Sunday Issues-March 16, 2025
You be the judge
I tossed and turned in my sleep Friday night. Donald Trump was to blame. I listened to his hour-long speech at the Department of Justice. The president disturbed me.
Hoping my memories of the president’s speech were only the by-product of a slice of pizza with too much pepperoni, I resolved to read the president’s words on Saturday. The exercise exonerated the pepperoni. Yes, Donald Trump did tell a room full of Justice Department officials and others that President Biden and other “scum” who were involved in prosecuting him during his four years out of office should go to jail.
Here are a few excerpts from the president’s speech.
We must be honest about the lies and abuses that have occurred within these [the Department of Justice’s] walls. Unfortunately, in recent years, a corrupt group of hacks and radicals within the ranks of the American government obliterated the trust and goodwill built up over generations. They weaponized the vast powers of our intelligence and law enforcement agencies to try and thwart the will of the American people.
You remember the 51 intelligence agents that said, as an example, that Hunter Biden's laptop from hell came from Russia, when they knew it came right from his bedroom. They knew that; it was a big lie, and they knew it so well. They spied on my campaign, launched one hoax and disinformation operation after another, broke the law on a colossal scale.
Persecuted my family, staff and supporters, raided my home Mar-A-Lago and did everything within their power to prevent me from becoming the president of the United States. . . .
But these are people that are bad people, really bad people. They tried to turn America into a corrupt communist and third world country. But in the end the thugs failed, and the truth won, freedom won, justice won, democracy won and above all the American people won. There could be no more heinous betrayal of American values than to use the law to terrorize the innocent and reward the wicked, and that's what they were doing at a level that's never been seen before.
And it's exactly what you saw with Joe Biden, Merrick Garland and their cronies. To do the building of the last four years they ripped -- what they've ripped down is incalculable, but what you're going to build up is likewise something that will be breaking all sorts of records.
Trump added later:
Our predecessors turned this Department of Justice into the Department of Injustice, but I stand before you today to declare that those days are over, and they are never going to come back. They're never coming back. So now, as the chief law enforcement officer in our country, I will insist upon and demand full and complete accountability for the wrongs and abuses that have occurred.
Trump added:
And that's exactly, I'm sure, what Pam and Kash and everyone else mentioned here and not mentioned is going to be doing. We will expel the rogue actors and corrupt forces from our government. We will expose and very much expose their egregious crimes and severe misconduct of which was levels you've never seen anything like it. It's going to be legendary.
Every American should watch or read the entire speech, especially those who voted for Trump.
My unease with the president’s speech will remain with me for some time. If the president was serious—as I am sure he was—he is a dangerous, angry, vindictive man who in any circumstance other than that of being the president of the United States, would be considered mentally ill.
If you read or listen to the speech, pay particular attention to the discussion of former University of Indiana basketball coach Bobby Knight (the coach best known for throwing a chair onto the court and slapping one of his players).
Enough said. Please judge for yourself.
Thank you.
As I indicated in Friday Insights on the 14th, Sunday Issues will only be published if something worth focusing on occurs. The president’s speech at DOJ qualified.
I will continue to post notes highlighting other news.
Thank you for reading Sunday Issues today. Please cross your fingers, say a prayer, or both that the country is not headed for disaster.
I don’t know about anyone else, but it is disturbing that Trump is still resorting to his petty name calling, worrying about Hunter Biden, and hell bent on retribution. Why does no one talk about his venture into crypto, or Jared getting all that money from the Saudis. Or actually, what the hell Elon Musk is doing and what’s in it for the two of them. Not to mention Trump and Elon Musk pushing Tesla at the White House . And, yes, what about all those documents strewn all over Mar-a Lago? If he can have them there, why can’t the American people see those documents? And then there’s the return of the Tate bro’s to the US. Why can’t Americans see the unredacted Epstein file? Then there’s the animosity towards our allies and President Zelensky while all but kissing Putin’s backside. And how about his relationship with the justice department?