Michael Gaynor
Sean Hannity, please send "The Donald" T. Harry Williams' pulitzer-prize and national book award winning autobiography of "The Kingfish," Louisiana's Huey Long
And call for a "Round Robin" now
By Michael Gaynor
If at least thirty-four United States Senators publicly pledge to acquit after a tainted impeachment, perhaps the United States finally can move on to ratify the trade treaty with Canada and Mexico and to conclude deals with China and North Korea.
New York Times Book Review called Professor Harry Williams' Huey Long a "masterpiece of American biography."
Washington Post deemed it "[a] brilliant, bawdy, unforgettable picture of the most colorful, as well as the most dangerous man to engage in American politics."
Fitting, the blueprint to a solution to President Trump's current impeachment problem is in it.
It is painfully obvious that the current "progressive" Democrat political strategy led by Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi and inspired by first-termer Alexandria Orcasio Cortez and her "squad" of three other radical first-termers is to paralyze the United States Government, less President Donald J. Trump, accumulate even more significant political accomplishments for the United States and more promised kept (a dreadful thought to Deep Staters).
Sean Hannity has been right all along about the machinations of anti-Trumpers designed to thwart the fulfillment of President Trump's dreams for the United States both before and since he was inaugurated in 2017 after stunning the bulk of the self-described political experts to the consternation of all anti-Trumpers here and abroad.
So it is entirely fitting that Hannity should send President Trump a copy of Huey Long, and respectfully suggest that he read chapters 14, "Bloody Monday – and Impeachment," and 15, "The Round Robin."
That should suffice as a blueprint for how to proceed to handle the mess that President Trump must address.
It worked beautifully when Long was an embattled Governor of Louisiana and it can work now for persecuted President Trump.
Long continued to dominate Louisiana and frustrate his political enemies until he was assassinated (a chilling warning to those who take on the Deep State).
Professor Williams explained that there were two Round Robins and continued as follows:
"The text of the first Round Robin does not exist, and its content has to be surmised. Huey quoted a brief portion of it in his autobiography. This excerpt stated that the signing senators would not vote to convict Huey on any charges heretofore filed or that might be filed. They were taking this stand because of the 'legal irregularities and circumstances' surrounding the impeachment procedure. This language meant, presumably, that the house, in bringing impeachment, had not adhered to certain technical legal requirements. It also meant, again presumably, that the house and the senate could not sit legally after April 6. But the document contained other objections to impeachment, as is evident from hints in Huey's account and from the recollections of one of the signers. It declared that the charges that had been filed, the Manship and bribery charges, and the ones that might be filed, whose nature could be deduced from the nineteen-point indictment, were defective and hence invalid. They were invalid because they did not deal with impeachable offences. Huey compared this section to a demurrer in a court – a client, even if guilty, cannot be tried on a defective charge.
"The language in the document was primarily the work of Representative Allen J. Ellender, who did the drafting at Huey's request. Huey looked the text over and made a few changes. Once the document was in hand, Huey placed telephone calls to a number of Longite senators asking them to come to Baton Rouge [Louisiana's capitol]. One by one Huey received them in his hotel suite and asked them to affix their signatures to the Round Robin. In his autobiography he said that he relied solely on legal arguments to persuade them. He undoubtedly did use legal reasoning, but primarily to convince the senators that they would be standing on unassailable legal ground if they stood with him. But he resorted to other arguments – offers, even if only hinted at, of patronage, roads, and other favors. He had need to be persuasive. Some senators were under great pressure in their home districts to vote for conviction. In Opelousas, the home of Henry D. Larcade, printed notices: 'If Henry Larcade votes to acquit he will be tarred and feathered if he returns to Opelousas.' Still Huey was able to secure the signatures of thirteen senators. Fred Oser of New Orleans, was known to be driving to Baton Rouge. Huey, with a few friends around him, settled down to keep an anxious vigil.
