Freshman Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich..) slammed 72-year-old President Donald Trump, calling him a “crooked CEO.” Trump’s been especially critical of Tlaib’s colleague Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), who, as the first woman Muslim member of the U.S. Congress, made hateful comments about Jews. Ilhan, a native Somalian, said the Jewish lobbying group called the American-Israeli Public Affairs Committee [AIPAC] is all about the money, not principles. “It’s all about the Benjamins baby,” Ilhan said March 27, prompting Trump to ask that Omar be removed from the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Tlaib, who’s of Palestinian ancestry, put Omar in her place. “Rep. Omar stop your disgusting Jew hatred,” Tlaib said. Tlaib expressed 17 reservations about Trump’s ongoing business dealings, believing he should have placed all his financial interest in a blind trust before he took office Jan. 20, 2017.
Tlaib wanted to echo the Democrat party line against Trump, namely that he’s not fit for duty. “So many people are focused on what happened before he took the oath of office,” said Tlaib. “What I am more concerned [about]and what the American people and the public are concerned about is: After he took office, what has he done,” Tlaib said, not realizing that Trump promised a four-point growth rate and to end the Islamic State of Iraq and Iraq. On both counts, whether Tlaib accepts it or not, Trump has delivered. Asking what Trump’s done since taking office, Tlaib opens herself to criticism. Tlaib thinks Trump committed impeachable offenses the day he took office because he didn’t divest himself of his many businesses. Voters voted Trump in office knowing he ran real estate empire and didn’t care that he didn’t publish his tax returns. Since taking over the House Jan. 1, Democrats have tried to force Trump to release his returns.
Unlike Rep. Ilhan Omar or Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (D-N.Y.), Tlaib has gone relatively unscathed because she’s refrained from openly attacking the president. Tlaib’s latest comments to Yaho News “Skullduggery” hosted by Michael Isikoff shows the anti-Trump press gets mileage getting elected officials, whether Democrat of Republican, to slam Trump. Tlaib’s argument that Trump violates the Constitution’s Emolument Clause does little to advance her cause. Voters knew that Trump was a respected businessman, something the New York Times have sought to discredit since taking office. Recently publishing Trump’s take returns from 1985 to 1994, the Times prove what many suspected that Trump paid no taxes, writing off $1.2 billion in real estate losses. Democrats have branded Trump the “biggest loser,” saying he took more losses than any U.S. taxpayers during that period.
With 18 months before the presidential election, Democrats have already thrown everything but the kitchen sink at Trump. Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s March 22 Final Report cleared Trump of a two-year probe into criminal wrongdoing. Keeping the investigation going in Congress, Democrats hope to throw enough mud at Trump to prevent him from a second term. Calling Trump a corrupt CEO attempts to brand Trump like he did when he referred to former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton as “crooked Hillary.” Democrats want to return the favor with Trump now that they know about his staggering tax loses. “We have a corporation running our government now,” Tlaib said, talking about Trump as a “crooked CEO.” Tlaib announced she has 10 million signatures from MoveOn.org to impeach Trump but can’t say what high-crimes-and-misdemeanors he committed.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has resisted efforts from her party’s left wing to impeach Trump for a variety to reasons. Trump’s recent assertion of executive privilege has prompted many Democrat to push for impeachment. Pelosi knows that any impeachment attempt by the House would be rebuked in the Senate, where Republicans hold a 54-47 majority, Democrats don’t have the votes to remove Trump from office. Yet with Atty. Gen. William Bar refusing to testify, Democrats in the House now have the impetus to initiate impeachment proceedings. Calling Trump a “corrupt CEO,” Tlaib hoes to scare voters into voting Democratic in 2020. Democrats tread on thin ice when it comes pursuing impeachment proceedings without any real grounds, especially since Mueller clearned him for wrongdoing in the Russian probe.
Tlaib’s barking up the wrong tree insisting that Trump’s violating the Constitution’s arcane Emolument’s Clause. Voters in 2016 knew all about Trump’s businesses and decided the country needed a change. Tlaib asks rhetorically what has Trump done since taking office. Republicans can articulate many of his campaign promises delivered, despite being under the Spacial Counsel’s dark cloud. Unless Democrats can point to real high-crimes-and-misdemeanors, starting impeachment proceedings could boomerang with voters in 2020. There are plenty of U.S. attorneys and psychiatrists ready to denounce Trump for partisan reasons. But the law requires Democrats to have real evidence that Trump committed high-crimes-and-misdemeanors, no simply partisan interpretations of criminal statures, the Constitution or mental health issues. Trump’s proven resilient enough to make Democrats look bad.
