When the discussion turned to foreign policy, presidential candidate Mayor Pete Buttigieg immediately brought up the issue of Hong Kong and the protests going on there, not to make it another Tiananmen Square, clarify that America maintains a firm pro-democracy stance inline with the people of Hong Kong and that it is factor in all discussions.
It's a significant first place to start this week and kudos to Mr. Buttigieg for being immediate because this is a clarifying statement on administration's view of human rights and a founding American principle to China and everyone else in the world. The repercussions of any type of action (e.g. military) Mr. Buttigieg said would be China's 'isolation from the democratic world,' which will take a tremendous amount of diplomatic repair work first.
If the president insists of a trade strategy that consists of continually poking China in its eye, as the Mr. Buttigieg described, then the president could poke President Xi in the eye with this as well. The Administration's foreign policy consists of Mr. Trump's interactions and personal relationships with foreign leaders, mostly through Twitter. The shelf life for such diplomacy is quickly moving toward its expiration date.
This column, like Eugene Robinson, still think it's early in the race
and hence why we a bit loathe to comment on it right now, especially
given everything else that is going on, namely the G7 Summit in France,
or the G6+1 as it has been deemed, with the six doing gentle push, as
Mr. Robinson described it and also pointed out the important that Mr. Trump has not actually struck any deals, nothing signed. We've come to the point where we just want the summit to pass without major international incident.
Where last week's program dropped the ball, this week proved redemptive for "Meet The Press," with a high-bar panel consisting all of journalists and op-ed columnists, i.e. meet the press, all of whom provided quick key insights on the 'temperature in the room," so to speak.
The panel discussed the state of the presidential race in terms that we're insightful replacing the annoyingly mundane as sometimes occurs. The New York Times conservative columnist Brett Stephens described a Joe Biden campaign ad as potential poisonous for using polling data graphics, polls which are certain to change.
They continued to the larger question of if not Joe, who? The Daily Beast's Betsy Woodruff described Democratic strategists divided into two camps of thought, consisting of playing it safe with Joe Biden and others thinking an 'edible arrangement' could win. Both are poor strategies as neither answer that critical question for Democrats. Who?
This column, like Eugene Robinson, still think it's early in the race and hence why we a bit loathe to comment on it right now, especially given everything else that is going on, namely the G7 Summit in France, or the G6+1 as it has been deemed, with the six doing gentle push, as Mr. Robinson described it.
Kristen Soltis Anderson, Washington Examiner; Betsy Woodruff, "The Daily Beast;" Eugene Robinson, The Washington Post; Brett Stephens, The New York Times
Sunday, August 25, 2019
Sunday, August 18, 2019
8.18.19: Missing the Wider Implications, Today's "Meet The Press" Dropped the Ball
Today's "Meet The Press" missed the mark. The fallback position of dissecting Democratic presidential candidates was frankly a waste of time for more important things that only get a passing statement.
Granted, there was sufficient focus on the economy and Mr. Todd did interview the president's chief economic advisor Larry Kudlow, however, wider implications were not addressed. For example, the trade war with China is an unmitigated disaster. As fmr. Congressman Beto O'Rourke stated, the trade standoff with China is 'hammering the hell out of farmers in this country,' and the once robust market for American agricultural products may not come back as China looks to other countries for soybeans and other agricultural products.
The wider implication is that President Trump is so desperate to get a trade deal with China, who is basically playing a long game versus his transactional nature, that he has no leverage to speak out for the citizens of Hong Kong and the protests against Beijing's tactics of repression. The Trump Administration has said that America shouldn't get involved, which is completely wrong-headed inasmuch as not only are democratic freedoms threatened but the stability of a global financial center are being put at risk.
If the Trans-Pacific Partnership had moved forward, something that the president was against, the United States would have had tremendous leverage over China and this tariff folly that the president continues on could have been resolved already. As Mr. O'Rourke pointed out, some of the finer points of the TPP needed to be worked out, but overall it was a short-sighted mistake that the United States didn't proceed with this to open up even more markets for U.S. agriculture.
Going forward with such a deal was traditionally a no-brainer for Republicans, which is part of the 'conversation' that fmr. Congressman Mark Sanford was touching on. Setting aside the poisonous rhetoric the president constantly spews, Mr. Sanford has a point that the once fiscally-stingy Republican party is now following a cult of personality figure that is running up trillion-dollar deficits year over year. With that said, as soon as a Democrat is elected president, the Republicans will miraculously regain their ever hypocritical fiscal sanity.
Speaking of wider implications, Mr. Todd only briefly touched (and that's being generous) on the fact that at the president's urging, Israel denied entry for two duly elected United States Congresswomen. This is an unprecedented act in American foreign policy. This should have been a focal point of today's discussion and how the president is politicizing the United States' traditional bipartisan support for Israel. That Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave into the president's badgering and statements that once again dishonor the office of the presidency, shows his fecklessness as a leader. This topic alone could have taken up the entire hour and even though Mr. Netanyahu reversed his government's decision with regard to Congresswoman Tlaib, on principle she was correct to reject the invitation. Mr. Netanyahu and Israel had an opportunity to show the open arms of their democracy but instead chose narrow-mindedness over openness.
Lastly, we return to Mr. Kudlow who stated multiple times during the interview that we shouldn't be afraid of optimism, which seriously worried Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan and if you share that worry, you'd be right. Carol Lee noted that despite his statements of optimism, he gave no real concrete answers to how the administration would deal with an economic slowdown. We'd be remiss if we didn't point out that Mr. Kudlow has an awful record on predicting this country's economic future. When confronted with the statements that Mr. Kudlow made before the 2008 economic meltdown, in which he said the economy was strong, he admitted that he blew that call. We'd say so...
He blew that call then, and today, "Meet The Press" dropped the ball.
Yamiche Alcindor, PBS NewsHour; Joshua Johnson, NPR; Carol Lee, NBC News; Peggy Noonan, The Wall Street Journal
Granted, there was sufficient focus on the economy and Mr. Todd did interview the president's chief economic advisor Larry Kudlow, however, wider implications were not addressed. For example, the trade war with China is an unmitigated disaster. As fmr. Congressman Beto O'Rourke stated, the trade standoff with China is 'hammering the hell out of farmers in this country,' and the once robust market for American agricultural products may not come back as China looks to other countries for soybeans and other agricultural products.
The wider implication is that President Trump is so desperate to get a trade deal with China, who is basically playing a long game versus his transactional nature, that he has no leverage to speak out for the citizens of Hong Kong and the protests against Beijing's tactics of repression. The Trump Administration has said that America shouldn't get involved, which is completely wrong-headed inasmuch as not only are democratic freedoms threatened but the stability of a global financial center are being put at risk.
If the Trans-Pacific Partnership had moved forward, something that the president was against, the United States would have had tremendous leverage over China and this tariff folly that the president continues on could have been resolved already. As Mr. O'Rourke pointed out, some of the finer points of the TPP needed to be worked out, but overall it was a short-sighted mistake that the United States didn't proceed with this to open up even more markets for U.S. agriculture.
