8.9.20: Relief Package Negotiations Suffer from the Original Covid Sin

Once again deference to working American families has been rebuffed as congress was unable to come to an agreement for pandemic relief. In comes the president to sign executive orders because he has not taken part in any of the negotiations, which have only added to the confusion, prompted more questions, and created a moral dilemma as to whether it is legal or not despite the intention.

The Administration's trade representative Peter Navarro said that if congress can come to agreement then there would be no need for executive action, which means that congress needs to come together and get a deal done immediately. Think about it this way, Americans are seeing the public health system overwhelmed, a decimated economy, little prospects, and now to have congress completely break down unable to pass relief. It becomes too much and provides some truth to the low-grade depression that Michelle Obama talked about in an interview this week.

However, Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) said that Democrats have been will to meet in the middle on the negotiations with Democrats at $3 trillion and Republicans at $1 trillion. Mr. Durbin also said that House Democrats passed a second relief bill back in May, but that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) sat on it until last week, and now he's not even involved in the negotiations. Talk about an abdication of leadership. The funny thing is, is that Democrats passed the bill in May because they saw the need for it then. The Republicans (Mr. McConnell) sat on because they maintained wishful thinking that we would need it because, frankly, they put their faith in the administration that the pandemic would be under control, and now are back to their spending reservations. However, the president is signing executive orders for a relief package, not because he wants to, but because his reelection prospects depend on it. 

The National Review's Rich Lowry brought up a point about spending that as a conservative he doesn't have a problem with the spending now because of the current state of the economy, but he had a problem with the spending when the economy was good. He didn't elaborate but wouldn't that be on Republicans who passed a $2 trillion tax cut that went primarily to the wealthy? As for congresspeople, Joshua Johnson explained that Mitch McConnell said that it's difficult to get a deal this close to the election, which Mr. Johnson unpacked explained that because of the tradition political positions and posturing on both sides, it makes a deal all the more difficult.

It all comes back around to the lack of a cohesive national response at the beginning and the administration's inaction and distribution of misinformation that has sealed the countries fate. We are now at 5 million confirmed coronavirus cases and over 160,000 deaths. In the past two weeks an American dies from Covid-19 every 77 seconds, but as the president says - It is what it is.

Lastly, for a bit of pure politics, as Kasie Hunt explained, it seems as though it's Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA) versus the world in the Democratic VP sweepstakes. Ms. Hunt also said that there is a suggestion that the Harris people are playing political hardball by leaking opposition research on other VP candidates. One thing is for sure, no matter the party, the longer a political contest goes on and the closer to the deadline it gets, it assuredly will get uglier and uglier. The problem with not picking Kamala Harris at this point is that every other potential choice will be picked a part by the twitter-sphere and surely Democrats will damage their own representative ticket.  At this point, like everything else in the country right now, sooner is required over later.

Panel: Kasie Hunt, NBC News; Joshua Johnson, NBC News; Rich Lowry, The National Review

 

8.2.20: Has President Trump Given Up on His Job?

"Hydroxychloroquine is not an effective treatment for coronavirus or Covid-19."

                                                                                                  Dr. Anthony Fauci

Yet, our president tweets witch doctor videos to 84 million people that hydroxychloroquine prevents and cures coronavirus and that you don't need a mask, while Asst. Secretary of Heath at the Department of Health & Human Services, Adm. Brett Giroir MD, said on today's program that he wouldn't (he can't) recommend its use at all and that we need 90 per cent compliance with mask wearing to bring the amount of cases down.

This week, the CDC has the total number of deaths at 152K+ while all the other sources have U.S. deaths at 157K+. Five thousand deaths is not splitting hairs and maybe that's because hospitals no longer report the data direct to the CDC as it goes through the administration first, an administration that has botched the response from the very beginning.

There is still no national coordination, a 'plan,' from this administration and we're seven months into the heavy. We still haven't gotten testing down, by Adm. Giroir's own admission. He explained that 90 percent of the tests turnaround in 5 days, but that makes tracing and tracking futile. The admiral flatly disagreed with Chuck Todd when asked about private labs dictating the turnaround time, However, Mr. Todd should have framed the question differently because we are indeed at the mercy of utilizing private labs because they can turnaround results in 48 hours, which is the window Dr. Fauci recommends.

