The Screaming Moderate

Who's telling the truth?

9/19/2018

Dr. Christine Blasey Ford who is accusing Supreme Court nominee Bret Kavanaugh of a sexual attack is being attacked herself for many things. A short list:

How can she remember 35 years later whose drunk body was grinding against hers as he tried to remove her clothes and she was trying to fight him off?
If she can sign a letter opposing President Trump’s southern border policies, of course she’d accuse someone of sexually attacking her as a way to get back at him.
What took her so long to all of a sudden remember this episode?

Those are just a few. Never having been the victim of such an attack, let me try logically to answer those questions:

Who could forget?
Because I can oppose a politician’s position without coming up with a sexual abuse lie as a way to get back at him and ruin my life in the process
Traumatic events have traumatic effects and she remembered this alleged attack long before the last few months

But this is what it’s come to in our society. Over the last few days at least one Facebook friend has been posting whining about the information coming out on Kavanaugh, even the more ridiculous left-wing media stuff, and snarkily responding about what teenage boys do or probably did as if that makes it okay. (I once was a teenage boy. I never tried to rape someone.)

I believe the left-wing media as much as I believe the right-wing media – they angle stories to appeal to their readerships, be they on the left or right. They want clicks. They want eyeballs. They care less about the truth and fairness. than they care about clicks.

And for those who say in response “oh yeah, what about CNN or The New York Times?” I say…Lord, really? If you really think men and women sit around the Times and CNN all day and make up stories to further a political agenda…then there’s no use trying to get you to open your mind to Dr. Ford possibly telling the truth. You’re too far gone already. And, I don't believe they do that at Fox either. I think Fox's problem is the talking heads they have pretty much support Trump, and that's where the misinformation comes from. The same may be said at the other cable news networks -- but for all of them, that's talking about folks paid to give their opinions. The people paid to get the news try to do it as fairly and accurately as they can. And, yes, they do make mistakes.

And readers such as this Facebook friend pick it up and repeat it. All the while not thinking, apparently, for one minute that maybe Dr. Ford is telling the truth, just knee-jerk being against her. If she is telling the truth, do you want a man who attempted to rape a 15-year-old, whatever his age was, on the Supreme Court? Do you want a man who lied about it to the U.S. Senate while testifying to be approved to the Supreme Court?

I don’t know who is telling the truth here. I tend to lean toward Dr. Ford because it’s hard for me to believe anyone would put herself out in public with this information for a bunch of reasons ranging from what she knew would happen – death threats, threats against her family, attacks on her integrity. Why ruin your life to try to ruin another’s?

Maybe it was someone else who attacked her but it’s hard to believe she’s making up the attack. Because … well, why? And not liking Donald Trump, I’m sorry, is not a good enough reason. Who would do that and for what purpose? To stop a Supreme Court nominee knowing that even if Kavanaugh withdraws, the next nominee likely will be more to the right of center than he is? It just doesn’t make sense to make up this type of story.

Therefore, it needs to be investigated. The accusation cannot be ignored. And if that stalls a vote on a lifetime appointment, so be it. I'd rather we not confirm someone who doesn't deserve to be confirmed. And if I were Judge Kavanaugh, that's what I'd want to. No cloud over my lifetime appointment.

And if it isn't appropriate for the FBI do conduct that investigation (though I don't know why not) then hire outsiders to do it. One named by the Democrats and one by the Republicans, if necessary.

I have to/want to believe there are enough people in this country – from the left, right and center -- who want to get to the bottom of this.

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Did Woodward and the anonymous author do enough?

9/6/2018

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The one-two punch of Bob Woodward’s new book and an anonymous senior administration official’s op-ed in the New York Times, has President Trump on his heels as he searches forWoodward’s sources and the name of the rogue op-ed writer.

Time wasted but that’s up to the President.

Woodward is regarded as a responsible, experienced, reliable, capable and competent journalist, which he is. He says he conducted interviews with many-people-who-would-know things on tape, not that he’s giving up who his sources are. (But clearly Kellyanne Conway is one because we know she spent at least a lunch with Woodward and it can’t all have been discussing a presidential interview.) His book, according to news reports, ranges from talking about Trump’s instinct to assassinate Bashar al-Assad and his minions to people stealing decision memos from Trump’s desk to ward off what they consider bad decisions.

