7.30.17: Trump Is Trump and McCain is The Mav

The politics of this week leaves one only to wonder how it could become anymore bizarrely frenetic, to the detriment of us all, without digressing too much, and though not completely unpredictable, it was enough to prompt Mr. Todd among many others to describe the Republican Party as a circular firing squad while describing the presidency as chaotic. From this week's New York Post, a supportive publication for Mr. Trump for the most part, displayed this cover, comparing the White House to "Survivor."

But a reality game show, this is not - a perception that now White House Chief of Staff General John Kelly was brought in to fix, at the expense of the Scaramucci-castigated Reince Priebus. General Kelly gets sworn in tomorrow and the good news for him is that among the few people the president listens to it seems are generals; a short time will tell.

While all the infighting raged through the administration this week, major moments were taking shape in the Senate over Mitch McConnell's health care bill. To distract from a potential disaster of not fulfilling a campaign promise - repealing Obamacare - the Trump Administration, nay President Trump tweeted a new military policy banning all transgender individuals from serving in the armed forces. The Pentagon directed questions about the policy back to the White House and press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders referred questions back to the Pentagon. The administration's calculation was once again an example of poor political judgement. Not only did it not soften the blow of the health care vote going down in defeat in the eyes of Mr. Trump's base, but it was widely criticized by many Republican politicians, namely Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) who said that transgender individuals didn't choose their sexuality but were born that way so why should we hold that against them.

But as stated at the top, the defeat of Mr. McConnell's health care bill was not entirely surprising. Before getting to that, it must be said that Secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Price only gives answers in pure ideological terms never with any specifics, as he once again did on today's program. It's almost as though you have to have the secretary on your program as a courtesy, but the fact is that no one is listening to his platitudes anymore. As the secretary in charge of healthcare, he needs to be specific, and he never is. So when he says that the president is "so passionate" and "serious" about health care, how are we to believe that.

President Trump said that he was "waiting with pen in hand" to sign a bill repealing Obamacare, and that was part of the problem right there - the president doesn't even realize. He was waiting. If you're so passionate and serious about health care reform, you're out there talking about it in a constructive way, not threatening the Secretary of Health and Human Services' job during a speech at the National Boy Scouts of America Jamboree.

And to make sure that the president and the Senate majority leader understand regular order and how it's done, in walks the maverick - Senator John McCain (R-AZ).

Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) was always a no vote on McConnell's bill. The Trump Administration threatened to withhold approval on infrastructure projects in Alaska and Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) punched right back at Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke by holding up hiring hearing in the Senate for his agency - pushing her to a no vote. But Senator McCain... Republican leadership and the Vice President thought they had a shot at him.

Senator McCain after having surgery and being diagnosed with brain cancer, flew back to Washington and gave a widely-praised speech on the Senate returning to regular order and working in a bipartisan way again then he cast a 'yes' vote on the motion for the Senate to proceed with debate on the ACA repeal bill. It was heartening to Mr. McConnell and Republican leadership.

But here's the rub, Mr. McConnell reversed all of the McCain-Feingold campaign reform, eliminating big dark money in campaigns. It was the kind of signature piece of bipartisan legislation that Mr. McCain prided himself on. Also, for his part, Mr. Trump never apologized to the senator for his comments on not being a war hero because the then-airman was captured. Point being is that the senator felt no obligation to either man so he voted no because the bill didn't go through the standard process of the Senate; there was no adequate replacement bill; and too many people would lose coverage. When you consider all that, not so surprising.

And just on another quick note, Mr. Trump's former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski explained that new Chief of Staff Kelly will restore order to the staff so that the president's agenda can be carried out. He also warned that if the fmr. general tries to change Mr. Trump - not let Trump be Trump - then he will fail. But he went on to say that the three main agenda items for the president were the repeal and replacement of Obamacare, the building of a wall on our southern border and tax reform. The president is demanding the Senate take another vote but that's unlikely, one down. As for the border wall, among Mr. Trump's base there is enthusiasm for it, but not among anyone else, which simply just goes unsaid among conservatives. This leaves tax reform, which prompts a question of trust toward any ideas the administration would have on the law, simply for the fact that there is no real understanding on how a said idea would unfairly benefit the president due to him never releasing his tax returns. A huge sticking point.


Panel: Helene Cooper, The New York Times; Eliana Johnson, Politico; Hugh Hewitt, Salem Radio Network; Cornell Belcher, Democratic pollstar and author.

