Convicted felon and sexual predator Donald Trump likes to read a poem about a snake that, after being taken in by a gullible lady who nursed it back to health before it bit her. As she was dying from the poison from the bite, the snake told her: “Oh shut up silly woman. You knew I was a snake when you took me in.”
Criminal Trump is much like the snake in the poem and a popular song in the 1960s based on the tale. America is dying from his corrupt behavior.
Republicans in Congress have been fearful of the Trump snake, bowing down to his threats and bullying, but the Trump snake in the White House grass is facing opposition and questions from a growing number of Republicans who have discovered they have a spine.
A report in The New York Times by White House correspondent Luke Broadwater writes:
For much of President Trump’s time in office, Republican lawmakers have had little appetite to stand up to his brand of vindictive politics.
Through revenge primary campaigns, bullying social media posts and the threat that he can command the G.O.P. base to go after anyone at any time, Mr. Trump has brought lawmakers in his party under his control like no president in modern history. A single critical word against Mr. Trump or his agenda could result in a full-scale retribution campaign to force a disloyal Republican from office.
But this week, in a rarity in G.O.P. politics, Mr. Trump’s taunts, bullying and threats have backfired, at least for now. Senate Republicans, after the president targeted two of their own, stood up to Mr. Trump on two of his biggest priorities: money for his White House ballroom, and a $1.8 billion fund to reward Trump supporters who claim political persecution by Democrats, such as the rioters who attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
“So the nation’s top law enforcement official is asking for a slush fund to pay people who assault cops?” said Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky. “Utterly stupid, morally wrong — take your pick.”
Then, in another sign that the party was pushing back on Mr. Trump, House Republicans canceled a vote on a resolution to halt the war in Iran, after it became clear they did not have enough votes to defeat it.
The cracks in the president’s dominance over Senate Republicans stemmed from two main sources. First, Mr. Trump asked Republican lawmakers to take up politically unpopular issues in a midterm election year.
At a time when gas prices are high, Americans are struggling to make ends meet. And as an unpopular war against Iran drags on, any Republican running for office will want to be seen as fighting for the American people, not bestowing lavish gifts upon the president and his associates, particularly ones who were convicted of crimes.
“Is it possible on May 21, 2026, Republicans finally found an ethical bridge too far?” asked Senator Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, the No. 2 Democrat. “I wonder: Could it have been that golden ballroom for a billion bucks that was supposed to be freebie that Mar-a-Lago golf buddies were going to pitch in for? Or perhaps it was this incredible slush fund — I don’t know quite what to call it — it was a Capitol Police Cop Beaters Relief Fund?”
Mr. Trump has also openly attacked and worked against the very people he now needs to pass his priorities. There are only 53 Republican senators, several of whom are already independent minded and unlikely to support the most extreme parts of the president’s agenda.
Mr. Trump did himself no favors when he supported a candidate to defeat Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana in a Republican primary, and endorsed a G.O.P. candidate against Senator John Cornyn of Texas. The result of those moves was to ensure that there would be fewer Republican senators who feel the need to be loyal to the president.
“You can’t underestimate the psychological impact of endorsing against Cornyn like that,” said Michael Ricci, a former top communications aide to Speakers Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin and John A. Boehner of Ohio, both Republicans. “Cornyn is a big figure in the conference. He was a few votes shy of being majority leader. He has been doing events for all these members. I just feel like that was an accelerant on an already simmering flame.”
Senate Republicans had already appeared ready to jettison one Trump priority — $1 billion for security, including for his ballroom project — from the spending bill. But then came news of Mr. Trump’s new $1.8 billion fund to pay people who claim they were politically persecuted. That fund caused G.O.P. lawmakers to abandon plans to take up a bill on Thursday to fund the president’s immigration crackdown.
“It is in real trouble, and it should be,” said Senator Susan Collins, a Maine Republican who is known to oppose the most extreme parts of Mr. Trump’s agenda.
New threats to Trump’s criminal conduct emerge constantly, including reports of his heavy investment in Dell Computing stock just before he pushes through a new contract with the company and other actions that benefit companies where his sons have extensive investments.
It would be hard to find a president in recent history who has spoken publicly about the stock market more than Donald Trump.
It’s one thing to watch the market, but it’s another thing altogether to actively trade stocks while in office. Mr. Trump’s most recent federal financial disclosure form, filed earlier this month, reveals more than 3,700 trades in the first three months of this year, a flurry amounting to tens of millions of dollars in transactions.
On the morning of March 23, after nearly a month of war with Iran, the president announced on TRUTH Social that the U.S. and Iran had been having — quote — “very good and productive conversations” and that he was extending his deadline for a deal by five more days.
Oil prices plunged nearly 11 percent on hopes the war was ending, energy stocks sold off, and the brokerage account in Trump’s name spent the day buying them, Phillips 66, ExxonMobil, Chevron, along with defense and aerospace names like Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics, all companies that stood to profit the longer the war continued.
Is it illegal for a president to own positions within the stock market, to own individual stocks?
Unfortunately, the president, vice president and members of Congress are exempt from federal conflict of interest laws. However, Richard Painter, chief ethics attorney for President George W. Bush, told Landers that the power of a president increases the need for more restrictions and controls.
“If, through his official actions, he actually can change the price of the stock, and he owns the stock, that’s a financial conflict of interest that should be prohibited,” Painter told PBS.
The criminal Trump routinely ignores the law. His war against Iran is onconstitutional because he did not consult Congresss before starting it and he did not follow the law on seeking to extend it after 60 days.
“I’m the president and I can do whatever I want,” he says openly. Voters in the midterm elections must elect members of Congress who will impeach him. He deserves to be in prison for crimes against America and the people. Justice can best be served if he remains there for the rest of his criminal life.