The likelihood is Woodward got most of it right but some wrong in his book. His book also reinforces a lot of what we’ve been told by members of Congress, government officials and Trump’s friends about the president’s administration – that he runs it on instinct and without reading much about issues; that he makes decisions that are walked back sometimes the same day; that he watches lots of Fox news; and that he displays paranoia, among other things. After all, during the 2016 campaign when asked how he develops his foreign policy, Trump responded that he “watches the shows.” Whoever thought he was kidding now has nearly two years of him as president to know that was and is true. He is relying on talking heads rather than the best intelligence gathering machine in the world.

The anonymous “senior administration official” who penned the blockbuster Times op-ed is a huge development. First, the newspaper of record would never allow an anonymous op-ed without being certain the author truly speaks from first-hand experience. That bodes for it being a very senior White House aide (assistant to the President level) or a cabinet or deputy cabinet official, in my mind. The Times isn’t running a piece like that from someone they never heard of before.

That person’s name eventually will be discovered, I have no doubt; most likely by either a Times reporter or another media outlet’s reporting. That, though, matters less than what he or she said and what it means.

If I were in the position of that person, I would not have written an anonymous op-ed to get out the message that the union is safe because of people like me and others protecting it from a president who often is off the rails, trampling on the Constitution and making immature fun of foreign and domestic leaders.

Some friends, Trump supporters, say this person is being disloyal to the President if he or she is not carrying out Trump’s wishes and the person should resign. To those friends I’ve said, the oath of office appointees take is to the U.S. Constitution, not the President. Trump tweeted “Treason?” last night about the op-ed’s author. No, Mr. President, treason is not taking issue with you. We live in the USA which means we have rights to speak our minds, protest and even oppose whoever the President is. In fact, that person may have committed anti-treason, if there was such a thing.

If I were the person who wrote the op-ed, though, I would have handed in my resignation and taken a cab to the Hill to report what I knew to the appropriate Congressional leaders of BOTH sides of the aisle, to tell them what a danger to our nation Trump is. And, I would have tried to organize this alleged network of protectors of the union to join me so the Hill could not ignore it. To force the Hill to do one of its responsibilities – oversight of the Executive Branch.

And if the Hill did nothing, then I’d go public.

Yes, Trumpsters, he was duly elected by the American people. No argument. But if you elect someone who you then learn is a fraud and ignores the Constitution or at least comes right to the edge of ignoring it, do you just accept that? Do you sit back and wait for the Big Mistake he can make or his tempestuous instincts? Or do you act and report first-hand knowledge to the appropriate authorities who are, in this case, the Congress.

There is no doubt there are women and men, appointed by the President, as nervous about his leadership as many of us are. We’ve seen Woodward do his always deep reporting to find out the truth and this anonymous op-ed author ring the clarion bell and then, apparently, return to his or her job and try to protect the county.

For Woodward, that is what he does and he does it well.

For the anonymous op-ed writer, it’s not good enough. You sounded the alarm but that shouldn’t be enough to let you sleep at night for joining this corrupt administration.

Follow up and do something about it.

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aides guilty. We can't fuhgeddaboudit

8/22/2018

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Watching the Trump saga unfold is a lot like watching a crime family implode.

His friend, former lawyer, fixer and a guy who once said, “I’d take a bullet for Mr. Trump” yesterday implicated him, under oath, as a felon. Then again all he did was say the same thing Trump’s incompetent lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, said in a court filing some weeks ago – that Trump directed Michael Cohen to pay off a woman accusing Trump of having an affair with her as a way shut her up to influence the election.
His former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, was found guilty of eight counts of tax evasion and other crimes, and the jury couldn’t come to agreement on 10 other charges, which could be retried. He faces what would amount to the rest of his life in prison. He hasn’t spilled his guts to the special counsel yet but he has that option, which could reduce his sentence.
The first two congressmen to endorse Trump are under indictment for their own, unrelated sins (by the way, the third congressmen to endorse Trump was his attorney general and former senator, Jeff Sessions.)
At least five have pleaded guilty in the special counsel’s probe -- most prominently, his former national security adviser Michael Flynn and former Trump campaign aide Rick Gates, who are both cooperating with Mueller. Alex van der Zwaan, a Dutch lawyer who pleaded guilty to lying to the special counsel. A bunch of Russians have been indicted and it is clear to all, except Donald Trump, that Russia meddled in our election.

You also have to wonder, of course, about the President claiming he's not concerned about people "flipping" on him because he's done nothing wrong. Cohen proved that was another lie yesterday. Plus, Trump's tweets this morning clearly show how upset he is with Cohen, thus there are things for folks to flip about, it would appear.

