Tag Archives: Netflix

The Miniseries That Could Save America

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I usually like the book better than the movie, but the reality is, most of us never get to the book. And so it goes with the Mueller Report. Reportedly, only 3 percent of us have read it. This contributes mightily to the fact that 52% disapprove of Trump, but only 41% currently support impeachment. 

We Americans are drawn to well-crafted imagery and storytelling. We love our movies and series, and a dramatized version of the Mueller Report would make quite a show.

Imagine it.

A Mystery Movie

The screenplay could begin by telling the story of how Trump’s multiple business failures made borrowing impossible. 

But then suddenly in 2014, Eric Trump is publicly boasting:

“We have all the money we need out of Russia.” 

Wait, what? Why? How? Who? 

It’s a compelling mystery, and Americans love mysteries.

A Spy Movie

The screenplay could then then focus on Part I of the Mueller Report findings, which focus on the Trump campaign’s 272 contacts with the Russians in the midst of the Russians’ attacks on America’s democratic crown jewel, our free and fair elections.

“If it’s what you say I love it…especially later in the summer.” 

“Russia, if you’re listening…”

“Wikileaks, we LOVE Wikileaks.”

12 Russian intelligence officers indicted for interfering in the American election to help Trump  

It’s a spy story, and Americans love spy movies.

A Mafia Movie

It could then dramatize Part II of the Mueller Report findings, which focuses on Trump’s cover-up of the Russian collusion and witness tampering. 

“Oh my God. This is terrible. This is the end of my Presidency. I’m fucked.”

“I was going to fire Comey knowing there was no good time to do it. . . . when I decided to just do it, I said to myself — you know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made-up story.”

“Mueller has to go. … Call me back when you do it.”

“I don’t do cover-ups.”

It’s a story of a family engaged in criminal activities doing whatever is needed to hold on to their wealth and power, and Americans love mafia movies.

A Horror Movie

It could end with the President’s son-in-law trying to set up a back channel communication to the Kremlin, President Trump repeatedly insisting on meeting with Putin without an interpreter or note-taker in the room, and Trump and the smirking Putin spooning in Helsinki.

“He just said it’s not Russia. I will say this: I don’t see any reason why it would be. I have great confidence in my intelligence people, but I will tell you that President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today.” 

Scrolling before the credits would be the letter signed by over 1,000 former federal prosecutors who reviewed the findings of the Mueller Report.

“We are (over 1,000) former federal prosecutors. We served under both Republican and Democratic administrations at different levels of the federal system.

As former federal prosecutors, we recognize that prosecuting obstruction of justice cases is critical because unchecked obstruction …puts our whole system of justice at risk.

Each of us believes that the conduct of President Trump described in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report would, in the case of any other person not covered by the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) policy against indicting a sitting President, result in multiple felony charges for obstruction of justice.”

It’s a story with a horrifying ending — an American President seemingly in the pocket of a hostile foreign enemy who is being held above the laws that every other American is expected to obey. And Americans love horror movies.

Bring It To Life

Close your eyes and imagine all of this flickering on screens across the nation.  All laid out as a clear, linear story, as opposed to a lengthy, abstruse report.  All portraying documented evidence, but evidence brought to life by talented actors and cinematographers. All applying an ethical “smell test” instead of a sterile legal test.  All presented in the summer and fall of 2020 to Americans as a three-part miniseries on a widely available streaming service, such as Netflix. 

To save America from this corrupt President, we need to give the people what they want.  They don’t want a 448-page reading assignment.  They don’t want 19-hours of audio book.  They don’t want Mueller on C-Span3 making their eyes glaze over with his gray, inconclusive, buck-passing legalese.

They want the findings of the Mueller Report spoon-fed and dramatized in a highly condensed and entertaining format. They want it brought to life.

Netflix, if you’re listening…

The Applause Line You Won’t Hear At Trump’s Minnesota Tax Day Rally

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President Donald Trump is coming to Minnesota today.  That means we’ll be treated to lots of bullying of Representative Ilhan Omar, crowing about the “exoneration” that the Special Counsel specifically has said was not an exoneration, and vilifying of families fleeing desperate conditions for a better life in America.

And you thought there was a cold wind blowing into Minnesota last week?

Since it’s Tax Day, we’ll also be hearing lots of bragging from the President about his tax cut law.  But you probably won’t hear him mention that his tax law, which was dutifully supported by every Republican in the Minnesota congressional delegation, led to twice as many corporations paying $0 in taxes compared to the period before the Trump tax cuts.  Here is an excerpt from an NBC analysis.

At least 60 companies reported that their 2018 federal tax rates amounted to effectively zero, or even less than zero…according to an analysis released today by the Washington, D.C.-based think tank, the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP). The number is more than twice as many as ITEP found roughly, per year, on average in an earlier, multi-year analysis before the new tax law went into effect.

Among them are household names like technology giant Amazon.com Inc. and entertainment streaming service Netflix Inc., in addition to global oil giant Chevron Corp., pharmaceutical manufacturer Eli Lilly and Co., and farming and commercial equipment manufacturer Deere & Co.

“Instead of paying $16.4 billion in taxes, as the new 21 percent corporate tax rate requires, these companies enjoyed a net corporate tax rebate of $4.3 billion, blowing a $20.7 billion hole in the federal budget last year.”

“The specter of big corporations avoiding all income taxes on billions in profits sends a strong and corrosive signal to Americans: that the tax system is stacked against them, in favor of corporations and the wealthiest Americans,” Gardner wrote in the report.”

The next time you hear Trump or other Republicans say there isn’t enough money to help seniors, children, disaster victims, patients, farmers, disabled people, veterans, students, parents, and dislocated workers, remember this report and these lavish corporate handouts that are blowing an enormous hole in the federal budget.

I’m pretty sure “and we doubled the number of corporations paying zero taxes” is not likely to be an applause line that we will hear from President Trump at today’s Minnesota Tax Day rally.  So I thought I’d do the President a favor and promote that particular accomplishment here.