by William Skink

As Trump continues firing and hiring, it would be easy to just focus on the instability of the current administration and the complicity of the GOP. Since it’s an election year, from the perspective of Democrats, it’s definitely preferable to maintain a partisan focus and ignore what the Democrats are up to.

On the firing front, David Shulkin at the VA is the latest casualty. The conventional wisdom is Shulklin was an impediment to the privatization of the VA. The money involved is staggering.

Aiding and abetting corporate plunder is standard operating procedure for the GOP, and privatizing the VA would be a very lucrative prospect for politically positioned providers to cash in on. But it’s not just Republicans Veterans should be worried about. According to Suzanne Gordon on Democracy Now, Montana’s very own Jon Tester is cited as a Democrat complicit in the effort to privatize the VA:

I think it’s up to the Senate and the veterans service organizations to oppose this. And it’s up to them to oppose privatization. And, Amy, the really frightening thing about all this is it’s not just the Republicans. I mean, there are many Democrats in the House and in the Senate who really are not standing tall enough about the issue of opposing what I call stealth privatization. You know, outsource this, outsource that, and pretty soon you have nothing left. And Democrats have to really stand firm on this issue. Jon Tester of Montana is the co-sponsor of a bill that would really increase the pace of privatization. They claim it’s not privatization, but it is creeping privatization. And we need people to say, “No, fix the VA.”

Suzanne Gordon is a award-winning journalist with an article in The American Prospect digging into why private sector providers are not ready to care for Veterans. Gordon knows what she is talking about, and Democrats like Tester, who are complicit in the stealth privatization of the VA, better take notice.

On the hiring front the big news is John “We know where your children live” Bolton. This mustached psychopath should be easy for Democrats to oppose, right? And the reason he should be opposed is because he is a warmonger on steroids. But is that what we are hearing from Democrats? Sadly no, says Caitlin Johnstone:

As so many of us have been dreading, PNAC’s favorite bloodthirsty child killer John Bolton has been added to the Trump administration. And as many half-jokingly predicted, Democrats seized on this opportunity to accuse Bolton of being a Kremlin agent.

That’s right, John Bolton, the guy who has been trying to start a war with Russia since long before the name Vladimir Putin meant anything to the average Democrat, is being accused of colluding with Russia. Count on Democrats to oppose the most virulent neocon in Washington by accusing him of not being hawkish enough.

“John Bolton once suggested Russian hack of DNC may have been a false flag operation by Obama Admin,” fretted lead Democratic Russiagater Adam Schiff, mistaking brazen partisan hackery for actual skepticism about a likely intelligence community false flag.

“Don’t forget the reason for H.R. McMaster’s departure: He criticized Russia,” added Democratic Coalition co-founder Scott Dworkin. “McMaster said publicly that Russia needed to face serious consequences for what they’ve done in Syria & for the gas attack in the UK. John Bolton would never say anything like that.”

“Trump has outdone himself by selecting Bolton,” Democratic Rep. Ted Deutch tweeted with a link to a story about Bolton having appeared in a 2013 video for a Russian gun rights group. “In one appointment, he simultaneously increased the influence of the NRA in his Admin. & found another way to tie himself to Russia. Does he still claim he hires the best people? #TrumpRussia.”

“Bolton is *pre-indictment* for many crimes against America,” tweeted renowned professional intelligence LARPer Eric Garland.

Was he referring to Bolton’s unforgivable war crimes? Of course not.

“He’s owned by Russia,” Garland explained.

Is the Democratic obsession with Russia so pervasive they can’t even take a time-out to acknowledge that the true danger of Bolton is his lust for war, like calling for preemptive strikes on North Korea and Iran? Apparently so.

Domestically, the political season is moving into spring thaw mode, and Democrats are desperate to see the blue wave sweep them back into relevancy. Is that why the DCCC keeps injecting itself into Democrat primaries? Is that why the Montana Democratic establishment is hoping to boot Green candidates off the ballot?