in fact, not informal. It was a setup – a perjury trap. It was intended to gain leverage over Flynn so that he might be pressured to cough up something incriminating on Donald Trump.

When the FBI sprang the trap, Flynn, in order to avoid financial ruin and devastation to his family, agreed to cop to a plea for a crime he and the FBI both knew he did not commit. The DOJ has since admitted as much and has moved to dismiss the case against Flynn. That motion for dismissal is worthy reading.

It was a clear case of weaponization of federal law enforcement for purely political purposes. It’s banana republic stuff – antithetical to the ideals and principles of a great nation. It will be a long, long time – if ever – before trust in the Department of Justice is restored.

The other institution with a severe trust deficit is the media – the institution whose proper civic role is enshrined in the first amendment to the Constitution.

The media knows that the entire Russian collusion fiasco, including the malicious prosecution of Michael Flynn, goes all the way to the tippy, tippy top of the Obama administration. It’s the very sort of story for which the founders wrote the first amendment.

The most insidious dishonesty is not the spoken lie but rather the unspoken truth. The studied silence of the media on what should be the story of the century means that most Americans will never fully know what was done to Michael Flynn, why it was done, and why the doing of it threatens their basic freedoms.

You cannot trust the media. You must pray that you never run afoul of a corrupt DOJ.

It has come to this.

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Paul Gleiser

Paul L. Gleiser is president of ATW Media, LLC, licensee of radio stations KTBB 97.5 FM/AM600, 92.1 The TEAM FM in Tyler-Longview, Texas.

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39 Responses

  1. “the single worst political scandal in America’s 231-year history?”

    For those here too young to remember:
    https://www.history.com/topics/1980s/iran-contra-affair
    https://www.history.com/topics/1970s/watergate

    And certainly you’ll want to cackle-about:
    https://www.history.com/topics/1990s/monica-lewinsky

    • Paul Gleiser says:

      Again, are you serious? Do you really believe that actively working to negate a duly constituted election for president is a lesser scandal than Iran-Contra? Do you honestly believe that weaponizing the federal law enforcement against a political opponent is a lesser crime than the second-rate burglary that came to be called Watergate? Seriously??? For real?????

      • I am increasingly accustomed to hearing younger people say “…in history.”

        • Michael Reagan says:

          Come on Mr. Holland, the Dems have been and are doing their utmost to usurp this Presidency. That is as clear as a cloudless winter day in January. At this point it is a full court press to do anything and everything to undermine and get rid of President Trump. What exactly has the Dems accomplished since the 2016 election? Name one thing of value! The answer is NOTHING but lie, cheat, steal, corrupt, commit fraud, perjury, and in my mind treason. Talk about High Crimes! Brother the damn Dems have done it and continue to this day. I am a GDI (Gosh Darn Independent) who can think for himself and see clearly what has been and is going on in Washington. These people are nothing more than Marxist period. What absolutely has me baffled is why they get away with one crime after another. They are using Covid19 as a weapon against all of us. Man, you may like to stir the pot; but if you cannot see what is really happening. Come on!

          • RE “the Dems have been and are doing their utmost to usurp this Presidency. That is as clear as a cloudless winter day in January.”

            UNLIKE a dark night in January 2008?

            https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/the-republicans-plan-for-the-new-president/

          • Michael Reagan says:

            Just one quote Mr. Cooke and please allow me to paraphrase. “……help me, Fundamentally Change America……” Are you telling me YOU agree with that statement? Changing a Republic with capitalism as the driving economic engine to a government controlled socialist dictatorship? Because that is what Obama meant and continued to clearly tell us. Why would not the GOP get together and plan to oppose such an ideology for us?

    • R. Eagleman says:

      Herein lies the difference in a capricious and shallow indifference over this scandal, and a serious and deep concern for the future of our republic. The passivity of the left (including the media) to this obvious conspiracy for a soft coup is breathtaking; I never thought that the quest for power would override the love and patriotism for this country. Where is a Howard Baker, (Republican) on the Democratic side standing up and asking “what did the president know, and when did he know it”? Do not hold your breath! If you take a community organizer from the streets of Chicago and move him to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.; you still have a community organizer from Chicago, but with much more power and the street smarts to use it.

