9.2.18: Americans Need To Be Reconditioned

Both senators interviewed on today's "Meet The Press" respectively spoke in measured tones, just how you would think United States senators would exercise their discourse. It's like you almost get the feeling that in the senate, at least, both parties do want to work together but alas cannot because of pressure from unyielding base supporters who have been conditioned to think that politics is a zero-sum proposition when really it is not. What the United States Senate really has really suffered from is poor leadership in these past years. Harry Reid wasn't great but Mitch McConnell is much worse. Instead of fulfilling the role of what it means to be a senator, like the late John McCain, Mr. McConnell changes the rules and runs the chamber simply to enhance his own power. He will also acquiesce to and excuse the president's poisonous rhetoric and unethical actions to enhance his zero-sum agenda.

All of this is antithetical to what John McCain stood for, and that's why in his late vote on the Senate floor he bucked his party and didn't vote to kill the Affordable Care Act. Under Mr. McConnell, the chamber didn't procedure in regular order on this vote and Mr. McCain had made that known, then stuck it in Mr. McConnell's face.

Senator Dan Sullivan (R-AK) gave the example of bipartisanship in the passing of the National Defense Authorization Act. However, he has to go soft on criticism of the president inasmuch as the bill was named after Senator McCain, which the president never acknowledged when he signed it.

Our politics is petty, but we expect our political leaders not to be; to rise above this pettiness to show us a better way. Unfortunately, it starts at the top and Mr. Trump has shown us that he is the most petty, thin-skinned, vindictive politician that Washington has ever seen.

Chuck Todd posed a suggestion, from the Democratic base, to Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) that Democrats on the Senate judiciary committee who will participate in hearings of Judge Brett Kavanaugh for the Supreme Court should walk out, to which Ms. Klobuchar rightly pushed back on. Not to participate would be politically unwise. However, Senator Klobuchar did explain that this isn't a normal time because the president citing executive privilege will not release 100,000 documents concerning Mr. Kavanaugh and that over 100,000 documents that she has seen can not be made public. This on top of the fact that Mr. Kavanaugh has been nominated by a president that has been implicated in campaign finance crime (by Michael Cohen under oath), and that Senator McConnell denied Merrick Garland a hearing when he should have gotten one. But honor and the institution of the Senate matter not to Mitch McConnell, just the zero-sum win - not just to get more in the deal but to take it all.

Mr. Todd also brought up the notion that the memorial for John McCain was also a memorial for an era of political civility and that calling of 'higher purpose.' The Cook Political Report's Amy Walter responded by saying that that era had already left some time ago, which is unfortunately true. On the other hand, The New York Times Magazine's Mark Leibovich explained that yesterday's memorial at the National Cathedral was very Trump specific, and it was. This column wholeheartedly agrees with Mr. Leibovich that the most poignant moment yesterday came from President Barack Obama who explained to everyone's surprise that he and Senator McCain would talk alone at times in the Oval Office, and though they disagreed they both never doubted that they were always on the same team.

American need to be reconditioned to realize that we can have differences but we're all on the same team. Sadly, Mr. Trump will never be the leader inclined to even think about this, especially when he's only interested in what the presidency can do for him and not the country writ large. Division works to only his advantage, and not the country's.  that the

***

As much as Congressman Ron DeSantis seems like a mindless sycophant of Donald Trump, he has the advantage at this moment over his Democratic opponent Tallahassee mayor Andrew Gillum in the Florida gubernatorial race, despite the detestable 'monkey it up' statement by Mr. DeSantis and the ensuing racist robocalls sponsored by a neo-nazi group. Mr. Gillum, interviewed on today's program, said he was pleased that the DeSantis campaign denounced the robocalls, but he also said that Mr. DeSantis should take more personal responsibility for his statements, which Mr. DeSantis has refused to apologize for. Mr. Gillum unrealistically wants Medicare for all and to abolish ICE, to which Republicans in the state will apply many dog whistles or messaging less subtle. There's also the issue of the a bribery investigation in Tallahassee, which Mr. Gillum answered for very forthrightly. Though he is not implicated and is not a target, saying he has nothing to hide, Mr. Todd applied the point of perception vs. reality. The bottom line is that Mr. Gillum is much better suited for the governor's position being in charge of a municipality.  There's no doubt this will be the toughest, potentially dirtiest race we see this election season. (It's already started that way.)


