7.29.18: The Impossibility of Nothingness - Who Has Credibility Within All These Swirling Stories?

"It was such a nothing, there was nothing to tell."

-Donald Trump Jr.

Even a casual follower of the Trump Administration and the Russian investigation could tell you that there is no way that Donald Trump Jr. didn't tell his father about the Trump Tower meeting with Russian operatives. It's the impossibility of nothingness.

The Wall Street Journal's Peggy Noonan asked that if Mr. Trump (senior) did know then what does it mean? Surprising that she couldn't come up with an answer so this column will provide one, and that is that Mr. Trump Jr. perjured himself to Congress. He did state in a Senate hearing that he had no told his father about it, but if this statement is proven false then that's a criminal act, not to mention that it does speak to then candidate Trump participating in collusion with a foreign government. 

On the matter of proof, NBC's Andrea Mitchell mentioned the Mr. Trump Jr.'s blocked phones during the scheduling of the meeting, which Don Jr. does not remember. Special Counsel Robert Mueller knows exactly who was one the other end of those calls despite the blocked numbers. If you've read his last indictment of 12 Russians and the detail encompassed in it, then investigating who's blocked number that was probably only took half a morning.

As all this pertains to Michael Cohen, the president's lawyer/fixer, he's come to the realization that he's not going to be bailed out by the president and is therefore using the information (recordings and documents) that he has to save himself, but not only that there is an apparent tinge of vindictiveness to Mr. Cohen's actions - punitive repercussions so to speak for the president. And because of the recording, the Trump Organization's chief accountant Allen Weisselberg is being called before a grand jury, a man who has unrivaled knowledge of Mr. Trump's finances during the campaign and going back decades.

Sam Nunberg, on today's program, said that given that Mr. Cohen recorded conversations, that he's inclined to believe the president over Mr. Cohen. Honestly, this column doesn't understand why you would even want to talk to Mr. Nunberg at this point simply for the fact that he has no credibility at all. Really his opinion means nothing and he's not going to say anything that would draw additional attention to himself. 

The vastly more informative interview, as you can imagine, came from the one with Michael Isikoff of Yahoo News who outlined a broader Russian infiltration of the the United States' conservative establishment through it's most powerful lobby, that National Rifle Association. The infiltration must be significant in terms of money laundered through the NRA then donated to Republican candidates because oddly, the NRA has been silent on this. It's unheard of that when this organization is attacked that it stays silent, but right now it has nothing to say, which would obviously lead someone to believe that there's something there. Mr. Isikoff also mentioned the dereliction of duty on the part of Congressional Republicans for not calling hearings and having individuals like Michael Cohen and Maria Butina, now in jail for allegedly being an unregistered Russian operative, testify in public. The explanation of this, in terms of House Republicans, is that a minority of Republicans in the form of the Freedom Caucus lead by Congressmen Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Mark Meadows (R-NC) want power so badly and they're holding the rest of the majority hostage.

Finally, Senator Rob Portman (R-OH) said that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo did a fine job in his Senatorial testimony this week on what was discussed during Mr. Trump's two-hour closed door one-on-one meeting with Vladimir Putin, followed by what Ms. Noonan said was an embarrassing press conference with the Russian president. It was a fine job depending on how you look at it, but the panel seemed to come to the conclusion that Mr. Pompeo doesn't really know what was said and all he could do was confirm that U.S. policies toward Russia haven't changed (e.g. sanctions because of Crimea, Syria policy, and the hot war in eastern Ukraine). Mr. Pompeo during the hearing did confirm that what the president says is U.S. policy. But therein lies the rub because the public pronouncements of the president and actual policy are distinctly at odds with one another. 

The president this week in front of Veterans of Foreign Wars said, "Just remember, what you are seeing and what you are reading is not what's happening," Trump said. "Just stick with us, don't believe the crap you see from these people, the fake news."

For a president who supposedly doesn't read, he sure does have George Orwell's writing down pat.

