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“Treason!”

(Well, not really)

By Gary F. Zeolla

 

Treason - trea·son [ˈtrēzən], noun, the crime of betraying one’s country, especially by attempting to kill the sovereign or overthrow the government (Oxford).

 

Treason.

1. betrayal of trust or faith; treachery.

2. violation of the allegiance owed to one's sovereign or state; betrayal of one's country, specif., in the U.S. (as declared in the Constitution), consisting only in levying war against the U.S. or in giving aid and comfort to its enemies” (Webster’s).

 

      Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort (Article 3. Section 3 of the US Constitution).

 

The Joint Press Conference

 

      The above are dictionary definitions of the word “treason” and how the US Constitution defines the term. Be sure to note the word “only” in the US Constitution.

      This term has been applied to President Trump by Democrats and many in the media. What is the cause of this assertion? Did Trump try to overthrow the US government? Did he sell out the US in a time of war? Did he try to wage war again the United States or give aid and comfort to enemy combatants? Hardly.

      This assertion of treason has been made because President Trump did not stick his finger in the face of Russian President Vladimir Putin during their July 16, 2018 Helsinki joint press conference and tell him to his face, “You meddled in the 2016 election, and you better not do that again, or else!” Of course, if President Trump had done that, the left would have been screaming that Trump was trying to start World War III. I say that, as that is exactly how the left reacted when the President used strong language with North Korean Chairman Kim Jung-un.

      When Trump called Kim “Rocket Man” and told him, “My nuclear button is bigger than yours, and mine actually works,” and most of all, that he would “rain fire and fury like the world has never known” on North Korea if Kim didn’t stop his nuclear testing, the left had a fit about Trump starting a nuclear war with North Korea. Of course, that never happened. Instead, Trump and Kim had a very successful Singapore Summit, but as usual, the media never gave him credit for that great accomplishment.

      But now, not only did Trump not call out Putin to his face, but the left was upset that Trump seemed to say he trusted Putin over the US intelligence community. That was because Trump said Putin strongly told him that he did not interfere with the 2016 election, while the US intelligence community said he did. Of course, that is not exactly what Trump said. He just acknowledged that each side claimed something different.

      Meanwhile, just prior to this Helsinki Summit, Special Counselor Mueller indicted 12 Russian officials for said election interference. But of course, those indictments are meaningless in that those 12 Russians will never be tried, since the US does not have an extradition treaty with Russia. In fact, Russia’s constitution says it is unlawful to extradite a Russian to another country to stand trial. As such, Putin hands were tied in that he could not agree to that. But that did not stop the media from complaining that Trump did not ask for them to be extradited. However, Putin did say that Mueller could come to Russia and interview the 12 Russians there. Trump seemed pleased with that idea, but the media really went into a tizzy over it.

 

Trump’s Reluctance to Admit Russian Meddling

 

      Why is President Trump so reluctant to admit there was Russian meddling in the 2016 election? Is it because he is a traitor? Again, hardly. We are not at war with Russia, so constitutionally, it is not possible to commit the crime of treason with regard to Russia.

      Is it because Putin has something against him, and Trump is afraid that will come out? If that were true, Trump would have been “soft” in his actions towards Russia since taking office, but that is hardly the case, despite media claims to the contrary.

      The media seems to have Trump mixed up with Obama. It was Obama who drew a “red-line” against Russian-backed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, but then let Assad cross it without repercussions. It took Trump to twice draw that red line with Cruse Misses to get Assad to stop gassing his own people. For more on this point, see my articles 100 Days of Productive Leadership, Gorsuch and Syria, Eventful Three Months in Politics, and One Year of Productive Leadership.

      Moreover, the sanctions remain in place against Russia for its meddling, including its diplomats still being expelled and economic sanctions.

      But most of all, Trump had just called out German Chancellor Angela Merkel over Germany’s new multibillion dollar deal with Russia to build an oil pipeline from Russian to Germany. Trump rightly pointed out the hypocrisy in asking the USA to spend billions defending Germany against Russia, while Germany is giving billions to Russia! If Putin “had something” on Trump, he would never have so called out Merkel over this deal, much to the chagrin of Putin.

