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.

6.24.18: Without Compassion, Immigration Reform Will Not Happen

In agreeing with the moderator, Chuck Todd, it is unusual in the era of the Trump presidency that one topic has lasted a full week in the news cycle, but make no mistake that the issue of immigration will be at the forefront of our political discourse writ large all the way through the midterm elections in the fall.

Mr. Todd asked the panel at one point if the child separations at the southern border is President Trump's 'Katrina,' to which Heather McGhee responded that the Hurricane Maria and the damage and death it caused in Puerto Rico is really his 'Katrina' moment. What both have in common is they are the product of President Trump's bigoted approach to governing the country, and what he's never understood is that when you are the president, you represent all Americans whether they disagree with you or not. Mr. Trump has only governed to with distinct minority of people in mind, and not only is it hurting the majority of Americans but it's also starting to hurt his supporters as well.

While immigration is obviously a very emotional issue, in listening to Senators James Lankford (R-OK) and Angus King (I-ME), compassion and rule of law can coexist. Immigration is an issue where the middle has to win the day. However, as Mr. King explained, the Senate had a bill where many Democrats held their collective noses and gave Mr. Trump his wall in exchange for passage of a DACA fix, but then the right-wing fringe in the House moved the goal posts and killed the bill. Not to mention that the Senate was going to allocate American taxpayer dollars for Mr. Trump's wall, which he has always said Mexico would pay for. That's such a sham, and there shouldn't be a wall if Americans pay for it, by his logic.

There aren't easy fixes and what it takes is a concentrated, coordinated, compassionate and consensus approach meaning that legislators have to legislate instead of just bomb throwing on cable television news.

Make no mistake, the Obama administration deported more people than the Bush administration by a long shot  and people were incarcerated but the difference is that the Obama administration didn't employ a 'zero-tolerance' policy mandating that children become separated from their parents. That did in fact happen as well under Mr. Obama, but it wasn't policy as Attorney General Jeff Sessions mandated under Mr. Trump. That's a major difference. Mr. Sessions, Stephen Miller, and Mr. Trump have inclination to compassion for families. Mr. Trump using terms like 'infest' to describe migrants is not only unhelpful but despicable and once again demeans the office of the presidency in a way that should draw the ire of all Americans.

In addition to the inexcusable rhetoric, the Trump administration does want to take the necessary steps to correct the problem, namely the Flores Amendment which Senator Lankford explained. Migrant families can only be held for 20 days, but it takes an average of 35 days to get a hearing so more judges are required to hear immigration cases. Yet, the Trump administration doesn't want to allocate those resources to mitigate the back log. And just so we're clear from all sides, ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) should not be abolished as some on the left have called for. The way to fix ICE is to have laws and policies in place that provide clear instructions on what the agency is mandated to do and part of those should be the humane treatment of migrants.

In the longer term, the countries of El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua need assistance from the United States, another strategy that Mr. Trump has no inclination to even think about. NBC's Richard Engel reported the 10 percent of the population in El Salvador have some affiliation to gangs with approximately 100,000 armed active members. That's a gang army, from which people are justifiably fleeing, making it indeed a refugee crisis, as Mr. Todd posed during the hour. The United States needs to work with these Central American countries in an inter-country coordinated fashion to help them combat this problem and that would in the longer term ease the stress at the United State's southern border. The problem with this is that the Trump administration has yet to illustrate the capacity of any sort of long term, carefully planned strategy on anything.

It's also notable that Mr. Engel illustrated that the country of Hungary, which has some of the most strict immigration laws in the world right now doesn't even separate families. A further implicit indictment of the president's bigoted views which lack any sense of understanding of the human condition. 

As long as Republican legislators are lead blindly by the nose by this right-wing fringe bigoted president, sensible and humane immigration laws will not be passed. And let's face it, by now it should be perfectly clear that Republicans CAN NOT govern. Every opportunity the voters of this country give them to do it, they fail. Zero tolerance and zero sum is not how democracy works, and they absolutely need to shove this notion down the president's throat.


Panel: Heather McGhee, president of DEMOS; Kasie Hunt, NBC News; Stephen Hayes, Editor in Chief of the Weekly Standard, Erick Erickson, Editor of The Resurgent

One more thing...
The culture wars: Instead of focusing on Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders being asked to leave a restaurant, there's another example that wasn't mentioned that could be more instructive. First, it must be said that Ms. Sanders conduct in the White House press room has been inexcusable and she should resign due to her continuing lies, deflections and personal condescending comments toward members of the press corps.