7.22.18: A Presidency Slowing Swirling Down the Drain

Note: Today's "Meet The Press" has been preempted due to cover of the British Open.

In last week's column, we predicted that President Trump's European trip would not end well. Frankly, it was an easy call as it didn't take a political genius to see that one coming. What no one could see after the Helsinki summit how it could get worse, but it did. President Trump has a gift, to make bad things worse.

In walking back his comment that he seemingly trusted Vladimir Putin's answer on Russian interference in the U.S. presidential election over his own intelligence community, the president said that he misspoke when he said he didn't know 'why it would be' [Russia], correcting himself with the 'wouldn't' heard round the world. If that's the best that his advisors could come up with, they should be fired.  Not only was it a weak explanation that was delivered disingenuously, it was immediately undercut by the president himself when he finished up the statement with a qualifying comment, 'could have been someone else.'

No wonder the Russian dictator was all smiles when they came our of their one-on-one. Since today's program has been preempted by golf, it's apt to say that the president decided later in the week that he wanted to take a 'mulligan' on the summit and invited the Russian president to the White House in the fall. It's a good idea if the president's goal is to rally the Democrats' base. Mr. Putin will be greeted with protests and an energized opposition to all that he stands for. Not that he cares because the end result will be a further weakening of the American president, which is good for him.

On the world stage, Mr. Trump is 0 for 4. Kim Jung Un got a winning photo op with the American president and the cancellation of military exercises between the U.S. and South Korea which was suggested to the president by Mr. Putin in fact. The tariff increases are alienating our allies, not to mention severely hurting American farmers in the Midwest. Our special relationship with the UK doesn't seem so special anymore, in addition to bashing NATO and our strongest partner in Europe, Germany. And then there's the Russian debacle.

When the mainstream media is openly asking about whether Russia [Putin] has anything on Mr. Trump, you can see this presidency slowly swirling down the drain. As the old saying goes, follow the money. The Trump Organization is most probably leveraged by Russian money to such an extent that Mr. Trump himself is fearful of the disclosure, and that it would not only bring down his presidency but his personal financial fortune. Note, this is only speculation on the part of this column, but without seeing a tax return, it's can not be ruled out as a possible explanation.

But never mind what Russia may have on the president, by the end of this week the talk was about what Michael Cohen, the president's former lawyer, has on the president. One thing we know is that Mr. Cohen had recorded a conversation between himself and Mr. Trump about a hush payment to a Playboy model. Over the initial WTF, the president issued this tweet yesterday:

For the record, the FBI didn't 'break into' his lawyer's office or home. They had obtained a warrant. And though the president may find it it inconceivable that his former lawyer taped a conversation, it's not illegal in New York State if the lawyer determines that what is being discussed goes against the public good. (Though also in the statute, it does state that continually recording conversation breeches ethically grounds.) So there are two false statements in this tweet.

With all of this said, there's reassurance because as Mr. Trump stated, "the good news is that our favorite president did nothing wrong," which the president asserts as a truth. NOT.

If the President of the United States has to make a statement like that, we have reason to worry.

7.15.18: President Trump's European Trip Isn't Going to End Well

At the start of the program U.S. President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin were having a summit. At the beginning of the interview of U.S. Ambassador to Russia Jon Huntsman, the two presidents were having a 'meeting,' but by the end of the interview, it was a 'detailed discussion' with no agenda and no deliverables. What ever you want to call it, there's little confidence that President Trump's disastrous European tour is going to end well.

Note former U.S. diplomat Nicholas Burns' tweet, which was reference by Chuck Todd during the program:

Like a true diplomat, Mr. Burns excluded one word that can not go without saying: embarrassment. Mr. Trump lied... At this point, it's like saying the world is round, but he particularly lied about being able to act 'presidential.' He alienated NATO allies, particularly Germany, which is the largest economy in Europe then he goes to the UK and insult the prime minister weighing on England's domestic politics where he has no business commenting. U.S. presidents stay over night at Buckingham Palace, but Queen Elizabeth gave Mr. and Mrs. Trump an hour, and he was late.  Who does that?


