Thank you for bearing with us and our intermittance these past weeks, life getting in the way as we're all too familiar with...
And on a programming note, Kristen Welker was filling in for a birthday-celebrating Chuck Todd - Happy Birthday to the moderator - but it should be mentioned that Ms. Welker's questions today punctuated the trend of journalist asking questions to raise conflict instead of obtaining a guest's opinion and perceived solution to the important issues that face us. The salvation caveat is that is not the case with American journalists interviewing foreign leaders (for the most part). We'll provide illustrations below.
The one thing that Americans can agree on is that stepping up aid to Ukraine is in our national interest and providing them the weapons to push back the Russian army and the chaos that Putin has unreleashed upon the world, and if you've been paying attention that's not hyperbole with eighty percent of the world's wheat comes from Ukraine and the adjacent land in Russia. Food shortages have already exascerbated conflicts in Africa - Senegal and Ethiopia being among them. And obviously, energy costs around the world have been affected dramatically. The geopolitical ramifications of Putin's invasion will be felt for decades. Wrap your head around all that and then ask, why aren't they discussing that?
Though it's prudent to ask the Deputy Head of Office to the President of Ukraine, Igor Zhovkva, about the status of Mariupol given Putin has said that the Russians control it, which Mr. Zhovkva said was false. However, to have him speculate on Moldova is searching for the minorly sensational. Even with the Deputy National Security Advisor Jon Finer, you should first ask broadly about intelligence of intention and then go there. That would be our critique, but not our instruction...
In Mr. Zhovkva's description of the armaments Ukraine needs, there was one that stuck out the most, which was the air-craft defense systems. Supplying jets isn't easy, and neither are tanks for that matter. Yes, the U.S. has lots of tanks, but think of the logistics of moving several. They are tanks after all, and their not Soviet tanks so there's the training aspect. But air-defense should have been bolstered a month ago. With air defense and the Horwitzers that are current on the way can provide the cover for battles that they can win.
And it's heartening to hear Senator Roy Blunt (R-MO) to broadly share the administration's line of thinking in terms of support. We also agree with him that you should show an opponent your hand in terms of your red lines and no one saw Western Europe and NATO showing any spine, which it has.
Which brings us to the spineless... The Secretary General of the United Nations is travelling to Moscow for meeting with the Russian president, and Putin is going to stick it in his face. Russia's on the security counsel and can veto any peacekeeping troops or huminatarian aid or corridors. Is the Secretary General going to talk about a world order that Putin flatly rejects? Let's see how that goes and though we're not wont to speculate, we can imagine it won't end well.
To the feckless... House minority leader Kevin McCarthy is a squid, and The New York Times Peter Baker aptly described his actions and Republican politician writ large in that he's more concerned about the backlash of the former president than the backlash from a bald-faced lie. If it isn't obviously, Mr. McCarthy simple contorts himself and patronizes to whatever audience he's is in front of, whether 1 person on the phone or 100 people in a room. Squid.
Who's not a squid and but not entirely as right as she thinks is Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), with whom we agree that Democrats need to keep pushing on legislation, but not all that she is proposing, namely an across the board student debt cancellation of $50,000. Understanding that student loans hit minorities and the disadvantaged harder and that's why it should be an application process. Why? Because personal responsibility for your choices. Many here have incurred college debt and paid it off. Makes us inclined to ask for it back. Also, it's prudent to air on the side of caution if there is the prospect that it will only add to the deficit and inflation overall.
Here's also another example of asking the wrong question in terms of pertinance. Ms. Welker asked Senator Warren about House Speaker Nancy Pelosi not initially endorsing a ban on stock trading by members of Congress, but she came around after some poilitical pressure. To the question of whether Senator Warren had faith in the Speaker, she said yes with a shrug, but what about the more important matter of the would-be leader Mr. McCarthy, ne did Ms. Welker ask her about that, which she should have, because it's necssary to hold our political leaders to their words, no?
Lastly, the war on words, or more broadly the culture wars in America are always won by Republicans. Period. Hard Stop.
Republicans represent a narrower constiuency of groups so their special interests are much more targeted, and much more cynical, and much more effective because of the continued vagueness of the bills they pass. Contrast that with Democrats who seek to represent a much broader coalition of groups, in which the loudest voices are never satisfied with the result because a particular group is under represented in the response.
Here's the winner in the controversial Florida legislation on parental rights, known popularly as the 'don't say gay' bill. It prohibits the instruction of sex, gender and sexual orientation in grades kindergarten through three. On it's face, that's reasonable and ration, but it doesn't account for the third grader who draws or shows a picture of his or her two moms or dads. What happens then when a student has a question of why that is. Have you ever met a third grader that didn't ask you why a thousand times? It's incumbant upon the teacher to explain it clearly without making it a big deal, but just that simply act can cost a teacher his or her job.
That's the broader societal implication, to our detriment we might ad. Same-sex marriage, like toothpaste, genies and farts, it's out and it is not going back in. Knowing this, Republicans like the governor of Florida use every opportunity to make life suck for the people with those rights, or anything else they don't agree with. Just ask Disney.
Panel: Errin Haines, The 19th; Carol Lee, NBC News; Sara Fagen, fmr. Bush Administration offical; Peter Baker, The New York Times
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