Panel: Kimberly Atkins, The Boston Herald; Amy Walter, The Cook Political Report; Matthew Continetti, The Washington Free Beacon; Mark Leibovich, The New York Times Magazine

8.26.18: An American Hero Leaves Us With a Huge Void in Leadership

We'll stay out of the Trumpster fire this week except to say that in comparing President Trump and the late Senator John McCain, there is no comparison. Mr. Trump said that Mr. McCain wasn't a war hero because he got captured [by the North Vietnamese] and he thinks heroes don't get captured. You can imagine this column's feeling on that, even if you've only been reading for the past two weeks. Mr. McCain's response was that the president didn't owe him apology, but did owe an apology to every other POW who fought for this country. More recently, President Trump gave a speech at Fort Drum in New York and signed a new military authorization bill in front of the troops. The bill was purposely name after Senator John McCain and the president never once mentioned his name, a obvious slight to the late senator.

The reason that President Trump tries to tear down people with integrity is because he has none. This column over the years has both praised the late Arizona senator and denounced some of his political stances, but would not question the man's integrity. There's now a huge void in American political leadership that no one seems capable of stepping up to fill.

From today's "Meet The Press" and from other tributes every citizen of this country and others around the world should know that Senator John McCain (R-AZ) was:
self-knowingly flawed,
proud,
patriotic,
always thinking in terms of a cause bigger than himself,
egotistic,
forgiving,
hot-tempered,
a political maverick,
gracious in defeat,
able to issue an apology,
deeply committed to the notion that the U.S. as the exceptional nation,
willing to reach across the aisle,
a able to disagree with a fellow legislator yet call him or her friend,
a hero,
a true American.

He embodied all the traits that make us all Americans. It can't be overstated and his was a voice that we desperately need in these times with such a divisive president who has no inclination to lead all that call themselves Americans.

Here are a few examples to illustrate the larger-than-life legacy of John McCain.

At the Al Smith Dinner in 2008. Note his words about then-Senator Barack Obama (starting at 1:40)



Highlights of his best political moments, including when he corrected a woman on the campaign in 2008 about his president opponent Barack Obama



A New York Times Retrospective



Photos of an American Hero

Senator McCain, thank you for your service, sir.


Panel: Tom Brokaw, NBC News; Andrea Mitchell, NBC News; Joshua Johnson, NPR; Hallie Jackson, NBC News; Susan Page, USA Today; David Brody, Christian Science Network

8.19.18: "Truth Isn't Truth," Mr. Giuliani Has No Shame

There is something obviously wrong with the fact that President Trump has a list of individuals who he has targeted to revoke their security clearances because they have been critical of his performance as president. A letter, signed onto by over 70 intelligence officials, rebukes the president's actions of revoking fmr. CIA Director John Brennan's security clearance for what are purely political reasons and not because Mr. Brennan divulged any information vital to national security.

That takes us to the interview with Mr. Brennan who is correct in saying that he now has the proverbial target on his chest for the president's defenders. He did walk back his 'treasonous' comment in a way but not really, not like the panel concluded. Mr. Brennan said that collusion is evident, despite Mr. Giuliani's pathetic rebuttals which we'll get to in a few moments, because the Trump campaign knowingly tried to solicit damaging material from foreign nationals on their political opponent. Then Mr. Trump himself, during a press conference, uttered the statement, "Russia, if you're listening...," to which we come to find out that after hours that same day the Russians did in fact act. Where Mr. Brennan in a way walked back his statement was that he said there's no proof of conspiracy. This is where things became conflated inasmuch as Mr. Brennan's 'treasonous' comment was in response to Mr. Trump taking sides with Mr. Putin over the U.S. intelligence community on Russian election meddling. You would have to concede that saying it is 'treasonous' behavior is not completely out of bounds, but over the line for a former CIA director.

