This column once again begins with a comment on another tragic shooting this time in Virginia Beach, VA where 12 municipal employees were gunned down and killed by a man carrying two 45 caliber handguns equipped with extended magazines and silencers. The president has offered his condolences and federal resources if needed and for the rest of the country, it's simply a matter of just being 'another.'
Extended magazines then bump stocks now silencers. The gun lobby has seen fit to make sure all of these firearm accessories are available under the guise of the Second Amendment. After Las Vegas, bump stocks have been banned in most states, however there are pending lawsuits against such bans. Where will it stop? One thing is for certain, it won't stop under this Administration, exhibit A: Mick Mulvaney.
In the interview today, Mr. Mulvaney said that we shouldn't be talking politics as the mourning period for the people killed hasn't even run its course. He also concluded the topic by saying that 'laws aren't going to fix everything.' In terms of politics, Chuck Todd countered that he wasn't talking politics but instead policy. To which Mr. Mulvaney, still the acting White House Chief of Staff, took credit for bump stock legislation that occurred on the state level. And though it may be a literal truth that laws do not fix everything, the president and Senate Republicans will certainly not take up any legislation and impedes Americans' abilities to slaughter one another with firearms.
The tragedy goes on...
Mr. Mulvaney has proven himself to be a capable enabler of chaos in continually attempting to rationalize Mr. Trump's misguided positions on just about everything. The latest is the Administration's coming tariffs of five percent on all products shipped from Mexico starting on June 10th, and subsequently going up five percent every month unless the Mexican government takes measures to stop immigrants coming to the U.S. border from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras. Mr. Mulvaney said that we must take these extraordinary measures because we are in extraordinary circumstances. These new tariffs will put more burdens on American consumers and hurt the U.S. economy and the Mexican economy. Republican lawmakers are beginning to speak up about the potential danger to the only thing propping up Mr. Trump's presidency, which is the good economy. We've already seen what the trade war with China is doing to American farmers, who the president is buying off with bailouts for the second year in a row, $28 billions so far. However, that bailout money, for the most part, is going to big agribusiness and has yet to make its way to local farmers. There are ways to be tough on China without causing the economic disruptions that are most felt by American consumers. The president has been abusing his power with regard to employing tariffs arbitrarily without any Congressional consent. However, the Senate has proven itself toothless in standing up to anything that Mr. Trump does.
With regard to the U.S. Mexican border, there is no coherent policy coming from the Trump Administration and if there is one thing Beto O'Rourke knows about, it's immigration policy having represented the district encompassing El Paso, Texas. Say what you will about Mr. O'Rourke's candidacy, he has it right that we have to go to the root cause of the problem and help those central triangle countries to stem the violence and hardship there, to have overwhelming positive influence in our hemisphere as he explained into today's interview.
As for Mr. O'Rourke's sputtering campaign, let's take a step back from that as it's early and we haven't even had a single debate yet, the first of which is coming up. With so many candidates, the debates will be crucial in determining where as the candidates stand in the eyes of Democratic voters. If Mr. O'Rourke has a strong showing then you'll be hearing about the 'big' turnaround he's had.
Lastly, this column came to the very same instant observation that Kristen Welker did when Mr. Mulvaney was asked about whether or not the president accepts that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election. He hesitated and had had a hard time answering, and dismissed Russian interference saying that it didn't make any difference in the outcome, which let's be honest is a matter of debate.
Jon Meachum was correct in assessing that Robert Mueller's statement this week didn't help to clarify anything and that he needed to take a 'mulligan.' Let's face it, Americans writ large didn't read the report and Mr. Trump with the indispensable assistance of his Attorney General William Barr won the narrative. All Mr. Mueller accomplished was to tie the Democrats up in knots about whether to proceed with an impeachment inquiry or not, as Carol Lee assessed.
And that pretty much sizes up our collective existence in the Trump era, tied up in knots and right now there's no way to get free.
Panel: Carol Lee, NBC; Kristen Welker, NBC; Jon Meachum, author and presidential historian; Hugh Hewitt, Salem Radio Network
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