And where is the president? Out playing golf. As Andrea Mitchell reported, the president has taken himself out of the negotiations for the next relief package, sending aides instead for the day-to-day. In between shots into the rough, he's heckling from the sidelines, undermining the process. You don't expect such a cynical question from the MTP moderator, but we're at that point: Has Mr. Trump given up on the job?

It certainly seems so because the press briefing aren't helpful, footage of his campaign stops shows him going through the motions, and worst of all Republicans behind the scenes and in some cases in front of them (more in a minute) have been instructed to distance themselves from the president. Trump has completely lost his mojo.

Not only has he lost his mojo, he has also lost the trust of the American people as Robert Draper said. He never really had a great amount to begin with, but now with the coronavirus raging through red states, the botched-response rumors that they were hearing they now realize are true; hence trust eroding even further.

Because his leadership through this pandemic crisis has been so abysmal, he did what any authoritarian-leaning leader would do, flout the Constitution and call for a delay in the election. As if Mr. Trump ever really had any regard for the Constitution, even Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) spoke out in opposition to this notion.

As we know, the call for the delay is because he is losing in the polls so badly, Texas of all places is a dead heat. Heather McGhee explained that the president's racist dog whistling (foghorning?) about the suburbs isn't working as polls show that he's not only losing the suburbs but whites in general. Ms. McGhee also explained that just as significant (this column thinks even more so) as the president's words are his actions. The Trump Administration removed the Post Master General recently and inserted a Trump crony who is doing a system change as of this writing, making the post slower. In other words, eroding another institution. Don't mess with ____ing the Post Office! (fill in the blank) It was an invention of Benjamin Franklin after all.

Lastly, a quick comment on potential VP pick Congresswoman Karen Bass (D-CA). In a word: no. There's a lot to like about Congresswoman Bass: her experience in Congress and the ability to work with the other side, she's a happy warrior; she has great experience with healthcare and foreign policy; and she is correct in that to change Cuba, the U.S. has to have relations.

However, the opposition research about Ms. Bass's statements on Cuba and her having worked in country as a young adult will be a dagger for the Trump campaign that will use it to inflict endless cuts. So many that it will have an effect in Florida, the key swing state. It's a weapon that Democrats can not afford to put in Trump's hand.

Panel: Andrea Mitchell, NBC News; Heather McGhee, Board Co-Chair Color of Change; Robert Draper, The New York Times Magazine

7.19.20: More Human Wood on the Fire / Comment on the Passing of John Lewis

To begin, this column, inspired by individuals such as Congressman John Lewis (D-GA), is reminded to keep going despite being spit in a rain storm of politically-based content. Well, sometimes and at some point there is the thousandth cut, the final blow, the poison pill, the glob of spit in the rain... We enjoy the status and to keep writing it as we see it.

Congressman Jim Clyburn (D-SC) said there was no greater force in the civil rights movement who personified the goodness of this country. Today's cover of The New York Times:

Click for article

We would suggest that instead of the "conscience of congress" it should be the Conscience of America. Mr. Lewis taught this country at a time it didn't want to learn, but he recognized that it needed to. He sacrificed in blood for this country and stood of the right side of history when others just stood by. He overcame injustice and made his voice heard in the very halls of justice. In congress, he was a inspiring and inspired leader for all Americans.

Mr. Lewis embraced nonviolent protest and resistance to "restore America's goodness," as Congress Clyburn said the two spoke about. He also said that the Black Lives Matter movement reminded them of the 1960's. It can be bigger by invoking this hero to America, because there would be no progress without John Lewis.

Another principle that Mr. Lewis held close to his heart was his desire to help others. With that in mind we're going to nakedly transition into discussing the national disaster that is the corona virus running almost out of control across the south and west of the United States.

As of this writing, the White House is actively trying to block the Senate from additional federal funding for testing and tracing, which the states desperately need.

Click for video

Above are the blocks of states in the 'red zone' for infections leading the way to a one-day milestone of 75,000 plus cases. Chuck Todd interviewed two governors that aren't in said red zone, but are seeing cases spiking. All this, we remind you, with a president who is in denial that any of this is even happening.

But there is some good news... and some bad. The good news is that we can trust the science and the data coming from the refreshingly candid Director of the National Institutes of Health Dr. Francis Collins. The bad news is that the science and the data are not good.

