When the discussion turned to foreign policy, presidential candidate Mayor Pete Buttigieg immediately brought up the issue of Hong Kong and the protests going on there, not to make it another Tiananmen Square, clarify that America maintains a firm pro-democracy stance inline with the people of Hong Kong and that it is factor in all discussions.
It's a significant first place to start this week and kudos to Mr. Buttigieg for being immediate because this is a clarifying statement on administration's view of human rights and a founding American principle to China and everyone else in the world. The repercussions of any type of action (e.g. military) Mr. Buttigieg said would be China's 'isolation from the democratic world,' which will take a tremendous amount of diplomatic repair work first.
If the president insists of a trade strategy that consists of continually poking China in its eye, as the Mr. Buttigieg described, then the president could poke President Xi in the eye with this as well. The Administration's foreign policy consists of Mr. Trump's interactions and personal relationships with foreign leaders, mostly through Twitter. The shelf life for such diplomacy is quickly moving toward its expiration date.
This column, like Eugene Robinson, still think it's early in the race
and hence why we a bit loathe to comment on it right now, especially
given everything else that is going on, namely the G7 Summit in France,
or the G6+1 as it has been deemed, with the six doing gentle push, as
Mr. Robinson described it and also pointed out the important that Mr. Trump has not actually struck any deals, nothing signed. We've come to the point where we just want the summit to pass without major international incident.
Where last week's program dropped the ball, this week proved redemptive for "Meet The Press," with a high-bar panel consisting all of journalists and op-ed columnists, i.e. meet the press, all of whom provided quick key insights on the 'temperature in the room," so to speak.
The panel discussed the state of the presidential race in terms that we're insightful replacing the annoyingly mundane as sometimes occurs. The New York Times conservative columnist Brett Stephens described a Joe Biden campaign ad as potential poisonous for using polling data graphics, polls which are certain to change.
They continued to the larger question of if not Joe, who? The Daily Beast's Betsy Woodruff described Democratic strategists divided into two camps of thought, consisting of playing it safe with Joe Biden and others thinking an 'edible arrangement' could win. Both are poor strategies as neither answer that critical question for Democrats. Who?
This column, like Eugene Robinson, still think it's early in the race and hence why we a bit loathe to comment on it right now, especially given everything else that is going on, namely the G7 Summit in France, or the G6+1 as it has been deemed, with the six doing gentle push, as Mr. Robinson described it.
Kristen Soltis Anderson, Washington Examiner; Betsy Woodruff, "The Daily Beast;" Eugene Robinson, The Washington Post; Brett Stephens, The New York Times
Sunday, August 25, 2019
Sunday, August 18, 2019
8.18.19: Missing the Wider Implications, Today's "Meet The Press" Dropped the Ball
Today's "Meet The Press" missed the mark. The fallback position of dissecting Democratic presidential candidates was frankly a waste of time for more important things that only get a passing statement.
Granted, there was sufficient focus on the economy and Mr. Todd did interview the president's chief economic advisor Larry Kudlow, however, wider implications were not addressed. For example, the trade war with China is an unmitigated disaster. As fmr. Congressman Beto O'Rourke stated, the trade standoff with China is 'hammering the hell out of farmers in this country,' and the once robust market for American agricultural products may not come back as China looks to other countries for soybeans and other agricultural products.
The wider implication is that President Trump is so desperate to get a trade deal with China, who is basically playing a long game versus his transactional nature, that he has no leverage to speak out for the citizens of Hong Kong and the protests against Beijing's tactics of repression. The Trump Administration has said that America shouldn't get involved, which is completely wrong-headed inasmuch as not only are democratic freedoms threatened but the stability of a global financial center are being put at risk.
If the Trans-Pacific Partnership had moved forward, something that the president was against, the United States would have had tremendous leverage over China and this tariff folly that the president continues on could have been resolved already. As Mr. O'Rourke pointed out, some of the finer points of the TPP needed to be worked out, but overall it was a short-sighted mistake that the United States didn't proceed with this to open up even more markets for U.S. agriculture.
Going forward with such a deal was traditionally a no-brainer for Republicans, which is part of the 'conversation' that fmr. Congressman Mark Sanford was touching on. Setting aside the poisonous rhetoric the president constantly spews, Mr. Sanford has a point that the once fiscally-stingy Republican party is now following a cult of personality figure that is running up trillion-dollar deficits year over year. With that said, as soon as a Democrat is elected president, the Republicans will miraculously regain their ever hypocritical fiscal sanity.
