Former Secretary of Homeland Security summed up this week's conversation topics best, "leaders have to lead." Whether it be on Russian interference in the 2016 election, the rise of white nationalism and its violent inclinations or climate change, the president walls himself off with regard to all three.
As Chuck Todd stated, part of the purview of the Mueller investigation is to find out the extent to which Russia interfered in U.S. elections, but the president doesn't seem concerned about this attack on our democracy for the fact that those attacks worked to his advantage in the form of his winning of the presidency. On the question of whether the president's campaign colluded with the Russian government and the countless questions it has raised, you can allow yourself to be a political cynic such as Lonhee Chen, however the aspect that is beyond dispute is the unprecedented number of contacts individuals linked to the Trump campaign had with Russian officials, and the subsequent attempts to cover up those contacts (i.e. lying about them). And as Solomon Wisenberg posited, that's the real mystery - why so many people lied.
Last week there were reports that Robert Mueller would file a report in the coming days, which seemed surprising given the recent indictment of Trump confidant and political operative Roger Stone and the apparent unresolved issues of campaign individuals who may have lied to Congress still outstanding. Turns out that Mr. Mueller is not issuing his report this week, which makes sense. So far there have been 34 indictments and 6 guilty pleas due to the investigation so as former Solicitor General Neal Katyal stated, if this is a witch hunt, Mr. Mueller has found a coven. Mr. Wisenberg also said that there will probably be more indictments returned, but no revealed, but even if the individuals' names are not revealed, the indictments themselves will become public.
In the meantime, the White House is sweating it out, waiting for the other shoe to drop and certainly preparing for the worst, as they should be. When asked this week about the coming Mueller report the president seemed unusually reserved in his answer because he realizes two things. One, Mr. Wisenberg said that the president can not dictate what the attorney general is to do with the report and two, he can not fire another attorney general so quickly if the president's instructions are not followed. This leaves Mr. Trump to continue his floundering PR campaign that Mr. Mueller's investigation is illegitimate and Russian collusion is all a hoax.
Also, the story of the Coast Guard lieutenant who had professed white nationalist rhetoric, accumulated a cache of weapons and had a list of targets comprised of Democratic politicians and media personalities is, to say the least, disturbing. Mr. Johnson said that this form of extremism is relatively new as compared to racist and religious extremism though anti-Semitism is on the rise in the U.S. In light of the arrest of this individual, it's disappointing (understating it) that the President of the United States only responded to it when he was asked by a reporter, especially in Mr. Trump's case - a man who comments on everything via Twitter. On this, he went silent. That searing comment about Charlottesville always comes to mind in instances like this, "There were very fine people on both sides."
Lastly, despite Senator Diane Feinstein's less than stellar interaction with second-graders featured in a video that went viral, the debate on the left about climate change and action plan are stuck in neutral. Lonhee Chen said that there are many lanes of thought on the subject, meaning many different political agendas at work. The 'many lanes' that he is actually referring to consist of Republicans writ large denying climate change (the global catastrophe, as Heather McGhee phrased it), and a president who considers it a hoax perpetrated by the Chinese, hence he continued promotion of the coal industry. It's one thing to dispute climate change, but the president has gone off to the purposely stupid.
If he doesn't like it or it doesn't comport with his views and prejudices that would jeopardize his winning of a news cycle, Mr. Trump wants a wall - physical or metaphorical - high enough so that he'll never have to peer over it.
Panel: Andrea Mitchell, NBC News; Heather McGhee, president of DEMOS; Alex Cardenas, Republican Strategist; Lonhee Chen, Republican Strategist
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