Going forward with such a deal was traditionally a no-brainer for Republicans, which is part of the 'conversation' that fmr. Congressman Mark Sanford was touching on. Setting aside the poisonous rhetoric the president constantly spews, Mr. Sanford has a point that the once fiscally-stingy Republican party is now following a cult of personality figure that is running up trillion-dollar deficits year over year. With that said, as soon as a Democrat is elected president, the Republicans will miraculously regain their ever hypocritical fiscal sanity.
Speaking of wider implications, Mr. Todd only briefly touched (and that's being generous) on the fact that at the president's urging, Israel denied entry for two duly elected United States Congresswomen. This is an unprecedented act in American foreign policy. This should have been a focal point of today's discussion and how the president is politicizing the United States' traditional bipartisan support for Israel. That Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave into the president's badgering and statements that once again dishonor the office of the presidency, shows his fecklessness as a leader. This topic alone could have taken up the entire hour and even though Mr. Netanyahu reversed his government's decision with regard to Congresswoman Tlaib, on principle she was correct to reject the invitation. Mr. Netanyahu and Israel had an opportunity to show the open arms of their democracy but instead chose narrow-mindedness over openness.
Lastly, we return to Mr. Kudlow who stated multiple times during the interview that we shouldn't be afraid of optimism, which seriously worried Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan and if you share that worry, you'd be right. Carol Lee noted that despite his statements of optimism, he gave no real concrete answers to how the administration would deal with an economic slowdown. We'd be remiss if we didn't point out that Mr. Kudlow has an awful record on predicting this country's economic future. When confronted with the statements that Mr. Kudlow made before the 2008 economic meltdown, in which he said the economy was strong, he admitted that he blew that call. We'd say so...
He blew that call then, and today, "Meet The Press" dropped the ball.
Yamiche Alcindor, PBS NewsHour; Joshua Johnson, NPR; Carol Lee, NBC News; Peggy Noonan, The Wall Street Journal
Sunday, August 11, 2019
8.11.19: Timing Depends On What Side of the Aisle You're On
Acting Dept. Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan said that the timing of the ICE raid in Mississippi was unfortunate, given the mass shooting in El Paso where the gunman specifically targeted Hispanics. We'll stipulate that White House senior advisor Stephen Miller doesn't want to see people killed but we can not say for sure that he also thinks the timing of the raids were unfortunate.
We now have an entire demographic of Americans effectively scared that the current administration doesn't care about their welfare. As Chuck Todd kept asking throughout the program, why weren't there any charges brought against the companies for illegal hiring practices? Mr. McAleenan explained that there haven't been any charges as the DHS is the middle of an ongoing investigation. However, Mr. Trump's DOJ isn't interested in the companies as much as the number of undocumented workers that are arrested. The Administration's goal was to send a signal and as the president said himself, he wanted it to be a deterrent, and the companies involved weren't the focus despite the explicit citation that ICE will target the employers first over the employees. We can sympathize with Mr. McAleenan for the fine line he has to rhetorically walk, but it's telling that he knew exactly the amount of those arrested who had criminal records, but couldn't say how many had green cards. And once again as Kristen Welker pointed out, the administration didn't have a plan in place for the kids separated from the parents.
In a month's time, we'll still remember the raid as the largest single day ICE round-up of undocumented immigrants, but the companies that broke the law will fade in relevance from the story. Also, in a month's time upon the return of Congress from their summer recess, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) will have hoped that no other mass shooting incidents will have occurred so that he can shelve any gun control measures. It's almost guaranteed that President Trump will supply the news media with enough new outrages to distract from working on any legislation. Mr. Todd commented to the panel that it isn't often that Mr. McConnell pledges to do anything let alone pass legislation. However, just because he said that during a radio interview doesn't mean it will still hold any weight when Congress is back in session.
Timing is a matter of perspective and for those lamenting the fact that these mass-shooting tragedies occur just a Congress is heading for recess. One thing Mr. McConnell wouldn't say is that the timing was bad.
Panel: Kristen Welker, NBC; Hugh Hewitt, Salem Radio Network; Maria Teresa Kumar, Voto Latino; Robert Costa, The Washington Post
We now have an entire demographic of Americans effectively scared that the current administration doesn't care about their welfare. As Chuck Todd kept asking throughout the program, why weren't there any charges brought against the companies for illegal hiring practices? Mr. McAleenan explained that there haven't been any charges as the DHS is the middle of an ongoing investigation. However, Mr. Trump's DOJ isn't interested in the companies as much as the number of undocumented workers that are arrested. The Administration's goal was to send a signal and as the president said himself, he wanted it to be a deterrent, and the companies involved weren't the focus despite the explicit citation that ICE will target the employers first over the employees. We can sympathize with Mr. McAleenan for the fine line he has to rhetorically walk, but it's telling that he knew exactly the amount of those arrested who had criminal records, but couldn't say how many had green cards. And once again as Kristen Welker pointed out, the administration didn't have a plan in place for the kids separated from the parents.
In a month's time, we'll still remember the raid as the largest single day ICE round-up of undocumented immigrants, but the companies that broke the law will fade in relevance from the story. Also, in a month's time upon the return of Congress from their summer recess, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) will have hoped that no other mass shooting incidents will have occurred so that he can shelve any gun control measures. It's almost guaranteed that President Trump will supply the news media with enough new outrages to distract from working on any legislation. Mr. Todd commented to the panel that it isn't often that Mr. McConnell pledges to do anything let alone pass legislation. However, just because he said that during a radio interview doesn't mean it will still hold any weight when Congress is back in session.
Timing is a matter of perspective and for those lamenting the fact that these mass-shooting tragedies occur just a Congress is heading for recess. One thing Mr. McConnell wouldn't say is that the timing was bad.
Panel: Kristen Welker, NBC; Hugh Hewitt, Salem Radio Network; Maria Teresa Kumar, Voto Latino; Robert Costa, The Washington Post
Sunday, August 04, 2019
8.4.19: The Last 24 Hours in America...
The last 24 hours...
20 dead and 26 injured in El Paso, Texas; 9 dead and 20 injured in Dayton, Ohio.
(More people died in a 13-hour span in two American cities than had died in the last two years in Afghanistan.)
Let's just start with this: this column like Princeton University professor Eddie Glaude Jr. could give a damn what White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney has to say. That he would condemn the statements of Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Mr. Glaude as being political in a time when we should be grieving is morally bankrupt. How many people have to die in mass shootings in this country to accept that the president's words matter and that Congressional inaction is inexcusable. The double standard that this White House holds is painfully and tragically obvious, inasmuch as if this white domestic terrorist had been of Muslim faith or Hispanic we would be watching the president on television right now dispensing even more vitriol against those groups than he already has.
Politico's Eliana Johnson who said she is loathe to blame politicians clearly stated that the president has to acknowledge that this country has a white nationalist, domestic terrorism problem. Fmr. Governor Pat McCrory's 'whataboutism' is shameful. He did say that the rhetoric needs to be lowered, but insisted that the term 'invasion' should still be used for the refugee crisis occurring at our southern border. Kasie Hunt correctly pointed out that 'invasion' is threatening where as 'refugee' is not. The rhetoric matters.