Speaking of wider implications, Mr. Todd only briefly touched (and that's being generous) on the fact that at the president's urging, Israel denied entry for two duly elected United States Congresswomen. This is an unprecedented act in American foreign policy. This should have been a focal point of today's discussion and how the president is politicizing the United States' traditional bipartisan support for Israel. That Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave into the president's badgering and statements that once again dishonor the office of the presidency, shows his fecklessness as a leader. This topic alone could have taken up the entire hour and even though Mr. Netanyahu reversed his government's decision with regard to Congresswoman Tlaib, on principle she was correct to reject the invitation. Mr. Netanyahu and Israel had an opportunity to show the open arms of their democracy but instead chose narrow-mindedness over openness.
Lastly, we return to Mr. Kudlow who stated multiple times during the interview that we shouldn't be afraid of optimism, which seriously worried Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan and if you share that worry, you'd be right. Carol Lee noted that despite his statements of optimism, he gave no real concrete answers to how the administration would deal with an economic slowdown. We'd be remiss if we didn't point out that Mr. Kudlow has an awful record on predicting this country's economic future. When confronted with the statements that Mr. Kudlow made before the 2008 economic meltdown, in which he said the economy was strong, he admitted that he blew that call. We'd say so...
He blew that call then, and today, "Meet The Press" dropped the ball.
Yamiche Alcindor, PBS NewsHour; Joshua Johnson, NPR; Carol Lee, NBC News; Peggy Noonan, The Wall Street Journal
Granted, there was sufficient focus on the economy and Mr. Todd did interview the president's chief economic advisor Larry Kudlow, however, wider implications were not addressed. For example, the trade war with China is an unmitigated disaster. As fmr. Congressman Beto O'Rourke stated, the trade standoff with China is 'hammering the hell out of farmers in this country,' and the once robust market for American agricultural products may not come back as China looks to other countries for soybeans and other agricultural products.
The wider implication is that President Trump is so desperate to get a trade deal with China, who is basically playing a long game versus his transactional nature, that he has no leverage to speak out for the citizens of Hong Kong and the protests against Beijing's tactics of repression. The Trump Administration has said that America shouldn't get involved, which is completely wrong-headed inasmuch as not only are democratic freedoms threatened but the stability of a global financial center are being put at risk.
If the Trans-Pacific Partnership had moved forward, something that the president was against, the United States would have had tremendous leverage over China and this tariff folly that the president continues on could have been resolved already. As Mr. O'Rourke pointed out, some of the finer points of the TPP needed to be worked out, but overall it was a short-sighted mistake that the United States didn't proceed with this to open up even more markets for U.S. agriculture.
Going forward with such a deal was traditionally a no-brainer for Republicans, which is part of the 'conversation' that fmr. Congressman Mark Sanford was touching on. Setting aside the poisonous rhetoric the president constantly spews, Mr. Sanford has a point that the once fiscally-stingy Republican party is now following a cult of personality figure that is running up trillion-dollar deficits year over year. With that said, as soon as a Democrat is elected president, the Republicans will miraculously regain their ever hypocritical fiscal sanity.
Speaking of wider implications, Mr. Todd only briefly touched (and that's being generous) on the fact that at the president's urging, Israel denied entry for two duly elected United States Congresswomen. This is an unprecedented act in American foreign policy. This should have been a focal point of today's discussion and how the president is politicizing the United States' traditional bipartisan support for Israel. That Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave into the president's badgering and statements that once again dishonor the office of the presidency, shows his fecklessness as a leader. This topic alone could have taken up the entire hour and even though Mr. Netanyahu reversed his government's decision with regard to Congresswoman Tlaib, on principle she was correct to reject the invitation. Mr. Netanyahu and Israel had an opportunity to show the open arms of their democracy but instead chose narrow-mindedness over openness.
Lastly, we return to Mr. Kudlow who stated multiple times during the interview that we shouldn't be afraid of optimism, which seriously worried Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan and if you share that worry, you'd be right. Carol Lee noted that despite his statements of optimism, he gave no real concrete answers to how the administration would deal with an economic slowdown. We'd be remiss if we didn't point out that Mr. Kudlow has an awful record on predicting this country's economic future. When confronted with the statements that Mr. Kudlow made before the 2008 economic meltdown, in which he said the economy was strong, he admitted that he blew that call. We'd say so...
He blew that call then, and today, "Meet The Press" dropped the ball.
Yamiche Alcindor, PBS NewsHour; Joshua Johnson, NPR; Carol Lee, NBC News; Peggy Noonan, The Wall Street Journal
Sunday, August 11, 2019
8.11.19: Timing Depends On What Side of the Aisle You're On
Acting Dept. Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan said that the timing of the ICE raid in Mississippi was unfortunate, given the mass shooting in El Paso where the gunman specifically targeted Hispanics. We'll stipulate that White House senior advisor Stephen Miller doesn't want to see people killed but we can not say for sure that he also thinks the timing of the raids were unfortunate.
