When you ruminate for a moment on the entire Russian hacking and interference of the U.S. election, it's a real challenge for Republicans officials because as it was happening they must have been feeling uneasy about what was happening but let it ride because they were also the beneficiaries. But now that the election is over, they have to do something about it, but these cyber attacks are inevitably turned toward them.
More on that in a minute, but first, Jeff Greenfield used the word "fantasy"in terms of the electoral college vote doing anything but confirming Donald Trump as president. Democrats have face facts and work through it.
But here's two biggies that should be considered:
1. When Hillary Clinton lost the Democratic primary to Barack Obama in 2008, everyone knew she would be running in 2016 and like clockwork... too telegraphed. After two decades before that had Mrs. Clinton faced attacks and criticism and then her political opponents had 8 years to really focus on the target. The fact is that Mrs. Clinton, though a respected and effective public servant was a deeply flawed candidate, and she failed to come up with 89,000 votes that she needed in WI, MI and PA collectively. John Podesta had nothing adequate to say about the failure in Wisconsin, every panelist agreed on this. Mrs. Clinton should have been there at least ten times. It was a state that Democrats consistently won, yes, but symbolically it was also where the Republican power structure was based with both the Speaker of the House Paul Ryan and RNC Chair Reince Priebus being from the state. Ultimately, the loss is on Secretary Clinton - hard, plain and true.
2. Judging from Chuck Todd's change in body language and tone of voice when talking about criticism of the press, he doesn't like it, for understandable reasons because it's on him. And by extension, the media complains about fake news and no agreed upon set of facts, which is scary because of how people will exploit. However, here's the thing - one could argue that fake news came to be when the networks decided to start profiting from news, which gave it an agenda - eyeballs, clicks, comments. Fox News covers political events differently than NBC covers those same events, different from CNN, and then the internet and ad words...
Donald Trump told Chuck Todd once that he got his information "from the shows" which was mocked on "the shows," but isn't that what they want? Ah...but not by our leaders. Well, as Donald Trump has now proven, you can not have it both ways.
Looking into the mirror sometimes can lead to profound insight.
But back to the "thinly-veiled cyber-espionage" as fmr. Sec. Robert Gates described the Russian cyber-attacks. The U.S. intelligence community and Mr. Gates himself confirm that Russian did interfere with our elections and worked against Hillary Clinton in favor of Donald Trump. Instead of eroding confidence in our intelligence agencies through twitter, Donald Trump should have said something to the effect that if that's the case, the Russians will still be sorry for interfering and that he didn't need their help anyway. Bravado a la Trump style but at least it would get everyone on the same page. Actually, everyone is on the same page except the president-elect, which is inexplicable.
What's also inexplicable is that Chairman of the Hillary Clinton campaign John Podesta's had his emails hacked and released on October 7th, got a call from the FBI on the 9th and hasn't heard from them since. Just another reason in a long line of them why FBI Director James Comey has to go.
Between the generals Mr. Trump has nominated for his cabinet and Senate Republicans with no love for Russia, hopefully there will be appropriate action taken in the form of an independent investigation - there has to be one. If we do as Senator Mitch McConnell suggested and do it solely through the intelligence committee, which he chairs then we'll essentially be giving Vladimir Putin as 'a pass' on his actions.
Panel: Katty Kay, BBC America; Yamiche Alcindor, The New York Times, Jeff Greenfield, Politico; Rick Santelli, CNBC
Sunday, December 18, 2016
Sunday, December 11, 2016
12.11.16: The Alternate Reality of The Most Self-Interested Administration in U.S. History
Chuck Todd and Reince Priebus got 'into it' on today's "Meet The Press," a contentious back and forth about whether he and the Trump transition team believe that Russian agents were responsible for the hacking of the DNC and John Podesta. The incoming White House chief of staff said that there isn't any 'sourced' evidence that indicates that Russians were involved concluding with "I don't know." However, in a shrill defensive tonality Mr. Priebus disputed the CIA-sourced report that the RNC was hacked as well, but the information wasn't released, flatly saying that wasn't true according to the FBI. He went on to explain that given this part of the story isn't true the entire premise of the story and its contents are false as well.
