Back to the here and now with my seatbelt fastened. If my tracking of our consuming national scandal is correct, we may be nearing a sudden end to the Terrible Term of Trump, with all its nation-shaking effects.
I am of course referring to the ten hours of testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee last week by Glenn Simpson, co-founder of the research firm Fusion GPS that commissioned the controversial Steele Dossier for a nameless Republican client.
You will recall that the dossier, which claimed to detail collusion between Trump and Putin for over five years, was widely trashed when it surfaced in January this year, just before Donald Trump’s Inauguration. The leaked report drew fire and rage from the President’s entourage, with Trump himself branding it “fake news,” from “sick people,” and it “didn’t happen.” The cautious major media shunned it as well, citing ”errors” and “unsubstantiated assertions” and even “misspellings” (British instead of American?) in the 35-page document. Only Buzz Feed (kudos for their courage) posted it online for download, allowing the inquiring mind to judge for itself. I was one of those inquiring minds.
What most titillated the prurient public was the mere half-page devoted to Trump’s strange “revenge” on his predecessor in office—the so-called “Golden Shower” episode. I concede that hiring two Russian whores to piss for him on the Moscow Ritz Carlton hotel bed where Barack and Michelle slept did border on the kinky, if not the pathological. But far, far more important to me was what Steele describes in meticulous detail as a long-term, two-way secret relationship between Putin and Trump, with names and dates given.
It should come as no surprise that over the last eight months much of the Steele document has been corroborated by our own investigative agencies. Christopher Steele, it turns out, is a respected retiree from Britain’s MI6 (spy-novel readers are familiar with that legendary outfit) with a long-time concentration on Russia and matters Russian. As for Glenn Simpson, a former Wall Street Journal reporter and Steele’s employer in the “research project,” his Fusion GPS firm is likewise well-respected for what they do, and as he exited the Senate hearing this week with a smile, he was asked by a reporter whether his testimony would be released to the public. He said it was perfectly fine by him if it was.
The same question was asked of Senator Chuck Grassley (R), chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, by an Iowa constituent. The ever-wily Grassley said he had no objection, then backtracked some and said his committee would have to vote on it…but he “presumed” there would be no problem releasinga transcript of the ten hours of secret testimony. I long ago learned not to take the partisan Grassley at his word. But if the “infamous” dossier that maintains a long-term tie between Trump and Russia to rig our 2016 presidential election is accurate, we may at last be able to decide for ourselves whether Trump and his minions committed high treason...or some other high crimes or misdemeanors.
If such a release comes to pass, I will pop up some Orville Redenbacher, turn on the telly, crank back my La-Z-Boy and prepare to be amazed and/or entertained by this show of shows. What? You’re shocked that I could be “entertained” by the likely ruin of our nation as we know and love it? What kind of American am I!
In self-defense I can only paraphrase Lord Byron: If I laugh at any human thing, T’is that I may not weep.