With that said, Seth Rogen said to Stephen Colbert this week that he refused to take a photo with Speaker of the House Paul Ryan because of what the Speaker has done in his leadership role. He refused the Speaker in front of Mr. Ryan's two teenage sons. So here's how Mr. Rogen should have handled it. Rightfully he should told Mr. Ryan that he would not take a picture with him as a matter of principle but at the same time he should have offered to take a photo only with his sons who are fans and don't make policy. Right? Maybe use that as an instructive example.

6.17.18: Sowing the Seeds to Kill the Idea That Is America

It's clear that President Trump peddles propaganda of the moment as evidenced by his statements on Friday to "Fox and Friends" and then to the unusual press scrum that followed. Mr. Trump will say anything that serves his purpose at that moment and both settings were ideal for him to accomplish his goal of continually misleading the American people. "Fox and Friends" will never disagree or call out any of the president's misstatements, and the in a frenzied press scrum, no one is able to fact check him on the spot. Mr. Trump simply doesn't care if you fact check him later and prove that what he had said was false because he'll just change the story next time. For example, he tweeted that he fired Michael Flynn for lying, but on Friday said that he wasn't. Or when he was quickly called out for saying that he'd like people to stand up at attention when he speaks like North Koreans do for Kim Jong Un, to which he later said he was joking. The first example illustrates lying as a strategy and the second clearly illustrates a lack of personal discipline.

And as Republican strategist Al Cardenas explained, it's better to tell 18 lies than just one. The press doesn't know where to focus their collective attention because of so many blatant falsehoods and the public simply becomes numb, using his word, to it all. Listening to Mr. Cardenas and Congressman Mark Sanford (R-SC), who just lost in his primary race, is obvious that the Republican party does not consist of conservatives. Conservatives still in the Republican political party are retiring or being drummed out of office. The Republican party now consists of Trump sycophants and the president is building on that cult of personality on a daily basis.

But make no mistake, the president sowed some bad seeds this week in ending the idea that is America, and that's why it's significant. First, he insulted the United States' closest allies at the G7 summit while carrying the water for the authoritarian president of Russia. Then, since the summit in Singapore, Mr. Trump has continually sung the praises of the world's most repressive dictators, saying he's 'honorable' and that he 'trusts Kim.'

The president all but admitted that he lied to The New York Times about the letter that he dictated for his inept son, Donald Jr., while his campaign manager, a man he's known for over twenty years, is now in jail, while his personal lawyer/fixer is considering cooperating with Federal Prosecutors. And no, the Inspector General's report did not in the slightest exonerate the president of wrongdoing.

However...

In a rare moment this week when the actions of the president have spoken louder than words, which received condemnation from all Americans and especially (thankfully) evangelicals is the Trump Administration policy of separating children from their parents at the southern border. Cruel, non-Christian, inhumane, un-American - take your pick, but more appropriately take them all. This policy is putting a stake through the heart of what America is as an idea.

Chuck Todd prefaced a question to presidential advisor Kellyanne Conway as harsh when he asked if the administration was using these children as a bargaining chip to get Democrats and moderate Republicans (a dying breed) to the table for immigration negotiation - an unnamed White House official said so. Ms. Conway forcefully called that out saying that she dared to that unnamed official to say that to her face. Her righteous indignation, as Helene Cooper noted, was laughable because the fact is that the administration is using these kids as a bargaining chip for a stupid, unnecessary wall, basically extorting pols who aren't going along.

Donald Trump on Friday said this was a Democratic law, but like so many others, this is a false statement. It is a Trump Administration policy that could end with a single phone call, as Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said this week.

As for the economy, the one thing that has been good, the president doused his bad seeds with fire water, solidifying trade wars with rivals and allies alike (He denies there is a trade war.), and Iowa farmers are already seeing the rotten fruit, or soybeans as it were.


Panel: Carol Lee, NBC News; Helene Cooper, The New York Times; Al Cardenas, Republican Strategist; Bret Stephens, The New York Times

6.10.18: Donald Trump, the American Gift to Mr. Putin That Keeps On Giving

(This week's "Meet The Press" is preempted by the French Open.)

As you're reading this, President Trump is on the ground in Singapore readying to meet with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, in which Mr. Trump said that he'd be able 'size him up' in the first five minutes about whether Mr. Kim is serious about denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.

But let's be clear, North Korea has the ability to hit the United States with a nuclear weapon so anything less than getting 97% of their nuclear capabilities out within 10 years, which include a stringent inspection regime would be a worse deal than the Iran nuclear deal.