The Washington Post's Eugene Robinson explained that though the president is within his legal right to revoke a security clearance, it's not acceptable when done for the wrong reasons, namely vindictive political ones. So in line with John Brennan, the president is abusing his power, but that begs the rhetorical question of whether we could expect anything less from Mr. Trump given what we've seen so far.

Commenting on Ret. Adm. William McRaven's letter,  Hugh Hewitt would have advised him to 'save his bullets' in defending Mr. Brennan. However, the letter goes much further in being critical of the president, and it comes from a man who oversaw the operation that killed Osama Bin Laden. He also pointed out the collusion is not conspiracy, and the latter hasn't been proven, which Mr. Brennan conceded. However, the one key word left out is the word 'yet.' This column's guess is that conspiracy may not be proven, collusion must certainly, but what will certainly find is that the president has been compromised and subject to blackmail due to his extensive financial ties to Russian oligarchs. Again, always follow the money.

And because White House Counsel Don McGahn is cooperating with the Special Counsel's investigation, Mr. Giuliani doesn't feel the president needs to sit down for an interview with Robert Mueller's team to tell the truth and not worry about committing perjury because it's only a version of the truth.

Then Mr. Giuliani, the annoying ignoramus he has become, explained it with "Truth isn't truth."

Cemented is the fact the Mr. Giuliani is actually worse than President Trump inasmuch as he was a prosecutor who lead FBI agents, FBI agents in the same office who he now refers to as storm troopers. Giuliani has no shame, or to use Mr. Trump's favorite phrase, "He's a disgrace." He tried to explain that politicians are meeting with people to look for 'dirt' on their opponents so collusion isn't even possible. When Mr. Todd pointed out that it's illegal to do so from representatives of a foreign government, Mr. Giuliani responded that they didn't know they were representatives of the Russian government and continued to contend today that they weren't. Unbelievable...

Going back to Mr. McGahn for a moment, let's make clear that being White House counsel is not the same as being the president's lawyer. The White House counsel is the lawyer for the office of the presidency and protects the presidency from the person in the office. In a simpler way, Mr. Gahn advises the president on what he can or cannot do legally as president. With his 30 hours of testimony and cooperation with the Special Counsel, it's clear that Mr. McGahn has no intention of going down with the Trump ship.


Panel: Carol Lee, NBC; Yamiche Alcindor, PBS News Hour; Eugene Robinson, The Washington Post; Hugh Hewitt, Salem Radio Network

One More Big Thing...
The Catholic Church continues to despicably betray public trust. Over 300 priests abused over 1,000 children over the course of decades in Pennsylvania, according to the report issued by the state's Attorney General. Outlined in the report was a child pornography ring run by priests in the Pittsburgh area with particular child being given gold crosses to designate that they were susceptible to victimization. Utterly sickening.  Carol Lee explained that this is only one state and there's no way to fix this because the perpetrators - the priests and the hierarchy covering it up - tasked with correcting this systematic abuse and torture are the same people in this culture of secrecy. As Ms. Alcindor pointed out, before being rudely interrupted by Mr. Hewitt, this is extremely dangerous the world over because of how developing countries rely on the Catholic Church in schools and hospitals and through so many segments of society.  There was a 'playbook' for the Church on how to deal with it - see below:

Mr. Hewlitt said that Cardinal Donald Wuerl in Washington DC, who oversaw the Pittsburgh Archdiocese at the time should resign, which the Cardinal said he would not do. No, he shouldn't resign... He should be arrested immediately. Period. Hard stop.

8.12.18: The Darker Shades in Between The Trump Administration's True Colors

Former Congresswoman Donna Edwards summed it up best when she described Omarosa Manigault-Newman's disclosures during her interview as a 'mixed bag.' Yes, Mrs. Manigault-Newman admits that she was complicit when bearing close witness to many of President Trump's abhorrent statements, but how could she not have already known about Mr. Trump's discriminatory housing practices in New York or his bigoted campaign again the Central Park 5 or his ridiculous birtherism statements against his predecessor.