The more pressing issue over whether Mr. Trump can act presidential is whether or not he can fulfill his presidential duty to protect Americans and our democracy...

Obviously, there is debate as to whether the U.S. president's meeting with Mr. Putin should even take place given the indictment issued by the U.S. Justice Dept. on Friday. The indictment names Russian military officers by name, on which the president was briefed before he left for Europe. Yet, Mr. Trump continued to call the special counsel's investigation a 'rigged witch hunt' during the press conference with Mrs. May and that there's no evidence that anyone from the Trump campaign did anything wrong. However, if you actually read the full indictment, you know that there were American citizens involved and more indictments are coming.  Mr. Todd duly noted that Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has yet to make a statement on the indictments... Typical.

And as far as collusion is concerned, don't take this column's word for it, refer to the late conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer's piece that "Bungled Collusion Is Still Collusion."

The fact remains that there is no indication of push back from President Trump, which let's Mr. Putin off the hook for attacking the United States - a narrative that Hugh Hewitt said is pushed by the media. Frankly, I don't care what show he host on the radio, what connections he has or who he's worked for in the past, Mr. Hewitt is a hack and part of the clown show that also includes Rudy Giuliani. Nothing Mr. Hewitt said today had any validity in the slightest. When he tried to make the media argument, even Chuck Todd, going out of character, got in his face about it.

Senator Dan Sullivan (R-AK) made good points that Congress is passing legislation and taking action against Russian aggression toward its neighbors and the U.S. election system with various sanctions being stepped up, but the fact remains that the president has to step up appropriately because he's the one that everyone pays attention and listens to.  It's understandable that the senator from Alaska would not directly criticize the president, but how do you disagree with Senator Mark Warner (D-VA) when he says that Mr. Trump can not be trusted in a one-on-one meeting with Mr. Putin? You simply can't.

Everything the president does domestically and by extension internationally only caters to 30 percent of Americans, which is unacceptable. The American voters need to decide how long we can tolerate someone in the presidency that does not act like nor perform presidential duties.


Panel: Elise Jordan, MSNBC; Amy Walter, The Cook Political Report; Joshua Johnson, NPR; Hugh Hewitt, Salem Radio Network

One more thing...
Though the panel only touched on it briefly, the hearing with FBI agent Peter Strok were pointless. They were simply an opportunity Republicans gave themselves to seem like they were conducting oversight, but the end result of their political grandstanding was that they embarrassed themselves.
Enough already with the games.

7.8.18: The President Likes To Play Games... With People's Lives

The real reason the Supreme Court matters so much to Republicans is because of their inability to govern or compromise that still allows them to get the political decisions that they want without having to put their names down for a vote, and stand on a record. Danielle Pletka of the American Enterprise Institute touched on this during the program. Key examples include Republicans unwillingness to compromise on a healthcare bill so the Democrats went it alone with the Affordable Care Act. Now, conservative court judges are striking down key components of the law, which will raise premiums on American citizens, and take away affordability for anyone with a preexisting condition. Republicans don't have to take direct blame for that. Another example was the McCain-Feingold campaign reform bill which would have put restrictions in place so that unlimited dark money would not dictate the outcomes of elections. But Republicans didn't want to compromise on that and killed it. Then along came Citizens United that basically said that money is speech and that corporations are people. These are outcomes that Republicans have wanted and they got them done without having to stand by a vote that most Americans wouldn't have liked.

However, as USA Today's Susan Page explained, "be careful what you wish for," when it comes to the conservative agenda on cases that the court has ruled on, setting precedent like Roe vs. Wade which gives woman the right to choose what they do with their bodies. If the court decides to hear this case again, and five conservative men rule that Roe vs. Wade is unconstitutional throwing the law back to the states to decide, there will be an unprecedented backlash by the majority of the electorate which will include people from both parties.