  2. C M Solomon says:

    Paul, if accountability, conviction, and punishment is not demanded by the American people for the BIG LIE, 3-year Integrity debacle you have outlined, then the Progressives could easily overthrow this Republic (by stealing an election) and would, no doubt, turn this nation into the serfdom of the Dark Ages in which all of us will become victims of the same abuse by 1000 fold!

    The Constitution is only a piece of paper, but it can only be our protection when genuinely honored by legitimate Government and an honest Press. As Franklin said 244 years ago, “We gave you a Republic, if you can keep it.” Without VIRTUE and unrelenting fidelity to the Constitution, we are no better than the next dictatorship in waiting.

  3. Pete Fasanello says:

    This judge is a disgrace to the judiciary and needs to be gone

    • Darn tootin’!

      As someone else here has said “it is time for good ‘ol American Constitutional Justice to be rendered in FULL measure.”

      “FULL measure” NOT a dog-whistle, mind you.

      • C M Solomon says:

        It is best to ignore irrational comments from a Marxist follower that lives in a world of falsehoods, straw-man misrepresentations, deceptions, half-truths, pretzel logic, logical fallacies, hardened conscience, and cult-like love of the Leftist Ideology. In addition, beware of those who idolize would-be Tyrants that have proudly exposed themselves in this pandemic that are determined to crush the US economy with huge political gains as their goal since they would falsely blame Trump for the inevitable disaster if they were to succeed.

        Paul, you gave us a great summary of the situation, “The most insidious dishonesty is not the spoken lie but rather the unspoken truth.” Trying to have a logical dialogue with these Marxists is an exercise in futility and can cause brain damage if not understood. The frustration can become unbearable. The utter genius of Rush Limbaugh (and others) to dissect the everyday Lies of the Left and give us the unvarnished truth is a wonderful antidote to this madness from the propaganda arm of the Deceptive Democrat Party.

        Aren’t those who undermine (at all costs) our individual Liberties (based on the Constitution and Rule of Law), become our domestic ENEMIES that must be defeated in the arena of ideas? Otherwise, won’t we ultimately become their de facto political slaves? Unfortunately, our avenues of recourse have become highly threatened when the DOJ and some Courts have become corrupted as we NOW realize after 3 years of Media sabotage of our Republic by the Democrat propaganda machine that regrettably continues to shape public opinion.

  4. Jean Bammel says:

    Paul, You are correct in stating that the activities of the Obama administration, the DOJ and the FBI are the most frightening and dangerous crimes that have ever been committed against the United States of America and the American public. When you learn that the most trusted departments of our legal system will commit crimes for political purposes you have to know that all of your rights have are gone.

  5. JUST ONE REASON that I applaud the conversation here at YouTellMeTexas.com: The conversation, if occasionally testy, is ONGOING.

    Subjects Paul has raised over the last several weeks are STILL drawing comments, even links. Refreshing, now, when “attention span” seems to have become an oxymoron.

    MORE dialogue is better than LESS.

  6. R. Eagleman says:

    “Absence of trust” in the Justice Department has been a recent awakening for me; whereas, loss of trust in the media has been a long-term awareness, along with most of America. With all of the time and effort expended by the leftists to infect journalism, media reform will be a long-lasting project, if ever accomplished. The trustworthiness of the judicial branch of our government relies on judges with unbiased application of the law; however, what we are witnessing is increasingly the opposite. Judges like Emmet Sullivan should no longer be addressed as “your honor”, as his ego and base instincts have certainly disqualified him from being considered honorable. Remember the judge in Hawaii who held up the travel ban from terrorist states? He cited religious discrimination, even though there was no ban on countries with a larger Muslim population. This idiotic ruling, which was later overturned, came from one appointed judge that superseded an important national security policy by an elected president. Precious time was wasted during the appeal process. To put this much power into the hands of one non-elected man doesn’t make any sense, and is only a back door way to accomplish things which could never be done through the legislative process. I, as many of you, have known some of these individuals who made their way through political connections to the bench. To say that many were very mediocre students possessing questionable character would be a gross understatement. You can put a black robe on a political hack, order “all rise”, and be required to address humbly as “your honor”, but you still have a political hack under the robe.