In a way, Mrs. Manigault-Newman is very much the same as Donald Trump inasmuch as that if a person no longer serves self-interest, that person needs to be taken down. With that said, it's not surprising or shocking to realize or assess that Mr. Trump is a bigot and a misogynist, at the very least in his public statements. This column will leave the label of 'racist' to others, but there's no doubt Mr. Trump uses race to divide this country and never defends minorities... Oh Hell with it, he's racist.
At every opportunity to do the right thing on race relations in this country, Mr. Trump goes the other way, and ultimately he fails us all. In a tweet, not a statement but a tweet, Mr. Trump condemned all types of racism. All types? What does that even mean when white supremacists will be demonstrating across the street from The White House TODAY in Lafayette Park? The New York Times' David Brooks called the tweet 'distancing,' which can be interpreted as saying enough to cover yourself but really in effect saying nothing at all. However, if the recording of Mr. Trump using the 'n' word exists and comes out, especially in October, as Mrs. Manigault-Newman contends, there's really going to be a political explosion in this country, and rightfully so.

In the meantime, in terms of Mrs. Manigault-Newman's book causing her 'awakening' to the ways of Trump, one could say there is some truth to that, but in terms of her charges to the president's character, there's truth to that as well. Former North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory (R) of bathroom legislation fame did not find Mrs. Manigault-Newman credible at all and stated that recording conversations was highly unethical. That's as far as he could go given the obviously distasteful statements and non-statements by Mr. Trump. The rest of the panel did push back on him a bit arguing that that deceptive act is the product of a deceptive culture in The White House. Also, NBC's Kristen Welker who covers the White House every day said that her descriptions of the goings-on were very familiar. What can not be disputed as evidenced by the recording we heard today of her firing by Chief of Staff John Kelly and by the Non-Disclosure Agreement is that this is an administration that bullies and shows no hesitation to harass legally or otherwise if you cross it. As for General Kelly, his credibility and legacy takes a hit every day he remains on the job. Mrs. Manigault-Newman cited that Mr. Kelly did refer to multiple domestic abuser Rob Porter, former the White House secretary, as a man of great integrity.

We know the true colors of this president and his administration, but it's the darker shades in between those colors that are even more troubling.

Conversely, there is Ohio Governor John Kasich (R-OH) who could indeed win over independents and conservative Democrats if he were to run for president; however, he would have trouble getting the nomination in the Republican party because of the base, which is solidly off the reservation of reality in its unquestioned support of Donald Trump. Make no mistake, Gov. Kasich espouses some seriously conservative policies but after not even two years of Trump, people want to hear a message of lifting other people up, bringing them together and being for something instead of constantly instilling fear.

What was disappointing is that Gov. Kasich's experience, which Chuck Todd noted, is used against him. Honestly, this is just plain stupid. Having experience in governing should be required, not a disqualifying attribute. Again, this is a product of the Republican base.


Panel: Kristen Welker, NBC; Donna Edwards (D-MD), former Congresswoman; Pat McCrory (R-NC), former Governor; David Brooks, The New York Times

One more thing...
Democrats have to run away from Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) because she is so demonized by Republicans and the right writ large. But here's the reality... The reason she is so demonized is because she's such a strong leader for Democrats and was a better Speaker of the House than Paul Ryan or John Boehner could have ever have hoped to have been. She would get the caucus behind her and get the votes unlike the chaos you see in the Republican-runned House right now. And as Donna Edwards noted, she has raised $90 million for Democrats this election cycle. This column gets it, conservative Democrats are leery of Mrs. Pelosi because of her progressive agenda, which she should make no apologies for just as hard right conservatives like Mark Meadows (R-NC) would make no apologies for his. But make no mistake, it's Mrs. Pelosi's effectiveness that Republican politicians really fear, and it would be a glaring omission if we didn't say that, let's face it, our society has been much more complicit when it comes to tearing down female political leaders, which is a disgrace. Yet, Donald Trump goes there all the time, without hesitation.