Did Trump and/or his people collude with the Russians? No real proof yet is public unless you count that Trump Tower meeting with a Russian lawyer and others with Trump’s son and son-in-law and Manafort, where dirt on Hillary Clinton was promised but not delivered.

Special Counsel Robert Mueller, the Eliot Ness of the story, is methodically doing his job. He just keeps plodding along buoyed by the fact he is fighting to correct injustices (by the way, just because his investigation is focused on Russia messing in our election doesn’t mean he can ignore other crimes he comes across – like Manafort’s and Cohen’s). Trump tweets, Mueller stays silent. You cannot ruffle Mueller that way.

Trump has tweeted already this morning, among them:

Regarding Manafort: “A large number of counts, ten, could not even be decided in the Paul Manafort case. 'Witch Hunt!'' and “I feel very badly for Paul Manafort and his wonderful family. ‘Justice’ took a 12 year old tax case, among other things, applied tremendous pressure on him and, unlike Michael Cohen, he refused to “break” - make up stories in order to get a “deal.” Such respect for a brave man!”
Regarding Cohen: “Michael Cohen plead guilty to two counts of campaign finance violations that are not a crime. President Obama had a big campaign finance violation and it was easily settled!” and “If anyone is looking for a good lawyer, I would strongly suggest that you don’t retain the services of Michael Cohen!”

Manafort and Cohen’s cases are about financial crimes having nothing to do with Russia meddling directly. A difference is the crime boss in this case also is the President of the United States and he has pardon power.

While eventually Trump could pardon Manafort, I don't think it's a rue thing. Nor will he pardon Cohen (Cohen's already betrayed him). His morning tweets could be a message that a pardon could come, but likely not until after Manafort's next trial next month. Still, facing the rest of his life in jail, Manafort could decide to cooperate with Mueller. For Cohen, Giuliani, in his statement yesterday said, “It is clear that, as the prosecutor noted, Mr. Cohen’s actions reflect a pattern of lies and dishonesty over a significant period of time.”

Even though Trump is known to contradict his Cabinet members, aides and even himself, you would think Giuliani’s statement and the President's tweets preclude Trump from then saying. “Michael is a good guy and even though he threw me under the bus, and is a chronic liar, I’m pardoning him.”

Oy.

So, what happens next? Who knows? Department of Justice guidelines don’t allow a sitting President to be indicted, though he could be after his term(s) ends.

Impeachment is still an unknown because while many GOP members are not fans of Trump, they do seriously fear Trump’s base, which could vote them out of their jobs, which they are holding more important than their country right now.

On top of that, the impeachment process begins in the House which charges the President but the trial is held in the Senate. The charging does not toss the president out of office. The conviction, though, can. At the moment, the GOP has a two-vote majority in the Senate. One or two vote switches and...well, we'll wait to see if that's even a factor later.

This is just one reason the mid-terms are important. The Democrats need to control both Houses to even think about removing the president from office.

Trump's base is unlikely to fold after this development. Most of these folks, however, have logical minds and this is one major blow to Trump’s credibility. He has lied repeatedly to the country about many things but at minimum, the Stormy Daniels Affair (pardon the double meaning). We’ll see what the polls say but I’m not feeling a folding of his support yet. It should soften some though.

Then again, I double-checked and it’s only Wednesday, and I haven't watched the news yet so anything is possible!

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How best to treat Trump tweets?

8/9/2018

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Before Donald Trump was sworn in to the presidency, I wrote that the media needed to find a better way to report on his tweets. To treat each as a huge presidential statement of policy, I said, seems wrong, especially with Trump who, as we’ve learned, runs by gut instinct. Now that I’ve seen the coverage for 20-odd months, I feel the same.

Since he took office, Trump has lied, according to The Washington Post, more than 7,000 times, many in his tweets. Since he took office we heard his former press secretary Sean Spicer announce that his tweets were “presidential policy,” and his “attorney,” Rudy Giuliani, say the tweets are “his opinions,” not instructions to his staff or administration.

We have seen Trump threaten war in tweets; disparage various folks he feels, at that moment, are his enemies; declare trade wars; and harass his own Cabinet members.

In short, his tweets are sometimes important, sometimes not. He often ignores his own tweet statements and his Cabinet has too. He is a transactional president focusing on the problem at the moment, for the moment. He often contradicts his own tweets.

Giuliani seems closer to the truth than Spicer on this one.

Cable news networks must have one person assigned to stare at Trump’s Twitter feed 24/7 because within seconds of a tweet, Wolf Blitzer is reading it live on TV and tossing it to his “expert panel” to dissect it for the next 12 hours. And dissect they do because, well, that’s what they get paid to do.