    • Tip?
      Break it up into shorter paragraphs.

      Like Soloman did just above.

      ‘Keeps-the-eye-moving better.

      You want readers, not skimmers.

    • C M Solomon says:

      Our local “nanny wordsmith” failed to mention that my three paragraphs, above, have very LONG sentences that he would condemn if he had been more observant. Four of the longest sentences are 35, 47, 43, and 38 words within the comments. Shame on me!

      HC has the time to give you writing advice but doesn’t have the conviction to condemn Democrat Politicians that are using this Pandemic to expose their Marxist tyrannical instincts by exercising their Iron Fist of irrational restrictions on their people in most of the Blue States and Cities. Yet these same demented Marxists forced infected COVID-19 patients into LTC and Nursing Home facilities that caused outrageous mortality rates as compared to the Red States (FLA and TX, for example) that protected the elderly FIRST, resulting in the lowest mortality rates in the nation. Where is their shame? Hint: god-like creatures are above shame.

      The blatant exposure of these evil Marxists to use the pandemic as an excuse to fulfill their dictatorial lusts is the most FRIGHTENING thing I have learned in the last two months. The horrible truth is that we are ONE ELECTION away from these EVIL politicians (as camouflaged dictators) to wipe out the Constitution and ALL of our Liberties at the “flick” of an EXECUTIVE ORDER to save the country from evils as THEY have defined them to be.

      Examples of these evils are Man-made Climate Change, Religious “Hate” Speech (the Gospel), “gun tote’n” country hicks, “terrorist” Conservative media voices (by censorship), and elimination of private property rights and your desire to control your own “selfish” destiny not approved by the State. Remember, these Marxists are actually Communists that will put you in jail (or worse) if you resist their erosion of your individual Liberties. Check out David Horowitz (converted from Communism) who is not afraid to expose the diabolical Left in all of its “progressive” tactics of deception by distorting the TRUTH in every corner of our society while pretending to be “benevolent”.

  7. This whole “Deep State” trope betrays a misunderstanding of how — as adminstrations come-and-go (“politicals,” in Washington parlance, appointees) — an army of selfless civil servants (“the bureaucracy,” workin’ stiffs) keep-the-wheels turning.

    There are bad apples in every bunch, but Uncle Sam’s workforce deserves our respect…ESPECIALLY the Postal workers that big corporate campaign contributors are trying to screw.

    • Michael Reagan says:

      O.K. Postal workers, they do a super job given their mission, granted. BUT, where does this compare to what the Obama Administration, the FBI heads, CIA heads, NSA heads, DNC heads, Clinton’s, etc have done in this coup to Impeach and remove President Trump!!!!! Adam Schiff went on ALL the major networks and lied his proverbial arse off about unequivocal damning evidence Trump was GUILTY!!!!! How did that work out?!?! Now we learn of the Steele Dossier, Russian collusion by the Dems, Mueller (joke) Report, and everything else that was false and a felony against more than one American Citizen (least we forget FISA lies and perjury) and our sitting President. Can you really sit by and say this was all not true? You want to point to 2008 GOP back room meetings? As I said before, Clear as a January cloudless day with temps in the 30’s. The Dems and Obama Admin are guilty as it gets of more than just this incredible mess.

      • The US Postal Service is the #1 employer of veterans.

      • To clarify: All those “heads” you’re trashing are “politicals,” appointees.

        My point is: Don’t diss the apolitcals, workin’ stiffs who keep the lights on. “Bureaucrats” is not derogatory. As Swamp “heads” come-and-go, Uncle Sam’s workforce has our back.

  8. To Michael Reagan: Replying to your question down here because there was no Reply thing up there…

    RE unattributed “fundamentally change America” quote I infer to be RE Obama:
    That’s precisely what Trump voters voted for, worded otherwise. NOT more-of-the-same, however phrased.

    ‘Last two times a candidate’s plan was let’s continue, they were one-termers;

    1. Bush Sr., whose campaign got a Cease & Desist from Bobby McFerrin for using his “Don’t Worry, Be Happy;” and

    2. LBJ, keeping JFK promises, but broken by Viet Nam.

    “Change” is campaign strategy coin-of-the-realm. Whether it’s change-for-the-better depends on whether you’re shirts or skins.