8.5.18: President Trump vs. The Trump Administration

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Chuck Todd began today's program by asking the question of whether President Trump is feeling liberated or besieged, but really it seems like the president is feeling like he has nothing left to loss. His campaign associates are either on trial, cooperating with the Feds or about to or looking at a pending indictment. "Collusion is not a crime," is the president's and his attorney Rudy Giuliani's, which is catchy but ultimately ineffective because conspiring with a foreign government to effect the outcome of a U.S. federal election is a crime. And that's what the president's campaign did and then attempted to cover it up with a weak adoption story.

Also, the president now understands that his eldest son, Donald Trump Jr. may have perjured himself to a Senate congressional committee, which is also a crime. How do we know all this? From solid reputable journalism, that's where so it stands to reason, in Trump world that is, that he would call the media the enemy of the people.

However, more disturbing is that President Donald Trump doesn't seem to even be in charge of the country anymore. It's President Trump vs. the Trump Administration. In the past week the president said he would meet with Iran without preconditions, to which a few hours later Secretary of State Mike Pompeo outlined a number of preconditions. The heads of the administration's national security agencies took to the White House press room podium to declare that the Russian meddling and hacking effort is a threat and that these agencies are combating it. However, hours later at a rally the president said that Russian meddling was a hoax. Also, the president (the boss), simply 'expressing his opinion' stated that Attorney General Jeff Sessions should end the Mueller investigation, an order that Mr. Sessions seemingly ignored because he himself can not carry it out. A little closer to home, the president's daughter and administration official Ivanka Trump said that she didn't believe the press was the enemy of the people, and after the president insulted LeBron James, the first lady, Melania Trump stated her support for the work that Mr. James is doing with regard to opening a school for at-risk kids in Akron, OH. The New York Times' Helene Cooper said that Mr. Trump is redefining what a presidency is, which in this case is purely being a figurehead.

The institutions of this country are the only entities holding it up because they are certainly not getting any much needed leadership with the chief executive. And these rallies that the president holds are simply spoken word concerts where the president 'plays' his hits to make an aggrieved base of supporters forget about what the president is actually doing, which is instilling policies against their interests and putting our national security at risk.

In his interview, Senator Roy Blount (R-MO) said that he wouldn't approach the press's criticism the same way the president would, but explained that he thinks the president believes the coverage has been accurate, as if giving us a rational explanation for the president's statements which is obviously becoming more and more difficult to do. However, as the panel explained, Republican primary candidates seek the president's endorsement to win their respective primary races because as Republican strategist Mike Murphy put it, Mr. Trump's cult of personality owns the Republican base. However, Politico's Eliana Johnson explained that presidents don't usually get involved with primary races, but that President Trump has turned that on its head, which candidates are kowtowing to in a big way, the style as Robert Costa put it. Overall, they concluded that the midterm elections are going to be won or lost with Trump as the central figure.

As Republican primary candidates compete with each other to out-Trump the other, it will not bode well for them in their general contests against Democrats who look to at least take back the House.

This brings us to the NetRoots Nation conference held this week by progressives in the Democratic party, which seemed to be the Democratic equivalent to the Republicans CPAC conference. Ms. Cooper commented that the Democrats have a lot of issues to hammer out among themselves as well, which is certainly the case. However, Democrats will have an easier time in bringing these different viewpoints together for the sake of overall control. Mike Murphy was correct that the country wants a centrist but there isn't distribution for it.

A centrist Mr. Trump certainly is not as in all his time in office so far, he's only governed to 33 percent of the electorate and now he can't even govern his on administration.


Panel: Helene Cooper, The New York Times; Eliana Johnson, Politico; Robert Costa, The Washington Post; Al Cardenas, Republican strategist; Clint Watt, former FBI agent and NBC contributor; Mike Murphy, Republican strategist

7.29.18: The Impossibility of Nothingness - Who Has Credibility Within All These Swirling Stories?