The Washington Post article: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/obama-orders-review-of-russian-hacking-during-presidential-campaign/2016/12/09/31d6b300-be2a-11e6-94ac-3d324840106c_story.html?utm_term=.d4ddc9257ac5
Yet, seventeen U.S. intelligence agencies agree that Russian agents did indeed hack email systems with the intent of damaging the Clinton campaign. Furthermore, the CIA report was presented to the Congressional Intelligence Committee members of the House and Senate, and Senate Majority Mitch McConnell (R-KY) was not convinced of the evidence and blocked the release of the CIA report this past September.
There isn't any surprise that Mitch McConnell would block the release of such a report given the possibility of increasing his own power, putting self-interest over party, and party over country. Senator McConnell got a two-for in Trump's election win. He's the Senate Majority leader and his wife is a member of the cabinet. This is obviously a man who will do only what is politically advantageous for himself. Senators Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and John McCain (R-AZ) are getting ready an investigation of the Russian hacking while McConnell will sit on the sideline until he has to move. Mitch McConnell is no leader, just a Machiavellian politician in the classic sense.
[An aside: This may be Senator John McCain's last term in the Senate (speculation on my part), but combating this Russian cyber-meddling (some would say 'warfare') in our system and the Trump Administration's denying/enabling of it will be his swan song. Ultimately, as Senator McCain is wont to do throughout his career is put country over party. If this is his last political battle, he's going to go out with a win.]
The Wall Street Journal's Kimberly Strassel, who said "everyone agrees" that the Russians were responsible for hacking, to which Mr. Todd corrected her because it's everyone except the incoming administration. However, she explained that the problem with the report is that concludes that the Russians were specifically helping Mr. Trump win, which gives the air of political bias on the part of the CIA and The Washington Post. She said that doesn't seem to be the case, but then her argument gets a little twisted. She explained that the Russians hacking was designed to damage what they thought would be a Clinton Administration, to delegitimize her presidency before taking office. But to say that and then say it wasn't at the same time designed to help Mr. Trump makes no sense. The degree to which it worked was underestimated by the Russians so they got an even better result.
The Trump Administration hasn't even taken office yet and they've already caused a rift between them and the CIA, and between the CIA and the FBI.Also, their denying of Russian hacking is siding with a foreign government over the U.S. intelligence community, according to Chuck Todd, and how can you not agree with him?
And Mr. Trump continually reinforces his bromance with Vladimir Putin, at every turn. Now, he's set to nominate CEO of Exxon-Mobil Rex Tillerson as Secretary of State. Mr. Tillerson is a personal friend of Vladimir Putin and received the Order of Friendship from Mr. Putin and the Russian government. All this on top of the fact that Mr. Trump wants another billionaire in his cabinet. Lacky Priebus, of course, defended Mr. Tillerson as "one of the preeminent people in the world," after self-correcting that he was only one of the most preeminent business people in the world.
Because of all this, fmr. U.S. Russian Ambassador Michael McFaul called it 'initially disturbing' of the nomination. The program also quoted Senator Graham with "unnerving." Most Republicans, still giddy with unfettered power, are in the wait and see mode because no one's even been sworn in yet so legally no damage has been done. Little consolation.
Right now we're trending generals and billionaires and friends with Putin so welcome to the alternate reality of the most self-interested administration in U.S. History.
Panel: Kimberly Strassel, The Wall Street Journal; Doris Kearns Goodwin, presidential historian; Rick Stengel, fmr. Time magazine; Michael Steele, fmr. RNC Chair
One more thing...
John Glenn, pilot, astronaut, senator, American hero (not close to summing it up).
I'll just say that when I think of John Glenn, remembered of course for being the first human to orbit the earth, 3 times, I think how important the exploration of space is because of all the science and imagination that goes into it. That's amazing... and hopeful.
The Washington Post article: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/obama-orders-review-of-russian-hacking-during-presidential-campaign/2016/12/09/31d6b300-be2a-11e6-94ac-3d324840106c_story.html?utm_term=.d4ddc9257ac5
Yet, seventeen U.S. intelligence agencies agree that Russian agents did indeed hack email systems with the intent of damaging the Clinton campaign. Furthermore, the CIA report was presented to the Congressional Intelligence Committee members of the House and Senate, and Senate Majority Mitch McConnell (R-KY) was not convinced of the evidence and blocked the release of the CIA report this past September.