Dr. Collins explains the turnaround time for test results nationwide is an average of three days, but in some states it's as long as eight days. Either way, it makes contact tracing and tracking of the virus an exercise in futility. Again, with a president in denial, we have no plan for a federal tracing and tracking program. Governor Jared Polis (D-CO) explained that when his state sends out tests to federal labs the response time is eight days; through private instate it's 1 to 2 days.

Dr. Collins explained that NIH is developing 'point of care' tests, the first of which is being deployed in nursing homes where the wait time for a result would be an hour. He explained that individuals should wear a mask when out in public, socially distance, et al pointing out that the data shows it helps. He also flatly stated that the wearing of masks should not be politicized and that everyone should do it.

However, Dr. Michael Osterholm of the University of Minnesota said there's still a lot of human wood to burn in this corona virus firestorm. (What a way to put it.) The way we're going, we're looking at 60 percent of the population, he said.

But he's not wrong. Take the mask example: Governor Mike DeWine (R-OH) said he is very concerned that Ohio is at a point where 'we could become Florida.' Everyone's dissing Florida right now, because Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) took one in the face, courtesy of the Covid-19. He went on television how great Florida was doing while doing nothing, and now the state is the epicenter for cases. Yet, Gov. DeWine has anti-mask protesters outside his capitol and his house. Though he talked around it, it's the reason why he hasn't instituted a statewide mandate on masks.  In Ohio, 60 percent of the counties the population has a mask mandate, which is 19 counties. Here's how it breaks down:

Click for Article

The largest red zone is in the center of the state and has no where else to start burning but outward. Soon, all those red dots will be connected. Governors, especially ones in states like Ohio, not only need federal money, they also need federal muscle to rally and educate people about public health, specifically how wearing a mask protects you, your family and your neighbor. (Again, president in denial.) But if we kept in mind, just for a moment, John Lewis and the spirit of helping one another, it would have been (shouldn't have been) an issue to ask people to do it.

Sadly, until we have leadership from the White House, one that cares about the public health of Americans, we're needlessly throwing more human wood on the fire.

7.12.20: The Plight of the Pitied Helpless Giant

A "pitied helpless giant" is how George Will described the perception that other countries around the world have of the United States because of our dismally tragic respond to the coronavirus pandemic. Mr. Will explained that politically for the president, this is worse than a 'Katrina moment' because we can compare our response to other countries and it's clear that we're failing at the task.

The last results from the CDC website, as of today, are as follows:

The total number of deaths just yesterday was 811. Even if the United States were to lower that number to 500 a day for the next 100 days, that would still total another 50,000 deaths by November.

The Asst. Secretary of Health and Human Services, Adm. Brett Giroir, M.D. said that we can bring this virus under control, but it has to be a collective effort with 95% compliance with community mask wearing. But that's simply not going to happen. Take for example, Texas governor Greg Abbott (R) who recently mandated mask wearing in his state, but the citizens of the state aren't buying in, not at this point. Adm. Giroir also made it very clear that all the health professionals in the administration have been very clear and consistent when it comes to mask wearing. This clear and consistent message certainly hasn't come from Mr. Trump.

Now, there are those who commend the president for finally wearing a mask in public on his visit to Walter Reed Hospital yesterday, but let's be honest here, that's 4 months late and 133,666 lives short. It's a failure of national leadership pure and simply.

Maryland's governor Larry Hogan said he didn't want to Monday morning quarterback, casting blame at who was to fault in February and March because it's a waste of energy and not where we are now, with which we agree. However, he was clear to point out that we needed a national testing and tracing strategy from the beginning. That's on the president.

The same president is now pressuring governors to open schools in their respective states irrespective of the data and community safety. Chuck Todd interview the public schools superintendent of Miami-Dade county, which at present has a 29% positivity testing rate. That's almost 1 in 3 people in the entire county. Mr. Carvalho said that they would be very aggressive with mitigation strategies, but that science would be guiding policy, not politics.

Speaking of politics, you may know that the city of Washington D.C. is literally built on top of a swamp, which makes adding to it much easier than draining it. Point being, our current president is "in his element," with his latest act of commuting the sentence of Roger Stone on Friday.  Read Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Op-Ed in The Washington Post today and you'll be concisely reminded of the crimes committed by Mr. Stone. Relieved of any jail time, which he deserves, Mr. Stone said that he would not 'roll' on the president meaning that he will not tells what he knows, clearly implying that the president is guilty of something. To again quote George Will, "This is mob talk."