      Is Trump’s reluctance to admit Russian meddling because he is too cowardly to stand up to Putin, as the media claims? Again, hardly. That is so as he has stood up to many other world leaders, much to the outcry of the media and Democrats, so there is no reason he would not have the boldness to do so with Putin.

      A possible reason lies with the conflation of Russian meddling in the 2016 election with the Trump-Russian collusion hoax. The two are two separate issues, but the media and Democrats have done a masterfully deceptive job of conflating the two. Any time evidence comes out of Russia interference, they say that is evidence of Trump colluding with Russia. That has led to Trump also conflating the two. As such, he seems to feel that if he admits Russian interference that is tantamount to admitting collusion.

      But I think the real reason is Trump is sick and tired of the attempts by the media and Democrats to delegitimize his resounding 2016 election victory. They have been trying to make it out that he did not deserve to win. They did that at first by harping on him “only” winning the Electoral College (and that by a wide margin), but he lost popular vote. As if the latter matters at all given our Constitution (see Protesting Trump’s Victory).

      When that attempt failed, they turned to Russia interference. And they have been trying to make it seem like the only reason Trump won was because of it, and Trump takes that personally, and I cannot blame him. He won because he was the better candidate, who ran a better campaign, who worked harder, and who had better ideas and policies than the unlikeable crook Hillary. But the media just cannot bring themselves to accept those facts, and so they keep harping on Russia, to detract from Trump’s victory and his legitimacy as President.

      But even with all of that, President Trump has on several occasions acknowledged that there was Russian interference in the 2016 election, but the media tries to make it sound like he has never admitted that. Trump does, however, believe that other foreign entities besides Russia are also involved in US election meddling.

 

Walking It Back

 

      Over the next few days, President Trump walked back his comments at the joint press conference. First, he claimed that when he said, “I don’t see any reason it would be Russia” who hacked the DNC server, he meant to say, “I don’t see any reason it wouldn’t be Russia.” He says he did not realize he said “would” rather than “wouldn’t” until he read the transcript much later. The media doesn’t buy that, but I can see it happening, given the many typos that end up in my writings that I do not notice until someone points them out to me.

      Trump has also walked back him seeming to indicate he trusted Putin more than the US intelligence community, now saying he has full trust in the latter and not the former.

      I for one was disappointed Trump walked back those comments. I say that for two reasons. First, it made perfect sense to not call out Putin publicly at that joint press conference. If he had, it would have worsened the already tense relationship between the US and Russian.

      Of course, the reason it is so tense is due to all of the talk by the media about Russian interference and the hoax of Trump/ Russian collusion. All of that has seriously hurt our relationship with the second most powerful nation on earth, and that is fully the media’s fault. Trump took a big step forward with this summit in that regard by not harping on election meddling, but now he took a step backward by walking back his initial comments.

      Second, by walking back his comments, it just made Trump look weak and did no good anyway. The media does not accept his “corrections” and is still calling him a traitor. Trump should know by now that nothing he says will ever be good enough for the left. They were especially upset by his adlib line that “others were involved also.”

 

What the Media is Not Talking About

 

      Meanwhile, the media has been ignoring or misrepresenting all the rest of what happened on President Trump’s European trip. Trump goaded the NATO nations to fork over $100 billion for the NATO defense. $100 billion! Yet the media is saying he “weakened” NATO.

      He also improved relationship with our NATO allies. Yes, he called out Merkel on the Russian pipeline, but that was good thing that the media is not giving him credit for. And it proved beyond any doubt that he is not “In the pocket of Putin” as the media and Democrats claim

      He also called out English Prime Minister Theresa May for not executing Brexit promptly and properly, and she seemed to have realized she needed to get to it, much to the delight of the Brits who voted for it.

      But what the media did cover non-stop was the protests against Trump. That they took delight in broadcasting. But when Sean Hannity went into the crowd and talked to the protesters, it was obvious they had no idea why they were protesting. They were just having a drunken party at Trump’s expense, but the media never told you that.

      The media tried instead to make it sound like all of Europe was against Trump. If they are, it is only because they also get fake news CNN over there and its non-stop lies about Trump and its complete lack of coverage of his many accomplishments (see One Year of Productive Leadership).

