By Bela “Bill” Suhayda
It’s easy to falsify, pervert, then obscure the truth about events when columnists in The Voice don’t bother including academic rigor in what they write. Opinion-writers such as Charles Coddington work well in the “mediums” of distortion and confusion. The Chas is a wizard at misinformation and opinion. He prattled on concerning his hate for Donald Trump and Christians in the last edition of The Voice.
Let’s first examine Coddington’s comments concerning Trump. We’ll save his attacks on scripture and Christians for future articles.
Coddington refers to me and others, who voted for Trump, as “slaves to Trump.” Chas did this because he desperately needed to make Trump a slave owner.
Explanation: We recently learned Trump is the only president who does not have descendents who owned slaves. I’m not sure why this is important to Chas. After all, none of us is responsible for what our ancestors did.
Trump’s predecessors did not own slaves…so the Chas had to call Trump supporters slaves. Chas has more than disdain for the former president. He hates Trump. This point Chas does an excellent job communicating. The “facts,” Chas cites concerning Trump are either lacking, or fabricated.
The Chas goes on at length to say I need to: “re-tune my instrument so that I can play a lovely melody. Just a thought.” I’m sure Chas has many thoughts in his head.
Mostly, they are hateful thoughts concerning Trump. I do play an instrument Chas, the Saxophone, and it is always well tuned.
So here is my melody Mr. Coddington…but it won’t be on the Saxophone. Unlike your article, mine is factual. Trump was a president of the United States. That means he has a right to his documents just as all other presidents before him. And, as all presidents, he had the power to declassify them.
The National Archives laid claim to some of Trump’s documents. Negotiations about the documents were in progress as Trump was considering his candidacy to again run for the presidency. The DOJ (Department of Justice) preempted Trump’s announcement for his run in 1924 with a raid for his documents which he legally possessed.
The matter, whether a president is entitled to his documents has already been decided. A similar case came up between “Judicial Watch,” a conservative activist group, and Bill Clinton for documents Clinton took with him after his presidency. Judge Amy Berman Jackson ruled in the case and said: “A former president can keep whatever presidential records he wants and the government has no authority to seize them. Period”
Fast forward to August `1922. attorney general Merrick Garland orders a team of FBI agents to raid, then seize documents from Trump’s home. Does anyone see a disparity here? Surely not the Chas! This action went against established policy of the DOJ and the controlling law under the Presidential Records Act along with Amy Barret Jackson ruling on the case.
Chas equates Joe Biden taking documents as vice president to Trump’s taking his documents as president. Coddington’s ignorance and dishonesty is revealed! His hate and willful disregard for the truth is revealed. Vice presidents cannot take documents with them and presidents can. This is not just a thought, this is fact, Chas!