There isn't any surprise that Mitch McConnell would block the release of such a report given the possibility of increasing his own power, putting self-interest over party, and party over country. Senator McConnell got a two-for in Trump's election win. He's the Senate Majority leader and his wife is a member of the cabinet. This is obviously a man who will do only what is politically advantageous for himself. Senators Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and John McCain (R-AZ) are getting ready an investigation of the Russian hacking while McConnell will sit on the sideline until he has to move. Mitch McConnell is no leader, just a Machiavellian politician in the classic sense.
[An aside: This may be Senator John McCain's last term in the Senate (speculation on my part), but combating this Russian cyber-meddling (some would say 'warfare') in our system and the Trump Administration's denying/enabling of it will be his swan song. Ultimately, as Senator McCain is wont to do throughout his career is put country over party. If this is his last political battle, he's going to go out with a win.]
The Wall Street Journal's Kimberly Strassel, who said "everyone agrees" that the Russians were responsible for hacking, to which Mr. Todd corrected her because it's everyone except the incoming administration. However, she explained that the problem with the report is that concludes that the Russians were specifically helping Mr. Trump win, which gives the air of political bias on the part of the CIA and The Washington Post. She said that doesn't seem to be the case, but then her argument gets a little twisted. She explained that the Russians hacking was designed to damage what they thought would be a Clinton Administration, to delegitimize her presidency before taking office. But to say that and then say it wasn't at the same time designed to help Mr. Trump makes no sense. The degree to which it worked was underestimated by the Russians so they got an even better result.
The Trump Administration hasn't even taken office yet and they've already caused a rift between them and the CIA, and between the CIA and the FBI.Also, their denying of Russian hacking is siding with a foreign government over the U.S. intelligence community, according to Chuck Todd, and how can you not agree with him?
And Mr. Trump continually reinforces his bromance with Vladimir Putin, at every turn. Now, he's set to nominate CEO of Exxon-Mobil Rex Tillerson as Secretary of State. Mr. Tillerson is a personal friend of Vladimir Putin and received the Order of Friendship from Mr. Putin and the Russian government. All this on top of the fact that Mr. Trump wants another billionaire in his cabinet. Lacky Priebus, of course, defended Mr. Tillerson as "one of the preeminent people in the world," after self-correcting that he was only one of the most preeminent business people in the world.
Because of all this, fmr. U.S. Russian Ambassador Michael McFaul called it 'initially disturbing' of the nomination. The program also quoted Senator Graham with "unnerving." Most Republicans, still giddy with unfettered power, are in the wait and see mode because no one's even been sworn in yet so legally no damage has been done. Little consolation.
Right now we're trending generals and billionaires and friends with Putin so welcome to the alternate reality of the most self-interested administration in U.S. History.
Panel: Kimberly Strassel, The Wall Street Journal; Doris Kearns Goodwin, presidential historian; Rick Stengel, fmr. Time magazine; Michael Steele, fmr. RNC Chair
One more thing...
John Glenn, pilot, astronaut, senator, American hero (not close to summing it up).
I'll just say that when I think of John Glenn, remembered of course for being the first human to orbit the earth, 3 times, I think how important the exploration of space is because of all the science and imagination that goes into it. That's amazing... and hopeful.
 |
| click NY Times for obituary |
Sunday, December 04, 2016
12.4.16: The Trump Transition Team's Amateur Matinee
Instead of starting with the "Post-Truth Trump Presidency," we'll first tackle how we got here, hence the back and forth with the rival campaign managers. You can look at the myriad of reasons, factors and influences as to why Hillary Clinton lost and Donald Trump won, but what it came down to was that Donald Trump was a better campaigner than Hillary Clinton, deeply flawed as they both were. Joel Beneson, for the Clinton side, couldn't admit that the candidate herself bears a lot of the responsibility for the loss. On the other hand, despite what KellyAnne Conway actually said, she and the Trump team have not been gracious in the win at all, but their prerogative. President-elect Trump's "Thank You" tour is, let's face it, a victory lap.