This brings us to our game show president. The panel discussion touched whether President Trump wants a fight or a win - the consensus being that to him it doesn't matter. However, the president is most certainly going to nominate a white man, no doubt. As the president plugged, "Tune in at 9pm on Monday" for the choice. Our president loves to play games... with people's lives, just as he's done with separated families on the southern border - a "bureaucratic cave" they're trapped in as Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) aptly put it.

The vote for red state Democrats on the Supreme Court pick seems to put them into a box. If they vote for the pick, they will anger their base in their respective states, but if they don't they could lose reelection. Mr. Durbin when confronted with this by Chuck Todd really didn't answer the question though he did suggest that these particular Senators should unite with their party as he said that the pick is bigger than the next election. However, The Washington Post's Eugene Robinson went the opposite direction and said that it's more about winning elections to gain control of the agenda. Either way, the master trickster Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is not going to delay the vote and will push it through before the midterms. If you're a pragmatist then your thinking would be more in line with Mr. Robinson's and the goal should be to get control of the Senate.

While we're on the subject of tricks and games, it seems like the Trump Administration is being totally played by North Korea and Kim Jung Un. The North Korean dictator received legitimacy by meeting face to face with a sitting U.S. president, got U.S.-South Korean joint military exercises suspended, and made no commitment to a timeline of dismantling any nuclear sites. The U.S. got in return... The U.S. got in return... ah, nothing. Way to go, Mr. Trump. The North Koreans stated this week that the U.S. requirements for denuclearization were 'gangster-like.' If it wasn't completely clear before the summit, it's pretty clear now that North Korea dictates the pace and has no intention at all of getting rid of the nuclear weapons, even Senator Roy Blount (R-MO) agreed that it is unlikely that North Korea would honor any kind of agreement for denuclearization. "Standard operating procedure," he called it on the part of the North Koreans to twist things around and go back on their word.

This 'great' negotiating skill on the part of President Trump will again be on display with President Putin of Russia later in the week in Helsinki. Mr. Trump has floated acknowledging Russia's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine, to which Ms. Pletka said, "I hope to hell not." Totally agree. Not only does the president not acknowledge that Russia meddled in the U.S. election, to his benefit, but now the entire western alliance waits nervously to see what concessions Mr. Trump will give up to curry favor with the Russian autocrat. This coming after the NATO summit, which is sure to draw tense words between Mr. Trump and the other respective countries. Ms. Pletka also said, however, that she agreed with the president that NATO countries have to invest more, but that the president's tone and tenor were way off base. Ms. Page stated that through these first 18 months of Mr. Trump's presidency, he has certainly left his mark on the U.S.'s role in the world, which we conclude that Mr. Trump doesn't want to lead the free world but wants to bro down with autocrats.

Finally, all this brings us to the interview with the president's attorney, Rudy Giuliani who had nothing factual to say. Mr. Giuliani's hand in this poker game is a bad bluff. He knows that that Mr. Mueller's team holds all the cards and that he doesn't want his client sitting down at the table. Mr. Giuliani said that he hopes that Michael Cohen cooperates with federal authorities, but the only reason he said that was to implicitly downplay the fact that the president was freaking out about the seizure of documents from Mr. Cohen. The fact is that Mr. Giuliani and Mr. Trump don't know what Mr. Cohen knows or what Mr. Mueller knows so the strategy is to try to distract and discredit while bracing for impact.


Panel: Danielle Pletka, American Enterprise Institute; Susan Page, USA Today; Eugene Robinson, The Washington Post; Mark Murray, NBC News

7.1.18: The Democrats Still Have to Fight The Lost Battle

Starting with the Supreme Court retirement of Justice Anthony Kennedy, David Brody of the Christian Broadcasting Network is correct when he said that the fight for the replacement is now. However, it's a fight that the Democrats have already lost, as the Boston Herald's Kimberly Atkins pointed out. To think that Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) would be bothered by being called a hypocrite for denying a vote on then President Obama's replacement pick, Merrick Garland, and is now pushing a vote through before the election is just plain stupid. If being hypocritical is what it takes to win, Mr. McConnell will go there anytime, every time. To that point it doesn't inspire confidence is Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) citing this hypocrisy as the reason to delay the vote.