As Kristen Welker said, Mr. Trump is trying to paint his opponent (Joe Biden) as a criminal while at the same time commuting the sentence of a real criminal. What do they say - that dog don't hunt.


Panel: Kristen Welker, NBC, George Will, syndicated columnist; Anna Palmer, Politico

7.5.20: America Has To Live with a Dual Viral Threat

The governor of Arkansas, Asa Hutchinson (R) was right when he said that we have virus fatigue but he didn't internalize why that is because he also said that in his state the number of Covid cases were down then they went up, then back down and now they're seeing a rise again. This translates in what we're seeing in other states such as Florida, Texas and Arizona - governors who opened their respective states too early and are now having to shutdown many businesses once again.

The fatigue is frustration.

Whatever you want to call it, this result is due to the initial lack of a national strategy to curb the spread of the virus, along with the president's fanciful denial back in January and February that it would magically disappear. Even this week, Mr. Trump reiterated this thinking when he said that the coronavirus would "just disappear, I hope."

And now as NBC's Peter Alexander reported, the administration's message is that we just have to live with it. It's one thing that this administration has gotten correct, we do now have to just learn to live with the coronavirus because the administration created these conditions. And for those who are hoping that in November a Biden Administration takes over and tries to implement a national strategy, it will fail because of the fatigue and the frustration of changing protocols and messaging. Also, the poison pill that is Donald Trump is unlikely to go away and will continue to sew seeds of dissent.

What a new administration may be able to do is to nationalize contact tracing, but as infectious disease doctor Nahid Bhadelia explained, the amount of positive cases could be so many that it would render contact tracing ineffective. By the November election we could be staring at 200,000+ Americans dead from Covid-19. So yes, we are now in a position where we're going to have to live with it because of Mr. Trump's magical thinking and irresponsible actions holding rallies where there is no social distancing or mask requirement.

And then there is the other 'virus' to contend with - Mr. Trump and his continuing strategy to divide America and pit groups against one another instead of uniting people.

Saddest of all is the fact that this political 'virus' is now presenting compounded danger for our troops in war zones. The story of Russia's GRU paying bounties to the Taliban for killing U.S. and coalition troops has been called a hoax by Mr. Trump. Take about frustrating... nay, it's infuriating. First, administration officials said that the president wasn't briefed even though this information was in the President's Daily Briefing and then the president says it was a hoax? Well, which is it because it can't be both. Fmr. National Security Advisor Susan Rice was spot on when she described this situation as a clown show, consisting of sycophants and weaklings in the administration. The president has no plans for a response and once again we see him taking the side of Vladimir Putin over the U.S. intelligence community. Then he has the gall to speak about American patriotism?

Danielle Pletka of the American Enterprise Institute described this in two parts. First, she said that if the president wasn't briefed, this is a dereliction of duty. If? The White House has been guilty of dereliction of duty since January 20th, 2016. However, she also said that this was an incredibly damaging leak about extremely sensitive information. But again, we have to examine the 'why' here. Why was there a leak? It's fairly evident that this information was leaked because the administration has known about this going back to 2019 and the president has done nothing about it. There is extenuating harm from Russia facing our troops in a war zone and what does the president do? He advocates for Russia to be included in the G7 again. So while Ms. Pletka frets over the leak, it is justified to put this information out to the public to try and force the president's hand and say something. But once again, we've learned that Mr. Trump will not socially distance his lips from Putin's butt.

America is confronted with a dual viral threat, and unfortunately we are just going to have to learn to live with it.


Panel: Danielle Pletka, American Enterprise Institute; Jeh Johnson, fmr. Secretary of Homeland Security; Peter Alexander, NBC News

6.28.20: Senate Republicans Can Not Unhitch Their Wagons

Lordie... No matter if you're discussing the pandemic, John Bolton or election politics, it all comes back to the all too frustrating common denominator - Senate Republicans. This one group is the hold up, the enabler, the shameless, the feckless, the problem.