Is the press to blame? No, but it bears responsibility for not pressing the candidates on policy specifics more, as Andrea Mitchell mentioned. Unlike any election in all of our lifetimes, the shear chaos of things overwhelmed the press but of its inability to focus on anything with detail. There were a few excepts like David Fahrenthold's reporting in The Washington Post. Between offensive videos and countless, tasteless, bigoted, subtly racist, ignorant, non-factual statements from Donald Trump to Hillary Clinton's 'deplorable' comment, stupid email practice, email leaks and FBI intervention all with Benghazi echoing in the background and no one knows which way to go.
[Side Note: Democrats telegraphed their candidate so blatantly and pushed every other contender out the day after President Obama was reelected, and from that moment Republicans were pushing hard on Benghazi and spent a lot of our money to smear Hillary Clinton through the next four years. They didn't know that their investment would ultimately pay out so 'bigly' but that's what it was - one big continually negative campaign against Hillary Clinton who would inevitably get the nomination despite this, and Republicans could it do because they controlled the House.]
After all that bitterness and rancor, it seems like were into the amateur hour matinee of the country's presidential programming because right at this moment that's what the Trump team is giving us. And it's an embarrassment. And Vice President-elect Mike Pence didn't make it any better in his interview.
Donald Trump hasn't even taken office yet and he's already endangering the most complicated but indispensable relationship with China by committing a mistake that clearly shows that the Trump team doesn't do its homework. Donald Trump tweeted that the Taiwanese leader called him, essentially saying that it wasn't his 'fault.' And then when Mike Pence dismisses it as just a courtesy call from the "President of Taiwan," as Andrea Mitchell explained is a serious diplomatic mistake in terms of the China, do you think the Chinese will wonder where's the courtesy to them? The Cook Political Report's Amy Walter explained that at this point there should already be a China policy in place which has considered a position in Taiwanese relations to avoid missteps, in light of these statements. However, during this transition such positions are still foggy at best.
It was refreshing to see Chuck Todd stick up for the press and say that the Trump team uses 'blaming the media' as a crutch because it does. And words do matter. This 'making excuses' tactic on the part of the Trump team is going to get very old very quickly if it continues into the Trump Administration.
In the call with the president of Pakistan, Mr. Trump called him a terrific guy and looked forward to visiting his country, also saying that he'd help end Pakistan's problems [reading: border disputes with India over Kashmir]. You can imagine that the Indian parliament loved hearing that.
President-elect Trump, post-call, disputes what the Pakistani's say what was said - a he-said, he-said thing. After a while, our countries will cut back relations with the U.S. because they'll never know where they stand with the Trump Administration. That's not how it is or necessarily will be, but this is what's trending now.
Rich Lowry described a rude awakening that Congressional Republicans are going to get when they realize that Trump isn't just going to go along with their agenda and sign bills. Republicans and Mr. Trump seem to be on the same page in terms of tax cuts, which will be a massive windfall for the wealthy, needless to understate that it will much less positive for the middle class, but many conservatives, including Rich Lowry didn't love this Carrier deal that saved 1,000+ jobs, but still over half of all of the jobs will in fact move to Mexico. Conservatives didn't like it because it was government intervening in the free market and given that it was in Gov. Mike Pence's Indiana, it reeked of crony-capitalism, that according to Sarah Palin. But dare I say that she has a point. The other sent message is that a company can threaten to move to another country in an attempt to exhort the state and/or federal government for tax concessions. Sure, be glad for the people who kept their jobs, but it's clearly how the business of creating American jobs should be done.
Lastly, there's one more job to comment on, and it's that of House Minority Leader. Nancy Pelosi was reelected to lead the Democratic caucus in the House, but the party should have gone in a different direction. The party needs a different type of leadership energy and for those paying attention who had that feeling of - OK, we got beat but I'm invigorated and motivated by the anger of the loss - just had their motivational bubble popped. Because with Nancy Pelosi back in the leadership position after so many Congressional losses (she's the House messenger of the Democratic platform), there's no avoiding the same stall energy, and hence disappointment.