7.23.17: A Backward Win (Perspective On A Glimmer of Hope)

Today's "Meet The Press" was preempted by the broadcast of the British Open. It's a 'free' day, a Sunday during which "Meet The Press" doesn't air, so it carte blanche on topics to discuss.

Certainly the trouble is deepening for the Trump Administration with regard to Russia because of its campaign activity. A last ditch effort by the Administration in hiring Anthony Scaramucci as the new White House Communications Director, ousting Sean Spicer, is an attempt to stem the onslaught.

As said before in this column, it's really all about the money when it comes to Mr. Trump's connection to Russia. If you follow the money, which Special Counsel Robert Mueller and his team are doing, we'll find that the Trump Organization is heavily leveraged by Russian oligarchs with ties to the Kremlin. It seems reasonable to conclude that this may be one of the reasons Mr. Trump never released his tax returns. Now, doing business with Russian oligarchs offers a minefield of illegalities, but it isn't illegal. As president, it's a different story all together. From Attorney General Jeff Sessions lack of recollection of meetings with the Russian ambassador, about policy and the campaign no less, when asked by Congress to Jared Kushner's, senior advisor to the president, constant revisions of his disclosure forms for a security clearance - undisclosed money and contacts - to campaign manager, Paul Manafort, having to register as a foreign agent to Donald Jr. taking meetings with Russian officials to get dirt on Hillary Clinton, it all raises serious questions. And now that all of these people have been obviously less than forthcoming, the American people have more questions. They must be answered.

That the last two individuals on the above list have cut a deal with Congress not to testify in public this week, but instead in a closed-door sessions. Probably for the best because Congress needs real answers and frankly, we don't need the show of a public hearing, in which these two people decline to answer questions while Congresspeople pontificate.

That's just a microcosm of what's going on and that's enough for one to say, enough already.

Then there is the series of fall-downs on the part of the Republicans with regard to healthcare and their repeal and replace plan. First, the Senate couldn't pass the replacement bill because of grievances from moderates (going too far on cutting Medicaid) and conservatives (not fully repealing Obamacare) alike. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) floated the introduction of a straight repeal and that didn't fly either.

This you know, but here's why the Republicans got stuck.

At the beginning of the Senate process, which really wasn't a process as much as it was Mitch McConnell locking himself in a room and coming up with a healthcare bill, the Senate leader indicated that he didn't want the Administration involved in the process, a hands off approach. Why? Because Mr. McConnell knows that the president, who would usually be out on the stump shouting about the new healthcare bill, in this case doesn't know the first thing about healthcare, has no desire to learn it, and could inadvertently undercut the Senate plan by contradicting it on the stump. In other words, Mr. McConnell thinks the president is unreliable. The president, for his part, had no interest in discussing the details of healthcare and just sat back, with 'pen in hand,' which is not leadership.

In boxing out the president, though understandable, Mr. McConnell couldn't utilize that megaphone, and since the rest of the Senate wasn't involved in the process, thus not knowing what was in the bill, they couldn't champion it either. Thus, with no one to sell it to the American people and with no other information to go on with the exception of an unfavorable CBO, it had no chance.

With all that said, here are the takeaways as to why there is a glimpse of hope from these adverse circumstances (and the point of this column).

Because of the Republicans' legislative failure on healthcare, Mr. McConnell also said that the Congress should work to sure up the markets by doing some fixes on the Affordable Care Act. Everyone agrees that the ACA, aka Obamacare, that it needs fixes and the only way to make those fixes is in a bipartisan manner. Hmmm...

Interesting, there is a bill traveling rapidly through the Congress with overwhelming bipartisan support on toughening sanctions on Russia, which also includes the caveat that the sanctions can not be rolled back by the president without Congress's consent. This could present a very problematic situation for President Trump, who opposes the bill. He may veto a Russian sanctions bill that has widespread bipartisan support. Hmmm... again.

Is it possible that this rudderless, troubled and divisive administration is bringing Republicans and Democrats together on the major issues facing our country - healthcare and Russian cyber attacks?

If so, it's a win for the American people, a backward one, but a win nonetheless. We'll take it.

7.16.17: A Building Political Riptide for the Trump Administration

This is the week in which the tides have permanently turned on the Trump Administration and they're facing a head wind into rough seas the rest of the way. When trusted conservative voices en mass, exemplified on today's program, start calling out the administration, using the word 'lies,' then you know you have problems. And here is the American populace standing on the beach watching the mother of all riptides.

