US President Donald Trump was acquitted on both charges by the Republican-led Senate on Wednesday afternoon. "The final vote was 52-48 on abuse of power and 53-47 on obstruction of Congress," the Learfield Wire Service reported. "Trump was impeached by the Democratic-controlled House for abuse of power and obstructing Congress in the investigation of the Ukraine scandal. Republicans rejected Democratic demands for witness testimony and documents that have been blocked by the White House. The House accused Trump of illegally withholding vital US military aid to Ukraine while pressuring Ukraine to investigate Democrats. Republicans called impeachment a partisan charade and argued that Trump's conduct was not impeachable."
Politically, Tuesday was one raucous day. In his State of the Union address, "President Trump framed his third year in office as an unmistakable success and his fourth as more of the same," The New York Times reported Wednesday. Due to a coding glitch, we still don’t know who won the Iowa Democratic presidential caucuses. What are we to make of all of this?
"The US trade deficit fell for the first time in six years in 2019 as the White House’s trade war with China curbed the import bill, keeping the economy on a moderate growth path despite a slowdown in consumer spending and weak business investment," Reuters reported Wednesday. "The report from the Commerce Department on Wednesday also showed the Trump administration’s 'America First' agenda decreased the flow of goods last year, with exports posting their first decline since 2016. President Donald Trump, who has dubbed himself 'the tariff man,' has pledged to shrink the deficit by shutting out more unfairly traded imports and renegotiating free trade agreements. Trump has argued that substantially cutting the trade deficit would boost annual economic growth to 3% on a sustainable basis. The economy has, however, failed to hit that mark, growing 2.3% in 2019, which was the slowest in three years, after expanding 2.9% in 2018."
In Danny Haiphong's new piece for the Black Agenda Report, entitled "Why Attacking the Green Party to Assist the War Party Helps Donald Trump," he states, "We’ve heard it before. Independent political parties such as the Greens should refrain from organizing in 'swing states' during the general election to ensure that the Democratic Party vote isn’t split in favor of the Republican Party. Ever since liberals blamed Ralph Nader for Al Gore’s loss to George W. Bush, the Green Party has become a favorite scapegoat for the Democrats to explain away their electoral failures. This time around, the argument is being made by the likes of Noam Chomsky, Bill Fletcher and Barbara Ehrenreich. In an open letter published in the LA Progressive, Chomsky and the rest warn Green Party activists and organizers not to play spoiler for the Democratic Party in the 2020 election." What's going on here?
GUESTS:
John Kiriakou — Co-host of Loud & Clear on Sputnik News Radio.
Stephen Lendman — Editor of and contributor to the book "Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III."
Dr. Linwood Tauheed — Associate professor of economics at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.
Danny Haiphong — Activist and journalist in the New York City area. He and Roberto Sirvent are co-authors of the forthcoming book "American Exceptionalism and American Innocence: A People's History of Fake News - From the Revolutionary War to the War on Terror."
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