We now have an entire demographic of Americans effectively scared that the current administration doesn't care about their welfare. As Chuck Todd kept asking throughout the program, why weren't there any charges brought against the companies for illegal hiring practices? Mr. McAleenan explained that there haven't been any charges as the DHS is the middle of an ongoing investigation. However, Mr. Trump's DOJ isn't interested in the companies as much as the number of undocumented workers that are arrested. The Administration's goal was to send a signal and as the president said himself, he wanted it to be a deterrent, and the companies involved weren't the focus despite the explicit citation that ICE will target the employers first over the employees. We can sympathize with Mr. McAleenan for the fine line he has to rhetorically walk, but it's telling that he knew exactly the amount of those arrested who had criminal records, but couldn't say how many had green cards. And once again as Kristen Welker pointed out, the administration didn't have a plan in place for the kids separated from the parents.
In a month's time, we'll still remember the raid as the largest single day ICE round-up of undocumented immigrants, but the companies that broke the law will fade in relevance from the story. Also, in a month's time upon the return of Congress from their summer recess, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) will have hoped that no other mass shooting incidents will have occurred so that he can shelve any gun control measures. It's almost guaranteed that President Trump will supply the news media with enough new outrages to distract from working on any legislation. Mr. Todd commented to the panel that it isn't often that Mr. McConnell pledges to do anything let alone pass legislation. However, just because he said that during a radio interview doesn't mean it will still hold any weight when Congress is back in session.
Timing is a matter of perspective and for those lamenting the fact that these mass-shooting tragedies occur just a Congress is heading for recess. One thing Mr. McConnell wouldn't say is that the timing was bad.
Panel: Kristen Welker, NBC; Hugh Hewitt, Salem Radio Network; Maria Teresa Kumar, Voto Latino; Robert Costa, The Washington Post
We now have an entire demographic of Americans effectively scared that the current administration doesn't care about their welfare. As Chuck Todd kept asking throughout the program, why weren't there any charges brought against the companies for illegal hiring practices? Mr. McAleenan explained that there haven't been any charges as the DHS is the middle of an ongoing investigation. However, Mr. Trump's DOJ isn't interested in the companies as much as the number of undocumented workers that are arrested. The Administration's goal was to send a signal and as the president said himself, he wanted it to be a deterrent, and the companies involved weren't the focus despite the explicit citation that ICE will target the employers first over the employees. We can sympathize with Mr. McAleenan for the fine line he has to rhetorically walk, but it's telling that he knew exactly the amount of those arrested who had criminal records, but couldn't say how many had green cards. And once again as Kristen Welker pointed out, the administration didn't have a plan in place for the kids separated from the parents.
In a month's time, we'll still remember the raid as the largest single day ICE round-up of undocumented immigrants, but the companies that broke the law will fade in relevance from the story. Also, in a month's time upon the return of Congress from their summer recess, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) will have hoped that no other mass shooting incidents will have occurred so that he can shelve any gun control measures. It's almost guaranteed that President Trump will supply the news media with enough new outrages to distract from working on any legislation. Mr. Todd commented to the panel that it isn't often that Mr. McConnell pledges to do anything let alone pass legislation. However, just because he said that during a radio interview doesn't mean it will still hold any weight when Congress is back in session.
Timing is a matter of perspective and for those lamenting the fact that these mass-shooting tragedies occur just a Congress is heading for recess. One thing Mr. McConnell wouldn't say is that the timing was bad.
Panel: Kristen Welker, NBC; Hugh Hewitt, Salem Radio Network; Maria Teresa Kumar, Voto Latino; Robert Costa, The Washington Post
Sunday, August 04, 2019
8.4.19: The Last 24 Hours in America...
The last 24 hours...
20 dead and 26 injured in El Paso, Texas; 9 dead and 20 injured in Dayton, Ohio.
(More people died in a 13-hour span in two American cities than had died in the last two years in Afghanistan.)
Let's just start with this: this column like Princeton University professor Eddie Glaude Jr. could give a damn what White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney has to say. That he would condemn the statements of Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Mr. Glaude as being political in a time when we should be grieving is morally bankrupt. How many people have to die in mass shootings in this country to accept that the president's words matter and that Congressional inaction is inexcusable. The double standard that this White House holds is painfully and tragically obvious, inasmuch as if this white domestic terrorist had been of Muslim faith or Hispanic we would be watching the president on television right now dispensing even more vitriol against those groups than he already has.
