The biggest and most destructive legacy of the Trump administration isn't just destruction of the environment, children in cages, or damaging the economy through a helter-skelter trade war. The biggest legacy, the one that is most likely to damage American democracy for generations, is the normalization of corruption. And that is only possible because people within our government are willing to enable or ignore Donald Trump's corruption. From him and his son-in-law taking hundreds of millions of dollars from Middle Eastern sources, to forcing the military to give money to his properties, to putting lobbyists in charge of virtually everything in Washington DC, The greatest danger to our republic is how Donald Trump has normalized corruption.

If he - and, in particular, the toadies inside government will go along with him - are not held accountable, future administrations will think that this is normal and acceptable. Whether done from the right or the left, that will end the rule of law as it comes to American politics, and turn America into a strongman banana republic.

-Thom

Monday's Daily Stack

Hour One: Issues of the Day
- Congressman Ro Khanna (D-CA, 17th District)

Article: "House Judiciary Committee to vote on impeachment hearing parameters" by CBS News.

Article: "How Trump's Plan to Secretly Meet With the Taliban Came Together, and Fell Apart" by Peter Baker, Mujib Mashal and Michael Crowley.

Article: "California May Lower The Voting Age To 17" by CBS13.

Article: "Elizabeth Warren wants to change the bankruptcy code. Here's what that could mean for American workers" by Anneken Tappe.

Article: "Ways and Means chairman asks for Trump's tax returns" by Doug Sword.

Article: "Ineligibility Clause" (Emoluments Clause).

Article: "Trump Administration Takes $400 Million From Puerto Rico Recovery to Fund Border Wall" by Ayana Byrd.

Article: "Daniel Sheehan (attorney)" by Wikipedia.

Article: "America's new voting machines bring new fears of election tampering" by Jordan Wilkie.

Article: "The US military may have spent millions to help prop up a Trump resort" by Riley Beggin.

Article: "Congress probe as US military spending increase at Prestwick Airport linked to Trump Turnberry" by Martyn McLaughlin.

Article: "Donald Trump says he had 'nothing to do' with Pence's stay at his Irish golf club" by Martin Pengelly.

Article: "McConnell's Legislative Graveyard" by Nancy LeTourneau.

Article: "US Significantly Weakens Endangered Species Act" by Lisa Friedman.

Article: "Homeland Security moves $155 million from FEMA disaster relief for immigration enforcement" by Geneva Sands and Priscilla Alvarez.

Article: "Donald Trump Got $17 Million Insurance Payout for Damage Few Recall" by AP.

Article: "How Does Civil Service Retirement Affect Social Security Benefits?" by Jackie Lohrey.

Article: "Policy Basics: Where Do Our Federal Tax Dollars Go?" by CBPP.

Article: "Banana republic" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Key Trump Cabinet positions are filled by former lobbyists" by Shannon Vavra.

Article: "Flake, Corker can't break the GOP fever" by Stephen Collinson.

Article: "Justin Amash was part of the conservative in-crowd. Now he's trying to figure out who his real friends are." by Ben Terris.

Article: "Let Trump Decide The Weather, NOAA Reportedly Told Staff Before Hurricane Dorian" by Kevin Fitzpatrick.

Article: "Bush Pardons 6 in Iran Affair, Aborting a Weinberger Trial; Prosecutor Assails 'Cover-Up'" by David Johnston.

Article: "When a Candidate Conspired With a Foreign Power to Win An Election" by John A. Farrell.

Article: "Understanding the Iran-Contra Affairs" by Brown University.

Article: "'Argo' helps Iran's dictatorship, harms democracy" by Abolhassan Bani-Sadr.

Article: "10th Amendment" "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people"

Article: "Study of Disputed Florida Ballots Finds Justices Did Not Cast the Deciding Vote" by Ford Fessenden and John M. Broder, November 12, 2001.

Article: "Truth and reconciliation commission" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Trump Wins Big in Emoluments Lawsuits: Two Down and One to Go" by Hans A. Von Spakovsky & Giancarlo Canaparo.

Article: "Line Crossed? Trump Encourages New 'Activist' AT&T Investor to Stop 'Fake News Emanating' From CNN" by Joe DePaolo.

Article: "Pharmland" by Lamar White, Jr.

Article: "A Closer Look at Cheney and Halliburton" by David E. Rosenbaum.

Article: "Trump took a big loan from Trump and never paid Trump back ... because it's a tax scam" by Mark Sumner.

Article: "Donald Trump Has Never Explained a Mysterious $50 Million Loan. Is It Evidence of Tax Fraud?" by Russ Choma.

Video: McConnell Bristles At 'Moscow Mitch' After Blocking Election Security Bill | The 11th Hour | MSNBC.

Article: "Jeffrey Epstein: The trail of ruined lives, misery and bankruptcy arch-swindler and paedophile left in his wake" by Marc Fisher, Jonathan O'Connell.

Article: "The 'Epstein-Barr' Problem of New York City's Dalton School" by Jerry Lambe.

Book: "A People's History of the United States: 1492 to Present" by Howard Zinn.

Article: "The Swamp Fox (TV series)" by Wikipedia.

Book: White Trash: The 400-Year Untold History of Class in America by Nancy Isenberg.

TV: "The Family".

Video: Exposing the Secret Christian Group Seeking Political Power (w/ Jeff Sharlet).