As always, if you're reading this column, we don't have to go into the particulars of the Donald Trump Jr. meeting with Russian 'operatives' - you know it happened and you know now that he lied about the participants in the meeting. With that said, it's inexplicable, and not Trump-like, that Donald Trump Jr. would release the email chain, even if The New York Times was going to publish the exchange. 

In today's interview, Chuck Todd asked Senator Mark Warner (D-VA) of the Senate Intelligence Committee about the difference between collusion and collaboration, to which Sen. Warner demurred and didn't want to go into nuanced definitions. 

But speaking of those conservative voices, if you want an argument for collusion, refer to Mr. Krauthammer: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/bungled-collusion-is-still-collusion/2017/07/13/68c7f72a-67f3-11e7-8eb5-cbccc2e7bfbf_story.html?utm_term=.9baf0fe1e13d

For Collaboration, see McClatchy DC Bureau: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/national/article160803619.html

In the second example, the McClatchey story notes that there is an investigation in the Trump campaign digital operation lead by the president's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and whether he had a hand in guiding a sophisticated Russian cyber campaign to target key congressional district with misinformation.

Danielle Pletka of the conservative American Enterprise Institute said that she doesn't know if there was collusion or cooperation, but that she does know that the Trump Administration are liars. Al Cardenas, fmr. chair of the American Conservatives Union, explained that the meeting couldn't have happened in a void, from the Russia perspective. "The don't freelance," he said. A meeting like that had a structure and an approval process, he went on.

Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) really wanted no part of answering questions about Russia, though he has a seat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, except to say that he thought it was incorrect to personalize [read: point directly at the Trump Administration] the target of the Senate committee's investigation; it's about Russia. As health care votes loom in the Senate, the deflections away from the president are rhetorically subtle. On the part of the president's legal team, not so much. Jay Sekulow made it clear, as he likes to say, that he doesn't represent Donald Trump Jr. or the Trump Campaign, only the president, Donald Trump. And you have to give him credit in as much as he does his job well, at least representing him during interviews, in walling off the president from all the revelations about Russian interactions with advisors and family members.

But what keeps coming to mind is how all throughout the campaign, Mr. Trump and his surrogates touted how close his family is about everything so it makes one wonder if the president did know about this meeting. Surely, someone in the FBI or in Mr. Mueller's office is looking into whether that is the case. In a way, Mr. Sekulow's job has been made easier now that Donald Trump Jr. is embroiled in a deep mess because it diminishes public scrutiny in the potential of the president's direct involvement. In other words, Junior is taking some of the heat for  his father, and from that more familial perspective, you get why he did it.

All of this leads to the overarching theme of today's show, which was that there is a serious void in leadership of the United States, to an unacceptable level. Today's great panel stayed on this theme for our benefit. Tom Brokaw repeatedly mentioned the serious situation the U.S. with North Korea and how the administration is putting it off. He said that the Chinese leadership doesn't even know who to talk to on our side of the aisle about it.

Mr. Cardenas explained that the last five to six votes are the toughest and that the president hasn't given any speeches on healthcare in states and districts where senators are on the fence with regard to support for the legislation. He hasn't championed the legislation at all, in part because he's so preoccupied with the Russian investigation. 

Presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin also observed that President Trump said that he would be very upset if they (meaning the Senate) didn't pass a health care bill, but she noted that the 'they' includes the president. That it's actually a 'we,' but clearly the Mr. Trump doesn't understand that.

And it's that leadership role that's costing us all time, and the tide is rising.


Panel:  Danielle Pletka, American Enterprise Institute; Doris Kearns Goodwin, presidential historian; Al Cardenas, fmr. chair of the American Conservatives Union; Tom Brokaw, NBC News

7.9.17: The Trump Administration's Isolationism Going As Planned

The Executive Branch of government is the lead branch and where it goes the rest follow, and it's pretty clear that a big part of the Trump Administration's idea of America first is America solo. If the Administration wants to go it alone then everything is going as planned.

"It's an honor to be with you."
That statement that President Trump said to Russian President Vladimir Putin alone is sticking in the gut of everyone in Washington while fueling united criticism from pols Republican and Democratic alike. In the context of what has been determining by the U.S. intelligence community about Russian meddling in the 2016 election, fmr. CIA Director John Brennan called it a dishonorable statement in his interview. No one's calling him out on it.

Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said that the president's views on Russia are "undermining his entire presidency," and that he doesn't know anyone else in Washington who believes the Russians didn't meddle in the election. "I'm dumbfounded and disappointed," he said. Senator Graham explained that he agreed with the president's actions on several confrontational fronts from Afghanistan to North Korea, but called his stance on Russia a blind spot. Yes, indeed a blind spot; one brought into sharp focus by the in-over-his-head Secretary of State Rex Tillerson who explained that the U.S. president after speaking with the Russian president isn't going to relitigate the past. So basically, you attacked our democracy and denied it so we're all good now? 

Also, something of note here: fmr. Director Brennan in response to an anonymous administration source being quoted that he felt like the [Obama] Administration choked, he flatly rebutted that statement explaining that he confronted his Russian counterpart. President Obama confronted Pution personally in September 2016, which Brennan said altered their behavior some.

As for the president, during his overseas trip while in Poland, he said that he wasn't sure if it was just Russia alone who meddled in the election, which projects that the president doesn't have confidence in his own intelligence agencies, but then again Mr. Trump doesn't seem to know the clear responsibilities and jurisdictions of each as evidence by his errant tweet about the CIA being authorized to operate domestically. They are not.

During the G20 meetings in Hamburg, Germany the big take away is how the other 19 countries involved isolated the United States on climate discussions, and by extension the economic opportunities that come out of those talks. On trade, the European Union cut a trade deal with Japan completely boxing out the United States. All this on top of the fact that the leaders of France and Germany among many other countries don't have the same kind of warm and fuzzy feelings for Russia that President Trump does.

Then the Trump Administration issues a statement of its intention to work with Russia on a joint cyber security plan. What? Senator Graham said it wasn't the dumbest idea he's ever heard, but it's pretty close. The column respectfully disagrees, that is the dumbest idea ever presented by an Administration.

Or there's Senator Marco Rubio's (R-FL) tweet:

On the home front, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has told the president and his staff to stay out of the way of the Senate's tax cut... uh, health care legislation. Just kidding as that is in all fairness yet to be seen though Republicans have signaled that tax reform would include a massive tax cut from the savings on the Medicaid rollback. But the president is out of the loop, out on limb fighting disputes of his own making. Whether it be with the press or his own intelligence services, he's alone in doing it. Americans know that picking petty fights with others isn't effective leadership, we know this. What we're not used to is looking away from the president, the presidency, because it not longer feels like the moral (leadership) center.

It's like the administration is constantly complaining about the criticism on how they're steering the ship, while at the same time not hearing everyone screaming back at them that the rudder's broken.
Weird.

When the president is isolated like this, the whole United States feels this, thus a further retreating to the corners, as it were.

Prime example: The two party chairs, Ronna McDaniel (RNC) and Tom Perez (DNC), appearing in their first joint interview. They just met and ended up talking over one another by the end of it (as Mr. Todd noted). Many would watch that interview and assess those individuals are part of the problem, but the problem is that if you cede one inch of ground on issue or statement, you'll feel the job ending scorn of your base. And because we know Mr. Perez better, he needs to be called here about saying that Republicans don't give **** about Democrats. Maybe true, but an individual in his position shouldn't say that. Also, when he likes a phrase, he definitely annoys you with it - We believe health care is right, not a privilege for a few - three times in three minutes. We're watching "Meet The Press" on a Sunday morning, we heard it the first time, we're not stupid, you don't have to repeat it, and we knew it before you said it.

Asking Democrats to participate in the repeal of the Affordable Care Act is like Democrats asking Republicans to raise taxes on the richest Americans to pre-Reagan era levels. It's unthinkable so to suggest that the opposing party would participate in such a thing is a little disingenuous at least.

As the panel gamely discussed, Senator McConnell threatened his caucus with having to possibly work with Democrats in a bipartisan manner to fix the Affordable Care Act to stabilize the markets if they all couldn't get on the same page in terms of voting for the bill, moderates and hardliners alike.

What a detestable thought that the parties would work together, but instead they retreat into their respective corners with the Administration ushering the way.


Panel: Ruth Marcus, The Washington Post; Kristen Welker, NBC News; Rich Lowry, The National Review; Robert Costa, The Washington Post

A couple more things...

Kudos to Robert Costa for the slight disgusting you could hear in his voice when he referred to the Republican party becoming the grievance party and that the base probably doesn't care if the health care bill passes out not. Interpret as you will, but either way kudos still apply.

Solid Panel today, actually starting to think that the fact of the Trump presidency has tempered Rich Lowry's rhetorical arguments a bit.