Politico's Eliana Johnson who said she is loathe to blame politicians clearly stated that the president has to acknowledge that this country has a white nationalist, domestic terrorism problem. Fmr. Governor Pat McCrory's 'whataboutism' is shameful. He did say that the rhetoric needs to be lowered, but insisted that the term 'invasion' should still be used for the refugee crisis occurring at our southern border. Kasie Hunt correctly pointed out that 'invasion' is threatening where as 'refugee' is not. The rhetoric matters.
What was very telling throughout this week's hour of "Meet The Press" was the different postures people were taking: Defensive on the part of Republicans - Mick Mulvaney and Pat McCrory; Anguish of the faces of the Democrats and progressives - Cory Booker, Julian Castro, Eddie Glaude Jr., Congresswoman Veronica Escobar (D-TX). Ms. Escobar stated that we have to speak the truth in Congress, which is that there is a gun and hate epidemic in this country. The anguish comes from the fact that Republicans writ large, lead by the president, refuse to acknowledge this truth. One... one elected Republican, George P. Bush (R-TX) has come out to call what happened in El Paso what it is: white terrorism.
The director of the FBI, Christopher Wray, has stated before Congress that domestic terrorism is a growing problem in the United States, yet the White House has cut funding to combat this problem and diminished it as an issue. Mr. Mulvaney said that the president is the president of all Americans in this country, even though he never acts like it.
"Very fine people on both sides," the president said with regard to Charlottesville. He not just lacks it, but simply does not have the moral clarity or authority to heal this nation in times like these. There hasn't been a single day that the man holding the office of the presidency has been able or willing to bring this country together. Is he to blame for these shootings, no of course not, but has he provided the rhetoric and policies to facilitate these tragedies, absolutely.
This column is so disgusted today that we simply refuse to write his name.
Panel: Kasie Hunt, NBC News; Eliana Johnson, Politico; Eddie Glaude Jr., Princeton Univesity; Pat McCrory, fmr. governor North Carolina
20 dead and 26 injured in El Paso, Texas; 9 dead and 20 injured in Dayton, Ohio.
(More people died in a 13-hour span in two American cities than had died in the last two years in Afghanistan.)
Let's just start with this: this column like Princeton University professor Eddie Glaude Jr. could give a damn what White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney has to say. That he would condemn the statements of Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Mr. Glaude as being political in a time when we should be grieving is morally bankrupt. How many people have to die in mass shootings in this country to accept that the president's words matter and that Congressional inaction is inexcusable. The double standard that this White House holds is painfully and tragically obvious, inasmuch as if this white domestic terrorist had been of Muslim faith or Hispanic we would be watching the president on television right now dispensing even more vitriol against those groups than he already has.
Politico's Eliana Johnson who said she is loathe to blame politicians clearly stated that the president has to acknowledge that this country has a white nationalist, domestic terrorism problem. Fmr. Governor Pat McCrory's 'whataboutism' is shameful. He did say that the rhetoric needs to be lowered, but insisted that the term 'invasion' should still be used for the refugee crisis occurring at our southern border. Kasie Hunt correctly pointed out that 'invasion' is threatening where as 'refugee' is not. The rhetoric matters.
What was very telling throughout this week's hour of "Meet The Press" was the different postures people were taking: Defensive on the part of Republicans - Mick Mulvaney and Pat McCrory; Anguish of the faces of the Democrats and progressives - Cory Booker, Julian Castro, Eddie Glaude Jr., Congresswoman Veronica Escobar (D-TX). Ms. Escobar stated that we have to speak the truth in Congress, which is that there is a gun and hate epidemic in this country. The anguish comes from the fact that Republicans writ large, lead by the president, refuse to acknowledge this truth. One... one elected Republican, George P. Bush (R-TX) has come out to call what happened in El Paso what it is: white terrorism.
The director of the FBI, Christopher Wray, has stated before Congress that domestic terrorism is a growing problem in the United States, yet the White House has cut funding to combat this problem and diminished it as an issue. Mr. Mulvaney said that the president is the president of all Americans in this country, even though he never acts like it.
"Very fine people on both sides," the president said with regard to Charlottesville. He not just lacks it, but simply does not have the moral clarity or authority to heal this nation in times like these. There hasn't been a single day that the man holding the office of the presidency has been able or willing to bring this country together. Is he to blame for these shootings, no of course not, but has he provided the rhetoric and policies to facilitate these tragedies, absolutely.
This column is so disgusted today that we simply refuse to write his name.
Panel: Kasie Hunt, NBC News; Eliana Johnson, Politico; Eddie Glaude Jr., Princeton Univesity; Pat McCrory, fmr. governor North Carolina
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