"It was such a nothing, there was nothing to tell."

-Donald Trump Jr.

Even a casual follower of the Trump Administration and the Russian investigation could tell you that there is no way that Donald Trump Jr. didn't tell his father about the Trump Tower meeting with Russian operatives. It's the impossibility of nothingness.

The Wall Street Journal's Peggy Noonan asked that if Mr. Trump (senior) did know then what does it mean? Surprising that she couldn't come up with an answer so this column will provide one, and that is that Mr. Trump Jr. perjured himself to Congress. He did state in a Senate hearing that he had no told his father about it, but if this statement is proven false then that's a criminal act, not to mention that it does speak to then candidate Trump participating in collusion with a foreign government. 

On the matter of proof, NBC's Andrea Mitchell mentioned the Mr. Trump Jr.'s blocked phones during the scheduling of the meeting, which Don Jr. does not remember. Special Counsel Robert Mueller knows exactly who was one the other end of those calls despite the blocked numbers. If you've read his last indictment of 12 Russians and the detail encompassed in it, then investigating who's blocked number that was probably only took half a morning.

As all this pertains to Michael Cohen, the president's lawyer/fixer, he's come to the realization that he's not going to be bailed out by the president and is therefore using the information (recordings and documents) that he has to save himself, but not only that there is an apparent tinge of vindictiveness to Mr. Cohen's actions - punitive repercussions so to speak for the president. And because of the recording, the Trump Organization's chief accountant Allen Weisselberg is being called before a grand jury, a man who has unrivaled knowledge of Mr. Trump's finances during the campaign and going back decades.

Sam Nunberg, on today's program, said that given that Mr. Cohen recorded conversations, that he's inclined to believe the president over Mr. Cohen. Honestly, this column doesn't understand why you would even want to talk to Mr. Nunberg at this point simply for the fact that he has no credibility at all. Really his opinion means nothing and he's not going to say anything that would draw additional attention to himself. 

The vastly more informative interview, as you can imagine, came from the one with Michael Isikoff of Yahoo News who outlined a broader Russian infiltration of the the United States' conservative establishment through it's most powerful lobby, that National Rifle Association. The infiltration must be significant in terms of money laundered through the NRA then donated to Republican candidates because oddly, the NRA has been silent on this. It's unheard of that when this organization is attacked that it stays silent, but right now it has nothing to say, which would obviously lead someone to believe that there's something there. Mr. Isikoff also mentioned the dereliction of duty on the part of Congressional Republicans for not calling hearings and having individuals like Michael Cohen and Maria Butina, now in jail for allegedly being an unregistered Russian operative, testify in public. The explanation of this, in terms of House Republicans, is that a minority of Republicans in the form of the Freedom Caucus lead by Congressmen Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Mark Meadows (R-NC) want power so badly and they're holding the rest of the majority hostage.

Finally, Senator Rob Portman (R-OH) said that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo did a fine job in his Senatorial testimony this week on what was discussed during Mr. Trump's two-hour closed door one-on-one meeting with Vladimir Putin, followed by what Ms. Noonan said was an embarrassing press conference with the Russian president. It was a fine job depending on how you look at it, but the panel seemed to come to the conclusion that Mr. Pompeo doesn't really know what was said and all he could do was confirm that U.S. policies toward Russia haven't changed (e.g. sanctions because of Crimea, Syria policy, and the hot war in eastern Ukraine). Mr. Pompeo during the hearing did confirm that what the president says is U.S. policy. But therein lies the rub because the public pronouncements of the president and actual policy are distinctly at odds with one another. 

The president this week in front of Veterans of Foreign Wars said, "Just remember, what you are seeing and what you are reading is not what's happening," Trump said. "Just stick with us, don't believe the crap you see from these people, the fake news."

For a president who supposedly doesn't read, he sure does have George Orwell's writing down pat.

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