Panel: Amy Walter, The Cook Political Report; Andrea Mitchell, NBC News; Heather McGhee, President Demos Action; Rich Lowry, National Review
Is the press to blame? No, but it bears responsibility for not pressing the candidates on policy specifics more, as Andrea Mitchell mentioned. Unlike any election in all of our lifetimes, the shear chaos of things overwhelmed the press but of its inability to focus on anything with detail. There were a few excepts like David Fahrenthold's reporting in The Washington Post. Between offensive videos and countless, tasteless, bigoted, subtly racist, ignorant, non-factual statements from Donald Trump to Hillary Clinton's 'deplorable' comment, stupid email practice, email leaks and FBI intervention all with Benghazi echoing in the background and no one knows which way to go.
[Side Note: Democrats telegraphed their candidate so blatantly and pushed every other contender out the day after President Obama was reelected, and from that moment Republicans were pushing hard on Benghazi and spent a lot of our money to smear Hillary Clinton through the next four years. They didn't know that their investment would ultimately pay out so 'bigly' but that's what it was - one big continually negative campaign against Hillary Clinton who would inevitably get the nomination despite this, and Republicans could it do because they controlled the House.]
After all that bitterness and rancor, it seems like were into the amateur hour matinee of the country's presidential programming because right at this moment that's what the Trump team is giving us. And it's an embarrassment. And Vice President-elect Mike Pence didn't make it any better in his interview.
Donald Trump hasn't even taken office yet and he's already endangering the most complicated but indispensable relationship with China by committing a mistake that clearly shows that the Trump team doesn't do its homework. Donald Trump tweeted that the Taiwanese leader called him, essentially saying that it wasn't his 'fault.' And then when Mike Pence dismisses it as just a courtesy call from the "President of Taiwan," as Andrea Mitchell explained is a serious diplomatic mistake in terms of the China, do you think the Chinese will wonder where's the courtesy to them? The Cook Political Report's Amy Walter explained that at this point there should already be a China policy in place which has considered a position in Taiwanese relations to avoid missteps, in light of these statements. However, during this transition such positions are still foggy at best.
It was refreshing to see Chuck Todd stick up for the press and say that the Trump team uses 'blaming the media' as a crutch because it does. And words do matter. This 'making excuses' tactic on the part of the Trump team is going to get very old very quickly if it continues into the Trump Administration.
In the call with the president of Pakistan, Mr. Trump called him a terrific guy and looked forward to visiting his country, also saying that he'd help end Pakistan's problems [reading: border disputes with India over Kashmir]. You can imagine that the Indian parliament loved hearing that.
President-elect Trump, post-call, disputes what the Pakistani's say what was said - a he-said, he-said thing. After a while, our countries will cut back relations with the U.S. because they'll never know where they stand with the Trump Administration. That's not how it is or necessarily will be, but this is what's trending now.
Rich Lowry described a rude awakening that Congressional Republicans are going to get when they realize that Trump isn't just going to go along with their agenda and sign bills. Republicans and Mr. Trump seem to be on the same page in terms of tax cuts, which will be a massive windfall for the wealthy, needless to understate that it will much less positive for the middle class, but many conservatives, including Rich Lowry didn't love this Carrier deal that saved 1,000+ jobs, but still over half of all of the jobs will in fact move to Mexico. Conservatives didn't like it because it was government intervening in the free market and given that it was in Gov. Mike Pence's Indiana, it reeked of crony-capitalism, that according to Sarah Palin. But dare I say that she has a point. The other sent message is that a company can threaten to move to another country in an attempt to exhort the state and/or federal government for tax concessions. Sure, be glad for the people who kept their jobs, but it's clearly how the business of creating American jobs should be done.
Lastly, there's one more job to comment on, and it's that of House Minority Leader. Nancy Pelosi was reelected to lead the Democratic caucus in the House, but the party should have gone in a different direction. The party needs a different type of leadership energy and for those paying attention who had that feeling of - OK, we got beat but I'm invigorated and motivated by the anger of the loss - just had their motivational bubble popped. Because with Nancy Pelosi back in the leadership position after so many Congressional losses (she's the House messenger of the Democratic platform), there's no avoiding the same stall energy, and hence disappointment.
Panel: Amy Walter, The Cook Political Report; Andrea Mitchell, NBC News; Heather McGhee, President Demos Action; Rich Lowry, National Review
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