Talk Media News Segment:
- Bob Ney

Site: "Goats for the old Goat".

Book: Loving What You Do: The Elements of a Great Working Life by Ellen Ratner.

Book: "Sideswiped: Lessons Learned Courtesy of the Hit Men of Capitol Hill" by Robert Ney.

Article: "Air Force orders review of all international layover stays following bookings at Trump Scotland resort" by Ryan Browne and Kevin Bohn.

Article: "Trump says he knows 'nothing' about Air Force crews staying at his Turnberry resort" by Zachary Cohen and Ryan Browne.

Article: "House panel investigating military spending at Trump Turnberry" by Caroline Kelly and Jeremy Herb.

Article: "Netanyahu exposes what he claims to be a nuclear weapons site in Iran" by Barak Ravid.

Article: "UN atomic watchdog confirms Iran installing new centrifuges" by David Rising.

Article: "Joe Biden refers to president as 'Donald Hump' in 'Freudian slip'" by Mark Decambre.

Tweet: "Wow - #DonaldHump is so perfect given @StormyDaniels & Karen McDougal & 20-some women alleging he tried to hump each of them without permission. @JoeBiden nailed it!" by Thom Hartmann.

Tweet: "Unbeknownst to almost everyone, the major Taliban leaders and, separately, the President of Afghanistan, were going to secretly meet with me at Camp David on Sunday. They were coming to the United States tonight. Unfortunately, in order to build false leverage, they admitted to.." by Donald J. Trump.

Tweet: "....an attack in Kabul that killed one of our great great soldiers, and 11 other people. I immediately cancelled the meeting and called off peace negotiations. What kind of people would kill so many in order to seemingly strengthen their bargaining position? They didn't, they...." by Donald J. Trump.

Tweet: "....only made it worse! If they cannot agree to a ceasefire during these very important peace talks, and would even kill 12 innocent people, then they probably don't have the power to negotiate a meaningful agreement anyway. How many more decades are they willing to fight?" by Donald J. Trump.

Article: "Jimmy Carter back to building houses after hip surgery" by Devan Cole and Betsy Klein.

Article: "Camp David Accords" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Trump's desire to be seen as a dealmaker led to his Taliban-at-Camp-David plans" by Laura Clawson.

Article: "Steven Mnuchin, Foreclosure King Of America" by Nomi Prins.

Article: "The Trump administration's new plan to privatize Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, explained" by Matthew Yglesias.

Article: "Criminalizing voter registration" by Judd Legum.

Article: "With Unrest Next Door in Venezuela, Air Force Hopes to Make Strides in Guyana" by Oriana Pawlyk.

Tweet: "In order to get elected, @BarackObama will start a war with Iran." by Donald J. Trump.

Article: "As a matter of fact, in interviews in 1999 with respected journalist, and long time Bush family friend, David Herskowitz, then Governor George Bush stated: 'One of the keys to being seen as a great leader is to be seen as a commander-in-chief. My father had all this political capital built up when he drove the Iraqis out of Kuwait and he wasted it. If I have a chance to invade... if I had that much capital, I'm not going to waste it. I'm going to get everything passed that I want to get passed and I'm going to have a successful presidency." - My Testimony for the Downing Street Memo Hearings" by Cindy Sheehan, June 16 2005.

Article: "The Trump administration is kicking 3.1 million people off food stamps" by Dylan Matthews.

Article: "Ultra-processed food linked to early death" by James Gallagher.

Article: "Bill Maher: "Being Fat Is A Bad Thing"; When Did It Become Taboo To Talk About Getting Healthy?" by Ian Schwartz.

Article: "Poverty in America a Literal 'Death Sentence,' Says Sanders, Following Devastating GAO Report" by Jake Johnson.

Article: "Trump Reportedly Had Meltdown Over 'Stupid' Jared Kushner Using Private Email: 'That's What Hillary Did!'" by Ken Meyer.

Article: "The NRA Is Not Happy With NASCAR" by Max Finkel.

Event: 20-27 Sept: "Global Climate Strike".

Article: "Greta Thunberg" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Fridays for Future: The #Climatestrike movement comes of age" by Jefferson Chase.

Tweet: "On September 20th we are asking the adults to join us. This is their chance to help fix the problem that the older generations have created.
We don't want you to applaud us or to tell us we're going to save the world. We want you to strike with us in September. @GretaThunberg" by Holly Gillibrand.

Article: "Russia offered to sell Trump hypersonic weapons - Putin" by SBJ.

Article: "Jim Jones" by Wikipedia.

Video: Trump asked Comey to pledge loyalty.

Article: "13th Amendment", December 6, 1865. "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction."

Article: "California's Prison Labor Problem" by Harry Waksberg.

Article: "Fact check: Did Kamala Harris block evidence that would have freed inmates?" by Emily Cadei and Bryan Anderson.

Article: "James Mattis Doesn't Want to Talk About the President" by Susan B. Glasser.

Tuesday on The Thom Hartmann Program, 12-3pm ET

I'll be talking with Leila Conners, President - Tree Media / Director of the new HBO film Ice on Fire (Produced/narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio) (special screening tonight in L.A.)

And, the best of the rest of the news along with your calls right here on...

The Thom Hartmann Program, Occupying The Media 3 hours a day 5 days a week" for "we the people"

And don't forget...Democracy is NOT a spectator sport...it begins with you...

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