Here's the other rub, the Democrats are not going to flip the Senate majority in the fall - just not going to happen. That's just being real about it, and it's an uphill climb for the three Democratic senators in North Dakota, Indiana and West Virginia to keep their seats. With this said, Democrats still need to fight on this Supreme Court front and make it known to the American people where they stand on what kind of pick they feel it should be. They shouldn't do it like Senator Maria Cantwell did today with an at-best muddled message. Though she and Senator Lindsey Graham both said that precedent matters, referring to the Roe v. Wade decision on abortion rights. Stand until they drop is what they should in fact do. Senate Democrats need to filibuster the vote for as many days as possible - so many that the news media puts it on a counter. Delay the vote, as Ms. Ocasio-Cortez stated (more about her win in a moment).

In terms of Roe v. Wade, overturning this decision, especially if Mr. Trump nominates a white male justice, will lose the vast majority of women voters for generations. If you think about only in terms of legislating control over what a person can do with her body, that's completely unacceptable - something this column could never endorse. Women have the unalienable right to have control over their own bodies, period - hard stop.

And in disagreement with Mr. Brody, ultimately Mr. Trump is not going to care about the optics. This president has decided to lead 35 percent of the country and alienate the other 65 percent. This has been the case from day one, and he galvanizes opposition every day he goes forward with decisions outside of the mainstream in America. 

What was really frightening was Mr. Brody's commentary about evangelicals and him assessing that this constituency sees Mr. Trump as "God's chosen candidate" at this time. In this is really the case, evangelicals are the most deeply hypocritical constituency in the United States of America, making their holier than thou status holier than nothing. They've sold their souls for Supreme Court picks, which is just sad.

Democratic senators should put maximum pressure on Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) to withhold their votes for extreme right candidates, make the public argument and case to them in full. Also, Senator Jeff Flake (R-AZ) said that the Senate should deny the president's court nominations because of the tariffs the president is instituting, which should include the Supreme Court. Give reasonable senators a moment of pause in their votes to try and prevent them from rolling over.

It's simply incredible that the Democrats do not have a more coordinated message, not only on the Supreme Court issue, but in general and this is where they should take their example for the new Democratic nominee from New York's 14th congressional district, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Joe Crowley deserved to lose his seat. He sent a campaign surrogate to debate Ms. Ocasio-Cortez; he didn't even go himself. He didn't show up in his district and for that, he shouldn't represent that district. Mr. Todd questioned Ms. Ocasio-Cortez on the Democratic Socialist label, to which she answered that it is only a part of who she is, in terms of her politics. What she sees is what many people in this country, left and right, see and that is basics of adequate housing, education and health care becoming unattainable. This is because of Republican policies like the tax-cut giveaway and all-too-willing Democratic congresspeople like Joe Crowley to bend on such issues.

Lastly on foreign policy, this president is a joke.

Mr. Trump believes Russia over his own intelligence agencies that there was no meddling in the 2016 presidential election. For that matter, given the Judiciary Committee House Republicans' display this week during hearing with FBI Director Christopher Wray and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, you would think they believe the same. Yes, Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) should be concerned.

And now, NBC and other media outlets are reporting that North Korea is accelerating its enrichment of uranium and looking for ways to conceal its nuclear program. Way to go Mr. Trump, you go played.

We surely have to make America great again, once this president is out of office.


Panel: Hallie Jackson, NBC News; Kimberly Atkins, The Boston Herald; Cornell Belcher, NBC News Analyst; David Brody, Christian Broadcast Network


One more thing...
Some I noticed that I would offer to Mr. Belcher as advice. Try to stop saying right after every statement you make. It's distracting and diminishes you point.