"The hours passed, but Oser did not come. Disquieting rumors came to Huey's room that Oser had gone over to the opposition. But finally, around midnight, the senator arrived. He had been delayed by car trouble, he said. Huey pressed him to sign the Round Robin, emphasizing that his signature was all that was needed to block impeachment. Oser expressed reluctance to add his name. He said that he was against impeachment but doubted the propriety of promising his verdict before he heard the evidence. He and Huey argued the issue into the small hours of the morning. At last Oser said that he could not decide without consulting his law partner in New Orleans, Hugh Wilkerson. Huey was not going to let him get away with that one. Picking up the phone, Huey called Wilkinson and asked him to come up to Baton Rouge. There was an important matter he was discussing with Fred Oser, he said. The lawyer drove to the capital immediately. When he arrived, he took Oser off for a conference. They returned shortly and announced their decision: Oser would sign. A collective sigh of relief went up from Huey and his friends in the room. Someone asked Huey if he wouldn't like to get some breakfast. The Kingfish stood up and stretched. 'This is the first time I've been able to eat breakfast in months,' he said.
"The little drama with Oser was not nearly so crucial as it seemed. Later that same day Huey persuaded another senator, T. A. McConnell, to sign the Round Robin. He now had one more vote than he needed. He also secured from two additional senators their promise to vote against impeachment. These men refused to sign the Round Robin but pledged their voted if they should be required. Huey could now sit back and observe the impeachers with amusement as they solemnly pushed their case through the house. But he took care not to reveal the reason for his confidence. He kept the existence of the Robin a close secret. The document reposed for a short time in the bosom of Miss Grosjean and was then transferred to the safety of a bank box in a Baton Rouge bank.
"...The Round Robin was in a sense only a private affirmation of a position previously and publicly stated. Still it was a brilliant coup. Some of the men who had voted for the Gilbert resolution might have wavered and deserted Huey. But they could hardly leave him once they had signed their names to a manifesto pledging to stay with him."
Fifty Republican United States Senators have objected to the impeachment process of the House of Representatives.
If at least thirty-four United States Senators publicly pledge to acquit after a tainted impeachment, perhaps the United States finally can move on to ratify the trade treaty with Canada and Mexico and to conclude deals with China and North Korea.
Or is letting the sanctimonious anti-Trumpers proceed futilely somehow too tempting to resist?
© Michael Gaynor
November 7, 2019
If at least thirty-four United States Senators publicly pledge to acquit after a tainted impeachment, perhaps the United States finally can move on to ratify the trade treaty with Canada and Mexico and to conclude deals with China and North Korea.
New York Times Book Review called Professor Harry Williams' Huey Long a "masterpiece of American biography."
Washington Post deemed it "[a] brilliant, bawdy, unforgettable picture of the most colorful, as well as the most dangerous man to engage in American politics."
Fitting, the blueprint to a solution to President Trump's current impeachment problem is in it.
It is painfully obvious that the current "progressive" Democrat political strategy led by Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi and inspired by first-termer Alexandria Orcasio Cortez and her "squad" of three other radical first-termers is to paralyze the United States Government, less President Donald J. Trump, accumulate even more significant political accomplishments for the United States and more promised kept (a dreadful thought to Deep Staters).
Sean Hannity has been right all along about the machinations of anti-Trumpers designed to thwart the fulfillment of President Trump's dreams for the United States both before and since he was inaugurated in 2017 after stunning the bulk of the self-described political experts to the consternation of all anti-Trumpers here and abroad.
So it is entirely fitting that Hannity should send President Trump a copy of Huey Long, and respectfully suggest that he read chapters 14, "Bloody Monday – and Impeachment," and 15, "The Round Robin."
That should suffice as a blueprint for how to proceed to handle the mess that President Trump must address.
It worked beautifully when Long was an embattled Governor of Louisiana and it can work now for persecuted President Trump.
Long continued to dominate Louisiana and frustrate his political enemies until he was assassinated (a chilling warning to those who take on the Deep State).