What was very telling throughout this week's hour of "Meet The Press" was the different postures people were taking: Defensive on the part of Republicans - Mick Mulvaney and Pat McCrory; Anguish of the faces of the Democrats and progressives - Cory Booker, Julian Castro, Eddie Glaude Jr., Congresswoman Veronica Escobar (D-TX). Ms. Escobar stated that we have to speak the truth in Congress, which is that there is a gun and hate epidemic in this country. The anguish comes from the fact that Republicans writ large, lead by the president, refuse to acknowledge this truth. One... one elected Republican, George P. Bush (R-TX) has come out to call what happened in El Paso what it is: white terrorism.
The director of the FBI, Christopher Wray, has stated before Congress that domestic terrorism is a growing problem in the United States, yet the White House has cut funding to combat this problem and diminished it as an issue. Mr. Mulvaney said that the president is the president of all Americans in this country, even though he never acts like it.
"Very fine people on both sides," the president said with regard to Charlottesville. He not just lacks it, but simply does not have the moral clarity or authority to heal this nation in times like these. There hasn't been a single day that the man holding the office of the presidency has been able or willing to bring this country together. Is he to blame for these shootings, no of course not, but has he provided the rhetoric and policies to facilitate these tragedies, absolutely.
This column is so disgusted today that we simply refuse to write his name.
Panel: Kasie Hunt, NBC News; Eliana Johnson, Politico; Eddie Glaude Jr., Princeton Univesity; Pat McCrory, fmr. governor North Carolina
20 dead and 26 injured in El Paso, Texas; 9 dead and 20 injured in Dayton, Ohio.
(More people died in a 13-hour span in two American cities than had died in the last two years in Afghanistan.)
Let's just start with this: this column like Princeton University professor Eddie Glaude Jr. could give a damn what White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney has to say. That he would condemn the statements of Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Mr. Glaude as being political in a time when we should be grieving is morally bankrupt. How many people have to die in mass shootings in this country to accept that the president's words matter and that Congressional inaction is inexcusable. The double standard that this White House holds is painfully and tragically obvious, inasmuch as if this white domestic terrorist had been of Muslim faith or Hispanic we would be watching the president on television right now dispensing even more vitriol against those groups than he already has.
Politico's Eliana Johnson who said she is loathe to blame politicians clearly stated that the president has to acknowledge that this country has a white nationalist, domestic terrorism problem. Fmr. Governor Pat McCrory's 'whataboutism' is shameful. He did say that the rhetoric needs to be lowered, but insisted that the term 'invasion' should still be used for the refugee crisis occurring at our southern border. Kasie Hunt correctly pointed out that 'invasion' is threatening where as 'refugee' is not. The rhetoric matters.
What was very telling throughout this week's hour of "Meet The Press" was the different postures people were taking: Defensive on the part of Republicans - Mick Mulvaney and Pat McCrory; Anguish of the faces of the Democrats and progressives - Cory Booker, Julian Castro, Eddie Glaude Jr., Congresswoman Veronica Escobar (D-TX). Ms. Escobar stated that we have to speak the truth in Congress, which is that there is a gun and hate epidemic in this country. The anguish comes from the fact that Republicans writ large, lead by the president, refuse to acknowledge this truth. One... one elected Republican, George P. Bush (R-TX) has come out to call what happened in El Paso what it is: white terrorism.
The director of the FBI, Christopher Wray, has stated before Congress that domestic terrorism is a growing problem in the United States, yet the White House has cut funding to combat this problem and diminished it as an issue. Mr. Mulvaney said that the president is the president of all Americans in this country, even though he never acts like it.
"Very fine people on both sides," the president said with regard to Charlottesville. He not just lacks it, but simply does not have the moral clarity or authority to heal this nation in times like these. There hasn't been a single day that the man holding the office of the presidency has been able or willing to bring this country together. Is he to blame for these shootings, no of course not, but has he provided the rhetoric and policies to facilitate these tragedies, absolutely.
This column is so disgusted today that we simply refuse to write his name.
Panel: Kasie Hunt, NBC News; Eliana Johnson, Politico; Eddie Glaude Jr., Princeton Univesity; Pat McCrory, fmr. governor North Carolina
Sunday, July 28, 2019
7.31.19: Republicans Blatant Disregard for National Security
Mr. Mueller's testimony before Congress this week did not live up to expectations, as this column had warned last week. With that said, there were significant takeaways that we'll touch on without getting too far into the weeds. (You can read other news pieces for more comprehensive analysis.)
Mr. Mueller said that the Trump campaign welcomed assistance from the Russians, that it is a crime and that the president obstructed the investigation into the election meddling. Senator Rick Scott (R-FL) stated that in 2016, then President Obama didn't do what he should have done and in 2018 President Trump did a lot. More on this in a minute, but that is patently false. Also, in light of the fact that the day after Mr. Mueller's testimony, the Senate Intelligence Committee released a report that stated the Russians tried to infiltrate all 50 states. Senator Scott hasn't read the report even though it contains information about Florida from when he was governor of the state. What was also false is when Chuck Todd asked him point blank if he knew of any interference in 2016 as governor, he hedged and unconvincingly said 'no.'
Twice Mr. Scott said 'the Russians are here,' practically conceding the point that Congress isn't going to do anything to stop it, despite the report and that Mr. Mueller testified that in his long career he's almost never seen such a graver threat to our democracy. Being an apologist for the president doesn't mesh well with protecting our elections.
Speaking of 'protecting,' another takeaway was that House Republicans not only defended the president but also did their level best to discredit Mr. Mueller and the investigation as a whole, calling his integrity into question. Republicans being completely cowed, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA) explained the case (for impeachment) needs to be made to the American people, which is a difficult uphill climb, to completely understate it. As former Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe said during the panel discussion, impeachment doesn't come up. Americans, rightly, as concerned about healthcare, infrastructure and because of Donald Trump's rhetoric, racial division.
This brings us to Donald Trump's latest racial attack concerning Representative Elijah Cummings (D-MD) who called Baltimore a 'disgusting rat and rodent infested mess... where no human being would want to live.' So much for being the President of the United States. The comment is wrong on so many levels, but as we've come to realize long ago there's no level so low where Mr. Trump is not willing to go. Mr. Cummings for his part is the Chairman of the House Oversight Committee and Mr. Trump objects to all oversight.
In one of the saddest pieces of commentary today, National Review editor Rich Lowry said that the charge of racism has lost all its force with Republicans - that's the electorate and in the Congress. When asked about racially dividing the country, Mr. Scott said that he didn't like Mr. Cummings criticizing Border Patrol agents, trying to employ the 'whataboutism,' but really had no answer to whether a racially-tinged attack was warranted. As New York Times Helene Cooper surmised, there is not breaking point for Republicans when it is comes to race.