Thus, Trump is dictating the news in many news cycles because of his tweets. Which means he can get the media off a truly important story by texting an inane tweet that forces them to cover the insanity.

Now sometimes his tweets do command such coverage. I’d say the President of the United States threatening war, whether he means it or not, deserves immediate coverage as the world tries to figure out what's going on.

But not every tweet is equal. Often, the ones I presume are written by his Twitter guy are not news and already aren’t broadly covered. These typically tout the latest good economic news or give credit to Trump for a recent primary win for a Republican.
Others are beyond the truly mundane but still don’t reach the yardstick of “news.”

Since his lawyer tells us these are “just his opinions” and not intended as policy directives to his Administration, that’s another reason they aren’t so newsworthy.

The media is correct to fact check his tweets in real time, which they do. But that’s not enough. If the media did not make such big news of almost every crazy Tweet, the President would lose most of the method in which he spreads his madness. Much of it just false.

And, the media would be right to make the change since more than half the time he doesn’t mean what he says. It also might make the former daily White House news briefing (which has become a “whenever the White House feels it wants one” briefing) more relevant because his press secretary couldn’t as easily get away with saying “the President has spoken on this,” meaning he’s tweeted on it. But Sarah, what does he really mean? That is if you even know, which most times, I’m guessing, you don’t.

Trump almost never holds a true press conference. We see few presidential statements. He often will talk during photo opps if he has something he wants to say. The daily briefings have become next to useless. When Trump does want to make a splash, he tweets. The media pounces and gives it wall-to-wall coverage. There is no give and take with the president to try to “unpack” what he’s really thinking.

So, what do we do about it?

First, I would suggest the reporters ask Sarah the important Tweet question which is, “Sarah, which is it? Spicer said from that podium (which in the past has legitimately been taken as policy) that the President’s tweets are government policy. Rudy Giuliani fluffed them off saying they are merely his opinion. Which is it?” If they are all policy, we have a different problem.

She surely will not answer the question but it needs to be asked for the record.

The print media could just print a daily report of his tweets in the same place every day and the public thus would see them (those that don’t see them in real time on his Twitter feed) and draw their own conclusions. The print and broadcast media could apply the same news judgement they apply to everything else and only focus on a tweet when it seems relevant – threatening war seems to qualify for that; taking on LeBron James does not.

Both topics, though, pushed the cable news stations to cover those tweets for hours, if not days. Which meant they got off whatever important topic was at that moment being covered.

I know this isn’t easy. But the current practice means that Trump controls the media attention he complains so much about. He is as masterful at using the media as anyone has been and the media should not lay back and be manipulated that way. Determining which tweets are newsworthy I know is difficult. But it seems the media need to try to figure it out. Otherwise they will continue focusing on such unimportant things (for a president) as football players kneeling during the anthem when real issues that matter float by.

I believe the mainstream media has done an outstanding job covering the Trump Administration. And they can get even better without compromising their values if they can figure out how to properly cover Trump’s tweets.

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Odds and ends. (Trump, of course)

8/1/2018

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Obstruction of what? This morning, President Trump tweeted:
“..This is a terrible situation and Attorney General Jeff Sessions should stop this Rigged Witch Hunt right now, before it continues to stain our country any further. Bob Mueller is totally conflicted, and his 17 Angry Democrats that are doing his dirty work are a disgrace to USA!”

One might say, “Got him! That’s obstruction of justice!” But my non-lawyer guess is it is not because, the attorney general has recused himself from the investigation and thus has no authority to end it. If Trump had aimed that at Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein, probably would be. At least it would be a great court battle. Talking of court battles…

You’re Up!: The trial of former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort heads into Day Two, which also is probably feeding Trump’s Twitter frenzy of the last few days. The only one who really knows what Special Counsel Mueller has on Trump is Trump. Of course, there's also Trump's former "fixer/attorney" Michael Cohen who says he's willing to cooperate with the special counsel's investigation which I'm sure is feeding Trump's Twitter anxiety. We all thinketh he protesteth (sorry) too much already but now that the charges are very real with real witnesses swearing oaths…yikes!

Trump’s maladies: Donald Trump clearly suffers from various personality disorders and one I call: Premature Realization. As soon as Trump thinks he accomplishes something, he claims victory whatever the reality may be.

North Korea? In his mind, he achieved denuclearization in that one meeting with Kim Jong Un and Trump quickly claimed victory, saying Americans can sleep easy now. Meantime his intelligence agencies report North Korea is still doing nuclear preparations. Oh that Kim, such a kidder!