Professor Williams explained that there were two Round Robins and continued as follows:
"The text of the first Round Robin does not exist, and its content has to be surmised. Huey quoted a brief portion of it in his autobiography. This excerpt stated that the signing senators would not vote to convict Huey on any charges heretofore filed or that might be filed. They were taking this stand because of the 'legal irregularities and circumstances' surrounding the impeachment procedure. This language meant, presumably, that the house, in bringing impeachment, had not adhered to certain technical legal requirements. It also meant, again presumably, that the house and the senate could not sit legally after April 6. But the document contained other objections to impeachment, as is evident from hints in Huey's account and from the recollections of one of the signers. It declared that the charges that had been filed, the Manship and bribery charges, and the ones that might be filed, whose nature could be deduced from the nineteen-point indictment, were defective and hence invalid. They were invalid because they did not deal with impeachable offences. Huey compared this section to a demurrer in a court – a client, even if guilty, cannot be tried on a defective charge.
"The language in the document was primarily the work of Representative Allen J. Ellender, who did the drafting at Huey's request. Huey looked the text over and made a few changes. Once the document was in hand, Huey placed telephone calls to a number of Longite senators asking them to come to Baton Rouge [Louisiana's capitol]. One by one Huey received them in his hotel suite and asked them to affix their signatures to the Round Robin. In his autobiography he said that he relied solely on legal arguments to persuade them. He undoubtedly did use legal reasoning, but primarily to convince the senators that they would be standing on unassailable legal ground if they stood with him. But he resorted to other arguments – offers, even if only hinted at, of patronage, roads, and other favors. He had need to be persuasive. Some senators were under great pressure in their home districts to vote for conviction. In Opelousas, the home of Henry D. Larcade, printed notices: 'If Henry Larcade votes to acquit he will be tarred and feathered if he returns to Opelousas.' Still Huey was able to secure the signatures of thirteen senators. Fred Oser of New Orleans, was known to be driving to Baton Rouge. Huey, with a few friends around him, settled down to keep an anxious vigil.
"The hours passed, but Oser did not come. Disquieting rumors came to Huey's room that Oser had gone over to the opposition. But finally, around midnight, the senator arrived. He had been delayed by car trouble, he said. Huey pressed him to sign the Round Robin, emphasizing that his signature was all that was needed to block impeachment. Oser expressed reluctance to add his name. He said that he was against impeachment but doubted the propriety of promising his verdict before he heard the evidence. He and Huey argued the issue into the small hours of the morning. At last Oser said that he could not decide without consulting his law partner in New Orleans, Hugh Wilkerson. Huey was not going to let him get away with that one. Picking up the phone, Huey called Wilkinson and asked him to come up to Baton Rouge. There was an important matter he was discussing with Fred Oser, he said. The lawyer drove to the capital immediately. When he arrived, he took Oser off for a conference. They returned shortly and announced their decision: Oser would sign. A collective sigh of relief went up from Huey and his friends in the room. Someone asked Huey if he wouldn't like to get some breakfast. The Kingfish stood up and stretched. 'This is the first time I've been able to eat breakfast in months,' he said.
"The little drama with Oser was not nearly so crucial as it seemed. Later that same day Huey persuaded another senator, T. A. McConnell, to sign the Round Robin. He now had one more vote than he needed. He also secured from two additional senators their promise to vote against impeachment. These men refused to sign the Round Robin but pledged their voted if they should be required. Huey could now sit back and observe the impeachers with amusement as they solemnly pushed their case through the house. But he took care not to reveal the reason for his confidence. He kept the existence of the Robin a close secret. The document reposed for a short time in the bosom of Miss Grosjean and was then transferred to the safety of a bank box in a Baton Rouge bank.
"...The Round Robin was in a sense only a private affirmation of a position previously and publicly stated. Still it was a brilliant coup. Some of the men who had voted for the Gilbert resolution might have wavered and deserted Huey. But they could hardly leave him once they had signed their names to a manifesto pledging to stay with him."
Fifty Republican United States Senators have objected to the impeachment process of the House of Representatives.
If at least thirty-four United States Senators publicly pledge to acquit after a tainted impeachment, perhaps the United States finally can move on to ratify the trade treaty with Canada and Mexico and to conclude deals with China and North Korea.
Or is letting the sanctimonious anti-Trumpers proceed futilely somehow too tempting to resist?
© Michael Gaynor
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