Racial attacks are the president's go-to tactic when he wants to distract from all the corruption. Presidential candidate Tom Steyer called Mr. Trump the most corrupt president in the history of the United States. In any American's lifetime, this is certainly true.
So how does today's stream of consciousness from the Mueller hearing to Trump's gaslighting come together. It's really a two word answer: Mitch McConnell.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-TN) enables Mr. Trump's corruption by dismissing any attempted oversight, but it has been Mr. McConnell who has thwarted all attempts to combat Russian interference in our elections. Going back to 2016, it was President Obama who wanted to make Russian meddling a public national security issue, but Mr. McConnell in a meeting of Congressional leaders on the subject blocked the effort.
In light of this week's Senate report, Mitch McConnell is blocking two House bills that would bolster election security, in which candidates would be required to report any knowledge of election interference among other things including having paper ballot back-up for every vote.
On Friday, the hashtag 'Moscow Mitch' was trending and there's good reason because he has willingly undermined the Constitution of the United States and its national security simply to hang on to power.
If Mr. Trump is the most corrupt politician in American history, Mr. McConnell is certainly the most despicable.
From Newsweek.
and
Dana Milbank's latest column from the Washington Post.
Panel: Amy Walter, the Cook Political Report; Rich Lowry, National Review; Helene Cooper, The New York Times; Terry McAuliffe, fmr. Governor of Virginia
Mr. Mueller said that the Trump campaign welcomed assistance from the Russians, that it is a crime and that the president obstructed the investigation into the election meddling. Senator Rick Scott (R-FL) stated that in 2016, then President Obama didn't do what he should have done and in 2018 President Trump did a lot. More on this in a minute, but that is patently false. Also, in light of the fact that the day after Mr. Mueller's testimony, the Senate Intelligence Committee released a report that stated the Russians tried to infiltrate all 50 states. Senator Scott hasn't read the report even though it contains information about Florida from when he was governor of the state. What was also false is when Chuck Todd asked him point blank if he knew of any interference in 2016 as governor, he hedged and unconvincingly said 'no.'
Twice Mr. Scott said 'the Russians are here,' practically conceding the point that Congress isn't going to do anything to stop it, despite the report and that Mr. Mueller testified that in his long career he's almost never seen such a graver threat to our democracy. Being an apologist for the president doesn't mesh well with protecting our elections.
Speaking of 'protecting,' another takeaway was that House Republicans not only defended the president but also did their level best to discredit Mr. Mueller and the investigation as a whole, calling his integrity into question. Republicans being completely cowed, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA) explained the case (for impeachment) needs to be made to the American people, which is a difficult uphill climb, to completely understate it. As former Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe said during the panel discussion, impeachment doesn't come up. Americans, rightly, as concerned about healthcare, infrastructure and because of Donald Trump's rhetoric, racial division.
This brings us to Donald Trump's latest racial attack concerning Representative Elijah Cummings (D-MD) who called Baltimore a 'disgusting rat and rodent infested mess... where no human being would want to live.' So much for being the President of the United States. The comment is wrong on so many levels, but as we've come to realize long ago there's no level so low where Mr. Trump is not willing to go. Mr. Cummings for his part is the Chairman of the House Oversight Committee and Mr. Trump objects to all oversight.
In one of the saddest pieces of commentary today, National Review editor Rich Lowry said that the charge of racism has lost all its force with Republicans - that's the electorate and in the Congress. When asked about racially dividing the country, Mr. Scott said that he didn't like Mr. Cummings criticizing Border Patrol agents, trying to employ the 'whataboutism,' but really had no answer to whether a racially-tinged attack was warranted. As New York Times Helene Cooper surmised, there is not breaking point for Republicans when it is comes to race.
Racial attacks are the president's go-to tactic when he wants to distract from all the corruption. Presidential candidate Tom Steyer called Mr. Trump the most corrupt president in the history of the United States. In any American's lifetime, this is certainly true.
So how does today's stream of consciousness from the Mueller hearing to Trump's gaslighting come together. It's really a two word answer: Mitch McConnell.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-TN) enables Mr. Trump's corruption by dismissing any attempted oversight, but it has been Mr. McConnell who has thwarted all attempts to combat Russian interference in our elections. Going back to 2016, it was President Obama who wanted to make Russian meddling a public national security issue, but Mr. McConnell in a meeting of Congressional leaders on the subject blocked the effort.
In light of this week's Senate report, Mitch McConnell is blocking two House bills that would bolster election security, in which candidates would be required to report any knowledge of election interference among other things including having paper ballot back-up for every vote.
On Friday, the hashtag 'Moscow Mitch' was trending and there's good reason because he has willingly undermined the Constitution of the United States and its national security simply to hang on to power.
If Mr. Trump is the most corrupt politician in American history, Mr. McConnell is certainly the most despicable.
From Newsweek.
and
Dana Milbank's latest column from the Washington Post.
Panel: Amy Walter, the Cook Political Report; Rich Lowry, National Review; Helene Cooper, The New York Times; Terry McAuliffe, fmr. Governor of Virginia
Sunday, July 21, 2019
7.21.19: Patriotic U.S. Congresswomen
This week's "Meet The Press" is preempted due to NBC's coverage of the British Open.
It's always so tempting to weigh in with a column in the middle of the week and it would probably help traffic numbers for this blog. However, in the era of Trump the week can play out in unexpected ways to say the least so that interval seems suitable; maintaining sanity also comes into play and focusing on Donald Trump is not the answer to that maintenance; and lastly, life gets in the way.
With that said, last Sunday Mr. Trump attacked four Democratic congresswomen all of whom are women of color and throughout the week, he maintained his racial tropes swaying and pitching in different directions but returned attacks again today with the following tweet:
Donald J. Trump is President of the United States in name only because he clearly has no inclination to be the leader for all its people. It's sad times in America and we do not find ourselves 'great' as this man likes to proclaim.
There's no doubt a pinnacle of lowness was reached midweek with the president's rally in North Carolina with the crowd chanting "send her back" in reference to Congresswoman Ilhan Omar (D-MN), which is simply despicable. Mr. Trump for his part, later in the week said that he didn't like the chant but given the message he sent today ultimately has no problem with it. Never mind Republican lawmakers trying to downplay all of this - let's not get into it - because they are a lost cause. There is nothing this president can do that will make them speak out against the president, and Mr. Trump will continue to test those boundaries if 'test' is even what he's doing.
Contrary to what Mr. Trump would tell you, the people at that rally are not patriots for chanting what they did. In fact, these four congresswomen are more patriotic then they will ever be.
Ms. Ilhan Omar (D-MN)
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY)
Rashida Tlaib (D-MI)
Ayanna Pressley (D-MA)
'The Squad' and the general branding of congressional groups (the 'problem solvers' caucus also comes to mind) is a bit ridiculous, granted. But they stood up, made their case, and were elected by the citizenry to represent districts in the country they love. It's their patriotic duty to question their leaders, in this case the president. And his actions more than deserve to be questioned.