Tax reduction? Done, he says. But the benefits are slow to appear to those he promised cuts – the middle class. But the cuts were so effective for the wealthy) he’s going to find a way to bypass the Congress and cut taxes more for the wealthy on his own! I can’t imagine you can do that without the Congress and if you’re thinking that Trump must know something we don’t, you’re forgetting the first paragraph in this section.

4% economic growth? Accomplished. The economy grew at more than 4 percent in the second quarter and Trump claims we’ve achieved his goal, despite most economists reporting that was a one-time result largely because of the tariffs he’s put in place and threatening, so folks exported quickly so as not to be taxed next quarter. While the economy should continue to grow, 4% seems like a wish and a prayer.

“No Collusion”: Well, as we know, we don’t know yet.

Trump’s friends. He certainly has the motliest circle of friends and close supporters I’ve ever seen. I mean, have you seen that Sam Nunberg on TV, “defending” Trump while also saying Trump had to know about that 2016 Trump Tower meeting where his son met with Russians, son-in-law and Manafort expecting dirt on Hillary? He made me forget who he was a surrogate for.

Michael Cohen? Actually, I feel a bit sorry for Cohen. He did fix things repeatedly for Trump during their years-long association. He lied for him. He hid affairs and payments from the world, meaning Trump’s wife. He clearly was a yes man, clearly knew Trump was the golden goose, and pledged undying loyalty to Trump until Trump threw him under the bus. Now, as the bus does a U-turn, Trump may be the one under it.

Rudy Giuliani? What happened to “America’s Mayor?” He was idolized in the aftermath of 9/11 for the leadership he showed. He was positioned to run for president! Now, he makes it up as he goes along for Trump, as he has found his role in the Trump Organization, as a replacement for the shady Michael Cohen. Clearly a toady, clearly not Trump’s “lawyer” but his attack dog, appearing on as many shows a day as will have him. Where have you gone, Rudy Giuliani?

Omarosa?: Miss Loyalty and Devotion's “tell-all” book comes out soon to lift the veil on her mentor and the man who created her out of reality TV cloth. With friends like those…

Europe?: Trump held a press conference with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker just days after he threatened most every ally we had with tariffs, to announce a major breakthrough! I refer to it as the Seinfeld Agreement, an agreement about nothing. Basically, he announced he would have talks to negotiate an agreement. So, nothing was announced. Elaine and George would be proud.

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We should believe his lying eyes?

7/25/2018

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President Trump has gone full Orwell.

As he pointed at the media in the room, he told a convention of veterans yesterday: “What you’re seeing and what you’re reading is not what’s happening.”

Orwell said, “The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.”

So, it doesn’t seem Orwellian, it is Orwellian

Our President now tells us not to be believe what we see and hear. He will do that for us. Sound like other strongmen you know?

I still believe my own eyes, as I’m sure you do. And my eyes tell me that Trump has reached a new, even more dangerous stage.

This really is happening.

When he first took office he seemed overwhelmed (understandably). He hired advisors who he could depend on to keep him on the straight and narrow, so to speak. Now, though, he is shedding himself of those men and women and appointing in their places lap dogs. Those waiting in line to take those jobs (as short a line as it may be) have seen what happened to those who preceded them when they asserted their roles and gave honest advice. It was ignored and they were gone.

We all saw the “hostage video” the other day of Trump trying to read a correction for what we all saw with our eyes and heard with our ears: Trump believing Vladimir Putin over his own intelligence agencies. As he struggled, like a 4th grader, to explain he meant “wouldn’t” instead of “would,” or vice versa, it makes no dffierence, we saw what a different person he becomes, like the rest of us, when we are doing something we’re forced do to. We do it without conviction.

If you go to a presidential speech, as yesterday’s was (it was NOT a political rally, well, uh, unless you believe your own eyes and ears) you are not watching a show, you are witnessing a strongman tell you he will be your eyes and ears. He will tell you what’s good and bad for you.

His audience yesterday was thousands of American war veterans. Many of those veterans served on missions where reporters accompanied them. Missions where soldiers were lost. Reporters were, too. Martha Raddatz, a veteran war correspondent with ABC News, wrote about it yesterday. She was with them in the field, riding in the fighter jets to get eyewitness accounts for those of us back home, taking the same risks as the military men and women she accompanied. Suffice it to say, I believe her eyes and ears when she risks her life to report to me what’s really going on.

