By Dan Calabrese ——Bio and Archives--May 22, 2018
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As you think about what might happen in November’s mid-terms, you might think, “Hey, if the Democrats take the House, it won’t be so bad. After all, they probably won’t take the Senate, and they still won’t have the White House.”
You might continue: “How much harm can they do? They say they’re going to repeal the tax cut, but they can’t do that with just the House, and Trump would never sign the repeal anyway.”“I can give you two words: subpoena power,” said Representative Ted Lieu, a Democrat from California who sits on the Judiciary Committee. Democrats on several committees rattled off lists of targets they’re eager to investigate, from more on Russia’s involvement in the 2016 elections to allegations of obstruction of justice against the president to Trump’s immigration policies. The president’s long-hidden tax returns? Those would be swiftly demanded by the Ways and Means Committee, according to Representative Richard Neal of Massachusetts, the committee’s ranking Democrat. Lavish taxpayer spending at Trump-owned properties? Prepare for Democrats on the Oversight Committee to quiz officials about how much Americans are paying for the president and his entourage to dine, stay, and golf at properties he owns, as well as probing whether the Trump family is still actively involved in managing the properties that are in a trust. The now-closed House Intelligence investigation into Russian meddling in the election and any Trump campaign ties to it? That would be promptly revived, while the Judiciary Committee would likely haul in Trump’s personal lawyer Michael Cohen to explain the hush payments he made to Stormy Daniels during the campaign.
Trump’s family won’t be off limits, either: All House Judiciary Democrats signed onto a letter to the White House last year asking Ivanka Trump to recuse herself from “particular matters affecting her financial interests.” Lawmakers would also likely revive questions about the emoluments clause and whether the president is violating it by accepting money from foreigners at the properties he owns while serving as president. And that’s not counting the multiple hearings Democrats would want to hold to examine the president’s policy choices — from separating families at the border to the strategy in Afghanistan. “We will be a pain in the neck, I’m sure,” said Representative Stephen Lynch of Massachusetts, the ranking member on the Oversight Committee’s subcommittee on national security. “Obviously I don’t think anybody likes someone looking over their shoulder, and especially someone with subpoena power.”This is rich, of course, coming from the people who would have you believe Devin Nunes is a deviant for expecting the Justice Department to comply with congressional subpoenas. But why should the Democrats be intellectually honest or consistent? The media won’t call them out if they’re not, so it does them no harm to say one thing and do another. If Democrats take the House, it won’t matter if they don’t take anything else. They will subpoena everything they can think of on every “matter” they can possibly conceive of, and then they’ll think of new matters and hold hearings on those. Trump’s personal finances and those of his family will be investigated. The Russia thing will come back with a vengeance, even if Robert Mueller has already admitted there was nothing to it. It won’t matter. When you have unlimited power to investigate, it doesn’t matter if you’ve found nothing. You just keep looking. Forever. No investigation is over if a congressional majority doesn’t want it to be. This is how a Democratic House would seek to bring the workings of the Trump Administration to a screeching halt. No one would want to serve in it because as soon as you accept an appointment, you can expect everything about your life to be subpoenaed and investigated by the Democrat Congress. You can expect half-truths and innuendo to be leaked to the media. They will never stop because no one can make them stop, and the media will eat up everything they say about what they’re doing, even if it’s transparently Bolshevik. So yes, it will matter very if the Democrats take the House. They may not be able to roll back Trump’s legislative achievements, but they’ll turn the next to years into one big scandal investigation – evidence or no evidence. And they’re not even being shy about it. Indeed, signalling that they’re going to do this might be the most effective way they can fire up their base. I wonder if the realization this would happen will fire up the Republican base. It certainly should.
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Dan Calabrese’s column is distributed by HermanCain.com, which can be found at HermanCain
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