Speaking of questions, Congress will question fmr. Special Counsel Robert Mueller this week and be advised to keep expectations low. He'll most likely stick strictly to his script (the report) and will provide as little as context as possible. Mr. Mueller has been effectively neutered by Attorney General William Barr inasmuch as Mr. Mueller's investigation is incomplete. Ended too soon by Mr. Barr. Will it be helpful if the American public actually hears and sees from Mr. Mueller and the outlining of at the very least the president's obstruction of justice? Perhaps, but at this time the prediction is that it will matter little.
The Democratically-controlled House's only recourse is to start an impeachment inquiry, and that's exactly what it would be, an inquiry. This would give them the leverage to have documents unsealed, clearly the president's chief obstructionist, Mr. Barr, out of the way and free grand jury testimony that would probably be more damning to the president. An immense amount of light needs to be shone about what Mr. Mueller found and unfortunately his testimony this week won't be enough.
On last thing about Mr. Barr, his justice department this week said it would not indict the officer that killed Eric Garner with a choke hold. It was reported but not very widely discussed. This has renewed racial animus on the community level, while the president creates more of it on a national level. A ruinous administration without healing for the foreseeable future.
It's always so tempting to weigh in with a column in the middle of the week and it would probably help traffic numbers for this blog. However, in the era of Trump the week can play out in unexpected ways to say the least so that interval seems suitable; maintaining sanity also comes into play and focusing on Donald Trump is not the answer to that maintenance; and lastly, life gets in the way.
With that said, last Sunday Mr. Trump attacked four Democratic congresswomen all of whom are women of color and throughout the week, he maintained his racial tropes swaying and pitching in different directions but returned attacks again today with the following tweet:
Donald J. Trump is President of the United States in name only because he clearly has no inclination to be the leader for all its people. It's sad times in America and we do not find ourselves 'great' as this man likes to proclaim.
There's no doubt a pinnacle of lowness was reached midweek with the president's rally in North Carolina with the crowd chanting "send her back" in reference to Congresswoman Ilhan Omar (D-MN), which is simply despicable. Mr. Trump for his part, later in the week said that he didn't like the chant but given the message he sent today ultimately has no problem with it. Never mind Republican lawmakers trying to downplay all of this - let's not get into it - because they are a lost cause. There is nothing this president can do that will make them speak out against the president, and Mr. Trump will continue to test those boundaries if 'test' is even what he's doing.
Contrary to what Mr. Trump would tell you, the people at that rally are not patriots for chanting what they did. In fact, these four congresswomen are more patriotic then they will ever be.
Ms. Ilhan Omar (D-MN)
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY)
Rashida Tlaib (D-MI)
Ayanna Pressley (D-MA)
'The Squad' and the general branding of congressional groups (the 'problem solvers' caucus also comes to mind) is a bit ridiculous, granted. But they stood up, made their case, and were elected by the citizenry to represent districts in the country they love. It's their patriotic duty to question their leaders, in this case the president. And his actions more than deserve to be questioned.
Speaking of questions, Congress will question fmr. Special Counsel Robert Mueller this week and be advised to keep expectations low. He'll most likely stick strictly to his script (the report) and will provide as little as context as possible. Mr. Mueller has been effectively neutered by Attorney General William Barr inasmuch as Mr. Mueller's investigation is incomplete. Ended too soon by Mr. Barr. Will it be helpful if the American public actually hears and sees from Mr. Mueller and the outlining of at the very least the president's obstruction of justice? Perhaps, but at this time the prediction is that it will matter little.
The Democratically-controlled House's only recourse is to start an impeachment inquiry, and that's exactly what it would be, an inquiry. This would give them the leverage to have documents unsealed, clearly the president's chief obstructionist, Mr. Barr, out of the way and free grand jury testimony that would probably be more damning to the president. An immense amount of light needs to be shone about what Mr. Mueller found and unfortunately his testimony this week won't be enough.
On last thing about Mr. Barr, his justice department this week said it would not indict the officer that killed Eric Garner with a choke hold. It was reported but not very widely discussed. This has renewed racial animus on the community level, while the president creates more of it on a national level. A ruinous administration without healing for the foreseeable future.
Sunday, July 14, 2019
7.14.19: Those Who Want Respect...
"We're talking about the basics... treating people with respect," is one of the key takeaways from Megan Rapinoe's interview on 'Meet The Press' today. And when we're talking basics, this is President Trump's problem - his lack of respect for the office that he holds, the Constitution and for the purposes of this discussion human dignity.
Ms. Rapinoe also said that Mr. Trump divides so he can conquer and does not unite so we can all conquer. No matter the area, the president never misses an opportunity to pit one group of people against another and it filters down through our entire political discourse. And this president's policies are concerned, action. The conditions at these detention facilities on the border are appalling that Vice-President Pence got a firsthand look at this week. This followed up by I.C.E. raids today that the president bragged about. We'll see how these raids play out and it won't be well when you see families who've committed no crimes are hauled out of their houses and not treated with any semblance of dignity.
Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI), Home Security Committee Chairman, said that the situation at the border is completely out of control and then he cited an example from 2005 where then Homeland Security Security Michael Chernoff (Bush Administration) reversed an immigration trend from Brazil in 60 days. If it can be done in an effective manner as Mr. Johnson explained then why can't there be some kind of coherent plan in place to mitigate this overwhelming flow of migrants? The answer is because the White House doesn't have a coherent plan. The only strategy that has been consistent coming from this administration is blame and vilification. As Politico's Tim Alberta explained, this plays well with the president's base but he is alienating suburban Republicans that put him over the top in 2016.
In response to Mr. Todd's question of why not have a Marshall Plan for Northern Triangle countries to better the conditions there, Mr. Johnson said that that was more of a long-term plan and we need to do something now. The Administration has cut way back on aid to those countries, which is short-sighted and the fact is that Mr. Trump is proving himself incapable of putting a long-term plan together.
Compounding the problem of the president's lack of an attention span is the fact that the administration consists of 'acting' department heads,
Acting Defense secretary
Acting DHS secretary
Acting UN ambassador
Acting SBA administrator
Acting chief of staff
Acting FEMA director
Acting ICE director
Acting USCIS director
Acting FAA administrator.
(source NBC News)
This makes is virtually impossible to put a plan in place and get anything done. It shows a lack of respect for governing and the Senate's role of 'advise and consent.'
To illustrate the point with a bit of irony, here's the actor James Gandolfini as Tony Soprano spelling it out most concisely (clips contains many f-notes):
One more note of this notion of respect. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) said this week that Speaker Pelosi's comments about her and other very liberal-leaning freshman congresswomen were essentially disrespectful. But a couple of things here: 1) these congresswoman, and this column strongly feels they need to be in office, still have a lot to learn; 2) to fmr. Senator Claire McCaskill's point, it's the 40-odd moderate Democrats who won races in Republican districts that gave those freshman their majority voice which Ms. Pelosi has to be mindful of; 3) it was incorrect of Ms. Ocasio-Cortez to make it an issue of race or color; and lastly, though we agree with Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) that Ms. Pelosi was a bit too hard on them, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez needs to get thicker skin if she wants to be a leader in the Democratic Party.