Many vets had reporters trailing them, experiencing the same hail of bullets or bombs they did. Demonstrating bravery to get their job done. The President, on the other hand, avoided military service with foot spurs. And now he talks like a veteran, like someone who served with them. He didn’t. But reporters did.

In fact, after the speech, the VFW issued a statement that said, in part: "“We rely on the media to spread the VFW message, and @CNN, @NBCNews, @ABC, @FoxNews, @CBSNews, & others on site today, were our invited guests. We were happy to have them there.”

On the trade front, Trump tells us the USA lost $817 billion in cash last year because we ran trade deficits with many countries, demonstrating that while he avoided military service he also wasn’t paying attention in his economics classes because that isn’t true either. Trade deficits are not a zero sum gain. So, he sinks us into a trade war even his fellow Republicans don’t want and now feels obligated to bail out the farmers who were hurt by his policy – because they are key in the states he won in 2016.

How? We put tariffs on other countries, they put tariffs on us. The most important products are always selected in such trade wars (one of which helped sink us into the depression nearly 70 years ago, thank you Mr. Smoot and Mr. Hawley). In this case, they’ve selected our farmers who, as luck would have it, are largely in states won by Trump in 2016, directly threatening Trump and his popularity.

Farmers don’t want to be in a position to accept a government bailout, they want open markets to sell to. And Trump is not opening markets. And the program he is using to filter that money to farmers was a program his budget cut! And it was a program to protect farmers against a bad crop year, not a bad presidential policy.

On the “witch hunt” front, Trump’s “lawyer” Rudy Giuliani is putting out transcripts of phone calls Trump’s former “lawyer” Michael Cohen had demonstrating Trump did know about payments to a Playboy model he had an affair with, despite all his denials of such a thing. As does Trump, Giuliani gives his own interpretation of those transcripts reinforcing that we should not believe our own eyes and ears but trust his lying eyes.

Then we hear that Trump’s reaction to this news was shock that Cohen recorded him. “How could he do that to me?” Trump reportedly told his advisors.

As pieces of Trump’s “narrative” are falling apart in front of our eyes, he gets his back up even more. It’s what worked for him in his business career. He threatened, he barked, he called names and, somehow, he created an image as someone who made billions of dollars. Something we can’t prove or disprove because he will not release his tax records, despite saying he would once the IRS “audit” was over. Believe me, there is no audit pending this long. He just is lying.

Lying works for him, though. His approval rate among Republicans is sky high. I’m no polling expert but using anecdotal evidence, those Republican ranks have shrunk because many of us left the party when Trump took over. As we depress ourselves over the numbers, remember that both the Republican and Democratic registrations have been declining over the years. And Independents have grown – they make the difference in campaigns now, if they vote.

Which gets me away from the major point today: Trump is feeling more confident in his role. That’s partly because he basically watches and believes Fox News’ talking heads who are in the tank for Trump. Who tell him he is the best President since sliced bread. Trump likes to put himself in the same GOP category of successful presidents as Abe Lincoln. Except Lincoln freed the slaves. He built America, he didn’t run it down.

Reporters for outlets like CNN, NBC, CBS, ABC, The Washington Post, The New York Times and others are doing amazing work these days. Trump, via an unintended consequence, has made reporters better than they were before. Those reporters are our eyes and ears.

Thank the Lord.

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With 24 hours to simmer down...

7/17/2018

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Watching President Trump’s press conference yesterday, a joint presser with Russian President Vladimir Putin, I was outraged. I yelled at the TV several times:

“Quit nodding in agreement with that liar.”

“Stop criticizing America’s intelligence community in front of that murderer.”

“You didn’t just agree with that thug who offered to let our prosecutors go to Russia to question those 12 criminals who meddled in our election. Why not hand them the keys to the White House?”

“You tossed that soccer ball to your wife before checking it for wiretaps?”

Okay, that last one I didn’t think of until today.

It was anger-making.

But, with 24 hours to decompress and think more rationally, I now am, to put it in the President’s style, MORE OUTRAGED than I was Yesterday!

Democrats trashed the President’s performance. Many Republicans did, too. The Washington Post” headlined its lead editorial “Trump just colluded with Russia, openly.”

The reviews are universal that he took Russia’s side against America’s. Some called it treason, others went with the milder “collusion.” The only person I saw firmly on Trump’s side was his buddy from Fox News, Shaun Hannity. Most of the other Fox on-air folks even were critical of him.

None of his staff rose to his defense in the immediate aftermath, and I don’t expect his press secretary to brief the White House press corps again….ever! (She or her successor will of course and continue to tell lies to make their boss look strong and smart, but never will achieve his bar of “stable genius.” Whatever that means.