Among the many things John Bolton said that this column disagrees with is that the Republicans should keep control of the Senate whether Mr. Trump is reelected or not. Mr. Bolton reasoned that a political party shouldn't be driven by the individual but the philosophy and it's that conservative philosophy that needs to be in place as a check for a stable republic. However, Republicans in the Senate jettisoned their conservative philosophy for Trumpism, which isn't really even an 'ism.' Following the whims of an individual is not a political philosophy, it's the abdication of responsibility. What Mr. Bolton is saying is that if Joe Biden is president, they'll find their conservative footing again. Well, isn't that convenient? They all swore an oath to uphold the constitution and in these past 3 1/2 years, they've collectively broken that oath by not keeping a corrupt president from unlawful action.

In the case of John Bolton, he thought that Senate Republicans would want to know the truth from the guy who was in "the room where it happened" during the impeachment trial and subpoena him. Think again. Under the leadership of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Senate Republicans had no interest, calling no witnesses. The bottom line is that if Mr. Bolton wanted to come forward and testify, he could have in the House of Representatives. And now he's worried that the republic would not be able to survive a second term of Donald Trump? Many Americans are worried about the same thing, but Mr. Bolton was in a position to do something about it. Instead, he cut and ran in the moment with an eye on a payout once he reached the other side. Mr. Bolton said that he sticks to his conservative philosophy, but if this is it, it's thoroughly compromised and needs to go. In other words, a Senate Republican majority needs to be sent home.

As NBC's Kasie Hunt explained, it is in June when the political bedrock is set for the fall election and many Senate Republicans have hitched their wagons to Donald Trump's, and it's too late to jump off. However, because of the spikes in coronavirus cases in namely Texas, Arizona and Florida, Republican senators are starting to grumble in an attempt to get their own voices back a bit, and Ms. Hunt reported that Senate Republicans, behind the scenes, definitely want a stronger federal response from the administration. They all know that the Trump Administration has handled the pandemic horribly. Mitch McConnell is now encouraging people to wear a mask, which can reduce the chance of transmission by 25 percent, but people on his side of the aisle aren't listening because the president refuses to wear a mask in any circumstance and will not encourage people to do so. His vice president can not even say the word 'mask' during a coronavirus task force press conference.

Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar this is a county by county issue that the federal government will be there to support counties and states as they need help. In his interview, he basically conceded that there is no national strategy and that the administration is essentially ignoring the 'pan' in pandemic. Without a national strategy one of the worries that New York Governor Andrew Cuomo mentioned was that the progress made in his state will be negated because other states haven't taken the necessary steps. All the administration's talk of counties and states was rightly interpreted by Mr. Cuomo who summed it up by saying that the states are on their own.

And because states on are their own with no national strategy to combat the spread and mitigate death totals, the rosy picture that Hugh Hewitt painted for January isn't going to happen. It was refreshing that Kasie Hunt called him out on his depiction of how great it will be if Trump is reelected - in January will be back at 3.5 percent unemployment, for example - so that this column didn't have to on that. However, in reaction to the president giving a nonsensical answer to what his second term priorities would be, Mr. Hewitt said that the president gave a Klayton Kershaw (Los Angeles Dodgers ace pitcher) windup but didn't deliver the pitch. We guess he could have said something stupider, but this comment was impressive in that respect. It's like he was trying to pull the best smelling crap from a pile of crap. Why Mr. Hewitt still has a radio show or platform is anyone's guess with these types of ridiculous comments.

Mr. Hewitt should do what the Senate Republicans have been doing with regard to the president's lawlessness, offensiveness, and impotent response to the pandemic. He should just say that he didn't see the tweet, put his head down and scurry away.


Panel: Kasie Hunt, NBC; Eddie Glaude, Jr.; Princeton University; Hugh Hewitt, Salem Radio Network

One more thing...
According to U.S. intelligence officials, Russians are paying bounties to the Taliban to kill U.S. soldiers. This story was reported in the New York Times, in which it also said that the president was briefed about it in March. The president said that he was not briefed on this, hence the administration has had no response. As much as we disagree with John Bolton, we're with him on this one thinking it's odd that a president would go out of his way to say that he was not briefed. Will Mr. Trump act? Maybe if he's pressured enough because he doesn't want to look anymore like he's in Putin's pocket than he already does.

 

6.21.20: It's Not Only the Supreme Court...