The U.S. should make no conciliatory steps in 'good faith' with the North Korean leader such as lifting sanctions or pulling U.S. troops out of South Korea unless the aforementioned conditions are met. The reasoning behind this opinion is that North Korea has broken the conditions of every deal negotiated in the past so pardon if there is a bit of skepticism here. The only leverage that Kim Jong Un has on the world stage is the fact that he has nuclear weapons and it's difficult imagining him giving them up.

Giving the North Korean dictator such a expedited audience with the President of the United States works more to Mr. Kim's advantage than it does to America's show of strength. Optics matter and looking congenial with a regime that's killed hundreds of thousands of its own people without even bringing up human rights doesn't bode well for the world's greatest democracy.

Also, after the verbal jousting and bad photo-ops that have come out of the G7 meetings, does anyone find it disconcerting that the U.S. president walks away from democratic allies and toward the leaders of China and Russia? The world order over the past 70 years, of which the United States is the architect, is being dismantled by Donald Trump. The president's call for Russia to be readmitted to the G7 is completely unacceptable. Russia was removed from the group for its annexation of Crimea from Ukraine, which Mr. Trump blamed on President Obama. He should blame Vladimir Putin for that, but instead Mr. Trump carries Mr. Putin's water for him. Not to mention that little thing of Russia, at the direction of Mr. Putin, meddling in, nay subverting, The United States' democratic process.

Mr. Trump is the American gift to Mr. Putin that keeps on giving. The biggest beneficiary of the G7 meetings was Mr. Putin. Mr. Trump despite differences with the other six countries, should have signed the joint communique as a statement of solidarity, but instead he refused to sign it thus causing further discord between western democracies.

Donald Trump is irreparably damaging America's principles, democracy and its democratic institutions. The American people better wake up to this because the 'freedom' we so cherish is becoming less free.

6.3.18: According to Rudy Giuliani, No One's Above the Law Except Mr. Trump

Today was one of the more cognizant interviews that Mr. Guiliani has done in recent memory where he didn't say anything that was incomprehensible. That doesn't exclude having said things that are controversial such as suggesting the president is somehow above the law. Mr. Guiliani explained that the president can not obstruct justice, which the National Review's Rich Lowry agreed with, and can shut down any investigation he wants. The reason Mr. Guiliani gave for the president not doing this was for PR reasons.

So essentially, the president's lawyers are asserting that the he is above the law and that only Congress can hold him accountable, only in a political sense through impeachment. By that rationale, Mr. Trump, as president, can indeed shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and get away with it because as Mr. Guiliani said, he can pardon himself.

That's an extreme example of course, but is this column the one out there that were now considering the notion that the president is above the law? Mr. Todd also asked Mr. Guiliani if the president could open an investigation on anyone he wanted to as well, to which he demurred in his answer. With regard specifically to the Russia investigation and the special counsel, Mr. Guiliani said that the president would only sit down with the special counsel is if the DOJ hands over all the documents with regard to the FBI's informant.

Speaking of PR, but more succinctly of the public, the only way the American people are going to get the truth is if Mr. Trump is subpoenaed to testify in front of a grand jury. But come to think of it, even if he lied to the grand jury, which is a criminal offense for every American citizen, he could pardon himself for lying, according to Mr. Guiliani.

As NPR's Joshua Johnson explained that Mr. Guiliani and the president's lawyers' strategy/explanation is that the president is too busy focusing on other things to be bogged down with an investigation that they deem illegitimate. And along the way, as Katy Tur explained confuse everyone along the way with such things as first the president says he fired James Comey because of the Russia investigation and then he tweeted that that was not the reason. Also, Jay Sekulow, one of the president's attorneys, said that the president didn't craft the letter for his son on Air Force one, but then this week we learn that Mr. Trump indeed dictated the letter.

However...
What can not be ignored is if the investigation is illegitimate and the president is not guilty of anything then why isn't he cooperating with the FBI and the intelligence community to get to the bottom of Russia meddling in the U.S. election? Why is he acting like someone who has something to hide?

And yes, the president does have major issues to attend to and that his focused should be concentrated to these issues simply doesn't wash. If he's so busy then how does he have time to tweet 19 times this week about Russia and weigh in on culture controversies like Roseann Barr and Samantha Bee. It's a weak argument.

And speaking of other issues, as this column explained last week the summit with North Korea is a lose-lose for the United States. The Administration is not going to get North Korea to give up its nukes and they get photo-ops, as a seemingly equal power, with the president. The president should have never met with Kim Yong Chol this week. Go to this article at Foreign Policy and you'll understand why.

