December 29, 2018

For two years the Trump administration has run like a well oiled mobster organization. No oversight, no penalties for crimes (even murder of 2 children in custody), no actual rules to follow. When the top dog in the organization is running a bigger criminal racket than his underlings, it is every man for him (or her) self and there is no fear of being caught in the open. In fact, the Trump administration is so unafraid that many of their crimes are flat out in the open. They just do not care.

Well, folks, a reckoning is a'comin and Trump and his cronies better be terrified. After a stunning blue tsunami in November, the Democrats will have the gavel on *every single committee* in the House of Representatives. That means every sham investigation run by the GOP and closed with "no findings" can be reopened. Subpeonas for testimony and documents are probably already stacked a mile high in each committee chairs office, ready to be delivered on January 4th. There will be Shock and Awe reverberating from every office in the White House, lobbying firm, etc.

Last night on Last Word, Ari Melber had Rep. Steve Cohen on to talk about just this. And he pulled no punches. Here is a bit of what he said:

COHEN: The Judiciary Committee will be active as will the Government Oversight Committee in looking into the abuses of this administration which have been unlooked into for the last two years when the Republicans were complicit and derelict of duty.

MELBER: When you see, as we were covering in an earlier segment, the reports that Trump advisers think "Well, maybe this will rain on Pelosi's parade next week," what is your response to that and how do you think she, as your leader, should handle that?

COHEN: He can't rain on the parade of a person who's becoming the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives for the second time. That hasn't happened very often in history, and a lady who was the first female speaker becoming the first female speaker to get the Speakership back, it's an historic occasion and she should be treated as the Ruth Bader Ginsberg of legislators. She's a phenomenal woman. She's a phenomenal Speaker and legislator, she's smart, she's courageous and she can run circles around Donald Trump. And she's liable to expose him in such ways he will be shocked. He's met his match.

MELBER: Strong words and she does have a lot of experience, and I know you're a close ally. On the stakes of the shutdown, when people say, "Oh, maybe it wasn't so bad on a holiday week," and we showed some of your colleagues on the other side of the aisle saying they'll keep going for months "until hell freezes over," what do people say to people who want to know, well, who does this affect and how does this affect every day people?

COHEN: Well, it affects working people, people who work for the government and provides services for the Americans who need services. The courts are closed down and the United States Attorneys have told litigants that their cases won't be heard and they'll be put off because they can't even work voluntarily. There will be hardships on Americans and hardships on American citizens and Trump doesn't care. All he cares about is himself. He didn't care about his subcontractors when he ripped them off. He didn't care about people he had in Trump University and ripped them off. He's Mr. Bad example, as my buddy, Warren Zevon would have called him. That's what he is. And he did it in private industry and doing it as President. He got away with it for two years without any oversight and when he had Nunes and Goodlatte running around and doing his bidding and embarrassing the House of Representatives. Well, that's over. We've got Nadler, we've got Elijah Cummings, we've got Adam Schiff, we've got Nancy Pelosi and we've got Steve Cohen, and it's not gonna be the same time. And he can say what he wants about him being tough and he knows how to be tough. We know how to deal with bullies. We stand up to them.

MELBER: You said Warren Zevon. Didn't he also say, "Bring lawyers, guns, and money?"

Get ready, folks. It is going to be a bumpy ride in 2019.

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