But Your Honor, I'm blind, and my VEEP doesn't speak English. I mean...er...Me Blindo y

I'm sure you've heard of the Fifth Amendment which guarantees citizens the right to NOT have give self-incriminating testimony.  If asked a question in court they can avoid answering by "pleading the Fifth".  This doesn't mean they're either guilty or not guilty, but just that they're not going to answer the question.  

Our American system of justice says everyone is (theoretically) considered innocent until proven guilty.  However, when a person pleads the Fifth over and over and over and....the average listener begins to think the person pleading it is indeed guilty.  The perception says "guilty" even if the evidence doesn't, and it's a hard perception to overcome.

That's essentially where President Donnie John Trump is today.  Every time he or one of his surrogates opens his mouth, smoke comes billowing out.  They say, "look over there" and "nobody's ever proven anything" and "I never said that", even when there's video of them saying that.  No fire has yet been seen, but now the perception is he's guilty.  He's to the point now that a vast majority of people think he's lying, even if he isn't.  

So what's up with RussiaGate?   I won't go in to all the suspicious things that link the Trump campaign / administration and many of his advisers to Russia, but they're all over the news if you wish to look them up. Virtually everyone above the level of the White House mail room kid is under investigation by the FBI.

You've heard the old saying, "If you find yourself in a hole, stop digging", right?  So why does the Trump administration keep digging?  If they're truly as pure as the driven snow like they say they are, why don't they stop in place, open up all their dealings, and prove it?  And if there IS a rotten apple in the barrel, then get them out NOW!  They could turn a negative into a positive.  What's the point of keeping the smoke screen machine running flat out if all is well? 

Yet the Republicans in Congress give him almost universal lip support.  Virtually no thinking person buys hook, line, and sinker everything President Trump and his surrogates say, but the Republican's, with only a few defectors, will admit nothing is even at all suspicious.  They'll go out of their way to give him cover.  Is that smart?

If I was a congressman (R) *shudder* I think this would be a good time to go on a foreign junket.  Seems to me it's just a matter of time before the next Woodward and Bernstein (look 'em up kids) hooks up with the right whistleblower and the Shit Hits The Fan.  Or if there is nothing to blow a whistle about, that will come out, too.  But playing it safe, just in case the fan does start flinging poo, I wouldn't want to be known as part of Trump's regular golf foursome.  

If the SHTF there would be a lot of panicked rats trying to escape the sinking SS Trump.  Politics baffles me.  How can people that smart be so stupid?

S