Panel: Hallie Jackson, NBC News; Carlos Curbello, fmr. Republican Congressman from Florida; Claire McCaskill, fmr. Democratic Senator from Missouri; Tim Alberta, Politico
Race:
One more thing...
This column trends to the more practical and pragmatic when it comes to legislation and policy and with that in mind we'd have to agree with Senator McCaskill in asking the question, how do Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Senator Sanders get these 'big change' policies like Medicare-for-all through the U.S. Congress? You can be for it, but to believe that the promise will come to fruition is being naive.
Ms. Rapinoe also said that Mr. Trump divides so he can conquer and does not unite so we can all conquer. No matter the area, the president never misses an opportunity to pit one group of people against another and it filters down through our entire political discourse. And this president's policies are concerned, action. The conditions at these detention facilities on the border are appalling that Vice-President Pence got a firsthand look at this week. This followed up by I.C.E. raids today that the president bragged about. We'll see how these raids play out and it won't be well when you see families who've committed no crimes are hauled out of their houses and not treated with any semblance of dignity.
Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI), Home Security Committee Chairman, said that the situation at the border is completely out of control and then he cited an example from 2005 where then Homeland Security Security Michael Chernoff (Bush Administration) reversed an immigration trend from Brazil in 60 days. If it can be done in an effective manner as Mr. Johnson explained then why can't there be some kind of coherent plan in place to mitigate this overwhelming flow of migrants? The answer is because the White House doesn't have a coherent plan. The only strategy that has been consistent coming from this administration is blame and vilification. As Politico's Tim Alberta explained, this plays well with the president's base but he is alienating suburban Republicans that put him over the top in 2016.
In response to Mr. Todd's question of why not have a Marshall Plan for Northern Triangle countries to better the conditions there, Mr. Johnson said that that was more of a long-term plan and we need to do something now. The Administration has cut way back on aid to those countries, which is short-sighted and the fact is that Mr. Trump is proving himself incapable of putting a long-term plan together.
Compounding the problem of the president's lack of an attention span is the fact that the administration consists of 'acting' department heads,
Acting Defense secretary
Acting DHS secretary
Acting UN ambassador
Acting SBA administrator
Acting chief of staff
Acting FEMA director
Acting ICE director
Acting USCIS director
Acting FAA administrator.
(source NBC News)
This makes is virtually impossible to put a plan in place and get anything done. It shows a lack of respect for governing and the Senate's role of 'advise and consent.'
To illustrate the point with a bit of irony, here's the actor James Gandolfini as Tony Soprano spelling it out most concisely (clips contains many f-notes):
One more note of this notion of respect. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) said this week that Speaker Pelosi's comments about her and other very liberal-leaning freshman congresswomen were essentially disrespectful. But a couple of things here: 1) these congresswoman, and this column strongly feels they need to be in office, still have a lot to learn; 2) to fmr. Senator Claire McCaskill's point, it's the 40-odd moderate Democrats who won races in Republican districts that gave those freshman their majority voice which Ms. Pelosi has to be mindful of; 3) it was incorrect of Ms. Ocasio-Cortez to make it an issue of race or color; and lastly, though we agree with Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) that Ms. Pelosi was a bit too hard on them, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez needs to get thicker skin if she wants to be a leader in the Democratic Party.
Panel: Hallie Jackson, NBC News; Carlos Curbello, fmr. Republican Congressman from Florida; Claire McCaskill, fmr. Democratic Senator from Missouri; Tim Alberta, Politico
Race:
One more thing...
This column trends to the more practical and pragmatic when it comes to legislation and policy and with that in mind we'd have to agree with Senator McCaskill in asking the question, how do Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Senator Sanders get these 'big change' policies like Medicare-for-all through the U.S. Congress? You can be for it, but to believe that the promise will come to fruition is being naive.
Sunday, June 30, 2019
6.30.19: Another Embarassing Overseas Trip
"Meet The Press" should have done better today. There simply was not enough time spent on the president's disastrous overseas trip to Osaka, Japan for the G20 Summit. All the interviews today with Senators Corey Booker (D-NJ), John Barrasso (R-WY) and former San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro should have all been conducted through the lens of the President of the United States not representing American values. From this latest trip overseas one could determine the Mr. Trump doesn't even know what American values are. Another disgraceful display on the part of the president.
At the top of the program, NBC's Richard Engel reported on the president's visit with North Korean dictator Kim Jung Un for no other purpose than to say hello. The president received nothing in return for giving Kim Jung Un a huge PR boost. It's no comfort that the president is buddies with the N.K. dictator, a man who arbitrarily executes his citizenry and puts them in gulags. Mr. Engel explained that the president mislead the American public, again, that the United States was on the brink of war with North Korea before he was in office - not true - and that he alone saved us. In fact it was Mr. Trump who began with 'fire and fury' and is now 'in love' with Kim Jung Un.
Kasie Hunt once again asked the question that is on everyone's mind which is why does Mr. Trump cozy up to Vladimir Putin the way that he does? In a interview with the Financial Times, before the summit, Mr. Putin said 'the liberal idea has become obsolete.' Instead of defending liberal democracy, which is what The United States is, Mr. Trump said that journalists were a problem with their 'fake news,' a problem that Mr. Putin deals with by harassing, jailing and murdering journalists in his country. On this note, Mr. Trump told the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Muhammad bin Salman that he was doing a spectacular job. That job includes the brutal murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi and conducting a war in Yemen, with Mr. Trump's blessing, that has created the worst humanitarian crisis in the world.
But here's the good news, President Trump and President Xi of China are going to resume trade talks after the Mr. Trump conceded the allowance of Huawei to operate again in the United States. No relief for American farmers at this time, but China is going to get what it wants. Senator Barrasso said that Huawei was a 'Trojan Horse' and a threat to the U.S.'s national security. Mr. Barrasso said that he is concerned about this.
That's great, but as Mr. Todd stated, all of this is 'baked in' [to what we're used to in terms of the president's behavior] and shrugged off.
Mr. Trump is an embarrassment, plain and simple. And while he cozies up to authoritarian figures abroad, he gets to stoke his authoritarian inclinations here at home with his callousness and cavalier attitude to the humanitarian crisis at our southern border, which he created.
On this issue, Mr. Barrasso offered no assurance that our leaders are doing the right thing. He said that asylum seekers should apply for asylum in their own country and then their application would be processed. This is a ludicrous idea. If a Cuban asylum seeker applied in his or her home country, do you think that the person would be alive long enough to be able to come to the United States? That person would be killed. The aid package that the Senate passed puts no strict oversight on how the money is spent, something that the House rightfully demands. And when confronted by Mr. Todd with the fact that the appropriated monies will go to a private contractor, Homestead which runs prisons, Mr. Barrasso said that companies should not be profiting off of this tragedy. Mr. Barrasso said that he was not familiar with the company, which is just another way of saying that he doesn't know where the money is going. That's inexcusable as a U.S. Senator.