President Trump said via Twitter, "Do you get the impression that the Supreme Court doesn't like me?"

This tweet came in response to the Court's ruling on DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) which came after the Court also ruled earlier in the week that individuals could not be fired on the basis of their sexual orientation, which is a major victory of course for the LGBTQ community.

Along with the LGBT community, DACA recipients are mostly Latino so there are two other groups not in the 'like' column for Trump. Then there are those four former cabinet members - John Kelly, John Bolton, Rex Tillerson and James Mattis - that really aren't seeing it either. The African-American community... please.

Then there's 60 percent of the American public that disapprove of his job performance. Suburban moms are in the midst of a sickening kerfuffle, figuratively and literally, so they're keeping their distance as well.

Then there was the rally in Tulsa last night.

One million tickets requested, 19,000 Trump supporters indoors and another 40,000 expected outside. But only about 7,000 showed up, and the campaign cancelled the 'overflow' speech that the president was to give to the crowd outside because it would have been in front of only like 40 people. Concerns about coronavirus spread, given that masks were optional and were not worn, plus what Carol Lee reported on Trump's enthusiasm issue while he paints a doomsday scenario if he is not reelected.

So many have tuned out, even rally supporters who know they're going to get the same show, that Donald Trump is desperate. So much so that he sees the mountain coming and the plane is out of control. The president playing defense as Yamiche Alcindor described was an understatement and a half (understandable, Ms. Alcindor works for PBS), because the president has to do something to fire up his base. Ms. Lee said the rallies are the campaign's only play, but this time around that he is the incumbent they will not go over as well if Tulsa is any indication.

Also in desperation with more nefarious intent, Mr. Trump along with Attorney General Bill Barr, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin who all see the writing on the wall are covering for the president in multiple ways, namely this latest firing of Geoffrey Berman, U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of New York, who was investigating Mr. Trump's associates. Steve Mnuchin, this week, refused to tell a congressional oversight committee who he gave $500 billion of tax payers' money to through the business relief program. And Mr. Pompeo is there to cover up and mitigate the damage of all these self-interested foreign deals Mr. Trump is making. Firing all the Inspectors General has only made their collective tasks easier.

However, John Bolton put his dislike into print and the Trump Administration couldn't do anything about it. Another malfunction for the Trump campaign because as Ms. Alcindor described from her reading is that the book's general thesis is that Donald Trump is unfit to be president. And even though long-time Republican strategist Alex Cardenas who has known Mr. Bolton for close to 40 years calls him a 'truth teller,' One can not disagree with Congressman Adam Schiff's assessment that Mr. Bolton indicted himself on cowardice and greed. The damning excerpts that have already been released, would have put Republican senators in an untenable position if Mr. Bolton would have testified during Mr. Trump's impeachment.

Point being to all this, it seems it's not only the Supreme Court that doesn't like Mr. Trump.


Panel: Yamiche Alcindor, PBS; Carol Lee, NBC News; Alex Cardenas, Republican Strategist

One more thing...
You have to love that Mr. Cardenas said that the Trump Campaign got 'punk'd' when it came to getting a million RSVPs to the rally. The campaign was indeed nervous and they over-hyped it.

6.14.20: Mr. Trump Suffers Delusions that He Tortures the American People With

It's easy when writing a column to revert to just railing against individuals and their insights which you've deemed unacceptable. With a few notable exceptions (read: Hugh Hewitt and Pat McCrory), we like to also offer helpful suggestions so that maybe, just maybe, we can positively contribute to widening people's insights and perspectives.

With that in mind, here's one. If all goes well in November, what senate Republicans would be wise to do is make Senator Tim Scott (R-SC) their minority leader. Otherwise, the already shrinking relevance of Republican voices will rightly be disqualified from any national conversation on race or police reform. With more of Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) leading the party the enabling of a president who wants to kill productive conversation by a thousand cuts with continue.

Hence this exchange two days ago (6.12.20) between President Trump and Harris Faulkner (cool name) on Fox News:

Trump: So I think I've done more for the Black community than any other president, and let's take a pass on Abraham Lincoln because he did good, although it's always questionable, you know, in other words, the end result —

Faulkner: Well, we are free, Mr. President, so I think he did pretty well.

Trump: We are free. You understand what I mean.

