I was visiting with my friend Bob today. I told him I needed education on Congressman Jerry Nadler of New York. He asked me what I wanted to know. I said, “Who is he and what is his history with Donald Trump?” Bob replied, “Nadler has a personal vendetta against Trump.” I said, “A vendetta? Meaning a prolonged bitter quarrel with or campaign against someone?” He replied, “Exactly.” I said, “Tell me more Bob.”
So keep reading to learn more about this vendetta as written by Bob Taft.
It has taken Congressman Jerry Nadler nearly a lifetime to take center stage, but here he is at last. After three losses in elections to lower posts, Nadler stepped into the 1992 Congressional election, won and never looked back.
In Washington President Bill Clinton made Jerry famous. During the impeachment hearings, Nadler was a staunch supporter of the beleaguered leader, and his outspoken, often caustic remarks won him enormous favor with his Manhattan constituents. The long-overdue praise swelled the congressman with visions of grandeur and he carried the gauntlet against impeaching Clinton with pride, calling the spectacle a “partisan coup d’eta.”
While Nadler, as a man of modest means, would never be invited into the Clinton inner circle, the former president did acknowledge that Jerry “not only represents New York well, but he has represented the United States very well.” This adulation is the lead line for Congressman Nadler’s official biography.
While it bolstered his political worth, the Clinton impeachment stuck in the congressman’s craw. He blamed the Republicans for an outrageous performance and waited for his time to get even.
It came sooner than he thought. He tried to organize hearings for the impeachments of both George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, but backed off believing it would interfere with the upcoming 2008 presidential election. And with the election of colleague, Barack Obama, the congressman would have to wait years for another impeachment opportunity.
Meanwhile Nadler found himself embroiled in a new feud with Donald Trump. New because the two brash Manhattaners had been at odds since the late 1980s. Trump’s wealth has always been a sore point with Nadler, whose history of lost elections kept him out of the elite class. When Trump tried to develop a project on the West Side of Manhattan, Nadler opposed it apparently to show his support for the downtrodden folks in the area.
Finally the project was approved, resulting in new housing and a
park for the Upper West Side. Though defeated once again, Nadler’s effort did earn him the reputation of fighting for the poor, even though if he had been successful, the poor would have been denied the benefits of Trump’s project.
In 2016, when Trump surprised everyone by winning the White House, Jerry Nadler, according to his close associates, began licking his chops. Since history shows that the opposing party normally wins the midterms he would then head up the House Judiciary Committee. Nadler was almost giddy at the prospects. Not only could he once again pursue his favorite sport – impeachment – but he could apply it to his worst enemy – Donald J. Trump. And he would do it with a vengeance.
Impeachment of Trump for Nadler is not about seeking truth or justice. This is a personal vendetta. He has subpoenaed over 80 documents from agencies and the president’s associates, which if carried out, would require these people to lawyer up and perhaps devastate them with legal fees a la Michael Flynn.
But Nadler doesn’t care. He’s not interested in what the feckless Mueller report will show. He wants to attack the Trump business empire to cripple his foe personally as much as possible. And why? Because for years Jerry has had to sit on the sidelines as a fellow New Yorker with much more business acumen than he could ever muster built a highly successful global corporation.
Jerry sees his probe- to-impeachment as ultimate payback for his years of seething. With his idols the Clintons in the cross-hairs, Nadler has absolutely no intention of investigating Clinton and DOJ malfeasance. Despite evidence to the contrary, he has labeled such a probe as a Republican sideshow to detract from the real fruit – the Mueller investigation. But now that it appears Mueller will come up empty-handed, he’s bound to pursue his impeachment passion another way.
In the spirit of impartial justice, Chairman Nadler said that for impeachment to work against Trump the offenses must be grave, the evidence very clear and that at least some Republicans “concede that
impeachment is necessary.”
Mr. Chairman, are you causing all this ruckus for the good of the country or for the good of Jerrold Nadler?
Until next time…