Julian Castro has the right idea in that the United States should have a 21st century type Marshall Plan to help countries in the Northern Triangle and throughout Central America better there conditions. That doesn't mean just throwing money at the problem. Resources on the ground are also warranted.
So while the president's behavior is 'baked in,' Mr. Trump is saying let them eat cake.
Panel: Yamiche Alcindor, PBS; Kasie Hunt, NBC; Al Cardenas, Republican strategist; Cornell Belcher, Democratic strategist
A couple more things...
For further, more informed reading, go to Max Boot's column in The Washington Post.
And how long are we going to 'shrug off' Mr. Trump's behavior as a serial sexual predator? E. Jean Carroll's account of being attacked by Donald J. Trump is chilling...
As Kasie Hunt pointed out, the women of America, thankfully, are not shrugging it off.
At the top of the program, NBC's Richard Engel reported on the president's visit with North Korean dictator Kim Jung Un for no other purpose than to say hello. The president received nothing in return for giving Kim Jung Un a huge PR boost. It's no comfort that the president is buddies with the N.K. dictator, a man who arbitrarily executes his citizenry and puts them in gulags. Mr. Engel explained that the president mislead the American public, again, that the United States was on the brink of war with North Korea before he was in office - not true - and that he alone saved us. In fact it was Mr. Trump who began with 'fire and fury' and is now 'in love' with Kim Jung Un.
Kasie Hunt once again asked the question that is on everyone's mind which is why does Mr. Trump cozy up to Vladimir Putin the way that he does? In a interview with the Financial Times, before the summit, Mr. Putin said 'the liberal idea has become obsolete.' Instead of defending liberal democracy, which is what The United States is, Mr. Trump said that journalists were a problem with their 'fake news,' a problem that Mr. Putin deals with by harassing, jailing and murdering journalists in his country. On this note, Mr. Trump told the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Muhammad bin Salman that he was doing a spectacular job. That job includes the brutal murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi and conducting a war in Yemen, with Mr. Trump's blessing, that has created the worst humanitarian crisis in the world.
But here's the good news, President Trump and President Xi of China are going to resume trade talks after the Mr. Trump conceded the allowance of Huawei to operate again in the United States. No relief for American farmers at this time, but China is going to get what it wants. Senator Barrasso said that Huawei was a 'Trojan Horse' and a threat to the U.S.'s national security. Mr. Barrasso said that he is concerned about this.
That's great, but as Mr. Todd stated, all of this is 'baked in' [to what we're used to in terms of the president's behavior] and shrugged off.
Mr. Trump is an embarrassment, plain and simple. And while he cozies up to authoritarian figures abroad, he gets to stoke his authoritarian inclinations here at home with his callousness and cavalier attitude to the humanitarian crisis at our southern border, which he created.
On this issue, Mr. Barrasso offered no assurance that our leaders are doing the right thing. He said that asylum seekers should apply for asylum in their own country and then their application would be processed. This is a ludicrous idea. If a Cuban asylum seeker applied in his or her home country, do you think that the person would be alive long enough to be able to come to the United States? That person would be killed. The aid package that the Senate passed puts no strict oversight on how the money is spent, something that the House rightfully demands. And when confronted by Mr. Todd with the fact that the appropriated monies will go to a private contractor, Homestead which runs prisons, Mr. Barrasso said that companies should not be profiting off of this tragedy. Mr. Barrasso said that he was not familiar with the company, which is just another way of saying that he doesn't know where the money is going. That's inexcusable as a U.S. Senator.
Julian Castro has the right idea in that the United States should have a 21st century type Marshall Plan to help countries in the Northern Triangle and throughout Central America better there conditions. That doesn't mean just throwing money at the problem. Resources on the ground are also warranted.
So while the president's behavior is 'baked in,' Mr. Trump is saying let them eat cake.
Panel: Yamiche Alcindor, PBS; Kasie Hunt, NBC; Al Cardenas, Republican strategist; Cornell Belcher, Democratic strategist
A couple more things...
For further, more informed reading, go to Max Boot's column in The Washington Post.
And how long are we going to 'shrug off' Mr. Trump's behavior as a serial sexual predator? E. Jean Carroll's account of being attacked by Donald J. Trump is chilling...
As Kasie Hunt pointed out, the women of America, thankfully, are not shrugging it off.
Sunday, June 23, 2019
6.23.19: The Donald Trump Interview
The Donald Trump Interview...
In most if not all of President Trump's answers, particularly in this interview, there is an unhealthy dose of revisionist history. We wanted to make sure that we didn't take anything out of context so it was important to watch the full unedited interview, which you can access below.
Chuck Todd introduced a wide array of topics and though we won't cover them all, we'll discuss the most significant ones covered, starting with Iran.
What was edited out of program's excerpt, but contained in the unedited version, were Mr. Trump's some of Mr. Trump's objections to the Iran Nuclear Deal. His focus in dealing with Iran is the nuclear issue first and foremost. However, he also said that he thought the term of the nuclear agreement was too short, that we couldn't inspect all the sites and that it didn't eliminate ballistic missiles. Fair enough, but the Europeans, Russians and Chinese through inspections said that Iran had been in full compliance. What's short sighted on Mr. Trump's part and detractors of the deal was that in honoring the deal with the world's other nuclear powers, it would bring Iran to the table to negotiate other weapons and or an extension of the nuclear deal. However, by pulling out of the deal, the Trump Administration has thrown away all good faith in negotiating. In the interview, he said he would negotiate with Iran with no preconditions, but that is unlikely to happen at any point because Mr. Trump has shown that he can not be relied upon to keep his word. The majority of Americans feel he lies too much so why would the Iranians?
Mr. Trump pulled back the military strike at the least minute when he was told that there would be approximately 150 Iranian casualties, but wouldn't that be a question asked in initial conversations? People will say that this whole episode was just 'Trump being Trump,' but it's more serious than that given how close we were to going to war with Iran. True that the response wouldn't have been proportionate to shooting down a drone, but this entire crisis can be better managed if the president's rhetoric was so scatter shot. Peggy Noonan described it, and his presidency writ large, as harum scarum [read: reckless]. Then in this interview the president said that if the Iranian regime commits a hostile act they would face 'obliteration like you've never seen before.' Not helpful, to say the least.
Mr. Trump said that he was against the Iraq War but is on record as saying that he supported it. His opinion changes to what is convenient in the moment so in terms of policy prescriptions, one could easily conclude from his track record so far that the president has no agenda. When Mr. Todd asked him what his big idea was for reelection, the closest he came was healthcare, but only if the Republicans were to win the presidency, Senate and House. He said that he is for protecting preexisting conditions but his Justice Department has joined a lawsuit with 20 states to fully repeal the Affordable Care Act. Never mind that the president's sworn duty is to upload the laws of the United States, something his administration is clearly not doing by joining the lawsuit, which would take away those protections. The fact is that the administration has no plan for healthcare and will wait for Republicans to advance a bill once they take total control of all branches of government.