      The media is also not talking about the rest of the Helsinki Summit. Before the joint press conference, Trump and Putin talked about Iran, Syria, North Korea, radical Islamic terrorism, and nuclear proliferation.

      On the last point, like with North Korea, the formerly anti-nuclear weapons left seems to have forgotten the incredible devastation a nuclear war would cause. A war with NoKo would leave the Korean peninsula devastated. But a war between the USA and Russian could leave the entire planted a wasteland.

      All of these issues are far more important than the Trump/ Russian collusion hoax and even election meddling by Russia. The latter has been going on for decades, so why is it now such an issue?

      Answer: because it is the only way the leftist media can explain how Trump beat Hillary. Again, they just do not get it was because Donald Trump was a much better candidate in every way than Hillary “she should be wearing an orange jumpsuit” Clinton.

      Moreover, what about Obama meddling in the Israeli election, trying to get Benjamin Netanyahu defeated in his reelection bid, at tax payers expense? Why did the media not cover that? Or what about the DNC rigging the election against Bernie Sanders?

      Or what about Strzok, Page, Comey, McCabe, and other higher-ups in the FBI and DoJ trying to rig the election for Hillary and against Trump? The media is trying to sweep all those crimes under the rug.

      Or for that matter, if they are so concerned about Russia hacking the DNC server, then what about Hillary’s home-brewed sever being hacked by at least half a dozen foreign entities? That is why Trump said “others were involved also” in election meddling, so he is correct in that assertion, and the media is incorrect in blasting him for it.

      Moreover, with all of this going on, I can understand why Trump is reluctant to trust the US intelligence community. DoJ Secretary Jeff session should bring indictments against the whole lot of them, but he is too much of a wimp to do so  (see Chronology of Corruption in the US Government and Unjustified Attacks Against President Trump).

      As for the indictments against the 12 Russian officials, nothing will ever come of them. The idea of Mueller going to Russian to interview them has already been nixed, so those indictments will remain just as the previous ones against 13 Russian companies, just hanging out there as “proof” of Russian meddling and a Trump/ Russian collusion, with Mueller never having to prove any of those allegations in a trial.

      And don’t forget, these Russian activities were going on during Obama’s watch, not Trump’s. Obama knew about it but did nothing about it, and the fake news media never reported about it then.

 

Conclusion

 

      Like many, I was disappointed by President Trump this week, but not because of his performance at the joint press conference. That press conference was handled just right, in that it fostered an improvement in the relationship between the USA and Russia and between Trump and Putin, after the media has done everything it could over the last year and a half to ruin those relationships.

      And again, we have many pressing issues to work on that Russia could be a help with or at least not an hinderance to, and a good relation between our two Presidents would enable that cooperation. But by walking back his comments at the summit, Trump might have hindered that budding relation, so it was that walking back that disappointed me.

      But then, I just heard that Putin might be coming to Washington DC this fall. That is great, but the media is already in a tizzy over it. I just hope Trump has learned that no matter what he does, it will never satisfy the hate-Trump media, so why bother trying? Just go with his instincts and do what he thinks is best. That has worked well for him so far.

 

Postscript:
Relevant Trump Tweets

 

      The Fake News Media wants so badly to see a major confrontation with Russia, even a confrontation that could lead to war. They are pushing so recklessly hard and hate the fact that I’ll probably have a good relationship with Putin. We are doing MUCH better than any other country! July 19, 2018. 

      “Trump recognized Russian Meddling MANY TIMES.” Thank you to @foxandfriends and @FoxNews for actually showing the clips. The Fake News wants no part of that narrative! Too bad they don’t want to focus on all of the ECONOMIC and JOBS records being set. July 19, 2018. 

      The Summit with Russia was a great success, except with the real enemy of the people, the Fake News Media. I look forward to our second meeting so that we can start implementing some of the many things discussed, including stopping terrorism, security for Israel, nuclear....proliferation, cyber attacks, trade, Ukraine, Middle East peace, North Korea and more. There are many answers, some easy and some hard, to these problems...but they can ALL be solved! July 19, 2018. 

      Some people HATE the fact that I got along well with President Putin of Russia. They would rather go to war than see this. It’s called Trump Derangement Syndrome! July 18, 2018. 