The Russians were openly ecstatic. And if the pro-Trumpers want to know how the press conference really went -- our "competitor" (enemy) thinks it went great.

Trump is already “spinning his performance. Among his Tweets this morning:

“While I had a great meeting with NATO, raising vast amounts of money, I had an even better meeting with Vladimir Putin of Russia. Sadly, it is not being reported that way - the Fake News is going Crazy!” (No one knows how his meeting went with Putin because no one else was in the room. The reporting is on the press conference, which you can watch for yourself and make a judgement)

“I had a great meeting with NATO. They have paid $33 Billion more and will pay hundreds of Billions of Dollars more in the future, only because of me. NATO was weak, but now it is strong again (bad for Russia). The media only says I was rude to leaders, never mentions the money!” (I doubt most NATO leaders would agree with him. And, it’s questionable if he forced others to increase spending. They already were committed to do that)

“As I said today and many times before, ‘I have GREAT confidence in MY intelligence people.’ However, I also recognize that in order to build a brighter future, we cannot exclusively focus on the past – as the world’s two largest nuclear powers, we must get along! #HELSINKI2018” (Ah, it’s all part of his master plan! And “the past” is our election a bit over a year ago where the Russians meddled in it. Our intelligence people, led by Trump appointees, agree unanimously on that)

A friend who supports Trump, agreed with some of my reaction yesterday up until he didn’t allowing Trump, “just may be smart as a fox.”

Uh, no.

To those of you who support Trump, if you didn’t watch his press conference, please do. Please. The “fake news” was interpreting it fine but they also put the news conference on live. The President, spoke and acted, just as they are describing.

The two American reporters who asked questions did their jobs to perfection. Note, when you watch the press conference, that they implied no partisan view in their questions, they were factual and to the point. Neither “leader” answered their questions directly.

After months (years?) of thinking he was just inexperienced and outrageous, now I think much more is wrong. He either truly is in bed with the Russians or his mind is seriously off. Either way, Washington, we have a major problem.

It is past time for the Congress do its constitutionally mandated job. Congressmen and women who are afraid they’ll lose their elections if they take on the President – as we said as kids, “tough nuggies.” This is your job. This is what you signed off on. This is your test.

And it's being marked "pass" or "fail."

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That was the President of the United States?

7/16/2018

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Stunning. Shocking. Not to be believed.

Was I watching a Saturday Night Live skit? Or did the President of the United States just stand next to the President of the Soviet Union, I mean Russia, and take his side over the U.S. intelligence community?

At best he said he believed both.

But the world was watching while the President of the United States chuckled over a question by a U.S. reporter asking if the President of Russia has something on the President? He knew he’d get no answer but he had the guts to ask the question.

In fact if anyone thinks we don’t need a free press, you only need watch that performance by Donald Trump as two American reporters asked the hard questions of Vladimir Putin. His press secretary picked, I’m sure, those two reporters to ask questions. And I bet she’s ticked she didn’t go with her gut and pick Fox News.

And, if by the time you read this, we haven’t seen resignations from some senior Trump Administration over that performance, then shame on them. And shame on the Speaker of the House and Senate Majority Leader for hesitating to call the President to task. Where is Vice President Pence? Are you really going to try to put lipstick on that pig, Again?

Does his performance rise to the level of treason? Not legally, I’m sure, but it certainly does in discussion. Is he derelict in his duties? Yes, in my mind.

He chose a thug who is killing people at his whim. A criminal who has made Syria even worse. A murderer. A liar. He chose Vladimir Putin over his fellow Americans and his own appointees while, literally, the world watched.

The leaders in Europe and around the world who are our allies must be not shocked but certainly surprised at that performance.
There almost are no words.

Almost.

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Trump violating his oath of office?

7/14/2018

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The Witch Hunt has found witches.

The President shows no signs of admitting the Russian government, in what is an act of war, hacked our election (his election). And, even if the President raises the hacking with Vladimir Putin on Monday, he’s already told the Russian what he should say – deny it.

He lowered expectations perfectly for Putin.

And, he continues to lie.

The President visits England but not London because 250,000 English men and women were protesting under a snarky blimp version of a baby Donald Trump. He then says the English love him because he truly does create his own reality for himself.

He wails to a reporter from The Sun that the English prime minister is leading her country badly (in spite of him advising her otherwise, he claims) and then wilts in her presence to apologize – not so much for what was reported but because the “fake news” of a key supporter’s newspaper did not publish all the nice things he said about her.