The economy, which Mr. Trump likes to tout, is, let's face it, something he inherited from the Obama Administration and with his tariff plays he is doing everything he can to subvert the progress. No president has meddled with the Federal Reserve to the extent that Mr. Trump has and it has created insecurity in the financial markets which operate best on predictability. Lanhee Chen explained that this is Mr. Trump's modus operandi when it comes to diplomacy - using the leverage of confusion to bring people at the table. However, just like we saw with North Korea, nothing good has come out of it. The North Korean dictator has now met with Putin and Xi. All Mr. Trump did was legitimize this ruthless dictator.
The unpredictability is exhausting.
Mr. Trump said that we couldn't get a deal with Mexico for 45 years and he got one in one day because of his threat of tariffs. However, this statement is ridiculous on its face. NAFTA whether you agree with it or not, was not 45 years ago.
And speaking of Mexico, the president said that he inherited the separation policy from President Obama, but the fact is that Mr. Trump squarely owns it by instituting zero-tolerance policy. Kristen Welker reminded us that President Trump said 'I alone, can fix it,' but he refuses the fix this humanitarian tragedy at the border. These kids separated from their parents will carry these scars for the rest of their lives. Mr. Trump's revisionist history will never be enough to change that.
Mr. Todd asked the president was his biggest regret has been so far in his presidency, to which he answered 'personnel.' He would have never appointed Jeff Sessions as Attorney General for the fact that he recused himself in the Russia investigation. However, for someone who has said that he would hire all the best people, the administration has an unprecedented amount of turn over. We were about to attack Iran and there is no permanent Secretary of Defense. We also have an acting DHS secretary there is no plan for fixing the humanitarian crisis at the border, which will go on for the duration of Mr. Trump's presidency, for certain. He said that he is not pleased with the performance of Jerome Powell the Fed Chairman saying he hasn't done a good job, but it was Mr. Trump who nominated him.
Lastly, Mr. Trump said that he didn't campaign to win the popular vote and visited 21 states so that he could win the electoral college, but after 4 years in office by the time of the 2020 election, will he be able to duplicate that strategy to win again? It's unlikely. If there is no tariff relief, farmers will not turn up for him again. Autoworkers in Michigan haven't seen great improvement in lives, and the administration hasn't done nearly enough on the Opiod crisis to the tragic frustration of Ohio voters.
A drama-filled presidency is wearing thin on the American electorate and no amount of revisionist history is going to solve that.
Panel: Kristen Welker, NBC; Peter Baker, The New York Times; Peggy Noonan, The Wall Street Journal; Lanhee Chen - Stanford University
In most if not all of President Trump's answers, particularly in this interview, there is an unhealthy dose of revisionist history. We wanted to make sure that we didn't take anything out of context so it was important to watch the full unedited interview, which you can access below.
Chuck Todd introduced a wide array of topics and though we won't cover them all, we'll discuss the most significant ones covered, starting with Iran.
What was edited out of program's excerpt, but contained in the unedited version, were Mr. Trump's some of Mr. Trump's objections to the Iran Nuclear Deal. His focus in dealing with Iran is the nuclear issue first and foremost. However, he also said that he thought the term of the nuclear agreement was too short, that we couldn't inspect all the sites and that it didn't eliminate ballistic missiles. Fair enough, but the Europeans, Russians and Chinese through inspections said that Iran had been in full compliance. What's short sighted on Mr. Trump's part and detractors of the deal was that in honoring the deal with the world's other nuclear powers, it would bring Iran to the table to negotiate other weapons and or an extension of the nuclear deal. However, by pulling out of the deal, the Trump Administration has thrown away all good faith in negotiating. In the interview, he said he would negotiate with Iran with no preconditions, but that is unlikely to happen at any point because Mr. Trump has shown that he can not be relied upon to keep his word. The majority of Americans feel he lies too much so why would the Iranians?
Mr. Trump pulled back the military strike at the least minute when he was told that there would be approximately 150 Iranian casualties, but wouldn't that be a question asked in initial conversations? People will say that this whole episode was just 'Trump being Trump,' but it's more serious than that given how close we were to going to war with Iran. True that the response wouldn't have been proportionate to shooting down a drone, but this entire crisis can be better managed if the president's rhetoric was so scatter shot. Peggy Noonan described it, and his presidency writ large, as harum scarum [read: reckless]. Then in this interview the president said that if the Iranian regime commits a hostile act they would face 'obliteration like you've never seen before.' Not helpful, to say the least.
 | |||||
| Click Here for Full Unedited Interview |
The economy, which Mr. Trump likes to tout, is, let's face it, something he inherited from the Obama Administration and with his tariff plays he is doing everything he can to subvert the progress. No president has meddled with the Federal Reserve to the extent that Mr. Trump has and it has created insecurity in the financial markets which operate best on predictability. Lanhee Chen explained that this is Mr. Trump's modus operandi when it comes to diplomacy - using the leverage of confusion to bring people at the table. However, just like we saw with North Korea, nothing good has come out of it. The North Korean dictator has now met with Putin and Xi. All Mr. Trump did was legitimize this ruthless dictator.
The unpredictability is exhausting.
Mr. Trump said that we couldn't get a deal with Mexico for 45 years and he got one in one day because of his threat of tariffs. However, this statement is ridiculous on its face. NAFTA whether you agree with it or not, was not 45 years ago.
And speaking of Mexico, the president said that he inherited the separation policy from President Obama, but the fact is that Mr. Trump squarely owns it by instituting zero-tolerance policy. Kristen Welker reminded us that President Trump said 'I alone, can fix it,' but he refuses the fix this humanitarian tragedy at the border. These kids separated from their parents will carry these scars for the rest of their lives. Mr. Trump's revisionist history will never be enough to change that.
Mr. Todd asked the president was his biggest regret has been so far in his presidency, to which he answered 'personnel.' He would have never appointed Jeff Sessions as Attorney General for the fact that he recused himself in the Russia investigation. However, for someone who has said that he would hire all the best people, the administration has an unprecedented amount of turn over. We were about to attack Iran and there is no permanent Secretary of Defense. We also have an acting DHS secretary there is no plan for fixing the humanitarian crisis at the border, which will go on for the duration of Mr. Trump's presidency, for certain. He said that he is not pleased with the performance of Jerome Powell the Fed Chairman saying he hasn't done a good job, but it was Mr. Trump who nominated him.
Lastly, Mr. Trump said that he didn't campaign to win the popular vote and visited 21 states so that he could win the electoral college, but after 4 years in office by the time of the 2020 election, will he be able to duplicate that strategy to win again? It's unlikely. If there is no tariff relief, farmers will not turn up for him again. Autoworkers in Michigan haven't seen great improvement in lives, and the administration hasn't done nearly enough on the Opiod crisis to the tragic frustration of Ohio voters.
A drama-filled presidency is wearing thin on the American electorate and no amount of revisionist history is going to solve that.
Panel: Kristen Welker, NBC; Peter Baker, The New York Times; Peggy Noonan, The Wall Street Journal; Lanhee Chen - Stanford University
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)