Faulkner: Yeah, I get it.

Never mind the complete falsehood at the top of Mr. Trump's statement, but how exactly is the end result of freeing a race of people from the bondage of slavery and winning a war against an army lead by men who were traitors to their country questionable?

We have to side with The New York Times' Helene Cooper on this one and say that it's 'preposterous' to think that Mr. Trump can contribute productively to the conversation. As astounding as the aforementioned exchange is, let's not focus on that, but instead some of the statements coming from Senator Scott representing Republicans on police reform. It's heartening to him proclaim matter-of-factly that the time for the choke hold has come and gone. Also sounded very positive on a national database for police complains and misconduct for individual officers, which is something that should exist on a federal level. This way, officers fired from one department can not just simply go to another place and commit the same misconduct. What it would also does is allow departments to review individuals and consider the specific actions; if the level of offensive is such that maybe with counseling, retraining and a change of scenery, an individual can re-enter. 

Point being, it takes one's blood pressure down a bit when you hear a Republican senator comment that having Juneteenth become a national holiday (why isn't it already?) is a "brilliant idea." To be clear, whether you agree with that or not, it's a little encouraging to be open to the idea. As Kasie Hunt reported, it is only Tim Scott that can deliver anything from Republicans, as a cultural shift in the country threatens to leave them irredeemably out of touch, if they aren't already.

On top of all this, the fallout continues for Mr. Trump over his photo-op political stunt with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, making a video apology for appearing with the president and for the appearance of politicizing the military. With that as the backdrop, Chuck Todd interviewed the frustrating, but necessarily steady fmr. Secretary of Defense for both the Bush and Obama Administrations, Robert Gates.

Secretary Gates has had harsh words for both Mr. Biden and Mr. Trump respectively, but gives Mr. Trump's foreign policy initiatives the nod over Mr. Biden's, with whom he said he disagreed with most all of his foreign policy positions going back 40 years. Conversely, Mr. Gates explained that "at least he hasn't gotten us in any more wars," something for which we're all grateful for but the fmr. secretary neglected to mention that Mr. Trump left a great steadfast ally, the Kurds, high and dry in Syria to be sandwiched by Turkey and Russia.

Additionally, Mr. Gates mentioned that he agreed with challenging China and engaging with North Korea qualifying both that nothing has become of either. But what good are the initiatives if there is no strategic plan, which Mr. Gates knows that Mr. Trump never has. The glaring omission from Secretary Gates's commentary was no mention of the alienation of our two most important European continental allies, France and Germany. Australia is relieved that they're on the other side of the globe from us right now and it seems like 100 percent of Canadians are wondering the same thing as 60 percent of Americans - when will the Trump exhaustion finally end? The diplomatic malpractice with these vital allies is enough of a disqualifier on foreign policy.

As frustrating as Mr. Gates's answers can be, he still mentioned what every other fmr. senior military official checked this week, character or the lack thereof. An illustration of this is Mr. Trump flat refusal on the idea of renaming military bases that are currently named after Confederate military figures. Ms. Cooper, senior Pentagon reporter, explained that the military was only in the beginning stages of suggesting a commission to look at the issue, and before it was even a thing, Mr. Trump slammed the door on it.

It's a bigoted bet that Mr. Trump makes against his political opponents on behalf of pleasing his base, feeding them the red dog-whistle as it were. The same can be said for the original scheduling for a Trump campaign event in Tulsa, which has malicious intent in triplicate. Given Mr. Trump's statements on race, having a rally on Juneteenth, the celebrated day of emancipation for African-Americans is uncalled for to say the least. On top of that, Mr. Trump is having the rally in Tulsa, the site of the worst post-Civil War racial massacre of African-Americans in U.S. history. And lastly, Oklahoma is one of the states where cases of Covid-19 are spiking and the Trump campaign thinks it's still a good idea to cram 15,000 people into an arena with poor ventilation. 

Dr. Nahid Bhadelia explained that hospital beds in Arizona are at 84 percent capacity and South Carolina is at 70 percent, illustrating the spikes in the South and the West. Because Mr. Trump is continuing to gamble with American lives, 116,000+ deaths and counting, by not taking the vitally necessary federal initiative to combat the virus, it seems as though we are indeed at the point that NBC's Joseph Fair (a Covid-19 victim) described as not a matter of waves or spikes but a consistent flow of infections and deaths until we discover a vaccine. And of course, the totals will disproportionately affect the black community.