Not to mention that while Mr. Trump is making friends with a dictator who kills his own people and who fires missiles over one of our closest allies, Japan, he's putting tariffs on our unquestioned closest ally, Canada (along with Mexico and Europe).

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is right to question this action if it is as the president said, based on security concerns. If there's any other country we can trust, it would be freaking Canada! Mr. Trudeau was correct; it's completely insulting, and it's going to hurt both Canadian and American consumers. By the way, it was VP Mike Pence who informed the Canadians that the U.S. wanted a sunset clause on a new NAFTA deal, which makes no sense at all.

Congressional Republicans are grumbling over this and may take action against the president, but they don't have a good track record thus far. Never mind obstruction or collusion or money laundering or potentially opening oneself up to blackmail because of all of the above, trade is the 'criminal' act that has pushed them too over the edge.


Panel: Katy Tur, NBC News; Peggy Noonan, The Wall Street Journal; Joshua Johnson, NPR; Rich Lowry, The National Review

One more thing...
Pardons - Rich Lowry is correct in saying the Joe Arpaio pardon was "grotesque." And Peggy Noonan is absolutely correct in saying these pardons by the president are frivolous; however, if she is going to wax poetic about these pardons, could she at least get Jack Johnson' name correct (not Joe Johnston). Jeez.

5.27.18: Making a Mockery of The Office

With regard to the on-again, off-again summit between President Trump and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, the feeling is that it is going to happen, if not solely for the sake of the event and the photo opportunity. But make no mistake, Mr. Trump decision to rush into this summit diminishes the status of the United States and is amateurish in deal-making at the least.

It's a lose-lose for President Trump. He's not going to get the concession he wants, which is total denuclearization of North Korea while the North Korean dictator gets recognized with equal status to the president. Way to go, Mr. Trump.

As Victor Cha explained today, North Korea who has been building toward nuclear capability for the past 50 or so years is not going to just give it up. Senator Jeff Flake (R-AZ) answered Chuck Todd's query by saying that the best we could hope for is that North Korea winds down their nuclear program over time. And what makes us think that Kim Jong Un will act in good faith? Answer: Nothing. Yet, the United States going to give the sanctions relief for saying a few conciliatory words? That's called 'getting played.'

And though China doesn't have a seat at the table, it is definitely pulling the strings. President Xi is the one to come out ahead in all this. He'll be able to resume economic assistance unfettered with North Korea while getting help to put ZTE back into full business in the United States, something that even many Republicans in Congress have come out against due to the national security risk. Senator Flake called it 'commercial espionage.'

One has to wonder when this administration is going to get on the same page with regard to North Korea, let alone anything else. National Security Advisor John Bolton wants to send this country to war with North Korea, and Iran for that matter. The lives of American soldiers amount to very little in his historically ill-advised hawkish ideology. He cited the Libya model, and we know how that turned out for Muammar Gaddifi. Kim certainly has that in mind and simply will not give up his nukes, not now and not eventually. And speaking of Iran, Andrea Mitchell, who always makes a good point, asked the question of having thorough inspections. How would inspections in North Korea be more thorough than the internationally-back strict regime of inspections of Iran's nuclear program, a deal that Mr. Trump pulled out of. 

Not only is Mr. Trump succeeding at making a mockery of the office of the presidency of the United States domestically, he's doing his best to achieve the same status on the international stage as well.

Let's end it there for today...


Panel: Andrea Mitchell, NBC News; Amy Walter, The Cook Political Report; Eugene Robinson, The Washington Post; Matthew Continetti, Washington Free Beacon


A couple more things...
NFL owners are gutless. It's true that the kneeling during the national anthem wasn't a real issue until President Trump made it one. His state that players who kneel should be in the country is beyond the pale. The owners of the NFL teams gave into this bullying and therefore really aren't deserving of the profits they're trying so hard to protect. As for fans who disagree with the protest, if you can not separate your feelings of not liking it while respecting an individual's right to protest, you're not a patriotic American.

And speaking of patriotic Americans, as always on Memorial Day we should be thinking of our troops who put their lives on the line daily to protect our rights to liberty, justice and the pursuit of happiness. However, this Memorial Day it's impossible not to think of the fact that more students have died in school shootings than active service members have died in combat this year. Depending on what site you look up, the exact numbers are different but they all show the same dynamic - twice as many students have been killed than soldiers in 2018.