It's half-time of the political party convention game, and the second half belongs to the Democrats. Appropriately aiding in this transition, Chuck Todd interviewed first Donald Trump on the heels of his convention and Bernie Sanders leading into the Democratic get-together in Philadelphia this week, the site of this week's program. (And yes, we agree with Mr. Todd that Philadelphia is a beautiful city.)
Mr. Trump characterized his speech as an optimistic one overall. He said that he explained the problems and followed with solutions, but "I, alone," is not a solution Saying that we're going to just 'win' is not a solution. Fmr. RNC Chair Michael Steele said that the Republican based (the convention) is in fact hungry for a strong man, to which we would simply ask, "What are these people thinking?!" The concept of compromise has been demonized to such an extent in our body politic that one of our major parties has nominated an individual that has rhetorically relied on threats as a way of getting things done.
Mr. Trump said that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is "100% wrong" on NATO. The Republican nominee reiterated his position that the United States will not back a member country if it hasn't paid it's fair share. In that context, Andrea Mitchell's point that anyone in Poland hearing that is not happy is valid, and downright scary for the Poles. This certainly opens the door for aggressive Russian advances toward Poland (e.g. military exercises on the boarder; 'creating' a military incident for justification) during a Trump administration with no repercussions to be felt from the United States. Mr. Trump's obtuse endorsement of Mr. Putin and his actions is deeply troubling.
Even of immigration, Mr. Trump said that he would suspend immigration from any country compromised by terrorism and that includes France, another member of NATO by the way. Not only has Mr. Trump taken an adversarial stance toward China and Mexico, and with statements like from today's interview, he's alienating some of our most steadfast, long-time allies. Meet The Press as well as countless other programs have pointed out that Mr. Trump like to create controversy and a bit of chaos to bolster his image, and you can imagine what we'll say next. You guess it: This is in no uncertain terms the way in which to run the most powerful nation in the world.
The last bit about Mr. Trump from today's interview is that he said he would probably be setting up SuperPACs to attack Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Governor John Kasich (R-OH) for their outspokenness in opposition of the nominee. Why? Mr. Trump has already won, beaten both of those individuals in the election so to go back after the victory to drive them down further does show the vindictiveness of a strong man, but a cowardly one let's face it. And again, vindictiveness is not a quality that should motivate the President of the United States.
Mr. Trump is really relying on the "I, alone" because he's attacking everyone, and to make sure no one is left out, we transition to the Democrats, in which Mr. Trump's attack on the newly-named Democratic VP pick, Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) will focus his receiving of gifts as governor of Virginia, his closeness with the banks, and his support of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal.
"His politics are not my politics," Bernie Sanders said of Senator Kaine on the eve of the Democratic convention. This, coupled with Wikileaks leak of DNC emails showing that it favored Mrs. Clinton do not bode well for a smooth start to the proceedings, especially with Senator Sanders speaking on the first night.
Whether you like Mrs. Clinton's choice or not, we respect the candidate who picks someone that he/she feels most comfortable working with. With all the external battles that an administration has to fight during its term, it doesn't make any sense to wantonly fight battles internally. And for that reason, Mrs. Clinton picked a center-left Democrat instead of a firebrand progressive like Elizabeth Warren, as Senator Sanders stated he would have liked.
Conversely, Mr. Trump's pick of Governor Mike Pence is of convenient conservatism, an individual it's rumored that Mr. Trump wasn't all in. So far, Gov. Pence has been trying is best to represent his conservative credentials, but given that he was in for a tough gubernatorial reelection fight, he's been simply glad to be along for the ride. And really, Mr. Trump seems to feel that his best partner is himself. "I, alone."
About the DNC e-mails: First, as we said way back at the beginning, it was a mistake to make a Congressperson the chair of the party, and Ms. Wasserman-Schultz has done a terrible job in that capacity. Simple example: Today, Chris Matthews called the debate schedule 'absurd,' and one that heavily favored Mrs. Clinton. There's the notion out there that Russia who hacked the DNC server gave the emails to Wikileaks to influence the election in favor of Mr. Trump who has shown deference to Mr. Putin. Either way, it's no coincidence that they were leaked just before the convention.
Ultimately, the emails only give fuel to Senator Sanders' supporters, adding to the amount of leverage that he holds to either bring the Democrats together or in attempting the rip the whole thing down. However, in this particular email instance, Mrs. Clinton is not to blame and won't be too badly hurt.
But make no mistake, Senator Sanders holds a lot of the keys in making the Democratic convention one that moves the party forward or backward. A lot will be made of what Senator Sanders doesn't say, like how many times he says Mrs. Clinton's name, etc.
There's also no doubt that Mr. Sanders will not have a Ted Cruz moment because of his feeling that there has been a no more dangerous candidate for president in his lifetime than Donald Trump. And there hasn't.
Panel: Andrea Mitchell, Rachel Maddow and Chris Matthews, NBC News; Michael Steele, fmr. RNC Chair
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