      So many people at the higher ends of intelligence loved my press conference performance in Helsinki. Putin and I discussed many important subjects at our earlier meeting. We got along well which truly bothered many haters who wanted to see a boxing match. Big results will come! July 18, 2018. 

      While the NATO meeting in Brussels was an acknowledged triumph, with billions of dollars more being put up by member countries at a faster pace, the meeting with Russia may prove to be, in the long run, an even greater success. Many positive things will come out of that meeting. July 18, 2018. 

      I had a great meeting with NATO. They have paid $33 Billion more and will pay hundreds of Billions of Dollars more in the future, only because of me. NATO was weak, but now it is strong again (bad for Russia). The media only says I was rude to leaders, never mentions the money! July 18, 2018.

      As I said today and many times before, “I have GREAT confidence in MY intelligence people.” However, I also recognize that in order to build a brighter future, we cannot exclusively focus on the past – as the world’s two largest nuclear powers, we must get along! #HELSINKI2018 July 18, 2018. 

      Received many calls from leaders of NATO countries thanking me for helping to bring them together and to get them focused on financial obligations, both present & future. We had a truly great Summit that was inaccurately covered by much of the media. NATO is now strong & rich! July 18, 2018. 

      The stories you heard about the 12 Russians yesterday took place during the Obama Administration, not the Trump Administration. Why didn’t they do something about it, especially when it was reported that President Obama was informed by the FBI in September, before the Election? July 14, 2018. 

      These Russian individuals did their work during the Obama years. Why didn’t Obama do something about it?  Because he thought Crooked Hillary Clinton would win, that’s why. Had nothing to do with the Trump Administration, but Fake News doesn’t want to report the truth, as usual! July 14, 2018. 

      Billions of additional dollars are being spent by NATO countries since my visit last year, at my request, but it isn’t nearly enough. U.S. spends too much. Europe’s borders are BAD! Pipeline dollars to Russia are not acceptable! July 11, 2018. 

      What good is NATO if Germany is paying Russia billions of dollars for gas and energy? Why are there only 5 out of 29 countries that have met their commitment? The U.S. is paying for Europe’s protection, then loses billions on Trade. Must pay 2% of GDP IMMEDIATELY, not by 2025. July 11, 2018. 

      How can the Rigged Witch Hunt proceed when it was started, influenced and worked on, for an extended period of time, by former FBI Agent/Lover Peter Strzok? Read his hate filled and totally biased Emails and the answer is clear! July 11, 2018. 

      Ex-FBI LAYER Lisa Page today defied a House of Representatives issued Subpoena to testify before Congress! Wow, but is anybody really surprised!  Together with her lover, FBI Agent Peter Strzok, she worked on the Rigged Witch Hunt, perhaps the most tainted and corrupt case EVER! July 11, 2018.

 

References:

      15 Documents and Speeches That Built America (Unique Classics) (Declaration of Independence, US Constitution and Amendments, Articles of Confederation, Magna Carta, Gettysburg Address, Four Freedoms) (Kindle Locations 862-863). Kindle Edition.

      Oxford Dictionary on Microsoft Word 365.

      Webster’s New World College Dictionary, on YourDictionary.com

      Various Fox News Channel news reports the week of July 16-20, 2018.

      Various CNN and MSNBC news reports the week of July 16-20, 2018.

      Various comments by Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity on their radio shows the week of July 16-20, 2018.

      Washington Times. Obama admin sent money to oust Netanyahu.

      KDKA radio newscast on the morning of July 20, 2018.

“Treason!” (Well, not really). Copyright © 2018 By Gary F. Zeolla.


The First Impeachment of Donald J. Trump

    This three-volume set covers the impeachment of Donald J. Trump that occurred over the fall of 2019 to the winter of 2020.  It was yet one more attempt to oust the President from office by Democrats, who never accepted he won in 2016. A complaint about a phone call between President Trump and Ukraine President Zelensky led to an impeachment inquiry to begin in early September 2019. Along the way, the corruption of Joe Biden that Trump wanted investigated and which led to the impeachment inquiry is discussed.


The above article was posted on this website July 21, 2018.

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