Then, on foreign soil (albeit it on the soil of what many of us consider to be our closest ally) he points a finger at his Justice Department, again, for the “rigged witch hunt” (a phrase that I think is redundant). That, despite the facts that were detailed in the indictment of 12 Russian military members who did their best to help Trump and hurt his opponent in the 2016 election. Again, by his own Justice Department.

Personally, seems to me there’s plenty of there there and Trump is not doing his duty to protect and defend the country. It is, indeed, a dereliction of his duty.

(Meanwhile, in the rest of our government, while many of us focus on the Russia meddling, the Trump White House in effect announced yesterday that the War on Poverty is over, and has been won. This despite the GOP’s claim for decades that government programs are NOT producing improvements for the poor. If you care about those among us who need help to survive, read that sentence again and go read the story on what this Administration is doing:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/white-house-declares-war-on-poverty-largely-over-amid-push-to-revamp-social-programs/2018/07/13/8f9536ea-86b2-11e8-8f6c-46cb43e3f306_story.html?utm_term=.1c4f7a5ecb81)

Let me go on the record that, in retrospect: I think Donald Trump was going to win the election without the help of the Russians. Hillary Clinton was that flawed a candidate. I said during the campaign that the only person Hillary Clinton could beat was Trump, and the only person Trump could beat was Hillary.

Our country was in a weird enough place in our history that I think it would have elected anyone running against Hillary, and “anyone” did win.

So, my intent is not taint his victory by implying the Russians tipped it for him. They didn’t hurt him, but they also I don’t think put him over the top.

I do think they need to pay a price for what they did. And be shown they can’t do that again. And it’s the President’s job to set that price. Not give Putin a way of denying he was behind it.

If all he does during his summit with Putin is raise the issue and drop it – just so he can say he did – he is in violation of his oath of office.

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Newspaper shooting should remind us the key role they play

6/29/2018

1 Comment

            Yesterday’s murders of five employees of an Annapolis, Md., newspaper is shocking. But we all aren’t overly shocked because mass shootings have become a regular occurrence in our society. The shock, unfortunately, wears off.

            The shooter allegedly is a man who felt he was dealt with unfairly in a column written about his harassment of a woman. As a result, he blasted his shotgun at the glass doors and took aim at newspaper employees, killing five.

            When President Trump arrived back at the White House and walked off Marine One, reporters shouted asking him what he had to say. He’d already used his preferred communication method – Twitter – to send his prayers to the victims and families.

          Personally, I think if he said nothing he would be criticized, as is happening. And if he said something he would have been labeled a hypocrite.

            Me, I don’t care if he says anything further about the tragedy. I do hope he stops yelling “fake news” though. I don’t know and doubt if Trump’s “fake news” fed this shooter’s deranged mind or not. But I’m guessing not.

                The shooting, though, should remind us all the important role newspapers play in our society.

            Even as the shooting was taking place, a couple of newspaper employees were Tweeting about it – for help and to get out the word. Within 45 minutes of the suspect being taken into custody, there was a story up on the newspaper’s web site about it. In tribute, the next day’s paper had a blank editorial page in honor of the dead.

            This is a small local paper. According to reports, it is a truly local paper that covers high school teams, courts, local politics and crime. Many similar organizations have closed because of lack of revenue. Many more will. But I hope we all stop for a second and think about what happened yesterday.

            An angry man loaded his shotgun and blasted away in the newspaper’s offices because he was furious about a column written about him. A lawsuit filed by him was tossed out of court. And five innocent people died.

            I’m sure the gun debate will rage, again. I’m sure nothing will happen, again.

          And while I wish he wouldn’t, I’m sure within two weeks the President will be shouting “fake news” whenever he doesn’t like a story written about him. For Trump, the cry “fake news” is his way of shooting at one of our institutions.

            This shooting is not about Donald Trump. In his defense someday the shooter’s lawyers may argue about the President’s stance on the “fake news” media and point to that as a way to justify their client’s actions. I hope not but won’t be shocked if they do. They’ll be wrong.

            Today, though, think about what newspapers, local and national, do to keep you informed. Keep buying them. And pray they never stop keeping us informed.

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Who's telling the truth?

Did Woodward and the anonymous author do enough?

aides guilty. We can't fuhgeddaboudit

How best to treat Trump tweets?

Odds and ends. (Trump, of course)

We should believe his lying eyes?

With 24 hours to simmer down...

That was the President of the United States?

Trump violating his oath of office?

Newspaper shooting should remind us the key role they play

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