    • Michael Reagan says:

      Well, well, so “Change” can be subjugation of a nation huh. BTW: I did not like LBJ one bit, not many people did. Bush Sr. lost because he said, “Read my lips, no new taxes.” then he raised taxes; people do remember. But Obama is another animal altogether as is the current democratic party lead by the Globalist billionaires who think toying with millions of people’s lives is a game. After the signing of the Constitution, Benjamin Franklin was asked by a woman on the street, “What have you given us, sir?”. Franklin Responded, “A Republic, if you can keep it.”. I intend to do all I can to keep our Republic and my state of Texas from anyone who thinks they can take it away. There is one undeniable fact, the democrats are trying.

      • You’re missing my point about sloganeering.

        Even your Dad, a president beloved by Republicans AND Democrats, promised Change in those gauzy “Morning in America” commercials.

        Politics is product.

        • Michael Reagan says:

          Not my Dad, my Uncle.

          The change mentioned by those running for office in the past was NOT what Obama was offering. Nor is it the “change” the crazies in the Democrat Party is offering today. Politics is product; semantics. The Democratic product is socialism, servitude, and tyranny. The destruction of our Bill of Rights, Constitution, Electoral College, Supreme Court, our way of life is in danger with this election and all going forward. Are you not listening to these people? Eric Holder just came out yesterday or day before on replacing the Electoral College so our country can be more democratic. WHAT!?!? Never mind the insanity of adding more Supreme Court justices or as the Dems want a Tribunal to decide everything. I bet you do not want Texas telling Rhode Island how to run your state; we sure as hell do not want RI or New York or California, or anyone other than Texan’s telling us how to run things.

          • RE ” I bet you do not want Texas telling Rhode Island how to run your state; we sure as hell do not want RI or New York or California, or anyone other than Texan’s telling us how to run things.”

            We did NOT rehearse this, right?

            I’m already there.
            Scroll down for a BRIEF video lesson in “Federalism.”

  9. Darrell Durham says:

    The other part of the story refers to the media. I just watched the evening news. A story about the next coronavirus relief bill was aired, listing the litany of recipients of dollars, all passed by the democat- led house, but sure to be vetoed by the republican-led senate and then Trump, However, not a word was said about the many things the democrats have buried in the bill that have nothing to do with the current situation. At least one begins on pg. 1066 and concerns banks and the legal marijuana industry, and passed the house last September. I know WHY they did it (because the bill has no chance of passing the Senate alone). It happens all the time. But the way it was stated, the media report leaves the republicans to blame for the bill failure without giving all the facts. The only media outlet that actually does try to report the facts is FOX. The bottom line remains that no amount of “free” money will solve the problem. America needs to go back to work.

    • APPLAUSE for plowing-through 1000+ pages.
      Keep reading, about that banking issue.
      A prominent Conservative co-sponsored the Senate version.
      Here’s a BRIEF Social Studies lesson on “Federalism:”
      https://youtu.be/GV2tA5LzIPM

      • Darrell Durham says:

        I didn’t read all of the bill, and I doubt those voting on it did, either. Also, I’m not implying the bill should or shouldn’t pass. However, this is where we have come as a government, unable to DO anything positive due to our inability to compromise for the good of the country. Both sides share equal blame. Term limits, anyone?

        • “Term Limits” IS tempting.
          HOW LONG is worth consideration. The learning curve of turning-over Congress too often slows us down.

          Some theorize that a Presidential term limit — ONE term, 6 years — is borne out by history.

          • Michael Reagan says:

            I think we agree on Federalism. States have THEIR rights to adopt a constitution and abide by it. Of course Texas is an expert at “amending” their constitution. We seem to do it every election. BUT the Federal Guberment has an Overriding Constitution; the Supreme Law of the Land, that is suppose allow all states to do this, while not subverting the Republic. A very fine line dance of liberty, justice, and individual rights. It is really specifically laid out if one reads it for how it is wrote. NO I DID NOT REHEARSE what I said. That came from ME! Period. And he is MY UNCLE.

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