Yet with all this, Mr. Trump still has the gall to say that he's done more for the black community then any other president, outside of Abraham Lincoln. The saddest part of Mr. Trump suffering from delusions is that the American people are tortured by them.


Panel: Kasie Hunt, NBC; Helene Cooper, The New York Times; Tim Alberta, Politico

6.7.20: When The President is Spinning Out of Control, We All Are

How influential is the office of the presidency? So much influence that when the individual who occupies the office is spinning out of control it can literally spin the country out of control, which now a majority of Americans believe that is in fact what's happening.

The tragic events of 110,000-plus deaths from Covid-19, the subsequent economic collapse and the protests for racial injustice may have happened on another president's watch, but the chaos and division that Donald Trump has wrought on Americans and the world is fully manifesting itself.

The culmination came on Monday with the Trump Administration ordering the U.S. military to disperse a peaceful protest outside the "People's House" with tear gas so that we can all have this photo...

Your Bible? A Bible.

Sorry... This photo:

Offensive on so many levels, one doesn't even know where to begin: unconstitutional use of the military for a photo op? turning the U.S. military on American citizens? using the bible and religion as a prop? Ivanka Trump carrying the bible in her purse then handing it to the president? completely tone-deaf to what was going on around the entire country at that moment? desecrating a sacred church where every president since James Madison (4th) had come to pray?

After that new low even for this president, the expected residual ooze of misleading and inappropriate statements seeped from the White House. Meanwhile, in the real world, former military commanders such as Joint Chiefs Chairman Mike Mullen, fmr. Trump Administration Defense Secretary General James Mattis, fmr. Trump Chief of Staff General John Kelly, fmr. Secretary of State General Colin Powell, fmr. Seal Commander General William McCraven and fmr. NATO Supreme Commander Admiral James Stavridis all harshly condemned the president's actions and in essence explained that he is actively part of the problem when it comes to bringing the country together.

Yet while protests continue, the president remains a dividing force for racial justice and has yet to exclude invoking the Insurrection Act to fully employ the U.S. military to stop the protests. Appearing on today's program, Admiral Stavridis explained that if it comes to that point, current Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, General Mark Milley will have a choice to make, either follow the order or hand in his four stars. The admiral also said that because Defense Secretary Mark Esper is a political appointee, he would have it easier on making the decision, but General Milley is a career soldier. And then there is abroad, in which Adm. Stavridis explained that because of Mr. Trump, America's moral authority (and thus its influence) and reputation are deteriorating rapidly. Even if Mr. Trump is indeed a one-term president, the damage he's already done to international relations and partnerships will take at least a decade to repair.

Who knows how long it will take this country to recover even somewhat from Mr. Trump's presidency, if ever. On multiple occasions, Kristen Welker described the press pool being shushed by the president when asked about the protests and what his plan would be for reform. Obviously, it's because the administration doesn't have a plan, but not only that. One is compelled to ask if the president even cares to have one.

Co-founder of Black Lives Matter, Alicia Garza explained it when Chuck Todd asked her about "Defund the Police." Ms. Garza said that what that meant was that instead of pouring tons money into militarizing the police, use the money for housing and education in black communities, not getting rid of the police force. Affordable housing and good public education are problems plague all demographics in the country but a Manhattan-type project should begin in communities of color.

Frankly, it won't happen under this "Law & Order" president, even if he is reelected. In terms of the election polls and the various crises that he has no aptitude or inclination to confront, Mr. Trump is like a wounded animal backed into a corner. In this case it means that invoking the Insurrection Act is not out of the question. The protests and the battle against white supremacy and our nation's original sin will continue. As The Washington Post's Eugene Robinson put it, "It will not be without conflict."


Panel: Kristen Welker, NBC; Eugene Robinson, The Washington Post; David French, The Dispatch


One more thing...
The NFL
"We admit we were wrong not to listen to players earlier."
                                  - NFL Commissioner Roger Goddell

Again, Mr. Robinson had it correct. Until they say his name and publicly apologize to Colin Kapernick before he's rightly standing on the sideline for his new team, Mr. Goddell's statement while a step in the right direction, comes up short.